Tent Hunt 2010

Growing up, camping was always part of at least one of our summer vacations.  Now that I think about it, I don’t know if I’ve been camping in at least 8 years!  It might have been right before I moved to Chicago that I last went.  Sad thought.

So we are looking for a tent.   I can’t believe how many different kinds of tents there are!

Check this one out!

Wigwam style.

Dome.

I this one is trying to fly away.

If you can’t get away from your car, no worries.

This one says it’s name is “Board Room”, but I’m thinking Covered Wagon.

Slightly more practical, with 2 rooms.

I suppose coming back around to the word practical I should stop looking at random things and either be productive or go to sleep.  Any bets on how long it will take me to make a decision?  I thought about posting my status on Facebook as “I’m trying to decide if I’ve gotten better at making decisions.”  That answers my question, I think.

Good night!  If you have a favorite tent, or worst tent ever, let me know. :)

Blue Skies and Spring is HERE

The weather has been amazing the last 4 days.  We’ve had 3 days above 80 and today started out raining and has turned into this beautiful sky!  Buds are starting to break open about 3-4 weeks early from what I’m familiar with here.  I hear that Utah has been covered with snow for spring break…how glad I am that the only white I’m looking at are these two puffy white clouds! (Sorry for any of you that are looking at snow)

Here’s the proof that the plants are just as excited about the end of winter and the arrival of spring!

Someone else is interested in what’s going on outside…  Birds chirping, people walking dogs, finally there is movement!

Destinations

I have spent way too much time today dreaming of all the places I could visit or live.  Don’t get me wrong, Chicago is a great place to live, but these long and COLD winters are getting to both of us.  We talk of living somewhere warmer, but it’s all just talk so far.  So I have been connected to my computer today doing all sorts of random searches.  Did you know that the average daily temperature in Chicago is 52?  Granted it is the average but it’s so depressing to think that 40 degrees outside in March makes me want to drive with the windows down.  Am I crazy?!

So I looked up cost of living analyses and Gurnee IL has a cost of living of 103, which is higher than the national average.  My cousin that lives outside of Houston has a cost of living of 87.  For $124k you can get a house with 4+ bedrooms and a pool there!  I think I’m going through some sort of need-to-change-something phase, or at least a grass-is-greener-on-the-other-side phase.

Life just doesn’t feel all that interesting when you work all the time.  (Sorry, I need to vent, so if you don’t like hearing people vent, move on to another blog…) 

I really don’t mind what I do at work, but I’ve been doing it now for almost 8 years.  8 YEARS!!!  I feel stuck in a rut with my life and without having kids, it seems silly not to work.  But this whole work 5 days and have 2 days off just isn’t cutting it.  I don’t get home from work until around 7 every day, so cooking dinner is a rare thing at our house.  My goal has been to cook once a week.  Pathetic, isn’t it?  We are both so tired that we usually go to bed at 9!  How do people with kids do it?  How do they do things with their kids at the end of the day, put them to bed, and stay up late, only to get up early again?  Wow, for those of you that do it, I’m beyond impressed.

Is it silly to want another day or two to just be at home or to socialize with the friends I don’t have?  I don’t think I’m crazy, but it does seem silly not to be earning/saving money while I can.  It’s all about balance, right?  I want that.  I need that.  Now I just need the courage to get it.  *sigh*

Okay, my venting is done.

By the way, I did finish making my valentine hearts.  They were a week late, but they were done in February, so I’m 2 for 2 for my goal of a project each month!  Sorry about no photos today.  It’s been a lazy day after a long week.

Southwest Chicken Salad

I know it’s Valentine’s Day and I should be posting something related…like the hearts I was supposed to have finished.  They are probably half way done.  We had a busy and productive day doing other things yesterday so I didn’t do much sewing.

But I figured I would at least post a really good salad that we had last week.  I was too hungry to take a picture of it, so you’ll have to look close at their picture.  Surprisingly the recipe is from Wonder Bread.  It popped up when I did a search on chicken and salad.  I highly recommend you try this….we’ll definitely do it again. 

I used pre-seasoned black beans instead of regular black beans, so no rinsing like they said.  We also went without the cheese and you couldn’t tell the difference.  I used red pepper instead of green.  And for the ranch dressing, I used a no-fat version using 2 cups no-fat plain yogurt, a ranch dressing seasonings packet, and 2 Tbsp dijon mustard.  To make it a little more southwestern, I added some of the chili seasoning to the dressing.

Okay I’m salivating now…enjoy! 

Oh, and Happy Valentine’s Day!!!

Charmed

One of my goals this year is to work on at least one project each month.  I didn’t finish anything in January, but I did start crocheting a scarf to donate to the Craft Hope’s valentine’s day project.  I think I like sewing better than crocheting.  My eyes kept getting cross-eyed and dry.  But I should be able to ship it on Monday.

For February, I bought this cute fabric for a Valentine’s Day project.  It’s a set of 42 pre-cut 5” squares called a “Charm Pack.” Almost every square is a different pattern. I’m not sure yet what I’m going to make.  But I at least had fun laying them out to photograph. Ha ha ha!

I might turn some of it into a table centerpiece with this as the starting idea from sew4home:

If I get around to it, I might try a pillow to see how quilting works with these “charm packs.”  I don’t have much time to figure it out since Valentine’s Day is a week from tomorrow!

Holiday Starts Today

Today starts a five day stretch without going to work for both of us.  Hooray!  The weather has turned cold and snowy, but I've been lucky enough to get a role at work where I don't have to go in every time it snows.  So even though I have to carry around my work phone and be on-call for questions, I'm less angry about it snowing.  Last year I was working on Christmas Eve until 9 or 10 at night.  So this year is a pleasant surprise.

For those of you that blog all the time, I don’t know how you do it.  But maybe since I have so many gaps in between posts, I feel like they need to be really cool (which of course they are not).  But I figured since I’m on holiday starting today that I would at least give someone else who is on holiday a little something extra to read as you catch up on other people’s blogs.

I don’t really have any pictures to post.  I haven’t been using my camera.  For awhile one was missing the memory card and the other was completely missing.  Cleaning the bedroom found the missing camera and cleaning my sewing room revealed the missing card, so perhaps I’ll start shooting again.

Last Saturday I wish there had been a camera to grab when Santa Claus was escorted through the neighborhood by the police to greet all the children  that wanted to run through the snow to say hello and get a bag of goodies.  Jeremy then opens the front door and runs outside – BAREFOOT – and wearing shorts and darts across the snowy front lawn towards the tractor with Santa!  I think they were all as startled as I was, not sure what to expect.  So Santa reached out and gave him a bag of candy and he came running back.  I think his feet were so cold that they must have felt bigger, because he said they felt like Hobbit feet across the snow.  The next day I could still see the footprints, complete with toe indentations, in the snow but had no camera to document it.  But I’m sure you have an image in your head!

I’ll need to take pictures of our living room with holiday decor.  The tree is decked with ornaments and ribbon in the corner by the window.  In the last month I hung curtains above the windows to hide the boring mini-blinds.  I bought some stocking hangers so that our red stockings could dangle off the DVD bookshelf, and was able to use my great-grandfather’s silver candlestick holders in the display.  I have to say they look great with mid-green candles in them!  I bet his family loved to look at them.  It’s nice to have that history to add to the room.

Hmm, what else?

Jeremy's brother flew into town on Sunday and will be here for a week.  It's great to see him again - it's been 2 years!  He's already not looking forward to going back, but hopefully he will enjoy every minute of time with his family and friends.  This afternoon we are all going to the movie Avatar in 3D IMAX, which should be cool.

Otherwise I still have some last-minute shopping to do, wrapping of gifts, hopefully some cookie baking, possibly some more sewing (including finishing a project I started with my mom and sister last year!), and just being on holiday for 5 WHOLE DAYS!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!!!

Titles are over-rated

Why is it that weekends start off feeling productive, but then all the projects turn into a hopeless feat?  I’ve been frustrated lately with myself for not being able to make our house feel more home-like, too.  I still have nothing on the walls.  I think the color on the living room walls are still the wrong color. And on, and on, and on…

Sorry for all the blah blah blah. I just needed to vent.  Today I wanted to find a quiet clean room to spend some time in.  But all I see in every room are the little piles of stuff that needs to go somewhere else.  So I would start cleaning up things in that room, only to decide I didn’t have time to make that much progress.  The only room I can get to a point where I feel it’s clean enough is the kitchen. 

One of these days I’ll figure it out…

But for now I’ll just type from my clean bed sheets while watching “An Affair to Remember” on tv.  Maybe tomorrow I’ll get the living room back!