Emoly's space

brr, it's cold

2012-02-11T12:55:00.002-05:00

I'm waiting for my car to warm up. I'm leaving to go to a baby shower.

It's cold outside.

Huh, imagine that. It actually feels like winter out there.

That's pretty much all I have to say. I did take a picture of the blanket, so as promised, I'll post the picture after the recipient receives it.

I'll probably be getting home late. Check back tomorrow.

And make sure Bill stays out of trouble.

hot house

2012-02-10T11:20:00.006-05:00

First things first. No. I didn't blog yesterday. I was just too busy. Since this isn't a contest, I think it will be okay. Thanks for understanding.

On to today's post. We have a "hot" house. Okay, warm is more like it.

Let me explain.

Bill has been working on our windows. We have casement windows that are original to the house. I refuse to replace them. They are just too beautiful and can be just as efficient as new windows (actually more because there's no waste in the landfill, and new windows just don't last as long, these have been in the house since it was built in the 1920's). The key word is "can be". One of the Commissioners does window restoration. He spent a lot of time talking to Bill about re-glazing windows. We actually had his business partner out to give us a quote.

That was eye-opening. So we decided to re-glaze the windows on our own to save several thousand dollars.

Bill has been working on the storm windows, one at a time, after work and on weekends. He started in the dining room, because one of the panes in one of the casements was cracked. We actually started with the casement, not the storm.

It looks a lot easier on tv than it actually is.

Then we found out the product we were using is quite possibly the worst one of its kind.

After research and several trips to the store, we found a better product and got the casement glazed. It's not pretty, but it was the first one. I say we, because I did 1/80th of the work. Bill did most of it. He really should take all the credit. Although I am trying to be the cheerleader to keep him motivated.

I should also explain, that it's not just about re-glazing the windows, although that is a major part of it. Bill also stripped the wood down, re-stained and put polyurethane on them to help them last longer.

There used to be felt around the edges as weather-stripping. Most of that has worn off, so Bill also found a rubber weather strip that will not only keep the cold air out in the winter (but keep the cool air in, in the summer) but it also helps hold the storm in place. That means no more screws. Did I mention that the storms used to be screwed in place? Big ugly screws, with big gaping holes.

We also had new glass cut. Mostly because as Bill was trying to remove the old glass, a couple of panes may have broken in the process. He learned that just simply trying to scrape out the old glazing wasn't the easiest way and could potentially break the glass. Using the heat gun, however, loosened the old glazing and makes it much easier to pull the glass out in one piece, thus saving money because we don't have to buy new glass.

All this to say, yesterday he got the new/old storms back in the windows in the dining room. What a difference!!! You used to be able to stand next to the one window and actually feel the cold air rushing in through the gaps around it. Now you feel nothing but warmth. The dining room is significantly, noticeably warmer.

I am so happy with how good of a job he has done. The windows look fabulous and I'm just so geeked that we (Bill) can do this to save us money. He'll be a pro by the end and he'll never want to do it again.

groups of things

2012-02-08T16:03:00.002-05:00

Bill and I blogged on this topic on our joint blog, here.

This morning, while I was putting away the dishes, I had a new thought. After opening the cupboard with the dishware and chuckling to myself about all the glasses we own (approximately two shelves worth), I thought of what a group of glasses is called.

Are you ready for this?

Can you guess?

A spectacle.

A group of glasses should be called a spectacle.

Get it?

Did you go look it up?

Is it really called that?

what happens when I have too much sugar

2012-02-07T16:57:00.002-05:00

The other day I had a brownie, a piece of rum cake and strawberry shortcake. Now I feel a head cold coming on.

The two have nothing to do with each other. However, it is a coincidence that in the past when I've had a lot of sugar, I have gotten a cold immediately. I don't know how the two relate to each other, but it happens.

Today, to fight off the cold, I had blueberries with my yogurt, a large glass of o.j., a Clementine, and freshly squeezed lemon in my water. I'm having butternut squash and spinach risotto for dinner.

Besides the five glasses of water I've already consumed, if this doesn't help me get better faster, nothing will.

a new rice dish

2012-02-06T20:28:00.003-05:00

You might think I could blog earlier in the day. Or you wish I would blog earlier. I think most of you read my blog and "catch up", none of you are reading it for the timeliness.

Some days I just don't have time until after dinner. Or some days, I want to blog about dinner.

I like to wait until after dinner, you know, to make sure it turns out.

Tonight's dinner did. I have a recipe book called "Back Home Again in Indiana". It was a wedding present. I had started looking through it for the Hoosier Pie recipe. I decided to go through from beginning to end for other recipes, after discovering that it did not have the official state pie recipe (an oversight for sure).

I found one for "Southwestern Rice". I'm pretty sure the only thing that makes it "southwestern" is the chopped green chilies. It was rice, layered with a special sauce comprised of sour cream, plain yogurt, Worcestershire, the chilies, and garlic. Between the layers of rice and sauce was a layer of Monterey Jack cheese. It was topped with cheddar and baked until "golden".

For the record, the rice was a long grain brown rice. Possibly the only healthy thing in the entire dish. Oh and the yogurt, it was Greek.

I liked it. I thought instead of the two cans of chilies, I could have added one and an onion.

We had it with grilled chicken breasts.

Tomorrow night we'll be having leftovers.

and by rum cake I mean Rum

2012-02-05T12:26:00.003-05:00

Just kidding.

After two rum cakes, there's not a lot of rum left! Plus we don't have any Coca Cola. (I know I blogged about how much I like Coke vs. Pepsi, but I cannot find the post. The only post I can find is this one. So if you can find my Coca Cola one, please let me know what it's titled... thanks)

I'm in the process of making a black-eyed pea dip for tonight. I'm also prepping for this evening by listening to Madonna's Immaculate Collection.

It's nice enough outside, I should go take a walk. Maybe I will once the beans are cooked... In the meantime, I'm crocheting a gift. Once it's given, I'll post pictures of the finished product!

and by frosting I mean Rum cake

2012-02-04T20:22:00.002-05:00

Do over for the Rum cake was today.

It turned out! And it's beautiful!!! And it is quite delicious.

The other thing that went well was the window repair. Bill bought the weather stripping. After finishing the polyurethane coat (and letting it dry), he applied the new weather stripping. Then he tried fitting it into the window opening. Not only does it fit, but it looks good too! I never had my doubts about the looks of it, I think we both had our doubts about how well the weather strip would work. It seems to be the right trick.

Now all we have to do is glaze the glass in place, let it dry and repeat sixteen times. For the storm windows.

Then we start all over with the casements. So sixteen times two.

I know that's thirty-two. I'm trying to ignore that number.

Maybe I'll go eat a piece of rum cake.

Or the whole cake.

and by cake I mean frosting

2012-02-03T23:36:00.003-05:00

Tonight was our "young" couples dinner. We get together with a group of friends from church every once in awhile. We try to get together regularly, but they all keep having kids and buying houses and stuff. So the best we can do is once every other month. But it's been several months since the last time. Several months as in, it was summer. We tried having one in the fall, but half of the group ended up not being able to make it. I think it was the weekend I was in Iowa.

Anyway, we all bring a dish and we have a good time. Sometimes we try to impress each other with new recipes. Sometimes we pick a theme. Tonight was "international". Bill bought egg rolls from someone in his networking group. They were selling them as a fundraiser. Bill was very kind to support them. And they were really good. The main dish was fajitas and the appetizer was bean dip. Dessert was chocolate cupcakes.

Amy brought them and she brought the extra frosting too.

For some reason we had segregated ourselves, men in one room, women in the other.

That was fine. Sometimes it's good to have the separation.

So when it came time to dessert, I brought in a container of cupcakes and the frosting.

I added a large, heaping spoonful of frosting onto my cupcake. And then I proceeded to eat more frosting.

So this post is really a play off of yesterdays post. I feel the need to explain it because it's a quarter to twelve and I realized I hadn't blogged yet today.

If you got it, I'm sorry I explained it. If you didn't get it, then you're welcome.

Good night!

let's have cake and eat it too

2012-02-02T19:05:00.003-05:00

I've been trying to figure out what to blog about today. Nothing exciting was coming to mind, that is until Bill talked to our friend Heather W.

He had called her and left a voicemail wishing her a happy birthday. She had called back and they were chatting.

Bill had to ask how old she is because we always forget. He was going on about how old his Grandma would be (because today was also her birthday, she would have been 108) and that Heather had babysat for her, so she must be...

Heather interrupted with, "Eternal".

Touche.

So next year will be a big birthday for her. The best news is that it will be on a Saturday! It only makes sense to start counting down now!

I'm sure it'll be a big blow-out party. We can go to the casino, and eat at the buffet and be partied out by 7! Oh, that's pm by the way, not am.

What?

She's going to be... eternal.

(I was told not to say how old she'll be, not by her wishes, but Bill's. I'll abide, because someday -hopefully, I'll be that old!)

scones

2012-02-01T21:10:00.003-05:00

I haven't ever made scones. I have enjoyed eating quite a few. Including one this morning. But the first time I had them was at camp.

Yes, camp. We had a nutritionist who was the head of the kitchen. God Blessed that camp food. Brown was not the food group of choice that summer. Although it totally spoiled me. Brown camp food does very little for me except raise my blood pressure and jack up my sugar levels.

Back to scones. I think she made them because of Ian, who was our... I forget his title, but he was British and he worked at camp. He was a counselor for at least one summer. Anyway, back to the scones. I think she made them for Ian. They were good. I had nothing to compare them too (well, muffins, I guess) and I liked them.

This morning, I had a meeting at the local bakery. They had double chocolate chip scones. Yum! I've had scones there before. They rate right behind croissants, which is another post on a food I love.

But I haven't ever made scones. So I checked out PW's website to see if she's made any. Guess what? She has. It looks like I'll be making these soon.

picky eaters

2012-01-31T20:26:00.003-05:00

Juliette is a Princess.

To further that affirmation, she refused to eat the "special" food Bill gave her this morning. The "special" food is canned food. It's usually a special treat that we give our children of fur on a special occasion. A holiday, or you know, when we're trying to give them medication.

Juliette is on medication for an upper respiratory infection. It has definitely been helping.

We mix the medicine into the canned food because otherwise, short of forcing it down her throat, it's the only way she'll take it.

But the little snot (pardon the pun) turned up her nose at the can of beef. Apparently she doesn't eat red meat. She loves the seafood and chicken (we have yet to learn if she likes the turkey, but past experience with our turkey dinners will point to yes), but would not eat the beef.

So Bill opened a second can, the salmon, for her. He gave what he had put out for her to Atticus. Atticus, being the killer that he is, scarfed it down.

Tonight, I mixed the beef with the seafood.

She ate around it.

I'm not even joking.

She licked up every bit of salmon, but when she came across the beef, she ate around it. I have no idea how, because I stirred it all together. But what was left in the bowl was all beef.

I guess we'll stick with the seafood and chicken for now.

the other word

2012-01-30T21:20:00.001-05:00

In my post yesterday, I answered the questions that are used by James Lipton on Inside the Actor's Studio. It was a fun post. But it's not easy to answer those questions. The more I thought about them, the more I thought of different answers.

One in particular is question 7, the favorite curse word.

I grew up in a home where cursing wasn't heard, or muttered. In fact once, while I was home from college, I asked my mom, "If hell no is the opposite of heavens yes"? I thought it was a legitimate question. My mother replied with my full name.

I am human and I have picked up and put down dirty words over the years. I've even learned a certain word in several languages.

But recently, I discovered a nonsensical word and I like it. So it's not actually a curse word, but it's fun to say. That's why I didn't use it yesterday.

I didn't realize how much I used it until I heard my mother-in-law use it while we were out there. I guess it's time to go public with it. Maybe it'll become well-known and well-used. If so, please just remember you read it here first.

"oof-duh"

That's the phonetic spelling. I haven't decided if that's how it's spelled or not.

It's good for when you're lifting something heavy. It's good when you smack your leg into the table. It's good when the toast (or coffee-maker) is burning.

Go ahead, use oof-duh today.

Have you thought about your answers?

2012-01-29T14:48:00.003-05:00

We like to watch "Inside the Actor's Studio". I've always thought about the questions James Lipton asks the guest (they were really created by Bernard Pivot).

Today I thought I'd answer them (because I really have given them a lot of thought).

What is your favorite word? Mangia
What is your least favorite word? Come
What turns you on? Genuinely making someone happy
What turns you off? Hypocrites.
What sound or noise do you love? The sound of a snow shovel scraping the concrete and the silence after a snowfall.
What sound or noise do you hate? The cats teeth when they pull on a yarn toy, it's like nails on a chalk board to me.
What is your favorite curse word? Bloody Hell
What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? TV show chef
What profession would you not like to do? Brain Surgeon
If heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the pearly gates? Now the fun begins

Saturday, what a day!

2012-01-28T19:39:00.003-05:00

What a busy day.

After morning coffee and a Sandra Bullock Biography, I got to work removing more paint from the upstairs hallway. We had taken a nice break from any work because of Christmas and our trip to Las Vegas. Time to get back to work. There's really not that much left to do.

Just finish removing the paint from around two doors, sand, prime and paint.

Considering there are four doors and the linen closet, that isn't too much left.

I made good head-way.

When Bill got home from the Sr. High youth group practice (they're doing the service tomorrow), we went to Meijer Gardens and took our walk. We walked for about 35 minutes (I forgot my pedometer, so we're guessing it was just over 2 miles. Last time we were there it was just under 2m, but we took the longer route today). I did yoga and my other exercises when we got home.

Whew! My arms hurt just typing it.

Oh wait, my arms hurt because I used them a lot today.

After we both showered and cleaned up, I cooked dinner.

It was a new recipe: Macaroni and Cheese Spaghetti.

I modified it, and it was good! It had cheese (no, really), peas, prosciutto, a bread crumb topping and I added cooked onion. In case you weren't sure, it used spaghetti noodles instead of macaroni. But you really could use whatever pasta you wanted.

We had salads too, you know, so it was a healthy dinner.

And since I used almost every dish in the kitchen, I had to wash them.

Now it's time to relax.

We have a fire going, we're watching a "House Hunters: International", and that was my Saturday.

my notebook

2012-01-27T15:16:00.005-05:00

My life is in the hands of a notebook. When I die, someone will need to know how to cancel all 1,759 of my online accounts.

I am smart enough to have created a different password for every single account I have ever created.

I am not smart enough to remember every single password.

That's where my little notebook comes in handy.

I am in the process of putting every password (and user name when the site dictates) in one place.

You may recall I used to use post-its... until Atticus ate a very important one.

I still used the post-its, I just removed them from my desk top. They were kept safely in a clear, plastic envelope in my desk drawer.

Yes. I have used the "Save Password" on my computer. But what happens when I want to do something on my laptop? Or the iPad? I have to guess my password. And, guess what? I'm usually wrong.

Then, one day, I saw this empty notebook in the drawer. That was when the idea popped into my head. I'll stop sorting through the envelope every time I need a password and keep them all in this "handy-dandy notebook" (thank you Blues Clues)!

Thus began my password notebook journey.

I'm putting them in alphabetically.

Because it will make it easier to find them. Laugh if you want (except I know most of you would do the same thing), but it's going to save me minutes of time in the future!

So, if you are a crook and want to hack into my Midwest Living or Victoria's Secret account, all you have to do is get your crooked little hands (or paws) on my notebook. Good luck!

new recipes

2012-01-26T20:11:00.002-05:00

I made the most delicious chicken enchiladas the other night. The recipe basically consisted of nacho cheese, shredded cheese, cream cheese, sour cream and chicken, wrapped in a tortilla and baked. It's covered with nacho cheese. I tried to make it healthier (really, is that possible?) by adding a red onion.

Whether or not it was good for us, it was delicious.

Today I made a Hoosier Cream Pie. It's for our pastor for his dessert of the month.

I remember the first time I had ever seen one. I was with my friend Robin and her family, I think we were celebrating her grandma's birthday (it could have been a family reunion or her grandparents anniversary). At any rate, Robin picked out that piece of pie. I'm pretty sure I picked a piece of pecan pie.

At any rate, I remember Robin eating her piece of pie and at some point I must have asked her what it was. I remember that she commented it was her favorite. I don't know if I had a bite of hers or if I went and got my own (really at this point I could be mashing several different memories together). I know that I had never had it before. Then, I started seeing them at our own church's potlucks. I wouldn't say it was my favorite (pecan holds that title), but I didn't realize that it isn't as well-known as the pecan or apple pie.

I didn't even know it was known as a Hoosier Cream Pie. I think we just called it a Sugar Cream Pie. There are differences.

The recipe I used came from an issue of Midwest Living.

I like trying new recipes.

the butter guess answer

2012-01-25T13:00:00.003-05:00

Drum roll.... or not when you see my answer. It's actually not that impressive!

Sometime since the fall I have used:

one dozen pounds which is the equivalent of 48 sticks

This is a highly inaccurate count since it is based solely on my Box Tops for Education! But I hope you had fun guessing.

To me what is more impressive was that I went through at least (3) five pound bags of flour. Plus there is a partially used one in the cupboard. That is a lot of flour. I'm not sure that the butter:flour ratio is a good ratio, but you can take what you want from it.

I'm going to strive to use more butter (or at least keep better track next time I have a guessing game).

not much Tuesday

2012-01-24T20:53:00.002-05:00

Tomorrow is the big day.

You'll find out just exactly how much butter I used.

I hope you're not disappointed. Or maybe you'll be impressed.

You'll have to check back tomorrow.

I'll tell you this: I bought two packages of butter today (that's eight sticks, or two pounds).

Have you guessed yet?

more snowflakes

2012-01-23T15:42:00.003-05:00

Here is the last snowflake update.

And here is the latest!
As you can see the actual snow outside is melting because it's raining. Yuck. But you can see the snowflakes accumulating on the door! Pretty.The newest come from Rhea (the bottom two). Rhea is Sami's daughter (Sami is the Sr. High youth/Young Adult leader). There is also another new one (upper left corner) from Logan, Leah's son. His were all painted and emailed to me! Very twenty-first century.

Logan actually made three, but I only printed one (I was trying to save on ink). I tried attaching them to the blog when I received them last week, but they're pdf's not jpeg's so they didn't cooperate. That's okay, now he gets recognition.

This is a really fun project. If you are interested in sending me one, please do! I will accept any and all snowflakes!

the butter guess

2012-01-22T12:23:00.004-05:00

On Pioneer Woman, she blogged about how much butter she used for the first season of her Food Network show. You can read about that here.

I was cutting up the Box Tops for Education and I realized how much butter I've used since late summer/early fall. Remember this, before you guess. I've baked a lot, but no where near as much as Ree has baked.

Go ahead, guess. You can either guess by number of sticks or pounds. Four sticks of butter equals one pound.

You have until noon on Wednesday to guess. I'll post my answer then!

leftovers

2012-01-21T17:38:00.003-05:00

Well, I did a pretty good job filling our fridge with leftovers this week.

Bill and I both decided (before I did the grocery shopping) that there would be no pasta this week. We ate a lot of it last week, and while it was good, there is such a thing as "too much of a good thing".

Instead I focused on winter favorites: Pot roast, meatloaf, and soup. You already read about my soups. I didn't blog about the other two dishes because I blogged early those days.

But now you get to read (or leave, but please don't, I like having you here) about the leftovers.

Saturday is a good day for leftovers. We had meatloaf for lunch. I'll be having more of the bean soup for supper and Bill will probably have the pot roast.

I didn't used to like leftovers.

Is this what happens when you get old?

Just kidding.

I still have the ingredients for chicken enchiladas. I think that's Monday's meal (I'm telling you now, in case I blog about something different).

Bill just asked, "So, what are you making for dinner?"

Quote for the day

2012-01-20T13:44:00.003-05:00

"If you are looking for the love of your life, stop.
He will be waiting for you when you start doing
things you love." -Dave Radparvar

I read that this morning and thought it was profound.

Do you know how Bill and I met?

Playing euchre online.

I don't know if I would go as far as saying I love playing euchre, but I do enjoy it.

We met in November of 1998. Then we met in person on Monday, December 28th.

Bill had just started working at Boat U.S. and I was a junior at S.C.A.D. (Savannah College of Art and Design).

There are lots of quirky, fun stories to tell of our courtship. For instance, Bill proposed to me three times. He will deny ever having proposed at all. He says I called him and told him I had a church and the dress...

I'm pretty sure I wouldn't go buy a dress if there wasn't going to be a wedding...

He had my engagement ring made from his grandmother's diamonds.

We had both given up on finding love.

Which is why I find that quote profound. I'm not saying it happens that way for everyone, but what are you going to lose if you're still looking for love?

I was fooled

2012-01-19T13:29:00.002-05:00

Around 1:30pm I checked our mailbox. It was still pretty early for our mail to have been delivered, but I thought I'd check.

No mail, yet there were footprints in the snow through our yard. That is a sure sign that the mailman has been here. I had a couple of cards to put out, but since I missed the mailman, they can wait until tomorrow.

It's the rare occasion when we don't get mail, but it does happen. But not often.

Later, I went across the street to deliver a thank-you card to our neighbors. They watched the house, fed the cats and brought in the mail while we were gone last week. I also needed to get the house key back!

When I left, I noticed a second set of footprints in the snow.

Our mailbox was overflowing!

We had at least a dozen pieces of mail.

I think I mistook the first set of footprints as the mailman's when it must have been the meter-reader.

Oh well, the outgoing mail will still wait until tomorrow.

A little less wordy

2012-01-18T20:10:00.003-05:00

Ooh, yesterday I was wordy. I guess I had a lot to say about soup. Who knew?

Don't worry because today, I got nuttin'.

I was just doing dishes and thought of a couple of things. One was for a devotion and one was for the blog. I forgot the one for the blog.

I was thinking of what grosses me out. Not a lot when you're talking about it. But show me gushing blood, a crusty scab, a slimy snake and I shudder.

See? Typing that nothing. Which is why I decided against blogging about it. Pretty boring huh?

I thought of gross things because I cleaned out the silverware tray... How does the inside of a drawer get that dirty? Well, I can tell you how in our house, because like everything the kitchen cabinets and drawers are old. It's wood on wood. Down in the cupboards under the drawers is a constant layer of sawdust. I finally waxed the drawer "slides" (if you can really call them that), which helped minimize the sawdust. So in the drawers themselves, I guess dirt just falls into them. They don't get closed all the way and the counter gets wiped off, dirt in the drawer. The top rubs against the top and dirt falls in the drawer.

Hopefully this doesn't gross you out. As I mentioned, I washed the silverware holder and the silverware is clean.

If you come to visit you can play the "Old House; Where Isn't The Dirt" game.

Please don't look at the windows...

Experimenting with soups

2012-01-17T20:38:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I made corn chowder for dinner.

Except I combined two recipes and threw in some extras.

I started with my recipe from Shannon.

Here's the list of ingredients:
Bacon - nope, but we have bacon grease
Cream corn - substitute frozen sweet corn, check
Potatoes - of course, check
Onion - no, but we have shallots, check
Evaporated milk - nope, but we have regular milk, check

The other recipe called for chicken stock, so I added that too. Then I decided to add carrots. They go in stews and soups, so why not? Then I remembered I did have half an onion so I added that.

And then, (please forgive me) I used the rest of our beef stick. It was just the right amount. I came to this decision because I've used pancetta and prosciutto, which are both similar enough to bacon. Which made me think of salami which reminded me of the beef stick. I diced it into pea-size pieces. It added just enough of that smokey meat without overpowering the soup.

Tonight I made a three-bean soup. The recipe came from a magazine. It was the Christmas edition and this recipe was on a page of gift ideas. Layer ingredients in a jar and give it (with the recipe) as a gift.

Great idea! I've done this with cookie ingredients and my friend Tam from Jersey. That's another post... Let's just say something didn't work out quite right and things didn't quite all fit.

But apparently I saved this page because one of the recipes intrigued me. However, the bean soup calls for dried beans (of course, you wouldn't want canned beans in a jar, that would be messy and not as pretty) so I figured I could make the same soup with "fresh ingredients". Along with the beans it also called for dehydrated vegetables and dried seasonings. Again, all things I could find "fresh".

Since I went to the store, I had more ingredients on hand. I cooked half an onion and added carrots again. Garlic (used that in the corn chowder too), diced tomatoes, corn (hey why not), kidney, pinto and black beans (the recipe called for Navy beans, but I couldn't find any...). I added some seasonings (chili powder, oregano, cumin, parsley) and chicken base (which is how I make my chicken stock, Shannon introduced me to it and it's SO much cheaper than chicken stock, I use it for my risotto too). Since the beans weren't dried, this didn't take nearly as long as the original recipe called for, which is the other reason I made it. I had Bible study at 6pm and dinner needed to be fast.

I would say that my experimenting with both soups paid off. I'm really not a fan of broth-y soups, but I liked both of these (I wouldn't say my corn chowder was really creamy, since I used 1% milk and the chicken stock, it was a little more broth-y). They were both healthy. We didn't add anything to either of them, of course cheese and nachos would be a delicious with the three-bean soup, if you don't care about calories. They both had good flavor.

I'm proud of myself for doing this. I wasn't afraid and I didn't ruin anything. Now I have to go write down what I did on the recipe cards before I forget.

broken

2012-01-16T11:07:00.005-05:00

Today is a good day to talk about "broken".

I won't get too deep, my first thought on this topic was of all the things that have broken in our home. Currently at the top of that list is the dryer. It broke the night before we left for vacation. I couldn't blog about it then because Judy had no idea we were going anywhere, let alone that we would show up there.

We've broken our bed twice. And fortunately (or unfortunately, however you want to take it), neither time was because of intimate behavior.

The first time was in our rental in Ocean Grove. I blame the carpet because I was trying to move the bed (it was sitting askew in the bedroom and the type A personality in me wanted it to be straight). The carpet was of poor quality and did not allow for sliding. Therefore the bed frame cracked. It was repaired and made it through two more moves before breaking again. The 2nd time here in Grand Rapids. I was getting ready for bed and had just sat down while I put lotion on my hands. That time the side rail cracked.

So much for good quality furniture.

We repaired it ourselves (and I'm pretty sure I blogged about it).

The washing machine has been repaired.

The windows are broken and are being repaired.

The sliding glass door is broken.

The tv broke (er, exploded is more like it).

My computer died (and was replaced).

The phone broke (and was replaced).

It's like my in-laws said about the washer and dryer they bought. They paid enough for it that it will last three years before they have to buy a new one.

What happened to quality?

Okay, what happened to the original thought of this post?

We as a country are still broken. Celebrating one man is an important step. But when will we heal the wounds that are still being opened. I believe my generation is the beginning of that healing. Of tolerance and of no longer seeing black and white, but finding the gray line. The more education we receive the less likely we are to judge.

Or are we?

Let's just remember this: We are all broken and hurting.

Let's look at each other as humans and not as races, colors or genders.
The greatest commandment is Love.
Let us love.
Let love win.
Love one another.

(yes, this is a mosaic of Rubik's cubes, from Art Prize 2010)

compare and contrast

2012-01-15T16:14:00.002-05:00

Remember yesterday? I went outside and took pictures of what it looked like in Henderson, Nevada. Pretty, right? Sunny, blue skies, dry, sandy, warm (you can't see it, but I was outside in just a long-sleeved shirt, so you can just trust me on that one).And then we came home. Don't get me wrong. I'm happy to be home. But this is the compare/contrast part of the post.

We were up at 3:30am (PST), so we're trying to make it to 9pm. It's just not that easy. After only five hours of sleep, I hope I finally sleep through the night tonight (I don't think a night went by last week that I didn't wake up at midnight or 3a and/or 6a).

You can compare/contrast sleeping if you want.

All I know is it's the end of vacation.

Saturday post

2012-01-14T15:50:00.002-05:00

I keep thinking it's Sunday. But it's not because we fly out early Sunday morning. And I'm typing this from Don and Judy's computer, so that must mean I'm still here.

But when you've been on vacation for a week, you start to lose track of time.

Vacations are nice.

We (as Americans) should take them more often.

It's been so nice.

Relaxing.

Fun.

Full of laughter.

Oh, and don't forget the sunshine. There's lots of sun here. It's going to be a whole lot different when we go home.

I'm going to go take a picture right now of what it looks like here. And then I'll take a picture when we get home tomorrow. I'll post them for your enjoyment. And for contrast. I'm sure there's going to be some contrast...

But for now, it's time to finish relaxing and enjoy Bill's family and the sunshine.

Friday's musts: olives, hummus and salami

2012-01-13T19:19:00.003-05:00

We met Fran and Jack at the Green Valley Ranch. The girls went shopping while the guys sat in the sun. Just as the girls were finishing, the guys had decided to go in to the Casino.

We hung out for a little while, then decided to make dinner reservations. Fran and Jack agreed to meet us at the restaurant (Tuscany Grille). We stopped at the grocery store to pick up more hummus.

And olives.

Because when we were at the grocery the other day I saw the olive bar, but I didn't buy any.

And now I need olives.

Because I love olives.

The first time I ever had an olive was on our cruise in 2007. We were in Nice, France at an open air market. Bill had picked some out some Nicoise olives. I wasn't going to try one, but then decided, "hey, when in Rome... or France" and I tried one.

They were good. I had no idea I liked olives!

I've tried them all now. My favorite are Kalamata (pits in tact).

So while we were at the store, we hit the olive bar.

It was the perfect nosh. It hit the spot.

That's what Fridays are for.

birthday wishes, shopping and golf cart rides

2012-01-12T17:40:00.003-05:00

Happy Birthday Judy!!! I hope you have a wonderful day with your lovely children. It's nice to be able to spend it with you.

Bill and I took Peggy to the mall so she could buy a new pair of jeans. We also made a stop at Ethel M's. Then, after lunch, Bill and I took a ride in the golf cart. It's a very good thing he was driving, because just like the neighborhood he grew up in, I get lost here so easily. I'm not proud of it because I have a very keen sense of direction. I have iron in my nose apparently.

Whatever it is, I don't get lost easily. Until you put me in Suburbia. Then, if it's more than four turns, I'm lost.

As you can see, Bill knows where he's going and we made it home safely. I wasn't worried one bit.

still on time

2012-01-11T23:12:00.002-05:00

For you, dear readers back east, I'm still blogging once a day. I'm barely getting them written and posted in (Eastern) time. But out here, I still have a couple of hours.

Today, Bill and I left while Judy was out. We went and picked up Peggy at the airport (that's his sister). She was also surprising Judy. Peggy and Don planned this first, then Peggy told Bill we needed to come out here too. Our schedules allowed us to get here first while her schedule did not.

I digress. We left the house under the pretense that we were going to get the groceries needed to cook dinner tonight.

Once we got Peggy, we went to a Party store so Peggy could get balloons. She took them to the door, while Bill and I hid. She had the balloons in front of her face and told Judy she had a delivery for "Julie Uelling". Judy asked if she had something she needed to sign and Peggy just kept repeating it until Judy realized it wasn't a normal delivery.

It was pretty funny.

I cooked dinner. I did make the pork roast and risotto. I also made "the bread". For dessert I made a chocolate mousse pie. It was delicious. Peggy made a sensational salad.

Tomorrow is Judy's birthday. I don't know what's in store for the day, but I'm sure it will be fun and full of laughter and memories.

Picture Post

2012-01-10T21:53:00.004-05:00

We went to Mount Charleston today. We can see it from Don and Judy's backyard, but have never driven up to it.

Here are a few pictures (we took 79 photos, so literally this is just a few, you're welcome).We pulled over at the Desert View Overlook in the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area. It was quite a view.

Same place just lower down; there was a wall along the path that I sat down on while Bill had climbed up the rocky "hill", seen behind me, for his photo.

This is the entrance to the Las Vegas Ski & Snowboard Resort. So we didn't make it to the very top of Mount Charleston but I think this was close enough. We came all the way to Nevada to see snow in January!

The last elevation sign we saw was for 8,000 feet. According to the map, the mountain goes as high as 11,000 feet!

Here's one picturesque view as we drove through the park.

It was 48 degrees at our highest point (the Ski Resort). Bill said he didn't need his jacket. It was beautiful. It wasn't too chilly. Although, as we were up at the resort, I heard a man say that once the sun went behind the mountain the temperature would drop. The temperature down on the Strip was a balmy 63 degrees.

This is in the pool area at the Tropicana.

Sunshine, shopping and birthday wishes

2012-01-09T16:02:00.004-05:00

Yes, I was going for alliteration. I did not succeed.

Happy Birthday to my mom!!! I hope she has a wonderful day. I already talked to her this morning, but I'm going to call her back in a couple of hours when Dad is home and she opens presents. (Don't forget, I'm three hours behind most of my readers right now, it takes some getting used to.)

It's nice and sunny here (although I thought it was supposed to be nice and sunny back in GR). Bill and I got out this morning and took our walk.

When we got back, after a few more of my exercise's, everyone got ready and we went to the outlet mall. I wanted to check out the Sketchers outlet. Of course they were having a Buy 1, get the 2nd pair half off. I managed to find two pairs of shoes. Finally I can throw out the other pair (they're at least five years old, a long time in the life of a shoe for me).

I'm also checking out a few recipes to make for Judy for her birthday dinner. I think we've got it narrowed down to a Pork Roast with Apples and Onions and a side of Fontina Risotto (yes, the recipe adds chicken, but I going to make it as a side dish, so no chicken). I also have dessert, but that's a surprise.

surprising Judy

2012-01-08T23:44:00.004-05:00

We surprised Bill's mom today.

We bought our tickets back in October. It's been very difficult to keep this a secret.

Then, last night as we were starting to pack, the dryer died. That will be resolved next week.

We haven't been able to say anything for fear of someone else spilling the beans.

We had a direct flight from Grand Rapids. The flight was 3 1/2 hours. We picked up our rental car and headed toward their house.

Bill called and had both his parents on the phone. We were parked in the driveway, so we got out of the car and rang the bell. Bill was explaining to Judy that we forgot to send them a thank you card for our Christmas present (I didn't forget, I didn't write one on purpose). Then he said something about her birthday and we didn't send a card. That was when Don opened the door for us. Bill kept talking and walked in and Don pointed toward the room where Mom was.

She kept talking while Bill kept walking.

Then he was standing in the door to the home office (where she was). She looked at the phone and she looked at him. Then she got pretty excited.

It was a lot of fun. You'll hear more about our week out here.

walking in my shoes

2012-01-07T16:43:00.003-05:00

If you walked in my shoes this week, you would have walked a minimum of ten miles.

I wore my pedometer every time I went out. So I didn't count my steps inside the house.

I wore it on the treadmill two of days I went to the gym with Nancy. I was honored to be her assistant. We went Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. I used the bike one day. Since I haven't ridden in a long time, I didn't go too crazy. But I "rode" five miles. So that wasn't on the pedometer either (but it should count, shouldn't it???).

Just today, in Barnes & Noble, I walked two and a half miles!

I kept meaning to do this all year and finally got around to it. I'll have to keep it on around the house for a week too.

on feelings

2012-01-06T14:53:00.004-05:00

On Christmas Day we watched several movies. At one point during a commercial or maybe it was even during a movie (we can't remember), I teared up. Bill turned to me and said, "You feel too much."

It has become one of our running jokes. It breaks the ice. It makes us laugh.

Last night, I was here all by myself. Bill was in Detroit on business.

I made myself a bowl of popcorn and watched a movie I had dvr'd. It was Mitch Albom's, "Have A Little Faith". It was a Hallmark movie. That right there had me ready. The tissues weren't far away. Their commercials have always been known for getting you "right here".

They've changed their commercials. Now they're touching with a bit of humor thrown in. Just as you're about to tear up, they throw in a good laugh.

I appreciate that.

The movie was still a tear-jerker. I thought it was good and I loved catching glimpses of Detroit in the backgrounds.

But then, because I hadn't cried enough, I watched the rest of the Ellen that I missed on Wednesday.

More tears. Her kindness and generosity seems to be endless. She's started helping schools where the majority of the students are on free lunches.

I feel too much.

t-shirts

2012-01-05T15:44:00.001-05:00

I like t-shirts.

They're comfy.

I'm often drawn (haha) toward the design.

I thought I'd blog about a couple of them because I have stories for many of my t-shirts (but lucky for you, I only have pictures of these).

In case you didn't know, Heather and I have gone to several Needtobreathe concerts together. I finally bought one of their t-shirts. Truthfully, for artistic as they are, I haven't liked many of their t-shirt designs. This one I liked, and bonus! It was cheap because it was the "old" style they were trying to get rid of.

See? You need to know the stories behind some of these shirts. Our dear friend Eddie, aka "Oh my god it's Eddie!" (you can read about that story here), used to say this all the time. It's completely inappropriate at the right moment and completely hilarious at all the inappropriate moments. For instance, someone asks you if you've seen a specific tv show. You can answer using this phrase.

Okay, maybe you had to be there. Anyway, I "taught" it to the US circle girls in New Jersey. As a going away present (wait, were they trying to tell me something) Shannon made this shirt for me. I don't often wear it out in public because it does cause a stir...

Then there are the Halloween t-shirts. (I just went back to find the post where I originally, er, posted these. It doesn't exist! I can't believe I didn't blog about this costume!!! I am so sorry. It's totally a visual costume. I had pom-poms. The front of the shirts looked like thiscan you guess what we were???) Shannon also designed these (I love her graphic design skills, check out her website).

Then there are the free t-shirts. The t-shirts I almost die trying to get. Because they're free. And because they're launched through the stadium.
We have an annual tradition of going to a Griffins hockey game with Amy and Adam. Two years ago was when I almost died trying to catch the t-shirt. If Bill hadn't grabbed on to me, I would have fallen backwards over the row in front of us (I had turned around to look up to the balcony above us from where they were launching the shirts). I was wearing my ridiculous boots. I can blame it on those and my lack of grace.

Last year I was ready to catch the shirt. I think this time it was shot from the rink. However it was sent through the air, this time I caught it. My free t-shirt. I think Bill's comment was something about it being worth it.

Not much to say

2012-01-04T15:16:00.004-05:00

I have nothing to blog about today.

I'm about to get ready for the HPC meeting. It's going to be a long night.

Here's something:
Help out Quota between the 7th-11th and shop at any Barnes & Noble. Here's the info from our website.

I'll try to do a better job blogging tomorrow...

the other things I made

2012-01-03T13:45:00.000-05:00

I told you here that I made a couple Christmas gifts and I took pictures of them. But I didn't want to post them just in case the recipients happened upon my blog before they received them.

They opened their gifts the other day, so it's safe for me to post pictures now!

A quick word about my photography skills. I know the lighting is poor. I don't blame my photography or even the simple point-and-shoot camera we own. It's mostly the lack of natural light outside/coming into the house. It is winter in Michigan and that means something like an average of 15 hours of daylight for the entire month. No, I'm not exaggerating (although I wish I were). Plus, being an old house, even though it has windows on all four sides, the windows themselves are covered with curtains because of the frigid temps that go along with that aforementioned lack of sunlight.

Got it?

Okay, here are the photos.

First, this is the lap blanket I made for Jerry (new brother-in-law). He's a big Colts fan, so it's in Colts colors. He got his own blanket because he had been using the one I made for my sister. It was girly, so I thought it might be nice if he had his own (in more manly colors) to wrap up in.
This is the scarf I made for his youngest daughter, Daffney. I was told her favorite color is lime green. This green was the closest thing they had (again, the photo doesn't do it justice).

And this scarf is for her older sister, Chassidy. I was told she likes any color, so I picked this light purple (I know, it looks dark; it isn't) because I like green and purple together. Just so you don't think Skylar was left out, she has a blanket and a scarf that I made for her a few years ago (okay, more than a few). Maybe it's time to make her a new one... I already had Christmas presents for her this year. Maybe next year!

SNOW!

2012-01-02T10:29:00.005-05:00

We got snow!

I am probably one of the few people who is excited by this (excluding children).

I am also very weird in that I woke up planning on shoveling. I was excited to shovel. I pretty much told Bill not to help me shovel.

But he is a gentleman and would not let me be out there all by myself shoveling the entire driveway while he sat inside drinking coffee.

He's not like that.

I am. If I didn't like to shovel and he offered, I would sit inside while he shoveled...

But I'm not a man.

Or a gentleman.

So he helped me shovel.

We also received more snowflakes for the sliding glass doors! Aren't they pretty? These are from Alex and two of her kids, Courtney and Cameron (Claire and Quin - from the other family - are four days apart, so neither are old enough to be using scissors yet).

I added one of my own too. Let the snow fall!

Happy New Year

2012-01-01T13:25:00.003-05:00

Today is a day we talk about resolutions. I am not good at making resolutions. I think it's the pressure of having to come up with something. I am very good at setting goals for myself throughout the year.

I know, weird.

How is that any different? Try to follow my female mind...

It is the fact that I have an entire year to come up with a resolution, and then the first day of the new year comes and I'm caught off guard. Every year.

I make goals because I do them as they arise. Why wait for the new year when I can set the goal right then and there and work on it?

I was going to blog about making a resolution to not make any resolutions. But then we went to church.

Rev. Gary did not talk about resolution, but rather Epiphany. And how it is the most important holiday in the Christian year. We should keep the light [of Christ] all year, not just during the Christmas season.

As he was preaching, I was slightly distracted by our friend's nine month old. Wes. He's pretty darn cute. And he was very well behaved.

But I was able to pay attention enough and this is what I decided to do: every day for 2012, I am going to light a candle. As I do it every day I will be reminded that Christ is the light, and I carry the light.

Here's to a light-filled 2012 to you and yours.

Around the world

2011-12-31T15:48:00.002-05:00

Bill and I have spent most of today watching a marathon of "House Hunters: International" on HGTV. It appears that they are working their way around the globe showcasing a country where they are ringing in the new year, sort of. They may be a few hours off, but they've gone in order; through Asia (Vietnam is when we started watching) and Africa. They're currently in Europe. It's been fun, we're big fans of HHI.

The rest of the day has been spent playing Scrabble. We started on Facebook, then switched to the iPad to the Pass and Play version. It's easier and quicker to play that way.

I'm going to let you know that we actually own two Scrabble games. A deluxe version on the turntable and I believe the original Uebbing Scrabble board.

But why play on those when we can use this fancy iPad?

Here's to a new year full of games and fun!

what should have been

2011-12-30T19:33:00.004-05:00

I am disappointed.

I was going to blog about my delicious, delectable rum cake from Shannon.

It didn't turn out.

I figured out, that even though I greased my pan, it didn't bake long enough. My oven/bakeware has a tendency to under-bake things. I should have known better. I should have tested it with a toothpick. But I didn't. So instead I have a pile of what should be rum cake.

(here's the cake, in the pan, looking pretty good! Until it was turned over...)

It tastes great, but it does not look good. I guess I can salvage it, pre-cut it and bring it to the New Year's party already plated. That will work. But I'm disappointed because I was looking forward to it. To a perfect rum cake.

That's life.

on blogging

2011-12-29T15:17:00.000-05:00

In the BH&G January issue, they mention resolutions. One that they suggest is: blogging for a year...

Copy Cats.

Where's my credit?

You know you were reading my blog (for a whole year) before they ever thought of it...

I thank you.

You are amazing.

And I am a trend-setter!

snowflake update!

2011-12-28T13:54:00.004-05:00

If you'll recall (or click here if you don't), I'm waiting for snow... flakes. From our friends and their children.

We received our first batch yesterday! I was thrilled to see them. It was "some snow, from some flakes". Thanks Shannon, Greg, Jack and Cade (Quin had fun observing)!! Here are the "fruits" of their labor:I love how unique they are (although, honestly, I am surprised that Greg didn't figure out how to make the Steelers logo in his snowflake...). They are beautiful and I can't wait for more!

grocery list

2011-12-27T16:59:00.000-05:00

I thought I'd share what I made for Christmas:

For breakfast, we had a ham and cheese "casserole" aka one dish breakfast. For lunch, we noshed. For dinner; bacon-wrapped pork roast with a mustard glaze, roasted veggies and the bread.

Here are a few things I'll be making for New Year's Eve:

Rum Cake (thanks Shannon!!!)
Chex mix (the family/original recipe)

My grocery list was short today. The store was almost completely empty. It always is, after the holidays (I'm not being p.c., I'm talking about Thanksgiving and Christmas). It was surreal.

Despite my trip to the store, tonight's dinner is: leftovers!

Yum!

are my eyes open?

2011-12-26T16:39:00.002-05:00

People often come back to work from vacation and the first thing they say is, "I need a vacation after my vacation." Which equates to just being tired from all the fun they just had. It makes sense. You go away from home and the fun thing to do is stay up late, sleep in; do all kinds of crazy things you don't do at home. (You must be wondering how exciting we actually are... we did absolutely nothing yesterday, except watch movies and eat, how's that for fun?)

Bill and I enjoy sleeping in on occasion. Whether it's here at home or while we're on vacation. For the most part, we spend vacations (which are few and far between) on our normal schedule. It just makes more sense. Then when we return home, we aren't completely wiped out. It doesn't take us two months to get back into the swing of things.

Our schedule isn't that hectic on a normal day.

It's not difficult to keep it up while on vacation.

I mention all of this, because I had two nights of poor quality sleep (and because it was Christmas morning, when I woke up yesterday at 6:30am -remember we do not have children- I couldn't fall back asleep for my excitement) and then one decent night (last night). But boy, am I tired. My eyes have had a very difficult time staying open for most of the afternoon. I'm not even sure I'm awake as I type this.

I have to try and stay awake so I can make the grocery list after dinner. We'll see if I remember to blog about that tomorrow...

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T07:12:00.002-05:00

Peace on earth.

Goodwill to all men and women.

May you find and give both of these today and every day.
Together we can pray for these things and bring hope to this world once again. Amen.

the day before Christmas

2011-12-24T13:34:00.003-05:00

Yes, it is also known as Christmas Eve . Bill pointed that out this morning at 7:05 when we were standing in Wesley Hall waiting to serve breakfast. We were making small talk (only so many cooks in the kitchen, so we were being good Christians and chatting it up) and I said something that included those words. It was too early for my brain to think.

I am a morning person (they do not enjoy my enthusiasm at workcamp if you'll recall), but I hadn't been awake long enough this morning.

It's Christmas Eve.

'Twas the night before Christmas (see? I wonder where I got it from) and all through the house, the cats were snoring loud enough to wake a mouse.

Seriously. As I type this, the snoring that is emitting from our two precious cats is humorous. Have you ever heard a cat snore? If not, you are welcome to come over and witness it first hand.

I really should get up and go assemble the breakfast casserole, er one-dish breakfast.

Merry Christmas Eve and Merry day-before-Christmas, whichever you prefer!

Holla'

2011-12-23T13:13:00.003-05:00

DO NOT SCRATCH & SNIFF YOUR COMPUTER SCREEN!

It's just a photo.

Remember the other day when I mentioned the Bakery?

Well I stopped by today to pick up the loaf of Challah we need for the Christmas Breakfast casserole.

It was fresh out of their oven.

It smells heavenly.

My car smells heavenly.

But whenever I order Challah, I have to raise my arms and say, "Holla'!"

It is good enough to deserve it. No. I don't know the history of Challah. I could look it up, but I'm going to go clean and take my walk. Maybe I'll look it up later.

oops, I did it again

2011-12-22T14:41:00.002-05:00

I cut another finger. This time it is my index finger.

I cut it while trying to open the plastic tub of olives.

OUCH!

I had a band-aid on it yesterday. It made typing difficult.

I think I need to be wrapped up in bubble wrap. It will keep me safer.

Thank goodness the olives are worth it.

My new year's resolution is to be more careful... ha!

picture post

2011-12-21T15:24:00.003-05:00

Because my week of blogging has been a bit dull...

Because there's still no snow on the ground...

Because I promised you pictures...

Here's the symphony. You were allowed to take non-flash photography (of course it never turns out) and video! I was enamored enough to take this picture.

Then, here's one of the gifts I finished and can show you. I made it for Dave and Greg. I started giving them ornaments every year... I can't stop the tradition now!
(yes, it is hanging from their light switch for the photo. It was the best place to get the best lighting)And here's the new (old) bathroom door!
Yes. From the inside it is a different shade of white than the rest of the bathroom. That's just going to have to wait.

the door is hung

2011-12-20T17:27:00.003-05:00

I'm not going to say, "with care"...

It's not like we literally threw it in place. Holy cow, it's a heavy door. There's no throwing it anywhere. It was all we could muster to carry it up from the basement (of course the occasional "pivot" was thrown in).

Let's just say I'm so very thankful for a handy husband.

And dowel rods.

And for a bathroom door that now closes without the special push it used to need.

I'll take pictures tomorrow when it's light out. Remind me to post them, please?

busy elves

2011-12-19T13:54:00.002-05:00

I, er the elves, have made a few Christmas gifts. I took pictures. I plan on posting them after Christmas so that the recipients don't see what they're getting. Not that I'm sure the recipients read my blog, but just in case.

If only there were a smell button on the internet. One of the elves just ordered a loaf of bread from the Wealthy Street Bakery. I can only imagine how good their website would smell.

The elves are busy and there's more to do. No time for fun. But if you have time for fun, go to Google, type in "let it snow" and wait. If you wait a long time, it's even cooler...

movie night

2011-12-18T19:59:00.003-05:00

We've had our popcorn.

The Lions and the Colts won.

We've had our milk and cookies (or leftover birthday cake).

Now it's time for a movie.

Tonight we've chosen to watch, "A Christmas Carol" the 1984 version with George C. Scott.

It's one of our favorite versions (of course the Muppet Christmas Carol is also one of my favorite versions). We have watched many different version.

Which one is your favorite?

a night at the symphony

2011-12-17T13:30:00.003-05:00

We're going to hear the DSO tonight. It's the Christmas Pops series, Home for the Holidays.

Last year the DSO was on strike, so while we had planned to go, had tickets and dinner reservations, we did not get to enjoy the symphony.

We're having dinner at 24 Grille which is the inside Weston Book Cadillac.

It's going to be a fun night!

no snow

2011-12-16T11:18:00.003-05:00

It's finally cold here, but America's high-five has yet to see any significant snowfall this season.

As I looked at my tree this morning while doing yoga, I pondered if it was my "snow" tree that did this.

Absurd. As if my tree decorating controlled the weather. I don't think so.

Bill scoffed at my thought (it was shared out loud) and I immediately did as well. But isn't it fun to think that the "butterfly effect" may have started by something you did or didn't do?

I'm sure the snow is coming. I am hoping for a white Christmas... It is the season for hope after all. And time to count your blessings instead of sheep.

the cookies

2011-12-15T15:00:00.003-05:00

Here are all the different kinds of cookies I baked. It's not all the cookies. There were a couple dozen of each. They're all dispersed now. We have a few left.

There's not a huge variety, you may even notice a theme. Powdered sugar... twice. Candy canes crushed on two different kinds of cookies... Three kinds of cookies with chocolate... and what you don't see here are the frosted sugar cookies. Remember Mary? She got most of those. The neighbors got the rest.

What can I say? I'm generous.

And modest and humble.

What?

I think I've decided to include a gingerbread cookie next year. I found a recipe and it sounds yummy (I happen to like gingersnaps, gingerbread, etc) and I discovered that where I lack in the decorating category, I make up for in the piping department! So some ginger cookies, piped with icing are in my future.

snowflakes!

2011-12-14T09:30:00.006-05:00

I thought of this last year, and meant to to do this earlier. There's still time, so help me out!

This is a picture of the sliding glass door to our backyard.
Sad and lonely, right?

For those of you with children who are old enough to use scissors or color, I would LOVE snowflakes! I think it would be so cool if you could have them draw a snowman or cut out a snowflake. Then mail it to us and I'll hang them on the sliding glass door.

Can you help me out? Will you do it?

And for those of you who don't have kids, or your kids are older... if you want to make a snowflake too, I'll take 'em!

Just in case you didn't know, snowflakes are my favorite. In fact the other day when I was baking cookies I said to Bill, "I need a snowflake cookie cutter!". Yesterday, Pat (a fellow Quotarian) handed me a birthday present. Tied to the outside was a cookie cutter snowflake!!! I was so excited!!

I think it would just be super special to have something from each of your children and my friends. There is no deadline. But I figured it would help you keep the kids busy next week when they're home from school on break!

my birthday!

2011-12-14T09:17:00.005-05:00

I was super busy yesterday, so I'm going to share the photos from my birthday with you. Then I'll blog again, because I have something to blog about for today!

I started by going to see the Cool Cats (no picture). They greeted my by singing "Happy Birthday" to me. Cindy, their teacher, made me a cake! It's such a wonderful way to start out the day!

Then, after stopping at home for a short time, I went to the DHHS lunch. I blogged about that on Quota's website. I picked Mary, who asks for homemade sugar cookies every year. I made her a batch of those and got her a gift card to McDonald's because she likes to stop and buy coffee.
Then, after delivering the plates of cookies to a few of our neighbors, Bill and I tried going to Jersey Junction for ice cream. Even though their sign says they close January 1st, they were already closed for the season.

That's okay. I have peppermint ice cream in our freezer!

Bill and I went to Meijer Gardens to see the Christmas Trees from Around the World and the Holiday train. They've added new buildings to the train scene this year. I did not realize that each building is made of natural materials! The shingles are eucalyptus leaves, they use hydrangea petals, and other plant particles. Here's how good they look...

The actual Greenhouse from outside.
The train model Greenhouse inside.
It's beautiful, magical and impressive, because hundreds of volunteer hours are spent making these models!

After dinner at Shiraz, we came home. I opened cards and presents!
Thank you for all the birthday wishes! It was a wonderful day. I enjoyed the many phone calls, cards, texts and wishes on facebook!!

several letters off

2011-12-12T12:19:00.004-05:00

Typing with a band-aid on a finger isn't easy. It's really not easy when it's your index/pointer finger.

I sliced open my finger yesterday when I tried to remove a cobweb from the door frame in the kitchen. That's what I get for trying to clean! What I couldn't see (maybe because of the cobweb) was the huge splinter sticking out from the trim. It caused a pretty decent cut.

Don't worry. I'll be fine. No need to call the ambulance or get stitches. Eventually it stopped bleeding. Although it continues to hurt, I don't think I need an amputation.

I have discovered that having a band-aid on the top of this finger makes typing very difficult. I actually use the little raised bumps on the keys to find "F" and "H". I can't feel it through the band-aid. I've been several letters off all morning.

Fortunately for you, there's the backspace key. I may wear it out by the end of the day. Or this post.

Take my advice and next time you see a cobweb; don't try to wipe it away (at least in our house)!

yup, I missed a day

2011-12-11T08:05:00.003-05:00

Nope, I didn't blog yesterday. I was pretty busy. Here's how the day went:

I scraped the rest of the paint off the top of the bathroom door frame, while Bill worked on the door.

I started baking cookies, while Bill sanded the door frame.

I continued baking cookies, while Bill went back and worked on the door again (painting, sanding, repainting. Don't ask).

I was still baking cookies and Bill took his shower.

I finished baking, did the last of the dishes and showered.

We left for his company holiday party.

It was in St. Joe, we got home at midnight.

I have more cookies to bake today.

I could post-date my post, but I won't.

Anybody want some cookies?

the best in people

2011-12-09T11:15:00.003-05:00

This story has been in our local news and it just keeps growing. It gives me goosebumps when I hear it. This story is why this time of year is so great. It brings out the best in people.

Then there's the story on our Quota blog, written by our President. What a gift! It always makes me think outside the box and try to find a new way to give a gift to someone.

What's the best gift (non-material) you've ever given? What's the best gift (non-material) you've ever received?

Even though yesterday's post suggested it's all about the material things, it most definitely is not. One of my favorite things is our Christmas Eve service. The darkness of the sanctuary, the stillness throughout, that is what makes it Christmas for me.

My wish for you this Christmas is that you are looking beyond the presents and will find hope and peace.

making a list...

2011-12-08T16:51:00.003-05:00

And I've checked it twice.

Actually, I have three lists.

I think of something and write it down, but not on the same piece of paper. That would be too easy.

Fortunately the lists are similar. There are some extra things here and there. But for the most part, I've got almost everything on the lists and then some.

Of course we went overboard, again. We do every year.

Bill was so sweet this year.

He called me into his "office" and had me sit down. "Let's keep it to $XX this year."

"Sure", I replied knowing that what we'd already shopped for we had blown that number out of the water. And then we went shopping again. At least I keep the family gifts in check. There was one year that they came to Jersey to visit us and I went overboard, and then I shopped some more. Literally half of the living room floor was covered in presents. There wasn't much room for anyone to sit.

We've done better scaling it back since then. Until this year. Well, it won't be that bad (if you really think that's bad). I did shop some good sales. And I've had coupons.

Now to turn the spare bedroom into "Wrapping Central".

Pearl Harbor Day

2011-12-07T14:32:00.002-05:00

Seventy years.

Let us honor and remember those who fought bravely at Pearl Harbor. Lest we not forget.

planning my life

2011-12-06T17:15:00.004-05:00

I own a planner.

My email account has a calendar that I use. It can even send me text/email reminders which I use often.

I still forget things.

I almost forgot that I was supposed to volunteer Monday morning for JFON. The first email I saw was my reminder. That was helpful.

Then this afternoon, Bill kept asking me if I was going anywhere. I kept telling him no. I'll be gone tomorrow night.

Then I got the reminder for the church conference. Oh right. I am going to that tonight.

Maybe my new year's resolution should be to not forget things. The sad part is that both of these events were not only written down in my planner which sits less than two feet from my face, open on my desk, but they were also in my email calendar. Thank goodness for those reminders. Without them, I might just forget to do everything.

Now, where are those post-its?

Casseroles vs. One-dish dinners

2011-12-05T19:28:00.004-05:00

I have an aversion to casseroles. I don't like them. I never have. If you try to bring me a casserole, I will very kindly accept it and then make Bill eat it. All of it. If it doesn't have tuna in it, I may have a small bite. But that's it.

On the other hand, a one-dish dinner? I'll eat those by the mouthfuls. One-dish dinners are my bag, baby. I dig [into] them.

Casseroles? *blech!*

One-dish dinners? Yum!

Maybe if you just called the casserole a one-dish dinner you could get it past me. Maybe. Only if it doesn't have tuna in it.

One of my favorite one-dish dinners is this one. I add a smoked sausage, cut into pieces, just for fun. I've also added shrimp, but we like it best with the sausage.

Let the waiting begin

2011-12-04T11:12:00.003-05:00

It's all done.

The decorating. I can't believe it. I even carried the last of the two thousand gallon totes up to the bedroom (yes, they still have to go to the attic, but they're half way there).

The tree is decorated in snowmen, snowflakes and a few other special ornaments. We have three trees in the dining room (all small). You could say, it's the tree-fecta.

One is full of the planes Bill has collected, one is just white with a few small colored glass balls (I think they're greens and blue), and the third tree has the miniature ornament collection.

The mantel is my favorite decorated surface. It has a lit garland and the church ornaments. I am going to have to try to take pictures. Warning, they never turn out because I don't want to use the flash. But I'll go charge the camera battery and perhaps on a sunny day I'll be able to snap a few pictures. Of course then I have to remember to post them here.

And the sun has to return before Christmas...

So the waiting has begun. The Advent season is in full swing. We are prepared (although if Christ shows up before next weekend, he's not getting any cookies. The cookie baking isn't happening until then). We will spend the rest of Advent waiting, anticipating. Being full of hope and wonder.

For now, I'm just waiting for Bill's big Sunday breakfast.

Oh Christmas tree...

2011-12-03T18:29:00.006-05:00

In response to Bill's blog from yesterday, I would just like to point out that we have come upon an agreement for the outdoor lights/decorating that greatly reduces the amount of time needed to spend on the lighting/decorating (wow, that was a long sentence).

We purchase two wreaths from my high school band, which sells the wreaths as a fundraiser. They are made in Danville, Indiana so they started out local (please ignore the carbon footprint in which we made bigger by driving to get them). We hang one from the attic window and one in the porch gable, point two spot lights at them, and voila! The outside is done and it looks beautiful.

Here's a photo from last year.

Simple, right?

Beautiful, no?

So there, Mr. Scrooge. For all the decorating we do inside (which I continue to scale back), at least the outside is easy. And I hope your heart will grow each year just like the Grinch.

cards, cinnamon pumpkin rolls and snoring cats...

2011-12-02T11:46:00.003-05:00

As I work on our Christmas cards, I'm not only listening to the radio, but also the dulcet tones of our snoring kitty.

Juliette is just so sweet. I love that she snores (even if it has woken us up in the middle of the night) and that she likes to be near me.

Last night was our Quota holiday party. We are asked to bring either an appetizer or dessert based on the first letter of our last name. Being a "U" that typically means dessert. I made these.

Cinnamon Pumpkin swirls. They were a big hit and they are delicious. It's the first time I'd ever made a rolled cake. Other than the filling being a little too runny, once it set in the fridge, it was perfect!

Here we go again

2011-12-01T12:55:00.004-05:00

It's time for the next chapter.

You spoke up, and I listened!

I could run for President...

Okay, I couldn't, but because six out of six votes were to keep blogging, I'll not let you down!

My dad pointed out it would be okay if I didn't have a post for everyday. I explained that if I get lazy and say, "oh I don't have anything to write about today." Then it might happen again the next day and the next... and I'll have fallen back out of the swing of things.

So, here's to another year. For all the good posts and bad, please keep reading!

that's it?

2011-11-30T09:14:00.020-05:00

Wait? That's it? Today is the end of my year of blogging?! I can't believe it. After a shaky start and questioning why I ever decided to to it, here I sit and write one year later, full of ideas. Wondering what to do next.

A whole year passed. I blogged 364 posts. I missed two days, but blogged extra. I wrote haiku's (both were posted on the 24th of the month...!). I posted pictures. I cooked a lot of meals. I'm not famous. No one called me wanting to make a movie out of this. I averaged forty readers a week (repeats included, thanks Mom, Dad!). I'm a better writer. I traveled to Indiana, Nashville, Chicago, Bay City, Detroit, Savannah, and Dubuque. I walked 167 days since January 1st. I had pink hair.

And here it is. The end of the year.

Or is it?

I've been thinking about continuing. Is it still a challenge if I keep blogging every day?

A habit is supposed to be formed after eighty (or is it ninety?) days.

I think I've made this a habit.

But what if I don't have something to blog about?

Saying something like, "I'm going to blog every day for a decade" just sounds insane. But if I don't do it every day, I know I'll slip back into my old habit of blogging once a month, if that.

My question is, dear readers: do you care enough? Do you want me to keep going?

I have more things to blog about. I've come up with many ideas. Which of course don't include the every day happenings that sometimes pop up. No, not every day is a good day. But it's been fun. At least for me. So, what do you say? Another year?

Editor's note: I took the time to link each word to something that I thought was appropriate. I hope you'll take the time to click each one to see where it takes you!

it's not junk in my trunk

2011-11-29T14:20:00.002-05:00

Last year I blogged about the Jr. High youth group's efforts to stuff socks for homeless people who come to our church on Christmas Eve morning for breakfast. It's called Casey's breakfast, because a man named Casey used to serve breakfast out of a restaurant. Unfortunately the restaurant was closed. Our church had been a part of the Christmas Eve breakfast service, so we continued the breakfast out of our own building.

The gifts that are given are a pair of socks, one stuffed inside the other; then the rest of the sock is filled with toiletries and other goodies that you and I might not consider to be extravagant.

The Jr. High has been helping to stuff socks for years. This year we're stuffing 50 socks for men, 50 socks for women and 50 socks for kids. After reading last year's post, I can see why I'm a bit tuckered out from all the shopping. We're stuffing three times as many!

The youth group went shopping on the 20th. There were three groups; one shopped for the men, one for women and one for kids. Each group had a budget (and went drastically over, which is okay because thankfully our church is generous and there's plenty to spend on the socks). Today, I met up with Sami (Chandra is still on maternity leave... lucky) and we finished the shopping at the Dollar store.

Hence the picture of my trunk stuffed to the guild. Oh, that's not all the stuff. That's just what we bought this morning.

Many donations are given, but the congregation is also asked to stuff socks (so that we have around 400-500 total), and no one really knows how many we (the Jr. High) are stuffing. Truthfully, neither do we. We're making this up as we go. Which is why we're doing more this year than last.

A few of the things I needed to pick up today were things like socks for the women and kids. We had enough donated for the men, in fact we only needed 31 more socks to equal 50 for the women. It's a very complicated system.

Sunday, I'll be setting everything out according to group and making sure I really did buy enough of everything. I'll have to take some pictures on Sunday. It's a very efficient system. There's a lot of stuff.

Winter workout

2011-11-28T17:47:00.003-05:00

It's time to change my workout schedule to fit the winter.

Each year the goal is to walk outside from the beginning of March through the end of November. I've already walked while snow has been falling, twice in the last couple of weeks. More snow is coming. I think I can make it out on Wednesday, but I have to mentally start preparing for the change.

It's not that big of a deal. Bill and I will get up and go mall-walking three times a week through the end of February. That's the winter goal. Unless we break down and get a monthly membership to the Kroc Center.

I'm going to keep doing yoga three times a week.

Plus the shoveling. Oh the shoveling.

Pray for us.

Or send us cookies.

That won't help, but that will just force us to go walk.

It made my day

2011-11-27T15:52:00.002-05:00

We went and saw the Muppet movie.

I don't know if you realized that I wanted to see it.

I may have mentioned it a few times.

We planned to go see it today because we don't have youth group tonight.

It was a Muppet Movie. I liked it. I thought it couldn't have been any better.

Okay, it could have been better if Mr. Jim Henson were still alive. I'm not a movie critic though. With the exception of a handful of movies, I like most of them. I don't like ticket prices, but that's another post for another day. All that matters is that today we had a coupon for a discounted Matinee price. Yes. I am that person. Coupons are my friend (when I remember them).

Anyway, I had to tell you that I finally saw the movie, and liked it, before I got too distracted between the Red Wings game and putting out Christmas decorations.

freeing the bathroom

2011-11-26T16:50:00.003-05:00

We have liberated the bathroom.

It wasn't really under any kind of restraint, other than it had a door.

Did you catch that? It had a door. Well, wait. It still has a door. The door is what's been liberated. It's been freed from its hinges. And layers of paint.

Bill took the door off the hinges and took it to the basement. There he coated it with eco-friendly paint remover. I continued removing the paint off the trim in the hallway.

We're removing the paint, wait for it, so we can paint.

There are only so many layers of paint you can put on before it no longer looks good. Especially when your house is from the 1920's. That, and the last few layers weren't really done well. It was as though the owners were in a hurry to sell the house and sort of slapped on some paint in places that needed it. The problem with that is it shows. In a bad way.

So we're working on removing it. Then we'll paint a nice fresh coat. It will be purty.

In the meantime, for a short while, we don't have a door on the bathroom. It's sort of liberating in its own way.

just another Friday

2011-11-25T18:46:00.004-05:00

It's just another Friday. You can read how Bill and I feel about this on our joint blog.

The day is winding down and Bill built a fire in the fireplace. It was quite lovely out, the sun was shining and it was warmer than average.

Tomorrow is small business Saturday. We'll be doing our part. It's funny how it works. Today, I cleaned for a fellow Quotarian. Now I'll take the money I earned and go spend it in the local economy at a small business. In the grand scheme of things, this will help Bill. What a great circle!

And what will we buy? Well, we're going to stop by the local mom and pop shop for some bread so we can have that leftover turkey on sandwiches. Yum. And we're buying supplies to restore the windows. Complete opposite ends of the spectrum. We're going to buy other things to, but we're going to make our list over breakfast; my blueberry pancakes with homemade syrup. I'm looking forward to tomorrow. I worked hard today.

Eat, Drink and be Merry!

2011-11-24T08:51:00.004-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

May your day be full of blessings and thanks.

Today and a week from today

2011-11-23T08:20:00.002-05:00

Today is the big day.

It was on my Yahoo! sign in page.

I love starting my day with the Muppets.

Would you like to join me? Here's the link again.

On the other hand, in one week my blogging for a year journey will be over. I've been giving it a lot of thought. Will I continue? Will I do something different? I guess you'll have to wait and find out next week.

For now, have a very Muppet Thanksgiving!! I know I will.

It's beginning to look a lot like...

2011-11-22T16:47:00.003-05:00

Christmas.

But not in the traditional sense. In the everyone-is-out-shopping-and-driving-like-they-have-their-head-shoved-up-their-behinds. You've seen them too, right?

Then there was Meijer... On a typical Tuesday morning, there are usually two or three lanes open. And there's always a line (which is when they typically open the third).

This morning?

All but four lanes were open and the people were three or four deep.

My cashier apologized for not being very fast because they had pulled her from the photo department. She did just fine and was very kind.

Fortunately, I found everything I needed which wasn't very much. I am not making the big dinner. We're going to Diane's house. She's a long-time family friend of the Uebbing's. I'm taking a roasted vegetables dish and a pecan pie.

All this talk about food is making me hungry. It's time for me to go fix our dinner.

the Italian in me

2011-11-21T21:20:00.004-05:00

I must be part Italian.

I love pasta. I have at least seven different recipes for stuffed shells. And I like every single one of them.

Tonight's recipe says,"This is one of those old-school recipes you seldom see anymore, but you should." -Donatella Arpaia. It was in the September issue of BH&G (pg. 174).

I doctored it up by adding an Italian sausage (just one, it called for 1 1/2 pounds of ground beef and I only had about 1 1/4 lbs. so the sausage filled in). Then at the end not only did I add fresh Parm. but I also added shredded mozzarella.

It is my dream to make homemade pasta in a kitchen in Italy.

See how specific I am? I already make my own pasta for Rollatini. And ravioli. If I really wanted to, I could make my own linguine.

But I want to make it there. With a crotchety older Italian woman (I would rather say "lovely" but I'm being realistic and I'm also thinking of this kind woman who would be trying to teach an American something that she doesn't need a recipe for, but that has been passed down through generations, so surely she would be somewhat crotchety) where wine is plentiful. Perhaps it would be a villa, with the strong smell of animals and country air.

Can you picture it?

I'm mostly German. Which given my post from yesterday, about all the cookies I plan on making, shouldn't be a surprise. But there must be some Italian in me somewhere...

the preperation begins

2011-11-20T14:57:00.003-05:00

I learned from a very wise friend (thank you, Dave) to be better prepared for Christmas, it helps to have a schedule.

You can find one at Martha Stewart's website.

Then, when I get my new planner in January, I go ahead and write in when I need to send Christmas cards, bake cookies and decorate.

It makes the season a lot less stressful. I get to enjoy things like my birthday and baking.

Today I worked on my list of cookies to bake. When we lived in Jersey I baked several dozen cookies and then Bill and I delivered them around to our neighbors. Every single one of them looked at us as if we were from another planet when they opened their doors. We quickly learned to start out with the phrase, "we're from the mid-west". For whatever reason that explained away the unusual gift we were bringing to them.

Then, a few years ago, I made turtles and fudge and I delivered it to our neighbors here.

I enjoy this sort of thing. To me, it's a simple gift. If there's one thing I enjoy more than baking, it's gift giving. Combined it makes for happy neighbors.

I'm working to create the right balance of cookies; candy-cane topped, chocolate, nut-free, annual favorites, these are all being strategically planned so that it doesn't wind up as a plate full of chocolate cookies. Which, believe me, I wouldn't mind. But I want it to be a nice variety (without going overboard).

I've settled on six kinds. The last one is a new recipe and I need to go search for it, so please excuse me while I do that...

game day

2011-11-19T20:56:00.004-05:00

In more ways than one, today was game day.

On the college football front (if you're into that sort of thing), Michigan State played I.U. Well they would have if I.U. had bothered to show up. The final beating, uh I mean score? 55-3. Ouch! It was a house divided, although not really. I'm not a die hard fan. And fortunately my "out" is that I.U. is not known for their football...

I spent part of the day scraping paint off the upstairs hallway trim. Remind me of this tomorrow when my arms are sore.

Tonight we played Monopoly. There is a new Muppet's Monopoly out. I saw it the other day. I thought I wanted it. But after seeing it, realized I would really just want it for the pieces. We have enough games. Scrabble, Life, Monopoly, Clue. Plus all of those games in the Simpson's version. I guess my thought is; if we have it in the Simpson's we should have it in the Muppet's.

My head has since cleared and I've seen the light.

It's not necessary.

But seriously, if they ever bring out Muppet Lego's, look out. I will be more excited about those than I was when they brought out the Harry Potter Lego's.

Have A Seat

2011-11-18T11:03:00.003-05:00

Perhaps this is something for the Blah, Blah, Blog, but I'm motivated to write about it here... Maybe we'll continue discussion over there. If we do, I'll let you know.

I have found that for whatever reason, people do not sit next to me. I think I blogged about this before regarding church. At any rate, I try not to let it bother me, but it can make one paranoid. Do I smell? No, I showered. Do I look menacing? I hope not. Do I look scary? I don't think so.

But whatever the reason, I find myself sitting in a pew all to myself.

On the other hand, Bill always finds that the person wearing the most perfume with the worst possible scent, is who will sit near him. This is in church, the movie theater, a play. It doesn't matter where, this person will always be the one to sit nearest to Bill.

I bring this up because last night I went to a band concert performed by Hope College students and members of the community in Holland. It was a very nice concert.

I spent the first half of the concert in a pew, all by myself. As I laughed about my common predicament, it dawned on me what happens to Bill. I had to stifle a stronger laugh.

I'll take being alone, thank you very much.

And then a nice older couple sat down near me in the same pew.

I hope I didn't bother them with my crocheting. At least I found out later that Molly's roommate was knitting, so I wasn't being rude (it was a concert, not a play, there wasn't much to see...).

Tonight we're going to see a play. A couple of the high school youth are in it, so we're going to support them.

Will we be alone or smothered by someone's Eau de flowerery scent?

At least I don't wear too much (if any) perfume!

time for a dinner post

2011-11-17T13:15:00.002-05:00

As you are well aware of by now, I love trying new recipes. In fact, Bill summed it up quite nicely when I asked him what he wanted for dinners this week. If there was anything specific he had a craving for. He replied, "That's the problem with always trying new things. I can't remember all the things you make and which ones I want again."

I can't help it. After years of the same meals over and over again, I have the time and knowledge (and as Bill would say, the "shive a git") to keep things interesting.

Last night I made Short Rib Chili. It was not a cheap dish to make, the short ribs were not on sale, but boy was it delicious. My taste buds have clearly adapted to spicy foods, because I'm sure this would set a "mild" tongue on fire. But it was just right for me. And there are leftovers.

As a side note: if you do make this dish and make the polenta to go with it, cut that recipe in half. We have enough polenta to eat for the next two weeks. Sadly, I think some of it is going to have to get thrown out. Unless I find a new recipe that calls for it...

On a different note: I'm trying very much to hold back how excited I am for the Muppet movie. I just found this video this morning. I almost jumped up and down. How much better could the Muppets get? I'll tell you: in the new movie they're trying to save the theater from the Muppet show. They've taken the Muppets and Historic Preservation and combined them. The only thing that could make that any better is if Lego came out with a Muppet line... Six days and counting...

Craft day

2011-11-16T09:32:00.005-05:00

My mom found this craft in the Midwest Living magazine (December 2011 issue, page 80) and told me about it.I hadn't made it that far, but flipped ahead and liked the craft. It was perfect! I had leftover halves of the embroidery hoops from our Halloween costume.
Last Friday, I did what the magazine told me; I sat down with a glass of wine and started cutting ribbon. I only had a thin, gold curling ribbon so I thought I'd see how that looked. I cut a test strip to check the length. It worked, so I set about cutting and tying. I worked in groups of ten. This was the smaller of the two hoops. Between texting and drinking the wine, it took me about an hour.
While the photos don't really do it justice, it looks great! I'm super happy with the ribbon wreath I made. I'm going to try to find some other ribbon (the article used a red & white "candy cane" striped ribbon) to make the other one. Then, when we pull out the Christmas decorations, I'll hang them in the windows.

I'm mostly sharing this for my mom who first pointed it out to me!

Picture Day!

2011-11-15T10:54:00.003-05:00

As adults this rarely happens. Unless you're a teacher. Or you attend a church and they update the Directory every few years, which is our case.

We've had exactly three professional photos taken of just the two of us. Our engagement photo, our wedding photos and the last church directory photo.

Bill doesn't like having his picture taken.

We've also had our pictures taken professionally at his sister's wedding, my sister's wedding, our friends Amy and Adam's wedding (we were Master and Mistress of Ceremonies, so we got a special photo with the bride & groom), and with the immediate Uebbing family (outside of all the weddings).

That's a total of seven times in eleven years.

I would have our pictures taken a lot more, but alas it's the best I can do to pretty much force him into the church directory photo.

So today is picture day.

I have a zit in the middle of my face (between the eyebrows at the bridge of my nose).

Juliette decided to puke four times early this morning so we didn't get a decent nights sleep and have bags under our eyes.

Did I mention it's picture day?

"Cheese"

five o'clock whistle blows

2011-11-14T17:39:00.003-05:00

Today it was late. I didn't finish working until 5:30p

A travesty, I know.

So it wouldn't make you very happy to know that I only worked 2 1/2 hours total today.

Jenny and I went shopping and when we got back she headed home. I had work to do and had a phone call from the boss. I returned the call and saw all the work we have to get finished this week. No time to sit around, I jumped into action and worked past five. I finished what I was working on and emailed it to her by 5:30p.

It's very unusual for me.

On the shopping side of the day, we both got a couple Christmas presents out of the way. And Jenny helped me pick out a new outfit that I'll wear to the holiday parties we have this season. I'm excited about the outfit. It's super cute (in my opinion).

Time for dinner, leftovers reign but will not remain.

hop, skip and a tick

2011-11-13T15:22:00.004-05:00

Yesterday I mentioned that Heather, Jenny and Ginger were coming to visit. We went to Brewery Vivant and had the brewery tour. It was very interesting, I didn't really know anything about the process. Our Brew Master told us that the most important part of beer is the water. Most people will say it's the hops or the process.

After the tour we got to sample four of the beers. We also ordered the frites (it's a Belgium Brewery, so Belgium fries were not unusual). They were delicious! The beer was good too. I'm not a light beer drinker, I like the stouts... so while I liked a couple of them, I was happy that they were just samples.

From there we went downtown to the Hopcat. I sampled the Brewery Vivant Peppercorn (the Brew Master told us about it, but Brewery Vivant had just sold the last of it the night before). It was a lager. It wasn't bad, but I decided to go for the Milk Stout from Colorado. It was really good.

Jenny got a hot pretzel and a raspberry Frambroise Lambic. Heather and Bill shared a quesadilla and Bill ordered a Smoked Charkoota. It smelled and tasted like liquid smoke. It was not good. Heather ordered the (I'm sorry but this is what it's called) "Raging Bitch".

From there we headed to Gardella's for dinner (because clearly we hadn't eaten enough). Bill, Heather and Jenny ordered Bloody Mary's. I enjoyed more water. Bill and I had the beef and cheddar sandwich, Jenny went healthy and had a salad and Heather ordered the perch.

Today, after Bill's big Sunday breakfast, Heather, Jenny and Ginger and I took a walk. We didn't skip... just walked.

Shortly after Heather left, Jenny found a tick on Ginger. It was engorged. We didn't realize what it was until after Surgeon Bill removed it and I looked it up online.

Ginger is recovering right now. The three humans may be a little worse for wear...

brew tours and Saturdays

2011-11-12T08:44:00.004-05:00

*Editor's note: With regards to yesterday, 11/11/11 we watched "Ocean's Eleven". Thought you'd like to know

It's Saturday morning. We have a lot to do. We have company coming for a short fun-filled visit. Heather W., Jenny and Ginger (her Wheaten Terrier). The house is mostly clean, we just have a few last minute things to take care of.

The reason Jenny and Heather are coming is because in our recycling program I found free brewery tours to one of the local breweries. The cool thing about this Brew Pub (in case you're not into beer) is that it's in an old church. I can't wait to see it.

I invited Heather because she lives in the middle of the state with nothing around her. When I met up with her to go to Dahlia Hill, she mentioned how bored she is in the winter. She needs live music, a hip city scene and other human interaction (seriously, she's surrounded by a lot of woods...). So when I found these coupons, I knew this was something she would like to do.

Then I invited Jenny because John is out of town. We took a winery tour for her birthday a couple years ago. It was a lot of fun and I knew she would enjoy the brew tour too.

We are looking forward to it. But now my coffee is finished and it's time to get the house ready before they arrive.

11/11/11

2011-11-11T08:37:00.002-05:00

It's eleven, eleven, eleven.

Yes, it only happens once (until 3011, but none of us will be around).

I am hoping to do something fun today, or eleven fun things. I have no idea what they will be, but I know I'll find something crazy. I'll probably take eleven pictures. I started with these three, to show the date. Once I started looking for things that make an eleven, I found a ton.

Don't forget to thank a Veteran! They all deserve a thank you all year round. One day is not enough. But let us use this day to remind them that they do matter and that we recognize what they have given for us. Thank you!

welcome winter

2011-11-10T14:18:00.006-05:00

I get it.

It's November (but not officially winter until December 22nd).

It's Michigan.

For all of those who live here and are reading this, I apologize.

It's snowing.

I know. That should not surprise me. But the first snowfall always does.

It's not really sticking and Mother Nature decided now would be a good time to go through her menopausal years. It's been rainy, sleety, hail has fallen and then the snow. With bits of sunshine between all of those. She can't decide what she wants to do out there.

But now it's out of the way. The snowfall we get for the rest of the winter will be more significant and will be less dramatic with each flake.

Except for those of us who love snow.

Children...

Me...

I will be giddy and more excited with each flake.

And we're not even the first place to get snow this year. Check out our friends in Pennsylvania... they had snow. Serious snow. The irony was that the day it snowed there, it was nice here. That's backwards.

Anyways, welcome winter. Even if you are a bit early.

Tuscany

2011-11-09T15:21:00.003-05:00

Well drat.

I was going to post pictures from our cruise since I never finished four years ago. Now I know why. They're not on this computer. They're on the hard drive for the Mac.

The hard drive which is collecting dust because we never replaced it after giving our Mac to my parents so they could join the twenty-first century.

I have all the photos printed and in an album. And in a scrapbook. They're available in my Walgreens online account.

Four years ago we were in Tuscany. Enjoying good food and good wine.

The best story from that day was while Jenny and I were using the restrooms Bill and John had a little adventure.

They had been discussing taking wine with us on the long bus ride back to the ship. Together, they went over to Diego the bus driver and asked him if we were "allowed" to drink on the bus. Diego said sure so John said, "You go find some cups, I'll get the wine" and they broke off.

When they came back together a few moments later (Jenny and I were still waiting in line and had no idea what was going on), Diego called them over to the bus. The way he was standing suggested he was trying to hide something. John and Bill carefully approached him (this was Italy after all).

Diego was wiping out wine glasses with paper towels. He had swiped them from the vineyard because he didn't want us drinking wine out of plastic cups!!

There is a photo of the four of us holding our "hot" wine glasses with Diego and Simona (our guide) when we got back to the ship.

Of course we tried to bring the glasses back to the U.S. with us, but only one made it. Our suitcases were a little stuffed by the end of the trip. And knowing how gentle the people are who handle the luggage, it's really no surprise that three of them were broken.

just another Tuesday

2011-11-08T16:50:00.004-05:00

Bill and I went and voted this morning. Did you?

There were three offices up for election and one proposal. There was no one in line when we got there, so it took all of four minutes. Two of those were spent telling the nice volunteer what our names were. He wasn't doing a very good job reading our driver's licenses. He called me Eunice.

As we left, we thanked them for volunteering.

It's a rainy, dark day here.

Four years ago we were on our cruise in the Mediterranean. Since it's Tuesday, we were in Villefranche. I blogged about the first two days of the cruise and then never finished... but you can check out that stop!

Kermit the Frog is going to be on Ellen tomorrow. Two weeks until the new Muppet movie is out in theaters!

I ran my errands and worked. My office is still a small disaster.

It's just another Tuesday...

office space

2011-11-07T15:40:00.002-05:00

I decided to clean my office. Of course this started with cleaning off my desk.

Neither one has been completed and my office looks worse than when I started.

I'd take a picture, but I think the camera is buried somewhere in one of these piles.

The good news is I have to have it finished by the weekend because we're having company and she'll be sleeping in here.

The bad news is I desperately have to clean out the closet too and one week is not enough time to accomplish that task.

And Atticus just discovered my mess. He thinks he's died and gone to heaven. I have to go finish picking up this mess now. Before he eats everything...

not all it's cracked up to be...

2011-11-06T15:06:00.004-05:00

The nutcracker of course.

Not the ballet. The nutcracker I was using on the hazelnuts.

I'll just start at the beginning:

A few weeks ago on facebook, Sami left me this message,
"Dear Betty Crocker, I found a cranberry-hazelnut bread recipe that looks really good. Would you like it... to make for me? :)"

I told her I would be happy to make it for her as long as it was a bread recipe like banana and not one that required a bread-machine.

She brought me the recipe and I bought the ingredients to make it. All I needed that I didn't already have were the cranberries and the hazelnuts.

Buying/finding the hazelnuts was an odyssey. Needless to say I did find them, in the shell. I sent Sami a text to find out if she had a nutcracker because we do not.

Why don't we have a nutcracker? Doesn't everyone have a nutcracker? (Sami did not.) Back in the 70's wasn't it the thing to have? You'd set out a bowl of nuts (in the shell, of course) and whenever you'd have company they could enjoy them. Oh wait, while I was alive in the 70's (barely) we were not married in the 70's.

I love the ballet. It's one of my all-time favorite things to see at Christmas. I probably like it because our elementary school performed it when I was in 1st (???) grade. I was something and we danced in circles. I want to say a flower... but that doesn't make sense. Maybe it was a snowflake. That makes more sense.

Did you know in the Nutcracker (according to Wikipedia), nutcrackers were used [specifically] for hazelnuts. Yup, it's right here, under Act 1, paragraph three. Huh. That fits into my post quite well.

Back to the hazelnuts. I used the flat side of the meat mallet. Boy did it make a mess. But it worked. Maybe we need an actual nutcracker. I have decorative ones that I set out at Christmas.But I'm talking about an actual nutcracker, like here. It's a great gift idea, if you're looking for something to get us. Or a nice decorative nutcracker, but that leaves us where we started and that is without a nutcracker for practical purposes.

... see it my way

2011-11-05T17:49:00.004-04:00

The beginning of that well-known phrase is "Save Time..."

Tonight we fall back. Hooray!

I know I have blogged about this topic before, but can't find that post... and since I'm in the middle of fixing dinner, I don't have the time to go through every single post. At any rate, what I don't understand is why we have Daylight Saving Time? Every time someone talks about it, they don't have anything good to say. Cows don't care what time it is, they still have to be milked.

I think my strong feelings stem from having grown up mostly in Indiana during the non-Daylight Saving Time years.

Those were the good ol' days.

Then they had to go and join the rest of the country and get on DST.

I hope Arizona and Hawaii can be strong and hold on to their roots. Don't do it! It makes no sense.

I mean, sure in the summer if we weren't on DST the sun would rise 5am and set at 8:30pm. But it still wouldn't be dark until 9:30pm.

At least it's fall and we gain our hour back.

Dinner's ready: chicken thighs with Penne and Marinara. It smells delicious!

more risotto

2011-11-04T19:38:00.004-04:00

This time it was spiced pear with bacon and pecans.

Oh my.

It was delicious.

It had a hint of autumn with the nutmeg and cinnamon. The pecans and bacon rounded it off with a savory flavor. Is your mouth watering yet? Here's the recipe (it's not as crazy as the other one)

For dessert we had apple crisp. Ala mode.

Bill was able to leave Detroit around 3:30pm so he made it home for dinner. Yay! It was nice to have him back at the dinner table with me (we bought the dining room table, we're going to use it, that was decided a few years ago after spending too many night in front of the tv, there are reports out there that say that will kill us).

Time to do the dishes.

peppermint mocha and pumpkin smoothies

2011-11-03T13:01:00.003-04:00

Those two things do NOT go together. They are separate.

First, last night I had a pumpkin "smoothie". I walked into the HPC meeting with it, pointed at it and asked fellow Commissioner Heather, "guess what's in it?" She guessed milk, which was one of the ingredients. It also had canned pumpkin, yogurt, peanut butter, cinnamon, nutmeg, a banana and ice cream!

I added the ice cream because our immersion blender doesn't do ice. It barely does anything since the first time I used it the glue holding the blade in the end broke free. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't. But it works for soups and smoothies.

Or milkshakes, whatever this was... smoothshake. Sure, that's what it was, a pumpkin smoothshake.

I found this recipe in a magazine last fall. Since I often make pumpkin bread and I can only find the 24oz. cans of pumpkin (the recipe only calls for a 14oz can), I thought this might be a healthy way to use up the canned pumpkin. Pioneer Woman posted a pumpkin smoothie on her blog just the other day. It's very similar, I plan on trying her version too.

I'm asking Santa for a new blender for Christmas. Preferably one that can blend ice.

The peppermint mocha flavored coffee creamer is now sold year round. I didn't buy any until just last week. I want to keep it special for Christmas. When I was at the store, I realized I would have been stocking up on it in years past by October, so maybe it was time to buy some.

I just cracked it open yesterday. When I had my first sip of coffee, that peppermint flavor made me smile.

My online radio station has it's "Christmas only" option available. That made me smile too. I'm far from ready, but the anticipation is definitely here!

the other risotto blog for today

2011-11-02T13:22:00.000-04:00

I have made risotto and blogged about it before (here). I like it so much that I went in search of more risotto recipes. I found a couple and have been meaning to try them for months. Finally, I decided I would make them this week while Bill is in Detroit (not because he doesn't love risotto; but because it's a good leftover dish, it's a good side dish and I'm also eating these pulled pork sandwiches so I just needed a little bit of something to go with them and even I have my limit on how many times I can eat potatoes).

So I tried this recipe today for lunch, Butternut Squash, Spinach and Goat Cheese Risotto. I know. You're thinking, how in the world did you ever find this recipe? I searched for risotto and this is one of the recipes that popped up.

Now I am nice enough to have retyped it for you. Because, even though there is a U.S./metric conversion button, the U.S. measurements are screwy. Things like "1/2 pounds, 2 -5/8 ounces, weight Peeled... Butternut Squash"...

What???

Who weighs there Butternut Squash?

So here's my version below.

Just so you know, if you like any of the ingredients, you will like this dish. The goat cheese gives it a creaminess that pulls out the flavor of the roasted butternut squash and makes each bite taste sinful. Dreadfully sinful. And delicious.

I actually felt guilty eating it alone. It was that good.

Then, I was so sad when not all of the leftovers fit into the dish and I had to have another plateful.

If you've never made risotto before, here's the best recipe for that. Try it first. Then come back and try the

Butternut Squash, Spinach and Goat Cheese

Ingredients

2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
3 TBSP unsalted butter, room temperature
½ onion, chopped
¾ cup Arborio rice
¼ dry white wine
¼ finely shredded Parmesan cheese
Salt & pepper to taste
1 small Butternut Squash, peeled, deseeded and cubed (about 1 ½ cups)
1 TBSP olive oil
3-4 oz. baby Spinach (or a handful)
Juice and Zest of half a lemon
2+ oz. goat cheese
Optional: Pine nuts and fresh herbs

Directions

Place the cubed Butternut Squash in a roasting tin, drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast in 400 degree oven for 20 minutes or until squash is golden (this takes about as long as it takes to prep and cook the rest of the risotto. Do this first, or roast a large butternut squash ahead of time, reserving half of it for this risotto).

In a medium saucepan, bring the broth to a simmer over high heat. Reduce the heat to low and keep the broth hot.

In a large, heavy saucepan, melt 2 tablespoons of the butter over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring frequently until tender, about 4-5 minutes. Add the rice and stir to coat with the butter. Add the wine and simmer until most of the liquid has evaporated, about 1 minute. Add 1/2 cup hot broth and stir until almost completely absorbed, about 2 minutes. Continue cooking the rice, adding the broth, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring constantly and allowing each addition of broth to absorb before adding the next. Cook the rice until tender but still firm to the bite and the mixture is creamy, about 15-20 minutes (when liquid is almost all absorbed).

Remove from heat and stir in roasted squash, spinach, lemon zest and juice, Parmesan and 1 TBSP of butter. Cover it and allow it to cook in the residual heat for a couple of minutes.

Crumble goat cheese over the top and serve!

Serves 4

This is a good way to make the basic risotto go further