Spent the last two days at the hospital tending to my father-in-law who had surgery for lung-cancer. He has already gone through Lymphoma and one lung cancer surgery over a year ago. This was lung cancer surgery #2. We get the detailed path report back tomorrow but good news he looks really good considering. Actually much better then the last surgery. I'm thinking positive! Bad news, wasn't until the end of the day today that I found out the hospital does have wireless internet and discovered the sign-on. Point-to-remember: The wonderful elderly volunteers who man the ICU unit aren't well versed with internet issues.
Halloween Prep:
Last minute Halloween prep for costumes - for our neighbors. They came over to get our opinion on costumes. They were awesome! As far as my boys, Chad is all ready to go. Alex not so much. He is at that age that he is no longer prepping for Halloween and he has missed his Mom help window. It will be interesting seeing what he comes up with.
Pumpkin Seeds:
INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 cups raw whole pumpkin seeds
2 teaspoons butter, melted
1 pinch salt
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C).
Toss seeds in a bowl with the melted butter and salt. Spread the seeds in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake for about 45 minutes or until golden brown; stir occasionally.
Made them tonight and they were oh so good!
Chardennay Wine & mis-matched PJ's:
Tonight was a wine night. Wanted a glass and had a couple. I'm ok with that, given the day.
If you like photography, check out Photojojo and sign-up for their free email newsletter. Each one is filled with great photo tips! Today's was all about Erasing Tourists from your Vacation Photos, something I can definately put to good use because it always seems like something unexpected is popping into my photos (even thought it's not always a tourist):
Found out there are a lot of online websites that you can enter that data but decided I don't want online exclusively because I'm not always online. I began looking closer at the Living Cookbook website and found they have a sister site called DietPro. Here was the software I was looking for. It has all the features and much more that the Living Cookbook had. I immediately downloaded the software and having been playing with it ever since. This software has so much capability and the only disadvantage I can see right now is it doesn't have a fast food or restaurant database, although it does have an extension food database. So, if you cook a lot at home this point will not be an issue. If you are like us and go out a lot, there is a workaround, by using CalorieKing.com online food database. Just search what you are looking for and print out the Nutrition Facts to manually enter them into Diet Pro. Doesn't take too long to do at all and I understand this feature is planned in an upgrade of Diet Pro currently in the works.
To start out I did need to do some initial set-up such as entering my current weight and my goal weight, including my timeline for wanting to lose the weight. To be realistic (which normally I don't do) I went directly to WeightWatchers.com and was able to get my ideal weight range by inputting my current height and age. So easy! This is the information I entered in my Diet Pro profile. I then played around with the preferences on Diet Pro to find out what charts I liked and ones I didn't need to see on a daily basis. This program is highly customizable, which is nice! After doing this, Diet Pro tells me the amount of calories I need to eat per day to reach this goal weight - something good to know.
Next questions is how exactly do I want to use it. The great thing is I can use it as little or as much as I want. I don't have to commit to anything. I can use it exclusively as a software recipe database if I want like I was using Living Cooking. But, I do have capabilities now of getting so much more out of it, depending on my commitment level. I can also create meal plans, track what I eat, set goals (for not only overall weight loss but additional goals such as losing belly weight), create grocery shopping lists and get this - I can even inventory my grocery stock! Yes!!! LOL! Now, I'm not planning on doing this because I would be way to anal at that point but it is very intriguing. You can purchase (separately from here) your very own barcode scanner and scan your groceries when you put them away. I will never be this organized! So exactly how am I going to use this? For now, I'm not going to jump right into a diet but rather just begin by tracking what I'm eating and find out what it says. Here's my screen shot for what I've eaten today (for lunch only):
Not sure how clear you will be able to see this but in looking at my Arby's lunch I see I have already exceeded my calorie intake for the day as well as pushed the limits on my daily recommended allowances in several of the categories. Note, I did not have any breakfast and of course I still need to have dinner. Now, instead of being upset by this I'm viewing this as a good learning experience. I'm beginning to go down the path of understanding what better choices I need to make to get the outcome I want. It would be interesting to compare this to a McDonalds lunch and see what that difference is because I mistakenly thought the Arby's sandwich would be a better choice. Maybe it was a better choice but not the best choice. I'm going to do this for a week to see what I end up with. Should be interesting!
Some additional features this program offers is the ability to track your calorie intake and banks calories that aren't used. If you input you have exercised it adjusts your calorie bank accordingly. It also has a points tracking system that you can customize. I mimicked mine based on the Weight Watchers point system because eventually I will go back to Weight Watchers for additional guidance.
So, whether you just want to get organized and quite having recipes scattered all over your kitchen, or you might want to dig deeper into what you are eating, I highly recommend either the Living Cookbook or Diet Pro. Check them out!
In the kitchen, family talking and all of a sudden Oscar's bum started gushing blood. Yes, I did say his bum. What the...? It was insane! Held a warm compress on it, called the emergency vet last night and his regular vet this morning and $161.96 later we find out he had an anal gland absess. How beautiful. He is now very tender, relieving himself a lot (in oh so many inappropriate places like the vet lobby), on pain medicine and antibotics. And, we have to go back in two weeks to make sure his bum has healed properly. We heard bulldogs are costly and lots of vet visits. I believe. As I handed the vet my debit card I said, "Well, there goes my window treatments in my scrapbook room". I think I'll just hang a picture of Oscar's bum instead. Now wouldn't that be a design statement.
Speaking of window treatments (are we tired of this subject yet?) below is a picture of treatment #1 made and hung already. Only 3 to go. Good news, I now understand how the panels get put together and I have a good portion of the pieces already made. It's now just a matter of carving out a little more time to finish. Once they are all hung up I'll work on how to get them to hang really nice. Really liking it a lot.
NOTE: It's unfortunate that I can't get a true picture of how these look in the room. Yes, they are green and orangish-red strips next to a purple wall. It doesn't sound pretty at all, BUT, in the room with the lighting the colors do not look as vibrant as they do in this photo. They all compliment each other. If I use a flash, you get what is shown here. If I don't use a flash, the photo is too dark. So I guess this means I won't be submitting the final photo to any design magazines. Bummer. (Sorry, couldn't resist).
Yesterday, Saturday, ran out as a family (minus one) and got a birthday gift for a belated birthday for an out of town family member. We got the game shinney. It's something my boys love to play and we hope will be passing on the newly made tradition. Fun! Also, decided on some landscaping ideas for the backyard, cleaned up the garage and then went to our neighbors sons ice hockey game with dinner following. So much fun! I forgot though how cold ice hockey is! I also forgot that when the boys fall, since they are on ice they slide. LOL! Kind of funny! It was also shocking at the age of 13 how much they check. It was awesome and a great time as usual with our neighbors. Oh, and I did I mention I got to take a nap too? This is becoming a new thing for me on the weekends. Something I normally NEVER do. I'm liking it! Oh, also ran by dh's grandparents house to chat. Just love seeing them. They are so neat!
Today we went to church again. Another great service and further confirmation that I want to continue at this church. Went to Rombach's Pumpkin Patch for our yearly pumpkin search. We all wanted to go but I can tell the boys (as well as us) are getting older. This was the first year we didn't mess around. Got in, found our pumpkins and left. Still managed to get some pictures and even some video of our pumpkin search. We almost took Oscar but since the Pumpkin Patch is close to church we decided to just go without him. Poor Oscar. We then went out to lunch, came home and took another nap. Now up and getting ready to work somemore on the drapes before heading out to a soccer game. Unfortunately tonight I do have to do some work, but not too much.
To make things even better I have come up with a design plan for "my room", my scrapbook, craft room. I already have a closet system in place but it's still not functional. I need more storage and a place for inspiration. I really want a large bulletin board to post some items I'm working on, to post some magazine cutouts for inspiration, to jazz up the space. And, boy do I have a GREAT idea. Not going to share just yet, you will have to wait. I'm so excited about it.
Weather has been great. Family has been fun and loving (love). Inspiration flowing. Great weekend. Hope yours has been just as enjoyable.
EDITED (11-25-07): Reviewing old posts and have found out that this previous Halloween Hangman has now changed to Christmas Hangman. LOL! No telling what the link will change to next.
MARSHMALLOW CRESCENT ROLLS
2 pkg. crescent rolls
16 marshmallows1 tbsp.
(plus) cinnamon
1/4 c. sugar
1 cube melted butter
Separate crescent rolls (16). Take a marshmallow, roll it in melted butter then in cinnamon-sugar mixture, place it on the long end of the roll and roll up to the small point (the roll is around the marshmallow). Dip the roll in melted butter and place in a muffin tin.
Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes or until golden brown. Frost while warm with a frosting made from powdered sugar, water and nuts.
How much time do you have?
For any blogger out there that has a lot of time on their hands, you might want to check out PC Magazines 100 Top Blogs. There has to be something for everyone out there! I stumbled upon it because a couple of the blogs I frequent (see side bar) were chosen. Fun reading!
Check out this leaf! How awesome is that?! I love trees and leaves oh so very much. Reminds me of my mom. Anyway, at my dads garage sale this weekend, while setting up I spied (with my very own eyes) one of their trees in the backyard - with these enormous leaves. I had never seen it before and couldn't believe how I could have ever missed it. Alex decided he was going to retrieve a few of them for me. He picked 3 and I used them as display in the garage sale, placing them under candles in small vignettes that we had set-up to help sell the items faster. The funniest thing is the leaves were noticed. One woman actually asked if they were for sale and she brought her husband over to show him the leaves and how we were using them. LOL! Boy, my family sure didn't think I was crazy after she noticed them. Prior to, yep, they thought I was crazy!
Here are the leaves at my house. Notice how well they match my candle sticks I found at Tuesday Mornings one day last year. They will not stay much longer, becoming very brittle, but I'm keeping them as long as I can.
And here are a couple photos of another project I decided last minute to do. This one, unlike so many of mine, actually was completed the day I began. Yeah! Concrete pot (I got two of them) for my front porch. It was not easy find the right size pot! But not a pretty color. So I ...
... stained them with two colors.
I then ran up to Michaels and got some fall goodies to fill the top of the pot. I have one on each side of the door and I LOVE THEM!
Excuse the white trash bag under the pot. The pots were dry but the bottom where some stain had pooled was a little wet. Didn't want to run the risk of getting any on the porch. They have since been removed!
In the spirit of these pots, Happy Fall everyone!
If you could create something to help make scrapping/card making easier for you what would it be?
I would like to create a larger space for me to work in. Although I'm very grateful to actually have my own space, I do realize it isn't big enough for all that I do, or want to do. I dream of some day having a loft type space where I can have stations for each activity; scrapbooking, sewing, drafting, library, painting... Oh I can see it now! What a joy that would be.
INGREDIENTS
3 quarts water I just filled the pot 1/2 way
1 lemon, halved Didn't have
1 medium onion, halved whole onion chunky chopped
2 cloves garlic, smashed Doubled
coarse salt to taste Just threw some in
1 (3 ounce) package dry crab boil I used two packages because the pot was so big
1 1/2 pounds medium red potatoes, scrubbed Doubled
1 pound smoked sausage, cut into 1 inch pieces
4 ears fresh corn, shucked and broken in half Doubled
1 1/2 pounds unpeeled, large fresh shrimp
4 pounds pre-cooked crab legs
1/2 cup butter, melted Used 4 sticks
DIRECTIONS
Bring the water to a boil in a very large pot. This took a long time because my pot was so huge. Squeeze the lemon juice into the water, then throw in the halves. Add the onion, garlic, salt and crab boil. Reduce heat to a simmer, cover, and cook for about 10 minutes.
Add the potatoes and sausage; cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Add the corn and cook for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the shrimp and crab legs. Let sit covered for 5 minutes or until shrimp are pink. Drain, and serve with melted butter for dipping. Broth may be reserved and reused for cooking rice or other soups. I didn't use the broth.
We all really preferred the crab legs and next time we use crab legs I will not add shrimp and maybe no onions. I ended up pulling out the crab legs and putting them on a large platter and then took a big bowl and poured everything else in there. It was so much fun! As far as the crab legs go, I got a great deal at Costco last weekend. Just took them out of the freezer prior to eating. Was great!
Currently sitting on the deck typing this (wireless! have I said that before?) waiting for the water to come to a complete boil. Using our turkey fryer that we have for about 7 years and used only once. Have wanted to use it again. Check, almost TO DONE.
Friday night we had the neighbors over, sat around the firepit, drank some local wine and had great conversation. It was beautiful out and wonderful. We have some great neighbors, various ages. It doesn't matter. We all enjoy each others company. It's beyond great. We will stay here for a long time because of them. Although I'm not too into my house we have decided to commit to being here longer, which is the reason for some changes and additions to our house. Decided this weekend I might just hold off on the new firepit. The one we have now, that can be moved to the culdesac when ever needed, isn't that bad. It's very relaxing being able to see it on the sides and it keeps our toes warm. I think it's a keeper for now. Check, almost TO DONE.
Went to church today. God is so proud of us, I really know this. We do not go to church but do believe. For a variety of reasons we have not made this a priority in our lives. Our internal beliefs and connections have been strong enough. But, the boys are getting older and we need to expose them to more then we know. We are church hopping right now, actually trying to not go to churches our friends go to. Why, not really sure. Maybe because if we don't "pick" their church we don't want any hurt feelings? Today we went to Windsor Crossing in the valley and I believe this is where we will end up. I've had my eye on this church for awhile, have heard a thing or two about them, love the architecture and the website (of course their misson and message). That's what got us in the door. The service makes me want to stay. When we walked out Alex immediately said he wanted to go there. He said, "I want to go to church and I want to go here." Although our entire family gave it extremely high scores, we will try out several other churches I already have on my list.
Spent a good amount of time with my dad and stepmom this weekend helping them with a garage sale. My dh is a garage sale pro so I enlisted his help. They would have gave everything away if not for him. Unfortunately we weren't in control of marketing and the foot traffic wasn't as great as it could have been but it was a nice morning and we did move a lot of stuff. They are getting ready to go to Flordia for a few months (new snow birds) so they are cleaning out their house and getting rid of things. I was lucky enough, again, to get a bunch of stuff that was my mom and dad's (in my other life). One of the goodies is a cast iron Potbelly Stove. DH really wanted it. Not sure where it's going, or what we will do with it but it is definately part of my past. Originally it was my grandparents. I love that about JB. He really connects with that part of me. Awesome.
Got to go check on dinner. Will try to edit this posting later to include some important links, no pictures though. Sorry about that! Will try to get better with that one.
Kerry Quade Talks About Flower Basics from Plant Therapy on Vimeo
And, in the spirit of Martha Stewart Flowers, check out this fun arrangement:
This is their Halloween Gourd Bouquet with 20 Gerbera Daisies (a favorite of mine).
Enjoy.
Gotta love digital art! Can anyone say Wacom tablet? I'm totally putting one on my Christmas list this year.
I can't believe I just found this out. Has it been there all along and I have passed right over it? Ignored it? Say it isn't so! As much as I'm on the computer I can't believe I haven't known about this little print option. Let's say you are on a website which has a ton of content but you are especially interested in one paragraph. You can highlight only the area you are interested in, press the print key so the print box pops up and before you hit PRINT, you select "selection" and then hit print. It will then only print the highlighted area or rather the selected area. Do you know how many trees I have hurt throughout the years? Maybe this is a new option?!
Onions.
Found this video (courtesy of Rachel Ray) on one way to chop an onion. I've tried it once but was a bit uncomfortable. However, I think it has great possibilities! I'm unable to copy the video but here's the link titled How to cut an onion - check it out.
Weekend Updates:
Curtains - I did work on the curtains. I cut some more fabric - yeah! Should be able to start sewing soon.
Blackberry and Outlook - I was able to finish setting up Outlook as my personal contact management system and synch it to my Blackberry. This is the first time since I've had my blackberry that it's set-up properly. I'm still tweaking it but it's close enough to make me very happy. I also set-up the bluetooth capabilities on my computer so I don't need wires. Lovely that is. I think it should be law that everything become wireless. Seriously.
Pumpkins - Copied this idea from Patti last year and liked it so much that I decided to make permanent ones for each year. Picked up the faux pumpkins at Garden Ridge several months back and painted them white. Of course after I had the first coat of paint on them I ran up to Michaels to get more paint and saw they had off-white pumpkins I could have purchased instead. Oh well, decided to go forward with what I had started. Pretty happy with the results. Thanks again Patti for the great idea!
October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. My mom passed away from breast cancer when she was 35 years old. I miss her. Please visit FORCE: Facing Our Risk of Cancer Empowered if you need information on hereditary breast and ovarian cancer.
My house is starting to come together finally and it's beginning to feel like Home Sweet Home. However, I've been having a problem of staying focused on the decorating task at hand. Here are some to do's and want to do's that keep clogging my mind lately:
Family Room CurtainsTomorrow I'm hoping (fingers crossed) to begin sewing my family room curtains. I've only had them hanging there for a year as strips of material. Will post pictures once they are done.
Kitchen Curtains
It's time I finally get curtains in my kitchen. I need to soften up the space!
TV stand
I want a unique TV stand for our new TV (that we don't have and aren't planning on getting anytime soon). We have a TV in there now so it wouldn't be like this would be wasted space. Right now I'm using my coffee table and I'm really ready to have that back. Only problem, I don't know exactly what I want or where I want to get it. I'm thinking something long and low. Thinking antique or really used piece. Maybe three like pieces (new) pushed together. I want to use it for storage and be able to put our equipment in there. Will need one portion to have glass panels so the remote will work. Any suggestions? I'm open to using something meant for another purpose.
Family Room Bookshelves
Not only do I need to finish putting these up but I need to display my things properly. I need to post a picture because these shelves are pretty cool. I found inexpensive shelves and replaced the back with beadboard that I stained and painted to match. I can't wait to get these done!
Decorative Sofa Pillows
I made some really cool pillows with fringe but I cut the fabric a little too short and I'm having a hard time sewing them closed. Not sure how I'm going to do it but I need to get it done! They look really good because dispite the fact that only 3 sides of each pillow is actually sewn I have them on the couch anyway. But, we all are getting tired of sitting on pins - literally. Oops.
Firepit
Our outside living space needs a firepit. I have it all picked out I just need to order it but I keep spending the money I set aside for it. I think today I spent it at Costco when I just ran in there for drinks for our garage refrigerator. How sad is that?! Originally this was going to be a good ole wood firepit but have recently begun considering turning it into a gas firepit instead. A good friend of ours did it and he said he could help us. He loves his and it would be so nice! I'm just really afraid of drilling a hole in our new stamped concrete patio! So I'll probably go with the normal firepit for now and add that later. The structure of the pit I want can be used in either situation.
Outdoor Living Area
I totally have figured out how I want to arrange the furniture on our deck outside. It's always interesting to me how I have to live with a space for awhile before I can determine how I want to really live in it. DH and I found some great outdoor wicker chairs on clearance at Target a month ago, we picked up six and every since then it has started coming together in my mind. Now I just need to build a table with pedistal legs and a copper top, find a 6-8 foot bench for one side of the table, find (or build) two sofas and then find a cool coffee table - all weather resisitant. It's going to be awesome out there!
Kitchen
I'm really itching to order and install my backsplash as seen here but before I do this I need to finish some other outstanding projects. One such project is the semi-kitchen remodel I started back in June. Yes, I STILL haven't finished painting my cabinets. Too much going on! I could go on and on about kitchen issues but I will spare you - this post anyway.
And all these thoughts are only for the back part of my house on the first floor! I will just take things one step at a time and keep plugging away. I will post pictures as I go along. Wish me luck!
Dad is gone so the boys and I had our standard date night. We always get sushi when he is gone. Yummy and becomming quite the tradition! We used to have to drive quite far to get our sushi fix but recently a new restaurant Kitaro's opened up and we decided to give it a try. Actually we have had sushi from there before but it's always been take-out. This time we decided to dine-in and man did we have fun. Chad said it's his new fav!
So, yes, my boys eat sushi but really we are still simple and safe sushi eaters. We have sushi rolls where little is raw. We did order (3) red snapper pieces, one for each of us (very good!) but that was as crazy as we got.
Everytime my boys and I do this I'm so proud. Proud that they like to try new things, proud that we can enjoy time together, and proud that we have developed our own little tradition. I just love my date nights with them!
What's next? I'd like to work on better content, more pictures, "tweaked" banner for a start. Soon.
Alex with his first tie(s). One when he was little and going out with Daddy and one over the summer as he got an award. Tonight was another first for Alex, his first broken bone. He "chipped" or broke his index finger in gym class yesterday. Hoped yesterday it was just jammed or sprained but when he came home today it was swollen more and becoming a bit bruised. So, after hockey I took him to get an x-ray. Not sure what we are going to do because he is telling me he IS playing hockey for the middle school this year! Oh boy!
... Blogger lately? I'm having the hardest time with formatting. It's not allowing hyperlinks, italics and I keep having spacing issues... Is it just me?
If you just have to have one of these beauties, you can get them at www.feeltheflo.com but I want to see real life pictures of it in use!
One day God was looking down at Earth and saw all of the rascally behavior that was going on. So God called one of the angels and sent the angel to Earth. When he returned, he told God,
"Yes, it is bad on Earth; 95% of the people are misbehaving, only 5% are not."
God thought for a moment and decided it would be best for him to send down another angel to get a second opinion. So God called another angel and sent him to earth for a time, too. When the angel returned, he went to God and said,
"Yes, it's true. The earth is in decline; 95% of the people are misbehaving, but 5% are being good."
God was not pleased. To help encourage the 5% who were behaving well he decided to send them an email, to give them a little something to help them keep going on the right path. Do you know what the e-mail said?
Okay, just wondering; I didn't get one either.
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