Monster in the Bathroom

We were asleep. It was a dark and stormy night... no really, it was. Both of the cats were on the bed, but to be fair, Tungsten was actually sleeping on top of Matt and me while Leela was at the foot of the bed. I was startled awake by what sounded like a hand saw coming from the bathroom. After I muted the flickering TV, I nudged Matt awake and asked if he heard what I heard. Unsurprisingly, he groaned as he woke up to listen. The noise was getting louder and louder. So I shoved the blankets off and told Matt that I would go check it out... he said, "okay."

The noise did not abate once I opened the bathroom door and turned the lights on. If anything, it became more distinctive -- it sounded more like teeth gnawing and tiny feet scratching for traction and less like a hand saw. At that moment, Matt leaped from the bed, knowing that I was truly not crazy after hearing it for himself. Shoving Tungsten out of his way, Matt crouched by the cabinet doors and pounded vigorously trying to scare the creature back from whence it came. He slowly opened the doors only to find everything under the sink trashed! All of the bar soap that had been neatly stacked was ripped out of the paper wrapping; scratch marks clearly visible. Everything that had been neatly stacked or placed inside to maximize space had been toppled-- or pooped on. This was not the first time this creature had entered through the holes under sink by which the pipes also enter. It was chaos... but the monster was gone.

At this point, I was holding Tungsten at bay, Leela was interested in what was going on, but refused to move from her spot on the bed, and Matt was bound and determined to get something at 12AM to fix the holes. So he threw on some clothes, grabbed his wallet and phone, and headed out to the ugly Kroger up the street for some Great Stuff foam insulator. Kroger didn't have any, so he left and made his way to Walmart-- but that particular Walmart closed at midnight. His journey continued. Meanwhile, Tungsten was pacing back and forth from the cabinet doors, to the guest bath cabinet doors, to the corners of our bedroom where he could hear the thing move through the walls.

Finally Matt came home with two bottles of the "Stuff," and I only had to call him once shrieking, "Where are you?!! It's back, it's back!!" My knight sealed up the holes both in our bathroom and in the cabinets in the spare bathroom that the monster had been jumping back and forth between. His advice, "Everything's sealed up. He can't get back in-- he might try, but he can't get in-- sleep tight."

I did actually sleep better knowing that he couldn't get in-- of course, any sleep is better than no sleep. I'm so grateful to Matt for scouring the city for a 24hr. Walmart at midnight just so I could sleep. That's love.

Dallas, here we come!!!

DRUM ROLL, please... Matt and I just signed the contract on our new house!!! After a lot of thought and prayer, Matt and I decided that apartment living was just not for us any more. We went out last Saturday to look at houses and fell in love with the second one we saw that day-- we still looked at other houses, but we compared them all to this second one.

Ever since we married, we have talked about what we absolutely MUST have in a house and then what we would LIKE to have in a house. This one has EVERYTHING!! The master is on the 2nd floor (which is what we wanted), there is a Jack and Jill bath, 4 bedrooms, 4 full baths, a giant kitchen with granite counter tops, deck, full basement (unfinished), and a decent yard (that will eventually be fenced). There is also a loft at the top of the stairs. Take a look and see what you think.This is the covered deck right off of the den, below it is the patio that has access to the basementThis is the view from the den towards the front door and formal living roomOpposite view into the den and stair caseBay windows in the living roomPassage from the kitchen to the dinning roomSpeaking of the dinning room...Looking into the den from the hallway-- access to the covered deck is on the left side wallThe den already has a ceiling fanThe kitchen is rather large (big smile)-- the appliances are going to be black and will be installed before closingView from behind the kitchen island into the denGoing up the stairs... loftloftLooking over the loft toward two of the bedrooms and the laundry room-- UP STAIRS!!!One of the bedrooms that is connected to the Jack and Jill bath... the other two bedrooms are fairly standard-- the one that connects to the other side of the bath room will be my studio/craft center and the bedroom at the end of the hall at the top of the stairs, next to the master will be our guestroom.The master-- looking into the bathroom that has a giant tub, curtain shower, dual vanities, linen closet, toilet closet, giant walk in closet and a not-so giant walk in closet.The best part of the master... sitting room with a fireplace.

I hope you enjoyed our 1st house!!! It will look much different with paint and furniture, and I will blog during the whole process (but that means I won't be cooking for a while since we will be boxing things up). Can't wait!

Grammar Rules

I grew up in a family that would stop at nothing to correct poor grammar.

She and I are going to the store. You're my favorite. I ate a lot of candy last night.

One of my biggest pet peeves (because I was always corrected for this) is the difference between nauseated and nauseous. Most people-- I'm sure, you do it too-- say, "I'm nauseous." Then you promptly head to the toilet and relieve yourself. HOWEVER-- what you should have said was, "I'm nauseated."

nauseated
feeling nausea, feeling about to vomit

nauseous
adjective
causing nausea, sickening, or nauseating

Yes, I know this is a gross topic to discuss, but it's something everyone should know. 'Cause talking good is real nice!

Construction Paper Animals

So here are some of the other animals I have made for Alyson....Bertha, the butterfly
Bubbles, the fishCarmella, the camelGlenda, the good gorillaIan, the iguanaPablo, the pigWhich one's your favorite

A Labor of Love, years in the Making!

One of my favorite memories of family gatherings are my Nana's sticky buns! So when we were asked to bring in an item for the breakfast pot-luck at work, I emailed Nana for her "recipe." So here is Nana's sticky bun recipe**.WHAT YOU NEED:
Sugar
Brown Sugar
Pecans, chopped (Nana used halved, I liked the chopped)
Butter
Cinnamon
Yeast Dough (Nana used Herman, I used Publix's pizza dough)
After the dough has risen--roll it out into a rectangle to about a half inch thickness. Mine's more like a circle
Brush melted butter on the dough and sprinkle with a mixture of sugar and cinnamon. I know I used too much butter-- it was running all over the place-- and I was second guessing how much sugar and cinnamon to use (notice the extra cinnamon I sprinkled after brushed the butter mixture on the dough)
Mix melted butter with brown sugar and cinnamon and spread the mixture over the bottom of a 9 x 13 baking pan. Place half pecan nuts randomly over this mixture face down. Looks like toffee...mmmmm, toffee
Roll the dough you have prepared tightly, starting at the long end and then slice at 1 inch intervals. I'm sure I could have rolled this tighter if I didn't have so much butter on the inside-- everything was slipping and sliding as I was trying to roll.

Place these over nuts, just barely touching and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to rise until almost doubled in a warm place, free of drafts. Remove plastic and bake at 350 degrees until brown. Since I was on a time crunch, I allowed them to rise for 25 minutes. I was also PARANOID that they were not done enough so I baked them for 32 minutes)

Invert pan on to a serving platter and allow the sauce to dribble over the rolls. Enjoy!!!

**These were Nana's EXACT words (no measurements)-- love you Nana.

Everyone seemed to love the sticky buns-- they were gone in a matter of minutes!!

Tag, You're It

Christy tagged me!! Here's the deal... I have to find a picture of a room that displays my personal style. So here it is...

Now, before you get the wrong impression, let me explain why I chose a laundry room. I hate doing laundry (really I hate putting it away... I don't mind actually doing it). What I do love and crave, however, is organization. Everything has a place. Since Matt and I live in a small apartment, it is IMPERATIVE that organization reigns (my mom has even commented on my organizational skills before-- high praise).

As for my personal decorating style-- I enjoy things that are comfortable (not too stuffy), traditional (not too modern), colorful (hello, I'm an art teacher), and functional (but I do love decorative accents and I am trying to teach Matt that they are okay to have). While this isn't my ideal laundry room-- mine would have tile floor, plenty of counter space, and red washer and dryer. What I love most about this room is the shelving system and the containers on those shelves. Canvas storage bins= comfort, shelving system= function, wall color=well, color, and the actual laundry room= traditional.

My favorite room in my apartment is my kitchen-- talk about organization-- it's tinsy tiny and because everything has a place, I can still actually use the kitchen. Don't get me wrong, I dream of a bigger kitchen (on a weekly basis), but I'm okay for now. I don't have a picture right now since it's in ruins after making Nana's sticky buns for a work pot-luck breakfast this morning (pictures of those coming soon).

<> My Tags: Aunt Susan, Tracy Good luck-- have fun!!

GEORGE!!!

It all started when I was helping a friend of mine at work bubble Scan-trons for benchmark testing. Alyson was teaching her kids while I was at her desk bubbling and she was using pictures to show her students how to solve word problems. When she drew a "chicken" on the board, the kids started laughing and looking back at me (seeing if I was watching how bad she was drawing said chicken). I saw it. That's when I decided I would make her a fowl to use in her word problems-- thus keeping the distracting images away from students and their attention on learning!!Enter, Conroy!

Anyway, I quite enjoyed making Conroy... so I made him some more friends-- all for Alyson to use in word problems. So here's how it's done.

What You Need:

Scissors
Pencil
Sharpie
Construction Paper
Glue Stick
Inspiration (I used this picture of a Giraffe)
*not pictured- X-Acto knife... optional, but useful
Start off by sketching your animal on the primary color construction paper

Cut out the Giraffe with scissors, staying close to the lines... careful, careful
Trace the feet onto gray construction paper for the toes. Make sure you trace on the side you sketched the giraffe-- you will flip everything over so that there are no pencil marks showing.
Cut the feet out-- just outside the lines, so that you don't see any yellow peeping out from underneath. Flip the giraffe over and glue the feet in place. Remember everything is reversed.
I added some black construction paper to bring out some details.
Trace the giraffe on brown paper and draw the spots where you want them. Then use X-Acto or scissors to cut them out and glue them onto the other side of the giraffe.
Cut out some darker brown shapes to accent the lighter ones. Also, add the eye.

I used the Sharpie to fill in the eye, divide the toes, and draw a smile.

His name is George.