Livin' and Lovin' in the ROC city

Lookie what we got!

That’s right! Our custom-stained kitchen furniture arrived! We ordered the rolling kitchen island and square shaker breakfast table with 4 chairs in November from a family-owned unfinished furniture store local to Cincinnati. The island adds 26×48″ more of counter and food prep space, plus storage, and with our chairs and table we can finally eat our breakfast and lunch at an actual table. We chose the dark walnut stain on parawood because walnut is the stain we hope to continue with for any future furniture purchases and these are our first few investment pieces. We are really pleased with the color (especially since almost everything nowadays has a slight cherry red hue to it, which we don’t want and walnut stained furniture is very hard to find) and we love how it looks! We have yet to organize it all in the kitchen, but we’re hoping to get to that tomorrow. It’s so nice to have it!

We started out the morning bright and early at Chick-Fil-A for free spicy chicken biscuits. Chick-Fil-A wanted to test them out before adding them to their regular menu, so when we saw the Rose Bowl commercial telling us to “go online and reserve your free spicy chicken biscuit” we didn’t argue. Who are we to turn down free food? I’ll gladly be a test rat – toss me the waiver and a pen and sign me up! Luckily it was pretty good (I’m a Chick-Fil-A fan as it is), though I’d probably recommend it for a meal other than breakfast simply because spicy chicken isn’t exactly the best breakfast food, and who needs heartburn at 7 a.m.? After breakfast we ran a bunch of errands, made two trips to Woodcraft to pick up our new kitchen furniture, searched for a clear protective glass counter top for the new island, grabbed carry-out Jersey Mike’s sub sandwiches for the football playoff games tonight, and rented a movie to use up the last of a nearly 5-year old Blockbuster gift card. Tonight we’re relaxing in our sweats watching football. It’s like New Years Eve part 2. Excellent.

While we were in Sears looking at straight edges and saw blades this morning, a large, gruff-looking man (probably a farmer or workman) wearing overalls caught my attention. Normally I don’t tend to notice other people’s choice of clothing unless it is particularly outrageous or unforgivably hideous – think knee-high 7” high-heeled lace-up boots, hot pink tights, a neon tutu, fairy wings, and ill-fitting turquoise tube top on a 48 year old with bleach blonde hair and black penciled on eyebrows, for example – but this is just an example mind you (inspired by a lunatic I saw at a mall recently…I may or may not have gawked shamelessly). But there’s just something about overalls that immediately captures my attention. Dr. Larry’s book entitled 563 Stupid Things People Do to Mess Up Their Lives (a super quick, easy read, laugh until tears are streaming down your face, absolutely must read book – one of my all time favorites!) describes overalls in this way: “Unless you are a tyke or a farmer, this is not an attractive look. Try to wear pants that don’t extend over your shoulders and wear clothing in general that doesn’t instantly bring to mind characters from Hee-Haw.”

97% of the time I am in unanimous agreement. With the exception of two people I know, I think overalls look stupid on anyone over the age of 24 months, yet I have desperately wanted a pair for years. On roughly 3% of the population they look comfortable and adorable, but almost everyone else just looks ridiculous. I really hope I’m in that 3% because I am on a mission to find myself a non-dorky pair to wear with tank tops this summer – and for everyone else’s sake I hope I don’t look like a doofus in them, because I really don’t care and would wear them regardless. Chances are I won’t hold a candle to the moron in the tutu anyhow, so as long as I plant myself next to the most outlandishly dressed person I can find at all times, I won’t even draw a lick of attention. This is a fail-proof plan. I’ll leave you to contemplate overalls and other poor fashion choices while I steal some of Ted’s popcorn and tune into the rest of the Colts v. Jets game.



“He’s having a stroke?”

“What!?”

“OF GENIUS!”

Name the movie! Anyone? The Producers. It’s from the song Keep it Gay, which is mildly un-PC, but hilarious nonetheless. It takes a jab at the bright, blingy opulence of recent showbiz spectacles on Broadway – think Thoroughly Modern Millie, Drowsy Chaperone, 42nd Street, etc. – by jazzing up WWII with a happy ending, dancing storm troopers and plenty of sparkly sequins in a fantastical melodramatic dream called Springtime of Hilter. As a theatre person, I can definitely appreciate this sentiment, and I have to admit that when it comes to some musicals, the more bedazzled and whimsical, the better. After all (as the song says) “people want laughter when they see a show, the last thing they’re after is a litany of woe.” Save the tears, drama and insightful brooding for the straight plays, where that content is more appropriate and appreciated. When I see a musical I want to be whisked away to the the magical land of ThisCouldNeverHappen where I can put my brain on mute and gaze adoringly at shiny things. With the exception of the title, this has nothing to do with the post, so let’s get on with it, shall we?

Since our new dishwasher is still on backorder, our landlord opted to send out a repair man to diagnose the problem with the current hunk-o’-junk to see if it would be more cost effective to repair or replace it. Mr. Maintenance Man showed up at 9:20 a.m. (um, good thing I decided to get dressed in a timely manner this morning instead of lollygagging around in my red velour footsie pajamas until 11 a.m. – stroke of genius #1) and he had reached a verdict by 9:25. Turns out the little holes on the arm of the washer that the water shoots out of are clogged. Clogged how, you may ask? Plastic candy wrappers. Dear Previous Tenants: In addition to gluing Batman and Disney Princess stickers to the upstairs windows, staining every square inch of carpet with koolaide, and allowing your mini-beasts to decorate the banister with crayons, I can think of no better way to break the dishwasher than to melt plastic candy wrappers in it. A creative way to dispose of candy wrappers and the most original method of breaking an appliance qualifies this one for the stroke of genius (or idiocy if you prefer) #2 award.

The topic of creativity brings us to stroke of genius #3 – dinner! In today’s slow cooker & trying something new experiment I am cooking pulled pork for BBQ pulled pork sandwiches for Ted and Carnitas (pulled pork in corn tortillas topped with fresh red onion, cilantro, tomato, avocado slices, lime juice and sea salt) for me. The stroke of genius surprise ingredient? Root Beer. Yep, marinated in root beer (or for us diabetic conscious folk – diet root beer). It smells delicious and (so far) it is literally as easy as rubbing a pork tenderloin with garlic salt and black pepper, plopping it in the slow cooker with a cup of soda and a handful of chopped onions and turning the dial to “low.” Genius! We’ll pair it with our new board game set from mom and dad, some strawberry daiquiris, and a movie – and voila, a relaxing Friday night – perfect since Ted still isn’t feeling well. Last night I made Chinese Takeout Lemon Chicken & steamed white Jasmine rice using a box of sugar free lemon jello. Ted wolfed it down in a mad fury. Needless to say the lemon jello recipe happily exceeded my expectations. Using jello for something other than its intended purpose (and not destroying the dishwasher in the process)? Say it with me….genius! That’s #4 if you’re counting.

And finally #5, which admittedly is not my personal stroke of genius, but is still a truly genius idea that I plucked off an old college friend’s blog and hope we can implement, is the Date Night Jar. If you’re anything like Ted & I, deciding where to eat for dinner, what to do tonight, which place to go or thing to see, and which movie to watch can be a giant pain in the ass because neither of us want to make a decision (and risk making the wrong decision) when we’re tired and want nothing more than to partake in mindless fun instead of having this conversation:

A: Where do you want to eat tonight?

B: I don’t care. Anywhere is fine.

A: You pick.

B: No, you choose. I picked last time.

A: I don’t want to make a decision.

B: Well, I don’t either. I could eat anything and be fine.

A: Skyline Chili?

B: Ehhh…

A: You said anywhere would be fine!

B: I know, but…

A: Okay, how about Don Pablo’s or Montgomery Inn?

B: Either one. Which one do you have a taste for?

A: I don’t care. I’m just hungry.

B: Well, which one is cheaper? Or closer to where we are now?

A: OMG!!!! Make a freaking decision already!

B: We can see a movie afterward too.

A: Which one?

B: Uh….

Sound familiar? Enter the Date Night Jar. You each scribble down names of restaurants you like or have never tried, meals & drinks to cook, board or video game titles, movie titles, and activities (hiking in the park, going to a play, exploring downtown, bowling, make a donation basket for the homeless shelter, etc.) – from mild to wild the more creative the adventure the better – and when you’re at a loss for what to do one evening or simply don’t feel like thinking (it happens – we’re both good at being decisive in our professional careers, but when it comes to down time at home – zip), you pull a strip of paper out of the jar and that’s what you do! Instant creativity and stroke of genius #5.

I hope any one of these strokes of genius (except maybe a bucket list of previously uncharted methods of destroying your kitchen appliances) leaves you inspired today. Enjoy your Friday!

Did you know that wrapping paper costs $5 a role? $5!! I have never purchased a role of wrapping paper before, so the insane holiday markup for paper strikes me as a huge ripoff. I mean, they know that at some point throughout the holiday season you’ll need it, so why not jack the price up so you can fuss and fume in line as you smack down your hard earned cash and mourn the loss of the adorable stocking stuffer you aren’t getting someone because you’re $5 short? Since I’m cheap thrifty and cannot fathom paying $5 per role for wrapping paper that will inevitably get torn, crumbled and discarded in 4.3 seconds , imagine my glee when we hit the cheap after Christmas sale jackpot at Sear’s last night. We were there to place an order for the DeWalt worm-drive circular saw that Ted has been drooling over for the past few months (payed for almost entirely by gift cards and a rebate card from the purchase of our washer and dryer…sweet!) and we happened to pass by the now sparse seasonal section. And then we saw it. An aisle bin stuffed with role upon role of wrapping paper glory for only $1.24! Four for the price of one – our 2011 Christmas budget is silently rejoicing. Since we only went through a scant role and a half this year, I’d like to think these four pretty bundles are a sound financial investment for the merrymaking future. Want to see them?

Colorful, functional, and reasonable – they’ll do. As for the purchase of the saw, we see it as another wise investment opportunity to right a wrong in the world. For a professional and handyman such as Ted to own a truly impressive collection of tools so common and so obscure that most people probably haven’t even heard of them, but to not own a saw is downright nonsensical. So now he owns a saw (or at least he will when it arrives). It’s amazing how many tools one person can have, but if you’re missing just one piece (oh, I don’t know, let’s say a saw, for example), you can’t put together the puzzle (or our basement shelves). Furthermore, I cannot recall the number of times I’ve heard this phrase in the past two months “I could fix/build ____, if only I had a saw.” Investment success.

On the topic of success: Chili, cornbread, and rhubarb crumble. Beautiful, culinary, success. The whole house smelled of yum yums (matching sets of Yum Yum sweats next year, anyone?). The chili was thick, hearty and busting with flavor. It was the perfect compliment to the sweet, crumbly cornbread and both paired expertly with the gooey, tart crumble. YES. Even more exciting is the realization that there are leftovers. I love leftovers and I am long overdue for a luxurious lunch. And come Saturday we should actually have a kitchen table on which to enjoy a luxurious lunch (another investment!) . Our kitchen island cart and kitchen table & chairs should be all stained and ready to pick up on Saturday sometime between our free Chick-Fil-A and Smoothie King breakfast, holiday de-decorating and playoff NFL games. Excellent.

A few days before we left for Wisconsin our neighbor invited bulldozers and a small crew of workmen to dig up her backyard. We were curious and monitored the mysterious object’s daily progress – but not too closely because that would make us nosy neighbors and busybodies and besides all that, we have far more pressing matters to attend to than our neighbor’s property. Having ruled out an irrigation system and animal enclosure and knowing that whatever it was would probably be completed upon our eventual return, Ted and I placed a bet. He thought it would be a windmill, while I went with a solar panel. I’m sure you’re relieved to know that the results are in! As we drove down our driveway last night, we spotted a gleaming solar panel decorating her backyard. Genius! Even though the addition of a solar panel to our home is completely out of the realm of possibility since a) we didn’t win the lottery and b) we don’t own the house and who wants to spend mega bucks vastly improving a house you don’t own, I’d be curious to know how much one costs. If we ever build it would be awesome to go with geothermal or solar energy.

Today we are playing catch up. Though my to-do list is miles long, I know most of it is not time restrictive, so instead of stressing over the daunting task of completing everything on it ASAP, I’m just getting it done over the next few months as I can get it done. Upon return from any vacation, there’s always the immediates – grocery shopping and laundry. I figure that, plus organizing my priorities for the remainder of the week and making dinner will account for a good chunk of my day. Ted is back to work and probably catching up on a million emails and preparing for the busy quarter ahead. He’s also feeling under the weather (probably a cold, which is a real bummer) so I think we’ll take it easy this week. The weather is sunny and warmish (compared to Wisconsin that is) and there’s zero snow on the ground – I love it!

Culver’s, it’s the next best thing to Kopp’s. Every time we visit Milwaukee I take advantage of the opportunity to indulge the inner fat ass in myself. You see, Milwaukee is a haven for disastrously plump-inducing delicacies like heart-attack pizza and gut-rotting cheeseburgers. There’s just something about that rich and creamy Wisconsin cheese that makes eating crap food in Wisconsin irrevocably addicting. Before we even arrive in the dairy mecca, my brain is already teeming with an alphabetical and color-coded list of places we must eat at. In Chicago there’s Swordfish Contemporary Sushi. In Green Bay there’s Chili John’s. And in Milwaukee there’s Pizza Shuttle and Kopp’s. Don’t let the stupid names fool you, these places are genius and worth every single calorie if you’re lucky enough to know about them. Having already planned our meetings with Swordfish and Chili John’s, we opted to save Kopp’s for last, on airport day. I like to think of it as Milwaukee’s goodbye present to us. I’ll gladly risk the looserish and friend-deserting move of describing a large, savory cheeseburger to you on my blog because it really is that good. And when I saw the sign proudly proclaiming that today’s special was the Turtle Sundae – that was it. Game over. Kate, Tim, and dad joined us before Kate drove us to the airport and it was the most perfect way to end our vacay – surrounded by good food and good family. If we had kaboodles of money laying around and these places shipped, you can bet my waistline would be bulging. Thank the Lord for astronomical refrigerated shipping prices or I fear my gluttony would get the better of me.

We arrived safely in Cincinnati around 7:30 tonight. It was a 50-minute direct flight – a totally reasonable commute. Untrustworthy Delta (Doesn’t Ever Leave The Airport) surprisingly pulled away from the gate at exactly 5:20 and arrived early with no shenanigans. Count me impressed. At home we happily discovered everything just as we left it – cold and clean – with the exception of three minor snafus. Our new dishwasher was not installed over the holidays, a mysterious and truly gargantuan stain appeared on our hallway floor, and a box of what were probably very beautiful flowers arrived for us before Christmas but after we’d already left Ohio. Presumably they froze on the porch for a few days, melted with the warm rains, and then came inside via our landlord and sat in its box without water or light for a week. Needless to say, we were unable to revive them. Sad face. But the intentions of the sender were greatly appreciated.

It’s great to be back.

Though these pictures were taken at last week’s Packer v. Giants game at Lambeau Field when it was 18 degrees out, I figure they’ll serve as a respectable enough rough draft of what we looked like at Lambeau for the Packers v. Bears game today. With wind chill it was a bone-chilling 3 degrees out. Yes, three. You may collect the remainder of your jaw from the floor now. I guess it beats the air-snatching -11 degrees last night when we ran out to get some Culver’s milkshakes – what, like you don’t like a side of ice cream with your frostbite?

For today’s game I wore a grand total of 18 layers of clothing: 4 on my feet, 4 on my legs, 5 on top, 2 on my hands, 2 on my head, 1 over my whole body, plus 3 sets of hand and toe warmers, cardboard to sit on, and foam to put under our feet! As Ted often reminds me (and rightfully so), in this climate it’s about functionality, not looking stylish. Though I’ll have to argue that my awesome snow boots and adorable peacoat definitely qualify for both – and that proves that it is, in fact, possible to be both cute and warm (my husband is rolling his eyes and saying “Oh, God.” right now). But I actually stayed warm enough to enjoy the game and the Packers won the big divisional rivalry against the Bears and secured the final seat in the playoffs!

Tomorrow evening we hop a plane and return to Cincy where copious amounts of laundry, grocery shopping, house de-decorating, backlogged mail, work, job hunting, and general smack-in-the-head “real world” obligations that eagerly and impatiently await our arrival.

The mere thought of all this sends me into a fit of immediate and quite serious Red Box, Wii Party and Wii Family Game Night 3 withdrawals. I don’t mean to sound ungrateful. Quite the contrary, I’m actually really looking forward to seeing the familiar sights of our pretty city, cooking a delicious, well-balanced meal, enjoying a sip from our Door County wine collection, snuggling into our own big, cozy bed, and getting back to the daily responsibilities that make our life together so rewarding. We also have a few fun projects in store for January – like receiving our new kitchen furniture, designing our wedding albums, installing shelving in the basement, and deciding how, when and where to use our 2011 vacation days (yessss!) – and none of this can be soundly in the works until we’re firmly re-rooted back home in Cincy. But after nearly two weeks of glorious past-midnight bedtimes, loafing on the couch watching movies, playing board and Wii games, going to museums and football games, and visiting with so many family and friends we love spending time with, the readjustment to our quiet little life of serene normality (snicker snicker) will be a challenge. I may also be dreading it because I know that when we get back I need to find a job ASAP, like in the next week, and I’m sacred I’ll fail at a time when we can’t afford for me to fail. But that’s enough groaning for now. And in the spirit of fresh starts I’ve decided to dedicate this blog to positivity and creativity rather than ceaseless complaining or a litany of worries. So, on that note I’ll leave you with an upbeat thought:

Happy 1-1-11!

We’ve been utter couch potatoes in the truest sense of the word, and that in itself is quite an accomplishment. It’s nearly 5 p.m. and we’re all still firmly snuggled in our pj’s and haven’t even considered a shower. So far in this new year we’ve played hours worth of some of the longest Wii games ever created (one round of The Game of Life on Wii is a full-day, trophy worthy event), consumed grasshoppers, chips, and mochas, watched fluffy animal movies (Furry Vengeance or Marmaduke, anyone? On a side note, talking animal movies have vastly improved in style and hilarity since my childhood days), and our only form of exercise has been tickle wars, finger push-ups on the wiimotes, and the occasional bathroom break. Kate and Ted spent yesterday afternoon feverishly constructing and playing with the kids Thomas the Train railroad sets while Caleb and Alexis were napping – thankfully some things never change! Age is just a number, after all. Right now we’re smack in the middle of cheering on the WI Badgers in the Rose Bowl and playing board games. Later we’ll dine on steaks and possibly a Culver’s shake (another weakness!). Extremely lazy and embarrassingly unhealthy? Guilty. A rare New Years treat? Absolutely. It’s not everyday that we allow ourselves to do nothing but wallow in our own filth, discard our obligations and to-do-lists, and turn our brains on standby. Before we hit the ground running to outdo ourselves with our lofty new years intentions of proper exercise, a well-balanced diet, fulfilling career path, or respectable, smart life decisions, I don’t think anyone should be ashamed to take just one day first completely veg and actually celebrate the new year with mindless, enjoyable activities.

On the off chance that you’ve been a functioning, responsible member of the human population today and somehow neglected to do something fun, or even mildly amusing in celebration, here are my top picks for your evening:

Red Box Rental:  Furry Vengeance (a family friendly flick, but be sure you’re wide awake for the Yum Yum scene – and make sure you don’t have any food or drink in your mouth when it comes around or else you’ll have some cleaning up to do)

Wii Game:  Wii Party (comes with a game and a remote! Billions of strange, quirky, random, and funny group games to choose from – you absolutely cannot go wrong with this one for a party or even for an duo)

Card game:  Crazy 8’s (a childhood favorite and a classic!)

Food:  Spinach artichoke anything!

Happy New Year’s Day! I hope your day was as enjoyable as ours was!