New roof...

[Side note: I clearly need more caffeine...I typed "Noo roof" in the title of this blog....yikes. Glad I caught it before publishing although perhaps you readers would've thought I was just being all clever and stuff.]

Okay, back to the business at hand. We're having a new roof put in today!



(please try to ignore the dead boxwoods which we tried to resuscitate with little success - they will be replaced soon.)

The thing about roof installation is that IT IS REALLY FRIGGIN LOUD and makes you want to stuff things into your ears and pick off roofers one-by-one with a strong garden hose. Oh and it also makes a mess in your yard. Design Assistant Magnus just about fainted when he saw that front yard:



But he quickly cheered up when he realized that the constant pounding of hammers made it necessary for Mrs. P to take him out for lots of walks in order to escape the madness creeping in.

MAHA Music Festival to hit Omaha in August...

There is just always something to do in this town. A group of locals has just announced a new independent music festival for our fair city this August.

The lineup is still coming together, but definitely looks promising. (OMG! G.Love & Special Sauce!)

Click here to get the scoop from the guys over at Silicon Prairie News.

More landscaping updates...

We removed ONE MORE unecessary shrub as recommended by the brilliant amateur landscape artist Blake.

Check out the difference! Here's the before one more time:



And here's the after:

Matthew Sweet, The Guess Who and aliens in Omaha...

Sorry for disappearing, folks! It's been a busy week and a half here in The Big O and we've had home improvement on the back burner while we continued to explore the city. (I also indulged in a lot of daytime TV while Mr. P was out of town and there was no one to make me feel guilty about choosing Tyra over spackle.)

One of the greatest ways to explore Omaha is through its music and summer festival scene. First up, 90's rocker Matthew Sweet at one of the hippest music venues in town: The Slowdown.



You may remember Matthew Sweet from his hit song "Girlfriend"...or, like me, you may not. But then I heard the song and had one of those "ooooooooooooh" moments. It's not Matthew's fault. If your name isn't "The Beatles" you can be pretty sure I have no idea what songs are yours or what band you're in.



Anywho it was a great show in a great space and I rocked out to a bunch of songs I'd never heard before.

Next up on the list is a free concert in Memorial Park (they have a lot of free shows...it's great).



Performing were Grand Funk Railroad and The Guess Who. I'll be honest, Grand Funk Railroad was a little harder for me to place - I've never been a huge fan of jam bands - but they were great. But The Guess Who stole the show. And yes, you DO know The Guess Who - they wrote "American Woman" (for those of you under 30, Lenny Kravitz remade their song a few years ago) along with other awesome hits like "These Eyes." Design Assistant Magnus is a huge fan:



What a great show! There was music, dancing, food, 45,000 people (many who clearly came from the far-off lands of rural Nebraska), and GLOW STICKS! Let's see what happens when you give a three year old 20 glow sticks and not enough supervision:



Kidding! Well not about this being a three year old covered in glow sticks but about the lack of supervision. In fact, here's his daddy, the creator of his adorable son's "Tron" costume:



The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, huh? Ha! The concert ended with a beautiful pre-Fourth of July fireworks show:



(FYI - Design Assistant Magnus does NOT love fireworks which is odd because he has such an eye for color.)

This weekend we went to the Omaha Summer Art Festival held downtown. Hundreds of artists and food vendors (VIPs, in my book) lined the street and shopped their wares.



My favorite piece? This groovy alien-themed hearse complete with "dead alien" on the roof:



Fancy.

We ended the afternoon with a stroll through beautiful downtown Omaha where other than one dicey moment when Design Assistant Magnus fell into the river (we quickly fished him out but had to enjoy the smell of wet dog and river water the whole way home) it was a lovely afternoon!

Glamour's 9 Things That Keep Every Relationship Going Strong

Check out #4 by little old me! Especially important for those couples attempting to remodel a home! :)

9 Things That Keep Every Relationship Going Strong

Before & After: Half-bath remodel...

The 12-Step Program Bathroom Remodel.

Step 1:
Well it certainly has potential! Hunter green checkered wallpaper really isn't THAT bad. Isn't wallpaper back in style? No? Well no matter. We're going to spruce it up and it's going to be great! Yikes...I think this wallpaper is making me dizzy. Does anyone have a paper bag?



Step 2:
Nobody panic - look how easily this wallpaper is coming off! HOORAY! We're saved!



Step 3:
WHY GOD, WHY?!? We spoke too soon. A rotting wall hidden by the wallpaper. And come to think of it, I hate this sink. Breathe...just breathe - in through the nose, out through the mouth. We'll just replace the rotted wall. Yeah, that's what we'll do. It'll be great!



Step 4:
@%%@$!&%!!!!!!!!!! DAMN YOU WALL! Okay, come on man - get it together. You can do this. Where's that Home Depot book? Ah, here it is. "Chapter 12: Drywall." Um...hmm...yeah, not really helping. Time to call Dad.



Step 5:
Whew! Okay, that was dicey but with Dad's help we got the wall out. Now for a little plaster over the mildew-resistant drywall and voila! See? I'm all OVER this! I rock!



Step 6:
"Hey, Mr. P? Where'd you put the sink and toilet? Ah, I see...well we do like to leave a lasting impression on the neighbors."



Step 7:
Yikes. Even Design Assistant Magnus is embarrassed.



Step 8:
Out with the old light fixture...



Step 9:
And in with the new.



Step 10:
Now it's time for a little paint! Think Mr. P will notice it's lavender? [fast forward 15 minutes...] Mr. P: "Hey, is this PURPLE?"



Step 11:
New sink, toilet and hardware make all the difference!



Step 12:
Add a few accessories, replace the baseboard and voila!



We have lift-off! (Whew! SO much better than the "Port-A-Potty of Last Resort")

Getting ripped off on Craigslist...

Mr. P and I have had really good luck on Craigslist. We've sold hundreds of dollars in stuff and we've bought a lot of stuff, too. Recently we saw a posting for a kitchen breakfast nook set and thought it would work perfectly in our space.

The woman posted a picture of the set on the listing - it looked more or less like this only not white:



Sort of cute, no? And for the $75 she was asking for it it seemed like a steal. (we just saw it in the American Airlines Sky Mall catalog for $449)

When we went to pick it up she had taken it apart so we could fit it in the car. HERE IS WHERE I SHOULD HAVE SEEN A PROBLEM. We brought it home and when we were unloading it I realized we were missing a part of the "L." I thought, "Surely it's at her house and we accidentally left it...we'll be able to go pick up the other half of this thing tomorrow."

But "KerryBerrie" (that's her Craigslist moniker) has not returned emails or phonecalls. We were tempted to drive back to her house but it's in a sketchy neighborhood and I have no interest in being featured on an episode of Dateline. Mostly because I find Keith Morrison sort of creepy:



Anywho, back to Craigslist.

Well we showed KerryBerrie! Check out our little breakfast nook now! We ditched the half-missing banquet part, painted the table and bench black and paired it with some cute (read: cheap) chairs that I painted and reupholstered using the fabric from and old skirt:





Suck on that, Craigslist Deadbeats far and wide! You cannot defeat us!

Flash mob pillow fight...

Perhaps if you're an uber-cool hipster such as I you are already familiar with the term "flash mob." But just in case you're not clinically addicted to the internet or you missed that episode of CSI: Miami, allow me to explain.

According to our friends at Dictionary.com a flash mob is a group of people who organize on the Internet and then quickly assemble in a public place, do something bizarre, and disperse.

Well lord knows Mr. P and I are always up for something bizarre and so it should be no surprise that we were on this like white on rice.

FLASH MOB: 2:00 p.m., Saturday @ Memorial Park...PILLOW FIGHT!

Here's Mr. P getting ready to rumble:



Check out the motley crew behind him, including this lovely young lady who is a member of the Omaha Rollergirls roller derby team.



Yes that IS a Mexican wrestling mask...and yes those ARE sparkly orange knickers...and yes I WOULD love to own a pair of sparkly orange knickers but NO I would NOT wear them INSTEAD OF pants and in public...but I LOVE that she did! Folks, those roller derby ladies mean business and after seeing her sporting the Crayon Pillows of Doom(TM) I decided to sit on the sidelines with Design Assistant Magnus and watch the action. And boy was there ever some action! Once the whistle blew it was sheer chaos!



Here's Mr. P beating up some teenage boys:



But don't feel too bad for them. Minutes later the tables had turned:



After about 20 minutes and three rounds of pillow fights the crowd dispersed and just a few kind souls were left behind to pick up the mounds of feathers and stuffing. (these flash mobbers are very consciencious you know)

Design Assistant Magnus didn't get in on the action. Instead he stayed back and played with his BFF Sookie. Perhaps you'll remember Sookie from an earlier post where I commented on her love of putting Magnus' entire head in her mouth. Let's see how things are going:



Yep, some things never change.

STOP...Hammertime!

Look! Our favorite neighborhood vandal is at it again!



He's struck again, painting HAMMERTIME on yet ANOTHER stop sign! Who could it be? It's as if he's thumbing his nose at us - sticking out his tongue and giving us a loud "pbbbbltttttttttttttt!" If only we could track this hooligan down. I'd give him a piece of my mind:



Design Assistant Magnus!? How COULD you!? And in such a lovely neighborhood, too! That's it. No more belly rubs, Dog Whisperer or playdates with Sookie for you, young man. You're grounded!

This article made me giggle...'cause I totally get it.

Ahem:

"Female homeowners were also carrying around more aggravation, making less time for leisure, and were less likely to spend time with friends."

Female Homeowners Sadder, Fatter Than Renters

Posted using ShareThis

You say tomayto, I say tomahto...

Check it out! Our tomatoes are blooming! (hatching? growing? sprouting? spontaneously combusting? whatev.)



And these - for those of you city gals and guys who like me can't tell the difference between tomatoes and any other vegetable in existance - are (or will be) peppers:



The Miracle Grow is really paying off! At this rate we'll have enough for ONE sandwich come December. YAY!

Awesome ad...

Question. What exactly IS a love sack?



I've heard of a love seat. I've heard of a love shack. LOVE SHACK, BABY!

But I have never heard of a love sack. And quite frankly I don't think I want to, I don't care WHAT condition it's in.

Eating Omaha...

I've made reference in earlier posts to Omaha's kick-butt food scene. But this weekend with Mr. P's folks in town we were able to discover even more local haunts that made us cry "lord have mercy!"

Among them French Cafe, a gorgeous brasserie-style restaurant in the heart of Omaha's Old Market district. First and foremost I plan on stealing the electric pink tree in the back corner - it's pink, it shimmers, and it walks a fine line between super cool and just plain tacky. MUST HAVE IT.



I ordered the steak frites because I'm a sucker for red meat and who doesn't love a good pile o' frites? Oui oui.



For dessert the world's largest profiterole or as I like to call it, "that giant flaky ice cream thingy."

And as if that weren't enough, we walked down the street to the Old Market Candy Store where we picked up a dozen mud balls, a cross between a truffle, an Oreo and a cheesecake ball. If that's wrong I don't wanna be right.

Next up on the Road to High Cholesterol was Dixie Quicks.

Doesn't look like much, does it? It's surprisingly less "divey" on the inside and reservations are a must. The restaurant was featured on the Food Network's "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" a show that I believe is funded by the American Butter Churners Union. And Dixie Quicks is a solid addition to the program. The french toast was the size of a bowling ball, the pancakes were fluffy and delicious, and my dish - the Dixie Scramble - made me want to stand up and salute.

Oh sure, sure...we did make time for some good home cooking. My mother-in-law is an amazing cook and we grilled chicken and vegetables one night. But then we hopped right back on the Lipitor Express with a visit to Louis M's Burger Lust:

No, really. That's what it's called. And the burgers are positively TO DIE FOR. I had guacamole, bacon and cheddar cheese on mine. And no, I have no regrets. I'm building up a solid layer of fat to keep me warm this winter.

And to celebrate the in-laws' visit we ended with dinner at a great spot near our house followed by ice cream at the most fantastic ice cream shop you could ever imagine: e-Creamery. How many places do you know that will let you customize your ice cream, gelato or sorbet right down to the label? You can have it shipped to just about anywhere in the US or, if you're lucky enough to live 15 blocks away, you can just go pick it up. This week they were celebrating the College World Series by offering special flavors representing each team.

Just FYI, I opted for the Virginia Victory Mix but the Tar Heel Meal was winning. (what do you expect? it has sweet cream ice cream with Reeses's Peanut Butter Cups and hot fudge.)

To work off our delicious desserts we did what all newcomers to Omaha do...we stalked Warren Buffet's house. And for all of you who are curious to know:

Not as massive as you would think, huh? And obviously it's no Ranch. But hey Warren, if you're reading this, I'm happy to come by and help jazz things up. I'm now a mulching magician, an uber-upholsterer, and a weeding wizard. Just let me know when I should swing by!