Thanksgiving!

I don't really too many pictures of Thanksgiving... I guess I was too busy running frantically around the kitchen! You'd think since this was my third time hosting Thanksgiving dinner I'd have it all figured out by now.

Here's the whole spread:

I guess you'll just have to imagine Roger & Linda and Ashley sitting around the table with us!

I meant to take another with everybody seated (Weeda family tradition, you know) but I guess we all just wanted to start eating!




It doesn't look like a ton of food in this picture, but there was SO MUCH FOOD leftover!






And here are the desserts:
Pumpkin Cheesecake


Apple Pie


and


Toasted Pecan Pie




Next time I think I'll try a different cheescake recipe (this one maybe?), because I thought the oven was a bit too hot on this one. The edges got dark before the center was set, and then it cracked a lot. Not beautiful, but still tasty.

The apple pie recipe is totally a keeper! Brad says it's a state fair winner. I think I need to improve the crust a bit before it's to that point, but it sure is delicious!

And the pecan pie is my favorite thing ever. I don't dare make it more than once or twice a year... or I'd probably start eating it for breakfast!

We are still eating the pecan pie but had some help finishing up the rest of in the past few days. It was fun to have Julia Brist here for special meeting company! Nate and Brittany also came over to eat with us. I should have taken some pictures of that visit too! Someday I will learn to keep my camera handy.

Happy Halloween!

Today I went to work dressed as a princess! I even changed my nametag to say "Rapunzel." Several of my coworkers dressed up as various literary characters. We had Harry Potter, Amelia Bedelia, Madeline, and even a female Sir Lancelot!

Several of our patrons came to the library in costume today, too. There was an adorable Spiderman in one of those costumes with the padded muscles. He even showed me how he could shoot spiderwebs! There were also several bugs, dinosaurs, and furry creatures. The candy dish we had at the desk was pretty popular, but it was still half full when we left tonight!




I made my crown this week, and it was a pretty fun (and really easy) project! Here's a closeup:

I think I might have to make some more crowns like this for a few little girls I know!

Basically, you take a piece of lace big enough to sit on your head (I cut mine to 20 inches) and slather it with ModPodge. Keep the cat off of it until it has dried. Then apply a coat of craft paint in your choice of color (although metallic is preferable) to each side and let it dry again. You may need to lock the cat out of the room for this to happen. Close the piece of lace into a circle using craft glue and apply some reflective gem stickers. If you buy lace with open holes on the bottom, you can use bobby pins to help secure the crown--although it will stay put pretty well without any! The crown is really lightweight and comfortable to wear. Make one today for the cute little girl in your life!

Flooring Project

Okay, so this project took place on Labor Day... I realize the update is a little bit late!

I don't know if those of you who were in our place pre-flooring remember the carpet, but it was ugggglly! I don't think the pictures really do that description justice, but it was faded in some spots, stained in others, and kind of gray around the edges no matter how much I vacuumed.

This picture is from when we were house hunting... it doesn't look too bad, here. Then again, it had been steam cleaned and the place had been vacant for a while.

This picture was from when we moved in, and again it doesn't actually look too bad. I forgot to take closeups of the really ugly spots before we tore it up, but I really don't regret that :)

On Friday night of Labor Day Weekend, we tore up the carpet and got ready put in the flooring!

Kitty supervised (and kept Joel's tools company)...

Dad read the directions...

And Mom and Brad and I pulled up padding and tack strips and staples!
Okay, Dad helped with that too :)
We also took off all of the baseboards so that we could re-mount them flush with the new floor.

After sweeping up several years worth of dust and other gross things from the carpet padding, we realized we would need to seal the floorboards with something, so we made a late trip to Lowe's. The previous owners' cat must not have been as well trained as ours (Thanks, Eli & Michelle!) and a few of the corners were a little... umm... unpleasant. So we put down a thick coat of odor-blocking primer, had some cake for mom's birthday, and went to bed.

Unfortunately (or maybe not so much for me!) I was at work on Saturday when the put the flooring IN, so I don't have any pictures of that process! Mom, do you have any?
By the time I got home, they had put in all of the flooring, painted the baseboards (and every other piece of trim in the downstairs) with fresh coat of white, and moved some of the furniture back in. Brad even had time for a nap!

And here is the finished product.

The flooring is a laminate that we got at Costco - it's made with mostly recycled wood fibers, so it actually smelled a lot like wood when we took it out of the box! It's a dream to keep clean compared to the old carpet (although I do notice the cat's shedding a bit more -- but then I remember that it used to just hide in the carpet, and I feel better!). It still surprises me sometimes when I first get downstairs in the morning!

Of course, we still had all of Monday to kill, but I'll save that for another post.

It's Fall!

I bet nobody even reads this anymore, since it's been so long since we've posted! I started a new job at the public library and it keeps me pretty busy. I haven't gotten to the projects around the house I've been planning to finish, unfortunately!

Today really felt like fall... there was some scattered snow on the ground, a nip in the air, and leaves on the ground. So it was time to cook like it was fall! I found this recipe for apple-cider-braised pork shoulder with caramelized onions and it was a perfect match for the weather. I would have taken pictures, but I was too impatient to start eating!

I hope all (2? 3?) of you are having a wonderful season.

Before and After: The 1/2 Bath

This bathroom is just off the kitchen, tucked in under the stairs. I liked the paint color when we moved in, but the longer I looked at it, the more I realized that they had painted two coats but you could still see through the color, and the paint job was pretty sloppy. And, with the ceiling and everything painted the same color, it was just too dark in that small room.

Before:
So, we repainted it a sort of dark salmon-red color called Sarsparilla, which we hated. So we went back to the paint aisle (again) and settled on Red Velvet Cake. That color turned out much better. We painted the ceiling flat white, changed the mirror and light fixture, and put in a new faucet and a towel ring. Now it's Brad's favorite room in the house.

After:

Before and After: The Kitchen

When we moved in, the entire downstairs was painted the same light green (I found the can later, and it was called celery cream. Ick.) Oh, and when I say the entire downstairs, I mean the ceiling too.

Before:Mom came out to help us move in, clean, and paint (thanks, Mom!). This picture turned out a little dark, but that's more or less what it looks like now. We are still planning to replace the countertop (grout + food = mess).

After:

We have a blog.

It took us this long to think up a name and URL!

Now it's bed time.