getting to know you...

ronaldo is a big part of this blog.

so here is a little about him:

1. He's sitting in front of the TV, what is on the screen? discovery or history channel

2. You're out to eat - he orders steak and a loaded baked potato with no chives

3. What's one food he doesn't like? seafood - no shrimp, no crab... nothing.

4. You go out and have a drink, what does he order? blue moon with an orange

5. Where did he go to high school? warrensburg

6. What size shoe does he wear? 12 or 13 depending on the brand

8. What is his favorite type of sandwich? probably a normal turkey and cheese

9. What would this person eat every day if he could? hot wings

10. What is his favorite cereal? Special K with strawberries

11. What would he never wear? short sleve button-up

12. What is his favorite sports teams? cubs

13. Who did he vote for? obama

14. Who is his best friend? well me, but besides that jason and randy

15. What is something you do that he wishes you wouldn't do? be lazy, he can't relax that long.

16. What is his heritage? german

17. You bake him a cake for his birthday, what kind of cake? he wouldn't want cake. he would want some sort of fruit pie... blackberry or something.

18. Did he play sports in high school? not at all

19. What could he spend hours doing? riding his harley, float trips, random shit around the house

20. What is one unique talent he has? he can fix almost anything - i break it and he saves it.

now this he might kill me for... a video i took of him dancing one saturday morning.  we had just gotten done cleaning house and he has old school rap playing.  apparently, it got him going.  he thinks i'm trying to snap a photo.  hahaha - it kills me every time.

yes, he moons the camera.

yes, that is dr. dre and snoop dog playing.

and yes, his finale is a somersault.

that's just my man.

soup kitchen

it's definitely soup weather here in kc.

rainy and cold. 

my friend had "the girls" over to her house a couple
weeks ago and made us soup.

a kind that i had never had.

italian soup.

so last night i made it for the hubs.

and i'm still loving it.
plus it's real simple.
one of those things where you dump everything
 in a pot and let it go.

ingredients needed:

2 tbsp italian dressing

1 lb. italian sausage

2 cans fat-free chicken broth

1 can (15 oz) cannelloni beans - rinse and drain

1 can italian style diced tomatoes - undrained

1 cup uncooked elbow macaroni

1 16 oz pkg frozen stir fry (onion & green/yellow peppers)

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

cook sausage in dressing over medium heat. (8-10 mins) add broth, beans, tomatoes and veggies.  bring to a boil.  add macaroni, reduce heat to medium.  cook another 8-10 mins.

serve with cheese sprinkled on top.

it also goes well with a sliced baguette.

mmm mmm good.

(sorry marge, my 7 day food challenge it not going as planned.)

a line

here are two articles circling around facebook.

i read both of them last week.

and it struck me:

is there a line drawn between those with and without children?

i know people extremely happy with both life styles.

and even though every woman is technically on one "side" or the "other," why aren't we just trying to be supportive of every decision?  no matter what your personal choices are.

people without children

vs.

people with children

women with children have families.

women without children have families.

women with children have jobs.

women without children have jobs.

women with children have lives.

women without children have lives.

why don't we just take out the with or without and just be women?

we can decide the we all have it the worst.. and the best.

and besides, we're supposed to be fighting off the men, not each other.

boots with the fur

i heart shoes

and once a season i give a shout out to my faves.

right now i'm

dying to buy any of these:



i think it's time to go shoe shopping!

bye bye mauve

you might remember this picture from when i was showing off my new paint job.

we decided to rip up all the carpet ourselves to save a little $$$, so we had to haul all our furniture to other areas in the basement that aren't getting carpeted.

here is what is now behind those closed doors:

and in a never-before-seen shot of our house - - this is ronnie's shop:

aka- the unfinished part of our basement,

now being used for storage.

the stairs - now sans mauve carpet.

notice that the carpet was laid on top of concrete?

no pad.

the previous owners really skimped on this.

but no worries, it made for less waste and easier for us to pull up.

but ronnie and i will definitely be adding a pad for softness.

my mom and dad came up to help.

(they should be part owners of the house by now with all the free labor they have given us over the years.  i don't think ronnie and i have done one project without gary and linda coming to lend a hand. ah thank you.)

so now we wait...

carpet should be in tomorrow and we're hoping it's laid by next week.

cross your fingers that our carpet guy isn't already busy.

when acorns become pine cones

my acorn wreath dreams were dashed.

it was simply taking too long to come up with all those acorns.

not to mention that i went to hobby lobby and found bags and bags

of pre-found pine cones.

well, that is a lot easier.

so i bought a couple.

and started hot gluing.

ps- it sucked and took me almost three hours.

i wanted to make my wreath a mustard yellow to go with the season.

here's a tip:

for more paint colors go to the model airplane aisle.

they had more options than the normal spray paint aisle...

(i wouldn't have found it if ronnie hadn't been

hiding out there while i shopped.)

but when i painted it, it turned out to be more gold - which really doesn't bother me except that it's really hard to get in all the crevices of a pine cone, so a lot of it is still brown.

i'm considering going to buy another can of spray paint and trying to cover it more - or it just might leave it.

i can't tell if i like it or not...

the story of us

ronnie and i have known each other for a long time.

a friend of mine had a crush on him in high school.

he was 20 and we were 16.

later, we would attend some of the same parties.

and while in college he would date one of my close friends.

later, when i was a junior in college a friend of mine invited me to a travis tritt concert in kansas city.

i drove in from springfield to go.

she had an extra ticket and invited ronnie.

so while travis tritt sang, ronnie and i flirted.

we kissed that night. 

our first.

september, 2004.

we talked on the phone for a couple months after, but with me two hours away, it didn't work.

several months later i was back home in warrensburg for the weekend and we saw each other out.

we started talking again.

and once again, with me in springfield and him in warrensburg, he stopped calling.

bastard.

i was now in my master's program a few months into the fall semester.

one night, i got an out of the blue phone call.

it was ronnie.

calling to apologize for not calling.

i found out later that he had been out that night and was dancing with some girl and he said he wished it was me.  he just stopped and left all his friends and went home.

he said that he really wanted to try this.

to date.

to go out.

november, 2006

that weekend i drove to warrensburg and we went on our first date.

dinner in lee's summit.

two weeks later he came to my family's thanksgiving.

a month later he took me to illinois to meet his mom.

she told me she wanted me to be her daughter-in-law.

that night, ronnie told me he loved me.

three months later we took a trip to chicago because we had cubs tickets.

we went to a fancy dinner on michigan avenue.

i had pot pie.

ronnie ordered a bottle of wine.

we took a carriage ride through chicago's streets.

we went back to the hotel room so i could go potty.

ronnie was on the balcony.

i joined him.

he proposed.

it was clumsy and he was nervous,
but sweet.

april, 2007

we were engaged for 19 months.

i was dead set on a fall wedding.

during that time,

i graduated.

moved home.

got a job.

moved in with ronnie.

bought our house.

and planned a wedding.

and then,

we were married.

november 1, 2008

three years ago.

happy anniversary, ronaldo.