You, me and our spoo make three

Party Donations

2011-07-13T21:00:00.007-04:00

Rufus' 5th birthday is just around the corner. I still can't believe it.
Anyone that knows Rufus, knows he has everything he could ever need or want and we would like to take the opportunity for this year's party to give to those in need.

There are many local rescue shelters which we donate to often, however, for Rufus' birthday we would like to spotlight one that is close to our family, even though it's over 400 miles from our home.

Carolina Poodle Rescue http://www.carolinapoodlerescue.org/
Although poodle is in their name, up at their Dreamweaver Farms rescue they have all sorts of different dogs and even horses. We first came to know of this wonderful place through my mother in law who is an active volunteer with them (yes 400+ miles away!).
2006 was - the start of Dreamweaver Farms and Rufus was born. They both turn 5 this year!

I don't think it's a coincidence that their initials CPR are also the acronym for a life saving action. CPR rescues animals that have been abused, abandoned or neglected. Some from breeders that don't see the value in their breeding poodle any longer. Some that have spent their entire life in a crate just to be let out to breed. Some that have just been found wandering the street. They all find a home at Dreamweaver Farms. Then comes the adoption process.

When we decided to get a poodle from Rufus' breeder, we thought it was us doing the prospecting. Even more, his breeder Tes interviewed us and made sure that our potential puppy would be going to a safe, caring home. CPR also has a thorough homing process. They check the people, homes and in most cases, the people are encouraged to come to the farm to meet the poodle face to face. Sometimes after picking a dog online, you meet them in person and it's not the right fit, but there's another dog there that you meet while you're there and it's just a fit.

To check out some great stories of adoptions, check out their site http://www.carolinapoodlerescue.org/happyTails.shtml

As with most rescue organizations, monetary donations go the furthest. Some items that are currently in need are:

Paper, pens, and dual pocket folders
Bleach, paper towels and toilet paper
Snap together adjustable collars for very tiny size (need mostly tiny) up to large
Sturdy dog tennis balls (No stuffed or squeaky toys)

If you would like to give a general donations and specify what the donation is for, you can do that. If you don't specify, the farm will get whatever the greatest need is at the time.
You can donate easily at http://carolinapoodlerescue.org/giving.shtml

Let's all get together and help these dogs. We think we're rescuing these dogs, but really, they're rescuing our hearts.

We are blessed to be able to get together, celebrate Rufus' birthday and bless CPR all at the same time. Thank you for your help and hope to see you at Rufus' party 07/30/11!

Doggy day care

2011-06-22T19:03:00.000-04:00

Zeke is over for a few more days. He and Rufus are such best buds. Eat together, both sleep with their paws in the air and even spy on the neighbors together. This is just after the storm Saturday night. Our power was out for just over 3 hours.

Much awaited guest bath reveal

2010-02-23T21:38:00.001-05:00

By popular demand, the reveal of our guest bath. Ready for this - the whole thing, new ceiling, floor, we kept track down to the nail (well, screw) and caulk - less than $2500! There are still a couple open items: window covering, seal liner between tile wall and tub top, some accessory items (towel hook is purchased, needs to be hung, and need to get matching tub handle). I'm not 100% sold on the shower curtain either, but the price was right and it was in stock. Let me know what you think! We're very happy with the way it all turned out. We did most all of the work, and had our friend who is a plumber help with the water lines, tub install and tips and tools for a lot of the other projects. Our master bath is next on the reno list.

Shower curtain is actually from Walmart. We tried this one from BBB but it was too heavy and dry clean only! Ugh! I had wanted this one from BBB, but they were out of stock for several months. Now it's back in stock, but has chrome hooks which won't match our finishes. I found this light weight one at Walmart for $20. I love the see through fabric on top, bonus white hooks, double bonus, machine washable! Yes, I need to steam it to get the wrinkles out.

Tilt your head for this pic. After aches and pains with drilling the water holes in the tile, we decided on a tension shower rod rather than the curved rods that are drilled into the tile for now. This one works nicely, enough elbow room in there.

I'm really happy with the tile choice. It was DH's. I hated it in the store, but under our lights, love it! The wall color is a grey/tan Woodlawn Colonial Grey from Valspar color matched at Home Depot because I just love Behr paint. Toilet's American Standard Cadet 3. The little cabinet on the left is the one from BBB noted in a previous blog.

Here you can see a little of the heavy shower curtain we took back. For window coverings, I'm probably going to order woven wood bamboo shades from http://www.blinds.com/. They've done all of our other window coverings in this house. Great prices, fast shipping, great customer service.

The toilet paper holder is great. No extra reaching across for the paper. Before, it was mounted on the vanity, but since we shortened it from 48 to 36", that would be an extra reach too. Do you know how expensive bath trash cans are? $30+! We got this one from BBB as a 'just for now' can, but it's growing on me. The price grew on DH - $10 and then $5 coupon, so $5! I like how it's dark on the inside and brushed metal on the outside.

I would still like to put something between the can and the 'can' there for height. Maybe a 3 ft vase with bamboo or reeds in it. I've been checking out Ross, and will check out Home Good when they open at the Pavilion March 10!

The hardware is Moen Sage. We weren't going to replace the mirror, but after seeing the size relation to the new shortened vanity, we had to. Got a good deal at Lowe's on this one. Towels and bathmats are Laura Ashley Lifestyles Microcotton Bath Towels in Twine (always wait for a sale at Kohls!)

We were able to refinish the vanity. Took off (1) 12" pc, stained the front wood doors (very time consuming, clean, scuff, stain, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat!). The sides are laminate, so they didn't take the stain well. Ended up using a good spray paint in espresso. Looks great! New hardware for $10, new granite top, new faucet (with single handle and soap dispenser) and we saved a lot vs. purchasing a new vanity (which I tried to do, but couldn't find any I liked anyway!)

Thanks for following our adventure in our first big reno. Let me know if you have any questions on any reno money saving ideas, project how to's or product info.

Guest bathroom recap

2010-01-03T14:43:00.000-05:00

Yes, I've been a total blog slacker. For a couple months our weekends were full of bathroom renos, then who knows what, Flu, Thanksgiving, then a few weekends in Orlando for mini-vacations and then Christmas and New Years and here we are.

Our guest bath was finished just before Thanksgiving which was at our house again this year. There are still a few open items like window covering (which I'm waiting to find exactly what I want since the glass is frosted and opens to the patio so privacy isn't an issue), tissue holder, trash can and a couple extra towel knobs. We were successful in our first tiling project. We called in the professionals when we started on the shower walls, but that was just our neighbor for a consult. He drew some lines and we were good to go. Cutting the holes for the water lines was a pain in the butt. So worth the $20 diamond crusted drill bit. Grouting - easy. Sealing - easy. Drywall and backer board - easy. Knockdown spray texture was terrible for me. It didn't affect DH's eyes at all, but mine were watering so much I couldn't see straight. I ended up putting on a mask and my snorkel goggles and that helped. DH did the electrical and our plumber friend did the moving of the pipes, install of the tub and final hookups. We are VERY happy with how it turned out.

Here are the reno highlights. I'll do a final reveal on the next blog. Along with a before and after.

Installed by DH - new from Lowe's Harbor Breeze Brushed Nickel fan with light (and bonus night light feature!)

Tub in. We went with the Kohler Archer tub with brushed nickel hardware. Drywall and Hardibacker board up.

Rufus the site supervisor. This was during the terrible texture spraying. We did a light coat on 1 wall and let it set. Rufus wasn't allowed in until the smell/eye watering chemical went away. Yes, he's always that jolly.

And the hole that finally cut nicely. We went through about 5 tiles before I went back to Home Depot to get the diamond drill bit.

Guest bathroom reno - the big items

2009-09-11T18:40:00.002-04:00

After seeing the bathroom completely bare, it's nice to do some screen shopping and pick out what's going to go into that nice, spa-like bathroom.

The biggest piece that's on order is the tub.

I wanted a deep soaking tub that would fit in the 5 ft. space without breaking open any extra walls. There were a couple less expensive options, but they had poor reviews, mostly about cracking within a year of install. Some were probably not properly installed with the required support, but still, I wanted a good, quality tub. Kohler has always been a trusted name, and although we didn't go with a Kohler toilet, we knew they produced great quality products at affordable prices. Plus they've got great customer service. After pages and pages of tubs, I decided on this one, the Kohler Archer K-1123-LA-0. It's a 19 inch deep tub and with the low stepover height and the unique overflo drain, you can get a full 19 inch soak with minimal water drainage. Not to mention the armrests and lumbar support. The tub will be delivered by Home Depot next week! The drain was a separate purchase. Little on the pricey side for hardware, but hopefully worth it! I went with the brushed chrome finish. Most of our home is brushed nickel, but Kohler's brushed nickel looked more brown-yellow than what I like. Brushed chrome is more like stainless steel. I'm looking forward to soaking in this one!

We've got a small nook in the guest bath due to the linen closet and the guest bedroom closet. It's a space that's 11 inches deep and about 30 inches wide. We found this great piece that fits perfectly! Lancaster Floor Cabinet - Espresso, BBB. Since we're changing the vanity size from 42 inches to 46 inches and adding this across from it, we won't be losing any valuable storage space. I love the glass door too. It's a surprisingly sturdy piece for the price. DH said it was pretty easy to put together.

We looked all around for a new vanity, but couldn't find one we liked for a reasonable price. We had already found out our vanity was 2 pieces and made of solid wood, so we decided to try a DIY craft project - staining. So far, we've done 3 coats of Minwax Polyshades One Step Stain & Polyurethane in Bombay Mahogany. It's just brush it on, wait to dry, lightly sand and repeat. Pretty simple, time consuming, but since we're saving the vanity, we'll have some extra wiggle room in the budget. I've still got to make the final decision on the tile, but I'm pretty sure we're going with this granite vanity top for our freshly stained vanity, Home Depot's Pegasus 37 In. Beige Granite Vanity Top With White Bowl. We're also looking at Lowe's Style Selections 37"W x 22"D Desert Gold Granite Vanity Top and will make the final decision after the tile is chosen. They're both pretty much the same - it'll probably come down to price and which one is in stock. Please don't look at the Lowe's choice, that pic on their website is terrible.

Planning on putting the vanity together Sunday. Look for some before and after pics soon.

Guest bathroom reno - demo!

2009-09-08T19:14:00.000-04:00

I'm sure you've been wondering what we've been up to as far as home DIY projects. Well, DH had off from work on Friday and this is what I came home to.

DH had a lot of demo time that day. Saturday morning, we finished the demo. Yes, even the ceiling came out. DH was cutting the tape around the edge and since we were going to scrape the popcorn ceiling off, move the light and add a vent, we just decided to tear it down and start the whole thing from scratch.

In case you didn't catch our before, here it is in it's dated glory.

The only things that are staying are the toilet which is new anyway and hopefully part of the vanity which I've been trying to stain to match an espresso piece that's going in there. The mirror will go in our master bath for now.

Next blog I'll show you the new soaking tub that's on order along with some of the new pieces and colors! Untill then, here's why you should wear eye and nose/mouth protection while doing demo - DUST everywhere!

New layout

2009-08-31T21:18:00.002-04:00

August is just about gone and it's time for a fall-inspired layout. Bring on the cooler weather!

I'll get around to changing out the title bar pics from Hawaii and the Bahamas this weekend hopefully. Enjoy Rufus' end of summer haircut. Excuse the quality, that's what you get with camera phones!

Before - big baby bear

And after - Afro!

Grandmom's birthday!

2009-08-13T22:00:00.000-04:00

Today was my Grandma's 84th birthday. She is so sweet. We went over after work and had pizza from Pizza Hut and my mom made her fresh pineapple upside down cake. With the Alzheimer's, my grandma could have celebrated her birthday any day, but any day she's excited when people come over and visit her. We got her flowers and a card and she kept reading the card over and over again, enjoying it every time. Have you seen that Bill Murray movie Groundhog Day? I've found out that with beginning Alzheimer's, it's not so much the person affected that suffers, it's the people around them that worry about it. She's just as happy as can be every day, every thing is new and special. And she can't remember the struggles or pains. We also brought her a recent photo of me, DH and Rufus - she kept going over it naming each person. Rufus of course was with us at the celebration. She just loves him! She asks what his name is often and I tell her to think about it, she knows him. After a short pause, with her hands in fists beside her like she's about to ski down a slope, she says with energy, "RUFUS". Like she's won the prize. I just love her!

We had already lit the candles on the whole cake and sang Happy Birthday. If you know my grandma, you know she wanted a second piece! We lit the candle again and sang again. I think we sang Happy Birthday about 8 times that night. There's a few more photos from the night over at flickr.

Weekend recap - dinner and movies

2009-08-11T17:45:00.007-04:00

Friday we watched Gran Torino. This movie had great reviews and acclaim from critics, which from my experience, when critics like a movie and it gets a lot of awards, I usually don't like it. I'm usually watching a movie for entertainment, not life lessons or learning. Gran Torino did have life lessons and while I thought it was ok for the most part, we didn't like the ending.

Saturday we had dinner plans at Angell and Phelps Cafe. Most have heard about Angell and Phelps chocolate, which is divine, but not too many know about their restaurant. We had been there before for lunch and enjoyed it, but had a $25 restaurant.com gift cert to use so that's why we decided to try it out for dinner.Most of you that know me, know I usually don't comment on our dining experiences unless they're really good or really bad. We got there around 6pm. Got front row parking (there was only 1 other table of people in the place). Ok, it's early I thought. They sat us at a 2 seater table right next to the entrance. Neither of us like being stared at, which is usually what happens when someone walks in the door and there's a table right there, so we asked to move. The server was hesitant about it for a sec, but moved us anywhere we wanted. We just moved 1 table over, but it was a 4 seater. Maybe they wanted to be prepared for the big rush. Joking.

The menu on Restaurant.com and restaurant's website were much different than at the actual restaurant menu. I asked if we had pages missing (as there were actually blank pages through the menu), the waitress said many people make that comment to her, but no, that was what they offered. She asked if there was something particular I had seen on their website and she said they should be able to make it if I wanted, but I couldn't remember exactly what was on that menu, so we stuck with what was on the menu in front of us. There were only 6 entrees on actual menu: filet, salmon, chicken picatta, catch of the day, greek stuffed chicken, crab cakes, plus 1 special and a few sandwich options. Website had 15 entrees plus sandwiches (yes, I counted). Soup or salad with the meal were $2-$3 additional. The websites said salad or soup were included with meal. Usually I don't mind paying extra if I want a salad, but it's the point that we chose to go here based on their menu and gift cert offering ad on restaurant.com and their website. We both thought the waitress did not seem to be interested in being there. I would have probably been a little cranky had I been working and it was that slow. Maybe she had things going on, I understand, no judgement there.

Looking past all the initial issues, maybe the food is soo good they just need a few items and maybe people eat later than 6pm. No, the food was just not good, mine tasted like frozen prepared food (I had greek chicken and DH had catch of the day, mahi mahi). The fish was overcooked, rice tasted like instant Uncle Ben's, and my mashed potatoes were pasty. (yes, maybe I've been watching too many cooking shows, I do pick up on pasty potatoes - means they were either over cooked or over worked).

I usually don't complain, but this was not even worth staying for. Definitely not worth the price. Music (recorded, playing on a speaker right above our head) was loud, even though there were only 2 other tables when we got there, and I usually don't mind the music at restaurants. I do not want to be one of those people that gets annoyed at the music level in a restaurant, maybe I just noticed it because everything else was so not good, I was trying to think of a positive. The only high point was the chocolate that came with the bill. It was delicious cream mint. I love Angell and Phelps chocolate, as overpriced as it may be. 1 or 2 pieces just work for me. While we're on positive notes, the bread before the meal was ok also. At the end, we had no problems using Restaurant.com certificate, but we will not eat at Angell and Phelps again.

We've still got credit for restaurant.com, so we're going to try 2 other places. Hopefully that goes better.

On to better things - saw Julie and Julia with some friends Saturday night - Loved it! Didn't love paying $9.50 for 1 person for 1 movie (plus $4 something for a SMALL cherry coke), but oh well. Theatre movies cannot be fully enjoyed for me without a cherry coke. Brings me back to my childhood. Let me tell you that when we got to the movie, it was packed. We turned the corner to look at the statium seating for 4 seats and we saw a sea of gray. I really think we were the youngest people in there! I'm thinking most of those people watched Julia Child on tv, so were seeing the movie because of her. The girls I went with on the other hand, were not familiar with Julia Child at all. I guess the movie did a great job at bringing different ages together to enjoy a wonderful light-hearted movie. The previews were not light-hearted at all - they were about a serial killer (The Lovely Bones, which is also a novel), a crazy step dad (The Stepfather) and some other similarly creepy storyline. I probably won't be seeing those, but what I will be seeing again is Julie and Julia. But with the price of movie tickets, I'll likely wait for the rental. Until then, I've added the book to my list.

Doggy treat recipes from Rufus' 3rd birthday

2009-07-29T20:16:00.001-04:00

On July 26th Rufus turned 3. I still can't believe it! Of course we had a birthday party :) We technically can celebrate his birthday on both the 25th and 26th because of the time he was born (if you missed that story, check it out here).

This year's theme was Hawaiian island. We had all sorts of leis and luau food for the people including DH's special smoked pulled pork, a tropical chicken salad and pineapple upside down cupcakes for the people. Everyone loved it all. We ended up with 20 people and about 15 dogs. Of course I didn't get any photos of the treats, I barely got to taste any of the food! Will work on that for the next party. Photos from the party will be up soon!

With the price of store bought treats and the questioning of ingredients, I love to bake treats for Rufus at home. We used to have a great doggy bakery in town, where we got his 1st bday cake, but they've since moved. For Ruf's birthday this year, we had a nice array of easy treats. I love easy treat recipes, ones with all natural ingredients that can be found in most pantries. And I wouldn't give my dog anything to eat that I wouldn't eat (or at least try) myself.
I've had a lot of requests for this 1st recipe. It's from a dog cookbook titled 'Cooking the Three Dog Bakery Way' by Mark Beckloff and Dan Dye which was actually a gift from my aunt for Ruf's 2nd birthday.
Here's a photo my MIL took while we were singing Happy Birthday to Ruf with the candle on his pupcake

It says it makes (2) 8 inch cakes, but I made cupcakes (or pupcakes) and it made about 12 total. (I made 2 batches, recipe below is for 12 pupcakes or 2 8 inch cakes)

PAWSHAKE CAKE
(2) cups whole wheat flour
(2) teaspoons baking powder
(1/2) cup honey
(1/3) cup unsalted peanut butter (I used chunky)
(1) large egg
(1) cup skim milk
(1/4) cup chopped unsalted peanuts

Preheat oven to 350 deg F.
Spray baking pans with nonstick vegetable spray and dust with flour (or insert cupcake liners).
Stir together flour and baking powder and set aside.
In large bowl, cream together the honey and peanut butter with an electric mixer or wooden spoon.
Beat in the egg and milk.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until smooth.
Pour the batter in the cake or cup cake pans (about 1/3 way full if making cup cakes).
Sprinkle the top with peanuts.
Bake 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the top comes out clean.Cook to room temperature.
Store in airtight container for up to 3 days, or wrap well and freeze for up to 2 months (thaw before serving).

Can be frosted with this frosting (we skipped it for the party, may be too messy for 20 or so dogs at once!)
(1) 8 oz. package low-fat cream cheese, softened
(3) tablespoons carob powder (usually found at health food stores)
(1) tablespoon pure vanilla extract
Combine all ingredients and beat until smooth.

Another great and easy treat we had was dehydrated sweet potatoes. You can make them in a dehydrator, but I've found it easier to make in the oven. Preheat oven to 250 deg F. Wash and peel sweet potatoes, microwave for a minute or two to soften, slice approx. 1/4-1/3 inch thick slices, arrange single layer on cookie sheet, bake for about 2-3 hours, or a little longer for crunchier treats, checking often to make sure they're not burning.

We also had these two types of treats which came from this website. I loved that I could just throw everything together in my Kitchenaid mixer!

Chunky Peanut Butter Molasses Cookies
4 cups whole wheat flour2 cups oatmeal
½ - ¾ cup chunky peanut butter
2½ cups hot water2 Tbs molasses
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350° F (180° C).
Mix all ingredients together, adding more hot water if dough is too sticky. Knead well. Roll out to ¼" and cut into shapes with cookie cutter (I used a dog bone shaped cutter, may want to roll out a little thicker than 1/4 inch so they bake up a little thicker, some of our thin ones burnt). Bake on greased cookie sheet for 40 minutes (or until lightly browned). Turn off heat and let cool in oven overnight (we skipped this too, baked them the day of the party, they cooled for 6 or so hours on racks).

Savory Peanut Butter Biscuits with Cheese
1 cup flour
½ cup milk
2 Tbs peanut butter
2 Tbs grated parmesan cheese
1 tsp baking powder (I forgot to add this and they came out like discs, but everyone still loved them!)
1 egg white
1 Tbs chicken broth
Directions: Preheat oven to 350° F (180° C). Mix flour and milk until lumpy. Add Peanut butter and chicken broth. Mix parmesan cheese with first four ingredients. Add egg white. Mix well or until it has the consistency of pancake batter. Add baking powder. Pour onto cookie sheet sprayed with nonstick spray, in 3-inch diameter blobs. Cook until golden brown. Serve cool.

More treat recipes to come in future posts. For now, happy baking!

Take your dog to work Day!

2009-06-26T18:30:00.001-04:00

Today was 'Take your dog to work day' here in the US (or maybe international?). Rufus loves his daily nap time at home while I'm at work, so he went in with me after work until 5. He naps a little while at work, but always has to be supervising and knowing everything that's going on. Here are a couple examples

First, napping. This is the view I saw if I looked under my desk (I had to crouch under to take this pic)

Next - the supervisor

Business trip

2009-06-24T18:00:00.001-04:00

DH is out exploring the world, well the west coast at least. He's been in Colorado Springs, Seattle now and will end up in St. Louis, MO.

This is the view from his hotel room in Colorado Springs. The mountian with the snow is Pike's Peak
This is a view of downtown Seattle from atop the Space Needle - I think he was 520 ft. up here.
It was a beautiful clear day - not to common in Seattle.
Mt. Rainier in the distance covered in snow. It's an active stratovolcano in the Cascade Mtn range.Another shot of the skyline - I love skyline photos.

Next up is St. Louis and the Gateway Arch
As always, more photos are available on my flickr site

Tonight's girls night at my house - chick flicks, playing puppies, popcorn, and homemade pizza!

Ready for the weekend!

2009-06-12T17:42:00.001-04:00

My original goal was daily blogs M-Th, but since I haven't really been active since, gosh, March, my new goal is weekly blogs. I think I can handle that. Today's a short one though.

Cubs game tonight! Enjoy some photos from our last game. We won't see fireworks tonight, since that's a Saturday night special. Tonight's promo is Geovany Soto Bobblehead Giveaway (1,000): Presented by Daniel Legal & Fantastic Fridays, Ladies Night & Kids run the bases post game.

Off to the game! Have a great weekend :)

60 years

2009-04-23T21:30:00.001-04:00

I know it's been forever since my last post, but today is a special day - it's my grandparent's 60th wedding anniversary. I talked to my grandma today and she said she picked the right one. Then she always follows that up with 'and they said it wouldn't last'. She's French Canadian and he's Italian. They met on a blind date for New Year's Eve, Dec. 1948. My grandpa was 21 and fresh out of the Navy I think. He was home reconnecting with old friends and a buddy of his and invited him out for the night on a double date.

I'm not too sure if this next story is from their first date, but I think it is - he went to pick my grandma up, he mom answered the door and he saw my grandma in curlers. She said she'd be ready soon and he said he needed to go for a walk for some air. My grandma thought he wouldn't come back. He had grown up with many sisters, so seeing a girl in curlers was not a favorite site. Thankfully, he came back and they had a great time out. They were married 4 months later on April 23, 1949. I'm sure they've had their share of issues over the years, but like my grandma always says, 'it's teamwork' that holds everything together.

I always find it kind of interesting that DH and I met in a similar way. He was fresh out of the Marines, home reconnecting with friends. I was taking a semester off of college and agreed to go out on a blind date (DH still swears he didn't know it was a date). The first real test was that we went out to a steakhouse for dinner. I don't eat steak, but he LOVES it. And we still liked each other after that :) We're on our way to 60 years + together. Hard to believe our 4 year anniversary is coming up in August.

Here are my grandparents enjoying the beach out on 'the boat' on April 4.

Weekend recap 1

2009-03-30T19:00:00.000-04:00

Friday DH and I stayed in and relaxed. We had Tijuana Flats for dinner, stopped by Andy's for the newest beer release and rented Transporter 3 from Redbox. Most times I prefer Tijuana Flats over Moe's, mostly due to their seasoned chicken and hot sauce selection, even though Moe's is more convenient to our house. I had a chicken quesadilla and DH had a beef hard taco and a steak soft taco. Of course we also had queso and churros. I love their churros! I love their variety of hot sauces, usually more than 10 on the bar, and they change them out frequently. They also sell a million types of hot sauces in case you fall in love with one. Against Andy's suggestion, we tried out the new Sam Adams this weekend. Don't get me wrong, Andy has great taste and has never steered us wrong, and he loves Sam Adams, but he does not like fruited beers (exception, orange slice in his Blue Moon). Sam Adams Blackberry Witbier was voted the 2008 Samuel Adams Beer Lover's Choice winner and was just released January 2009. It was just ok, not too fruity, but bold like most Sam Adams. It actually smelled better than it tasted. A traditional witbier with orange peel and coriander, with an added hint of blackberry. We also tried Shock Top. We usually like to go with micro-breweries, but I've wanted to try Shock Top for a while. Glad I got over that one. It's ok, pretty thick for a light beer, but tasted similar to Michelob's other offerings. Not too good.We've ended our Blockbuster through the mail subscription. It was about $16/month and we would only watch a movie or 2 on the weekend. Now that Blockbuster has changed it's rental rates to $2/day and Redbox has come to our area, we just didn't see where we got $16 worth of movies per month. We rented from Redbox and it was easy, and just $1.07! It would be a little more convenient if the Redbox kiosk was somewhere other than Walmart, maybe McDonalds or Walgreens as in other cities (the photo above is from a McDonalds), but can't beat $1/night for a new movie!
Transporter 3 was ok - typical Jasan Statham, action packed. Saturday night we rented the newest James Bond (#22!), Quantum of Solace. I still don't know what that title had to do with the movie. They said Quantam 1x, referring to some organization, but I don't understand fully what it was. Oh well. That was a typical James Bond/Daniel Craig movie, but too choppy on the editing for the action sequences.

Saturday was cleanup at G-mom and Poppop's. We cleaned their bathrooms and cleaned out the furniture in 2 of the upstairs apartments to get it ready to get estimates for repair and reno work. The weather cooperated and it was a nice day. This guy below greeted my dad and I when we left around 3pm.

Robellini plant bed

2009-03-26T18:00:00.009-04:00

Here's what I started with Saturday morning, a clean slate. DH was called into work, so I went out to the nursery

And picked up a few plants - here's a large agapanthus (lily of the nile), 2 smaller agapanthus, and 3 aztec grass to start. Oh, and there's 2 small golden dew in the back. They're ok in shade and get pretty big, so I didn't want them to hide the others in the front.
Then I went to Lowes and Home Depot. Lowe's had flax lily and society garlic 3 for $10 - a 1 gal flax lily was $7 at our local nursery and society garlic was about $4 there too. So, I picked up 3 flax lily and 2 society garlic. I also wanted some form of yucca that could take the sun for the right corner. I found this at Target for $10 - good deal! It's a 3 cane yucca, resistant to 0 deg F, likes full sun and can do good on frequent waterings.
So far, this is what we've got - I counted, I planted about 21 plants this weekend! We went with yucca cane on the right corner, agapanthus, aztec grass, society garlic, flax lily, golden dew and canna - but many many of each.

Last addition to come soon will be a Mandevilla (formerly Dipladenia). There are many different colors - white ‘Summer Snow’, yellow, pink, red. For now, I'm set on 'Sun Parasol Crimson' aka Red Riding Hood, because I've heard that is most resistant to bugs. I'm going to try to train to climb the small part of the fence shown at the left, it's about 6ft high and 3 ft wide before the swing gate. It's a flowering vine, sometimes called Brazilian Jasmine that is great trellised in containers or in hanging baskets. This will be the only plant out front that's not rated to withstand freezing weather.

But I also like the other colors. The pink may go better with our lavander azaleas. We'll see.

Alzheimer’s

2009-03-25T20:00:00.000-04:00

My grandma's been exhibiting signs of Alzheimer’s for the past few years. For about the past year, she's been forgetting more and more. It seems to be all short term memory loss. Everything from years ago is still there, and it just seems like yesterday to her. She still knows all of us, but occasionally forgets some big recent events, like my wedding nearly 4 years ago at her house, or that one of my cousins is in Japan, and has been overseas for a couple years now. It's sad, but she's still her cheerful self, so we can be thankful for that.
It makes me laugh when she denies something happened, or doesn't believe us when we tell her. For instance, she'll eat a banana and then a few minutes later go to eat another, and we'll tell her she just had one and most times, if she's forgot, she'll say Noooooo. And it's funny - we ask, "why would we lie to you about eating a banana?! It's ok!" She and my grandpa are still living in their house for the time being. My dad and aunt make food trays (fresh) for them and do their laundry, but try to let them be on their own as much as they can - they've always been very a independent couple.
Sunday was my grandpa's 82nd birthday, so I went over to hang out with them. I brought groceries over (plenty of bananas) and a sugar-free pumpkin pie for the birthday cake. My grandma made the comment that we have to be sure to bring the bananas when they leave to go home. I asked her where she was now, and she said not home. I had her look out to the ocean and told her this was her home, and it had been her home since they moved in almost 50 years ago (their 60th wedding anniversary is next month!). She acted like she remembered, but I don't know for how long. I miss her. She's still here, and she's still happy, but it's so different.
Monday my grandpa called us at work to say he didn't know where my grandma was. He took a nap around 1pm, awoke about an hour later and she wasn't there. We figured she had gone for a walk on the beach, but nearly 3 hours had passed. We finally called the police, told her about her alzheimers and they sent a patrol out to find her. She was on the beach, about 3 miles south of home, just walking like normal. She had a plastic shovel for sand in her pocket, no doubt something she found on the beach and wanted to bring home so the 'kids' could play with it. They used to have nice families come down for the summers and she loved playing with their kids in the sand. Kids haven't been down for over 5 years now, they've all grown up or have changed vacation spots to somewhere more kid friendly. Anyway, the officer asked if she was Cecile, and she said yes, they brought her home. She said she was on her way back, but the officers said she was walking in the wrong direction. Of course she was friendly with the officers, inviting them to come stay with her at the beach. A few minutes later, she forgot she had been brought home. She said she walked home after a nice walk on the beach.

We've got to get some type of ID for her. The medical bracelets are big and bulky, and there's no question she'd take it off. I checked the local pharmacies, that's the only type they have. The local hospital isn't allowed to give out their ID wristbands, but we may have found some online. It's the plastic type that you can have info printed on and it's hard to take off.

I was glad to hear the President talk about funding research for Parkinson's and Alzheimer's in last night's address - 2 diseases that affect my grandparents. Every 70 seconds, someone in the United States develops Alzheimer's disease, according to a report Tuesday from the Alzheimer's Association that estimates 5.1 million Americans over 65 now have the disease and says the number is creeping higher year after year, according to the Chicago Sun Times. Scientists are still trying to determine what causes it, but they do know it is characterized by a build-up of proteins in the brain. Scientists are still studying how plaques and tangles are related to Alzheimer’s disease. One theory is that they block nerve cells’ ability to communicate with each other, making it difficult for the cells to survive.

Evidence is also mounting for the promotion of exercise and a healthy diet to reduce Alzheimer’s risk. Avoiding tobacco, limiting alcohol consumption, staying socially active, and engaging in intellectually stimulating activities have also been shown to have a protective effect against Alzheimer’s disease.

Cherish every minute you have with your loved ones.

Dentist :(

2009-03-23T18:00:00.000-04:00

It was an eventful weekend, but I'll fill you in on that tomorrow.

Today I took my mom to the dentist to get a tooth pulled - not a pleasant experience. Take care of your teeth people! 5 needles going into your gums is not a fun thing. Do you think the experience would be any better if your dentist looked like this?

And this looks like a fun toy if you want your kid to be a dentist...the dentist my mom goes to is holistic and uses ceramic or porcelain to fill instead of mercury-contained fillings. Good idea I think, blends in more and is more natural for your body.

Zak and the SPCR spoo group

2009-03-18T21:00:00.006-04:00

For those of you that don't know, I'm an active member of an online poodle flickr photo group. No, I'm in no way a professional photographer, but there are professionals in the group - all 578 members just share an interest in standard poodles. In the nearly 3 years I've been a part of the group, I've seen selfless acts by members, reaching out to help people they've never met in person, some in other countries even. When someone's poodle, or spoo as they're often called, is in trouble - sick, missing, or lost, the group comes together helping any way they can, sometimes with encouraging words or even monetary gifts. When a spoo has a great achievement, like winning in a show or simply a good day of potty training, the group comes together to share in the joy. I've been honored to be involved during many of these ups and downs.
We've even had poodle meetups and met people through the group. DH and I drove about 2 hours one way while we were in CA to meet Jeff and Tracy of the group and their many spoos. They had also visited my MIL here in FL last year. Next month, we'll have our annual poodle-palloza as DH likes to call it, where spoos (and their people) will come to visit for a full day of fun with poodles! Last year, they came from everywhere: FL's panhandle, FL's west coast, and even Canada and Illinois! This photo above is from last year's meetup. It was taken late in the day after some people had already left - 11 spoos just in that pic!

The most recent show of support from our poodle group involved a spoo named Zak (that's a photo of him up there). He's a 4 year old champion show dog that was away for a ski weekend near Alpental Ski Area in Washington State with his human. She came back after a day of skiing on Saturday to discover the cabin door open and all 3 dogs missing. 2 of the dogs were found later that day, but Zak was still missing. Our group suggested to get the local news to do a human interest story on Zak for exposure. After 24 hours of searching, Zak had only been spotted 1 time in the backcountry. Everyone was worried about him because there had been 3 feet of snow since Saturday and his current show cut (bare butt!). We posted all across the web, in many spoo groups and also groups around the area he was last seen. They had helicopters out looking for him. Rescue/Avalanche dogs were available but the weather was so bad it was not safe for them to go out.

Finally, Tuesday afternoon, 2 backcountry skiers who had heard about the missing dog on KING 5 News, heard a barking in the distance. Gabe Newton and friend Matt Glaser searched for 1.5 hours and finally came across Zak in a makeshift den in a deep ravine, miles away from where he went missing. He was cold, but followed the guys to a pass where he was reunited with his person. MSNBC and CNN even got in to report on the good news. (photos from the news story)

He's doing well, slight irritation near his wrists where he was probably tried to gnaw away forming snowballs on his fur. He's eating and drinking fine. After a vet check, no frostbite, no wounds, he is hydrated, lost some weight but he is basically OK. Ever since he's been back, he's been a constant shadow to his people. So glad it turned out to be a happy ending! Look for the news story on Inside Edition, a TV News/Entertainment Magazine maybe early next week!

Happy St. Patty's Day!

2009-03-17T18:00:00.001-04:00

Today is St. Patrick's Day and yes, I'm wearing green! I've had corned beef and cabbage cooking all day in the crockpot and we may even go out for a green beer. I'm not even a hint of Irish, but I think DH is a little, so for tradition's sake, we're Irish for the day.

In other green news, we picked up and planted our 4 trunk robellini this weekend. It looks great! I've been having to hand water the azaleas due to the recent heat and drought, and they're looking good too. We had some rain last night, but don't expect any more for at least another week, so more hand watering until they're established. What do you think? And notice the new fence on that side of the house. We're extending it to be flush with the house
Sunday night was the last night launch for the shuttle. It was perfect - so clear we could see everything. Here is Discovery on it's way to space around 7:30pm. The reflection of the sun setting made the smoke look like a rainbow. More photos as viewed from our front lawn on flickr

Weekend recap - Gatornationals!

2009-03-16T22:00:00.001-04:00

Friday DH and I went up to Gainesville Raceway for the 2009 NHRA Gatornationals. We left Port Orange around 8am, took I-95 to Bunnell and after 2 wrong turns and just over 2 hours, we were there. The day was perfect - perfect weather, not too big of a crowd, great day of racing. We had never been to a professional drag racing event, but we came prepared and I'm so glad we did! They generate 120 dB of noise (I've even seen 1 report say 170 dB) enough to cause some peoples' eardrums physical pain, and equivalent to a Boeing 747 jet airliner at take-off power. Here we are with our earmuffs :) A Top Fuel dragster accelerates from 0 to 100 mph (160 km/h) in as little as .8 seconds. The cars can reach up to 325 mph in a quarter mile. And that's just Top Fuel dragsters. We also saw funny car, pro-stock, motorcycles, pro-mod, top alcohol dragster and funnycar and a few others. Here's top fuel dragsters Antron Brown (blue) and Brandon Bernstein (red). Antron was leading the points on Friday when we were there.

And no drag racing event is complete without funny man (and funny car driver/owner) John Force. First, John racing next to Tony Pedregon (Quaker State). And after is John hanging out watching his other cars race (red and gold firesuit and black hat). One of his daughters, Ashley Force Hood, also races in the NHRA.We mostly stayed in the stands for the races but checked out the pit area afterward. We saw Antron Brown and Doug Kalitta hanging out near their pits. Here's Doug's top fuel dragster getting loaded into the truck.

After a long day at the track, we headed over to our room at the Sleep Inn and were happily surprised with a jet tub in our room. We ordered pizza from Pizza Vito and stayed in. The pizza was just ok, their garlic knots were delish though! Next time, if we've got more energy, we've got to try a highly recommended place Satchels Pizza.

For more photos of our day in Gainesville, check out my flickr site

Belated blogging

2009-03-12T17:30:00.000-04:00

First things first, today is my Aunt Joyce's birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

I know, I've been MIA in blogger world for the last couple of days. To tell you the truth, the weather's been so beautiful and since it doesn't get dark until around 8pm now, DH, Rufus and I have been living outdoors everyday after work until we absolutely have to come inside. We've been playing in the garden, planting plants, going on walks, and last night DH was teaching me how to golf. Real golf, not putt-putt!

Thankfully he set me up to practice with a pitching wedge on a part of the grass that has been affected by bugs, so there's not much grass to start out with there - and after I was done, it was like I used a tiller! I would either swing 6 or so inches ABOVE the ball or dig the club into the ground sending dirt everywhere. Rufus enjoyed that - typical boy, loves the dirt. After several complete misses, I started to get the hang of it and actually hit about 3 or 4 good shots. Oh, that reminds me, I have to go into the neighbors yard and get one of our golf balls. (DH hit that one - I was learning with little wiffle-like balls, so they wouldn't go very far even if I did make contact.

DH and I have tickets to the Gatornationals for tomorrow and since we're leaving early tomorrow morning and staying over in Gainesville Friday night, Rufus gets to stay over at grandma's for 2 nights. I mentioned it to him last night, he does know the word 'Grandma', but I made sure to tell him, 'not right now'. I don't think he has a sense of time, but he knows what that means. I know he's going to have a blast!

This is our front yard. The first photo shows the ixora that didn't survive the cold, once again. This plant is beautiful when flowering, but it's not cold hardy enough for our area. So, we went out to the nursery this weekend and got some azalea plants. So far they're doing great. Eventually, they'll bloom to look like the second photo below.
I'd like to start a notebook where I keep all the detail info on all the different plants we have in our yard so that I can remember their scientific names and also remember their likes and dislikes and other data. So, this is what I've compiled for the species of azalea we have in our front yard now, Azalea, Formosa Lavender.
Full name: Rhododendron simsii 'Formosa Lavender' - Azalea: Formosa Lavender Southern Indian Azalea
Size: 6' - 8' tall, 6' - 8' wide (can reach 15 ft in height), slow grower
Bloom: 4" Pinkish Lavender, in Early May - Formosa is a twice-a-year bloomer!
Leaf: Green

Natural attraction: butterflies
Light and soil: Full Sun or Shade, Acid and humus rich Soil, Blooms on Last Years Growth

Notes:

- Water regularly until established and during dry spells for best performance. Maintain a mulch layer year round to conserve moisture and limit pesky weeds. Prune after flowering to maintain desired shape and height.
- This is considered to be an old-fashioned heirloom plant which endures popularity amongst gardeners. Minimal care and it withstand drought, heat and cold (hardy to 10 degrees F).
- The 3 inch blooms of the shrub often completely cover up the leaves showing off its beautiful lavender color. Lavender blooms that turn deep pink or magenta hue during the fall, depending on where you live.

I'd like to try pairing with Autumn Royalty Encore Azalea, Azalea x 'Conlec', the Azalea that blooms up to 9 months a year, but we'll see how these hold up for a while.

Weekend recap

2009-03-09T19:30:00.002-04:00

Quick post today - I love that it's lighter later now - DH and I just got back in from gardening. Pics and details on that later, let's get you caught up on some of this past weekend.

Friday night was pretty quiet. I think we watched some race on TV, which means I went to bed early :)
Saturday early morning DH and I went and picked up my MIL and one of her pups Clancy and went down to the ribbon cutting ceremony for the New Smyrna Beach boardwalk. The event was sponsored by Southeast Volusia County Humane Society, Friends of Smyrna Dunes Park, the Obedience Club, Chris' Critter Sitters , and others. This officially opened the boardwalk back up to dogs (leashed dogs that is). Aside from the ribbon cutting, there were demonstrations of obedience and pet first aid. DH and I are interested in the 6-8 hour Pet Tech First Aid class - it covers a lot of good information.

I'll fill you in on the rest of the weekend tomorrow. For now, enjoy some pics from Saturday morning - as you can see, the weather was perfect. And make sure to check out flickr for more pics (and a couple videos) from the day.

Boardwalk ribbon cutting ceremony

The pretty (and long!) boardwalk

My 2 boys - DH + Rufus (in the background is Disappearing Island where DH proposed to me!)
And everyone enjoyed the water, here's Beans and Clancy
Yes, I said everyone - even Rufus!

AmCon show

2009-03-05T19:00:00.000-05:00

Today my Aunt and I went over to Orlando to check out the AmCon show, a contact manufacturing trade show. So first we took lovely I-4 through Orlando and arrived at the HUGE Orange County Convention Center. It actually took us longer to drive there and walk from parking to the hall than we were actually at the show. There were maybe 100 exhibitors, most from around Florida. Being a job shop show, there were plenty of machine shops, both milling operations and stamping and forming to plastics and gasket mfgs, software and enclosures - a good mix of industries offering prototypes to production parts.

After the show, we stopped at Sweet Tomatoes for lunch. Discovered a new location on Kirkman and I-drive. Maybe not new new, but new to me! It was delicious as always! This month's special was another comfort food favorite, grilled cheese and tomato soup, but with a Sweet Tomatoe's twist - the BEST creamy tomato soup I've ever had paired with an interesting idea, grilled cheese focaccia. Interesting, but good. If you've ever been to a Sweet Tomatoes or Soup Plantation, you know everything is always good. I managed to remember to take a pic of my plate after taking a few bites. First, notice the 'I'll be Ripe back' note, cute idea to let the server know you've gone for seconds (or thirds) and will be coming back. The flip side says 'See You Next Thyme' - cute, huh? This is my nice big salad with some of the bread options and a really tasty new drink, pomegranate green tea. I was hesitant to get anything other than my beloved strawberry lemonade, but it sounded good and it was. In addition to everything seen here, I also tasted the french onion soup, creamy tomato soup, tomatoe basil penne, andouille sausage penne, mac and cheese, sourdough bread and topped it all off with red grapes and a little chocolate fro-yo with heath bar, peanut and caramel topping. Gosh, when I write it all down, it's no wonder I'm still feeling full! I wish there was a Sweet Tomatoe's closer than Altamonte, which is a 45-60 minute drive away. Oh well, it's something to look forward to when we go to Orlando.

2009-03-03T18:30:00.000-05:00

We ended up having chicken curry last night, equally as warm and spicy as the shrimp would have been, but my mom made this and who couldn't resist a meal made by someone else! This photo is actually from another blogger Sarah where we got the recipe from, her food photos are always so pretty. Good job on this recipe Sarah, my mom's made this several times now and we love it every time! Check out Sarah's site for great ideas and wonderful photos of her experiences in the kitchen.

So it's shrimp tonight. What I really have a taste for is rock shrimp. But today we're just having plain shrimp. Maybe with that cajun seasoning. I just found out Aunt Catfish's here in town has rock shrimp on their menu, so we may need to try that soon. The other 2 places I knew about are further away, JB's Fishcamp and Dixie Crossroads. If you like seafood and haven't tried rock shrimp, you must get in your car now and drive to Dixie Crossroads. Do it now. These little shrimp are SO delicious. You can have them cooked several ways, my fave is broiled or steamed. They taste like lobster, but better in my opinion. Check out this site to read the below photo more clearly http://seafoodatlantic.net/products.html

In other news - I'm on the search for a salt jar. If you ever watch the Food Network, you see most chefs have salt on their table in a little jar. One - I'd like to know what type of salt that is, it seems pretty course, but not as course as kosher salt, and Two - I want a countertop salt jar! Not that I use salt much at all, but it's cuter than the salt container from the grocery. I've seen a few I like, but I'm picky. The Neeley's on Food Network have a pig jar which is cute, but not for me. Paula Deen has a simple dish which is cute too. This is probably something like what I look for. Simple and traditional and plain. Or maybe I'll surprise you and try this one. This white piggy is cute, but probably too mis-match for me. I think it's actually a planter. And I just don't know if I like pigs in my kitchen. But now that I'm thinking about it, it's plain enough being white and having clean lines and not much detail that I may venture off and try it. Maybe they have different shapes or something less pig-like. Suggestions?

Another cold day in March

2009-03-03T17:30:00.001-05:00

Brr - it's still cold here! And it's not supposed to get out of the mid-60s tomorrow. This morning I had a materials meeting out at the Daytona airport for the VMA, the Volusia Manufacturer's Association about ICC regs, mostly terms and conditions. It was pretty informative and had a pretty good turnout. But then I had to endure Bike Week traffic out on ISB - not fun.
This is what's coming up for dinner - warm and spicy food should help us keep warm inside! It's fresh Florida shrimp seasoned with cayanne, paprika, EVOO, salt, garlic and lemon and then can either be grilled or broiled. Normally, I would let DH cook this on the grill, but it's too darn cold out there, so it's into the broiler for a few minutes on this one. I'm serving it with steamed rice and veggies for a simple weeknight dinner.

Today was Rainbow Tuesday at Debbie's Health Foods, one of our local health stores, that meant 20% off every regularly priced item. I got a supply of fruit and nut bars, dried pineapple and dried papaya and of course the BEST potato millet bread which is made fresh from a bakery in a neighboring town.

I have GOT to do some posts about our CA trip before it's time for our next vacation! Hopefully I can get some good posts drafted this weekend.

Weekend recap

2009-03-02T18:00:00.000-05:00

It was a lazy weekend for us. Friday we had Giuseppe's pizza and wings which was delicious! I called ahead to get takeout and thankfully I did - there was a waiting line out the door. Their food is always worth the wait though. We watched The Rocker with Rainn Wilson. It was just so so. We really enjoy Rainn as Dwight Schrute from The Office but this movie was more geared toward teeny-boppers similar to Mean Girls and other such movies.

Saturday we worked around the house - laundry, gardening, boat projects. We went to Bob's 2x on Saturday! Our boat trailer is almost brand new. Sandy and Kevin are now out on vacation until March 9, so we'll miss them next weekend. Saturday night we went out to dinner with DH's dad and step mom to a local favorite, The Chart House. The food is always top notch and my in-laws go there so often, everyone knows their names so it's like their 'Cheers'. They've got a new manager who wasn't very friendly as the previous manager, but Chef Alex was there and friendly and courteous as usual. His personal recommendation - the seasonal Cashew Crusted Sole. We had already ordered the Pu Pu platter as an app before he came out to greet us. He sent out some extra polenta fries which were superb - what can be better than fried grits?! Also on the platter: lobster spring rolls, cajun shrimp and scallops with mango salsa - yum!

And of course, I had to try Chef's recommendation. DH's dad and I both had the sole. Who could have thought cashew crust on fish? Oh it was good. Served with fingerling potatoes and grilled veggies. We all had the wonderful salad bar as well - fresh tossed caesar salad, caviar, the best salad dressing.

DH had prime rib and a HUGE Australian lobster tail and MIL had another seasonal item - hazelnut trout with shrimp, parmesan risotto and veggies. As always, we finished off dinner with a molten lava cake dessert (had to order that right when we arrived -
Godiva Chocolate Liqueur, molten center, Dreyer’s vanilla ice cream, served with warm
chocolate sauce and Heath Bar Crunch) and the best creme brulee I have ever tasted. Man that was a good dinner. DH and I were stuffed after and basically went home and went to bed.

Sunday was one of the worst days of weather we've had in a while. We couldn't get much outside work done at all. It started off with dark gray skys and then wind and sideways rain. And it was COLD, maybe no warmer than 60. I was out on the phone talking to my SIL when Rufus and I saw this:

The pool was covered in suds!! For a second it looked like snow, but then my brain set in and reminded me that while it's cold, it wasn't that cold, then I noticed the suds being wisked away by the 20 MPH gusts of wind. I ran inside to alert DH and he nonchalantly said, oh, yeah I put some treatment in there and that's normal. Nice of him to tell me and Rufus. ;) All was forgiven when he pulled out this delicious, perfectly smoked chicken a short time later.

Today is my MIL's birthday - Happy Birthday! It's freezing here so we're not going out to the monthly dog night at Ritters. Maybe next month.

Effects of a freeze

2009-02-27T19:00:00.000-05:00

Winter is a strange season in Florida. Most winters we can be out on the beach every day, some winters we have to light the fire. This winter has brought a few good, cold freezes and our plants are there to remind us of it. Before we went out to CA, we had 2 nights below freezing and we covered all the plants. While were were out in CA, there were a couple more nights of freeze and when we got back, we had a lot of trimming to do. Below are the bananas and elephant ear a few months ago at their peak and third is a photo from last weekend. Their leaves were all wilted and brown so we had to trim them all back. Don't be sad, we're seeing green sprouting through and there's actually 1 leaf about to open up so there's still hope! A couple of the smaller ones I don't think made it, but we'll keep them in the ground for a few more weeks to be sure.

The crotons didn't survive at all. They all dried out so quickly, you wouldn't even be able to tell they were there. Our nightblooming jasmine didn't make it, but it had a fungus before the freezes. The areca palms are brown, as are the bird of paradise but I see some green on birds. The ixora and ficus trees out front were all brown and we trimmed them back last weekend. There's new green leaves coming out so they're all clear. We also modified the front flower bed so that it's not taking over the whole yard and walkway anymore and made the outline for a new flower bed with room for a tree or bush. Don't mind the dirt, it's covering transplanted grass that seems to be taking to its new home.

One plant that did well through the cold is the lily of the nile, or Agapanthus. This is great news as these are ones we love - nice big green leaves with beautiful flowers in the spring and summer. We first saw these at Epcot last year. Wonder what Disney puts on theirs to make them so big and full?

Who knows if we're past the freezing temps. Forecast for early next week show lows in the upper 30s. Usually by mid-March, the weather warms up for Spring Break, so we'll see.

We've got a nice weekend planned. DH went golfing out at LPGA today with his dad. Saturday we're doing some work around the house and yard - weather looks perfect, upper 70s. Saturday night our church is starting Saturday Night Life church and that's where we'll be. And we're also going out with DH's dad for a belated birthday dinner. Sunday our friends are playing a gig out at JB's Fish Camp so we're going to support them and eat some delicious rock shrimp! We'll have to bring our jackets as there's 40% chance rain and a high of 62! But tonight, it's a movie and Giuseppes for pizza and wings.

Oh, and side note. Partylite Summer Catalog goes into effect April 1. That's a long time to wait!

Vets and candles

2009-02-26T18:00:00.000-05:00

Just another Thrursday today. Rufus went to the vet to get his heartworm prevention meds and got weighed - at 2-1/2 years old he is 96 lbs. Not too bad considering he was 94lbs on 06/27/08 and 93lbs on 07/27/07. Our vet is building a new building and it's looking great so far. Their current building is pretty small, but the vets are so nice. After the vet, Rufus looked like he wated to go back to work with me, so here he is all jolly in the car. (don't worry, we were at a stop light when I took this pic!)

I know I mentioned the quarter auction at the Partylite meeting the other night. My mom won a beautiful Moroccan Spice Lantern with universal tealight tree (which is an awesome insert that is like a ladder for tealights and allows many levels of light, as in this photo) and a trio of glass candle holders similar to the set in the photo, but not frosted stems, more decorative stems. Oh, and we won the necklace and braclet set which isn't shown here.

Here's a display of the items I won.

So, we've got the Whispering Pines Tree Votive tree set (9inch and 12inch) which I only took 1 out of the box for the photo. I have a set of these and they're great during the fall and winter holidays, $32.95/set. Then there's ball candles (blue, box says Woodland Spice, but I don't agree $17.95/pr) and Iced Snowberries snowball candle $15.95/pr. I have a set of the smaller snowball candles and love them - such a different type of candle! The snowball's sitting on the Deco Ball Tray ($20?) and then pillar garland which there's a closeup in the next photo, so pretty, retails $12.95.

There's $91 worth of product for about $4, and that's not including the jewlery or the big ticket items my mom got which probably retailed for about $95 ($40 for trio, $45 for lantern, $10 for tealight tree).

And that's about the gist of it for today. No big news. I still don't know what we're having for dinner. Guess I should start planning out the week again, that seemed to always work out well. I'm excited to watch Lost from last night - that show intrigues me and makes me mad at the same time. The late time slot and cliffhangers from commercial to commercial have made us record it and watch it the next day.

Pavilion at Port Orange

2009-02-25T18:30:00.002-05:00

Looks like our little town is moving up in the world. Construction is going strong on the new Pavilion at Port Orange. The part I'm most excited about is the 14 screen Hollywood Theatres. We have to drive about 30 minutes to go to the newest theatre in town and it's over on beachside in the heart of the tourist district. Needless to say, I think it's been over 1 year since DH and I have gone out to see a movie here in town.

I love the look of the new Pavilion, reminds me of the outdoor malls in California and even Jacksonville/St. Augustine area. Looks like they've edited the list of shoppes and restaurants coming to the new Pavilion at Port Orange in the fall (it's the new shopping center on Williamson near the Taylor Rd. Publix here in PO).
Circuit City and Barnes and Noble are off the rendering now. Although this article from just last month show Barnes and Noble signed a lease for the spot. The article also says the store will open March of 2009 which I see as impossible. They also say they'll have Starbucks which will be welcome since the only other Starbucks is in our Target.
Belk fashion department store will be the big anchor store, along with junior anchors Michaels, Marshalls and Home goods. A national pet store is also in the plan, 1 place says Petsmart , another shows Petco .

Now also on the list:

Shops: ATT store, David's Bridal, GNC, Lee Nail Spa, Rack Room Shoes, Sunglass World, and Visionworks

And food: Alfredo's Restaurant, Cold Stone Creamery, Olive Garden, Five Guys Burgers and Fries, Red Brick Pizza , Red Robin Gourmet Burgers,
From their press release The Pavilion at Port Orange will offer customers a unique shopping experience with Main Street style architecture, two-story themed buildings and extensive landscaping in an open-air pedestrian-friendly environment. A focal point of the development will be a seven-acre lake surrounded by numerous upscale sit-down restaurants overlooking the water. The center will also feature a community pavilion along the lake that will serve as a gathering place for residents and tourists and a covered children’s soft play area. Curbside parking will provide customers with easy and convenient access to the shops.

New Partylite product!

2009-02-24T18:00:00.002-05:00

Last night was the reveal of Partylite's new Spring/Summer products and catalog. Although the party lasted for nearly 4 hours, we all had a great time at the Regional meeting. The new summer catalog is in addition to the current Winter/Spring catalog - I'm not sure when the new products can be bought, maybe March 1?
And of course they had Quarter Auction - my mom and I won so many things! I'll probably be having my next Partylite show in April or May - I'm excited!
So here's some snapshots from the new catalog:
New Spring/Summer Partylite products! The candles on this page are like little sorbet scoops - so cute! If you want to view the pics close up, check out my flickr page Partylite folder, and choose all sizes. New scents: Pineapple Coconut, Mango Ginger, Passion Fruit and Papaya. Yum, Yum and YUM! Love the bright colors, perfect for summer.

New Iced Tea Fragrances - Iced White Pear Tea, Iced Green Lime Tea, Iced Red Raspberry Tea - and the jars can be used as drinking glasses! And new print,

I love the linear lights set on the left page - perfect for a summer outdoor party. On the right, neutral colored candle refills in several scents - what a great idea! And mini-reed diffusers. New scent, Citrus Bloom Citronella.

This is one of my favorite pieces - the photos don't do it justice. They took down the new product display before I had a chance to check it out up close and personal, but even from a distance, it's breathtaking.

Weekend recap

2009-02-23T18:00:00.009-05:00

Friday was Uncle Nick's memorial service. It was a nice service full of good memories of times with Nick. The service was at my FIL's church Seventh Day Baptist Church of Daytona Beach. The church building has been around since the early 1900s, but the chuch itself started in Daytona in 1884! It's a beautiful little church with tons of character, from the wooden floors to the stained glass to the aged pews. After the service, Nick's ashes were released into the Halifax River near the Orange Ave. brige, one of his favorite old fishing holes. A reception was held at one of his brother's houses in South Daytona.

After the memorial, DH and I went home and watched The Mummy 3: The Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. I'll call it entertaining. No where near as good as the first 2, but I stayed awake and that usually means something. Brendan Fraser was back as Rick O'Connell, but instead of the great Rachel Wiesz as his wife, a new lady was cast, Maria Bello, who was ok, but has done better work. Jet Li was the Emperor, and he was ok too.

Saturday DH and I did some work around the house, went to lunch with his mom and step-dad and then ran some errands. Rufus had a playdate at my MIL's in the afternoon and then we stopped at the new ice cream shop Neighbors for doggy day around 6pm. Ruf approves of their ice cream, but we still prefer Ritter's for dog night as Neighbors had limited outside area for all the pups.
Sunday was the finale of Winterjam with the Volkswagon show in Port Orange around the City Center lake. DH and I went over around noon and there were already a ton of people and MANY cars and vans around the lake. The weather couldn't have been better. And get this - they had food as usual, but Hooters was there! So nice to have their wings and not have to drive across town for them. We met a big black stnd poodle named Willy and I wished I had brought Rufus. But then after walking around with all the people, I was glad he had stayed home - it would have been too much for him. Here are a few photos of the day, taken from my camera phone which has pretty good photo quality in daylight.

Ups and downs

2009-02-20T17:30:00.001-05:00

Brigette's baby shower last night went well. There were probably around 30 people there! There were 2 babies under 2 months old at the shower, Michelle's boy Aiden and Kimmy's son Juan - both so adorable! We played some games including the 'baby name scramble' where you try to make as many words as you can out of the baby's name Gabriel Michael. Michelle won with 22 words! Then there was the 'baby song' game where you list as many songs as you can with the word baby in it. Brigette's dad won that one with 11 songs. I only came up with 4. Then the 'baby animal' game, listing as many baby and adult animal combos as possible, like lion-cub, cat-kitten. Brigette won that one but she cheated, so gave the gift to Elaine. We also played 'pass the paci' where we had to do sort of a relay with a pacifier passing it from person to person using only a straw in our mouths. That was interesting! Then it was food and presents and time to head home.

And now tonight is the memorial service for one of my MIL's brothers. He passed away unexpectedly last Friday at the age of 53. I didn't know him very well, but I always believe it's important to attend the services as support to the close friends and family. Rest in peace Uncle Nick.

Babies

2009-02-19T17:30:00.001-05:00

A friend of mine just had her 2nd son on Tuesday and tonight I'm going to my SIL's baby shower; she's due April 1. Babies everywhere! I actually attended my 1st baby shower a couple of months ago for DH's cousin whose baby boy is a month old already! He is just plain adorable! Looking forward to meeting my friend's baby boy - Jackson is his name, isn't that a great name?! One day DH and I will embark on the baby experience, but until then, I can learn from my friends and family. Who knew there was such a thing as a burp cloth?

So, I've got to go to Target to get some extra baby items for the party - how fun does this baby wrap look? No straps or buckles, just swaddling cloth. I think my mom carried me in something similar. I bet she still has it!

And of course the good Johnson and Johnson products. I like this sleeptime line even for me - bet it's great for babies!

As you may recall, the last time DH and I went shopping for baby products, we got lost. There are just so many different products and at both Babies R Us and Target, nothing was where it said it was on the registry. Johnson and Johnson items are useful and always easy to find. Guess we'll go with that and a gift card that can be used toward the big ticket items since this will be SIL's first baby. They're thinking about Gabriel Michael for his name. First they were told it was a girl, then a month later, found out it was a boy - long story there. Anyway, in a couple months, I'll be an aunt again!

Valentine's Day

2009-02-18T18:00:00.007-05:00

Saturday was Valentine's Day. As usual, it falls on a race day out at the track, so couldn't go anywhere near the speedway. We went for a haircut and then to MIL's house where our beloved Clifford had just passed away. He had been given 1 month to live about 6 months ago, so I guess he was on borrowed time. He had a serious heart condition and now he's living pain free across the Rainbow Bridge. See our tribute to dear Cliff from Saturday's post.

Then we went to Sam's to get some fixings for Valentine's dinner. We started this tradition a couple years ago after fighting the crowds for dinner out. This way, we spend time together shopping, prepping and cooking the meal and we make sure to get the best quality ingredients available. Since I don't eat red meat, we usually end up with a seafood medley. We found some great fresh shrimp and crab legs from Sam's. Can you believe the size of these shrimp? 4/8 count means 4-8 shrimp make a pound. We got 2 of the big ones and it was about 1/2 pound. Here they are in a QUART size Ziploc bag. Fresh and wild caught, they were more tasty and larger than lobster. We also got HUGE Alaskan king crab legs.

So, here it was, this year's meal - Alaskan king crab legs, HUGE 4/8 count shrimp, lobster tail, baked potato and fresh steamed asparagus. Homemade cheesecake with strawberries for dessert. We couldn't even finish all the crab, so shelled it up and made great crabcakes the next night for dinner. It was all soo delicious. Then we relaxed and watched Made of Honor, and I know DH tried to fall asleep through it, but I don't think he could. Definitely a predictable chick flick. Until next Valentine's Day! For a few more photos, check out flickr

DH's 30th birthday!

2009-02-17T19:00:00.003-05:00

Monday was DH's 30th birthday! Can you believe it?! For the second year in a row, we went to Disney's Animal Kingdom and had dinner at Charlie's Steakhouse. Rufus stayed at my MIL's and had a great time with the pups.

AK last year was nice and quiet, even though it was on a Saturday. This year, there were crowds! It was President's day, one of the busiest times of the year. First line was to get in and park. Parking is now $12. We think they raise it by $1 every time we go.
Next line was Will Call to pick up my ticket and get DH's free birthday ticket. It's a promo Disney is doing this year, free admission on your birthday. Then the line to actually get into the park. We went back to get on the Safari, but there was a long wait, so we got the fastpass and took the train out to the Conservation Station which is where the petting area is. Here's DH petting a big sheep.

We went to a few more exhibits then it was time for the Safari. We sat in the first row. They've got these strange trees all over the exhibit. Direct from Africa.

We saw giraffe, okapi, elephants, lions, wildebeest, ostrich, hippos, rhinos, antelope and many more animals native to Africa!We rode a few more rides including the river rapids where we got soaked, ate lunch at Flame Tree BBQ and then it was time for Expedition Everest. This is a pretty cool roller coaster that is partially in the dark and sometimes goes backward. I think I did pretty good, but in the below photo, DH is posing but my scream is real. It was fun!

Then it was off to Charlie's Steakhouse for DH's birthday dinner. Charlie's is a good steakhouse, too bad the closest one is in Orlando. All of their steaks are select U.S. Choice and Prime three-year-old grain-fed beef. Steaks are aged a minimum of 4-6 weeks for tenderness and flavor, then trimmed and seasoned to be flame-broiled on their specialty built open-pit mesquite wood fire.

First is DH's King of the Bone Strips 2 ½ Inches Thick

And I had the Chef's Mixed Grill – Servings of Mahi Mahi and Salmon with Shrimp and Scallop Scampi . And yes, that lemon has a net to catch the seeds. All in all, a great day and we'll probably be back again next year! For more of the photos from our day, check out my flickr site

Speedweeks

2009-02-16T18:00:00.000-05:00

Well, the headaches are finally gone and I've got some blogging to catch up on! We've still got plenty of CA vacation photos to go through, so let's start with a weekend recap. Last week was speedweeks here in Daytona. The crowds weren't as big as in past years, most say due to the economy even though the Speedway reduced the 500 tickets to $55/pp, which, for the biggest race of the year, is usually a pretty good deal. They didn't reduce the tickets to the other races though, which would have been nice becuase DH and I enjoy going to the truck races. So Friday was the truck race, Camping World is now the sponsor I think. It was broadcast on Speed TV, which our cable providor Brighthouse still doesn't broadcast in HD (grr). As if being broadcast in 'regular' format wasn't bad enough, Speed TV's coverage is terrible. Let me tell you that probably around 1/3 to 1/2 of the laps weren't broadcast. They always go to commercial when green is on - why not when there's a caution, which there were 6 of that night. They've also got some strange new rule regarding pit stops for the truck series - it's tire or gas, not both. Yes, if the drivers need both, they must get one, do a lap and stop back and get the other. Why?? I don't know, it's just another way for Nascar to regulate the event. Todd Bodine, who doesn't have a major sponsor, won the race, the first repeat winner in the event’s 10-year history. Saturday was Valentine's day, and I'll do a seperate post about that later, but was also the Gatorade Duel races, 150-mile races, and serves as a qualifying race for the Daytona 500 . I didn't watch these races, but DH did. Jeff Gordon and Kyle Busch won the Duels this year.
Sunday brought the 51st running of the Daytona 500 (200-lap, 500 miles). I didn't watch this one either, but from Wikipedia, was called on account of rain with 48 laps remaining. The leader at the time of the red flag, Matt Kenseth, was declared named the winner, his first Daytona 500 win in his ten attempts and the first win for Roush Fenway Racing. Even though the race did not run the full 200 laps, it is a full race as NASCAR rules state that any event can be ruled a complete race once the halfway point plus one lap is reached; in this case, it is 101 laps or 265.5 miles. Next year's race is on Feb. 14.

The world has lost a great spoo

2009-02-14T14:00:00.001-05:00

Rest in peace Cliff 06/11/98-02/14/09

You'll greatly be missed

The power of a praying mother! (and every health antidote known to man)

2009-02-12T16:14:00.014-05:00

Well, with the help of God, my chriopractor and Dr. Mom, I'm on the way to recovery. My head and neck have been pretty sore all day, but sore is soo much better than the throbbing pain of that headache!

My mom, who constantly prays for our family every day, made sure to pump me with all natural products to help speed up the recovery. She's so sweet. She sliced up grapefruit this morning, gulped it down so fast I forgot to get a pic, then bowls of sliced strawberries and blueberries topped with organic honey, again, so good, no pic to show. But it looked just like this and after is what's left of the blueberries.
Some of the products that have been floating in and out of my body (don't want to get too graphic!) are shown below: Left to right:
Amigo juice is a powdered mix that has acai, mangosteen, and goii - it tastes delicious! http://www.amigojuice.co.uk/

Then there's Digest Gold which is a great digestive aid. After all that eating out and authentic Mexican food we ate during vacation, we need to get our digestive tracts back into wack. www.enzymedica.com/products/Digest_Gold

Feverfew is just an all around good herbal supplement - good for headaches, digestion, arthritis and more.

Organic Triple Fiber - whew this stuff cleans you out! A blend of organic ground flaxseed, organic acacia fiber and organic (gluten-free) oat bran. 1 scoop 1-3x/day (I've only endured 1 scoop/day and that's enough!). It can be kind of thick, so add extra water if you want, or even try the pill form (I used powdered form).

Apple Cider Vinegar is one that's good for everyday use. For health, mix it with water and honey and drink up. Be careful to use 1 tsp at a time, it's an acquired taste.

Ginger Root - good for nausea and upset stomach, also good for motion sickness.

Mucolytic agent is an expectorant, and this is one that we had for backup, but I didn't have any congestion.

And then there's the OTC Excedrin Migraine (which has the same ingredients and amounts as regular Excedrin headache, so watch their marketing ploys folks!) - I just used 2 geltabs yesterday and that seemed to help. The bottle said only 2 tabs/24 hours which was interesting. It only has 250 mg acetaminophen, 250 mg asprin and 65 mg caffeine per tablet which isn't anything too scary.

Last one I forgot in this pic is Mineral Rich plus Aloe drink. It's actually really tasty and good for you too! www.maximumliving.com/vitamin-supplements/mineralrich-aloe.php

And of course the trusty ice pack!

Headaches

2009-02-11T18:00:00.001-05:00

Ok, I've the ridiculuous headache for 2 days now and have been having a difficult time focusing on anything else, so lets just discuss headaches today. I'm currently on Excedrin Migraine, and Dr. Mom came over today and filled me with feverfew, ginger, acai berry and other natural remedies, so lets see how that helps. I also went to the chriopractor and she thinks it's a tension headache and re-aligned my whole backside. First reactions, feeling somewhat better, just still pretty sore.

Most of my medical knowledge comes from WebMD. I often find it interesting how little most of us know about our own bodies. WebMD.com is full of articles about almost everything you could ever think of. A lot of todays blog will be cut and paste from their website.

Headache pain results from signals interacting between the brain, blood vessels, and surrounding nerves. During a headache, specific nerves of the blood vessels and head muscles are activated and send pain signals to the brain. It's not clear, however, why these signals are activated in the first place.

There are several types of headaches - 150 diagnostic headache categories have been established! The exact cause of most of these headaches are unknown.

Tension headaches are most common in adults, more common in females. There is no single cause for tension headaches. This type of headache is not an inherited trait that runs in families. In some people, tension headaches are caused by tightened muscles in the back of the neck and scalp. They say it could be from stress. I don't think I've been stressed. I can only think I was stressed last week dealing with all the crazy CA drivers, but I don't think I let that get to me.

Unlike migraine headaches, there are no associated neurological symptoms (such as muscle weakness, or blurred vision) in people with tension headaches. In addition, severe sensitivity to light or noise, stomach pain, nausea and vomiting are not symptoms usually associated with tension headaches. That would be a yes, yes, yes, no for me.

People with tension headaches commonly report these symptoms (I've got all of these):
Mild to moderate pain or pressure affecting the front, top or sides of the head
Headache occurring later in the day
Difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep
Chronic fatigue
Irritability
Disturbed concentration
Mild sensitivity to light or noise
General muscle aching

Now on to Migraines
Again, exact cause unknown, but they are related to blood vessel contractions and other changes in the brain as well as inherited abnormalities in certain areas of the brain. Migraine pain is moderate to severe, often described as pounding, throbbing pain. They can last from 4 hours to 3 days and usually occur 1 to 4 times per month. Migraines are associated with symptoms such as light sensitivity; noise or odors; nausea or vomiting; loss of appetite; and stomach upset or abdominal pain.

For many years, scientists believed that migraines were linked to expanding and constricting blood vessels on the brain's surface. However, it is now believed that migraines are caused by inherited abnormalities in certain areas of the brain.
There is a migraine "pain center" or generator in the brain. A migraine begins when hyperactive nerve cells send out impulses to the blood vessels, causing them to clamp down or constrict, followed by dilation (expanding) and the release of prostaglandins, serotonin, and other inflammatory substances that cause the pulsation to be painful.

Other common types of headaches,
Mixed (Also called transformed migraines) - a combination of migraine and tension headaches.
Cluster - the pain of a cluster headache is intense and may be described as having a burning or piercing quality that is throbbing or constant.
Sinus headaches - deep and constant pain in the cheekbones, forehead or bridge of the nose.
Hormone - Often associated with changing hormone levels that occur during menstruation, pregnancy, and menopause.

We're back

2009-02-10T19:00:00.000-05:00

Well, we're back from our trip out west. We actually got back in Saturday night, but we're still trying to get back on EST. I've got to go through photos, get blogs together, not to mention unpack and get our house back in order.

I've had a wicked headache all day, so all you're getting from me today is a photo from our travels. This one is from Wednesday, 02/04, on our drive back down from 5000 ft. elevation in Crestline overlooking San Bernardino, CA. And yes, it really was that beautiful.

Going to San Diego!

2009-01-29T17:30:00.001-05:00

Here we are, this time tomorrow DH and I will be in San Diego, or at least somewhere in Southern CA. Our flight leaves at 6:25am from Daytona and we'll be in San Diego at 10:50am their time. Total, it's about 6.5 hours of flying time. We're really looking forward to it, but will surely miss our pup Rufus. I've still got to pack and bring Rufus to my MIL's where he'll have a grand ole time while we're gone.
When we get in, we'll get our rental (SUV from Avis - got a great deal through Hotwire), and head up the 5 to Oceanside. We'll meet DH's sis on her way out to work and hopefully unpack and take a breather. Then we may go out with DH's sis's husband or some other friends. Hopefully just a relaxing easy night considering all that flying time, the hour we're waking up tomorrow and the 3 hour time change. Note, get some Red Bull on the way to Oceanside!

Saturday DH is going golfing during the day and I may go meet up with some friends who don't live too far away from where we'll be staying. Then Saturday night is THE UFC fight - BJ v GSP. I'm still up in the air over who I'm going for. After watching UFC Primetime, it's obvious how nice of a guy GSP is and how hard he works for this, but if BJ wins, he'll be holding 2 titles which has never been done before. Either way, it'll be nice to watch this on the west coast - it starts at 7am rather than 10pm which is what time we usually watch it. I guess with the time change, my body won't know the difference though.And then Sunday of course is the Superbowl. I don't care who wins this years, we'll just be having a great time at our friend's party. As for the rest of the week, that's when we'll be visiting the attractions. I probably won't post until we get back next weekend, but don't worry, I'll have plenty of pics and blog pages to fill!

Weekend Recap 2

2009-01-28T18:00:00.000-05:00

After dropping Ruf off for his haircut Saturday, I stopped at the local nursery to check out trees for our front yard. They had both foxtail and queen palms, but also a Christmas palm which I think I like the best of the palms. A little older gentleman Arlon pointed them out to me. It's fairly reasonable in the price of palms and it is basically 3 or 4 palms in 1 as there are several different trunks. It still has nice palmy palms and is pretty easy on the upkeep. Arlon suggested if the temps were to get in the 30s, a couple spot lights in the yard facing up would be both aesthetically pleasing and also keep heat and warmth on the tree. We also looked at other options including robellini's and some type of Japanese plum and of course citrus trees.

Then it was home to meet what was hopefully our last window estimate appt. This guy was from Window World, which is a national company that lures most in with their $189 installed window. He was friendly and knowledgeable as usual. He did bring up a good option on our windows - slider style rather than the standard double or single hung up and down windows. Now, we don't have mountain view, but this is similar to what a slider on our front window would look like, except it'll have 4 full sliding glass sections due to the size of that window.

And this (except not detail on the glass) would be what our bedroom and office windows would look like.It definitely surpasses current egress requirements, and I like that it's just large pieces of glass (they'll still be impact resistant). And it's just different than the standard up and downs. There's a house right down the street from us that has this style, I'll probably go chat with them after we get back from CA.
Window World wasn't the least expensive, but wasn't the most either. I haven't heard of their brand of windows, so I'm still leaning towards PGT windows which several people carry and love. I didn't have the other people quote slider style windows, but I think it's not that much more for this style.

Other than that, we watched a couple movies this weekend and did some shopping We saw Righteous Kill with DeNiro and Pachino and Bangkok Dangerous with Nicholas Cage. Righteous Kill was ok, wouldn't have been good at all without Al and Robert. Interesting fact, in their first movie together The Godfather 2, they were both gangsters, the next Heat, one was gangster one cop and in this one, they're both cops. And Bangkok Dangerous was terrible. Wouldn't even had made it to the movie theaters or into our DVD player without Nicholas Cage. He's basically an assassin, but they throw a couple extra story lines in there that slow the move to a screeching hault and oh, just save your self and don't watch it.

Countdown until San Diego - we leave Friday! Off to dinner at Outback with the girls!

Weekend Recap 1 - Rufus' haircut

2009-01-27T19:00:00.002-05:00

My little Rufus was due for a haircut soon so we decided to have it done before we went on vacation. We've been to Petco before, their price is reasonable but one time they kept him for 9 hours, so that's always in the back of my mind. There's a small place right down the street from our house called Pauline's that is about 30% more in price, but they usually only take 4 hours and it's local, but it usually takes at least 2 week notice to get an appt there. We've been there a few times but decided to try the other option in town which is in between on the price scale, Petsmart. They're on the other side of town, but we got an early appt. for last Saturday so I figured I could do some shopping and also get some stuff done around the house while Ruf was out. So this is what he looked like before.I brought him in at 8am and the lady Ruth was very nice. She went over what I thought was every detail on how I wanted his hair cut. They even had a little chart with fake fur so we could choose the correct length clippers. We ended up going with a #4 on his body and face, a little longer on the back of his hind legs because the hair is thinner back there, clean poodle feet, and the shaved base of the tail. Plus all the standards like brush out, bath, dry, ears, nails, teeth. I then kissed and hugged my little bear and left him in Ruth's hands. About 4 hours later, Ruth called and Rufus was almost ready. I drove up there to get my big boy! This above pic was taken Wednesday at work. You may notice something different. Everything was great except that SHE SHAVED HIS TOP KNOT! For anyone that knows poodles, you know you scissor their top knot (hair on top of their head) just to clean up and stray hairs. But no, she saved it. I know it'll grow back, but he looks like he's got a shrunken head now. :( She did great on the other parts though, so we may give her another shot in 4 months. Good note, in the planned Pavillion at Port Orange here in town, they've got a Petsmart on the drawings so that will be great coming this fall.

After Rufus' haircut, I knew he would need some good play time, so after a nap, we went to my MIL's to play with her pups. More photos from that playdate here
This is a good shot she got of Rufus in the sunlight, shaved top knot and all!

Mail order steaks

2009-01-26T18:00:00.000-05:00

Look what arrived on our doorstep last week - Mail order steaks from Omaha Steaks.
DH got the American Celebration with the Omaha Steaks gift card his sis got him from Christmas. I think we're set for a while.We had the stuffed sole with potatoes au gratin the first night, it was delish as previously mentioned.
This package came with:
(4) 5 Oz Top Sirloin Steaks
(4) 4 Oz Boneless Pork Chop
(2) 4.5 Oz Stfd Sole with shrimp and crab
(8) Gourmet Franks
(4) 5 Oz Filet Mignon
(10) Potatoes Au Gratin
(4) Omaha Steaks Burgers
Bonus - (6) Omaha Steaks Burgers and (1) Cutlery Set W/cutting Board
Over the past week, DH has had a couple burgers he said were good as well as one of the sirloins (a little tough) and a filet mignon (ok, nice and tender).
We got a free knife set and cutting board with purchase. Here's Rufus checking it all out as usual. The knives are bendable, sort of like gag knives. What a joke! And the cutting board. I think my printer paper is thicker than that thing. Good thing they were free! :)

DH had an experience one time years ago when he lived in CA with a door to door meat salesman. He and his roommates paid about $150 for a freezer full of meat they said was some of the best beef and pork they've had. We had a guy come around a couple months ago, but we had just eaten dinner and were too full to think about getting anything from him. I tried to find him before Christmas and couldn't. Guess they have to find you!

Anyone have experience with door to door or mail order meats?

New Japanese steakhouse!

2009-01-23T18:00:00.000-05:00

Ok, if you know me, you know I don't eat red meat including steaks, but that has never kept me away from Japanese Steakhouses. We had a new one open up a couple weeks ago, it's less than 1 mile from my house so you know we had to try it out! There's another one in town, but it's not that good and then another about 15 miles away on beachside but that one's always been such a pain to drive out to, so this close one is very welcome in our town!

I'll have to get photos of the inside next time (yes, there will be a next time) because they put a lot of work into this place. It's in a fairly new strip with Quizno's, nail, hair and tanning salons and our local pet supply store. When it was first built, it was Bada Bing Pizza and Wings, a very overpriced pizza shop. That lasted about a year. Then it turned into Italia which was a pretty decent Italian place - the food was good, but it lacked in atmosphere. Plus there's stiff competition from another Italian place right down the street. Then I heard this place was going in. It said Hibachi on the window, so I was excited!

They've got 6 hibachi grills and can seat about 45 people on the hibachi side. They've also got another side, not sure what it's called, where you can order off the menu, and a full fresh sushi bar. The main focal point is a huge fiber optic display hanging from the ceiling that changes color gradually. Very pretty - looks like huge crystals.

They've got typical Japanese steakhouse menu items - chicken, shrimp, steak, scallops, and more plus many appetizers and tons of different sushi and sashimi rolls. I got chicken, my parents each got chicken and steak and DH got steak. Each meal is served with onion soup, salad, veggies, rice and shrimp appetizer.

The onion soup is very smoky flavored, pretty good though, even DH liked it. The salad's got standard ginger dressing but there's a little hint of sweetness in it - also very good. Then it was time for the show. The below pic isn't from our dinner, it's to show the show. Our fires were even bigger than this one!Our chef's name was Allen and he was sure an entertainer. It was only us at the table, as we had an early dinner, but he gave us the full show. I'll give you some of the highlights. He started out with the knife and utensil show - flipping and tossing and catching, all so fast it was making me nervous. Once, he acted like he missed it and at the end, he brought the spatula about a foot away from my dads face and scared us all. We were all cracking up.
Then he brought out a zucchini. He sliced it up and told us to open our mouths. He then tried to flip pieces into our mouths - funny! There were zucchini pieces all over the floor. I did catch 1 in my mouth though! I do have talent ;) Next was the egg. Throwing and balancing a whole egg until it cracked. Which we all cracked up at too. Then he cracked open another egg, separated the yolk and tossed the yolk several times without breaking it. This guy was great! Next, the flaming volcano - stack layers of onion, fill them with Saki and light it on fire, standard show. But then, he pulled out this little doll and squirted the fire. It took me a second to realize the squirting was coming out of the lower half of the doll - he was peeing on the fire to put it out! Where do you get that type of toy?! Silly guy!

More food slinging and many many more laughs and our show was over and it was time to eat our delicious food. All in all, a great experience. We'll definitely be back, just probably not soon because we still have leftovers here at home!

Frosty few days

2009-01-22T19:00:00.001-05:00

It has been a cold few days here in sunny Florida. See, even our fish mailbox has some frost on him this morning.

We covered most of the plants last night since temps dipped into the 20s. This morning, it looks like some of the ixora shrubs will need some pruning. They had several branches freeze last year too and we just trimmed them back and they were in full bloom again by spring. Everyone else that was covered looks good. The elephant and bananas will need a good pruning too, maybe this weekend if it's gotten any warmer. It's seriously been COLD here! This was the view from the inside of my car this morning. It took about 10 minutes to heat up enough to brush the frost away.
I thought these came out interesting after edits - the first is the original where you can't see too much detail of the 'snow flakes', second is just a brightness edit and third is brightness and contrast levels.

Other than braving the chilly weather, not too much going on here. We're looking forward to our trip to Cali, we leave 1 week from tomorrow!

We had another window guy come over last night. That will be the 3rd window person who sells PGT windows. I've read their reviews and they look like affordable, good quality windows. We've got 1 more coming Saturday and hopefully that's it. We applied for the My Safe Florida Home grant - that would be a nice help for this window reno. With that, we may also get a new garage door and gable braces. It's all about protecting our home from wind come hurricane season. If I had to count, I'd say this guy coming out Saturday will be at least the 7th person we've had out doing estimates. Let's see if I can name them all: Home Depot, Sears, Allied Window Co., Image Built, The Window Shoppe, Budd Severino Homes and this Saturday Window World. I feel like I've forgotten 1 though. So far, Allied has the best installed price, but they're not a participating contractor of My Safe Fl Home, so next up is The Window Shoppe. I haven't seen the numbers from Image Built or Window World yet so we'll see.

Feels like Antartica!

2009-01-21T21:00:00.000-05:00

Ok, so this isn't actually me, but this is how I'd like to be dressed right now. (the photo is actually Wisconsin native Heimo Korth who started a life in Alaska and now lives 1301 miles north of the Artic Circle - interesting story www.superiorbroadcast.org/Hiemokorth.htm)

Granted, Heimi probably regularly sees negative temperatures, and it 'felt like' 36 deg F here today at noon, I still wouldn't mind layers upon layers of warm clothes.

I had a chriopractor appt. yesterday and then went grocery shopping (still love our new Publix) and then I came home to a wonderful dinner DH made for us! He had it plated and sitting in the warming drawer and all - how romantic and so thoughtful. And it was good too! Sole (a light fish) with scallop and crabmeat suffing, potatoes au gratin and cheesy broccoli (this is a web pic of the stuffed sole).

Black Bean soup

2009-01-19T19:35:00.003-05:00

I have had a nasty stomach bug this whole weekend and it's still here. yuk! I haven't had any of the peanut butter products the FDA has listed that are linked to this other thing going around, so hopefully this isn't that bad and will leave soon. DH had it too for a couple days. That's about all the detail I'm going to give you because as my Aunt in MI would say 'TMI'.

I had a craving for fresh black bean soup today when I left work. Because I didn't have the strength to drive out to the best Mexican place in town, I stopped at the grocery and picked up Goya canned black bean soup (don't tell my mom!). Goya actually makes some pretty good products. I love making homemade black bean soup, but didn't have the energy today. You would think spicy bean soup wouldn't be good for an upset stomach, but it's the opposite for me. Load me up with some spicy salsa and black bean soup and I'm on my way to recovery.

Landscape curbing

2009-01-15T21:00:00.001-05:00

We're in desperate need of some landscape curbing for our front flower beds. We tried the black plastic edging and that just warped and didn't hold in the mulch. Then we tried something DH came up with: slats from wood fence panels cut to size angled on top stuck in the ground. We had extra fence panels to use (although they do sell strips of wood for this purpose - see photo). It was sort of like a picket fence for our flower bushes. We set them too close and didn't allow for expansion, so they're all laying all over the place now. The ones from the store are pre-spaced with wires to make install easier, allow for expansion and to help keep them in place.

We looked into stone borders from Home Depot similar to retention wall stone. They're about $1.50 per stone and for our 80 ft. line, we'd need 2 layers which would be about $300 plus all that time and lifting. Plus it would take away from the visual height of our flower beds since 2 levels of stone would be about 8 inches high. So then we started looking into concrete edging. Typically, this is done by a professional with a concrete forming machine that he just runs down the outline of the prepped border and wha-la, permanent edging to withstand the rain, sun, sleet and snow. There's all types of stamping and color options to decorate the concrete. There's even different forms to make the border a different shape.

This first one's supposed to look like cobblestone.

These two like real rocks with texture. I'm not a big fan of the one on the left - the random lines are not orgainzed enough for me. The one on the right is ok. It may be an option as this shade would match the brick front.

But the one I like the most is the plain concrete color in mower's edge style. The concrete is natural gray color, I say classic, some may say boring. See the little lip near the grass, this allows the lawn mower to ride right up to there assuring an even mow all the way up to the edging.

We had 1 guy come give us an estimate, and if you know me, you know I've got to check all my options and compare prices, so we've got a 2 more companies coming over to give us an estimate. Hopefully I'll have some nice 'after' pics soon so I can do a before and after post.

Planning the trip to California

2009-01-14T20:00:00.001-05:00

In just over 2 weeks, Rufus will be at my MIL's having the time of his life and DH and I will be on our way to CA. We've started a list of places to see and things to do. I think we have to extend our trip to 2 months.

First we've got the standard touristy things: San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park, Disneyland, Universal Hollywood, Seaworld

Then the not so popular touristy attractions: Knotts Berry Farm, whale watching, maybe Carlsbad for Legoland and shopping

And we plan to do some activities in nature like golfing next to the Pacific, visiting the mountains like Big Bear, and maybe outdoor parks like BalboaAnd can't forget the shopping, brewery, winery, Dave and Busters, and the must eat places like Jack in the Box, JuanBurtos, In and Out Burger.

After all that and in between visits with old friends, we'll relax here in Oceanside at DH's sister's house and enjoy many sunsets over the Pacific ocean.

Sinks

2009-01-13T18:00:00.000-05:00

In one of last weeks blogs I mentioned how I like large sinks. I've been checking out farmhouse style sinks, sometimes also called apron sinks. I was surprised to find they make stainless versions. I had always seen the standard glazed porcelain or whatever material they are. I don't know if the stainless apron will be too much stainless being right next to the dishwasher (I'd probably keep the appliances in the same places for the remodel).

Here's a couple examples of a stainless single tub (no divider between the sides, what is that for anyway, I keep moving the dishes from one side to the other!) next to a stainless look dishwasher. I could almost bathe Rufus in that thing! The only issue would be lifting his 100 lb. butt up that high :) The first photo has cabinets close to what we're looking to get.

One important feature we would have to check if we did go with stainless farmhouse would be that it was fingerprint resistant, like our other appliances.
Or we could go with the standard white, which may not look too bad since the sink is below the window and the new window frame will be white.

This photo shows the white farmhouse sink under the window like ours would be. Also has the semi-dark cabinets that I like (I actually like a little darker I think). I've got a lot of spices and am always thinking of new ways to efficiently store them. This shallow cabinet on the side is a neat idea, although I would definitely have some type of cover or doors over that because all of those different jars not matching would bug me right away. If all of the spices were in matching jars, that may look nice there. Anyway, focus on the sink in this photo. The counter top brownish shade may be nice too.

Or we could just go with a larger (36 or 30 inch) single bowl stainless sink. (bonus for stainless, rub your hands on it to help remove food smells like garlic and onion, and it would match our appliances).
I'm not too big of a fan of this first one. The rounded corners just make it look strange to me. But it is a big stainless single bowl sink. It's Lovello.

I love these next two. The 'zero radius' corners just make it look so deep (all 3 of these stainless bowls are about 10 inches deep). I like the dark counter top on the second one.
This shows that stainless sink along with the Adel Medium Brown cabinets from Ikea that I like. I'm not that into the green back splash, but do like the lighting. This is similar to the layout of one side of our kitchen.

Weekend recap

2009-01-12T18:00:00.004-05:00

Thursday and Friday of last week were burn out days for me. I've been pretty busy at work, which is a good thing. I wasn't able to go with MIL to bring Blaze down to Miami area for his flight to CA, but everything went well and he's been enjoying his first few days with his new family in CA.

Thursday we had a Sears rep come out to give an estimate for new windows. The more we think about it, the more we think we can just buy the windows of our choosing and install them ourselves into our block openings. If we get in a bind, we could always hire a handyman to help out. That way we can get all vinyl impact windows (if you don't have impact windows in our area and you're getting new windows, you must have shutters, cut and labeled plywood or some other type of hurricane protection). I'll have to do another all about windows post later. We've got a couple more companies coming out this week to give us estimates. This is a double hung window. Most windows these days tilt in for easy cleaning.
Saturday was a rejuvenate day, a much needed relax day. DH neared completion of his re-routing our cable project. Let me just say it seems like hired cable people just run the quickest, easiest job. We found about 4 splitters and more than 50 extra feet of coaxial cable in the attic and around the house. DH ran the cable how it was supposed to be ran (or how we think was best), moved the splitters to inside the attic so they won't be affected by the weather and now we've got crystal clear cable reception.

Sunday my friend Missy came over and cut nearly 5 inches of my hair! It was scary. It's still about down to my shoulder blades in the back, so it's still long. Just will take some getting used to. Must not be too drastic of a change because not many people noticed yet. She also fixed my super dark roots, so I'm back to blond. She's the best! Can't beat catching up with a friend at your house while she does your hair.

In other news - Rufus got out of our backyard yesterday (we left the gate open). We were watching TV and started wondering where he was, since he's usually always hanging out with us. Then DH said the gate may have been left open, so I went to the front door to go outside to look for him and there he was, just smiling and staring in patiently waiting for us to let him in! What a good boy. He got lots of hugs and treats after that one!
We saw a couple movies over the last week or so. Pineapple Express and 7 Pounds. Pineapple Express was one of those movies where you have to be in the mood for it. I stayed awake for the whole thing. Some parts were pretty funny. As slap-stick as the movie was, Seth Rogan and James Franco were actually pretty good.

7 Pounds is with Will Smith, I'll try not to give away any of the movie, but if you don't want to know my opinion of this movie, STOP READING (I personally don't like it when people tell me if they liked or disliked a movie before I see it because as much as I try to not weigh their opinion to mine, I still try to figure out why they came up with their opinion of it - I'd rather see it first, then they can tell me their opinion).

Last chance, remember, don't read this next part if you don't want my opinion of the movie!
For about 3/4 of the movie, DH and I were trying to guess what the movie was about, what the point was, then at the end, it all summed it up. We guessed what it was about, but thought they should have at least hinted a little more about Will Smith's character's motivation. Definitely a heart wrenching tear jerker, so be prepared if you see it. The same director and producing team from Will Smith's earlier life-touching movie The Pursuit of Happiness (which I haven't seen yet!). I always like Will Smith, even back in the Fresh Prince of Bellair days. This movie's kind of slow in places, but Will Smith seems to keep it going. Stick with it, it's a story of sacrifice and redemption. Rosario Dawson is great, as is Woody Harrelson even in the short amount of time he's in the movie. Even after the movie, I couldn't figure out the meaning behind the title. http://www.imdb.com/ suggests the meaning (don't visit this site if you don't want spoilers, the synopsis explains what the movie is about - that would have kept DH and I front being confused for the first 3/4 but I still don't like to know too much about movies I'm going to see). I just read the mystery behind the trailers and the majority of the movie is intentinoal: Director Gabriele Muccino explained the intent: "The [audience] will not know exactly what this man is up to." Good job on that one :)

Kitchen part 2

2009-01-09T17:35:00.000-05:00

After long delay, here is the other side of our kitchen as it currently stands. The first view it taken standing near our interior door to go out to the garage. The large countertop area with the bar stools opens up into the den (and our nice new furniture!) This second photo is with me standing just behind the archway that you see in the first photo. This is where the dining room is.

A few things I do like about the kitchen:

Open feel
Especially as the house was built in 1979, previous owners changed the cabinets, so may have opened the layout.

Layout
That work triangle/square is there in this galley style kitchen, flows very well. I also like the countertop bar area, which we may raise up during the reno to make about a 8-10 inch bar area a few inches higher and seperate from the countertop area on the side by the cabinets.

Appliances
Of course! All are new except the microwave which will be replaced when we get new cabinets

Window over the sink
I can look out into the patio and onto the yard.

Sink
I actaully like this sink. It's Kitchenaid and made with some heavy duty material. Not glazed porcelin. I can clean it easily with bleach and any marks from pots and pans disappear with Mr. Clean Magic Eraser (which I highly recommend!)

Cabinet drawers and slides
These cabinets are cheaply made, but one good thing they did was to get the pull out drawer shelves in all of the larger base cabinets. That makes it easy to find what you're looking for - I don't have to get on me knees and reach to the back for that turkey baster I use a handful of times a year. The slide mechanisms are also pretty smooth.

Break time for some photos.

Not too crazy about this backsplash or tile countertop, but like cabinets, sink, appliances and lighting.I've thought about this. If we raise our ceiling to match the den ceiling height, we could add more small cabinets like this, but then it may take away from the open feel.

Now some issues I have with the kitchen as it is:

Quality of the cabinets
Like I said, cheaply made. Maybe good for 10 years max. I've got several places where there's wood shavings from the shelves falling apart.

Countertop
Laminate. The color is good for hiding dirt, but I'd rather see the dirt so I can clean it and not just let it sit there because it's hiding :) Also would like to be able to cut on the countertop and place pans on it. Just funcionality.

Window
Don't get confused, I said I like where the window is. We're getting all of the windows replaced in the house. (original single pane aluminum windows are NOT energy effecient)

Backsplash
There is none. When we moved in, my dear friend Missy helped us take down the gastly floral wallpaper and we decided on this cheerful buttercream yellow. I still like a shade of yellow, I may just tone it down or go more tan depending on how it goes with the new cabinets. Yellow just says 'wake up' to me - nice for a kitchen.
Lighting
You can't see it in these photos, but there's a huge (maybe 3x3ft light in the middle of the kitchen. This is one of those tube type lights. It gives off A LOT of light which is good to see, but not too flattering. I'd probably like to go with recessed or track lighting and maybe some under or in-cabinet lighting also.

Catchup

2009-01-07T18:30:00.001-05:00

Rufus came to work with me again today. This is a photo from a few weeks ago when he was 'on the clock'

Friday I went and toured 4 Ever Fitness and last night I had my first work out there. I went arond 6:15 and it was not packed at all. Very nice. Dan, the manager, took me through the circuit strength training and I also put in some time on the stationary bike and treadmill - making sure to keep my heart rate at aerobic level of around 150. I was not tired at all afterward. I'm going tonight to check out the YMCA. The Y will be a little more each month, but they offer the cardio classes that I love such as the pilates class I'm going to tonight. I'll weigh both options and make my decision this weekend.

Saturday and Sunday DH and I worked on house projects including door trim for some of the interior doors and finishing up the base boards. All of the rooms are now finished with the base, and we've just got 4 closets left to do. It's looking great. These are 2 different doors, but same before (first) and after (second). Please excuse the photo quality, I'll get better ones later.

Monday I was in Stuart for business again. That's actually not a bad drive at all. I prefer I-95 to I-4, but more of the business is along the I-4 corridor. Looks like I'll be going south down I-95 again Friday with my MIL to bring Blaze to Miami area so he can fly out to CA on Saturday. Speaking of California, DH and I got our tickets to go out there! We almost got a great deal out of Orlando airport, but I just had to check Daytona airport one more time (even though those flights had doubled since I last checked), and wha-la, flights from Daytona were reasonable! We figured in the $100 for parking if we flew from Orlando, plus the gas, plus the hassle of the busy MCO airport and we decided it was best to go out of Daytona. So, we fly out early early Jan. 30 for a short trip to San Diego. I'm really looking forward to it!

As Seen On TV

2009-01-06T21:00:00.001-05:00

We don't watch much late night TV, but with all of the DIY network shows we watch, there seems to be a million infomercials on that channel. I know some of them have to be obvious scams like the belt that's supposed to magically melt away the pounds some of the other interesting products with crazy claims. There are a few that I've wondered about.

One that I know works great is the FoodSaver vacuum sealer for food. I got ours from a friend of mine who didn't cook much so she didn't use it much. It works great (well, I have to press a little harder since I left it on top of my toaster oven and burnt some of the underside). It vacuum seals our meats so we can buy in bulk, freeze individual portions and not worry about freezer burn. I may have to break down and get a newer model to match our stainless appliances and so that I don't have to push down so hard since I melted this one. The newer ones also have a canister sealing option. But for now, it's great! And I only paid $10 for it and about 10 years worth of reusable bags!

If you've seen any infomercials at all, you've heard of or seen Billy Mays. This guy is everywhere. His latest one for ESPN has to be a spoof, but I still don't know. He's got one out for Mighty Putty that looks like it works. It's a pliable putty that you knead and form and it hardens. Now I don't know if I believe it'll replace a chain and hold hundreds of pounds, but I've used similar product and it is good for filling in gaps. DH used it on a cracked car alarm remote, kneaded it, formed it around the part then sanded and painted it and it was good as new. You can also drill through it after it has hardened.

I was looking through an 'as seen on tv' website and noticed I have another infomercial product that I love - my microfiber cleaning slippers! I got them from Bed Bath and Beyond shortly after we finished our hardwood floors. They're great for house slippers plus they pickup dust bunnies while you walk around the house. I have the pink ones :) I've also got the Magic Bullet which is a wonderful little food processor or quick mixed drink maker. Thanks to my aunt Joyce for that one, she bought one and got one free and was sweet enough to give me the 2nd one. I've used that thing so many times - alfredo sauce, chop onions, quick queso or salsa, and of course margaritas!

A couple of products I've thought about getting at BBB are Space Saver bags which you vacuum seal and compress linens or clothing and also the Debbie Meyer green bags which are supposed to keep your produce fresher longer. Oh, and I can't forget the commercial that always gets stuck in my head - Shamwow, you'll be saying wow every time. There are a ton of knock offs of these towels at the Flea Market that I may have to try out. Their commercial says beware of imitators though...And of course the Snuggie. The huge fleece blanket with arms. DH pointed out something funny on one of their commercials, they say it's one size fits all and near the end, they show a group in the stands at a ball game and the little kid with the snuggie on is struggling to get his/her hands out of the arm holes.

Anyone use any of these, or have any other 'as seen on tv' favorites or dislikes?

Happy New Year

2009-01-04T08:04:00.003-05:00

We cooked a whole chicken on the new grills rotisserie on New Years Day. It was great, we're still eating it. You know Rufus liked it too.
During these long holiday weekends, DH and I have been catching up on the new movie rental releases. Recently, we've watched 'Wanted', 'House Bunny', and 'Death Race'.

'Wanted' is with Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freeman. I always like both of these actors. It's a sort of sci-fi action flick that's pretty good. It's about an ancient fraternity of assassins who follow who the loom tell them to kill. Yes, an actual loom weaves binary code for the names. As always, they could have left out plenty of the curse words and other raunchy scenes still had a good movie, but that's Hollywood. It's a good watch if you're just looking for cool special effects.

House Bunny was a typical no-brainer chick flick. Well, maybe a little guy flick because it was about a girl who got kicked out of the playboy mansion. She finds a not-so-popular sorority and makes them popular in order to save their house. Very predictable, not so entertaining. It's a Happy Madison film, Adam Sandler's company, so there are a few pretty funny lines in it. The main actress is Anna Farris, who also stars in the Scary Movies.

Death Race is actually a remake of a movie from 1975 with Sly Stallone. The original takes place in the future, which was 2000. The newer movie takes place just a few years away, 2012. The main reason we rented this one was for Jason Statham. He's one of my favorite current action stars. He's been in movies like War, Transporter, Crank, Chaos. This movie was definitely action, but had a few yucky blood scenes. Not for the squeamish (I covered my eyes, mom! :) ). Now we've got to check out the original version, which I'm guessing will be less action packed given their limited CGI access back in the 70s. But it can't be that bad if they did a remake 30 years later, right? I've got a free rental at Blockbuster for an older movie anyway, so if it's terrible, we're not out anymore than a couple hours of our lives.

We also watched 'Eagle Eye' last weekend. It was another 'the government is watching you' movie. Ok for a standard action movie. I don't know about Billy Bob Thorton playing a federal agent. I couldn't look at him during the interrogation scene and not think 'french fried taters, mmm hmmm'.

Happy New Years Eve

2008-12-31T17:20:00.002-05:00

This was taken by my cell phone camera on new years 2005/2006. It was DH and my first new years as a married couple. We lived at my grandparents house for the first few months we were married and this was a big street party on Main Street about a mile away so we decided to check it out. It was PACKED! Nice fireworks at midnight though.

The new years before that 2004/2005, we had been engaged for just over a month and we drove up to Washington DC to visit DH's sister. That new years party was great - it was at Jillian's, which is just like Dave and Busters. We were bowling in the new year. Fun times. Wish we had one of those places here in town. We're definitely going there when we go to San Diego next month. I was also in DC the new years before that, but that was before I had met DH.

We haven't decided what we're doing this year, but I know I'll have to take a nap before we go out. I'm used to going to bed around 9-10pm. Nap and Redbull here I come! Maybe we'll get to try the new Japanese steakhouse here in town - grand opening today or a different restaurant and a comedy club. We'll see...

Under the weather

2008-12-30T12:30:00.002-05:00

I've come down with some stomach bug, so no post about our kitchen today. Hopefully tomorrow.

In the meantime, you can check out my cute little Rufus playing in our yard this past weekend.

Kitchen part 1

2008-12-29T17:30:00.000-05:00

After visiting Ikea last week, my mind's been on renovating our kitchen. It's a galley style kitchen. Here's the south wall and Rufus of course. The door is to our pantry. I had thought of adding pull out drawers on this but because of the lip on the door inside, I would have lost about 5 inches total of shelf space. The pantry itself is only about 2 ft. deep and I've got it very organized, so it's not a problem to see everything and I like my extra 5 inches per shelf. Next to that is a small 12 inch countertop, then our wonderful Frigidaire double range.

The range that was in the house when we bought it was an older range, which did have smooth top but the broiler didn't work and it was white. DH and I got this range for a great price just before Thanksgiving 2007. The oven is convection and has a speed bake feature where you don't even have to preheat the oven. I can turn it on, put cookies in and 10 minutes later, they're perfect. The lower oven which is usually where the warming drawer is, is still a warming drawer (low to high setting), but is also a fully functioning oven (up to 450 deg). And expandable burners. This cames in handy when we have company over. Next to that is another 12 inch countertop area (cabinets on the top of both this and the other 12 incher).

Then our fridge (insert ahhhh's and celestial music here). The fridge we had before is here on the left. It worked just fine except when you tried to open the freezer door on the left, it hit into the wall and the pull-out freezer shelves were useless because they couldn't fully extend. We ended up giving it to a couple that really needed it. We found our new fridge through Craigslist for about 1/3 of the price it was at Home Depot. It's LG french door and I can open all of the doors and pull out all of the shelves. The only thing I first missed about the old fridge was how excited little puppy Rufus would get when he would hear the ice maker. He used to love to chase ice cubes around the house. The LG fridge has an ice maker, but it's in the freezer. Ruf isn't as interested in ice cubes now which is good because we have the hard wood floors and melting ice cubes aren't good for wood floors.

When we redo the cabinets, we'll get an over the range microwave - either one of these Frigidaire models. The microwave we have right now is amazing (something like 1200 watts!), it just doesn't fit the kitchen look. And the thing it's sitting in is a vent shelf sort of thing that is cool because it holds my cookie sheets and cutting boards too but it's just a pain to keep clean and kind of ackward looking. The one on the right is a newer style with the controls on the door (model PLBMV188HC, one on left is model PLMV178HC). It's about $100 more for that style and the only other difference is it's only 0.1 cu. ft. larger. I haven't seen the newer one in real life so I haven't decided on which one I like better. Hey, they may even come out with a new one by the time we're ready to get it.

That's 1 side of our kitchen. Who know about 12 ft. of a room could be such a chatter topic? Join me tomorrow for side 2!

Christmas at our families houses and weekend recap

2008-12-28T20:00:00.008-05:00

This what what we first saw when we went out our front door Christmas Day. We called them Christmas birds. They were in our front yard picking out worms and grubs out of a brown patch in our yard that just won't go away. Maybe it's filled with bugs and that's why it won't grow. I think you can see one of the birds in action with a catch on the right of the pic. I'm easily amused, so I sat and watched them for a while. Interesting characters.
After breakfast and presents at our house, DH and I went over to my grandparents house for a visit. We brought them a photo of the 4 of us at our wedding. I just love this photo.
Then it was home for a Christmas nap. DH and I played a few rounds of our new wii games and took a nice long nap while it poured rain outside. I baked some white chocolate and cranberry cookies which came out pretty flat from all the moisture in the air. Then it was off to the inlaws houses. It was an exchange of gift cards at DH's moms. We got them Lowes and Woodys BBQ and they got us Home Depot (which went towards DH's grill) and Bed Bath and Beyond which went towards this new hobby -

We started our first batch yesterday. It's going to take 2 weeks in the keg to ferment, then we bottle it and wait 2-3 weeks for carbonization, then another couple of weeks for conditioning. DH's sis also sent us packages which included another BBB gift card for me and an Omaha Steaks GC for DH.

Then it was off to DH's dads house for Christmas dinner. Ham, turkey, mashed, sweet, corn, peas, there was soo much food! And presents! DH got a cerftificate to play golf at LPGA course, we got some things for the house and I got lots of good smelling Bath and Body Works items, candles (Partylite Mango Tangerine Present Jar which smells WONDERFUL!), wine and more.
I called my parents after we had finished at the inlaws and they had cooked and taken dinner over to my grandparents house which I'm sure my grandparents really appreciated. It was getting late, so we ended up meeting up Saturday. My parents got DH a gift card to Publix so he could get some fresh steaks and they paid for me to get my car windows tinted which I had been putting off getting for so many years already. DH and I finally went Saturday morning and the guy was finished in less than 30 minutes! I'm really happy with how it turned out.

Saturday was a relax day to get ready for the UFC fight. DH smoked a brisket. I went out to BBB to meet my parents then ate at Tijuana Flats with them and brought DH dinner home. I managed to stay awake for some of the fight. I was awake to see Rashad Evans win over Forrest. Hopefully Forrest can take it back some time. I'm a Forrest fan. We ended up watching the fights again Sunday morning. I can't believe Frank Mir knocked out Nogueira! All of the fights were great. I just hope Brighthouse gets PPV HD for the next one. Sunday was another relaxing day - grocery shopping and laundry.

Christmas presents at our house!

2008-12-26T23:00:00.001-05:00

Christmas day started out with our little puppy Rufus and his presents that he's been patiently staring at under the tree for weeks! Gifts from Kelly and Kodi, Aunt Joyce and Beans and some money in a card from his 'real' mom and dad up in MN at his breeders house - money for a big bone! Tes, the breeder, is so thoughtful, she's done this every Christmas for Rufus.

Then it was a couple big boxes for me. Weathertech Digital Fit floor liners and a cargo mat for my Explorer. Now I have very little excuse for not keeping my car clean. These mats are digitally cut for each make and model so that they fully fit every nook and cranny. The cargo mat sure beats the cardboard box I had been using! These are stock photos of the items, I'll get real ones later.Then it was a couple stocking stuffers for DH - jerky, fancy mixed nuts, hot sauces and steak sauces galore and some wii games - AMF Bowling Pinbusters which is either going back to the store or on craigslist (not good at all, stick with wii bowling), Game Party wich is great with darts, ski ball, beer pong and other games, and then an old school racing game Cruizin, yeah, like at the arcades. The later 2 games are great. I'd even like Game Party 2 (Bean Bags, Horseshoes, Lawn Darts, Puck Bowling, Quarterback Challenge, Trivia, Hoop Shoot, Ping Cup, Shuffleboard, Skillball, Darts) and maybe Hasbro's Family Game Night which is digital versions of old school board games like Boggle, Yahtzee, Battleship, Sorry, and Connect Four. That may be the only way to get DH to play boardgames. We've also got Carnival Games, Active Life Outdoor Challenge, My Fitness Coach and Cooking Mama Cookoff on our list of games to get.

DH is also going to get me a membership to one of our local gyms. We just got a new Planet Fitness which sounds very affordable but is a long drive away. Golds Gym is close, but intimidates me. It's up to the YMCA or 4-Ever Fitness which are both within walking distance. 4-Ever Fitness is smaller and has less people than the Y, but the Y has cardio classes. I'm hoping 4-Ever added cardio classes when we go to tour. So if we go with 4-Ever, this is what I'll be seeing most of for the next several months. http://www.4everfitness.net/
We spent most of Friday shopping for a grill for DH. If you know us, you'll know we already have 2 grills. 1 is a Fiesta which was from his Marine Corp days when he lived in CA and it's still working great. And the other he has was a hand me down from a family friend that he could use as a smoker until he got his actual smoker. The 2nd one is a small Kenmore grill which we'll probably keep for when we get a camper. It's small enough to transport easily. So, we now have a wall-o-cookers where our hot tub used to be. Left to right, Fiesta, Brinkman smoker, Kenmore. Don't forget there's still a turkey fryer out there too.
So after Port Orange Home Depot, Sears, HHGreggs, Daytona Home Depot we were back to PO Home Depot and got this Charmglow 5-Burner Stainless Steel with Rotisserie. Total grilling area of 926 square inches which is ridiculous for 2 people. Side burner, slid out drawer, sear feature, slide out trash bin, and more! We had hamburgers and turkeyburgers on it last night - tasty! This first photo shows how it fits in the place of where the other 2 grills were (they're behind it in this photo). And in the 2nd photo, the new grill in it's new home. The extra propane take (yes, we have 4!) is actually connected to a orange hose flame thrower which DH uses to quick start the coals in the smoker. I think it's actually supposed to be used for burning weeds or something I'm sure is equally dangerous.

Merry Christmas to all!

2008-12-25T18:19:00.003-05:00

It's been a busy couple of days!
Here's Rufus with some of his Christmas presents - the first basket is from Aunt Joyce and Beans. Ruf took an immediate liking to the stuffed Santa. I actually took a couple pics of the basket and then noticed Santa was missing. And Ruf's name is even on the bucket! The cute gift bucket came with furry stuffed Santa, country bacon flavored biscuits, a rope ball, 3 tennis balls and waste disposal baggies with dispenser! We haven't opened the tennis balls yet, but the Santa and rope ball have already been thrown all around the house! Thanks Aunt Joyce and Beans!
And here's Rufus with his gift package from Kelly and Kodi in Virginia. For those of you that know Rufus, you can appreciate these 2 photos seeing Rufus actually sort of posing. It took several takes! Kelly and Kodi sent Ruf a big toy rubber stick with ladybugs and another beetle on it - great for fetch, also a neat Frisbee with a hole in it that I think is one of Kodi's favorite toys, Ruf's all time fav rope tire, some treats - stuffed rawhide and a cute gingerbread man and a stuffed brown poodle from the movie Beverly Hills Chihuahua. Thanks Kelly and Kodi!

DH got a new grill today. I'll be posting pics of Christmas for the next couple of days. See more pics of Ruf and his presents here http://www.flickr.com/photos/65436707@N00/sets/72157611633023429/

Thanks to everyone for a great Christmas!

Merry Christmas Eve!

2008-12-24T13:00:00.001-05:00

Christmas Eve already!
Tradition while I was growing up was to go to my grandparents house, or them come to or house here in Florida and open presents from the HUGE stockings my grandma has. She would shop for small stocking stuffers like hair bands and toothpaste, you know, the things you actually use, and wrap them all up. My parents and I had 1 stocking with gifts wrapped in 3 different types of wrapping paper to show which gift went to whom. My grandpa would dress up as Santa Claus and bring in a big bag of presents. We would bake traditional Italian Christmas cookies which always seemed to be more fun to bake than to eat. I still like pizzelles though. They're an Italian waffle like cookie, and according to Wikipedia, Pizzelle were originally made in the Abruzzo region of south-central Italy. The name comes from the Italian word for "round" and "flat" (pizze); this is also the meaning of the word pizza. We flavor ours with anise, but I'm sure vanilla or walnut would be great too. They're made from an egg based batter and poured on a pizzelle iron to cook. When warm, they can also be rolled and used as a cannoli shell. Some people even dust them with powdered sugar. We would also make Italian prune cookies which were not my favorite. Sort of tasted like fig newtons.

I wish I had a picture of my grandpa dressed up in that Santa suit. I'll have to search and scan one in if I find it. I remember the Christmas I found out Santa was my grandpa. I was 5 years old and we were having Christmas in my grandparents basement. My grandpa said he had to go upstairs to fix Aunt Dot's washing machine or dishwasher (their house is a Manor on the beach where they used to rent out rooms). I knew the only washing machine was in the basement with us and that she didn't have a dishwasher - something fishy was going on...Then Santa came and confirmed my suspicions - he was wearing my grandma's glasses! He had brought me a precious little kitten and my little cousins were there so I didn't say anything, but I knew. I don't know what age I was that I revealed to my parents what I had discovered that night. Santa still brings you presents as long as other people didn't know you knew, right? :) The kitten he brought me that year was Princey, the only cat I've had in my life. He was such a great kitty, a constant companion. He passed when he was 16 years old in 2003.

Here's the 2 of us in one of his favorite lookout spots in my parents house.

DH and I finished up our shopping for the family last night. We stopped at Andy's and picked up some beer for the weekend - Sierra Nevada regular and Christmas edition and also Hacker Pschorr. Had to stock up for Christmas and also the big UFC fight on Saturday. It's a big one Forrest Griffin defending his title against Rashad Evans, Nogueira v Frank Mir, Wanderlei Silva v Rampage Jackson. Andy is also going to check out availability on a special bottle of 30 year aged scotch for DH's 30th birthday next year. I picked up an extra few small things for DH today and Christmas is ready to start.

Weekend recap 2

2008-12-23T18:00:00.000-05:00

Saturday at Ikea, my main focus was checking out their kitchen displays. I didn't realize it before, but our Ikea doesn't have a whole area dedicated to bathrooms in their showroom. In the mini-apartment display, there's a mini-bathroom, but that's about it.

We've already replaced our dishwasher, stove/range and refrigerator with sleek stainless appliances (fridge is french door LG, range is double oven Frigidaire and dishwasher is Frigidaire with the hidden buttons), and of course the floors are the beautiful wood that's in the rest of the house, so basically the big items left are cabinets, countertop, backsplash, microwave with vent and maybe a sink (I really like mine but we may have to switch to stainless to match).
Ikea's home furnishings are VERY reasonably priced, geared towards the do-it-yourselvers like us AND they have cool planning tools like Kitchen designer 3D which allows me to input our kitchen dimensions and appliances and choose different cabinets and layouts. In their store, they offer free consulting which we'll have to check out next time we're there and have our dimensions together.
I think I'm set on Adel Medium Brown cabinets with some type of stainless handle. These are real photos from others who have installed them in their kitchen. I'd love to have 2 cabinets with the clear glass for display and to add light with in cabinet and under cabinet lighting. And I love the simple stone-look backsplash and the black granite countertops and the beige walls - I love it all!

One of the other things I love is the flexibility of Ikea products. There are so many pieces to mix and match to make the most of your space. I'm set on these pull out pantry pieces and the slide out cabinet shelves. We already have slide out cabinet drawers which are great, but I think I like the horizontal base cabinet drawers better. There's still time. So many options.

After all of my drooling at Ikea, DH and I drove home and I was off to baking for a Christmas party later that night. My friend Michelle, aka Susie Homemaker, had organized a Christmas cookie and ornament exchange. I signed up to make white chocolate and cranberry cookies, which I'd only made 1x before and that was several years ago. I made 2 dozen with dried cranberries (which tasted better warm) and 2 dozen with fresh cranberries (cooked to soften, these cookies tasted better cold to me). The party was great. I think there were nearly 20 people there! I got a cute little skiing snowman ornament which went right on the tree when I got home. And then we all exchanged cookies. There were soo many different cookies! Michelle made some really cute ones with her nifty cookie press (yeah, I was impressed!), and there were yummy oatmeal raisin with icing, peanut butter with kisses, pecan date, m&m, sugar, magic cookie bars, and probably a million more. My mom made Italian pizzelle cookies, which just remind me of Christmas time.

Sunday we didn't do too much. We cleaned the inside of my car, which was long overdue. Now, it's almost as good as new! My cell phone stopped working again Friday night while we were at Disney, so being without a cell all weekend felt like a vacation! My dad got it to work again, so I'm back to normalcy, or something like that.

Weekend recap 1

2008-12-22T18:00:00.000-05:00

Friday DH and I headed over to Orlando around 3pm. There wasn't too much traffic, which was nice. We checked into our hotel and headed over to Hooters for dinner. Yum! We had hot breaded wings and also Daytona Beach breaded wings which were interesting. It's a sweet and spicy sauce that's put on the wings after they're fried, then it's all finished on the grill. Very messy, but good. Then it was off to Magic Kingdom. Here's the entrance to the parking (which is now $12!)We rode the ferry over to the Magic Kingdom. The park was packed, but everything was organized so it didn't feel that way. We made our way over to Tomorrowland and waited about 10 minutes to ride Buzz Lightyear. That ride is great, but hopefully they'll update it with the improvements they designed into Toy Story at MGM/Hollywood Studios. Then we waited about another 10 minutes to ride Space Mountain, my favorite ride. I got to sit in the front and loved it! Then to TTA and the rest of the park. The longest listed wait time was 20 minutes, but I don't think we ever waited more than 10 minutes. It was great. All of the kids must have been at the Christmas shows and parades. After several cheesy rides in Fantasyland, we headed over to Frontierland for Thunder Mtn RR and Splash Mtn. Just after the big drop on Splash Mtn, we saw the fireworks were starting. We walked over to near the Jungle Cruise waters and watched the amazing fireworks show. The whole production was set to music and the finale, oh, what a finale! The main fireworks were over the castle, but during the finale, the whole park was surrounded with fireworks. It was amazing!

At designated areas throughout the park they offered complimentary refreshments which included apple juice, apple slices, sugar cookies with sprinkles and delicious hot coco with marshmallows. (who knew marshmellows were spelled with an A?).
We saw the 10:30 parade which started with Micky and Minnie and a big Christmas tree, and had all the beloved Disney Characters. My favorites were the gingerbread men adn the toy soldiers. (these 2 aren't my pics, most of mine didn't come out too well. These actually came from a website for Disneyland's parade http://www.family-vacation-getaways-at-los-angeles-theme-parks.com/Disney-Holiday-Parade.html)
And then came Santa! Jolly as ever.

Saturday we went to Ikea and then came home to Rufus! I baked cookies for a cookie party which I'll tell about in tomorrow's blog.

MVMCP

2008-12-18T17:30:00.001-05:00

This is what DH and I will be seeing tomorrow night. Fireworks at Disney's Magic Kingdom for the last night of Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. My aunt will be staying over at our house with her pup Beans to keep Rufus company. I haven't told Rufus yet, but I'm sure they'll all have a great time.

We went to Disney last year but missed this party because they were sold out, so we made sure to get our tickets well in advance and just as we expected, tomorrow night is sold out. The Magic Kingdom is open to the day-pass crowd until 7pm and the people with the Christmas Party tickets are allowed to enter the park at 4pm. I've heard mixed reviews on the enforcement issue for those that bought the extra ticket for the night event and those that were there for the day and sneak around to avoid being escorted out of the park after the regular day ticket hours. Between 20,000 and 25,000 is the max number of tickets sold for the party, so there will still be a lot of people there, but we're going to enjoy it! I don't know how much of the parades or shows we'll see, but we'll definitely ride the rides! Space Mountain, Splash Mountain and Buzz Lightyear are on the top of the list. We'll be heading over around 1pm to check in to our hotel which is in Lake Buena Vista, just outside of Downtown Disney. From the looks of it, we'll grab dinner in Disney Marketplace, probably at Hooters then we'll head over to Magic Kingdom until midnight.

Saturday morning we may check out breakfast at our hotel, or if it's too packed with childrens, maybe stop somewhere close. Then hopefully, we'll stop at Ikea on our way home. Maybe we could have Ikea for breakfast too. I think breakfast starts at 9:30am there. If you haven't been to an Ikea yet, and love home decor, you MUST go to one. We went last year around this time and it was the highlight of the trip. Well, the ICE exhibit was cool last year too. We got these amazing bookshelves which reach floor to ceiling in our office. This is the pic from their website, one day I'll take an actual pic of our office. Oh yeah, I just found this on Ikea's site: December 20, 2008 - Breakfast with Santa @ 9am - 11:30am IKEA Restaurant

Last year we also visited Gaylord Palms ICE exhibit which was cool. Literally. It's a walk-through attraction hand-carved (carved by a team of 40 artisans from Harbin, China) from nearly TWO MILLION pounds of ice and they keep the temps at 9 degrees F! At the end there were slides made of ice that were FUN! I think I have a video of me on the slide somewhere. We won't be going this year, so here are a few pics from last year's trip. That whole candy land house was made out of ice and smelled like peppermint!
The beautiful natvitiy scene and angel and DH and I in the chilly exhibit with the supplied parkas.

Elf Yourself

2008-12-17T19:28:00.003-05:00

These videos cracked me up!! I tried to embed them but they wouldn't play for some reason, so here are the links that should work

Merry Christmas from our family to yours! Enjoy!

classic http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/9FcIoMyM6etNqNqeBkeT
country http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/QFSw9vkQgF7PtghWY2iP

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

2008-12-16T17:30:00.000-05:00

Thanks to webmd.com, I've been able to self-diagnose my current health status. I'm pretty sure I have Sinusitis. I have all the symptoms - Pain or pressure in the forehead, cheeks, nose and between the eyes, headache, fever, nasal congestion, reduced sense of smell, ache in the teeth. Ok, I don't have the fever part that I'm aware of, but I've loaded up on sinus headache OTC meds. Hopefully it'll clear soon, as I've got a sales visit down south in Stuart tomorrow.

With Christmas fast approaching, I decided to take a couple pics of my favorite ornaments from our tree. This first one is from an ice cube looking snowman series. At my bridal shower, a friend loaded us up with different items for many of the holidays, especially Christmas ornaments and house decorations. I thought that was a wonderful idea! She got us several pieces from this series and they're all different. This guy used to be ice fishing with a fishing pole until Rufus got ahold of it when he was a baby and stretched out the snowman's wire arms. I guess he could use his long arms to reach into the ice hole and just grab the fish now. I still like to hang this one up because it makes me laugh every year.
These are 2 of our newer ornaments. I'll take some pics of the older, family ornaments later this week. The star at the right is a clear plastic material decorated with pretty silver glitter lines. I like it because it's elegant byt simple. And to the left of that is a silver metal 'S', for our last name, decorated with red swarovski crystals. Pretty and simple again. Our color scheme for the tree is red and silver.And here's a view of our house from the street. Our cars are parked in the driveway, so you can't see the other decorated trees, but this shows most of it. Icicles all over, net lighting on the bushes, lights wrapped around the columns, and twinkeling stars above the garage and in the windows. We've also got Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus and a cow from the natvitity blow mold collection in the center of the flower bed.
This is our den with the stockings and tree and a fire in the fireplace. You wouldn't expect this to be in a house in central FL would you? I think it was around 50 that night - definitely fireplace weather for us :) Now we've just got to get some presents in those stockings and under the tree. And yes, one of the stockings is Rufus'!

Weekend recap

2008-12-15T17:30:00.000-05:00

Friday was a day of ups and downs and ups. I'm a member of a few flickr groups but most active in a standard poodle group Standard Poodles Caniche Royal SPCR (French) www.flickr.com/groups/69361585@N00/ . It still amazes me how people meet over the internet. It's less shady these days since the majority of the population has internet access - I guess the numbers are in your favor in meeting someone nice vs. someone creepy. This SPCR flickr group was introduced to me by my MIL when we were in the process of finding a pup. All members either have, have had, or are looking for standard poodles, or "spoos". Some have 1, some have more than 5! Some members are here in the US, some over in Eurpoe. There's so much helpful information in this group, and so many helpful people. Anyway, one member in California had a pup Daisy who was an honorary member (she was part Golden Lab) whom she rescued and brought back to the best health possible. Just last week, Daisy had to be put to sleep and the lady was devistated. All members sent words of comfort, but being the caring poodle group it is, there was more. My MIL had rescued a pup named Blaze a few months ago and she spoke with the lady who had to let Daisy go and they both agreed that Blaze was meant to go to CA to be with her. Blaze had been in an abusive, neglected situation before my MIL got him and it would be best for him to be with this retired lady whose only other pet is an older female dog. Very comforting and thoughtful to give Blaze away, but it didn't stop there. Members of the group worked together to donate money to cover the travel expenses to fly Blaze from FL to CA. And it didn't stop there. A member has a relative in the airline industry who could offer reduced fair AND either she or her husband would travel with the dog on the flight and deliver him to the lady in CA. Other members of the group live close to the retired lady, so they offered to check in with her and make sure all was ok. What a wonderful situation for a true spoo lover! Blaze will probably be here through new years and fly out in January. Here he is above in a photo from my MIL's flickr photostream. And that was a down into an up.

I also found out DH didn't have to work Saturday as we had thought he may have to. Another up. Friday night dinner was Long Doggers fish and chips - delicious as always. http://www.longdoggers.com/ They use a cornmeal breading on their fish - yum!

We watched the new Batman The Dark Knight movie - another up, even though it was 2.5 hours long, which I usually fall asleep about half way in. I made it through the whole movie and was pretty impressed with the movie. It did disturb me to think that Heath Ledger passed possibly due to his role as the Joker, I could definitely see how he could have immersed himself into the role. I usually always like Christian Bale too (except in that American Psycho and that other movie where he wasted away physically - ok, maybe I just like him in Newsies and Batman), but the ridiculous voice he used when he was dressed as Batman - I could have done without. I just couldn't understand him half of the time.

Saturday we went to the barber, Publix for a load of meats (whole chicken, beef brisket, boston butt pork, ground turkey and a couple nice rib-eyes which were on sale). Rufus and I went over to my MIL's to play for a few hours while DH mowed our lawn and smoked some meat. Ruf had a blast as usual. We watched the UFC fight finale and hung out on our new furniture in the den by the fire. Here's Rufus doing his best to pose for a photo. Saturday dinner was smoked chicken, veggies and potatoes with mini-cheesecake bites for dessert.

Sunday morning we went to our church's Christmas presentation at 10:45, lunch at Applebee's with MIL+FIL, then shopping for an ottoman. We found one at Target which was nice, bonus it was $10 off and we had a $20 GC, but I wasn't sold on it. We checked a few other places and decided to get the one from Target when I went grocery shopping later that night. We got it home and it looks good in the room, but I'll still keep my eye out for a little larger one. Maybe 25-28W x 36-42D rectangular brown leather storage ottoman. This one we have is 18Hx32Wx16D.

Guest bathroom reno ideas

2008-12-12T11:14:00.009-05:00

Our current house project is moulding - baseboards and door casings. We'll probably take a moulding break after that, putting off crown moulding for a while, and tackle either the guest bathroom or the kitchen. Since we have a walk-in shower in our master bath, the guest bath is the only place I can retreat to for a nice bath. I've only done this 1 or 2 times in the nearly 3 years we've lived in this house. It's just not inviting, but there is potential! My only "must have" is a tub with some type of jets.
I'd like a spa feel in the bathroom. One day, this will be the kids bathroom, so we've got to keep that in mind too. I like slate and stone work, maybe we'll save that for the master bath. I like how the slate in this bathroom matches the wood tones and keeps it all light. I prefer larger 12x12 min. or 18x18 size tiles for the walls - makes it less busy to my eye.

But these just speak spa to me - neautral, clean, crisp. The second is the Hyatt Regency Ft Lauderdale and the third is the Hilton in the Chicago O'Hare Airport. Most of the designs I see that I like are by Hilton hotels!

I love love love glass moasic tile. But may save that for the backsplash in the kitchen and just use larger tiles or stone work for the bathrooms, adding small glass moasic accents like mirror. These blue moasic bathrooms are beautiful, but just not the sophisitcated, spa look that I'm going for. I know this is a guest/kids bathroom, but simple, clean lined bathroom can always be made kid friendly with some color accent items. These 2 are from the Solamar hotel in San Diego. It's got just enough glass moasic accents, but may be a little too 'beachy' for our bathroom.

Florida storms

2008-12-11T17:42:00.002-05:00

We woke up this morning to sounds of strong winds. Turned on the news and found we were under a tornado watch. I always forget which is more serious - a watch or a warning. According to www.tornadochaser.com/saf.htm A Tornado Watch means that tornadoes are possible in your area and a Tornado Warning means that a tornado has been sighted or indicated by weather radar and it is time for you to take shelter. So we're ok but it looks like a lot of rain was coming our way according to weather.com's photo at 9:30am. I marked our area on the map above, it's the red text.

We've had our fair share of storms over the years, mostly hurricanes. In fall of 2004 when I was up at college, we had the big 4 make landfall in FL - Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne. Here's a sat view of Ivan. The media usually plays up the anticipation of the storms, but for this season, the physical damage and affect on human life was very real. I've found it's best to be prepared but not go overboard. Some people flock to the stores buying up all water, canned goods, plywood and other supplies. I'm sure there are some people who don't do anything if a storm's approaching. We like to be prepared ahead of time which means have supplies and have a plan. Even though we are on the grid with most of the city buildings, we do still plan to get a generator that could run the necessities if the power were to go out. We've got family close, so we have other places we can stay if our house is damaged. We've been blessed to not have to exercise our disaster plan. For today's storm, it was work as usual, although I did bring Rufus to work with me so he didn't have to sit at home with all of the wind and rain. He didn't complain.

From Wikipedia, Charley made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane (150 mph winds) near Punta Gorda, FL (southwest coast) on August 13. Charley remained a hurricane across the entire Florida peninsula and passed through Orlando and near Daytona. It made a second landfall in SC on 08/14 and disappeared somewhere near Maine.

Frances made its way on to FL's east coast as a Cat. 2 hurricane (105 mph winds, was 145 mph max) Sept. 5 down near Miami, after sitting off the coast for about 24 hours. Frances was a slow storm which meant lots of wind and flooding rain. It finally moved through FL, touched the Gulf for a moment then went up near Tennessee where it dissipated.

Ivan passed Cuba as a Cat 5 (165 mph) around Sept. 10 and then made landfall in southern Alabama, headed north east across GA, looped back around and hit southern FL. That was a strange one.

About the same time Jeanne was making her way to FL (120 mph winds, cat 3), making landfall close to where Frances had hit a few weeks prior.
Interestingly enough, The World Meterological Organization retired four names in the spring of 2005: Charley, Frances, Ivan, and Jeanne. They will be replaced in 2010 by Colin, Fiona, Igor, and Julia.

While most of this was going on, DH had come up to visit me at school in Tennessee around Labor Day weekend 09/04. After hearing the number of storms that planned to threaten our area, my parents decided to bring my grandparents up for a visit. I guess many other people had the thought to leave the area at that time for a vacation because I heard the roads were packed. They stayed up in TN for a few days and before they headed back, they filled several gas containers with spare gas and strapped them to the roof of the car just in case. There's usually a gas shortage after this many storms in the area. I'm not sure if they ever had to use the reserve on the way home, but at least they were prepared.

From my records, this photo is of my grandparents stairs after on of the 2004 storms, or it may have been from a previous storm. These stairs leading to the beach have since been rebuilt. The seawall sand support has been rebuilding itself since as well. That's the 2nd or 3rd rebuild of the stairs that I can remember since I've been around. Guess that's part of living on the beach.

The story of how we found our house

2008-12-10T18:00:00.000-05:00

DH and I were married August 20, 2005. We lived in an apartment at my grandparents beachfront manor for the first few months (we were actually married there overlooking the ocean - beautiful!!). Our apartment was very small, probably just over 500 sq. ft. total. When my grandparents got an offer on their house around October 2005, we thought it was time to look for our own place. We started looking around town - this was during the height of the real estate bubble. Our basic wish list was 3 bedroom, 2 bath with a yard and room for our boat. (yeah, we bought a boat together after we'd been dating for a few months. That's where he proposed to me, and that's for a another post!). Other than those items, I was also looking for a nice master suite with a whirlpool tub.

After checking out houses for several weekends, we started to realize that all of the newer homes which were built with the spacious master suite and upgraded kitchens and bathrooms were practically built on top of each other - you could probably hear your neighbors or jump roof to roof. Both of our families knew were actively looking too. We were out at Target one night doing some Christmas shopping and ran into DH's aunt and uncle. We mentioned to them that we were just about exhausted with the housing market. They said they'd keep their eyes out for something that fit our description. Just after the new year, my grandma told me that DH's aunt had called trying to get a hold of us. I called her back and she told us her neighbor had just put a For Sale by owner sign up the night before. I didn't know the exact neighborhood they lived in, but was familiar with the area and it sounded great. We went over to DH's aunt's house to check it out.

The neighborhood was perfect. Older, quiet, no through-street. It was right in town, close to Home Depot, Walmart, Super Target and all shops but set away enough that it didn't feel like you were really that close. The Port Orange City Center was within walking distance - that meant the library, YMCA, city ball fields, amphitheatre and the lake which I knew our puppy would love! The photo to the right is the lake with city hall in the background. (thanks to Grandma BJ for the photo - more of our city center on her flickr site www.flickr.com/photos/21322109@N00/sets/72057594104077648/) Some bonuses about the location - police station and fire station were right near the city hall also, so our power lines would be the last to go off in the event of an emergency! Underground power lines, reclaimed water available, the list went on and on. We saw the outside of the neighbors house. It was standard ranch style. Cute front porch with potential. I've never been a huge fan of brick, but I kept an open mind. DH's aunt's house was the same layout except reversed as the neighbor's house, so we walked through to see the space. 3 bedrooms, 2 baths -check! The house was built in 1979 so there was work to be done, but the frame and basics were there. Then we peeked through the fence to check out their back yard - SOLD! This happened to be the largest lot in the neighborhood. It had a pool, hot tub and lounge area under a screened in patio, room in the yard for our boat (even room on the side of the house to back it in) - everything we were looking for.

I called the lady and set up a time to come look at the house. We already knew that we'd likely put an offer in just based on the location and the yard, the inside could be gutted and redone. One step into the house and we were sure. Now, this lady's decorating style was not like ours at all. She was a grandma and loved to collect things. There was soo much furniture and nick knacks all over the house. I tried to over look it all. I guess had she tried to list it with a realtor, they would have told her to clean the place up. She gave us a tour and then DH and I thanked her and stepped outside. We both knew this was the place. We went back in and told her. We put a deposit down and started all of the fun paperwork. Feb. 1 the house was ours!!
It's taking some time to turn it into our own, but that's one of the joys of buying an older house - sweat equity.
We got in our chair and a half and love seat today. It looks kind of cramped in there right now with the tree. I just snapped this pic after the delivery men dropped the furniture off, so it may need some re-arraigning and definitely a table or ottoman, side table and lamp, and maybe some different art on the wall, but it's already looking great in there. I didn't want to offend Rufus by not including him in the pic.

Rufus at work

2008-12-09T09:12:00.002-05:00

I went home yesterday at lunch time and Rufus gave me that look like he wanted to come into work with me for the rest of the day. He's so sweet. I think he knows when I'm not feeling too well and he's always there to cheer me up.

Here's my sweet Rufus actually posing for pics in my office. He's always so well behaved (after the initial jump up in your face to see who you are). This is his typical jolly expression. Seems like if he's not sleeping, then he's 'smiling'. And how can you not feel better looking at this face.
I guess I can catch you all up on how Rufus came into our lives. Once we moved into our house Feb. 1, 2006, our first job was to fence in the yard and get ready for a puppy. I just wanted a puppy, any would do. DH had grown up with standard poodles and he had his heart set on a chocolate pup. We searched and searched the internet. From my email records, it looks like we started looking around mid-March 2006. After countless websites, DH emailed me a link to www.booksleadtoproducts.com/Royal-Standard-Poodles.html on 06/06/06. I emailed the breeder and she emailed me back immediately. She had a dog named Zain who was pregnant by Kodi and due 07/25. Everything just fell into place. She was very helpful with every question I had, and was always available to help us through the process. Her website was very thorough with tons of information and also updated pics of pups with their human families. And her pups were chocolate and most grew to be big poodles - just what we were looking for. We put a deposit on a pup, we were 3rd in line for the litter due in July.

July 25 rolled around and we were so excited. I was checking the website for updates every hour. No updates until late in the evening, Zain had only 2 puppies, 1 boy and 1 girl and both were already spoken for. I was pretty sad. I talked to DH about it and he said, so nonchalantly, well, maybe she'll have another in 16 hours or so. I thought that was impossible. I emailed Tes the breeder at 9:30 on July 26 congratulating her on the 2 pups and asking if our deposit rolls over to the next litter. Instead of emailing me back, she called me at work. She had WONDERFUL news. Zain had the 2 pups late Tuesday night (07/25) and then the next morning, nearly 12 hours after the first 2 were born, she had 2 more! And one was our little Rufus!!! He was going to be a big boy. At 3 weeks old, he was already 6 lbs. (average is 4-5). Here's our little Rufus with his brother and sisters at 1 day old. Ruf is the brown one hanging out with his cream colored sisters.We had several name changes before Ruf came to live with us. He started out as Poodie. Not too masculine I know. Then to Maxwell. Then to Moose. And then sometime in late August 2006, he was officially named Rufus after a fond childhood memory of my husband's. He flew all the way from Minnesota to Daytona the evening of Tuesday, September 19, 2006. He was so cute in his little crate. If I remember right, he was about 16 lbs. when he flew down at 8 weeks old. He was so sleepy and groggy from the flight. The breeder or airline had zip tied his crate shut and we didn't have any scissors, so DH sat in the backseat with him on our way home. We were talking to him the whole time telling him how excited we were to finally meet him. When we got home, opened his crate and this little ball of energy came bouncing out. I wish I had video of that. He explored us and the house, we gave him a bath in the kitchen sink and then he finally laid down and I rubbed his little belly and he fell right asleep. Here he is giving me coffee-breath puppy kisses after his bath. Yeah, his breath smelled just like fresh brewed coffee for several months - I don't know why.I'm looking back on my notes (why didn't I make a baby book? I'll have to do that one day) and he got so big so fast:
09/28/06 at 9 weeks old, he was already up to 19.7 lbs.
11/28/06 he was up to 40 lbs. (I'll have to check the vet records for weights in Oct. 2006)
12/05/06 44 lbs.
12/26/06 54 lbs. and he could reach his paws to my shoulders (I'm 5'4)
01/26/07 65 lbs. and 24 inches at the shoulder
05/26/07 85 lbs. and 27 inches at the shoulder (finally stopped the 10 lbs/month around this time! Thankfully!)

It's hard to believe he's grown so much
8 weeks to almost 2-1/2 years old

Weekend recap

2008-12-08T10:30:00.000-05:00

This will probably be a short post day - I'm fairly under the weather and may go home early.
Friday was DH's company party at the Hilton. There were over 400 people there! I think they estimated 470 adults and nearly 50 children. We got there around 6:30, had apps and drinks then had our photo taken and went up to the ballroom for dinner. Dinner was buffet style - a nice salad, pasta salad, steamed veggies, mashed potatoes, bread and salmon and roast beef. The dessert table had eclairs, chocolate cookies and bite sized pieces of cake. I was pretty tired after working all day and DH had to work in the morning, so we called it a night around 10pm. Rufus was glad to see us of course. :)

Saturday and Sunday DH had to work all day, so I did some errands, found a mesh chain for our fireplace for $65 (and we're going to try to paint the frame - thanks pedalpower!). I also went out to Beach Street to get some chocolate goodies for Christmas at Angel and Phelps, a wonderful chocolate factory here in town http://www.angellandphelps.com/.

I also stopped at our favorite jeweler Jessups to have my rings cleaned and checked. Of course I checked out the items for sale too. I'm thinking about upgrading my wedding band. It's getting pretty scratched up. We purchased it because it was the style I was looking for, we didn't spend too much time checking the quality of the metal or diamonds (white gold and I don't even know the diamond ratings for this band). My engagement ring is platinum with a perfect diamond, which I love! Our jeweler said they can rhodium plate my rings for about $75 which will bring back their luster. Apparently rhodium plating lasts for about 3 years, which is just less than the time I've had my wedding band. Any thoughts? I just too a quick snapshot of my rings here at the right. I guess with the terrible lighting in my office, this is what I get. The engagement stone is actually quite sparkely and completely colorless.

Sunday was a day of house projects (well, by projects I mean laundry and sweeping). Rufus and I also went to the pet store which is one of his favorite things to do. He's such a gentleman, he walks to the door, sits and waits for me to open it and then he goes straight to the counter, jumps up (2 front paws up on the 3 ft. or so tall counter) and looks for his treats. Everyone loves him. I still get people asking if he's a labradoodle. I also went to lunch with my parents at Buca di Beppos. I hadn't been there in a while. It's still pretty good for an Italian chain. We had the mixed green salad, chicken parm, a side of spaghetti and tiramisu. Everything was great of course. The tiramisu was a little strong on the rum for me.
I didn't take photos, but thanks to http://flickr.com/photos/mariecannabis/2457762077/ for her pic of Buca's tiramisu bowl

On the food front - we had Tijuana Flats for dinner again Saturday night. That place is becoming one of my favorites! DH had tacos again and I tried their nachos - huge!! We also had churros which were delicious! Nothing like a warm piece of fried dough covered in cinnamon and sugar. Dinner last night was ribeye steak (how is it up to $11.49/lb. now?!) and Velveeta shells and cheese - nice, warm comfort food.

The start of the season

2008-12-05T13:22:00.001-05:00

Today is Friday! We've got DH's company Christmas party tonight, so I've got to leave work a little early to get ready and be there around 6:30. It's at the oceanside Hilton. I think they're expecting somewhere between 300-500 people. I think their company's up to around 150 employees plus all of their families. DH has to work this weekend, so we won't stay out too late partying. Yeah, if you know us, you know we're not really partiers. Or dancers. But the food's good :)

Since we've begun the Christmas season, I thought I'd show any pics I've taken of our Christmas trees.
Below is our first ever Christmas tree as a married couple, 2005. It was a live tree that made our tiny apartment smell wonderful. I think we used net lighting and just wrapped the tree - easy!

Here's our first Christmas in our house, 2006. This is a live tree too. This was Rufus' first Christmas. Look how little he was here!! He was 4-1/2 months old here...awww!! I think we put more ornaments on the tree that year. Looks like it's just got clear lights and of course bubble lights in this pic. Man, I still can't believe our Ruf was ever that small.

And here's our tree from last year, 2007. This tree below is an artificial tree that we got from Walmart after 2006's Christmas. I think we paid about $25 for it (regular $80). It's about 6.5 ft. tall and is pre-lit with nice clear lights. We used this tree again this year. It's so easy - just snap the 3 pieces together, plug them up and hang our ornaments. There's only 1 present under our tree so far this year, and it's not even wrapped. Actually, it's just an empty box of a remote digital thermometer I got for DH so he can monitor his grilling and smoking. Seeing this pic makes me think of the nice, cold tile days. Ok, it wasn't nice tile (in the photo), well, not nice to us and I'm so glad to have our laminate flooring in!

Ok, so this isn't one below is not one of our Christmas trees, but it's one we saw while we were over in Orlando last year. We went over for a weekend before Christmas and ate at Shula's Steakhouse in Disney's Dolphin Resort. In case you're thinking about it, skip Shula's. It was dark (yeah, too dark for a 25 year old's eyes), the food was wayyy overpriced for the quality (I'm ok with paying $50 for a good steak or fresh seafood, but it wasn't worth it), and there were many-a-crying children. The Dolphin was decorated nicely though. This huge tree is actually made of poinsettias. It's probably 30-40 ft. tall. This year we've got tickets to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party on 12/19 which I'm very excited about! (they sold out last year before we got tickets)

The story of our flooring

2008-12-04T09:23:00.001-05:00

It's a pretty quiet week around here, so I thought it'd be nice to take this time to document some of our house projects.

When we moved into our house on Feb. 1, 2006, we quickly discovered the previous owner was a chain smoker (indoors) with a dog that was prone to accidents inside the house. DH and I are not smokers and I can't stand the smell of it. The clean clothes we had in our closet all smelled of smoke, there were nicotine outlines on the wall from where her photos were hung, yellow stains on the white cabinets. We quickly painted everything with Kilz primer which is a wonderful odor blocker and then we painted different rooms different colors. Mostly all neutrals. The best day was when we got rid of all of the nasty carpet, chiseled up the tile and laid laminate flooring down in the whole house (except the bathrooms). Start to finish, the whole flooring process probably took about 6 months worth of weekends. The laminate floor shows more dust and dirt than we noticed with the carpets, but I know the carpets were just holding all of that dust and dirt in. So gross to even think about.

The flooring is from a local flooring company which we just happened upon one weekend. We had planned to purchase from Lumber Liquidators in Orlando, but we'd have to drive over there and pick up 1600 sq. ft. of flooring. This is the type we had planned on getting from LL 8mm royal mahogany. So we decided to check out a couple local places to see if they had similar product in our price range. We ended up at Georgia Floor Direct in Ormond about 15 miles north of our town. They had big floor samples and we found a product similar in color called whisky barrel with the attached underlayment and it was twice as thick = better quality. The edges were bevelled, water resistant and there was wood grain texture marks which both made it look like real wood. The guy gave us a great deal and saved us from driving all the way over to Orlando. We got just over 2 pallets and by the time we were done, we had about 15 boxes left over plus about 5 that were damaged from the forklift operator loading them onto our trailer which they took back and gave us a full refund (that was over $500 back!). Yeah, the whole process of loading this pallet onto our trailer was an interesting experience. The forklift forks weren't long enough, and the driver couldn't drive the forklift onto our trailer gate (he tried, but it bent) so he got the pallet on there and then proceeded to poke and prod the forks into the boxes of wood floor. 5 of the boxes were physically damaged and thankfully he wrote that on our receipt to make sure we'd get credit for them since they were near the bottom of the stack and it would have taken forever to get those damaged boxes out then at the store.

Seems like I always forget to do before pics for the 'before and after' gallery. Well, here's a sort of before of our living room after the walls were painted and after carpet was pulled out (picture cream colored stained carpet if you want) before the laminate went down. And then there's the after. LOVE IT!

We've since replaced the baseboards and plan to do simple crown moulding and some small accessories to complete this room. Don't mind the specs on the after photo, it was probably dust in the air from the whole process. Glad that's over! On a side note, the big double window on the right will be replaced with an impact resistant new window which will help with blocking out the sound from our street and also help with energy efficiency since the windows in our house now are all contractor original single pane glass with aluminum frames. But that's for another day...

By the fireplace

2008-12-03T09:56:00.001-05:00

It's another cold day here in Port Orange. I do enjoy these cold fronts. And yes, a cold front for us here usually doesn't reach below 30-something. I don't know what they'd call it if it got below that here. People would probably be at a loss for words. We get to use our fireplace on cold nights like we've had recently. We had some leftover wood from last winter and used that up a few weeks ago, so I had to go searching for some wood last week. I was at Target doing some shopping and tried to get wood there - nope. Lowes was next - nope, just little chopped up wood for outdoor fireplaces. I guess we could have used that but it was $10 for a little bag. No thanks. Then it was on to Walmart and just when I thought I'd have to go chop down our own tree, Walmart came through with a $6.00 box of wood. That wood, paired with the starters also from Walmart didn't produce as nice of a fire as the wood from last year. The Walmart wood was split, which I thought was suppsed to burn better. Oh well, at least it looks pretty all stacked up. Here Rufus and I enjoy the fire while DH takes our pic.

We'd like to replace the brass fireplace door and frame with something black. I can't seem to find replacements anyplace in town, they just say we have to order it. Same goes with the replacement mesh curtain - can't find it anywhere, and don't even know how to order it. I did find the original brochure for the fireplace doors. They came from Sears but I still couldn't find anything for wood burning fireplaces on their website.

I did just find a website that offers replacement mesh screens up in Pennsylvania. They range from $51-$70, so that may be the way to go. Although, a new glass door replacement is around $300 and includes the mesh screen. Maybe we can just paint ours with a fireproof black paint?http://www.fireplacedoorsonline.com/acatalog/Black_Replacement_Spark_Screens.html

And we love Norm and This Old House - here's tips on installing or replacing masonary fireplace doors http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/how-to/overview/0,,1154375,00.html

This is the closest pic that looks like our corner brick fireplace with the mantle (ours is a dark brown stained wood) and this is what ours would look like with the black frame.Eventually I'd like to change the brick to ledge stone or similar style.

And while I'm talking about ledge stone - I've also been thinking about changing the columns out front to a ledge stone base style as shown below. We may screen in that whole area, and if we do that, the columns would be hidden in with the screen. Just looking at options... From the newer houses, it looks like ledge stone is the new brick. I bet if we wait about 5-10 years, brick will become the new ledge stone. That's why I enjoy traditional, timeless decor.

“Rumble in Race Town”

2008-12-02T10:39:00.001-05:00

Just guess how romantic our next Valentine's Day will be....we just found out there will be an MMA event at our Ocean Center here in Daytona on Feb. 14, 2009. Yeah, we'll probably go. Xtreme Cage Fighting's (XCF) “Rumble in Race Town” is a new event on the night before the Daytona 500 (Nascar racing). There will already be a million people in town. Maybe we can have a nice dinner at Hyde Steakhouse across the street and then head over to the event. We'll see...

Yesterday was your typical Monday after a holiday weekend - pretty quiet. I went to our lovely new Publix at lunch time for our weekly grocery shopping. I'm starting to think Publix really isn't that much more expensive than Walmart for grocery items. You get what you pay for and the quality at Publix is consistent. I'll probably start buying more than just meat and produce from Publix, but stick with the paper items (TP, soap, etc) at Walmart or Target. The whole experience at Publix is so much nicer. Less people, more helpful, smiling associates, better quality products. I'm finding it's worth the extra $5-10.

Last night I drove my mom to her church dinner (car battery was out) and came home to a house full of icicle lights! DH went up on the roof after he got home and hung all the lights. Beautiful!

In other news, the newest Will Farrell movie comes out for rent today. I'll be going to Blockbuster in an hour or so to make sure we have it for this weekend. DH is a big Will Farrell fan. I think he would have been invited to our wedding had we had his address. I like him too. John C. Reilly is pretty funny too, but I can't help but think of him in Chicago the movie whenever I see him. "Cellophane, Mister Cellophane, been my name, Mister Cellophane, 'Cause you can look right through me, Walk right by me, And never know I'm there...Never even know I'm THERE". I'm a Broadway fan too.
Note - we loved the movie!

Long weekend

2008-12-01T10:56:00.000-05:00

I just love long weekends.
It all started Wednesday night - DH and I finished up some final house preps for Thursday's company. We also brined all 3 turkeys. Yeah, 3. It was just a simple brine - water, dark brown sugar, kosher salt. Early early Thursday morning around 5:45, we got up and got the turkeys ready for smoking and frying. The smoked turkey was rubbed with butter, garlic, pepper and seasoned salt and then stuffed with coca cola, 1 apple, 1 onion and garlic powder. It was good - next time we'll leave out the onion and add an extra apple instead. The 2 fried turkey's were rubbed with Cayenne pepper, black pepper creole seasoning and garlic powder, then filled with some Italian dressing. The smoked went in around 6:15 am and was ready around 1pm. The fried took about an hour start to finish. The birds were delish. We had a lot of food to accompany the turkey - sweet potato casserole, sweet potato patties, green beans with ham, acorn squash, cranberry stuffing, mashed potatoes, herb rolls and more! Apps were deviled eggs and Parmesan puff pastry. And for dessert - pumpkin pie, pumpkin cheesecake, apple pie and pumpkin bread. Yeah, we're still eating it all.

Friday DH and I went out around 8am for some black Friday shopping. We were on a mission to find some furniture for our den. Started out at American Signature - their sales weren't really sales. The same living room set we got 2 years ago is the same price. Then to Ashley Furniture where we had great help from the manager/interior decorator. We found a set we loved and she helped show how we could place each piece with sketches. The collection is called Logan Stone. I have been thinking about a chaise lounge, but for the space, 2 chaise's would only make seating for 2 people. Here's a nice chaise sectional combo. It's too big for our den.We decided on the chair+1/2 and the loveseat. I also loved the tables they had with it and the ottoman, but we decided to wait until we get the furniture in to see how it all looks. Loveseat is on the right in this photo. And the chair+1/2 fits both DH and I comfortably.Since we were there between 7am-9am, we got a coupon for 20% off our purchase, which made the already affordable pieces really affordable. We got up to the counter to pay and were told it was additional $100 (well, $99.99 as the quietly spoken woman said) for delivery. We said we'd just pick it up, but she said that wasn't an option, unless we wanted to drive to Tampa. Now I still don't know what the huge sign notifying customers about their pickup policy was for since we didn't have the pick up option. We decided to look elsewhere. It wasn't the extra $100 that made us leave, it was that no one told us about it before hand. Why didn't they just have a weekly delivery to their store and give people the option to pick it up. We went to Rooms to Go after that and I kept comparing everything to that set at Ashley. We decided since that room's been empty since we moved in, we didn't have to get anything that day. But we decided to make one last stop at Haynes Brothers since they didn't look too busy. We walked right in and they were also having 'beat the clock' sales. We walked around and saw a couple pieces that would have been ok, but I told the sales lady I had to ask about any extra fees beforehand. Then I told her about the adventure at Ashley earlier that morning and she said 'oh, we carry Ashley furniture and will get it for you at the same price and deliver it for free'. I was happy!

So next time we go to get furniture, we'll look at Ashley's showroom and then order it from locally owned Haynes Bro's. (hopefully, we'll see how the whole delivery process goes within 5-10 business days).

Then it was back home for some Thanksgiving leftovers and out to Target to check out their sheets. We ended up getting a 2 pack sheet set in camel (only 300 TC) for $40 and also a chocolate brown duvet cover for our comforter for $20. The 1000 TC sheets were sold out in king size, so we got a raincheck for some in pewter gray. I'm looking forward to 1000 TC. I had wanted to get Walmart's 500 TC set for $20, but didn't want to get up at 5am and risk my life with the other early shoppers. I put one of the 300 TC sets on last night and didn't really like the way the color blended in with our oak headboard. DH convinced me that it wasn't that big of deal, so we'll keep them. They were actually pretty comfy last night.

Saturday and Sunday we did some housework, more shopping and did some of the Christmas decoration. The tree's up and decorated, most indoor decor is out and we've only got the icicle lights left for the outdoor display. We had a tornado watch and 40 mph winds yesterday so DH didn't get to get up on the roof to finish the lights. Hopefully we can do some today after work before it gets dark.

Oh, today's the first Monday of the month, that means it's Dog Night at Ritters!

Burnt turkey and dinnerware

2008-11-26T14:04:00.000-05:00

Last night we continued the little house projects to get ready for company coming over tomorrow. Painting doors, scrubbing down the tea kettle, moving candle holders from one side of the house to the other, you know, the things that probably won't really be noticed anyway :)

I keep thinking this will be the 3rd year we've had Thanksgiving at our house. I could have sworn I made a turkey in my kitchen before, but I guess not. The first year we were married, we lived in 'tiny house' at Thanksgiving time and I remember we had it catered from Heavenly Ham. Those were the days, prepared food lined out on the table and eating from a full plate while watching the ocean waves roll in. It was nice, but I think I prefer having everyone over for a nice sit down meal. Last year we did our first attempt at frying a turkey. This is what it looked like when it came out. And yes, that is a 15lb. bird.

I was so worried. We had brined the turkey over night and then rubbed the skin with a cajun rub. I had read that it may look burnt but this looked beyond burnt. Guess it was that cup of ground black pepper and all of the other cajun spices that made it look like that. We didn't have a backup. After the first cut into the turkey, all my fears were gone. It was the most delicious, most moist turkey I had ever tasted. The skin wasn't too spicy, even with all that pepper.

We didn't get real china or fancy dishes when we got married, and I was just as happy to serve dinner on these cute paper plates I found at Target. We also had plastic ware and plastic cups. Guess we're growing up. This year I wanted to have 'real' plates, cups and silverware. It's not going to be fancy, I'm probably going to use our daily Corelle plates which are nice and sturdy and light. I wish I had gotten the plain clear or white set, but I got these back in college and the black and white still looks classic enough. I tried Walmart to see if they had extra loose plates, but they've changed their black and white print style so it doesn't match ours. I ended up getting 3 extra clear plates so we'd have enough real plates for everyone, and I may go back and get 7 more just so they're all the same. These clear plates are pretty enough to use as serving plates during other events too. These are the black and whites we have now. Classic enough.

I really like these square plates too. The set is on sale for $50 at Walmart right now. Maybe they just sell the plates because I can't really fit anymore coffee mugs in my cabinets right now. The replacement round black and whites were about $2.75 each, so for a set of 4 or 6, that would be a good deal.

I stopped at Target to get another set of drinking glasses today too. We got an inexpensive set when we got married, and I still like them, but a few have broken over the years. Luckily, the style was classic enough that they still had the same set there over 3 years later. They're similar to these, except without the huge solid glass base. They stack nicely - maybe that's how a few broke though. Either way, $14 for a set of 16 is good for me.

I really don't have much cooking for tomorrow. My mom's bringing deviled eggs and parmesan puff pastry for appetizers, sweet potato casserole and also pumpkin cheesecake which I've been wanting to try since I found the recipe last year. My MIL's bringing yummy green beans and sweet potato patties that DH has grown up on. And my aunt's bringing a new acorn squash dish and her homemade pumpkin pie.

DH and I will brining the 3 turkeys tonight and do their prep tomorrow. I guess depending on the smoker temps, the turkey may have to be smoked for up to 7 hours, hopefully less. Smoked is usually around 20-30 mins per pound depending on the temps. Dinner's around 2pm. The 2 fried turkeys only take about 3-4 mins per pound, which adds up to about an hour per turkey. Then that leaves the mashed and stuffing to me and of course my apple pie. I'm also going to try to make herb rolls and pumpkin bread this year. I did get ready to bake rolls and croissants just in case. After that, heat up the gravy and slice the cranberries and we should be ready to eat!

Here's what our table looked like last year. (so glad that tile's gone now!!) Hopefully this year, it'll be a little more 'grown up'. We'll have 2 more chairs at the table this year - we're planning on service for 10 with plenty of leftovers!

Turkey day's almost here

2008-11-25T11:08:00.000-05:00

Before I forget, here's the finished product of my mom's birthday coffee nut torte. She loved it.

I started this blog to keep track of daily happenings and now that I've been skipping the weekend blogging, is it bad that I can't sit here and remember what we did all weekend? I can't really blame it on age since I'm still in my 20s. Maybe we can blame it on the aluminum in my deodorant. :) Let's see how much I can actually recall...

Friday my dad and I drove out to New Port Richy for a sales/service call for work. We left at 6:30am and after Friday 1-4 traffic, returned at 6:30pm. The total drive time should have been about 2.5 hours, so we left at 3pm but hit the mother load of traffic both in downtown Orlando to Maitland and then again around Sanford. I love my 10 minute (with traffic) commute even more. DH and I then went to a couple shops, got a new weed-wacker at Lowes and picked up Moes burritos and quesadillas for dinner. We then watched/fell asleep to Tropic Thunder. I was tired, but usually enjoy Ben Stiller and Jack Black. Not in this one. Sorry guys.

Saturday morning we went to the barber, Ace Hardware and our NEW PUBLIX! Love it! True, the small town feel of the old Publix is gone, but the new one is so big and bright. I just love Publix. And yes, we went to the new Publix just to walk around it. And then I took a nice long nap. I love afternoon naps. They just put that pep in your step for the rest of the day. Saturday's dinner was Hardee's burger and a fish sandwich from our local seafood place that was so dry it's not even worth talking about any longer. When I got home from picking up dinner, DH had a beautiful fire lit. I love being able to use our fireplace for a few nights throughout the year. We did watch Journey to the Center of the Earth Saturday night and it was pretty good. Typical fantasy show for pure entertainment. Brendan Fraser had his typical 'dumb blond' lines, but overall it was good. Hey, I stayed awake for it, so that says a lot.

I had toyed with the idea of doing most of our Thanksgiving grocery shopping at Walmart Saturday night but decided to go Sunday morning at 6:45 am instead. Yes AM. It worked out well. I was home by 8am and there weren't many crowds to fight through. DH and I ran some errands and did the rest of our shopping at the new Publix.

We also got some makings for smoked meatloaf which DH made later that day. It was pretty good (yeah, I tried it!). Ground beef and pork with a mozzarella cheese center topped with bacon. What could possibly be better right?

Here's the meatloaf going into the smoker on my Pampered Chef stoneware which worked out nicely. And to the right is the meatloaf sliced showing the oozing cheesy center and the nice smoke ring.

He also smoked a block of monterrey jack cheese. It cured in the fridge overnight and we tasted it last night. A little too smokey.

And the last project of Sunday was for me to paint over the bright green that has been on our guest bathroom walls for the past year. I painted it with Autumn Fog which was left over from our guest bedroom just to have something different up there. That whole bathroom is going to be gutted soon. This was just a bandaid temporary fix. I'm trying to pick a replacment shower curtain so there's something up for Thanksgiving. Here is a close up of the tiles, paint color and the mirror (the only thing I like in that bathroom aside from the new Cadet 3 toilet). And here's the curtain which will probably be in there until we can redo the whole thing.

Wow, I actually did pretty well at remembering the weekend. Yesterday was work as usualy, tacos for dinner and then some house projects to get ready for the company on Thanksgiving. The turkeys are thawing out in the fridge, they might need a little water thawing too so they're ready to go into the brine tomorrow. Now I've got to do some research on how long it should take to smoke a 12 lb. turkey...

BBrrrr and Birrthday!

2008-11-20T09:56:00.000-05:00

I don't know exactly how cold it got last night, but this was what we woke up to this morning

And no, that's not spray paint. It's a very light layer of frost on our front yard. Of course I had to run out side in my robe and socks to take a photo before it all melted away. I just love cold weather (well, at least little spurts of it). Rufus was watching me from the front door, probably wondering what in the world I was doing out there in the cold dressed like that.

My grandpa from Michigan flew in last night. His flight was scheduled to arrive at 5:22, but their flight out of Atlanta was delayed from leaving at 4pm until around 5:30, so he didn't get in to Daytona until just before 7pm. Thankfully our airport is so small, it's not much of a hassle to get your luggage and then it's right out to the curb for pickup.

Today's my mom's "28th" birthday ;) (I'm 26, so don't try to figure that one out!).
Last night DH and I baked her favorite cake - coffee nut torte. It really is a pretty simple recipe for a tasty graham cracker cake which is made with a little bit of flour, baking powder, egg yolks, sugar, vanilla, walnuts, fresh brewed coffee and plenty of crushed graham crackers. That mix is baked in 2 separate 8 inch round pans and then it's layered with a creamy filling made with vanilla pudding, instant coffee granules and fresh whipped cream. Yum! I love coffee flavored anything. We used fresh brewed Kona Creme Brulee coffee from Hawaii, so this one should taste extra special. DH and I had to do our best to resist drinking some of the coffee since we were making the cake around 8pm and didn't want to stay up the rest of the night from the caffeine. I made this cake last year, but didn't chill the filling long enough so it seeped out the sides of the cake layers. It still tasted delish! Here's the pic of last years.

I'll post a pic of this year's later, as it's chilling in the freezer right now tightly wrapped in saran wrap to avoid any seep-age this year

So, Happy Birthday Mom!
Hope you enjoy the cake and good Italian food later today :)

Weekend of food!

2008-11-18T10:03:00.000-05:00

Friday DH and I worked on making a new basket for his smoker. After a few hours, we came up with a nice box with a lip made out of exanded wire mesh that could hold a lot more charcoal than the previous bowl which came with the smoker. We'll get in the smoked meats tomorrow.

Saturday he had to work in the morning, so Rufus and I took a walk around the PO City Center. Rufus being Rufus made sure to greet every passer by, either by sniffing them, or just turning his butt to them looking for a good butt scratch. He had a great time trying to chase the squirrels (while on his 6 ft. leash). I tried to show him the little heron birds, but he just looked confused. We took a few laps around the lake - the weather was perfect. And then it was back home to do some house work.

Around 2pm my parents and I went to the 32nd annual Greek Festival in Daytona. I've heard they feed up to 10,000 people during the 4-day festival. My favorite is the Greek salad. The dressing must be homemade, the feta cheese is very fresh and the pepporcinis are always so full of flavor and juice. This year I got a small salad and a side of spanakopita - spinach and feta cheese stuffed into phyllo dough. My mom always gets the combination plate which includes spanakopita, tiropita (egg/cheese in phyllo), dolamades (meat and rice wraped with grape leaves), Greek meatballs, moussaka (sort of like Greek lasagna), rice, bread and a side salad. Yeah I know, it's a lot! There may even be other items on that plate that I've forgotten. My dad also got a large Greek salad, he knew from past experience he would be sharing from my mom's plate. Then it was on to dessert. We had to get loukoumades which is a bowl of fried dough balls smothered in honey and sprinkled with cinammon. What a treat. I could only eat a few before wrapping up the rest to take home to DH. I don't think he's a big fan of them, so next year I've got to remember to share a bowl with my mom because she was right, they don't taste nearly as good later as they do fresh out of the fryer at the festival. Interesting note: Just read this from http://www.wikipedia.com/ - "There is a Greek saying "Eisai megalos loukoumas!" ("you are a big loukoumas"), which is used when the speaker wants to offend somebody by calling him or her stupid."

And then there was the baklava. DH just LOVES a good, fresh baklava. Surprisingly, they're usually too sweet for me to have more than 1 bite. Baklava, I'm told, is actually pretty easy to make. It's made in layers, simiar to a lasagna. Typical ingredients: packaged phyllo dough, chopped nuts, sugar, cinammon, butter, vanilla extract, honey. And just layer those over a couple times. The other dessert in the photo is also in the baklava family, but it's made by rolling the basic ingredients in shredded wheat. That one was ok - but didn't pack the great crunch the traditional baklava is known for. So for now on, it's traditional phyllo dough baklava for us. And maybe I'll try to make it one day since aside from the greek fest, it's hard to get good, fresh baklava around here. Guess we could always send away for a delivery from Greek Town in Detroit. Mmm..Astoria Bakery. That deserves another post all by itself. http://www.astoriapastryshop.com/
Other tasty Greek cookies we've tried in the past were: Kourabiedes (Powdered-sugar-dusted almond cookie), Finikia (Cinnamon and honey-dipped cookie topped with walnuts). Koulourakia (Butter cookie with light sugar glaze).

TGIF

2008-11-14T11:42:00.002-05:00

Friday already? I love it when this day just sneaks up.

I finally got to take some pics of our recent gardening progress. But first, let me show you what Rufus did when he saw me bringing the camera out to the back yard. He ran and I think he may have thought he was hiding behind the oak tree...Precious little pup! Hard to believe he's almost 2-1/2 already.

On to the plants...
Let's start with before and afters of parts of the back yard.

The 'before/first' pics were taken mid-June of this year.

The 'after/second' taken just yesterday, 11/13/08.

The before and afters of the pool area show how much we did last weekend. (well, DH actually planted all of the agapanthus (lily of the nile) while Rufus and I were visiting my MIL).

In the banana tree area, we started out with just 5 banana trees from my MIL and they've grown and sprouted another 3 or 4 more already. The elephant ear plant is also doing very well (also from my MIL). The first few weeks with that one were rough. It just wilted and I didn't know if it would last. Then with all of our summer rains and hurricane storms, it strengthened and now it looks great.

Hopefully we'll put another dent in it all this weekend and next week I can focus the blog on the specific plants we have and how to care for them all (I'll work on the research for that this weekend!)

Short post

2008-11-12T16:54:00.000-05:00

This one's going to be short. I haven't had a chance to take pics of our gardening progress, so no pics in this one.

I've got a meeting to go to shortly - it's our local Relay for Life Kickoff event. The relay iteself isn't until May 1, 2009, but we've got to start planning the event and raising money for cancer research.
This year's (well, next year) opening ceremony starts Friday May 1 at 5:30pm at the Port Orange City Center. The relay continues through the night (rain or shine) until 8:00am Satuday morning.

And that's it for today. Short and sweet.

Weekend update

2008-11-11T08:59:00.000-05:00

It's been an interesting few days. I guess it's more realistic to say I'm going to blog Monday through Thursday, but yesterday I was in bed for half of the day so there was no blogging going on then. I woke up feeling fine at 7am, but after DH left for work, I started to feel light-headed and dizzy and then my knees started giving out like I was walking in a moon bounce. It was very strange. I started feeling a little better and went in to work, but my mind just wasn't functioning, so I went home at noon and rested the remainder of the day. I'm feeling better today, just still a little cloudy with a slight headache. If I had to get sick, I'd much rather it be a common cold, or allergies or something that could easily be diagnosed rather than on and off dizziness and confusion, but oh well, such is life right?

We had a good weekend. DH did smoke his pork butt Friday and it was great (yes, I did try a little bite). I think by the time he lit the smoker to the time we shredded the pork took about 12 hours. Next time we'll definitely cook more meat since it doesn't really take much more time cooking 15 lbs rather than the 4.5 lbs we cooked this time. He also made another batch of his mustard based sauce that is delish! We also did go to Deland Friday and got a 55 gallon metal drum so DH could make a smoker. That's going to be a fun project...

Saturday we slept in and then went to Babies R Us to shop for DH's cousin's baby shower which was later that day. Neither of us had ever been to a Babies R Us so we didn't know what we were getting into. We located her registry and printed it out and spent about an hour to find a few things. We actually got items that we could find, not items that I would have actually been looking for. Apparently there are icons on the registry that match the high signs for each department, but this store is so small we should have been able to find the items easily. The employee offered to help but we decided to try to find the items ourselves. We did ask where one item was that I really liked and I'm glad we did because it was on the Toys R Us side of the store; a cute little seahorse that glows and plays music for the baby to go to sleep with (Fisher-Price Ocean Wonders™ Soothe & Glow Seahorse, photo from amazon.com). Similar to the glow worms of my time. Several packs of onsies and baby washcloths later, we were done. One thing I did like was that they had wrapping paper there (for free!) so I just rolled some up and wrapped the items when we got home.

Sunday was gardening day. We tried Home Depot for plants but we were really looking for blue flowered Agapanthus, or Lily of the Nile which we had seen at Epcot's Flower and Garden Festival in May. We headed out to Big Value Garden Center which we then found out was not open on Sundays. The trip all the way out there wasn't a waste because we also visited Harbor Freight which is always an adventure in itself. Then it was out to Butcher's Nursery at the Flea Market. They had our blue lily of the nile! We decided to get enough plants for the area near the pool pump, the sort side of the pool screen and also the side of the pool nearest to the shed. We ended up with (3) 3 gallon Agapanthus, (2) 1 gallon Agapanthus, (1) African Iris (white flower I think), (8) various crotons including broadleaf and corkscews varieties, (2) Society Garlic, (1) Lakeview Jasmine (blooms year around and smells like orange blossoms), and (1) Nightblooming Jasmine. And I think that's it. We also got (1) variegated Cordyline from the Depot to add to the mix. The last plants to complete the area will be either a variegated ginger or Helicona (false bird of paradise) or both. I'm really starting to love plants! We moved our (2) bird of paradise plants to the pool side nearest to the shed on either side of the palms and added the agapanthus to complete that area. I'll have to take photos of it all later. For now, here's a pic of the bananas and elephant ear when we first put them in this past summer. Tomorrow, when I show you a pic of how this area looks now, you'll be amazed how quickly these plants have grown.

Personal shopper

2008-11-06T15:54:00.000-05:00

I stopped at Bealls last night on my way home to get DH some new shoes. I used to enjoy shopping at Bealls, but it seems like that place is always swarmed with older women visiting from up north that have all the time in the world. Maybe I'll try to go there around 8pm next time, that should be past their bed time :)
We are getting more shopping options around here which is nice - Kohls and Ross so far. Soon I won't even have to travel outside of PO for some good shopping.

I had already picked out the shoes I was going to get him (and they were on sale!). They didn't have his size, so I checked out their BOSS system. I ordered the shoes on that, got the sale price, and it was free shipping to our house. They should arrive within 3-5 business days. If they don't fit, we can return them at any Bealls store. Easiest shoe shopping I've ever done. (photo from beallsflorida.com)

While I was at the counter ordering the shoes on their computer, a lady brought a cart full of clothes up the the register and started unloading them on to the counter. She started piling them up saying 'I don't want these', 'Check the price on these', 'These are on sale, make sure they ring up at the sale price'. I just couldn't believe her! I glanced at the cashiers expression and it seemed as though this was typical for her. It's one thing to give the cashier 1 or 2 items that you don't wish to purchase rather than just putting them back someplace where they don't belong, but a whole pile, come on. Yeah, I'll definitely go later next time.

I got home and fixed honey ham, potato and cheese pieorgies and fresh steamed green beans for dinner and then it was relax time.
Today's been a long day. I'm pretty glad the weekend's almost here.

Hump Day

2008-11-05T16:03:00.000-05:00

Here we are Wed. Nov. 5, day after election day...

I'm not really one that likes to speak out about my political or religious views, but I will say I am glad the election is over. I did enjoy the SNL skits, but all of those ads were just getting to me! And I hate to say it, as much as everyone loves Obama right now, after a couple years in office, the honeymoon phase will wear off and people will need to find someone to gripe about, and there our president will be. Maybe that won't happen this time, I'm just thinking about most of the past presidents. I was getting pretty confused with some of the broadcasts last night. Each one was trying to predict each result before the other. On one network, there were so many different title bars with so much information, it was almost hard to read it all, even on our 50+ inch TV. It was nice to see the rest of the world so excited about our country again.

I got home around 5:30 and DH and I walked over to our voting precinct. We walked right in, voted and we were in and out in less than 15 minutes. We both had previously marked and brought our sample ballots, so that helped when we were filling out our real ballots. I don't know how or why some people go vote without studying what they're voting for before hand. I think the lady that was next to me was reading the proposed amendments or something on the ballot for the first time. Oh well, at least she was voting. Or is an uneducated voter really better than one who doesn't vote at all.

Here's our voting location, our local library (photo from www.voterfocus.com/ws/Pfinder/Pl_county.php)

I do really enjoy the location of our neighborhood. Right from our back fence, we can take a short walk to the library, City Center, a nice lake, amphitheater, the police office, and the city rec fields. It's especially nice when there's an event at the city center because we don't have to worry about fighting for or finding parking. And we can catch the city's fireworks from our back yard. During the summer concert series, we can open our windows and listen to the bands playing in the nearby amphitheater. At first I thought this was annoying, but I've grown to like it. If I don't want to hear it, I can just go inside.

Today being hump day, is the day Winn Dixie releases their weekly sale ads. I will be so happy when our Publix re-opens in a few weeks, but Winn Dixie has been pretty good with their meat specials while Publix has been going through renovations.

DH is getting into smoking, so I got a boston pork butt for him to smoke this weekend. I'm not a pork eater, but I do like pulled chicken, so I may have to try some of this one. He's also going to make more of his own special recipe bbq sauce. We will have to go up to SC one day and get some mustard based sauce from Duke's bbq, but until then, I like his. I guess our weekend will look like this.