Welcome to the Jungle

I got the most awesome stools/ottomans, whatever you want to call them off of Craigslist today. I have been checking craigslist every so often because I have a list of stuff I want/need for the house and I don't want to pay a million dollars for it. I really want to find some dressers that I can refinish for the bedroom. I have found some I like, but I think it would be best to wait until we actually move in and see how everything fits. But I had to buy these stools, they won't take up much space. Michael thinks they are ridiculous but he is a guy, so I suppose that is expected. He can't see my vision. Plus, when I asked him how he would decorate the bedroom he said he would paint it all black so that it would be dark. Enough said, he won't be decorating anything.

I got two of these for $60. They are from World Market, I looked them up on their website and they sell for $120 each, so two for $60 is a good deal! They aren't worn at all, they look pretty new. I am thinking about sanding and painting the wood black so that they'll match all the other bedroom furniture. We'll see...

Mmmmmmm....

As most of you know, my favorite food in the world is sushi. I could eat it every day if I could afford it. I really wanted it for dinner tonight, but didn't want to go to the restaurant to get it, lazy I know. Instead, I went to the store and picked up a few essentials and made my own and I impressed myself! It was really good and I will definetly make it again but right now I'm so full I don't want to think about eating again. I made the basic rolls, Philly Roll, Spicy Tuna and California. Then with the leftover tuna I made nigiri and sashimi. Here it is in all its glory:

Models for a Day

Well, more like an hour and a half. Our realtor, who is AWESOME, asked us if we'd be willing to take some pictures with her for some new ads that she is doing. We said yes, partly because she is so awesome and partly because then I would maybe get some free professional pictures of us in front of the house. It was fun, quick and easy, and I got to meet the wife of the couple who we bought the house from, so that was cool, she is really nice. We took Petree with us and he got to be in some of the pictures, too. He also got to check out the front yard of the house and the dog of the sellers, so he was excited about that too. :) The photographer showed us a few after he was done and they were really cute, I will post one up here when I get some copies, she said she'd send me some! After we did the pictures at the house we went to her office to take some shots there. Now back to our list of things to do before we move...

And Again

I found another quinoa recipe, and now it is my new favorite. The chili's give it a little kick and the lime juice makes it even better. I found it on delish.com, which is one of my favorite recipe sites.

Quinoa with Latin Flavors
1 cup(s) quinoa,
2 teaspoon(s) canola oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 can(s) (4 ounce) chopped green chiles
2 clove(s) garlic, minced
1 can(s) (14 ounce) reduced-sodium chicken broth, or vegetable broth
1/4 cup(s) pepitas, toasted (pepitas are pumpkin seeds)
3/4 cup(s) coarsely chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 cup(s) chopped scallions
2 tablespoon(s) lime juice


1. Toast quinoa in a large dry skillet over medium heat, stirring often, until it crackles and becomes aromatic, 3 to 5 minutes. Transfer to a fine sieve and rinse thoroughly.

2.Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring often, until softened, 2 to 3 minutes. Add chiles and garlic; cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. Add the quinoa and broth; bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to maintain a gentle simmer, cover and cook until the quinoa is tender and most of the liquid has been absorbed, 20 to 25 minutes.

3.Add pepitas, cilantro, scallions, lime juice and salt to the quinoa; mix gently and fluff with a fork.

Spiders again?!

Michael called me yesterday while he was on his way to work to tell me that he had just had a really traumatic experience. He had been working on his truck the day before and had left the hood unlatched while he was waiting for it to cool down so I asked him if he had forgot to latch his hood and it flew up while he was driving on the highway. I would have laughed really hard if that's what it was, but it wasn't. He said he laying in bed, he had just woken up, and he went to swallow, yawn, whatever. He closed his mouth and tasted something sweet. So he coughed and out came..... HALF A SPIDER!!!!!!!!!!!! Gross, it makes me want to throw up just thinking about it. He said he thinks it bit the inside of his throat because his throat felt sore, and I said it was probably just the spider crawling to get out. Ew. It makes me want to tape my mouth shut at night so no spiders can crawl in.

It's Official! (and soccer)

We're finally getting an Olive Garden in Bend!!!! I have been hearing the rumor since I moved here, but nothing ever happened. Well, they broke ground quite awhile ago and the sign out front says "Olive Garden Coming Soon" so I am inclined to believe it this time. I love their strawberry lemonade. Although we probably won't go for at least the first month after it opens, I have a feeling it will be packed for quite awhile after the grand opening. Anyways, talking about Olive Garden being official really isn't the point of this entry, it just happened to fit in. What is also official is that we OWN A HOUSE! We signed papers last Friday and it closed yesterday, so it's official. Since the sellers are renting it back for up to two months I am going over to meet them at some point so that they can show me the details and such about the house, like mail days, garbage, how to set the thermostat. All the fun things that you usually have to kind of figure out on your own, so that will be really nice. We have been sort of packing and getting things ready, but now we'll need to step it up since they could move out anytime now.

So our first day of soccer practice was this past Tuesday, it was fun but could have been a lot better. I had woken up at 5am that morning not feeling well and spent the majority of the morning throwing up. I went to work but only managed to stay for a couple of hours and then went home and spent the rest of the day in bed until practice. So poor Chad had to coach pretty much the entire time since too much movement on my part would make me throw up. We are coaching Paiges' team, so it is 12 third grade girls and I think it will be fun, all of the girls are pretty cute. Our games start the 12th so we have a lot of work to do before then!

A new friend

So this weekend has been spent pulling weeds, a lot of weeds. Right now my hamstrings are strung tighter than a banjo. We didn't have just any weiner weeds, we had weeds that we have let grow for the past two months, huge bushes and trees of weeds. Seriously, in the back yard the wind was blowing the weeds really gently and it sounded like big pine trees creaking in the wind. And they were a good foot an a half taller than me, so yeah, lots of fun. Anyways, I was moving our trash cans to weed an area and saw the BIGGEST spider. I had instant heebie jeebies, but grabbed a jar out of the recycling and caught him. Then I came inside to try to figure out what kind he was, but looking at pictures of spiders that up close almost made me want to barf, so I just took a couple pictures of him and then I let him go far away from the house. ***I actually have found out that this is a female hobo spider, so I apologize to her for calling her a he.****

Petree's Spot

This is Petree's new favorite spot outside. Comfy and in the shade. He will love it when we have a hammock at our new house! And grass, we are really looking forward to having grass.

Awesome Dinner

As much as I like having Michael around, sometimes I like it when he works nights because it means I can cook whatever I want for dinner. He doesn't exactly like to 'branch out' , so I make my 'weird' food when he's not home. Tonight I made Sautee'd Quinoa (keen-wah), it was so good, I think I am going to make it a lot more often now. And I will make Michael try it, he might like it without the mushrooms. If you have never had quinoa you should try it. It is called the grain of the gods because it is practically perfect nutritionally speaking. It has an almost ideal protein balance, so it's really filling and really good for you. Anyways, there are lots of ways to make it, but here is the recipe I used:

Sautee'd Quinoa

1 C. quinoa

1 C. water

1 C. chicken broth

small onion, sliced

6-8 mushrooms, sliced

clove of garlic, crushed

salt/pepper

butter

Bring the quinoa, water and chicken broth to a boil and then cover and reduce the heat. Simmer for about 15 minutes, or until all the liquid is absorbed and the quinoa is soft. While the quinoa is simmering, put the onion, mushrooms, garlic and butter in a pan and saute. When the quinoa is done, add it to the mixture in the pan and cook on low for another minute or two to let all the flavors mix in. Serve and enjoy.

I let my vegetables saute until they were a little brown and crispy on the edges and it was really good. It would probably also be good with other vegetables, like zucchini, but I grilled my zucchini instead. I also used all chicken broth instead of broth and water. I only made a half recipe and as you can see from the picture, it makes a lot!

I'm getting old

So I turned 26 about a week and a half ago, I am so old!!! Feels like I was 20 just yesterday. My birthday was very relaxing this year, it was on a Sunday and I spent all day Saturday cleaning so I spent most of Sunday watching a 'The Office' marathon. I can't wait for Season 5 to come out! Anyways, after Michael got home we went to a sushi dinner. I think I have had sushi for my birthday ever since I moved to Bend, it's my favorite. Michael was supposed to make me a cheesecake for dessert, he has been going to make one ever since he could do it better than me. However, he chickened out after he read the recipe, so we went to Fred Meyer so I could pick out my dessert. This is what I got, how cool is it?! You can see it sweating, it's always hot on my birthday and after we got home we got the coolest thunder and lightening storm!

Sinners...

The dogs are kind of like kids- if you haven't heard them making noise for awhile they are probably doing something they shouldn't. I decided to clean all the carpets today because I figured it was so hot that they would dry really fast. Well, when I was just about half way done with the living room our power went out because of an awesome thunder/lightening storm so I took a break and the puppies and I took a short nap on the dry side of the living room. All the doors and windows were open and it was so awesome to watch the storm, I'm glad it doesn't make the dogs freak out. Anyways, the power came on and I started cleaning again and the puppies all ran down the hall. The carpet cleaner scares them, but really loud cracking thunder doesn't? I had put a baby gate up so that they couldn't get into the bedroom because I had piles of clothes all over the floor for laundry. I decided to check on them so I turned the cleaner off and called them, and only two came. I walked down the hall and turned the corner and this is what I found:

Yeah, those are my underwear. Don't ask me how he got them on, I have no idea. I think Raider is jealous because he got stuck with the pink ones and couldn't figure out how to put them on. I couldn't really be mad at them after this, Spike just sat there and wagged his tail while I took pictures.

Garden

I finally picked all of the lettuce that has been growing in my garden, I thought it was a lot, but it only made about 3 salads. Hopefully it will grow back really fast and next year I will have to remember to plant more. I also have some banana peppers and bell peppers that are just about ready to pick and my tomatoes are getting ready to explode, I can feel it. My zuke's and butternut squash are growing pretty well, too. I wish I had planted corn, maybe next year. Although we did get some from costco that is pretty good.

House Pictures

Here are a couple pictures of the house. I have a few of the inside, but since it's technically not ours yet I don't think it'd be a good idea to post those. Right now we are waiting to hear back from the sellers about the things we've asked them to take care of that were found in the inspection. Nothing major, we just want to get a couple things checked out and a couple of things repaired/replaced so it should be alright. Now it is just a matter of waiting until closing and then waiting until they move out, we have agreed to let them rent it back after closing for no more than 60 days so it could still be awhile before we actually move in. Isn't the backyard awesome for the dogs? And I can plant a big garden next year in the back corner, we're excited!

We'll take it!

A couple months ago Michael mentioned that we should buy a house and I'll admit I shot him down pretty quickly about it. I figured we had too much debt and not enough income to get a house. Then I met with Kayte's financial planner (who is now my financial planner as well) a couple months later and he mentioned that a house is a good way to increase your net worth and he thought that considering my income and debt that it was really feasible. I had just moved positions at work which resulted in a bump in my salary so I figured 'what the hell', no harm in checking. So I met with a real estate agent who was nice enough to spend an hour with me and go over some things and then she gave me a couple of names for mortgage companies. Michael and I went to the mortgage company and we were approved, but due to credit scores and such it made more sense for just myself to be on the loan. This was a week ago and today we found out that a house we had put an offer on was accepted and if everything goes according to plan we will be homeowners for real by August 26th. The house is really cute with a great yard and it will be nice to get the 8k first time homebuyer credit so we can make some changes and improvements, I already have a pretty long list. So for now we need to get inspections and all that and then wait as patiently as possible for closing day.

Fathers Day

I know, it was a while ago but we have been busy. For Fathers Day I made Michael an amazing breakfast, biscuits and gravy, scrambled eggs, sausage, hashbrowns and orange juice. I worked really hard on it and then went to go tell him it was ready. It was about 10am and he was still sleeping but I figured he'd be ready for breakfast. WELL, I told him I had an amazing breakfast for him and he got really grumpy and said "it's only ten am, I don't want breakfast" and rolled over to go back to sleep. Talk about a jerk! So I left the room and went to eat breakfast by myself. Lucky for him he had a change of heart and realized what a butt he had been because a minute later he came out and apologized and then we had breakfast. I say lucky for him because even though I didn't tell him this, I was going to eat what I wanted and then I was going to throw the rest away. That would have taught him! I need to work on being less spiteful... Anyways, after breakfast he got his present from the puppies. I was pretty proud of it, although he still hasn't hung it up yet. I tell the puppies it's because he doesn't love them. Won't we make great parents?! :)