Party!

Last week I hosted a Mary Kay party for my sister-in-law. It was Heather, Carlene, me, Kim and Amber. This is our after picture.Here's a 'in process' picture including Amy.
I don't feel like writing so I'm just sharing these pictures and saying it was a blast!

Long Days

Just a quick post since it's been so long since I've blabbed.
Life has been busy these days! We have started our house decorating projects. We ordered a rug which will arrive soon and then I'll have pictures. We started looking at furniture, blinds and landscaping options. I'm really excited to start seeing some progress in this area. I'm looking forward to completing our home!

When I started this blog, I felt like I had a lot to say. I admit the feeling is fading. I still enjoy blogging and will keep posting updates but they will be a little sparse. It's too easy for me to spend too much time on the computer trying to think of words to write that I put my life off schedule. And when I get focused on writing a certain amount of times on my blog, I get grouchy when that doesn't happen. Blogging was supposed to be fun and stress-free. So in an effort to return to stress-free, fun blogging, my new goal is only one post per week! So until next week (unless I have something actually exciting to share)! :)

Day with Granny

Sorry, there will be no pictures. I actually didn't think about it until I started this. But, really who takes pictures of a regular day at your grandparents? I sure don't. I'll have to take some pictures of the final product.

Yesterday I attempted to wake up at a decent hour and get to my grandparents house by 10. This did not happen. My morning plans are always a mess! I did finally make it on the road and arrived at almost 11. And Granny was ready! We spent the day canning peaches. Yum! I can't wait until they're ready to eat. We had watermelon and roll kuchen (yes I know I don't know the official spelling) for lunch. I was excited to learn that I could request whatever I wanted for lunch! This is my favorite summer lunch and summer's about over.
Back to the peaches - I was pleasantly surprised that canning peaches really isn't hard. It was in fact down right easy!
First I asked Granny to order peaches from Pameida. They get them from Colorado. Then we let them wait a couple days in Granny's basement until they're nice and ripe. Then have a canning day...
Step 1: start boiling water in a big canning pot, in a regular saucepan with a strainer that fits in it and in a pot that holds 2 quarts of water.
Step 2: mix 13 cups (i think) of sugar into the 2 quarts of water. This will make as simple syrup once it boils.
Step 3: put a couple peaches at a time into the saucepan of nearly boiling water. This makes the skins soft and loose so you can just peel them right off.
Step 4: peel off all those peach skins and half the peaches. Soak the halves in salted water to save the nice color while you work.
Step 5: once you have a crock full of peaches (very scientific measuring) start filling jars. Get the jars as full as you can and then drain out the salt water.
Step 6: fill all the jars with the simple syrup and put on the lids. Make sure the rims are clean before you put on the lids, otherwise they won't seal and you'll have a mess.
Step 7: boil the jars in the big pot of water for 15 minutes.
Step 8: take out the jars and let them cool completely before you transport them to your basement for storage. I've been warned that if you move them too soon they'll explode in your car. Not good.
So 8 steps to canning. And it only took about 4 hours to do 2 lugs of peaches! Now we have peaches to enjoy all winter and tease my dad with. :) Two years ago my sister canned peaches for Dad's birthday and he's down to 2 jars or so. I heard someone is hoarding their peaches! But then, I would too.

So after a day at Granny's, I went to my parent's for supper. We ate waffles and Mangzel. Yum, yum. If you haven't heard or aren't Mennonite, Mangzel is heaven in pudding form on waffles! I also was given the grand tour of Dad's barn. I'm beginning to think this is more of a castle than a barn. I'm pretty proud that my Dad is so creative in his building projects. My (future)kids are going to have the most broken bones and the best Grandpa ever!

A day at home is always a restful day, even when it seems like you're working.

Foodie

I wanted to share with you all a great site I have been reading. I have enjoyed the Pioneer Woman at the recommendation of my husband. She just did a dairy recipe contest and they look delicious. Check out the Pioneer Woman for more great recipes and great reading.

This picture is a collage of the winners dishes. The Cheese Muffins, Blueberry Muffins and Black bean soup sound amazing. I am planning on trying out these recipes! You can find them linked in the dairy section.

Well, when I started this post I was drooling over the wonderful sights of these dairy inspired foods. I am not feeling that way now. I had the flu today and that really doesn't inspire me to dream about food. Today's diet consisted of water, applesauce and saltines. Yum. But I know this day will pass so I will look forward to trying out these recipes down the road.

Please share your food fantasies! What are your favorite recipes? And what recipes are you dying to try?

Birthday Finale

This weekend concluded my Birthday Celebrations. Sorry there will be no pictures. Do you know how weird it is to take pictures at regular places, especially when you're eating? Awkward.

On Friday, Fran and Melissa from work took me out for lunch. We went to Yia Yia's Pizza. I love this place! I ordered the Pacific slice and a coke with grenadine. My pizza had marinara, cheese, cream cheese, pineapple, ham and green peppers. That pretty much sounds like a perfect pizza to me! And don't get me started on the real cherry coke - I order it everywhere!
On Sunday, we made it to the Green Gateau for brunch. We attempted to go here last Sunday but they're only open for lunch so we missed out. Instead we had Mexican, one of my favorite types of food! For brunch, I ordered the Eggs Oscar. This is an English muffin stacked with a crab cake and a poached egg with Hollandaise sauce on top. I also had asparagus and a potato pancake on the side. I will admit that I did not order the potato pancake. When given a choice of that or hash browns, I went for the familiar hash browns. When my food arrived I was a little wary but it really looked a lot like hash browns so it must be OK. It was so much better than OK! It was hash browns with some extra love! Note: always order an potato pancake when offered.
So that pretty much rounds out my week of birthday fun! But I still have two ice cream dates yet to be fulfilled. J has promised to take me to Ivana Cone. :) I'm very excited about this! I love Ivana Cone and the fact that J is willing to take me is extra special. I'm also getting ice cream with the McNairs sometime. I was able to fill my ice cream void all summer with AJ and am thrilled that my run will extend into the fall a little. :)

Award

Mom Huebert has presented me with an award. Thanks though I admit my blog may not be award worthy. Here are a couple reasons why: bad spelling, bad writing skills, I tend to blab, bad pictures... I'm sure there are more. So I will accept my award with the goal of being worthy of it someday! :)

But to get my award I have to do a meme (What is a meme, other than clearly a list? Or is that it and I'm smarter than I thought!?)...
A. Attached or single? Attached to my hubby.
B. Best friend? I was soured on this term in Jr. High and do not claim anyone as a "best friend".
C. Cake or pie? Both.
D. Day of choice? Sunday.
E. Essential item? Panda :)
F. Favorite color? Blue.
G. Gummy bears or worms? Worms.
H. Hometown? Small town Nebraska.
I. Indulgence? Sleeping in but this may be more of a requirement.
J. January or July? July, I'd rather sweat to death than freeze to death.
K. Kids? Not yet.
L. Life isn’t complete without? Faith and Family.
M. Marriage date? July 2nd, 2005
N. Number of brothers & sisters? one of each.
O. Oranges or apples? Apples
P. Phobias? Spiders.
Q. Quotes? You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You. Trust in the LORD forever, For in YAH, the LORD, is everlasting strength. - Isaiah
R. Reasons to smile? Life! 3 year olds.
S. Season of choice? Summer.
T. Tag seven peeps! SEE BELOW.
U. Unknown fact about me? When given a survey in school I would always say my best feature was my feet. Survey says: surveys suck!
V. Vegetable? Peas or sweet corn.
W. Worst habits? Wanting to be in control.
X. X-ray or ultrasound? Ultrasound - they're for babies and x-rays are for something broken.
Y. Your favorite food? Chocolate but really I'm easy to please.
Z. Zodiac sign? No one cares.

Okay! Now I get my award:


And I get to pass it on to seven cool bloggers:
Feather Files
The Single Track Life
McNair 5
The Shanle Channel
JT's Thoughts
Dr. and Mrs. Thomas
Steph and her boys!

House Updates

This is the current state of our house.

Welcome to our living room! Have a seat. And our lovely make-do blinds for now.




The office. Boxes. This has actually improved since the picture was taken. Horaay!

The dining room and kitchen. This area looks the best. And yes J is cooking for us. I love my chef!

I am excited to be moved into our house but now comes the fun work of putting life in order again. I have a feeling this will take longer than I think. I'm so excited to see how we grow into our home!