Adirondack Home

I opened the microwave to find a plastic horse ( grey) and a little plastic doll. Hmmm. I wonder who did that and why she thought it was the perfect place for them to be?

I am not going to talk about renovations until there is something to talk about.

I canned 17 pints of zucchini relish. In my nonworking kitchen. I think thats quite an accomplishment. I am going to make stickers for the jars that say Washtub creations.

on to pumpkin bread and apple butter, and some sort of muffin. Fair time is coming. It opens next week and I have four entries to get done by Saturday.

Oh My Word

Oh my word there has been almost a month that has gone by since I posted here. My life sure has been full of good and bad, just like the rest of you. Renovations continue slowly, and realistically, it must be completed this month or I will be certifiably insane. I am told that the kitchen cabinets are coming out today and the subfloor is going down. Next week we will be building the new cabinets ( to my exact specifications, they must be all wood, and the countertops must be exactly the right height so I don't strain my back)

We are leaving in two days for my dad's 68th birthday party. My brother will be there ( one out of two ain't bad) and I am sure we will have an excellent time.

It's eight weeks until our anniversary party and I think I found the dress I want to wear and surprisingly it was in my closet all along.

sawdust in my bran flakes

the renovations.. and yes they are renovations, we removed walls, we removed paneling, we have rebuilt things, continues.

"we" made an error. "we" put up a ceiling and then realized that it was not the color we were looking for. So "we" had to stain a wood ceiling that was already installed. "we" got a little huffy, so "I" left the project to the "pro" and its done and beautiful.

the kitchen Island is framed out and will be getting its face in the next few days. we selected the tile for the countertops ( no this was not my plan but it will look beautiful and that makes me happy.)

mom and dad donated three bar stools for our island so we don't have to buy them, I just want to get removable covers for them ( and Yes! I will make them. I promise.) I have visions of seasonal covers, Lord knows I have enough fabric to cover them in something probably weekly at this point. ( isn't that just sad... I am a fabricaholic.)

so this morning I open my bran flakes, and notice some extra fiber. One of the helpful children around here closed up the box AFTER daddy was sawing, and put it away for me. Sawdust. ... and sheetrock dust has invaded my home. I am not looking forward to the next round of sheetrock but it is only the hallway so I will persevere... or I will texture the walls or something. It will be fine... and beautiful.

I think I have envisioned our new living room furniture... now to find it. Right now we have resin wicker furniture in here and it does the job but its not a permanent fixture.

My tomato plants need weeding. my yard needs cleaning up and weed trimming. Gonna get to that today.

away again

yes i am totally taking advantage of my mother in law's statement when she moved up here about watching the kids on weekends so kenny and I can go away...

I used priceline.com to get a really inexpensive rate for a really nice hotel ( I wouldn't have considered it at 170 per night... probably would have slept in the car LOL) and then looked online to see what was in the area for us to do.

this trip will not be like the one in April. I just want to relax. The hotel is right on the lake ( ken said our view will be of the parking lot, I hope NOT.)

The renovations are ongoing, the wood in the living room needs to be stained. then the floor. I have a new island in the kitchen. new cabinets arriving soon.

furniture decisions

so our local furniture store is having what appears to be a good sale and they have interest free financing and maybe its time to look at new furniture for the living room... what I really want are pieces that are small enough to be moved when we have company, so I am thinking that perhaps two loveseats rather than a sofa and loveseat, or perhaps a loveseat and two chairs would work. We have a recliner already and a semi nice coffee table that could be refinished or replaced. I have a hutch that is sitting in the living room but I am not sure for how long. Its the only original piece of furniture we have from when we were first married and my dh is quite attached to it. I, on the other hand, think that maybe we should give it to our daughter when she gets her own place ( not that she is planning to do that.)

The living room is almost finished. The flooring has to be installed, but I think dh is going to wait until the kitchen cabinets are in, and frankly I am not so sure of when that will be. I am ready to take a break from the renovations.

continuation

So the renovations continue... and we decided to do something a bit different with the living room ceiling, which will require another purchase but in the end will look much better.

In the midst of this we have two graduations going on. its been interesting. School is almost out, the plans for summer are being sketched out.

renovations the end of another week

renovations

I love that when he comes home from work he finds me and gives me a kiss and a hug

what a day!

I am going to hit the highlights of yesterday. we spent the better part of it talking to a cabinet salesman at home depot. I am discouraged by the prices of new cabinets. It offends my cheapness LOL.

we had grilled hamburgers for dinner. Cleaned up the front yard and planned out the picnic area and then started a fire in the campring and sat outside well into the night.

homeschooling the preschooler

Can I announce right here and right now that I have never formally homeschooled a preschooler? All of my children attended public preschool in one form or another... sure we did arts and crafts, and I read to them all, and we went on excursions and I delighted in their wonder.

but to sit down and actually figure out how to teach my youngest, who i really think is going to teach me a lot more than I am going to teach her? its unnerving.

Princess Butterfly is ready to move forward. She loves to learn and I need to get started here. We have a speech therapist and she is wonderful, so I took her cue and borrowed some books from the library about teaching preschool curriculum and am gleaning a lot from that.

On Thursday we got up and packed up the car and headed to my dad's place with the kids. we didn't visit too long with them, they encouraged us to get on our way LOL. We stopped for breakfast and the food was really good but the septic was acting up or something so the smell was rather OFF. We hit no traffic on the way to Brooklyn until we got into Manhattan and I was chuckling to myself when I saw a payless shoe source flag that had chinese written under it. we went right through chinatown to get to the Manhattan Bridge ( had to make a round the block u turn because the lower part of the bridge is closed.) Got into Brooklyn and hit more traffic. Ken gets a bit tense when he is unfamiliar with the area, so that wasn't so great, but it was temporary. We passed by Juniors, where we planned to have lunch, and then continued on to K and Ds apartment complex. Found parking right out front, and K had left us a key with the doorman, so we brought up most of our stuff. Their apartment is in an old News printing factory, that was interesting. We opened the door and was met by W, who didn't bark at us at all ( he is a yorkshire terrier.) and didn't piddle on the floor either. He seemed genuinely happy to see us. We looked around a little bit, the apartment is very modern, maple flooring throughout, one bedroom with sliding glass doors, tall ceilings, black trim, and very modern furniture choices. Minimalist. And very welcoming. we parked our stuff and grabbed our zip up hoodies and were back out the door into some very icy winds. One block down and I was looking for a coat store and Burlington Coat Factory materialized. Of course we are in the wrong season for coats LOL, but Kenny found insulated white zip up hoodies that were really warm, and okay so we looked ridiculous wearing the same jackets, but we were warm and that was the point. We walked for blocks and blocks and found Juniors ( they are famous for their cheesecake) and went in. The waitress was a very nice Jamaican woman and we had a hard time understanding the lilt in her voice but we ordered the soup of the day ( turns out she said hot dog and BEAN..okay that was fine.) and a half pastrami sandwich. This came with coleslaw, garlic half sour pickles, pickled beets, rolls, and cornbread. A HUGE amount of food. and we ate it all. After that we took a walk down Fulton Street Mall, walked into a place called Precious Angels, and it turns out it was FILLED with little girls dresses and gowns, miniature wedding gowns and pageant dresses. None were over 90$ but there were so many it was hard to decide. I promised Ken that we would bring Morgan and Hannah back in the summer months. On to other stores, and I found shorts and shirts for $2. each and several gorgeous dresses for $20 each. Two are quite poufy and have sequins on them LOL... just right for my girls. We walked back to the apartment and figured out how to use their plasma tv with surround sound and waited for K and D to get home ( it was after 8 when they got in.). After toasting our anniversary with some Moet Champagne ( it was very smooth and I do not like champagne) we went to a place called BEAST for dinner LOL. This meal was the only one that wasn't quite right. I ordered wild boar sausage and no kidding it came out on this tiny oval bowl swimming in some kind of sauce and it looked like a cat turd. LOLOLOL. Everyone looked at my plate in horror, and I called the waiter back over and calmly said listen this was supposed to come with some other stuff, LOL, and he said well the chef said she was sorry but she ran out! And there will be no charge.! Good thing.
We went back to the apartment and Kenny and K stayed up until 2:30am talking. That was good, I kept falling asleep, waking only to answer questions that neither knew the answers to LOL.

I woke up at 7:30am. I was a little dehydrated ( it was hot in the apartment and the alcohol from the night before didn't help) so I drank a big glass of water, took some advil and got ready for the day. I woke Kenny up and he bounded right out of bed ( kev and dani insisted we use their bedroom, thankfully.) and got dressed. As soon as he was ready we left to find breakfast. There was a dunkin donuts around the corner, so we went there ( they guy behind the counter was like you are wearing the same coat? yes it is cold here LOL) and then back down to the shopping district to pick out a dress for Morgan. Got that and headed back over to the apartment. At this point it was 11am, and K and Dwere awake and drinking coffee. We headed off to the subway into Manhattan and got off at Houston Street, heading towards Union Square. Stopped at a place called Cozy, let me tell you something, it was too cozy. The tables were very skinny and the space between them was incredibly skinny to the point that my chest rested on the table, so I laughingly said I would have the salad plate ( to go ). from there we kept heading up the street, to a computer store and then on to The Strand Bookstore where I didn't find what I was looking for. Took a peek at Union Square and then onto Broadway to the Broadway Panhandler to get Little Kenny and giant pastry bag, coupler and star tip. we strolled through Soho on the way to Canal Street. Once there the crowds of people were just too much and all the vendors were selling the same beads, bags, and scarves. Kenny and I snuck a hot dog at this point, oh it was so good and I didn't get any on me LOL go me. Kenny's back was twinging at this point so we got back to the subway and over to Brooklyn where everyone indulged in their favorite beverage and then it was off to Fed Ex for a package K needed. We dropped D off at Grimaldi's to wait on line while we zipped around the corner to Water Street where Jacques Torres has his factory. Great Chocolate but OH SO RICH, and expensive... woo boy... anyway, picked up a few things there including wicked hot chocolate mix as a thank you to Dani ( it has cayenne pepper in it). and back over to Grimaldi's where it was our turn to be seated. Grimaldi's is very busy and noisy and the food is good. K and D wouldn't let us pay for anything. That was really nice of them. After dinner we walked a little way down to get a good look at the Brooklyn Bridge and the next time we get there we are going to walk across, it was too cold to do anything near the water this time, so my planned itinerary was trashed. we went back to the apartment and watched Borat, which was a bore and I don't think any of you want to see it. went to bed right after that.

Saturday morning was a slow one. We stopped at a bagel place for bagels and then shopped a little (Hannah called and wanted a PINK poufy dress please) so I got that and two of the cutest white shawls for her and Morgan. We packed everything up and put it in the car and said our goodbyes to K and D and headed back out of NYC. On the way back to my dad's we stopped at Sizzler for lunch ( it was okay but not as good as the food we had been having LOL) and then at Border's where we found some really interesting books. One last stop at Walmart and we bought surround sound for the living room and then it was back to my dad's to see the kids, who were very happy to see us. Dad and Lorraine took us all out to dinner, it was a little stressful and chaotic but the meal was great.

Happy Birthday Princess Butterfly

I spent a LOT of time yesterday online researching places to visit on our three day trip. I didn't want to go to the tourist traps, most of that we have seen many times over.

I decided upon a rigorous walking tour and showed it to K who said fine. He is looking forward to the museum, the cheesecake, the ice cream, etc. LOL... I remembered that no matter what I wanted to do, I needed to make it fun for him too LOL.

a p

Monday

another monday. had all of the kids home since 11am, two are sick two are not. I spent a frustrating afternoon trying to sew. sigh. The regular machine is not working right so I didn't dare touch the serger today. I guess it wasn't the day for it.

I did rearrange the living room furniture and deep cleaned that part of the livingroom. I am anxious to get the walls done in there, as they look terrible right now.

Sunday Frugal

Yesterday I went grocery shopping. Today I wanted to make something different for lunch after church ( we attend the early service.) so when I got home I took out all the ingredients to make pork egg rolls. Let me tell you something, even going the lazy route and using coleslaw mix instead of chopping my own cabbage and carrots, these rolls came out at 21 cents each. A lot better than what the chinese restaurant would charge for seven of them, and we made 40!. and we have never ordered just egg rolls, so there you go.

if you have not tried making egg rolls before, there are directions on the back of the egg roll wrapper package. Very simple and you will feel like you accomplished something incredible when you eat your first homemade one!

now to get the rest in to the freezer before someone gets sick from eating too many!

another day

Another day here and I have already accomplished much. I have started the laundry, finished cleaning up the kitchen from when the kids cleaned the kitchen last night ( does this sound familiar to anyone?) cleaned up the girls room of all the little bits of cut up paper and not quite masterpiece quality drawings, put away their clothing and vacuumed their floor. When the six year old gets home she is going to hang a bucket full of dresses in the closet.

the woodstove is making contented noises, and I am happy. I have 48 peat pots to fill with tomato seeds this afternoon. I am also going to plan out the garden today.

We have started with a list of all the things that need to be repaired in and out of the house. All of the building that we want to do has been added on to the list too. I need to know how far in debt we will be getting ourselves into LOL. I need to have this house done. I do not know why its so urgent to get it all done this summer, but it is. Maybe it is because we will be here six years soon. thats a long time to have an unfinished house LOL.