This post is mainly for my sister Tanya. She loves the Amish. Strike that. She is semi-obsessed with the Amish. She is fascinated by them. When we went to the Ohio State Fair last weekend, there was a produce booth run by an Amish woman. You could tell she was Amish by the way she was dressed. I texted my sister to tell her I saw a real live Amish Woman. She texted me back "No freakin way! LUCKY!" She was really jealous of me. She wants to come and visit us here is Ohio partly so she can go to Amish country and buy some real Amish goods. Like I said, semi-obsessed. Anyways, the reason this post is for her is because Jordan and I went to an Amish restaurant for dinner tonight. Our anniversary is Monday, also the first day of school, so we decided to celebrate a little early. We chose to go somewhere we had never been before, so we chose "Der Dutchman" an Amish Kitchen restaurant. Here are some pictures to prove it:
See? I wasn't lying! That is a REAL Amish buggy and yes we did bring Clara with us on our anniversary date!
Those are REAL Amish rocking chairs! And they are oh so comfortable too! The wood is contoured like your back is so it doesn't feel rigid.
Well there you have it, our first real exposure to Amish Land. I am sure there will be many more ventures to that magical place, especially when Tanya comes to visit! We can't wait! (If any of you are now intrigued and want to come visit Amish Country too, we do love visitors!)
Well, I am sure some of you thought Jordan and I had dropped off the face of the earth before his last post. And by popular demand, here are some pictures of Clara. I promise I will post pictures of our house once I deem it decent enough to take pictures of. There is still a lot of unpacking to do and with Clara, that may be a while. So until then, here is a random post with a few pictures! Christmas in August? No, it is just the Ohio State Fair. Clara slept almost the whole time Clara and her cousin Harry at the Fair, having a fabulous time! Just a super cute picture of Clara in her pajamas being happy. I love it when she is happy! Another cute picture of happy Clara! She is starting to smile a lot more and respond to people! She is so fun!
Hello. After a long time with no posting -- thanks to a cross-country move, craziness unpacking, a fussy baby and a lack of Internet connection -- I'm happy to say we're back.
I'm sure Crystal will post pictures and updates of the house and the baby, but I wanted to share my latest DIY project.
I'll preface it with Crystal's love for fire first and fire-roasted foods second. When we were looking at houses, I told her I'd build her a fire pit in our backyard, so when we moved in, I got the materials and tools and went to work.
The process involved first digging a hole, then filling it halfway with gravel and topping that with sand. I used about 150 pounds of each. After using a tamper (a tool I now own but may never use again) to make my gravel and sand as firm as possible, I laid a ring of landscaping blocks on the sand, making sure it was level all the way around. After laying the first ring of 12 blocks, I mixed up some mortar and used it to lay another ring on top of the first. After that was done, I mortared in a third row of blocks, but this time put in three 8-inch pieces of rebar below three of the blocks, with a few inches poking out into the pit in order to hold a grilling grate above the coals.
After a couple days of curing, the fire pit was all set and (with only a little bit of cleaning up because some of the stupid alley cats in our neighborhood thought my sand pit was a litter box) we grilled up some delicious pizzas and corn-on-the-cob.
All told, it took me about 4 hours to build the whole thing, not counting a trip to the store to pick up enough gravel and sand for the whole project -- my hole was a lot bigger than I expected! I hope to have many enjoyable experiences cooking (and eating!) with our new fire pit. It will also allow me to have less grass to mow!
Here are some pictures of the process:
Finally, for anyone interested, here is the place online where I found the best instructions for the pit. Also, I really like having the removable grate, so I have a regular fire or a cooking fire. And, yes, those pizzas are incredibly delicious. So delicious, in fact, that I'll make two deals with anyone reading this post. 1) If you come visit, we'll have those pizzas. 2) If I come visit you, I'll help you build a fire pit like it for yourself. It cost about $100, but that included the tamper and the shovel. I think you could build one for about $60. Not bad, considering a run-of-the-mill charcoal grill will cost that anyway. (One of the things about the pit that I really like over a grill is that instead of cleaning out the dust or ashes after cooking, you can just mix it in with the sand and start fresh next time.
Please enjoy this song and video while reading this post.
This post is about our new home in Columbus, Ohio (assuming we close on it, as planned, on Aug. 1). The home is part of a project called "Home Again," through which the city bought run-down properties, gutted them and refurbished them completely. My brother, David, and his family live in a home done by the program and love it. When we were looking for a place, we were first drawn to the Home Again properties, but there was only one left in Franklinton, the area of Columbus where David lives.
Long story short, we got the last Home Again house in the area, only three blocks from David and Megan. Hooray! It is a beautiful home, built originally in 1893, but completely refurbished in 2007. It has lovely wood floors on the main floor and carpet upstairs. It also has three bedrooms, so we can have visitors! You are all invited to visit.
Here are some Before and After shots for your perusal. The part of it, however, that I am most excited about is the kitchen. It is large, with lots of cabinetry, so Crystal can continue her self-proclaimed "baking problem." To quote Earl Hickey, though, saying Crystal has a baking problem "is like saying Michael Jordan has a basketball problem, or Def Leppard has an awesomeness problem. So ya'll can just pour some sugar on that." Here's the kitchen: It also has a yard, not huge, but good-sized, and it has parking for our cars in the back, with access from an alley. We are very excited to move in.
As well as being close to David and Megan, it is also about a 5.5-mile bike ride to school for me. I am very excited to commute by bicycle, to get in better shape and to avoid paying for gas.
Jordan and I have inadvertently done some scientific experimentation on Clara. Since Clara was in the NICU, she had to be formula fed as well as nursing so that her glucose levels stayed at a good level. Because she was used to having as much food as she wanted then, we are still supplementing her diet with formula, even though we are trying to ween her off of it. One thing is for sure, she LOVES to eat! Usually during the afternoon I end up nursing her almost every hour, but it still isn't enough and boy does she let me know! She will scream and cry and be very unhappy as I make a bottle for her, but as soon as I tuck a burp cloth under her chin she stops crying and opens her mouth. I thought that was a little funny, so when she was a little fussy I tucked something under her chin and low and behold, she stopped crying (for a little bit). By supplementing with formula, we created a Pavlovian response in Clara! Every now and again when she gets fussy, I will tuck something under her chin and she will stop crying for about 10 sec0nds until she realizes that food isn't coming, then she gets mad.
Here are some random cute pictures of Clara:
This is her Independence Day outfit. This is her first week going to church And this is her oh so cute tomato outfit. Isn't she the cutest baby ever?
See? I wasn't lying!
That is a REAL Amish buggy and yes we did bring Clara with us on our anniversary date!
Those are REAL Amish rocking chairs! And they are oh so comfortable too! The wood is contoured like your back is so it doesn't feel rigid.
