Too many things = no good

I finally opened a jar of my homemade pickles, and am happy to report that they taste great.  You just have to get past the bright yellow color.  I have no idea why they are not green.  Maybe it's because I didn't use pickling cucumbers, but they taste just like you would get them from the grocery store.  So I call it a success.

And since it was a success, I moved on to the second recipe I wanted to do, which was a tomato basil pasta sauce.  I should mention that before I decided to undertake the sauce, I had already made homemade pizza dough, and worked out for the day.  This all fits in to the story later.  So I started on the recipe.  Now I didn't have 25 tomatoes needed to make a full batch, so I did 13 tomatoes for a half batch.

I didn't read until I had already started boiling the tomatoes, that it needed to boil for 80 minutes.  Umm, didn't realize it was that time consuming.  I started to get the big pot ready, as I was going to be making 3 pints of sauce.  Then since I had time to spare, I decided to go sneak in a quick shower before Bella got up from her nap.

And when I got out of the shower I smelled a strong burning smell.  I ran downstairs and looked in my pot.  Most of the tomatoes were burnt, and this small half cup of tomato paste was all I could save.  It was depressing to realize I had ruined 13 tomatoes....what a waste.

So it was time to start making the pizzas. The problem with home made dough, is you have to make it when it's ready, it's kind of a time management nightmare.  And nightmare is the correct wording, because I decided to try grilling the pizzas on the grill for the first time.  I had absolutely no idea how to do it, but I thought since you needed the oven to be 500 degrees to bake the pizzas you could use the same temperature on the grill.  I was wrong.......burnt wrong.

The dough makes enough for 3 pizzas, so luckily I was able to save the next two from being so burnt.  I figured out if you put a piece of aluminum foil underneath the pizza it still gives it grill marks, but doesn't burn so badly.

Oh and the tomato sauce I made that was supposed to be enough for 3 jars, ended up covering only 2 pizzas.  But it was good.  Live and learn.

At least Bella was having a good time watching crazy mommy all over the place trying to save last nights dinner.

Sitting

We have been working a lot on sitting with Bella.  You probably wouldn't notice, but this is actually great progress for Bella.  This picture was taken 15 minutes after I put her in that same exact spot.  And she sat there with her head up.  The couch is doing a lot to help support her, but Bella is learning to keep her balance.  And she even sometimes will prop herself up with her arms, which is another huge accomplishment.  Slowly but surely we will make progress.

Well you can see, I was finally able to load a picture.  The computer seems to be running okay for now.  This weekend seemed to slip by quickly.  We finished up our tiling project by grouting the floor on Saturday.  We started when Bella went down for a nap, with the intentions of doing half the hallway.  At some point we decided to go for it, and do the whole thing.  It was miserable.  Luckily Bella took a nice long nap for us, and only had to entertain herself for about an hour while we finished up.  Toward the end of that time she was getting a little fussy (it was time to eat), and I kept telling her that we all felt like crying at that point, but that I assured her laying on her blanket with her toys was definitely better than cleaning grout.

On Sunday I decided to tackle some baking and then my first attempt at canning.  I started with pickles, since I have an over abundance of cucumbers.  I have this sneaky suspicion they are not going to turn out.  Mainly because I missed a step and forgot to get rid of all the bubbles before I put the lid on.  I'm pretty sure that means they will be alright if eaten fresh, but can't be stored for a year.  Good thing I made 7 quarts.  If you live close by you might be getting a jar of pickles from me, if they have to be eaten fresh.

Computer Problems

I haven't posted in awhile.  Not much has been going on around here and our computer is being very slooooow. I can't even load a picture at this point.  Which means Jesse is going to have to fix it, because I don't really "do" computers.  I just use them.

I am busy working on some gifts for Bella's teachers at preschool.  Her last week is next week, only 3 more days and then she graduates on to her new school.  Bella and I (and maybe the dogs) are going to spend some time up in Nebraska before the new school starts to clean out my childhood bedroom.  I have been threatened that I have to take anything that I want, otherwise it will be donated, sold, or trashed.

And we have a big grouting project left to do on the tile for the entryway.  Not to mention a very dirty house (after the big project last weekend) that needs some major attention.  Oh and did I mention that the lawn mower broke down, so our yard is knee high.  That might be a slight exaggeration, but only slight.  The garden is also producing large quantities of cucumbers, lettuce, tomatoes, and jalapeños.  So I need to buy some supplies to can, so I can make pickles, salsa, pasta sauce, etc.

In other words............we have a lot to do around here.  So I best be getting started on something.

Busy Parents

Bella was a little neglected by her parents this weekend, but luckily Grandma came down to spend time with her.  We spent the whole weekend working on tiling our entryway, and we are maybe just half way done.  Looks like we will be devoting another weekend towards the project to finish it up.  Except next weekend we won't have Grandma's help with Bella, so the process might go a little slower.

And does tiling for 16 hours count towards cross training for 45 minutes and doing 3 miles of running?  I sure hope so, since I wasn't able to get in any workouts this weekend, not too mention the utter exhaustion I felt.

New Shoes

These are Bella's new orthopedic shoes.  She had a pair previously, but she outgrew them.  These shoes cost $1800.  Yes that is the correct number of zeros.  And she outgrew the last ones in less than 6 months.  Granted insurance covers them and we only have to pay 10%, but $180 every six months is still a lot of money.  Especially for shoes that only help when she is standing, and that is only when we make her use the stander, which unfortunately isn't very often.  So I need to get better about putting her in the stander while wearing our expensive shoes.

I have a "Me Plan"

That's right, this post has nothing to do with Bella.  It's just about myself.

I would like to train for a half marathon.  Now if you haven't noticed from previous posts, I like to sign up for charity runs, but I have yet been able to complete them while running the whole distance.  I don't think it's wrong to have to walk a little bit, but I would like to try and push myself to run further.

So I have a plan.  I stole it from a magazine, but it gives you 18 weeks worth of workouts and by the end you should be able to run a half marathon.  I keep starting it, not making it through the first week, and then starting over again.  With the ups and downs of life, working out just never seems to be a priority for me.  But I'm making a vow to try harder.  I may not like to run when it's 90 degrees outside, but that doesn't mean I can't ride the elipitcal in the air conditioning of our house.  Or get outside and at least walk the distance I am supposed to run.

So today is the first day of my new workout.  Let's see how well I can stick it out.

So here I am, as you would see me today.  I happened to be wearing a shirt I designed and sewed for myself.  I got five compliments on it today, and I didn't tell anyone I had made it myself.  So that made me feel pretty good.

Wish me luck!!

A bright idea

Our family room when we first moved in.  So very, very dark.  We painted it back in September, but I wanted to call attention to the lights in the room.  Originally when we moved in there was an ugly ceiling fan and an old can light in front of the fireplace that didn't work.

We replaced the ceiling fan and added a new light in front of the fireplace, as you can see in the picture below.  The only problem was, both lights and the fan where on the same switch.  Which meant if you wanted the ceiling fan on, you had to have the light on in front of the fireplace.  Not so great for warm movie nights.

So I came up with the idea of buying one of the remote kits for ceiling fans.  I figured it would work with a light, and therefore you would be able to turn the light off with the remote, even when the ceiling fan was going.  The remote kits sell for about $20 at the home improvement stores.

And viola......the light can be turned off independently of the fan.

Unfortunately the room is still very dark.  There really isn't any natural light that comes into the room.  Which is great for watching movies, but hard for taking pictures.  I still plan on working on the fireplace wall, someday it will be brighter in there.

Sports Day Finished

I had three old shirts of mine, one a Nebraska shirt that doesn't fit anymore, and two black t-shirts.  I think it's crazy how much the Nebraska gear costs, so I figured I would whip something up.  And since I only had two days to finish the project I had to take some shortcuts.

I had wanted to silk screen the shirt to say Huskers, as I told you the day before.  But I didn't have any of the tools to do it, and I didn't have the time to go shopping.  So I will attempt that at another time.  But I did manage to create this onesie in a size 3T.

I made this little skirt out of one of the black t-shirts and the decal from the Nebraska shirt.

I then cut out a Nebraska "N" from another black t-shirt and sewed it onto the onesie.  Here is Bella this morning in her new clothes.  Not really wanting to pose for pictures.  Maybe I was embarrassing her in front of her classmates.

And one more picture taken when we got home.  Bella wasn't too happy to delay lunch in order to fit in another photo session.

Living in the wild west

Or so it feels sometimes.  We have new creatures living in our backyard.


It could be a mole.

Or a vole.

But whatever it is, it's causing damage that looks like this.

Sports Day

Wednesday is sports day at preschool, and the kids are supposed to come dressed to support their favorite team.  Problem being.....Bella has outgrown all her Husker gear from last season.  I had purchased some red fabric and wanted to make her a new shirt, but I hadn't started on it yet.  Looks like I have 1 1/2 days to pull it off.  I also have seen that you can take freezer paper and create your own stencils for the shirts.  I would like to attempt the black lettering in this picture. 

 I'm not confident it's going to turn out, but it will be interesting to see if it works.  If nothing else, hopefully we can find something that is red to wear.

By the way, these two shirts were designed by Alyssa Milano, not quite sure what connection she has to Nebraska?

Entry Way Demo

It feels like we are finally getting something done around here.  Here was the entry of our house when we moved in .  It had wood floors, which we liked when we purchased the house.  But the quality of construction on the wood floors, and the millions of scratches made by the previous dogs and our own, made us want to change the wood floors out with tile.

That and the fact they had laid the wood floors over the parquet floor, which meant all the doors couldn't open and shut properly.  So when we had to replace the front doors because they had a 3 inch gap which was allowing all our conditioned air to escape the house, we had to start tearing out the floors.

I apologize for the dark pictures.

Underneath the parquet floor was a sticky tar like substance, that makes it look like we currently have black tiles

And here is the tile we are leaning towards installing.

It's a porcelain tile, which looks like natural stone.  After doing our homework we found out that with two big dogs, porcelain was the way to go.  It was the most durable, and lucky for us the easiest to install.  I guess we will see about that in the next coming weeks.

Nothing is getting done around here

Ever have those weeks when you feel like nothing is being accomplished?  That's how I feel this week.  Granted we did get the entry way demolished on Monday, but since then things have come to a stop.  That's mainly because Bella got sick.  I think it was a little 24 hour bug, we had fevers, throwing up, and diarrhea.  Not much fun.
We are finally eating a little bit today, and I am happy to report that both Bella and I slept through the night last night (after only getting 2 hours sleep the night before).  Hopefully we can continue to improve, although right now as I am typing someone is not too happy to be playing on her own.  Looks like it's going to be another full day of wanting to be held, and mom not getting anything done.

4th of July at the Cabin

The start of our trip, a long sunny car ride, 7 hours to be exact.  The dogs don't seem to mind.

After our long day of travel, it's time to hit the lake.  It's Bella's first time up at the cabin.

And she loved being in the water.

Just look at those ringlets once her hair has been wet.

She also went on her first boat ride.  One small problem, the life jacket was purchased when she was a newborn, but she hadn't worn it yet.  It was a little too small almost 3 years later.

The weekend was really for the dogs.  Or so they thought.  Seven dogs at the lake, was maybe six too many. They had a blast swimming and fetching, getting everyone wet, and making sure everyone knew that they wanted to be in the water at all times.

On Saturday night the lake did a big firework display.  We had put Bella to bed in the bedroom, and all the dogs were in the cabin, as some were afraid of fireworks.  When we checked in on Bella we noticed Colby had sneaked in to the bedroom with her.  Either she was trying to escape from all the other "younger" dogs, or she had decided we were neglectful parents and someone needed to watch Bella.

On Sunday morning Jesse went for a run and then to cool off, jumped into the lake.  Elle and George decided to jump in after him.  Problem being, once the dogs were wet, they weren't allowed in the cabin.  So these two were shunned to the outside, while everyone else was inside.  I don't think they quite understood the rules.  These two are actually brother and sister from the same litter, and even though they live apart, they always seem to enjoy each other's company when they are back together.  That and they have almost exactly the same mannerisms.

Sunday, July 4th, was a very cool and overcast day at the cabin.  Bella was a little crabby and just wanted to be held.  We had another 7 hour drive that afternoon/evening, and luckily Bella did a great job riding home.

Happy 4th of July

Moldy Walls

Example of the mold in our basement

Here is the basement, minus most of the drywall.  It looks quite a bit larger without the room framed in.  At some point in the near future we need to take down the studs, and then eventually put up a new layout that will better suit our needs.  Funny how re-finishing the basement was probably the last thing on our list of to-dos.  And now it might have jumped a few spots, until some other disaster strikes us that is.

Happy 4th of July

I finished up Bella's 4th of July dress just in time for her parade at preschool today.  It was a little Project Runway dress, which I thought would be great in RED, WHITE, and BLUE.

Here's hoping everyone has a great and safe holiday.