return to the creative

so...it's been almost a month since posting to this... i've been a bad blogger...
but not that i haven't had things to blog about...just busy, preoccupied, & therefore neglectful of posting

i've recently returned to my artistic and creative side... i've been itching to paint for quite awhile, but our "office" was still a huge disorganized mess from the move, and i just wasn't inspired or motivated... dh has been working on organizing the office. and finally all my art stuff was exposed and he made it very convenient for me to start painting...

this is the result...
painted: last thursday
medium: acrylic
destination: for our bedroom

Deals

so...what is a good deal?
everyone wants a good deal.
but not everyone gets a good deal.

do good deals need waiting for?
not everyone waits for a good deal.
but are deals worth waiting for?
maybe some, but not others.

would you say, there's always a good deal.
so if you don't get this one, there'll be another one?
so, then it means if you wait, you'll always find another good deal?

and once again, what is a good deal anyways?

who do you trust - part 2

gosh. there are so many realtors. too many realtors.

we meet a new one everyday. and they all "want to be your friend" or something like that... salespeople...

who do you trust?

and how do they all stay in business? so many realtors. all trying to make commission. all trying to close the deal. whether or not it's good for you... they do what they need to do i guess.

who do you trust?

housing market...it's overpriced usually. all about "what the market can bear"

what will ppl pay for something? supply and demand...
it's all about what one is willing to dish out over another one.
how much do you want it?
what is it worth to you?
what are you willing to pay?
how much do you have?

who do you trust?

so many ppl in the world out for themselves. every has their own story. everyone is trying to make a buck. who is telling the truth? they all say something different trying to play you. especially when it comes to selling this or that...or fulfilling their agenda.

i don't think it's totally evil or have a bad view of it. it's capitalism. but still...

we're just wanting to find& buy our 1st "house". gosh. why does it have to be so difficult?

yay. so excited!

i haven't been this excited in a while. i think we've found a DEAL! all this house hunting, deal hunting, going to the foreclosure auction at the county office last week, driving around, looking online...

Primer

Just watched Primer tonight... I had to watch it again right afterwards b/c it blew my mind. I couldn't and didn't get it all the 1st time. Good movie. I highly recommend it! And the $7000 budget, very impressive. Had to comment b/c the past few movies we've watched have been less than we've expected. (We've been watching a movie every night the past couple of days.)

brilliant husband - part 3

"the dyeing of the laundry"

saturday, dh was being super helpful & super productive - all so that i could sleep in a bit. he took care of the dependent. he cleaned the bathrooms. he did the laundry...

due to changing the dependent on the upstairs bath rugs, they got a bit of poo on them. so he tossed them into the laundry. (the rugs are a taupe color.) he decided that while he was at it, he'd toss in some cloth diapers that i was keeping in a dry pail and some other of the dependent's items. and why not toss in the downstairs bath rug too to make a full load. (the downstairs rug was blue - and of a dyed yarn)

since there was poo on the one rug, and oh...there's cloth diapers with pee, so let's set the washer function to "sanitize." on the washing machine, there's cold, warm, and hot... and well sanitize is ever hotter than hot. well, you can guess what happened...

everything in the wash was dyed blue. white cloth diapers - now blue, white washcloths - now blue, anything pink - now blue, anything lavender or purple - now blue, blue bibs, blue outfits, taupe rugs - now blue, and the blue rug...now faded.

i discovered this when i was about to switch the wash load.

i was laughing, amused, yet exasperated, and a bit upset. i didn't know how to respond. poor hubby...he felt so bad and so shamed. he'd never dyed any laundry on accident ever in his life. not to pink, not to blue. he always had perfect laundry. washed clean, folded perfectly. no mistakes. it was a totally new experience for him.

i spent the next few hours trying to "fix" and "reverse" the dyeing of the laundry. i was able to save the taupe rugs by washing them again on warm in a bit of bleach. the whites, I could only bleach to an off-white/cream color. one lavender outfit came out almost okay, some other pastel colors were almost okay. The other pastel colors just couldn't be saved.

a reality tv show i like

though we've not watched much tv lately...we were flipping stations the other night, and we stumbled upon this new show on FOX: Kitchen Nightmares.... i actually like it a lot.

i remember when i 1st saw Chef Ramsay on Hell's Kitchen (that i watched a few times flipping channels again), i thought he seemed so harsh, so mean, & he cursed so much.

but in this new show, i like how he helps these failing restaurants come back to life - and gives the menu and the restaurant a makeover. it's rather inspiring and he does a really good job - probably why he's such a success. and you can watch whole episodes on FOX online.

brilliant husband - part 2

one sunday night driving back home from a long road trip...

story to come...

thanks dh for my b-day presents

thanks dh for my b-day presents! you're great!

i especially like this present:
Oral-B Professional Care 8850-DLX.

brilliant husband - part 1

i really have a brilliant husband. i am amazed at his analytical ability and engineering mind. he computes numbers & equations in his head, balances our finances, calculates pros & cons, and helps me solve free cell and minesweeper when i get stuck (when i'm playing on road-trips). he's a determined and goal-oriented guy. i love him.

so with that said...that's what makes this story to follow all the more funny to me...

all of the wedding hubbub is over. yay!

hubbub is over. thank goodness! i was more stressed out doing this wedding planning thing for my sis than i've been over anything in a long time. i wasn't even this stressed out planning my own wedding.

two weekends in a row of festivities, all in different cities and all "a long roadtrip" for us, thanks to the large geographical distance of texas.

i guess i'll put up some stuff on my lil sis' site...since i created it initially anyways.

in the midst of all of the hubbub, my b-day became secondary. so happy b-day to me from yesterday.

finished flowers & floral tape

yay! tonight i finished the making the "main" flowers for my sister's wedding this Saturday.

i really like floral tape. i didn't use any wire at all or adhesives or glue. just floral tape. oh so fun it is. my fingers are all sticky and waxy.

oh...i guess i did use corsage pins to affix and finish the wrapping of ribbon.

after much hemming and hawing and phone calls with the bride, i did my best to fulfill all of her wishes, requirements and preferences, from type of flower to color of flower, with many executive decisions of my own. and this was after lack of sleep with jet lag and time changes and just getting back from halfway across the world just a week ago.

she wanted:
-calla lilies, another type of lily (i decided stargazer), orchids, maybe roses, an assortment of flowers, a wine color or fall colors.
-not a round bouquet...something flowing with a sort of cascade shape, but not stuff sticking out up top too much
-the hand tied look, but without unwrapped stems sticking out
-bow & ribbons hanging down (i opted for no bow)

i decided on calla lily boutonnieres and corsages.
the grooms corsage is the same color as the bride's bouquet.

the father's boutonnieres and mother's corsages are white calla lilies, with wine-colored mini orchids in the mother's corsages. no ribbons/bows on them. just the plain beauty of the lily.

i opted for silk/fake flowers instead of the real thing due to availability and her many flower wants & my time constraints & the issues of flower transportation to the site & flower preservation (keeping them alive, fresh, and beautiful for the actual day). i don't own a flower shop and i didn't want to scour our small town to find these flowers or order one of each etc. plus real ones are delicate, fragile, hard to transport (since i'm making them many hundreds of miles away from the actual wedding and a few days away from the wedding, and i have a baby to take care of - i'm not a florist by day).

Airlines, briefly

I am disappointed in the service of the American Airline industry and AA. I used to really like them and would choose their company over others. I've decided I much prefer foreign airlines others... namely JAL's service as of this last trip. More to come later.

shopping marathon

i've never shopped as much as i have in this past week. everyday it seems, we're at some department store or clothes shop buying this or that. i'm "along for the ride" and exhausted by the end of the day. i guess that's what happens when you put 4 generations of women in a family together. they get together and shop. either for clothes, presents, souvenirs or what not. it's been exhausting even for me...and i'm usually pretty patient with shopping.