Razorback Christmas Tree

Nick and I were driving back from Fayetteville yesterday, so that's why this post is late.

This year I decided on a Razorback Christmas tree.  I've been collecting pig and razorback ornaments for a couple years.  I also added some football ornaments as well. 

 

I have a couple new ornaments from the trip, which will be added too.  

Have you put up your tree yet?

University of Arkansas Campus

We went on a walk around campus this morning, and I took a couple pictures

It's a pretty campus. Much larger than where I went to school.  We are going to the basketball game tonight, and heading back to his parent's place for Thanksgiving tomorrow.  We will be back for football game on Friday.

Hunting Camp

I went to my FIL's hunting camp in Arkansas this morning.  It was the first time I had seen the new camp.  His hunting land floods every year, and a couple years ago a flood destroyed his elevated camp.  His new camp sits on foam, and can float as the waters rise.  There are four 25 foot tall posts that help guide the building up. 

Here's the neighbor's camp; a more traditional elevated building:

Here's the floating camp:

It's a great solution for the flooding problems they have.
There weren't many deer out today, but we saw a nice buck, a couple does, and about 10 turkeys.

Nick and I will be driving up to Fayetteville, Monday.  We will be there for a couple days, and then we will be coming back to his hometown for Thanksgiving.

Off to Arkansas

Today we leave for Arkansas today, arriving Saturday at noon or so.  We will be spending the night in Mississippi or Alabama.  I have spent most of the week making treats for the trip, including candied almonds (which I failed at twice, before getting it right) and cashew brittle (which I learned FL is too humid for good brittle)

I also made white chocolate peppermint candies, and chocolate mint bark, and baked chocolate chip, peanut butter, oatmeal rum raisin, and kitchen sink cookies.  Nick made his Chex mix recipe.

We have a busy week including driving to and from Fayetteville, AR twice, watching a Razorback basketball game against Florida A&M, and a Razorback football game against LSU, and spending Thanksgiving with Nick's family.

I'll keep you updated with pictures and projects we finished this week. 

Side "Yard"

Along the North side of the house we have a walkway, and two narrow "yards" flanking it.  I have never taken a picture of it because it's UGLY.  Nick and I have decided that we are going to plant Hostas along the fence-line, and put rocks down along the house.  Nick did all the work on this, and I'm amazed how well it turned out.

 

Nick raked up all the leaves, and pulled the weeds first.  He sprayed a herbicide along the exposed dirt, and  put landscape fabric down next.  Nick then put an even layer of pond pebbles down, which we chose based on size and color.  

Since I have no before pictures, you'll have to take my word for it, but it looks so good.  

We leave for Arkansas on Friday, so the next couple weeks we will update you on other projects we have been working on.

Two Changes

After last weekend's project break, this weekend we worked on two projects.  First, we worked on lighting in Nick's Razorback office. 
Before:

If you look in the corner, you can the ceiling fan that was previously in the office.  It had a lot going against it.  The blades were too small to properly move air, the pull strings hang in the way when walking through the room, and one 40 watt light bulb hidden inside a frosted, textured fixture.  It barely lit the room.  I had Nick live without the fan for a couple months, to see if it was needed.

We installed the much hated, but perfect for this room, track lighting.  I don't find track lighting the most attractive, but it serves the purpose in this room.

We have lights directed towards specific areas.  Mostly towards artwork, and the bookcases.

The new lighting showcases Nick's Razorback artwork collection, which should get some additions when we get back from our trip to Arkansas.  The room is 10 times brighter, but also doesn't have any dark corners.

I also started working on the bathroom.  I painted the walls with the left over paint from my office.

Here's a side-by-side that shows you the difference:

Neither of these photos were edited.  You can see how the original bathroom looked faded and dirty with the eggnog paint color.  The new color makes the white look crisper, and cleaner.

We will be working on the floor in this bathroom in the coming weeks.  It should really transform this room into something good.