Do Baptists have more fun?

We walk by this church every morning on our commute.  And I always look forward to seeing its entertaining message. 

Some of my past favorites have been:

"God answers knee-mail"

and

"Seven days without prayer make one weak"

But the current one isn't too shabby either:

Just adding to the many reasons why we love where we live.

Lessons in Home Ownership

Lesson #6,571:

When there is 20-year-old rust involved, just hire the plumber.  Spend the money and consider it a sunk cost. 

Alternatively, you could spend six precious hours of your Saturday hammering, sawing, destroying your skin with chemicals, screaming obscenities, and acquiring an intense back ache. 

I'll let you decide.

About how I feel today.

With the current heat index at 114 (!) I can't go outside for three minutes without becoming a sticky mess. 

Confession: our house is a 6 minute walk from the metro.  I drove to the metro today.

Don't Mess with Texas

On Saturday night we helped these lovely folks:

throw a going away party for these lovely folks:

 Chris and Maeve are moving to Dallas for business school and we couldn't let them go without having the best (and most delicious) Texas-themed party this side of the Pecos.  Parting is bitter, but partying is sweet.

Logan and Janelle hosted in their brand new and beautiful party room.  Janelle made the most delicious pulled pork (with root beer no less!) that I have ever tasted. 

I was in charge of the desserts...which is pretty dangerous considering I have a serious sweet tooth and don't have a stop-gap when it comes to treats.  The sweeter the better.  The fattier the better.   Mmmm...calories. 

 You can see the pastry cream parfaits in the left corner of the above photo next to the cupcakes.  And, because everyone loves a little food porn now and again: here's a close up of my "lone star" cupcakes. 

 

 Janelle came up with a delightful game of pin-the-star-on-Dallas.  This was especially exciting for me because Blake had never played pin-the-tail on anything and I had to explain it to him on the way to the party.  I was shocked as was Janelle, who asked "what? Was he never six years old?" (side note: I think I played pin-the-tail games at my birthday parties until I was about 14).

As luck would have it, Blake beat me by a long shot and I spent the rest of the night pouting and wishing that I'd told everyone that I hadn't played pin-the-tail before.  Oh well, so it goes: Blake wins some, I lose some.

I'm still having a hard time believing that Chris and Maeve are leaving.  We've tried our best to talk them into staying...and even considered calling SMU to ask them to create a satellite campus in DC...but no dice.  Luckily Dallas is only a short plane ride away and skype is only a short click away.  We'll miss you guys!

 

What exactly is figgy pudding?

Does anyone know what a figgy pudding actually is?  And, if so, how to make one?

I've got about 500 ripe figs that need to be used.  And used fast. 

Our fig tree was a wee little guy when we moved in a year and a half ago.  Now it's a towering two-storey jungle of a tree that we can't cut back fast enough.  We pick a big bowl of figgies every day, but it's still not enough.  The ones we don't get to in time get eaten by the pesky wildlife (squirrels and birds) and then dropped on the ground to become fodder for the even peskier bees.  And I do not like the bees.

When Blake and I were picking figs last week, we accidentally knocked a baby bird out of its nest (disclaimer: we're not masochists...we had no idea there was a nest in the tree, or else we would have been more careful while picking).  Blake and Jimmy spent the rest of the evening devising -with the help of google- operation baby bird rescue.  They successfully got the little feather-puff back into its nest.  It was great news at the time, but now the little puff has been chirping as loud as he can for as much of the day as he can.  It's so bad that I'm about ready to go knock him out of his nest again. 

Tonight: The Final Showdown

via LucyLou

I love this.  My Blake, my brother and my friends are indulging me tonight and are coming to see the last installment of Harry Potter with me.  (Note: I generally refer to the beloved series as "HP" but it makes Blake cringe because of my nerdiness.  So, it is for you, my Blake, that I've called it Harry Potter above).

It's hard to believe that I read the first Harry Potter about 13 years ago.  Time flies.  But I guess I didn't really grow up much in that time. Here I am at 25, writing my 300th blog post, and it happens to be about Harry Potter. 

8:30 can't come soon enough.  Accio weekend!

Year of the Yard

You may or may not have seen what we've been doing in the yard lately, but the transformation is coming along nicely.  We've got big plans for the next month: a new shed, an arbor, and a slate patio...all good things.  But while those things are still in the pipeline, I've really enjoyed reaping the benefits of having a husband with a green thumb. 

New Digs

Due to an increase in hiring and a lack of office space, I now have a corner office for the next year.  I'm not quite sure how I got so lucky, but I'm certainly not complaining.

Five windows and my own controllable thermostat.  Does it get any better than that?

Some things take me a long time...

Remember this post from January of 2010?

I claimed then that days of our old dinosaur of a washing machine (age 43) were numbered.  After my I-Love-Lucy experience complete with sparks, smoke and a washer bouncing across the flooded basement, I just about threw in the towel. 

But, we made Dino last another year and a half.  Sure, we may have only been able to wash on cold.  Sure, we may have not been able to run more than two loads in a row without risking another explosion.   And sure, our whites may not have been as bright nor our clothes as sterilized as the average consumer.  But we did it.  We made it work.

Then a couple of weeks ago we officially became old and boring.  I got a small bonus from work and when we looked at the check we both immediately said: "Pefect! This will cover a new washing machine!"  See.  We're old.  And really boring.  But I digress.  Back to the main event:

Bye bye, dinosaur:

Hello, my beauty:

This sucker has a 4.0 cubic feet capacity and is, consequently, the new love of my life.

Patriotic

Wolfeboro celebrates the 4th with fireworks over the bay.  We enjoyed them from the boat accompanied by the soft rocking of the waves and the hard clanging of cowbell and horns from the enthusiastic (and drunk?) spectators. 

It was 85 and clear all weekend.  But now it's back to the harsh reality of 95 degrees, humidity, work, and a dirty house.

We almost didn't come back.

Independence Day

We're celebrating our holiday up at the lake.  Just the two of us. 

It's been amazing and the weather is beautiful.  I've got the sunburn to prove it.