Fancy a Chocolate?

(image corutesy of Fried Toast Flickerstream)

Saw this on the NPR Wait Wait Blog and I couldn't not share...


Check out this flicker stream entitled Kit Kats of the World. Apparently outside the US they have all sorts of flavors, not just those 'boring' chocolate wafers. Warning: if you are a dieter and this triggers you i take no responsibility at all whatsoever.

a new boy_friend

After work this evening Lucy and I took a little detour to meet our new boy_friend Eriam Yael. He was a gorgeous Valentine's gift to our friend's Henry and Mariely. We had a great visit -- he is cute and well behaved -- both are great traits in a boy_friend :)

Eriam is one of many new boy_friends I look forward to spending more time with -- he has lots of competition with JHA, DAM, and WDK bringing in just as many cute points these last few months.

Some break that was

I've spent a good portion of my weekend either painting the kitchen/laundry room and lying on the couch to recouperate from the ick that has been passing around. During my break from painting this afternoon I tackled the aftermath of the great 2010 Vicksburg snowstorm. I got all of the limb-age to the curb except the giant main portion of the limb that took out the shed. It was too large for me to drag to the curb.

After yardwork we took a walk around the lake. It looked like everyone else was doing the yardwork thing too. Not that it is a competition that I WANT to win, but I think I had the largest pile at the curb...

Back to painting....

2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17...

Theme: Prime

I spent my weekend working on the kitchen. Namely, preping and priming it. hardy har har...

I finished off the cabinets. They just need new hardware and the doors can all go up. I need to put up a little trim, however that will be one of the last things to go up. Then I washed down all the walls, spackled up the fifteen million holes left by the previous owners, and sanded down the areas on the walls and doors where there were giant globs of paint left hanging out by the previous owners. Next came removing the remanents of the wallpaper border around the top of the paneling and above the cabinets, not entirely a small job. Finally, I brought out my best friend, the painters tape. I should note, current pet peeve: people who paint over outlet covers and the outlets such that the next painter is worried that she is about to rip the electrical box out while taking them off.

Last step: priming the sheetrock, paneling, and doors. It took two coats of prime to get it past the point of being gross. The A's who lived here were just gross. Not only did they do things like leave globules of paint on the walls and paint over the switches and outlets rather than installing new ones of the appropriate color, but they had a wood burning stove that smoked up the entire house. Once their pictures etc. were removed you could see the outline of everything they had on the wall. It was also apparent once the wallpaper border came off. I'll be painting everything with real colors soon. Here are a couple of 'befores' that shows the goreous border as well as the grease and smoke outline on the wall as well as some 'middle of the project shots' to keep your curiousity at bay. Look for more to come in upcoming week (s)!

snow... SnOw... SNOW...

It took until my seventh winter in Mississippi, but I finally saw snow in the south. I have been told many a story of snowfalls in the history of Vicksburg, and there have been flurries during my tenure -- but I always seem to be out of town when they happen. this time was different! unofficially I've heard we had 5.5-6 in. of snow. It doesn't look it in some of my pictures. The trees that leave my yard nice and shady also prevented too much accumulation. Unfortunately said trees also led to some limb cracking which damaged my shed and came pretty close to the house. I've still got one that needs to be trimmed off of the tree before it does some nice damage to the roof over my bedroom. If anyone has suggestions of who to call please let me know!!

Due to the crazy-ness of the weather and the poor road conditions I took the day off. We stayed warm, played in the snow, and took a long walk around the neighborhood. Here are some of our pictures from today!

First thing this morning Madison peered around the door and gave me the look "mom, i remember this snow sh*t from Christmas and I'm not having any of it". She wouldn't go out -- left the back yard to Daisy.

Once I pulled out her sweater and put it on Madison was much happier. Eventually we went on a walk around the neighborhood and she had a great time romping in the snow. I heart having a garage. How did I spend upwards of 20 years without one? For once, I can totally appreciate it for winter purposes! No snow on my car :)

What a good puppy. In her pretty girly sweater. And playing in the snow...

A scenic shot from the back yard first thing this morning. The magnolia was covered in snow.

Another view for more perspective. By the time the snow stopped falling the magnolia branches were reaching over the fence and on the ground.

There just shouldn't be snow on magnolia leaves... its so un-mississippi

Pretty snow covered branches. :)

Damaged Shed from stupid pine tree pieces

The limb next to my bedroom... and my poor gardenias were all knocked over by the weight of the snow.

I went and played with the dogs in my winter gear that i keep in stock for trips up north

In parting, here is a shot of Daisy playing in the snow... I sound odd and gravely when I am calling her... but she was having soo sooo soooo much fun!

ETA: After this day of fun I have some tired out puppies. They aren't nearly as interested in watching the olympics opening ceremonies as I am.

Pantry Painting

Not to much to report on from the Ladies of the House. We were quite excited by the lost premiere last week, in case you hadn't gathered. It was great, but introduced many new questions and didn't help me to come to any sort of closure. I'm going to be very very very sad when it ends. I might have to do something drastic and turn off cable or something. I just don't watch that much anymore, nothing meets my expectations after L~O~S~T.

In household news, I'm back on the improvement bandwagon. You might have been wondering what all I had been doing lately. The answer was nothing much. Two weeks ago I took everything out of the pantry. I threw out anything past date (which was scarily more than I want to admit)and gathered things that were in date that I have no real intent to eat to donate to the food pantry. Turns out I have a LOT of grains. I could have told you that though. Everything that was left after the purge made it's way into the cabinets with rolling drawers while the pots and pans eventually made it into the pantry. It seemed like a better way to organize things and not waste so much food. Before re-filling the pantry I repainted it. I don't think it had been painted since 1979!! It was all yellowed and gross and full of scratches and whatnot. After painting, it turned out nice and clean and white and crisp :) Next task, painting the hall closets.

Speechless

Just watched the season premeir of L~O~S~T. I'm speechless. And can't wait until next Tuesday! Thank God for the DVR. You know what I'll be doing during my exciting Saturday night!