Dinning Room Chandelier

O.K. so I was flipping though a recent issue of Real Simple and saw this dining room pendant lamp that I adored. Of course there was no source for the lamp. So I looked around on line and found...THE EXACT lamp at Lamps Plus .

Here's the picture in the magazine below.
















And here is the picture from Lamps Plus's Website. So tomorrow we'll be driving down to Arlington (where they have a store and one in stock) and pick it up. I just can't believe I found it.

Kitchen Counters

This is the counter top we picked out. (It takes a while to downoad so be patient.) The color is called blue sahara and it is composite quartz surface. The cabinets are going to be a natural cherry color. The flooring in the kitchen will be tile, but I haven't picked any out yet.

Paint

Just thought I'd let you see some of the paint colors for the house. The family room is going to be in Berry Blush. The dining room is going to be in Belle Grove Moss. The rest of the down stairs will probably be in Epic (which is a khaki) with the exception of the kitchen. The kitchen will be in a faux finish called Tuscan gold. Unfortunately I cannot find any picture of it. You can visit Valspar to see my palate. Once there, you have to choose the room, but it will be ugly because it is throwing all the colors together in one room. The trim in the house will be gloss white.

Best Things = Worst Things

The best thing about building your own custom home is that you get to pick out every thing that goes in to your home. The worst thing about building your own custom home is that you have to pick out everything that goes into your home.


Things I hate to pick out the most (so far): faucets.


I think this is what we are going with....



Brian picked this out because I kept giving him the look of death at Lowe's


More info about this series of faucets and accessories can be found at Kohler's website. The rest of the fixtures in our house will be the same idea.

All metal things in our home will have a brushed nickel finish.

Anyhow, as Brian will give you updates on construction, I will give you updates on the interior decisions, even the ones I hate making.

What happend to me?

O.K. I'll start posting again (with pictures) soon.

I have had a horrible few weeks and am feeling much better now.

I went to the doctor and he found some gastritis in my stomach along with several non-cancerous polyps. I am on medication now to help the erosions heal. It is a slow process and the medication is a pain to take as you can't take for 2-3 hours after you have eaten and can't eat for an hour after you take it. And as you can tell from my posts, I love food.

So it has taken me a while to get adjusted and the spots in my stomach are starting to feel better. Although the pain in the back is not.

I have an appointment in February to check on my progress.

This week at school we have semester exams and have to work on Monday (martin Luther King Day). Huh...do you think it's stress that causes the gastritis?

I am sorry I ruined everyone vacation.

For some quality "ha-ha" time

It's funny, seriously. Visit here for some holiday cheer.

A Week's Worth of Blogs in one Post

In an effort to streamline, I am going to post weekly.



So anyway...here are pictures of me enjoying the produce at the Central Market (aka super H.E.B) in Fort Worth Saturday the 1st. It is liked you have died and gone to foodie heaven. They are only found in Texas.







The produce section is where the store entrance drops you off at. They are 3 huge aisles like the one I am standing in just of fresh produce. It is impossible to think while you are in here. I can remember the first time I was here and spent like 10 minutes looking at all the variety of eggplants you could buy.



They also have a pretty good meat and seafood area, and outstanding bakery and cheese section. They also have tons of pre-prepped foods you can take home and reheat like you are some kind of chef god.





Here is Lilly at Hulen Mall in Fort Worth. She is fascinated by fountains and always wants to stick her hands in them. But then again, who doesn't. The malls in Forth Worth aren't quite as good as they are in Dallas. But that was the trade off for the supermarket.

On Friday, we went to the Burns' Fantasy of Lights display on Midwestern State University's Campus. The first picture is the picture of the entrance to the lights. It was the opening night and Lilly loves to go around and see all of the moving displays. Her particular favorite is the robot (that constantly blows bubbles; yes, that is her jumping around so much that I can't get a picture.) and the Santa that pops out of the chimney.

On Sunday, Lilly had here Christmas concert at school. They sang quite a few short songs about "Jesus' Birthday. Lilly is a born performer. So she belted out her songs like a champ. You can also see that my wonderfully tall child is in the middle on the back. Damn genetics.

Lilly's Baking Brownies

She can because she knows brownies start with "B" and there is a picture of them on the box. There are also pictures on the back to tell her how much egg, water and oil she needs to add. So she matched up the measuring cup numbers with the number on the box and got to mixing.

Job for mommy: greasing the pan, turning on the oven and putting them in the oven and setting the time.

Cookie Number One

Exhibit A:


First cookie baked for the Christmas Season. Into the freezer you go.

This past Sunday

This past Sunday we went to church at Sacred Heart instead of our usual, Christ the King. Here are pictures of Dad playing his postlude and then pictures of him being a ham.

Lilly's Haus

Here is Lilly's sophomore effort on the gingerbread house. Last year's accidentally ended up on the floor. But this year she had a much better time. This year I assembled the house structure and Lilly did ALL of the decorating. I just turned her loose with frosting and all sorts of cookies and candies. I think it turned out pretty good.

Work in progress.

The Gingerbread House is Up.

Well this one was much easier than last year's other than the trauma of buying peppermint sticks that were already broken. The replacement peppermint sticks cost probably about $20.00 when you figure gas and visiting three stores, but that's another story.

Work in progress.

And the Contruction Begins.

Here are a lot of the pieces for my gingerbread house. I should begin constructing later on today. More pictures to come.

How Texas Are You?

I Am 36% Texas and Brian is too.

You're as welcome in Texas as a skunk at a lawn party.

How Texas Are You?

Paul came for a Visit

Here's a picture of Paul. He was visiting his sister-in-law's mother's house in Fort Worth and decided to come home for a little while. Here is a picture of us playing cards with Lilly on the floor.

Thanksgiving Feast

Just because there was just the three of us didn't mean we weren't going to eat. Here is a picture of the spread I put out for the husband and kid. It consisted of a brined and roasted turkey, sauteed green beans with bacon and spätzle, mashed potatoes, homemade rolls, acorn squash bisque and I am sad to say "stove top stuffing" from a box.

Here's a picture of me burning my hands holding a cup of soup so my husband could take a picture of me.

Gathering for the Cornucopia

Here are pictures of Lilly and I going to Lucy park to gather leafs, berries and pine cones for our Thanksgiving cornucopia. It has become a tradition that Lilly looks forward to.

We didn't gather near as much stuff as we did lat year due to all the flooding this past summer. I don't know if you can tell or not from the picture, but the area we were walking in was submerged under about 12 feet of water.

After we collected all of our foliage, we went over to the duck pond and feed them rice Chex. It's like they haven't been fed for ages. They fed like piranhas. It probably was due to the 30° drop from Tuesday until today.

I Cannot Go With you Staci

Well Staci, I won't be going to London with you. But maybe we can meet up in San Francisco sometime.

You Belong in Paris

Stylish and expressive, you were meant for Paris. The art, the fashion, the wine! Whether you're enjoying the cafe life or a beautiful park... You'll love living in the most chic place on earth.

What City Do You Belong In?

My Buddy Amy

This is my friend Amy from work. She teaches science too and is almost as sarcastic as I am. She has a 4 year-old son, Max, who goes to pre-school with Lilly.

Amy is a good friend to go to Sonic with. She is easy to convince that she needs to leave campus.

Shriveled Pumpkin

Last night at Mom and Dad's house we were watching Unwrapped. They had presented segment over those fancy pumpkin carving kits you can get and churn out cool looking pumpkins without having any skill. Anyway, this is not really about the segment. It is about what Marc Summers (the host) said after the segment. He said if we had a problem with our "pumpkin shriveling" that we should "soak it in water." Anyhow, both Dad and I started giggling because it clearly was a euphemism for something else. Bill would have appreciated it.