Garden of Whitman

Yard work has been keeping us very busy the last few weeks! It's been so nice to have warm, sunny days so early in the season to do some landscaping before the mosquitos are out in full force (they love me, no matter what I do to repel them). We've been able to tackle some long-overdue projects like replanting the area under the huge pine tree out front, edging the front the flower beds and putting in a brick border, spreading mulch (17 bags!), and relocating some plants that weren't doing so well or were outgrowing their areas. Of course, all the rain has been keeping Kevin busy mowing the lawn. He actually seems to like doing it, although that tune may change when the heat and humidity sneak up on us. The humongous oak tree it the back yard (the bane of my seasonal allergies) is constantly shedding something that we have to clean up. Mostly it's leaves, but lately it's been little fuzzy, caterpiller-looking things that clog up the drains and cause the basement to flood, plus loads of green pollen. Having such a big, heavily landscaped yard is hard work, but we enjoy it. It's amazing to see the rapid transformation from winter to spring in just a few short weeks! Here are a few photos of the fruits of our labor. (You may have to sign up for flickr to view them, but this is how we're hoping to start sharing all of our pictures with you guys. If you click on the individual photos, rather than viewing them as a slideshow, you can read captions.) More to come about our inside projects soon!

New post coming soon...

We promise! Many of you have been asking us to update you on what we have been doing.
Obviously A LOT because we haven't even had time to tell you about it.
I have to mow the lawn, give Gilmore a bath, and paint our cornhole set tonight so maybe Sarah will work on updating you on what we've been up to the past few weekends. More to come. . .

A Jam Packed Fun Weekend!

This past weekend Sarah and I had a lot going on, but all the fun stuff. Friday morning, we left for Columbus for an evening with David Sedaris, a writer and commentator for NPR. On the way up, we stopped at the Jeffersonville Outlet Mall for some shopping. Sarah and I each got a new pair of sandals for the summer, I got some new dress shirts, and Sarah got a new purse. When we got to Columbus, we checked into the hotel and relaxed for a little bit before going out to dinner. We went to a restaurant called Haiku for sushi (what else) before the show. Neither of us had heard David Sedaris live before, but we have read most of his books and listened to several of his CD's (great entertainment for road trips). While his style of humor and satire aren't for everyone, we really enjoyed him.
The next day we hit the mall for some shopping. Sarah really wanted to go to H&M and I was on the hunt for a new pair of jeans. I found exactly what I was looking for at Macy's and we headed home. On the way back, Sarah decided that she wanted to buy a pair of shoes she had seen at the outlet mall, so we stopped at Jeffersonville again. One pair of shoes turned into THREE new pair and we were back on the road.
When we got home we picked up Gilmore from A Doggie's Day Spa, where he had spent the night. He was very happy to see us but very exhausted, which was good because we had plans to go out that night as well. Our good friends Liz and Jason were coming to stay with us because we were all going the Ellery CD release party for their new album Lying Awake. Ellery is the husband and wife duo of Justin and Tasha Golden, friends of ours from Cincinnati Bible College. We had a great time at the show (which was AMAZING) and stopped by Waffle House for a late night breakfast.
Sunday morning Liz had to leave early and Jason had to take off after lunch. Needless to say Sarah and I were pretty tired, so we spent the rest of the day on the couch watching the first eight (yes, eight) episodes of Lost. Now we are hooked and can't wait for Blockbuster Online to send us the rest of the season.
All in all we had a really great weekend. We packed a lot in, which is a little unusual for us, but it was a good change! Over the next few weekends we are planning to get some around-the-house projects going. Hopefully we can get them all done "before the HOW Conference."

Nearly Sprung

I love springing forward every year. I'm so much more inspired by the extra hour of daylight. Sunday we did tons of yard work, as evidenced by the 20 giant lawn and leaf bags full of debris that we left for the garbage collector—and my aching hamstrings. Kevin got to break out his new mower since TruGreen Chemlawn is working miracles on our front yard. And I found a hole full of fuzzy, squirming little baby bunnies in the front flower bed. (Now I'm obsessed with their safety since I had cleared away practically all of the dead growth that their mother was probably using to keep them warm and safe before I discovered them.) The Canada Geese have returned to the glorified drainage ditch at work and do daily fly-bys outside my window. And once we cleared all of the leaves out of the flower beds I realized just how many flowers were already shooting up and even blooming. Here's to rainy nights and warm sunny days!

Top o' the Mornin'

Today I went into the guest room where Olive lives now and noticed that she was not only out and about in her tank, but she was perched on top of the log that she usually hides beneath. I wanted to capture this rare moment of her basking in the spotlight, so I ran downstairs to grab the camera. When I stepped into the office, I noticed Kenzie up on top of the bookshelf by Kevin's desk. I'd never seen him up there before (he's usually curled up on the back of the couch next to the heater vent in the morning). So here's a glimpse of our two bashful pets--the ones most of you claim you never see. Notice Olive's red lipstick; she'd just finished eating this sweet, fruity turtle food that she seems to love.

I gave in, I'm now also on "MySpace"

I don't plan on updating it too much, but it seems that EVERYONE is now on My Space (even Jason Chaney). So like always, I hopped on the bandwagon. But now I can't figure out how to get any friends and I feel really pathetic when it tells me that I have zero friends.
So, check it out:
www.myspace.com/kewhitman

An Old Fashioned Barn Raising

While Sarah was out of town this weekend, I invited some of the guys over for an old fashioned barn raising. Well, maybe not so old fashioned (and maybe not quite a barn), but we did build a new 7'x7' shed for the back yard. Matt Hulme, Matt Hood, and my cousin Jon Gelhausen all came over Saturday afternoon to help me put it together. Most of our time was spent leveling out the ground before we laid the floor. This was a big achievement for me because I tend to hate the prep work portion of ANY project. I'd rather just start doing it; a system that usually ends in disaster. Fortunately the ground was pretty soft which made leveling a little less difficult. The shed itself went together without too much trouble, we actually followed the directions. Among the four of us we were able to figure it all out and the whole project came together in about 3 hours. I think it looks good and I'm really proud of the fact that we all worked together to make it happen.
As soon as we finished, I started loading it up with stuff while Matt Hulme and Jon went to Kroger to get some steaks for dinner and Matt Hood put together the fire pit my brother's family got us for Christmas. When Matt and Jon got back, they started working on getting the fire going while I fired up the grill. I got a little nervous when Jon grabbed the gas can and walked over to the fire pit, but they got it going and after dinner we spent some time hanging out around the fire. In the end we had a really fun day with "just the guys."
And Sarah was very happy to come home on Sunday with the shed together and everything put away.

Clean your room, Gilmore!!

I got home from work tonight and, as I usually do, went over to Gilmore's crate to let him out. When I opened the door, I could not believe my eyes. There was white stuffing EVERYWHERE! At first I couldn't figure out what toy I had left in there that he could do this to, but he was anxious to go to the bathroom, so I took him out and we came back in to figure it out. I pulled everything out and realized that he had destroyed his bed! I took it down to the basement to assess the damage, figuring I'd have to be going to the pet store for a new bed. Upon closer examination, I realized that he had actually UNZIPPED the outer cover of his bed and torn apart the inner cover to get to the stuffing. Once I got it all cleaned up, he spent some time "in jail" as you can see below.
Kids, what're you gonna do?

Did you know...

It has been a while since I have received and filled out a "tell me about yourself" forward, but this one seemed pretty simple. My good friend Jenna Severs sent it to out and tagged me as one of the people that would complete it. She was right. I didn't want to fill all your inboxes with another one, so here it is!

How well do you know me?? Probably not as well as you think you do!For instance, did you know...

Four jobs I have had in my life:
1. Auction clerk
2. Waiter
3. Telemarketer (I sold sing-along videos to nursing homes...seriously)
4. Bank Manager

Four movies I would watch over and over:
1. Charlie & The Chocolate Factory
2. Chicago
3. Dude, Where's My Car
4. Psycho Beach Party

Four places I have lived:
1. Edgerton, OH
2. Cincinnati, OH
3. I'm so boring, that's all!!
4.

Four TV shows I love to watch: only four!
1. Smallville
2. Gilmore Girls
3. Arrested Development
4. Will & Grace

Four places I have been on vacation:
1. Las Vegas
2. Paris, France
3. Italy
4. Daytona, Florida

Four websites I visit daily:
1. www.53.com
2. www.kevin-sarah.blogspot.com
3. www.google.com
4. www.cincinnati.com

Four of my favorite foods:
1. Sushi
2. Indian
3. Thai
4. Mexican

Four places I would rather be right now:
1. Sleeping
2. Shopping
3. With Sarah (she's sleeping)
4. On vacation

FUNdraiser

Last Sunday, Save the Animals Foundation held its annual spaghetti dinner fundraiser. Katie and I helped out with the bake sale portion of the event, and I baked some oatmeal peanut-butter biscuits shaped like dog bones and donated them to the sale. The entire event was a huge success, raising almost $23,000 for the cats and dogs at the shelter!

In addition to the price of admission ($8 for all-you-could-eat salad, spaghetti, dessert and drinks), there were 2 different raffles, a gift sale with STAF T-shirt and pet goodies, the bake sale and a silent auction with more than 100 different items to bid on! I was really proud to be part of such a successful event with such an important mission. And Katie and I had a lot of fun working the bake sale table.

As an extra treat, Kevin joined us for dinner after our shift, and he brought Liz T. and her little sister Emily along. They were in town to see a matinee of Wicked. And of course we didn't leave without some goodies of our own.