Random Things

I was hoping to be able to post a final picture of our scrap wood fireplace wall project today but it isn't done yet.  I knew we had a lot to do still and it was a long shot and I was right.  Rob did make a lot of progress this weekend on it though and it's looking pretty good.

There is still a few more pieces to get nailed on, including the final board on top for the mantel.  Then there will be nail-hole-filling, caulking, priming and painting.  We have decided to paint it white because it is a lot of busy-ness with all the different wood and all the random carpet tiles.  Lots to do still but loving the way it is going so far.  It feels so much more like a fireplace now instead of looking like another tv that just plays a fireplace scene on all the time.

Last week, there was a little accident at our house while I was making the Pioneer Woman's Ranch Chicken recipe (it is very similar to Alice Springs Chicken at The Outback Steakhouse).  The recipe calls for you to cook the bacon and then combine a little of the bacon grease with some canola oil and then fry the chicken in the grease/oil mix quickly before baking it in the oven.  I don't think I ever fry anything which probably is what led to the disaster.  Saute- yes.  Fry- no.  Anyhow, the grease/oil mix got hot a lot faster than I thought it would and when I put the chicken in, I got a pretty nasty burn.  On my face.  It looked awful so no pictures to share.  It wasn't bad enough to go the doctor, just bad enough to be completely embarrassing and keep me in the house as much as possible so people wouldn't see me.  I tell you this story only to share two important lessons about burns.  First, don't put ice on it- which is totally what I did.  But who stops to look crap like that up right after they have been burned??  Not me.  So when I discovered it later, I felt like a dummy and was hoping I didn't make a bad situation worse.  Second lesson is that Vitamin E will greatly speed up recovery time of a burn.  This all happened Wednesday night.  It was taking forever to heal so Saturday morning Rob bought me some soft-gel Vitamin E caplets and by Sunday evening, the burn was almost totally healed.  Crazy.  I just had to cut open the caplet and squeeze out the gel and rub it on the burn.  So those are my two lessons to pass on about burn injuries.  And I do recommend that recipe despite all the trouble- that chicken was tasty.

We got a new washer and dryer recently, I think the week before last though the dryer wasn't delivered until last week.  That was another chore for Rob- he had to get the dryer hooked up which he did Saturday morning.  We had set aside some money for a new sectional or couch and chair for the family room when the washer died.  The dryer already had one foot in the grave so we decided it was better to replace the 10 year old washer and dryer and wait a while longer and save more money for a new couch.  I am so sad but these make it a little better-

They are so pretty and so wonderful.  And I didn't pay anything close to the price they have marked on them.  Best Buy had them on sale for way cheaper so I got Lowe's to price match that and then used my Lowe's card for another 5% off.  All the washers and dryers went on sale the next day for 10% off and I tried to get another 10% too but they told me no.  Oh well, a girl's gotta try, right?  I still got them for hundreds less than that sign says so I think I did pretty good.  I didn't take a picture of them in my basement because they look so sad down there.  One of our warmer weather projects is definitely cleaning and painting the laundry and storage area of the basement.  I can't wait to get that done and then share it.

I guess that is about it for us lately.  It snowed yesterday and then it is supposed to be like 60 degrees tomorrow.  Hello March, good to see you.  Oh yeah, I wanted to share these two things because they made me laugh so hard- hope you enjoy them too!

Disney Housewives on SNL- If you love the Real Housewives shows on Bravo, this will crack you up!



Jimmy Fallon with Bruuuuce!  Wiggle wiggle wiggle wiggle wiggle wiggle...