Dinner and Dessert

I got the dogs Halloween costumes at Target today.

I'd like to say that I'm above that and wouldn't do it, but I'm not. You might not dress up your pets, but I do. And mine seem to like it. Get over it. I don't roll my eyes at your non-costumed dog, so no judging. And if you do judge...yeah, I don't care. 'Cause these dogs? Looking cutie patootie.

First we have some nice afternoon outdoor shots of Kisser. He seems to enjoy being an ice cream sundae. The top three shots are my favorites.


Indoors was a bit more chaotic, as Jeremiah was removing the old island (it is being repurposed in the garage as a work area for me, as he already has one) and installing the new one. There were no trips to the emergency room. yay.
Wiener as a wiener.
Atticus with the banana hat. Wearing it sideways because "party up in here"!
Side view - I don't think he likes the hat as much as the rest of his costume.

Happy Halloween!!

P.S. Listening to: White Stripes - Under Great White Northern Lights. It's INCREDIBLE.

Finally! White Cabinets!!

Here's how it looked before:

When you look at the picture below, please ignore the messy countertop. That's not what it will look like when we're done. Keep in mind - mess is a part of a work in progress. But here are the cabinets! What a huge amount of work. I can honestly say that it was one of the biggest pains. Yeah, not my favorite DIY project. The garage was so hot, the cabinets took so many layers...Pain.In.The.Butt.
But now:

I know the picture quality isn't great (I've yet to master indoor shots.), but...I.Love.Forever.And I even got to pick out these handles for Jeremiah to put on the cabinets. Nice, right?

We still have a lot to do with regards to the kitchen. New island to be put up, old one to tear out, tile backsplash, diy light over the island, curtains/blinds on the window...so much fun!

P.S. The new island has been put together. Jeremiah is talking about pulling out the old island this weekend. Exciting! And scary! Maybe Halloween weekend isn't the best time to do electric work. Last Halloween weekend he fell and broke a rib...Maybe we should rethink this?

Cactus, Revisited.

Remember how the cactus fell during the storm? You can revisit it here and here and even here .
Remember how I said that I wanted to save the rods or ribs or whatever they are called?
Here we go:
Keep in mind that this is simply one chunk of the cactus. It was over two stories tall, so Jeremiah cut it into smaller pieces. We let it sit in the front yard for awhile (The neighbors? They love us.) and then sawed chunks of the skin/whatever off to expose the ribs. Eventually it looked like these pictures. We moved everything to the backyard. Jeremiah will sand them down and they will become ART. In the house. I'm super excited.
Dig it? I think it will look super cool. We've got a bunch, so we'll have to design something great.

Lonely Men + Hookers = Jerome

As I mentioned earlier, we took a day trip up to Jerome. Jerome was a booming mining town in the 1800s and early 1900s. The company that mined made something like 60,000,000 in mining! Holy crap. Anyway, the men got lonely so they had lots of saloons and lots of working women (if you know what I mean). The town is very cool. We are early birds, so we left...early. And by the way - if one were ever to take a trip to Jerome, I recommend going EARLY because the people start to roll in around noon and it gets super over the top touristy. And who wants that?

We stopped at Dunkin' Donuts, which was a true bummer. I only get doughnuts on roadtrips and these doughnuts were not worthy. So sad. I miss Wesco.

Anyway, let's get on with the pictures!

Here we are heading north of PHX.
Some saguaros, which take my breath away. EVERY.SINGLE.TIME.
Heading through the mountain...
...Reaching the top.

Beautiful clouds.
Boyfriend. Driving.
CLOUDS!!!!
I thought this one was cool. Clouds + Jerome = Happy Emily
It started to get twisty and turn-y and I started getting nervous and there was NO sort of guardrail. So I focused on the clouds instead.
I just like this.
Twist.
Waiting for our turn at a one lane part of the road.
Fence in Jerome.

I like this one, too!

And finally, Jerome, city in the mountain!

Anyone else planning any fun trips?

What to Order for Lunch

Here was our conversation while at lunch. We took a road trip today. Pictures to follow.

Emily: So what are you going to order?

Boyfriend: I can't decide. I'm going to have to narrow it down. He thinks about it, looking at the menu again. Looks up.

Boyfriend: I can tell you one thing though.

Emily[distracted]: What's that?

Boyfriend: I'm not getting "Tom's Sausage". I can't order sausage that has another man's name in front of it. It's out of the question. He looks back at the menu sadly.

And really, what's left to say after that?

My $37 Chair.

Okay. I bought this chair awhile ago at Target. Remember?

And I said that I would make a slipcover thing for it. Remember??

Well, I finally did.

I bought some heavy fabric at Jo-Anne's. It was on clearance and then fifty percent off of that price. Score. $12. Total.
I didn't measure anything. I just kind of cut the shape, hemmed, did the corners, etc. I did make one mistake and had to fix it, but that is neither here nor there. The top/back of the chair was the easiest thing. I made sure the fabric was facing the same direction as the seat, then sewed it up like a pillow case.
And voila! Chair slipcover. Not too bad, if I do say so myself.

Anyone else working on some sewing or crafting?

P.S. Thanks so much for everyone that is voting for me. The odds are so slim, I know, but it means a lot that people are still taking the time to vote for me.

You Screen, I Screen

While cruising around our local ghetto, we stopped at a second hand store. I found this:



It's wrought iron. It's heavy. I love it.

It was supposed to go in front of the fireplace, but we really wanted the design to stand out so Jeremiah removed the legs and the brass balls (heeeheee) on top and hung it for me.

It needs to be moved a bit, but for now we are loving it. I don't even mind the stumps/screws at the bottom (although Jeremiah offered to hacksaw them off for me) because it adds to its character. It is unique, most likely there aren't too many people who have this, and I LOVE repurposing stuff. And I love a good deal - $20. Jeremiah bargained with him. Not bad for unique art!


p.s. Thank you for all of you that are voting daily! I truly appreciate it. I know that my chances are slim and there are people way ahead of me, but it honestly doesn't hurt to try. The realization that I could write a post each day and have someone pay me to do it...wow. So thanks again.

p.p.s. Also, we've got some great posts coming up. That's the royal we. I mean I have some posts coming up. Some tattoo stuff, some WHITE CABINETS, the chair has a new slipcover, etc. Stay tuned! I've nearly finished the huge amounts of work for school & school, so I might have a little more blogging time!