So Fun, It's Almost Criminal!

Joel and I have had the opportunity to celebrate only a few of his birthdays together. He has been deployed to Iraq for two and in California training for one. Due to various other occurrences (and excuses) I have never thrown him a "real" birthday party. His big 3-0 was last year and since he was still deployed, I tried to make it special but I wanted to make up for it this year. My mom had thrown a great party for my sister, Katy in February for her 18th birthday. She let me in on a little of the planning and I thought it sounded like so much fun I decided to copy it! (Remember me saying I steal all my best ideas? Yep, don't ever tell me about something fun you've done because I truly believe imitation is the highest form of flattery!)


The idea was, a Josie kept saying over and over, a "murder mystery dinner party". The concept is simple: you use a kit that has 8 character parts, invite the guests, assign the parts and while dining you trade information that allows you to discern who "killed" an imaginary guest (not one of the people you invited). Execution is an entirely different story!


I am definitely NOT spiritually gifted with hospitality. I am such an obsessive perfectionist that it is not usually enjoyable for me to have people over. I realized earlier this year that was not an attitude that pleased the Lord. Refusing to have people over unless my house could pass a white-glove test (ummm, which is *never*) did not honor Him. I decided to try to be more open. I felt that having a party for Joel would be a good place to start.


We have several couples that we absolutely LOVE spending time with so I felt like they would make for the perfect guest list. The scripts were written for 4 guys and 4 girls so it worked out great. Also, our group is pretty low-key so I thought having a more formal seated dinner would be a nice change of pace. I had a great time purchasing matching plates, napkins, etc. and everyone got a kick out of the fake silverware and plastic wineglasses-complete with wine charms! Candles and flowers completed the setting and we even opened up several bottles of bubbly-sparkling cider that is.:)


Everyone came in costume-although the setting was modern, so that made it easier. We exchanged introductions of our characters and enjoyed all four scenes. We split those up between: appetizers/"cocktails", salad course, main course, and dessert. I made my Aunt Rachel Dawn's famous cheese dip and had some other finger foods (or actually cocktail toothpick foods, per Joel's request) and also homemade manicotti and from-scratch key lime pie. As someone who does not usually brag about her culinary skills I was pretty pleased with myself! I didn't take a ton of photos, because I was not only the hostess I was a character. I allowed all the guests to chose their characters and Joel and I took the remaining two. I ended up being the "murderer"! That gave me even more work to do.


Everything turned out great. I was bummed that I didn't get a photo of any of the food, or more of the guests. We had a terrific time, though and I think someone in our group will host another one sometime soon. I just hope I get a better part this time. I think all in all it was a successful weekend-Joel's actual birthday was on Friday and he went to the movies with a friend and then we had dinner at a teppan-yaki grill. We finished the night with iced coffee and gifts! Lots of new clothes for him, as well as a new video game and season of his new favorite show "Leverage". Josie's special gift was the Lego set. Then we partied on Saturday! I think we made some wonderful memories and I don't have to plan another party now until he turns 40...:)





The birthday "boy".



The table before the party.


The place settings. I folded the napkins all by myself!:)


Joel relaxing before the pary. No stress there!


The finished product. I love floating candles and flowers!


All the party guests. Except me, I am always behind the camera!


He may or may not have rearranged his candles to suit his liking.

Carpet Cleaning Conundrum-Solved!

I hate the carpet in our house. It attracts...EVERYTHING! We are not slobs, although I wouldn't lie and say I am a perfect housekeeper, either. However, the carpet in our house torments me on a daily basis. Silly things, like the spot in the upstairs landing (you can't really properly refer to it as a hallway, but I haven't come up with another name for it, so landing it is) where Carson spilled almost an entire bottle of shampoo, nag at me every time I pass them. Since this is not our "forever" home, I try to take care of it for the next occupants, but I also feel like it is a little futile to invest tons of our money in upkeep.

I was torn, since we really don't have a firm grasp right now on what the future holds, as to what to do about the carpet. I wanted it to look decent, but when we buy a house it will NOT have carpet if I have anything to say about it. I love tile, wood, I would even deal with linoleum, but I would really rather not have carpet. I have had both, and I have to say, I prefer the pitfalls of hard flooring vs. the evils of carpet. But, since I can't replace this, I had to have a solution. I thought about hiring it done, but since 5/6ths of our house is carpeted and we have carpeted stairs, it would be expensive. Also, we had a couple of spots (like the aforementioned shampoo) that I knew would require a little extra TLC. I didn't want tacked on charges for things like that. I thought about buying a steam cleaner, but unless we got a really nice one, I didn't think it would be able to do the job. Plus, if our next house doesn't have carpet then it wouldn't be worth it.

So, that left me with renting a carpet cleaner. I had heard both pros and cons. They worked well, they didn't work well, they were cheaper, they cost as much as hiring a professional. I really didn't want to deal with someone from the outside, so I finally decided we would tackle it ourselves. Except I waited until after Joel had ankle surgery! Since we are having a party to celebrate his birthday this weekend, I thought I better just go ahead and bite the bullet. I went this morning and rented a Rug Doctor. The shoppette three blocks from our house has them.

Well, needless to say, I am not sure why I waited so long! I am not completely finished (it is a LOT of work) but I am definitely going to end up with a cleaner carpet. I pretty much removed all the shampoo (that alone took almost 30 minutes) and my stairs look great! Why am I such a procrastinator? I am thankful that even though it is very labor intensive it is not difficult. There is a lot of filling and dumping of the tank (at least every room) but other than that it hasn't been anything besides pushing either the entire machine or the upholstery attachment back and forth. I think I am covered in cleaner from head to toe, too. But I found some coupons online and with the extra upholstery attachment, stain pre-treatment, de-foamer, and cleaning fluid it was less than $45. I thought that was pretty cheap, less than 1/2 of what it would have cost for a light professional cleaning. I am feeling so good I think I might even tackle the sofa!

Not sure why I felt the need to post this, kind of boring. I guess I am just excited that I finally found a solution to my problem. Yay for clean carpet-now if we can just keep it that way for a little while!:)

P.S. I have to thank my sister, Robyn, for finally persuading me to try doing it myself. I steal all my best ideas from her.:)

What's In A Name?

Because all of Joel's troubles with his lower limbs (he had extensive ankle surgery just last week on his left leg-a recovery time of 4-6 months, soon to be followed by the same procedure on his right leg) are not enough for one family, I have been having some problems with my right foot and left ankle. I finally made an appointment to be seen, hoping the final result would be a referral to a podiatrist. I was seen today and had to have x-rays done as well. That means my paperwork was handed to: the desk clerk, the nurse, the doctor, the x-ray clerk and the x-ray tech. That resulted in, as usual, a lot of questions about my name.

Ever since I was younger (I almost said "little"-ha!) I have answered many questions about my highly unusual first name. Little-yep, many of my loyal readers are familiar with it (okay, many might be pushing it, but I am guessing 4 out of the 5 of you already knew that!), but my first name is more commonly used as an adjective. It's a family thing, a family from the South, as I told the tech today. When they hear it most people say, "Little?", normally followed by, "I asked for your first name, not your last name." Me-"That is my first name." That leads to, "Little? Your first name is Little?" and pick one:

"That is so cute!"
"I know someone named ___________(fill in the blank with any variety of weird words)."
"Where did that come from?"
"Was it because you were tiny when you were born?"

Me (thinking to myself):
"Not really"
"Wow, that makes Little sound normal."
"Why do you care?"
"That is the dumbest response ever-and no, I was 8 chunky pounds!"

However, even though my name requires more explanation than most, I still love it. It really sets me apart and it makes for a great conversation starter. I have been dealing with very surly customer service people, receptionists, etc. and once they hear my name they have to ask about it and suddenly they are a little friendlier. Even as a child, I didn't really mind the questions (I actually had a harder time explaining Clarissa, my middle name). But I am always proud to share that it is a family name, handed down from my grandmother to my mother, to me. And now to my daughter. It makes me feel unique. I guess it should make me feel weird, but it doesn't. It makes me feel loved to know that I am part of a select group, and it strongly identifies me with my family. Of course, it is not what I go by. That would be a "little" confusing-get it? But I proudly sign it to all my credit cards, have it on my driver's license and it is even embossed on my Bible.It is on all my legal paperwork. I am not ashamed to share my story with everyone.

Yep, you know it is coming-the normal tie-in. I can't help but think that it is so funny that I am never afraid to talk about my name, or my family. I don't mind taking the time to explain it to someone because it is who I am. I may get a little annoyed when someone makes fun of it, or doesn't really understand, but it doesn't keep me from using it. Yet, when it comes to the most important part of my identity-the Christian part- I sometimes try to hide it, or make it seem less important. Kind of like if I switched my first and middle name-you know, Clare L., instead of Little Clare. I use "friendlier" words like God, instead of Christ. I gloss over it-"yep, I'm a Christian, how about the weather?", instead of taking the time to go into detail about what that really means to me. I don't always proudly display it-and I am not talking about t-shirts and bumper stickers! I have a much better Family name, one that is even more special and unique than my given name. I should be much more proud of that. I am set apart, grafted into the greatest Family line of all. So I want to take the same pride and courage in explaining my Father's name as I do my own-because I know He is the thing in my life that I am the most proud of being a part.

By the way, just in case you were wondering, my x-rays were fine and I did get a referral to podiatry. Joel is doing well, not loving being on crutches for the next 5weeks, but the surgery was definitely necessary. He is off for the next month, which will be nice, incapacitated or not!

Success At Last!

We have lived in this house for over three years now. When you "rent" instead of own you treat things differently. I absolutely detest home improvement and organizing "tips" that talk about things that someone that rents could never possibly do. Bully for you that you added lights in your kitchen or ripped out a closet! We are not allowed to make any structural changes to our house, because trust me, I would love to! But, the one good thing is that it does teach you to work with what you have. Other "tips" such as buying coordinating baskets or hanging racks don't necessarily work for me either. I don't really have $100 extra laying around to invest and sorry, I don't have any fabulous neighborhood flea markets to shop, either! However, I realized that being frustrated with what must work for the public at large (or at least sell magazines) doesn't solve my problems so I have to find my own solutions. I copy some of my best organizing tips from my sister (she also rents so she understands my frustrations).

Anyway, one of my biggest problems has been my upstairs hall closet. It didn't matter how I rearranged it, it never stayed clean for more than 2-3 days. I added little 3 drawer chests for storage. That helped a little. I bought a wire shelf to add vertical storage. Also helped a little, but not enough. Part of my problem is that the closet has a ton of space-but it is barely accessible because it is up behind the top of the doorframe. That makes it difficult to reach because you not only have to be tall but you need long arms! Also, the top shelf is only half the width of the lower shelves so it limits what can be on there.

I have rearranged that closet dozens of times. Finally I decided to really think about what I had-also, I implemented my new "throw everything out policy". I had managed to control the bottom shelves with my linens, books and stationary a few months back. The main problem was hairthings, toiletries and medicines. Here is what I finally came up with:


This is the top shelf. It has my bathroom cleaners and extra shampoo, soap, etc.


This is the next shelf. The two chests on the left have medications and the one on the right has Josie's and my hairthings. Don't you love my fancy labels? Good 'ol masking tape. That's how we roll in the ghetto!:)


These shelves are towels and stationary.The boxes on the far right have my greeting cards in them. I love those boxes! They organize the cards by category and I know when I need to get more. I rarely have to buy a card for a special occasion.


These are the bottom two shelves. Mostly books and photo frames on the top one. The floor has all my linens and my travel cosmetic cases. Like my Longaberger? Maybe someday my whole closet will be organized with them...


The finished product!

May not seem like a big deal to you, but it was definitely blog worthy to me. I am proud to report that almost a week later the whole closet still looks like the photo!

10 Things About Me (by Request!)

My friend Jessica(her blog is here, nominated me to write 10 things about myself. Since I have been blogging for a while and have no sense of personal privacy (not to mention that I did 100 things earlier this year!) this may be difficult but I will try to be creative!

1. I have kept a journal of some sort of and on since I was 8. I have some really random things in those-especially the ones from junior high. Why was I so boy crazy? I can't even remember what some of those guys look like now!

2. I can sing the entire Canadian national anthem. I had to learn it in high school because the Key Club conference I was part of also had groups in Canada and as part of their opening each week we had to sing both the American and Canadian songs. Weird, huh?

3. I love the show "Billy the Exterminator". That guy is crazy! I think it is too funny that this goth, huge truck driving man uses only natural, organic pesticides. He knows everything about common (and uncommon, like alligators) household pests. If you have never watched it you should give it a try.

4. Joel gave me a "Topsy-Turvy Tomato Planter" for Mother's Day because every time I saw the infomercial I would say how much I loved tomatoes. I am currently trying to coax it to produce fruit in the backyard.

5. I am currently looking for a good Key Lime pie recipe. I have become obsessed with making one. Don't really know why, I am usually a chocolate girl.

6. I often buy costume jewelry first and then find clothes to match later. I love, love, love fake jewelry! I really want to be known as the girl with all the fun, matching jewelry.

7. I want to try kayaking. I have read about it in a couple of places recently and I think it sounds fun. Joel doesn't want to go with me, though, because he says he can't stand the thought of getting stuck in the boat upside down. I have tried to explain it doesn't have to be that kind of kayak but he is not convinced.

8. I really want to visit Alcatraz. I have always been fascinated with prisons-I know, really weird. I adore the Mythbusters "Escape from Alcatraz" episode and I think it would be cool to see such an iconic prison. Someday...

9. I like to play this goofy housecleaning game on TLC's website when I am really bored. It is pretty silly but somehow it is so mindless it is soothing.

10. I am planning to climb the Incline this summer. I figured if I am not in good enough shape after running a 10K then it was never going to happen. If any of my Colorado friends are interested in doing that, drop me an email and let's make plans!

There you have it. Hopefully, it wasn't all reruns.:) My life is just not that interesting...trying to turn a sow's ear into a purse.:) Anyway, I guess part of this game is nominating people to make there own lists so:

Rachel's Writings-You always make a good list, RD. I hope you can find a few minutes to entertain us.

The Frosting of Life-Ummm, you need to post, desperately. Here is your incentive.

Musings by Katy-You need to post even more badly than LD. And you are always hilarious! I am sure you will have time now that you are finished with school-yeah, right!

Lisa's Life Lessons-I may have lived with you for over 20 years but I always learn something new when you post stuff about yourself.

Anyone else? You know you are always welcome to post! Hopefully I will see lots of new things soon...