Will and Becka's Blog

Story of a Grill and That Which is Cooked Upon It

Becka — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 20:08:51 +0000

During the summer, we grill a LOT – at least 3-4 times a week, so the grill is an important appliance in our house!

Our old grill was the one we bought at the estate sale in 2010, and it finally grilled its last. It was hanging in there after being picked up by the wind and thrown across the yard last year, but now a part on the inside burner has broken and the handle split in half. So Will did his research in Consumer Reports and online reviews, did some comparison price shopping, and bought a new CharBroil grill.

Chef Will and Sous-Chef Max

His verdict? The grill is amazing. It cooks clean and even, and has produced some of the best hamburgers yet. And the best feature? Its so heavy that it is highly unlikely we’ll ever find it in the yard.

Filed under: food

More House Projects

Becka — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 22:30:53 +0000

Two house projects have been crossed off the list! Its funny how we are quick to tackle things we can do ourselves, but until hadn’t gotten around to coordinating the other projects. But we did it! There is a new roof on the garage (after getting tired of shingles falling into our little flower bed) and a new screen door on our back entryway.

The screen door was very overdue – the latch was broken so it didn’t stay shut when certain dogs would push on it – and the mechanism that kept it from slamming was broken. The new door is beautiful and the furry ones are unable to go outside without permission, but both Will and I have mashed our faces into the door forgetting that now you have to push the handle down to open it!

Before

After

The roof was done in a mere four hours, which I was thankful for because Brewer paced and growled at the roofing guys for the full four hours! They matched the shingles we have on the house, and now you can’t tell that they weren’t done at the same time!

Old roof coming off...

Actually my tulips did survive!

Finished roof!

Its really amazing that we only have a few more things to cross off the Master House Project List that we started in June 2010…we’re hoping to have the rest of the items crossed off by the end of the summer!

Is it dinner time yet?

Filed under: house

Freezer Meals

Becka — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 16:15:45 +0000

For my last weekend before school started, we crammed a lot of activities in! We finally bought a freezer for our basement and had the old one in the garage hauled away.

Our freezer! We named her Frieda...

I had Friday off so I went grocery shopping and made more freezer meals – its so nice to have these available while I’m occupied with school. Will is a great cook and does fine when I don’t contribute, but I like to be able to say I made at least a few of the dinners!

Groceries for freezer meals!

I made ten meals for grilling, so we just have to put one in the fridge in the morning to defrost, and then pull it out to grill that evening. I’m also a fan of crockpot meals, so we have quite a few of those too! I ended the weekend with 15 freezer meals tucked away in our cute little freezer.

Room to spare!

Filed under: food

Stairway Update

Becka — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 22:12:13 +0000

Stairway Before Picture

Impromptu Artwork

Stairway Walls After Picture

Doing the trim next weekend!

Filed under: house, spring

House Happenings

Becka — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 19:24:39 +0000

Its been quiet on the blog…which means its been crazy busy around here!

I have a two week break from school, so we’re cramming the entire to-do list into 14 very short days! But its nice to get it done, so I’m not worrying about it while trying to focus on school too. I finished up my homework on a Wednesday evening, and the first item on the to-do list was tackled on the following Friday night!

The 1st Lawn Mowing

So far we have done…the first AND second yard mowing of the year (in March?!), fertilized the front and back yards, painted the walls on the basement landing, painted half the walls in the basement, and deep cleaned the main floor – which was scrubbed walls, baseboards, doorways, windows and floors!

The 2nd Lawn Mowing

We’ve got a good start, but the list is still pretty long! We’ve also enlisted some help for the bigger projects – we have someone coming to install a new storm door on the back entry, and roofers will be doing the garage next week. Lots of projects, but we feel like we’re getting a jumpstart on the summer!

Filed under: house

Its Supposed to Be Hard

Becka — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 07:14:07 +0000

I found some wall art on Etsy that was just perfect for above my desk where I do the majority of my homework – so now every time I sit back and am tempted to start pulling my hair out and/or cry, this is what I see:

Filed under: school, winter

Looking Ahead to 2012

Becka — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 02:22:10 +0000

Its always fun to start a new with looking ahead, and remembering the past…today is our 4th anniversary! It cracks both of us that we’ve been married for 4 years, it doesn’t seem like that long.

And looking ahead, we’re excited about 2012. The year 2011 was a stressful year with jobs and school (we’ve decided that both of us being in school at the same time should never ever happen again!) but good things are coming in 2012.

Becka

I start my new job as an ICU nurse on January 18th. I’m so very excited to be back in patient care, albeit with some anxiety about everything I need to learn or re-learn. Training is 3+ months which will have to be balanced with school!
School continues on! I’m considering changing to the Family Nurse Practitioner program, but am undecided…three weeks to consider before my appointment with my academic advisor!

My messy office!

Will

Now that he has his MBA, Will is looking to see where that could take him within Mayo. He’s been looking for Analyst positions, either within Patient Account Services (the area he is in now) or Patient Access (the area he was in when he was with Transplant).
He has spare time now, so he’s been getting more into hunting. He and my Dad weren’t able to do their annual South Dakota trip but they’ve been scoping out new hunting locations in the area.

Will working on some of the trim painting

Our House

Our house to-do list feels so small compared to last years! This year we would like to get a new roof for the garage, a carpet runner on the stairs, finish painting the trim, and get a new storm door for the back door. We could get that done by March, right??

Travel

We have three vacation times for next year! We’ll be going to Jacksonville, Birmingham, and Little Rock for our Southern trip(s), and we’re considering a trip to Alaska to visit my sister Jennifer!

Lots of good things coming, and we’re looking forward to a great year!

Filed under: un-categorizable!

Labs + Memory Foam = Love

Becka — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 02:00:47 +0000

The boys got an early Christmas gift this year, a therapeutic memory foam dog bed from L.L. Bean. We ordered the extra-large, but were still surprised by how huge it was! Its easily the width of a twin bed, and about two-thirds of the length. Despite its size, Max will still stretch out on it to the point where Brewer doesn’t fit (although he’ll shove his way onto the bed), and Gracie will sneak over to it for naps sometimes too.

Will tested it out too and was impressed, suggesting that we get a memory foam mattress pad. Does L.L. Bean sell human beds?? And Brewer gets jealous if Dad is on it, and will sit on him.

Filed under: pets

Happy Halloween

Becka — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 20:38:06 +0000

And we have come full circle…an entire year of dog pictures! Wonder if we can get one of the dogs and the cat to use for next years pictures??

Filed under: pets

Fall Happenings

Becka — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 02:41:00 +0000

Will’s Mom and Dad came for a weekend at the end of September…and we don’t have a single picture! Just a Facebook tag at Victoria’s for dinner on Saturday night and a trip to Trader Joe’s. It was a fun relaxing weekend, lots of talking and relaxing.
Will has been using his spare time to do some serious yardwork before winter sets in, clearing out the thistle-raspberry-lily disaster area along the stone wall. We’re going to till it, and then this spring we’ll put in some evergreen bushes and hostas.
There has also been a lot of time spent playing with his bows in the back yard (the current bow count is 3) and he’s taken a few days off in November to go pheasant hunting with my Dad in South Dakota.
My new job starts in January, and I’m really excited to go part-time. It will allow for more uninterrupted time to do schoolwork, but also possibly some time doing non-school activities. Like shopping! School work is consuming my waking non-work hours, but only 426 days until graduation!
The boys are their usual happy selves, and I’m sure if you asked them, they would tell you how excited they are about their Halloween costumes.

Happy Fall everyone!