TGIF

Hi!

Happy American Thanksgiving (a day late)!  Yesterday was a snow day for us, so school was cancelled.  We got about a foot of snow (30cm).

Can you see C under the tree?

Here's a closer pic. C's building a fort under the spruce tree.

N has the snow saucer out.

Here's the pond this morning.

So, we've been slowly working on the front room.  Everyday we do something.  It doesn't look that much different from last week, but we got a lot of little things done.

The styrofoam is framed off by 2x2's. This wall is ready to be plastic-ed and then drywalled! There's a vertical 2x4 behind some plastic that shows where the closet wall will come out from the front wall. 

This part of the wall just needs the light switch box installed (and the pink insulation put back in the bottom) and then we're ready for the styrofoam. 

We hadn't planned on putting the 2x2's on the wall, but at the top of the wall is a 2x6 and it sticks out over the rest of the 2x4 wall.  So, we added the extra 2 x2's and styrofoam so there wouldn't be a bump out.  

The ceiling has been vented and insulated and a lot of extra drywall backers have been put in so the ends of the drywall will have something to screw into.  The wiring is also done.

Here we actually have drywall (and extra lumber) to put up! 

Blah!  Here's where I moved most of the stuff from the other side of the room.

And here's the hallway, where the other stuff went.

We are almost ready to put the drywall up!  This is an exciting step, but I'm always wondering, "Is there anything else we need to do before we close up the walls?"

Have a great weekend! :-)

Tasty Friday

Hi!

Here's what we ate last week.

• Thurs- Leftovers- N had dinner in town after Pokemon & C spent night at friend's- there was no school Friday!
• Fri- Hamburger Enchilada Casserole, "Super Veggie" Pre-made Kale Salad. Usually when the kids are home for the day, I don't feel like cooking dinner, but this came together fairly easily.  I used only black beans for my part of the casserole.  Everybody liked it, and we have leftovers that I froze!
• Sat- Homemade Pizza- I told the kids, "This is my best dough yet!".  N said, "You say that every week."  And I replied, "Because every week it's getting better!"
• Sun- Asian Chicken Soup.  I made the broth like the Bone-in Chicken Soup.  I used seasoned rice vinegar (about 2T) and found it a bit too vinegary.  I also used veggies we had in the crisper and no noodles. K & I liked it, but the kids just kinda thought it was ok.
• Mon- Salmon Soft Tacos, Quinoa, Krispy Kale
• Tues- Tuscan Beans (All About Vegetarian Cooking, pg 85), Rice.  Our rice cooker that we got when we lived in Dallas in 1996 finally broke.  I'm kinda looking for a new one....  I made instant brown rice on the stove-top, but it didn't cook all the way so then I had to microwave it.
• Wed- Spicy Tomato Peanut Kale Pasta (La Dolce Vegan, pg 134), Green Beans.  I used canned chopped tomatoes with spices instead of the tomato juice.  I also blended the tomatoes and kale together to chop the kale.  I think I was the only one who like this!

:-)

TGIThursday

Hi!

Well, the weather has been crazy!  We got snow last week...

then it warmed up to about 16C (61F) and it all melted away!  It's snowing again today and I didn't even know that was supposed to happen.  Upstate NY supposedly got 8 feet of snow the last few days!  Crazy!!

This was supposed to be a full 3 day week of tutoring for me, but there was a field trip for the Grades 5 and 6, so I got to come home early on Tuesday which was fine by me!

We are finally tackling the front room again.  It seems I've moved the stuff from the front room out of the way so we could work so many times only to have to move the stuff back because we didn't actually start working.  However, this time is different!  I promise!

Here's how the front room looks now looking toward the front door.

Very welcoming! ;-)

Here's looking from the front door to the wall on the left with the window behind that styrofoam.

Here's looking to the right.  There should be a wall where the ladder is, to separate the front room from the master bath.

Here's all the junk that's temporarily in the hall. 

Since we've waited so long to do the front room, I've found a new inspiration pic.

On the wall with the window on it, 

we're going to have what I call lockers on each side of the window with that table above in the middle under the window.  I'd planned on using 4 doors on each side of the window with a bench in front of the doors.  Now, I've decided to use 3 doors instead of 4 and have the middle one be stationary. Under the bench will be a spot for shoes instead of baskets like in the inspiration pic.

There's no school tomorrow.  This afternoon both kids are going over to friends' houses.  N's going to Pokemon in town and C is just visiting.  It's extra nice because they're being dropped off at home after so we don't have to pick either one up.  I hope the snow doesn't mess up anyone's plans!

Enjoy your Friday and the weekend!

:-)

Tasty Thursday

Hi!

Here's what we ate last week.

• Thurs- Broccoli Frittata, Blueberry Muffins (K had meeting so he wasn't here.)
• Fri- Pizza (N was gone for the night, but C had 2 friends over)
• Sat- Out to UPEI Alumni Dinner; Kids at in-laws
• Sun- Baked Chicken, Perogies, Broccoli
• Mon- Mung Bean Lentil Soup (More Easy Beans, pg 32- recipe below!)
• Tues- Cod Poboys
• Wed- Rotini Pasta with sauce

K and I really enjoyed the soup on Monday (of course the kids didn't really like it, but N ate a small bowl).  The recipe is from a library book, More Easy Beans.  I thought I'd share the recipe.  K thought it kinda tasted like split pea soup.

Lentil Mung Bean Soup:

1/2 c. mung beans- soaked in 3 cups boiling water for 15 min. Saute 1 med. onion, chopped; 3 celery stalks, chopped; and 2 med. carrots, chopped in 1 T oil over med. heat for 5 min. Add 1/2 c. lentils, drained mung beans and 6 c. veggie stock..  Simmer 45 min.  Add 2 t. cumin; 1 t. coriander; 1 t. turmeric; 1/2 t. chili powder; and 1/2 t. salt.  Simmer 15 min.

I used chicken stock.  I thought it was funny that you didn't add the spices til the end, but it turned out ok!

Enjoy your day!

:-)

TGIF

Hello!

Oh, I'm so glad it's Friday.  This was kinda my first "full" week of work tutoring at the elementary school, except there was no school on Tuesday because of Remembrance Day.  So, really I only worked 2 days!  But it was a good 2 days.  I know who I'm working with now and what I'm supposed to do with them (mostly).

Yesterday was busy with shopping and taking the kids to "meet and greet" their new family doctor.  Our previous doctor died last year so we'd been without a doctor.  Finally, this doctor who works at the local clinic agreed to take our family on as patients since he'd been seeing me and the kids regularly- especially at the beginning of the school year when N was sick with pneumonia and then C developed a cough.  This morning K is going for his meet and greet and I go next week.

Not much else going on.... It's starting to snow!  We're supposed to get 5-10 cm (about 2-4 inches) of snow today.   C has invited a couple friends over after school and N is spending the night at a friend's tonight.

Have a great weekend! :-)

Tasty Thursday

Hi!

Here's what we ate last week.

• Thurs- I forgot what we ate last Thursday
• Fri-Mac & Cheese and Peas (C & K weren't here, so it was just N and me)
• Sat- Homemade Pizza dough, with cheese and pepperoni- my dough is getting better, but this time when I was heating up the toaster oven, it was on broil instead of bake!  So the first pizza didn't turn out as well as the second.
• Sun- Dinner at in-laws- Apple Smoked Salmon, Broccoli & Cauliflower Casserole, Potatoes, Carrots, Blueberry pie for dessert (K's sister was in town)
• Mon- Romano Bean Enchiladas (with homemade enchilada sauce- I used about 1/2 the chili powder and double the cumin, garlic and onion salt), Mexican Rice (leftover rice with salsa) and Corn
• Tues- Remembrance Day- Chicken Soup (no noodles), Biscuits
• Wed- Leftover Mac & Cheese, Frozen Soft Lentils, Swiss Chard

:-)

Tasty Thursday

Hello!

I'm not doing a great job of meal planning as of late, but here's what we had last week.

• Thurs- I don't know what we ate this day...
• Fri- Halloween- Grilled Cheese, Tomato Soup, Raw carrots with Ranch
• Sat- Leftovers
• Sun- Pizza from Dillon's (goodness, I must say this everytime, but pizza from the store is so expensive. We paid $38 for an 18 inch Hawaiian pizza with meat on one side and pineapple on the other. It makes the frozen ones seem like such a bargain.  I still want to perfect my pizza crust which I will work on this weekend.  That's probably the best deal, unless you can get the frozen ones on sale....)
• Mon- Baked Frozen Trout (caught by a friend of my FIL's), Cheese Grits, Roasted Kale
• Tues- Black Beans Sofrito (Vegetarian Family Cookbook), Rice
• Wed- Shells and Cheese, Salad

That's it for last week's meals!  Have a good one! :-)

Halloween

Hi!

We had a nice Halloween.  This year the kids invited their friends over and we took them trick-or-treating with us.  We drive around to the houses in the country and the kids get out and go to the door.  More often than not, they're invited inside for a minute while they treats are distributed. (This was a funny thing to me, as I'd never go into somebody's house when I was trick-or-treating myself.  Perhaps it's a country thing or maybe because it can be cold up here?)  If there are houses close together, the kids would walk to the houses and I'd just follow along slowly in the car!  It's funny to me!

Here are some pics.

C is a vampire (but she lost her teeth!)

N is a monster.  He's worn this mask for about 4 years!

Here are the friends- one's a rocker girl and the other a robot/spaceman/trying-not-to-get-ebola-man!

In other news, I've started tutoring at the Elementary school again.  But this time, I'm only doing it Mon-Wed.  This way \I can still shop on Thursday (today!) and have Friday to catch up on household things.  It's really quite ideal.  They're still figuring out my schedule, i.e. which kids I see and when and on which days (they go on a 6 day schedule so it's always changing thru the weeks.).  But so far it's been fine, the few days I've worked.  I actually missed Tuesday morning because I'd already committed to working at the bookfair at the school.  And next week, Remembrance Day falls on Tuesday so that will be a no school day for everybody.

Ok, have a great rest of the week!  :-)