Man Cave phase 1

The kids are gone this whole week so Dennis and I are working our tooshes off transforming Bubba's room, from "lame" to "he got game"..... or something like that. Bubba's birthday is in a few weeks, and he will be 14. We have been promising him a new room for almost a year now, so he should be suprised!

This is what the room looked like when we started....




Don't judge, okay? We have a really small house, and 13 year old boys are.......wierd.

So anyway, we spent tonight clearing out the room, and we have a load of stuff in the car going to Goodwill. We have to take most of the stuff out so we can paint. The only thing that will stay in the room while we paint is the bed.

and this is how far we have gotten so far. Which has been about 2-1/2 hours.




Dont you just love those Harry Potter curtains???? I will be so excited to see those go. I picked up some mini blinds that I will hang when we are done painting.

Yea.... I know....

It's been a while.....

But I wanted to share my day in Portland with you guys, my peeps!

I didnt take as many pictures as I wanted to, but I took....some.

We spent most of the day down here....

The Pearl District!!!!



First stop: Breakfast at Cupcake Jones!!!




I had the Chocolate Covered Strawberry, and ironically, The "Pearl". Dennis had the Downtown Cupcake Brown, and a Spring Lemon.



The cupcakes were great, really! The large ones are filled, and huge!! The tiny ones are perfect. Just a little taste of something great. It's a great little shop to check out if you are ever down in the Pearl.
And even though they were good..... I would give them both back right about now, just to have another one of these....

from here:


It is the coolest little tea shop with very unique bubble tea flavors. The one I had was called "obama honey" and oh it was so tasty. I want another right NOW!!! Even Dennis thought it tasted good, and he doesnt even like bubble tea.

Then we headed up to NW 23rd, to visit this cool chick!

That's my baby cousin, Jessica. She works at the Hip Hound. It's a very upscale dog store, they sell expensive clothes and food and collars and stuff. But I always buy Bootsy's treats and snacks from her. We have been out for a while, so I spent like $40 on snacks for my pup!
Plus I have to give some lovin' to this!!!


That is Birdie! Isnt she cool??? She is an Italian Greyhound. She's a sweetie and so fun.

Well, that is part of my day anyway. Saturday Market was so packed I didnt even my camera out. Then we went to Trader Joes.

okay, that is enough to report for now.

more tomorrow....maybe.

neglect..

Yes, I know. I'm a bad blogger.

I come to my own blog several times a week, with every intention to blog, and then it happens. ............blank.........


It's been 2 weeks since I have blogged. I am trying to recall the happenings of these last two weeks..... lets see.....hmmmm. Yea, pretty boring.

Well, this last weekend was good. Valentines Day.... :-) and a weekend with no kids. The kids went up to Seattle to visit their mother for 3 whole days! Dennis and I had the best time just hanging out together. Walking around the house in our underwear, watching R rated movies, eating whatever we wanted, it was great.

I told Dennis not to get me anything for Valentines Day, especially flowers or chocolate. But he suprised me on Saturday morning with the coolest "bouquet" of paper flowers and gift cards. He got it from the Desert View School auction a couple weeks ago. We were all there, but I had no idea that he got this in the silent auction. It has gift cards for Starbucks and Red Lobster, a gift certificate for a massage, and 2 movie tickets. Isn't it cute? Do you think the person that made this has a Cricut?


We went to dinner at The Farmers Kitchen here in town. We love that place. They have amazing food and service. It is pricey, but it's so worth it. I love the bread that they bring you before dinner. OMG! It's the best focaccia bread and you dip it in the olive oil with balasamic vinegar. I ate the whole plate full! We were so full, but still wanted dessert so the waitress boxed us up a giant piece of red velvet layer cake with cream cheese frosting and a raspberry sauce drizzled over the top.
We ate the leftovers for lunch yesterday. Dennis's tenderloin steak was amazing!!!

It was back to work today, no 3 day weekend for me. I dont want to jinx anything but work has been going well lately. As we are still running without a manager, I am still getting more responsibilties dumped on me, but it keeps me busy.

Guess what else? All of my laundry is clean, folded, and put away. I like that.

Monday funny.....

One of Harley's homework assignments tonight made me laugh.

She had a little paragraph she had to write.

The prompt was "I can't wait to be a grown-up....."

Her answer: "So I can eat the grapes in the grocery store for free"

Hmmmm.....Guilty!

How to make the best baked asparagus in the whole world!

I make the best baked asparagus. I am so not kidding you. I have had several people ask how to make it, and I dont mind sharing my method. This method is fool proof!! If you follow these simple instructions, you too, can have the best baked asparagus in the whole world right on your dinner table.

What you'll need:

Asparagus (the thinner asparagus works better than the thick stringy stuff) 1-2 lbs
Cookie sheet
Butter (only the real stuff will do)
Salt
Pepper

Everyone knows how to snap the asparagus, right? Okay, here's how.... with your right hand, hold the asparagus spear right in the middle. With your left hand, grab the bottom of the spear. Bend the spear so it snaps off the bottom. It will snap in a natural place between your two hands. Rinse the snapped spears in cold water and dry well.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Got your cookie sheet out and ready? Rub some butter on the bottom of it. Get it all nice and buttery, it won't hurt. Lay out your asparagus on the sheet, try to get a single layer of asparagus, not totally necessary but it helps. (Oh, and you might want to try placing the spears opposite of each other, like some pointing away from you and some pointing at you, to make it even) Cut a bunch of thin pats of butter and place them all over the asparagus. You might need 8-12 pats, depending on how much asparagus you have, and how much you like butter. Next, sprinkle the asparagus with salt and pepper. I like to use fresh ground sea salt and pepper.

Stick it in the oven. Bake for 20 minutes. If you dont have much asparagus, like 1 pound or less, and its really skinny, you may only want 15 minutes. But for 2 pounds of average width asparagus, I go for 20 minutes on the dot.

When I pull it out of the oven, I use a spatula (like a pancake turner), and roll the asparagus around to distribute the salt and pepper.

Serve, and enjoy!!

Once you get this down, you could experiment with some balsamic vinegar, parmasan cheese, etc.

But the way I described above is my number 1 favorite way to cook, and eat asparagus.

Wow, I can't believe I just made a whole post about asparagus. And honestly, the only reason I went into so much detail about this, is because Carrie said that she has tried to make it several times and failed. The instructions I usually give sound like this: Cookie sheet, butter, salt and pepper, 350 degrees, 20 minutes.

P.S. your pee will smell like asparagus... this is normal.

Domestic stuff (boring)

I was a Domestic Diva this weekend.

I got a lot of household chores done this weekend. I've been trying to fold and put away my clothes as soon as they are clean. It's working out quite well. Cindy came over and busted me with a load of laundry in the recliner, and I felt so guilty about it that I put it away as soon as she left. It had only been there a little while, because I was cooking dinner, but anyway, it got done, and that's what matters.

I made a good dinner tonight. It was Indian night in our house. I made this, inspire by this. Chicken Tikka Masala is the first Indian food I ever tried. I used to eat it all the time when I lived in Salem. I never thought to try cooking it myself, until I saw it on that blog. I read the recipe and thought it sounded easy enough, and it was. It was not exactly like India Palace, but everyone liked it. I wonder if there are different kinds of cumin, because I could really taste the cumin, which made it taste more Mexican than Indian. Oh, and when dinner was done, I put the food away, and did the dishes. :)

I have been thinking a lot this week about all of the stuff I have been able to give up easily. Smoking is supposed to be one of the hardest things to quit ever. I quit cold turkey with no withdrawls, shakes, headaches, freak-outs, etc. I gained weight unfortunately, but I have never really missed smoking, and I dont want to do it again. Caffeine... I drink coffee everyday at work. It wasn't something that I ever planned to get addicted to, but I started "needing" it and went from drinking one cup a day, to drinking it all morning long with flavored creamer. Last week, I started feeling really crappy and anxious, and I decided to give up caffeine. Piece of cake. I went the whole week, didnt even miss it. No headaches. Nothing. I drank hot tea (de-caf) instead and I was fine. Caffeine is supposed to be hard to quit. Hmmm, it wasnt for me. So, I have given up two of the hardest things to give up known to man. But, there is one thing that I cannot seem to give up..... sugary crappy food. How can I go days, weeks, without nicotine and caffeine, but can't even make it half a day without eating something junky. So strange. So, that's what I have been thinking about lately.

Guess what else? I'm tired of the way other people do things. It drives me crazy. My way is the right way. Its the way my mom taught me and it works, got it? So, when I suggest something that may work better than the way you are doing it, hmmmm, it just may!!

LOL, sorry, just had to throw that out there.

Oh, and I am drinking peppermint tea now, and watching Philosophy on QVC. I want to buy everything. HELP!!!

I'm alive....

Sorry for the hiatus (sp?)..... I didnt realize that it's been so long. But I wanted to check in and recap for you quickly what's been going on. (really its not that interesting)

* Dennis's brother came to visit this weekend, and I ate too much pizza.

* Went to Portland and back in one day to buy a car. I call it my "big car" its a Chevy Tahoe. I'll post pics, someday.

* I still drink tea and clip coupons

* Watched Beverly Hills 90210 (twice if you count tonight), Sober House, The City, Rock of Love Bus, and right now.... the replay of our President being sworn in.

* As of today I have been taking my vitamins religiously for 23 days in a row!!!

* I finished my book! Was hoping to start a new one tonight, but I'm going to take advantage and go to bed early.

* Got a new purse, and 2 new pairs of shoes

* Re-organized some kitchen cabinets, hope to finish the rest this weekend.

Alright, well that about sums it up. I am going to sleep now.

Oh wait! One more thing. I have a car for sale. If you know anybody who would like to buy a 2000 Pontiac Grand Am, send them my way. It's a good car with a lot of miles left, and the inside is CLEAN! I cleaned it myself. It's never been smoked in, and it has gotten us to Portland and back several times. I like the car, but I like my "big car" better, so "ol silver" has got to find a new home.