September Fun

What did we do in September? I'm so glad you asked! Here are some of the highlights.

We tried star fruit. I wasn't super impressed, but if they are on sale and I'm planning on making a fruit pizza, I'll definitely get some more because they look pretty cool.

It hailed one evening. We have been scraping by on 0.5 inches of rain for the last 3 months and it hails for about 7 minutes one Tuesday night.

The hail toward the end of the 7 minutes of activity.

Spinach, chickpea, and chicken coconut curry.

After 3 months of no real rain, we finally got some measurable liquid in the rain gauge!

Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole.

Mixed Berry Buttermilk Cake. This was great; not too sweet and very yummy.

We spent some time with family and Drew played on the floor with our youngest niece, Olivia.

On the last day of summer, we went to the Sunken Gardens and were treated to a beautiful evening at the park.

Kramer Silliness

Here's the setup for these hilarious moments with Kramer. It's Friday night and Drew and I have moved the dressers out of our bedroom to prepare for the arrival of new dressers. The mirror that was attached to the old long dresser was removed and placed in the front living room between the sofa and the coffee table. Drew and I are busily moving things around and Kramer, well, Kramer met a new friend and let's just say they didn't hit it off. Again, who needs cable when you have a silly wiener dog around?

Also, here's another random Sarah/Kramer story for you. I was reminded of this incident as I watched my ferocious wiener dog chase a rabbit around the backyard earlier this week. Rabbits are second only to squirrels on Kramer's despised creatures list. She even brought me a dead baby rabbit a couple of years ago to demonstrate her hatred of them and/or her love for me. I guess? I don't really know. It was gross.

Anyway, the story. Last fall it was getting dark outside and I realized that I still had a couple of pieces of laundry out on the clothesline so I jumped up to head out and take care of it. Kramer sensed my excitement and decided to run outside with me. She made it out onto the deck and down the two steps before I did and she started running in the yard. This was entirely normal behavior for her. I, on the other hand, was sort of jogging down the steps and along the stone path to the clothesline. This is not normal behavior for me as I don't really jog ever. I used to, but my knees staged a violent protest that ultimately ended that activity. So, mid-stride on the stone path I felt something smack into my calf. Hard. I stopped short and looked around only to see a rabbit on the grass, slightly dazed. Then Kramer rounds the corner with her typical "on the hunt" bark, which is more like an all out screech. (Seriously, it's the least intimidating noise you'll ever hear.)The rabbit sort of shakes itself off and takes off, narrowly avoiding the screeching, brown wiener dog that is hot on its tail. They run around the yard for a bit longer before the rabbit escapes through the fence to a safer backyard.

Let's just recap that for a moment, a rabbit ran into my leg while being chased by my dog. I literally about peed my pants laughing at the absurdity of it all. It took me about 8 minutes to be able to tell Drew what had happened because I couldn't catch my breath and I had a charley horse for the next hour. What are the odds?



Million to one shot, Doc. Million to one.



Basement Wall Art

I alluded to the wall art in the basement in my last post and here's the skinny on that.

The basement living room is quite long and that's quite a bit of wall space to fill. After purchasing some other wall art for other rooms in the house, I wasn't too excited about trying to find some pieces for the basement. After all, we had just purchased new furniture and my wallet wasn't thrilled with the idea of spending more money.

Earlier this summer my mom and I took a painting class together. It was a Mother's Day present and we had a great time. I already had this idea of painting something myself so I paid careful attention to the types of paints and other supplies that we used. Then, I went out to Michael's and purchased some 16 x 20 inch canvases when they were $2.50 per canvas and used a 40% off coupon on a brush set. A few weeks after that, I bought several tubes of acrylic paint when they were $0.28 each (plus a 20% off my entire purchase coupon) and used another 40% off coupon on a can of spray lacquer.

My supplies. I'm sure that "real" artists would scoff at my paint selection, but it worked just fine for me.

Then, I got to work finding some sort of inspiration for this project because, as you may or may not know, I'm a scientist. A total type A, right-brain scientist. Creativity is not one of my strengths. So, I googled phrases like "easy canvas art" and "diy paint canvas" and looked at some pictures. These were my final inspiration choices:

Original found here.

Original found here.

I got to work and this is how it all turned out!

My less than $25 wall art. Nothing fancy, but still something fun to make.

The canvases in their position above the couch. I really like the pop of color on the wall.

As Drew said, if I get sick of them in a few months/years, I can throw them out or paint over them. I'm definitely not sick of them yet so we'll keep them for a while.

Basement Living Room

The basement is done! The basement is done! The basement is done!


The view once you come down the bottom of the stairs.

We are so, so very excited to have this project finished and to be able to use and enjoy the extra space in our house. Our starting point was outdated and cramped, but we (Drew) tore the whole thing apart and put it back together to make a great basement space. We're not completely finished down there, but the living room is pretty much done so I'll share that now.

View from behind the love seat. The door leads to the bedroom. The photobomb is courtesy of Kramer.

The view from the bedroom door. Bonus points for the quick and accurate identification of the photobomber.



Drew's recliner. It's got a high back for his tall enjoyment AND a seat massage, a back massage, and a seat warmer. The man is set!

Getting all of the furniture to arrive turned out to be quite the ordeal. The first time everything was delivered, they had a brown love seat (which we wanted) and a black couch (which we didn't want). So, they didn't even bother to unload the couch and we rescheduled another delivery date. The second delivery date came and we had a brown couch. Yeah! Except that as they started to bring it in the house, I noticed a 3 inch tear in the back. So, they loaded it back up into the truck and I scheduled another deliver time. On the third delivery date they delivered another black couch. Ug. So, the fourth time was the charm when we finally received a brown couch that was not damaged. And it is com-fy.

The long awaited couch finally arrived! More on the wall art later.

We're still working on setting up the bedroom down there. The bed that will be put in there is currently being stored at my parents' house and it's going to take some finagling to get it out. Once we get that in there, I'll share about that room.

Meanwhile, Kramer has gone from running around trying to figure things out in the basement to getting pretty comfortable down there.

Kramer just knocked the throw pillows around until she got comfortable and then it was lights out.

Also, she never really learned how to climb down a set of stairs before. I was OK with that since Daschunds are prone to back problems and it meant I always knew on which level of the house I could find her. Well, apparently the thrill of the finished basement was enough motivation for her and she figured out how to hop down the stairs. Now we have to make sure we keep an eye on her so she doesn't get down there alone!

Kramer's finally realized that her bed is not a toy...