Picture of me and Blake

My sweet Grandpa took this picture of me and Blake after our concert in Pampa TX.  We all went to Long John Silver's after the concert and got to see each other. :)

In Memoriam (the Jenna version, not Lord Alfred Tennyson's)

So long my unwanted friends
with your gleaming strands and peeking ends.

So long premature markers of age
that belie decrepitude and debility, a false gauge.

I have conquered you, Gray Hairs!
I have doused you, no one can refute!
Well, at least for 26 washes - or when you reemerge at my roots.

More Decorating!

Blake and I had a great weekend, though it was more full than I would have preferred for a holiday weekend.  I tend to become a homebody when I have a day off work because we travel so much.

Friday we got off work and went to our next door neighbor's house, their daughter was celebrating her first birthday, so we were there for a while.  Also, Friday was the day I was trying to decide what to do with the stray cat that I found our doorstep.  He would come around every couple of weeks, and he would tear my heart out because he was so injured.  He wasn't neutered and appeared to be on the bottom of the totem pole - so he was really torn up every time I would see him.  His face was pretty disfigured from old wounds, he had a large area of his face and cheek that was without fur and had thick scar tissue.  He had trouble opening one of his eyes.  But that wasn't the part that got me.  He had a wound on his shoulder that was about the width of 2 quarters, and it was gaping.  You could see his muscle underneath.  It wasn't pouring blood or anything either, so it looked like it had been open for a while.  I saw him twice over a couple of weeks and each time that wound was open.  And he was all scruffy and his coat was really thin and dirty.  He wasn't interested in cleaning himself.  He'd just sit occasionally on our stone wall out front.  He didn't seem to be hindered walking around, but that open wound was just serious.  I fed him a couple of times, and he seemed content to adopt me as his new home.  He wasn't concerned when I'd approach, just watchful.  I brought him dry cat food, and then a half serving of tuna.  He gobbled them down.  On Friday when I got off work, when I gave him the tuna, he was so appreciative that he rubbed his head on my hand and it just broke my heart.  I called the vet to see what they do for strays, but they didn't quote a price break to fix him up, so I had to decide to take him to the OK City Shelter.  Saturday after we had sound checks at a local church, we came home and he was still on our wall out front (Sticker was not a fan of this guy). So I coaxed him into a carrier with more tuna and we took him to the shelter.  I really hope they try to heal him and not just put him down.  I know it was the right decision, but it was hard to take him there when he trusted me.

So, Saturday, after that heart wrenching task, we were invited to go to a friend's house with a bunch of people.  Sunday we had a concert at a local church and Blake got to do a few songs, and even one patriotic song.  He sang really well and everyone loved it.  We are always so tired after a concert, we went home and made another appearance at a friend's house for a few hours.  Then we crashed at home until 11pm when Blake got inspired to hang the ceiling fan I recently got for the guest room. With flashlights as our only lighting, he got it hung by 12:15am.  He did good :)

Monday is when the fun started!!  Inspired by the success of the ceiling fan hanging, Blake and I set off to find more guest room decor.  Kohls was having a great sale so we were picky and found exactly what we wanted for the bedding.  Here is our guest room now:

I really wanted to recreate a wheat field look so I'll be on the hunt for more items that are organic and textured with that wheat color.  I'm thinking also of doing a "frame collage" with empty picture frames above the bed. I saw that in a magazine, too, and it looked so cool!

I'd seen in a magazine a really cool burlap bed skirt that was $60.  So I thought, well, I could probably just get some burlap from Hobby Lobby.  And yep, only for $15!!  We just tucked the burlap fabric under the bed (we'll have to figure out how to make it more permanent) and it looks great and adds the organic texture that I wanted for the room.  I have one more accent pillow to get that will be the same green color as the throw.  Doogan loves the new bedding; we have to watch him because he likes to bite the throw.

Here is a pic with the new ceiling fan and I tied our curtains back with chocolate brown ribbons.

The sheets are a green paisley print.  And, if you'll notice, I have my lamp I redid, and I got a little antique clock for the bedside table.

So Blake and I keep peeking in this room, proud of our creativity and that the ceiling fan is the most expensive item in the room!  Everything else we got at over 60% off!  I really suggest going to Ross for bedding, too.  We got the sheets and throw there, as well as the curtains (at $4 each!) 

It is very possible to do a cheap room makeover.  Just be extra selective and have a general look decided on before you start.  That way you can predict what items will help you achieve your overall look.  For this room, I decided on "Wheat field after a rain storm."  So that decided my colors (white, blue, green, wheat) and textures (classic and clean, with accents of rough fabric and organic leafy-ness).  As you can see, it's not done, but the feel of the room is decided and will be easier to find accents to complete the room.

Maybe will start cooking again

I cooked last night.  And the night before.  Maybe it will become a habit again?  Maybe my husband won't have to subsist off of cereal anymore?  I'm not holding my breath yet.  But my domestic leanings are starting to stir again.  Possibly.

I'm starting small.  I made BBQ chicken in the crockpot Tuesday.  Toss frozen chicken in the pot, and cover with BBQ sauce.  Then I made a frozen stirfry last night, that I thought was gross, but Blake said was decent and he'd eat the leftovers.  I had a small bowl, then had some Eggo Waffles.  But I also made a recipe for Taco Joe Dip, it was really good!  I think I'll use it as a filling in quesadillas tonight.

Taco Joe Dip

• 1 can (16 ounces) kidney beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 can (15-1/4 ounces) whole kernel corn, drained
• 1 can (15 ounces) black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 can (14-1/2 ounces) stewed tomatoes
• 1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce
• 1 can (4 ounces) chopped green chilies, drained
• 1 envelope taco seasoning
• 1/2 cup chopped onion

Put ingredients in crockpot (4 hours on high, or 6-8 hours on low). Serve with Tortilla chips

Also, and update.  My itchy eyes are back.  So, I'm keeping them under control with eye drops that have antihistamine in them.  It's manageable so far.  I'm not going back to the Dr. for it though.

Doogan playing with a table

We recently got a side table that has a lamp attached to it, and a magazine rack on the bottom.  Here's Doogan enjoying the new toy.

Video 1

From 6.24.10

Video 2

From 6.24.10

Absent

Yes, I've been absent lately.  Last week was a challenging week.  Blake upgraded some of his sound equipment and there was a bigger learning curve than we expected.  But, we are past it now, and smarter for it :)  I'm proud that he and I figured it out.  That's all I will say about that, and will spare you the recap involving tears and late nights.  We're sane again now.

I've been reading a lot lately, still.  It really is my escape and I love that I love to read.  It's so "me."  My office manager here at work, oddly, has the most awesome taste in books.  Some of my best reads have been suggested by her: "The Story of Edgar Sawtelle", "The Pillars of the Earth" (which started my love affair with author Ken Follett)," another fun author named Lisa Gardner, and most recently, the author Jodi Picoult.  I just finished "My Sister's Keeper" which, yes, was recently a movie that was deemed "awful", but the book was really good.  After that book I am now reading another book by her called "The Plain Truth", which I am liking even better that the Sister's Keeper one.  Her writing does have a way of grabbing you and flowing you through the story.  Her subjects of her novels are always some contemporary controversial topic.  They're clean novels and thought provoking.  I'm enjoying her and will continue to read through her repetoire.

I also have been listening to "The Swan Thieves" by Elizabeth Kostova on audio book.

I listen on my 20 min drive to work, and that has been really fun.  My recent book club read was "The Bufflehead Sisters" which I enjoyed a lot but don't feel comfortable recommending because of some scenes in the book.  It mainly focused on a deep childhood friendship and it's evolution into adulthood.  Our next meeting is this Saturday, I'm so excited!

Blake gets home from Arkansas tonight - he headlined at a Festival there last night.  In the rain.  But he said about 40-50 people stayed and toughed it out in their lawn chairs under their umbrellas :)

Haven't done anything to the house lately.  It's kind of a wreck right now.  I'm counting on this weekend to inspire me to clean up.  Then, my immediate to do list includes:

• Painting the Guest Bath laminate counter-top - yes I'm going to paint it.
• Find wall sconces that do not require an electrician to wire them
• Finalize my decision on Master Bed, Guest Bed, and Living room ceiling fan purchases
• Hang the new Hobby Lobby decorations I got in the office!
• Hang the framed prayers I made for Blake at Christmas in his practice room - yep, they still aren't hung

I think that should keep me occupied for a bit.

Mirrors

I love decorating with mirrors.  And white lights! In fact, at my wedding the only decor I really had were white Christmas lights and mirrors and greenery. 

Blake and I had found a magazine picture of these 3 huge floor mirrors leaned up against a living room wall - just gorgeous! We'd been on a hunt to find something similar since we have such a massive living room with nothing on the walls.  We kept looking and looking and mirrors were just SO expensive!  Usually, they were at least $200 for the size we were wanting.  The ones in the picture we liked so much were $400 a piece.  Yikes.  There are starving kids in Africa, I don't need three $400 mirrors.  But!!  We found some mirrors at Kirkland's this past weekend that were close enough to what we were looking for that we sprung for them - and best of all they were marked down to clearance for $40 each. Blake hung them immediately and we got some sconces we are going to mount, too.  But we'll need an electrician to wire them.  We're hoping next weekend we can arrange that.

Here's the mirrors Blake hung.  We wanted them chunkier, but for $40 a piece, these are perfect.

And here's Blake modeling the sconces :)  They'll sure be pretty all lit up.

Love my hubby. He measured everything out and it's perfectly level. Like, Perfectly.  He's such a stickler on all that.  I just commented - you should be glad I'm not hanging them, they'd just be eyeballed and called "good." He smiled and said, "I know. That's why I'm hanging them."  And that's also why I'm not the one that irons in our household.  The way I iron drives Blake crazy, so he does it.  I'm not complaining.  Have you ever seen that "Everybody Loves Raymond" episode where Ray fakes that he doesn't know how to do laundry and even ruins something just so Deborah will do the laundry for him.  Yeah, I kind of do that with ironing.  But Blake pulls the laundry card on me all the time (saying he doesn't know how to do it) so I declare us "even."  I may need to verify with his mother if she ever trained him to do laundry.  I think he's faking (except he did shrink some shirts one time).