Santa brought me a camera....and I can't figure it out....hmmmm

Here they are....Santa and his helper reindeer....Ruddy....

Long Story

It's a funny thing.  A blog is probably the perfect place to vent a long story.  Instead....again...I've been at a loss for words.  Which really, is not like me at all.  I missed documenting our story of cape cod capers.  Our re-dos gone wrong and occasionally right.  It's therapy on the cheap and it really does help to see the progress.  A work in progress.  We are back on track with some technical camera difficulties but I'm now armed with a middle of the road quality cannon and the kid's Flip video ( thank you santa) .  So here we go again.....Happy New Year to you all....hey look at me playing with font and color....already a wild ride for 2010!!    I've got a story coming....so hang on to your seats....hint...your toilet seats!!O 

My Job Chart

My Job Chart

Mexican Zucchini Soup

We have a nice neighbor who has a nice friend who gives away Zucchinis!! Lucky us because it makes for a really inexpensive dinner. I found the recipe at cooks.com. I served it with chips and salsa one night and a side salad with fresh corn from the cob sprinkled on top. As a side note...I am still cooking on the grill cook top because the kitchen is still in pieces. ( Any sympathy awws for me? Any?...(crickets) Well...I'll post pics soon. Here is the recipe....


Mexican Zucchini Soup

1 sm onion chopped
1 1/2 tsp butter
2 cups chicken or veg broth
2 cups unpeeled diced zucchini
1 1/2 cup corn kernals
2 TBS finely chopped jalepeno peppers
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp fresh ground pepper
1 cup milk
2 oz mont. jack cheese cut into 1/4" cube

In a large saucepan saute onion plus butter about 3 min.

Stir in broth, zuccini, corn peppers, salt and pepper.

Boil...reduce heat and cook until zucchini is tender. ( About 5 min.)

Stir in milk and heat ( but not boil).

Remove from heat and add cheese....enjoy....it has a kick


As a side note....I also added the leftover zucchini in our meatloaf sauce....yumm...good stuff...

Dinner Idea...

This is for my honey hubby who is at the fire station today. He likes to repeat my dinner plans at home the next day at the station ....Then they make it over and over there ...and I can't ever make it at home again....

This is as simple as it gets....sorry no picture...I would not have thought he would ask for this but here goes....

Croissant rolls from bakery
shaved honey maple turkey from deli
thick sliced bacon from deli (cooked)
Swiss cheese
strawberries
spinach
avocado ( note...half an avocado is plenty for two sandwiches )
lime juice
mayo

Slice and toast croissant rolls. assemble sandwich with slices of strawberries some fresh spinach leaves. Mush the avocado with a squirt of lime juice and enough mayo to make it easily spreadable. Use the spread on the croissant. Enjoy....
I served this with a big bowl full of fresh salsa and chips...

Summer Fun..

Jb's backyard froggy pet...it's so tiny!
The big kids are riding coasters!!
Cedar Point fun...my handsome hubby in a swell ride!!
On the other side of the ice rink....huge blow-up thingy fun.
Good old fashioned summer fun in Cleveland....ice skating.
Fun for mommy....the cabinets are heeerrree!!! squeal!
A trip to space for Ry...at NASA's Space Center....( if your in Cleveland...I hear they are moving the visitor's center to the Science Center Downtown.....no longer free:(
Lots and lots of swimming at the recreation center...


Dinosaurs at the Cleveland Metropark Zoo


Fun day at Huntington Beach on Lake Erie...

Blog contest....check it out...

saseaboutiqu.blogspot.com is offering a really wonderful contest...check it out

Cabinet colors....

The cabinets are not here yet....still waiting...but here are the color choices. I hope I made the right choices. Our first home had old cabinets the the previous owner painted in light cream. When I was shopping for this home I kept gravitating to the painted cream/canvas color that Kraftmaid offers. It may have been the familiarity of what was in the previous home that made it a favorite for me. It seems like they are showing a lot of painted cabinets with a contrasted in color island. Long story short...I went with the kitchen designers suggestion of wood tone on the wall cabinets. The colors are:

Honey Spice on Maple for the walls
Kaffe on Cherry on the island

oohh...I want...shutters

I have been shopping for exterior shutters for our home and I came across this picture from Pottery Barn. Seven year old JS doesn't have a head board on his bed. I'm thinking shutters in blue as a headboard and a side table with the red white and blue distressed look. It's so easy to get side tracked.

The Kitchen Plan

I mentioned before...the cabinets are ordered...they are not here yet...but drum roll please.....here are the plans

Cranky

Why is everyone so cranky?


Oh....it's Daddy's fault!!)

Midges

There are a lot of different names for these things. We live close to Lake Erie and for one day....my second day of painting the exterior masonry...the Canadian Soldiers or may flies or midges invaded. They were evvvveeerywhere! They apparently are not equipped to realize that they should move out of the way of a moving roller loaded with paint! So I learned this dance...shoo fly...roll...shoo fly....roll. They don't bite....But I'd like to show you all the creepy crawlies that come out to smell paint fumes.

What's lurking under siding

Before

After

Before

After

I painted....gasp...yes...I Know!

My husband was actually off from work for a whole day and a half!!} We were all so happy. The addition we had completed in Oct. of 2008 still had one side of siding to go up. Keeping things on the cheap...we didn't have that included. So even though my dear husband had never sided...he spent his time off siding. Because he was working in the backyard, I knew he could keep an eye on the babes. ( or at least listen for violence ) So I went off to Lowes...and armed with a new nappy roller and Duramax Exterior paint matched from Home depot's river rock color ( it's Ralph Lauren ) ...I set off to paint. I should not paint!!) Actually it wasn't too bad and it made a pretty nice impact. The front of the house will eventually be updated...the aluminum will be replaced with fresher vinyl, the walk out doors will be replaced and the front steps will be ripped out and a wider deck with steps off to the side will be built. But until then, I thought painting the cement block would blend better and look at least fresher. The grass is still torn up from all of the construction trucks. I spread grass seed and peat moss but the water spigot which used to be on the exterior of the home is now located on the interior in the new basement area. One project leads to another! So I'm relying on mother nature to water and it's coming in but sloooowly. The back of our home will eventually get a deck...I do like our cheesy screened in porch for now. The siding is almost done on the back!! I also need to pick out shutters. Color ... type....any ideas? Today we got an estimate for gutters. I hope we can hire this part out...we try to spread as much of this out so financially it's not as hard but with the cabinets coming....I need to count pennies. The cabinets we went with are middle of the road. Kraft Maid from a local kitchen design place. That's were I lost steam on the blog. Believe me ... I spared you all! Maybe another day I'll go there...it's still too painful. Here are some updated pics...

I'm back....

I had a bit of writer's block. But with Memorial Day passing I've been thinking....and painting...but mostly thinking. I really miss my Dad. Dad served bravely in WWII. I miss Mom. Mom was about my daughter's age when war tore into Poland, her homeland. She didn't come to the U.S. until she was 18. That's 9 years of war. My dad experienced 4. He had never been out of Cleveland, Ohio when he was drafted and sent an ocean away. She had a childhood, property and possessions taken. I'm thinking about feeling really grateful for all the blessings we enjoy. Thank you mom and dad for all of your sacrifices and for protecting us from your memories. Thanks to all the young men and women serving today. I pray I successfully teach my children the value of service and not to take the simplest day of freedom for granted.

Kitchen cabinets are ordered!!

Thank you Aunt L...You are so sweet and we are so thankful!!)

Thank you for making our day Aunt L!! Here are some pics of the kids enjoying there treasures.

Thank you Aunt L!!}

Out of the woods...

We have had a round of fevers course through the family....today...I thought we were out of the woods...so off to the woods we went!! Four miles away we have a really nice metro park that occasionally holds family friendly activities. So we headed off to the Rocky River Reservation. We had a great day of sunshine...live music...seedling planting...live animal demonstrations...and our personal favorite...pond dipping. A naturalist was available to help fish out live wiggly squiggly things out of a pond to study. Ohh..and I learned baby geese are almost green...too cool. We came home exhausted but our JB seemed a little too exhausted. Sure enough it's her turn for the fever....

Magnolia

Yeah...it finally bloomed.

Back to the kitchen...

Where to start. I have been holding back on the ongoings of our Home Depot experience but it has not been fun. I am so frustrated with the process. It's not even the design element of the process that's challenging. That part is mostly fun. It's the lack of listening and the high pressure sales. I went in with exact cabinet and color choices and somewhere down the line...she changes colors and design....forgets that we have a cook top and not a range and doesn't include a space for the microwave? What? Really? She didn't even have a island included and states she had a migraine for a week ( I can COMPLETELY understand that....) but then don't call me and say....oh by the way ....you need to order this now because the sale ends Wed. Order what....there is not a kitchen yet. ARRRGGGGHHH I guess I should either just move along and do the best I can with her or regroup and try somewhere else. What to do.....

I should be doing about 100 other things.....but here we are

I would not want to be the guy on the other side of the rope!!}