crafty

Every once in a while I feel a little crafty and get it into my head to make something. The coffee table has been on hold for a little bit since I lost my momentum, but I ended up making something else in the interim. Last time I was in CA Heidi and I did some shopping in stkn and I found a bunch of really cute costume jewelry necklaces that were on sale. I bought a bunch and found more at the same store when I got back to Austin. Well, I didn't really have a holder to put them on. Randy had bought me a beautiful metal wire and wood holder, but it was already loaded down with the stuff I already owned. This is what I came up with. The color is a little odd, but my bathroom is painted a sage green, so it actually matches really well. I painted on the silver squiggles with a paint pen and bought the hooks at Target. My faucets are brushed nickel and it all matches quite well. I took the picture of it on the floor because the mirror was reflecting too much. I found the two bowls at Target too and they're perfect for my bracelets. Now I just have to wear my jewelry more! .

btw..

After talking about it for some time I did end up buying a new stove. Sears was having a big 4th of July sale plus no interest for a year. I like the Kenmore brand so I thought I'd go and see if anything called out to me. I ended up paying a bit more than I planned, but my reasoning with appliances is that they last 10+ years, so might as well shell out some dough for a good one. It's got the extra burners in the middle and it came with a griddle iron that fits over that area. You can make pancakes or eggs, whatever. It also has a convection oven for baking. When my mom heard about it, she said 'but you don't cook!' Well, that's true, but it didn't help that once my oven reached 375-400 degress it couldn't be adjusted. Remember when I had Thanksgiving here last year and the turkey was done two hours too soon cause the oven wouldn't cool down? Hopefully having this shiny new toy will spur me to cook more. I like cooking. Just hate cooking for only myself. Maybe I'll have some No Kidding people over.....

Oh, and don't get suckered into this whole craze of stainless steel. That stuff does NOT wear well. Fingerprints and smudges show up very easily. I think it's a conspiracy between the appliance industry and the home-makeover shows that make it seem like only stainless steal is good for you kitchen. Whatever!

Empty nest

All of my foster kitties are gone now. I dropped the black/white and calico off at the humane society on Sunday. I was afraid the black/white was still too small, but they said he was close enough to 2lbs that they'd take him. They either went up for adoption that day or Monday, but by Monday night the black/white was already adopted and was waiting to get fixed. I'm not sure if the calico was adoped yet. Probably, she was really cute. I named the black/white Bingo and the calico Hopscotch. I'm glad Bingo got adopted so quickly. It's harder to get the black and black/white cats adopted. They wanted to give me more fosters, but I need a break. I don't think I spend enough time with them. So much pressure being a mommy!

Here's a picture from the last time Jeff/Judy came over on 6/29. Bingo was having a blast trying to get a little mouse out of Jeff's shoe.

Real Tx bbq

Last weekend my neighbors across the street had a 'smoker' party at their house with some co-workers. I had met everyone previously on the boat on several occaisions so they invited me too. Mike's co-worker Jim had a home-made smoker for cooking meat. Isn't this awesome! They made bbq brisket and bbq pork. It was so good. I love TX.

Probably couldn't have done this in an HOA neighborhood. Ha! fuckin HOAs...hate 'em.