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Icky Icky

February 24, 2010 By

Well folks, it’s happened again.  My hubby leaves for one day and all hell breaks loose here at home.  Okay, maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but it really is kind of ridiculous how many crazy things happen when he’s gone!  You see, a few days ago the hubby noticed that we were having some kitchen sink issues.  He was doing the dishes and put some things in the garbage disposal, and then they backed up into the other sink.  Gross, right?  We bought some liquid plumber, and used a little of that, and it seemed to do the trick…or so we thought.  Last night, per my hubby away M.O. I stayed up into the wee hours of the morning cleaning and organizing.  At midnight-ish, I decided to do my last chore before going to bed–the dishes. This turned out to be a horrible idea. As I was putting the last of some week-old beef stew down the garbage disposal, I saw that the sink was once again backing up!  Drat!

I determined that there was probably a clog in a pipe, and that I felt confident enough to tackle taking apart a bit of pipe to check for clogs.  I got a pan to put under the sink to catch the water that would drain out of the pipes and started taking apart the pipes.  While I was prepared for a bit of water, I was NOT prepared for the fountain spray of week-old, beefy, stewy water that sprayed EVERYWHERE.  It went all over the place underneath the sink, ran out onto the floor, and soaked me.  Yes.  I was covered in old, beefy, stewy water. Ick. Paul the Dog on the other hand, seemed to love it!  The worst part about it all?  There was no clog in the pipes!  I have since determined that there is some sort of jam/ leak in the actual garbage disposal…but that seems too advanced for me, so I’m waiting for the hubby to come home tomorrow to address that!  For now, the sink is at least usable again…not sure what I did, but it’s flushed out enough to be able to wash hands and such.  However, the garbage disposal is leaking so I’ve kept a pan underneath the sink.

I did manage to take a picture of the beefy, stewy aftermath.  It kind of looks like someone barfed underneath my sink.  Icky!

P.S. Dear Hubby, if you’re reading this, I hope you’re planning on reading up on garbage disposal repair on your way home tomorrow :) .

1 Comment Filed Under: Military Life Tagged With: , , ,

Twenty Dollar Tuesdays

February 23, 2010 By

Well…I’m back in my grey pants, have just consumed XXX perfect chocolate chip cookies (that number has been blocked out for the protection of our younger readers), and I’m watching The Little Couple on TLC.  Yes.  You’ve guessed it, my hubby has left me again.  I shouldn’t complain.  He’s just left this evening and he’s only going to be gone for a few days, but still!  Somehow this knowledge has not kept me from my lonely navy wife habits.  Enough about me though…on to Twenty Dollar Tuesday!!!

Your tip for today: use your placemats.  No this isn’t another neurotic rant on the importance of using placemats at the dinner table…I’m suggesting you use them on the wall!  Wall art can become pretty pricey pretty quickly, and lets face it…most of us have a lot of walls that need decorating!  Placemats are usually only a few dollars, and you can find them almost anywhere!  I’ve found that Target and Pier One both have pretty neat placemats (that are often on sale) that work pretty well.

In our guest bedroom, I have placemats on two different walls, well technically two placemats and a charger:

You can see in that first picture that I hung two of the same placemats together.   This is a great household hint.  Whether your hanging plates or photos or placemats, hanging items in groups of two, three, or twenty adds visual interest. Of course, you want to compliment this by hanging some items by themselves, too!  Below is a picture of a placemat I have hanging in a random space between two doors in our living room.

This was a random space that needed something.  One day, I’d like to hang a piece of artwork here…but until that day, this $3 placemat will work just fine. Also note that you can turn placemats all different ways to create different looks.  Hanging them in different directions can completely change the look.   I hope you’ve been inspired!

1 Comment Filed Under: Crafting and Decorating Tagged With: , ,

THE SEARCH HAS ENDED!!!

February 22, 2010 By

Yes folks.  I have found it.  The PERFECT chocolate chip cookie. Soft and chewy, sweet and a little salty–perfect.  Well, just about as perfect as a cookie can be.  Part of me wants to hoard this recipe away where no one can find it and everyone will forever be impressed with my chocolate chip cookies, but I’m not that mean.  Or maybe it’s just that I can’t keep a secret.  Either way…you can find the recipe over at The Cookbook Chronicles.

I’m not even going to rate these, because I would give them a perfect score!  Really, they’re just that delicious.  What makes them so puffy and yummy?  Bread flour and high quality ingredients (chopped up chocolate rather than the standard Nestle Tollhouse Choco-chips).  I’m here to tell you, they make a difference! If you make these, let me know what you think!  Happy Baking!

7 Comments Filed Under: Kitchen Adventures Tagged With: , , ,

Coffee Table Books

February 20, 2010 By

I have a number of coffee table books, but I usually only leave out the ones I really like.  A few of these are the ones from the PostSecret series that my hubby purchased for me a few years ago.  These books are ALWAYS conversation starters with guests and I highly recommend them for your coffee table.

Never heard of PostSecret? It’s a community art project featuring postcards on which people have anonymously revealed a secret they have never told to anyone else. People mail these secrets to project creator Frank Warren, who puts 20 or so postcard secrets up on the PostSecret blog every Sunday.  He also features them in books and museum exhibits.  It’s pretty amazing.  Some secrets are hilarious, some are sad, some are scary, but they are all pretty amazing, and the overall project is pretty darn fascinating.  I love these books and encourage you to check them out sometime soon…or the website at the very least!

Here are a few examples of some “secrets”.

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