Chris got up at the crack of dawn to finish the last painting task. The accent wall in the living room was red....


But we changed it to a dark green to match my couches. Now we just have to get them out of storage!


We rented a truck and took a few loads over to the house. Unfortunately we have a 3rd floor apartment, so by the end of the day I was ready to collapse. As Chris puts it, I'm a ranged fighter and the hauling of heavy things down the stairs is more like tank work. I love it when he references video game stuff.

The last thing we moved was the cat. Now, Leki has moved 3 times already with no issues, so I assumed he'd handle this move just as easily.

Not quite.

Leki has never lived anywhere with a basement, so when he heard Chris walking above him, he freaked. He cried on and off throughout the evening. Hopefully he settles in quickly.


This green room was a kids room previously. We, however, are going to use it as a TV/video game room. So we decided to reprint it to something more toned down.


Chris spent his second day off enjoying the inner confines of this room smelling paint fumes. The color is a warm gray which, I am told, will work well for the midieval video games and TV shows like.


Chris painted the next room after he picked me up from work. I unboxed some stuff, went back to the apartment to wrestle with the box-loving cat, and brought another carload over.

I really appreciate that Chris is willing to do the painting. I would have just left the rooms as is and shut my eyes when I walked in. I'm no lover of painting. I get frustrated with it easily.


The colors in the dining area right next to the kitchen are bright, cheery, and unfortunately the green doesn't match anything we have. So although we kinda like it, it needs to go...



So Chris spent his first day off painting the green area of the dining room yellow. The plan was if it turned out to be too much yellow, we would paint the section below the border. So far though, I think it looks good. And fresh. It's making the rest of the dining area and kitchen look old. But I don't think either of us love painting enough to reprint the rest of the rooms just to make it look "fresh" again.

Maybe I'll rub my hands in some dirt and smear it around on the new paint so it gets a more worn, lived in look... Hmmmm....




Awesome thing about having a house? Ability to do laundry while doing other things in the house.

Yay for clean clothes!




We did some running around after work today, picking up painting supplies and what not. We also picked up a car-load of stuff from my storage unit.


When everything was unloaded we were sure to take a short break and enjoy the strong cell phone reception.

Then it was back to hang out with the cat and give him some much needed attention.

He was really excited to see us, so he could eat (he doesn't like to eat alone). Weirdo.


The previous owners finished moving out early so they gave us a call today. We headed out in the evening to meet them.

They were super nice, and have adorable kids.

They even gave us a tasty plate of cookies!

Cookies people. Cookies.

So awesome.


Chris mentioned yesterday that he wanted to see the cheap showing of Hunger Games. Since I like to read the books first on movie adaptations, I spent a chunk of yesterday reading the book.

We ventured out to the only Star theatre in Grand Rapids in the morning for the movie. Chris has some good thoughts on the flick.



We also headed out to the local Apple store at the mall to pick up an AppleTV that Chris has been eyeing. So far it's an amusing device, but I still want a Roku.


I set out this morning to start week two of running. The minute I started running my right knee started hurting. I stopped, I started again and the pain persisted.

With my handy android phone I looked up the symptoms, read I could try running through it, so I started again.

No good.

Essentially this is what high school gym classes mandatory running was like. Its also why I bought an elliptical machine years ago.

So I looked up some exercises to do to help minimize Runner's Knee pain (according to the symptoms this is what it sounds like the problem is, of course I get pain sitting with my legs crossed for too long) that I'll have to work on.

Today was the big day. I haven't talked about it a whole lot on here because, well, you never know. Things can change, paperwork fall through, or whatever.

But none of that happened! Instead today was the day Chris and I closed on our new house. That's pretty freaking exciting! And, unlike the standard 30 days after close, we have possession in 5. So that's really exciting!
Even Leki is ready to move! Or he's strangely attracted to boxes. It's probably an attraction to boxes....

Anyway, we have some painting and repairs in the future but for now we can enjoy the anticipation of moving out of this apartment.

Of course I don't look forward to the next several weeks of moving...

Hooray for wonderful sunrises!


Went out running for day three today. You know, it's dark out at 6:30am. And quiet.

I had an appointment with a hand specialist today. I've been wearing splints on my wrists when I type for years now and recently (since I've taken up knitting, actually) I've been having more pain and numbness in some fingers.

So today was a follow up to an appointment I had almost two years ago. I still have tendinitis in both wrists, aggravated by typing, gaming, and knitting. Basically if I enjoy it, it aggravates my wrists.

I also have some newly developed tennis elbow in one arm. Bleh.

So physical therapy starts next month, as does a hefty dose of of meds.

My hiatus from knitting, gaming, and other fun activities involving repetitious movements continues.

At this rate, Chris isn't getting his scarf until well into next winter. Heh.


Another warm, sunny day! Nothing better than enjoying the outdoors on a lunch break on a day like today.

Ok, it might be better to be able to spend the whole day outside, but going out and about on my lunch break was the closest I could get to that.

So I've been using a Pokéwalker for quite some time. I'm not a huge Pokémon fan, but it came with a pedometer and an amusing game.

Anyway, I've had the thing for a few years and I've been using it mostly as a pedometer. The goal was always to get around 10,000 steps (roughly 5 miles) although I can't say that I hit that every day. But working downtown and having somewhere to walk on lunch breaks definitely helps.

Anyway, after a battery change and some other things I decided I should get a new pedometer. I'd been eyeing a fitbit for awhile but at the cost it hardly seemed worth it. Until I realized I had a hefty gift card waiting for me. Jackpot! So I snagged one.

I've been using it for a few days now and it's amusing. It does some things I don't really care about, like tracking my sleep patterns if I want. But overall I like it. And I've been using it all day like I did with the Pokéwalker (side note - I did test them side by side and they're pretty close in terms of steps counted - the Pokéwalker runs a little higher but only by about 50 steps for every 9,000).
So I did my second day of running this morning and I took the fitbit along. And by running I mean jogging. And not continuous. This is the program I'm using. So lots of run, walk, run, walk.

I snagged some running shoes yesterday. Yes, there is pink on them. No, I'm not happy with it. I have very small feet and there is a limited selection of colors in a size 6.

Anyway, today was less painful than the first day. Mostly because of the lack of side stitches.

The fun part of the fitbit is it will log your activity and break it down to sedentary, lightly active, fairly active, very active. So it was amusing to see the breakdown after the run this morning.

After I got off work and it wirelessly sync'd with the base and I looked again. I was a little horrified. Sometimes you forget how much you sit at your desk at work.

Anyway, overall I do like the shoes (even though there is pink on them) and the fitbit is amusing me so far.

I'm looking forward to Wednesday for the day three of running, although not at getting up at 5:30am.

Until then I'll just pretend I'm not really sore all over.

The day was supposed to be another hot one, and possible thunder showers in the afternoon, so we walked through Lemery Park in the morning. It's a nice quiet place and not too far from where we live, so perfect for a Sunday morning.

Chris took some nice photos during our walk.
We also came across a cluster of stencils on a piece of cement. I'm especially partial to the Boo.


I've never been a super active person. I never loved sports or running or anything that meant I couldn't read or play video games.

I do have an elliptical machine that's been in storage since I moved in with Chris. Yes, I did use it. It was not a clothes hanger. But I wouldn't say I loved it.

I have a Wii fit, and we bought a Kinect. I actually do like the Kinect sports game, but we have a slightly too small living room and we are on the third floor of an apartment. It just seems rude to bounce around at all hours of the day and night.

Last year I researched running. Mostly on the About page. I talked myself out of it last year but with this recent bout of good weather I thought I'd try it.

Today was day one of running/walking. Blargh.

We will see if I stick with this or decide I'd just prefer to bounce around kicking imaginary soccer balls with the Kinect sports game.


Took a nice stroll down Kent Trails and passed a duck zooming down the stream.
Back at the apartment it was...miserable. 83 degrees on March 16th at 9:30 at night is...hot.

Took a nice stroll around the pond at Heritage Park.


Temperature in the 70s and it's still technically winter?
I'll take it.

You brightened my day.

I've had this recipe floating around in my head ever since I saw it on pinterest, so tonight was the night. I was going to make these Graham Cracker S'mores Cookies.

I didn't have two full packages of regular graham crackers, so I did half a baking sheet of cinnamon flavor and half with the regular honey flavor.
I made up the cookie dough batch and put generous balls of dough on top of the crackers.

I ended up with quite a bit of dough left over, but that's ok.That just means regular cookies as well!
The cookies didn't quite spread and cover the graham crackers like I thought and they were still not quite cooked after the initial 12 minutes, so I pressed them down a bit with a spatula and put them back in the oven. I think I would have been better off with smaller cookie clumps and just more of them, instead of trying to do one ball per graham cracker square.
The results were delicious! A gooey center and a tasty graham cracker bottom.

Chris wanted to see John Carter today and although I reservations about it, I agreed to go see it. The movie had the tell-tale of a cheesy fantasy or sci-fi movie, at least based on the trailers.

It was better than I'd expected, but I wouldn't say it was great. With a token "strong" female character (which ultimately still needs to be rescued. Why? Because it is apparently difficult to write any other type of female character) I was instantly off-put. Combine that with cookie-cutter character archetypes and plot and I'd say the movie was manufactured to be what it is.

I honestly have a really hard time with most movies. They're typically too short for the type of character development I crave and rarely feature complex/morally ambiguous characters. I've been told I'm too critical and don't like any movies (I like Monty Python movies! Don't those count?). So maybe you shouldn't take my word on this movie.

I've started to read the book, A Princess of Mars, which the movie is based on (I usually try to read them before seeing a movie). I'm already more interested in the book.

Anyway, onto the chairs. Because really, that's what the photos about.

While we were out on Alpine to see the movie, we swung by the store to see some chairs Chris has been eying for awhile. They were on sale so Chris wanted to pick them up while there was a good deal.

Well, we just have one car between us and I wouldn't say the Fusion is very good in terms of space. So that meant if we wanted the chairs, we were going to have to jam them in the trunk and strap everything down.

So that's what we did.

Thanks, mom and dad, for those bungie cords when I first got my license. I can't tell you how many times, over the years, I've used those things.

I didn't really want to do anything today. The corner where Peppy's cage was is all weird without it. So I spent a big chunk of the day moping around. And getting sick.

In the afternoon, with the weather so nice, Chris strongly encouraged me to go outside. So we took a nice stroll down Kent Trails. I then got it in my head that I really wanted a mint chocolate chip shake.

I love mint chocolate chip shakes.

Chris asked me if I wanted a Shamrock shake. I'd never had one...so I said I'd try one.

It's not bad. But it's no mint chocolate chip shake. Mostly cause there's no chocolate chips.


There was a lot of this all evening.

When I first moved out to Grand Rapids  I was still getting my bearings straight when I met this little girl. I had a whole business of ferrets at home and I was out picking up some ferret supplies on a January night in 2005.

I passed one of the cages and there was a little kit (baby ferret) for adoption. The previous owners had purchased her from the pet store and returned her because she was "deaf."
I already had a deaf ferret, so I knew the routine and honestly, it's not a big deal. What's another ferret who doesn't come to the squeaky toy? 

Of course, I later discovered that she wasn't so much deaf as stubborn. She heard you just fine. It was just a question of whether she cared. She never did care for that squeaky toy.
That's not to say she was a mean ferret, or dismissive. Just the opposite. She wanted to be a part of everything. 

She played with all the other ferrets I had (ferrets are difficult to get in a photo, so only four are shown here and she is not one of them).
In fact, she loved all animals. She especially loved a puppy I had once, Vash. They played marvelously together. I swear. Just look them.
She even loved the cat, although I can't say that was ever reciprocated.
This type of playing is about as involved as they ever got. But she tried. A lot.
Mostly she enjoyed playing by herself in boxes we cut holes in or dyer hoses we tossed around the place.
But, as you know from yesterday's post, Peppy was quite ill.

We took her in first thing in the morning and got her on some medication to try to stabilize her.

Unfortunately, as can sometimes be the case, her little body was tired. It was time to let her go.

I will miss her noises, her weasel war dance, and her adorable kisses.

Goodbye Peppy.


We came home to a sick little ferret. Coated in small bruises and odd things in her litter pan, she still refused to admit she didn't feel too good. If you're home, she's up and ready for adventure no matter what. And licking. She loves to lick people.

We took her to the only emergency clinic I know out on Plainfield. We spent a few hours there, they did some blood work, and most things looked fine. Shes anemic, but I suppose that is to be expected with the blood loss and bruising.

Diseases were eliminated but none were diagnosed. We came home with a bottle of meds and an advisement to see a ferret specialist.

So right now she's resting in her cage and hopefully we will find the cause of her symptoms soon.


I bought a box of English tea (P&G) this weekend to try. I made sure I was buying tea bags and not loose tea so I could take the box with me to work.

Silly me. It never occurred to me that there would be no strings on the bags.

So I improvised and used a paper clip to save myself the hassle of trying to fish out a bag from the bottom of a mug of hot water.

That was the most exciting thing all day...


Mass Effect 3 comes out tomorrow and I'm still on the first game.
Curse you wrist pain preventing me from gaming!

I noticed that a small tub of sour cream I'd bought was going to expire this week, so I had to either freeze it or get baking.

Since my solution is usually to freeze the leftovers of whatever batch of cookies, muffins, meatballs, dough or anything else I might not use before it goes bad, our freezer is pretty full.

I'd originally bought the sour cream to make sour cream coffee cake from a much loved and abused cookbook. The poor thing is just over 10 years and already the spine is falling apart. This is why the HP Touchpad tablet is a great thing for the kitchen. I'm less apt to spill something on it because Chris has cleverly placed it away from surfaces I bake on.

Anyway, I made half a sour cream coffee cake (I only had half the sour cream required). The cat was very excited.
 While I was at it I decided I'd make some tasty olive garden copycat breadsticks for dinner. If not for the magic of people pinning things on pinterest, I might not have discovered this delicious recipe. I've tried a lot of copycat recipes over the years for various things and not all of them are any good so it wouldn't have even occurred to me to search for such a thing.
I tried my hand at one last thing. A co-worker loaned me her Cake Mix Doctor cookbook. Basically you take a box of cake mix, add some other things, and voila, you have a more awesome tasty cake than what the box recipe calls for.

The cake you're looking at there? It's a pecan pie bar cake. Why does it look so funky? Because I have no patience and didn't wait for the initial layer of cake to cool before adding the topping coat. I can assure you though, the cake was tasty just the same.

Amidst all this baking I never made biscotti. I've been craving some the last few weeks and told myself I couldn't buy any I had to make some. So after all this baking I was too lazy to start in on a biscotti recipe.

Maybe next weekend...