okie doke

i just read the best blog post ever:
http://mountcustard.blogspot.com/2012/03/its-not-easy-being-green.html

that's all.

weird stuff happens when you least expect it

i was going to do a post on austin because i just came back from there last weekend and i took a lot of photos to remember all the fun stuff and places i went.

i was.

until i was interrupted from my work. i was working away when husband scott said 'come here' and we followed him into brother-in-law mark's office (why yes, i do work with my husband and brother-in-law and we get along splendidly). anyway, we look from his office window and the others are saying 'what?' and then all of sudden, i notice there is a naked man lying in the street.

wha'??!!!

of course, i googled later...much later and found this and this. this is NOT enough information.

i also got this photo

blurry, yes, but remember i have a point and shoot and it was taken from our office's 10th floor and down the block.

i just wonder what caused this man to do this. is he just crazy or did he take something with something else and it just didn't agree with him or was he just having a bad day?

mother lode

so...i open my mailbox and what do i see? this massive book from restoration hardware. it's ridiculously huge, like vogue's september issue.

i don't know why i got it. i don't shop there very often. it's been totally revamped. i don't really like the type of furniture it carries. it's huge massive slabby stuff. it's really over the top and overly expensive.
but then, i flip through it...

i want this...

and this...











and a couple of more things that are beyond my budget. when i came across this...

a very pixilated leather sofa from restoration hardware (sorry for the pixilation...the photo was teeny tiny). i also went to ikea over the weekend and saw this...

now, granted, side by side comparisons show that they are not even close, but the look is similar enough for me to go 'hmmmmmmmm'. i don't need to tell you that the ikea one is waaaaaaaaaay cheaper or that it's not even close to the same quality of leather, probably...most likely. but, when i sat in the ikea one...it wasn't bad for $399...not bad at all.



any way...





wait...what's this, hiding underneath the behemoth?

yea! i hit the mother lode, today! and it's not pixilated (heh heh).

so excited

i will be seeing 'hunger games' today.
i read the books (i know...dweeb. i mean, after all, i'm going to be 55). then, i saw the trailer:

and,

here is how i felt:

monday, monday

today really started out as a true monday, beginning with the fact that i forgot my password for my computer at work. i totally blanked out. here is a piece of advice: don't EVER change your password on a friday. and, here is another really good piece of advice: always write it down. don't EVER think that it was an easy one to remember because it never is...ever. most people use the same password over and over again and just change the last bit like ann1 to ann2. not me. i like to make it fun. one time, my password was expiring just before christmas, so i changed it to bejolly1 and it was denied because it had part of my name in it. and no, my name is not holly. my new password begins with moron.

also, we have been having overcast muggy humid weather for more than a week with off and on rain during the night. i like overcast weather, but not forever, and especially not on a monday morning when we have changed to daylight saving time, which means i am getting up in the dark at 7:00am! it's not like i am getting at 5:00am or anything.

but then, late this afternoon, a thunderstorm was brewing and that changed everything. there was a chance for hail, so i kept going out on the back patio to check it out. it started getting really dark (not because the sun was setting) and it got that weird green-y yellow color, which could mean hail or a tornado. it had been windy earlier and then it got still.

then it got that really good rain smell.

then it started raining, gently at first, then lightning and thundering and then came the deluge.

no hail...no tornado.

so, i sat outside and enjoyed it. it was more enjoyable than before this time because we, now, have an overhead ceiling and a pergola over the patio. i've ordered furniture and it is coming along.

i got a meyer lemon tree and a mexican lime tree for the patio. they smell soooooooooooooo good.

i tried to take a photo of the rain, but it isn't really visible with a camera. the live oak looks sparse because it shedding its leaves for new ones.

here, you can sorta' see the rainfall. the bunny looks really mad...i've never seen it from this angle. i have planted some stuff in the raised bed and still have to get some asparagus crowns. i planted dahlias and am really hoping it sprouts and blooms (do bulbs 'sprout'?). i am also getting some river rock for the muddy area. i was worried about the succulents i planted at the base of the raised bed because there is no sprinkler that will hit it (thus the reason for planting succulents), but now, i fear they are going to drown.

here is where i sat listening to the thunderstorm.

ahhhhhhhh...this was a nice way to end a real monday. and yea, tomorrow is tuesday! what is so special about tuesday? it's not monday (durh).

sigh

hello...i bet you were wondering if i was gone. i'm not. it's amazing how it takes me so much time to get back into blogging. i try to be regular, but i will go out of town and then i get off track.

we are refinancing our mortgage since the rate has dropped so much from our first/second refinancing. so... today, i had an appraiser come in to do an, well, an appraisal (that's pretty much what an appraiser does, right?). she didn't make a single comment except, have you fixed the leak (yes) that's stained the ceiling and have you done anything to your home in the last 5 years (uhhhhhhhhhh...nope).

so...then i started seeing the house in her eyes.

stains from air conditioner overflow - fixed, but not painted, yet...i was waiting till i painted the walls.

peeling wallpaper (the ugliest wallpaper in the world): not fixing...i was waiting for husband scott to okay a bathroom remodel, which he has. now, i have to wait till next week for meeting with contractor.

pink and grey fake marble...who chooses that? seriously?! who would want to have this for countertops, shower walls and bathtub??

ruined wooden floor - word of advice...don't have castors on chairs and then wheel around on a wood floor. we are getting an estimate for this, too.

sigh.

i have so many ideas...i don't follow design sponge for nothing. it takes me sooooooooooooo long to do stuff. i wish i had chez larsson's energy.

i bet she doesn't hulu 'the bachelor.'

fat tuesday

traditionally, fat tuesday means pancakes for dinner. i don't know why. i remember going to either to church for pancake dinner or mom fixing pancakes or...i don't know if it was more than once, but i vaguely remember going with our neighborhood friends to the tom thumb grocery store parking lot where, i think, a boy scout troop sponsored a pancake dinner in richardson.

anyone remember that?

lent is also a good way to kick start a diet. i given up dr pepper, chocolate (not together) and one time i gave up foods that started with a 'c'. that was hard. i was thinking, you know, cookies, candy, cake and chocolate, but it also included corn and cereal and other things i didn't realize i would have to give up after i made that decision.

i don't think that is why lent was invented, though...to kick start a diet. actually i do know why we have the lenten season. we are supposed to give up something we love, so that we will know suffering, much like jesus did in the desert for 40 days and also, it's to prepare us for easter. there is something in the bible about our bodies are temples for god and we must keep them clean. i don't know where it says it. i thought i would have come across it in psalms. we are doing a program of reading the bible in 90 days and i just finished psalms...well sorta'. i kinda' scanned it. i am going to go back and read psalms, 4 each day, for lent, because it is hard to read page after page of psalms. i think it is because, to me, it's like reading hymns in a hymnal and one cannot quite get as much out of a hymn when one is just reading through.

anyhoo, about keeping our bodies clean is a good reason, for me, to give up the many many bad habits i have accrued lately. so, i am putting a stop to: soft drinks, especially dr pepper, over eating, no more fast food lunches, and all of the things i indulged in today for fat tuesday...

no more venti-sized lattes or iced coffees. i am not giving up starbucks altogether. i am just limiting myself to 1 tall latte or iced coffee a day. 'just'...that makes it seem better, but seriously, i go to starbucks every morning during the work week.

also, no more bought breakfasts, except when i am travelling. goodbye, zucchini walnut muffins.



no more fast food lunches, except when travelling. and when i am travelling, it cannot be fried foods or french fries.

no more dr peppers. there are no exceptions on this subject.

btw, that texas toast was really good.

no more green tea frappacinos. not even a tall, not even without classic syrup, not even without whipped cream.

no more.

even though green tea is good for me.

i just will drink iced green tea...straight up...without sweetener of any kind...not frapped.


no more HUGE dinners. proper portions, where half your plate contains vegetables, not mashed potatoes. (btw, i ate more than 1 spear of asparagus...i promise)

and, really(?), i ate the whole steak. even husband scott set aside half of his for tomorrow.

also, steak and mashed potatoes are waaaaaaaay more tasty than pancakes.

and, lastly, no more whole chocolate bars. a bite of dessert is plenty, thank you.

theo's hazelnut crunch is soooooooo good. it's got a sweet crunch of toffee, a teeny bit of saltiness enrobed in milk chocolate (i like saying enrobed...sounds pretentious, doesn't it?). theo's milk chocolate mint is also really really good.

also, do not ever buy this hot chocolate. it is so so rich and creamy and it is waaaaaaaaay too good. it can become a very very very bad habit, especially with graham crackers which can be used to scrape the last bit out of the cup. i'm serious. do not go to your local central market and buy it. trust me.

happy fat tuesday and i hope you added a few pounds to your body as i did today.

hmmmmmmmmm

tonight, i made a simple supper of cauliflower soup and tunafish sandwiches. husband scott requested his fat free cheese be put on his sandwich. i sighed and said yes, but i am still using real mayo in the tunafish. so when i made the sandwiches and topped his with his fat free cheese and mine with regular cheese, i made sure that i kept his sandwich on one side and mine on the other so, i wouldn't mix them up after they were through toasting...

but, i really didn't need to keep track of which is which, did i?

last night

i watched the grammies.

i had no idea who adele was before christmas. my sister-in-law had asked for her '21' cd for christmas, so i started to pay attention, and now, i cannot get enough. she has the most amazing voice.

truly amazing.

i also had no idea of the kind of person she was until last night when i watched this on 60 minutes, before the grammies. she is so down to earth and so refreshing. i LOVE her accent.

i hope she never changes.

on the subject of changes...

rest in peace, whitney houston. you had such a powerful voice and so very beautiful.

wow...where did january go

so much for new year's resolutions.
it is almost valentine's day.

can you see it? look very closely.
it is almost like those pictures within a picture where you had to stare at it and another image showed up? i totally could not see the image...ever. so, this is the same...sorta'. look veeeeerrrrrry closely. see it?

it's my car where someone drew a heart on my dirty car. awwwwwwww.

and look what else i found in my dirty car...
you know what this means, right?
that's right...i need to clean my car (heh heh).

just kidding.

every where you look, there is a little reminder that valentine's day is just around the corner.

i asked for ceiling fans for our new-in-the-making patio covering. and, for date night, we are going to see 'a separation'. how romantic is that?
of course it figures, because right after husband scott proposed to me, over 30 years ago, we went to the movies and saw 'kramer vs kramer'.

nothing says romance more than movies about getting a divorce, right?

how are you celebrating?