Kiss Tonight!

We don't go to concerts very often, but when I saw that Kiss was coming to Glendale, I knew I wanted to go.  I even bought the tickets when they went on sale back in October.

The show is tonight.  I'm really looking forward to it.

Marketing Gimmick?

I think yes.

Sunday Dishes: Apricot Weekend

Yesterday, we went shopping at the antiques district in downtown Glendale.  I didn't find anything there, but on the way home we stopped at Goodwill.  There, I found a Fiesta large oval platter in Apricot.  For $3, it came home with me.

Then today, I found more Apricot at the Brass Armadillo--a dinner plate, salad plate, and a fruit bowl.  While the bargains weren't as great, I bought these items for less than I could find them on eBay...even before shipping.

I Am Here

Here's a screen capture of our house as it appears on Google Maps.  It's obvious that this pic was taken in the afternoon based on the location of the shadows.  Also, the garage is open (forever immortalizing the car, lawn mower, paint cans, and other useless crap on the Internet), which means the boys had just gotten home from school.  Furthermore, recycling can on the curb tells me that it was a Thursday.

I guess I'm glad this picture was taken before the frisbee got stuck on the roof above the garage.

Happy Thanksgiving

Six Digits

Our Dodge reached 100,000 miles today.  I wasn't able to get a picture of the actual rollover since Q was driving it at the time and he has better things to do than care what the odometer says.  Anyway, that's more my thing.

We've never owned a car this long.  I just hope the car doesn't crap out on us before I finish school and start working.

Greed & Hate

For Halloween, Q and I dressed up as Jon and Kate.  Here's how our costumes turned out::

We had a lot of fun rocking this look because Jon and Kate are the embodiment of everything we're against:  greed...adultery...child exploitation...bad taste...

When we were shopping for costumes last weekend when I spotted the "Eight is Too Many" wig.  An idea was born.

For Kate's costume I used:
--the stripey, spiky, blond wig with cartoonishly long bangs (we later found out that this wig can be worn backwards as a true mullet.  Next year:  Joe Dirt!)
--hot pink flouncy sleeved top from Old Navy
--long, dangly hoop earrings
--heavy makeup...including frequent reapplications of lip gloss
--white framed plastic sunglasses from Walmart
--rhinestone-studded jeans

I had a lot more fun with Q's outfit.  To recreate Jon's look, I douched him up but good!

Jon's costume consisted of:
--T-shirt with skulls, flames, and other garish crap on it (I found this in a clearance rack at TJ Maxx...Ed Hardy was just too expensive for a shirt he would only wear once).
--Black ballcap worn backwards
--Dark glasses
--3/8" rhinestones glued to his ears
--Jeans with strategically-placed rips and bleach spots
--Three days of stubble growth
--Thick stack of fake $20 bills hanging out of his back pockets
--Padding under his shirt to recreate Jon's big belly.

Crafty!

Today, I was doing some shopping in the Bell Road area of north Glendale.  I let out a loud, jubilant scream when I saw this:

Hobby Lobby is FINALLY coming to our area!  YES!!!!  Currently, the closest location is over 20 miles away in Avondale.  Not exactly convenient. This new location means that I'll no longer be relegated to the mediocre offerings at Michael's and Joann's.

Eighteen

Happy Anniversary, Q!  Has it really been 18 years already?!?!?!?   It sure doesn't seem like it!

Thrilling!

I was at the craft store the other day and spotted this instruction sheet on how to make this "thrilling jacket" out of Duck tape.  Of course, everyone knows that this is supposed to replicate the jacket Michael Jackson wore in the Thriller video.  In my opinion, the cut of the jacket makes it look more like it could be MJ's raincoat.

The sheet also included directions on how to make a Jackson-style black fedora that can be accessorized with the jacket.  I guess this is fine if continuity doesn't matter to the costume wearer.  At no point in Thriller does Michael wear a fedora...or any hat, for that matter.  The werewolf mask at the beginning of the video doesn't count.

Not A Fan

About a month ago, the ceiling fan in our bedroom bit the dust.  Literally.  Dust in and around the fan caused the circuit box to catch fire. 

When it happened, I immediately shut the fan off at the light switch, which extinguished the fire.  Q clasped his hands together and said "well, I guess we're getting a new fan this weekend!"  Until then, we put tape over the light switches so nobody could mistakenly turn them on.

That Saturday, we went to Lowes, where we bought this fan:

I chose this one primarily because I like the modern design.  Also the brushed nickel finished matched the other metal finishes in the bedroom.  And at just over $100, it was very affordable.

Did I say "affordable"?  I meant CHEAP!  Very, very, VERY cheap!!!!!

Once the fan was installed, we turned it on.  There was a very pronounced clicking noise coming from the motor.  This was caused by the fan wobbling slightly.  My attempts to steady it worked temporarily.  The fan is situated right under the HVAC register, so whenever the A/C kicks on, the down-flow of air hits the blades and causes the fan to start wobbling all over again. 

Anyway, that's not the worst of it.  It seems our fan is posessed.  In fact, Kyle is convinced that the bedroom is haunted.  The light has been turning on all by itself.

The first time it happened was at 8:30 on a Saturday morning.  We were still in bed, but already awake so it wasn't a big deal.  We thought it was an odd fluke and dismissed it.

But it happened again.  This time was around 2:30 Wednesday morning.  Now THAT was a rude awakening!  I shut the light off at the remote and went back to sleep--until 3:00 when the light turned itself on again.  This time, I shut it off at the light switch and went back to sleep.

We don't know what's causing our fan to spontaneously illuminate.  Q went up on his ladder and changed the coordinates between the fan and its remote.  We're hoping that solves the problem.  Either way, we don't want to go through the trouble of dismounting the fan, disassembling it, and returning it to the store.  But that may be what happens if this fan only offers us limited usefullness! 

Ceiling fans are very important in Arizona.  Especially in bedrooms, as the air flow makes for more comfortable sleeping.  Our next fan--whether it comes sooner or later--will NOT be the budget model.  We will open the wallet a little wider next time.

Growth Happens

Stoplights are going up at the entrance to our neighborhood.  An interesting fact:  this interection is actually the confluence of four different roads:  67th Ave to the south...Pyramid Peak Parkway to the north...Rowel Road to the east...and Jomax Road to the west.

XL

Happy Birthday, Q!!!!!!!

Having a Moment

Anyone who sends unsolicited paper into my house runs the risk of being SMACKED!

You are single-handedly sabotaging my neverending efforts to keep and maintain organizational harmony on horizontal surfaces scattered throughout the house.

Flyers, circulars, unsolicited magazines, coupon envelopes filled with offers for crap I will never buy, and leaflets will be sent straight to the recycling bin.

The mail order catalogues that used to excite me are no longer welcome here. I do all my remote shopping online.

Same goes with phone books. In recent years, we have been getting new sets of the Greater Phoenix area Yellow and White Pages--3 to 4 books total--every few months. Other than keeping miniaturized copies of the West Valley phone book in the trunk of each car, these are useless to me.

Q and I spent a few hours cleaning out drawers, desktops, shelves, boxes, and other surfaces where clutter gathers. The recycling bin that was emptied on Thursday is now filled beyond capacity.

This is not an appeal to "go green". That's why I chose purple for this font. I'm just trying to reduce clutter and maintain order in the home.

Jello Shots!

I don't think this is what the good people at Homer Laughlin China had in mind when they designed the egg plate!

Sticker Shot

When we were in California last month, I bought shot glasses from both of the MLB parks we visited. The glass I got from Angel's Stadium had this warning sticker attached to it:

This can't be any worse than the chemicals that will ultimately go on the INTERIOR this glass!

Happy Birthday, Kyle!

My son is 15 years old today.

Bathroom Floor

Q and I just spent the better part of last weekend replacing the flooring in our bathroom.

When we had this house built, we opted the carpet/sheet vinyl combination as a way to cut costs. This was supposed to be a temporary solution until we could afford to have better quality flooring installed. Well, 10 years is temporary enough.

Click on the pics to view them larger.

The sheet vinyl in the water closet has been popping up for years. At times, we even tripped over it.
I was damn tired of looking at the mold spot that had formed in front of the shower door. It was usually covered by a rug, but still. This carpet HAD to go!

On Friday, while Q was at work I ripped out the sheet vinyl in the water closet. A heat gun made short work of this task. That is the best $25 I spent on this whole project. I also removed the carpet and padding. That was a dusty, dirty job.

Carpet and pad waiting to be stuffed into the trash can. On Saturday morning, we would drive to Lowe's to buy our new flooring--a groutable peel-and-stick vinyl product by Armstrong.

After we got home with our materials, Q and I got down to business. We removed the doors and baseboards... cleaned and prepped the floor....

Cut and installed cement backerboard....

...and Jango helped!

By the end of Sunday, the entire peel-and-stick floor was laid. This picture was taken before the joints were grouted. For the grout, we used a premixed acrylic sanded grout. This is made specifically for groutable vinyl tiles. We also used 1/8" grout lines instead of the usual 1/4".

The floor had to be rolled to ensure adhesion of the tiles. This is also what happens when I quit caring about my appearance.

The toilet had to be removed. We placed it in the shower because the bathtub was being used for trash. This was a very, VERY messy job.

Jango won't drink he water out of Fiesta, but she will drink out of an upturned toilet tank lid. Dumb cat!

We also decided to remove the contractor-grade base moulding and replace it with a more ornate product. For this, we figured an 8-foot section would be enough. And it was. That little piece in Q's hand was all that was left.

Q installed the carpet-to-tile transition like a professional.

The finished floor. I got snappy-happy and took this pic before the base moulding was installed.

Goodbye Summer !!

My very busy summer is quickly coming to an end. I return to school tomorrow.

It all started in June when I decided to take an algebra class. Math has never been my strong suit and I just wanted to get it out of the way.

That class took me the WHOLE month of June. When I wasn't physically attending the class, I was doing and redoing the homework and watching class lectures online. I did take one afternoon off to drive Kyle and his friends to Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen on opening day. As the only live parent without a job, that chore fell squarely in my lap. Anyway, I ended the 4 week, 4 credit algebra class with a B. Oh, happy day!

July was our month for traveling. My first trip was to the HLCCA Conference in Pittsburgh. On the 8th, I flew to Indianapolis, where Craig picked me up. From there we drove to the Embassy Suites in Pittsburgh, where many conference attendees had already congregated. We met up with Shane, Brad, and Nich...at which time hi-jinx ensued. More on that in a future post.

Later in the month, we took a big family trip to southern California with my mom, sister, brother-in-law, and nieces. We spent the week just being tourists. We went to Knott’s Berry Farm, Soak City, a medieval themed dinner show, the beach, and a few baseball games.

And in true tourist fashion, we got lost on the way to Dodgers' Stadium. That park is located in downtown LA, near the confluence of like seven freeways. So if you're in the wrong lane at the wrong time, you're SCREWED! The lack of stadium-related signage didn't help matters. One bright spot to this little detour was that we got to drive past the famed Bonaventure Hotel. That made me giddy

While in California, we went antique shopping in downtown Orange. At one of the malls, I spotted this rare piece of Fiesta--a maroon covered mustard dish. At $2,200, it was too rich for my blood. But the owner saw me admiring it and she took it out of the glass case. Yes, I got to touch the rare mustard! :-)



So far, August has been spent taking care of back to school-related errands. Orientation nights, meet-the-teacher events, supply shopping, doctors appointments, etc...etc...etc... Kyle is now in high school. He's enjoying it so far...or so he says. The information he shares with me is about what can be expected from a boy of almost 15. Speaking of which, his birthday is on Thursday.

Luke is now in 6th grade. They now follow the same format as the junior high grades in that he has to switch classes every period. Luke will still be participating in band and in the next month will be starting baseball.

Q and I have spent the the last few days replacing the floor in our bathroom. After 10 years and a few large mold spots, the temporary carpet is history. Pictures of this project will be posted upon completion.

Mixer Pics

Today is the 40th anniversary of the first moon landing. This occasion--along with the upcoming 40th anniversary of Woodstock--was celebrated last Thursday at the conference mixer.

Here's a pic of me and my twin brother from another mother, Christopher with Buzz Aldrin.

I thanks to complimentary hotel cocktails, I was buzzin' with Buzz. As a result, iIdidn't take too many pictures. But I did manage to sober up long enough to get this shot of my very first dish friends--Wendy, Rick, and Mike. They're also from Arizona. Wendy and Mike live in Scottsdale and Rick in Miami.