going green

as most of my family knows i am all about going green...(they are way in the red zone)...well last night ryan and i made our first batch of laundry detergent...i'm going to test it out tonight. i'll let you know how it works. and if anyone is interested the recipe is on the simple dollar website. (oh yeah its alot cheaper than buying detergent too) it reminded me of making homebrew...which also reminded me we havent made a batch for probably a year- our last batch i think was our irish stout for st pattys day.

me being pregnant has helped out finances because we buy ALOT less beer...i dont think i drank THAT much...but maybe i did...or ryan is drinking less but i find that unlikely cause i feel like he drinks an awful lot.

scrapbook away...

i'm so excited this weekend i got my scrapbook area set up...well almost set up...a good start anyways. i went and got a 6 foot table and a storage organizer to be my scrapbook area. i have unpacked 3 boxes of stuff and i think i have everything. its so hard because i dont know exactly what i have so i dont know if i am missing a box. i still cant find my container of homemade cards. which is really making me mad- but atleast now i can make some new ones.


















we also painted the laundry room and moved a shelf in from the garage. it looks nice. while moving the shelf from the garage we rearranged and got my bug inside. i am soooo happy about that. it hurt me a little everytime i came home and saw my bug in the rain or snow... so now its safely in the garage. still not running though... it was about 40 degrees and sunny today. very nice. ryan and i were commenting on how we never would be doing something outside in january back in portville.

this is the fence that finally got finished.

adventurous morning

i'm currently in tennessee on business... i flew out this morning and it was awful...besides having to get up at 5:30am...i left with 1 hour to get to the airport, 1 hour to get to my gate. when i got to the first highway from my house traffic was backed up all the way to the toll booths. it took me 30 mins to get 5 miles b/c of an accident. so i got to the airport in 1:15 minutes, took 15 minutes to find a parking spot- then i went to the electronic check in- checked in, hit "0" bags to check in... went up to security line it wasnt too long so i thought for sure i'd be okay. i take my sneakers off, get some of my stuff in the bins to go through the xray machine and i hear this woman yelling "ma'am...ma'am that wont fit as a carry on you have to check that" talking to me about my suitcase. i looked at her and said i cant go back and check this or i will miss my flight. she didnt seem to care about that- so...i run back down the stairs in my socks- back to the machine i left 10 minutes before to see if it will let me add a check in luggage...and it gives me the error - cant check in within 30 minutes of departure see a ticket agent. so i finally get someone to explain that i have to rebook- that i wont make my flight. i was soooooo mad- almost in tears because i was soooooo close. so i go to tticket counter, put my sneakers back on...and rebook a later flight which isnt a direct flight and i am 3 hours later than my original plan. oh well i guess. more miles for my card. oh and i was charged $25 for that change. agh. what was worse was the lady next to me had thought her flight was at 9:20 in the am - and she was very early for it- but it actually was at 7:25 and she had missed it....

slow week

nothing very exciting has been going on here in PA- we have been resting still. i dont think we have done anything with the house since before the new years guests. last night we did sell our fridge on craigslist. we had quite the experience trying to sell that fridge. first person was a scam artist, the second person made 2 appointments and never showed and never emailed me about not showing, the third person also missed an appt and never called/emailed. we had this person coming to get it last night and we were taking bets on if they actually were going to show. luckily they did and we have some more room in the garage.
we have been very lucky buying things on craigslist though- we bought a nice crib and dresser for the babys room and a desk for our computer. i'm looking now for another desk for my scrapbooking/card making stuff. i need to get that organized- i have had to *buy* cards recently and i dont like it. :)

this weekend we are headed to syr for sarahs baby shower. murphy is so excited to go- he has never been to a baby shower before.

one more person...

we will need one more person for the survivor pool- i have 9 so far, so if anyone knows someone who wants to play...
and we will draw the names 1 fan and 1 fav for each person. winner takes all. it will be cool to see this one.

linus went to the vet on friday and she didnt think it was anything yet...but i have to keep an eye on it and if it gets bigger, redder, or discharges i will have to take her back to be sedated and a sample taken. so hopefully it heals up.

survivor

the new survivor starts feb 7th... so who is in??

can you belive they are bringing johnnny fairplay back??? ew. maybe he will poop on someone and get kicked off....

yau-man is back too...

there are 20 people so that means we can have 10 people in the pool this time


***UPDATE***

what do you think about having each person have 1 fan and 1 fave??

Linnie Loo Hoo

Linus has this weird pink mole on her lip/mouth. i'm taking her to the vet tomorrow- i'm alittle concerned- do you think it looks normal??

RENT

We took the train into the city on saturday to see RENT. we left our house with more than 45 minutes to get to the train station and we just needed to grab some lunch and get cash. we never thought we would be running to the train practically jumping on it while still moving. quite an adventure but we made it. luckily too cause it was fun not to have to worry about directions or traffic. It took alittle over an hour to get there. then we have probably 10 minute walk to the theater. it was the artsy area of town. lots of theaters and such.






















The show was very good- i had seen the movie before and I thought the show was similar but better. it was amazing what they did with such a simple set- it was background and then 2 (beer pong) tables and some metal foldup chairs. for every scene in the whole thing. i was surprised at how many children were there watching. i dont think i would have taken my children.

2008!!

i cant believe its 2008 already... new years eve was pretty laid back- besides for the cranium game that got alittle too stressful for me. some people cant just relax and have a fun game... becky, carrie, ryan and i played cards - BS and world war. it wasnt too bad being around a bunch of drunks, it was quite humorous. not like the football game was. well i should say 1 drunk - RB. at 9:45 am when she said she was on her 3rd beer i should have stopped her or atleast slowed her down. because in the 3rd "inning" there was no stopping her, it was far too late. she got soooo loud and wouldnt stop calling me (and the woman sitting in front of us) a b*tch and taking my picture (and the woman sitting in front of us). Then when we got to the truck to leave in the pouring rain she was like "i need some more beer for the ride!" when i wouldnt let her she opened a bottle of wine and preceded to try and get ryan and i to drink it. after about 30 mins she passed out...

monday we got to go see renoir at the museum of art- which was pretty cool. and we went to the irish pub for lunch.

i have done nothing but lay on the couch since all our guests left. its been very nice. and luckily tomorrow is friday again. we are going to take a train into philadelphia saturday and see "rent". i am very excited.

xmas

today i am back at work...i don't like working the day after Christmas i have decided. driving back last night from syracuse ryan and i were like- ewww we have to go to work tomorrow. oh well not too many people are here so its pretty laid back- and i'm blogging so its not like its too hard. but i didn't even get to unpack all my presents and enjoy them. last night we got home about 6:30pm. First to find that our fence was not completed while we were gone...like it was promised. on our trip back home ryan made a list of all the things that had to be done before our guests arrive this weekend. a LONG list i should add. so my thoughts of vegging on the couch for the night were out the window. we worked until about 9 pm and then went to bed. i did accomplish alot though. the house is starting to come together.

christmas was lots of fun. ryan and i are the reigning 90s trivial pursuit champs. we played for about 4 hours and my stomach still hurts from laughing so hard. alot of lounging around happened over the weekend. nothing wild and crazy. i got to see the final episodes on sex in the city which were very good. i got everything i wanted for christmas. and for the record becky got more presents than anyone else this year. more than dad and ryan and cath put together...ha ha ha

busy weekend

This week I accomplished soooo much. First off I slept about 21 hours so I am feeling much better. I recovered our dining room chair cushions, made my cookies, finished my Christmas cards, wrapped my Christmas presents, painted some furniture, and helped Ryan with the bathroom. The bathroom is almost done- we went to the hardware supercenter twice yesterday, once in the morning to get some supplies for the day. Then with 2 hours before survivor we decided to get the mirror up in the bathroom. But when we opened the box the mirror vanity we bought was broken. So back in the car to the hardware supercenter to return the mirror. As we were putting the new one in the truck I said to ryan we better check this one to make sure its not broken- and sure enough it was broken too! They were all out of the size we wanted so we had to get a smaller one- we checked that one BEFORE we bought it- it actually was not broken broken but ryan is going to have to pound part of it together. so that did not get done before survivor. we got the shower done though and the vanity in.


Saturday night we went to a concert in new jersey. We saw lifehouse, simple plan, and avril lavigne. The concert was fun- lifehouse who I wanted to see the most was good- they didn’t really entertain though- they played their songs then left. Barely any talking to the crowd. They played well though. Simple plan was the most entertaining. They were all spazzed out. And their songs were good. Avril had some good entertaining qualities- dancers and such- but her band so overpowered her singing...a little disappointing. It was full of teeny boppers too...thank god they served beer or I think Ryan would have wanted to leave after the first act. I cant get over the cell phones and kids though. I think every 10 year old girl had one- and they texted during every band. Not sure why they went to the concert. Some kids even had blackberrys. Unreal.

another update already - the final one

Luanne won survivor! I was hoping anyone but Todd was going to win. I don’t know why be half way through the season he rubbed me the wrong way. And just annoyed me ever since. I don’t think that Denise would have won if Amanda had voted Todd off and brought Denise to the final tribal council. I don’t think too many people had really bonded with her. And its not like the jury was a bunch of mothers that can relate to her story. I think Amanda would have won then. Oh well...at the end when Todd won- Ryan said I think I am always pissed at the last episode of this show. The person that deserves to win never does.



Survivor: CHINA

Carrie: Sherea & Dave
Cathy: Jamie & Eric
Emily: James & Chicken
Hope: Denise & Frosti
Luanne: Todd & Amanda
Mike: Jean-Robert & Ashley
Nicole: Aaron & Courtney
Ryan: Peih-Gee & Leslie

Winners!!!

we won for our door!

the answer to the trivia is peppermint patty! she wasnt introduced into the strip until the year after the christmas movie was made.

oh yeah and i'm pregnant :)

sick

i have contracted a terrible cold this week- it sucks i have coughing fits like i cant remember ever having before. i cant sleep and it only seems to be getting worse.
and to top it off ryan tries to slave me every night into doing stuff around the house. i just want to go to bed at 6pm.

this week has also been door decorating week at work. there is a contest at work where you decorate your door in a winter theme and today is the judging. i hope we win. we went with my idea for 'a charlie brown's christmas' i drew a bunch of the characters and we got a branch for the tree. i'll post some pictures i took today. a little peanuts trivia...

which character is NOT in the movie?
a)Frida
b)peppermint patty
c)the red headed girl

something i have noticed since moving here-not sure if they have these in other places- but i never noticed them in any of the places i have lived before. they are two houses that are connected but they are not owned by the same people. like a duplex. but the only duplexes i knew of- one person owned and rent the other half out. anyways i think they are bizarre. even more bizarre is now at the holiday time- only one side will be decorated. all out crazy lights on the roof and the yard- but the other side of the house - NOTHING completely BLACK. i will never understand those houses.

bathroom renovation weekend

We started working on the bathroom saturday morning. yesterday we got the dry wall patched and the first coat of mud. 2 more to go. we also got the lanoliem in. we worked until 7pm. its a lot more work than you would think. i also got a bookshelf painted for our spare bedroom- so i now i can start unpacking our books.
i feel like this is my "adult" house...where my yellow, blue and red painted stuff just doesn't belong. so i am painting most of my bright blue stuff "greige". not so sure how i feel about it. almost like i am being forced to grow up... i WILL hang my hello kitty shower curtain...i dont care.

today we are putting the shower in, ryan is currently at the hardware store because "there was a chip in the base"- he did not cause it. alittle delay in the progress of the bathroom but atleast the hardware store isnt a 45 min drive like it was in portville. its only a 5 min. drive.

we hope to have this bathroom done by the time our 50 guests arrive at new years.

survivor update

Cath is out...looks like maybe one of luannes is out next week, but that is only the previews...

Survivor: CHINA

Carrie: Sherea & Dave
Cathy: Jamie & Eric
Emily: James & Chicken
Hope: Denise & Frosti
Luanne: Todd & Amanda
Mike: Jean-Robert & Ashley
Nicole: Aaron & Courtney
Ryan: Peih-Gee & Leslie

HH

in recogonition of the jewish holiday tonight i made potato pancakes for dinner, and they were yummy. i used my pampered chef cutter which was nice because i think i had only used it once before.

i also would like to clarify that I am helping ryan do the bathroom---he is not doing it alone... jees.

tonight we put the ceiling fan up, but not wired...ryan is trying to figure out the wiring tonight and hopefully we will finish it tomorrow. i prepped the floor for the lanoliuem. luckily the floor under the carpet was in really good condition so we dont have to replace it.

we got the puppys christmas picture taken...it turned out okay. patty and murphy look so cute- linnie not so much. but thats linus for you. i can post once i get my xmas cards out. i dont want to ruin the surprise.

operation bathroom

this weekend we went to lowes to pick out our new bathroom- we have to gut and redo the whole master bath. if you saw beckys pictures it was the blue tile bathroom- so we spent over 3 hours at lowes getting everything. then sunday ryan started the demolition. i think he had fun with it. i had to run to IKEA to return some stuff and when i got back our porch was full of the bathroom. everything but the vanity was out- which came out once i got there. so now the bathroom is ready to be put back together. i cant wait- its going to be so nice. all the Pics



saturday night we went out with my friend from highschool's cousin and her bf- who lives probably 3 minutes from us. we went to a mexican resturant which was very good- then we went to a bar that had alot of different beers- kind of like blue tusk- but they serve things other than beer. and they served food. It was alot of fun- they are so nice. We got to see an i-phone in person- they are the coolest things ever. my next phone that i pay for will be an i-phone.

We also got our couch fixed on saturday- the technician came to our house and now it looks and works soo much nicer. he also found the armcovers- after 7 years of using the couch i found the armchair covers and the instructions on how to use the couch! i didnt even know you needed directions.

unbelievable

thats the only way to describe the survivor episode last night. i was so fuming that james did not use one of his TWO immunity idols! idiot! i was mad, but i think ryan was even madder at him. i cant wait to see him at the end in the jury...i like what he said in the end though. it was so true.
i'm wondering how next week will go with trying to get todd off, i'm not sure that will work.... i am officially out of the running

Survivor: CHINA

Carrie: Sherea & Dave
Cathy: Jamie & Eric
Emily: James & Chicken
Hope: Denise & Frosti
Luanne: Todd & Amanda
Mike: Jean-Robert & Ashley
Nicole: Aaron & Courtney
Ryan: Peih-Gee & Leslie

thanksgiving exhaustion

i am so tired from my week off in portville... yesterday i slept 9 hours at night- took a 2 hour nap and still wanted to go to bed early. in between sleeping i dragged myself around the house putting up tape for ryan to paint a bedroom and hallway. (it looks very nice) cutting the hedges by the road, shopping for things, making dinner, and eating ryans leftover birthday cake... yummmy. thank god we came home saturday to give me a day to sleep. i wouldnt be very useful at work if we hadnt.

the week was fun though. the surprise 30th birthday party for ryan was a success. he was shocked...he had no clue. it was fun. Alot of people came so that was good. i think 3 pieces of cake were eaten though so we have alot leftover. i told ryan we can freeze it and eat it on his real birthday.

shopping friday morning wasnt as successful. I didnt get the GPS i was suppose to. i did get a cheap bluetooth though. so now i have to shop everyday for the gps. target had a good sale yesterday but when i went they were all sold out. the woman told me to call everyday to see if any came in.

i'll post my pictures once i upload them...becky tooks tons for me at the party.