Fish

We've had a fish tank since Leah won a gold fish at the church carnival in 2014. She named her fish Gilbert. Our family is not a "pet family" so owning fish is a big deal. When we bought the tank we purchased another goldfish, which lived for 5 hours, and a mystery fish we call Trixie. Last week Gilbert went to fish heaven and Leah held a very moving service in the back yard for Gilbert. It was cute and funny and serious all at the same time. Last night Bob and Leah went to the pet store to buy filters for our tank which now housed just Trixie. 

I was a little fearful that they would come home with another pet, like a dog or a snake. Instead they brought home more fish. And they are very cool!

This is Doug and Earl. They are inseparable. 

This is Juan the crayfish.

And this is Carl. He is us the funniest fish and keeps ruining into the side of the tank. 

So far all fish have survived the night!

12/7

This year we are heading to Disney World for Christmas. This is a big trip so we decided the vacation itself would be our family Christmas present to ourselves...no other stuff. 

Well that idea is excellent and very liberating. It's odd to go through this holiday season without rushing to a store or plotting to get the best deal on this or that. We are a very fortunate family and really don't need anything. Would I sound like a grinch if I were to admit how much I'm enjoying this liberating feeling? We did make some home baked goodies to give to friends and I have Chrisymas cards ready to send so I'm not totally boycotting the holiday. The house looks great too. It's all decked out for the holidays. 

Our trip is going to be fabulous. I enjoy the planning. I've posted this before but it's worth posting again. Here are Bob and the girls on a ride at Disney 4 years ago. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

We ate toooooo much food. I wish I had a picture of my turkey. It looked like it could be on the cover of a magazine. 

We are so full we have to eat pie later. We had a baked turkey (made by me) and a smoked turkey (made by Bob). They were both superb, juicy and flavorful. We had 2 kinds of stuffing, corn, mashed and sweet potatoes. This year I tried something new and made roasted beets and carrots. They were horrible. I won't be making those again and we didn't even save the leftovers.

The weather is so pleasant here in Indy. Dad and I took a 2 mile walk this morning and after dinner we read the paper outside!  

That's Leah relaxing.  I hope all of you had a great thanksgiving! Maria didn't get to come home and we miss her terribly but we will make up it on Christmas vacation!

Delicious brussel sprouts!

Undeniably my favorite vegetable is the typically loathed brussel sprout. I could eat it boiled, fried, microwaved, and even raw. Bob and the girls are good eaters. They aren't picky and will try just about anything. They eat all vegetables including brussel sprouts. They really only like them cooked like you see in the picture above. First I boil them until they are tender. Then I cut them in half and sauté them in bacon and shallots. Delicious! The only problem is that they tend to smell up the kitchen like a cabbage. Yuck! 

Morning

We had one of those mornings where the twins were just a little rushed to get out the door. They ate their toast and drank their juice but forgot their tea. Today's flavor was fruity and mild. 

So I thought I would just make iced tea   But while getting the pitcher out of the pantry, this happened...

Toothpicks everywhere!

This prompted me to get this from the garage for clean up...

While in the garage I remembered it is garbage day. So after I cleaned up the toothpicks I cleaned up the garage and filled the garbage and recycling bins with anything that needed to be tossed. 

All that and a blog post are done by 7:12 am!! 

I need a cup of coffee!

Roses

My knockout roses are finally beautiful. Of course now everything is freezing over and I won't enjoy them for too much longer. (The hydrangea bush also in this picture is as old as the house. It's one of the only plants still surviving since the house was built in 1991.)

Here is another view. You can see one lonely little knockout rose bush that isn't anywhere near as big as the others. Up until about mid August all of my knockout roses looked like that little one. I'm not sure what kicked in but all of a sudden they started to grow and look great. I think we had too much rain in June and not enough in July to make them behave well. Anyway now they're beautiful.

Purdue!

A big congratulations goes to Leah AND Jennifer! They both have been accepted to Purdue University!! We are very proud. Of course no decisions will be made for many many months but it is very nice to know they have their first acceptance. We probably won't hear from any other schools until after December. 

Happy 85th!

Bob's mom celebrated her 85th birthday yesterday. We ate yummy BBQ before the HS football game. Today we are taking a ride to Brown County to see the beautiful fall colors. 

Forced organization

One of the areas affected by our little flood was a bedroom closet in the basement. Before the flood it didn't look too bad. If you needed wrapping paper, a pipe cleaner, zig zag scissors or some ribbon, glue, glitter or embroidery floss you could easily find it. Because The drywall was soaking wet and the floor was wet too we had to take everything out of the closet. I couldn't believe how much craft crap I had collected over the years. While digging through the mess I realized I have kept things way too long. Many things are going to Good Will or the trash. Most of the cross stitch and scrap booking supplies are leaving the house. I haven't done any of that in 15-20 years!! I did find the cutest little scrapbook Maria made with her sisters. It's very elementary but adorable. In it was this picture from Halloween 2001.  

Aren't Leah and Jenn cute? They were 4 in this picture. Jennifer wanted so badly to be a tiger that year. I have no idea why. And Leah wanted to be a cheerleader. She really didn't care about the color of the costume or the team. She just wanted to have pom poms. As a funny side note, Bob was always the one who walked the girls around the neighborhood. He would smoke a cigar and take them to all the houses that gave the best candy! 

Water

We had a leaky toilet. 

The water slowly leaked into the basement. 

We didn't know about the leak for about 2 weeks. 

Once we figured out what was going on, water had covered the floor in a bedroom and the exercise room. 

It's a mess but I'm glad we caught it before it got worse!

I grew that!

I grew these peppers!! I don't have a real garden but every year I plant some cilantro, parsley, sage, chives, thyme and basil. This year Home Depot had a few sorry looking pepper plants in 3 varieties on clearance for $.10 since it was already July. All the plants were flowering or already had a pepper growing so I knew I would have at least one pepper. The fatter pepper in the bowl isn't spicy at all. It's really good to cook with and I had at least 5 bigger ones all summer. The skinny peppers are very hot and spicy. I have collected more than 20 of those. Maybe I'll grow a tomato plant next year!

Happy b-day Jenn and Leah!!!

The twins are 18!!!

And for a little nostalgia, here are the girls when they turned 11. Leah is on the left and Jenn is on the right. Their best gift that year was a Wii. This year they both got watches for runners with GPS etc. 

Even though we just ate this same cake recipe last week, they requested it again! I made two small cakes but we were very full from dinner and will eat cake today! 

I'm glad I'm not 17

We are busy this week. The girls are on fall break so we are visiting colleges. Leah and Jenn have worked hard so they can really go just about anywhere. I'm very tired of listening to those repetitive admissions presentations. They are all the same and soooooo boring. We visited 5 schools so far and we have 2 left this week. There are 2 more schools that were applied to but they are far away and not as easy to visit. 

Here is what I have learned so far:

•College is rediculously expensive. 

•The most elite schools have the worst admissions/tour program. They think they are good but they are all exactly the same cookie cutter speeches. 

•College food is not healthy. Every school except one has showed us food trucks and fast food options. Show me the cafeteria! And while they are showing us where the real food is, they should show us where the kids will sleep! 

•Students either wear boots or flip flops. That's it. I saw no other footwear. 

•On a college tour the guide is the key. On our list of schools there was one that I was sure would be the winner and the tour was so bad that the girls have no interest anymore. On the other hand, the school that I thought they wouldn't like was the absolute winner so far. 

•I'm glad I am not 17 and have to make this decision. It's tough to choose a college and a major!

Apples and pumpkins

On Saturday we went to AppleWorks. We have been visiting this orchard/pumpkin patch since we moved to Indiana in1996.  In the beginning it was just a small place with a barn, orchard and pumpkin patch. Now it's a huge place! They have a corn maze, zip line, tractor rides, live music, pie, ice cream, nachos... It's huge!  We like it because they let you taste all the different apples and build a bag of the ones you like. I can remember doing this when we would be all alone in the barn. This year there were at least 1,000 people at this quaint place. I'm happy for their succes but I long for the days when we were the only ones in attendance! Leah and Bob tested the apples while Jenn and I searched for jars of local honey and apple butter. We took the tractor out to the pumpkin patch and walked through the vines to find a pumpkin. We took some cute pictures too. 

Birthdays

Today is Bob's birthday but we celebrated yesterday. My parents were visiting so we ate cake in honor of Bob and the twins, who will turn 18 next week. Bob said this cake was the best he has ever had in his entire life. Up until yesterday, our wedding cake had that top honor and he has been dreaming about that cake for 28 years!! 

Both Bob's parents and mine were on hand to sing and eat cake. 

I've been making that cake for Bob for many years. It's just a Pillsberry box yellow cake mix. I think the icing is the key to the success of the cake. I always use the recipe below. My mom passed it onto me way back in 1989.  She got the recipe from her sister Ruth. (Hi Aunt Ruth!!)

Over the years I have changed the recipe a little. I don't melt the butter but I just use it at room temperature. I replaced the water with cream and I doubled the butter. I know. I know. All that fat could make this cake the last one you will ever eat but nobody eats the entire cake right?

 It only took 24 hours for us to finish off this cake!

Parent/Teacher Conferences

Last night was out last Parent/Teacher conference for the rest of our lives. Wow. It really wasn't necessary for us to go and talk to the girls' teachers. Their grades are superb, attendance spectacular and participation exemplary. Bob and I have never missed a parent conference for any of the girls. Believe me, we were tempted to skip the the process and go straight to McQ's, the unofficial neighborhood bar and celebrate the accomplishments of our kids with a beer. But we had to go anyway. We had some nice conversations with very talented and devoted teachers. 

I love the high school Leah and Jenn attend. Check out this link to a very cool video about Roncalli!

http://youtu.be/tvMHALNpnWQ

Maria was home

Maria came home this past weekend. It was great to take care of her while she got all 4 of her wisdom teeth out.

My ice contraption is made with two long socks tied together. The ice is in zip lock bags and tucked into each sock. A huge paper clip holds both socks together on top of Maria's head. 

She did great and is already back in AZ. 

Time flies

2 months since my last post? Well I will have to rectify that problem! 

Here are a few pictures from Honecoming the weekend of September 26. 

Leah and Jenn

Jenn was on the Homecoming Court. She didn't win the queen title but both girls are still our princesses! The parents of Leah's date had all the kids over for a beautiful dinner before the dance on Saturday. They have a great group of friends!

Dinner follow up

Unbelievable. Perfect. Yummy.

Our summer thanksgiving dinner was delicious!!!! The turkey was so moist and my sides were so delicious. If I have to be honest, I felt like I needed to make tasty side dishes in case the turkey tasted bad. As it turned out, everything was superb. 

 

Thanksgiving in August

(Aunt Ruth- If you can see this post, send me an email!)

We have a friend and he is an avid hunter. I have a husband who is an amateur BBQ enthusiast. So today we are doing this...

Bob is smoking a turkey today. The huge bird is not a wild turkey. I bought it at the grocery. But in a few hours he will add the wild turkey legs and breast captured by our friend with a bow and arrow.  

My part in all this is to make the side dishes. So what goes with smoked turkey in August? Good question!  I just took the regular thanksgiving side dishes and "summerized" them! Here are my creations...

•Baked mashed potatoes with chives and bacon

•Dinner rolls with lemon herb butter

•Stuffing with spicy sausage and sage

•Bourbon gravy

•Watermelon fruit salad

•Grilled corn on the cob and zucchini slices

•Our guests are bringing the dessert.    

I'll post pictures later of the entire feast!

Warning

Hi friends and family! I have been getting some really weird comments on the blog recently. They are not nice and very creepy. From now on this blog will be private and only viewable by invited readers. I am not quite sure how to set it up but I will be working on it this evening. If you find you can't read it in the future, just email me and I will give you the info needed.  

And here is a special note to the creepy person who is reading and commenting...

You are weird and gross. Get a life and stop reading about mine. 

Celebrating the 4th

It's the 4th of July and we are celebrating like we always do. We watch the Indianapolis Indians play baseball. Then we stay in our seats and enjoy fireworks in the outfield. Then we stay a little longer and watch the fireworks put on by the city of Indianapolis. It's a fun tradition but we missed Maria this year!

Pretty twins!