Casa de Edgewood

Curiousity kills the cat

2012-01-26T21:57:00.001-06:00

Do you ever see those "trending now" list on Yahoo? The lists that show the 10 hottest things that people are searching for on the internet that particular day?

I see them all the time and am normally puzzled by why the listed celebrities would be "trending." For example, today's number 1 was Fran Drescher. Hmmm. That is a pickle. I personally don't search for Fran Drescher. In fact, I don't think I have thought of the woman in at least 10 years.

What do I do? Go and search for Fran. And what do I find:

Fran Drescher says she was abducted by aliens. While those aliens were at it, they implanted a chip in her head to make her meet her now ex-husband.

Suddenly I understand why Zac made me stop watching Entertainment Tonight and TMZ.

True story

2012-01-20T22:23:00.001-06:00

I recently decided that since I watch so much basketball, I should probably choose a team to lend my half-ass support to. Naturally, I set my sights on the MN Timberwolves for the following reasons:

1. I live in MN
2. They are historically a mediocre team
3. I enjoy the colors green & blue

What is step one in becoming a sports fan? Purchase a shirt to wear.

This lead me to the internet, naturally, as the mall is scary to people like me.

The wolves current logo is fine, but I kind of wanted to go hipster/retro and sport their logo circa 1990.

Which lead me to ebay. And the point of this story.

Someone is suggesting that the fair price for a vintage T-wolves t-shirt from about 1990 is $79.99.

At least I find that hilarious. The entire Timberwolves team probably could have been purchased for $79.99 last season.

In sickness and in health....

2012-01-19T07:24:00.000-06:00

Once upon a time, I had my wisdom teeth removed. It was about as enjoyable as can be expected. Meaning that it was kinda painful. However, during that week of recovery-- my productivity in the homemaking segment of my life was out of this world. I made biscotti. That is not something I do under normal circumstances.

Now today, I am sick. My head is stuffed up, it hurts, I have random coughing fits that sound like I am being punched in the face by gnomes. Plus, I woke up with a cracked lip because it is something like -10 degrees here in MN and this means no humidity. (Can I complain more? Wah, wah, wah.)

Despite all this, you know what? I woke up the earliest I have all week. I have cleaned the kitchen, loaded the dishwasher, taken the dirty towels to the basement and fluffed the laundry I left in the dryer on Sunday night. Oooh, and did you catch a look at the clock? It is 7:18 am. AND, I am writing this blog post. All while snacking on coffee and the scones I made last night. That is right. I made scones while ill.

The point of this story is, if I was to become a Martha Stewart-like figure in this world I would need to be sick every day. If I came down with Typhoid Fever I'd probably take up ironing.

Hopefully I will be back to my healthy self soon. The person who wastes time watching the Sopranos and drinking wine on the couch while her laundry sits in the dryer for 3 days at a time.

Pinterest greatness

2011-12-23T21:40:00.003-06:00

This is hands down the best thing I've found on Pinterest in a while:

Source: moderncat.net via Kelly on Pinterest

If I could only make such a thing.

Thankful

2011-11-24T12:55:00.000-06:00

I am thankful for many things*:

Zac
Our families
Our friends and the joy they bring to our days
Our house and having a roof over our heads
Our jobs
Our pets and the humor they bring to our lives
Food and wine
Clean water
Being able to exercise
Health insurance...and not really having to use it right now
Yoga
Target making workout pants in a short size
Ron Swanson and the show Parks and Rec
Television shows on DVD
Indian food
Gardening
Broccoli

*Obviously not an all inclusive list.

I should do this more often. It is very soothing for the soul.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Taking the next step

2011-11-15T20:42:00.000-06:00

I am sure that many of you are familiar with Pinterest. An online tack-board where people can post their ideas and dreams....normally way more crafty dreams than one working adult can achieve in a lifetime.

Of course, I have been sucked in by the allure of crafts and dreams. Currently I have a plethora of crafts pinned ranging from cross stitch samplers to fabric bookshelves intended for Golden books and copies of "When You Give a Mouse a Cookie." (Just so you know-- that was the only children's book I could think of.) More than likely, I'm not going to take up needlepoint or make children's bookshelves. IKEA exists for a reason.

However, I am determined to make some of the ~~crap~~ exciting things I find on pinterest. Let this be example #1.

Painted Vases

This craft has been making the blog-o-sphere rounds for sometime. If I remember correctly, one of my office mates tried it about 2 years ago. Not to be considered trendy, I decided to try it last Sunday.

The inspiration:

Source: wipkits.blogspot.com via Kelly on Pinterest

Start with interesting glassware:

Hopefully that cut glass isn't a valuable family heirloom.

Mix up some paint and pour it inside the vase.

Swirl paint around until it coats the entire vase.

Let dry and admire.

Not too shabby. I will pat myself on the back for using the knowledge I learned about the color wheel in 1st grade art to blend those paint colors myself. From primary colors. If anything, this craft could be a fun color lesson for little kids.

(PS- Pinterest is a virtual madhouse at 8:36 pm on a Tuesday night. It is sloooow.)

True

2011-10-26T21:15:00.002-05:00

Because blogging is really just bragging...

2011-10-10T09:03:00.001-05:00

I made this.

Was it an original idea? No. But I did sit and wrap yarn around a foam wreath and watch football. At the same time. Impressive.

I'm not really a big wreath person, but I am digging the mod look yarn wreaths for some reason.

Yes, the 3M adhesive is probably tacky (Ha! It is tacky, thank you very much. I can be punny too) but it was convenient and it is nice to my brand new front door.

Lake Superior

2011-10-09T17:59:00.000-05:00

It is a lovely place to visit. Try it sometime.

Bedroom: Part 3....aka The End

2011-09-25T19:05:00.000-05:00

My apologies to those of you waiting eagerly for the follow up to this bedroom remodeling saga. The days are getting shorter and it is hard to take good photos (ha!) at night after work.

Let's recap. We started with the following in 2007:

Our dog messed up the already ailing carpet and we decided it was time to live the dream and go with some solid surface flooring:

We decided to go with the DuPont Real Touch laminate flooring in Montreal Gunstock. It sounds so classy and international. Laminate works for us because it doesn't scratch and we can install it ourselves. Savin' us some Benjamins. I will explain my love-hate relationship with this product later.

And after some painting and flooring jazz, we ended up with this:

and this:

Moving the fan in the middle of the room apparently wasn't a top priority during this "photo shoot." My apologies.

Since we are not rich and I wanted some cheerful curtains, I decided that it was a worthy DIY endeavor. This part of the project went on without a hitch, aside from the massive amount of ironing that the cotton fabric required after washing.

fabric and image from fabric.com

The sewing was easy, as it was basically a rectangle. So everyone should consider making curtains. I don't know about other window treatments...but basic curtains are pretty simple.

As for the art work, the odd shape of this attic room leaves few walls for hanging photos. The green print on the wall is from an etsy shop: ModDogShop.

image from ModDogShop

It is slightly embarrassing to have dog art, but I like it. It used to reside in our study, so it was an easy choice. Oh, and I admit that I thought about adding the following print to my pug art collection:

from etsy shop handz

Maybe someday.

Now onto the flooring drama:

The flooring looks nice. However, it was a pain to install and refuses to stay "locked" together. Despite our attempts to contact both Home Depot and DuPont, all we can get in the form of help are "You are really stupid" looks. Well, should either party read this (doubtful), listen here: We are not idiots. We are successful floor installers. Check out our previous experience in our kitchen. I will add that the kitchen flooring is made by Pergo, and it reinforces my belief that the Swedes have got it goin' on. I heart Swedish meatballs, IKEA, Pergo and pickled herring. Oh, and I am a large part Swedish...so that should tell you something.

In progress. During this, I probably aged 10 years and had to start purchasing eye creams worth more than most of my clothing. As an aside, the eye cream is quite a pick-me-up in the morning.

Ultimately, we have decided that the floor isn't worth a great fight. We are taking the zen way out. It does look nice, and we have purchased some strategically placed rugs. Since we aren't planning on selling the house in the near future, we figure we are the only people who have to live with it.

In the end, we are really happy with our enhanced bedroom space. It is a lot quieter sleeping upstairs, and it is nice to be rid of the carpet and the impossible vacuuming. I'm all about sweeping and just vacuuming pet hair up from the around the baseboards.

Despite our happiness, I suspect that our cats might not be so thrilled:

spicy

2011-09-13T08:00:00.000-05:00

Before you pass on, it is recommended that you try this delicious recipe.

Unless you don't like mustard. In which case, feel free to stop reading now.

Hot Pepper Mustard

adapted from allrecipes.com

10 banana peppers (5 inches long), stems removed
1 cups prepared yellow mustard
1 and 1/4 cups white sugar
1/4 cup honey
1 cups apple cider vinegar
1/4 tablespoon salt
1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1/4 cup water

1. Blend hot peppers in food processor. See above for image.

2. Place the sugar, honey, vinegar, mustard and salt in a saucepan. Add the hot pepper puree. Boil.

3. Stir together flour and water to make a thickening agent. Pour in boiling mixture. Continue to boil and stir constantly for 5 minutes.

4. Pour mustard into sterile pint jars, and process in water bath canner for 5 minutes.

Delish. Seriously. Really good on pretzels, and I suspect it would be great with meatballs and sandwiches. Oh, and bratwursts and even chicken.

Bedroom: Part 2

2011-09-11T17:12:00.000-05:00

When I left you hanging in my previous post, you may recall that we had a fairly ugly attic bedroom in need of some renovation.

To remedy this, Zac took the carpet out one day while I went to work. I can only imagine that this was an arduous task. Luckily, he took some pictures to chronicle the progress.

As you can see, the padding under the carpet had lost the majority of its padding-like quality.

Under the carpet was this beautiful resilient floor tile, complete with a checkerboard pattern.

When we painted this room originally, we didn't own a ladder large enough to paint the stairwell. It is a narrow stairwell with a high wall, and I wasn't going to channel my inner spiderman to climb it and paint it. Last summer the owners of the office building where I work decided to paint the exterior of the building. Everyday, I wished and hoped that the painters would drop some paint on my car. For a new car? Oh no. I had dreams of telling them they could come and paint this stairwell in exchange for the potential damage to my 2001 Saturn.

Fortunately (or is it unforunately), the painters did a good job, my car was spared and we had to purchase a ladder to clean out our gutters. So...this carpet issue was the perfect excuse to tackle the stairwell.

Good bye wood paneling.

As a side note, that is a pretty fine ladder. Home Depot. It is adjustable. Seems sturdy. That is about all I know about ladders.

Prime and paint. Prime and paint. Thrill a minute.

For the "accent" walls, we went with a shocking deep blue color. AKA, Plumage by Martha Stewart.

Another side note for you. That little Rubbermaid stool is not a very nice painting partner. Extremely uncomfortable for sitting. Avoid at all cost.

Well, that is probably enough for today. Next up: flooring extravaganza.

Bedroom: Part 1

2011-09-06T09:00:00.003-05:00

Some people's home improvement adventures begin with charming stories, such as "I was inspired by the colors of a napkin" or "I was having twins and my home needed a cute, but trendy little nursery." Not us. Oh no. This tale was started by a combination of a home energy Audit, three months of sneezing and sore throats and a bad bout of stress induced colitis (aka doggy diarrhea).

We started with this beauty of a room.

As you can see, the theme would be log cabin. With a dash of 1960's era curtains for good measure. Not the style choice of some young professional hipsters in their mid (to very late) 20's. No, no, no.

So we turned it into this:

A pastel, sleep inducing snooze fest. AKA, ugly.

Looking at this photo, I cannot help but reminisce about days gone by. This room was the first room remodeled in the Casa de Edgewood. For whatever reason, we thought that movin' on up to the upper levels of our new home was the way to go. Why inhabit the perfectly good 2 bedrooms on the first floor when you could sleep in the sky???? And, when we tackled this room in a cold January day of 2008, we thought it was the worst thing ever. Soooo much work. (Such silly youth we were) I remember asking my dear friend Jenny to help paint. She came over and managed to paint for an entire day and leave with ZERO paint on her clothes. Me? I was washing paint out of my hair for at least a week.

Anyways. We lived with this monstrosity until 2011.

To be continued....

Meatloaf Chronicles

2011-08-21T10:52:00.000-05:00

I have an extreme problem with dinner foods that are made to look like desserts. And vice versa. For a full explanation, please read the post I penned about the topic in 2010.

Now, I am in a tough spot. I want to make more meatloaf. A website I read everyday recently featured a meatloaf recipe. And what does it look like?

Little cupcakes.

But I want to try them so bad!!! I think it time I face my fear and just make them. In all honesty, my mashed potato frosting will look nothing like the photo, so my creation will likely not look like a cupcake.

That is how I will justify this hypocrisy to myself.

If you guys want a great blog to read with delicious recipes (everything I have made from her is fab), go read Gina's Skinny Recipes.

Meatloaf Part 2: Buffy

2011-08-11T22:07:00.000-05:00

I would like to take this opportunity to introduce you to a genius idea:

Buffalo Chicken Meatloaf
originally from The Biggest Loser cookbook

Ingredients

2/3 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup fat-free milk
1/4 cup Frank's wing sauce
1 lb. ground chicken breast
1/2 cup finely chopped celery
1/4 cup shredded carrot
1/3 cup chopped sweet onion
2 large egg whites, lightly beaten
1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a 9x5x3 loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray.

Combine the oats and milk in a mixing bowl and let stand 3 minutes, or until the oats begin to soften. Stir in the wing sauce. Add the ground chicken, celery, carrot, onion, egg whites and salt to taste.

Using a large spoon or with your hands, gently combine the mixture. Add the blue cheese and gently combine.

Transfer mixture to loaf pan, smooth the top flat, and spread the remaining wing sauce on top. Sprinkle the reserved onion slices over the sauce.

Bake 35-45 minutes, or until the center of the meatloaf is no longer pink. Serve immediately.
---

This recipe is right up there with the illustrious Buffalo Chicken Dip of Superbowl Sunday. Plus, any excuse to add more Frank's Red Hot Sauce to my diet is simply grand.

No vamps here

2011-08-09T20:34:00.002-05:00

One thing before I start.

This photo takes the cake in home embarrassment. If you are into those blogs where people show magazine-worthy pictures of their living areas....just look away.

But I don't care. My basement storage area is messy. Live with it. I do.

We fancy ourselves to be garlic farmers. I know that garlic is an affordable delight easily available in your neighborhood grocery store, but we decided to try growing it. And the photo above is a mere fraction of the 2011 harvest. My boss said she took quite a few bulbs, and I counted about 50 in my possession. Add to that the number of bulbs already consumed here in the Casa de Edgewood, and you have yourself a hearty batch of garlic.

How do you grow garlic? Well, I am no garlic growing expert but here is a summary of the info I collected on the net:

1. Plant garlic in the fall right about the time the ground freezes.

2. The garlic "seed" is the individual clove from the bulb of garlic
2a. Don't use the garlic from the grocery store. It is California garlic. Or maybe South American garlic. Regardless, it will be whiny about the upper Midwest weather.

3. The garlic will sprout early in the spring.

4. Leave garlic in the ground until the stocks begin to die back (early to mid July)

5. Dig up garlics and then dry them in a cool, dark place. Hence the basement.

That is about all I know. I don't really understand the difference between soft-neck and hard-neck garlic varieties. Obviously that didn't stop me from growing it. Successfully, I might add.

Eating: A Diary

2011-07-31T19:19:00.000-05:00

I can only imagine how much everyone (I mean-- the 2 of you) who reads this blog missed my hiatus from writing. It must have been a tough month for you. Well, in all honesty, I can say that I have done nothing worthy of blogging. At least interesting blogging.

But, I suppose I should get back in the saddle again.

In general, our house projects have been pushed to the side. It has been dreadfully hot and humid in MN, and honestly we don't feel like caulking the upstairs paneling while sweating. Or installing new flooring in our bathing suits. Therefore, it might be September until I have some news on that front.

However....we have been eating. In a very healthful way. And today at dinner Zac decided that we need a food of the week feature. Every month will have a different theme. For example, cocktails could be an upcoming month. Or, spaghetti. Of course, those culinary choices could not due for August. Oh no.

August will be.....meatloaf.

(courtesy of cooking light)

There are several reasons for our choice.

1. Nobody thinks about meatloaf in August. We think you should.

2. Meatloaf is perhaps the most unattractive food to photograph.

3. Meatloaf can be surprisingly low in calories and healthy.

4. We saw the commercial for that lift-out meatloaf pan, and we remembered that meatloaf is delicious.

5. (And I completely forgot about this one until Google Image Search) Meatloaf is/was a quality artist.

----

Enough.

This week's meatloaf of the week is:

Turkey & Quinoa Meatloaf (as found on allrecipes.com)

Ingredients

1/4 cup quinoa
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 large clove garlic, chopped
1 (20 ounce) package ground turkey
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 tablespoon hot pepper sauce
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon water

Directions

Bring the quinoa and water to a boil in a saucepan over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the quinoa is tender, and the water has been absorbed, about 15 to 20 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Stir in the onion; cook and stir until the onion has softened and turned translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another minute; remove from heat to cool.

Stir the turkey, cooked quinoa, onions, tomato paste, hot sauce, 2 tablespoons Worcestershire, egg, salt, and pepper in a large bowl until well combined. The mixture will be very moist. Shape into a loaf on a foil lined baking sheet. Combine the brown sugar, 2 teaspoons Worcestershire, and 1 teaspoon water in a small bowl. Rub the paste over the top of the meatloaf.

Bake in the preheated oven until no longer pink in the center, about 50 minutes. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read at least 160 degrees F (70 degrees C). Let the meatloaf cool for 10 minutes before slicing and serving.

Nutrition:
Amount Per Serving Calories: 286 | Total Fat: 13.3g | Cholesterol: 126mg

Incredibly ugly photo....it is too ugly.

But, I am happy to report that it is a delicious recipe. The only change I will make in the future is to put a different sauce on the top. The brown sugar mixture was too sweet for me. A little BBQ or similar mixture would be fab.

Doors and Gardens

2011-06-26T17:44:00.000-05:00

Creative title, eh? I can't really think of a clever way to describe this post, so deal.

We finally have a brand new front door, installed.

Before:

After:

No, we did not install this door. Kenny Rogers got it right when he said "You got to know when to hold 'em, Know when to fold 'em." There is no gamblin' with door installation in this house. Leave it to the professionals.

We think it looks a lot better, and we can easily open and close our door. It is an upgrade in living status really.

In the near future, I hope to paint the shutters a dark navy blue color. The red color has been irking me for nearly 3 years...I think it will be a nice front door color instead.

Now onto the gardening segment of this post.

I like to garden. I hate to water grass. My goal in this life is to rid my tiny city lot of grass. Not only is this sure to bother my neighbors who already think I am a hippie with my love of clean water and the numerous rain barrels circling my home, but I think it will lend our little sliver of paradise a bit of a cottage-like charm. This is no overnight process, though. For one, plants are expensive and I need to save for retirement. Two-- it takes a bit for my gardens to fill in.

Example:

Back garden 2010:

Back garden 2011:

Front shrubbery area 2010:

(OMG! Those shrubs are so tiny....and adorable!)

Front shrubbery area 2011:

Oh, and check out those little corner gardens at the end of the sidewalk now:

So much more lush. As an FYI, I can claim zero credit for designing those little corner gardens. My coworker/ Hennepin County Master Gardener told me what to plant and where. I just gave her the dimensions of the garden and bought the stuff.

And in the background, you can see my latest project. I like to call it the Mini-Prairie. And as you can see, it is indeed mini. The plants are miniscule, but they will catch up like my other gardens have. That garden is entirely of my own design, and is made up strictly of native plants. This solidifies my position as the neighborhood hippie. Don't let them know that normally eat granola for breakfast. Their hearts probably couldn't take the news.

Rain

2011-05-22T11:36:00.000-05:00

When you look at the following photo, note a couple of things:

1. We have a really ugly railing made out of PVC pipe.

2. We are the proud owner of 2 rain barrels.

3. It rains every single weekend around here...so the second rain barrel is missing out on it moment to shine. We haven't been able to cut the gutter downspout on the other side of the house to fit in the newest member of our green yard family.

I bet we are in for a drought as soon as we are able to install that 2nd rain barrel. Hopefully not....but it might just be my luck!

Fitness

2011-05-19T21:59:00.000-05:00

Alright, I doubt I am up to anyone's standard of fitness yet....but....

I did run a mile tonight. Outside. Without stopping.

A.maz.ing.

I am pretty sure that I have never run a mile nonstop in my entire life. I've been a semi-athletic person capable of doing aerobic videos (age 18-- when things were on video and I was really awesome at Tae Bo), but never one to take to the foot and jog.

Oh, Tae Bo. Those were the days.

Incidentally, I just saw a 4 pack of Billy Blank's Tae Bo VHS cassettes on sale for $38. I am pretty sure that Blockbuster wouldn't fetch $38, so asking that for 4 VHS cassettes is probably dreaming.

My 200th Post!

2011-05-03T20:30:00.000-05:00

Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans.
John Lennon

That's right my friends. Welcome to my life.

We plan our basement. Plan and plan and plan. Then, we decide the nasty asbestos floor tile is so stressful that we run to Lowes....

and buy a front door.

And we both felt instantly better.

At first glance, our door is quite lovely. 1940's Americana right there.

Then, you zoom in and you see the problem that is preventing me from getting to classified as an "energy efficient neighbor" by CenterPoint Energy.

Yeah, yeah. I can fill that crack with some crack filler until the cows come home. And it doesn't work. It just shrinks up and looks ugly. Therefore, I give up. That door is older than all of the baby boomers.

Let's move on to the screen door. Or storm door. I'm not sure what the difference is.

There are 3 main problems with this door:

1. It is ancient. It creeks really, really loud in the winter. No coming home at 2 am around here. Although....maybe I should save it in case we have kids. I'll slap that sucker back up on the door about the time they turn 16.

2. I spilled some paint on it. Again: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I can scrape the paint off. However, I'd rather read my nook and garden.

3. The pets can't easily look out the front door.

So....we are taking a hiatus on the basement and we've moved on to the front door. The basement isn't going anywhere. The Tetons are still there. We just want to do other things for a while.

I don't have a picture of the new door. When it comes in, I'll let you know!

Deep Thoughts

2011-04-27T17:59:00.000-05:00

from amazon

1. Isn't that the worst photoshop job ever?

2. Do you think I could get Ralph to lose 6 lbs and ride in that basket?

and finally:

Amy's Santa Fe Enchilada Bowls are the best frozen dinner of all time.

while in.....michigan

2011-04-21T20:08:00.000-05:00

Found in a ridiculously expensive natural food store* in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Don't worry, I bought a reusable bag so nobody could give me the evil earth wasting eye.

Adorable. All pugs should sport collared shirts and golf hats. Hopefully organic quinoa agrees with pups. Is it sad that my dog will try quinoa before me?

Oh, the sushi at the aforementioned store was less than desirable. But, their homemade guacamole was divine. Trade-offs I guess.

*Plum Market.

couch to 5k

2011-04-19T20:16:00.001-05:00

I have decided that this year will be the year that I become an athlete. Well, maybe not an athlete...maybe just a person who runs once in a while. Is that too much to ask? Hopefully not.

Naturally, I surfed the net for a plan and found the Couch to 5k program. I'm 9 workouts into the 27 workout program. Hopefully no small breed dogs beat me when I run my scheduled 5k in June.

Oh wait. It is a 5k for dogs and their owners. I'd better suck up my pride now. Certainly some sheltie is going to kick my arse.

But I regress. Again.

The real reason I am writing is to share this journalistic gem with you. And to remind you why I will never become an elite marathon runner.

David Fleming on the Tao of Poo

You can all thank me for your new found knowledge.

Oh...Ralph is not running the 5k. I think he would die.

Happy Place

2011-04-14T22:10:00.000-05:00

Back when I was a wee tot of 18 years, I had to select a college to attend. This was the single most exciting thing ever for me. Seriously.

And I am sure you would like to know my criteria for selecting a college.

Well, I selected St Olaf College because of the following:

1. Squirrels
2. Hogan Brothers sandwich shop

Squirrels are a stupid reason to select a college.

However, Hogan Brothers is a gem. And we went there Wednesday. Please consider this my ode to Ho Bros.

Fur

2011-04-10T13:15:00.000-05:00

Today is likely an all-time low for my little blog.

I am going to write about a hairbrush. For animals.

Despite my cheapness, I finally bought the Furminator. Normally it is $46.99 at Chuck and Don's Pet Food Outlet, but the other day they were 50% off. So, I actually spent about $23 on a hairbrush. This coming from the person who dropped her hairbrush on the floor in college, and duct taped it back together and used it for about 4 more years.

All 3 of you readers probably know that we have a small domestic petting zoo in our home. A pug and two cats. Most people look at the pug and say, "I bet he doesn't shed much." NOT TRUE. Ralph should be bald. He sheds that much.

Well, my friends. That brush works wonders. Here is a photo:

All of that hair from a mere 30 minutes of brushing. Amazing. And that is hair I will not have to pick up off of the couch.

Now, if I could just solve the cat puking problem, we might have a small utopia over here.

We are going to Lowe's today to purchase the supplies for our basement remodel. There is an electrician coming Thursday to wire the new lighting, and then we are in business to install some flooring and ceiling tiles. And, I came up with an idea for the Grand Tetons mural. So, hopefully there will be some better reading in the future.

Vacation: The Conclusion

2011-03-26T10:04:00.000-05:00

When in Rome:

The Borghese Gallery

Bar (aka coffee shop)

The Colosseum

The Pantheon

The Vatican

Berlusconi Protests

Ruins

More ruins

More Vatican

Roman statues....times a billion

Vino

In conclusion, a lovely vacation!

Basement Happenings

2011-03-21T21:26:00.000-05:00

I can't believe I am going to post the following photos, but I also need to see them side-by-side:

Before:

In Progress:

Ignore the heap of junk in the center of the room. Renovation isn't cleanly.

As you can see, Zac has been busy. It is all Zac. Where was I?

Beautiful Colorado.

(I was working. Hopefully my overtime will contribute to this beast of a basement.)

Now what to do about the floor?

Here are our main goals:

1. Affordable
2. Does not attract naughty cats
3. Somewhat moisture resistant
4. Not super ugly

Carpet is out. It smells, cats love it and it traps allergens. Plus, we'd have to hire an installer.

Tile is an option, but it seems really hard and cold. Besides the texture, tile has a pattern to the grout lines that just would compete with the vertical lines of the paneling. It would drive me nuts.

Home Depot has this "luxury vinyl and plank" flooring. The word luxury is a bad name, in reality it is a step above peel-and-stick flooring and notch below laminate. It is supposed to be good in basements, and some shoppers at the HD just stopped and told us that it is fairly good stuff. We didn't ask for their opinion.

Plus, it probably fits the budget. The tiled area is about 332 sq feet...

(both photos from homedepot.com)

Any opinions? I could use them right about now.

Where young people go to retire:

2011-03-19T21:16:00.000-05:00

Madness

2011-03-15T22:49:00.000-05:00

Out of the following, who is most likely to win the Casa de Edgewood March Madness bracket pool?

Contestant #1

Zac, the knowledgeable basketball fan.

Contestant #2

Kelly, the person who doesn't understand basketball.

or....

Contestant #3

Ralph the pug. No thumbs, barks at cows and horses on the TV screen.

My money is on the dog. We'll keep you posted.

The Side Trips: Fiesole & Siena

2011-03-08T09:00:00.000-06:00

This whole thing of posting photos from our trip feel a little braggy-braggy. My apologies. I'll be back to making a mockery of our house in no time. Until then...

While we were visiting the sights of Florence, we decided to take a small trip to the nearby town of Fiesole.

It was a beautiful place. I looked for a home there, but the real estate office window was full of home priced at 1.4 million euros. Approximately a gazillion U.S. dollars. Clearly "House Hunters International" and I will not be shopping here.

The town sits up in the hills outside of Florence. I suspect when it is a sunny day, the views of Florence are outstanding. No worries, even though it was cloudy it was a charming place to visit.

These are olive groves. My dear friend Jenny has a dream of becoming an olive farmer. I am starting to see why. Who wouldn't want to live in an olive grove?

Zac can't think of a reason either. (Actually we got off at the wrong bus stop. This was his reaction)

---

In between Florence and Rome, we stopped in Siena for a day.

Beautiful.

I am sure living there requires about 2 gazillion U.S. dollars, so I didn't even look. However, I'd totally go back.

First off, these little fried pieces of goodness require a shout-out. I'm not sure what they were, but they were kind of a funnel cake like consistency. They were great. And, as a bonus, the shop has a madonna and child on the sign.

Here is the Siena Catherdral. Apparently, this structure was intended to only be a portion of the church, and there were plans to double the size of the structure. Then, the black plague hit. Don't you hate when that happens? Regardless, the city is left with a massive church that is quite impressive.

Lion on the side of the church. My kind of place.

We really wanted to stay at this hotel. It is a former nunnery. Unfortunately, they were closed for renovation during our visit.

Church doors.

I like that purple car.

Florence

2011-03-06T12:04:00.000-06:00

Some people (mainly people who are related to us) have been inquiring about when I would post some pictures from our recent vacation.

Here you go!

On our trip, we hit up 3 places in Italy. I suppose we could have done the gazillion city tour, but that seemed a little silly. And Rick Steves warns against it. If we listen to anyone in our household, it is Rick Steves.

First up was Florence, located in Tuscany. We were big fans of this place. Urban but not too chaotic, full of art museums and lovely old buildings.

Our hotel was located down this alley. This would be sketchy in the US, but apparently everything is located down an alley in Italy.

We stayed at a bed and breakfast in Florence (Il Bargello), which was fabulous. Hands down the best place we stayed in Italy.

Lots of public art and sculpture. I think my town (St Louis Park) would be a classier place to live with some sculpture like this.

Everyone seems to hang their laundry out to dry. This is something I might start doing once the 36" of snow leaves my yard. I have a feeling my neighbors are going to be thrilled.

This is the Duomo, aka the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore. Spectacular. Now, I am not Catholic and I honestly don't know much about it other than they have the Pope. However, they have some pretty sweet digs over in Europe. This was no exception. The funny thing is, I used to think the Basilica in Minneapolis was huge. When we returned, I saw it and thought, what a puny dome on that church. Clearly I became a duomo snob.

No surprise, but delicious food abounds in Italy. Our hotel lady told us to go to this sandwich shop near the river, as it is delicious and a favorite of Lenny Kravitz. Does Lenny hang in renaissance Italy a lot? I have no idea. But he must love his panini. We are not sure if this was the fav shop of Lenny Kravitz, but this is the place we found for lunch. Fab-u-loso.

We had something called Bollito Misto. I'm not entirely sure what is all mixed in, and I might not want to know, but it was to die for. A beefy mixture in a delicious sauce with this green cilantro like sauce on top. Plus wine was 1 euro. It was so good I took a picture of the restaurant.

This is the River Arno. Lovely of course. That bridge is called the Ponte Vecchio, and it is home to many jewelry stores. And not jewelry stores like Shane Co. or Tiffany & Co. Those were located a few blocks away. Well, not Shane Co. That was located a few time zones away.

The Pitti Palace. Home of the Medici family. Huge and quite ornate inside, but you can't take pictures.

The Palazzo Vecchio. This is the city hall of Florence. Mostly a museum today, but the mayor still has his or her office there.

Finally, the Duomo. Those of you who watch Rick Steves might know that you can climb to the top of the Duomo. The view is spectacular, but it is one exhausting climb. Here is a sneak peak of the climb:

It was fun.

This is the view from the top. Well worth the sweaty climb in darkness.

Some people from Florida took our photo for us.

I really like it when people do strange things. In case you didn't catch the vibe from my photos, most of Florence follows the same color scheme. Red roof, white paint. For whatever reason, this person has a little flamingo colored oasis in town. Interesting. Maybe the Neighborhood Association hasn't caught on to that one yet.

More tales to come...

Perk Up!

2011-02-28T22:05:00.000-06:00

Sometimes, hard as you try, the winter just gets the best of you.

You are sick of cold and wet feet, the snow just doesn't get shoveled off the sidewalk and you have already taken your exciting winter vacation.

In honor of those days, here is some humor to make the month of March seem a little better:

1. JWoww vs Jane Austen

2. Put a Bird on It

European Adventures

2011-02-13T14:26:00.000-06:00

Let this be my post about cafe:

Before leaving for our vacation, we were very, very concerned about the lack of American "filtered" coffee in Italy. Two things about that.

1. There is American coffee here. Nobody drinks it.

2. This is because espresso is simply a delightful drink. Who knew? Well, I suppose the Italians. But we are lovin' the espresso.

First of all, how can you not love something that comes in an adorable little mug. So cute. And....it is just a great little thing to look forward to in the afternoon. Do your feet hurt because you have been walking on cobblestones all day? Oh, a little espresso will solve that problem. 0.90 € and you are set for the rest of the day. Without that full feeling you have after consuming a huge latte.

Now, we will drink espresso minus the milk. That is just too stereotypically American, and we just stick out anyway. In fact, I am proud to say that Barista's actually look surprised when we ask for cafe, and mean just cafe. However, we will admit that we do add some sugar. We are not Italian's after all.

Zac predicts that our love of straight espresso will likely reduce the size of our Caribou Coffee budget. I'm not so sure. First of all, I am sure it is still like $2. I suppose that 0.90€ is almost $1.50, but eh. However, tonight at dinner I suggested that maybe we should purchase some adorable tiny espresso cups and bring them to Caribou. I believe they give you a couple of cents off for providing your own cup....

Just kidding. We won't do that, so all of our friends can still be friends with us.

We are now in Rome, and we probably won't have anymore updates for the blog before heading home. These Romans charge for internet, and we have a lot of sightseeing planned for the next couple of days.

Ciao.

Update

2011-02-12T13:34:00.000-06:00

So, today we went into an Italian grocery store, just to check things out.

Here is why we will be coming back to the good 'ol u.s of a. Damn that ' key again.

1. They do not sell Totino's pizza rolls.

2. Dog food is sold under the brand name Friskies. I cannot handle it.

In all seriousness, we are enjoying our vacation. I just like to point out our cultural differences when I can.

Greetings from Florence!

2011-02-10T11:24:00.001-06:00

Some readers of this blog requested a blog update on our little Italian vacation. Sorry, no pictures...I don't have the technical know-how to download pics in a foreign country. I would also like to add that it took me nearly 5 minutes to find the ' key on this keyboard.

The flight was lovely and quite long. And, for the first time in my life I think I should have drugged myself to sleep on a plane. I was wide awake for the entire 8 hour flight.

Onto Italy. As expected we look like Americans. Everyone looks at us in museums and asks "English?"....which gives me little chance to flex my Italian speaking skills (hahahah). Although my attempts to ask for due biglettos (I am sure that is spelled wrong) does make the ticket sellers laugh.

We've seen tons of art. Beautiful. The funny story of the day is this:

Florence is full of renassiance art. Full of it. For a change of pace, we decided to go see the one modern art show here, an exhibition called For the Love of God by Damien Hirst.

That is the entire exhibit. A diamond encrusted skull. Just one diamond encrusted skull. In a velvet covered room. Interesting, but that was it.

That is all for now...I will post more later. The food and coffee is as delicious as everyone claims!

Tea

2011-02-09T08:00:00.004-06:00

I love me some tea. Well, that's not true. I love me some coffee, and tea fits more into the "I like when there is no coffee" category. Unless I am eating at a Chinese restaurant. Then it is tea all they way. They just know how to make it better than me.

Anyways.

The one tea I do "love" is the tea you get at Aveda salons. That is some phenomenal tea. It is about 50% of the reason why I pay to go to an Aveda salon.

from Mighty Leaf Tea website

Now I have never purchased the tea to take home. It is just too expensive. After craving Aveda tea for days, I decided to take matters into my own hands. It was DIY time.

I found the following recipe on the internet:

1-1/4 C Licorice Root
1 C Peppermint Leaves
1/8 C Fennel
1/8 C Basil Leaves

It is spot on. Delicious!!

To find the ingredients, I had to hit up a natural food co-op, and they had everything in their bulk herb section. Basically if it is a co-op or a grocery store where you will get the stink eye for not bringing your own cloth bag, it will probably sell licorice root. In my experience, anyway.

Otherwise, I this website also sells the necessary ingredients:
Mountain Rose Herbs

Enjoy!

Ice Dams....A little story

2011-02-05T16:54:00.001-06:00

Most people do not take enough time to think and laugh at the mundane things in life. If all I was able to blog about was the fabulous crafts I make and the delicious meals I cook...I would have nothing to write about. So let me tell you a little story about a house and it's ice dams.

Once upon a time, a girl was sitting down to watch ~~Masterpiece Theater~~ The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills when she heard a rustling behind her.

Assuming it was her crazy cat, she screamed "Phoebe!" and returned her attention to Camille Grammer and her soap opera of an existence.

Sadly, the mysterious noise was in fact not a cat, but a stream of water trickling in through the living room window.

The culprit?

The ice dam.

"Delightful," I thought. "There goes my goldmine of a tax refund."

After some investigation, we weighed our options.

1. Call a sketchy ice dam removal company and pay $700 + to have the damn dams removed.

2. Climb up on the roof and cash in our life insurance policy early.

3. Purchase the myriad of supplies necessary to tackle an ice dam problem head on...

After coming to our senses, we decided to forgo the ice dam removal outfit and attempt to break the dam themselves.

First off, this meant running around town to assemble the necessary arsenal for the battle:

Not shown: new ladder, pantyhose and roof rake. Plus the new rug, jumbo pack of razor refills and "Jamaica me Crazy" coffee found at Sam's Club during search. Oh and the cat litter bucket contains sidewalk salt.

Then, armed with hammer and chisel (aka screw driver), Zac climbs up and goes to town.

If you look closely, you can see the "sausages" of salt I made for the gutters. The best use of pantyhose ever, if you ask me. Every website says to use old pantyhose, but this does not apply to me. I probably haven't worn pantyhose since age 10. I tried to last fall, and I put a run in them within 30 seconds. So ladylike.

Now, I never actually chiseled any ice today, but it looks to be an extremely satisfying pursuit. Kind of like when you can kick the frozen ice and snow out of your car's wheel well. (My all-time favorite winter sport)

Hopefully this helps. We've already beefed up the insulation in our attic (which is line one in the ice dam defense system), but this winter has been so terrible and awful for the entire nation...that they are happening to the best of us.

Recycle

2011-01-27T20:34:00.001-06:00

I have been on a cleaning streak lately. Maybe I read too many decorating blogs and find my house to be an absolute clutter-haven (complete with lots of pet hair), but it feels good to start the year out with a fresh home.

In my quest, I have come upon the bridesmaid dress from my sister's wedding. Much to the dismay of many-- it has to move on. It hogs the closet and really isn't something I will be strutting down the streets of Minneapolis in anytime soon.

This is the exact dress.

Now, my coworkers suggested I keep it for my kids to use for dress-up. There are several problems with this scenario:

1. I have 0 kids
2. Any kids I might have ultimately have a 50% chance of being male
3. Children will not be hogging my closet space before they are alive and kicking

Without further ado, please take a gander at the crafts I am considering:

Ruffled Rose Pillow

Bridesmaid Chair and Table Cover
(I might need to round up the rest of the wedding party for this one)

Tree Skirt

from thetableclothshop.com

Table Runner

Martha Stewart Skirt

Pet Bed!

Bet you can't guess which one I'll choose!

Transportation

2011-01-25T08:00:00.000-06:00

Within the last month, we have found ourselves thrust into the world of car shopping. Of course, our adventure into car shopping lasted exactly 1 day, because I make major decisions quickly like that.

What did I come home with:

Welcome to the Casa, new-to-me 2008 Volkswagen Jetta.

The best part: this piece of automotive excellence has heated seats. Call me an urban hipster, but my buns are toasty when it is -19 degrees here in Minnesota. Worth it.

Recently we were going to a friend's house for dinner and I was bringing some wine to share. The problem: the bottle had been opened the night before. I am super classy, but it was delicious and my friend needed to try it.

What were we to do? Put it in the trunk? And risk spilling red wine in my brand new-to-me VW Jetta? Nightmare.

My solution? "Volkswagen needs to put a wine rack in the trunk of their cars"

Zac's reply: "You just did the impossible. Made a suggestion that could make the VW Jetta an even more yuppie car than it is."

Whatev. Listen up. Put a wine rack in the back of your cars. Then when all of the urban hipsters are off picnicking in the forest (within city limits of course), they can just pop the trunk and select the appropriate vintage.

I should be an automotive engineer.

PS- The Jetta is named Greta. My sister came up with that one. Brilliant.

Food & Travel

2011-01-23T10:51:00.004-06:00

This is probably the most random collection of thoughts ever

As some of you might already know, Zac and I are planning a big trip for the near future. Huge. Like to another continent. This is particularly amazing because I might be the one St. Olaf College graduate to make it out of Northfield, Minnesota without traveling abroad. I like to be the outlier in St. Olaf statistics. Unfortunately, I don't get the opportunity very often since I fit the following groups:

Norwegian heritage
Married another St Olaf graduate
Can read music
Lutheran
Awesome person

trust me. I've paid enough to use this image.

Anyway. Since we are going to Italy, it is expected that we will find ourselves in non-English speaking situations. Our Italian language class was fun, but I still only remember the word for squirrel. And they don't have squirrels in Italy. So, expect some hilarity to ensue.

The one area I am not worried about is food. I eat almost anything. Everything except: cottage cheese.

from funcraftsandrecipes.com

No way. I've tried it. I've even tried to like it. Fail. In this world I am entitled to hate one type of food, and for me it is cottage cheese.

So if I am in Italy and I randomly point to an item on a menu, it had best not be cottage cheese. I don't know the word for "please take it back" in Italian, but I probably should learn it. I guess I could avoid the situation by just learning the word for cottage cheese.

formaggio fresco in fiocchi or formaggio fresco morbido

I prefer the second, because it sounds like morbid.

I feel better. Some people travel and worry about exchanging money and pick-pockets. Not me. I worry about encountering cottage cheese.

The end.

Happy New Year!

2011-01-10T20:46:00.000-06:00

I am nothing but timely. That is why I am just getting around to my first post of the year. Better late than never I suppose. Right?

I have decided that this year will be the year of self improvement. AKA making myself a better person. Please remember that my definition of a better person probably doesn't include quitting my job and becoming a full-time activist for world peace. As cool as that would be, I've got bills and I like to kid myself that retirement might be in my future.

Without further ado, here are my goals for 2011:

1. I will spend time on my hobbies.

For example: knitting

I love knitting. More than knitting, I love knitting things and felting them. It is the thrill of worrying that the item I just spent weeks working on might be ruined. And then I can blog about it. Luckily, this hasn't happened yet, but other hilarity has ensued.

New Years Eve. Most of you were probably sippin' the Cristal and snackin' on some shrimp by the time I ventured home from work. What were we doing?

Getting up close and personal with the innards of our washing machine. Our brand spanking new high efficiency washing machine.

Why?

To fish out this little ball of felted wool.

That is felting gone bad, my friends. Learn from my mistakes.

2. I will do something good for my brain

For example: play scrabble.

I rarely beat Zac in Scrabble. The only time I can beat him is when he has hands like this:

3. I will jump on this get rid of 111 things in 1-11 bandwagon.

No problemo. There are at least 111 pieces of paper in that pile. And I sold my old car, so I am up to 112. Woot, woot!

4. I will avoid doing unnecessary home project in favor of relaxation and spiritual awakening.

Lucky for all of you, I went to look at the cover of our fluorescent light and it "accidentally" fell from the ceiling and broke. Sorry spiritual side. Guess there will be plenty to do around the Casa de Edgewood in 2011.

I sincerely hope everyone finds themselves happy and healthy this January!

Snow, Snow, Snow

2010-12-12T09:51:00.000-06:00

I guess we ended up getting 17.1 inches of snow on Saturday. The Metrodome has collapsed, so this give Brett Favre (aka Gramps) an additional couple of days to rest up for his game against the Giants.

Looking out from our patio toward the alley:

12/12/2010

6/11/2008-- Ralph is still a puppy, so I estimate the rabbit proof fence is about 24" tall.

Looking out from the patio towards the urban bird garden:

12/12/2010

5/9/2010

The south side of our house. If you look closely, our neighbor across the street is plowing her sidewalk and she is only visible from the waist up.

Ralph is not a winter loving pooch. Here he is, pissed off, on the step wanting to go back inside. Note the 1 foot off the ground. He rotates which foot he holds up so nothing gets too cold.

Quote of the Day

2010-12-11T11:59:00.000-06:00

Zac: "Did you know that both the NFL and the NBA seasons might be canceled next year due to a player strike?"

Me: "Really? What are you going to do with yourself?"

Zac: "Um, probably become a better person or something."

Procrastination

2010-11-28T17:21:00.001-06:00

Today my goals were:

1. Wake up
2. Work out
3. Finish graduate school paper

Because of this, I was able to complete the following

1. Clean & Pick up living room
2. Vacuum all of my rugs
3. Vacuum the stairs
4. Vacuum the upstairs bedroom
5. Rearrange bedroom furniture
6. Flip mattress*
7. Wash all bedding
8. Organize and sort through Grandma's jewelry
8a. Place all jewelry into appropriate ziploc bags for easy viewing
9. Replace light bulb in a lamp
10. Find a book I forgot about
11. Work out
12. Watch House Hunters International and decide that Puerto Rico might be a nice place to live
13. Tell Zac that all I want for my birthday is a new set of doors for the mini/suitcase closet in our bedroom
13a. Go on a 30 minute hunt for the hinges I purchased for this purpose in 2007
14. Secure my place as a crazy dog person by making a dog paw Christmas ornament.

Embarrassing, I know. However, I couldn't resist the ridiculous kit at Michael's.

No worries. I am sitting down to edit on my paper now. It is amazing what one can get done when you have more important things to do.

* I really think that flipping a mattress is silly. However, Zac says it needs to be done. I think that the people who made up this rule are the sample people who enjoy ironing their curtains and know the difference between a strainer and a colander.

Pet Peeve

2010-11-15T19:05:00.000-06:00

There is a food trend I CANNOT STAND. In fact, I CANNOT STAND it so much that I will even do the other thing I CANNOT STAND and use capital letters unnecessarily.

The trend?

Food that looks like a dessert, but isn't.

Exhibit #1:

from chow.com

A turkey-potato-sweet potato-marshmallow concoction made to look like a cake.

What is wrong with cake, people? What is wrong with a turkey dinner that resembles...a turkey dinner?

Exhibit #2:

from easycakeideas.com (I get the feeling this is not an easy cake)

Hamburger cake.

Love the hamburger. So much that when I see one I want to eat one. I don't want to bite into said burger and find out it is cake.

Exhibit #3:

Spaghetti cake.

Just stop the agony.

PS- I have a lot of my paper done.

Busy Busy Bees

2010-11-14T15:33:00.000-06:00

Zac claims that the few people who read this blog might be concerned since I haven't written anything in a while.

Eh, someone would alert you if I was in danger. Don't worry.

I'll kindly sum up things for you, though.

1. I work. A lot. For your enjoyment, I will illustrate this in a graph:

2. I bought a new vacuum cleaner.

I am only a slob in some aspects of my life. In other parts, I really have a lot of pet-peeves. For instance, pet hair. Drives me insane. Of course, I am also a bonafide animal freak. My card should be arriving the mail any day now. It is a bit of dilemma. This vacuum is part of my fight against pet hair. It works pretty ok. In all honesty, it is still a battle that incorporates the following:

- Pledge pet hair picker uppers
- Sticky roller sheets
- blankets over my entire couch

The vacuum does get a lot of dirt out of my carpets and rugs though. That deserves 2 thumbs up.

3. We have been learning Italian.

So far my vocabulary includes: squirrel, hedgehog, hairdresser, museum and casual restaurant. Oddly enough, Italy doesn't even have squirrels, so that word is probably not very important. Oh, and I can talk about cats. This solidifies my position as an animal freak.

4. I attended another pug-o-ween.

Ralph was a king.

The winner of the costume contest was a pug dressed up as a 50's housewife. Complete with a wig. Impressive.

5. This week, I spotted a man riding his bike in shorts and t-shirt. In November. In Minnesota.

Three days later, we got 6 inches of snow.

Just a normal fall in Minnesota.

6. I received a ticket for parking my car on the street during a snow storm. Apparently, city ordinances do not allow exceptions for people with so much junk in their garage that no cars will fit.

$42 ticket later, and we suddenly have room in the garage for a car. Funny how that works.

and finally...

7. I have a 4 day weekend from work to finish my masters degree. This explains why I have found the time to do the following:

- go to dinner with friends
- have other friends over for dinner
- revamp and healthify my diet and lifestyle
- cook a cobbler
- wander around Target for 2 hours
- purchase and install a new wireless router
- clean my desk
- purchase Italian phrase books on the other side of the city

Have no fear. The paper will be done (in rough draft form, of course) by Tuesday. If not...please heckle me.

Don't be surprised if I have more posts between now and Tuesday. :)

RIP

2010-10-12T22:34:00.001-05:00

I feel it is time I address a piece of timely news:

The biodegradable Sun Chip bags are being retired.

According to this Wall Street Journal article, the bags were recorded at sound levels up to 95 dbA, which is louder than a lawn mower and some breeds of dogs.

Let me express my feelings:

-- Use a bowl*, America. Isn't that part of the reason why we are obese?**

-- I am regretting the fact I never put the few bags I bought in my backyard composter.

-- I live near some people who compulsively use a leaf blower to tidy their yard. Not just during the leaf season. All year. If that stupid bag of chips is louder than a lawn mower and it was removed from the market...can't I get that annoying high pitched excuse for a gas powered rake removed from my neighborhood?

I feel better.

* a reusable non-BPA containing bowl of course.
** I'm a hypocrite. I don't use a bowl all the time.

Winter To-Do List

2010-10-03T18:22:00.000-05:00

My ridiculous summer to-do list was very successful. Therefore, I must have a winter list to keep my life on track. Otherwise I will likely just watch a lot of House Hunters International and work.

Academic/Knowledge:

Finish Master's Degree
Learn Italian
Watch Jersey Shore

Home Improvement:

Paint the basement
Get some ceiling tiles for basement
Install better lighting

Health & Fitness:

Improve my running (run 3x a week)
Undertake some strength training
Eat as many vegetables as the USDA says I should
Drink water once in a while

Craftiness:

Knit a cowl

Pets:

Conquer the pet hair madness in my house
Teach Ralph to speak

Notes

2010-10-03T11:03:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I ran a 5k race. All in all it went fairly well. A woman running with a small breed terrier passed me by, but I finished and can consider it a starting point. I was not aware that small dogs participated in the Twin Cities Marathon family events, but I hope that they gave the little guy a t-shirt for his efforts.

From Trip Advisor

It is a scenic race, running past the Cathedral of St Paul and up and down Summit Avenue. FYI- the trees were much more colorful than those featured in the picture.

----

My sister and her husband went to Disney World last week. Since they knew that the only toys Ralph the pug has been unable to destroy have come from the Happiest Place on Earth, they kindly brought him a new one to add to his collection.

That is Eeyore, Piglet and Pooh. All of which the dog can retrieve by name. Oh, and Teddy. Not from Disney.

For those counting, this is probably reason number 853 why we have no children. Our dog's toy collection is expensive enough, and clearly Ralph wouldn't be able to tell which toys were his.

Collections

2010-09-27T21:33:00.001-05:00

I wish I had a collection. Seriously. Just today I decided that this might be the one thing missing in my life. Better people would say that they should go out and make the world better by helping orphans or planting trees.....but not me. Clearly, the path to inner happiness involves buying more crap and amassing more things that require dusting and de-pet hairing.

But I regress.

Tonight I heard my coworkers discussing the things they like to collect, I felt a pang of jealousy. Like, maybe I need some quest in life. Something that could make me ask myself if I am going to become a Hoarder.

So, please entertain my list of possible collections:

Pugs.

Not the actual animal, but pug things. The problem with this collection is that I am concerned I will become one of "those" people.

For instance: We went to the apple orchard the other day, and we decided to bring our pug Ralph. It was cold, so I wore a sweatshirt over a t-shirt. The t-shirt was a green shirt with a pug on the front. At the orchard, it was warmer. Even though I was overheating, I was afraid to take my sweatshirt off because I didn't want people to look at me and think I was a weirdo who takes their dog to an apple orchard and wears a pug shirt.

I need to be comfortable with my collection.

Kids.

from stupidcelebrities.net

Plus: I could probably be a reality sensation.

Minus: I would have that many children.

Clearly not a collection I should start. My pug has probably suffered enough under my faux-parenting skills.

Paint by number paintings.

from design*sponge...I think.

Plus: I am soooo ridiculously jealous of the cleverness of this person.

Minus: It has been done. Plus, where does one get a good paint by number kit these days.

Animal Heads

from Luxology.com

Pro: Kinda interesting

Con: Kinda creapy, they take up a lot of room, and I wouldn't want to dust their beady glass eyes. Plus, I don't hunt.

I have some soul searching to do. Perhaps I should go and help some orphans instead.

Autumn

2010-09-26T12:57:00.000-05:00

flowers from my sister's wedding

Since it is now Autumn, I thought I might update you on how far I got on my ridiculous check list for the summer:

- ~~Frame bridge picture (I took it from my grandma)~~

Alright, I didn't steal it from my grandma. She was moving and couldn't use it anymore. But, I didn't ask. I just took it home. It is lovely, I always enjoyed it at her house and we have a small collection of sketches here at the Casa de Edgewood.

- ~~Paint bathroom (peeling paint)~~

- ~~Insulation attic~~

There is nothing to photograph here.

- Caulk entire flippin' upstairs

Not yet.

- Paint basement wood

Not yet. I returned the paint sprayer in favor of a circular saw. It was a more pressing need.

- ~~Make pillows for porch~~

- Run 5k

I am signed up for one next weekend. Hopefully I will survive.

- Knit a throw (at least start)

Um, no.

- Rough draft of masters project

Um, no.

- ~~Replace bathroom faucet~~

Disaster ensued. Read about it here. At least it looks nice and the plumbing guy at Home Depot recognizes us. He thinks we are idiots. Which me might be when it comes to plumbing.

- Figure out basement flooring

I have no idea. It won't be carpet, but we have to figure out how to remove these annoying vinyl encased screws that held the carpet tack strips in place. Asbestos tile + annoying vinyl screws = a pickle.

- ~~Consider making new bedroom curtains~~

I did indeed think about making new curtains. A lot of thinking there.

- ~~Teach Ralph the pug to dance~~

Ralph did learn to dance. He now twirls around for a biscuit when I say "dance". This is my most impressive accomplishment of the summer.

State of the Art

2010-09-09T19:53:00.000-05:00

Right now I am at a coffee shop, allegedly finishing a masters degree, looking at a video rental establishment called "Video Stardom". If that is not the name of a dying fad, I don't know what is. Since I am feeling a bit nostalgic about the technology of days gone by....here are some thing to remind us VHS and video rental.

Remember how you had to rewind videos before returning them....or they would charge you a $0.99 video rewind charge?

Remember the "Please Be Kind, Rewind" stickers?

And, here is the ultimate useless household appliance: the VHS rewinder. For those who couldn't stand to wait 2 minutes for their tapes to rewind in the VCR. Seriously, what's the hurry? Is it 11:55 and Blockbuster closes at midnight-- and you might be subjected to the $0.99 rewind fee?

Oh, I wonder where all of these video rewinders have gone? Is there a heaven for our VHS copies of The Little Mermaid and those video rewinders? I like to think so.

For the record, I don't miss VHS. Whattawastaspace. And time. And energy actually going to places like Video Stardom and pacing the aisles wondering what to watch.

Digging my own grave

2010-08-31T22:03:00.000-05:00

Today, I did 2 things that I shouldn't have:

1. I purchased new tires for my car, Ruby. Without a bit of complaint. I just said, "You're right. My 5 year old tires are old and I don't want to die in a fiery crash this winter."

2. I got home and sighed when I went through the mail and saw that Lowe's had sent us a coupon...just days after I spent a few dollaroos there on a ceiling fan.

And, how did Murphy's Law reward me?

Our dryer decided to die.

In all fairness to the dryer, it was 35 years old. That is probably senior citizen status in the appliance world. However, why did my home's most senior resident decide to quit when all of my clothes are wet?

Clearly some higher power wants me to wear a dress to work tomorrow.

And I will get to use that Lowe's coupon after all. :)

Preposterous claims

2010-08-29T17:55:00.000-05:00

I am naturally a skeptic. About everything. I like to think that my skepticism prevents me from buying products with ridiculous claims....but I guess that marketing conquers all sometimes.

Recently, the ceiling fan on our 3-season porch stopped working. We ignored this fact for about 3 months, until I was scheduled to host a bridal shower for my lovely sister this past Saturday. Since it has been miserably hot (for my MN blood), I figured we should replace the fan with an operational fixture.

This is the closest picture I have of the previous fan. I don't really take photos of my ceiling fans. They really aren't...that exciting.

6 days before the party, we decided to take a little trip to Lowe's to purchase the fan. After straining our necks to look up at the fan display, we settled on the following Hunter fan:

Alright...I did take a picture of this fan. There is a reason for this.

Now, note the claim on the box. "Five Minute Fan." That is right my friend, this fan is supposed to be up on your ceiling in the a mere 5 minutes. As we left Lowe's, I told Zac I was going to be disappointed if this fan was not up in 5 minutes.

Clearly the genius behind this claim has never been to our house.

This fan took us 5 days to install. 5 days. That is about 7,195 minutes more than the box claims. Ridiculous.

In all fairness, we are not construction geniuses. And our old fan was nearly 40 years old and the previous inhabitants of our home had ghetto rigged the fan to the ceiling with 2 bolts and 4 washers/nuts per bolt. That alone took 2 trips to the Home Depot and copious amounts of WD-40 to remedy. But, I will say when it came time to actually hang the fan, it took us more than 5 minutes to locate the first 3 screws necessary to attach the fan to the ceiling.

The Five Minute Fan is officially a preposterous claim. Don't get too excited when you see it at your local Home Depot/Lowe's.

More home improvement stories to come.

Stair finale

2010-08-15T20:39:00.001-05:00

If you remember our earlier plight, we removed the ugly basement carpet and were greeted by the following mess on our steps:

U.G.L.Y....you ain't got no albi, you ugly....oh oh....you ugly.

It's not 1997? Oh.

Anyway, after I did some microscopic investigation I determined that the nasty black mastic we unearthed was in fact free of the 'stos. Good news for our lungs and our pocket books.

Zac and my soon-to-be bro-in-law got to work ripping out the offensive stairs.

What? No pictures? Big fail.

Demolition took about 1 day with the help of some tool called the Wonder Bar. And some brute strength I am sure. I wouldn't know...my sister and I did girly things like make jewelry during this time.

Recreating the stairs took about 3 days, and I did take the occasional photo.

Here is Zac with a stair tread.

Here is Ralph the pug filling in for OSHA.

Here is the final project as it stands right now. We need to do the trim. However, this is not really our top priority. If we can get to our laundry room and our cats can get to their bathroom, we are happy. The trim will be a winter project.

Zucchini chronicles

2010-08-15T20:23:00.000-05:00

Apparently I am really skilled at growing zucchini.

As you can see, my fruit are the size of medium sized cats.

While this is impressive, it is only worthwhile if I can successfully cook every last zucchini into something. So that is what I have been up to these days. Cooking zucchini. It is a bit of a self-challenge if you will.

What? You don't photograph your shredded vegetables?

One large zucchini yields nearly 10 cups of shredded zucchini. Since 2 loaves of zucchini bread requires a mere 3 cups, this is a tad bit of zucchini. Using it up has required a bit of creativity. Let me list the ways:

1. Zucchini bread. It was my goal to bake 52 loaves of bread and freeze them. That is about a one year supply of zuc bread. If the Apocalypse occurs, I will be set. However...my plants had an unfortunate incident with some vine borer bugs. My waist line probably thanks me.

Zac insisted I take a picture of the risotto.

2. Zucchini risotto. If you have ever watched the show "Hell's Kitchen" you are probably well aware that risotto is difficult if you are a) an beginning chef or are b) being screamed at by a swearing British man. Luckily we fall under neither category and were able to make this delicious rice/pasta delight.

3. Zucchini relish. Just like a pickle relish, but with zucs. Delicious. I suspect it also makes a good gift, so don't be surprised if one shows up in your christmas gift this year.

4. Zucchini refrigerator pickles. This is a secret recipe. It is phenomenally fantastic. My sister says I should call them "zuckles".

5. Chocolate zucchini cake. Pretty good.

6. Sauteed zucchini. Also delicious.

7. Stuffed zucchini. I love stuffing, so this is a natural dish for me.

That is enough blabbing about zucchini. Hopefully our tomato crop will come in soon so we can move on to something else around here.

My guide to faucet replacement

2010-07-17T09:55:00.000-05:00

There are many guides to faucet replacement out there, and honestly I think most of them make it look a little too simple. For your information, and entertainment, here is my own step-by-step guide to changing out your bathroom faucet.

1. Decide old faucet is broken/ugly/outdated/all of the above.

Here was our old faucet. It was ok.

It had a great deal of mineral deposit build-up, and the water was starting to come out of the tap sideways.

2. Select new faucet

Here is the Price Pfister beauty we selected:

Clearly the easiest part. Go to store and look at options. Pick the one that makes you (and your budget) happy.

3. Determine the store hours of every hardware store within 5 miles of your home

This is extremely important. We did not do this, and we have a knack to starting projects exactly one hour before Home Depot closes. Since most projects (for novices and non-plumbers) will require 12 trips to the hardware store, you want to make sure they are open and looking for your business. Otherwise you will be running frantically to the store in whatever mismatching clothing you are wearing just to get there in time.

4. Turn off the water to faucet.

If you don't know how to do this, I might suggest putting your house on the market and consider apartment living. I kid, I kid! Look it up on the internet if you don't know.

Here was the source of our troubles. According to Bob Vila, one should actually use these shut off knobs every now and then so they don't get corroded and stuck in the on position. Nobody around here knew that, and they were stuck.

Bob in all his glory.

Replacing these should be easy... according to Bob. Not the case around here. We ended up with a broken supply pipe and a hole in our wall like this:

When we couldn't fix it, we had to hire a plumber who made that hole just a little bit bigger.

No big deal. The average visitor can't see it, and one of these days I'll learn how to repair large holes in our plaster walls. Always look at the bright side. It is just another learning (and blogging) opportunity.

5. Remove old faucet.

This also should be easy. However, as previously stated, our home is a special case. The bolts holding the old faucet to the sink were rusted. Rather than risking tetanus, we opted for throwing away the actual sink and buying a new one. Conveniently 1 hour before the Home Depot closed on a Sunday night.

The old sink was a beige color with gold glitter, and we don't miss it one bit.

6. Plan on replacing the entire drain piping

The old pipes are there to line up with old sink and faucet. Funny enough, designs change and the old pipes will not line up with the new drain and faucet. Just plan on getting all new pipes. It will cost less than $10, and you won't need to use drain-o for a long time.

If you are like us, figuring this out will require 5 trips to the hardware store before this dawns on you. Let me save you the trouble.

7. Install new faucet and sink

Measure twice. Cut once. It should be everyone's personal motto. It will save you from trips 10, 11 and 12 to the Home Depot.

Here is our new faucet and white sink:

Not too shabby.

8. Buy new shower curtain

This might not seem like it is part of replacing a faucet, but it is. Since you just spent about 5 days repairing your bathroom sink, you have likely decided that the old shower curtain is, well, old.

Reward your self with a $15 shower curtain from Target boutique.

Now that I look at this photo, I think I might need some different artwork too.

There you go. A simple guide to replacing your faucet.

Basement in a bag

2010-07-11T16:32:00.000-05:00

Before:

After:

For those who are interested, here is the ancient flooring laying beneath that wool carpet:

Asbestos filled floor tile. 9x9 FT = asbestos. It is a fun party fact.

During our demolition, we uncovered the ugliest situation we could imagine:

Zac wanted to leave the carpet on the steps...I wanted to take it off. Guess who won?

Those are stairs full of nails, spikes, staples and black mastic. I won't know until Monday, but I am guessing the mastic contains more asbestos.

Guess who is building a new staircase next weekend????

I think the show "Renovation Realities" is missing a golden opportunity. It should be hilarious. Last night I had a dream that we took out the staircase, and we were stuck in the basement...without a bathroom. If our cats knew what was going on, they'd probably have the same dream since all of their litter boxes are downstairs.

Should be interesting.

Stay tuned.

Casserole

2010-07-05T21:10:00.000-05:00

Lately I have really been having a craving for a taco casserole. (If you live in MN, this is a hot dish...but I won't get into local lingo today) Now, I suppose creating a taco casserole doesn't really require a rocket scientist, but I still went to a prominent recipe website to see if there have been any innovations in taco casserole in recent years.

from myrecipes.com

Imagine my horror when the first recipe to appear was one for "Tater Taco Casserole."
Now, if you are familiar with casserole, you are likely familiar with the standards:

Tuna casserole
Green bean casserole
Taco casserole
Tater Tot casserole.

Under no circumstances do you need to mix these genera. Especially the last two. There is no reason to throw tater tots on a faux mexican dish. I will not have it. Doritos? Yes. Tater tots? No thank you.

Moving on up....

2010-06-27T19:49:00.000-05:00

For those of you under the impression that we live an ultra exciting life, let me clue you in. We are quite dull. I work. Zac works. We sleep and watch the Real Housewives of New Jersey. Hence the reason we are super pumped about purchasing the following:

Yup, that is a power paint sprayer. Let me answer the questions you might have:

1. Do you know how to use a paint sprayer? No. Of course not. Google is a wonderful thing.

2. What are you going to use it for?

The world's ugliest basement.

3. Are you aware that paint sprayers will mess up that carpet?

Seriously? Do you think a little white paint will hurt that 40 year old carpet?

4. What about all of the paint particles you will inhale?

No worries. We purchased the following:

I am pretty sure we are set for the next pandemic flu outbreak as well.

5. What makes you think that beautiful paneling will look good painted?

I saw this on the interwebs:

before

after

This feature on "Instructables" referred to the before photo as a Knotty Pine Dungeon. They know what's going on, peeps. And I'm willing to give it a try.

6. (the most important) What about the Grand Tetons mural?????

No worries. The mural is safe, for now. We don't yet own the TV that we are going to put in it's place....and we won't get it until our proverbial ship comes in. So, until that, I will be able to look over the Grand Tetons as I complete my morning run on my treadmill.

In all seriousness, we are trying to rehab the basement this summer. The carpet is going to say adios very, very soon. The floral couch already has moved on to that place where old, smelly couches go after a good life. A new coat of paint and some new lighting should do a lot to help that dungeon.

To Do

2010-06-14T20:55:00.000-05:00

If you ever listen to me talk, you might notice I am rather scatter-brained. I am sure that ~~many~~ most of my stories do not follow a linear pattern, and I usually think faster than I talk. Plus, finding my keys is a daily chore that I haven't found a way to remedy in my 28+ years of life.

Therefore, I make lists. Everywhere. At work. At home. On the bus. At the pool. Ok, not at the pool...but you get the idea. Plus, I really don't go to "the pool" all that often.

source

I present to you my summer to do list:

- Frame bridge picture (I took it from my grandma)
- Paint bathroom (peeling paint)
- Insulation attic
- Caulk entire flippin' upstairs
- Paint basement wood
- Make pillows for porch
- Run 5k
- Knit a throw (at least start)
- Rough draft of masters project
- Replace bathroom faucet
- Figure out basement flooring
- Consider making new bedroom curtains
- Teach Ralph the pug to dance

Now, I only post this for a couple of reasons.

1. It is so ridiculous that it is almost hilarious. Who am I? Martha Stewart?

2. I might be the only person who considers teaching a dog useless tricks worthy of a checklist.

Regional Differences

2010-05-23T19:40:00.001-05:00

This evening, I went to have dinner at this diner outside of Atlanta, GA. While I was looking over the menu, the waiter brought out our drinks, a basket of bread, and 2 slices of spanakopita.

Am I the only one who thinks it is odd to serve spanakopita (the delicious greek spinach pie) as something to snack on prior to eating greasy diner food?

This was the meal as presented to me:
Cherry Coke
Bread
Spanakopita
Tuna Melt
Pickle
Fries

I am seriously worried that this is normal and I have no idea. Seriously.

For those who are wondering: yes, I did eat the spanakopita. I couldn't be rude.

I am going to go walk on the treadmill now. The Mayo Clinic website says you shouldn't exercise if you have a hacking cough and chest congestion...but I am making an exception to the rule after this meal.

Ideas that go too far.

2010-05-17T20:51:00.000-05:00

Today, I went to the grocery store to pick up a few things. This is a rarity. I almost never go to the grocery store, so as you can imagine I spent a lot of time perusing the advancements in food products that I normally only see on TV.

In the yogurt aisle, I was noting the wide variety of yogurts available, when I stumbled upon the following product:

(from the Dannon website)

Activa yogurt in prune flavor. Prunes!

This is taking the idea of gastrointestinal health too far. Is this supposed to be "bifidus regularis" on steroids? I just hope they never turn this into an Activa commercial. I won't be able to stand it.

Plants, plants and plants

2010-05-09T17:17:00.000-05:00

This Mother's Day weekend was a cold and rainy one. Did this keep me out of the garden? Nope.

As you can see, I am a true Minnesotan and I keep my hat around all year.

We have made considerable progress on Operation: Curb Appeal 2010.

You may remember that we purchased the following banana colored home in 2007:

After today, it now looks like:

The shrubs are a bit small. All of the plants have a lot of growing season left. However, it is a start. If I could only figure out how to get that antenna off of the roof, we'd be set.

The old shrubs had to go because they were pretty much dead in the center. So, if we trimmed them back too much they would be sticks. Plus, we thought they were ugly and they required a lot of trimming. Solution: plant really small bushes.

My coworker designed me a rabbit resistant garden for the end of the sidewalk, but I am still waiting for some plants to come in the mail. Everything is so small that it will need some time.

On to the backyard. This garden started as this:

and now looks like this:

Notice Ralph posing with his handiwork. All he has done for the garden is poop in it. Just to clarify.

Again, everything is small because it is so early. Do you want to know what I planted???

Aster
Roses (William something or another)
Veronica
Astible
Catmint
Sedum
Monarda
Hyssop (or something like that)

In other news, I have been buying plants like it is going out of style:

While this seems like a lot, have it be known that I am frugal in most other ways.

I bought this because it is "Fuzzy Wuzzy":

My tulips have been successful:

These anemone are doing well:

And Mia the cats only gets to watch from the window:

Finally, I asked Ralph if he would like his spring portrait to be taken. He agreed, and decided to go for the serious look:

May Day

2010-05-01T16:08:00.000-05:00

There is some hope for the front yard:

The other shrubs are gone!

Notice, I don't just show you the beautiful parts of my home. Home ownership isn't all fun and games people. It is work. And ugly patches of dirt in your yard from time to time.

We also have found a suitable insulation contractor, so I am pretty pumped about showing up Centerpoint Energy and their little letter comparing me to the rest of the 'hood. Oh the things I am competitive about. Sports? Nah. Energy efficiency? Bring it on.

Plus, we are going to be having a bath fan installed as part of this insulation business. Apparently they are highly recommended or something. Plus, it might help solve the paint peeling problem I have in my bathroom. (See, glamorous!) The other day Zac and I decided to go to Lowe's and check out the bath fans. Apparently these fans are in the plumbing section. We were in the doorbell section on the other side of the store before someone clued us into that fact.

The end.

Shoulda Coulda Woulda

2010-04-27T19:59:00.000-05:00

Once upon a time I was walking through a mall in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

While there, I stumbled upon one of those silly mall kiosks selling shirts. Most of them were crude and rather stupid, but one caught my eye:

EA Graphics

Not buying that shirt is perhaps one of my biggest regrets in life. Well, not really. I could still buy it on-line. But...the magic is gone now. It is a memory I can tell my grandchildren. By that point Detroit will probably be a wholesome, safe city and they will think I am crazy.

This also reminds me that during my first year of college I saw a guy wearing a shirt that said:

London
Paris
Milan
Mills Fleet Farm

Hilarious. I love Mills Fleet Farm.

Dirt

2010-04-26T21:23:00.000-05:00

Some people have inquired about the condition of my mini-greenhouse experiment, so here you go:

Success! It is a bit of a fail too, because the label I put on the side of the carton washed away with the information about what kind of plant is sprouting in there. After careful consideration, I think it is a hollyhock. Which is a success because those were the plants I really wanted to grow. To recap, hollyhocks look like this:

Bluestone perennials

In other news, we have decided that we need to destruct most of our yard. We started with the front yard:

Which has turned into this pile of bare dirt:

Beautiful, eh? It is clearly bringing up our status in the neighborhood. Guess what? I don't care. Those shrubs were heinous. I have big plans for my little pile of bare dirt. Especially when we get around to finishing the other side. Yes, not only do we have a patch of bare dirt in the front, but it is only half done. Klassy. That is why I don't live in a neighborhood association.

Moving on.

This then reminded me that I wanted to create a garden in the backyard. The idea back there is to reduce the amount of grass....or weeds....that are growing.

This is me trying to dig up this garden with a shovel. That was a misguided moment. After an hour of that, we came to our senses and rented a tiller.

Isn't beautiful? I also have big plans for this pile of dirt. It will be called the Urban Bird garden. Just wait and see.

Mega-Awesome!

2010-04-14T08:22:00.002-05:00

This past weekend, after completing the harrowing biannual experience known as "Storm Window Exchange" (an activity that on more than one occassion has driven me to tell Kelly that if I die to spend my life insurance money on new windows), I plopped down on the couch, exhausted and craving some mindless entertainment (hereafter known as ME). Lo and behold, I turned to the SyFy channel and what do you know, I found some. It seems it was a ME Marathon, because I hit the motherlode.

First, I must say off the bat I never really watched the SyFy channel (apparently it switched its name from SciFi awhile back), so maybe this was always par for the course for them. But they apparently have an infinite number of "Mega-monsters" movies with which they can fill the airwaves ad nauseum. And this is fortunate for me, as well as those looking for ME.

I first noticed this trend a few weeks back when I turned to a fun little show called "Ice Spiders." The plot goes that some shady governmental organization started messing around with the DNA of certain species of spiders to grow them super-large and then harvest their silk to make, like, rope and stuff. All fine and dandy until the spiders escape (!) and start wreaking havoc on a nearby ski lodge. Fortunately, a stoned failed-Olympian-turned-ski-instructor named Dash saves the day with some savvy slope moves and witty asides.

Then came the motherlode of which I speak. "Mega Piranha," starring Tiffany (yes, that Tiffany) made its official SyFy premiere on April 10th. Sadly I wasn't able to watch much of that one, but I did get to see Tiffany's 80's rival Debbie Gibson (yep, that Debbie Gibson) in the mega-awesome, "Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus." I stayed up till midnight watching this monstrosity. It's pure suck-tion power left me gasping for air. It featured all the mega-hallmarks of these movies, including cheesy special effects, wooden acting, nonsensical plot points, and (supposedly) funny one-liners. Course, I could've just described any number of Michael Bay movies, too.

Anyway, after watching enough of these, I can't help but wonder if, somewhere out there, maybe on Ebay or something, I could find the Random Monster Movie Plot Generating Machine they use to make their movies. If not today's then maybe an old one from the 50's or 60's that they modeled it after. Because, really, these are time-tested formulas they're using here, only reworked to incorporate modern times.

So, if you're ever looking for a little ME, take it from me, and turn to the SyFy channel. Who knows what you might find? Mega-Gerbil, maybe. Or take it from Debbie Gibson herself:

"I haven't seen the final edit, but we did do a version that leaves the door open for a potential sequel," Gibson revealed. "Because God knows what else is in the ocean. I thought maybe a seahorse? Maybe a 500-foot lobster would be good. But yes, there is the potential for a sequel, and I would absolutely love it."

Oh Debbie. You're not the only one.

Let me share...

2010-04-12T20:36:00.000-05:00

This is a true story. For real.

Today, after 28 years and some odd days of life, I finally learned how to tell if a pitch is a "strike" in baseball.

I am sure you have several questions.

1. How did you not know this? I never really cared.

2. Where did you learn this?

Now, some astute readers might remember that today is the Twin's home opener, in their brand new stadium paid for with my hard earned sales tax money. Was I there? No. Then where did I learn this? In an Industrial Hygiene course dealing with ergonomics. Apparently the ideal lifting/work zone of the body is also the strike zone in baseball.

When I got home, I wowed Zac with my new skills during a Reds vs Marlins game.

No one said I had street smarts, people.

The end.

Energy Efficiency

2010-04-10T19:52:00.001-05:00

Recently, we received a letter from our gas company comparing our energy efficiency to 100 of our closest neighbors (with similar houses)

Here are our results:

Note the blue line with the bolded "YOU" next to it.

I cannot handle this. They might as well insult my first born child.

So, we had an energy audit done on our house the other day. I figured they tell us to purchase a new furnace. Oh no...what did the guy say: "Don't bother buying a new furnace, you will just heat the outside more efficiently."

Now we need to seal up every leaking hole in our attic and increase the insulation. According to everyone on the planet, this is an easy and rather inexpensive task.

Not for me.

Yes, I will redo flooring, install tile and paint my entire house by hand. Go into the dark, spooky attic filled with nasty old insulation? Um no.

(from inspectapedia.com)

I tried walking down the aisle of Lowe's to price out the insulation and my entire body was itching at the thought of being around that much fiberglass. Seriously. I had to scratch my leg several times. In fact, my skin prickles right now at the thought of it. I have declared myself allergic to fiberglass.

This summer we are hoping to accomplish the following around here:

1. Seal up the attic-- caulking, weatherstripping, insulation, etc.
2. Replace the smelly, old carpet in the attic and replace with some beautiful wood
3. Finish painting the attic (I started in December 2007...about time)
4. Garden!

Oh, I suppose I should add that the attic is our bedroom. I'll entertain you all with some before pictures soon. They are gems!

Be Green and Delicious

2010-03-18T19:42:00.001-05:00

If you watch TV (and I hope you do), you may have seen the ads for SunChips and their new compostable bag.

(from Frito Lay)

Good idea, yes. First of all, the world doesn't need more plastic crap. Second, it is free to compost and it costs money to have your garbage hauled away each week. Third, SunChips are simply delicious.

However, I must share my experience with these compostable bags. They are the LOUDEST chip bags known to man. You can not enjoy a discrete snack on your couch and enjoy your favorite television program. Not possible. According to the SunChips website, the bag is made out of plant materials. The loudest plants on Earth.

In conclusion, exercise caution when you enjoy these chips. Don't eat in quiet situations. Don't sneak them into your local movie theater. Don't enjoy them around sleeping children-- they will be up in minutes looking for a late night snack.

Fail

2010-03-14T09:29:00.001-05:00

Today we were supposed to go to Florida. After making our friend take us to the airport at 5 am, we arrived to a bustling terminal full of excited spring break travelers.

In line, the agent asked if we were going to Tampa and when we replied yes, she magically opened the elastic line divider and ushered us over to our special line labeled "Tampa". Zac and I instantly thought, "Yes! No lines for us."

Negative. The lady then told us our flight was canceled.

After waiting in line with a bunch of irate cruise passengers, I asked the customer service guy why our flight was canceled.

"A fuel truck hit the plane and dented it."

Really? A fuel truck hit the plane. Don't these marvels of modern technology withstand winds at speeds of 800 mph?? Don't they take out Canada Geese* like a salad shooter?

As you can probably guess, I was a bit skeptical of this story. After a delicious breakfast of Crab Cake Egg Benedict** and coffee, I went home to discover the truth.

Maybe I should have some more faith in humanity.

(yep...that is our plane. Dented apparently)

MINNEAPOLIS -- A fuel truck struck a parked aircraft Saturday night at Minneapolis-St. Paul International causing a dent in the plane.

The accident happened around 6:30 p.m. at one of the gates at the Humphrey Terminal. Spokesman Pat Hogan of the Metropolitan Airports Commission says a fuel truck bumped into an engine of a Sun Country plane causing a four inch dent. Sun Country crews are still assessing the damage.

There were crew members and passengers on the plane at the time of the accident but nobody was injured. The passengers, who were enroute to Phoenix, are being put on another plane.
(Copyright 2010 by KARE. All Rights Reserved.)

Now, I have another observation:

There was a group of people on this failed flight intending to get on a cruise ship with....wait for it.....Garrison Keillor.

This I could not believe.

Is this a face you want to sail the seven seas with?

I think not.

This also begged the question, were these people just close personal vacation buddies with Garrison, or is there some sort of Prairie Home Companion cruise available?

Yep, you guessed it. There is a Prairie Home Companion Cruise.

Hmmmm. If you know me, you know that I am an appreciator of National Public Radio. Science Friday and I are best friends. Prairie Home Companion....my arch enemy. Ooooh, it is awful. I actually schedule my weekend work shifts around the shows schedule. That is bad.

* Canada Geese is the correct term. Canadian Geese is incorrect, according to my college vertebrate biology professor.

** Clearly an everyday food around my house.

I forgot to mention...

2010-03-02T15:23:00.000-06:00

If you do decide to start some plant using milk cartons, you should throw away the cap and set the jugs out in the snow. This way the little guys will get some water.

Let the gardens begin...

2010-02-28T17:59:00.001-06:00

In the last few days, I have fielded many questions (ok- 2) regarding what our next projects will be.

If we were speaking HGTV lingo, this year will be devoted to curb appeal. We are planning on enhancing some existing gardens, adding a couple of more beds (bonus-- less grass to let die!) and getting rid of some ancient shrubs in the front of the house.

First up, I need to grow some plants for this projects.

Is it possible to turn this pile of junk:

Into something beautiful like this:

(from special perennials)

and this?:

(from bluestone perennials)

According to my Master Gardener coworker, yes it is!

It is called Winter Sowing. Basically you construct mini-greenhouses from your plastic milk jugs, set it out in the snowbank and as the weather improves the plants will sprout.

All you have to do is poke some holes in the bottom of the jug, cut it open and put some soil in the bottom. Unlike starting seeds indoors, you can use regular potting soil. Indoor seeds always call for "sterile seed starting medium". Eh. Grab some dirt, get it wet and plant your seeds.

Then you tape the jugs back together and set them out in the snow. Be sure to place the containers on the east, west or south side of the house....the north side doesn't get enough sun.

Hopefully this project isn't a big flop. I'd like to have some plants this spring!

** Please note, you are supposed the Milk Carton caps away so the seeds can get some water!

Dress for Success

2010-02-18T21:19:00.001-06:00

I love the Olympics. The athleticism, the traditions, the spectacular ski falls. It is truly one of humanity's greatest inventions. Anything that brings together Bob Costas, Curling and Ice Dancing is bound to be a good time!

As I watch this latest Olympiad, I can't help but note a trend in the wardrobes of some of our generations greatest athletes.

First, I noticed it with the Snowboarding team:

Note the denim pants.

Is it casual Friday here, people? No. It is the Olympics. Maybe one of the biggest events ever. I feel like it might not be the time to dress down.

However, they are snowboarders. So, I am willing to cut them some slack. Plus, they do look pretty good in those denim snow pants.

Then, I turned on the Men's Figure Skating Competition and was greeted with this:

What is going on????

This man is a figure skater. The epitome of grace and sparkly pants. But please note, this man appears to have just walked out of cornfield and stumbled upon an Olympic-sized ice rink.

In addition, they are not even overalls that fit like overalls. Oh no. Even skaters in overalls must wear their clothing to fit snug in the rear, showing off their glutes for the world to see.

I am still in shock 2 days later.

Denim + Men's Figure Skating = 1 bad idea.

The end.

Fondue

2010-02-14T11:26:00.000-06:00

I honestly think that everyone enjoys Fondue. It is kind of like pizza, you will be exiled from my home if you don't like some sort of fondue. It provides a little somethin' for everyone. Cheese, chocolate, boiled pieces of meat in broth, it is the universal fun donor.

In honor of Valentine's day-- a holiday smack dab in the middle of the dreary month of February-- I would like to share a few delicious and not so nutritious fondue recipes with you:

(available at Target for a mere $29.99)

Michael Mina's Cheese Fondue
found in a newspaper article about 5 years ago

1 clove garlic- minced
1/2 cup white wine
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp cornstarch
1 cup shredded Gruyere cheese
1 cup shredded other cheese (we used Cabot Vermont Cheddar)
Salt and Peppa
Items for dipping: bread, apples, vegetables, mushrooms, chips...

Grab your fondue pot. Bring white wine, garlic and bay leaf to a boil. Make a mix of cornstarch and 1 tbsp water in a bowl. Add cornstarch mix and cheese to boiling mixture. Melt and enjoy!

______

Irish Blue Cheese Fondue
(created by Martha Stewart, of course.)

8 oz blue cheese, crumbled
1/4 cup flour
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp dry mustard
3/4 cup Irish Lager (we used a german beer, still delicious)
1/2 cup half and half
Salt
Stuff for dipping...apples, bread, etc.

Mix up blue cheese, flour, cayenne pepper, dry mustard in a separate bowl. Boil up the half and half with the beer in a fondue pot. Add the dry mixture and melt. Eat and enjoy!

Happy Valentine's Day!

(http://critteristic.com/)

Make your sandwich better...

2010-02-13T08:00:00.001-06:00

With some Sriracha hot sauce.

Zac likes to make a spread of mayo, Sriracha and green onions. Perhaps this sounds unacceptable those haters of mayo, but it is fabulous for those who devour the stuff like it is their job.

Little story:

I cannot make a sandwich. Well, I can't make a sandwich that I find to be tasty. However, Zac makes me extremely delicious, professional grade sandwiches all the time. I just pretend that I don't know how to operate the stove, and he will whip me up a panini/melt/grilled cheese/whatever you want to call it. It works well for me. The key to this scenario is I have no idea what he puts on these concoctions.

Enter the Sriracha spread above. He made this to accompany some Asian meatballs featured in Bon Apetit magazine, and the leftovers were slipped into my delicious sandwich melt. FABULOUS.

Try it.

Recipe Discovery

2010-02-10T21:03:00.001-06:00

Attention America (or the small segment of the American population familiar with this blog):

I have found a series of recipes for Stir-fries that are delicious.

Check out the latest issue of the Food Network Magazine (I know, I know...what aren't those people hawkin' now) and check out the spread on stir fry. Deeeeee-licious.

Plus, it goes great with the condiment of the month: Sriracha Hot Sauce.

I have spent the last 28 years in love with Chinese food. It is the greatest culinary invention of all time. I have yet to find an Asian dish that I dislike, unless I make it at home. So, you can imagine my surprise when we made the stir-fry in the Food Network magazine, and I loved it. Delicious. Crisp vegetables. Tasty sauce.

I fully understand the remaining 350 million people in America have probably already mastered the art of preparing Stir-fry, but it doesn't stop me from exclaiming my joy on the interwebs.

For those of you wondering, the issue of the Food Network Magazine above is covering the latest Sports Illustrated Swim Suit issue. I am hoping that the food information will transfer to those models through an osmosis type reaction and convince them to eat like the rest of us.

Sauce of the Month

2010-02-02T19:19:00.000-06:00

No offense to February, but it is kind of a dull month.

Since the days are long and we are all sick of winter, we'd like to devote these 28 days to a little something hot and spicy:

(courtesy of bon appetit)

The mighty Sriracha Hot Sauce.

Everyone's fridge needs a bottle of this red beauty. It is versatile and delicious, and we intend to share with you some of the joys of the Sriracha.

First up:

Peanut-Ginger Noodles

Delicious.

Grab yourselves the following:
1/2 cup smooth natural peanut butter
2 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 1/2 teaspoons Sriracha Hot Sauce
1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger (dried ginger works)
8 ounces whole-wheat spaghetti (plain old spaghetti works)
1 12-ounce bag fresh vegetable medley, such as carrots, broccoli, snow peas

Whip it up as follows:
1. Boil water
2. Mix PB, soy sauce, garlic, Sriracha, ginger in a bowl. Set aside.
3. Boil pasta until it is 1 min away from being done. Add veggies to pasta and water, boil for that additional minute.
4. Drain pasta & veggies, save 1 cup cooking liquid.
5. Mix pasta & veggies with sauce and 1 cup cooking liquid.

Eat.

Since I am not the next Food Network All-Star, I must add that I found this recipe on the EatingWell website.

Tile, Mastic and Grout

2010-01-20T22:45:00.001-06:00

Well, it is time.

Tile Time!

Below you will see out kitchen back splash before:

For those building material trivia buffs, that grayish material covering the wall was actually a thin piece of Formica glued to the wall.

Was it offensive? No. Was it particularly unattractive? Not really. However, I has bothered me from the moment we moved in. Ok, I take that back. I didn't really notice it until we removed the 2 layers of ugly wallpaper from the bathroom ceiling. After that, I was able to place all of my home decor agony on that little slice of wall in the kitchen.

Last Saturday, we removed the Formica and were left with this mess:

If you imagine hard enough, it looks like the episodes of House Hunters: International where people are trying to purchase a ruin in Portugal. My friend Jenny said the bare plaster almost looked Italian. I thought it was just kind of ugly. If that beautiful dishwasher wasn't there, I'd probably run away in despair.

My dear friend Jenny came over and together we began to piece together my vision:

That is subway tile (aka 3"x6" white tile) with a glass tile accent. After many agonizing hours searching the internet and staring a tile samples, I decided to go with the "I Love Color: Loft in Spring" glass tile from Mosaic Tile Supplies.

I am sure you have questions. Let me answer them for you:

Why only a glass tile accent?

Because we are not rich.

Why choose that color?

Because it makes me happy. I like colorful things, and Zac agreed that it was a lovely combo. My favorite colors are green and blue, and this mix had a nice brown thrown in for good measure. I am not a big fan of pastels, and I didn't want my kitchen back splash looking like a spa.

Anyway. Then we finished it up and grouted the seams:

This made the tile look a gazillion times nicer. It was amazing.

Leaving us with:

and

We love it. Almost as much as we love the dishwasher.

Here is a side-by-side comparison, mostly because I am really proud of my first tiling job:

The Year in Review

2010-01-01T09:50:00.001-06:00

As we start a new year, it is worth taking a look at what we accomplished in 2009.

January

Ralph poses with the results of his hard work. I used my noggin and figured out a way to keep the pets out of the couch.

February

I'm not sure we did anything in February. I can't find a picture to save my life.

March

We enjoyed ourselves and our family on the beaches of Florida.

April

We gave some good thought to paint colors...

And replaced this ugly back door!

May

We enjoyed our single bonfire of the year...

And got some new kitchen flooring!

June

Phoebe the cat enjoyed the fresh air.

July

We made our first major appliance purchase of the year.

August

Painted the living room...

and the study!

I also enjoyed a brief stint as a furniture painter.

September

Dreams were realized in Chicago...Superdawg!

October

We saw sights and friends in Seattle...

And I had the most delicious vodka sauce of all time.

November

Second major appliance purchase...a dishwasher! Oh how we love that dishwasher.

December

I honed my new plumbing skills...

And tried my hand at wire jewelry making.

Happy New Year!

May 2010 be filled with as many travels and home improvement delights!

We are not cool.

2009-12-29T18:24:00.000-06:00

The title of this post says it all, really.

Zac received a new faucet for Christmas. It is pretty snazzy, complete with sprayer. I am sure those of you residing in the comforts of a new home might think everyone has a sprayer at their kitchen sink....but nay, nay.

This what we live for, folks. Oh, and the tiles in the background are some of the combos we are considering for our next project. We like to stare at samples for a while prior to making a decision.

In addition, we have become obsessed with the game Bananagrams.

Obsessed. We play everyday.

Merry Christmas to All!

2009-12-25T10:41:00.001-06:00

Merry Christmas!

It is a little known secret that Zac is jealous of the tales of Minnesota blizzards past. Every Halloween, seasoned Minnesota residents are guaranteed to get in a discussion about the big Halloween Blizzard of 1991...complete with how their costume was ruined because they had to wear snow boots and snow pants just to leave the house. It drives Zac crazy. I suspect this is because he has nothing to add to the conversation.

Until now.

Now, Zac will have his own blizzard tale to share.

These pictures were taken this morning (Friday, Dec 25) and it is still snowing. I haven't seen this much snow in a long time. Maybe since Halloween '91. I told Zac the other day I was sad we weren't going to Indiana for Christmas, but I really don't think we would have made it.

In other news, Zac and I would like to share the following story in the interest of world peace.

Yesterday we had planned a delicious dinner of ham and squash for Christmas Eve. On my way home from work, I stopped by the liquor store to select a wine to enjoy with the meal.

Now, my coworker Lynn has been making candle holders out of wine bottles. In hopes that I could get her to make me one, I was searching the shelves for a bottle with a beautiful label that would make a great candle.

This was my choice. Nice label. Disgusting wine.

We are not wine critics here. We pretty much drink anything, including Three Buck Chuck from Trader Joe's. However, here are some quotes from our experience:

"Oh...this is the most craptastic Riesling of all time." (my first sip)

"Ooooh, this is really nasty." (Zac's first sip)

"Seriously, it tastes like plastic. Like the taste you get in your mouth when you open an item wrapped in plastic, fresh from the store." (My next sip)

"Well, the bottle says nothing about the deliciousness of the wine. It only talks about their business model." (me again.)

"This could be horse urine. Seriously. How do we know." (me again.)

Then we dumped out the entire bottle.

The end. Don't buy this wine.

A Dangerous Mind

2009-12-21T20:11:00.000-06:00

Since school is on winter break until mid-January, I am now free to waste my time searching the internet for remodeling ideas without guilt.

And Zac clearly is starting to regret the day he decided to learn how to grout tiles. His new skill has created a monster. A computational monster. As you can see above, I have wasted no time measuring, pricing and multiplying my way to a beautiful kitchen back splash.

This is the biggest thing going on in my life. And I am totally ok with that.

Xmas card follie?

2009-12-20T11:24:00.000-06:00

The other day, I had a discussion with a friend about Christmas cards. This year, she has received a rash of card featuring a photo of the happy couple. Totally normal. However, these happy couples also sign the card:

John, Jane and Fido.

They list their dog, but no dog is pictured.

Is this a "no-no"?

Is this over-stepping the bounds of the human-canine relationship?

Please discuss.

Random Thoughts

2009-12-20T11:14:00.001-06:00

Recently I was seriously considering ditching my blogging life.

Then...I received a christmas card with the following note:

Keep updating the blog! I love it!

I took that as a sign that I should keep entertaining the masses. And by masses I mean 4 people.

_________________

Here are some tidbits of info I think you should know:

courtesy of lib.utexas.edu

Recently I heard on NPR that 600 current players in the NFL hail from Texas. Now, I have no idea what the criteria for being from Texas is (birth place, current residence, you once stopped on a layover to Mexico), but it is an incredible statistic. I discussed this with Zac, and he seems to think it is true. For what its worth, there are currently 1,696 players in the NFL.

____

Zac recently learned how to apply grout to ceramic tiles. This is sooo exciting to me, as I had nothing to do with it and I was able to sit on the couch enjoying an episode of Cops while he touched up the bathroom. In addition...this means he can hone his skills by applying a beautiful tile backsplash to our kitchen.

Here is my dilemma. Do I go neutral and seller friendly with a white subway tile look? The subway tile is in the right hand photo.

Or do I go for the gold with a funky, exciting, colorful backsplash that is perky and fits the retro vibe of my kitchen?

from cooltile.com

It wouldn't be blue, but I appreciate the combo of colors in this picture.

Bare in mind the following:

- We have removed tile and glue from our kitchen once already, and it sucked.
- My life goal is to never move. My quote "my children can move my stuff after I die"
- However, I know that life happens and sometimes you just have to move to Canada.
- We only have 8 linear feet of backsplash to cover. Expensive tile probably won't break the bank in this situation.
- However, any saved money will go directly into removing the ugly carpet from our 3 season porch

cute pug, ugly photo, even uglier carpet

- We are not going to get expensive carpet for the porch.

Decisions, decisions.
_______

Over the last few days, I have spent some time visiting some adorable children. ADORABLE. They are the most hilarious people I have seen in some time. If you happen to own these children and want to go out for some time without them, call me.
I babysit for free.

Collections

2009-12-09T19:26:00.000-06:00

I find a lot of glee in the random things people collect.

For example, today I stumbled upon this gem of a collection:

(from Retro Renovations)

This man collects paint by number pictures of dogs. According to the website, he spent a month acquiring these on ebay. This is amazing for so many reasons:

1. I had no idea there was such a diverse selection of Paint by Number kits available.

2. I had no idea that someone could paint a Paint by Number picture with such skill...they actually look like a dog. I never successfully completed a paint by number project that looked like an animate object.

It is such a creative collection that I really can't knock him for it. I even admit, I am envious.

My Great Ticket Promo Idea

2009-12-06T13:59:00.005-06:00

As faithful CdE readers know, both Kelly and I like to writer letters. The fact that hers are about important things like traffic light efficiency and mine are usually related to sports is beside the point. Today I was decided to write another one, this time to the Twins. Hopefully, my idea takes root at Twins HQ over there in downtown Minny and in a couple of months everyone in Hennepin County will be thanking me for this idea.

Here's my letter:

Hello Twins Brass--

I have been a faithful Twins fan ever since moving to Minnesota in 2000. I was excited to see the new stadium built--it looks like it's going to be a wonderful place to play beginning next season. That being said, I am also a Hennepin county resident and helped finance said stadium.

I had an idea, and I've talked it over many people and they encouraged me to mention it to you guys. Since the fans helped finance your beautiful new palace of baseball, why not give something back to them: a voucher for every household of Hennepin county for tickets to a game.

Now, before you dismiss this idea outright, just give it a moment to sink in. This ticket promotion would be an instant source of goodwill between the team and the fans. All the cantakerous grumbling about financing the stadium might be quieted if people get a free ticket. Plus, many people who might not have originally thought to see a game now will have an incentive to attend one, and this would probably bring in new fans. Sure you'd be losing revenue from ticket sales, but think about all those people buying concessions and merchandise when they show up, full of money in their pockets they didn't spend on tickets. I think it's a win-win for everyone.

It'd work like this: you could have certain series during the year that are normally not big attended ones like the Royals or the Mariners that could be designated for this promotion. Somehow you work out a system where people prove they live in Hennepin County (driver's license, etc) and they get say 2 free tickets or something (you know, people want to bring their kids).

Like I said, this would create a lot of instant goodwill from the fans and add even more excitement to what should be a compelling 2010 season in the new Target Field.

Thanks for your time,
Zac

The Ultimate Challenge

2009-12-05T11:03:00.001-06:00

If I was in charge of a pre-marriage counseling program (which I am not...thank goodness), I would suggest that the following activities be mandatory:

1. Assembly of IKEA furniture

I encourage any pair to try and decode those wordless Swedish directions, find all the right pieces and not get annoyed. Teamwork to the max.

2. Play this game:

The newest Mario Bros for Wii. In this version, when you play in 2 player mode...it isn't "go make yourself a snack while you wait for your significant other to fall into an abyss" like the original Mario 3. Oh no, you are required to both navigate the imaginary Nintendo worlds at the same time . Both players on the screen. Mario can't just take off and say "Meet me at the Caribou in 2 hours after I go and look at shoes." No, he must wait for Luigi to admire the scenery, grab a few coins and avoid the turtle guys before they proceed through each level.

As a result, you have one player who wants to zoom through the game while the other player is having a hard time figuring out which button makes Mario jump.

I know 3 sets of couples who own this game, and everyone has said the exact same thing. Relationship trial.

DIY Cookie Fest

2009-11-29T18:58:00.000-06:00

For this week's DIY Challenge (sorry, I skipped the last one), cookies are the name of the game.

Now cookies are clearly delicious. No doubt about that. However, they are not really for every member of the family. Why not share the love with your furry friends? In the the spirit of sharing this holiday season, I present 2 cookie recipes: one for people and one for dogs.

Cookie #1: For the humans

Jam Filled Butter Cookies

3/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
2 egg yolks
1-3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup jelly (extra points if homemade from your garden)

Cream the butter, sugar and yolks together. Add the flour a bit at a time until a tasty dough forms. Mold into 1 inch balls, place on cookie sheet. Use thumb to make a dent in the cookie and fill the indent with some jelly.

Delicious!! I used my own jam creation, Rhuberry, made this past summer.
____________________

For cookie #2: for the four legged friends in your life.

Peanut Butter Dog Biscuits

(pardon the ugly photography)

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup natural peanut butter *
1 cup skim milk
1 tbsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Combine the flour and baking powder in a bowl.
Combine the peanut butter and milk in another bowl, then add to the dry ingredients. Mix well, then knead into a firm dough with your hands.
Roll out to 1/4″ thick and use a dog bone cookie cutter to cut out. Place on a cookie sheet about 1/2″ apart (close is OK - they won’t rise)

Bake at 375 for 20 minutes or until thoroughly dried.

Makes about 7 dozen 2″ biscuits.

Ode to My Dishwasher

2009-11-28T18:35:00.001-06:00

My dishwasher is installed, and it is beyond fabulous.

before

after!

Thanks to this little device, we were able to...

Go for a stroll

Play with the pug

Decorate this poor houseplant for Christmas

Visit North Dakota

Save the seals

Comfort this crying child

and smell some flowers.

All in one day*.

Pretty amazing if you ask me.

Definitely worth the stress (and cash) it took to install the thing. Plumbers, electricians and carpenters...oh my.

* Well, at least I wrote this post in one day.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-26T09:58:00.000-06:00

May you have a great holiday and a very delicious dinner!

New Addition

2009-11-22T20:46:00.002-06:00

With cautious optimism, I am happy to report that our home will be moving into the new year 2010 with a new addition....

Children? Hellz no*.

Dishwasher? Yeah!!!

Meet our newest addition, the Maytag JetClean II Tall Tub dishwasher:

(Amazon)

Our home currently has no dishwasher. The former residents apparently spent 63 years washing their dishes by hand. After 2 years, we have given up on that nonsense.

The road to dishwasher heaven has been a rocky one. First off, it required an electrician. This is the third time we've had outlets installed in our kitchen. No wonder our electric bills have gone up since we moved in. Hiring an electrician was problematic. I joined Angie's List, found an independent guy...and he stood us up. Twice. Bad news bears. Electrician #2 was able to come out 12 hours after we called. Problem solved.

Then, I had to learn plumbing. This was a troublesome fact because I am not a plumber. I look through a microscope for a living. Unsure of my skills, and at the advice of the Home Depot guy, I called out a professional. He charged me a $150 to tell me how to do it myself. Seriously. At least get out a wrench and pretend to do something. It would lessen the sting a bit. Lesson learned: only consult with a plumber in a major emergency. And...I think I might enroll in plumbing school after I finish my master's degree. It will probably pay off my student loans a lot faster than Public Health**.

Finally, we have a dishwasher. In our garage. The guy is coming out to do the carpentry and make room in the kitchen tomorrow.

However, Zac and I have been having bad dreams about this. Like, the cabinet will be too small or water is going to spew all over the kitchen. Bad dreams, people, bad dreams. This where the cautious optimism comes into play. Hopefully everything will go well tomorrow, but I won't be shocked if I come home to disaster. Just keepin' it real, peeps. Just keepin' it real.

* I like kids. Other peoples kids. If you have a child you want me to babysit and do some crafts with, fabulous. Sign me up. I just enjoy giving them back. For now.

** I would argue that plumbing is perhaps the most important Public Health advancement of our time, so I suppose a master's degree and a plumbing license might actually make some sense. Hmmm.

Other Kitchen Dreams

2009-11-17T08:32:00.000-06:00

Now I have a new idea for my kitchen. One that is cheaper than granite counter tops and way more unique: wood counters!

(via Design Sponge)

(some website called Zimbio)

(Retro Renovation)

Perhaps I am just feeling rather ambitious after my recent plumbing success , but I think I could probably hack out some wood countertops. Eh, who am I kidding. I could go to the store and purchase a precut piece of butcher block counter top. IKEA, the proprietor of meatballs and other Scandinavian delights, even sells a pieces of butcher block in the exact dimensions of my existing countertop! (96" by 24"....yes, we have exactly 16 sq ft of counter space in this house.)

This might be my next major project.

Braggin' about myself

2009-11-15T19:13:00.000-06:00

I should be studying up on Risk Assessment, and preparing for my exam in Air, Water and Public Health....but first I have to trumpet my home improvement accomplishments.

In the battle of Kelly & Zac vs The Kitchen Sink plumbing, the score is 1 to 0. Yes, that one is for us. The two clueless people who bought this house nearly two years ago.

Check this out:

Did I know what those pipes do? Nope. But I do now! After visiting the local experts at the home depot, and consulting with a local plumber, I now consider myself a pseudo-plumber. I'm not going to be installing new bathrooms, but I understand the basics of water and gravity.

We bought these things. I highly recommend the pincher thing on the left. FABULOUS. I never thought I'd say that about something from the plumbing aisle at Home Depot, but never say never.

We removed the drain strainer from the sink, applied some plumbers putty and replaced the basket with a shiny new one. Plumbers putty is like adult playdoh. In one color. Beige.

I won't lie, it is gross to remove the drain pipes below your sink. Nasty. However, I recently toured the local waste water treatment plant for my class, and I really think nothing is gross to me anymore. So maybe see if you can get a tour prior to your plumbing attempts. It cures all.

5 gallon bucket a must. Luckily, a client at work submitted his samples in this beautiful bucket, so I was able to score one for free.

One person entertains the pug

The other person tackles the sink.

Enough pictures. This really isn't that exciting. However, I probably saved us a gazillion dollars. Plumbers are expensive.

If you are still reading, I am happy to report that the new setup does not leak. And...it contains a hook-up for a dishwasher!!!! Yay for moving into the 21st century.

We will not be trying electrical work. The electrician is coming tomorrow.

DIY Week 1

2009-11-15T18:35:00.001-06:00

The Dare to DIY theme of the week is...

Dare to...be thankful. Create a DIY Thanksgiving project.

Lucky for me, I had the perfect thing in my arsenal of bookmarked links and saved projects. Leaf Coasters.

I spotted this one on the internet a while ago, and I really thought it looked both useful and delightful. My sister makes fun of me for actually using coasters. She claims that she will only resort to using them when she has nice furniture. Well, get with the program sista. Even Target end tables can be improved with some beautiful coasters!

Super simple to make. The Long Thread website has a pattern for the maple leaf, but it is easy to draw out your favorite leaf. Well, maybe not easy, but I am sure you can find it on the net.

Above you will see my craft, nestled next to the squirrel candle holder awaiting a cup of coffee.

I am really blown away by the stuff other people made! Click on the button below and check out their contributions...it really makes me want to just make home decor rather than work on homework:

Kitchen dreams

2009-11-10T22:05:00.000-06:00

I cannot leave well enough alone in my home. Home improvement is a disease that will keep the Home Depot in business forever. For real. It is way worse than the H1N1.

Check out the progression of our kitchen:

It looks fine. And it is a very functional kitchen.

However, like the Little Mermaid, I am finding truth in these words:

But who cares....No big deal..... I want mooorrrrrrrrrrrreeeeee!

Selfish, selfish. And so not eco-friendly.

I want to get new countertops and new backsplash tile. Someday. No worries...this day is not coming soon. But, please take a gander at my vision:

Life Lessons Learned

2009-11-09T20:53:00.001-06:00

1. You cannot make more than one pot of coffee per batch of coffee grounds.

2. I think it is better to eat vegetables with fatty but tasty toppings rather than eat no vegetables at all.*

3. Sometimes it takes hours of google searching, trips to Home Depot, Lowe's and Menard's to prove that you are not a plumber.

DIY Madness

2009-11-07T09:56:00.000-06:00

I am not one to shy away from a little DIY. It probably should be my middle name. For this reason, I have decided to accept a challenge set forth by a fellow homeowner, blog writer and pug owner:

Each week there will be a different DIY project, and each week I will post my lovely creation for the world to see. Even more exciting, a bunch of other creative and more talented people will also post their own take on the challenge.

PS- Lynn, you should do this too!