New Blog Address

Hey!

I will be combining my blogs to be all in one place.
Please follow me at

http://pursuingmypassions.blogspot.com/

Thanks!

Winging it!

This morning has definitely been a "Winging it" kind of morning. This past weekend I got this book:

Let me tell you, each page seems to change my world. I definitely recommend it! I bought mine at Barnes and Noble. This was a really exciting experience to me because I live within walking distance of a mall which has Barnes and Noble in it. My husband bought his own, not so fun because it's not cooking related, book and when we went to check out, we were told about their Club type card. Not only did the free shipping pique my interest, but the 10% off of their cafe thing did too. ALL WITHIN WALKING DISTANCE! I might be a TAD excited about this. Probably because our espresso machine is still in our storage unit and I've been craving coffee...

Anyways, I made a baguette this morning, see!

I'm not sure if I can hold off until Lunch Time to bite into this delicious goodness. It smells so good and it keeps calling to me! But doesn't it look so good? The coloring and everything reminds me of what I might find at the grocery store. Thanks to the book, it took no time or effort on my part. It was a matter of dumping a few ingredients in a bowl, mixing it together, putting a covering on the lid and refrigerating it. I pulled it out this morning, pulled out what I wanted (refrigerated the rest) and let it rest for 20 minutes and then baked it. It was SUPER easy and worked out in spite of me!

I recommend that book, it will change your life!

Sorry for the Wait!

 It has been such a long time since I last posted. Good news... WE FINALLY BOUGHT A HOUSE!

The first house we were going for fell through and now we are in the third house we went for. I have to admit, I'm so excited about being in our own place and even more excited to be in THIS house! The first house that we were in contract with was one where we walked in and I think we went for it because we felt like we had a shot at it. This is not a good reason to go for a house!!

The house was laid out awkwardly/horribly. The owners were smokers and we are not, so that would have been an extra cost to try to fix the flooring and repaint EVERYTHING in an attempt to get rid of the smell. All in all, looking back... I loathe that house! It was also a lot of headaches because it seemed that the owner and selling agent weren't very motivated. BUT... that's a different story!

I actually had texted my dad as we were both lamenting about how home buying is quite an emotionally frustrating experience. I told him that the house was like a prince, instead of waiting for a princess, settles for a prostitute. Later after we signed papers letting the house go, I told our buying agent the same story and he pretty much sat there thinking, "Why did you go for it if you weren't happy with it?"

The house we now own (yay!) is absolutely perfect. It came with all it's appliances, was owned by the same old couple for the last 60+ years, and it was in excellent shape. The inspector was surprised at how well the house was for it's age. The couple were really nice and even left behind some furniture for us, which was all PERFECT because we were wanting a new dining room set, and theirs was perfect for the size of the kitchen.

We ended up planting some strawberries, pumpkin, and roma tomatoes. I, for one, am excited and hopeful that they will grow food on it and save us some money. I'm specifically hoping for more than one pumpkin. Just thought I'd throw that out there.

Check out the different flowers in our back yard!!

Strawberry Plant

Look at the itty bitty baby strawberries!

Pumpkin

Little bit of new growth on the pumpkin plant

Roma Tomato Plant

French Marigold

Look at this tin they left behind! I think it's adorable!