Peachy Day

Today we went to an orchard. We picked up 1/2 a peck of peaches for us and 1/2 a peck of peaches for my grandma. After we got our delicious smelling fruit the kids played at the orchard's playground before we headed back home.

Oh, I'm dreaming of fresh peach cobbler once these babies ripen up!!!

For supper tonight we had one of my favorite recipes:

Greek Baked Macaroni with Beef & Cheese

 Ingredients
7 oz uncooked ziti or elbow macaroni (about 2 cups)
1 ½ cups grated Kasseri, Parmesan, or Romano cheese (6 oz.)
¾ lb. ground beef 
1 small onion, chopped
1 can (15 oz.) tomato sauce 
1 tsp salt
⅛ tsp ground cinnamon 
1 ¼ cup milk
3 Tbsp butter 
2 beaten eggs
⅛ tsp ground nutmeg

Directions
Cook macaroni as directed on package; drain. Cook and stir beef and onion in 10-inch skillet until beef is light brown, drain. Stir in tomato sauce and salt. Spread half the macaroni in greased square baking dish, 8x8x2”; cover with beef mixture. Mix ½ cup of the cheese and the cinnamon; sprinkle over beef mixture. Cover with remaining macaroni. Cook and stir milk and butter in 2-quart saucepan until butter is melted. Remove from heat. Stir at least half the milk mixture gradually into beaten eggs. Blend into milk mixture in saucepan; pour over macaroni. Sprinkle with remaining 1-cup cheese. Cook uncovered in 325 degree oven until brown and center is set, about 50 minutes. Sprinkle with nutmeg. Garnish with parsley if desired.

Looking Good

Today is day number ten in the bathroom remodel project.  
The last six days have just flown by.  

My husband and I have been working on removing the paper backing and wallpaper glue from the walls.  I had hoped that it would be done by now, but I my wrist has been swelling.  So needless to say it has been a really slow process, which is at a stand-still for the next 72 hours.

Our work friend has steamed ahead and has done a wonderful job so far.  The plumbing for the tub and shower are completed, the tub surround is in place, and the shower fixtures are in place.  The shower head is even higher than the last one, so it should be above my head instead of coming to my shoulders.  Yay!!!!!!  The ceiling light/ fan has been installed- so beautiful!  The tile floor was just installed this afternoon- hence the 72 hour ban from the bathroom.  The floor looks absolutely gorgeous!!!!   

This coming week, the toilet, sink/ cabinet, and trim will be installed. I'm very excited to see the a majority of project completed this coming Friday.   The only portion that maybe not be completed by Friday is the painting.  But that will depend on when the walls are ready to paint and my sister's schedule.

Underway

Our bathroom project is underway.  Today was day number four.  

First off, I'm thankful that we have a basement half bath with a small shower stall.  Secondly, I'm thankful that my grandma let the kids and I stay at her house for a few days during the demo stage.  Thirdly, we are very thankful that a work friend is able to help us out with this project.   We definitely could not do it without him.

Here are some pictures of our bathroom before the project began.

So what has changed?  The big thing is we are going to have a BATH TUB!  That's right a real bath tub in our house.  Yay!  We are keeping the window, laundry shute, wall tile, vanity, sink and cabinet.  The toilet is moving to the basement to replace the toilet with a cracked tank.  Due to water issues with the toilet, the five layers of floor were removed to reveal the sub-floor.  Which thankfully had not rotted like the layer of hardwood floor that was on top of it.   The wallpaper has been stripped off.  The wall & ceiling will be replaced with a fresh layer of paint (thank you to my awesome little sister).  We are also going to have an bathroom exhaust fan again, which will replace the 13" gaping hole left by the other one that quit working about 1 1/2 to 2 years ago.  Oh, last but not least, a privacy film will be added to the top of the window in the bathroom.

It is still in the rough stages right now, but we are getting excited.  Plywood has been added on top of the sub-floor for strength, the tub is in place and the plumbing for the tub-shower has been redone.  The wall has been prepared for the surround, which should go up tomorrow.

More to come as time allows.

Excitement & Anticipation

We have lived in our house for 5 1/2 years.  It is a lovely brick home that my husband's grandparents built during the 1940s. We are blessed with a sun room, great room, three bedrooms, a lovely gas fireplace, and a laundry shute.  What our house is missing is a bathtub.  

Yep, that's right!  We have two little kids and no bathtub just walk-in showers.  Oh, how I have wished to let my children play in a bathtub.  Pumpkin likes to bathe in the plastic toddler tub, but only his feet and bottom are under the water.  Princess has a bit of a better time with her legs submerged.  But a REAL bath tub, what a dream!  

We have talking about it for 5 1/2 years and we can finally afford to make it happen.  A friend is going to help us out and we are looking forward to having a bathtub in the house soon.  Our new bathtub and tub surround is sitting in boxes in our garage waiting to be installed.  Finding a tub was a bit of a challenge since we have a small bathroom and most tubs now-a-days come in a width of 32".  But there was a tub in the house at one time, so we began our search.  We finally had to special order a 60x30x18" tub which we picked up on Friday.

Hopefully in a few weeks, we will have our project complete.  I hope to have some before and after pictures to share.  Yay!

Let's Have Some Fun!

We visited a park in a neighboring town earlier this evening.  Pumpkin and princess had a blast!  

 

Last night we also tried something new; we made little personal pizzas. 

Simple Personal Pizzas

Ingredients: hamburger buns, spaghetti sauce, pepperoni, canned mushrooms, shredded cheese and Italian seasoning

How-to: Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees.  Separate the hamburger buns, then place in a toaster.  Toast until desired brownness.  Place hamburger buns halves on a cookie sheet and slather with spaghetti sauce.  Then top with either pepperoni or canned mushrooms that have been drained.  After desired topping is in place, sprinkle with a generous portion of shredded cheese.  Sprinkle personal pizza with Italian seasoning, then pop them into the oven for 10 minutes.

Surprisingly enough, pumpkin gobbed his all down.  Princess on the other hand licked off all of the spaghetti sauce and left the rest on her plate.  Hahaha!  Well there is always next time!

In a little bit we will be making homemade chocolate milkshakes!  Isn't summer great!

Ahhhhh . . . . Coolness

Air conditioning is definitely a marvel of our modern world.  Oh, the cold air that gently flows through our houses and businesses cooling the occupants inside.  During the peak of the summer when the temperatures spike, how refreshing it is to walk into an air conditioned structure.  Typically it is taken for granted, but I remember growing up in the country side without air conditioning.  

It would get so hot in the house that we would spend all of our time outdoors.  I grew up in a log cabin that had one major design flaw. . . . only one window upstairs opened to let the fresh air come through.  We did have a basketball hoop that rotated from inside to outside, just above the garage.  A large screen was fashioned and an industrial fan was placed next to the opening to help remove the heat from the cabin.  The cabin was a work in progress and instead of drywall for ceilings, we had that blue sheet insulation that covered the pink insulation.  When it got really hot in the summer, it would rain inside the house.  During really hot evenings, us "kids" would sleep on the living room floor instead of our upstairs rooms.

I am extremely grateful that my family lives in a house with air conditioning.  I have become spoiled in that aspect and I'm not sure that I would want to go back to living in a house without air conditioning again.  So bring on the cool, refreshing air and be thankful!

Pumpkin & The Praying Mantis

Earlier this week, pumpkin helped to bring the recycling bin from the curb.  Part way up the drive, he stopped and yelled "Bug!"  We looked at the lid of the recycling bin and there was a tiny but beautiful praying mantis.

We continued up the drive.  Then pumpkin watched the praying mantis while I got my camera.  I was able to get quite a few good shots.

The praying mantis was also interested in my camera.  Praying mantis eat other bugs, but he must of been in a defensive mood.  That praying mantis jumped on (probably more like attacked) my camera four times, which was quite entertaining.  I laughed each time and helped it back onto the recycle bin for more pictures.
 

Praying mantis's are such graceful insects.  Those beautiful front legs make them look like they are praying hence their name.  The larger ones are much more intimidating, but this one was just the right size to be absolutely cute as a bug!

Change of Plans

Does this ever happen to you?  You start to do one thing, then totally change your mind and do some thing different.  

That is just what happened with book number five this summer.  I started reading Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice, but just could not get past the first few chapters.  I like the BBC movie version of this book, but do not have the patience to read the book and try to translate into my mind what they are trying to say.  I felt like I was in graduate school again trying to translate an article about genetic variations in some species of animal, ugh.  I think I should stick to American literature for the time being, then try other literature when I'm not in such a hurry.

So I moved on to the official book number five, The Lost Recipe of Happiness by Barbara O'Neal.  It was a good book overall- love, food, aspirations, and dreams.  

This book was harder for me to get sucked into it.  The setting was a restaurant being revitalized and of course it had a Mexican food influence with lots of peppers.  Since I am allergic to peppers (oral, skin, and airborne), I could not envision myself into ever stepping into this make-believe world.  A large majority of the recipes included in the book are also taboo for me, but there are a few non-pepper recipes I would like to add to my stash.  

The overall theme was good, as the main character is struggling against tragedy in her past and learning to trust with her whole heart.  The supporting characters are also very well written and there is a good flow throughout the book.  You can feel yourself rooting for the characters as the story proceeds.  If you want some spice in your life, you should definitely try this book out for size.

Book number six is a work in progress, as I have been reading it off and on for about two weeks now.  The Way of Boys: Raising Healthy Boys in a Challenging and Complex World by Anthony Rao and Michelle Seaton.  I'm hoping this may help me to understand Pumpkin a bit better during this preschool stage that we are traveling through.

Zippity Zoo-dah! Zippity Aye!

“Zippity doo dah, Zippity aye,
My oh my what a wonderful day
Plenty of sunshine coming my way,
Zippity doo dah, Zippity aye.”

Happy Independence Day!!!!! 

First off, thank you to all the wonderful

service men & service women that have kept

our country free over the centuries!

So, how do you celebrate Independence Day with little ones? 

Well by going to the zoo, of course! 

Today the zoo had free admission. 

Hip-hip-hooray!

We saw all sorts of animals and rode the train.

Then we played in the playground outside of the zoo.

Whew!  Good thing it is nap time!

This afternoon . . . who knows!

Maybe playing in the kiddie pool.

Maybe going to see fireworks.

That is the best part,

we have the freedom to choose!

Thank you America!