Match Game

I have a super fun game to play with you!
First, I will post two conversations and two groups of people. Then, you guess which people had which conversation.

Group A)
“Hey!”
“Hey!”
“We have some super exciting news!”
“Yeah? What?”
“Well, I’m NOT pregnant…” *laughter all around* “WE’RE GOING TO EUROPE!!!”
(follow with banter back and forth of who-what-where-when)

Gr0up B)
“Hey.”
“Hey.”
“Though you’d like to know, we booked our tickets for Europe.”
“And which country are you making me a grandbaby in?”

People 1) Steve’s Parents
People 2) My Parents

****
I do totally wish I was making this up.
Well, not the Europe part because that’s REAL.
IT’S REAL.
I’M GOING TO EUROPE!!!!

Chocolate Fix

Some people (looking at you CWG) seem to think that I’ve gone completely joyless.
To prove you wrong, here are some happy things.

1) My changed lifestyle-contingency medication is “so far so good”.  Since Sunday, I have not had a headache so bad that I gave serious consideration to taking an ice pick to my temple; thus the reason for the change.

2) My friends and I went out to dinner at Melting Pot last night with $5 of each of our dinners going towards cancer research.  Plus, there were drinks.

3) Afterward, one of the girls and I went to Penny’s and I let her dress me up.  “I’m the Anthony Bourdain to your Stacy London!”, I exclaimed as we made our way toward the register.
My purchase?
Something I NEVER EVER EVER considered.

Not actually me, nor the actual vest (mine is grey with pin striping)

I purchased a vest.
“I feel like a project!”, I said.  “You ARE my project!”, she giggles.
And today, I have donned the vest.  Thought I don’t have a “real” photo as it’s hard to take photos of myself and I’m not going to any of my co-workers to ask them to take a photo because that sounds like a can of worms I don’t want to open.

4) With last weekend’s near-sub-zero temperatures, I thought I would give a science experiment a go.
In case you’re not familiar, when it gets to be booger-freezing cold out, bubbles are supposed to freeze.
I.E.

Seeing as we do not have any “real” bubbles in the house, I decided to concoct some.
(For the record, “catnip bubbles” suck)
Also remembering that it’s been years since I’ve done any bubbling and that it was like, 2 degrees out, I opted to practice before heading out.
Bailey was amused.

Soap is tasty!

waiting

so close!

vicious!

It is here somwhere...

look, I sparkle

(P.S. bubbles didn’t freeze but I did)

5) And this gem just came into my office.

Mayor of AuctionTown/Ow. Ow Ow owowow

Given the number of items scrubbed from my to-do list, here is the ULTRA-EXCITING (yet, photo free) rundown.

Friday
* Now, I don’t know if it’s because I look like someone who would not collect antiquities or what, but, Friday night began my reign of AuctionTown.
Whilst scoping out the potential booty, I think EVERYONE working the event chatted with me for a few moments.  Basically chatter about what this is and how this goes, etc.
Even the owner of the auction house talked with me for a few minutes.  Neat.
I went in to get markings from items and determine how much I wanted to spend on what.  Also, I like to play a game where I do not bid on things, but try to price them out (a la “Cash in the Attic”) and see how I do.
* On my way to “grandma”s house (called grandma because she’s Steve grandma), I pit-stopped at the tattoo shop (aside: weeeeee! Two days!) and met my artist.  And then the shame set in.
Me: So, yeah, I mean, the idea was right, but the execution left a bit to be desired.
Her: Uh-hmmm.
Me: So, you know, I mean, I know it’s permanent and everything, but if you could like, make the petals less pointy and the top less tall…
Her: More petals?
me: um, well, I mean, whatever.
her: Was this a cover-up the first time?
me: no.
her: Oh.  Hmm.  I’ll see what I can do.
* Dinner on the water with MIL.  Yeah!  Stuffed peppers and fish!  Boo! Piss poor service.  Did I mention the peppers?
* Comfort The Beans who was deep in her sorrow over Dad leaving for the weekend.

Saturday
* Meet my court at the auction.  Countless “YOU’RE HERE!!!”s.  Sweet.
* Win three items: Green velvet/rhinestone bakelite purse $12.50, Lot of silver plated things $2.50, 1901 Pan American Exposition Playing cards with box $50.00 (proxy purchase)
* In the “pricing game” I correctly assessed three out of the four lots we stayed for.  Win.
* Go to lunch with ‘lissa at Max’s which was pleasantly surprising.
* Enter the “wrong side of town” to go to Buffalo ReUse/ReSource.  “New” medicine cabinet with mirror $5, Five drawer pulls $8, “Beer Money” ceramic jar $1, Window for “project” $6
* Coffee.
* Stumble across Habitat for Humanity, ReStore.  Double chrome towel bar $6, Mrs.TeaPot $4(payback), 2 quarts of paint $3.00
* Fawn over 5,000,000 colors of paint at Lowe’s.
* Drop off ‘lissa with dowery of animal crackers.
* Remove “old” medicine cabinet, take off shower curtain, wipe walls, prime bathroom twice.
* Realize it’s 11pm.
* Sleep

Sunday
* Paint walls, twice.
* Clean kitchen, including dishes.  Return beer which has been on the kitchen table for over a week to it’s proper location.
* Feel guilt (only some) that I didn’t “brave the crowds” for the French Connection.  Opted to lug around a BOWLING BALL for basketball people to sign.  (?what’s a basketball?)  This effort was met with a whiny, “Pppppppphil’s wife went for himmmmm” to which the rebuttal was, “If it was that important, you should have been more clear OR not gone to Montreal.”
* Locate oxyclean spray, which is by far, the BEST thing since, um.  Well, it’s good.
* Grocery shop.
* Saw into wall to fit “new” cabinet which was measured at ReStore as per Steve’s specs.
* Get bonked in noggen with metal cabinet.
* Install Cabinet.
* Double coat pre-existing wall unit.
* Realize it’s 10pm.
* Sleep.

Today
* a weekend of squatting and stretching has left me achy.

Various Points of Interest (?)

1)
After what could only be described as MONTHS of putting-offedness (Exactly six months, actually) I have decided that this weekend is Re-Paint the Ugly Bathroom weekend.  I have not yet decided on colors: two?  Three?  Green?  Green-blue?  Blue?  Brown?  Light brown?
I also have no fixtures on the vanity (still).
Should I paint the vanity?
Let’s consult a martini.

2)
Ms. Pronoun has an serious case “OverShareitis”.
The manifestation was, um, overwhelming yesterday and I’m formulating ways to tell her “look, that’s not something that you should be sharing with people in the workplace.” (but sounding less like a bitch, natch).
Oh, the things she has told me… remember, I’ve been here two months… her sex life, how she likes to take “it”, dirty cell phone photos/jokes, “female” issues, student loan debt, money issues.  Oh, tip’o’the iceburg.

3)
Starting to notice the Sirius/XM merger.  My favorite station (“new wave”, Fred on 44) is even better than it was before… thank goodness someone is finally giving early industrial the props it deserves.

4)
Next Wednesday I’m getting my tat re-inked!
Seeing as she’s ten years old (holy crap!  what?) she’s due for a touch up.
Not really that nervous about it… still banking that the artist is going to be able to fix my ink up.
There’s nothing aesthetically wrong with my ink, it’s well, the idea was a wilted daisy and the photo I found was a purple coneflower.  Subsequently, my ink looks more cornflower (pointed petals, larger yellow/pollen thing, purple leaves) than daisy (round, white petals, flat pollen thing).
The un-herbal call it a daisy, the trained eye knows it is an echinashia.

How I Spent my Holiday Weekend: By Stephanie

Come on now, you should know that there is no way my yard looked like this.

It started off like this…

But before that, Melissa came over and helped me decorate two Patriotic Cup-Cakes.

ah-ha-ha-ha! They’re cakes, made from cupcakes! Thanks to “Hello Cupcake!”, though ours looked pretty much nothing like the one in the book except that they were made from cupcakes. But I did get to organize a stack of paper baking cups into 4 colors.

Then Friday morning I got to work. Here are some pre-pictures.

I pulled up a box of weeds… put the weed barriers in place AND mulched. Steve did do three or four “deliveries” to the area, pulled out two barberries (if your landscaper says that barberries are a good idea, I want you to punch them.) and planted our two new plants.

Screw you barberry!

That is the hole you USED to occupy and now you’re behind the tree in the back of the house. You didn’t even give me a chance to kill you, I guess you wanted it to hurt when Steve removed you from the garden. I never liked you anyways.

Now this I like…

That would be a cactus. Yes, like a real cactus, blooming in MY YARD!!!

And here’s your required Bailey picture of the event. She hadn’t seen a sprinkler in action, so when we put the new one on, she didn’t know what to do.

After some well deserved showers, we went over to a friends house for a cook out, volleyball and a fire. B likes to go over because they have a black lab and they basically spend the day chasing the ball around the yard.
Here she is, waiting for SOMEONE, ANYONE to throw the ball.

Our friends also have two girls (3 years and 11 months) and I’ll usually hang out with them… thus explaining the toys in the background.
BTW, Steve left me a message on the answering machine last night (I opted to hang out in the yard). “(the 3-year old) wants to know where you and Bailey are because she misses you.”
So when Beeses is done playing, she lays down.

Yes, she is RIGHT NEXT to the grill. She also likes to lay next to the fire and a few fires ago, an ember landed on her. She was excited because people were touching her, to put out the smoldering ember.

Sunday morning, I put the swing together and Steve worked on some mulching. I then cleard out the last weed box and cleared the way for my flags, peonies and some cool purple plant. I planted Sweet Dreams and Heaven’s Gate in the back box and once they really take, I’ll photograph them.
We also compromised on the daisies.
I pulled out the lot in front and replaced them with my Arizona Blanket.
The BirchBell is planted near the tree.
Steve moved the back hosta to the hole where the Most Evil Barberry was.

I love the fact that our yard is now nice to look at… neighbors probably think that someone new moved in… I’m no longer embarrassed of the view of my weed boxes from the road.
And at the end of the day, my cactus had bloomed twice.

(posted from the glider swing.)

So Gross!

CurlyWurlyGurly, you need to send your “people” over here in a few years as I just undertook the NASTIEST task I’ve done in a while.

Chunky pet vomit.   Got nothing on this.
Having to wipe cold pee off a public toilet seat.  Child’s Play.
Unknown hair in your food.  Mere pish-posh.

This whole thing started yesterday when I was talking to MomandDad.
“…And on top of everything, I think the fridge is going.”
“Well, think about how old it is.” (I was still in high school when we got the fridge)
“Yeah, I know, so you know, another straw…”
Dad pipes up.  “Did you vacuum it lately?”
“Ah-ha-ha-ha.  That’s a good one.”
“Seriously, with the cats and stuff, the intake is probably full of fur.”
“So you’re not kidding?”
“You mean you’ve never vacuumed the intake?”
“That would be a no.”

Apparently, whenever I got my homeowners manual, I must have skipped over the part about vacuuming the underpart of your fridge to keep it working.

Vacuum in hand, I lay on the floor and pop off the grating on the bottom of the unit, and release a  million dust bunnies in the process.
Coughing and sneezing, I jab the extension into the opening and watch the canister fill.
I hear this slight popping noise (“pffft.  pfft.  ppftt.”) and pull out the wand.  There was a hairball on the end of it that was large enough to put a collar on and sell to Paris Hilton as a pet.
I nearly gagged.
After getting the hairball dislodged, I took a couple more jabs under the fridge because there is no way I am going back in there anytime soon.

Okay, for comparison… if we wait a while (like a week, HEY, we’re busy folks) to vacuum, we’ll have two canisters of fur.
The Fridge Expedition yielded a canister.

Dear god, Steve gets that job next time the fridge start sputtering.

Yard Update

Yesterday was (sarcastic) Super Fun Yardwork Day!
(at least it was more fun the what Steve was doing… he had to work)

As usual, I found lots of fun things around the yard.

I got the patio umbrella up and hung the cute charms Mom&Dad got me for Christmas…

And the first strawberry is coming in!

Here’s a plant Mom got me the first year we set up the pond. We thought it was an annual, but I guess not as it’s come up every year. (BTW: for those gardeners who can’t remember the difference between annuals and perennials, perennials is a long word and thus the flowers last longer/every year).
I love the color of the flowers because they’re so bright compared the the lush greenness of the grass.

This is last years new plant, a mock orange. I only wish I could capture the smell of the flowers as they’re simply delicious.

Last weekend, I tilled up the remains of the veggie garden and I pulled up two boxes of weeds. I removed one box completely and reorientated the larger box for some perennials. If anyone (read: Steve) has taken the very obvious hinting that I would like some more perennials for my birthday (“You totally owe me a hibiscus and a rhododendron and an azalea”; he killed all three of them.) , I will hopefully be able to replant another box and a half.

Here’s my ironic Arizona Blanket Flower.

It’s the last peony of the season 😦

Here’s a cute little bug I purchased last weekend at The Allentown Art Festival. Which prompts the question, why aren’t real bugs this cute?

May I mention that it’s the end of June and I have not yet killed my petunias?

Hopefully within the next few weeks I will be able to show off full-grown strawberries, raspberries, grapes and a assortment of not-dead-flowers.

(oh, forgot this too.. couple of weeks ago, found one of these in the garden.  It’s an anaconda, I’m sure of it.)

(that’s Steve’s phone for reference.)

Super Awesome Kitchen Find!

Having a whole six bucks to my name yesterday, the voice inside my head tells me to pull over to this “GIANT yard sale –>”.

While the voice usually tells me to set things on fire, or to stop a project in the middle to take a nap, this time, it was right.  Check this out!

Holy crap, it’s a retro paper towel holder!  It’s steel (and in need of a cleaning) and totally new kitchen worthy and I don’t know where I ‘m going to put it and it’s got the deco-ish writing I so adore and, and and, AND, IT WAS $1!!!!!

(I sat it on the counter for pictures…  you can see the blender with aforementioned “strawberry shake” in the blender)

Uncharacterist Behavior (for me anyways) and Results/Recipe from Crock-Pot Wednesday

Uncharacteristic Behavior (for me anyways):
In a shocking twist of fate, I actually pulled a WWSD and opted to start finishing the kitchen BEFORE starting and abandoning the bathroom.
I KNOW!
So I pulled off the last of The Ugly Wallpaper from around the kitchen window, wiped the beer off the ceiling and primed.
I KNOW!
(BTW: Stephanie recommends putting away clean dishes BEFORE removing wallpaper.  Just saying.)
While the primer was drying, I removed straggling wallpaper from the bathroom and wiped down the walls and ceiling.  ew. You know, for a room that you get clean in, bathrooms are quite dirty.
Then I matched four of the approximately 100 paint chips to the shower curtain and started narrowing down what colors to go with.  I haven’t decided if I’m going with two or three colors (it’s a small bathroom and three may be too overwhelming) and if I’m going to paint the cabinet/doors.
Then I got lightheaded and decided to shower and go to bed; which was a very good idea.

Wednesday Night Crock-Pot Recipe: Taco Soup
1 pound of ground protein of your choice (you know, beef/turkey/Boca)
2 cans Pinto Beans (undrained)
1 can corn (undrained)
1 package each of dry Ranch dressing and Taco Seasoning
1/4 cup Italian Dressing (I know it’s weird)
2 cans of tomatoes of your choice (I prefer Del Monte’s tiny diced with Jalapenos)

Dump everything into a working slow cooker and set at low.  I freeze my beef so I go for 8 hours on low.  I’m guessing it would take less time with thawed flesh.
Top with shredded cheese and sour cream, ifn you want.  I ate mine with tortilla chips, but I suppose you can use a spoon.

Project #5874: Upstairs Bathroom

I do not understand the previous owner(s) love of wallpaper border.
Every room in the house had border when we moved in.  Now we are one less.
I figured if I tackled the bathroom in steps, perhaps I wouldn’t feel so time-crunched.  Oh, or pained.
Tonight I took off the border (around the entire ceiling and then some around the sink for god knows why).  I cannot praise the combination of vinegar and water (1:3, ish)for removing wallpaper.  And I know a lot about removing wallpaper; rehashing the kitchen for those of you who missed it.
Next thing I need to do is procure this shower curtain from my local BB&B.  And that’s all I need right now.  I do not need this turning into another cupcake carrier fiasco.
I plan on getting some celery green, aqua (but not Grandma Aqua) and maybe brown/tan paint for the walls and ceiling… I do have to prime first.

Ah, nothing like projects!