Halloween for the rest of us

So, admittedly, we aren't huge Halloween people. We don't dress up like all the cool kids. (But I do dress up the pugs.) I don't really decorate for it.

But, this year - Halloween was actually a lot o' fun. First, our friends Jon and Ann invited us for dinner. We had a fabulous dinner and Ann did up the table setting for Halloween. It was total Martha-esque.

The mummy is made with a foam head and coffee-stained decoupage. Love it.

And, she got the idea for the tree and origami from Martha herself.

They carved out a pumpkin for a cooler.

And even had fun place settings.

It was just such a fun table set-up.

Everything was just so.

I told Ann she needs to blog. She's so crafty.

Ann and I also carved pumpkins, since our husbands had no interest. We decided to try our hand at house numbers, and they turned out awesome.

I think I should try the house numbers next year.

And, as an aside - here's how we took care of a piece of pumpkin that popped off - just screw a screw into the piece to hold it. So smart, right?

The guys dug up the grape vines. Ann and Jon didn't want them any more so Ryan planted them at the new house. I'm envisioning grape jelly in our future.

Ann made us these awesome glasses, which we wore throughout the night. Who needs a costume?

Then, on Halloween, we hung out at home and passed out candy for a while. We don't get an obscene amount of trick-or-treaters, but it gives me a reason to buy a lot of candy.

And, this list makes me laugh - all the stuff we need for the house. And, then at the bottom - candy. For trick-or-treaters. Thank goodness Menards has candy, too. Kill lots of birds with one stone.

How was your Halloween?

Read more...

Renovation progress report - week 12

Well, week 12 was full of fun. Garage fun.

But, first, let's meet the playas:

Ryan (my husband, you may recognize him); papa bear (puffing up his chest because he's tough); brother bear (who is clearly too hot to handle).

I love these men.

And, not just because they build a mean garage. But that helps, obviously. ;)

This week, lots more progress was made. The team finished closing it and tar-papered the roof it just as it began to rain.

After it cleared up, Ryan and brother bear roofed it.

They make a good team. The roof looks ahhhhmazing. We chose to use architectural shingles, but the color is matched to the roof on the house.

Right after the picture below, my dad smashed his finger with a hammer. Second dad to be hurt on the job. Luckily, he's fine.

Meloves a fresh roof.

While they roofed, my dad installed the door and windows.

We love the big windows. This was something that will be a major improvement over our current garage, which has no natural light whatsoever.

Ryan works out in the garage and also works in there, so this will be helpful.

Can't wait til the siding goes up. Which reminds me, thank you for your comments on the color debate. You really made me think. And, I am 100 percent undecided. Still.

Luckily, all the colors are in-stock and there's some other stuff to do first so I am buying some time.

This week, the three playas also formed and poured concrete for the driveway. This is a bigfreakingdeal for me because our current driveway is just gravel and I hate it.

I love the concrete drive so much I can hardly stand it.

They also poured the concrete by the garage door. They installed a drain so that water doesn't collect inside the garage door. Clever, right?

My mama took all these photos again. Why, you ask? Because I was working while they were doing this. How spoiled am I? She's my right-hand-blog-lady. Emily wanted to know what to call my budding blog photographer - I think we should call her Arizona Lainey on the blog. What do you think? It's like a stage name.

I'll still call her mama. Or mom. Or totally awesome.

And, even though I was still wallowing in my sickness, I did finish painting our closet, which looks nice, if I do say so myself. Let's be honest, if it was up to my contributions, we'd still be working on this house when we are celebrating our 50th anniversary.

But, things are a-movin'. No major changes in the house list.

What do you think, friends?

Read more...

When I'm having a bad day...

I just think about this pantry.

(House Beautiful via The Inspired Room)

True story.

Read more...

Butternut squash

Sunday was week 4 of Emily's Rookie Thanksgiving, sweet potatoes. But, because I don't follow rules well, I decided to use my abundance of butternut squash instead. I picked 32 of them (I'm not exaggerating) and I've heard that you can use it in much the same way one uses sweet potatoes.

So, while it doesn't really fit the qualifications and I'm two days late, go check out Emily's yum yam balls.

I tried two butternut squash recipes, and because I'm not a food photographer, the photos didn't turn out great. But, I can't have a post without a photo, so I hope you'll overlook it. ;)

Butternut squash soup in the slow cooker 
via Betty Crocker

2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 medium onion, chopped (1/2 cup)
1 butternut squash (2 lb), peeled, cubed
2 cups water
1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram leaves
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper (cayenne)
4 chicken bouillon cubes
1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, cubed

1. In 10-inch skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Add onion; cook, stirring occasionally, until crisp-tender.
2. In 3- to 4-quart slow cooker, mix onion and remaining ingredients except cream cheese.
3. Cover; cook on Low heat setting 6 to 8 hours. (I cooked for 4 hours on high and it was perfect.)
4. In blender or food processor, place one-third to one-half of mixture at a time. Cover; blend on high speed until smooth. Return mixture to slow cooker. (I could easily get it mixed with just a wire whisk. It was plenty smooth for me and required less work, dishes and mess.)
5. Stir in cream cheese. Cover; cook on Low heat setting about 30 minutes longer or until cheese is melted, stirring with wire whisk until smooth.

Review:
I really expected to dislike this. Like, I made another meal for Ryan and I at the same time because I wasn't expecting much. I mean, it's really just squash - and how can squash make a good soup? But, it was delicious. The flavor was amazing before I even put cream cheese in it. And, you should know that I have a crush on anything with cream cheese. So, that just made it perfect. I'd definitely make this again. And, it's so simple that you can make it in the Crock Pot.

Butternut squash fries 
via Things that make you go mmmmmm

1 butternut squash, sliced as uniformly as possible
olive oil spray
salt
pepper
chili powder

1. Par-boil the butternut squash for a couple of minutes, then plunge in ice water. Drain and pat dry.
2. Spray squash slices with olive oil cooking spray, and toss with salt, pepper, and chili powder, to taste.
3. Spread out on a foil-lined sheet pan, and bake at 425 deg F for about 30 min, flipping half-way through. You will want to watch these carefully to determine done-ness, it depends on how long you boiled them for and how thick you cut them. Remove them when the edges start to brown.

Review:
These have awesome flavor and definitely taste as good as sweet potato fries - even Ryan ate a bunch of them with no complaints. However, the texture is softer, so I need to experiment more because we like our fries more crunchy.

I also took the opportunity to toast the squash seeds with butter and salt. They were just as delicious as pumpkin seeds. Who knew? (No pictures of this because my brother ate them too quickly.) But you should make them.
I also asked my Facebook friends for great butternut squash recipes, and I'm excited to try them all.

Do you have any great butternut squash recipes? 

Read more...

So many colors, so little time

So, the garage is going up quickly, and one of the decisions we need to make (soon) is the siding color. This is a big decision, friends.

Do I need to tell you that? Of course not. You get me.

In this house, we'll be keeping the aluminum siding on the house. It's just in too good of shape to scrap. The plan is to paint it in the spring. So, we need to choose vinyl siding that I will match when I paint the house.

When we chose a color for our current home, it was a no-brainer. I loved the sage siding we chose, Ryan loved the sage siding we chose. It was different than anything else in the 'hood. (We wanted it to stand out.) No.brainer. It took very little time to agree.

And, to be honest, I kind of wanted to use the same sage color on this house. Why mess with something we love? Make it kind of our signature. But, Ryan questioned using the same color. And, he was right. We can't just make every house exactly the same.

I want this house to be special and unique. So that means a new color

And, that brings me to the big decision. I definitely don't like the current yellowish color.

The foundation will be white (eventually).

The porch floor, shutters and stair treads will be navy (Naval by Sherwin Williams).

I wanted grey, but the roof is pretty new and already camel/brown. So, the colors have been narrowed down to:

Pine

(I know this looks close to the same color it is. But, it's more off-white/taupe and less yellow.)

(Inspiration via School House Electric)

Clay

(This is still lighter, but has grey undertones.)

(Inspiration via driving around)

or Khaki

This is the darkest, and the richest of the colors. It is also the largest change, which is a good thing.

(Inspiration via driving around)

(All are standard siding colors at our local hardware store of choice - Menards.)

What do you think?

(And as a disclaimer, I reserve the right to choose something completely different. As if I needed to tell you that. But, I still want to know what you think.)

Read more...

Renovation progress report - week 11

Alternate title: Reasons why my husband and family rock my socks off

As I was living it up in Washington, D.C., I left my husband at home to care for the pugs, work and do other grown-up things. I'm thoughtful in that way. He doesn't like to travel anyway, so I was really doing him a favor.

While it would have been completely reasonable for him to do fun things and blow off all obligations while I was away, I came home to this.

That's a garage, folks.

I married a good man. Some ladies hope for flowers. I love myself a good slab of concrete.

Ryan and my awesome dad rallied together a force, poured the slab and framed the walls while I was gone. Ryan didn't tell me how far they'd gotten to surprise me. (My mom took pictures for blogging purposes.)

This was a great surprise.

Within five days, the roof trusses were up. At this rate, I should be parking in it by Sunday. ;)

Right, Ryan?

Ryan?

Although I'm beginning to wonder if Ryan was actually working or if he just spent his time on the cell phone while Kyle worked. (I kid.)

In other house news, I came home from D.C. with a nasty cold. So, since I've gotten home, I've been supervising and medicating myself.

Oh yeah, and I did use the air nailer.

I deserve some sort of a medal for all my hard work. ;)

It was a good week at NewlyWoodwards. I had to do nothing and somehow still got a garage out of the deal. Try not to be too jealous.

Love my garage-makers. Thanks, Ryan, dad, Kyle and all!

What do you think?


Hello, house list.

Read more...