Ear Candy

I like exactly one (and only one) Christmas song. Here it is in all it's glory as performed by Josh Groban (this really is the best one)

Here it is again performed by Celine Dion

Here it is again performed by Celtic Woman

 

Here it is again performed by Mariah Carey

And one more time by the Glee Cast

I think it is perfectly acceptable to judge a singers ability to sing by the line "Fall on your knees. . . " It really makes or breaks the song.

Harry Potter

Last night we watched harry potter and the deathly hallows part 2. I love it! If I didn't already have very many books waiting in my ibooks queue to read, I would totally re-read book 7. Then, this morning I came across these (via pinterest). Which I of course loved (and could totally DIY).

So that made me want to re-watch this:

Marcell

You will be quoting this, I promise

Marcell the Shell with shoes on, pt. 1:

Marcell the Shell with shoes on, pt. 2:

Christmas Spirit

Working in retail, you often have to get into the Christmas spirit a littler earlier (like July) than most other people who have normal jobs and work at banks and law offices and hospitals. This usually leads to a deep depression come December because you are way Christmas-ed out.

BUT NOT THIS YEAR! Christmas Spirit Comin' At Ya . . .

You probably can't tell from the picture, but all of these presents have Joe's name on them. . . I'm hoping a few show up for me!

Joe's stocking is also the only one that has any stocking stuffers in it too :( Rowdy, Batman and I have high expectations that some good stuff is headed our way!

Here's a sad story for you: There was a package of Cheryl's on our doorstep Tuesday night. I got SUPER excited (because I love Cheryl's, and who doesn't love getting unexpected packages) but upon further investigation, we found out that the Cheryl's were for the previous owner of our house.  So then the dilemma arose, what should we do with them? Can you return perishable items? Should we keep (finders keepers after all)? After much deliberation and input from our community group, we ended up giving them to a neighbor who is still in contact with the previous owner. Now I am back to having no Cheryl's :(

Christmas Sweaters!

This picture of our tree makes me feel crazy

Merry Christmas!

Things worth watching. . .

There are 2 things right now that I really think are worth watching:

1. The first is the sermon preached at Veritas this week by Shane Huey. . . I promise it is worth the 42 min.

<iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/32466113?title=0&amp;byline=0&amp;portrait=0" width="400" height="225" frameborder="0" webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe><p><a href="http://vimeo.com/32466113">Blueprints: Prayer</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user2344359">Veritas Church</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>

(let's be honest, this is blogger, so it probably didn't embed correctly. Here is the link: http://veritascolumbus.com/hidden/blueprints-videos/)

2. The second is a video of a camel laughing like Peter Griffin:

Enjoy!

Nailed It

If you don't have tears streaming down your face from laughter after looking at this picture, you have nothing in common with Joe and I. This is sort of how I see my culinary expertise going:

 Found Here

Other things that make me laugh:
This

This

and This

I have too much fun on the Internet . . .

Let there be light

This is now the 3rd GV house we have lived in that seriously lacked in the overhead lighting department. They must have had some major issues with electricity in the late 1800's!

Since we are using our front entry as our dining room, not having overhead lighting makes it very difficult to actually eat dinner in.

Fortunately, our good friends Will and Courtney just happened to be getting rid of an over head light fixture  that they said we could have (because man are those things expensive)!

The only problem then was how to put electricity where there previously was none. Now, if this issue were left up to me, I would say, "Not possible, we will just have to buy a new house that has overhead lighting," but that's where Joe "I make electricity happen" Arnold comes in.

I really wish I could have helped more at this point, but I was in the middle of rewatching a few episodes of LOST. 

Then Joe cut a trail in the ceiling, which led to this:

Which then led to these everywhere:

All this home renovation makes Batman thirsty

I'm sure it was really difficult for Joe to put in the overhead lighting, but I was too busy with my own "project breadbox":

Joe's parents came up to help with the light switch wiring (because google wasn't getting it done), and 1.5 days later, we have an overhead light:

We still have a lot of ceiling patching to do, but I'm pretty pumped about the progress we've made. Rowdy is pretty excited too:

  

Halloweening

It's Halloween! What could be better? Schumacher place gets thousands of kids for trick-or-treating (not an exaggeration). Last year we ran out of candy twice necessitating 2 separate candy runs to IGA where it costs approx. $30/bag for bottle caps and skittles: Yuck! This year we were prepared (with the good stuff. . . Reese's, yes please!)

Ruth also had the great suggestion that we should throw a neighborhood block party too to try to meet some of our neighbors. I think it was a huge success

 We passed out Hot Chocolate to all of the adults

Courtney brought an unreal amount of puppy chow

 Batman carved a pumpkin (granted this was last week)

 Rowdy wore her pumpkin suit

Even Rowdy and Batman's  friends came.

 All in all it was a great night!

Paint-pocolypse

I have gone crazy with white paint. I love it. Everything looks so much better and cleaner with a fresh coat of white paint.
It all started when we needed a cabinet door for our bathroom. It's weird to need a cabinet door for the bathroom, I know, but our house was built in 1902, and we needed a cabinet door for the bathroom.

Joe's mom is awesome at bargain shopping and found us the perfect door that was almost the right size. The only problem was it was scratched, and had the door handle holes in the wrong place.

At little wood putty and primer, and the door was off to a good start

Joe, Rowdy, and Batman were too busy eating ice cream to help

Then they had to sleep off all of the ice cream

Three coats of paint later, and we have a cabinet door in our bathroom!

But since the white paint was already out, this horrible 70's wood vanity. . .

Became white (it looks even better with the doors on)

 And this horrible yellow door became white (no before picture, I didn't want to subject you to how bad it was).

Hooray for white paint!

Note: Valspar white paint in semi-gloss bright white = sucks! Glidden trim and door paint in bright white = rules! Seriously though, the glidden paint was sooo much better, but watch out, you need to paint with a window open because those fumes are killer (and it sort of reminded me of painting with cottage cheese, yuck!)

Recipe Fail

In the past couple of months I have been desperately trying to bake/cook things I've never tried before. It's all a part of my "I have free time, I should learn how to do new things," challenge. So here is an update:
Things that turned out great and I would recommend:
Cake Batter Rice Krispie Treats


Pizza Bites


Oreo and Peanut Butter Brownie Cakes


Auntie Anne's At Home Baking Kit

Maybe it was my cooking ability, or maybe these recipes are awful. Either way, these recipes have failed miserably . . . for the love of all things holy, please don't make these:

Sausage Vegetable Soup

Neopolitan Gooey Cake Bars

Millionaire's Shortbread

Chicken Fried Steak