It's Almost That Time People!!!!

Do you know what I'm talking about?

Do you?

New Years Resolution time, my friends.

Do you make a new years resolution every year?

I never really did until the last year or two. And I don't normally like to talk about them too much. Because in my mind, talking about the resolution?
Will jinx the resolution.
And further more? I don't pick anything too "serious": like losing all of the weight I've gained since I met Zuddy?
Too serious. Bound to fail.

Did I even blog about resolutions last year? Did you blog about them?

Well...last year my resolution was to use re-usable bags for my shopping, and I've done really well with this resolution - not perfect, but really well. The year before that, it was to always park far away from the front door of Target and the grocery store - unless I'm going grocery shopping at the Lund's in Highland Park. You'll get killed over there if you don't park in a certain spot. I'm not kidding. I'm lucky to be alive today. Anyway...that one worked really well, too. I still park in a spot far from the door, near the back of the parking lot.

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about my resolution this year. You know why?

Because I'm a big ol' work in progress, people. Lots to change about myself. But I'm kind of rejuvenated by the fact that I've stuck with these last two resolutions. Even if they are kind of piddly. So I'm thinking about going all-out this year and doing TWO resolutions.
Yeah. I know. Crazy, right?
So I'm thinking hard about them because I want them to stick.

What's your resolution going to be? I'd love to hear it because then I can steal it if it's better than the ones I'm thinking about now. Heh.

Seriously, though. What are YOU resolving to do this year?

Amazing Discovery...

So, I was yammering on and on in my last entry about how much I love Thanksgiving and spending time with my family, yada yada yada....and I do, I do!

But I'm afraid from Suzy's comment that I made it sound like I do this stuff all of the time. And I don't.

Because I'm busy stalking people on Facebook and in their blogs, that's why.

And that takes time, people. It just takes time.

Which is a little sad, but it's also why this is such a special couple of days for me. And it makes me realize (again) that I need to do this stuff more often.

Like maybe twice a year. And maybe spend some time like this with my own child and possibly my husband.

Because you will notice from our hiking photos that the Noodle is absent.
Because she had school on Wednesday.
Which is a bummer.

So here actual photographic evidence that I wasn't manning my email:





Here we are at the beginning of our hike. Auntie being left in the dust. Louie was scouting out a good spot to pee. Because going for a hike is exciting and despite the fact that we 'bathroomed up' right before we left?

Sometimes excitement = more pee. I can kind of relate.





I was kind of surprised to see all of these frozen little streams everywhere. We've only been on this trail once before in the summer. I didn't remember it being terribly wet, but it does have quite the grassy-swampy landscape, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but I just was!







So imagine our surprise when we saw THIS!!!






And THIS!!!! I had NO. IDEA. This was here!!!! I mean, it's not like there's a waterfall here in the summer!



Here's Louie and me.


I love this photo of Schmackie.


I handed the camera over to Schmack and he got these cool shots of the ice:








Look at my little climbers! They were WAY up there.

So that was our hike.







Later on that day, Schmack and I went to the Timberwolves game.

So.
Much.
FUN!!!

I've decided that I need more professional sporting events in my life.

Zuddy isn't the type to sit around and watch sports and I'm not a fan of watching sports on TV (with the exception of Golf -which Zuddy thinks is insane- and Tennis) at all, so we don't follow sports enough to be interested enough to attend a game in person.

Well that's all changed now.

Because I loved. It.

I loved it ALL.

I loved the guy from Canada sitting next to me (my new best friend. He surprised his two boys by bringing them to the game. A 6 hour drive!).

I loved the people watching......the cheerleaders...... the t-shirts shooting into the crowd...... the people dancing for a prize on center court. Especially the people dancing for a prize in center court. Hilarious.



And I LOVED watching this guy:
SHAQ!!

The sheer size of this guy makes me laugh hysterically. He makes the basketball court look small. And to watch him casually swipe another player out of the way? It looks like a giant flicking an ant away from his picnic lunch. It's just funny.

I spent the whole game laughing, shouting, cheering.

LOVED.
IT.

Schmack has decided I'm supremely embarrassing. This could be our last outing together.

Before and Almost After

Ummmm, yeah. The doors on the bottom?

Well, I managed to get that ooo-guh-ly panel off of them. Which left a bazillion miniature screw-type nails embedded in the doors.

Which my bionic Zuddy was able to remove. Then he gave me some putty to fill all of the holes.

Then I lost the putty.

Lost the putty.

I mean, who does that? Loses the putty...? Huh? GAH. I really can't find it anywhere. And those doors need to be filled, primed, sanded and painted. I know, I know....go out and buy some new stuff, right? But it's here somewhere!





























It looks soooo much better, doesn't it? Really, in the photos, not so much.
But in real life? I'm thrilled.

I'm not sure I'm going to put those top doors back on. I broke the center pane of glass when I was removing it, but I still have the panes from the doors.

I took a photo with out a flash of the paint chips:

Sooo....how do you feel about these paint colors? Noodle picks the greeny-gold the chip right in the middle.

I really can't decide. And neither of them is really floating my boat.

And Amy? I tried the red and Mj? I looked at apricot as well, but they were both hideous.



Oh...while I'm writing this I got the cutest call from my nephew, the Schmacker. He just turned 11. Here he is with his golf ball cake I made him:

Anyway.

For the last three years we have spent the Wednesday before Thanksgiving together. He is my God son and the very first grandchild/nephew in our family.

We spend Wednesday during the day with Noodle, Louie, Angel and my sister Dawn and then we send Noodle and Louie home to my brother and sister's. Then Schmack and I spend Wednesday evening together, just the two of us. It's our new tradition and I love it.

2 years ago we walked to the Science Museum and spent hours there. It's only 2 miles away from our house. We had so much fun. The place was absolutely deserted and he is a blast to go to a museum with. He's so inquisitive and smart and sweet.

Last year we went to the batting cages/laser tag/mini golf/arcade place (I can never remember the name of that place). He smoked me in mini golf and then I refused to play laser tag because I thought I would have to run. I wish I were kidding about that, but I'm not. (Suzy. Are you disappointed in me?)
Anyway, that place was empty, too! People, if you're looking for a night to spend quality time with someone without fighting the crowds? The night before Turkey day is IT.

So, this year he is dying to go to a Timberwolves game. And I am SO. EXCITED. I seriously cannot wait!!! Anyway, he just called to check on what we are going to do together. He wants to tromp through the woods tomorrow (we did that the first year with Angel and Dawn (my niece and sister) and Noodle and Louie). So Dawn? I hope you're reading this! That's what he wants to do. Tromp through the woods with you and Angel tomorrow. Isn't that so sweet? He is so into spending time with the family.

So, for the past 3 years, Thanksgiving has turned into my very favorite Holiday. Because of my night with the Schmacker and because on Turkey day we go and eat my Brother's cooking (He makes the best turkey dinner in the world.) And then we go to a movie - just the aunties and the kids.

I know these little traditions aren't going to last forever. Soon Schmackie will be a teenager and he'll be way too busy to spend time with his auntie. There will be keggers to attend and chicks to hook up with.

Enjoy your time with family everyone! I hope you have an excellent Thanksgiving!

Gravylicious

I was just making some meatloaf over here on Elizabeth Hill and I decided to whip up some gravy to go with it.

Which got me thinking about Kari over at Alas 3 Lads and how I told her how I'd give her a recipe.

And then last Christmas I kind of dropped the gravy-ball on you all too....remember that? Well...NO MORE. I'm not leavin' you all in the cold. I'm giving you some gravy love, oh yes I am!

A little background on this recipe:

My dear friend, Kirst, came to work one day with the most amazing lunch. Her hubby Frank made her spaetzle with a sour cream mushroom sauce made from a brown sauce. She let everyone sample it (and because we work in a test kitchen, we called our mooching her lunch "research".) It was the best gravy I've ever had in my life.

So I sucked up to Kirsten until she invited us over for dinner, promising the very same sauce. Oh my gosh it was amazing and she gave me the recipe. To make it into a gravy, though, I change it a little. If you ever want the sour cream mushroom sauce version, let me know and I'll give it to you.

Well, fast forward to today: I didn't have enough beef broth to make the basic brown sauce recipe, so I used half chicken stock and half beef broth. It's delicious. And would be great with some turkey drippings stirred into it at the last minute. And the best thing about it? You can make it ahead of time and freeze it. Oh yes you can, girlfriends!

Here's the first thing I want you to do: Take 12 cups of stock and reduce it in half. Just boil it down on the stove until half of it is gone. The flavors all concentrate and it's very yummy. And - hey! If you're using the aseptic boxes of broth? That's just great, but get the low sodium variety. And don't forget: I used half beef broth and half chicken broth.....6 cups of each.

Okay, now here's the rest of the recipe:

6 tablespoons butter
1 cup diced onions (1 medium onion)
1/2 cup diced celery (about 1 large stalk)
1/2 cup diced carrot (about 2 medium carrots)
1/2 cup flour
6 cups double strength broth (you should be all set here!)
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 bay leaf
1/4 teaspoon pepper
salt to taste

1. In a heavy sauce pot, heat butter over medium to medium-high heat until foamy. Add diced vegetables and cook until onion is tender. Add flour and cook 2 minutes on low heat, stirring often.

2. Heat stock and add to vegetables, stirring constantly and slowly.

3. Add tomato paste, bay leaf, pepper and salt. Simmer for about 30 minutes. Strain through a fine strainer. After straining gravy, adjust seasonings and serve.

I hope you like it!

ACK!

You all know I have a blog-stalking problem.

You do too....admit it!

You also know I don't have all of them on my blog-roll, too.

Well, I've found a few more that I'm in love with, but in the process? I found out Cottage Living Magazine is folding.

I think that girl from the Coastal Nest is going to FREAK.

Progress Photos and More Advice.....

Here is the top part of the hutch....almost finished. I have a couple more coats of black to slap on her and then I need to flip her over and throw on a couple more. I'm pretty happy with it so far!


What do you think?






So now I'm looking at the color for the inside of the hutch top:







When I painted my Mom's bookcases this summer, we went with blue. It's lovely, but we've all seen that combo before, haven't we?

Does anybody have anything different to suggest?
I'm kind of liking the mustard-y tan color (third down from the top), and then for the walls in here, the one right above it:


Though it's not that new or exciting, is it?

Help a sister out! C'mon!

In other news, I made yogurt the other day: I'll talk about it another time, but here's a teaser shot in which my new countertops look nice:







I just downloaded a bunch of photos from the camera and found another action shot from Noodle. These things crack me up:

HOUSE TOUR!!!!

Oh dear Internets..... This one is my absolute DREAM!!!! Within walking distance to the co-op, it's a carriage house - which I've always wanted, and it's old (well...kind of..). What more could a girl want?

This little carriage house was built in 1934 (so I guess it's not technically a carriage house, huh?). It's a 3 bedroom, 3 bath home with 1092 square feet of living space for $679k. A bargain, right?
Right. Let's buy it.







Here's the entry way:














Awww friends.....look at this great kitchen! Why did I paint my lower cabinets charcoal? Better yet, why isn't my kitchen finished?? Isn't this just perfect? It's 10x9...small but perfect.










So perfect it deserves a second look:




The dining room: it's 17x13. It's very formal, isn't it? A bit TOO formal.






Ahhhh....look at the living room. That bookcase is to die for, isn't it? This room is 28x14.



The family room. It's 14x9.






The master. It's 16x14.






The master bath:



The backyard with gazebo:

Do you likey?

Furniture and 3rd Grade Math

Thanks to all of you who commented on the Noodle's math issues...It always helps me to know what others think or have done in a similar situation.

Noodle has a spiral curriculum and Mrs. Fortner nailed it when she said it doesn't teach the facts well. She is still counting on her fingers, didn't know what "place value" meant and didn't know how to regroup in subtraction. We've since worked on the regrouping and found a great video online to teach her place value. A while back we also joined Brain Pop Jr, but we're not getting what we need math-wise from that site.

Here's the other thing: when she's doing her homework at home and gets a problem wrong because she just doesn't understand the concept? I just let her hand it in with the problems solved incorrectly. That way, I figure, the teacher will know what she's having problems with and teach her how to solve them. But you know what her teacher does? She circles the problem and then sends it home for ME to help her with.
Ummm.......hello?? **knock-knock**?? I'm not a freakin' teacher!!!

Anyway.....that's what we're dealing with over here. I think it's slowly getting better, but it's going to be a long year, I think.

Oh my gosh. You know what we did on Saturday? We went to the new American Girl store at the Mall of America. We went in the evening and it was crazy-busy. You could barely move in there. Noodle and her fave cousin Louie could've cared less. They were happy as clams and chatted back and forth the whole time about what they wanted and what they already have, etc...
At dinner they were telling each other (and us) about their doll's personalities and Louie told us that her doll, Julie, "is a very active girl...."
To which my sister Myrna and I laughed like crazy at.
Lou started to laugh like crazy, too and then realized she didn't know what was so darn funny and said, "What did I say?" .... which made us laugh even harder.

Here's a photo of Louie and Noodle:




Also, Louie just turned 9 and I made her a birthday cake shaped like a croc:
I wasn't all that thrilled by the way it turned out, but I was wingin' it, people! I planned to make it all perfect-like out of rolled fondant, but I found the homemade fondant I made wasn't a real good texture to work easily with. I need to take class on working with fondant.


Here's a photo of my Dad with all of the Grand kids..Schmackie, Angel, Noodle and Louie:






Here's a cute one of the Louie and the Noodle:


Okay, on to the furniture......I'm priming my life away, people.

Here's what I'm working on:

• The Hutch
• Noodle's desk
• Chair for the desk
• Noodle's bookshelf
• 2 dining room chairs
• Another bookshelf for Noodle's room.

I'm about half way through the priming.

I'd be finished with everything if my evil friend Sandy hadn't made me join facebook. I joined it a month and a half ago and didn't do anything with it until last week.....now I'm hooked and I'm stalking everyone I can think of. Even complete strangers. It's sick and wrong. And I'm staying off today.

I am.

What? I AM! I mean it!

Seriously.

Well...maybe I'll let myself log on one more time........but only after I finish all of my work today.

Or maybe during a break. Yeah. At lunch. A lunch break.
Or maybe?
Maybe I'll have a nice healthy mid-morning snack and check then?

Black It Is!!!

You've got it! I'm obeying and painting the hutch black!
And I've to tell you all: I'm particularly happy because my Mom gave me the leftover black paint from her bookcase project. Woo Hoo! Free paint!

But I have a problem: I don't know if I can distress this monster. Here's why:

Do you see where that drill is sitting? The counter top there? It's a lovely mid-70's laminate. Oh yes it IS, girlfriends! How in the heck to I distress that?
I would think it's already distressed enough, knowing how ugly it is. Ha.

Okay, so I took all of the doors and hardware off yesterday and scrubbed it down with TSP. But I didn't get it primed.

Because I had to take a nap, that's why.
Don't hate. Sleep is important.
I'll prime today - I promise.

In other news, we had the Noodle's conferences last night.
It wasn't pretty.
We were told about her struggles with math (which we know about) and her struggles with reading in Spanish and English.
And how she needs to hurry up and learn this stuff because it's only going to get harder in the 4th grade.
I was shuffling through the papers and noticed her scores are exactly in the median of her class. I mentioned this and then the teacher then conceded that this problem is happening all over the 3rd grade.
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD. How can I fix this? I mean, last year she tested into the gifted and talented program and this year she's in the "needs extra help" program! How the heck does that happen?
She gets home at 4:30 and there's just enough time to do homework, eat dinner and read a little before bed.
I don't know what to think. I'm so upset. I looked into a math tutoring facility and it was expensive (over $200 a month), but I'm thinking we should go for it. I don't want her behind in the the 3rd grade, for Pete's sake!
Mrs. Fortner? Internets? What do I do?? HELP!

I'll tell you what I DID do: I ate my feelings.

They were delicious.

Turns out my feelings taste an awful lot like Ben & Jerry's Half-Baked Ice Cream.

Project: Hutch

Hey there, Internet buddies!

Whatchya been doin'? Huh?

I'm not working (outside the home) this week.
Do you know what that means?
It means I finally have time to myself to do some of the things around the house without constant interruption.

I hate constant interruption.

It makes me crabby.

Anyway....I'm working on a few things.....first of all I'm working on this:


Finally.
This is the ugly hutch in our office/playroom.
This bad-boy has been on the to-do list for a really long time. But I've been waffling about about what color to paint it. For a while I was thinking a chamois color. But I've scrapped that for now because I have no imagination and I'm thinking about a new paint job in this room soon.

This is where You come in, oh lovely Internets:
Should I go black or oatmeal?
I know - exciting choices, right? But I want neutral. I may go all crazy and paint the inside something kooky like cream. Heh. Or whatever you tell me to paint it.

I'll wait until tomorrow to hear from you.....in the meantime, I'm going to wipe it down with some TSP and put a coat of primer on it.

Oh wait! Did you notice the doors? Holy crap are they ugly! Look:

I think I can pry that middle 'decorative' panel off. Oh - and the pull is going away too.
And the Zudster doesn't know this yet, but I'm going to ask him to beef up that top molding.

And don't worry....I'm going to do a little somethin'-somethin' in the kitchen today, too. I'm going to finally paint the beaded board end panels on the bottom cabinets and do a little touch up work, too.

'Bye Internets! Let me know what color to paint this beast! I need your help:)