Yeah that didn't work....

11 hours of work + not finding the buried treasure AKA the sewer line = no sink

I wouldn't talk to John about it any time soon, he is a very unhappy boy.

more on the wet bar

So we may not have to rip up the hallway floor! YAY! *throws confetti*
A guy John works with said that we probably have a sewer drain REALLY close to where the wet bar is now. Most homes plumb the water and sewer lines really close to each other and the water line is in the room right behind the wet bar.
An easy way to see where the sewer line is is to have Bluestake come out and spray the yard so in the next couple of days our front yard should look like a pre-schooler's art project.

This 3 day weekend we'll be busting our butt with electrical and running pipe so we can have the cabinets installed so the counter top can be templated. If my hallway floor doesn't have to be torn up than I'll be one happy camper!

Crock pot meat loaf

This is a delicious meat loaf recipe that is just sooooo easy! John says this is the best meat loaf he's ever had and that's saying something because he likes everything.

Ingredients
2 eggs
3/4 cup milk
2/3 cup seasoned bread crumbs
2 teaspoons dried minced onion
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 teasoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon rubbed sage (I didn't have sage so I used an Italian seasoning mix)
1 1/2 pounds ground beef
1 to 2 cups ketchup
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground mustard
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Directions
1.In a large bowl, combine the first nine ingredients and 1/2 cup ketchup. Shape into a round loaf; place in a 5-qt. slow cooker (to help it keep it's loaf shape I rolled up tubes of tinfoil and put them on the sides of the loaf). Cover and cook on low for 5-6 hours or until a meat thermometer reads 160 degrees F.
2.In a small bowl, whisk the remaining ketchup, brown sugar, mustard and Worcestershire sauce. Spoon over the meat loaf. Cook 15 minutes longer or until heated through.
*When I got home and looked at the meat loaf I thought it had burned and was going to be really dry. It was a little crispy around the edges but was really moist and delicious so dont be alarmed if it doesn't look that great!*

makes 6 servings

Cant get any easier! If you use crock pot bags it's a breeze to clean up too.
The night before I raised and baked some rolls and when I got home from work the next day I nuked some baking potatoes in the microwave and heated the rolls. Dinner was ready in 20 minutes, just as John was walking in the door.

As we speak I have BBQ beef brisket in the crock pot for dinner tonight, hopefully it turns out just as tasty!

snow be damned

My red turk's cap lily didn't care that it was snowing this morning and sprung it's first bloom anyway.

Take that cold weather! kiiiiyah! kerpow! kaaacha! *that was me karate chopping the air*

The question

Yesterday a lady knocked on my door and asked if she could paint my address on my curb as a comunity project, I told her yes and let her get to work.
Her daughter came and got me after she was done and as I was walking down to the curb the lady asked, "When are you due?"
With a hiccup in my step I looked down at my stomach, my face dropped and I could feel the color rising to my cheeks. I loudly wispered, "I'm...um....not pregnant..."
"Oh!" The women exclaimed, "I am so so sorry!" She then hurried through the steps of showing me the curb, mumbled more apologies and skirted off towards my nieghbor's house.

No I'm not making this up, this really happened. Talk about a confidence buster! I dont think this is something you can come back from...

On a more positive note, Makoa didn't chase the cat once last night! Maybe that means the shock collar is working, but I'm not holding my breath. He gets to wear it for a few more days to see if he's actually learning that chasing the cat is a bad thing.

zappity zap

Makoa has a new accessory, it's blue, has a nice shiny buckle and zaps him when he does something bad. It's a shock collar. Before you start scolding me for such a purchase let me explain.
Makoa has chased poor Sophi since the day he came to live with us. At first it wasn't too bad because he'd just chase her but now he likes to trap her in a corner, jump on her repeatedly and bite her head. I was getting really annoyed and starting to worry that he might hurt my cat. I was at my last resort so this collar was purchased.

We've had it for a while now but it wasn't working when we put it on him. So I thought maybe it was just a crappy buy, gave up and just didn't put it on him.
Well Monday night I wanted to strangle him. All I kept hearing was hissing, growling and scratching on the floor since they had no traction. I was so tired of yelling "MAKOA LEAVE IT!" because it just wasn't working.
So I tried the collar again last night, I just put it on tighter since I thought maybe it was all his fur that was getting in the way of the shock prongs.

After a few minutes he went after Sophi and I pushed the highest shock button thinking it wouldn't be that bad since I never got a reaction out of him before. I was wrong, he yelped so loud! John looked at me and asked, "What button did you push?!" I answered sheepishly, "The highest..." But it worked, he stopped right in his tracks when he was chasing Sophi.
As the night wore on he went after Sophi 3 more times and I pushed one of the lower shock buttons and he stopped bugging the cat (plus no more yelps). He seemed to learn fast, after he got shocked he run to John, sit down next to him and not move even though Sophi was still in the room. I'm hoping with just a few more days and a few more shocks we wont have to use the collar for Sophi chasing anymore.
We might use it for door barking though since he's the one that started that fun trend.

granite

Today we bought the granite counter for the wet bar and we pretty much stole it!

We got 61 square feet for $307 dollars (they didn't charge us tax!). The granite we picked out was originally about $30 a square foot so we saved $1523! It was a remnant sale so we didn't have a huge selection but we found what we needed and a color we liked so it worked out great for us. If we wanted the shop to fabricate it and install it for us it would have been a lot more but John has a friend that will do all that for us for dirt cheap (we're talking like a case of beer cheap!).



There is also another piece on the other side of the A frame.

It'll be awhile before it's put into place, but you cant pass up a good deal!

decided

I guess it's decided. If John doesn't have to work Friday he'll start digging the ditch. Looks like we'll be living in dust again for a while.
The poor floor in the hallway better go back down nicely or I think I'll throw a temper tantrum.

opinions please!

Friday night while we were lying in bed, I was reading a book and John said, "Son of a b$#&h!" With John that could mean a bomb just went off or he forgot to turn off the light so I calmly asked, "what?" not straying from my book and he said, "We cant have a sink downstairs."
"Why not?" I asked, he suddenly had my undivided attention.
"I was so busy worrying about getting water to the sink that I totally forgot that we need a drain!" He was livid with himself.
All I could muster up was an "Oh..."
We then discussed our options.

* We can still put in a sink but that means digging a ditch in the cement floor and tearing up the new floors in the hallway to connect to the drain in the bathroom.
John assures me that the flooring wont be harmed and can be put back down easy as pie, but it worries me.
* Dont put a sink in and leave the set up the way it is. With this I know that because we didn't put a sink in we'd need a sink all the time and I worry that it'll look ridiculous.
* Dont put a sink in and change the set up to just go across the wall and not in a L shape. This would be all fine and dandy but John cut out the carpet around the cabinets so we'd have a huge hole in the carpet until we got the money to install new carpet.
* I told him we'll put a sink in and just put a bucket under it to catch the water. I was joking...kind of.

We're at a loss, what should we do? If it was your house what would you do? John wont give his opinion, whenever I ask him what he thinks all he says is, "How bad do you want a sink?" yeah, big help there!
Work has been put on hold until we make a decision but we have to decide by next Saturday because we might be getting a counter top that day.
PLEASE HELP ME!!!

*We do have a bathroom downstairs to connect to the sewer line. John has done it(meaning dug the ditch, laid the pipe and connected to the sewer) once before in his parents home so I'm pretty sure he can do it in ours.

quilt

I finished my friend's baby quilt on Friday and took it to her baby shower today. I think it turned out nicely.


Now I need to finish all the other craft projects I've bought.

Bones

Here are the bones of the wet bar, truthfully they're not installed yet just set in place. John needs to do plumbing and it will be easier if the cabinets aren't installed.



They do look really nice though. A fridge will go where the broom is sitting and a sink cabinet will go in the corner. Hopefully next Saturday we'll be getting a granite or quartz countertop for a steal, but it will be one of the last things to go in.

Sunny St. George

While Northern Utah was stuck in the middle of winter I trekked down to St. George to visit with my VERY pregnant friend before she had her baby.
The drive down wasn't too bad, I checked out a James Patterson book on CD to occupy my driving time and I only ran into a few snow storms on the way down.

Jessi and I clicked back into sync like we'd never been apart. Chatting about old times, new times, high school and everything else under the sun. We watched a handful of movies including The Dark Crystal (still not sure why we like that movie), made an emergency Wal-Mart run (Makoa kept carrying off my underwear while I was packing so I put them back in my drawer to pack later and then I forgot to get them. So we had to run to the store so I could buy some), saw The Back-up Plan at a theatre, went to a delicious pizza place and just really enjoyed each other's company.

Enna punished me for leaving by chewing up some heels and a book, little stinker, she's never chewed up stuff before but she must have been pretty pissed at me.

I wanted to turn back around to St. George when I hit the first snow storm driving home. I was leaving fantastic weather to come back home to chilliness. But it was nice to come home to see my puppies and lovely hubby.

I was greeted by my Hardy Johnson's Blue Geranium blooming, the first perennial to bloom!


St. George was nice to visit but I dont think I'd ever want to live there. It gets too hot for me in the summer and I like living in the hustle bustle city of Salt Lake.
It was so nice to visit with you Jessi! Cant wait to meet the little man when he comes into the world!