New Stove!

*Disclaimer: I know it's been a while so let's all pretend like nothing happened and I just have a lot to share now.  :)

Some of you may recall our kitchen when we bought the place. 

Pretty drab and boring, but also kind of like a blank canvas.  We have since done a lot of work in the kitchen.  We painted the walls (twice) and ceiling and even replaced the lights.  However, we still had our old stove. 

Our old stove was no looker, but more than that, it was terrible to use.  It's really a double oven stove (the big black part up top is the second oven, not a microwave like I first thought) which sounds like it could be a great thing.  I tried to love it, but it burned everything I made in the top oven (aside from tater tots).  Not to mention the door swung out and would burn you if you touched anything other than the itty bitty handle on the bottom.  The stove top was not level and you couldn't really maneuver pots in the back very well because of the second oven.  So with much giddiness I said good bye to the old stove.

 The old sitting next to the new.  What a huge difference.

And finally we have our new stove sitting where the old one used to be.  I don't miss the old one at all.  The wall behind this one definitely needs some paint, but I couldn't very well tell the installers to wait while I busted our brushes and paint. :P  This one cooks way better and made the best cookies I have baked in a long time.  Let's hear it for new working appliances!!

Purses Galore

I recently bought a fabulous purple purse at Shecky's Girls Night Out kind of on a whim.  Meghan and I were wandering around the show and we came to this booth that had all kinds of purses for sale.  We were both drawn to two different purses, but decided to check out the rest of the vendors and come back later.  We figured if they were still there it was a sign we ought to own them.  When we returned to the stall we found both were still there and immediately made the purchases.  As an added bonus, because we were so polite while two really cranky ladies were harassing the vendor as she was ringing us up, she threw in a purse hook for each of us.  Sweet!

I was so thrilled with what I bought, I had to show it off to everyone at work.  I also emailed the guys I used to work with on the flight line for fun.  They have had a history of teasing me over my purse collection and I thought they would want to know there was a latest addition!  Their favorite was my "shinny bucket" which they always told me was really a weapon or some sort of mirror device to check my teeth after lunch or be forewarned of people sneaking up on me.  It also went against the rule of No Fu Fu on the Flight line!  I got numerous emails back with all sorts of comments regarding my taste in purses.  In fact one of them requested a group photo of my purses so they could see the brilliant collection all together.

I happen to like my eclectic collection and each one of them has some sort of story behind them.  The first couple I ever bought were more of less the functional kind.  One black one (in front) and one brown one (back right).  I branched out with a blue one (back right) because it is my favorite color and I thought the purse was cute.  I acquired a few from gifts and beauty purchases and carefully hand picked the rest.  Those particular ones (Shake Your Coconuts - back left, Red clutch - right center, Patchwork - front center, Swirl Cyclone - front right, and the Purple - back center) all were purchased because they made me feel giddy in some way or another.  After some thought, I have decided this is pretty much my main criteria for selecting what I buy.  The only other thing that gets factored in is price, but that weighs in less if I am head over heals in love with one.  So far that hasn't been an issue as I happen to some luck finding great deals.

I hope to expand upon this collection as time goes on with all kinds of fun options for a carryall.  I just received a $30 gift certificate for completing a survey for eBags.com and I am overwhelmed by the choices.  I have found a handful that I would be really happy with, but picking just one is going to be hard.  But it will be unique and it will make me happy!

Cleaning Machines

We are moving up in the world, we have purchased large appliances!!! Our new place came without a washer and dryer, but had room for full size ones to go in. The apartment complex offered to rent them to us for $35 a month, which doesn't sound like a lot, but over 12 months, that adds up. It adds up to $420 in fact, which is enough to purchase a half way decent dryer. So we went and bought our own.

Choosing them was a little tricky as I know virtually nothing about washers and dryers as far as what sets them apart. I know they clean clothes and I also know I do not need to spend $2000 for my clothes to be super, spotless, brand new, fabulous, wonderful. If I had all the money in the world, why not?

So where to turn? I went to consumer reports and just decided to see what they said. I figure they beat up enough of plenty of models to tell me what to stay away from and what to look for. So we purchased their "best buy" in washers and a dryer that rated well too. We had some hiccups (which I won't detail here) with the washer initially, but it's a wonderful piece of machinery now. It even smells nice!!

Let's just say after 3 weeks without a washer and dryer, I couldn't have been happier with our deliveries. It took an additional week to get the dryer, but with a front loader taking out 90% of the water and some drying racks, we still managed clean clothes before we had any real incidents.

If I told my 17 year old self that someday appliances will make you happy, I think I would have replied, "Are you on drugs?", but now I know, and knowing is half the battle. G.I. JOE!

OOOO Shinny!

That's right, I finally got my nice shinny new computer! In fact, I am writing this blog entry with it. :) It's all nice and new and fantastic! I so far have found that I like it a lot. It's a little snug getting it into the bag I have for it, but I am sure that will get easier with time.

So since I have this new beast, there are some things to note about new computers.

1. All your old stuff isn't on them. This can be a plus and a minus at the same time. Plus - Free hard drive space. Minus - Having to load it all up again. Even IM, iTunes, WoW, camera stuff, etc. Kind of a pain.

2. It's actually legal software. Something new for me.

3. It's better than what I had. Also good and bad. Good because I spent the money on it so it better be a step up from what I had, but bad in that I don't want to use that "old" thing anymore. Yuck!

4. It's portable! Well, this is only true if you got a laptop. I can't wait until I get so lazy I can't sit at my desk to work and I have to bring it to bed, and fall asleep with it. It's going to rock!

But all in all, for day one of ownership, I am pretty happy. I found the volume button, figured out how to get the internet to work, and managed to download Firefox. Yay! Now if I can only figure out what triggers the sleep vs. off mode. :P

Not your average 486

I have done it. I have finally done it. I have purchased my first computer. Does this sound a little ridiculous? Probably. I am half-way into my 20s and I have never once purchased an actual computer. I got my first one for my graduation gift from college. My dad had the good sense that I would probably need one of these pieces of technology as I was on my way to higher education. Good man. This came with an 8 Gig hard drive and a legal copy of Windows 98. Pretty fancy.

Sometime later in college I decided to upgrade some components. My dad bought my a large 30 Gig hard drive which at the time I said, how will I ever fill this up. Answer - World of Warcraft, 10 Gigs. I also upgraded a processor, video card, and power supply at various other points in its life. It never had another legal copy of any software on it. Yay college peoples finding the loopholes and this burn disk thing was pretty sweet! Finally once I graduated from college, my computer said the hell with you. It died. But did I think I should buy another? No way! I proceeded to use half a laptop. That's right, half. The screen was missing, but it allowed internet access and the ability to communicate with people. Perfect! I can't recall what the solution here was to actually fix my computer again. I may have just used that laptop until Rob bought his new computer. I inherited his old computer with my hard drive in it. That is what I own today.

For a while now it's been whining at me. "But I don't have enough room, I don't have enough memory." All it seems to do these days is bitch, bitch, bitch. I swear. Well I got this great idea that I was going to officially purchase a new computer. I managed to purchase a 19" widescreen monitor to replace to one that was handed down to me a few months ago, I felt encouraged. But what to buy? I spazzed about this for a few days, which turned to weeks, and now it's been months. Rob finally put it in plain terms, "whatever you get will be infinitely better than what you currently have, buy it already!"

So after months of wondering what to buy, I finally held out until Dell simplified it with, this is your one option, this option is free, and here are all sorts of coupons! You sir, have a deal! I put in all my information, verified it with some people, proceeded to the checkout, and finally hit submit! Shortly after, I received the email with expected delivery date. I get to wait almost a freaken month!!! Let me tell you how anti-climatic that was. Well, since I have been on computers (8 years) what's another month? What a pain. But at least it will be a pretty blue!!