We are alive and well.....

Gosh, it's been forever again. Honestly my intentions to keep this up are good it's the whole finding the time thing that sucks right now. Here's a quick update on the last few months at the Power House....

• I started Student Teaching. It was long overdue but continued to be put off. I finally decided to bite the bullet and just do it. I am teaching at a local high school and I actually really  like it. I don't like being away from Hank full time but I can't say this has been a total bust.  We both have grown from it so really it's been fine. 
• Right after I decided to student teach I found out I was pregnant.  Things always happen all at once for us so of course this would too. Between morning sickness, extreme exhaustion, a active toddler and starting student teaching I almost died. Literally.  There were a few days I actually threw up until the very moment I had to begin teaching.  Somehow I survived and no one died or was seriously neglected. Woohoo for me!
• Despite Todd's theory that he can only produce boy babies we found out we are having a little girl. So exciting. She won't be girlie or clean. She will be a tomboy and sport dirt and grass stains on her clothes.  (I just jinxed myself I'm sure and she will most likely be born with sparkles in her hair or something).
• We're almost to the end of the year....which means I am almost done student teaching and life can go back to normal.

Ok, that was the short and sweet version. Of course there were so many other things that happened in between but I am sparing you the gory details.  Basically life has been good to us once again.  I have 4 weeks left of teaching, Hank has 12 days left of daycare and I think we may actually survive this. I still have a ton of homework to complete and hoops to gracefully plow through but I will get there.  I always do.

I have managed to continue to work on my Etsy shop and after treating myself to a nicer camera I updated all of my pictures today. Woohoo. Here is the link http://www.etsy.com/shop/thepowerhouse.  Please check it out. I have several more items to list but this is a start. A better start. 

This semester has been invaluable in proving to me how important it is to my family for me to be home more for them.  I am often frustrated. I have to sweep 4 times a day.  My husband fills the sink with dirty dishes minutes after I emptied it.  I never ever stop doing laundry. My kid whines.  The dogs are always underfoot and trip me several times a day. The doorbell always rings when Hank is napping.  My big outing is going to a thrift store.  I wouldn't change my life for anything in the world.  I am blessed.  I am grateful and for now, everything is just really good.

Words of Wisdom (Warning-Todd Style)

Greetings all,
  This is the "goofy guy" as my wife so kindly put during our wedding ceremony while the coveted vows were taking place.  I take no offense to that as most people who know me would say far worse.  I imagine after 3 years of marriage my lovely espoused has some choice words as well!  Naturally I take offense to very little as a personality like mine has garnered a great deal of head shaking.  Though in the process I have found a few things that are offensive to me and I would like to share that with you all as I have finally come to a few conclusions, and here is one of them.
 I have been locked in a mortal battle with underwear all my life.  I despise them and they me.  As I get older I find that I like them less and less but recently I have come to an impasse.  Now I could go on for days regarding my dislike for underwear but I will spare you the details for now, because for now, I want to talk about a medical condition known to construction workers who get a lot of windshield time in between periods of hard labor.  This condition is only present and oh so unsightly (in fact I can't even imagine what it would look like) during the summer and available to all should you like to try and familiarize yourself with it.  I imagine my brothers in the south truly take exception to this condition as the humidity worsens it by pounds. But read on because not only do I have the condition but I have THE ANSWER as well.  Its a little known condition called swampus assus.  I get severe bouts of swampus assus after being on a roof for a few hours in the heat then taking my chariot to my next location.  My next location may be a half hour or more so it gives the sweat time to drain. And down it goes.  and there it sits.  As I stated earlier underwear are useless and should wick the sweat but they don't.  So I hate them.  And viola' swampus assus is born.  The heat, the sweat, the moisture ,and I am convinced the a/c in the van makes it worse.  By the time I get home, I have to waddle like a duck into the shower due to the chaffing.  I have tried baby powder, anti monkey assus (its real they sell it at Sportsmans), Tinactin ( oh does that burn!), all sorts of powders creams and gels and nothing.  I recently have been trying diaper rash cream.  No shite, 32 years old and I use diaper rash ointment!  If your laughing at me then you have never really had swampus assus which is followed by jungle knuts and trust me you don't want anything to do with that!  But here is my actual impasse.  It wasn't the diaper cream that worked.  It was the undies.  My unyielding dislike has flinched and I no longer know how to feel.  I am scared and alone without my passion to dislike my skiivies.  I wear the boxer brief style and it is my arch nemesis that brings me relief.  You see boxers will not do as they are too loose and briefs will not work as they have no leg port. 
Thats right boys hike those mothers up as far as you can! Pull hard! Embrace the wedgie and your Swamp A will be gone for good.   The key to undies is they have to be tight to rid one of such a dire condition.  And they have to have a legging.  So if you have had kids allready and you get this the tight undie is the answer.  Besides if you go a size smaller it makes everything look bigger!  Good Luck and God Bless  (ps, mom I'm sorry this is all I have really learned in 32 years....)
-Todd

Checking in

Howdy! Not a lot is new but I want to keep my momentum going so I am just going to post a quick update. 

Hank will be 16 months old this week. Where has the time gone? He is looking more and more like a little boy every single day. He can say several words but no longer will sit in a shopping cart. He has amazing hand eye coordination but can't seem to stop himself from throwing food.  He gives the sweetest kisses but throws a tantrum if you won't let him mow the lawn. He won't give up the bottle but he is to big to be fed by mama.  He is full of love, adventure, energy, attitude and is exactly like his daddy.  I honestly wouldn't want it any other way.

We still have our junky RV.....it sits on the side of our house collecting cobwebs but I haven't been able to officially agree to let it go. I now have. It's super expensive to fill up with gas. We haven't used it in a year and our neighbors now have no doubt that a redneck lives here because it's.....ugly! We really want to get a small camper but I think for now we will just make do with tent camping. We need to pare down our life. We have too many toys, too many projects and too many dreams that we need to work on "now."  So if anyone is in the market for a 27 foot Chevy Winnebego you know who to call! It's actually in decent shape and needs just a little tlc. 

One super exciting thing that happened last week was I sold my first item on Etsy!!! I was sooo excited (and surprised) when I got the email saying a order had been placed. It was a red birdhouse that Todd made.  Yes, I have to give him credit for it because 2 out of the 3 items I have sold have been his. I now have a new purpose in life. I can be Todd's agent and he can make crafts! I think it sounds great but obviously Todd isn't going to go for that. So back to crafting for me. I am still working on my shop and working on new packaging for our rub. I have actually been staying on track but it is difficult to carve out time to work on things when I have a active (stubborn) toddler running around all day.  If only I could teach him how to use the drill and pliers then we'd be set! I would have never believed anyone if they told me how busy I'd be as a stay at home mom. I have never been this busy or pulled in this many directions in my life!  It's exciting, wonderful and totally worth it but.....dang!

We don't have a ton of plans this week but I do need to finish some things for my friend's baby shower and start thinking about mother's day, our anniversary, my mom's bday and whatever other holiday is going to sneak up on me.

I'm going to be 32 next month. I'm actually not dreading it and it kind of makes me feel good moving more into my 30's. I have a awesome husband, adorable kid, fabulous family, some seriously kick ass friends and life is really good. I don't mean that in a braggy, my life is so awesome way....it's just comforting to get to a place in life where things are just good.  I think it's my gray hairs and crows feet that have been good reminders to really just appreciate what I have. :)

The Power House landscaping projects.....

When we bought our house a few years ago the yard had knee high weeds, random buried things and a dilapitated swing set. Sadly we don't have any before pictures so you will just have to take my word for it.  After spending a couple of years working on and landscaping "Greenie" it seemed overwhelming to start from scratch again.  With the help of my handy husband and a ton of manual labor we are finally making progress!  We did splurge last year and have some curbing and trees put in because landscaping with a newborn.....well it just speaks for itself.
I'm going to post some pictures of our backyard and will write more later about our garden. My goal this year is to turn our yard into a "urban farm."  With our dogs, cat and kid it often feels much like a farm anyway! Oh and that super cool deck you see is courtesy of Todd.  I will forever love that deck....mostly because he put up with my nagging and demands to get one done NOW! (I know it's hard to believe that I could ever be demanding but....occasionally it does happen :))

 The view from the deck

Any picture is cuter with Hank in it :)

Has anyone been watching the new show Doomsday preppers? If you know Todd you can probably already guess that it is viewed on a regular basis.  More on that later but gear up for a special blog post from Mr. Power coming soon.......

Happy Happy Easter!!!

We hope everyone had a great Easter! This year was especially fun for us because Hank is walking and loves to be in the backyard....it was the perfect combination for a Easter egg hunt.  Unfortunately it lasted less than 30 seconds before we were on to the next thing but it was cute while it lasted. 

We spent the morning at home snuggling in bed and making breakfast.  We got to skype with Grandma and Grandpa and Hank was in a great mood.  Once we were all up and ready we headed over to spend the day with family and friends.  It was a successful day! 

Since pictures speak louder than words I will let you see for yourself....

It is supposed to rain again this week and have a ton of things we need to catch up on.  We are looking forward to a special visit from Grandma and Grandpa this weekend.  Can't wait! We hope it is nice while they are here and they don't have to endure more rain since they get plenty of that in Washington. 

I have added one more item to my Etsy shop and still have many more to list. I have found that many sellers have professional quality photographs and that makes a huge difference. Since I can't justify splurging on a sweet camera right now I need to get creative and attempt to take the best photos I can. In the meantime, if anyone has any camera suggestions I would like to start looking into them. 

I didn't get as much done on my shop as I planned this past week because we were busy living it up during Spring Break with Grann....We went to the zoo, went for walks, played at the park and just spent time together. It was fun and I am so glad that Hank has 4 super awesome grandparents. Some of my best memories were spending time with my Grandma Kay and I am so happy that Hank will get those special memories too. 

We're off to enjoy the sunshine today before we get rained out......

Third time's a charm!

I've tried (unsuccessfully) 3 times to get my blog up and running. Each time I have the same excuse....I'd just rather be playing with Hank! I've decided to start small and manageable and use this as a way  keep in touch with family and friends. Our life isn't all that exciting but we do seem to have fun adventures now and then.

Let's start with a 2012 recap!

• Hank turned 1 in January! We had a small party and enjoyed celebrating with everyone.  Even Grandma and Grandpa from Washington joined us. Hank was a pro at opening gifts since he had just had a lot of practice at Christmas.
• We've had a very mild winter so we have enjoyed working in the yard, bbq'ing and eating dirt. Well Hank eats dirt. I'm convinced he has eaten at least his weight in dirt already this year. Who wants to bet we can double that number?
• Todd and I had our first all night date night while Hank spent the night with my parents. It was hard at first but after a beer, or two, I was able to enjoy myself and have a ton of fun. It was great. We really needed a night off and we had a blast with our good friends Heather and John.
• This week we have had lots of rain. Boo! We really need it so it's hard to complain but it's not all that easy being stuck inside with a very active 14 month old. So instead of eating dirt we eat things off of the floor and cover ourselves in dog hair before we try to stand on the dining room table. Then of course we get mad :)
• We are getting ready for Easter....Hank will have all the tools to start his own gardening service once the bunny hops on over here.  Anyone want a estimate?  I can't promise he won't eat your plants and dirt but he will at least look cute doing it.  The holidays are so much more fun this year with Hank walking and understanding things.
• Hank walks and talks. Well he walks a little like Frankenstein and calls everything a "cow" but we are still a very proud mommy and daddy. It's hard work raising a baby genius and we take our jobs very seriously. He still smiles 99 percent of the time. The other 1 percent he is eating dirt (of course) and screeching. I swear that kid even smiles in his sleep.
• I am soooo all over setting up my etsy shop. looking into farmers markets and starting my own business. For reals, no more talking about it. It has become my mission because it is my ticket to being home with my baby. Who wouldn't want to be home with a kid as cute as Hank?

I'm sure this was boring but if you are reading this before bed at least it will help you get to sleep right? Let's keep things real. Please give me feedback and follow us on our journey as parents. If nothing else bug me about my plans and keep me accountable!

I know you are dying to see pics so here it goes....

Have a Happy Happy day!

Let's get accountable....

As always, I had so many great ideas of things to do while Hank was napping. If I would have been working on them our house would no longer have chipped paint, fingerprinted cabinets and the garden would be manicured. Instead our house looks exactly the same except for slightly worse due to the lack of time and another year of wear and tear. I have a hard time sticking with something and actually finishing it. Finally I feel like it's a big enough problem that I need to do something about it. So.....I am counting on my friends and family to keep me accountable!  My first goal was to start selling some things on Etsy. I opened a shop, I pay the fee every month and I don't do anything about it. So, this week my main goal is to revamp my shop. I need to take pictures of my items and post them, work on a shop policies page and research postal fees. That doesn't sound like much but it takes time and right now time is just hard to come by. 

It is another nice, sunny and warm Spring day today! Hank and I are heading out for a walk in a minute and going to enjoy the sunshine. At this rate we won't have a winter this year. I hope we at least get some rain soon otherwise the farmers market's will be barren this summer.