The Most Wonderful Week of the Year

The 5 days that contain Christmas and both of our birthdays is fast approaching!  It is a good week, but it is kind of a bummer that we never actually plan anything unique as far as birthdays go, since... CHRISTMAS.  At the same time, it's also nice.  There is no strain to do anything but tack on an extra present or two to the Christmas haul.  Also, it forces us to be really deliberate about gift ideas we give to our families, since we know all year long that we'll have to come up with a lot of ideas all at once (or risk thinking of useless things at the last second, heaven forbid).

This year I find myself turning 26, which is bizarre but also not since 26 is a lot like 25.  Scott reminded me that scientifically this is the year I begin the slow decay toward death, but the 31-year-old over here has held up pretty well, so I'm not too concerned.  The solar panel salesman also asked me if my parents were home the other day, so I guess I can't feel too old.

2015 has been a great year.  I found out I only used $12 toward my healthcare deductible and I think that's a great indication of peace and prosperity.  We're excited to ring in the New Year at Los Hermanos as always, and guess what?  We finally feel rich enough to buy some of their T-shirts, so we can save Grandma some money on our specialty drinks in perpetuity!  I think 2016's looking pretty great already.

Here, at the End of All Things

The last few months, time has slowed to an almost stand-still as we've anticipated reaching a big goal to pay off the last of our debt, hopefully forever.  But the day finally came and we actually own all our possessions now!  It's probably not socially acceptable to post about this, but it's the most anticipated day of 2015 and we want to remember it, so oh well.  I know we are pretty fortunate, and I probably don't understand what the term "sacrifice " even means, but this moment was worth every sacrifice we made, however comparatively inconsequential.  We worked hard to get here.

Now we're feeling a lot like this:

The meteor in the back makes this photos the most hilarious thing I've ever seen.

and also this...

and mostly like this...

Memes are clearly the best invention of the 21st century.

We made the final house payment on Black Friday, which I thought was kind of hilarious--the ultimate online shopping at WellsFargo.com!  Except, we had to go into the branch 3 times to make it happen.  You'd think they'd make it easier for us to pay. them. money, but whatever.  Good riddance, Wells Fargo.  I think we'll celebrate by reprogramming our thermostat so I don't have to ask Scott if I have the chills or if it's just cold in here.

Also, someone point me in the direction of the nearest RC Willey.  (The dollar signs in my eyeballs make me wonder if I learned nothing at all...)

Trick Oreo Treat

In every city we've lived (yep, all 2 of them), Scott and I have found a special ice cream place to call our very own.   This is very important to us.  I think we are borderline-obsessed, which I guess is a result of banning almost all treats from our house.  Going out for ice cream becomes a bigger deal when you haven't bought ice cream from the grocery store in years.

Anyway, in Orem, our place was Sonic because we could get a chocolate malt to share for $1.19 after 8 PM all summer long.  Here, it is Baskin Robbins, which is conveniently located next to both the bank and the library (the only places we ever go). We considered Coldstone as our place but then after going there once, we realized...Coldstone is not even good.  They only have 1, maybe 2 chocolate bases, tops!  Now that we are BR-loyal, we take it pretty personally when we see our now rival location chuck-full of people.  What is this city coming to...?

The BR executives must have caught wind of our unfailing loyalty because they even emailed Scott to become a special VIP Baskin Robbins team member.  Sadly I did not get the same email, which Scott likes to hold over my head.

Anyway, I'm not really going anywhere with this, but last month we went in to try out Trick-Oreo-Treat, which is October's flavor.  We were surprised to notice on October 3 (Mean Girls reference) that NO ONE had made a dent in the Trick-Oreo-Treat ice cream bucket. 3 days, and not one person! How do these people not know about this limited edition flavor?!?!?  Don't they check their emails?  Even Rum Raisin had a few scoops taken out, which is confusing.

As I'm sure you're wondering, Trick-Oreo-Treat was, unfortunately, kind of a letdown.  Try as I might, I just can't win with Halloween Oreos.

Threat Level Midnight

Today was a threat-level-midnight kind of day.  I don't even know if I want to get into the details, but it literally involved me filling out forms for the Chinese Embassy in a speeding vehicle and turning them in at a random FedEx in the middle of nowhere at 6:58 PM when they were due at 7:00 PM.  Aye Carumba (if I knew how to say this in Chinese, I would).

I just want to lay in my bed...forever now.  Meanwhile I think it's high time to break out the great things list so I can return to equilibrium:

• On the way home from FedEx, I realized I forgot I had rolls rising at our house, so despite the madness we didn't have to settle on a mediocre dinner.
• Last week I planted 100 bulbs and I'm hoping the excitement of this will last all winter long.

• I made homemade tomato juice from the garden bounty earlier this week and it was so good.

• I had time to work out before I even realized today was a threat-level-midnight day, which allows me to not be working out right now. *Cue the hallelujah chorus.*
• I had two leftover pumpkins from Activity Days that I painted gold, and I love them.

• I remembered I had an $80 gift card leftover from last Christmas and bam, we just scored some new pillows and fall attire.
• Tomorrow, Pandora and I get to learn all about Iowa tax law from the comfort of our own home.

Phew, I guess life is pretty good after all.

Office #1

Sometimes I become convinced that I'm part-woodworker, part-Ty-Pennington, part-billionaire, and every project I've ever seen invades my brain, never to be let go.  This means there are a lot of home projects in the beginning stages around here.  It's a disease.

Today's project is Office #1, located on the bottom level of our house.  If you wish to read every thought I ever had about this process, read on and congratulate yourself when you're done.

Here we go.

One dilemma I run into every time I want to decorate or remodel is I'm not starting from scratch, but I desperately want to, because styles and income and I have changed since the last time the prior house owners and/or I made an attempt at furnishing things.  I know, I know, this matters to no one and shouldn't even matter to me, but it's a thing and an annoying one at that.  But!  I discovered if I pick areas of my house that have almost no furnishings anyway, it becomes much easier to start from scratch!  (I'm looking at you, downstairs family room.)

Anyway, my office is also one such place. I have put almost no effort into decorating this space since we moved in, as evidenced below.  Nice try, map.

Please note the empty curtain rod and the burnt out light bulb...  Keeping it classy.

I was definitely working on a budget here because for some reason we're still sticking with our ridiculously low allowances this year (aka almost nothing), so I really didn't do a whole lot, but I think it's much-improved.

To begin, the blue paint had to go.  This doesn't sound like much of a chore, but I had to prime the beast and paint the ceiling, and I have 4 doors in that room, so it was involved. ("Luckily" Scott went out of town, so I could paint for 6 hours at a time and feel like that was "fun".)  I put in a new light bulb as well, which is now one of my secrets of adulthood.

I told Scott I was going for a "world" office theme and he said, "Oh, so a worldly theme?"  And I thought, "Well, yeah that's probably more accurate actually."

I just had to throw this in here.  (A) This pineapple-looking jar is awesome, and (B) It looks like all I do at work is give myself manicures and back scratches.

I looked around online and found this modern looking map that I could do a Pinterest-famous engineering print for and then just whip out a giant custom-made frame because how hard could it be?  Well, I will tell you, it's really hard.  I picked the largest size possible, which had so many obstacles it was ridiculous:  (A) No one (cheaply) sells frames this size, so even if I wanted to back out of the DIY, there was practically no backup plan! (B) Remember how my car doesn't even fit  things this size?  (C) Remember how I planned to spend no money on this project?  Haha ha haaaa....  Anyway, I solved all these issues eventually with the help of KSL and after many more challenges in simply putting it in said frame, we got this sucker put up and it's ready to go in my worldly office.

I also made a sunburst mirror out of mostly garbage, and for being made of garbage it turned out pretty ok.

I'm still planning to get a new (white!) desk and replacing the bookshelves with bigger white ones and getting other stuff in there to make it a little more glamorous (because a girl needs to do taxes in glamour), but it's off to a good start.

Silver Lake

For the first time in Foley family history, both Scott and I took a day off work without any holidays or vacation plans.  Never have I been so happy to be so confused about what day it is.  We spent the day doing our favorite things: sleeping in, eating, still working some (it's just who we are, sigh), shopping for things we don't need, singing T-Swift, and driving up the canyon.  The main destination was Silver Lake, which you'll soon see is quite beautiful.

I was having some major camera struggles while we were there.  I shot everything in manual, and it was pretty laughable trying to move from the shade to the sun with my current skills. Scott took some surprisingly awesome solo pictures of me, but for some reason the flash chose to make my bra fully visible to the world, even though it totally isn't in real life...  Let's just say I learned some things about photography that day.

The Garden: Year 2

This morning I went out to document this year's garden and I figured I'd write a recap of what went down this year. This post started to feel like reality TV for plants where I am the Gardenerette and I rate and eliminate or keep each contestant. I think this could be a real thing, where are the TV writers when you need them?  If you're not into plants this will probably be a very boring post, but plants and photos of plants are my favorite things, so onto the boring exciting details!

Spinach: 10/10 

Keeper.  Low-maintenance, loves the shade, grew like a champ, doesn't take up much space.  The only negative I had with this is some of my seed didn't come up.  I suspect wind or a cat confusing my planter box for another type of box (gross) as the culprit.  Anyway, the spinach accepted my rose and will return next year.

Green Beans: 10/10

These gave us our biggest haul and they're still coming.  This is our final rose winner right here.  Definitely coming back next year.

Basil: 10/10

I don't use fresh basil a ton, but it was easy to grow and lasts a long time, which is awesome.  Plus, when I spray it with the hose, the smell is like aromatherapy.  Yum.  Coming back next year.

Peas: 1/10

The peas have always been a problem here.  This year our plants actually got huge and we thought this was the year of the pea triumph, but then all of a sudden, it got too hot and it turned brown, and I think we got fewer pods than last year even.  I may be stupid and try these again with more sun, or I may just have Chris Harrison give me a moment to say my forever goodbyes.

*Not pictured, obviously*

Jalepenos: 3/10

This may change in the last few weeks, but so far we haven't gotten a ton.  I also don't use them a ton either, so they aren't the most economical, but still fun to grow.

Tomatoes: 10/10

Like everyone else this year, our tomatoes have been major slow-pokes, but they grow amazingly here and are very versatile so we'll grow them forever.  This year we grew romas, some type of regular old round one, and grapes.  The romas were the champs this year.

Okra: 2/10

The okra seemed like a good idea, but then I had to ask myself, "What does one do with okra?"  That is a problem.  These grew great, and I tried a few methods to prepare them, but the overall slimyness and weirdoness means back of the limo for you, okra. 

Butternut Squash: 7/10

I love butternut squash more than most things on earth, so I was really excited about growing it.  We just did one plant and it was doing really well until the crazy September wind storms.  I'm still hopeful these will turn out ok.  We have 4 on the vine waiting to finish ripening.

Yellow Squash: 8/10

Easy and since zucchini/squash has now replaced pasta for me, these are critical to my life.  Plus, the overall yield on these is hard to beat.  I am too lazy to go out and get another picture of these, so you'll have to check out the soup I made with them instead. :)

Bountiful Lake

I got my fancy new camera 10 months ago now, and I'm sad to say the manual functions have not been used very often.  I know!  I'm one of those people who got a nice camera and then doesn't even know how to use it.  I'm determined though, so I now force myself to get out of auto and actually try.  This generally just results in photos that look far worse than those taken in auto, but it's a necessary transition if I'm ever going to figure it out.  I went over to Bountiful Lake this weekend and I am happy with how my shots turned out!  We can mainly attribute the decent pictures to nice clouds, but still.  Progress.

Around Here

Alpine Loop

It's a little early in the year, but we did our traditional alpine loop drive this weekend.  Nature is just awesome right now in case you were too busy watching football to notice.  I was looking back on the last time I blogged our fall drive, and wow, who are those kids?  Thank goodness I upgraded my camera and downgraded my BMI since then.  :)

Autumn and I were not ready to come to terms with each other (mainly because I have separation anxiety with my barbecue and...DAYLIGHT), but after this weekend I'm feeling ok.  Bring on the hikes.