Meet Elle Woods

We have been trying to find a piece of furniture for Mike's basement office that is both a comfy seat and a decent place to sleep. We would like to have a double bed/loveseat combo. In the meantime, our friend Courtney offered up a very economical (cough, free, cough) loveseat. It has no pull out bed. But it's comfy.

Meet Elle Woods.

Elle came to us from the Sigma Kappa house, hence her name. She had a good steam cleaning before we acquired her. Just sayin'.

Like her namesake, she makes the best of her situation. Look how cute she is tucked away in the corner of Mike's office. Go, Elle, Go! Bend and snap it, gurl!

These Are My Confessions -- Part 4

I confess. I was laying on our hammock of yesterday's post and noticed we had some major weed issues.
I confess. I don't know if this is poison ivy or not.

If this is the bad stuff, we have a serious problem.

I confess. That is the guest room window. We need to do something about this before football season.

These Are My Confessions -- Part 3

Mike should confess this one.

For our 2nd anniversary, which was almost two years ago, I bought Mike a cotton gift in honor of the traditional type of gift given for a 2nd anniversary. The cotton consisted of an Original Pawley's Island cotton hammock.

I confess. No one even removed it from its box until June 2011 ... almost two years later.

Luckily, Mike's parents gave him a stand for the hammock for his birthday this year. And we finally set it up. And we finally get to use it.

I confess. I love it.

It comes in handy when you have to babysit your friend's kid while said friend helps to install a new Mr. and Mrs. Maytag. Four-year-olds can be convinced that this is actually a giant spiderweb created by Spiderman to catch the bad guys in our neighborhood.

These Are My Confessions -- Part 2

Yesterday's post about the new Mr. and Mrs. Maytag has me inspired to confess that I'm horrified by the "Other" side of our basement.

I confess. It's scary. Here's what we're working with.

The water is from when we moved Ancient Maytag.

This is what Mr. and Mrs. Maytag stare at ... there is more in the basement, I just didn't take a picture.

This is the stairway down to the good, bad and ugly parts. Eventually there will be kickplates and a storage closet behind the stairs and accessible from the laundry area. The paint will be stripped and the wood stained. Eventually.

I confess. I hate the "Other" side. But Mr. and Mrs. Maytag inspire me to make it better and this we shall do. Eventually.

These Are My Confessions ... Part 1

I confess. There are some little adjustments to the Bungalow we probably should have covered here and I haven't gotten around to it. Today's adjustment was so huge I had to blog about it immediately.
I confess. We don't usually talk about the "other" side of our basement. There's the adorable room/hallway dad built with a teensy bit of help from the rest of us. But then there is the "other" side. What is to the left of this picture?

I confess. You don't really want to see it.

We inherited a washer/dryer with our Bungalow. It has served us well, but it probably shouldn't take sometimes three cycles to dry a load of clothes. And our laundry probably shouldn't come out of the washer with black marks and holes.  Say hello to the Hotpoint and the Ancient Maytag.

Also say hello to the new 40 gallon hot water tank to the left of good ol Hotpoint that I don't think we ever addressed. The "Other" side is just too ugly to acknowledge ... but yes. We did score a new tank using our home warranty when the 30-year old 30-gallon tank pooped out on us just before having Mike's parents for Easter. It was a lovely transition that involved entertaining a handy man contracted by the warranty company for a few short hours. Nothing to it. And we sleep better knowing the previous 30 year-old-geyser isn't going to erupt at any given time.

Back to Hotpoint and Ancient Maytag ... We were going to wait until the after Thanksgiving sales to shop around for a new guy and gal. But friends of ours bought a new house and were ridding themselves of an extra set they had because they combined households. Queue me jumping up and down in excitment because they wanted to unload 6-year-old Maytags that were barely used. Yes, please.

A lot of sweating, cursing, and tearing up of our kitchen floor and hallway landing later we introduced our "Other" side to Mr. and Mrs. Maytag.

There are so many controls and settings I don't know what to do with myself.

So we borrowed a friend's truck to get these babies from their former owners. Then it took four of us to load them. Then two of us unloaded them. Then two of us and a dog tried to get the Ancient Maytag out of the basement. That was horrific. Thankfully just when I was giving up hope, our friend Jay came and offered a bit more muscle. I gladly played with his son while the men dealt with Ancient Maytag.  When all was said and done, Mr. and Mrs. Maytag were calling out to me. I had to do some laundry.

People, this is when it gets really interesting. I blissfully figured out what setting I wanted and loaded up Mr. Maytag.

THERE ARE TEN TOWELS AND SIX WASHCLOTHES IN THERE! HOLY CRAP! (why did this excite me so much?)

And then I went upstairs. I came back down later to check on our new precious cargo and realized it was no longer running. "Oh no. I broke it" I was heartbroken. I realized I must have crammed too many towels in Mr. Maytag in my ambitious first fling with him. I walked over to him. He wasn't shuddering or shaking like I was accustomed to and he was very quiet. So I opened his lid ... and he was spinning! Good-Glorious-Martha-Stewart, Mr. Maytag was whirring away without a sound or shudder. Could this be real? I gleefully put his top down and admired his silence for a minute. Then the real kicker occurred.

Mr. Maytag is an Energy Star appliance!! In my  haste of snatching up our friends' laundry essentials I didn't even ask or notice this tidbit that was going to be so important to me when we finally purchased a new set. And lo and behold, there it was.

I'm in heaven. If Mike can't find me he should look in the basement where I'll surely be cuddling up next to Mr. Maytag. I'm crushing on him big time right now. (Thank you so much, Tony and Katrina! You have no idea how happy you've made me!)

So you're wondering what happened to Hotpoint and Ancient Maytag, aren't you? They are on their way to scrap metal heaven. Just as soon as Jay's buddy picks them up. In the meantime, they are classin' up the neighborhood.

Now I am inspired to work on the "Other" side a bit more. Mr. and Mrs. Maytag will require a much better residence and I intend to try to give it to them.

The Giving Plate

Last weekend was the 6th Semi Annual BYOBBQ here at the Bungalow. We call it semi-annual because we didn't have the event when we moved to the bungalow in 2009. We did have a house warming party, but it wouldn't be right to count that, would it?

Friends and family were in and out all evening. And we acquired the Giving Plate.

Our friend Tara used it carry a batch of brownies to us. I have to blog about it now, just a short week later, because we're headed to another friend's party -- the 9th Annual Cave Seafood Feast/Happy Birthday Mr. Delicious event-- this evening.

Why would I give away such a lovely gift after having it only a week? Read the plate. It speaks for itself.

Doesn't it make you want to cry? I hope I get it back some day. It's such a nice idea. Of course I have to add my own sweet treats to it for today. Every seafood feast needs some home made whoopie pies with peanut butter cream and chocolate chips right? Here they are, recipe courtesy of The Lady.

Sure, they could be a little thicker and fluffier. But this is my first attempt at baking them. They can only get better (not sure how b/c I sampled one and mmmmmmm -mmmmmm!).

The livin's easy ...

It's Summertime. Yay!

Remember back in December I used a Pier One gift card for some Summertime whimsy ... always looking ahead. I finally cleaned up the front porch a little bit so Mike and I can enjoy our dinner out there when we have the chance. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

My parents and I went to Swan Point, MD last weekend to visit my cousins. They have a beautiful home on the golf course and not far from the laid back Cobb Island. Just because I want you to be as envious as I am, check out this lovely scene from their screened in back porch. Don't you love the table?!

 While there, my mom and I helped Joann pick out  a few hanging pots of flowers for their front porch. I had flower envy. Extreme flower envy. She bought these flowers from her friend who lives on a farm not far from Swan Point. If I thought they would have survived the car ride home with my nephew, I would have purchased some for our porch.

Speaking of nephews, here is the Cutie Patootie hangin' out with cousin Libby on the front porch. Or, as he called her, "that other Erinn."

So I took my flower envy home from Maryland and got to work on our front porch. I picked up some petunias and found my whimsical stars from Pier One.



Then I remembered the pretty hanging candle holder sister-in-law Devon (from More Z's Please fame) gifted me with at Christmas.

But all of this looks so much more inviting on a hot summer night. See?

 Here's Mike taking a brief break from work for a candlelit dinner on the porch.

Also, here's an idea for outdoor candles. Mini citronella oil lamps! These were $1 each at Wal Mart and worked perfectly.

Stop by and have a glass of sweet tea with me sometime!