Review: Green tape

I splurged on the green turtle tape forour bedroom painting.


This is how it did.

NOT impressed with the edge barrier. :(

It did seem to excel in keeping windows free from paint, though. Maybe it is more discerning about the surface?

I had quite a bit of touching up to do. Then trim painting.


I have NO IDEA how I ended up with so much white trim paint in my hair. Seriously. I've never had this much paint on my head. Ever. I looked like I had white hairs, and some of the paint stuck around 3-5 days. Sheesh.

In the dog house

Ahem.

From time to time, Erik and I will have epic battles over food. I might take home leftovers from a restaurant, thinking I'll eat it for lunch the next day, only to find someone ate it over night. :( Early into our marriage, Erik learned this was NOT the way to win his wife's affection. He's much better at this now.

For Thanksgiving, I made a sweet potato pie. I wasn't buying into some health craze; I am allergic to pumpkin, and it was the closest option. For not being the real thing, I thought it was an adequate sub. My youngest bro isn't convinced, but you eat the real thing and leave this to me, OK Paul?

We had 2 tiny pieces of pie left. It was covered on the counter, and I ran to the craft store to get ribbon to decorate for Christmas.

Upon returning home, this is what I see. Empty pie plate, crumbs.


Hmm.

As I've said, Erik learned this is not agreeable behavior. Besides, he was at work. Did he come home, eat BOTH pieces of pie, leave crumbs and go back to work? Not very sneaky. I called him anyway to ask.

Then I looked at the dog. Who wouldn't look anywhere near my direction.

Seriously. The dog? THE DOG. She had somehow stood on her hind legs, peeled back the wrapping and gobbled up the pie. STINKER. I was stunned. STUNNED. Never before had such a transgression occurred in the house. EVER.

I took her outside, pottied her, and then scolded her ferociously. She wouldn't even look at me (one of her most sure signs of extreme guilt).

Of course, I went to google to see if it was 'safe' for a dog to eat sweet potatoes. Evidently, some dog food uses that veggie in the mixture/formulation. Maybe it smelled familiar to her? We'll never know.

What we DO know is that Erik woke up early one day to come into the kitchen and CATCH HER IN THE ACT of having paws on the counter and sniffing at some chicken I was thawing (at the very BACK of the countertop). At least she was caught in the act and given the business about it.


Here she'd pulled some of the ribbon spools from the middle of the recycling bin to disassemble them. As you can see, when being scolded, this is as close as she comes to looking at us. Oh, and Erik thought giving her a 'crown' of spool shame would add to the effect.

Napping

We painted a bedroom a month or so ago, and it's where the 'pack and play' hangs out, waiting for our nephew to visit. Or our friends with little ones to stop by. Napping is encouraged!


Since I took off the door nob/handle to paint the door, and haven't put it back on, the cat frequently will go in and make herself at home. After all, we *of course* painted the room for HER. It's lucky for US that SHE lets us live in the house with her. ;)


I found her hanging out there last week, and picked her up and tossed her into the pack-n-play to see how she'd react. I got some foam and my sis sewed a cover for it. Seems like a prime napping location.

Usually, the cat would hop right out. Primarily because it was MY idea, not HER idea to be in whatever location I placed her (my lap, on the bed, wherever). But she seemed puzzled. Liked it, but din't want to let on.


The next morning I was looking for her, and where did I find her?


You'll notice tape on the wall. I was trying to visualize the size of a book shelf, and oddly enough, the cat seems to like to align herself with the tape. Seriously strange.

Christmas Decor, 2011

We don't have a Christmas tree. I don't apologize for that. We have a cat. And a dog. This seems like a recipe for disaster, so until 1) we have children and 2) They are in school and 3) realize they are 'missing' out on a tree, I see no need for one. :)

But not to be a total hater, I picked up some ornaments after Christmas last year with just this application in mind. I got a thick and thin ribbon and pinned them from the window. They were festive and looked great!

One of my biggest weaknesses is taking down decor/etc. I was talking with a client/friend, and said 'gosh, if I'd have gotten red, I could say they were for Valentine's day ... or wait, if I got green, they would work for Christmas, then St. Patrick's Day!' - I'd get tons of use out of them. :)

It's the first week of January, and I've managed to find time to put away my December decorations. Phew!


In magazines, I see 'coordinated' boxes for Christmas, and think it's a bit silly. But I had a lot of red and white paper, so wraped most of my gifts in those. Seeing how nice the differing patterns looked, I see the appeal. Yet I still have plenty of paper with other uncoordinated looks to use up, so it might be 3-5 years before you see this sort of coordinated effort en masse.

Merry Christmas!

The recycling bin is filled with shreds of wrapping paper and there was a mountain of dishes on the counter. It must be Christmas morning!

My family came to chill with us yesterday. It's the fourth year we've hosted, and I like doing it. We keep tweaking and working to find the best timing for everyone and everything. I think we're getting closer.

Menu*:

Salad
Pot roast. Easy and always tasty.
Mashed Potatoes with Broccoli as our side. It's one of our faves and my mom seems to like it lots.
Tuscan Polenta Bread. I couldn't find the right tomatoes, so I used dried ones. I'd cut the amount in half. I also forgot to make the bacon ahead, so we went without. Still good.
Cherry Dark Chocolate Bread Pudding for dessert. This is one of my all-time faves. And there's *some* sugar, but not TONS .... and I use my Irish Soda Bread for the bread cubes.

*This is more so I'll remember what I did. What worked; what didn't.

My friend Kristine stopped by and grabbed a full family photo, but I don't really want to download it now; I'll share later.

Coronado Heights

Bailey likes to ride in the car. No, strike that. Bailey LOVES to ride in the car. Whenever we get our keys or start to put our shoes on, she does happy little circles, then sits very still and hopes her good behavior will get her invited on every trip out.


See how excited she gets? :)


A few months ago, we headed to Coronado Heights. Erik had never been, and we wanted to go. Bailey is always up for an outing where she can sniff a new area.


She's *mostly* obedient.


Until she sees someone new or another animal. Then we have to put her on the leash and pray she doesn't have an epic meltdown.

It was a windy day, and even more windy at the top! I seriously thought we might get blown over the edge!

750 lbs of rock

We had a little plumbing done last fall, and it involved tearing up our rock area in front. It took MONTHS to find time to improve it. Ugh! This is the before.


So, so, so, so much better!

Last year we added more dirt underneath, then the plumber dug up some of it. :( Then we put it back. But as you can see, we definitely needed more rock because it was thinning out a bit.

Wild times :)

After our first trip to the zoo with Theodore, we made a second. To Tanganika outside of Wichita.

The major differences were: 1) it wasn't 800 degrees outside. In fact, it was cold. 2) Far less exhibits. 3) Far less people. 4) We were closer to the animals, so I think kiddo got to see them a bit better.




Seriously, look at how close we were! I think it helped that it wasn't free day at the zoo. When we were there, throngs of children were pounding on the glass. If I were an animal on exhibit, I'd have gone on strike.


Theodore REALLY liked the kangaroos. The staff let us pet them; they were surprisingly soft. They don't look it, but almost as soft as a kitten.




Aaaaand, the bird house.

PHOTO TIP: This is shot with my point and shoot. We were under a shade, but the birds were in a bright area. Because I wanted to have light on Robin + T, I forced my flash to go off. This means the people in the front have light on them, and I can still see things in the light background.

This tip would be handy in this sort of instance. but also in front of something like a bright window. If you are photographing someone who is standing in front of a bright window and not forcing the flash to go off, they will be all dark and you will see perfectly out of the window. Just be careful about the glare of the flash on a window. You might want to stand at an angle.


Evidently someone forgot to feed the birds that morning. When we walked in, the birds swarmed. I honestly thought Theodore would freak out, but he was a really good sport!

PHOTO TIP: Again, the flash was forced in the above photo. Look at it compared to the one below. You're able to see us a bit better b/c of the flash.




They liked Robin. Despite her avian name, she didn't love them back as much.

Christmas Cookie baking, 2011

Remember yesterday's post? How little Theodore was. Well, this is the 2011 version of him:


What a change, eh?


The morning started as every does at my parents' house. With coffee. And Papa teaching Theodore how to make a good pot of coffee.


Cookie cutters make FUN NOISE when you bang them on the counter. Just ask Theodore. :)


The FIRST cookie.


Adding a little pre-baking decor.


Working on those fine motor skills.


AHA!


I'm not gonna lie: eating the cookie dough is the best part. I get sort of sad when it goes into the oven to cook.


"Q: What's in there?"
A: The best part, kid!




He finally caught on!


This is a cute little series of photos.






... see, disassembling the rolling pin is just as much fun as using it!


Waiting for cookies to bake.



iTheodore. :)

Papa Wayne is showing him the joys of technology. Next year, the kid will be able to re-program my cell phone.

Christmas Cookie baking, 2010

Yeah, so I'm a year late on this. I've been meaning to post it, but life has happened.

So, this is from LAST year before our nephew could crawl or walk. BIG difference from this year, where he was running around the house! :)


I'll share photos from this year's installment of cooke baking SOON! :)