Baconnaise

I finally found it at a grocery store! After 1 week of exhausted searching and months of half-heartedly glancing at the mayo aisle, it turned up when I least expected it!

BACONNAISE!

http://www.baconnaise.com/

Yes, it's the bacon-flavored mayo.

Don't worry, folks... I got the light version.

See how happy it makes me?

Ignore my scuzzy outfit...I had gone running in the cold rain and needed sweatpants and glasses to fully recover.

Speaking (or typing) of running, the San Francisco Marathon is SUNDAY! I have less than a week until I am running and puking and crying. Right now I'm doing my taper, and Maggie got to go on a run with me. I only had 3 miles and it was CO-LD outside, so she did well. We actually averaged 8:07/mile. My dog is not out of shape!

Weekends...

David is officially 29...and has been since Thursday. I'm a little delayed on my posting :)

Wednesday, we went out to dinner at our favorite restaurant, Syberg's, with David's mom and sister. I love that place...especially the wings. We had two orders :)

Thursday, David's birthday, was the Mizzou v. Nebraska game...so David picked me up from work and we drove to Columbia through pouring rain. Due to my, um, lack of affection for sporting events, we had decided earlier that I would not attend the game. My decision was solidified by the rain...and David didn't fight me. He didn't want to sit next to cranky pants anymore than I wanted to BE cranky pants.

So David went to the game (after a slow-service meal with his dad) and sat by his drunk friend Brett. I hung out with Martha...and we baked.

Look at my awesome carrying case!!!

We made chocolate chocolate chip peppermint cookies and red velvet/cream cheese mini cupcakes for me to take to work on Friday. It really felt kind of shady to be baking treats that weren't for David on his birthday, but he assured me that he didn't want treats and "football is my sweet." Ok, so he didn't really say that...but he implied that.

So Mizzou lost, and David had me pick him up, wet and miserable at 11:30. We spent the night at Martha's and got up before 5 to drive back to St. Louis...since I had to be at work at 7.

I was cranky pants....driving to a meeting, I called David and picked a fight. Then I called back 3 minutes later to apologize. Being tired makes me cranky, but I am still able to realize when I am being irrational.

During a meeting, the heater in a building got turned on and dust on the system smoked and made the fire alarm go off...so...we got to stand outside in the rain while the fire department came.

Happy Friday. Happy Tired Friday.

I had been invited to a girls' night on Friday...so when I got home from work, I went on a run and then took off my cranky pants and put on pleasant person pants. The girls' night was blast...and I really needed it! I've been running so much to get ready for this marathon that I've been really AWOL on the social scene. You know, needing to get up super early on Saturday so I don't go anywhere on Friday and then too exhausted from my Saturday run to do anything that night...and running too much during the week to even consider leaving my home.

But the night was great... we met at Jess's. Eliza made fajitas, Amanda made margaritas (less than one week until I can drink again!), Tara made guacamole, and I brought cookies and cupcakes that I had hidden from people at school. We laughed and talked. Wonderful.

Speaking of running, I did my Thursday run in Friday this week (due to the Mizzou game and rain, ugh). After it was over, I stopped in a restroom at Clydesdale Park... I hadn't used this restroom before and actually noticed how clean and neat it was (weird for a park restroom). After I did my thing, I tried to flush. Nothing. No flushing.

I soiled that nice clean bathroom. Terrible.

Anyway... Saturday I did a short run (8 miles...thank you taper!) and then did housework the rest of the day. I somehow copied Syberg's wing sauce (oh yes I did!) and attempted to make wings. The only wing recipie I could find that didn't call for frying in a quart of oil involved breading and baking. So I did that and then tossed the wings in my dutch oven with the sauce. Dan and Tara weren't due over for a while, so I figured that would just keep things warm.

Um, they were warm, but the dutch oven had the same effect on the meat as if I had just stuck the wings in the crock pot all day. Yummy delicious, but falling off the bone and the flour added kind of a gummy texture.

Eh, I ate them anyway.

Today, we went to early church. The lack of sleep from Thursday finally caught up with me and I was a foul she-devil. So, after church, I took a nap. When I woke up from the nap, I decided to be productive...more housework.

For dinner, I made pizza. I am so proud--I made my own dough (easy peasy) and then 2 different kinds. The easy one had turkey sausage, red peppers, and olives. The FANCY one had the left over faux-Sybergs wings and sauce. OMG, I am very impressed by myself.

So...to make the Syberg's wing sauce you melt together

8 oz Durkee Hot Sauce

8 oz Durkee Famous Sauce

8 oz butter.

Yes, 1/2 lb of butter. This is why I didn't fry the wings. So good!!!!!

You can also just buy Syberg's sauce at area grocery stores, but it's significantly more expensive than making my own...and I'm going to see if I can rig up a cheaper version of the Famous Sauce too.

I'm such a tight wad!

Early Birthday Dinner

David's 29th birthday is Thursday!

Happy Early Birthday David!

Since we're going to the Mizzou game on Thursday (well, David's going and I'm hanging out with Martha), we decided to do a one-on-one dinner for us last night.

Plus, I had a coupon to the Drunken Fish.

I think we ordered enough :)

David didn't say this last night, but this is one of my favorite quotes of all time from him.

"You know, I've been thinking. I think I'm at a point in my life right now where my hair looks so good that I can be a little out of shape... no one would notice."

What do you think? It is a pretty glorious mane...

Hmmm

On my way home from work, I saw a man painting this sign. On the roof.

How cool is that? I've never been in this bar...as it looks kind of scary from the outside, but it was a beautiful day and I was really wishing that I could have been painting a Rockin Gator on some roof.

Because this is what I did at work all day.

Yeah, it's just as confusing and complicated as it looks.

Maybe I just need to patronize Rockin Gators?

They should give me my own home improvement tv show...

As you may have gathered from previous posts, Ma and Pa came to town over the weekend. Their main purpose was to deliver the cedar/walnut chest and the rest of our wedding gifts (that we weren't able to fit in the car after the hometown reception), but I had a not-so-secret plan for the weekend. I needed my father, Doc Al, to teach me how to fix things.


I had specific things in mind, but I was hoping just to gather some basic knowledge. So, the second they walked in the door, we started on our first project. It literally was the second they walked in the door...but only because we had to turn the power off and we were burning daylight.



I wanted to change all of our old, yucky, almond-colored outlets and switches into a nice glowing white. Mom and David were making fun of me...but our baseboards are white and it felt so dated and clashy to me.



So anyway, this pile became...

This. Ahhh. So much better :)

Here, you can see how much better the white is.

So Dad showed me how to do a few...after he was convinced that I wouldn't kill myself or burn down the house, he left the rest of me to do at my leisure.

But we all know that didn't happen, right? I rushed home from work on Monday and got them all switched out. The only problem is that when you turn on the exhaust in the bathroom, it blows the fuse. After a phone call with Dad, I added more tape.

Fuse still blew...so, because it was in the bathroom and light was fading, I threw some tape over that switch and called it off for the night. I'll fix that when I have some more daylight hours.

I am still proud of myself!

We also put Dad to work installing a new porch light (the old one was buggy and gross!)

And evaluating our side screen door drama. It blows open anytime there's a strong wind...which, apparently, caused the door to warp. Dad says we need to buy a new door. Booo. Thanks to our new life on a budget, we rigged up a temporary solution.

Dad is a genius.

I decided that I needed to re-caulk the seams in the bathtub. It sounded easy and fun, but turns out that caulk is hard to pull off....that took most of the afternoon Sunday...but I went from this

To this.

Much better.

Finally, because I can't leave well enough alone, which piece or art is better for our bathroom? I already own both, and neither has another place where I think it fits...

We have an Ansel Adams print I bought in Vegas at an exhibit and we have some flower thing from Garden Ridge. Thoughts?

Our Glorious Gift...

Mom and Dad arrived Saturday afternoon, carrying the most amazing thing I've ever received.

Isn't it beautiful? No, not the pillows...the chest that Dad hand-made our of antique Walnut and then lined with cedar.
It's so shiny and pretty!!!

And, I think it matches the pillows I made last weekend perfectly. There is wood from both of my grandfather's farms and just glows. I know I'm dwelling, but I really like it. Apparently, while they were loading the chest into the vehicle, my mom had a little spill...and, well, let's just say that she's showing a lot more damage than the chest was. Mom's sore, but I'm really impressed that the chest didn't shatter into a million pieces.

A lot of the wood in it is the same wood Dad used to build my desk and the stand our tv is on. He built both of these in the mid-70's when he and Mom were first married. Somehow, I managed to snag them.

I think it also matches the dresser in that room, which my grandpa Brownback built in the 40's, when he was a sophomore in high school. Yeah, I totally scored on the old family furniture. I think it's mostly because I really like walnut. And because I'm a shameless mooch.

Just because I'm a nerd, here's a picture of the cork board I painted and covered with ribbon...see how well it matches?

Chilaxing

Around Mom and Dad's visit, David and I had a pretty full weekend planned. Like always, right?

Friday, David had 2 softball games. It was pretty darn chilly outside, so I ended up staying home and putting the finishing touches on our long-awaited delivery...

That's right! We got some furniture for our porch!!!!! Two chairs and a table...just in time for winter to set in :)

Do you notice the pots my mums are in? Oh yes, they are the wedding cupcake stands, repurposed to add a pop of color. I need to figure out a way to scatter them around and whatnot, but it's a good start.

And, I kind of need to clean the porch. Owning a home is a lot of work!

After the game was over, we headed out to meet my buddy Kelly at a total Hoosier bar in South County. Since I'm not drinking until the Marathon (yes, lame, I suck), I ordered a water...and was brought a bottle of water. At a bar! AND charged $1. Seriously? But the band was fun and I got some pictures with Captain Morgan. The keyboardist even asked my friend if I was single...nope, I'm taken by the man with the beautiful lion's mane of hair.

Saturday, I had a twelve mile run (Yay Taper!!!) and then kickball. David's not on my kickball team, but came along to watch. After seeing our team flounder and fail (we are terrible, for real), David "volunteered" to play the second game. He was promptly voted MVP, based solely on the fact that he didn't make any ridiculous mistakes.

Then Ma and Pa showed up, bearing a car load full. But that's another post.

I put Dad to work and then we headed to dinner. We went to Mama Campisi's on the Hill. O. M. G. Seriously. Best Meal Ever. MMMMMMMMMMMMM. YUMMY. DROOL.

That's enough of that. But it was wonderful.

And then we went to Ted Drew's.

And then, after church, we went to a brunch buffet.

My pants don't fit....but it's totally worth it.

Sunday, after they left, David and I headed to the Cardinal's last home game...we didn't stay the whole time, but it was a beautiful day.

And we're pretty cute too, right?

We also got to see our good friend Albert reach 185 assists. Once David explained to me what that meant, I was appropriately impressed :)