Can Someone Please Tell Me How to Get the Universe Back on Your Side?

Let me start off by saying that I know I am extremely lucky.  Blessed even.  Good job, loving family, sturdy roof over my head.  And I also know that there are many not as fortunate and I in no way ever want my insignificant complaints to be construed that I am not grateful for my life.  Because I am grateful.  Extremely grateful. 

And let me follow that up by saying that I promise within the next few weeks to go out and do something fun (and follow up with a fun, happy blog post) so this blog doesn't turn into an outlet for my whining.

Now that the disclaimer is over with, I'm going to whine.  Complain.  Rant.

You see, I think the universe is mad at me.  Or it's having a good laugh at my expense.  Not sure which yet.

Maybe this story would best be told through pictures.

What's Jason up to?  A little spring cleaning?

Oh, perhaps this looks familiar.  Are you thinking that our fleas have come back?  Not quite.

Nope, not fleas this time.  We think we have bed bugs.  Or more specifically, couch bugs.  And my arm, that's one bite.  Remember a couple weeks back when I thought I was bit by a spider?  Well, pretty sure that wasn't the case.

So, I think you got the idea.  Since we've moved into this house, the universe has sent us fleas and now bed bugs.  Freaking awesome. 

Of course, we're not positive they're bed bugs.  But I've now been bit three times and Jason three times as well.  And today I found one little critter on the coffee table when I was dusting.  So we dismantled the living room.  Found a second little critter.  Comparing pictures from the internet, we're pretty darn sure they're bed bugs.  Our living room is now covered in diatomaceous earth.  It took care of our flea issue, and now we're just hoping it continues to do its magic. 

Just in case, we're researching other potential infestations.  Because honestly... what's next?  Rodents?  Termites?  Fire ants?  Bees?  I just hope it's something diatomaceous earth can tackle. 

Should we call a priest to come bless the house?  A hippie to bring in the good vibes?  Someone acquainted with Chinese culture to take care of the chi?

All I know is that I need to convince the universe that we need to be friends again, because I don't know how much more of this we can take.

Beet Salad

Beet in the garden.

Harvested.

Three beets and an onion.

Washed and ready to go into the oven to roast for about 45 minutes.

We added the "beet greens" to a field salad, cut up the roasted beets, and topped with feta cheese & a homemade honey vinegarette.  Yum!

Valentine's Day Cupcakes

Inspired by Valentine's Day, I baked red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and pink sprinkles. Not only are they the cutest little things, but they are ever so yummy!  I shared some with Ferryn & Steve & kids, and I'm taking the rest to work.

Finished product.

Pretty red batter.

About to go into the oven.

Cooling off.

Ready to enjoy!

I hope everyone has a love filled day tomorrow! 

Walmart Update

A few days after the first Walmart site plan was circulated, another one showed up.  Apparently, we are not looking at just a regular Walmart, but a Walmart Supercenter!  Boy, what a deal! 

I think our neighborhood residents have pretty much accepted that we aren't going to be able to persuade Walmart not to build, but perhaps we can have an impact on a few of the design details.  We've started developing a list of concerns like: delivery trucks cutting through the neighborhood (well, cut through traffic in general), barrier issues between the residences & the Walmart property (fencing, trees, etc.), drainage/ flooding, lighting, security, noise from deliveries/ box crushing machines/ dumpsters being emptied/ etc., carts being left in the neighborhood, and probably one of our biggest concerns - traffic at the Wayside & Hwy. 45 feeder intersection.  Our preliminary list of concerns was shared with Council Member Rodriguez at this past week's super-neighborhood meeting.

Also, I believe a community meeting is being assembled for East End residents, Walmart reps, TxDot reps, City of Houston reps, etc. on the 23rd or 24th, so I should have more information after that meeting. 

For now, Jason and I can't get enough of our, "Hey we're out of _____.  Wow, wouldn't it be convenient if we had a Walmart next door?" jokes.

Quiet Super Bowl Sunday

Happy Super Bowl Sunday! I probably would have forgotten that this weekend was the Super Bowl if we hadn't gone to the grocery store Saturday.  It was packed!  I'm guessing that more bags of chips and cases of beer are sold on Super Bowl weekend than any weekend of the year. 

But, no bags of chips for us.  No big crazy Super Bowl party plans for us.  We were pretty laid back today.  Actually, lazy is probably a better descriptive word.   
 

Radar was my right-hand man (err... dog) today.  Never left my side.



Jason pretty much looked like this all day.  Psst... next time you see him, make fun of
him for playing the computer game Civilization.  Such a dork.  :)



Oh, I went to Hobby Lobby yesterday and got the welcome sign I saw last week.  It was 50% off. 
See that little hummingbird on the top right of the greenhouse window?



Well, it's a thermometer on the inside.



I also got this rain gauge for the garden.  Too cute!

 

For dinner, Jason grilled pork ribs and I made roasted garlic rosemary red potatoes & steamed green beans.

Overall, it was a nice quiet day.

New Bedding Design

A few weeks ago, Melanie shared the link of the blog Young House Love with me.  It's a blog about a couple who do DIY house projects on their own home.  Before they took on blogging as a full time job, they also created mood boards for readers.  I was particularly inspired by one mood board. 

Something about the mood board really caught me. It already incorporated many of the elements we already have in our bedroom - the dark wood furniture, the curtains. But what I really liked was the natural look of the pillows and rug. I started thinking that I would really like to bring that look into our bedroom.  I figured the easiest way to accomplish that would be through pillows and bedding.

Of course, most of the pillows and quilts I found that I liked were from Pottery Barn and were a bit more than I would like to pay.  Plus, Jason likes the fluffy duvet so I had to figure out a way I could bring in the quilts and pillows and still use a duvet.  I knew our big brown bedding wasn't going to cut it, so I started keeping my eyes open for a plain ivory duvet set.  That way, at some point when we find affordable quilts and pillows that fit the bill, we can just throw them on top.

Last weekend at Target, I found the following duvet set on clearance - marked down from $99 to $24.  What a steal!  I wasn't really looking for anything with the block pattern, but for $24 I think it will work.  Plus, it is uber soft.  Like, we're talking luxury hotel soft. 

$24 duvet set from Target.

Now, I'll just need to be on the lookout for a quilt and pillows.

Ice Day

Our snow day was a bit of a bust.  As in, we didn't get any snow.  Just ice.  Forecast called for 1-3 inches of snow, but it just never came.

HISD had already called off school for the day, so Jason slept in.  Roads were pretty slick here, so most Houstonians stayed in, but since I live rather close to work, I went in.  Good thing, because my manager was only about 10 minutes behind me.  Only three people out of my ten person office went in.  I think we were the only three people on our floor.  Wait, the only three people in our building.  Wait, the only three people in downtown.  My manager and co-worker both took off around 2 pm, but I had a conference call at 3:30 pm that lasted until 5 pm.  I know, I know - woe is me.

I just checked the weather, and it looks like it should be a pretty nice weekend.  Sunny, high of 58 today and 67 tomorrow.  Not sure what's on our docket for the weekend, but I hope we come up with something fun.  Let's hope I have something more exciting than the weather to report back on.  :)


Ice on yucca.

I rather call this picture "Snow Angels in Yard on my Wonderful Day Off," but I guess
you can't always get what you want.



Berries!

Our strawberries and blackberries are planted!  Too bad now they are hiding in the garage trying to stay all warm and cozy despite the chilly weather outside.

Sequoia Strawberries



Arapaho Blackberries