Life {Lately}

Oct 1, 2013 /

We are happily saying goodbye to September and hello to October and some beautiful fall weather. It’s hard to believe Thanksgiving is just around the corner.

So, a few weeks ago Mike and I spent a Saturday at the State Fair. I tried to make the day as “fair-y” as possible so we enjoyed lots of fried treats.

It was so much fun, and so exhausting, and so worth it. I love everything Kansas, so going to a place filled with all things Kansas is definitely something I can get on board with. A bunch of our friends met us there which also added to the fun.

This last weekend Mike and I made another trip to Wichita. Well, I suppose I made a trip to Wichita to pick him up from a trip to Dallas.

Alf and I, missing Mike while he was away
I got a new “toy” this weekend too. So much to learn! FYI, the toy is the external flash, not the camera.

Now these next two photos might just be my favorite. We left my parents house, my mom, Katie and I, on Saturday morning to go meet The Pioneer Woman. Katie was going to spend the morning with my grandparents and she was pretty excited about it. I snapped the first photo on our way over East. Then, at around 3:30 we were headed home and apparently hanging with the grandparents was exhausting for the little one. It was quite the transition, but I’m so glad I captured two sides of her on camera.

Obvi you’re probably all wondering about the Pioneer Woman thing. She had a book signing in Wichita this weekend! Mom and I were pumped to meet her!

It really was super fun. She thought Momma and I were sisters so that was pretty exciting for her.

Now for the real deal. Saturday evening we got to celebrate our two dear friends, Conner and Gracie (soon to be) Smith! AAHHHH!! So excited for this precious couple and for what the Lord has planned for them in their marriage. Ooh and it was so fun to celebrate them!

It has been a great few weekends!
I hope you’re having a great Tuesday!
The Jaderstons

Love, The Jaderstons

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What We’d Change About Our Rental…

Sep 27, 2013 /

So, here we are. Part 2 of our rental posts. This time with the not so positive but also some tips on how to handle our biggest wish in our future home.

So last time we talked about our cute little quaint kitchen. It’s small. It’s adorably small and it all matches. Cream, cream, white, cream. Really cannot complain because it’s so cute and small. But if there was one thing I could change about this little house….

Yep, we don’t have a dishwasher (or a garbage disposal but that’s not the topic here). It’s the FIRST thing I would change about this house. Really, doing the dishes isn’t that bad, but a year and a few months in, I’m sick of washing dishes. But I have mastered a good dish washing session, so here’s a few tips!

1. Gloves – if you don’t want dry hands all the time
2. A good drying rack with lots of space.
3. These drying mats have been lifesavers to me. They soak
up all the water and the counter doesn’t get wet.
4. A good scrubber. I have found that the third option is our
favorite, but I really love all the soap dispensing ones.

You’ll also need to wash the dishes at least once a day, if not more than once a day. If you leave them sitting there they’ll start to smell, trust me. Smell bad. Real. Bad.

My trick? I do my best to have zero dishes in the sink when I go to bed. Then I wake up to a clean kitchen and start the day fresh. It works.

While I have your attention I will also mention that I am 100% opposed to sponges…A few facts: 1.Kitchen sponges are the number 1 source of bacteria in a house
2.Wiping your counters or dishes with a dirty sponge will transfer
the bacteria from one item to another
If you absolutely have to use sponges, before using the sponge get it wet
and zap it in the microwave for 2 minutes to eliminate the germs or you
could run it through the dishwasher, but in my case, that doesn’t really work.

Sorry about that dish doing tangent. But seriously, watch out for the germs.

What we’d change? We’d put in a dishwasher (and a garbage disposal). But for now, I rock at cleaning dishes. And Mike rocks at cleaning dishes.

Life of a renter is fun, and stress free (usually), but we do wish for a little bit of personalization. Someday hopefully we’ll get that in our own home, but for now we are happy to be where we’re at.

I hope you’re having a great Friday preparing for this beautiful weekend ahead.
The Jaderstons

If you missed it, here is What We Love About Our Rental…

Love, The Jaderstons

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What We Love About Our Rental…

Sep 25, 2013 /

I have been a “renter” for 3 years now. With every place I’ve rented there have been somethings that I loved and somethings that I didn’t really love. The tricky thing about renting though is that you’re not always allowed to change things even if you really don’t like it.

We really do love our rental that we are in right now. When we first started looking around for houses to rent in Sterling, America we quickly felt very defeated. We knew we wanted to be in a house, not an apartment, but the only houses we found were for sale and not willing to rent. Eventually I told Mike to just take care of it. I was getting too stressed over something that I knew the Lord had under control. We ended up getting this house just a few days after it became available and before the landlord even advertised its availability. It was a huge blessing and we couldn’t be happier with it.

Now, onto what we really love about our home…

Yep, they’re beautiful and they run all through the house
(except the kitchen and bathroom, which are tile)
I should also note here that I love our high ceilings. Mike never worries
about hitting his head on them.

There are two doorways with simple arches. It’s not much, but it adds a lot of character.

I’m pretty happy with our quaint little kitchen. It’s cute and everything matches.

Our basement is HUGE. It’s not finished (clearly) but it has a
ton of space for storage. Right now it holds lots of empty boxes and
also doubles as a spray paint room.

Oh man, I am so happy we have a washer and dryer. I love a good load of clean
laundry so that fact that I can clean clothes in the privacy of my own home is amazing.

A few other things I should mention…
– Sterling housing is not expensive. We REALLY appreciate this one.
– We have a big backyard with a fire pit!

And the biggest thing we love about our house is probably the flexibility with our landlord. She is the sweetest and very helpful when we have issues or questions. Gosh, I really can’t say enough about how blessed we’ve been by this house our first year of marriage. Having this much space at my disposal has revealed a lot of disorganization in my life (clutter, piles, junk, trash) but it’s fun to live life with Mike so a little disorganization is worth it.

It has been so fun making this house our own through the year we’ve been here.

We are off to Wichita (again) for some family time this afternoon. I only had to work a half day so we are taking advantage of this little break together. I hope you enjoyed our rental loves, up next will be our rental woes – AKA what we would change if we had the tools, time, or permission.

What would you say is your favorite thing about your home?

Happy Wednesday!
The Jaderstons