I tried to make homemade tamales. The filling was excellent. I could have just eaten that stuff all day.  I had a terrible time making the corn casing. This process took all day and it was so disappointing when it didn't work out. I later found out my cousin Michael is a pro at making these!!! He has promised to give me his secrets. I'm not giving up!

I'm a very good cook. I'm not bragging but I really can make just about anything. Bob is a good cook too so together we make a great team. The one thing I can't cook is rice. I'm getting better at making it and practice makes perfect! 

The master bathroom and bedroom are under construction! (Still) The twins' bathroom is being remodeled too. These pictures are from September 1 so we are much further along right now. I'm tired of the process but I know it will be beautiful . Bob is doing a lot of the work himself.

The wedding we attended in my previous post was barely an hour away from the very first house we ever owned so we had to take a small detour and drive by. But first we stopped at our favorite Chinese restaurant. The Plum Garden brings back such fond memories for us. Going out to eat was big deal back then! Our Christmas plans our first year of marriage were not traditional and we ended up eating dinner at Plum Garden. They gave each of the patrons that night a little box of tea wrapped in a gold box. It is a memory I won't ever forget. To this day we still eat Chinese food on Christmas Eve. The girls love our tradition too. I hope they do the same thing with their own families. 

We were so happy to see Plum Garden is still in business. They have great food. It is in McHenry, Illinois. 

We sat at that table many times. 

This is our first house. The landscaping is just beautiful now and the tree we planted is enormous! The house was the same color when we lived there. Not much has changed!! 

Those bushes in the front hide a large water pump. When we owned the house we had a raised flower  bed surrounding the pump. 

We were so happy to see the house after so many years. We bought the house on July 1, 1987 and to see it in such good shape made us even happier. We visited our very first home (of 6 houses) on August 27 and we celebrated our 30th anniversary on September 5. ❤️

Last weekend we went to a lovely and very personal wedding. Each detail was planned specifically for the bride and groom. We had so much fun celebrating the future of Dave and Jena. The wedding was in a town in Wisconsin that calls itself the Chocolate City. Bob has been to this town many times because they are the home of a huge Nestle chocolate factory. He use to make the wrappers for the candy bars they produce. The entire town smells like a big cup of hot chocolate. It was heavenly!!!

Bob, Pam, Bill and Mike

The guys have been friends since elementary school which means roughly 50 years of friendship!!! Pam is Bill's wife. 

It was a great party. We will be with Pam and Bill (and the guy in the back) for the next two weekends. Pictures will be posted as the events unfold. 

This is Bob dancing!

Mike, Liz (Mike's wife) me and Bob

Bill eating ice cream. No cake at this party. The bride and groom love ice cream!

Bob and his 5th grade teacher. He had a crush on her when he was a little guy. She is a great lady and so fun to be around. 

We had a great time!

Maria, Leah and Jenn sent me these beautiful roses for my birthday. I hope this is the beginning of a wonderful tradition. 

This and That

We are going to Disney for Christmas. These new USPostage stamps are really cool. 

This always makes me chuckle...eggs and chicken together in my fridge. (That is leftover chicken in the Tupperware container. ) 

I made salsa from my garden tomatos. It was delicious! The bowl is a perfect vessel too. 

Maria is 26!! She celebrated with her new nursing friends, her best friends, her boyfriend and her family. No cake for her but we did have some yummy cupcakes. After a nice meal at Grandma's we could only eat half a cupcake per person. They were delicious. Maria was kind enough to include Bob and me in one of her celebrations at the Indy Indians baseball game. We have a minor league team with a beautiful field.  It was a fun night and her friends are the greatest. 

The girls sent me these beautiful roses for my birthday. I hope this is the beginning of a new tradition.

How does time get away from me so quickly! 

August started out fast.  let's see what we did...
1. I quit my job. I wish I hadn't. I loved my job. Maybe I'll go back eventually.
2.  We moved Leah out of her summer dorm at Purdue. It wasn't a hard move because she didn't have much stuff up there. She didn't really unpack but she just reorganized because in ten days she would go right back to school.
3. We moved Jenn out of her Kentucky summer apartment. This move required a uhaul and lots of work. We did it all in one day!
4. Bob went on a big camping trip to Michigan.
5. All us girls relaxed a little and shopped before college started again.
6. Maria had 2 weeks off until her next semester of nursing started. I think she went to 6 concerts!
7. We took  Jenn and Leah back to Purdue to begin their sophomore year.
8. Jenn was a leader for Freshman Orientation.
9. Leah started back up with her research on zebra fish. This is going to be an ongoing project ending with a thesis paper, an honors diploma and hopefully findings on human blindness.
10. Maria was inducted into the IU School of Nursung. In the old days this was the traditional capping ceremony. She is doing so well.
11. Bob's dad was in the hospital and out within 24 hours. He is resilient.
12. Bob and I went to visit my mom and dad. Bob and dad played golf. Mom and I shopped. We all had fun! Mom made a bruschetta that I wish I had right now!
13. Bob continued to remodel our bathroom, master bedroom and upstairs bath.
14. I turned 54.

A lot has happened in 24 days!

This is very random... Lots of little bits of info

 Look very closely to the left of the geraniums.  That is a squirrel.  I hate that squirrel.  He/she has eaten every petunia available and within reach.  I didn't know squirrels liked petunias.

 Bob is still busy with the bathroom(x2) remodel.  Here he is putting in a new vent system.  He had to cut through bricks.  It was about 100 degrees that day.  The daisies are from my dad's yard and the hosta are huge on that side of the house.

 Primo is the Project Manager!!!  He comes over and supervises Bob.  He is set up nicely here with an umbrella to keep out the sun and a cool glass of water.

Maria has been doing exceptionally well in nursing school.  We wanted to celebrate with a special dessert so I made her crustless pie! (She never eats the crust anyway!!)  It was delicious.

My garden is thriving!! I am not sure why we planted so many hot peppers but I have many many right now.  I have 19 green tomatoes on their way to getting red.  I imagine they will all ripen at the same time.  Salsa sounds like a great way to use both the tomatoes and the hot peppers.

Our friends have a big garden and gave us lots of zucchini in exchange for tomatoes.  Bob made stuffed zucchini last week and it was delicious.  Seriously it was equal to restaurant quality food.  He spoils me with his talents!!

We recently celebrated Bob's parents' 66th wedding anniversary. That is a long time!! We enjoyed dinner at Rick's Boatyard. We have lived in the Indy area for over 20 years and I can't believe we have never been there before. We had a great meal plus a beautiful view of the water. 

Now that's a burger!!!!!

Lettuce, tomato and hot pepper are all from the garden.

 In an effort to be more health conscientious, I have filled one of the long drawers in my fridge with healthy options.  It has been a big hit!

I hopped in the car the other day and found Bob's list for the hardware store. I guess he couldn't find any paper and used whatever was close. He is making good use of that scrap lumber!!

So we are doing a little remodeling!! Master bedroom and master bath. And since we are demoing one part of the house, why not do another. Right? We are also remodeling the Twins' bathroom upstairs. 

I'll post pictures as things progress. 

Ice cream sundae toppings. 

This pretty tray elevated some very boring vanilla ice cream we served to guests not too long ago. 

Throughout June, Bob built a beautiful wall across the back of his parent's back yard.  He also put in the stone steps coming off of the deck and put a wall around the bottom of the deck. It was a lot of work for him but it looks great.  The girls helped a lot and I helped a little.  My biggest job was providing lunch on the long work days.

Last, but definitely not least, here is my Maria update! Our oldest is in nursing school and truly has found her perfect fit in everything from school to a boyfriend. Her nursing program is accelerated and piggybacks on the BS she already has from Purdue. It is fast paced and hard but she is doing so well! She studies nonstop but it will pay off in the end. If you know Maria you would definitely want her taking care of you if you were sick or hospitalized. Go Maria! That handsome fellow in the picture is Maria's boyfriend Nick. He is her biggest cheerleader, a fellow Purdue grad and probably the nicest guy you could ever meet.