Mid-life update.

I kind of went on a blog hiatus for a month and a half.  Whoops.  I love the writing that comes with blogging, which is probably why my blog has lots of wordy posts.  And since I'm kind of playing catch-up right now, I think today's post needs to have bullets...too much going on in my head right now to write about each thing, so we'll go for an overview!

• At the end of August, my brother flew to Oklahoma.  He still had a lot of his childhood things at my parent's casa and since he has his own house in New Hampshire, it was time that his immense video game collection and Star Wars items find their way to that house :)  So, he and I rented a minivan {packed to the brim} and made the 1800 mile trek to New Hampshire.  

• While in New Hampshire, I got to see Jill before she moved from Boston to Austin.  We spent a day on the lake kayaking using my bro and SIL's kayaks!  Thanks J & T :)

• Also in New Hampshire, Tina and I got to play with decorating their house :)  I think of it as playing...Tina probably thinks of it as work.  The pic on the left {below} is the winter-y look. The pic on the right {below} is for spring!  Much more light and airy.  

• The new house is coming along...slowly but surely!  When I got back from New Hampshire, I found a GIANT surprise: Mom removed all of the popcorn ceilings throughout the entire house. I was completely and utterly shocked/ecstatic.  What this has ended up meaning is, other projects got added to the to-do list because of the popcorn being gone.  In layman's terms, we're pretty much gutting the whole house.  One of the bigger projects includes raising the floor in the sunken living room {which was one of the things dating the house the most}.  

before

during {bye bye columns}

after!

• Don't worry, there's still more work to show you, but that's just to give a few teaser pics of the house :)  more Doma Diaries posts to come in the near future!  
• My old iphone 3gs was on it's last leg a few weeks ago.  It served me well for 3+ years, but when the new iphone came out, I preordered mine immediately.  I never thought that I'd be able to keep an iphone working, but they make them pretty dang tough--I dropped mine in the OCEAN and it barely blinked an eye.  

one last picture from my old iphone :)

• After I got home from New Hampshire, my brother asked me if I wanted to start an app called Couch to 5k.  I had been meaning to start working out again, but never found the motivation. So, 6 weeks ago, we started the program together.  And today, I ran for 20 minutes {although the last 5 minutes of the run was barely a jog} for the first time since January and before getting sick in Ukraine. It wasn't pretty, but I did it!  A few weekends ago, it got realllllly chilly in Norman {in the 40's} but I still had to do my run.  So, I broke out the only leggings I had around. 

• This past weekend was one of the best weekends of the year: OU/Saxet.  Pretty sure that it was my favorite OU/Texas game to date.  Words can't explain how excited the crowd was after every touchdown we scored on them.  

Pops, Mom, and Lydia at the game. 

• I recently chopped off my bangs.  Again.  It usually happens at a very random time {this time it was 11:30 pm last Wednesday night}--like this time, when I had been painting all day.  

That's all for now.  I'll leave you with two different Oklahoma sunsets that made my heart happy.  

Boomer. Sooner.

the doma diaries: kitchen progress

I've been absent for a while now.  Like, over a month.  Whoops!  I've been busy and uninspired to write.  I also need to change my blog around and I haven't felt like tackling that {major} project because HTML codes and stuff like that are way over my head.  I was also gone to Toronto for 10 days.  And then I had a two-week time period where my group of friends all came together for pool days, fun evenings, cookouts, and good times because Bert {remember Bert?  He lives in Japan.  More here.} flew halfway around the world to visit OK for the first time in two years.  So, while he was here, the twins {background here} came to town too. And Rose's boy Mattchik {my Ukrainian name for him} came too.   Excuses, excuses.

I also have another convenient excuse right now.  My brother is here!!!!!  I hadn't seen him in one year and eight months...LONG TIME.  Why's he here?  Because on Tuesday, he and I are getting in a rented mini-van and driving 1800 miles to New Hampshire...with all of his childhood things in tow.  Then I'll get to see Tina {sis-in-law} for the first time almost two years and Jill too!  Excited doesn't begin to cover it.  We're still working like mad people over at the new house...and I've been documenting things like crazy! Just not putting them on the blog.

Here's how the room was the last time you saw it.  

Before, the awkward peninsula/chimney only had electricity coming from the ceiling.  We needed it to come from the ground though...which meant that our contractor Rick had to get very handy!

First, he drilled a hole {probably 6"x 8"} in the FOUNDATION.  This is over on the left side of kitchen where the new hutch will go.

Then, he drilled another hole in the center of the kitchen.

See the PVC pipe?  Eventually, it made its way under the foundation {through good ol', red, Oklahoma dirt}.  

He then hooked the garden hose up to PVC pipe to flush out the remaining dirt and make way for electricity.  

These pics are making it look super easy...I'm going to go ahead and bank on the fact that this was not an easy-breezy part of the project :)

ta-da!  Electricity threaded through!

The last pic for tonight's post shows a preview of what the island will look like! Some of you may have seen it on facebook, but this will keep others curious!  Toodles :) 

the doma diaries: pops's study!

Happy Friday!!  A week from today, I will be in Chicago with the high school kiddos on our way to Toronto for the summer mission trip.  In preparation for the trip, I needed to get certified to drive one of the church mini-buses.  I've waited 10 years to be able to drive one of those babies (you have to be 25 years old) and the day finally came!  Scott took me out for a test drive...and it honestly wasn't that bad! 

stolen instagram photo

Let's get down to business though.  Next stop on the tour of the new house is my dad's study.  My dad has dreamed of having built-in bookshelves in his study for a long, long time.  That day is finally coming {soon} and we're all quite excited to see how they'll turn out.  

one of the front bedrooms--soon to be a Boomer Sooner Study!

other direction

the closet {which will also get special built-ins! more about that later...}

first order of business: take out the old carpet {the built-ins will be built directly on the floor and new carpet will go in around the built-ins}

sayonara! 

bez carpet {a little Russian for you today. I think you can figure out what it means...}

without carpet!

all sorts of secret messages were left for us...more about that later too :)

no more hanging rods!

That's all the sneak peak you're going to get today.  I also need to say hi to all of my friends at Camp HEAL {an HIV/AIDS educational youth summer camp in Ukraine}.  Hope y'all are soaking up the rays on the beach and teaching the kids lots of stuff.  Wish I were there with y'all :)

Two month mark of being home in 'homa...'

Two months ago, I left Kiev on a very early flight, eventually heading for Oklahoma City {Kiev-->Paris-->Atlanta-->OKC}.  I was being medically evacuated by Peace Corps so that I could recover from having mono.  Because mono can take months {and months} to recover from, I wasn't able to make it back to Ukraine in the 45 day allotment they give you for medical evacuation.  On June 11, 2012, I was medically separated from the Peace Corps and am now a RPCV {Returned Peace Corps Volunteer}. I'm still getting better from having had mono.  Most days now I have a decent amount of energy...but I'm still easily sleeping 10-11 hours at night.  

So, what have I been doing since being home in Oklahoma?  Enjoying a few of these...

Nothing beats an Oklahoma sunset.  

I received my two 50-pound bags from Ukraine.  Surprisingly all in one piece and pretty much unharmed!  Kudos to Dan and Vicki for packing those things...

I am in the process of washing everything that was in those suitcases...mostly winter things that had only gotten one season's use during my first real winter {ever} in Ukraine.  There are days that I'm here and forget about the use of a dryer...and the fact that if something is dirty, I don't have to wait 3 days for it to dry if I wash it. 

Also during my two month span of being home, my parents have purchased a new home here in Norman.  So random and such odd timing...but the perfect one came on the market and we all love it.  That's probably what a lot of blog posts in the future will be aimed towards :)  More about that later.  But, demo work has finally begun this week.  The kitchen is 40 years old...and in need of some major TLC.  

More about kitchen projects soon...and don't worry, I didn't lift a hand in there.  

I got my teeth cleaned for the first time in over a year today.  No cavities!  So, I celebrated with Chick-Fil-A breakfast because I'm usually not up in time to enjoy their breakfast menu...love me some chicken-minis :)  I'm almost done with all of the Peace Corps paperwork for closing out my service...I will be so happy to be done with the mounds of paperwork they send you.  And medical and dental stuff you have to do as well.  

I miss blogging, and hope to start doing it more.  It's really therapeutic for me...but I haven't been in the mood the past few weeks. And, because I never replied to all of the emails and text messages and sweet words people said to me after my last blog post, thank you all :) I plan on responding to them, but it still may take me some time.  

And, because I probably won't end up blogging tomorrow, I need to wish Mr. Matthew Schlegel a very happy birthday :)  We've traveled many a mile together...from Mexico to Canada and beyond.  Hope you have a wonderful day Schlegel!

Way-Back-Wednesday #26: Happy birthday, Nora

Hello blog world :)  I've been MIA for the past month.  Sorry about that.  There are lots of reasons why, and I have been avoiding blogging to avoid having to deal with questions.  BUT, since Way-Back-Wednesday fell on one of my dear friends birthdays, it was too good an opportunity to pass up NOT to post some old school pics.  I hope to start blogging again tomorrow....with a long explanatory post. For now though, it's time to wish Miss Nora Hall a wonderful happy birthday :)

Meet Nora.  

I don't remember when I actually met Nora...sometime freshman or sophomore year of high school.  My guess is that it would have been at church.  And ever since then...we've done a lot together :)

if you need help remember the outfit I'm wearing, you can go to this post

There are so many things to comment on in this picture of Semi-Formal from sophomore year.  I'll just let y'all decide...

This picture is a precursor to the video below.  This is what my friends and I did in high school...we had dance parties at each others houses.  You think I'm joking...

but I'm not.

Rose, Jace, Anna, Amy, Lydia, Nora

Row, row, row your boat...

Nora, Rose, Lydia, Anna

North vs. High football. Amy, Lydia, Nora

Just hanging out in Seattle on the Space Needle

Anna, Nora, Lydia

Mission trip to Camden, NJ

Tayler, Gracie, Lydia, Nora

Mexico one year...note my shirt and Nora's bandana

Mexico the next year...note my shirt and Nora's bandana. 

Niagara Falls.  NBD.

Hanging out in Toronto

Brycey, Nora, Pirtle, Lydia

Mount Rushmore

Tayler, Kendall, Lydia, Nora

Club 69er--aka TLC.  

Just another fun time in a McFarlin mini-bus.

Glacier National Park in Canada

painting in Montana

Dress-up time with Nora and Rosebud

When I came back to the states, Nora was one of the people that I surprised.  I scheduled a "Skype date" with her even though we wouldn't really be skyping.  Instead, I rang her doorbell just as she was supposed to be signing on to Skype.  After many persistent knocks and doorbell rings {while she was sneaking around the house trying to see who was at her door}, she finally answered :)  Nora, I hope your birthday is filled with lots of fun times and laughs.  Love you dearly :)