Simple Pleasures

This week has pretty much looked like this. That's me doing homework and Tony playing some video game...probably Assassin's Creed. It was very nice to return to some normalcy.

Last week was filled with quite the unnecessary stress. I received a homework assignment from my 200 level grad class that contained a description with little to no expectations as to how to carry it out. Me, being me, totally took it to a level way beyond necessary. Needless to say, I spent about 10x more hours on it then needed leaving my sick husband untended and the apartment a complete disaster. It killed me.

Sunday was spent at the engineering building, with two of my friends also in the class, finishing the assignment. I returned at about 7pm to a clean apartment and some popcorn. Needless to say, Tony is wonderful. (That or stir crazy - he'd been spending a majority of his time doing nothing but sitting on the couch resting.) He even bought me some almond kisses (my favorite), peanut butter cups and some flowers on Tuesday (as seen in the picture!). Granted that was a late Valentine's Day present, but I take what I can get.

I'm convinced it's always the little things that make us the happiest.in life like being able to do my homework (in the manner seen above), having a clean counter with no dishes on it (even after eating supper) and the absolutely beautiful falling snow that was this morning

just me and my homework

As I'm writing this I should be doing some homework, however, my level of comprehension is not doing too well so a little distraction should do me well.

These past two weeks (can't believe it's been that long since I last posted. Time does fly) have been a blur. I find that if someone asks me "so what's new?" or "how was your week last week?" I have no idea how to respond because (a) I feel like nothing is new or (b) I don't remember what's happened in our lives. Time really does seem to fly when I think about all that we've done in this new year. (It's already half way through February! and yet it goes by so slow - I keep thinking today is Thursday.) So what have we done?

Well, to start, tonight is the first night that I have stayed home in two weeks - not counting weekends (those are for bumming around and watching How I Met Your Mother, which we have finished all the episodes currently on Netflix :( - so sad). Tony's at a birthday party for a coworker tonight (just called - had a great time!), while I'm (not) doing homework.

Last weekend (02/02) we had the chance to spend some time in Wisconsin for my sister's baby shower (the reason I made the baby quilt). It was wonderful seeing family again and I loved the conversations: a little bit awkward, a little bit of solid financial advice, but overall, a lot of fun. Needless to say, I did not want to leave. Saturday night, we traveled down to the city of Milwaukee to visit some of the MSOE peoples. Our plans were to stop by and be home in Iowa that night, however, we ended up crashing on a friends futon since motivation to leave was a little thin.

Monday brought back the busyness (is that spelled right?). Tony worked a little later of hours (still nothing compared to before) and I started a new round of research studies at work. This involves longer hours for me at work and with something going on every night that leaves little time (or less time) to think about homework. Bad idea. (O well. I'll figure it out.) (I am all about the side comments tonight. Oops!) Most of our outings are with friends, which is awesome and we are cultivating great friendships, however, it can be tiring sometimes.

This last weekend was mostly spent in a gym. I realized the other day on Facebook that I go to a Division 1 school, which means there are a lot more athletic teams and they are relatively good. This meant that, come this last Friday, a gymnastic meet was in sight. It was a bit nostalgic for me watching the competition, but it was a lot of fun teaching Tony about gymnastics in general. The following Saturday I had the chance to go watch my former track team compete in Platteville, WI. (I picked one of the closest meets that they would have to my current residence.) It was a lot of fun to be in that environment again and catch up with some of my track friends. While I was gone, Tony had the chance to catch up on some long awaited down time to just sit and do nothing, and that's just what he did.

Well, this next weekend brings a Valentine's Day dinner (nothing special planned, just eating out) and some enjoyable down time. (Probably more homework.) My studies are over now, last one today, which means my week will return to normal, and Tony should be pretty busy again at work this week. (Now how do I end this entry?) And the Hammond saga continues...

the weather's the same

Living in pretty much the same place my whole life I never got a picture of what the natural elements are in other places, if that makes any sense. Well, we have been in Iowa for the past 6.5 months and it's like meeting someone new discovering more and more about them. Here are some things I have learned about Iowa, compared to Wisconsin.

It is still part of the Midwest so, for the most part, the culture is pretty similar. The area that we live in is probably not an accurate picture of the rest of Iowa, but it works. It is very diverse culturally and fairly "progressive", as some have called it, due to the University.

Tony has learned that Iowa drivers are not the best (a confirmed fact by some friends of ours). They also haven't salted the roads, that I know of, yet, maybe once.

The weather. Let me tell you. You know those sayings about how strange the weather is in Wisconsin or Michigan, etc, and how it changes from one season to another in a week. Well, I'm figuring out that that is pretty much true for the whole Midwest and may even branch out to some other states. I have never seen such roller-coaster temperatures before (60 to 0 in two days...even that's a little extreme), but apparently that's normal for Iowa...and Wisconsin...and probably Michigan...and probably elsewhere too. So, off my little rant, the weather is pretty much that same. Although, I'm pretty sure Wisconsin gets more snow on average, for I am (or was) dearly missing the snowfalls that I saw on the radar. (Not like they would have hit MIlwaukee anyway, but it's the concept). We did get some freezing rain, and that was new to me.

However, I have discovered that  my skin is much drier here. This I have learned since I have had to lotion my hands most days to prevent them from cracking. Never once have I had to do this, but lo and behold, my hands are cracking. I hate putting on lotion for those of you who don't know. Although the dryness does a good job at sucking it up right away. I have placed the blame on (1) the drier and windy-er atmosphere or (2) the very hard water that we have.

Speaking of hard water. It has quite the effect on hygiene. My hair  has been much flatter since my shampoo does not do as good of a job requiring me to use more of it and my skin itches all the time. I never realized how wonderful my parents water softener really was. 

Don't take this as complaining. I really do love our lives here and the people and everything. I am very glad we chose to live here. In fact, we finally got a snowfall here last night into today and, O my goodness!, it was gorgeous. I have this new thing of getting up early to exercise so when I stepped off the bus this morning at 6:20, the snow was pretty  much untouched and there were big, heavy flakes falling and I just wanted to stop and watch it all for hours. And it made me want to build a snowman, still do. In fact, I love the snow so much I got home this afternoon, grabbed my camera and went out to take some pictures. As for the snowman, I don't think the snow is really packing snow anymore. Maybe when Tony gets home.

Here are some of the pictures I took. We have a very short bike path next to our apartments that goes through like a block of wooded area with a creek so that's were I went. So exciting!!!!!!!

6 Month Reflections

Today is the last day of my longest Christmas break ever. I have been very grateful for the opportunity to have this much time off as I know it won't happen for very many more years. I have been able to complete many projects (almost as many as I keep adding to the list), organized the whole apartment (and then some) and spent many hours with Tony. We have officially been married 6 months (curiosity question: When are you not considered newlyweds?) and it has been wonderful. Here is a little reflection on how it's been.

• Married on July 6th, 2012
• Honeymoon in Door County, WI
• Moved to Iowa and settled in, Tony at Rockwell Collins and myself at the University of Iowa
• Individually, I love school, although it has been an adjustment since Iowa is a very different school from where I came from, but I'm adjusting. I like my work and the research that I'm doing. I am looking forward to this next semester where I'll be able to become more established with my project and ideas. Tony has had difficultly with his job due  to the long hours he has been putting in. Being on salary, he sometimes feels he is being taken advantage of and will never stop working long weeks. Good news: he worked a normal week this last one!! He has been recognized for such hard work and I believe these next 6 months will be much lighter and hopeful for him.
• We found a church to attend (went once and never went anywhere else)
• Friends are in abundance which is a blessing since I figured it would take a long time. We have Monday night dinners with 3-5 other couples and have spent quite a bit of time with one of my coworkers and her husband watching TV shows and movies (just finished our Harry Potter marathon with them).
• Financially, we have been beyond blessed and are paying off our debt as soon as possible. I hate waiting for things. I'm a do it once and get it over as soon as possible kind of girl, but these month-to-month payments for everything grown-up style will have to do. It has been an adjustment finding the balance between spending and saving, however, I am thankful for the ability to be open and communicate with Tony on these issues. Not always easy, but we are growing into our style of finances.
• Marriage in general has been a fairly smooth transition from my life to our life for the both of us. It has only been 6 months and I know there are so many other big things and little things to come into our lives, but God is always there and I know we can get through anything that comes, easy or hard. As for now, it's been enjoyable and I have no idea what I would do without him. Perhaps I'd be very bored with no car and I'd need to find other things to organize, which I'd have less of because he has a lot of stuff. 
• Our biggest purchase has been our 2006 Honda Civic and all of its quirks. Who ever said that we need cars, I'm slowly discovering that they are money pits.
• Our most used kitchen appliance (aside from the stove, oven and frig) is the popcorn maker. As it should be.
• My favorite thing about our apartment is the massive pantry. I'm going to miss that one day.
• The best thing about our current location is its proximity to the highway and its on the end of the bus route into Iowa City for school.
• It is the hardest category to stick to our budget so far is the grocery allotment. Who would've thunk that we could spend that much on food.
• The hardest adjustment (for me) has been the fact that things are not always done my way.
• The best thing has been having someone to come home to and to spend time with

Overall, it has been a truly enriching last 6 months and I look forward to many more months that turn into years and years. What can I say? I grabbed a good one. I love you Tony!

Projects

When I start a project it is very hard to do anything else while it is not finished. Tony went back to working 55+ hours (thus far with more to go tomorrow) so I've had plenty of time to tackle a few things I've been meaning to do (hopefully after this week he will officially be able to cut back!). I took over the kitchen for some sewing projects, however, it turns out I do not have all the proper fabric so I only made a couple things. :( Now I find myself wanting more and more sewing stuff and fabric (I already have a few projects lined up for next month). :) Through these two projects I have officially become a professional seem-ripper and am thoroughly impressed with my first quilt (minus the edging). Here they are.

a new wallet/card holder for myself

My fabric choices

All sewn together (the easy part actually)

Showing off my mad skills

The finished product

Who'd of thought that quilting would take up so much time even with such large squares to work with. The remaining hours of my week were spent researching credit cards and our hopeful trip to Oregon this summer, cleaning the apartment, running in my wonderful new tights and organizing. Have I spent hours upon hours organizing. Here's the list:
 - Tony and I tackled the storage closet with some shelves from Lowe's (much needed)
 - Also, added some under the bed storage with some bed raisers
 - With this came a new and improved hall closet
 - I tackled the linen closet which includes a wide variety of stuff
 - Under the sink organization in both bathrooms (it's amazing what putting things into boxes can do)
 - Lastly, I spent all day today rummaging through all the papers in the office. This ended with rearranging the little furniture and lots of organized binders. Who needs store-bought dividers when you've got cardstock, post-its and tape! So much paper, but totally worth it. I know I'm not quite the designer, but here are the results.

new storage closet

newly organized bookself

 

            epic binder organization skills

It has been a wonderful week going through all these projects and tomorrow...bring on the pantry and laundry. And GO PACK!!

P.S. We also received a wedding album that I created on Shutterfly! I love it!

Two Weeks of Bliss

As most of you know, Tony's company shuts down from Christmas Eve 'til the day after New Year's Day. Seeing as how Tony has been putting in 50+ hour weeks, it was a true blessing. Here is a little of what we did during two weeks of no school or work.

Christmas in Wisconsin: We traveled to Wisconsin for a little quality time with the Dieringers. We got to spend some time with Beth, Laura and Rory at the dog park in Grafton. Man alive that dog has a lot of energy and managed to make a new friend. Christmas Eve was carried on with Mom, Dad, Naomi, Zach, Laura, Tony and I with the service at church seeing some old friends followed with a movie and appetizers. Needless to say, nothing healthy was eaten that night.

           
The following day the whole family, some on Skype, packed into the not-so-tight-anymore newly finished basement for some quality Christmas time together. It began with the Christmas story read by Dad, followed by the grandkids opening presents and then the adults. I absolutely loved the sewing supplies I received and they have been put to good use! The day ended with pure unadulterated hanging out, and don't forget the number of cribbage games played during our stay there.

Playing the game that Caden got from Grandma and Grandpa

Decorating the bedroom: We headed out the day after Christmas due to a couple projects that had been brewing in my head in anticipation of five weeks off. During finals week it was so difficult to focus on studying due to all the new ideas for decorating our apartment I had floating in my head. (Curse you Pinterest!) We had already rearranged the living room a week or two earlier on a whim to a much more appealing look, however, the bedroom was in need of some help. Here are the results the we came up with.

new living room arrangement

bedroom decorations

cloth stapled to canvas frames

old lamps

The new side tables
(used the peach crates
from our wedding)

complete result

We found the two lamps at a consignment store in town. They were traditionally painted green with some gold trim and had the green plaid lampshades shown. Tony spray painted the body black and the new lampshades were my first official sewing project and I used some of the cloth from our wedding. So exciting!!!

Our first Christmas: Since we were in Wisconsin for Christmas Day we decided to celebrate Christmas together a couple days later. We began with making pancakes, followed by opening presents and finished the day with a movie.

I got Tony a messenger bag that he can take to work
instead of his MSOE backpack and a cable
to connect his hard drive to his computer.

Tony got me some running tights, a Calvin and
Hobbes comic book, logic puzzles and
 glow-in-the-dark stars for our bedroom ceiling.
No one said I had to grow up completely once married :)

New Year's Eve: Tony's parents and sister finally had the chance to take the 6 hour drive across Illinois and Indiana to bring in the new year in Iowa with us. We managed to lose our camera in Wisconsin (don't worry, it was returned after being found hanging on the Christmas tree) so there are no pictures. Here's a little of what we did:

                              - ate at Bandana's (a really good BBQ restaurant in town)

                              - watched Les Miserables ("worth every penny") and some bowl games

                              - tried to find the hole in the air mattress

                              - played a few friendly games of dominoes, taboo and Ticket to Ride

Being in the Central Time Zone, they had the fortunate ability to watch the ball drop at 11pm to go to bed early. Overall, it was a fun couple days of hanging out.

Seth and Ashia's Wedding: We ended our two weeks of being together 24/7 by spending a night in LaCrosse for our friend's wedding. We went up a day early to spend sometime together. This included sledding at the golf course below Grandad's Bluff with the saucers we purchased earlier that day. It was incredible fun, however, it ended with a decimated left butt cheek, a chipped tooth and a very sore shoulder. From there, we walked through downtown and I took Tony to the places I remembered from visiting Beth while she went there for college. We spent the night hanging out with two friends from MSOE that also came up a night early. It was fun reminiscing with them as it had been a while. The following day we had the privilege of watching Seth, a guy Tony got to know pretty well his freshman year, marry Ashia, a lovely woman he met in Madison. It was a beautiful ceremony that I have no pictures of due to the lost camera, and a wonderful time seeing everyone again.

Our camera was waiting for us at home!!!

The nice thing about driving up from Iowa was the opportunity to follow the Mississippi River for about 70 miles and finding the pretty and hilly part of Iowa. It does exist! Well, we arrived back home in time to watch the Packers beat the Vikings! GO PACK GO!

Christmas in Michigan

This last weekend started the holiday travels as we traveled the long trek across Illinois and Indiana to visit Tony's family and have a Hammond Christmas. We arrived at 2am (EST) Friday night exhausted and ready to fall into bed. Saturday was spent helping Mom set up for the extended Hammond family Christmas while taking some time to hang out and chat. People started arriving around 5pm and dinner was served. It was a fun time visiting with the family and we spent some time looking at slides of the old days. Full out projector and screen of the very old days debating which kid was which back in the day. I think one of my favorite slides was seeing an American flag without Hawaii and Alaska as states. It was nice to get a glimpse of the Hammond family as they grew up and history itself. I'm sure there were some great '70s pictures in there. Soon everyone left and I had a great time catching up with my sister-in-law Beth until it was much to late to still be awake. Sunday brought about an afternoon filled with hanging out with the family and present unwrapping!! I loved all my presents (soup pot, sewing kit and cookbooks) and I'm sure Tony loved his too (tools!). We ended the night with an amazing dinner by Mom and watching White Christmas, one of three Hammond family movies to watch at Christmas. Overall, it was a wonderful day and I am blessed to have such wonderful in-laws. Monday (a personal day for Tony) brought about another long drive back home to Iowa and back to real life...at least for Tony. I'm off for Christmas break, my longest one ever!!