House Update.

We are watching the taking apart of the house happen quickly. As they dig in and put up plastic (to protect rooms from dust - or to look like a Dexter show) I see all the hard work and back breaking hours Mike and I put into the house being pulled apart in mere moments. I guess that just goes to show you that no matter how much time you put into a house ... it is always easier to undo that work than to do it in the first place.

For Those Of You That Know Me ....

I just read this and am over the moon:
There's a tantalizing rumor out there that Fox is ready to go forward with not one, but two sequels to 1996's megahit sci-fi movie Independence Day, with star Will Smith locked for both.

RV Remodel - Update.

We have been spending the weekend working on the RV. Trying to get as much done as possible for the race weekend (which is the second weekend in April). The colors are coming together. The shades are lovely and the new furniture is perfect. The floors make me smile - they need trim - but they are perfect.

Chicago Style.

While having lunch at a local diner I found a Chicago Style Dog. LOVE THEM!

Happy BlogDay To Me - 4 Years.

March 28th 2006 I started this blog. For the loyal readers - thanks for sticking with me. For the infrequent stopper byes or lurkers ... thanks for reading as well.

As a thanks - here is a photo of the cats exploring the new back area of the rental.

You Know You Live In A Small Town When ...

I went to the local hardware store and was irritated to see that someone had written on the little bag that I put my screws into. Turns out there are two names written on the bag and they say Hunter Ty .... which just happens to be my nephews names. Awww. Not irritated on the writing once I read it.

Butt Print.

The new sofa in our rental is strange. And while getting ready to sit down on it I noticed my butt print from the previous day. How strange is that?

Fire .... again.

While in ABQ today, near the Target, we smelled fire. We drove around to the side of the building and there was a brush fire. Man I'm tired of smelling smoke and seeing flames.

Spring Time.

The bulbs are coming up. I'm not at home to enjoy the flowers - but as soon as the larger ones come up ... I'm cutting them and keeping them at the rental :)

Exile Day 16.

The house is being gutted currently. It looks very strange that there isn't anything in the house and that the drywall is coming down. But, I'm sure it will be lovely once they start putting it back together. I think tomorrow they will go over the rest of the walls that need to come down.

Exile Day 13.

We move into our rental on Tuesday. Until then we are living with a friend and trying to keep the cats sane in a one bedroom area (which isn't easy with 3 cats). Moab and Methow are starting to get more and more use to the small space and seem to be dealing better - but hopefully with the move things will be even better. Maybe I'll be able to sleep through the night?

Santa Fe Bead Show.

This weekend is the Santa Fe bead show. It is a pretty overwhelming event. There are so many booths that you really have a hard time seeing straight after a while. I went with Karin and Dana and spent way too much money. But, I ended up with a lot of lovely charms that easily slip onto necklaces and can me mixed and matched. Just love them!

New Shoes.

I decided to order new clogs this past week. I've been thinking about it for a while. My Dansko's are falling apart and look terrible. I found this site where they hand paint the clogs. A couple cool things. First off my clogs are amazing. They really did a nice job. But you can get costume paint jobs done. How cool is that? Also, if you reference me when you order - after 7 friends do that I can get a free pair of clogs ... now that is pretty sweet as well.

The paint is sealed so that you don't have to worry about it coming off. What do you think? Need some custom clogs?

Exile Day 5.

I know that most of you have been out there wondering what in the world is going on. I figured I could take a bit of time this morning and get you up to speed. Our house is not a total loss. I've posted some new photos now that we are allowed to go into the room that caught fire. The insurance showed up the day after and the investigator was there 2 days after. Our house is now empty of stuff and I think next week they will work on pulling out all the burnt and destroyed stuff and then begin the plans for a re-build.

The investigator found that it wasn't the aluminum wiring but a faulty outlet. The outlet went and started sparking - it caught a mattress on fire. It burned all day and our house was sealed up really tight. Which meant that there was a lot of smoke and ash, but mostly it was contained in one room. This was a picture that was taken off the wall down the hall from the fire.


Inside the room there was nothing left of the mattress or bed (other than what you saw in the previous post). Here you can see Methow's favorite toys and the carpet.


This was a poster as you walked into the room and the door. The investigator said that the fire was extremely hot. It melted plastic in the room, bubbled up paint and was probably over 400 degrees in the rooms next door to where it was burning.


This is the wall that had the faulty outlet. You can see the outline of the bed frame on the wall. This room will have to be gutted. Almost all the furniture in the house can not be saved. Most of the electronics can't be saved. All the flooring, molding and insulation can't be saved. This next week I think we'll be getting the full update of what can't be saved and then what our budget is to re-build.

We are currently staying at a friends house - but all three cats are stuffed in one room. The insurance company is looking into a rental for us (of course having a heck of a time finding one for a short period of time). They aren't sure on how long everything will take. Could be as fast as 2 months or 6. We are sort of living by the seat of our pants here. Being exiled from your home makes you really appreciate everything. We miss the small things. And I think it will be a long time before either of us can stomach the taste or smell of smoke.

I'll write more later. But an outlet in the house caught our spare bedroom bed on fire. The room is gone and the house is non-livable. The cats made it out okay and neither of us was home at the time.

Who's Got Crab Legs?

Mike and I decided to make crab ravioli this weekend. We bought all the stuffing and started the dough.



The stuffing was fresh basil, Gorgonzola, Parmesan and crab meat.


Here is my first ravioli.


Dinner ended up looking like this. Mike made a fantastic appetizer. And the pasta - well amazing.


We have decided to make more homemade pasta - super fast easy and more delicious than dried pasta. The recipe was super simple. 3/4 cup of flour to 1 egg (this makes one serving of pasta). You add a pinch of salt and 1 tablespoon of water slowly as needed to make the pasta moist and not too dry or sticky. Once you have this you wrap it in plastic wrap and put it into the fridge for 30 minutes. You can roll it out and make regular pasta - you can make ravioli or tortellinis with it. DELICIOUS!

March Means Spring!

While walking through the front yard this afternoon I noticed spring is on its way. Bulbs are popping up and there is a certain warmth in the air.