new door

Better pic of completed project:

New Door

We decided it would be nice to have a roof over our heads coming in the house and a new front door was long overdue. As with all home improvement projects, it seemed to take a long time to get done. Construction is completed, now comes the re-landscaping work!

Yummy Snack

Got this recipie from a co worker. It is an easy "dump" recipie with one surprise ingredient.

Yummy Black Bean Salsa

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can black eyed peas, drained and rinsed
2 cans shoepeg/white corn, drained
2 cans ro-tel diced tomatoes with cilantro
3 green onions chopped
1 8 oz. bottle zesty italian dressing

Combine all in a very large bowl. Serve with chips. I couldn't find the tomatoes with cilantro so I used tomatoes with green chiles and chopped up some cilantro from the garden and added it in.
D even put this on top of his grilled chicken burger and loved it.
You know it must be good if I actually ate the black eyed peas.

1st Hickey?

12 year old boy +ziploc suction device:








And this is my contribution to the gene pool.

Sign of Spring

This weekend we had beautiful weather. Saturday was 73; which led to a flurry of activity in the gardens. The front beds got a much needed raking and lo and behold a treasure was found-crocus popping up through the leaves! Sunday was 63 but overcast; today is in the low 60's with 30 mile/hr gusts of wind. Raking was just not an option. Two of my small roses had new green growth and leaf buds; and the japanese maples also are budding at the tips. Especially since it is light later in the evening ( with the time change )we all have spring fever.

It's Twins!

Bugsy (left) and Dopey (right).

Our 2 1/2 year old hampster, Shadow, died overnight; the kids immediately decided they wanted a new one. We packed up Shadow (who is awaiting a thaw to be buried); cleaned out the cage and headed out to our pet store. The kids saw Bugsy 1st; he is a friendly white dwarf hampster and his eyes are, well, buggy. Dopey kept hiding under the water bottle holder (don't pick me!!). After discussion with our very nice and knowlegdable employee, it was decided to get two hampsters who will live happily together (we hope). They have been very busy today checking out their new home.

From Surf to Snow

We took a long weekend trip to Florida to see D's parents. Temps were in the mid to upper 70's during the day, which beats the heck out of the 20's we were having at home. We took full advantage of the wonderful temperature and sunshine; walking to the beach, fishing, swimming in the pool, flying kites. We went to the beach every afternoon; only the crazy northerners (us) were in the freezing cold ocean! The kids had a lot of fun building sand castles and collecting lots of shells to bring home.

We flew home to a couple of inches of snow with the threat of winter weather advisory overnight. This morning, we have another layer of snow with a crunchy coating of ice over the top. The kids predicted correctly, no school today. Unfortunately, the coating of ice on top of the snow made it impossible to sled, much to the kids dismay. Luckily D left his car at the top of the driveway or he would not have made it out to work. He had a time just getting to the car and slid trying to walk uphill on the driveway and ended up having to crunch through the grass until he was close enough to the car to grab onto it.

The temperature is supposed to get up into the 40's and it is now drizzling as predicted. Everyone should be back to work and school tomorrow, much to their disappointment.