Entryway: Part 4

When we (the blog and I) last left off with the Entryway - specifically the wall of pictures - it looked something like this:

Well, as much as I liked the sky blue thing going on in the hallway it always bothered me that there wasn't a natural stopping place to actually divide the dining room / kitchen area and the hallways.  And so a few months ago I finally bought a gallon of paint and redid the hallway to match the dining room / kitchen area.

And Chad is still married to me.  I have a keeper.

Since I was taking down the pictures anyway I decided to re-arrange a little and so now it looks a little something like this:

It has room for a little more growth - and I may need to put the keys higher up since drunk Chad is convinced that they are bottle openers.  

astro turf

I just needed to share because I'm dying.  This is a POTTY PAD.  That Bella refuses to use as a potty pad.  So Bella uses it like a bed.  Because she just wants to fuck with me.

The Great Turducken, Charlie Brown

A Turducken is a deboned stuffed chicken, stuffed inside of a deboned duck, stuffed inside of a deboned Turkey.  Each bird has a small layer of stuffing separating it from the next bird.  For some reason I always thought of it as something to replace a Turkey on Thanksgiving... probably because the outer layer is Turkey, but it actually is traditionally served on Christmas.  Still, we made a Thanksgiving Turducken this year.

The Thanksgiving Turducken came about because of my friend, Pin, who is an excellent cook, and her excellent cook Cajun friends ("The Cajuns" - not necessary to the rest of the story but it makes me smile that she always calls them "The Cajuns") and her plan to make Turducken for Christmas.  I had heard of one before, but I'd never had it or even knew where to purchase such a thing.  One conversation lead to another and before you knew it Chad and I had decided to make Turducken, so had our friends Kalie and Jason, and Pin found out it was cheaper for us to order together than alone.

Pin, being Pin, called the place to make sure that we were ordering in enough time for the birds to arrive and have time to defrost before Thanksgiving even though Chad and I were the only ones using ours for Thanksgiving.  They assured her she was.  She also went over delivery methods (overnight, styrofoam cooler, frozen) and decided it was safe.  And then the birds didn't arrive last Saturday, or Monday ... or Tuesday.

It actually took several phone calls and some badgering before all 9 birds arrived on Wednesday with really not enough time to properly defrost in time to get ours in the oven if we were both planning to sleep on Wednesday night.  Bella did offer to watch the birds but I was worried that wouldn't end well.  In the end, the bird went into the oven at 6:30 AM and we served the slightly dry turkey with the perfect duck and just done chicken at 2:00 PM.

I don't know that I would recommend using the place we did and I would also not recommend replacing a Turkey with Turducken again.  Maybe another place and another event.  I will most definitely try duck again YUM.  It did force me to come up with a new way to do stuffing and BOY, DID THAT WORK.  I won't fit into my regular pants until after a few weeks of starving.

And now, Thanksgiving has come and gone, no one got food poisoning, some Christmas shopping has been done, and I've crossed another item off the list.

Cook a Turducken

And now for the Holiday Season... bring on the Holiday music!

Dining Room: Stage 2

Looking at pictures of the dining room from the last time I took pictures makes me realize how much I've done with the room!  Last time I posted it looked like this:

Chad's parents had an extra television that just fit into the space above the fireplace.  While visiting a friend I saw a great storage idea from IKEA.  Target had some great curtains in our price range.  The big splurge was the rug that took a couple of months to save up for but we got for a steal at Home Goods.  So now... it looks like this:

The one thing that is left is I would like to get a nice squashy chaise lounge to go between the buffet and the fireplace.  However, since I recently fell in love with a $1,200 bed frame from Crate & Barrel, I may have to be careful what exactly we spend our household wish list money on if I ever want to actually purchase something that pricey ;)

just the one dress

Another one crossed off - courtesy of Chad who very kindly took the boxed up dress to the UPS Store and had it sent off.

Donate wedding dress to Brides Against Breast Cancer

Brides Against Breast Cancer.  And I have a whole lot of new space in the office closet now :)

Casa de Espana and a new baby

This past weekend we welcomed another member to the Formosa family.

Everyone, I would like to introduce you to baby Lucia:

Lucia, this is everyone.

Oh wait, sorry, she's napping.  You'll have to come back later.

calling me darling

I finally got around to making a trip to the Social Security Office and legally changing my name.  For good measure I listened to That's Not My Name by the Ting Ting's all the way home.

Legally change my name

That's not my name... that's not my name...

so mark another one off the list :)

Going to the chapel

I think mostly because of this list I finally got around to getting my wedding dress cleaned.  You know, the one I wore almost a year-and-a-half ago?

Get wedding dress cleaned and preserved

And kicking me into another one of my items, when I told the cleaners that I just needed the dress cleaned and a box for it to send to Brides Against Breast Cancer they gave me the $40 box for free.

into your heart

Many many years ago my parents got me a baby sister for Christmas.  Ugly toddler alert.

That's about the only thing I was grateful for that year.  Look at that ugly toddler next to the adorable little baby... YIKES!  Thanks for letting me out of the house looking like that mom!  There's just nothing good about that.  Ok, stop looking.

Move on!

Today is the day my sister Laura is due to have ... a little baby girl.  And so the countdown begins for the family baby watch 2011.  I am going to be very busy praying to whatever deity that will make sure that this baby looks nothing like her auntie.

Bedroom Organization: Nightstand

Several months ago I was in target and was able to convince Chad that we needed this nightstand so that I could clutter it up with all of my books and bowls.

There are many things I need to keep at my bedside at all times and most of them are books.  Before bed, when I wake up in the middle of the night and can't get back to sleep, and any random time throughout the day that I'm home and am procrastinating I read.  Also, I have a habit of collecting pretty bowls and stashing them around the house and in drawers to organize things.

And my favorite thing is the little button I attached to the side of my nightstand to keep my phone charger from laying on the floor all the time.  Thanks Container Store!

Looking at my tidy nightstand and pretty bowls before bed each night brings me a sense of calm.  It also often makes me want to go and organize things... all in good time :)