One week to go

2011-12-18T08:50:00.000-08:00

Well I tired to finish all the painting, decorating, cleaning and cooking before the guest came by last night. I did try but as it often happens, things get in the way!
The tree was up and decorated, the house fairly clean or smelled that way...lysol spray and liquid makes it so. If you can't clean make it smell that way.

The living room painting just didn't get finished. Why did I even believe that i could do it before the party with only 3 days to finish everything? I seem to always take on more than I can really do. I did get the area around the tree and fireplace painted and if you looked in the room with out the bright lights you might think the part not finished was just a shadow. Ok, you'd probably have to have bad eyesight to really think that.

The one thing that did come out great was the prime rib roast that I cooked. I've found that timing is the key. Heat the oven to 550, while the oven is warming, dry off the roast and then with the fat side up add some olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic, salt and pepper for flavor. When the oven is ready put the roast in for 5 minutes per pound for rare. Which is the only way to prime rib. After the roast has done its time, turn off the oven but leave the roast in and don't open the oven for at least 80 minutes. The oven heat will slowly cook and the juices will keep the meat tender. If I must say so myself it was a big hit!!

Now the morning after I'm tired and of course all the cleaning I did yesterday before, I've got to do again. Was it worth it? Yes, we had a great time!

My momma said - Days like this happen

2011-12-16T08:09:00.000-08:00

So this is day one blogging.
Today I'm home working around the house. Who else takes vacation from work to do work at home?
Christmas is coming and I'm not ready!
Yes it comes the same time every year so by now I should know what needs to be done.
I must be like lots of others out there trying to get everything done in a few days.

I still need to shop for presents, get the tree up, decorate, paint (I'll cover that later) and cook for a party tomorrow night.

You're thinking about the paint part aren't you.
Well, I decided after 16 years in the house to have a mantel built for the fireplace. After all its suppose to be the "focal" point in the living room. So the mantel was built and it looks great but the room isn't finished.

I tried to decide on how to make the mantel look like something HGTV would be proud of or maybe Better Homes and Gardens would want to show in the next edition but that wet sand wall color that looked good before just didn't fit anymore.

After hours online looking at pictures in This Old House, BHG, HGTV and DIY I went to the paint store. I stayed there looking at paint options and listening to the football game.

Why does the Sherwin Williams store have a wide screen tv? Why not show HGTV instead of ESPN? Most of the time it was just me the manager and a few customers in and out. Finally, after 2 hours, I decided that matching a color to the wet sand wall just wasn't going to work. I'd repaint the walls. I decided on gray. At least I won't need to repaint the trim...not yet anyway. It's not a real big room. I should be able to finish it in a few hours.

Well we'll see. It's 11:00 and I'm blogging. I have cleaned the porch, the driveway, had my energy drink (strong coffee), walked the dog and took the girl to school.

Got to go. Christmas is coming and I've got to be ready. After all I'm the MOM!

Momma Said

One week to go

My momma said - Days like this happen