We've MOVED -- electronically (and physically)

Blogspot had a bit of a hiccup and forced us to create an entirely new blog. This, of course, happened AFTER we had our moving announcements printed with this blog address on them.  Story of our lives.  Anyhow, do yourselves a favor and visit YouKnowThoseBreaults.blogspot.com for all of our new information and posts.  Add it to your blog roll, your favorites, or write it on a sticky note so that you don't forget.

This Is Your Life.

We are both very lucky, and we just don't realize it enough.  Maybe it's the fact that today is the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton (now the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge) that's making me all sappy and nostalgic.  Maybe it's that something so joyous and exciting forces me to look back on some of my own memories with the utmost fondness and awe.  Maybe I'm just an emotional girl.  No matter the cause, days like today make me appreciate my life more and more.  I think about my maternal grandparents, the patron saints of happiness and love.  It's easy to think that maybe I put them on a pedestal because they are family, but I think anyone who knew them, family or not, would agree that they were unique.  Their lives were so full of joy, their memories so rich and vivid.  They lived the lives they wanted to live and loved every second of it.  The never stopped being in love with one another, and they did everything they could to create a better life for their children and grandchildren along the way.  I look at my parents, both so different, yet so determined to make sure that my childhood was enriching and full of joy.  I am certainly my mother's daughter, and she is her mother's daughter.  Neither of us would change it, though sometimes it's a bit annoying to realize that you're now doing that one thing you said you'd never do because it bothered you when your mother did it.  Karma.  I'm convinced though that my life is getting better and better by the minute.  Jeff and I were married four months ago, and it went by in the blink of an eye.  There are certain things that I remember about my wedding day, but overall, it's a blur.  I'm not sure if it's supposed to be that way, or if I am "special", but I wish I could do it all again--just to pick up on what I can't remember today.  I watched how happy Prince William and Catherine Middleton seemed to be today, how relaxed they seemed to be (as relaxed as one can be knowing that your every move is being watched by millions).  They looked at one another with such comfort and love.  They seemed to have been able to make sure that, even if just for a few moments, the day was really about them, as individuals, and not about the pomp and circumstance.  It was beautiful to watch.  It made me fondly remember how I felt saying my own vows to Jeff. Even though there were 150 people watching us, it felt like, just for a moment, it was just us.  I tried to soak it all in, like everyone told me I should, but just as quickly, it was over.  It's only now, looking back on it, that I soak it all in.  Now, four months later, we've moved on to new adventures.  We bought a house and are slowly but surely making it our own.  With each friend or co-worker that has a baby, we look at one another, giddy with excitement at the thought that we too will be starting a family soon.  When?  We're not quite sure.  We have a plan, but much like the other things we've done in our lives, some of it is really up to chance.  I look around us and see the group of friends that we've managed to keep over the years.  We're both so blessed to have these people in our lives.  As annoying as some of them can be at times (you know who you are), we wouldn't trade them for anything.  They keep us grounded, keep us laughing and keep us inspired.  Our families are always there, pushing us to be better people, but reminding us that they love us just as we are today.  It's a terrific feeling.  Neither of us know what tomorrow will bring our way, but I hope that we can continue to live the mantra posted above:

"This is your life.  Do what you love, and do it often.  If you don't like something, change it. If you don't like your job, quit.  If you don't have enough time, stop watching TV.  If you are looking for the love of your life, stop; they will be waiting for you when you start doing things you love.  Stop over analyzing, life is simple.  All emotions are beautiful.  When you eat, appreciate every last bite.  Open your mind, arms, and heart to new things and people, we are united in our differences.  Ask the next person you see what their passion is, and share your inspiring dream with them.  Travel often; getting lost will help you find yourself.  Some opportunities only come once, seize them.  Life is about the people you meet, and the things you create with them, so go out and start creating.  Life is short.  Live your dream and wear your passion."

I also hope that, much like William and Kate, we can continue to have fairy tale moments, for years and years to come.

Hello Blisters: Lawn Care

Never in my life did I think I'd be writing a post about grass.  I mean, I know that we're homeowners now, and I know that means that we have to actually maintain our large back yard and slightly smaller front yard, but COME ON... blisters... from a simple cut of the grass?  Let me back up and explain.

Last weekend the weather was gorgeous.  With the exception of some strong gusts of wind, the weather was perfect for yard work.  My mom came to visit, so we could go to Home Depot (the second home of the Breaults--seriously) to pick up more flowers.  The previous owners of our home had some majorly professional landscaping going on.  Now that the weather had warmed up (and the snow was gone), we could see just how wonderful it was.  Every day there were new flowers popping up through the mulch in the front of the house..on both sides..in a random (but totally planned) fashion.  It was gorgeous!  Along with the landscaping, the previous owners had left us about 10 large pots (ceramic and plastic) full of soil and plants.  Some of the plants were clearly annuals and now deceased.  They looked at me with all of their dried up brown-ness and screamed to be replaced, which brings us back to the Home Depot trip.  After being seriously amazed at my mom's plant knowledge (not kidding, she could kill on Jeopardy), I arrived home with Snap Dragons, Salvia (no, Miley Cyrus, you can't smoke my plants!), African Orchids and Dahlias (all of which Mom knew the scientific names for).  Purples, yellows, whites and pinks.. ready to be transplanted into the pots.  I was lazy though and decided it could wait a day.

Sunday arrived in all of it's sunny glory.  I sent Jeff to church by himself, telling him that I was going to head to our old apartment to begin the final cleaning process.  The minute my feet hit the ground though, I had a different plan (seriously, on a whim).  I knew the previous owners of the house had left us their self-propelled mower in the garage.  Did it have gas?  Yes, it did.  That was all I needed.  I pushed it out of the garage, around the side yard and into the back yard.  I prayed that it would be an easy thing to figure out how to work one of these bad boys.  Growing up on a farm, we had a riding mower.  Never had I experienced the sheer joy (read: torment) of having to a) start a self-propelled mower and b) steer, avoid dog toys and not kill myself.  It took a few pulls of the "starter" cord (Jeff is probably laughing at my inability to name the thing) before I noticed that there was a little lever labeled "choke" that I needed to flip.  Once flipped, the thing started right up.  EXCELLENT!  I quickly realized that it wasn't the pushing or steering the mower that was going to cause me a headache...it was having to hold not only the lever that keeps the mower running, but also the lever that tells the mower to propel itself forward.  It's convenient, in retrospect, to have these two levers be independent of one another.  It's a pain (literally) in the right hand though, to have to hold them both back.  After the first few passes through the yard, I realized that, even with my gloves on, my hand was getting sore already.  Fast forward to the end of the mowing process--my hand was black and blue..and puffy.  All of that being said, the back yard looked AMAZING.  One trip to the gas station later, the front yard looked equally good--though the fact that the front yard has only one straight edge did create the need for an edger--when we get one, it'll look even better.

After my triumph over all things "grass" (and some seriously GREEN tennis shoes), I decided to plant all of the flowers.  By the time Jeff returned from church, a mere 2.5 hours after he'd left, I'd mowed the whole yard and planted every last flower.  I stood back to admire my work, and what do you know?  I have a green thumb!  It looks awesome (even if I do say so myself).  Jeff seemed pleased, and my neighbors are probably jealous.  Reese even enjoyed the back yard -- rolling in the clippings for 10 straight minutes.

Pictures of said yard and flowers to come soon.

Art: Winning!

We are finally hanging some art. Here's the start of the "wedding wall".

Photos (yes, we know they're LONG over due)

We closed on the house on February 25.  Following the closing we took our large envelope full of keys (the previous owners had left us every copy of the key they'd EVER made), and went to run around/scream like little girls inside OUR new house.  We also kept up a tradition that we started in our last move (from apartment to apartment), whereby we eat pizza in the new place--with no furniture.  Last time that meant that we were sitting on the floor, eating pizza on top of a Rubbermaid tote.  This time we were lucky enough to have the kitchen island and barstools (thanks previous owners).  We also glitzed it up a bit by adding champagne.  Nothing goes better with pizza than champagne. 

Following the closing, we spent that first weekend painting, as described in an earlier post. 

First, we took the kitchen cabinets from this:

To this (unfortunately I didn't use the same cabinets for the "before" as I did for the "after"...but you get the idea. We did ALL of the upper cabinets):

We had purchased appliances earlier in the week (dryer, fridge and dish washer), so those were also delivered:

 While I was working on the kitchen cabinets, Jeff was busy priming the dining room.  Now, when you see the "after" picture below, you might think that we basically painted it the same color that it was previously painted.  This isn't true, but the camera certainly doesn't help me show that to you.  The original color was something like a mustard yellow mixed with a hint of orange.  The new color is full on cinnamon orange. We primed it before we knew we were going to paint it a similar color; however it does look totally different now.  Promise.  Here's the "before" (during the priming phase) and then the "after" (after quite a painting nightmare -- Jeff's first time painting):

(Notice that there is now furniture, but no art [yet].  We also need to dust the table and move the bucket o' stuff that you see in the left hand corner of the photo.  I didn't "prep" the room for this picture...haha!)

Also, I really feel like I should mention that we had no food in the house the entire weekend, save for some candy that John and Chelsea were nice enough to put inside part of their wedding gift to us:  these FANTASTIC jars.

That really wraps up what we did that first weekend.  We've made so much progress since then.  More photos to come shortly, as we painted both the master bedroom and the office/third bedroom, we moved in all of our furniture by "we", I mean Kevin and Jeff), had our first overnight guests (thanks to Will and Ashley), moved in the majority of our personal belongings (there are still a few items to pick up from the old apartment), and we also started to hang some artwork.  Oh, there's also that pesky leak that we thought we fixed--only to find out that we actually needed a new sump pump.  Now that we're here and settled, we'll get caught up on all of those updates as soon as possible.  For now though, Jeff is making dinner--so I should ensure that he doesn't burn down the kitchen.   



New Home = New Abilities

We are officially home owners.  The idea didn't really sink it until well after we'd signed the mortgage papers.  The signing itself went pretty smoothly, although, an error in communication from the lender to us led us to be short $1,000 at closing.  By "short", I don't mean that we didn't have the money, but we didn't bring it with us.  One frantic trip back to the apartment later (we didn't bring the check book with us, because we had a cashier's check), and we were set.  That first weekend (last weekend), we were painting like crazy, taking off cabinet doors and dreaming of future projects.  It was a bit surreal.  We didn't feel like real home owners until the downpour of rain last Sunday.  Why would that make us feel the pinch of owning a home?  The rain caused a small leak in our basement.  What do you do with a leak in the basement?  Sure, we're logical, and we weren't completely dumbfounded, but we were still a little panic-stricken.  Off I went to Home Depot on the search for dry-lock paste, while Jeff stayed at the house, watching the little leak.  We were pretty lucky, as luck as you can be with a leak, in that the leak was headed right for the basement drain, and it was moving at the speed of sludge (sludge=slow).  I came back with my dry-lock cement, and we went to work.  It's not the prettiest job we've ever done, but it got the job done.  We crossed our fingers, because it rained all day this past Friday, and kept raining on Saturday.  Luckily, our patch jobs seem to have held.  We'll be adding the additional protection of some dry-lock paint here shortly.  The other good news: our sump pump worked like a champ.  No sweat.  (read: I made Jeff stick his hand in there to raise the water level up in order to trip the on-switch, so that I could watch the water get sucked out of the pump basin....because I was paranoid.)

ANYWAY.  Now that we've got two full weekends of home ownership under our belts, it's time to show you the progress that we've made.  As I mentioned earlier, we tore the cabinet doors off of the upper kitchen cabinets, and then I painted the insides.  We also refinshed the kichen's butcher block island, painted the dining room, master bedroom and office/bedroom #3.  We purchased surround sound, assembled some DVD towers, moved over a bunch of little junk (read: picture frames and lots of wedding stuff) and introduced the dog to the house/back yard (he loves it!).  We also had our first guests, as my mom, Carol and Zephyr (their new Shepskie [Shepherd and Huskie mix]) came to visit for my mom's birthday on Saturday.  I also brought one of my co-workers over during lunch last week for a short tour.  All in all, things are going really well.  

SOLD!