Mom News
The week of the “Ewws, Yucks, and Aahs!”
I’m calling this the week of “The Ewwwwws, The Yucks, and the Aahs!
Why you might ask?
Well, the answer is simple.
My house had a lot of Ewwwwws, a whole lot of Yucks and I hope it is now finally starting to have some Aahs. The Aahs are not completely finished yet. I still have some things to tweak. But, for the most part, I smile everytime I walk into one of the rooms we have updated. : )
Our first “Ewwww!” is brought to you today, courtesy of our Master Bath Shower.
I have to be honest. At this angle, it doesn’t look that bad. However, after trying to rip up the carpet in our Master Bedroom so that we could lay new flooring, we stumbled upon a nasty surprise. The shower had a crack in the floor and had been leaking into the bedroom on the other side of the wall.
Here is another Ewww. The corner where it was seeping into our bedroom. I thought that lovely mildewy substance on the bottom of the baseboard was simply something the previous homeowner had spilt once upon a time and didn’t clean up. It wasn’t until I rubbed my finger over it, that I realized I was VERY WRONG!
This is another angle of the same corner. (Another Ewwww!)
Now for the YUCKS! This is the wall on the bathroom side where it was seeping into the Master on the other side.
More YUCK! and YES! That is mold. : (
Straight on YUCKY view of the shower.
But WAIT! There’s more. Why not take a closer look?
Still not satisfied? You want me to go even closer?
Imagine my HORROR when I found out that the dark black stuff in the middle was actually H2O!
I promise this is all the pics of the Ewws/Yucks bathroom pics I am posting.
But!
Because I know you just had your breakfast,
I would like to post yet another picture. Maybe you think it’s an “Ewww”. Maybe you think it’s a “Yuck”.
I personally think it’s an “AAH!”
Meet my Halloween alter ego, “Earl”. The roughest, toughest, toothless, hairiest, deer shootin, beer drinkin Redneck out there!
Please don’t be mad because I’m prettier than you.
Jealousy can be an ugly thing!
Love,Esther
*P.S. – Aahs to follow soon!
Mom’s Southern Stewed Apples
The other day was Em’s 7th Birthday!
I cannot believe enough time has passed to be able to say that.
I always try to make everyone’s favorite dinner for their birthday. My mom has always done that and it always made me feel so special. I have tried to continue this tradition with my own family.
One of her favorite things is my Mom’s Stewed Apples. She can eat enough to make her sick…… and I don’t blame her. I have to hold back myself.
They are SOOOOO good!
First, take some Granny Smith Apples. (I use the whole bag because I like to make a lot)
Peel, core, and slice. ( I use a peeler first, then put them under this handy little baby made by Pampered Chef)
I fill them up in the pot first to see how high they go. Then I put them into a seperate bowl while I ……..
Melted half a stick of butter in the saucepan,
Added some Cinnamon,
And for whatever reason, felt there wasn’t enough butter, so I added another half stick of butter. Yes, there is now 1 whole stick of butter in the recipe and YES! I’m SORRY! : D
Then I added a 1/2 cup of sugar and mixed until it was dissolved.
Add the apple slices.
Toss the apples until they are completely coated in the cinnamon/sugar mixture and allow to simmer for 45 minutes.
This is what they looked like after 20 minutes.
And this is what they looked like after 45 minutes. Softened and DELICIOUS!
Complete YUMMINESS!
Recipe: Mom’s Southern Stewed Apples
Inredients:
– 1 Bag Granny Smith Apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
– 1 stick Unsalted Butter
– 3 Tablespoons Cinnamon
– 1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar
Directions:
– In a medium saucepan, melt butter on medium heat.
– Add cinnamon and sugar and mix well.
– Add apples and stir, mixing well in cinnamon/butter/sugar mixture. *Bowl will be very full, so be careful mixing.
– Allow to simmer on medium low, stirring occasionally for 45-50 minutes, or until apples are soft and tender.
*Make sure you stir occasionally! If not, sugar/butter mixture may burn.
The Great Smokey Mountains ! ! ! (Part 1)
October is THE month to take a trip and explore some of the South’s most beautiful scenery.
SO!
That is exactly what my family and I did this passed weekend.
When I was a child, my family went to places like Tweetsie Railroad in Blowing Rock, NC and Grandfather Mountain, in Linville. We did this for two reasons. One, they happen to be in North Carolina where I am from. Two, the trees are so beautiful this time of the year with their ever changing colors and it’s crisp Fall air. I wanted to let my kid’s experience this too.
Since, they have never been to the Mountains before, I knew they were going to have a blast!
We couldn’t have picked a better weekend to go. It was almost as if the leaves were literally changing color right in front of our eyes. NO KIDDING!
Our first stop was Tweetsie Railroad. It is the best place to take your kids! It has everything from Cowboys to Indians……..
to even TRAINS! (Hence, Tweetsie Railroad).
The Cowboys put on a little skit for you and you go for a train ride. Along the way, the train stops a few times……
and you even get ambushed by Indians! Oh my! This guys was great, because bless his heart! He held that pose for me for a few minutes because he could see I was trying to take his picture! Haha! I guess he felt sorry for the lady with the bulky camera and all her settings. (Note to self: Sometimes, you just need to keep it on auto!)
Let me just tell you, all the landscaping was beautiful too. I need to hire the same landscaper.
I honestly don’t know what is wrong with me. Ever since I started to have children, I have become afraid of my own shadow. I remember riding on these ski lifts when I was a kid and purposely trying to shake them and scare the bajeezus out of my mom. Now, I have become my mom. I couldn’t even breathe without thinking that one or all of us were going to fall out of those things! Oh well, there goes ever trying to attempt to ski on a mountain.
At the top of the ski lift, they had more fun things to do. They had a little petting zoo with goats, white deer, and even llamas.
Not sure if “Oscar” was trying to kiss me or spit on me! He was THAT close. No zoom lens here!
I know they say you aren’t suppose to show people pictures of your home because of Paparazzi and all, but I thought I would share a picture of my “home in the mountains”.
AND while I was at it, I thought I would share a second picture of my 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th homes as well.
We had such a great time at Tweetsie!
While we were there, we got to. . . . . . . . . . . .
Let our 3 year old son play with firearms . . . . . . . . .
Lock our children up . . . . . . . . . .
And even embarrass my husband. *Don’t ask me what the girls are doing???
So I would say we had a fantabulous time!
Check out part 2 tomorrow. (Grandfather Mountain) : )
– Esther
New House Update / “Conversation Area”
I wanted to give you an update on our new house. We have been hard at work trying to get it cozified. (Yes, I know. I made that word up.)
Which reminds me, I should probably update my kitchen picture on my “About Me” page. Maybe later.
Anyway, I don’t know about you, but in my home, the kitchen is the main area everyone likes to congregate.
AND I love that! I feel like that is exactly where I want everyone.
In the kitchen, talking, eating, and even curling up with a good book? WHAT?!?
“Curling up with a good book?” YUP!
In my old kitchen, Z would come home and we would literally hop up on the counter tops, sit there with beer and a glass of wine, and talk about our day.
We would try to do this without interruption from our children, but alas, this never was the case.
Our old home was so tiny, there was no place to hide. AND I MEAN NO WHERE!
Exibit A:
So, what I’m tryin to say…. is that even if it is just us, and not a million people, we still seem to hang out in the kitchen.
With this being the case, I decided that instead of having a breakfast nook with a table……
I would have a breakfast nook with “A Conversation Area”. I know what you are thinking. Why not just call it a Sitting Area? Well, because I don’t want people to just sit. I want them to actually Converse with eachother! : )
The way the layout of my home is designed… the kitchen, dining room, and family room are all open. So, I didn’t see the need for both a dining room table and a breakfast table.
It’s not completely finished yet. I still need to hang curtains, and move the original light from the center of the space, over to hang between the two chairs and the side table in the center there.
This is what the space looked like before. ( The day we moved in )
We still have to change out the flooring. Thank goodness this is laminate and not tile. Else, we would not be doing them for a while. It is not fun having to remove tile before laying any kind of wood flooring!
We are going to have to do this in our foyer and I really think that is the reason we keep putting it off.
I absolutely love this Industrial looking side table I snagged at Homegoods. It has wheels on it, so I can easily move it if I want to.
I got the linen chair from Homegoods as well. It was missing one little button on one of the arms and the lady knocked $50 off! Either she was being really nice, or she did her math wrong! Regardless, I SCORED!
I got my pretty floral bird chair from Overstock.com. I waited until it went on sale. The fact that their shipping was only $2.50, and they didn’t charge me tax because of the state I lived in, was an added bonus!
I’ll make sure to post more as we do more updates to the space.
I am working on finishing up my office space too, so hopefully I will have more pictures to share on that as well very soon.
This is the before picture of it:
SO, you can imagine that anything I do to it, will probably make the space look better. I’m trying to “girly” it up, so that certain male species in my home feel uncomfortable being in there after maybe 240.28 seconds.
Happy Monday y’all!
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