Thursday, April 26, 2012

Improvising

Wade and I have been a little turned upside down lately by the construction going on in our house. For those that don't know, we're onto phase 2 (the last) of our remodeling and we're currently in week 3 (yes, THREE) of not having a kitchen. Week 1 and 2 we used up gift cards we had from wedding gifts (we had saved them for this!) to eat out mostly. Although, We thoroughly enjoyed cheesecake factory, outback, stuzzi, and papa johns....eating out gets a little old (and expensive when you run out of gift cards). So, this week we're trying to be more organized and creative with our eating.

Last night we had lasagna de stouffer's, salada a la bag (bagged salad), our best friend sister schuberts roll, and fresh baked cookies for dessert! And...we cooked it all ourselves...at home! However do you do that when your kitchen looks like this did you ask?

 

 

And for those of you that are wondering...let me just throw in a couple quick "before" pictures for comparison.

Notice the wall has been taken out!!

 

Also notice, the kitchen is so small I can't even take a picture of it

Also see Formica*

 

*i'msure Formica used to be top of the line back in the day, but it's just not with our taste...see the broken drawer? Classy, eh?

 

 

 

When I bought the house, there was this super retro double oven that my roommate would call " the spaceship" because it looked like, well, a spaceship.

 

 

Imagine something kind of like this....I think ours was brown though. I didn't mind the space ship, except that it broke 2 weeks after moving in. Fortunately, the house came with a home warranty and they credited me towards a newer oven. But because I always had hopes in mind to remodel, for a long time we ended up with something that looked like this...

See the ugly bare wall above the stove??

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So back to dinner...how did we manage to cook everything without a stove or oven? Well, we used our friends ms. Microwave and mr. Egg!!

The lasagna we cooked in the microwave. It is better in the oven, but it was fine still.

Wade wanted rolls, so we fired up the egg and I suggested we try cookies on the egg as well!! Here's how:

1. Heat the egg up to steady temp between 300-350

 

2. This is the plate setter that turns the egg from a grill into more like an oven.

3. Per Wade's recommendation, use only Kroger brand break and bake cookies.

 

4. Put the cookies directly on the plate setter. In the future I may try using foil.

5. Have a drink on the patio with your wife and the dogs. Give the dogs some attention because they've been so couped up during the remodeling process.

 

6. About halfway through your drink *approximate* check the cookies. They should start to look like this. A few more minutes...

 

The final verdict...they were ok. Yeah, just ok. A little smokey tasting for my taste in a cookie. But it was fun to try!!!

 

 

Monday, April 23, 2012

My May Challenge

As you may have have picked up on by now, I have a recent hobby...my photography. Wade and I got a camera for Christmas from his grandmother and I absolutely LOVE it. For those interested, it is a compact dslr...specifically this Pentax Lumix. What that means is that it has interchangeable lenses but because it does not have a view finder, it does not have a mirror system, hence a lot of the bulkiness is cut down. Your LCD viewer acts as the view finder. My ONLY critique thus far is because Pentax does not have a large selection of lenses available, they are pretty pricey. Going with a canon or nikongives you a bigger selection of lenses for cheaper. Overall, as a beginner, I LOVE my camera.

BUT, like any art form, you can not be good at anything without practice. You've seen lots of my pictures...but the dogs are tired of being models. So, I came across this on pinterest which I think I want to attempt for may.

May 2012 Photo Challenge


I think it's a pretty creative concept. You can click here for a clearer image and more detailed description of the challenge.

I'm open to suggestions and volunteers to help with this!!! Wish me Luck!

Friday, April 20, 2012

From Bow to Wow

 

Jimmy was waAaaay overdue for a bath even before frolicking in the mud on saturday. Schatzi gets groomed occasionally so she wasn't as stinky as Jimmy. He was a lot more tolerant than i expected. But still, this post may best be told through pictures.

 

 

 

 

Schatzi waiting in line for her turn...or she's laughing at Jimmy. I'm not quite sure..

Jimmy's thoughts..."B$@*%!"

 

 

 

 

 

Hope you didnt like that towel Kathy!

 

I think he had forgiven us by the ride home.

 

Small town, Big time!

 

My husband's family is from southwest Virginia...a small town called Pulaski (pronounced Pew-la-ski). Haha! Actually, I don't know if that's the official phonetical spelling! I'm sure at one time it was a thriving little town, but now we enjoy visiting for the quietness and quaintness. As 2012 has started out as a very busy year, we had not visited since Christmas. This past weekend we made the 3 hour trip back to celebrate Nana's birthday. Even as I describe Pulaski as quiet and quaint, do not mistake this as boring. I took full advantage to practice my photography skills and document our visit.

The highlight of the weekend for the dogs, I'm sure, was playing in the creek behind Wade's parents' house. There seemed to be more water, errr mud than usual, so they took full advantage!

Jimmy likes to "dig" in the water.

 

Little did we know about 3 minutes after we called the dogs back into the fenced part of the yard, about 4-6 deer ran through the woods right where we were! The dogs were upset they couldn't chase them, but boy, were we lucky they couldn't go after them!!

You just barely see the deer running across the road in the top of the picture.

My handsome hubby and F-I-L.

 

Silly Schatzi!!! Scratching her back in the grass... I call this move the bicycle!

Jimmy is more the serious type. He enjoys the company and sunbathing after a big time in the creek!

 

 

 

What a tongue!!!

In the afternoon, we stopped in at Nana's house to say hello. Leslie, Wade's aunt, was visiting from Michigan with her two dogs.

This is Bella.

 

And this is Chloe.....

And these are Chloe's toenails. Maybe one of my favorite pics from the weekend. I love the way the dog's feet are posed and everything!!!

In the evening before dinner, my FMIL Kathy had invited their neighbors that are about our age over for appetizers, smoked salmon. Yum!

They have a very sweet and beautiful almost 2 year old daughter who is quite the entertainer. Although I have many adorable pics of her, I just want to post my favorite.

Does this not just make your heart meeeelt! Baby girl giving her daddy a kiss! Precious!!

And what a nice family they are!!

 

 

 

Dinner was grilled pizza. Toppings were

  1. Veggie: peppers, onions, mushrooms, mozzarella
  2. Meat: pepperoni and sausage, mozzarella
  3. Creative: grilled pineapple, spinach, feta
Everything was Delish! Grilling just makes such a difference in taste!

 

 

 

Some family pictures:

 

The grillmaster and his helper.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nana with 2 of her 3 children. Billy was Able to come by the next day.

Nana and Wade

Leslie and Wade. Poor wade, I just realized he's in so many pictures. He was a good sport and never complained :)

Newlyweds!

Happy

Happy Birthday Nana! Hope you had a wonderful day!