What's New Around Our House--Master Bedroom

We have had a very busy Saturday and a little more satisfying that the Longhorns first loss to Iowa State, ever...Our bedroom is finally in a state that I can blog about it! This is what our bedroom looked like before. What these original pictures failed to capture was the horrendous paint job on the walls. There was a beige-ish color rolled onto the walls in some places with one stroke...perhaps a bad attempt at a faux finish. Or maybe an attempt to cover up the original flat, flat, paint? It wasn't really noticeable unless you were looking for it, which of course, we were when we did our first walk through of the house. Some weekends ago, Nicholas painted all four walls and the ceiling a brilliant white. You heard me...we painted a room in our house white!

The difference between the old and new paint:

4 gallons later and several days of airing out the very fumy room, we moved back in and did some rearranging. A couple of weekends ago, you may remember that we bought a comfy loveseat for our bedroom. Voila!

After a day of curtain hanging and picture hanging, and deep cleaning, we have a mostly complete bedroom! I can't wait to sleep there tonight!

These pictures are one of my favorite additions! Here you will find scenes from our travels. Lincoln Memorial in DC, at night; Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, Minnesota; Bunker Hill Monument in Boston, MA; An empty frame for the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, CA; The Statue of Liberty, New York City; Mount Hope Bridge in Bristol, RI; and the Chace Center at Rhode Island School of Design.

While Nicholas was busy precisely measuring and hanging stuff, I was busy cleaning, baking bread, and cooking pinto beans in the crockpot to freeze, and now I am just about ready for a shower!

And remember how Nicholas still needed to fix a floor board outside the downstairs bathroom? Fabulous!

Delectable Dishes

You may recall how much I love Fall food, because I may have mentioned it once or twice. Here are some of the recipes that have been gracing our table.

Smoky Stuffed Peppers--I have been making this recipe for a couple years, and I love it! Try it...it's yummy!

Mushroom and Provolone Patty Melts--I used bison instead of beef. I was kind of afraid that there wouldn't be enough flavor since you don't really have any condiments. They were delicious without condiments, although, they were a little dry when reheated.

Fall Vegetable Curry--Nicholas loves cauliflower, so I am always on the lookout for fun recipes. This one is a keeper. He also LOVES curry, of which I am not a fan. This is a perfect combination. The magazine suggested serving with cashew basmati rice. (Cook 1 c. of basmati rice omitting salt and fat. Stir in 1/4 c. unsalted cashew pieces and 1/4 tsp. salt. Yield: 4 servings). Also, if you don't have madras curry, try using 1.5 tsp regular curry and 1/2 tsp. red pepper.


I just finished going through the November issue of Cooking Light (which is a double issue!!). Here are a few recipes I am really looking forward to making:

White Bean Soup with Kale and Chorizo

Pecan Spice Cake with Maple Frosting

Crab Eggs Benedict

Quick Cassoulet

Orange-Buttermilk Dinner Rolls

Flag Football

I had a nice morning yesterday watching Matt Turman play a little flag football. His team won, and Matt scored a couple of touchdowns. It was great preparation for an afternoon of much better Longhorn football!

Touchdown!

A Busy Holiday Weekend

I may still be recovering from the very busy weekend we had last weekend! We had dinner plans 4 nights in a row with family and friends. It was lovely, but I was definitely ready for a little husband and wife time. Most of my days involve thinking about preparing for baby with priority #1 being the nursery and making room for baby in the house.
We spent most of Saturday looking for a comfy chair for our bedroom for me to nurse. After some disappoint at the outlet malls, we finally settled on a loveseat. Comfy chairs were just as expensive if not more expensive than loveseats, so why not get more surface area? You'll have to wait for pictures once I do our big bedroom unveiling...after we finish hanging pictures on the walls!
Nicholas also spent a lot of time de-junglefying our backyard. Oh my!

Of course, Nicholas has a long list of projects to do before baby comes. November will be a busy art month for him, so he is knocking things off his list left and right! It also helps that there are so many weekends in October! He modified a china cabinet that lived in the nursery to fit under the bar in our dining room. It went from this:

To this:

He is busy again this weekend redesigning the nursery closet. Stay tuned for more project pictures!

Ahh...FALL!

I found Fall at the grocery store last week...

Then I was inspired to add Fall to the rest of my house.

Matt's 12th Birthday Party

A couple Sundays ago, we helped Matt Turman celebrate his 12th birthday at Austin Park and Pizza. It's been several years since he had a party because his birthday falls at the beginning of the school year and both he and his siblings are always busy with band and sports activities.

Nicholas had a fun time on the go karts, climbing the rock wall, and playing putt-putt.