mystery plant/flower #1

This is for Liz, who took part of this plant with her while visiting.

It's reversible!

Incase you were wondering what our new bedspread pattern looks like up close and personal, here it is. The medallion is the preferred side but it can also be flipped over to the more subdued red/tan pattern should we grow tired of the medallion.

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Divorce?

After hearing one of my friends is having marital troubles already, it got me thinking. You know how it seems like we go through phases in life. I feel like right now, at 28 minus one week, we are in the phase where most of our friends are married, and some are thinking about getting on the baby bandwagon. While the hubs and I, and our closest friends are not making babies, we know that it's in the near future for a lot of people our age.

So back to my thinkings - is there going to be a point when it seems like all our friends are getting divorced? Is that a time that we all need to be prepared for? I certainly hope not, but since half of us aren't making it these days, it seems inevitable that someone we know will do the big D. How do you cope with that? We have made some awesome friends, that we would not have met if it weren't for their other half. So are we allowed to stay friends with the non-original friend? Is the original friend going to ask us to spill the beans on them if we do keep in touch? Seems like a touchy area that I'd rather stay away from.

Therefore, I encourage all of you to tell your loved ones how much you care and work at your marriage. Be open and communicate. Let's turn that 50 percent back the other way - the way it was when our grandparents were young whippersappers.

Note: In no way am I considering divorce. I'm extremely happily married. I was even happy while we did long distance for the last year, but now that we are living together in our own house again, things are great! I'm not saying we have the perfect marriage or anything like that, but we are both happy and love each other and that's what matters to us.

Muffie Tops

I just ordered a variety pack of Vita muffin tops. I've been drooling over them for a while because a lot of bloggers I read who write about food/weight watchers seem to like these puppies.

But. They. Are. Expensive.

So when I saw the deal on Hungry Girl's site, I went ahead and ordered them. I will let you know how amazing they taste. I might even let the hubs try a brownie muffie top.

New bed!

I decided to check out the massive home sale at Macys last weekend because our little dog has managed to ruin all our other bedspreads. I snagged this cotton bed set for only $24. Thats right folks. King size comforter, skirt, 4 shams for only $24. The best part is both hubs and pug like it.

Now if we could just find a nice adult bedroom set of furniture, our master bedroom wouldn't look like a college dorm room with a big bed.

Look! I'm cooking!

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dinner salad

Lately, the hubs and I have been eating a lot of salad for dinner. This for a couple of reasons: 1. I would call what I can do in the kitchen "heating" or "preping" but not really "cooking." 2. We are trying to be more healthy.

And if you don't want to be super healthy, like the hubs, then you don't have to be. You can still eat all kinds of meats and cheeses on top of some lettuce smothered in creamy sauce. Above, I made two salads based on what I could find in the fridge.

On your left, hubs salad: romaine, 5-cheese blend, celery, volpi salami. On your right, my salad: romaine, celery, blueberries and goat cheese.

We also had hamburgers and corn on the cob with these bad boys. A meal I prepped, cooked and served all by myself thankyouverymuch.

Dinner out

We just tried a new restaurant called Outlaw Blues and really really like it. I had the shrimp served over cheesy grits while hubs had a big pile of bbq meat.

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praying mantis

this guy invaded my moms kitchen

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Operation Green

I am slowly but surely going green. One of my fav green items is grocery bags. I just bought this envirosax bag the other day and I love it because it rolls up to fit in my purse. Plus it holds a lot of stuff. In that bag is at least 5 canned goods, a box of eggos, fat free half and half and some cocoa powder (to attempt home-made brownies not out of a box...).

Next on the Operation Green list: a rain barrel.

work

I'm at work hanging out for a photo that should be here any minute and thought you might like to see the view from 15 stories up.

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self portrait

New hair with highlights.

Love my new hair salon in Belleville - Elite Retreat. I should have bought some better shampoo/conditioner while I was there (as compared to the Suave I've been using...) because they had it for sale - $9.50 for a liter. I just assumed that it would be cheaper at wally world. I was wrong. The bia at the "high quality salon" at walmart tried to tell me that it was impossible for them to sell them that cheap. She said the cheapest she's ever seen a liter is $15 (their special was 2 for $30). I walked out of Walmart with dog food only.

Nice little Sunday

I spent most of the day today outside in the front of the house. I weeded, trimmed, pruned and mulched the area between the front porch and walkway. That big bush on in front of the right window is actually a holly bush. I heard that they will not produce berries unless the opposite sex holly bush is nearby. While trimming today, I found some little green berries just starting to bloom. So while I still don't know if our bush is male or female, its mate must be close!!


This is the finished product also has a perfect spot for a rose bush (the clear area to the left):


Roses are one of my favorite flowers, and I left behind four beautiful rose bushes when we moved. They were just starting to bloom when we left them in the hands of two tiny people who bought our house. If I had somewhere to plant them immediately, I would have taken them with me.

I also worked on the other side of the garage. This side faces the street with the most traffic, so I definitely plan to spend a lot of time on this side of the house next spring. For now, I just trimmed and spruced a bit. I did plant my mini-garden of tomatoes and peppers toward the back of the house, and they all seem to be thriving there, so I might keep my garden there for next year, or I might move it around to the back of the house once I tackle that mess of weeds...

I don't know what kind of groundcover is in front of those bushes (where PugDog is checking them out) but the bottom half is green, while the top half is brown/dead looking. At first I thought they were great because they were the perfect size leaves, but now they are just plain ugly and I tried to cut most of them down - which is the brown empty spot to the left of PugDog.

While at the home store, I also bought the cute little cactus for the kitchen table in the previous post. I think it's adorable.

Cute little cactus

Homegrown bouquet

found all these in my yard... i bet most of them are actually weeds. But pretty weeds right?

Ready to be on a boat!

I bought General a life jacket so he doesnt drown tomorrow on the boat. Most dogs are excellent swimmers. My pug truly doggy-paddles while sinking...

home improvement

master bathroom hardware

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IL to MO - a commute

For those who think it's CRAZYtalk to live in IL and work in MO...

• 7:54 a.m - back out of driveway in Belleville
• 8:13 a.m. - cross river, slow down for everyone slamming on their brakes because they don't know how to get to 70/55/44 and 40 is closed. WHAT the WHAT? The entire bridge is poorly signed and out-of-towners don't know what to do!!
• 8:17 a.m. - exit the interstate
• 8:19 a.m. - pull into parking space on the other side of the river. Past downtown.
  

And there you have it folks. What a great way to start the day.

"Get those facts and figures Barry - in the idea machine."

Baby Momma was not THAT funny the first time I saw it. I thought it was just meh. Now that it's on tv all the time, I'm catching clips and the hubs was talking Fantasy Baseball the other night for at least 20 minutes with another guy in the league. I told him to hurry up and put those facts and figures in the idea machine, and now I am saying it all the time.

I'm hilarious.

Im a muggle. No magic powers here.

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Boat time

I am hoping this weekend will have the same weather as we did when I took this picture because hubs and I will be in the same spot. We are taking my parents out on my FIL's boat.

I need to work on my tan a lil bit and catch up with my sister.

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Food baby.

Today was supposed to be a Very Exciting day at work. Turns out, that day is now tomorrow. I came in early and everything. I also ate Russell's carrot cake for breakfast. Carrot cake = food baby.

We have a real table!

This is our new kitchen table - and on the right side the different colored floor is a couple of tiles trialing what we want the floor to look like. They are "luxury vinyl tile" that will stick down once we pry that sheet of vinyl tile up. Good thing we have our tile tool back from my cuz who borrowed it to update his basement.

Lots of reading to do

I like this look better, but I also think it looks like a template. It is, but I don't want it to look like a template. You know what I mean?

I'm working my way through Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse series. Because of that, I've put myself in sort of a pickle. Prior to any Harry Potter release, I like to re-read the series so I'm prepared to enjoy the book or movie (obviously they will be movies from now on) with the books fresh in my mind. I do not like to mix books or read two at a time, so therefore, HP is on the back burner for now.

I do need to hunker down and read for the next two weeks though because the hubs and I made plans to head north to the windy city and check out the HP museum with another couple. The dudes will probably drink somewhere while the ladies check out all that Chi-town Hogwarts has to offer.

But for now, its back to my Sookie Stackhouse book. Last book is on order from the library so I have to hurry up and finish reading the second to last book.

New Look....

I wanted to switcheroo and grow up a bit. I've had hot pink on my blog since I started blogging my sophomore year of college. I thought it might be time to grow out of the pink that I know and love. I like this template, but I want to change the photos at the top and I'm not sure I can... I dunno HTML so maybe I'm just not smart enough.

Comments? Feedback? Did you like the pink better?

Carrot snack

My Purina-working friend gave me a coupon for some free doggie treats. I usually do not splurge on treats because this pug will perform any trick (including giving 'knucks) for a milkbone. But since I had a coupon I got General these snackers. Look how good he is waiting for permission to eat.

Also - take note of the current floor situation in the kitchen. We'll be replacing that soon.

Our evening

When the charter guy finally installed our internet, he was a very nice guy while he was in the house, but after he left I realized it was just for show. He's a slob. He left the crawl space door open, lord knows what kind of creatures crawled up into our home. He left his trash out in the yard and he didn't bother to bury the wire connecting our house to the power box at the corner of the lot.

Hubs and I just spent the last hour burying the wire and feeding the mosquitoes in the yard. We also figured out how to clean the filter in the air conditioner. That's a double-edged sword. On one hand, I hate cleaning it, but at the same time, I'm glad its a reusable filter. Operation Go Green in my house is in the AC filter too. I even have the hubs putting his cans by the door for recycling. We try to do our part to save the planet. :)

General's new food area

Thought I'd class it up, since we are re-doing just about everything else in the kitchen. General deserved a nice new food station. If only he weren't such a messy drinker...

baby gavin!

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home improvement: wallpaper removal

I peeled off the wallpaper after the fireworks on 4th of July. Turns out the walls had never been painted before so we had to paint stat. We also picked out the floors and countertops that we liked. The yellow really brightens the dark kitchen and it will look even better with new flooring.

look! a baby pepper!

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Gym Short Look

Because my pants are too big and I'm trying to save money to work on our kitchen, I've resorted to a new style. It's called the Gym-Short Look. I don't know about dudes, but us ladies tend to roll our gym shorts at the waist if they are too long and we want to wear shorter shorts.

So since my pants are waaay too long due to no longer being forced around my thighs, I have rolled them up. They are almost staying up, and it just looks like I have on a thick belt under my shirt. It's totally hot.

Sweet Tooth out of whack

I am having some serious sweet tooth issues today. Last night we went to dinner on the hill, and got as close as driving by Ted Drewes. I ate only half as much as normal for dinner because I thought we'd be having delicious custard shortly, but my sweet tooth was denied. The long lines and turn lanes full of cars made my companions decide that white stuff just wasn't worth the effort.

I will find some custard today.

Happy 4th of July.

new decor 2 match curtains

hobby lobby rocks

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new curtains!

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bugs doing it

outside my office building

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Big Day

Tomorrow is a big day for our small family. Hopefully after almost two months of arguing with AT&T, getting and canceling dial up, we will have the internet through Charter. I'm taking the day off work to make sure I'm home when the idiots show up to install it. I also plan to be outside washing my car so I can see it when they drive past and claim to have knocked on the door.

Pop Quiz:
Did you know that Charter is so bankrupt that they charge $65/month for internet alone, and $54 if you add a phone line to "bundle" your services.

So I also have to have a phone idiot install that too. A land line with all the fixin's that I will never use.