Our First Wreath

I grew up in a very crafty home.  This is not to say that I am crafty, but my Mom is.  She had a good eye and the ability to make things with her hands.  She can sew, quilt, woodwork, etc. (the list could go on and on).  She even used to sell her stuff at craft sales (you know those sales that usually take place in school gymnasiums with table after table of everything craft-like).  I remember going to lots of them as a kid and being bored out of my mind (sorry Mom).  When I got old enough to do my own thing I promised myself to never attend another one of those, which of course was a lie to myself.  However, I go to them very rarely.

My house does not have a lot of cutie crafty things in it.  My tastes run along different lines.  Because of this, I really haven't developed my non-existent craft making skills.  This year Tom and I decided to buy a wreath for our door (we have a very ugly door with a very cool "No Smoking" sign on it), we were hoping it would cover it up a bit.  Obviously I was not going to make it from scratch or buy a brand new (expensive) one.  What we ended up doing was buy a used, but pretty nice looking wreath from Goodwill and replacing the ribbon.  I did the amazing feat of making my own bow our of new ribbon (thank you YouTube videos)!!!  We will now have a moment of silence to commemorate this amazing fact.  I think I did a pretty good job for a first attempt.  Here are my before and after pictures with a close-up of the before bow (gag).

 

As an added bonus, here's a cool picture of Tom in his new prescription safety glasses for work.  Isn't he studly?

An Uncomfortable Day

So as many of you might have heard, western Washington had a nasty snow storm last week.  Rain we're used to...snow added with wind and freezing temperatures knock us all for a loop.  Now don't get me wrong, I'm an Idaho girl so I'm obviously used to cold snow and I lived in Rexburg for quite a while so I'm also used to frigid winds.  However, what I am not used to is living in those temperatures without heat.  The snow wasn't really the problem, it just added to the fun with icy roads people couldn't navigate.  It was the wind that really caused the damage.  I don't think our pine trees are used to being abused the way they were.  Trees were fallen all over Kitsap County (unfortunately they took anything with them that was in their way....most obvious to most of us were the power lines).

We lost power around 7 pm last Monday night and didn't get it back again until Tuesday evening around 5 pm (we were the lucky ones...some people didn't get power back until Friday or Saturday).  The first night wasn't too bad.  However the next day (which Tom and I both got off of work due to the weather) started to get pretty chilly!  Towards the end of the blackout I was starting to try to talk Tom into going to Kirkland to stay with his cousin (in her heated house).  Just as he was starting to consider it, the power came back on.  Pretty much the whole day I was wearing my coat (inside our house), it was a balmy 45 degrees in our living room.  Our fire place wasn't much help either.  I think it's pretty much for looks.  We ended up moving our couch up right in front of the fireplace.  That helped out quite a bit.  We also have a gas stove, so we could still make warm meals and hot chocolate.

This experience showed us we might want to look into getting a generator just big enough to power our heat & refrigerator.  I don't mind being without light or television/movies/etc, I actually kind of enjoyed that part.  However, I'm a modern woman who isn't used to living in the freezing elements!

Cashew Chicken Recipe

So I made a new recipe a couple of days ago that we really liked.  I got it from this amazing recipe blog that I read.  Because I liked it so much I thought I'd share it with all of you.  For anybody that knows me well, you know I love Oriental food.  Fortunately for me, Tom likes it too (just maybe not as much as I do).  But he is more than willing to try any recipe I run across.  It doesn't call for vegetables, but the next time I make it I'm going to cut the meat in half and add vegetables.  I also didn't take a picture of it, so if you want to see a picture, click here.

Cashew Chicken

4 chicken breasts, cut into pieces                           

1 tsp sugar                                                            

4 T cornstarch, divided

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 C soy sauce

1 tsp vinegar

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

3 T oil

2 C hot chicken broth

2 tsp lemon juice

1/2 C cashews

Rice

Combine sugar, 2 T cornstarch, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and Worcestershire sauce.  Dredge chicken pieces in this mixture.  Drain and save dredge; then stir fry chicken in hot oil in frying pan or wok until chicken is lightly brown and tender.  Remove chicken from oil and drain excess oil from the pan.  Add remaining cornstarch and the dredge drained from the chicken.  Blend well, then add chicken stock to the pan and bring to a boil, stirring constantly.  Cook until thickened.  Add lemon juice; add chicken pieces and reheat.  Do not boil.  Taste to correct seasonings.  Add cashews.  Serve over hot rice.  Makes 4-5 servings.

Enjoy! 

The Cool House in Keokuk, IA

Tom's family is composed of his parents, the three boys (Byron, Tom, & Shaun), their spouses (Kari, Me, & Alicia), and Byron & Kari's kids; the 4 grandkids (James, Michael, Emelie, & Eliza).  We live in 3 different states, so we don't see each other very often.  We try to get together every 2 years.  This year we met up at a house in Keokuk, IA (it was a short drive to get to Nauvoo, IL).  It was a old style mansion type house that was absolutely huge.  Plenty of room for all of us and an extra floor on top for the owner when she was there (which she wasn't the whole time we were there.  This is the house.

The Front of the House

The Staircases

Our Bedroom (you can see the air conditioner in the window - very important there)

Sunroom

Living Room (otherwise know as the movie watching room or playroom)

Dining Room #2 (otherwise known as the Office - multiple laptops at all time)

Library (aka Game Room)

Kitchen/Dining Room (we actually used this one as a dining room)

Outside BBQ/Pond area

Train Trip from Chicago to Iowa

After our day in Chicago we had to make our way to the AmTrak station for our train trip from Chicago to Iowa (we had arranged to get picked up at the train station and driven to our rental house where the rest of Tom's family was waiting for us).  The walk from our motel to the AmTrak station took a little time, but our train didn't leave until later that afternoon so we had plenty of time.  Although I have to admit we looked like a bunch of tourist walking down the street towing our suitcases with us!

After we got to the train station we had a little while to waste before our train left so we wondered around.  We started with lunch of course, then we decided to locate the older section of the train station.  It was pretty cool!  It was a huge open room that looked like your normal train station with benches everywhere.  It also had some pretty cool pillars that I made Tom pose with me in front of.  Aren't we just adorable!

While we were there a train got canceled and all the people that were going to ride on that train got moved to a later train (luckily not ours).  When we were lining up to get on our train the other train was doing the same thing with twice as many people as there should have been.  It was kind of hilarious seeing that many people try to line up for two different trains in the little room we were in (this was obviously not the room pictured above).

The train turned out to be a lot more comfortable that I thought it would be.  Tom and I actually thought of taking the train all the way from Washington but it was going to be too expensive.  They have rooms with beds you can purchase for a lot of money, so we obviously didn't do that.  For out trip from Chicago to Iowa we didn't need a bed because the trip was only a few hours long.  We had really comfy seats that we got to spend the trip in.  Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of them, but the seats were plenty big and with plenty of leg room.

We also were allowed to move around the train as much as we wanted.  They had an observation car where you could hang out and watch the scenery.  They also had a dining car (although we didn't use it).  Tom and I want to take the train again and use the dining car this time (but we will still probably not upgrade to the beds).

It was a nice train ride that we all enjoyed!  Definitely a lot funner than by car or plane!

Chicago

So, it seems that July has come and gone.  I was only home for half of the month.  There was way too much that happened to fit into one blog.  So, I'm going to start at the beginning and work forward.  For the first week of July we traveled to Illinois, Iowa, and Indiana.  We were meeting Tom's family for a family reunion near Nauvoo, IL. We decided to start the trip by meeting Tom's brother Shaun & his wife Alicia in Chicago.  The original plan was to have all night there with them (they were coming from SLC, UT).  Unfortunately, their plane was delayed and they didn't get in until around 10:00 that night.  We flew in earlier that afternoon after a very early flight from Seattle.  We took a little commuter train to get to the downtown area and checked into our motel room and was able to get a little nap.

 (View from our motel room)

The motel was a little bit scary.  It was right next to the train, which made it easy to get to the motel but a little annoying once we were there.  It was also a pretty old building that made me fear for my life anytime I got in the elevator.  The bedroom was pretty good, but it had two smaller beds again (this is becoming a bit of a tradition with us in motels), plus it didn't have a great walkway to the bathroom.  Definitely not somewhere I will stay again, but it worked for one night.

(Motel Room)

Later that night we wandered around downtown Chicago waiting for Shaun and Alicia to arrive.  It was a nice walk, especially when it cooled down (remember we are wimpy Washingtonians now....it was hot).  Once Shaun and Alicia arrived we took off for this little pizza joint called Uno's to have us some official Chicago Deep Dish Pizza.  It was surprisingly delicious.  My previous experience with Deep Dish Pizza hasn't been the best.  I think in general they are greasy and heavy.  I don't know how they make theirs differently, but it wasn't greasy and very delicious!  We also chose to get a couple of appetizers (did I mention that we didn't eat until around 11:00 at night) we were quite hungry.  We were surprised how big the appetizers ended up being.  We got "Onion Crisps" and a "Vegetable Tray".  Everything was delicious.  Luckily we walked all the way there so we had to walk all the way back to the motel, so we had to wear off some of the food before we went to sleep.

Downtown Chicago was interesting, but that's about it.  I enjoyed our experience there, but I don't think we'll go back.  Definitely my favorite part was dinner that night.

(Cool Art Eye)

(Downtown Chicago Library - we loved the metal on the top)

Wild Waves

For the past month I've spent a lot of it on the go.  I've had two funerals and a wedding that I had to travel out of the state for.  It's been happy, heartbreaking, and exhausting.  It's also been pretty stressful.  A few weeks ago, my cousin Jana invited us to join her and her husband Josh at Wild Waves this weekend.  Her employer was having a special weekend at Wild Waves that offered us the opportunity to buy tickets for half off.  Tom and I considered not going due to financial situations, but I'm so glad that we decided to just go ahead and go.  I really needed a fun laid back day to just relax and have fun!

I've never been to Wild Waves before.  I had just assumed it was a water park.  For those of you that are like me and have not been there personally, there is a small amusement park along with the water features.  When we first got there it was a nice day, but typical to Washington a little overcast.  I was a bit worried because I'm not a huge fan of being cold.  Because I was born and raised in Idaho I'm not a complete stranger to cold temperature and have learned how to deal with it, but not in my swimsuit!  Brrrrrrr!

Luckily as it go closer to noon, the clouds went away and the sun came out to play.  We played on the roller-coasters in the morning and after it got warmer changed into our swimsuits.  My cousin (and Jana's brother) Tony and his wife Tiffany joined us later in the afternoon.  This early in the summer the parks hours end earlier (probably due to Washington weather).  Starting in July the hours extend.  The park closed at 6 pm.  It wasn't terribly hot outside, but it was comfortably warm.  The only negative part of the whole day was walking around the park barefoot in my swimsuit.  My feet are very sensitive.  I am so rarely barefoot that when I have to walk around without my shoes it's not fun!  My feet still hurt the next day.

Everybody got a little sunburned.  Luckily I don't burn easily, but when I do it heals quickly.  I got a little sunburn, but it was pretty much gone the next morning.  Now I get to deal with the excitement of a peeling nose and chin and an itchy scalp!  But even dealing with those, it was an amazing day, and a day I seriously needed!