Monday, June 30, 2008

What's better than getting a new dishwasher?


Why, watching your kid play in the box of course! He had a blast~



BOO!
He's all set inside with his milk and peanut butter crackers, and pal Melly.



Ha, I think he looks like a coo-coo bird here!




By day two, he was all moved in. Furniture and a ton of toys. Looks like he's gonna stay for a while! This little wicker chair was mine as a child. Trying to decide if I wanna paint it~





Just chillin' here, he can even see the TV through the *window*. You know what they say, location-location-location!



Next the box became his hideout as he played cowboys and indians. He's definitely my kid cuz' he loves to be in costume!



And one last look, as it's about time for the box to go...










Kevin's Day

Well folks, the birthday bash is over. Thing is, every year on Kevin's birthday weekend our town holds a street party. They block off the main street and have old cars, bands playing, and the local shops set up outside. So of course Kevin jokes that it's all in his honor. We live one street over from the main street where this takes place. Our street gets lined with parked cars. This is usually held on Saturday, then on Sunday we have a parade to kick off the county fair. I've got losts o' posting to do, whew!

First of all, we wanted to show off our new paint job on the house, and make sure it looked nice for all the traffic we'd be getting this past weekend!
Ta-Da!

Yah, I know... still no "big reveal", I'm holding out on ya's! :p


Here's how the pulled pork turned out. NOTE: after putting it in the crock pot to heat it up, it was still too runny for my taste. I ladled out all the liquid I could, then added more bbq sauce. THEN it was perfect, yum! I'm wondering if I should have taken the lid off the last hour or so of baking... that's what I do with brisket but I had never made pulled pork!

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I had the idea to print out pictures of Kevin's 40 years to put on his wrapping paper. However, this idea didn't come to me until it was too late. I couldn't find all the photos I wanted, so most of them ended up being more recent...and few... as my ink was running out, lol!

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I didn't bother with a fancy cake as I knew I was gonna load it up with candles! Besides, I made two pies. (you'll see those in the slideshow~in my haste I didn't get them sealed well...oops!)

Sure is bright, eh? Took two of us to light 'em all!

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My brother picked out this Superman gift bag, heh-heh...


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I got him Gordon Lightfood tickets. I felt bad... dejavu... as for his birthday last year I surprised him with a trip to Kansas City to see Gordon there. I actually had something else picked out for this year's gift, and my mom emailed me the news of GL tickets going on sale this week! We'll be going in October at the Fabulous Fox Theater. Kevin didn't mind two years in a row, (whew)...he's excited!


This played on the radio in my car one day almost 10 years ago. I had to pull over and bust out crying. Long story, but this is when I knew Kevin was "the one".

I also got him this~ He likes to grind his own spices, coffee, and make smoothies. The Magic Bullets are still too exspensive. Well, guess I hafta take this back and bite the Bullet because the booklet on this dinky one says do not use to blend liquids or ice! HUH??

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I'll post more on the town party and parade soon! Here is a slideshow of Kevin's birthday. You'll see how *mature* he is at 40, and I think it's funny he wrote 40 on his cup instead of his name. Thank you so much for his birthday wishes, y'all are so nice!

WOW! I got another award!

Heather at Hopscotch and Hydrangeas has awarded me with the "Arte y Pico" angel. Thank you so much Heather! This makes it my second award within a month, woohoo! I'm excited!



Here are the rules:
1. You have to pick 5 blogs that you consider deserving of this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also contribute to the blogging community, no matter what language.
2. Each award has to have the name of the author and a link to his/her blog to be visited by everyone.
3. Each award winner has to show the award and put the name of and link to the blog that presented her/him with the award.
4. The award winner and one who has given the prize have to show the link of "Arte y Pico" blog so everyone will know the origin of this award.

Ok, here's my pics for this time around!
LaDonna at Gracious Hospitality

Karla at Karla's Cottage

Sewing in the City

Kelly at Rose Vine Cottage

Kim at Daisy Cottage

Thank you so much Heather, you're a doll!


Friday, June 27, 2008

Busy~

Hi folks~ just wanted to leat you know I'm not ignoring y'all, just been busy! Kevin turns 40 tomorrow! I"ve been cooking and cleaning, getting ready for company. Hard to do with a torn up bathroom, amongst other projects!


I made pulled pork. Normal recipes call for a shoulder roast or butt roast. But I don't like paying for fat and bones, so I chose two 5 pound pork tenderloins. Besides, they're core!


I pre-heated the oven for 500 degrees. I put the loins in a big roasting pan with a 12 oz. bottle of Sweet Baby Ray's bbq sauce. Then added two chopped onions, 4 cloves garlic, parsley, garlic salt, pepper, Mrs. Dash, and some specialty bbq seasoning we had on hand. Covered and put in oven, then lowered temperature to 250 degrees. Baked for about 7 hours.


Removed from oven, ladled out sauce into sauce pan on stove to reduce. Removed fatty fat from on top of loins. Shredded meat with fork. Mmmm... tender! (You'll see I had a bowl for the fat, and a plate for tasting, lol!) Poured sauce back on and will put in crock pot on low to serve tomorrow!






I'll try to catch up with you all as soon as I can! Have a great weekend!

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Wedding Party!

Hi folks! I just found out about Saucy's Wedding Party tonight! For those of you looking for my wedding post, you can find it here. You might also enjoy this post about my brother's wedding!
Now I need to make the rounds and crash all of your weddings!

Monday, June 23, 2008

Tales of a shoe hoarder... Episode Four

Grrr baby! These are modern 40's inspired peep toes from Burlington Coat Factory. I think Charlotte Russe carried them as well, but it was a few years ago!
Leopard pumps, modern 40's inspired
Modern leapard pumps
I wore this vintage 60's tomato red knit out fit with them, with full accessories including a leapard brooch and headband.
60's wool knit skirt and top, buttons up the back.  A bit big on me~
60's wool top, cheetah brooch, vintage disk earrings, mod cheetah headband
The look would not be complete without my Grandma's vintage leopard coat and barrett!
I tried to get my hair to do a Jackie O flip, but it didn't cooperate.
My Grandmother's coat and barrett, too big but I really don't want to alter it
My Grandmother's coat and barrett, too big but I really don't want to alter it
My Grandmother's coat and barrett, too big~ I'm cinching it behind my back

Sunday, June 22, 2008

A teasing glimpse of our new house color, and.............


The front porch floor paint! I cannot tell you how much I ADORE this color. It's called Storm Shadow from Walmart. We had used it on the porch of our last home as well. I love how it looks blue or green depending on the light.

I hope we get these blue doors stripped soon!


I chose oil based high gloss this time and I'm just so happy with how it turned out! We were trying to get the last of it finished up last night when a jogger went by. She asked how much I had the house listed for!! I said it's not listed! (We have a sign in our yard advertising the painting company that did our house.) She stopped and did a double take~

Wow, MY house being stalked for once, woohoo! That's a switch! She said how nice it was looking and I was quite flattered.
Just wait till we get the shutters up, that'll really knock the jogger's socks off!

I got another coat on most of it tonight. I can't wait to put the furniture, hanging baskets, and planters back up. I wish everything would've been done for the porch party!
Here's one of this year's mandevillas. It's really starting to climb now! Ignore all the weeds, we've been a little busy with other things! You can see the old porch floor color (and primed patches) here, Nostalgia Green from Behr.

BTW, this trellis is actually one of those cheap corner shelves. I had Kevin take the shelves off and I love how I can "mold" it around the pot. I bought a second one for my other mandevilla this year at Dollar General. Unfortunately it's not exactly the same... oh well~ once they're vined up you won't be able to tell!

Shutter lovin'... had me a blast...

With our house freshly painted,
I've been dying to get the shutters on.
We have antique shutters shat came off of
this house.

It was built in the late 1800's. This was a house that I wanted terribly, but that's a story for another post some day! I traded the entertainment center that was built into our living room, in FRONT of pocket doors, for the shutters. (click to enlarge) It was a lovely entertainment center, but??? Besides, Kevin had built one for us so this one had to go.

I've started to clean them up. Boy... I thought the backs just weren't painted. NOPE. They're just BLACK with dirt and grime! These were found in the garage of the other house, and I imagine they were there for at least 20 years or so. Judging from the color I'd say they were last painted in the 40's, but I could be wrong. I love the shade of green with the dirty aged patina. I wanted to match them somewhat in color, but not quite so green. Especially the bright green they turn when clean!


I was so excited when I got the louveres to move!





What a difference. Ok, one down.....more than 20 to go.......

But first a little break!


Sunday, June 15, 2008

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to my Dad! I had trouble finding pictures of him, I think he and I are the big picture takers of the family. Here we are last Halloween, me in my gypsy attire.






Here's Dad holding Nova when he was about 8 months old. And that's my nephew Kolby, almost 2. He's got his hands full!




This is Dad holding the newest family member born in April. My niece, Jaidan.




And Happy Father's Day to my *baby's Daddy*!


Here's Kevin with Nova when he was about 14 months old. We were attending my cousin's wedding near the Great Smoky Mountains.



And here they are, Nova learning to walk by a stream in the mountains.


And daddy teaching Nova to make pasta, he loves to turn the handle!




Just found one more cute one... Kevin drawing a chalk train as Melly looks on~


I love you all!