'Cause I'm the taxman, yeah, I'm the taxman...

Today we had the most fun that we've had in a while.  I did our taxes and Randy filed our important papers.  Yep, we're a regular rip roarin' good time.  It's stuff you have to do when you're an adult, and since we pretend to be adults, it had to be done.  I even helped my brother do his taxes himself for the first time.  Apparently my dad handed him his computer with Turbo Tax loaded on it and walked away.

But that doesn't mean we didn't have an awesome weekend.

Our oven stopped working last week when I was making biscuits from scratch.  I tried to broil them, didn't work.  Bis-bricks, anyone?  The steak I broiled turned out slightly better, or it would have if it had actually been steak and not some type of brisket or other cut of beef.  It was a little dry, and definitely not steak, but it was fine edible.

So as if it's not bad enough that Sugar Whim is on temporary hiatus until we get the test kitchen functioning again, we are trying to eat at home more.  I think we just need to replace the ignitor, which arrived yesterday, so stay tuned and hopefully we won't blow up the house.

I figured out how to broil pizza from here with my pampered chef stone pan that doesn't usually make it out of the box.  But since I don't have a cast iron skillet, it worked great.  I turned it upside-down like they said to do with the cast iron skillet and it was fine.  The pizza was nice and crunchy and bubbly and really yummy.  Not bad for a 10 minute vegetarian dinner on a Friday during lent.  I just used store bought pizza dough, smeared it with garlic, sprinkled on canned organic tomatoes with garlic and basil, and a sprinkle of mozzarella.  I forgot the drizzle of olive oil, but it turned out great.  If we had zucchini it would have been even better.  Randy went to the gym, I did my own thing, and we met up afterwards to go see 21 Jump Street.

We went to the 10:10 showing, but we got there and they had cancelled the 10:10 to add another screen to the 200 other screens playing the Hunger Games.  I'm not entirely sure what the movie is about.  I've heard it's good, I've heard it's ok, I've also heard hundreds of little girls chatting about it at the movie theater while we waited a half hour to be let into the theater for the 10:50 showing of 21 Jump Street.  Flash back to 3 weeks ago when we went to go see the Lorax.  We saw the Artist instead (We liked it, check it out if you haven't, but you can probably wait for the dvd).  Then we went to go see 21 Jump Street last weekend and saw The Lorax (Totally cute, loved it!  Randy thought it was only ok.  I would say to see it in the theater, Randy would say to wait for the dvd.)  Even if we wanted to see the Hunger Games instead of waiting for the later show, we couldn't get a ticket.  The whole night was sold out.  It was the little girl equivalent of the opening night of Star Wars.  Some wore costumes and had their faces painted.  No joke.  Has anyone seen this movie?  Is it worth the hype?  I hear it's like a contemporary version of the Running Man, but made for the pre-teen set.

So 21 Jump Street: 2 very enthusiastic Jodi-and-Randy two thumbs up.  If you're not easily offended, or Randy's mom, you will love this movie.  Hilarious.  And Channing Tatum?  I'm editing my laminated list.

And then we watched our favorite, the Muppets, tonight on dvd.  So all that fun makes the fact that we owe taxes sting just a little bit less.  Happy tax season, everyone!

Chips and Dips

Jodi:  OK, here is our exciting story from the outlets this weekend.

We were at the Gap outlet, which was having great sales, with an extra 30% coupon.  I got a bunch of stuff with the extra 30% off, we got everything for around $150 (and we got quite a bit of stuff for that, score!) I'm feeling pretty triumphant, and I swipe my debit card with glee ...and it's declined.  Which should be impossible, we just got paid the day before, so I asked her to run it again.  She ran it as credit, once again, denied.  At this point I am so embarrassed and I am muttering under my breath, "I just got paid, I know I have money in there, this can't be, this is so weird..." on repeat as I realize that I don't have my credit card on me.  So I turn to Randy, and ask him for his card (Thank the Lord he was there!), but Randy can't hear me because his allergies are bothering him.  So I ask him again for his card.  He kind of shuffles around and I think he's getting his card, and he looks away.  "Randy, I need your card!"  I'm trying to get Randy to hear me without alerting the entire store.  Ashley can tell what's going on and she's by the door.  Randy looks at me, "What?"  "I need your card now!  Mine was declined.  Please just pay."  So Randy pays while I start the cycle again, "I just got paid..."  

I check my balances, I have money.  I try to get a water from the vending machine with my card.  It's declined.  So I call Wells Fargo.  It turns out when I got gas on Tuesday, someone has put a card reader on the gas pump!  It's called "skimming".  You can read more about this practice here.  I didn't even know someone could do such a thing.  So Wells Fargo shut down my account because someone was on a shopping spree in Brooklyn after I bought my gas here in Philadelphia.  Kudos to Wells Fargo for picking up on it quickly and being so nice on the phone.  They are taking care of it, but please, be careful while you are pumping your gas!  Be on the look-out!  They look like regular card readers, but they stick out a little bit more because there is an attachment on them.  If they are inside, there is probably very little you can do, but some are on the actual card reader.  You can pull on it and see if the skimmer comes off, but my link above for consumer reports gives a lot of good info.

I felt unsettled, embarrassed, and a little violated.  Ashley and Randy made me feel better and got me to laugh about it.  Ashley asked me if I wanted to go back to the Gap and show the cashier my bank balance...  which I did sort of want to do, but of course I didn't, and it made me laugh.  

Randy:  I had been planning to hit the Disney Store next time we were at the outlets.  So while we were there with Ashley this past weekend, I bought 14 Chip (from Chip and Dale) stuffed animals.  Why?  Because I want to give them to the children of Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP).  I bought all the Chip stuffed animals at the store.  Why no Dale?  Because they didn't have any.  Why am I doing this?  First, Chip (and Dale) are my favorite Disney characters.  See other posts and the pictures below.  But, I think I have a blessed life.  Ok, I wish my cats were better behaved.  It seems that my biggest problem is that we live in a mess.  We're working on it.  Those kids at CHOP are the real heroes.  If anyone should have a chip on their shoulder, its those kids.  So I bought them Chips.  No, it's no guilt.  Its not to protect my karma (Jodi does that).  Its just because.

Jodi:  Laughter really is the best medicine!  So are a huge armful of soft, smushy plush Disney characters.  I just wanted to bury my face in them and pretend the world was as innocent as those super-soft chipmunks.  I really do believe that if you do something nice for someone, and you truly mean it from your heart and have no ulterior motive, you keep it a secret.  The only reason we are sharing this is because I hope this helps someone to get over this kid of situation quickly, and maybe to inspire.  I believe that even if you experience the negative of human kind, the best way to feel better fast is to do something nice for someone else.  Make the world just a teensy weensy bit better.  Do you agree?  

Matching noses

Yes, we do literally stalk the chipmunks, but contrary to popular belief, there have been no restraining orders yet.

Let's Go Flyers

Randy: If you couldn't tell by the title, I was going to have something to say tonight.  So, Jodi was out galavanting with her girlfriends today, and I stayed home and cleaned.  But while doing laundry and cleaning the downstairs, I watched the Flyers vs. the stupid-Penguins.  There is only one thing I enjoy more about the Flyers beating the stupid-Penguins, that's rubbing it in Jodi's family's stupid-Pittsburgh, faces.  In overtime, having fought back from a 2-0 deficit at the end of the 2nd period, Scotty Hartnell blasted a Danny Briere pass right past stupid-Fleury.  Wait! There's more... Hartnell's goal came with 0.9 seconds left in overtime.  The stupid-Pens ended their winning streak.  Take that!

I can't wait for the playoffs.  Who cares about March Madness when you can watch the best playoffs in all sports... the NHL playoffs?

I bought a shoe caddy at Bed, Bath and Beyond. It hangs from our downstairs closet and I put all my shoes in it.  I had to add my slippers and flip-flops because I don't own 10 pairs of shoes.  I'm not a girl.  I need to donate clothes to charity.  I have too many.

We went to the outlets this weekend. The last time we went, I bought shoes (shut up) and shirts.  This time, I wanted to buy pants.  I need to start dressing (at work) like I belong at work.  I look like I belong at work assuming I work at Pep Boys.

Jodi:  Our trip to the outlets this weekend was eventful.  First, we got to hang out and shop with Ashley, which was fun.  Randy got some pants, yes, but I also found out I was the victim of fraud!  I'll go into detail on that tomorrow.

Randy:  Did I mention that I hate the Penguins?

I cleaned... a little.  Take that space coyote!

The Pinterest Challenge Winter Edition

My friend, Becky, loves red velvet cake.  I've made lots of red velvet cakes before, didn't really get why they were so popular.  Vanilla cake with a little bit of cocoa, not really chocolate, not vanilla, and a ton of red food coloring.  Appetizing, right?  I just didn't get it.  Becky explained the draw of the red velvet cake, the texture.  So last year for her birthday (today, March 15th), I made her a green velvet cake in the shape of a shamrock.  It was dense, it was moist, it was so so yummy, and it completely fell apart and I was too embarrassed to take pictures.  But it was good!  So this year when I saw this on Pinterest, I knew I had to make this cake for Becky's birthday.  Which is well-timed because it is the Pinterest Challenge Winter Edition at Young House Love, Bower Power, The Great Indoors, and Hi Sugarplum!  So here is my meager attempt at the Pinterest challenge that Katie Bower of Bower Power and Sherry Petersik of Young House Love created.


I made the cheesecake first as Lori of Recipe Girl suggested.  I decided to make it pink because even though the cake would be green, I thought Becky deserved a pretty and girly cake.  I baked it in a water bath, like suggested, with boiling water.  Here's a tip that I figured out when I had to put the cake in the oven without scalding myself:  Put it in the oven first, then put the water in the pan.

Then I made the green velvet cake, using my own recipe that I perfected last year.  I halved all the recipes and made a 6" cake instead of a 8 or 9" cake because the cake would be so rich.

It turned out pretty good!   I decorated it with light purple-y pink streamers, shamrocks and 4-leaf clovers.  Please forgive the not-so-great picture.  You could actually read the cake, but here it looks very light.

Becky liked it!

Becky, Linda and I each had a piece after a fabulous birthday dinner that Linda made.  Then after a little while, Linda admitted that she was going to have a second piece after I left, so we broke it out again and each had a second slice.  


Anyone else make anything off of Pinterest lately?

Hangin' Around

Jodi:  Randy and I have been in this house for six years, but we haven't hung up too much stuff.  We've been talking about doing a wall of stuff that makes us happy, so we have amassed quite a bit of stuff.

Randy: A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away from Jodi, I bought an autographed picture of Eddie Vedder from Pearl Jam.  If you don't like Pearl Jam, you suck.  You know when people break up and the chick says, "its not you, its me."  If you don't like Pearl Jam, rest assured, its you.  By the way, it is very hard to find an autographed picture of Eddie Vedder.  Mine is almost 15 years old.

Let's fast forward to last year.  I dragged Jodi to see the Bangles in concert.  Suzanna Hoffs is totally hot.  If you've never seen her in the AllNighter, you need to.  Now, I know that you want to make fun of us for wanting to see the Bangles.  But you're also curious to know if she's still hot.  I ain't telling.  Find out for yourselves, jerkies!  But, at the end of the show, you could get autographed pictures of the band.  So we did. 

Jodi:  She totally is still hot.  Ladies, remember when you first saw that Walk Like an Egyptian video and you totally wanted to be her glancing back and left and right with those smokey eyes?  Yeah, I still want to be her.

Randy:  Next, for Christmas, I bought Jodi an autographed picture of Gavin Rossdale from Bush.  I get it.  He's pretty hot.  To be honest, I thought Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt were the hottest celebrity couple.  After seeing Bush in concert, I now believe its Gavin and Gwen.  Yes, I bought the picture for Jodi.  Why does everyone question that?

In February, I got my annual bonus at work. I wanted to buy something for Jodi, and I had this wall in mind.  I got Jodi an autographed picture of Lady Gaga for her. Raise your paws, little monsters!  While I was at it, I bought an autographed picture of Bruce Springsteen.  Bruce is my all-time favorite.  I've seen him in concert 28 times going on 29 this month.

I got matching frames.  TADA!  Our wall of super awesome rock stars.  Be jealous. BE JEALOUS!

Jodi:  Randy did a great job hanging up our wall of rock stars (with room to add, I mean we can't forget about Scott Weiland) while I hung up a couple other things.

We got this cross in San Antonio last year when we were there for an award that Randy received.  It's got a beautiful painting of the Virgin Mary in the middle.  Poor Mary has been hanging out on the desk in our room for over a year.  Now she has a great view from above this doorway.  I love Mexican/Spanish icons.  It's a soft spot I have, like the San Jose candle we got for Joe Paterno.

...And this sacred heart I got outside of Sedona a couple of years ago.

Looks good in the red bathroom, huh?  Yes that is a jar of test crystals for the cats urine tests for the vet on the second shelf.  It's red.  It matches.  Until we use it, it has to live somewhere!

Now everytime I walk down the stairs to go to work in the morning, I think, "Hi Bruce, Hi Eddie, Hi Gavin, Hi Gaga, Hello Ladies..."  It makes us happy.  It's not the wall of things that make us happy, that will go in the first floor stairway, but now we will have two!

It's too much white, though.  We'll need to find a great color to paint the wall.  Any suggestions?  I'm thinking blue, but we'll probably wait until after we paint the dining room to decide.

Speechless

Jodi:  So I'm a little under the weather...  again.  Yes I know, two colds in two weeks?  Insanity.  Not sure if it is cold or allergies, but I think it might be an allergic reaction to the pollen in my raw honey that I have been putting in my tea all week.  Did you know there was pollen in raw honey?  It sure was a **duh** moment for me.  I have your normal super-market-plastic-bear variety of honey at home, which is what I put in my ginger tea all last week when I was sick.  At work I have this fabulous, creamy, light and wonderful raw star thistle honey from Colorado that I got at Wegmans in the fall.

In the fall when I had that awful cold that lasted two weeks...  See where I'm going with this?  I keep the raw honey at work because it's nice to have a little luxury in your tea at the office.  It didn't occur to me that the same reason people eat raw honey to ward off allergies could actually trigger my awful year-round hayfever.  So is it the honey?  Maybe or maybe not, but that's my story, and I'm sticking to it.  I'm also sticking to my bed today since I feel kind of lousy, but it has been nice to nap and snuggle with the kitties again.  I can't really do much because I lost my voice.

Randy got up early this morning and went to the gym for his long training run, and I slept in because I had to watch one more episode of Freaks and Geeks on DVD last night.  BTW, did anybody watch it when it was on TV?  Because I didn't, but I like Judd Apatow movies and we thought we would give it its day in court.  Not Bridesmaids good, but pretty good.  I'm on the 2nd dvd of the first (and only) season.  Randy fell asleep after disc one ended.  Anyway, I'm getting off track.  I was still blissfully (not really) sleeping at 9am this morning when I heard a loud crash, a scramble, some crying and hissing.  So I did what any good cat mom would do (ha ha) and I ran downstairs screaming so they would scatter and Camille would stop hissing.  But when I got to the bottom of the stairs, Apollo was sitting on the dining room table staring at me, Rocky was under the table watching me warily, Keller was limping quickly out of the kitchen (Keller has a natural limp, he's ok.  He's just special), and Camille literally had the tinkles scared out of her in the corner of the kitchen.  They were all looking at me waving my hands like a crazy person with nothing. coming. out. of. my. mouth.

Anyone without allergies want a half jar of really awesome honey?

Marathon Training

Randy:  I have been quite absent from this blogging thing.  Mostly, its because we haven't cleaned anything for a while.  Hey, wasn't that the point of this?

But I have been in the middle of marathon training.  Am I a runner?  No.  But there is a reason for training.  There are actually 2 reasons.

In January 2010, Jodi and I went to Disney in Orlando for her dad's birthday.  While we were there, the Disney Marathon was going on.  While we were walking thru EPCOT Center, I said, "I could do that." For all the stupid things I say, most people just ignore me.  But Jodi's dad said, "No, you can't."

Randy's Favorite Disney Characters

Ok, I turn in Marty McFly from Back to the Future 2 and 3 when people challenge me. While we were having his birthday dinner, I commented that the laniards that the runners were wearing were the only thing at Disney that you couldn't buy.  And again, my father-in-law said that I couldn't complete this marathon.  I promised him that when I cross the finish line, I will look him right in the face and tell him what he can do.

Dad's 60th Birthday Dinner at the Wilderness Lodge

I started training in 2010. I used to be a hockey player and running for distance is not my speciality. I was doing very well. At the time, I was going to grad school at the University of Southern California. And I started failing a class because the commitment to work, school and training was too much. So I quit work. Just kidding. I decided to stop training until after school. And Jodi's got some pictures somewhere from the graduation party last July.

Randy's Graduation Party from USC.  All the kids sang Happy Birthday.  So cute! 

What's the other reason?  My company made us take a health screening for our insurance.  You take the screening or pay $120.  I took the screening.  And the stupid nurse said (I'll paraphrase) that I'm a fat disgusting slob and a walking chalk-outline.  I weighed 205 lbs and my cholesterol was not good.  She recommended that I take medications.  I told her what she can do with that idea.  Apparently, I'm a jerk sometimes.  I told her that I would fix this.

So... there are 2 paths that have met in December.  I'm training.  I am training hard (and carefully).  I am running, swimming, biking and lifting.  After 9 weeks, I'm down to 190 lbs and getting into bathing suit shape.

Why am I blogging this?  Because on weekends, I wake up early to run long distance.  It was awesome. But then I came home and fell asleep.  I will finish cleaning the dining room this weekend.  Jodi will show pictures later.

I also need to shave.
And I'm taking Jodi to the movies.

Opinions Please!

When we finally got our Christmas stuff put away, we did a deep clean of the living room.  Right now we're avoiding it like the plague for fear of messing it up.

Our living room has big, beautiful windows that heat the house on sunny days.

But other than that, the room is pretty plain.

Yes, we love us some Gaga, PJ and Paula.

We bought the paint for this room, we just haven't gotten around to actually painting it yet.  The color is a creamy off white, like when you are mixing up buttercream and you have the perfect amount of yummy vanilla in it.  If it was shiny and on a car, it would be that pepper white color you see on Mini Coopers.

Of course ours will be matte and on our walls, which adds some warmth, but no oomph, if you know what I mean.

I'm thinking curtains, but I'm not sure what kind.  I don't want to cover up the light coming in through the windows.  I'm also thinking something fun and vibrant.  Maybe introduce a whole new color to wake up the space.

All I know is I want something high and wide, that will just brush the floor like a ballroom dress.  That won't cover up the trim around the windows.  And I'm thinking maybe...  orange?  Or coral?

I'm thinking about hanging them like this:



This can be found here on Cococozy.  Of course this is a lot nicer and more formal than our living room.  This is beautiful, but not very practical for us and the four little monkeys.  But I like how the curtain rods continue from one window to the next visually uniting them.

I'm thinking maybe something this color below?  Or something similar?  Not sure if I want something solid or a pattern.  I'm also loving the trim on the walls.  Then when it's all done, we'll think about art on the walls. Please weigh in!  Comment below.  How would you wake up our living room?