Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Another must-read blog for the end of 2011

I hope that the picture that accompanies this week's must-read blog post makes you hungry.  And thirsty.  Brad and I went Christmas shopping last week (minus Willa, thank god.  She is going through a phase of being a HORRIBLE shopping buddy) but we got distracted midway through by a new sushi place in downtown Lincoln.  Brad ordered a volcano something-or-other, and mine was a southwestern what-not that was COVERED in cilantro.  Wow, yum.  With a side of edamame and a tasty cabernet/Japanese beer. Perfect shopping meal.  And conveniently, Dozo is located right smack across the street from the offices of Purely Maid.  And they have happy hour.  Twice a day on weekends.  Tosha, how have we not been there together yet???  Sushi with my cleaning buddy is going on the 2012 goal list.  So is reforming my child's poor shopping behaviors.  I'm not even kidding, she sprinted out of a store holding multiple pairs of low-rise men's boxer briefs.  Laughing the whole time.  Not ok.  I should have let the store press charges, just to teach her an early lesson.

Onto the blog...http://www.peopleiwanttopunchinthethroat.blogspot.com/ is hilarious.  Aaaand, has a web address that is even longer and more complicated than mine.  I was turned onto this blog at the time she was writing about her experiences with the Elf on the Shelf fiasco.  Then I spent an absurd amount of time reading her older posts. Love it!  Add it to the blog roll.

Monday, December 26, 2011

Recommended Shopping

Don't these puppies look good with a few of my other Christmas decorations??



I was finally able to shop a bit with my mom a few days back and we went to a store that she has been telling me about for a few weeks.  Its called Cool and Collected and it is located near 13th and Hwy 2.  If you have any interest in anything vintage, antique, retro, used, just plain awesome...you should really check it out.  I only took pictures of a few of the things that I loved.  I took the ornaments home with me, as well as the letter V.  Its not very often that a lady can find a bright yellow letter V!  I was really thinking that the yellow dresser would look absolutely perfect in a nursery, maybe painted a different color, its kind of a rough shade of yellow for such a big piece of furniture.  Painting/refinishing furniture makes me nervous as heck but its something I'd like to master someday.  And those chairs???  Recovered?  Ugh.  I think the owner of this store is gonna have to get used to my face.  Poor guy.

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Ugly Sweater Love




A few weekends ago, we were invited to an Ugly Sweater party at the home of the Ellis's.  Enough time has passed that I feel I can safely talk about the party without my hangover returning, however my memory of the evening is poor.  Mostly due to the amount of alcohol consumed, but also the passing of time and the age of my brain.  I know that the night involved jello shots and Apples to Apples.  Picture taking with Tosha and Jared.  Learning killer taekwando moves from Xander.  Dominoes and math.  I think this is where I get fuzzy.  Math has always confused me, but about the time the math started, Reggie brought out a diaper bag filled with bottles of tasty liquor and Tosha and I started playing the 7 Second game again that we invented a few years back at a tailgate.  Do we ever learn???  Apparently not.  Such a fun night.  Looking forward to more nights with these friends, maybe with a few less jello shots and less diaper bag fun:)

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Merry Christmas, friends!!


Hope everyone is having a fantastic holiday season!!  We have lots of plans for the next few days.  Christmas Eve with my family at my parents' house, Christmas day at home, Christmas evening with Brad's family in Grand Island and then a few holiday parties over the next few days.  Thank goodness for a few days off!  And then...2012!!  Lots of big plans for the coming year.  Maybe my next round of night shifts will include a 2012 goal setting post.  And/or a holiday letter of sorts.
I'm so excited for Christmas Eve church service, gift-giving, cookie baking, and lounging in pjs.  Then maybe some wine or whiskey drinking?  Don't want this thing to get toooo PG.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Because people want to buy me stuff

for inspiration



because I don't have a matching set of coffee mugs. 
and these will look so cheerful on my future open shelving.
time to face the facts.  i drink a lot of whiskey.

practical boots.


for living in nebraska.


Marlow hobo
its on sale


because its pretty cute.

All the really cool bloggers are making wish lists this time of year so I thought I'd make one too!  These are just a few things that popped into my head.  I am also in need of new kitchen spatulas, big rubbermaid bins, a new laptop, a print by Thomas Campbell,

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

A Highly Inappropriate Must Read Blog


You just never know what your little tyke will find while shopping for fake, white Christmas trees at WalMart.  And yes, Willa does know how to find my phone, unlock the screen, open Angry Birds, and then shoot all the birds backwards so that the pigs will laugh.  Then sometimes she accidentally calls people.  Sorry about that, friends whose last names start with A and my Accountant.

I've got a new blog to follow, courtesy of my night shift coworker, Kelli.  I'm warning you right now, the language is foul and pretty much every single thing about it is completely sick and wrong.  I have a very juvenile sense of humor.  Please don't be angry at me if you are offended.  But please do let me know if you read it and laugh.  And don't worry, its all text (there are no inappropriate photos or anything.) 

Monday, December 12, 2011

Margaritas with my senoritas


Mom, Willa and I had the best time the other night at El Toro.  Willa is such a ham!  She *may* have had a small, teeny, tiny taste of mom's strawberry margarita while chewing on her straw and I think it was just enough to make her loco.  We laughed till there were tears in our eyes!  Then on the drive home, she found a cookie that she had put in her cup holder a few days before and she said "OMG.  Where'd this cookie come from?"  Where does she get this stuff???  And speaking of Willa saying stuff, today on the way home from Grandma and Grandpa's, she asked me "Where do babies come from?"  I wasn't sure I heard that correctly so I asked her to repeat herself.  "Where do babies come from?  And tiny, tiny puppies?"  She's 2, people!  2!  I thought that was a question more for like, 5 year olds!  Or kids whose mom's are pregnant.  Not 2 year olds!  She wasn't quite satisfied with my lame-o answer about how they grow in mom's tummy because its just a good place to grow.  When I asked her why she was asking about babies, she said something about Beethoven.  I might have to watch that movie...

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Sledding in the yard




It finally snowed!  I feel like the weather has been so strange this fall and winter and the first snow seemed really late.  It also provided yet another reason for us to love our new home.  So much room for sledding!  Last winter, Willa didn't even want snow to touch her boots but this year, she didn't want to go back inside.  Like, REALLY didn't want to. 
What happens to us in the years between being a child and being an adult that makes us lose the joy that we used to find in cold weather and snow?  When I was young, one of my favorite things was digging and tunneling in the snow.  Now, I just think that cold and snow are obnoxious.  Unless Willa is in the snow, and giggling:)

Saturday, December 10, 2011

I was warned that this would happen



Over the past week or so, we have slooooowly been putting up some Christmas decorations.  We bought a new artificial (duh) tree at (gasp) WalMart because of a show I saw on HGTV.  It is, of course, a much (much, much, much) cheaper version of the HGTV tree, but it works for us.  I wish I could find a clip from that show to share, because what they did with that house, and that tree, was awesome.  Anyway, we had just started to put a few things on the tree, including some turquoise bulbs that were brand new from Hobby Lobby, when Stickers suddenly decided to take an interest in the tree.  First, he just batted one of the lower bulbs from the branch and was playing with it on the floor.  Which was cute, until it shattered.  Bad Stickers.  Next thing we know, he is UP IN THE TREE.  Like, all the way.  Well, you can see.  And he was just sort of punching the bulbs from the tree with his tiny paws.  And they were shattering.  But for some reason, we didn't put a stop to it.  It was way too funny.  Willa was hysterical.  Brad was making a video.  I was taking pictures.  Very bad Stickers.  He will never learn, if all we do is laugh at him. 

Counter Envy


Image from YoungHouseLove

People are always wondering, and asking me, what my ideal coutertop looks like.  Oh wait, no...no one cares.  Its just that I think about my ideal countertops a lot.  There they are!  Big 'ole, thick, heavy Corian.  White.  Fabulous.  I do wonder why they didn't go all out and get the seamless Corian sink?  Those are a cleaning ladies' dream.

Someday, Allison.  Someday.

Saturday, December 3, 2011

The Chocolate Bar

Willa, Panton at Silo.  We were diggin' the way her coat matched the chair.

Best. Latte. Ever.


Aunt Joy and Willa. Self portrait.
We went to Grand Island for Thanksgiving with the Van Boening's last weekend.  Always enjoyable.  This post, however, is going to be a straight up RAVE about the Chocolate Bar.  We stopped by after a visit to Silo (so Brad could get new shoes.  I swear that guy gets new shoes more often than I do. In the words of Willa "That not fair.")  We were there during non-operational hours, and they have only been open for about a week, so we got to see some things in-progress.  But MAN, that place is going to be cool!  I am so excited for those who live in Grand Island to get to go there, and for myself, as I'm going to find more excuses to go there:)  My brother-in-law, Brant, did their website and logo/print work and sister-in-law Joy will manage the coffee bar portion of the Bar.  Joy made us a soy gingerbread latte while we were taking a tour and it was heaven in my mouth.  No kiddin, she is good.  We also got to sample one of the new martinis that the owner was experimenting with.  Ohmygosh. 
If you live in Grand Island, go!  If you live in Lincoln, call me and lets make a date for a road trip!

Friday, December 2, 2011

A Must-Read Blog (yeah, another one)



These pictures don't have a single thing to do with my latest Must-Read-Blog, but I liked them.  So here they are.  We had just gotten home with some groceries and we remembered (via Pinterest) that chocolate chips fit really well right into the opening of raspberries.  Yes, we ate the entire container of raspberries, but we did use SOME self control and didn't eat that whole bowl of chocolate chips.  I swear we didn't. 

Anywho...I don't think I've shared this blog yet, but its latest post has generated A LOT of conversation/controversy/support so I thought now would be a great time to introduce you to FitMamaTraining and her blog.  Erin was a coworker of mine at the hospital several years ago and she is an amazing person.  She has built a business around the fact that she has altered her lifestyle and made some huge changes in her health and fitness levels since becoming a mother.  Very inspirational and very honest.  I really look forward to her blog posts.  So...go read about her thoughts on the Victoria's Secret fashion show..then go back and read all the rest of them.  You won't be sorry you did!

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Baby, its cold outside!

 Willa and I played outside the other day.  It was pretty chilly outside but it just looked so nice that we couldn't stay inside.  We decided to take Stickers with us.  He was supposed to have been an outdoor cat, but I am just still too nervous about pets getting hit by cars to let him be outside unattended.  So, we played a little, we followed Stickers around while he checked things out on the track.  Willa drug him around.  As usual. 
 Then, the neighbor dog decided to join our fun.  Here's the deal with the neighbor dog.  She (I'm pretty sure its a she) is a very pretty, sweet yellow lab who we met very shortly after moving in.  Long before we met her owners.  She was so friendly that we wanted to be able to call her by name, but she had no tag so we decided that WE would call her Sara.  Willa even named one of her stuffed puppies after Sara.  It got to the point that I think we all forgot that her name most likely isn't Sara.  We even introduce her to guests as Sara.  We never remember to ask the neighbors what their dogs' real name is.  So...back to my story.  Sara came.  Stickers was terrified.  He climbed the biggest tree in our yard so super fast and so high that there was no way I could get him down.  I had to convince Sara to go home, which seemed to make her pretty sad.  Then I had to just stand in the cold and wait for Sticks to climb down far enough that I could climb up and get him.  I was a little nervous.  I wish I would have snapped a pic of how high up he was.  We were oh so grateful when he was down and safe and we took him inside and snuggled up with him.  Which I did get a picture of:)

Friday, November 25, 2011

Greenish Black Friday

FOR REAL!  Purely Maid has a website!  We've talked about/wanted one since, oh, probably that first fateful day that we cleaned together at Marcia's house 5+ years ago.  We were like, hey, let's clean a house together, go drink some bloody marys and eat some sour patch kids, and then have a really awesome web site all about it!  Now that we have built our clientele from 1 to over 30, we have a website!  Thanks 110% to my fantastic brother in law, Brant Van Boening.  For now, the website is just featuring our Green Black Friday sale but very, very soon it will have our info and then the business can just go ahead and pour in:)  Because apparently I think we need more than 30 clients?!?  Yes.  Yes we do.  We will start cleaning on Mumphday if we must, even though now that is our day off where we do all sorts of enjoyable activities together and with our families.  You've never heard of Mumphday?  That's because we invented it.  Go invent your own day. 
In my previous post, I mentioned that I was very thankful for this business, my business partner and all of our clients and I really meant it.  As strange as it may seem, some of my best memories of the past few years have come from cleaning or cleaning related situations.  I have also met some really wonderful people, some who clean with us, some who we clean for, and some who have given us lots of help along the way.  And as an extra bonus, I get such a good feeling from cleaning.  I like to leave someone's house and know that it looks so nice and fresh and they are going to come home to that and it will alleviate just a little bit of stress in their lives. 
So, check out our Black Friday sale.  Check back later this week to see the regular website.  Email us.  Call us.  Buy a gift card for someone you care about.  Hire us to clean your house.  Or just come downtown and have a drink with me when I get off work this morning.  It promises to be entertaining, as sleep deprived as I am:)  Go Huskers!

Thursday, November 24, 2011

I am thankful for...(in no particular order)


Happy Thanksgiving, friends!  Isn't Thanksgiving just the best holiday?  I mean, its all about eating and thinking about the positives in life and watching football (or in the case of my family, catching up on Dexter and Homeland).  My poor family has to put up with my wacky work schedule, so I slept till noon and we had a late lunch - which was delicious.  Brother Chris made some mushroom and shallot gravy that I kind of wanted to roll around in like a pig does in mud.  And I got some cupcakes from a coworker who has started a cupcake catering service called Jamicakes that were heavenly.  I believe that Tosha described the cupcakes well when she said that the frosting is better than s.e.x.  Then there was some red wine and some tv and ooops.  I went back to sleep for awhile.  And now I'm back at work!  What a nice day!  I did volunteer to host Thanksgiving next year, since it will be my holiday off so I'm already brainstorming...I do want to take some time now to just make a list of whatever pops into my head of all the things I am thankful for, just to kind of take stock of how great life is.  So:
family (duh). old friends. new friends. having a job. owning a business. my business partner. my health. the health of my loved ones. blogs. iphones. holidays. red wine. sometimes white wine. whiskey. tequila. vodka. sushi. frosting. green tea. curly haired toddlers. facebook. the internet. my home. my yard. stickers and bailey. luther and the memory of luther. my friends' pets. twitter. the bloggess. laughing until there are tears. the upcoming cookie baking day. dinner club. book club. 99% of our cleaning clients. tailgating. houzz.com. babies on their way (NOT mine, don't get any weird ideas). texting. email. mini coopers. anderson cooper. bradley cooper. pandora. comfy boots. slippers. hoodies. marriage. adoption. ikea. mountains. honeycrisp apples. baking. photos. painting. mad men. dee, charlie, dennis, and mac. pedicures. riding bikes. soy lattes. vegan cookbooks. tattoos. parties. beer. red beer. mimosas. bloody marys. clearance racks. pinterest. taking chances. getting haircuts. our church and its people. NOFX. concerts. stool softeners. running. magazines. books. chairs. tulips. lilies. mums. thuggy rap music. the simpsons. barney stinson. etsy. vacations. the smell of coconut. the smell of gasoline. detangling spray. basil. target. meeting friends for coffee. coffee. caffeine.
I'm sure I'm probably forgetting the really obvious ones, but its a good start. a good list to look at when something pops up to make me feel down or frustrated. And I love to look at other people's lists, so lets share!!

Monday, November 14, 2011

Hmmm. My daughter's boyfriend is like 20 years older than her...


A few weeks ago, Willa's best friend/love-of-her-life came to town to visit.  If you'll remember, Darren and Tori moved to Kansas this summer and Willa missed them like crazy!  I'm pretty sure that Brad missed Darren a lot, too.  I mean, he did stop saying 'purt near' after awhile, but it seemed painful for him:)  Naturally, we took our child to the bar to have dinner with her friend.  She was pretty shy at first, as usual.  But after a few drinks (waters) and a quick game of pool, she really loosened up.  And I must say, loosen up she did.  The first picture was taken just a millisecond before she attacked the poor guy with kisses!
We took Willa to Grandma Luth's house before she got too out of control and then proceeded to Sean and Alicia's for some temporary Halloween tattoos, creative shot-tasting, and lots of mechanic talk.  It was a super-fun night and we are very glad that we got to spend time with the Goetz's again!

If you are a vodka fan, and haven't tried whipped cream vodka yet, I HIGHLY recommend it.  Mixed with pretty much anything, or mixed with nothing. 



Sunday, November 13, 2011

Hangin'

 We were finally able to get a few things up on the blindingly bright walls!  I had picked up a pretty big stack of white frames when we were at Ikea, with this very idea in mind.  Man its awesome how cheap frames are there!  I didn't pay more than $4 for any of these frames, and most of them were 2-packs!  I'm such a cheap date:)  I did the whole "make a newspaper shape for each frame and tape them to the wall to plan a layout" thing first.  Then Brad helped me with the nailing.  I also painted those sweet owl guys.  They were originally some rather dated shades of brown and orange, very 60s.  Then in Willa's old bedroom they were kind of a yellow-green color.  Now they are shiny white.  Once the frames were hung, I found stuff to stick in them.  Well, most of them.  The bigger ones still need to be filled. 
I had to grab a close up shot of this guy.  He says "F is for fainting goat."  I have a thing for fainting goats.  I mean, who doesn't???  I have also always wanted to own a print by this chickie, Meghan Stratman of BunnyPirate fame.  So when she had a booth at Craftacular, I picked up this lovely fainting goat.  She has a whole alphabet book filled with little phonetic love-nuggets like this.  Willa might need that book for Christmas.