Since This is The Only Thing in Our Life Right Now...

More pictures of our ever progressing basement. We offically moved in January 5th and boy that was a very long day. We spent the whole day moving stuff into the basement and cleaning the upstairs to get it ready for the new renters. Okay, so it wasn't completely finished when we moved in...we still had the baseboards, the doors and trim, and finally the countertop in the kitchen.

One week, three days in basement: All doors almost completely hung, only the closet door left. No baseboards yet or a kitchen countertop. Might I mention that without a countertop it's really really hard to cook. We've been eating frozen pizzas and scamming off the parental units (thank you so much). We have someone coming over tomorrow to measure for a top from the Home Depot and apparently it takes four weeks to order the countertop in, so if anyone has any good ideas on easy, dishless dinners let me know! Oh, btw, did I mention that Nate washed our dishes in bathtub...totally gross and seemingly unsanitary! I couldn't even go in the bathroom while he was doing it, but no countertop means no kitchen sink...ick. Well, here are some pictures of our kitchen so far. I think it looks nice and it will look even better with a top on it!!!Our niece Rylee. She is such a good little helper! She was right there with me while I put together the cabinets and once we finished a few she said, "It's fits Rylee!" She got in and then told me to get the camera! I guess she knew it would be a cute picture!

Going back to the college days. We haven't bought a couch yet so for the first week all we had to sit on was our camping chairs. Nate's dad told us we had to take a picture of it to show our kids one day otherwise they wouldn't believe it! Now we have a futon in there until we find a couch we like and want to buy.

My Word

Your Word is "Fearless"

You see life as your one chance to experience everything, and you just go for it! You believe the biggest risk is being afraid and missing out on something amazing. Sometimes your fearlessness means you're daring. You enjoy risky activities. And sometimes your fearlessness means you're courageous. You're brave enough to do the right thing, even when it's scary.

What's Your Word?

The End is Near!!

Well, the road to a finished basement has been a long one, but I'm proud to announce that the end is in sight! In fact, the finished date has to be by the end of the month because the top has been rented out for January to a seemingly nice family from the UK.

We just finished grouting the tile in the kitchen and the bathroom yesterday. The paint has gone onto the walls and carpet is being laid Monday. I can hardly believe that it's almost the end! What the heck am I gonna do with all the free time I will have next year?!?! Get ready for a lot of new book reviews and an updated recipe blog! Here are a few pics of our progress thus far...

Framing done by Nate and our good buddy Trevor! Thanks!

Drywall stage...so hard and heavy! The only part we didn't do was the mudding and taping.

To be the kitchen area...all tiled up. Time for cabinets!

The front door during the framing stage...

...the front door with drywall, paint, and a tile floor!! Yeah baby! We did that!

Bathroom before tile and drywall...

...the bathroom after tile and drywall! It's all coming together!

The coolest thing about this whole project is that Nate and I did like 95% of the work. Some of the tougher stuff we hired out but as for the rest...somehow we figured it out!! Carpet Monday!! Yipee!!

What Does It Mean?

The past two weeks, Nate has been singing the same lines of this crazy song and for the life of me, I could not figure out what it was. Finally he sat down for a few minutes at the computer and found the 30 sec snippet on itunes...it was "Human" by The Killers. I'm not quite sure what the song is about but I love the killers so automatically I loved this song. But my question is what the heck is this song about? Well, I think I could make up what I think it's about but listening to the lyrics...it's confusing. Here's the chorus:

Are we human or are we dancer
My sign is vital, my hands are cold

And I'm on my knees

Looking for the answer
Are we human or are we dancer

Hum....? Personally I think we are all "dancer."

Here's another song I love but not quite sure about the lyrics. I always picture some kind of midevil scene, although from the album cover it looks like some kind of civil war.

I used to rule the world

Seas would rise when I gave the word

Now in the morning I sleep alone

Sweep the streets I used to own

I used to roll the dice

Feel the fear in my enemy's eyes

Listen as the crowd would sing

"Now the old king is dead! Long live the king!"

One minute I held the key

Next the walls were closed on me

And I discovered that my castles stand

Upon pillars of salt and pillars of sand

I hear Jerusalem bells are ringing

Roman Catholic choirs are singing

Be my mirror, my sword and shield

My missionaries in a foreign field

That would be Coldplay's "Viva la Vida," which translates into "long live life." To me the title and the lyrics of the song could mean live a good life, you don't want to look back in years to come and find you just left distruction and unhappiness. The chorus could be the person in the song waking up and hearing the blossoming of a new day...maybe. Is it wrong to inspired by a song you don't completely understand?

A Guilty Pleasure

One of my favorite fashion trends that's popped up in the past year is the dark, black/red, "goth" colored nails. It's so awesome because it adds a little bit of edge to your personality and it looks really good with any outfit. The picture is of Lauren Conrad from "The Hills" which I'm a little embarassed to admit I'm addicted to! haha But she always looks great! Plus I love all the different ways she does her hair with braids. It's a nice way to play up long hair with a little something extra.

Delizioso!!!

I have a new hobby. Most of you are gonna be super shocked! I love to cook! It's been a dormant talent I didn't even know I had mostly because I used to burn so many things! It didn't matter if it was cooking rice or baking a cake. It burnt and usually burnt badly! The occasional mess still happens but I'm doing so much better.

How did it all come about you ask??? Well, I've been doing a little dabbling in cooking ever since I got married, you know trying to domesticate myself a little bit (is that a word?). It hit full force when Nate and I moved in with his parents and to pull my share around the house I started cooking dinner 2 times a week plus every other Sunday. At that time two of Nates brother's were still living at home so I had to learn to cook for 6+ people. They were all so kind to me cause sometimes I cooked some gross stuff! Anyways, so I developed this fondness for cooking.

I get recipes from everywhere! My family, friends, and yes, cooking shows! I love Rachel Ray although her recipes are hit and miss, but when I get a hit, it's huge! Also, Everyday Italian with "the boobie chief," Giada (if you've seen her show you'll understand the nickname). So this is the deal, I've decided to start a recipe blog where I will share some of the recipes I'm giving a whirl. It will have everything on it from dinner to breakfast to dessert and maybe a few things about the kitchen. Feel free to visit, try, and share!

To get it all started, you might not know this about me, but I HEART pesto! Especially the Pesto Cavatappi from Noodles and Company!! I've looked all over the place for the recipe so I could make it at home. Alas, I have found none...it's a well guarded secret. So I've used some recipes I've found online to piece together my own: Chx & Mushroom Pesto over Wheat Linguine. It's a little timely at first but worth it! Check it out at http://www.kinasrecipes.blogspot.com/

Busy Busy Busy

Nate and I have been working non-stop on our basement hoping to get it finished by the end of October. We're in the drywall stage and it's been lots of long days with lots of dust and installation floating in the air. Last night we had fun putting up a 14 ft. piece of drywall on the ceiling with Nate's dad...yikes! sooo heavy! anyway, so I haven't had a lot of time to do anything else much less my blog, but I changed the background for Autumn and Halloween cause I LOVE it! The colder weather, peacoats, hoodies, scarves, and tooks! Anyway, happy autumn to all and hopefully if the stress of home renovation doesn't kill me, I'll post some pics of the place! :)