Week Night- Date Night

Hello friends!

Gabe and I decided that since the weekends get so busy, we would have a date night during the week! Tonight consisted of dinner and a movie.


Dinner for us tonight meant Burger King and our movie choice was Lone Survivor.


Now, I am not a huge movie guru. I like to watch them on TV but it takes a special movie for us to go to the theater (I mean, tickets are $10 a piece!) and I would have to say, Lone Survivor is worth way more than a $10 ticket.

I had been hearing really great things about this movie and was excited, and a little nervous, to see it. I was nervous because I wasn't sure how I would react to a very real account of an experience that many of my patients have seen or dealt with themselves. The movie is based on a book that the Seal who made it out alive, Marcus Luttrell, wrote. The movie is said to be done very close to what actually happened to Seal Team 10 and what they had gone through in Afghanistan. Between the physical wounds and the emotional wounds, I cannot fathom what it takes to be a Navy Seal or any other member of our military. It is a strength that I have no comparison to and the scenes at the beginning of the movie that include a glimpse into what I would imagine is basic training for the Seals, is tough. It makes me feel like a huge wimp for being "too tired" to get up and work out in the morning. It makes me feel like a huge wimp for not being "strong enough" to carry some heavy boxes. This movie makes one look at themselves and say, "Would I ever be able to endure that?". And the simple answer is no. These men are special. They can carry on after being shot multiple times and carrying another soldier after their own shins and ankles have been broken. It was one of the most emotional movies I have ever seen.


This movie hits us hard, right in the heart, because we know it is real. As you watch someone falling down a rocky cliff, we know this happened, and happens to our military men and women often. After the movie was over, I had a really hard time saying this movie was "entertaining". To me, someone else's pain should never be shown for someone else's entertainment. But these men's pain, is what makes me able to wake up and freely go to the gym before I go to my job that I freely chose. This story shows us how big the sacrifice is, it is more than we can imagine. This is a story everyone needs to hear so we can all take a moment each time we see a Veteran (and not just on Veteran's day) and say "Thank you."


Lone Survivor kept me gripping Gabe's hand the entire time and fighting back tears. I thought my eyes were open to what being in our military really entails, but after seeing this movie, my eyes are open even wider. Please go see this movie. I really hope it makes us all stop and think. We need to be more grateful and more aware of the sacrifices others who don't even know  us, are willing to make on a daily basis for us.

Once you see the movie, read the book. 

Xo- Karalie

2014- Here we go!

Happy weekend friends!!

We had a wonderful Christmas in our household this year. I absolutely love the holidays because everyone slows down (kind of) and makes time to spend with each other. It is so hard to get the whole family in one room at the same time, but everyone makes it a priority to slow down at Christmas!


Now that the Christmas season has officially ended (tear), we can start looking to the New Year. What will 2014 bring? What will I accomplish in 2014? The questions and possibilities are endless, which is why I adore this holiday!

New Year's 2013. Sparkle and Champagne ya'll.

Even though I love me a good New Year's Eve party, complete with sparkle and champagne, I am not one for resolutions. I try to live everyday the best I can and if I make it to the gym, awesome. If not, well sucks for me. Instead of resolutions, I like to make suggestions to myself for the new year. It just sounds less harsh when I don't take myself up on a "suggestion" I made.


Here are my 2014 suggestions::

1) Not acquire so much "stuff."  Do I love me a new pair of kicks? Absolutely, but this year I am going to try to spend money more wisely. I have decided that finishing a new project, like the dining room table, gives me much more satisfaction than a spiffy new pair of boots. 2014 will be the year of fun projects I have declared. Although.. boots do make the world go round.....This one might be tough.

 

2) Pick a cookbook & create every recipe in the book. I love cooking. I love creating something delicious and having people enjoy it. I love to discover new flavors and I think trying other people's recipes is vital to keep you on your toes in the kitchen. Therefore, I think I am going to try to cook all Pioneer Woman recipes out of this cookbook and see what happens! Gabe is going to love this one.

3) Create a new tradition with Gabe. As we have now settled into daily life of work and play, I want to create a fun tradition that we can keep going once we have kids of our own. It might be going to lunch every Sunday after church (which we should attend more often) or maybe making pizzas one night a week. Something that we can look forward to each week as a family.

4) Donate more. This goes along with suggestion #1. I plan on having a rather large garage sale next summer since our house is in a neighborhood and I have to say I am quite excited about this. I really want to donate more and anything that doesn't sell at the garage sale will most definitely be donated. I know there are others out there that need the sweatshirt more than I do and it is very gratifying to help others out.

5) Enjoy life. Last but not least, I think we all could benefit from this suggestion. The everyday hustle and bustle of jobs, family, and life itself can get rather overwhelming. 2014 will be the year I stop and smell the roses, roll with the punches, and enjoy that margarita when I feel like it!

Do you have any "suggestions" for 2014? What are you looking forward to most?

 

Hope you all have a fabulous weekend!

Xo- Karalie

Breakfast anyone?

Hello all!

Now that our Christmas shopping and grocery shopping are both officially complete- we can take a big deep breath and enjoy this Christmas week!


It is freezing outside. And I know some of you will say "DUH, its winter in Kansas!" but this is just a little too cold for this girl. So to battle this frigidness, I made breakfast for dinner. Because what's better to warm the soul than bacon?!  Nada.


Therefore, its french toast and bacon for dinner!


Here is how I made my french toast:

(These photos are from my iPhone and don't quite do the meal justice)

Start with 6 whole eggs in a dish. You could probably get away with 5 because I had some of the soaking mixture left over. Add 3 Tb of heavy whipping cream to these eggs and have at it. Beating eggs is actually a great stress reliever. Try it.

Once you have these two beauties combined, add your cinnamon, a pinch of salt, and my secret ingredient --------> french vanilla instant pudding mix!  I added about 2-3 Tb of it. It thickens the batter (so does the heavy whipping cream) and sweetens just enough and adds the perfect vanilla flavor. It is a multi-tasker.

Add in some WHITE bread. Yes you can use whole wheat, but it just isn't the same. I tried to find thick cut texas toast, but I was also grocery shopping the night before Christmas Eve. There were a lot of things I couldn't find. Fail. 

Get your griddle pan ready by slathering it with butter over medium heat. I leave the wrapper on it that way I don't make a mess. Pop what ever you don't use back in the fridge and you have it for the next time you make french toast... or pancakes... or waffles.  Am I finding a theme here?

Griddle these babies till they look like this:

Pop them on a cooling rack and place in a 200 deg oven until you have finished the entire batch. That way they all stay crispy and warm.

Meanwhile, place your bacon on a cooling rack that is placed over a baking pan. Place in an oven that is OFF. Once in the oven, preheat to 375 deg and cook till crisp. I think you could even do 400 deg to get the bacon extra crispy but it should look like this once it is out:

Thank you Lord for bacon. 

Plate up a few pieces of french toast along with powdered sugar, add in some bacon, and voila! The perfect comfort meal for this ridiculously cold night!

ENJOY!!

Xo-Karalie


French toast:
6 whole eggs
3 Tb heavy whipping cream
1 Tb cinnamon
3 Tb french vanilla instant pudding mix
Pinch of salt
Thick cut white bread
Butter for greasing pan

Combine first eggs and cream. Beat with a whisk till very well combined. Add in spices and whisk till combined.

Heat griddle pan over medium heat and rub with butter.

Soak bread in batter mixture and brown on hot griddle.

Place in 200 deg over to keep warm until all bread has been cooked.

Serve with bacon and powdered sugar.

Here Comes Santa Claus!

HAPPY HUMP DAY FRIENDS!


Only 2 days until the weekend- Whoo!

So now that Thanksgiving is officially behind us, we can bust out the Christmas tunes and eggnog. Except, we have been in the Christmas spirit since the middle of November and I don't like eggnog. But, the Gantz home is decorated and ready for Santa to slide down the chimney.


I went with a particular color scheme this year, silver and red, with touches of vintage and sparkle. Yes, I plan a color scheme each year, its that OCD thing coming out.


Let's start with the Christmas tree!

Those letters spell "Merry Christmas" and I got the inspiration at Pottery Barn. They were $3.50 a letter and I just couldn't see spending that on letters! Therefore, I bought the letters at JoAnn Fabric for $1.49, little left over silver paint and glitter spray and voila! My own letter banner.  You can semi-see one of the pillows we (well my mom) sewed for this season. One set is an awesome vintage Santa fabric and the other is fashioned after this pillow. Except, I did silver stars.

Up next, the buffet.

This is one of my favorite places to decorate in the main living area. The ornament garland I found at TJMaxx and the trees were half price at Hobby Lobby. The planter is left over from our wedding and I filled it with cute red bird and snowflake fabric. Layer in some ornaments and glitter pears to complete it! I love love this and can't wait to change the vibe each Christmas. Oh the possibilities!

Then let's move on to the dining room table.. Which is 100% complete!!

Yes I know our table is a little off center but just go with it. My wonderful mother sewed this adorable runner for me and it has vintage reindeer fabric in the middle. These white milk jugs I found at Target when we moved in and the berries I got half price at JoAnn. Add in some candles and hurricanes and we are complete! I am in the process of changing those yellow chairs to cream and will post them when I'm done.  (Look at that wood grain guys- success!)

Here are just a couple little projects I made...

These used to have some paper on them so I took a little acetone to them and dawn dish soap and they are as good as new. I painted stripes to go along with the color scheme for the year and filled with left over ornaments. I literally did not spend a dime on these and just used what I had!

These were wine bottles (obviously) that I gave a little makeover to. I free-handed the painting so the lines could be a little sharper but most definitely turned out better than I thought. Thanks mom for the cute bow!

Last, but not least, are just a few other things we did.

I found those stocking holders at TJMaxx for very little money and my mom made the stockings. I am eventually going to stencil a "G" and a "K" on them. The little wagon with the tree and snowman was once a baby blue. Black spray paint fixed that and now I can decorate throughout the seasons! Add a few Santa Claus' from Gabe's childhood and the Gantz home is open for the holidays!


Have you made some fun Christmas decor for the season? I'd love to hear what projects you guys are working on!


Up next in the Gantz life... Finish dining room chairs and.... start on... THE PALLET WALL! :)


Xo- Karl 

Table Update!

Happy Friday friends!!


I'd like to bring you a dining table update!


This post is about more sanding and removing paint, essentially getting the table ready for paint and stain. Here goes:

This is what the table looked like when I was finished sanding. We didn't sand all the paint off the legs and rails since we were going to re-paint those. The top has little flecks of the turquoise still left but I think it adds character. It is safe to say I never want to sand anything again ever, until the chairs are here. That's another blog post.

Once the sanding was up to par- we applied paint stripper onto the top of the table to get more of the turquoise off. Now, this stuff is nasty. It smells like a toxic orange dreamsicle and you have to wear gloves, but it is definitely worth it! Here is what we used:

Make sure you put it in a metal bucket! Then paint it on rather thickly and use a toothbrush to get down in the crevices. 

Follow the instructions on the particular stripping agent you are using, but we did not let ours dry too long because you don't want that gunk to be permanently stuck. Ew. 

Here is the second coat of stripper setting before we tooth-brush of it. Look at that wood grain! SCORE. 

This is what the table looks like after the final sanding and wood conditioner has been done. We are now ready to tape and paint! 

I went ahead at this point and tested the red color on the legs. Loved it, but it wasn't quite covering like I would have wanted it to. Therefore, PRIME! Piece of cake. 

We let this dry and then it was off to the races with the red paint! We applied light coats and let ample time for the paint to dry.  Here is what we came up with:

Ta-daaa!! I am officially obsessed with Valspar spray paint. We found this at Lowe's and its by far the best spray paint I have used (Mom agrees and she's the expert).  Remove the tape and voila:::

Time to stain and poly! I am really loving the way this turned out and can't wait to show you the finished product!

Have a fantastic weekend all! STAY WARM! 

Xo- Karl

And the hunt is over...

I have officially found a dining room table to "redo." Gabe & I found this awesome piece at an antique store in North Lawrence on Locust St. Why we do not go down to these awesome shops more, I do not know, but if you have not been, I highly suggest to go! There were so many things I would have loved to have found places for in the house :)

But.. back the the table. So... here is how it looked when we bought it.

Granted... I love the color. But it just was not quite the color I was going for. But it was the exact shape. And yes, I know this is a very typical shape and I could probably walk into NFM and get one. But this one cost me a whopping $165, and its solid wood. And the stuff at NFM is so shiny. So shiny. 

So let the renovation begin!

First up... SANDING. I had to take a few pauses and wipe the thick layer of mermaid green dust off the table so I could see where to sand. It was intense. But seriously.. thank Jesus for the invention of the palm sander. Without it, this job would be terrible. 

As you can see, the wood grain is gorgeous and there are still little flecks of turquoise on the top. That is where the paint stripper will come in handy. But, here is what I have done so far---

Whoo! The whole table top is sanded and it took me about 2 full hours. 

Here is the list left to do on the table:

1) Finish removing paint.

2) Use paint stripper to remove any paint in the nooks and crannies.

3) Condition the top of the table with a wood conditioner.

4) Spray paint the legs and rail.

5) Stain the top.

6) Poly a few coats.

7) Enjoy my masterpiece.

Stay tuned for more updates!!

XO- Karl

And the word of the day is....

There is this thing we do at work each morning. A veteran comes up with the "word of the day." This word is something for everyone to think about, like how it impacts their lives and try to practice that word that day. For example, today's word was "happiness." What does happiness mean to them and how can they strive for happiness?

I thought today's blog post would be my own version of "word of the day."


Today's word is.... Entitlement. Hang in there- this is a long one


I have been thinking about the latest happenings in the United States, from the government shut-down, to raising the debt ceiling, to the start of the ACA (Obamacare) and decided entitlement was a good way to describe the current climate in this amazing country. Here is why...

Let's start with the government shut-down. Right now, Capitol Hill is feeling entitled. They feel like they are entitled to play with people's jobs, livelihoods, and futures because they do not agree with the other side. One side refuses to give in in defunding Obamacare and the other side refuses to give in on reforming programs that would save the US millions to billions of dollars. If I was at work and refused to do a vital part of my job, say daily charting, because another coworker is doing something I don't particularly care for, do you think I would have a job for very much longer? Do you have to learn to compromise at work? What if I refused to ever compromise with my husband, do you think we would be married very long? The real world makes compromises every day, so why do our lawmakers feel as though they are "entitled" to always having their way? My advice for this problem: To those on Capitol Hill-- Put up. Shut up. And do your damn jobs like the rest of America.


The next major problem that is bound to happen on October 17th if some particular people do not do their jobs, is the United States will default on their loans. Guess what that means? Our credit rating will be downgraded and I won't get a paycheck. Now, we really want new carpet in our house, therefore I would like a paycheck. But do I feel entitled to a paycheck if it means the country will fall even further into debt and my children and grandchildren will be the ones who will actually be signing off on the new carpet? Absolutely not. This is where that lovely word of entitlement is being practiced in Congress. One side says no to raising the debt ceiling, where the other says raise it and give us more money for those programs we love. Now people, let's have a reality check. Would it not be easier to say "Okay, we will vote to raise the debt ceiling if you agree to cut the waste out of a few particular programs that are bloated with fraud." Therefore, I will get a paycheck along with millions of other people, but America will start on a path to being fiscally responsible. So therefore... Congress please refer to the last line of paragraph above.


A very smart man once said "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." I live and breath this everyday at work and have seen what helping your country can truly look like to some very brave men and women. This is where I tend to get a little angry because I see those saying "Gimme free healthcare" "Gimme free college" "Gimme a free cell phone" This my friends.. is the classic version of entitlement. What ever happened to "I will work hard for what I have and will strive to be the best version of myself I can be"? Am I saying that there are people in the United States who desperately need help? Not at all. There are those that are very much struggling and could use assistance until they get back on their feet. But that is where the gold is... until they get back on their feet. This does not include forever for the majority of Americans (hello 40 hour work week!) This is where the Affordable Care Act comes into play...

First, lets start with the title. The Affordable CARE Act. Does that say the Affordable HEALTH INSURANCE Act? I didn't think it did. Therefore, why was the entire country sold on receiving free or reduced health insurance premiums when that clearly is not what is happening? The cost of care is going to go up as well so I guess there is no good title. Here is why this is frustrating, let's do a case study:
       ~30 y/o male with wife and kids. All healthy, no significant health problems. Insurance premium under Obamacare is to increase ~41% (which is accurate, the exchange said so). This male is also the owner of a small business. Say his insurance premium was a measly $100 a month before (which that number is most definitely made up, it is closer to $500), then he will now pay $141 each month for health insurance under the ACA. Per year, that is an extra $492 spent on health insurance. Now you say, $492 in business terms is a drop in the bucket. But, what if that amount covered all the office supplies? Now as a business owner, cuts will have to be made to come up with that extra $492. Do you think as a fiscally responsible business owner, he will hire more workers when he is having to come up with more money to keep running his business? The simple answer is No.

This is where the word of the day is coming into play. There are those in the United States that feel entitled to health insurance, even if it hurts their fellow man. There is no way to build a strong middle class when people are forced to join something that is not fiscally stable. IT makes zero amounts of sense. Did our health care system need an overhaul? Of course it did. But when doctors are retiring early because they are afraid of the future and families are forced to allocate their funds differently when it really isn't possible for them.. it is just plain wrong. There is already a program for those who are struggling to pay for health insurance... it is called Medicaid. What should we have done? Here are Karl's expert suggestions

1. Delay the individual mandate until all the "glitches" are figured out.
2. Let health insurance companies sell across state lines- HELLO FREE MARKET.
3. Don't give people free cell phones to entice them to join the collective. 
4. PASS a budget. (2009 was a really long time ago)

I  know this is a long one.. I hope you enjoyed the "word of the day" and it sparks a little thought on this gorgeous Monday!

Xo- Karl