Our Little Bird Sings

Little Bird is now a pre-schooler in the 3 year old class.  This Christmas was her first ever pageant, and of course Himself and I were there.  In fact, we got there WAY early to insure we would have good seats for the rest of the family as they arrived.  Good thing we were early as several others had the same idea.

 

 

The class marched in and Little Bird gave an on stage shout-out to Little Hoss.

 

 

Her family took up the whole pew (which is why we were there holding seats!).  There’s Sis (her mama) holding Little Hoss, then her great grandmother L (Big J’s grandma) and then her Grandma and Grandpa (my parents).  Himself and I sat next to Dad.  Little Bird’s dad couldn’t get off work to be there. 

 

 

Soon the whole group was lined up as they should be and the singing began.

 

 

Don’t you love the kiddie songs with all their hand and arm movements?  (Sorry for the blur.  Lights were low and we were far enough back that flash wouldn’t have helped…)

 

 

Sometimes the program moved a little slow… especially when you’re waiting for your first big solo!

 

 

It’s my turn now! 

 

 

And a star is born!

 

 

After the program we all headed down for refreshments while Little Bird basked in her success.  It was a lovely morning.  We’re looking forward to more in the future!

 

Fabulous 50th - At The Halfway Point

Wow… it’s been 6 months.  How the time is flying! 

 

Time… now there’s an old nemesis.  “Never enough time” to get everything done on my list.  I thought it was me.  If only I could get caught up…  But I’ve come to realize that there is never enough time when you combine perfectionism with procrastination.   It’s a recipe for misery. 

 

 

Over these last six months I’ve learned to put away the ‘tyranny of the urgent’ by getting things done before the last minute (tho I’m still working on that one!  LOL) and by working towards “TANE” in my house keeping.

What is TANE?

Tidy And Non-Embarrassing!

I don’t live in a magazine spread.  You know… I’ve read blogs were magazines have come in to photograph the bloggers home.  The photo shoot people erase all signs that someone actually lives there in the search for “perfection”. 

What an “Aha” moment!  Perfection is lifeless.  A ‘perfect home’ is a house that doesn’t look lived in.  There are no children’s drawings on the fridge.  No doggie nose smudges on the window.  No laundry in a hamper.  No crumbs from a yummy dessert on the counter. 

Perfect.  Sterile.  Lonely.

What a difference it has made in my stress level to embrace TANE.  My house is my HOME.  And I like it this way. 

 

 

I mentioned last time that I was truly realizing the blessing my family is.  This took me down the path to evaluating those relationships that are NOT family.  Acquaintances… pals … friends…   I have come to realize that far too many are not a blessings in my life.  That got me to thinking about those we socialize with.  You know, it takes time to get a house cleaned up “company ready” and it takes a decent chunk of change to put together a good meal.   Then there is the time spent with the visit.  All in all, it is truly an investment into a part of a person’s life. 

So why are we spending an evening looking at the top of people’s heads and listening to infrequent mumbles?  Seriously, we had a couple out and over a 2 hour visit their phones rang/chimed/beeped in excess of 30 times!  What kind of visit is that?  Whether we were being the hosts or being the company – if there is not going to be visiting and eye contact, I have a whole lot of other things I can do elsewhere!

So we have started cultivating new friendships.  We have been out several times with these new people and have never looked at the top of someone’s head.  We talked and laughed and shared.  It is exciting. 

My creativity projects continue and I’m having a blast trying out all sorts of methods... paper art, collage, assemblage, painting & drawing, and so on.  It is fun, frustrating, exhilarating, and even sometimes depressing.  But what surprises me is how it has affected other areas of my life.  The more I ‘create’, the more I find myself thinking clearer, sharper, faster.  I feel less stressed.  It’s really pretty cool.

My culinary endeavors are coming along well enough.  I’m trying a new recipe pretty much weekly and I’m working on increasing that to three times a week. 

A large part of my creative has been working towards setting up my studio downstairs.  I am so excited at how quickly it is coming together.  By the middle of next month I expect to have it functionally finished – with the walls painted too.  Then I will be able to work on refinishing the furniture I have in there (new builds I put in will be completely done when installed). 

I haven’t taken many classes these six months.  Opportunity (classes not being held) and time (being gone) have interrupted that.  I’m planning on working harder to find some I want to take part in.

All in all, I’m quite happy with my halfway point of my Fabulous 50^th.  There are a few things I have to work on in this last half… but it’s been good.

Hot Water for Less?

As we work on making over my studio (chick cave) certain projects have happened as part of the whole domino effect of the massive culling and organizing.  One of those projects has been that the garage has gotten a whole lot less cluttered as furniture makes its way back into the studio. 

 

 

As we rearranged some shelves we had the unpleasant discovery of water leaking around our old hot water heater.  Ugh.  Thankful that it is only leaking and had not burst (we’ve been thru that before… NOT fun… ) we headed up to Lowes to check out the water heaters.

 

We’d pretty much decided we were going to get an 80 gallon tank… until we saw they were almost double the cost of a 50 gallon tank.  So much for that.

 

 

So we picked out an “Energy Smart” 50 gallon heater.  I couldn’t believe that almost $42 a month was considered good!  Wow… 

 

Then Himself spotted this label…

 

 

Only $16-ish a month??  Now it had my attention. 

 

It was a GE “GeoSpring Hybrid Electric Heat Pump Water Heater”.  But the $1200 price tag nearly caused me sit down right there with a good old-fashion case of the vapors.  Even tho it gave a savings of almost a third of the ‘energy saver’… it cost a lot more!   Ouch!

 

We put off buying it right then so we could talk about the pros and cons of it.  In the end, we decided that it was a long term investment and in two and a half years it should pay for the difference. 

 

So back we went to Lowes to make our purchase.  And we were thrilled to find out that in those few days it went on sale for $200 less… then add to that the 10% military discount Lowes gives every day… we were now looking at a $900 water heater that should pay for itself in a year and a half. 

 

 

We brought it home and it was installed yesterday morning.  Even tho it looks different, it installed like any electric hot water heater.  The red portion is the heat pump and the red and green tubes on the right are for condensation from the heat pump unit.  Kind of like a drip pan area on a refrigerator. 

 

 

It’s very interesting how it works.  It uses heat in the air around it as part of the heating of the water.  The energy rating was for the “hybrid” setting but it you have it on “heat pump” you’ll have even better savings.  The disadvantage to the heat pump setting is that it takes a bit longer to recharge.  Since there is just the two of us in our home, that shouldn’t be a problem.

 

I’m very interested in seeing how well it works.  There should be a substantial change immediately in our electric bill.  I’ll write up a review in a few months about how it’s working for us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.cornerstoneconfessions.com/

 

 

 

http://www.abowlfulloflemons.net/

 

 

 

 

http://www.craftberrybush.com/

 

Kitchen Black Hole... Be Gone!

I’ve been putting off decluttering under the kitchen sink for ages.  But with some nice weather so I could air out the house, I decided it was time to get this chore done!

 

 

Himself cleaned it out for me…getting all the stuff out and giving it a good vacuuming.  (He was so quick at helping me that I didn’t get a ‘before’ shot.  But this one should give you an idea of what a ‘black hole’ it was under there!)

 

 

After emptying out the space, I painted it with bright white Kilz.  100% better already.  The reflected light makes it easier to see in there.

 

 

Then using an idea from Pinterest, we lined the bottom with self-stick vinyl tiles.  This will make clean-ups so much quicker.

 

 

Last thing to do was to decide what was going to go back.  Cleaning supplies were put in this caddy and the large items were put on the other side. 

It is now so much brighter and easier to clean.  I love it!  I don’t know why we didn’t do it soon.  In fact, we are doing the same thing under our bathroom vanity. 

 

 

 

 

http://organizeyourstuffnow.com/wordpress/

 

 

 

 

http://www.craftyscrappyhappy.net/

 

 

 

The “Sealed Pot Challenge”

Every year at Christmas time we find ourselves wishing we had more slush funds available to give away. 

 

Every year… and we never seem to do anything about it.  Kind of Scroogey, isn’t it?

 

Then I read a blog post where the writer was talking about opening her ‘sealed pot’ that she had started last year as part of a challenge on another blog.  Curious, I visited the blog (it’s from England) and thought it was the perfect solution to my Scrooge affliction. 

 

Here’s what the blogger has to say about her annual challenge:

 

WHAT'S IT ABOUT????

Well, little bits and bobs of money are squirrelled away in an assortment of SEALED POTS and the result is....A NICE CHUNK OF MONEY JUST IN TIME FOR CHRISTMAS, OR TO PUT TOWARDS HOLIDAYS... OR A TREAT, OR LOTS OF FUN when we open them in DEC 2013!

Following the CHALLENGE couldn't be easier as you simply get a pot (mine is an old gravy tub but others have posher types), make a hole for cash (if not provided), make sure it's sealed so you can't open it, chuck your spare cash in it and then... WE WILL OPEN THEM TOGETHER! It's not a competition, we just will support each other here to keep going with ANOTHER CRAZY SCHEME TO SAVE MONEY!"

 

http://sftandthe101challenge.blogspot.com/  

 

 One of the fun things about the challenge is looking for ‘found’ money.  Coins dug out of the couch or found on the ground.  Unexpected refunds or discounts.  Saving instead of spending. 

So I’ve been digging around looking for just the right container to make into my ‘sealed pot’.  Too little (hopefully!), too big, too ugly, too, too, too.  SIGH!

 

 

Then I found this jar as I was working on my studio!  Perfect!

 

 

I had a bunch of change I’d saved… some even rolled… that I dropped in.

 

 

Looking good!  My little sealed pot is starting out with $153.80!

And now I will start finding and saving in earnest.  My one rule is I’m not going to add pennies to the jar.  They take up too much space.  Those I will save in a separate bowl to be rolled and cashed in for some ‘Susan B’s’ that will be added to the jar.

It’s going to be fun seeing how much is in the jar the first week of December.

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.cornerstoneconfessions.com/

 

 

 

 

 

http://mylifesatreasure.blogspot.com/

 

Grilled Balsamic-Garlic Crusted Pork Tenderloin (Recipe)

For supper last night I tried this new recipe I found on Pinterest, linking back to http://kitchenconfidante.com/if-you-cant-stand-the-heat-part-ii    

 

The blogger said that if you didn’t marinate overnight it would be fine.  So I didn’t.  And it was good… but next time I will definitely do an overnight marinate on it.  

 

My other change-up was that I used a pork loin roast instead of tenderloin.  It came out great.

 

 

Grilled Balsamic-Garlic Crusted Pork Tenderloin

 

Yield: Serves 6.

 

Ingredients:

 

4-5 garlic cloves, finely minced or crushed

 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

2 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 pork tenderloins (about 1¼ pounds each)

2 tablespoons canola oil (if preparing in oven)

 

Directions:

Stir together garlic, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, and olive oil in a small bowl. Rub the paste all over pork. If you like or have the time, marinate overnight. If not, no worries, it will still be great!

 

Grill preparation:

Sear the tenderloins on all sides, and then grill for about 20-30 minutes, rotating every 10 minutes, until the internal temperature is 160 degrees. Try to let it rest before slicing.

 

Oven preparation:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

 

Heat canola oil in a large, heavy sauté pan over medium-high heat. Workings in batches if necessary, add pork, and brown all over, about 4 minutes.

 

Transfer pan to oven. Roast pork, turning occasionally, until the internal temperature is 160 degrees, about 20 minutes. Transfer pork to a cutting board, and try to let it rest 10 minutes before slicing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://33shadesofgreen.blogspot.com/

"Road Junk" (Guest Blog by Himself)

Hey...

Notice the title...   My words while driving along 60 miles an hour and trying to get home without stopping…

Teri's next words were, "Not junk, but FLOTSAM!"

('Flotsam' is an acronym for 'finding-lots-of-trash-sitting-along-[road] median.)  (I just made that up, but it IS.  I just know it...)

We were driving home from Christmas visiting two days ago when Teri, who is generally quite alert, became MORE alert all of a sudden.  Sat straight up in her seat.    Uh oh...    Why?  Because she 'spotted something' alongside the road.   How, I don't know, because it flashed by so fast.   (I could be driving 100 miles per hour and she still can spot something with a look of, "Hmmm...")

She then turns to me...

I might as well give up at that point because when the One-You-Love looks at you 'that way' she is wanting an affirmative 'yes' to whatever request she is about to make.  (Every married guy knows what look I'm talking about.)  To be fair, Teri is reasonable.  If we go to the effort of turning around and finding our way back to it, if it truly isn't salvageable, we leave it and drive on.

So back we go...

Turns out it was a wooden step-stool used by service trucks.  From the looks of it, it wasn't from a 'professional' service truck because those type of guys 'just order another' when something they use starts to show a little wear-and-tear.   No, this looked like the kind used by 'Ole-Joe-down-the-road' who had been using this comfortable looking stepstool for years.  Something he wouldn't want to part with.

(He should have tied it down better...) 

After we stopped and Teri was looking it over, I knew that I was sunk when I heard one word come out of her mouth – “Sweet...”   To Old Joe down the road somewhere it was now a goner.  To us?  Well, I'm glad Old Joe didn't hear some of her final words about it as we continued down the road.   After going on about it a bit I finally tuned her out when I heard the words...

            "...and I will paint it a cute color, and....."

I let my mind drift elsewhere.

 

~ Himself ~

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://linda-coastalcharm.blogspot.com/

 

 

 

http://www.craftberrybush.com/

 

 

 

http://mylifesatreasure.blogspot.com/