Thursday, December 28, 2006

Things I'd Like to Accomplish in 2007

Not resolutions, because I plan on working on them past January ;)

  • Totally redo the upstairs bathroom, even if 1 bit at a time

  • Have kitchen cabinets refaced

  • Have a hardwood floor installed on first floor.

  • Learn Corel Painter

  • Make enough money to pay for studio :P

  • Lose 20 pounds (need to lose more, but 20 pounds is a start)

  • Get stumps dug out of yard (will need to wait til Spring for this one!)

  • Finish painting at studio

  • Decorate Guest Room

  • Blog more regularly :P
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    Tuesday, December 26, 2006

    Ahh December 26th

    That day couldn't come fast enough. :)

    It's all over but the mess. Kids got way too much, I was way too spoiled, ate too much, drank not enough, etc.

    Today I plan to make Ice Cream in my new ice cream maker (mmmm), clean house a bunch and maybe make some cinnamon rolls for the neighborhood, although I might put that off a couple days and make it a New Years thing.

    Must get the carpets clean this week, which means I have to FIND the carpets under the kids crap. Hopefully you'll see me again.

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    Thursday, December 21, 2006

    You can thank me later

    Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars

    1 3/4 c powdered sugar
    1 1/2 c brown sugar
    1 1/2 c peanut butter
    1/4 c melted butter

    12 oz bag chocolate chips
    1/4 c butter

    Mix powdered sugar, brown sugar, peanut butter and 1/4 c melted butter. Spread in wax paper lined 9x13 pan. Melt chocolate chips with other 1/4 cup butter. Spread on peanut butter mixture; chill. Cut into squares.

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    This Will Floor You

    K, not really.

    I'm posting because I feel all guilty about abandoning my poor blog. And someone has to take care of me when I'm old and can't wipe my own butt. I had 5 kids to try to up the chances of one of them actually being willing, but in case they aren't, hopefully I can fall back on my blog.

    Since I rarely have anything to say that I feel strongly enough about to bother typing up (be glad you don't have to be in the same room as me, I'm definitley not too lazy to talk), lets talk about floors.

    In our old house, the kitchen and dining room were like one big rectangle. Ok more like a small rectangle. But, still one area. They were covered in this lovely (yeah, right) linoleum. I guess certainly not the ugliest linoleum I'd ever seen, as the house had been owned by investors, who replaced it just before we moved in. They weren't very good investors, because that house was a complete piece of crap, but not really the point of my little story here.

    The linoleum was offensive even when brand new, but after 4 years with kids, it was just the bane of my existence (right below the leaking pipes in the basement, which believe it or not, tie into this story). Everytime I walked through that kitchen, I wished I had a laminate wood floor in there instead of hideously ugly linoleum with gashes out of it where the cabinet doors flew out of their groove and knocked gashes (they were these stupid sliding wood doors... ugh that entire kitchen, my blood pressure is going up just thinking about it).

    The other major problem in that house was that the pipes leading down from the kitchen sink into the basement were leaky. You can only imagine the lovely smell as the dirty dish water leaked into the basement and then festered under the floor tiles. Mmm. During a manic episode, we chisled all that nasty tile out, so at least we only had a food covered subfloor from then on, but UGH. Right in front of the washer and dryer was this disgusting mess. Made doing laundry that much more enticing.

    So, one day, during another manic episode, (if I could make these things come more often, my house would be in fantastic shape)I decided I was going to fix these damn pipes once and for all. Of to Home Depot to buy the PVC cement and purple primer I went! Got home, tore all of those pipes out (which like weren't even hardy connected NO WONDER THEY LEAKED) and got to work. With great ease I got all the ones in the basement cemented and reconnected. All that was left to do was the final connection under the sink in the kitchen. I got that one reconnected, and as I turned to start cleaning up after myself...

    I knocked over the purple primer.

    All over the lovely linoleum floor.

    That is not coming out, no sense even trying.

    So, that's How I Got My New Laminate Floor in the kitchen. Or My $1100 Plumbing Project. You choose.

    Fast forward to current times. Our current house has carpet everywhere. And when I say everywhere... There is ONE room in this house that isn't carpeted. A bathroom. Even the other 2 bathrooms and the KITCHEN have carpet. The kitchen carpet is teal with pink flowers. I swear. I've thought often about having a nice laminate wood floor in there. Or maybe, even hardwood! But, since the kitchen opens on both ends to the living and dining room, maybe we should just get hardwood throughout the entire first floor, huh? Yeah... that's 1100 square feet x $4 sq ft just for the wood + $47m for the labor... Nevermind, maybe a new house.

    Last night, on our way up to bed, GWH dropped a glass of red wine. Did I mention that the living room and stair carpet is white? Yeah, it's white. I stood there in shock looking at the carnage and thought to myself... Time for my hardwood floor?

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