Not cute at 5am

This morning was a rough morning with the cats. I know I'll probably get a "you asked for it" from a few friends and family members, but oh well. Sticker, my adult cat, has had a rough adjustment to the new kitten. From comparable reports, though, I think she's doing well with adjusting to the kitten. In only a week she's accomplished: staying in the same room in which the kitten occupies, letting me pet her with said kitten's smell on my hands, then progressing to being on the same couch the kitten is sitting on for more than a couple of minutes, being able to eat while kitten is in the nearby area, and finally, surviving a kitty-zooms episode which included a flyby pounce on her rump by the kitten on his way under the couch.

So, all things considered I think Sticker is doing pretty well. I've noticed slight personality changes this week in her though and I'm lamenting my normal-Sticker-personality which lays dormant under her kitten-tormented-personality right now. At first Sticker shunned us all in her obvious distaste for the foreign and unwelcome kitten we brought into our house. But now, Sticker has become rather velcro-like. She follows me room to room and meows for me to pet her. Last night it evolved into Sticker persistently trying to push our bedroom door open to climb into bed with us. She has never slept with us. Ever. Nor will she ever. And she knows this. So why now?? Falling asleep last night I noticed she pushed our door open so I figured what the heck, "I'll lock it, not that it will matter." Low and behold, at 4:30am I am woken to sounds of Sticker pushing her shoulder repeatedly into our door trying to force it open. I fell back asleep amazed that she cared enough to still want to come in. 5:00am comes around and she again is pushing on our door. This made me mad, so I got my water squirt bottle and promptly open the door quickly and sprayed her in the face with an emphatic "No!" Satisfied that "I got her now" I climb back into bed. Not 10 minutes later she is back at the door, pushing. This infuriated me. Not only is she disobeying me, I am wide awake at 5:00 in the morning when it is quickly approaching wake up time and I won't have enough time to get back to sleep before I wake up, but it's way to freakin' early for me to actually get up. I'm mad. I get up, yank the door open and spray that cat with more water. She prances away from me with that look of "You just watch, I'm gonna do it again." Seeing red, I march over and pick her up and all but "boot to cat" kick her outside in the 32 degree cold. I don't even care at this point. I stomp back into the bedroom and try to make it back to sleep before my alarm beeps.

7am rolls around. Still angry about Sticker, I go through my morning routine. Fix hair, wash face, then wander into kitchen to start the coffee. Blake is still asleep through this. I endure the kitten yowls from the laundry room as I open the door for Sticker to come in and eat her breakfast. She's acting fine and I set out her food and complete my coffee setup. I let the kitten, Doogan, out when my coffee is finally percolating. I glance at the clock and realize I need to get it in gear, but first have to dish out Doogan's meal serving. Sticker has noticed by this point that Doogan gets different food than she does - the good-smelling kitten kind, I guess. I dish out half a day's serving to Doogan which he bolts in 2 minutes and haplessly left his second half out on the kitchen counter. On which Sticker is not allowed. And she knows this. I'm tearing back into the bedroom trying to pick out what to wear and slap on makeup and grumbling that I should have gotten up earlier to take care of the stupid cats so I won't be late, and chasing Doogan away from the couches and squirting him off the kitchen table, when all of a sudden from my bathroom I hear a big thud and rattle-rattle. Sticker has knocked the kitten food off the counter and is hastily seeing how much she can gorge before I come get her. I'd had it. I roughly grabbed her and started to shove her outside when I hear her subtly hiss at me. By this time Blake is lying in bed trying to get his last moments of sleep before kitty-patrol switches to his watch. I ignore Sticker and start scrambling to try to get the last of my stuff together: coat, scarf, shoes, lunchbox, coffee cup... and I enter the laundry room which Doogan is kept in to be able to go into the garage. Doogan usually never tries to bolt past me into the garage when I'm leaving for work, but of course this morning he does. I know if I try to chase the little booger he will be dancing under the cars away from me until doomsday. So I put all my stuff in my car and tromp back inside to get his little dingle-ball. So here I am, in tears, rolling a little dingle ball on the garage floor calling "Here, Doogan" when Blake peeks through the laundry room to see what all the commotion is...and to see why I haven't left for work yet. Frustrated and teary, I grab Doogan (who by that time had been helplessly lured to capture by the dingle ball) and hand him straight out to Blake: "HERE", who wordlessly and a little frightened, takes him from my outstretched and tense arms. I get my coffee and tear off to work (safely though, Mom, I promise.)

So for all of you who in your heads laughed and sniggered when you found out we got a kitten, anticipating much mayhem and loss of sanity - this story is for you. I'll let you know if I, and the cat and kitten, all survive each other tonight. The Sheriff is back in town and those kitties are going to be subdued with a smackdown.

New Kitten: Doogan

Until I get some pictures of our real Christmas....enjoy these of our new kitten! His name is Doogan and he's a handful. At least he's not destructive like a puppy...yet. But he sure has the energy of one. He's hyper in the morning and at night, extreme, but calms down to a manageable level during the day. While we're at work he stays in the laundry room. Our adult cat, Sticker, either gets to go outside or if it's too cold, she stays inside with full run of the house. I may need to put her just in one room so she doesn't develop bad habits though.

Almost Christmas

We have been busy! We painted the guest room and I am so excited. It looks so pretty. I'm not going to post pictures because I want my parents to be surprised, but I'll get plenty posted after th holidays. We picked this color and our trim work and doors are white. The room gets a lot of sunlight so I thought a darker color would be pretty:


I have my work party tomorrow and we're doing a Dirty Santa Exchange. I'm bringing the movie "Benji" because Blake thought my idea of a roll of toilet paper was too inconsiderate. He's probably right. We do have several workers here with kids, so Benji should be a hit gift ;) I loved Benji.

I am going shopping for the last of my grocery items today.
Here is my Christmas Menu:

Crockpot Korean Ribs

Mashed Potatoes (still need to decide on exactly what recipe to use)

Nana’s White Salad (has marshmallows)

Veggie Tian

Broccoli Cheese Casserole

Deviled Eggs

Hawaiian Rolls

Peanut Butter Fudge Pie Dessert

Cheesecake Cookies

Chocolate Fondue for Christmas Eve night

That should be enough. We're having 5 family members come so I'm excited and hope my meal turns out well. Again, the boiled eggs will be the hardest part for me. My mother in law boiled them for me at Thanksgiving.

20 Little Things I’m Looking Forward to This Christmas

I think it's time I focused on these things:

20 Little things I'm Looking Forward to this Christmas
in no order

1. Wrapping presents with Blake. Or, rather, watching Blake wrap all the presents :)
2. Stocking Stuffers
3. Eating Dirt cake I make for work next week
4. Listening to Christmas Music on Blake's super duper nice concert system
5. Showing off our house to family coming next week
6. Waking up Christmas morning and making coffee and drinking it with my grandparents and Mom. (Sorry Dad, I'll pour you a Diet Coke or something...)
7. Christmas Eve service at FBC Moore
8. Christmas Day movie!
9. Seeing my little brother
10. Making Sticker her own stocking
11. Making Christmas Ribs in the crockpot!
12. Blake's face when he gets his present
13. Wearing PJs all Christmas morning
14. Having a fire in our fireplace
15. Taking lots of pictures and blogging about it
16. Watching "A Christmas Story"
17. White chocolate kisses with peppermint.
18. Seeing Millie's first Christmas
19. Seeing our friends the Littau's
20. Trying to be a good hostess and make a warm welcome

Book Club

I joined a book club. Hooray!! :) My friend at work had a friend who she'd read books with and they wanted to start a book club. So they grew from a meager 2 members...to now 4 which includes me. We just finished "The Ten-Year Nap" by Meg Worlitzer which was really really good. I liked it because it made me think about my identity as a woman and if having kids steals that or enhances it, and if not having a strong career makes you less of a success. It was good discussion material, though I think we all had the same opinion. I'll have to work on being more dissentious (is that a word? spellchecker is screaming at me that it is not).

Our new book is "Julie and Julia" by Julie Powell. The movie was really good. I'll probably buy it when it comes out on DVD. The book...well, let's just say it has a lot of "f" words. So I'm hoping it gets less vulgar. Who'd have thought that a cooking memoir would be vulgar? I'll give it some more time.

3 days left until my Girls' night. I'm excited but trying not to be nervous. I think I was born without a hospitality muscle. It's not that I don't want to be hospitable...it's literally that I don't know how!!! Thankfully the girls that are coming over are totally cool and easy :) So I think I'll just make a big batch of Potato & Bean Soup and have some store bought munchies available.

Girls Night

I'm hosting a "Girls' Night" at my house next Friday. I'm kinda intimidated. (Not by my friends..by my weak/clueless hostess skills)

Shepherd's Pie

So, a friend gave me another Shepherd's Pie recipe....and it's fantastic! I made it last night. Much better than this one, though that one is less prep.

Here's the BEST recipe:

Bill's Shepherd's Pie
-3 cups of leftover mashed potatoes
-1 lb ground beef, cooked
-1 can corn or other vegetable, drained
-1 onion, diced
-1 can tomato soup
-1/2 cup warmed milk (or room temp.)
-1 egg, beaten
-1 tsp salt
-1/4 tsp pepper
-paprika

Directions:
-Brown ground beef on stove on medium high, add onion and salt/pepper and cook through.
-While beef is browning, take out a 13x9 pan and spray with olive oil. Pour tomato soup and canned vegetable in pan, stir together.
-Mix together, in separate bowl, egg and milk. Combine with the mashed potatoes.
-Mix ground beef mixture into the pan with the tomato sauce and canned vegetable.
-Spread mashed potato mixture on top of beef mixture.
-Sprinkle paprika on top. Bake at 350 for 30 min.

So yummy!! It's even better as leftovers.

Holiday Recap

Can I just say that my Turkey cooked in a crockpot was amazing??? I highly recommend it. I have to pat myself on the back and say that my entire meal turned out so good!! Well, except the sweet potatoes. They were runny. I will not be buying canned, pureed sweet potatoes again. But, live and learn. They were the only thing that didn't turn out like I'd hoped.

I am proud to say that I took care of the entire meal and didn't get stressed out! Barb and Buddy cleaned it all up and for that I am so grateful. We had some leftovers, which I wrapped up in tortillas the next day for lunch but I think we're pretty well through most of them now. Time to start meal planning for this pay period. I think we'll be having a hashbrown stirfry tonight. Oh, and there are some pictures of us putting up the tree. Yes, we put it up Thanksgiving Day because we just couldn't wait anymore :) I talked Blake out of the 1200 lights he wanted to buy at GardenRidge, so he got 800. It looks really pretty, but also looks like it's about to take flight into space... who needs indoor lighting when you have a Bolerjack Christmas Tree?

Thanksgiving 09

Hmm

Thanksgiving Menu

Because I'm so excited and can't think about anything else, I'm going to post my Thanksgiving Day menu.

Jenna's Thanksgiving Menu
Crockpot Turkey and Cranberry Compote
Crockpot Sweet Potatoes
Mashed Potatoes
Corn Pudding
Spinach Salad
Roasted Veggies
Deviled Eggs
Rolls

Desserts:
Ice Cream
Pumpkin Pie (by Barb)
Pecan Pie (by Barb)
Poop Cookies (the no-bake cookies, that's just what my family calls them!)

I'm kinda concerned about the timing of everything. I have to make a dish for work on Wednesday, but I'm going to make Autumn Fried Rice so I can make that Tuesday night no problem. The deviled eggs, and spinach salad can be made at the last minute, so really I'm just coordinating the corn pudding and rolls in the oven. The turkey and sweet potatoes will be made in crockpots, and the rest will be on the stove. I think I can do this. I do have a lot of options, so I may even cut the recipe amounts in half since it will just be me and Blake and his parents so I'm not eating leftovers for weeks. I hate leftovers. It really takes a lot of effort for me to eat leftovers. Unless it's fried rice. :) Yum. I am also saving my sanity and using a jar of premade gravy. I burn gravy on the stove. Every time. I also forsee a problem with the deviled eggs...Blake makes fun of me that I can't boil an egg and he's pretty right. I need an official egg-boiler. Maybe I'll make him do it. I also need to make sure the turkey breast actually fits in my crockpot. That could be a problem if it doesn't...

The secret of fried rice

I was going to make rice and beans last night but looked in the pantry and didn't have any plain rice. So I had to improvise.

I have discovered the secret to good fried rice. Or, rather, "fried rice that is surprisingly pretty tasty even though it still doesn't taste like my favorite take-out." Ready for it? Soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce. If you put some of that in whatever you have...it will taste just fine. I'm not talking "douse" everything in it, but add enough so all the rice is tinted with a little sauce.

This is my favorite fried rice recipe that I make at home. It's from a crockpot blog...but I don't use the crockpot for fried rice. I mean, come-on...it takes 5 minutes on the stove, especially if you cheat and use dried onion flakes instead of cutting up real ones.

Favorite Home Fried Rice

--2 cups rice (leftover or newly cooked)
--leftover meat

--1 T butter (optional)

--2 T soy sauce

--2 tsp. worcestershire sauce

--1/2 tsp. black pepper

--1/4 tsp. kosher salt

--1/2 diced yellow onion (or use dried onion flakes)

--1 cup of whatever frozen or fresh vegetables you have on hand (I like the frozen bag of mixed veggies)

--1 egg

--sesame seeds for garnish (optional)
--pinch of red pepper flakes (optional)

Mix it all together in a wok or huge skillet: voila.

This, however is not the recipe I used last night. Last night all I had was uncooked saffron rice that I've never tried before (it's that yellow kind with seasoning powder mixed in), leftover carrots and broccoli from a veggie tray I bought for a wedding a month ago (I know, but they were still usable), one half of a chicken breast, and salt and pepper. So I just cooked the rice in my handy rice cooker (you can find these for $15 at Target on sale...and SOOO worth it!), and slung some soy sauce and worcestershire sauce on it and it was a very worthy meal! The trick with rice is to make it in chicken broth. The broth adds SO much flavor with no extra work. I thought I'd have leftovers for lunch today but we ate it all.

The other weekend I made a new recipe filing system. I had been just saving recipes I copied from the Internet by type on Word and I'd print out entire pages to put in a binder. But...I decided to cut them all up and paste them t0 4x6 index cards. I'm really happy with it now and it's easier to add new recipes and save paper and space.

I'm not really a cooking-appliance-person, but the rice cooker and my crockpot I use at least 2-3 times a week. I don't know how to cook rice any other way, I have to admit. If I'm not using the crockpot or rice cooker then I'm probably eating Spaghettios.

Christmas Tree

Last night we got our first Christmas Tree. :) Garden Ridge is having a big sale. It took us forever to pick on out, but we're so excited to put it up Thanksgiving Friday. After much debate on pre-lit versus unlit...we decided unlit. So Blake could change out the color of the lights anytime he wants. He is so excited.

Books That Changed My Outlook

Lately I have been reading a lot, but have been only finding books that are decent, if not engaging. Nothing riveting lately.

I came across an interesting post on Facebook on a book feed that asked the question, "If you could name 5 books that changed your outlook on life, what would they be?" I thought about that for a little bit and appreciate these books for different reasons (in no order):

1. The Shack
This is not necessarily a great book, but it had great paradigm challenges. I found the writing hard to swallow and the story really corny, but I did take away a life changing view of God...the idea that instead of Western culture's thinking of where everything is a hierarchy, to view God with more the Eastern thought of centrality. So, instead of thinking that everything has priorities and that God should always be #1 (a confusing concept, especially when involving love) think of God as the center of your life and everything that you do and think comes out of that center. So your choices, decisions, and life direction you take stem from that basic Christ center. I like that outlook a lot better, it makes more sense to me.

2. How to Stop Worrying and Start Living (Dale Carnegie)
I read this book during a particularly trying time one summer. I should really read it again, but it helped me change my cognitive pattern to focus on solutions and positive thinking and shift my focus from my feelings. It isn't "new age" or dismissive of Christ, just a positive, practical book for getting out of negative thinking.

3. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
This book, cloaked in a fiction story, is really a thesis for Capitalism. I highly enjoyed it and found the ideas to be challenging and inspiring.

4. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)
I read this a long time ago and just remember that after reading it I had a greatly more sensitized heart for the elderly.

5. This Present Darkness (Frank Peretti)
This book opened my eyes to spiritual warfare and its infusion and reality in every day life.

Allergy Attack and House Pics

So this weekend I was plagued with allergy attacks. Last week I had a killer sore throat from allergies and drainage, then I had a fever on Friday. That fever turned into a wonderful weekend, actually. I canceled my plans for Saturday (sorry Sony) and stayed home to a glorious weekend by myself. I got a lot done and unpacked more boxes and tried to decorate a little bit. Here are the house pictures I got to take!

Ashford house November 09

Blake actually had a concert in Woodward, OK this Sunday, and because I was still feeling bad (and Blake's parents offered to pinch-hit for me) I stayed home while Blake went to do the concert--I think that's happened only one other time! I even went once when I had the flu (shh don't tell).

Now, the allergies have erupted and I'm itchy and my digital thermometer is dead. So I can't tell if I have a fever anymore. Off to the doctor today! I bet she'll just tell me it's allergies and to deal with it, which is good news, but slightly anticlimactic for how awful (itchy) I feel today.

Cream Cheese Chicken - made by Blake

Blake cooked in the crockpot for me yesterday! He was around the house so it worked out to try this recipe. I've been wanting to try it for a while, but it calls for cream cheese right at the last 30 min and chicken doesn't really turn out well in the crockpot after 8-9 hours at work...so I try to do chicken dishes only when Blake's available to turn them on 4-6 hours ahead of time. :)

Cream Cheese Chicken

--1 can cream of mushroom soup

--frozen chicken--enough to feed four adults

--2 T Italian seasoning (I thought this was a bit strong but Blake liked it)

--1/2 tsp celery seed

--1 T onion powder

--1 T sugar

--1/4 tsp black pepper

--1 tsp kosher salt

--2 cloves minced garlic

--block of cream cheese (to add later)

The Directions.

-Put everything except for the cream cheese into the crockpot.

-Cook on low for 6 hours (or high for 4 hours) or until the chicken is cooked through and begins to shred.

-Shred the chicken with two large forks, and mix in the block of cream cheese.

-Switch the crock to high (if it was originally on low) and cook for another 30 minutes, or until the cream cheese is fully melted.

--Serve over pasta.

Verdict: Blake gives it a 5/5 stars. I give it 4/5 stars and intend to decrease the Italian seasoning amount next time. A bit strong and it made my house smell >:(


This new house is making me want to cook all the time!! I made a 2 week meal plan for us:
Tues-Shepherd's Pie
Wed-Hot dogs
Thurs-Spaghetti
Fri-Cheesy Crockpot Chicken
(gone on weekend)
Mon-homemade pizza
Tues-Brown Sugar Chicken (crockpot)
Wed-Broccoli Beef
Thurs-Breakfast for dinner
Fri-Chicken Tortilla Soup

We'll see if I stick to it! Sometimes I change my mind. Well, I change my mind a lot. Unless I only buy ingredients that fit these meals. Which, after a month of no groceries, I have some stocking up to do...

I can't wait for Thanksgiving. I have so many recipes I want to try! And, I intend to try to make a turkey breast in the crockpot. I think it's going to be delicious.

Potato and Bean Soup

I made this soup last week and it hit the spot!

Potato and Bean Soup

-5 to 6 Idaho potatoes, cubed (I had 2 big ones and about 4 little bitty ones)
-4 cups vegetable or beef stock (I used beef)
-1 can navy beans (or white), rinsed
-1 can garbanzo beans, rinsed
-1 can pinto beans, rinsed
-1 tsp parsley
-1 tsp salt
-1/2 tsp black pepper (or up it to 1 tsp for extra kick)
-1 tsp minced garlic (or 2 garlic cloves)
-1 T of onion flakes (or dice 1 real onion)

-pour beef stock into stockpot on stove, add potatoes. Boil until soft.
-for the navy beans and pinto beans, after you rinse them, mash them in the can a little bit to thicken the soup more
-add beans & spices (you can use 3 cans of any kinds of beans, just whatever you have!) (you can also add chili flakes for extra kick)
-simmer until heated through and flavor is distributed (about 10 min?)

Mine did not look like this ;)

This weekend Blake and I had a couple friends over for lunch! I made Salsa Chicken. It was so fun and we had a good time catching up with them. Then we had our last "double concert" Sunday for the year--woo hoo!! Both concerts went well and we are excited to get to play in our house this week. We went couch shopping on Saturday, just to look really. Who knows when we'll get something, but that is what we're really wanting!

Pictureless

We're in the new house :) I am so excited. Because of our hard work the house looks awesome (with still a lot to do but oh well) and so things are really starting to look homey. I title this post "Pictureless" because my camera is somewhere in the new house. Somewhere. So I don't have pictures yet. Blake's dad came up Monday night to help us move, and what a super-man!! He and Blake got the whole house moved yesterday! I even took a day off work to help and it went really smoothly. We still have some odds and ends at the old house, but we will take care of those today and give the house a good cleaning. After only a week of advertising the house is for rent, we have new tenants taking over our lease!! No double payments, such a blessing.

We were concerned about our fridge fitting. The space where it is supposed to go is a cut out surrounded by cabinets, and then the wall...which the previous owners had cut into to get their fridge to fit. So yes, there is a gaping hole in the drywall by the fridge space. But, thankfully....the fridge fits!!! Just barely. I can't believe it.

We also moved Sticker over last night. We were a little anxious over moving her since it's a big change. We have been told to keep her indoors for 2 weeks to aclimate her to the new location. I shut her in the bathroom last night with a litter box and blanket and she adjusted beautifully! She even used the litter box, I was amazed--I don't know if she's ever used one. I'm hoping she will get used to things soon. She settled down pretty quickly though and seems to like the bathroom, so that is all good news!!

House Update Day....12 yikes

Yep, it really is about Day 12 of workdays that we've been trying to do on the house - maybe less. We've not been in town on Fridays-Sundays so that's put us behind a little. But we're making such good headway! My mom really got us going and helped clean and paint. I'm horrible at cleaning, I just get frustrated and then call my halfway attempt "good". But Mom got in there and got my bathrooms clean for us!

These are our accomplishments to date:
-Painted Master Bedroom, Master Bath, Office, Laundry Room and Kitchen walls
-Painted Kitchen cabinets (inside and out), and trim for Master area, Kitchen and hallway
-Put on new hardware for Kitchen cabinets
-Put on new silver door knobs with locks for the guest bathroom doors
-Cleaned closets, carpet, bathrooms, attic

The Kitchen!
The walls are actually like a daffodil-tan sort of color. That is also what I'm painting most of the bedrooms and hallway and living room.

To do before we move in (realistically)
-paint woodwork and trim in Office and Practice Room
-Paint Practice Room (another bedroom) and Guest Room
-sweep out garage and throw away all the leftover stuff (boxes) the previous owner didn't take with them

After that, we just have to paint the living room and hallway. I think we can handle that after we move in - I can't wait to move in! I'm going to have to figure out a good way to get to my work though since we live off a toll road now. I think I can take some free backroads but it will add about 10 minutes to my drive. But, one way just to my work is $1, so that is $2 a day times 25 days...that adds up. So I'm going to try to save in that department. Blake also has to use the toll road to get to his work and I don't think he has much option there. We live out in a more rural area so some of the big free roads don't connect up to where we live yet. We found that out the hard way one day when we wanted to see if there was another easier route to get to our house other than the toll road or the very long road with hundreds of stoplights. Nope.

This weekend Blake and I are participating in a friend's wedding and then we head out Saturday night to Wichita Falls for a Sunday morning concert, then back to OKC for an evening concert. Then we start moving in next week! Our official move in day is the 31st but hopefully we'll have everything in but the big stuff by then. :)

House Work Day ??

I forget what day this is. My mom has been working like an animal! Most of the interior is caulked now and all the windows sealed. She scrubbed and cleaned the master bath and it's all white now! The toilet was really grodey and the shower was okay, but still had dirty pink scum all on it. She painted the master bed's woodwork and window sills white (it's beautiful!). She painted our laundry cabinets white (inside and out) and cleaned the water spigots that hook up to the washer (they were all green and crusty). She painted the second coat of blue on the laundry walls and affixed a piece of cardboard over the hole the plumber made while replacing the spigots. I think today she's starting the kitchen cabinets - there are a lot of them! I am so appreciative and we could not have done this or gotten near this far without her help. Thanks Mommy!

We got the kitchen walls painted. They're no longer a pinky-brown. They're now a soft yellow/tan. I'm hoping that color works for the living room and rest of the bedrooms. I'll find out at lunch today. We had the carpets cleaned, and all the stains mostly came out. I'm anxious to see how clean they look. Mom and Blake say they look pretty good. I didn't go out to the new house last night because I decided to stay and clean up our rental and get organized since everything was piling up. I packed away several breakable decorations and I'm excited that we can actually start moving our stuff over now! Blake will move all the photos and pictures and wall hangings over on Friday I believe.

Last night was also a bittersweet night, I gave away George.

Ever since he attacked Lenny (something I should have forseen considering their namesake) I've had them in two separate cages. It got kinda annoying to clean 2 all the time and George wasn't as fun to hold as Lenny. So! I posted him on Craigslist and I got 4 calls in 2 hours--and a guy came to pick George up for his 3 kids at 10pm last night. So I hope his kids like George!!

Tonight we'll go to the new house and perhaps paint the Master Bed ceiling, prime the master bath and prime the next bedroom.

Trip to Pampa

Last night we got the master bedroom painted! We got it done in record time, an hour and a half! Many thanks to Brandy and Joey who got it knocked out with us! My mom also came up and was prepping the kitchen so she could start work today on the cabinets. I got a little overwhelmed last night about the amount of work that needs to be done to make our new house "pretty". But, I guess houses are always a work in progress. I think just having a few rooms painted new will help us feel at home. But we're realizing as we add paint, the ceilings are dark! They painted them a darker taupe. Grr. So we have to paint the ceilings lighter. The picture I got on my phone last night of the Master Bedroom is weird, so I'll try to take better pics tonight.

This past weekend we did a concert in Perryton and Pampa. Pampa is where my grandparents live. So here are some pics from that!

At the Product Table

Running our sound system

Blake singing away

more running sound system

Me and Grandma and Grandpa!

You can see their new couch they got well here

Tonight's house goal is to prime another bedroom and finish that darn laundry room's second coat of paint. And maybe paint a ceiling or two.

CD Release Party & Weekend

We just got back last night around midnight from a crazy weekend. This past Friday Blake's NEW CD was officially released woo hoo! And not a moment too soon. Friday night we drove to Perryton TX for a CD Release Party that Saturday morning. We got to Perryton and had a cozy night and then woke up to SLEET! It was icy outside, we were totally surprised. But, we packed up our stuff and headed over to His Corner Bookstore and Cafe at Community Worship Center for some coffee and CD sales :) We had several brave souls show up and buy a CD and take us up on our Free coffee with purchase offer. I got a Chai Tea with raspberry in it...I loved it. So the release party was from 11-1 and then we went over to First Baptist for soundchecks and load-in. We were so glad we did that in the afternoon and got it out of the way because it was just so cold the rest of the day and it actually snowed a bit. We came back and my mother-in-law had the fireplace going and so it was toasty. We all sat around and talked about decorating stuff...it was great! I guess Blake's parents plan to redo some flooring in their house so we were looking at what they'd picked out. We actually got to bed on time and it was a good day.

Then we had an early morning at First Baptist, Blake did a full concert there and we tried out our very first Hymns program! I think we pulled it off. I'd bought a video clip to introduce "It Is Well" before Blake sang it and that was a good decision-people were moved by it. The program itself I think needs some tweaks, I know the music was good and Blake sang it well, but we always want our programs to just be riveting from start to finish and I dont' think it has that quality yet. We'll get there! I have to say, no matter how good, I don't know if a "hymns concert" will ever be riveting. Engaging, maybe touching...but probably not riveting.

We sold a ton of CDs. It was great. After the morning service we tore down quickly and ate at Blake's parents house then we were on the road again to our night concert in Pampa, TX. My grandparents live there so they came to the night concert. It was so good to see them and my grandma got me some towels for a housewarming present! So sweet! Look at this church, isn't it cute? It was probably only 25-30 feet deep. I had a little trouble running the sound since the room was so small, but I think I pulled it off and didn't hurt anyone's ears.

We finished the concert up and loaded up and were on the road back to OKC at 8pm and we were STARVING! But we wanted to get home as fast as possible since both Blake and I had to work in the morning. So it wasn't until about 10:00 that we found some food--it took us that long to get from the back country roads and onto a highway. We stopped at Long John Silvers and waited and waited on our food. It was frustrating! But we finally got to eat. Then we got home and tallied up all the business records and got a little organized and got into bed at 1am. Ugh, too late!

Tonight my mom is coming up and my friend to help me and Blake paint some rooms in our house. Our goal is to finish the master bed tonight and the laundry room and maybe start priming another bedroom? Who knows!

Day 3: Primer

Yesterday was an eventful day! And I'm sorry to say I don't have any pictures. Whoops. I had my hands full of everything else so I didn't get snapshots of before/after rooms. Yesterday the new roof went on our house. They did it so quick and they fixed the faulty rafter in our attic. It was a good thing they did the roof yesterday, the forecast here in OKC is RAIN RAIN RAIN for like the next 2 weeks.

So we came home to a new roof yesterday. I stopped in around lunchtime to check on the men and look at some paint samples in the daytime. Our lighting is not the best yet in our house, so we've been guessing at paint colors. I still feel like I'm guessing, but I'm going with my first instinct--which is really quick so I'm hoping I'm not just brushing past the paint choices too fast. I picked the roof shingle color and...well, oh well. It works. We primed the master bedroom last night and oh it took so long. They had a dark chocolate/icky mud color on the wall in the room and it just felt like a hole. So we primed the walls, without getting much on the carpet or ceiling, and now the room is bright! You can still see the brown behind the primer though so I'm worried we'll have to use 2 coats of new paint. I chose a light shade of sage green for the master bed so I'm hoping it still is homey, yet light enough with our blonde-colored furniture to not be a hole. I have to admit, during the first wall of priming I felt pretty hopeless. It took a long time it felt like. It took us about 3 hours. Is that normal?

As long as we can get the master painted then I am good to go. The rest of the house needs it, but I'm submitting to my alarm bells in my body and mind that Blake and I are too stressed for more painting right now. I have one more coat of paint to do in the laundry room and then we're just going to focus on cleaning the house and packing. I may feel differently after the master is painted and be inspired to at least do one more bedroom (there is one that is burnt orange with brown faux finish...eww) or get the kitchen cabinets over with.

I'm just worried we're not going to be packed to move by next Saturday. So I'm trying to figure out if I should extend our move in goal to Halloween. We'll see. We're not working on the house tonight because our rental house is a wreck and if I'm to start packing next week, then it has to be clean and organized!

Blake on a radio interview and Good Roast

Click here to listen to a live radio interview Blake did yesterday on KEYE radio (it's about 30 min)

mms://www.keye.net/CoffeeTuesday.wma

Also, I don't know if I've share this recipe yet but it's awesome! My favorite roast recipe:

PEPSI ROAST

3 lbs (approx) any kind of chuck roast 1 can Pepsi or Coke 1 can Cream of Mushroom soup 1 package onion soup mix Place roast in Crockpot. Mix the Coke or Pepsi with the mushroom soup and onion soup mix; and stir well (or just pour it all in separately, it still tastes good!). Pour over roast. Cook on low for 8-10 hours. Remove roast and carve as usual. Use juices in crockpot to make gravy. You can add potatoes or carrots or whatever else will fit!

Day 2: Paint Laundry Room

We painted the laundry room last night and vacuumed the whole house really well. I had to buy a new vacuum bag for it. I bet I used a whole one just last night with all the bugs I vacuumed up. But I'm so excited! It's already feeling like ours just because we painted the laundry room, it's very "me." A robin's egg blue sort of color. It's happy! Of course the picture looks a little dingy. But trust me, it's bright and happy. It was an unfinished mustard yellow over a purple paint job.

Tonight our goal is to paint the second coat of paint in the laundry room (it's kinda uneven) and prime the master bedroom. We're going to paint the master bedroom a lighter sage green. We've been getting so many offers to help that I think we may go ahead and tape off the living room and other rooms to have a "Paint party!" I just need to decide what color to use. I think Kilim Beige from SW will work. But it's kind of yellow in our house. I need to decide quick!

Mission: Clean Up

Yesterday marked day 1 of our mission: house clean up. It's so dirty! But, I am glad to say it's not a "caked" on dirt. It comes off pretty easy with just soap and water. We tackled the kitchen yesterday and Blake went around and took off all the hardware and lightswitch plates and stuff. I wiped down the cabinets and swept them out and swept the kitchen and entry floors...that took us from 6pm-10pm last night. But, I am already feeling like I'll really like our house. I am going to shop today for a nice robin's egg blue for our laundry room. Right now our laundry room is mustard yellow. Well, the top half is. The people before us ran out of steam and so our laundry room is two-toned mustard yellow and violet I think. I am also going to need a lot of shelf-liner.

I've decided Blake and I are dangerously near our breaking point in our schedule. The only thing that is keeping us going right now is that we know we'll have a break at the end of November. If we can get there, then it will be over for a while. We've not had a free weekend at home since August 2nd. Wow, I just calculated that. That is not healthy. Our next weekend that should be free at home is November 22nd. That's too long. But, if we can just get moved in and get past these CD release concerts we'll feel a lot better. Blake is having to design a whole new concert program for these next two weekends of concerts and we just don't have enough hours in the day to do all this. Surprisingly my attitude is doing okay! We'll just do what we can do and not worry about the rest.

If anyone would like to help us paint we sure could use the help. It'll probably be next week sometime and we'll just do it all one night.

We Closed!

It's official! We are homeowners, I can't believe it. What a headache closing this house was. But, we have the key and the papers, and lots of debt, so we're all set now.

I have some pics we took last night. They're not very exciting, and the house is REALLY dirty, but it shows more of the house. Blake mowed the lawn last night...it was a jungle. That mower was on the highest setting too. He had to mow it twice and it's still pretty long. I think we're going to get a crew to finish it up nice.

Album

Cooking

I have actually cooked the past 2 nights! I can't believe it. Monday I made Refried Bean Soup and Blake loved it. I thought it was pretty good...next time I would add more black beans and more Tabasco sauce and maybe more chili flakes. I thought the flavor was a little boring straight off the recipe. Can I note that my meals did NOT look like these pictures, haha. You can click the pictures to view the recipes.

Refried Bean Soup (Vegetarian)

I also just quickly cooked this soup on the stovetop and we had dinner rolls with it.


Then I made this last night:

Slow Cooker Beef Bourguignon

Mine certainly did not look like this. I used just a cheap cut of meat and it fell all apart, but it tasted good. I think making a roast this way would be DELICIOUS. I really liked this recipe apart from all the grease from the bacon floating around. Next time I am using turkey bacon. Sorry, Blake.

Tonight are open-faced sandwiches and I need to go get a french bread loaf. If I remember right, you cut the loaf lengthwise and open it up flat, then put chicken and cheese and bacon on top of it and broil it in the oven. I may need to get some chips for this meal ;)

We are so ready for the house thing to be done with. We are supposed to close tomorrow, God willing.

Things have been good lately. We've been really busy, but it's been a good busy. I am missing my friends a lot right now. We won't be in town until late November for a full weekend. We got to have a really fun dinner with The Morrows and Trainas last night. Mary made her chicken tortilla soup and it was good! And Brandi brought a chocolate cake! She thought it was ugly, but it sure tasted good.

I'm starting to get really excited about our house. We close on Tuesday. I already have the roofers scheduled for the new roof and rafter repair for Wednesday, then the carpet cleaners on Friday, and then the next Monday I have the pest-guy coming out. So looks like the week of October 5th we'll start trying to move in. It's going to be hard! We'll have to move little bit by bit in the evenings after work. I don't know where to start packing! I'm letting our groceries dwindle away so we don't have to move much of them. We're still waiting on one major document to be signed and turned in by the seller....if they don't do it soon I think closing will be delayed so that is kinda stressful.

I'm starting to try to envision a plan for decorating...I'm bad at decorating! I think the house will be mostly creams/browns/robin's egg blues/green and a little daffodil yellow. That's what I'm into right now. I'm hoping since I work at an architecture firm, the interior designer here might help me with an overall plan. I've been visiting Marthastewart.com alot and like her decorating by color suggestions. I like the neutrals and the yellows actually. I don't know if this particular house we are getting would do well with yellow or not though. Who knows.

So, if you are a good decorator and want to take a crack at my house--let me know! :)

Please pray the closing goes through as expected and we can get everything done!

Pictures I like:

NQC Week Recap

This past week Blake and I went to Louisville, KY to participate in the National Quartet Convention! It's like the Superbowl of Gospel Music. There is an exhibition area for singers' booths, crafts, industry services, food...things like that. In other areas there are different showcases where singers are asked to participate. Blake participated in one of these this past week and he did awesome! He sang It Is Well. You can watch the video here:



Then, there is the "Big Momma" stage. Blake didn't sing on that stage. One of these days though... :) We made a lot of friends these past 3 years attending this convention. 'Friends' that I know would call us friends back would be: The Mark Trammell Trio, Ivan Parker, The Torchmen, Master's Voice, Rob Helton, The Weatherfords, Soul'd Out Quartet, The Homesteaders, and Chris Hester. These are all groups and singers that we enjoy being with and always look forward to seeing. It's a pretty tough week for everyone, the booths were open 3pm-11pm each night Monday-Saturday and events start at the convention center around noon or so each day. The week is what you make it....I'd say the first year we went, Blake had a blast but it was overwhelming because everyone is "posturing"...trying to prove their worth and status. We have no status yet, but it is slowly growing! I had to pray that God would affirm my worth in Him this week and remember that He has called us to this work. It's easy to get swept up in fame-chasing. Anyway, I was proud of both me and Blake that we approached this week with a laid-back attitude and a goal of strengthening our contacts and making new ones.

On the way up to Louisville, we had 2 concerts, one in Arnold, MO and one in Fairmont City, IL. Both were near St. Louis, MO. We had good turnouts and Blake sang very well. We were blessed to have gotten 100 of Blake's newest CD available just for this past week to be available at the convention and we're almost sold out. The rest of the order is coming this week I hope.

Blake and I are pretty wiped out. We did get a lot of sleep, but we are just emotionally drained. Everything seems to be going on at once: NQC, house closing (next Tuesday!), CD release... 3 huge things that are all overlapping. I really need to start packing up our house to move! I'm excited but I'm also dreading the work that will be involved. I know, I'm lazy. I'm mostly dreading the yardwork. It's a jungle. Hasn't been mowed since April...I think we're going to have to weed-wack it and then mow it a few times...

Anyway. Here are some photos! I was bad and didn't get photos that are really interesting, like our hotel and Walmart visits :) These pics are not in order at all.

Blake and me singing at Fairmont Baptist, IL

Me waiting for Blake to sing at the showcase. It was freezing in there.

Me with my Torchment Quartet friends.
I talked to these guys ALL week. Love them.

The NQC Stage. Pretty amazing.

Blake and one of our favorite soloists, Mitchel Jon.
We went to his booth and made him feel special and went on and on about how great he is! (he really is great! you should find his Jesus Gave Me Water video on Youtube).

Me and my Torchmen friend. He said he'd have to hide the camera when he got back so his wife wouldn't be like, "so what were YOU doing at the NQC this week??"

Us and Guy Penrod. My heart-throb other than Blake. He's okay with that.
He has a man-crush on Guy too.

Blake and Bill Gaither! Have to say Mr. Bill was not happy to have to be at his booth. But that's okay! Got a picture while he was still putting up with the huge crowd.

Blake singing at Fairmont Baptist, IL. Told ya these photos aren't in order.

Blake getting ear-molds for custom in-ears. They're small speakers that go in your ears like ear bud headphones so he can prevent hearing loss.

Blake and our good friend Cody from The Weatherfords. He lives in OKC near us and we hang out a lot.

Blake and two other soloists, Chris Hester and Rob Helton.

This is what our booth looked like!

Blake letting me take his picture while we waited for him to sing.

At our booth. With nothing to do.

We were actually in the main hall for this photo.

Blake and his goofy friend Cody, and Mike from the Homesteaders.

The Anchormen...they were next to Blake's booth the first year he went. They just released a new CD and it's good! They told Blake next time they are in Oklahoma they want him to open for them.