The Ringls

This weekend was a noteworthy one. Therefore, I am doing a recap of our crazy fun weekend.  I will go ahead and let you know that we have not completed our office desk, but worry not, that is coming soon.

Here are a few things that happened this weekend.

First and foremost:  A beautiful Circular Saw joined our family (Ya!!!)

Glazed Blueberry Cake Doughnuts, mmm, so good!!

Then, a surprise party over the internet with friends in Texas   Thanks guys!!

Saturday happened to be my 26th birthday. Yep, the big 2-6   It was a wonderful day. The weather was gorgeous, we made not 1, but 2 Home Depot visits, and I had delicious baby back ribs for dinner! It was a wonderful day, followed by a wonderful surprise evening. We had an online date scheduled with our friends Shaw and Sarah in Texas. When we finally signed on to see them Shaw, Sarah, and JD were waiting for me with balloons and a cake covered in trick candles. It was a great fun surprise.  I got several wonderful phone calls from friends and family, thanks to all of you, it meant so much and really made my day memorable  :)

Now, as for our office construction. Things are going as planned. Well obviously not completely as planned, since our office doesn’t look like a picture in an ad from a Pottery Barn catalog (yet!).  Just wait until you see how awesome this desk is. We had a bit of a snag during our 1st trip to Home Depot when we discovered that the wood for the plans we made wouldn’t fit in our car. It really made us miss Stephen’s car… the poor Saturn, never knew what was coming.

-  In Memory of our lost Ringl mobile -

There ya have it. We celebrated me getting another year older by working on our dream office. I can’t wait until it’s completed so we can share our hard work (and many many smiles) with all of you.

Today ended a great weekend with delicious funfetti cupcakes and a nap on the couch. Weekend Success Rating: a solid 10 !!

I recently bought a used Fender Rumble 100 (pictured on the right) bass amp from my friend Brandon. I’m greatly enjoying having a practice amp again and I’ve found that it’s greatly increased the amount of time I spend playing and learning new songs. While a big part of that is being in the honeymoon stage of owning a new piece of equipment and the amount of time I spend with it will taper off slightly over time, I’m guessing I’ll spend a lot more time practicing than I used to (playing through headphones is lame!).

However, this has gotten me searching for a new guitar as well.

Perhaps I should be more specific. When I mention to Cassie that I’d like a new guitar she gets a hurt look on her face and reminds me that I just got a new guitar for my birthday. And although I love my Epiphone Les Paul electric guitar, what I actually mean is that I would like a new bass guitar.

My current bass is a long term loaner from Brandon. And while I’m content playing it, eventually I will have to return it. Because of that I’m always passively looking at other basses and trying to decide what I’d like. So I decided I would share the short list of what bass guitars I’m considering here along with some relevant information.

1. Ibanez SRX350

Cost: $399.99
What Cassie will say: “Four-hundred dollars? Why is it so expensive?”
This is the guitar that I play on Tuesday nights with the Crossroads band. It belongs to Sam, who leads the band, but I’ve gotten so comfortable on it that at this point I’m considering one as an option for my own guitar.

2. Epiphone Thunderbird Pro-V

Cost: $599.99
What Cassie will say: “You’d better quit dreaming! You can buy that when you sell one of your other guitars… Actually, if you want to afford that you’ll probably need to sell all your other guitars!”
I like the Thunderbird basses almost solely because of their distinctive shape. It’s got a dirtier sound than the other guitars on this list, but sometimes that can be a good thing.

3. Fender American Deluxe Jazz

Cost: $1299.99
What Cassie will say: Not much since her head exploded at the thought of a guitar that costs thirteen-hundred dollars.
The Jazz Bass is easily the guitar I would like the most. There is a standard version (I believe it’s Mexican built instead of American, but I could easily be wrong) that can be had for as little as $700, but that cost difference is due to substituted parts that change both the sound of the bass as well as how well it plays (Meaning I would buy the $700 version if I had the money, but I would have to think long and hard about whether or not I wanted to just wait it out and save up for the better version).

While there are other basses that I’ve considered, the above three are definitely the guitars that I like the most. And perhaps one day soon I’ll write a post on what bass I eventually bought.

(I have an idea on what Cassie would say about that too, but it would be wise for me to keep it to myself.)

–ringl

I’d like to introduce you all to a fun character in the Ringl house.

This is Domo. As you can see, he takes after his father.  While getting items together for a yard sale, I found him playing with my price stickers.  I think he thought they were band aids…

I’m on a major office kick right now. With all the things going on in the Ringl house it’s easy for papers to get stacked, piled, and stored to the point of  ”Where is our electric bill?” “Have you seen my new House Beautiful magazine?” “Did we get that check in the mail yet?” “Why isn’t the water on?”   I know, crazy things happen when mail isn’t open, sorted, and kept in the same place each day…  Hence my recent office obsession.

Here is what our “office” looks like now:
(sorry for the picture quality, these were taken with my phone this morning)

The Dungeon Entrance. It doesn’t look so bad, yet….

here is where it gets SCARY:

and the SCARIEST part of all:  Stephen’s Area

It’s horrible I know. Almost un-human of us. So here is what needs to change first (since obviously the ENTIRE space needs a re-vamp!)

Priority 1: New Desk

Not just any desk either. I’m wanting to make our home office more user friendly. Not a room we go to throw the mail down or sign on the computer real quick to pay a bill we forgot about. I want more out of this space. I want peace, tranquility, organization, and functionality. A His-Her space where we can get our groove on (for Stephen and his music and me and my projects).  I feel like my home computer has been abandoned because it is in the office (aka: Junk Dungeon). I never go in there except on my day off, and I need this room to feel as much love as any other room.

Now for The Plan:

Who can pass something so awesome up with How-To Instructions Online ?!?!

It has everything I’m wanting to do in our office, without the hefty price tag!  I would turn the thing sideways, with the end against the windows so we could each have our own wall space for hanging art/cork board/pictures. It gives each of us our “own space” on each side of the room to decorate however we want (which means ALL of stephen’s instruments could be in 1 place finally!!)

While our office looks nothing like this space, I have already figured out how to alter it to fit our wants. However, I can’t divulge all of that information because then I can’t have an awesome ‘LOOK WHAT WE DID’ post and shock your eyes right out of your heads.

So you see my inspiration, and very soon you will be seeing how that can fit into an average person’s budget/home without the hefty $949.00 price tag if purchasing this desk from Pottery Barn.  Yes, you read that right – 949 smackaroos!  Time for a Ringl visit to home depot my friends, so you know I’m excited!!

Have you ever looked in a room and thought “this would be so much bigger if those dang closet doors weren’t in the way!”  You have?!  Hey me too!!

It could be a bedroom, home office, or even just a way to hide your laundry piling up in the utility room (not that that happens…).  Curtains can be the new doors. Keep them open and the space feels bigger, plus there’s no door hanging open and taking up space in the room (pocket doors would also solve this problem, but this is much less pricey, and doesn’t require making holes in the walls)

I’m thinking use some PVC for the rod (which you can paint to match the color of your wall AND is pretty cheap at any hardware store). Get some cheap shower curtain rings and pick yourself out some lovely fabric/any drapes you like for curtains. Tip: Get extra long ones to add height to the room!!

Instead of adding little curtains on the bottom to hide the file cabinets I would just decorate the drawers with a fun/matchy wallpaper to go with the curtains.

I go back and forth with what to do with the closet in our office. Right now those big doors are hiding all the things I haven’t found a place for yet.  Currently it is packed full, and thankfully it’s time for some Spring Cleaning to fix that issue. Once again my philosophy of  ”If it isn’t being used, pass it on” comes in handy. I love this philosophy, Stephen hates it, so sometimes we have to compromise on certain items. Do we have an attic?!  Dang I sure hope so!

Back to closet-talk… what are the thoughts of the rest of you out there?!  I go back and forth with closet usage.  I feel like they should serve a better purpose than hiding items that we seldom use. That’s square footage people. Square footage we are paying for and should get to see the light shining inside on lovely sunny spring days!

And in case you don’t like the idea of curtains/fabric hanging in your office there is always these options:

Options for so many different styles!! Love it

With Spring right around the corner my brain has been buzzing with outdoor ideas.  From gardening, to what kind of porch we want, and everything else in between.  While Stephen and I have plans of having a veggie garden I have come to realize something… I need a potters table!

Perhaps something like this:

With these handy How-To instructions online, I don’t think it seems too far fetched of an idea.  I figure if my hubby wants me in the backyard picking weeds out of the ground, he ought to at least give me something pretty to work at   Plus, that means I can paint it whatever color I want. Oh how I love the possibilities there are with paint…

Also, on a happy weekend-note, I walked around our backyard for the first time on Saturday!  It’s been so cold and wet this winter that we have steered clear of the yard. I am now happy to report that I went and explored back there. I found a golf ball, an old shoe, some fallen trees AND discovered that the people behind us have a garden house.  Maybe I should dream up BIGGER plans for our yard. Stephen will loooove that…

Before I end this happy monday update, I found this cool herb/spice rack online and am wondering if anyone has any idea’s on how to construct something like this.  Any clues or thoughts?!?! I know it would look so cute hanging outside on the back porch!

Designed by Mike Moran

These 2 friends will soon become a new home for the tooshie.
One key question though: what color should I go with? Both the same, a pattern, solid, accent pillows? Okay, more like a few questions.

Time for a game plan. Ideas?

I posted the above “tweet” on a very strange morning.

This would be the same weekend as the Family Friendly Fire when Cassie and I were staying over at her parents for a multitude of reasons. But this particular morning I was getting ready to fill in leading The Core’s Sunday school lesson. As I was gathering my stuff together to head out the door and to church I received a phone call. It was a local (though unfamiliar) number, so I picked up.

Me: Hello?
FHP: Hi. This is the Florida Highway Patrol. Is this Stephen Ringl?

It was at this point I knew it was going to be a weird morning.

The FHP had called me to let me know that my car had been found wrecked. The odd part? It was three houses down from where I parked it, across the street, and in someone’s yard.

It turned out that during the night it had been hit. And when I say hit, you should probably read “slammed into with the force of Russell Casse in his last ditch effort to save humanity.”

Anyhow, a highway patrolman came out to survey the scene and fill out a report. Here are a few pictures of what he had to work with:

Here is where I parked:

If you look in the background you can see where my car is. Let’s zoom in:

To this day I’m not sure what happened to the other headlight. My belief is that it was smashed into oblivion.

After the officer finished his work he asked if I’d like to move it out of the yard myself, or if I’d like it towed. Hoping that it just looked a lot worse than it really was I tried to start it up.

Bad idea.

Long story short, insurance wrote the car off as a total loss and (after way too long) got me a check.

So if you know a car for sale cheap, you’ve got a local Ringl in need!

I love the term “Shop the House”, which I heard from the blog I mentioned Friday The Lettered Cottage.  The phrase means to get things from your own house and move them to a fun and useful spot. Search those closets, rearrange those bookshelves. It’s like re-gifting, but instead it’s re-placing. Doesn’t cost you a cent, and you don’t have to leave the house! While this is a great idea, I have run into one problem: I don’t have that much to choose from. I’m an avid goodwill gifter, so anytime we have something that isn’t being used I pass it on.

With my lack-of-options I drove past an exciting scene the other day. I am talking about a yard sale! With my un-desired (but continuous) habit of sleeping in on Saturdays I am constantly missing out on the best deals out there! So imagine my excitement that when coming home after work the other day one of my neighbors had a yard full of stuff for sale! I hadn’t met this neighbor yet, so my visit had a dual purpose: find a super good deal, and meet my neighbor!  What a great and easy way to introduce yourself to someone.

After driving home I walked over to shop-my-neighbor, with the added bonus of meeting the family.

You’ll be happy to hear I scored some great deals, and had the added bonus of meeting my neighbor!

I think I’m going to paint the frames white, or maybe a green, or blue… well, obviously I’m still deciding   The frame however is going to be white!  I replaced the picture with the bird you see there. I also changed the matting from hunter green and gold to that blue and pale yellow.  You know how much I spent?  $2   Man I love yard sales

What do you think?  Was it worth the 2 bucks I had in my car?!

Since I got married I have become very budget conscious. I have actually been that way most my life, but when you are living with someone new there are always a few adjustments to spending habits.  One of the biggest problems I’ve had is being careful with the “food budget”.   Each month I plan on spending “x amount” on groceries and allot a separate amount for going out/fun/date nights.  Well, that hasn’t been going too well lately.  It seems like the cost of meat and veggies has been on a constant rise and it’s cutting holes in my pocket.

I already have a few good grocery rules:

1) Make a List

2) NEVER go to the store hungry (otherwise I come back with Oreo’s & Chips…)

3) Shop the ad’s

4) Coupons, Coupons, Coupons

5) Go to the store early!

Obviously a list is always smart. If I don’t have a list with meals and what I need for those specific meals I end up coming home with cans of chicken broth and packages of cheese that I already have multiples of at home.   I don’t know if you have ever gone shopping hungry, but dang if that isn’t the biggest mistake you can ever make.  It’s worst than when you go without a list!  I also like to check out the ad’s online every Wednesday: Publix has one, Winn Dixie and Food World.  Then there’s the option of getting coupons online and printing the ones you want. My biggest tip, if you are anything like me and HATE shopping in crowded aisles, is to go early!  If you go to the store around 8:45-9:30 it is a completely different experience than going anytime after 11:00am.  It’s almost like you are in a completely different universe of shopping, a 180 degree difference!

Now the ultimate question is why I keep going over our food-budget when I have such awesome rules put in place.  I think it’s partially because I am a rule-breaking rebel, and then slightly more accurate that I live with a man that can’t just snack on something light for dinner, or eat a salad and yogurt and be content. He’s a man, he needs meat and substance after a long day of work.  I think that is my problem,  that and the fact that I have a hard time telling Stephen no when he asks if we can grab a pizza on the way home, or when he doesn’t feel well I let him choose dinner.  He’s just so sweet about it, ya know what I mean?!

These problems (that I just now became aware of after writing all this out) have made me decide that it’s time I set some new habits into place.  #1 Pizza passes if we we’re already planning on it, otherwise, it’s straight home for JOINT cooking!  #2  If it ain’t on the list, I ain’t buying it (yes I said ‘aint’ and yes I am 98.5% serious about this).  #3  Be smart, not “healthy” when shopping.  I seem to think that if I buy healthy food items we will eat healthy more often. Wrong!   If salad isn’t on the menu then don’t buy items for every night (for example: you don’t have a salad on taco night, that’s just weird).   Shop Smarter, Not Healthier.   Hmm, that would be a great title for a book!  It expresses that if you are shopping smart you will in turn buy healthy items. Buying only “healthy” leaves you stranded on those nights you just want a burger. So instead of having something in the freezer, you go out and over spend AND over eat at McD’s with a greasy burger, fries & cola combo!

Are there any other great idea’s out there for smart/budget-friendly food spending?  I know we only buy ice cream if it’s on sale and we are going to someone’s house, or having people over. It’s a nice guarantee to make sure we don’t eat a gallon each!  not that that’s ever happened….