davy

I adored the Monk@es. ADORED.
My friend Karen and I would sing for hours when we were little. We knew every episode of the show and every song they sang by heart.

Such happy memories....I was so sad when I heard the news.

Early Morning Exchange (and Math)

Before we moved, Jon and I traded e-mails frequently before 8am.
And they were hilarious and an integral part of our relationship.
Since we've moved, they don't happen anymore. And I miss them TERRIBLY!

The trade off is that we spend the early mornings together and leave at the same time. It's nice....but I don't have as many funny stories about my sweet hubs.

Thankfully humor sometimes pops up later in the day and I get my fix.

This time we were discussing my commute time and gas prices.
And he casually said that if I got a different car that I could save $300-$400/month.

Huh?? Ok, my interest is peaked and my response to him was a simple "DO TELL".

And this is what I got back-

From: Jon
Sent: Tuesday, February 28, 2012 2:47 PM
To: Carolyn
Subject: RE: updates...


Here is how I derived the gas figure. 150 miles/day= 750 miles a week =3000 miles/month

3000/15mpg = 200 gallons of gas/month
200gallons X 3.50/gallon = $700/month

If gas goes to $4/gallon it = $800/month

Therefore a smaller car getting double the gas mileage sales you between $300 and $400/month. I realize they are round figures but they are not far off.

After Coop goes to school here, you would obviously be driving less mileage. Lets say you drive 3 days a week.
125 miles/day 3 days a week = 375 X 4 =1500/month/15mpg = 100 gallons @ $3.50= 350.00 or at $4 $400

In that scenario it would save you around $200
Think about it.

*********
My eyes had glazed over before I got to the 2nd equation. I can't think about it- I can't even read it!
I'm all about saving $400 if it's simple....I don't think this qualifies.

My sweet hubs...we couldn't be more different when it comes to financial "stuff", or gas milage calculations as the case may be.

Sigh.

Edie & Cheeseburger Soup

Things tend to come in 3's.
My most recent evidence in this phenomenon involves "Edie".

I love the blog called Life in Grace (for some reason I can't get Blogger to insert my link so if you want to read Life in Grace visit my sidebar). It's written by a woman named Edie and I'm a little (maybe a lot) inspired by her. She has great style, strong faith, a quirky sense of humor and is intense in her beliefs about everything from religion to educating her children and the color pink she chose for her laundry room/study. She's also a fabulous hostess and often has recipes that make me drool. More about her in a sec.

Sarah and Wade have a cat named Edie. She's quite possibly the best cat ever- which is saying a lot since cats are generally a pretty run of the mill bunch (no offense to any cat lovers who may be reading).

That's 2 Edie's......

The 3rd Edie stares at me from within the freezer section of the grocery store. Yup, Edie's Ice Cream. Typically Edie's Ice Cream doesn't impact me much either way- except that since I gave up sweets for Lent I am HAUNTED by her day and night.


Anywhoo...back to Edie and her blog.

About a month ago Edie posted a recipe for Cheeseburger in Paradise Soup. Anything that references Buffett is worth a second look in my book. It also called for 2 cups of kale, of which I now adore. I pinned it immediately and couldn't stop thinking about it but couldn't get myself together enough to make it.

Until Sunday.
I bought the ingredients....and Jon was instantly on board!



It calls for a beer- because what cheeseburger is complete without one?



Kale, cheese, ketchup, onion....this is sounding easy and delish!
Add ground sirloin, frozen hash browns, a squirt of mustard, some garlic and chicken stock....



And it's starting to look just like Edie's picture!

Does the story have a happy ending?

Well, I'll give it a B, maybe B+.


I wanted to love it...but I didn't. It's chock full of kale and cheese and potatoes and it was good.....but not as good as I wanted it to be. Have you tried it? Did I do something wrong?

I loved thinking about it for a month and I'm so glad I tried it.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

As for the 3 Edie's though....still love them ALL!!!

Lent Update

Ok, tread mill is functioning...I'm back in business and have completed 3 miles into my 40 in 40 commitment.

What have I learned so far?
That I have NO IDEA how people become addicted to running.

On the positive side...I've run 3 days in a row which has never happened in the history of me.

Tomorrow, mile 4.

(oh, and I am dying to eat a dozen cupcakes. just kidding....sort of!)

40 in 40

My sacrifice this year for Lent is to give up sweets (yes, coincidentally the day AFTER I ate the last piece of Caroline's cake).

This year, I'm adding something to my journey.
I'm going to run 40 miles in 40 days. So, 40 in 40.
Is it a big deal? For me, yes- and that's why I'm doing it.

I'd love to say that I started off strong today.
But I didn't.
I went into sugar dt's around 6:30pm. It wasn't pretty.
I was able to fight the temptation and didn't eat sweets...I did however eat a 1/2 loaf of asiago boule that was delicious.

I had to phone a friend (thanks Sarah) to talk me down.
And, just when I thought I was back on track- my darn treadmill malfunctioned and I kept blowing a fuse.

Grrrrr.
It's day one, I'm having sugar withdrawals and I'm now working on 40 in 39.

Here's hoping that your Lenten sacrifice is meaningful and getting off to a better start than mine.

SWEET!!

Have you heard of Caroline's Cakes?
Um....delish!!!

I wouldn't have ordered it for myself (until now). It was a gift from some very thoughtful folks at work and I have loved every single bite.

My parents came to visit this weekend and I served the last few slices.
I'll miss that cake.....

Seven layers of buttery goodness...with frosting! Stop the madness.

Need a cake? Call Caroline's. STAT.
Even if you don't need a cake....CALL.

I'm sending my brother one for his birthday- there is a guaranteed smile when you open a cake on your birthday.

Actually, I'm pretty sure there is a guaranteed smile any time you open a cake.

thankful thursday

I used to post a regular list of things I'm thankful for....it was my way of reminding myself how much is going right even when things sometimes seem wrong. Just because the posts aren't there doesn't mean that the thoughts don't run through my head- it's just harder sometimes to get them written down.

I'm trying to be diligent. It truly does help me to "be glad"

I'm thankful for-

My parents safe return to the US (and that they had a great trip)
Books that suck you in and make you excited to turn each page
Crock pot meals
Coaches who build confidence (and who schedule amazing facilities to play in!)

New jobs for people I care about
Bonus checks!
Mild winters (and the thought of spring just around the corner)
Little boys who google lifes most important questions
Lip balm
Dinner by candlelight on Valentines Day

Friends who meet for a chat and impromptu Mexican
New neighbors who drop in to say hi
A holiday....NO WORK ON MONDAY!!
Teacher Appreciation Week (and the best Librarian on the planet)
A husband who never wants to lose at racquetball....especially to his nephew (yes, those ARE the shorts he played in)

I'm also thankful that he didn't lose. His comment when he couldn't move the next day was, "I'm in so much pain...BUT I WON!!!" Goodness, I love that man!

Hope you have a long list too!!

because he's a keeper.....

a shout out to my favorite non-family member who's part of the family.



happy birthday tim
(and congrats on your fancy new job!!!!)

love ya!
caro

search history

Tonight I used Google to research a feature on my stove.
Except that when I started typing, another recent search popped up before my eyes.

"how to talk to girls when you are 9"

I blinked, read it again and ran to find Jon.
All the while fighting back the tears.
As you might imagine, Jon was of no help.

This search happens to coincide with a request on the way home to stop and get some Sour Patch Kids for "Meghan".

Here is what I know about Meghan.

1) She's 9 too.
2) He's not sure whether she has any pets-
3) She has the glossiest brown hair and brown eyes.
4) Her favorite candy is Sour Patch Kids.

There are so many things running through my head....
The biggest one?

STOP GROWING UP SO FAST!!!!!



I need you to be little and snuggly like this pic from 3 years ago for a while longer (like maybe 20 more years!)

All things taken into account, it could be way worse......
Sigh.

Before & After (the kitchen)

On the day we looked at houses, we saw 8.
Our house was the 2nd one and we knew as soon as we walked in that 'THIS WAS THE ONE'.
I tried to keep an open mind, but at the end of the day, we tallied our votes (Cooper kept track of the votes after each house) and there was no question.

Maybe that explains why about a week after we put a contract on it we suddenly realized there was no dishwasher.

HOLD THE PHONE, that's an issue!

After we started talking it became clear that neither of us had paid one bit of attention to the kitchen. We didn't know what the floors looked like, what kind of counters the kitchen had or really anything about the kitchen other than it was "cute" and nothing screamed at us as alarming.



Aside from the fact that I can't function without a dishwasher, we wanted to do a few other things to the kitchen.

Here is our kitchen now-



We added the dishwasher, new countertops, tile backsplash, tile floor and new paint. We also removed a radiator that was blocking a cabinet to provide some more space.

This is the before looking from the other side of the room.



And the after.



The color is Apple 3 and it doesn't show up accurately in these pictures.

I'm happy with it- subtle changes have made a big difference but still stay true to the house! We also had pegboard installed in the pantry to help with the lack of cabinet space. It's SO easy to keep clean and organized- score!!



I never thought I'd be able to keep things so clean, but for whatever reason it's been really easy since we've move in. That's a huge bonus!

Ahhh, hone sweet home!

sunday supper

this was our dinner tonight.



it was AMAZING, we both loved it!

click here for the recipe- the folks at two peas & their pod are quite simply, genius.

i've been poking around Pinterest lately and saw a pin that seemed like it might be delicious. i followed it, found the recipe and put it on our menu for tonight.

its super easy- avocados, fresh lime juice, garlic, cilantro & salt/pepper. Blend together in a food processor and serve over hot pasta.

there were just a few issues- 1) our grocery store was out of fresh cilantro so i had to use dried and 2) i don't have a food processor so used my bullet and needed to add some heavy cream to actually create the sauce. actually, if i'm honest about it, adding heavy cream really wasn't an issue at all! YUM.

i can hardly wait to try it again with fresh cilantro.

so please, do yourself a favor......MAKE THIS SOON
(and let me know how much you LOVE it!)

fancy vs. fun

cooper is at a friends house tonight and jon and i had plans to go out for a fancy meal- grown ups only!

as luck would have it mother nature intervened and delivered a wintry mix that made us think twice about leaving our little nest.

no matter.
a trip to the mixer aisle at our local grocery store and we're golden!

we're also high class as you can see by our bar ware.



doesn't everyone celebrate with personalized tervis tumblers? the gypsy soul was jon's 1st boat...ahh the memories!!

for me? what else but an appletini...



in a wine glass!!!

part of what i love most about us is that we don't take ourselves to seriously and we're always up for fun.

do i love fancy? absolutely.
but fun??? that's my favorite!!!

oh the places i'll go.....

small town living...there are pros and cons.
we're in the honeymoon stage right now so there is a whole lot of good and really, not much bad at all.

topping the good list?

10 Places I Can Walk within 10 Minutes

1. our church
2. the Post Office
3. the library (which is AWESOME for the coopster!!)
4. the waters edge
5. Radio Shack
6. town hall
7. the DMV
8. a local Furniture Store (where we purchased a split box spring for our queen size guest bed that wouldn't fit up the steps. thankfully, the king wasn't an issue!)
9. a cute little shop called "divin' off the dock"
10. the nail salon

seriously. i am so super excited!!!
oh! and because I can't wait for it to start, i'm adding a #11.

11. the Farmers Market (held every Saturday in Spring, Summer and Fall)

COME ON SPRING!!!!!

before & after- the beginning!

We've moved, unpacked (for the most part) and are fully functioning in our new home and we simply LOVE it!

That said, it's been a huge change and we're all getting used to it.
Do I miss our old life? Absolutely.
Are there things that I wish I had done differently? Sure.
Do I worry that it may not be everything that we thought? Uh-huh.

Am I happy each morning when I wake up in our new bedroom? I am.
Are there things that happen each day that solidify that we made the right choice? Yes!
Would I make the same choice again if I had it to do again? Definitely!

Before it all slips away, I want to try and capture our move and the changes that we've made/are making. The whole process has happened within a few months. It's hard to believe that two weeks ago we lived here-





And today, we live here-





We're trading city living for small town living and almost 3000 square feet for 1500 square feet. Sounds scary........but it's working!!

More before and afters coming soon.

the note

when i woke up this morning, the 1st thing jon said to me was, "you may want to take a look at the refrigerator".

well, good morning to you too!

but after i took a look, it all made sense-



gone to man cave-
goodness, that little kid makes me laugh.

(and so does our fridge- that's another post though!!)