So much to update...too little time

Story of my life!! I'm going to give ya'll a run down of the last month instead of creating tons of blog posts. I tend to write too much anyway. Here it goes:

1. I started a new J-O-B on September 4th. That's probably the biggest news! I'm back at Second Harvest Community Food Bank. I love it! I work to get food into our food bank, and that's my job to work with producers, food manufacturers and the like to increase our food donations! Fun times. Check out my legit page above!

Photo courtesy: Second Harvest Community Food Bank
Pictured above are the great folks from Apple Market in St. Joseph. They donated 28,000 lbs.
of food for our corporate food drive challenge, Food Fight in September. 

2. We have slowly been finishing projects around the house. We are putting a roof on half the deck. We are waiting on the spindles to come in for the rest of the deck railing. I am painting our entire bathroom at the moment a great purple color. Next is new lighting and a new medicine cabinet/mirror and vanity.

3. I've been super busy with Mary Kay! Great problem, right? I had a $1,000 day in September. Holla, to being that much closer to Queen's Court of Sales! I also was crowned the Queen of the Star Consultants at our last quarterly event and picked out a free black patent leather bag for my prize.

4. Todd got a new truck. Spoiled...but it's a pretty one. It's a 2012 white Chevy Silverado with everything on it.

5. I'm almost finished with training for my second half marathon. This weekend was 9 miles, and it's only two weeks to go until race day!

6. I'm trying to figure out some health issues I've been having lately with my upper GI tract. Prayers please for some relief and comfort.

7. Lots of exciting news happening lately with new baby announcements. We'll have a busy spring, no doubt!

Group of us friends at the Eric Church concert. Rocked my world!!

That is all! I'll also post this week an update to my 101 list!

Until next time...

Home Reno Update...

 I have mentioned we live in an old farmhouse, right? Well, we do, and I wouldn't change it for a thing. At least not right now. It's nice that it only takes 45 minutes to make the house presentable to company because it is rather small. We have two bedrooms, one bath, a living room, kitchen/dining room, and laundry room. That's it...not even a basement.

I often complain as I wish I had more storage, but I learned this weekend that I have a slight case of OCD about clutter. I hate it. It has me thinking I'll use the organization blogs I read to make our space even more functional and tidy. What little we do have still bothers me as we had to consolidate all of it into the laundry room and kitchen for our newest home project: carpet in the living room and bedrooms.

The carpet comes today, Monday, and I am a bit melancholy about getting it. I wish our hardwood floors were in better shape, but what can I expect for a house that is 100-years-old and has mostly been a rental property for 30+ years? I also understand that since we have no basement, the floors would be incredibly cold in the winter. Yet, when everything was taken out of the rooms, it made me really appreciate the "oldness" of our house. I found a small piece of really old newspaper stuck on the floor. I learned from my MIL this past weekend that when Todd's grandparents bought the farm, the couple who lived there did not have running water! She used a hand pump in the kitchen, and this was in 1982! Can you imagine the stories that these walls could tell? *Sigh*

Here are just a few photos from our projects this weekend. There will be more to come.

New siding! Remember the old stuff found
in this blog post? Much better I think. 

A fun burlap wreath adorns our side door. 

A fresh coat of Cowpoke paint in the living room spruces things
up a bit. 

A pic of what is left after taking up the
carpet and pad.

Check out that character of the floors. *sigh again*

A little change around home...

Hope you all had a great Easter! It's a busy time at the Chesnut house with me finishing up my requirements for my master's, Todd hunting, me training for my half marathon among other things, and Todd starting a new job this week. Yes! A regular job for him. It is a blessing to know he will be well taken care of at a company that is very secure and does good for their employees. So very excited about this next stage in our lives as we actually get to see each other more than one day a week. But with that comes getting used to seeing each other every day! ;)

We are changing our house up a bit with new siding so I wanted to share a few photos of the transformation. We live in a 100-year-old farmhouse that has seen its fair share of families and life. We received air conditioning last October for a wedding gift (I laugh each time I say that because it feels like we are such country bumpkins to just now be getting air conditioning in 2011!) and a new roof due to some hail damage last summer.

I have chosen to go away from the traditional white farmhouse to a house with a bit more color. I chose a Tuscan Clay color which is a pretty tan, white trim and we'll add the black shutters back on once it is all complete. I have a few photos of the start of the process to share below. On an interesting note, there was a fire in the home in the late 70s, but it was mostly smoke damage and you can see the remnants of that below, too. I'll be sure to share more happenings around our house this coming spring and summer as we put in our garden, build a new garage and add a new deck to the house.

The original siding on our home from 100 years ago!

Some of the smoke damage from the fire in the house.

Welcome home...

Well Friday could not have been a more perfect day, at least the best surprise this year helped me get through a pretty stressful day at work anyway. My brother called me about 8 am as I got to work, and I looked at my phone and was confused to see "Brandon" on the caller ID. Sure enough it was him to tell me he made it home from Afghanistan. He was just leaving KCI and heading to Topeka to make his final out-processing appointment before coming home. I was so flabbergasted to hear his voice let alone to know he had safely made it home from serving our country since late in the summer last year.

I realize that he was not gone as long as many, many friends have had to deal with their spouse, family member and other friends, but regardless of how long anyone is gone fighting for our country, it just makes you so happy to see them safe and home in our FREE country! Brandon asked me to keep it a secret from our parents as he wanted to surprise them. I went along with it and anxiously waited by the phone for them to tell me he had made it home, but I went through the entire work day with no phone call. I had to think fast as I wanted to meet everyone at my parents' home in Hiawatha after work. I called them to casually say I was coming to town to deliver some MK to some customers and wondered if they were doing anything that night. They said to come on over, and I then had to think fast as to what we had to do for the extra half hour between me arriving at my parents home and Brandon arriving. I said I had to wait as the antibiotic I was on made my stomach upset if I ate too quickly after taking it...ha! Finally, Brandon walked down the stairs of my parents' home, and that's when they saw him, and of course went crazy to know it was a surprise.

Here is the video of their reactions.

I wanted to do a little crafty project with this graphic when Brandon would have told us he was supposed to be on his way and we were to meet and greet him at the airport, but he was given the opportunity to come home early, and I don't blame him for taking it.

Either way, we are very excited he has back. Thank you for serving our country and making us proud, brother! Not many step up to the plate to willingly join our military and then have to leave everything to go overseas, and you did it because you were honored to do so.

Here is a little something made by Brandon's daughter, Alexa, for his return home:



Brandon and I have some exciting things planned this spring to do together, and I can't wait to share them with you all.