Getting a Head Start

Summer is quickly approaching and I am soooo glad.  I know winter in Houston is not as bad as the rest of the country but I do prefer the humid hot weather of summer.  Typically, March is the best month to get outdoor projects completed.  By the time May hits days get muggy.

We decided to get a head start on 1 project because it is not an overnight project and hopefully it will be completed by March.

Our project?   A patio cover.

Until now we had a "temporary" cover.  A couple of years ago we bought a wrought iron cover with a canvas top.  We figured it would last about 2 years before the canvas rotted and we were right.  The UV finally took it's toll and it started to shred in the wind.

We ordered lumber from Lowe's which was delivered and placed on the drive-way.  Craig and Josh had to hand carry it all to the back yard which was a very daunting task.  They had to move 8-16 ft. cedar beams, 4-12 ft. cedar beams, 10-16 ft, 2x8's, 6 sq. of shingles, 10-4x8 pieces of plywood.   It was a lot of heavy lifting.

All construction has to meet hurricane codes, so before construction could start 4-3ft piers had to be dug so anchors could be placed in concrete.  

Last weekend, Craig was able to recruit several men he works with to help raise and place the corner posts.  They seemed to all have a good time and stayed around long after the posts were placed.  I think it was because they all got to use power tools and hammers.  (it's a man thing...Tool Time)

Yesterday, Craig and I placed 2 cross beams and were able to remove the cross supports so the cover is starting to take shape.

Don't expect updates any time soon but I will update as construction progesses.

What's for Dinner?

Last night I was looking for something a little different for dinner and came across this recipe. 

It was a hit! 

Slightly Fancy-Pants King Ranch Chicken Casserole

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds boneless/skinless chicken

6 teaspoons lime juice

1/4 cup olive oil

3 cloves minced garlic

4 Tablespoons butter

1/2 onion, diced

1 red or green bell pepper, diced

1 poblano pepper, diced

1 10oz. can Ro-tel

4 teaspoons Ancho chili pepper (or chili powder)

1 teaspoon cumin

1 cup chicken broth

2 Tablespoons flour

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/2 cup Half and Half

1/3 cup sour cream

1/2 cup cilantro, chopped

3 cups grated cheddar jack cheese

10 corn tortillas

Other:

1 skillet

1 large saucepan

11x7 or 11x9 baking dish

1. Chop/dice onion, bell pepper, garlic and poblano pepper.  Set aside
2. Place chicken is shallow pan. Season with 4 teaspoons lime juice and 2 teaspoons Ancho chili pepper.
3. In skillet- heat Olive oil to medium heat.  Cook chicken for approx. 20 minutes. (10 minutes each side).  When chicken is done, shred chicken with 2 forks and set aside.  This can be done after chicken cools a bit.
4. Preheat over to 350.
5. In large saucepan-melt butter on medium heat.  Add onions, bell pepper and poblano pepper.  Cook 10 minutes.
6. Add-garlic, flour, cumin, cayenne pepper and 2 teaspoons Ancho chili pepper.  Cook 1 minute.
7. Add-chicken broth.  Cook on low a few minutes until mixture thickens. 
8. Stir in-Half and half and Ro-tel.
9. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occationally.
10. After 15 minutes, Remove cover
11. Add-sour cream, 2 teaspoons lime juice and 1/4 cup cilantro. 
12. Remove from heat.
13. In 11x7 baking dish-ladle 1/2 cup of sauce to cover bottom of dish.
14. Make a layer of 1/2 of the tortillas on top of the sauce.  Cover entire dish.  Tear tortillas if necessary.
15. Place 1/2 of shredded chicken and 1/2 of the sauce, 1 1/2 cups of cheese and half of remaining cilantro on the tortillas.
16. Repeat the layer process to make 2 layers making sure the cheese is on top.
17. Cook uncovered for 30 minutes or until brown and bubbling.

Top each serving with sour cream and cilantro if desired.

Serves 6-10, depending on size of portion served.

Not Sure What to Call This Room "Makeover"

According to the house plans this is to be the dining room; however, if you know us you know we are not dining room type people so we have used it for:

a sitting room,



before....a very sad and forgotten room



then a room for the Christmas tree,

but the reality was we couldn't decide on it's best use. And since the room never had a definate purpose, I spent little no time trying to decorate. It was a "sad" room.


Finally it was decided it would become a music room, of sorts.  Craig and I are neither one master musicians but we do like the idea of being able to play something.

To start things off the overstuffed chairs were too massive for the room so we moved them to the master bedroom where they work perfectly.  For seating we used the love seat from our old living room suit and placed it on the diagonal. 



there is no white question mark on the wall...it is a reflection off the flash



The piano was moved to the "short" wall so the keyboard, guitar and amplifyer could be placed along the "long" wall.

piano on short wall displaying family photos

long wall

Last was the wall decorations.  Most of the things I already had.  I did purchase 2 frames and the flower print from Garden Ridge, all on clearance.  Grand total for the room was around $35.

I think it turned out pretty good. There are still a few small items needed to fill in the blank spots but for the most part the room if finished...or at least finished enough.



 

Home Office Makeover

Our home office is a room I dislike emmencely.  Reason being it is the first room you see when you enter our home and it was just a little too "officey" for my liking.  Typically the room is a little cluttered but acceptable. This past year the office became increasingly unruly because I was working on an estate and storage became a BIG problem.

 

 

We aquired the furniture from a past employer who was combining 2 divisions and had too much funiture after their move.  The employer told employees to take what they wanted and the rest would be disposed of.  We managed to get an desk/workstation, a secretary arm for the desk and 2 chairs. The furniture was fine at our former house because the office was upstairs out of view but now with it in full view a change was needed.

First I eliminate the hutch over the desk.  This was an easy fix; remove 4 screws and done.  Next I reversed the position of the desk and secretary arm.  With the desk and secretary arm reversed I don't have to turn around to see the front door or hallway.  It is now a sideways glance.

For added storage, I cleaned out the horizonal file cabinet.  Several days were spent reviewing everything in the file and making 3 piles; 1 for shredding, 1 for trash and 1 for storage.  Old bank statements and out of date insurance policies were shredded, owners manuals to appliances and lawnmowers we don't own anymore were trashed and miscellanious things needing to be kept but not requiring routine accessability were boxed for storage.  The file can now be used as 2 large storage drawers.

Finishing touches for the room include 2 baskets for holding printer paper, a clock, a mirror, 2 plaques and several empty frames.  Everything was purchased at Hobby Lobby at 1/2 price or less except for the empty frames which I already had.

Price of makeover: 

2 baskets 1@ 5.99

                 1@ 4.99

"L" plaque      4.99

lattice plaque 5.49

mirror              9.99

clock              12.49

spray paint      4.99 

Total           $ 49.43

I'm happy to say I'm pleased with the result.







I've now finished with project #1 on my New Year's to-do list.  I did what I promised myself and didn't start another project until this one was total finished.  There is a feeling of gratification in knowing I can now move on to another project and not have this one to come back to.   

Anyone Hungry?

Temperatures in the area have dipped to daytime highs in the 40's and nighttime lows near freezing.  Needless to say it is a little chilly and because of the cold we have some visitors looking for a place to keep warm.

Thanks to our neighbors who enjoy feeding birds, dove are in abundance.  Problem is the dove eat next door but like our accommodations for there rest.

These fat dove have taken refuge by our pool.  At times there are more than a dozen huddled together keeping warm. They fluff their feathers for added warmth and sit very peacefully for long periods of time.  

Just seeing them gives a sense of peaceful serenity.

However, they might look better on a plate with homemade biscuits and gravy.  Anyone hungry?

Laundry Room Makeover

DISCLAIMER:  I know my last post I said my first thing on my "to do" list was to organize the office.  Well,plans changed. 

Craig decided he/we needed to makeover the laundry room and when he decides to do a project I don't want to stop him or we might never get back to it again.
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Laundry rooms aren't exciting.  They are a necessary "evil" of a home. 

Our laundry room was a functional room with the one exception of storage.  It had one lonely shelf above the washer and dryer with a clothes bar attached.  The problem with the clothes bar was it was not high enough above the appliances to hang anything other than empty hangers.  The shelf was a "catch all" of clutter.

Over the weekend Craig decided the laundry room needed a makeover.  He wanted to add cabinets.

Since all the cabinets in our home are custom built on-site cabinets we can't match them so we needed to find a pre-made cabinet that would coordinate with the cabinetry in the rest of the house.  The cabinets didn't need to be an exact match since they aren't in a room with existing cabinets. 

Off to Lowes we go.  We decided on 36" Light Saddle wall cabinets.

First the useless shelf and clothes bar were removed and a leveler wood piece was hung so the cabinets could be stablized for hanging and would all be level in the end result.

Attaching the cabinets went surprisingly fast.

With the cabinets hung all that remained was to reattached the doors and touch up the paint. 

Voila'...the result. 



I made a window topper and added a Laundry sign to give the room a little personality.

Last but not least, I needed something I could use to hang clothes hangers of fresh laundry or drip dry items from.  I found a wrought iron wall plaque with 3 hooks at Hobby Lobby which works perfectly.  Remember I said I am breaking the habit of leaving clothes in a basket.

I am on the lookout for a decorative dirty clothes basket to put at the far end of the room but for now the room is finished. 

A New Year and To Do's

I can't believe another year has past.  2010 was a great year.  Many great things happened in 2010; birth of out beloved Granddaughter Chloe, I turned 50, Craig and I celebrated our 30th wedding anniversay and life in general is good.

Tradition for a new year is to make resolutions but I'm like most people and break my resolutions after a couple of weeks.  This year I will make no resolutions however I will try to get things done I want/need to do and break some bad lifelong habits...like putting clean laundry into a basket rather than folding or hanging and putting it away immediately.

I have a very bad habit of starting a project and before it gets completed I start another project so ultimately neither get completely done.  This year I will try to start and complete a project before starting the next. 

My to do's for 2010 will be:

1.  Organize the office.  Our office is the first room you see when you come into our home.  It is always cluttered and in disarray.  Some of the problem is our file cabinet.  It is full and over-stuffed.  Most of the problem comes from years of old tax files that you have to keep "just in case".  I plan on scanning all our past year tax returns onto a zip drive which will free up a ton of space in the file.  We also have old insurance policies.  When we get the new one we file it in front of the old one.  Don't know why we don't throw the old one out immediately.  I guess procrastination is the name of the game.

2.  Update photo albums.   This is a project I have started several times with no success.  I want to divide the photos to 3 different albums; 1 for Kim, 1 for Josh and 1 for me.   This is a project that will take a while plus it makes a big mess before the end result (which is why I haven't ever finished it before...I get tired of the clutter). 

3.  Finish decorating the house.  We have lived in our house for over 2 years and I have never completely decorated the house.   There is something about having bare walls that just makes me sad.   Bare walls are cold and uninviting.  I like my home to feel warm and homey. 

4.  Clean out and organize the closets.  This is a biggie.  When we moved in I just put boxes on the shelves in the closets.  I'm not even sure what are in the boxes.  At the time I just needed them out of the way and never got back to them.  Who knows I might find some good treasures in them.  I'm hoping for $1,000,000. 

5.  Continue to eat healthier and exercise.  Since moving the Houston I became very seditary and as a result put on a considerable amount of weight.  Because of the excess weight I don't sleep good, my feet and knees hurt and I just feel sluggish in general.   Last spring Craig and I decided to change our dietary lifestyle.  We both know a "diet" doesn't work for us so we just are eating smarter.  Now if we go out to dinner we will get an appetizer and split an entree'.  At home we are eating more fruit and having a smaller evening meal with fish or chicken, salad and rice or noodles.  As a result I was able to lose 14 lbs.  However with the holidays, as usual, I gained 4 of those back; not so much from overeating but from inactivity.  I didn't get on my elipical once.

There are many more things I could add to my list and if...when I get these accomplished I will add more to my list.

Wishing everyone a very Happy and Healthy 2011