Nobody Wants Moldy Caulk!

During my time off over the holidays, I wanted to get some stuff done around the house that I had been putting off.  First thing on the list, cleaning the nasty caulk in our bathroom.  Our house is generally damp, so we really struggle with moisture in the bathroom.  I found this post on Pinterest, and decided to try it.

I didn't want to go out and buy the cotton rope stuff, so I decided to try it with cotton balls.  If you poke your finger in the center of the cotton ball, you can unravel the ball into a rope.  Free (if you have cotton balls) cotton rope!

Yuck!

Double Yuck!

Put bleach into a container and place it in the tub.  You can dunk the rope in the bleach and place it on the nasty stuff.  I used a plastic baggie to cover my hand (so I wouldn't be dunking my hand in pure bleach).  It obviously would have been easier if I had gloves, but the baggie worked.  Make sure to turn the bathroom fan on while you do this so you don't get fumed out.  After you are done, let it sit for a while (the post says overnight, I did a few hours).  I was actually surprised at how well this worked.

Better

Much better!

I also decided to soak our back shower curtain (the landlords decided to keep the wood window frame, so it will rot if the water gets on it) while the caulk soaked.  Awesome!  Now I just have to clean the rest of the bathroom :)

Weekly Cleaning Schedule

You know those people who always have an immaculately clean house?  Well I'm not one of them.  Our house is usually a disaster in one area or another.  However, it is also VERY small, so we can't really have many messes.  Things get dicey quickly.  Around this time last year, I saw a few different ideas about doing a small amount of cleaning each day (Monday through Thursday) then you wouldn't have a huge buildup and could spend your weekend doing fun things.

We started our plan after moving into our new place and have been doing this for a while now, and I absolutely love it.  It's important to understand that things happen, so if you miss a day, make up for it the next day or skip it that week.  Forgive yourself and move on.  It's ok, I promise.  Also, our original plan (see the inspiration here) did not work, so we ended up changing our plan to this:

Monday- Dusting/Pickup
Tuesday- Bathroom
Wednesday- Floors
Thursday- Kitchen
Laundry- 2 or 3 loads/week (throw them in before you do the other task)

Again, our house is really small, but with doing this every day we spend 15-20 minutes instead of all day on Saturday or Sunday.  I printed our schedule and it hangs on our fridge as a reminder to complete the tasks every day.  I also put each day's task on my google calendar, so I get reminders on my phone.

I think trying this would be a fantastic resolution for the new year!

Resolution Update

With the start of a new year, comes the opportunity to reflect.  One year ago, Josh and I made some goals or resolutions.  I thought it would be fun to see how they went.

• Find our first "home" where we will stay for more than a year

We did find a great place to live, but with cutting a few corners and saving extra money, it looks like we might be able to purchase a home shortly.  We are planning to speak with a realtor and get pre-approved for a mortgage as soon as possible.

• Manage to move in the least stressful way possible

We did a pretty good job of this, but I do have some advice for myself for the next move.  Just wait and do everything in one day.  We made many trips over the course of a few weeks (using our cars) which made the process seem so much worse.  I think it would have been better to just load everything in the moving truck instead of making it such a drawn-out process.

• Get a puppy

Done.  Avery is a full-fledged part of our family!

• Start saving to buy a house

As I said before, we are well on our way to this.

• Start saving for a "big" trip

We are also doing this.  We are planning to go to Hawaii this fall and hoping to go to Europe the year after.

• Go to Florida, Duluth, and Chicago

Made it to Florida, but not to Duluth or Chicago.

• Go to "the lake" at least 5 times this summer

Unfortunately, we did not make it up this many times.  I would say there's always next year, but with another move coming, I'm not sure it will work!

• Graduate and get a job!

Woohoo! Made it :)

• Run a 10k in the end of April

To date, I have just not been able to get into running.  Josh and I joined the YMCA recently, so I'm hoping that will help.  So far, I have tried fitness yoga and zumba.  And it sounds like I might be attempting a 5k again in April...

• Continue to grow my hair out

I did cut my hair back in August.  It was super cute, but I have noticed that I am not very creative when my hair is shorter so I tend to get bored.  Combined with the weddings I have coming up, I decided to start growing it out again.

Overall, not super great results, but everything worked out great for us!  Can't wait for another exciting year!

Christmas

Family photo time

Celebrating makes Avery tired

The whole gang

Chase teaching Avery about Santa

Making waffles on our new Norwegian waffle maker

Second annual cake pop making

Josh and I also exchanged gifts yesterday, but we didn't take any pictures.  We are looking forward to his cousin's wedding today and a special New Year's Eve celebration next week.

I am brainstorming all the things I should work on during my last few days off.  So far, I have created our family yearbook and I am thinking of going through my clothes.  Any suggestions?

Festivities Are Officially Underway

We have been in full-swing holiday spirit over here for quite a while now.  We had our first (hopefully annual) Christmas party on December 6th.  Followed by a family Christmas gathering on December 7th.  Josh's parents were in town the next weekend, so we had fun trekking all over with them.  Now we are headed back to SW Minnesota for another Christmas celebration this weekend.  We will be going to Moorhead for Christmas and then heading back to SW Minnesota for a cousin's wedding on the 28th.  We will definitely be making our rounds of the state.  I feel like we should throw a trip to Duluth in for good measure!

Our Christmas party was a hit! It was so fun to see everyone and I was shocked that we were able to fit everyone in our tiny little duplex.  For food, we had a few kinds of Christmas cookies (chocolate covered cherry, cherry shortbread, gingerbread, cranberry pistachio, and peppermint meltaways), spinach dip, caprese skewers, and strawberries (these were supposed to be Santa hats, but it was a pinterest fail).  For the first time ever at a party I have hosted, we ran out of food!  Everything was a huge hit.

Crammed in the kitchen

Cookies

Caprese and Strawberries

Note to anyone thinking of making the strawberries, the whipped cream melts almost instantly.  You might want to try piping cool whip, but that might melt too.

The Gehl family Christmas party in Marshall was a good time.  It was Hawaiian themed this year.

On the way down, we stopped at the Dairy Queen in Olivia and they gave Avery a doggie sundae.  She liked it so much, she could hardly contain herself.

Almost all of our gifts are wrapped, and even though I am not looking forward to spending so much time in the car, I am looking forward to time with family.

Holiday Spirit

Guess what?!? I am posting from our new computer! We got a new computer last weekend and could not be happier.  We even got a better deal on it than all the Black Friday sales.  And we didn't even have to shop on Thanksgiving.

Cherry Shortbread and Chocolate Covered Cherry cookies

We have been slowly working up to Christmas around here.  Gradual decorating, baking, shopping.  I can't believe that our Christmas party and Christmas with Josh's family is already almost here.  We are almost done getting everything we need.

Our major Black Friday deal!

We were so looking forward to our first long weekend at home in so long.  It has been pretty amazing so far.  On Wednesday, we stayed at home cleaning and making cookies.  Yesterday we spent the day at my aunt and uncle's house with family.  Avery had so much fun and she has been sleeping all day to make up for how tired she got playing non-stop.

Avery with Grandma and Grandpa

We did get up at 4am this morning to do some Black Friday shopping.  I have to say, it was one of my best experiences yet.  We started at the Home Depot by our house.  They let us inside to wait for the store to open and they gave us breakfast and hot cocoa (coffee for the coffee drinkers).  The customers and employees were so pleasant!  After getting everything we wanted there (even though the list wasn't long), we took off for Menards.  This time we had to wait outside in the cold for 40 minutes.  There were so many more people and they were not nearly as friendly.  I have never had good luck at Menards on Black Friday, but we got everything on our list (and a bit more).  Plus, we got this gem.  I have always been against these fake fireplaces, but we neededa space heater and this was cheaper or the same price and any we found.  A little ambiance?

Don't mind the laundry basket, or when I'm trying to roast mallows in the future...

Tomorrow, we will be going to Feed My Starving Children with our new church and then watching my brother's game.  Hopefully we will be able to get a little prep for our party in as well.  On Sunday, the Vikings play the Bears, so we will definitely be watching that game.

I am getting out of control exciting for the Christmas festivities!  Can't wait :)

Vacation and Surgery Recovery

Can't believe it has almost been a month again!  That month was mostly spent prepping for vacation, being on vacation, and recovering from vacation.

Before vacation, we had the chance to see the Cirque du Soleil show in town.  It was good, but not as acrobatic as the first show I saw.  Overall, a little disappointing, but still cool.  

We also had the chance to head north for Concordia's homecoming. It was nice to see friends and family.

When we got back, Avery had her first haircut.  We were a little nervous because my parents have had so many problems with Montana, and they have a similar look.  It turned out great though and we will definitely be special requesting the same person.

On the 19th of October, we took off for Tampa for the week.  We had a good time checking out the beaches and ocean and relaxing.  It was our first vacation since starting our "new" jobs.

For Halloween, we were the justice league (minus a few).  Josh was Superman, I was Bat Girl and Avery was Wonder Woman.

Today, Avery got spayed.  She made it through like a champ, but she is very out of it.  We will be taking it easy this weekend to help her recover.

Also, GOOD NEWS!  We should be getting our new computer soon, so hopefully I will get back to posting more!