Nothing Ever Goes As Planned

Yes, you guessed it, windows and doors are not going in today. I understand why - but I'm still totally annoyed.

When they called to schedule my install last week, they told me that if it was raining on the day of, or had been raining a lot beforehand, they would have to reschedule. Well, what happens today? It rains. As I was on my way to work, it was only barely sprinkling - not a big deal. They call me to confirm my install for today, and to let me know that they were a little behind schedule so they would be at my house at 10:30 a.m. Cool.

I'm in a meeting and I get a call from an unknown number, and another call, and another call. I finally answer and it is the window installer. He says that he is in Marietta and it is pouring rain and he is concerned about installing my windows. I ask what his recommendation is and he says I wouldn't do it today. Well der - what I was asking was when would you do it? Then he says that my doors weren't going to be installed today because they haven't been shipped yet. Heavy sigh. I'm pissed because we have taken all of the blinds down, moved furniture, and made arrangments to be at the house today - all for this install. AND, no one EVER mentioned that my doors were not included in today's activities.

They were really nice and told me to go ahead and put my blinds back up, and that they would take them down free of charge when they actually do install. And the door is slated to ship on 7/30 so it will likely be another two weeks before it is all done...thus, sabotaging my July goals. The universe is against me.

Cheers to 9 Years

Shane and I celebrated our nine year anniversary yesterday, July 27. How did we celebrate? With an engagement? Of course not – don’t be silly. (Dig.)

Shane actually surprised me with beautiful flowers and a card after I got home from the gym, as well as a surprise dinner! I took a quick shower, changed clothes and we went out to dinner at South City Kitchen. I love this place…mmmmm. Their food is simply incredible….seriously, incredible. We had a very nice dinner and then headed home for some TV. Very relaxing evening and a nice way to celebrate nine lovely years together!

Okay, enough sap. LOL! Windows and doors are going in tomorrow. We have to take down all of the blinds and curtains tonight and move everything out from in front of the windows – can’t wait! (Not for the moving, but the final product.) Stay tuned for pics!

TGIF

Funny story - I was in a meeting this afternoon with a lady who was telling a story about her experience at Starbucks this morning. She said that the barista is a young guy, kind of annoying, and always calls her Miss (First name). She walked in this morning and said that the barista was like 'Good morning, Miss (First name)! How are you this morning?!?' She said that her response was 'WTF, barista, WTF.' She said that he looked very puzzled...

So, I'm waiting to hear what WTF means, other than the obvious. Am I missing out on another Friday acronym besides TGIF? I think that at this time, she realized that none of us got it, and was like 'Oh, I MEANT TGIF! I told him TGIF! Ha Ha!' This made me laugh...because this story is very reminiscent of a story that I would tell (confused and non-sensical) Then she proceeds to poke fun at herself and say 'Yeah barista - What The Friday?!?' That made me laugh even harder.

Other than that story, which probably isn't as funny as it was in person , I've got nothin'. Enjoy your weekends!

We Be Clubbin'

Last night was the inaugural meeting of the Book Club! Shana, our gracious hostess, did such a good job with the food, and the rules, and keeping us on track (besides the quick break to save the deer out of the neighbor's back yard- lol). I didn't know that so much drinking went down at book clubs, but I was feeling a little fuzzy this morning at work...ouch. Fun times though and totally worth it!

We decided that we will meet monthly, and our first book will be...dun na na na:

Our next meeting will be in three weeks, and then we are taking a book club field trip after that to see the movie version! But I'll admit it, I'm not really jazzed about reading this book, just because I like mystery and murder and dark stories - but this is good because it will help me expand my reading genre resume.

So, now I have to finish the book I'm reading (Blindsighted) and read the new book in three weeks...Happy Reading!

No More Water

Remember when I said that I was going to pay the water bill last Friday? Yep...I forgot.

I get a call at work yesterday:

Stacy: This is Stacy!
Shane: They turned our water off.
Stacy: Ha Ha Ha! Really?
Shane: It's not funny. Did you pay the bill?
Stacy: Well, no, I mean, I forgot...sorry! I'll call them right now and pay.

They turned it back on yesterday afternoon. Thanks City of Smyrna!

I seriously need to get it together.

Recipe Share: Beefy Cheesy Quesadillas

These yummy quesadillas are very good AND very good for you!

• 1 large tortilla (I used La Banderita Xtreme Fiber - they only have 72 calories per tortilla)
• 1/3 cup frozen, Boca ground crumbles
• 1/4 cup fat-free shredded cheese (I don't use fat-free cheese because it's weird, but using regular cheese didn't really increase the calories that much at all!)
• One-half wedge The Laughing Cow Light Original Swiss cheese
• 1 tbsp. fat-free sour cream
• 1/4 tsp. dry taco seasoning mix

Directions:

• In a small microwave-safe bowl, combine soy crumbles, cheddar cheese, sour cream, and seasoning mix, stirring thoroughly. Microwave for 30 seconds, stir again, and set aside.
• Lay tortilla flat and spread cheese wedge evenly over one half.Bring a medium-large pan sprayed with nonstick spray to medium heat, and lay tortilla in it with the cheesy side up. Cook for about 30 seconds.
• Top the cheesy tortilla half with soy crumble mixture.Using a spatula, carefully fold the plain tortilla half over the other half, pressing down with the spatula to seal. Cook for about 1 minute, until slightly toasted on the bottom.Flip and continue to cook for about 1 minute, until both sides are toasted.
• Remove from heat and cut into four triangles. Serve with sour cream for dipping, if you like. Enjoy!

MAKES 1 SERVING
Serving Size: entire quesadilla

• Calories: 196
• Fat: 5g
• Sodium: 931mg
• Carbs: 25g
• Fiber: 13.5g
• Sugars: 2.5g
• Protein: 25.5g

Thanks, Hungry Girl!

The Weekend Update

We hope that everyone had a great weekend! We did...and I felt like it was really long, which is extra good.

Friday: Shane and I met some friends at the Braves game. We go down to East Atlanta to pick up our friend, John, and then take back roads to the stadium. There was NO parking and it was SO packed that we wound up paying $20 to park in some random dude's driveway. It was sketchy, but at least we found a spot.

It was a pretty big game since they were retiring Greg Maddox's jersey, but I think that I watched, in total, zero minutes of the game. Too busy talking and drinking. All I know is that I am very sad to lose this awesome, and hot, player:
Goodbye, Frenchy. :(

After the game, we all head over to Atkins Park in the Highlands. Me, Shane and John were so hungry that we proceeded to eat three baskets of fries and at least five cups of ketchup. We had one drink there and then decided to head home. Considering that Shane had to be at work at 7 a.m. on Saturday, he probably should have retired a little earlier than 1:30 a.m. Also, I had to drive home because Shane was a hair length away from curbing my tires on the way to the bar, and so I figured that one more drink probably wasn't going to help his driving.

Saturday: Shane had to get up at 6 a.m. - hee hee - and I slept in until around 9. Then hit up the semi-annual Boutique Sale at Atlantic Station with Kelly. I got some really cute stuff:




My splurge items:

That night, our friends Andrea and Justin, and their son, Davis, came over for dinner. My boys, Beau and Brother, LOVED Davis and the fact that they were all the same height. LOL - it was so cute to see them all together! We ate, hung out, talked, watched Thomas the Train and then called it a night. Good times! And FYI - it takes like 2 hours to bake potatoes. I attempted this for the first time, of course, on Saturday night and they baked for 1.5 hours and still weren't done.

Sunday - J. Christopher's breakfast - yum. Then headed to Bed, Bath and Beyond to pick up a scale - that is never fun, and then to PetSmart to get the boys some food and treats.

They were doing adoptions at PetSmart...need I say more? There were only a few dogs there, and there were two down at the very end that were 'special needs.' One was missing his front right leg, and the other was partially deaf and blind. I walk over to look at them and the deaf/blind dog just looks up at me, tail wagging. His left eye is nothing but white and his eyelid was scarred, and his right eye was bright blue, but looked like it had scarring on it. He just continued to look up at me, wagging his tail, like he had no worries or cares about anything...just so sweet. So I start crying...balling crying...through the store...at the gas station afterwards...all the way home. I don't know why it made me so upset, besides the fact that that poor dog was at one point in pain. God bless the people that adopt the special needs dogs to give them a good home and love and security. Okay, new topic, I'm about to cry again.

The rest of the afternoon was pretty uneventful - grocery shopping, washing cars, blah, blah, blah.

Well, this week is going to be pretty busy, AND I am now in a book club and we meet for the first time on Wednesday night - so exciting! Hope that you all have a great week!

Mixing It Up In the Master Bathroom

Yes, as denoted in goal #3, I have plans to re-do the master bath and shower room. This won’t take much since both rooms are tiny, like 4 x 6, so that means it should be easy and cheap!

Here is what I’m working with now:

And here are my thoughts for the re-do:

Paint: Morning Fog by Olympic – I think that this swatch looks a little gray, but it is actually a light blue with a slight tint of turquoise. I’m trying not to be scared by the fact that I just admitted that it has a turquoise tint…oh well, it’s just paint, right? Shelving: I’m taking down that big white shelve thing. The previous homeowners left that, and it has been useful to store our stuff since we have NO storage whatsoever in this room, but it has to go. I’m thinking of replacing it with one of these sleek little shelves from the Container Store:Or three of these shelves:

Lighting/Fixtures: not changing, except for the door knobs and hinges that are currently in the process of all being changed to Oil Rubbed Bronze: Tile: ugh…unfortunately, not changing
Rug: I currently have a brown rug, but I think I’ll move that to the guest bath, and try to find something a little lighter for in here…maybe the lighter taupe shade of these:
Art: Probably none since I have NO wall space…

What do you think?

Water, Water Everywhere

No, we didn't have a plumbing issue...but something else water related did happen. Pretty funny story actually...

I receive a bill on Saturday from Smyrna Utilities for $250. This bill is for my water and trash and it usually around $50 a month. So I'm immediately shocked...but then I notice that I have a balance forward. I look at the previous bill and have a balance forward...and the same on the one before that.

Turns out, I haven't paid my water bill since March. HA! And they haven't called, sent me a letter, or, better yet, TURNED OFF THE WATER! I find this quite hilarious. I'll pay it...this week...I swear.

Ha Ha Ha!

What, Blogging on Saturday?!?

I'm blogging on a Saturday, believe it.

Last night, Shane and I had dinner with some friends (Melissa & Jon and Kelly & Austin) at Lola in Buckhead. It was pretty good but was even better to just chill and hang out with friends...especially on a Friday night. Drinks, on a patio no less, on Fridays are the best! We left Lola around 11 p.m. and Shane and I headed over to Padriac's in Vinings for a little bit more drinking, I swear we don't have a problem, and some live music. It was just a guy and his guitar - very chill and exactly what we were looking for. We made it home around 2:30 a.m., after we circled the block at least 10 times while we were listening to Mark Wills music...hilarious.

We slept in this morning, like until 11 a.m. (ouch), and then went to our fave breakfast place, J. Christopher's. As we were leaving, I started thinking about the TV in our bedroom and how I want it mounted on the wall. My brain functions in a really weird and random way, I'm aware of it and I embrace it. So, we head down to Wal-Mart and buy a mount for the TV for a mere $50. Not bad! We then go across the street to Home Depot and buy a cord hider (that's probably not the exact name but it is what it does nonetheless) and a new bamboo blind. Yes - that's right - goal #6 has been attained!

First, behold the new blind...it looks so much better than the old blind!


And on to our biggest accomplishment of today - mounting the TV! It was so easy, I think it probably took an hour. We tried to mount a bracket to the wall but decided that we really did need a stud finder, as the directions suggested, so we left and picked one up. We then mounted the bracket, popped the TV on, painted the cord hider, slid the cords in, adhered it to the wall and then admired. I'll let you do the same:

By the way, did I ever mention that we hung those shelves in my bedroom? IKEA...my savior. And we also added the white vases with sticks - what do you think? It was Shane's idea to put the vases there and I thought that the sticks would add some height to that corner. Thoughts?

Okay, off to grab some dinner - enjoy your weekends!

June's Goal Assessment

Let’s take a look at June’s progress…

1. Organize office files (DONE)
2. Paint front door
3. Paint kitchen trim (DONE)
4. Paint kitchen and bathroom ceilings
5. Paint master bath and shower room
6. Get bamboo shade for kitchen
7. Sign up for 401K
8. Figure out Breck medical bills
9. Make 1 new piece of jewelry

Sigh. Two out of nine…22% success rate. Lame.

And now for the monthly goal rollover, with a few extras thrown in there to keep it at a round number:

1. Paint front door
2. Paint kitchen and bathroom ceilings
3. Paint master bath and shower room
4. Get bamboo shade for the kitchen
5. Sign up for 401K
6. Figure out Breck medical bills
7. Make 1 new piece of jewelry
8. Finish landscaping backyard (moving concrete pad, pinestraw, grass seed)
9. Read two books
10. Have new windows/doors installed

I think that the issue that I have with these goals is that I am easily sidetracked. For example, it may seem that I haven’t done anything inside my house except for paint some trim and file papers, but we have done a lot in the front yard (ex: replenished all of the mulch around the house, added mulch around trees, finished the deck, etc.). So, I think that I just need to be more realistic about what we are actually working on so that I can actually cross off some goals at the end of the month…thus #8.

Wish us luck!

Hey Strangers!

It has been many moons since my last post…sorry about that. Let’s recap the past 2 ½ weeks, shall we?

Two weeks ago:

• Pretty busy work week.
• Pest control/Snake handler came for monthly check-up. No snakes found.
• Didn’t do anything with the busted concrete pad in the backyard.
• Hung out with Kel and Austin on Friday night at her gorgeous pad, drank too much and got home really late.
• Did a TON of yard work on Saturday, which consisted of shoveling probably 75 wheel barrow loads of left over mulch, refreshing the mulch that we had already laid, cut the grass, pulled weeds, and moved some of the pinestraw bales to the backyard. That was BEFORE the monsoon came and put a halt to our work.
• Sunday – We left for Key West!

One week ago:

• We had a fantastic time in Key West! We flew into Miami very early on Sunday morning, picked up our rental car, and started our four hour journey to KW.
• We made a few stops on the way, including the Miami-Homestead Speedway, where a security guard let us go into the track to watch a MOTO GP race. Shane was obviously more psyched about this than me – here he is:



• We then made our way through the keys, stopping in Islamorada at the World Wide Sportsman in Islamorada. This is apparently the ONLY thing on this island.
• The Seven-Mile Bridge was pretty cool, but I thought that it would be longer…I thought that the name was a bluff.



• The island was awesome…it reminded me of a beachy New Orleans (beach + history). The beaches weren’t great, very rocky and a lot of seagrass, but it was still nice to be able to see the ocean, lay out and just be at the beach.





• Shane and I rented bikes to make our way around the island…so much fun. We were inspired to buy bikes back here at home. We’ll see if that ever happens.



• We went to a different local place every night for dinner, and hung out at a different bar with live music every night. So nice.




• Our five days seemed to fly by, and on Friday we made our way home, and rented another car in Key West to drive to Miami. We were so sad:
• This return trip didn’t go quite as smoothly…we get to the Avis counter and they tell me that I can’t pay with my check card, although I could with Alamo, and that if I did they would immediately deduct $400 from my account as a deposit. Well, at this point we had no other choice so FINE. We get to our little Subaru and it is filthy – nothing compared to our cute little Ford Focus that we drove to KW in. We turn the car in in Miami, and the attendant meets us with ‘Did you get in an accident?’ ‘WHAT?!’ is our reaction. We go to the front left of the car and there is a huge dent, scratches and yellow paint on the side of the car. Fantastic. Shane kicks into work mode and gets us through the ‘accident report’ and says that they will more than likely wait a few weeks and send me a letter telling me that I owe a ton of money and that I should file it against my insurance. My response will be ‘Get in line…right behind Breckinridge Medical Clinic.’ No money for Avis.



• But before we turned the car in, we did some exploring around Miami. Not impressed. And Ocean Drive/South Beach was definitely not what I imagined…
• We got home really late on Friday night and our boys were here waiting for us! (Grandma Debbie picked them up from the vet early and brought them home for us). They were so sweet and so excited to see us. I must admit that I cried when we dropped them off at the vet for boarding, cried when I got home, and cried twice while we were in KW – it was very traumatic for me.

This week:

• Happy late 4th of July! Shane and I went to our friends Mike and Mandy’s for the 4th, hung out at the pool, and made some new ‘interesting’ friends. I’ll leave it at that.
• Sunday was a decompress day, where neither of us did anything but lay around and watch TV.
• No progress on house stuff, but I’m sure we’ll get at it this weekend.

I know I need to update on goals, seeing how it is already eight days into the month, so look for my superb results tomorrow!