What a week!

Doug made it home safely from the AC/DC concert Monday night. The weather was terrible Tuesday and the dinner we had planned at In The Raw was cancelled and had to be rescheduled. Wednesday the main roads were pretty much clear but the neighborhood roads were terrible and I was getting serious cabin fever. Doug took me to Borders and bought me a book and we went to Johnny Carinos for dinner. It felt good to get out of the house for a while.

I haven't gotten much accomplished around here this week. You would think with being in for two whole days I would have gotten stuff done. Actually, even though I was home, I was working on stuff for my job and the cold weather makes me not want to do anything. I need sun!! And I need it to be warm. Please hurry spring!

Hopefully I'll have more exciting stuff to post this weekend. Bye for now!

Ice Storms in Tulsa

Tonight is the AC/DC concert and I was supposed to be the designated driver but the ice has hit Tulsa. I am scared to death to drive in this so instead of me driving, Doug's friend picked him up. I hope they have a great time, but I especially hope they are *careful*...Concerts are not really my thing, although Doug did take me to see Sarah Evans a few months ago and I really enjoyed that!

After yesterday's banana bread disaster, I decided to bake some chocolate coconut macaroon cups. The recipe came from Martha Stewart and seemed pretty simple. Not too many ingredients:

They turned out so good! I've already eaten two of them.

In the spirit of trying to be more organized, I cleaned out the kitchen junk drawer.
The before (how embarrasing!):

And, the after:

Ahhh. That's better!
Finally, today on the Home Sanctuary blog, Rachel Anne challenged us to make a list of our household chores and label them as to how often we would like to get things done. The point is to aspire to a better home environment by taking small steps each day. When we try to do too much we end up crashing and burning. At least that is so true for me. I look forward to the challenges - they help keep me motivated.
The weatherman is predicting tomorrow is still going to be icy and dangerous to travel. I'm just hoping the electricity stays on and we can stay warm.

Banana Bread Disaster

It started out so well...Instead of the recipe in the Pillsbury cookbook, I thought I'd try the one in the Williams Sonoma cookbook.

Bad Idea...While the bread was cooking, I knew something had gone terribly wrong. The bread started bubbling over the loaf pan and burning at the bottom of the oven! I let it continue to cook to see what would happen. Once the cooking time was over, I took the bread out of the oven to cool.
I went out to do some errands and this is what I came back to: (Thanks for the note sweetie!)

I guess it's REALLY bad when the dog won't even LOOK at it.

Better luck next time I guess!

My two new little friends

Aren't they cute? This little bluebird and Marvin the monkey are my early Valentine's Day presents! Seems as though my sweet honey has been reading my blog and decided I did actually *need* these cute little critters. He tried to get the pink love blobite but it was sold out. It's okay though. I'm smiling ear to ear over my two new little friends. I think I know just where I'll put them. Thank you baby! I love you...

Today was a productive day which was good. We had to go to the airport to pick up a few boxes at FedEx for a case Doug has on Monday. While we were up there, we zipped up to a little scrapbook store in Owasso. It was awesome! The paper selection was incredible and of course I had to purchase a few sheets along with some beautiful velvet ribbon in pink, green, blue and raspberry.

Our next stop was Panera Bread for a hot tea and a pecan braid pastry. Yum! The weather was sunny but oh, so cold so I needed the tea to warm me up. Doug had to turn in a report for work but it had to be typed so we went up to his office and got that taken care of.

For lunch, we ventured over to TeKei's for their delicious potstickers. When they are nicely browned on both sides and served in their awesome creamy soy sauce ~ Mmmm...is all I can say. Doug had the mongolian beef and I had the chicken fried rice. I'm so predictable. The oolong tea is my favorite too, and of course, I drank the entire pot.

When we got home I had to take a nap because I was tired after running around all morning and then filling my belly with delicious food. Plus, with it being so cold, I got a chill. Phoebe and I went in and snoozed for well over an hour.
After we woke up I felt so much better and had a huge burst of energy. The kitchen got cleaned, four loads of laundry got done (I can't believe there is still more!), I deep cleaned the dining room, the half bath and our bedroom and vacuumed the wood floors downstairs.

On one of my earlier posts I mentioned that one of my projects for the new year is to decorate our master bedroom. As of right now, it TOTALLY lacks inspiration:

Boring Beige. Actually, the color of the room is fine but the bedding is old and tired, there aren't any pictures on the walls yet. Not to mention the fact that we don't have anything on the windows. But, the important thing is, we do have this:

Yep! A big screen TV! Perfect for watching HGTV while I get ready for work in the morning. Yes, and my Wii. I'm afraid it is going to yell at me since I haven't used it in so long.

I have a few ideas of how I would like to decorate but I'm going to have to wait a little longer. In the meanwhile, I have a bunch of other things in the works so stay tuned!

A day at the spa...

No, not for me. The dogs all went to Cathy's Critter Cuts yesterday to get all prettied up. They look and smell wonderful! I'll have to get a picture of Phoebe to post in a bit. She is wearing a polka dot scarf-thingie from her beauty treatment yesterday. Looking at her with that scarf and her little, eh hem, weight issue, Doug thought she looks like a loaf of wonderbread. At first, I thought circus clown but now that he mentions it, she does look like a loaf of wonderbread!
**EDIT** Here is a loaf of Wonderbread

And here is Phoebe:

Yep, a little chunky loaf of wonderbread!
Today, over at Home Sanctuary Rachel Anne posted a few pictures of her hair after a trip to the hairdresser. In one of the photos her dog somehow sneeked in and she was thinking maybe her hair looked too much like her dogs.

I had to laugh about that because I have often thought about taking Niles or Nestle with me and asking if the stylist could match the beautiful coloring they have in their hair and make mine look the same.

Probably wouldn't look as good on me as them:
First Niles:

Now Nestle:

Too cute!
Anyway, I'm so thankful the weekend is just about here. I've got some projects planned and hopefully I'll have some pics to share. Basically some organizing projects but maybe a few altered items.

Hey! That's not for you!

At least that's what that little black capped chickadee seems to be saying. Can you see him on the wall? Not only have the birds found the feeders, but apparently so has at least one squirrel. And you know what that means... Word travels fast and soon, I'm sure our feeders will be the main attraction of the neighborhood.

Check this little guy out:

He really seems to be enjoying his feast:

Look at his fat little body and what a bushy tail!

An offer came in on my home last night. It wasn't quite what I was expecting so I have sent back a counter offer and will wait to see what happens.

On to my random rambling for the day: At Thanksgiving, we went down to the neighborhood bridge and waterfall for a few pictures. Later that night, Doug and I were talking about the day looking through the photos. I was in the middle of eating a piece of pumpkin pie when we came across this one:

I like the picture but I said to Doug, "Hmmm, I look chunky in that picture..." as I took another bite of pumpkin pie. ;) Oh well.

Will today be the day?

I've had my old home on the market for a few months now. With the real estate market being what it is and with the holidays, the showings have been few and far between. It is a cute house and well taken care of. See?

When I first moved it, the yard was okay, but I so wanted a lush beautiful lawn. I mentioned that fact to Doug and he went right to work - seeding, fertilizing, mowing, edging, watering. He had it thick and green and gorgeous in no time! The neighbors would come to ask what his secret was. It made me so happy. Thank you baby!
The inside was cute too - perfect for me:

Comfortable, warm, soothing colors. Niles liked to sleep on the top of the back of one of the chairs just so he didn't miss any action.
This is where I would sit and drink my tea, flip through magazines or set up my computer. I loved this dining set. It was meant for an indoor/outdoor florida room but from the moment I saw it I knew I had to have it. The cushions made it so comfortable to sit for hours and believe me, many, many hours were spent at that table.

Because our new home has wood floors and the chairs had casters that would ruin wood floors, the kitchen set now resides at Doug's mom's house.
The kitchen was nice but wasn't the best layout for me. I was used to having big kitchens with lots of cabinets and this house, as lovely as it was, just wasn't great for all my stuff. In fact, most of my kitchen wares remained packed in boxes in the garage because I just didn't have a place for them.

The office was one of my favorite rooms. Look at that great window! When I first moved in the room was a slightly darker shade of tan than the rest of the house. Of course, I had to lighten and brighten it up. No dark colors for me. I didn't know when I started that the color was going to be so hard to cover! It took two coats of Kilz primer and two coats of good quality paint to get it to look right. But, I did it!

In an older post, I've shown a picture of the masterbedroom so I won't post another one. So, how about a picture of the masterbath? You can see the office at the far end of the bathroom.

This house was a great house for me. Perfect for where I was at that time in my life. A safe yard for the dogs to play and a safe neighborhood in general. Close to shopping and my office. I loved it. It will make a great house for someone else.
Today, someone is looking at it for the second time. Will they make me an offer? I'm hoping today is the day I get an offer. I'm ready to let it go and move on.

I love blog giveaways!

Head on over to a blog I like to visit for awesome ideas and a giveaway: Visit Inspired Kara for a chance to win a $50.00 shopping trip to Etsy.

If you haven't checked out Etsy you need to check it out. I love to see all the amazing creations from so many different talented people.

One of my favorite sellers on Etsy is Fantastic Toys. You all know I love birds and I would love to have this one:

Or, how about another favorite: Cute Designs I'd love to have any of these:
This one is Marvin. Wouldn't he look cute on my desk?

Or, just a little love blobite:

Ok, I don't *need* these really, but they do put a smile on my face. And who couldn't use more smiles?

I probably shouldn't blog when I'm tired.

I read my last post and, Wow...I need to be more careful when blogging when I'm tired because I jump from subject to subject. But, here I go again so I hope you bear(is that right? bear/bare which one is it?) with me. Anyway...

Tonight we went to D'Alesandro's for dinner and it was awesome as usual. Doug and I shared the lentil soup as our appetizer. Yummy!

We tried to recreate the lentil soup one evening and we did a pretty good job, although it's cheaper just to go to D'alesandro's and order one to share. By the time we bought all the ingredients and spent the time making it, well, we could have had it made exactly the way we like it at D'alesandros!

For dinner, I had the carbonara and Doug had the lasagna. Fantastic! Out of this world good. As always, it was too much food but I know what I'll be having for leftovers tomorrow! Usually I don't bring home leftover food, but this stuff is way to delicious to leave behind. I'll be dreaming of reheating my pasta all day tomorrow. Yes, it IS that good!

To totally change the subject - Doug was scruffing up Nestle's hair one night and this is what he looked like: Doug thought he looked like Nick Nolte in that awful mugshot that was posted all over the place a few years back. I think not...


I had posted a picture of Nick Nolte but then decided to delete it because I can't bear to see his awful mug shot next to my sweet little Nettie...
**EDIT**
Doug just read this and said I *HAD* to post the picture of Nick Nolte because it is just too funny. So here goes:




Well, it's getting late and I'm so, so tired. Goodnight!

Billy Simms Barbeque ~ off the list!

We eat out all the time and so it is hard to find something that is different. While driving the other day, Doug mentioned he wanted to try Billy Sims Barbeque. I'm not a big fan of barbeque and I had a late lunch so when Doug asked me if I wanted to go try Billy Simms I figured why not.. I don't like to try new or different places when I'm really hungry because I'm afraid I won't find something I like.
Good thing I wasn't hungry tonight! When we pulled up, there were only two or so cars outside the place. NOT a good sign especially here in Tulsa where every decent (and not so decent) restaurant is busy. We walk in and there are a couple of guys sitting in a booth drinking beer and watching the game. We sit down and the bartender/waitress brings the menus. There are like FIVE CHOICES. Ugggghhhh! Again, I'm not crazy about barbeque but there is usually something I can choose. I pick the pulled pork sandwich and a side of potato salad and Doug picks the barbeque brisket with other stuff on it. My soda is flat when it arrives and Doug's beer is also.
The place was TERRIBLE! So, as far as I'm concerned, it's off the list! It joins Up the Creek steak place ~ terrible!
Anyway, on to more positive things. I got quite a bit accomplished this weekend. Phoebe got a bath which she so desperately needed. We have a little area in the kitchen where our table should go where we have placed a large playpen with blankets for the dogs. We affectionately refer to it as the bird's nest. The dogs LOVE it in there. We put them in there when we leave the house and they actually BEG to go back in around bedtime. Here is a picuture so you get the idea:

We took the nest outside and scrubbed it all clean and washed all the bedding and blankets so its all fresh and nice.
I also took the couch apart and vacuumed all the cushions really good, vacuumed the floors and Doug mopped them. We got new air filters for the intake vents and switched out the old ones. It feels so good to cross things off the list!
This morning I went up to my craft room and made some major headway organizing. I'm getting there!
Here are some pictures of the dogs. The first picture is of Nestle, a/k/a Nettie, Nettie Spaghetti, um punkin pie!

This next picture is of Niles, a/k/a Niles Crocodiles, nies crocs...

Then there's Phoebe, Phoebe Buffet, Phoebs, Curly, Girls, Curly Q, I like the way curly moves....(Our dogs have songs that go along with their names. I know, we are crazy...)

Finally, the baby of the family is Teddy Bear, Teddy, Taynie, Teddy Bayyer:

Thanks for looking!

Ended up being a good day!

Last night was a total bummer with the Sooners losing the game. Doug was yelling so loud that he was scaring me and Nestle. Things got so stressful that I finally ended up putting in my earphones and playing my Ipod loud enough not to hear him. He was MAD!!! As an OU Alumni he was definitely disappointed that his Sooners didn't win. It was a blue funk day for Sooner fans across Oklahoma...

I woke up this morning with a terrible headache and a sore neck. I don't know if I slept wrong or what. Doug offered to pay for a massage for me ~ all I had to do was call and schedule it. Luckily, the massage therapist that I have been wanting to try for a while had an opening late this afternoon so I grabbed the appointment. Her dad is a chiropractor here in town and she came highly recommended. Let me say this: she was *AWESOME*! She totally worked all the kinks out of my neck and I was so relaxed! 90 minutes of total relaxation. I need to do that more often. Thank you Douglassssssss!

Doug and I met at Panera Bread for lunch today. After a quick bite to eat we ran to the Wild Birds store where Doug bought two great bird feeders for the back yard. The cardinals are going to be so happy! So are we ~ we love to watch them. I'll try to get some pictures tomorrow if the birds find their new feeders. Can't wait for spring for the butterflies and the hummingbirds too. Just hope I can get things done instead of birdwatching all day!

I had to order invitations for a dinner we are having for work and I went by this awesome store called Paper Girl. The store has all kinds of pretty invitations that are custom printed to suit the occasion. Our invitations for a Christmas Party we had were done there and Paula (the girl who runs Paper Girl) did such a great job. I try to shop at the little local stores whenever I can so hopefully they can stay in business.

I don't like to post and leave everyone without at least one picture to look at. This is a picture from the fall. Look at the audience I had while I was planting pansies in the front yard:

Aren't they cute? Nosy too! Goodnight.

Right now, I'm sitting in my office with Nestle on my lap while I blog. Doug is watching the Oklahoma/Florida game. Lots of yelling going on in the other room. It makes me nervous and it is very stressful. One minute he is happy and the next he is mad so it's going to be a long night.
This week has flown by. While I thought about blogging the last couple of nights I just didn't really have much to say. The new year starts off with such anticipation for big changes but it is hard to keep up with it all. So, I've decided to work on one thing at a time. I have to remember: Progress, not perfection, right?
In August, Doug and I bought a new house in Tulsa. Here is a picture that I took just before we moved in (you can see the signs still in the yard).

Nothing major needs to be done to the house since it is brand new but there are a few things we need/would like to do.
First of all, the house didn't come with any window treatments. When we first moved in this wasn't really an issue since the only room with a view to the street is my office.
The rooms that face the back yard and now the new construction in the neighborhood are the kitchen, the living room and our bedroom. We love the big windows in the kitchen and living room and don't plan to cover them anytime soon, however, the windows in our bedroom are another story.
We are planning on putting up plantation shutters. We would like to do them throughout the house, but Wow! are they expensive. So, I guess one room at a time according to the need for privacy.

Here are some other things on my to do list:
1. New glass for the patio table.
2. Make our bedroom a cozy retreat. The furniture is still nice but we really could use a new feather bed, down comforter and definitely a new coverlet. The bedding set we have now is left over from my newly single days and Doug doesn't like the pink flowers all over and the little pink lamps. It looked cute in the old house:


But not so much here. I don't have a picture of the new bedroom just yet. I'll put that on my list so I'm sure to have before and after pics. I love before and after pics, don't you?
3. Glass storm door for the front - I need sun streaming in!
4. Ceiling fan for the back porch
5. Organize my Craft room - It will be awesome!
6. Table for entryway. The one I planned to put there is now in our bedroom holding our *giant* television. I have to admit, I like the TV and the table goes pretty well with the other furniture although I won't win any decorating contests with that one.
7. Decorate the guest bedroom and finish setting up the guest bathroom.
8. New kitchen table and chairs. I plan on putting a big mirror on one of the walls and I'm looking for other ideas for the other walls.
9. Organize the garage so I can park my car inside.
10. Landscape the backyard. I want trees, a garden, bird houses, and lots of flowers! We have some cardinals visiting (see the pics in my previous post) and I want to keep them coming. I did notice this past summer there were quite a few butterflies in the neighborhood and I want to make my backyard a place they like to visit.

Well, enough rambling for now. Think I'll go soothe my jangled nerves with a nice cup of tea. The yelling around here is getting intense. C'mon Sooners!

Happy Birthday Jan!

Amanda, January (Birthday Girl!), Bobby and Me.

This picture was taken in Pepe's a couple of years ago when I went home for Christmas. I don't think any of us have changed all that much. Happy Birthday Jan!

I just love birds...

Aren't those birds just beautiful? I snapped about 80 different pictures and they were all taken through the window! I didn't want to go outside and scare the birds away. There is a little feeder in the front yard right outside my office window. I think the birds like it because there is a little rock and some shrubbery they can hide in. There is also tree that they can land on the branches and sort of survey the scene. Honestly, it makes me so happy! I have big plans for creating a bird/butterfly/hummingbird paradise in the back yard this summer so stay tuned!

Today wasn't nearly as productive as yesterday. I didn't sleep well again last night ~ too many things swirling around in my head like projects I want to tackle and crafty projects I want to do. So, I got up early with the best of intentions but ended up getting sidetracked. Of course, taking all those pictures of the birds took some time. ;)

I went up to my craft room and started organizing. When I got the surface of my table cleaned off I decided I needed to decorate the cover of my new notebook. I got totally involved in that project and before I knew it, the afternoon was half over.

Doug was so sweet. He made me a grilled cheese sandwich and served my lunch upstairs complete with potato chips, pickles and a diet pepsi. I ate my lunch ( I was starving!) and then needed to take a nap. Yep ~ a nice afternoon nap.

When I got up, I went back upstairs and made a card for my Gram and started working on some birthday cards. Time really does fly when you are having fun because the evening just went too fast. It was getting late and I wanted to be able to post here before it's time to get ready for bed.

There are lots of organizing challenges coming up on other blogs and I'm going to be choosing what I want to do to get my house and life in order. I'll post what I plan to do for this month to keep myself on track and keep myself accountable. But you will have to wait until tomorrow because I need to get my desk cleaned off tonight (one of my new year's resolutions) :)

Decorations are down and put away....

I decided to take down the tree today and put away the Christmas decorations. As of last night, I wasn't sure I was ready, but when I woke up this morning I just started and kept moving until it was all done. It feels good to have that project done. I even managed to organize the attic while I was at it.

Doug and I also went out into the garage and worked out there for quite a while and I'm pleased with the progress we made there. It was in the high 70's so it made for a pleasant day of work.

We took a break and headed off to Chilis for a burger and then to Walmart for a few things we needed. By the time we got back from there I was exhausted so I took a nap for an hour or so. All in all it was a very productive day.

Speaking of Christmas Decorations, I thought I would share a picture of a little ornament that makes me happy.

I have several of these angels and I love them. I also have little white Santas and snowmen but the angel is my favorite.

Butter Cookies, take two!

During the holiday season I had wanted to try to make a few different types of cookies. I found a recipe for butter cookies on a blog and decided to try it. The recipe was pretty simple and I was supposed to put it through a cookie press to make the shaped cookies. After the dough was ready, I reached for my cookie press only to discover, I DIDN'T HAVE A COOKIE PRESS!!! I could have *sworn* I had one but it turns out I have not one, but TWO cookie decorator thingies but not a cookie press! Well, it was too late to turn back and too late to run to the store on Christmas Eve, so I shaped the cookies into little pressed circles and baked them. They tasted really good but didn't look the way I wanted.

So, the day after Christmas, I went off to Michael's and I bought a cookie press. Oh, it looked so fancy! All the different shapes it can make... I was finally going to be able to make pretty little butter cookies.
Tonight after work I decided to test out my new machine. I mixed up the dough and carefully scooped it into the press (after a little difficulty in getting the batteries in right ~ Doug figured it out for me). I pressed the button and the machine began to struggle. Uh oh. Finally some dough began to squeeze out of the pretty little shape. I couldn't figure out how to get the dough to break off the end. I pressed the machine down, I wiggled it side to side, I even used a butter knife. Nothin! I practiced my way through three cookies sheets full of cookies before I think I got maybe 8 or 9 pretty cookies. Then the dough just wouldn't cooperate any longer. So, halfway through the dough I gave up on pretty cookies and went back to rolling them up and flattening them out on the cookie sheet. They taste good, they just look ugly. Oh well.
On to other subjects. I've been thinking alot about New Year's Resolutions. I've even written down a few. One of the challenges at Just4Keeps is to scrap a layout of our resolutions. I'm planning on working on that this weekend and once it is completed, I will post it here.


Also speaking of New Years ~ on New Years Eve Doug and I went to Oklahoma City to see the Flaming Lips in concert. We went last year and had a great time. This year, Doug was the lucky winner of a golden ticket so we got back stage VIP passes and I got to have my picture taken with Wayne! Doug did too!




















Some of Doug's friends joined us for the evening. After the concert, Doug and I stayed at the Skirvin Hotel and that was our New Year's Eve!