an update

House - We've had a lot of "almost" buyers that for one reason or another end up walking away. We're going to take the hou...

sending Christmas love!

I've seen this awesome Shutterfly promotion on lots of blogs lately, and I couldn't resist to do it myself! 50 free photo cards awa...

babysitting...I am clearly not a mom yet.

Sorry for no updates in awhile, things have been busy!! Last week and again today I babysat a 5 month old for a friend of mine. Last week we...

finally healthy!

Well, it's been a week, and today I can honestly say that I feel pretty much back to normal. Still a little unsettled in the tummy every...

prayers needed.

I've been sick since Friday with a stomach thing. I say "thing" because no one has given me a definitive answer about what it ...

House!

If you read this before this afternoon, please pray for our house. We might have a potential buyer...our realtor brought someone through yes...

P90X

That's Tony Horton. He's the one I'm blaming for barely being able to type right now. In an attempt to get stronger and lose wei...

turning 25

I turned 25 on October 1st. I was sort of having a small crisis about it, too. Maybe not a crisis so much as...slight panic? Who knows. Anyw...

jill update

Things have been surprisingly busy, even without Jason being home. While he was gone in Haiti, I got together with a lot of great friends, d...

jason update

Most of you know that Jason went to Haiti two weeks ago. He flew out of Chicago, into Miami, and then to Port-Au-Prince. He took one carry-o...

Jason's in Haiti

Jason took off last night to Chicago, and flew out this morning to go to Haiti. They were allowed to bring one carry-on bag full of their cl...

book review: Surrendered Wife

Hi my name is Jill, and I'm a control-freak, most of the time. I know this, you probably know this, most people know this. I can't r...

busy-ness!

Life has been crazy busy around the Rackow household these last few weeks. Quick run down... Jill: 3 doula clients due in September (one in ...

wind farm

On the way up to Michigan, driving through Indiana, we saw a very majestic wind farm. I know it's not a "big deal" as more and...

Michigan trip

Last weekend we took a few days to go up to my family's house in Michigan. Unfortunately, it wasn't much of a relaxing vacation, but...

some people...

I walked into Subway today wearing my nametag. Following is the conversation I had with the girl that works there (not kidding): Her: You wo...

dinner

Tonight's dinner was delish! Grilled pizza with asparagus, chives, and sun-dried tomatoes. Dough and everything cooked on the grill :) I...

$$$

We've switched back to (mostly) a cash budget, for various reasons. I was really tired of boring old blank envelopes, so I decided to pu...

"mawiage..."

...or "marriage," for those of you who haven't seen the Princess Bride. I've recently stumbled across a blog that has quic...

the race is on!!

What race? The race to sell our house! We found out from our Realtor that one of her co-workers has a "difficult" client. Meaning,...

photo skillz.

We sent a bunch of photos to our realtor to put in our listing. Awhile ago, I took a bunch myself, and she came to take a few more yesterday...

sabotage!

We are being sabotaged. Seriously. We're having an open house on Sunday, so we've asked permission from a few neighbors and put up a...

house update

I just got off the phone with our realtor, and she said the couple that lives in that house are actually getting divorced. She told their r...

house prayers

Well folks, we've found it.We found the house we want to make an offer on. :) It's very exciting. My heart jumps when we look at pi...

not enough time

Taking a quick break at work to write this one, just in case anyone from work reads this--I didn't take a lunch break today :) I totally...

GeekyGuys

Our computer died two nights ago. It wouldn't boot up, and it's only 2 years old. It wasn't a cheap computer, either, because Ja...

pregnant for a week

I debated about writing this, but I know not many people read my blog, and I know the ones that do are friends, so it couldn't hurt anyt...

spinach-ricotta ravioli

Tonight we had spinach-ricotta ravioli, from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman. It was surprisingly a lot easier than I tho...

houses

Well, we found a house that we think we like! It's got everything we need in it. It's in Mahomet. Here's a link to the MLS listi...

hazelnut kids

We've all heard on the news the craziness about lead and who knows what else in kid's toys. I came across this website today, and a...

tortilla soup

Tonight's dinner was pretty great! It's from the cookbook "How to Cook Everything Vegetarian" by Mark Bittman. Ingredients...

last night's dinner

Last night we had another vegetarian dinner (not vegan). Stuffed peppers! YUMMO. They were another recipe on the "winner!" list. S...

going veggie

Well, Jason has officially given me license to cook vegetarian/vegan foods at home. Hoorah! Now I won't be meat-free all on my own. :) M...

stuff and things

Random "stuff" update. Our house is on the market! wooohoo. Visit www.swigarthouse.blogspot.com to see more about it. Our small gr...

update

Life has been very busy for me lately! Here's a brief synopsis, so as not to bore you TOO much :) The marathon is obviously over. It was...

still alive...

...but very, very busy. The Christie Clinic Illinois Marathon is taking over my life (and my brain, and my sleep, and my food intake, and m...

standing in the kitchen

...that's where I am right now. Standing in the kitchen, eating saltines. I'm feeling quite sick to my stomach and exhausted today. ...

seedlings

I planted my seedlings a few weeks ago. They were doing great until I left them outside all day in the sun...I hope they perk back up soon. ...