3 Dollar Bookshelf Makeover

Just wanted to give you all an update! The room is slowly coming together. It is quite a process, mostly because I'm determined to do it 'right' rather than shove things in boxes or corners for organizing 'later' like I would normally do. Still trying to find a dresser. Anyway, here is the bookshelf! So happy to be finished with it! The pictures don't do the colors justice, really, but I'm glad that it no longer looks like an "Easter egg" as Eric commented while I was working on it! :)This is the 'before' pic. I neglected to get a TRUE before shot because this one is already a few hours of work into the project. It used to have orange, yellow, brown, and avacado colored foam jungle animals glued ALL OVER the white panels of each shelf. Even after I ripped them all off, the glue had to be first scraped off and then sanded off. I had to wear a sweaty mask and gloves for protection... just in case there was any lead paint under there that I didn't know about. This photo is post sanding, prepping for painting.
Me in my glorious painter's mask. Specially designed to keep all the bad fumes and what not away from me and baby... and to keep in all that sweat and condensation! :)

Finished Product! The colors aren't quite true to life, but it isn't a bad photo. It was a lot of work, atleast for my pregnant belly. I could only work on it about 2 hours every day because my lower back just got too sore from bending over to paint the stripes. Labor of love, I guess. Definitely worth it, though! I got the stripes I wanted and we don't have to repaint a wall of the room! Not a perfect job, but I'm pleased! 3 dollar bookshelf with a makeover!

Ever Realize How Much You Depend on Electricity?

Well, for those of you IN Ohio, you all are probably tiring of the "big storm that hit us" blog posts. Sorry. Mine won't be extremely creative either. Let's just say Eric and I were really fine with the resulting week of no electricity. Really. We were so well taken care of by friends with power, it is very humbling. I think there is no more appropriate way to comment on the experience than to publicly thank each one of you.
Thank you:

• Thanks to Brianna and Justin for feeding us delicious grilled pork with strawberry sauce! I DO want the recipe!
  
• Thanks to Nancy and Jarin for a) feeding me such a healthy lunch, b) helping me for 12+ hours to can all the poultry meat that had thawed from our freezer, c) feeding us dinner, and d) giving us a key so we could take hot showers on Sunday!
• Thanks to Heather and Ryan for the absolutely delicious spaghetti dinner and the fun entertainment with friends and LIGHTS!
• Thanks to Marie and Kurt for feeding us yummy chicken fajitas and soft brownies!
• Thanks to Joe and Megan for a) storing our deep freeze in their apartment (along with the freezers of other people without power!), b) feeding us chicken sandwich and salad lunch, and c) keeping some perishable groceries in their fridge... mostly because I dislike warm liquids so much! :)
• Thanks to Everybody else who invited us for food but we had to turn down because we were already eating somewhere else! Also for all the hot shower offers... you guys are all AWESOME!!!
• Thanks also to the ward for being "Inspired" to have the barbeque while we still didn't have power. The food was great, and it was extra motivation for our neighbors to come since they still didn't have power either!
• Thanks to Mama and Papa Allan for giving us such a wonderful Christmas present last year of a Coleman Stove and lantern... we cooked on it Sunday night and were lucky to not have the dilemma of many others: we had both the food storage AND the means with which to cook it. Atleast it worked for one big meal.
  
• Thanks to Julie and Robin and Jenni and Vaughn for sharing our "trial" with us... it helped me keep my own thoughts positive when I saw how smiley you all were every day! Our daily walks reminded me that we weren't alone without power. Especially kudos to Julie and Robin for taking care of Eliza without electricity! Diaper changing in the middle of the night with a flashlight and being forced to use hand-washed burp rags because newborns have no concept of convenience really kept me grateful for our gal's current still-in-the-womb status!
  
• Thanks to the power company crew members... I was so happy to see them on Sunday! I know it must have been hard for them and their families to have to work around the clock like they did. I'm glad they were willing to sacrifice so that we could get our power back.
  
• Thanks to my dear Eric for his positive attitude, lack of complaining, and reasonable nature. He kept everything in perspective and we still had fun in the evenings, despite lack of electricity! He also reminded me to drink fluids, recharged my phone on campus, took care of our fish, moved the deep freeze (with help), and suffered through daily cold showers in the dark without a word of complaint. What a stallion! :)
  
• Thank you to Heavenly Father for making the weather so agreeable. We had overcast days and cool breezes... I hardly even noticed the lack of air conditioning! :)

All in all, I'd say we are better off for the experience! I learned how to pressure can poultry, how to roast a duck, had time to organize some closet space, and have been given a VERY good excuse to finally clean out the fridge! What an experience, eh? Thanks to ALL of YOU!!!!

By Popular Request... but you all understand this is a SECRET, right?

Well, it USED to be a family recipe... kept in the FAMILY... but lately I've seen it being shared more openly. Thing is, and I know you're going to think this isn't that funny, but it is really hard to share the recipe and have people like it. I got the gene from my mom, I guess, but I'm not very consistent in measuring things. I always put in what the recipe originally calls for, but then I'll just add a lil here and there of ingredients until it tastes like I want it to. So my disclaimer/advice on this recipe is: adjust it til it tastes like you like your salsa! If too spicy, add more tomatoes. If too bland, throw in some more garlic, lemon juice, cilantro, and cumin. And of course we all know what to do if it is too mild. :) So anyway, here it is.

Valladerez Guatemalan Salsa

• 56 oz tomatoes, chopped. (be sure to put EVERYTHING from the chopped tomato in the bowl! Can be messy and time consuming because tomatos don't food process well)
• 16 oz tomatos, blended (or if you prefer chunkier salsa, add these to the chopping block group).
• 1 large bunch cilantro, rinsed and finely chopped (tradition dictates ONLY the leaves are included in salsa. I'm here to tell ya that pulling off all those leaves from the entire bunch can be time consuming and tedious. If you don't want to waste the stems and could care less about Guatemalan tradition, then be sure to food process them so noone gets a 'woody' bite.)
• 1 BIG onion, finely chopped (again, pulsing on food processor helps speed things up and cuts down on crying).
• 4 big cloves garlic, minced
• 4 jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped (or leave the seeds for extra spice. I like to blend the jalapenos at the same time as the onion or other ingredient so that noone gets a big spicy surprise bite!)
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp sugar
• *pinch of red pepper flakes- optional
• *1-2 Tbl lemon juice- optional

well, there you have it. simple. basic. Hope ya'll enjoy. Also, if you want to make this salsa with canned tomatoes instead of fresh, you can do it. (better fresh, but I'm biased.) Just use 2 cans 28-oz peeled tomatoes, drained and chopped instead of 56 oz fresh and 1 can crushed tomatoes, drained instead of blending 16 oz. If hosting a party of some kind, it is tasty to put a block of cream cheese right in the middle of the salsa bowl. Delicious combo! :)

Salsa from our Garden!!!!

Eric thinks I'm a salsa snob. I think he might be right. I love a good homemade fresh salsa... I think perhaps I'm spoiled because even homemade CANNED salsa doesn't quite have the same appeal to me. Nothing beats a fresh salsa! Any kind is good: green roasted tomatillo, tomato and cilantro, yellow tomato with lime juice, mango or pineapple... I love it if it is FRESH! Well, the kind I usually make is a family recipe from Guatemala (for those of you who aren't aware, I'm 1/4 Guatemalan). Very basic, nothing too challenging-- like roasting the peppers or tomatillos-- and no exotic/expensive ingredients like mango to complicate things. It is also easily made less spicy, perfect for those of us who can't handle the fire right now--I'm not turning into a tastebud wuss, I promise, I'm just pregnant! I don't want heartburn. Just delicious salsa goodness!



Well, this year I'm pleased to announce that our lil 7 foot by 7 foot garden has yielded more than enough roma tomatos, various peppers, and large onions to create a huge batch of homemade fresh salsa with garden produce!!!! :) YAY!!! Only the cilantro, garlic, and cumin (well, and salt, sugar, lemon juice, and red pepper flakes) isn't from our own hard work. Okay, so that means only 3 ingredients are from our garden rather than the grocery store, but hey, they're the MAIN three, right? :)


The jars sure look nice all lined up and pretty, ready for sharing with neighbors and friends. Hurray for a bountiful harvest! :) I'm looking forward to eating a big chipful already! And probably putting fresh salsa on things it doesn't really belong on... just cuz it is THAT good! :) What food or product are you sort of "snobbish" or "spoiled" about? (I had a roommate who was a self-proclaimed toilet paper snob. Keeps things interesting...)

Nesting: Making a Nest?

According to my Korean dictionary, nesting is building a nest. Mostly using feathers. But a second meaning of 'to nest' is 'to dwell' and I suppose that is what I'm doing. Creating a dwelling for our lil baby. I ought to show you pictures of the room in progress, but honestly, I'm so embarassed by its current state that I don't dare. Shout out here to my dear Father-in-law, Papa Allan, because I think Mama Allan (hi! *waving*) might compare the current state of things to his trophy room. You know how birds collect all kinds of trash for putting in their nests? String, discarded candy wrappers, shiny gum foils, etc? I promise I'm trying to prevent this nest from looking quite THAT eclectic... but it is taking some time. Right now I'm working on refinishing a 3 dollar baby bookshelf that I collected from a garage sale last year as well as a particle board 3 drawer 'thing' that I pulled out of the dumpster pile right outside our front door (perfect size for lil baby socks and onesies!). Hopefully I'll finish both of these today so that I can have a place to put the baby items we're receiving and get them OUT of the boxes taking up space on the floor. Then the crib needs to be assembled (we got it off of Craigslist-- it is lovely!).

After that we get into the 'fun' things that I'd like to do just to make the room soft and cute. The plan is to sew a cute baby bumper for the crib (adorable pattern... you guys just WAIT!) and a matching valance for the window. We don't have any window treatments right now, so I'm planning on taking care of that. I'd like to have a cute shelf/valance rod combo piece that I can paint to match the bookshelf and other furniture that could also be functional storage space for lil stuffed animals or knick knacks. Then some cream curtains and the valance will tie everything together. We are debating painting one wall a nice green... but haven't decided yet because it would have to be mostly Eric's project and he is so busy with school. We still need to get a changing table... but I've heard that you don't REALLY need one and can just change the baby on a pad on the floor. Any opinions here? Since I've never been there, obviously, I'd sure benefit from your experiences. Either way, I'm keeping my eye on Craigslist things... just in case!

And then, of course, after I get the fun projects all taken care of in the baby's room, there are projects like cleaning out the laundry chute that we are currently using as pantry storage, cleaning out the bathroom closet to make room for baby bathing supplies, reorganizing the closets in her room so that they accommodate more than just my arts/crafts, our holiday storage, and our outdoors/sports paraphenelia... so much preparation for our lil nestling! Good thing I'm officially finished with full time work, eh? Pictures of the FINISHED PROJECTS soon to be forthcoming! (fingers crossed on the 'soon' part).

2 Years!!!... and the Shoes that Started it ALL!

It is INCREDIBLE to think that Eric and I have been married for 2 years now! We celebrated our anniversary yesterday... and it doesn't seem that it has been a whole year since the last time we reminisced and walked down marriage memory lane! Wow, we've had some good times!
Since I did a 'top 10 things I love about Eric' post on his birthday, I think I'll just share a tiny tidbit of our story for those of you who may not already know it. I'd like to talk about the shoes that started it all.
Eric and I were "just friends" and REALLY that's all we were from August 2001 til April 2006! We were in the same ward, went on friendly dates, wrote each other consistently as we each served missions, came home and took an awesome class together, and continued to go on dates just to keep up with each other and have a good time together. But it was always clear in both of our minds that it was only friendship we were cultivating here. We dated other people, crushed on other people, and shared those details openly. Until I had a dilemma.
I had my first big crush since my mission. He was handsome, witty, and popular (apparently), and he was giving me mixed signals. Finally I came to the conclusion that he was struggling to make up his mind because we worked together (at the MTC)... and he only saw me in missionary attire... and couldn't disassociate me from Sister Missionaries who are definitely not "pursuable". So when he invited me to a party, I determined that I was going to look HOT so that he would get over his mental speed bump and decide I would make an awesome love interest in addition to friend and coworker. My roommate and I went to the mall and found the perfect outfit... complete with 4 inch black heels. These heels had a black strap that wrapped around the ankle and a slender band that went across the top of my foot. They were AWESOME and I felt GORGEOUS in them! Well, I'll leave out the details, but this guy made it clear that night that he wasn't interested. I was pretty frustrated. Afterall, I'd hoped that when he finally made up his mind, he would be deciding to date me, not discard me.
The next weekend was General Conference. (There's more story there about how Eric and I ended up going together, but I'll leave it for another post.) Suffice it to say, I talked his ear off on the way up to Salt Lake about this 'dufus' and how could he decide he wasn't interested when I looked THAT good? I think I planned to wear the shoes that day JUST so I could look really good walking around at General Conference just to spite him. Eric is a very good listener. So by the time we got to conference, I was already feeling very validated and supported. Since I was driving, I wore other shoes on the way up (4 inch strappy heels are tough) and stopped to change when we arrived. Of course I pointed out to Eric that these very strappy sandals were the ones I was wearing and asked "aren't they hot?" to which he could only reply "yeah, they are!"...
So the story goes from here that he looked at the shoes at my request... and then had to look again... and then couldn't stop looking the entire time we were out at Salt Lake. Somehow these sassy black sandals helped Eric to see me in a different light. I felt the change too... somehow indescribable, but flirtatious in a way we had never been before. The day was wonderful, and I knew something had changed. (I would only find out later the important role the shoes played in it all. :) He later told his roommates and described the shoes as "bikinis for feet" and determined he had to ask me out again when I WASN'T wearing the shoes just to see if the connection we had both felt was legit or whether it was just the shoes. Thus began our new adventure as our friendship was forever altered into something more! Turns out the shoes didn't work their magic on the person I originally wanted them to...but even better! They worked on the person I love more than anything in the world!

On Being Pregnant...

Well, it is interesting that I wanted to show SOOOOO badly, and now that I finally am, I have to stop myself from being too self-conscious. I LOVE being pregnant and LOVE knowing that this lil growing belly is home for our lil gal... but I can't say I love feeling heavy, slow, cumbersome, and fat. The back aches alone are not that big of a deal, but combine that with the on-your-feet type of work I do right now... and you get the picture. I'm already tired. And I'm not even technically in the 3rd trimester yet!

However, I am thrilled to report the athletic activities of our lil girl! She is so cute when she wakes up. She kicks and squirms for a good hour, delighting me with her budding soccer skills (during the day), and keeping me awake (at night or early morning)! Then she'll be quiet and peaceful for a good 3-4 hours before deciding it is time for communicating with Mommy or "playtime with Daddy" as Eric likes to call it. Last week he was trying to talk to her through my belly (he delights in waking her up) so he pressed his ear down to try and hear her squirm or a response of any kind... and she full on KICKED HIM IN THE FACE! Our lil gal doesn't take kindly to being woken up, I guess!