October 2018 Update

Almost every time Kenna wakes up, whether it's during the night or in the morning, she either whines or calls out and waits for us to get her. But not this morning! She woke us up by bursting through our bedroom door, a bright and sunshiny grin on her face, saying, "Hi, Mommy!"

She's getting to be such a big girl.

Every time she notices my belly, she pats it and says, "Baby dister (sister)". She's going to be such a good big sister, once the initial adjustment period is over.

Baby is eight months now...just another month to go! We have been extremely busy with work, so we're not completely prepared yet, but we've been trying to get there lately. I've washed clothes and gotten the carseat out of storage. We've been looking at names, although we're still far from making a decision.

I cannot WAIT till this baby is born, so I can go back to eating normally. Even though I'm only borderline for gestational diabetes, I still have to avoid ALL pasta, rice, pizza, cold cereal, and sugary drinks. And I have to check my blood sugar and count carbs.

Only one month left...hopefully not any longer!

Not only have I been busy with work, but I launched my new blog at the beginning of October, so I've been busy trying to build up my content, my social media followers, and I've just started sending out pitches to various brands in an attempt to collaborate on sponsored posts. I really need this to work out, otherwise I'll end up having to go back to my job once my maternity leave is over, and I honestly can't stand the thought.

Check out my blog here, if you haven't already!

So far, I haven't made a penny from it... Which is no surprise, since it hasn't even been a month and it's going to take quite a bit of time and effort to start making money. So far, the only way it is monetized is with affiliate links. My plan is to create some digital products to promote in addition to signing up for affiliate and sponsor sites, reaching out to brands I'd like to work with.

I did recently receive a surprise payment of $100, which came from the Google ads I have posted on another blog that I don't keep up with anymore. If only I'd realized that my Morkie blog gets so much traffic, I would have gone a completely different direction with this whole thing, but it's too late now. At this time, I don't want to go too many different directions....maybe later though.

Anyway, we'll just be continuing on as we wait for Baby Girl to make her arrival....

Christmas Gifts {Part 2}: Living Room Furniture

Sofa & Recliner

Okay, so it should actually be titled 'Valentine's Day gifts' since the rest of our new furniture arrived the day before Valentine's...

There it is! So far, we're loving it. Loki has claimed the recliner as her own, of course. But that's okay because the sofa has two reclining sections on each end.

By the way, we still have our old furniture...the loveseat is stacked on top of the sofa between the living room and dining room. You can't see it in the picture, but it's really annoying and I can't wait to get it out of here.

Anyway, that's all I have for now.

Christmas Gifts {Part 1}: Bedroom Furniture

Yay, we finally have new bedroom furniture!

As I mentioned before, this was part of our Christmas gift to ourselves this past year; our second part is a new sofa and recliner, which should be arriving in about four weeks now. I know, kind of an expensive gift, but it's been a long time coming. We've been using mostly free furniture until now, and Dan got a decent Christmas bonus this year, so we figured we'd treat ourselves and get something that would last a very long time.

We were a little worried about how everything would fit into the bedroom (we switched to the slightly smaller room since it has a bigger closet), but it fits pretty well. The bed is really high, but I kind of like it that way. Poor Mila, though...she won't be able to jump up and down. Especially since this room has hardwood floors and her legs will go all different directions if she tries jumping off the bed. Hopefully soon we'll get a rug and some new bedding, curtains, etc. for the room. For now, it's pretty bare...

Here's a shot of the new bed and two nightstands. I think we may have shifted them over a bit after I took this picture. Since there's that little bump-out in the corner, the nightstand sticks out past it and looks really weird when it's next to the bed, so we decided to push it up against the other wall.

I'm sure you can tell in the picture that there are some exposed un-stained parts on the headboard, which we'll have to have touched up, as well as a chip on the footboard.

In this picture, you can see it all, including the chest in the far right corner.

And here you can see the view from the other side of the bed, looking toward the door. On the left is the closet with a mirrored door.

It's pretty plain and boring right now, and even though I'm really excited to decorate it, I'm dreading the cost of having to buy all new things. For now, we can get by with what we have, but I want to make it really warm and cozy.

Well, hopefully we will have pictures of our new living room furniture soon! I'm really looking forward to getting our old junky sofa and loveseat out of there....

Summer's End

August, the month for visitors :)

Well, we're almost at the end of the summer, and I'm kind of sad. I had been waiting for this summer to arrive for so long, and it just flew by. We did do a few fun things, and we've had a bunch of visitors this month, which only made it go by even more quickly.

Karissa, Tyler, and Isabelle came a few weeks ago on their way to the Black Hills. Isabelle was as smiley as ever!

They stopped again on their way back the following weekend, and Dawn and Jake came with the kids too. We had fun taking Jeremy to play at the parks around here...

And this weekend, one of Dan's buddies came to visit with his girlfriend. Since they weren't going to be here until Saturday evening, we went to Menard's in the morning to pick up our vinyl siding. What should have taken less than a half hour to pick up turned into an hour and a half of waiting for the employees to figure out what they were doing and actually find everything we had ordered. After that, we still had to go into the store to pick up a few more things we needed.

We finally headed back home, and didn't get here until 3:00 - thankfully our company had gotten going a little later than planned, which gave me time to eat lunch and clean the house. By that point, I was exhausted! They left this afternoon, so now I have a little time to work on blog posts. Before long, I will need to work out and shower, then get supper started.

Thankfully we decided to take tomorrow off work for our anniversary. I am SO not ready to go back yet! We definitely need a day to rest. Then we get another three-day weekend for Labor Day. Sweet!

What's New in Huron {August 2014}

*Whew!* 

Time for a break from all the serious blog posts. I have been re-publishing a lot of my Yahoo! articles on my various blogs and a couple different websites following the shutdown of Y!CN. I've made a small dent in the hundreds of articles. It's going to take a VERY long time to get through them all!

In a way, I want to get them all back up as soon as possible so I can start earning money from them again, but on the other hand, I'm worried that Google will think I'm posting duplicate content, since my articles are still coming up in some search results (though the links just go to the Yahoo! home page).

Well, I guess I'll take my chances....

What's new here? Well, for starters, we started scraping paint from the garage last weekend in preparation for re-painting. Stupidly, we tested for lead after starting the removal process. It tested positive. So now, rather than putting a ton of work into properly scraping the paint off the wood siding, we're going to tear it down and put up vinyl siding.

So this past week, we went to Menards in Mitchell to look at our options and we placed an order for light blue siding. It's going to cost a lot more than painting, but I think it'll be worth it in the end. The only painting we will have to do is going over the trim and painting all the doors to match one another.

In other news, Karissa, Tyler, and Isabelle stayed over last night on their way to the Black Hills (no, we still haven't been there!). They will be coming back through next weekend, and we will also have Dawn and Jake and the kids over. The following weekend, one of Dan's friends from high school will be here. We haven't had visitors all summer - apparently August is the month to come to Huron! Even though nobody got to see our yard when the grass was green and the flowers were blooming :(

Well, that's about all I've got. 'Til next time....

Main Bath: Before & After

Almost a year later, I finally got around to painting the tiny bathroom on our main floor. As you can see in the before picture, it was painted in blue and yellow, with a butterfly border. For such a tiny room, it took forever to rip down the border, prime, and paint it in two coats of beige. I also took down the ugly towel bar and replaced it with a silver ring.

When I get a chance, I will post a few pictures from our trip to New Orleans... We have been back home all weekend, but it's been busy trying to get caught up on housework!

May Flowers

I would say we've had a productive week. It feels so good to finally be able to DO things I've been wanting to do, rather than thinking about them and wondering if I'll have the motivation to get them done when the time comes.

Flowers

Last weekend, we made a trip to Runnings to pick up some things for planting flowers, so I spent Saturday planting them around the yard. 

We also picked up a tomato plant to grow in our hanging tomato thing (it works with gravity to grow the tomato plant upside down!). I was kind of hoping to get some other veggies, fruit, or berries to plant in my wooden basin, but they all require full sun, and our yard is pretty shady.

I still need to pick up a few more this weekend to finish filling some of my pots...

Compost

While I was planting and pulling weeds, Dan was busy doing some yardwork...including building me a compost bin. I'm not sure how well it's going to work, since it's a bunch of bricks stacked up on a concrete slab, but we'll give it a try for this summer at least.

It seems like it should drain okay when rain gets into the compost, and we have plenty of yard clippings to mix in with kitchen scraps. Anyway, I'll leave it at that for now - I'll save the rest for a "green" blog post in a couple weeks!

This week has been busy with not only watering flowers, bringing out the compost and turning it over, and walking Mila, but I've also been getting some writing done. I have at least 50 titles written up, waiting to be turned into articles. Now, I just need to keep motivated to write them!

We shall see what this weekend brings.... It feels so great to finally have nice weather!

your.GREENspiration

Well, I have decided to start a new blog for my 2014 green project; for anyone who hasn't seen it yet, you will find it here.

I had originally been leaning toward making the weekly posts on this blog, but being set to private, it doesn't get much traffic. A public blog will get more exposure, leading to potential book sales - when the time comes. I have even thought that, as I get more involved, I might even be able to come up with shorter, more specific, ebook ideas that I can publish throughout the year.

We'll see how much time and motivation I have, though; I have a feeling I will be pretty busy with all my other goals. If I do end up spending a lot of time on this project, I might have to lower my expectations for writing articles, since it's already pretty difficult to find time for all the different projects I have going on!

VIP Seats

You (the readers of this blog) will still get an occasional "sneak peek" as I work on my weekly green mini-projects, since it will likely be a big part of my daily life. I highly doubt I will dedicate each and every week specifically to one mini-project, since some will take longer, and some will be changes I made long ago that I will use as "fillers" during the weeks that I have nothing new to write about. As a matter of fact, I have already gotten started by ordering a recycling bin and signing up for curbside pickup, so that will be the topic of my very first weekly post.

Anyway, I thought I'd fill you in since I originally brought up my idea on this blog. I don't have much else to say right now, though, so I'll just let you visit the other blog - if you so desire - and decide whether you would like to follow my Go Green in 2014 project from there. I can't wait to get started...in fact, I think I'm going to get started writing some of my weekly posts and schedule them to start posting in the new year!

Have a good week. :)

Project 2014

I was trying to write a few articles this morning, when suddenly an idea struck - and now I can't concentrate on anything else.

....

Over the past week, I've been thinking about what we've been through in the past year and considering various ways I can keep myself busy in the next year, while doing what I can to make it a better one. Sure, 2013 was pretty good overall, but we've been through some pretty tough stuff, and I need something to get excited about. I need a long-term project to keep my mind focused on something worthwhile.

I listed a few goals for myself last week, both personal and professional (writing goals). I decided that one of my goals was to write and publish a book. I spent several hours last night brainstorming and trying to come up with an idea for that book, to no avail. I had a few neat ideas, but couldn't really come up with a way to make them happen.

....

But this morning, while attempting to write an article about green resolutions for the new year, I made a resolution: To come up with a different way to "go green" every week in 2014. I want to personally try each of these different "green" ideas and blog about them, and potentially turn these ideas into a book. I already have lots of ideas - many of which I've already done - so it is definitely a feasible project, although I'm not going to pretend I think it will be easy. The problem?

I'm not sure where I want to make my weekly blog posts. I do have a dedicated green blog, which I probably haven't updated in a couple years. It would be a great way to gain traffic to that blog and possibly earn some extra money.

However, I'm not sure whether I want this project to be a public thing while I'm working on it, especially if it does end up being compiled into a book. This blog is only open to people who have the direct link, meaning only family and friends can view it. If I go this route, I can privately share my journey with a "VIP" audience.

~ ~ ~

Any thoughts from the audience?

Please share! Also, feel free to share any ideas you have that I can incorporate into my project as one of my weekly topics - I am open to anything, from green product recipes to tips for innovative ways to reduce waste, and so on.

...now I'm off to do some brainstorming!

First visitors of the summer

Okay, so it's been a few weeks since I last posted. I haven't been any busier than usual...I guess I've just gotten lazy.

As I mentioned last time, I had made some Mother's Day gifts for our moms and couldn't say what they were yet since we had to wait until Memorial Weekend to give them. I can't believe I didn't take any pictures! Anyway, I made gift sets of green, natural homemade cleaning products: lavender hand soap, all-purpose spray and a roll of reusable "paper" towels that I made with washcloths, snap pliers and an old paper towel roll.

I did take a couple pictures, but none of the end product:

To make the soap, I grated two bars of lavender-scented castile soap and heated a gallon of distilled water. I added the soap shavings and stirred until it all melted. Then I had to take it off the heat and let it sit for 24 hours, stirring occasionally. 

Once it was done, the soap was the consistency of regular hand soap, except it was kind of stringy, like an egg white. I haven't had a chance to use any myself yet, since we still have a ton of store-bought hand soap to use, but I'm excited to try it out!

We had company this weekend. Scott, Marlana and Selena came to visit Friday night and left this afternoon. It was a lot of fun to have them here. We did a lot of grilling and ate a LOT of food!

(I'm wearing the scarf I crocheted.)

Since it rained most of Saturday, we decided to eat in the garage. Luckily, we still have the tables we borrowed for our garage sale last weekend. (Yes, we finally had the garage sale we've been talking about for years! We did pretty well and got rid of a lot of things we no longer need.)

May Musings {about life in Huron}

It's Sunday night, and normally we would be in bed already since I get up at 5 a.m. to get ready for work. However, I have tomorrow off (the first of three 3-day weekends in a row) so I decided to stay up a little later and prep some caramel rolls so I can have them ready to pop in the oven tomorrow morning. I really wanted them this morning, but we didn't have any sugar so I have to wait a little longer.

What have we been up to?

Wow. This is just the beginning of a very busy summer. We didn't go anywhere this weekend, but I've been busy with numerous projects. Yesterday and today, I've been working on making Mother's Day gifts but since we won't be able to give them until next weekend, I'll have to hold off on saying what they are until afterward.

I have also been doing some crocheting. I actually just (sort of) finished a scarf I made for myself--I just have one more small thing to do then maybe I'll take a picture of it. I'm also working on a lacy shirt for myself. Someday I'll finish it and possibly model it for you.

We'll be going back home for graduation next weekend (which also happens to be Memorial weekend). Perhaps the weekend after that, we'll have the garage sale I've been wanting to have the past couple Saturdays, but couldn't because we still don't have any tables to set things on.

We've done a bit of grilling lately, since it's been so nice outside. We've also gotten a lot of rain this weekend, but it's also been really warm when the sun decides to come out. This weekend, we mostly just relaxed and I've worked on projects as I felt like it. We have really been enjoying the nice weather by sitting outside in the yard or in the garage with the door open when it's raining.

It will be nice to have the day off tomorrow, although it's not a paid day off. My plan is to make breakfast, get an early start on writing and maybe work on my "projects" some more, then go to my dentist appointment in the afternoon. So exciting.

I guess I don't have much to say. My great plan was to post pictures but since I'm unable to upload them, I'll have to wait until next time....

The Official Crochet Bathroom Set Giveaway

This bathroom set comes in a blend of beige, olive green and teal

Well here it is: the first official crochet giveaway! (Okay, it may be the only one, who knows--or maybe not.)

How can I enter the giveaway?

To enter, all you have to do is comment on this blog post. You also have to be a friend or family member. Someone we actually know. This is a private blog for ourselves, as well as family and friends. I'm pretty sure I changed the settings so guests can comment on my posts, but if you try and aren't able to, please contact me--Tonya--some other way (if you're someone we personally know, you'll know how to contact me). If you don't feel comfortable leaving your real name, just use a pen name and message me either on Facebook or through email, or send me a text message, to let me know who you are.

What is included in the gift set?

Beige washcloth, multicolored washcloth

Multicolored drawstring soap saver

Multicolored back scrubber

4 beige, 4 multicolored face cleansing pads

When will you announce the winner?

I will use this random number generator to pick a winner, and the corresponding commenter will win the gift set. The winner will be drawn on Saturday, March 16th. I'll try to announce the winner that day, or as soon as possible afterward. Unless I'll be seeing you soon, I will mail the items to you.

Bonus: Grapeseed oil bar soap

The fewer commenters, the higher your chances of winning, right? Your incentive to share this post with other family members and friends--I'll give away a bonus item if there are 15 or more commenters on this blog post. Sorry, it's not handmade soap, but maybe one day I'll learn how to make that, as well. The bar soap fits perfectly inside the soap saver, so simply pull the drawstring tight and lather up in the shower.

You can crochet this set, too:

I shared a link to the washcloth/dishcloth pattern in my last blog post, so you'll have to look back for that one. I'll share my soap saver pattern as soon as I finish editing it.

To make the face cleansing pads, use a size H crochet hook and any kitchen cotton yarn. Chain 4, double crochet 12 times in the fourth chain from the hook. Attach with a slip stitch in the first double crochet. Chain 3, 2 double crochets in each double crochet for a total of 24. Slip stitch to first double crochet and weave in the ends with a tapestry needle.

It takes about 5 minutes to make each cleansing pad. I love using them to wash my face, either with liquid face wash or just warm water. They can be tossed into the wash with the rest of your laundry and re-used many times.

Remember to comment on this blog post if you want to be entered in the giveaway! If you don't have much to say, just a few words is enough. Check back in a few weeks to find out who won!

Our First Married Valentine's Day

For Valentine's Day this year, Dan got the air compressor he has been wanting for a long time. I told him I only wanted flowers, so of course he went all out with a bouquet of gorgeous roses, complete with a balloon and gourmet chocolates. Of course, he knew I would be embarrassed to get them at work, so he naturally had them delivered that morning. At least everyone else got to enjoy looking at them before I brought them home.

I suspect Loki is the one who knocked off those leaves.

We went out to dinner and enjoyed some good food. Even though we were stuffed, I convinced Dan to stop at Dairy Queen for blizzards on our way home. They "accidentally" made mine the wrong size, so I got a medium instead of small. After all that food, we were both tired when we got home and relaxed until bedtime.

In my last post, I mentioned doing a giveaway, and have decided to start crocheting a few things today. I'm not exactly sure of the details yet, but I'll let you know how you can enter the drawing as soon as I've worked that out. Don't worry, it won't be anything difficult or embarrassing, and I won't ask for money. It's a giveaway, after all--not a raffle.

Well, I'd better get started on my projects, but before I go, I wanted to post some pictures of past projects so you can get an idea of what I'll be giving away:

2 washcloths, back scrubber, 8 face pads, soap saver

yellow and teal washcloths/dishcloths

The pattern I used for the washcloths/dishcloths is the best I've tried so far. Although I've never actually used them for washing dishes or as a washcloth (yet!), I've made many of them to give away, and they are very sturdy and thick compared to any of the other patterns I've tried.

The pattern belongs to another writer, so visit this link to learn how to make the gentle ridges dishcloth. In future posts, I'll share some of my other favorite crochet patterns. Feel free to share some of your faves in the comments! I love trying new projects.

A "Girls Weekend" in South Dakota

You could say we had a quick, but eventful, weekend. My sisters--all four of them--made the trip to Huron to help me make our wedding invitations....

I'd been working on the invites for a couple months: printing, cutting, embossing, etc. I had everything ready to go when they got here, so all we needed to do was assemble everything.

Making the preparations: Every time I stood up, Loki stole my chair.

They didn't leave until after 11:00 p.m., planning to drive through the night. They were supposed to be here at about 5:30 a.m. About 45 minutes out of Huron, they hit a deer--with Dawn and Jake's brand new Subaru. They are VERY lucky they weren't driving a lighter car; if they had gone off the road, they would have rolled down a rocky hill into the water. On either side of the road.

The damage: Looks very similar to my old Lumina.

Remember how Dawn's old car broke down the last time they came to Huron? Yeah... Could it be a coincidence? Or something deeper? Maybe it just means we need to get out of SD.

It took a couple hours to get a tow truck, and I got there at about 7:00 to pick up Caitlin and Karissa. Dawn and Trisha rode in the truck to Watertown so they could get a loaner car. Because they were driving on little to no sleep, I worried until they got here at 10 a.m.

Eventually we got around to the invitations. There were 150 invites, plus the same number of reception cards, driving directions and lots of rhinestones, ribbons, address labels and stamps to apply.

Karissa, Dawn, Trisha, Caitlin

We had to wrap it up before finishing the ribbons; everything else was done, and there is only one tube of ribbon glue. Turns out that regular glue shows through ribbon and doesn't stick very well. So, I will keep busy this month with gluing ribbon and stuffing envelopes. Besides that, I only need to address the envelopes and buy postage.

I would say we had fun, despite the little...setback. We walked to Subway for ice cream, we grilled...and just lazed around, trying to catch up on lost sleep.

The girls

The only problem when someone visits is watching our company drive away, especially after such a short weekend. It always feels so empty here.

Weekend Company & Summer Weather in April

We had company this weekend. The weekend went by much too quickly, especially since I had to work Saturday morning, even if for a few hours.

Scott and Marlana came from Moorhead with their new baby, and Dan's grandpa came along. They got here late Friday night and stayed until this afternoon.

 

Dan met his niece, Selena, for the first time.

We had brunch then toured this fascinating town and finished up with blizzards from DQ. It was beautiful outside, so we had grilled ribs, chicken, potato salad and grilled asparagus for dinner. Mmm!

Don't mind me; I napped for a few hours before they got here.

I loved having a baby around--I don't get to see newborns very often anymore. They grow up too fast, especially since we live so far away from everyone.

 

Great-grandpa with the new baby

After they left, I spent the rest of the day working on wedding invitations. I'm trying to have them all printed and cut before anyone comes to help put them together. They should be ready to send out within the next couple months!

We also took Mila for a walk this afternoon. At 4:00 p.m. it was almost 90 degrees, and it's only April 1st. It didn't feel so bad at first--just a little stuffy--and we didn't walk very far. It wasn't even all that humid. But by the time we got home, poor Mila was overheated, even though I'd carried her part of the way.

We walked into the driveway and she immediately stopped in the shade of Dan's car and stretched out on the cool concrete. I brought her inside and made her drink some water before she could lay down. She isn't used to the heat...

Poor baby

Looks like we're going straight from winter to summer this year. Or is it just an April Fools joke?

The Typical Christmas Busyness

It's hard to find time to write a post when I have a zillion other things to do...although this is what I would rather be doing. Busy, busy. Christmas is coming quickly, so I've been busy trying to get everything done in time.

Last week was rather unproductive. I started getting a dry throat Monday night, which is usually the first sign I'm getting sick. I started popping vitamins, drinking tea, inhaling steam and so on... Thankfully, it didn't last long. I was exhausted for the next couple days and slept most of the evenings. It was a matter of days and I almost felt back to normal. Dan was able to keep from catching my cold.

This weekend was much more productive, although I kind of stressed myself out by taking on all kinds of projects. I went shopping, so I had Christmas cards to write out, presents to wrap, baking to do....

I'll definitely keep busy up until Christmas.

I'm not much of a baker, but I did make rice krispie bars--one of Dan's favorite treats--and I just baked some cookies tonight. I still have lots of plans for the next few weeks, but baking takes up a lot of time and, like I said, it isn't really my thing.

Christmas Tree Rice Krispies

We wanted the rice krispies to look Christmasy, so we pulled out last year's green sprinkles and, using a template I cut out from copy paper, stenciled green Christmas trees onto the treats. Fancy, I know. :s

But, finally, it kind of feels like the holidays here. For a little while. You know that snow we got a few weeks ago? Well, that melted ages ago and it has been really depressing to look outside--several days into the month of December--and see brown all around.

It snowed a little bit last night, but its lifespan isn't looking hopeful....