Pages

22.6.12

Oooohhh Yeeeeeeaheh


The longer something is in your life the more you are likely to become attached to it. So it's probably fair to say that 17 years would form one heck of an attachment. It all started when I was 11 years old I was on a youth group retreat and some of the older kids had hooked up speakers to their discman.
How old do you feel?

From the tiny crackly speakers came an amazing sound. Whatever it was these boys were obsessed with it and played the album all weekend long. It wasn't until the drive home that I had the courage to ask what they were listening too. I think the answer changed my life.


Up until that point in my life I can't remember what music I ever chose to listen to on my own. I know that my mother's love of the beach boys and my fathers love of Elton John and Billy Joel shaped my musical preferences but this is the first time I remember hearing something on my own and deciding that I liked it. 

When I got home from that trip I begged my mother to take me to the store so I could buy a cassette tape (don't judge me) and there it was at Kmart of all places. She didn't want to me buy it based on the cover art but I payed with my allowance so she didn't get much of a say.

I soon became obsessed, an obsession that has only grown through out the years.

And it's not just because in my opinion that this man is god:

Metallica songs have had a way of finding me at the perfect time in my life, because of this my attachment has grown. Even though the band was formed a few years before I was born I feel like we've grown up together, over coming obstacles, awkward trying to figure out who we are stages, and finally getting it right. 

I bring this up because I'm lucky enough to be going to see them this weekend for what will be the 6th & 7th time and I could not be more excited about it. 

Once upon a time The Beef and I were getting ready to go to sleep, listening to music and shooting the shit when he said "It's crazy that the 2 biggest Metallica fans I know are in this bed and I'm not the biggest". 

It's an an absolutely amazing love to share.

So what about you, who are your musical obsessions? 



21.6.12

Duh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh...



This weeks abuse of the search bar is brought to you by BATMAN! 
Just another one of my obsessions.

Our first stop is Esty over at the shop of Keep Calm and Stay Gold. Now I'll admit that after a while this whole Keep Calm and whatever trend gets pretty old, but then every once in a while you come across one you haven't seen a million times and it really tickles your fancy. That's what happened here.
I want this.

My next stop was Pinterest (Stop? Psssh...I live there.)  via imgru.com 
where for whatever reason this exists.

I would like to be invited to that party.

Amazon was next on my hitlist and I'll admit that what I found confused me.

Since when is Batman supposed to be adorable?!

Moving on, perhaps Artfire will turn up something better. So I headed over to Poppys Wicked Garden, well that sounds fun. I know everyone has a different idea of fun, but I'm still not sure how I feel about this.
I meeeeean....

If nothing else, Ebay is always good for something interesting. Today they delivered...

WTF...
Confused? Perhaps the description of the item will help you.

This item was purchased new and USED ONLY ONCE. However it was intentionally "aged" to make Batman appear OLD and WORN OUT! There are uspecial, nique and intentional BURN MARKS, DIRT SCUFF MARKS, SMALL RIPS & TEARS, and OLD DUCT TAPE!!!!!!!!   (Sorry for the lousy picture, but that's the actual item as recently worn at benefit event)
Currently selling for $50 online
All you need to do is add the Catheter Bag and Hose (as shown but not included - you wouldn't want it anyway ;-) ), or Old People Sunglasses (INCLUDED!!!!!), or Foot Boot/Brace (as shown but not included), or a Walker, Cane, Crutch, or "BatMobile Handicapped Scooter" for a special and unique costume unlike any other.  Add a pillow for some belly stuffing and now you've got "FATMAN" the superhero!
In this special costume,  Batman's ears are torn and duct tapped back on. His boot coverings are burnt at the ends, he has duct tape holding him together in places, and he's been "burned and scorched" (yeah, real burns)  through too many failed rescues as he got older and s l o w e r   ! :-)

And last but certainly not least, craigslist, where dreams come true.

I wish I cold play the saxophone.

Sax player wanted for superhero group! I am forming a theatrical band called The Super Friends. Each member dresses as a different superhero. I will be the classic Adam West Batman on guitar. Need a trumpet player and saxaphonist for the horn section. You can be Superman, Green Lantern, Captain Marvel, Aquaman, Captain America, Green Hornet or any classic DC superhero. Looking to play songs that were popular during the classic Batman TV show from the 60's. A lot of fun party music with horn section, keyboards and three part harmonies. Songs like... The Ventures - Hawaii Five-0, The Buckinghams - Kind Of A Drag, Dick Dale - Misirlou, The Outsiders - Time Won't Let Me, The Doors - Touch Me, Neal Hefty - Batman Theme, Strawberry Alarm Clock - Incense and Peppermints, The Fortunes - You've Got Your Troubles, Queen - Flash, Wonder Woman Theme, American Breed - Bend Me Shape Me, Safari's - Wipe Out, Shocking Blue - Venus, etc. Eventually we will attract the Comic Con fans and they will show up to shows dressed in their favorite superhero costumes. Maybe we can have them interact with us and make up some skits between songs. We can probably play Comic Cons, oldies bars, and hip Brooklyn establishments. This concept could work just about anywhere. Looking to practice around once a week or with individual members. Please respond with Facebook page, pics or website. I have had many responses to this ad from people who seem interested, only to never hear from them again. Only respond of you are interested! Oh, and please be under 40. Thank you good citizen!

Thanks!
- Bob
The Super Friends 

And that's that for this week in search bar abuse. Do you think anyone would come if I had a party where everyone dressed up like batman? 


20.6.12

Someones in the kitchen with Button...


I need The Beef to help me hang the headboard still so you're getting a tour of the kitchen instead of the bedroom, it's probably more exciting anyway. 

When you first walk into the kitchen this is what you see, our refrigerator complete with birthday cards, martini recipes, concert tickets, bills and a bunch of flyers and business cards from people trying to sell The Beef another motorcycle. There's also our flea market find bread box that just may be the beefs pride and joy. 

This right here is my favorite part of the kitchen, not only does it have my heavenly double sink and my amazing coffe maker but the giant window that look out into the woods that I have lined with joy inciting randomness. 

Pork and beans hanging out with the self esteem busting gnome who is forever band from bathrooms. 


Music box/decanter gnome, nothing is cooler.

Wind up and go penguin salt and pepper shakers. 



Continuing in a circle we have the door that leads to the 3 season room, my favorite Norman Rockwell pictures and the infamous red cookie tin that my grandmother always had filled with treats. Me? Not so much, but when I do make cookies that's where they go. 


Continuing on you can see our floating counter, exotic spices (not really) and stove with the worlds most boring kettle, I've been meaning to replace that. 


Underneath the floating cabinet The Beef built a shelf so I could store all of my "omg I can't live without these" appliances. Belgian waffle iron, crock pot, electric skillet, george foreman grill, mini blends, juicer, gigantic stock pots, and various baking dishes. 

If you were to continue to turn in a circle you would find the hub of our daily lives, we cannot survive without this calendar. Perhaps that is a slight exaggeration, The Beef would probably do alright without it, I on the other hand would crumble up and die.
And here's a look inside the freezer: [This is not an entirely accurate depiction of what we have because I desperately need to go grocery shopping.]
Plenty of ice, pizza rolls because The Beef LOVES snacks, some frozen veggies and juice that I made in the juicer and froze because it is so much more awesome than juice from the store.

The freezer door contains lots of fresh steam veggies and frozen yogurt. 


Welcome to condiment central on our refrigerator door when you will find multiples of mustard, ketchup, salad dressing and mayo. 


This is possibly the worst picture I have ever taken, I apologize profusely. 
Here in the fridge, aside from the fact that I need to go to the grocery store you can see and that we've recently had people over (hence the soda), eggs, 1 beer (there's a beer fridge in the other room, yuck), cream cheese, salsa, pickles <3, lots of yogurt, fresh jug of raspberry iced tea, fake eggs, chicken, more pickles, left over veggie meatloaf, juice, milk, left over garlic mashed potatoes, broccoli slaw and coffee that I'm waiting to cool down.

I say yuck to the beer because I am allergic. Since The Beef has his desginated spot for alochol it's only fair that I would get the same, so I've claimed the bottom drawer for my adult beverages of choice.  

Don't judge me.

So what does your kitchen look like? Am I the only one in desperate need of a grocery shop?


19.6.12

Oh pinterest...


Deciding to post one craft a week was a great idea, it gave me the kick in the pants I needed. The creative juices started to flow and I starting planning out which project to do first. I had a couple of good ideas and I was raring to go when one last pitstop on pinterest completely sidetracked me. 

Someone had posted a new pin:


Sure, I've seen plenty of pallet headboards on Pinterest, I was interested in that, I had my sights set on making a different headboard. I just hadn't gotten around to it yet, I couldn't find the wood or the fabric that I wanted. 

For whatever reason a light bulb went off in my head and I decided that this was the project I was going to let inspire me into a new headboard. 


After sorting through my pallets I decided that this one had the best wood for this type of project. Unfortunately, the nails were rusty which meant it was near impossible to get apart. I'm alright with compromising from time to time so an easy solution was met.

That is not me cutting the pallet, men don't seem to like missing an opportunity to use power tools.


I ended up with these pieces of wood after the cutting, some of them were cracked a bit so wood glue came in handy. After measuring the bed and seeing what I had to work with I decided  what shape our headboard would be.


Once the shape was decided it was time to secure the pieces of wood together. I decided on brackets for the length and wood for the height because I didn't want to buy 48 brackets.


The funny thing about power tools is that apparently the electric sander doesn't count, so I was able to do that. 


Drills however are power tools and wasn't I too busy sanding to use it anyway?

 This is what the back of the headboard looks like once put together. The rogue boards on the bottom are the result of me forgetting I had a piece of the headboard hidden on the side hoping the wood glue wood dry. It needed to be tacked on at the last minute. *face palm*


 And this would be the front of the headboard, sanded and ready for staining. 

Freshly stained 

The next day, All done.

And some added carving :)


We haven't put it up yet because there just hasn't been any time, but I'm sure you'll see it in all it's glory when I do the tour of our bedroom.

What craft projects are you currently working on?




18.6.12

He's a big fan, of fans.



Last week the power went out at about 7am, the Beef said a trasformer blew. I just had to take his word for it. Honestly, I'm just glad that he was here otherwise I probably wouldn't have realized it was a neighborhood issue. I'm embarrassed to think about the completely off base conclusions I probably would have come up with. Apparently, it made a loud banging noise but I don't even hear my alarm clock so why should I hear that? What did wake me up was the sudden dead silene in the room. 

Here's some completely vital back story:

When I was a baby my mother always had a radio playing near me so I could sleep through anything. She liked the fact that she could vacuum under my crib and I wouldn't budge. However, as I got older I developed a preference for a complete lack of light and sound at bedtime. 

Unfortunately, due to my choice of who I've shared my bedroom with over the years that has not always been possible, lots of people apparently to fall asleep with the TV on. Thank god for sleep timers, I'll just wait until it's over and you're snoring.

When the Beef and I moved into the cabin we agreed not to have a TV in the bedroom because he also prefers to not have light at bedtime. However, he because restless if there is complete silence, he prefers white noise (not that terrible movie, no one prefers that). To solve this issue we have a fan going all night, this is a bonus because I prefer to sleep in the tundra. If I don't focus on the noise it's not a problem for me and apparently over the last year or so I've grown quite used to it. 

I say this because despite the fact that I can't hear my alarm the sound of the fan turning off leaving the room in absolute silence woke me up in a confused panic. 

As a side note (because I haven't rambled enough) it's amazing how productive you can be during a 90 minute power outage. 

What are your sleeping habits? Light? Sound? Am I too picky?


15.6.12

Question and answer time



I came across this little questionnaire while browsing blogs, I thought it would be fun to do and might be a nice post idea for any of my blogging friends.

How did you come up with your blog name? 
It's pretty literal and I thought using two "B"s might be cute. I also figured that if I just left it vague I wouldn't be stuck only writing about certain things. 

What is your favorite thing about blogging? 
I like the structure it gives me, I like that it holds me accountable for things and I love the fact that it's a written record of the journey my life is taking. Going back and reading where I was, what I was doing and more importantly (b/c you can't get this from pictures) what I was thinking or feeling at a certain point in time.

What is one thing you have discovered because of blogging and now can't live without?
If I hadn't entered the blogosphere I probably never would have discovered the world of personal finance blogs, without them I would probably still be in debt up to my eye balls with no idea how I wanted to manage my finances for the future. 

Facebook or Twitter? 
Twitter for when I'm bored and need something to read, facebook for staying connected with those I love. Honestly, if it wasn't for facebook there are so many people I would have lost touch with because I'm a crappy friend like that.

If one celeb read your blog who would you want it to be? My immediate reaction was Tom Hanks, but I'm not sure if I want to scare him off like that. So my answer will be God himself, and by that I mean James Hetfield.

What is something you want people to know about your blog?
 It's a nice little window into my warped mind, I think anyone who is entertaining the notion of being my friend should have to read it first so they can get a taste of what it's like.



14.6.12

Oh internet...



If I were to die and in the back of my closet someone found an alter to Tom Hanks, no one would be surprised. I haven't completely lost it and built one yet, I'm probably waiting for dementia to go all out on that one.

With this being said, Tom Hanks was an obvious choice for my post this week. I'm pretty sure everyone has done this at least once in their life, while on a site like etsy, pinterest, craigslist, artfire, amazon or ebay you type something random in the search bar and giggle over the random items that appear for sale.

I can't even put these in any kind of order because I don't have a favorite, they all kind of make me go WTF?! in their own special way.

First up is what Etsy had to offer:


The shop owner, Billy A.B had this to say about the shirt

"MIcrosoft Windows 98 and Tom Hanks with a fruit which is somewhere in between a raspberry and a pineapple, hand screen printed onto an orange Gildan Ultra t-shirt. Now ONLY Available in S and XL. We have some mediums left on a white t-shirt, if you want this, please let us know in the order notes :)

WHY???????????

Buy the t-shirt and become even more confused.

I could not have said it better myself. 


My next stop was Ebay, where I found this charming piece. 


I had no idea zombie cards of celebrities existed, but wow, am I glad that they do. I'm also happy to see Wilson make an appearance. 

Amazon was next on my list and this is what it brought me. 


It's possibly one of the most upsetting things I've ever seen. I'll be the first to admit that I don't know a darn thing about art. It's hand painted so that's admirable and it certainly looks like Tom Hanks. Perhaps that is why I find it so off putting, he appears to be upset or in pain and I'm just not ok with that.

Artfire was my next stop. 


I've seen decks of cards like these before. I actually have a card that my great uncle was depicted in for his time playing football at Notre Dame, I ended up displaying it in a photo frame with other items because I just wasn't sure what to do with a playing card. This little number is a paper weight and I actually think that's a great idea. I just wish I used paper...

Checking out craigslist provided me with a most unusual Tom Hanks reference.


I can only assume that the above picture is the author of the posting titled "ARE OUR PATH CROSSED". 

Dear Soulmate,

Have we met yet? Are our paths crossed? Will they ever? Every day, I wonder if you are already close to me or if you are some non-being yet to exist in my bubble of knowledge.

I've been waiting for you for a long time. If you know me, you should show yourself soon, I am getting tired of waiting. Of course... If you really are my soulmate, and I believe you are, then I am just being silly and impatient.

Soulmate, maybe you haven't come out yet because you don't know me well enough. --Have you run away because you know me too well? I want to know all about you, and yet a part of me wonders if the mystery is more romantic.

Is there only one of you out there, or do you have a twin brother or sister that you can introduce me to? If you know, please tell me, because I have been feeling a little lonely lately.

I saw the movie "You've got mail" the other day. The part where Meg Ryan was supposed to meet with Tom Hanks at a coffee shop, she has a flower as an indicator, a symbol, of who she is. Will you be holding a rose too? In a coffee shop?

How will I know who you are from all the other people in the world?

Are you just like me, or are you my opposite and compliment in every way?

I thought I found you once. I really did. You were beautiful, and you smiled at me, and you said everything I wanted to hear. You made me laugh, and you made me feel beautiful, you made me feel so complete, even though you were never mine.

It wasn't really you, though. It was just somebody with your mask on.

Dear Soulmate, are you happy right now? I hope you are, I would never want you to be sad or hurt, even if I haven't met you yet.

Dear Soulmate, whether you're my best friend, or somebody from the other side of the world, please let our meeting as soulmates be special. Please let it be wonderful. I know my eyes will fill with tears of happiness even if it's not a perfect moment, because when I find out who you are, I don't think that anything can dampen the elation I will feel.

Dear Soulmate, I know I will love you with all my heart, and I can't wait for us to fall for each other in a way that is not like falling at all but is more like flying above all others, being next to each other, holding each other, helping each other.

I can't wait.

PLEASE put "LOVE LIFE " in the subject line when you send me your information so I know its not a spam,.All emails without the word LOVE LIFE in the subject line will be delete


PLEASE LEAVE YOUR NUMBER 

And finally, Pinterest via DAMNYOUAUTOCORRECT provided me with this.



I find this highly amusing because there is a chance that that would happen in my phone one day.

I hope you enjoyed all the warmth and happiness that Tom Hanks can bring to your soul. Now be honest, do you amuse yourself with search bars the way that I do?