Banana Smile

Joe's attempt at getting me to smile so early in the morning. (And for the record, anything before 9 am is too early.) 

Weekend project

New classes started this week so I am just now writing about our Joe's weekend project. Joe assembled these book cases and then sorted our books by genre. It was a LOT of work. In the process we got rid of about two boxes of books (for donation) and still have books elsewhere in the house. Yes, this is why I bought him a Kindle! At any rate, Joe is ecstatic to have his own basement library.

Kirill's Story

My friend, Sandi shared the most heart-breaking blog post today of a friend of hers from college and asked that people spread their story with the hope that someone, somewhere might be able to help. I am reposting it here for you to read: Kirill's Story.

Gadgets, gadgets and more gadgets

The hardest part of unpacking has been trying to find a place for all of my kitchen "stuff." I am a little obsessed with kitchen gadgets and live by the motto, "I need everything." So I crammed everything into the kitchen and even bought a Rubbermaid-type cabinet with doors for the garage to store punch bowls, various sizes of crock pots and servings pieces that I might need but rarely use. And just when I thought everything had a place, I found more stuff that needed to be put away. Oops.

So then today I wake up and Joe had left this newspaper article open on the table for me to read. Hmm. Talk about timing.

So maybe I don't really need a blender and a food processor or two different types of mixers, a mandoline, a bread machine (okay, that's actually Joe's), a griddle or half of the other stuff waiting to fall out when I open my cabinet doors. But I love cooking and I love cooking gadgets so I don't foresee any of them leaving my house any time soon.

By far, my favorite kitchen gadget is my Kitchen Aid stand mixer. I can't believe I actually used to mix things by hand. *Gasp* What's your favorite kitchen gadget?

Me on a mug

This mug came as a surprise in the mail on Friday from a friend. Have you ever seen a more perfect mug? Love it!! 

Moved

This is my first post from the new house! The movers did an excellent job (way better than the last time) and we got moved in less time than we originally thought. Now we are unpacking...one box at a time and we're making progress. We went to the townhouse tonight to clean for a couple hours and have some more stuff to pick up there tomorrow. I will be so glad when we are officially settled. I can't remember the last time I was this tired...definitely too much to do to take it easy.

Michael Jordan and all that Jazz

So far this has been an extremely productive and fun weekend. Friday night we took the dogs over to the new house and let them run around in the backyard. I think we definitely got their seal of approval. They loved the yard and were so happy to just run around. It made my heart swell to see them in their very own fenced in yard. Just wait until they realize they can do that every single day. Neighbors on both sides of us have dogs but Crumley and Iris handled it extremely well. Let's see how they do when they realize that yard is their turf.

Saturday we went back to the house to do more unpacking (the big move is on Thursday but I thought it would help to get the kitchen unpacked first) and Joe did some odd jobs. The biggest accomplishment was the carpet installers came - no more blue bedroom carpet!!

In hindsight we probably should have had the entire weekend free to finish up packing and do things that need to get done but a couple months ago I obviously wasn't thinking clearly and bought tickets to events both yesterday and today. Last night we went to see the Bulls play the Jazz. It was our first NBA game and we both had a great time. The 1991 team was honored at halftime to commemorate 20 years since that team won the 1991 championship. Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen were both there with the rest of the team. It was pretty amazing to be there and listen to the United Center cheer and go wild. I wish I had pictures to share.

Today we did more unpacking and work at the house but are now headed to see Fooling Buddha. This was part of Joe's Valentine's Day gift. Happy weekend!

And still nothing is packed

I had grand plans for today. It was going to be a Saturday with nothing to do so I knew Joe and I could spend the entire day packing and really get a lot of stuff done...the stuff we haven't managed to get done during the week because we've had no time. Then my plans were significantly altered. I got word yesterday from our landlord that four sets of people were coming to look at the townhouse today: 9:30 am, 11:30 am, 12:30 pm and 3:30 pm. So Joe and I left the house at 8:30 this morning, took the dogs to daycare (the vet) and made a day of it. First was Barnes & Noble so I could actually get some homework done, then we had lunch and then we went to a movie. After the movie we ran some more errands before picking up the dogs. Finally we made it back home and the house was still occupied at 4:15 so we parked down the street and waited...finally we are now home. Joe says that if anyone else wants to see the townhouse while we're still living here, he's claiming he has the flu.