Neighborly Love

I've recently realized that one of the things that makes homeownership so rewarding is building relationships with neighbors. In our rental house, we were mostly surrounded by other renters, so no one took time to get to know one another, realizing we would all be moving again soon. There was one permanent couple across the street, but our conversations with them rarely extended past "hi" for the same reason.

In our new neighborhood, we are still surrounded by several renters, but also a few permanent couples/families. The weekend we moved into our house, Bob and Diane from across the street brought us cookies while we were unpacking. That was our first taste of neighborly love and our appetite for it has only grown since then.

When I returned the plate from the cookies, Bob (who has a permanent welding station set up in his driveway) proceeded to show me all the projects he's been working on (Levi refers to him as Bob the Builder) and then took me inside to see Diane's embroidery work. I probably spent 30 minutes at their house just chatting and it felt natural.

It didn't end there. The next weekend, Bob came over to invite Levi to play golf with him sometime. I think Levi intends to take him up on the offer as soon as it gets cooler.

Then there's Ken and Wanda. They have two girls, Ashley and Marissa. Ashley is near our age, but she still lives at home due to a disability that was recently corrected by surgery, and Marissa is somewhere around 16, I would guess. Wanda and Ashley (sometimes Marissa) frequently come chat with us while we're in the yard watering our plants in the evenings. We'll talk to them for 30 minutes to an hour at times (Wanda is a BIG talker) and I love it.

Today, Wanda came over to give me some curtains that she bought for herself at a garage sale (they didn't work with her decor). She told me she thought of me when she saw them and thought they would look nice with the light blue/gray paint in our master bedroom. How thoughtful of her! I'm not sure I'll put them in that particular room, but they will definitely go somewhere in our house.

We've only lived in our new house for a month, but we already have neighbors who feel like old friends. We are so thankful that God has blessed us by surrounding us with such wonderful people. I look forward to the years to come living in this house and getting to know them better.

Not so handy woman

Last weekend, I got ambitious and decided to construct the "climbing closet" Levi and I had been discussing since we moved in. Since I had some free time while Levi was at work and I was tired of having no place to put his climbing gear away, I made a trip to Home Depot to pick up some supplies.

The plan was to hang pegboard on the inside walls of our guest room closet so he could hang, organize and display his climbing/outdoor gear. Sounds easy enough, right? Well, not exactly. I had never used a drill before but it seemed pretty easy. I got everything I needed together and successfully attached this brace to the wall, but that's where the project ended.

It turns out that I got screws with too shallow of heads, meaning I stripped the heads in my drilling fury. Unfortunately, this left me with several abandoned wooden slats with half-drilled screws stuck in them.

Finally, I gave up trying to keep my project a surprise and told Levi about my folly. Thankfully, he was able to get the right screws on Saturday and finish up the project, allowing this amazing transformation to happen:

I'm so glad it's all put away!

New Schedule

Levi started working days(ish) this week (noon to midnight). You know what that means for me? This is dinner:

I feel this is a step up from last night's PB&J on crackers!

Hung

I finally put nails in the wall to hang yet another great find from Roxy's:

A fun little rack for mail

More Loves

I've been continuing to acquire unique pieces throughout the week and now I have these to share with you:

A great headboard from my friend and shabby chic mentor, Nichole. Maybe one day we'll get it situated at the head of our bed. Right now it's sitting against another wall. 

An old door from Roxy's that I've had my eye on. If it says in this spot, we'll have to remove the glass so we can get to the thermostat. This door is actually yellow on the other side, but that didn't really fit our decor so we're using the unfinished side. Levi is especially excited about the door because you can tell from the unfinished side that it was in a house fire (and if you put your nose up to it, it still has a fire smell!)

Decompression of the Mind

Reader beware: this blog got a little out of hand.

I haven't written much on this blog because I've not been sure that much happens in my life worth publishing to the entire world. But today I think I'd like to write just for my own benefit. You see, though it may be Sunday afternoon for most people, this is my Friday night. I just finished my work week and went to church (which, it turns out, is a great thing to do of a Friday night) and so I would like to just think things through before I go for my ritual Sunday afternoon nap.

So, first of all, I have the things that I just did at work on my mind. Last night my path crossed with some very, very interesting characters. For starters, there was the forty-something man I met in the not-so-nice part of Oklahoma City who had been bashed upside his head by a cement block wielded by his local drug dealer. The man was so drunk that he didn't feel the pain (yet), and didn't even realize that he was injured until we had him look down at his blood-stained t-shirt. People with head trauma often get combative, and he most certainly exemplified that. My partner Chad even got to sit on him at one point, which is one of his favorite things to do. After that, a police officer threatening to tase him, and us tying him down to our cot, he finally settled down and contended himself with the occasional expletives flung quietly in our direction.

Then there was the car wreck where no one was really hurt, the woman who was having some sort of serious cardiac event, and another car wreck where the man probably did suffer some serious head trauma, a DUI, the loss of his job, and jail time. Bad night for him, though he didn't yet realize how bad a night it was going to be when I was there with him.

The most interesting call of the night, though, was the 24-year-old guy who overdosed on a whole lot of heroine and who knows what else. Oddly, it was in the same apartment complex where we ran a different overdose earlier this week, and the complex isn't even in our service area, which means we're not even supposed to go there. When we arrived he was unconscious in the back room of the apartment (why do people always go to the farthest depths of the house to pass out? I think there's probably something deeply significant in this fact, but I'm not sure what. It reminds me of how animals will often leave their herd if they're know they're going to die soon. Maybe we're not so far removed from the real jungle as we feel in our own self-constructed concrete jungle.) and he had stopped breathing, though he still had a pulse that would also soon stop if we didn't help him. I started breathing for him with a bag-valve-mask while my partner started an IV. Once the fire department arrived I had them start doing the breathing while I prepared the Narcan, our all-around anti-opiate drug, for my partner to give through the IV. After the Narcan the guy very slowly started to come to. First he was responsive to pain, and then eventually to speech. We hauled him out of the labyrinthine apartment on a backboard and drove fast to the hospital, where he attempted to convince everyone that he would never do drugs. :)

While work might be the most immediate thing on my mind today, though, I don't think it's the most important. That's part of why I like going to church right after my work week. Though it's difficult to do so when I'm dog-tired, it's really nice to be reminded that there's more, a lot more, to life than work.

For example, Emily and I have been talking a lot lately about responsibilititis, as you may know from her previous post. The two of us have so many apparently important things to do that we could easily invest all our time in these while neglecting those things in life that motivate people in middle age to get divorced, buy a corvette, and move to Vegas. I'm sure this temptation isn't unique to the two of us, but sounds very familiar to a large chunk of Americans. Once a person recognizes the gap in their life between the things they do and the things they'd like to do, the question becomes, "do I change what I do to something that I enjoy more, do I try to learn to enjoy what I do more, or both?" I think the way people answer this question is a large part of what defines them and how they view the world. For me, I'd like to try a healthy mixture of both options, because I know that simply changing what I do in my daily life won't cure me of my responsibilititis, because any life eventually just becomes everyday life. I also know that gritting your teeth and bearing it can lead to a very, very unhappy, unfulfilled person. A healthy balance, then, seems like the only sensible solution. I suspect that a balance is the right way to go, too, because the idea has just the "odd twist" to it that C.S. Lewis said true things have.

Anyways, those are a few things that have been on my mind. I wouldn't say they've just been swirling around my head uncontrollably, but they've been simmering somewhere on the back burner of my mind along with many others. I'd like to pull the others out and explore them some, too. Maybe that's why people do this blog thing after all. :)

Responsibilititis

Does anyone else suffer from what Levi and I refer to as responsibilititis? That is, the feeling that you must be "responsible" by doing necessary things (e.g. laundry, dishes, etc.) before even thinking about having fun or taking a moment for yourself.

Lately, things have been so busy with the move and work that responsibilititis has me overwhelmed. Every night that Levi works, I cook him dinner and get him out the door, do the dishes, put on a load of laundry, water the plants, attempt unpacking boxes if there's time and squeeze in some Bible reading before I fall into bed (still at a somewhat decent hour so I can get up and do it all again tomorrow).

After a week of a bad case of responsibilititis, I decided I needed to have fun tonight. I was disappointed Levi had to work, but I planned to get a good magazine (while I was at the store getting corn for tomorrow's fellowship lunch at church - responsibilititis strikes again!) and devour it in a bubble bath.

Well, I got the magazine but then proceeded to sit on the couch with it while I stared at the laundry that needed folding and thought about the dishes yet to be done in the kitchen. I had to fight responsibilititis because I've been realizing lately that life is too short to never let yourself rest, rejuvenate, be creative and have fun!

I have to admit, though, that while trying to fight off the feeling of guilt I had about not doing "chores," I began to feel completely overwhelmed to the point that I cried. Can you believe it? Who CRIES about not doing chores??? What's wrong with me?! I should mention that, due to the busyness of the last few weeks, it seems that my evenings spent doing chores only accomplish the tasks necessary to keep our household going, so I never get to things like unpacking or decorating (things I desperately want to do). This has left me feeling even more busy and even more behind, so I feel extra-guilty for taking time for myself.

To make matters worse, I especially feel like I have to get chores done while Levi's gone to work. I know he doesn't expect me to run myself ragged, but I feel like there is a (Emily-made) expectation for me to not just sit around doing whatever I feel like all evening. And, while Levi's great about helping, he just simply doesn't have time to help on the days he works between long shifts and sleep time. That leaves me to do the chores that need doing most nights of the week.

How can I get past this? Does anyone deal with a similar struggle to balance work and play? I don't have a problem allowing myself to play, it's just that I have a hard time not feeling guilty while I'm playing if there's a long list of to-dos. I still want/need to be responsible and get things done, but I need to take time for myself, too! Thoughts?

Chair Love

Well, it's happened again. Yesterday, I fell in love with a piece of furniture at a neat little store on my first trip. It's an office chair from Ripley's Antiques in Noble. The store is especially great, like a small version of The Rink in Bethany.

Let me tell the back story before I show you the chair. Recently, Levi and I (well, mostly me) were browsing a Pottery Barn catalog when we came to this picture:

I was mostly interested in the desk while Levi couldn't get enough of the chair. He definitely has an opinion when it comes to furniture, but rarely does he get excited about a particular piece. Since the chair from Pottery Barn is $399, I knew we would probably never get it, at least not for a long while, but I kept it in the back of my mind.

That's when I found this chair at Ripley's:

How cool is that? Not only is it the same type of chair Levi liked but it's GREEN! And guess how much it they wanted for it. Are you ready for this? $15. I thought I misheard the cashier and couldn't get "I'll take it" out of my mouth fast enough! Ripley's will definitely be a store I go to again. If you're going to check it out, take me with you!

I have a very sweet husband...

...who does things like this:

for no reason.

Home improvement update

We've gotten almost every room painted except the guest room:

This is more olive in real life

This is more blue in real life

This is the same color as the living room

This is the same color as the living room too

As you can tell, we have yet to hang anything on the walls. I think that stems from two things: my indecision regarding decorating and my hesitancy to put holes in our newly painted walls. I'm going to have to get over both.

Overall, things are slowly coming together around the house. I finally found a bathroom cabinet I like today and it should be arriving on our doorstep within the week! I'm ready to get our bathroom essentials put away instead of living like this:

The above photos were in no way meant to provide free advertising to the products shown, but you're welcome Aveeno, Bandaid, etc. for the product placement.

Reno Lilly

Last night, Levi and I got to take care of my friend Alicia's mini schnauzer, Reno. She was very well-behaved (until this morning when she ran out the door and bit Levi when he picked her up) and would just follow us around or lay beside us.

Levi and I have always talked about eventually getting a dog, and this trial run made us realize that we definitely want one with Reno's disposition! If Alicia weren't so attached to her, we probably would have kept her (besides the fact that Levi wants a BIG dog). Here are some highlights from Reno's stay:

Exhausted from our walk

Shelf Love

Since we moved into our new house, I've been trying to harness my design style. Most of what we currently own was either given to us or we bought early on in our marriage out of necessity (meaning we bought what was affordable, not necessarily what fit our style). So, as of late, I have been trying to decide what I truly like and don't like and how I will decorate our new house.

I've decided I like vintage pieces and a shabby chic/country style. While I love this look, it certainly has made it difficult to find things we need like a bathroom cabinet or corner shelf for our kitchen because I can't just go to Target and buy something off the shelf. However, it means I get to stalk Craigslist and frequent antique/consignment stores!

Recently, I had been searching online for a corner shelf to store spices in our kitchen. I had a picture of what I wanted in my mind, but I was having trouble finding it. After an insanely busy week, I finally had time today to hit some stores around Norman. My first stop was a place I had never been: Roxy's Boutique. And to my surprise, they had EXACTLY the corner shelf I had envisioned! It was almost too easy. Check it out:

Things we love

After four days of living in our new house, I've compiled quite the list of things we love about it (in no particular order):

1. The new electric oven (not the frustrating, yet cute, 1930s chambers stove/oven we've been using for the last year)
2. Breathing room. Our new house is only 924 sq. ft. but it feels like a mansion compared to the 709 sq. ft. we're used to.
3. Garbage disposal
4. Dishwasher
5. Kitchen sink spraying wand (it's the little things!)
6. Plants to water (though I think, despite my efforts, they are dying due to the extreme heat)
7. Friendly neighbors (an older couple brought us cookies Sunday night!)
8. Carpet (I never thought I'd say this but I'm actually enjoying carpet in the main areas rather than the wood floors we had before. I should clarify that I mean the comfort, not the look)

I'm hopeful that as the days, weeks, months and years tick by, we will find even more things to love about our new house.