Thanks Joan!

I have been meaning to embroider bibs for friends for a while now, I've had everything except the embroidering machine (at least until recently) and of course the space to do it in.

My mother-in-law recently gave me her extra machine and I've been itching to use it. Conveniently for me, our friends recently had a darling little boy, Preston. Hubby and I will be seeing them tomorrow and what better gift to bring than personalized bibs!

So out came the machine and I ended up staring at it for a good five minutes trying to figure out where to begin. It's been over 2 years since I last used it for embroidering the guest bags for Hawaii. Thank goodness for the user guide otherwise I'd be lost!

Finished up the first bib (blue) without even thinking of taking a picture and then midway through the second (orange) bib I snapped a pic. Embroidery machines are like artificial intelligence!


And the finished products! One with his first name and another with his monogram.

Scrumptious Salmon (Deemed Edible by Jenny)

I don't like fish. Most seafood (lobster, shrimp, clams) I will eat but fish I just plain don't like. Until now...

Earlier this year when we visited friends at their new house we were fed some pretty tasty salmon. I later found out it is a super easy recipe. You need salmon fillet, yellow onions and Soy Vay Veri Veri Teriyaki.

Reheat oven to 400.

Start by taking the skin off the salmon or have the seafood department do it. Use a medium onion per pound of salmon. Then slice the onion into thin rings. Layer the bottom of a glass baking dish with onions saving some to top the salmon. Pour as much sauce as desired. About 10 oz per pound of salmon.

Bake for 25-35 minutes.

Dining Chandelier

Just installed our dining room chandelier. Had a little snafu with the box but hubby was able to figure out a work around.
There was some debate as to how many links we should have so we began with a more generous number, even though I knew we needed just a few. For a neutral party's take, hubby turned to the trusty internet for the proper distance of a chandelier from the table. The answer, 30-34 inches for a room with an eight foot ceiling. For higher ceilings add three inches for each additional foot.

Now you can actually see what you're eating. The old fixture had one working socket and was pretty unattractive.

Halloween is Coming!

I have never been a fan of Halloween but now that we have a house it has definitely changed my outlook. I just assembled these adorable ghosts to decorate outside. They were only $1.99 at Target!

I love my husband...

...so I baked him an apple pie, just the way he likes it.

A couple of days before we went to a local corn "maize" and then finished up apple picking with the family.

After eating our fill of apples I decided we need to do something with them. What better than apple pie! I used a combination of my mother-in-law's recipe and something out a mini Betty Crocker (I think) cookbook my mother-in-law gave me for ideas for our Halloween party.

This pie is so much easier than I used to make since I used to make the dough from scratch. Hubby prefers crumbly goodness for his apple pie so we use the good ol' store bought graham cracker crust. Chop up the apples, throw them in the crust and you just have to mix up the filling and make the topping. Bake for 45 minutes on 400 and you're good to. I'd post the recipe but that's all the way downstairs in the kitchen and I'm all the way upstairs in my office... see how lazy I've become in this big house?!

A changed landscape

If you recall, we had this monstrosity in our backyard dropping leaves in our pool, providing us with protection from the hot sun and worrying my husband to death about raking as the trees around us began to turn colors.

If any of you know me you know I am not a fan of nature at all. I said, "down with the tree" when we first moved in. We actually had a lot of people look at the tree behind our house, shake their heads and gently suggest we have it removed. We spoke with our new neighbors and they agreed, out with the trees.

Here's another before picture, of the entire landscape of our yard. Yup, trees everywhere. Leaves and pine needles all along the pool and in it too. We brought in the experts, or rather they had a opening yesterday and came two weeks earlier than expected to slice and dice.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to be home to witness amazing feats of tree cutting, but thanks to the hubby I have these pictures to share with you. They started with the biggest tree in the neighbor's yard.
Then moved to the two trees in the front yard that were leaning over our property. They took a small pine tree down and it apparently went unnoticed since it took hubby awhile to realize it was gone. Then they tackled our beast of tree. Yup, there's a man hanging from what's left of our tree. Voila, what our yard now looks like. It's very strange and apparently the lack of a tree has brightened our kitchen quite a bit in the afternoon. Hopefully the lack of trees will warm up our pool quite a bit next summer.

More Gifts Unearthed!

Most of you know, I was married over two years ago at this point. I still haven't used or opened quite a few of our shower/wedding gifts so each time I need something there's quite a bit of celebration on my part.

Just this past Wednesday I was able to use TWO gifts received! First my Kitchen Aid hand mixer (thank you Rannie!). I was baking cupcakes for my very good friend and co-worker, Linda. It is her 30th birthday today (Happy Birthday Linda!).


I made her strawberry cupcakes with mini chocolate chips and chocolate frosting. Yum!
It took me a while to figure out how to pipe on frosting after I put it in a bag (I don't like how frosting looks slapped on with a knife). But once I had it, I was golden. The cupcakes are on the second gift I used, the cake plate and dome.

Lastly, after schlepping in over a dozen cupcakes and decorating Linda's desk, we partied! She loved her gifts and the cupcakes. Even shared some cupcakes with my brother and his co-workers.