So I've been slacking HARD on this blog, and I apologize. I have a husband that works from home and he bogarts the computer. So I have to blog on my breaks at work and it's slow going.
We had my dad, two brothers and their girlfriends Erika and Heather, Erika's sister Claudia, Erika's dog Nova and Heather's son Joe over for Christmas day.
i know. it seems unbelievable to me too. but, alas, i do feel a little off lately. i can only attribute it to the time of year. lately i haven't felt like doing anything productive and i'm totally unmotivated. i need to snap out of it. i haven't done anything crafty in ages, and i love being crafty!
BUT, about a month ago i did make my sister's baby (he's due on December 10th) a crafty wall thing...
it's a tradition in our family, started by one of my aunts when i was a kid, to make these for the kids bedroom walls. a mom can only pull off having this in her kid's room when they're little...
the wall hangings are traditionally much simpler than this and only consist of the puffy felt name and a little boy or girl doll head. but, i went for the gold on this one and made it to go with the bedroom decor.
I have a Breathless Mahoney doll bought on vacation at Universal Studios in 1990 (at the age of 7) that I still proudly display in my bedroom.
I found an awesome original poster of Kim Basinger as Vicky Vale that is a little wonky in size, but once I get a frame for it, will be prominently displayed in our home. (In the summer of '89, my family and I saw Batman in the drive in 8 times. Holla!)
Brad, on the same hand, has over a dozen WWF action figures that he keeps front and center on the book shelf in his office.
When looking on eBay for the right wallpaper to hang in his room, he knew he found it when he came across Super Mario Bros. wallpaper. (Picture to be added once we actually get the wallpaper.)
In House of Vintage about 4 months ago and Brad saw this sheet:
it took every fiber of his being not to throw down the $20 asking price and take it home with us. The only problem was that at that time, home was an apartment in Gresham and we were out of room for stuff. Brad walked away from his sheet hoping that one day he would see it again.
Once we got in to our house, it took about a week before Brad went back to House with his fingers crossed and a wish in his heart. The WWF gods were smiling on Braddy that day. He purchased the overpriced sheet and brought it home to me, asking for curtains in his bedroom.
As you know, I love a project, so I happily obliged.
I'm busy at work right now and busy at home too! It's been crazy times. I will document awesome house type projects here when I have the time to do it properly. For now please check out Husband's blog for a sweet post about our new digs.
We moved! The Oregon Bushes are officially homeowners and home liver in-ners and it’s been an awesome 5 days of house living. House living, living in a house, a house is what I live in, etc.
Miss Rybolt helped us paint the living room and bedrooms the night before the move and then she and Mrs. Campbell (and Mr. Campbell, Mr. Reed, Miss Grant and Uncle Dave) helped us move in on Halloween day! Best Halloween ever! Thanks again to all our friends.
I will post more pictures of the inside of our home once I find where I packed the camera. For now, enjoy these pictures that Mrs. Campbell took on moving day!
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Unloading! Our awesome realtor Kim Hamblin gave us this awesome piece of her art (shown below, above one of our rad fireplaces) as a house warming present. Check her out at www.kimhamblin.com. She was an amazing realtor and I'm happy to report that she has become an awesome friend through all of this. Yay Kim! Thanks again!
There is a problem with the deed and the wrong banks name is on it and until they fix that we can’t fund and record!
So!
If we don’t fund and record by Friday then we can’t legally move in to our house on Saturday. LEGALLY.
Well guess what bitches? I’m above the law.
All the stress of the home buying process has given me some pretty sweet acne. I mean, holy jeebus. My lower cheeks are all spotty. Also, I had a ridiculous pimple near my eyebrow that I massacred last night. Now it’s a ridiculous bright red scab. I like to imagine that it makes me look like this: But I’m sure it’s more like this: Then my husband’s all like this: Then we’re all like this: So that’s what the home buying process does to marriages, folks. You have been warned.
For the second year in a row, Eric informed me on Wednesday that he found out that day that we were going to have to 'volunteer' our time for his school the following Saturday night... three short days away! Sweet! AND, said volunteering involves dressing up in a halloween costume and handing out Dum-Dums to kids at the Zoo. Although this is not generally how I like to spend my free time, it's for the kids ladies and gentlemen and therefore I would be a colossally bad person to say no.
So, this is the craftiest thing we could come up with in short notice...
Aside from the fact that my overalls were nice enough to make me look about 50 pounds heavier than I actually am, I was pleased with the result.
Husband is a nerd and he loves the Mr. Belvedere theme song. He googled the lyric "Streaks on the china" one day and he found this awesome blog. The author, Sara, is hilarious and enjoys the same kind of crap that we enjoy over here in wifedom. So when you're done reading our awesome blog, if you're hungry for more head on over to Streaks on the China (which, btw, is the best blog name EVER.).
I began my adventure into wifedom. Rob and I went from boyfriend and girlfriend to the future Mr. & Mrs.
He was pretty creative in his proposal. We met at a karaoke bar, so it was only appropriate that he propose during a karaoke competition.
Now here we are a year later, happily married and enjoying life. Rob is just the best. I couldn't ask for a more supportive, caring, funny, and adorable husband. Here's to many, many, many more years of happiness together.
So it's been quite a while since I've been here, but I'm back!! And I made my first pie! I was so excited and proud of myself for doing this (this is what not working has done to me, getting SO EXCITED to bake a pie!). I made a bourbon chocolate pecan pie, minus the bourbon, I just didn't feel like going to the liquor store. I chose pecan pie because 1. It's fall and I wanted something fitting, and I wanted to practice for Thanksgiving, and 2. When I lived in New Orleans we had a pecan tree in our backyard, so we would just pick up the nuts, crack 'em and eat 'em.
So, here's the recipe. It's pretty easy and really doesn't take too long. With this recipe I got to use my super awesome kitchenaid mixer. That thing is like a miracle. I made whipped cream for the top of the pie in less than 5 minutes!
I made that dough! The last time I tried making dough it was for a traditional New Orleans King Cake, and lets just say it didn't end well.
F.Y.I. unsweetened chocolate is not good. Butter doesn't make it better.
I love this thing.
Please pay no notice to my double chin, but look at my pie! I made that!
I am now considering participating in the 3rd annual Portland Pie Off next summer. I'm gonna do a whole lot of practicing in the coming months so I can have the greatest pie! Watch out Baden!
Well we haven't signed our closing docs yet. Not looking very likely that they'll be ready for us to sign until Monday. UHaul reservation was moved to Wednesday.
Talked to our tax guy and he's going to amend our 2008 tax returns and file for the $8k tax credit as soon as we close. Should take 6-10 weeks for that to get to us. Right around Christmas time, so that will be nice. We're paying off a bunch of debt with it, which will be a wonderful feeling. Then we'll really be able to afford our mortgage payments as opposed to barely being able to afford them.
Husband and I were talking last night about how incredibly exhausted we are. For the past 3 months we've felt as though we were in a state of flux. Just waiting for things to happen. Once we get in to our home that will be a huge relief. The crappiness of waiting for our life to begin hasn't been a strain our new marriage, just a strain on patience with life. We've actually become closer because of all the disappointments we've shared. Every step of this process has been riddled with delays and with hoops to jump through. At this point, we've done our part. Now we're just waiting for these people to give us our house.
So we're moving in on 10/28, which is cutting it awfully close to Halloween. I have a feeling that on Halloween night, instead of going to the Campbell's party, I will need to stay home and unpack. I can always be Madonna next year. Or maybe I'll make our housewarming party a pop star party or something.
Well folks, it's not looking great. We still have not signed our closing docs for our house. We're hoping to sign them tomorrow so we still move in on Saturday as planned. If we sign on Friday instead of Thursday, then we won't be officially closed on the house until Monday. If that happens then we'll have to take a day off work next week and move in then. There are a couple things about that that suck ass. 1. I used up all my vacation time for the wedding, so I'd be taking a day off work unpaid. Not cool. 2. Brad can't take any time off on Monday or Tuesday because there's important shit going down in his office on those days - so we wouldn't be able to move in until Wednesday. Ugh. 3. We were supposed to be closing on 10/15; best case scenario means we're still closing a week later than we planned.
Oh well. Bitch bitch bitch. We're still getting that sweet $8k tax credit.
I was over at the Campbell and Rybolt house yesterday doing Miss Shauna's hair and we watched Drag Me To Hell. At first, I decided that it was OK, but I didn't get what all the fuss was about. Now, 24 hours later, the more I think about it the more I want to watch it again and the more I think it might be worth owning.
Our closing date was postponed. We were supposed to sign the papers on Thursday. Now it's looking like we won't be signing until early next week "hopefully Monday". In response to the stress of all this, my right eye began twitching intermittently on Monday and didn't stop until the late afternoon on Thursday. Yesterday, I felt like my body had broken down. I was achy and feverish. Clearly, I handle stress very well.
After 15 hours of sleep, I finally feel better and while I'm still pissed that we can't get in to the house this weekend, I'm also still very happy that we will be in our first home sooner than later. This weekend was going to be all about painting the new place and ripping up carpet. Now it's all about boxing up our massive amounts of stuff and getting ready to move it 30 blocks down the road in to our new home. I'm so glad moving day is almost here.
Husband and I are moving in to our first home on the 24th. That means I should be packing right now, but alas, I'm doing this instead.
In my mind, married Joy would have been up hours ago and the living room would be vacuumed and the dishes would be stowed in the dishwasher. She'd have half the knick knacks packed up and would be organizing all the books so that when we unpack them they'll be in alphabetical order. Instead, I slept in on purpose so I wouldn't have to deal with any of that crap. Pretty tricky huh? Or maybe just irresponsible. I guess once you're married it doesn't mean you become a better version of yourself. Who knew?
Oh well. Time to put some pants on and deal with life.
Every once in a while he sneaks in to my dreams and I wake up feeling guilty.
So this morning I moved Vicky Cristina Barcelona to the top of my Netflix queue. I've already seen it, but I could watch it over an over. I can't tell if it's because I think it's a good movie or because he's all smoldery for 96 minutes straight.
Once I even dreamt about him as his character from No Country for Old Men sexing me up. That particular dream not only made me feel guilty, but also confused.
There are few things in life that I love more than dressing up. That could mean shaving my legs and putting on a pretty skirt OR putting on a wig and pretending to be someone else for the evening. As an adult, the occasion to dress as someone or something else really only comes one night a year. Of course I’m talking about Halloween.
I have not dressed up for Halloween for the past 4 years. It’s really a damn shame. So this year, since Halloween is on a Saturday (and since I’m now friends with some folks who relish dressing up and going out as much as I do) I am planning my Halloween costume!
I’ve been tossing a lot of ideas around in my brain.
Blonde Ambition Era Madonna
This is Madonna at her best. She was making some of her best songs and really just being a huge bitchy bitch and I love her for it. If you know me, you know I love waking up on Saturday and Sunday mornings and watching Truth or Dare as I putter around the house. Best movie ever. The Problem: My hair isn’t platinum blonde anymore and finding a suitable costume would get pretty expensive. I also don’t want to walk around in public with my ass hanging out.
Marge Simpson
Like every American born in the 80’s I have grown up with The Simpson’s. I love this show because I’m smrt and because I love to laugh. (Misspelling was on purpose, if you don’t get the reference then you need to watch more Simpsons.) The Problem: I would want to get the hair just right if I was going to be Marge. I found a sweet wig on eBay but it’s $40 and since we’re purchasing a house I don’t have that kind of scratch to throw around on a Halloween costume.
Cyndi Lauper
This one would be pretty easy. I could get the clothes from any Goodwill and I could color my hair using that colored hair spray that’s available around this time every year. It would be super recognizable and super fun to wear a big fluffy skirt. The Problem: I don’t know Cyndi Lauper that well. I mean, I own her True Colors record and I enjoy it quite a bit, but I would feel like kind of a phony for dressing up like her when I don’t know her music that well. I also feel like this has been done to death.
OK, SO
Those are the ideas that I’m not going with – at least this year. They’ll all be reconsidered in the years to come, I’m sure. So now I’m stuck between 2 very different ideas and I need your help!
Suddenly Seeking Susan Era Madonna
I love this Madonna almost as much as I love Blond Ambition Madonna. She was making some great music; Like A Prayer and True Blue are really fucking good dance albums. What Works: My hair color is right for this Madonna costume and much like the Cyndi Lauper idea, I could get most of the costume at any Goodwill. It’s not quite as recognizable as Cyndi – but pretty damn close; Especially since I’ll be at a karaoke bar on Halloween and once I bust out with “Holiday” people will get it.
Little Edie Beale
If you have not seen Grey Gardens then you need to rent it IMMEDIATELY. I’m not talking about the Drew Barrymore movie. I mean the original Grey Gardens documentary. It’s gold, I tells ya, GOLD! Edie is so fucking fascinating on screen and she’s so sad. She’s also incredibly spunky and extroverted in front of the cameras, so being her for the night would be a blast. What works: This entire costume could be put together using things I already own, including a sweet broach I have that was my grandmothers. Then I could go around all night saying that what I was wearing is the best costume for the day. Then I’d laugh and laugh. Not everyone will get it, but I kind of don’t care. Dressing up as Edie would be a hoot and a half.
So please, dear friends (all 3 of you who read this) tell me what you think! Madonna or Little Edie? What shall it be?
Ghostbusters came out in 1984 and Ghostbusters II came out in 1989. I was born in 1983. I'm not sure how old I was when I first saw Ghostbusters, but I was old enough to know what love was. Love was Dr. Peter Venkman. He was funny, he was cute, and he busted ghosts. Nuff said.
I had a Venkman action figure when I was little. When you pressed down his arms, his eyeballs popped out.
I was so infatuated with Venkman that I used to make out with my action figure. Or whatever "making out" means to a 5 year old. The only problem was, he was so small that it was basically just me sucking on the tiny action figure's head...that sounds really really dirty. I was 5. Get your mind outta the gutter.
Once I figured out that Venkman was an actual guy named Bill Murray, that's been it for me. I had this doll that was basically a wooden dowel with a round wooden ball glued on the top. A face was painted on the ball. I think maybe my grandma made it for me. I named the doll "Bill" and had my mom perform a marriage ceremony between Bill and I in our living room during one of the commercial breaks for Magnum P.I. It was magical.
As I got older and was exposed to more of Bill Murray's work, I became more and more twitterpated. He is so dreamy, I can barely stand it. We've been watching the early seasons of SNL that he's in and It's all I can do not not jump off the couch and lick the TV screen.
Still, my husband makes me laugh harder than anyone ever has and ever could. He's my own Peter Venkman action doll, but life sized. He's my own Bill Murray, but you know, much younger and better looking. It's pretty awesome.
Also, he may not bust ghosts - but he can bust out a dope rhyme.
Visit http://www.sticksdowney.com/ or http://www.slyrecords.com/ to enjoy how talented and funny he is. He updates the Weekly Waste on Sly Records every Wednesday morning and it's always a fun way to start my Hump Day.
i hate spending all day sunday doing laundry in the craptacular half-sized washer and dryer that came with this crap apartment that we live in. i would venture a guess that i would hate laundry anywhere, and have, but i really hate it here.
i am anal. i admit it and have learned to embrace it. but that means that i can't just wash the clothes, hastily fold or hang them and then throw them in drawers. i fold them all perfectly and then rearrange the drawers if needed so that they all fit perfectly.
i have to iron all of my husband's work clothes because he's too cheap for the dry cleaner and he has to dress up with a shirt and tie every day. AND he feeds me a load of crap about how i "do it way better than" he does and he "can't do it as fast as" me. it's bull, but i let it slide due to #2 on this list.
it takes ALL DAY.
so yesterday while trying to rush through the laundry, i grabbed the husband's cargo shorts off of the bedroom floor and after i rotated that load into the dryer i noticed a loud clunk-clunk-clunking.
you guessed it, i washed not only his wallet, but also his cell phone. best day ever? methinks the world had a better day in store for me...
today we were running late for work and the car wouldn't start!
Aces! the upside of that is i had to take a surprise vacation day! and with my day off, i am starting a quilt.
the crotches in three pairs of my jeans gave out on me recently and i have decided to do a quilt. i'm also using some super cute green linen-like fabric. this will be my second quilt, but my first that doesn't look really ugly and ridiculous.
...that if any of the four of us ever happen upon Paul Rudd in the future, I should be the one who gets to sleep with him. I don't have that "husband" thing to worry about.
my wifedom is not new. rather it is almost 5 years old! kindergarten here we come! (there is, no doubt, a great analogy to be made there, but i choose to explore other things.)
before i got married, but was engaged, a lot of older, divorced or unhappily married women would make subtle or not so subtle snide comments about my impending nuptials. they would say things like, "good luck" in response to my declaring that i was getting married or "are you sure you want to do that?"
i would always feel the need to respond with glowing tributes to my beloved, i would go to great lengths to illustrate all of his wonderful qualities in order to convince them that i was making the right decision and that i knew for a fact that i was not destined for the kind of regret and disillusionment that they had experienced.
Ah, time, the great teacher. if i had it to do over again, i would tell those bitter old broads to shove it up their fat bitchy asses. because guess what? I'M STILL HAPPILY MARRIED!! the husband that i chose is a fucking gem. i have never met anyone that i want to spend every single day with, let alone every single day for the last 7 years.
i knew it then and i still know it... i was right and they were totally wrong.
as a side note... i am actually not wearing white tights in my wedding picture - i'm just really that pale - i call it clear.
Well, I suppose it's actually Saturday afternoon. When you wake up at 11am, it's my belief that the morning lasts until about 2pm.
So my first order of business on a Saturday morning is to feed the cats. They're used to being fed at around 7:30am on business days, so they're especially hungry on Saturday and Sunday...ahem mornings..ahem.
Once the cats are munching on their kibble, I brew myself some coffee in order to stem the tide of the raging headache that is pounding away at my frontal lobe. You see, I have an addiction. My body is used to having 2 cups of coffee by 9am, Monday thru Friday. On Saturday morning when it's 11am and I've had not a drop of caffeine, by brain starts to pound in my skull. So while the coffee's brewing, I drop 3 Tylenol. No big deal, my body is a temple, etc.
Now, I sit down to a cup of coffee and whatever book I happen to be reading at the time. Today it's this gem:
I'm a few chapters in to it and so far, it's really very interesting. Granted, Slash isn't the most prolific person, but he's an interesting dude who's had an interesting life. I will never ever do cocaine, nor will I bang a bunch of skanks, nor will I play an intstrument in front of thousands of screaming fans. So it's fun to read about someone who has and does all this stuff. Good for you, sir.
Welp, that's it. That's a glimpse in to a Saturday morning in Bush Wifedom.
As a slightly related side note, I must mention that my husband got Mrs. Campbell a job at his office and she is there this morning working away like the cute little red headed worker bee that she is. I wish her good luck! Yay for seasonal jobs and for friends doing stuff for eachother.
Well today I will be witnessing an old friend of mine enter in to the land of Wifedom. That's right, Miss Katy Shinn will become Mrs. Katy Haines today at 6pm. It should be a beautiful wedding and I am very happy for her and her groom, Tony. The above picture was taken at my wedding 2 months ago. Sheesh. I can't believe I've been married almost 2 months; I can't believe my Katy is getting married today. I've known this girl since high school and she is one of the few people in the world that can make me laugh from my gut.
Here we are in high school after a Future Business Leaders of America conference: We're the shrieking idiots on the far left of the picture. Nice choker, Joy. Nice nylons, Katy. We really were fashion plates. Future Business Leaders of America, indeed.
Here we are a couple summers ago enjoying karaoke at The Alibi: As Brad and Katy both put it, my Jerry Lee Lewis bangs were infringing on her face space. Ah well. My hair was cute and she should have been on my other side. It's her fault, really. I can't help being so damn stylish.
So Katy Haines, Welcome to Wifedom. I think you'll find that it's exactly like Singledom...but you know, with more farts.
On the way home from work yesterday I gave in to some freaky Subway Sex.
It had to happen eventually, I guess. Being that I'm single and, therefore, allowed to do it whenever and with whomever I want. Bush and Campbell can't say that, now can they? Ah yeah, bitches. AH YEAH.
So I was on the way home and decided I was hungry and that I needed a Subway Club. That shit is good. All the best meats (however "specific to Subway" they might taste, and whatever that means. I've grown accustomed). So I pulled into the Subway off of Powell, right past the Ross Island bridge, to go and get me some grub. Little did I know the only guy there behind the counter would be adorable and horny. Just like me.
"What'll ya have?" he beckoned.
Oh, goodness.
"Um...I guess a number six?" I answered.
"Good choice. Why don't you have a seat and I'll bring it out to you. It'll be on me."
I wasn't sure what he meant or what was going on. But I was okay with it, whatever it was.
"Don't you need to know what I want on it?" I asked.
"You want everything on it," he demanded.
With this statement, I shuddered and went and sat at a table in the corner, anxiously awaiting what might happen next.
A few moments later he delivered it to me. But as soon as he sat the Number Six down, he lifted me up and sat me down on the edge of the table, and then laid me down right over the top of it, where he delivered it to me again.
---- Right, so none of this actually happened. If you know me, you know I've been home sick for two days. Otherwise it's likely that it might have happened, given my tendency towards Subway sandwiches and Hot Guys in Uniform (apparently ANY uniform).
Mostly I wrote this for Bush and Campbell. To go ahead and live vicariously through.
Housewives dig this shit, right? That's what I hear.
Yay! Our offer on the house was accepted last week. Now I'm scheduling home inspections and trying to figure out when to give our property manager 30 days notice.
I'm going to try to use this move as an opportunity to organize all my crap. Usually when I unpack in a new place I just dump stuff directly from a box (or lawn bag) in to a drawer and call it good. I'm determined not to do that this time. We will be in this house for the long haul and I need to start with some organization.
I have so many awesome ideas for the house already. We'll be moving in sometime late next month and when we do, get ready for some before and after pictures. It's going to be fantastic. I love color. There will be no beige and cream in our house. Get ready for some fun times.
In other, less exciting news, I have fallen in to the laundry trap. I did a load of laundry this weekend and it's still sitting in the basket in the bedroom. Normally it would only be a matter of time before the contents of the basket were strewn about the bedroom floor, but not anymore. Mrs. Bush needs to take control of the situation; tonight I'll put my laundry away.
These are my new curtains. I got the fabric from Ikea, it's the Gunilla print. I went to Ikea thinking of another print, but Rob and I both liked this one a lot. I was so excited, I hemmed them and had them hanging later that afternoon.
I also ordered a book on sewing and received it the other day. Sew Fast Sew Easy. I haven't started it yet, but I'm very excited. It came with basic patterns to learn on. Since I'm not making any money, I plan on crafting all Christmas gifts this year. I say that every year, but this year I have no choice.
Once I'm a master seamstress, I'm going to buy this book and make everything in it:
Joy, Erin and Angie live in the land of Wifedom. All three ladies enjoy soft cheeses (despite their intolerance for lactose) and attempting to get their shit together. This blog is about being married...or not, being organized...or not, and being crafty...or not.
There's that guilt again.
