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I'm the Queen of Cheap... to celebrate our house-buying days, I've bought this bottle of "sparkling wine" aka champagne, from the sale cart at Food Lion. That's right, $3.99. I'm awesome.

So, here's how my house looks - it will stay like that for a few days more...

That's all for now, I guess. :)

Two things...

1. I did a 5k yesterday and won a medal! :) Yay! I even ran part of it (but now my body hurts, ow!!)

2. We put an offer on a house. Yay!

3. There is a Christmas market in Chicago (and we are going!) Go here:
http://www.christkindlmarket.com/

Ok, that was three things... oh well.

:)

My baby is gone. :(

So, since my sweetheart has gone (about 8 hours now...) I've gone to the bookstore, finished planning for this week, and created a study guide and comprehensive worksheet. I think that I'll get a lot done this week...

Oh, and Tazy has bad gas... what the hell did he eat?!

The Many Faces of Tazy

This is Tazy enjoying a favorite treat - Tootsie Pops.

Zucchini on Steroids

Chris got this zucchini from one of his co-workers... he grows them in his garden. It was just too damn big NOT to share!

I have knitting ADD.

These are just two projects I've been working on... I got these yarns during our trip to PA. I've never really done a lace scarf before, but I think after I block it, it will look really great with my jean jacket.

I've also never used these white-bendy needles for the socks before, but the pattern was too difficult to do with something that wasn't easier on my hands... however, the addi ones are still my favorite. And with that, I'm a big dork. :) I'll post pictures when I complete them (eventually!).

House Hunting

We got a lot accomplished this week! On Monday we were pre-approved and told to go find a house, Wednesday we called a realtor, Thursday she sent us about 30 listings, and Saturday we all went out and saw our top 6 choices. Chris and I decided to sit down separately with the listings she had sent us and make our own list of "must-see" houses - thankfully, most of our choices matched (always a good sign!). Of the houses we saw this weekend, this is our favorite. It was built in 2004, 3 bedrooms, 2 and a half baths, gas fireplace, 2 car garage, and just really nice. It would be about an hours drive for Chris to work, and about 20 minutes for me. So this is a maybe... but ultimately, we've decided we don't want to live in the country - we can deal with well water and a septic tank, but having to burn our own trash is just down-right not cool. This house is not quite in the country, but it's close, so we're not jumping on anything yet - but we might take a second look.

In the meantime, I guess we'll just keep looking...

Socks!

I began these socks in early May and made it my goal to finish them by the end of May - granted, it's May 31st at 10:30 PM, but I did it! These are neat because there is no heel involved - they are called "sleeping socks" because you just slip them on and your heel finds a new place each time, so supposedly the heel doesn't wear out. So what next?? :)

I'm done with my cake class! I'm certified!

How cool?! This was my finished product - granted, I was the last person in the class to figure out how to make the roses, but I think in the end, mine looked the best. :) I put WBMS on it so I could take it to school - teachers love cake. :) I think I might take the next level too!

In the past 24 hours...

Chris and Tazy were playing outside with his squirrel, Chris drew his hand back to toss it, and while his hand went forward, Tazy came right at it... totally by accident, and totally innocent, but it still hurts (that's what I'm told). :(

I got a coffee tray (just like mama!). :)

I made cake #2 - a clown cake! Hard to believe that my last class is next week! I'm still making my icing too thick though... hopefully I'll figure it out how to fix it before then...

This last weekend

What a great weekend! It was awesome having everyone up - a real surprise! Chris made a proclamation, and I finished the booties for Code (works right across from me, had her baby boy yesterday - and would you believe it, she was at school and left before lunch, and had him before 3... truly on a teacher's schedule).

I got a Mother's Day present! And I'm not even a mom! Cool!

So my lovely sister sent me a nice gift in the mail this week. I thought, "Wow! A birthday present, how nice!" So I opened the card, and I saw this:

So then I was shocked, and chuckled to myself, then I read this on the opposite side (note the rick-rack):

Then I eagerly ripped open the packaging to find this treasure:

And Chris and I read it instantly - he has read it twice now and declares that it is his new favorite book. Thanks Kel! :)

My first "professional" cake!

This is my rainbow cake! I didn't follow the pattern exactly because on the picture they had some kid's name who was turning 5, so I decided to put Tazy's name on there. And then I had a lot of icing left, so I just started putting stars all over the name, so just imagine it before that and that's what I made in class! It's a lot harder than I thought it would be, but it's a lot of fun - I feel real fancy doing it... I think I might make a cake for the last day of school, like a WBMS cake or something, we'll see - depends on how much I still like my co-workers! :)

My Cake Class!

Ok, so all through my childhood, I was told that I would never take "a cake class" - meaning, an easy class. Well, I am! Just for fun! So, because I'm my mother's daughter, I had to get the organized carrying case for all my stuff, because that's just how I am. My assignment for the next class is to make a whole bunch of frostings and in different colors, then to make a cake, and frost it in light blue frosting.

I decided to do a "trial run" first - so I bought new pans (the 8" rounds are really nice, much better than the 9, I think). Then I made a yellow cake, and they stuck like hell to the pans, so I could hardly get them out, and when I did, they were all torn up - I had to essentially piece it back together. Then I made the buttercream icing, but it was way too thick, no matter how much water I added - and of course, my first cake had to be pink, so I colored it. All in all, it was ok. I'm glad I did a trial run first. There are crumbs all over the frosting, but I'm just going to blame that on the cake - not my fault. :)

I also asked my husband what he thought, and he said it looks great! Now, I know that he's lying to me in other areas because obviously, this cake does not look great. So he revised that thought, and said it looks like it tastes great, which I can handle. Now what to do with the rest of the cake...

I have always wanted to smush cake in someone else's face before... hmm... :)

Our hiking experience in a photo-documentary... enjoy.

I have a green thumb!

Aren't they beautiful! Chris said that we could get more if I didn't kill these two - I know it sounds bad, but I can't keep anything alive! Doing ok so far - day 3, woop woop! I'll keep ya posted!

Milkglass and Easter trees!

This is the milkglass butter dish I found this weekend, quite a steal for only $14 - it's really cute (and I'm such a dork) - I don't even have anywhere to put it...



And this is my Easter tree! Very small, but Chris will go get me some more branches! Thanks for all the cute ornaments mom! :)

My Tazy is so cute!

Just had to share... awww... he loves his frisbee!

Our big day in Lexington!

We had a very nice day in Lexington. We all met up at Rockbridge Winery for a yummy wine tasting! Then we drove to downtown Lexington to do a little shopping and grab a bite to eat.












Kelly found this cute shopping basket/bag. Of course, the guys made fun of us, but whatever - Kelly's a Jasper, which means that of course, even she likes baskets! The power of the basket is inescapable!

I on the other hand did really well - I found these cute little paper-crafted easter eggs for .95 each! I like the idea of an easter tree, but a lot of ornaments out there are really cheesy and gawdy.

I also found a cute little basket purse with BUTTONS all over it - even though I liked it, and I was sure mom would enjoy it - I got too many "noooooo"'s from everyone - oh well. :)

And Larry made a new friend!

Bathroom Re-do

I love my husband, but he does not have any natural ability when it comes to decorating (sorry!). So, even though I told him that he could decorate the little bathroom, when it went for months un-decorated, I figured that I would just do it for him. So I carried on the theme of the cherry curtains in the laundry room right next to it - see if it works or not. Kinda cute I think! Who would have thought that I would ever choose RED in my house...

Well, I was ready...

Apparently the team wasn't. But that's ok - Favre is coming back! Wooooo!

Chris's 27th Birthday!

That's my g00ber husband - and yes, I made the dork shirt for him - he asked. :) It's really weird - gray is starting to appear in his temples! We haven't been married long enough for me to make him turn gray yet!