Day: June 24, 2015

Spring Cleaning

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I am going to stop making excuses for myself and my life which means, I am not going to apologize for the tardiness of this post . . .
(But secretly . . . I am being held hostage in my house. I have been kidnapped and turned into a cleaning slave by my mother . . . someone please rescue me) 🙂
So on to the post . . . I guess it would behoove me to post about cleaning tactics.
1. First and foremost; don’t wait a number of years to clean your carpet. Something will always be getting it dirty so just except the fact that you will see your carpet cleaning company on a yearly basis and budget it in. We just used this company and they did a FANTASTIC job!
2. Guess what happens to your house as the year progresses; it gets dusty in all of the places that you don’t readily see. Move the furniture and wash the walls. You will have less allergy related problems if you do! 🙂
3. We found this article to clean the soap scum in the bathroom and it worked so well!
4. We got this vacuum to help us clean the stairs but it has been wonderful and we have clean base boards, and curtains!
5. I don’t wear gloves when I clean and I probably should but this hand cream has been saving my hands from being ultimate nightmares.
Enjoy your spring cleaning everyone!!

Hello Spring!

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Although I did have snow at my house yesterday it has melted and the sky is blue and the birds are chirping. I guess we can say that spring has sprung.
Today I have been working on a weekend menu but instead of nailing things down so I can get to the grocery store; I have decided to peruse the internet in between my painting assignment. I am helping my parents paint their bedroom which is fine but I am the one that gets to do all of the floor work or intricate touch-up work. (I actually have rug burns on my knees and legs). Love you too mom!!
So I am going to keep this simple since I have to leave in about 30 minutes and drive two hours away and won’t be home until after midnight. Here is some of my favorite things for this Easter weekend and by the way . . .
HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!!
1. This is a sandwich that I really want to try this weekend. For some reason it just screams spring to me. You can find it on skinnytaste.com 
2. If I decide to make anything traditional this weekend (probably won’t since we had Easter dinner last weekend while everyone was in town), I think I would have to serve the meat on this.
3. I promised my father that I would make him some sort of lemon dessert and since I am not his English grandmother I can’t fully promise a lemon tart but here are the two choices in the running.
 4. I might put up a bunny picture or two just because.
5. Last but not least; a new dress might be in order. Aren’t we always suppose to get a new Easter dress?! 🙂  

Alternatives in Music

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I am going to make it by the “hair of my chinny-chin-chin” and hopefully have a few minutes to spare before crossing over into Saturday. My first week being back home for real and it is good but I am still looking for a new job. Wish me luck this week!
We have made it to the last Friday of the month and it is all about the music tonight. In honor of hanging out in the Pacific Northwest for the past two weeks; this post is a tribute to my favorite alternative bands. Enjoy!
1. We have to pay our respects to the band that put alternative on the map . . . Nirvana
2. I grew up in Southern California so of course I love the Red Hot Chili Peppers
3. I am a huge fan of Radiohead
4. You can’t leave out The White Stripes
5. And finally, I really love The Black Keys
I could actually go on for days on all of the bands that I love within this genre but I am staring at the clock and I only have 10 minutes before midnight. I don’t want to cut it too close!!
Have a wonderful weekend everyone!!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

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It is a beautiful day here in Salem, OR. In fact it has been pretty near perfect the whole time that I have been here. We have had only one day where it has rained and for that I am happy. Not because it was sunny most of the time but because I did have one day of drizzly rain to calm me down.

What have I been doing you may ask? Well . . . not much of anything really. I have applied for jobs. I have been working on the blog to get it up to par so we can transition over to it. I have made dinner a couple of times for the family. I have visited with an old friend. I have been working out every morning. I have been participating in normal family life and it has been great.

My problem now is . . . How much emphasis do I want to put on what I know to obtain the job I know I should have or how much do I want to build my relationships with the people I love and sacrifice income? I am actually a little irritated this morning that I am even having this turmoil inside of me. Thank you America for teaching us how to not appropriately balance work with the rest of our lives. I really want this time to be a moment of change for me but all the while I am feeling sucked back into the great hole of capitalism.

Luckily today and tomorrow are going to be two days of “off”. I am going to “vacation” by heading out to the beach one day and up to Portland the next. I get to visit all of my old haunts, reminisce and hopefully start figuring things out in the best balanced way that I can. I am also going to figure out what to do for St. Patrick’ Day on Tuesday. My friend is going to make her traditional Irish dinner that night so I told her that I would make a traditional Irish breakfast. This is what it looks like give or take a few courses. 2014-08-13 08.52.11
We can’t forget the First course of juice and cereal and the final course of scones/toast and tea. The kids are going to be so full and it almost makes me chuckle. 🙂

So in honor of the upcoming St. Patrick’s Day; I am sharing with you the top 5 things I loved seeing, doing or eating while on the Emerald Isle.

  1. This was hands down the most fun. We laughed a lot about it because we had to do it so quickly. No fear kissing the blarney stone. 🙂 2014 1486 2014 1471
  2. I enjoyed the night we walked along the beach just before sunset. 2014 16022014 1591
  3. I loved this dinner we had in Galway. 2014-08-16 20.13.22
  4. I loved driving on the wrong side of the road next to a huge cliff and having to navigate around grazing sheep. 2014-08-14 19.36.49
  5. Lastly, I loved hanging out with the Irish Wolfhounds. I know, got to throw the animals in somehow. 🙂 2014 1807

I hope each and every one of you enjoy the upcoming holiday and do something “green” this week!!