• Around home - Kitchen

    T Tuesday: eventful week edition

    I guess I should actually say an eventful week and a half, both good and bad. I’ll start my tale at the bad beginning…

    Two Friday’s ago we awoke to a flooded basement. Completely soaked carpet and over half the basement wet. It could have been much worse…it was our water softener that caused the mess so relatively clean water. I didn’t mention my mess on the blog last Tuesday as we were celebrating the 3rd anniversary of T stands for Tuesday!

    On Tuesday I mentioned that we’d be out and about like usual for our Tuesday. We were heading to my inlaws (where incidentally we were planning to go to flood Friday) when something hit my drivers side window and it exploded in on me. I was in the inner lane driving 50mph in traffic.  This is where my school bus driving days had me at an advantage with sheer experience on the road. I was able to pull over and figure out what I was going to do. I ended up driving back home after stopping at a hardware store to get something to at least clean the glass off me and my seat.

    T Tuesday eventful week edition

    I had some small cuts on my arm and embedded glass under my leg that I must have ground in as I drove. Adrenaline…never felt it until later although Mini-me did get out the first aid kit and cleaned up the blood a bit as I scooped glass from the van. Mini-me had a couple tiny pieces in her leg as well…small enough that we used duct tape to remove them. J was spared as he was in the passenger seat of the minivan. Again…things could have been much worse! I could have lost control and gotten into a wreck.

    This is were my tale turns for the better… My neighbor decided last minute to have a garage sale so I was going through the house trying to dig up some things to sell.  We did ok but ended up spending most of our profits on a new hutch…well, new to us. Our neighbors just remodeled their kitchen. We took it home thinking we could use it for storage in our game area.

    T Tuesday eventful week edition

    Looked pretty good there…

    T Tuesday eventful week edition

    and Marvin also approved. Then overnight Mr. G had a bout of insomnia and realized that perhaps the hutch would be better served in our dining room. So we moved it again….back up the stairs it had come down….

    T Tuesday eventful week edition

    This way we are able to actually see the beautiful set of dishes from my paternal Grandma.

    hulda

    As I age I am looking more and more like her, at least in my opinion.

    T Tuesday eventful week edition

    I feel as if I’m at Downton Abbey when I open these doors. I think it’s the big soup tureen that gives me that feeling. Love, love, love these dishes! Notice all the tea cups… full set of 12. Anyone want to join me for tea? As a kid my mom had them out only on holidays or when we had “fancy” company. These are certainly not my everyday dishes but we do try to use them occasionally because otherwise…what’s the point?!

    T Tuesday eventful week edition

    We decided to take the door off the one side and just use open shelving.  It’s amazing how much more open it feels with that simple subtraction of the door. Marvin went back to his favorite spot next to the door…that way he can keep track of everyone’s comings and goings.

    T Tuesday eventful week edition

    He’s just so dang cute! I’m planning to put a little curtain across the wine rack area to keep them in the dark. I was thinking it might be fun to use a vintage table cloth  as my fabric. Perhaps I’ll make a matching mixer cover at the same time.

    Our new hutch took the place of our old buffet. The buffet now resides in the game area.

    T Tuesday eventful week edition

    It really looks nice there and holds a ton of games. So after all the heavy lifting and switching things around we sat down and played a family game and got thoroughly trounced by Mini-me.

    Thanks for sticking with me through my long post.  I have no idea what Tuesday has in store for me…other than I feel as if perhaps I should just stay home.

    What are you doing today?

  • Around home - Blog

    Looking back at 2015

    As I started thinking ahead towards the new year and all it has yet to bring,  I decided it was time for a bit of reflection before letting go of 2015. Briefly my thought was, “Not much happened this year” and then the memories started to filter through.

    This year, collectively, our family has had the following…in no particular order:

    knee surgery

    small kitchen fire

    resort vacation

    night classes

    new driver

    honor choir audition

    wacky injuries including a 911 call

    volleyball camp

    computer programing

    pneumonia

    new (to us) vehicles

    job interviews

    neighborhood campfires

    published article

    mother/daughter retreat

    choir concerts

    deans list

    student council

    phase 2 braces

    and a new teenager(just yesterday)

    Whew! That’s quite a list even without the minutia of everyday life and events I’ve likely forgotten or perhaps blocked out. 🙂

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~

    So how did I do with my word of the year?

    FOCUS | Halle's Hobbies

    Not so great, honestly.  I can’t say I entirely failed on my word. I did focus on my family when issues arose throughout the year. I had the intention of focus on myself and what I needed and wanted out of life with this word. But really when I think about it, focus on my family is the reason I am still a stay-at-home mom the majority of the time. I was gifted with a wonderful life and family. One that appreciates the gift it is that I am home most days to take care of the little things. Perhaps my thoughts on my success with focus were a little flawed, My focus was just where it was meant to be last year.

    Happy New Year! Be safe.

     

  • Blog

    T Tuesday: vacation edition

    Welcome to another edition of T stands for Tuesday where we share a beverage and catch up a bit.

    T stands for Tuesday

    Summer is winding down. The back to school preparations have begun. Orientation, picture day, curriculum night.

    But before that happened we got out of town for a few days. The weather was a scorcher the day we arrived…105°F heat index. All we could think of was jumping in the lake. It was delightful!!

    resort 1

    The evening ended with a beautiful sunset.

    We woke the next morning to overcast skies and rough water.

    resort 3

    The kids did their best to try out the activities, I even did the stand up paddle board for a bit. The waves made it a bit more challenging.  Even a bad day by the lake is a better day than at the usual grind.

    The following day was even more windy and rough water to start the day. I don’t even have photos of that. The lake looked and sounded more like the ocean with the crashing waves.

    But then something wonderful happened. The wind calmed, giving way to another beautiful evening.

    resort 2Hot dogs were roasted. Marshmallows were toasted. A lovely final evening for our mini vacation. The rest of the extended family were staying a few more days…we had to hurry home for the aforementioned school preparations.

    The kids and I also made it to a local pub yesterday for their Monday special…2 for 1 appetizers and drinks all day.

    pub 1

    The calamari was delish!!

    pub 2

    I chose to sit at lucky table #13.

    More school stuff today and hopefully I’ll get some salsa canned as well. I have a ton of tomatoes!!

    What are you doing today?