Spring.

Image

Spring is in the air.  We have come out of winter hibernation and are attempting to “springify” the house.  Mike has been working on growing grass in our backyard. So far we only have a few little sprouts, but its a start! 

Image

Our friends Jamie and Rich finally made it to the house for a visit.  We made this awesome Carnitas recipe, which is fast becoming our go-to meal for visitors.  Its super easy and really yummy.  We ate too much and laughed a lot. It was an good night. 

Image

They bought us this great spring mix pot as a housewarming gift.  We found these cool white  planters at Lowes last weekend and replanted the flowers.  We are really starting to get some blooms this week.  🙂 Thanks, guys!  

Image

Our next outdoor project is putting in some landscaping in the front of the house and a fence in the backyard. Wish us luck! 

 

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Homemade Biscuits and Gravy

20130316-143313.jpg

Enjoying our new kitchen with some homemade biscuits and gravy. Yum.

Recipe
Drop Biscuits and Sausage Gravy
Prep Time: 10 Minutes Cook Time: 30 Minutes Difficulty: Easy Servings:12

Ingredients
BISCUITS
3 cups All-purpose Flour
2 Tablespoons Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1-1/2 stick (3/4 Cup) Cold Butter, Cut Into Pieces
1-1/4 cup Buttermilk

SAUSAGE GRAVY
1 pound Breakfast Sausage, Hot Or Mild
1/3 cup All-purpose Flour
4 cups Whole Milk
1/2 teaspoon Seasoned Salt
2 teaspoons Black Pepper, More To Taste
Preparation Instructions

BISCUITS
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Add flour, baking powder, and salt to the bowl of a food processor (or a large bowl.) Add butter pieces and pulse until butter is completely cut into the flour mixture (or use a pastry cutter if using a bowl.) While pulsing (or stirring) drizzle in the buttermilk until dough just comes together and is no longer crumbly.
Drop in clumps on two baking sheets, then bake for 15-17 minutes, or until golden brown. (Optional: Brush with melted butter when biscuits first come out of the oven.)

SAUSAGE GRAVY
With your finger, tear small pieces of sausage and add them in a single layer to a large heavy skillet. Brown the sausage over medium-high heat until no longer pink. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Sprinkle on half the flour and stir so that the sausage soaks it all up, then add a little more until just before the sausage looks too dry. Stir it around and cook it for another minute or so, then pour in the milk, stirring constantly.
Cook the gravy, stirring frequently, until it thickens. (This may take a good 10-12 minutes.) Sprinkle in the seasoned salt and pepper and continue cooking until very thick and luscious. If it gets too thick too soon, just splash in 1/2 cup of milk or more if needed. Taste and adjust seasonings.
Spoon sausage gravy over warm biscuits and serve immediately!

The Pioneer Woman Drop Biscuits and Sausage Gravy

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Settling in

We have been in our new house for just under two months and we are slowly settling in. Happily, we hosted 30 people for Christmas dinner and 15 for New Year’s Eve.  It was crazy and overwhelming, but super fun! Here are a few shots of the house on Christmas morning before all of the madness started.

ImageWe put both extensions in our dining room table, but we still had to use our kitchen table and a rented 60 inch round table.  ImageWe didn’t have a ton of time to decorate or furnish the house before Christmas, but we did the best we could. With a few trips to Home Goods, we were able to get the basics, like these sparkly hand towels. ImageWe still have a lot of items on our punch list, but the house is looking pretty finished, which is exciting.  Here is our very BLUE hall bathroom.

Image

ImageWe have at least one of the guest rooms semi-furnished.

ImageOur master bathroom has the most outstanding punch list items.  We are still missing mirrors and hardware and we’d like for the tile work to be cleaned up. But it is absolutely functional. ImageI love our floating vanity.

ImageI can’t wait to use that bathtub. 🙂ImagePerhaps my favorite purchase so far is our beautiful upholstered bed frame.   Now we just need to get some bedroom furniture to join that sucker! Image

Posted in Interior Finishes | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Christmas interiors

20121229-103353.jpg

20121229-103422.jpg

20121229-103443.jpg

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Merry Christmas from our Kitchen!

20121226-104705.jpg

We had 29 people at our house last night and we survived our first big family holiday! My Mom, aunts, and cousins baked the most amazing deserts. We are very lucky!

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

20121221-180344.jpg

Posted in Interior Finishes | Leave a comment

Moving day!!

20121201-180259.jpg

Posted in Building, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Interior Preview

It looks like we’ll finally be moving to our new house within a couple of weeks.  Final inspections are scheduled for Tuesday.  Here are a few interior shots, in progress.

Image

Kitchen

Image

Image

Powder Room

Living Room

Dining Room

Image

Office

Image

Master Bath

Image

Hall Bath

Image

Last but not least, the Laundry Room

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Almost there.

Almost there.

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Stone

Image

Due to a series of miscommunications we have been waiting to pick out our counter top material for the last few weeks.  Since we have two different shades of cabinets we have been considering getting two different counter top materials.

Image from Decor Pad

However, it would be great if we could find one material that worked for the whole kitchen.  Today we went to a few stone yards to look at granite slabs.  The first stop didn’t have very many options.  The best match was this “Antique White” granite.

It was lovely, but we thought it had too much tan.  The next stop had many more options.  We really liked “White Ice”, but it is in the top price range and we probably won’t be able to afford it.

Another favorite is this “leathered” granite.  It was really unusual.

We’ll get some additional estimates on Monday and go from there…

Posted in Building, Interior Finishes | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment