Watermelon Smoothies and Grandma's Glassware

Last week we had one of those humid and 90's day(s).  It was so hot even food didn't sound good, but boy oh boy did liquids or iced drinks sound heavenly!  A friend of mine had posted on her blog a recipe for watermelon smoothies.  We had some watermelon that I had purposely saved (froze) from the 4th of July with the anticipation of making these.  We used the Vita-mix ALOT the past few weeks!

 

Ingredients:
4 1/2 cups of watermelon, cubed and frozen
1 banana
3/4 cup water
juice of one lemon
1-2 Tablespoon of maple syrup, agave nectar or sugar *optional

Now the story behind the glassware...when my grandparents (my mom's parents) moved from their farmhouse my grandma gave each of us girls some dishes and vases.  I absolutely loved these glasses, but to be honest because of their unique shape I have never used them!  These were the perfect dainty thing for our "girly" beverage.  I also love the fact that they have history.  The box that they were in had this logo:

The Gilmore Brothers Department Store closed its doors in 1999 after 118 years of serving the Kalamazoo community.  To read more about this fascinating company and its origins click here.

  

~The girls enjoying their drinks~

Closet Makeover

When we moved into our house a couple months ago the master bedroom closets had some cheapy racks in them.  Within the first month one of mine broke and when Eric's shirt rack came crashing down one afternoon we decided to make some changes.  I now understand why moving took us so long....

 

 And this was just half the clothes!  It really is amazing what accumulates when you start piling it out of closets and drawers.

Here is Eric's closet "before":

I really wish we had a picture from the rack of clothes that fell...that would have made it really dramatic. :)  Also by building our own shelves we were able to utilize the space much  more effectively.

 My ghastly closet before:

 After:

 

*Happy Sigh* Aren't the cubbyholes cute?!?!

This was ALL made possible due to my dear father-in-law.  He spent many hours cutting boards, measuring, cutting, measuring, measuring... ;)  We have been extremely blessed to have our parents spend the month of July with us, I think we'll adopt them.  We are currently getting the old shelving installed in our outdoor shed and I believe as I type this he is organizing our shed!!  I just woke up from a much needed "first trimester" nap while my mother-in-law watched the kids play in the pool.  We also had smoothies made for us for lunch!  Yes, adoption is a must. ;) 

Yes, that is my hubs with his dad and his dad is sporting his NRA hat while using his nail gun! lol

One LAST thing...I have not been good about doing the before/after of our crazy last few months of renovation, but think I will throw in a picture of our bedroom.  This picture is before we moved in:

Changes made: the dark, oak trim was taken off and replaced with white and the windows were re-cased.  Crown moulding.  Painted...twice (paint can be SO hard, it can look ok on the swatch and then horrible on the wall), new bedding and lamps from my beloved TJ Maxx. 

 

Still more work to be done, but definitely a breath fresher to us and  more our style!

Our Michigan's Adventure - Adventure

Yesterday was a big day.  The long awaited field trip/award trip hosted by our daughter's school.  Yes, that is right, it was roller coaster - errrr, I mean flying Dumbo time.  Contain yourselves folks, because we had a Frog Hoppin' good time.  I am sure they were explaining to these "big" girls the ropes, and at what point the ride gets really "hoppy"...look at them holding hands, its precious and a sure safe way to take any lingering qualms away. *sigh*

I discovered new things about my daughter.

#1.  She did not inherit mine nor my husband's passion for fast roller coasters.
#2.  Strongly encouraging her to go on Mad Mouse, did not equal a happy ending (we should have taken our cues from the girl exiting that had tears coming down her face...pshhh wimp).  My thought process was like it is when it comes to food, "don't tell me you don't like it until you've tried it".  So I went all "Green Eggs and Ham" on her, and I almost got my due justice of green eggs and ham ON me.
#3. I learned that her love can be quickly won back with multiple rides on the flying Dumbo and airplanes...the girl was all smiles again.

#4. I learned that I don't want her to start driving soon. 
This made me flash forward in my mind to a day that I know will come all too quickly and for a few seconds my heart was sad.   I like that she loves having me with her and needs me.  I hope and pray we always stay close, but independence is only natural.  OK, put on the brakes, literally - getting WAY too sappy.  So my natural reaction as a passenger?  Well, I suppose the engineers of such rides must have had kids, because after-all what does EVERY kid want? To be the driver of course!  So since there is only one steering wheel, the passenger gets a little button that sounds the horn (this little button was made to pacify the fact that you are indeed just a piddly passenger).  I was happily honking, when my daughter informed me that I was distracting her driving.  MY OH MY how the tables have turned! lol   Perhaps she will understand her mother a little better when I pull the plug on such screeching in our own vehicle.  See, we just learned a lot about each other today.

 Oh and this picture is definitely going in her scrap book...aren't they precious?!

#5. I learned that to have a whale of a good time you don't need much...

I have to insert a little side note here.  The little girl/bosom buddy with my daughter is the daughter of a friend I had growing up!  We had a great time catching up and watching our girls have fun together. 

#6.  I learned that little girls do not like the smell of exhaust, much unlike their counterparts - boys.  Look at her friend holding her nose!! SO cute.

Reason #2 I am not thrilled with the driving experience to begin?  The attendant had to get them "unstuck" at least four times...it was hysterical.

 

Chloe trying to make her daddy proud and pass like they do on Nascar. :)

#7.  The last thing that I learned was that the Frog Hopper can become a lot  more exciting when you coerce your "not-so-sure" friend that she will have a blast.  When they spotted their friend they screeched her name and convinced her to give it a try, after-all they were experienced and "owned" that ride! :)

It was a great day of learning, laughing, and spending time with my fast growin' girl!!

Thank you Lord!

Making a house a "home" - Part 1

I'd like to start a series of  "before's" and "after's" as we work our way around our new house.  Welcome to Part 1!

We absolutely fell in love with this house.  We loved the "bones", it had a great layout, the kitchen was fantastic with lots of storage and fun cabinets, but it did have oak - and lots of it.  Now oak is a nice tree, it has good durability, but there are two types of people: the oakey's and the not-so-much oakey's.  We fall into the latter category.  Maybe it has to do with the fact that I am an 80's child and that was the thing then, I bet my children will think oak is the schnizz-nizz, that just seems to be the way styles revolve. 
We were fortunate to have a family friend/contractor that had some "insider info" about a place  near us that stocks all kind of trim for dirt cheap prices.  The day Eric and I went to check it out he had just gotten a shipment of 8" crown moulding.  Normally in the store it would run $40+ for 16 feet we scored it for (drum roll please....) $4.  Not kidding.  Now granted the reason this moulding is cheaper is because they are seconds, maybe a nick here or there, but what we got was great and totally workable!  As my husband would say "caulk covers a multitude of sins".   We were stoked.  What we saved on trim we could use to pay the contractor to put it up.  I really wish I was better about taking before and after pictures - I love to see drastic changes.  Here is a "before" of the office (taken during our initial walk-through):

Changes made: wallpaper removal (thank you for your help mom!!), new shades on chandelier, drapes, paint Sherwin Williams - compatible cream, and the crown which got finished today!

I love this room because:
A. It is a small intimate space which is so much easier for me to visualize decorated vs. the big open type rooms.
B. It is incredibly cozy to curl up in that chair with a book and look out at the gorgeous blooming flowers and trees.  (Ok, who am I kidding, books?  I so wish I had time - soon though, soon!) :)  I did do that once though and it was cozy!



I am thankful for this room and that it is finished.  There were a lot of emotions that came with moving that I was not prepared to deal with!  After all, we left the only house our children ever knew.  It was mine and Eric's "first" house.  We put blood, sweat and tears into it and we felt like we were abandoning it.  I know my logical side says its "wood, hay and stubble" which it IS, but all those memories and emotions were still there.  We are adjusting well and having things put together really makes it start to feel like home!   To be continued...

Tile Job

I can't even tell you how many times we've done a home project and in the end we say "why didn't we do that sooner?!?!"  Usually the end result is great and we were "over-thinking" it to begin with.  Yes, I choose to end that sentence in a preposition.  It is my blog.  I. Don't. Care. (I sure hope my high school english teacher doesn't read this because I really loved her!).
In efforts to get our home spruced up for selling we decided to use some left over tile that Eric's parents had in their basement.  This project was FREE...even down to the grout, again we ask "why" did we wait?  We had talked about it for a long time since the tile has been there for nearly four years.  Eric was thinking up some fancy design and was debating cutting the tiles into triangles; however, we came to the conclusion that simple was better.  It is a basic fiberglass insert type bathroom and doing too much might look out of place and leave one wishing for more.  So in one evening we (meaning Eric doing all the work and me handing him tiles) went from this:

 To this:

 

I did buy a new curtain rod (the curved kind) and it is amazing how much more spacious it makes the shower feel! I highly recommend them!

Another home project we did within the last year (that we wished we had done sooner) was our laundry room. The folding table/ledge and extra cabinets to hold detergent are pure bliss!

The cabinets and counter top were from a discount home improvement place and cost under $100.  Besides paint and some brackets this was a pretty cheap make-over!

Pasta with Asparagus

Where did March go?!?!  Things have been a little nutso around here.  We bought a house and sold our house in the month of March.  The week that we listed our house we had three showings and the week after that we had three or four (with three little kids that turns into an all day event).   However, that paid off because in just two weeks we accepted an offer!  We still have some inspections to wrap up, but so far so good!  Given this economy we really saw God's hand in all this!

We also have a great realtor if you're interested click here!!

Ok, so what does this have to do with pasta and asparagus???
It's quick, easy, and healthy.   Three key words I craved this past month! ;)
Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds fresh asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1 inch pieces 1/4 cup chicken broth (or beef broth) 1/2 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced

8 ounces angel hair pasta 1 tablespoon olive oil 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

1.	Cook pasta according to package instructions.
2.	Heat the olive oil in a nonstick skillet. Saute asparagus (crushed garlic - 2 cloves) in the pan over medium heat for about 3 minutes. Add chicken broth and mushroom slices; cook 3 minutes more.
3.	Drain pasta, and transfer to a serving dish. Gently toss pasta with asparagus mixture; sprinkle with Parmesan and crushed red pepper.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2011 Allrecipes.com

Printed from Allrecipes.com 4/4/2011

This recipe is from the allrecipes.com website - which I love!  I enjoy reading the reviews and seeing how people adapt the recipes to their own style and I usually find people out there that think like I do!  In this case, someone added garlic.  I. Love. Garlic.  I also added the noodles to the saute pan and let them cook for a minute or two with the veggies.  It really made them soak up the other flavors.  I did not have parmesan cheese on hand, but I did have an enormous block of pecorino romano cheese from Costco (everything from Costco is enormous, I like that place).
I also added the crushed red pepper in during the cooking time and I only used a dash or two and that was plenty!
This whole meal took about 15 minutes from start to finish and it would have been quicker if I wasn't waiting on the bread.  That is faster than you can get through a drive through restaurant! 

TJ Maxx, cookies, and other loves...

The girls and I ventured out yesterday and after contemplating the possible reasons why TJ Maxx has two "x's" in its name we decided we loved the place anyways.  Olivia reminded us of the phonics rule she just learned.  When a word has two consonants at the end we only say it once.  She pronounced it flawlessly...see shopping is practically a field trip.  My conscience is eased.  In all fairness, I venture out very little these days...loading and unloading a squirmy 20 month old is a less than desirable shopping condition.   Not to mention the need to down three children for arctic weather conditions only for them to get piping hot the minute we are in the store.  I end up holding three huge winter coats while sweating in my own...I am so ready for spring!  That being said...yesterday was great.  We did my three store limit (anything more than that is just asking for a meltdown, by me and/or the children). :)  Our first stop:  The Maxx
Why do I love  TJ Maxx you ask?  Let me show you the awesomeness that a mere $14.99 brings:

 It matched my existing Walmart lamp perfectly!

The canisters are semi-new and came from a friend called Target...I really like that place too!

This is a great cookie recipe that only requires 5 ingredients!  They are ingredients you almost always have on hand too, which makes them a good last-minute, desperation-type dessert.  Another bonus: they are flourless!  I know a lot of people these days who are sensitive to gluten/wheat, my grandma is currently restricting her gluten intake.  Here is the recipe:

5 Ingredient Choc. Chip Cookies

1 c creamy peanut butter
1 c firmly packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 c semi sweet choc. chips

350 degrees.  Mix all ingredients except choc. chips add in chips after dough is well blended.  Form    1 1/2 inch balls (dough will be sticky) place on an ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake 9 min.  Let cookies set for 1 min before removing.