It's been a year(ish)?

So um...what's a blog and how do I write a post? 

I seem to have forgotten how to do that over the course of the past year. 

Whoops.

I've often thought over the course of the past year, 'hey, this would make a great blog post.' And then, of course, I never wrote it. 

So allow me to commence catching up on the past year of missing/unwritten blog posts in one post.

Don't worry, I have pictures.

I'm working in what one of my co-workers (semi-)fondly refers to as a "cube farm."

Here you can see just a tiny part of the maze of cubes.

One of the cubes way in the back towards the windows belongs to me. Yup, that's right- I'm near a window! I get to see daylight! But seriously, it's quite the coveted location.


Back in March, Jason and I traveled to South Florida to get away from what was a brutal winter (anyone remember the evil phrase "polar vortex"???) and spent a few days with my parents enjoying the warmth and sunshine.

In this picture, we were in a big park, just on the edge of the Everglades. We didn't see any alligators nearby, thankfully!

We got to do some geocaching, and I learned that rustling bushes in Florida is a lot different from rustling bushes in Wisconsin or Minnesota. I mean, there could be an alligator hanging out in that bush! Or a giant lizard!

Or, you know, it could just be a tiny little gecko like this one...

My parents took us on an airboat ride and we got up close and personal with some alligators as we rode through the Everglades. An airboat ride is a must-do if you're in south Florida- it's such a unique way to experience the Everglades and you see creatures you wouldn't (hopefully) see otherwise!

We spent a day in Key West, and toured Ernest Hemingway's house. It's famous for having polydactyl (more "toes" than usual) cats roaming the grounds, and let me assure you, they are everywhere. On everything. Literally nothing is off-limits to those cats, including glass display cases...

Here's an example of one of the polydactyl cat, see how its paw looks different?

Here's Hemingway's writing studio, along with his typewriter on the table, which he used to write a number of his books.

We gave ourselves a walking tour of part of the island and found a couple of geocaches. One of them was near this interesting wall.

And we walked through the Key West cemetery, where some of the inhabitants became famous for their sense of humor.

And then, unfortunately...we had to come home.

And the roads looked like this:

 In April, we bought a new laptop...and Jason was a happy guy.

I went to a CLE (continuing legal ed) and saw this. Nothing says classy like white socks and dress shoes/pants.

Hudson experienced a wee bit of high water in the spring...such that some riverfront roads were closed, benches and tables disappeared and trees were half swallowed up.

In June we spent a few days at a lake home near Hayward with Jason's family...but apparently I neglected to take any pictures.


We also celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary. But again, no pictures. Apparently, I'm not very good at this whole "documenting" thing.


BUT, I (ok, Jason took it) did get a picture of us when we went camping for a weekend at Glen Hills County Park.

Jory stopped by my in-laws upon his arrival in Wisconsin after spending almost 2 months in New Jersey for a summer project.

Jason and I dogsat for his sister and brother-in-law's dog, Cooper. He was quite the handful. And liked to sleep 2 feet from his bed, you know, as you do.

I think that covers most of the past year, with the exception of the major holidays, but of course, I didn't take any pictures then either. My bad.

I guess I'll need to work on that.

Along with writing a post more often than, say, once a year.

The Finished Product- An Estate Sale Find

It's done. 

Finally.

Ok, actually, it's been done for almost a month. 

But still.

Like it?

For some reason the drawers look dusty in the above picture, but I promise, it's not. It's just weird lighting.

It's home is in a corner of our kitchen that would otherwise be empty. The piece itself is actually pretty short, so I found a little lantern for it.

 Here's a picture of it in the context of our kitchen. The patio door is on the left, the kitchen table on the right.

 

I had stained the inside of the drawers in order to get rid of the smell associated with the piece and so they were kind of tacky, even after being allowed to dry for a few weeks while we were in Europe. Hence, the need for shelf liner paper covering even the sides of the drawer. 

Also, I'll admit it...my stain job looked TERRIBLE. 

I took the drawers out of the unit and stained the inside of that as well and...there's a reason I didn't take a picture of that. It's not pretty. But thankfully, how the stain looks doesn't matter at all, because you can't see any of it.

I found the shelf liner at the Dollar Tree. Even I'm surprised they had a nice design like this and I'm not ashamed to say- it might be one of my favorite stores. 

And the smell is gone thanks to the stain, so it's a win-win. Pretty drawers, no gross smell.

I'm kind of amazed that I managed to turn out a piece of furniture that I'll not only allow in my house, but that I'm happy to have in my house. Still not sure how that happened. And it's useful, too!

So, what do you think of it? Willing to take on a project of your own?

An Upgrade?

If you read this post then you know that I frequently have to move around to different desk locations throughout my work day.

However, the court commissioner's office was recently renovated and reorganized and now I have been upgraded to my own work space.

But, is this really an upgrade?

The judges don't seem to think so and are always offering for me to work in their offices so I can have more space.

But how can I beat having not just one, but two desks all to myself? Now that's a tough one.