Busy busy.

Yeeks, it's been since Thursday that I've posted. Well, here's what's going on:

• I'm building a combo shed/chicken coop outside. Photos to come. I'm very happy with my design. I should add I'm trying to do all of the coop for less than $100. The recycling store? REALLY a good source.
  
• I just bought a miter saw. I had a smile plastered all up and down my face yesterday (I've wanted one for a long time). Bob does put up with some weird likes from me, but he also realizes that it will let us both do a better job at cutting things more precisely. And between $40 in gift card, a return store credit card, $15 cash I had, and a 10% off coupon, I filled my car with lumber for the coop AND bought the 10" saw for $50. Yes, really.
  
• I have 11 baby chicks in our garage. They are meat birds. Yes, that does mean that around Halloween, they will be no longer. There have been some eyebrows raised on this by our friends... humorously, as they have actually had their mouths full WITH CHICKEN (I kid you not). More on my thoughts about this later.
• I have a broody chicken, who is of the belief that if she sits on unfertilized eggs long enough, they will become chicks. No joke. She's been up there in the old coop since last Thursday, looking like she's stoned out of her mind. But, on Friday, the backyard farmer place I like is getting a shipment of chicks in--- cuckoo marans and speckles sussex, both breeds of which I'd like to have a hen or two. So.... we're going to get a couple and stick them under her on Friday. It's about a 50/50 shot whether she'll take them as her own. If she doesn't, we'll rescue them and stick them under the heat lamp with the meat birdies. Luckily, it's been coolish (70s), so my broody mama isn't overheating, but my goodness is she a warm hen!
• We get to spend the night in a fire lookout in the near future. No joke. Oregon is a pretty cool place.
• Our Indian food night was last Saturday. I made way too much food and it was fun. September we're doing Cajun food. YUM.
• College football starts on Saturday.
  
• We went to Fiesta at a vineyard we like a week and a half ago. So much fun, and we got to eat paella. We also came home with six bottles of wine... all paid for by credits I had from helping them bottle. Nice.
• I found, for free, an old barber or dentist chair base that has working hydraulics. No kidding! I think it's the bees knees and I can totally see the potentially. Others around me think I'm a bit cuckoo (I'm looking at you there, husband).
• Found/got a free craft table for upstairs.
  
• I have a new dog sitting charge who gets to spend the day with us (dog camp!). It's fun for our pups, and a few extra bucks for me.
  
• I did a mirror craft project earlier this week that I think is just about done, and I am SO happy with the results. The title of the post for that one should be "how to spiffy up a $2 mirror from Home Depot." Seriously.
• I bought a $100 coupon to Picaboo online photo books for $5 (it was $35, but I had $30 in groupon coupons, apparently). So, we'll see how scrapbooking 2010 online goes.
• Bought about $450 in meat for $120. Our freezer is stocked.
• Canned up 30 jars of peaches.
  
• Reserved 40 pounds of San Marzano tomatoes for sauce.
• Made homemade crackers.
• Searched for graham flour, but apparently, NO ONE carries it (???). Don't know why they don't.
  
• Fixed my jigsaw. Broke a flat-nosed screwdriver trying to do so. Ended up having to take it to Home Depot and have them work on it (for free). Yes, I am serious.
  
• Trying to find more sources for free/cheap apples so I can try my hand at cider-making.
  
• Our wedding photo book arrived and I LOVE it.
• Bob broke our mop, AGAIN (no wringing it out until it's completely softened with water!!!!). I sewed the old mop back on and anxiously waited and waited for the new heads (yes, we now have two backups) to arrive in the mail.
  
• I learned how to cook bok choy.
• Bob learned how to make and cook gnocchi (amazing gnocchi! fluffy pillows of goodness).
• Bailey hurt his paw, Maddie hurt her ear. Both have recovered.
• Paddington is still gray.
  
• We had our cooling turned off until we had a slew of 90ish degree days and my husband about overheated. The good news? When I turned on the cooling system, I performed an action that was ordinary, but to Bob it was extraordinary. Angelic wife who turned on the cooling. He was happy.
• We figured out what we're going to do with the top tier of our yard. Now we have to do it.....
  
• For our Indian night, I fixed up a bunch of candlesticks using an idea I found online. That post should be titled "how to spiffy up $5 in candlesticks from Goodwill."
• We finally bought a sideboard, and I stuck my grandmother's china in it... and lost it to tears about halfway through.
• Our neighbors threw a pie party. Amazing.
• LivingSocial had a deal for our favorite sushi place-- $20 buys you $40 of sushi. The expiration of the deal was fairly far-off (so we'd have a long while to use them), so we bought six. Yes, six. Bob loves sushi, and this way, we don't have to debate as to whether or not to get it. 30 minutes after we bought, the deal sold out. Hurray for timing!
  
• And I'm behind in getting photos to my in-laws that they requested. Will do!

That is all. Busy busy.

Delinquent Critters.

This is what I'm dealing with this morning (in addition to taking care of actual work items):
Yes, mucky paws on all three (we're watching someone's dog) pups, particularly the Golden Boy's (but only because Maddie is obsessed with her kiddie pool and therefore kinda cleans off and Mo has short fur that doesn't hold muck well). Why, you ask?
See that in the middle of the shot? It's a hole. Darn dogs were awfully quiet after about 20 minutes of running around. That should have sounded VERY loud alarm bells to me, but instead, I enjoyed the quiet. Now I have a hole.

Compile this with the great discovery of yesterday when I went outside and found three dogs (again, particularly the Golden Boy) tangled in string. I had used the string to map out the chicken coop footprint and STUPIDLY left it outside. I should have taken a photo of my yard, which looked like a giant, drunk spider had woven a very messed up web. Needless to say, the pups were ecstatic. I was not.

And finally, a photo of the victim/culprit from yesterday morning's feline drama. He's supposed to be a light cream color. Look at his side and you'll get just a brief idea of the gray I'm now dealing with. He LOATHES baths, and I have to resort to holding him by the nape of his neck while avoiding claws and trying to scrub him off.
Maybe this is a sign that I should just love and appreciate my now semi-gray cat? By the way, the back of his head is even worse. He's still somewhat grumpy from yesterday, so this is the best shot I could get.

So, right now? The dogs are locked in the kitchen, where I can see them through the gate and they are sleeping. The cats are locked upstairs, with all their food, water, and litter (this also means I can open the bottom of the windows, not just the tops, since no cats are around to push out screens. And, the chickens are quiet outside, gorging themselves on food. All delinquent critters accounted for! I'm having a cup of coffee and enjoying this chaos-free moment.

Freaking felines.

Our older cat, Paddington, is a lovely light cream color. He does not like to play, as he's older and getting slower.

But, our young cat, Rumpole, loves to play and will often try to prod Paddington into playing. This typically results in an upset Paddington and much hissing.

Like this morning. When Rumpole decided to do this... IN A 6" DIAMETER CRAWL SPACE IN THE ATTIC. A 6" space I didn't even know existed until the cats decided to start yeowling and I had to find them.

I am so mad at them right now that I don't even want to look at them. So photos will have to come later. But let's just say that Rumpole has gone into hiding in the crawl space, and Paddington? He's FILTHY and looks like a gray cat.

Stupid, stupid cats.

Sometimes, there is no fairness with paradise.

I'm sensing a theme here. I think Bob needs a vacation.

Bob: Life's not fair.

Me: Oh? Why?

Bob: Because I don't run a tropical resort.


I need to find some little paper umbrellas to start sticking in this man's water glass.

Progress update

So, back in early June, I started a new health turnabout. I'm happy to say: I'm still on it!

It's been almost 80 days, and I'm down closing in on being down 30 lbs. I feel better, and I'm definitely more conscious of what I eat.

Yes, there still are nights of having food that isn't as healthy for me, but those will ALWAYS exist. The point of the diet and lifestyle change was not to deprive too much, but instead, still expose myself to the temptations that will always exist and then overcome those.

So, how have things changed?

• I have more stamina. I can walk up long flights of stairs and not be winded.
• I have more energy.
• I have a slowly getting higher self-esteem. This can likely be seen on my growing number of pinterest pins that are clothing layouts. :)
• More clothes not only fit, but they also fit better.

Now though, I have to start upping my game at the gym, and honestly? I'm terrified. There was a long period of being at the gym where I was SO frustrated because I couldn't do the things I wanted to do. Now, I think I will be better, but those old memories still haunt. Sorry if that sounds melodramatic. I think I just need to get over my hangups.

But yes! Overall: So far, so good.

Dog Camp.

We have a visiting dog this week (someone's dog I'm watching). Mo's quite the character and fits right in. His owner kept saying "Mo, are you ready for camp?"

And I realized... yes, this is kind of like camp.

Take today for example:
Yes, that's three dogs watching the National Dog Show. The two sporting dogs are, clearly, very interested in the Sporting Group, while the corgi is very much unimpressed and waiting for the Herding.

Doggie Camp, indeed.

New cutting board

Remember last Friday when I picked up a chunk of granite at the recycling store? I'm pretty certain it's the cut out of a larger slab for someone's sink. It's the sink chunk.

Regardless, here was the before picture:

And a close-up. Dirty, but potential.

I scrubbed and lathered and cleaned that sucker up, big time. Once dry, I slapped a few felt stickies on the bottom so it wouldn't scratch the wood countertop. I'll have to be good about checking them frequently to make sure they didn't get wet and are getting gross.

So.... voila:

I think the size is just about perfect! Love the results and having it so close to the stove to handle hot items.

Right now, it has 20 cans of canned peaches on top of it. I found that when I put my freshly canned jars on the wood, they left circles I had to scrub. Now, with this? I can just put them on top of the granite!

Overall? Total success.

Recycling store sale success!

Our town has a FANTASTIC recycling store, BRING Recycling. They're pretty much the most fantastic place to scavenge. Everything is well-organized into categories, but from there, you're on your own.

Once or twice a year, they have a big ol' sale. Now, often, you'll walk in on a normal day and find out that "hey, all doors are 50% off." That's cool... if you want a door. But, the big ol' sale? Everything is 40-50% off. EVERYTHING. Today, everything was 40% off. I went today, because I figured that when things go to 50% off tomorrow, it will be a) chaotic, and b) picked through.

Before I get to sharing my finds, I have to share this photo of how you transport a door in a Camry. This sucker was NOT GOING ANYWHERE, and yes, that is a t-shirt serving as a flag on the end. Hey, I had a flag, that's what matters. And of course, I got the typical guy who walked by and said "hey, you need help tying that in?" While I'm sure he was just trying to be friendly, the fact that I'm a girl does not mean that I am incapable of securing objects to my vehicle. My father taught me well. SIGH.

On to photos of the haul...

First up, for FREE: A DOOR! It's missing the glass on the top portion, but since I want to use it for the new chicken coop, it's PERFECT, since I can just staple gun or tack in wire there (which I prefer anyway). Most excellent. And if I have to cut it down, I can always chop some of the bottom portion off.


Next, speaking of wire: we have wire! 1/4" heavy gauge, wire. This stuff is raccoon-proof, meaning that if I forget to lock the door to the coop portion of the new coop, my girls will still be safe. Nice. Regular cost: $13, sale price: $7.80.
And, as you can see, there is plenty of wire in there. The roll was a 4' wide!

Next up: A large basket. We have a top-heavy living room plant. I can either spray paint or deeply clean this up (it's almost 2' tall!), stick some rocks in the bottom, and then put in the current pot the plant is in and weigh that down. Perfect. No more toppling. Price: $4. Sale price: $2.40.

A cute piece of homemade pottery in a glaze my husband will like. Regular price: $2. Sale price: $1.20.

And finally, a piece of granite. It's about 1'x18", so it is not a small slab. I've been toying of the idea of fixing one up with felt pads underneath and having it next to the stove as a chopping block/heat pad. Now? We have one. I just need to clean her up well.

Cost: $5. Sale price: $1 (because the guy was nice and measured it a different way for me).
It has a very nice grain to it too... can't wait to get it all spruced up.

So, the grand total? $12.40.

That's my kind of morning.

I was VERY tempted to get some metal roofing for the coop, but I think that's planning a bit too far ahead of time and might have ended badly. It was cheap enough that I can easily come back and get it when I need it. I was also quite tempted by a $17 wood bench that rocked back and forth. It needed new paint and some new hardware... and we have a bench already, so I decided against it. VERY tempting though.

Kitchen Spectacular

Just had to share pictures of our incredibly clean kitchen. It took me several hours to deep-clean, but yikes, the results! LOVE.

Why was it so messy? It really wasn't bad... but those white cabinets sure show grime easily. And, with countertops so deep, we'd frequently just wipe the first foot and a half in, meaning a lot of dust and stuff got caught around stuff deeper in.
I rearranged a few things too.

Most spectacularly? The MICROWAVE!! Off of the kitchen counter and into the (newly rearranged and cleaned in this same deep cleaning) closet next to the fridge. It's airy enough that I feel comfortable with it in there, and it's been a rocking success. Plus, no more micro on the counter, taking up space.

So, that's what I did a couple days ago. Very very happy.

New Scrapbooking Challenge (no backsie outties this time)

Remember my scrapbooking challenge to myself? And then how I backed out of it?

Well, new challenge!

I bought a Groupon for Blurb a few months back (with a deadline to use it), and I used it for our wedding album. The result? Love it. (and I promise I will post photos soon)

So... yesterday on Groupon came a new photobook coupon: $25 for a $75 coupon to Picaboo.com, or $35 for a $100 coupon to Picaboo.com.

I didn't like some of the limitations from Blurb, so I immediately hopped on Picaboo and did a few sample scrapbook pages. I liked the freedom and ease for creating my own thing on Picaboo, so I decided to go for it.

Picaboo allows for up to 160 pages, so I budgeted out what that would be (worst case scenario, if I don't find a coupon to make it less!), and I decided to jump for the $100 coupon. At $35, it was a good deal...

BUT.

When I went to check out, I had $30 groupon bucks! Apparently, I had referred 3 friends to Groupon. So, my purchase for a $100 of Picaboo product cost me $5.

The only catch? I have to use it by the middle of November.

I plan to try to put my 2010 photos in the album. Challenge. Here's hoping!

Yes, another chicken post.

Last night, I gathered up my hens and put them in their portable cage. The cage was then covered with a blanket so I wouldn't have cackling at the break of dawn.

But, as I was putting Layla (my Dark Brahma) in the cage, her eye was closed. She must have gotten something in there that irritated it, causing a film that sealed her eyelids. Poor dear!

So last night, I sat on the couch with her on my lap and a moist, warm compress on her eye. Yes, I have tame chickens.

So tame that she fell asleep with her head in my hand.
Ridiculous, I know.

But, just now, I went outside to check on her. She was across the yard and when she saw me, she SPRINTED (which, if you're a chicken, looks like a drunken sprint) to me as fast as her fluffy legs would carry her. Her eye? Normal. Happy girl.

Bucket of KFC.

Our chickens are free-range. We haven't had a problem with raccoons, so their coop is open. They go into it at night and are able to hop out when they're ready to wake up. Someday hopefully soon, their new coop will be built, and they will be locked up every night. Until then, they have the freedom to come and go...

Or so I thought.

Remember my black copper maran, KFC? She's a) decided to sleep in the lilac tree by our back door, and b) decided to wake up and cluck extremely loudly when the first rays of sunlight hit her.

Normally, this is around 6:30 or 7. I can handle that; I put the dogs outside and she shuts up.

But this morning, it was 5:30. Too early for the dogs (who didn't even follow me out of the bedroom when I got up to shut up the hen), and I'm worried the neighbors are going to hear. I've been sick, so I'm pretty grumpy at the hen, while meanwhile, my husband sleeps like a log.

So.

This is what happens to a hen who squawks at 5:30am.
Yes, that's a bucket on top of the hen and the heavy food bucket on top to keep the bucket on her.

Don't report me to animal abusers. She fell immediately back asleep and was warm and content. And, most importantly: she shut up.

So, out on our back patio this morning, we had a bucket of KFC.
Photo proof that no hen was harmed in this morning's escapades.

Sometimes, there is no fairness in football.

Bob: You know, I've realized the world's not fair.

Me: Oh? Why?

Bob: I don't own an NFL football franchise.


Hm. Can't help you there, buckaroo.

Purgatory isn't so bad....right?

When we don't want the dogs underfoot (they're muddy, they're wrestling, we're eating something super tempting to dog noses, etc), they are in the kitchen. It's a big kitchen, so it's not like we're sticking them in the closet.

Tonight, they were in the kitchen. Aka "purgatory": halfway between the awesomeness of the outdoors and the awesomeness of the rest of the house.

Bob: Oh, Bailey's whimpering. Let them out of purgatory!

Me: But Maddie's still a little wet [she was in her outdoor kiddie pool].

Bob: Oh she's fine.

Me: [sick and not wanting to argue] Ok, fine.

Maddie immediately trots happily into the living room and wrestles with Bailey, and then jumps her two front paws up on the couch (BAD DOG!) to see what Bob was eating. Two wet paw prints (with a tad bit of mud) on the couch.

Failure One. Back into purgatory.

A half-hour later, Maddie's dry. I release them.

We're sitting on the couches, when suddenly, Bailey vomits. On the rug (of course). And before we can get to him to SHOVE him onto the wood floor surface, he vomits again. On the rug. Vomit three and four occurred on the wood floor, thanks to the humans finally getting off their behinds and heave-ho-ing the huge retriever.

Paper towels whipped out. Dinners abandoned. Puke dealt with.

So now, the dogs are back in their purgatory kitchen. Bailey just let out a whimper.

So, the true question is: given what's happened tonight already... dare I let them out? Truly, their purgatory isn't so bad.... right?

Yes, that is a pagoda birdhouse on that truck.

I finally saw the awesome camper truck again today AND I had my camera with me this time. I think the camper is just too cute for words.
Yes, that is a pagoda birdhouse hanging on the back.
But really: If you have a camper this cute, wouldn't you want it on a better truck (or at least one that has a longer lifespan for running? Or a better paint job?)?

And yes, that curved roof makes me swoon even more.

Purple Laundry Room

Since the laundry room is going to be mostly separate from the rest of the room, we decided to paint it a brighter color.

Now, keep in mind: there will be darkish, wood (well, pergo) floors, the ceiling and slant will be whiteish, and all trims will be a glossy white. There will be a tabletop eventually built over the stairwell and laundry machines, both to match (I'm thinking a pre-fab butcher block-type slab from Home Depot, stained to mostly match the floors).

But, in summation: Yes, we went with purple. It will be on the window wall and the vertical wall behind the laundry machines (which, since that wall is SO small and will be mostly covered by the tabletop, I may put it on a third wall too.
Here's the test patch. I thought it was a bit too day-glow, and Bob thought it was a bit too pastel. So, we both gave in to this color as a good compromise.
I stuck it on a good portion of the wall yesterday (I was on some cold meds and got a burst of energy). I actually like the color now. It does take quite a bit of envisioning though to see the whole room together, but I think I can do that at this point.

Here's a better close-up of the color. Remember, all that yellow will be white or glossy white (for trims), so I think it will look even better.

The next step: Finish texturing other walls and then paint those. And paint the slanty wall and ceiling above the laundry machines whiteish. Oh yea, and then there's the small task of MOVING the laundry machines, tearing out their subfloor (which I think will be a total pain, but I"ll get into that later), and installing the new floor....

Shooting stars.

Tonight was the Perseid Meteor Shower.

I felt under the weather tonight, but it was warm outside, so we went outside and laid down on the hillside in the backyard. On the grass, looking up at the stars.

The golden boy was beside us. He thought it was the most glorious thing: his humans ON the grass. He was good, stared at the stars for a few minutes, got distracted by noises, was our pillow, and then circled us while laying on his tummy (like he knew not to stand up and block our view).

And it all allowed me to think. Think about how much our lives have changed in the past year, past two years, past three, past four. Wonder about what our lives will look like in those same amounts of time, and in five or ten years.

I thought about Bob's Grandma, who's had a rough time recently. I thought about those who are no longer with us, and how this time last year, my grandmother could have sat next to me and seen the same stars. And I thought about my blogger friend who miscarried her baby yesterday.

It wasn't all sad.. mostly it was just reflective. Lying next to Bob and the golden boy, with outlines of our other critters in the house windows and the clucking from the darn chickens who insist on sleeping in the lilac tree, we saw shooting stars. It was all a reminder to be thankful for what we have to remember and think of our family and friends.

Naan Accomplished.

As part of our Dinner Quest: Indian adventure, we needed to figure out how to make semi-decent naan. I ended up looking online for high-rated recipes as a place to start. I found one on All Recipes and figured I'd give it a shot. I'm glad I did!


Dinner that night was the malai kofta curry, and I think ours turned out pretty darn good, if I say so myself.

We are learning a lot. For example: If a recipe calls for garam masala, half it. Garam masala is a very strong sweetish spice combination, and our palates just aren't used to it in larger quantities. Also, if a recipe calls for chili flakes? Use about 30-40% of what is called for. You can always make it hotter, but it's much more difficult to make something less spicy.

Also, cost-wise? This entire experiment so far has been very good on the budget. We got the spices in bulk, so the total cost of spices so far has been around $4. All the other ingredients are produce (for the most part), and therefore, the costs have been LOW. As in, we're actually saving money the nights we cook Indian. We'll see what happens when we move on to other nationalities.

Tonight? Indian chicken in tomato cream sauce with basmati rice.

Peabrained, dimwitted felines...

Dear cats,

Just because my white blouse dropped out of the laundry basket does not give you the right to drag it, hide it across the room, and then eat (and possibly barf and re-eat) your kibble on top of it. You are all punks and dead to me (figuratively) for the rest of the afternoon. No scratches.

That is all.

Love,

Cat mom.

That's not peanut butter in the hiking backpack.

Bob's currently ticked off at the two doggies. On an hour hike, they managed to poo a combined FOUR times. AND, since it was a loop hike, he couldn't hide the doggie poo bags somewhere for later pickup. So he had to carry the full bags.

Bob was incredulously unhappy with the two pups. There has been a lot of "Seriously? Four times??!" comments, all of which have been met with these looks:
I swear the short-legged one (the one responsible for 3 of the 4 incidents) did this on purpose-- she keeps smirking, especially when Bob goes on about her going 3 times. He keeps accusing her of storing it up for his enjoyment.

The golden boy I think was less aware, even though he's been given his fair share of Bob accusations too... mostly to the tune of "dang dog, it was the size of my arm. Seriously?"

This has been my morning. A husband raving about dog excrement and two silently giggling hounds.

Copious amounts of fur.

There is a reason why our clothing is constantly covered in fur.

Yes, he's on our ironing board. Asleep. With a very content look on his face. Covering as much square footage as possible. On top of our freshly-ironed handkerchiefs.

Banishing the golden boy to the bathroom.

Damn golden retriever.

The boy who was scared of my three chickens has now decided that one chicken is ok (the other two are still terrifying). Yes, Bailey has fallen in love with my Salmon Faverolle.

His favorite pastime (which sends me into a freakish squawking frenzy when I see it) is to lay down with her in between his front paws and lick her back. This often involves unfortunate plucking of lower back feathers. Horrifying.

So now, my poor faverolle looks like this:
Notice the lack of feathers at the base of her back. The poor thing. She freezes into place, terrified, with him, and it breaks my heart.

So, this morning, I caught the golden at it again. He got massively punished and stuck in the bathroom (everywhere else he could play with cats or stare out the window, and that didn't seem like just punishment). Five minutes later, I peeked in, and he was the sorriest looking puddle of golden retriever I've ever seen. SAD.

So, he's out now, but I'm still ticked at him. Maddie gets to be outside right now, he doesn't.

Meanwhile, our yard is littered with feathers.

Looks like I need to start building the new coop (that's going to go closer to the house) soon. I was going to wait a few more weeks, but I think I need to provide the faverolle with another place to hide sooner than that.

"It was horrible, I tell you."

The poor dear.

Tonight's goal: Malai Kofta Curry

Tonight's food goal: Malai Kofta Curry (and also homemade naan).


Here's hoping!

By the way, I'm entering month 2 of eating better, working out, and trying to be healthier. I'm down a significant chunk in weight (wooo!!), and I feel a lot better. While the recipe above may not be the healthiest, I'm trying to balance things out. So far, so good!

Indian Quest Results, Night 1

Last night, our house was filled with wonderful smells. Results of the night? Reasonable. The potatoes were a bit overspiced for our tastes. The chicken? Wonderful, but next time we'll choose something boneless.

At least my pantry is full of wonderful new spices though.
So, I think the next step is to try to make Indian food that is more saucy and gravy-based... I have just the recipe: Malai Kofta Curry, a North Indian dish. It looks good... hopefully it will taste good too!!!!

Dinner Quest: Indian

Bob and I decided that we'd try to a) have more people over and b) expand our recipe collection.

So, combining those things together, we decided, each month, to focus on a new geographic area. This would force us away from comfort zones in foods. We'd try 1-2 new recipes a week. Then, at the end of the month, we'd pick our favorite 4 or so recipes and have a dinner party. This month, we're inviting two couples, but we've asked that each couple try to bring at least another person or couple.

This month we're doing Indian food.

Yes, I realize there are a LOT of food subcultures within the "Indian" category, but since we're just starting out, we're going to stick with just "Indian." That's easiest.

AND, tonight's the first night, where I'm cooking delhi murgh kakari (a Delhi chicken curry) and saag aloo (spinach with potatoes). I thought about making naan too (I've done that before), but oh, the store happened to have naan on clearance, so we've got that covered. Making naan is on the to do list before the month is out. Gotta have that naan.

I'm pretty excited. I like that this is somewhat forcing us to break out of our comfort zone. And, our city is pretty good for something like this, since we have a few stores with great spice selections in the bulk bin section. We also have several Asian markets (and Hispanic too), so we're pretty good and covered when it comes to the more unusual ingredients.

Results to come...

Oh yes. That makes a difference.

We're on the hunt for the fuse box tonight. Yes, the fuse box. NO idea where it is, and I'm massively ashamed I don't know where it's at. I mean, seriously. What kind of person doesn't know where their fuse box is? Apparently these two people.

Personal fail.

So I'm pondering with Bob tonight. Keep in mind it's hot outside.

Me: Maybe it's out behind the kitchen? Could it be outside?

Bob: Maybe. I don't know.

[Bob gets up from the chair]

Me, yelling after him, thinking he's going outside to check it out: You have to go around the other way since we have construction debris blocking the gate

Bob: Dear, I'm wearing boxers. I'm not going to go outside and check the fuse box in my underwear.

Me: Oh yes. That makes a difference.

Second failure of the evening.

Oh, and this post must end because the golden keeps licking my fingers, making each sentence take 10 drafts to write.