Music

I love music. Its an integral part of my life.

Growing up I remember riding in the car with my mom, listening to the radio or the Dirty Dancing Soundtrack. I loved the Dirty Dancing soundtracks. Then riding with Dad to school in the mornings listening to FM 100 with Ron and Karen in the mornings.

As I grew older I developed my own tastes. The Dirty Dancing soundtracks were a few of the first CDs I owned. They're still an old fall back I adore. Over the years I've established quite the collection of music and rarely have a quiet time without some kind of music going on.

At work, we listen to the mainstream radio. It drives me absolutely crazy listening to the same popular songs multiple times a day. I've grown to hate them all actually. Listening to my iPod in the car ride home is always a refreshing break.

My current tastes are for alternative, indie music, with some classic rock thrown in for good measure.

But on the weekends, I have a strong only oldies stance. I don't know why. But we only listen to oldies in the car on Saturdays and Sundays. Riding in the car with the car with the windows down, shades on, and singing to the top of our lungs our favorite oldies just makes me smile. Its what weekends are supposed to feel like.

Good Husband

The Baddass is sooooo good to me. Two recent items of proof:

Item A) I couldn't sleep the other night and I woke him up to tell him that I couldn't sleep because I had a country music song stuck in my head. And he lovingly agreed that it was terrible.

Item B) I wasn't feeling well the past day or so and he took me to get ice cream and a sun dress to make me feel better. He sure knows how to perk a girl up!

Leaning

One of the things I loved right away about our house is the back extra room. It was part of an addition later on and is a small room attached to the laundry room and guest bedroom. Its too small to really be a bedroom, but its the perfect size for a large walk in closet or study. The previous owner had a clothing rack in there when we toured it. I claimed the room as my own before we even put an offer on the house.

The day we closed on the house we bought two cheap garment racks at Bed, Bath and Beyond. And my mom gave us another to make three. Her's was the metal, study kind, but didn't have a shelf on top. The two we purchased were mostly plastic with metal rods. We ran into problems right away. One of them leaned and the other fell over a day after we put it up. One held only shirts, so we lowered that and haven't had any problems since. The other held dresses and an organizer, so we just let it lean. The leaning got progressively worse. So we broke down and purchased a replacement, this time springing for the more expensive variety.

Check it out:


Leaning


Tigger approved stable clothing rack.

This change also prompted some cleaning, straightening, and giving away, furthuring sprucing up my closet space.

I need to decide what to do with the walls. They seem a bit blank over the racks. Maybe I will frame my Chanel calendar after all this time. Any thoughts?

A morning with Bosco

Since the Baddass and I both work full time, we usually leave Bosco outside while we're gone. On Saturday, I was off but the husband was working. So Bosco and I chilled at the house in the morning.

Bosco has developed a fascination with the bathroom. She knows how to open the door if we close it. She is constantly pulling things out of the trash can. I've found a couple of her toys in the shower.

But Saturday she had the worst bathroom obsession yet. I was in the kitchen reading and she wondered off for a few minutes. I call for her to stop whatever she's gotten into and she runs out with the husband's tooth brush in her mouth. Since it wasn't mine, I was amused.

Later she pulled the entire roll of the toilet paper off.



Even though she can get into mischief pretty easily, you can't look at her face without loving her.

Shower Curtain

Our shower is a bit funky. It requires basically a shower curtain and a half. The previous owner had one custom made and then left it for us. I am very grateful to have it while I figure out what I want to replace the last remaining evidence of purple in my house. I've narrowed it down to a few options (but that doesn't mean that I'm not still open to more choices)



What do you think?

Summer is here!!!

Its officially summer in my books. Weather is almost oppressive. I'm starting to sweat more than I am comfortable with. Dresses and skirts are worn in favor of my beloved jeans. Flip flops are necessary with ALL outfits. And I fixed this meal:



Grilled corn, fresh corn on the cob, fresh peas, salad, bread, beer. There's absolutely nothing better.

Things that make me happy

A bill being $20 less than normal. Put that savings directly into additional principal on the mortgage.

I love little surprises like that.

Zoo Brew, too

Here are a couple of pictures from the other nice... sorry there aren't any with the beer... we were so concentrated on the beer that taking pictures completely slipped our mind until we sat down for a breather.


Chad and Julie


The Baddass and myself

We had a great time and can't wait for the next time!

Heaven is a place on Earth

Zoo Brew... or as some may like to call it Zoo Broo. Its got to be one of the few things that are like heaven on earth. All you can drink beer and all you can eat movie-style popcorn, plus good friends for company. Nice!

Estate Sales

A few years ago my mom started going to estate sales fairly regularly on the weekends. Not being interested in stuff for a home or decorating, I rarely went. (Although I did find some cool vintage necklaces the few times I went.) But since getting married, I have taken to going almost every weekend. Its become quite the addiction. I won't even need anything, but still feel the urge to go, just because you never know what you might stumble upon. (And sometimes its fun just to go in different homes!)

The Baddass doesn't usually like going to estate sales, so I usually go with my mom, sister-in-law, or by myself. In fact, the first time I took him to a sale, he claimed he was creeped out.

He's a pretty good sport about my coming home with random things from my shopping ventures. But he's never picked anything out himself... until this past weekend.

We had gone to a sale on Saturday, but didn't find anything. Sunday we met my parents and grandparents to give them something at the same sale. We were wondering around pointing out things that were too expensive to purchase. Then the Baddass wonders in and says he's seen something. It was quite adorable and I urged him to ask what the price was. Since it was reasonable, we went ahead and purchased it.

Now my sweet hubby, is an estate sale shopper too. I'm not sure that he'll want to go along with me most of the time or even ever pick something out again. But it made my little heart jump for a brief second (or going on three days now).

Check out the purchase in our bedroom:


I have been looking for weeks for something to put on the ground by the fireplace. The colors are perfect for the room and its a unique object. I had shied away from the usual items readily available at many of the decorating stores, simply because I hate having something that is in millions of other homes. (One of the many reasons I like shopping at estate sales to begin with.)

So good job, Baby!

Monkey Bread

Last week the Pioneer Woman posted a monkey bread recipe on her website. Being a child of the South, its not the first time I'd seen monkey bread, but I figured my yankee-born husband probably hadn't had it and he would probably love it. So I bought the ingredients and got up early-ish on Saturday morning to bake for my sweet hubby.

I followed the directions and anxiously awaited a delicious treat.

Apparently my bundt pan is slightly thicker and requires a longer baking time or something because when I flipped it to put in a plate, it looked like this:



It was indeed quiet delicious, but I was disappointed in the presentation. Oh well, it was just for us, so no sweat.

Cookbook Roulette

I love food. I love good food. My favorite thing to do is eat a good meal. I love eating out at delicious, local restaurants.

We can't afford to eat out all the time, so we eat at home a good amount of the time. Which means that someone's gotta do the cooking. And since the Baddass works later than me, that leaves me or Bosco to do the cookin'.

My Google Reader is overflowing with food blogs and recipes. But sometimes I still get bored and have absolutely no inertia to decide what will be for dinner. So I devised a new game, if you will, to decide. I call it, cookbook roulette.

The Baddass chooses a number at random and then we cook something on or near that page. Tuesday night we had mixed vegetable salad with peanut sauce. Last night we had burritos.

Its fun to make something different and not feel the pressure of deciding. Plus, it is forcing me to make things that I normally wouldn't have thought of.

16 weeks

Bosco turned 16 weeks Monday.

She's starting to learn to "sit" and is not pestering the cat as much.

The biting has gotten a bit better and she's giving more kisses.

She loves to cuddle and be close or on you while she's chewing her bone.

But she still needs to stop jumping on people.

We love our baby girl and are having so much fun watching her grow.

The Guest Room

Here is the guest room... so far. Please don't judge, its still a work in progress.







Things I'd like to do:
- Get a new duvet. Too much yellow.
- Pillow shams that match something.
- Lamp, I'm thinking a dark green.
- Shades
- hang art work.

Any ideas of what else we should do?

Score

We finally got the guest bedroom looking more like a guest bedroom and less like a paint supply/storage closet. But there are a few final touches needed. Like throw pillows, pillow shams, beside lamp, bedside table. And there a few more things like to do, like getting some outdoor storage to put the bikes and lawn mower up. I haven't seen too many guest rooms with lawn mowers.

So I went to the nearby T.J. Maxx to see if I could find anything for the guest room. But I found something else instead.

We were fortunate enough to be able to get a king size bed from family members. Its an awesome mattress and super comfy, not to mention tons of room if we feel like sprawling out. But its extra deep. Every night one or both of our corners pops off. I've been looking sporadically for extra deep sheets, but they are super expensive.

But today I totally scored. Extra deep king sheets with a high thread count of Egyptian cotton. All for the low low price of $29.95. Whooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!! So happy... now I just need to get an extra deep mattress pad.

Margaritas

The Baddass and I have this thing that helps us get through the week. Its called Margarita Mondays. That's right, every Monday we partake in Margaritas. It is much needed most Mondays.

We've sampled margaritas at many of the local Mexican restaurants. My favorite by far is Molly's half and half margarita. Not only is it delicious, but the Baddass and I can share when one more is just too much. (Normally he likes his frozen and I like my margarita on the rocks.)

We've also tried many of the mixes to make at home. Nothing, let me reiterate, NOTHING compares to this though:



That's right, Fat Mama's Knock You Naked. Its not just a sweet name, its the best damn margarita mix, ever. Its not overly strong, but I think it gets its name because its so delicious that you keep drinking and keep drinking and then low behold, you're naked!

You can purchase it on their website.... please buy me some too... or buy it and make it and then invite me over!

Shop Local

I came across this today in my readings.




(Sorry it is weird on here... I'm not competent at web-lingo)

This is something that I'm going to try do and would encourage anyone else to do as well. And I'm not saying this because my husband is employed by a local business. What would our community be like if everything was a big chain store? It makes me want to vomit.


More information here: http://www.the350project.net/home.html

Our Mess

Yesterday morning I was bragging to my mom at how good Bosco has been lately. She has been much better about the biting. Yes, she still bites, but she's much more receptive to pets and knows she's not supposed to bite. That's progress, my friends. She even has shown signs of knowing when she needs to go outside to go to the bathroom. As long as she has a stick to chew on she's a perfect angel.

I spoke too soon.

Yesterday after work was a freakin' nightmare. She dug up two planters of pansies in the backyard. She discovered she likes to eat cat poop and seems to be interested in the cat food we keep on top of the dryer. She can almost reach it. She can chew a stick faster than I can make dinner. She peed on me, my mother, and the couch. Then she ran out of the room and came back with a mouthfull of cat poop and litter. Nice.

This morning Bryan had to clean the kennel because apparently there was a poop-fest in there overnight. I'm incredibly glad I missed that. We wouldn't let her back in for some quality time this morning. She was covered in poop and we didn't have time to deal with her.

What happened?!