My Staycation

I'm off work all week, but yet I've gotten up at 4am every day so far!

I've discovered the key to Dirk's heart is a hot bacon, egg and cheese sandwich at 4:30am. I got up yesterday to "surprise" him with breakfast (but he guessed when I got up when his alarm went off.) He liked it so much I did it today too. And I'll admit I'm a sucker for his little grin when I hand him two warm sandwiches wrapped up in foil. HE HAS RUINED ME.

**Disclaimer** This does not mean I will become a morning person, this does not mean I will ever think any time before 8am is a decent hour to wake up. Dark = Sleep.

The main project this week is PAINTING THE KITCHEN. No more teal! Here are a few before shots to wet your appetite.


Isn't it gross? The whole thing is ugly teal. Ugly. Yesterday I put on two coats of white primer and with six light bulbs that was bright enough to burn out my retinas. But now it is a sort of gold, I've got the first coat on and I'm not really excited about it, but Dirk pointed out that I've hated every color I painted in the house until after it dries. So we'll see.

Other things I wish to accomplish:
-Hemming a new pair of pants
-Finishing "Little Women" WHY have I never read this book before? It's great.
-Finish a logo
-Maybe finish painting my bedroom windows (two years later) That depends on how sick I am of painting.

Now I need to go get to work. I'll post after pics later.

WEIRD WEIRD

Last night, around 10:30 I was looking up some videos on Google and I saw a random video of some Chinese prisoners dancing to "Thriller" in their prison uniforms (yes it was odd.) Then I realized, you know, I've never really seen the Thriller video.

So I looked it up and watched it. All 13 minutes and 41 seconds of it. Then I went to bed.

And it the song has been in my head all day... AND MICHAEL JACKSON DIED.

I FEEL REALLY WEIRD.

Sum it up.

My feelings on the Cubs 2009 season would best be expressed through the following photograph.

Strawberry JAM

What do you do when Aldi has strawberries on sale for 99¢ a tub? Use it as a tool to persuade your husband that you need a strawberry patch next year. He doesn't like to grow them, says it's a pain, but I looooove them. He needs persuading.

How do you do that? MAKE JAM. I bought six tubs.

First, you have to try not to eat the berries beforehand. This was quite a trial. These strawberries were PERFECT, at the peak of flavor. Thanks to my grandma, I had enough jars and lids (and then some!)

Smash the strawberries and boil them with loads of sugar and sure-jel. Then smell it....


Hello beautiful. If you weren't boiling hot I'd stick my head in there and slurp you right up.

Did I mention how much I love strawberries? And jam?



Eleven jars. It is the best strawberry jam I've had in a LONG time, and that's no testament to my jamming skills (ha ha, get it) but the strawberries were just that sweet.

Dirk loves jam. He's already eaten half a jar. Eleven blessed jars and we're not sharing! "Just think honey, if we had a strawberry patch we could make jam every year! And strawberry pie, and shortcake, and smoothies, and ice cream......."

I'll keep working on him, I will have my strawberry patch some day!

I love strawberries.

Vacation.

So wondering about my vacation?

We went to Charleston, South Carolina, then to Savannah, Georgia, then to Atlanta where we saw the Cubs play the Braves in one really awesome and really horrible game.

We saw plantations, museums, aquatic animals acting absolutely inappropriate, civil war junk, beautiful--BEAUTIFUL country and baseball players.

I loved Savannah and want to go back.

I will let the pictures do the talking. Click here to see more.