Category Archives: Uncategorized

Making our house a home.

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I gave you all the tour de casa Romenesko a few months ago, and our house looked a little sad because we still had our Christmas tree up, but there weren’t any decorations or lights on it.  There weren’t very many decorations on the walls, and there were two entertainment centers in the living room.  


I am pleased to announce that our house is really starting to look like a home, and I’m loving it more and more every day.  This is largely due to the fact that I’ve had the largest stretch of time not traveling for work since we’ve moved into the house, so since I’m in it all the time I want to make it look nicer because I don’t like looking at ugly things.  Which is why I married such a stud.


I think that another reason that I’ve been doing so much in our house lately is because LIVING UP NORTH SUCKS and the weather has been awful and it’s been the longest winter OF ALL TIME.  No, seriously.  All of you people on the east coast that were posting on Facebook a couple weeks ago “80 degrees?  I wanted spring not summer!!”  Well EFF THAT because it’s still WINTER here.  Don’t be complaining about nice summer weather when other people are trudging through the SNOW when they are supposed to be planting flowers.

This is what I woke up to last week.  I think it was Wednesday?  Anyways, that’s a picture of my neighbor SNOW BLOWING HIS DRIVEWAY IN CARHARTT COVERALLS IN APRIL that I creepily took before going to work.

This is Peter shoveling part of our driveway when I made him wake up because I was in such a crabby mood because of the stupid snow.  (Let’s just take a moment and thank the heavens it wasn’t snowing mid-April last year when our wedding was only 2 weeks away.  Seriously, that would have been BAD.)  I had ice cream for lunch last Thursday because I was so depressed about the weather.  I don’t usually complain about the weather.  But it is snowing in April, so I’m allowing myself a free pass.



The snow just melted on MONDAY and GUESS WHAT.  I’ll show you what.

THERE IS A 50% CHANCE OF SNOW ON FRIDAY.  Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
Ok, let’s move on to less depressing things like all of the pretty decorations that I’ve been telling Peter where to hang putting up in the house!  Look at what adults we are!!
These pictures are above our couch, but I didn’t take a picture of the whole wall because we accidentally hung them too high… So I’m going to get around to lengthening those strings sometime…

Only one entertainment center!  No Christmas tree!!  Pretty decorations!  And new lamps!!  When the TV gets hung on the wall EVENTUALLY, the clock will probably move a bit.  But there was a nail there, so I decided what the hay and hung the clock there anyways.

Can you tell we love baby Nora who’s not such a baby anymore?  And my mom.  I felt that I should put a picture of my mom in the living room since she was the person who came up with the living room decor.  And I love her.

Decorations above the cabinets!  Chickens!!!  Both of my grandma’s had chicken decorated kitchens, and since I have the chicken clock from my Grandma Ann’s kitchen, I figured that I could put a couple of chickens above the cabinets to tie it all together.

I would love to put lights above these cabinets like the other ones have, but unfortunately there isn’t an outlet that’s discreetly hidden in one of these cabinets like the other ones (for the microwave).  (Peter had to drill a hole in the top of the cabinets so I could get my lights up there.)  (He’s so manly.)

Look at how clean our house is!  I’ve been spring-cleaning up a storm lately, and every morning before I leave for work I tell Peter “DON’T YOU MESS UP THIS HOUSE!!”  He doesn’t.  He’s actually quite clean.  But I just feel the need to tell him that because it’s important.

Our multi-cultural bathroom with trinkets from Hawaii, St. Thomas, the Florida Keys, Mexico, Ecuador, and South Africa.  The frames are American though.  Well, they are from Kohl’s, so they were probably made in another country…  But it’s the multi-cultural bathroom, so that makes it better, actually.  Anyways.

We finally have a guest room that’s a GUEST ROOM and not a JUNK room!  Complete with a curtain and lamp!  Come visit us, please, we spent good money on that mattress. 

I have been looking for a new comforter for MONTHS and FINALLY found one that Peter said, “Hey, I like that!” so I immediately purchased it, and then when it arrived I put it on our bed and rolled all over it so that he couldn’t take it back.  And then last weekend I got some throw pillows and now the look is complete!  The walls look green in this picture, but they’re actually light grey…  What color curtains should I get?  Also, if you look REALLY closely, I put a picture of me on Peter’s nightstand (the one on the left) because I’ve been told that I’m not a very attractive sleeper, so I thought that if Peter wakes up in the morning and is like AH! She’s scary!! he can look at the picture of me looking all beautiful on our wedding day and remember that he loves me and I’m not usually scary.  Not that he only loves me for my good looks or anything.  Please, he’s not that shallow.  (But I put a picture of him on my nightstand too because I did only marry him for his good looks.)  (Just kidding.  I just wanted a picture of my handsome steed on my nightstand.)

This picture is not hung on the wall yet, but I have it on our dresser and wanted to put it on my blog because I love it.  I love this picture SO MUCH because my mom and dad have a picture JUST LIKE THIS ONE from their wedding day.  Standing in front of the same church window, looking lovingly into each others’ eyes.  Their picture is hanging in their bedroom, so it’s only fitting that our picture be hanging in our bedroom too.  We actually don’t have anything on our bedroom walls yet because I really want the other dresser that goes with our bedroom set before we decide where we’re pounding nails in the walls.  (I FINALLY got Peter to agree to getting it so now we’re just waiting for a holiday sale at the furniture store.)

Anyways, our house is getting more homey now, and it makes me really happy.  Now if the weather would cooperate and we could put our grill outside, that would be fantastic!

Also, I was serious when I asked you what color curtains I should get for our bedroom.  This is a more realistic picture of the wall color, but remember that is has to match the NEW comforter, not the old one.

Baby Mania

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I know it’s been a while since I posted, but I’ve been very, very BUSY.  (I am aware that I have been saying that at the beginning of every post lately.  I’ll take that as a sign that I need to start posting more.)

March was a big month for BABIES being born!!


Friends having babies is the best EVER.  Because I get to love on them and snuggle them and kiss their sweet smelling skin.  And then I get to go home and eat ice cream for dinner and sleep in on Saturday because I don’t have any kids of my own.  And it’s fabulous.  I have to be honest with you though.  After Peter and I got to see our friends’ twins, we got home and had the following conversation at the kitchen table:


Sara: Doesn’t seeing those teeny tiny babies make you want to have a little baby of our own??


Pete: Yeah.  It really does.


*Sit in blissful silence for about 37 seconds*


Sara: Let’s get real.  We’re not ready for that shit.  Literally.


So, we will continue loving on our friends’ babies until we’re ready for that shit.


The SECOND best thing about friends having babies is that I get to cook to my little heart’s desire because they are going to be busy changing diapers and trying to sleep.  My cousin Kelly came up the weekend after THREE babies were born so that we could cook and bake away.  We were also baking for my sister Jenna and her husband because Jenna’s on bed rest until her baby comes in the middle of May.  That’s a lot of food!!

Carrot cake cupcakes.
A bottle of wine or two may have been consumed while cooking.
No one was injured.

Yum.

Blueberry muffins.  Super delicious.

Banana bread…

… that we had to taste-test.

Peanut butter cookies.  Very, very scrumptious.

We also made some real food, not just treats, like this beef stew.
Last weekend I made this stew for Peter and I, and I sliced off the
tip of my thumb.  That wasn’t very fun.

After we made all this food, I had to go deliver it and see some babies!!  First, we met Craig and Katie’s twins, Henry and Oliver.  But I didn’t give them any food because they were moving in a few days (talk about busy people) and were cleaning out their fridge.  I had the privilege of being the photographer when Craig and Katie got to hold their boys for the very first time.  It was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen.  Ever.  I cried.


Now let’s look at how cute their babies are, including their son Noah, who I could just eat up he’s so sweet!!

Oliver on the left, Henry on the right.  If you ever have the opportunity
to hold two itty bitty babies at once, I urge you to take it.  I was SO happy.
On the brink of TEARS happy.  LOOK at how LITTLE they are!!!! 
Oh, I love them.

Best buds.

While Craig and Katie were in the hospital with their babies, I got to watch Noah.
LOOK AT HOW ADORABLE HE IS.  There was only one second when I didn’t like him very much because he pooped through his diaper, and I had to give him a bath.  Little stinker.  BUT LOOK. AT. THAT. FACE.  So I was only mad at him for a millisecond.  


Do you see why I couldn’t stay mad at this handsome stud?

Feeding Oliver his bottle.  He ate like a champ.

Noah was munching on some coasters.

Peter holding baby Oliver.

I’m holding Henry and Peter has Oliver. 
We weren’t showing favoritism for Oliver, he was awake a little longer so we snuggled him more and didn’t disturb Henry.



I went down to Illinois to visit Jenna for a few days and help her out a little, but I MOSTLY went down because I got to see THIS LITTLE MUNCHKIN BUTT.  (Sorry Jenna.  But I know you know it’s the truth.)

  

Now let’s look at how well this little lady cleans up for Easter.  What a sweetie pie.
Two days after Henry and Oliver came into the world, our friends Kim and Stew welcomed their precious little girl Maggie into our their lives.  She’s a cutie, that’s for sure.

Sweet, sweet baby girl.  
Peter held her for only a second before she pooped.
We seem to bring out the best in babies.

Peter likes to sleep like this too sometimes.
It’s WAY cuter when Maggie sleeps like a burrito.

Can you see why I haven’t been posting?  Did you just DIE because of all of the cuteness in this post?  Aren’t you just SO HAPPY that all of these people are having babies that I can love on?  I AM.

Now I’m just impatiently waiting for Jenna to have her baby so that I can go see ANOTHER baby.  Seriously.  I’m going to faint from all of this loving and cuteness!!

Sleep simply with Simply Sleep

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I’m not getting paid for advertising how great Tylenol Simply Sleep is, but if you’d like me to review your product, I will happily accept cash or check to try your product and then write allll about it.

Another side note: I don’t know how to write this without sounding like a drug addict, so I’ll just say that I’m not a drug addict and trust that you’ll believe me.  (I’ll do my best to refrain from calling Simply Sleep a magical pill.)  


If I have an ailment, I will take a pill for it.  Headache?  Give me an Excedrin.  Cold?  (Gently) toss me the Advil Cold & Sinus during the day and Nyquil at night.  Upset stomach? Pop a couple of Pepcid AC, the chewable kind, NOT the disgusting liquid that makes you feel worse.  Anyways, you get my drift.  If I have trouble sleeping and it’s before 11 PM, I will take Simply Sleep.  It is a magical pill that lets me drift off into a simple slumber without the tossing and turning that I would be suffering without it.  I don’t take it often, only when I’m desperate.  


I recently began traveling to other hemispheres and the plane rides are LONG.  And airplane chairs are getting more uncomfortable by the trip.  When I take an overnight flight that is over 10 hours, I take Simply Sleep so that I can kind of sleep on the plane.  It doesn’t work as well when you’re sitting in an airplane chair, but I can at least fall asleep for an hour, wake up and shift around in the chair, and then fall asleep again.  Repeat.  


I thought I was SUCH a genius when I thought to take Simply Sleep on my overnight flight.  SO smart.  I actually tell EVERYONE about Simply Sleep on overnight flights.  And when I say everyone, I mean everyone.


When I was coming home from South Africa a few weeks ago, there were two men standing behind me in the line to get on the plane.  A guy that was around 50, and another older guy in his upper 70s.  But this older guy?  He had a spark to him that made me laugh.  He was tall and gangly, and he wore a red baseball cap.  And a jean jacket vest.  And he had a laugh like a cartoon character.  I got all of this information from standing in front of him in line and listening to his conversation with the younger guy.


While I was eavesdropping standing there minding my own business, I accidentally heard the old guy ask the younger guy if he had anything to take on the plane to sleep.  My ears perked up.  I had something to take for sleeping on the 17 hour plane ride!  Ask me, ask me!! When the younger guy declined, I turned around.


Sara: I have something to take.
Men: … What?
Sara: I have some sleeping pills if you want to take some.  They really work well.
Old man: Really?
Younger man: Sleeping pills?
Sara: I mean, it’s only Tylenol Simply Sleep, so it’s not some prescription or anything… You can buy it at Wal-Mart or Walgreens.  Or anywhere.
Old man: I’d love some!
Younger man: … I’ll take a couple.
Sara: Great!  Hang on a sec…


And I proceeded to rummage through my bag while standing in the line waiting to board the airplane surrounded by a ton of people.  I found the beloved bottle and gave them each two blue pills.  


What I thought I looked like:


What I probably looked like to the surrounding strangers that heard me offering other strangers drugs:

And then we spent the next 20 minutes making small talk and choosing not to discuss what could have been interpreted as an illegal drug deal in the Johannesburg airport.  In hindsight, it probably wasn’t the best idea to offer drugs to two men that I had never met before while surrounded by complete strangers, any of whom could have been an undercover spy waiting to bust some drug ring in the airport that I’m unaware of.  

After we landed in Atlanta and were going through customs, I ran into my new friends in the line.  They both slept great!  And asked me again what this miracle drug was that I gave them.  So I told them, and I told them where they could get it.  I felt like such a nice person, making their travels so much easier.


One of my friends is going on a long overnight trip to Asia, so I told her about Simply Sleep too.  She sent me a message a couple of days ago:

Can you BELIEVE this DEVASTATING news??  I refuse to believe it.  I JUST recommended this drug to strangers!  They believed in me, and now I’ve deceived them.


The moral of the story is that you shouldn’t recommend drugs to people unless you’re sure that they can get them legally off of the Wal-Mart shelves and not have to get them from a stranger in an airport.


Off to find some new pills…

On my mind

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I’ve had some writer’s block for a WHILE now (as you can tell by my serious lack of posts).  I don’t know what my problem is.  I mean, I’m not depressed or anything.  Quite the opposite. I’m loving life.  I noticed that in 2011 I posted on my blog a LOT.  And most of those posts were about conversations with Peter or stupid things that I did.  I still do stupid things, don’t get me wrong, but I just haven’t been able to make a story out of them.  And I still have conversations with Peter.  All the time, actually, since we’re roommates and all.  Maybe it’s because we’re having these conversations constantly that the ridiculousness just seems routine?  I don’t know.  Anyways, the point is that I haven’t known what to write about, so I haven’t been writing at all.  There go my dreams of becoming an author.  (I had that dream in 3rd grade when I wrote books all the time.)


Things that have recently been on my mind:


– Homeownership is awesome.  Except when it snows.  Then it really sucks because you have to figure out how your driveway is going to get cleared.  And that’s not fun.  So you should let your husband handle it.


– This little nugget of joy:


I could just eat her up.  Especially when she has massive bedhead after her nap.  We FaceTime with her often, and she is just so adorable.  She reads us stories, answers important phone calls, and carries on with her busy little life in front of the camera so we can see her.  She sings us songs, shows us her babies, and knows so many words.  It really is amazing.  My favorite is that she knows how to say cake.  She definitely has Vanderstappen genes if she knows that word already!


– Peter’s parents got me a really nice diploma frame for Christmas.

(I don’t know why it formatted itself into a square… It’s rectangular.)

Peter has the same diploma frame for St. Norbert.  I was really excited to get this.  But there is one little problem… I can’t find my diploma.  Anywhere.  The most expensive piece of paper I own, and I lost it.  I know exactly where it was sitting in our apartment.  I KNOW I put it in a box that was labeled “diploma”, among other things, when we moved.  But alas.  I dug and dug and emptied boxes and re-emptied boxes and haven’t found it.  I just sent a check to UW today for $50 and they’ll send me a replacement.  In the grand scheme of things, $50 is cheap compared to what that piece of paper is actually worth.  Sigh.  

When I told my boss that I lost my diploma, he thought I “lost” my diploma.  

Boss: I guess I never checked.  Do you actually have a diploma?
Me: Ummmm yes? (I’m sure my confidence was really reassuring for him.)
Boss: Mmmmhmmmm….

That was really the main reason that I need to get that diploma, stat.  

– Our STUPID kitchen table.  Remember back at the end of December when I ordered a kitchen table?  I didn’t blog about it… But in the tour of our house I mentioned that the table was damaged so we were waiting for the replacement?  

Damage:

I KNEW there were going to be problems right
when I saw the box…

This gouge is actually about an inch long and RIGHT
on the top of the table.  Sigh.  There is more damage too, but
this part was the worst.  And most noticeable.
After SEVEN weeks of calling at least once a week and being polite, I was finally mean on the phone (when I talked to the same poor lady the next day, I apologized for my rudeness), and we FINALLY got a new table sent to us.  

This is what the box looked like when it came:

Needless to say, I did NOT have high hopes for this table.  But Peter told me to not be so negative, so upon opening the box we inspected the table and it’s miraculously undamaged.  It’s not put together yet because we have to move the damaged table to the basement first, but alas, I am finally happy.

– Something that made me happier than the new table was THIS:

BLINDS IN THE KITCHEN.  So now at night I don’t have to look into the scary, dark abyss and can instead look at blinds.  I feel MUCH safer now.  Because if someone comes to get me, they’ll probably be like “OMG they have BLINDS so I’d better not get the people that live in this house.”  I love them.

– I was in South Africa last week, and when I was boarding my flight I saw the MOST vibrant rainbow.  The picture doesn’t do it justice at ALL, but you get the idea.  Then, when we took off, I looked back and saw the most amazing thing.  From up in the air, I could see an entire circle rainbow.  It was so beautiful.  I couldn’t take a picture though because my electronics were turned off.  It was amazing.

– Another thing that I’ve been thinking about is babies.  No, we’re not having any, nor will we for an unknown amount of time.  But that doesn’t mean that we can’t love on all of our friends’ babies!  And that’s like, better, because when they get fussy or spit up all over I can be like “Ok, here you go!” and give the baby back.  And I still get a full night’s sleep.  It’s a win-win because I can give them kisses and snuggle them, but then give them back when I don’t want to deal with their crying.


We get asked all the time when we’re having kids, and we’ve gotten to a point where we just say, “Oh, we’re way to selfish at this point in our lives to have children.”  Which is completely true.  We just weren’t always so blunt about it.  And another thing (that I can only use for a few more precious months) is that we weren’t even supposed to be MARRIED yet.  So there’s that.  A lot of my friends that are moms are like “DON’T LET ANYONE RUSH YOU INTO IT.”  I don’t know if you know me, but I am not big on letting people tell me what to do.  So trust me, that’s definitely something that will be a choice completely made by Peter and I.


Despite the fact that we aren’t having babies yet, I get stuff in the mail ALL THE TIME.  Yesterday, there were the only two things in our mailbox:



The maternity magazine I understand because I Peter bought Jenna a really pretty maternity shirt for Christmas.  (Did I tell you that she’s expecting #2 in June?  Yay!!)  Peter picked it out, but I paid with my card.  Which was obviously a mistake.

The envelope on top contains a sample of Enfamil formula.  Another day I got an entire box of formula.  I’ve been keeping it for my friends that are expecting twins in April.  But whenever anyone comes over I hide all of the formula in a cabinet because I don’t want them to think things are happening that aren’t happening.  Anyways.


Other than that, nothing’s really been going on.  I leave for another trip tomorrow and will be gone for 9 days, so if you like to cook, you should bring food over to Peter.  If you like to iron, you can do that while I’m gone too.

A tour of our house! (finally!)

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We had people over for the Packer/Vikings playoff game, so our house was really clean and presentable so I decided to take that opportunity to take pictures of our house.  But I just want you to know that our house is usually presentable.  You can do a pop-in to check!


I considered not putting up pictures of the inside of our house to encourage people to come and visit, but then I was like, meh, whatever.  No visitors means less cleaning.

A lot of times when we have people come over, we have them come in through the garage so that they don’t have to walk outside in the freezing temperatures.  Welcome!



To the left we have (some of) our shoes, and then the two drawers have our gloves/hats/my scarves in them.  Peter always forgets that we have the glove drawer, and he can never find his gloves when I move them from the counter to the drawer.  But that’s ok.  (Usually this is very disheveled, as we just kick off our shoes when we come in.  But I straightened it up for our company.)
To the right, we have the laundry room.  Also tidied up for the guests, there are usually clothes drying on the bar above the dryer.  As you can see, there’s not a place for me to let the laundry pile up.  Which is definitely a good thing.
Walking further into the kitchen, we come to our patio doors, which I love during the daytime but hate hate HATE at night.  We reallyyyyyyy need to get some blinds for these doors because when I’m watching tv, when I look to my left I look into a deep, dark abyss that’s really scary.  When Peter’s not home, it’s pure torture.

Also pictured is our new kitchen table that I LOVE, but it got delivered damaged.  We didn’t see the damage until it was put together, so we put the plates on it for our party.  I’m calling to figure out what they’ll do about that…

On the other side of the kitchen table is a painting that we’re going to eventually put on the yellow wall.  I’m waiting to put it up until I find something decorative to hang on either side.

I LOVE our kitchen.  Favorite room of the house.  Usually the appliances aren’t all shoved onto the far counter, but we served the food on the front counter, so I moved everything over.  

We LOVED all the Christmas love we got this year!  Seriously, what is the point of mail after December?  Also, on the counter where our beverages are, there is usually junk piled up.  And I get annoyed with myself EVERY TIME it happens, yet it continues to happen.  We also have our electronic charging station, with too many electronics always connected.  We live in a sick (but AWESOME) world. 
Walking out of the kitchen we enter the living room.  I asked Peter to take the Yoda down to the basement, but then when I came back in the living room, the Yoda had a snuggie around him.  So he stayed.  Furniture is compliments of my Grandma Ann’s house.  Despite the southwestern Arizona look, it is quite comfortable… But hopefully going to be replaced within the next year…

We just got a new entertainment center, so we just moved the old one aside until we figure out what to do with it.  It wont’ always look like this…  Also, Peter is DYING to mount the tv on the wall, which I think is going to happen in the next couple of months while I’m traveling.  Sometime in the next couple of days, the Christmas tree will be completely removed.  When the tree and old entertainment center are gone, I’ll start brainstorming what to put on either side of the new entertainment center.  I’m in no rush to find something, though.

If you turn around, you see down the hallway.

To the right is our spare bathroom.

The counter top isn’t usually this busy, but Peter hooked up his wireless speakers in the kitchen and bathroom so that no one would miss anything during the game while they weren’t in the living room.

The first door down the hallway is the basement, which has this nice little lock on it so that when Peter’s being bad he can be locked in the basement.  Just kidding (or am I?).  It was really installed because the previous owners had a cat named Tubby, whose litter box was in the basement.  So they could crack the door and not have any kids falling down the stairs.
I really hate our basement.  I hate basements that aren’t completely finished in general.  I’m pretty sure that my fear comes from growing up with a 100+ year old basement that had rock walls and a lot of spiders.

When we saw the house for the first time, there were deer heads and stuff on the walls down here.  So that was scary.
Scarier though, is the little hole that’s in the wall for Tubby to get to his litter box that is on the completely unfinished side of the basement.  I HATE this cat hole.  Because in my mind, it’s a RAT hole, and I’m so scared that something it going to come running out at me.
Beyond the wood-paneled room is tons and tons of storage.  Tons.

More storage!  Peter has big plans of completely finishing the basement someday, which I am fully supportive of.  As long as I don’t have to do it. 

Back upstairs and down the hallway, we come to the next door on the left.  The Packer room.  Now is probably a good time to tell you that we Peter only re-painted the master bedroom.  I have agreed to leave the spare rooms painted as we found them until we have kids.  Then, the Packer colors are DEFINITELY going.  This would be considered Peter’s “man-cave”.

This closet is where we put junk that we don’t know what to do with.  I really should go through and just throw stuff away…  Like the Soda Stream.

Ideally, I would like to have a bookcase in the living room, but we’re not going to finish the living room until we get new furniture.  So it’s in the green and yellow room.
The next room down the hall is what used to be the Brewer room.  This room is currently used for: instrument storage, storage for decorations that I want to put up sooner than later, and Christmas presents that I moved from the living room to the spare room before our company came.

This spring we’re getting a bed for this room, so things will get more organized.
And also the decorations that got misplaced when I decorated for Christmas.  Oh, and the dreaded clothes-to-be-ironed basket.

The previous owners forgot one of the Famous Racing Sausages decals above our china closet.  The sausage decals were all around the room when we viewed the house.  Do you think they like Wisconsin sports?

At the end of the hallway is a really big storage closet.  When we viewed the house, there were really nice shelves, but when we moved in the were gone.  So when I was out of the country Peter put holes in the wall up a shelf for me.  I’m hoping for a few more in the future.

The last room down the hallway is our bedroom.  I love the furniture and the tray ceiling.  This was the only room that was re-painted.  Peter was awesome and surprised me by painting it the color I had chosen while I was traveling.
Just a note: this is the furniture that started the whole house hunt.  We ended up getting the same furniture that Peter promised me we could get when we bought a house.  He really is the best.  He also makes the bed every morning.

Eventually we’ll put pictures or something on the walls, but I’m not sure what yet.  

Behind the closed door is a walk-in closet that I chose not to show because it’s where all of the laundry that can’t fit in the laundry room is stored.  Just trust me when I tell you that it’s nice.

And finally, the master bathroom.  The bedroom was originally the same color as the bathroom.

I’m boring and bought the same shower curtain for both bathrooms.  I just really liked the curtain! 

So!  That’s it!  The house that we’re tied to for the next 30 years.  We really found a gem when we started the house hunt that I was so hesitant about.  

I just adore it. 

Ultimate Packer Fan.

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I use excessive profanity in this post.  Shield young eyes before reading.


Sometimes in life, you try so hard to not look like an asshole that you end up looking like an asshole.


Last year I bought a Packer jersey because Peter and I got tickets to a Packer game, and our seats were really awesome, expensive seats where if you don’t have a jersey you look like an asshole.  So I bought a jersey.


THEN I realized that I was an idiot for buying a Packer jersey because I SHOULD have bought a Packer SWEATSHIRT.  On Fridays during the NFL season, we have NFL day.  What is better than wearing a hoodie to work every Friday for 5 months and not getting in trouble for violating the company dress code?  NOTHING.


So I bought a Packer hoodie.  And it’s comfortable and I love Fridays even more now because I get to wear a hoodie to work.  


Because I’m the ultimate Packer fan, I assume that all games are on Sundays and that means all NFL days at work are on Fridays.  I deleted the memo that had the NFL day schedule.  Earlier this season, the Packers had a game on a Monday, which I’m choosing not to talk about in detail because I had a very upset husband after that game.  (The day after the Packers lost that game, Peter called me on his way home from work and he sounded really sad like he had a bad day, so I asked him what was wrong.  “Well, I’m just still really sad that the Packers lost.”  I hung up the phone.)


Anyways, the Friday before the game I walked into the office with my Packer jersey on.  I had an old white t-shirt on underneath.  As I walked in, the receptionist, before saying good morning, said, “Wrong day, Sara.  Packers play on Monday, so Monday is Packer Day.”  


DAMN.


So I rushed to my office before anyone else could see me and shut the door.  


What to do what to do what to do.


I took off the jersey.  Unfortunately, I wasn’t wearing a tank top or even a white bra underneath the white t-shirt.  Black bra.  White t-shirt.  Definite violation of company dress code.  


I keep a heavy sweater in my office because most days my office is colder than the frozen tundra.  I could probably wear the same shirt to work every day of the week and no one would notice because I always have a sweater on.  


So I put on my heavy sweater over the white t-shirt.  And buttoned it to the top.  This sweater is not meant to be buttoned.  (I would find a picture of it on the internet, but it’s really old, so it’s not sold in stores anymore.  Just picture a chunky sweater with large, wooden buttons that is clearly not supposed to be buttoned.)


I walked around all day looking like an idiot because I was wearing a white t-shirt and a sweater that was clearly meant not to be buttoned, buttoned all the way to the top.  On the day that I wore my Packer jersey so that I wouldn’t look like an asshole, I ended up looking like a huge asshole.  My co-workers were polite enough not to mention how horrible I looked all day.  

So the moral of the story is: don’t try to blend in, and be yourself, otherwise you end up looking like an asshole.  (But if you’re an asshole, you should probably try to blend in.)

Merry Christmas! Love, the Romeneskos

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My mom writes a Christmas letter (almost) every year to update our friends and family about the goings-on in our lives.  I didn’t write a Christmas letter because it’s only Peter and I, and we’re really boring.  But then I was driving to work the other morning and thinking about our year, and I was like, “Actually, we’ve had the best year ever!!”  So instead of getting a Christmas letter in the mail, you’re getting a virtual one.

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Darling friends, family, and people of the world,

Our year began as a newly engaged couple who thought they had 17 months to plan their wedding.  We took a trip to Las Vegas for a long weekend with our friends Kim and Stew right away in January to get a break from the cold, snow-less Wisconsin weather.  Great trip overall: I lost money, but Peter won money so in the end I didn’t care because in 17 months our finances would be one in the same.

My first cash-out.  I think that I put in $1.00 and came back with $3.41.  So that’s good!

 

Also in January, we entered a wedding contest with LAKE 96.1 out of Lake Geneva.  We were one of the three couples chosen to be voted upon to win.

February came and we had to sell ourselves at the Winterfest in Lake Geneva to get people to vote for us.  That was fun and embarrassing, just how I like it.


The day before Valentine’s Day, we found out that we won the wedding!  And that we were getting married in April!  14 months earlier than we originally planned!  We were very shocked and surprised, and I still can’t believe that we won.

February, March, and April were all a blur with appointments, breakdowns, stress, and excitement as we, along with the LAKE 96.1 listeners, our families and friends planned our wedding.  Monday mornings were highly anticipated, as we got a new piece of our wedding puzzle at that time, along with the rest of the planners.  It was really exciting, but at times I was ready to rip my hair out!  But then I would think about how I wanted my hair to look nice for my wedding, so I wouldn’t rip my hair out.

In the midst of wedding planning, both of us got promotions at work, so that increased our excitement level.  A lot.  A ton, actually.

At the end of April, Peter and I got married and are still in awe at how perfectly everything turned out for the wedding day.  It was so beautiful, and I love everyone for helping put together the perfect day, especially all of the people that had to deal with me directly because I was horrible.  God bless Peter for still wanting to marry me after all of that…


We honeymooned in St. Thomas, which was just what we needed after 10 stressful weeks.  Lots of margaritas, pina coladas, and sun were consumed.  It was great!

A month after the wedding, we decided to start looking at houses, and at the end of June found our dream house and put an offer in.  The offer was accepted and we went through paperwork and moved at the end of August.  We both love our house SO much, and want to be in it all the time.  I promise that soon I will put up pictures of the house so that you can see it.  It really is great.

Fall flew by, I literally can’t even remember what happened to September and October.  In November I took a 3 week trip to South Africa and Brazil for work.  I learned a lot, met a lot of great people, and got to see a lot of amazing things.  I love my job.

Now all of a sudden it’s December and we are closing out the year as a young married couple, and we are so beyond blessed that it isn’t even funny.  I’m still a little dizzy thinking about our incredible year.

It’s actually awesome that 2012 was the best year every because the world is supposed to end later this week, so it worked out for the best.

But seriously – thank you SO much for voting for us to win our wedding and not de-friending me because I was so obnoxious about self-promotion.  I was annoyed with MYSELF.  BUT.  Without that change of plans in February, the rest of the year wouldn’t have happened at ALL like it did.  2012 will be a tough one to beat, but that’s ok, because I think we’ll need 2013 to fully soak in everything that has happened this year.

Merry Christmas, ya filthy animals.