Hippo birdy to you!

February 28th is my hubby's birthday (along with his twin brother, of course).  We celebrated on Sunday, the 27th, by watching movies & getting some take out.  John wanted Jack-n-Grill & I happily obliged.  John got this massive burger, called "the Dezz" (the bun was as big as his hand!). 

I got enchiladas which were excellent but not nearly as epic to look at.  I also got him Ben & Jerry's then later made some kick ass soup & focaccia.  I was going to share a pic of the focaccia (which I was quite proud of) but this is what's left:

A pre-birthday filled with fattening food... that's how much I love my man.

Clean slate

There's something about a clean house that makes it easier for me to function.  It clears my mind & makes me calmer, somehow.  I put off cleaning for too long & I get anxious & cloudy.  I was glad to finally have a few solid hours to get the house clean this weekend.

One of the first places to get re-messed is our dining room table.  We don't use our dining room or the table for "dining" and it is pretty much the first available surface upon walking in the door to lay anything down.  So, my purse always falls there.  Usually the mail ends up there & anything else that needs to be moved out of the way elsewhere in the house.

Moving or getting rid of said table is out of the question, however.  The table, which we call the Al Capone table, is very special to me.  According to my dad, the table was found in the basement of one of the houses his family occupied in Chicago (where he lived the first 14 years of his life).  The story is that the table came from a bar that was either owned by or frequented by Al Capone.  The heavy, cast iron base was designed so that the tables couldn't be thrown in bar fights.  This table came with my dad's family when they moved from Chicago to St. Louis & then came to reside at the house I grew up in.  I'm a sucker for old stuff, especially when attached to my family, so I got it next.

I'm also in love with the table cloth, an antique not related to my family, and it is a shame that it always gets covered with stuff.  The doily is related to my fam (mom crocheted it) and I made the ceramic bowl on it.  So, let's all enjoy a brief moment of clean table-ness (with help from Sammy).

Paws

I love paws, of all types.  Here's some kitty paws.  So cute.  That is all.

Good day

It's been a hectic week (work, boring) but today was a nice break from it all.  I have to work 4 hours Saturday so I only worked half a day today.  John and I went to see our buddy Thor at Celebrity Tattoo in Lodo so he could put the color on a tattoo he started on me before Christmas last year.  Thor is an incredible artist and all around cool guy.  Here we are (pics of the tattoo to follow at some point).

Ode to a Moon Pie

I am a Midwestern girl, through and through.  I was born in St. Charles, MO, grew up in Cottleville, MO and have only recently lived outside the Midwest.  I love that I grew up in (what used to be) rural Missouri.  I love that I grew up around farms and have stories that most people can't relate to.  We gardened, butchered, hauled hay... I've milked a cow (her name was Valentine).  I've got a little redneck in me, but I embrace it.  I had an amazing childhood with my large, close Catholic family.

When I first went away to college, I went to NMSU (now Truman State) in Kirksville, MO.  One night, some friends & I were driving from Kirksville to Columbia.  We stopped at a gas station in the middle of nowhere for snacks.  One of my purchases was a Moon Pie.  The only other person in the store, besides the clerk, was a disheveled looking dude holding a huge bag of dog food while talking loudly about how his dog just died.  We quietly and hurriedly made our way to the checkout, trying to stay under this guy's radar.  No such luck.  He looked at my items and proclaimed "Moon Pies are an institution here in the Midwest!".

I think of this every time I have a Moon Pie.  I don't have them often but if we make our way to Bass Pro, I have to buy them.  For whatever reason, Bass Pro stocks a variety of moon pies (I always go for classic chocolate) and they sell them 2 for a dollar.  I just can't leave without buying two.  Fortunately, they aren't exceptionally fattening... because I ate one on the way home & just now had the other one.

They really are an institution... a tasty tasty institution.

Something blue

When I was little I liked to play with my mom's jewelry (like most girls, I'm sure).  "Play" may not be the right word, though... I mostly just liked to look at her jewelry.  We weren't rich; she didn't have loads of diamonds & strings of pearls or anything.  There was some inherited costume jewelry, her high school class ring & a few nice presents from my dad.  It was all beautiful to me, though.

One of my favorites was a simple necklace: a tiny diamond atop a blue star sapphire.  Before I got married, my mom gave me the necklace.  It was my "something blue" for my wedding.  I don't wear jewelry often, although I still love it and occasionally purchase some, but today I had the urge to wear my star sapphire.  I doubt anyone else takes much notice of the small pendant but I sure feel special wearing it.

 

a very Thursday Thursday

Today was nearly completely filled with work.  I like to stay busy and, boy, was I!  The day went by fast even though it was longer than it should have been.  All this leads to Candy being tired & not at all in the mood to be all bloggy.  So, enjoy this video of Kaycee and Sammy being adorable in my messy bedroom.  If nothing else, skip to about 30 seconds from the end.  You are guaranteed a LOL.  And I bid you adieu.

Cute delivery

I didn't blog yesterday because I wasn't vertical very much.  I had to call in to work because I was up all night with pain & it didn't go away most of the day.  I slept a lot, which was nice, I guess, but I wish I'd been at work & pain free.  It has been one of those weeks.  But, no use complaining about it, right?  What's done is done, this too shall pass, tomorrow's another day, etc. 

So today I was really glad to be back at work & relatively pain free.  The highlight of my day came in the form of a little manila envelope on my desk.  I got my delivery from my friend Jen's etsy shop!  You should really go visit her here because her stuff is super cute!  You'll thank me later.

I got a reversible cloth headband and some button flower bobby pins:

Would I look really stupid if I wore them all at once?  Probably.  But they are so cute! Even my kitten wanted them!

Shortly after this picture was taken, kitten took a pepper off my plate of chinese food.  I think I've got a kleptomaniac on my hands... one with a potentially fiery butt in her future.

VD

My husband & I are both among those who believe that Valentine's day is just a money-maker for greeting card & chocolate companies, nothing more.  Going all out and spending a bunch of money on February 14th is silly.  It is the little things, the sometimes wordless daily proofs of love, that really matter.  Unrelated to the "holiday", I had one of those days where all the little problems that are easy to deal with one at a time decide to gang up all at once.  I was stressed by things I can't control, exhausted & in pain (also beyond my control) and didn't feel like dealing with anything more complicated than sitting on the couch.  

It all fit together perfectly, actually.  All I wanted was to drown my sorrows in pizza & ice cream and be with my sweetie.  He got the Ben & Jerry's, I ordered the Pizza Hut.  It was just the evening both of us wanted and that I needed.  Plus, my kitten, displaying that innate ability all animals seem to have to know when you are feeling down, decided to cuddle with me... even after I was done eating pizza.

The pictures a dark but I didn't want to disturb her with the flash.  Kept it relaxing for us all.

I hope everyone had just the Valentine's day they wanted... whether it was filled with flowers & sweets or quiet & solitary or ignoring the day all together. 

What a wonderful world...

My wonderful husband, who normally likes to annoy me out of bed EARLY on the weekends, let me sleep in on Saturday.  Then we had to get outside & enjoy the beautiful weather after having endured some super cold & snow (but not enough for a snow day, unfortunately) lately.  We drove up to the area of St. Mary's Glacier (located here, see my pictures here).  It was a beautiful drive although the brutal wind & deep snow kept us from hiking to the actual glacier.  We'll have to go back again when it is warmer.

Today was even nicer but we stayed in the lower elevations.  We took the dogs to the dog park, a must for Kaycee especially whenever possible.  The girl loves to run.  I wish we had a yard for her but frequent trips to the Westminster Hills dog park will have to suffice for now.  On the way home, we washed my jeep which completely confused the pups.  Once we got home, I started on laundry & dishes and did some quilting while John went for a motorcycle ride with his friend Dennis.  It was nice to have a little alone time.

Kaycee and Bella decided to cuddle with me on the couch:

And here's what Sammy took this opportunity to do:

 I think that she thinks she's a dog... a big dog.  She's delusional but I love her.

Tasting

I joined the ranks of android phone users on new years day and I freakin' love my phone (T-mobile G2)!  This post is a test of the Blogger app.  I doubt I'll do much posting from my phone but I thought it was neat (and free).  Supposedly I can upload a pic with the post so let's see if this works.  BTW, I love flamingos.

First things first..

The first few posts here (below) are copy/pasted from my old blog (eatheregetgas.bravejournal.com).  Bravejournal doesn't allow exporting of entries so I'm going to do this the old fashioned way.  I'm only going back as far as my renewed interest in blogging (a few weeks now) so if you want to see super old entries, feel free to go back there & check it out.

Oops

How many days can I forget about my blog until I'm cozy in bed, trying to fall asleep?  Current count is 3.  What makes this worse is my complete lack of short term memory.  I'd like to tell you what I've done the last few days but recalling is taxing my tiny (blond AND Polish, as my mother will tell you) brain.  I can tell you I worked, ate and slept.  These things I know.  I bet I watched some TV, made some high price real estate deals and fought some crime too.  You know, the usual. 

Today was a good day.  I caught someone in a lie through my superior record keeping & investigative skills.  Evidence makes me happy.  I should totally be a private investigator.  I did my usual work, blah blah blah, boring.  On my lunch, I did some shopping.  Here are my super cute new socks over the top of my new purse (which is what I initially went shopping for).



I got a delivery from Amazon.com that I was a little too excited about.  I am epically bad at math and this book has tons of charts that do all the math & measuring for me.  Next to it is a "free motion" quilting foot for my sewing machine.  This will allow me to do fun designs on quilts & to quilt a million times faster than by hand. Is there such a thing as a quilting geek?  Because I think I could be their leader.



Finally, once I got home, I made some truly awesome soup.  It is a creamy potato with carrots, onions and cheese.  I can't even tell you how impressed I am with myself.  I usually want a recipe which I follow faithfully but this was my own invention.  I did start off with the first couple steps of another creamy soup but the rest is all mine.  It turned out so good!  So good, in fact, that my husband invited a friend over & now the soup is all gone.



And that, my friends, was my hump day in a nutshell.  Now I shall lay in bed & cuddle with my kitten while playing mahjong on my laptop.  The excitement never ends.

Confinement

I didn't take any pictures today.  I didn't leave the house today.  I didn't get out of my jammies today.  It was a great day.  We cooked some good food (pulled pork and rotel dip with fritos scoops), I took a nap for the first half of the Superbowl (I only watch for the commercials, anyway), got all the laundry done and cleaned the kitchen & one bathroom.  It was a productive day although it didn't include taking even one picture.  Oh well, you can't have everything.

Snowy day

Friday night, I got home from work and immediately went to sleep.  It was nice because I haven't gotten a good night of sleep in quite a while.  It was also really not nice because I initially laid down because my tummy was super unhappy (no idea why) and then I slept until Saturday morning.  That's a lot of sleep (and also the reason I didn't post yesterday)! 

So today, my hubby John and I went on a little photo safari.  Basically, we like to drive & get lost looking for interesting stuff.  This time, we headed towards Denver.  As I've said, I love snow... but it put quite a damper on my safari!  About an hour or so in, it started snowing lightly and then it really started coming down.  We went home earlier than we'd planned because the weather made it tough to get good photos but we had fun all the same.

My favorite picture of the day was from the Richthofen Castle.  It's probably called a castle because it was modeled after a castle in Germany but I'd call it a huge mansion.  It is really cool, anyway... and apparently for sale (if you've got $4 million in your housing budget).



Here's a shot of another building on the castle's grounds that shows a little more clearly the type of snowing we were dealing with...



We stayed out for a few hours then decided to go to the grocery store then home.  I made chili & it is just about the best chili ever.  No lie.

A Thursday evening

There's a reason I didn't post yesterday and its a really good one!  Okay, not really... I got lost in a Flickr photostream filled with great pictures of St. Louis.  Lots of awesome urban shots.  It inspired me to go on an urban photo safari here in Denver.  We've taken so many trips up into the mountains, and it is beautiful, but we've neglected our city.  I love urban landscapes too and will hopefully have the opportunity to get some good shots this weekend.

For now, here's a couple from today.  Nothing too exciting, really.  First, at a stop light on the way home from work.  What I really like about this one is the reflections on my hood (which I didn't notice until I looked at the pic at home).  I'll have to try this again & aim down a little & maybe after I get a car wash.



My favorite thing about snow is the way it sparkles.  My inner magpie loves shiny things.  It isn't easy to get that to represent well in photos, though.  Here's a semi-successful one I took while walking from the garage to our door.



The next 2 days are forecast to be really nice.  A little warmer & sunny.  Normally, I prefer overcast days for color photography but it has been too long since I've had a good photo road trip & I'll enjoy the warmth while its here!

Samalama ding dong

Introducing our third furry child, a 10 month old barn cat (really, she was born in a barn in Missouri).  Her name is Samoa (like the Girl Scout cookie) but we never call her that.  She's Sam, Sammy, Crazy Kitty, Cuddlebug, etc.  She is absolutely nuts and completely adorable.  I recently started quilting and here she is "helping" me.

I'm sure I'll post some pictures of the quilt soon.  It is my first one, so it's far from perfect, but it is turning out pretty cool.  Pet hair included, free of charge.