Bread Pudding with Whiskey Sauce

Before the kids went to the Fall Festival last nigh, they asked me if I wanted shrimp creole (which is what I  get every time I go down there). But, I had made chili when I got home and had already eaten, so I told them to bring me bread pudding with whiskey sauce instead, and what booth to buy it at. (I also had bread pudding at lunch, but that's beside the point!) It was still warm when the kids handed it to me. YUM! It was sooooo good!

I went to the Fall Festival at lunch with some co-workers yesterday. The five of us came from four different locations, so we told everyone where to meet. While we were waiting, I looked over and saw a booth selling cobbler. Superman loves peach cobbler, so I bought some for him. I was going to drop it by his office on the way back to work, but he was too busy, so I told him I'd take it home and he could pick it up later.

As the afternoon wore on, my mind kept wandering to the peach cobbler downstairs in the refrigerator. I gave serious consideration to eating some (or all!) of it, but I didn't. I'd already told him I had bought it for him and knew he was drooling for it. Peach cobbler is to Superman as diamonds are to women. Eating his cobbler would be downright cruel ... akin to telling kids your're taking them to Disneyland and then not going. When he stopped by for dinner last night I told him if I didn't love him so much, he wouldn't be having peach cobbler for dessert!

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

I painted the door a color called "Sweet Tea". I love the color of the door against the brick. Now I need to take the shutters off the house and paint them. We just moved the furniture into the family room last night, which means I'm in the process of putting the family room together ... and I'm painting three screen doors ... one for the front door, one for the back door, and one for the door that leads into the garage, So, the shutters will have to get in line. I'm thinking the garage door will need to be painted "Sweet Tea" as well ... which means I'll need to go back to Home Depot for more paint.

I really hope I don't find something else to paint ... except I'm already thinking the family room walls need painted a soft tan. Why do I do this to myself?!!

Cookout and Bonfire

We had a cookout and bonfire at Superman's last night. His daughters, son-in-laws, and grandkids all came. All my kids and their significant other's came, too ... except Thing 2's fiance, who had to work (sad face). The food was delicious and plentiful, the laughter abundant ... and what evening around the fire is complete without smores?

It was a perfect night for a bonfire and spending time with family. The rain cut the festivities short, but it held off until late, so there was plenty of time for fun ... and it was so much fun! The little kids ran and played and giggled and wore themselves out. I love watching them play ... but even more than that, I love the look of adoration on Superman's face as he watches them. One of the things that made me fall in love with this amazing man is how much he loves and treasures his daughter's ... but those little grandkids of his make his heart burst with joy.

I didn't start taking pictures until after it got dark. By that time, Superman's kids had all gone home, so I missed my opportunity to get pictures of everyone. (Note to Self: Next time, start taking pictures earlier.) It was such a nice evening. These are the moments I'll treasure forever.

My Hanging Skills Are "Adequate"

I hung some pictures of the kids and a ruler I bought to measure grandkid's height in the hallway. Originally bought the ruler as a gift for Thing 3 to measure the height of his new baby (who is almost here!!!), but then (selfishly) decided to keep it for myself to track the height of all my grandkids. I don't have any grandkids yet, but W will be joining us very soon, and I'm sure there will be more to follow ... someday.

When I first hung the ruler, I carefully measured the correct height of the screw placement so that the "inch" marks would line up correctly with "feet". After I hung it, I stood back, admiring my work, and took this picture ... then I looked at it and realized how far off I was. The two-foot mark measured 31" off the floor.

I carefully measured (again) and re-hung it. It's still not quite accurate, but I'm done putting holes in the wall (that I have to patch). Superman can do this kind of thing in his sleep, so it's now on his to-do list. He can rehang the ruler when he fixes Bird Girl's crooked shelf. I should have just waited and let him do it, but I got impatient.

Lesson learned. When placement is critical, I shouldn't hang things!

Bird Girl(s) of Savannah

Big Bird Girl, in her new home.

I love my Bird Girl of Savannah statue. I bought her the second time I went to Savannah while doing research for my first novel, Boomerang. I wanted her the first trip, but she wasn't in the budget. I made sure she was in the budget the second time! She comes in three sizes (15", 24", and 37.5"). I really wanted the big one, but she was too expensive, so I bought the 15". Buying the 15" statue worked out the best, as it allowed me to have her inside, where I could enjoy her all the time.

She has graced the end table, then a shelf in my family room for years. And I loved her! Then in 2012, a branch fell through the roof and rain flooded my kitchen. A raccoon took advantage of the hole and decided to live in my attic. It was super creepy hearing that disgusting animal above my room. I called a critter guy to get the raccoon out, but he couldn't get there until the morning. Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep that night.

The next morning, I dragged my exhausted butt out of bed and discovered that filthy animal had fallen through the rain-soaked drywall of the kitchen ceiling ... then ran a-muck throughout the house until he crawled up the molding and found its way back out. I shuddered when I saw the filthy, dirty, nasty raccoon prints on my pretty white molding. Various items were knocked over in every room downstairs. It looked like a Hollywood movie where the dad is in charge of the kids and the mom comes home to a house that looks like it's been ransacked. Nothing was broken ... except Bird Girl. I was heartbroken. I had the roof and ceiling repaired, but Bird Girl wasn't so lucky.

My sweetie knew how much I loved her and how sick I was that she couldn't be repaired, so he bought me one for our anniversary. It was even sweeter than when he bought me the 37.5" Bird Girl for my garden for my birthday.

Like I did with Chuck, I agonized over where to put big Bird Girl at my new house. I would lie in bed at night, thinking about my new yard and where Bird Girl would look best. (Finding a place for both Bird Girl and Chuck were high on my to-do list!) Then one night, it came to me! Bird Girl would look perfect in the raised plant bed by the lamppost! (Yea, I can sleep now ... except for Chuck ... where will I put Chuck?!)

Both Bird Girls (and Chuck) were in the first load of things I brought to my new house. I weeded the badly overgrown plant bed and put Bird Girl in her new home ... and she looks perfect there. At my old home, she was in the backyard. Although she looked beautiful surrounded by hydrangea's, I couldn't see her from the house. I had to be outside in the backyard to see her. Now, I will see her every time I come home or look out one of the windows at the front of the house. Little Bird Girl was worried about Big Bird Girl, so I put her in the front window where she could see her. Little Bird Girl was quite relieved that Big Bird Girl had indeed came with us and gave me the seal of approval of her new home.

Little Bird Girl, looking at Big Bird Girl out the window.

I knew I wanted my 15" Bird Girl on a shelf in the living room, but hanging the shelf wasn't priority, so she sat in the window, looking out at big Bird Girl until I had her shelf in place. My sweetie came over last night to see how much I've accomplished with the house. I showed him Bird Girl's shelf, and he promptly pointed out the shelf wasn't quite level. Thing 3 readily agreed. I hadn't noticed it until he said something, but he was right ... the shelf isn't quite level. (Poo!) He'll have to fix it ... as well as patch the hole in the wall I made when hanging it. It's not priority, so until then, I'll have to live with a crooked shelf. But, as long as I can see Bird Girl, I'm happy ... crooked shelf and all!

Little Bird Girl on the shelf with my great-aunt Carrie's hand-carved chairs.

Chuck and His Chair Make-Over

Chuck, chilling on the shelf while he waits for his chair.

Long before Beanie Babies took the world by storm, my mother happened upon Boneless Chuck while out shopping. She fell in love with him and bought one for each of us kids. When Thing 1 moved out, one of my sisters found a website where she could buy Chuck and ordered one for her as a house-warming gift. (Yes, he has his own website ... to view it, click here.) I gave her a miniature wicker settee, ottoman, and chair for Chuck. (As you have so astutely observed, we take Chuck very seriously in my family!) Over the years, Chuck has lived in various places throughout my home, but his longest run was in the downstairs bathroom.

The kids and I went to Myrtle Beach one summer, where I happened upon a miniature Adirondack chair lamp. I bought it because it was cute ... and because I thought it looked like the perfect size for Chuck ... and it was! Chuck happily sat in the chair for many years, decorating for each season, but Christmas was his favorite.

Chuck at Christmas

When I bought this house, I had many sleepless nights agonizing over where I was going to put Chuck. When I laid out the kitchen, I originally planned to have a buffet table behind the island in the kitchen, but once we got the island and table in place, I realized the table impeded traffic behind the island. so I went with Plan B and put a corner shelf in the kitchen ... and my days of fretting over Chuck's new digs were over. Granted, I could have put Chuck on the buffet, but I had other plans for the buffet top. Besides, Chuck needed the perfect spot, and the buffet top was not quite perfect.

Next came the task of finding Chuck in one of the boxes someplace in the garage. The boxes were moved first, so they were buried behind all the furniture for the family room and my office. Fortunately I'm hyper-organized, and each box was labeled with the room and contents. It took some maneuvering, but I found the box he was hiding in. (Yea ... I can cross "Find Chuck" off my to-do list!)

Chuck in his "new" chair.

The chair was originally green, which would not work with my kitchen, so I painted it red ... and I think it looks fabulous! My kitchen walls are two shades of gray, and the cabinets are white with black hardware. To give the room some pizzazz, I scattered pops of red here and there. My old kitchen walls were red at the top with white beadboard below. Red worked well in that big, sun-filled kitchen. I toyed with painting the kitchen in this house the same color scheme, but decided to leave the walls as is and just accent the room with red.

Once the chair was dry, I brought it inside and sat Chuck in it. He's pretty laid back, so he wasn't complaining that his new home had no furniture, but he seemed quite pleased when he had his chair back ... and he was thrilled with the make-over. He said it brought out his eyes :)

No, I Don't Have a Stripper Pole in the Basement

That's not stripper pole, it's a support post! I don't know exactly how wide a stripper pole is, but I'm guessing this one is a lot wider, so it would probably be pretty hard to get a good enough grip to do their tricks on. Fortunately, I don't have a lot of stripper friends, so I don't see this as a problem! I'll probably paint it so that it doesn't appear so intrusive, There's a steel I-beam running the width of the house, so I'm not sure why a post was necessary, but I'm not a structural engineer, so I won't be removing it!

I got the second coat of paint on the basement floor yesterday. I had originally planned on using that garage floor paint with the confetti stuff sprinkled on it to give it interest, but I heard it's really, really slick when it gets wet. After reading more reviews, the anti-skid stuff you can buy to add to it only makes it slightly better. I don't want anyone falling, especially my (future) little grandkids, so I decided on Behr deck and concerete paint.

The Behr paint is the consistency of soft-serve ice cream. I chose a light tan, so it really does look like chocolate soft serve. (I'm pretty sure it doesn't taste like it, so I didn't sample it.) It only took about two hours to do the entire basement.

It takes three days to cure completely, so we can't move any furniture down there until this weekend. I will be so happy to finally move furniture down there! There are boxes I need, buried in the garage, and I'll finally be able to get to them. Even though we could technically bring the furniture down Saturday, I'll probably wait until Sunday. I want to make sure it's completely dried and cured all the way through.

I need to get a handrail for the stairs, and we need to insulate and drywall the ceiling. My bedroom is directly above this room, and Thing 2's bedroom is directly about where the TV will be ... and there is NO sound separation. When Thing 3 and his friend put the first coat on the basement the other night, I could hear the sound of the paint roller! Like all basements, the walls are concrete block, so we'll have to drywall the walls as well. And, for some reason, there are only two electrical outlets in the basement, and they are both in the utility room. We'll have to bring some electrical to the other side ... and by "we", I mean Superman!

Superman wanted to build a closet under the stairs, but I'm thinking it would make a cute reading nook ... or a playhouse for the grandkids. I have a little grandson only a few weeks away from making his appearance into the world, and I'll probably granddaughters joining him one day, so I'll have to make it gender neutral. It will be a while before there will be little hands and feet big enough to play in it, so I've got plenty of time to think about the design and color. Won't that be cute?!!

Below are a couple pictures of the "before". Neither show much of the floor, but it shows enough to give you an idea of how awful it looked before it was painted.

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Progress ... Slow, but Sure

Except for the family room in the basement, the house furniture is all in place. I'm still unpacking boxes, and I'm just beginning to hang things on the walls. Although I took a lot of things to the Goodwill before I moved and left a lot of furniture and decor for Thing 1 and her husband at the old house, I'm finding I need to cull things even further.

While large, my closet is still far too small and I have no place to put the hundreds of shoes I own. Getting rid of clothing and shoes I haven't worn in years should clear up the closet and give me plenty of room. That's not a critical task, but since it's raining, I'll probably tackle it today ... after I put another coat of paint on the basement floor.

I decided to paint the basement floor rather than put down carpet or tile. The basement will be the family room ... the kid's domain ... and even though they're adults ... they're messy! And, before I know it, I'll have grandkids needing a place to play where they can't ruin my beautiful hardwood floors. 

I took vacation this week to get things in order. I'm hoping that I can have it completely done before I have to go back to work, but there are some projects that Superman has to do, and he won't have time to do them all (his list is quite large!). Still, by the week's end, I'll have most things unpacked and put away. My garage won't be full of furniture and boxes ... and maybe, just maybe ... we'll finally be able to park in the garage.

Okay ... enough procrastinating ... I'm off to paint put the final coat on the basement floor!

Puppy Patrol

Olivia is now living with Thing 1 and her husband. She loves my son-in-law  ... or any man for that matter. (She's kind of a tramp!) She does not, however, love other animals. She tolerates Louie, because he's a cat, which makes him worthy of the occasional game of tag, but she loathes the dogs.

She particularly despises Roo. He's a giant pit bull, but he has no idea he is a big, mean, pit bull. He's the biggest scaredy-cat I've ever seen! If Roo comes anywhere near her, she slaps him. Though afraid of her, Roo occasionally tries to make friends ... or inadvertently gets within arms reach of her ... which results in a dozen or so slaps across the face fired off so quickly you almost need to record them and play them back in slow motion to see them! Luckily for Olivia, Roo seldom gives her time time of day. Half the time, he's oblivious to the fact that she's even in the room.

Gus, the puppy, is an entirely different story. When Gus first joined the family, Olivia wasn't living there. Roo was terrified of him and Louie had no idea what it was. Gus's persistence eventually won them over. Gus follows Roo around and does whatever Roo does. When they play, Roo is very gentle ... even when it's obvious to everyone but Gus that Roo doesn't want to play. Louie and Gus soon became fast friends, too, playing tag, wrestling, and running across the room tackling each other.

When Olivia made her first appearance, she quickly let Roo and Louie know she was the boss and they were to do as she said. Roo is afraid of her, so he was okay with leaving her alone ... but Louie loves Olivia, so her "hands off" policy hurt deeply. Gus, being a puppy and unaware of the pecking order, saw Olivia as a new playmate. He often tried to get her to play, running across the room to tackle her. Olivia immediately began slapping Gus silly.

Louie was crying because Olivia doesn't love him, Gus was crying because Olivia is slapping him, and Roo was crying because Olivia was being mean to Gus!

Olivia looks for the highest ground she can get to, but will settle for something out of reach of the puppy. Boxes stacked for the move give Olivia some peace of mind, but she still patrols from the top of the boxes like a policeman in a watchtower to make sure Gus doesn't ambush her. Gus is a chowini ... half chihuahua/half weiner dog. He's about six inches tall and two feet long. The fact that he is physically incapable of jumping up on the boxes has not occurred to her ... so she slinks along the boxes edge, keeping her eye on the "Gusnado" lurking just below.

Thing 1 and her husband moved their things into my current house a few days ago. I still have things here, so it's a bit of chaos at the moment, but Olivia is in heaven! Having lived here for years, she knows the house well. She knows the best places to nap and to hide when she needs to get away ... and let's face it ... with Gus around, she needs a place to hide!

Dibs!

Louie is laying on the arm of the love seat and calling dibs on the arm of the sofa. Fortunately for Thing 1, she doesn't often perch on the arms of the furniture, because apparently ... they're off limits today.