My Wise Sister

Here is a transcript of an actual cell phone text conversation with my sister on Friday, October 2, 2009:

Sister: "Who does UA play and what time?"

Me: "Why would u want 2 watch that? "

Sister: "I don't. That's when I plan on running errands bc people won't be out. :) Tyson and I always use the UA game for that."

Bedroom and bathroom improvements

A few months ago, Ashley decided that we needed to have matching dressers in the bedroom. I have never had an actual dresser to use in this house (I just stored my clothes on shelves in the closet), so I was very agreeable to this change. We found these dressers at IKEA in Orlando.



These dressers didn't come with knobs on the drawers, so we picked out new knobs from Home Depot. I chose a simple handle design, and Ashley chose really fancy glass baubles. I think our personalities came through on this project. You can definitely tell which dresser belongs to the man and which one belongs to the woman.



We spent the past few weeks working on the bathroom. We used to have a huge ceiling-to-cabinet mirror that covered the whole wall. Ashley decided that we need fancier mirrors in the bathroom, so we tore down the old mirror and then refinished the wall. It ended up being a much bigger project than I initially suspected (that always happens). After repainting the wall, we installed these mirrors from Target.



We also took down the old light fixture (it looked a little "apartment-ish"). The old fixture had a long row of lights that got extremely hot if you left the fixture on for any length of time. We replaced it with this light fixture from IKEA. It features LED lights, which are much more energy-efficient, and they don't get scalding hot if you leave them on.

Three lights, three mirrors, very uniform in appearance. My OCD demons have been appeased.

Fall and Halloween decorations

Everyone needs a Halloween tree in their house.



These are Ashley's photographs. Blue hydrangeas on the left, and the pagoda at the Japanese Pavilion at EPCOT on the right. She has become an excellent photographer with her new camera.



There are 12 different fall/Halloween decorations on this piece of furniture. See if you can find them all!












These are postcards that Ashley bought at the Haunted Mansion in the Magic Kingdom and framed. They depict various scenes from the Haunted Mansion ride.



Ashley loved this Jack Skellington jack-o-lantern.



Ashley took this photo of Alligator Point, FL, at sunset.

Michael Jackson passed away. For all his problems and troubles outside of the music business, he was a consumate performer on the stage and screen. He had an incredible combination of talent, showmanship, and, most of all, charisma.

Watch the following video. It encapsulates everything about Michael Jackson's music: strong beats, great hooks, and omigod the dancing.

Check it out:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-WVpQ0ZG8Q

And yes, he could do it all live:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7MmEMrCRfc&feature=related

Long live the King of Pop.

New Garden Pictures

Garden update

We have had a lot of rain lately, which has really helped the garden grow. I have been fighting a plague of tomato worms, but everything is still prospering. Here are some pictures of the produce:

Fresh basil:



Big cucumbers:




Lemons:



Better Boy tomatoes:




Bell peppers:

Sweet banana peppers:

And my personal favorite, fresh corn:

As you can see, we have been able to grow some really nice-sized veggies:

Tool Time with Matt and Ashley

When we purchased our house last year, it was very basic (no crown moulding, no trim around the windows, etc.). I am slowly adding the niceties that the house needs. Over the last 5 days, Ashley and I installed trim around all the windows in the house. I think it looks great.

Working in the kitchen.

Here's the finished product in the living room. We also installed wooden blinds.

The guest bedroom.

The window in the master bathroom.

The kitchen window overlooking the backyard.

One of the windows in the master bedroom.

Relaxing after a job well done.

We grilled a MONSTER steak.

How does your garden grow?

My vegetable garden has been growing nicely. If all of our plants produce fruit, we should be able to open our own produce section at the local grocery store.

Here is a picture of the "tomato factory":

Here is a long shot of the veggies, so you can see the size of the garden.

Here's the corn, peppers, and cucumbers.

Here's the squash and arugula.

I included a picture of my gardenia, because it is laden with blooms right now. This plant smells spectacular.

We spent the past few weeks landscaping the backyard.

We also replanted an oak tree and added four hydrandeas. Two of them are from north Alabama and two of them are from Florida. I planted roughly 40 caladiums and 6 hostas along the house.

I built a huge vegetable garden. I have 26 tomato plants (3 types of tomatoes), 9 green bell peppers, 2 sweet banana peppers, 2 arugula, strawberries, 9 corn, 9 cucumbers, 9 summer squash, thyme, 2 oregano, 2 types of basil, 3 lemon balm, mint, rosemary, 2 types of sage, 2 cilantro, 2 parsley, and lavender.

I planted a gardenia that I found in Birmingham, Alabama. The blooms smell amazing. I planted it next to the dining room, and if you open the dining room windows, the smell of gardenia comes into the house.

I added two spotlights to the backyard: one lights the gardenia and the other lights a big oak tree next to the back fence.



We built a nice area for the dogs' house and planted flowers around it.

Eventually, I will probably put a picnic table in the middle of the yard.