Brown Paper Packages Tied Up With Strings

As far as baby showers go, I normally don't like them. Let's face it, you don't either. Here are the top three reasons why I don't like the typical baby shower:

1. Girls only. Seriously? No dudes? Why do they get off so easy? A dude had just as much to do with makin' that baby as a gal did. He should have to sit through the awkward custom as well. Plus, I tend to not like going to a party that only has females. I was never in a sorority, I quit the Girl Scouts within the first few months of joining, and never was on an athletic team. Mix up the sexes! It makes things interesting.

2. You have to watch somebody open gifts. Is this not awkward to you? You got some lady opening the presents, another one writing down what she is opening, another one passing her the gifts, and another one taking them away and passing them around to room for everyone to "ooo and ahh" about. That is a lot of people involved in opening a present. About 3 too many if you ask me. And, I don't have a baby so I find it very difficult to act excited when somebody opens a Diaper Genie®.

3. Baby Shower Games. I guess I just am opposed to organized activities at a party. Unless that activity is Beer Pong. I don't want to sit in a circle and guess the size of the pregnant chicks tummy. Keep your baby bingo card and don't try to make me taste the baby food and guess the flavor. It's not going to happen. I will fake a bathroom emergency to get out of that game. You heard me. I would rather have everyone think I ate bad oysters and am about to pay for it than eat baby food with a bunch of grown ass women.

I tell you all of this because last night, I attended a great baby shower. It was a couples shower. Dudes allowed. The invitation directed everyone to "stock the baby's bookshelf" so everyone brought books. Here is what I brought:


Oh, you wanted to know the titles of the books? Sorry. I forgot already. They were good ones, though.

Dale helped with the wrapping. You can see a little orange on the paper covering one of the books. He used the wrong side of the grocery bag on that one. Oops.

The hostess did not make the couple open up all of the books in front of everybody. Even if she did, I probably would not mind much because I love books.

They had a wonderful spread of food, adult beverages, music, and NO GAMES.

Yipee!

2 Years in 342 Pages

I got something in the mail.......


What's this?


Could it be?


Some sort of book?

YES!

Sarahenity Now! The first two years (2004-2006)!!!




I saw an add for blog2print and jumped on it!
here is a description of their service taken from their website:

Next time someone asks "How can I print my blog?" send them to Blog2Print. With a couple of clicks, you choose a cover, the posts you'd like to include, and you're on your way to creating your own Blog Book!




I have been blogging for quite some time, so I have a lot of material here bub. Blog2print would only allow about 2 years worth of material per book. For a book that size, the price was mighty high. However, it was a very easy service to use. The only complaint is I had to copy/paste the comments into the book (digital version) myself. I like my comments, they are sometimes the funniest part of the blog.

I love that they included a table of contents!

I also love the layout




My blog book contains 338 blog entries and 342 full pages. It covers a period starting on October 13th, 2004- October 26th, 2006. Wow.

The front cover is a diagram of an ear...one of the first pictures posted on my blog. This is the back cover:

Me as a "killer doll" for Halloween.

Will I do it again? Will I make a book for my blog posts from 2006-2008? What about 2008-2010, and so on? Will I pay over a hundred dollars, again?

Yes.

It's easy, it's quality work, and it will last a long time. I no longer have to worry about my blog here in cyberspace. No more worrying about "what would happen if my blog crashed and I lost all of those memories?"

I now have the solution. An expensive solution, but I can order the books one-by-one over time so I am not paying for all of them at once.

You know what is weird? One day, I will read this entry about the blog book in my blog book.

That is all.

Outdoor Dining

Dale and I finally purchased a patio table (and chairs) that we love! We have known for years that we wanted a nice patio set....one that would last for a long time. We have gone through a cute set from target and another set from the grocery store. The set from Target fell apart after a few years and I never really loved the set from the grocery store (even though it was a steal). We happened to be at the Crate and Barrel outlet store looking for media storage when we found the table. It's original price was $1,200 but we got it for $300.

Now that's a deal! Unfortunately, there were no chairs at the Crate and Barrel outlet. We ended up looking at a few places before making our way to World Market.

Which is where we purchased these cute chairs! They were also on sale.
World Market also had a wide array of beautiful seat cushions to choose from. We chose these in "Moroccan Blue" and bought cloth napkins to match.



A few more pics...


I thought this was a neat shot:


I got the flowers (already arranged) at HEB. I have been wanting a small vase like this for some time. Thanks, HEB.


Last one:


In Other News:
I think I know what I want to be for Halloween. It's just around the corner!

I'm ready for my house to smell like pumpkin spice and cinnamon. Fall candles rule.

Got a Deer Tick show coming up! They are playing at the new Emo's in East Austin. I've never been to this venue. Not even sure if it is open yet.

I am sad because I missed Delta Spirit. That will be the 4th o5 5th time Delta Spirit has come through and I have missed them. Ugh! I won tickets to the Austin City Limits taping of Coldplay (which was happening the same night as Delta Spirit) so I went to that instead. If I could do it all over again, I think I would have given my Coldplay tickets away and gone to Delta Spirit. Coldplay is a really good band, but I am not a really big fan. I really like Delta Spirit, though. Dang. I got lured into going to the Coldplay show because it was an ACL taping that will show on New Years Eve. Going to an ACL taping, to me, is not like going to a real show. It is shorter and the sound is different. They are mixing the sound for TV....not for a live audience. Does that make sense? It was still fun, don't get me wrong, but I might have enjoyed myself more at the Delta Spirit show.
Next time, Delta Spirit. Next time.

PINNING!

****ATTENTION DUDES!!! THIS POST IS ABOUT ARTS AND CRAFTS. YOU MAY BAIL OUT NOW OR CONTINUE READING. JUST DON"T COMPLAIN THAT I DIDN'T WARN YOU. OH, I ALSO MENTION A BABY SHOWER.****

If Charlie Sheen were on Pinterest, he would be "pinning!"

Right?

Hahaha!

What? You don't know what Pinterest is? It's crack, that's what it is. Very addictive. It's also hard to explain. The Pinterest site describes itself with the following:
"Pinterest lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and organize their favorite recipes."

I'm not going to try and describe it any further. I am not here to explain Pinterest to you. I just want to explain that it is super addictive and I have spent hours upon hours of my life "pinning" things. Many of these things are 'do it yourself' projects. I have maaaaaany projects waiting for me to actually do.

Many minus one, because I accomplished my first DIY from Pinterest this weekend!


I made these decorative "poms" to jazz up a giftbag.


One is made out of wax paper and the other is made out of tissue paper. Super easy.



I brought that bag to a babyshower and all of the gals seemed to like it. It's cheeper than buying a bow.
I don't know why girls like to make things pretty, but we do. It's in our DNA.

The Meat Cookbook

Dale found two books at the thriftstore:
No Country for Old Men

and



We purchased both of them.

I think you should see some of the recipes from 1977 (when this cookbook was published)

First, The Table of Contents:

Did you see there is a section called "Variety Meats?" Awwwwwwwwww yeah!

Let's start with Beef:

It's a tradition

Who wants Beery Beef?

It calls for "Brown Ale"
Which Rhymes with "Ox Tail"
Which happens to be the recipe you see on the next page.

Ok, that looks alright. How about some lamb?

The soy sauce makes the lamb chops "Chinese"

Lancashire-Style Hotpot

This has lamb chops, and lamb kidneys (skinned, cored, and roughly chopped.

Pork time:

Pork and Liver Terrine inclydes pork(duh), pigs' or lambs' liver! Your choice!


Indonesian pork. I wish there was a picture of the Sweet 'n' Sour Pork Balls

And now, sausage!

Yuck.

Variety Meats? Yes.

The picture shows Braised Lambs' Tongues. The opposite page contains recipes for three culinary delights:
1. Liver and Bacon Marsala (I prefer my marsala with extra liver)
2. Sour Cream Liver (my favorite.....in hell)
3. Pressed Ox Tongue (just like momma used to make)

Lookie here:

Steak, Kidney, and Eggplant Pie! A new Thanksgiving tradition if you ask me.

Thank you, Rosemary Wadey, for putting together the most non-appetizing meat cookbook I have ever seen.
I will cherish it for all my days.

Dale with Child

Amusing photos of my husband and our grand-nephew, taken while shopping at my favorite thrift store.


Same facial expression that says, "Are we done looking around the thrift store yet because I could really go for some pizza."


Same facial expression that says, "Hey, this thrift store is not bad. I just found a meat cookboook from 1977!"

That is all.

Personal Ad

Hi, my name is Charlie.

My nickname is Billy.

I am 4 years old (28 in dog years) and I live with my parents and brother.

I have my own bed.

I'm lookin' for that special lady that can deal with my unique personality.

Wanna meet?

Mid-Century Modern

My husband has been looking for speaker for quite some time. He finally found some that he loved (for the right price) on Craig's list.
Here they be:


Big, wodden, cubes standing on four legs with a golden front to add that extra pizazz.

I love them.

Now I can wear my hair like this and have cocktails in the (late) afternoon:


"What's that you say? you want to watch the new film Psycho at the Paramount? Why sure!"


And now, one with extra vintage:

That is all

Cozy Coozie

I'm ready for Christmas..........


Got this at Tuesday Morning. I think it was $3.99. Only one left.


Do you think it was $3.99 at Tuesday Morning because it looks like the sweater has "Jay" (instead of "Joy") across the chest? I myself did not notice this until I looked at the pictures.

Or maybe it was $3.99 because it is a SWEATER and HAT SET for a WINE BOTTLE! Who buys this shit?

Sarah does, that's who.