It started out innocently enough….

“Let’s go and find a shelf for the laundry room!”

 

Sounded like a good idea at the time. Our laundry room was a mess. The walls had never been painted, they were the same horrible primer white they were when this house was built. The only storage was a cheap wire rack above the washer and dryer. Speaking of washer and dryer, I hated it. I was waiting for either to die so we could get new. Why won’t something die when you want it to but something you LOVE will die lllloooonnngggg before you are ready?

 

After checking out IKEA and being thoroughly annoyed with how that store works (it’s like I am a cow being herded around a pasture. I hate the constant pressure to move, move, move, move or risk the chance of being run over by the lady behind me with 8 screaming children in a large shopping cart), we came home and had luck at good ol’ Lowes. We found two shelves actually, one for above the washer and dryer and one for above the utility sink.

 

On the way home from purchasing the shelves, I started thinking about the walls in that room. I knew they needed to be painted very badly. It’s not what I had planned for my Sunday (planning stations for the endocrine system for science was the intended job for Sunday) but I decided to tackle it.

 

Mike proceeded to pull out the washer and dryer.

 

 

 

While pulling out the washing machine, we noticed a greasy film on the floor where it once stood.

 

Have you ever washed a load of clothes and found little grease spots on your clothes? They show up extra clearly on dark clothes. And especially vivid on clothes you have just ironed for work the next day, if you know what I mean.

 

Well, Mike thinks there is a connection between the grease on the floor and the stains on our clothes. That’s when I heard the most beautiful words ever……

“We should just get new ones.”

 

It was with that that I sent him to the store with my parents (mom to pick out a cool color and style and dad to drive his pick-up) and I proceeded to paint the walls.

 

INTRODUCING THE NEW BUDACH LAUNDRY ROOM……

 

I know many of you have these already, but bare with me. This is exciting. I know, I know, I did not go with the front loading. There are a few reasons for that…

1. My sister-in-law has this top loader and she loves it. She has five children. She does a lot of laundry. I trust her.

2. I wanted the biggest capacity washer I could get, and this is bigger than front loaders.

3. I had heard horror stories about people having to deal with mold in their machines with front loaders, I didn’t want that nightmare and I didn’t have time to research all the ones that had this problem.

 

 

Shelves already filled with detergent. Gonna buy some cute baskets for above and in that little shelf in the middle.

 

 

Filled with cleaning supplies!

 

 

I used a sage/gray green color we use in the bathrooms in the house because I wasn’t about to buy new paint for a room no one but the family (and you) sees.

 

I love it. And check out this baby……..

 

Is there such a thing? Whitest whites?! Is there such an animal? Do they realize I live with boys? Boys that go outside with their shoes off all the time? Socks that aren’t even close to the color white after one wearing? We will see, I have a load of them in now as I type.

 

 

Productive weekend. My poor husband put those shelves together until almost 10 last night. Feels good to have done. Now we have a real grown-up laundry room!

 

Happy washing……

LB

Steak and Cake

What a great Valentine’s weekend!

Mike and I were lucky enough to have a whole night to ourselves. My parents took the kids overnight. We ate dinner with our friends Jen and Loren and enjoyed being in “kid free land” for a full 12 hours!

Even though we agreed no presents this year, Mike brought home some of my favorite colored roses.

 

 

Gorgeous huh?

 

 

Sunday my mom and I went to see the movie Valentine’s Day (which I highly recommend. Super cute) and Mike and my dad took the kids to a fishing contest on St. Olaf lake.  It was a horrible day as far as fish go, but Noah did walk away with a toy tractor that he won in a drawing.

 

There is a tri-tip steak that we get at a gas station in a small nearby town and it’s THE best ever. I made a heart shaped cake for dessert while I waited for them to get home. Connor doesn’t like cake, but the rest of us do.

 

 

 

To be honest, it’s almost bedtime and no one has even touched this cake. We are all too full from supper. Maybe tomorrow!

 

 

The table was all set waiting for the kids to get home. Inside their gift bags were new Twins T-shirts for our trip to Florida. They also got I-tunes gift cards because they are obsessed with downloading music onto their IPods.

 

 

We started a tradition last year of allowing the kids to drink from wine glasses at the Valentine’s dinner. They think it’s pretty cool.

 

This “cheers” went on several times throughout the meal.

 

 

Minus the fact that Mike’s gout is back (he’ll have to go back to the doctor tomorrow) it was a great weekend. If only Desperate Housewives and Brothers & Sisters had been on tonight….that would have made for perfection. However, I am just so excited that we are all home tomorrow.

 

A BIG CONGRATULATIONS to our friends Paul and Tammy Petri who tied the knot this weekend in a private ceremony.

We can’t wait to celebrate with you in June!

Love,

LB

One Saturday Morning

    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Something’s freezing over….

It’s been quite the week here in blissful Minnesota. We got dumped with upwards of 12 inches of lovely fluffy precipitation in the past 3 days. It wracked so much havoc that we even canceled school……brace yourself…..for 2 days in a row!

 

Unheard of. Unimaginable. Amazing.

 

While I am a teacher, and snow days should be about as much fun as they were when I was 11, our school district makes their teachers report on snow days.

 

Stupid. Mean. Dumb. Annoying.

 

I did, however, get tons done. Which was nice.

 

 

Here is the poor shed. Good thing I have a husband. You see, Noah’s baseball clinic was supposed to start yesterday (didn’t, thanks to the snow) and guess where his glove was?

You guessed it…..

 

 

 

A little snowdrift. It reminds me of icing.

 

 

 

 

Is there anything prettier than a snow covered evergreen?

 

 

But then…..just when I thought there was no hope for ever coming out of winter……

“Blue skies at night…..sailors delight”

 

 

There is hope for spring! Oh, who am I kidding, just a break from the snow for a couple of days. I believe there is snow forecasted for the weekend. Whoop-Dee-Do.

 

 

We found a condo in Florida! My fabulous husband found us the MOST AWESOME two bedroom condo for basically half off! I am not kidding. How he finds this stuff is beyond me. It’s honestly nicer than our house. It was just opened in November so I am hoping the pictures are accurate and we don’t pull up to the place and regret it. It’s always my biggest fear on every vacation. Here is the link if you want to check it out.

 

Twins tickets arrived on Saturday. Our vacation is completely planned including addresses typed into the GPS.  Seriously, we are ready for this trip.

 

Oh, and The Husband got a new job. Stay tuned for more info on that. That’s been kind of stressful, but it’s all good.

 

Enjoy the end of the week!

LB

Things

We booked Ft Myers! I am so excited. We had to do some things I said I would never do on vacation (switch planes, super early flight times) but we are going! Now the annoying task of finding somewhere to stay. I forgot how hard that process can be. I am not complaining though….it’s a good “problem” to have. I just can’t get over how many options for places there are! Condo or hotel? Suites or regular room? Kitchen or no kitchen? Beach front or walking distance? There are certainly places we rule out immediately due to price or lack of a decent pool, but it’s horribly hard to pick. Especially this year because we will actually spend some time there as opposed to the last years. Previous vacations have had lots of action, with no leisurely mornings, and lots of walking. This one will have a leisurely morning EVERY morning and lots of putzing.

 

We will get to a couple of MN Twins preseason games (they will be in their last week of training camp) and take a trip to Sanibel Island.  We will swim EVERY day. There is a water park we might check out and also an aquarium. Lots of yummy restaurants are waiting for me and I just can’t wait to lounge and bake in the sun. With the kids being able to swim, I actually feel like Mike and I can lounge. Although we don’t let them venture out of our sight…we don’t have to be in the pool with them, even in the deep end. So, lots of reading and relaxing for me! Maybe even a cocktail here and there! Neither kid has ever been interested in swimming in the ocean in the past, but we will have fun playing and walking on the beach. The end of March can not come soon enough.

 

Mike had his second bout of gout this past weekend. Where last time it was due to the low carb diet he was on, this one was due to dehydration. Remember how I told you he works out and sweats a lot? Yeah, not a good combo when you’re on a diuretic. Poor guy even had to miss a day of work….you know it’s bad when that happens. A sick husband made this last weekend pretty boring. We didn’t do anything. Nothing at all. Kind of sad.

 

Got some health things going on with my dad this week. If you are the praying type, I would appreciate some prayers. Thank you. We will be at Mayo on Thursday. I am sure all will go well. It’s just sucky.

 

Both boys have some cold symptoms. Connor worse than Noah. Both are battling through it, hoping we can shake it without too many problems. They are outside playing as I type this so obviously they are not too miserable.

 

I survived conferences last week. They went very well, probably the best they ever have. I was happy about that. Two 13 hour days really takes a toll though. I think I still have yet to catch up. I have not been sleeping very well, find myself waking around 3 and then I check the clock and pee until I get up for work at 5:30. Annoying. So, I am still trying to catch up on my sleep. Last night was better so hopefully that is a sign of things to come. Both my dad and sister have HORRIBLE sleeping issues and I am so scared I will inherit that. I know why they use sleep deprivation as war torture. It’s miserable.

 

I have not taken any pictures. None. Need to do better with that. Sorry.

 

Hope you are all having a super week!

LB