Farmtime.

We have an official announcement to make.

The farm. is. FINISHEDDDDD!!!

I've been a little quite about our progress as of late...we slowed down on things a little...we were still searching for renters...propane sky-rocketed to $5/gal...the 2nd stove we've had out there isn't working.

You know. All tremendous things.

But let me tell you what IS great. We have renter's. They are moving in THIS Friday/Saturday. We have their signed contracts. We have their deposit. And they've signed a lease until July 31st, 2015. Meaning when/if they want to leave after their contract is up...it will be a MUCH better time of year for rental turnover.

Since I posted about the farm last, these sexy black floors happened...

This bathroom before, during, and after happened...

The dining room finally got the attention it needed...

PS I'm selling this table. Get at me if you're interested.

The front entry is possibly what we're most proud of...since when we bought the house it looked like this...

And now it looks like this...

I finally got my butt in gear sewing dropcloth curtains for the missing cupboard doors...so we have a kitchen before and after to reveal...

Oh...and the living room finally has carpet thanks to Josh, Ben, and Tom. I don't know how we did it...but is it possible this place looks like an actual HOUSE now?!

To track our progress from start to finish, check out:

We Bought a Barn
Acreage Update
This Old House
Time for Another...Acreage Update

Simply Having a Wonderful THANKSCHRISTMASTIME

It's a tradition within our little group of friends to have a 'ThanksChristmas' party every year. We've been doing this since we were all juniors in college and thankfully, we've kept the tradition alive. ThanksChristmas circa 2009 looked pretty different than it does now, but we still get a great turnout every year when the Facebook Event Invite goes out. Sure we see each other sporadically at weddings and showers throughout the year...but there really is nothing like 40 people all packed into a house (then, The Lodge, now, 422 13th St.) fellowshipping, catching up, and gathering together to celebrate the birth of the Savior we all love.

It's really the only time we ALL get together with the purpose of hanging out, staying up late, and partying like only Salt Company alumns know how...by playing 4 On A Couch, wearing Ugly Sweaters, and exchanging White Elephant gifts.

Charter Members of The Lodge, all in the same place, at the same time, BEHAVING like grown men.
4/6 are married, one is engaged, 2/6 are DAD's, one is going to be a doctor...
they are just some of my absolute favorites. :)

Going back a few years, the memories we've made at these parties are endless. Karissa receiving a metal detector; gathering around Brady's 'Charlie Brown' Christmas tree, Henry getting mad at us like a dad when we weren't as focused on caroling as he wanted us to be; Winston gifting some uncomfortable and interesting items he's discovered in Doctor School...I could go on.

Instead I'll leave you with this picture that was forced on all these precious people who put up with my antics. :)

MmB

10 Simple Rules for Hosting Thanksgiving...

1. Never host without your mother present. In fact, make her ask her to come up the day/night before so you can go to Fareway for everything you forgot and so she can help you de-bone the turkey until 11:30pm on Thanksgiving Eve (which is STILL better than doing it on Thanksgiving Day in the midst of all the family hullabaloo).

2. Have activities planned other than Football in front of the TV. Otherwise every male in the family (specifically your uncles) will promptly fall asleep after Thanksgiving Dinner and sleep until it's time to go home. Ruining all your plans for a nice family chat around the table with coffee and pie.

3. When preparing for Thanksgiving, it's totally not a big deal to spend Tuesday night out late at your sibling's house crafting Christmas trees and drinking coffee until midnight because, you have work off tomorrow, and you'll get all your cleaning done then, right?

4. Be specific when asking family members to bring sides. A Thanksgiving veggie tray doesn't typically include soy beans and guacamole...but this year it did.

5. I wouldn't suggest decorating your house for Christmas until well after you're hosting duties are complete. Otherwise this will happen and you will have to lock the door in shame so guests don't accidentally open this door thinking it's the bathroom and learn all of your deepest, darkest secrets:

6. Don't trust your uncles or G'ma with taking the family Christmas card picture on Thanksgiving Day. This results in a lot of wonky, poorly lit, off-center pictures that will make the whole family annoyed about having to re-take them again. Which we did...two hours later.

7. Attempting to make an adorable 'Kid's Table' will blow up in your face. The kid's will spill Cranberry Sierra Mist on your carpet leaving a nice, big pink stain. Your dreams of having some nice coloring-while-watching-Peanuts-Thanksgiving-cousin-time will be shattered. It was cute while it lasted though...

8. Making sugar cookies on Thanksgiving morning just so the house will smell like freshly baked cookies when guests arrive is a bad idea. It makes the kitchen even hotter, makes a bigger mess, and in the end no one really cares that you were an adorable Thanksgiving host because you got up early to bake leaf and pumpkin-shaped cookies.

9. Adult supervision at the trampoline is overrated when it's 30 degrees on Thanksgiving Day and the kid's insist on jumping before, during, and after dinner. Poor Josh and my oldest cousin Nathan got stuck with trampoline duty all the live-long day. Get ready because I'm about to drop some knowledge: If your kid's want to go jump on the trampoline...YOU go watch them. They're YOUR kids. We will no longer be manning the tramp for hours on end while parents sit comfortably inside napping and drinking coffee. I will take zero responsibility for their coats not staying on and their mittens getting lost when I'm in the middle of making green bean casserole and also IT'S FREEZING OUTSIDE. Nothing wrong with going out for 10-15 minutes to watch (see below for how amazing my husband is), but if your children demand to jump longer than that, it's your problem. #endrant

10.  Make sure to get in some good grandparent time. Forget about the dishes and the pink pop stain on the floor and the uncles snoring in the living room because those precious grandparents won't be around forever. Sit down and visit with the G'mas while they drink their coffee and eat their pie because they actually GOT the pleasant vision you had in mind for Thanksgiving.

This year we were SO BLESSED to get to see ALL SIX of our grandparents on Thanksgiving Day. This hasn't happened since our wedding day, and we're not sure it will ever happen again...so it was pretty sweet. After most of my family left, we met Josh's whole family our at the acreage to show off our work at the farm. Seeing all the grandparents was definitely the highlight of our crazy Thanksgiving.

MmB

New Year's Resolutions and Other Stuff...

It's been exactly one month since I've touched this blog. First things first...

In a follow-up to this blog, I'd like everyone to know that I successfully located the Title to our 2003 Ford Focus. It was in a file labeled 'Important Vehicle Info' in our filing cabinet...and I had simply overlooked it. Here I was thinking I'd lost my organized touch, and as it turns out, I STILL GOT IT. #boom

While I'm on the topic of organization...I successfully scheduled Josh a chiro appointment this week (patting myself on the back) AND I'm looking into getting wills written up now that we consider ourselves to be business and real estate moguls...we have a mini-empire, really.

If you didn't pick up on it, that last sentence was a joke. Isn't that what famous people like Jay-Z and Kanye and Diddy are called? Moguls? We aren't famous African Americans, but I fancy myself to be a pretty talented rapper, and we own our own business and two houses...so it sort of works, right?

Anyway, New Year's Resolutions in 2014 for the Boersma's are as follows:

1. Be more ACTIVE. More walks together, more time on the elliptical (Mollie), more jogging (Josh) less sitting in front of the TV.

2. Stick to a BUDGET. Keep up with personal finances on Mint.com, save more, pay off more debt.

3. VACATION. We haven't taken a legit vacation since our honeymoon. There have been a couple weekend trips for out-of-state weddings here and there, but no family-less all-inclusive vaca for just US. And we need it after the past three months we've had.

4. Clear out CLUTTER. Go through totes in the basement, all five closets, sell unnecessary equipment in the garage, simplify.

5. Create more BALANCE in our schedules. We haven't been to Connection Group or spent time with friends in months. We've gotten in some GREAT family time with everyone pitching in at the farm and spending the holiday's together, but we miss our peeps. Gotta get back to lunch/coffee dates, fire pits, and hosting game nights.

Josh would include on this list that buying a lake house is his goal this year, but I'll be honest...that one is slightly unrealistic. Plus it will be a while before we're ready to take on another fixer-upper (which is the only style of lake house we can imagine affording) and our parents have informed us that they all need some time off. Preferably a year to recuperate after all the weekends they've spent painting and sanding and cleaning...considering they're all over 50, we've decided to grant them this request. :)

In other news...Google Calendar Reminders have become my new BFF4L. I make Google Events for the normal stuff (ie: cheer practice, basketball games, connection group, family events), but I've started making reminders for meal plans and inviting Josh so he knows when I'll be away at a wrestling meet and he's on his own for supper. I've even gone so far as to send Josh a calendar reminder when I notice his beard is getting a little longer than I prefer and I send him a 'Shave Your Beard' reminder.

TIP FOR THE WEEK: I'd suggest buying a broken-down farmhouse instead of counseling if you'd like to work on communication skillz in your marriage. It has a better return on your investment and basically accomplishes the same thing. ;)

MmB