Reach For The Ceiling!

This is where I am spending all of my time right now!



No! It's NOT fun!

We realized that Home Depot was our friend when we just couldn't hop up on the ladder and reach our 22' ceiling. They rent scaffolding. YAY!

AND, it was only $71.00 for a week! You can't beat that!

Now, I am off to Lowe's to buy two more gallons of paint, because the six we already had isn't going to be enough!

Feeling A Little Woozie!

A while back, Mr. Mister and I were sitting and enjoying a glass or two (OK! A bottle or two!) of wine at Hidden Lake Winery, when we saw a lady with something wrapped around her wine glass.



I stopped by her table to ask her what it was. She replied that it was a "Woozie."



You know, like a Koozie for your beer cans. But, it's made for your wine glass. I thought it was hilarious, and told Mr. Mister that I wanted one!

We checked inside the winery, but they didn't sell them. Of course, I found something else I thought was so stinkin' cute, that I just "had" to buy four of them. (You know I couldn't pass up the buy four save more deal!) LOL!

They are flip flop coasters!



Well, a couple of weeks later, we went to a wine tasting at Olivia's with the neighbors, and I was so excited when I saw that they were selling the Woozies in their store. In a FOUR pack! YAY! Now, I don't have to get Woozie all by myself! LOL!



After bringing my new treasures home, and placing them on the counter next to my previously purchased flip flop coasters, I noticed that the colors matched. So, now our wine glasses are totally making a fashion statement!



Aren't we just about the coolest, hippest people you know? LOL!

OK! I have to get back to painting the ceiling, which is definitely not as fun as drinking wine.

Honey? Is the Moscato d'Asti chilling in the refrigerator?

I promise not to drink while I'm up on the scaffolding!

It's SOUP time!

YEAH! It's time to for a big pot of soup to be simmering on the stove! It's rainy and a little bit chilly today, so we have decided to have some Spicy Sausage Lentil Soup tonight. We first tried this soup at Carrabba's restaurant, and LOVED it! Once we got home, I looked online and found a "clone" recipe.

We are heading out to the store to get all of the ingredients to make it. There are a lot, but it is so worth the effort.

Of course, we will have fresh warm bread to go with it! YUM! I am drooling just thinking about it!

I am going to eat fruit & vegetables for lunch so that I can save most of my Weight Watcher's points for dinner tonight! Then, I am going to get my NOM NOM NOM NOM on! LOL!

Here is the recipe if you want to have soup tonight too. (Recipe is from Food.com)

Carrabba's Spicy Sausage Lentil Soup - Clone

Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup onions, chopped
3/4 cup carrots, grated
1 garlic cloves, minced
1 lb Italian sausage, spicy hot and in bulk
1/2 cup ham, diced
7 cups water
5 cups chicken broth
1 lb lentils, rinsed and picked over
1 tomatoes, diced
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 tablespoon fresh basil, minced
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, minced
2 bay leaves
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
Directions
Heat olive oil in large soup pot. Add onion, carrot, garlic, and sausage to the pot, Saute for 8 minutes, stirring often. Break up the sausage into small bits as it cooks.
Add ham and cook for an additional minute.
Add the remaining ingredients to the pot, bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 1 hour.

Happy Soup Eating!

A Summer Full Of Projects!

So, I still haven't made any of those delicious looking cupcakes mentioned in my last post. (YES! That was almost five months ago!) Summer is almost over, and I have been to several BBQ's. (We even hosted the 4th of July BBQ at our house.) But, NO YUMMY CUPCAKES were made!

However, I did make other things that were equally fattening, and had the taste buds groaning with pleasure! LOL!

Of course, I can't eat any of those things now, because I have started Weight Watchers for the hundred millionth time. It's a viscous cycle I tell ya! VISCOUS!

We have been super busy with projects around the house this summer.

Things like:

Digging huge holes in our back yard so that we could have a concrete pad poured.



Mr. Mister REALLY enjoyed that part! ME? NOT SO MUCH!



This is about when I started panicking! What in the world were we thinking? We will never have a semi-normal ugly backyard again! It was CHAOS! And, Mr. Mister was having a REALLY REALLY good time digging in the dirt.



He didn't even stop to get me a paper bag to hyperventilate into! The PUNK!

Obviously, I survived. And the backyard has improved immensely. We are still tweaking things to get it the way we want it. But, there is now a 13' X 27' concrete pad sitting in that area.

We also had to re-stain the deck because it looked horrible.



It's pretty much the same color, but looks A LOT better now. We bought some new furniture, and a really cool gazebo to provide some MUCH needed shade, and absolutely LOVE sitting out there now.





Especially, at night, when the candles on the chandelier are lit!

(Picture of gazebo and chandelier are from the internet.)


We took down the railings on the front porch to make it feel more open.





We also replaced our old, decrepit mailbox.



But, that's not all. When Mr. Mister went out of town I painted our bathroom, and the fireplace. (YES! I painted the ugly brick! I can hear the gasps of horror from all of the painted brick haters! LOL!) It sure doesn't look like this anymore.



Of course, after I painted the fireplace white, that led to changing the paint color in the living room, halls, and going up the stairs. Which then led to having to paint the mirror above the fire place. Now, all of the decor items need to be redone as well! It's the snowball effect! TOTALLY! All because we wanted things to be more "light and airy!"

I am beginning to think "light and airy" is seriously overrated! LOL! Just Kidding! We are actually loving the way things are turning out. As we work our way through the rest of these projects, I will take some pictures to show you.

Until then, I think I will go back to the wineries and B&B we visited, because I need another vacation!