One vine day

A few weeks ago, we got some rhizomes in the mail. Hubs, my personal homebrew concierge, decided to grow his own hops. Hops are what give beer aroma and that nice little kick of bitter flavor. And we're about to have a ton.

Right now, we just have two rhizomes sprouting up - one at the back of our garage and one at the foot of the deck. We chose these spots for their nearly full-sun exposure and because I want nothing more than to not have to paint the back of that garage.

Hops get super huge and love to climb, so soon we'll have to string up some trellises for them. Shouldn't be long before we have cascading hops (beer joke, ba dum ching?) floating over our our heads!

Source

Source

Think of it as wisteria for beer snobs. 

Iowa's not ideal for hops, but if we have enough Hubs might make an experimental brew. A local brewery makes an all-Iowa IPA, so it can be done!

All the desk's a stage

I don't have awesome taste in music. If you play me some amazing new band all the kids are listening to, I'll probably like it but I'm not likely to take the next step and buy the album or roadtrip to their concert. My playlists are rife with one-hit wonders, 80s country songs and monster ballads. My favorite genre of music is karaoke-able.



And so, I'd like to present my vision for future workspaces to you. This is beyond co-working and light-years ahead of telecommuting. It's the future.



Karaoke offices.



Do I have the logistics all mapped out? Do I know the effect on the bottom line? No and no, though based on pure anecdotal evidence, I can say the efficiency of Alexsons raises significantly when Pandora gets in a karaoke mood and that karaoke-ness increased ten-fold when I got an office with a door and walls. Ergo, all hypothesis point to this being a totally awesome idea.



Join me in this revolution! You know you wanna.

Fun Old Fashion Family Easter

I'm channeling my inner-Sparky and hosting our first Big Family Holiday in Our House this weekend! Hubs' parents and brothers are road-tripping out here for what is sure to be an awesome time.

I've got Easter baskets ready, a menu full of awesomeness and bowling on Easter Eve is going to catch on big time. Just wait and see!

I also bought my weight in Cadbury Eggs before seeing this life-changing recipe.

Have a lovely weekend and please pray for us and our house with one bathroom.

I don't want to be right

Not only do I have the past-times of a granny, I seem to have picked up the decorating indulgences of a weathered old sea captain.

This little crustacean is on his way to me right now, via Kelly from Tearing Up Houses.

I felt a deep spiritual connection to this brass lobster. 

I think brass lobsters are my spirit animal. That's a thing, right?

Old soul

I made up a game for you guys. It's called "Me or the Little Old Lady Down the Street?"

Ready to play?

OK, first clue: Hobbies include knitting, gardening and baking.

Answer is....me!

Next, we have: pulled a scarf over her hair in the parking lot to avoid rain-soaked locks.

Answer is....me!

Final question: Her ideal evening includes watching Wheel of Fortune AND Fraiser AND falling asleep in a rocking chair.

Answer is...you guessed it - it's me.

Thanks for playing, you whipper snappers.

Schoolin' the stools

Remember our ugly hand-me-down bar stools?

Yes. A screen grab of the YouTube tour. Call me lazy. 

Hunter green pleather and cheap bamboo combined to make what might possibly me the ugliest bar stools in town.

Well, two coats of Kilz, three of Martha Stewart's creepy Metallic Bone paint (seriously, Martha!) and one Target shower curtain later, we have these:

Three updated stools and two attention-seeking cats.

In the full-bar shot above, you can also see some of the new decor, including a chalkboard/clock mount Hubs made over the weekend. It might be hard to tell, but the clock and keg taps are chrome, so the gray of the stools really works.

These stools were our first reupholstering job (if you can call remove staples, tracing a circle and reapplying staples "reupholstering") and I'm smitten with the results. 

What magical transformations have you made with a staple gun?

Net Profit: Basement Edition

So, was it worth it?

Costs, tangible/intangible:

• Three pairs of lady pants, ruined forever or until paint splatters become cool again.
• 32 total calls to Jimmy Johns, approximate cost: $500, approximate weight: 96 pounds of sub-y goodness.
• Two injuries requiring band aids, for him.
• Zero injuries requiring hospital trips
• 60 sheets of drywall
• 700 feet of flooring used
• 1000 feet of flooring bought
• 15 nights ending with someone crying, yelling "I quit!" or otherwise storming upstairs
• Eight venti frappucinos to fuels the final push to completion, for her
• 18 hours = the longest single workday
• $15,000 total construction investment (mostly paid already because we are dolla' bill rockstars)
• $0 paid by insurance (yes, we had water coverage, but it didn't matter because that only applies if there is a sewer backup or the sump pump fails)
• 234 days from flood to finishing

Revenue, tangible/intangible:

• Wiring knowledge, for him
• Non-creepy laundry room, for her (I know, it's really sexist. But I'm the laundry do-er, he's the dish do-er)
• Reduced fear of nail guns, for her
• Floor laying, drywalling, mudding, trim laying knowledge for all
• Boost in disposable income for the Jimmy John's guy who works Wednesday nights
• Private water closet for two cats with questionable hygiene
• 700 square feet of "meh" basement transformed into "holy crap, you guys built this?" basement
• Countless nights of sound sleeping thanks to lifetime guarantee on waterproofing system and windows
• $400 refunded for returning extra supplies
• $8 for selling books we'll never read again
• Seven pounds, lost (and two pairs of college jeans that fit once again!)
• Two Foursquare mayorships of hardware stores

An ugly journey, but worth it.