Wednesday Confession: I have stopped cooking

I started grad school right around the same time that Cohabitant started the WORST shift schedule EVER. Fortunately, he starts a new shift in eight days. We are counting down. 

With night class twice a week, and night work twice a week, and Cohabitant working a horrible shift, I have almost stopped cooking entirely. 

Thank goodness for Trader Joe's or we would starve. Well, we wouldn't. We love food way too much to starve. We would probably exist on a diet solely consisting of bread, cheese, peanut butter, and candy (+5 adult points). 

Here's an abridged list of our favorite Trader Joe's products, in case you have also stopped cooking. 

From the refrigerated section: basil and white bean hummus, Mediterranean hummus, spicy hummus, triple cream brie

From the shelves: naan, boxed soups (butternut squash...mmm), pita bite crackers, nuts

From the frozen section (this is where TJ's excels): multigrain blend with vegetables (pro-tip: heat up with any of the frozen products with sauce), polenta provencale, creamy polenta with spinach and carrots, gorgonzola gnocchi, beef and green chile/cheese tamales, falafel (pro-tip: refrigerate the day before use and add to salads--I use hummus with olive oil and balsamic to dress), spinach/kale/feta pie, mac'n'cheese bites (for when you have company...or depression), Gone Bananas!


I love me some TJ's and I'm so excited the store made it to Colorado around the same time I made my return. Now the state really truly is almost perfect. Now, those temperatures yesterday? Those I could do without.

House Exterior

I met my best friend in college. We were freshman roommates. And then we broke the 'the shalt not room with thine best friend' rule and were senior roommates.


In high school she went to Colorado to visit potential colleges. Fortunately for me, she ended up in Oregon. But, unfortunately for me, she loathed Colorado from the start. And I have to say, I agree with her assessment.


Colorado is the land of purple mountains, amber grains, wide blue skies...and beige.


Beige is the color of choice. It's everywhere. Interior. Exterior. And it drives my bestie insane.


Which is why as soon as we moved into our house, I knew we were going to make some changes if I ever hoped to convince her to visit.

It only took about five months to finally make some paint decisions (and convince my cohabitant that citrus green is a GREAT idea for a front door). We kept it low(er) budget and labor by painting just the trim and front door.

And. I. Love. It.

Post-Christmas Christmas Tour

This was our first Christmas in our house.


It was kind of a big deal.


I hosted a cookie decorating party. And then I failed to take a single picture. I baked for two days. There were adorable children. Friends drove from over an hour away. And I was so busy that I didn't take pictures. NOT A SINGLE ONE. I'll know better next year.


I was so excited to have people over. So I started decorating. And my cohabitant was being driven insane. He just doesn't quite understand the thrill of Christmas. He's learning.

I cut a ton of snowflakes from coffee filters. The went on the windows. They went in the hallway. They went in frames. They went in garland.

I made a cover for our one (yes, we only had one) throw pillow. I was pretty proud of it.

Then my mom gave me the best early Christmas present. And utterly showed me up. No, those pillows are not a part of the #iwokeuplikethis movement. She made them. Zippers and all. Amazing.

The dogs think they are theirs. (yes, that's a dog on top of a dog, on top of a pillow)

We decorated the tree. Our tree is filled with ornaments that actually mean something. My tree is not styled. It is a journal entry, and I can tell you exactly why we have every single ornament.

(It's a trophy that says "not last." I wasn't the world's greatest athlete, but I tried. And my family has a sense of humor about it.)


Surfaces received little vignettes a la the Dollar Tree, and leftover decor from our wedding.

This guy was found on Pinterest. You can even print out a template to make it (I didn't because I never clicked through the link...oops.)

Since there isn't a chimney, I had to make a place for our stockings. I even decorated the 'mantle' with homemade mini quilts, but when those sold on my Etsy, the mantle went bare. My mom made all of the stockings. Mine has been mine since I was very wee, and the others she's made as I've acquired family. You can tell my cohabitant is the favorite since his stocking is at least 2x bigger than mine.

We don't have an outlet outside, so I got creative on the exterior decorations. Maybe *fingers crossed* Santa will bring us an electrician next year.

Lest you think it was all a great decorating success, here is my snowflake hallway now. The steam from the shower in the adjacent bathroom was just too much for these guys to handle. RIP.

I love Christmas. I will probably cry when I take it all down. But, I will have to rearrange some of the furniture. And there is almost nothing better in the whole world than rearranging furniture.

Ceiling Fans

The word 'ceiling' is the ultimate i-before-e-except-after-c example. It leads with a punch. It smacks you in the face and declares its unique, dangerous side.


That's exactly what my two ceiling fans didn't do when we moved in. How many ways can we say boring, outdated and ugly?

One day I couldn't take it anymore. They're in the big living room above my couch. Above my dining table. They span my entire great room.


So, I did what any reasonable person would do.


I walked to the utility closet and took out the only can of paint we have that isn't some version of not-white. I took the light diffuser, bulbs, and blades off. I dragged the ladder in from the shed. And I painted.

Maybe fans shouldn't really be teal. And I definitely am on the hunt for new glass bowls that aren't amber (yuck).

But now I can sit on my couch in peace. And that is a great thing.