Playing catch-up, part 2 (subtitle: "Immersed in chicken-stuff")

Last weekend (18th), the ladies of our neighborhood had our second official brunch. I started the facebook group last fall, and we are up to 94 members! It has been such a great way to get to know others. We had probably 50 people at this most recent brunch. I only took a few photos, and they were of the folks that were there, so allow me to use these pictures of the food instead that one of the other ladies took.

And that's not even half of the food. Imagine 50 ladies all bringing a different dish (or two) - it's impossible to even try it all. So much fun, though.

Recently, an ordinance was passed in my county to allow backyard chickens (hens only). Our brunch Hostess is our first "Legal" chicken owner in our 'hood! Meet Minnie and Mary:



I was very excited when the ordinance passed, as I have been wanting chickens for quite a while. However, I thought it was something I'd have to hold off on until Josh was out of school. I didn't know if I could take it all on myself.... Until Laura mentioned she wanted to share some chickens with someone, but didn't feel her yard was a good place for them. Thus, our co-parenting plan was "hatched". Our plan is to end up with six chickens, but we should have our first two by the end of March!

Our starter coop has arrived (soon to be painted a bright turquoise) and we are immersing ourselves in all things chicken - we have a lot to learn!



I purchased this over the weekend to adorn one of our (eventual) three coops):



I'm very excited! Expect much more chicken babble in the future.

Another thing I am excited about is SPRING. Here's how my little garden plot looked last week (just a little 4x4 in my backyard):



This will be the first year we can harvest our asparagus! I'm really looking forward to that.

I planned to clean it out yesterday, but I got a nasty stomach bug and could barely drag myself off of the couch. I'm also planning to find someone to till up a row behind my garage so I can plant some vine-y things like cucumbers and pumpkins and squashes.

I usually start my garden from plants, not seeds. However, we have a community garden in my 'hood and I am hoping to get at least one plot in it (preferably two), and I will be growing from seed over there. I think the plots are 4x12, so I would have a lot more room than I have at home. As a matter of fact, Laura (my chicken co-mom)took me on a tour of the garden the afternoon of our ladies' brunch, and I was surprised how much was growing in February (though it has been a mild winter).











I've already went and bought some seeds... so far I am most looking forward to planting these babies...



Ok, I think I'm caught up! Hope all is well with everyone in blogland. Any gardening or chicken excitement happening with anyone else?

Playing catch up!

I'm going to post about this past (most recent) weekend first and then hopefully I'll have time later to post about the one previous. Exciting things (well, exciting to ME) going on in my little world.

Friday I took the day off from work. Went to the dentist and got bad news. Yuck. Going to get a second opinion from another dentist next week and hopefully an affordable payment plan (we're talking $3500 worth of work, folks). Well, in any case, that was depressing. And it made my mouth sore so I came home and took a nap and then got ready to go meet my MIL and SIL for dinner and then the Jason Aldean/Luke Bryan concert. I will be the first person to tell ya, I don't generally like "new" country music. I seriously love the stuff that came out in the 90's, or I prefer old country - George Jones, Tammy Wynette, Johnny Cash, Kenny Rogers - the classics. But Jason and Luke put on a heck of a show!! It was a lot of fun. Live music is so good for the soul, and living in Nashville.... sometimes you've just gotta embrace the country!





Me and my sis in law wearing our new shirts. I had to get the Dirt Road Anthem shirt for two reasons: #1 The beginning of the video was shot right around/in my neighborhood, and #2 the song references George Jones. So that was a no-brainer.


Having fun at the show!


This was my SIL's drink at dinner. A Blackberry Volcano. So cool, and tasty, too!

Saturday Morning, Josh and I went to a local coffee shop just a mile or so away. They will be moving INTO our neighborhood soon, pretty much right up the street and around the corner from us!



Then we stopped at an Estate Sale in our hood, where we got a box full of vintage goodies for $9.50.



After that I had an appointment, and after the appointment, picked up my friend Kristina because she wanted to go to the Estate Sale, too. We kind of rushed through it the first time so I didn't get to see everything, so I was excited to get to go again. Spent another $13, will show you my total haul in a second.

We had a little more time to kill, so Kristina suggested we go to The Beehive, which is a little local store that sells fun things for the home and garden. We had never been there before, so why the heck not?

Well, I had bought a little vintage orange bowl at the estate sale that I wanted to plant succulents in, and sure enough, the Beehive had some succulents. I went out to my car to get my bowl and see what would fit. The lady that worked there looked that bottom of the bowl and said "This is a vintage McCoy! You only paid $5 for it?" (price tag was still on it) I told her everything there was half priced, so I actually only paid $2.50. She said the flower frog that was in it (search image here https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&hl=en&source=hp&biw=1603&bih=750&q=flower+frog&gbv=2&oq=flower+fro&aq=1&aqi=g10&aql=&gs_sm=1&gs_upl=1255l4209l0l7048l12l12l1l1l1l0l162l718l8.2l10l0) was worth $5 alone. I had no use for the flower frog, so I gave it to her and she seemed happy about that. Meanwhile, I got my succulents and a McCoy for $2.50 and I was happy about THAT!



Here is everything I got at the estate sale:



So many fun vintage books, I can never resist those!







Also started my first batch of vanilla vodka - we'll see how it turns out. Should be ready today or tomorrow:



Decided to display some of my vintage pieces of Fiesta that never get used and put them in the hutch. I rearranged it a million times, but I think I am finally happy with this:



My shelves are still a work in progress, though. They will be the death of me!

I want to be better.

Let me preface this too-serious post with some fun first. I've been having way too much fun with the Face In Hole app. Especially with the dogs. I'm so easily amused.













Best 99 cents I've ever spent. Try it, I bet you will be addicted, too!

Now on to the more serious subject matter. It's been a fairly mild winter here (yay, Nashville!), but I think I am just prone to the winter "blahs", Seasonal Affective Disorder, cabin fever, or whatever you want to call it.

My life is just fine. Not too stressful (other than Josh being so busy with school stuff), no huge responsibilities, no kids, no money issues other than having to tighten up the budget a bit until Josh graduates next spring. Heck, no car issues anymore. What I am trying to say is I have absolutely no reason to feel anything other than happy 24/7.

But I don't. I've been having wild mood swings this week, going from being a Joyful Jokester to a Debbie Downer in about 2 seconds flat. I've got a full social schedule (baby showers galore, neighborhood fun, hosting a Pampered Chef party) but nothing that is not enjoyable or presses me for time. Still, I feel overwhelmed somehow.

Right now, I am feeling like I can't do anything right. And when I don't feel like I can do things right, I don't want to do them at all. I rarely cook anymore, and Josh knows better than to ask me what's for dinner. Clean landry is everywhere, waiting for me to fold it. I refuse. Reading material is piling up but I can't seem to sit still long enough to read it. I honestly don't know what I do with my free time. I guess I just flit from one thing to the next, never really completing anything, and it makes me really frustrated with myself. Which then makes me feel bad. Which then makes me sad.

I've really gotten away from doing the things I love to do and the things that ground me and keep me sane. I haven't been to yoga in way too long, and I'm done making excuses, so I am going tonight. I can't wait to melt into my mat and finally relax. Hopefully it will help these constant headaches I've been having, not to mention jaw pain. I am unsure if I have a cavity, or if my jaw is just always clenched. I will probably cry at yoga, but it will be such a release. I've got to get back to me.

Spring (and more sunshine) can't come soon enough. And hugs. I need more hugs in my life.

New wheels!!! (and some unsolicited credit advice for you)

The day I kicked my car to the curb was among the happiest of my life.

Here's a little back story on why I hated it so:

In 2008, my (first) husband and I split up. The year prior to that, I had gotten in a wreck and had to get a different car. I picked a yellow PT Cruiser, which I absolutely adored. Seriously tied for first place with the teal Geo Metro Convertible (that looked like a roller skate) that I drove between the ages of 18-25 {1995-2001 - yes, I'm old}). I adored, adored, adored the PT Cruiser. They re not everyone's cup of tea, but I like kind of odd looking cars, and I sure don't mind the odd colors, either. It sat up higher than a regular car, I loved the yellow dash and the fact that I had only ever seen one other one that color! I had the best time in that dang car.

However, I made a grave error when we purchased ol' PT. I was between jobs, and chose not to put my name on the loan, just my husband's. BE YE NOT SO IGNORANT.

When we split, he chose to decide to take that car (and his existing vehicle) and trade them both in for something new. Never mind that I was gainfully employed by that time and making the payments. Given the circumstances, I can't really blame him. I was left with a short window of time with which to purchase something on my own.

After going to the first dealership, I made a startling discovery. My credit score was 0. Yes, ZERO. I didn't even know it was possible, but it turns out when you have no forward-moving credit in 3 years, that is what happens. Since I had not had a car loan in my name in some years, never had a credit card and we had sold our house 3+ years ago, that left yours truly with no forward-moving credit and no credit score whatsoever. I shopped around, but could not get a loan anywhere without a co-signer.

In a last-ditch effort, I went to JD Byrider. Please don't ever go there unless your situation is as desperate as mine was. I had to buy a car THAT DAY or I would be without transportation. My ex-husband was trading the PT Cruiser in the next day.

They didn't have much to choose from, so I picked the least "look at me" car with the lowest mileage I could find. A black 2004 Cavalier that looked like every other black 4-door car to me. With the 19.99999% interest I had to pay (the highest allowed by law), I was paying $400 a month for the damn thing. $100 more a month than the PT Cruiser. And on only MY salary, which was stretched to the limit as is, even though I was working 2 jobs.

I will never forget the night I drove it home from the dealership. I was on the interstate and glanced down at my spedometer to see how fast I was going and was met by a shock - it only said 10MPH. The damn dash was broken. I cried all the way home.

After that, the dash worked part time for a while before deciding to crap out altogether. I never knew how fast I was going or how much fuel I had (had to set the trip odometer and estimate). Josh broke the visor on the driver's side. I spilled bleach on the back floorboard when I moved. The trunk light was hanging by a wire and set Josh's suitcase on fire when he was packing the trunk for an out of town trip. The paint started chunking off. And I was upside down on the stupid thing. The brakes needed fixed twice in six months. It died on me in the middle of a busy road two weeks ago.

Finally, finally, finally, we got the car paid down enough (and it started costing us too much money to fix things to keep it) to trade it in. They no longer make PT Cruisers and Josh hates them anyway.

We agreed on a Chevy HHR. They don't make them anymore, either, but the 2011's were very reasonably priced.

We went to the dealership Saturday and drove one. It was fairly standard. Cloth seats and such, but XM radio, low miles, etc. We really liked it and were going to buy it when the salesman walked us around to look at others in different colors. That's when we fell in love. The one we fell hard for was the same color as the one we had just driven, but we opened the door to find leather interior. Heated seats. A sunroof. 10,000 less miles and only $1500 more. Hello. We bought her.

Meet Helena Helena Rodriguez (HHR):





It was a very good day.

Another one for the "better late than never" file.

I think I am still suffering from a post-holiday hangover! The holidays were definitely hectic, to say the least.

We traveled to Ohio for the Christmas holiday. We drove up the evening of the 22nd. The drive just seems to get more and more brutal each time. Eight hours, at night, with three dogs? Bru-tal! And once you pass Cincinnati, there is pretty much nothing until you get to Toledo. So you're tired and cranky, and sick of everything that is on the radio already, and you still have 3 more hours to go. Arrgh!



Of course, somehow on the 23rd we managed to rally and head to IKEA!







Until we get one close to Nashville, it will never cease to be exciting to me! I don't even remember what all we bought. Not much. Some flowerpots, frames and little things like that. We were going to get new couch and ottoman covers, but we backed out at the last minute (Josh wanted red and I wanted grey). Good thing we chose not to purchase them (over a $300 purchase for the colors I wanted and we've had some car repairs to take care of since then).

Christmas was good. Went to Mom's church, which always has a great Christmas service, even though I am not particularly a church person.

My sister made these lovely cookies:



Pablo greatly enjoyed all the fat squirrels up north and tried to climb my mom's trees in hopes of getting them.



We drank a lot of Tim Horton's Iced Capps (and ate a lot of sandwiches, bagels and donut holes there, too):



Oh, how I wish we had a Tim's down here!

My Dad got a giant sock monkey:



It will look nice under his sock monkey tree:



I got a record player, which I am really excited about. It was fun to drag out my old records from the garage and give them a listen this past weekend. Josh got a kindle, which he really loves, and we also got a convection oven that he is really loving and using for everything - even toast! I haven't quite mastered it yet.



Once we came back to Nashville, we had two more Christmases. The first was with Josh's mom. She always buys us Christmas jammies and it's a lot of fun. See?







I love my sweet seester-in-law:



And my precious brother-in-law, too. Soglad they came in from Colorado!



The next day (or maybe 2 days after that, I can't remember), we hosted another Christmas at our little house, this time with his dad and siblings (I haven't uploaded the photos yet). I was really proud of myself because I actually DELEGATED for once in my life. Usually when I host something, I am all about making it as complicated as possible and doing it all myself. Not this time. I went with easy recipes (a cilantro-ranch-jalapeno dip, cream cheese chicken cili in the crockpot and hot chocolate also in the crockpot), and I asked Josh's dad to bring the rice to put the chili over and the garlic bread, and his siblings to bring wine. It all turned out great and was pretty low stress! I didn't even bust out the cloth napkins.

I hope everyone had wonderful holidays and may you have a wonderful 2012!