Category / Scottie

by Talmadge House

Grouchy, Working Out, Organization & Well Just Bitchy!

The title is the multiple personalities I’ve had going on for a week or so now . . . muahaha!  I do think the warmer temps we had this past weekend lifted a couple of those personalities from my repertoire . . . Thank God for that!  I couldn’t stand being around myself much less how poor Mike must’ve been feeling.  I’m reminded that it’s that time of year when all these personalities surface AKA “The Winter Blues”.  I don no if that’s really the case but there seems to be validity to the time line.  Annyy Way . . . it was a nice feeling to experience 50 degree weather again  . . .  we’ve been stuck in arctic temps for what seems like months now.

For us it was like spring, we did several hours of work in the garage with the door WIDE open taking in the fresh air, we rinsed off the vehicles (oh God looked like we’d been driving through gigantic mud puddles), we were going to take Scottie for a walk but decided against it as he would’ve been a wet muddy mess.  I really wish someone would open an indoor pet park so us snow ridden people could walk our pets in comfort and little mess.  Here’s a pic of Mike & Scottie from last  weekend when we took Scottie for a walk and YEP he was a mess by the end ugghh!

We’ve been on a steady progression of re-organization around here and it feels good.  It’s invigerating to throw away things that have no life left in them, donate the other junk and find things you’ve been missing and couldn’t find.  Spring cleaning has started early for the Talmadge House as we know that once Spring does FINALLY arrive our boat will be monopolizing all of our time.  Two margarita’s Up to sunnier warmer days ahead!

by Talmadge House

Calling All Laundering Diva’s

Wanted to share one of the BEST pet detergents I’ve found on the market.  Sold by The Laundress, a trendy NY City Company.  It has a soft baby scent and amazingly removes all pet hair.  I’m astounded by the results and am an indebted customer.

Don’t ya just love keeping your pets bedding and clothing clean, soft and smelling like a baby?  I know I do but then again I’m a Laundering Diva and our dog is umm yeah . . . spoiled to the core!

I recently ventured into trying their whites detergent.   Juries still out on this particular product but I have no reservation that it will stand strong to the test.  They’re having a sale that ends today YES TODAY (1/15/09) so hurry to get 15% off.  Must enter “newyear09” at time of checkout.

by Talmadge House

A Little Cuteness and A Short Funny Story

Here’s The Cuteness ~ Simply Adorable Cuteness With Brown Eyes Sweet As Chocolate.  Speaking of chocolate, I just finished a cup of Starbuck’s Peppermint Hot Chocolate and threw the cup in my studio trash (small trash can that’s easily accessible to short little animals or those 2-legged children).  Well I heard rummaging to my right and what do you know this cute furry thing is trying to lick the remnants of hot chocolate.  Darn it I can’t even put trash in the trash around here ~ HA!

K . . . now the short funny story ~

We’re having dinner out tonight and there’s music playing but not too awefully loud.  It’s at a level were you can hear one another talk ~ well with exception of Mike ~ he’s either got cabbage in his ears or I’ve got a mouth full of cabbage.  Still haven’t decided where the cabbage was but the conversation went like this:

Me:  You’re new diamond cut jeans were delivered by the UPS man today.

Mike:  Yeah, I saw that . . . they’re too long though

Me:  Those jeans you wore today are too big, I’m going to sell them on Ebay.

Mike:  HUH?  “How was the horse you ate today?”  LOL

Me:  You’re such a dork!

Now how in the world did he get that statement out of what I really said?  Get that cabbage out of your ears boy!  Thank you for stopping by our corner of the world, until next time Good Night.

by Talmadge House

Apple Freaks!

HA!  Ya’ll know how much Apple people do love their “Apple Products” right?  et hem (that’s how i spell the clearing of my throat) . . . Apple freaks do exist in this house and we received another Mac Toy today.

MacBook 2.4GHz 4GB RAM, 250GB

What’s up with all that jargon anyways?  Couldn’t the tech industry define their hard-drive size by comparing it to lets say an eight cylinder engine?  It’d make more sense to me if they did.

I now know our UPS man thinks I’m a total freak!  “Hey mister UPS man can you strike a pose?”  HA . . . as if it were bad enough to ask him for one picture I made him strike a pose for a second just to ensure I got a good shot.  As if this man doesn’t have a delivery schedule!  He gave me permission to post his picture here but not before seeing it first.  I’m serious . . . he asked to see the pictures.

And here are the real Apple Freaks . . . and this gives ya’ll another view of my studio.  You’ll eventually get to see the entire thing.  (cheesy grin)

by Talmadge House

Happy 38th Birthday Mikey!

We celebrated Mike’s 38th birthday yesterday.  He received a couple of nice gifts if I might say so myself and we dined at the Outback which was alright.  The company and atmosphere was superb however the choice in food not so much.  We’ll get something different next time.

My birthday guy and our buddy wrapped up on the couch for their evening cuddling

A few other pics from the weekend blizzard . . . look how much snow fell on us!

And for good measure another picture of Scottie in his snow trail that his daddy so nicely snow blows for him.  He’d really have  hard time getting around otherwise.  Look how deep it is compared to his little body.

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve and I’m so excited!  Here’s what our tree looks like . . . before we swiped her up at the tree farm.  She’s a little thing isn’t she . . . PERFECT!

by Talmadge House

Drum Roll Please . . . We Have a Winner

And the winner of the Talmadge House “spirit of the season giveaway” is . . . . . . . .

MY SISTER BRIDGET

And the crowd roars . . . I can hear the shrilling screams of joy coming from her already.  Congrats Bridget!!!  I’ll put it in the mail tomorrow morning  (12/18) with Priority shipping so you can enjoy through the rest of the season.  Thank you to everyone who played along.  It was so nice to read about everyone’s traditions.  Simply divine!  Don’t you just love this time of year!  This was a lot of fun so I’m thinking we’ll have another giveaway in January.  Hmmm . . . what will I make for the next giveaway.  Keep your eyes peeled.

Alrighty then here are a few miscellaneous pictures from the last week of our lives.

Me and my mother-in-law Carol.  We all went to The Nutcracker of which Carla played a part in.  Loved this show!  Gorgeous costumes and divine music performed by The Danbury Symphony Orchestra.  Carla, the only picture of you and your girlfriends that turned out was the one you were talking in and I think you’d kill me if I posted it.  So you’re stuck with me and Carol’s pic instead.

And the man of all men . . . ooo la la.  Check out that smile/smurk on his face . . . I’ll just say it again ooo la la!  Picture taken the other day when we took Scottie for a walk at the marina.  Nice green trailer behind him huh?  Love this marina, so homey and down to earth!

Listen guys I know I take too many pictures of this dog of ours but really though how many of you can say you have a picture of your dog doing this?  You name it, I’ve probably got it.  Hysterical! This too was taken while at the marina.  SMILE SCOTTIE YOU’RE ON CAMERA!  Watch out when I’m around with the camera . . .  I’ll catch you doing something funky and am bound to post it here.  HA!

by Talmadge House

In the spirit of giving “A Free Giveaway”

Attention all friends and family . . . In the spirit of Christmas Talmadge House presents a giveaway of an advent calander handmade by me.  You can tuck the calendar into one of your Christmas displays or lean up against something on your desk.  I borrowed the idea from Jenni Bowlin who designs and sells all things pretty.  Isn’t that picture of the children and santa vintagy?  It’s circa 1940’s of my Uncle David, Uncle Gary and Aunt Ruth.  My Aunt Alicia and my mom call Mr Santa “The Sexy Santa”.  I think they’re right . . . our santa’s today don’t look like this one.  Although if you look at his eyes and the grip he has on my aunt he looks a bit scared.  I’m thinking my uncles bribed him for whatever it was they wanted for Christmas and told him they’d give him up if he didn’t make it happen (little devils).

So there’s only one so only person can win and here’s what you need to do to qualify.  You must subscribe to our blog (Talmadge House) which is very easy and I’ll describe in a minute.  The second thing you must do is leave a comment telling us one of your families Christmas Traditions.  Don’t have a tradition then tell us your favorite Christmas movie.  Comment section is at the end of this post.  If you’ve already subscribed then all you have to do is leave a comment as noted above.

Alrighty then . . . so onto those needing help subscribing to our blog.  Look to the top right of this post and you’ll see a red square with a gold door knob (this is actually our front door of which you’ll see on all of our pages . . . you can click on it and it will take you back to the home page otherwise known as the front door, clever huh?)  OK so right below our red door is a field where you enter your email address and then select the “subscribe” button.  You will receive an email (from confirmations @ emailenfuego .com) asking if you really want to subscribe to Talmadge House’s Blog. You will need to click on the link listed in this message to activate your subscription. By subscribing you will automatically receive an email from us when we post a new blog entry.  Isn’t that awesome!  You only have to visit us when we send you an “invitation” via your email.  Of course you can visit any other time as you’re always welcome.

OK you guys listen up . . . we will know who does and does not subscribe and you can only qualify for this advent calander by subscribing and leaving a comment as noted above.  By the way, our blog is for fun and so that you can keep up with our daily lives (that’s if you want to see us and read about us) and we do not give away your email address.  We will draw a random name on Wednesday 12/17/08 9PM eastern time and will post the winners name the same night.  We will mail the advent calendar to you . . . of course we’ll pay for the shipping . . . it IS a giveaway right?  It would warm our hearts and we’ll even do the sugar plum fairy dance if we have all of you sign up.

And a picture of the baby who we took for a walk at the marina this weekend.  Had to check on the boat to make sure all was well.  Look how little Scottie is compared to the boat . . . or maybe our boat is a big girl?  Scottie was right at home though, he LOVES the marina!  His spirit was lighter after this visit, it has been awhile.  He’s so used to going there pretty much every day from April – October.

Oh wow . . . this is a lengthy post hope you don’t mind.  I promised my girlfriend Latonya that I’d post pictures of my vintage finds from last week so here they are.

My most favorite is this vintage fan that has the original cord and yes it really works.  FABULOUS find!

And an apothecary jar for my peroxide (2nd jar from the left).  Love these containers, they dress up your bathroom.

And these door knobs made into knobs that can be added to a shelf to hang all things pretty from.  These are from Belgium.  I asked Santa (Mike) to make me a custom shelf for my studio of which we’ll add these knobs to.  Yippee!

by Talmadge House

Free Vintage Gift Tags

Ooo-la-la these are sooo pretty.  Sweet Jessie has given her readers a free PDF for these vintage gift tags which was worth sharing with my female readers.  Sorry guys Mike has to get to work with his manly postings.  Until then you’re stuck with me and HEY I don’t think that’s so bad and I’m sure you’d all agree wouldn’t you?  And listen think of the points you’ll earn if you printed these Vintage gift tags on nice cardstock and brought them home for your wives to use?  Mike would earn alot of extra credit points for that gesture.  So hop to it guys, get printing!

And a picture worth sharing of our baby sleeping while I was working for Thought Out assembling iPhone hands.  Such a good boy!  You can’t really see in the picture but his little head is actually laying on one of the metal hands.  He was comphie & content next to his mama and the warm wood stove . . . spoiled for sure!

by Talmadge House

Sis Boom Wahoo

Today my friend Michele and I made a trip to Wilton to visit Sis Boom’s open house.  She designs her own yummy fabric and makes all things kitschy.  Here’s her blog which also contains all things pretty surely a must see!

Here’s my vintage goodie finds . . .My favs?  Oh gosh definately the black & white cabinet card in the upper right hand corner (LOVE IT!) & the bag of miscellaneous fabric.

And this apron . . . I purchased it for our niece Isabella for her birthday, pink is one of her favorite colors right now.  It’s Sis Boom’s fabric and the apron is made from one of her fabric lines called “Girlfriends”.  Simply adorable, gosh I think it might fit me right?  HA!  It’s so pretty I’d love one in a big girl size.

Oh and since we WERE in Wilton we had to stop at Stew Leonard’s in Norwalk.  Oh my gosh this was a day of all things pretty and yummy.  Stew has great marketing with his taste samples.  I mean I had no intention of purchasing Brussel Sprouts that is until I tasted what was cooking.  You go Stew for taking our hard earned money!  So here are the ingredients needed.

And the recipe . . .

1 cup chicken or vegetable broth

1/4 cup olive oil

2-3 garlic cloves (chopped)

1 tsp salt

2 shallots (chopped)

2 containers brussel sprouts cut in half

1/2 cup crispy onions (you know like french’s in the red & white can . . . I have fancy imported onions in my picture though).  I love all things fancy you know.

3/4 cup mushrooms chopped

In a large skillet, saute garlic and mushrooms in olive oil.  Add shallots, brussel sprouts and chicken broth.  Cover and cook on high for 15 minutes.  When brussel sprouts are tender add the crispy onions.

THE VERDICT:  I had to add about 1/3 cup more chicken broth for the last five minutes of cooking and next time I’ll try cooking on medium-high.  I loved this recipe!  Mike on the other hand, well lets just say he took a bite but then pushed them around his plate while making funny faces.  He’s such a good sport!  Thanks Mikey for letting me cook ONE NEW thing once per week and for trying it.  You see, I was in a phase of cooking new recipes all of the time so Mike thought it best to try one new recipe per week.

And lastly this little guy sprained his back right leg before I left for my Sis Boom/Stew Leonard’s day today.  Poor thing knew I was getting ready to leave and that I WAS NOT going to work (he knows).  He thought he might be going for a grand ride in the car.  Through his excitement he fell at the bottom of our stairs and injured his leg.  He cried which brook my heart.  He’s still gimping around on it tonight so I’m on my way out to the family room to put an ice pack on it.