Best Uses for your copy of "Twilight"

Since I'm just waiting these days, waiting to endure a painful event, waiting to meet my son, waiting to be a mom, etc. What better way to distract myself than to create craft after craft with with to adorn my house for Christmas? So, I made this paper wreath. I got the idea from several blogs in which those more talented (and creative) than myself thought this up. A hot glue gun, Styrofoam ring and a copy of "Twilight" and I was well on my way!

I hung it up high so no one would read about Bella and Edward's passionate interactions or the dramatic showdown between Jacob and the vampires...

Sneaking into friends' houses

A couple in our small group just had their first baby, and ended up needing to stay at the hospital in Denver for almost four weeks before they could come home with him. As you can imagine, it was a trying time for them, full of ups and downs. Our small group decided to get into their house right before their homecoming, pack their freezer with meals, and hang a welcome home sign. To get the key, one of us called them and asked if we could borrow their Wii while they were gone (they must be thinking, how could someone ask to borrow our Wii at a time like this???). I ended up making the following banner after perusing some ideas on the internet. It was easy and turned out really cute- I plan to do it again sometime!

Here are some of the supplies I used... the scraps leftover were from after I cut the patterned paper into triangles (they were those huge square papers you find at Hobby Lobby or Archiver's). I cut the letters out of the card stock.

  Pretty ribbon...

 
After using double sided tape to stick the letters to the triangles, I was able to toss everything into a bag and bring it to their house...

I hope they feel very welcomed when they get home!! Oh, and if you're reading this, take a second to pray for their sweet baby, Landon, that he'll continue to recover from the surgery he had to have, and that he'll make more and more progress!!

The next step...

As of Friday, I am a stay at home mom. Now, I'm just waiting for my child to arrive. I don't think I have come close to grasping how my life is about to change with the arrival of our son, but I have about five weeks left to think that over! I've resigned myself to the fact that this is probably one of those life events you can't really "prepare" for... however, here is my feeble attempt:

See? The way I figure it, the more stressed about something you are, the more list making will help! Especially if you arm yourself with brightly colored highlighters with which to prioritize your list! Silly, I know, but what else can I do?

Words can't express how thankful I am to be done working- for a husband who works as hard as mine to do well in his job, who won't mind swapping in all those extra things we do with our money so that I can stay home with our kids. I am beyond blessed, and overflowing with excitement. I know it won't be perfect, but what fun is that, anyway???

Have a seat!

I had to post pics of the housewarming gift my sweet in-laws blessed us with during their visit last weekend- bar stools. The black adds some needed contrast to the kitchen, and more importantly, it creates more opportunities for quality time (my love language!) For example. tonight, while I chopped lettuce for dinner, Jared sat on a bar stool across the island and we chatted about all the things we're wondering about our little boy- what will his personality be like, will he be a picky eater, etc. If there is one thing I love more than cooking, it's cooking while someone else keeps me company! Thank you Mom and Dad Obenchain!!! 

Thin Crust Pizza Recipe, if you're into that sort of thing...

Last night, I had a hankering for pizza. We’d been eating out more than usual, so I wanted to stay away from greasy delivery pizzas. All the pizza dough recipes I had called for a long wait time for the dough to rise (1 hour or more). Since the stomach was a growlin’, I found what turned out to be a delicious thin crust recipe online. Since I haven’t cleaned my oven in a while, I decided to opt out of turning it to 500 degrees, and instead set it at 375…which worked out just fine!

Thin Crust Pizza Dough

• 1 envelope of dry yeast
• 1/4 teaspoon of sugar
• 3/4 cup of lukewarm water
• 1 3/4 cups of unbleached plain flour
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt

1. Combine 1 envelope of dry yeast, 1/4 teaspoon of sugar and 3/4 cups of lukewarm water. Mix a little and let sit for 6-8 minutes.
2. Combine 1 3/4 cups of unbleached plain flour with 1/2 teaspoon of salt in a bowl or food processor.
3. Pour the water combination into the bowl (or food processor) and mix until ready to knead (around 30 second in a food processor). If using a bowl, mix with a spoon until you have a neat ball.
4. Prepare a lightly sprinkled surface with flour. Turn out dough and knead for around 2-3 minutes. Lightly cover your fingertips with flour if the mixture is a little sticky.
5. Roll out by hand for a 12'' base.
6. Place in 12'' lightly oiled oven pan. Press out dough to form a slight lip.
7. Prepare and apply your sauce and topping of choice.
8. Cook in a pre-heated over (500F) for 8-12 minutes (times may vary based on different ovens. Fan assisted oven will be quicker!).

http://www.recipepizza.com/doughs/thin_crust.htm

Since we were really low on groceries, I decided to go with the classic margarita toppings, tomato, fresh basil and mozzarella. I sliced the tomatoes and marinated them in garlic, olive oil and salt while I made the dough. After brushing the dough lightly with olive oil, I sprinkled with mozzarella cheese, topped with tomato slices, globbed on some tomato puree for some extra tang, and drizzled with olive oil. Jared wanted to add sliced steak to his side, but I'll leave that option up to you! I baked it for a while until the crust was lightly browned and the cheese was bubbly. When I removed it from the oven, I sprinkled with Parmesan cheese and  chopped fresh basil. It was deeee-lish! 

Fashionably Late

Oh dear. Timely blogging is not my forte. Much has happened since the cabinets fiasco. I found out on March 29th that I'm pregnant! I took the test on a whim, it came out positive. I paced around the bedroom (Jared was out running an errand) stating repeatedly, "Oh my gash, oh my gash, oh my gash, oh my gash, oh my gash" you get the idea. Only this lasted for most of the time he was gone. With a shaky hand, I scribbled on a blank card I had stored in the office, "You're going to be a daddy" sealed it up, wrote "Jared Obenchain" in somewhat sloppy, purposefully unrecognizable hand writing on the envelope, and ran downstairs to pretend to "watch TV nonchalantly." When he walked in the door, I waited a few minutes, and then handed him the card and said, "Someone dropped this off for you while you were out." As he took it, he immediately commented that it must have been from a guy at work that might have been dropping by- he was sorry he missed him. When he opened the card, his face went from blank, to confused, to elated. We hugged and prayed and thanked God for this little gift. It was a very fun day! Since then, we've seen this little one dance around, heard it's pounding heartbeat and prayed over it's mind, spirit, thoughts, hands, and toes. We are anxiously counting down for Dec. 3, or sometime around that time, to welcome this new life into ours. I hope we're good parents!!!

 

Other, less life altering things have happened, too. We replaced some toilets, got a new camera (we'll be needing something that can take video in the near future!), put up some window treatments, hosted quite a few out of town guests, walked the dog about a hundred times, went to a U2 concert, began enjoying summer, etc. Here are some random pictures to capture some of the random things that have happened. Oh, and lots of cooking happened... but I won't say "we" did that, that was mostly me ;-)

Yummy bread from the bakery section...

Pioneer Woman's Chicken Cacciatore

Crostini Caprese for a night with friends...

Some serious NY food that my dad and I shared when I was there. You're looking at grainy mustard, mortadella, prosciutto, ham, pate, brie cheese and some baby gherkins. It was delicious and took about two minutes for us to demolish (we had slices of french bread to go along with it).

The U2 concert, with an opening from The Fray...

U2 performing "Where the Streets Have No Name" which is now one of my favorites:

A picture of Bentley taken with our new camera. I love this picture, because he looks sort of bluish from the light coming in from outside.

One last test from Jared as to the clarity of the new camera. Is it weird that I like the way the bag looks?

Anyway, thanks for hanging in there. More to come on cooking adventures, home decorating and our biggest upcoming project: A NURSERY!

Ta-Daah!

Well, we finally did it! Here is what our kitchen looked like before: 

Here is what it looks like NOW!

I never thought I would have my dream kitchen so soon... but I really do! Jared ripped out the old dishwasher and put in this new one (he has SKILLS). We still have to install the microwave over the stove and add hardware, but I wanted to show you how it came out! 

The cabinet color is "Antique White" and the background color is "Clay Pot." This spicy, terra cotta color really makes the cabinets pop... and, it makes you want to cook and eat! ;-) The cabinets were well worth all the work. I would recommend painting cabinets to anyone wanting to improve their kitchen without spending a lot of $$. Here is a pic of my windowsill, decorated with two birds my sweet mother-in-law gave me, and a lily from a bouquet my dad sent for Valentine's Day. 

I love my kitchen, thank you God for this house!!

Cornucopias and Pony Walls

This is in response to my cousin Ang, my sister-in-law Andrea and my long time friend Karisse. You wanted more pictures, you got it! It will be a while until I have "before and after" pictures, so I might as well put some more photos on here, so you know where we've moving in four days!

All of these photos were taken the day we closed on the house, so they do not reflect any of the changes we've already started to make.

This was taken while standing in the dining room, facing the big curved window, which is one of my favorite parts! Anyone need a light fixture?? ;-)

This is the view of the upstairs, while standing in the room shown above...

This is the family room, or the "den." To the left (not shown in the pic), there is a railing by which someone could look down from upstairs. I made Jared promise that we wouldn't put couches directly under there, since I did not want to re-live a childhood experience that resulted in my sister's broken wrist...

There's a big wall of windows in the den where lots of light filters in. My handy husband took down that thing that's up against the ceiling by the pony wall. He called it a corbel, I didn't have the heart to tell him it's actually called a cornucopia...

Connected to the den is the kitchen, which already looks very different than it does in this picture (will post photos soon). Below the kitchen photo is a shot of the basement:

 Bathroom connected to the den:

Master Bedroom, which at this point was unpainted. It's now "Frozen Pond." I love that "eyebrow" window (someone told me that's what they're called...) The photo below that one is of the master bathroom, which was taken while standing in the bedroom.

The outside of the house...

The end!

Progress!

We spent the entire day at the house, finishing the cabinet doors, painting the walls in the kitchen/den, and painting the master bedroom. We took a break and treated ourselves (and our helpers) to subway. Here's a shot of Bentley longing for a piece of my Italian BMT! Sorry dog, I don't share salami!

Below are the hinges from the cabinets that we soaked, scrubbed and are now spray painting. As you can see, they were once a rusty brass... now they are shiny and black! There's $50 we won't need to spend on hardware!

Here's a peak of the colors in the kitchen. The cabinets are "Antique White" and the walls are "Clay Pot." 

 

If you're itching to see some finished paint projects, we finally have one for you!! This is our bedroom, and we painted it "Frozen Pond." It's my favorite Silver Sage color that we used in our apartment in Boston. It's calming, classy, and matches the stuff we already have... score! Tomorrow we'll clear the tarp out of the there and take off that painter's tape, since they don't quite go... 

Here is our bathroom vanity, which is actually part of the bedroom (the shower and toilet are on one side, the closet is on the other). I am thankful for this set up! We will be painting the trim white sometime this week. I'm thinking I may also tackle the bathroom cabinets after we've moved in... maybe a chocolate brown color? They'll be a piece of cake compared to the kitchen!

More updates to come! Thanks for leaving comments, I love them!!!

A Food Diversion

I realize I haven't provided too many exciting photos. This is mostly because we don't live in the new house yet (move in date is next Saturday) and we are packing stuff up here at the rental. So, I thought I would distract you with pictures of food! Yummy, colorful food!

When I came home from a long day of work, sliding on icy roads all the way, the only thing that sounded really good was pizza. I had picked up some pizza dough earlier in the week, and did a quick scan of options for toppings. Once I realized that I had turkey bacon, cherry tomatoes, iceberg lettuce, and avocados that were on the verge of going bad... I decided on a California BLT style pizza!


So for step one, I spread the dough out on a large cookie sheet (we like leftovers). I baked the dough for about ten minutes without any toppings.

 

Next,  I spread with one of my favorite jarred sauces by Barilla. I don't like pizzas super saucy, but you could go nuts with it if you wanted. I just put one little drop, like so.

Just kidding. Anywho, after spreading the sauce around, the next step was of course, some shredded Mozzarella cheese.

Then some crumbled turkey bacon... (I know, not the real thing... but still pretty tasty!)

Top with yummy cherry tomatoes, and end with a drizzle of olive oil.

Then I put it back the oven for about another ten minutes. Once it came out, I added sliced avocado, and voila! 

 I topped mine with some shredded iceberg lettuce bathed in a friendly helping of mayonnaise, since this is how they do it at California Pizza Kitchen.. and it's just so darn good. For my mayonnaise-averse husband, I left that part out!

Primed, Sealed, Delivered

In the battle of us verses cabinets, the victory is OURS! We are actually about 85% done with them at this point! The doors have turned out to be the most time consuming part of the project, since you have to wait for each side to dry every time you apply another coat of primer or paint. All the websites say, don't be alarmed by how awful your cabinets will look once they're covered in primer! For me, I thought they looked BETTER with the primer... especially if you meant to go for that streaky, beach-washed look ;-) To save money, we soaked and SCRUBBED the previous hinges, and we'll be spray painting them so they look as good as new! Before and after pictures are coming soon, I promise!

Cool story- my sister had a connection with a guy who had retired from Whirpool Appliances. He had been very vocal about offering his 40% discount to anyone who might need appliances, so when it was time for us to get ours (refrigerator and washer/dryer), my sister emailed him to let him know. Days went by without a response. His daughter-in-law, a good friend of my sister's, said that he had been overwhelmed with requests to use his discount. We were a bit disappointed, but decided that God would provide whatever appliances we were supposed to have. We started searching Craigslist for some reliable appliances that we could afford, all the while, praying that God would work it out. Yesterday my sister calls so excited, just like Ed McMann, and says, "How would you like a discount on those appliances???" Apparently his email account was acting funky and he hadn't seen the email until just then. Praise God!!

Closing Time...

Today, we signed a few hundred papers that resulted in the ownership of our very first home. It was surreal, how God provided this house for us, how He orchestrated every single step. As soon as it was official, we drove to take a look at our home for the first time since it became OURS. An unexpected 65 degrees of warm sunlight welcomed us to our new place- home. Jared carried me over the threshold as we walked through our own front door for the first time. As I stood in the kitchen while Jared checked on... something... (I don't really know what he was checking on), I saw the light pour in the windows. I imagined our friends and family bustling around... I could see the homemade sauce simmering on the stove, I could hear the thunk of the keys as someone played the piano. Through the window, a bristly pine tree stands watch outside the family room, and squirrels dart around the top of the fence. I could only stand there and say THANK YOU. Thank you God, for taking such good care of us, for not only providing what we need, but also knowing what we really LIKE, too.

On our way out, we met our next door neighbor- a soldier. He played catch with his 7 year old daughter, Ivy. We smiled and said, "We're you're new neighbors!" Ivy leaped forward with such joy, as if she was tired of having this empty, quiet house next to hers. He welcomed us and told us how close the neighbors on our street are, about how they had banded together to watch his kids through the night when he suddenly had to take his wife to the ER... how they are there for each other and know each other by name. Could it be, we found a neighborhood that has Long Island attributes... in COLORADO???  Thank you Lord, for this home, for providing, for all that You do. Help us to be wise, and let me not ruin the kitchen cabinets for good. Amen.