To TV, With Love

Farewell, dear friend, we bid you adieu.

You've served our family well.

But the time has come, to make a change

So you we must now sell.

But sell we won't, because sell we can't!

You see, you are quite dated.

No one seems to want a T.V.

That is so antiquated.

We hate to put you out on the streets

And we know, that to you, we must seem vain...

We know you've seen that slender gal

that's taken over your Reign.

Let me explain to you dear T.V.

that it's not entirely our fault.

Our eyes are weaker every year

And your captions are so painfully small.

I've been willing to scoot the couch closer!

Willing to meet you half way!

We've done our part to keep you

...To let you live another day!

But T.V. when we saw the new gal,

She was a gift out of the blue.

She was so tall and lovely...

Her picture, so clear and true!

We couldn't turn out heads away!

Her sound was like the Siren's Song!

She's won us over, old friend,

And now to you, we must say, "So long."

So here's to all the good times!

To Bauer, Stabler, and Micheal Scott!

And please know that I'm going to miss your bulging back side...

It reminds me of mine,

A lot.

Goodbye Forever.

Melissa

Dining Room Sources and Info

When I recently posted some pictures of our dining room, I received a lot of questions about sources, paint colors, etc, so I decided to address them here rather than in the comments in case anyone else was interested.

If you're not it's ok.

I'm just trying to be informative.

It's my goal in life.

So here it is...More information that you ever wanted about our dining room.

The dining table is from Scott's Antique Market in Atlanta, GA. I can't remember the vendor's name, but I will find them next time I'm there. They had some amazing deals on big pieces of furniture.

The table and the bench came together.

The chairs came from Sunday School rooms in the church I work at.

I didn't steal them.

I don't steal from churches.

They were trying to get rid of them and I told them I could help them out.

I'm generous like that.

You already know about the "Big A"

The frames on the wall came from Ikea, Micheal's, and Wal-Mart.

Where pictures for these frames will come from is yet to be determined.

My dimmer light switch is from 1978.

I explained how I made my pennant light and where I got my materials in my original dining room post, if you want to go back and check it out.

The upholstered chairs were Nana's and were headed to the dumpster. I saved their lives.
The slipcover fabric is duck cloth from Wal-Mart and I desperately hope that they are still selling it by the time I get around to finishing the other slipcover.

The paint color is "Shaker Beige" by Benjamin Moore.

The trim in every part of the house is "Bright White", also by Benjamin Moore.

I am fiercely loyal to Benjamin Moore...one day I'll tell you all about it.

Several people have asked about our floors, and I'm sorry to say that I don't really know much about them. They are heart of pine and they are very old. I have no idea what type of finish is on them or anything like that. They came with the house and we accept them with their scratches and paint splotches. We are refinishing all the hardwoods upstairs, but we left well-enough alone down here.

Ok, friends that's it.

Please always feel free to ask where something in a post came from...I love to talk sources.

Believe me, if I were at your house, I'd be asking you to spill the beans about your stuff.

mel

Stainless Steel? Yes, Please!

When David and I got married, four and a half years ago, we registered for lovely Non-Stick Calphalon Cookware. During our engagement, I would receive a piece here and there, and I remember opening each one carefully and being so excited about getting to cook with brand new pots and pans.

I really didn't cook much before we got married, so the non-stick pots proved to be perfect for me. I burned A LOT of food, my friends...a lot of food. I loved my Calphalon. It kept me from ruining a many of meals and in turn, I treated it with the utmost care. I used the special rubber utensils. I didn't put it in the dishwasher. I never used an abrasive sponge on its sensitive surfaces. I treated it the way a pot would want to be treated.

But then, four years later, my Calphalon turned on me.
The Teflon started coming off my pots...
And into my food...
Ergo:
I was eating Teflon flakes.
And feeding my husband Teflon flakes.

And now, we've both started having these weird eye spasms.
Do you think that's related?

Not cool.

So for Christmas, I asked for new cookware and look what my parents gave me!

This is my new gorgeous shiny stainless steel cookware. It's Cuisinart's Contour Stainless Steel line.

I love it!

"Contour" because it's all curvy.

All the pots have bulbous bottoms... just like me.

We're kindred spirits.

I'm so excited about cooking with stainless steel.

I feel like a foodie.

(I'm sure that will pass when I use them to cook Hamburger Helper.)

And as if this cookware set wasn't enough, David gave me the crowning jewel to my stainless collection...

Behold...my 5 quart saute [read: frying] pan. It's as heavy as lead and is DOUBLE the size of my former Teflon-tainted pan. 

My man gave me a frying pan.

I couldn't be happier.

Later gators.

Melissa

Christmas Disney

I love Disney World.
I love Christmas.
When Disney and Christmas collided into one magical moment of merriment over Christmas break...well, it nearly did me in.

On the day after Christmas, which also happened to be the coldest day in the history of the Sunshine State, we bundled ourselves up to make a day of it at Disney.

I know I just talked about Disney a little while back, but it's coming at ya again. Holla.

Check us out. Don't hate on my outfit. I can't tell you how cold it was. I had on a lovely fleece headband/ear warmer, a puffy vest, a flannel shirt, a long sleeve t-shirt, a tank top, jeans, tights, wools socks, and gloves.

And I was still freezing.

Upon our arrival, I conned all my peeps in to watching the Christmas parade, even though I know they just wanted to go ride Space Mountain...and it was AMAZING.

My dream is to be a dancer in a Disney parade.

That's what I'm asking Santa for next year.

Speaking of Santa, the Santa Clause at Disney is THE REAL Santa, for sure. If you'd have seen him and heard his booming "Ho Ho Ho!" you'd have no doubt. Trust me.

 

Cute Minnie Mouse and her beau, Mickey, were out and about, wishing everyone a Merry Christmas.

Many Mini Minnie's.

 

 Yikes.

After the parade, we hit the Magic Kingdom hard. We rode all of the rides...Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, Peter Pan, It's a Small World....you name it.

Except the Tea Cups. If my man Dave gets on the Tea Cups, it is not pretty.

David and his family rode all of the roller coasters....Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, the Barnstormer...

I took pictures and snuck off to watch musical shows with all the 5 year old girls while they rode the roller coasters.

Me no likey the coaster.

I'm a chicken.

A scaredy cat.

A cry baby.

...But words will never hurt me.

David on the other hand, loves a good coaster, as you can tell from these other pictures that Sarah (David's sister) snapped with her mo-bile device.

(Thunder Mountain Railroad)*

Dave puts his hands up...

(Space Mountain)*

...Miley Cyrus style.

**Photos courtesy of Sarah Dark and those Disney cameras that take pictures of you on the ride when you are scared, used without permission**

When the sun went down, the temperature dropped to a nearly unbearable low, but all the beautiful Disney Twinkle Lights came on.  YAY! So pretty.

Christmas Lights!

Christmas Parades!

Christmas Fireworks Shows!

Christmas Musicals!

I die.

This whole Christmas season, but particularly on this Disney trip, has been an experiment in photography for me.

Aperture!

Depth of Field!

Shutter speed!

Bokeh!

Sorry, I feel like I'm yelling at you today. I'm overly excited from re-living the magic. Disney does that to me.

Anyway, as I was saying...The Dis' was a great place for me to try out different settings on my camera and to try and get some good night photos. It's harder than it looks. With everything that was nailed down draped in lights, there was plenty of material to practice on. Besides that, with the rest of my crew waiting in line for two hours to ride Space Mountain, I had plenty of time.

Here's Pete's fire breathing dragon, Elliot, in the Electrical Lights Parade. (Did you watch that movie as a child? David has no idea who or what this is. It's a great movie! Sometimes I say Passamaquoddy and he looks at me like I'm crazy. "I'm not crazy, Dave. This dragon in the parade proves it. It's a real thing!")

The castle covered in icicle-y lights.

 Magical.

 

And finally, as if all of the aforementioned Disney magical-ness was not enough, at various points during the night, it started snowing on Main Street.

SNOWING!! Real snow!

 

America! Dreams! Hope! Tomorrow! White Christmas!

I saw children asking their dads if it was really snowing and the dads looking around like, "I have no idea."

I overheard one dad turn to a Disney employee and say, "Is this really happening?" and the Disney worker said casually, without missing a beat, "There's always snow at Christmas in Florida."

Then I cried. The magic is always too much for me.

Cry Baby Mel

The Five Dogs of Christmas

This Christmas, three of David's four siblings and their spouses gathered in Central Florida at the home of their youth. One sister came from South Florida, another from Chicago, and of course, we came down from God's Country.

David's mom bought all of our favorite cereals and drinks. She planned all of her children's favorite meals. She fluffed the pillows in each bedroom and put candy dishes on every table. Sue Anne and Foy Daddy were ready...ready to spend Christmas with their beloved children.

But no one could truly be ready for what was to come.

You see, with each of those lovely children came a furry dog or two.

And because they like to keep things interesting, Sue Anne and Foy Daddy adopted a 1 year old lab puppy from the pound and brought him home on the day that all of their children and granddogs arrived at their house.

And to really top the whole thing off, the pound put a gigantic cone on that clumsy puppy's head.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Five Dogs of Christmas:

Cooper is Sue Anne and Foy Daddy's new pride and joy.

Parker belongs to David's sister Amy and Winston lives in Chicago with David's youngest sister, Sarah.

Jack and Lady are old news.

Because the dogs nearly out numbered the people during our holiday together, we decided to load up all of the critters and take them to a nearby dog beach, which is a secluded stretch of beach where your canines can run wild and free.

Unfortunately, Cooper had to stay home from the dog beach trip because of a little procedure he had done at the pound that rendered him impotent and cone-headed.

Not a super good day for Cooper.

Jack's a dream on a leash. Can't you tell how well trained he is? Mmhmm...I know. We're really proud.

We've taken both of our dogs to another dog beach and we were excited to go back. They both loved it. Jack loves to swim more than anything in the whole world and Lady gets her kicks from chasing other creatures and snooping around, so the beach is really the perfect place to go to make them both so happy.

It was a cold but beautiful day. I couldn't resist taking all of these sunshiney shots, so please just bare with me and all the sun flares...it was too perfect.

We had the beach virtually to ourselves. We spent the afternoon laughing at the dogs and walking along the beach together.

Beachin' it.

Fetch.

 

Good Boy.

Lady (aka Lawrence of Arabia) was busy exploring the sand dunes.

Jack (aka The Flying Nun) spent all of his time in the water.

It was a really fun day.

We took a family picture to commemorate our fur-filled Christmas.

 

Many thanks to Sue Anne and Foy Daddy for opening their home to six extra people and five dirty dogs.

The dogs really added a lot of excitement to the holiday, not to mention a lot of fertilizer to your lawn.

Mel