Kyle's Place: Keeping a Stash

Yes I hide things from my wife.
I have a stash where I keep goodies and treats.
I think everyone should.
That’s how I grew up.

My dad had a stash of candy and cookies he didn’t tell my mom about.

My mom had a stash of gummy bears she didn’t show anyone (unless we found it).

My siblings (who are all older) have stashes they hide from their spouses.

I see nothing wrong with having a stash of goodies. However, if someone finds your stash of goodies they have dibs on eating whatever they want. That is the punishment for not hiding your stash well enough. As you build up your stash, you will learn to be a better hider. (This will help you during games like hide and go seek or finding Easter eggs during Easter).

But you should only hide a few goodies. Most goodies you should share with your spouse, but there are a couple things (your favorites) that might be acceptable to keep hidden. One thing I like to do is share most of my goodies, but put some away in your stash for later. Like Creamies. Share all but the last one, then hide it. That way you did share, but you still get the last taste.

However this only goes for treats.
Don’t be hiding secrets, old crushes or speeding tickets from your spouse.
Only treats.

How To: Be a Yard Sale Fanatic

Did you know it is spring?
(In Utah it is sometimes hard to know for sure)
Spring, for us, marks the beginning of yard sale season and you better believe we are out the door at 7am every Saturday morning on the hunt for local yard sales. We are so nerdy that we even make it a point to go to yard sales on our weekend vacations.


With all the yard sales we go to, Kyle and I have developed our own little system for effective yard sale-ing and I have decided to share our tips with you today--lucky you!


Kyle & Kourtney's Tips for Awesome Yard Sale-ing
1. Search the classifieds/craigslist for sales.
Here in Utah, ksl.com usually has the best selection.

2. Plan your route.
I am extra nerdy and put all my yard sale information into an Excel spreadsheet so I can sort by city or time and come up with a route we want to follow. I also include notes on each sale like: "baby stuff" "neighborhood" or "multi-family" so we can pick out ones we really want to go to. That said, usually the neighborhood and multi-family sales are our top priority. They are more likely to have a wider selection and more sales in one location.

3. Know the areas.
We have had especially good luck at yard sales in certain cities and neighborhoods and make it a priority to hit those ones first. (Hint: wealthy areas) When we moved to our house a year ago, we quickly learned which neighborhoods yield the best sales and it has been a fun way for us to get to know this new county we're living in. Also, having a GPS really helps get from one sale to the next in the fastest time.

4. Get there early.
The good stuff goes fast, so the earlier you can get to a sale, the better chance you have of getting what you're looking for. That said, I have stopped by some sales late in the afternoon only to score on some really great treasures like the $10 chandelier I revamped for the nursery.

5. Bring cash.
Always keep small bills in your pockets. This is especially helpful when bargaining for a price. I'll keep just a few dollars in one pocket, but larger bills in another. When a seller sees you hand them cash, even if it’s their asking price, they're more likely to lower the price for you. People want cash!

6. Grab onto things fast.
If you are contemplating an item, hold on to it or someone else will grab it first and you won't even have the choice.

7. Don't be afraid to bargain.
I'm not the best at bargaining, but I'm getting better. My mother-in-law is a yard sale pro and will bargain a $1.00 item down to $.25 in a matter of minutes. I don't know how she does it. My advice is to know the max you would spend before asking for a lower price and be prepared to walk away if it doesn't meet your terms. Most people having yard sales expect to get a little less than what they ask for most things.

8. Don't give up!
It's really frustrating to drive around for a couple of hours and see a ton of yard sales with nothing we really want. But, the more you go to, the more likely you are to find that darling vintage rocking chair or the $40 grandfather clock (both of which we scored at yard sales!)

Happy Yard Sale-ing!

Of Hair and Things

I am refusing to cut my hair while pregnant for three reasons:

1. I hear that's a bad idea. Something about hormones and irrationality while pregnant, I believe.

2. While not magically thick and lucious, it is growing fast. And well, why not take advantage?

3.  With my face changing shape with every week, I'm terrified that chopping off my hair will make me look like the Michelin Man.

Not good.

So now my hair is longer than ever (for me) and therefore I decided to try out the ole' bun. 

Afterall, all the spring '11 runways are doing it!

Sadly, as long as my hair may be, it is still thin and whispy and my bun resembles little from the 2011 runway. But I'm not giving up on it just yet.

However, now all I can think about is this episode of King of Queens.

(I love Kevin James)

And then I wonder.... does Kyle secretly hate the bun?

He has yet to say much about it.

Happy House Anniversary!

 
moving day, April 16, 2010

We have officially been in our house for one whole year (and nine days to be exact).

Happy House Anniversary!

Buying our first home was seriously one of the most stressful times in my entire life. 
Honestly, I really didn't believe we could do it. 

We got married in September 2009 and just two months later (when the government announced another $8000 tax credit for first time home buyers) we decided we were going to try for it.  We only had five months to close in order to make the deadline and we had very little saved up for a down payment. 
I really, really didn't believe we could do it.

Looking back, I remember thinking that at some point someone would just bail us out.  Mom? Dad? Anyone have some extra $$$ laying around to hand our way?  How I wished!  Instead we had to get our creative juices going and came up with some new ways to save and earn extra cash.

Goodbye salon hair care.

Goodbye new clothes.

Goodbye vacation fund.

Goodbye cable TV.

Goodbye lunch dates with friends.

But...

Hello Mr. Zesty!

And Twitterman!

I have to say, Kyle wins the prize for the most effort in the "earn extra cash" area.

He dressed up in a pickle costume, an ill-fitting superhero outfit, and donated plasma.
All to add to our house fund.

I started making and selling onesies on etsy, which I really loved

(maybe someday soon I'll get back to that venue). 

I also traveled to Colorado for wholesale markets on weekends to earn extra dollars.

We were busier than ever and it was really very stressful, but I could hardly believe that when it came time to close on our house we had more than enough for the down payment and some extras.  It still would've been nice for someone to have handed us over the cash in the first place, but I think we learned some valuable lessons early in our marriage that helped us to start off strong.  What is even better, is most of our thrifty habits learned during those five months have stayed with us and made it possible for us to do other fun things we really enjoy.

Like fixing up our first home.
And getting ready for our first baby!

I Need a Twelve Step Program

The joy of being married is that you suddenly have someone watching you 24 hours a day who can point out the strange and annoying things you do.  Because we are with each other pretty much all the time, Kyle notices things about me that I did not ever notice before.

Case in point: I start a lot of projects simultaneously.

Most of which I have yet to finish.

You guys, I think I'm driving him nuts.  Well, okay I know I'm driving him nuts, because he told me so.  I can tell you this because I've realized that he is right (don't tell him I said so!)

And now I am driving me nuts too. 

Pretty much I need to finish some projects. 

Now.

Of course when he first pointed this out, I denied it profusely and justified every 50% complete project.  (I need more supplies!  I need more time!  I'm a multitasker!  It's just how I roll!)

But now that I've had some time to think about it, I am here to hang my head in public shame and come clean about my problem.

My Unfinished Projects:

1. Baby Quilt: needs to be backed and bound

2. Floor Lamp: I need wayyy more coffee filters and another 3 days of hot gluing.  Also, I may need to paint the lamp base (I'm still somewhat undecided on this factor)

3. The Gallery Wall: I have three frames that still have paint on the glass (I just need to scrape it off) that also need pictures inside. And I must finally correct the slightly off-balance issue.

4. $5 Bookshelf: Still sitting in the garage waiting for a good sanding and a clever paint job.

5. Nursery Dresser: It WAS finished once, but then I decided to mess with the knobs.  Now I need to finish the knobs.

6. The Chair:  Uh... the piping has been pinned on this chair for over a year even though all it needs is a little hot glue.

7. Paper wall flower: Needs paint and a home

8. Birdhouse: The first paint job was all wrong and now it needs a new one

This list does not include all the projects I've not officially started but are hanging in the balance, waiting for a makeover: painting a corner shelf, sewing up throw pillows, slip covers here and there, refinishing bedroom furniture......)

Hi, my name is Kourtney and I have project ADD.

Anyone else suffer from this?

Kyle's Place: Skin is in

Being bald use to be gross. People thought of bald people as old men. They collected bald jokes and used them whenever they saw an old bald man.

But now…..“skin is in.” It is sexy. Why? How did the opinions of the world seem to change overnight? I will tell you in three words…BRUCE FREAKING WILLIS! That’s right. The ladies think Bruce Willis is one of the sexiest men on the planet. He made a shaved bald head go from “old man ready to die” to “completely and utterly stunning sexiness.”

Thank you, Bruce Willis. I know besides sharing your haircut I don’t look like you. However I have had multiple dreams where I am taking down bad guys with you in the corn fields of Idaho as your junior detective. Remember that time we hid in that ditch and you covered me up with dirt except for my gun and one eye? Then when the bad guy who robbed the Victoria’s Secret crossed the bridge I popped up out of nowhere and said, “Prepare to meet your maker” and took him out.

Good times, Bruce. Good times.

A Desperate Plea

I like to write.

I like to type.

I like to use big words sparingly.

But most of all, I like to use the right word at the right time.

Which, if we're using logic here, means that I do not like to use the wrong word at the wrong time.

In fact, I loathe it.

People in Utah sometimes have a peculiar way of speaking.

That's all fine by me, but please please please for the love of Merriam-Webster do not translate this peculiar way of speaking into writing.

Classic Example:

CORRECT:  "Dresser for sale"

INCORRECT: "Dresser for sell"

Every time I see "sell" used for "sale" I cringe and cry little tears of anger.

When perusing the classifieds (as I do on a near daily basis), I come across this grammatical travesty time and time again.  Is it snobbish of me to not want to buy something from someone who can't properly use "sale" in their ad?

Call me a snob.

But it drives me crazy.

Weekend Getaway

I like where we live because in four hours or less, we can get to palm trees without even leaving the state!  (to me, palm trees=vacation) It's called St. George, folks, and over the weekend, the weather was PERFECT.  Perfect to me, is about 80 degrees and a slight breeze.  Lots of sun for my white-washed skin. 

Some scenes from our weekend getaway:

 

 St. George Temple and visitors' center

 

Zion National Park

I did, in fact, make through several of the easier hikes

Kyle was so in his element

Kyle's birthday dinner of choice: Iggy's. 

The man + barbecue sandwich + big screen TV for NBA playoffs = a birthday success



So. Much. Fun.

Sneak Peak

A sneak peak of where virtually all of my at-home time has gone.

200+ coffee filters and several hot glue gun burns later... I'm still only 1/5 of the way finished.

Why do I always do this to myself?

I sure hope I like it in the end...

LOVE

via pinterest

Oh geez, I've jumped on another bandwagon!  If you haven't already signed up for/heard about/experienced Pinterest, then you should jump on the bandwagon too.  I'm addicted! 

From the website: "Think of Pinterest as a virtual pinboard — a place where you can create collections of things you love and 'follow' collections created by people with great taste.

People use Pinterest to collect and share all sorts of things -- wedding inspiration, favorite T-shirts, DJ equipment. You name it, people are pinning it."

This is so very perfect for me because for the last couple of years I've been saving inspiring images to my desktop, which now includes about 15 separate folders of several hundred images each.  Basically, Pinterest is going to save my hard drive.  What's even better is it's hard for me to save the source of each image to go back to later but Pinterest saves the source so you can find the image in its original habitat!  So handy for all the tutorials I want to follow later.

Some of my favorite bloggers like Young House Love, Welcome to Heardmont, Simplified Bee, and I Heart Organizing are already pinning up great stuff for me to add to my collection.  (As if I needed any more projects on my list!)

Anyway, if you love stuff like I love stuff, you should sign up for Pinterest. (So wish I was getting paid for this endorsement)  I've heard some from people that it takes a few weeks to get their account set up, for me it was about 4 days.  Enjoy!  This is definitely my favorite bandwagon of the moment.

And if you want to follow what I'm pinning, you can find me here.

A Moral Dilemma

Once upon a time I did a stupid thing. 

I am hungry, you see, and lunch is still a ways off.  A good amount of milk will usually keep me full for another couple of hours so I hit up the vending machine at work.  The only milk in stock is "Cookies 'n Cream."  Sounds good, right?  Chocolate creamy milk?  I figured it couldn't be that bad so I forked over thirteen dimes only to discover that my pint of protein came with FIVE HUNDRED CALORIES!!!!!  Can you even believe that?  A five hundred calorie bottle of milk?!?!  That should be illegal.

So now I am faced with a real problem.

On one hand, I am too cheap to waste thirteen dimes and toss the pint of caloric tragedy. I mean, this is $1.30 we're talking about here!!  $1.30 can go a long way in my book.  And, as you may know, I am pretty cheap.

But also, I am too afraid (and disgusted) to ingest 500 calories of whole milk fat and sugar.  Like there must be some kind of terrible cosmic repercussions for such a careless act.

But it does have 14 grams of protein...  is there even possibly an upside to all this?

To drink the chocolate milk, or not to drink the chocolate milk.

This is a serious problem.

Kyle's Place: Boise State

One time my mom asked me, “Since you graduated from BYU-Idaho, which is a BYU school, and you are a Boise State fan, what if BYU plays Boise State in football? Who would you cheer for?” I kindly responded to my mom, “Are you freaking kidding me? Mom, if Boise State played our family in a flag football game, I would cheer for Boise State.”

I bleed Blue and Orange. Ever since I was a little boy in poopy diapers, I have loved the Boise State Broncos. I grew up during the times where we had some good seasons and some not so good seasons. But they have always been and forever will be my team. I love them. I don’t think I could love a newborn puppy more than I love the Boise State Broncos.

When Boise State plays, life stops to enjoy that special moment.

Our wedding colors were blue and orange and we got married on Boise State’s bye week.

If coach Petersen ever needed me to suit up and play, I am only a phone call away.

If Coach Petersen needed a place to relax while he was visiting Utah, he could stay at my house, sleep in my bed in his underwear, hold my firstborn child, and eat whatever he wanted (including my stash of goodies), use my jetted bathtub, wear my clothes and use my razor.

He would be King.

That’s how much I love Boise State.

Go Broncos!

Papaya Post

this week, the baby is the size of a papaya

Every day the same pair of older ladies greet me with giant smiles and ask "How are you feeling?!?"  With some kind of anxious excitement as if I was going to reply, "I'm going into labor right this very minute!!!" 

But it is not so. 

Really, pregnancy is kind of a long, drawn-out process and for the most part, very little changes from day to day.  I appreciate their enthusiasm and concern for my well-being but at the same time, I am growing weary of explaining every day that I feel fine.

I'm fine.

I promise.

And even if I wasn't, I probably wouldn't tell them.

Because who really wants to hear in response, "I didn't sleep much last night because I had to get up to pee THREE times!" 

Pretty sure they don't care.

But really, pregnancy has been fairly good to me thus far.

Our (22 year old) nephew asked over the weekend what the hardest part about being pregnant was.  And you know, I had to really think about that.  I have been so, so, so very lucky not to have suffered with a lot of morning sickness and am pleased to report that I have not puked once since getting a positive pee stick.  Not once!  This is especially good news for a puke-phobic like myself.  I decided to tell him that the hardest thing for me is that everything is different and it is increasingly difficult to be comfortable. 

Is it really so bad to be starving like unto death every couple of hours? 

No, not really so bad.

Is it really so terrible that one or both of my legs periodically go to sleep at night? 

No, it's not that terrible.

Is it really so miserable to have heart burn every day? 

No, nothing a little Tums can't fix.

So if it's not really so bad, terrible or miserable, I should probably stop complaining to my poor husband, huh?  But you see he is mostly a by-stander to the baby-growing process now and I want him to feel included.  Like he's right here in the game with me!  Shouldn't he want to know the pains of waking up in the middle of the night to pee all the time?!?  I mean how else is he going to be involved for the next 16 some weeks? 

Yes.

I must complain to him. 

It is part of the whole process, you see. 

So, sorry Babe.  I will admit that pregnancy has not been so bad to me.  But for you, you get to hear all the minor uncomfortableness I experience on an hourly basis. 

Love you!

Weekend Happenings

We spent the weekend away in Idaho with family. 

Before we left I declared a mental commandment that I shalt take pictures.

I did not keep my commandment.

Not a single picture from the whole weekend.

To make myself feel better, I ripped off this picture from the Internet to show you the cool lobby of the hotel we stayed in.  (Spring Hill Suites in Rexburg).  I would also like to point out the turquoise and orange color scheme which is reminiscent of one such wedding of the century (read: not the royal wedding)

See that turquoise and orange loveliness right there?

Yes.  That is from the Kyle and Kourtney wedding.  September 2009.  One year before the Spring Hill Suites in Rexburg was completed.  I would like to take this opportunity to take the credit for their color scheme.

And while the frosted glass doors to the guest room bathroom and shower were strange and unnerving (especially when sharing a room with my in-laws), the amazing continental breakfast more than made up for it.  (Breakfast is my favorite)

The rest of our weekend, which we so dutifully did not photograph, consisted of:

Two full days in Rexburg

One nephew graduating from BYU-Idaho

One great-nephew's baby blessing (yes, I am a great aunt... so weird)

Three Kyle-guided driving tours of the BYU-Idaho campus

Four times passing by the Dairy Queen without stopping for a blizzard

One trip to the D.I. for thrifted goodness

One chance meeting of an old friend from Colorado

Six short hours spent in Pocatello with my family

Eight hours driving round-trip

This next weekend we are taking another trip, but this time we are celebrating Kyle's THIRTIETH birthday!!  My man is turning 30.  That's like a big deal, you know.  So we are getting the heck outta here and heading to warmer weather to celebrate.  Just the 2 1/2 of us.

This time, however, we HAVE to take pictures.

I promise.

A Milestone

Big things are happening here at the Post home.  Wednesday night Kyle finally FINALLY felt the baby kick!  I have been trying for weeks to get him to feel her kicks, but to no avail.  And really what is there I can do to "try" except shout "Come over here! She kicked me!"  And then he'd put his hand on my belly for 30 seconds and give up.  Sometimes I could feel her kicking him but it just wasn't strong enough for him to notice.  But not anymore!  This is like a big milestone in the baby growing phase or something.  I am more excited about this than I was about baby's first Bon Jovi concert!  Rest assured, many more firsts to come.

In totally unrelated news, have you ever noticed the letters of your keyboard wearing off?  I find it curious to note that I am quickly losing M, C, D, K, and comma.  In contrast, Q gets very little attention and neither do X and Z.  Just thought you should know.

Charm

Yesterday I had the great fortune of taking in the old Honda to get fixed up.

(again)

As such, I found myself carless and alone at 8am in Orem, Utah.  So I started to walk.  3.5 hours and one Denny's Grand Slam with wheat pancakes later, I had shin splints and blistered feet.  But the car was fixed!  And I like to think I got a nice workout in the meantime.

Have you ever been to Orem?

Parts of Orem are kind of old.

And charming.

Here are some scenes from my morning walk.

Next time I decide to walk for several hours, I am going to wear socks.

(and the small o.j. at Denny's is a joke. who do they think they are feeding? a toddler?!)

Kyle's Place: About Fatherhood

When I found out we are having a baby I was really excited. I have always wanted to be a dad. It has been pretty much my biggest dream my entire life. I have always imagined myself playing catch in my backyard with him, having him help me rake the leaves, teaching him the different offensive plays that Boise State ran the previous game, teaching him the best way to camp, how to drive a 4 wheeler, and painting our chests for tailgate parties.

And then we found out we are having a girl.

And even though I still plan on doing all these things with my new daughter (except for painting our chests) I guess I will have to add things I never thought of before. Things like having little tea parties, playing house, having fashion shows and dress up parties, painting toenails and having pillow fights. I never thought of these things as fun, but I would be lying if I told you I wasn’t excited for these things.

Bring them all on!

Bring on fatherhood!

Baby Biz-nass

link

So I just watched The Business of Being Born and while I have mixed feelings about the apparent bias against hospitals (I love my hospital and my OB! But also I do not live in New York) and all the boobs I had to see, I pretty much cried my eyes out every time they showed a woman in labor.  And then there's the new baby and I need a few more tissues.  The more births I see or read about the more prepared I feel to have this baby of ours.  Even though it is sometimes so terrifying to think about (anything can happen!) I feel like I can do it.

But really there is no new news from the babyfront at this point.  We still cannot seem to agree on a name, and while I've just decided she won't be named until she's born, Kyle still wants to pick a name asap.  I'm thinkin' that's not gonna be happenin' anytime soon.  So for now I call her Fetus or Baby or Baby Fetus or Baby Post.  All of which are so endearing and feminine. {insert sarcasm}

Kyle's aunt Debbie said she had a hard time picking a name for their son and at one point thought she'd name him Gene Eric (i.e. GENERIC).  I thought that was hilariously clever.  Unfortunately, a girl named Gene just doesn't seem to fit, so we are still nameless.

I would tell you my favorite names, but I am pretty sure Kyle is so sick of hearing them over and over for the past 5.5 months, that he cringes when he hears them.  Not so good for winning favor for my favorite names.

Baby Girl Fetus is consistently measuring big meaning I really should have a due date earlier than July 31st, but so far I've yet to convince the doctor to move it up.  Just the same, I have it set in my mind that she will come before July 31st and that is just the way I would like it.  Either that or she will come on (or after) July 31st and will be a behemoth of an infant.

I, myself, was something of a nine pound baby so these things aren't too implausible you see.

In other news, my face is rapidly doubling in size.  As a result, I am insisting that all photographs now be taken from the neck down.

a Sucky Movie and a Gorgeous Home

We watched Killers. 

The movie was a terrible disappointment and went something like this:

Jen (Katherin Heigl) vacations in France

Enter pointlessly half-naked assassin Spencer (Ashton Kutcher)

They fall in love in one week (yeah freaking right)

Three years later they're married and live in a gorgeous suburban house

Suddenly, all their suburban friends try to kill them

Another pointless half-naked Spencer scene

Spencer's true identity is revealed

Jen's pregnant!

Now she's leaving him!

But she's back 2 minutes later to save his life!

Husband and wife team up to elminate their killers

Turns out Jen's dad was in on the whole thing

Something about a "trust circle"

And they live happily ever after

There you go. 

You have no need to ever watch this movie. 

EXCEPT Spencer and Jen's house is to die for. 

I did not so much like the movie, but I want to watch it again just to get a better glimpse of the interior of their home. 

It is amazing. 

And I'm in love. 

Here are just a few pictures I was able to scrounge up of the house, which is in real-life Douglasville, Georgia.  I wish they were better but.... here you go.

The exterior. 

(The house was painted this color just for the movie)

A glimpse of the kitchen. 

I looove the white cabinets and the butcher block island. 

I'm also a big fan of the under cabinet lighting and the sheer curtain above the sink.

A partial view of the kitch and a hallway. 

The wall colors on the main floor all appear to be very neutral and have a modern farmhouse feel. 

Which I love. 

Notice the see-through kitchen cabinet doors on the right?  Love!

A closer view of the cabinets. 

Here you can see they are backed with beadboard. 

I'm now scheming to do this in our kitchen. 

If only our dishes all coordinated....

This is the upstairs office I believe.

The hallway is a blue-gray and I'm really coveting the lamp with the yellow shade.

I would also like to pause a moment and point out Katherine Heigl's nailpolish.

I approve.

And now I need a manicure.

Here's just a peak of the really awesome fireplace mantle and above it is a HUGE sunburst mirror. 

Of course, I love.

This picture only really serves to show the wall color (which is pretty similar to our own main floor) paired with a lot of white drapery. 

I'm always excited to see interiors with a wall color like ours because I sometimes feel stumped on how to make it more interesting.

And colorful.

But seriously, the movie kinda sucked.

Sandwich of my Dreams

I had the most vivid dream last night in which I was staring at an open faced sandwich.  It was so dreamy and delicious that I woke up and typed this into my phone: "French bresd ham swiss dill pickle."  (You must forgive the typos as it was 1:08 AM that I typed that) 

The sandwich of my dreams was a slice of french bread topped with ham, swiss cheese and two pickle spears.  And it looked something like this:

Only better, because in my dream it wasn't pasted together images from Google.  And in my mind I imagine it toasted until the cheese is bubbly and gooey.

Due to lack of ingredients, today's sandwich was not the sandwich of my dreams: 

Only it did have onions.  And these days, I do love me some onion.