2 Steps forward and 1 step back

I will have to start off by thanking my wonderfully hardworking husband for putting his sweat and I am sure at times he wanted to tear up into our downstairs bath. Matt's dad came over all day on Saturday and fixed our plumbing issues in this shower (huge Thanks to him) and Matt then worked over 16 hours this weekend . Home remodeling/repair is not easy folks and Matt has his first battle scar to show for this... while working on the plumbing his dad grazed his hand with the blow torch (ouch!) so Matt had a hugely gross open wound like burn! This weekend they got done the lighting, cleaning out the demo work, the plumbing and then putting up these walls as the base for our tile which will be done next weekend!
We had the HUGE 80s style mirror in the bathroom and we decided it had to go, but we will leave it in the attic in case one day when we move the new owners want to put it back up!! I even helped Matt move the mirror and yes, it is all in one piece still!!

And wow... this is what we found underneath, a beautiful mauve wallpaper with tiny white flowers! HA! I wonder what color the sinks and toilets were during this era as well? And note to homebuyer's, we though the black was very cool when we moved in because it was all shiny and clean but unless you clean them everyday it sucks! Why didn't we replace them? Well are you donating to our cause?

This is Matt on Saturday when I got home from Scentsy Convention and our wonderfully loving animals were helping to clean him off! ha!

Ok, so you must be wondering what our 1 step back is? Well please note the Banana custard like picture below...... Saturday night Matt spent about 4 hours painting the whole room to make it fresh and to cover the wallpaper and I told him I thought it looked a bit light but he said it would dry darker. So Sunday morning I wake up and much to my surprise the bathroom looks like a Banana!!! I felt awful for Matt and his work but this will not do and he feels the same, so next weekend back to square one and we will repaint the whole thing again!!!

This is a work in progress and I can see the finish project, I am going to get new rugs, we picked out a great tile "border" for the shower on Sunday at Lowe's and we already have a nice shower curtain... so the end is in sight people!! Matt today feels like crap and is sore but being the trooper he is, woke up like normal at 5:30 and went to work it out! This weekend was too fast and we don't want to think about the fact that we will be using our Labor Day weekend to work but the sooner we finish the sooner we move on to another project?? Ha!

Remodel in the works

SO our house is 25 years old and this is our 3rd year in it, I believe? ha, well as many of you know we bought The Money Pit and to not scare off any first time home buyers out there... our case is extreme! The people who lived here prior to us "patched" up everything and now during the past three years we have watched it fall apart along with our wallets! I mean we have replaced flooring, all appliances, had a water main break on Christmas Day, A/C repair, our garage door is broke, we have a leak upstairs and we are currently working on the downstairs bath! Whew! Now, don't get me wrong we live no where near the ghetto, our neighborhood is nice and so is our home ...well on the surface! ha So this weekend Matt & his dad are going to work on the plumbing downstairs and start to rebuild the shower! One thing Matt did the other night was replace these God Awful light fixtures, we have two in our hallway can you believe we lived with this for 3 years! HA........Before...........
After!! And yes, they are oddly close to the ceiling but you have to work with what was there people!

I want to you see the HUGE mirror and dressing room lights we have because at lunch today I bought two nice brushed nickel mirrors and new fixtures (on sale, thank goodness) to replace these with and maybe this will usher the bathroom out of the 80s! oh, ps... that whole in the ceiling was at at home plumbing "thing" from 2 1/2 years ago and Matt is finally going to close that puppy up for me! YIPPEE! I forgot about it and ove the past years people are like "uh, do you know there is a whole in the bathroom" and I am so use to it I don't even notice! sad!

This is demo stage two, last night Matt scraped all the popcorn off the ceiling and I could not bear to take a picture of the aftermath of that it looked like a tornado! And yes, this is where I did my make up and hair this morning before work!

Hopefully come Monday I will have some new and dramatically different pictures to show! We are not going crazy we have a small budget but fixing the plumbing and replacing the tile was our main concern! Matt is doing a great job learning about home projects!

Wish us luck this weekend!!!!!!

Homer & Homemade Gifts

Hi!! So I have started something new and signed up for something new!! The first exciting news is that my friend Becky (I have two this is Becky B) turned me onto the blog below and the exciting "sneak peaks" into crafts that she will be teaching people to make.... click on the title below to learn more but the jest is you sign up, get a supply list and starting Sept 13 you will be making 6 handmade projects that she will post step by step instructions and pictures! I am so excited to be trying something new!!!
Here is one of her "sneak peaks" go to her blog above to see more and you too should sign up!! So stay tuned for mucho blogging on my new projects come Sept!!!

Now, I have been trying to read the Sookie Stackhouse books that the True Blood series is based on but found my mind wandering so much to my delight this weeks People magazine had a "blurb" about this book Homer's Odyssey and I was instantly drawn in as I am sure you can see why.....

Below is a video from the publishing house about the author and Homer her blind cat and I am hoping that this book will be as inspiring and wonderful as I hope it to be. We all know my love for animals but so far this book talks about what I feel... how God made animals with such love, courage and how their hearts are ready to love us unconditionally! So stay tuned for a review when I am done but enjoy the video below.......

It's a slow week...

Well I have to apologize people because this is a slow week and I am in a weird funk, I was out sick yesterday with a Migraine and today while I am not 100% I am hovering at 75% better and I will take that. I am sorry this post is more than likely going to be boring but I will start off with some good news.......... I JUST found out that one of my main squeezes Michael Buble has a new CD "Crazy Love" that comes out October 13!! So I am giddy about that and my fingers are crossed he will tour this way again soon! Swoon.....
Last Friday my little God daughter Kendall had her First Birthday photo shoot with Sara (www.sarasphotocreations.com) and they are so cute! Check them out, if you have a little one Sara is your gal......

Matt & his dad are going to take a "inventory" tonight of our shower and decide where to start, remember the pictures I posted last week of the tear out? YUCK! Matt & I picked out tile and new bath fixtures so we are on our way to something that will hopefully resemble a respectable shower sometime soon!! Have I mentioned that once it is fixed this will once again be our only shower? Our upstairs shower is leaking and our kitchen ceiling is turning brown, so that is always a good sign and sure does make me happy!!HA, There is never a dull moment at the Savage household! I told Matt that for his upcoming Birthday he will be receiving a new garage door! yippee he said! haha! So I took some pictures of the stain and of our crazy small kitchen and I am going to upload them to HGTV and enter everything I can to see if someone will come and help us out! HEY! It is worth a try isn't it? Do you guys know anyone in need of some probono work for their resume? Point them in our direction! ha

Speaking of Matt and of men in general I have to share this with you and I mean this in a light hearted way so Matty if you do ever read this I am only using you as a point to how men don't think! ha.......... Matt came up to my desk about a week ago and said "I am going to be out of town the first weekend in Oct" I say "ok, why?" his reply is "I am in a wedding in Kansas" so I stare at him in silence looking a tad confused and after a awkward moment he says "oh did you want to come?" How would you respond to that? ha, last time I checked we were married and married people would generally want their spouse to go with then to special occasions but he cracks me up that he did not even think that at first! Stay tuned to see if I go or not..............

10,000

I got on my blog "dashboard" this morning and saw that I have officially had OVER 10,000 views!!! SOO THANK YOU!! Here is where I would say something witty like "Thanks Mom" but my mom rarely reads my blog so THANK you to all my friends who find my boring life something worth checking out! So Cheers to 10,000 and 10,000 more!!!!
Saturday we went to Chicago/Earth, Wind & Fire and MAN oh MAN was it a show!!! It was one of the best concerts I have been too!!!! This picture is Earth....... And ps, no these are not zoomed in we were in the VIP pit 9 rows back! WOOHOO

This was at the end of the night when both bands literally brought the stage down when they performed together!!! It was WONDERFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I will prolly post again later today but it is Monday and I am in a weird mood, so I am gonna scadatle......

Saturday in the park..

So... tomorrow night I am very excited because I am going with my mom & dad to see Chicago and Earth, Wind & Fire at the Okc Zoo Amp!!! This is my 5th time to see Chicago and NO they never get old!!! I love Love love them!
This is my favorite song they sing and since I will be seeing them Saturday in the park they better sing this bad boy...............



Don't worry there will be tons of pictures come Monday morning!!!! Have a great weekend friends and enjoy this AMAZING weather!!!

Supermodel, Scents and Snuggles

Well Ladies & Gents the day has come.... I finally have an official Supermodel in the family.... Drum Roll Please......... My God daughter Kendall!!!!!!!! Kendall was asked to model for an up & coming baby line RokNTotz!!
A week or two ago she had her first wittle photo shoot and the website officially launches this weekend!!!! www.rokntotz.com I mean really how cool? This line is based out of OKC but has already gotten huge out in LA! We have a little Celeb on our hands, and sure I will be selling her autograph for $20 a pop! (Don't tell her mom) I knew it wouldn't be too long until someone else saw how beautiful & special this little girl is! Here is a sneak peak at her pictures...

Now....... a couple of hours ago my NEW Fall & Winter Scensty arrived!!! It was like Christmas, and it smelled like it too!!! ha

These are my small basket tester set and I smelled them so much I got light headed! Heads up Sept 19 will be my Fall Launch party!!!! A sneak peak... my favorite scents are... Cozy Fireside, Hemingway, Holiday Kiss and Green Tea Smoothie!!

And moving on to the Snuggle portion of this blog, the other morning I was getting ready for work and the living room was real quite and this is what I found!!! Matt snuggled up with the weenies!!!! So cute, and if you didn't already know YES! Matty is tatted up!
Abner woke when the flash went off! I don't know about you but this is too cute and I want to crawl in! haha! Ps........ yes, there are holes in the blanket thanks to Oscar! Nice of you to notice! haha
It's is almost Friday everyone!!!!

I am a Thief...

So yesterday I did a fun survey that I stole from my friend Sara's blog and today I am stealing a video and inspiration from my friend Becky's blog, Becky I hope you are not mad!(http://goingthroughhimtofindme.blogspot.com/ )!!! Her post today was about CAKE and you know what I LOVE me some cake! And not just cakes, but all things cake, cupcake, pie, donut and pastry!!! I put together a slide show with just some of the pictures I have of my life involving cake to go along with this video!!! Enjoy!

You must watch this video, all 5min of it you will thank me!

You laughed because that entire time you were more than likely thinking "man that is so me"!! And what I am thinking right about now is "man where can I get me a piece of cake?"

Always.Sometimes.Never

So, I was checking out my friend Sara's superb blog (http://thevegasallreds.blogspot.com/ ) and I love a post she did last week and I decided to "borrow" it!! And I think all my blogging friends should do this also, very unique......

I Always....
- have a cup of coffee in the morning while I am getting ready
- shower in the exact same way and in the same order; wash hair, wash body, condition hair, wash face and I towel off the exact same way every morning as well. Sometimes this bugs me but I can not stop... and come to think of it I put my make up on in the same order every morning also... geez
- take my contacts out at night
- sing silly little made up songs to my animals everyday, they love it just ask them!!
- take a multi-vitamin daily
- touch clothes at the store, it bugs Matt

I Sometimes...
- don't wash my hair for 3 days because it takes me 20 mins to blow dry
- walk to the mailbox and look inside and if there are no magazines I will leave it for tomorrow! This also very much bugs Matt! haha
- "unplug" myself over the weekend and don't answer calls, texts or emails and I love it
- get sucked into Nancy Grace at night before bed
- wear my high water jeans to work because no one cares and they are comfy
- wonder why I care?

I Never...
- forget to DVR my favorite shows, I love TV!!
- miss the previews before a movie and if I do I will not watch the movie
- exercise anymore and I should!
- will loose my love for Dancing and all things dance!
- get my nails done, I have done them myself weekly since the beginning of time
- have been to a spa or anything like that.

Perfectly Parisian

So, I love the Next Food network Star and this season's winner Melissa has a great new show and her first episode she made a meal that she had won the judges over with during the competition.... Potato and Bacon Torte with a Cafe Greens Salad. Melissa lived in Paris for awhile with her husband (lucky them) and this recipe looked too good to pass up! But...... since it was my first time to make it, that always adds on time and it calls for homemade crust... my prep time was a whopping 1 1/2 hours!!!! NO JOKE! Was it worth it? Every bite! I will include the homemade crust recipe but next time I think I will do a switcheroo with frozen pie crust!
Pie Crust:

1 cup butter (2 sticks), cubed and chilled
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
8 to 10 tablespoons ice water
Put the butter, flour, and salt in the food processor, and pulse lightly just until the mixture resembles wet sand.
Add the water, 1 tablespoon at a time, pulsing briefly after each spoonful of water. Keep adding water until the dough just begins to gather into larger clumps.
Transfer equal amounts of the dough into 2 resealable plastic bags and pat each into a disk. Let rest in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
Remove 1 of the disks from the bag to a flour coated surface. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out to a 10-inch round. Gently fit the rolled dough into a 9-inch pie pan, and refrigerate while you prepare the torte ingredients.

Now onto the Prep and assembly of the Torte...
Potato-Bacon Torte
Recipe courtesy Melissa d'Arabian

4 strips bacon
3 sprigs fresh thyme
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 Pie Crusts, recipe follows
3 medium baking potatoes, peeled
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup grated Gruyere cheese
1 egg yolk, whisked with a splash of water
Directions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

In a skillet over medium heat, cook the bacon until just crispy. Drain on paper towel lined plate and set aside. Crumble the bacon when cool to the touch.

Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, heat the thyme and cream over low heat to a bare simmer. Turn off the heat and let steep for about 5 minutes. Remove the thyme sprigs.

Remove the pie pan from the refrigerator. Slice the potatoes in half lengthwise and then finely slice the potatoes. Working in circles, arrange the potato slices in the pie crust, stopping to season each layer with salt, pepper, and about 1/4 of the crumbled bacon. Continue layering until the pie pan is nearly full. Top with an even layer of the cheese and gently pour cream around and over the entire pie, allowing it to seep down between the potato slices. (You may not use all the cream.)

Roll out the remaining disk of refrigerated dough. Cover the pie with the dough and crimp the edges closed. Brush the top and edges of the crust with egg wash. Make a few slits in the center of the top crust, for the steam to escape, and put the pie pan on a baking sheet. Bake the torte until the crust is browned and crispy and the potatoes are cooked through, about 50 to 60 minutes. If the crust edges get too brown, cover them with some strips of aluminum foil. Remove the pie from the oven and let rest at least 15 minutes before cutting into wedges and serving.

TIP!!! Place your pie pan on top of a baking sheet, this way it is easier to get in and out of the oven and because mine overflowed and you don't want that on the bottom of your oven!! I was very excited because this was the first time I had used my red Emile Henry pie pan that my Aunt gave me! Thanks Heidi!

Now... I loved this salad and in fact I had leftover mixed greens and I made this again last night to go with dinner!!
Cafe Green Salad
Recipe courtesy Melissa d'Arabian
Mustard Vinaigrette:
1 garlic clove, sliced in 1/2
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
Small splash soy sauce
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil
Directions
3 cups mixed greens, the darker the better (not iceberg)

Rub the inside of a large wooden bowl with the garlic clove and then either discard it or save it for another use. Put the mustard in the bowl and whisk in the balsamic vinegar and soy sauce (a French secret!) vigorously for about 10 seconds to get a creamy consistency. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Drizzle in the olive oil as slowly as possible with 1 hand while whisking as quickly as possible with the other hand to emulsify. Lay the salad greens on top of the dressing and toss just before serving.

TIP!! I do not have a wooden bowl so what I did instead of rubbing the bowl with a clove of garlic was, I added 1 teaspoon of minced garlic to the dressing and it tasted wonderfully!

Now since my prep time plus cooking time was about 3 crazy hours I did a semi-homemade desert... I just bought Phillsbury Apple Turnovers and served with them ice cream and drizzled Carmel sauce over everything for a perfect finishing touch!!

I realize this is not an everyday recipe but it was wonderful, very much a comfort food meal and I am considering making this meal for my night to supply food at our JH Board of Directors meeting. We shall see!!! I give this meal 2 thumbs up and now that I know what I am doing and will use frozen crust I think that will cut my prep time in more than half!

Ok, let's get started......

Have you all been on pins and needles waiting to see if I went to my reunion or not? Well wait no more my friends, I skipped it! And no, I am not entirely pleased with that decision but after a week filled with begging someone to take my money and hearing one thing then another I decided to pass. BUT... luckily for me I did get to wear the dress I bought for the occasion that same night when we did Plan B: went to a wedding with my family! And we had a good time, we really did who doesn't love cake?! Here is Marissa and I outside the reception and I used the "red eye" and it turned me into creepy black True Blood eyes! ha! Did anyone watch that last night? crazy! Now one song comes to my mind when I see this picture......... "Kid sister, Kid sister, Kid sister, Kid sister wherever I go your gonna go........"
Matt & I are laughing in this picture because the prior pic Matt was making a face as to how thrilled he was to be at a wedding and how ready to go home he was...use your imagination! haha

Sooo... Saturday was a BLAST! We loaded up and kidnapped my sister and went over to a client turned friend of Matt's named Danny, him and his family were out of town and told us we could swim and watch movies at their house for the day! They have an acre or two and as a Thank You Matt mowed their whole yard in the morning while Marissa and I sun bathed! Here is Matt kicking our butts in a game of 2 -on-1! ha

So let me say that if you have one of these in your house or your parents do then "Good for You" but we don't and we loved laying on the couch for a mid day break and watching a movie!! I gotta get a room like this! I mean wow.

This is their yard such a "nice little in town day long escape"!!!!

Two things............ 1. YES I hold my nose!! 2. We swam like kids all day! We raced, jumped in, did flips and had a ball! This is our "signature jump"

Marissa and I are water logged and have some severe swimmers hair at the end of the day! haha....

So out of all three of my kiddos only one liked the water............OSCAR! Who would of thought our robust weenie would beg at the edge of the pool for me to hold him and swim with him. No, he can't swim on his own I am sure he would sink like a rock but he was in heaven in my arms!!!

And after a long day Abner drove us home.......................

When we got home Matt went and picked us up SUSHI to end a WONDERFUL day with a wonderful meal! Now, I will say we tried to watch the Soloist and 1/2 way thru had to turn it off.... it is sooo boring and the scenes jumped around... awful! It is odd that we turned it off because I am easy to please! We were glad to turn in early on Saturday!! It really was the most fun and easy going Saturday I have had in awhile! NICE!!! (insert Borat accent there)

Now Sunday Matt played in his Golf league and I met my great friend Becky from JH at the movies to see The Time Travelers Wife, we both recently read the book!

Now, let me say first off Eric Bana is so handsome and him and Rachel McAdams had wonderful chemistry... they made the movie as good as it was. It is hard because I am watching this movie and knowing the book, but if you have not read the book I bet you were lost. If you have not read the book and are planning on it.. DO NOT see the movie, one thing I LOVED about the book was I could not imagine the ending or things that happened so don't ruin it by seeing the movie. And the movie cut a TON out and changed soo much but I understand it is so hard to develop such deep characters in 2 hours. I felt for the characters that I knew from my book and I will admit, I shed a tear or two and that is HUGE for me. I was pleased, yup pleased........ I will leave it at that.