What are you up to today? This week?

[sexyfeet]

Shelly, it is the DHE (Dolls House Emporium) Creative contest I'm entering. It is a shell that looks like a chapel or church, or a village hall as they call it. Deadline is end of August, but as I'm away on honeymoon for most of that month I need to get it done by the end of July. So busy busy! Pity I have to go back to work tomorrow :woohoo:

Oh silly me, I should have known that, I have read all about that contest!!! I guess my brain still isn't working quite right!! :popcorn: Well never the less I can't wait to see what you do with your project!! Good Luck!!

[grazhina]

Today I cooked. I made pulled pork, which I don't like as it gets caught in my teeth and that hurts. I made DH macaroni salad, which he loves and I can't stand. I have a problem with the smell of boiled eggs, also chicken fat for that matter.

I've been using the bread machine for the past few years, but I wasn't satisfied with my loaves lately, so I thought I'd make some Vienna rolls. I messed up. I had baked some Magic Coconut Squares first, and hadn't let the oven cool off enough for the bread rising. My rolls didn't rise enough. They taste pretty good and are almost all gone, but they were a little flat.

I think I've lost my baking touch through lack of use. Some of my cakes haven't been as good as they used to be either.

I also perused the internet looking for recipes from my younger days. DH is tired of all his favorite foods. He says he doesn't want any pot roasts, or stews, or hamburger meat unless it's burgers or meatloaf once in a while. He makes a face if we're having chicken, and he doesn't want any Mexican or Chinese either, which includes any other southeastern Asian country. He never liked rice either. If I make him pork chops or ribs too often, he might get sick of them too. For a man who claims he likes everything (except rice and blueberries) he's become awfully hard to please. He curls his lip a bit if I say we're having a casserole.

I got a copy of an old San Antonio cookbook, he rolled his eyes. I've made a few dishes from the Pillsbury bake off contests cookbook with mixed results.

maybe I'll just settle for cheap food that sounds interesting to me, and I guess it wouldn't hurt to make him suffer through my efforts to make a Chinese orange chicken and a General Tzo that meet my expectations.

oh yeah, with all that cooking and recipe hunting I did today, i forgot to make myself a little something for supper, seeing as how I hate macaroni salad and don't care to pick pork out of my teeth. At least the rolls are good with a little Brummel & Brown spread on them. There is dessert........I do like coconut, haven't made those squares in years.

Before I forget, in case anyone reading this happens to have a Lithuanian grandparent or two, I found some recordings by the Mahanoy City Lithuanian miners orchestra recorded in 1929. Mahanoy City is in Pennsylvania coal territory. You can hear the music on the New England Miniatures Blog. It's peppy polka type wedding music.

[KathieB]

The plan for today was to work in the garden, but Mother Nature had other ideas. It has been raining all day and we're under a tornado watch for the next couple of hours. *sigh*

Friend NJ needed some brick-patterned cloth for a quilted wall hanging and couldn't find what she wanted, so she came over and we printed some for her using the freezer paper/cotton cloth through the inkjet printer. She only needs a couple small pieces, so the small size was okay.

I worked on the quilt shop this afternoon, sorting aout ten dozen bolts of cloth by type and color and gluing them on the shelves. They look sharp, if I do say so myself. Will try to get some pictures up later tonight or tomorrow. It was good to get back to it.

[Muriel]

Grazhina you gotta get him to cook! Basically, eat what I'm making, or cook yourself! Put your foot down :popcorn: At least take it in turns, so you can cook what you want some days and eat what he wants to cook other days. Or if he or you don't like what the other is cooking, you can make your own. Chris doesn't like quite a few things, so when I cook I try to make things he likes, but he certainly has to take his turns cooking too!

I'm waiting for my mini orders to arrive to continue my DHE bash. Some should arrive today, but the bits I really want are in the order that will take longest to get here (probably over a week).

Also resizing and choosing some wedding photos to put up! Hopefully tonight

[Jo Med]

Grazhina, there's nothing more frustrating than spending time cooking for someone who doesn't appreciate it. Ask him to write down a menu for the week and if you're happy with that just go with it. At least he can't complain then and if its pork chops every day you could always put a chicken leg or something in for yourself.

Muriel looking forward to seeing your wedding pics.

I plan to get back on to the Garfield kitchen garden today which is coming along very very slowly.

[grazhina]

Cook for himself, Muriel? Oh you kids with your newfangled ways. The man is 62 and wouldn't even know where to start. He made me scrambled eggs once. I think it was back in 1978. In 1993 he made hamburgers for our daughter and himself while our son and I were visiting a college out of town. Ashley thought it was one of the funniest things she'd ever seen. There was one other time that he cooked. He decided to make a fish chowder from a recipe in a cookbook. I had to stand there next to him and hand him ingredients and cookware because he didn't know where they were or what dice meant.

Jo, I tried to have him make me a menu, but that didn't work. For over 25 years he was away from home about 25 weeks out of every year. He got used to walking into restaurants, looking at the menu and ordering something. He's said to me, when I asked him around noon what he'd like for supper, "I don't know what I want now. Ask me at suppertime" He keeps missing the point that I don't have a kitchen staff and a walk in fridge and sauces simmering on the stove at all times. Instead of a miniatures business, maybe we should have owned a small cafe where he could order up all his meals?

I'm at the point where I really, really hate to cook. I found Peg Bracken's I Hate to Cook Book at the library a few months ago. You know, there's just way too much cooking in there!

[Gayle]

My first DH was the same way. He had the notion that he could fix french toast. He would burn the pan and smoke up the house with his efforts. My present DH is a wiz in the kitchen so I let him cook on the weekends. He doesn't complain about what I put on the table during the week either. He's definitely a keeper.

[grazhina]

I tired a new Pillsbury bake off recipe today. I had been putting off trying it because I wasn't sure how it would come out, but the recipe was so fast and easy I just had to make it. Surprise, they liked it! It's a keeper.

Chicken Fettuccine a la Fuente

serves 4 (or at our house - 3)

1 12 ounce pkg fettuccine

1 tbl olive oil

@ 1 lb. boneless chicken breasts, cut in 1" chunks

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 pkg taco seasoning mix (I had Taco Bell's)

1 cup whipping cream

1/3 c chopped fresh parsley (I only had dried, so I crumbled in a tablespoon or so)

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Cook fettuccine according to package directions.

Meanwhile in a 12" skillet, heat the oil over medium high heat, then toss in the chicken, cooking 4-5 minutes, stir occasionally.

Stir in garlic and taco seasoning, cook another minute.

Add the cream, reduce heat to low and cook another 3-5 minutes.

Stir in parsley and Parmesan, add fettuccine and toss to coat. Serve.

My sauce boiled up and got too thick, so I thinned it with a little milk.

[Muriel]

Pictures are loaded!

[grazhina]

Sweet! You look lovely in your gown. You're a very cute couple.

[sparklepuppies]

Oh Muriel, the pictures are great! You look beautiful! Thanks for sharing them with us, I've been waiting to see them.

Congrats!

[Minis On The Edge]

Muriel, You looked Beautiful on your special day!! Congratulations to you both!!

[sexyfeet]

Beautiful pictures Muriel, you both look so happy, congratulations!!!

[AuntDee]

Muriel, You are so beautiful and Chris is a handsome groom. Your pictures are wonderful. Thank you for sharing. Congratulations and best wishes for a wonderful future. Rita

[sexyfeet]

My tower roof/room exterior is almost complete with the exception of paint and shingles of course. I'm just trying to figure out what to do with the two gaps on the wings of the back side. I do have a couple of ideas so we will see which one I decide to go with. Today I'm working on the horizontal and vertical exterior trim, once that is complete I am going to start on my siding and shingles. I just love this house, and the more I work on it the more I love it!!!

[AuntDee]

Cook for himself, Muriel? Oh you kids with your newfangled ways. LOL , love this. Yes my husband who is a great husband and good man can only cook several meals. If I weren't around it would the same old menu for him. If I go to the great beyond before him I don't know how he will survive. I guess there is always those freeze dried cmaping meals!

Grazhina, this might work for you. It iwll be a little extra work for you in the beginning but I think it will help you. When you make something he likes, make extra a freeze it in a "tv dinner" tray. As you get meals stockpiled in the freezer you can ask him, mid afternoon, would you like "stewed chicken and dumplings or spaghetti and meatballs for supper?" He makes his choice of the selection like off a menu. Heated up and he is a happy camper. I do lots of cooking from old cookbooks. Maybe you could find cookbooks from the '50's when he was a kid and try to make meals that he enjoyed then. I know for our own use I cook and freeze meals up so that I don't have to be in the kitchen everyday.

[KathieB]

I'm working in the garden again today, although it's hot and humid, so at the moment I'm taking a diet Coke break in the nice cool air conditioned house!

[heidiiiii]

Hi all.

I have had an interesting and busy week. I have been cleaning cleaning cleaning. We went out yesterday and bought a new rug for the livingroom floor. It looks really good. We like it. I am going to be (pretty soon) changing the shower curtains in the bathrooms also.

Every Friday, I have been taking either Natalie and/or Chelsea to the Salvation Army in the mornings to pick thru to find clothes. The trips never disappoint. I think I am really out of my funk. I am getting some pretty clothes and wearing them! I can walk out of that place with an arm load of clothes for $20!

I have decided that even though I am big and not planning on staying this way..there is no reason I cannot have some nice clothing. Used yes but really nice. Fred and I are going to out to dinner tonite and I found a red silk shirt that will go perfect with these cream colored Gloria V capris I bought 2 weeks ago there.

Oh..One more thing. I got a tattoo. ROFL

Remember back before my back surgery..I had said that with all the hell I have gone thru, I am going to commemorate it with a tattoo of a Phoenix???

There she is. On my upper right arm. We decided to do in black. Colors would fade out into looking like a rash and if he outlined it, it would look stupid. Many people have said it looks kind of tribal. Not my intention but I like it.

Pretty big for a first one, huh?

I am taking good care of it and it is healing well. Do not worry about me!

Okay, I have to get moving. I have those shower curtains to do.

[woodland_miniatures]

LOVE the tattoo, Heidi - it looks terrific!

I'm on the way to the doctor in a couple of hours to have my foot checked. Not something I'm looking forward to, as it's been feeling "cranky". It IS healing, but it hurts off and on, sometimes with a really sharp pain all up my leg, and it is misshapen, too. Lump of developing scar tissue where the big split is healing - isn't that going to be fun to walk on when I can? Oh, well, at least the foot is STILL THERE - so far (she whispers in those dark, lonely, scary hours in the middle of the night....

Get to test out my new walking stick today - UPS brought it yesterday and it does look like it'll help, and be less awkward than a walker or even my granny grocery cart, which I often use as a walker.

[woodland_miniatures]

Back from the doctor's and the foot's doing well. It's healing very well, if very slowly, but he did flat out tell me that if I hadn't come in when I did a couple of weeks ago, I could easily have been in serious (as in losing the foot OMG!) trouble. We caught it just in time....

Now to get back to my garden, since it looks like the weekend is going to be warm and sunny - I have things to plant!

[Momof2Moos]

Today I dealt with the children as always. Cleaned up a bit; washed all of the diapers (we use cloth diapers and wipes); mowed the WHOLE yard (in FL's 95 degree, bazillion percent humidity); cleaned and chemicaled the pool, cleaned off all the yard toys (grass mulch everywhere); dishes, dinner, more and more playtime with the kids, and somewhere in all that craziness, I squeezed in some work on my Coventry. Hooray for popsicle stick floors! Boy am I tired!

So, now DH and I will sit down with a couple bowls of English Toffee ice cream and watch Stargate: SG1.

[Muriel]

Got work this morning, then ferrying Chris about 30 mins drive away. Then debating whether I come home again and make him get the bus home, or try and find something to do for 2.5-3 hours while waiting for him.

Want to do some wood work in the Village Hall, but still waiting for the order with the wood to arrive, which I think will only be after tuesday. Could do some electrical work, but some of it needs the wood work done first. Like doing everything in one go, ie all the woodwork, then all the electrical rather than some electrical, then some wood, then electrical and finish wood. Hmmm

Anyway, hope work is good, this is the last time I'm due to work in this village branch as I have officially taken over the pharmacist job at another branch, rather than being a relief manager.

[Syphon79]

Picked up BF last night at the airport -- was beyond happy to see him after his three week trip! He asked if I didn't mind dressing up since he was flying home in a suit -- said he was going straight to the airport after his conference. Thought it was an odd request, but figured why not -- it's summer and he knows I love to wear dresses whenever possible.

So picked up him, and en route to dinner when he asked if we could walk around the waterfront section of Old Town in Alexandria. Again, didn't think much of it so I said sure. We usually walk around there on the weekends. But when he was away, I hadn't stepped foot in the area because it just made me miss him...

Little did I realize that when we got to the waterfront, in front of a local guitarist we always chat with and listen to his songs during out walks, BF got down on one knee and proposed to me.

And I said yes.

[woodland_miniatures]

Awww, Daphne, now THAT is romantic!! What a sweet guy....

[Syphon79]

Awww, Daphne, now THAT is romantic!! What a sweet guy....

Hi Mary,

Thank you -- I'll let him know. He admitted that all he had planned was to propose at the waterfront. When he saw the guitarist, he figured that 1) it must be fate and 2) the guitarist made his proposal game plan easier. He was already I'd have a heart attack! :roflol:

Am still shell shocked from all of this. I woke up early today so I can go to the living room and cry (tears of joy). And call my mother and sister and best friends of the news while fiance slept. But will climb back to bed in a few to cuddle. :angry:

We have to get the ring resized though -- apparently I lost a few pounds while he was away. Luckily he said he picked up the design so it'd be easy to resize (plus he knew I wasn't big into diamonds or gold).

Ironic that this afternoon, we're suppose to visit my family for a party...bracing myself for whatever crazy hilarity my parents and sister have in store....