Random Find

Up until it got so COLD I was not having good garage sale juju. I don't what the deal was, it just was not working out so well for me. An entire neighborhood-wide garage sale, and this was all I brought home. So sad. Even Isabelle looks tired of thinking about all that work getting up early for no payoff.

But on the plus side, my current Christmas craftiness has inspired me about what to do with this piece of architectural yumminess! Look at Iz perk up - she is so my girl.

I officially have something like 5 weeks? Maybe 4 now, of break from school. Sounds official, doesn't it? As soon as presents are out I will be posting some of my craftiness.

This Girl Has a Budget!

So, I have been WAITING to post this since I have been a slacker friend and not seen my buddy Sassy in over a month since her birthday! In my defense, she was working 2 overlapping jobs for a month and I am me. Not a good combo for the face-to-face relationship.

What to get Sassypants? She has everything. A cute apartamento, cute Jocelyn, lots of shoes, and other than sleep there is nothing that girl needs.

So, I decided to make her something. Since we are the bestest bartending partners on the planet, if I do say so myself, and are no longer bartending, I decided to pay homage to how we met.

I must admit a quandry I find myself in as a blogger. I will not be posting prices here. What if she knows? Sass appreciates the thought and the effort, but still. Besides, some of the cost - like the ribbon will be parlayed into Christmas gifts.

So I found the frame, painted it black, touched it up with sandpaper, turned the original picture on backwards, painted it black, and went to town with the glue gun! It was the most fun I have had in a while. Important, you do not need the glass for the frame. But you should get a frame with deep and or thick sides for aesthetic reasons.

I went to Target and got some push pins. I pushed them in the back of the frame, and then doubly anchored them there with a little scotch tape. It is like giving gifts without batteries, people. You have to think through every possible need or contingency. I almost gave her a nail to hang it with...

Here it is again in all its cuteness. That's right. I put another picture up just so I could pat myself on the back again. Craftiness that turns out how I like it are few and far between.

I got the all Texas wine corks on ebay for a ridiculously tiny amount of money. I bought a little lot of 20 corks. Funny, I had oodles of corks that I dragged around for years never doing anything with them and gave them away when my aunt visited this spring. I actually forgot I gave them away and spent a ridiculous amount of time searching for them and cursing myself for putting things in "safe places" before I remembered. That is what I get for being a pack-rat for the first 28 years of my life and trying to reform in the last year. You can still remember all the treasures you had socked away. Oh well, onwards and upwards! Next year I will be glad I am purging when the hubs and the cats and I are all mushed in a tiny university apartment somewhere.

Oh! I tacked the ribbon to the side of the wine corks so it would stay like it is. It is also wire-edged ribbon I got on sale at Michael's. I firmly believe in the necessity of wire-edged ribbon.

The Only Clean Room in My House

So, keeping up with my house this semester has not gone according to plan. I did commit some time yesterday to one room. I have decided to go room by room rather than try to get ALL the sweeping and mopping done, or ALL the vacuuming done. Tasks like that are just too big and daunting with everything else swirling around.

So I committed to the guest bathroom because it is my favorite and it is small, and when it is clean - it looks REALLY clean!

Not to mention, months ago I promised pictures of the hubs brilliance in solving my bath mat dilemma. He found these all-colors-of-green-striped numbers at Target for $5 each. They are so cute! And the cats don't like them at all. Score one for the hubs!

My mother bought me these fabulous purple onion flowers for my birthday! They were at Target. Which is why birthdays are so great when you get to go shopping with your mom and pick out the stuff you would never spend the money on for yourself. Which are always the things I end up liking the most in my house.

The sandstone I bought as a present to myself a couple of years back at a hippie rock shop.

I got the tray for $1 at a yard sale a while back. The amethyst is from my grandmother's guest bathroom.

My cute sister S brought me a bag of goodies from Lush and in it was the bar of soap you see above. It looks like a rock! Which is perfect for my earthy-leaves-nature bathroom. It is made out of sand and something that makes the bathroom smell good. I kept the regular soap dispenser because not everyone is exciting enough to use sand bar soap.

I even straightened the linen closet. The basket at the top is full of shampoos and things guests might need for showering. Thank you Martha for the tip a bazillion years ago.

I also keep my candles in the linen closet to make it smell delicious.

I made an effort to make the bathroom more guest friendly. I put in toothpaste, floss, $1 travel Shout spot wipes, $1 travel deodorant, and then some contact solution, lotions, and hairspray. We are going to be having a lot of guests in the next few months, so I wanted to have all this stuff done now. Most of these items I found in my own bathroom and am not going to use but could not handle wasting.

The thing is now I do not want to use the guest bathroom. I really want to tell the hubs he cannot use it either. I want to close the door and let the perfection last a little longer. I mean I even cleaned the baseboards! I wish it wouldn't be ridiculous to not use it. Or I wish that I was not such a ridiculous lover of perfection. I am working on that.

Inexpensive Craftiness

So I had last night off of work to register for Spring classes. I caught up on some stuff, and then felt my fingers itching to be crafty. I ran across this blog by The Nester, and thought I can totally do that for Thanksgiving!

So here is my Ragamuffin Wreath:

I already had 2 types of gold/yellow cloth torn into long strips because I was thinking about crocheting Huck a new bed. I went to Michael's and started looking around. Their Halloween stuff is 80% off, and in their $1 bin where I found the autumn leaves and brown ribbon. When I took it up to the register it was $2.50 each, but when I decided not to buy them the girl asked the manager walking by who gave them to me for $1! Yay! I did not even have to be brave and ask her to do it!

Anyways, I followed the Nester's tutorial and cut the strips of fabric and ribbon about 10" long. I then ripped apart an $.80 candle wreath I also got in the clearance section and glue gunned all the do-dads onto the ribbon. Nester recommends using ring clips to attach do-dads and to use on the ends. At Target the ring clips were $4.99 so I took a pass on those. The wreath is attached to the sides of the door with thumb tacks.

I am wondering if I should have hung it higher. It is not like we use the peep hole. I also am not very happy with the color in this picture. Oh well, beggars can't be choosers. Especially when my mom is nice enough to let me hijack her camera for months on end since mine broke.

So, final total on my little project with TX sales tax is $3.03.

My project was almost priceless as Isabelle was sneaky in her sneakers and snuck past me while I was hanging the wreath. I caught her in the driveway, but nearly had a heart attack imagining her darting off into the neighbor's bushes. Someone got a spank and so stayed away while mom was cleaning the door to take pictures today.

Back to the front door. I think I need some yellow mums or something to complete the picture. My garage sale pumpkins from this post are out there, but I need some yellow or orange.

P.S. I think my front door needs some color. Not red, as EVERYONE and their dog has a red door and our brick is not quite red. I am thinking navy...

Curious

Why does one need a cake made out of felt?

No idea.

More Dinner Angst

So sickness has infected our house once again. This time I am fine and the hubs is the sad one.

I would post a real picture of his pathetic-ness, but it involves whiteness and boxers and being surrounded by video games and sympathetic cats which makes it hard to feel bad for him.

Anywhoo, this business of feeling bad and trading feeling bad has us reevaluating our eating once again. We do good for a week or two, and then it slowly tapers off to crap yet again.

We have decided to up the vegetables this time around. We have both been craving them, which means our bodies are in desperate need.

Tonight I did not have a good idea. I had 2 chicken poblano sausage links defrosted, and that was as far as I got yesterday. They are 220 calories each which isn't bad for their tastiness and considering it is dinner.

So I made it up as I cooked. I sauteed the meat (out of its casing). I kept it on low heat and added a diced tomato and a ton of spinach to the sausage after it was cooked through. I turned off the heat shortly after because I wanted the spinach to wilt only a little tiny bit. When the brown rice was done I added about 2 TBSP (not much) worth of finely grated cheddar into it with a dash of salt and some pepper to give it flavor. Then I served the meat and veggies on top of the rice.

The review was good.

Bunny trail alert! Isn't he cute? He cut off all his hair yesterday so he looks like the man I married, and the beard has been gone for a long time now. But he is still handsome both ways.

Back to the review! J liked the flavor of the rice and that the little bit of cheese made it sticky. I liked that it was filling, and that he did not appear to notice the tomatoes.

We have also decided to add a salad every night. I know, I know, who doesn't have salad every night? Well, we restaurant people do not. There is nothing worse than feeding people all night, putting up with their shit, and then having to come home and feed yourself. Sigh.

I also have to say that I do not enjoy cooking. It seems worth it when 20 people sing your praises, but even then it is not something I would label enjoyable. It is breaking even, effort = result. I think I like to cook more because I am a control-freak than because I enjoy it.

I do like to bake. Sadly, that will only get me increasing my jean size. I try to bake on occasions when it will all be given away. Speaking of which, I tried a new peanut butter cupcake recipe that you can find here. They were delicious, moist, and a crowd pleaser at the hubs thesis defense.

That's right, I bribe with cupcakes. Want to come clean my house?

Little Miss High and Low

As you probably divined from yesterday's post, I was a:

But then I got a phone call this morning from an agency that made me:

And now that it has all sunk in, I am a:

YaY Me!

I not only have a practicum site, I saw an AMAZING Christmas gift idea that made me race to Goodwill to find treasures galores! Tomorrow I start painting!

But what you ask?

I will tell you in January!

Suspense

I hate suspense. I cannot handle commercials. Delayed gratification is an unknown concept in my world.

Take Saturday for instance. I had a gift idea, so I got dressed and went looking. That is how one gets things done.

So probably not, Andy Warhol. Not in my world.

I have been waiting over a month for a call. A practicum site that I want said they would decide by November 1st. So I figured they would call today. Another practicum site said they would call today. Both sites said they would call whether I was accepted or not. So who knows what no calls means. It means I am about to give myself an ulcer, that is what it means. SIGH.

Making my list

And checking it twice.

Bowling pins - check!

All I have left is the turkey.

There is the cleaning and massive amounts of food, but the important things are in the trunk of my car. I might also mention that I got 10 used bowling pins for $5.03 at the local bowling alley. Much cheaper than 10, 3 Liter bottles of cola that have the potential to burst.

Also, thanks to craigslist I am buying a turkey fryer for $25. Woo-hoo!

I think Thanksgiving will be the good holiday this year. I can't even wrap my mind around Christmas. If it is not going to be in Paris or at Disneyland and completely devoid of anything that might bring up sad memories I don't want anything to do with it. I have answers to give people about it, but I just cannot bring myself to make a decision. Instead I have decided to not worry about being over the top and to make Thanksgiving an EXTRAVAGANZA. If it is big enough, maybe I'll still be in a turkey coma at Christmas.

Curses and Chair Breakings

As you may know, the hubs is deep in thesis writing. We are t-minus 2 days until completion. This week the stress level has been amped up as his self-imposed deadline approaches. The last 2 nights we have been playing the Star Trek trivia game my mother gave him a couple of years ago.

The first time we opened the game he said, "These game pieces are not to scale." The game pieces are tiny versions of the first 4 Star Trek ships. Luckily my sister-in-law witnessed his nerdiness so we can bring it up and taunt him mercilessly.

The first time the 3 of us played I won. J then put the game away and declared it stupid. Now, 3 years later it has come out and I failed to live up to the challenge. Our current standings are him 3, me 1. I have to win the next 3 games. It kills me to lose. Especially after I over-thought the winning answer because he GAVE ME A LOOK, so I changed my original answer. Then he changed his answer and WON. It hurts people, it hurts. 

I might also mention tomorrow's double at the restaurant is going to hurt given I stayed up until 3am challenging him to a rematch. 

I also would like to state that I have always publicly defended Voyager because she has female captain and I thought it was important. No more Voyager. You moronic pile of a series no one cares about. And Chacotay? Piece of **** with a MEDICINE BUNDLE IN SPACE? Seriously. You can put Voyager in the photo collage of Jessica's Arch Nemesis. 

Going to bed. 

Things the Hubs Cannot Stand

In no particular order:

Pointy items standing UP in the dishwasher

Possums (one killed his roommate in college)

Things that burst in your mouth

The evil sun

Olives and broccoli

Unfortunately no picture description: Dampness

(particularly of the clothes and the state of being damp)

He is very sweet and I am poking fun at his quirks, so I will also show you...

Here he his teaching my little cousin to tie his tie before Grandmother's funeral.

He is so cute.

Turkey Wrangling

I am determined to have a big, fluffy Thanksgiving this year. The hubs and I have gone a little overboard inviting people. He because he wants to fry turkeys, and I for many reasons some conscious and some unconscious. 

The main dilemma seems to be coming up with a suitable activity to fit the outrageousness that I feel. Personally, turkey wrangling seems to fit the bill. I can see people in jeans chasing a turkey around my backyard falling in the mud, shouting obscenities at the turkey, rolling around laughing, and people cheering from the porch. It's beautiful! 

I was slightly disappointed not to be able to find any pictures of anyone ACTUALLY wrangling turkeys by hand. But apparently, it is not for ordinary folks.

When we lived on our 3rd floor apartment we had the Great Pumpkin Toss of '06 after dinner. 

Ideally we could repeat this, but even if we got on the roof what would we be aiming for? the dumpster in the apartment complex was perfect. Sigh. I have gotten some suggestions, but most lack the OOMPH of fun and unforgettableness that I am trying to achieve. Call me modern, but charades just doesn't do it for me. 

There is a possible option of turkey bowling. One of the local bowling alleys sells old pins 10 for $5. We could do a small turkey or chicken to stay cheap. S and I are still trying to work out the logistics. For example, are the neighbors going to be down with this? It also seems to be mostly in places with hard-packed snow. 

I did find an interesting article here which talks about the various types of turkey bowling. My favorite is the third type of turkey bowling. It reminds me of the hind-and-go-seek we used to play in Walmart in college:

The last and final style is the rogue "Grocery Store Turkey Bowler". This menace to society will set up soda bottles,(or any other bottles he/she can get their hands on) in an empty grocery store isle. This method usually involves an accomplice to watch for store employees, and another to shoot video while the bowler pitches his bird down the makeshift lane. It's not likely you will get a full 10 frames in the store. Usually it's pitch and run before you hear "Security in the frozen meat section".

Apparently Texas has a long history of turkey bowling if you would like to see George Bush turkey bowl while governor you can do so here.  It seems I am just gathering more and more evidence to talk myself into this turkey bowling. :)  I'll let you know how it goes. 

New Cookbook

In an attempt (that lasted until we got sick) to eat a little smidgeon better for dinner, the hubs and I battled it out in Half Price books until we agreed on a cookbook. It is titled, 12 Best Foods Cookbook, and so far has been fun! Although, keep in mind for us anything not Hamburger Helper (which is now banned) is fun.

So, to start off each of us picked a couple of recipes we'd like to try. Naturally I picked the easiest to make recipes and J picked the hardest ones with no broccoli. Sigh. The hubs has a broccoli hatred that comes with an attached rant that will make you want to bury your head in the garden and eat grubs rather than listen to it. So while this cookbook does have broccoli (calm yourself J & George B.), we are skipping that section.

First I tried the Shrimp with Cherry Tomatoes and Feta.

Unfortunately for you guys, I forgot to take the picture while the plate was pretty...

We both thought it was pretty tasty, my only problem was that you CANNOT buy 2 TBSP of feta all by its lonesome. So in order to justify the purchase of feta, we had to use it for the next week and a half.

The special ingredients are my biggest problem in cooking for the two of us. Finding little fun ingredients in small packages is a wild goose hunt. We then end up eating something in different meals every other night. Oh well, what do you do? At least we're not cooking for more than two, so we can get away with a vegetable and a meat most nights since we eat late.

Sweet Potato Salmon Cakes

The other day I had some leftover salmon and decided to experiment since leftovers usually go to waste around here.

The second time I attempted it I made a full batch and it was yummy the second time too!

Here's what I used:

10-12oz Salmon

1 egg

1-2 TBSP unbleached flour

3/4 cupish grated sweet potato (grated on the small side)

diced onion

fresh dill (I am growing it, so it was free!)

salt and pepper

Form into medium sized cakes, heat oil in a skillet, and saute until lightly browned.

I also added some green beans to hot oil with a little salt, pepper, and at the last minute balsamic vinegar.

It met with approval from the hubs, and was something different!

I would like to note that I did make the second batch with canned salmon in an attempt to be thrifty. That will not be happening again. It was not even pink! Yikes! I will admit it does save time since there is no baking ahead of time. Perhaps in the future I will give pouch salmon a try, but the jury is still out on that one.

My Intervention

Let me introduce to my pretty sister, S. She owns several make-up bags, has filled at least one standing jewelry chest, and can carry off sequined trucker caps because people are mesmerized by her eyelashes. Oh, and she's a guera. And lucky for me, she likes to stay with me when she's in town, dress me, and make me look nice. (I just typed nice, but pronounced it nyyyyce in my head)

So, meet S....

So, for my birthday this year my fabulous sister bought me Bare Minerals. Which I was worried about, since makeup application is really not my forte.

In true infomercial fashion I decided to take a poorly lit, sans makeup, non-smiling, unpleasant photo of myself. It then took me a month to get up the nerve to post in on the interwebs.

This is a picture of getting started, before the wreckage occurred. Lucky for me, it comes with a video that I watched while applying in my guest bathroom since the hubs was still asleep. Note: Bare Minerals comes off computer keyboards with a little spit on the finger.

Here is my after picture. I took it next to a window, from up above, and tried Tyra "happy eyes". You see, I am smiling with my eyes just like Tyra tells all the girls to do.

So, in true Clark howard style I will say that I have been wearing the make-up for a month and I like it. I am almost down to my other makeup speed of application. I still use other concealer for bad spots, but I like the softer, younger look it gives my skin. Also, it was free since it was a gift, and so therefore a great buy! Thanks, S!

Dedication

The hubs in the middle of writing his master's thesis. After subtle inquiry I have discovered that he has not dedicated it yet, or even decided if he is going to. 

Whaaat???

For some strange twist in logic the reasoning behind not putting a dedication in it is that it will be bound and go in the school library for all eternity. Which in my mind sounds like a perfect reason for a dedication, but who can understand these scholar types. 

So, in my own little inconspicuous way I have come up with a few dedications myself. 

Let's vote!

#1 - To my very own wifey who faithfully washed (and occasionally folded) all the boxers that I wore while writing this book.

#2 - To my wife whom I love and adore with all my heart and for a whole year did not touch my piles of papers in the office even when company was coming.

#3 - To the LOVE of my LIFE who often kept our loud, vocal, always hungry, jobless, mooches of cats away from my office door while I was writing. 

#4 - To my very own Julia Child of a wife who fed me bruschetta and many other culinary delights every week until this was finished. 

#5 - To my muse, Isabelle. 

All winners, if I do say. 

Huck's Unrealized Talent

It appears Huckleberry has an artistic side that the hubs and I have been failing to encourage. We are such rotten parents. All this time his budding talent has been forced to sleep away the hours his little artist's soul was crying for a paintbrush. 

As you can see above, complete apathy had set in as he grudgingly accepted his life with us. But in a lucky coincidence his mommy needed a birthday present for a 3-year-old with a brand new room. Luckily for his mommy, Huck was willing to help throughout the entire process. 

Huck and I's finished product! I bought these letters (which were dull & boring white) at Hobby Lobby. Lucky for me and my wallet, they were having a 50% Wall Sale! Man, I love me some Hobby Lobby!

I had a moment of panic once home and realized there was no way I could paint circles freehand, and even if I could my brushes are getting frayed and I would never be able to stay in the lines. So I tore the end off the ribbon spool and used it as my stencil. Huck approved of the move, and after painting we moved on to the ribbon. We cut the ribbon into 7 pieces, well I actually did the cutting since I have the thumbs, but I digress. Then we tied the bows in the middle, loosely measured the length from the letters using the scissor blade as a ruler, and then glue gunned the heck out of it. 

I think Huck has an affinity for paint since when we found him at the shelter he had a silver paint mark on his forehead to identify him. And just for kicks, and since I am his mommy, above is a picture of him as a little baby in the Kleenex box he liked to sleep in. He was so tiny, and now he is a puma. Sigh. 

Oh, and since we should probably mention the human child all this was for, sweet Jocelyn who  turned 3! She wore a polka-dot dress and was her usual adorable self. It is very weird to me that she used to sit quietly at the restaurant in a stroller and stack cups. Now she holds phone conversations with me and goes everywhere on her own two feet! 

What a wonderful year 3 will be for her and those of us that get to watch her! 

Satisfying Wednesday

This is what most of today looked like for the hubs and I. 

Although I had my own book. 

And there were cats infecting us with sleepiness all around.

It was a perfect way to get over the last weeks of paper writing and finals. 

And it rained. Perfection.

In a burst of energy we got dressed and sought food. In another miracle J wanted to see a movie I wanted to see...

It made us laugh out loud, because who had any idea that Julia Child was so nutty? 

Not I said the fly. 

Then, to top it all off, the hubs folded the clothes that have been threatening our very existence while he watched The Simpson's for the first time since digital television. Oh, AND he picked fabulous rugs for the guest bath at Target that I never would have looked twice at. More to come on THAT later...

Nostalgic Nest

The International School of Color and Design offers a quiz on your decorating style here. My results were Nostalgic Nest which apparently means I am sentimental, not driven by trends, down to earth, and make my own treasures. 

Spot on! Besides, I love an internet quiz that doesn't involve spelling errors and checking boxes. 

Sadly, after coercing the hubs to take the same quiz we discovered his tastes are quite a bit different. His style personality is Sleek New Earth which apparently he considers the technological side of our space. Whaaaaatevs! The plus side is that supposedly he loves the outdoors and loves to bring the into his space. That would complimentary to my results except for the fact that he hates the sun. Which gives me a whole new idea for a blog on the crazy things the hubs abhors. Tune in next week! 

'Tis a Puzzlement

So these are my newest acquisitions: 

They are old tin ceiling tiles. I got the largest at an antique store in Burnet, TX on my birthday and the other two I got off Ebay, because I could not wait to stumble upon them on my own. I also needed them RIGHT THEN so I could hang them all together. 

As it always goes, they are just leaning against the wall in the dining room a month past when I HAD TO HAVE THEM. Just like how I HAVE TO explain this with capital letters. 

So, here enters the dilemma. How to hang them? Below are some pics of the empty wall that NEEDED HELP RIGHT THEN. 

I am concerned about balancing the three shapes. I also need to figure out how to Superglue some sort of hanging contraption onto the back of them. 

Of course now I am looking at the pictures and thinking about how plain that wall looks, and should I paint it first? I probably should have whispered that so that hubs doesn't have a conniption. 

But I do think the tiles will look great with the sea shell centerpiece and white curtains. Which I intentionally brought up JUST SO I could show you the picture! I picked up the shells in May at Shell Beach in Florida. The beach had perfect shells there, but most had living creatures in them, and I was not down with committing a senseless murder just for a shell with no specific purpose.

Maybe I should clarify: Not down with senseless murder for specific decorating purposes or any other reason. 

There was also the question of the plane ride home, so I opted for the already busted pieces to take with me. Some broke even more on the way home, but that was fine given I found this fantastic woven plate charger on sale before I left, which made me a girl with a plan. 

I have never been one for shells or sea themes. However, I have enjoyed these shells immensely. Maybe because they are not perfect. Maybe because the entire centerpiece cost $5 including the doily runner I picked up at a garage sale. Maybe because it was the first vacation I have ever taken with the purpose of relaxing and not SEEING. 

So, the dining area. A work in progress. I'll keep you posted. 

Real World

Well, there is a model home sale on Thursday and I will be working. Sigh. 

Here is a picture of what Isabelle will be doing while I work and others shop. Huckleberry, naturally, will be asleep. 

Happy Hunting!

Happy Sleeping!

More Isabelle Approved Items

I got these fabulous finds at a random INDOOR sale! Woo-hoo for shopping in air conditioning. I remembered the hubs and dug through the dude's record collection to find Johnny Cash and John Denver for him. I found for myself the Buddy Holly record Sis and I used to dance around to when we were kids.

The framed mirror is solid wood and here is an up-close shot of the corner detail. 

Isabelle obviously still thinks Buddy Holly lives, so we will just keep dancing and keep it quiet. 

The mirror tray was $1 and the pots $2. I also snagged a vacuum cleaner for $10, but it just wouldn't have looked good in the picture. Not to mention I didn't want to empty it or vacuum before the picture taking. Priorities people!