The Mixer

This evening, I tried out my mixer Waymond bought me for Christmas. One word, amazing! Let me tell you that it was fabulous to make my Banana Blueberry Muffins hands free (and they are tasty too)! Everyone who does any amount of baking needs a Kitchen Aid Mixer. Waymond bought the the Professional Mixer so this next week I'll be making bread! I'm so excited!!

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!