So tomorrow is my last day in KC for work. While the work was interesting and I learned a lot, I am more than ready to go home! As exciting as sitting in a hotel room alone every night sounds, it's really not. I actually miss cooking, cleaning, and house updates! I guess I also miss Derek and Bristol haha. I will probably have to return in the fall for another month, but there is a very small possibility I won't have to.
So I think my blog is ugly, but Derek claims he can't help me make it look better which I'm not sure I believe... So I will continue to try to convince him to help me make it look better.
Here are some things I learned about KC while being here.
1. Buses do not follow normal traffic laws; they pull in front of you, take up 2 lanes, and will even honk for you to move if you are in the lane they want to be in
2. Parking is expensive in downtown, $5-9 a day!
3. People are incredibly nice in the downtown area; always offering helping out and making small talk
4. Jack Stack has the best BBQ beans while OK Joes has the best sandwiches
5. Sometimes cars here apparently think they look like a bus, driving in the bus only lane to avoid the traffic 95% of the cars are sitting in
6. If I lived here I would go bankrupt shopping all the time!
7. Security guards are normal at stores and don't necessarily mean the store is unsafe
8. Downtown KC is getting pretty neat, should be really awesome in a few years when all the construction is complete
9. Don't expect to come home to a clean house at the end of the week when you leave your husband there alone!
Posted in
Kansas City,
work
Here is the garden Derek did this evening! Nothing is planted but the random flowers that grew there, but it is ready when we get home from Vegas
And now the front of the house, the plants are small now but hopefully the survive and get large!
Posted in
garden,
outdoors
So on Sunday my parents came up and we worked hard on our front garden! It is wavy and covers the front of the house. Derek and my dad installed the "hammer-in" edging we bought, which you can't hammer so they dug a trench for it and it looks good now but we will see in a year if it is still intact. For $12 for 20 feet I don't know if it will last! My mom and I bought more plants to add in with the 3 I had already planted along with groundcover she took from her garden. The plants I have in my garden now are:
- Snowball viburnum
- Azalea
- Feather reed grass
- Knock-out rose
- 3 groundcovers: periwinkle is one of them
- Asiatic lily
- Some yellow and purple flower that I forgot its name
If I can convince Derek to take a photo of it I will post one. The only thing left is to add more mulch. I also bought a huge pot to set next to the garden and it might get relocated if we ever find a small tree that is cheap. This week Derek also said he plans on starting our vegetable garden. We have leftover edging he is going to use and it is going to go right next to our shed. We hope to grow basil, green beans, onions, watermelon, and carrots in it.
Posted in
garden,
home improvement,
outdoors
So we went to Vegas in Feb. and about a week after returning my boss asks me if I want to go to training in Vegas in April. I say yes and then "convince" Derek to go with me, he didn't need much convincing haha
We leave Sunday the 25th at 6am, early I know, but because of our silly travel company it was the only decent priced flight I could get on and Derek could get on. Then on Monday I got us tickets to see the Lion King! I'm really excited, Derek not so much. I've been telling Derek to pick out a concert while there and he never could decide on anything. So while browsing the Vegas sites this evening I see that Santana is going to be there on Wednesday and tickets were only $50, well $70 a piece after ticketmaster charges, but we booked tickets to his show! Derek has also supposedly picked out some nice places for us to eat at for dinner too.
While there Derek is going to telecommute Mon-Wednesday and I have training everyday except Friday afternoon. We will arrive home at about 11:30pm on Friday if all goes well. Now if only I didn't actually have to go to training while there...
Today I didn't do much in the yard, I planted our basil and ripped weeds out of our patio. Then tomorrow my parents are coming up to help us get an idea for what we are going to do with the yard as I don't really know what I'm doing.
Posted in
travel,
Vegas,
work
So when we purchased our house the yard was the worst part. The grass is really more weeds and their dog made large dirt spots in the back yard. In the front there were 4 ugly bushes, 2 trees, and that was it. It was obvious the people before them took care of the yard as you can see where 4 flower beds used to be and a garden. So my project this spring/summer is to improve the yard. Here is what the front of the house looked like before, pretty boring.
So far we have planted new grass seed and we are slowly getting grass where there used to be dirt.
Last weekend I started with the front ard. They left 2 large stumps that I attempted to rip out, but failed, oh well I will work on it this weekend. I then planted an ornimental grass, a bush, and a daylilly. As of now they have no flower bed as I'm still deciding on what type of edging material to use. I also planted rosemary in a pot. There is still lots of work to be done but I feel like we are at least making progress. I want to make a large bed across the whole front of the house and also plant a garden on the south side. We are also going to attack the backyard someday where there is all sorts of nasty looking plants growing!
As seen here
So the house we purchased was relatevely updated but there were several smaller projects we wanted to do. While I've been in KC my husband has been at work getting the last few of those projects done! The most current one is the door to the garage. When we moved in it was an old door with a window that looked in the garage and the window didn't close all the way so the cold/warm air came in in large quantities. We bought an Energy Star door from Home Depot, shoved it in my trunk (I have a Hyundai Elantra), tied it down, and brought it home to install it. Overall it seemed decently easy, he sledge hammered the old door frame out. The hardest part seemed to be making it even as the hole for the door was not straight. We shimmed it, nailed it in place, shoved insulation in, and this week he installed the final trimming around it!
And our new door! I still need to sand, prime, and paint the trim but already it is a huge improvement from the prior door. I can't find a picture of the old door, apparantely it was that ugly. There is something about a window that looks into a garage. I have to say too the work needed to install it was well worth the $300 we saved by not hiring Home Depot to install it.
Posted in
home improvement
So in the last entry I forgot to post a link to the website where I post all our travel adventures.
http://www.travbuddy.com/dlstegelman
My husband and I love to travel. He had never left the country before we got married and had such an amazing time in Europe for our honeymoon that he talks about going back all the time! We are going to Vegas this month for training for my work, Washington DC in May for our Anniversary, and San Diego in July for my best friend's wedding! We then hope to return to Europe in September 2011 to visit Austria for the first time and also Bavaria again for Oktobefest.
If you can't tell I'm kind of bored. I am stuck in Kansas City for a month for work and well I spent too much shopping and eating already so I'm stuck in my hotel for the next week and a half.
Posted in
travel
So I have had a goal to start blogging for awhile and have never stuck with it. This is my, hopefully, last attempt. What do I have to blog about? Well not much but mainly it is for me to go back and remember all that has happened.
Here is a short overview of the last year or so.
May 2009: Graduated from KSU and got married
June: Left for our honeymoon in Europe for a month
July: Started my job
August: Husband found a full-time job
September: Purchased our first home
October: Moved into our first home
Things I really enjoy doing: traveling, KSU sports, scrapbooking, walking our dog Bristol, photography, and shopping.
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