The BBQ was fun, it was nice to see all the people that I haven't seen in a long time. Unfortunately, most of the people I invited had conflicts, but our mutual friends were there. We probably had 15 or so people over, it felt nice to use our deck and patio set. We were unsure if we should lock the cats in the basement or trust that people would read the 'Please keep our kitties inside, keep door shut' signs. We left them upstairs and people were very respectful and made an effort to keep the door closed.
I made the phyllo pizza with mozzerella and cherry tomatoes from the latest issue of Bon Appetit. It was quite a hit, not a single piece left by the time that M went to grab a slice. I don't relish working with phyllo so I grabbed the package that said 'extra thick' slices and it went remarkably smoothly. The recipe is fairly easy, which is not my typical impression after attempting to make something from that mag. It was so easy that I don't need the recipe to make it again.
We have more chips in our cupboard than a vending machine right now, I have never had this many bags in my house ever. We have tons of ground beef left over, I'm planning on making spaghetti sauce and freezing it into meal size portions so that after the craziness of life with the baby sets in, we can just pull a container out and have instant dinner.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Friday, June 25, 2010
Nesting or Cleaning?
People ask me if I'm nesting, honestly I don't think I am. I'm catching up on all the things I've neglected because of school. Today was a banner day....we have the BBQ coming up this weekend and there was lots to be done, especially with everything still sitting in our bedroom from when the flooring was laid.
My accomplishments for the day:
5 loads of laundry mostly due to destruction of 'the mound' on M's side of the room
Swept steps
Reorganized my closet
Rearranged dining room for party
Put out some of the plates/utensils for the party
Added some things to the hospital bag pile
Studied
Ran to the library to donate books
Put away pillows and extra blankets
Put pictures in office that are going up on the walls
Stored empty picture frames
Accomplishments earlier this week:
Placed all the books back on the book shelf, now located in the office instead of our bedroom!
Moved printer back to office
Partially organized desk
My accomplishments for the day:
5 loads of laundry mostly due to destruction of 'the mound' on M's side of the room
Swept steps
Reorganized my closet
Rearranged dining room for party
Put out some of the plates/utensils for the party
Added some things to the hospital bag pile
Studied
Ran to the library to donate books
Put away pillows and extra blankets
Put pictures in office that are going up on the walls
Stored empty picture frames
Accomplishments earlier this week:
Placed all the books back on the book shelf, now located in the office instead of our bedroom!
Moved printer back to office
Partially organized desk
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Post Grad School/Pre Baby BBQ
M and I are hosting a BBQ at our house this weekend. I have sequestered myself away from most of my friends for the last year to finish up the hell that was/is/forever shall be called grad school and would like to see them before Baby Y makes her debut. As a result, I convinced M that we needed to host a BBQ, some of friends haven't even seen the new house yet.
At the time I planned the BBQ, I was thinking that most of my studying for the boards would be done, and in reality it probably is. I have done just about 4000 test questions and read about 4 review books in addition to listening to review cds (over and over and over). I apparently didn't recall the feeling I had before NCLEX when I was planning a day of frivolity; that I could never amass all of this knowledge before the test and that there was always more studying that could or should be done. But alas, the party will go on and it will be a nice forced study break. I'm on information over load right now and can't think about fixed S2s or DRSP risk anymore. I wake up asking myself questions about the appropriate time to screen a DM1 vs a DM2 for microalbuminuria (5 years vs at dx) and I'm really looking forward to the test being done.
Anyway, I got sidetracked there. Tomorrow I will need to spend most of the day cleaning and reorganizing the rooms upstairs to make it moderately eye appealing for our party guests. I have most of the supplies but forgot a few things (ice, hotdog buns, relish). We asked people to bring their beverage of choice and a dish to share, we're supplying the meat and then I'm making a Mediterranean pizza I found in the latest edition of Bon Apetit (made with phyllo dough to test my patience).
I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone and being able to enjoy our deck, patio set, and back yard. And no studying for an entire day!
At the time I planned the BBQ, I was thinking that most of my studying for the boards would be done, and in reality it probably is. I have done just about 4000 test questions and read about 4 review books in addition to listening to review cds (over and over and over). I apparently didn't recall the feeling I had before NCLEX when I was planning a day of frivolity; that I could never amass all of this knowledge before the test and that there was always more studying that could or should be done. But alas, the party will go on and it will be a nice forced study break. I'm on information over load right now and can't think about fixed S2s or DRSP risk anymore. I wake up asking myself questions about the appropriate time to screen a DM1 vs a DM2 for microalbuminuria (5 years vs at dx) and I'm really looking forward to the test being done.
Anyway, I got sidetracked there. Tomorrow I will need to spend most of the day cleaning and reorganizing the rooms upstairs to make it moderately eye appealing for our party guests. I have most of the supplies but forgot a few things (ice, hotdog buns, relish). We asked people to bring their beverage of choice and a dish to share, we're supplying the meat and then I'm making a Mediterranean pizza I found in the latest edition of Bon Apetit (made with phyllo dough to test my patience).
I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone and being able to enjoy our deck, patio set, and back yard. And no studying for an entire day!
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
No More Plywood!
Our contractor done us good...he laid all of the flooring in one day and we are ever so grateful! Here are the before and afters for the baby's room....
Here are the before and afters for the office.
Incidentally, contractor #1 did end up calling us back after he dropped off the long awaited quote and we didn't call back. He wanted to know if someone had undercut him and M told him that wasn't the issue, the problem we had was the huge delay in getting the quote. If I'm not mistaken, it took us less than a month to talk to #2, sign the contract, order the wood, and have it installed. It took the same time frame to get the quote from #1.
We are also using #2 to replace our basement door and look at some siding issues on the back of the house. We're just waiting for our door to come in. I'm much less enthusiastic about that and so glad the flooring was done first. I swiffered the walls today in the baby's room and the office, next up is the hallway. Then I'll clean off the baseboards (we're talking loads of sawdust people), and then finally clean the floor and we can start to reorganize and move things back in.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Lip Gloss/Stick/Tube Things
I have a small obsession with these lip gloss/tubes/hint of color/is it lipstick or lip gloss things....I have now tried a bounty of them and thought I would give you my opinion in case you too, spend way too much money on these little buggers and want the low down so you can cut to the chase. It's getting to be a 'perfect pair of jeans' situation over here....
L'Oreal-I tried to go to their site to find the exact name of the product but there site is not really to show off their products...it's more corporate-y. On that note, did you know that they own Maybelline, Lancome, Giorgio Armani, Kiehl's, and Shu Umera? Anyway, you get what you pay for with their version. It was probably $5-6 dollars and the most sticky concoction ever. Careful on a windy day with this stuff, it is like a venus fly trap to your hair. And really watch out if you have shedding cats. It's not pretty
Lancome Juicy Tubes-I got this duty free while crossing the border from Canada back to the US so I got somewhat of a deal on it. Definitely less sticky than L'Oreal but still has some stick factor. It has a nice tint to it, not too splotchy and not too nonexistent either. Sometimes I feel like things say they are 'tinted' and not so much.
Nars Lip Gloss-I was a huge fan of the potted lip gloss but that whole idea is just so unhygenic....why would you want to stick your finger (into a very sticky substance I might add) and then put it on your lips. I would prefer the help of a lip wand thank you very much. I still have some of the potted lip gloss but the sticker with the shade listed on it has long worn off so I found myself at Sephora this weekend looking for the closest thing...I tried one and unfortunately here is where I disagree with the term tint. I can't recall which color I got off the top of my head, but it's very glossy with little color. The good news about this one is that it is not very sticky at all. Just wish it didn't look clear.
Clinique Lip Gloss-I was drawn to this one because the color looked so dark in the tube but I was assured by the sign that it looked great on any lip tone. Call me a sucker. This one goes on rather splotchy, you have to really smack your lips together to get the color to even out and by the time you're done doing that, the richness of the color seems to have dissapated. The bonus? It's the most non sticky one of the bunch! Price wise it was the second cheapest. Perhaps I will revisit my local Sephora and try another color.....I try to have a rule that I have to wait to buy new lipstick until one has been used up, this rationale doesn't always work....
L'Oreal-I tried to go to their site to find the exact name of the product but there site is not really to show off their products...it's more corporate-y. On that note, did you know that they own Maybelline, Lancome, Giorgio Armani, Kiehl's, and Shu Umera? Anyway, you get what you pay for with their version. It was probably $5-6 dollars and the most sticky concoction ever. Careful on a windy day with this stuff, it is like a venus fly trap to your hair. And really watch out if you have shedding cats. It's not pretty
Lancome Juicy Tubes-I got this duty free while crossing the border from Canada back to the US so I got somewhat of a deal on it. Definitely less sticky than L'Oreal but still has some stick factor. It has a nice tint to it, not too splotchy and not too nonexistent either. Sometimes I feel like things say they are 'tinted' and not so much.
Nars Lip Gloss-I was a huge fan of the potted lip gloss but that whole idea is just so unhygenic....why would you want to stick your finger (into a very sticky substance I might add) and then put it on your lips. I would prefer the help of a lip wand thank you very much. I still have some of the potted lip gloss but the sticker with the shade listed on it has long worn off so I found myself at Sephora this weekend looking for the closest thing...I tried one and unfortunately here is where I disagree with the term tint. I can't recall which color I got off the top of my head, but it's very glossy with little color. The good news about this one is that it is not very sticky at all. Just wish it didn't look clear.
Clinique Lip Gloss-I was drawn to this one because the color looked so dark in the tube but I was assured by the sign that it looked great on any lip tone. Call me a sucker. This one goes on rather splotchy, you have to really smack your lips together to get the color to even out and by the time you're done doing that, the richness of the color seems to have dissapated. The bonus? It's the most non sticky one of the bunch! Price wise it was the second cheapest. Perhaps I will revisit my local Sephora and try another color.....I try to have a rule that I have to wait to buy new lipstick until one has been used up, this rationale doesn't always work....
Friday, June 11, 2010
Les Fleurs
A few weekends ago we finally made time to get our hanging plants and shade plants for the side of the house. The bottom picks are on the side of the house where the sun don't shine...so M wanted to create various beds with shade plants. This is the attempt at the first bed, we are entertaining the idea of doing some edging at some point but we'll probably save that until all of the beds are planted, with our luck Home Depot will discontinue whatever we start with. M could tell you the names of all the plants, but aside from knowin that there is a fern or two in there I'm clueless. Enjoy the pics.
Flooring in a Fortnight
It ain't pretty......but this is the last time you'll have to see it. Tomorrow (finally) the flooring is being installed. This is the sad state of affairs on the second floor of the Y residence post carpet removal. The two spare bedrooms have been carpet (and stuff) free for the past two months (we didn't think it would take this long to get going with a contractor but I'm sure you knew that from my previous posts) but M left the hallway carpet down till today. Not pleasant on the tootsies!
I'll most certainly post the after pics, after these eye sores I'm sure they will be the apple of your eye. Yellow is the baby's room and red is the office.
I'll most certainly post the after pics, after these eye sores I'm sure they will be the apple of your eye. Yellow is the baby's room and red is the office.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)