Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Dry Clean Only... hah!

I'd like to take a moment to declare my passionate love for vinegar. That's right, plane old Heinz vinegar. It has come to my rescue yet again, and my entire batch of dry cleaning is saved! Peach, little hellion that she is, decided that my dry cleaning bag (filled with more than one piece of my favorite clothing) would be the perfect place to relieve herself. The dry cleaner was unable to remove the smell of cat pee from my clothes, and I couldn't bring myself to throw them away. However, I was not about to wear them with that foul reek clinging to them. So, I rolled up my sleeves, pulled out my gallon of trusty vinegar, and the Woolite and went to work. I was praying that I wouldn't ruin my nice things in the process of soaking them, when the tags very clearly state "DRY CLEAN ONLY." I started with my silk blouse, it got the least of Peach's gift. I just mixed a little Woolite with vinegar and water and churned it around, then rinsed. It smells not only cat-free, but subtly of flowers. YAY! I proceeded to my tailored vest. It had received a direct hit. Now it too smells wonderfully fresh. I followed accordingly with Daniel's nicest slacks, my wool skirt, and lastly, my absolute favorite sweater. These three proved to be more of a challenge. All being made of wool, I had to be very careful not to stretch them and permanently misshape them. My sweater is soaking in a bowl full of vinegar now. It's being particularly stubborn. As for the skirt and slacks... VICTORY! There is absolutely no trace of Peach on my clothes; except for all the fur of course.

Now, I think I'll soak the cat in some vinegar. She doesn't ruin things very often, but she certainly makes some low blows when she wants to get back at you for something you may or may not have done. Alright, back to it... I have a sweater to save. Happy Tuesday!

Monday, January 11, 2010

Mundane Monday

It was grocery shopping day. I haven't been since before Christmas and the pantry was looking pretty barren. I bought a month worth of groceries (minus the couple things I forgot) for only $125! I'm mastering the art of budget management... well, trying anyhow. Grocery day always means cleaning up the fridge day; it was horrible. We'd had some poor deer's shoulder in there for Daniel to grind, and the bag was leaky. I'll spare you the details. So, the refrigerator is all clean now. I found so many things I had let go bad. I really need to be better about keeping on top of my food inventory. Throwing away food makes me feel so guilty and like such a terrible person, because I wasted the money and some one, somewhere could've eaten that. It was veggies this time... just barely gone, but not healthy at all. Back to the deer; Daniel's buddy gave him a huge piece of venison and we have a meat grinder so we got about 5 pounds of meat for free!

Monday is the hardest day for me to get motivated to clean the house. All I want to do is sit on the computer and play games. Mopping, the bathroom, and 3 loads of laundry is all that's left to clean. Oh, and Marley un-stuffed his toy and it's all over the living room rug. Back to it. I want to have time sit and do nothing before Daniel gets home and wants dinner :)


Tuesday, January 5, 2010

A creative outlet... that pays for itself? Sign me up!

Great news! My precious mother-in-law just informed me that I could use the credit she has at her antique mall to open my own booth! She has $1500 in credit that she won't use, and is letting me have it to open my own booth at the antique mall. I am so excited I can hardly sit still to write this. I have been job hunting for two years with absolutely no luck at all. I don't need the work, but I do need to get out of the house; earning spending money is an even cooler bonus. In high school, before I was a professional sculptor, I made most of my money making little horse figurines out of polymer clay and selling them at feed stores or horse shows in the area. The profit was 80% and I spent hardly any time on them at all. Now, I have a sewing machine and so many ideas I have to write them down to remember that I ever thought of it. I could sell some simple little creations as well as hit the yard sales looking for little treasures to put in my booth. Here's the better news... if I worked the mall 2 days a week, I would more than pay for my booth after the credit ran out. My Granny makes the prettiest ornamental balls, and I was going to ask her to send me a bunch so I could put them in my booth and that way she makes some money too. It would be wonderful if this turned out to be a moneymaker for me, but even if I only break even it's great, because it will help pay for my hobby.

I'm about to go visit my puppy! My friend, the breeder said she's starting to show a lot of personality and she's getting pretty feisty. I've thought of a few names, but haven't asked Irvin about any of them yet. Louisette, Pixie, Brigette, Birdie, and Merryweather are my favorites so far. I think I like Louisette the best, because we had a Sheltie growing up named Shelby Lou... so, Louisette would be a nice way to honor sweet Shelby. Pixie is probably far to girlie for Daniel; he said it's bad enough that she's going to be the size of our cat. I hope I can get a good picture of the puppy today; if they turn out I will post them.



Sunday, January 3, 2010

Cold and bored... is it bedtime yet?


I'm sitting here listening to Daniel play World of Warcraft with our friends. I also play, but for some reason I am seriously not in the mood. I've been trying to get my character to level 80... this will be my second 80... yes, I'm a total nerd. I'm on the verge of WOW burnout and I cannot allow that to happen since playing WOW is a mutual favorite of Irvin's (Daniel) and mine.

I got my very own sewing machine for Christmas; alas, I have zero fabric. I just spotted Simplicity pattern #2494 for making fleece hats! I adore hats, and these are very cute patterns; not to mention, I really need a warm hat before the forecasted birthday snow arrives. That's right folks, snow on my birthday! I'm
from Texas, so this is monumental. I hope to visit the craft store soon and purchase some coveted hat-making fleece as well as some stuffing and squeakers to make Marley some new toys out of Irvin's old jeans. My boy can seriously
destroy the most durable of doggy toys. We'd need a separate income to support his habit; so, I will be making him toys from now on.



My parents 28th anniversary was yesterday. I made them dinner, and ate it with them. Mediterranean Chicken with pasta tossed in Mandarin sauce. Yes, my own creation. It was superb if I do say so myself. The chicken was pan seared with tomatoes, olives, garlic, onion, olive oil, white wine, and various herbs. The Mandarin sauce was amazing! Sweet, light, and tangy, it set off the flavors in the chicken very well. I just used a little fruit cup of Mandarin oranges, crushed them into pulp, added about a teaspoon of olive oil, the juices from the chicken, sea salt, pepper, and fresh basil. Then, tossed the pasta and served it with my chicken... yum. It was a hit with everyone, even my mostly-vegetarian sister.

Tomorrow, I go wedding dress shopping with/for my little sister, Kristen... I'm excited, but in denial that we could possibly be old enough to consider doing this. She will be lovely, and I really do like her Randy.

Let's see if I can convince Irvin to come to bed. If he doesn't, he's going to be grouchy all week from the very little sleep he got this weekend. Good night!


Day 1

I don't know exactly what I want to do with this blog. Ideas are stampeding through my brain, but I worry about that I will sound boring and end up writing to absolutely no one.

A good place to start, I believe, would be introductions. My name is Kimberly. I am married to a man of integrity and humor, with an excellent smile. Daniel and I will celebrate our third wedding anniversary in April. One day soon, I'll have to tell you all about how we met and ended up marrying; it's a very sweet story. No one irritates me more, or makes me as happy as Daniel. Daniel is a man who knows what his preferences are and isn't shy about letting me or anyone else know. This is by far his most annoying characteristic. His most endearing characteristics: generosity, his mind, his love of a happy ending, his boyishness, and unfailing honesty.

Marley, our 70 pound, Labrador/Brittany Spaniel lap dog, is my child. Very few humans have ever come close to the love I have for "Fella." He is my constant companion. I also have a cat, her name is Peach, but she only responds to "Monkey." There is no evidence that she is actually a cat and not some neurotic alien come to research the tolerance level humans have for constant chaos. In two weeks, the newest addition to our family will come home. She's a Rat Terrier/Welsh Corgi mix who is currently nameless. I've thought of so many names, and Daniel has hated them all. We never can agree on names.... My mom says it doesn't matter what I name her, because our animals always end up with a nick name anyhow.

Currently, I am at home full time. Officially, I am a sculptor with my own business. My pieces are bronze depictions of various animals; all of my work is currently displayed in a gallery in the Texas hill country. People often ask me if I love being an artist and I lie... sort of. I don't love it most of the time. I hate being the center of attention with people I don't know gawking and making stupid comments about how I'm too young to ever make something that looks like that. I cannot stand making commissioned sculptures (a work that is designed and payed for by a customer). I am truly happy when I am divinely inspired, no one has any say in the piece, I turn on my mood music, and in a couple hours I have a sculpture that makes me feel some happy emotion. If I am forced to sculpt something, inevitably I will hate it.

My newest passion is cooking. I love to eat, and that is exactly how I came to be 35 pounds overweight in our first year of marriage. Food is the surest way to improve any mood, and I, being female, have an ample supply of moods. Since June, I have lost 20 pounds. I have 10 more to lose to get to wedding weight and 15 pounds to be my recommended weight. I am so excited. Cooking healthy food is a new concept to me. I'm trying. To this day, I still force feed myself vegetables... I turn 23 in 2 weeks. I think most of my teeth are sweet teeth, and I've only ever had one meal that had no meat in it. So, 20 pounds is a serious accomplishment for me. The movie "Julie and Julia" was so inspiring. My mom suggested I do a similar project using Paula Deen's cook book; this sounds like the best idea ever, but I never want to be fat again. Charming Paula loves her butter, and I love my southern food. The craziest idea popped into my head last week; my poor brain said, "Kim, you should write your very own cook book. Come on, it will be fun! Yes, you will probably become insane in the process, but how cool would it be to have your own book?" I'm still trying to talk sense into myself.

Well, I have developed a headache. I guess this is a sufficient introduction, and I really need to go rest. I wish you all a happy new year, and I will write again soon.

Signing off,

Kimberly