A weekend of doing nothing and a random recipe...

The little lady and I decided it was time for daddy to take a break from all the work around here and spend time doing nothing. I have to say that is much easier said then done when it comes to my hubby. I do think we did manage to keep the projects to a minimum but it was only because we had to keep reminding him that he was not supposed to be working.

I will say that I am actually super excited about a small project hubby threw together. It doesn't look the prettiest but definitely serves a great purpose...

 

Introducing our new compost bin!
(please ignore all the other stuff in the pic it is located in the back corner of the yard by the storage building)

Hubby re purposed the door to the cat pen we are no longer using.
It works great, you can roll the wheelbarrow right up the center for dumping of yard waste and then close the gate right back. Easy access for turning the pile also.

It has amazes me how much food scrap our family of four produces.  The trick is going to be remembering to put the food into my countertop bucket versus tossing it in the trash. I am looking forward to spring gardening already and the possibility of some great dirt to mix into the soil.

The little lady and I "camped out" in our playroom on the new trundle bed. We had a great time hanging out watching movies until way past her bedtime.  When we woke up the next morning she wanted to keep the camping theme going hence the tent in the backyard.

 The cedar siding is labor intensive and little lady forbid hubby to work on that this weekend but we did manage to sneak in the small project of cleaning up the area around it. We cleared out all the weeds and leveled out the ground and put down some fresh pine straw. Hubby also painted the old clothesline pole, he is re purposing that as a rope ladder.

Hubby also snuck this tunnel in behind the playhouse. I wasn't sold on the idea but little lady and a neighbors visiting 4 year old thought it was super cool. A secret path behind the playhouse for them to run through.

 I haven't tried any new recipes lately but I had a few minutes to flip through my cookbook notebook yesterday and I stumbled upon this one from  Jan2012 Southern Living. It is called King Ranch Chicken Mac and Cheese.
 

1/2 (16-oz.) package cellentani pasta

2 tablespoons butter

1 medium onion, diced

1 green bell pepper, diced

1 (10-oz.) can diced tomatoes and green chiles

1 (8-oz.) package pasteurized prepared cheese product, cubed

3 cups chopped cooked chicken

1 (10 3/4-oz.) can cream of chicken soup

1/2 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon chili powder

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1 1/2 cups (6 oz.) shredded Cheddar cheese

Preparation

1. 1. Preheat oven to 350°. Prepare pasta according to package directions.
2. 2. Meanwhile, melt butter in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onion and bell pepper, and sauté 5 minutes or until tender. Stir in tomatoes and green chiles and prepared cheese product; cook, stirring constantly, 2 minutes or until cheese melts. Stir in chicken, next 4 ingredients, and hot cooked pasta until blended. Spoon mixture into a lightly greased 10-inch cast-iron skillet or 11- x 7-inch baking dish; sprinkle with shredded Cheddar cheese.
3. 3. Bake at 350° for 25 to 30 minutes or until bubbly.

 My picture is not the greatest, it really does not show how creamy it was. I cooked the recipe as directed. For my cooked chicken I diced two breast and browned with a little salt and pepper in a lightly greased skillet. I do not have cast iron cookware so I did mine in a glass dish which worked great. The only change I would make for next time is maybe the addition of some more chicken, 3 chicken breast would have been a little heartier. I would also maybe try using the hot rotel versus the original diced tomatoes and chillies just to kick it up a notch but all in all it was pretty darn yummy.  Hubby enjoyed it but if you ask him anything with cream of chicken soup in it is a winner!

 

And because I forgot to email this video out to family, I am going to post this here. Little lady is still really enjoying her dance classes. This is her taking her turn doing her tap routine. I do have to brag a little, she was the only little one that did the routine without the teacher having to hold her hand the whole time. So if you have a minute to spare, check out our little tiny dancer in action...

Little Dancer

After almost a year of asking us to take dance class I finally got around to signing the little lady up. After a little research of the dance studios around town I finally settled on a more traditional ballet school nearby. Once a week for an hour it is half ballet half tap. Little lady was thrilled and asked almost daily "is today dance class day?" for almost 3 weeks before it finally was THE day.

 

Her dance uniform is a pink leotard and pink tights. The preschool classes can where whatever kind of tutu they want.

 

Here she shows off some of her moves in anticipation of going to class.

 

She ended up with a private lesson as the the two other children who had signed up didn't come. It didn't bother her at all, in fact I think she was thrilled to have the teacher's attention all to herself. 





Here she is tapping, who doesn't love making lots of noise with their tap shoes? 
 After class was over she said she had a great time. When I asked whether she preferred ballet or tap she couldn't decide and said she needed more time to decide.
:)

Playhouse Progress

You remember the playhouse we weren't even going to have in this yard? Somehow the finishing of the playhouse has taken precedence over completing the master bathroom. Not sure how that happened but it has. I joke that it is hubby's "doghouse" for when he annoys me because it is so big you could easily fit a queen size mattress in it. Maybe that is why he has decided that it needs to be finished, so he has a place to hide from me and the kids. ;0

 

Hubby installed the tire swing on the left over the weekend and the roofers came yesterday and finished the shingles. I hear what you are all thinking, you needed roofers for a playhouse?! Well yes we did! We actually worked out a deal with the guy who fixed our sun room roof. Roofing is like tiling to hubby, a job he would rather someone else do. :)

We installed the slide about two weeks ago. Hubby, little lady, and a good friends little miss trying it out. 

 

Hubby built the ladder for the slide over the weekend, which little lady finds much easier to climb than the rigged up ladder we had been using.

Here she shows off the new front porch and rail. Hopefully this weekend we will finish up. We will be doing cedar shakes for the siding, it should be super cute when it's finished.

In other exciting news, little man had his 6 month check up yesterday. He was a trooper and only cried for about 15 seconds after his shots. He weighed in at 18lbs7oz. The doctor was impressed with his two teeth and his sunny disposition even after an hour wait in a stuffy exam room. He is really working on his crawling skills and I fear he will be on the go very soon.


School is back in and the little lady is going 5 mornings a week now, which she loves. We are finally getting into a routine of sorts so hopefully I can be a little more productive.
:)

Where did July go? And Home Remodeling Overload...

July just flew right by. I gravely underestimated the amount of activities I would need to invent to keep the little lady content while at the same time appeasing the little man. Aside from our family vacay to the beach we had lots of days and hours to fill.

We were inspired by the Olympics and went to open gym at a local gymnastics place. Here is little lady showing off her balance beam skills.

We also made a few trips to Monkey Joe's to bounce out some energy.

Fortunately the neighbors granddaughter has been available for lots of play dates.

We have also been slightly overwhelmed by the amount of random but exciting house and remodeling projects we have had going on.

One morning hubby calls and tells me that he is on his way with a few framers to build a playhouse. What playhouse? I did not remember that being on our immediate to do list.

5 hours later we have a large playhouse framed and covered with roofing paper and house wrap. just what I never knew I needed. :)

Now we just have to find the time to finish it...

The front outdoor planter got a make over. When we arrived home from our vacay the weeds had overtaken all the plants and it was a total mess. We decided that this space would be better utilized as a patio.

Little lady was so excited about the cement mixer.

For some reason walking in the deep wet cement seemed like so much fun to me. To the guys actually doing the work, not so much especially since it was literally hotter than hell that day.

Little lady supervised from the shade of the tree.

About a week after it was poured our friendly concrete finisher came back and did a really cool acid finish. I think it works really well with the color of the brick. 

I also decided on a color for the front door and the shutters. It is naval from Sherwin Williams. I'm sure the neighbors are thrilled that we have only gotten around to painting the front door and one shutter...

We removed the age old flimsy storm door and unearthed an ugly brown color which may be the original house color. Now we need to decide what would be the perfect thing to put on our new patio.

For a good portion of the month we had all the furniture out of the den moved into the living room. It was quite the disaster area. Why were we living like hoarders you may ask?

Because I had the bright idea to start sanding walls in the den. My initial thinking was it would take me a few days from start to finish...

As with most of bright ideas, hubby stepped in to get the job done. After I did not manage to get it done after 2 weeks.

It was definitely time to rid the wall of this antique. Anyone in need of a 1961 Nutone intercom? 

Halfway through the prepping of the den we realized that the sun room roof had sprung a leak. So for several days of rain this was the scene, mixing bowls and mop bucket catching the drips. A new rubber roof has now been installed so I am now back to using the mixing bowls in the kitchen only. The joys of a 50 year old house. Nice.

Back to the den project, we removed a door that was between the front foyer and the den. It surprisingly lets in quite a bit of light.

Den with new trim installed ~ pre paint.

Fireplace and built in entertainment center before paint.

Hubby replaced all of the brown outlets and switches, updated with pure white ones.

At the last minute we decided to remove the gigantic sliding glass door between the den and the sun room. It had gotten to the point where I could barely open it. It was so heavy and really quite a hazard to have that much glass with two small children. It was most definitely not tempered glass. 

Den~ After

I love, love, love it! The color is Oatmeal by Ralph Lauren. It is so bright and cheery now. What a difference.

We are also making good progress on the master bath downstairs. Here little lady does a dance of joy that sheet rock has been hung and the finishing is well under way.

This is the current state of the master bedroom...

who wouldn't just love having 2 toilets in the bedroom?! Not to mention piles of tile and sheet rock. We have company coming in 2 weekends so the goal for this weekend is to get this mess cleaned up so we can move our bed in. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Last but most certainly not the least little man has hit a major milestone. He can now sit in seat of the grocery buggy! So much easier than the heavy car seat, now I can actually fit the groceries in the cart.

He will go for his 6 month well check the beginning of Sept. I can't wait to see how much he has grown.

Little lady is now back in school so hopefully I can get around to posting more often.

:) 

I have been working on this post since mid month so it is a little random because I sort of forgot what I was going to say about the pictures I had already uploaded. So bear with me if this post jumps all over the place.

I'm not sure why she thought this was a good idea, do you?

We had 8 yards af mulch delivered about 2 days before my back went out. So needless to say it sat in the driveway for over a week untouched. Nice.

Because my back was hurting hubby resorted to child labor.

Hmmmm, what is this thing for again?

Hubby and little miss did manage to get her custom swing (made by daddy) hung, which she has thoroughly enjoyed.

Front landscape bed of house before.

After.
Hubby and I let some professionals handle the beds. He hired 2 of the hardest working guys I have ever seen from who used to work with a friend of ours. They accomplished more in 8 hours than hubby and I could have done in a month. Well worth every penny!

Before.
Hideous dying dogwood tree.

After.
I need to take better after photos but you get the jist of it. I love that now the japanese maple is the focal point when you walk around the back of the house now.

Before.
Since we removed a tree in the back we added one in the front. Here hubby uses the truck to pull it into the hole. It was a big tree for us to wrangle on and off the trailer. I was a little doubtful it could be done but hubby managed.

It is a large crepe myrtle, we have no idea what color flowers it will have as it was a free tree. So it will be a surprise when it blooms.

Totally off topic but just had to throw this one in. Had a playdate at a local park this week and little man tried the swing for the first time. I think he liked it.
:)

I know you all are waiting on bathroom pics but hubby has requested that none be taken until it is truly finished. Hubby has now started the downstairs master bath and brought home a truckload of sheetrock last night to hang on the walls in there this weekend.  Pics to come eventually.
Have a great weekend, we are planning indoor projects to try to beat the heat. We will finish the landscaping when it it isn't 100+ degrees outside.