Polaroids

I have taken a few good pics with my little polaroid. (on Amazon)

 Here are a few.

Above is the very first photo we took with this camera. Weird thing sticking out of my head...that's the light fixture.

Me and my best friend in Sarasota, FL!

And the pink 'vespa'. I wish I had a real Vespa...

EGGNOG CHEESECAKES WITH DULCE DE LECHE

EGGNOG CHEESECAKES WITH DULCE DE LECHE
I found this recipe today and thought it sounded delicious! Personal cheesecake made with eggnog? What's not to love?

Sushi

I have had the urge to make my own sushi for some time now. I have looked at everything online (Amazon mostly) for all the ingredients and read blogs and websites on how to make it.
So, Saturday we were at Culinary District and found out they had EVERYTHING we needed to make spicy tuna rolls! We got it and went home to experiment. Let me tell you, it is not as easy as they make it look.
First of all, use a rice cooker, even if you have to make 2 batches or more in it. It is well worth it. I cooked mine on the stove Saturday and without really knowing how long it should cook, I over-cooked it and it was a bad texture for sushi.
Today, second try: Success! We used the rice cooker and my little one will make enough for 2 rolls. Perfect.
I made the spicy tuna and sliced avocado, added crunchy and some sesame seeds and rolled it! Delicious!
A picture from tonight. (No you don't want to see what we made on Saturday. It takes rolling a few to get the hang of it. And key: don't use too much rice.) I am very proud of it!

BorrowLenses.com Giveaway!

There is an amazing BorrowLenses giveaway this weekend through ColorInc and Printlife. Check it out here.

It is Autumn

I love this photo from Creature Comforts. It has everything an Autumn photo should.

They know how to have fun!

_MG_2364
Originally uploaded by geneoh

I love the lighting and the fun these 2 are having! I need a 2 seater (and some raybans)!

Surfer

Surfer
Originally uploaded by oshngrl

This is one of the good surfer pics I grabbed while in Cali. There were some good waves this day.

hotness

Air Conditioned
Originally uploaded by Thomas Hawk
It is Monday. We made it through another weekend. Whew!
Wait...what? Isn't that usually the other way around? Make it through the week and happy for the weekend?
Yes. But not this weekend.
The problem began when our A/C went out Saturday. It was just down-right hot! Apparently we should have stayed at the Bel Air. They have air conditioning.
Since we couldn't get anyone out on the weekend to look at it we get the bright idea to buy a window unit in the meantime to cool the house. That would be a brilliant idea if there were any A/C units available in AR!
We ran into a co-worker and his friend that works at a Lowes and he said last year there was a surplus because it didn't get so hot. This year they were not prepared, so they ran out of A/C units. of course. Since I want one this year there aren't any. How does that happen? Can you not reorder some? Late delivery?
Anyway, we couldn't find one at any store here, so we resorted to calling coworkers and friends to see if we could perhaps borrow one. A couple of calls revealed that a friend of a coworker had JUST decided to get rid of a small unit (which we bought) and we could borrow one from another coworker. Thank heavens!
By the time we returned home with the loot it was 9pm and 90 degrees in the house. Once we plugged them in and turned them on it slowly began to cool. We went to bed really late because it was just too hot to sleep. Sunday we overslept (thanks iHome! Can't you read my mind? I want an alarm even if I turned you off the day before) and woke up at 11am feeling as if I had been beat. It was all I could do to get out of bed. I finally made it out and decided the house needed some TLC or I was going to burn it down. The little messes were driving me crazy.
So it was a long, hot weekend and I am glad to go back to work Monday morning. How was yours?

Citroen

Citroen
Originally uploaded by Foide

I wish I could drive this. I like it.

500 Days of Summer

I came across this video today and it put me in a good mood. Thought I would share. Happy Tuesday!

 

The joys of owning your own house

Hello friends! Hope your weekend went well.
Mine did not. It was stinkin' hot and humid and we had a fiasco. 
First of all, our a/c has not been working right (as in when we get home from work it is 88degrees in the house and it will cool to 78degrees by 11pm) and freezing up, etc for months. So I was able to get someone to come and look at it. They cleaned the outside unit, added more freon to allow it to cool. They also told me that I needed to rebuild the wall that used to be between the a/c unit and the water heater. Ok. THANK YOU so much! I am not sitting in the house sweating now.

Problem is, once we got the a/c fixed, our water heater went out (the very next day). I had someone come look at it too, and they confirmed it was the water heater leaking, not the recently fixed a/c unit (thank goodness).
So now we have to find a new water heater (cheapest is at Lowes) and get it home (how do you do that in a car?). We were lucky enough to have lots of help for this one. We got a 10% off coupon from my husband's boss for Lowes. We were also able to talk to people and get a piece of sheetrock for the new little wall and borrowed a truck. We got the new water heater home, tried to drain the old one and found out that was not as easy as it should have been. It took a while with trial and error. Then we dried up the floors and stuck a fan in there to dry out the sheetrock walls so they won't mold on us. We thought everything was going good, so we called to ask friends if we could shower at their house since we were done for the night. Once we got back home we checked again and one of the copper pipes was draining water...still...on the floor. Great. How do we make THAT pipe quit draining water? The water to the house is turned off! We tried hooking the hose up to it, tried sealing it...all to no avail. Finally hubby was able to poke a stick in it to make it quit. Mostly. Sometimes the most basic of fixes are the ones that work.
We went to bed (after needing another shower and not getting one) at 1:30 am.
We woke up the next day hoping to find a dry floor and walls so we could install the new water heater and be done. Problem is we didn't get the new plastic drain pipe to replace the one we broke taking it out, so we had to make another trip to Lowes. This time we got everything. Get home and install the new water heater, turn on the water and a faucet and let the thing fill up. Then we flip the breaker back on for the water heater. WE HAVE HOT WATER! Yah! Everything looks good. I start cleaning the kitchen, running the dishwasher, washing dishes by hand...hubby starts working on the yard. We get cleaned up and ready for bed and we check it out once more before calling it good. We see that the top connectors that we are not using are leaking now. Sheesh! And to top it off, we have to go buy a tool to tighten it, because we don't have that particular one needed (previous note that we had everything we needed: scratch from the records). Thanks Whirlpool.
I can now say that we have cool air and hot water. It took a lot of sweat and frustration, but we got it.
Hope your week goes well!

Monday Musings

As with many people, I am always trying to lose weight. Recently I found this site for weight loss called SparkPeople. It is a big community and there are recipes too. I joined (for free) and setup my goals and started  tracking my food and exercise. Looks like they have some good recipes I will have to try.
I am sure there are lots of features that I haven't found yet, but they do have an iPhone/iTouch App for it. Check it out.

A recent picture

Terry_FL2010 (372)
Originally uploaded by oshngrl

This is a recent picture Terry took of us in FL! I love it and edited it some.

Rhubarb

stewing rhubarb
Originally uploaded by cannelle-vanille

This looks cool and refreshing for a hot summer day.

First Day of Summer

Summer
Originally uploaded by Cuba Gallery - www.cubagallery.co.nz

Yesterday was the first day of summer and the high was 100 degrees F to welcome us. Today...second day of summer...101 degrees. Let's not continue this trend. I could stand some 80 degree weather for a while. I really miss the FL beach!

Jump!

IMG_1471
Originally uploaded by oshngrl

Doesn't this just make you happy? Wish I was still there.

Larry the Whale

How cool would this be to be so close to a whale!!!

Beach

IMG_1394
Originally uploaded by oshngrl

This is one of the pictures I took this last weekend in FL. We had a great time and I honestly didn't want to leave. I LOVE the beach!

listener

listener
Originally uploaded by girlhula

Abi, this is for you. It's the mustache man! Apparently he is a good listener and coming to a city near us. Oh, and he is awesome.

Sundays

first shot
Originally uploaded by girlhula

Sundays are designed to be slow days that you can rest from the week of activity and prepare for the coming week. As of late I have not had those relaxing Sundays. I want to be in this picture. It feels like a relaxing Sunday, no? I need a Sunday that feels like this. Next Sunday? Hopefully...because I will be on vacation in FL! Happy, relaxing, sunny beach next Sunday!

Etsy Treasury

I was surfing the net looking for some amazing finds to get for our trip to FL at the end of the month when I stumbled upon a few great treasury posts on Etsy.
Take a look.

i wanna wanna:

Paris in the springtime:

beach weather:

Typewriters

This is a link to how a 1950's TV and an old typewriter became a computer. Check it out.

Lost Things

I love this video and thought I would share it with you. I hope you enjoy it!

Virtual Tea Party

My sister in CA had a tea party and invited me virtually since I could not actually attend. Here are a few pics of my mini tea party.  Theirs was much more grand and decorated- it was an Alice In Wonderland tea party- so you can imagine all the wonderful things they had!

 I made my hat. I love it. The Black Forest Cupcakes are from Ambrosia Bakery.

Dreaming

Kayak
Originally uploaded by oshngrl

I am dreaming of kayaking again. It is that time of year. Not too hot, not too cold. I am thinking we should go camping and kayak and hike. Doesn't that sound good?

Peacocks

Wreath from Pier 1

 

I am in love with peacock feathers right now, and apparently so is everyone else. I love this curtain panel from Pier 1 and these plates from Anthropologie:

E

Earrings above from Lucky Brand

or these from Amazon:

S

Shoes from Endless

H

Headband from Lucky Brand

Boots from Target

Italian Charm Bracelet from Amazon

L

Lamp from Lamps Plus

For those of us going to a spring tea party- consider these finds from Etsy:

here

h

here

here

here

Girl Scout Cookies

I was surfing the blogworld today and found some yummy Girl Scout recipes from Baking Bites.  Girl Scout cookies are so yummy I am tempted to try and make them myself.  Let me know if you do and what you think!

Samoa
Thin Mint
Do-si-dos
Tagalongs

Finger Puppets

I found this cute shop on Etsy. sweetbestiary on Etsy
You should check them out! They make finger puppets! I can have so much fun with finger puppets.

 

 

More Snow

You heard right. More snow. We were still trying to get the deck cleaned from the ice/snow we got on Monday and the roof decided to dump on the deck and block entry to the house which really made us work to get in yesterday AND today. Maybe we will be snowed in tomorrow! One can hope...
I am ready for this week to be over.

 

This was after the snow Monday

 

  

Me and Six while it was actually snowing!

 

This is the porch tonight.

We need a deck shovel.

Do they sell those at Walmart?

Oh, I forgot- I am boycotting Walmart.

Does Sam's have a deck shovel?

My sweet little kitty

Our cat's name is Six. She is just the cutest thing- don't you think? I took this while she was outside in the snow last week. Have a wonderful weekend!