Okay, FINE!

...she huffs as she gives in. She'll tell you the big news. Even though she has A LOT of blogging to catch up on...Anna knows the current news is probably the fun stuff.
"WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!" She squealed. "We wanted to wait until we could put 20% down and are really excited. Even though its kind of a fixer upper, it's totally livable until we can pay cash for the renovations!"

The Zoons (that's what their friends have labeled them) wanted to stay within their ward (church) boundaries, an open floor plan, trees, and NOT a track house. 5 days before they left for their cruise—more on that later—they made an offer on this older house and have now have had the keys since Saturday. They have until the end of June to make a few updates—goodbye popcorn ceilings—and move in.

Anna's first FREE project: Yard demolition. With all its suckers and the weird triangle planter in the front, she had her work cut out for her. Here's a before:

And the after:
(Too bad you can't experience how sore she is. Don't ask her to sit down or stand up. She can't do anything while looking normal right now.)

Before of the triangle thingy:

By the way, Anna says if you ever want to meet your neighbors...start digging up your landscaping. They'll  gawk at you from afar, secretly wondering what the hell you're thinking—and finally come over to say "Hi, I'm your neighbor, I want those plants you're digging up". Anna and Adam met three of their neighbors this way. Go them!
Here's the after: (Anna found out there were three huge trees here at one point. Her back found out too. All those suckers to hack out! Ack.)

But now that it's cleaned up...it's BORING as expected and neither of the Zoons like the green trim. Anna's been playing in Photoshop trying to figure out what to do.

Light trim?

Dark? (Not quite black. Black is too heavy.)

Combination?

She knows she wants a front door with windows to let light into the house (which is rather dark). And the colors she knows she wants for the landscaping are purple, lime green, and white.
These three renditions are her favorites so far but Anna's feeling...unsure of herself. She's not THIS kind of designer. She needs a stamp of approval from someone who knows "stuff!" Remember how she painted her kitchen THREE times before getting it right? She can't make THAT mistake again. Do you have any suggestions? Any ideas you'd like to suggest she try? Do these look like they work to you? Which one is YOUR favorite?

Black Paintings

The Dallas Museum of art presented the largest exhibition of Jackson Pollocks Black paintings, ever. (According to them anyway.) We didn't know about it until some friends invited us. I'm glad not to have missed it.

According to a description on the wall:
Pollock's black paintings were not well received. Of them he wrote to his friend, "I've had a period of drawing on canvas in black...think the non-objectivists will find them disturbing." Pollock's "new technique replaced the many encrusted layers of dripped paint with a more direct relationship between raw canvas support and black enamel, often using a basting syringe to draw directly with the thinned paint."

Gallerist Charles Egan, having seen the show quipped, "Good show Jackson, but could you do it in color?"

I didn't mind the black and white. In fact, many of them I preferred to the paintings in color—as I did not particularly like Pollock's color choices.
The presentation also included a few of his more popular colorful paintings. Below is Adams' favorite.

And this one was mine. I think it's the canvas size. Pollock's large paintings are amazing to stand in front of.

Below was my favorite Black painting.

We'll done Dallas Museum of Art. (And Pollock.)

That Looks....

There's hunting here. Lot's of it. Subcontractors treat Adam's office to weekends out. You've seen the photos of the hog hunts. We've started parcelling out the hog that won't fit in our new freezer.
Adam brings it home in a giant cooler and lets it "bleed" for a few days. When the water drains out clear, it's time to quarter up the pork. (He and his friend are still learning how to make it look pretty. And I have to wash it three times over to be sure no bristles are left behind.)

When this batch was finished the guys shoved EIGHT hog legs into my giant pot. I sent this photo to friend and asked her if she'd like some to make broth. Her response, "No thank you. That looks scary!" So when I offered it to the next friend, I did NOT send a photo to go with my offer.

I took four legs and combined them with water and veggies and a bit of seasoning and boiled it all day.

Then strained it and I let it sit in the fridge for two days so the fat would separate to the top...

...spooned it out...

...and then strained it again and bagged up the broth to freeze.

Pork broth can be very mild so it can take on the flavor of veggie broth, or anything else you pair it with. So far I've made Mexican rice with it and this Sweet Potato Chili recipe as well as a white bean and sausage stew. We have enjoyed all three dishes.
Now it doesn't look scary at all—just delicious. Nothing beats homemade broth.

Cookbook Club

A couple of months ago I joined a cookbook club. Here is a description—the first meeting was fun. There were about 12 people and we spent almost TWO FULL HOURS eating.
We each chose a recipe from The Art of Simple Cooking, I went with clam chowder. So off I went to Sprouts to score some of these babies.

The fresh clams were about $4.99 a pound, I needed two pounds—and had to read up on how to store them so they wouldn't die until I needed them. (Keep them cold in the fridge and cover with a wet towel. If they come open, they're no longer alive. I had to throw a few out from the get-go because the guy at the counter packaged some for me and I didn't know.) Oh well. Can't blame someone else for my lack of knowledge. Plus I did this to learn something right? Right.

Fresh clam chowder is incredibly easy. I really like it so I don't know why I've never tried before but will certainly be making it again. I'm looking forward to another meeting—and perhaps there will be more photos to share!