Life down a country road...

There hasn't been much progress on the house this week that deems picture worthy, so today I decided to share a few other things around here that remind me of just how lucky we are! Sometimes its hard to live in the middle of nowhere, but when you do, you get to enjoy a few things that the urbanites can only imagine...

Like seeing a rooster and rabbit share a drink. I laugh every time I see it and wonder what these two talk about at night... They would make a great Cadbury Egg Easter commercial!

Or watching the strict supervision of Lexi at feeding time...

Or seeing the first official sign of spring: when the baby calves start to arrive! Urbanites be jealous... very, very jealous!

And having the opportunity to raise our kids with an appreciation for the finer things in life that money just can't buy:

So the next time I complain that we are at least 4 hours from a major airport (not to mention an Olive Garden), remind me that we are truly blessed to live in rural America!

Mirror, Mirror on the wall...

I don't know who the most beautiful of all is but I sure do know who has the most beautiful bathroom ever! Things are coming together with cabinetry installed (sort of) in the master bath and the tile is now down on the floor. It still needs grout, but it looks awesome so far. It is so nice to finally see things together. You can visualize from the boxes and pictures, but until it's all put together, it's pretty hard to know if you will love it or not. Rest assured.... WE LOVE IT!

Flooring for the downstairs should be here today (after 5 weeks!) and lots of other things are coming this week. Everytime I think we are done ordering and/or making decisions, we discover another one around the corner. That being said... I think we are going to survive this phase of the project. The kitchen, however, might be another story!

Today, among other things, I am especially thankful for these two monkeys:

Valentines Weekend 10k Race

Lately I've been kind of bummed seeing all my new bloggy running buddies running races all over the country. Our area only has a handful of 5k's all year and they are all pretty much from May to September so when I discovered this thing called "virtual racing", I thought I'd hit on something. My first try was a virtual 10k (6.2 miles) this weekend hosted by Becca at One Run Away. The deal was to run your 1ok anytime over the Valentine's Day weekend and then post the results on your blog. So here's how it went...

Even though Saturday was a crazy day, I knew I'd better take advantage of the gorgeous break in the weather and boy I'm glad I did. Sunday was bitterly cold with a NASTY wind all day! I was joined by my faithful 2 yr old golden retriever, Lexi, but I reluctantly decided to leave my 11 year old lab, Randy, behind. I think she wimpers the whole time we are gone but I hate to see her hobble around the next day. I also decided to run i-pod free for a change and it was actually nice. Seems like you can really clear your head on a long run out here in the boon docks. I ran 6.2 miles of gravel roads and only backtracked on the last mile to get back home. We only passed 4 houses on our route so quiet is an understatement! Here's a little insight into what I was thinking:

• Mile 1 - Why are these killer hills on the road closest to my house?!?! I really need to bring my camera one of these days so people can see what I have to deal with in the first and last mile of every-stinkin'-run I do at home.
• Mile 2 - Wow! I would have never guessed that if I ran this mile the opposite way from what I usually do it would prove there is slight decline for about 2/3 of it. No wonder I always struggled with this going the other way!
• Mile 3 - Laughed at Lexi for most of the mile. She stayed back at the intersection just staring at me as I turned the corner and headed the opposite way from the house. She is smart enough to know left turn means only two more miles, right turn means four! After she decided to join me, she had to stop and flirt with the neighbor border collies. Thank goodness she's fixed!
• Mile 4 - My favorite road around here. Perfectly flat and uninhabited. I tried to figure out who the other sets of footprints belonged to. One was mine from last week when I ran in the mud, but the other one looked like large, heavy work boots. Probably a neighboring farmer that got stuck or something and had to walk home. Wonder who???
• Mile 5 - Easy peasy and feeling good. I'm turned and headed home... woo hoo! Enjoy this stretch and pick up the pace because you know those killer hills are ahead for the last mile and they ALWAYS bring down the pace!
• Mile 6 - Killer hills. AGAIN. At least there are two downhills and only one uphill going this direction. However, the one uphill is a doozy and lasts FOREVER! Sprinted downhill to the finish line (aka stop sign!).

I don't have a fancy watch that gives me all my splits but I do know I finished the 6.2 miles in 1 hr and 9 minutes with an average pace of 11:10. The "virtual" thing doesn't give you the adrenaline rush or the competition push but it at least saved me a $20 registration fee! Thanks Becca!

I love laundry

Okay... so maybe I don't LOVE laundry but I'm sure lovin' my new laundry room. They aren't quite done but it's close enough to get a pretty good idea how it looks. The back countertop didn't fit so they are sending it back on Monday. Par for the course I guess. The electrical and water aren't turned on in the addition yet and we are still waiting on the flooring to come in before they proceed too much farther. Trim will go up after the flooring. Otherwise, it's slowing plugging along. Just had to share a couple of pics of the cabinets and wall color. The maple cabinets are "Suede" stain with a chocoloate glaze.

This is an open shelving unit where I can store baskets of craft supplies and finally get them all organized in ONE place! I think it's one of my favorite features. This will be a multi-purpose room for craft projects, extra kitchen storage, and of course.... LAUNDRY!!!

Have a great weekend and a HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!!

BEST Birthday Ever...

I am a firm believer that once you hit 21, most years are just another birthday. But this year was special. Not a landmark year or anything, just a special day. I think it has something to do with the age of our kids (4 and 7) and the excitement they have for birthdays regardless of your age! Watching their enthusiasm for life is a great reminder to stop rushing around and enjoy the little things. Easier said than done, I know. But even if I try a little bit each day, I'm making progress. And you all know how much I LOVE progress! These are a few things that made my day special (in no particular order):

• Having Ally wake up smiling and singing "Happy Birthday" to me while she was still laying in bed. Note: Ally does NOT wake up easily in the mornings and getting a smile first thing is DEFINITELY a stretch so this rare occasion set the happy mood for the whole day!
• Flowers from the hubby. Enough said.

• Lunch with just the hubby (even though I had to buy!)
• Having Nathan insist that he pick out his very own gift for me and that he wanted to wrap it all by himself. I LOVE my new coffee mug. Suits me, don't you think??
• Having an excuse to go to town first thing so I could get my Grande sized non-fat Vanilla Spiced Chai Latte. Gotta love me a good latte!
• Phone calls, e-mails, and facebook wishes from friends and family all over the country. Reminds me that I should take time to chat with those folks more often!!!
• Having Ally take her very first "message" from a phone call while we were outside. She neatly wrote down everything the lady told her and spelled everything almost perfect. I was sooooo proud of her! Not sure when she got so big on me!
• Having 25 minutes of alone time to go run a quick 2.5 miles (even though the last thing Nate said to me was... "You shouldn't go runnin' off when it's your birthday").
• Homemade birthday cards from the kids.
• Oh... and did I mention we have some PAINT?!?!?!? There's that PROGRESS again that I love so much! Hoping to see a lot of it this week! Happy Birthday to ME!!!

What did you do today that made it special?!?!

Mudroom: Trial Run

Some "country" houses have mudrooms that look straight out of a magazine. You know the kind... with the cute shelves and fresh flowers and fancy garden gloves sitting on the shelf. Something like this maybe...

or this...

But in a REAL "country" house, things are slightly different. We actually bring mud (among other things) into our mud rooms. We have piles of coats and shoes for every person and every type of weather and there is never a shortage of farm "stuff" that makes its way thru the door. So needless to say, we are REALLY looking forward to our spacious new mudroom that is part of the new addition. As I mentioned in my last post, we are still stuck in drywall mode. It looks the same as the last pictures I posted, but that didn't stop my husband from giving it a good 'ole trial run to make sure it would serve our needs. Thus enters this little guy on Sunday morning....

The kids were in charge of making sure he didn't wander off while we were out with mama trying to convince her to go ahead and deliver his little sister! Don't you just love PJ's and cowboy boots?!?!?

Guess the mudroom passed the test and served our needs...for today anyway!

Today I am thankful for:

1. Precious baby calves and the joy they bring the kids
2. 40 degree days and sunshine in February
3. Finding out Ally is promoted to reading at a 2nd grade level!