Home - Pt. 1

It's where we live. Where we're making memories. Where we fight. Where we make up. Where we laugh. Where we cry. Where we learn. Where we build our life.

It's home.

And I've been saying for SUCH a long time, now, that I would take you on a tour of our home, but I've been slacking. Well, I FINALLY remembered to get the "before" pictures from my Big Sister and I can FINALLY show you! I know you're just tingling with excitement, so here we go.

Reminder: this is what the house looked like the day we moved in, so there's nothing... no furniture, not nothing and that HIDEOUS wallpaper got pulled down OH so fast!! So - feel free to comment on how tacky everything looks, okay? I will not be offended in the least. And then later on at some point, I'll show you some of the little progress we've made. :-)

So today we'll start with the hideous main full bathroom. Oh. Em. Gee. It's horrendous. Are you sure you're ready for this?

This is the view from our bedroom entrance. *shivers*

From the hallway entrance.

You see that lovely splash of color sitting on the back of the toilet? Yep - that's the wallpaper's MATCHING shower curtain. *gag*

SO that's that. Home not-so-sweet home. It's MUCH sweeter now, of course, but... we'll get to that later. I'll be showing more of our home over the next few days, so stay tuned!!

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And guess what - I WON!!! Mrs. Stethoscope's giveaway, that is. Free food! I like never win giveaways. I am SO stoked, you have NO idea. Go check it out so you can be jealous of me and my awesome cookies. Yumm-O!!

Free FOOD!

Mrs. Stethoscope is doing a grub giveaway! It's like the best combination like EVER, right?! Food and free. Those words make my heart go pitter-patter.

Get your potential grub on here: http://knsfunk.blogspot.com/


Go check it out and don't forget to mention that you found the link here at the Deep End of the Puhl!

Slackstown,USA. Population: Me

I finally started sending out my "Pay It Forward" stuff (Yes, I'm Slacky McSlackerpants from Slackstown, Alabama) and will send more soon.

You see, I'll be sending something different to each person, for a few reasons: #1 - allergies. It's "Pay It Forward", not "make 'em suffer", right? #2 - personalities. Call me old fashioned, but when given the opportunity, I like to make a persons' gift reflect them, somehow... in blog world, that's taking the very little bit that I've picked up from reading and trying to find a way to apply it to the gift.


For those of you yet to receive your gift, it won't be fancy, but hopefully it won't be a disappointment, too much. I'm spacing them out due to finances, but I promise you will get it eventually, so don't hate me!!



On a totally different note, we've got some DIY projects coming up shortly. A few trips to goodwill and I'm stocked up on a few ideas for the coming weeks (granted I need some free time, first... but that's sure to come eventually, right?). Hopefully it'll become a regular thing, this Do It Yourself, stuff, but for now... we'll start out small.


Anywho, stick around in the upcoming days - we've got the American Idol concert/meet & greet recap and some 'round the house projects coming up alongside of the usual everyday random stuff. I'll try to be better about blogging as things start to slow down a bit at work, again. Even though I haven't been writing a lot, I have still been reading. Are you kidding me?! I couldn't stay away from ya'll blogs if I had to! It's my drug of choice...




... and I think I'm okay with that. ;-) Toodles!

Fabulosity

I arrived home, yesterday, to a box with my name on it. Am I the only one who likes that? It's like Christmas ... only I didn't remember ordering anything.

So I ripped the box open, feeling like I was a kid again, and loe-and-behold it was a gift!! Kelly (from Kelly's Place) totally sent me my Pay It Forward gift and (as Celine Dion, would say) I LURVE it!! It's aDORable!!


Check it:

How awesome is THAT?! I LOVE it!! And even though I'm not a coffee drinker (which I believe is the typical drink of choice for cups like these), I decided it was MORE than suitable for my juice this morning. So I popped in an ice cube and poured in some juice. WHAM! Instant pick-me-up for the road!

Seriously, Kelly - I LOVE it!! Thank you so so much. It's so stinking cute that I plan to use it all the time. McStudly will probably be jealous, but oh well. It's got my "S" on it!! ha ha

THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH!!

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For those of you whom I owe Pay It Forward stuff to: I'm so so sorry. We've had a few bumps in the road lately with regards to finances and we're still trying to level things out. You will be getting something from me - I promise! But it may be a little bit longer, yet. Forgive me??

BREAKING NEWS!

A dear friend of mine, Queen Rosh, just called and has free tickets to the American Idol concert tonight in Baltimore. After a quick check-in with the hubs, you bet your TAIL I'm going!!

So hopefully there'll be lots of stories and pics/videos tomorrow. And for those of you on twitter, follow me (http://twitter.com/SarahPuhl) and I'm sure you'll get pics and updates as the night progresses. SCORE!!!



Toodles!

Uh-Oh, but Yumm-O!

SO yesterday I played housewife.

Okay, you're right, I kind've play housewife every day, BUT I was a little better at it than usual yesterday!! You see, I kind've planned a few options for dinner this week and everything ready for me to just decide which meal I (we) want that night and WHAM-o. Get to cooking! So I went shopping Monday and wah-lah. Awesomeness for the whole week. Rock on!!


I even bought some things for us to try out a few new recipes from the AWESOME "Cooking Light Cookbook" that I picked up (at Lowes, oddly enough) and absolutely love!! There's SO many good ideas. And the food isn't like gross healthy, it's like "I'll probably even LIKE that" healthy type food. Know what I mean? Sure you do. ;-)


Anywho, yesterday I got home from work. Spent a little cuddle time with McStudly (shh! Don't tell, he's sure it'll ruin his street cred.) and then started on dinner before realizing I needed another ingredient (dang it... SO close!). So he ran to the store while I hung out with the pup.

While I waited to got dishes done (the sink was EMPTY folks!) and wiped down all the counters and the stove... blah blah blah. When he got home, I made dinner (Chicken Spaghetti - if you ask real nice and you're lucky, maybe I'll give you the recipe - and no, it's nothing at all like Chicken Permagiana, just FYI), washing and putting away dishes as I went (that's right - hand out the bonus points!). After we had dinner, I finished dishes, put leftovers in the fridge (one of a very short list of meals that tastes just as good, sometimes better, as leftovers).

Then I sat for a few before rushing to meet Mom and lil' Sister at goodwill for a shopping date. I scored a few shirts, nothing good in the home-front section (not even anything to work with, I mean) and then headed to their house for a quick stop. I picked up my Aunt's old dress (as in she wore it when she was my age, and now it fits me perfectly... just gotta get some shoes - post w/ pics probably to follow) and headed home to my McStudly.


We were anxious to try out a new Strawberry Banana shake recipe (we're not the healthiest eaters, but we'll try it if there's a good picture!) so I set out to get started. I cut up the Nanas, and pulled out the Strawberries to find... MOLD! Ugh! I JUST bought them Monday (call me uneducated, I thought they'd be fine to sit out one night before putting them in the fridge - okay I forgot - but ONE night and they already molded? No fair! I call a do-over). I was SO upset!

But then, McStudly came to my rescue. He reminded me that we had some blueberries in the freezer (old as they may be... still blueberries nonetheless). So I replaced the strawberries with blueberries and wah-lah. It was actually pretty tasty!!


Happy ending: McStudly saved the day, I left the kitchen clean and [somewhat] organized, and all went to bed happy. And for those of you wondering:


Blueberry Banana Shakes!

2 cups sliced bananas
1 cup frozen blueberries
1/4 cup orange juice
3 cups low fat/fat free vanilla ice cream


Mix first 3 ingredient in a blender until smooth. Add ice cream one scoop at a time, blending until smooth. Then dish-out and serve immediately. Makes about 4 servings, 1 cup/serving.




So there you have it - sometimes even oopsies in the kitchen can turn into quite a yummy (and somewhat healthy) surprise. Score for all!!

A MishMosh of Sorts

So I'm totally a slacker, but it's because I've ACtually been busy at work. Crazy, right?! Yeah. Totally nuts. Who'd-a-thunk?!

But I've also been more focused on bettering my relationship with McStudly and enjoying our time together before he deploys. I don't know if I've told you all, yet, but he's set to deploy in October and it'll be our first. :-(

I know we'll be fine, but it's put a few things into perspective and we want to take a more proactive approach to our relationship while we can. It's been great! We're cooking more (together, even!) and spending more time just the two of us (and the pup, of course). We've grown more and more comfortable with each other, even beyond where we were already. Sometimes it's so amazing to think you're at such a good place, but then go way past it to see how it could be better even still.


Well... we think it's cool, anyways. So we're being more open, even about the thoughts in our heads that we wouldn't normally speak out loud and it's been eye-opening. And SO so encouraging!! We're more supportive of each other than ever before and are loving every minute of it, for sure!


On a totally random note, I have this recipe for you that's SO unbelievably simple that it sounds boring. BUT it's SOOO yummy! You're going to be wondering why you haven't thought of it before (I was - and now it's like a new fave). Promise me you'll give it a try (unless you have allergies, that is. Otherwise - no excuses!) and then let me know what you think, okay?!


Cucumber Salad

Cucumber (sliced, then cut to preferred bite-size)
Feta Cheese (crumbled)
Italian Salad Dressing

Just mix it together and chow down. It's SO stinking good. You'll LOVE it, I promise!!


I can't remember, for the LIFE of me, where I got this from. I think I was perusing one of the home-decor blogs that I love and it was a little tid-bit there somewhere, but I can't remember for sure. Have any of you tried this before? It's AH-mazing. Seriously. I LUURVE it!!



In other news, I don't have much... I haven't been running a whole lot, lately, because the humidity has been killer, around here, and then there's the rain. These crazy spaztic rainstorms that come out of NO where and then they are over just as suddenly. Like... W-T-Fudge?! So, rather get caught up in a few of those, I've been pansy-ing out. But Austin has TOTALLY been acting out. He wants some exercise something fierce and he's making sure we know about it! ha ha... Luckily the dog park isn't too far away and there's a little baby pool for him to cool off. It's nuts out there!!!




I promise I've been trying to stay up-to-date on my blog reading, even though I haven't been posting much. So, what's uppy with you guys??