Completely Finished

Lately when I think about sitting down at the computer to blog, I find myself torn between yawning and gagging. It's not that we lack things to blog about chez Bren, I simply lack the desire. However, every week when Sitemeter sends me the report of how many of you stop by, I feel guilty that I haven't given you anything new to read. Of all the things I could feel guilty about in my life I choose my lack of desire for blogging...


To ease my guilt while exerting the least amount of effort possible, I give you the finally finished backyard...


The view from the backdoor. I really dig the double gate to the pool. It makes for a little drama, which you all know I like in my design schemes, and can be opened wide for parties and whatnot.






The cinderblock wall has been painted...and repainted. The first time around it came out looking like something I don't blog about but ryhmes with schmiarrhea. My landscaper tried to convince me that it wasn't worth paying to redo because once the landscaping was in I would hardly notice it. My contractor, on the other hand, called the painter and scheduled the repainting during the convo with the landscaper because he knew I would notice it even if an entire forest was planted in front of it. Good man. (Shameless plug for Frankie: he's the best GC ever. Let me know if you ever need one.)

I have a really hard time thinking of this as done because I want the shrubs and trees and flowers to look like they've already been there for 5 years. Right now they look kinda puny...Check back in 5 years.

Cute little path between the splash pad and the fire pit. The stones are placed close together so you can frolick comfortably if you're a leprechaun* or you're under the age of ten. (*Originally I used the word midget here, but changed it to the mythical leprechaun to avoid offending any of my vertically challenged readers.)

Even though they're little baby ones, I became such a huge fan of the cyprus that there are now 16 placed around the premises. I'm hoping for the overgrown Italian villa look.

And there you have it. I've been informed that people are waiting for their homemade hot fudge, so I've got to jet. I'm not even going to re-read for grammatical errors before publishing, which pains me...but hot fudge is serious business.

Aging Gracefully

About 4 months ago I bought a Wii balance board so I could kick up my fitness routine a notch. I love yoga, but getting to a class on a regular basis has proved elusive, so the Wii Fit seemed like a good alternative. It's been gathering dust ever since I bought it. Now that Aunt Ami is here, we decided to dust it off and get it going.


We now have our profiles set up and we've done all the preliminary testing to get started. The balance test was particularly revealing. It's "not my forte", to quote the Wii, and resulted in a Wii Fit age of 41!! If I can go off on a tangent, this actually explains a lot. I'm constantly hitting my head on things. I lose my pinky toenails about twice a year from catching them on the couch as I walk by. Two of my toenails are crooked from being ripped off so many times. Random, unexplained bruises show up all the time. I stab my shoulder on the corner of the stair railing at least once a week, and just last week while brushing the pool at 7 am, I took one misplaced step backwards and fell in, fully clothed. It was cold.


So apparently I'm not all that aware of my physical self.


Anyway, I was so appalled by my age that we've joked about it around the house quite a bit the last two days. My fixation hasn't escaped Hunter's notice. Today, he came up to me and asked me how old he is. "You're 4," I answered, surprised that he needed to ask. "No," he responded, "in Wii years."

3rd Favorite Face

It's hard to believe, but this adorable little person is one year old today. Oh I love that face!

He's getting cheated out of a lengthy post because we just got home from beach camping and we're in complete disarray...more on that later.

Happy Fall

I am having a really hard time wrapping my brain around it being October already! I don't know what happened to September, but I'm enjoying the change in temperatures even if it is making the pool coldish. For some reason, this time of year always makes me think of my college days at the University of Oklahoma. The campus was absolutely beautiful in the fall.


I had a professor my senior year who used to cut us a break every now and then with an answer on a test or something. Along with the heads up, he'd always say "You're gonna want to kiss me full on the lips." It cracked me up every time.


With Fall officially here, a friend texted me a few days ago asking if I have a good Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe. Heck yeah I do. Since she brought it up I had to make some. They're so good your kids will eat them and so easy you're gonna want to kiss me full on the lips.

1 package of Spice Cake Mix

1 small can of pure pumpkin (or 1/2 a large can)

mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

Mix together the cake mix powder and the pumpkin. (You can also use a carrot cake mix if you need to.) It might seem like there's not enough moisture to incorporate the cake mix powder, but keep stirring. It will work. Once you have that mixed up, add the mini chips. Bake at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes. That part is a little trial and error, but don't over bake. It ruins them.

Seriously, that's it--3 ingredients. Try them out, then come back and tell me if you're thinking about kissing me.