Snow day!

So this past Monday was a snow day for area schools due to freezing rain and then a topping of snow.  Our friends Mick and Heidi invited us out to their house (Mick teaches high school math, so he had the day off) for some fun outside and dinner.  They live out in Hardwood, which is about 35 minutes out of town on 40 acres.  Heidi and I went for a short walk, it was so nice and warm and the sun came out, and as we walked we could hear all the snow melting and dripping of the pines, it was so gorgeous!  Anyways, here are a few pictures I snapped with my phone, because I'm so bad about remembering to bring my camera anywhere.

Alex playing the Wii with their son, Jared

Their cool old barn on the property

The view from their front porch

The Instyler

So, I've been watching these infomercials on my phone about this new straightening tool, and I must say, it lloks pretty amazing!  If it weren't for the $100 price tag I would ask for one from my sweet honey!  Anyways, until I find a super good deal it remains just a dream.  :)


www.getinstyler.com

House Hunting

So, we have been house hunting pretty much since we knew we would be moving to the great U.P.  We still haven't found our "dream house", but realistically we are never going to on our budget!  So, here is a link to the listing for our "next best thing" house that we put an offer on this past Thursday.  We're hoping to hear back from either the bank, or the seller by Monday.  Right now it's in short sale, which is the step right before foreclosure....so, we'll see what happens!  We wouldn't be crushed if they didn't counter-offer, because then we'll just wait til it goes in full foreclosure, or just wait til spring when we think more houses might come back on the market after being taken off in the winter months.

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/745-John-St-Kingsford-MI-49802/2125944914_zpid/

729 Woodward Ave

So, I finally got around to cleaning the house so I could take some pictures for those who wanted to see it.  It's definitely got some character and potential, but needs just a few cosmetic updates...

Here's the view when you walk in the front door off the enclosed porch

Our free futon (from Alex's dad), and the bench to the right will eventually have a cushion for it, but I can't find one of the right size....any suggestions??

Our little reading corner, made up of Grandpa Tunnicliff's old recliner, a table and lamp from Alex's mom, and the "fireplace" space heater that Alex bought for me, cause I'm always cold :)

The dining room just off the living room

The somewhat hideous kitchen!

Notice the lovely light fixture ;)

Someone hand-painted the cherries on this wall :/

The smallest spare bedroom has become a little sitting room and "office" with my desk where I can tie flies during the long winter :)

My beloved desk

The very skinny bathroom that has lovely teal floors and yellow tub/sink ;)

Oh-so-modern

The hallway upstairs to the bedrooms...with the mirror that you can only see yourself from the waist down. (We learned that the previous owners were pretty short)

The other spare bedroom that is now deemed the "dresser" room, where all our spare dressers have gone.

The scary master bedroom...probably the ugliest room in the house, but it was the largest so it's our bedroom

The terrible wallpaper that the rest of the bedroom color scheme is based on

The even worse wallpaper that lies beneath the terrible wallpaper.  You can't remove both layers, though, because the first layer rips off the plaster wall with it :)

Our awesome 2 car garage with outside-access overhead storage room

I almost forgot to take a picture of the closet-bathroom on the main level.  They actually made a bathroom out of a closet :)

So, there you have it! Our lovely rental house in Kingsford!  We had a gorgeous sunny day today, that probably reached 40 degrees, so I took Bow on a walk today from the house to the church, which only took 15 minutes!  So it's nice and close, which is perfect, because we're down to one vehicle since Alex's truck won't fit anywhere at the house and I can just walk to the church if I need to use the Commander!

God bless, and hope to update more as new exciting things happen!

Happenings Cont'd

We had a few days of sunshine, and adventurous spirits, so we decided to take Bow out for a little hike today on some state land.  It was a balmy 14 degrees out with 20 mph wind, but we decided to go out anyway and get a little exercise!  Being out there is really making me look forward to when it warms up a little bit and I can really enjoy walking around, or fishing local streams and lakes.  Here are some pics of the outing:

Hiking through a thick cedar swamp

Starting a fire cause we were so cold!

FIRE!!

I made him take a picture, because we never take pictures together!

Bow patiently waiting to keep hiking

What hiking adventure would be complete without some guns? ;)

Oh, and I stumbled across this picture on my camera and it reeeaaaaally made me long for a summer day at the beach!  Especially when it's 14 degrees and snowy here!

Happenings of 2012

Well, we are now calling Kingsford, MI home and we have unpacked everything and made ourselves at home.  I'll show some pictures of our house once I have most of it in order, but for now just a few pics of Bow and I at the park that's just a block from our house.  It's great in the winter because no one is there so I don't have to worry about putting him on a leash and we have the whole park to ourselves!  Needless to say, it doesn't take much to make Bow happy, so he was content to leap, run, find sticks, and eat lots of snow.