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



London, Ohio

I finally have a computer again. Joe broke the screen on my computer last week and I have been without (and without insanity) ever since (darn). But now I'm back in business! And to celebrate, I have some pictures of a truly amazing experience: London, Ohio

Today, our friends Will and Courtney took us to our very first auction (they are old pro's) in London, OH. Let me tell you, it was awesome! It was an incredible array of some pretty worthless collectibles. It was certainly better than any thriftstore I've ever been. I was shocked when I saw just how many things (or boxes of things) sold for $2.

I have to say, the bidding part was the most fun.

There were multiple wagons piled high with boxes of junk/garbage to bid on (and if no one wanted a box, they would just keep adding things to it until it sold):

Furby

Unfortunately, this guy was bid on while we were getting lunch :(

R.I.P. Steve Jobs

Joe and I ended up with a pretty good haul for a grand total of $7:

• Box of Cups/Glassware
• Tree Trimmers
• 8 Foot Folding Table
• 2 Shirts
• Vegetable Steamer (thanks to Courtney)
• Plastic Tote w/ Lid

This guy came in my box of glasses. . . but I decided it could go ahead and be placed on the "free" table. Update: doesn't it look like these two people are in my mug? Get out of there gnomes!

All in all, I would say it was a successful day, and as soon as we got home from the auction, we put those tree trimmers to work:

I would highly recommend you check out an auction near you!