Creative Do-It-Yourself Ideas and Inspiration for Your House and Family. Currently making _______________.
Joe worked on a house a few months ago, in Stillwater MN, and we were invited to their open house for the grand reveal. It was such a beautiful place! And some of the nicest people ever. Joe did a lot of the behind-the-scenes work: installed a new furnace, reworked some dryer vents, fresh air intake, moved some duck work and some other small fixes. This house was redone from head to toe, and was stunning when it was all finished!
…Or lake hockey.
Right after the first snowfall Joe was looking for deals on hockey nets. And it’s about time we got some snow! Everyone has been waiting on edge to get out there.
We have a pretty slick four-wheeler plow attached to the front Joe’s dad’s four-wheeler that we use to shovel the driveway. Wayyy faster than snowblowing. So we used that to shovel off an oval-shaped area for the rink on the lake, just offshore.
But when Joe told me he was making a zamboni, I honestly thought the idea was one big joke. He’s not actually serious, right? Silly me. I should know better by now… He already had the blueprints in his mind within minutes. So, now we have a redneck ice resurfacer.
It only took him 4 hours. Here’s the materials you will probably need:
We hope you are enjoying the holidays and are looking forward to a great 2016. I’m definitely enjoying some down time – keeping all the Christmas lights on for a few more days and polishing off a few leftover cookies.
I’ve been thinking a lot about what my 2016 goals/resolutions will be, and I keep coming back to one word: Abundance. I like to choose a theme or word instead of a traditional resolution to focus on throughout the year, and this year I want to embrace the abundance that comes my way. Remembering that there will always be enough time, always be enough money; the things I sometimes feel lacking in. Shifting a scarcity mindset to one of abundance, trusting in myself and God’s provision and plans. This can be hard and scary, but I’m so excited to see where 2016 takes us and the gifts it brings into our lives!
It’s been a great year for us with many firsts, new traditions, new memories, new friends, old friends, family, and lots of love. And of course, challenges too. But I think I really did my word from last year justice: Celebrate. We’re so grateful for the blessings this year has brought. Now, on to a year of abundance.
These site stats are super interesting to me, and I thought you might like them too. If there’s anything you would like to see more of next year, please let us know! It’s really nice to hear from people and which types of projects are most inspirational/helpful to you. We have a boatload of projects backlogged that I’ll be posting, and some new construction sites in the house as well. It’s hard to keep up with Joe!
Here’s an excerpt:
A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 5,500 times in 2015. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 5 trips to carry that many people
Click here to see the complete report.
Something about baking, putting up lights, wrapping presents and listening to Christmas music just puts me in the most relaxed mood. I love seeing everyone slowly settle into the season’s comforts. I’m all about adding layers of decorations, day by day. And I love seeing everyone’s Christmas lights – new ones seem to spring up every night! It’s a month-long celebration and we’re right in the middle of it.
You know it’s been a great summer when it’s still summer weather in October. It was in the 60’s this week and it’s almost Halloween! I can’t believe how lucky we’ve been to have this. But, we know it won’t last, so we’ve started winterizing. Yes, the W word. Last weekend we had a farewell to summer sendoff and started cleaning up the yard.
You know you’re a Minnesota home owner when… Most of these hit too close to home. Especially 1, 3, 4, 6, 7 and 12.
This has been a long time coming. When we moved in, we discovered this incredible secret storage area know as the crawlspace. After moving from a slightly larger house, we needed a place to put boxes and miscellaneous things that either didn’t fit, or we didn’t have a place for right away. So into the crawlspace they went. And the garage. But that’s a whole other story… It was finally time to tackle our storage area and get things to their homes. We spent our staycation working on this, and a few other big projects.
We have a total crush on this house. Guilty as charged. Joe’s long-time family friends bought a rambler in St. Louis Park Minnesota and completely gutted and remodeled it. The work is amazing! So much attention to detail. The 3,000 or so square foot space feels way more spacious on the inside than expected. That’s how so many rambler renovations seem to be lately. If there’s one word I could use to describe this house it’s “details”. We’ve been there a total of twice now, and took the opportunity to sneak a few pics. 😉 Thanks guys!
The Sign Santa finally came around and left us a little present in the front yard. Just in time to update it to “SOLD” – Joe accepted an offer!
He was SO happy to hear it.
Yep. We are dreaming big and relocating. The idea has been brewing for a year or so, and the planning has happened behind the scenes. But everything kind of came together in the last few days, so no matter how much planning you do, you can never be 100% ready for any big decision in life. That’s what I’m telling myself at least! We put in an offer. And they accepted. Contingent upon Joe’s current house selling. Cross your fingers!
“May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.” – Nelson Mandela
I sincerely hope you didn’t give up sweets for Lent, because I have a bunch of chocolate recipes to share. There’s an amazing new truffle place in the skyway where I work called Legacy Chocolates. Ah.Maz.Ing. At $3 a piece, they are worth every cent. They make 99% dark cocoa truffles, and experiment with new flavors each week. What’s not to love, right? The trouble is, I was becoming a regular. For a couple months, I would get a truffle every week. So I thought, hmmm I could totally make something like this.
I found this recipe for truffles on Pinterest, and it spoke to me:
Guilt-free chocolate truffles: “Greek yogurt chocolate truffles. Great recipes for fitness lovers with a sweet tooth.” From MayIHaveThisRecipe.com.