The S Family

Let's review.  Here are the things I know I am; mother, wife, daughter, bargain shopper, foods teacher, movie and magazine junkie, sugaraholic.  Now for the things I pretend I am; runner, soccer mom, a person who has it all together, and now photographer.  I am not a photographer.  I will never be a photographer.  However, with the help of my super friend Bethany, I experimented with a few lenses and learned how to use Photo shop.  When a few of my friends found it hard to find a photographer for their Christmas cards, I said I would be happy to test out the skills.  Again, not a photographer, but pretty happy with what I got to do last weekend with one of my favorite families.

Meet the S family.  Momma S and I have been friends since high school.  We love to bake, drink the champs and cook and just had our one year anniversary of taking cooking classes together.  Her house is impeccable, her husband is a doll {and can pretty much dance any dude under the table} and I love the tiny little spitting image of Momma.  I adore everything about this little family.  Thanks for letting me hang with you guys.  See, you can get some pretty great pictures of a squirmy 3 year old.

Summer Update

By the looks of my last post, it has been quite a little while since I have caught up with my bloggie friends.  So what have the Hash's been up to?  Oh, you know, no big deal, just moving in with my parents for four months, finishing up the house, new jobs for both Grant and myself, planning the Disney vacation we take in 7 days, and starting preschool.  Just your run of the mill summer for this on the go family.
Need the deets?  Here it is in a nutshell.  Grant is now working in sales at Cerner and absolutely loves it!  It's quite different from his job at the firm, but he's adjusting well and since he works from home, I am loving that we don't have to wait until 7:00 to eat dinner.  I'm sure it's not too rough on him to go from wearing a suit and tie every day to gym shorts.  Poor guy.
I moved to Indian Trail Middle School where I teach FACS (think Home Ec all you oldies like me), a reading class and a communications class.  It is by far the hardest I have worked since my first year of teaching.  I am so exhausted at 4:00 that I can barely keep my eyes open, but teaching a cooking class for a living is honestly an absolute dream!  I love my school, the staff and my kick-butt job.  It's a hole lot of fun which makes it easier to think of Everett at school every day.
My little dude started at preschool this fall full time.  He's adjusted well other than the fact that he was playing and "bit a teacher in the bottom", has had a few trips to the "thinking spot" and didn't want to try the chicken teriyaki two weeks ago for lunch.  I can't make this stuff up.  He's made some new friends, never cries when we drop him off and is learning new numbers and letter sounds.  That alone is worth the price of admission.
Lastly and really most importantly is the new and improved Casa de Hash!  We close on October 3 so for those of you doing the math, that is TEN LONG MONTHS of watching this beauty being built from the ground up.  The ups and downs of this experience will have to wait for another post.  There aren't enough words.  For now, enjoy the pics.

 Dining room.  I stole this color from a friend of mine and I dig it very much!  The rest of our house is Johnson County Beige so I wanted to throw a little grey in there, because unlike my former self, I am not brave enough to do a bold color.

 Front Entry

 Dream kitchen!  I just told Grant that I could not be more thrilled about the way it turned out.  I love everything from the cabinets, to the lighting to the DOUBLE OVEN which they finally got right.

 I am loving this kitchen nook pendant light.  I could literally write an entire post about searching for and deciding on this light.  This was a last minute change and I think it was a very good one!

 Best. Fireplace. Ever.  Living Room.

 Half of the Mudroom.  Working on an antique sliding barn door.  Thanks Pinterest.

 Everett's playroom.  I only took a picture of this room because of the track lighting.

 Guest bath.  There's a shower to the right.

 Entry to the master.

 One of the Jack and Jill vanities.

 Master Bath

 Master Shower

 Master Vanity

 Master (Her's) Closet.  Grant's area is to the right (not pictured).  I am also thrilled with the way this turned out.  Who knew that when you build a house you get to design your own closet?!  I added extra shelving for shoes and extra bars for dresses.

Butler's Pantry (kind of, more like a hallway with a beverage refrigerator and cabinets)

 

All and all I am in love with this place.  It is true when people say building a house is tough.  This is probably why Grant and I said we would never do it.  Never say never.  Even couples who share the same ideas when it comes to colors and finishes and where outlets should go (we have never had one argument about any of those things.  it's true.), this process is hard and not for everyone.  We have had some knock down-drag outs, but mostly with others...well, and should we or shouldn't we on bevereage refrigerators...but it is still hard.  However, in just TWO SHORT WEEKS this place will be all ours and we are more than ready to start building memories.

Building a Home: What I've Learned

It was New Year's Eve that Mr. Hash and I decided we would throw caution to the wind and build a new home.  We always said we wouldn't.  We always said we couldn't.  Yet, here we are allegedly 90ish days out from walking through the threshold of our brand spankin' new home.  Sounds magical doesn't it?  Welp, I would say it is less magical and more just grit your teeth, suck it up, cry a little, scream in frustration and try not to hurt your family members.  So what have I learned (so far)?

Choose the lot you want from the get-go.  Do not choose a lot, decide you don't like the elevation of that lot, move two lots down, then choose a lot that you finally end up settling on.  Not only does this cause a problem because your builder has to now get permits, but your price and your wife's blood pressure may rise.  It's going to be lovely though...

Decide what finishes you want BEFORE you go to your meetings.  This is the place where Grant and I really don't have an issue and here's why;  We both go for the "Rustic-Pottery Barn on a Target Budget" look.  However, when you sit down at those meetings you better have those Pinterest pins ready lady.  The amount of fixtures and finishes you need to choose are absolutely overwhelming.  Who knew there were so many shades of beige?  Then once you pick that beige tile backsplash, how big do you want that tile?  How do you want the tile laid?  Do you want it diagonal, subway, horizontal?  What kind of grout?  I'm telling you, it's overwhelming and this was the easy part for us because we have similar taste.  Not one disagreement. 

Let's just call this next point the "Listen to Your Wife" point.  When your wife says not to put the house on the market 5 months before the house is supposed to be done, listen to her.  Our house sold the day the pictures went up on the internet.  I can't make this up.  When your wife says you should rent a U-Haul, rent the U-Haul.  Making approximately seven trips back and forthwith a small trailer to store all of our belongings is not a good time.  When your wife asks you to communicate about what is going on, communicate about what is going on.  If she isn't planning on moving everything in a day and you are, you may want to tell her. otherwise you'll be dealing with an unhappy wife=unhappy life.

Beg, borrow and steal boxes!  Big thanks to our friends Kayla and Aaron who let us borrow a ton of big tubs, the copy room at school for letting me "borrow" the paper boxes and one of my students who moved in this fall and gave me all her big moving boxes.  If you aren't as luck as we were, U=Haul has fantastic boxes for a reasonable price and anything you don't use can be returned for a full refund!  Who knew?

Believe people when they say that building will take longer than your building manager says it will.  Of course we don't have our "official" move in date, but I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that due to snowmageddon on top of the non breakaway speed of our workers I'm thinking our move in date will be about a month later than the original date they gave us.

Speaking of workers though, I'm not sure if it helps or not, but its a nice gesture to bring drinks and snacks out to your construction workers.  Everett and I tried to visit the worksite every other day not only provide some entertainment for E Money (he loves to watch the tractors!!), but I hope it starts him towards making a habit of doing nice things for other people.  Now here's a tip: Go out a visit the site at night.  Look around on the ground.  What kind of wrappers and cans do you see?  I saw a lot of Wendy's and Coke, so that is what I bought.  Boom.

Finally, take lots of pics of the progress.  I'm sure we'll be happy we had them in the end.

 Oh, and don't forget to dance...

Chewy Chocolate Toffee Cookies

Chocolate+Toffee= Need I say more?

 

Let me just say these are best straight from the oven so if you can bake them while your guests are eating dinner, it will knock their socks off!  I mean, they are unbelievably, wonderfully fantastic! You can freeze the the dough so they are easy to bake during your dinner party.  However, if you can't have them warm out of the oven, they are still delish.  Enjoy!

 

 1 cup (2 sticks) butter , softened
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup Cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 package of Heath milk chocolate toffee bits

 Cream together butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, vanilla and salt. Add eggs and mix well.

 Slowly stir in flour, cocoa and baking soda. Mix just until well combined.

 Have your tiny helper pour in the toffee and fold it into the dough.

 Scoop dough onto silpat or parchment lined baking sheets.

Freeze, or...
Bake at 375 for 6-8.
If freezing, bake directly from freezer for about 2 minutes longer.

 

Recipe adapted from Jenny Steffens Hobick.

 

 



Cupcake Favors: A Tutorial

It's no surprise this gal LOVES a good cupcake.  I have made it one of my missions in life to perfect a made-from-scratch recipe {this part is still in progress}s.  However, I have been known to create some cakes for birthdays, banquets, clubs at school, faculty meetings, parties, the list goes on. 

A few weeks ago the softball team I coach was taking a road trip to Lawrence to play Lawrence High.  I own several cupcake carriers, but I thought it would be fun to give each of the girls their own individually wrapped cupcake.  It was a hit!  See how I did it...

 Choose your favorite cake and bake.

 Once your cupcakes have cooled, place them in a clear plastic cup.

 Now frost your cupcakes.  Don't do this first because it will be harder to get your cakes inside the cups.  It's always good to add some sprinkles!

 Place the plastic cup in a clear favor bag. (I bought mine at Wal-Mart, but you can find them at any craft store.)

 Tie a ribbon around the top and viola, done!

Here's the classy part.  I like to "borrow" the boxes left in the copy room at work.  Then I can use them to carry all my cupcakes.  They won't get smashed.  They are so tight in the cups that they won't shift in the car.  It's perfection, cheap and easy.