renovate: to restore to a former, better state (as by cleaning, repairing, or rebuilding) - merriam-webster

the house steadily moves forward, not super-fast-like but in a manner in which we're happy with what's getting done. to start, let's take a look at gadgets and products that are topping our favorites list:

pink ceiling paint! this stuff RULES... you can easily see where you've been and don't waste paint going back over places you're unsure of.



double whammy shot: pink ceiling paint and the shop light! thanks to the handy shop light, we could work into the night in rooms in which we'd removed the lighting fixtures... we also used it to figure out which outlets were on which breakers so we could label them.



these paint can lids are a wonderful invention. not only does it make pouring a snap, it's so much less messy than opening and closing the can lid all the time.



dollar store rubber spatula (photo not available)

thanks to this little guy, we're able to scrape cans/trays and save a lot of paint that otherwise would likely be wasted.

one day last weekend (they're all running together), we embarked on the Great Lighting Fixture Caper, which involved multiple trips to Home Depot/Lowe's to hunt down which fixtures we wanted, purchase them, get them home, put them up, decide we didn't like them, take them back, get them home, discover the ceiling fan hangs down too far, take it back, etc. in the end, tired but thankful for Lowe's no-questions-asked return policy, we were very happy with what we got:



one of my FAVORITE fixes... we really liked this fan and the price was right, but the globe was white. those globes over there in the dining room are amber-ish. who cares, right? me. I do. so I started brainstorming how to match them a bit better, took the globe outside, and rubbed dirt on it. boom! behold the designer look! (and if we ever change our minds, it all comes clean with water and a rag):



another fun fix... we found these smaller fans and thought they'd be perfect for the bedrooms (they actually match the initial fan we'd bought for the living room - the problem was that the larger fan couldn't be mounted to hug the ceiling... it would have hung down low enough for a tall person to whack themselves in the head while crossing our living room). anyhoo, these still seemed like a good choice for the bedrooms, apart from the gold/bronze band around the middle. observe:



it just looked a little dated to me, a little saloon-y. I purchased a $1.16 tube of raw umber acrylic paint from Hobby Lobby, tore a corner off of my kitchen sponge, and went to town:



I know it's a tiny thing, but all of our fixtures are starting to look like they live in the same family now.



one of the things I've been doing a LOT of is simple cleaning. weird how much better cleaning something makes it look and smell, and makes you feel. the old linoleum in the kitchen and bathroom was pretty gross, so I gave everything a once-over with the mop and it really did make everything feel better, even just to work in. our hopes for the kitchen are to paint the walls and cabinets, replace the countertop, sink, and refrigerator, notch out and install a dishwasher over there to the left of the sink, and someday replace the stove:



even clean, the floor's not in great shape and portions of it are cracking, as seen in the next photo. underneath it is another layer of older linoleum, and then concrete floor:



we weren't sure what we were going to do about it, then decided to just scrape it all up and paint/seal the concrete like I did in this room way back when:



it's a pretty cost-effective fix for now, until we get the foundation done someday and entertain notions of real tile and whatnot. we'll likely repaint the room above, the kitchen, and the bathroom floor all with a $25 5-gallon bucket of OOPS! paint I picked up the other day.

I continue to find new holes to fill in and sand down in preparation for paining the walls. I'll say it again... our sweet renters never met a nail they didn't want to make out with. :) we also found this busted kitchen drawer that'll need replacing:



I've been prepping, prepping, and prepping for the walls to be painted in the hall, the bedrooms, and the living/dining room this weekend. yesterday's task was to fill in the rest of the cracks/holes, start washing down walls, and remove the baseboards. let me tell you, it was a dusty mess. my little hand broom was worth it's weight in gold to me as I tried to get everything clean and labeled so we can recycle by painting and put them back in the end after the wood floors are done. I also used the hand broom to go around the window and door trim to get everything nice and neat so the people who paint have an easy time. look ma, no baseboards!



what's that? pregnant ladies shouldn't be around all of that dust and whatnot? oh, dear reader, never fret... I'm being as careful as I can, and I work with as many windows open as possible. I LOVE that you can open every window in that house! M and I have missed the open window (most of the ones at 406 have been sealed). see, here's me being thuggy with my mask:



and taking an end-of-day breather with Chino, who seems a bit confused at going between the two houses right now. I like taking him with me to work over there, though - he gets to exhaust himself stalking the yard and sniffing at neighbor dogs through the fence and I get to feel safe and enjoy his quiet company.



today's skeleton of a to-do list:

fold laundry
get my act together
go to yoga
go to Woodfin: finish sanding and wiping down walls, stock the 'fridge with beverages for the weekend, um... I know there's something else.
go to do some voice work later
come back to Woodfin to watch husband install the baby room ceiling fan (he has to anchor it in the attic first).

I can't wait to see some new color on the walls. :) the kitchen and bathroom are going to be pretty big projects, but it's nice to see the easier rooms being transformed already.

-m.y.

maiden soupage, or a gleaming, golden bowl of Positivity

we broke in the Cuisinart with a tasty butternut squash soup!

the ingredients:

1 big butternut squash, and about a half of a medium-sized one (because it was older, and I was concerned the end of it was going a teensy bit soft)
olive oil, for drizzling
2 med white potatoes, peeled and diced
half an onion, diced
3 tbsp butter
3 local carrots, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
vegetable stock
half & half
salt & pepper (we like kosher salt)
green curry paste

I halved and baked the squash (drizzled with olive oil) on a baking sheet at 400 degrees for about 50 minutes. then I let them cool, and M scooped out the seeds and then the flesh. in a big saute pan, I cooked the potato, onion, carrot, celery, and a pinch of salt in the butter until the onions were translucent, and then added about 16oz of vegetable stock. most of the recipes I read called for chicken stock, but we'd just bought a concentrated vegetable stock so that's what went in. *note, I know many people believe that you need to make the stock from scratch for it to really be good, and I won't dispute that the real stuff has tons of flavor, but sometimes you need to cheat and that's where we are.* I added the squash to the pan too, mixed everything together, covered and cooked it for about 40 minutes (until everything was soft), then turned off the burner and went to the movies to see Avatar.

good movie. I cried. see it in 3-D if you can.

I came home and set about spooning my veggie concoction, which had soaked up most of the liquid, into the gleaming, gorgeous food processor:



note for a moment how crowded our countertop is. dear, tiny little kitchen. husband said earlier today that one of his heartfelt wishes is that we don't have to use every spare bit of counterspace as storage in the house on Woodfin. here I am preparing to hit 'GO!':

here are some of the ingredients we used... the half & half somehow missed the picture:

after it was all pureed, which happened in two batches, I ended up adding about 2.5-3 cups of vegetable broth and about 3/4 to a cup of half & half to get it to the consistency I wanted. I added pepper, another good pinch of salt, and about 2 tbsp of the curry paste, for a smidgeon of heat and, um, curry flavor (because I love it). here's what it all looked like in the soup pot... delish, I tell you! and good for your soul!

I had mine in a cup, for I needed to down it quickly and head to my meeting (which was great... it was all about having hope and courage tonight, and being with my family there felt so good):

here I am enjoying the soup I made immensely:

husband added sriracha, goat cheese, and parsley to his bowl, and toasted some bread.

he had seconds, too.

mission accomplished! welcome to the family, Cuisinart food processor, you can stay! I have no idea where we're going to store you.

in other news, we gave our tenants notice today, so the countdown has begun to Woodfin! our renters have been so great, but I'm excited and looking forward to being back in the house and preparing it to be home to our family.

here's a song I love from the latest Mountain Goats record, The Life of the World to Come... M and I have both taken to this album, and J. Darnielle is a fascinating dude. (for a live recording of the song and a glimpse of J.D. in action. click here):

so long, 2009...

in the spirit of seeing 2009 out in style, husband and I had such a fun and relaxing day off yesterday! we slept in and rolled our happy selves out of bed around, oh, nine-thirty/ten-ish, and headed out into the city. *note: sleeping in was made possible by the fact that my head wasn't torn in two by jaw pain. yay, root canal! LOVE you, guy! recovery has been pretty easy, and I've not felt any need to go get the pumped up Tylenol with codeine. praise Him for relief!!* so we went out into the city and took a tour of the YMCA over by the house, because M TOTALLY GOT US MEMBERSHIPS FOR CHRISTMAS. I'm SO stoked, I can't tell you! I got such a good vibe walking around there - there were so many people of different ages and lots of kids, and I'm impressed at the variety of activities and services the Y offers. I used to really enjoy going to the gym, and I've missed it. Plus, they have a lot of low-impact/gentle/water classes that baby and I can do right now, and that makes me happy.

for lunch, we headed to Cleburne Cafeteria and if you've never been before, make it a destination soon! you won't be sorry! we'll go with you! they serve the tastiest, freshest food... it's not cheap, but it's a place with a lot of history and you feel good after you've eaten the food. I told husband after Christmas that I felt like I needed to detox and that I wanted veggies pronto, and my lunch of pinto beans, steamed broccoli, lima beans, macaroni (okay, not a veg, but soooooo good), and half a wheat roll was one of the more delicious things I've put into my mouth lately.

we killed some time walking around Lowe's, and then headed out to a studio so I could do a teensy bit of work. then we went to the Village to see if any after Christmas sales tempted us, but came home with all of our money still in our pockets. we came home, did our budget for January, M whipped up a tasty dinner out of a pretty sparse cupboard - spicy sausage, carrots with cranberries, wheat rolls, and a big bowl of edamame - and we set about watching not one, but TWO movies. Charlie Wilson's War was good - I normally have a thing with Tom Hanks/Julia Roberts-types that can make it difficult for me to watch their movies, namely that I've seen the actor so much I don't believe them in roles anymore so I'm not interested in their stories. but husband said this flick was worth it and that I should see it because it's about Houston and politics and whatnot, and I really did enjoy it a lot. then we watched 500 Days of Summer, which I also thought was pretty good. as Rob at The Movie Store said, it's a movie about love, not a love story. there were some seriously funny moments, and I want all of Zooey Deschanel's clothes. anyway, when the movies were over it was 11p, and we were all, 'wow, it's late! time for bed!' because our internal clocks roll like that now. before I fell asleep I read in our baby journal (gift from Toi!) that our little one is growing toenails right now, and I nodded off reading about my protein needs in a book called Child of Mine - Feeding with Love and Good Sense by Ellyn Satter. the latter book was given to me by a nutritionist for NASA that we go to church with. she hunted down a used expanded edition from the 80's, because she believes this one is the best and it contains a section on nutrition for pregnancy that more recent editions don't. that she recommends the book so highly and wanted me to have it made me feel so good. so far, I really like it - it's do-able, informative, and takes a very common-sense approach to things. one of the major gifts I got for Christmas was a Cuisinart 11-cup food processor, which I hope to use in a myriad of ways (creamy soups for all!) but especially to pulverize food we make ourselves for our little one.

doctor's appointment at 10 this morning. wish us health. I'M growing, so I hope that means we're doing well. tonight we'll ring in 2010... 2009 was challenging in some ways, wonderful in others. thanks for keeping us, God. any resolutions out there, or are you all of the 'I make resolutions all year 'round when necessary and don't relegate it to one hyped-up time of the year'-ilk?

-m.y.

mixer is a-go-go.

for our first experiment, I tackled bread:



preparing to flip the switch... I'm still not sure the dough hook should have been used at this juncture, but it all turned out alright. I'll go ahead and admit I still need to read more of the manual.



about 2-2.5 hrs later...



25 minutes in the oven and voila:




notice how clean the mixer is in the above photo. I love the newlywed phase with gadgets, when you're still all 'oh, it's been dirty for 5 minutes! quick, grab a sponge!'.

since husby was leaving to go work in New Orleans for a few days, I made him dinner of sauteed asparagus, tasty veggie soup, and braided herb bread with butter. the bread came out pretty well - the consistency is good, I think, though I feel it needs a touch of sweetener. maybe next time I'll try adding honey or something. I'll tell you this, though, it's fantastic toasted and smeared with Rondele pub cheese. breakfast of champions!



and just because, here's my sweet boy nestling in the leaves outside:

birthday bounty

this week has bee JAM PACKED with so many wonderful things. seriously, I've had Birthday Week. which is a really lovely thing, because I'll be honest... I don't really have high expectations of such things. years of being single do that to you.

the past four days were actually such a blur that I feel I must consult my planner to remind myself of where I've been:

5 VO sessions
7 clients served
1 audition
1.5 yoga tapes
2 episodes of anime timecoded and written
client billing
studio fees added up and hashed out
garage sale advertised
garage sale prepped for
laundry attacked
house picked up - twice

something most folks don't get to say.. on my thirty-sixth birthday, I voiced a butterfly, a sultry-ish pen, and a rapping mouse. range, people.

I worked hard, but I built in good play time, too. which made the work-time more intense, but I've really tried to guard my fun, people time this week and not let it get trampled by obligations. here's the fun time in photoz, starting with the yummy dinner my husband made for me Monday night to ring in birthday week:



that asparagus was SO GOOD I asked him to make some more.
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm to the maxx.

Tuesday, we met the Bells at Michaelangelo's for birthday dinner (blackened tilapia with crabmeat and mushrooms, flipping awesome):



where I was given this precious, sweet gift:



I was a voracious reader when I was young and enjoyed a lot of series, but this one has always held a special place in my imagination. I was fascinated by these stories and can't wait to revisit them.

after dinner we initiated the Bells into the society of those who frequent The Chocolate Bar:



my father-in-law is totally grooving to the jazz players over in the corner. I embraced the fear and chose the Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake, with real chocolate buttercream frosting and cocoa.



your eyes do not deceive you... the cake slice is as big as my head. even though I shared with everyone, I still took home a chunk of cake. delectable.

on my actual birthday, a day most chock-filled with activity, work, and sitting in traffic, I got to go hang out at church and have precious mental/heart health time... see friends, breathe, knit and get fun knitting accoutrement from my mentor, Mrs. McD, and accept this too-cute cherry serving set and towel from my B2 :



then M took me home and made one of my favorite meals...
eggs benedict, baby.
(if you check out the eggs, you'll note that they look different, because he is perfecting the process and trying different methods of egg cookery. because he's an explorer that way.)




eggs benedict seriously makes me turn into Homer Simpson drooling down his shirt.... aaaaaaaaaaaggghhhhhhhhgggggghhhh, baconyeggyhollandaise...

my husband also got me a really wonderful, luxurious gift:



um, don't mind that jar of bacon grease in the background there... ha! M thinks the mixer looks like the creature in Alien, so we've named her Mother. :) everyone who owns one raves about it, and our imaginations are already wild with all of the things we'll make with this contraption. we do love to cook, so if you haven't been over in awhile for dinner give us a call so we can put this baby to work, because I didn't rearrange our kitchen to make room for her to NOT mix it up!

in short, I'm fairly spoiled, which is evidenced by this post. I haven't even mentioned the sweet cards I received that made me feel so special, and all of the birthday shout-outs on facebook were honestly overwhelming. I'm so very grateful. I know Who every good gift comes from, and sometimes I'm still amazed at the blessing poured out on me, in ways that blow my mind and make me cry.

and now I must go for the icing on the cake of my week, the reason I worked so hard to get all of the laborious things done by this morning - my mom and dad are in town for the rodeo, and after brunching with friends I'm picking up Mom and we're going to hang out with L. Bell, to just be girls and stuff, and tonight I'm hoping to dine with more family. and if I sign off right now, I still have time to run the vacuum.

I multitask.
I productive.
I crazy?
I love.
I make.
I thirty-six!

-m.y.

christmas 2.0... and then some.

before I go further, the first present I got from my husband this year was terribly cool and extremely useful for a girl like me, who likes to carry her camera around in her bag at all times:



this bendy baby tripod, the Gorillapod, is a GREAT gift... for example, it was perfect for taking this studio pic last Tuesday:



and this one of husband and I giving ourselves facials that night:




*snicker.*


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and now, CHRISTMAS 2.0!

we hit Sagemont for their candlelight service Wednesday evening, and then headed over to the Bell's for holiday goodtimes. we had so much fun - here are some of our favorite pics (you can copy them from here, LB, but I'll email 'em to you, too!):







Judging from this pic, one might think I was in need of the loo. nope, just showing off my new footwear, courtesy of Husby (who completely blew my mind this holiday):





at some point during the morning, I opened another gift from M, which turned out to be this amazing little beauty:



I did NOT anticipate getting a new camera, but I'm so thankful for it! most people who know me are aware that I generally always have my camera with me, and my Canon SD400 Digital Elph has definitely been around the block. now, the old Elph has moved into the position of Honorable Backup Snapper while this baby and I are getting to know each other. I'm so glad Husby chose to stay with the Canon... I bought my first Elph about 6 or 7 years ago, I think, and in my opinion their point-and-clicks are just awesome, user-friendly, high-quality cameras. anyhoo, here are more pics shot w/ the new guy:











M making out with his new Hello Saferide LP:



M's brother's face slays me in this pic... hey M, why so sad?!



this was my Christmas dinner that day, and it was flipping awesome! I was in love with everything on my plate:



to recap, First Married Christmas at the Bell's was wonderful. here's to my new family:








*********************


since then, we've been setting up, putting away, and playing with our new things. in the reconfiguration of our media stuffs to accommodate new and fun toys, I got M to hook up my PS2 and had a little round of DDR, which he so obligingly snapped:



yes, I'm wearing reindeer antlers. what, like you don't have a pair?!


********************

and then I got sort of sick. coughing and whatnot. grrrr. when I don't feel good, I generally just want to stay in bed and sleep a lot. M took me out for my favorite chicken and veg soup at The Black Lab:



I really do love their soup.

M also used our Soup Bible we bought the other day at Marshall's to make me a chickpea/bacon/onion soup tonight that was sooo tasty. what did I do when I didn't have a husband to take care of me when I got sick?? oh yeah, Progresso and cable. ;) which is still good, don't get me wrong. I'm just sayin.

m.y.