Don't let the bed bugs bite!

One of Colin and my biggest projects lately has been making our new bed! We found directions online on how to build our own platform bed and decided it sounded a heck of a lot cheaper than buying one! We researched how much it would cost to buy a similar bed and it was upwards of $700. With all the wood, paint, screws etc. we bought, it only cost us around $150 to build. And thanks to a gift card my sister and Justin got Colin for his graduation we only paid $50! We are pretty happy with it and it was fun to do together, although Colin did most of the work.

Yay for wood! And LOTS of it!

The bottom frame. There are 2 parts to the bed. (Sectioned out in 7 total parts.) We built a base, which is below, then we built a platform which hangs over the base around 6 inches.

These are the platform sections. Don't mind the messy garage. Still not completely organized from the move!

And here is the final product! Without the sheets of course!

The bed feels like it weighs a thousand pounds! That's why we made 4 total sections so we could move it when we are ready to move again. (Hopefully in the FAR, FAR future!) Colin did an amazing job and I, as the little helper girl, probably won't be asked back to help! I messed up some of the paint and also dropped the frame trying to move it. Oops! A few hiccups aside, I love the way it turned out and it looks MUCH better than just a mattress on the floor! :)

Why Not...

I...

I am: a sign language interpreter
I think: into things WAY too much
I want: to loose weight. More than Allison and Bethany so I can win $100
I dislike: how much it costs to buy basic things for the house. (curtains, blinds, sheets etc)
I miss: my family and best friend.
I fear: I'll never get married and have kids. :)
I hear: Colin's ridiculously loud new speakers he thinks he needs turned on turbo mode.
I smell: the new specialty blonde hair conditioner I got today.
I crave: any kind of food that's bad for you. Mostly sweets!
I cry: when I'm overwhelmed or frustrated
I search: on the internet way too much!
I wonder: what is in store for me in the future
I regret: not keeping in touch with old friends.
I love: my family, friends, Colin, Duke, Diesel, our new house, my car, scrapbooking, chapstick and fuzzy blankets!
I care: how my house looks when people come over way too much.
I always: get at least 8 hours of sleep.
I worry: about little things that I shouldn't
I am not: skinny or thin...but working on it!
I remember: my grandparents, uncle and grandpa who passed away all the time.
I believe: that ghosts, spirits - whatever you want to call them - exist!
I dance: only when I'm drunk and at a club. Or just plain old drunk.
I sing: really badly and hardly ever.
I don't always: listen - as Colin would say. I do try though.
I argue: really badly. I can't get my thoughts together enough to have a fighting chance!
I write: too many lists. Grocery, goals, to do, food log...many different kinds!
I win: at scratch it tickets...on Christmas. $12!
I lose: debates with Colin, or anyone for that matter.
I wish: I was able to get married and have kids younger.
I listen: badly to Colin. Great to my friends.
I don't understand: the stock market, politics, accounting and men. :)
I can usually be found: Lately, at home, OSU or the gym.
I forget: things way too often.
I am happy: with my life now. Just want another kitty, that's it. Oh, and a new flat iron so I don't have to wear pony tails everyday.

TAG... if you are reading this... you are it!

I never really do these but since I'm taking a break from organizing the closet, I thought I'd give it a whirl! Thanks Suzie :)

And we're on to more projects!

I recently got a trunk from my parents that my mom got when she was younger from her grandma. My mom had antiqued it a long time ago and it was starting to get a little dingy. Colin and I decided to refinish it for our bedroom. As you can see by the pics below, we stripped the paint off, then repainted it black. It looks pretty dark because the metal parts of the trunk couldn't be saved - there were too many divits with paint in them so we had to paint over it. I think I might distress it a bit, but I haven't decided how to do it yet. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

Before

After stripping as much paint as we could get off.

After it was painted!

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.