Tapas and Abby, Abby and Tapas

The other night I came home to James cooking away in the kitchen.  Due to the state of our existing kitchen, James and I try to spend as little time in there as possible.  It's old, most things don't work or work poorly and it just seems gross no matter how hard we scrub.  So to see him back in his glory was nice.  Not to mention he already had Spanish appetizers set out ready for me to devour.   Prosciutto wrapped melon and toast with tomato and okra puree.  It was so delicious and made me want a vacation so bad.

And in other random news.  This is Abby Noles.  She's already one (can't believe it) and the most well behaved baby I've ever had dinner with.  She was awesome, no really, she was.  Some day I'm going to have to learn Jaime's secrets on how to produce an all star like Sweet Abby.

DRIP, drip, drip

Within the last 2 weeks, we've had 3 minor/major plumbing problems in our home.  They say it comes in threes (Normally only in celebrity deaths; but for the sake of my sanity, lets say plumbing problems too, ok?)  And I think I'm really ready for it all to be over.  Last week our garbage disposal disconnected from the drain making a lovely mess underneath the counter.  Luckily, it was an easy fix with a flashlight and a wrench. 

Friday night after a lovely night watching the Rangers with friends we came home to a flooding garage.  The 3rd floor toilet split and ran for 6 hours straight, going through 2 floors and flooding the garage.  The dining room ceiling was ruined as well as the brand new wood floors; and not to mention the wood planks we had in the garage that were scheduled to be installed on the 3rd floor in July.  There were tears shed for sure.  Especially since it was midnight and our dining room was full of water.  Insurance adjuster comes tomorrow.  Cross your fingers that it's positive.

And then this morning, on my way to work, I get a call from the neighbor saying there's water coming out of the garage again... so I come back to find the washer is leaking some how.  I don't have the solution on that one yet... I had a conference call at 9 am, so I turned the water off and just left. 

Needless to say, I'm a little tired of the drip.  Please say it's over for a little while?  The dripping?

Limey

I bought a lime tree this summer and my first lime dropped.  It was a tiny, little guy, but it still tasted like a lime! 

Maybe someday they will be big enough for a thirst quenching margarita.

James

This is one of my favorite photos of James Lynn.  In case you were wondering.

Lunch in a Box

Ok, I may be totally lame but I just discover Amy's Kitchen Frozen Meals and am so glad I did.

We don't have a lunch break here at my office.  Everyone eats at their desk.  There are no rules, it's just something we all do.  We either all order a pizza, sandwiches or get something from the cafeteria below.  But more times than not - it's a frozen lunch in a box on the fly.  (which we like to sing to the tune of the SNL Timberlake skit "It's My D*** in a Box.")

Anyways, I've come to despise lunch in a box - every single Lean Cuisine and Healthy Choice taste exactly the same, no matter what the flavor.  There are days I'd rather starve than heat one of those babies up.

BUT NOT NOW Ladies and Gentlemen.

Amy's has the most delicious frozen meals.  Seriously, dude.  I know this is corny, but if you've eaten as many frozen clumps of junk as I have, you would rejoice in this discovery too!  And the best part, they are so much better for me too!  All organic and vegetarian (which I can handle for lunch) and I can pronounce every single ingredient on the back.  They are about 100 calories more than a Lean Cuisine, but I'm not starving by 2pm either.  And what you eat, actually looks like the picture on the front because they have a much shorter shelf life and haven't been frozen for 19 years.

Try them out.  You will thank me later.  (In forms of gift cards or cash)



not that interesting, but weird

I got called for my first jury duty for August 2nd.  My good friend Ro got called for her first jury duty for August 3rd. 

Very weird, although it would've been even better if we were on the same day.

Bunny

Sometimes we bring the pooch when we go to the pool.  He finds a nice cool perching spot in the monkey grass and watches the day go by.  We like to pretend he's a bunny.

Flowers

I used to get flowers all the time.  And I might have taken them for granted.  Now that ol' boy isn't a florist anymore, our house isn't as blooming.

But, I got flowers last night.  And they were so sweet. 

James even mentioned, "Flowers are expensive when you have to pay for them."

Photographs of James Lynn in a Pool

Since I failed on my Watchadoing Wednesdays.  I'll start a new series titled, "Photographs of James Lynn in a Pool".  Taken by yours truly.

Surprises

I like when life gives you sweet little surprises. 

Like opening up your watermelon to find THIS!

It was so sweet!  And being by the pool catching some rays didn't hurt the flavor either.



Holy Guac

It's June already?!  Where the hell did April and May go?

I'm exhausted just trying to think of the last few months.

As you may have noticed, I haven't been posting many pics of the casa lately.  Mainly due to the fact that even though we complete (what feels like a big) project it really doesn't make that big of a difference in the entire scheme of things.  BUT this past month, we've really been making progress and it feels good.  We've got plants on the patio, paint on most of the walls, new furniture and wood on the floors!  I still don't have fully complete pictures, because the place is far from fully complete... but hey, it's getting there!

Here are a few photos of our progress:

New TV console via IKEA

(I swore I'd never buy furniture there ever again, but these lockers were perfect and exactly what we wanted and stayed within budget.)  Notice floors are still cement in this picture.

James and trusty Levi pulled up all the old Pergo flooring on the second floor.

 Our lovely relaxing Memorial Day weekend was spent with Ricardo, laying down this beautiful wood!  First and second floors are complete!  We'll conquer the 3rd floor in July.

 Living in a cluster for several days... can make a cranky family.  That's for sure.  This here is my dining room.  But it's done now, so we're back to normal (whatever that is).