Recipe Wednesday, On A Thursday

I know I haven't done recipe Wednesday in a while, but I think we kind of got in a rut in this house of always making the same thing because I knew we liked it and it was easy to make.  A lot of times, easy is what I go with.  After a long day of work, the last thing I want to think about is coming home to make a meal.  Granted, we do our shopping the weekend before, so I already know what I am going to make.  But, that doesn't make me desire to cook the meal any greater.  Sadly, I do actually love to cook.  I enjoy it mostly on the weekends when I have lots of time to both cook and clean up.  In case you didn't know, cooking can be a very messy process. 

Tonight's recipe is actually for a Super Bowl food day we are having at work tomorrow.  I checked the list today before leaving work, and it seemed that most people are planning to bring some kind of dessert.  While normally this is the category of food I would be pondering bringing and I really wanted to jump at the chance to use my awesome Green Bay Packers cookie cutters my mom bought me for Christmas, I decided to branch out.  And, before you make some comment about how the Packers aren't in the Super Bowl, the cookies were going to be my silent protest. 

A few years back, I did an internship at a law firm in town.  One of the legal secretary's made some amazing spicy wraps, and I have always wanted to test them out myself.  While I didn't have the exact recipe, I figured it shouldn't be hard to find something. 

Since work is evil and has blocked Pinterest, I'm sure they figured out how many hours they were paying people to sit around on Pinterest, I had to settle for Google.  The conclusion I came to for these wraps, was that everyone has their own spin and it is pretty much do what you want.  I picked one that looked and sounded pretty good, and headed to the grocery store.  Here is the recipe that I used as inspiration : Mexi Dip.  Yes, I know this is for a dip, but I liked the sounds of the ingredients, so I figured I would turn it into a filling for wraps. 

Here is what I came home from the store with:
1 Envelope of Hidden Valley Fiesta Ranch dip mix
2 bags Mexican Shredded Cheese
1 8oz Container of Whipped Cream Cheese
1 8 oz. Container of Sour Cream
1 Can Rotel Tomatoes (Lime and Cilantro)
1 Large Can Chicken
2 Bags Large Tortilla Shells (I used the sun dried tomato and spinach kind that come with 6 shells per bag, when I was done I had 2 of each shell left)

I drained the tomatoes off most of the way, but still left a little bit of juice in the can, and then poured in a mixing bowl.  Make sure you give yourself a big enough bowl to mix everything up really well; mine was getting a little full by the time everything was in there and it was a bit problematic.  Mix all the other ingredients into the bowl; there is no particular order.  For the cheese, I put about half of one bag in the bowl with everything and the rest was used on each tortilla.

Once everything is mixed up well lay a tortilla out and spread some of the mix across the tortilla.  You will have to experiment a little with how much of the spread to put on the tortilla.  You don't want to get too much or it starts coming out the ends and then you just have a mess.  Once the mix is spread out, sprinkle cheese across the top of the spread (you can do as much or as little as you like).  Next, you are ready to roll up your wrap.  Make sure when you are rolling that you get them as tight as you can, it just makes things easier.  Once your wrap is rolled up, cut it into 1-2" sections.  Make sure you use a sharp knife to cut these, or again you will have a mess. 

I used eight total shells and came out with probably 40 or so bites.  No, I didn't count them so I can't give you an exact number.  When you are cutting the wraps into sections, you will notice that you wont be using the ends, which is fine because you can save those for yourself.  Of course, I tested one of the end pieces to make sure I wasn't going to poison my coworkers tomorrow.  I have to say, these are pretty darn tasty!  We will see what everyone thinks tomorrow at work.  The other thing I liked about these is that I can make them up the night before.  Right now, they are sitting in the fridge waiting for me to take tomorrow.

 

There are two layers of wraps in that container... ok now that I count them I might have closer to 50 to 60 wraps

And now I will leave you with a picture of the kiddos playing in the snow yesterday! 

  

The Problem With Pinterest

I love Pinterest as much as the next person, don't get me wrong.  But, I'm telling you right now it has become a serious problem for me. I feel more than a little overwhelmed by the number of things I have pinned and done nothing with.  I have probably accomplished more of my dinner ideas board than any of the others.  My craft board you can forget about, I don't think I have done a single thing off that board and it isn't for lack of thought. 

My main problem with Pinterest is I simply don't have the money to do all the wonderful things I see on there.  At that point you come to that realization, it is just depressing.  My second issue with Pinterest is time.  One could spend so much time pinning, the forget about the doing.  How many people have actually done more than a handful of things they have pinned?  Like I said, other than recipes, I haven't. 

With some of my craft pins, I have gone so far as to think about where I would get the materials to execute the pin.  Last weekend when we were at Home Depot, I was walking by some supplies for a recent pin and thought, "should I get these".... Don't get excited about a possible project post here because I didn't get the supplies.  I know, now you're depressed like I am.  I kind of felt like that was the epitome of laziness at that point.  I was literally standing right next to what I needed for the project and actually had a gift card in hand so I wouldn't have to pay anything for said supplies, and I still didn't get the stuff.  Lame, I know and I really have no valid excuse on that one. 

My other excuse right now is the winter weather is just bringing my down.  I'm having a total lack of motivation.  Remember how I said one of my goals for winter was to create a book with all the tags from flowers we planted this year?  Yeah, that hasn't been started yet.  I take that back, I pinned an idea for it.  I'm sure that counts for something, right?  Perhaps if I commit myself to doing one project a week, I will make some progress on these pins.  There are some things I can accomplish while stuck inside for the colder months.  Don't let me wimp out though and only make a recipe, that doesn't count.  Ok, I'm going to say it counts if it is a dessert recipe because I honestly have a lot of them pinned and have only done maybe one or two of them. 

So, here is my first weeks project.  I'm going to give myself until next Tuesday to accomplish this one.  I have to be honest, until I get to the store this weekend, this one probably isn't going to get done.  But here it is:

Source: my.hgtv.com via Natalie on Pinterest

So here is my shopping list:

Go back to Home Depot with my trusty gift card and pick up the wood dowels (3-4)
Valentines paper (I have to think on this one if I want paper or fabric, not sure)
Felt (or paper, again I haven't made up my mind)

I already have:
Cardboard
Floral tape
Hot glue gun and extra glue sticks
Container to place the finished product in.

There you have it.  Once I have finished this one, I will post a picture, just so you all know I did it.  Once this one is done, I will post my next pinsperation!  Until next time, happy pinning!

How Is January Almost Over?

I can't really believe January is almost over.  I have always been told the older you get, the faster time goes.  I'm really starting to believe that statement.  I have no idea where the last month has gone, and Christmas seems like ages ago now.  January has already been filled with a lot of activity, who knows what the rest of the year is going to bring us. 

We rang in the new year by getting to put a new battery in Andrew's car.  That wasn't a very lovely way to bring in the new year.  Last year, we both had the flu for the new year and this year was a new car battery.  I'm already wondering what 2014 will bring us.  On the flip side, January also brought us Andrew's promotion to full time supervisor at work.  This has been about 9 months in the waiting, and I was starting to wonder if it was ever going to happen.  Patients: not my strong point.  With Andrew's promotion came a switch in shift.  He is now working Sunday through Thursday, but that means we get to eat dinner together now and we get Friday nights together.  I'm still getting used to having him home when I get off work.  In the six years we have been together, I have always had my nights to myself; it is usually when I get my projects done.  Don't get me wrong, I love having someone other than the dogs and the TV to dine with. 

At the same time Andrew was promoted, I got the respiratory flu.  That knocked me on my butt for about a week.  For two days I didn't want to get out of bed; my body hurt so bad.  Finally, I got it together and drug myself into work for a few days.  Mucinex was my saving grace the last couple of weeks.  After having the stomach flu last year and the respiratory flu this year, I think next year I will opt for my flu shot. 

Now that February is almost here, I'm ready for spring.  I'm sick of cold, snow, and being stuck inside.  I'm ready to get outside and take the dogs to the dogpark, play in the yard, for for walks, go to the farmers market, and enjoy all things summer.  I have a serious case of cabin fever currently.  In fact, I'm sitting here looking at my snowman decorations contemplating taking them down this week.  I'm over snow.  If I have more than three Valentines decorations, I would put those out.  Right now, we are in out planning phase for projects this year. 

I think we have decided at some point in the next 1-2 years we will want to purchase a new home, something that gives us a little more space.  We need something with at least one more bedroom, for a future expanding family.  We would also like something with at least one more bathroom.  I would love to have a larger kitchen too.  I have started a wish list.  Once we bought this house and lived in it for a while, my list of must have's in a house adjusted.  Knowing we will want to try and sell in the next couple of years, we need to get busy on some things with our house to give it a better shot at selling.  Our kitchen is probably the one room that needs the most work, and obviously we will need to do something about our art deco wall.  For now, we will have to plan and budget until the warmer temps blow in.

Happy Birthday, Buddy!

Today we celebrated Buddy's 9th birthday.  He reached doggie senior status last year, so now he is another year into his senior years.  We kicked off his birthday a couple of weeks ago by doing the responsible pet parent thing and taking him to the vet for his annual exam.  Actually, now that he is in his senior years, we take him in twice per year to get checked over.  This time, he had some shots to renew including his rabies.  He did great and even sat still for them to take some blood and run a wellness screen on him.  Everything came back great, and he had a clean bill of health.  He still is running around chasing Maya, and doesn't show signs of slowing down.  We have developed some steps for him to get onto the bed.  Right now he goes up the steps to get on the bed, but we are working with him to go down the steps when he wants off the bed.  I don't like him jumping down off the bed, I'm always afraid he is going to land wrong.  But, when he gets really excited he doesn't seem to have time for the stairs. 

To celebrate his birthday, we thought it was only fitting to buy him a treat! We stopped off at the Brown Dog Bakery and got him a birthday cookie! I contemplated buying the mini birthday cake for him, but I thought the cookie was probably best. Of course, he LOVED it! I wanted to get a picture of him with his cookie, but he scarfed it down so fast, he made it a bit difficult.  Don't worry, Maya also got a treat.  She got a peanut butter doggie cookie.  

Here he is licking up what was left of his cookie. 

 

He had the teal cookie.  This is what it looked like before he enjoyed his cookie!

 

 

Buddy enjoying some warm laundry

Out for a car ride

Sporting his sweater and waiting for a treat

 

 

taking a snooze in his kennel.

 

Next month we celebrate Buddy's 1 year adoptaversary and then in June our little turkey Maya turns one!  Our time with Buddy has flown, and we can't imagine life without him.  We love our little guy so much!  Happy Birthday, Buddy!  

A Beef With Bras

I'm going to post this in hopes that someone reading this, or maybe a few people, can relate and commiserate with me. I was discussing this with a friend of mine at work today when she mentioned she had a $10 off card to Victoria's Secret. I told her I probably needed to go there, but couldn't really afford to drop $45 on a bra right now. That's right, for any man reading this just stop complaining right now that a pack of underwear costs $20. You may get four or five pair out of that pack. We get one bra for $45, and check out any woman's bra stash and she probably owns five or more; do the math. Plus, we still have to buy underwear, so we have a double whammy.

Since we are past the days of bra burnings, although some days I wish I could burn mine, it is a forgone conclusion that we women have to wear bras. So, why on earth do these things have to be the most uncomfortable, expensive contraptions we own? Wires, no wires, either way they end up stabbing me. Covered wires, padded underwire, support sides, lace, no lace.... the options are endless. Why when I walk into Victoria's Secret do I feel like I need to be a stinking supermodel to wear these things? Note the layout of the store the next time you are in one. The va va voom bras, stick my ta ta's in your face, increase five cup size bras are in the front of the store. The "normal" bras are in the back. You know the ones that don't come in nine shades of crazy and look like something a normal person might wear. I don't need a bra with eight layers of padding; I need something I can wear without totally revealing what I have on underneath when I am dressed in normal clothing. I know, this is quite the concept for some. Bras are an undergarment. Please for the love people stop wearing black bras with white shirts, it isn't cool. I don’t need to see your lime green bra under your lightly colored dress.

Here is something else that bothers me about bras and the women wearing them. After Andrew and I had been dating for a while and I drug him into VS one time, I asked him about the man take on bras. I asked him if guys hate padded bras. My reason for asking; what guy in his right mind is going to be excited about a woman wearing a padded bra if when she takes it off things drop and are smaller than they first appeared? Is that not a total let down? Andrew just laughed at me.

When I walk into VS, I walk straight to the back of the store while mocking the "fake out" bras, the "let down" bras. If I were a man I think I would be depressed if I was with a woman that I thought had a pretty good set of boobs on her only to have her let those babies loose and find they weren't all I thought they would be. Let me also state for the record that I think boobs in and of themselves are highly overrated. They are flesh, fat, and muscles... woofreakingwho; nothing to write home about, but guys seem to obsess.

Back to my gripe with bras specifically. So I own some VS bras, I'm sure most of them were purchased when they mailed me a $10 off card too. I purchase them one at a time unless I have multiple cards to use, then I might buy more than one. I'm sure I'm a saleswoman's nightmare in that store. I felt bad for the last girl I encountered in there. She was trying her hardest to sell me some crazy extra pushup lace number and was telling me about some deal if I bought multiples. I wanted to look at her and tell her to stop wasting time, I wasn't buying. I went in, they didn't have the size and style I wanted, so I left. Now, I'm dreading the fact that I may have to go back at some point soon. The straps on the bras I have are suddenly starting to slide off my shoulders... not cool. You are probably thinking, "just adjust the strap". I would, except for the lovely fact that these bras are the "Incredible Bra" which have self adjusting straps. Self adjusting my butt, they have been nothing but self sliding the last couple of weeks. Last Saturday night when Andrew and I were in Target, I was all but throwing a fit about my bra straps sliding down. There I was, with nine layers of clothes on because it was cold out, trying to fish around and pull the stupid things back up.

This past summer, I thought I would outsmart Victoria, and buy a bra somewhere else. So I went to Younkers to check out my options. I was amazed that my price options were about the same. Depressed, I picked up a couple I thought looked promising and set out to try them on. Here is another beef. Trying on bras is like trying on shoes. They need to let me wear them for a while before I can decide if I really want to purchase them. I can't tell you in the confines of that little room if that bra is going to hold up to the rigors it has to go through. I can't tell you when I am standing there walking up and down a two foot stretch if after half a day of walking in a pair of shoes they are going to give me a blister. If I knew they would, would I buy them? No, I wouldn't. But, they give you ten seconds to decide if it is going to work or not. At least at Younkers, you don’t have someone knocking on your door every ten seconds to make sure you are alright. I settled that day on a Calvin Klein bra that was on sale. I thought it would work, it felt pretty good in the store, but by the end of the first day I wore it, it was digging into my side. Needless to say, it hasn't seen much action since that day.

Now I'm faced with the inevitable; I'm going to have to buy a new bra. Off I will go to Victoria's Secret, attempting to dodge the walkie clad women working there. Sorry for anyone that has worked there, but you all scare the crap out of me. The whole store is just intimidating to me. First, I have to choke my way through the perfumes that people have sprayed nine million times, then I have to venture through lace and titty under my chin land, once I finally make it back to an area I can breathe in, I have to cross my fingers that I am able to get my bearings before multiple people come up to me and ask me if they can help me. Andrew always tries to calm me down at that point and tell me they are just doing their job; I always tell him they need to suck a little more at their job, because I would prefer they just leave me alone. If I need help, I will ask. Unless I'm standing there with my mouth hanging open or flinging things everywhere, I don’t need help.

After I avoid all that, I will be confronted with the photos of Miranda Kerr in all her loveliness modeling the latest creation. Sorry Miranda, but that bra is never going to look like that on me. I have these things called hips, thighs, fat, and I know you haven't heard of them, but if you would like, I could share.

Sometimes I like to mentally prepare myself before going in to the store, so I do a little pre shopping ongoing. This is what I was doing tonight when I was prompted to write this post. Just venturing over to the website, you will be confronted by all kinds of colorful goodness. My mission: a COMFORTABLE bra in a NORMAL color, no lace, no push up, no bells, no whistles, and no frills.

Here are the options:

 

I dont need my boobs pouring out over my bra, I need a bra I can wear to work.  I married, I have no co-workers to impress, and I think it is tacky for women to be falling out of their tops at work.

 

In addition to the fact that I don't think this girl is 18, I despise that much lace.  It itches, it shows through clothes, and snags on crap.

Again, too much vavavoom

This is just ugly and again has too much lace.  Are we having fun yet?

 

I can't even begin to tell you how ugly I thin this is, and it would look terrible under anything other than a sweater. 

 

There is not enough fabric holding this bra together in the clevage area for me nor enough on the straps.  I dont trust that those thin straps are going to be able to hold everything in place.  

 

Lace- blech

If you look really close at this one, you will see it has a lace trim. Yes, even that much lace is too much. 

** all these photos and more can been seen for your viewing pleasure at http://www.victoriassecret.com/bras


Perhaps at some point in the coming weeks, I will force myself into the store to purchase another bra against my will.  You know I wont be happy about it, and you know it isn't going to be an enjoyable experience for me.  Does anyone else find the whole process as un-enjoyable as I do?  Please tell me someone else out there does?

It's Better If You Don't Ask

As is typical for Sunday mornings in our house, I'm up before everyone else (these are the joys of having a body clock set to getting up five day per week to go to work. I find I can no longer sleep in like I did during my college days; sad, I know. So, I put on my pot of coffee and set out on the internet. There really is no rhyme or reason to my internet surfing, but one thing leads to another and the next thing I know I looking at vacations homes in Florida. Ha, not really but you get the idea.

This morning I made the usual rounds of my email, which as usual was filled with junk. I have gone on a bit of a spree lately where I am unsubscribing from a bunch of email lists. These stupid sales they send me emails about are just too tempting. I have emails from One Kings Lane, Joss & Main, Lands End, Eddie Bauer, Amazon, Ebay... I can't handle all the temptation. After I unsubscribed from a few more email lists, I checked on my facebook to see how many of my friends are still reeling from my beloved Packers loss last night. And no, I don't want to talk about it. Right now, I don't want to think about it. I can't process yet again the fact that I won’t get to see my team in action again until August, and who knows how many of my favorite players they are going to cut by then.

When my facebook loop was complete, I checked out some random open houses (read the title of this post, that should tell you what you need to know). After I decided that to get the home of my dreams with the kind of kitchen I want I'm going to have to drop $300,000 plus, I gave up. As my Grandma used to say, champagne taste on a beer budget. In addition to randomly looking at houses, I routinely plan out full vacations that we won’t take for years. I look up airfare, hotels, the whole nine yards.

So, I stumble over to Amazon to see what things they have on sale that I don't need to spend money on. Especially after spending a cool chunk of change on Buddy at the vet yesterday for his annual vaccines, I'm feeling especially broke until tax return time. Now, here is where the title of this post really comes from. I find myself looking at random baby items, and next thing I know I have created an Amazon list for a baby that Andrew and I have only really talked about in theory. No, we aren't thinking about having a baby any time in the next yearish. If I had to guess, I'm thinking this list creation is stemming from the baby dreams I have been having lately. A few of them have been something like I'm sitting at the doctor’s office for a routine exam blissfully unaware that when the doctor comes in she is going to tell me I'm pregnant. Others I have had, the baby has already arrived. I think I had one where I was in labor, clearly that was more a nightmare than anything else. I didn't even have this many wedding dreams before the wedding. I don't know what is up with these dreams, but if they could kindly remove themselves from my nightly repertoire, I would appreciate it.

So, back to my Amazon list creation. Of course I realize the general basics for a baby, crib, changing table (yes I realize you don't necessarily NEED one), bottles, pacifiers, diapers, stroller, car seat, etc. Many of you have kids, you know how the list goes. Somewhere between strollers and bottles, I had a mini meltdown. How in the name of everything insane can there be this many choices for bottles? Plastic, glass, fifty different kinds of nipples, 4 oz, 8 oz, and queue my meltdown here. I can't even decide some mornings what I want for breakfast let alone what kind of bottle my theory child should use. I don't know how you pregnant ladies out there aren't just sitting in a ball under a table somewhere. I wanted to, and I don't really have to worry about this stuff right now. After a meltdown over these things, I'm thinking I probably shouldn't be held responsible for the life of another human being. Maybe you should ask my doggies what they think of my abilities to take care of them. Hopefully they would tell you I do alright. The other meltdown I have is over the sheer cost of all this baby stuff. Dang kids, mama aint made of money. $200 for a stroller, $150 for a crib, $10 for a crib sheet, another $100 plus for a mattress, it is just getting out of hand at that point, and that isn't even a quarter of the crap you need. So, before I had a total panic attack over all this information, I closed out of Amazon. I don't know how you new moms do it, but I commend you. When the time does come for Andrew and I to expand the family again, I will be coming to all of you for advise, consider this your warning!

 

New Year, Not Another Resolution

Most people make resolutions in the new year quit something that is a bad habit, workout more, travel, etc. I posted a week or so ago about my resolution for the new year, so I thought I would post about something I didn't make a resolution about: weight loss and working out. I can't stick with it, ever, no matter how hard I try and how many lies I tell myself about it. I bargain with myself, offer "rewards" for working out on a regular basis and still nada. I go through spurts where I think now this is going to get to a ridiculous point where I'm not going to be able to climb a flight of stairs without feeling like I'm near death. At 25 years old, I think that is a problem. Every summer at work, we have a health screening and I dread that moment when the male model looks at me and tells me to step on the scale so they can take my weight. I swear all the people they have working for this company we contract out to for the testing must be under 100 lbs, and it has a way of making you feel like crap. Granted, I am never going to be stick skiny, but that doesn't stop me from feeling bad about it. What I really want to say to the dude the next time he tells me to step on the scale is, "can we just act like this is the DOT and I tell you what I want my weight to be and you just smile and nod." I already know what they are going to tell me; I need to exercise on a regular basis. The only exercise I probably get on a regular basis is running from my office screaming "free at last" each night.

Of course, popular culture doesn't do much in the way of boosting ones self esteem either. I try to avoid all things fashion related on Pinterest as once again, it is all stick skinny models. I have news for these people, the clothes missing from the rack at the store when I go there aren't the size 0-4's... what does that tell you about the "normal size" of women?

Now, lets view some of the evidence of my lovely weight fluctuation

Here we are at my high school graduation, so going on about eight years ago. 

 

Here I am below in Panama in May of 2008, so 3 years after the previous picture. By this point, I was working out at Curves on a pretty regular basis. I know not the best picture, but you can tell I have lost some weight through the face.

And here I am in Italy a couple months later, still staying pretty thin. In fact, that was probably the least I have weighed at any point in the last five years. And to think, this was probably after a week of eating nothing but pasta and gelato.

 

And now, a couple years later in 2010 at my college graduation... clearly the weight has shown back up.

 

And our engagement photo from fall of 2010, right before I started to get serious about dropping lbs. for the wedding.  By the time the wedding rolled around, I had to get rid of the jeans I have on in this photo because they were falling off me.  

In June of 2011 at my parents wedding. Only a few months before our wedding, I was kicking the workouts in to high gear.

And our wedding day. What is that? A defined waist? I haven't seen that in a while.

 

 

 

 

And if you wanted a current picture, you are out of luck. Take the first picture from my high school graduation, age it 8 years and there you go.

The total difference in weight there is at most probably fifty pounds. Ok, that is a lot and I know it is hard on my body to put it on and work it off and then have it creep back on again. So, my goal is to drop the weight I did for the wedding, and keep it off. I know what I need to do that, let's see if I can stick to it. I never really change my diet because I don't eat terribly to begin with. I love fruits and veggies, and while I don’t eat them as much in the winter, I devour them in the summer. I do have a lot of carbs in my diet. I love pasta, bread, and potatoes. Sorry South Beach Diet lovers or Atkins people, whichever it is, that try to cut carbs out, it doesn't work for me. If you start taking foods away from me that I love, it isn't going to last. The big thing for me is to watch my snacking, easier said than done. I try to cut my pop intake, also easier said than done, and drink more water. I know some people can't stand the taste of water, I don’t mind it but I certainly don’t crave it, especially in the winter time. So, there you have it ladies and gentlemen (I don’t know if there are any of those that read this), the plan is in place. Now, check back with me in a year and see what is happening. I did get a 25 minute workout in today over lunch at work, so that is progress. 



 

 

 

New Year Means a New Project

There seems to be a pretty common theme with our projects at the house.  They all start with a brilliant idea which leads to a major project.  Case and point, the stairs.  I had the great idea that we should move our master bedroom upstairs, which brought us to the full remodel of the upstairs.  It's too cold upstairs, the stairs prevent us from moving furniture upstairs, so the only solution is to totally renovate the second story.  I'm kidding, I know there are a lot of other solutions. 

This leads me to the project we created for ourselves yesterday.  The problem: Buddy needs steps to get on and off the bed.  Andrew got a new saw for Christmas from my parents, so he can finally create the stairs we want to make for Buddy and Maya.  However, the arrangement we had in the bedroom didn't leave enough space for the stairs and for me to move around.  The solution: rearrange the bedroom.  We started moving things around in the bedroom, and decided there wasn't enough room.  Our second solution was to move the bed upstairs.  So, we took apart the bed, did some measuring, and decided to haul the bed upstairs.  As soon as we got it to the steps, it was clear it wasn't going up.  The space between the stairs and the ceiling in the kitchen wasn't tall enough to allow the box spring to go up.  So, the bed went back downstairs and we came up with an arrangement that will work for now. 

Now comes the destruction part of the day.  I noticed when we moved in that one of the walls in our bedroom wasn't the same texture as the others.  All the walls in our house have texture on them, the wall in our bedroom had a semi smooth texture.  I thought it might be drywall, but I wasn't sure and there was only one way to find out.  There was some weird random trim pieces on the wall, which we discovered were concealing the seams in whatever was covering the wall.  There was a small piece of this wall covering under the window, so we thought we would start with that since it was the easiest to conceal.  When we took it off, we discovered that it was pretty much paneling that someone glued to the wall and painted white.  There was a small crack in the wall, so at that point we decided we needed to know what the paneling was covering.  If there was a gigantic crack in the wall, we needed to know about it.  We took down all the paneling, and as luck would have it there were no major cracks in the wall. 

The only problem with taking the paneling down is that we are left looking at this:

 

We like to think it is some kind of funky art deco thing going on.  Really, it is red paint, which I wish they would have just left on the wall, the swirls are glue, and two layers of the most beautiful wallpaper (kidding).  There was some kind of pink floral wallpaper and a mint green wallpaper.  Our next project is to sand all this down, prime it and paint it.