Yoo-hoo?

You know, I wasn't kidding when I asked you a few posts ago what your favorite book growing up was.

For reals, I want to know.

I'm really enjoying James and the Giant Peach.  I've been taking it slow since it's really quite a tiny book, but very inventive and surprisingly educational.  I'm learning about garden bugs. :D 

Pump-it-up

I've come to the conclusion that trainers are horrible for your self-esteem.  Since we're winding down to the end of our 8 week train-a-thon, we had "that talk" about where we were aiming after the challenge and where our trainer would like to see us.

I would have thought I could go with another 10, but she pulled out 20.  20?  I wanted to cry.  Just this past 10 has been painfully slow to get off.  I mean I'm going to the gym 6+ hours a week and eating so clean my intestines could pass a white glove test.  It has taken me 2 months just to lose 6-8 pounds!  At this rate, it would take me 6 months to get where she wants me.  It's super frustrating because I can't loose weight quickly anymore.  One summer I lost 30 pounds in 3 months.  Amazing.  Why can't it come off like that anymore? (Because you're losing much more realisticly and healthy this time, dumb-dumb). Grumbles.

I think it would take 2 hours of cardio and weights a day, for 6 days a week to get me there at a regular pace.  Can you say frustrating?  Who has time for that?  I barely have time to sleep, or see people as it is!

Grumbles...part of me wants to just say f-you lady, I'm eating this whole chocolate cake.  The other part of me really wants to do it.  Le sigh. 

If you need me, I guess I'll be at the gym.  We do have a weigh-in tonight...yay? Not so much

You Capture: Autumn

Whoa buddy it has been a while since I have done one of these. It has also been a while since I've picked up my camera.

These aren't very brilliant, but they did cause me to set something funny on the nikon and have to try to reset it. No idea what I did but everything came out over-exposed except for what I took before I killed my camera...obviously.

Anywho, I hope that you're ready for some good ole' turkey day coming up. We're protesting Halloween this year. Why? Because I don't want any candy laying around the house for months until we finish it. My holiday plight this year is how in the world to have a healthy holiday season, but that's another quandary for another day.

My welcome brigade.

Such pretty colors.  They make me miss the mountains.

Ok, you caught me, I really just needed to nap on the deck.

I've really been enjoying the beautiful weather we've been having.  It was about 80 today, which doesn't seem like fall at all.  I say that now, and watch it drop to the 30's tomorrow.

I apologize in advance.

Next week the challenge is Halloween and/or silence.

Literary Days

Well you'll be proud of me, Monday I went to the library across the street from where I work and signed up for a library card.  I'm pretty stoked since they also rent e-books.  I do have a library card in my home county, but they are always closed whenever I have the time to go.  It's very inconvenient.

I swear that it always seems like I have the reading level of a 5th grader when I check out books.  For instance, this trip I checked out: James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Matilda.  Noticing the theme?  They're all Roald Dahl books and they're also on my BBC reading countdown.  I'm pretty stoked since Matilda (the movie) was one of my favorite stories growing up.  Apparently is was the honey's favorite too.  I never read the book though, so I'm excited to see if it's different/better.

I love childrens and young adult books!  I really believe that the books you read while you're younger really effect the person you become.  I also think they can teach adults some important lessons we maybe forgot along the way.  Plus, it keeps me young.  I always imgine how the books would sound if they were read out loud to little tiny ones and that makes me happy.

So what was your favorite kids book, and why?  I think mine was The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis.  I loved it because of Lucy's kind heart, Peter's courage, Susan's strength, and Edmund's ability to change.

Surprise: Ms. Domestique Headquarters

So check out your surprise: the new Ms. Domestique headquarters!



Every office needs a demanding overlord. 
Miss Penelope is mine.


I told you that I was a busy beaver this weekend, so I hope you like the fruits of my labor! I spent most of the weekend trying to do something with my third bedroom. I decided to go with someplace that I can do hobbies and crafts. Since this blog is a major hobbie, I needed a place to put my computer to make it a little more comfortable. I had been doing all my photo editing in our kitchen...ew. Since I would also like to get better with my camera, I wanted a place that I could work.

I also wanted to spend as little money as I possibly could. I spent about $70 on this entire room because I had most of the stuff tucked away in boxes.

The desk was an attachment I got at Ikea for $50 that fit onto a bookshelf I was using as a tv stand.  These shelves are great because they can got vertical or horizontal and I know that I can definitely use this again if I have to take apart this room.  Since I stole the tv stand I did have to buy the honey a new media stand, which Ikea readily supplied for quite a bit of dough.

The vintage-y blue chair was $20.

The paint was left over from when I painted our bedroom.  I had to combine the two grays since I was low on both colors.  The combination looks exactly the same as my room.  The awesome flowers were something I picked up before I left college that have just been sititng in a closet.  The curtains used to be in our bedroom as well, and the chair was a gift from my first Pier 1 store that doesn't match anything in the house.  I still love it.

Most of the stuff in here are things that don't really match the rest of the house or that are personal to me and not to Mr. S.  In the rest of the house, I've been trying to use things that are more "us."  However, the honey has his office and now I have mine.  We've found that it's important to have our own space to work.  My hippie music does not blend well with zombie killing. :)

Anyway, what do you think? Not bad for something I threw together in a day and a half, eh?

OCD Tendencies

I have been such a busy beaver this weekend!  I did about 10 loads of laundry and organized our closet.  I cleaned the bathrooms on the third floor.  They're the worst to clean because they're the ones that we use the most.  I feel like I could have gotten more done, but I've felt kind of funky--like I'm on the verge of getting sick.

Friday I made an enhancement to our laundry closet.  This house was clearly designed by a man because there is no light in there. You cannnot see what you're doing.  Apparently you don't need to see to sort/fold/wash clothes.

Maybe I really am just that blind?

I dunno, but for the past few months, we've just had a plug-in lightbulb hanging from the shelf in there.  It was something we re-used from a lamp that broke when we moved. It was pretty chicken-rigged in there.  And by chicken-rigged, I mean that it was just wrapped around the pole 10 times with the wire hanging in the way.

When I was at Ikea, the first of the two times I went this weekend, I found a shade that would work with the light cord we had.  I think it's quite quaint.   It reminds me of a pastoral painting.  Like it?

I also got a little carried away and organized the shelves re-using some bins I had been using for sweaters.  They have a little pink rose print on them.  Basically, I've made the laundry room so girlie Mr. S will never want to go in there.

Not that either of us really want to go in there.



A picture of the whole closet if you're interested:

Now I ask you: why was there no light in here?

It's a Miracle

I've had yogurt 4 times this week.  2 of those times were yesterday.

I know that doesn't seem like a lot if you eat/like yogurt, but I've never ever liked the stuff until I found granola.

Granola and fruit and it's just delicious!

I guess Donkey in "Shrek" was right, everyone does like parfaits.

PS-I have a big surprise later on...if I can get myself motivated. I woke up feeling very gross this morning. I hope I haven't caught some office ick going around.

Send healthy vibes my way lovelies.

I should let my brain wonder more often

Cause it comes up with some awesome ideas!

I've been fiddling with the idea of tiling my backsplash but I hate all the tiles I've found...

I was eating a salad for lunch (cheer me on folks) and I was thinking about old school general stores, which make me think of tin ceiling tiles, which also makes me think of how much my mum loves them.  And the weird thing is that it's one of the only things we like together.

Then I was looking up...my ceiling is too modern and large to pull it off...

But...

My backsplash...totally open and needing a modern twist on something old-school.  Silver with all my black appliances and my black countertops...not to mention it's was easier to put up than tile...

Oh it is going to be delicious!  I just hope it's something I don't have to special order cause we could get this done this weekend!

It's a bit of a mind flip; You're into the time slip.

I was really looking forward to the Glee Rocky Horror episode since Rocky Horror is one of my favorite things...ever. In fact, this is a picture of my dormroom door Sophomore year when the bestie and I went to go see it performed:

Ah...memories...Maybe I should pull out my de-virgination certificate...cause I totally kept that.

Anywho, after seeing this preview for the show...

'Glee' Does The 'Time Warp' @ Yahoo! Video

I'm starting to think that I'm going to be a bit disappointed...Mercedes...as Frank?  Bring Puck back from prison, put him in drag, and oh baby then you have a Frank not a Francine...!

Pity.  But Riff-Raff is amazing and Brad and Janet are perfect-o.  If Kurt wasn't playing Riff-Raff he's probably the only person on the show who could work that black corset.

Oh the...antici                                                      pation!





PS- You need this in your life because Tim Curry cannot be beat:

Decisions: 2

What in the blue-blazes should I do with this room?

(PS- Sorry for all the crap photos lately.  I can't find my boo's camera, and he stole the keyboard to my comp with my photo software that uploads the pics off my nice camera...so you're stuck with photobooth--crappy, but convenient)

This is my smallest bedroom upstairs.  I'm just stumped with what I can put in here except for my drying rack, obviously.

We have an office downstairs, so it seems pointless for me to make this into an office and it has periodically also been used for guests when we have a large number of people over. We have even borrowed a twin bed and put it in there before.

Ideally, I'd like to fill it with babies since it is directly across from our room and you can't fit much in there except miniature things.  That isn't in the works right now, but one day that room will be baby station, so I'd like to do something with this room that isn't going to cause me to have to store a lot of furniture later.  I was thinking we could just get one of those cribs that converts to a headboard and use it as a bed now and turn it back into a crib later.  I also really love trundle beds.

I don't really have time for hobbies, so a hobby room won't help me much.  I barely have time to keep it all together as it is.

Do you have any ideas?  Anything fun, creative, good use of the space, fairly inexpensive and not set in stone?

Decisions: 1

So now that my living room is actually starting to look like...you know...a living room, I'm moving on to what the next house purchase should be. Since Thanksgiving is around the corner, I think that a dining table might be just the ticket.

Last year we had Thanksgiving kind of non-traditionally...on the floor. We borrowed a table from Mr. S's parents, took the legs off, and put in on blocks on the floor of where my living room is now. Classy, I know, but there was no way we could find 8 chairs to fit all the people we had on the budget we had.

It all turned out really well though, and the food was to-die-for, so much so, that my bestie and I have already started putting together the menu. For some reason our house has become the holiday house. I'm ok with this, but Mr. S isn't quite sure why we're always sharing holidays with so many people. I love it though...a lot. So this year...there is no place for anyone to come and eat unless we have people out on the deck. Since it will be the end of November, I don't think this is a realistic option and I secretly want a huge family table.

But I don't know what I want! Well, I did until I went to the store and completely talked myself out of my first choice.  That's where you can help me friends.  These are the two finalists, both are from Crate and Barrel:                                                                             

The Lovely Basque collection, shown first.  We would most likely get the honey color (not shown) since it doesn't seem to scuff as much as the darker color and it matches our kitchen cabinets very well.  The chairs are sturdy and I love the idea of the bench, since it can seat more people and it screams little house on the prairie/family.

And since we don't live on the prairie (and I hope we never do), we have the Kipling extension table.  I love the flair on the back of the chairs.  I love that it extends, since we have limited space now, but one day we might have the beautiful fortune of living in a bigger house.  I also love the dark color because it matches the rest of the furniture we have.  What I don't like are the legs.  They are very traditional...almost touching on geriatric.  Dontcha think?  However, they are offering a deal from now until the end of November for a 9 piece set for less than a 6 piece set of the Basque with a bench (the bench is cheaper than 2 chairs)...so that's a definite plus.

Decisions, decisions.  Anywho, which one would you like to sit at if you ever came to dinner: the rustic Basque or the modern/old Kipling that just makes me think of Charlotte's apartment in Sex and the City...am I the only one possibly seeing that?

I'm losing it.

Vintage Find!

So my weekend was a little out of the ordinary.  My parent's called me up--odd enough--and said, want to meet us in Fredericksburg for a trolley tour?  Since I feel the need to put in a few hours with my parents a year, so that I can feel like semi-decent spawn, I agreed.

Until last weekend I had never been to Fredericksburg and I had no idea it was historical.  I had no idea George Washington grew up near there.  I had no idea that it was a cute town with great colonial houses.  Who knew?

If you're ever in the lovely little town o' Fredericksburg, never eat at the Battlefield restaurant.  You will ask yourself: "Is there anything on this menu that is not swimming in gravy?"

After the precursor for pepto-bismol, it was off to the trolley tour.

Then we stopped at a local ice cream shoppe where I wished that I wasn't on a diet.  I had a chocolate banana protein shake that I've been trying to convince myself for a week that it wasn't packed with sugar.  Cause if it was full of sugar, I should of just had the dang handmade ice cream.

Then came the antiquing.  When my parents visit, or really any time we meet up with them, there is always antiquing.  This is always when I realize that Mr. S really does truly love me.  For 1, he has spent an entire day with my folks and didn't run away screaming, and 2, he actually spent time around useless old shit, as he likes to call it.  I like old things, but only if they're reasonably priced, and still usable.  I have a flare for the vintage, don't get me wrong, but it has to be done correctly.

I'm pleased as punch to say that I found these beauts!  Vintage Armani glasses...for $20.  Since I'm going blind I decided to get them and have them re-prescribed.  Someone somewhere has to do that, right?

'
And, if I look a little dazed and confused in the last one, it's because I can't see a dang thing with the former owner's prescription in those puppies.

Speaking of puppies...I think a pair of hush puppies would suit these very nicely.

Grumbles...and plastic.

I hate, hate, hate my credit card. My limit is le crap, and my company provides no services.  I have tons of alerts set up so that when I get to $500, it yells at me.  I wish it was like my Pier 1 card and that it yelled at me every day I was still over that $500...but no.  It has no listings of any of my transactions online since October 6 and somewhere over the last 5 days I apparently maxed out my card.  On what, I couldn't tell you.  But, since I can't view any of the pending transactions it would take me about a week to figure out how bad the damage was if my card were, heaven forbid, stolen.

I did do a lot of purchases and returns this weekend, so maybe that's all shaking out?

The moral of the story?

Never steal my credit card, lovelies, because you couldn't buy a pack of gum with the limit I have because it's my high school limit.  I need to just take the time to call them and explain that I have an adult job now, but I think I'm going to look for a better credit card company or just get rid of it all together.  That would be a personal challenge to not use plastic...I'm not so sure I could do it since I hate having cash on me.

Anywho, so until furthur notice, I'm officially "broke."

Day 29 → Something you hope to change about yourself. And why.

This one is so easy because I've been dealing with it for years: my weight.  I have a lot to catch up on when it comes to learning healthy habits because I was never taught them. My father's side of the family is incredibly skinny and he thinks eating well and working out is a joke.  My mother's side of the family was rather larger with some health issues and she has always dealt with any weight gain by crash dieting and not eating.

So I was a really skinny kid who gained a lot of weight very quickly when I hit puberty.  I never played sports and I ate all the wrong things and picked up my mom's dieting habits.  So I have tried and failed at every fad diet you have ever heard of.

The first time I ever worked out or set foot in a gym was my senior year of high school.  I had no idea how to work anything, but I got a tour with one of the instructors and that helped.  When I started college I reached my heaviest of 225-230 freshman year.  I'm 5'8" so I can hold a little bit more weight then most but it was too much!  I couldn't do anything.  Walking up the stairs was tough and nothing ever fit me.  I love clothes so this was probably the most frustrating thing.

Since then I have devoted a lot of time to eating better and trying to work out more.  At my lowest I've lost 50 pounds from my highest.  I still have about 20 to go before I can be at a healthy weight, but I reach about 178 and I bounce back to 188.  I've done this twice, so I've trying to learn how to maintain a smaller weight.

It's so frustrating because I feel like I've lost a lot of time learning this stuff.  It's my goal to get a handle on this for me and Mr. S before we have kids.  I 1,000% don't want our kids to deal wtih this crap.  I worry about how my larger weight will effect my health down the line.  I want to be around as long as I can with my kiddies.  That's so important to me.  And maybe they'll inherit my dad's metabolism, but that won't stop the silent killers in my family like heart disease.

As a country we have to get rid of this problem.  I see so many overweight kids these days and that's terrifying.  Being overweight leads to so many health issues and we're killing our kids by giving them all that sugar-covered, deep-fried crap.  I hate, hate, hate it!  So I need to learn to be an example.

I'm trying to make it more of a priority.  I'm trying to pre-plan meals and pack things to take to work.  I'm also trying to learn between physical and emotional hunger.

The hardest part is going to be the holidays.  Sugar is my weakness and it's everywhere starting at Halloween and ending at Easter.

Oh help.

Day 28 → What if you were pregnant or got someone pregnant, what would you do?

Call everyone I know, throw the biggest party that has ever been thrown and generally freak out as much as humanly possible with sincere excitement, a lot of yelling, and a ton of jumping.

And then I wouldn't stop smiling...ever.

Shoot, I do this whenever I find out someone I know is prego.  Screw St. Gerard, the patron saint of expectant mothers, that's really me.

Day 27 → What’s the best thing going for you right now?

I've got so many things going for me this post just seems superfluous. 

PS-really love that word.

Honey, House, Job, Furbabies, etc.  Life is good.

My Crappy Day

Whoever said that dogs don't "mess" where they lay was full of crap, or never met my Bramston.  When he was a puppy we had a lot of trouble with the kennel.  But at about 6 months he was finally able to make it 4 hours in the crate without having an accident (he pee'd ever day for months.  We still go home in the middle of the day to give him a break and make sure he's doing OK. 

Now he understands it and does very well during the day.  He even understands that he shouldn't go while he's in a crate he isn't used to...like at the groomers. (BTW, never take your animals to Petsmart for grooming, my lil champ made it 9 hours without a potty break and I was proud of him when he left the grooming station and peed all over the sales floor and an associate had to mop it up.  I mean who doesn't take a dog out after that long?  He may be over 100 pounds, but at the time he was only 9 months old...sorry for the rant).

Anyways...where was I...yeah, he gets the crate, really, or so we think.  4-8 hours he's good...great, even...but you take him outside for a potty break and then leave for an hour to go to the gym and you come home to crap for days.

Crap-for-days!

Crap for days, which my puppy uses to write his name in.  You can literally almost see...B...R...A...M...smeared across his 58 inch crate.

So help me...I'm proud my baby can spell and all...but...wow.

Day 26 → Have you ever thought about giving up on life? If so, when and why?

When I was in high school there were two times I got a little dramatic.  I had a loss of faith, if that's the right way to say it, and I got really freaked out that my whole world view was different.  I also wanted to give up when a doctor told me, when I was 16, I might not be able to have kids. 

But, I can hardly get enough energy to take myself to the gym, let alone do anything drastic, come on ya'll.  I do get depressed from time to time though.  My mom and her mother both have/had depression issues, so I always try to monitor myself.  Thankfully, I have an amazing support system and they tell me to get a grip every now and then.  It helps me so much because they wake me up to it when I can't see that I'm even down.

The most important thing to do, with anything, is to stay positive.  Your attitude can make or break a crappy situation.  I also believe that you'll never see the solution that's right in front of you, if you're so busy focusing on all the things that are going wrong.  Start with what's going right and work from there.  If you have to make a list of all the great things going for you, do it.  It helps.

I have so many great things in my life and I know that I'm lucky.  So I'll accentuate the positive.




Something peppy for ya:

Day 25 → The reason you believe you’re still alive today.

I'm a little confused about what this post should be about. I don't believe in a greater cosmic purpose for my existence, but I'm pleased as punch to still be here and I'll fight to stay that way for as long as I can. 

This world is so beautiful that I'm happy to explore and love in it for as long as I can.

Hello October!

I think that I can officially say that Fall is my favorite time of year.  I used to have a little flirtation with Miss Spring, but there are so many more amazing things to do in the Autumn.  Such as:

1. Pumpkins...anything and all things pumpkin: picking them from the patch, carving them, eating them, drinking them at Starbucks...I just love um.   I also love my homemade pumpkin dip and some ginger snaps.

2. My annual trip to Blacksburg to visit my college and some amazing friends...and it's going down this weekend!  One of my lady's is having a pig roast in her backyard so there will be tons of fun, a bonfire, and some good ole' mountain drinkin'...which my lame butt can't do because of this stupid diet I'm on...Le sigh.  My camera is packed and hopefully I use it this trip. 

You voted and I'm the worst amateur photographer ever.

3. Halloween.  This will be the first time in 2 years that I haven't had to work halloween night...and I'm going to see some trick or treaters, dang it! Last year we only had two, according to Mr. S, but he still got to see them!  Our neighborhood is definitely geared more for young professionals without kids, but somebody needs to knock on my door or I will be forced to dress the cats up again.  Bramston ate said costumes from last year, so I can't re-use them and I love to torture my animals...mostly Penelope, because she forgets how to wlk when you put anything on her.  It's love, really.

4. Leaves and mums.  My garden in the fall is so fun!  It's a lot of work but the temperature is perfect.  I love putting away the summer stuff and putting out the pumpkins, mums, wreathes, and doing all the prep work to get my plants through the winter.  It's kind of like putting them to bed.  I read them a story, tuck them in with mulch, and plant some pansies as little nightlights for the winter.

5. Thanksgiving!  Oh, the food and the people!  My house is holiday central and I love to have people over for some good noms.

6. Christmas shopping!  It's totally that time to think about gifts.  This year I'm having a "no random crap" policy when it comes to gifts.  I hate, hate, hate all teh left over things I can't find a home for that I either end up giving away or putting in a closet.  I'm the kind of person that really loves gift cards.  Really, they aren't impersonal, they're perfect.

It's a little early for stores to have stuff out...but they do, and I've been bad...Someone actualyl told me to be Mrs. Claus for Halloween...it's teh most perfect costume idea for me since...I'm totally Mrs. Claus and Mr. S is really short for Mr. Santa and our house in in the North Pole. :)


Anywho, Happy Harvesting!

Day 23 → Something you wish you had done in your life.

I really wish that I had gone to school overseas or even gone to an out of state school.  Since we were dirt po' there was no way that was going to happen.  I was lucky to even get to go to college.  I'm grateful for that, honest.

Two good friends of mine got to live the dream.  One did her undergrad in London and the other is doing her Masters at Oxford.  So happy for them but sometimes it drives me crazy.

Oxford would have been the ultimate dream.  Wouldn't that be the most ballin' place to get an education for an English Lit major?  Yes indeedy!  Oh the beautiful English words made 1,000% better when taught to you with a British accent.  Why does everything sound better with a British accent?  It's teh great mystery of life. 

Le sigh, maybe one day I'll actually get to tour it!  But my college experience was great...and I picked a school that looks almost like Hogwarts.  VT baby!  I love my hokies.

Day 22 → Something you wish you hadn’t done in your life.

No regrets.  I can't go back and change anything so it's silly to stress over things that are gone and done.  What I've done I've learned from and that's the most important thing that ay I'm not doomed to a vicious cycle.

So carry on, ya'll!