It's Official!

We have keys to the house!!! The signing was yesterday and we were able to drop off a couple car loads last night. Have a bit of saw dust cleaning to do tonight to take off that last layer of wood dust in the kitchen and then we are ready to roll. The moving truck is coming Friday at 8:00 am and from there on out we will be busy. We absolutely love the house and can see all the hard work that the builder put into it - lots of great touches and excellent workmanship. The painter stopped by to drop off an extra bucket of paint and said how lucky we were that we had a good builder. That was nice to hear. Mark was questioning all the noises in the night - crickets, birds and some sort of animal. It is so dark there and pretty quiet.
It's also official that we only have one more night of sleeping in the shoe box! WOOHOO!!! Let the unpacking begin!

Adventures with Cali

Today we did three of Cali's least favorite things - I was not a nice "cat" mom at all if you were to ask her, but this was mostly her "father's" idea. It started off innocent enough with her being loaded into her cage (#3 least favorite activity) for a ride to the vet (#2 least favorite activity). She hates the car and whined all the way. We arrive and wait for Mark meets us as it's near his work. In the meantime I've fore warned the very nice tech that Mani scratched up last week at his visit that this is his sister. She is properly scared at this point. I might have overdone it if that's possible. In the exam room we pull her out of the cage and she's wet. That's right she PEED! IN THE CAGE! And for the first time ever I had not left a towel in the bottom of the cage. Don't ask, dumb move - I wasn't thinking. The tech is very nice and we mop her off and both end up smelling like cat pee. Mark held her so he too smelled good. The exam showed that her teeth don't need a cleaning, but she does need the lump on her back removed. So blood work was done and she will have surgery next week. Mark loaded her back up - the tech remembers Mani and trying to load him well so she is very happy Mark offered to do it. Being that Mark is working late tonight I get the honor of her #1 least favorite activity when we get home... yes folks...

We had a cat bath!

This is after the bath... and the bathroom needed to cleaned so this was a great way to do it.

Cali begging to be let out of the bathroom.

wet and really smelly now...

Never fear she quickly recovered and was eating less than two minutes after being let out of the bathroom. Mani has yet to come out from under the bed - he thinks he's next.

and this is Cali in much happier times.

Word to the wise - cats don't like baths!

And always put a towel in the bottom of the cat cage!

Wednesday is the day!

We are signing papers and will officially be homeowners once again on Wednesday. For some reason we thought it was Thursday, but this works out just great for us. One less day for something to go wrong and one day sooner we can start getting the dust out of the house! Woohoo! Bring on the boxes!

Corn on the Grill

Do you need a quick and easy way to cook your corn on the cob? Try grilling it - I don't think you can really ruin it this way if you watch it and keep an eye on your watch. Being that it's veggie season Mark wanted to try corn on the grill last night and he prepared it all on his own (I did take the tassles off, but that was really it). It was delicious! He peeled back the husk - not taking it off - and then put a butter pat and some salt on each one. This was sort of messy - do the butter first so it gets the salt to stick. He then wrapped them back in their husk and wrapped tightly in tin foil. They were grilled on high heat for 20 minutes and turned every five minutes. One did get burned so maybe it wasn't wrapped all that tight - and well it's one of those little camping grills so that probably was the issue. The real grill arrives this week - woohoo!!!

natures harvest

We've been spending a fair amount of time exploring our new neighborhood - really more like the 10 mile radius around our house-to-be and we've discovered it is very agricultural. Leaf Peepers have already started their fall trips and this also makes for a long commute on Friday afternoons as I found out by accident. Also by accident we found a fancy restuarant for dinner. It's right around corner from our house and I would classify as a fancy date place. Problem is we weren't in fancy date clothes. Not too big a deal and they still treated us nicely. All the servers were older men so that was a refreshing change from the teeny bopper you usually get. The view is amazing if you get a window seat and food mighty tasty too. I had grouper topped with Maryland crab and some sauce. So good. They grow some of the veggies right out their back door - how cool is that? I'm pretty sure the chef's veggie mix was from there.
On Saturday morning we took a trip to Lowe's to pick out our dryer and fridge. Gotta love the appliance clearance section. We did awesome! Along the way to Lowe's we must have passed at least 5 farm stands or farmer's markets. Most are organic and the selection is amazing. I've been to quite a few around here and it's really fun to see what they have. Peaches are in season and really this is the only time of year to eat them - I hate woody peaches and these are so juicy even though they feel firm. Tomato's are interesting as there are many heirlooms that the farmers sell. Last night we had tomato salad with orange, red and white streaks, green and yellow streaks and a funky red blue colored one. The flavors are all different, but good. Dare I try to grow them? Probably not because they are so cheap to buy and it supports another person. So I will enjoy them for now.

Dutchess County Fair

I'd heard the fair here was good and I figured for the $12 you had to pay to get in it must be pretty good and it was beyond my expectations - it was certainly nothing like the Michigan State Fair or even the Isabella County Fair. Probably not good comparisions at all either. I don't think we covered all the grounds in the three hours we were there and I wasn't going to last to find out. Like much of this area it was pretty hilly and it was at least 85 to 90 out so hot and sticky. Leave it to us to go at 2pm as well in the heat of the day and on empty bellies. We saw some Dock Dogs practicing (and not all would jump in - that was funny!), baby animals, lots of community businesses, rides, more animals and of course tons of food booths. I seriously think this is the big draw as they were everywhere. Burgers, hot dogs, pizza, sausage and peppers, Chinese food, Greek food, milkshakes and every sweet treat you can think of. There were picnic tables and tents everywhere and food booths at every corner and finding a seat was a challenge. They even had permanment food pavillions set up for some of them. Of course we were there to eat and I got a huge burger (hand patted I might add) with onions and cheese on top. Mark had the sausage and peppers and we split a handcut fry. We polished it all off with one of those hand squeezed lemonades and then set off to wander. Sad to say that we didn't have room for any more treats, but now we know to get when it's a bit cooler and I really want to try the Greek booth - it looked fantastic. The fair is in a cute little town called Rhinebeck and I'm planning to go back soon with guests in tow to check out the shops. First we must pack and unpack so that might be a while....

White Eggplant

Weird I know it should be purple, but at the farmer's market they were selling them and I bought one. They said it was sweeter - if that's possible. I had great success making eggplant parm with it tonight. I sliced it into half inch slices dipped it in egg and then dipped it in bread crumbs (those that come in the can). Then I fried it in olive oil for until golden brown, popped it in the oven at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Yummy! I did put little mozzarella balls on top at the end and then used spaghetti sauce as a dipping sauce of sorts. Easy and very good. You could use the normal mozz cheese and it will taste pretty much the same. Overall it had a mild flavor. My other cooking experiment currently in the oven is peach bread pudding. Since I'm not so sure about the hot water bath baking method I'll be curious to see how it turns out. We've been trying bread pudding when we get desert and I like it so I figured it might be good to learn how to make it. Most of the time it will have apples or peaches in it - not your usual bread pudding.
It's been almost 6 months since I really followed a recipe and I only left out one thing - vanilla - I didn't have any. I used extra brown sugar - that should help right? I sure hope so!

Would you ever guess...

that people go on vacation to the New Jersey shore? When I think of NJ I think of the arm pit of NY, however I now know that it's a nice little vacation spot. From reading Kelly's blog I knew it was somewhere that people went and it looked like fun. I had visions of NYC garbage floating downstream to NJ. It doesn't so that is a good thing. We didn't quite make it down to Ocean City or Cape May, but that's another trip next summer. The shores are sandy and clean and I didn't see many sea creatures - you know sharks, snakes, jelly fish or other creepy crawlies. We had a great time catching the waves and also doing some gambling - could have golfed and I actually did a lot of shopping at the outlets in Atlantic City. Did you know that Atlantic City is where the game Monopoly started and all the streets are found on the board game? I think I knew that at one point, but forgot. Tons of great places to eat and AC reminded me of Las Vegas in a way except it's a little smaller. More than big enough for me and looser slots too. So the next time you can't figure out where to go check out the NJ shore. Lots to do so we will be back! Need I mention I got a free hotel room for our next trip? Works for me! Just so happens when you get a card at the casino's and are new you get all sorts of perks. The lady getting me signed up didn't look very closely at my passport so it's under my maiden name. Not worth bringing to her attention. LOL! So more fun for us!

Seaside Heights - Beach Vacation

Even though summer is winding it's still great beach weather and lots of other people think like us so finding a room was a challenge. We ended up at the Aztec and it's right on the beach - has it's own bar too. It was clean and the beds comfy, but by no means a Motel 8. It is right on the beach and that's a big advantage. Has it's own pool too.

So for the ocean part of our vacation we did lots of swimming in perfect waves - I guess you call it body surfing. Nice four to five foot waves.

My body is sore today and Mark thinks his feet are broken as they hurt. I'm sure that's just from all the walking we did in the sand. It was quite fun all the same and it did take me about 20 minutes to get over my sea creature fear. No one was being attacked so I finally gave in. I much prefer fresh water. Wimp I know. Of course we had to eat and Top O'Spaghetti fit the bill. I was sort of fearing our choices as this is like the fair and I wasn't up for fried anything. We were very successful all the same and I had flounder broiled with bread crumbs and garlic, angel hair with olive oil and more garlic and then spinach in olive oil - excellent! Mark has meat sauce over penne pasta - not as adventurous, but he did add the red pepper flakes and it was quite good. Lots of garlic is always good.



To top off the night we had to visit the boardwalk and gawk at all the things going on. Seaside Heights is much like going to a fair or Cedar Point on the beach.

Lots of carnie games, but the carnies were not as scary as those we see in Michigan at the fair. True to carnival spirit we had to try deep fried oreo's - ok, but not something I will eat again. Would much rather have the hunk of fried dough if anything. We did play a couple of spinning wheel games and true to carnival spirit they are rigged and we didn't win.

Atlantic City, NJ

Mark in Atlantic City

from my winnings I got to buy some clothes at the outlets in AC!

Night time surfing competition - much cooler to be there.

To take advantage of one last weekend before we tackle a bizzillion boxes and unpacking we took one last vacation to Atlantic City. This was the first time for me and the first time as an adult for Mark and we had a great time! Our hotel wasn't right on the boardwalk, but we'll do that next time. If you haven't been there it's worth the trip. The boardwalk is nice and goes for a long ways - we never made it to either end. You can swim right there, but it's not as nice as some of the other NJ beaches, but this one is free. We started off right and both won pretty big time for us. Enough to cover the hotel and three very good meals. Ruth's Chris was the first night and I did a mixed grill with a little filet, stuffed chicken breast and a little crab cake. YUMMY! This was another first for me and I will surely go back there sometime. Great food and wine. Then we went to gamble some more - again pretty profitable. Friday we hit PF Changs for lunch - always a favorite and safe be for Chinese food. For dinner we went to Max's in Trump Plaza - again a great meal. I could have stopped after my soup and bread even though the rest was great I wasn't starving any more. To top off the night we got to watch a night time surfing compeition and to be honest I've seen bigger waves on Lake Michigan, but it was a full moon and fun to watch all the same. Saturday morning we packed up and headed north to Seaside Heights for more of a beach vacation.

More Car Adventures

In NY they require your car to pass an emissions test. Checking to make sure you aren't passing too much gas or something? After spending and hour and a half at the DMV to just get two cars registered and two driver's licensed you'd think the emissions would be slow - and it was. You can go anywhere you'd like that offers the service so I chose the dealership down the road from my office thinking that would speed things up. Guess again. It took an hour for the test and 28-point inspection. After sitting and reading the paper for an hour (I lost track of time and figured it would only take 20 minutes so I never left) I notice the service guy is parking the car out front so I walk in to see what's up. He's telling the service advisor all the things that need to be done to the car. Oil change (only 4,000 miles over due), dirty tranmission fluid, dirty brake fluid, worn brakes and so on. I'm figuring I'm going to get the big sales pitch. And honestly at that point I would have hoofed it back to work and let them do it all. But NO he hands me my keys and says the girl over their will help you check out. HUH? You aren't going to ask me if I want any of this stuff done? Seriously I'm floored and speechless at the lack of wanting my business so I pay and leave. That was a dumb move on their part as I can now price check around to get it done. IDIOTS! At the very least ask if I want to book an appointment if you are that busy. It doesn't appear busy either. The last time I went to their Ford dealership they made me walk around back to find my car after getting the oil changed saying "oh it's parked around back just go find it." HUH? Ever hear of pulling my car around as I did pay you for something. Dare I go back for strike 3? I surely won't ever buy a car there. I can only imagine what would happen.

And the winner is....

Mark! By a vote of 8 to 3 (and 2 of those 3 were Mark voting from other computers for Katie!) He actually did get smacked by some numbskull driving a red BMW. She was hogging both turn lanes and it was raining and kind of dark. So it's off to the shop today before we leave for a quickie vacation in Michigan. We are going to see my parents and hang out at the lake - we haven't seen them since they left for Texas back in December. And the car is getting 2 new doors and some paint work. At this point we don't have seats into Lansing from Detriot and we are hoping we get a bump instead as it's only an hour drive. We'll see!

Il Barilotto

Almost forgot about this great place I went to dinner to at last week - it was for work so I did more than just the usual entree and normal glass of wine. I was being treated and treated well at that. To get an idea of the menu to go: http://www.ilbarilottorestaurant.com/dinner.htm
I didn't order off the menu as the specials were to die for and quite interesting to say the least. You can always get the stuff on the menu so I was daring. Trust me I won't be trying to make this at home- not sure what some of thing s were. We started out with appetizers. I followed the lead of a more experienced diner and got the asparagus special. It had 8 little ones lined up on a plate and was topped with a fried egg, some yummy white cheese and a sauce of some sort. It was delish. I know the fried egg part sounds gross, but with the sauce and cheese it was yummy. Glad I listened. The big shrimps in gorganzola sauce looked very good too - that I might just try next time as it's always on the menu. Skipped the salad - I was with all men need I say more? For the main course I got the pork loin wrapped in proscuitto and stuffed with fresh peaches. A big potato blob coated in something and baked was in the middle of the little loins that were nicely arranged around my plate. It had some sort of light brown sauce in the bottom. I almost ate the whole thing - almost. I was beyond full and even passed on dessert. A first I know. They all got coffee and night caps - I still had some wine left to polish off. I'd had enough and didn't want to over do it. The salmon looked great and was very light in color and someone else had the rack of lamb - it looked very good too. It was a total clean plate club night except for me, but I did say I was with all men so they can stuff away more. This would be a great place to split a meal among other things - like dessert!

cool blogger background website

like my new background? it was free from this super cool website and it's better than the last one I tried to use. The link is up in the left hand corner of the page. Check it out if you want something new. It took me five minutes or less to add it and it didn't take away my sidebars like some do. The five minutes included the time I spent browsing. There was so much to see and I just liked this so I stopped looking.
Be sure to click the link that says "Blog Secrets" on the left of the website as there is a little blurb on how to create your own background and that too looks easy, but I do like this one so for now I'm going to just use this.
Have fun!