Dreams

I LOVE Disneyland. And, when it comes to Disneyland, I have two dreams that I must fulfill before I die.

1. Visit Disneyland at Christmas time.



The Halloween decorations are pretty awesome, so I can't even imagine how spectacular Disneyland would be at Christmas. In my Disney Christmas dream, I will go in the middle of December when kids are still in school, so the crowds aren't bad, but the park is all decked out in full Christmas glory. The other day I saw an ad for Disneyland, promoting the Disney Christmas time fun. For a split second, I thought about finding flights and getting tickets. Then I remembered that we just bought a house and property taxes are due and we just had to have the termite guy come and we just had to replace the furnace (that I have yet to post about). So, this will not be the year for Disneyland Christmas. But, it will happen some day.

2. Go to Disneyland and stay in the Disneyland Hotel.



This could happen in conjunction with dream number one. Or they could be separate visits. Either way, it's gonna happen. The thought of leaving the hotel, getting on the monorail, and being in the park in a matter of minutes is SOO appealing. The Disneyland Hotel is expensive, though, so because of the reasons stated above, this dream will also not be fulfilled in the near future. But, these have been dreams of mine for quite some time now, so I can handle waiting a little longer. And when these dreams are fulfilled, I expect it to be glorious!

Vegetable Supreme

My last post sparked the question, "What is Vegetable Supreme?" Let me enlighten those not familiar with this lovely seasoning blend from McCormick (BTW, Lenessa, I'm surprised you don't know what it is. Your husband knows of Vegetable Supreme and declared his love for it). This, my lovely readers, is Vegetable Supreme:



A tasty seasoning blend for virtually any kind of vegetable. I grew up with the taste of Vegetable Supreme and, shamefully, I probably don't use it as much as it deserves to be used. It is tasty and so easy to just sprinkle on veggies. If you see it in the store, snatch it up and start sprinkling. Unfortunately, I searched the McCormick website high and low for information on this beloved vegetable seasoning. I found nothing. This leads me to believe that McCormick has discontinued the product and replaced it with this imposter seasoning blend:



I checked the ingredient lists. They aren't the same. I've never had this particular seasoning blend, so I can't vouch for it's flavor and I can't say how tasty it will make Brussels Sprouts. But, if indeed Vegetable Supreme is gone, this may be the only option. Fortunately, my bottle of Vegetable Supreme is fairly new and I still have a lot left. But, when the bottle is empty, I can only hope this "Perfect Pinch Vegetable Seasoning" proves a worthy successor.

Won't You Be My Neighbor and How I Make Brussels Sprouts

Mr. Frisby and I are liking Morgan Hill. It's a nice place to live. The people are very friendly, the commute isn't too bad, and our new ward is great. Lately, while out walking Scout, I've noticed several houses for sale along our walking route. So, who wants to move to Morgan Hill and be our neighbors? It would be great fun. And, we live in a neighborhood that has lots of houses like ours and also houses that are much bigger and nicer than ours. So, there's something for everyone. Who's in?

Okay, some people want to know how I make Brussels Sprouts in an edible manner. First, let me give credit where credit is due. I learned to make Brussels Sprouts from my sister. I would never have come up with this on my own. Okay, here's what you do. Rinse the Brussels Sprouts and then slice off the very end of the stem. Boil them for 8-10 minutes until tender. Take them out of the water and quarter them lengthwise as soon as they are cool enough to touch. Saute them in Olive Oil. When the Brussels Sprouts start to brown, add some pine nuts. Saute for a couple more minutes, then remove from heat and toss with Vegetable Supreme and Parmesan Cheese if you want. They're delicious!

Scout's New Friend

Meet Myrtle:



Myrtle is the Box Turtle that lives in my parents' backyard. Myrtle was originally acquired as a pet for my sister, but she has had free roaming privileges in the backyard since the day she arrived at our house. When my sister got older and went away to school and then later got married, it was determined that it would be best for Myrtle to stay in the warm California climate. So, Myrtle has remained, free-roaming, for years. She is elusive, though, and only comes out from hiding on rare occasions. One of those occasions was the other day while Scout was out exploring. The encounter was pretty funny.

I heard Scout start barking like crazy in the backyard at my parents' house, so I went out to investigate. This is what I saw:




Scout is super curious and really wanted to check Myrtle out. But, she wasn't sure what to make of Myrtle, so she was pretty cautious as well. She was a little more bold once I got out there and started sniffing Myrtle like crazy. Myrtle, of course, stayed safely tucked in her shell. I tried to explain to Scout that Myrtle is okay and she should just leave her alone. She didn't seem to care. She sat there sniffing and barking for a few more minutes, but finally lost interest when Myrtle wouldn't come back out of her shell. Smart turtle. Hopefully Scout will realize that Myrtle is a friend and not an enemy. She does eat the snails after all, so we like having her around.

Mary, Mary Quite Contrary

One of the things I noticed when Mr. Frisby and I looked at our house for the first time was that it has a perfect, built-in spot for a vegetable garden:



This is one side of the house and the area is totally gated off. It's perfect. Unfortunately, in the time it took us to decide we wanted the house, put an offer on it, negotiate, close and move in, the spring/summer planting season was over. As it turns out, we've been busy getting settled in and working on things around the house, so planting things has taken a backseat anyway. But, I have big dreams for next spring. And, in the meantime, I have managed to plant a few things for a winter garden.

Brussels Sprouts:



These plants I bought at the nursery and I'm pretty excited for homegrown Brussels Sprouts. I know Brussels Sprouts are not a popular or well-liked vegetable, but here in the Frisby home, we eat them often and we love them! It's all about how you make them.

Redleaf Lettuce:



These I planted from seeds and they're just sprouting. I've never grown lettuce before (of course, I've never grown a lot of things), so it will be interesting to see how they turn out. It could be fun to be eating salad with homegrown lettuce. Or it could be totally not worth it. We'll see what the verdict is when these babies are full grown.

Raspberries:



Okay, I know that Raspberries are neither a winter-bearing plant nor a vegetable. So, technically, this is not part of my winter vegetable garden. But, the plant was on sale at the nursery and I LOVE raspberries, so I'm excited to pick these bad boys and enjoy them next spring/summer along with the other things I will be planting then.

So, it's a small winter vegetable garden, but at least it's something. And, I'm busy getting some flowers in the ground, too. One of the benefits of house-sitting for my parents was that Mr. Frisby and I quickly became familiar with the yard work that comes with owning a home. I have lots of plans and lots of things to plant. But, I will save that post for another time (like, when I actually have time to do the planting). For now, I'll be rooting for my Brussels Sprouts and Lettuce. Go Vegetables!

Happy Halloween!

Halloween greetings from our fierce lion and her brave lion tamer!

The Great Ceiling Project

The ceiling is done! Actually, let me clarify. The ceiling is not quite done. We have some nail holes to fill with putty, a little caulking, and then some touch up painting. That should be done in the next couple of days, though, and that work is not visible in the following photos, so for the purposes of this blog, we will consider the ceiling done. Here's how it all went down:

Actually, before I get into the run-down, I must say a HUGE thank you to all of our vertically gifted friends who took the time to help us. As we quickly found out, this was not a one-person job, nor was it a short-person job. It took at least two tall men to get it done. So, thank you, thank you, thank you to Aaron, Andrew, and David.

Last Saturday was our planned installation day. We planned, perhaps a little optimistically, to finish it all in one day (except the moulding). That didn't quite happen, although lots of progress was made. I, of course, had to work. So, I was there to help and see the project get underway in the morning and I saw about two hours of work happen before I had to leave. The beginning was fairly easy. Especially given the fact that Aaron didn't need a ladder.



When I left for work, the ceiling was looking about like this and I started to have concerns about it not getting finished that day:



When Aaron had to leave a couple hours later, they had only gotten about a quarter of the way done. We realized that they must have used all of the difficult boards that morning because when Andrew stepped in after Aaron left, the boards went in great and they started cruising through. Apparently Mr. Frisby had some time to get a little creative as well:





In spite of the pace picking up with the easier boards, they weren't quite able to finish before Andrew had to leave and when I returned home that night after work, they had done about three quarters of the ceiling. When I walked into the house, I loved how it looked and was pretty impressed. But, since we had to empty out our living room to work on it, we immediately started making plans for getting it all done. So, we arranged with David to come help us finish it up on Tuesday. He came and after only a couple of hours, they were nearly done. And then we ran into another little problem. We were ONE board short. Just one. At that point, we decided we would get the moulding and get it all ready so we could put in the last board and a half and the moulding all at the same time and be done with it. Scout was very helpful in trying to clean up the sawdust:



Over the next couple of days, we got the final board ready, got the moulding, painted it and made arrangements with David to come back and help finish. They got to work Friday evening and had the last boards up on the ceiling very quickly. It looked fantastic, I thought.



Next it was time for the moulding and that's when things got tricky. Moulding is not the easiest project in the world. Especially for DIYers with minimal experience. I got more and more worried the more Mr. Frisby and David discussed angles and bevels and miters and how they were going to do this corner and that corner and how they needed to set up the saw for each cut. I got really worried when they decided it was time to consult the internet for some instruction. The great moulding debate:



The discussion and figuring out how to cut the moulding probably took three times as long as the actual cutting and installing. Once they figured out the angles and how to set up the saw for each one, the installation went very quickly.





After several hours of hard thinking, they finished. And, all of their figuring and measuring and making test cuts and double-checking numbers paid off because the moulding matched up great and the ceiling looked fantastic!







I'm very happy with how it all turned out and as soon as we finish caulking and doing the touch ups with the paint, we'll be able to put our living room back together. And, now that Mr. Frisby has done one room, the master bedroom ceiling should be a cinch!