Foody Friday

Hi!

The week has gone by fast!  We are expecting a major blizzard on Sunday with 40-50 cm (15-20 inches) of snow!  Monday is a holiday, Islander Day, so it's a day off for everybody.

Here's what we ate last week.

• Fri- Leftovers
• Sat- Skillet Tortilla Pizzas.  The first one didn't get cooked enough on the bottom, so after broiling it, I put it back on the stove top on high heat and it got burned in the middle.  Then I was scared to use high heat on the second, so it was pretty much like a tortilla pizza we normally do in the oven.  The third one was a bit better, but still, everyone liked the first one's crispy crust (with the burnt parts taken off).  I still need to figure out the stove temps for this one.
• Sun- K made Red Beans and Rice.  K & I liked it, and the kids kinda did.
• Mon- Ginger Soy Poached Salmon, Roasted Potatoes, Green Beans.  The salmon was good. 
• Tues- Homemade Macaroni and Cheese (made by K- I missed dinner because of work)
• Wed- Chicken Fingers (Leftover Rice and Beans for me), Mashed Potatoes, Corn (made by K)
• Thurs-Sushi & Fries- Easy dinner because K went to store. ;-)

It seems we've eaten a lot of potatoes this week and not so many veggies...:-(

Have a great weekend!  Stay warm and Happy Valentine's Day! :-)

Foody Friday

Hi!

Here's what we ate last week.

• Fri- Homemade Pizza (both kids had friends over)
• Sat- Frittata with leftover potatoes and peas
• Sun- Snacks for dinner.  The kids and I got home around 4:00 after swimming and shopping and K went to his parents' for the Super Bowl
• Mon- Leftover Frozen chicken; Kale, Swiss Chard Stir Fry with Ramen noodles
• Tues- Snow Day- White Kidney beans with haystacks (I had soaked the dried beans on Monday and put them in the slow cooker overnight on low so I could make maple beans during the day in the slow cooker on Tuesday. When I checked the beans in the morning, they weren't done so I had to cook them longer on high and didn't have time to make the maple beans.  So, instead we had haystacks, which was just as well since everybody likes them!)
• Wed- Pasta (Chicken & Cheese Raviolis) cooked by N, Tomato Sauce, Raw Carrots and Radishes (Leftover Frozen Spaghetti for me)
• Thurs- Snow Day- Baked Chicken Breasts, Yellow Thai Curry Soup with Cauliflower & Peas for adults (with the baked chicken added for K), Raw Cauliflower, Carrots and plain cooked peas for kids

We had more snow last night.  Today provincial offices are closed up west until 10:30, but the library doesn't open until 12:30 anyway.  K's work is closed until 12:00 with a further announcement at 10:30.  The eastern part of the island got more snow than the western.

Enjoy your weekend!

Snowy Thursday

Hi!

It's another snow day!  No school for the kiddos, which means no tutoring for me.  

Wanna see more pics of snow?  Well, here they are...

These were taken on Tuesday. This is looking out toward the road.

This is looking back toward the house.

The road in front of the house, looking to the left towards the Valley.

Looking to the right towards the pond.

Looking back toward the driveway.

A huge snow drift beside the house.

The breezeway.

Under the "new" addition.

Looking toward the back yard.  See the big drift under the kitchen window?

Here's the drift straight on.

More snow.

The back of the house.

You can't even see the breezeway on the left.

  

The snow drifted as high as the fence.

  

Where's the breezeway?

The playhouse is almost buried.

There's snow inside.

  

The side of K's office.  

Looking toward the trailer.

Enough snow pics for you?  Ha ha!

Have a great day! :-)

Snowy Tuesday

Mornin!

It's another snow day! We got around 12 inches of snow (30 cm) and there was a blizzard last night.  The snow has drifted and the back breezeway is dark because all the windows are covered!

Here's the breezeway on Sunday after the storm we got on Saturday. It was almost all the way to the top. For that storm we only got around 9 inches (25 cm) of snow.

In the back room, the window closest to the breezeway is covered with snow and the one next to it is almost covered!

Here's looking out that lefthand window.  You can't even see the breezeway.

Here's a pic of how it looked before, after the weekend storm.

The kids are no longer allowed to go on top of the breezeway, but here's a video of C sliding down the snowbank. She didn't actually go on top of the breezeway!

At the back door, the snow has drifted up past the doorknob!

Here's looking out the kitchen window towards the front.  The snow is just about to the bottom of the window which is over 6 feet high!

Here's looking out the back door towards our neighbor's barn on Sunday.

And here it is now!

(The fence is about 5 feet tall.)

Ok, one more pic, but this time it's not of snow-- it's of our cats!

Too bad the glass is reflection-y, but aren't they cute!

Schools are on a system-wide shutdown, which means no one has to go -no teachers or principals who sometimes have to go even if the students don't.  We're still waiting to hear if K's or my work is cancelled for the day.  Right now they're both cancelled til noon with a further announcement by 10:30.  They pulled the plows from the roads about an hour ago because of blowing snow, so it's looking like we'll have the whole day off!

Enjoy your day! :-)

Foody Friday

Hi!

We are back in winter-wonderland-mode!  We had a blizzard on Tuesday, so school, work and pretty much everything was closed down.  It continued thru Tuesday night, so there was no school or work (for me) on Wednesday.  

Tuesday, during the storm, the kids got all bundled up to go outside.  They even put on their swimming goggles to protect their eyes from the blowing snow!

So, here's what we ate this week.

• Fri- K fixed Enchiladas
• Sat-Frozen Pizza (for C's "party")
• Sun- Oriental Chicken Soup (from roast chicken) with Udon Noodles
• Mon- Falafels (All About Vegetarian Cooking, pg 44). I made these the night before and K fried them up.  K also picked up some Tabouleh in town, and I made Hummus.  Everybody liked this meal.
• Tues-Storm Day- Fish Tacos with Cod (Baked with a rub of oil, chili powder, cumin, garlic powder)  Cabbage/Carrot Coleslaw (made with rice wine vinegar and sunflower oil). This was another meal everybody liked.
• Wed- Storm Day #2- Chicken Fingers, Frozen Red Lentils, Steamed Cauliflower with cheese sauce made by K
• Thurs- Whole Wheat Spaghettini with Stir Fried Cabbage, Corn, Carrots, garlic.  Tossed with Soy Sauce and Sesame Oil. Topped with Sesame Seeds and Chili Sauce for the adults.

Today is a day off from school for the kids.  It's a Professional Development (PD) Day for the teachers.  I took off work because I had scheduled the kids' annual physicals for today (before I started working at the library.)  C is having a friend over this afternoon.

Have a great weekend! :-)

Weekend Update

Hi!

Our weekend was nice!  K went to Charlottetown on Saturday for a Hackathon.  He had a good time. C had planned a "party" for Saturday night and invited 3 girls to spend the night.  One called to cancel because she was sick, and another went home early because of home-sickness, so it ended up being just one girl for the night.  N had gone to town to spend the night at his grandparents'.  There was a storm Saturday night, that turned out to be mostly icy rain and not too much accumulation of snow.  (I felt bad for the mom who decided to drive in that weather to pick up her daughter!)

Sunday I took C into town and picked up N for their swimming lessons. 

Before January ends, I thought I'd post some pics of the pretty table I set for our New Years' Day lunch.

I'd made some candle holders out of Birch branches for the center of the table.

 In case your wondering, that thing on the right of the table is K's morse code machine that he built using a raspberry pi.

I also made initial place cards with thinly sliced birch!  I used a brown sharpie for the letters, so it kinda looks like it was"burnt" into the wood.

Here are some pics of the back room after Christmas.

It still looks like this!

That's all the the updates for now!

Have a great week! :-)

TGIF- Update Post

Hi!

You may have noticed in my last post, that K and I were both working Friday night.  Well, it's true, I have a new job!  I'm a casual library assistant.  This means I'll be filling in at 4 nearby libraries when someone needs time off. I started with my training on Monday, Jan 12 and then went to work in a library in Alberton (35 min. away) on Tuesday.  The librarian there is taking a 6 month leave of absence.  She trained me for a week and on Monday, Jan 19 I started on my own!  I'll be working there until they hire someone "permanent". So far, I really like it!  The library is open 4 days a week, so I'm continuing with my tutoring at the Elementary School 2 days a week.

I also got trained at the Summerside Library yesterday.  Here's a picture of me with my library badge on.

The Summerside Library has different procedures from the branch libraries so I had to train there for a day. The Alberton Library is a branch library where I work alone but the Summerside Library is bigger and there are always at least 2 people there.  

Since I'm filling in in Alberton "full-time" (there are actually only 21.5 hours that I'm working), I pretty much know my schedule. I work till 5:00 two days a week so I'll be fixing a lot of meals in the slowcooker.  Every other week, K has to take C and her friend to dance so N is doing the cooking on those nights.  I work 2 nights where I'll have to miss dinner so K is doing the cooking on those nights.

K is also busy at work, doing a project upgrading computers, so he had to work Friday night last week, all day Saturday and all day Sunday (hence the pizza 2 nights in a row!).

The kids have started their swimming lessons on Sundays.  I like taking them because it's so warm by the indoor pool.  It's like a little mini-vacation!  Plus the kids have 2 different times for their lessons, C goes first for 30 minutes, then N goes for 50 minutes.  This gives me time to visit one-on-one with each kid while the other is in a lesson.

So, I guess our home projects will be slowing down a bit. After C's room we haven't done anything.  The front room is still waiting, although we did do some drywall work a few weekends ago, so the window wall is all done.

The hidden closet wall has drywall.

See how I placed the 3 "locker" doors against the wall on the left?  And a stray piece of drywall where the bench will go?

The wall to the left of the door is also done, with the switches even put in!

K installed an automatic light sensor so the light comes on automatically when you come in, from the outside or the hallway. After getting it set up the right way, it seems to be working really well. Above the light switches is a timer switch for a heater cord under our front steps.

Ok, I have to get ready for work (!) now!  

Have a wonderful weekend! :-)