Packs Purchased, Pondering Pizza

Kelli and I decided on backpacks for our trip to Italy this spring. Our requirements were very simple. It must fit in an overhead bin so we don't have to check it, and it had to be big enough to hold two weeks worth of clothes + gear. Now you might be thinking how are we going to get two weeks worth of clothes in those packs? The key is in the packing. We've learned that you don't need 14 of everything. Things can and have to be worn more than once. Lighter weight quick drying clothing is key so you can wash them in you hotel room and hang them to dry. Some people might bring 3 pair of pants and wear them for two weeks without washing them. It all depends on how comfortable you are in your own filth. The only people who know you are wearing the same clothes from yesterday are you and the people you are traveling with. By the way, they will be wearing clothes from yesterday also. The goal is to have roughly 3 pair of pants, 5 shirts, 5 pair of socks, 5 underwear, belt, light jacket/rain jacket, toiletries, wallet, hat sunglasses, and passport. Some people bring clothes along that are on their last leg and throw them away as they go. It's a good way to leave more room in your bag for souvenirs to take home. The other thing to remember is just because you are in a foreign country doesn't mean they don't sell clothes. Clothes can be a souvenir too.

Travel Plans For 2011

We have two upcoming trips we are looking forward to. First up is our annual trip to PA over the holidays. We're spending four quick days in Shippenville visiting Bill and Jenn and the kids. We just bought our tickets today and reserved a car.

After that is our group trip to Myrtle Beach, SC in February. Kelli will be running a half marathon, one of several destination running events for her in 2011. Most of the group we are going with will be either running the half marathon or a full marathon. Drew will be cheering Kelli on along the course. We recently bought our tickets for that and secured a rental car today. Our good friends Chris and Karol will be travelling with us on the flight out and back. This will serve as a test run for our big trip in 2011, Italy!

We'll be touring Italy in April. Right now we have a rough plan of attack. We'll fly into Rome, working our way down the coast, and then back up to Venice where we'll fly out of. We have a lot of research left to do.

We're In!

So apparently we skipped blogging about the whole building process. We closed July 17th and moved in a few days later. Now as of today we still have a few boxes scattered around the house still needing unpacked. The garage is obtianing organized garage status, our main level is pretty much filled in with furniture, and we finally have our complete bedroom set. Still on the to do list is to finish Kelli's craft room desk, build computer desk, build storage for tools in the garage, and finish the basement. Sounds like Drew has some work to do.
Our old house is nearly sold, we actually had the sold sign put up this week. Our inspection came back with some to do items. A couple repairmen later and we are near complete. Our closing date is 12/2, a mere 3 weeks away. We still have furniture staged in the house. Some will go to storage, some to thrift store, some to friends, and the rest into the new house. I keep telling myself "a few more weeks".
Below is a picture(s) of our completed house. We need to get more pics of our rooms with new furniture, but we'll have to clean first before we can do that.


Front of our house


















View across dinning room floor























Stamped and colored back patio


















New bed set


















Master bath walk in shower

Reality setting in

Last week we had progress on our house. The forms were put up and foundation was poured a few days later.



We should see the framing start to go up soon. The weather is getting warmer so we should really see things start to move along from here.

Wheels in motion

We met with our cabinet guy this morning. We picked out all our cabinets for the house. Kitchen, vanities, mud room, and parlor room. We'll have birch cabinets throughout and still need to pick out the stain. We've got several things left to pick out and we're trying to get that all lined up.

They have not started on the house yet so we've got some time. We've been driving by the lot to see if they've broken ground yet. It's nice being so close, we'll be able to check up on the progress frequently once things get started.

Oh by the way did we tell you...

...we are building a new house this year! 3 story, 4 bed, 2.5 bath, 4 car garage. We are building about 2 miles from our current house so we'll stay in La Vista. We've picked out our lot and will break ground this month and have a foundation completed by the first of March. We had planned to build or buy in the next couple years but decided to go ahead with is this year. We have outgrown our current house so the new house will more than handle all our "stuff". Kelli will have a bedroom dedicated as her craft room for sewing and beads and scrapbooking. Drew will have a bedroom designated as the office. We will keep one bedroom for guests. The basement will be unfinished and customized to meet our other hobbies. Kelli will have a glass studio room down there. We'll also have a workout area with our treadmill, bikes, and kettlebells. We'll also build in a storage room for camping gear, luggage, and other misc stuff. The main level has an open floor plan, walk in pantry, and parlor room that we'll convert into a bar. We are excited to take on this project. However it does mean that we'll have to go through the dreaded move. The next few months will be spent fixing up our house getting it ready to sell. The estimated completion date is early to mid July.

Drew

Increasing productivity

Over the past 6 months there have been some significant changes in the way we get around at the farm in Missouri. My Dad and I each purchased an ATV. This has allowed us to get into places we haven't been for years. It also allows us to get from one end of the property to the other in a couple minutes. This has completely changed the way we do things down there. We can now haul more gear and pull things around. The old method of driving our truck through 5 foot high weeds and hiking in with only what we can carry is no more. In January my Dad purchased a side by side UTV. It offers more pulling power then an individual AVT and has a dump box on it that will haul bulk items better than an ATV. Plus it will be convenient to sit side by side and have a conversation while riding around.
One more addition to our growing compliment of power equipment is a DR Brush Mower that I got a week ago. We have been borrowing one of these for past few years from a friends father in-law. After a couple recent issues with that mower I decided it was time to get our own. This thing is a beast. It will mow over 3" saplings, and 6' high weeds. We will use this to mow trails around property, as well as clear a path around all the fence lines. The additional access to remote places around the farm will give us miles of trails for hiking or riding the ATVs, as well as keeping a better eye on the place.
The next step is to put everything to use. All the snow we've had this year has made it hard to get around down there. Hopefully in a few weeks we'll be able to get some warmer weather and melt all this snow off. Our annual work weekend is in the works for early March. We'll be cutting firewood as well as planning a trail system for the new brush mower to cut out.

The Comeback

Seems that we forgot about this blog in 2009. Hopefully we can get back to posting more regularly this year. One of our big news stories for 2010 is that we are building a house. After a lot of thinking about it we finally decided to do it this year. A large part of that decision was based on our other piece of news. Kelli will finally have her student loan paid off this spring. We are throwing a party in April. It should be a busy and exciting year for us.

Drew