Meet the Family

I know that I should have done this post a long time ago.  Maybe back when I first started blogging.  So, yes this post is much overdue.  All I can say to that is better late than never.  So here goes.

There are only three of us in my family:  my husband (Dan), my son (Marcus), and me. 

As of October, Dan and I will have been married 11 years, and we have been together for 13 years.

In the time that we have been together we have moved 8 times (counting the move that we are currently in the process of).  We moved in together when we lived in Atlanta, and I was working while he was a student at Georgia Tech.  From there we moved to Michigan when he got his first job in the automotive industry.  His company relocated us to Kentucky less than a year later.  After a little over a year in Kentucky, Dan took a job with a different automotive company, which moved us to Mississippi.  We were really unhappy in Mississippi (no offense to anyone living there, it just wasn’t the place for us), so after about 18 months there Dan started to look for a job somewhere else.  That led us to Alabama where we lived for just over two years.  We bought a house there, Dan got his Master’s while we were there, and Marcus was born there.  On a whim Dan put his resume out there.  A company contacted him, he interviewed with them, and the next thing we knew we were moving to South Carolina.  I made some amazing friends in South Carolina and I miss them all terribly.  The company he worked for in South Carolina is headquartered in Indiana.  So about two years after we arrived in South Carolina the company said we needed to be in Indiana at the “heart of things.”  So here we are.  We are moving out of the town that his company is in because everything here relates back to his company, and you can’t go out anywhere without running in to someone he works with.   We have moved so much that I have felt like a gypsy at times.  For a while we would be somewhere a year and we would both start to get antsy feeling like another move was imminent. 

We all have our hobbies.  And we all help each other with our hobbies from time to time.

This is one of Dan’s recent projects:

Before

After

It is a 1978 Honda Goldwing that he literally saved from the scrap heap.  He has done a ton of work on this motorcycle, and it is his pride and joy.  I was able to help him with this project by cutting down and shaping the seat, and sewing a new seat cover for the seat.  Everything else is his work.  Marcus lent some ideas for the project and was always there for moral support (i.e. “good job Daddy”).  We are looking for a larger project for Dan’s next restoration.  Maybe an old truck or station wagon.  When we figure it out, I will be sure to post about it.

Marcus loves reading and writing stories.  He is also enjoying Tae Kwon Do (though he is finished with lessons until after the move).  He looks forward to moving into our new house so that he can have a playset outside, and finally a safe place to ride a bicycle.  His other hobbies are building with Legos, playing with Thomas trains, and pretty much anything normal little five year old boys enjoy.  He also enjoys playing dress up (little boys style of course).

Then there is me.  I have quite a few hobbies.  I am a former coupon addict.  I was doing coupons before it was cool. J  Then one day, I decided that it had become an obsession.  So, I slowed down a bit with the coupons.  There are not many food items that I buy with coupons anymore because we eat mostly fresh foods, but I cannot bring myself to pay full price for non-food consumable goods.  Think hygiene items, paper goods, cleaning products.

I really enjoy cooking (imagine that).  A few years ago I got in to baking cakes, and have actually been hired to do quite a few cakes.  Here are a few of my favorites.

Avenger's Cake for a little boy named Justice

A Barbie Fairy Cake for sweet Ella

An Owl cake for Miss Violet

With cute matching owl cupcakes!

I like to make old things new again.  This is a barn find desk that I refinished for Marcus, complete with a chalkboard.  I will say that I think chalkboard paint is a severely overused medium, however in this instance I felt it was totally appropriate.

Before

After

I also like to upcycle items.  I recently bought a Russian weapons crate at a thrift store.  I am going to use it to make a coffee table for my husband’s mancave, and I will document that whole process and make a post about it.  It has great bones, the subject matter is awesome (it even has Russian writing on it), and there is great storage because the crate opens on a hinge.  Can’t wait to get this made.

As a family, we love to travel.  Marcus for as far back as we can remember has been telling people that he wants to be a “vacationer” when he grows up.  We tend to go to places that are warm, and sunny where we can get the sand between our toes.

We have also been known to find a cabin in the woods to retreat to when the beach just isn’t calling our name.

But some of our best days have been spent heading to Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods and wandering the aisles looking for inspiring ingredients.

We are hoping to find more normalcy and joy in staying home since we are finally buying another house.  We have been renting since we left Alabama, and it makes it hard to take much pride in a house, or for it to ever really feel like home.

Well, that is pretty much us in a nut shell.  We do have some quirks, but there is a whole lot of love happening here too!