A Good Read

Hello Blog!  I have been crazy busy with end of school year/spring activities the past couple of weeks and have neglected adding some new entries.  I have had many thoughts pop into my head about new blog entries, but they pop out just as quickly as I had them.  That is what happens when you are juggling volunteering, field trips, a "I am going to be six" birthday, and home improvement projects.

I sat down on the couch today, a first in a while, and read this column.  Had to share it with you since I had a good laugh at it!

http://www.latimes.com/features/home/la-hm-erskine-may21-20110521,0,3454988.column

My Favorite Room

Do you have a favorite room?  I love all of our house, well, I would like a bonus room for the kids, or maybe a new kitchen; but all in all I am very comfortable and content here.  The room I love the most is one that only cost $500 to add on and has lots of fresh air.

A year ago I decided that I wanted to get as much use out of our patio as possible and was miserable from the hot summer sun coming into our slider and blinding us in the family room.  I had estimates on a patio cover, but because of our wonky roof line, it was going to cost a fortune.  I researched every possibility.  When my mind is set on doing something it usually doesn’t go away until the project is complete.  I found a gazebo on sale at Target and patio furniture on sale at Wal-Mart.  I was able to purchase both and only use a portion of my saved painting money.

You can imagine the look on my husband’s face when he arrived home from work to see new patio furniture (all assembled with the help of my dad) and a long box with a gazebo for him to assemble!

We (notice I put “we”, my husband also enjoys the new room) love our new room and spend hours out there from May through to November; Southern California weather really lends itself to an outdoor room!  I love our view, the part without the basketball standard, the hills and tall trees are always peaceful to look at…except when they were on fire 3 years ago.  Our neighbors behind us had old ugly enormous TV antennae that the Lord so kindly blew off the roof during a Santa Ana wind day, so now our view is unobstructed!

If you don’t have an outdoor room and would like one they are easy to make, inexpensive, and can yield hours of enjoyment!  Just throw some furniture out there, add some plants, a couple of outdoor pillows and your room is complete!  You can get any look for your outdoor space you want from Sanford and Sons (am I dating myself or what?) to Architectural Digest…it is all about what makes your outdoor space your favorite room.

Upgrade

The exciting news in our house is that my husband upgraded his car!  This is a major event since he has been saying he will look for a new car for the last 3 years.  We actually went to a car dealership 3 years ago and test drove a car, but his gelape, as we like to call it, just kept running.  The gelape is also called “The Green Beast” by our mechanic, who has seen it as a challenge to keep the car running.  I believe he actually under charges us for maintenance so that we keep the car, I think he brags about it when we aren’t around.

The gelape is 12 years and 2 days old.  It is a Pontiac Grand Prix, not only does the make not exist anymore, either does the brand.  It has only 1 working window, on the passenger side.  The air only works on levels 2 and up.  If you turn the volume on the radio down it goes up really high first and nearly deafens you and all your passengers.  The upholstery is so worn that it is like sitting against sand paper, when you move it tears at your shirt and pulls you back; saying, “Please, please help me”.  Every time a warning light comes on the dashboard my husband just covers them with black electrical tape so he doesn’t have to look at the dash lit up like a Christmas tree.  The area between the front of the car and the engine has worn so thin you can feel the heat of the engine if you are sitting in the front of the car, probably not a Consumer Reports positive mark.  The amazing thing about the gelape is that with maintenance and a new trans (put in 3 years ago) it has been an excellent car.

The engine is original and left us yesterday at 228, 556 miles!

The S60 Caspian is the new replacement!  It is a Volvo S60 T5.  Also an amazing car!  When you only buy a car once every 12 years, the technology on the new one literally blows you out of the dealership.  Our car salesman said, “Going from the Pontiac to the S60 is like trading in a Model T for a rocket ship”.  He was right!  The windows, all 4, go up AND down, the radio volume can be controlled from various places in the car and you can plug in your IPod and see the songs displayed on the center dashboard screen, the air is climate controlled by seat, and most importantly the whole car doesn’t shake and sound like it is falling apart if you do over 60 on the freeway!  The most important thing to me is knowing my family is in a safe car…we just hope our car salesman made it back to Palm Springs last night in the gelape!

Vacation!

Vacation!  We have been on a spring vacation in Palm Springs for the past 5 days.  I consider it a successful vacation!  The kids only had to apologize to old ladies at the pool once; I mean once each, for blasting them and the paperback book they were reading with their water guns.  The kids have only had 5 Otter Pops a day, we have barely made a dent in the box of 100 my parents bought and put in the freezer.  The kids didn’t wake up any earlier than 5:30 am and remained slightly quiet until 6:15 am…I did have more Starbucks than normal, thanks to my husband for his Starbucks runs!  When my son showed my mom a bruise on his shoulder from playing nation ball he didn’t even question her when she commented, “that looks like a hickey”…close call!

I hope you all had a great spring break!  We enjoyed catching up with our family, as crazy as they all are!

Happy Secretaries Day!

Happy Secretaries Day!  Actually Secretaries Day is next week, but since we have Easter Break we are celebrating the school secretaries this week.  I always want to give them a little something to say, “Thank You” for all they do, but with 3 of them I have to think of money wise gift ideas.

My idea for this year is fun and inexpensive, yet practical!  I bought hand sanitizer gel at the dollar store, doesn’t matter what kind, you will cover it up!  I then bought a bag of jelly beans, some cello bags, ribbon, and used some cardstock and gems I had at home.

1.      Print out a cute saying with a fun font to glue to the front of the bottle.

2.    Glue on some gems, tie on a ribbon, and put in a cello bag.

3.    Surround bottom of bottle with jelly beans.

Now wasn’t that the easiest gift?!

Trader Joes Easy Pasta

Time for an easy pasta dish!  I love to cook and try new recipes.  Sometimes you stumble upon something so good and easy that it becomes one of your staple recipes.  This pasta dish is a family favorite that I make once a week or at least every two weeks.  I love that the ingredients are easy to locate and that it takes about 20 minutes to make.  Even better is the fact that I can morph the leftover pasta into another meal!

I start with whole wheat pasta from my favorite store, Trader Joes (alright, I have many favorite stores, a hazard of loving to shop, but TJ’s is my favorite food store) then I add their marinara sauce and their frozen meatballs (they have turkey and beef; both are tasty and family approved).

Trader Joes Easy Pasta

1 package whole wheat pasta

1 jar marinara

1 bag frozen meatballs

Cook up your pasta the regular way, while boiling pasta, place meatballs in a glass microwavable dish and cook in micro for 4-5 minutes.  When meatballs are done, pour marinara over meatballs, return to micro and cook for 2-3 minutes.  After draining cooked pasta, dish up pasta and sauce/meatballs.  Easy pasta is complete (I usually add a salad from our garden)!

Since I make a whole package of pasta I usually have leftover plain pasta.  I throw that in a container and put it in the fridge for the next day.

 Day two:

 With a large skillet, add some olive oil, the leftover pasta, seasoning (I love 21 season salute from Trader Joes), and some cut up veggies (my first choice is asparagus).  Sauté for 5-10 minutes, turning to coat and prevent burning. Now you have pasta primavera for lunch!

Field Trip

I think that adults should go on field trips!  We think they are just for kids, but we are just as likely to learn and have fun from a field trip of our own.  Since both of my kids were in capable hands until 3pm on Wednesday I was able to indulge in a field trip of my own with my mom.

My mom suggested Sherman Library and Gardens down in Corona del Mar, California.  I have driven by it many times and have always heard amazing things about it, but have never been!  My mom and I both love all things flora (and fauna as well) so I knew we would have fun seeing some amazing plant specimens, learning new facts, and maybe even sharing our knowledge with the docents there.

Sherman Library and Gardens is situated on 2.2 acres of land on the ocean side of Pacific Coast Highway (prime real estate for sure).  It was started in 1966 and today houses wonderful plants, fountains, and an amazing 5 star (in my opinion) restaurant.  It is only $3 to get in and walk around the gardens.  They even have a cell phone tour you can take for free.  We had a lovely time walking through the rose garden, orchid house, and succulent garden.  We even had a great conversation with the plant expert!

My favorite was the “Hot Cocoa” rose in the rose garden (pictured below) and the unusual bumble bee we encountered.  I also loved all the large pots of hydrangeas; they have always been one of my favorite flowers!