Pirates Rock!

Thanks Jane for the great site! One of my ancestors was the pirate Jack Rackham (whom Captain Jack Sparrow was loosely based on), so this was cool that my name turned out to be Rackham too! My aunt had the same thing happen. Actually Jane did too. Maybe this site is really dedicated to ol' Jack. Let me know if any of you get Rackham names too!

My pirate name is:

Dirty Jenny Rackham

You're the pirate everyone else wants to throw in the ocean -- not to get rid of you, you understand; just to get rid of the smell. You have the good fortune of having a good name, since Rackham (pronounced RACKem, not rack-ham) is one of the coolest sounding surnames for a pirate. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.
part of the fidius.org network

Introducing...

Our new Honda Ridgeline! Yay!!! We sold the Chevy Blazer we had (time to upgrade before anything went majorly wrong with it) and went with another import. This time from Honda (we have a Toyota Camry we love too).
Long ago (when we first got married) we made a bit of a deal. Aaron really wanted a truck and I told him that when I got a house, he could have a truck. I guess you could say we’re square now. :) It’s a great truck with some really cool features that made it a practical vehicle to buy as well as fun (simply because it’s a truck). It has loads of storage space even inside the cab and can fit 5 people. The truck bed has a trunk (like a car) in it that is actually insulated so you can use it as a cooler! (That sounds like picnic/camping fun!) There is even a drain in the bottom so you can let the water out. Honda is smart I am thinking.

The only downside to the truck is that it is longer and wider than the Blazer, so it’s a bit of a tight squeeze fitting it in the garage! It will fit though, so I guess we can keep it! Here is our own truck (contrary to what you all thought, I did not take that lovely promotional photo above). It’s not the greatest pic (taken in the parking garage at work), but it’ll do until I can get some better ones.

Patriotic Theme

Ok no more construction on the blog for at least 3 1/2 weeks now. I promise. I know I've gone all over on it. I just decided to be patriotic for a bit (since July 4th is steadily approaching). The spring theme totally wasn't working for me, particularly after I learned some fun new header tricks. So I changed it. Here's the result for the next couple of weeks!

Bye Bye Comfy Couch

OK so we bought this couch and chair shortly before getting married. It was the first large purchase we bought together (that I remember) and therefore it holds a special place in our hearts.

We got the the point though where we decided we were ready for something bigger and newer (and not blue since most of you know I am a green person really). I posted the couch on craigslist and in 18 minutes it was sold to a person offering to come pick it up within 2 days and pay cash for it - at the asking price! Also, the asking price was only about $10 less than we paid for it 6 years ago, so we felt like we got a great deal too!

The furniture sold on Monday and they came and got it on Wednesday. They were super happy and kept saying what a great deal it was. They totally would have paid more for it!

The house was empty and sad after the couch and chair left. I think it had the blues (ha ha). We actually pulled our gimpy air mattress down (it deflates quickly) and set it up so we would have something to sit on and fill the room up a bit until we got furniture.
We had been shopping for furniture for awhile and not really found anything we were crazy about that was not uber expensive and that was in stock, so we didn't buy anything. Finally, when we found out Aaron's parents were coming out we decided we would get any of the pieces of our desired sectional that we could and we would wait for the others.

We changed configurations about a zillion times, and when we went to get the 1-2 pieces we could on Wednesday, we found that they had ALL of our pieces in! Hooray! Here is the finished product:

It's microfiber, so it should stay good looking for awhile. I think it will look great once we get the room painted and those pillows recovered (triple eww). Stay tuned to see the finished room when we get it done! (Hopefully soon!)

Paisley Change

Ok apparently the big paisleys took WAY too long to load unless you were on a high speed connection. Let's try the little tiles. Any opinions? Too busy? I may just start over...

What Do You Think?

Um, I totally just scrapbooked my blog. What do you think? Is the paisley too big? I expected it to be smaller. Hmm. I may need to figure out how to tweak that...

Construction

If you couldn't tell, the blog is being changed. I hope to have the cuteness completed soon. I'm feeling a need for summer colors...

Change is Needed

I'm totally over this brown and green background. What should I do next? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Beuller?

Funny Story

First of all, Jordan gave me this awesome recipe (which I guess is Kristin's) for White Chili. She brought some over when I had foot surgery and we loved it, so I decided to make it on Monday. It has cayenne pepper in it, and mine had never been opened. So I screwed off the little cap and tried to pull the plastic sifter thing off, but it wasn't working and it felt like my fingernail was going to break. So I did something super smart. I grabbed the plastic thing with my teeth and pulled. Too bad for me I also grabbed the little paper cover and pulled. Both came off and cayenne pepper poofed up in my mouth and on my arm and shirt!
I quickly brushed off my arm in the sink and rinsed my mouth off/out. Then I brushed my shirt off. My mouth was totally burning! I had to wash it with soap twice before it was mostly gone. I would recommend not doing that. I would recommend the chili though, because it's awesome. Try it.

White Chili

1 lb chicken breast, cubed
1 med onion, chopped
2 15 oz cans of Great Northern White Beans, rinsed and drained
2 14 oz cans of chicken broth
1 4 oz can of chopped green chilis
1 t. salt
1/4 t. cayenne pepper
1/2 c. whipping cream
1 1/2 t. garlic powder
1 T. oil
1 t. cumin
1 t. oregano
1/2 t. pepper
1 c. sour cream

Saute chicken in oil, onion and garlic. Add beans, broth, chilis, and seasonings. Bring to a boil. Simmer uncovered for 30 mins. Stir in creams. Warm through. Enjoy.

Life According to Jane

Take the Quiz here!

The other time I took it I got Elinor Dashwood. Hmm. I guess I am multiple Jane Austen characters! Who are you?

A Pirate's life for Me?

Sorry guys. I'm sure you're sick of these, but I get a little kick out of them. It's kind of fun to see what they say! Thanks Jenene for the tip on this one!

Which Pirate are you most like? Your Result: You Are Most Like Elizabeth Swann!! You are daring and independent. You hate being restricted and are likely to get in some trouble for your freespirited acts. And yet you still have that civil, proper side of you. People look to you for a great idea.
You Are Most Like Barbossa!!
You Are Most Like Will Turner!!
You Are Most Like Jack Sparrow!!
Which Pirate are you most like?

Curious George

YAY!!!!! The search is over! I am finally the proud owner of the best animated movie I've seen in years! For anyone that hasn't seen Curious George with Will Ferrell, Drew Barrymore, and Dick Van Dyke, you're really missing out. Go get it! I love it! Oh, but beware - Walmart is out, but Best Buy has it for $10! YAY!!!! Georgie is my new favorite!

Cinco de Mayo

I know it's over, but I hadn't gotten around to posting until now. On Saturday we had a little Cinco de Mayo party at our house. This was our first time celebrating a Mexican holiday, and it was loads of fun! We even had a piñata. His name was Churro (because he was a burro filled with chocolate). He was very happy before the party. See how bold and pretty his colors are? Afterward he was less excited, probably because he got decapitated and had 1 leg whacked off (by yours truly).

We had a bunch of friends over and they all brought something to go with our taco/burrito bar. We had loads of food and fun (even though it was a tad chilly out!). We are so glad almost everyone could come. For those of you that couldn’t – we missed you!

When You're Not Looking...

Life lessons # 57 – If you’re toddler is having “one of those days” and you think you can leave him alone while you take a shower, expect him to do something while you’re away. :)

Explanation – Yesterday at work my cell phone rang and when I picked it up, I saw it was friend Jordan. I picked it up and said, “Hi!” I heard nothing for a minute, so I said, “Hello?” Then I heard a child’s voice. No specific words, just talking.
I said, “Gavin?”
“Yeah?”
“What are you doing?”
“Um…”
“What are you doing?!” (in the background - Jordan)
“I’m talking to someone.”
Click.

I was cracking up at this point, so I called Jordan back, and after it rang a few times, I heard the buttons being pushed on the phone.
“Gavin?”
“What?”
“Can you take the phone to your mom?”
Click.

Keep in mind I’m rolling around by this time, still at work. :)
A few minutes later Jordan called me back saying, “Did you just have a conversation with my 3 year old?!” Honestly it was the highlight of my day. Cracked me up. Aaron put it best when I relayed this story to him: “That kid’s too smart for his own good.”

Jordan, I love you. And Gavin. Thanks for the laugh!

Fun Quizzes

Couldn't resist. These are too fun. Thanks for pointing me to them Janey!

What Greek God or Goddess Are You Your Result: Hera Hera - The Greek goddess Hera was a powerful queen long before her marriage to Zeus, the mighty king of the Olympian gods. She ruled over the heavens and the earth and was responsible for every aspect of the environment, including the seasons and the weather.
Tara
Zeus
Athena
Dionysus
Aphrodite
Ares
Hades
What Greek God or Goddess Are You Take More Quizzes

We Love Our IT folk...

Where do they get their vast amounts of knowledge?

A Good Day

Ok so Aaron has been on a business trip, and although yesterday wasn't my favorite day ever, it definitely set the scene for a great day today!

I got my hair cut yesterday, and Annie did a great job (anyone in the Denver area that needs a hairstylist, she’s great! It’s bouncy and light and I love it today. Pics will follow, I promise. ;) I also got to watch the new Curious George movie – it was darling! I’m a huge Curious George fan anyway, but it was so cute! Seriously, who wouldn’t want a monkey like this?

Today I drove into work around 10:00 am, so I didn’t have to deal with hardly any traffic and it was almost 70°! I had the windows down, the radio on, etc. I was so excited! I also was wearing cute green capris and a white t-shirt because it was so beautiful! What’s not to be happy about today?

Wait, I can answer that. My little sister informed me she got in a car accident last night (she’s ok) when she hit a 5 ½ ft long pig last night on her way home. Messy. She’s shaken up and bruised, but otherwise ok.

So all in all, a good day right? The only sad thing about my capris is that they are too big (I bought them last summer when I was about 20 lbs heavier.). So it’s sad they don’t fit, but I guess I get to go buy new ones now! My it’s a good day. :)

We be Gardners

We are excited because we are finally getting a chance to GARDEN!!!! We've never had one (since we've never had dirt that we owned) and we are excited to plant all sorts of yummy-ness. We are planting corn, zucchini, cucumbers, peas, carrots, onions, broccoli, spinach, lettuce, peppers, tomatoes, and possibly even beans. It's a lot for our little space, but we're excited to have fresh picked veggies soon! I weeded the garden this weekend, we made rows and everything last night, and tonight we are planting. Loads to do, but fun stuff!

Magnolias

YAY!!!! People my Magnolias are still in the store! We are going to get 2 Saucer Magnolias (the only 2 in any Home Depot in Denver apparently) and we are going to plant them! I LOVE magnolias! They remind me of Mount Vernon! Hooray! Aren't they beautiful?

Working the System

I found a coupon on Spoofee that let you buy one shrub, get one free at Home Depot. That was pretty exciting since we need shrubs and trees in our backyard, so I printed off a couple and decided to see what we could do. A few weeks ago we discovered that Lowes and Home Depot coupons can be used interchangeably (how is it we didn't know this already?) so we decided to work the system and see how many free shrubs we could get.

First we went to Lowes and got 4 Purple Leaf Sand Cherry (on the left) bushes. We are unsure as to how big these get, since the tag says 4 ft, but Home Depot says 8 ft, and http://www.arborday.org/ says 7 ft. I guess we'll see. We paid for 2 of the 4 and went across the street to Home Depot. Here we found 2 Golden Privets (on the right). We paid for 1, used a 10% off Lowes coupon Aaron found online, and got a free bottle of round up (Another coupon we found with the free shrub one).

Then we took our plunder home, lined them up in the garage, and went to the Home Depot near our house. We found that they have a crappy garden center, so we got another free bottle of round up, some root stimulator, and a patio set (with another 10% off Lowes coupon)! All in all, we used 7 coupons (I think that might be a record!).

Today we are going to grab 2 more shrubs if they are still there, so we will use some more coupons and have a great backyard! Plus, I just realized that today is ARBOR DAY and we are going to plant! So go plant a tree everyone! I am and I'm soooo excited!