Life is Good

Yes, life is good. And so is BBQ! Which is why I am trying to win this fabulous giveaway!

Have I told you I am trying to get more and more into food? It's taking time, as I have a million other things to do as well, but I'm trying new recipes, checking labels, trying for fresher foods, reading food blog after food blog for ideas and inspiration, and I am on a mission to eliminate HFCS from my house by the end of the year. For somethings, that's not a big deal, I just find items that don't have it and voila! But in some cases...I'm going to have to get creative. Namely with my Miracle Whip.

Ladies and gentleman, I have been a loyal Miracle Whip user since I was a child. I vividly remember being 4 and telling my dad he messed up my sandwich. This confused my dad as he couldn't understand how anyone could mess up a bologna and mayo sandwich. And that was when my mom discovered the problem. I didn't do mayo when I was a child and I could IMMEADIATELY tell the difference. Thus, an illustration that my love affair with Miracle Whip started early and has never faltered. Until now. It contains HFCS. It will have to be eliminated. But what to do? While I don't spit out mayo like I did over 20 years ago, I still prefer that tangy taste. So - I will make my own Miracle Whip. I've been looking for recipes and I believe I've found one I am going to try.

Eventually, I really will get pictures up of the house and what we've done to it so far. Really. I promise. No. I'm serious this time.

:)

It's Christmas Time!

A little a week and a day ago our house looked like this:
















Man, did it feel like Christmas then. But then it all melted, as snow in Louisiana is wont to do and we are back in the 70's and such. And it seems like there's little to no chance of any snow next week in Tennessee. Alas.

The house is decorated to Christmas and it's clean. Well, relatively clean anyway. My plans this weekend are to get finish my Christmas shopping, or get very close to it. Get the house clean, make another batch of Christmas cookies and then takes some pictures of the clean house (and new dishwasher) to post on here.

Then just two more days until we are in the car and on our way North. There's still a good bit to do, but I'm feeling quite relaxed about it all.

Productive but not

There are so many things that did not get done over the holiday break. I blame myself mostly and my writing my novel. But that is over! Thank heavens. 53 thousands words and I'm good for awhile. I won't start the editing process until the new year.

Chris made huge strides in the office. And the dining room table is finally set up. We have a light in the closet under the stairs and I have moved the big wine rack to where I want it.

We went to a workshop on how to install a door, that wasn't actually happening, but we got shown how anyway. So we will be installing our new front door next Sunday.

But the big news is...Chris will be installing our new dishwasher on SATURDAY!! Whoo-hoo!! The one we were thinking of getting was on sale during Black Friday and his mom gave us the okay so we got it! It won't be delivered until Saturday and I'll be at work, but I'm confident Chris can handle it. My dad installed one a few years ago and Chris is way handier than my dad.

I tried to start on my outside Christmas decorations yesterday, but it was just too windy. Hopefully I can get to them on Friday which I have off.

The big party is two weeks away and there is LOTS to do, but I'm sure it can all get done. I'm really excited about it all.

The holidays!!

Today is my last day of work before the Thanksgiving holiday. Five uninterrupted days of bliss. And work.

There is so much to do! I've got about 12k more words to do on my novel and I've got cookies and pies to bake. And some sort of out of the ordinary breakfast for Thanksgiving morning. I've got a hallway and kitchen to paint. And some Christmas decorations to hang. And a list to make of all the rest of the things that need to be done before the big party in two and a half weeks!

Chris is going to work on the office. As in cleaning it out so it could actually be used as an office/guest room. He/we are also going to install a new programmable thermostat, new smoke alarm, new timers, switches, and switch plates. That'll be lots of things to take pictures of and post on here.

I'm really looking forward to it all. Even though, I'm slightly nervous about Thanksgiving dinner with his family. Eeee!

Watch how the house changes

Chris and I moved into his mother's old house in August, the house had been hers for 25 years, so it was also Chris's boyhood home. There's lots of work to be done there, which makes me rub my hands with glee, cause boy to I love some home improvement.

When we first moved in, I had this idea for a blog that's main purpose would be to track all the changes we make to the house, so in three years we could look back and be like "Wow! Look at all we've done!" So I've been meaning to start this blog for months now, but haven't gotten around to it. Most likely because we haven't gotten around to much in the house yet. But things are changing. We've got the annual tree trimming party coming up and things are starting to get done.

Chris has made some amazing strides to the outside of the house already. I feel guilty that I haven't chipped in as much time, but I've been struggling with my NaNoWriMo novel. (I love doing NaNo, but sometimes I wish it was in April or something. So much goes on in November it is hard to commit to so many hours.)

I'll do a few more posts to show some before pictures of when we moved in and the few inside projects we've gotten to, as well as all his work outside.