• My husband was out of town.
• I slept in way too long.
• I finally managed to catch the poor stray cat that has been (loudly) freezing to death outside our house.
• I lost my cell phone under a pile of laundry.
• I drove the cat to the shelter and sort of got lost on the way there.
• I didn’t get to go shopping with K because of the feline situation…and sort of the getting lost situation…
• I swept the entire first floor and mopped to get rid of all the sand and salt and nasty winter stuff.
• I tried to train the dog to use his new dog bed. It went poorly:

• …and then all of a sudden it went well:

• And then it went poorly again:

• And then, when I decided to call it a night, I hastily grabbed the dog bed off the mantel to head upstairs.
• And then this happened:

• And then I may have cried a little.

• Then I swept the floor again.
• And promptly went to bed.

Today is going much better

Amping up for Monday,

Isn’t it pretty, sitting there on the mantel?

Oh wait…did I say he loved it? Well, it’s a tough kind of love – the kind of love where you chew and rip things apart as fast as you can. After removing several large hunks of the inner foam, his bed was taken away.

This has pretty much been my day:

He seems truly sorry.

But that’s just because you can’t hear the growling.

Still finding pieces of foam,

1. I am a slacker.

2. We had a blizzard. I know, technically this affects J too. However, she and I used to suffer through the same thirty-miles-through-the-open-country commute, but she got a new job closer to home. And left me to make the treacherous drive alone. My commute this week has been epically horrible. Two hours of white-knuckle driving to go thirty miles is NOT my style. I may have said some curse words, and I definitely cried. Lame.

3. Last weekend the SECOND iBook G4 charger we have used started on fire. Yes, this has happened twice. At least this time it wasn’t sitting on my beautiful bedspread. Just my leg. You know, priorities. Hence we are down to one computer, and it is G’s work computer. He doesn’t share well. Something about having to do actual work…..

I could go on, but I won’t subject you to that. The point is, I’M BACK BABY! Let’s decorate something. Stay tuned, I’ll dig up some eye candy for you….

Love,

Unfortunately, we all know how that would turn out….

Still dreaming big,

Yes, that is the persistently elegant capiz chandelier that both K and I have in our homes. The only difference is that mine is a beautiful muted green color and hers is a lucious white. Oh, and there’s the whole giant bulldozer thing in my yard. Putting in apartment buildings. Right. Behind. My. Home.

Anyway. Just focus on the pretty chandelier. That’s what I’ve been doing.

All that to say – sorry for any inconvenience yesterday if you had trouble navigating the site. We were semi under construction. My ultra-talented bro-in-law moved Homage to a fancy new server. While the posts may not improve, everything will move faster now!

And, for your troubles, here’s a picture of Murray as he snoozes on his couch corner:

Much love and no bull(dozing),

K and I hosted a small Halloween party last night. A few close friends and most of my family were involved – and everyone had at least some semblance of a costume.

K worked her magic with the decorating…

…while I stuck with what I know best, eatingpreparing food. These oreo truffles were a smash hit:

And, the pièce de résistance, spooky ghost meringues!

Oh, wait. Did you think those were my little sweet ghosts? They aren’t. That’s the photo from Heidi Swanson’s recipe. Unfortunately, meringue has proven to be out of my league.

Exhibit A:

He looks like a sad, arctic peep. Or, bird poop. Neither particularly cute nor appetizing.

And, the really pathetic part is that it took me about 2.5 hours to create these little piles of misery. I whisked and whisked, and yet the egg whites never rose. Stiff peaks eluded me. After an hour, I gave up and piped these guys out, watching as they slowly folded in on themselves.

I baked them, hoping that maybe looks wouldn’t indicate taste. They still had a chance. To let them completely dry out, I left them in the oven after I had turned it off.

And then…and then…..I forgot they existed. K asked me to preheat the oven for her brownies, and I happily obliged. Minutes later, the charming smell of burnt meringue filled the air.

I managed to get them out before they turned brown or crumbled, but they were already cracked and brittle. They were never meant to be.

It was a Halloween tragedy, which, I suppose, is fitting.

This one was taunting me:

Just keepin’ it real over here at Homage, and letting you know that no one’s perfect. (Right? Right? Please, tell me I’m not the only one who has ever fried a dumpy meringue ghost…)

Hope your weekend was spooky,

Perhaps it is the gaping hole in my basement window caused by a massive windstorm. Naturally it’s the window that faces the street so the neighbors (and any potential criminals) can enjoy it as well.

Please note the wicker pumpkin, Target clearance tag still intact, waiting patiently on the top shelf for its starring role in my fall decor. And kindly disregard the filthiness of the surrounding window. Maybe it shattered in protest.

Or it could be how disastrous my attempt at window box gardening is proving to be. Lush and flowing it is not.

The overflowing mess in the corner of my bedroom certainly doesn’t help.

At least I am blocking the view from the neighbors with the heinous powder blue mini blinds we inherited from the previous owners TWO YEARS AGO (I’m on the hunt for white roman shades…..)

Speaking of the view, could it be more lovely than this?

No, this isn’t the dump. It’s my backyard, mid-renovation (more to come…)

And finally, yet another way this yard betrays me. My peony bush, the flower I love more than any other, REFUSES to bloom. This is its second season post transplant and, despite looking more lush and healthy than ever before, not a bud in sight the entire month of May.

Just keepin’ it real, people.

Love,