Kitchen

Finally! We are for the most part finished with the kitchen. We had some little distractions slow us down but we finished! 

Shortly after the countertops were installed we started working on the tile. This was the first time I had ever tiled and it really wasn't that hard. I wanted to stay neutral with the backsplash so we wouldn't take away from the countertops. We also decided to install under cabinet lighting and it really does seem to set everything off.

 

You will notice that we do have a new microwave and dishwasher. Once we started tiling our microwave broke. Then when we were almost finished with everything we thought our dishwasher broke. Come to find out it was ok but we had already purchased a new one. Our wonderful white stove is hanging on strong though!

We still need to paint but I am horrible at deciding on colors so that might be a while.

My New Rock

No it's not a diamond rock. We finally got back to remodeling our kitchen. We had the hardest time deciding what type of countertops we wanted but finally picked Quartz. They are 100% maintenance free and I love them. Next we are going to put up a tile back splash and paint. Eventually the rest of the appliances will be replaced but as long as they are working they are staying put.

The before can be seen here: http://thesondgeroths.blogspot.com/2012_04_01_archive.html

 

 

 

Antigua

This vacation couldn't have come at a better time. We have both been really busy and stressed with work lately and we were ready for some time off. I went there with the intentions of relaxing 100% of the time and not worrying about a thing.

Antigua was beautiful and the weather was perfect. We were beach bums every day which is not typical for us but it felt so right at the time. We kayaked in the ocean which was pretty awesome. We were able to see other islands from the beach and kayaking with the scenery made it feel like we were in a dream.

We are usually asked if we would go back to a place we haved vacationed and my answer is always no because we always like to go somewhere different (except Italy though, would love to go back). I would recommend it to someone though. The flight was pretty expensive and almost as much as flying to Europe so save money on a middle of the road resort. We didn't go for the resort.....we went for the beach and it was absolutely worth it.

At the end of the vacation per our usual routine we started discussing our next destination. Hopefully 2013 will be another big travel year for us.

Toes in the Sand

Finally! I decided almost a year ago that for my big 3-0 birthday that I wanted to go somewhere warm and lay on a beach. I'm having a hard time with 30 approaching and I kind of wanted to skip the day and there is no better place to forget things than in paradise. It also works out that my birthday falls during my least favorite climate so it is a perfect time to go away and celebrate.

It tooks us a long time to decide but in 3 weeks we are going to Antigua. It's a little island in the line of southern caribbean islands. They average 85 degrees in the middle of December......yes please!!!

And we are staying on the west coast of the island (my favorite side for the sunsets).

Here's to another stamp on our passport!

For the Love of the Dog

I guess there was one more homemade thing I wanted to try this weekend. I hate buying dog treats at the store just because they seem so expensive at the time of purchase. We have a large dog so we buy a lot of them.  My dog gets at least one dog treat every morning so he will forget that we are leaving him to go to work. It was my way of training him that it is good for us to leave him for a while and I have been doing this for years. It helped with his separation anxiety and he stopped tearing up random papers and books!

I found a couple easy recipes that I like and picked out the ingrediants I wanted. These were really easy.They add a lot of stuff to dog treats so they will keep for a long time so these homemade ones will need to be used in 3 weeks but I don't think that will be a problem for Cody. They received his approval already.

I used this recipe but used 2 1/2 cups all wheat flour and 1/2 cup of oats.Dog Treats

 

 

 

Long Rainy Weekend = Kitchen Time

This long weekend was going to be used to paint our garage door because it is the one thing we have neglected on our house. The weather ruined our plans though and when I heard how often it was going to rain I planned to spend a lot of time in the kitchen. We have produce that needed to be used and a lot of cooking ahead I've been wanting to do. Our freezer is now full of the following:

• 7 bags of cooked black beans. We use a lot of beans in this house and buying and cooking in bulk did save us a little money but not as much as I thought. However the amount of sodium it is cutting out of our diet makes it worth it.
• Homemade pizza dough. Every friday this summer has become homemade pizza night but I have yet to make my own dough. I've been using the Jiffy mix and spicing it up. I'm pretty proud of the dough in my freezer now.
• 3 loaves of strawberry banana bread. I love baking, especially breads and this is delicious. I made so much because I initially had a freezer full of bananas. I used this recipe and modified it a bit.Strawberry Banana Bread
• Veggie burgers made from scratch. We eat a lot of these but I never think to make a lot of them and freeze them for a quick dinner.

A big bowl of Tomato and Feta Salad is in the fridge. Our garden hasn't been the greatest this year but we do have a ton of tomatoes. I will probably add basil to this because our basil plants have also survived the drought. I use cherry tomatoes for this or even grape tomatoes sliced in half. Drizzle olive oil on the tomatoes and top with feta cheese. Delicious!

Last night we made a big Italian feast. Homemade Gnocchi and homemade white sauce and we polished off a big bottle of vino.

Needless to say the kitchen has been a wreck all weekend but I'm hoping to give it a rest tomorrow.
I wish I had one full day a week to do this amount of cooking because I really do enjoy it when I have nothing else planned.

(Shout out to G-ma b/c I know you are reading!

Warrior Dash Round 2