Watching grass grow

You may have noticed in a previous post that there was a swingset in our backyard. One of the conditions for the purchase of the home was that the seller needed to remove it -- let's face it, that swingset cut into Riley's turf. Removing it left a big dirt spot.

Since we have such green thumbs, we took a stab at planting some grass. Riley is very interested in making sure this grass grows in ASAP... he helps water it everyday. And fertilize it too.

It has been about three weeks since the topsoil and grass seed. Some parts are coming in more than others. It kind of looks like when Mike tries to grow a beard.

I just hope it comes in before fall! We're always racing against the weather clock up here in the great white North... stay tuned.

Model Student

My husband can do it all -- he works full time, goes to school, helps with things around the house... you get the point. He's a great multi-tasker and manages his time so well that if you called him and asked to play 18 holes, he would be able to drop everything for a round of golf.

He's also a model student. He does well on quizzes and tests, and has ideal study habits. He was watching an online accounting session the other night...

... and may have dozed off for a few. Bueller?... Bueller??? Good thing the professor didn't see him sleeping in the front row. I guess accounting that will never be a potential career focus!

He was upstairs watching accounting again the next night. I yelled up to ask him a question -- no answer. I yelled again. No answer. I walked upstairs, and there he was, session playing... eyes closed. I asked he was sleeping, he said he was "just taking a break."

On his last quiz: a 95%! I hope he can teach me to learn while sleeping. It's a true talent. Like I said, he can do it all!

The Interview

In order to take Riley to the Pampered Pooch for boarding or day care, he had to have an evaluation to make sure he plays well with other dogs. I dropped him off for two hours on a Sunday afternoon. We did have to pay the doggy daycare rates! ($5/ hour)... but luckily he passed with flying tennis balls.

We celebrated by sharing an ice cream cone aftewards (I licked first).

Riley spent 4 days and 3 nights at the Pampered Pooch two weeks ago and came home exhausted. The dogs play both inside and outside all day long. Of course, this was on the Schneider's list of recommended local places in the welcome bag!

Weed n' Shrooms

No, this post is not about how most teenagers spent their weekends in the 60's. It's about our backyard.

I mentioned in our anniversary post that we spent part of the day weeding. I think the last time the previous owner pulled weeds was when she took the MLS pictures to list the house. A good weeding job was long overdue.

Here are just a few before pictures:

And after:

A job well done! But it was kinda boring, so I don't know when we'll get around to doing it again.

Happy ANTiversary!!

We celebrated one year of marital bliss on July 24. And the day was spent just how I pictured it should be: moving into a new house, pulling weeds and cursing at the internet -- which still didn't work 3 days after we had it activated.

We woke up that morning, and being the dutiful wife I am, I decided to make my husband coffee and take it to him in bed (no applause needed). I went downstairs to find that my kitchen had been taken over... by ANTS. I made the mistake of leaving a bag of pita chips on the counter -- the bag was closed mind you -- but I guess it was feeding time because a whole darn colony had infiltrated. I wet a paper towel and tried to wipe some from the couter into the sink, but they must have been wearing water wings and life vests because none of them would drown.

We had to take matters into our own hands. We identified their point of entry as a gap between the counter and the wall (call us Sherlock and Watson) and went to Target to buy Raid and caulk to fill the gap. They didn't have a chance.

Romantic, I know. Can't wait to see what next year brings.

Happy anniversary!

The Welcome Bag

Tuesday, July 19 was bittersweet: we said goodbye to our old home and hello to our new one. The movers weren't scheduled to arrive with our things until Thursday, so we were left homeless for two nights. Luckily, the Schneider family was kind enough to take all three of us in!

Patrick, Krissy, Charlie, Winston, Jake and baby girl (due this December!) made us feel so welcome. Patrick is Jonny's older brother, and the whole Schneider clan are close family friends of the Truebloods. We are lucky to have them so close by -- only about a 7 minute drive. Charlie, who is only 2, uses an iPad better than I do, and Winston and Jake are Riley's new canine friends.

After catching up for awhile, we went to our room that evening to find this wonderful welcome bag. Inside were maps of parks and trails, city of St. Louis Park resources, airport parking information (they knew we'd need it!), a couple of local Minneapolis magazines, coffee and travel mugs from their favorite place, and a book Minnesota secrets and legends.

When you move to a new place, you can count on asking lots of questions that start with "Do you know of a good ... (insert name of service here)...?" The Schneiders anticipated every possible ending to this question, and gave a list of recommendations and contact information for doctors, dentist, hair stylist (his and hers of course), spas/ skin care, home cleaning, tailor, florist, lanscaping, animal control and non-emergency police. And for Riley: the pet hospital, emergency vet, grooming and boarding. Wow. I think the only thing missing was an attorney, and I hope we don't need one soon! This list is very valuable -- and we have used it many times already!

We are so fortunate to have good friends!

... And We're Back!

Hello friends, it has been awhile. Since this blog was meant to chronicle our Minneapolis adventures, we thought we should do... just that. We will have to rewind over the next few posts to fill you in on the last month since we made the move -- it has been quite busy!

Mike posted some pictures of our new place here (ignore the copyright infringement!). Consider these some of the "before" pictures. We installed new carpet in the master (not shown) and in the basement (room with the red couch) and repainted the whole house. Also, we knocked out a few walls in the basement, making two former storage closets part of the main living space. More to come on house updates and renovations... just not quite ready for the big reveal!

Since we have been blog slackers, we should mention in this post that we are going to try to update regularly, though we have bets on how long it will last (already not a good sign). A special shout out goes to my personal blog idol, who doubles as my sister-in-law. She sets the blog bar pretty high, and I know we have common followers... so lower your expectations for our posts now to avoid disappointment later!

Happy reading!