Exceedingly Mundane

Guess what we got!

We got it hooked up and started playing the sports game that came with it late last night. We couldn’t find the Wii Fit game anywhere, so I’ll have to keep looking for that. I know that Tim wants to get the Tiger Woods golf game, but I’m looking for suggestions of other fun games. Are any of the Mario ones fun? Remember, it’s just adults here, with the occasional visit from the kiddie brigade. Yes, we needed a video game console just for us adults, LOL!

Leave me a comment and let me know your game recommendations!

I’m not a rabid environmentalist, but I’ve always been interested in recycling, in cutting out clutter (I’m a HUGE believer in the whole ‘clutter causes stress’ theory), in re-purposing items if possible, and basically trying to treat our planet with respect. I feel that God intends us to be good stewards of all He has given us, whether that’s our health, our family, our possessions or our planet. I’ve felt for a long time that we’re depleting our planet and harming our atmosphere. I don’t think this is something that I will necessarily have to deal with on a large-scale basis in my lifetime, but I think it’s something that might affect our young nieces and nephews in their lifetime, or in their kids lifetime. I don’t want to leave them with a huge problem with pollution, no resources, and an earth full of landfills and not beautiful forests and oceans.

Having said that, I know there’s only so much I can do as one person, but I do try. I’ve always tried to recycle. I’ve lived in my house almost 15 years (12 here with Tim) and we’ve had curbside recycling from the beginning. I recycled even before that, when I lived in an apartment. I would load up my recyclables and drive them to a drop-off spot. Curbside, even though we pay a lot for it, is much more convenient. We recycle newspaper, plastic, aluminum, and glass. Our recycle bin is overflowing every week and we have less garbage than most of our neighbors. I’ve been taking my plastic bags to drop-off boxes at our Super Walmart or Kroger for years.

I was so glad this past Earth Day to see a big push towards reusable shopping bags. Even in the backwoods area I live in (believe me, we are about the last ones to get or do anything here), they starting having reusable bags in the store for purchase. I saw them at Target, but gasped audibly when I saw they wanted 8 or 10 bucks for them. Same at Fresh Market, where theirs are a whopping 9.99 a bag. I looked online and found several cute options. They have the cutest “market totes” at Sur La Table. If I lived in a totally urban area, or France or something, I might see myself with these, but face it – these are not practical where I live. Plus, they don’t hold that much. I also found some cute canvas bags with a lot of great designs on them at Cafe Press (link here), but again, I just couldn’t see myself paying 28 bucks for them.

So, what’s a girl like me to do? Well, since I do the majority of my shopping at our local Super Walmart, I decided to buy the 99 cent black totes at Walmart:

I got three and so far they have worked out pretty well. They’re bigger than I thought they would be, and they hold quite a lot of groceries and stuff. I’ve taken them the last couple of weeks and handed them to the check-out lady to use instead of plastic bags. I’ve sort of made a game out of it, LOL!! 😀 I’m trying to spend less money and just buy what we need, nothing extra, and I’m trying to just fill up those bags. Now, to be fair, I’ve also bought some bedding plants and some cases of Coke Zero that didn’t fit in the bag, but otherwise, I’ve been good. I’ve gotten all of my groceries in those three bags for the last couple of weeks. And I’ve cleaned out a huge stash of plastic bags here and taken them to the drop-off box at Walmart. I’ve also been spending less money every week. So, a win-win for me!

Now, a question for you guys out there in blog-land — do you recycle? Do you use reusable shopping bags? Have you seen them in the store and have you bought any? Leave me a comment and let me know!

We had some homemade nachos over the long holiday weekend. They’re probably not as good as the ones we get in sports bars and restaurants, but we certainly liked them well enough. This was supper one night, and between the two of us, we polished off the whole darn thing 😀 I know, I know, there’s not a redeeming thing about these. Loaded with fat and calories; they’re probably more of a “heart attack on a platter”. But, I will say that I used ground turkey for the meat, LOL!

Yes, they were finger-licking-good!

I’m hoping to post more food-related posts soon. I’ve actually made a couple of new recipes in the last month or so that were good, and that I’ll make again. I always go grab my camera and make Tim wait to eat until I can snap some “blog-worthy” photos. Yes, I’m a nerd!

Also, I’m on the lookout for some more new skillet dishes. We’re cranking up into summer here, and I just almost refuse to run my oven. Granted, I only had to turn it on for 10-12 minutes for the nachos, but still, it heated up the kitchen pretty well. When it gets to be summertime, I turn to my cookbooks and online cooking blogs for recipes to make in the crockpot and on the stovetop. I’ve got a couple of new skillet entrees I want to try, but am always on the lookout for more. If you’ve got one you make and like, please let me know!

Have a great day and eat something yummy today!

Click here for today’s Video of the Day. I wouldn’t want to visit this place around the holidays!

I’ll try to be back later today or tomorrow with a “real” post!

P.S. Tim gets these daily emails from computer guru-ess on high, Kim Komando. She often has some really interesting stuff for us geeks 🙂

Did everyone have a good Memorial Day weekend? We did. We were busy, but we accomplished a lot. Nothing like a sense of accomplishment, that you really set a goal and met it 😀

We could have played all weekend, or gone somewhere fun. We talked about it, but in the end, we both decided we’d rather stay home and get something done. We picked a project we were both interested in. Our garage had gotten really messy and dirty and needed to be cleaned out. So, I talked Tim into working on that this long holiday weekend. We emptied the garage out completely, and had stuff everywhere – in the house, on the deck, along the side of the house in the grass, and we filled up the back of our SUV. We took a lot of stuff to Goodwill, and we took a huge amount of motor oil (Tim changes the oil in our vehicles, and saves us a lot of money!) to a local garage place to recycle it. (See, we do a lot to help our planet!)

Then, we cleaned the floor and walls and Tim pressure washed the floor in the garage and our front door entryway. We went to Lowe’s and bought some concrete paint, and we went to Sam’s and bought me some shelving. Tim painted the front entryway the same grey concrete paint, and he painted the garage flooring in two phases.

We got it all back in last night, except for the vehicles. The floor needs to set for 72 hours before you put a hot vehicle on it. We’ve painted our garage floor in the past, and it does come off over time with the heat from the treads of the car. So, this won’t last forever, but gosh, it looks so nice and clean and organized right now!

Plus, I have some more storage out in the garage that I didn’t have before. Like I told Tim, Sam’s Club, here I come, LOL!

*Click on the extended entry to see a few pictures*
Read the rest of this entry »

What? Doesn’t every dog have a big fluffy, high-rise bed like this? 😀

We’ve been busy this weekend, getting stuff done! More on that later, but suffice it to say, we’re cleaning out the garage and repainting the floor (not the walls, just the floor). All of the stuff in the garage had to be moved, so I put all of Beau’s beds in the kitchen. While trying to cook last night, I moved them around and stacked them all up. He decided he really liked his triple-decker bed. He’s been laying on them ever since!

Back soon with more info on our weekend and lots more pictures. Hope you all have a wonderful Memorial Day and remember our fallen heroes.

Today’s Question of the Day is all about movies. I’ll take some popcorn with mine, please 🙂

The summer onslaught of big-screen movies is here! Tim and I went to see Ironman a couple of weeks ago and we both really liked it. Then again, we like most of the Marvel comic book movies. The new Indiana Jones movie starts next week, and inquiring minds want to know, do you plan to go see the Indy movie in the theater this summer?

If not, which big-screen movie are you excited about seeing? Or if you don’t go to the theater, what’s a movie you’ve rented lately and really liked, or one you want to rent?

Have a great day!

Howdy! I’ve now officially taken the longest break ever from my blog (two whole weeks!), since I started blogging over 3 years ago. I must admit, I’m really enjoying the break and am still seriously considering giving up blogging all together. I’m still really on the fence about it. I think I don’t quite enjoy it as much as I used to, or maybe I’ve just run out of interesting things to say and post about. After all, I basically post about the same things over and over 🙂

In keeping with that “over and over” thing, I thought I’d post a couple of the photos I’ve taken recently in my backyard. I bought some really puny looking bedding plants and got them into some pots and planters last weekend. I’m not sure they are going to make it, so I don’t have any photos of those. Trust me, they don’t look too hot right now, but I’m hoping some water and Miracle-Gro will help them out over the long haul. It’s already really hot here. Supposed to be in the high 80’s or low 90’s here for the next 10 days, according to weather.com. Actually, it will be hot here from now until at least October 😀

I posted a photo of my clematis a little over a month ago (original post here, and mine is the one at the bottom that is not blooming yet). I’m happy to say that my white clematis is in full bloom now, and it looks so pretty. I love sitting on the deck and seeing it:

We planted a couple of new lantana… one is doing well and the other is half dead already. Sigh. This is obviously the one still alive. Tiny, but alive.

I bought a vinca vine and planted in a pot last year, and then in the fall, tossed the vine out behind the fence. Tim discovered it a month or so ago and said it was coming back. I let it grow a bit, and then dug it out of the old flower pot and replanted it with a new geranium… let’s hope they both do well for the summer:

And last, a basil plant. I say every year that I want to grow herbs, but I never have any luck. One year I tried seeds, which went nowhere. One year I tried oregano and another year thyme, and nothing. This looked like a fairly healthy “sweet basil”, so I bought it. I also got a “Patio Tomato” plant and planted for Tim (I don’t eat tomatoes). We’ll see what happens with these. Question – can you make pesto from any kind of basil? I wonder if I bought the wrong kind…

Hope things are happy, sunshiney and blooming where you are 😀

Well, once again I seem to be in a rut. I think it’s the time of year. I’ve blogged in the past about how much I dislike the time of year around Mother’s Day and also late June, which was when my mom passed away. I hate being reminded every year that I am not a mother and never will be 🙁

Anyway, I actually have several things to blog about. And pictures to go along with them 🙂

* There’s some foodie stuff and new recipes I’ve tried.
* There’s some flowers blooming in my yard.
* There’s a happy we got in the mail
* There’s a dead rodent that has been terrorizing our yard (complete with gross picture)
* There’s reusable shopping bags
* There’s some books I have read and enjoyed, although that’s a common theme with me; I like most every book I read!

However, I don’t seem to have the time, patience or inclination to sit down and blog about them. It just ain’t happening lately. Maybe if I get out of my blogging rut, I will get them down. Or I may just take a break for a while. Who knows!

Hope you’re all having a good day, take care 😀

I love flavored creamers. I can’t drink coffee without a lot of help, and my favorite thing to add is a flavored creamer. Here’s two of my latest favorites:

I think my fave of these two is the Black Cherry one. I love anything and everything cherry flavored. Ok, off to get my one cup of coffee that I allow myself every day. Thank goodness, we have really big cups!

Here’s my third entry for the Camera Critters weekly photo meme. Click here if you’d like to go play along. As for me, I never seem to have trouble taking photos of my Beau Baby!

Tim said to call this one: “How about a Coke Zero and a hot dog?”
I would have captioned it: “Everyone at our house drinks Coke Zero!”
Either way, he’s the cutest pooch on our block!

Feast One Hundred & Eighty Nine
May 2, 2008

Appetizer
What was your favorite cartoon when you were a child? Ah, here we go again with having to remember stuff from childhood. I don’t remember much, but I do remember liking “The Jetsons”. I think there was another one, Land Before Time or something, Tim and I have talked about watching that show. I don’t think it was a cartoon though.

Soup
Pretend you are about to get a new pet. Which animal would you pick, and what would you name it? I just got a new pet a year and a half ago! I would get the same, a golden retriever or lab or a mix of the two. I would have to figure out a new name for this one, it took me a while to decide on Beau (short for Beauregard) for our current doggie.

Salad
On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being highest, how much do you enjoy getting all dressed up for a special occasion? Ugh, maybe a 2 or a 3?! 🙂

Main Course
What kind of music do you listen to while you drive? Country usually

Dessert
When was the last time you bought a clock? And in which room did you put it? We bought one last year for our den. Larger than the last one. It took a while to find one we both liked!

Yesterday, my sister Gail was here, and we went shopping all day. We had a great time, and I got a lot of new clothes for spring and summer, a new pair of shoes, a new yellow purse and even some new sunglasses. Woo-hoo, I really racked up! We were both wiped out though, at the end of the day, and so when we came home, we were looking forward to having a bite of something sweet. Especially since I had made a pan of Butterscotch Bars for Gail the night before.

However. When you leave your husband at home alone, unsupervised, this could happen to you:

Yep, he ate them all. Every last one, every last crumb. He said they went really well with coffee. 😀

{In case you can’t read the paper or tell from the picture, there was a sheet of paper in my empty Tupperware container that said “You can’t be looking for cookies… Sincerely, Cookie Monster}