Pretty Busy Week

I had a pretty busy week. I got a lot of stuff done that just needed to be done. After the holiday on Monday, the roofers showed up Tuedsay morning. They began tearing off the old roof and putting on the new one. Backup for a minute. Last month about the middle of May, it rained every day for like a week. Anyway, during that blessing, our roof began to leak in like 3 different places. The landlord had the insurance people come and assess it. We are getting a new roof. YEAH! So, the roofers worked from early morning until 7:00 or 8:00 every evening. By Saturday they were done. Our roof is complete on the outside. Now, this week, other guys will be here doing the inside where the damage was. So, even though I didn't do any of the actual work I feel accomplished about this.

I also had a guy come out and spray the house for bugs both inside and outside. We are experiencing a lot of HOUSE CENTIPEDES!!!! These are very scary to come across! ESPECIALLY IN THE NIGHT TIME OR THE DARK! Everything I have read says that they bite but aren't really poisonious. But then other things say they are. I don't know for sure...and I SURELY DON'T WANT TO FIND OUT!

Got my livingroom cleaned and painted (more in another post). All of the sheets got changed. The front porch is swept off and the weeds outside have been cut. The pantry is cleaned out! It becomes such a clutter spot. There is still so much to do! With my schedule I am gone for 3 days. I slept pretty much all day for 2 days. I then only have 2 days to take care of everything else. So, needless to say, there are a lot of things that get pushed to the side. I am actively making a list of the things around here that need attention and then tending to one or two of them a day. I feel so out of control when the house is a mess (or better put - cluttered). I guess in my "adult life" I have realized that I hate to clean but I hate it even more when things aren't clean! Now, to go sort some laundry.

House Remodeling

When we first moved into this house about 2 years ago I had all of these plans for it. Shortly after moving in Dorian and the girls moved in with us. The house then became more of a community living space. When Dorian and the girls moved out last month, I again had all of these ideas about what to do with the house. One thing I wanted to do was paint. I have been wanting to paint my living room for some time now. I have been arguing with myself over paint colors for about 6 weeks. It started with my bedroom actually. I decided that I wanted something different done with my bedroom (actually it started shortly after getting the new bed - of course). Well, it didn't take long to decide that I wanted my bedroom to be done in CHOCOLATE & BRIGHT PLUM. That was the easy part. Finding linens (mores specifically a comforter/bedspread) in these colors was a completely different story. So, after much searching I have narrowed it down to a chocolate comforter with the plum pillows. Also, a bright plum headboard that I will be making myself. Once I had all of this figured out I got a kick to redecorate the entire house. Please keep in mind that this is a pretty expensive process. I can do alot of it with inexpensive bargain pieces but when you have a lot of pieces to do it totals pretty expensive. So, a little bit at a time and a lot of saving will be required of this project. But I am going to take one piece at a time as I can. I did my first step active (besides planning) step this weekend:

This brings me to the living room. Picking colors was crazy. The furniture I have picked out is chocolate colored. Right now, my furniture is a very dirty beige color. I say this with a lot of love to my furniture because it is the furniture I acquired from a friend back in the year 2001. I think he had purchased it like in 1998. It has moved with me EVERYWHERE. The poor couches are not even couches anymore. Basically they are stacks of blankes in the couch frame with cushions on top of them. Ha Ha. So, new furniture is definetly in this game plan somewhere. But for now, the only color in the livingroom is beige (even the curtains). I took into consideration both the couches I have now and also the furniture I hope to have someday. I ended up narrowing it down to like 3 colors while I stood in Wal-Mart looking at swatches for over an hour (after spending an hour the night before doing the same thing at Home Depot). I finally chose a soft green, soft grey, and a cream color. Since I want some COLOR in my life I put back the creme and found a soft pinkish shade of purple. After conversing with Amber we decided green was more a kitchen color and purple was more of an "emotional" color and better for a personal area. So, I had the store associate mix me the grey color. But...I had my finger on the one under the one I wanted. So, I ended up with "Muted Violet Cast" (color name). I only got a quart to make sure that we liked it in the living room before I went all out.

I came home on Saturday evening and spackled the wall and then painted it. Guess what color it is.....PURPLE. Ha. It is a really soft smoky purple though. It is calming and I love it! I didn't have enough to finish the wall (did all but the trim stuff). Hold on, let me go see if I can take a picture of it.......Well, nevermind. You will just have to trust me. I can't get a picture that really shows the color but I love it. I can't wait until I buy more and paint the whole living room. We have wood paneling from the floor to halfway up each wall. I will be removing all of that and painting all the walls this color I think. We will see when that time comes I guess. I love when I take the opportunity to make my house feel like MY HOME.

So Many and Yet So Few

I have been mentally trying to write this blog since last week. I have only physically been trying to write it for about 20 minutes. I kept thinking.....I have nothing to write about. Then every once in a while an idea will surface (like how hard it is to get to know teenage boys) or (accusing the non guilty) but then for some reason I could never committ to an idea. There are too many ideas on my brain and happening around me right now; just none of them seem blog worthy. But as I am typing ideas just keep coming (like all of the great grilling I have been doing or Brennen's cake). So, bear with me and let's see where this goes.

Over the past few weeks I have really been doing a lot of homemaker stuff which is kinda out of the ordinary for me. But it kinda started a couple of weeks ago when I wanted to grill. (I contribute this to having my brother-in-law, Nik grill really great tasting steaks while I was on vacation). So anyway, I pulled out the $7.00 grill we bought last summer and only used once. I think we found it at Wal-Greens towards the end of summer. It was originally like $14 but was clearanced out. It is a small charcoal grill. I guess you would call it a table top grill because I have it sitting on a table outside just so I can reach it. Even then, being as tall as I am (and not to mention how short the table is) I still have to sit down to reach it well.

Anyway, I love it! I grabbed it, some charcoal and started grilling. The 1st time I pulled it out, several weeks ago, I went to town. I grilled chicken breasts, hamburger patties, and hot dogs all in the same setting. I was way over zealous and we ate that meal for like 3 days. I used some "GRILLMATES" seasoning and loved it. I think Amber took a picture of me. Let's see if I can find it. Hold on. There it is.

The second week I went to grill but the dang charcoal had gotten wet during our rain storm (where it rained like almost daily for a week!) I thought I was in heaven. So, that stunk. But gues what.....I bought more charcoal this weekend. I ended up grilling some pork steak and also put corn on the grill. WOW!!!! That was a good meal! Those steaks came out so juicy and tender. They were awesome.

I was not the only one cooking this weekend though. Brennen has been bugging me to make a cake. Not just any cake. He wanted the "Triple Rich Chocolate Cake" made in the crock pot. I tried making this back in January and although it cooked very uneven it was pretty good. So, this time I doubled the recipe and had Brennen make it since he has been bugging and bugging for it. So, Saturday we made cake. It still cooked uneven. The outside burnt and the top didn't finish cooking. I don't get it. Anyway, after dinner everyone had cake. I think Brennen had like 3 pieces on Sunday. So, guess the cake wasn't a flop.

Let's see what I can come up with to grill this next week.

NARLEY

Today I was reminded of how old I am. I really don't feel old very often; but somedays it is very evident. Brennen and I were in the car today. He told me a story in which he held up his thumb and pinky close to his face and yelled at a perfect stranger to "call me". We won't even start to mention all of the potential lectures that could come out of this. Anyway, he story kinda ended with the stranger (a grown man) holding up his thumb and pinky and stating, "NARLEY!" Brennen says, "I guess he didn't understand what I said even though I showed him with my hand". I then had to explain to my very soon to be teenager that hand sign has meant Narley for a very long time. Of course, that followed with, "WHAT DOES NARLEY MEAN?" Are you kidding me????? So, yeah. I felt very old at this point. Thanks son!

Finally, My Final Destination

Thursday afternoon I headed to my sister's house.

Carla and Nik were both there to greet me. I think we were both really excited. I got the grand tour of thier beautiful home and church. We then cooked (ok, they cooked) my first homecooked meal since I had left home. Wow! It was really nice. Then we rushed off to the baby shower. For pictures, please see my sister's blog which I am sure you all have already seen. They received so many wonderful things. I met so many nice people who just adore them.

After the shower, we went home and reopened everything with Nik. I didn't think I would ever see my sister stay up that late!!!!!

I woke the next morning with an excrutiating headache. Sad, because this was the only day I got to spend with my sister. But luckily it eased pretty quickly. Yeah!!!! We headed out to spend a wonderful day together. Here is a picture of my beautiful "glowing" sister and my nephew that you can't see yet.

I had greek food for the first time ever. It was good. I agree with my sister.....I like Feta cheese on my salad. I liked the meat and was sad that the chicken was a little dry that day. I had ordered a sampler so I could sample a little of it all. Ha Ha! Humus was actually good. I didn't think I would like it but luckily Nik let me try his. I think Carla offered me his plate technically before he agreed but he seemed fine with it. (That makes me giggle). I really loved the gyro sauce they serve. Anyway, I could go on and on.....I liked it!!!!

After a little shopping, I took a short nap and had the craziest dream. I actually woke up sea sick from these dolphins spinning the ship I lived on round and round. So, I still haven't figured out if the greek food or all the headache medicine I had taken that day was responsible for that dream. I am just glad Carla woke me before it got any worse.

I did learn all about the BEST TEA ever!!!!!! (That makes me GIGGLE even more!) No, just kidding. But I do have to give it up to Busch's Chicken (I think that's what it was called). They have good tea and GREAT happy hours. I helped Carla and Nik prepare for thier rumage sale that night.

On Saturday after taking my time that morning, I left Temple, TX. Granted, I left the wrong direction. After ending up in Fort Worth, I started on the right way and finally made it home about 9:30 that night.

Overall, I had a great time. I really needed that vacation. I love my family so much and enjoy every time I get to see them (even it is for only an hour sometimes)!!!!

To Grandmother's House I Go

On Sunday morning after a slow wake up, Karen, Joshua and I cleaned the whole car. I had spilt a 44oz drink in the car. So, we detailed it. I would like to take this moment in time to say that BABY WIPES really work well when cleaning the car dash, upholstery, and all! When the boys left for church, I left too. I had a good drive over the Interstate to my Mamaw's house.

I was glad to see that my Mamaw was feeling better when I got there. I got to visit with Aunt Pam for about half an hour. After a short Sonic run she and Savannah left. Then it was just Mamaw and Me!!!! Everyone knows how spoiled I am. And trust me. I really need my "Mamaw Time"! Anyway, I got to be there for her when she needed me. She didn't feel to well and was just on the road to recovery. We spent most of our days in the doctor's office but then we had our evenings. We watched television and visited. I love just spending time with her. I got to stay till Thursday. She is so special to me. Here is a picture I have of her and my Papaw on thier wedding day. I got it while there.

More Vacation

Ok. I apologize! Tomorrow turned into like almost 2 weeks later. I didn't really have time while I was gone to blog and then when I got back, I had a lot of catching up to do.

Anyway, I will start with the time I spent with Karen, Joey, and the BOYS. After we picked up Nichols, we went back to the house for a quick breakfast of homemade banana nut bread and fresh strawberries. Then we went shopping for the baby shower that was quickly approaching. I did find several thing that stated what an AWESOME AUNT Jax would have. (For those of you who do not read Carla's blog, which I highly recommend...."Jax"en will be my nephew's name when he arrives). After shopping (which I have learned is my sister's favorite past time), Nicholas picked out where we would have lunch.

Nicholas picked out a place called Genghis's Grill. I had never been there before but both of the kids love it. It is a buffet of raw meat, veggies, spice, and sauces. You can make your own recipe or follow thier suggested recipe cards. Then they put your food on this huge grill slab thing and cook it. Then they bring it to you. It was actually SO GOOD. Nicholas really enjoyed teaching me to eat with chopsticks. Here are some pictures:

After lunch we took the boys and Joey back to the house for naps. I shoulda stayed and took one as well, but I didn't. I needed some one on one quality time with Karen. So, we went to the spas. After pedicures, we went shopping. I actually ended up with a good bargain. A really cute shirt for $10. I then got to take Karen to her first Starbucks. Can you believe she has one less than 2 blocks from her house and has never been!!!!!! Anyway, we got afternoon treats and went home. I really think that venti java chip frappechino helped me get through the rest of the afternoon.

I got to spend time with the boys....Nicholas and I attempted to learn a magic trick. I actually got pretty good at one. Too bad Joshua was the only one that was impressed. Ha ha. Joshua and I painted his piggy bank. Joshua designed it and picked the colors. I just help even them out. He did awesome. I had a great afternoon. I think Karen was going to cook but somehow we ended up at Joshua's favorite place to eat. Rosa's Tortilla Factory. It was really pretty good. I know good mexican food is hard to come by in Texas but this place was really good. Joshua showed me where they made tortillas. It was cool. After dinner we went shopping again. Ha ha ha. I never shop so much as when I am with my best friend. Don't get me wrong. I am surely not complaining. I found some really great deals. A pair of shoes for $16 and another shirt for $6. But then it was definately time to go home. With a glass of wine we went over our new treasures and then prepared for the next day.

I love them so much!!!!!!!!!! I always enjoy my time with them. In an earlier post I talked about spending Good Friday with them in Carlsbad. Here are a few pictures from that: