February Adventures

We've gotten a lot of snow this winter. Just about everyone is sick of it by now. About a week ago, the Northwest Herald reported that we'd gotten 69 inches of snow so far; only 5.5 inches below the all-time record set during the legendary '78-'79 winter (Chicago got 89" that year).

Wendy and I have started to notice a pattern. Right about the time the snow melts to the point where we can see patches of grass in our yard, a new snowstorm hits. Today was no exception. We opened the blinds, saw a patch of grass, and checked the weather: 2-4" of snow expected over the next few days.

I snapped these photos from our bedroom window the morning after one the larger snowstorms this year.





A few weeks ago the total lunar eclipse occurred. I shoveled and de-iced the deck the weekend before (which was a lot of work!), just in case it was clear that night. We lucked out and it was! Unfortunately though it was only 10 degrees that evening. So we put on as many clothes as we possibly could, wrapped ourselves in blankets, sat outside with a mug of hot chocolate and watched as much of the eclipse as possible. I think we lasted about 45 minutes, which isn't too bad. But we were really, really, cold.



Yesterday we drove down to Chicago and spent the afternoon at the Field Museum. We were drawn by a special exhibit on George Washington Carver. In college, we went to the George Washington Carver National Monument just outside Joplin, MO. At the time we knew him as "the peanut guy", but we soon discovered he was a much more fascinating person. In addition to being a scientist, he was an artist, a great educator, a tremendous friend and inspiration to countless people, and he possessed great humility and a great love of nature. His greatest contribution, though, didn't come from the laboratory, but from translating the results of science into knowledge and actions that the poor farmers of the day could use. We enjoyed the National Monument so much that this past Christmas we stopped there again on our way to Oklahoma. We found they'd expanded the building and put in several new exhibits, including some interesting audio interviews (Carver had a very unusual voice).

When we got home after Christmas, we saw that the Field Musuem was having an exhibit on Carver starting in February. We thought it a funny coincidence and decided to go check it out. We were not disappointed. I was especially pleased that they had a few more samples of his artwork. A lot of his artwork was lost in a fire, but the pieces I've seen -- mostly of plants -- are really good. It's definitely worth the price of admission.

After the Field Musuem, I dragged Wendy to a comic book store in north Chicago called Chicago Comics. It was cool; they had a large selection of graphic novels. And it was neat to see some of the north-side. Parking, as you can imagine, was a big mess, and I swear some of the cars parallel-parked along the street were so close to each other there's no way they could get out. Anyway, just to make things even, Wendy then dragged me to a store so she could go clothes shopping!


Finally, for our Wii-loving friends out there, we've started playing a new game that's a lot of fun: Zack and Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure. It's flown under-the-radar a bit, but it's possibly the best third-party game available for the Wii. You play a young boy who wants to be a pirate, and the goal is to find treasure, but there are all kinds of puzzles you have to get through. It makes really good use of the Wii remote, and the puzzles are very clever. So far it's been a lot of fun.

Library Nirvana

It took two weekends, a lot of driving, and several trips to the store to find the right tool, but we at last have enough bookshelves for our books!

Several weekends ago we bravely ventured forth to the Schaumburg IKEA, determined to spend our hard-won Christmas monies on bookshelves. The overflowing piles of book boxes in our family room had simply become too much to bear. So we turned our gaze to ikea.com in search of answers, and one word leapt out at us, promising to solve all our storage needs. It was "Billy". We considered ordering online, but decided against it; we had to witness Billy in person. We had to be sure.

Thus we found ourselves in Schaumburg, IL. Knowing full well the magnitude of the task before us, we stopped first at Macaroni Grill, where we spent another hard-won Christmas present: a "gift card." After filling ourselves with eggplant parmesan and margarita pizza, we began our task. IKEA beckoned. Making our way through the turbulent throngs, climbing floor after floor of home furnishings, and maintaining a sharp, laser-like focus, we found ourselves amidst the Billy showcases. And it was good.

We secured our items and proceeded to checkout. Our plan was to have IKEA deliver the goods to us, but another, cheaper alternative presented itself. There was an on-site Enterprise store with vans available to rent. So we found ourselves driving back home not in our car, but in a full-size cargo van. After one hour to get home, half an hour to unload, one hour back to drop off the van, several minutes of being lost, and one more hour back home in our car, we had accomplished our goal. Bookshelves! At least, bookshelves in a box.

The next day, Sunday, saw us put the bookshelves together. We soon found this was the easy part. Getting them properly aligned and anchored on the wall was a task we left for the next weekend. Working well into the night the next Saturday, with the aid of dogged persistence, wooden shims, an offset screwdriver, and caramel-chocolate-chip cookies, we finally finished. The next day, another Sunday, we put up our books. And, again, just as before, it was good. Billy was right.

From start to finish:







With our books off of the floor and into their rightful place, I couldn't resist cataloging them via LibraryThing. The above shelves hold 346 books of all sizes, shapes, and subjects. We're not done cataloging, but we estimate this is about half of our total collection, with the rest scattered among smaller bookshelves throughout the house.

Sunday Breakfast

I like to make Sunday breakfast. I don't always cook Sunday mornings, but I would say more often than not I make muffins or pancakes or waffles or something. This morning, I made Four-Grain Pancakes, and they were so tasty that I knew I had an obligation to share the recipe with the world.

Here's my recipe, slightly adapted from one of my cookbooks. Next time you're hungry and you have some extra time for breakfast, make these. Seriously. You can thank me later.

Four-Grain Pancakes

1/2 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
2 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
This is the part that I think completely makes the recipe:
1 packet of instant flavored oatmeal
The original recipe calls for 1/3 cup quick-cooking oats and 3 T maple syrup, and you could certainly do that, but I used 1 packet of Quaker Weight Control Oatmeal in Maple and Brown Sugar flavor, and it is insanely good. The packet was about 1/2 cup of uncooked oatmeal.
2 cups buttermilk
I also did not use buttermilk, but soy milk made a fine substitute. I'm sure regular milk would as well, although you might want to use slightly less than 2 cups, since neither is as thick as buttermilk.
1/3 cup butter, melted
2 eggs, beaten

In a large bowl, combine everything. Stir just until it's all mixed together - don't overmix.

Heat a griddle or skillet over medium-high heat. I use a non-stick skillet, and you'll definitely want to spray it with non-stick spray or grease it with butter for the first set of pancakes. You'll know the griddle is hot enough when you sprinkle a few drops of water on it and they dance around before evaporating.

Cook the pancakes - they should sizzle a little when they hit the griddle, because you want them to be slightly crispy on the outside. They'll take a few minutes on the first side and only a minute or so once you flip them. This recipe made about 16 pancakes, which is always enough to feed the 2 of us twice. So, four servings, I guess. Pancakes freeze really well, if you have leftovers. Just let them cool, put them in a ziploc and put them in the freezer.

More photos than you can shake a stick at!!

The long-awaited photos of our kitchen have finally arrived! Kudos to Abby for finally twisting our arms enough to get the pictures posted.

Here's a smattering of before pictures. Click to enlarge.

Below is the best photo we have of the previous floor, so be sure to take a good look.

Here you can really tell that the top cabinets were a different shade of off-white than the bottom ones. And, again, the floor. Ugh.

Finally, a couple of cabinet close-ups so you can see the old hardware.

Here's a list of what we did over the course of the summer:

• Painted the kitchen walls a "Honeypot" color.
• Removed all the cabinet doors and threw away the old hinges and knobs.
• Sanded, patched, primed, and painted the cabinets and doors a "Pot of Cream" color.
• Took off the existing adhesive shelf liner and put down new liner.
• Installed new hinges and knobs and re-attached the cabinet doors.
• Stripped the surface of the old floor.
• Applied embossing leveler.
• Installed self-adhesive vinyl tile.
  

Without further ado...











As you can tell, the kitchen looks MUCH better! We are quite pleased with how it turned out (the floor, especially). And we spent around $800-$900 on everything, so it was much cheaper than doing a remodel. One funny thing is that updating the cabinets, walls, and floor have really made the sink and refrigerator look dated, so those may have to get replaced at some point.

Finally, we'll leave you with a few pictures taken in-progress:




Auf Wiedersehen!

Labor Day

Our kitchen floor is finally done and it looks so good. Pictures to follow as soon as we find the batteries for the camera and also the strength to put them in.

We're still here!

So...hello again! Allow me to summarize our spring and summer.

- We spent a lot of time working on disassembling, sanding, priming, sanding, painting, reassembling and changing the hardware on our kitchen cabinets, as well as painting the kitchen walls. Everything looks a lot better now - we've got lot of before-and-after pictures to post, but I think we'll wait until we've replaced the floor and the whole thing is completely finished.

- Abby came for a visit, decided not to move here after all, and went home. We still had fun.

- Two weeks passed, and Abby (along with my parents, grandparents and the rest of my dad's side of the family) came back for a visit/triennial family reunion thingy. We did lots of touristy Chicago things and had a nice time, but I think the best part was having everyone over to our house, where we ate ice cream and played with the Wii. There's a game on Wii Play where you use the remote to steer your cow through an obstacle course, knocking over scarecrows as you go. Everyone (even Grandma and Grandpa) gave it a try, and we had a lot of fun.

- I'm in the process of applying for a different job in the same department at work - it's full-time and more responsibility and best of all, no evenings or weekends. I am so excited about it. My interview was today. Please cross your fingers for me!

- I read Harry Potter. No spoilers here!

- Randy turned 30! We went to Galena, which is a small town in the northwest corner of Illinois, for a long weekend and had a really nice time. They have a historic downtown with a lot of really neat little shops, and we also went canoeing on the Galena River and hiking in Apple River Canyon State Park, which was very pretty.

- And finally, and most importantly of all: We bought a coffee table and end table for our living room! We have been looking for, honestly, almost a year. I don't know why it was so tricky, but we finally found ones that will both fit in our living room and look nice with what we have. They won't be delivered for another week and a bit, but we've been without them for so long that another little bit doesn't really matter.

What have you all been up to for the past four months?

Turtle Power!

In the past month my mom and Joy each had a chance to visit us. Their trips were separated by three weeks and nearly sixty degrees: Mom came at the beginning of March and got to experience temps in the 20s and dangerous blowing snow; Joy came at the end of March when the high almost hit 80.

While we were giving Joy a tour of the area we drove by the McHenry dam and noticed that the Fox River was unusually high. This morning Wendy and I went back to take some pictures and go for our first hike of the season.


To give you some perspective, the trees in the next two pictures are not usually under water.




As we were walking, we kept noticing more and more turtles out sunning themselves on logs. We started to keep count and literally came up with over 100 turtles!










There were lots of beautiful dark clouds racing across the sky during our hike. It turned out to be good timing; later in the day it turned windy, cold, and rainy.

Icy Cold Fun

A few weeks ago, while it was still brutally cold, we took a trip to Lake Michigan to see how it was holding up. We had no idea how much, if any, of it would freeze. What we found was a frozen beach, with ice jutting out into the water, and large chunks of ice floating in the lake.

All the white specks you can see in the distance are chunks of ice.

The cute, shivering girl in this picture is my wife:

The stoic, wind-blown guy in this picture is yours truly:

The frozen, wind-blown beach in this picture is, well, the frozen, wind-blown beach:

While we were there, it was 15°, with a wind chill of 0. Honestly, though, it felt colder.

Can't You Smell That Smell?

Welcome to our renamed blog! We had been talking about renaming it for a while, but the other day we finally got the proper impetus:

I was making dinner and Randy was washing veggies for me to chop. He grabbed something to toss it in the trashcan, and his wedding ring slipped right off his cold, wet finger and into the trash. Oops. After a few minutes of carefully transferring trash from one bag to the other, he triumphantly held up his ring.

"Ah," I said. "It's the stench of discovery!"

It is, natürlich, a Spongebob reference. There's an episode where he loses his Krusty Krab nametag, and he and Patrick have to dig through a dumpster to find it again. Just before they dive in, Spongebob says, "What is that stench?" And Patrick tells him: the stench of discovery. Of course, it turns out to be the stench of discovering that you've just been wearing your shirt backward and your nametag has been there all along, but still.

In other news, it has been coooooold here. The last few days have been in the 20s, and have actually felt quite pleasantly warm. We've also been getting - well, not a lot of snow, but a little bit of snow repeatedly. Just enough to have to repeatedly shovel the driveway, except for yesterday when we got maybe three inches, but the wind was blowing so hard that we ended up with drifts of six to eight inches that we had to shovel away. I think this is probably a much more typical Chicago winter than last year's - it is definitely colder.

We're also taking a ballroom dancing class. So far we've learned to foxtrot and most of the steps for swing - waltzing and the tango are ahead of us still. Even though I was looking forward to the class, I was nervous about how well it was going to go, since I have a notable lack of coordination. I walk into walls, door frames, and furniture; I trip over my own feet and also the air. But I think it's actually gone quite well - we're maybe not the best dancers in the class, but we are far from the worst. The class has been a lot of fun so far.

And, in house news, we finally figured out how to arrange our living room furniture. The people who lived here before obviously didn't use their living room much, and obviously didn't have any idea of how to best arrange the furniture. It is a little tricky because we have one room for our living room and dining room without any obvious demarcation between the two, and while it's certainly not a small room, it's not huge either. So I had been kind of half-heartedly pushing the sofa and loveseat around without ever being inspired by the way it looked.

But I came home from work last Saturday, and Randy had found the perfect arrangement. Somehow it just works now - we never hung out in the living room before, and I kept thinking it was because we still don't have any accessories (we're looking! it just takes time), but now we do hang out there. All he did was rotate everything 90 degrees to the left of where it was in the living room picture here, but now it feels like a place you want to be. Clearly Randy is some kind of heretofore unrecognized interior decorating genius, because I tried every single other configuration - parallel, diagonal, angled toward each other, angled away, whatever. Anyway, it's nice!

Tasty Morsels

* If there was any doubt about us being bona fide home owners, it can now be put to rest. We spent our Friday night at Home Depot and Menards, looking for a new bathroom light fixture and mirror.

* We went to see Children of Men last Tuesday evening, and wound up being the only two people in the theater. That made us wonder if they even bother starting the movie if no one shows up. We decided they must, because someone could always come a little late, and if the movie hadn't started, that would make the next showing start late. Anyway, the movie was very intense, but very good.

* On Friday the temperature hit 40°, the first time we'd been above freezing in two weeks. It was but a brief respite, however. Highs for the next 10 days range from 7 to 25 degrees.

* As you can imagine, people are very excited about the Bears being in the Super Bowl. There's a billboard somewhere in Chicago that we saw once, which said "Baseball will divide Chicago, but the Bears shall unite it."

* The past few weeks I've been working on replacing the old light switches and electrical outlets in our house. I'm very pleased, because not only did I successfully replace two 3-way switches, but I fixed two 3-way switches that had been installed incorrectly! Woo!

* We've been trying a few new recipes lately, with great success. Last week we made pasta with olive pesto, and it was INSANELY GOOD! Wendy got the idea from an event at work, where a restaurant catered the food and brought olive pesto pasta. They said it was their best-seller, and I now believe it.

* We also tried homemade pretzels, which were good. Ditto for a chocolate mint cake we had right after New Years. Also, Wendy used an Amazon gift certificate to buy a Muffin-Top Pan. I had never heard of these before, but I was blown away when she told me about it. Basically they let you just make muffin tops, ala Seinfeld. Today we had chocolate chocolate-chip muffin tops. Very, very tasty.

* Lest you think we gorge ourselves on decadent desserts, we've also been trying some recipes from The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen. I found it on Amazon, and was intrigued because it had over 50 reviews with an average rating of 5 stars. Everyone says that the recipes are great, even for non-vegans, and so far, yeah, we agree. Spaghettini with Walnut-Garlic Sauce and Herbed Scalloped Potatoes, Provencal Style are a few of the tasty dishes we've tried.

Recapping the New Year

Wendy and I made the usual rounds over Christmas, visiting each of our fams for several days, and having a delightful time. Fortunately travel went relatively smoothly for all involved, despite the blizzards in Colorado and storms in Dallas.

In Tulsa, we got a chance to have lunch with our friend George, which was cool. And we also made our annual trip to Bill & Ruth's, a local sandwich shop that has super-tasty 3 cheese and avocado subs. If you're ever in Tulsa, stop by and check 'em out. In Wichita, we got a tour of the new house Wendy's parents are having built. It's rapidly coming together, and Wendy and I are both jealous because it's going to be very nice when it's done!

When we got back home, we were surprised to find the oak trees in our front yard had been trimmed. We had a company come out and give an estimate for it, but we never agreed to have the work actually done. After talking to them, we found they had made an honest mistake, and after a bit of haggling we reached a fair compromise to settle the issue. That's just part of the fun of owning a home, I suppose.

We also said goodbye to the college football season by watching nearly all of the final bowl games. Sadly, OU lost its bowl game to Boise State, 43-42 in overtime. It is, however, being called one of the greatest games of all time. OU fell behind by 18 points in the 3rd quarter, then staged a miraculous comeback, only to see Boise State stage an even more miraculous comeback. The way I look at it, though, is that Boise State ran, quite literally, every trick play in the book, and they still barely managed to pull out a one point win in overtime. At least it was a good game. And now the countdown to next season can start!

And, finally, our blog has been updated to a new version, so you'll notice a few things may look slightly different. We can now label posts, which is super-handy, and the Archive links to the right have been made a bit more useful. And for those of our readers that use RSS feeds, you'll find links on the sidebar to subscribe to posts and to comments. Enjoy!

PictureFest

Like much of the country, we were hit with heavy snow last week. Here's the view we had from our kitchen window after the snow stopped:


We were curious as to how much snow we received, so Wendy bravely went forth with measuring tape in hand.


We measured 9" on the railing, and up to a foot on the deck. Later that day, I performed my own act of bravery by shoveling the driveway (with the snow shovel we cleverly bought the night before the storm hit).


It's been a week, and there's still plenty of snow left on the ground. The highs the past few days have been in the teens, but thankfully we're due for a warm-up this weekend, with temperatures returning to the mid-40's.

Turning from the outside to the inside, here are the highly anticipated photos of our dining room and living room.


The living room still has some work left to be done (note the lack of a coffee table, end table, and pictures).


And, finally, our snazzy red bathroom, which Wendy painted just before Thanksgiving.


I hope you enjoyed the tour. Please come again soon!