Monthly Archives: November 2007

Hooray for water!!

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As of 10:30 am the water is back on! Apparently our pump ran when the tank was empty long enough to melt a pipe .. anyways it was a cheap fix .. only $70 .. much much cheaper then needed a new pump! Also Sears showed up just after 8 am so our dryer has a brand new brain. The rim should be at the dealership today .. so after we take our showers we’ll make the hour drive to the dealership to get it put on.. and hopefully everything should be back to normal :)

I’ve been editing photos from my 2 last shoots all morning (and last monday) it has to be my least favorite part of photography. I love when a picture comes out perfect straight from the camera, makes my life so much easier. Luckily the more I do this the easier its becoming.

Icing on the cake ..

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The puppies have conjunctivitus. And it normally is contageous to humans. But the vet thinks our 2 got it from stuff blowing into their eyes .. and that type would not be contageous. Hopefully she’s right, the last thing we need is an illness.

Update on all our problems.. Rim looks like it’ll cost just about $300, but has to be ordered. The dryer part came finally last friday .. we got an appointment tomorrow morning to install it. Water still isn’t running .. I turned the breaker on for the pump and got nothing. Sean called the guys that installed it to maybe get some tips to try before sending out a serviceman (they’re all booked today).

Update #2 – We can’t get the pump to work .. service guy will be here in the morning.

No water ..

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This weekend has been kinda crappy .. Starting with Friday I hit a small pot hole after making a right hand turn (so I couldn’t have been going very fast) .. and ended up with a flat tire. Acura sent roadside assistance, and an hour later I headed over to BJs to see how much a new tire was going to cost us. Surprise! The rim is bent, badly. UGH! Just what we needed .. of course we have the TL Type S .. with its ‘special rims’ so I’m sure its going to cost us a fortune to replace it .. I’m not sure we really have an option :(

Then yesterday I asked Sean to pressure clean our back porch. After having problems starting the damn thing (we borrowed it from our neighbor) .. he finally got the patio done, and it looks good. He went back to sleep (only had 4 hours) and I took a bath and relaxed. After my bath Daisy went crazy because she wanted to eat my pumice stone and the left over bubbles in the tub. She even learned to jump in our giant tub and jump up on the wall behind it. She also kept crying and whining whenever she got into the bath. I’d go over and take her out .. but as soon as I put her back down on the floor she ran back to the tub and jumped back in.

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She was driving me nuts! Just before 10 pm .. Big Boy and I were snuggling in bed, and she comes up and digs around in the bed for 2 seconds and then stops .. and peed. Yes the stupid dog peed on our bed! I don’t know if she was punishing me for not letting her have my pumice stone or what .. but she totally did it on purpose :( Anyways …

I put our comforter into the washer .. and got it started, and realized there were some very strange noises coming from our guest bath toilet. Air bubbles .. and the last time I heard air bubbles in the toilet our whole house flooded because of a clog under the house. So I looked in the toilet and didnt find the bubbles I was expecting .. I saw nothing. So I went to wash my hands and air shot out of the faucet. I went around the house testing all our faucets .. and all I got was air, no water. By now Sean had been sleeping 3 more hours .. but he was so exhausted today that I just couldn’t justify waking him up :( I figured that between the pressure cleaning and my bath our aerator tank was empty and that it would take awhile to refill .. so I went to sleep. At 3:30 am Sean woke up and I told him about the water. This morning when I woke up he rambled on about our pumps not working and that they might be burned out (and they were installed just a year ago .. I hope the warranty is longer then 1 year) .. and then he went back to bed.

So now I’m staying in bed, pretty much the only thing I can do at the moment .. and hoping the pump is not permanently damaged :( Blah.

Let the holiday baking begin!

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Today I decided to whip up a batch of snickerdoodles to kick off my holiday baking. I’m going to try to post all my recipes I make this winter, just because in the past I’ve lost my fudge recipe :( So I want to remember all my yummy treats. You can look forward to cookies, peanut brittle and hopefully fudge from me this year :)

Snickerdoodles

These are the cookies that won me Sean’s heart. Light and puffy with a little crispy edge .. they’re just awesome. They’re also super simple to make and kids can join in too.

  • 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 1/2 cups white sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon of cinnamon
  • 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt (leave out if you use salted butter)
  • 4 tablespoons white sugar
  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
  2. Cream together butter, shortening, the 1 1/2 cups sugar, the eggs and the vanilla. Then blend in the flour, the tablespoon of cinnamon, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt. If you can do it by hand .. you’ll be rewarded with a prettier cookie.
  3. Mix together the 4 tablespoons of sugar and 2 teaspoons of cinnamon in a resealable baggie.
  4. Shape dough by rounded spoonfuls into balls. I use a large cookie scoop for this, you get perfect balls every time. Coat each ball with the cinnamon sugar by placing it in the bag and shaking it up (perfect for kids). Place the balls 2 inches apart on a parchment lined cookie sheet (prevents burning and makes cleanup super easy)
  5. Bake for 8 minutes (should be a little undercooked, avoid over cooking at all costs!) Let the cookies sit on the sheet for 2 to 3 minutes out of the oven, then transfer to a cooling rack.
  6. Enjoy with a glass of cold milk!

- notes for the future – I’m not a fan of the slight bitter taste the cream of tartar gives the cookie, but it makes the texture amazing. I read that you could substitute 4 teaspoons baking powder to remove the tartar and the soda. Also adding a tablespoon of cinnamon to the batter might give a stronger cinnamon taste, covering up the tartar, or even extra vanilla -

[UPDATED] - Made another batch adding in the tablespoon of cinnamon and an extra teaspoon of vanilla and they were awesome, so I added them to the recipe above!

Blogspot Confessional

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Thanks, Keri, I’ve been dreading this since Angelle started it.

A. List 6 facts/habits/confessions about yourself.

B. At the end of the post, tag 6 people and post their names, then go to their blogs and leave them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and pointing them your blog.

1. I absolutely hate touching newspaper. It makes me cringe, like nails on a blackboard cringe. I’m not sure if its the newspaper itself or how dry it makes my hands but I can’t stand it.

2. Because of Sean’s overnight work schedule and my deviated septum, Sean and I have slept in the same bed 3 times over the past 3 months. It kinda sucks…

3. My therapist suggested I take anti-depressants in May when she diagnosed me with PTSD from losing a job 2 years ago. I’ve been trying to quit them since July. Every few days I experience withdrawal symptoms like my whole body twitching and thats when I end up taking another pill (I think I’m up to 4 or 5 days between pills). The feeling is similar to having really low blood sugar. It really sucks because my first reaction to the feeling is that I need to eat, have some sugar or caffeine .. but it doesnt fix the feeling .. until I realize its probably the withdrawal. Within an hour or 2 of taking a pill I feel fine. But I think this is a contributing factor to my weight gain this summer.

4. I’ve gained 15 lbs in the past 14 months, and I hate it, but I’m lazy and should pick my ass up and go to the gym. Instead, I’m trying to come up with 6 confessional things.

5. I hate condiments. No mustard, no mayo, no ketchup .. yuck! It drives Sean nuts and he’s even tried to sneak mustard and pickles into my sandwiches. (yeah I hate pickles too)

6. Sean and I bought an entire litter of 4 dachshund puppies this year. Within a month we realized we had made a big mistake and tried for find new homes for 2 of the puppies. Our neighbors and their friends offered to take them. We ended up taking 1 back because he wasn’t happy in his new house (now he’s very happy at my parents). But to this day I worry and feel guilty about the fourth one, Newton. The last I heard about him was during this summer. He was still having potty training issues and they were keeping him outside during the day. When I heard that I offered to take him back that night, I even told Sean to follow him home and take him. But the guy said his kids are very attached to him. It makes my heart break to think about it and even last week I was sobbing about it .. I’m tearing up at this moment. Its probably my greatest regret of my life.

Okay .. most of the blogs that I read regularly have already been tagged .. but Liz, Arielle and Christina .. you’re up!

One year ago today …

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we closed on this house .. coincidentally 3 years ago today .. I closed on the condo. Actually now that i think about it .. they were both on Friday .. and I think it was actually last week :\ Oh well.. time seriously flies. I really like it here alot :) I love being closer to Nikki, Keri and all my friends up here, I do miss being near my family, but we get to visit pretty often since we’re not too far away. Overall I’m very happy with our purchase :)

I’m celebrating today by cleaning house .. I did the kitchen and floors already .. next to pick up the living room and maybe do some touch up painting. I have officially made room for our Christmas tree .. now I’m just waiting for Sean to haul it down from the attic. And I can’t wait to put the lights up outside!

Dryer Drama

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Just to update ya’ll on my dryer situation .. last Saturday the tech came out at 6pm (6pm on a Saturday! poor guy) .. heard my story and said the problem is the dryer’s ‘motherboard’ .. yes dryers have motherboards now .. and it needed to be replaced .. so he ordered the part, set up a follow up appointment for Wednesday and left us a reciept.

Monday night and Tuesday Sears calls to see if we got the part .. we hadn’t .. so they rescheduled our appointment from Wed. to Friday and told me to call if we didnt get our part by then. Sure enough .. the part didn’t show up. So I called Sears and got a real moron. The last people I talked to were very helpful, they told me when the part should get here and they rescheduled me. This guy refused to reschedule me, saying that its their policy that I need to call back when I get my part (which was totally the opposite of the 3 previous people I spoke to earlier this week) he even said he couldn’t cancel the appointment for Friday .. so the poor guy would have to drive out here to the middle of nowhere to find out the part hadnt arrived. I asked to speak to his supervisor .. because this guy was an idiot .. and he put me on hold for 2 min, came back and transferred me to the parts department! They couldn’t reschedule me either .. but they were able to tell me the part had been shipped and should be delivered Monday .. So I had them transfer me back to scheduling .. but I ended up at the voice guided prompts when you first dial the number .. so I hung up. Sean said he’d take it up with the tech if he showed up in the morning ..

This morning the guy rings the bell right at 8am .. and Sean goes and explains things to him. He gets on the phone with people and they tell him the part is supposed to come today, and he decides to call us at noon to see if it got here and he’ll come back and install it. I can’t believe so many people can have such conflicting answers.

Meanwhile the dryer has been working fine since last week .. I even did 3 loads of towels this weekend :P I’m just worried that the next load I do the dryer will turn off again and I’ll be stuck with a load of wet clothes and no clothes line.