How to double the size of your...kitchen

I know I usually hold off on the nesting and reorganizing until January, when I get all inspired to tackle all that crap. However, this year I got it all finished before Christmas. Partially it was having my mother, sister and her boyfriend, Tim, over for Christmas. Partially, it was the nesting thing kicking in early. Mostly, I was way excited to be finished with the photos from that last big shoot. I mean excited! I was so revved up, I organized shit I had no intention of organizing. It's like when you start organizing the bedroom, and then somehow find that the the closet has exploded out onto the bed. You weren't going to go near the closet, because that's a whole day in itself. But there you are in the closet and the room is still a complete mess. It's usually at that point when you realize neither will get finished, so you just push everything back in the closet and kick the rest under the bed. Well, I ran into that problem where cleaning one thing leads to another, leading to yet another...and I finished it all. Making this little apartment downright pleasant to be in.

I know I talk about moving out of this apartment a lot. I try to keep it off of the bloggy for your sanity, but really I think about it all the time. However, somewhere in mid December I realized we have a lot of little pluses about this place. First, it's easier to stay here and save money for a house. I don't really think it's worth moving unless we can find something for a REALLY great price with a backyard and an extra bedroom. We love our little backyard area with the fire pit and we don't want to loose that. Mario works about three blocks away right now, so he walks to work and come home for lunch. Our landlord is really laid back and lets us do what we need to be happy here. And the best part is this place has been so quiet without those jerk neighbors across the way.

Mars and I have talked about our major problems with this place. Space is the biggest problem. We have a small living room and the tiniest kitchen there ever was made. I feel like a boat kitchen might be a little smaller, but at least it utilizes the space better.

Most of the changes I needed to make happened on accident. I needed something to put the Christmas tree on and decided the coffee table would be perfect. Moved the coffee table up against a wall and out of the middle of the room. All of a sudden, people were walking in saying the room looked bigger. Problem solved. The coffee table is not coming back. Also, putting up Christmas decorations meant moving other things around and finding new places for them. I found places and when I took the Christmas decor down, I couldn't remember what all I have moved. So there. I little extra space in the living room.

The bigger of the problems is the kitchen. Tiny room. Miserable to work in really. Believe it or not, that problem started solving itself when I bought my laptop. Once I got the laptop, I tasted the sweet freedom that was not having to be attached to my desk. I can work any where in the house I feel...and I have. The one place I do not work anymore, is at my desk.

So I talked Mario into taking over my desk. His desk has been in what our landlord generously called the "dining room". Really it's the little space at the end of the kitchen that really can't fit any reasonable sized table. We had a bookshelf in there and Mario's desk. I was able to move the bookshelf into our room and take down his desk. Freeing up a ton of space.

The question was...what do we do with ALL THIS SPACE! We discussed this for a while. I would love a reading nook. I would love a dinner table. I would be happy with it just being a cute little storage area for kitchen stuff. Then it occurred to me...why can't I move the fridge over to that empty area? If I did, it would open up the entire kitchen! Why had I never thought of this. I guess I got sucked into thinking it was a kitchen and dining room just like the landlord said. Well, thinking I was the most brilliant person ever, I told Mario. His reply..."well yeah, Ben next door has his fridge over there and it makes the kitchen way bigger." Are you kidding me? Why have I not known this and why didn't you tell me about this before? Then I wondered...how did Mario know this. So I asked "Have you been in Ben's house?" a little jealous like, because I am a snoop and would love to see how he has the identical apartment set up. Mario says "no, I just look in his door all the time" He must really look a lot to know where his fridge is and how much it opens up the kitchen.

Anyway, once we figured out this was an option, we moved that bitch of a fridge. It was the best decision I have made in a long time. I can't believe how much happier I am! We didn't have the kitchen finished when my family got here on Christmas Eve, but my sister ran in yelling about how big the kitchen looked. The kitchen has literally doubled in size. It wasn't finished but my sister and I were able to both be in the kitchen making our traditional German Bierocks (think empanada) without stomping on each other and getting on each other's nerves.

Since then, I have put in a cute shelf. That shelf allowed me to reorganize the cupboards and free up a ton of space. We also, added some counter space in by buying a portable dishwasher...I'll tell you more about that situation tomorrow.

But do you know what? I really love it here now. I feel like we have space and it's all organized. Which totally enables me to think clearly. We want to stay put and save money up to buy a place next year, but we've totally given this place a new lease on life. Sure there are tons of things that still need to be taken care of...like a new air conditioner Mr landlord...but we're happy with what we have right now.

PS Even better is the garden area outside that the landscapers cleared out and left mostly empty. I'm gonna take it over as my veggie garden. Haven't decided if I should ask the landlord or just take it over. I'll probably run it by the landscapers though just to keep it safe.

I guess I should explain...

my long absence. I know, I know, I promised I was back. I honestly thought I was. Then our internet was turned off.

Let me start off by telling you that paperless billing is great. Nothing makes me crazier than all that bullshit that comes in the mail. It's a waste of paper and a waste of my awesome mail lady's time to carry. However, paperless billing fails you, when the emailed bill goes to the spam folder.

Of course we wondered why we had extra money in our account, but we were just happy to have some extra money coming into the christmas season for once! So just before we left for thanksgiving, we found out why we had extra money. Turns our we didn't pay our cable/internet bill two months because that didn't have a damn paper bill. We were officially offline.

Easy enough fix right? Sure, we paid our bill. Then told them to hook us back up. I can only guess that a LOT of people are not paying their bill, because they asked that we pay $450 to reinstate our internet. Not a deposit, just a payment. Well, we said no way mister internet company. Cable is really not that important to us and we'll just look for another internet company.

Well, between christmas, completely reorganizing our house, and preparing for the tornado that is my family coming for a visit; we totally ignored the internet situation. We didn't forget about it by any means. We jonesed for internet every day that we were without it.(btw, is this how you spell jonesed? Jonesed and Jonesing aren't in the spell check and I feel like this is a basic thing I should know)

Needless to say, we found a new internet provider. Even though we did under protest. Ok I was the only one protesting. I really hate all those hidden charges. Why not just be the one honest company and post what your real prices are. Well, Mario wanted the damn internet back and he found someone reasonable.

So now here we are. Back online and finally blogging again. Believe it or not, I have a lot to tell you about. This is only my lazy Sunday blog explaining I've been MIA because of stupidity.

Another Post!

Yeah twice this week! Other than this little blog post, I've been up to no good. It was so hard not to pull out the laptop and work today. Ok not that hard, cause I didn't. I only turned this bitch on to email out an invoice and post a quick blog.

I just got a request from my client to send them an invoice...my favorite request from a client so far! Just mailed it off and now...now I just wait for the check to arrive.

I did start decorating, started cleaning my desk off, started putting laundry away, and started other things, but haven't really finished anything. I figure that's ok for today. Tomorrow my list of shit to do is out of control. At least I started a bunch of it...to bad I didn't finish any of it.

Some where along the line I decided to it would be very good to send out holiday cards to clients. I might even send a little gift along...ok I might be too cheap for that. This is in addition to making the time to take some photos of Mario and I. I also brought up to my MIL that it might be nice to send a family portrait out to the family with cards...we are going to have time to do this when?

I know all this list making and crazy ideas are coming from having felt so bogged down by all that editing. So much so that I'm going crazy with the freedom to do other things. I'll probably end up over doing it and burning out. In the mean time, I'm in the most nauseatingly euphoric mood. I'm that idiot walking around with that stupid little bounce in my step and singing happy cheerful songs. It's not the Christmas season doing this, it's the end of the seemingly endless job! Goddamn it I'm happy! Now, feel free to take bets on how long this lasts and how long it take reality to hit and I realize all the shit I've volunteered myself for.

I give it a week.

Finally!

I have officially emailed out the last of the photos from that big client I photographed for in October! I am so f'ing happy! I can't believe I have been working on this project 7 days a week! I can finally take more than a few hours a day to myself. I can actually go hang out with friends and not feel guilty! I can actually take a whole day off and do...nothing. Now the question is, how long after I send them the last of the photos before I send out the invoice?...be right back.

I'm so happy that I can actually live my life a little now. I can clean our apartment, get christmas shit ready, and attack my husband. We've both been so busy that we haven't even had time for a little sexy time. The most action I've gotten was the other morning when the cat crawled under the covers and licked my thigh. 5am I started screaming "NO LICKING, NO LICKING, NO LICKING!!!" Mario sat straight up in bed, eyes wide open, staring at me. "Sorry honey, the cat was licking my thigh a little too close the other kitty." He started laughing and then of course rolled back over and went back to sleep...jerk.

Luckily Mario has finally gotten caught up at work also. A few weeks ago he lost a weeks worth of storyboards he worked so hard on for the new show he's on. After working day and night, he's replaced that lost week's worth of storyboards and the work he's supposed to have been working on. So now that he's back on normal hours, that man better be prepared to put out.

Gotta run...I think I heard his car pull up.

Alcoholics

Oh god, I swear I'm back! This time I mean it. The problem is that I am living and breathing these damn photos from the road trip. I am sick to death of looking at them. I have absolutely nothing else going on or I really would be blogging.

I did have a small break from the photos to go up to my family's for Thanksgiving. It was the first Thanksgiving without my aunt, but we still drank our 3 or 4 bottles of champagne in her honor...and then moved on to the hard stuff. I swear I never drink unless my family is involved. And yes it's because of them, they keep sticking the drinks in my hand. Mario and I also learned that we liked Gin and Tonics this Thanksgiving...I'll be thankful for that. Mario drinks even less than I do, yet he had a couple Gin and Tonics while with my family...it only took him three years to figure out it's easier to be drunk with them, then to try to figure them out.

It was a great weekend with lots of domino games and this other ridiculous game my sister brought. We're totally addicted to it. My sister's boyfriend yelled at my mom for not playing by the rules and left the game we were playing. Which in our drunk state was the funniest thing we had seen. He's been around for a few years but still has to learn that my mom will never play by the rules. Although after his outburst, she really tried not to play when it wasn't her turn. She's wasn't always successful of course.

We had prime rib instead of turkey. Then my mom proceeded to cook two after thanksgiving turkeys to make up for no turkey on thanksgiving. Then we hit black Friday for the first time in our family history. Don't worry we didn't jump in head first. We tiptoed in. Got to Old Navy at 10am. Scored some cheap cute clothes, went to lunch, and then hit up beverages and more.

Overall it was another drunk weekend with the family. Came home with some turkey, gin, new games and a super cute sweater. It was an awesome weekend.

Mom, Lindsay and Tim will be down for Christmas with Mario's mom and sister. I always feel so sorry for Mario's family when mom and Lindsay come to town. They're never ever really ready for the drunken tornado that appears when they come to town.

PS for those of you at my wedding, my mother tried denying yet again that she was drunk at my wedding. I allow all of you who were there to laugh your asses off now.

And it continues

I'm still working on these images, but at least I'm feeling like I'm getting shit finished now. I'm getting a stride and am actually getting somewhere. I'm really putting it out there that I'll be finished with all the still images in the next week.

Besides that, my life is ridiculously boring! I've been locked away in the apartment, except for being let out for archery class and some lunch.

Speaking of lunch...the bloggy is being cut short so I can go pick up the hubs from work, which is awesomely only two blocks away, and then we're off to get SUSHI!!! And I'm starving, so see you later suckers!

So Romantic

Last night as Mars and I were laying in bed. We always have the last of our kissing and cuddling before it's decided if we'll have the sexy time or more likely just pass out. We're nose to nose just kissing and I say, "I need a long slow kiss" (yes I have to tell him).

Only there is just a vacant stare from him. And more importantly no long slow kiss.

I'm thinking "asshole, blatantly ignoring the needs of your wife."

However, he then says "And we really need to buy a house".

Now blank stare from me.

Noticing the odd look he says, "Well, lets try to get a house and then we can buy all the long pillow cases you need."

Me "Did you just say Long Pillow Cases?"

Mario "Yeah isn't that what you said you wanted?"

Me "No you gooftard! I wanted a long slow kiss!"

Mario "OOOHHH I thought you said you wanted a long pillow case and I was thinking we already had enough, lets save up for a house first"

There was no chance of the sexy time after that. We couldn't stop laughing. I'll give him some credit, when you say "long slow kiss" and "long pillow case" in your sexy bedroom voice, they sound pretty damn similar.

I think I need to start enunciating in the bedroom a little bit more, we don't need any more misunderstandings in the bedroom.

PS I finally did get my long slow kiss...of course it took a while for us to get over the giggles.

My Life in Images

No, I mean my life is images. I am living, breathing, working images from that three week trip last month. I know I'm getting somewhere with them, but it is some serious slow going work. I really am trying to get a move on, cause I am ready to move on!

The weather is cooling, which makes it a bit easier to wrap up in a blanket with my laptop and work. The weather is also making me want to cook! I made a big lasagna last week as a surprise for Mario...he's been working so hard at his new job. He did a potty/micheal jackson dance when he saw it.

Last night I made an awesome soup. It was a cross between an Italian wedding soup and Chicken noodle. It was a vegetable noodle soup with turkey meatballs. So good! Of course, while we were shopping, I got the makings for another soup. I'll be making a split pea I think...we'll see. I was born to the woman who will throw everything in a pot and call it stoup. Or if it's too thick, she'll call it goulash. We'll see what comes of my second soup of the week.

Today, I'm working on images...still, waiting for a call to pick up my mother in law from the doctor...which will be a nice break from the computer, and the most exciting part of my day? A delivery from Old Navy! Can I say that I can't remember the last time I got any new clothes!? Last week I got a nice shoot, so Mario was nice and said to use it for clothes...woo hoo! So either his job is paying nicely and we're all caught up on bills and such...or...my clothes are looking like shit and he's noticing. That's bad news.

I should have told my mother law that I'm not leaving the house until I get my delivery though. I'm not sure if I told you, but before I left of my trip, I ordered some clothes. I never got them. The UPS site said delivered. I asked all the neighbors if they had seen the delivery or UPS had delivered it to their place. I even asked the neighbor who caught me spying on her in the nude from the safety of my house. No one had seen it and she was nice enough to pretend she hadn't seen me nakie. So there's not a chance I'm leaving before I see that beautiful box of clothes!

Wait...talk to you later...I think I hear a truck pulling out front!

Text Message To Mario

Me: Babe, you didn't tell me we had a new pet! We should call him Harry!

Me: Yes that little bar of soap in the shower has enough man hair on it to be a small animal! Rinse, baby, Rinse!

Mario: hahahahahahah....sorry honey


Yes he was proud of himself and let some of the guys at work see the text message...I went to throw up.

I know I know

I've been back since Sunday and I haven't written on the bloggy yet. Shame on me, but I can't for the life of me GET IT TOGETHER!

Honestly, I'd love to blame it on the fact that I don't have any panties left, but I don't think I can. I read somewhere that when this lady travels, she takes old underwear with her and tosses out her undies as she wears them. Then the old undies are gone, less clothing to bring home, less laundry to do, and the best part...she gets to buy new panties! I thought this was brilliant. So I brought all my panties with me and slowly discarded as I we traveled. Yes I'm quite proud that I left my panties across the US! However, I brought far more than needed and feel like they multiplied in my luggage. So yeah, I can't really say that I have no panties. And since I seem to have a million panties left over, I can't rationalize buying a bunch of new panties. Crappy deal.

So my my real problem is having so much to tell you all and not sure where to start. Also, I've been organizing somewhere around 15,000 photos from the last three weeks. Ridiculous! Add to that a very very needy cat and husband. When I got home I vowed not to leave the house for a week. However, Target and archery class came a calling. Then clients started calling. I'm thankful to be getting work, but really don't they know how many images I still have to edit?

Anyway, No more excuses about writing. I'm back and so happy to be home. The best part of coming back has been the nice peacefulness and space. The first thing I thought when I walked in the door, was how big the apartment felt. For anyone who has been in my tiny minuscule apartment, it's probably the most ridiculous thing you've ever heard. However, I have been living mostly out of my 4Runner. So yeah the apartment is huge!

The peacefulness was just realized today. How it took me four days to realize, I have no idea. I knew it was eerily quiet around here, but I couldn't place it. Then as I was walking out to my car to go to a shoot today, I kept hearing hammering and scraping. The hammering and scraping was coming from an empty apartment across the way. Yes the empty apartment of that jerky neighbor across the way! Those asshole neighbors have finally moved out!!! I didn't think I could have been happier coming home to my husband, cat, bed, and home. Would you believe all the hammering is so much quieter than the dork who lived there yelling to his friends across the street.

Now back to work...I have a shoot tomorrow and have so much to finish before this weekend. I wanted to go to the local art and wine festival, but I just read that it's strictly an art festival. Screw that. If there isn't wine, I'm not going. So now it's just back to work.