thankful thursday

This Thursday I am thankful for:

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Easter.  The celebration of Christ's death, resurrection, and promise to return once again.  Thankful for this yearly reminder of the main focal point of our faith.

Family time.  We are about to go home for Easter to visit Kyle's family for the weekend.  Which means lots of family spread over 2 states squeezed into about 48 hours.  Can't wait to see them all!

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Tea.  I was on a tea kick a while back... like obsessed with it.  And then I rediscovered coffee.  And then yesterday, I was too lazy/in a hurry, to fix my normal cup of french press, so I brought out the tea again.  Oh how I have missed thee.  Specifically, black tea with cream and sugar.  Yum.

What are you thankful for this week?

This week I am linking up with

 

Pintastic : making a house a home

We were pretty productive this past weekend with the start of Project Downsize.  But this post isn't about that... I'll give more on that later (you know... when I finish this week's stuff...).

House hunting has been difficult, but our list is slowly slowly slowly growing.  Maybe by the time we go down to look at them we will have a good list of options.  So now I just want to focus on the fun part.  The dreaming of what my house might have a chance at looking like one day.  Which means it probably won't look like much of it at all... but a girl can dream.

Here's what I'm currently loving on my Pinboard.

A coffee bar station.  Keeps it all off of my counter, and is just too cute.  Love the idea of this when we have people over.

originally from { the vintage wren }

Flowers.  I would love to have flowers growing that I could easily cut and incorporate into my home without ruinning my landscaping by doing so.  These English Tea Roses bloom year round.  Would also love a Hydrangea :).

{ Could I Have That? }

A not so depressing laundry room.  Why should the room I do a lot of work in be like a prison cell?  

completely done for $157

A gray kitchen.  I LOVE this kitchen.  The clean lines and simplicity but still soft and inviting.  Switch out the marble for a similar quartz countertop and we have a deal.  I'm thinking Bianco River by Silestone.  

pin sends to { the fat hydrangea } but I can't find the original picture anywhere.

Bold accent wall meets built-ins.  I love how John and Sherry incorporated a bold color from a different part of their house into the backsplash to showcase some of their favorite nick-nacks.  Would love to do this if we have some built-ins in our home.

{ young house love }

So thats that.  I haven't found any good pins for other living spaces yet... I'm thinking neutral (gray tones) paint, and bring in color with rugs, pillows, curtains...  We will see!

personal challenge : project downsize

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This is Project Downsize.

A while back I talked about wanting to put myself on a schedule of small projects to do on the weekends so that I can slowly be more ready to move rather than last minute hysteria.  So here goes nothing.  

 (Disclaimer: sorry if I offend anyone during this process, I can't take the crap anymore.  It is not coming with us to SC.  Now to get Kyle to agree.  Because let me tell ya... I know I am a pack rat...because I'm lazy.  He is the other kind.  The sentimental pack rat.  The one who can't let go of ANYTHING that might have SOME memory attached or is afraid to get rid of it because it was a gift 10 years ago.)

Goals:
Decrease the amount of stuff we have sitting around.  When nicknacks start being piled on top of nicknacks, its time to downsize.  Just because someone gave us something shouldn't be reason to keep it when we never look at it or use it (Kyle).  Same goes for things we have bought ourselves.  Just because it was a good deal does not mean we should have bought it (I'm the guilty party here).

Decrease the amount of stuff we are storing (aka hiding).  Because we most likely aren't using it.  If we are, great.  It can stay.  But its time to decrease the stuff in the drawers and closets...because it's keeping us from finding what we need when we need it in these locations.  And less stuff in there, means less stuff to pack that will just end up in an attic or basement when we move, never to be seen again.  Why should we box that stuff up to begin with?

By downsizing, I intend to sort things by keep, trash, donate, or sell.

Deep clean everything.  Because it will make the final cleaning before we hand our keys back to our landlord that much faster and easier.

Sell big things early.  There are a few things we know we want to get rid of.  And it is worth the extra money we might can get out of it now (to go towards making our future house a home) to live with the inconvenience of doing without for a few months here.

The Schedule:

Weekend : March 23-24:  Downsize things being stored in the hutch and kitchen cabinet.  These things are the main large items to be sold.  Downsize stuff in the spare closet and hall closet.

During the week:  Take sorted items for donation to Goodwill.  Box up everything in the hutch.  It never gets used but is stuff to keep (nice dishes).

Weekend : March 30-31:  We will be going home for Easter so this weekend I need to post the large items on Craigslist.

During the week:  Downsize stuff in the kitchen and bookcases.  There is a yard sale this weekend!

Weekend : April 6:  Yard sale at Julia's.  Anything not sold to be taken to a consignment shop or Goodwill.

During the week:  Clean out the fireplace.  It may still be cold but it would just be silly to have any more fires in it.

Weekend : April 13-14:  Go to Greenville to do some house hunting!

During the week:  Dust everything in the apartment.

Weekend : April 20-21:  Clean the grout in the shower and floor tile of the spare bathroom and floor of our bathroom.

Weekend : April 27-28:  Clean the baseboards and spindles of kitchen window thing.  They are white and get grimy.

Weekend : May 4-5:  Clean off the balcony.

Weekend : May 11-12:  Take a break.  Its graduation weekend!  But maybe box up extra towels.

Weekend : May 18-19:  Box up winter clothes

Weekend : May 25-26:  Box up books and decorations.

I know this is not a complete list.  I know I'm forgetting some major things.  But this is the big stuff.  And I really don't want to write about everything I do.  This is already quite a lot.  

Now then... anyone want to volunteer to help?

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checking in : what are we doing?

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I know I've been off the grid for a few days... trust me... we've been busy.

As I've mentioned before, with the end of the Match, comes all sorts of changes.

And we don't have a clue what we are doing.

Finding a house is hard.  When there isn't a whole lot on the market.

Finding a loan is hard.  On a normal working month it would be no problem... but we would like to move the month before he starts residency.  When there is no pay-stub to show the bank.  Problem. (so far).

Doing all of it 7 hours away from your future home is just hard.

I really feel like the little man in the picture up there.  In a game that ought to be tons of fun... and it is sometimes.  But there's all sorts of pitfalls to slow you down.  And make things confusing.

This is just harder than I thought it would be.

So what have we done?

We have a realtor.  I like her.  A lot.

We have expanded our search area.  A little.

We have found a few homes we would like to look at.

We have gotten rid of a lot of homes we would not like to look at.

We have contacted a loan advisor-ish person.  He was some help...but not much.

I really need to start sorting through our stuff.

recipe: chicken&dumplings

It has been a great weekend post-Match.  I have done almost nothing and it has been glorious. 

I did, however, cook dinner last night.  Its one of my favorite comfort foods. 
Chicken and Dumplings.

I had never made it before, but ran across this yummy recipe by Kevin and Amanda.  I have tweaked it a bit to my liking since making it about 2 years ago, but the idea is pretty much the same.  I had never had chicken and dumplings like this, more like what you get at Cracker Barrel, but I REALLY enjoy this version.



 
my Creamy Chicken and Dumplings
inspired by Kevin and Amanda

2- 32oz boxes of Chicken Broth
2 large chicken breasts (I use rotisserie chicken)
2 stalks of celery chopped small
about a cup of other vegetables (this time I used frozen peas and carrots to minimize chopping)
some olive oil or butter for sauteing
2 C Bisquik
2/3 C milk
2-3 eggs, hard boiled

Saute the vegetables in a little olive oil or butter with some salt and pepper for seasoning.  Just a few minutes on med-high heat

Meanwhile have your husband shred/chop some chicken breast.  I prefer rotisserie chicken for the extra flavor but boiled is fine too.

When your veggies are ready, throw the chicken in for warming.

While all of that is going, you can have your chicken broth starting to boil.  As soon as it is boiling, get your dumplings mixed together... the Bisquick and milk.  Just drop by the spoonful into the broth.  Don't stir.  It will make you end up with tiny dumplings.  Boil for 10 minutes uncovered.

Once your dumplings have boiled the first 10 min, you can dump your chicken and veggies into the pot.  Cover and let simmer for 10 more minutes.

While your soup is simmering, remove the yolks from your hard boiled eggs.  Set those aside (throw them away unless you have some other use for them), and cube up the egg whites.  Once your soup is finished (is this really soup?), dump the egg in, give a gentle stir and serve.

Tastes great with some homemade cornbread.  And it heats up well for leftovers the next day (or two).  

I love this simple recipe on cold days like we had yesterday (seriously snowing in Ky a day after 70 degree weather!).  Its so filling and delicious.  Hope you enjoy it!

the Match : tears of joy

Match Ceremony 2013

I was a bundle of nerves.

He was having fun.

There was food.

And lots of free drinks.

And drawings for prizes.

And right before noon, envelopes were handed out.

And all the med students had to wait.

For the countdown, to open them.

5

-

4

-

3

-

2

-

1

It was our #1

thankful thursday

This Thursday I am thankful for:

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support.  I have received so much love, words of encouragement, prayers for tomorrow's Match in the past week.  It is majorly appreciated and helped ease some of the anxieties this week.  Its almost over!

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1 day.  Only one day left.  One day.  One day.  One day.  And this is over.  And everything else begins.  Crap.

monotonous work.  I made sure there would be plenty of things to occupy my mind this week so work would keep my mind off the Match.  While it hasn't completely been off of it with everyone asking about it, they have also been part of the support.  And thus appreciated.  But nothing can keep my mind occupied better than repetitively circling hundreds of neurons on a computer screen.  For hours upon hours.  Yessssssssssss.

What are you thankful for this week?

This week I am linking up with:

weekend replay : puppy love

So this was my weekend:

It was a fun weekend.  I learned something about myself again...

I'm not very good at relaxing.

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