The Great Logan Square Herbicide of 2012

As some of you may know, the manfriend and I hosted Thanksgiving (and my sister's 21st birthday - whoa) for my family last year. It was a great success, people danced in the street, there was a parade in our honor, etc. etc.

This year we're upping the ante by having BOTH families to feast in our teeny tiny apartment. Ok. It's not really teeny tiny. But there will be two extra people staying here for two nights and at least ten people here for The Meal. So it might feel teeny tiny by the end of the night.

To keep my focus, I go to my happy place: Ashley's bringing Trader Joe's Pumpkin Cheesecake. Ashley's bringing Trader Joe's Pumpkin Cheesecake. Ashley's bringing Trader Joe's Pumpkin Cheesecake.

In preparation for All The Family, I've been knocking out all the weird "home improvement" projects I've been putting off in a desperate attempt to fool everyone into thinking we're adults. Please imagine the twinkly sound from infomercials when scrolling between the before and after pictures. I sure do.

Replacing the sad little prints over the couch with a wider spread of fun black and white prints:

And moving said prints over the bookcase in the dining room (they look so much less sad here):

Transforming a cluttered mess in the bathroom:

With the help of a utensil caddy from Target!

And - I have to admit, I'm pretty proud of this - moving the clusterfuck of shoes to a nicely arranged "curtain" in the second bedroom. The second bedroom now feels like a guest room and not a catchall room. Or a huge closet that happens to have a bed in it.

Madness!

And now I can sleep at night!

But. The Project to End All Projects, the project I bribed Lexy with food (not that that's hard) to get her to help me:

The Great Logan Square Herbicide of 2012

Also known as:

WEEDING THE BACK YARD OHMAIGAWD

Lexy: Crap. I left my Agent Orange at home.

We went in, hoes and shovels held high, and took no prisoners. Gloves and Wellies were muddied. Trashcans were filled with the remains of the fallen. Tubers were unearthed. But in the end... we were victorious.

Lexy with her kill.

Me with my kill.

Two and a half hours later it looked like this:

As I said before, I bribed Lexy with food. Specifically, with Martha Stewart's Lightened Tuna Noodle Casserole (http://www.marthastewart.com/859566/tuna-casserole) and Butterscotch Oatmeal Cookies (uh, recipe on the back of the bag of Nestle butterscotch chips). 

Martha made us wait a whole TEN MINUTES for the casserole to cool. Damn it, Martha.

The casserole is good, for a "lightened" casserole. I could go for a creamier texture, but I'm also ok with my pants continuing to fit. But the pasta is delish and the peas are like little explosions of freshness in what could otherwise be a rather bland dish.

The cookies, on the other hand, might be in the top five best cookies I've ever made. Go forth and make these cookies. The world will be better place.

The next morning, I spent another hour weeding the bricks on the patio and cutting back the branches on the fence. Because, call me crazy, I was tired of getting whipped in the face every time I came in from the garage.

So now, we live in a land ruled by... well, not order, but controlled chaos.

And, more importantly, there are cookies.

Now all I have left is to mop the floors, finish piecing the quilt, keep the house clean, and, oh yeah, make a huge meal for 10-12 people. The manfriend is in charge of the ribs:

Manfriend: Are you sure we have a broiler?
Me: Yes.
Manfriend: Where is it?
Me: Under the oven.
Manfriend: Are you sure this isn't a drawer?
Me: Yes.
Manfriend: Have you ever opened it?
Me: Yes.
Manfriend: What is it?
Me: ...a broiler.

And after all that, he decided to use the grill. Hooray Thanksgiving!