Here is proof that we moved. 24 Feet of Budget truck goodness!
Hubby drove this big beast and did a good job! My Father-in-law backed the truck up into the driveway at the new house and avoided hitting the telephone pole as well. That would have been a great first impression to the neighborhood!
I will upload more photos later of the house and all the boxes we still have to unpack. It’s been kind of busy around here, and I have to find the box I packed my camera battery charger in…. hmmmmm
Our friends had their first baby! Their beautiful baby boy was welcomed to the world on October 22nd at 10:27am!
We got to see him on Saturday when they came home from the hospital! And let me tell you, this little guy is a lady-killer already! Such a cutie!
His hat was too big and so my hubby kept fixing it for him. Who knew the fatherly instincts would kick in so quickly! ;P
And the new momma let me hold her precious little bundle. How lucky am I ?!?
Yes, I did give the little peanut back to his momma BUT only after she finally got to eat some dinner and I had had my fill of blowing kisses and saying…”ohmigod.. awwwww his fingers are soo tiny!” I know he is only 7lbs 2oz BUT when you aren’t used to cradling a little snuggle-bug in your arm for any length of time your muscle let you know that they aren’t sure what the heck is going on!
We are so glad we got to visit with our friends to see the new addition to the family! Congrats and Good luck!! We will see you soon! Give the little guy a kiss for us!
Well more packing has been taking place. We have two work days, 1 “hurry-up and pack the rest of your stuff get ready for the closing” day, and then the closing day left!
Neo tried to help! (But really he was less helpful than he thought.)
Boxes have taken over the office!
We are almost done packing. I am avoiding packing up all of my clothes in the bedroom. I am not sure why I am avoiding it but I am…I think i will attempt it again today after work! It should be really easy packing it all, just throwing it into a few huge suitcases. The closet has a lot of stuff in it that I haven’t really looked in a a year or so. I think that means it is time to have a yard sale and/or donate it to Goodwill. I think we will have time to relax once we move into the house. Sure there will be things to do BUT at least we aren’t planning on any other major life milestones anytime soon!
The move day update will be soon! (Good for us the FIOS guy is installing the FIOS the day after we close so we will have TV and Internet again! yay!)
We are moving!
It has already begun BUT here is the real proof that one way or another we are moving out of this tiny apartment and into this adorable 3 bedroom / 2 bath house!
It has tons of room for us, a fantastic basement, huge kitchen, and room to grow. It has been kept in pristine condition by the previous owner and is in move-in-condition. We can make improvements and updates to our own taste in time but, nothing is needed right now.
We went “under-contract” on September 15th and our Closing date will be October 29th. We have almost everything in place and are just waiting to plop down our chunk of change at the closing table and get the keys to the new pad.
My mom was talking to my Aunt and my aunt said…”Oh yeah, the Halloween House.”….I hadn’t thought of it that way BUT i guess because our closing date and moving days are all around Halloween it might be referred to as “The Halloween House”. BUT, I don’t think it really is very Halloweenie. This house (on our yard sale adventures of the weekend) however really caught my attention and is definitely worth of the title Halloweenie.
But, the real horror show is how our apartment is looking as we pack for the move….
Wish us luck! And if you need some exercise, just want to show off your bulging muscles, or genereally like moving day please feel free to stop on by Friday October 30th for moving fun!
See ya soon – Jebba
September Baby Shower!
My friend is having a baby and “it” is due the end of October…I hate using “it” but they have decided to leave the sex of a baby a surprise until he or she comes into the world. No one in their family knows, none of their friends know, they don’t know, only the Ultrasound technicians and doctors know. I think it is totally unfair that they won’t tell me, I would keep the secret! I am very good at keeping secrets…. well I am okay with secrets BUT seriously, I wouldn’t tell this one!
Anyway enough about the injustice of not telling me the sex of the baby…;) I think my friends are totally Awesome and they deserve a really nice shower for the baby. The “Mommy-to-Be” has a GREAT family who is planning an awesome shower for the weekend and they have it all under control BUT, I decided to offer my help if they needed it. They took me up on the offer and I am so excited because I love to help! They asked me if I had any favor ideas. Oh Boy (or Girl!), did I have ideas!
We decided a honey jar with honey dipper would be super cute since my friend really likes Winnie-the-Pooh and it would add to the theme of the shower. In addition to adding to the Winnie-the-Pooh theme we can also use the phrase “Mommy-to-Bee”. Bee…honey…get it? get it? Also Super Cute!
I ordered the honey and honey dippers (from here).
Then went to the fabric store and got some “uni-sex” fabric (Green Gingham). I cut the fabric into 4″x4″ squares (yes that’s the TV in the background…what? I am multi-tasking!)
I already had the twine. I knew that with a little bit of crafty magic these favors would be really stellar! I added the labels that came with the honey jar order. They say “Take a Guess, Girl or Boy, either one will be a joy!” and then there is a pic of our guy Winnie-the-Pooh holding some flowers and the bottom line reads “Friend’s Baby Shower 9-20-09”. (name removed to protect the innocent..hehe)
I tied the green twine around matching the green gingham printed fabric to cover the lid and hold the dipper in place. I felt like the gingham and twine gave it a rustic country feel and added to the charm of the overall idea.
And let me tell you….they turned out great! They turned out so cute that even my sister said..”Jebba these are so cute!” So i said: “Yeah? You like them?” and she said: “Yeah super cute!”
Here is a finished favor all ready for his/her close up (au’natural, vintage, and sunshiney – Photoshop filters courtesy of Pioneer Woman)!
We have been pretty busy around here lately and as you can see from the picture it has us all pretty tired out. Three snoozers! Hubby, Trixie, and the new addition to the family Neo (a.k.a Nugget). I had to snap a picture from my (also) reclined position because I knew that when hubby woke up he wouldn’t believe that Trixie and Neo were actually napping together. They have been doing pretty well as far as getting adjusted to each other but every once in awhile Neo wants to play and Trixie tells him to “Buzz off”! Neo is a lover not a fighter so he keeps coming back for more…I am sure they will be fast friends in no time at all.
Ack, I’ve been spotted!!
Don’t worry a split second after Neo was roused by the digital camera noises he decided it was not interesting enough to keep him awake and fell fast asleep again.
Here are a couple shot of Neo when we brought him home from the local pound the first couple of days (pardon the poor quality – the iphone camera is stinky.) The last photo is a real treat, it’s Neo attacking a poor little stuffed pony. What did Pony ever do to him???
I always take a look at the patio in the morning just to see how beautiful the hibiscus flowers are, and to see the sweet pea flowers climbing up the strings the hubby hung for them. I like to check on the Jade tree as well and make sure he is doing well. And today I got a surprise…
ACK!
Yup, he was just hanging out on his web. His web happened to extend from the Hibiscus tree to the deck of our neighbors above us…and as I tried to go around the side of him to take a picture from the front, he scurried up his web into a hollow beam on the deck above.
Well since I had used half of the zucchini my boss gave me to make stuffed zucchini on Tuesday night, I still had half of a monster zucchini staring at me every time I opened the refrigerator door.
What to do? What to do? …. I googled it.
I found this recipe Kolokithopita (Greek Zucchini Pie) and I was sold!
So then I set about finding something to go with it. And now is where I should mention that my boss also gave me two cucumbers from his garden. So, in keep with the greek theme I found this recipe Chicken Gryos .
I made the Zucchini pie, the chicken gryos, and the tzatziki sauce! I was a SUPER STAR in the kitchen. I didn’t take pictures though. I was too busy actually cooking. It was quite time-consuming for a weeknight meal. BUT, it was really delicious and I am definitely eating those left-overs tonight. Maybe I will take some pictures of the leftovers just to show you how magnificent it all was.
My boss gave me a huge zucchini from his garden. It was about 20 inches long and maybe 3.5 inches wide at the widest end (you shouldn’t let them get this large but, I still worked with it). I decided to go ahead and make the best of the bountiful veggie gifted to me.
The first night I wanted to make stuffed zucchini but usually I stuff the zucchini long-ways, like boats, but this wasn’t going to work. So, I cut slices about 2 inches thick off of the wide end. Then I scooped out the middle sections firstly because the seeds and center flesh of a zucchini that large would not be tasty at all, and secondly because well these were going to be “stuffed” zucchini remember?
As you can see those 4 slices are in a 13″x9″ pan and they take up the whole pan. Did I mention the zucchini was huge?
Next, I filled the “holes” with a meatloaf mixture I quickly whipped up. (I just added some breadcrumbs, spices, spaghetti sauce, and a little parmesan cheese this time.)
Next I poured the spaghetti sauce all over the tops and into the bottom of the dish and around the zucchini slices. I usually like to keep most of the sauce on top of whatever I am using as a “stuffing” vessel because it will just end up in the bottom anyway. This way the sauce adds flavor to the “vessel” and the meat first and makes it way down naturally. I was using up a jar of sauce we had already used a quarter of and it worked out perfectly. I also sprinkled a little more parmesan cheese on top because well…. I love it!
I popped them in a 350 degree oven and waited for the hubby to come home. They were all cooked in about 30-40 min time. I wasn’t really keeping track but, I think thats how long it was. The stuffing/meat-loaf part wasn’t very thick so it cooked up pretty fast and the zucchini cooked right along with it. They pretty much looked the same as when i put them in as when I took them out…just with cooked meat of course, and more translucent zucchini. We were just so darn hungry that I forgot to take a picture. I brought one of the leftover slices for lunch today. It fit perfectly in a bowl and, I added….parmesan…big surprise there!
We also have a new sunflower plant, and sunflower blooms from the seeds Gary planted. They have taken a lot longer then the normal germination period maybe because the seeds were old. We are not sure. I will post pictures of them soon hopefully. Everything else is doing well except for the Rose Bush which was totally attacked by aphids! Those little buggers ate everything before I even had a chance to get some spray… sad to say it but, the rose bush looks really pathetic now.
Also, the Hibiscus tree is doing very well and we had two beautiful blooms. They didn’t last very long and I am not sure if that is typical. We enjoyed them while they lasted. Here is a pic of the bloom close to the base of the tree.
