Nostalgic Fog

Sometimes flashbacks in the middle of the grocery store aren't a bad thing.  I was strolling through the cracker isle when I heard Savage Garden.  Of course it was Truly Madly Deeply.  This song has such a special place in my heart.  I was in love with this song.  I walked down the isle and married my husband to this song.

Have you ever tried to concentrate on grocery shopping when you are stuck in this nostalgic fog?

I think it's a good thing when you can look back and be happy with the memories.  To be that young and be so sure of something.  I knew I was in love and I knew I wanted to marry the guy that was standing on the end of the patio.  We had our family, some friends, the ocean, a bouquet of roses and Savage Garden on the boombox.  There were so many other things going on but that is what I remember.  It was him and I and nothing else mattered.

It's so interesting how a song can still be the same but the emotions you associate with it can change and then sometimes they don't.  Whenever I heard it I made my husband get up and dance with me.  We would shuffle around the kitchen in our socks.  I'm sure I annoyed everyone by keeping the song on auto repeat.  Fourteen years later, I still love that song.  Even through the craziness that can be life, I still love the man I married on that day.   

And then regular life kicked in and music got put down the list of priorities.  So it is nice when I hear an old song.  Even if I'm trying to decided between Better Cheddars and Ritz at the time.  I ended up getting both but I forgot the shaving cream.  I blame the fog.

I Warned Him

I have one of these memories of talking to my boyfriend way back when.  We were day dreaming about what our future house would look like and I expressed my hatred for plain white walls.  He asked me what colors I liked and I said everything but white.  "So you would paint every room in your house a different color?"  he asked.  Yes, yes I would. 

And you know what?  He married me anyways.  He knew, it's not like I didn't warn him.

So now we are in the planning process of what color we want to repaint the bedroom.  It's a light blue right now, and I love the light blue but we are feeling a change coming.  Light green maybe?  The furniture we picked out is a cherry color.  So I don't want to go too dark on the walls.  Picking out color for walls is nerve wracking because you don't want to pick the wrong color.  But in reality if we hate it we can always repaint.  So bring on the color!  I may have to start a new pinterest board!  I think I just figured out what I was doing this afternoon! 

Biting Off More Than We Can Chew?

We've been making small changes here and there to the house.  During the holiday season we added medicine cabinets to the bathroom which freed up all of the counter space.  I thought they were going to be awkward but now I love them.  They really have simplified the bathroom. 

We have been doing small things here and there.  Although now ideas are flowing and the ideas are getting bigger and bigger.  These are things that need to get done.  Like for instance we had to order a new bed.  Ours broke.  Yes broke!  The center support beam broke into two pieces.  At eleven at night we were cleaning out underneath the bed and trying to figure out to do with the extra wood we now had access too.  Most of it is still there on the back porch.  That was a long day but we managed to get everything cleaned up and squared away.  But now our mattress is on the floor.  Since it was a platform bed the mattress was on the platform with no box spring.  The first few nights we laughed and joked about how it felt we were camping.  Now it just seems sad and we are both tired of climbing in and out of bed.    

So we ordered a new bed and dresser.  Our older furniture is about eight years old, was from Ikea and has seen better days.  I think that stuff may have an expiration date on it somewhere.  I'm a little afraid that when we go to move it, it will fall apart. 

We didn't want to be stuck with something we didn't like because it was in stock.  So we custom ordered our bed.  I kind of feel like this is the part where we get grown up furniture.  Which will come with the custom ordered time frame.  Ten weeks.  I'm holding on to hope that those ten weeks will go by fast.  In the mean time we have started discussing what we should do to the room since we are going to move everything out to get the new furniture in.  So do we want to paint?  What about the carpet?  What color?  Will everything fit? 

I'm hoping that everything will fall into place and I'm trying not to overwhelm myself with the ever-growing project.

One would think that by now I would learn not to bite off more than I can chew?  Since I obviously haven't learned my lesson yet, I might as well not talk with my mouth full.   

The Sleepover In Which No One Slept

Clover had a sleep over with her best little friend.  I don't know why they call it a sleep over when no one sleeps.  So we kept the girls busy which included some My Little Pony and some bubble gum making.  Yes, that's right.  Making bubble gum.  We got a kit for Christmas.

 Unpacking the box.

 Contents:  Powdered sugar, flavorings, sour powder and gum base.

The girls were able to do a lot of the steps by themselves.  They did a lot of the measuring and mixing.  The instructions say to used a plastic spoon.  Do that.  I didn't listen to that part of the instructions and used a metal one and was cleaning it up for awhile.  

The gum flattened out.

All the pieces cut up and ready to try. 

It was pretty tasty gum and the girls looked like chipmunks with all the gum stuffed in their cheeks.  Then they went off to plot out how they were going to keep me up all night.  Then did manage to fall asleep for awhile even though they fell asleep with every light in her room on.  That was short lived.  I guess with all the excitement of having your bestest little friend there is just no room for sleep.

The girls had a blast and when the door bell rang with Mom to pick her up you could hear the girls go "aww man!"  I'm glad the girls had a good time and I felt bad she didn't want to go home but at the same time I needed a nap!

Clover was pretty upset when her friend left.  With the combination of lack of sleep and missing her bestie she was a whiny mess.  She crawled into my lap and told me that it would make me feel better if we cuddled and within two minutes she was asleep.  So I did what any sleep deprived mother would do.  I snuggled her and let her take a nap on me.

She slept for a little bit and when she woke up she was still a hot mess.  So we hung out on the couch with some hot chocolate until she felt better.  There might have been a cookie or two also.

I never did get my nap.         

 

My Tiana Tutu

Yes, I said MY tutu.  I have mentioned before that Tiana is my favorite Disney Princess, right?  yeah, I'm pretty sure I have.   

I think I work better under a deadline.  Which is why I wait so long before starting projects.  I've had this fabric for probably three months now.  I have known what I wanted to do with it.  But there it sat.  Just waiting.  I told myself I was waiting for inspiration to strike.  In all honestly I was just waiting for that "oh crap I've got to get this done" moment to kick in. 

So I had this fabric.  Then I decided that it wasn't right for what I was going for.  So I bought new fabric.  And then that sat around.  Then I got lazy and decided to order something off of Etsy.  Which was amazingly awesome but I ordered the wrong size.  Totally and completely my own fault.  I should have known better.  But in my rush to get it here on time I didn't take into account that I am not a "one size fits most" kind of person.  It was more of a "this size fit one side of my bust" kind of a situation.  So I himmed and hawed over it and decided to buy a shirt and wear the bottom.  Then the blues didn't match and I spent some time yesterday trying to figure out what I was going to do in my head.  So I started working on it last night.

I cut out the leaf panels and then lined them with some fray check.

I used fray check mostly because I was being lazy and partly because the fabric was super slippery.  I didn't want to spend all day finishing my edges.  I love the green fabric even though it was slippy.  It has a sparkle too it and a shimmer to it.  It actually is very lovely.  I draped one of the leaves on to figure out how many were going to fit across my waistline. 

Then I started pleating three yards of tulle to get it to the width  of the leaves.  This was the most frustrating part.  I restarted about four times.  Twice I over pleated and the the third time I under pleated.  The last time I got it close and called it at that.
     

Look at all those pins!

I really hate pins.  I don't know why.  I have never liked doing it.  But for the sake of my tutu I stuck with it.  I laid the tulle over the wrong side of the leaves and then folded over and inch to create the waistband for the elastic.  I wiggled in my elastic and it all came together.  I am very happy with the way it turned out. 

I am so excited to wear it!     

Now I just have to find a shirt to match! 

So I'm Still Here!

I feel cheated by this holiday season.  It had moments, but for the most part I was so stressed out about being stressed out that I feel like I missed a lot of it.  It's nobody's fault but my own.  Things are looking up though.  I am looking forward to this new year.  I have decided that this year I will be taking time to work on myself.  Of course that means inside and out.  Can you feel my excitement from there?  Yeah, neither can I.  :)

I have decided that this year is going to be my adventure year!  This year is going to be about getting out there and having as much fun as I can!  Now that I am looking forward too! 

Just Another Cooking Post

Weeknight Edition. 

This post really has no point other than to state that I tried a new recipe and I really liked it.  Just like every other house we have our weekly go-too menu.  This includes classics like spaghetti, tacos/burritos and some sort of breakfast.  Last night I tried something new and it totally rocked.  We tried a variation of Honey-Soy Braised Pork.  Now, I can't claim that I found this recipe on my own because I didn't.  Hubby did.  I did make a few tweaks though.

For one, I didn't realize that we didn't have anymore Sriracha.  I was only going to use half what the recipe called for anyways since Clover doesn't have an appreciation for spicy foods yet.  I think the tip got gunky and I threw it out with every intention of picking up more.  But since we didn't have it, I left it out.  I also added in some mushrooms about twenty minutes before I was going to serve dinner.   

I also did not have fresh ginger.  But I do keep a knob of ginger in the freezer.  It comes in handy and freezes very well.  I use a small grater and just grate it into recipes.  It's one of those things I don't buy every week but need it in recipes.  I also like a little grated into some green tea with honey. 

The only question I had about the recipe was the timing.  My crock pot runs a bit hot.  Even on "keep warm" it can still burn stuff.  The recipe calls to cut the pork and then leave it in for 7-8 hours.  If you were making this while you were at work I would say skip the cutting part and just shred the pork when you get home and mix it in the cooked sauce.  I chopped up my pork and it was done by hour 5.  Then again I know my crock pot runs hot so I prepared for that.           

Although I messed with the recipe, it still came out really tasty.  My husband devoured his.  I'm not sure if it was because he spent all day in two airports trying to get home or if it was because he actually had a home cooked meal in front of him.  Left overs today were just as yummy.  Clover ate it too and requested that the noodles be in her lunch box.  I didn't have rice to I made some rice noodles I had in the cupboard from the Asian market.  I cooked them according to the instructions and added a little sesame oil to it.  Instant Sesame Noodles.

I think that since this recipe was so easy and only had like four ingredients I can add it to the weeknight menu.