And the Old shall become New again

I'm in home decorating mode. I generally vacillate between living in this mode and travel mode. Since I have a trip booked for next month and the newest issue of HGTV magazine arrived in my mailbox over the weekend, it only makes sense that I am thinking of new ways to make the house look nicer.

Subscription infor here!

While I am trying to slow down and savor the magazine, one of the pieces I have gotten to featured an old rotary dail phone on the wall. It looked really cool and I was thinking I was in need of one of these. As an aside, did you know that if you have a landline phone and dial 911, even if you don't say anything/aren't able to, it goes to your local police and they will come out to check on you. That's a really helpful safety tip and we pay for a land line but don't have a phone connected because we live off our cell phones. So that is part of the thinking behind my need for a cute phone in addition to its simple cuteness. One of the things I love about this magazine is that they don't just show you pretty pictures, they give you the specifics on where to find the items, what the paint color names are, etc.

So this phone was located at www.oldphones.com. I went to check things out and found this. A rotary phone, like the one I grew up with on my parents kitchen wall, will now cost you about $100!! Whaaaaaaaaat! It makes me think those Storage Wars guys are right and that my dad is a smarter guy than I give him credit for by saving absolutely everything under the sun. Come to think of it, they probably have their old rotary phone in a pile in the basement somewhere!

Settling in and Questions for you

Now that I am going to be settled in at home for the next few months, I hope to finally catch the blog up with fun pictures and tales from my trips this year.
There are also some exciting changes on the home front, as we finally got our new carpet installed in the basement on Monday, after two months with one third of our home unusable. It will be great to get furniture out of the garage and into the new space (and to get my car into the garage again, finally!!....it really stunk to have to clean snow off my car last month; I'm out of practice since the car lived inside most of last year).
Currently, I also have high hopes of doing some painting. This week's new home based challenge is choosing a new water heater and who will install it. Not decorative, I know, but it's the reality of being a home owner and it does offer some interesting tax rebate opportunities as we become more energy efficient. Does anyone have experience with purchasing water heaters out there? Does an energy efficient heater = shorter showers because we will run out of hot water faster? And I'm debating hiring a plumber vs using Lowe's for istallation. The plumber was very nice but almost $400 more expensive. Lowe's has a couple of cons on the list but plenty of pros, as well.
And finally, I am also interested in merging my travel life into my home life. How do I aim to do this? I'm going to hang a hammock!!!!! It's so symbolic to me of relaxation (and I helped the hammock man in Costa Rica weave part of one, which was really cool). Not being the most spatially inclined person, I am a bit overwhelmed by the finding of studs in a condo basement to secure my hooks into. And if I am unable to hang the hammock in the basement as I dreamed of, where else can a hammock live inside? PS, Hubby told me to hang it in the garage. Really?? Am I really going to hang next to my car in the freezing cold reading a book? Now you probably understand why I take girl trips:)

Etsy Mania and a Collage Wall

I love Etsy. I am frequently shocked that more people don't know about it when I mention it. Basically, it's a website that is filled with individual "stores" but all the items are hand made crafts. There is a huge variety available and the range of talent out there is astounding! This would be a great place to both plug a friend and give an example: One of my friends I have trained for triathlons with creates gorgeous jewelry and sells it on Etsy at http://www.etsy.com/shop/whimsydesigngirl.
In the throws of one of my Etsy binges, I decided to take a cue from my favorite home design blog, Young House Love, and assemble a collage wall.
As you can see, on my wall I included some prints and other items from Etsy, featured below, as well as some funky patterns in the same color scheme to frame personal pictures. There's a shout out to each of the cats up there because if other people can put baby pictures of their kids on a wall, why can't I put baby pictures of my cats up? I also found a picture from one of my favorite performers, Michael Franti, on facebook and ordered through Kodak Gallery. One of my favorite additions is a set of mini silver frames that has pictures of my hubby as a kid, representing different holidays: him in a pumpkin patch, him in a pilgrim hat, him dressed as a wise man=precious! And finally, I tossed in a few couple shots, one printed in black and white and one in color. Combined, this wall feels both personal and artistic in a fun presentation.

See the Sassy Side Table hanging out in the corner?????? For my collage wall, I stuck with a mostly black and white or silver frame theme. Because the accent color in the room is such a bright color, turquoise, I didn't want to overwhelm the wall with too much color, too. You see splashes of the accent color along with the patterned black and white frames. However, collage walls are a great way to infuse color into an otherwise neutral room, too. Just choose photos, cd jackets, fabric, and other items that have big pops of color to liven things up.

This print comes from http://www.etsy.com/shop/thewheatfield. I love this quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson, a New Englander who, in my mind, was thinking of my favorite beachy spots in Maine when he came up with this gem.

This clock hails from http://www.etsy.com/shop/makingtimetc. The shop owner uses plates to create clocks and a lot of funky colors and patterns.

I actually snagged this at a flea market in Vermont a few years ago for $5. People don't think of it often but most couples portrayed whether in art or even on greeting cards are the same race. Being married to someone with a different skin tone makes it hard to find visual representations of our coupledom. I liked this piece of art because the couple are racially ambiguous; I mean neither of us are yellow and orange so it all works out!

Finally, this piece is actually another $5 find. I got this at the Christmas Tree Shoppe and it's a wood canvas. The room has a sub theme of birds and trees or birds IN trees so this fell in line with that.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What's more domestic than making apple pie?

Nothing says "I'm domestic" more than preparing apple pie from scratch. It conjures up every image of a 50's house wife wearing an apron with perfectly curled hair in a suburban subdivision that I can think of. In reality, I would run away from fitting into such an image and have a severe lack of domestic intuition but I'm trying to become more "at home" in the kitchen and when I have a success, I am quite proud of myself.
Lucky for me, a woman from church volunteered to be my apple-pie-making-coach. She is an expert in my book, having grown up with a fruit farming father and a pie making mother, so I really couldn't ask for a more ideal leader. I had never even cored an apple so my coach truly had her work cut out for her!
The pictures ended up out of order but I will walk you through it......

STEP 7: Bake. We made a second pie more of the Dutch Apple persuasion for Hubby's enjoyment. I took it home, tossed it in the oven for about an hour and we both had a late night apple delight before the first episode of the new season of The Walking Dead. Amazing show, and, if I do say so myself, AMAZING PIE!!!!! Hubby really liked it and he's picky so I was extra proud. And I thought it was pretty scrumptious, too. Or maybe I could just taste all the heart I put into it:)

STEP 5: Sugar and butter!!!

STEP 4: Pie crust rolled out and placed in pie tin, apples and crust meet for the first time.I was ridiculously awful at using the rolling pin on the crust. I did, however, use my rolling pin like a foam roller on my hamstrings on Friday night and it was really helpful:)

STEP 3: Cut your apples. Again, having never even cored an apple, I felt a bit arthritic at the end of peeling about four of them. Thank goodness for the help or I might have thrown in the towel at this point.

STEP 1: Wash your apples

STEP 2: Dough. We used a "miracle dough" recipe that included vinegar and I was told this was extra hearty and forgiving. Putting the Crisco in was pretty revolting but 1 3/4 cups spread over 5 pie crusts eases the pain a little, I guess.

STEP 6: Pie crust on top, fluting on edges (tougher than it looks) and knife hole decor on top and viola!! I actually bagged this one to stick in the freezer. How much apple pie can a family of two really consume at once?

Sassy Side Table

 

Since the blue paint on the bookcase went over well last week, I thought today I would share what I did with the rest of that blue paint. As mentioned in my last post, the whole point of the blue paint on the bookcase was to add some color to a bland room. A bland room that also needed a side table next to the bed. So I went to Savers, which if you don't have these near you (they are new in my area) is kind of like a Salvation Army store. It's filled with donated, second-hand items at cheap prices. The table above is part of a set of TV tables that was missing one. I was able to score it for $3!!

It started out as black wood.

For $3, I figured I could experiment and if the result was icky, I wasn't really at a loss. So I slapped some of the blue bookcase pant on the legs of the table!

I had purchased some mod podge a while back  that I intended to used on a mini bookcase turned tv stand in the basement but I never got to it. (I still may.....). The plan for the tv stand was applied to the side table. As a person who keeps a journal and saves mementos as part of that history, I have all sorts of pictures, race bibs, you-name-it laying around. I pulled together a medley of these items to personalize the table and put these things on display. The items I chose included the following: A card a magician had signed with my name on one of our cruises, the cd from our wedding that was given out as a favor, a picture of Pat with a snake around his neck from a stop on our honeymoon, a race bib from the triathlon I am most proud of completing, a bunch of quotes and stickers, a letter for our last name, a room key from our honeymoon cruise, a bumper sticker from when I hiked Mt. Washington, a decal from the school I graduated from, and some pretty scraps of magazine clippings of brightly colored comforters I am not going to buy.

 

 

 

It takes a few coats and looks white and lumpy at first. It is definitely sticky and that's part of the point. However, it did crumple some of the paper items in the process and they had to be removed. It also starts out wet so it created some wrinkles in things I thought would be smooth. I guess that's part of the personal character now!

When it finally dries, it's a glassy, clear coating that seals all the items in place like a lacquer. You can see that the painted legs work really well with the comforter.

A few practical and colorful accessories later and it functions as a real side table!

And there it is, all happily completed! The rest of the clutter is another blog post.....let's just say the pictures are now on the wall, as are the little mystery squares sitting on the pillows. To be continued.....

Don't want to paint the whole room? How about the bookcase?

So last week I gave an intro to my home so I could start posting about some of the projects I have or want to undertake there and it wouldn't be coming out of left field. Then work got really busy and I forgot to post ANYTHING. Sorry about that! 
This project is one of my favorites because I love the bright color involved. Most of our walls are painted with very neutral, bland colors ala HGTV's "Designed to Sell". The idea is that buyers want to be able to picture themselves in the space you are selling so you want the colors to be kind of ho-hum, nothing striking that really screams "you".
The challenge is that once you move in, you either have to settle into your neutral, adaptable colors or you have to do a lot of painting. I had never painted prior to moving into this home and I fell into the paint can when I painted my bathroom this very lovely shade of yellow. As a result, a lot of our walls have remained blank canvases and I have tried to add color through furniture, art and accessories. 
Inspired by the amazing blog Young House Love and some creative pictures from Pinterest, I decided to infuse some color into our guest room by painting the backdrop of the built in bookcase (which had been painted to match the tan walls-not by me, by the way).

This is the color I chose because it so closely matched the comforter of the bed.

I loved this comforter so much that, even though I was trying to be fiscally responsible and not buy unnecessary bedding, I kept thinking about it and had to run back to the store to make it mine. It's just so cheery!! And I like the pattern a lot, too.

Voila! Here is Picture #1 bland bookcase reinvented with turquoise paint. I love that it's just the backdrop so the color isn't overwhelming; it just pops some goodness out from behind the books.

The bottom line: It was easy and quick and fun. Now, this otherwise dreary space has some excitement and it's one of my favorite features...maybe in the whole house!

An introduction to Our Home

Kitchen Before

Kitchen After

I have been so swept up in writing about travel lately that I have neglected writing about my blooming domesticity. While it's lovely to leave home briefly to see how other people live, at the end of the day I have a mortgage to pay:) And in making that kind of commitment to a building, I need to show it a little love, too.
Before I can start sharing posts about projects I am undertaking on the home front, I feel it necessary to introduce you to the history of my home. We moved into our townhouse in June of 2009, just over 2 years ago now. Of note, this was after living at a boarding high school for two years with about 25 teenage girls. During that time, we lived in the tiniest apartment on campus. The schedule and responsibility that came with our living arrangement paired with the tax rebates being offered for first time home owners made for a perfect storm to start a housing search.
 We chose the area we settled in for a number of reasons. Admittedly, the primary reason was that I wanted to be closer to my family and farther away from work. Although the commute is sometimes challenging, it's nice to be able to have the separation for both physical and emotional safety; I never run into clients I work with at the grocery store. While we may have preferred to be a tiny bit closer to work, all of the towns between the city we work in and the town my parents live in and I adore are big ticket towns. We either couldn't afford anything there or we could afford smaller, more run down places that would need more work. Therefore, a 45 minute commute was a compromise to have 1600 square feet, three levels of living, two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a finished basement and an attached garage. In the MetroBoston area, that's a decent amount of space for folks not working with huge cash flows.
Our upgrades began in the kitchen. It looked old and had some drawers that couldn't even open due to the layout. There was also a stenciled/painted ivy motif near one of the windows which, I hope goes without saying, had to go! We used the tax refund we got to pay for new cabinets and counters. I found a great deal on Craigslist for stainless steel appliances because not all of the old ones matched the refrigerator was spoiling my milk.
It took until August of 2010 to start thinking about really decorating. Beyond what we brought from the tiny apartment that we tossed up on the walls, we didn't invest in items for the walls or other accessories until I took a week off in the summer. When it rained most of the days I planned to go to the beach, I watched a lot of HGTV and got some ideas and inspiration and ran around to craft stores, department stores, home goods stores, hardware stores, and even book stores to begin to fulfill my vision.
It wasn't until this past Spring that we finally put up curtains in the living room and master bedroom (don't worry, we had blinds so the neighbors weren't getting a front row seat to everything). And it's still a work in process!
Here is what has been done:
kitchen cabinets, counters and appliances
painting accent wall in kitchen, and both bathrooms
removed living room carpet and had laminate flooring installed
food storage area in laundry room created
window treatments in both bedrooms and living room
basic wall decor and accessories in both bedrooms and living room
Here's my wishlist to do:
new bathroom vanities
more pops of color
repaint kitchen
paint dining room accent wall
new faucets
new shower head
greater development of style vision in both bedrooms and living room
clean the garage out (we still have the original stove in there)
pull together the basement man cave/sports and movies room
paint stairwell banisters (they just started peeling!)
at least one piece of customized art
remove caulking from tub

I'm sure there are more projects but my brain just flooded.......

Home Sweet Home with a Case of the Mondays

So many of my posts over the last six months have somehow related to travel. Neighbors and people at church have begun frequently commenting on my adventures and I'm happy and proud to have another activity with which to identify.
For the past few years, doing triathlons has been a big part of my identity and a source of pride. It's funny how quickly things can flip upside down as this year, without the aid of a team to train with, I feel woefully unprepared for the one sprint race I registered for. It's this Saturday and I have had a stomach ache all day in anticipation. 4 more days of this feeling??! Somehow, I need to convince myself to not worry about the numbers and just enjoy the event. We use to placate ourselves with thoughts of it being more than most people do but it's still hard not to make comparisons, if only with your former self.
Identifying with travel as my hobby of choice slightly softens the blow of not being proud of myself for triathlons this season. At least I have something else exciting to fill the void, right?
That was all a tangent, though. My main focus when I started writing this blog hours ago before I got sidetracked about 419 times was to write about the mixed blessing of coming home again. After another week away, I really wanted to be at home.
Last week I was lucky enough to be invited to spend 4 days at a friend's beach house on the Maine coast followed by 3 days at a different friend's Cape Cod house. Both were relaxing, filled with good company and conversation, and wonderful venues to follow my own volition; to choose how I wanted to fill my time instead of sticking to frantic schedule that is my normal routine. With one night at home in between, I found it hard to leave again. I wanted to spend time with Hubby, to pet the cats, to clean the house!
When I finally arrived home last night, it was welcomed as I enjoyed my familiar surroundings, my own comfortable couch and bed, the TV shows I had recorded, the husband and the cats. However, it also brought a to-do list both at home and, today, at work as long as the neck of a giraffe. After a week of ignoring responsibilities, it feels like they have reproduced Gremlin-style, seemingly exponential in growth.
This post isn't profound or even amusing but it was really cathartic for me. I just needed to "say" that I'm glad to be home and glad to have a break before my next extended stay away from home but also that this kind of stress that I'm returning to is exactly what makes me want to drop it all again and lay in the sun without a deep thought in my head.

Musings of a Thirty Something

This weekend I celebrated my 31st birthday. Last year, hitting the milestone of 30 felt like a big deal and cause for a party, as I ushered in a new decade and a new number with which to start my age. 31 feels like the 1991 of ages. 1990 is still too much like the 80's to be distinct but '91 starts to really be "the 90's". Using this logic, 31 means I'm really in "my 30's" so I spent this weekend quietly reflecting on what that means, both to me and in the broader society. 

Some researchers talk about the concept of a "thrisis", a wordsmash for a thirty-something crisis. (By the way, what is it about the world these days that everything has to be combined....brangelina? speidi? Are we really in such a hurry??) The premise is that people have bought into an idea of happiness that includes getting married, getting a house, getting a good job, etc. but once they get those things, they finally step back and wonder if that's what they wanted all along. Unlike the mid-life crisis we grew up seeing in movies and expecting in our 40's, thirty-somethings realize there's still time to make changes and get life on track. The trouble then becomes defining what happiness means to you, as an individual. 

On the flip side, most people I talk to express that their thirties were the most fun. They often talk about being confused and figuring things out in their twenties and getting to sit back and enjoy their thirties. Many people relate to feeling more confident, less worried about what others think, as they leave their twenties behind. It seems like we have set ourselves up to be molded up to this point and get to really define ourselves now, a true coming-of-age experience. I definitely find myself keeping a smaller social circle and investing more in myself and the people and activities that really bring me joy, rather than trying to keep in touch with everyone. But maybe that's just because Facebook keeps everyone in touch all the time! (not in an unwelcome way, in my opinion)

So I look forward to 31 beginning a new chapter. I can be proud of the things I have accomplished, going down the checklist: marriage, home, education, career. People can continue to bug me about the next item on their checklist: baby. And maybe that will be next, who knows. But I can also revel in the fact that these things have brought me to a point where I can create opportunities for myself. In many ways, at 31 I have more options open to me than I did at 21. Real, viable options that can come to fruition in a year instead of a decade. I have enough stability to pursue my love of traveling and enough youth left to make those adventures really exciting. For an example from real life last week, in one day I met with the sheriff about prison programming and went to a Poison concert in a mini skirt at night. Here's to the 30's being the most fulfilling decade yet!

   

Bbq Dessert Poll: Please Vote

I need your help today. Tomorrow I am going to a bbq and am bringing a dessert but haven't decided what to bring yet.
Should it be:
a. oreo truffles
b. devils food cookies with mint frosting
c. caramel popcorn (which would be my first time making it)
d. muddy buddy mix
e. other (im open to suggestions)
Please vote as soon as you can so I can make it tonight:)
And, for the record, I think this is my first non-travel related post in like 6 weeks. Then again by saying that did I just make it travel related? Tricky

Stress-Less Initiative

I have to admit that part of holding on to my vacation glow is about not really committing back to my "real" life. Monday night was the first time there were no dirty dishes in the sink. I only partially cleaned the house over the weekend and there are still some areas that deserve attention. I have yet to find my work cell phone and I even forgot the keys to my desk on Monday, rendering me fairly useless much of the day.
This is all part of my new stress-less initiative. Why does the American culture make long work hours, high stress, and dissatisfaction with __________ (fill in the blank with anything from your body to your marriage) the norm? The expectation?
I'm becoming a rebel. I'm fighting "the man" on this one.
I am thinking of this vacation glow now as more of a lifestyle change. You know how when people go on a diet, they fail and fall back into old eating patterns? What works is when people learn about nutrition and find exercise they enjoy for something more than losing weight. That's how I feel about my stress-less policy. If I think of it as a temporary shift post vacation, it sets me up to lose it at some point and fall back into the rut of being stressed out too much of the time. However, if it's a lifestyle shift, it becomes a new way of life.
This is just day one of this rant, be forewarned:) And I found a very viable option for my next trip online today.....

What kind of wife are you? I'm hilarious.

My friend Sarah posted this on her blog the other day and it made me smile. I think the best part was when her friends were comparing their low scores which ranged from 5-9 out of 100. I got a -7. Just sayin.
http://www.magatsu.net/maritaltest/

Happy Monday!

For once, I actually feel like my weekend was long! I didn't do much that is noteworthy this weekend. What about you?
Here's what I did do:
I slept a lot. I think I have the sleep equivalent of a tapeworm. The need for sleep is really insatiable. I took naps both weekend days. In fact, I went to church yesterday and was basically excused to go home by my mom and my bishop because I was so tired I was like out of it. You would think I was doing something exciting on Saturday night! But no, I stayed in all day Saturday, with the exception of a walk to the grocery store.
Oh, and I bought frames for the products of my Etsy binge last month. I got three really cute pieces that now just need to find their home on the wall. One piece was a larger, odder size. I looked into matting and framing it but it was going to have to be a custom order. Do you have any idea what that costs?????? Coo Coo amounts. So, while it would have looked nicer matted and in a frame to size, I trimmed the edges and crammed it into a regular frame and saved $230. I'm sure it wouldn't have looked $230 worth of nicer so I feel great about my decision.
I made a yummy fruit salad to mimic one that I had at work last week. I skipped the raspberries, my favorite, because they were $4.99 for a small package. I did include pineapple, cantaloupe, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, and grapes. Yum. I also made my favorite salad and some chicken and ravioli. That should feed me for a couple days:)
I caught up on a bunch of DVRd shows. I adore my DVR and the convenience it has brought to my life. Remember when you had to run home for your favorite show? Or worse, you had to find someone to tape it for you?? I watched  hours of Secret Millionaire. So good and inspirational. I finally watched the Teen Mom 2 reunion show, a show on the Challenger from January and an episode of the Colony that has been on there for months.
To balance out the tv time, I did also read. I wish time would stand still when I read. I really want to keep seeing what happens with the story but you can't really multitask while reading so I never have enough time. Or it segues to a nap.
So, I hope your weekend was as restful as mine and perhaps more noteworthy!

RaNdOm TiDbItS

My friend Donna (http://thedollsweetjournal.blogspot.com/) writes a blog and on Fridays she does bulleted pieces called Fragmented Fridays, an idea from http://www.halfpastkissintime.com/p/friday-fragments.html, with little tidbits from the week. I like this idea and am going to steal it, with her permission pending.
Some things popped up this week that I didn't turn into a full rant (of course).
Of note:

• I found a silk shirt in Hubby's clothes pile. I haven't seen a silk shirt since I was in middle school. Is that even socially appropriate? I guessed not and told him that.
• What's the next best sign of Spring after flowers peeping through the grass? My grill emerged from a snow pile this week! It was a welcomed visitor.
• I finished my book, The Virgin Widow, about Lady Anne Neville. It was a great love story. I'm currently weighing my options as to what to read next-the pile of options is high! I jumped into Little Bee last night but am not sure if I will stick with it yet or not. 
• Wednesday brought the much anticipated new season of Survivor! Who else is watching so I can stockpile peeps to discuss with?
• I had a cousins party tonight and honed some of my new domestic skills. Tonight's menu was appetizers and desserts because they create the perfect meal balance in the world I roll in. For apps I made: spinach squares, sweet and sour meatballs, and pizza rolls. For dessert I made: chocolate mint cookies, white chocolate Oreo truffles, and muddy buddies (clearly more for me than anyone else).
• I waged war with Best Buy and their "installation Geek Squad" this week. Such a long story but if you ever consider getting a car starter installed by them, contact me and I will give you an earful to prep you.
• Work was a little tragic this week. I had to take Wednesday off just to catch up on sleep and regain some energy. I decided a walk outside was just what the Dr ordered and the fresh air was wonderful. I took pics so it might turn into its own rant. Then I went to Framingham Bakery for some of the best pizza on Earth. The next day on FB, a debate over the Framingham Bakery Pizza hype popped up. I defended it to the death. If they shipped, I would totally include a link so the rad readers that appeared from Indonesia and Singapore this week could get in on the goodness. I feel guilty having all the pleasure for myself.
• Thanks for reading!
• PS-how great are the Old Spice commercials??????

Catching up with Photos

I am have been trying to post these pics for days! As it is, I can't get my text near them so here's a summary:
Top: My snazzy new chair!!
Then there are pics of some of the yummy Superbowl snacks: muddy buddies, pizza rolls, and oreo truffles. I forgot to photography (or keep for leftover eating, for that matter) any of the meatballs. I tore my fridge apart on Monday looking for them! Also of note are the fabulous toothpicks that are my inspiration for having people over-ACTUAL TOOTHPICKS! You can own your own "set" from www.cb2.com.
Finally, stage right, please enjoy a picture of my friend playing in the aforementioned cat tunnel:)

Sunshine Addendum

Hubby sent me a text today saying "I like the color of the bathroom now". Which word do you think I emphasized when I read it? Regardless, it was a nice message:)

Happy Superbowl and yay for tonight's creations

So I know some people don't believe you should watch or party for the Superbowl but  I am not among them. I took today as a good opportunity to spend some qt with some people i don't, normally. I also took it as an opportunity to boost my level of domesticity (one of the things I am aspiring toward). I found some great recipes on a fun blog I just discovered this week: Our Best Bites. I made pizza rolls, muddy buddies, Oreo truffles, and sweet and sour meatballs. I think the most notable thing is that Hubby liked and consumed all four things!!! That's huge as I am the world's pickiest eater second only to Hubby. Good friends came over and brought all sorts of other yum including chicken fingers, chicken wings, homemade salsa and some very attractive stuffed jalapenos that were far too exotic for my MAC glossed lips.

I paid very little attention to "The Game". I know that the team I wanted to win won. I only wanted them based on my distaste for the other team for the legal, moral, and ethical indiscretions of one of their players (pretend you just heard me clear my throat here). I wasn't even wowed by the commercials, although I in a game my friend created I chose Snickers as "My Ad" and I was blown away by the way Snickers knows my heart. I don't even like Snickers, really. I am not a nut person so Milky Way is more my speed but Snickers won me over last year with their feature of the amazing Ms. Betty White. As we all know, Golden Girls is my favorite show of all time. However, those near and dear to me know that I also own the entire series of Roseanne and, prior to my Golden Girls obsession, Rosie helped me to sleep each night and greeted me each morning. How much more amazing could Snickers be after tonight featuring Roseanne?!?! Thank you!!!!!

Again, pictures to follow. I am really good at taking them but not so good at taking them off the camera.

A Very Exciting Day

I got home at almost 2am after a 5.5 hour movie marathon with a group of lovely ladies from church, all of whom can prepare the most amazing foods. There was handmade caramel popcorn, fabulous mint brownies, a bunch of dips, even homemade flan!! I ate so much that I honestly had a dream that I got stretch marks on my stomach. But that was just the start to A Very Exciting Day....
Normally I don't work on Saturdays but today was an exception. I planned my whole day around my afternoon commitment to work. I got more than half way there, 11 miles to be exact, when I got a call that the thing I was going in for was now off. Being very close the best running shoe store in the state, I decided to shop instead, since I was already all the way out there. No parking.
Now having been bitten by an unquenched shopping bug, I went on a 4 store spree. I ended up with a yellow trash can for my new sunshiny bathroom, mod podge for a new project idea, and (put on your Bob Barker voice here) A NEW CHAIR!! Clearly, a picture will follow because I am pretty sure I am in love with it.
After 4 stores, 1 broken candle holder that I felt super guilty about, and a chair I didn't set out to purchase, I was exhausted. I hate to say it was against my better judgment to visit my grandmother in the hospital because horns might grow out from where a headband should go but that's where it all went downhill. Literally. As I tried to drive down the hill of the hospital driveway, it was so icy that, in order to avoid sliding into oncoming traffic, I steered into a snowbank. Inches from hitting the stop sign, I was officially stuck in the pile of snow.
Hubby didn't answer his phone. Brother didn't answer his phone. Not sure if we have AAA anymore. The only people who stopped to ask if I was OK were women in compact cars like my own. With one excellent former male bridesmaid on the way to my rescue, three angelic men in a truck stopped and pushed me out!!!!! I wanted so badly to thank them but I only had $8 in my wallet (and that's actually a fortune for me to carry in cash). I felt so silly but I shoved it in one of their shirt pockets and encouraged them to go to Dunkin Donuts while I continued to thank them. HOORAY!!!!
On top of all this, while I have been writing this, I just saw a TV ad for Secret Millionaire coming back the first week in March. And yes, even the promo made me teary. Set your DVRs, folks. This is paying it forward at it's best.
To conclude, I hope your day was also Very Exciting, minus the downhill part.

Adding a little Sunshine

With all this time in the house, I decided to paint the bathroom the color of sunshine to fake us out. It had been primed back in September and just sitting, with the towel rack and art on the floor, waiting for my motivation to make it's occasional appearance.
I have only painted one other time, when I first moved in about a year and a half ago and that was with a friend to lead the way and cheer me on. I should have known better than to attempt this feat on my own.
Here are some lessons I learned:
1. Taping things off is boring. I gave up on that.
2. Yellow looks a lot brighter on the walls than on the little dot on the can. Especially when it's concentrated on four walls.
3. When standing with one foot on the sink and one on the toilet, the paint can should not be directly beneath you.
4. Paint cans bruise your ankle when you fall into them from a height. Oh, and yellow paint doesn't come off of painted toenails, even after a scrub in the shower.
5. You should make sure you have brushes before you start painting so you don't have to make due with the couple things you bought that you thought would supplement what you already had.
6. You might think you have more supplies than you do because if husbands don't wash paint off of brushes and other painting mechanisms, they become the consistency of cement and aren't good for much other than weaponry.
7. Paying someone else to paint is probably worth it.

Why I can't stop reading Mormon housewife blogs

Why I can't stop reading Mormon housewife blogs

I highly recommend you read this link as it is the inspiration for this blog. Maybe that is only partially true. I have thought about starting a blog for a long time, perhaps for some of the same reasons this article sites: I have kept a journal since I was 12, I'd like a creative outlet, etc. I never knew where to start, to be honest, or what to say. This article provided a focus, a jumping off point. While celebrating Betty White's birthday,  watching a Golden Girls marathon and dyeing our hair, one of my best friends set me on this path (and started her own, I might note).

The link, above, basically says that young, educated professional feminists with no children find themselves drawn to reading the blogs of young Morman housewives who cook and sew and can things, happily. I am caught between these two worlds and it can be perplexing. By day, I work in a field stemming from the feminist movement and advocate for the equality and rights of those who are victimized. On Sunday, I go to church for three hours with my mother. My husband doesn't attend my church and I have no kids to tote with me, an anomaly for my age in Morman culture. I have a nose ring (deemed naughty) but I love my food storage and yearn to bake my own bread. In short, I'm the square peg.

I called the blog "Aspiring to the Middle" because it sums up my goal of balancing my two complicated philosophies. It also speaks to the balance of finding a middle ground between working, being a good wife, trying to be spiritual, and to do all the other things we need to do to find balance, health and happiness in our lives: exercise, clean, socialize, learn to grow up. Finally, the middle ground is kind of where I aim to land. I'm not the fastest runner (far from it!) or the best singer or anything of the sort. Despite my lack of specialization of skill, I do a lot of diverse things to varying degrees of success and think that makes life interesting.

So while I try to cook and feel like a phony, making a meal that only I will eat, I can now type about it and air it to the world.....


Addendum: Don't read the comments if you are trying to keep your blood pressure within a healthy range. I should know this as I bump into this problem all over the place in local newspapers and such but I guess I just don't learn! Surely everyone is as entitled to their opinions as I am in my own response to this article but I'm not sure why we can't just make meaning of things for ourselves and keep the aggression to a minimum.