day 10: "i am thankful for......MY BIRDS!"

a few months ago, we put up a bird feeder, for all our birds to enjoy.  well, i think i am getting more enjoyment out of watching them!  i should have started feeding them a long time ago.  one day, i counted 10 birds on or around the feeder!  if you don't already have one, i suggest you install a bird feeder.  hey, you never know!  they may make you smile too :)
here are a few pics of our cardinal family:

                                                     

papa cardinal

mama cardinal

baby cardinal (eating scraps directly below feeder)

i carry on conversations with these guys!  i really like them.  hey, whatever makes me feel good these days i do.... :)




....so, what are you especially thankful for today?!:)

day 9: "i am thankful for.........TUNING TOOLS!"

aka....tuning hammer, mute, and chromatic tuner (free computer program).  these are the instruments my husband is using this morning to tune my very out of tune piano.

my 11 yr old takes piano lessons every week....he hears what a tuned piano sounds like....he knows ours is WAY out of tune.  i know this....i don't even play my piano anymore because it sounds soooo bad!  hopefully after today, i will once again enjoy playing and my son will want to practice more :)


....so, what are you especially thankful for today?!:)

day 8: "i am thankful for......PIZZA and MOVIE NIGHT!"

it's friday...and that means 'pizza and movie' night at the pahal house!  thank God for that too because the LAST thing i want to do right now is cook.  my hubby and i have been hauling firewood all day.  i will tell all about that adventure some other day :)

my favorite:  supreme!

cheap movies:

ok...gotta go to little caesars and family video....see you tomorrow!!   happy friday folks!


....so, what are you especially thankful for today?!:)

day 7: "i am thankful for......DIRECTIONS!"

.....when i read them anyways ;)   here is what i TRIED to accomplish yesterday...w/o reading the directions:

not pretty is it :(.   there were holes in the brick left behind after my hubby and father-in-law replaced the old electrical box with a new one.  well, i thought i would fill in these holes using this stuff (i have never used this type of caulk....but, in big letters it reads CONCRETE CRACK filler, so i thought i was doing good...right??!)

not a good choice...the stuff kept on running down the side of the house....AND the worst part of this stuff is that it DOESN'T COME OFF your hands, clothes, brick!  i got so mad at 'this stuff', i walked over to our big garbage bin and threw it out!  i bought two...thinking, ok, ok....don't throw the unopened one out ker...return it instead.  this morning, i read the directions on the darn thing....this is what it read:

HORIZONTAL concrete surfaces.....oh geezzzz.  learn from my mistakes please...!

yes...i'm thankful for directions....when i READ them ;)



....so, what are you especially thankful for today?!:)

day 6: "i am thankful for.........VINYL SIDING!"

.....oh my gosh, you have no idea how thankful!

just let me tell you that we have taken on the arduous task of painting our ugly orange brick ranch house.

well, above the brick, on the gable ends of the house, and in front, above our living room picture window... there is wood siding that has seen better days (to put it mildly).  layers of paint chipping away to reveal thin/cracked/redwood siding, about to crumble with the slightest touch.  my power washer dug rivets into it. we like to save money where we can, so, instead of buying siding to replace/or go over the old, i have been: 1. power washing 2. scraping 3. power sanding 4. priming 2x 5. painting (haven't reached this step yet) the existing dilapidated wood siding....UGH!!!!

here is a picture of the gable end closest to the garage....just this small section directly below took over an hour to scrape/power sand and it still looks like crap!

my hubby, working in the backyard on the shed re-do, over heard me (screaming some not so nice words) at the house.....walked up to me....and....told me to "stop sanding, we are going out to buy vinyl siding"...!!!! 

Thank you GOD. :0))



 ....so, what are you especially thankful for today?! :)

day 5: i am thankful for.........RAINBOWS!

....because they always have the ability to make me smile :)  and if you really think about it...how many things ALWAYS make you smile? 

i took this picture in june while visiting my sister in montana...

 ....so, what are you especially thankful for today?! :)

day 4: "i am thankful for.......'LOVE HANDLES'!

(...aka 'peanut butter cup cookies')!

i renamed these little guys a while back in ny. they are just to die for...eating just one is NOT an option. soooo, baking them and eating them as often as i did, i noticed my hips, aka 'love handles' growing larger instantaneously! hence the reason i felt the necessity to rename these simply delectable little pieces of heaven...Love Handles!

i decided to whip up a few batches today. i don't have to fit into my jeans for at least another month or so, right?!! ;)

yummy....

(ps. thanks michaela for the idea. luv and miss u sweetie :))



....so, what are you especially thankful for today?! :)

day 3: "i am thankful for.......RECIPES!

...because without them, i would be LOST in the kitchen. some people, aka. my husband, can just whip up a fancy dinner w/o a recipe. he tells me "just need to taste it" ...well NOT ME! i always follow recipes to the teeeee. here is a recipe i have recently used for homemade freezer spaghetti sauce from allrecipes.com (LOVE this site):

Ingredients

4 onions, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1/2 cup vegetable oil
16 cups chopped tomatoes
2 tablespoons dried oregano
2 tablespoons dried basil
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1/4 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons salt
3/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste

Directions

In a slow cooker saute together the onion, garlic, green pepper, and vegetable oil. Cook until onion is transparent.
Add the chopped tomatoes, oregano, basil, parsley, sugar, salt, and ground black pepper. Stir in can of tomato paste. Cook for 2 to 3 hours on low heat. Stir frequently.
Let sauce cool. Pour sauce into quart size freezer containers. Store in freezer.

and a picture (yes, i took a picture of my sauce because it was quite a triumph for me to create such a masterpiece in my kitchen (i am not a very good cook ;0). i even sent a picture to my sister that day! SHE is the master cook in the family)

in order to make homemade sauce, i first had to learn how to peel tomatoes...here is what you do:

-boil water (enough to cover the largest tomato)
-place tomatoes in boiling water
-let sit for at least 30 seconds (or until you see the skin starting to peel)
-with one of those big spoons that have holes (forget what they are called:)) take the peeling tomatoes out of the boiling water, and immediately place into a bowl full of ICE water.
-let sit for again, 30 sec. then, just take out and peel!

for me, making homemade sauce was quite the ordeal...but, i did it! thanks to the recipes i found, i could finally help to slowly diminish my garden tomato supply. here is a picture of the tomatoes i have in my fridge today (and there are more where they came from)! i guess i need to make more sauce (i have never canned, and don't know if i ever will ;))

....so, what are you especially thankful for today?! :)

day 2: "i am thankful for......SLEEPING IN!

....because my poor husband left this morning at 4:15am to work 12 hours. i always feel so bad for him :(

....because it's saturday! no school today: no making lunches, packing backpacks, finding shoes, figuring out breakfast, yelling, rushing...driving to school (if i don't have to drive anywhere, i'm a happy mom ;O))

....because i love my new bedroom! we have finished renovating our master bedroom so, basically, i could hang out in my bed all day, everyday just to be in there! (ps. it still needs some pics on the walls, and of course, carpet. that will come)

....so, what are you especially thankful for today?! :)

day 1: ''i am thankful for......LADDERS!"

my very first blog entry (i'm not much of a writer, so i will be adding lots of pictures to my posts ;))


i have started painting the outside of my house...and yesterday, my husband came up with the idea of homemade scaffolding.

we bought the silver adjustable ladder yesterday at Lowes. i have always wanted one like it. it adjusts to different heights/lengths. love it! the back of our house has a yard down-slope. i had to put my thinking cap on to figure out how to prime the highest part of the soffit/fascia trim today...this is what i came up with.

always thinkin ;)