Can You Ever Have Too Much Bacon?

The weather was pretty much perfect. The food was yummy as ever. The drinks flowed. Another great extended weekend at the Outer Banks!

This trip included some newbies to our group. It's always fun to have fresh bodies in the house. As much as we love the regulars, we run out of things to say to one another after a day. This inevitably leads to Henry's "It's a Joke, Get It?" story coming out and us trying to come up with new endings to it.

Sunday was spent out on the beach with a little volleyball...


Jay's thinking, "Please don't let me muff this one!"


We finally got to meet little Caroline, who pretty much ate and slept like your typical 2-month old. All the kids wanted to hold her...


Njevin and Caroline


Alyssa and Caroline


Monday afternoon was spent by the pool with yummy blender concoctions mixed up by Bianca. And then there were relay races. Bianca's suit (so cute!) was more form than function. She started to lose her bikini bottom after she dove in and was laughing the whole time she swam her leg of the race.


William and Freddy lead off their teams


Matt reaches for the win


Friends and Family

Per tradition, I made sausage gravy and biscuits for Sunday morning breakfast. I didn't make beef curry for dinner, since I cooked it for Gourmet Tuesday a few days earlier (sorry, MB!). Bianca coordinated an awesome steak dinner that started with steamed mussels, spiced shrimp and guacamole. I was full after the first 3 courses! But she also had corn, potato salad, sauteed mushrooms & onions, and steaks grilled by Robert. William and Mike were cast aside as Robert took command of the grill. I hear Bianca burnt herself while putting this feast together (hope you're all better!).

For those of us who just chill out waiting for the next meal, we don't realize what the cooks go through. Have you ever cooked bacon for 20+ people? It's not an easy feat, folks! Bacon cooks get splattered by hot oil. A lot. And no amount of bacon cooked is enough. 'Cuz bacon eaters are greedy. Fried cured pork fat (yum!) is like crack and if you're #11 in the food line... let's just say I'm sorry we left you with a few crumbs. The only redemption in being a bacon cook is the prerogative to sample a slice before putting it out for the masses. And the ability to stash a couple slices for those who are still sleeping.

Many THANKS to the Master Chefs and sous chefs for filling our bellies with yummy food, to the ones who bought the food and stood in the long check-out lines, and to the clean-up crews for making the kitchen and dining areas look like we went out to eat every meal.

I know summer will fly by and we'll be back down there again in 3 months. Can't wait! There will probably be lots of pics on the Chumados site some time this week, so go check it out!

All Seamed Up

I finally got around to finishing up the baby project for little Caroline, who we will all be meeting tomorrow for the first time at the BEACH! Since there was no natural light left when I was ready to take pics, these pics are a little off-color. Today is foggy and the flash pic is too bright. Anyway, I present the little guernsey booties from the Debbie Bliss All Seasons Cotton knitting book:


The violet inserts in this dress are actually deeper in color than the picture shows (this was shot on a white background without using the flash):


Here's a close-up of the panels:


I made this same dress last year for my co-worker's baby. I used a solid color (the violet) and it was long sleeved. I thought sleeveless might be more versatile, as it can be worn by itself or with a short/long sleeved tee under it. The back of the dress is the same pattern, although I didn't do the violet blocks. I like the veragated yarn, but maybe not for this particular pattern. I think it detracts from the details of the guernsey pattern. You can't even tell there are cables between the blocks. Still a cute dress, but not as fabulous as the first one I made. The booties, however... those are too cute.

Fillings are Too High

The fillings I got the other day need to be ground down a tad more. Eating is so weird with the left side of my teeth touching before the right side does. Maybe they don't really but just feel that way. Hope this doesn't throw my entire jaw out of whack! And, it seems like the fancy new fangled "invisible" filling material they use is like a food particle magnet. It didn't seem like stuff stuck to the old silver fillings as much. Or maybe they did and I couldn't see the gunk as clearly. Or maybe I just feel like there's stuff on my teeth because my fillings are too high. MEH!

Anywhoooo, Johnny is working some OT today on a special elevator assignment after he works his normal hours. I have tentative plans to meet with the Queen of Pittsburgh*, who will be in Baltimore later this afternoon. It's been toooo long since I've seen her! Sadly, I left my cell phone on the charger at home. NUTS! Hope she tries me on my work #.

I'm feeling a bit OFF today. My head is a stuffy, but not allergy stuffy. Maybe a little PMS-y too. TMI (sorry!). So, I'm not sure if I will meet up with Jodi later or not.

I can't wait to head to the beach this weekend! Memorial Day weekend weather is always unpredicable. Sometimes, it's really nice, and other times cold. I've said it before though... I'm just happy to be getting away. If Mikey brings his laptop (and the house we rented has cable internet access), maybe I'll be able to update over the weekend. Till then, have a safe and fun holiday, everyone!

* Jodi set this up but as you can see, hasn't worked on it!

Today's Birthday Girl:

Happy Birthday, LINDA!!!

Gourmet Tuesday also included a surprise for Linda, who celebrates a birthday today. As John and I were heading out of the kitchen towards the living room with a cake, Linda rounded the corner and ran right into us! Have a wonderful day today, Linda!

Many thanks to everyone for bringing your appetites (!), desserts, and drinks. Hope everyone enjoyed the meal and had fun. Plans are to have GT once a month. I can't wait to sample other folks' cooking!

Heard last night (re: American Idol's Katherine McPhee) -

W: Is she pretty?
L: Very pretty.
W: Isn't she a transvestite?

(laughter from the peanut gallery)

N: Yea, she is.
W: Do you know what a transvestite is?
N: (making finger down the throat jesture) It's when a girl...

(I'm thinking N is going to say something about an act no 12 yr. old should know about yet!)

N: ... puts her finger down her throat and throws up

(Whew!)
J: You mean a bulemic?

More Fillings and Gravy

Well, another dentist appointment and my mouth is still numb 4 hours later. I didn't want to risk chewing the heck out of the inside of my mouth again like I did two weeks ago when they worked on the right side of my mouth, so I had a Slim-Fast for lunch. I managed not to dribble it all over my sweater (aided by a straw!).

Actually, having weird mouth problems made me not want to eat. Maybe I ought to go into for daily novocain shots! If I still feel this way later, that just means more beef curry for everyone else tonight at Gourmet Tuesday!

Last night, Johnny and I had dinner at Ikea. We go there every so often for Swedish Meatballs and Lingonberries. YUM! My boss gave me two $5 gift cards she got through one of her part time jobs or something and we used them to buy some extra plates for tonight. FIFTY CENTS each! How can you not LOVE Ikea? Johnny joked that we could just throw 'em out like paper plates at that price.

For my friend, Chris:

Sausage Gravy & Biscuits

Refrigerator biscuits (Grands are yummy!)
Regular Sausage (the kind in a big log roll, like Jimmy Dean)
3 T flour
2 cups (or so) whole milk
Black Pepper (to taste)
Salt (optional)

Bake biscuits according to tubey package instructions.

While biscuits are cooking, in a large frying pan (preferably one with high sides), break up sausage into small pieces and cook through. Remove sausage from frying pan and in the same frying pan, stir flour into rendered sausage fat and put on medium-low heat. Stir mixture for a few minutes, until light brown. Add milk and stir until thickened. You may want to add more milk if gravy seems too thick. Add sausage back into the pan and season with as much or as little black pepper as you like.

Serve over biscuits.

Now, this recipe is another one of those where I'm not sure of the exact measurements, 'cuz you all know I normally just wing it. Look up Sausage Gravy on the internet if you really want exactness. When I first saw this being made by Nicole at one of our beach house trips, she made the gravy with a WHOLE STICK of BUTTER. No wonder it was so yummy! Sometimes I don't bother to take the sausage out of the pan before I throw the flour in. I just sprinkle flour (some undetermined amount) on top and add a couple hunks of butter for good measure too. Happy Cooking!

Like the Dollar Store of Restaurants

Although I had originally planned on spending the entire weekend knitting on the sock you saw in the "stuck in traffic" entry, plans change and friends throw impromptu Preakness gatherings. I won't tell you about Friday night, as it was the usual standing dinner appointment we have with my folks.

Saturday, we ran a bunch of errands. I went to the new yarn store on Main Street in Laurel. It's fairly small and only carries a limited selection of yarn from a particular company. There's a beginners crochet class next month I might take. After the yarn shop, we went to a couple consignment/thrift/junk shops along Main Street and then had lunch at Red Hot & Blue. Yum!

After shopping for Gourmet Tuesday groceries, we hung out for a bit and were invited to Freddy's to watch Preakness. Johnny was on call and wasn't really up to leaving the house, but I talked him into bringing a work shirt and his little van to Freddy's. Freddy cooked up some yummy steak, chicken, corn and potatoes. Two kinds of pie (chocolate satin and a key lime) for dessert.

For $10 a pick, we threw in our cash and randomly picked a horse from slips of paper in a hat. In previous years, Freddy or William would write the horse's name, the odds, and some trivial facts about the horse on the slip. Of course, the "facts" were usually made up... things like what the horse ate or where it was born. This year, it was just the name on cut up pieces of William's business card.

We all thought Johnny would be the big winner when he picked Barbaro. I had Hemingway's Key. The pot went to Mike, who picked Baldini or whatever the horse's name was. We should have done something like $50 for win, $30 for place and $10 to show. I would have gotten my money back! Maybe I should insist on that next time instead of doing the "winner takes all" thing. OK... yes, I'm bitter. Isn't it more fun when you have multiple winners though?

Anyway, after the race, we hung out on the back deck. Johnny was called down to Longfellow Street -- someone probably picked up the emergency phone in the elevator, which sends a message to the call service as if there was an emergency. No emergency, of course. Probably some ninny playing with the elevator. He quickly returned to the party and shortly afterwards, we were joined by Mangey and Susie, who had been working a wedding. Good times.

Sunday, Johnny was introduced to his first Taste of East Kensington (aka Wheaton). Every dish is a dollar and you get a pretty good sized tasting portion. It beats the other "Taste of" festivals in the DC area in that you don't have to buy stupid tickets. I think Bethesda is something crazy like 7 tickets for $20. And some of the booths want 2 or 3 tickets for a teeny portion.

The weather was really weird. When we left William's to walk up to the festival, it had started to rain a little. By the time we got up there, it was sunnier and warm. And then cloudy. Then sunny. Then breezy and very overcast. But the food was yummy. I tell ya... put meat on a stick and grill it... people line up like you're giving away crack! I had some delicious sweet basil chicken and rice, some roasted pork with red beans and rice, a pupusa and some cake (not a bad meal for $4). We hung out at the Los Cobanos bar for beers and margaritas but it was too hot in there to hang out. After listening to a bluesy band on the live stage and watching this chick dancing all... well, white trashy*, we parted ways with the chums and headed home.

On the plate this week... another dentist appointment, Gourmet Tuesday, Chumados play at Cabin John (sorry team, it's too far for us to haul our toocuses there) and then OBX-bound on Saturday! There's going to be some new folks at the beach this time (not new to us, just new to the normal beach group). The best part is there will be more cooks in the house and I may just sleep in (unless someone desperately wants Sausage Gravy and Biscuits)! Woot!

*** Since Cuello Roho asked, "white trash" in Thai is "khaya khaao". I know you'll butcher the pronounciation, so I'll tell ya later, K.

Stuck in Traffic

On my way home today, I was cruising along pretty good when... EEEERRRRRCCCHHH! Dead stop right before the Harbor Tunnel. After about a minute of not moving, I pulled my current knitting project out of my bag, put the car in park and knitted away. Wonder what the folks in the bus next to me must have been thinking. 25 minutes later, traffic started moving again. I'm thinking I may carry a sock project with me everywhere I go from now on.

Oh! I also want to mention the beautiful yarn shown here (I know it's dark... I didn't want to use the flash when I took the pic) SMELLS like cigarette smoke! I bought it at Sheep & Wool from the Tess' Designer Yarns booth. Tess must chain smoke while driving her goods from festival to festival. I wish I had known this before I wound the yarn up into a ball, as it could have been washed beforehand. When I knit on this thing, my hands smell like I've been rubbing ashes in my palms as an exfoliation compound.

Speaking of smoke, I work with this lady who is probably in her late 40's but looks like she's in her late 50's. She smokes. Long thick blonde hair, tanning booth leather strappy skin, and the smoker's wrinkles around her lips. You know what I mean? (she says that after every sentence). Anyway, she sits at the cube on the other side of me in the next aisle over. When she comes back from her smoke breaks, she reeks of smoke. And then she has the nerve to spray this powdery floral air freshener stuff. I don't know which makes me gag more. I sit between two other women who smoke but they never smell like that when they come back from a break! Maybe that's just the difference between someone who has smoked for 40 years and someone who has only smoked for 15. I wonder if the Mythbusters Vodka Kills Imbedded Smoke Smell test (from the paper crossbow episode) will work on this lady.

Galloping Along... Gourmet Style

A number of years ago, before I was associated with my current group of friends, said group used to hold a weekly (or so) Gourmet Night where a host would cook for the group. William tried to start this up again over a year ago, but after my chicken curry and BHL's Tex-Mex feasts, we didn't continue on with the gatherings.

Yes, it seems like we get together often enough for birthdays, sporting events and holidays. I think Gourmet Night was more like having family dinner, like my standing Friday Night dinner date with my parents. But with a new cook each time and possibly trying something new.

When I lived in DE, I used to get all kinds of recipes from my friend, Norma. She and her partner, Fran, are the source the Texas Caviar recipe (see sidelines for link) and Indian Curry. I used to test these recipes, along with ones I got from my mom and aunt, on friends here in MD. I get to test things out on Johnny now, but he doesn't eat too many veggies, so I mostly cook things I know he'd try (ribs, chicken).

I think I'm in a bit of a recipe rut at the moment. When we're down at the OBX, I normally cook a Beef Massaman Curry one of the nights. I switched to a pineapple/shrimp curry over the Labor Day weekend to mix it up a little. Someone hinted they wanted me to cook something other than beef curry for the upcoming trip. Maybe something not Thai at all? I like introducing people to Thai curries, as I'm rather new to cooking it. There's a fine line between cooking something that isn't blazing hot for those who can't eat anything spicy while keeping the integrity of the dish. So, I'm trying to come up with something new.

But in the mean time, since beef curry won't be joining us at the beach this year, I'm resurrecting Gourmet Tuesday and serving up... beef curry!!!

SIDE NOTE TO TALLI'S MOMMY: I don't have your e-mail address, but please come if you can!

Warsh Rags

So the other day, I forgot to take pictures of my knitted washcloths that I gifted to my MIL and SIL for Mom's Day. I found the blog of someone who did the same thing and borrowed her pics. They're fun, aren't they? Mine were yellow bordered with a varigated orange/pink/red/yellow field. I wrapped up a bar of the handmade herby soap (bought at Sheep & Wool) in parchment and tied some orange raffia ribbon around it. Then I laced raffia through the eyelets on the washcloth and bundled it up with a "Jallie Beans Beanz' Handknit from the Heart" tag. I also made some square ones. The pattern came from my newly acquired Mason-Dixon knitting book.

Pictureless Weekend

By the looks of this post, you'd think a Bean didn't own a digital camera. I had a couple things I wanted to shoot, but totally forgot. Imagine a picture of the mega-buffet on Sunday for Mother's Day HERE. We kinda went a little overboard in the "something for everyone" department. Then, imagine a couple pics of sunny cotton washcloths I knitted up as gifts for my MIL and SIL. I'll have to make some more so they can go into the knitted projects book.

Anyway, the usual Friday routine... dinner with the P's with my bro and his girls in attendance too. We were supposed to meet Weelay, Fleege, and S&V at this new Irish Pub joint in Silver Spring, but poor Johnny had to get up like it was a regular work day the next morning to put in some OT on a special work project. While he was at work, I went to the grocery store and stocked up for Mother's Day dinner. The rest of the day was spent finishing up the knitted gifts.

Saturday night, we had the pleasure of joining MVD Joey and his fiancee, Michelle, at Red, Hot & Blue for dinner. It was so yummy and was really nice to hang out with J&M. Good times.

The cooking started fairly early on Sunday (noonish), and was pretty steady. Everything was done by 3:00 when the peeps arrived. Family time is always nice. My mom and dad were out golfing, so they didn't join the festivities.

Yesterday was a short work day for me, as I had a doc appt (Hi, Marie!) and there was no way I was driving an hour to go back to work. It was nice to get home early and chill out with Johnny after a very busy weekend.

One more t'ing ma'am...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SHAUN!

.

Here's Shaun (aka Jake) making his peace with Uncle Freddy and accepting a generous birthday gift. See you at Ram's Head tonight to celebrate your big day!

Hate the Allergies

Well, not much going on here at Chez Beans since the last report. Just waiting for this ibuprofen to work its magic, as my head is pounding and my eyes want to be wrenched out of their sockets from the pressure. Maybe I should have taken some sinus/allergy meds instead.

Did I mention I had a dentist appointment earlier this week? Three cavities underneath old, existing fillings. The old fillings had cracked and so Mr. DK decided to take up residence there. I have another appointment in two weeks to do the left side. When I got back to work, the Novocain hadn't worn off yet. I was snacking on some chips before lunch and kept biting inside my right cheek, since it was all jacked up from being pulled and yanked. Of course, it didn't hurt -- that side was pumped up with the Novo. Very strange feeling, but I decided I should stop eating anything requiring chewing until the swelling went down and the Novo wore off. I kinda wish I had some Novo right now to shoot into my temples!

Johnny and I were nominated to host a family dinner on Sunday. Burgers and dogs were suggested, but shouldn't a Mother's Day grill-out be a little more special? Ribs? Chicken? If I were a Moreno, we'd have all of that! I'm striving for a cornacopia of foods so there will be something for everyone, but maybe simple is better.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all you moms out there and wishing everyone an awesome weekend!

Fit to Print

Make up your own here.

Yes, I'm a Dork

John and I walked up to Quizno's yesterday for lunch. Look at the total! hee hee

Full of Activity

We haven't had such a very busy weekend in a while. It all started Friday night at our weekly family dinner at my parents'. Afterwards, on our way to the Quarry House, my brother summoned me to his place where he was hosting a neighborhood pot luck dinner. I was surprised to find Shawn B. in attendance. I hadn't seen her since my brother's 30th birthday over 8 years ago! It was really good to see her, and she hasn't changed very much since high school. She still looks like she could be that 17 year old girl running around on the soccer field.

We finally made it to the Quarry House, which was quite crowded. Friends of Robert & Pokey's were in town -- Richard and his wife. When first introduced to Richard's wife, Robert said her name was Mary Ann (like Gilligan's Island). So, of course, when she said her real name (Brenda?), all I could remember was the Mary Ann part.

Saturday, John was surprised to find I was ready to leave out of the house before 10:00 AM. I tend to putz around a lot on weekend mornings. After accidentally bypassing the entrance to Dunkin' Donuts (sorry, Love!), we headed straight to the HoCo fairgrounds for Maryland Sheep & Wool. The weather was awesome. The food vendors were first in priorities, since I robbed Johnny of his muffin and vanilla frappe. He scouted for food while I stood in line to buy a t-shirt. Then we had some yummy funnel cake and headed for the main exhibition hall where I bought some handmade soap. Very herbalicious.

We met up with Ron & Karen, Ron's brother Harold and wife Roe, who has her own fiber studio. She raises sheep, processes fleece, spins and dyes her own yarn. We chatted a while and then John and I were on our way to check out all the vendors and barns. We saw some sheep up for auction:

I made Johnny pose like I was taking a picture of him when in actuality, I was taking a picture of the knit bloggers meet-up behind him. Johnny was very amused at my lurking (or as he put it, "stalking").

We waited in line for a good 20-30 minutes for these:

Fried potato chips (spiral cut into "ribbons") and topped with cheeze whiz and jalapenos. What could be more yummy? How about a birthday cake???

After M$&W, we headed to Robert & Pokes' for little Talli's birthday party.

Party Guest: What did you do today?
Jal: Went to the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival
PG: I thought you were kidding (on your blog)

Here's Princess Pokey with the birthday girl:

Sunday, we started tiling the other kitchen wall. Finally! Originally, we were going to just do a 3-row stripe of the blue tiles across both walls, but I decided to have the wall with the stove as just plain white 3x6 tiles and have this one filled in front of the sink.

Here's Johnny putting the finishing touches on the corner:

The blue tile is really beautiful and will stand out more once the grout is in. Stay tuned for our "New Backsplash" party. Maybe to be seen at the debut of Gourmet Tuesday, whenever that gets started. Have a good week, everyone!

M$&W 2006

I know you ALL have been waiting for the knitting event of the year! It's the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival at the HoCo Fairgrounds this weekend! Woohoo! Sadly, they were calling for rain the other day, but I think it's just going to be cloudy. But I don't care... yarn, yarn, yarn! There's supposed to be a big knitting bloggers meet-up at 1:30, but since I only lurk on those blogs, I may just take pictures from a distance. Tragic.

A couple times in the past, a few of you have mentioned wanting to learn to knit. I will most likely be bringing some kind of knitting project with me to the beach, so if anyone wants give it a try when we're down there, let me know and I'll bring some extra supplies and my how-to book so you can look at pictures of how you're really supposed to hold the needles and yarn.

We could also take a trip down to the Knitting Addiction yarn shop, which is right at the Rt 12 and Rt 158 Southern Shores shopping center. Yes! A yarn store at the Outer Banks! I can spot 'em, can't I? Too bad they're not open Sundays and Mondays. Johnny is always so sweet to stop there for me when we leave to head home. If there were only a stereo store for him in that shopping center.

After the M$&W, we'll be heading to little Natalya's birthday party at Robert & Pokes' (whose kids will all apparently be in Europe or filming live broadcast from Europe). HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TALLI!

Oh! If you're in the Laurel area this weekend, there's a carnival going on at the Laurel Mall. Rickety rides, carnival games, funnel cake. Actually, I don't know if there will be funnel cake. I only saw rides and heard kids screaming. Screams of delight or fear their little spinning cage was going to fly off the ride onto Route 1? Hmmm...

A big HELLO to my awesome cousin Kara! Say HI to your mom and to Greg for me.

Hope everyone has a good weekend and we'll see you at Talli's party!

Scraping and Irrigation

Yes, folks, I went to the dentist. I actually like going to the dentist. Who doesn't love the feeling of clean, tartar-free teeth? It's been at least 3 years since my last appointment, which was when I lived in DE. Since returning to MD, I put off finding a new dentist. You know how it is... you only go when your tooth really hurts and it's too late to save it. Luckily, that wasn't the case for me. Over the weekend, I did have a dull pain in one tooth, but x-rays showed it was fine. Some other teeth had old fillings that were worn down and a little bit of fixing on two other teeth. So, I have to go back next week and at least one more appointment after that for fillings and some kind of polishing.

I forgot to ask them how much their laser whitening would cost. My tragic corn kernels for teeth may not benefit from laser. I think my last dentist said discoloration can be genetic. My dreams of gleaming, Ross*-like, glow-in-the-dark teeth are doomed!

Don't forget there's a Chumados game tonight! See ya there!


* Ross from Friends... the episode where he gets his teeth whitened and they're waaaaayyyy too white and glow in the dark. Yea. Like that. That's what I want.

A Bloggiversary!

A year ago on this date, I was working for another company. I was sitting in my office (a real office with an actual door!) with nothing to do, as the management hadn't assigned me a new project to work on. They were on the verge of "eliminating my position", which I had suspected, but who really thinks they're going to get fired? I mean, you entertain the thought, but if the quality of your work is as stellar as everyone says it is, you're not getting cut, right? (Wrong!) Lots of people in operations lost their jobs in the following weeks after I lost mine, so I don't feel so bad that I wasn't the only one. I feel bad they lost their jobs too, but not that I was the only target.

Anyway, with a bunch of free time on my hands before that unfortunate day, I decided to create a blog to keep my friends and co-workers in DE (and across the country) up to date on what I was doing. Little did I know a week or so later, I'd be posting about losing my job!!!

Many THANKS to my friends and family for providing so much to blog about and for reading the crap I spew. Sometimes my posts are boring; sometimes poignant, funny, gross. I'm happy to know I have regular readers -- hubby John, best pal Archilos Hotchengurtis, Marie, BHL, Jake, Moreno Bee, Michelle, Chris, Bill, Dave and Doug to name a few. Your comments often make me laugh out loud and provide support when I need it most. I love you all!

Another L-town Weekend

We started off the weekend as usual... family dinner with at my parents' and in attendance were also my bro and nieces. Yummy Thai food and game shows. My parents are addicted to "Deal / No Deal". For those who haven't seen it, there's no skill involved in this game. It's no Jeopardy, that's for sure. It's on almost every night, so check it out for yourself if you get a chance.

Saturday morning, we headed to the beach cottage. Of course, I had to go to my favorite yarn shop, Crazy for Ewe! We checked out two new eateries in the square but didn't see anything we wanted to try. We ended up getting some Arby's and going home. On the agenda for the day was to start painting the bedroom... but not before a nap.

We got the paint (Brokeback Mountain Cowboy Tan) last month and only put a few splashes on the wall to see what it would look like. This time, we got through 3 walls on Saturday. John did the cutting in and I had the roller:

Did you know the spots that require touch-ups are called "holidays"? I think originally, the room was painted with just a brush. There were spots all over that were bare. The walls pretty much required two coats. We were working so hard we didn't realize it was dinner time. So, of course, we headed to the Happy Dragon, where John had his usual General Tso's Chicken.

Sunday, I finished up the painting while John was down the street at the "community fix-it day" working on the pier and pool house. I have to admit the cutting in part is much harder than rolling. We still have to paint the trim and ceiling (a task John's not looking forward to). Before heading home, we saw these two guys near the dumpster:

Have a great week, everyone!