A New Look...

Remember back in March when I decided that our back door should really match the rest of the doors/shutters at the MP?  I ran to HD on a whim and bought black exterior paint and threw up a first coat on a pretty afternoon.  After the first coat, it pretty much looked like this:

And it stayed that way for a couple of months.  To be fair, it cooled off...and then got really hot...and I got really busy...and really, we all know I don't have the longest attention span when it comes to projects around the MP.  At all.

Well, last week I came up with an awesome new project (for our bedroom...which is its own graveyard of not quite finished projects).  In a moment of restraint, I decided it might please J if I would finish a project before starting a new one.  So Friday afternoon I pulled out the tape so I could do some detail work on the door, as well as give it a second coat.

Rather than tape off the glass, I just painted right onto it.  After everything was nice and dry, I went out Saturday morning with a razor blade to slice a clean line at the edge of the window and scrape everything clean.  It was actually useful because the previous owners left some paint behind on the inside of the glass when they painted the doors to sell the house.  It's nice to know that the glass is actually clean on both sides now.

So previously, the doors were white, and the trim around the doors was green, which matched the back of the house.  When we painted the back of the house off-white a few years ago, I decided not to paint the trim around the door (not just trim, it's a funky four inch inset area).  I didn't know what color the doors would be changed to, but I knew that I wanted them to match the trim/inset so that it would all just blend together.  I really like the way it all turned out.

Ignore the mess on the deck that's reflected in the door.  That's just a preview of tomorrow's blog post!


Have a great week!

Saturday smells like...Elbow grease...and bananas

J and I are enjoying one of those incredibly rare weekends when nothing is on our calendar.  Since J's knee prevents my typical response to this kind of weekend (let's go adventuring!!), we decided to stay home and see what trouble we could get into around the house.
Considering that it is just now mid-afternoon (and that we slept until late morning), we've found a lot to get into!  I finished off the back door project (the one I started back in March), and J did the necessary 'Spring start-up' work to get our container gardens ready for the summer growing season.  J made us banana smoothies for breakfast (brunch? lunch?  It was after 12:30 when we had them...and anyway, Zeppelin had most of J's after he set it down on the deck for a minute.), and I started laundry (currently washing the fourth load of, I'm just guessing here, seven to be done).  We found the smoothie recipe in my new WW Fruits and Veggies cookbook.  Incredibly easy, I've put the recipe at the bottom of this post.  I gave J a much-needed haircut, and he's currently in the kitchen working on stock for something.
Still to do today?  Finish the laundry before it rains (and puts a stop to laundry-doing so the sump pump can do its job) and grocery shopping.  I am absolutely delighted at much we've gotten done today!

Mine is on the left, J's on the right.  Both glasses were filled to the brim with one serving.

Banana Smoothie--We started with the WW recipe, but y'all know J tweaked it a bit!
Peel & slice a banana; wrap in plastic wrap freeze 30 minutes
Put in blender (J used our food processor) with 1/2 cup fat free milk (J used 2%, which we had on hand), 2 ice cubes (or three...), and a few drops vanilla extract (J used our Nielsen-Massey Madagascar Bourbon Pure Vanilla Extract from Williams-Sonoma--yum!!)  (also, J added a pinch of sea salt)
WW suggested sprinkling with unsweetened cocoa powder, but we don't have any of that on hand, so I drank mine plain.  It tasted like a great banana milkshake.  J added a dollop of peanut butter, a drizzle of honey, and a little nutmeg to his, and it tasted like a peanut butter milkshake.
As printed in the book, this recipe has 4 WW PointsPlus.  The way J made mine added up to 5 WW PointsPlus.  Since I didn't watch him make his smoothie, I'm hesitant to estimate the points in his version, but I'm sure it added at least two or three points to my total.

Week in Review

I completely fell back off the blogging wagon this week, but I had great intentions (and even thought about what I could write) every day!  Since I'd already been thinking about it, I decided to give you a full week in review.  To make it fun (and because posts with pictures are prettier), I'm going to tie every day back to this picture:

This is a picture of B, her mom, Baby E, Superman and Superkid

Melton Point Monday:  What have we been up to?  Well, St. R's 50th anniversary absolutely commanded our time in the last week.  Long days at work led up to the actual weekend, which was actually three events--Race the Rector (see pic), a Derby Party, and the 50th anniversary church service (complete with Dixieland Jazz band!) followed by Dinner on the Grounds.  Now, I was intimately involved in Race the Rector planning, but moderately involved in the other events.  J, as a vestry member and by extension of my role in all of it, got to be involved in most of these events, too.

Tuesday's Talents:  Look back at the picture above.  See what they all have in common?  Yep, the entire family received medals in their age groups.  So they all ran or walked (well, Baby E rode on B's back) three miles.  It's a pretty awesome family achievement, but I think the 'talent' part of this picture is Superkid.  He's six (remember when I made the cake for his party?), and he beat the rector!  The race was named Race the Rector, and everyone who beat the rector got a commemorative button.  While I fully expected plenty of serious runners to earn this designation, I didn't know if a small child could run the whole race, much less do so at a faster clip than Fr. J.  The Superkid definitely has a talent for this running thing.

Wordless Wednesday:  Well, this whole post is incredibly wordy, but you've got the picture above and I'll keep this part of the wrap-up brief!

Thankful Thursday:  When we woke up the morning of Race the Rector, it was raining.  Not just raining, mind you, buckets of water were falling from the sky, together with thunder and lightening. I was bummed.  It is so hard to drive around placing race signs while in your heart you know the weather is going to keep people from coming out.  B, in her awesomeness, had faith that the weather would break and brought her family (even her mom!) out to run.  She was right, thank goodness, and the streets were dry by race-time.  But even if they hadn't been, I am just so thankful to this family for not seeing the rain and rolling over and going back to sleep!  I'm thankful this week, too, for J who really gave so much of himself to help with the race (even walking the course in the rear of the pack to be sure everything went smoothly on that end with a bum knee).  Finally, not related to the race, but I'm thankful for the families at St. R who have just opened up their lives to me.  Last night I got to hang out at a Little League game with one family and tonight I'll be cheering on another youth at the High School Regional Track Meet.  I'm so thankful for this wonderful extended family that I've been given at St. R.

Fitness Friday:  Not my fitness (though I did walk a lot of miles in preparation for Race the Rector), but B's family above definitely deserves some recognition.  Superman is an elementary school PE teacher and obviously takes fitness seriously, but I just think it's so awesome that the whole family values fitness (especially B, who gets me out every Monday morning for a great walk!!).  With regard to our physical fitness, I'm still thisclose to my 25lb charm.  I'm not exercising nearly as much as I was, and I know this has something to do with stalling on the weight loss front.  J has hit a speed-bump in his fitness quest and we expect he'll be getting an MRI on his knee next week to determine how long he'll be sidelined.  We'll keep you posted!

Have a great weekend!

Walk this way

I'm in the midst of race-planning this week, which means I'm a bit stressed.  The best thing about this race has been how 'local' it is--unlike the Thin Mint Sprint, where I had to drive twenty minutes to get to the course, I've been able to walk the Race the Rector course frequently, both for recreation and for work.  This week, I spent two mornings walking the course to notify the neighbors about the race (we don't want anyone backing out of their driveway into a runner or walker!).  It's funny how two miles can turn into five (which is what I walked both Tuesday and Wednesday to cover the whole course) when you're walking up each driveway or sidewalk to the door and back (and again...and again...and again).  There are about 275 houses on our course, and I've now seen them all.  Together with my weekly Monday 4.5 and the 1.25 J and I got in Sunday afternoon, I've walked more than 15 miles this week.  Crazy.

So to commemorate the many miles walked this week, I decided to share a picture I snapped of my shadow while walking on the beach last month. Happy walking!

This and That

First off, I added a 'finished' burger picture to Saturday's post, so be sure and check it out.  Yes, it did taste every bit as good as it looks!

Second, remember waaaaay back in August when I wrote this post about how to make a cupcake topiary?  And then never mentioned it again?  Well, we're still working on the topiaries, and some are even starting to take shape!

Once we've got more finished I promise to take the time to write out a proper tutorial.  Until then, I'll leave you with a picture of the cupcake bakery in our living room.

That's 18 dozen cupcakes, about enough for 3.5 topiaries.  We're making 100, so that gives you an idea of just how many of these faux cupcakes we've made!

Habit-forming

We've been in a period of changing our habits around the MP lately.  Thanks to WW, I'm eating less and J is back on the Atkins wagon so he's not been eating much in the way of carbs.  Thanks to Lent, I am walking a lot more, though I don't know that I'd call it a habit.  Walking on Monday mornings with B has become a habit over the last couple of months that I'm thrilled to stick to.  J is trying to get into an exercise habit, too, and woke up this morning to take Zep for a run.  Let me tell you, our eleven-year-old dog is exhausted.  After 2.5 miles of running and walking with J, then 4.5 miles walking with B and me, I don't think he'll move for the rest of the day.

What habits are you forming?

Saturday Smells Like...omelets and hamburgers

J's mom is in town this weekend, which makes it a perfect time for me to hassle him about cooking for us--both a way to show off his skills for his mom and for me to get a great Saturday Smells post!




We started the morning with omelets.  I wanted a WW friendly omelet, so mine was one egg, one slice of maple bacon and 1/4 cup shredded cheese with some green onions for color.  While I waited for my omelet, I munched on an apple that he sliced thin for me (and garnished with sea salt--yum!!). J made a huge 2 egg omelet with grilled chicken, maple bacon, toasted garlic and salsa on top for himself.  He made something in between for his mom (2 eggs, maple bacon and cheese).





As soon as we finished cleaning up the breakfast dishes, J started in on lunch.  It's been a while since he made us hamburgers out of fresh ground beef, but we had a couple pieces of manager's special beef that needed to be used.  The chuck steak and filet had been marinated in olive oil, rice wine vinegar, and soy sauce with red pepper flakes, garlic, S&P.  J cubed both pieces of meat, trimming as he went, and ground them together with butter.  Y'all.  I cannot begin to describe what fresh ground beef tastes like.  It's amazing.  And if you like your hamburgers medium-rare, like I do, you get to taste every bit of that freshness while you eat your burger.  After grinding the meat, J added homemade breadcrumbs, Worcestershire sauce,  diced bacon, liquid smoke, minced onion, one whole egg and another egg yolk, S&P and blended together with his hands.  The nice thing about the way our kitchen is set up is that his mom and I can hang out at the kitchen table and watch him like our own personal cooking show.  He's been adding great commentary for us this morning!


I'll post pics of the finished burgers later.  Happy Eating this weekend!