you gotta love a daybed

What a beautiful fall day this Monday morning has turned into. Much better than the Seattle-like weather we've had for the last two weeks (I say Seattle because that's how I feel Seattle is like minus the humidity of course).

So in our 3rd bedroom, also known as "the yellow room," we have my childhood daybed and our desk/computer/office deal. Yes, the daybed includes a trundle. It was a black metal frame, that I spray painted this bronze color..

And now it looks so much better! I have been on the hunt for better bedding than I have now and I think I have found something that I love. I would just get a white plain quilt.. something like this...


And then these amazing pine cone shams...


Thoughts?

overrated is right

It is true. The rebels are over-rated, but all Ole Miss fans knew that already, let's be honest.

Something that wasn't over-rated was the homemade pizza we made last night while [not]enjoying a Thursday night SEC football game. At my kitchen shower my sweet friends threw me in Oxford last September, I was given recipes in an awesome recipe box. Margie put in a recipe for homemade BBQ chicken pizza, so I used her crust part because again tdud would rather just have a pepperoni pizza than anything fancy.

So I followed her crust steps to get here....



But it took longer [than she said in instructions] for it to form a dough ball. It eventually made something close to a ball. Such great memories of making the dough for rolls at Lenoir Hall dining class sprung into mind to pass the time of waiting for the dough ball to form.

I rolled it out on this pizza pan because our stone was dirty from tdud's cinnamon toast.



I tried to give the Rebels a little spirit through the pepperoni placement on this pizza pie, but that didn't so much work out for us in the end...



It was a very tasty pizza, maybe next time tdud will let me be more adventurous with the topping choices. [very unlikely]



I promise not to be a flaky blogger, but I will post pictures of some house updates soon. Waiting for a few more things before the reveal!

the great spill of September 23

I was in the process of making the 3rd dinner of the week, tdud was being very sweet putting away the dishes from the dishwasher, and BAM. My full drink (that was sitting on the counter by the stove) hits the floor and goes everywhere. Into and all over my purse. (I should have taken photos of this event, but we both just kind of looked at each other and didn't say any words)

Dudley immediately starts getting it up off his precious new hardwood floors, and I run to the purse. I begin wiping out everything and making sure none of it is going to be sticky. Then I see my cute little soft cover moleskine weekly notebook. It seemed to be ruined at first glance. I tried to dry it off, but it wasn't working. Being the girl that I am, I acted all huffy about it and sweet hubs said, "we can get you a new one. I'll go buy you a new one. And if your purse is ruined too we'll buy you a new one." He felt so bad.

I finished up dinner (excellent chicken tortilla soup with sliced avacado on top) as he cleaned up the floor.

Later on, Leslie, J, and I went for our run and tdud was headed to Lowe's for something he needed for a certain project in the works. When he picked me up from the Jerkins abode, we got in the car and he said, "I tried to do something nice for you, but they didn't have the same one. They only had the hard cover one."

That sweet guy.

This reminded me that I don't need to be attached to my earthly possessions. So a little drink got on my planner and the pages are a little wavy on the edges now, it just adds to the character. As I went in my purse this morning and got out my little notebook, it didn't even look that messed up. Now every time I use it I will remember my sweet tdud and that I don't need to be so caught up in my things.

he gave this one a 10

This week I finally organized my weekly dinners by planning the menu for each night this week. We went to the grocery Sunday to get all the necessary ingredients that we didn't already have in the pantry/fridge.

Monday nights I go to BSF (as stated in previous post), so I haven't ever made anything for hubs on those nights. I tried to come up with something that I could make and then leave before it's ready. Quiche. He loves it, so that was the ticket. Leslie and I went on our run, and then I came back and started on the quiche while she made the smoothies for us to take to BSF. The quiche was delish, and he enjoyed it while watching Monday night football.

Last night I tried a new recipe. I want to start cooking more fish items so it doesn't seem like we are always either having a variety of chicken or a variety of something ground turkey. I found a recipe for Tilapia that looked simple and tasty, so I went for it. HE LOVED IT! Said he could eat it every week.

So here it is. Broiled Tilapia Parmesean.

ready in 15 minutes max
(this is for 8 servings, I adjusted it for only 2 fillets)

Broiled Tilapia Parmesan
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup butter, softened
3 tablespoons mayonnaise (we don't have mayo in our house, so I just used a little sour cream)
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon onion powder
1/8 teaspoon celery salt
2 pounds tilapia fillets

Preheat your oven's broiler. Grease a broiling pan or line pan with aluminum foil.

In a small bowl, mix together the Parmesan cheese, butter, mayonnaise and lemon juice. Season with dried basil, pepper, onion powder and celery salt. Mix well and set aside.

Arrange fillets in a single layer on the prepared pan. Broil a few inches from the heat for 2 to 3 minutes. Flip the fillets over and broil for a couple more minutes. Remove the fillets from the oven and cover them with the Parmesan cheese mixture on the top side. Broil for 2 more minutes or until the topping is browned and fish flakes easily with a fork. Be careful not to over cook the fish.



I made couscous and green beans (the only green veggie tdud eats), and our plates were licked clean!

slow week

Dudley let me get Beatles Rockband and it is just awesome. We had a jam session Sat night with the cutest boys (jack and cooper), and then Leslie and Jonathan stayed and we had an even longer jam session. Leslie is the best singer.

It's kind of been a slow week around the Carter household. I started back to BSF on Monday night, which was so exciting. It was great to see the BSF group of friends we have, and I was excited about meeting my new group members/leader. We are studying John this year and it sounds life changing. I'm stoked. If you're interested, and want to just study the Bible come with us! We would love to have you there.

Leslie and I also started our half marathon training, and boy has it been tough this week. The humidity is killing us. As we run, I get the feeling like I won't be able to do it again, but it's just the humidity. It's hard to breathe out there. Maybe if this rain passes soon we will be back in business.

We are heading to Oxford this weekend for the first football game of the season. Hotty Toddy, and go rebs! We haven't been to Oxford since Double Decker, so we have been itching to get back to spend some time in the beautiful little town.

Hopefully soon I'll update something more exciting, like some house things that we've worked on? Eh? What is it that you've been wanting to see about ole Fiesta?

beatle mania... again!

Thank you for some suggestions for a floor mat. I ended up getting one from Bed, Bath, and Beyond, and I like it! I got one of these in a green (not shown online).

Today is going to be a great day. It's Beatle day. I have come to find that the majority of the time I find myself listening to only Beatles. It probably stems back to childhood and I have to give a huge appreciation to my parents for starting me off right in the music department. Dad would educate us on classics, especially the Beatles. Here begins my love for this group. I wish I could have lived during the era of these 4 musicians.


Anyway, Beatles rockband comes out today, as well as the remastered Beatles catalogue for the first time on this day 09.09.09. What a glorious day. Check out Beatle mania!!

time to take a poll

What kind of mat/rug should I get for in front of our sink?

With our new hardwoods in the kitchen, we need to be careful with water and food debris flying from the sink and onto our pretty floors. Our current little mat (that was perfect for the apt) isn't cutting it. It's way to small.

This is the one we have now...

I love it, but not only is it too small, it's seen better days.

Anyone seen a good (cheap) mat for in front of the sink that is big?

PS - How do you like the new look? My huge face seems to be taking over now.

first guest blogger "Macaroni Grill, Credenzas, and Weiner Races..."

Today, I'm having a guest write my blog post. This topic wouldn't be as interesting coming from me, so it will be coming from none other than my sweet hubs. Tdud. This is the funny guy looking somewhat like p-diddy (complements of Aaron Snow):

Sweet guy. I love that photo of him, so I had to share. Without further ado... T.

Macaroni Grill, Credenzas, and Weiner Races….

The search is over. The search, that is, for something to hold our TV (I don't have a photo of old TV stand, wonder why). It's been a long journey filled with excitement and disappointments. But last night we were able to bring it to a happy ending. We went to dinner with the Stephens last night, a favorite pastime of ours. Since the folks at the M.G. are so nice to provide kids in their mid 20's paper table clothes and crayons, we were able to reminisce about the little things we used to do when we were younger. Things like you write the word 'boy' and then connect the lines to turn it into a picture of a boy. Or when you draw three lines above three lines and turn it into this cool looking S thing. Or the one that is inappropriate and we can't talk about it on hootenanny. This is where we found out that the Stephens were (and I'm not sure if I should tell because it might be a secret, so I'll say it in piglatin) nteringeay amaBay niay hetay einerway aceray. It's gonna be great, y'all should come. So then off to this really nice furniture store to look for TV stand. But we left with much more than a TV stand, we got a CREDENZA. So Ryan helped me get it in the house and set up and get everything hooked back up. But what I learned from the whole ordeal, if you buy a credenza on day and glass doors won't stay on, check the springs. Here is what we got.

The last one you can just tell that is actually longer than the TV is wide.

Thanks T. I'm glad you could join us today and tell the tale of the "credenza" search. It was a good time.

If you want to visit Ryan or Laura's blog, you should! You can see photos of said weiner, Bama, on Ryan's blog. He's gotta win the race! Go Bama! That is the only time anyone in the Carter house will say that. At the annual "Running of the Weenies" Dachshund Race.