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Monday, November 30, 2009

No, I'm not spoiled. Why would you say that?

My newest toy. Thanks to Jace's cousin. This is something I already love. Tried it last night and felt so toasty after my bath. Today I put my socks in it. And my warmup pants. Tomorrow maybe bread. (not really) This is just one of those little inventions that I would probably never buy for myself.

I did the Wall Street Journal interview today. I couldn't believe I could talk that long. Well, I could believe that, but not about coupons. An hour and ten minutes. I think I covered just about everything. I hope to pass along info when the article comes out. Right now there are no details.

Thursday, November 26, 2009

This is supposed to be quick and rambling

I only have a minute to jot down the flurry snowstorm in my head right now. I'm thinking if I do this then I will get it all out and be able to relax and fall asleep (fat chance) <-My inner voice by the way.

The other day I really really wanted to write a post about my dental history. I was raging mad and should have sat down and typed it right then. But my OCD/German side wouldn't let me until I had posted the one about Gruene. Must keep it in order. But that's lousy because you can't type in the heat of the moment if you have to wait your turn in line. So I missed getting my really righteous anger at the financial guru in the dentist office onto this page. I may get to have another go at it on Monday when I talk to her again. And it's a real rant so I doubt it will fully fall off the perimeter.

My other news, though my inner self is saying "keep it quiet", because it hasn't happened yet, I am supposed to do an interview for WSJ about couponing. That's Wall Street Journal! A few more days before I do that. Jace says he now knows a real celebrity. My dad says "isn't that where they take the biggest hillbilly they can find and twists their words to implicate them in something else?" Yes, Dad. That will be the story of slander and libel against major corporations where the follow up will be a camera crew following you to go see me in the women's prison once shared by Martha Stewart.

Have a great night All!

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

A day out at Gruene

These are some pics I took while out in Gruene. There's a historic house that's been turned into a bed and breakfast. In fact, most of the buildings were once something else like a mill turned restaurant.

This little tourist town is also a big attraction for bikers. To me this seems funny since one doesn't usually imagine that Hell's Angels would be big antiquers. But they come in droves to shop in their leather and bandanas.
These bikes were parked by a tent with 2 men giving a demonstration of a Chapman Stick. This instrument is a blend of the cello and piano..kind of. The group was called Heartstrings. You can listen to a clip of their music here. Now you see why the biker image and this music don't fit the stereotype.
This pic shows a row that you walk down looking at different merchants' wares.
This is one of my most favorite stores to go in...Typsy Gypsy. She has all kinds of eclectic one of a kind things. And cheap. This time it was a super flowery/fluffy/swirly dress for Rowan for $13!! Take that Walmart!
Moving on, I was walking around my yard and saw this plant. The plant looks like a grapevine. The fruit looks like ping pong ball size round watermelon.
These are some pictures of the kitchen cabinets in progress.
The last pic is the cabinets installed. Even as I write this the wallpaper is gone and the wall is painted Antique White. The wall is ready for the tile backsplash. I still have to paint a conditioner on the cabinets and stain them. Also have to do some filler trim and crown molding. Details, details...








Saturday, November 21, 2009

Elizabeth Arden Red Door...

I showed this pic to my friend who said I had an Elizabeth Arden red door. I'm pretty proud of that door. I painted it myself. It was terribly boring white before. I had sent her the pic to show her the bookcase we had gotten on a shopping trip together. Rowan hasn't tried to climb it yet. A terrible lack of imagination on her part. I guess I have sufficiently dumbed her down with t.v.
This next pic is a close-up of a sign I found at Hobby Lobby for my bathroom. It also has some little knobs on it for hanging a towel or something.
This is a picture of my awesome garden. It is awesome to me because these plants are still living! I can't believe it. It's like they are kryptonite plants or something. I have even had to thin them out and transplant some to other areas. I may actually have to eat something I've grown.
This is the newest baby project I've started. I say 'baby' project meaning it's still in its' infancy. We are remodeling our kitchen. By ourselves. We're doing this because we're crazy. Or we think we have more craftsman ability than we really do. To me it's just a matter of math. If we do it ourselves then it costs an insanely amount less. This pic is the glass tile backsplash.
Yesterday while I was at work Jace decided to push forward and remove the first old cabinet and put in the new one. He did a great job. And he did the countertop. It's fantastic. I chose this corner of the room to start in as our "experimental corner." Meaning we could mess up and redo or change or whatever and it wouldn't become an obstacle in the normal working of the kitchen. So I have a few brain cells in knowing that it would be a nightmare if we had tried to do the whole kitchen at once. I have decided we will do the whole kitchen like this, one area at a time, and then when we get to the long section with the sink we will be very confident and efficient. At least that's the plan. So the picture is the new cabinet on the left and the old cabinet on the right. The space between is where my refridgerator used to be. It's on the other side of the room now but isn't in the way. It's fine really.
Oh I love this picture. I'm showing you what the tile is replacing...It's like plum, cherry, grape, barf wall paper. It's soooo....80's early 90's? What does this wallpaper say...something like "country cheerful." This makes sense because there was a lot of that country blue color when we moved in. Happily it is going away. My style is more sleek, modern lines in warm colors. Not too industrial. Neat.
My other ongoing project, thanks to my evil friend who made think this was a great idea, is the cookbook. I'm slow at this because I guess I have certain expectations of how I want it to look and I'm wanting a picture of every recipe I make. Jace and Rowan are getting used to me saying, "you can't eat it until I take a picture of it." They do put up with a lot. Jace made chili and cornbread muffins one night, so this is his pic.
And we have cream cheese cookies.
Lastly this is my huge garden harvest from the other day. Not big but you're not supposed to still be getting tomatos this time of year. No idea what I'm going to do with the peppers but Jace hung them up so I guess they will be dried and then ground up maybe?
Today we're going out to Gruene Market Days. I think it will be interesting. I feel a restaurant review coming on...










Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Getting back on track

The pic is of a little sign probably 4 inches by 1 inch that I found the other day. It's my sentiments exactly! When things get too busy sometimes this is what I have to do. For the last few days I kind of stopped doing all my projects. Plus Rowan got sick and the guilty mother inside me figured I should pay more attention to that.

Just to update you, Rowan has pneumonia. Apparently it's the rarely seen pneumonia called Bounce-around-like-you're-not-sick-pneumonia. She did look pretty puny for a couple of days. But thanks to modern medicine (candy, toys) she is on the mend.

Been working on that cookbook project thing too. That's turned into something bigger than I thought. Doing lots of cooking to try and get that done.

We are all adjusting well to my dad living in town. He's trying to give us all his old stuff that he doesn't need anymore. Aren't you supposed to do that before you move?

I'll be working on a better post for this week. Thanks for your patience.



Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Tiny Victory



I found 2 pics from the Celtic Festival on my computer. So I'm posting them right now before they disappear into a black hole. You can click on them to see them larger.

Rowan wanted to get the face painting. "Sure honey, what do you want? A butterfly, a flower, a fairy?" "No, I want the dragon, but pink." So a pink fire breathing dragon it is. Attention any little boys out there: A girl who picks a fire breathing dragon for face painting is probably not going to let you push her around.

The other pic is of me. I hate it when clothes do things to make you look fat. I don't know exactly what I was making a kissy face at. Some sort of fox or dragon with a little fur hat. This is supposed to be very scary to the enemy ( 4 year old girls with pink dragons on their face).

Another character we ran into at the festival was the tree of life. This was a walking talking tree. Very tall and made a big impression on Rowan.

Our next order of business was shopping. This is the real reason to go to a festival. Throwing money at souvenir junk. My list this year includes: little dangly blue bead celtic design earrings, natural cedar/sage soap, penny whistle, windchime, & kettle corn.

One of the activities that I tried was shooting a bow and arrow. How good was I? I did hit the box that the target was on. Mostly, I didn't have one wrist turned out far enough and kept snapping it with the bow string leaving me with a bruised wrist. So fear not burglars, the most damage I could probably do to you is just throwing the bow at you and run screaming in the opposite direction.

Speaking of weapons. I could probably do more damage with the penny whistle I bought. I'm not a gifted musician. I can make a decent screech on the thing that the neighborhood cats all run from with their ears down and a scowl on their faces.

Some activities I did not participate in were the highland games. This involves wearing a kilt and throwing a telephone pole around. Watching them do this I can enision the hernia I would get if I even tried to hold the pole. I'm a weak viking. I also did not get to learn any dances. But this would resemble the penny whistle playing. It was probably best for the safety of the other dancers that I didn't learn how to do this.

I can say that I had a good time and we will go back next year. Jace wants a kilt. He says I need to wait till he finds out his family's colors. I don't think it matters. It's not like some MacFinn guy is going to jump him because of his colors. I told him he was from the clan McFool. I will have to wear some Germanic period costume and then Rowan will have to wear a blend of both. I guess that would be a kilt with a sour look on her face.

So there it is. I managed to write a good descriptive post without all my precious pictures. Hope you liked it.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Let the wailing begin...

I am so full of sorrow. I should be happy as a clam but this picture thing is driving me insane. I'm hobbling along using flickr but it's nowhere near what I'm used to doing...Plugging my phone directly into the computer and having my pictures literally at the tips of my fingers. Now I feel like a kid learning to ride their bike all over again.



Tomorrow is my day of MISSION! I have to get that cable!



Studio Kitchen. It was a really good experience. If you haven't done somethig like this before you should give it a try. I was impressed by the cleanliness of everything. Very good directions and pretty self explanatory. I managed to get 14 meals and a cake done in 1 hour and 15 minutes. Are you kidding me?! Dinner normally takes that long around here anyway, just for one meal. They are so organized at this place. There's no chopping or hunting around for stuff. All that menial peasant prep work is done before you ever get there. And at the end...*Poof* there's no dishes. For reals people! When you turn your back someone will walk by and steal your tub of dirty dishes.



I got my chair today. It's a classic already. I knew this by the way it felt when I looked at it across a crowded room. Jace & Rowan were immediately drawn to it "this is our new story reading chair!" (cheers and lots of bouncing around on it, followed by me yelling "get off my chair!") It's big enough to lean back and snuggle into. Found the one and only blanket I ever crocheted. A cushy pillow. And finally a use for the book Martin Chuzzlewit by Charles Dickens. Not to read, people. A foot rest. It's just the right height. So a next mission becomes finding just the right foot stool. I can tell you that the dimensions of this chair are so exactly made for me that I am typing this post in it and the computer isn't precariously dangling on the arm. We all seem to fit just so.



Well, I have tried and tried very unsuccessfully to get things going and it's just not working so I'm giving it up for tonight and will try again tomorrow. Going to go build some furniture now.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Waving Hi!

A quick post tonight...


Waving "hi" to some new visitors. And a big "thankyou" for the happy comment on CouponMom from Mckimba.

Next post will be up on Tuesday...pics or no pics...I need better IT people...(hint Jace: fix my photo problems!)

My cookbook is being created on Taste Book. This is a place anyone can go and "write" their own cookbook. I have a lot of scrap paper gathered together that is currently my cookbook and now I'm putting it together into a book that is worth passing down to my daughters and up to my father. Yes, it costs money (not much) but is worth every single penny. Watch their videos and then try your own. And it was featured with Oprah. <--big famous name

See you on Tuesday!