First Floor Silver Knob Initiative

Alright, we finally have some harmony on the first floor when it comes to the same color of hardware.  FINALLY.  Can I get a HOLLA! It was Scott's turn to do a project and I don't know if he was struck by my motivation of spray painting our fixtures or filling in the mulch, but without me nagging asking him, he just started switching out the door knobs!  I heard somewhere that men don't respond well to being told what to do, but by action.  So, in other words, women still have to do everything if something needs to get done.  Men might just help you hold/carry/steady something for you while doing it.  After rolling their eyes because they have to get up from the couch, of course.  But seriously, Scott did a great job! I contemplated spray painting the doorknobs, but decided against it since hands would be constantly touching them.

Check out this horrendous view of seeing a gold and silver doorknob within the same view.  We had already put a silver doorknob on the door to the basement as a way to seal it done when it was finished. 

And, ta da...new door knobs all in perfect silver wonderfulness.

Look how pretty the new doorknob looks next to the fridge.  Don't they look great together?  I told the fridge next time they take a picture together, he needs to put his arm around her.

Another to-do, to-done! 

Filling in the Mulch

While I was spray painting the light fixtures, I decided it would be a good idea to fill in the mulch by the shed since I was about 20 ft. away from it and I had to wait about 15 min between coats.  Knock two things off of our list while we are at it.

As you can see, it needed some help.  It has been crying out to us for over a year..

And, I finally decided to listen. We had two extra bags in the garage that did the trick along with evening out the huge pileup in the back.

So, our list is slowly dwindling down and looking something like this:

Our Spring "Projects" (in no particular order)
Have Scott get rid of the cobwebs in the foyer  No more Haunted Mansion!
Get a new grill cover
Finish landscaping the two backyard trees and clean up the third tree
Fill in the mulch around the shed
Clean up the front yard landscaping
Replace the broken window (It's been cracked since we moved in pretty much)
Spray paint the two kitchen light fixtures silver
Spray paint the lawn furniture
Change all the doorknobs on the first floor to nickel
Seal and/or stain the deck
Finish putting up wood along the bottom of the fenceline
Get a new curtain for the dining room
Replace light in the bathroom
Replace lightbulbs in the front yard
Patch ceiling in the extra bedroom
Organize the basement storage area
Organize and clean out the garage

We are getting there!!

Let there be...Silver!

So I've already discussed my disgust of the gold and silver mash-up in our house.  One of the things I have wanted to tackle on my list for some time has been the two light fixtures in the kitchen.  I would have done this the day we moved in if I knew it would have been as easy as it was.  I didn't realized electrical things could be so uncomplicated.  We have never liked the light fixtures in the kitchen solely because they were gold.  We looked awhile back at some silver options, but it was just gonna be too expensive and we would have to figure out how to get someone here to install them.  Cause we aren't handy like that.  Until now.

Since my love of spray painting has flourished since the successful fireplace painting, I decided I would save us some dough and go for it spray painting the fixtures.  I would just need to find out how to uninstall them and make sure I don't electrocute myself.  I was electrocuted in Kindergarten at a birthday party playing with a pinball machine.  Easily the scariest moment of my life.  I couldn't get my hands off of it and my whole body was shaking.  I also lost all control of my bladder and peed my pants in front of everyone.  Humiliating, to say the least.   I didn't want another experience such as that because the only one allowed to pee their pants in this house is a little boy we call Nolan.  Well, and Mommy sometimes, too.  Only if I'm laughing really hard.  Most of the time.

I found some great videos of how to safely remove a light fixture and followed them to a T.  Well, except for buying a hot wire detector.  I was advised that if the light doesn't turn on with the power shut off, you are ok to go.  Not to say I wasn't still nervous and wish I would have spent the extra $12 for the peace of mind, but everything went off without a hitch!

Fixtureless ceiling.  I capped the wires so they would be safe overnight.

I did 6 light coats out in the backyard and thought it looked solid.  I transferred everything to the garage to dry for 24 hours to keep out the fumes. 

After the first coat:

 After 5 coats:

24 hours later, I installed them back into the ceiling!
Before and after shots:

 

And the silver.  Not sure why it looks dusty-like, as I assure you it is not:

 

Gold fixture above the breakfast table and it's new silver identity:

 

Extra poses for the camera:

Doesn't that just make you want to say ahhhh....I swear it I look at them and think we got all new light fixtures, they look so good!  I was quite proud of myself as I did it all on my own with the electrical, uninstall, install, and everything!  And how much did this cost for what I consider to be two new fixtures?  $0.  Cause we had the spray paint already from the previous project so I don't count it.  Now hmmm, what else can I spray paint around here...

Restaurant: Newman's Pasta Cafe

Scott, Nolan, and I were out and about running an errand and decided we should stop and have lunch before we begin.  One place I have been wanting to try for awhile is called Newman's Pasta Cafe.  It is right next to PepperJack's, Arby's and Dairy Queen close to 168th and Center and it has always caught my eye.  It is very nice in there and the menu is listed on flat screen TV's.  I was really in the mood for simple cheesy noodles and Scott went with the Spicy Cajun pasta.  Nolan had some of mine and he loved it and to me, it tasted great.  There was enough cheese sauce on the bottom to really balance out the dish.  Scott was sweating by the middle of his.  We were able to do half pasta/ half salad so we each got a caesar salad which would have been enough food by itself because the portion sizes are so big.  The service was very friendly and they brought out our salads first so we had time to eat those before our pasta came out.  You didn't feel like they were shoving a bunch of food at you.  You also got a breadstick which was little to be desired, but served its purpose.

I found a few other pastas that I would like to try another time and this is definitely a place I would come back to! 

Website and menu for Newman's Pasta Cafe can be found here.

The Best of Both Worlds (According to Me Anyway...)

So we all know I stay at home and it is absolutely amazing.  I wouldn't trade it for the world.  The past few months though, I have been feeling like something is lacking.  I don't know if it was tax season and the stress of it or just wanting to do something for myself, but I needed to do something about it and I did.

I worked at a terrific place in college as an intern.   It is like the DisneyWorld of places to work without actually getting to work at DisneyWorld.  This place made such a huge impact on me.  I still have great friends from the experience and the culture and beliefs of this organization completely changed the way I look at people and life in general.  One of the famous quotes that we have from one of the founders that I love to ponder is "What if everyone in the world did what they were good at and enjoyed?"  How amazing would life be.  With every company that TP gets to work with, they get to completely change that company's culture and the effectiveness of it because of the way their selection process is structured.  And they have hundreds of statistics to back up how they have transformed businesses.    It's just an amazing philosophy and organization to be a part of.

So, I had been thinking about this organization lately and wanting to possibly contact them about doing some part time interviewing at home.  My sister had said they just hired one of her friends to do this type of job and that they were looking for more.  It took me less than 10 min after hearing about this to have a email sent to the HR person of the company.  I heard back from him not even 5 minutes later saying he remembered me well, even though I hadn't worked there in 4 years.  A few weeks later and a lunch at TP, I had the job.  Part-time interviewing from home.  I was and am ecstatic.  Fast forward a few more weeks later and I am at the end of the second week of training and I couldn't be happier.

The first day back last Monday was such a happy day for me.  Everyone remembered me.  Not a few people that I talked to the most back then, but EVERYONE that worked there when I did. They were happy to see me, gave me tons of hugs, and were happy to have me back.  Those who didn't know me introduced themselves the minute they saw me.  Do you know what that feels like to feel so wanted and loved by so many people?  It was insanity and a great day.  The reason everyone knew me was because everyone gets to know everyone when you work there.  It's a small company which I love and you will never see anyone sitting by themselves eating lunch.  You never just sit by your friends at lunch.  You go and sit at a table with whoever and have a conversation and get to know them.  In the hallways, people are building relationships.  That is just the culture of the company and everyone is incredibly friendly.

The company unfortunately is in Lincoln so I have had to drive everyday for training and figure out what to do with Nolan everyday, but thankfully we have amazing family who has been able to watch him.  When I got home after the first day, I couldn't wait to see Nolan.  I got to actually experience what Scott gets to feel everyday when Nolan freaks out when he gets home.  I got to be missed by my little boy.  I wasn't this lady who is always just hanging out with him.  And even though I am going to be away all day for almost three weeks of training, the payoff in the end will be great.  After training, I will get to stay at home all day with him, but will also do work in the evenings and on weekends to help out our family financially, to do something I love, and to be a part of an amazing organization.  After that first day I said to Scott, "I am so happy".  I feel at peace with everything.  It will be interesting to see how the routine goes when I am done training and start interviewing, but to me, I now get the best of both worlds.

Here is a video that will give you an insight to this organization.  This one is really neat and very truthful to the company culture.  If you think the positivity and excitement is fake or just for the video you would be completely wrong.  Everyone is so positive every single day.  FYI- The red carpet is something we only do for special occasions and is not an everyday thing.  :) 

 

Spring To-Do List

Oh, I heart lists.  I love writing things down that need to get done and I love crossing them off even more.  We have a lot of things I would like to get done before Nolan's 1st birthday in this here house and with tax season over (Can I get a WOOT WOOT!)  Scott now has a tiny bit more time to help me do it.

Our house is in pretty good shape but as I was thinking of the things I would like to get done, I noticed that we have basically just left it for the birds.  A broken window here, a torn curtain there.  We might as well be at DisneyWorld in the Haunted Mansion.  And yes, we have a Haunted Mansion-like chandelier in our foyer with a huge spider web coming from it that I can't reach with my long reachy duster thing.  Enter Scott.  He doesn't know about it yet cause I forget about it being there and I forget to ask him.  Add that to the list!

I thought I would share our list not because I know you all care about when we change a lightbulb in this house but more so because I thought it would motivate me to actually get these things done.  And maybe, just maybe you like to see others cross things off of their lists as well.

Our Spring "Projects" (in no particular order)
Have Scott get rid of the cobwebs in the foyer (See? It's been added to the list.)
Get a new grill cover
Finish landscaping the two backyard trees and clean up the third tree
Fill in the mulch around the shed
Clean up the front yard landscaping
Replace the broken window (It's been cracked since we moved in pretty much)
Spray paint the two kitchen light fixtures silver
Spray paint the lawn furniture
Change all the doorknobs on the first floor to nickel
Seal and/or stain the deck
Finish putting up wood along the bottom of the fenceline
Get a new curtain for the dining room
Replace light in the bathroom
Replace lightbulbs in the front yard
Patch ceiling in the extra bedroom
Organize the basement storage area
Organize and clean out the garage

I'm sure more will be added to the list and there are other things that I know need to get done sooner than others.  It may not get done before the middle of May but I would like for it to be done by the end of the summer.  Goal is May though.  You will see that our list already has some things crossed out as we have made some improvements already.

Improvement #1- New Grill Cover

See the mangled, holey mess beside the grill?

 And now- new cover!  Much better.

 Improvement #2- New Curtain for the Dining Room

This curtain was doomed from the start if it ripped just cause I opened it.  These were cheapo curtains we got when we first moved in just so we had something to put there.

New curtains from Target.  Actually, they were cheaper than the first ones but MUCH better quality.  And thermal too so it will help keep the heat out. 

 And open.  So nice.  If  you look closely, you can see the cracked window on the right.

And since you don't need to see me change a lightbulb in the bathroom, check out our outside lights.  They were neglected all last summer.  One of the middle lights was actually bent completely in half and broken for over a year.  Looked REAL classy.  With some Gorilla Glue and bricks to prop it up, it was as good as new!  Some replacement lightbulbs later and we looked like respectable people again.

Even if it's the little things, it just makes you feel good to get things done and to cross some things off of the list.  Hopefully we will meet our goal!

Recipe: The World-Famous Maine Lobster Roll (Imitation Style)

We aren't fancy people.  The only thing I know about being fancy is what I learned from Spongebob Squarepants where he discusses holding your pinky in the air while you drink a beverage.  I would love to be able to call us fancy one day, but we aren't quite there yet.  What a way to start our journey to fanciness than with a dish with lobster in it.  Real lobster you ask?  I just told you we are on a journey to fanciness, so no, imitation lobster.  The kind that costs $2.99 for 1/2 lb at TARGET kind of imitation lobster. 

Scott found this recipe for a Lobster Roll that we thought we needed to try.  It was freakin delicious.  We made two for each of us because it doesn't seem like it would be that much food, but it really is.  Neither of us could finish the second one.  And there were still even leftovers for the next day.

According to the reviews, they say to leave out the tarragon, scallions, and cucumber which we did because it meant even less ingredients we had to get and it was really good without those things.

Try it out today.  Incredibly cheap, lovely, delicious meal.

Recipe can be found here at Food Network.

Titanic: 100 Years Later

I have always been a fan of history- some aspects of it more than others.  I love the history of Europe and of our country.  It is fascinating to see where we have come from and how it has affected our lives today.  One aspect of history in particular that I have had a fascination with since elementary school was of the Titanic.  We were doing a family history project at the time and it was then that I found out about our family's connection to the Titanic.

My Great-Grandmother on my mom's side, Helen Sjolander,  (maiden name) was born in Omaha, NE, but her parents were immigrants from Osby, Sweden.  When she was three years old, her family moved back to Osby until she was 17 years old, where she decided to return to Omaha to visit her birthplace.  She lived with her cousin and worked as a maid while she was here and her sweetheart from Sweden was going to follow her to America so that they could be married.  Her sweetheart never arrived to the United States though.  He went down with the Titanic on April 15, 1912.

Since then, our family has tried to figure out the name of this gentleman.  One thing they did know was that he was a third class passenger.  The man that my mom and her family believe him to be is a man by the name of Paul Edvin Andreasson.  He was from Sweden and was 20 years old at the time.  According to my research on him though, his destination was Chicago to see his brother.  How accurate that information was, I don't know and he might have also had a brother he was coming to see as well.  I was researching Titanic passengers from Osby, Sweden, and the only one that came up was a man by the name of Olaf Svensson (Svensen).  He was 24 years old, a farmer, and his destination was unknown.  My mom said it wouldn't be unusual back then for someone to have a boyfriend 7 years older.  When my mom asked her brother again though, he was pretty certain their Aunt Ruthie (Helen's daughter and my Grandma's sister) said his name was Paul Andreasson.  So, the mystery probably has been solved. 

I have a few books on the Titanic and have found Paul's name under Third Class Passengers boarding at Southampton, England on April 10, 1912.  His body was never recovered or identified like so many of the passengers.

Last Sunday, they had a 2- hour documentary on the history channel documenting their latest trip down to see the Titanic in 2010 and it was absolutely fascinating.  They now have 3D images as well as images of the entire mapped out wreck site.  It was something that has never been done before.  The ship was first discovered on the ocean floor in the summer of 1985 by Dr. Robert Ballard.  It's amazing that it took 73 years for someone to discover it and that we had the technology to see it.  It gives me chills when they show footage of them first discovering it, first seeing the boilers and other parts of the ship.  Goosebumps.  How absolutely amazing would that be.  It is haunting to see the remains of such a terrible tragedy, but incredibly fascinating that we are able to recover something from a point in time that was so historic and so long ago.

Here is a video of the footage from September 1985:

And video footage from their trip back in 2004:

My Great-Grandma ended up getting married later that year to my Great-Grandpa, Warner Almquist. My Great-Grandparents, Warner and Helen died in 1973 and 1975 respectively, well before I was even born.  I would have loved to talk to Helen about her life and her sweetheart to learn more about that time, but unfortunately I never had the opportunity.  It is so important to document stories of those who have gone before us.  It not only tells us a lot about them, but about us as a family.  I can't wait to go to Sweden one day to see family that still lives there on my Dad's side and to see where both sides of my family came from.  It's also pretty cool to live in the same city my Great-Grandma was born in and the same city her family lived in when they first came over to America.

I could go on and on about the Titanic and about things I've read, exhibits I've been to, movies and documentaries I've watched on it.  It is one of the things that will never get old with me.

Recipe: Tortilla Roll-Ups

Also for Kim's Bachelorette Party, I agreed to make some Tortilla Roll-Ups.  We were going for an appetizer type situation and these are always a hit and very easy to eat.   The recipe is one that my mom always makes and they are awesome. 

Tortilla Roll-Ups Recipe
1 pkg. tortillas
8 oz. room temperature cream cheese
8 oz. sour cream
1/2 cup chunky salsa
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 green onions chopped  (I used onion powder instead)
Diced black olives to taste
Garlic powder to taste

Mix together all ingredients and spread on tortilla.  Roll up and chill for 2 hours. Cut into one inch slices.

I didn't get a finished picture, but they are in the middle of the table if you can see.  They were definitely gone by the end of the night so I would say people liked them.  We also had a cheese and almond dip on the right that Rob made served with bagel chips, fruit, chips and salsa, and Kim's two favorite kinds of hummus with Pita bread that were very tasty.  It was a very fun and yummy evening!!

Cake: Kim's Bachelorette Party

After I completed Kim's bridal shower cake I told Scott, I don't think I want to make any more for awhile, so I might skip making Kim's bachelorette cake and just go buy one.  Well, a day later, I was ready to go at it again.  Maybe because I really wanted to see if I could do a certain design and I knew it didn't have brown in it.  Man, that brown.  I wanted to make this cake one layer higher than my previous two cakes and I didn't have the utmost confidence in having a three layer "cake", so I decided to, you guessed it (or not) use Rice Crispie treats for the bottom.  A sturdy, yet fun surprise of a layer to have as the base of the cake.  I was going for sort of a petal/skirt situation with a belt like thing on top.  I wanted to cover the top with something as there were some imperfections in the fondant so I impulsively carefully decided to start adding some zebra stripes and they looked pretty good!

So, it started out all alone like this:

Then, after the cakes were baked, she got a bit of a crumb coating and looked like this:

Then, voila!  She all of a sudden looked like this!  A little rocky but I eventually smoothed out some of the jaggedy edges:

 A shot of the zebra action:

Here is her backside:

And of course a little side pose:

Don't look too closely as there are a ton of imperfections, but everyone thought the cake looked great.  Some asked us where we bought it.  And I got many many compliments on how it tasted so I would say it was a success!  I don't really take any credit for taste as all I have to do is dump some things in a bowl, mix, and bake.  Betty Crocker, you did it again.  For those curious, it costs less than $10 including everything (frosting, cake, fondant, etc.) to make this cake and about 3-4 hours of time baking, frosting, fondant rolling, and designing. If I would have tried to buy one like this, I would have had to pay at least three times as much.  I feel like I am getting a little better each time.  It was a really fun design I wanted to try and looked absolutely nothing like my inspiration cake, but it turned out alright nonetheless!  Still planning to make Nolan's cake so we will see how that goes!

Restaurant: Azteca Family Restaurant

Wednesday evening, Scott's mom and grandma were in town because they were leaving for Florida the next morning, so we all decided to go out to eat.  We wanted to go to Cheddars, but when Scott got there, he found out it was an hour and a half wait.  On a Wednesday night.  This place better serve gold.  We had tried to go to this place one other time with the same results, but some day we will have a successful trip.  Some day. 

We settled on a place that was a bit closer that Scott and I had gone to while I was pregnant called Azteca.  It is a very modest restaurant to say the least, but very family friendly.  The first time we went I got the cheese enchiladas and they were just ok so I decided to go with the spinach enchilada platter this time and it was really really good.  I ate every bite.  They give you a free little sweet treat with berry sauce and whipped cream at the end that just sort of hits the spot to complete the meal.

With this being one of the few close Mexican restaurants to us, it is a very good one and one that I would hit up again.

For their website and menu click here- Azteca Family Restaurant

Somebody That I Used to Know

This is a fairly new song that Glee chose to cover and it's of course, another one that I can't get out of my head.   Hope you enjoy.  If you don't watch the show, these two guys that are singing are estranged brothers and this scene will probably look ridiculous.  If anything, they are at least easy on the eyes.  :)

Pasta With Asparagus

I like pasta ok?  We knew this was gonna happen again.  And it will many many more times.  Got another pasta dish for you.  This one is so fast to make, you are eating dinner as soon as the pasta is cooked.  It doesn't make that much pasta so we didn't have any leftovers, but that's ok!  I will make this one again for sure.  So easy and yummy, especially if you love asparagus!

Recipe can be found here at Skinny Taste.

We Will Have One of Everything

This past Saturday I had the pleasure of spending the evening with my good friend Natalie and some of her friends for her bachelorette party downtown.  We started the night out at Hotel Deco and went to around 6-7 bars throughout the evening.  At midnight we decided we were hungry and went to eat at Roja downtown.  We were all trying to decide what we wanted to eat and one of the girls suggested just getting one of every appetizer plus the nachos.  After Natalie's sister ordered one of everything, the waitress sort of did a double take and gave us the ol' "Oh you are serious?!"  Do we look like we are joking?  Didn't think so. Hungryyy.  My favorite appetizer was the Queso Flameado.  Or flaming cheese if you will.  It was basically fried cheese served with warm tortillas.  I'm pretty sure I ate 3/4 of that appetizer as I might have accidentally kept it by me the whole time.  It was a successful late night snack as we couldn't move for awhile as we were so full.  Perfect time to just relax, chat, and sit by the fire before going to our next destination.

I haven't been bar hopping since college and four years will really age you especially when you are married and ESPECIALLY when you have a child.  I walked in the doors just shortly after 2 AM and fell asleep faster than I ever have in my life.  I officially feel old.

Recipe: Pineapple Chicken Burritos

This post ended up getting deleted somehow, but these were amazing.

Recipe can be found here at Real Mom Kitchen.

The New Way to Order

If only I could pull it off.  So awesome.