Carpeting porches

Image via Wikipedia

I'm not sure who ever came up with this idea but it is bad, bad, bad. We bought this house nearly two years ago and while it's cute, we want to make some changes to make the house look better. Who doesn't, right? One of the things that must go is the carpet on the concrete porches.

Why for the love of all that is Holy would someone carpet a porch? Especially one that has no roof and is totally exposed to the elements? We get rain, snow, sleet hail, sun, and all that good stuff. The carpet looks...ugh...just icky no matter what we do to it. It's gotta go.

We are going to build a front porch (wooden, of course!) that will extend along much of the front of our house. It will look so much better. If you're thinking about putting carpet on your porch, don't. Just...don't.

Carpeting porches

If You're a Sinner, Don't Read This...

That's what this little booklet in my Grandpa's bathroom said. They had this old coffee can on a shelf in there full of nuts, bolts, odds and ends...and that book. I was just being nosy pilfering through everything (they always hated that) when I happened upon it.

Hmm...If you're a sinner, don't read this. OK, that doesn't mean me. I'm just a kid! Nervously, I read the title one more time then opened it up to the first page where it said something along the lines of, "You're going to hell." It went on to tell me the fiery torment that I was going to endure, forever and ever. Oh my gosh! All because I opened this book?

After sitting in the bathroom crying for a while (Hey, I was 7 or 8!), I came out of the bathroom and confessed to reading the book. I explained that I shouldn't have been going through their things but didn't think that was bad enough to go to hell for. After everyone there laughed their butts off at me (picture aunts, uncles, grandparents, and my parents), they assured me that I was not going to hell for reading it and that the book was only for "bad grownups."

I still had nightmares, though.

If You're a Sinner, Don't Read This...

Small Town Tuesday

Thought I'd share some pictures of our lovely little town every Tuesday. I actually got this idea from another blogger (though forgive me for not remembering who). These photos were taking while we were driving 50 mph with the windows on the truck up (you can see the glare)...so don't judge.

I'll get some better ones later this week for next week's "Small Town Tuesday" segment. Be warned, there will be lots and lots of horses, cows, and barns. That's what we have around here. Love it.

Small Town Tuesday

Winners of the Romano's Macaroni Grill Gift Baskets...

Thanks for SO many entries! I loved reading everyone's responses. It seems most of us have problems when it comes to getting dinner on the table. The three winners are...

• Thomas Johnson
• Undermedicated Mama
• Leslie (LeslieVeg)

I'll be contacting you all via email to get your mailing addresses.

Thanks again for the entries!

Winners of the Romano's Macaroni Grill Gift Baskets...

Romano's Macaroni Grill

**The contest has now ended. Winners will be announced 4/20/09.**



When MyBlogSpark asked me if I wanted to try Romano's Macaroni Grill, I jumped at the chance. I am a girl who loves (LOVES!) her pasta. It's a serious addiction. I received my basket a couple of days ago and in it was a colander, serving spoon, cheese grater, box of the Creamy Basil Parmesan Chicken & Pasta, and coupons to get 3 more free packages the next time I visit my grocery store. Sounds yummo.

Earlier today, I decided to make this for lunch. I expected it to be like most box pastas, but it is much better. Inside the box you get linguine pasta, grated parmesan and romano cheese blend, basil and cheese seasoning, creamy sauce, and sun dried tomatoes. The ingredients seemed to be of a much higher quality than most boxed pastas. After about 20 minutes of a delicious smelling kitchen, it was finally done. I still have to get hubby to try it when he gets home later but as for me, I really enjoyed it. It tasted more like something I could buy in a restaurant rather than something I whipped up in 20 minutes.

Next time I'll definitely follow the quick "cooking tip" on the box and buy already cut up chicken breasts. Touching and cutting chicken weirds me out anyway.

You can win a basket just like this...

Just leave me a comment telling me what your biggest struggle is when preparing a family meal. Three baskets will be given away, selected randomly from the entries. The deadline is midnight EST on Sunday, April 19th. Please answer the question...an entry that just says "thanks" or something similar will not be counted.

Romano's Macaroni Grill

Are You Doing What You Love or...

Just paying the bills?

I've been thinking about this a lot lately. I have a great job, no complaints about that, I just want to do more. I want to write. Well, technically, I have started writing (surprise to my friends who didn't know that), but I have to do more before I officially think of myself as a "writer." Hubby works in social work and while he enjoys working with the kids and can see the potential in them, he loathes working with the adults because they almost never change. He's not doing something he enjoys. He also has a job doing construction, which is something he would enjoy as a hobby or in doing his own home improvement projects, but again, isn't something that he wants to do forever.

I'm now 27 and he's 28. We have a plan to pay off our debts in the next two years so that we can have children (and more financial security) after that. There are some other changes that we'd like to make, too. I'd like to start writing more and he has actually always wanted a job in law enforcement. Of course, law enforcement doesn't pay very well. In order to do this (career changes and all), we have to be responsible and take care of the bills first. A slow transition, I suppose. I think I'll always have other side projects, too, because I like variety. I also can't imagine leaving the company I work for - I don't want to. They've been wonderful. I need to find a balance, then, of doing that in addition to working more towards the career I want. I know that I need to do it soon, which is why I've been working on it now. I'm sure it would be much harder to make these sorts of decisions when we have kids because it's harder to make those sacrifices (giving up a stable income, changing careers, going back for my Master's) when you have your children to think about, too.

Inspire me. My friend Tammy recently quit her office job to start working her at home job full time. I thought that was pretty ballsy and really admire her for it. I hope you aren't still having nightmares about them trying to make you work, Tammy!

Are you doing something you love...or at least something you're good at and enjoy? Do you consider yourself to have a career or is it just a job to you? Is there such a thing really as people loving what they do?

Are You Doing What You Love or...

What's Your Taste in Furniture

When I look at furniture, I try to take into account the style of our home and our personal tastes, too. I tend to like modern country while my hubby likes rustic country. In keeping with those themes, I think I have found the perfect office desk in a rustic furniture style at Scenic Furniture. It's the walnut 3 drawer corner desk and it is gorgeous. I think I could get really creative with my writing at a desk like that. ;-) It reminds me of my childhood when we lived in a log home. Of course, I'd have to find some matching bookshelves, too. I can never have too many of those. What would your dream desk look like?

What's Your Taste in Furniture

Tightening the Purse Strings

Image via Wikipedia

It's common for Americans to live beyond their means these days. I have to admit, I am one of them. We have some credit card debt that is just getting to me. We've agreed not to use the credit cards anymore. We are also working a LOT more just to get it paid off, hopefully by the end of the year.

One way we can definitely save money is by not ordering out as much. I am so, so guilty of this. Even though I work at home, it seems that I barely have time to sleep with all the other projects I have going on, let alone cook. But it's so costly eating out several times a week. I have scolded myself and decided to only order out once a week (likely Saturdays since that's my longest work day). We can also save a bit on our electric bill and cut down our cell phone bill a bit by getting a package with fewer minutes.

It sucks. But it has to be done. I want to be rid of the credit card debt before we try to have kids. Are you tightening the purse strings, too? Give me some money saving tips! Seriously, I need them. :) Hope you all had a wonderful Easter.

Tightening the Purse Strings

Happy Easter

Image via Wikipedia

For I remember it is Easter morn,
And life and love and peace are all new born. ~Alice Freeman Palmer

Easter was one of my favorite holidays as a kid. I'll admit, though, I was and still am a holiday-a-holic. Easter was fabulous because there were no stipulations with it. No one ever says that the Easter bunny sees you when you're sleeping and when you're awake. He doesn't care if you've been bad or good. Or at least he didn't at our house.

Easter also made it officially feel like spring, even though spring usually started much sooner. Baskets, flowers, pastels, kids running around, the school year almost ending...what's not to like?

Here are some of my favorite memories from childhood Easters...what are yours?

• The church Easter egg hunts. Loads of kids running around a field trying to find eggs - there's sure to be some drama there!
• Wearing my new Easter dress, hat, gloves, shoes, and purse. Yes, I was dressed to the nines - like an 80 year old in a 5 year old's body.
• Peanut butter filled chocolate eggs. I don't dig the solid chocolate bunnies.
  
• Easter egg hunts at my grandparents' house after the church Easter egg hunt.
  
• Easter egg hunts at our own house after all of that. You can't hunt too many Easter eggs.
  
• Ham. Enough said.

I hope you all have a very Happy Easter today. Enjoy your families, eat lots of Cadbury cream eggs, and try not to go up a pants size.

Happy Easter

To Do Lists

Image by Jayel Aheram via Flickr

I am notorious for making to-do lists a mile long and then never looking at them after a couple of hours into the day. Do any of you have that problem? I love lists. Absolutely love them. And I love crossing things off, too, but I put so much on my lists that it seems like I get nothing done. I've devised a new plan, though, and it makes me feel like I accomplish things without my list being too wimpy. You know what I mean, those to-do lists that are like: eat breakfast, feed cats, etc. That's silly. But anyway, here's what I do.

Weekly to-do list. On Sundays, I make a list of everything that I want to accomplish for the given week. Then, each day, I select about five items from that list. Of the five things that I choose, I select 2 that I'm really looking forward to, 2 that I can get done easily but they might not be my favorites, and 1 task that I'm really dreading. For me, the "dreaded thing" is usually a phone call I have to make. I have a phone phobia.

Anyway, that system is really working out for me so far. I get to make my lists AND I actually get things done.

What's your system?

To Do Lists

Taco Chili

It's been cold here the last few days and that makes me want comfort food. I have always loved different types of chili but the hubby doesn't usually care for it. I make things too spicy for him normally. This version of chili, however, he loved. And bonus...it took less than 30 minutes to make. I hope you like it if you try it!




Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef
1 medium onion, diced
2 cans diced tomatoes, undrained
2 cans pinto beans, undrained
1 can kidney beans, undrained
1 can black beans, undrained
1 can corn, DRAINED (I didn't use corn in mine and it still turned out great)
6 oz tomato sauce
1 packet taco seasoning mix
1/2 packet ranch dressing powder

Directions:
Ground beef with the onion. Drain. In large pot, mix together remaining ingredients and add the ground beef/onion mixture. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer about 10-15 minutes, or until heated through. Serve with chips, sour cream, shredded cheese, or anything else you like.

Taco Chili

Macaroni and Tomatoes

If you've never had macaroni and tomatoes, shame on you. I know it doesn't sound very appetizing, but if you love tomatoes (and I do), it's really yummy. You can do this with fresh tomatoes, too, if you'd like, though I never have. If you're using fresh, you'll need to stew them first. So here's how you make it the easy way (thanks to the Coupon Mommie for letting me use her pics):




Ingredients:
8 oz Elbow Macaroni (a box of of macaroni from mac and cheese is fine, just don't use the cheese)
1.5 TBSP butter
1 can tomato sauce (8 oz)
1 can diced tomatoes with juices (14.5 oz)
1/2 tsp sugar
salt and pepper

Directions:
Salt a pot of water and bring it to a boil. Add the macaroni, bring to a boil again, and boil for 7-8 minutes. Drain macaroni. Add butter to the pot and heat on medium till the butter is melted. Add the macaroni, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes and juices, and sugar, and stir. Heat through about 5 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. If you like yours soupier, it's fine to eat right away. If you'd like for it to thicken up, wait about 10-15 minutes.




Don't knock it till you try it. ;-)

Macaroni and Tomatoes

Married Folks - Don't Argue in Front of Company

A few days ago, we were at the hubby's sister's house. More often than not, the sister and her hubby start arguing while we are there. Nothing serious, it is usually more "picking on each other." At least, it is in the beginning. That soon turns to the both of them bringing up other stuff and the hubby and I slinking away into the corner trying to avoid being brought into it. The other day, we were brought into it.

I won't go into specifics, but basically, it ended up like this:

Her: Do you think it's safe for our kids to be doing that? (She was asking us.)

Him: Don't you think she's overreacting? I was standing here watching them the whole time.

Her: Well? Do you think I'm overreacting?

Uhhh...

Needless to say, we didn't agree with either of them and left as soon as I could drag hubby away. He tends to like a show, but I feel so out of place when that happens.

Moral of the story, folks, is don't fight in front of company. I don't know how or why couples do this. No matter how angry I am with the hubby, even if I am absolutely infuriated with him, I can always throw on a smile and be civil to him in front of our guests. The whole world doesn't need to know (and doesn't want to know) your business.

Do you fight with your spouse/significant other in public? Have you ever made anyone feel really awkward by making them witness it?

Married Folks - Don't Argue in Front of Company

Incompetent Realtor

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Two days ago I received an email from the Realtor we used nearly two years ago to buy our house. The email basically said, "Hey I see that you have your house listed for sale through XYZ realty and I just wanted to know why you didn't list it through me instead."

Umm...our house isn't for sale. So I emailed her back telling her so but not before I called the company that she said had the house listed for sale. I asked the lady who answered if they have our address listed and she replied that she didn't and asked me why and if we were in the market to sell. I told her about the email I received and she was completely appalled by the unprofessionalism on the part of our old realtor. So was I. That realty company asked for her number, and called to sort it out.

Even if we had listed our house with someone else (which we will DEFINITELY do because she sucked then and I'm sure she does now), what business is that of hers? It would be too late to get us to list through her now.

Oh and by the way, she was the absolute worst realtor ever. We only stuck with her after we found out how crappy she was because it turns out her family was friends with the hubby's sister's family...ugh. You know how that is. Anyway, when she WAS our realtor, I had to do absolutely ALL of the work involved in finding a home for us. She told us that she'd look at things for us and never did. I had to comb through listings, call her to prompt her to initiate contact so we could schedule a viewing and all sorts of other nonsense. Not only that, but she was often late to the meetings, had no clue where we were supposed to go AND complained about her other clients. She complained every day about how her clients wanted to ride with her and how that uses up her gas money. Really? Don't most clients ride around with the realtors to look at properties? We never did because we always had something to do after, but I know many people do this (at least around here).

In short, I don't know why I'm posting about this other than to tell you not to put up with a crappy realtor, even if they are "friends of the family." You never know when she'll call or email you out of the blue giving you a near heart-attack by saying that your house is on the market when it isn't.

Incompetent Realtor