Nephew conquers a bear

Z: During the summer, we went to visit my cousins in Colorado and had a swell time dining, relaxing, and helping them set up a new room. One of them, Julie, was exuberantly with child and enjoying every minute of it while her husband, Jake, was there, eating. (In reality, I witnessed a loving husband serve his wife, I award him 100 man points) On July 5th, Julie entered the most joyous phase of pregnancy called labor. And the fruits of that labor came forth in the form of a new human, Mason Lanier. Technically speaking in genealogical terms, Mason and I are second cousins once removed, but until someone stops me I'm calling him my cousiphew. I haven't met him, but he's pretty cool even though he doesn't have a facebook page yet.
S: I agree, Mason is the only infant I know to have appeared on 2 separate blogs. And he's already fully prepared to handle those black bears in colorado....he'll just kill them with cutenes. Tiny Mason makes his needle felted bear look huge :) And thanks for letting Zach claim you as his cousiphew. It means a lot to an only child who's only chance at unclehood is through my nieces, who call him uncle cracker.

New niece on the way

S: My sister will be having her third girl, Shae, this October! Her first two are pictured above. Is it possible for my sister to bring any more cuteness into this world?

One great thing about having nieces is being able to make girly presents for them! My first attempt at quilting was a pink and green baby quilt for my second niece:

Last time Zach and I went to the city wide garage sale, I picked up a bunch of vintage embroidered linens with the intention of repurposing them in to something new. I chose a standard size pillow case that was embroidered with birds and a bird cage, in pinks and blues, to make a baby gift for Shae. I cut up and sewed the pillow case to make a cover for a small accent pillow and then stitched her name onto the front.
I also made Shae two pairs of baby shoes. Thanks to my friend Jennifer for the pattern!

Here is a similar pillow I made for my friend Brittnee and her baby boy Dylan.

Minnie Millery at The Book Box!

S: My needle felted animals are now being sold at The Book Box in Pflugerville! If you live nearby and are thinking about selling your old books, or buying some new ones, stop by The Book Box...and check out the local artist displays while you're there!

Attic Door

S: One of the many things in need of repair when we moved into our house last year was the attic door in the garage. It had gotten a little lazy over the years an no longer wanted to open...or close. So it hung slightly ajar for about a year until we could get around to fixing it. Before the fix, it was all bent out of shape and missing a spring. To shut the door Zach would have to use a hammer to bend the ladder in at the side while pushing up at the same time. We bought a new ladder on one of our many Home Depot trips, and with much hard work on Zach's part, (and a little on mine), we got it up and installed in about half a day.

Z: I purchased an 8 ft Louisville Ladder rated at 350lbs at Home Depot on sale for $70.00. (Which was almost theft, but Home Depot occasionally runs in-store deals on items such as attic doors) There is pretty broad price range on attic doors, but most of the cost is the material (wood or aluminum) or the length (longer= more $$). When attacking your attic door problems, aluminum is best. It's stronger and more durable than wood and you'll probably never have to replace it. Even though I only weigh 140lbs, its comforting to know that if I accidentally cloned myself, I could easily hide the body in the attic without having to worry about the steps giving way as I lugged my doppleganger up there. When buying your attic door, you need two measurements: the size of the rough opening and the distance to the floor. Never buy an attic door with a ladder that's too short. If it's too long, no problem, you can cut off the excess length.

S: I got up in the attic and hammered it temporarily in to place with removable bracket straps as Zach held it in place above his head.

Z: Installing this absolutely necessitates having two people or the ability to be in two places at once, whichever is easiest. Once you have the door temporarily secured, you can adjust it to be level with the ceiling and begin nailing it in place using 16d sinker nails (or similar). Don't use screws, they will most likely get the frame out of square. In our case, we had a big gap between the door and the ceiling joist that I shimmed with a 1x4 to make a tighter fit. You definitely need shims to complete this project, so don't forget to pick those up. Essentially, you need two nails in each corner, and one or two nails where the hinge connects to the frame. Also, when your last nail is half way in, I recommend you miss it and hit your thumb instead because that's exactly what I did and my fingernail looks sweet.

S: What's this? Zach actually reading instructions? I have proof.

Z: Safety Sarah can never be pleased.

S: Now I can safely and easily access my ceramic snow man village and Christmas garland come this December. I'm sure that was Zach's priority too.

Z: Uh, nope, I think my priority was not having my obituary read "impaled through face by attic door spring."

The new door installed. All it needs is trimmed out & painted!

AC Killed by our Anniversary

S: We got another somewhat unexpected gift on our anniversary. Our air conditioner quit working. It was 25 years old so were weren't all that surprised, but we were hoping we could wait until the fall to replace it.

Z: I knew our marriage was beautiful. But apparently it's so passionate that our experienced Trane Air Conditioner collapsed under the overwhelming hotness and emotional stress involved in the celebration of our second anniversary.

Here's the two 25 year old beasts that have served this house well:

Our temporary "AC" until we could get the central unit replaced:

S: With highs near 103 outside, it was in the upper 80s inside our house. It was HOT! Those nights without the AC were some of the worst nights of sleep I have ever gotten. It made me feel so...AmeriCan.
Z: Sloppily sleeping with the slick sweaty saltiness of sweat. Loads and loads of sweat.

And here's our new AC!

S: Luckily we only had to wait 3 days for the new unit to be put in and will be getting a rebate from the City of Austin plus a $1500 tax credit for making our home more energy efficient.
Z: The new Amana ASX16 is a 5 ton 16 SEER unit that uses the new R-410A coolant which will save us boat loads on our electric bill. Although due to the upfront costs we won't see the savings for another 7 years or so. In 2016 I expect to hear a big "Cha-Ching"

Anniversary Gifts

When I got home from work yesterday, I was greeted at the door by a cheery yellow post-it note, written on by Zach's familiar scrawling hand. I had a feeling this was just the first of a long series of notes. (Once during college, Zach used an entire post-it pad and hid messages all throughout my house...in shoes, behind picture frames, inside books...I was finding notes a year later.) This time Zach had set up a sort of scavenger hunt for my anniversary gift. Each post-it note was a clue leading me to another, and then finally my gifts...all 3 of them! Zach really outdid himself. He even put a note on the cat's collar. He got me a 4V Ryobi cordless drill, which I'm really excited about. We have the 18V which is great but after awhile it gets really heavy for me to hold. The 4V is much lighter and is perfect Sarah-size.

He also got me a beautiful flower bouquet with roses and lilies, and a sweet 'S' monogram necklace from Etsy.

Photo from Robin's Egg Blue

I gave Zach a memory book of all the letters and notes we sent one another while dating. We dated long distance, so a lot of letters were sent. Wondering what's with the bird and the paper? Zach is the piece of paper.....pale and ever so thin. I'm the egret, because I like birds and have a tendency to "groom" Zach.

We went to The Oasis on Lake Travis for dinner. Unfortunately the sun set behind the clouds, but the view of the lake was still beautiful.

Mr. and Mrs.

Today is our 2 year wedding anniversary! We thank God for bringing us together and for how he's blessed our marriage.