California, Here We Come

We’re getting ready to go to California to visit friends and family over the Labor Day weekend. I am so excited to see everyone and to go swimming! In Iowa, nobody has pools but most towns have a nice aquatic complex that everyone goes to when it gets warm. The town where we live only recently approved a measure to build a new complex so there really isn’t anywhere convenient for us to go now. Not that we’ve had any time with all the work on the house anyways. It’s supposed to be in the 100-105 degree range while we are there so that will be a big change for us. I think it’s only gotten into the 90s a few times this summer and though it is humid, it is overall a lot cooler and more pleasant. It rains a bunch here, especially last week and then again last night it got pretty nasty. They interrupted regular primetime programming last night on all the major networks and were just doing weather. Here’s a shot of the radar and you can see what was headed for us:



There was a tornado warning in the next county over but we didn’t get one. In fact, it was never all that windy where we are. We did get some crazy thunder and lightning though. I took a video of it on my camera but I can't seem to get it to work on here. It shows up in my preview but not on the actual blog- I'm sure it's user error since it's my first time. I will try to get it figured out and post them. The videos were much better than the pictures but since that's all I've got, here are a couple.





We went up to Minneapolis this weekend to do some final shopping for the kitchen and pick up a few other things for the house. We got bedding for the guest room which only had a naked down comforter until now, some lamps for the living room, light fixture for the kitchen, a table and chairs for the kitchen and curtains and pillows for our master bedroom. It is really exciting to see the house start to come together- the kitchen is nearly done but for hanging 2 cabinet doors (a whole disaster I will save for another post) and the bathroom shower tile is all fixed and the shower is usable again. Yay for that! I'm continuing to enjoy cooking in my new kitchen. I made some banana bread on Sunday and then tried cooking some corn-on-the-cob (yummy) and Italian-style Meatloaf (also yummy). The people at all our restaurants we frequented during the remodel are probably wondering what has happened to us since we haven't been in for a while now. I think I'll just keep cooking though and let them wonder!

I Love the Smell of Food Cooking in My Kitchen

I’ve had to help Rob off and on with the bathroom tiling project this past week but I managed to do some cooking and baking too in my new kitchen. I tried out some new recipes I got online and I wanted to share some of them because they are too good to keep to myself!

Apricot Cream Cheese Thumbprints- I may have a new favorite cookie. These were so good. You make up the dough and then let it chill for an hour which I didn’t realize at first. Luckily, I was making 3 different kinds of cookies that night so I just put the dough in the fridge and moved on to the next batch. They would be great with raspberry preserves too which I will try next time I make them. They were a little time consuming with having to roll the dough into little balls and then smash them with your finger and add the preserves but well worth the time.

Chocolate Chip Cookies- This was a really good recipe for me because I like them kind of thick, not all greasy and thin like they turn out if you use the recipe on the back of the bag of chocolate chips. Mine had a little bit of a funny flavor but I used pure vanilla instead of vanilla extract since that was all I had. I cut it way back because I figured the pure stuff was way more potent but they still tasted a little off I thought. I will definitely use this recipe again but I’ll make sure I have the vanilla extract before I do.

Chicken Parmesan- We had this for dinner last night and it was yummy. It’s a great meal, especially for during the work week since it was so easy and quick. I don’t have much to say about the recipe besides they won’t fit in the 8-inch square pan. I tried and got 2 of them in and that was it so I switched them to a bigger dish. Oh, and I cooked them on a cookie sheet lined with foil first, when I was just cooking them with the Shake N' Bake.

The Next Project

Last week I noticed some water spots in the ceiling in our basement in a spot that is underneath our bathroom. The hubby did a little investigating and discovered we had some loose tiles in the shower and water was getting into the walls there and dripping down. Monday night Rob began his next project which entailed removing approximately the bottom two rows of tiles which are just above the tub in our one and only shower. I was none too thrilled to discover that he was doing this at the beginning of the work week and I can't say I'm feeling much better about it now. We had to remove and clean nearly all the tiles you see below that are marked with blue tape and then dry out all the soaked wood. That's right- wood. For some reason there is wood behind those tiles instead of backer board. We didn't change it out like we probably should have but we'd like to redo the whole thing at some point in the reasonably near future. We spent this evening re-grouting the entire shower- actually, Rob is still working on it now at 10:30 at night. Getting clean has been quite a challenge this week and I'm so glad it's almost done. We're going to Minneapolis tomorrow night and are staying in a hotel- I don't think I've ever been quite so excited to stay in a hotel. We need to do a few more things at Ikea and then we can come home and totally finish up the kitchen. Here's some photos of the bathroom job:







By the way, I would like to highly recommend the Hyatt Place hotels. We stayed in the one in Minneapolis last time we were there and will probably stay there again. The price was very low and it had the style and services and amenities you would expect from any other Hyatt hotels. They always have the best price on their own website and if you have AAA, you can get it even cheaper. The lady who checked us in was telling us that Hyatt bought out AmeriSuites (I believe it was that chain) and now they are working to convert them all to this "Hyatt Place" line. Anyhow, that is my two cents for travel tips for today!

Hey Good Lookin', Whatcha Got Cookin'?

This is what I've got cooking-


And this is what I cooked it in!







If you need to refresh your memory, you can go here to see what it used to look like. There are also photos of the whole renovation there too. It feels so good to be (mostly) done. Somehow, we ran out of hinges so the cabinet under the sink and the one to the left of the stove don't have their doors on yet. The cabinet to the right of the stove should have 4 drawers but somehow we ended up without the drawer fronts. I think we'll be making another trip to IKEA this weekend to get those items so we can have it finished. We're also having a hard time picking out light fixtures for above the sink and over where the table will go (which is what that empty space in the last picture is for).

Our first dinner was so good! We had Pot Roast in Beer, Oven Roasted Red Potatoes, green beans and jello salad. And now we get to look forward to leftovers- yummy :o) Tonight I think I may try baking something (probably cookies) to see how the convection part of my oven works.

Sooo Close Now

We were able to pick up the backsplash Friday afternoon (technically, I suppose it was delivered) and then got the countertop Saturday morning. I'm not feeling too wordy or descriptive right now because I am pretty tired from all the work we've been doing ever since so I'll just let the pictures below tell our story.

Here's Rob installing the countertop:


As it turned out, one piece of the backsplash was too long. It was the biggest piece and would not fit in our vehicle so we had to come up with some way to get it cut down without a plasma cutter like the metal shop used. We went to Lowes and found the cheapest grinder we could find and here is Rob, grinding it down to make it fit.


Here's a picture of the kitchen where you can see some of the backsplash in and countertops. There is a backsplash on the wall along the right side of the picture but it still has the protective white plastic on it. We just put that up tonight and are waiting for the adhesive to dry before we peel that off.


A better picture of the backsplash with the white plastic still on- you can also see the microwave brace that we got up.


And finally, the one wall we have totally done.


It's all gone pretty well but there have been a few challenges along the way. We just can't wait to be done.

Happy Birthday Baby!

Happy Birthday Rob :o)

It was 30-something years ago today that my wonderful husband came into the world. The birthday boy spent the day living the good life- a little bit of work then spent the rest of the day playing around. He took treats into work for breakfast and then worked a half-day. I picked him up for lunch and we ended up at Subway. Not the best birthday treat, but it was okay. And then it just so happened that today was the day his department was having a golf tournament so he got to play in that and take the afternoon off. His team did pretty good but did not win- still better than working though, I'm sure. There was a barbeque after the tournament and I joined him for that. We came home around 8:00 tonight so he could open up his presents.





He had requested that apron so he could wear it while barbecuing at his new grill that we hope to get put together someday soon. He got a few other good things too- Old Navy gift cards, iTunes gift card and some money. I also ordered him some Orangina 2 weeks ago and though I got the confirmation email for the placement of the order, it has never been sent and my card has never been charged. So if you order some from this site, beware it may take longer than the 5-7 days it says it will take to ship. I was really excited about that gift because he loves the stuff and we can't find it anywhere out here which isn't surprising since I could barely find the stuff in California. That's a bummer. However, I picked up a piece of triple chocolate cake and a slice of chocolate lover's banana pie so we still have that to look forward to. Yum!!

It Isn’t All Work and No Play

Usually this space is filled up with tales of our latest adventures (and frequently, misadventures) in kitchen remodeling but I thought I’d let you all know that we do still sometimes get out and have some fun too. We went to Knoxville and watched the 360 Nationals last weekend. For all of Shelby’s friends/family, that doesn’t mean that they just spin around in circles (360 degrees) but the “360” actually refers to something to do with the size of the engine. The 410 Nationals (bigger cars which are a bigger deal) are a 4-day event and were supposed to start yesterday but were rained out. Rob’s going back to Knoxville tonight (about an hour’s drive) to spend some time with friends and watch some more racing. Then we’ll both head over on Saturday to watch the finals that evening.

We also went to the driving range at a local golf course that Rob is playing on Friday. He wanted to scope it out and he hasn’t even hit a ball since we moved so he needed to get the cobwebs off the clubs. He asked me if I wanted to go and though it’s been over 5 years since I was at a driving range, I said, “Why not? It’ll be ugly but I’ll go.” So we packed up both our sets of clubs and took off. I didn’t embarrass myself nearly as bad as I was expecting and it was nice to be outside doing something besides yardwork (like I did last night). I don’t know if I even care about playing a round of golf, but I sure like the satisfying feeling you get when you hit a good shot off the tee at the range.

And finally, just so it doesn’t look like Rob picks all the activities, we did go out to dinner in Des Moines recently and then we went to see the latest Harry Potter movie. This was definitely not his idea but he was a good sport and I think even had a good time.

I Can Almost Taste the Lasagna

My sister-in-law asked recently what the first meal was that I wanted to make once the kitchen was done. I had to think a while because I hadn't even thought about that yet. I finally remembered that I had been wanting to make lasagna since we lived in our apartment. We were too busy working on the house already though and I never had a chance. So I told her that I wanted that to be my first meal prepared in my new kitchen. It's also a good way to test how well everything cleans up since the previous time I made it, I got it everywhere! I think I'll be making that dinner in a few short weeks because the kitchen is coming along really well and there are even things in the upper wall cabinets as you can see.





We haven't put things in the bottom cabinets yet because we still have to put the countertops on and things in the base cabinets could get in the way. We ordered our new countertops last week at Menards (like a Lowe's or Home Depot) and they should be in sometime this weekend, maybe by Friday. Also due to arrive soon will be our stainless steel backsplash that we ordered last week at a welding/metalshop place here in town. After we put those in, we can get all the appliances in place and we'll be ready to go!