Hey Mr. Bartender!

We are very happy campers at the Buckeye household.

Want to know why?
Here, let me show you...


Is that not one of the most awesome things you have ever seen in your life?! And OMG Just wait till it is stained!!!


Pretty cabinets and countertop to store all of our bar goodies!
(and the tile? Swoon!)


I'm not gonne lie... that bar is a marvelous work of art.

Oh and what's that behind it?
Why yes, we have a sink (well, not in the pic but it's in there now. and we have water!)
Oh wait, and what's that to the right? Uh huh, yes. You would be correct. The kegarator is in, it's set up, and wouldn't you know the keg was being tapped when I came home.

I might be having a slight love affair with that red wall back there. I'm totally in love.

Like I said... happy camper.

Here

That's pretty much it for today.

I'm here. Still thinking about friends and terrible tragedies that are happening around us.

Luckily I did not come home to Animal House last night. And was rather surprised at the transformation just yesterday. But I'll just tease you with that and share photos tomorrow.

My heart is just heavy today. In more ways than one.

Trying to fill myself with happy thoughts. But life can sure be a bummer sometimes.

But I'll keep chanting a mantra that I learned from Ms. Britt


Photo borrowed from CutPastePrint Etsy Shop

Terrible Sadness

I know that I typically limit myself to a post a day. Keeping up with that is hard enough. But I'm so compelled by my friend Mandy's post that I'd like to send you, my 10 lovely readers and hopefully more, over there to read.

A Small Act of Kindness

I couldn't have said it better even if I tried to.

My heart is literally shattered in a milliion pieces. Even though we've yet to meet in this lifetime, I'm more affected by most of these women than some I've known my whole life. It's been a fabulous 4 years growing and learning with these women and I'm thankful to see that we can reach out to each other and be there to help when we need to. It pains me that we have come to this, I'd never wish it upon anyone in the world, but I'm grateful for the community that has brought me many loves over the years.

Please go read, and if you can help.

And if you can just say a little prayer and give your loved ones hugs tonight.

Thanks

Frat Party

I'm living in a house with 4 other guys this week... and look what is now sitting in my garage:

All I gotta say is I better not come home to this:

borrowed from Teezila

Am I right?

Dancing on the Ceiling

Well, not yet. But soon!

The ceiling tile and grid were delivered yesterday. Bob set to work and got it all laid out and hung! We were able to place out where we wanted out lights to go so when Dave gets here today he can get right to working. We aren't wasting any time here people! You come here to help and we put you to work! (Again though, I can't say enough how amazing all of the guys are. Truly amazing and we seriously couldn't have done it without their help.)

I look forward to going home every day and seeing the room literally evolve before my eyes.

Remember what the bar looked like before? Here it is as of last night:

please ignore ugly purple paint to the left. (crazy how purple it is am I right?!)

We decided against the pendant lights. We bought 2 different ones to test them out and we just aren't feeling it. They would either hang too high and look weird, or too low and smack you in the head while you sit and try to enjoy your beverage. We are opting for recessed lights here as well and placing them so that they illuminate behind the bar as well as the counter. But not shine directly on the stools. It will look much cleaner without the pendants hanging also. I'm cool with it.

Our bathroom is really coming together too! I picked a new vanity light last night that we are much happier with. The other would have been insanely bright like you were using the facilities during a police interrogation. The vanity and toilet should be in place today I think.


And wow. Here is some tile. I love love love love LOVE them! I can't wait to see them all in and the can lights shining down. (and the paint? can we say MUCH BETTER?!)

And rumor has it that the kegarator has been delivered and Mr. Buckeye already has the CO2 Tank in the car to be filled up today...

Paint and Tile and Toast Oh My!

It was a very productive weekend at the Buckeye household. We got so much done! (I use the term "We" very lightly.... it was actually all the Mr. and his dad while I watched all the DVR and Olympics that I could.)

Lots! of tile was laid this week. All the tile in fact. Grouting is being done this morning.

Mr. and his dad were so meticulous! I'm amazed at the work that they have done.





At least the tile went somewhat smoothly. There was a bit of drama regarding the paint though. Drama being me of course. We had ultimately decided to go with Polished Pewter. We though that Artic Stone did end up looking too blue, and yet Silver dust looked too purple. so Polished Pewter it was. Luckily, P's dad had the primer color matched so I got to see what the room would look like with the primer on the walls. O.M.G. It was a "mood ring" kind of shade. One minute it's gray, the next it's this pastel shade of lavender. That was most definitely not going to work. We went back to the Depot and bought a sample of Pebble Gray. Convinced this was the color I said let's roll with it. Only to find out the next morning it was terribly dark and had a greenish tint to it.



The walls here are Polished Pewter and that rectangle is Pebble Gray... you can't tell in the pics but they are pretty much green and purple. Yuck.

I got so terribly upset at my inability to pick a color that I had to call in for reinforcements. My mom came over and calmly got me to reaccess the color situation. Looking through the color swatches we have now decided on Repose Gray. A Sherwin Williams color that the Depot was able to match with the formula. The walls have now almost been painted and I'm much happier. If anything the new color has more brown undertones but it is warm and I think the tile and the bar will really bring it all together. Oh yeah, and it doesn't change color on me. Gray all the way.

One bright happy spot is the bathroom. I'm in love. I feel terrible that it's already taken 4 coats of paint but seriously. I am totally in love. And the tile. It looks just awesome. The bathroom may be my favorite part of the basement as of right now.



So for all of their hard work this weekend I rewarded the guys with Emily's Best French Toast on the Planet Recipe. It did not dissappoint- They both had seconds.



You should make this for breakfast. But plan on wearing sweatpants the rest of the day.

Happy Monday!

Olympic Part 1

Complete!

I finished up my Gretel last night. I adore this hat. I'm absolutely loving the tubular cast on (not actually doing it, but the result) it's not too stretchy and really holds the ribbing in place. I doubt it will stretch as much as my Star Crossed Beret does- and that's a good thing!

Mr Buckeye is back in town so he is basement bound with his dad today... and tomorrow... and Sunday :)

I can't wait to see the transformation just over the weekend. Already the bathroom has been sanded and primed (ready for that fabulous Red Delicious Paint) and the living space walls will be sanded and most likely primed today as well. In other great news, the billiard light came in and it is beautiful. We were surprised to see that the finish wasn't so much "Pewter" as it said, and more Brushed Nickel, which is exactly what we wanted!

This weekend will be some staining of the bar, laying tile in the bathroom and hopefully by the bar, paint, paint, and more paint! Then we will be all ready for the others to come down next week to lay the grid, ceiling tiles, and lights!

Exciting!

(OH! I have my 2nd quilt class tomorrow also. I'm super excited for that too! )

Olympics

Knitting Olympics that is :)

Warning: this post is all about knitting and has lots of pictures. :)

I was lucky enough to be a part of my first knitting Olympics this year at Lambikins Hideaway.

See, the way it works is that during the Olympics (Summer or Winter) the knitters and crocheters of the world get together and host their own version of this awesome event. What happens is everyone picks their "olympic projects." It must be a challenge, it must be something that you think you can complete in the 2 weeks Olympic time, and it must be something that YOU pick, oh and it can't be started until the Opening Ceremonies.

(You can "train" by knitting up swatches and figuring out your needle sizes and gauge though, but no casting on for the actual project!)

Lambikins hosted an Olympic Party, there was lots of great food to eat, and 2 events that we could compete in that night!

First up was Blindfolded Knitting.


That's Leslie- She's a hoot.


This is Mindy, she's totally focused.


A sampling of the blindfolded Knitting. Hallie's is the orange one, mine is the pink one, and Donna... poor Donna. Hers is the bottom one. She had a terrible ribbon to work with and well, it didn't turn out quite like the rest of ours. But that's okay. She still rocks at lace!!


The medal winners. Hallie (Gold) Genevieve (Silver) Me (Bronze)

After a bit more snacking it was time for speed knitting. Now since Leslie and Genevieve are the 2 fastest knitters this side of the Mississippi, they had to be handicapped just a little bit. They were given this Hairy, difficult to work with eyelash yarn. Christina said GO! and I took off, knitting faster than my eyes could see (I kid, but for reals, I was quick!)

The results of my speed knitting race. It's a Beer Sweater!


I was so quick I won the Gold Medal!!!
Hallie popped up right at the same time as Genevieve (Silvers), followed closely by Leslie (Bronze)


We then spent the rest of the time watching the Opening Ceremonies on TV, eating, and chatting and just having a really fun time.

Until I had to frog my Gretel Hat. After only doing 5 rows... that took me about 2 hours.

But that's okay, I've recovered and am progressing quite nicely. Hopefully Gretel will be finished tonight and I can cast on for my Burberry Inspired Cowl to match.

Here's Gretel. A lovely cabled Slouchy Hat in my favorite MMMMalabrigo. The color is called Pearl. It looks Gray in the photo but it is actually a combination of gray, purple, blue, pink, green. Pretty much like a pearl! I love love it and can't wait to have a matching set to wear!



And has everyone seen the US Olympic Moose Hat? Well, I found the pattern on Ravelry and I really really want one too... so I may have to fit this into my schedule over the next week. (Lesley already got hers done! I'm so jealous!)



I mean really... how awesome is that hat?!?!

White Chili

Had 3 of my 4 best girls over for Girl's Night last night. Unfortunately, mom couldn't make it. She certainly missed out! I made an awesome White Chili/Chicken soup/ bowl of deliciousness. And I had just enough leftovers so that I oculd bring for work!

I kid you not, this recipe was so incredibly awesome and easy. (made even easier by the fact that I used a can of chicken!) Whipped it up in less than 30 minutes and let it simmer away till we were ready. Served with some shredded Monterey Jack cheese and Sour Cream. It was unbelievably delicious and I have proof. Vickie, who doesn't like beans, went for seconds! And she didn't pick the beans out!

So now that I've got you al salivating and wishing you had a bowl of white chili I'll share what I did. I sort of mixed 2 recipes. The Pioneer Woman and a good friend's recipe. And come to find out there was another similar recipe on the back of the bean can.

My recipe had approx 10 1 cup servings.

1 can of chicken breast (it's what I had- I cut it up into chunks) or you can use about 1 lb of chicken cooked whatever way you want.
1 Large can of chicken broth (Mine was a 6 cup can- low sodium)
1 can of Cream of Chicken Soup (Healthy Request please!)
1/2 large yellow or vidalia onion (or a medium one)
1 can of green chiles- you can used diced but they are more expensive and hey, you'll have your knife out so just run it through the chiles too!
4 cloves of garlic- minced
Olive Oil- just enough to cook the onions and chiles and garlic
2 cans of Great Northern Beans
1/2 tsp Cayenne Pepper
3/4 tsp Oregano
1.5 T Cumin
couple shakes of red pepper flakes

Dice the onions- Mince the garlic. Cook together in about 1-2 T of olive oil until onions are translucent. While they are cooking, dice up the chiles (or open the can of already diced ones if you went that way) add to the pan and continue cooking another couple of minutes.

Add chicken broth and chicken soup to a pot (or crockpot) stir together. Add Cooked Chicken. Open beans and rinse thoroughly. Toss those into the pot. Add the Onion/Garlic/Chiles. Stir together. Now season as you'd like! I used the above amounts (give or take) of the spices. If you like it a little spicier, you could chop up a jalepeno and cook when you add the chiles.

I let it cook together for about 45 minutes on the stove.

Served with (grated by me!) Monterey Jack cheese and Low Fat Sour Cream.

It is so delicious! I swear! and not heavy like regular tomato/beef chili. Not terribly spicy, just warm you up, fill you up, bowl of excellence.

Please try it. You'll love it!

Disclaimer- This is probably not really even chili- I'd almost argue it's more of a chicken soup since it's not thick and has broth (but the broth- oh! it's fantastic!) but it's my blog and I'll call it what I want :)

When Will It Stop!

I'm over the snow. It was fun in the beginning but it needs to be gone!

Since the hubs is out of town this week, the snow clearing duties fell on me yesterday. I am so glad I learned how to use the snowblower last week! Makes clearing the driveway a snap and it's actually kind of fun :)

I give you the before... you can't tell but that is approx 5 inches of snow on the driveway.

and after my handywork! That Snapper is my new best freind :)


We didn't bring the patio furniture in this winter... oops!

Chloe was curious for about 3.2 seconds before she touched the snow, shivered, then hauled ass to the register to get warm again.

Hope you are all staying warm and dry out there!

LOVE-ly Weekend

Yes, it was.

We had a fabulous Valentine's Day weekend- how about you?

Friday night was the Olympic Opening Ceremony- more on this later, because I did something a little different this year- unfortunately for Mr. Buckeye, I wasn't at home to watch with him but that's okay because he was working away in his office anyway.

Saturday was quite a whirlwind. Here and gone before we knew it. We actually bought almost everything we need to finish the basement! Breakdown of Saturday's shop-o-rama:

Kegarator!!! (He is already trying to determine what shall fill the inaugural keg!)
Billiard Light (we went with my first choice :) )
Bathroom Vanity, Mirror, Toilet, TP Holder, Towel Ring\
Red Delicious Paint for the bathroom
Lights- for the Bathroom as well as above the bar
A couple more can lights for the ceiling
Baffles (the part that surrounds the lights)

It was highly successful and our haul is now stacked in the garage waitiing to be installed. I can't believe we will be mostly done in 2 weeks!

Saturday night was ended with our annual dinner at PF Changs and a cheesy movie. Yes, we saw Valentine's Day. And I thought it was cute, but he wasn't all that thrilled. I think part of it had to do with the fact that we are old fogeys and hadn't been to a movie at 10pm since we were like 18. Sheesh. We were almost falling asleep towards the end- HA!

Sunday was exhausting yet again, but we made another purchase! Yes, ladies and gentlemen of the interwebz, we bought the tile. We ran over to Lowe's hoping and praying that we could find something, and sure enough we did! And it was really well priced to boot! It's a porceline gray tile that almost looks like a stained concrete/stone. It has a little bit of texture and some color variation that we think will look phenomenal around the bar and in the bathroom. All we have left to pick out now is carpet!

Once we got settled back in at home aroun 7, this is how the rest of my night went:

Cup of Hot Chocolate, my Knitting Olympic Project, and the Olympics. Great time if you ask me!


Oh wait, I knew I was forgetting something, it didn't seem quite right...


Much Better.

Friday... Thank Goodness!

WOOT! We finally made it to friday. Hope everyone is ready for the weekend, I know we sure are!

Remember that funny picture I mentioned yesterday? Well, here it is... the first one I took, Chloe had Laser Eyes so I had to take another and unfortunately she isn't looking at the camera. Oh well. I still think it is hilarious. The guys were just hanging out on the couch watching TV and look who jumped up to join them! haha

Cute right? And she did the same thing last night! Hopped right up there and nestled right in.

So now that I've got your attention with all the cuteness, I need your opinion.

Paint.

The bathroom is going to be red. The main room is going to be gray. This part I know. My problem is which gray?

http://www.glidden.com/inspiration/color-catalog.do

Go there...

Reds- Page 14. Red Delicious (shown in the big photo), say hello to the bathroom color. I'm good with that.

Neutrals- Page 44. Artic Stone or Silver Dust (shown in the photo on left) HELP!!!

C'mon out of the woodwork peoples. Let me know which color you like better.

We are leaning towards one but I won't tell you which...

Thanks in advance!

Happy Friday!

Tired

I am tired.

I want to go back to bed.

The basement is chuggin' along. There may be more progress on the bar today as all that's really left is the drywall layers- and those take time to dry. Then the ceiling grid can be laid and the lights and tiles can be put in. And then there's the floor- which hopefully we can pick this weekend. And the light fixtures- for the bathroom and the bar. We were potentially thinking of skinny hangy downy lights to go over the bar?

ETA:
After looking them up apparently they are called pendant lights?

Something like these?

Maybe 2 on the long side of the bar and 1 on the short side? Not sure.

We will have a break in work next week- figure the women in their lives might appreciate it if we give them up for a week :)

I took a hilarious (IMO) of the guys and their new best friend, Chloe. But stupid tired me, left the camera at home this morning so I can't share it with you. Maybe later.

In other news, I'm still knitting, just a little bit.

And I'm tired.

Just to add- I love my state. and I love my School. Check out what some students did during snOMG! 2010

That, my friends, is awesome!

Drywall and Mud and Lights Oh My!

What I came home to on Monday-

Holy Drywall Batman!


Again, with the dust! Ick.


And Tuesday:




And we have picked out 2 lights for the pool table. Though we haven't made a final decision.

I liked this one:

He likes this one:

and there is this variation but it is noted as "Bronze" and we don't know how we feel about that.



Luckily they all would hook up the same so the guys can run the lightbox without us having made the final decision yet.

snOMG! Please stop snowing or cancel work!

Seriously- snOMG came back last night. and it still heaving down on us.

Basement progress- It looks like a totally different basement! There is drywall everywhere and it looks beautiful. Pictures updated later today since alas the camera is at home and I was too lazy to post last night.

Question-
The walls are going to be painted a really pretty light gray. (think Silver Dust)
WTH do I do about carpet color???
I don't want something almost white(eek stains!)
I want something durable and yet still comfy to walk on and help keep the room warm.
But what color???
We are also doing a dark gray stone like tile around the bar and the wood in the room is white for the trim and doors but the pool table and bar will be a Black Cherry stained Oak.

I want it all to flow and look nice together. Is that too much to ask?

Please help!

Back to Work

Construction resumes today and I'm hoping to see drywall up when I get home from work. We had a fairly relaxing weekend and enjoyed the company of great friends on Saturday.

I did manage to get in just a little bit of knitting, just enough to satisfy me for the week. That Celtic Cable Neckwarmer? It's done :) I actually didn't get to work on it at all on Saturday so I plunked down on the couch during the Super Bowl and knit away. Had to tear out the last 8 rows because I had way too much yarn leftover so I added more cables to use up more yarn and make it longer.

The ends have been woven in and all it needs is a nice blocking to give it a more even shape and some buttons.

But it does fit! And I think it's pretty cute. Should look great under my red pea coat with my cream beret.

Ignore the Double Pointed Needle that I'm using to pin it together. Hopefully I can find some cute natural brown/leather buttons this week and sew those babies on.

Here is a more accurate pic of the color- the lighting was terrible when I took those above pics! It's not nearly as "yellow" as it appears up there. It's more heavy cream than yellow cake in color.

A little bit of knitting... and some other stuff

So Emily demanded that I take more pictures to share. Of both the home improvement and the knitting (if I got any done) So of course I'm happy to oblige.

The guys hard at work on Wed. night- see the dust specs flashing in my camera?

P envisioning his bar- again with the dust!

How we left it Wednesday night. The magnificent hole had been filled in, the bathroom (that stuff on the far right) had been framed and electrical run, and the front of the bar framed and the "bar back" framed. Steps still look the same.


And this is what I came home to yesterday! The steps were turned, the bar is built, all electric run to the bar (gotta have a place to plug in the mixer!!) and OMG they swept the floors! Not much dust at all!!!

Can I just say how much I love love the new landing? They put a half wall that runs down the stairs and even with the one step down. It's perfect and will allow for a better flow into the room so we didn't just have a wall that randomly stopped. it's created a little cubby at the end of the bar between the steps and the bar. P has claimed that little "nook" as his favorite spot in the basement.

Even Chloe wanted to check things out... she is that (giant) black and white spot at the top of the steps- seriously, she has a weight problem (18ish lbs?). She's a little sensitive about it.Best not to mention it.

And yes, I did get some knitting done. I didn't want to start anything big since the knitting Olympics are starting in a week. But I wanted something I hadn't done before and I wanted to try and use from my stash. So hopefully I have enough left over from my Slouchy Beret so make this Celtic Neckwarmer. I got 50 rows done and actually managed to read from the chart.

When it's done it should look something like this:

by stormmoonknits Flickr

To quote Britt: snOMG! is on it's way. We are expecting somewhere between 4 and 12 inches of snow. I've heard 4-8, I've heard 6-12... who knows what will happen. I don't care either way, but please don't let it be icy!