I'm a Sagittarius

Kerri over at Cheshire Kat has "nominated" me to partake in this fun little random facts about me post.

The rules: share 11 random facts about myself. Answer the 11 questions from the blogger that nominated you. Make up 11 more questions and tag five additional bloggers in hopes that this fun little post lives on.

Enjoy.

11 random facts about myself:

1. I'm one of five sisters. You read that right. Five. I'm the second oldest.
2. I married my high school sweetheart.
3. I've never broken a bone.
4. I've only kissed one boy. See #2.
5. I love to vacuum. One word: Dyson.
6. I can't sleep without the noise of a fan.
7. I have a self diagnosed case of OCD. See #5
8. I must have music playing. Constantly. Just ask Steve.
9. I'm scared of horses and spiders.
10. I'm an extremely light sleeper. Yawn. See #6
11. I attended Word of Life Bible Institute for one year following high school.

Questions from Kerri:

1. What is your favorite color? Red. Or Blue. Bled?
2. If you could have any super power what would it be? Why? The power to make myself a fertile myrtle. Because I want a baby.
3. Can you play any instruments? I used to play the piano. AND clarinet.
4. What is your favorite thing to do on the weekend? Sleep in.
5. Favorite vacation destination you’ve been to? Dream destination? Bermuda! Dream: Italy.
6. What’s your sign? Astrological that is. Sagittarius. According to this: “The great strength of the Sagittarius-born is their philosophical, wide-open and curious nature. These folks seek both knowledge and truth, and they are eager to share their explorations with others. Their optimistic and generous spirit makes them a pleasure to have around.” Ok yes.
7. Who is the first blogger you connected with (that you didn’t know) after you started blogging? Probably Hey Natalie Jean, formally known as Nat The Fat Rat. But, let's be honest. It was Laurie who connected me to the blog world. So all of the credit goes to her. LYLAS! Literally. :)
8. What is your favorite smell? It was a tie between automobile grease and my parents house on Thanksgiving Day. The smell of grease reminds me of my dad. He's a mechanic. The scent gives me a sense of security and love. I know, I'm getting emo here and it's a bit strange, but it's the truth. Love you dad! <3  And, the smell of turkey and food cooking on Thanksgiving Day speaks for itself. Happy Sigh.
9. What’s your favorite guilty pleasure (food)? Lots and lots of pizza.
10. Ocean or mountains? This one is tough. But, if I had to choose it's the Ocean. Hands down.
11. Silver or gold? Gold.

Questions for the lucky nominees: 

1. sweet or salty?

2. What's your least favorite chore/to-do item?

3. Morning person or night owl?

4. What's one of your favorite bands/musicians?

5. Saver or spender?

6. What are you reading right now?

7. What is your favorite season and why?

8. Where did you go on your most recent vacation?

9. If you had one wish what would it be? (wishing for more wishes doesn't count!)

10. What's the most recent thing you tweeted?

11. Introvert or extrovert?

And the nominations go to:
Christy at Life: Snowflakes from above
Jessica at a heart full of frost
Shannan at Flower Patch Farmgirl
Freya at Nishaantishu  
Amanda at The Lady Okie
 
 

Tour De Olsen East

We have this thing going with Steve's two brothers. We've titled our residences Olsen West, Central and East.

We are a creative bunch.

Since we are located in the eastern most part of the country, our home has been dubbed Olsen East. The eldest of the Olsen clan resides just just a hair to our west, hence Olsen Central. 2,800 miles even further west lives Steve's younger brother Dan. Process of elimination = Olsen West.

Now that I've bored you out of your gourd >>> {insert fall shout out here}, let's move along to the house tour. Compliments of my sister-in-law's sweet camera. Side note: these were taken at our housewarming party, hence the food spread in the dining room. Stay tuned for more on the party...it was a success. Also, I may have never been as tired as I was following that shin dig. Four words: a lot of tours. It didn't take long to change out of my flats and into my flip flops. I've still got a bad case of summer feet. They need freedom and fresh air. Also, I have self diagnosed case of the bunions. You're welcome.

As you can see we've pretty much set up house. Scratch that, we HAVE set up house. I'm OCD like that.

^^^la familia room

^^^view into family room from the kitchen. love the tile flooring :)

^^^where i cook

^^^great views from the dining room. and, I know....the chandelier needs to go.

^^^formal living/we don't use room. the theme is travel. it's a work in process.

^^^finished walk-out basement, gas fireplace included. sold!

^^^guest room. come stay with us! I'm serious.

 ^^^where dutch ovens are perfected and Olsen night terrors are common

 ^^^rear view from the patio

 

^^^the patio and backyard and four Olsens looking confused.

^^^there's a reason we have a recycling bin on our patio. i'll give you one guess.

Many more pictures were taken that night. You can check them out here. I'll also be posting about the party soon. Soon is such a broad term, isn't it? I'm just impressed at how much I've accomplished so far this month. And it's only been one day! For example, I woke up at 6:15 to work out...and I liked it. Shocking I know, said the most non-morning person ever. I even had time to make myself scrambled eggs. Because one who works out needs protein. And last but not least, I blogged! This merits attention due to the fact that I only blogged once in September.

Feeling good, people! Here's to October. The best month ever. At least that's what everyone on social media is saying.

I'll be back

Insert Arnold Schwarzenegger voice here.

It's been crazy busy. But, I wanted to let all yous{yes that's a grammar error, and yes I'm from Lancaster county. #dutchy} know that I will in fact be back. Give me a couple of days. Say, like, the beginning of October! 

Reasons for the temporary absence:

-we moved 

-we unpacked and set up new house

-we went on vacation

-we are planning a huge party for this weekend(eek!) at said new house. 

=Hollys brain turned to mush

So get ready my friends! There's much to catch you up on. 

Such as...

I thought I'd end this post with you longing for more. Admit it, the conglomeration of photos above have you a bit confused. As you can see, my blogging skillz have gotten a bit rusty.  Cut me some slack, will you? Also, she made me do it. And there's always the wine to blame.

This is me pretending to have a green thumb

Humor me. I'm trying! Okay, so clipping off Black Eyed Susans then placing them into a vase is not exactly considered gardening per se.... Buuut, I thought it'd be a great idea to take advantage of these cheerful wild flowers overtaking growing in my back yard. I'd say my thumb turned one shade greener today. 

^^^see? we've inherited a lot of Susans

^^^one of the happiest flowers if you ask me

^^^not too shabby, am I right?

^^^I just love that view

^^^this is where you say ohhhh and ahhhh

As you can see I was feeling outdoorsy this afternoon. So, right after work I went to Target to purchase spider pesticide spray stuff, as well other various items{this is not the outdoorsy part fyi}. Just in case you were wondering, we have a spider problem. This is to be expected they tell me. After all, half of our lot is wooded. And, since you are also probably wondering, yes, I am indeed arachnophobic. At an alarmingly high degree. I refuse to go outside at night. That's when they come out of their hiding places. The spiders around these here parts aren't your average run-of-the-mill spiders. I'm talking large and in charge big ass{literally} eight furry legged demons friends. It's safe to say they will be invading the home in no time at all, unless something is done. So, I came home, swept the deck of any cob webs, leaves and debris, and sprayed away to my hearts content. I also feel it's important to note that I used pet friendly spider spray. Just in case you were wondering whether or not I was a neglectful goldendoodle mom. I know you were wondering...admit it.

Spider saga to be continued...

Dream Home Becomes a Reality!

We did it! It's been five days and I can't get this silly grin off my face. Yes, this is how happy I am about said dream home turned into my home. Eek! It has been a whirlwind of a week, but boy oh boy, did we accomplish a lot!

First, I just wanted to take a moment to say how truly grateful we are to all of our friends and family that helped out during the big move. You guys rock! Seriously, though. Our new neighbors were very impressed with how many were here to support us. Nosy neighbors, I tell ya what. ;) No, but really. You are also the reason I am sitting here with a glass of wine, reclined on the couch and typing away. You see, there's really nothing major and/or urgent left for me to do {as far as unpacking is concerned}. So, thank you!

It was very odd saying good bye to our first house. After everything was moved out and cleaned up, Steve and I stood in our empty house with feelings of both relief and nostalgia. It didn't take long for me to make a beeline for the door in an attempt to stop the tears from flowing. I needed to get out of there, pronto! It was just too emotional.

So, in memory of and for your viewing pleasure...

^^^good bye first house. you've been good to us.

I will say that once settlement was over and the movers were gone, it has been nothing but smiles ever since! I keep asking myself, "is this really our house?" Or I'll tell Steve, "I can't believe we're here!" followed by "I love our house!" Needless to say there are no regrets. We have already met and spent time with several of our neighbors, and let me tell you, we seem to have won the neighbor jack pot if you will! More on that later. :)

Without further ado, here are some snapshots I took with my trusty side kick, the iphone.

^^^"why yes, i will indeed relax here, thank you very much." -me talking to my deck chairs

^^^preccciousss

^^^new house calls for new bedding, I say! from target, of course.

^^^enjoying the sunset from the deck. *happy sigh

^^^view of patio from the deck. hello future party space.

^^^view of the back yard from the deck. that's pinot grigio fyi.

And there's much much more where that came from. Stay tuned!

Where I sort of freak out a bit

 

And just like that, I begin to legitimately panic.

 

We're moving in one week. All of our crap, my four legged child, and my two legged husband, relocating five minutes down the road. Will it rain? Will it be sweltering hot? Will we have enough help? Will we have too much help?{nah} Will we get it all done? Will our bank account shrivel away to nothing?{precisely}

 

If you haven't already noticed, I tend to err a bit on the side of obsessive compulsive. Just a bit. I worry and fret things won't go according to plan...ha! The first step to recovery is admitting your weakness, am I right?

 

Oh goodness gracious, we are literally moving. This weekend we mean business, people. It's business time. On the agenda: pack up bedroom, bathroom, closets *yikes* and kitchen. That is all. Oh but with the anxiety comes the excitement! We are so thankful our home sold so quickly and effortlessly. We are so grateful we found our dream home not long after we sold our home. My lucky stars aligned just right. As far as real estate lucky stars go, I suppose. No, really. It sounds cliche, but it was totally a God thing! So, Thank you God. We know this was all You.

 

There's much to be done. So, quit pressuring me to post on the blog more, gosh! Just kidding, that's just my inner voice telling me I need to write more. Because I'm Oh. Cee. Dee. And apparently there's an unwritten rule somewhere in the blogosphere that says one should blog on average 3-5 times per week. Don't quote me on that, but I'm pretty sure I read that somewhere. Regardless, I break that rule quite frequently.

 

One thing's for sure. There will be a box of chardonnay at my disposal at all times. Is it strange that wine motivates me to get things done? Okay then, I'm just strange. Now if you'll excuse me -you readers are SO demanding- I have some packing to do.

 

Eek!

 

Random Thoughts Tuesday {DQ Style}

So I don't have much to say tonight. Mostly because it's getting late, and there's really not much worth sharing. But, it is RTT after all. So, instead of boring you with a lengthy post, I thought I'd bore you with some random kodak moments from this evenings visit to the local Dairy Queen with my parents.

Enjoy.

 

Look at me being all adventurous opting for a cone{chocolate covered nonetheless!} instead of a blizzard! I know...shocking, right?!

This isn't one of my most flattering moments if I do say.

Next time I'll stick with the blizzard. Less mess.

YUM! I just love ice cream. And Dairy Queen. And the sticky fingers you get after opting for a cone instead of a blizzard. NOT. Ah, life lessons I say! In layman's term: "less mess is best".

Until next Tuesday...