Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Dirty Hippie

I'm taking a quick lunch break from planting our very ambitious vegetable garden.  I would, of course, pick the hottest day of the year so far. And I would, of course, proceed to plant the garden like a dirty hippie, bare feet, bikkini top, gym shorts and lots of dirt under my nails.  Bliss . . .

Back to work, the carrots aren't going to plant themselves.

Monday, May 24, 2010

Kenny's New Hair Cut

So the theory on Kenny is that his mom was a boxer mix and his dad was a Great Pyrenees, which are big, white, fluffy, mountain dogs, breed for hearding sheep in the Great Pyrenees mountains.  His long warm coat was great for January but now that the mercury is up to almost 80, the poor guy is pretty hot. So we shaved him.  It took about 2 hours with alot of breaks for love and treats but now he's much cooler. He also looks completely different!

Since I took this we also did his tail!

Thursday, May 20, 2010

April Showers . . .

bring May flowers

This is the first peony to bloom, I love the pink veins.

and it looks like there will be a few more. Its like a happy little friend welcoming us home, surrounded by all my potted herbs (and some weeds). There is another plant it the back of the house, I can't wait for the rest to bloom.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Quick and Easy Dinner

It's gross and rainy here in CT, a good night for one of my favorite quick dinners: Auntie Betsy's new American Chop Suey. The reciepe follows, and its for two it usually takes me about 10 minutes, taking the sausage out of the casing cuts down the cooking time, or you can buy sausage patties and crumble them.


1/3 box of whole wheat rotini
Pre-made alfredo sauce
1 Bell Pepper
3 Sausage Links

  • Cook your pasta according to box directions.
  • While the pasta is cooking remove the sausage from the casing and saute over medium/high heat in small chunks. Be sure to use a pan that is big enough to fit all the cooked pasta.
  • Once the sausage is cooking dice a bell pepper and cook with the sausage. (I like to use red pepper its prettier but this day I only had green.)
  • When the pasta is almost done add the alfredo sauce to the sausage and pepper.
  • Drain the pasta and combine with the sausage, pepper and sauce.

For bottled alfredo sauce I like Barilla, or Butoni (their low fat is good and rich) which is with the pre-made pasta in the produce section of my supermarket. If you don't want to buy sauce, you can make your own by adding butter, half and half and parmesan cheese to the pasta, sausage and peppers.  You'll need to wait a few minutes for the cheese to melt and it won't be as creamy but there will still be lots of cheesy goodness.

Monday, May 17, 2010

Note to Self:

A little goes a long way!

Awhile back, I spilled some laundry detergent, ok I spilled a lot of laundry detergent.  The bottle fell off the top of the machine and soaked up an entire bath towel. When I finally got around to tossing the towel in the machine it washed 6 loads of laundry, the first time was clearly way to much. I still haven't figured out how to secure the detergent dispenser to the top of the machine . . . any suggestions?

Saturday, May 15, 2010

The Growing Lamp

I bought a set of lamps for the last place that I rented (my bedroom had no ceiling light).  One was a small table lamp and the other was a standing floor lamp that has a reading light off the side of it. When we moved they migrated to our living room but the little table lamp just wasn't giving enough light. 

I picked up the larger version in the set months ago but couldn't find the shade to match the other. I finally found the matching shade at Lowe's, it was alittle more than I wanted to pay but after months of not having enough light I was ready to upgrade lamps!

Added bonus because the shade is higher off the table, as the lamp is taller, there is more table space.  Kenny was very helpful in switching out the lamps.

Friday, May 14, 2010

Half Bath Makeover

I've been slowly making-over the half bath. I love our little black and white bathroom, it's cute and classic.
Here's how it started, not to bad, the painters tape was there when we moved in and it was partly primed.

This is how it looks now. These photos don't do the brightness of the room justice, but it's pretty dreary today.

The color is not quite white, If you remember from an earlier post, in February that I spent some time picking out just the right color.

This was the little project that took forever! The space is so small I don't know that anyone bigger than me would have been able to do it!

Source List
Paint - Benjamin Moore Natura - Glacier White (trim and walls) - 3 quarts - $54
Shelf - Moen at Lowes, $25
Bathing Beauty - gift from mom
Vase - found in house
Sunflower - part of graduation bouquet
Towels - target (bought for last place I rented)
Framed Art - I already owned the 8x10 frame, the mat was $3. 11x14 with mats, $12. The art were black and white photos I had taken the prints cost about $5. - $20 total.
Glass Bowl - found in house
Potpourri - $1.99 (Ocean State Job Lot)
Total Spent = $101

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Coming Soon

Updates from the dining room makeover!  I got word yesterday that even though I walked at graduation on Sunday I have some changes to make to my thesis . . . still. I'm pretty upset about it but I'm just moving forward and getting it done. I'll have the post about the dining room this week.