it’s bethany…calling from the philippines :)

Sunday evening, the mission team that went to West Virginia this summer gave their report to the church. Bethany, who was on the team and is now in the Philippines, joined us via Skype which John set up. DH especially liked John’s high tech bucket. 🙂

it's Bethany calling from the Philippines

After the report, while we had snacks, everyone got to talk to Bethany, and she was introduced to Margaret who was born after Bethany left. 🙂

Bethany, meet Margaret

It was great to see Bethany “face to face” and to have her input in the mission report. We all miss her a great deal!

~~Rhonda

menu plan monday ~ september 22, 2008

How can it possibly be this late in the year already? Summer flew by. Autumn is here. I wish sleeping was unnecessary. I could use the extra time!

Laura’s theme for OrganizingJunkie’s menu plan monday is “Family Favorites” this week, so I have included a few of ours in this week’s menu. You will find other menu ideas and lots of family favorites on Laura’s site, if you care to pop over there to peruse them.

Monday *Family Favorite*
baby back ribs in the oven
baked yukon gold potatoes (microwave)
coleslaw with peanuts and craisins
corn on the cob

We all love ribs, and I made them myself for the first time this summer. So easy and so delicious. I placed them on a foil lined cookie sheet and baked them in a 250* oven for four hours. After two hours (turned them once), I slathered them with BBQ sauce and continued baking, turning them a time or two. I loosely covered them with foil after putting the sauce on.

When they were done, I removed the foil and put them under the broiler for a few minutes to char the BBQ sauce a little. So good!

Tuesday
crockpot chicken with homemade noodles *Family Favorite*
spinach salad with strawberries
asparagus

I plan to cook the chicken in the crock pot, but make the noodles on the stove top. I’ll add them, a teaspoon of celery seed, some ground pepper, and a can or two of cream of chicken soup to the crock pot when the chicken has cooked and is shredded. Some light sour cream stirred into the chicken and noodles just before serving makes them even better.

Wednesday *Family Favorite*
salmon with dijon mustard
steamed red potatoes
steamed broccoli
corn

Thursday
hamburgers / 40 min. buns
chips / veggies / dip

These hamburger buns are so easy to make. I’ll make four buns for supper and make the rest as rolls for snacking. DD loves them any time.

Friday Trying a new recipe…
taco stuffed pasta shells
green salad

Saturday
leftovers

Sunday *Family Favorite*
crockpot pork chops with stuffing
Brussels sprouts
corn
spinach salad

I leave the onion out of the pork chop recipe (DH is allergic to onions) and substitute about a Tablespoon of dry onion soup mix.

If you don’t plan a weekly menu, I encourage you to do so. Meals become much easier to prepare when you have a plan. And easier to prepare means you and your family will enjoy a more relaxed meal time atmosphere. That is always good!

~~Rhonda 🙂

caterpillar club

We’re raising caterpillars we found on the parsley in the garden. We did the same two years ago. It’s fascinating to watch them grow and change, molting as they get larger.

We use a large fish tank to house them, and a piece of window screen with an elastic band to top the tank. To keep their parsley fresh, we use a small plastic container with holes in the lid. We filled the container with potting soil, soaked with water.

sept 2008 001

The parsley is pushed into the holes in the container lid. The water keeps it fresh and the dirt helps to hold it upright.

sept 2008 004

All the holes are filled with parsley. It’s amazing how quickly the caterpillars will eat everything put out for them.

sept 2008 013

In the tank, there is also a small vase with parsley. This is the “nursery” where we keep eggs and newly hatched caterpillars as they are too small to put with the larger ones. The larger caterpillars are becoming so voracious they might eat the parsley right out from under the tiny ones.

the nursery

If you look closely, you will also see the sticks we put into the tank for chrysalis formation.

sept 2008 015

Newspaper lining the bottom makes cleanup easy. The caterpillars are eating and pooping machines. The only other things they do are rest and molt. 🙂 Here’s a video I took of one of our caterpillars eating a parsley leaf. In real time. I didn’t speed it up! Click here.

We now have ten chrysalises and another caterpillar will be a chrysalis by tomorrow. Two others have failed to develop properly. DH brought more parsley in this AM and found two newly hatched caterpillars on one stem. They are so tiny! We put them in the nursery vase and will keep an eye on them.

Because it is late in the season, the butterflies may not emerge until next April or May. We shall see!

~~Rhonda

gotta new fridge

We’ve had a lot of trouble with the old refrigerator. It finally died on Wednesday, and we ordered a new one. DH picked it up today. I didn’t even clean up the mess before taking a picture.

gotta new fridge

~~Rhonda 🙂

autumn evening

A few pictures from our garden this evening…asters

The cedar trees are making berries. I wish they’d stay on the tree through Christmas, but they are usually gone by then. They’d be so pretty in Christmas garlands and wreaths.

Eastern Red Cedar

Of course, the goldenrod is in full bloom.

goldenrod

The dogwood leaves are beginning to turn. The trees are loaded with blossoms for next year. This spring there were not many blossoms at all…not sure why. But next year, there should be a bountiful crop.

dogwood

The coneflowers keep putting out blossoms. And the goldfinches are eagerly eating all the coneflower seeds they can find.

coneflower

coneflower

This little brown moth didn’t mind at having his picture taken.

coneflower with moth

Most of the daisies are done blooming, but there are one or two pretty blossoms in each clump.

daisy

All over the yard there are single blossoms on flowers that were blooming prolifically not so long ago. As though they are putting out one last effort before winter arrives.

~~Rhonda

our grandbabies and their daddy

The only problem with our grands is that they live too far away.

Cute, aren’t they?? ~~Rhonda 🙂

this and that

Today was mostly taken up with stripping wall paper in the hall and the laundry room. I did about 15 minutes of mowing, just to get outside for a few minutes right before supper. The weather was beautiful.

We have eight chrysalises so far. Three of them are brown. The rest are green.

in brown and green

DD made these yummy hamburger buns for supper, using the recipe for 40 minute hamburger buns. We had chicken sandwiches on the warm buns. Yummy!

40 minute hamburger buns

The ‘Autumn Joy’ sedum is beautiful right now. There’s a bucket of them in the kitchen waiting to be made into a bouquet.

Sedum 'Autumn Joy'

I’m hoping I can finish stripping the wallpaper in the laundry room tomorrow, though we need to take time to shop for a new refrigerator. Ours bit the dust. That should be the big adventure for Wednesday.

~~Rhonda

you turn your back for ten minutes…

I watched this little guy for forty minutes early Friday morning, waiting for him to molt from a caterpillar into a chrysalis. I had my camera on the tripod, ready to take a video of the quick transformation. I waited and waited and waited…

pupating

Then I turned my back for ten minutes, while I checked email on my laptop…turned around and what did I see?

turn your back for ten minutes...

::sigh:: We are up to six chrysalises now. There are eight caterpillars to go, so I am hoping to catch the molt on video with another candidate. We shall see!

~~Rhonda

menu plan monday ~ september 15, 2008

This is as high as I could reach…

that's as high as I could reach

The guest room will be done soon. Then it’s on to the hall, the laundry room and the bath. It’s going to be a full week of stripping wallpaper in the addition, so easy meals are on the menu.

Monday
sloppy joes / 40 minute hamburger buns
veggies / chips / dip
microwave baked apples

Tuesday
crock pot pork chops with stuffing
corn on the cob
asparagus
spinach salad

Wednesday
shopping for furniture / eat out

Thursday
baked salmon with honey dijon coating
steamed sugar snap peas
corn on the cob
green salad

When making the salmon, I leave out the butter and spray the fish with butter flavored cooking spray before applying the coating. I also add a teaspoon of dried basil to the bread crumb mixture.

Friday
crock pot BBQ chicken / buns
tortilla chips with salsa and sour cream
coleslaw with peanuts and raisins (recipe follows)
seedless grapes

Saturday
leftovers

Sunday
spaghetti / meatballs
Ceaser salad
homemade bread sticks
peas
corn

Coleslaw
1 pkg shredded cabbage with carrots
1/2 c. salted peanuts
1/2 c. Craisins or raisins
1 small apple, diced (unpeeled)

Dressing for coleslaw
1/2 c. light mayonaisse
1/4 c. light sour cream
2 T. milk
2 T. cider vinegar
2 T. Splenda or sugar
1/2 tsp. celery seeds
Mix well and pour over coleslaw. I measure all the ingredients into a jar or small plastic container, then cover with the lid and shake to mix.

You will find more menu ideas at Laura’s site, I’m an Organizing Junkie.

~~Rhonda

tired but happy

A young lady from church is helping me this fall with cleaning out all the drawers, cupboards, and cabinets (maybe even the attic) and, after we cleaned out the coat closet yesterday, I realized the interior had not been painted with the help of painting contractors in Tacoma, we redid the hall a few years ago. It was still the pale yellow the hall used to be. Now that the hall is dark red, with a dark green door on the closet, and a gold buff ceiling, the interior of the closet looked pretty bad after we pulled everything out of it. Well, Saturday DH and DD painted it for me!

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painting the coat closet

Now the interior matches the ceiling. (Someday we’ll finish stripping the woodwork!)

painting the coat closet

After painting the closet, we moved to the guest room. The wallpaper is going to be history. I want to remodel the guest room and get rid of the wallpaper, the carpet and the cottage cheese ceiling. Of course, that means the entire addition has to be redone. But we’ve made a start.

With the ambitious project of remodeling the guest room underway, it’s the perfect opportunity to explore how wall art by Artfully Walls can elevate the space.

As you bid farewell to outdated wallpaper and carpet, envisioning a fresh canvas for your design dreams, consider the transformative power of elephant wall art. Whether it’s a striking portrait or a whimsical interpretation, incorporating this majestic creature into your decor can infuse the room with a sense of elegance and charm.

With Artfully Walls’ curated selection, you can discover the perfect piece to serve as a focal point, adding depth and personality to your newly renovated sanctuary.

The room was decorated 12 years ago. It’s time for a makeover. I want to paint the walls, the woodwork and the ceiling, put in hardwood floors, and use different furniture (though I love this chair).

the old wallpaper

guest room's old wallpaper

Pulling off the top layer of the wallpaper was easy. And fun!

getting started

the top layer is easy

DD worked her way around the room, pulling wallpaper off everywhere she could. BTW, the four poster bed is on its way back upstairs to DD#1’s room, where it will look better with the 12′ ceiling. I’m planning to get something different for this room, something in a better scale. The guest room is in an addition to the house that was added in the early 1960s. It has 8′ ceilings.

DD's contribution

We got quite a bit done. This picture was taken after DH and DD went to a fish fry. I stayed home and worked on the far wall.

it's gonna take a while...

While I stripped wallpaper, Buttercup checked out the paint chips. I am not sure just which direction I’ll go, but I like the lighter sea foam colors. Looks like Buttercup likes a darker one.

I like *this* one...

~~Rhonda 🙂 (tired but happy with our progress)