Monday, September 28, 2009

Things we accomplished this weekend.

See friends, check. See family, check. Love dog, check. Eat soup, check. Obtain more soup, check.

That is a total of FOUR different kinds of homemade soup consumed in one week. This count doesn't include the Chicken Posole from Fete Accompli or the can of soup I ate one day at lunch last week. That is a land speed record for me on soup eating - I don't even like soup that much!

I started decorating our house for Halloween. It will be full throttle this year because we are hosting our dinner group in October! I am very excited - I always put out a few decorations but when you aren't hosting a party and you have no trick or treaters, no one gets to see your efforts but you and your mister.

I bought a pile of fabric remnants at Fanny's the other day - each piece was about fifty cents. I am embroidering them and adding borders and trim to make decorative tea towels for all of the holidays. . super cute! I will post a photo of the Halloween one when it is completed, hopefully tonight!

Thursday, September 24, 2009

It is under seventy degrees. Pretend like it is winter!

It is so funny to me that we all run around, craving soup, wearing sweaters, etc. when it is like 65 degrees outside. I know we actually dipped into the fifties last night - with the rain and the cool temperatures, it actually does feel like Autumn. . . I also know that may not stick around too long so I am taking advantage of it, too.

I have been trying to be better about finishing leftovers in our fridge (not as a personal goal, but mostly this is about keeping the fridge cleaner. .) I peeked in there this morning and took note that there are THREE different kinds of soup in there! Last Friday, I went to lunch at Fete Accompli - and the smart shop girl asked me if I would like to sample their soup of the day - Chicken Posole. It was soooo delicious, I ordered a cup of soup with a half sandwich, and then left there with another generous quart container of the soup for us to eat over the weekend. There is a little left in the fridge.

There is also some (way too old) vegetable soup that needs to go, but I am a little fearful about pouring it out - I am thinking I will freeze it and then pop that ice block out in the yard for the deer. . . Finally, there is a two quart container of butternut squash soup that I made Tuesday night. I love butternut squash soup, but this is so very thick, I have a hard time with it. .. I will probably thin it with some skim milk for dinner tonight.

Tomorrow night, the Wellers will be attending a dinner at a friend's house that has a menu made up of 'soul food' options. The host actually said it was a 'slightly trashy' feast. I am taking a good old Texas sheet cake to complement the menu. mmmmm.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

little victories!

I have lost a total of 14.6 pounds on Weight Watchers so far. I am so proud of myself. (flipping hair and spinning on my heels.)

Thursday, September 10, 2009

And now, for something a little serious.

This is cheesy, sort of, but sometimes I am in total awe of God and nature. It is nice to be reminded about the natural world we live in. Examples: (a) the hummingbirds in our yard. They are so territorial about our feeder. I love sitting out on the deck and hearing the buzz of their insanely fast little wings as they dive bomb each other. . . and I now can recognize their little teeny peeping chirps in the trees. The amazing tiny-ness of them just entirely fascinates me. (b) rain!!!! The weather has changed so much in the last week. We have had quite a bit of rain compared to the rest of the summer and every time it even looks rainy, we are all being a little nicer. I think it is because we are happy for the break. The best part of rain, which I haven't seen in a long time. . . rainbows. It is a terrible photo which doesn't do it justice at all. . . but considering that I was actually driving at the time - not condoning that, by the way - it turned out okay. Huge double rainbow. sigh.
c) Owls. I was just telling my mom the other day that we hear a lot of owls in our neighborhood. . .but haven't heard them in quite some time. Then, Tuesday night, I went out on our front porch and there was this owl in the trees maybe 50 feet away. Assuming it was a 'he' - you could hear him hooting to another owl way off in the distance. That sound is occasionally a little eerie late at night when it is very still, but Tuesday, it was almost like it was reminder that we share our neighborhood with them.

Friday, September 4, 2009

Well, poo.

The dishwasher panel reverse side is the worst of all possibilities. It is beige. Gross. I am re-evaluating Plan B, because all of a sudden, the black dishwasher just isn't that bad. I mean, it could be beige.
I have now lost 12.8 pounds on weight watchers. I don't feel like I look any different, but I am really proud of myself.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Our lovely kitchen. and getting lovelier.

So, I have lost just over 11 pounds on Weight Watchers thus far. This is the time that is most difficult because I lose steam and start to think I am doing well and then kind of mess up on the eating plans. . . .so I am re-dedicating myself for the upcoming week.

Our house is starting to really look like a home. I have been making a true effort to keeping (most of) our house picked up, we have started hanging much more stuff on the walls, and I repainted the kitchen over the weekend. It looks very updated. I have an electrician coming Friday to change a number of sockets and switches from the icky 80's almond colored plastic to just plain white plastic. I also have plans to re-face the dishwasher. I got to thinking that a stainless dishwasher would look so much better in the kitchen. I did some research and learned that no one has ever heard of a "Crosley" brand dishwasher. (you?) Apparently they are made by Maytag, but I think they're the 'lower end' Maytag line. The dishwasher is fine - does an adequate job as long as we scrub the dishes before they go in the machine. . . so I am not in the market for a new one anytime soon. Sometimes you can buy a new door panel for your dishwasher. I started looking online for one and didn't have much luck. I then called a Maytag dealer/repair place in town, and asked them about my Crosley dishwasher. The gentleman on the phone told me that they 'didn't carry that manufacturer'. .. I had to educate him that Maytag makes Crosley. Clearly, this is a very popular kitchen appliance line. I provided my model number to him and he was able to look up available parts for my dishwasher. The good news is that there is a replaceable door panel - and also reversible - and one of the door panels comes in black with aluminum on the reverse. That was exciting to learn. . . until he told me that the parts for my particular machine ceased in production in late 2008. Why couldn't I decide to do this last year????

So, our dishwasher is black, currently. I plan to try to remove that door panel today to see if maybe luck is with me and the reverse is aluminum. If not, I move to plan B, which is to buy a roll of stainless sheeting and re-cover the dishwasher. I priced it out yesterday. I can buy a roll for about $55 and shipping, which isn't terrible. I will have a ton of leftover sheeting if I pursue this option, so if you would like the leftovers, let me know.