Lame Adventures

Closed Door Policy

2011-12-20T12:30:00.000-06:00

What is your household expectation regarding closed doors? When I come across a closed door, I assume there is a person on the other side seeking privacy. When Blondie sees a closed door, though, he assumes there's something interesting happening on the other side and he wants to investigate. We disagree about what a closed door means. I knock, Blondie barges. According to Blondie, if you want privacy, you have to lock the door.

Last night I needed to do some last minute Christmas shopping, so I went in the computer room and closed the door to browse Amazon. Blondie was working on the floor in our bedroom, so I didn't think I would be interrupted. I was right in the middle of my shopping when Blondie barged in. I felt like a teenage boy caught with a naughty magazine! I tried to close my browser quickly, but it was too late.

There is no lock on our computer room door, and I probably wouldn't have locked it anyway. I just assume people know you're not supposed to fling open a closed door. Does it matter which room? Would you enter a bathroom if the door was closed? When I leave the bathroom I always leave the door open as a signal that the facilities are available. When I see a bathroom door closed, I assume someone is in there. Blondie often leaves the door closed...and the fan on.

Now Blondie understands why you should knock before entering. "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you." For everyone who barges through closed doors gets no surprises for Christmas!

Christmas Decorations

2011-12-17T10:33:00.009-06:00

I usually try to get my Christmas decorations up during Thanksgiving weekend because I always have a Christmas Cookie Exchange the first week of December. That didn't happen this year, but I did get everything done in time! Most of my decorations are concentrated in the dining room. That's the only place where we really have space for the Christmas tree:

This table used to be behind the sofa in the living room, but we've rearranged and this is where it ended up. The table runner was a wedding gift from one of Blondie's relatives and I've collected the crystal candlesticks over the years. The little basket holds all of our Christmas cards. Eventually I'll go through those and put the photo cards on the refrigerator!

I have two wreaths like this that stay up all year. This year I added these burgandy bows and glass balls for a little Christmas cheer. Of course, when I tried to put on the first glass ball, I dropped it and had to clean up a little mess before I could continue with my decorating.

Here's a close up of some of our Christmas ornaments. You can see Obi-Wan Kenobe and Darth Vader from Star Wars at the top right, and the crew from Star Trek beneath them. Near the top center is an ornament the Julie made for me last year. She and C. cut little cross sections of wood and burned our initials into the wood and added a sprig of berries and twine. They're very cute!

Blondie is partial to the science fiction theme, but Snoopy is my character of choice. Here's my collection of Peanuts ornaments:

We don't have a chimney, so our stockings are hung on the china cabinet with care. The two center stockings match the table runner on the sofa table, and the two on the outside are just extra stockings I have. My stocking is already full, but I haven't peeked!

I'm linking up to Thrifty Decor Chick's Christmas Tree Party:

And The Nester's Christmas Tour of Homes:

Homemade Laundry Soap

2011-11-14T07:00:00.000-06:00

Making your own laundry detergent is a great way to save money, and it's very easy to do. I made a batch recently and this time I documented it for the blog. I use Gayle's recipe from The Grocery Cart Challenge, but I modify the procedure just a little bit.

You can find all of the ingredients you will need at most grocery stores in the laundry aisle. I bought all of my ingredients at the same time and paid less than $10 for everything and there's more than enough ingredients to make several batches of soap.

To make your own soap, you will need:
1/3 bar of Fels Naptha Soap
1/2 cup Borax Powder
1/2 cup Washing Soda
25 cups of water
a large bucket

First, grate 1/3 bar of Fels Naptha Soap. Like Gayle, I use my food processor to speed up the process. The first time I did this, I thought to myself, "I wonder if it's a good idea to use my kitchen utensils for this?" Then I came to my senses and decided that it's soap, what is it going to hurt? The grated soap looks a lot like grated cheese:

While I'm grating the soap, I heat 6 cups of water. When the water is boiling, I add the grated soap and let it melt.

After the soap has melted, I add 1/2 cup of Borax. Borax removes stains and neutralizes odors, and if you have hard water, it will soften the water.

I also add 1/2 cup of washing soda. Not baking soda! The boxes look similar, but the products are different! Washing soda cleans grease and other stains.

Stir the powders until everything dissolves:

At this point, I added 4 cups of water to dilute the mixture even further. Gayle pours the water into the bucket and then adds the soap mixture to that. You could do it either way.

When the mixture looks consistent, I pour it into a large bucket. My mop bucket works perfectly for this. Then, I add about 15 cups of water and stir it up.

I let it set all day and by evening it kind of looks like a jellyfish. The mixture congeals and separates from the water. This is normal. I like my soap to be smoother, so I at this point I thoroughly mix it with my immersion blender. If you don't have one of those, just stir it.

The next morning I mix it with my immersion blender again, and it ends up looking like this. Using a funnel, I transfer most of the mixture into my old laundry detergent jug, and store the rest in an ice cream tub.

The mixture still tends to jell after sitting for a few days, so I shake the jug really well before pouring into the detergent dispenser of my washing machine. Some people say that the soap clumps clog their dispenser, but I have found that if you shake it well before pouring, it never causes a problem.

Each load of laundry takes about 1/2 cup of detergent, which happens to be exactly how much the cap of my old detergent bottle holds. This soap is great for front loading washing machines because it doesn't create a lot of suds and it is great for people with sensitive skin because it doesn't have any additional dyes or fragrances. If you wanted a particular scent, you could add your favorite essential oil, but I like the way it smells on its own.

It's A...

2011-11-07T07:00:00.000-06:00

BOY!

We're going to have a new addition to our little family. Blondie and I are expecting a baby boy this spring. The official due date is February 29, but we'll see when he decides to arrive.

Blondie has been working on preparing his room. He's going to have newly refinished floors and freshly painted walls. Blondie has been petitioning for a recliner for a while now, so we decided this was a good reason to get one. We have rearranged our living room to accommodate the baby's recliner, but Blondie is enjoying it for now.

I have been feeling really well and haven't experienced any of the usual unpleasant symptoms of pregnancy. I never had any morning sickness and haven't had any heartburn so far. I was really tired for most of the first trimester, but Blondie was great about helping out around the house and letting me rest.

We're very excited about this little guy. He's going to be the first grandchild on either side of the family, so there's no doubt that he'll be a little spoiled. Judging from all of the gifts he has already received, I think his grandparents and aunts and uncles are a little excited too.

Halloween Haters

2011-10-31T12:30:00.000-05:00

I'm very disappointed about Halloween this year. The community where Blondie and I live has effectively banned trick-or-treating. I did not have one trick-or-treater last night.

Some local Halloween haters "officially" changed the trick-or-treat night in our town to Oct. 30, and then immediately discouraged people from trick-or-treating at all. Instead of going trick-or-treating on the "official" trick-or-treat night, local families were encouraged to attend an event co-sponsored by the town and church where costume options were limited to a western theme.

I think it's completely fine for any church to have a Hallelujah Festival, especially on a Sunday evening, but was it really necessary to move Halloween and then have the cowboy contest on the same night?

I do understand the risk of allowing young children to trick-or-treat in places where parents don't know the neighbors and are unsure of their children's safety after dark. However, if children are old enough to walk around town alone after dark, they're probably too old to be trick-or-treating. One special thing about Halloween when I was growing up is that my dad always took us, and we didn't go to houses where we didn't know the residents. What responsible parent allows their child to trick-or-treat alone anyway? Most of the youngsters who come to my door on Halloween a.) know me, b.) arrive before dark, and c.) are accompanied by their parents. This is not a community where trick-or-treating is dangerous.

As for the shenanigans that are supposedly prevented by church sanctioned Halloween events, do you really think that's an effective way to prevent vandalism? No teenager is going to bring out the toilet paper and shaving cream until after sundown. The kids who cause trouble after dark on Halloween may go to the citywide celebration, but I would bet a dollar that the costume contest was over before dark and there was still plenty of time to cause a little mischief before curfew. And for the most part, it's just that: mischief. No, I wouldn't knowingly allow my teenager to participate and I was too much of a goody-two-shoes to do it when I was that age, but is it really hurting anyone? Doubtful. The actual juvenile delinquents aren't going to deterred by a citywide Halloween diversion.

With the recent closure of the public school in our community, the church has become increasingly involved with community activities, so I do think there were good intentions behind this event. I just think the approach is ineffective. Activities co-sponsored by the town and the church are intended to make people feel welcome, but I think it makes people who are not part of this particular church feel even more separate.

Halloween doesn't have to be evil or sinister. It's nothing more than a fun time for kids (and maybe some adults) to dress up in silly costumes and solicit their neighbors for free candy. If you don't like Halloween, leave your porch light off. But please don't cancel Halloween for the rest of us!

San Diego Vacation

2011-09-27T20:30:00.005-05:00

Blondie and I had a wonderful vacation in California over Labor Day weekend. I was scheduled to attend a conference in San Diego that week, and since Blondie was out of school for Labor Day, he came along and spent the weekend with me.

We had a great time. We arrived on Friday and explored Little Italy and the Gaslamp Quarter. We were pretty hungry by the time we arrived, so the first thing we did was look for a place to eat lunch. Filippi's Pizza Grotto was recommended by our shuttle driver, so we decided to try it.

On Saturday, we spent the morning browsing the Little Italy Farmers Market. Blondie bought all kinds of fruit. Oklahoma has been so dry this year that we haven't had good fresh produce in a long time. Blondie got three different types of raspberries, white peaches, and nectarines. We also tried fresh lemonade, granola, jam, and a very interesting organic vegetable smoothie.

After the Farmers Market, we had quite an adventure finding Trader Joe's. Blondie fell in love with Trader Joe's in San Francisco, so we made sure to find one in San Diego. We had to take two buses and walk several blocks, but we finally found it. Most people there were just doing their regular grocery shopping, but we were in the market for snacks. They have the best snacks! Blondie wanted trail mix, so we got three kinds. We also got some chocolate covered, peanut butter filled pretzels and chocolate covered dried cherries. Yum!

We went back to the farmers market for lunch and each got a different type of panini. They were cut in half, so we each got half of both kinds. Later we visited the Festival of Sail and saw a pirate with a pet rat, then we went to eat dinner at The Fish Market and saw the USS Midway.

We went to the San Diego Zoo on Sunday. The San Diego Zoo is slightly smaller than the Oklahoma City Zoo, but has twice as many animals. The San Diego Zoo did not live up to the hype. The zoo has been around a while, so some of the exhibits look dated. Admission to the San Diego Zoo costs $40 for adults, which includes access to the buses and gondolas. Admission to the Oklahoma City Zoo costs $8. We spent the morning walking the trails and seeing as many animals as we could. Then, in the afternoon, we rode the tour bus. We were thankful for a break because of the hilly terrain. One thing the San Diego Zoo has that the Oklahoma City Zoo doesn't is a polar bear exhibit. However, the Oklahoma City Zoo's elephant exhibit far outshines San Diego's.

Blondie and I went to Coronado Island on Monday to see my co-worker who was in town for the same conference. She was checking an item off her bucket list by staying at the historic hotel. We enjoyed a nice stroll through the beautiful neighborhoods and a barefoot walk on the beach before we met up with her for lunch.

Blondie came home on Tuesday, so we checked out of the Hampton Inn and I went over to the Hyatt, where my conference was being held. We really enjoyed staying at the Hampton Inn. The hotel staff was extra friendly and accommodating, we love their hot breakfast every morning, and it was within walking distance of lots of great attractions.

We had heard some complaints about noise from the train disturbing guests' sleep, so I called ahead and requested a room on the opposite side of the building. The train didn't bother us at all, and we were thrilled to be so close to the Little Italy stop because the public transportation was very convenient for getting around town.

The view from our room:

I wasn't as impressed with the accommodations at the Hyatt. It was fine, but much more expensive and my room wasn't nearly as nice. The Hampton Inn offers free Internet access, a full breakfast, and a shuttle to and from the airport, the conference center, and the zoo.

On Tuesday after Blondie left, my coworker and I visited the Naval Exchange at the US Pacific Fleet Naval Base. My conference started on Wednesday, so the tourism pretty much came to an end, although I did return to Coronado Island with another coworker on Wednesday for an evening stroll on the beach.

I did get to experience the adventure of a California blackout on Thursday afternoon. The electricity went out during one of my conference sessions, and we soon learned that it was a citywide blackout. Then we heard that it was the whole county. Then they announced that it was several states. Some people were concerned that the power might not return for several days, but there was no mass panic. Most of the neighborhood stores and restaurants were closed because they didn't have power, but I did get a cold sandwich at the hotel restaurant for dinner. Fortunately, the power did return at midnight and the water came on just a little later, but it could have been a huge pain if the power outage had lasted longer. I am so glad it was Thursday night and not Friday because my flight on Saturday probably would have been delayed.

Carpooling

2011-08-17T12:30:00.002-05:00

Since school started, Blondie and I have been carpooling to work on the days when I don't have to travel for work. We estimate that this saves us about $30 per week, which adds up to over $1,000 if we carpool for the 9 months he is in school.

The downside: I have to get up an hour earlier than I am used to. Ugh. I am not a morning person. I'm sure glad he drives, because I'm still half asleep when we leave in the mornings. Also, this means I normally don't leave the office all day (I bring my lunch), which makes for a very long 10 hours. However, the upside to that is getting to leave work early on some days. Blondie does tutoring after school two days a week, so he gets to my office at about 5:00 on Tuesdays and Thursdays. However, on the days when he leaves at 3:30, we get home by 4:15.

Today I realized another downside of this arrangement. Classes started at the university today and I'm teaching two sections of computers and information access. Since my first class is at 8:00, if I were driving myself I would just arrive at 7:30 and park by the building where my classroom is, then drive to my office after class. This morning I had to walk all the way across campus in high heels, carrying all of my materials for class. I know a lot of people do that every day, but I'm not used to it. I will definitely wear more sensible shoes next week.

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder?

2011-07-28T12:30:00.001-05:00

I've let almost a whole month go by without updating the ol' blog. That must mean nothing is going on in our lives, right? Not so much.

I've been extra busy at work because my boss got a promotion and has been reducing his client load, which means my client load has been increasing.

We had a big 4th of July cookout at my parents' house, minus fireworks because of the burn ban. We desperately need rain.

We've attended a couple weddings.

Blondie has been remodeling one of our bedrooms. He has stripped the wood floor, removed wallpaper, and scraped the popcorn from the ceiling. Next, he will texture and paint the walls and refinish the floor.

We're still waiting on our new oven. We ordered a new one and it didn't arrive when it was supposed to. Blondie called the company and they were so sorry, but they've been having trouble with their shipping company. It's supposed to arrive today. We'll see. After the stove arrives, we have to get a carpenter to modify the cabinetry and a plumber to install the gas line.

I made homemade laundry soap and homemade strawberry jam. But my house is a mess. So my homemaker status is neutral. I was very pleased with both of my creations. The soap smells so good and it's super cheap! The jam wasn't so cheap, but it's pretty tasty. No one around here has been able to produce any fresh fruit to speak of, so I used strawberries from the store. Blondie's grandma usually has delicious peaches, but not this year because of the drought.

And last, but not least, our best friends/relatives/neighbors moved out of state. It makes us sad to see them go, but it was a great opportunity for them. Art and Blondie are not only cousins, but have been best friends their entire lives and they lived around the corner from us. Since we spent so much time together, Carina has naturally become my best friend as well. I will miss her spontaneous invitations to get together for lunch at the Chinese restaurant where they know what we want to drink without even asking, lively conversations at Sunday dinner, and last minute plans to get together for leftovers when the fridge is overflowing. Having a neighbor who is also your relative and best friend is just about as good as it gets.

That pretty much sums it up. I'm sure I left some things out, but those are the highlights. What have you been up to this summer?

Pawn Shop Purchases

2011-06-29T12:30:00.000-05:00

Today I was checking our bank statement and noticed a transaction at our local pawn shop. I, personally, am not a fan of pawn shopping, but Blondie finds it thrilling. I have issues with germs and grime, so pawn shops aren't my ideal shopping environment. Wherever we go, if we have time to kill and run across a pawn shop he wants to stop and browse. I've never actually seen him purchase anything at a pawn shop, but I know he has.

As I was perusing our bank statement today, I thought it was a pretty safe bet that Blondie had bought something he didn't tell me about. It was only $30, and I spend $30 without telling him all the time, so it really wasn't a big deal. However, I don't want some stranger spending our $30 at the pawn shop. I decided it was prudent to call Blondie about this transaction.

I caught him at the best possible time. He had just gotten in the shower when the phone rang, so when he answered, he was dripping all over the floor which means he was making a little mess. I casually asked about the pawn shop purchase and he immediately said, "I knew I should have paid cash!" Blondie was the culprit! Now he was going to be in trouble for two things: making a little mess and buying stuff at the pawn shop.

Now, I didn't want to ruin some special surprise. I mean, what if his pawn shop purchase had been a present for me! However, I know Blondie is aware of my opinion of pawn shops, so it was a pretty safe bet that the item in question wasn't for me.

I asked him what it was and he reluctantly told me that he had bought an Xbox game. Two Xbox games, actually. Two Xbox games for $30 sounds like a pretty good deal.

Broken Oven

2011-06-14T12:30:00.001-05:00

Blondie and I are looking for a new oven. One recent evening I had just put a casserole in the oven for dinner and went on about my business. Suddenly, we heard a loud crackle and then the smoke detector started beeping. We couldn't figure out what it was until we saw the smoke in the kitchen. We opened the oven door and saw a small flame on the element. Needless to say, our dinner was ruined. The status of the oven remained to be seen.

Blondie removed the charred element and I took it to our local appliance store to see if they could get a replacement. We didn't have a model number, so they had to guess which one to order. It came in and Blondie installed it. No luck. Apparently it was more than just a bad element.

He called his dad for backup and they still couldn't find the problem. His grandpa came over to help and they determined that there was a bad switch that needed to be replaced. Without a model number, it was pretty much impossible to find a replacement switch. They searched high and low and couldn't find it anywhere. Finally, Blondie fiddled with it enough to find a model number under the cooktop.

Like any good researcher, he entered it in Google and when he came up with four results, he knew he was in trouble. The most helpful article was a scanned newspaper clipping from 1971. Apparently, this Michigan newspaper had archived their articles, and he found an ad promoting a big appliance sale. Our oven was the "Imperial" model, which featured an oven window, oven light, aluminum foil liner, and an optional panoramic full glass door and Teflon back panel. It was pretty fancy in its day. Regularly $289, on sale for $179!

He called the store where we had purchased the new element and they laughed when he told them he was looking for a part for an oven from 1971. The lady said that he was pretty much out of luck on anything older than 25 years.

Let me tell you, you can't get an oven for $289 these days. Not even a cheap one. We've been considering all of our options. Blondie did a ton of online research and learned that there are basically three options to choose from when selecting a new oven/range combination: drop in, slide in, and freestanding. Drop ins only come in electric, the sides aren't finished, don't have a bottom drawer, don't have feet, and is the most expensive option. No, thanks. Slide ins are similar. Their sides aren't finished, but they do have a bottom drawer and feet. Free standing is exactly what it sounds like: a completely self contained unit that stands on its own four feet and has finished sides. It's the cheapest.

We currently have a drop in and would like to replace it with a gas or induction range. Since drop ins are the most expensive and don't come in gas, we're probably going with a different style this time. We would like to just buy a free standing oven and set it in the hole where our drop in was. However, it's not quite that simple. A drop in is a little smaller, so we'll have to cut out a 4"x30" strip of cabinet at the back and the little platform that the current oven sits on. That doesn't sound like a big deal, but the little platform under the oven contains a drawer and there's a tile kickplate on the front of the cabinetry. Those won't be easy to remove without ruining something.

Also, drop ins are generally hard wired in, so there's no plug behind the oven. If we buy a gas range, we'll have to get a plumber to run a gas line. And, of course, anything new has electronic controls, so we'll still have to plug in our gas oven. Fortunately, there is already an outlet directly above the stove.

In the meantime, we've been improvising. The electric range part of this unit still works, so we've been using that like normal. I have a pretty fancy toaster oven that I can use to bake small casseroles and even full size frozen pizzas. However, it's not so good for a 9"x13" cake pan or a bunch of cookies. One day I decided to bake a cake for dessert and got halfway through mixing it up before I realized I had no way to bake it. I ended up putting it in two 8" round pans and baking them separately. That worked fine. However, when I volunteered to bake cookies for Vacation Bible School, I didn't consider how long it would take to bake them, six at a time, in my toaster oven. I mixed them up at home and then baked them at my mother-in-law's house.

Together or Separate?

2011-06-13T12:30:00.001-05:00

Blondie and I went shopping for a new oven on Saturday, and while we were in Oklahoma City, we met one of his old friends for lunch. Blondie and Josh went to high school together and went to the same college for two years. When they both went to graduate school at OSU, they lived together until Josh got married.

Here's a photo of Art, Josh, and Blondie from their high school days:

Blondie called Josh on Saturday morning to see if he and his wife, Katherine, were free for lunch. We agreed to meet at an unnamed Bricktown restaurant at 12:30. Blondie and I got there first and looked at the menu. Blondie determined that if we ate there, he would definitely need a snack right after lunch. We decided to ditch that plan and go somewhere else.

When Josh and Katherine arrived, we decided on a different restaurant. Our server was very quiet, and possibly new to this line of work. No one ordered anything complicated, but the waiter didn't offer soup or salad, which was supposed to come with our meal.

Blondie really likes salad, so when our food arrived, he asked about it. There were other waiters carrying around salad, so it seemed pretty normal to us. Our server acted really confused, like it was unusual for a customer to request salad. Especially this late in the game. Nonetheless, he brought our salad. He brought enough salad for one hungry person or two skinny ladies in a giant bowl with four smaller bowls and no serving utensils. It came with standard Italian dressing, which Blondie doesn't like, so he asked for some ranch. The waiter brought one small container of it, and said he would be right back with another. Apparently there was a supply chain issue with the ranch dressing.

Blondie took his share of the salad, and politely left some for the rest of us. None of us were really interested in salad at this point, but Josh ate some just because we all felt guilty for requesting salad and not eating it.

When the time came to pay our bill, the waiter asked if the check was to be together or separate, and we told him it was separate. He returned with four separate checks. In his defense, we did, say "separate," but it was pretty obvious that we were two couples. Josh and Katherine were sitting on one side of the table and we were on the other side. We just laughed and paid our four separate checks. Blondie said that next time he will use more definitive hand gestures to indicate that the checks should only be partially separate.

Overall, our lunch was a potentially awkward experience that turned out to be funny. I was so glad that Josh and Katherine were flexible about the restaurant we chose and tolerant of the inexperienced waiter. When meeting new people, you never know how they will react to such situations and I tend to feel responsible if things don't go exactly right.

Socks

2011-06-09T17:30:00.000-05:00

My friend posted something on Facebook yesterday about not being able to tell the difference between her 9 year old son's socks and her husband's. I feel for her. I have laundry issues too.

We wash all of our whites together and I'm very particular about matching socks. I like the socks on both feet to be equally fluffy, so I try to pair socks at similar stages of deterioration. I put crisp white socks with other new socks and I put the dingy gray socks with the other worn ones. Blondie is satisfied with any matchup, just as long as short socks are together and long socks are together. He doesn't care if there's a black stripe on one and a gray heel on the other. You can't see that part anyway. That would drive me crazy.

When we got married, I warned Blondie that I don't sort laundry. I don't think it makes sense to dig through your dirty clothes looking for dirty items that go together. I think laudry should be pre-sorted. Whites go in the white basket, colors go in the blue basket, jeans go in the gray basket, and towels go in the bathroom basket.

I also don't un-wad socks. Since things should be pre-sorted, I just stuff everything into the washer without going through each item. I'm not handling Blondie's stinky socks any more than necessary. This results in pulling wet sock balls out of the dryer when the laundry is done. Those soggy socks can't be clean!

I threatened Blondie and told him that I wasn't un-wadding his nasty socks. I told him I would just throw them away. He said that was fine. He doesn't need me to do his laundry anyway. He'll just do it himself.

That's what I get for marrying a guy who can take care of himself.

P.S. Blondie and I have different tolerance thresholds where laundry piles are concerned. Yes, he's perfectly willing to do his laundry himself, but only after the pile is waist high. I can't let it sit that long. When it starts spilling out of the closet, I have to do something about it. Thus, I end up doing Blondie's laundry, even though he's perfectly capable and willing to do it himself. And I haven't thrown away any socks yet.

Introducing Pinky

2011-06-02T12:52:00.004-05:00

This is Pinky, Yogi's baby sister. We have had her for a couple of weeks and have grown quite attached to her. She might even be just a tad bit spoiled.

Pinky and Yogi love to play together all day long. Pinky is the typical little sister. She was the runt of her litter, so she's quite a bit smaller than her four brothers. Her favorite trick is to go bite everyone's tails to start fights and then hide and watch the action. She does the same thing with Yogi, but he's much more tolerant than the other puppies. He's very good at sharing his toys and playing gently with Pinky.

I vacuumed the carpet yesterday and picked up all of the toys beforehand. When Pinky came inside a few minutes later, she immediately dragged all of her toys out of the basket. She loves to play. In fact, her favorite toy is that brown hedgehog that is 2/3 her size.

People have given her petite toys more appropriate for a puppy her size, but she's more interested in Yogi's big dog toys. She also likes big dog treats and big dog food. Unfortunately, she's just not going to be a big dog. Yogi is about 20 pounds and 15 inches tall, which is normal for a Miniature Australian Shepherd. However, we expect Pinky to be much smaller. Pinky and Yogi have a sister from another litter that is toy sized and we think Pinky will look a lot like her as an adult.

Blondie's Birthday

2011-05-27T12:30:00.000-05:00

Blondie and I had a nice little vacation for his birthday this week. We took a short trip to Red River Ranch Retreat for two nights and really enjoyed ourselves. We arrived on Tuesday evening and had a tasty dinner of enchiladas and rice with "Apple Crapple" for dessert, served family style with the ranch staff and other guests. On Wednesday morning, we ate biscuits and gravy with eggs, then went for a trail ride. We ate our sack lunches by the river, then spend the afternoon relaxing in our room. Wednesday's dinner was chili and cornbread, with a frozen strawberry dessert. We sat on the porch and visited after dinner on Wednesday. On Thursday morning we ate pancakes, sausage, and eggs before we left. We felt really lazy eating breakfast at 9:00 on a ranch. We decided we could get really fat eating ranch food three times a day and not doing ranch work.

Here are some photos from our little trip.

Blondie called this "the little napping bed."

And this was "the big sleeping bed."

We spent a lot of time relaxing, which Blondie doesn't do at home. If there's work to be done, he thinks he has to do it. On our way home, he was already talking about all of the chores that he needed to do.

We ate our lunch by the river, which was really nice. We were very pleased with the weather during our trip. It was pretty windy, but nice and cool. I can be pretty cranky when I'm hot, so I was very thankful for the cool temperatures.

Business Cards

2011-05-13T17:30:00.000-05:00

I'm somewhat of a collector of business cards. I pick them up everywhere I go to remember a restaurant I like or a store I want to visit again and I like to gather them on vacations to remind me of special places I visited.

This week I had to purge my Rolodex because it was packed so full that it would not close. Here are a few that I could not part with

The mechanic who keeps my car in tip-top shape:

The restaurant in Washington, D.C. where I ate with my colleagues during Small Business Week 2009 and a handsome stranger invited me to share his dinner:

Blondie's aunt, who was recently featured in Make and will make her artistic debut at Maker Faire demonstrating cyanotype printing:

A charming salon in a neighboring town:

My cousin, who makes fantastic jewelry:

The Japanese hardware store in Berkeley where Blondie splurged on his fancy Santoku knife:

The restaurant where Justin and Christina took us for dinner the evening we got engaged:

The restaurant where we ate dinner on our wedding night:

It was sad to see the cards that belonged to friends and acquaintances who had passed away and sweet to see the ones whose names had changed due to marriage. I will continue to collect these small reminders of people and places that mean something to me.

Purple Dress

2011-04-28T17:30:00.002-05:00

Do you remember when I said that Blondie and I both wore purple to church on Sunday. Well, I failed to mention that Blondie didn't like my dress. He thinks it's both too short and too low cut. I guess either would be fine alone, but not both together. You've seen this dress twice on the blog: once at my bridal shower and once in San Antonio; you be the judge.

I admit, it is both short and low cut. Thus, I wore a sweater and vowed not to wear it to church again. Then, last night a very sweet older lady approached Blondie at church and complimented him on how nice we both looked on Sunday. Both! Blondie thinks that she obviously didn't look very closely. I think I might just wear it again. Or not.

What I Wore Wednesday

2011-04-27T17:27:00.005-05:00

Today I'm wearing the first thing I grabbed from my closet. The clothes are nothing special, but I really like the shoes! You can't see it here, but they're brown with orange stitching and have a cute little owl embroidered on the outside. The necklace is handmade by a Belgian designer. Oh, and the cute little critter next to me is our dog Yogi. He is a little grubby from our recent rain, but we're so thankful for the moisture that we're willing to tolerate a little mud.

Shirt: JKLA, Pants: Studio Y, shoes: OTBT (Off The Beaten Track), necklace: Deer Lola

Nothing Much and a Lame Joke

2011-04-27T12:30:00.000-05:00

So. It's been, like, a while since anything new was posted on this blog. It's about time for some updates! Unfortunately, nothing really spectacular has happened since the necklace giveaway.

Let's see. Last week I did have an interesting week. I missed a very interesting seminar presented by the Federal Reserve Bank to attend a statewide staff meeting in Oklahoma City. Then, I attended a luncheon honoring the Small Business Administration's award winners for 2011. That was actually pretty exciting because I was one of the winners. I got my picture taken with the Lieutenant Governor at the state capitol and received a trophy with my name on it (spelled correctly!) and got to make a little speech. My mom even came to the luncheon with me, which was really nice.

Last weekend Blondie and I went to see my granny on Saturday and visited with the other family members who had come to visit with my aunt and uncle who had come from Colorado. Then we spent Easter Sunday with Blondie's family. Blondie and I both wore purple to church on Sunday, and his brother showed up in a purple shirt too. Thrilling, I know.

Grandma T, who serves lunch to the entire family every Sunday, made Easter special by using real dishes and real linens. I know that's probably not fancy to some people, but let's face it, when you're making dinner for twenty every week, do you really want to wash plates and tablecloths in addition to all of the cookware it requires to prepare a meal for that many people? Doubtful.

Her menu was even pretty special. I expected her to serve ham, because I know it as an Easter staple, but Blondie disagreed. He doesn't think ham is an Easter food. What do you think? I have always thought of turkey as Christmas and Thanksgiving and ham as Easter. Anyway, Grandma did make ham, but she also made verenika casserole. She makes real verenika for Christmas dinner, but verenika casserole is a worthy substitute. Blondie loves it, and he mentioned how my verenika casserole is, "pretty good, but not as...creamy...as Grandma's." That was a good save. I know creamy=good and that's OK. I agree that mine isn't as good either.

At dinner, Blondie told a lame joke that I had heard on the radio and posted on facebook earlier in the week. Here it is for your enjoyment:

A cowboy walks into a deserted bar and orders a whiskey. When the bartender delivers his drink, the cowboy inquires about the emptiness of the bar.

Cowboy: Where is everybody?
Bartender: At the hangin'.
Cowboy: Who are they hangin'?
Bartender: Brown Paper Pete.
Cowboy: Brown Paper Pete? What kind of name is that?
Bartender: Well, he wears a brown paper hat, brown paper shirt, brown paper trousers, and brown paper boots; so they call him Brown Paper Pete.
Cowboy: What are they hangin' him for?
Bartender: Rustlin'.

...And the Winner Is...

2011-04-14T08:42:00.002-05:00

Thank you to everyone who entered the Ronna's Creations giveaway!

Now for our winner!

(Drumroll, please)

The lucky winner is (selected by the random number generator at Random.org) comment #6, Leah!

Congratulations, Leah! I will contact you via email today just in case you miss this post and then you can tell me where to send your necklace!

Wife Tax

2011-04-12T12:15:00.000-05:00

Blondie really likes ice cream. Many evenings after we've eaten supper and cleaned the kitchen and settled down for some relaxing Netflix, he'll treat himself to three scoops of ice cream with a sliced banana and chocolate syrup. He's figured out the perfect ice cream/banana/syrup ratio. His ice cream is so good! And I don't really even like ice cream that much. I always want to try his ice cream. Just one bite. Then another, and another. He calls this the wife tax.

He adds an extra scoop to his ice cream sundae because he knows I'll want a bite. He orders a large Dr. Pepper because he knows I'll want a drink. Blondie made it clear when we started dating that he doesn't share food. That rule went right out the window, though. He shares food (and drinks) with me. It's the wife tax.

Last night he was eating a piece of peach pie that I had made for Sunday dinner. He had heated up the pie in the microwave and topped it with a couple scoops of vanilla ice cream. It was perfect! I asked for a bite and he handed me the bowl. I took a couple bites, and just before I handed the bowl back to him, I pinched off a piece of crust (my favorite part) and he warned me that the pie was getting soggy.

I said, "oh? I guess I should eat some, then." He laughed. "You're eating some now! It's the wife tax."

What I meant was that I should get my own piece of pie before it went bad. I gave him his pie back and went to cut myself a piece. I offered him some to repay him for the bites I had eaten of his pie, but he declined. He says there's no such thing as a husband tax.

Ronna's Creations

2011-04-08T18:00:00.002-05:00

Last Saturday, Julie and I went to visit our talented cousin who recently opened her own store in Clarendon, Texas. Ronna works full time as a hairstylist all week, and deisgns jewelry and other crafts in her spare time. She started out by selling handmade jewelry to her friends and family, then her business grew to arts and crafts fairs, and now she has opened her own shop. Here is a little glimpse of what you can find at Ronna's Creations.

Her main product is her handmade jewelry, but she also sells little girls' hairbows, sunglasses, purses, jelly watches, Power Balance bracelets, clothing, and some home decor. If you would like to see her creations in person, you could visit the store in Clarendon like we did, or you could catch up with her at one of the many arts and crafts shows she attends during the summer. This weekend she will be at Old Sorehead Trade Days in Stanton, Texas. She will also be at the Mangum Rattlesnake Derby on April 29 through May 1 and she will be at the Elk City Spring Fling May 7 and 8.

Ronna's mom, our Aunt Jane, creates these personalized signs. I love the zebra striped ones framed by feather boas for a little girl's room, or the football for a little boy's room. They're very reasonably priced at $10 and have been a very popular item at their summer arts and crafts shows.

Don't you love how Aunt Jane's t-shirt matches her trademark zebra striped signs? I'm sure she got that shirt from the store!

Our cousin Calvin and uncle Ronnie, Ronna's brother and dad, make these wire and iron crosses and wood frames. Their barbed wire wreaths (which must be out of stock in the spring are very popular at Christmas time.

I think everyone who went to the store on Sunday went home with a new piece of jewelry. Here's Ronna helping Granny check out.

And one final photo of the whole group. From left to right: Ronna, Mom, me, Aunt Mary, Julie, Aunt Jane, and Granny.

Do you like that necklace I'm wearing in the photo? You could win it! All you have to do is go to Ronna's facebook page and click "Like," then come back here and tell me that you are following her page.

The giveaway ends at 10:00 pm, central time, on Wednesday, April 13, 2011. Due to shipping issues, the giveaway is open to residents of the U.S. and Canada only. This giveaway is sponsored by Julie and me. Nobody paid us to say nice things about Ronna's Creations, we just like her stuff.

Automotive Excellence

2011-04-07T16:28:00.009-05:00

Wednesday when I pulled up to the bank's drive through window and couldn't roll down my window, I was first confused, then embarrassed. The teller assured me that it happens more often than you might think, which did ease my mind slightly.

I had been having trouble with my driver side door lock for a while. Recently, my door would lock only about 30% of the time when I used the button on the door panel. No worries, though, it always worked when I used the key fob flicker. However, I knew it was only a matter of time before the window controls would fail too. Fortunately, it quit when the window was up!

In addition to the window and door locking problem, my lights were also being weird. When the electrical problem with the door occurred, my interior lights came on and wouldn't go off. I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do about that. Blondie figured out that the switch that allows you to dim and brighten the lights would turn the interior lights off if you keep it on the dimmest setting. At that level, I could barely see the instrument panel at night.

In reality, I could live with either of these problems. I can go in to the bank lobby, I can lock the doors manually, and while the instrument panel was pretty dim, it was still visible. What concerned me was that since these issues both occurred at the same time, there could be a more serious underlying issue. Like a voltage problem that would decrease the life of my battery and leave me stranded two hours from home. Not cool.

Anyway, I figured I ought to have it checked out, so I took my Jeep to my trusty mechanic at Automotive Excellence. Randall and Breaden do a great job of keeping my old Jeep running right, so I wanted to get their opinion of whether or not it was a serious issue that was worth fixing. Breaden looked it over and determined that he may or may not be able to fix it. His modesty was so charming.

I left my Jeep in his capable hands and when I called back at lunchtime, it was fixed! For $65! I was prepared for this electrical issue to be incredibly complicated and cost hundreds of dollars, so I was quite relieved that they took care of it so inexpensively. I always take my Jeep to Randall for oil changes and new tires and he always takes care of me. I would highly recommend Automotive Excellence for all of your automotive needs!

What I Wore Wednesday

2011-04-06T13:26:00.004-05:00

Today I wore a new hairdo! That 13" ponytail will be going to Locks of Love.

Here's the before photo:

Top: Old Navy, Jeans: American Eagle, Shoes: Me Too

Bring Back the Campfire!

2011-04-05T19:00:00.002-05:00

One of C and my favorite weekend activities is having a campfire with our friends. We usually roast hot dogs and marshmallows and have an ice chest full of Dr. Pepper. Sometimes one of the guys will get inventive and cook something delicious in a dutch oven. We rarely stay the night because there is always work, or church, or some other important activity the next morning, but a campfire breakfast is one of C's favorite meals. We agree that food is better when you make it over a campfire.

Last weekend was no different. Except for one important factor. A large percentage of Oklahoma is in a burn ban, our county included. We decided to load the charcoal grill up and head to the creek anyway. We arranged our camping chairs in their usual circle, except this time the grill was the center of the circle. We grilled hot dogs, sausage, and one of the guys even made coffee in his enamelware pot. We even put a few marshmallows on the grill for s'mores.

After this weekend, I have decided that our creek gatherings need a campfire. They are a central element to a good get-together. Gatherings just aren't the same when they happen around a grill. I really hope it starts to rain soon. I'm not sure how much longer we can stand to gather around the grill!

Prom!

2011-04-04T12:15:00.001-05:00

Blondie and I had a big weekend! We stayed out late visiting with friends on Friday night, and got up early Saturday morning to attend church event in Oklahoma City. The prom was on Saturday night and we had another late night. Since he is a senior class sponsor, he had to stay until the prom ended to chaperone the dance. This year, the theme was Mardi Gras and they had suggested that people wear masks. Very few people actually did, but Blondie didn't disappoint.

I was a little embarrassed to be seen in public with him wearing that mask, but there were some pretty masks on the tables for people to wear. Those feathery masks look pretty, but they tickle your nose!

We only wore the masks for photos, though. Here's one of us looking normal:

Haircut Advice Needed

2011-03-30T16:08:00.011-05:00

I can't find my camera, so I can't take a photo of what I wore today. You're not missing much, it was basic black from head to toe. Today I'm showing you a few samples of hairstyles of the past. I'm getting my hair cut next week and I'm trying to decide how to have it cut. I like it long because it's easy to pull back when it's windy or when I'm working out. However, it's getting long enough that it is starting to get in my way.

My hair is very thick and fairly curly, so it's a lot of trouble to get it straight no matter the length. The sweet girl who cuts it always thins it out quite a bit, so that does help. However, at this length, it takes over 30 minutes to dry with a blowdryer on high. Julie and I had to take turns at the mirror when we were on vacation together, and she couldn't figure out what was taking me so long when she was waiting to dry her hair. I just thought it took everyone that long to dry their hair!

While I think the short hairstyle is the most flattering, it is probably the most high maintenance of all. My hair is more curly on one side than the other, so even when I have straightened it, it curls up on one side and looks uneven if my hair was cut while it was wet.

I do use a flatiron on it, but it never really wants to straighten completely. I am thankful for the body, but get a little frustrated that it won't do what I want. That's partly my fault, though, because I pretty much refuse to use any product on it...because I don't like washing it every day...because it takes so long to dry and straighten.

Do you like it long:

Medium:

Or short:

Extra short was the easiest to maintain, but I'm pretty sure Blondie wouldn't like it:

iPhone Lessons

2011-03-30T07:00:00.000-05:00

My dad stopped by to see a friend of his earlier this week and his friend showed him his newfangled iPhone 3G. This guy and wife are 80 years old and have never had cell phones, so it's pretty impressive that they were even willing to try using the things. Their daughter set them up with the phones and gave them instructions on using them, but it's pretty difficult to remember those things when there's no one standing over your shoulder reminding you what to do next.

My dad knew that I had the same phone, so he asked me to go to their house and see if I could give them some tips. They weren't planning to use them for email or Internet or any applications; they just needed to make and receive calls. I had no idea what I was getting into, but I went to see if I could help them. My main concern was that the phones would need to be setup with iTunes and this couple doesn't have a computer. Fortunately, their daughter had already taken care of that, so all we had to do was figure out the calling features.

We went over the basics, like calling people in your contact list, calling people not in your contact list, creating new contacts, checking missed calls, and checking voice mail. They weren't interested in learning to text, but I think they could if they wanted to. Since I know learning lots of different procedures at once can be confusing, I decided it would be a good idea to type up some basic step-by-step instructions for them to refer back to if they needed a refresher. I thought I might be able to find this online, but I couldn't. Thus, I decided maybe I should post it for the benefit of others. I know not many people want to use their iPhone just for making and receiving calls, but it might be helpful to someone!

CALLING

To call someone in your contacts list:
1. Tap the green “phone” icon on the bottom row of your screen.
2. Tap the “contacts” icon on the bottom row of your screen.
3. Scroll to the name of the person you want to call.
4. Tap the person’s name.
5. Select the number you want to call (home, mobile, etc.).
6. To hang up, tap “End.”
7. To return to the home screen, always press the “home” button.

To call someone not in your contacts list:
1. Tap the green “phone” icon on the bottom row of your screen.
2. Tap the “keypad” icon.
3. Dial the number.
4. Tap the green “call” button.
5. To hang up, tap “End.”
6. To return to the home screen, always press the “home” button.

CREATING NEW CONTACTS

To create a new contact
1. Tap the green “phone” icon on the bottom row of your screen.
2. Tap the “contacts” icon.
3. Tap the + sign at the top right of your screen.
4. Tap the “first” field; the keyboard will appear and you can type the person’s first name.
5. Tap the “last” field and type the person’s last name.
6. Tap the “mobile” field and enter their phone number.
7. If the label is incorrect (like if you have entered the home number in the mobile field) tap the label and select the appropriate label from the menu.
8. To add additional numbers, simply tap the next open field and it will allow you to enter more numbers.
9. When you have entered all of the information, tap “done” at the top right hand corner.

If you miss a call, you will see a tiny red circle with a number in it at the top right corner of your phone icon. The caller might have left you a voice mail, or you might want to call them back. If you tap the “phone” icon, the menu at the bottom of the screen will give you more information. If there’s just a missed call, your “recents” menu will have a red circle, if you have a voice mail, you will see a red circle by the “voicemail” menu.

CHECKING MISSED CALLS AND VOICEMAIL

To check your voicemail
1. Tap the green “phone” icon on the bottom row of your screen.
2. Tap the “voicemail” icon.
3. New messages are indicated by a blue dot to the left of the name or number of the caller.
4. To listen to a message, tap the name or number of the caller.
5. You can store the message by doing nothing. To listen to it again, simply tap the name or number again.
6. To call the person back, tap the green “call back” button.
7. To delete the message, tap the red “delete” button.

To check your missed calls:
1. Tap the green “phone” icon on the bottom row of your screen.
2. Tap the “Recents” icon that looks like a clock.
3. There are three menu options at the top of the screen: “all,” “missed,” and “clear.” If you tap “all” you will see both calls you have made and received (or missed), if you tap “missed,” you will see only calls that you have missed. If you tap “clear” it will erase all of your recent calls.
4. New calls will show up in red text.
5. If you want to call the person back, simply tap their name or number.

If someone calls you and you want to save their number in your address book, you can save their number without having to type everything in. In your voicemail and recent call menus, you will see small blue circles containing white arrows to the right of a caller’s number. If you tap the circle, an info menu will appear. This will allow you to do several things, like call, send a text message, create a new contact, etc. To create a new contact from this number, simply tap “create new contact” and enter the person’s information just like you do when creating a new contact using the + menu.

TEXTING

If you get really brave and decide you want to send a text message, here is what you do:
1. Find the green “messages” icon on your home screen. Mine is at the top left of my screen. It has a picture of what looks like a conversation bubble from a comic strip.
2. To type a new message, tap the “pencil & paper” icon at the top right of the screen.
3. In the “to” field, start typing the name or number of the person you want to text. Soon, a menu of options will appear under that field. The phone is guessing who you might want to text based on what you have already typed. If you see the person’s name appear, you can stop typing and just tap their name to avoid having to type their whole name.
4. In the oval shaped field just above the keyboard is where you type your message. Remember the “up arrow” next to the Z is your shift key. To find numbers and punctuation, tap the “.?123” key next to the spacebar and a different keyboard will appear. You can toggle between keyboards as much as you want. Whenever you need to type a number or punctuation, just tap that key and type the characters you want. To get back to the letter keyboard, tap the “ABC” key next to the spacebar and continue typing letters.
5. To send, tap the blue “send” button.

Reading and replying to text messages
1. If you have a new text message, a little red circle will appear by your “messages” icon. Tap the icon to enter the texting menu.
2. New messages will be indicated by a blue dot to the left of a message.
3. To read the message, tap the person’s name or number.
4. To reply to the message, tap the oval shaped field at the bottom of the screen and the keyboard will appear.
5. Type your message and tap “send.”

Lucy's New Pets!

2011-03-29T19:00:00.000-05:00

A few weekends ago, we got Lucy some new pets! She got 14 new goldfish.

First she sniffed them, to determine if they were worthy.

As you can see, they were unworthy.

Actually, we are not quite that crazy. We got them for the cattle's water tank. Apparently they eat up all the moss and keep the water nice and tidy. I only wanted them because if you put goldfish in a cattle tank the grow to be ginormous. I find ginormous goldfish amusing.

The fish spent the night in a five-gallon bucket because I didn't want to go out in the cow lots at night. They thought the bucket was very cozy, but now they are happy in their 300-gallon tank.

Easter Bunny Basket

2011-03-27T14:00:00.000-05:00

I got a freebie at K-Mart!

I like to send people cards, and as I was browsing the greeting card section at K-Mart I noticed a coupon hanging from the shelf. If you buy three cards, you get this cute little Easter bunny basket! I already had that many cards in my hand, so I grabbed a coupon and this adorable little basket.

He even has bendable ears. He's pretty much the cutest thing I have seen in weeks, and he is free!

I have no idea what I am going to use him for. But he is awfully cute. I'm sure I will come across an equally cute little kid, whose cuteness will be enhanced with an Easter bunny basket.

He even has a cute little bunny tail. You need a bunny Easter basket with a fluffy tail!

Disclaimer: I am fully aware that I used the word "cute" six times. But it is worthy. Because it really is adorable. And I think everyone needs one. And I think you need to hurry because something this cute will run out quickly!

...And the Winner Is...

2011-03-25T13:02:00.001-05:00

Thank you to everyone who entered my most recent CSN Stores giveaway! Lots of people suggested a ceiling fan, which I had not considered before. We'll have to see if we can make it work.

Now for our winner!

(Drumroll, please)

The lucky winner is (selected by the random number generator at Random.org) comment #9, Darcy!

Congratulations, Darcy! I will contact you via email today just in case you miss this post and then you will get to choose what you're going to buy with your $35 gift certificate!

Random Kindness?

2011-03-24T07:00:00.002-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, Blondie and I ate dinner at a burger joint we really like. When we arrived, we saw that one of his former college classmates was also there, so we stopped to talk to her and Blondie introduced me.

We went on to eat our dinner, and as the father of the family of four next to us returned to his table after going to the register to pay, we overheard him say that someone has picked up their check. He was dumbfounded, because when the cashier explained that it was the young mother who had been sitting on the other side of the restaurant, he had no idea who she was. When Blondie overheard this, he told them that she was a math teacher at the local high school. They had a high school aged daughter, so he thought it might be possible that she would have recognized the girl from there. However, they said didn't know her at all. Either the girl didn't go to that high school or hadn't had this teacher's class.

As we were driving home, we were still amused by this and we started thinking...what if she actually meant to pay our bill? I mean, we were sitting right next to this family and she actually does know Blondie. And hadn't seen him for a long time. Perhaps she was trying to be friendly to us and the cashier just misunderstood which table she meant to pay for? We'll never know. Now we have a dilemma, though.

If she did intend to pay our check, we should thank her. But what if we're just thinking too hard and she does just choose random strangers in restaurants to confuse with her anonymous generosity? Do we send her an email and say, "if you meant to pay for our dinner, thanks! If not, never mind." Awkward.

If she did mean to pay our bill and got theirs, though, she probably did think we were pretty hungry. You know, since a family of four would theoretically eat twice as much as a couple.

What I Wore Wednesday

2011-03-23T12:15:00.002-05:00

I'm not really sure if this outfit goes together at all. Since it's officially spring, I thought this shirt was appropriate. However, I usually wear it with jeans or shorts. It's really lightweight and comfortable, but it's also pretty high maintenance. It's 100% cotton, so it has to be ironed. And ironing is a lot of work for a casual garment. Since it has to be ironed, that means it's dressy, right? Is it the same level of "dressed up" as the pants and shoes?

Do the shoes even go with the rest of the ensemble? Normally I would never wear brown shoes with black pants, but these shoes are kind of different. They have texture. I'm not sure if you can see it in the photo, but it's some kind of faux reptile look. They were originally $99, and I got them on sale for $34. I have a burgundy patent leather pair of the same style and brand that are tolerable for high heels and I thought I would really like these. However, they're very stiff and uncomfortable. But I think they look cool! I only wear them when I know I'm going to be sitting most of the day.

I'm definitely not a fan of this photo angle. When I use the camera timer, I have to set it on some stationary object, and usually that object is a desk or table at about mid-thigh level. That makes for some very unusual perspective issues. My legs aren't actually three times as long as my torso, but this photo would suggest otherwise. I thought the seated pose might help with that, but it's still awkward. I should also wear makeup, but I'm just too lazy.

Shirt: Gap, Pants: Express, Shoes: BCBG

Karate Kid

2011-03-20T19:02:00.010-05:00

Blondie's cousin's young son has taken an interest in karate and has been doing extensive research on the subject. Recently at Sunday lunch at Grandma's house, Blondie taught Zaya some moves. Then, he learned some more moves from his uncle. And yet a few more from his aunt.

Blondie took one semester of karate in college to satisty the physical education requirement. Apparently, to a seven year old, this makes him an expert. Yesterday Zaya asked what color the first belt was, and Blondie explained that it is white. He asked how you earn more advanced belts, and Blondie told him that you have to take a test. Zaya was ready for his test!

Unfortunately, Blondie had to admit that he is not qualified to administer the exam. He told him that he would have to enroll in an actual class for that. That didn't dampen Zaya's spirits, though. He wanted another lesson yesterday. Last time, they worked on cardio and punching and later he learned some new techniques from his aunt and uncle. Yesterday, they studied blocking. They started their "workout" with pushups and a little run, then practiced their karate moves. Blondie's expertise will soon be exhausted, but they are having fun for now!

Zaya's pushup technique has improved significantly since this photo:

Punches:

Blocks:

Temperature Shift

2011-03-18T07:00:00.001-05:00

On Wednesday morning, it was a chilly 38* when I drove to work. Later that afternoon, it was 78* as I drove home. I didn't look at the temperature yesterday morning, but yesterday afternoon on my way home, it was 89*. That's a 51* difference in 36 hours! My plants and my sinuses are confused. The Bradford Pear trees in my neighborhood have lovely blooms, but the houseplants I put outside to get some sun have wilted. My normally clear sinuses have been stopped up for a week and I've had random headaches. I'm ready for the weather to settle!

Lighting Challenge

2011-03-16T13:20:00.009-05:00

Blondie and I really dislike our kitchen lighting. We have a 1970s era drop ceiling, with fluorescent lights and these dreadful translucent panels. Some might call it retro, but we think it’s dated.

We have talked about different lighting options, but we are not home improvement experts. We could do something with pendant lighting in this room, but Blondie is so tall that probably won’t work for us. He really likes the art deco style, so maybe some type of indirect lighting would be good here. Anything would be better than what we have!

Any suggestions for do-it-yourself challenged homeowners? We don’t really have any carpentry or electrical skills, so it has to be easy. And we don’t want to spend a lot of money, so an extensive, expensive remodeling project is out of the question.

What do you think? Any expert opinions on what we could cheaply and easily to do update this space?

Thanks to CSN Stores, one lucky reader of Lame Adventures will win a $35 gift certificate to any of CSN Stores' online stores. CSN Stores offers everything for your home, including furniture, home decor, housewares, outdoor items, baby and kid stuff, school and office supplies, shoes, bags, luggage, pet supplies, and health and fitness equipment. CSN Stores is a one-stop-shop for just about anything you might need.

To enter: tell me what you think I should do with the kitchen lighting.

For additional entries (leave separate comments for each):

• follow Lame Adventures
• post a direct link to this giveaway on your facebook status
• blog about the giveaway; leave a direct link to your post in the comment

The winner will be selected by a random draw. Make sure your comment gives me a way to contact you if you win. If I can't get in touch with you, I'll have to select another winner!

The giveaway ends at 10:00 pm, central time, on Thursday, March 24, 2011.

Due to shipping issues, the giveaway is open to residents of the U.S. and Canada only. The $35 gift certificate does not cover any shipping costs but you can use it on ANY product from ANY one of CSN Stores' sites.

Nobody paid me to say nice things about CSN Stores, but CSN Stores is giving one of my readers $35 worth of stuff. Lucky readers!

What Lucy Wore Tuesday

2011-03-09T19:00:00.000-06:00

C and I have a lot of fun playing in the water. Lucy also enjoys the water, but she's not a very good swimmer. She will have fun splashing around in shallow areas, then get stuck in a spot that is too deep and have to be rescued.

Last Summer, C found a boat for us and we knew Lucy would have a fun time going to the lake with us. We also knew she could easily sink to the bottom of the lake and become catfish food. We love Lucy and don't want her to be catfish food, so we came up with a solution.

This is Lucy's new life jacket. Yes, we are those crazy dog people. But we love our dog and want her to stay alive.

And doesn't this photo make you happy? Because C and I got a great laugh. I can't wait to see her paddling around the lake with it. I think she will like it after she figures out it allows her to swim without sinking, but for now she thinks it is a mean joke.

Life vest: Outward Hound

What I Wore Wednesday

2011-03-09T08:00:00.000-06:00

The jewelry I'm wearing today was handmade by my cousin. She makes lots of colorful baubles and recently opened her own shop in her hometown. Ignore the yellow tone of the photograph. I hurriedly snapped it under the fluorescent glow of my bathroom lights so I could see in the mirror what I was photographing.

Shirt: Express, Pants: Ann Taylor, Shoes: Nine West, Necklace & Bracelet: Ronna's Creations

Winner!

2011-03-08T19:00:00.004-06:00

I'm a winner! And not in a weird, Charlie Sheen kind of way. I really am a winner! Paul Byron Downs at The Basics Blog does a weekly giveaway. I was the lucky winner a few weeks ago when he gave away gift cards to Anthropologie. You should take a look at his blog, it has lots of handy tips! He also has a web page called The Basics, where you can find an archive of his articles. He covers a broad range of topics, I enjoy The Outdoors and Food & Beverage. He even has a grownup recipe for eggs in a hole. It's a fun website!

I love Anthropologie! They have such neat things that I can't afford unless I win a gift card from a blog giveaway. So thank you to Paul Byron Downs for the gift card! I had so much fun choosing what nifty things I wanted!

My first choice was these mini latte bowls. They are really cute and I can't wait to eat ice cream out of them. Or pudding. Or strawberries. But most likely ice cream.

I also got this cute little egg tray. I thought it was going to be bigger and I planned to use it for devilled eggs, but unless I cut the eggs in a way that will cause them to roll all over my plate, I don't think it's going to work. Maybe I will just use it for its intended purpose and it will hold eggs in my refrigerator.

I love how everything from Anthropologie came wrapped in a tidy little package. It was so fancy!

Inside the big envelope was my invoice, and the little package held the gift card. Very chic. At least I think it's chic. I'm not a very chic person, but I think a chic person would identify this packaging as chic. And I felt chic when I opened it.

So go over to The Basics and enter his giveaway on Wednesdays, you might win. And make sure to browse the rest of the website for lots of handy tips!

Pay Phone

2011-03-08T12:30:00.001-06:00

I did not know such a thing even existed anymore! I took a different route to work this morning, and this caught my eye. It's at a grimy gas station known for selling beer to minors and being robbed on a regular basis...well, as regular as robberies occur in this small town. Even though the phone is fairly out-in-the open (hence my ability to drive up to it and snap a photo with my phone), I'm sure lots of clandestine business still gets transacted there. I must admit, I did not investigate the functionality of this pay phone. That would have required me to touch it, which was out of the question as I was not in possession of rubber gloves and hand sanitizer!

Basketball Season

2011-03-04T12:30:00.001-06:00

This has been a very busy week for me!

I drove to Oklahoma City to see the dentist on Monday and got to have lunch with a friend I haven't seen since college. Then, on Tuesday I went back to OKC after work with some of my colleagues for a legislative reception. Blondie ate dinner at church on Wednesday with his family and he practiced for worship team. Then yesterday we attended an evening lecture at the university. The only day we have eaten dinner at home this week was Monday and I don't even remember what we ate!

Today Blondie is picking me up from work early and we are going to drive two hours to see his school's basketball team play in the area tournament. We will get to eat with his uncle who lives in that town. Then tomorrow we're going back to OKC where Blondie will attend a continuing education workshop and we'll possibly attend another basketball game in the afternoon. Blondie's alma mater, which is in a different size class than his employer, is playing in the state tournament this weekend and we hope they win tonight so we'll get to see them play tomorrow.

Since I went to OKC last Saturday for a church event and to watch basketball with Blondie, I will have made four trips to OKC in seven days! And gas is $3.39 per gallon.

Shiny. O. Sparkly

2011-03-03T19:00:00.001-06:00

I have discovered a wonderful new thing! It's actually not new at all, just new to me. Have you ever tried S.O.S. scrubbers? They are amazing. AMAZING!

When I opened the box I was a bit disgusted. Doesn't it look like a person with long, gray hair took a shower using Zest soap and this is what came out of the drain? It's a giant blue hairball!

This is the remnants of chicken soup. I soaked it, scrubbed it, and ran it though the dishwasher twice. It was icky and crusty. I set it aside, assuming it would clean itself. After I discovered it wouldn't clean itself I decided to try S.O.S. pads. And after about 30 seconds of scrubbing, it was all sparkly and shiny (I thought it took a sparkly and shiny photo, but apparently I didn't and I'm not going to now).

It was magical and blogworthy and I think everyone needs their very own box. What is even more amazing is that they are only $2.39 for a box of 10 at K-mart! This is one of the best things I have ever found. I'm going to try it on my grimy bathtub next.

And I'm fully aware this looks like a giveaway, but it's not. I wish S.O.S. knew who I was and gave me lots of boxes to give to you, but you'll have to buy your own box. Unless you want to come to my house and I will share mine.

But please don't come to my house if I don't know you. Not only will you probably not be able to find it, but I will definitely not open my door to strangers.

Meatsickle

2011-02-26T07:00:00.000-06:00

One thing is for sure: we will not go hungry. Julie and C butchered a calf and we bought half of it. We had exactly enough room in our freezer for that much meat. We're looking forward to lots of tasty roasts and steaks in the coming months!

Cups

2011-02-25T07:00:00.000-06:00

Two people live here. Yes, that's right. Two. So, what's wrong with this picture?

Ski Trip

2011-02-24T07:00:00.001-06:00

Yesterday I returned to work from a three-day trip to Wolf Creek, Colorado. Blondie and I went with his brother and Julie and C. for a long weekend of skiing and snowboarding. Since I talked Blondie into snowboarding last year, this year I agreed to learn to ski.

Here's a nice photo of me before I bit the dust:

And after. I have to disclose that Blondie did throw a bunch of snow on me for dramatic effect.

Here we are after I dusted off most of the snow.

And the one good shot I got of Blondie and his brother. It was difficult to catch them not being silly.

What I Wore Wednesday

2011-02-23T12:30:00.001-06:00

Today I'm wearing my favorite black pants and a really comfortable top. The shoes, not so much.

Top: Agenda, Pants: Express, Shoes: Nine West

What I Wore Wednesday

2011-02-16T19:05:00.005-06:00

I'm sure you noticed that I did not post a photo of my outfit last Wednesday. That's because last Wednesday was another snow day and I wore sweats all day. No one needs to see that!

Today, on the other hand was nearly 80*. No complaints there! Today I had a big meeting with all of my colleagues from all over the state. I wanted to be comfortable because I knew we would have a long day. Yesterday I spent most of the day at the state capitol walking around in dreadful heels, so today I went for comfort.

A closeup of my comfortable shoes:

I walked about two miles in them, and even with a blister from yesterday, I was able to keep up the pace with three men who were in a hurry.

Top: Storm, Pants: Ann Taylor Loft, Shoes: Me Too

Crafty!

2011-02-15T19:00:00.000-06:00

I am not a fan of flowers on Valentine's Day. I think it is silly. First of all, they are marked up at least double the price of flowers on any other day. And why would you want flowers on the same day that everyone else is getting flowers? Then your flowers have to compete against everyone else's flowers. And if you get carnations instead of roses, your carnations will feel insignificant, even though they would be gorgeous on any other day. Flowers are better any other day of the year.

C always wins Valentine's Day in our house. He is pretty creative. This year I knew I had him. I had a brilliant plan. He is a huge fan of Count Chocula. Unfortunately, they stopped selling it in stores a very long time ago. Any time we go into a grocery store, he still has to check the cereal aisle to see if they have it. Sadly, they never do. Amazon is the best website. Ever. They have everything. Including Count Chocula. So I ordered him eight boxes. I gave them to him on Saturday because waiting to give someone a gift that I already have in my posession is difficult for me. I left it at work until Friday because I knew I couldn't restrain myself. He was very excited. He couldn't understand why I didn't buy every box they had in stock.

I came home to my gift after work on Valentine's Day. He had arranged a plate full of M&M's in a heart shape. I thought it was pretty stinkin' cute. After looking at Facebook, at least six of my friends had posted photos of the flowers their husbands or boyfriends had sent them. No one had posted crafts made out of M&M's. Creativity saved C at least $60. Or I could just be easily impressed...

And I still didn't win Valentine's Day. I would say this year is a tie.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-14T12:30:00.000-06:00

Happy Valentine's Day! Did your sweetheart do something nice for you today? Blondie gave me a sweet note:

And the aforementioned "sticks."

This rose bush reminds us of the rose garden we visited on our honeymoon. Plus, I have two puny rose bushes that need to be replaced. When he bought this one, he said he made sure to choose the heartiest variety they had for sale. The lady who helped him used to be a florist and educated him on the meanings of all of the different flower colors. She tried to talk him into buying the bush that produces red flowers because it symbolizes love, but he explained that since we're married we've pretty much established that. He wanted something low maintenance.

Another Snow Day

2011-02-09T10:00:00.004-06:00

Last week we knew a snowstorm was coming on Tuesday, so we did some laundry on Monday evening just in case we ended up without electricity for the rest of the week. We were supposed to get lots of ice last week. Ice, combined with strong winds, wreaks havoc on our power lines and we often have to rough it for several days at a time. In fact, one winter when I was in college, we had no electricity for three long weeks on the farm.

However, this time instead of ice and wind we got snow and wind. Last Tuesday morning, I woke up to find snow in my dryer.

The winds were so strong that they gusted the snow right up the vent into the dryer! We were just happy to still have electricity, though, so we didn't mind re-washing the clothes. We thought about just re-drying them, but decided that might not be a good idea. That snow might look fresh and white, but it was actually pretty dirty. Blondie had to scoop up a drift in order to be able to open our back door, and he dumped it in the utility room sink. When the snow melted, there there was a puddle of mud where the snow had been. It has been so dry here that the dust blew right in with the snow.

This week we were promised another snowstorm. We learned our lesson from last week and replaced the dryer vent with a hood that had a more effective flap. There was no snow in our dryer this morning, but our washing machine was frozen. So much for doing laundry today.

Pioneer Woman Book Signing

2011-02-08T12:30:00.001-06:00

On Saturday Julie, Carina, and I went to the Pioneer Woman book signing at Full Circle Bookstore in Oklahoma City. We have all been PW fans for a long time and we decided this would be a fun outing.

We got there early and picked up our books that I had pre-ordered. Quite a crowd had formed by the time PW actually took the stage. She was a little nervous that there was no podium, so Marlboro Man came to her rescue and delivered a podium to ease her anxiety. People asked questions, she answered, someone handed over an order of her beloved Sonic Pickle-Os, and a sweet redheaded ballerina asked if Cowboy Josh might be interested in her. It was fun and lighthearted.

After the question and answer period, PW signed books. We were in group 3, so we had to wait a little while to get in line to have our books signed. When I got up to go to the bathroom, I had to walk right by Marlboro Man and the boys and decided it might be fun to have them sign PW's cookbook. Right after I got mine, I sent it to PW to autograph, so I hadn't brought it. However, Julie and Carina each had one. The Drummond men were very gracious and tolerant of the hordes of women swooning over them.

It was finally our turn to meet Ree. I think we really bonded. She liked my necklace and she thought Julie and I were twins. Ree and I are BFF now. For real.

Snow Day from the Passenger Seat

2011-02-03T19:00:00.002-06:00

Any time it snows in Western Oklahoma, the world seems to shut down. Schools and businesses close until the snow melts, which means I don't have to go to work! The snow doesn't make cattle stop eating, though. So C still has to get out to feed cattle and break ice. On my days off I like to ride along with him. Usually the passenger is in charge of opening gates, but he let me off the hook on Tuesday since it was only 5 degrees outside! This is what we did on our snow day:

This is our first ice chopping stop. These aren't C's cattle, but I thought they were pretty. These share a fence with C's cattle. The sweet little old lady who lives on (and owns) the farms likes to run water for all of the cattle every morning. C tries to stop here first on icy days so the determined little lady won't try to break ice. He also broke ice for these longhorns because little old ladies don't need to be chopping ice!

Lucy seemed to enjoy the snow. One of her favorite activities is running along beside the pickup after C lets her out at a pasture. It scares me when she does this! It especially scares me when it is icy, which is hazardous for running.

These cattle didn't want to move from their spot by the hay bale. They look very cold. And they were not one bit interested in getting a drink after the ice in their tank got chopped. They could use a warm beach and a fruity drink with an umbrella.

Marlboro Man isn't the only one who has to chop ice. C is also a good ice chopper. However, unlike The Pioneer Woman, I am not brave enough to leave the cozy, heated pickup. So all of my photos are taken from the comfort of the passenger seat. Snow days are best when viewed from the passenger seat!

What I Wore Wednesday

2011-02-02T17:01:00.004-06:00

I had grand plans for my outfit today. Then it got cold. Blondie and I were off work yesterday because of the weather, and my office opened at 10:00 this morning. However, since we only have one snow-worthy vehicle, we have to commute together. He drops me off at my office around 7:00 and then finishes his commute. That means I was at work a full three hours before I was required to arrive. I did get lots of work done in the quiet time while I was the only one there, though!

Today I wore warm, comfortable clothes. Here's my outfit:

Sweater Dress: Express, Cami: Bally, Leggings: June & Daisy, Boots: Gianni Bini

...And the Winner Is...

2011-02-01T17:07:00.001-06:00

Thank you to everyone who entered the CSN Stores giveaway this weekend! Some of you had actually heard of turkey ham, and now I know to look in the regular meat section rather than the deli section. I'm going to try that!

Now for our winner!

(Drumroll, please)

The lucky winner is (selected by the random number generator at Random.org) comment #17, Heather!

Congratulations, Heather ! I will contact you via email today just in case you miss this post and then you will get to choose what you're going to buy with your $35 gift certificate!

Turkey Ham?

2011-01-29T07:00:00.001-06:00

Blondie and I had company for dinner on Friday night and wanted to cook a special meal for our guests. We decided to make chicken cordon bleu, which we both really like. Unfortunately, though, two of our guests don't eat pork, so we had to come up with an alternative for the ham layer. Blondie suggested we use "turkey ham" instead, and I thought that sounded like a reasonable solution.

I assumed "turkey ham" was just turkey made to look and taste like ham. You know, like turkey jerky or turkey burgers. This seemed perfectly fine to me. I don't mind a little processed meat in my diet. I went to the grocery store to find the elusive "turkey ham" last week and couldn't find it. I found turkey and I found ham, but no "turkey ham." Blondie looked at me like I was a fool and said he would get the "turkey ham" himself.

Yesterday he came home with this and it was my turn to look at him like he was a fool:

Does this look like "turkey ham" to you? NO. This is turkey. Not ham. Not "turkey ham." Turkey. No wonder I had such a difficult time finding "turkey ham!" There's no such thing! There's just turkey or ham, no hybrid meat product known as "turkey ham."

According to Blondie, any kind of lunch meat is ham. So, this is turkey ham. And apparently there's chicken ham and salami ham and roast beef ham and ham ham. This reminds me of the times my grandma would ask me to make her a bologna sandwich.

She lived in the nursing home in town and was usually satisfied with the food they would serve, but on occasion she would be in the mood for something different. Since I lived close by, she would often call me and ask me to bring a sandwich if she didn't like the meal they were serving in the cafeteria. She usually asked for a bologna sandwich, but I rarely stock bologna in my fridge. I would tell her that I didn't have bologna, and offer whatever kind of cold cuts I happened to have (usually ham...not "turkey ham.") She always gladly accepted, saying, "any kind of bologna is fine."

To Grandma all cold cuts were bologna, and to Blondie all cold cuts are ham.

Do you like turkey or ham? Have you ever found "turkey ham" for sale anywhere? I'm sure it does exist...even if I can't find it in our grocery store. Where can I get it?

Thanks to CSN Stores, one lucky reader of Lame Adventures will win a $35 gift certificate to any of CSN Stores' online stores. CSN Stores offers everything for your home, including furniture, home decor, housewares, outdoor items, baby and kid stuff, school and office supplies, shoes, bags, luggage, pet supplies, and health and fitness equipment. CSN Stores is a one-stop-shop for just about anything you might need.

To enter: tell me your favorite lunch meat or where in the world I can find "turkey ham."

For additional entries (leave separate comments for each):

• become a follower of Lame Adventures
• post a direct link to this giveaway on your facebook status
• blog about the giveaway; leave a direct link to your post in the comment

The winner will be selected by a random draw. Make sure your comment gives me a way to contact you if you win. If I can't get in touch with you, I'll have to select another winner!

The giveaway ends at 10:00 pm, central time, on Monday, January 31, 2011.

Due to shipping issues, the giveaway is open to residents of the U.S. and Canada only. The $35 gift certificate does not cover any shipping costs but you can use it on ANY product from ANY one of CSN Stores' sites.

Nobody paid me to say nice things about CSN Stores, but CSN Stores is giving one of my readers $35 worth of stuff. Lucky readers!

A Falling Out

2011-01-28T19:00:00.001-06:00

As you surely remember, Lucy got a new friend for Christmas. She was all nonchalant and pretended she didn't care about her new friend. She pushed him aside and ignored him. So we put him in her dog food container so he would smell yummy delicious like her food. Then she decided she liked her friend and licked him and loved him. Then he stopped smelling like dog food and she pushed him aside again.

Lucy and her friend have had a falling out. I noticed she had been pulling out some of his little "fur" things, but I thought it was possible that she was trying to show him affection. This morning when I went to let her outside (it is far too cold to make her sleep outside at night), I found the massacre. You can even see the poor Loofa Dog grimacing in pain. He has been granted a temporary restraining order, and hopefully will soon enter the witness protection program located at the local dump.

Poor thing never hand a chance...

What I Wore Wednesday

2011-01-26T18:00:00.002-06:00

I have decided to take on a new challenge. No, I'm not going to commit to working out or flossing every day. Starting next week, I am going to try to document my Wednesday wardrobe for all of blogland to see.

I follow one blogger who photographs her eccentric outfits every day of the week. There's no way I'm going to try that, because people would quickly get bored of my black pants and lack of accessories. I'm not very fashionable. I don't like spending a lot of money on clothes. I work in an office and wear regular clothes to work. But surely once a week I can come up with an outfit worth showing off. Surely! Another blogger I follow has started posting her Wednesday clothing choices once a week, and that is much more reasonably within my ability! I'm going to do this mostly because I think it will be fun, but also for other various reasons.

It will keep me accountable. If I commit to photographing my Wednesday outfits for the world to see, I have to wear something worth showing off. I am definitely not a very stylish person, and I don't really care about fashion. Unless something is comfortable, machine washable, and goes with everything else in my closet, I don't want it.

It will force me to be creative. I wear jeans way too often and I have too many pairs of black pants. After everyone has seen my rotation of outfits, I'll have to come up with new combinations. Perhaps readers will have suggestions

It will require me to post something regularly! I've become a slacker about posting on the blog and if I have a schedule to stick to, I'll be much more likely to post regularly.

I hope this ends up being something fun and exciting. Much like other experiments in my life (piano lessons, basketball, golf), if I hate it, I'll quit. I make no promises of exciting outfits or fashion advice, but maybe my fashionable readers will be able to give me some tips!

Cold!

2011-01-20T12:00:00.002-06:00

It's cold. On my way to work this morning, it was 18*. I know that's normal for lots of folks, but here where the wind comes sweeping down the plains, it's cold!

Dogs shiver in their doghouses, peeking out with pitiful faces begging to be let inside. Swingsets on school playgrounds sit listlessly, waiting for sunny days when children can play. Oklahomans, not accustomed to the frigid weather, drag out their once-a-year winter gear. People keep their gas tanks full and their trunks loaded with supplies. Everyone goes to the grocery store and stocks up on bread and milk, as if a family could live on that if they were stranded for a week.

So far this school year, Blondie has not had any snow days. He's hoping to maintain that trend, because if they don't use their snow days, they get out of school on Fridays in April. We have been letting Yogi sleep in the garage. Blondie told him it's because, "even though he's a big little dog, he's still a little dog." It's true. He's full grown, but he's still puny. He wouldn't make it all night at 18*.

Blondie did rig up a heat lamp in Yogi's dog house. His little cocoon stays at a toasty 40* when it is about 32* outside. If it gets much below freezing, though, he sleeps inside. Today we took Yogi to Blondie's parents' house to spend the day because they have a cozy porch where the dogs can snuggle up. No, Yogi isn't really spoiled at all.

On days like today when the roads are icy and the conditions are uncertain, Blondie drops me off at work and then drives on to school. My office is about 15 miles from our house and his school is 20 miles farther. We only have one vehicle that is 4-wheel-drive, so we carpool on nasty days. This means I have to get up an hour earlier than usual. I'm not a fan of getting up early anyway, and especially not on cold winter days!

I drank hot chocolate at the office while I checked emails this morning. It made me feel a little better about being there at 7:15.

Christmas Recap

2011-01-07T07:00:00.008-06:00

I went back to work this week after being off for almost two weeks. It was so nice to be able to sleep in every morning and lounge around all day!

We did have an action packed holiday season! We had dinner and Dirty Santa with Blondie's maternal grandparents on December 21, I made seven casseroles for the freezer on December 22, we enjoyed verenika and family history with Blondie's paternal grandmother on December 23, we had a relaxing Christmas Eve with my family on December 24, we spent the day with Blondie's family on Christmas Day, we attended Cirque du Soleil on December 26, then we took a break for a few days. We tried to celebrate New Year's Eve with Art and Carina, but Mim got sick, then we had one last Christmas celebration with my mom's extended family on New Year's Day. Whew!

Here are a few photos from the festivities at my parents' house.

Our traditional "silly socks" photo. I got these scented fuzzy socks at Bath and Body Works. We'll see how long they maintain their aroma.

Mom got a flashlight with a magnet, so when she has to change a flat tire at night, she can stick it to the frame of her car and have adequate light. Or she can wait patiently for AAA with confidence that if she had to change a flat at night she would have the proper equipment.

Daddy received a wildlife camera that he plans to use to keep an eye on the nocturnal activity around his hay bales. Apparently some critters have been vandalizing his hay supply.

Blondie and I gave all of our mothers and grandmothers wedding photo albums for Christmas. I am a little surprised C cared to glance at it, but he does seem a little preoccupied with the approaching hotshot.

In reality I'm not twice as big as Blondie, I just happened to be closer to the camera in this shot. It was otherwise a good picture, though, so I decided I could overlook that flaw.

Merry Christmas, Lucy!

2011-01-06T19:00:00.001-06:00

I never thought we would be those people. The kind who think their dog talks to them and deserves to be treated like she is a special member of the family. We are officially those people.

A few days before Christmas, we were browsing Tractor Supply. We like to browse Tractor Supply because they have fun, sometimes unusual things. We were also a bit behind on our Christmas shopping.

As we wandered past the pet things, C. decided Lucy needed a new bowl because the rubber that keeps hers from scooting around on the kitchen floor came off. We also noticed their Loofa Dogs were on sale. We had tried to give Lucy a toy back in her more skittish days, but she didn't know what to do with it. We decided this would be a good opportunity to get Lucy a gift.

We picked the prettiest bowl and the cutest Loofa Dog and hid them from her until Christmas Eve. At this point I was too excited and I had to give Lucy her gifts (I can't handle the excitement of waiting to give people gifts, I want to give them away now).

Lucy pretended that she didn't care about her new bowl. And she only cuddles her Loofa Dog when we aren't looking. But I'm sure she loves her gifts. And she undoubtedly understands the true meaning of Christmas. She is the smartest dog ever.

And it is possible that her people are a bit more silly than average.

Crafty Christmas Tree Ornament

2011-01-05T19:00:00.001-06:00

We had a fun Christmas! We stayed so busy that apparently neither Lisa or I have had time to write anything since before the holidays started!

Before Christmas this year, Mom told me she thought her tree looked sad and naked. When we moved out of the house, Lisa and I got to take our Christmas tree ornaments with us. She kept our baby ones and the ones we made for her in 4-H, but all of the festive ones we collected over the years were gone. So I decided to get crafty and make her a new ornament!

Poor C. got coerced into helping me with this project. I needed thin slices of tree branches, so he went in search of pretty wood. He even used his uncle's fancy saw to make them smooth. Next, I needed help branding our initials and the year in the slices. I pretty much held the torch while he did all the branding.

So, C. did pretty much all the work, while I got all the credit for having the idea. I did add the pretty little bundle of what my dad called "alfalfa" at the top. I thought it seemed more Christmas-y.

Next year I'll have to come up with another idea for a crafty Christmas ornament!

Bake Sale!

2010-12-22T19:00:00.003-06:00

I stayed very busy last week! Our youth group is redecorating! We are trying to make a fun space for them to hang out so they will want to come to church. It's good when teens want to come to church! We already got a fancy tv and a Wii, now we are working on getting some furniture and accessories to go with it! We decided that a bake sale would be a good way to raise money for our cause!

We had sooooo much stuff! The other youth group leader and I did a lot of baking!

There were New Year's Cookies! And homemade bread!

And pie!

I made tons of cupcakes. 120 to be exact. I also made 18 loaves of pumpkin bread, 27 Rice Krispie Treats, 24 Corn Flake treats, 24 brownies, 48 peanut clusters, and two gallons of puppy chow. And ya know what's amazing? That wasn't even close to everything. Church ladies are the best. You mention that you need donations, and they give you so much you don't have room for it all! Homemade bread is hard work! And did you see the pecan pie? We have the best church ladies!

And I have to give C. a lot of credit. After squirting icing on about two cupcakes, my hand hurt and I threw a hissy fit. He iced a lot of cupcakes. And I still wouldn't give him free pumpkin bread.

Please Advise

2010-12-20T12:30:00.000-06:00

I don't really like receiving emails with the closing "please advise." I'll advise if I feel like it! You're not the boss of me! Well, unless you are the boss of me. But then, if you were my boss, wouldn't you be advising? My boss would never use that phrase anyway.

Isn't it pretty well understood that if you ask a question in your correspondence, you're requesting my advice? Wrapping it up with a curt command makes it sound like you're trying to maintain the upper hand. It sounds awfully presumptuous of you to demand my advice when you're the one who needs me to help you. It's quite likely that I'll take my sweet time responding to your request if you're not sweet when you ask.

Here's my advice: be nice when you ask for my advice!

Yogi

2010-12-12T19:19:00.004-06:00

Have I ever introduced you to our dog, Yogi? He's a very special little doggy.

Blondie's mother has two miniature Australian Shepherds and has raised several litters of puppies. Blondie decided to buy a puppy from the last litter and had selected a cute little female and named her Penny. However, things didn't work out for Penny. She was a very headstrong little puppy and Blondie wanted a sweet, playful puppy. Penny was a dog's dog; Yogi loves people. He decided to take Yogi instead, and it has worked out really well.

We named his puppy Yogi because he was so fat and fluffy when he was little that he looked like a little bear. Of course, he has grown out of that roly poly puppy stage, but the name stuck. He is an incredibly sweet dog. He is pretty shy around strangers, but he gets extremely excited about seeing people he knows. Since he moved here, we have been working on the "no jumping!" command because he gets so excited when he sees people that he wants to jump up and greet them.

He loves playing and will drag out every toy in the house. His toys are in a little basket by the sofa and the moment he comes in the house, he heads straight for the toy basket and grabs his mouse. The mouse is really a cat toy. It has a string you pull that makes it vibrate. Yogi has figured out how to pull the string himself and can entertain himself all evening with the mouse.

Sunday evening he must have gotten really excited about the mouse, because I found it attached to his collar. Sometimes he will pull the string out all the way and swing the mouse around to "kill" it. Apparently, it swung just right to get caught on the clip that keeps his tag on his collar because I found him wearing a mouse necklace!

Christmas Tour of Homes

2010-12-12T18:50:00.008-06:00

I did all of my Christmas decorating the first weekend of December because I had a Christmas cookie exchange here the following week and I wanted the house to look festive for the party. Blondie and I merged our two Christmas ornament collections and we decked the halls...well, at least the dining room, with our hodgepodge of Christmas finery.

I put the Christmas tree in that corner because there isn't a good place to put it in the living room, and in that corner there are two windows that show it off really well at night.

This pretty table runner was one of our favorite wedding gifts. It was handmade and given to us by one of Blondie's mother's cousins. I've had the crystal bowl for years, and for the Christmas season I filled it up with pine cones from the tree in the front yard. Festive and free!

Here's where we hung our stockings this year! These stockings match the table runner and are plenty big for lots of good treats. I love that they are personalized...and they reveal the mystery of Blondie's real name! Julie and Sarah bought the clear crystal goblets to use as decorations for my shower and gave them to me afterward because neither of them could think of anything they would do with them, but they knew they were just my style. I have used them more than once! This little basket is where we keep all of the Christmas cards we have received. You can see Julie and C.'s card on the top of the stack.

This is my sewing machine table, which is right next to the front door. I love these red goblets that I received from a friend years ago. They're perfect for Christmas. I received the red candle and evergreen centerpiece as a door prize at a luncheon at church this year where the ladies bid farewell to a beloved friend who is moving soon. I got to keep the centerpiece from my table and I will always think of her when I see it. If you can't see the Santa Claus photo, it is of Julie and me when we were little. Our mom gave each of us one of these for Christmas one year and she also has one on her sewing machine.

That's the Christmas tour of our humble abode. Other than using festive towels in the kitchen and burning evergreen and cider scented candles throughout the house, I don't bother to decorate the other rooms since no one ever sees them. I do love having guests, though, so if you know me in person and you're free some evening, stop by for some apple cider or hot cocoa!

I'm participating in the Nester's Christmas Tour of Homes. Follow the link below to see other Christmas houses!

Science Fiction Christmas

2010-12-09T18:13:00.014-06:00

I got my Christmas tree on sale the day after Christmas several years ago. It was cheap and you can tell. I try to compensate by covering it with really awesome ornaments. We have a little bit of everything on our tree, from special ornaments from our childhoods to nerdy action figures. The star at the top of the tree was made by Blondie in Sunday School in 1983. I have ornaments from my alma mater for each year I was in college there. The large glass ball hanging right next to Captain Kirk is a souvenir from our honeymoon--we bought it at the Tulsa Glassblowing Studio.

We have Blondie's and my first ornaments. Blondie's is a cute little mouse and mine is an embroidered teddy bear. You can see where I added my own decorative flair with a red pen.

Each year when Julie and I were growing up, our babysitter gave us a special handmade ornament. She was a very special person. Shirley was more than just a babysitter; she was like a member of our family. Our parents would tell you that Shirley raised us just as much as they did and we were very blessed to have her in our lives. Her ornaments are precious to me. Here are just a few of them.

And this year I have added Blondie's ornaments to the mix. We're having a science fiction Christmas this year, with Darth Vader from Star Wars, the crew from Star Trek, The Original Series, and some characters from Star Trek, The Next Generation. Frodo Baggins and Gandalf the Grey are also on the tree, but they're near the back and I couldn't photograph them.

My novelty ornaments are also on the tree. I love Peanuts and I have several Snoopy ornaments.

And, of course, we have to have the traditional "our first Christmas" ornament. This one was given to us by one of my friends as a wedding gift.

I am participating in Thrifty Decor Chick's Christmas Tree Party. See more festive trees here:

Christmas Cookie Exchange

2010-12-08T12:30:00.000-06:00

It has become a tradition with some of the ladies in my church to have a Christmas Cookie Exchange early in December. I host the party at my house and make lots of dainty snacks, Karola makes her special cheese fondue, and all of the guests bring several batches of cookies to share with each other. This year I invited some ladies from Blondie's church, so we had a diverse group.

First, Karola gave a sweet devotional on how we should seek Jesus first. Then, we ate our dainty snacks and played a fun game. Finally, we got to the good stuff--the cookies!

This year, cake mix cookies were very popular! I think three ladies brought three different variations. Karola and I stuck with our tried and true standbys from last year. She made German Vanillekipferl, known to English speakers as Almond Crescents, and I made Snickerdoodles. They're Blondie's and my favorite cookies and I rarely take the time to make them, so this was a good special occasion for them.

Last year when we had fondue, Karola tried to be healthy and use a low fat cheese, but we ended up with a very stretchy fondue because it didn't melt! It was unexpected, but still fun. This year she had perfected her recipe and the cheese was creamy, as it is supposed to be. Here are Teresa, Carina, and Karola getting ready for the party.

Here are Carina, Brooke, and Mandi enjoying the fondue and other snacks. Brooke is not a fan of cheese, so she did not partake. We offered to pray over her in hopes of curing her sickness of cheese aversion, but she declined.

After we ate, we played a Christmas version of Apples to Apples. Like Sarah did for my bridal shower this summer, I used Christmas-related words to create game cards to replace the regular Apples-to-Apples cards, then we used the actual Apples-to-Apples cards to match up. There was lots of laughing, so I think everyone had fun!

Mandi is concentrating very hard on the game:

Here are just some of the cookies different people brought. Some went all out and packaged theirs in cute Christmas bags or tins, others just used Ziploc bags. I had some cute penguin snack bags leftover from another event, and after I used them I realized why they were leftover. When I twisted the tops of the bags to close them, the penguins' heads got all smashed, so my cute little penguins look decapitated. Oh well, the cookies still tasted good.

Here is everyone choosing the cookies they wanted to take home:

Carina and Karla with their loot:

Julie's basket was one of the few that was actually big enough to hold all of the cookies she acquired!

My basket wasn't quite big enough! The best part about having the party at my house: I got to keep all of the leftover cookies! Some people made more cookies than there were guests, so there were a couple of cookie packages left on my coffee table after people left. Score!

Hot Chocolate

2010-11-30T12:30:00.000-06:00

Last night Blondie had some hot chocolate right before he went to bed. I had just brushed my teeth, so it wouldn't have tasted good to me, but it did make me want some.

I knew we had a box of hot chocolate in the conference room at work, so I thought I'd have some this morning. I opened the cabinet where the box of hot chocolate mix is stored an pulled it down off the top shelf. That tricky hot chocolate box was empty! Someone took the last packet and didn't throw away the box. I was mighty disappointed.

The only other option for a hot beverage was green tea. On a normal day, green tea is fine. I like green tea. Green tea is good for you. But it's no substitute for hot chocolate. I'm going to the grocery store today and getting a box to keep in my desk so no tricky co-workers can take the last one!

Cables Not Included

2010-11-29T19:00:00.002-06:00

This weekend I ventured out to a Walmart on Black Friday for the FIRST TIME in my life ever. I had plans to be a super awesome youth group leader and get some Wii games for $7. Since I am not willing to get up early on a day off, I made it to Walmart around 9:00. Unfortunately, the games had been on sale since midnight and the good ones were sold out. The trip wasn't a complete waste though, because we didn't have a printer and they had them on sale for $20! So I found my printer and headed to the checkout.

Later, when I was trying to install my printer, I noticed the cable that attaches the printer to the computer was missing. I called the customer support, and while I was on hold I read the instructions a little more closely. It said that I might have to purchase the cable separately! I decided this was a great injustice. I thought that if I was persistent enough, they might send me a cable anyway.

I talked to a lady from a foreign country and asked why they don't send all of the necessary cables with new printers. How am I supposed to print documents from my computer when I can't connect my printer to my computer? She said that I should use the cable from my old printer to hook up the new printer. I told her that I didn't have an old printer, therefore I had no cable and was stuck with a printer that didn't work. She repeated the line about using the old cable. It was clear that she had no idea what I was saying. I told her that I would be returning the printer unless they would send me a cable. She seemed satisfied with that solution (I wasn't) and asked if there was anything else she could help me with today. YES! There is! Send me all the appropriate cables to make your product work! But I had given up by that point and just told her no and hung up. I'm sure I really showed her by not saying thank you. It is not in my nature to leave off a thank you. I think it actually hurt me worse than it hurt her.

It is my opinion that I shouldn't have to buy extra parts when I have already bought a new piece of computer equipment. I should be able to unpack a product from a box and be able to set it up without having to buy additional supplies. I am fully aware that the required cable will cost less than $10, but I refuse to be scammed into spending extra money. Boxes always inform you when batteries are not included, I think they should be labeled when cables are not included as well!

Thanksgiving Review

2010-11-29T12:30:00.000-06:00

This was a very nice Thanksgiving!

Blondie and I went to my granny's house on Thanksgiving Day for lunch and spent some time with my extended family. Some of my aunts and uncles and cousins were there, and it was very nice to visit with them since we get to see them so rarely. We had a delicious meal--Granny made the turkey and dressing and okra and her daughters brought the sides. Our mom made macaroni and cheese and sweet potato casserole.

Later in the afternoon, we made our way toward home and joined Blondie's mom's family for Thanksgiving dinner. We had another traditional Thanksgiving meal and everyone shared something they are thankful for. Blondie is thankful that people (his dad) let him borrow their stuff and that I let him live with me. I am thankful that he is willing to live with me.

On Friday I went shopping with Blondie's mother and sister. We didn't get up early to try to catch any of the big sales, we just had a leisurely day of shopping and eating at my favorite "restaurant," Taco Factory. I picked up a couple of Christmas gifts and then when I got home I wrapped all of the gifts I had acquired so far.

Saturday evening Blondie and I went to his parents' house for dinner with his immediate family. We had a non-traditional meal, which was quite welcome after all of the ham and turkey. Then we watched the OU vs. OSU football game on TV. Well, the guys watched the game while I read a book.

Since Blondie's other grandma always cooks Sunday lunch for the family every week, she typically has her holiday meals on Sunday as well since everyone is going to be there anyway. I love this arrangement! You always know what to expect, which allows you to plan for other things. We had another turkey dinner with special desserts for the family members who don't get to join us every week.

I wasn't really excited about returning to work after all the nice time off, but it's only a few weeks until Christmas! I'll be ready for another break right around the corner.

Happy, Happy! Joy, Joy!

2010-11-26T07:00:00.000-06:00

The Christmas season is officially here! And my first gift of the seaons showed up on my desk at work last week. Brenda knows I'm a sucker for anything that says "Joy" on it, and she's a sucker for anything that costs $1. So now I have a new Christmas decoration for my desk! Thanks, Brenda!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-25T07:00:00.002-06:00

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving! Make sure to eat lots of dressing and pie!

Shumard Oak

2010-11-23T12:30:00.001-06:00

For a while now, Blondie and I have been planning to plant a shade tree on the southwest side of our house, and last weekend was the perfect time to do it. I have read that fall is the best time to plant a new tree, so we waited for fall. Then we were busy with the wedding and just never got around to it.

We finally decided it was time when Blondie's grandma gave everyone their Christmas money and we had to decide what to do with it. We knew we wanted a tree, and this seemed like a good thing to spend it on. It's something that will last a long time and we will think of her when we see the tree.

We did some research and I talked to my boss, who is an avid gardner and landscaper. He recommended a Shumard Oak because it grows well in our region. The Shumard Oak is an Oklahoma Proven tree; it tolerates hot, dry summers and likes full sun. This sounded just perfect for us, so we went to Sunshine Nursery to choose a tree. The staff there was extremely friendly and helpful! Steve explained how to choose a good tree and pointed out a few nice ones.

We bought our tree, took it home, and put it in the ground right away. Steve gave us a planting guide and we followed his instructions precisely. Blondie dug a hole the same depth as and a little wider than our tree's root base and we filled it in and built a little dam around it. We didn't have quite enough soil, so we had to go to the farm and harvest some dirt. We then staked our tree between two sturdy T-posts to protect it from the strong winter winds we always have here.

Giveaway Winner

2010-11-15T17:30:00.000-06:00

Thank you to everyone who voted on my china cabinet conundrum to enter the CSN Stores giveaway this weekend!

I did not advertise this giveaway on any forums or giveaway directories, so there was a small number of entries this time. I actually know most of the contestants personally, so it was really exciting for me to know that it was very likely that I would actually know the winner!

Well, sure enough! There were 10 entries and I used Random.org to select the winner. I asked for a random number between 1 and 10, and it gave me 4. Hooray!

The lucky winner is Mom, who said, "I like the white, but the colors look good also."

Congratulations, Mom! I will contact you via email today just in case you miss this post and then you will get to choose what you're going to buy with your $35 gift certificate!

As for the decision on white vs. color, it was a very close race. White received three votes, color got four votes, and two people said to mix it up. I guess I'll go with various colors for now, but I reserve the right to change it up when I feel like it!

Always Be Prepared!

2010-11-09T19:00:00.001-06:00

I discovered something this weekend: You should always be prepared when camping in cold weather. C. is a big fan of camping. I am a big fan of sleeping indoors and using indoor plumbing. But since I get my way 99% of the time in this regard, I thought I would be nice and go camping with him Friday night. Also, another couple was going with us, and I couldn't let her look cooler than me.

I love a good campfire. Once you have had hot dogs cooked over a fire, you just can't eat them any other way (unless they come from a certain wonderful movie theater). S'mores made with Reese's are also amazing. I recently found out that hot chocolate packets are even better when made with water that has been heated over the fire. We have campfires a lot in the fall. Usually we pack up and go home around midnight. But apparently this weekend was perfect for camping. At least it was according to everyone besides me.

I started to get concerned when we met our friends at their house. They kept loading more and more blankets into their pickup. And she told me about the many layers she brought for sleeping. I started to worry that my sleeping bag from junior high sleepovers might not be warm enough. I hoped that my fuzzy fleece pants at college sweatshirt would supplement my slumber party sleeping bag.

Friday evening was a lot of fun. We had a good time roasting hot dogs and chatting with some of our smarter friends, who didn't want to stay the night. We had a great spot for a campfire. It was by a dry creek, which means a good, flat place with no rocks or sticks for sleeping, and behind a hill, which was an excellent wind block, so there was no cold wind, and the smoke didn't blow directly in our faces.

Eventually it was time to go to "bed." My slumber party sleeping bag completely failed me. And my fuzzy pink pants did nothing to counteract my sleeping bag's failure. About thirty minutes after we went to bed, I put C's cozy stocking cap on underneath my sweatshirt hood. About an hour after that I decided to put on C's not-so-cozy Carhartt jacket over my sweatshirt. About an hour after that I put my Carhartt jacket over my feet. I seriously considered going to the pickup for the rest of the night, but decided it probably wasn't any warmer in there. So I stayed in my sleeping bag and plotted about 75 different ways to torture C as he slept peacefully in his nice, cozy, 30 degree-rated sleeping bag.

The experience wasn't all bad. Our friend made biscuits and gravy for breakfast. It was so yummy. I can't even make gravy on a stove in a kitchen, and hers turned out perfect in a cast iron pan over a fire. I'm actually looking forward to the next campfire, but I made C. promise to get me a real sleeping bag that is made for campouts instead of sleepovers and is rated for the proper temperature before I am willing to sleep outside again. And next time I'm bringing more blankets!

China Cabinet

2010-11-09T17:30:00.001-06:00

Blondie and I decided we wanted to use the money we received as wedding gifts to purchase one big, memorable item. We decided to get a new china cabinet to use for storing all of our lovely dishes. We received many place settings of Fiesta Dinnerware and I already had lots of nice white dishes and serving pieces that I have acquired through the years. This gives us a great variety of dishes for different occasions.

I washed all of the Fiestaware before putting it away. Everything was a little dusty from being stored in the boxes. This isn't everything, but it was all that would fit in my dishwasher at one time:

I started my search by perusing Craigslist for a bargain. After wading through every barstool and bedroom suite for sale, I gave up on finding the perfect used china cabinet. Blondie and I also searched at several furniture stores. We looked at lots of options, but nothing really suited us. Everything we saw was either incredibly expensive, or looked very flimsy. I didn't want something to display a couple of plates and some glasses; I needed something to stack big piles of dishes on! When this caught our eye, we really loved it.

Our china cabinet was delivered on Thursday and it is just perfect! Do you remember when I wondered what I should do with the big blank wall in my kitchen? This is the perfect solution! The main problem: it doesn't match any of the other furniture in our house. All of our other furniture is pine and this is cherry. No matter, though. There's no other furniture in the kitchen and my cabinets are fairly dark, so we justified it. Plus, this piece was so heavy that Blondie couldn't lift it, so that meant it must be sturdy enough to stack lots of dishes on!

My favorite feature is the sliding glass doors. Every other china cabinet we considered had doors that opened out. I think these will be much more durable because they won't be hastily slammed and likely to get broken like the other type. Also, they can be used to cover the middle section or the two side sections. Versatility!

After I got the china cabinet dusted and installed the shelves, I played around with different arrangements.

All white:

Or lots of different colors:

I can't decide if I like it better with all white dishes or lots of colored dishes. I'll let the readers decide. Tell me what you like best. Everyone who comments will be entered in a giveaway for a $35 CSNStores giveaway!

If you're in the market for a new barstoos or bedroom suite and don’t want to wade through all the junk on Craigslist, check out CSNStores.com. They have over 200 stores that offer lots of unique items for your home and family.

Thanks to CSN Stores, one lucky reader of Lame Adventures will win a $35 gift certificate to any of CSN Stores' online stores. CSN Stores offers everything for your home, including furniture, home decor, housewares, outdoor items, baby and kid stuff, school and office supplies, shoes, bags, luggage, pet supplies, and health and fitness equipment. CSN Stores is a one-stop-shop for just about anything you might need.

To enter: vote on your preference of all white vs. a colorful variety of dishes in my new china cabinet!

For additional entries (leave separate comments for each):

• become a follower of Lame Adventures
• post a direct link to this giveaway on your facebook status
• blog about the giveaway; leave a direct link to your post in the comment

The winner will be selected by a random draw. Make sure your comment gives me a way to contact you if you win. If I can't get in touch with you, I'll have to select another winner!

The giveaway ends at 10:00 pm, central time, on Sunday, November 14, 2010.

Due to shipping issues, the giveaway is open to residents of the U.S. and Canada only.

Nobody paid me to say nice things about CSN Stores, but CSN Stores is giving one of my readers $35 worth of stuff. Lucky readers!

Wedding Photos

2010-11-04T19:23:00.005-05:00

I picked up our wedding photos yesterday. I was so anxious to see them and I am very pleased with them.

This is my favorite of the two of us:

The traditional wedding portrait:

A sweet one:

The bridesmaids are our sisters; Blondie's on the left and mine on the right:

The groomsmen are Blondie's brother and his cousin, Art:

The entire wedding party, including the ushers who are the bridesmaids' husbands:

My family:

Blondie's family:

Babies and Business Don't Mix!

2010-11-03T07:30:00.000-05:00

On occasion a client will bring their child to an appointment with me. I don't really like it, but I tolerate it. If the child is quiet and sits still and keeps himself entertained while the parent and I conduct business, all is well. However, that is rare. Most children, in my experience, do not sit quietly. They need snacks and entertainment.

I remember going places with my dad as a little girl. He would sometimes take us to the Co-op or the veterinarian's office. It was kind of a special occasion when we went places with our dad. We knew that we needed to mind our manners and let him work. I loved going to the Co-op because the manager had a huge box of Saf-T-Pops in his office. He would always give us one and we would always politely thank him and save it for later. If we were good while my dad did whatever he had gone to the Co-op to do, he would let us get a pop and candy bar from the vending machine. That was very special.

We probably didn't belong in the Co-op manager's office, but we were darn sure good while we were there. Plus, we were old enough to understand the expectations and follow the rules. We obviously weren't the only children who had ever darkened the Co-op manager's door because he wouldn't have had a giant box of suckers if he didn't expect to see children on occasion. The difference is that we behaved ourselves.

Last week a client brought her son with her for an appointment. I'm not good at estimating children's ages; this little boy was walking, but barely talking. He wasn't old enough to be expected to sit still and entertain himself, so of course he got into things while he was here. He cried when his mother told him to sit still. He ground Goldfish crackers into my guest chair, spilled juice on the floor, and fiddled with things on my desk. He wasn't being naughty. He was just curious.

Today a different client brought her daughter to my office. This little girl was about the same age. She toddled around my office, generally exploring the area. She played with the keys to my desk drawers, she unplugged my computer, and eventually spilled her mother's coffee all over my desk.

First of all, I am amazed at what parents can ignore. It is incredibly distracting to me when a child is wondering around my office, potentially destroying lots of important things. Secondly, I am surprised that they bring children to my office at all. It is obviously not a child friendly environment. In my opinion, if something is to be taken seriously, it deserves your full attention, whether it is your child or your business. When you don't take your responsibilities seriously, it's very difficult for me to take you seriously. I understand that bringing your children with you to boring places like my office is unavoidable, but please don't be surprised when it diminishes the productivity of your meeting.

It's Coming! It's Coming!

2010-11-02T19:00:00.002-05:00

Christmas is almost here!

Really! It is! Look at your calendar! It's time to start thinking about gifts, and schedules, and menus, and cookies, and all that jazz! I am a very careful planner, but it seems like I always forget about my Christmas card! I believe that mine have barely made it made it to their destinations in time for Christmas in the past few years. This year will be different! It will be better! This year my Christmas cards will be ready early! My goal is to have them neatly addressed, stacked, and ready to go by the beginning of December.

My motivation? The fact that Shutterfly has such stinkin' cute designs in their Christmas card section. I don't even know where to begin with this site! There are 748 Christmas cards. That's not even including the Holiday card section. That's right, they have so many December-based cards that they had to put them in two categories.

This card is adorable. It might be the one. But then again, I'm a sucker for anything that has "Joy" on it. Then they had to go and put snowboards on their photo. But I'm still researching! So don't be surprised if you see something completely different in your mailbox when December gets here!

After you spend many giddy hours sorting through their cards, you can look for matching address labels! These are vintage style. That makes them fancy.

It doesn't hurt that if you're a blogger and tell all of your fantabulous readers about the wonders of Shutterfly, they will give you 50 free Christmas cards. Just go here, and you can be in free Christmas card bliss like I am!

Missing: One Brand New Wedding Ring

2010-11-01T11:00:00.000-05:00

What's worse on your honeymoon: throwing up or losing your wedding ring? Unfortunately for Blondie, he had both.

He managed to keep track of his wedding ring for one full week before it disappeared. He had been wearing it daily and putting it in his "cubby" where he keeps his glasses, cell phone, wallet, watch, and other odds and ends.

When we went to dinner on Saturday evening during our honeymoon, he noticed that he didn't have it on his finger. He assumed he had left it on the desk at the hotel where he had been putting it when he took it off. When we got back to the room, his ring wasn't there.

We searched the entire room. Couldn't find it. The last time he remembered having it was at lunch. We went back to the restaurant where we had eaten lunch; they hadn't found it. We returned to the stores we had visited that afternoon; no luck there. We wracked our brains trying to think of places it could be. We came up with nothing.

He felt awful. I assured him that we were still married even if he doesn't have a ring. He started getting sick on Saturday evening and he said the throwing up eases the guilt of misplacing his ring. I'm not sure it's worth it.

Upon the suggestion of his cousin Art, Blondie searched for a new ring on Amazon.com and found a pretty exact duplicate right away. The best part? It cost $29.99. That's pretty hard to beat!

Halloween!

2010-10-29T19:00:00.000-05:00

Yesterday afternoon we got a whim to dress up for Halloween at work. Fridays are a good day for a little silliness. I had a busy evening planned yesterday, and none of it involved going to a store to get costume supplies. My choices were a fisherman, because I already had most of the accessories from my costume a few years ago; a firefighter, because I could steal everything from C.; or a farmer, because I could steal everything from C's toolbox. I decided it wouldn't be any fun to be a fisherman, since I had already done that, and it seemed like a safety hazard to take firefighting supplies out of a fire station (probably illegal, too). I decided on a farmer, because that was easiest!

This is the stuff I came up with. They are all essential farmer supplies. I already owned the Carhartt jacket. It is quite wonderful and cozy. C. is too cool to have a cap with a mesh back, so I settled for his non-air conditioned John Deere hat.

I stole an ear tag from his stash. I am apparently heifer #119, however I didn't think the whole world needed to know C's full name and phone number so I flipped it to the boring side. Another essential item is fence insulators. For all of you non-farmy people, that would be the two funky shaped yellow things on the right side of the photo. They are the handy little gadget that holds a wire on a fence post.

I was surprised C. let me leave the house with the next two things, because they actually are essential to his everyday work. However because they are so very essential, I'm pretty sure he has at least a few backups of each item. A good pair of leather work gloves are very handy to have. I put this pair on for an office photo and immediately after the photo I had to go wash the grimyness out of my fingernails. C. also sent me with his favorite pair of John Deere pliers. These are his "good" pliers, so I'm being very careful with them! It would be a tragedy if I lost them!

I am fully prepared to go tag a cow or build fence after work. I probably need to return the parts of my costume to their spots quickly after I get home or else C. might put me to work!

13 Items, 8 Bags

2010-10-27T17:00:00.005-05:00

The purpose of this blog post is to showcase the inefficient bagging technique of the Wal Mart cashier who served me today. I purchased 13 items, and he used eight bags; 10 if you count the produce bags my lettuce and bananas were in.

I could not quite figure out his style. Why does the lettuce get its own bag, but the bananas don't? Could he not put two packages of chips in one bag? Did he think the pickles would contaminate the milk? I admired that he put two boxes of granola bars, the aluminum foil, and the hair gel all in the same bag. That makes sense. But do the Cheerios really need a bag of their own?

P.S. I know I bought a lot of junk food. Don't hate. I can assure you, those Cool Ranch Doritos are not for me. Yuck!

Recovery

2010-10-25T17:30:00.000-05:00

Fortunately, Blondie is feeling a lot better today. I left him in bed this morning with two phones by his side, a bottle of Gatorade, a cup of Jell-O, and a package of crackers. I told him that I would call at 9:00. I called about 9:15 and he was up because he knew I was going to call and he was getting ready to eat some oatmeal.

I called again at lunchtime and he was up playing computer games. I told him to eat some of the soup I had left for him in the fridge. I slaved over the can opener for a good 30 seconds and I didn't want my efforts to be in vain.

Yesterday in a moment of lucid conversation, I told him that I had made him two batches of Jell-O, but his mom would have done that and made homemade chicken soup. I felt bad. But then I looked at my house. It's semi clean. Still not completely recovered from the wedding festivities, but I accomplished a lot yesterday afternoon in the time it would have taken to make homemade soup. I didn't feel so bad anymore. Until he told me that not only would his mom have made him soup and hovered over him all afternoon, she would have also taken him to the ER. I guess a good wife would have loved him enough to seek legitimate medical treatment.

I kindly reminded him that the results would have been the same had I taken him to the ER. Except he would have had to sit on a hard chair in the cold ER for three hours before a doctor saw him and prescribed the same Phenergan I gave him after I tucked him into his comfy couch and handed him the remote and forced liquids all day. Maybe I should charge extra for my superior customer service. Do you think his insurance would cover that?

In Sickness and In Health

2010-10-25T08:00:00.020-05:00

Blondie and I just returned from our honeymoon yesterday afternoon. We decided to get married the weekend before fall break so we could have the long fall break weekend for a little trip. Since we had gone to California in June and Blondie doesn't get many days off during the school year, we decided to go to Tulsa for the weekend. It's not too far away, so we didn't spend a large chunk of our vacation time on the road and it's just out-of-the-way enough that neither of us had ever really been there. We had been through there many times, but it had never been a destination.

We left on Wednesday afternoon and made it to Tulsa in time for dinner at McNellie's. They have $3 burgers on Wednesday night, so I took advantage of the special deal. Blondie had the Landlord's Cottage Pie, their version of Shepherd's Pie. The food there was good and the atmosphere was fun.

After we returned to our hotel, I started feeling a migraine coming on (yes, it was a legitimate headache...I wasn't trying to get out of anything), so we went to a nearby Walgreen's to get some painkillers. While we were shopping for pills, there was a pharmacist standing nearby, so we asked her what she recommended. She suggested that I try BC Powder mixed with a glass of Coke. I hate Coke, but she said Dr. Pepper would be fine too. I wanted to see how the BC Powder worked without additional caffeine, so I just mixed it with tap water. This resulted in a grainy texture which was difficult to drink. Blondie made me drink the whole thing...and soon regretted it.

I don't throw up. I can count on one hand the throwing up incidents in my life. Well. Maybe two hands now. I won't go into detail; I'll just say that I threw up. On my honeymoon. In a hotel room. And Blondie is a good husband.

Thursday was better. We went to eat breakfast at the Blue Dome Diner and enjoyed a walking tour of the historical downtown buildings. We had planned to eat dinner at Elote because the Elote Luchador Wrestling Federation competes there on Thursday evenings. We thought it would be a fun experience to see the competition, but we had just missed the end of the season. Since there would be no wrestling that evening, we just ate lunch there instead. That was the best food of our entire trip. We had white queso with salsa and chips, I had a chicken burrito, and Blondie had a beef burrito. Everything in their food is fresh and organic, so the mood of the restaurant is unlike any Mexican restaurant we had ever been to--I'm pretty sure there's no lard used there. While we were downtown on Thursday we also enjoyed some interesting shops and wished we could have tried more of the restaurants.

On Friday we toured the historic Philbrook Museum of Art. This museum was formerly the private residence of oil baron Waite Phillips and his family, but was later donated to the City of Tulsa. My favorite part of the museum was the garden, where there were both formal and informal areas. While we were there I ran into an old friend from college, who I hadn't seen in at least six years. After visiting the museum, we enjoyed a picnic lunch at Woodward Park and finished just before it rained. Later that evening we ate dinner at Full Moon Cafe, where the food is average, but the entertainment is excellent. On Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings they have a "Dueling Piano" show. We thought the show started at 8:00, so we got there around 7:45 for dinner. After we looked at the menu, though, we found out that the show didn't start until 9:00. We ate slowly and ordered dessert. The wait was worth it. The show was a lot of fun!

We visited the Gilcrease Museum on Saturday. It started as Thomas Gilcrease's personal collection of American art and artifacts and has grown to more than 10,000 works, the largest collection of western American art ever assembled. That evening we ate dinner at Kilkenny's, another Irish pub. We were glad we went to McNellie's first because this place was even better. The atmosphere was loud, but not obnoxious and the food was excellent. Since it is October, they had a special Oktoberfest menu, so we had German cuisine instead of Irish. Blondie had a pork shank stew and I had beef goulash. Both were interesting and different. We agreed that we liked both dishes even though they were not what we expected and not how we would have prepared them.

Things started going downhill on Saturday night. Poor Blondie started feeling puny and ended up throwing up a few times throughout the night. He wasn't feeling any better on Sunday, and I'm sure the car ride home didn't help. I got pretty good at stopping quickly on the Interstate. When we got home he took some Phenergan that he had from a previous trip to the ER for nausea. He drank Gatorade and ate Jell-O all afternoon and was feeling better until the Phenergan started wearing off. He didn't go to school today, and I hope he is feeling better by the time I get home. I left him some more Jell-O and chicken noodle soup. If that doesn't make him feel better, I'm out of tricks.

Bird Interruption

2010-10-20T19:00:00.000-05:00

I forgot to bring my book to work with me yesterday. This meant that I had to kill an hour because I can't stand spending my lunch hour at my desk. It reminds me too much of work. So I decided to have lunch at Sonic, where I could spend my hour in uninterrupted peace.

Unfortunately, my peace was interrupted. A bird decided to join me for lunch. I hate birds. They are creepy, and flea-y, and bouncy, and fluttery (in a bad way). They are just icky.

This bird happily hopped all over the menu board, completely distracting me from my corn dog and forcing my to roll up my window in fear of him diving through to really freak me out. I cracked the window a tiny little bit just to take a photo.

I cut my time at Sonic short and headed to Stage, where I found no peace, no good deals, no cute shoes, and no birds.

After the bird incident, remembering to bring my book was not a problem this morning.

Wedding Day

2010-10-16T09:20:00.000-05:00

Today is the big day! I'm so very excited. All of the decorating went perfectly yesterday, the rehearsal went smoothly, and the rehearsal dinner was a success. I just got back from getting my wedding hairdo this morning and the countdown begins!

Wedding Decorations and Roadkill

2010-10-14T15:51:00.000-05:00

I took off work today and tomorrow to give me plenty of time to get all of the decorating done for the wedding at a stress-free pace. Unfortunately, my plans got changed just slightly.

Yesterday afternoon I found out that there will be a funeral at the church tomorrow morning, with a luncheon for the family afterward. I had originally planned to get most of the decorating done today so we could just put on the finishing touches and relax tomorrow, but no such luck. As it turns out, we will have approximately three hours to decorate before the rehearsal is scheduled to begin. I have a feeling we might be coming back to the church after the rehearsal dinner to finish up.

I'm willing to work around the funeral; there's not much that could be done about it, after all. I'm just thankful that it was no one in either of our families who passed away. To make things go more smoothly tomorrow, Julie and I took most of the wedding stuff to the church today and stored it there so it would be ready when we are able to start working.

On our way to and from the church, we met the truck that paints lines on the highways. The church is only a few blocks from my house, so we encountered it several times. On one of our trips, we saw that the truck had brilliantly painted over roadkill. I couldn't pass up the photo opportunity:

I hope to have some less disgusting photos to post next week!

In addition to carting all of the wedding paraphernalia to the church today, we went to town to get some things at Wal Mart and run some other errands. I got to pick up Blondie's ring from the jeweler and I had my ring cleaned so it will sparkle at the wedding on Saturday. The fact that Blondie will actually be living at my house has finally settled in. Today at Wal Mart, I bought Cheerios and raisins. Those are two things I would never purchase for myself.

Wedding Cakes

2010-10-12T12:00:00.000-05:00

Since Julie is practically an expert cake decorator, we had planned for her to make the cake for my wedding. However, after we realized how much other stuff there would be to do that day, we decided it would probably be better if someone else made the fancy cake.

I have a friend from work who has made several birthday cakes for her kids as a hobby, but had never done any "professional" cake decorating. I thought that if she can create a cake shaped like Yoda, she could probably handle a simple, three-layer wedding cake. She is nervous, but I am confident her cake will be beautiful.

Julie and I did make all of the sheet cakes for the wedding reception. The cake Tiffany is making won't serve all of our guests, so we are going to have sheet cakes to be served after the fancy cake runs out. I baked 20 cakes on Saturday! I started baking cakes at about 8:00 am, then after her race, Julie came over to frost them. We finished by about 5:30. It was a long day, but we accomplished a lot! We used 20 cake mixes, 5 dozen eggs, 48 ounces of canola oil, four cups of Crisco, eight sticks of butter, six cups of cocoa, eight teaspoons of vanilla, 32 cups of powdered sugar, and however much milk it took to achieve the right frosting consistency.

I baked two cakes at a time I had already had several done when Julie arrived, so once she got there, they were ready to be frosted. According to Julie's cake decorating teacher, if you remove a cake from the oven and immediately put it in the freezer, it will be moister. I cleared out enough space in my kitchen freezer to store two cakes, so they went straight from the oven to the freezer. Then, after they cooled a bit, I dumped them out onto cake boards and moved them to the big freezer in the garage.

We had a pretty nifty assembly line going. My mixer was set up on the bar for mixing up the cake batter, and Julie's was set up in the corner for mixing frosting. Julie made the first batch of frosting while I mixed cake batter. Then, she got to work frosting the cakes I had stored in the freezer.

After all of the cakes were baked, I started helping Julie frost cakes. I would smear the frosting on to get them covered, then she would smooth it out and make them look presentable. We didn't ruin any, so we have 20 frosted cakes ready to be served at the wedding! Of course, neither of us has enough freezer space to store 20 cakes, so there are eight stored in my freezer, eight stored in Julie's freezer, and four stored in our mom's freezer.

I have decided I don't ever want to work in a bakery. It's a lot of work. Baking cakes isn't really all that bad, but mixing up all of that frosting is a huge mess! However, my house did smell very lovely for a couple of days, and every time you opened the refrigerator, you would get a little whiff of the chocolate cakes stored in the freezer next to it.

I Am the Champion!

2010-10-11T19:00:00.000-05:00

That's me! #161. I haven't been labeled with a number involving sports since the 6th grade. Even then I was chosen last. I'm going to start signing everything "Julie K. #161" like everyone signed my yearbook in high school. If you'd like, you can even start referring to me as "161". I am willing to answer to it.

C. and I were in a 5k race on Saturday. Before we were even invited to be on our bank's team, I had been jogging on an almost daily basis, just to avoid that jiggly feeling that comes after sitting on the couch too much. I was fairly diligent about practicing, not because I cared about finishing in a good standing, but more because I didn't want to embarrass myself by passing out halfway through the race. I didn't really care how well I finished, I just wanted to make it across the finish line. After we were asked to be on the team, C. started jogging a few times a week to get in shape for the race. His daily work prevents him from having that jiggly problem. I think he secretly wanted to be the first one to cross the finish line, pumping his fists in victory as his chest broke the finish line tape.

I went into it with two goals:
1. Finish in 35 minutes (I know that's nothing special, but I like to set realistic goals)
2. Run across the finish line (as opposed to dragging myself across, wheezing and gasping for breath)

I enjoyed jogging in the race. The course was fairly flat, which is extremely unlike the path I am used to taking. My daily path is a fairly steep hill for the first half, then downhill for the second half. That hill really wears me out! On a normal hilly day, I take quite a few breaks to walk, but I managed to jog a good portion of the course on Saturday. Maybe I just didn't want to damage my pride by walking when everyone else seemed to be running. I especially looked forward to the halfway point where there was a water table. I wanted to be one of those cool marathon runners that splashed water in my face, then threw my cup into the nearest yard. Since I'm not a cool marathon runner, I slowed to a walk to take water from one of the nice ladies, took a few sips, then politely sat it on the curb not far from where the water stand was. My proudest moment was passing three people in the last few blocks of the race. That was super fun. I deemed myself the winner at that point.

I was very pleased with both of our results. They give you two times, one is your "gun" time which means your time starts when the gun goes off at the beginning of the race. The second is your "chip" time, this one starts when the little plastic chip that is attached to your shoe crosses the start line. We were pretty far back in the crowd at the beginning of the race, and it me 10 seconds to cross the start line after the gun, which means my chip time is shorter. I prefer to say that I finished the race in 34 minutes, 39 seconds (as opposed to the 34 minutes, 49 second gun time that decided the official results). They divided the women and the men, and of 101 women, I placed 35th. They also divided us by age group. In my 20-35 age group, I was 14 out of 41.

C. is a punk. I don't like racing against him. He went jogging maybe ten times to prepare for this. Maybe 10. He finished the whole stinkin' thing in 27 minutes and 49 seconds. He was the 32nd man to finish out of the 65 who raced. And the was 9th of the 18 in his age group. Next time I'm in a race I have decided that he can't come.

Furniture

2010-10-04T12:00:00.000-05:00

Blondie decided a while back that sometime before he moves in we would need to get my carpets steam cleaned to eradicate every last trace of my precious/filthy cat. I found a guy who does steam cleaning and scheduled an appointment. Fortunately, he was able to come the day I left for San Antonio so I wouldn't be there when the carpet was drying. However, that meant we needed to move all of the furniture sometime before that. No problem. Except we don't have any free time!

We needed to move everything--and I mean everything--from the smallest end tables to my two-ton entertainment center so the steam cleaning guy could get to every nook and cranny. Thankfully, Blondie's dad came to help us move the heavy stuff the first time and I was so proud of them for not breaking anything!

We moved everything on a Thursday because in the next few days our schedule was packed: homecoming football game on Friday, personal shower and luncheon on Saturday, shower at church on Sunday, then leaving for San Antonio on Monday. The next weekend I was just returning from San Antonio on Saturday and I honestly can't remember what I did on Sunday because there's nothing written on my calendar. Maybe I slept.

The initial move was two weeks ago! Blondie and I (and his brother) just moved all of my furniture back to its proper locations yesterday after living with everything stacked in the dining room for two weeks. We didn't really intend for all of the furniture to remain piled in a huge mess for that long; we just didn't have time to move it back!

I'm so glad everything is back to normal! Stuff is no longer stacked precariously at risk of being knocked over as I stumble through the house in the dark, feeling my way around things that aren't where they belong.

Redneck Tow Rope

2010-10-03T14:00:00.001-05:00

My friends and I fully admit to being rednecks. But sometimes that's the only way to have fun around here! And now that we have a boat, we will most likely have lots of opportunities to look dorky, but I'm sure we will have a great time doing it!

Yesterday, I told you about our first adventure at the lake. It was a last-minute trip, which didn't allow for much preparation. We actually already own a tow rope, but most of our "boat supplies" were at our friend's house in his boat. He lives about 15 miles in the opposite direction of where we were headed, which makes it pretty inconvenient to stop and get a tow rope for the water skis.

So the boys dug around in the barn to see what they could find, and this is what they came up with:

You might not be able to tell from the lousy camera phone photo, but this is not what a normal tow rope looks like. They are usually made out of soft, squishy materials that float easily. This particular "tow rope" is made from regular Atwoods rope they found on a shelf, strung through a piece PVC pipe they cut to be the handle.

They were actually quite pleased with their rope, and even saved it to use in the future. However if I ever attempt to ski, I intend to use a rope that wasn't made for typing up random farm equipment!

The "New" Boat!

2010-10-02T19:00:00.001-05:00

On a spring break trip to my best friend's grandparents house long, long ago, N. and I got to go go for a ride on her grandparents' boat. Despite it being horribly cold and windy, we had a great time and vowed that we would someday be "lake trash" and spend all of our free time in a boat on the lake.

Fast forward quite a few years, while C. and I were dating, and he would always declare how Sunday afternoon would be so much better if we had a boat. We have both wanted a boat for a very long time. But boats have always been very expensive, and pretty much a huge waste of money.

C. always thoroughly scours the local free classifieds, searching for good deals. He rarely finds any, until a few months ago when he saw an ad for a boat in a town nearby. He decided that this was his chance to spend his future Summer Sunday afternoons at the lake. It's not fancy, but it floats! And that's the main requirement for a boat. It needed a few minor repairs, and after what feels like ages, the boat was finally lake-ready this week. Sadly, it was the last day in September, the beginning of Fall, and just a bit too chilly for the average person to spend an evening at the lake.

C. decided that it would just be just disgraceful to park the boat in the barn, forcing it to wait through three entire seasons before taking it out and playing in the water. And not only would it be disgraceful to leave the boat in the barn, but we had been waiting years to finally have a boat.

We decided to be tough, put on a sweatshirt, and take our boat out on the water. In order to put a boat in the lake, you need two handy people: one to back the boat trailer into the water and one to drive the boat off the trailer. I am handy in neither of these activities, so we brought a friend who was incredibly helpful in acquiring this boat. And he needed to go to the lake, since his super awesome wife bought him a pair of water skis for his birthday earlier in the month. That's right, he had intentions to actually get in the water.

We had so much fun driving the boat around the lake for the first time. Our friend even managed to stand up on his water skis on his first try! I was very impressed with his skiing skills. When C. saw how much fun he was having, he decided to take a try, too. All we had was a camera phone, but we even have proof that the boys were in the water.

They decided they want to go back this weekend so they can say that they went water skiing in October. We had so much fun at the lake. I'm already looking forward to next Summer. I plan to be at the lake as much as possible!

Phone Manners

2010-10-01T12:30:00.001-05:00

Talking on the phone is about one of my least favorite things to do. I am much more of an email kind of girl. I don't like to interrupt people by calling their phones. In fact, until recently, I almost never called anyone's cell phone unless it was a dire emergency.

When our dad got the first cell phone we had ever seen, it was very special. We grew up with a rotary phone, so any phone with buttons was neat-o. And this phone was in a bag! Mounted on his dashboard with Velcro! He needed to be able to hear it when he wasn't in the truck, so he wired it into the horn so it would honk when the phone rang. As I think about that, I wonder if it honked when the phone rang as he was driving down the road. That might be embarrassing in town. You can't really explain that to the cars in front of you at a stop light. "Oh, don't mind me, that's just my phone ringing! I wasn't suggesting that you should run that red light."

If he was working cattle or welding or building fence, he would hear the horn honk and run toward the truck. You can imagine how annoyed he would be if you called frivolously. He would drop his work and, worse yet, the honking would scare the cattle. We eventually developed a "code" of calling and letting it ring twice, then hanging up and calling again so he would know it was one of us. You can imagine the annoyance if we called just to let him know that supper would be ready at 6:00. It's not really worth dropping what you're doing to run to the truck just to find out that supper is going to be ready at the same time it's always ready.

For this reason, it is imprinted onto my soul that cell phones are for emergencies only. In fact, my dad only gave out his cell phone number to trusted family and business associates who would not abuse the privilege of knowing such sacred information. My grandma never had his cell phone number. She didn't use good judgement when determining whether something was a normal situation vs. an emergency situation.

I do realize that it's quite common to call someone's cell phone in a non-emergency situation in 2010. In fact, I know lots of people who have dropped their home phone service in favor of having only cell phones. It works for lots of folks. I'm still not a fan of cell phones, though, because I think they encourage rude behavior, but I do acknowledge that they're a fact of life.

I talk to clients on the phone a lot, and I have an unofficial policy of never calling anyone before 9:00, accounting for time zones. Personally, I think any decent human, especially someone with professional aspirations, should be awake by 9:00 on a weekday morning. I realize that's a pretty general assumption, but it seems like a fairly reasonable time to me. I also try to avoid calling people after 9:00 pm. People with children cringe when the phone rings just after they have put the kids to bed.

I try to be considerate when using the phone, and I would appreciate the same courtesy in return. However, I have learned that is rare. Today I called a professional acquaintance to discuss a legitimate business matter, and left her a voice mail. Thus, I assumed she would call me back at her convenience. Ahhh...I love voice mail! I don't actually have to talk to anyone, and they still know what I needed to tell them. Perfect!

She called me back immediately thereafter, but pretty much ignored me the entire time we were on the phone. Apparently she was just getting out of her car at her house, had just reached the front door and a potential garage sale customer arrived. The garage sale isn't today; the customer just wanted a preview. At the same time, this acquaintance was trying to let her dogs outside and found that a relative had made an unannounced visit and was waiting for her inside. I was the fourth person she was trying to communicate with at one time. That's not going to work. Don't call me back unless you can actually talk to me! It's one thing if I interrupt your family dinner and you answer the phone, but it's another thing completely if you call me while you're distracted.

Speaking of interrupting your family dinner with a phone call, if your children are screaming, your dogs are barking, you're eating dinner, and trying talk to me at the same time, you're not focused enough on any one thing to accomplish anything. It's rude, ineffective, and stressful. If you can't talk, don't answer the phone. Also, if someone else calls while we're talking and you would rather talk to them, don't put me on hold. Just tell me you have to go. We'll talk later.

Selling Season

2010-09-30T19:00:00.000-05:00

Did you know that there is a "season" for schools and organizations to sell stuff? At least this is a theory I have recently created. Sunday at Church I bought tickets to a spaghetti supper to support a local high school band, then I ordered about $40 worth of Blue and Gold sausage products to support choir (I think--it also could have been FFA, which makes more sense). Yesterday at the football game I bought tickets to a hamburger fry supporting a local Christian elementary school. I'm not sure when the 4H bean supper takes place, but I'm expecting a knock on my door for that one, too.

The hamburger fry salesgirl was my favorite so far. I would guess that she is about a fifth grader, and had curly, blond pigtails. You can't say no to a fifth grader with curly, blond pigtails. She had also practiced her speech. She came up to us, told us who she is (don't worry, I already knew her, I'm sure she knows about stranger danger), where she goes to school, what she is selling, what it cost, and what it supports. It was a very good speech. It met all my requirements for buying stuff.

I have stringent requirements for buying stuff:

You have to come to me. Sorry, I don't go around tapping on shoulders, anxiously awaiting my turn to buy an overpriced candle. The only exception to this rule is Blue and Gold sausage (however my Blue and Gold salesgirl followed my rules), assorted Gold Discount Cards, and Girl Scout cookies. I very much appreciate having all of those items.
You have to tell me why you are trying to sell me stuff. I want to know what it is, what I'm supporting, and how much it costs.
Being cute helps, but isn't an absolute requirement. It will probably supplement any deficiencies in other areas. But there is an age limit on cute. Cute will only get you through elementary school, then you're on your own!

If you meet these requirements, I will buy just about anything. It's just a good thing I live in the middle of nowhere, because I'm a sucker when it comes to little kids trying to sell stuff. I remember having to pedal my bicycle door-to-door and I absolutely hated it. I have sympathy for the poor things who are stuck doing it now. And who am I kidding? I'm a huge pushover. You could probably break all of my rules and still convince me to buy something. But don't try right now! I ran out of checks after the hamburger fry. New ones should be delivered in approximately 10 days.

Oh! And if you live in this area, are the type to tap on shoulders to buy stuff, and actually want to buy any of the stuff I mentioned, let me know. All of the girls who sold me stuff are great girls, and fully deserving of a referral. I will send them your way!

San Antonio Trip

2010-09-29T12:30:00.002-05:00

Late Saturday night I returned from a weeklong trip to San Antonio, where a co-worker and I attended the ASBDC national conference. I stayed at the Hilton Palacio Del Rio Hotel, which is right on the Riverwalk and I had a nice view from my room. In this picture you can see a tiny bit of the river in the bottom righthand corner.

The rooms at the Hilton are spacious and comfortable, and I certainly couldn't complain about the lovely little balcony where, in the evenings when it wasn't a million degrees and a thousand percent humidity, I could sit and enjoy the view and listen to the sounds from the Riverwalk activity below.

On the day we arrived, I took a nice stroll along the riverwalk. There are areas of constant activity where you will find various restaurants and stores, and there are also peaceful areas like this where you can have a quiet stroll with an occasional cool breeze.

Since we didn't have to attend meetings on the first day, Sebastian and I enjoyed lunch on the Riverwalk, then walked a few blocks to the Alamo.

The Alamo is in the middle of downtown San Antonio, so it looks tiny compared to all of the commercial structures around it.

That evening, we ate dinner at Schilo's Delicatessen, a cute little German cafe around the corner from our hotel. Apparently they are famous for their split pea soup. I had a sandwich and a cup of the soup and I was impressed. I had enough sandwich leftover for lunch the next day (see the little to-go bag in my hand) and I think this was the least expensive meal I ate in San Antonio!

When I checked into my hotel on Tuesday, I noticed that my room was fairly warm, but I just assumed it was because San Antonio is, well, warm. Apparently not, though. On Wednesday I returned to my room at lunchtime and found my room to be pretty hot, with a big wet patch on the carpet under the return air vent. I called the front desk to let them know there might be a problem with the air conditioner, but told them it wasn't an emergency. I just suggested that they send someone up to check it out sometime during the afternoon.

The lady I spoke to said that they were aware of the problem and had already sent a maintenance person up to take care of it, but since it didn't seem to be fixed, she offered to move me to a different room. I thought that sounded fine, so I spoke to the front desk manager who fixed me right up and even offered me a free dinner in the hotel restaurant. Well, I was certainly pleased about that! Even better, when I returned to my room that night, I found that the hotel staff had left me a little treat for the inconvenience! Overall, I would say their customer service was excellent. Not only did they solve problems promptly, but their staff was otherwise friendly and helpful for the entire week.

I really enjoyed the fruit and cheese. I don't like wine, but I did drink ice water out of the nice glasses! I didn't want the bottle to go to waste, so I brought it home for a special occasion. For now, it's sitting on top of my refrigerator looking pretty.

Our conference ended on Friday evening and Sebastian and I were a bit overdressed for the casual "Taste of Texas" closing reception. Sebastian took off his tie when he arrived and saw that we misunderstood the dress code. Here we are in our fancy duds, when many others were dressed in jeans. Notice the wine glass in my hand. Remember how I said I don't like wine? Sebastian had gotten a glass for himself and his date, who hadn't arrived yet, so he wouldn't have to wait in line again when she got there. I held it for him so he wouldn't look like a lush in the photos. Don't we look fancy?

On Saturday morning we had some free time before we had to head to the airport for our return flight. We decided to visit another of San Antonio's five historical missions, Mission San Jose. We walked a few blocks to the right bus stop, then waited in the sun until Bus 42 finally arrived. It was worth the wait. This mission is much larger than the Alamo; it's actually the largest of the five. 230 years ago, Mission San Jose was a major social and cultural center known as "Queen of the Missions." According to the educational video shown in the visitor center, this community became home to about 350 new Christians, who eventually became part of the cultural group now known as Tejano.

Sebastian and I had a great trip. We learned a lot at our conference and enjoyed visiting San Antonio. I was so ready to come home by Saturday, though!

Winner: Cookie Dough!

2010-09-28T19:00:00.000-05:00

I'm a little embarrassed to admit that the cookie dough claimed victory over jogging last night. But I'm not too embarrassed, considering it wasn't exactly a fair battle. You have to take a bite of cookie dough when it summons you from the refrigerator. Well, actually you have to dig out an entire chunk and sit in front of the tv in your underwear watching Cake Wars while you eat your chunk of cookie dough. I'm pretty sure you can even give it the credit for curing my Monday Headache.

The football game was a bit of a dud. The only points the home team scored were for the opposite team. Yup, that's right, a poor kid ran the wrong direction. It was a super good play, though! The ball bounced out of the other team's hands, little #7 caught it, and ran for the end zone. Unfortunately he should have ran the other way. And to give him credit, it's not like that was the play that lost the game. Three little points (at least I think that's what they get for a "safety") weren't going to make a difference in a game with a score of 32-0.

And who really cares about a football game when you get a delicious concession stand cheeseburger and brownie? That was the best part. Now I'm hungry for a concession stand cheeseburger. I wonder when the next game is...

Jogging Vs. Cookie Dough

2010-09-27T17:30:00.000-05:00

Some days were just meant to be spent on the couch. Chocolate, popcorn, cheese, cookie dough, and Dr. Pepper within reach would be a super awesome bonus. Today is one of those days. Not that it has been particularly bad, or even worse then normal. It has just been a Monday. Mondays give me headaches.

This evening I need to do three things:

Go to a junior high football game (non-negotiable, unless this headache takes a turn for the worse).
Go for a jog--I haven't even put on my running shoes in four days, yet I'm supposed to participate in a 5k in less than two weeks.
Sit on the couch and eat cookie dough.

Since #1 is non-negotiable, time constraints force me to make a big decision regarding #2 and #3. Going for a jog has mostly long-term benefits, such as helping prepare me to not look stupid in front of a ton of people by passing out in the middle of a 5k. Eating cookie dough has immediate benefits, such as a happy belly and the likely usage of relaxy pants.

When given the choice between jogging and cookie dough, which would you choose?

Cutest Food EVER

2010-09-21T19:00:00.003-05:00

I'm the first one to make fun of the blogs that do step-by-step instructions on how to cook things. You can see here, that I generally think these are very silly. However these little pies are worth looking silly. They are so stinkin' easy! And even more stinkin' adorable! And you need to go buy some pie crusts today so you can make some, too! My favorite part of them is that the fanciest piece of kitchen equipment you need is a muffin pan. I'm sure you could be fancier if you wanted, but I tend to like to take the easy route.

You start by punching circles out of a pre-made pie crust. As you can see here, I'm not cool enough to own a round cookie cutter, so I used a plastic cup. My plastic cup turned out to be the perfect size to fit into my muffin pan.

If you're resourceful, you should be able to get six circles out of one pie crust. You have to use the scraps to patch parts, but you can do it! I'm too cheap to buy extra pie crusts. I punched little fork holes in the section that would go face-down in the muffin pan. Pie crust bubbles scare me. I go to great efforts to prevent them.

Next, you squish the pie crusts into the pan, then go crazy punching holes all over the crusts, even on the sides. This prevents bubbles. And I am fully against anything that limits space for pie filling. For the sake of all things yummy, please poke lots of holes in your pie crusts!

Don't they already look perfect and adorable when they are just out of the oven. But wait! It gets better!

They flip out of the pan just perfectly. But the cuteness hasn't ended!

Don't you wish you could eat a mini pie crust right now? They are pretty much the cutest thing I have ever made. And this includes all those sickeningly adorable Mother's Day cards we made in elementary school.

I filled my mini pie crusts with delicious chocolate pie. Mini pie crusts look even more adorable when you surround them with mini things. Such as my adorable little Fiesta fruit bowl, or a little chunk of a Hershey bar.

I can't wait to experiment with my mini pie crusts. Pumpkin pies might be next. And then possibly chicken pot pie. You could even use them for a little taco salad! I need more muffin pans!

Pre-Wedding Festivities

2010-09-20T13:34:00.001-05:00

This has been a very busy couple of weeks! Last Saturday, we had the guitar shenanigans with Blondie and then on Sunday there was a pot-luck lunch and shower in our honor at his church. This weekend Julie and Sarah had a personal shower and luncheon for me at Julie's house, then on Sunday there was a shower for Blondie and me at my church. The following is a photographic timeline of the past couple weeks' events.

Blondie's new guitar:

On the same day as Blondie received his guitar, his family thought I should get a present too. Blondie and I will actually both use it, but they must have known he would nave never picked out paisley bedding! His parents gave us this lovely brown and turquoise paisley comforter set and his siblings gave us the pillows and curtains to go with the bedding:

This is the two of us at one of our wedding showers:

Some of our favorite gifts included an engraved Bible from my parents:

A very attractively wrapped Fiesta place setting from Julie. We registered for various colors of Fiesta dinnerware and so far we have received several pieces: Scarlet from Blondie's grandma, Tangerine from Julie, Sunflower from my boss, Shamrock from my parents, and Cobalt from my granny.

A handy tool set from Blondie's grandpa:

A handmade doily from Blondie's grandma:

A very sweet scrapbook of our California Adventure from Carina:

Men are invited to the pot luck showers at Blondie's church. I'm pretty sure they would rather eat a bologna sandwich at home than have to sit through a shower, but they're good sports. Here's a photo of two of Blondie's uncles, and his cousin Art, wondering when the festivities will draw to a close.

This Saturday Julie and Sarah hosted a very sweet personal shower and luncheon for me at Julie's house. Here's a picture of the cute decorations they used for the tables. Julie's house is perfect for an event like this. She rearranged her living room to make room for several card tables and it looked super cute.

Here are my friends playing one of the fun games Sarah created. She used wedding-related words to create game cards to replace the regular Apples-to-Apples cards, then we used the actual Apples-to-Apples cards to match up. I got to choose the card I thought best related to the wedding card and the first player to collect seven wedding cards won. It was lots of fun!

Here's a photo of me with my gifts before they were opened. I can't post an after picture here. I wouldn't be embarrassed, but some of the party guests might be! I received some very tasteful honeymoon attire...and some not so tasteful items as well.

All of these pre-wedding festivities have been so much fun and I would like to thank everyone who has played a part in making all of these events so memorable!

Blondie's Big Surprise

2010-09-13T12:30:00.002-05:00

I have been planning a very special surprise for Blondie for quite a while! Back in the spring when we were attending basketball games out of town, we would try to find things to do in the towns where we went to watch games. One of the towns where several of the games were held is a town I visit frequently for work and I knew they had a music store Blondie would enjoy. The first time we went there, Blondie found a very special guitar that he loved to play. We visited the store a couple times together, and Blondie even went once by himself to play that guitar. It was too expensive for him to even consider buying, but he did like it enough that he always asked to play it when we went there.

That is why I decided it would make the perfect wedding gift for him. I couldn't remember exactly how much it cost, but I figured I could swing it. I went to the store one day with lots of hundred dollar bills in my purse and found that the number of hundred dollars in my purse and the number of hundred dollars on the price tag were pretty far apart. I knew the employee I was talking to didn't have the power to negotiate that much, but I asked him what he thought the bottom dollar price would be, and he gave me a ballpark figure. I decided I would have to bring more money next time.

Then, I had a better idea. Blondie's parents wanted to get him something very special as a wedding gift, so I asked them if they would like to help me give him this special guitar. This definitely qualified in the "special" category. This guitar is a one-of-a-kind piece made by Breedlove for an industry conference in 2009. It is a Revival Series OM Deluxe with a Redwood top and Ziricote back and sides. Blondie's parents liked the idea, and his brother also chipped in, so the next time I went to the store, I had more hundred dollar bills.

I needed to make a trip to this town for work, so when I scheduled my trip, I called the music store to make sure the owner would be there to talk to me. I called several times and never could reach him, but was repeatedly assured that he would be there. Fortunately, when I went in that day, he was there! We talked about the guitar and agreed on a price, which was even a little less than I was prepared to pay. It felt good to be able to give Blondie's parents some of their money back. I felt like I was being a good steward of their resources...well, as good of a steward as one can be when spending hundred dollar bills on frivolous musical instruments.

We planned the big surprise very carefully. We let Blondie think it was his idea to invite the whole family over for dinner on Saturday night. His dad traditionally creates a scavenger hunt for gifts, so he wrote some very clever riddles which led Blondie to his new guitar. Blondie acted very annoyed that we had set him up with this silly scavenger hunt, but he secretly loved it. He finally found his fancy new guitar in his new computer/music room, which I had recently painted just for him.

I had been planning to let him find the guitar in there all along, so I had asked him not to look in that room until I was finished painting. I told him I wanted it to be a surprise. I figured he would be really surprised when he found a new guitar in addition to the new paint job. He didn't know that I had actually finished with the project a few days before, so he wasn't sure if he was allowed to go in there!

I was relieved that no one spilled the beans about the surprise before it happened and we were actually able to pull it off! He says he loves the guitar, which makes me very happy. He told me he was really glad we had given it to him now, rather than 25 years from now, because it will "season" over time and aged guitars sound better than new ones.

Lunch

2010-09-09T18:00:00.002-05:00

How many of my readers work in an office? How many eat lunch at work?

I have been eating lunch in my office a lot lately and it's beginning to wear me out. Our office manager goes to lunch at 11:00, so she and I are the only people here during the typical lunch hour. That is a common time for people to drop by or call, so if I'm here, she thinks I'm available to take calls or see clients. Unfortunately, in my experience, those clients are usually the biggest time wasters. A couple weeks ago, I had someone call and spend my lunch hour talking to me about stuff I didn't care about, then schedule an appointment for after work later this week. Did I mention that I'm an exempt employee and all of this lunchtime work and after 5:00 work is uncompensated?!

One day I had had two students come in looking for jobs (the day before, I only had one). I have no authority to hire anyone! I do not want a copy of your transcript. I want you to apply online like everyone else. But please wait until there's an actual job posted.

Yesterday I had clients during lunch, yet again. Except this time I hadn't brought my lunch. By the time I was able to leave at 2:00, my boss interrupted that plan by asking me to teach one of our students how to create a specific type of report. I was just standing in the students' office doorway talking to them when he came in, and I think he viewed my casual visiting with them as slacking off, so he wasn't really concerned with my schedule. I didn't appear to be doing anything important, so I must be available to take on this task. Fortunately, I had eaten breakfast, so I wasn't dying.

Having to work while I'm technically at lunch is the main reason I hate bringing my lunch; I don't get a break all day. I don't mean to complain because I don't do anything really demanding all day, but it does get tedious when I'm doing it for 9 hours straight. I have decided that it really is beneficial to actually leave the office during lunch time. I don't need a whole hour, and rarely take that much time even when I do leave, but I do need to actually leave the building in order to get some peace and quiet away from my desk.