Porch in Progress

While Eric was working on the fence, Jenn and I got to work on the porch! 

Could someone please tell me why the previous owner thought that the color...rust..

would look good with our house?

I really don't get it. 

So, I took matters into my own hands (and those of willing bystanders) and made a change. 

 I had just finished the first coat of paint. It looked so nice.

Until it started raining.

Thank goodness it had dried enough to be unharmed. 

 Jenn and I went to town on the demolition of the old porch. It was quite empowering! hehe

 It doesn't show up well in photos, but the deck is now a light gray.

Like I said, it's still in progress. 

Today, Eric put in black spindles, which look great. The next step will be putting white boards to cover up the space at the bottom of the porch. 

Get excited for the final product!

Da Fence

The time finally came to put up our privacy fence!

Eric worked diligently last weekend with a friend and now we have a space of our own.

 

Here's how it went down:

 This is where Barkley hung out for the weekend. 

Good thing he's not a jumper (knock on wood)!

 And there ya go!

 Check out that gate! I am super impressed that Eric made this gate...it saved us money on buying the actual gate through Menards and I think it looks way cooler. Genius!

A spring snow??

This is what we woke up to last Wednesday.....

whyyyyyyy???

It snowed Tuesday night and ALL day Wednesday! I-80 and several highways up here were completely closed due to the snow and high winds. Who would've guessed on April 13th we get a blizzard. Unbelievable. 

I have a lot of getting used to....

Privacy Fence...Here We Come!

Eric has been very hard at work today and every night after work last week on the privacy fence.

Brandon came over this morning and they worked on it for 12 hours straight! Such champs.

We are very excited to soon have a privacy fence. Not many people in our neighborhood have them, and it will be a change not being able to talk to our neighbors over the chain link fence but we're looking forward to having the backyard as our own space. We know it will cut down on Barkley's constant barking and we're hoping to create a nice, relaxing space back there. 

I will have more updates soon with the finished product!

The guys are both exhausted. It's bedtime!

Cheddar Bay Biscuits

Who doesn't love the famous cheddar bay biscuits from Red Lobster? 

I know I do! 

SO naturally, I made them....on my lunch break. Normal people wouldn't try a new recipe...a baking recipe at that, on their lunch break. But, I never claimed to be normal.

When I crave something, I can't eat anything else 

but that (if it's available of course). 

These babies only took 10 minutes total and they. are. heavenly.

I didn't have to buy anything in advance. I can almost guarantee that every one of you has these items in your pantry/fridge. You owe it to yourself to make these scrumptious biscuits.

 Tada!

 

• 2 cups baking mix
• 1-1/2 ounces Cheddar cheese, shredded
• 2/3 cup water
• 1/4 cup melted butter
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/8 teaspoon dried parsley
  
  
  
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• In a mixing bowl, combine the baking mix, cheese, and water. Mix until dough is firm. Using a small scoop, place dough on the prepared pan.
• Bake at 375 degrees F for 10 to 12 minutes, or until golden brown.
• Combine the melted butter, garlic powder, salt, onion powder and parsley. Brush over baked biscuits immediately upon removing from oven.

Lately...

I've been pretty MIA recently, mostly because work has really picked up for me. I've been trying to juggle a variety of things when I get home from the workday and have found that my motivation for getting back on the computer is slim. BUT, I also love blogging so I should keep it up.

We've also had visitors and made a trip back to KS, which has cut down on my blog time. Our good friends Hannah and Kyle visited a couple weekends ago. We had the best time together! It was so refreshing to see them after so long and great to show them our new life up here. Eric and I appreciate it so much when our friends and family make the trek up here. We always love to show people a good time. Then we went back to Lawrence for Michaela's bridal shower, which was such a great time! We were able to see several friends and Michaela and I spent some quality time together. It's always so much fun to go visit Lawrence!

On the home front- Eric and I have purchased a fence and it will arrive in it's millions of pieces this Friday. We are very excited to have a privacy fence for Barkley! We're hoping that cuts down on his barking. We will, however, miss meeting our neighbors at the fence to chat and have their son play with Barkley. I guess we'll just have to go around the block. We're looking forward to landscaping and creating a patio back there sometime in the near future. I'll be sure to post pictures of the progress.

I've started teaching piano lessons to a neighbor girl. It is so much fun and she is such a wonderful student. Instead of having her parents pay, we're asking that she do little jobs for us...like water the garden once a week. I think it's a great trade off and she's always offered to help us.

I have been working a great deal on the indoor garden. I'm starting to learn more about when to plant up here, how to start your first garden, AND how to not over-water plants! yahoo! It's coming along well and I'm so excited to start putting plants outside. People usually start in May...or when the first sign of frost is gone. Last May it snowed! Uck.

Here's a little taste of what we've been up to...

 I cleaned out the flower bed, but needed Eric's help for the large shrub. We went to town on the roots and realized that they were MUCH bigger than expected. It was going to take a chain to get those babies out.

 Keep in mind that this was last Saturday when it was 80 degrees. I got a fierce sunburn that day. And on Sunday? Well, we had a blizzard. That's right, it snowed all day long. Oh boy...this Nebraska weather is something else.

 The neighborhood came out to help, hehe

 ....and now for the gaping whole in the flower bed!

 To be continued.