Looking Back, Looking Ahead

 

I’m posting this a day late, but hey better late than never, right? Plus, I have the excuse that yesterday was a holiday so I didn’t want to be tied down to my laptop.

Remember how I mentioned the 100 Happy Days project last week? I must have jinxed myself because I haven’t kept up with it at all over the last few days. Fail. Hoping to jump back in this week, because it really does make me look for the happy parts of each day.

Last week was pretty jam-packed! Tuesday, I tried something new to me – hot yoga! A couple thoughts:

• I had sweat coming out of my body in places I never thought could sweat (like my shoulders? And feet??)
• The heat was actually a dry heat, not a humid one like I thought it would be.
• I got more flexible as the 75 minutes (yes 75!!) wore on and for not having done any sort of yoga practice in 2+ years aside from the random sun salutation here and there, that was a major relief for me.
• I actually was able to do a back bend of sorts and that was a HUGE deal – it’s always been one of my goals in my practice to do a pose like that. And by “of sorts” I mean when we were doing bridge poses, the instructor said if you wanted to ramp up the move you could put your hands by your ears, palms flat and fingertips facing your shoulders then push up and arch your back. I don’t think I’ve done a move like that since I was in middle school. So cool!!

Unfortunately, I didn’t take any photos. Because who wants to see my sweat-drenched face?? No one, that’s who.

But then I negated the entire yoga practice by going to eat Mexican with my friend (who invited me to the class) and a couple of her friends who she was introducing me to. Oh well.

Anyway, I also started testing a pattern for lacy bolero jackets that we’ll be stocking in July. I’m really excited about these jackets! Also for July, my sister is putting together a pattern for crocheted vests for boys. I’m getting her the yarn for those this week and also picking up a few other bowties and headbands she put together for the shop.

Wednesday, Ezra spent with my mom while I worked more on the jacket and catching up on yarn inventory. We all had dinner at Panera that evening and Ezra worked on his fork-wielding skills.

Also on Wednesday, I noticed that the caulk at the base of both of our bathtubs was separating, creating a gap between the tub base and the floor. I figured I would call Drees about it in the AM, but when I checked out the home warranty binder they gave us, it said that things like caulk aren’t covered under the warranty (probably because they have normal wear and the builder can’t really control how that plays out). I was going to let it go until, on Thursday morning, Alex pointed out there were a couple water spots on the garage ceiling – and our master bathroom is right above where the spots are in the garage.

The weird thing was that the water spots on the ceiling weren’t really over where the tub is. I know water runs, but still it was weird. Anyway, I went ahead and called Drees’ customer service on Thursday and explained the situation and even though the caulk isn’t covered, they were so nice and decided to send out our warranty rep anyway so he could inspect the situation. He decided to repair the caulk in both bathrooms and called the plumber to take a look at the water spots and determine if we had a leak. The plumber came by Friday morning.

Long story short, we don’t have a leak. Thank God. And the water wasn’t even coming from the tub (though the seal on the overflow drain on the side of the tub wasn’t totally right so he did fix that). The water was actually from me!! I’d gotten into a habit of leaving the shower door open while I waited for the water to heat up, and I had noticed on Wednesday when I saw the caulk issue that the baseboard by the shower door was bubbled up and expanded – like from water damage. I figured it was from the water splashing out the door when I had the door open. What I didn’t connect until the plumber pointed it out is that there is a register vent right beside that area and if water was pooling there (which it obviously was), it could get into the register vent and travel down the ductwork and even get in between the vinyl floor and subfloor – down into the floor joists and drywall on the garage ceiling. This was especially likely since the shower door can swing all the way open so it’s hanging above this register vent – and water could drip from the bottom of the door into the vent/on the floor beside the vent. And since we had no leaks at all and the water wasn’t coming from the tub and seemed to be by where the shower is….that seemed like the best explanation.

At the 60 day mark, our warranty guy will be back to inspect things again. That’s coming up next week! I’m glad it wasn’t anything serious, and I’m really glad they fit us in and got the plumber out ASAP.

Anyway, on Thursday this also happened –

Ezra’s buddies came over and we made some paintings and took a wagon ride. The paintings became Father’s Day gifts for Alex, my dad and father-in-law. Ezra was hilarious and actually did not want to have his hands in the paint at all – he is kind of particular about things like that. I had a bag full of random paintbrushes and sponge brushes so I got that out and the kids had a lot of fun trying them all out. There’s still some paint on the driveway, but it’s washable so I figure whenever it rains next, it will all wash away. Or when I get back to watering the yard, I can wash it away with hose water.

My mother-in-law and sister-in-law also visited on Thursday (busy day!!). My SIL brought over some sushi and OMG. I am so bummed I didn’t snap a pic of it. It’s easily the best sushi I’ve ever had but it technically isn’t sushi anyway, because everything was cooked in it. And it was also in a soy wrap, not seaweed. But regardless, it was sooooo good and I’m dying for more.

Last thing on Thursday was I published the meal plan for the week and did some couponing, fully intending on going grocery shopping but I ended up not going until Friday. I delayed it because I remembered that Kroger is doing double fuel points all Summer long when you shop Friday-Sunday so I’m going to change up my grocery schedule and start going Friday mornings.

And speaking of Friday, not only the did the plumber visit that day, but the installer with Invisible Fence did, too.

Right now, we’re working on training Aslan with visual boundaries in the form of little white flags setup all around the perimeter of the yard. There is no electrical current in the collar right now (that doesn’t get activated until this week); instead, the collar beeps when he crosses the wire. Twice a day, we walk Aslan around the yard and when he passes over the wire/flags, we say “Back!” and praise him when he comes back into the yard. He’s making really good progress and is learning to not go past the flags. Aslan is a really obedient and smart dog so I think he will catch on really fast without needing the “correction.”

Since we went to the store on Friday, that means that I made quite a few things from my meal plan – Whole Wheat Oatmeal Banana Bread, Blueberry Lemon Cookies and Avocado Egg Salad. Omg that egg salad! It’s so good. It didn’t last in the fridge as long as I was hoping it would, though. Also, when I make this again – because I am making it again – I’m going to add a bit more lemon juice to keep the avocado from browning so fast. But I’ll save my full opinion on it for my recipe review post at the end of the month.

We’ve been making it a weekly family tradition to hit up this little local frozen yogurt place and get a “sweet treat,” as Ezra likes to call it. I’m pretty much a chocoholic so whatever flavor I end up getting (Candy Bar that time) always looks like the above pic by the time I add in my mix-ins. I’m a sucker for the Reese’s Cups and chocolate sauce. I added Kit Kats that time, too and it was so good.

If you’ve stuck around this long reading this post, you probably deserve a cup of frozen yogurt, too – 1625 words and counting, but we’re finally to the weekend!

So, I mentioned last week about getting grass seed and a spreader to start filling in our yard. I don’t know why I had it in my head that getting started with all that would be a super fast process, but it definitely isn’t turning out to be that way. It’s just the prep work that’s taking longer than I thought – the raking up of all the hay. Plus, when I started raking I found a few areas where I need to clear out some more rocks and sticks. I’ve just been doing it section by section. Friday I raked one half of the front yard and Saturday I did the second half.

One of the Drees landscapers was in the neighborhood working on Friday and hauled away all the hay I’d raked up that day, but Saturday it was up to us. This is everything I raked up on just one side of the yard –

And here’s my progress on the front yard –

You can really see the number the wind and birds did on the grass seed. Sooooooooo patchy. So bad. But not as bad as I thought.

I haven’t even touched the back yard yet. *shudder*

Also on Saturday, it was my dad’s birthday but he was still gone on a business trip so we ended up not seeing my family and instead we saw my brother-in-law and sister-in-law for some playground time and dinner at (you guessed it) Panera. Before that, though, I went to Knitwits and took a class on Ravelry.

I learned a lot about Ravelry at the class – especially about the search function. If you’re into fiber and are a Raveler, you should find me! You can click the little R icon up at the top of the page, on the left, or you can look me up my by username – moxiemanda

While I was at Knitwits, I spied this Swans Island Yarn and was bummed I couldn’t think of a project to use it for –

I added all of my pattern books and magazines to my library on Ravelry and one of the things I learned at the class was how to search through your library for patterns. So, I’m going to do that some time today to find something to use that yarn for because it’s just so pretty. I love the colors! That minty, cool blue especially.

Sunday, Alex and my dad finally got their paintings from Ezra. I ended up cutting them up and framing them. But these are what they looked like before framing –

And that afternoon, we went to the swim club my parents recently joined and tested out the kid pool. Ezra was a fan –

And that night we grilled out at my parent’s house and just hung out for a little while. We’ll see my in-laws next weekend and do Father’s Day with them then.

WHEW! I guess I didn’t realize how packed our week and weekend were until I wrote it all out. This upcoming week, I’m working and meeting with Knitwits to sign on as their social media manager. I’m also chugging away at the bolero jackets and will hopefully be getting my first newsletter out. If you haven’t signed up yet, you should! You can do so at the form on the sidebar or by clicking here.

Now, onto the links.

Here are a few links that caught my eye –

I stumbled onto Kate Szabone‘s shop the other day and have been drooling over her jewelry ever since. For our anniversary in December – which sounds so far, but is really only 6 months away! – I’m totally asking to be treated with something from her shop. The regular rings and engagement/wedding rings are my favorites. I’m dreaming big here, but I would love love love love this ring. It’s the Double Prong Oval Sunstone Ring –

An Oregon couple rushed through their wedding ceremony as a wildfire was approaching, and their photographer (Josh Newton) captured these amazing shots – full story at Buzzfeed. Click the photo to go to the photographer’s website and check out his work.

The one thing Christians should stop saying – by Scott Dannemiller

(This was a challenging article to read – I know I’m guilty of saying “I’m blessed,” too, about material things. Read with an open mind!)

I’ve noticed a trend among Christians, myself included, and it troubles me. Our rote response to material windfalls is to call ourselves blessed. Like the “amen” at the end of a prayer.

It’s too late. Exclamation marks are unstoppable now. – by Melissa Dahl of Science of Us

The exclamation mark, once reserved for expressing joy or excitement, now simply marks baseline politeness (a fact brilliantly expressed by an Onion article headlined, “Stone-Hearted Ice Witch Forgoes Exclamation Point”), and when we see a text or email that lacks it, we instinctively wonder what’s up.

Vermeer’s paintings might be 350-year-old photographs. – via BoingBoing

Tim Jenison, a Texas-based inventor, attempts to solve one of the greatest mysteries in the art world: 
How did Dutch master Johannes Vermeer manage to paint so photo-realistically 150 years before the invention of photography?