Progress!!

Progress is showing itself again in the kitchen! It's so exciting! Back in September, Adam put in the counter tops, which was huge. He had a few extra sheets of cement backer board for the back splash and they've been sitting in the hallway ever since. I came home from work last Thur. or Fri. to find Adam working on putting it up. It was rainy so he cute everything inside which covered everything in a layer of thick dust. But I can't complain when progress comes to visit.

I've become used to seeing through the wall so it's kind of weird now that it's not see through. I can still see everything except the dogs waiting at the door to go out so it's not a big deal. It will definitely do it's job (blocking the view to our sink (and dirty dishes)) from anyone who comes to the front door.

And one more thing...we're putting the back splash up tomorrow!!

Pride in his art

Adam's siblings are all very artistic. Their parents have a wall in their house where they display their children's art. Adam is artistic in his own way...not with pen and paper but with power tools. He creates some wonderful things...just not art. He has always felt bad that he was the only child not represented on the wall. Even his sister-in-law has a painting or two on the wall.

Last year, I had a brilliant idea. I had found some pictures Adam drew while in elementary (5th grade). I picked the one I liked the best and asked his mom if she would be willing to hang it. She thought it was a great idea. His dad made the frame and they hung it and even covered it with a white tea towel. He had no idea what was up and we had an unveiling party. His mom made a speech about how Adam had many talents that they just weren't able to put on the wall, and that finally, they had something they could hang. When the towel was removed, he was beaming like a little kid. It was so cute!! He was so happy to be included on the wall. He still points it out to everyone that comes to dinner at their house. In case you were having trouble guessing which is his, it's the very colorful hand on the top row. I just love that he is so happy about it. :o)



His mom has gone through the attic and gotten rid of all her kid's things...giving them to who they belong to. In that bunch of stuff, there were a couple of pottery pieces he made (in elementary again).

This one sits in our bedroom usually. It's our coin jar.


I haven't found a home for this one yet but it matches the kitchen cabinets almost exactly so it will be hung in the kitchen somewhere. It is a vase for small flowers. But I am thinking it won't hold water so it will hold a small amount of dried or silk flowers.


My pottery never turned out very well...which, I assume, is why I have none of what I've made.

A little valentine's day exchange

We're not big on Valentines day here since our anniversary is right on it's heels but we usually do something small for each other. This year, I made Adam a candy bar bouquet. I almost forgot to make it. I only remembered as I was going to bed. So I had to stay up to make it. The cute little bear is destined to be a dog toy once we're done with it.

On Monday, I started a gluten free month to see how my body reacts, if it reacts at all. Adam bought me a few gluten free food items. There are a couple cookie things. He thought I was going to be back on sugar now that I am trying gluten and dairy free months. He was a little upset when he learned I still wasn't eating sugar. I will probably have one of each just to make him feel better. He also got me some rice pasta, gluten free pasta sauce, waffles (those are actually sugar free) and Udi's bread. I have heard that Udi's bread is so good...the best gluten free bread out there. Um...it may be better than other options out there but it tastes kind of like the plastic bag it is packaged in. Wow, life is sad in gluten free bread world. But I am sure I will be grateful for it as the month wears on. He reused my bear. :o) He is so sweet. He really had to think to figure out a snack I would eat this year.

So, the only time we saw each other all day was when Adam woke up for work...he didn't have enough time to sit and eat dinner but he did anyway.

I made buttermilk roasted chicken, roasted potatoes (white for him, sweet for me), and steamed carrots and asparagus. The buttermilk chicken was SOOO moist! I will definitely be making that again. You just fill a bag with chicken (will do breasts next time as they're our favorite part), I did 6 chicken legs. You make a sauce with 2 cups buttermilk, 5-6 cloves of garlic peeled and smashed, a 1 Tbsp salt, 1 1/2 tsp paprika. Stir it up then pour it over the chicken in the bag and make sure everything is coated. Let it sit in the fridge for 24-48 hours. Then you roast at 425 for 30 minutes (about 35-40 for breasts). I turned the broiler on for the last few minutes to darken it up a little. Like I said, it was very moist. It was also very simple. I will definitely be making this again!

So, that was our day. I hope yours was good.

unconnected

I have been working hard at home...getting a lot done. But most of it is not interesting..at least not in pictures. So here's some random shots from the past week or so. Ever since I found out that the camera phone is a fairly good camera, I have been taking way more pictures and having a lot of fun with it since I always have a camera with me. :o) Not all of these were taken with the phone but most of them were.

I have entered the 2nd month of logging my food for the GI doctor. This month (starting today) will be gluten free. I made myself a batch of buttermilk pancakes as a farewell to gluten for the time being. Next month is dairy free. Both months will be tough!

healthy cookies?

Well, I am not sure if these are technically healthy, they certainly aren't unhealthy...unless I ate a ton of them.

They're super simple to make, you don't have to bake them, they taste good...what's not to love? Oh, and the recipe is small enough that you don't have enough sitting around taunting you. It only makes 4 cookies and I halved it so I only got two cookies but that's fine because that was plenty to satisfy my sweet tooth.

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

12 pitted dates
1/2 cup old fashioned oats
1 tbsp reduced-fat peanut butter (I used Adam's crunchy peanut butter)

Place the dates in the bowl of a mini-food processor fitted with the chopping blade (I used my blender). Process until the dates are very finely chopped and stick together. With a spatula, transfer to a small mixing bowl. Add the oats and peanut butter. Using an electric mixer fitted with beaters or your hands, mix well.

Divide the mixture into 4 equal amounts. Shape each into a ball. Place one ball between two sheets of waxed paper. Flatten the ball to a 3" diameter cookie. Repeat with each ball. Serve immediately or stack between sheets of waxed paper in an airtight plastic container. Refrigerate for up to 5 days.

Makes 2 (2-cookie) servings

I just made the cookies in my hand, no paper wasted and it didn't stick to my hands at all. Yum!!

Inspiration

I learned something cool this week....actually, 2 somethings. 2 of my pictures have inspired 2 different people to paint. One is doing a painting based on one of the rainy pictures I took recently and the other is doing a mural from a picture I took while on my backpacking trip...which reminds me, I never did a post on that so I need to cause it was pretty. Later on that.

Here's my pic that inspired the mural:


Here's the mural:


It feels kind of like winning a contest...even though I don't win anything. lol

This weekend I worked on a major project which isn't finished...not sure when it wil be, or if it ever will be. But I will talk about it soon. And I finished another project I'd been working on for a few weeks so I can finally blog about that too. The pictures are in different folders though since it took such a span of time so that one will probably not be up for a few days, we'll see. All I can say is, Pinterest is so cool!

a weekday bike ride

In the winter, I don't usually get to ride my bike during the week because I only have about an hour of sunlight after I get home from work and I need to use the daylight to walk the dogs. It's very stressful to walk the dogs in the dark because of their agression issues toward other dogs. If I can't see a dog until we're close to it, it causes problems. All our walks end in the dark but I can get some daylight during the walk at least.

Jack has been limping a lot lately, not even using his rear leg sometimes after we get home from a walk. And Jasmine has been really stiff too so I decided they needed a reast for a couple days at least. I took one of the days they had off to take a bike ride. Woo hoo!! I had a great time. It was warm enough for a short sleeved jersey and shorts. And I even got to see one of the best sunsets I had seen in quite some time (that slowed my ride down considerably since I couldn't get far before I had to stop to take another picture. The dogs didn't think it was a win/win...but I did.

A beautiful evening and I got in 13 miles!