Thrills

There's this stop sign by our house on a road of empty lots. I pass this stop sign at least 3 times a day and... I run it every time. Really, it's ok. If I were to turn right at the stop sign I would turn into a culdesac of... empty lots, so really, it's fine. Or maybe I'm just trying to tell myself that. Anyways, my point is... I get a little thrill every time I run it. It really does make my day a little more exciting. I'm excited just thinking about it. Weird, huh.

Speaking of thrills, what would life be without a tiny itsy bitsy plumbing problem that turns into this... (I tried to dowload the picture off my phone but have run into technical difficulties).

It started with 2 plumbers coming to check out our little "problem" (I won't go into details). Then it turned into sawing into walls and cutting into pipe. Pretty soon we've got the big boss man over here (owner of the plumbing Co.) and Mr. Ence himself (our builder) only to say they haven't seen anything like this in the 35 years they've been in business. Next I'm sitting on my couch and everytime the door opens another guy comes in that I haven't seen before. There must've been 30 different guys over here today. So I look outside and there's 9 ENCE trucks parked in front of our house and one huge concrete crane. At this point they've pulled back the carpet in the guest room, cut a 3'x2' hole in the floor, drilled through the foundation (Bryce didn't sleep through that), and are cleaning out the sludge. I think this sounds a lot worse than it really is because really in 12 hours they had the piped replaced, concrete poured, microbial solution sprayed and now we're using our sinks again. I felt like I was in Extreme Makeover Home Edition. I was EXTREMELY impressed by the way Colf's Plumbing and ENCE handled it; EXTREMELY impressed by how quickly they responded and took care of it; and EXTREMELY relieved that we don't have to pay a dime.
So we went out and bought a PS3. We totally live in a fantasy world.

Kid Stuff

I love baseball hats.
Bowen is fixated with numbers. So I bought him 'Math Circus' by leapfrog and he watches it constantly. He's become a little math whiz. We tried to get a good video but this is all we could come up with. These are the ones I've heard him say so far... 5+2=7, 2+2=4, 3+3=6, 3+3+3=9, 10-2=8, 6-3=3, 5+5=10, 1+1=2.

Beef Stroganoff

This recipe is from America's Test Kitchen. It was F A B U L O U S!!! I didn't take a picture of it which is quite out of character for me (this pic is from their website).

A tippy-too: The recipe calls for Tenderloin steak which is otherwise known as 'filet mignon' which costs 5 billion dollars. BUT... my fellow butcher here at the local Harmons told me that Flat-iron steak is just as tender and costs less than 1/2 as much. Tried it. Loved it. BONUS!

Another tippy-too: American's test kitchen says the best egg noodles they've found are Light 'n Fluffy's extra wide egg noodles.

And one other tippy-too (that has to do with a different recipe): I usually make Bryan's absolute favorite meal, Chicken Pillows, with exra crispy shake 'n bake for the bread crumbs. Well, come to find out shake 'n bake is salt city... and they're just too salty, not tasting to their full potential. So, off of Fran's suggestion I tried using crushed Ritz crackers instead and... wallah! 10 times better.

The Love Story...

Alright, you asked for it.
Bryan and I have been in love with each other since we were 13. Alright, not true. The truth is... I have been in love with Bryan since I was 13. I don't know why he didn't share the same affection at first. I mean look at me... ...I was a bombshell. Anyways, he must not have found the headgear attractive because he didn't exactly acknowledge that I existed until we were about 18. I suppose it helped that I started wearing makeup. It takes me awhile to catch on.
THIS is Bryan at 13...
Mm mm! Seriously, can you blame me?

As the story goes... Bryan lived next door to my cousins in Cali. (Mason, Miranda, Spencer (blogless), the Stewarts (blogless), Wyatt). And they were TIGHT! So tight that he would come with them to our family reunions (of which we have MANY). The most prominent being the Annual Edward Partridge Memorial Day Breakfast . You can read about it on my cousins' blogs here, here, here, and here.
Let's just say the reunions took on a different meaning for me than the 'conventional' (redneck? yes. True? I'm not denying it). I was always very (as Bella would say) 'aware' of Bryan. (always watching him out of my peripheral, trying to be in the same place he was... ya know... stalker stuff). For four years I ran around as my geeky self trying unsuccessfully to be cool. And then I turned 18. And that would be THIS Memorial Day...

As you can see, Bryan finally began to realize that his destiny had always been right there... in his peripheral. ( ;
I wasn't until the 1999 MDB that the fireworks really went off and (unbeknownst to many of the cousins) we became 'secret hand holders'. And continued our 'secret' hand holding through the '99 Cousins Tour...
and the '99 Cousins PHAT Roadie...

(not so secret to some at this point) and even snuck in a smooch. Then he left on his mission.
And the rest is history.
Actually when he came home (September '01) we saw each other approximately 6 times before we were... BAM - engaged!

This is a picture of the Ione Turkey Bowl, Thanksgiving weekend (when Bryan proposed to me). He'd been home 2 1/2 months.

And then... we marry (March 2002.)

And that is our happily ever (redneck) after. ( :
I am leaving out a lot of the gory details such as when I was sitting on the Oak City steps after we were engaged and I had this immense feeling come over me that I was utterly and irrevocably (as Bella would say) in love with him. (long sigh.......)

I think I can dance

Fran and I are going to learn this and perform it at the next MDB (translated: Memorial Day Breakfast aka family reunion. Also, where I met and fell in love with Bryan. (sigh) For another post.)



Inspired by Amanda Frost.

the Normal Mormon Husband

As predicted, I feel normal and fabulous today and not too excited about my last post. Well, whatever!
Let me tell you what is TOTALLY CRACKIN' ME UP!!!!!!!!!.... This post from the 'Normal Mormon Husband' blog. LOVE IT!!! It's his take on Twilight and IT IS funny. Sorry, ... as if you don't know that 'Breaking Dawn' (the 4th book in the Twilight series) comes out in a week and that many if not most of my posts from here till then and thereafter will probably be connected in some way to the vampire saga the is SWEEPING THE NATION! I could care less if everybody else is doing it... I want to do it, too. ( :

Regretfully

I think it's time for a feeling post. You know, the kind where you wake up the next day and regret publishing all your irrational thoughts? I have thoughts. They involve food, Edward, and making purchases. ( ; Actually, those are fairly rational. Yes, thinking about Edward is totally rational. My irrational thought is: I really don't know what I'm doing everyday.

I'm NOT... discovering fabulous recipes, recording cooking shows, planning girls nights, scheming to start big projects, looking forward to the 'point and click' (nightly TV time)... this is not happening.

What is happening is quite simply this... putter around, read twilight, feed the kids frosted flakes and string cheese, do something totally exciting like... set up voicemail, feel utterly unaccomplished.

Actually what's going on is a hangover. A hangover of STILL checking things off the 'just moved in' list. The vip and vivor of cooking cannot flourish in this environment. Once I get back to making bunny shaped sugar cookies I'll feel whole again and then I'll find some other irrational thought to post about.

I am excited to show you my attempt at a Pottery Barn look alike. I'm feeling better. ( :

Home Owner Inauguration

We had our 'Home Owner Inauguration' today. It was a wonderful ceremony. I was there, my checkbook was there, and the plumber was there. The closing remarks were given by our very first electric bill. There were no refreshments.

Paint Colors

So, the inside of my entire house is this color...
(Ivory tan)

And all the cabinets are this color... (well, not quite this orangey).

Now, I love my house. LOVE IT! But I would really like to change things up a bit and go more along this color scheme...(Gallery Taupe, Silver Tradition, Pure White, & Designer White). Interestingly enough, these are all in the 'white' category.

And I would re-stain the cabinets to look more like this...(Chocolate or Ebony)

Oooooooo! Doesn't that sound fun?

HSM3

I am laughing out of my chair...



Oct. 23! I'm not afraid to admit that I'll be there. ( :

Herbed Chicken in Pastry

A Heidi referral. And we all know Heidi referrals are always fantastic. Recipe HERE!
BTW, this is fast AND easy AND divine.

We bought a Grand Piano!!!

It was $15 on Craigslist. I couldn't resist. Bowen and Bryson could care less about it. Addi and Meg love it, though. (sigh) I need a girl. Notice how I've devoted an entire corner to it.

(Jake & Fran's little Meg)

August Rush

Saw it. Loved it. Wanted to cry through most of it.
Watched it with Jake & Fran (blogless).
Yes, we LOVE living in the same town as Jake & Fran. Nanny Nanny Boo boo!

CHECK IT OUT!

$29.99 at Improvementscatalog.com. STEAL!!! I guess we'll see how cheap they are when they get here.
Found it on WWW.THEFIND.COM! Awesome website. I put in 'black wooden stool' in the search engine and it pulled up more than 1,800 pictures with links to their websites. Recommended.
AND ALSO... wouldn't this be sweet in the backyard?...

Funny Bowen-ism

Bowen thinks the correct response for everything is "right der in da garage". If you ask him, "Bowen, where's your shoes?" he says, "They're right der in da garage."

"Bo, where's your juice cup?"

"Where's the fishies?"

"Where's your underpants?"

They're right der in da garage. Always! Life is so simple at that age.

Ok already

What do you do when it's 112 degrees outside?...

And... thoroughly enjoy staying indoors...

The couches... the right price, classic black, and 5 pullout recliners. The dining room... Yes, I know the light fixture is not centered. Stools are in the future. So is a kitchen desk as well as lots of modern foilage, beefier curtains, real chairs, shall I go on?Positively in love with the fridge. Tried using the oven. I figured pushing 'Bake' would do the trick for basic chocolate chip cookies but apparently there are different kinds of 'bake'. I love convection.The Master Bath... Have you ever heard of Bamboo bathroom mats? sometime.

I'd say he likes it!