A few pics from Christmas

Here are a few highlights from our Christmas morning(ish):

I got a pair of boots for snow and rain. I've been wearing them since I opened them since the weather is so snowy here right now. I am also enjoying a cup of my Zen tea my mom & dad got me. Tasty! When Waymond took this picture he said it reminded him of some old time photo. I didn't dress up to open our Christmas gifts!



















Here's Waymond with his three jars of BBQ sauce from My Place BBQ in Muskogee, OK! It's the best sauce in the entire nation. He's even considered getting a slab of ribs from our favorite BBQ place in Tacoma and ordering them without sauce so he can use his My Place sauce. Creative!



















Waymond also got an OKC Thunder sweatshirt. We're not sure how the citizens of Seattle will feel this soon after loosing the Sonics to OKC, but I couldn't resist getting him one.



















We went to some friends house for a late lunch on Christmas. Here are a few friends we dined with. All the food was yummy, but Waymond was sad this morning because he didn't have leftovers.

Merry, merry Christmas

I made some Carmel Rolls on Christmas morning(ish), we slept in. They were very tasty! Here they are:

Stacy's Grandma's Helter Skelter Carmel Rolls

Thaw 2 loaves of frozen bread just enough so it pulls in pieces (I usually let it thaw in the fridge all night and then make them in the morning, but you have to let them rise or you can thaw them in the fridge all the day before, make them in the evening and let them rise in the fridge over night and bake them first thing in the morning.)

Melt 1/2 Cup butter
add 1 Cup brown sugar
2 Tbsps milk
1/2 tsp. cinnamon (I've used more)
2 small boxes (3 oz) vanilla pudding mix - cook & serve - not instant

Grease 9x13 pan, tear up (I use my kitchen scissors) one loaf of bread dough and arrange it in the bottom on the pan. Pour the butter/brown sugar mixture over the top. An optional step is to then top with one Cup of pecans or walnuts (Waymond likes his nut free, but I think it's tasty so I'll do half or one corner with nuts.) Tear (or cut) the other loaf of dough up and arrange on top. Cover and let rise.

Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes. It will be a bit golden on top.

Tip pan over on wax paper. Store covered.

I'm thinking of doing a variation of these and putting the idea behind monkey bread and this recipe together and it could be a bit more cinnamon-y.

still snowing & snowing & snowing

Here's the latest, it's still snowing. We are supposed to get at least another 3" - 6". It will be fun to drive to work tomorrow. I'm really thankful for parking in our garage! At least my car will be snow-free! It does look beautiful!

snow in tacoma?

We've had the craziest weather lately. For over a week now it's been snowing on and off. I took a couple of pictures of our back yard. It just doesn't snow like this here. When ever it gets below freezing usually means that our blanket of clouds have moved on so no precipitation. Everything shuts down here when snow moves in. One of the guys at work said him, his wife and daughter went to the mall Thursday evening to do some Christmas shopping and the Mall was closed. The Mall was closed, a week before Christmas, the Mall was closed. We've tried to go to our local branch of the library twice and they've been closed since Wednesday at noon. It has be beautiful and we've just stayed in as much as possible. You just never know what the road conditions are going to be or if the person in the next car knows how to drive in weather like this. And, I don't love snow. I though maybe we left it behind when we moved from Kansas City, but no.















We made minty snowmen in the comfort of our toasty dining room! Waymond's looked like aliens, we laughed hard!

bathroom update, all most done

Waymond finished the tile in the shower and he took a shower last night. He still needs to seal the tile so hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to move all my stuff in! I need to take some finish pictures. They'll be coming.

Socks for paintings

Click the link to the video, ok, so I think you'll have to copy and paste in the browser window because I don't know how to hyperlink it! I saw this on TV last night and thought it was amazing!

http://www.king5.com/video/eveningmagazine-index.html?nvid=311819&shu=1

yet another update

Waymond's been working on the bathroom again and now we have sinks! One is hooked up and working! The other one will be working soon (he ran out of time before he had to go to class).


















A close up view of our new sink & faucet! Beautiful! He still has a bit of finish work to do but it looks amazing! Now we have to get the mirror up! It's getting closer.

A tacoma tradition

Every so often the Tacoma Self Storage recognizes it's true identity as the Tacoma Elf Storage. We all know it's where Santa keeps the elves in the off season. I'm sure they try to keep it quite but several times a year they advertise!

yet another update

We have a working toilet! It's a fancy green toilet, we have a button for number one and a button for number two, if you know what I mean!















Our vanity is in and the lights are in & on! Now it's time for the counter tops & sink!

Another update

Waymond has been working hard! He did get a nice burger from The Little Holland for lunch! Here's a few more pics from today.

The beginning of the tile around the tub.














The detail of the glass tile.


















The finished tile around the tub.

Here's Waymond starting the grout for the floor.



















The finished floor. Tomorrow it will be polished and sealed and then it will look even better. If you can't tell it's gray tile with a lighter gray grout.

Bathroom update

Life has been a bit busy and the bathroom project was snailing along until today!

This is where the double vanity will go.


















This is our new over head light.















A lovely photo of Waymond after the sanding of the Sheetrock was finished. Just imagine what his lungs look like! I am thankful for all his hard work!


















We painted our first coat of paint between sanding the Sheetrock and laying the floor tile, but I didn't get any pictures of it. When the camera batteries charge I will take a few. The color is a lovely green (Mom, you would love it!)

Here is Waymond laying the first piece of tile. It's so exciting because this is the beginning of the finishing work! Our bathroom is going to look so good!


















Our tile is so beautiful! I'll post the picture of the last tile being laid as soon as our camera batteries charge! You can see a bit of the paint color in this photo.

Thanksgiving belly

I think my stomach is still full from yesterday's feast. We hosted Thanksgiving at our house and had a multitude of food and fun. This was our second turkey to cook and we bought a 25 lb bird to make sure we had left overs. We did along with everyone who came over - everyone left with food! I wish I would have remembered to take a picture of the turkey. It was pretty & tasty!

Our friends can cook! We were not lacking in good food yesterday. Waymond made a new green bean casserole dish from America's Test Kitchen and it was so good. Really everything the Test Kitchen produces is fabulous, but I love green bean casserole and this one topped the ol' stand by.

We've both already had a plate of left overs for lunch! And, I'm thinking of having a turkey leg for dinner!

JT's

We have FINALLY found a good BBQ place in Tacoma, WA! A couple of weeks ago a friend at work suggested JT's on 6th Ave to us. We were really skeptical, but thought we'd at least give it a try. And, it is the best BBQ we have found west of Oklahoma. We ate there again tonight and it is just so good. Their meat is smoked perfectly - tender & flavorful. Their sauce is different than what we are used to because it's Louisiana BBQ, but it kind of reminded me of My Place BBQ in Muskogee, because it's peppery. On the whole it's Waymond favorite place to eat now! I cannot begin to tell you how happy we are to find a good BBQ place. We chatted with everyone working and met one of the owners. She said they may have to go to a take-out only place or close because they've just been slow. I thought I saw a tear form in Waymond's eye. Be sure that we will spread the word about how good this place is and if they have to move to take-out only, we will find them and eat at home!

Right before we left another couple came in and when we got to our car we saw that couple's license plate on their car and they are from Kansas City, too, Johnson County! We know what good food is!

Christmas Gift

So, yesterday our church, New Community Church, met for the first time in our new location and at our new time, 4pm. Because we got to sleep in we got up and went out for breakfast. We decided to hit the grocery store afterwards to stock up for the week. When we returned from our shopping Waymond turned on the TV, I'm guessing to see football scores. He flips through a couple of channels and QVC is on and they are showing the gift Waymond is planning on getting me for Christmas (a professional grade stand mixer - yes I did ask him for it). He says, hey there's your Christmas present, I'll already know he's getting it for me he's not ruining the surprise. Then he says, that's a really good deal, he's been shopping around, what a guy. He then hesitates and says should I buy it from QVC, I feel funny about buying anything from there. Needless to say we aren't in the shop at home network target audience. So then they show the Shipping and Handling, $5.45 and he picks up his cell phone. I never knew that the whole QVC experience was so easy. Within 15 minutes my Christmas gift was on it's way. Waymond said part of the gift was that he got a good price on it which is totally me! I was really wanting this mixer, but I did not want him to spend all that money on it. He did well and he doesn't have to leave the house to get it!

And then later that night he ordered his own Christmas gift from Ebay. What a guy!

Happy Halloween

Got this one from my mom. It reminds me of something Waymond might think of! Not sure who to thank for the original.

Our last meeting

Today we had our last meeting for our church at our 711 St. Helens place! Next week we'll be meeting at 4:00pm at another church's building. We are all excited for a bit more space (this morning at our meeting we had a full house)! And the kids will have more room for classes which the kid's workers are the most excited about. Waymond and I are excited about the move and are looking forward to sleeping in on Sundays and frequenting some of our favorite breakfast places!

Is it just me

Oh my, last night I got in bed and thought, finally its Friday tomorrow. Maybe its just me, but this week has seemed like an eternity! Hopefully the trend will continue through the weekend and when I get back to work on Monday I will feel like the weekend lasted a long time! :o) I can only hope!

Waymond will be working on our bathroom this weekend. I'll try to snap a few pictures! Also, check out his art blog. He just finished another project for class. Actually I'm not sure it's on his blog yet, but it will be.

Gas & such

I know I haven't blogged in a few days, nothing too exciting happening except that I slipped down the bottom half of our stairs, which my mom said Waymond should have got it on video so we could have posted it on You Tube. Too bad he didn't- but thanks mom! From the fall I hurt my shoulder that has been hurting for several months, but pushed me to the doctor and I found out that I have arthritis in, most likely, both shoulders! Woo Hoo! Physical Therapy will start soon and hopefully will do me some good. And, of course I will be searching the Internet for helpful foods to stay away from and foods that can help and such. I can't help it, it's what I like to do. Any reasonable suggestions? My mom already sent me one with Grape juice and liquid pectin. Thanks mom, I'll try it!!

So, the reason I started the blog was to say that I filled up our gas tank the other day at a Chevron station and paid $2.99 a gallon for the gas. I was in a bit of shock because I passed a Shell station about a 1/4 mile away that was $3.49. Not sure if they just hadn't gotten the memo yet or were putting it off to get a bit more ahead or what. I really did not think I would see gas below $3 again. And, I think $2.99 counts. The sucky thing is that people will start driving again and we need to stop our addiction now! Keep cutting back people!

Yummy

I have to tell everyone about this yummy dinner we made the other night. It comes from the September 2008 issue of Everyday Food (its a good issue if you can pick it up) and its called "pasta with roasted cauliflower, parsley, and breadcrumbs" and it was even great the next day when we both had it for lunch.

Preheat the oven to 475 degrees.
Start your water for the pasta.
On a rimmed baking sheet, toss 1 head of cauliflower, cored & broken into small florets; 1 medium onion, halved & cut into thin wedges; and 5 garlic cloves, peeled and halved; with 2 Tablespoons olive oil and season with salt & pepper. Roast on lower rack for 20 minutes, tossing once.
In a food processor, combine 4 slices white sandwich bread and 2 Tablespoons of olive oil. Pulse until coarse crumbs from. Spread on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake on upper rack until golder, 5-6 minutes, tossing once.
Cook pasta, 12 oz of cavatappi or other short pasta, until al dente. Reserve 1/2 cup of the pasta water; drain pasta and return to the pan. Add cauliflower mixture, 1/4 cup grated Parmesan, and 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley. Mix to combine, gradually add enough pasta water to form a thin sauce that coats pasta.
Serve topped with breadcrumbs & Parmesan.

Oh, it's good! Waymond loved it and it did not even have meat in it or even near it!

Barn Yard Confusion

Last night we watched Barnyard the movie. I say we, but really it was me because Waymond made it through the first quarter of the movie before he went upstairs to play a video game. Any who, I'm watching this movie and was very confused. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but male cows are bulls and the cows with utters are female. In Barnyard the two main characters are male cows with utters. I was so confused. I did grow up in Oklahoma and have seen a cow or two in my day, but I could be wrong. I thought that was impossible for a male cow to have utters. I thought the whole idea of utters were so that calves could feed from their moms. Not be be gross, but that's what milk is. Please, if I'm way off base on this correct me. It's been awhile since I've been on a farm.

The picture is of the Dad in the movie whose name cannot remember. I found it funny that the only thing different from the girl cow and the boy cow was that the girl had a bow in her hair and was pregnant.

Is that confusing for city kids who haven't see a cow or been on a farm?

Very Exciting News

Waymond's school called him the other day and left a message that said, "We have good news please call us back." He called back and they want to give him a scholarship that will cover the class he is taking this quarter plus $5 (he says for a cup of coffee). Apparently this is one of the first times this school has done this! She said they knew the money would be used wisely. Way is very excited to get finished and start looking for a job in the design world.

He is taking an intermediate typography class this quarter. Check out his art blog (link on the side) for all his new assignments. He just started last night so it will be a couple of weeks before he gets anything up.

Target

So, Dolly Parton is doing the music for a Target commercial. Really? Is she coming back? I heard on NPR a couple of weeks ago that they are doing a Broadway Musical of the movie 9 to 5 and apparently Dolly has written all the scores. Should be interesting maybe not good, but interesting. Please, do tell if you see it.

Our tile has arrived

Our tile for our bathroom arrived today. After work we drove the truck down to pick it up and it looks good! I can't wait to get it on the floor and walls. I'll get some pictures before because it will take a few weeks to actually get it in place! My poor husband is about to start another quarter of classes. Check out his art blog!

$2 movie

Last night my husband took me to the $2 movie and we finally saw Kung Foo Panda. It was the funniest cartoon movie I've seen in awhile and it was not crass. Just Kung Foo goodness.

Home Depot

So, last night my handy husband was working on our bathroom and asked me to go to Home Depot for a few things (he didn't want to stop working). He needed more trash bags (I can do that), a faucet for the bathtub (maybe I can do that) and five 2x4s (not so sure about that). Really the thing that worried me the most was having to pull around one of those carts that you put wood in/on. Those things are not the easiest things to maneuver around the store! I did not want to take out any displays Home Depot had set up!

Since he was working so hard I agreed to go. I had to call only once and I thought that was pretty good. I directed the cart around and did not run into anything, even in the parking lot. I loaded my trash bags, tub faucet and five 2x4 in the truck and headed home. When I got there Waymond looked at the 2x4 and said I am indeed my father's daughter. He was impressed! I picked out 2x4s that weren't warped or in too bad of shape. I guess I've seen so many people do it over the years and have been to Home Depot enough that I'm better than I thought but the carts still scare me.

Laundry

So, I was doing some laundry the other night and as I was washing darks I put one of Waymond's hoodies in. It's the very beginning of September and I haven't stopped washing hoodies or long sleeved t-shirts all summer! Summer people. The other day I couldn't remember what season it was. I'm not kidding, I could not remember what season we were in or what one was coming up. Waymond has been wearing long sleeved t-shirts, and hoodies all this summer. Waymond. Now if I said I have been wearing long sleeved t-shirts, and hoodies all summer most people would not think that too crazy (which I have been), but the fact that Waymond has been wearing those things all summer... I'm hopping for a lovely and warm Fall. Yes, I did finally remember that summer is leaving and fall is around the corner. Crazy NW weather!

How cute are these kids

These are my two nephews & niece.
We miss them greatly!

Look Mom

My Mom & Dad mailed me some of their ground cover to see if I could get it to grow on the side of our house. My Dad, who has the green thumb in the family, suggested I plant them in pots first so they could have a chance to grow some roots. They are doing well, I see a few new sprouts. I thought I would plan one of the small pots next weekend and see how it does. When I was in the garage watering them today I saw a small snail. I'm not sure if it came from Oklahoma or is from Washington and found it's way into our garage and my new plants.

The trash pile

Now that the demo is finished we have to clean our garage from all the trash. This is what came out of our bathroom.

Demo complete

Waymond helped me and we finished the demo. Truth be told he did most of the work, but I did help.

We picked our tile, a vanity and such. We already have our two sinks, the toilet and a few plumbing things.

It's coming along nicely. I can't wait to see the final product.

Demo

Here are a few shots after the demo today. I had some help. Waymond came home today and helped. He's a bit better at the demo than I. We accomplished a lot. We have a good 4 feet on the other side of the wall in the bathroom. We aren't sure why they just walled it off, but we are planning on using it.

You can see the shelving area that is behind our previous wall.

Remodel

We are beginning a bathroom remodel project. We have not loved our upstairs bathroom since purchasing our house and we knew it would be the first thing to get a make-over. But when we found out that the shower is leaking into the downstairs closet, our remodel is happening sooner than we thought.

Since Waymond is the remodeler in the family he'll be doing most of the work, but I was raise by a father who taught me many skills. Thanks Dad! So, I am the demo girl on this project. Because things are slow at work at the moment I am getting off work at 2:30 and my plan is to come home and demo the bathroom for a couple of hours a day until its finished. I started yesterday, but today did some birthday shopping for a friend instead. Here are some before and some after shots on the first day.

I didn't get too far; I mainly ripped off the trim and tore out the shelving. I starting prying the mirrors off, but I didn't have my dust mask on because my goggles were foggy and I thought eyes more important to protect. A piece of mirror flew off and got me in the lip, so I called it for the day! No worries, it just bled for a minute or two and then done. Only a little purple today and no swelling. Very minor! Waymond is threating to take my picture with all my work clothes, mask, & goggles.

Oklahoma

We just returned from a trip to Oklahoma for my dad's 70th birthday. It was a short trip, but we had a great time and sweated A LOT! We arrived, after a long delay in Denver, CO at 2:30 am in Tulsa. The temp was 86 degrees! 86 is hotter than we've had for a high in Tacoma in weeks. I think we've become accustom to the cooler temps.

We went bowling for my dad's birthday, my mom was trying to find something to do inside. We had the best time. Waymond was the high scorer at 157. We were all excited to just break 100! I'm sure everyone at the bowling alley thought we had lost it, we were giving high fives and clapping anytime more than a couple of pins were knocked down.

Sorry to all our friends in Tulsa we did not see while we were there, we spent 100% of the time with family. Next time!

Here are a few shots: (Waymond is recouping from all the playing he did with our nephews)

Waymond spent one night in Muskogee with his parents and right after he left Noah, our youngest nephew, said to me, Leigh why does Waymond have to go see his parents? I'm sure both nephews wish that Waymond lived next door to them, but I'm guessing that Waymond would be exhausted most of the time if he did!

How cute is our youngest niece? She really likes Waymond too, but he doesn't wrestle around with her!