Dear Z Gallerie...

Why can't you make this is gray?

This would be perfect for my bedroom. Sigh.

Bag Count 2010

Each year, without fail, Brent and I have one disagreement – how many bags of leaves we rake up throughout the fall. I feel Brent's numbers are too high; he thinks my estimate is too low. So this year, why not count it out and make it official?

We did our first raking this weekend, and we definitely have many more raking dates in our future.

2010 bag count: 10

One thing that has sped up our raking immensely is the Gardex Leaf Scoop. My in-laws got us 2 sets of these several years ago and they are incredible! I can pick up 4 times the amount of leaves with it. The best part – it's only $5.99.

The back door

Story Preface
The deadbolt on our backdoor broke yesterday morning, so I worked from home to "guard" the house.

The Hehe
Brent called me while walking back from lunch and asked "how the back door was." Apparently, some people gave him some weird looks, so he felt the need to clarify for them. That just makes me giggle.


But yeah, so now we have a new lock on our backdoor. I like it so much better, it's nothing special – but it's so much easier to use than our form PITA lock.

Ornament overload

Don't worry – they aren't all for me...

One of my favorite holiday activities, is going to Hallmark with my mom and doing some ornament/gift wrap shopping. Since my mom is a Hallmark employee, I've grown accustom to her 50% discount and my ornament wish list seems to grow each year (as well as the lists from my friends).

Since Hallmark didn't have the rest of their holiday stash out, I'll have to go again next month (darn). :)

My cookware set is complete!

Remember the awesome cookware set I got after hitting up every HomeGoods, TJ Maxx and Marshalls in the Kansas City area?

The only issue was that I was missing the small skillet. Well, yesterday, I found my missing piece at HomeGoods! Sure it took 3 months, but I'm so happy to finally have that little guy.

Wal-Mart gets sexy

I'm still a little shocked by this blog title myself, but it's amazingly true. Check out some of these amazing shower curtains.

Galerie bath shower Curtain - $16:
Royale bath shower curtain - $16:Trellis shower curtain – $24:
Geo shower curtain - $18.88:

I'm rather in love with the first one. I think it would look rather amazing with my brown zebra-print towels.

Car talk

It's been a little crazy in the Miller household.

On Thursday, I drove 90 minutes each way to pick up Louie, a homeless Westie, who shacked up with us for 2 nights. Then today, Brent and I made the 3-hour journey each way to Omaha, so Mr. Louie could be placed into foster care with a volunteer of Little White Dog Rescue. And at the last minute, we transported another dog to a foster home in Omaha as well.

Our car ride companions:

Macintosh:
Chip:
Louie:
Zelda:

My 2010 ornament wishlist

There are some fabulous ornaments out there this year. I am in love! I'm still trying to figure out my list, but here's what I've got so far:

CB2's wire ornament:
Crate & Barrel's herringbone dogs:Crate & Barrel's menswear penguins:
Crate & Barrel's ceramic penguin:
Crate & Barrel's wood carved white Scottie:
Hallmark's Oh So Sweet:
Hallmark's Seasoning's Treatings:
Hallmark's A Fishy Wish:
Hallmark's Snow Happy to Serve:

Houston, we have a light

I went to 4 hardware stores yesterday, and it was all because of light bulbs. Yep, light bulbs were the biggest drama for our new light fixture, not the installation (which only took Brent 45 minutes). The instructions about the light bulb type were wrong, which lead us on a wild goose chase around the city in search for a light bulb no specialty store had. Only later did I discover it was CB2's mistake, when I started reading the reviews.

I'm madly in love with the Firefly Pendant Lamp though – it looks great. I only wish it was about 6 inches longer. Later on, I can see is adjusting the shortest pendants to become the longest – but for now, everything is staying as is.

The cables are still straightening out, but you get the idea. :)

My holiday bah humbug

With as much as I love decorating, I still have yet to figure out why the only holiday I acknowledge decorwise is Christmas.

Don't get me wrong, I love the fall – but not enough to put pumpkins and acorns all over my house. I'm not bias against the fall – I feel the same way about 4th of July, Easter, Valentine's Day, etc. I've just never walked into a store, and seen a fall wreath and thought "yes please."

Maybe I put so much energy and effort into decorating for Christmas each year that I can't summon the strength to seasonally decorate until the following Christmas, maybe it's because I don't have kids, or maybe I'm just bah humbug about non-Christmas holidays.

Each year, when others are so excitedly buying Halloween and Thanksgiving decor, I try to figure out why I have zero interest in doing the same. At one point I thought I had a solid theory – colors. Fall colors don't go with my decor palette, so therefore I don't do it. And Christmas works because I'm all about green, silver and white. This theory was quickly shattered though when I realized this should mean I'm passionate about St. Patrick's Day.

At this point, I'm out of theories, and I'm okay with that. I'd rather spend my money things I can keep out all year long anyway (or what I'm currently spending all my money on – going to a chiropractor 3 times a week*).

I enjoy fall in my own way – with pumpkin bread and pumpkin beer. It's the perfect about of fall for me.

______________________________________________

* Yep, my back and neck are that special. Although, next week I do graduate to only 2 appointments a week. My adjustments are going great so far, and my weekly headache count quickly decreasing.

September's books

Books read in September: 4
Books listened to in September: 2

Books:
55. "The 8th Confession" by James Patterson (Women's Murder Club #8)
56. "The 9th Judgment" by James Patterson (Women's Murder Club #9)
57. "Target Underwear and a Vera Wang Gown" by Adena Halpern
58. "The Extras" by Scott Westerfeld (The Uglies #4)

Audiobooks:
31. "The Pagan Stone" by Nora Roberts (Sign of Seven #3)
32. "A Breathe of Snow and Ashes" by Diana Gabaldon (Outlander #6)

Favorite book: I'm a sucker for the Outlander series, so "A Breathe of Snow and Ashes" definitely wins. If you haven't read this series and enjoy historical fiction – please read these books. They're super long, but rather amazing.

Biggest disappointment: Definitely "The Extras" – I wanted to like this book, because I enjoyed the rest of the series, but this book made me rather miserable.