Recruited as a Beaver

I'm an official Oregon State University interpreter starting Monday January 5th! I'll also be interpreting for a play called Arcadia on February 13th at OSU. Should be a fun adventure!

Craftiness Hard at Work!

Merry Christmas to me! Bethany and I went to the craft store today and I picked up this bad boy at 50% off! I've been wanting one so bad but they are just too expensive, and I thought maybe Colin could make one for me - but with the thousand other projects I'm having him do to the house he has NO time! It's centered right above my craft table that Ron and Dawn bought me for Christmas. I'm so excited to have extra space to put everything! Just thought I'd share my excitement! :)

Yay For Blinds!

Thanks to the generosity of my parents and sister's house warming gift Colin and I no longer need to be embarrassed of our old horrible blinds! They were all tore up from the previous renters kids and were also pretty old and dingy. When my parents and sister came down this weekend they saw how ugly and gross they actually were and bought us new ones! Don't they look awesome???

With only one of our new blinds up - to show the difference.

Yay for new blinds! They make such a big difference!

Now we just need to get some for the rest of the house! At least the main part of the house is done and looks great. So clean and crisp!

Grad Pics!

Here are some pics from grad. :)

Our Little Surprise

Well, here is Colin and my little surprise we couldn't post for a month and a half! Assuming my parent's don't read this tonight, we should be safe from the gift being spoiled! We gave photo albums of all these pics to the grandparents and our parents for Christmas as a little surprise. If any of you all know Colin - he's not much of a picture taker! I thought I might need to drug him to get him up to Portland for this photo session but he ended up cooperating. :) Heather Ward took these and they turned out amazing! She's really fantastic and we are super sad she moved back to Canada. Her husband graduated with Colin so they headed back north. We were really lucky to snag her while she was still here!

Sorry...it's a lot of pictures! And these are just my favorites!

Amazing Recipe!

I thought I'd share this recipe for spicy spinach cheese dip. I really don't like 1/2 the ingredients in this recipe (like tomatoes, red pepper, spinach, half and half) but altogether this is amazing! Colin and I always went to Rock Bottom Brewery when we were living in Portland and most times ordered their Ball Park Pretzels with this cheese dip recipe. My sister found out how to make it online and walla...here it is. I'm sure it goes great with many things but my favorite is to serve them with those big pretzels you heat up from Costco. Also, my sister added some cheddar cheese instead of all pepper jack to make it more mild. If you try this let me know if you like it or not!

1 cup tomatoes, drained and diced
4 ounces frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1/2 cup sweet red peppers, drained and diced
1 1/2 cups yellow onions, minced
1 1/2 cups half-and-half
3 3/4 pounds pepper jack cheese, grated

Sweat onions in a saucepan. Add half-and-half and bring to a boil. Slowly add grated cheese, stirring until all the cheese is melted and smooth. Add spinach and blend. Mix in tomatoes and peppers, stirring to remove any lumps. Refrigerate until needed.

Servings: 8

We've got a doctor in the house!

Colin graduated yesterday from Western States Chiropractic College with his DC (Doctor of Chiropractic). His family, my family and I are all very proud of him! He had 11 people in the crowed cheering for him including his parents, 2 sisters, brother in law, grandparents, my parents, my sister (who drove down all the way from Tacoma in the snow! Then straight back home!) and I. Here are some stats I came up with:

Colin has...
*Gone through 8 years of college.
*attended 5760 hours of Chiropractic College.
*Worked on a cadaver (dead body).
*Had 24 quarters of college altogether.
*Passed 1 Oregon Board test and 4 National Board tests.

After graduation Colin's family including his grandparents, aunt and cousin came over for a bbq. After we had several more people come over and partied until around 2 am! Here are a few pics from the party. I'll post some pics from grad when I get them off my parents camera.

Beer Pong in the dining room!

TJ and Alaina

Colin and I

Colin and Tyler - Beer pong!

Even Brayden came to party until grandma and poppy took him home for bedtime.

Jason Ron and Dawn

Allison and I at graduation.


Bethany and Jason...a little tipsy Bethany?

Definitely tipsy!

The Handy Elfs

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Holy Snow!

This last weekend Colin and I went up to Seattle to help surprise my dad for his 50th birthday. My mom pulled together a surprise visit from my dad's cousin Bob from Missouri, a surprise visit from Colin/Duke/myself, and a surprise birthday party with about 30 people! It was so awesome. It started snowing just about when the party started and didn't stop until we went to bed around 2am! We had TONS of food inside and a bonfire outside which looked so cool with all the snow. And it really wasn't too cold unless you went back to the house for food or alcohol.

Driving home was another story! It took us 5 hours to get from the Tacoma area to our house in Albany...which should have only taken about 3 1/2 hours. Thank goodness my car drives much better in the snow than we were expecting! The roads weren't too bad until we got to Portland and WOW, that sucked. The roads were all iced over from Portland all the way until about 10 miles from our house. When we got home all we found was some measly rain! Blah! I was so cold I thought I'd go take a bath and when I was finished, there was SNOW! We have about 2 inches now and we are supposed to get more later in the week. My work was canceled today so I'm at home cleaning and organizing. I'm hoping to do some last minute Christmas shopping with Bethany later, but we'll see!

Here are some pictures from this morning. Duke loves the snow! Diesel...not so much. I love how our house looks in the snow. So peaceful and pretty!



Side note: Colin graduates this Saturday!!! I can't believe how fast it came! His family and myself are super excited for this whole school thing to be over with and for him to start treating patients without supervision and for Grice Chiropractic to grow again! We are all very proud of him! We will be having a BBQ and partying on the 20th at our house if anyone is able to make it. Email or call for directions!

Happy Snow Day!!!

Kara

Let It Snow!

Three Sisters Mountains just outside of Sunriver.

Driving up to Sunriver/Bend this weekend the pass had NO snow. Nowhere. Nada. I was so disappointed! I thought for sure we'd see something! We were in Sunriver from Saturday afternoon until Tuesday morning and the only snow we got was just the tiniest dusting. It melted by the time we were up and at it. on Monday we drove up to Mt. Bachelor to find the snow and the poor mountain wasn't even open for skiing yet! But we did find huge piles of snow from the snow plow in the parking lot. I just had to get a picture with snow! So...here ya go!



Well, only 10 days until Colin graduates! Crazy. Seems like just yesterday he moved to Portland to start going to Western States and a year later I moved down too! We are very excited for him to be all done with college and even more excited for him to be an official chiropractor!

Bethany and I have started working out just today. We decided we are fat kids and need to lose the "baby weight"! Bethany lasted 9 minutes until Brayden freaked out and had to be picked up and I was there for about 20ish. Better luck tomorrow! Brayden's staying at the babysitters until we are finished tomorrow. :) Also, being the good quality person I am, I taught him how to "pop, lock and drop it!" Haha. That kid seriously has some moves. He has rhythm to fast music as well as slow!

Keep your fingers crossed for snow this weekend!

And we have lights...

We got our Christmas lights up! Yep...did it all by myself too! Not much but it's a start for our first Christmas with our own home! :)


We

And the results are in!

We found out yesterday Colin passed his Oregon State Boards! He wasn't feeling too confident but he ended up passing it like everyone knew he would! Now we just wait to hear back from the National Boards, which Colin felt were much easier. Graduation is in 18, almost 17 days! We are going to Sunriver/Bend this Saturday - Tuesday to relax and have a little down time.

Today Colin and his dad put up the chair rail in the computer/craft room and our room. It looks SO wonderful! I couldn't take pictures because I don't have a working camera but I'll get some up soon. While they were working at that, I was on the roof putting up the Christmas lights. They looks awesome and really weren't that hard to put up! We also met our neighbor, Ben, who is super nice! It's really nice to know that we have good quality neighbors-at least on one side! He's also a veterinarian. So if something were to ever happen to Duke or Diesel we just have to go next door and knock! (Or to his office :) Anyway, those are all the new updates for now.

Only 25 Days!

Ok, so I have a Christmas secret I'm DYING to post on here but I absolutely have to wait! I'm counting down the days until I can blab. Starting now...25 days!

The Adventures of Colin, Kara, Jason, Bethany& Brayden...

Today we all went up to the mountains to pick out a Christmas tree. It was super beautiful up in the mountains and was only about 30 mins from our house. We found a tree that would fit in our living room and cut it down. It smells SO good and looks great by the fireplace. . Bethany and Jason got one too and looks great in their house also. We all decided that we have to go every year and make it a tradition. Today is Bethany's birthday so HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! The big 2-4! After our little adventure, we went home to clean the gutters. Dis-cus-ting! Eww. I'm proud to say I did it all by myself! Colin picked up random trash around the yard and helped put all the gutter crap in the yard waste bin. We decided that if we both got on the roof we wouldn't be able to get down because we didn't have a tall enough ladder. We got done and went to pick up Chinese food to take to Bethany's house for her birthday and wow did it taste good! Also, Colin's mom made a carrot cake that was great too. We stayed about an hour or so then came home to put up our tree and all the lights!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving and gets to spend time with the people they love. I also hope you all EAT a TON!!! I know I will! This year I am thankful for many things, some of which include:

*Getting to spend Thanksgiving with my family
*Moving to Albany and buying a house
*Duke and Diesel! And another little puppy on the way!
*My job - I wouldn't do anything else!
*Colin finally graduating chiropractic college after 8 years in school!
*Getting a second family and having 2 awesome (one-day) sister in laws that keep me company!
*My friends.
* The Crazies - Joey and Brayden
*And last but not least, because I need to go take a shower, the fact that I'm healthy, happy and have great family and friends I can depend on.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Hit-N-Run Mad Woman

So yesterday was an interesting day. I had a job out in the boondocks in the afternoon and was SO excited it only took 30 minutes instead of the scheduled hour. I walked outside and noticed a lady pulling out from the spot next to me. I got in my car and waited for her to leave. I waited, and waited and waited! Good lord. So after seriously, 5 minutes, I see her start to pull forward then I feel a jerk. I got out of my car to see if she hit me and my bumper was all red and scratched...then I turned to talk to the lady and she took off! :( There was a man in a medical transport van whom got out of his van and said, "Did she just hit you? I saw that same lady hit a Mercedes last week and take off!" We both ended up getting her license plate and called the cops. 45 minutes later they showed up and took my info and some pictures. They verified the lady and told me she was born in 1926...yes she was 82...and lived a good 40 minutes away. I guess the old lady hadn't realized she hit me and kept on truckin'! She told the police the sun was in her eyes and couldn't see. Obviously I told the cops just to get her info for insurance purposes and not to do anything about the hit and run. Moral of the story: Maybe people shouldn't be driving after they turn 80.

House Update

These pictures are from yesterday but Bethany and I almost finished painting the master bedroom (green and cream) and the computer room (blue and cream). Colin and I went to Home Depot to buy some more paint and the chair rail for those two rooms. I put a second coat on this afternoon so it looks much better. I started the guest bedroom today and got about 1/2 way. For some reason the previous people felt the need to put a nail, screw or molly screw in the wall every few inches it seemed! So it took me much longer than expected. I'll do the second coat tomorrow.

Here's a picture of the house. The big dirty bush looking thing is actually a big tree we took down. It looked like an xmas tree and was blocking the whole front of the house. So Colin and his dad ripped it down. I'm trying to have the painting done and at least some furniture in the house by the Thursday when I have the Scentsy party with Bethany. Hopefully it gets finished!

It's really starting to feel like a home for Colin and I. Of course there are still things to do...and probably will be for the next year or so as we can afford it, but it really is starting to look good. The carpet cleaners and TV dudes are coming tomorrow so I'll be up bright and early to meet them! I'll try and post more pics tomorrow...

You know you want to smell good!!!

I will be having a Scentsy party hosted by Colin's sister Bethany on Thursday November 20th (next Thurs.) at my house. I'll even make you some special snacks! All the scents will be available to smell so you can pick out exactly what you want without guessing. Email me for more information AND go to Bethany's website at:

www.scentsy.com/bethanykeesee

My email: KaraHandy@gmail.com

If you can't come but want to order something just go ahead and email me what you want. :)

Kara

PS. I seriously swear by this stuff. It makes your whole house smell great!

Holy Paint!

So I started painting yesterday and got the first coat on the living room, dining room, hallway and kitchen. I went back today and spent a few hours painting all the edges and putting on a second coat of the beige. And holy paint! We bought a 5 gallon bucket of beige, a 1 gallon of brown, a 1 gallon of green and I still need more for the bedroom!

I feel like this house is finally feeling like home! It's amazing what a good clean and some paint will do! Here are a few pics. Don't mind the kitchen...it's all painting/cleaning stuff! We're hoping to move in next Tuesday!

PS...Colin has his final National Boards tomorrow and Saturday, then he's officially done! (Assuming he passes, which of course he will!) He is so excited to be done and so am I. He's been seeing patients and doing amazing. And from what I see, he absolutely loves it!

Living Room




Kitchen

AND...we're in business!

We FINALLY finished the cleaning today!!! Now the place feels a bit more like home. Boy was it gross. I got a jump start yesterday in the kitchen and bathroom then today Colin's sister Bethany came to help clean for awhile, his mom came to help clean and put contact paper in the drawers, and Colin and his dad cleaned the whole garage and went to the dump with all the crap the old renters left behind. Oh, they also made me VERY happy and pulled out an ugly Christmas looking tree the blocked the whole front of the house. I'm so happy that's gone! All these small changes we are making definitely the house feel more like a home.

Tomorrow I'll be painting while Colin is at work. We're doing Brown/Tan/Green. Just bought it tonight at Home Depot! I'm so excited to see some color on the walls! I think on Monday we're getting the carpets cleaned so that will feel really wonderful!!! I'll try and post pictures tomorrow or the next day so everyone can see the paint and everything. Hopefully we'll be able to tackle the fireplace within the next month or so!

Another small note...Bethany is going to start selling Scentsy products (www.scentsy.com) so if anyone needs anything let me know. I'll probably be having a party next week. If you don't know what scentsy is...they have super cute pots and you plug it into the wall. A light bulb heats up the pot which has smelly wax in it and fills up your WHOLE house with fragrance. I'm not kidding...your whole house. Candles never give off enough smell and when I got a pot for my bday last year I become addicted. They aren't badly priced either. I think the waxes are 5 blocks for $25 and the pots are about $30. They make great Xmas gifts for anyone! They have TONS of different scents from fruity, to floral to seasonal and holiday scents. Ok, that wasn't a small note but you get the hint! :)

Kara

Our New Home

Colin and I were able to see the house we're buying today. The previous renters left it super dirty and smelly. I think once we get the house completely cleaned and some paint on the walls we both will feel a lot better about this place. It has some really great potential but will take a ton of work. So, here are the before pictures. It will be a process since we can't really afford to do everything now. Check back in 6 months and we should have the carpet redone with Pergo, the cabinets painted and that fireplace taken care of. And YES there are 2 toilets in the bathroom and YES there is a sink in the master bedroom. I have NO idea why! :)

I'll post more after I finish painting hopefully next week sometime. Wish us luck!

Kitchen/Dining Room

Living Room


Master Bedroom


Bathroom

Fireplace (will be redone!)

Backyard