What I've Been Up To

The last time I wrote I said I would write about what I've been up to so here it is....

My flower beds.  I didn't get a chance  think about taking pictures as I was going along so you get to see the aftermath of my crazy digging, planting, weeding, weed blocking, mulching, and rock boardering= a lot of work, time and effort :)  As you can see in the pictures I have white rock across the back up against the house.  I did this b/c my weed block wasn't quite wide enough to fill the space and my mulch was going to end up getting under the block so to serve 2 purposes I went to the vacant house connected to our neighbors and cleaned out the white rocks from the front flower bed (that had no plants).  I know it's not much now but I am hoping it will fill in soon.  But I also can't complain about it since I didn't buy any of these plants b/c my neighbor and I raided empty houses for them and for hers. 

Had plants all the way across then decide we needed stepping stones here

Flowers from a bush in progress

Now for the back flower bed.  I didn't really change anything back here except for moving the mulch away from house in this picture so I could put white rock up against there.  When it rains which it does here a lot it hits about in the center of these rocks so it was moving my mulch all around before but not now :)

Everything is filling in nicely

These next pictures are from my neighbors house.  They have really pretty orchids hanging on their canopy area and they are so pretty!

This one they have rooted into the coconut tree

Now for the grill we recently bought.  It's a Weber and therefore fairly pricey but we think worth the extra.  We did lots of readign on the internet about the grill available to us here and the other options were all Char Broil which are nice "looking" and cheaper but based on the reviews they rust very easily even when wiped down regularly and cleaned.  So we opted for the more expensive great reviewed Weber Spirit!  So far we love it!  I am a charcoal grill person I love the flavor from the charcoal briquets and lighter fluid but we weren't using those we were using lump charcoal and a chimney so there was no taste benefits to that and it took FOREVER to get hot so gas it was!

 

I have also been getting back into running again which I love!  Now that I take Blake to school and drop him off at 7:45 I run around our neighborhood and then home.  Don't get me wrong I love my little man but it is nice to have that time while I'm running for just me and then on occasion when Aaron comes with me!  I have missed it but now I don't have an excuse since it won't get cold nor too hot for it here :)

That's all for now!

Till next time...

TTFN

Things I Love & Ketchup

No I don't love ketchup in fact I HATE it!!  So I guess I can say catch up...

Since moving to Guam but not because of our move to Guam I have come to love certain things/products and I'm going to share that love!

If you cook with onions but like me and our family don't use the whole thing in one meal, this is for you!!  You put your cut onion in this and keep in the fridge and ta-da when you need it next time it is still fresh.  I will not live without one now :)

Second is my new found love of wine but not just any wine Moscato, pink and red to be exact.  I have never really enjoyed wine because we used to only by red wine when my mother in law would come visit.  I know this sounds silly but I don't like the rotten grape flavor of it.  But Aaron had been trying different wines for himself lately and brought home this for me and I LOVE it.  

Although I still love my Blue Hawaiians but to be honest... they make me pee.... a lot.  Wine is also decent for you, well the darker the wine the better but I'll stick to my Moscato <3  

Our love of wine has made us invest in a wine rack....

Not only do we have the rack but we also have both red and white wine glasses because my new wine guru of a husband demanded it.  It holds 6 bottles and is normally full except for the fact that we have some opened in the fridge!

A new shower curtain.  I have been looking and looking for a new one since we moved here when I realized our other one had rust where the metal rings are, from hanging wet towels over the rod.  Since we found out we were staying in this house see my last blog Okay Time for an Update, I have since moved the one towel rack on the door up and put 2 there so no more towel on the curtain rod... YAY, to top it off I found a new curtain at the NEX this weekend and I love it!  It kinda looks grey but is more of a sea foam green, light teal color!

My eReader!!  I have been looking for new books here on the island but since there are no book stores and the BX & NEX are limited I decide I had to have one.  But the catch... I didn't want to pay for it so I gather stuff together from around the house that either don't use or things that were in the garage sale box and put them on the Andersen Garage Sale page on Facebook.  I racked up money quick and I have since ordered the leather lighted cover for it.  None came out of our pocket :) 

My shoe organizer turned tank top holder.  My mom had one of the clothe shoe racks which I have too on the left but my mom had one that she had all of her tank tops folded and organized into and I though it was a neat idea so I had to steal it.  Mine is clothe and bamboo but works just the same.  before the organizer all of my tank tops took up about 6 of these long in my closet so I saved space :)

Now for the wrap up of things that we've done since my last blog...

Well we haven't been able to do much of anything because it has been raining all the time and I mean ALL the time.  Not the rain showers but the all day torrential down pours.  August is our rainiest month so I am hoping for clearer skies at least for a while. 

We did however make it to a secluded beach on a small navy base down the road.  BY secluded I mean a hike straight down a cliff, in the mosquito invested jungle, down 212 vertical steps and a gravel path.  Yea to say the least it was an adventure but it was beautiful :)

Our first and only view on the trail

with sunset mode on

We have also gone a date night which was last Saturday and since it was raining we decided to just do dinner and dessert.  So we went to a Japanese place called Benii which really good and from what Aaron says authentic Japanese, so he enjoyed it!  We also went to a YUMMY gelato place in Tumon Bay which is always good.  I had mint chocolate in a waffle cone and Aaron had banana and cherry in a cup.  I thought of you mom when I tried the banana because it tasted JUST LIKE laffy taffy banana candy... you would LOVE it!!

We have also been having BBQs with our neighbors pretty regularly and the last 2 weekends were no exceptions.  We had one 2 weeks ago but then labor day weekend came around and we deiced to have another.  Great food, drink, and company = a good time!!  Except this time we used our own grill :) We went out and bought a gas grill and I for one love it!  Yes I know I should have put it at the top but just remembered it so that will be for next time!

This last weekend we took Blake and our neighbors to Aaron's work to see the Helos!  

I have also been doing a lot of work on my flower beds especially the one out front.  I haven't finished it completely so I will take pics when I am all done.  I just need some stepping stones, 1 more bag of mulch, some more weed block, and some more boarder rock/coral! I am pretty happy with out it is turning out :)

We also spend a lot of time outside especially at night so here are a few pics I took...

I feel like I am on Survivor

 

since it's so dark on the island the stars stand out and can be seen really well

As you can see in the patio picture I put up gutters on our canopy... redneck I know but a necessity nonetheless.  The last month it has been pouring constantly and flood my flower beds to the point that they hold water, float my mulch and flood the patio area and gets everything wet... so gutters it is!  They serve their purpose with the flooding issue and my mulch but the patio still gets wet a few feet in because when it rains here it blows and always comes in at an angle.    

 Till next time...

TTFN