Any Suggestions?

I am working on painting my basement bedroom but I'm running into a few problems. there was a nasty wallpaper border put around the room in the middle of the wall. I've been trying to remove it but it is stuck on there pretty well. When it does come up it pulls the wall with it...clear to the dry wall. I'm thinking of just mudding and texturizing over it but I'm concerned that the paper will then start to peel underneath and I'll just have a big mess on my hands.

I really DO NOT want to continue attempting to remove the border. I've pulled up any loose spots and sanded it all down in preparation for the mud and texture...

Any suggestions? Or should I continue in my plan?

Wicked - Snow Day

Last night Jacob and I drove to Denver to see Wicked. It was my 3rd time seeing the play. The first two times I've seen the play were both in New York.

The very first time I saw it was with Trine about 4 years ago. We were lucky to see it with most of the original cast. We even got to see Joey from New Kids On The Block playing the male lead. Yes, it's okay if you are jealous. You should be. I have very good memories from that trip.

The second time I saw it with Lori and Sarah in May of 2008. That trip to New York was to celebrate my graduation from CSU. Good times!

But this time I was pleased to be seeing the play with my husband. I was less pleased to be seeing it with the two high school girls seated on the opposite side of me. They were loud screamers due to their excitement about seeing the show. Annoying.

Unfortunately, when I bought our tickets back in May I could not anticipate the weather. We drove down in rain and back in snow. Lots of snow. Especially in some spots. It was a little sketchy and took us a bit longer to get home than usual. But it was worth it. I thought it was fun to see the comparison between a Broadway performance and the road show. There were actually not that many differences and overall it was a good production.

Me getting ready for the trek in the rain prior to the performance.

And, lucky me, there turned out to be a bonus from all that snow. My work closed at noon and sent us all home. The snow is still coming down and it is forecast to continue into tomorrow and possibly Friday. The main roads in town are pretty clear but I was driving on some pretty slick stuff on my way home.

View from my front window

And here's a funny story. Jacob and I don't have a snow shovel. Well more accurately, we didn't have a snow shovel. We debated stopping at WalMart at 12:30 last night but opted to wait until today. So I got home at about noon and tried pulling into the garage. Our driveway is a bit of an incline and it had accumulated quite a bit of snow. After several attempts at getting up the driveway and almost getting stuck, I gave up and parked on the street. About 15 minutes later Jacob came home for lunch. Turns out he saw me parked in the street and wondered what that was all about. He quickly learned as he attempted the driveway and got stuck. Suckah!

He had stopped at a store on the way home and picked up a snow shovel so we were both able to safely park in the garage.

Freshly shoveled driveway.

Full of Hot Air

Yesterday Jacob and I did something very abnormal, especially for a Saturday. We rolled out of bed at 5:50 AM.

Why you might ask...to go with Lori, Katrina and Mo to the hot air balloon festival at a nearby city. We met up with some of Lori's family while there and enjoyed the fall weather (read really cold morning) and hot air balloons. Later that day Jacob and I went to a local nursery to pick out our pumpkins to carve. I took a ton of pictures and didn't want to post them all so I am trying my hand at creating a slideshow. Hope this works. I think you can click on the slideshow to see it full size in Picasa.

Tis the Season

I really love the fall. Have I mentioned that before? But I am especially loving it this year because I get to decorate a house that is my own. Not just a place I rent, it's mine. Well, and Jacob's. I've collected stuff through the years in preparation for decorating my home according to whatever season or holiday it may be. And, I've picked up a few new things this year.

So this is what I've done with the place. Some of it is hard to capture on film, but trust me it is all very festive!

Shannon, remember these from the Christmas Tree store in Cape Cod?

The wreath is a new acquisition, like bought it yesterday kind of new.

We have this fun little shelve area above our kitchen counters. It has pretty well been bare since I moved in in July. But now it is be-decked with fall decor. And pretty fun I must say. I'm already starting to get visions about Christmas decorations!

And as a bonus...here are some photos of our attempt to fly a kite on a clear, less than windy, fall day. The attempts were pretty futile. But we had some fun just the same.

I always want to make bread in the fall and yesterday was no exception. I had plans to make two loaves and deliver one to the neighbors, because they are always bringing us delicious food items, and eating the other with our tomato gravy for dinner. So I set out to baking and mixed up a lovely batch of half white, half wheat bread. It was perfect.

After putting the dough in the pans to let them rise I started re-filling our bread flour container. I filled it all up and put the big bag of flour back in the pantry. As I turned to start cleaning off the counter I realized there were a few unwelcomed visitors on the counter in the form of weevil. YUCK!

So, Jacob and I threw away the bag of flour and the freshly filled containers worth, and began checking other such items in the pantry. I think we lucked out and the contamination was confined to the bag of flour, or at least I hope so. I haven't seen any signs of the little buggers since disposing of said flour.

As for the loaves of bread. There may be weevil in it, but I cooked it up anyway. It's not going to kill anyone right? The bread cooked up beautifully so I sent it to the neighbors, weevil and all.

NO...I DID NOT! But I had you going didn't I?

I did cook it up and Jacob and I are eating it but I did NOT take it to the neighbors. I hope the bread we are eating is weevil free. But if not, we haven't had any negative consequences from eating the bread yet. Keep those fingers crossed for us!

And happy fall!

I'm a Shameless Fan

I don't normally participate in give-aways but this is one I couldn't resist. I am a big fan of Harry Connick Jr. and really want to win his new CD. Check out the give away here and maybe send me a few good vibes in the hopes I win!

This is NOT fall weather...

This is the view I woke up to this morning.




It began snowing last night and hasn't really let up. It's crazy. It's the second week in October! We should not be having this weather. Where did my fall go?

Jacob and I tried to make the best of it last night and decided to take a walk in the "first" snow of the year. (It was actually the second snow because it did snow Thursday morning, just not enough to stick). But, we made it about to our mailbox a few houses away before turning back. It was COLD and blowy. Not a nice warm snowfall. No, my friends, this was pretty chilly, gusty, type snow. Way less fun.

(Remember our pretty mums...hope they survive a little longer)

Instead we watched the Office from the night before, NCIS Los Angeles, and Psych. I very highly recommend Psych to anyone not currently a fan. It is genius. Very funny. And how much do I love Jim and Pam?! It was a fun night to cuddle up with a blanket and veg in front of the tube.

I Love the Autumn Season!

There is a lot to love about the fall...but today I loved this:






Nothing better than crisp air outside, leaves changing, and sun streaming through my front window. (Trust me...it streamed.)