Holy Guacamole

Where have I been?!

If you guessed "busy", you'd be correct. It's amazing how much time one little munchkin can take out of your day!

So, let me apologize for my prolonged absence. I didn't mean to leave you hangin'. I hope you've all been having a wonderful summer so far - we sure have! (yep, moving to a new town included, although I don't think I'll include "unpacking" in the 'wonderful' category)

While I've been super-busy doing other things (packing, staging, moving, unpacking, meeting people, vacation, etc etc), I've felt like something has been missing. I've really missed this little blog and the blogosphere and all the people in it, and even if I can't quite update as much as I used to, blogging is something I really enjoy. Truely. So if my voice happens to fall silent on here, just remember that even bloggers have lives, too, and that's probably why all you're hearing is crickets for the time being. But don't worry - because I can never seem to stay away for too long.

Now that that's all out of the way, let me just say that one very positive upside of falling off the face of the interwebs for awhile, is that SO MUCH has happened and I've got tons to share with you! Such as: staging tips from a professional stager, meeting the new owners of our old house, the cross-country move, what it's like living in mountain country, and (finally) photos of our new house! Well, and of course some fun DIY projects that we've done, too.

So, if you're still hanging around here and am still a reader (I commend you, if you are!), stay tuned for some fun and exciting new updates as I share with you this new and exciting chapter in our lives.

Gosh, it's good to be back.

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Surprise!

Nope... the baby hasn't made his appearance yet (although it won't be too much longer until he's here!).

The surprise is that my Mom flew in all the way from Florida to spend some time with us last week! So we had a fabulous time shopping, attending my baby shower, watching football, and spending time together - and of course tackling a project (what can I say? DIY runs in the family!).

Tom and I and y parents at a Nebraska Huskers football game last year.

So if you were wondering where this blogger has been for the past few days - well, now ya know. Gotta love such a sweet surprise like that.

Stay tuned next week for some cheap and easy nursery projects (and updates on where we are in that room - the clock's a ticking!), as well as the fun-and-should've-been-easy-but-wasn't project that my Mom and I tackled.

And Mom, if you're reading this, feel free to drop in for a surprise visit anytime!

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Life is Full of Surprises

Life is so full of surprises. One minute things are going great, and the next things could take a turn for the worst.

Last week I went in for a checkup at the doctor's office and ended up being rushed into surgery that same day. While my pregnancy thus far has been a pretty easy and a relatively healthy by-the-book-pregnancy, sometimes things happen without cause or reason and you just gotta hold on tight to this roller coaster ride called life.

Thanks to the miracle of modern medicine and my wonderful doctors who recognized a potential problem in the first place, the baby and I are doing just fine now, and hopefully will continue to for many more weeks before he makes his entrance into the world.

I apologize to leave you guys in the dark for this past week. I didn't quite have the energy to talk about all that had happened so soon after the event, as it was still too raw and terrifying at the time. However, writing always has helped me sort through my thoughts and emotions, and the other day I finally worked up the courage to write about the scary event of last week. You can read my story right here on my pregnancy blog.

As far as home improvement goes, things have understandably come to a standstill recently. While we love home improvement (and it's been killing me not to get back at it again!), health is always more important. And although we haven't made any headway in the past week, there's still quite a bit of our main bathroom remodel that I haven't shared yet with you guys, so stay tuned for those updates soon.

I think it's only appropriate to close this post with that well-known and oh-so-true quote by that fantastic movie character,

"Life is like a box of chocolates - you never know what you're gonna get".

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Disaster Strikes

And it's always when you least expect it, isn't it?

On Saturday I was washing dishes at the sink in the kitchen while Tom was studying in the living room.

And I felt a few drops of water drip onto my toes.

Thinking I had gotten overzealous in my dish-washing endeavour, I searched the countertop area surrounding the sink looking for the culprit puddle of water that I was sure would be there.

But there wasn't one. That countertop was dry as a bone.

Panic mounting and my heart in my throat, I opened the cabinet doors under the sink...

Water. Was. EVERYWHERE!

It came gushing out the moment I opened the doors like a giant waterfall with plastic bags and cleaning supplies floating in it like little toy boats.

Not. Good.

As Tom later told me, all he heard me saying at this point in time during the crisis was "Oh honey, oh honey, oh honey!" Apparently I was so overwhelmed I could not get a coherent sentence out for the life of me.

Tom asked, "What?! What's wrong?!"

All I yelled was, "Water!!!!"

Without another word I shut off the faucet and sprinted down to the basement to grab an armful of our "rag" towels to soak up the area of our kitchen currently acting as a lake when Tom walked into the kitchen and finally realized what was going on. Nothing like only being able to spit out one-word answers during a crisis, huh?

When I got back upstairs armed with a boatload (pun intended) of towels Tom had taken out the remaining items left inside the cabinet and was inspecting the plumbing.

The  brand new plumbing we had just installed about a year ago. Crikey.

This is a photo of the old plumbing before we replaced it..

Turns out there was a piece of pipe that we didn't replace and was really too short, and while it worked just fine to begin with, over the course of a year the daily use and shaking of the garbage disposal slowly loosened the pipe fittings and it slowly worked it's way out of the pipe it was connected to, creating a gap and ending with - you guessed it - a lovely waterfall in our kitchen. Which, looking back, we recalled finding that exact same piece of pipe with the same problem - loose and about to fall out, back when we removed the sink and plumbing to DIY our granite tile countertops. You'd have thought that would've clued us in, huh?

 

 The current plumbing (please excuse the bad lighting and nasty cabinet interior. Gross.

So instead of doing the planned studying/random DIY project combo this past Saturday, we spent the day at the hardware store and working under the sink to correct the problem. Because while we really do enjoy waterfalls, we don't quite enjoy them in our kitchen, thankyouverymuch.

And since the problem was our own fault to begin with (by not replacing a piece that should've been replaced), we have nobody to blame but ourselves.

So we let this serve as a true-life lesson: that while we do tackle everything as professionally and correctly as possible, the fact remains that we're not professionals, just amateur DIYers with a passion for remodeling and learning.

And that not everything has a happy ending round these parts.

Although we are certainly crossing our fingers that this time around the plumbing stays put and we do have a true happy ending in this case!

Anyone else detest plumbing? Do you have any DIY disasters to share? Surely we're not the only ones!

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A Day of Silence

Yesterday my aunt passed away. Half a year ago she was diagnosed with cancer, and she spent every second from then on fighting for her life. She was always a feisty person, and we were all pulling for her.

Sadly, the cancer was too strong.

We prayed for her as she struggled and fought against the cancer, never giving up hope that a miracle could happen and that she could beat this deadly and aggressive opponent. It was hard, sometimes, to keep that hope alive, because as anyone whose been touched by cancer themselves or seen a friend or loved one with cancer, the fight is never a pretty one, and it is never easy - for the patient and also their friends and family. It is long and difficult. And very, very sad.

We never gave up hope.

She was such an amazing person. She was a fantastic wife, mother, grandmother, aunt, and friend. She was always the life of the party, smiling and laughing about one crazy thing my family's done or another. She was one of the funnest people I've ever known, so full of life and vigor. She was always making everyone smile and laugh, and over the years she wasn't just a sister-in-law to my mother, she became close friends with my mom - they were always getting together and calling each other up about one thing or another.

And she never forgot what it was like to be young, broke, crazy, and in love. She was the only person who asked me if Tom was "the one" right after we started dating. And when I said "Yes, I think so", she just smiled and nodded.

4 years later and we were wed.

She had experienced it all. She was able to make me feel better when, as newlyweds and college grads, Tom and I had no job and no money, and moved into his parent's basement until we could find our feet. She told us her own story about how she and my uncle had gone through that same exact thing - they were married, poor, and lived in my grandparent's basement for the first few months of their marriage. She assured us that we'd figure it out and be fine.

And we did.

Her and my uncle were one of the funnest couples I've ever known - they were so full of laughter, fun, life. They truly loved each other, and valued the important things in life.

They were the type of couple that inspires you to strive to be like them and have a fun and healthy relationship with each other, and those around you.

Aunt Debbie, I love you and hope that you have found peace in heaven and in His arms. You will be missed by everyone who knew you and were touched by you. You fought for so long and so hard, but now you can rest. You inspired me in many ways throughout the years, and I, like so many others, will miss you dearly. I'm glad that you are finally free of pain, but I, and our family, won't ever be the same without you in our lives. You inspired me and so many, and will never be forgotten.

__________________________________________

Tomorrow and Friday, we will be taking a day of silence here on the blog, in her memory. It is a time to remember, reflect, and be with family as much as possible. And as you browse decorating or home improvement or other blogs, please take a moment to reflect on the more important things in life - the people you love.

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Our Next Big Project...

... will be creating a nursery!

Yep, folks, we're having a baby - and we couldn't be more excited about it!

I'm 13 weeks along and the new baby's due date is November 11th. As in, 11-11-11. How cool is that, huh? We're both pulling that we'll be lucky and the baby will actually arrive right on time, because we're both total dorks like that and think that that would be the coolest birthday ever!

Now, no worries - as far as This Fresh Fossil goes, this is a DIY home improvement blog, and will stay as such even after the baby gets here. So there won't be any big changes in my posts on here (aside from some random baby photos, probably). However, if you're looking to follow along with my pregnancy/see photos/get the inside scoop on what's going through our heads that's baby-related, I've started a baby/pregnancy blog called Birds, Bees, and Pumpkin Seeds. Currently it's just a pregnancy blog, but once the baby arrives it will morph into a baby blog. So hop on over there if you want to stay updated!


Now we just gotta add "create a nursery" to our large To-Do List!

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What the... What IS That?!

Since I was busy mastering the art of doing nothing this past weekend, I don't have any fancy craft or home improvement progress to share with you today.

So, instead, I'm going to attempt to entertain you for a minute with something we found while I was busy sticking and admiring yesterday's removable magnetic house numbers project.

We were standing on our porch while admiring our new house numbers on our front door, when we spied something on top of our big boxy hedge bushes:

Eeeeck! It's a snakeskin!

Weird, huh? I guess some snake was just chillin' out on top of our hedges when he decided it was time for a fresh look and shed off his old skin. It's not that uncommon... we've just never spied one on top of our hedge before. We think it's cool, but it just totally took us off guard!

Have you ever stumbled across something really odd in nature before? Are you a fan or not a fan of snakes? Ever been surprised by one?

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Our New Baby

No, not that kind of baby! Sheesh.

More like we finally got a fancy new DSLR!

Exciting, right? We're super excited about it! This is the first "real" semi-professional camera we've ever owned, so it's officially our new "baby". Just check out some of the photos it takes vs. my little point-and-shoot:

Point-and-shoot

DSLR

Big difference, huh?

After months of looking and researching, we finally settled on the Canon Rebel T2i, and so far we couldn't be happier with it!

 

{via}

We've been taking lots of photos of everyday things around the house to test the new camera out...

 And of course, Barley's been a great model for us, too...

Of course, we're still figuring out this whole "real" camera thing still and getting used to it, so it might be awhile before we start managing to get really good shots. Yup, I need to brush up on my photography skills so I can re-learn all those fancy-schmancy manual settings that I learned back in my photography class in college, like white-balance and setting the depth-of-field and shutter speed and ISO and all that good stuff.


But in the meantime... boy, is this new camera fun to play with!

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I Give Up

Every year I think I can do it, and every single time I fail.

I just cannot keep an orchid alive.

Remember this beautiful orchid a month or two ago when I bought it?

Yeah, now it looks like THIS.

Next time I get the "oh, orchids can't really be THAT hard to keep alive" thought in my head, I'm going to try to remember the fate of this poor thing -

and invest in some black-thumb-proof faux orchids.

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My Newest Victim

Hello. My name is Chelsea, and I kill plants.

No, really, I do. Well, not purposely, they just sort of wither and die as soon as they see me coming with my black thumb.

Let me display the evidence:

Yes, that's a plant.

Or, rather it was a plant.

....

Anyways, I thought I'd introduce you to my newest victim:

Meet Vincent. He's a harmless little orchid that I found at Wally World.

I've always had a thing for orchids - they're so pretty! But, unfortunately, they never like me as much as I like them.

Yeah, I'll spare you the details of what happened to my last orchid (shhh, don't tell Vincent about that!).

Isn't he all pretty sitting up all perky on our monstrosity of a fireplace? I love that he adds a fun splash of color to a very... um, brown, er, black, er, faux rock, er... of a backdrop. And maybe when it gets warm out I'll spray paint that purple pot to a color better suited to our living room.

Let's hope that he survives longer than all my other victims... er, plants. I'll give you an update on how he's doing... or not doing... sooner or later.

How's your thumb these days? Are you a "kill-them-just-by-looking-at-them" gardener like myself, or are you at the opposite end of the thumb-color-spectrum (like green instead of dead black)? Anyone else getting the Spring flower itch yet?

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A Bit Under the Weather

Yup, thanks to Tom being on his Pediatrics rotation in medical school and seeing little sick kids all day, he's come home several times with colds (seriously, how do you people who work with kids daily deal with all the sick germs?!).

And I finally got one.

Fun.

Anyways, between timing my medications, drinking Hot Toddies and other teas, and eating a ridiculous amount of ice-cream and chocolate shakes (which totally make me feel better even if they don't help my sore throat at all!), and surviving work everyday, predicably we haven't gotten too much done in the area of DIY home improvement lately.

Which, by-the-way, does not mean that we don't have anything to write about - because we have plenty that we're still waiting to share with you - just that we I haven't quite been up to writing anything in my fog-and-dream-hallucinatory-semi-aware-state that I currently reside in.

Whoa, that was a mouthful. Ha.ha.ha.

Anyways, stay tuned because once I kick this thing we'll be back to our regularly-scheduled-project-tackling - and boy, do we have some awesome ones we're I'm dying to tell you about! (has anyone else noticed Tom's recent absence from this blog, or is it just me?).

Yes, I was also too sick tired to even try to find a photo for this post.

.... so when is my next round of meds due?

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Is It Spring Yet?!

This is what we woke up a few weeks Saturdays ago, and I completely forgot about.

Until another more recent snowstorm hit us.

These photos were taken after a horrible few days - ice, snow, crazy wind, and bitter cold had raged outside all the previous night.

And then we woke up to this beautiful, sparkling, calm, and sunny winter wonderland.

...and then we spent the next few hours shoveling it.

Do you enjoy the pretty snow when it comes your way? Ever get laughed at if you say "I like the snow" (like me)? Anyone else going to be burning some calories out clearing paths in the next few days - like us?

And the big question: Are you looking forward to Spring yet?

We sure are!

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Hello, Mr. Mouse! {Part 1}

As you probably know, we've had a visitor 'round these parts for the past week or two. And he wasn't exactly welcome, either.

Yup, he was a mouse - and after discussing it, we decided to name him "Earl".

While we're generally pretty rodent-friendly people, Earl wasn't exactly making a nice houseguest for us, from his first appearance (where we tried to hunt him down only to discover he disappeared, leading to his ever-more frequent tours of our house - usually while I'm screaming and Barley is barking [at me, not the mouse, of course!]), it was evident that something had to be done.

You know, especially since Barley is our little useless Un-Rat Terrier. I tell ya, it's a good thing he's cute.

So after getting fed up with Earl's frightening scares, we asked you guys what in the world we should do about it. We didn't want to kill him, but he was quickly wearing out whatever welcome he might have once had. You guys suggested a humane mousetrap - and thanks to our friend Clyde (who has an athletic blog), he sent us a link to this nice humane mousetrap on Amazon (what doesn't Amazon carry? Really, they have everything. Sorta like The Mart. But virtual.)

{via Amazon}

After reading some reviews, we bought it.

A couple days later we received our little booby-trap in the mail. We opened it and spent a few minutes reading the instructions and generally trying to figure out how it works.

There's two doors that are rigged up to a little bait bowl in the middle of the trap. Once the rodent moves the bait bowl, it triggers the trap and the doors fly closed and lock.

We got a cracker with peanut butter on it for bait and set the trap.

We left the trap in the hall broom/linen closet on the floor, and at night or during the day (Barley was put in his kennel) we'd leave the door to the closet open.

The first night we set the trap, we woke up the next morning and there was no mouse but the bait was gone! We couldn't believe how we were outsmarted by a mouse! He just took that huge cracker with that peanut butter and left, just like that! Haha, we had a pretty good laugh about that, all right.

So, we set the trap again. This time we set the door triggers a little differently so they were more sensitive, and we put the peanut butter on the bottom of the cracker and stuck it to the bait bowl, so the mouse would have to seriously tug on it to get it off. And hopefully trip the trigger. And be trapped. Mwahaha!

We left to do some Christmas shopping and find and order our dream sofas....

And when we returned...

There was Earl!

He was NOT HAPPY to be caught, let-me-tell-you. But it was fun to actually get to see him for once!

Isn't he cute?!

We're so glad we didn't get a kill trap, because he reminded us of our first fur-baby son, Mel. Earl was just as adorable, even though he was only about half the size of Mel.

Mel, our Bushy-Tailed Jird

It was funny, but the cracker was bigger than he was! Too bad we didn't get to see him dragging that peanut-butter-covered-cracker away, I bet that would've been hilarious!

Anyways, once we caught the little rascal it was time to figure out juuussst what to do with him....

{Click here for Part 2!}

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