Wordless Wednesday - Hunter Edition

How I Met My Honey

Rebecca over at Ramblings by Reba is hosting a How I Met My Honey carnival today. I thought I'd play along since I haven't blogged about how Shooter and I met.

So...many many years ago, I had just broken up with my fiance and totally decided I liked being by myself and didn't no stinking man in my life. A friend of mine had talked me into going to church with her to this cool single's group. I agreed and really enjoyed it. After going there for about 2-3 months, I noticed this really tall guy come in one Sunday and I'd never seen him before. Well, usually a group of us would go out to eat after church each week and we'd invite the visitors to come along so that we could get to know them and they us. Well, I didn't get a chance to talk to him much that day, but I definitely remembered his face.

He kept coming to church and we'd have small talk but not much more, he seemed really shy. We went to several events, a Kenny Chesney concert, movies, what have you....but nary a move on his part. Finally we ended up in a bible study together and were able to talk more and get to know each other a little better. The end of the year was approaching and our group was having a New Years Eve party. Now, what you need to know about our Sunday School class is that it was made up of singles as well as married couples - all around the same age. So at this NYE party there were lots of couples, dating and married. Well, as midnight rolled around, everyone was hugging and giving each other kisses and I turned around to see Shooter next to me and I stood there for a tense few seconds and was about to hold out my arms for a hug when he turned around....rejected, peeps....I was completely, totally rejected. It was at that point I could have really cared less if he ever managed to get up the courage to ask me out.

We would, however, go on group dates, and one week a group of us had plans to go see a movie but when we got there it was sold out - we saw a different one and then got back together later that week to catch the sold out movie. Well, Shooter wasn't there when we reconvened and it seemed no one had his number or had thought to call him. The following night at bible study he let me have it for not getting in touch with him to let him know that we were going back to see the movie. I explained the obvious...."I'm not your social secretary, mister!" In his oh so smooth way, he says, "Well, here's my number - now you have no excuse to not let me know what's going on. Oh, and you can't have my number and me not have yours." He's slick, that Shooter.

Well, finally that boy got the nerve to call and ask me out. He got lost on the way to my house...poor guy. My brother was a complete brat to him. We saw a horrible movie. But we had a great dinner, at least I think it was good, and great conversation.

The next week, however, I got the "We have to talk" conversation. I was all ready to get dumped...that loser. But he ended the "we need to take it slow" conversation by kissing me. Talk about mixed messages. After that we were joined at the hip. We dated for almost one year before he proposed - I got two proposals too. Perhaps I'll wait and have a whole separate post for the proposal story...it's a doozy...I'm surprised he still married me.

Have a great Tuesday, peeps!!

Who needs HGTV!

Well, here are pics from the newly finished bathroom. Shooter's sealing the floor tonight and setting the toilet back in it's rightful place. I'm off to buy some accessories and such. Last night I had to go and lay out my newly purchased rugs to get a feel for how they'd look. I have to say, I luvs it!!!

I'm already planning to do a collage of photos over the tub. I got the idea from a website I saw the other day. I think some of the St. Augustine architecture will be really neat in there...perhaps a lot of black and white.

Here's the spot...just waiting on the toilet to return to it's rightful spot. Oh...and for the time being I'm going to put a bookcase in the spot to the left of the toilet. I want to eventually get a really nice piece to put there but want to take my time looking for it.

We decided not to paint the closet...not sure why....but we did.

It's going to look so crisp and clean once we get the cabinets painted as well as the trim and doors.

This light fixture will be history after tomorrow. Our good friend Baty is come by to help Shooter install the new fixture and give this one the old heave 'ho.

Well, you can tell what we did all weekend.

We did take a break on Sunday to head over to church and recruit new members for our small group. We added one more couple and I think they'll be a really good fit with our crazy, deviant group. :-)

Take care, everyone!

The painting has commenced!!

Well, ladies and germs...we got started on the real meat of the bathroom remodel yesterday. Shooter came home from work and got into taking down the wallpaper border. He called me (while I was at the hair salon) and told me that it was really going to be a hard project. He said he just couldn't get the stuff down and it was going to be a long hard process to get it down. Well....he called me back about 15 min later and said he'd realized he 1) had the blade turned the wrong way and 2) realized he needed to pull off the paper to expose the adhesive. After those two realizations, things went really fast.

I came home and he had pulled all the paper off and I was ready to go with removing the adhesive. Shooter headed off to work this morning and I got to work getting that stuff off the walls. It went super fast...I'd say I had most of it down in about 45 min. I then had to go back and clean the walls and spackle a few holes.

Shooter got home and we taped off a few things and got to painting. And here are the results so far:


Here's the tub area. As you can see, the paint is a little uneven. The paint we painted over was some of the cheapest stuff around. Our paint would hardly adhere even though it's really good Sherwin Williams paint. Anyway, we'll definitely have to put two good coats on and then touch up.

Here's a full length view of the bathroom.

And the shower. Shooter still needs to finish up cutting in the area up above the shower because I'm just a bit too short to reach that area.

As you can see....the toilet still hasn't made it's way back to the bathroom. We decided that it was more important to get the painting done before we sealed the floors, because we have to wait 24 hours to go back in the bathroom once we seal.

Here's the vanity area. We're going to get rid of that light fixture and get a new one. I'm so excited to get the new light fixture. It's definitely going to make a statement.

I'm also looking to put a spacesaver over the toilet in white and then some kind of tall furniture piece next to the toilet area for towels and such. I'm looking for something but I think I might just go with a plain white bookcase until I can find that perfect piece.

I'll keep the updates coming as we finish more things...hopefully on Monday I'll have my toilet back. Our plan is to get the second coat of paint on tomorrow afternoon and then seal the floor...that way when Shooter comes home from work, he can set the toilet. WooHoo!!!!!!

Remodeling highs and lows

Oh Ya'll....I haven't done a gosh darn thing all week in the master bathroom. I've looked at it. Stared at it in disbelief. Agonized over the dust and dirt still accumulating everywhere. Sneezed cause the dust and dirt are irritating my sensitive sinuses.

But Tuesday night we were so gosh darned tired and last night we had a bowling night with some folks from my work....so here we are and it's Thursday.

We did discover on Tuesday, though, that the paint color I thought I loved doesn't work as well as I'd hoped it would with the tile. It's too close to the same color. It makes the bathroom look too monochromatic for my taste. So...I'm tasking Shooter with going to Sherwin Williams tonight and getting two more paint samples to try. One's a shade darker than the current color and one's two shades lighter than the current one. If I like the darker shade I'll likely go with white furniture and if the lighter shade tickles my fancy I'll go with a darker wood furniture. Oh decisions decisions...

Tonight I get my toilet back....Praise be to Jesus!!!! Is that okay? To thank Jesus for the restoration of plumbing in my master bath? I think so...I've prayed hard that it would happen sooner than later! ;-)

Oh...and is it possible that the bathroom seems bigger now? Maybe it's not just the tile but the fact that all the crap got moved out of it. Ha! My bedroom feels like it's about the size of a crackerbox but my master bathroom feels like a cavern! Maybe I'll just relegate all my crap to one room in my house so that the rest of the house will feel huge! Wait.....I already do that.....it's called Shooter's Man Cave. ;-)

I'm going to be a woman on a mad cleaning spree this weekend. I just hope that the new "happy" pills the doc gave me will keep me on an even keel. They didn't do so well last weekend and we're all afraid that I'm going to have to try another med...ugh! I just keep reminding myself that there's hope and my hope resides in my Jesus who'll get me through.

Happy Thursday Everyone!

Wordless Wednesday - I need a vacation!!

Calgon...take me to the beach....

Master Bath progress update

So, you know that I went out on Saturday morning - first to take the dogs to the groomer (only to have the groomer stand us up!!!!!!), then to bring them back home, then to do a little shopping at Target, then home, then to get my hair done, then to pick up pizza and drinks for the guys, then to get my nails done - and when I came back home after shopping at Target, I found this:

Yes, that's the same carpet we pulled up from the nasty bathroom floor!!! Moved from the foyer and cut into pieces and laid across my floors...ugh, triple ugh!!!! But better this than the mortar laced footprints of our workers.

After walking through the house....this was the next spectacle to greet me. Normally I wouldn't dare show my house in such a state of disarray but I'm trying to Keep It Real, people!!! Notice though, the toilet wasn't able to make it into this shot...but my closet and bathroom doors did...and the heaps of stuff moved out of the bathroom into the bedroom. It's a sight. We lost Leah in there last night...well, not really, but almost.

Here are the guys working...this is probably at about 3:30pm...they began working at 9am...it took about 2 hours just to do that little section there where the toilet goes. Camillo is such a perfectionist that they spent a lot of time measuring and remeasuring...apparently our contractors were drunk when they built our house and the walls are really uneven.

Here we are with the last touches going in. Camillo had to come back last night and do the last few pieces of tile at the threshold. Shooter will put in the tack strip and take care of the carpet tonight and it'll all be finished....kinda.....

Here are my beautiful new floors...like I said....almost finished.....


Shooter's going to paint the wall behind the toilet this afternoon so we can get the toilet out of the bedroom, where it SO doesn't belong. (Can I get an AMEN for no more runs through the house at 3am cause I gotta pee like nobody's business!?!?!?!) I have to go in tonight and mop them to get rid of the haze and then we'll seal the grout. Let that dry and then put in the toilet tomorrow afternoon. Woohoo!!! My bathroom will be back in order!


Leah's happy...she had her naptime interrupted all weekend and she's on her last legs....

Thank you for stopping by....

Thank you for stopping by Laura B.'s blog...she's currently unavailable as she's buried under a pile of carpet pieces, dust, dirt, broken tiles, buckets of mortar and grout, more dust, Target receipts, more dirt, dog hair, cookie crumbs, pizza crusts, Lowe's receipts, grass clippings, pine pollen, and Coke Zero cans. As soon as she can dig her way out she'll be back to post pictures of the new bathroom. Please leave a message below and she'll get back to you as soon as she can. Again, thanks for stopping by!!

Oh Lord, please help me!!!

Okay...so today is D-day....the day we get the tile put in. I'm excited...it's looking good, so far. The guys have now been at it about 10 hours and aren't quite finished. They're going to have to finish putting in the tile by the shower and vanity tomorrow morning. The toilet area proved to be a real crapper...hehehee....apparently the walls aren't straight so each tile had to be custom cut. That little area took a good two hours to finish.


I had many errands to run today while the guys were working....I knew I couldn't handle the mess that would be around. Well, I was finished with my errands and came home and it didn't take more than 30 min for me to start to have a panic attack because of all the mess. Shooter took the carpet we pulled up from the bathroom and laid it out for the guys to walk on...so you can imagine all the dirt and gunk that was in and under the carpet...it was all over my floors. And then I had little carpet pieces all over the floor. And my rugs had been tossed to the side inthe middle of all the dirt from the carpet. I was nuts. I went on a cleaning spree. I cleaned the floors, as well as I could with the carpet still on the floor and the guys tromping around, and then I went to the kitchen and nursed my panic attack with cleaning products and a sponge.

Needless to say, 30 min later and a lot less dirt I felt a WHOLE lot better!

The tile is looking good, they'll finish tomorrow morning with putting the last tiles in and then grout everything. I won't be able to have a functioning "throne" until Wednesday, but that's okay. I can deal. It currently makes for a great place to sit while I put my shoes on. :-D

A beautiful sunset

We had this most beautiful sunset the other night. Shooter went outside to put something in the trash can and pick up the mail and then came to get me so I could snap a few pictures.

Luckily enough, we live on a hill and I can get really good pictures of the sunrises and the sunsets around here. They are my most favorite thing to take pictures of.



To me, it's like God getting to play with a bunch of watercolors and using the clouds as his canvas. I feel closer to God when I'm in nature, admiring his creations.



The colors were amazing. Such bright oranges against the brilliant blue sky.

Transitioning to the reddish orange .....



What a beautiful end to a pretty nice day.

Something's just not right here....

I came home from work today, put my laptop bag down in it's usual place along with my purse. I heard Shooter back in the bathroom working away and so I went back to check on him. I walked into the bedroom and knew something was out of place...but I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

I thought, well, he made the bed - I hadn't made it up before I left. Then I noticed he'd cleaned off his bedside table. Nice! Then I saw it.....

Do you guys see it? Anything out of the ordinary....something that doesn't quite belong in your bedroom??

Yea, a toilet. Specifically our master bathroom toilet. *sigh* Shooter had been busy this afternoon - he removed our toilet so he could bang away on the existing tile in the bedroom.

Let's just say that I'm REALLY REALLY REALLY glad that the toilet will only be sitting on my bedroom floor until Sunday. But that's still 4 long days from now. Oh, and I'm REALLY thankful he thought to put plastic sheeting underneath it. God Bless Him!!!!!

Ha!

Also, once we got the carpet up and the padding up...the floor was phenomenally dirty...not just like dust and stuff...but Red Georgia Clay dirt under my carpet. It made me want to cry...I swept up all the crud and thought....this was all sitting under my carpet...YUCK!!!






Yea, pretty darn disgusting. I'm glad we're putting the tile in.

Oh, and don't hate me cause I'm so darned sexy in Shooter's Crocs. ;-) The go splendidly with my PJ bottoms.

Idol observation

Okay....is it just me.....or does David Archuleta just get on your nerves?

I'm sitting here watching the Idol results show and his aw shucks little boy shyness just irritates me. It just seems fake and put on to me.

Turns out that Syesha, Kristi Lee and Brooke are in the bottom three. God....please let Kristi Lee go home....or Syesha....Amen.

Night, night!

L.

Wordless Wednesday - Life's Good

Oh, to live the life of a dog........

Overheard in our house....

Sunday afternoon, Shooter and I were hanging out eating grilled hotdogs and watching Giada's Weekend Adventures show on the Food Network - she was exploring Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Our hotdogs were fabulous...they were the big fat juicy Hebrew National dogs. YUM!

Well, back to my point...here's a snippet of the conversation we had....

To set this up...Giada is out on a horseback ride in the morning...beautiful panoramic shots of the scenery abound....on screen, Giada says, "Wow, look at this big sky! It's gorgeous out here!"

In a very sarcastic voice, I say "Well, gee, Giada...why do you think they call Wyoming "Big Sky Country"?" :roll eyes:

Shooter pauses mid-bite, gives me the "Jim Halpert face" from The Office (see entry for October 24 - the whole blog is a riot and you should read it!) and then says, "Honey, they call Montana "Big Sky Country."

Me: Really? Hmm...I guess you're right. Well, they should call Wyoming that too. It's all the same anyway.


My sincerest apologies to everyone from Wyoming and Montana...I know it's not all the same. You're two very distinct states. Please accept my apologies and admission of my geographic ignorance. hehe!

My garden is growing like crazy!!!

Remember this flower bed - it once looked like this - but now it's a beautiful specimen. Hopefully these luscious specimens will start to shoot up blooms here quite soon!

These are my Black-Eyed Susans...well, except for that big fat WEED right in the middle of the photo. How he got there I'll never know. Well...I do know...it's been weeks since I last weeded that bed and he sprang up over night. Also growing like crazy are my varigated hostas in the back. All of these were given to me by my Mom, um, 3 years ago? They were little sprigs and have now grown into full sized beauties!

Black-eyed Susans...it'll be time to split these up before long....

Oh! Look! It's a bloom on an iris plant! I do hope there are many more where this one came from!

Oh...and monster hands...this is what happens when you let Shooter get his hands dirty...he comes after YOU! Booger...

There's no turning back now....

Yup...there is certainly no turning back now....



This is the carpet and padding from our master bathroom. *sigh* I guess we have to move forward with the plan to put down the tile now. :-)

And here is the master bathroom, all bare, concrete floors, looking very sad. But very, very soon it will be a grand room and we're all very excited about that!

My vanity....honestly, I hate it. It's pretty non-functional. But we're not doing a MAJOR remodel so I will have to live with it.

Ugh. DOUBLE UGH!! I am so over this beach theme. I mean, I love the beach as much as the next person, but after awhile it just gets old. Oh, and the peachy pink walls...triple UGH.

Also, the lady who decorated this house LOVED wallpaper border. EVERY room had it....well, the master bath, guest bath, two guest rooms have a border and the kitchen is fully wallpapered with a border. Jeepers. I actually love that Roman Shade...just not the colors.

Ahhh...my strong, handsome Shooter. He's having to pry up some border that the carpet was stapled into. Yea, I am a remodeling fool, I know all the insider terminology. This week we'll have to pull up the existing tile around the toilet and then scrape up the mortar under the tile. We'll also have to scrape up the glue and bits of pad that are remaining on the concrete. And of course by saying "we" I mean "Shooter". ;-)

I am definitely looking forward to keeping you guys updated. Next weekend the guys come to lay the tile. So I can post more next weekend. After that we have to pick the wall color and paint. Fun fun fun!!!!

It's officially summertime at our house!

Okay....so it's not REALLY summer...but the first signs that warm weather is upon us is the weekly salsa and guacamole making that goes on in our house. I also have discovered an awesome refreshing Mango and Pineapple salsa. I was inspired by the oh so fresh mangoes and pineapples at the farmer's market last week. I'm including that recipe as well.




I have to say....I make a darn good tomato salsa...it's evolved over a couple of years into a recipe that is pretty much fool proof. Shooter even took some to work and his Latino friends all raved about it. They're always amazed to find out I'm not Latina. Not even a little bit.

Here's the fabulous recipe


Laura B's Quick and Easy Salsa

2 boxes of Pomi Chopped Tomatoes
3 medium jalepeno's, diced finely (I usually leave some of the veins but remove the seeds)
1 medium red onion, chopped
1 bunch of cilantro, chopped
Juice of two or three limes (make sure you roll them under your palm to release the juice)
Salt to taste (I think I use somewhere in the neighborhood of 1Tbs to 1.5 Tbs)
1 Tbs cumin
Hot pepper sauce to taste (I use Tapatio)

In a large bowl, mix together all the ingredients. Transfer to an airtight container and let sit in the fridge for at least 2 hours before serving.

I usually go easy on the salt and pepper sauce at first. I let it all sit together and get chilled before I do my final seasoning adjustments. All the flavors need to meld. Ha...I sound all culinarily smart don't I?



Now.....prepare to have your socks knocked off!

Laura B's Mango and Pineapple Salsa

3 ripe mangoes, peeled and chopped

1 pineapple, chopped

1 medium red onion, finely diced

1-2 jalapeno (s), finely diced

one bunch of cilantro, chopped

pinch of salt

juice of 1 lime

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and stir well to combine. Put in an airtight container and store in the fridge for at least 2 hours prior to serving. This works on everything from steak tacos to seared tuna. Enjoy!

Also, this little contraption has made my life complete. I sleep with it under my pillow. We're in love and running away to Cancun next week so I can have unlimited margaritas. Okay...okay....it's not like that.....but it's one of the best darn kitchen gadgets I've ever purchased. Everyone should have one! I actually have the lemon juicer (hence the yellow color) however it works perfectly well with limes, lemons and key limes. It'll work on tangerines and small oranges but you'll need the orange juicer for navel oranges and bigger citrus. This thing literally turns the fruit inside out and extracts every little bit of juice from the lemon/lime. You just roll the lemon/lime a bit on the counter under your palm, slice it in half and then juice away with the cut side down toward the holes. It's amazing. You should try it out. There all over the place, at Amazon, Sur la Table, and Target.





Oh, and if you've never used the Pomi tomatoes...you're so missing out. My Mom introduced me to these babies and they're my secret weapon when it comes to making salsa, chili and spaghetti sauce. Beg your grocer to start carrying their stuff if they don't already. If you don't have access to Pomi tomatoes, use a good quality diced tomato. Each box of Pomi has 26 oz of chopped tomatoes. They also make a really good strained tomato product too....please don't get the two confused for the salsa recipe...it'll lead to disaster....I know....from experience.....

Well, I hope this has inspired you to make you own fabulous salsa and kick those jarred salsas to the curb. If you try it out, do let me know how you like it.