New Blog!

A few months ago, I had an exciting morning. On the way to work, my blackberry started beeping, and I watched my yahoo email address being taken over by someone--this person changed my password, forwarded all me emails, sent all my contacts an email about me being beat up in London and needing money, deleted all my contacts, and tried to access my facebook acocunt as well. I could do nothing until I got to work.
By about 10am that morning, I decided I needed to delete my yahoo email account entirely--a sad moment, since I had had that account for about 10 years! Fortunately, I had already set up a gmail account to use for work, so I had a new email address ready to go, and had even imported all my yahoo contacts and emails before I knew there would be a problem!
Long story short, this blog is under my old yahoo email address, and in order to blog under my new email address, I had to create a new blog! I did import much of the old blog into the new one, so you can still see pictures of my awful jello salad, Chrismas parties, us building the shed, etc... I will be deleting this blog eventually, so please save the new one! Here is the new blog web address:

http://theplatthouse.blogspot.com

Christmas 2010 - Part 1

This week both Scott and I took Thursday and Friday off. Since we will both be busy in a couple weeks when our anniversary comes around, we decided to spend a night in Omaha before going to Scott's Mom's house for Christmas. We got a room in the Element by Westin hotel in Midtown Crossing. This is a brand new hotel (opened in November) in a new trendy area. It was very nice and modern! Since they were pretty empty, the upgraded us to a room with a full-service kitchen area.This was the most comfortable bed I have ever slept in! They had a booklet there that gave prices for all the bedding and items...the queen size version of this mattress is only $1395...
The bathroom was really cool! I really like the raised sink:

And the shower with the giant rain shower head was amazing.

On Friday we drove to Scott's Mom's house in Hancock. We were happy to be coming 30 minutes from Omaha instead of 3 hours from Oskaloosa, as it was very snowy. We hung out all day, played some wii, did some reading, and played with our new Christmas presents to each other (I gave Scott an ipod, he gave me a nook).

Today Shawn & Audrey (and Wesley and Seth) drove out and we had a nice Christmas lunch, followed by a wild game of dominoes and present time. Melanie got to spend a little time with us also, and was pleased to receive the last two books in the Twilight series.

Mom liked her lotion and body wash:

I got the wonderful job of slicing the meat:

I made a delicious pear-cranberry pie with a pastry cream filling and a crumble top. It was really good!

I also made stained glass jello...well, I tried to anyway. I am not very good at jello salads. It did not set up right and form beautiful squares with shining jello "windows." Instead, it just looks like a bunch of slop. It still tasted ok.

You'll Shoot Your Eye Out!

We had our annual "A Christmas Story" party last weekend. We had a slightly smaller group this year...which worked out okay because we all had pretty comfortable seats while watching the movie. I always borrow the projector from work, and we watch the movie on the wall so it's a "big screen." Cami and Meagan drove out from Iowa City for the party...it was great that they could make it this year!
After the movie some of the people left, and the rest of us played some wii on the big screen. Here is Jacob, Meagan, Cami, and Jodi playing some wii tennis.

We also sang some karaoke...

Mike fell asleep in the chair shortly after the movie ended, and managed to sleep through all of the wii tennis and karaoke. Scott tried to give him a chance to sing too...

Thanksgiving 2010

This year for Thanksgiving we got together with the Evenhouse family on Thanksgiving day, and then went to Scott's Mom's on Friday. For the Evenhouse portion, I made both a honey glazed ham and a turkey--I've never actually made a turkey start to finish before, so that was exciting!

Here is Uncle Time with Rhea, Abby, and Garion.Olivia, Garion, Colleen
Kendall having some tummy time...with Lynn, Garion, Hannah, and Carrie.

Jacob joined our family for the holiday, and Olivia decided he was her best friend for the day. She made him draw a bunch of pictures, and then asked him to identify which rabbit was the mommy, and which was the daddy.

Here we are sitting down to eat. It was pretty crowded around two tables! Jacob took the picture from the top of the steps.

Scott, Garion, and Jacob

Here is Scott moaning about his food baby...

Scott and I finished up our Christmas shopping on Friday morning (we braved the crowds, and we survived!), and then headed to Western Iowa for the Platt family thanksgiving.

Nathan and Esther

Grandma Fender (Scott's Mom) with all the grandkids: Wesley, Nathan, Esther, Seth, Melanie, and Hannah

Scott, Melanie, Colleen

Weekend with Abby

Scott was gone last week, so my niece Abby came over Friday night and spent the night at our house. Abby and I watched "How to Train Your Dragon" and ate pizza, then Abby went to bed and I waited up for Scott to get home (aka: slept on the sofa until about 1am when Scott came in).

On Saturday morning Abby requested bacon, so we had bacon and eggs. Then Abby and I went to the store to get stuff for Thanksgiving, and Scott spent the day outside raking up leaves.

I had to make a pie for the pie auction at our church, and Abby helped! We made a pear cranberry pie with a pastry cream on the inside. I really wish I could have tasted it, as it was a new recipe! Here is Abby rolling out the top pie crust (you can see the bottom of the pie and the filling behind her) And here she is pinching the edges. She had never made a pie before!
Finally, brushing the top with milk and putting slits in it.

This was a beautiful pie--Good job, Abby! I will have to ask the family that bought it at the auction how it tasted.

After our baking excitement, Abby and I put up the Christmas tree and all the decorations. It was great to have her around for a couple days!

Portland, OR (or the mountains in my mind)

This posting is entitled "Portland, OR" not because we are enjoying a wonderful vacation there, but because Scott is enjoying the inside of a hotel conference center there this week. He is learning something about acidification of food, and got to visit a pickle factory today (gag! puke! vomit!). In an incredibly ironic twist, a number of the health inspector professionals (including Scott) developed a bout of food poisoning last night, sending a few of them to the hospital...and fortunately only sending Scott to the bathroom. Scott did bring the camera along this time, and we'll see if he managed to get out to take any pictures. That can be difficult when attending a conference.

Scott has been gone for 2 out of the last 3 weeks for work, as well as one overnight trip in the middle "home" week. I have been so busy that it has hardly hit me that he was gone, as I have been busy at work, and running around like a maniac at home. We don't intend to get this busy, but between church activities, occassional visits with friends, and spending over 2 hours a day in the car commuting, I barely even have time to cook supper. I enjoy being busy, to a certain extent, but this week all I want is to not have to work, but to spend all my time at home cleaning, organizing, cooking, decorating, and listening to Christmas music. I am looking forward to the upcoming holidays.

Tomorrow night my niece Abby is going to spend the night here with me (Scott will get home late). On Saturday she is going to help me bake some goodies for Thanksgiving and possibly even put up Christmas decorations. I'm looking forward to spending some quality time with her!

Once again my pictures aren't lining up...I need to check my settings, I guess.

I have very cold feet, and in the winter I can get into bed and be warm and cozy everywhere except for my ice cold feet. And they will remain cold for hours. This week, I bought some scrap fleece, and made "corn bags" for Scott and myself. I am sure you will appreciate the fabric. I hand sewed the fleece, then filled it with feed corn. Heat it up in the microwave, throw in in the bottom of the bed, and voila! Warm feet all night long!

Tonight for supper I am making Holiday Tortellini soup. In this first picture, you can see the chicken broth simmering with wonderful smelling bits of bacon, onion, and garlic.

And here is the final product. Added tomatoes, spinach, and delicious tri-color cheese tortellini.

And just to make it extra specially good, here's a shot of from scratch oat bread baking in the oven. Should be tasty!

In other news, you may remember that a couple weeks ago the 60 mph winds knocked over our windmill and bent it a big. Scott tried to straighten out the blades, and it was ok until the 40 mph winds hit today. Today we took it apart and put it in the shed for the winter. Here is what it looks like:

Kitchen Creations

I apologize that the words and pictures aren't lining up in this post...I am not sure what is going on, but I can't get it to work right. So, we're just going to have to live with it.

Last weekend I spent most of the day on Saturday making stuff from pears. I canned about 15 quarts of pear sauce, 5pints of pear preserves, and made a bunch of little jars of pear honey. The pear honey isn't actually honey--it's pears, sugar, and pineapple juice cooked until it's the color and consistancy of honey. Yum!

Scott was in Oklahoma City last week for a conference. He left the camera at home, however, so no pictures. Highlights included a trip to the OK City bombing memorial (and a stamp for the national park passport!), and attending the Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Chicago Bulls basketball game.

I worked from home today, so I had time to make a yummy supper. I made a meatloaf (turkey and pork) stuffed with bacon, mushrooms, onions, and mozzarella cheese. It was pretty good!

Here it is, all ready to roll up:

And here we are mid-roll. I've never made anything like this before, and I discovered that when you make a meatloaf roll, the meat tends to split. BUT, you can just mush it back together!

I decided since I was making a yummy meal, I might as well set the table!

And here is the final product!

I also made some rolls and a baked sweet potato. My plate presentation wasn't very good...it looks like the food was frowning! Don't worry, it was very tasty!

I also found time to clean the bathroom. After I finished, I decided to hang up a little shelving thing I've had for a while. Now my q-tips and band-aids are easy to access!

In other exciting news, Pella Christian volleyball won their Regional final tonight, and are going to State for the 4th year in a row!!! Go Eagles!

Olivia's Birthday

Last weekend we went to my parent's house to celebrate Olivia's 3rd birthday. She got a Cinderella dress for her birthday, and wore it all evening.Garion hasn't quite figured out the "self-portrait" camera thing yet.
We gave Olivia a pair of "Barbie" dolls...one was Cinderella in a dress just like Olivia's!

Tim & Carrie came to Pella for the party, so Scott got to meet his new niece Kendall for the first time. He held her for a long time, and even put her to sleep...he's a natural, don't you think?

Uncle Jim and Kendall bonding.

Shed Finished!!!!

Scott and I spent Saturday the 9th finishing off the shed (or tried to anyway). It was about 85 degrees that day, so almost too warm, but we enjoyed the sunny weather. First we put down the metal wall tracks, making sure the corners were square and the door width was correct. Then we put down the "floor kit" that was included. Not the actual floor, as we expected; the "floor kit" was 20 black tiles that you screw down to your wood flooring platform (not included)... Then we started putting up the walls. They were vinyl sheets that slid together, but not easily! We ended up laying each wall down, lubing up each sheet with soapy water, then using all of our brute strength to slide them together. After we had the walls together, we put them up. At this point we realized that having one more person helping would have been nice, as it got a little breezy, and the walls started moving as we were putting together the gables! Scott did catch the shed one time and prevented a complete fall-apart.

After we got the walls and gable up, we began to put on the vinyl roof. Each side had 3 vinyl "shingled" tiles that snapped together, then you screw them down. Unfortunatly, we had 2 that would not snap together! after about 1 1/2 hours, we took those 2 off and laid them on the ground and I jumped on them until they went together, and then we screwed them together. It was more challenging lifting up two pieces to the roof, but we managed.

After putting on the roof, we had to put up 6 trusses on the inside:

Next we put together the doors, but unfortunatly it was too dark to see, so we had to put off hanging them until Sunday evening.

Sunday we put up the doors. The next step was only one page, and 5 lines of instruction. However, it involved screwing approximately 200 screws into the inner walls, roof tiles, gables, doors, etc. We ran out of day light again. So, this past Friday I took the day off and we got up early and with drills in hand finished the shed! We had to run to the store to get more screws, as they included an ENTIRE bag of screws that the instructions never had us use, but didn't send enough of two other types...Here is the finished product!

Lessons Learned:

1) When the package says 'floor kit included', that doesn't actually mean the flooring surface.

2) "Easy Assembly" is a relative term.

3) Recruit a couple people to help, as if we'd had 3-4, we may have finished in one day.

4) The instructions were poorly written, incomplete, not in order, and the inventory list is incorrect.

5) The best way to get to know everyone in town is to build a shed in your back yard. Especially if you are the corner lot with the "Welcome to University Park" sign in your yard and an alley along the back edge.

In other news, I have not yet posted pictures of our twins. Here is a picture of the old washer and dryer:

And here is one of the new dryer (the washer looks exactly the same, so I didn't post a picture).

Now we just need to take down wood paneling, re-drywall, paint, and put down new flooring, and the laundry room will look as good as the washer/dryer!

In other, other news, my friend Sara and I drove down to Louisiana, MO for an evening to hang out with our friend Jana. The trip involved supper, chatting, and some trips to antique malls. I bought a pie bird:

I also bought a set of 6 lovely glasses. I have discovered that my taste in decor is very different than Scott's. I like 70's retro, he does not. So I always ask myself, "Will Scott like this?" If these glasses had been red, orange, brown, green, or mustard yellow, I wouldn't have bought them, but I decided Scott could live with blue.