Making Happy History

Well as I said yesterday, we just adopted a 13 week old basset hound puppy. We actually got her for free if you can believe that. The office manager at my school was giving her away and Ryan and I jumped on the offer to get a wonderful dog without the hefty price tag. She is just so beautiful and smart and loving already. We have decided to name her Ginny Joanna, she is a red-head! Ginny loves her belly rubs and today we got her some fun chewy toys that she is totally into. Her ears are super long and she gets them in her water bowl and steps on them all the time, which totally cracks me up! We know she’ll be a lot of work, but the love she has already shown us will make it all worth it. Ryan and I are just so happy Ginny is part of our family. So without further ado here are two pictures showing her in all her puppy cuteness!

Just look at those beautiful eyes and big floppy ears. Here she is trying to convince me to give her food, she is a beggar already, which we are working on breaking.

Last night I put her on the couch when Kirk and Nikki were over and she fell asleep between Nikki and I belly up which was too cute and funny, that we had to put a blanket over her! 

I’ll post more pictures soon, but for now we are just enjoying our new puppy life!

~Cheers

So Ryan and I just adopted a sweet little 13 week old basset hound puppy, from someone at my work! She is so cute, I’ve wanted a puppy for forever. Now we just need a name I’m toying around with different Harry Potter names. We’ll see what sticks. I’ll post pictures tomorrow!

Well in light of the fact that Ryan and I have an unworking, white sanatorium of a kitchen and an unreasonable list of expenses, we have ventured into the world of eating at home every night and doing so with only two kitchen appliances: a toaster oven and a rice cooker. That’s right, no microwave, stove, or oven here. Well let me just tell you it has not been pretty nor easy. I am a delicate creature I like my food best when prepared by someone else, and served with a nice long wine list thank you very much. But no… “the budget” doesn’t allow such wonderful experiences, “the budget” doesn’t allow for Taco Bell or Sonic either, much to my dismay.

So into the awful kitchen I have ventured. Over the past 3 weeks I have become a toaster chef! In the beginning it was mainly just Eggos, but I have become better. I have made french bread pizza, nice salads with cheese toast, english muffin pizza, and sourdough bread pizza… Notice a trend? Well to go along with the saving money thing turkey pepperoni, cheese, and tomato sauce were pretty much what we had. Check out the sourdough pizza from last night. It was actually pretty good.

Wine makes this 1000 times better – but on its own it was good too!

Well even me, who really really likes pizza needs a change. Last week when the gas company came to hook up our stove and it didn’t work I almost cried because all I wanted was pasta! Ryan got the message and surprised me with the best meal of bowtie pasta and tomato sauce. How did he make it? I wondered. He made it in the rice cooker! That’s right… in a pinch you to can make pasta in a rice cooker,  and it turns out just as delicious as on the stove. So tonight I took the same idea and applied to another pasta dish. I made crab fettuccine alfredo. It was so good. I just used the refrigerator fettuccine noodles, Trader Joe’s pre-made alfredo, and a can of crab (that my mom and I hand canned two summers ago – still so good). The fridge noodles cooked super fast in the rice cooker and then I just stirred the sauce and crab over the hot noodles. 

The Ingredients

The Process

The Finished Product!

I’m super proud because I have self-proclaimed my dislike of the domestic job of cooking, but I am getting better, getting over my aversion to cooking and becoming more creative with my ideas and dishes to boot! I think its good… and I know it will all be worth it when I have my shiny new kitchen to use and enjoy, *fingers crossed*, in the very near future. Stay tuned I might let you in on more of my adventures with the toaster and rice cooker. I have some things up my chef sleeve, at least I think I do!

~Cheers

Hi to anyone who actually still reads this,

Well I am officially awful at blogging. But to justify the last few weeks have been horrendously busy. In July I was away visiting my family in beautiful Birch Bay, and thus I was almost completely away from all of civilization. My Grandma’s cabin where I spent my summer has no cable let alone internet. It was a perfect holiday, so relaxing and fun to see my whole family. It made me wonder why I ever wanted to move to Phoenix, but then I remember, ahh yes, jobs! Anyways so that is my bullshit excuse for where I was in July. Now you wonder, “well its the end of August, Andrea, explain that huh?”

Well August has kind of slipped through my fingers. Upon my arrival into bloody hot Phoenix, I went straight back to work in my classroom, finishing the purge of my classroom. I am happy to say that now it is a functional and cute learning space, albeit a bit tiny. In conjunction with that, we began our pack up and prepared for the big moving day. My mom arrived to help the 29th of July and we packed and packed and cleaned and cleaned. The 1st of August was the big moving day. Our wonderful friends Kirk and Nikki helped us load our worldly possessions into a U-Haul and we caravanned them to the new house! Did I mention it was 115 degrees that day? See pictures below of us moving….

Ryan and Kirk move the couch.

…and the bookcase, and then everything else too

Andrea and Nikki look adorable!

Well when we got to the house and all our stuff was here, we sat. And we sat, and we were officially overwhelmed. Thus began a new phase in Ryan and I’s lives in which we got our home improvement handy man skills on. Now if you had asked people last month, “Are Ryan and Andrea handy?” they would have laughed in your face. But now, hah, we have begun to prove the doubters wrong. Ryan and I have single handedly (or is it duel handedly), changed 6 plugs in our house to 3-prong from 2-prong, we have cleaned and lined all the shelves in the kitchen and bathroom, hung a shower curtain, and our biggest accomplishment to date… we replumbed our bathroom sink! Check it out in all its nastiness below.

Am I right, or am I right… disgusting!

And there it is… so fresh and so clean!

Anyways the house is more work than we could have ever imagined. I think when I thought of living here I only ever pictured myself in the house when it was all finished. Well that is certainly not the reality of having an old house. The problems come quicker than we can fix them, such as the gas not working to the stove, and the sunroom leaking (it rained cats and dogs last night and the water poured in). We are going slow and working it all out though. We are getting quotes to get the wall separating the kitchen from the rest of the house torn down, and have big dreams for our perfect little kitchen. More of that to come as it all unfolds. Mostly all the boxes are unpacked, and I have begun to really get in there and clean everything to our standards. Also I got rid of 3 big boxes of clothes, but all of our stuff still didn’t fit so after 2 weeks of searching on Craigslist we finally got this beauty for $60 today. The best thing is they delivered it!

Ahh… isn’t just so pretty?

Anyways that has been our life these last 2 months, I am just now getting in the swing of being a homeowner and a teacher, sometimes I feel like I can’t catch my breath I’ve been so busy.

I do promise to update more regularly from here on out, I have a lot to say. So many plans, and so little money to execute them all. Can Ryan and I do it? Stay tuned… this blog will kickass I guarantee it!

Cheers…

Okay so today is Friday and yesterday was my last day of summer school. I was happy to be done because that means I am only days away from going home to Washington, and that Ryan and I’s house closes next week, but it was bittersweet. During summer school I had the pleasure of directing a production of Peter Pan. It was so fun and rewarding and on Wednesday we performed the play for the rest of summer school and the kids parents. It was so great to see every (and I do mean every) student have at least one person there to support them in their special experience on stage. Getting to direct the performance was an honor, all the students in the class were such hard workers and I was grateful for all the help for the costumes I received from the parents. Here are some pictures from the play taken by my wonderful teaching partner, Kirk,  who I shared this class with. He was nice enough to come to the play (even though he had the day off) and take pictures.

Here is Peter Pan and his faithful shadow. Everyone couldn’t believe I got the boys in tights for Peter Pan, but they were good sports about it.

This is the crocodile. Isn’t he cute? I couldn’t believe how awesome his costume was. His mom and aunt made it for him. It totally blew me away all the work they put into it. He was the perfect crocodile and the audience couldn’t get enough of him!

Here is the first Peter Pan (there were 3) and Tinkerbell starting off the show. The stars were the narrators.

Of course the pirates! What would Peter Pan be if not for Hook and his cronies. All of them were very funny and such hams.

Tinkerbell looking adorable, she was the perfect little Tinkerbell, and she even talked with a kazoo!

Ou cast picture! I am so proud of the whole things it was a special experience to get to share my love of drama with new young faces. I remember loving drama so much growing up and I am so lucky to get to pass on that love to new performers. 

Cheers!

Today was the big day for me in summer school, we performed our Peter Pan play. I should have more details as well as pictures of the performance tomorrow. Kirk, my teaching partner, is giving me the ones he snapped during the play. It was so awesome and cute and fun, I would love to do it again. Stay tuned, that is all.

Cheers!

So since Ryan and I don’t have a house to renovate for another couple of weeks, I can’t fill my whole blog with decorating right yet. In the meantime I thought what better to post than one of Ryan and I’s most favorite summer recipes? Fresh Vietnamese Spring Rolls. These are super easy to make, and best of all they take very little time on the stove to prepare. We love that they are fun to create, we just prep all the ingredients and roll our own and enoy them as we make them. Here’s how you can make them too:

Ingredients for the Rolls:

1. Package of Spring Roll Wrappers – At the Asian grocery or aisle
2. Package of Rice Noodles (sometimes called Rice Sticks) – Again Asian grocery/aisle, make sure to get the rice noodles, not cellophane noodles
3. Cooked Frozen Shrimp
4. Bean Sprouts
5. Matchstick Carrots
6. Leaves of Romaine Lettuce

So, I just quick boil the noodles, it takes about 3 minutes for them to cook, then chill them in the fridge. I thaw the shrimp in hot water in the sink and split each one down the middle. All of the veggies I just wash and put on the table in bowls. I’ll explain how to wrap and roll in a minute but first let’s get to the yummy peanut dipping sauce.

Ingredients for the Sauce:

1. Peanut Butter
2. Hoisin Sauce – Asian aisle
3. Coconut Milk
4. Rice Vinegar
5. Maple Syrup or Honey
6. Soy Sauce
7. Siracha Hot Sauce (or another chili paste hot sauce)

Notice how I don’t put any measurements or amounts, that’s because I never measure when I make this sauce, it is really easy. Just take a couple scoops of peanut butter, maybe 2 tablespoons, and microwave it for about 20 seconds. Then add about the same amount of coconut milk and hoisin sauce. Mix that all together. Add a splash of the remaining ingredients and you’ve got a delicious peanut sauce. I just taste after each ingredient and add things as I feel it needs it. Go ahead make it how you like it!

Now for the fun part, making the rolls and munching on your hard work (okay not really hard)…

Anyways, just take all the ingredients to the table and lay them out. Also you will need a pie plate of cool water. Dip your spring roll wrapper in the water, remove it after it is all the way wet, both sides, but don’t let it get soggy in the water. Lay it on your plate and let the water work for about 30 seconds. It will soften up and now fill away. I like to put the noodles on first, then bean sprouts and carrots, then shrimp, and lettuce last, but it doesn’t matter, Ryan does it differently. Now comes the tricky part: rolling. Fold the sides in first and stretch the wrapper over the filling, and roll it up. Then dip and enjoy and make another!

Here are 2 pictures to feast your eyes on, looks good right?

So tada! That’s Ryan and I’s dinner last night, and mine tonight because I had the leftovers, try them, they are really good and it is nice to eat something so cool and fresh. 

Cheers!

Okay so last night Ryan and I tuned into HGTV, own of my favorite networks by the way, to watch the $250,000 Challenge. The premise of the show is 5 families, all from the same neighborhood are competing to win a mortgage pay-out. Each week the challenge is to renovate one room in their house. They get the funds from HGTV to renovate plus a skilled carpenter and helpers, so labor is free, and they get an allotted budget. Cool right? Well I thought so too. Who wouldn’t love to renovate their home and possibly win $250K for doing it? Last night was kitchens. I thought to myself, awesome… I love kitchens, I want to re-do mine so badly. The 3 families left each got $20,000 and 32 hours to renovate. And here are the results.

That is the kitchen that lost, now for the other 2…

This one is pretty good besides the silver line on the cabinets, I love the back splash.

Hmm… I am noticing a trend with the cabinetry. Anyways, this couple designed a very nice kitchen.

I don’t know about you but I was throughly un-impressed. The 3 kitchens were very nice but… all three used the same white cabinetry and stainless steel appliances. It disappointed me that no one ventured outside the safe option of white cabinets, SS and granite. If someone is giving you $20,000 don’t you think you could do better? I am not trying to sound snarky… okay maybe a little snarky, but still their choices were uninspired (the inspiration was supposed to be nature) and too safe. I just wish someone was done something different, because all 3 ended up looking too much alike. Don’t get me wrong I LOVE white kitchens but these were all the wrong cabinets. The 2 families that are continuing on did some pretty back splash work, inter-mingling tile types. But, honestly I couldn’t get over the cabinetry to look closely.

Okay rant over. I’ll watch next week to see what they do, and take some inspiration from HGTV and NOT get my cabinets from Home Depot if I choose to go with white. But still, Home Depot is cool, and so is HGTV, and so is the competition’s idea. 

Next blog post, hopefully something more upbeat.

Cheers!

Thanks to HGTV for the images.

Okay so these are pictures of the house Ryan and I are buying. The outside is smooth plaster on brick. It is light blue with black shutters. Notice the horrible old shake roof, it is original to the house, that means 71 years old! Fire Hazard! The inside is a mixture of flooring materials, acid-dyed concrete in the great room, hardwood floors in the hall and bedrooms, brick in the enclosed porch, hexagonal tile in the bathrooms, and ugly, dangerous, slippery, white tile in the kitchen. Some of what you see will go, some will stay. We are excited to begin the projects, enjoy the photos!

That’s the front the ivy on the left side is gone now though. Landscaping is a must, its a bit barren.

We love the windows, they let in so much light!

Like the waincoating, but its on the ceiling too, not too keen on that…

This is the great room, it will be our living room, dining room, and little bar area hopefully. We love the floors!

Hate this kitchen, everything is going to go except the stainless steel appliances, its an awful kitchen.

I really like this bathroom, especially the tile work, I love subway tile and pedestal sinks.

The whole house has beautiful plantation shutters, they were one of the things Ryan and I liked so well about this house, it makes us feel like we are on vacation!

And last picture for the day… a cute little milk door, you know your house is old when there’s a milk door.

Well we have more pictures but that is good for now I think. Still waiting and praying for June 30th to come without any hitches!

Cheers!

Hello Blogging World! Andrea here, and blogging is my new adventure. My husband Ryan and I have just embarked on the long and arderous road of home ownership and are currently in the process of buying a 1938 brick facade colonial in downtown Historic Phoenix. We are in love… but boy has it been a tough journey to this point. And we are not even at closing yet, that blissful day is June 30th. Stay tuned for the excitement and work that follows. The house is old but we have grand hopes and dreams for making it a fabulous tribute to everything we love, old and new.

We have a list of things already to get done before closing, who knew before buying house you need so many things, here’s our list for before June 30th:

1. Get buyer’s addendum signed by sellers.
2. Get trim painted for FHA approval.
3. Have roofing estimates done.
4. Submit appraisal and inspection sent to home owner’s insurance.
5. Sign all the paperwork.
6. Wait, wait, wait, wait some more.
7. Finally get keys!

I’m sure there is more that I am forgetting but I am just praying and hoping that it all goes smoothly and that this bank-owned beauty becomes Ryan and I’s beautiful new home. Thank for reading, I’ll post pictures of our home soon!

Cheers!