Today's accomplishments

Today I finally finished Sarah's room darkening roman shade for her room. If you look at the closed pic, I took that one at 7:30 pm (the open one at 5:30 pm). Because DH thought that it would be easier to hide the seam where I joined the fabric if I quilted the shade, well, it was a pain. Unfortunately, I learned a trick and discovered that I really needed a walking foot to quilt neatly as I was finishing the shade.

In the summer, sunset is closer to 11:00 pm and sunrise at near 6:00 am, so room darkening is necessity. Insulating is also nice for winter.

Now I need to make one for Sydney (but I will not quilt it the way I did Sarah's).

Ialso made Pine Nut biscotti. It was from Cooking Light, and yummy. I'm having fun playing with the convection oven. Last night it was pizza.

Here is the recipe:

Pine Nut Biscotti

Ingredients
3 cups all-purpose flour (about 13 1/2 ounces)

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons water

1 teaspoon grated lemon rind

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 large eggs

Preparation
Preheat oven to 325°.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk. Stir in pine nuts. Combine 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons water, rind, vanilla, and eggs, stirring with a whisk. Add egg mixture to flour mixture, stirring until well blended (dough will be dry and crumbly). Knead dough lightly in bowl 7 or 8 times or until a dough forms (dough will be sticky). Divide dough in half. Shape each portion into an 8-inch-long roll. Place rolls 6 inches apart on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper; flatten each roll to 1-inch thickness.

Bake at 325° for 30 minutes. Remove rolls from baking sheet (do not turn oven off); cool 10 minutes on a wire rack.

Cut each roll diagonally into 15 (1/2-inch-thick) slices using a serrated knife. Place slices, cut sides down, on baking sheet. Bake at 325° for 15 minutes. Turn cookies over, and bake an additional 10 minutes (cookies will be slightly soft in center but will harden as they cool). Remove from baking sheet; cool completely on wire racks.

Yield 2 1/2 dozen (serving size: 1 biscotto)

Nutritional Information
CALORIES 94(21% from fat); FAT 2.2g (sat 0.3g,mono 0.6g,poly 0.9g); PROTEIN 2.2g; CHOLESTEROL 21mg; CALCIUM 14mg; SODIUM 84mg; FIBER 0.4g; IRON 0.8mg; CARBOHYDRATE 16.6g

Julianna Grimes and Ann Taylor Pittman , Cooking Light, DECEMBER 2007

Yesterday's post, cont'd

I have a few minutes to finish up my post from yesterday.

The other thing that DH was doing was offering to cover the difference in first prize between the fraternity and women's group for two years time if they would spend that time working to fix the prize disparity. I love that he is not saying "this is wrong, you should fix it," but instead is saying "this is wrong, let me help you while you fix it." I'm not sure what he decided to offer because I also pointed out that 2nd and 3rd prize are also different. He didn't think about that.

As a side note (which I just found a little interesting), the ranking for the divisions when you are choosing which group you are competing in, women's group is ranked 4th, but is 2nd in prize packages.

We had a busy day yesterday. Syd had t-ball practice which I took her, then we went to run errands while DH took Sarah for coach pitch practice. I really like the practice they had organized this year. The kids in each division spent 90 minutes, two times this week, at a coaches clinic. When they got their, they divided into small groups and rotated through six stations. The coaches were able to work on skills (hitting, throwing, catching, grounders, running bases, etc.) in small groups with more individualized attention than they can give on the field with an entire team and two coaches.

The dining room is moving along. I have to paint the doors and drawers (all but one is primed), paint the trim (not too hard as it's already the color, I'm just touching up), paint the spot in the ceiling that is green, paint the trim in the entryway (same color retouch), and paint the ceiling in the entryway. Then post pictures! We have snow on the ground - more light dusting but I think we are suppose to get more snow today. ARGGGGG.

I tried to post this yesterday, but the insert images was not working. But, here's yesterday's 'done dids':

I was getting very close to finising the hutch, but DH looked at me last night and said "I know I should have said this before you painted, but should I take out the tracks from the old mirror doors? So, we did. I have patching to do. But, check out the pink color the room was painted once. I've seen it on almost all the walls.



So, the electrician showed up, my motivation didn't. But, I love the way the lights look.

This is the dining room:

This is the front entry. Unfortunately, the one light is - well a 1/2 inch smaller than the old base. So, the entry way ceiling now needs to be painted.

I also need to create a menu for a casual dinner at the house for a group. Make aheads are a plus so I can mingle with the guests. Grilling is also possible. Suggestions welcome. DH's first PhD student is graduating, so we having him, his son, parents, grandparents, etc over for a celebration.

overuse of muscles

I didn't expect to have my muscles hurt so much after so many days of painting, but today I'm hurting a bit. I also finished too late for a bath last night - maybe that is the problem.

But, I met my goal of having the hutch painted yesterday. Today I need to touch up two spots of green and then I can put the shelves back (and the stuff laying all over the playroom/kitchen).

I did make one small mis-calculation. for some reason I thought the white was oil based, so I didn't sand down the full hutch. Oh well!

Now if everyone could think good thoughts tomorrow that the electrician shows up as expected. People around here aren't great at keeping appointments. I also need the stove guy to show back up. He needs to finish the job!!

Thank goodness they diddn't sell too many

1,500 cookie boxes! I have to sort 1,500 boxes of cookies between 17 girls. There is a special place in the world for cookie moms and dads! I don't mind doing the job, but my goodness the sorting process is a bit tedious.

Plus, it prevents me from working on this:

(or the proposal I need to read through and provide comments).

Sunday done dids

Another busy day here.

The dones:

Painted ceiling in dining room
Finished scrapping wall areas that are bubbled or cracked
Patched exposed wall areas (ran to store to buy more patching and other stuff)
Sanded most of them
Began taping floor and windows for painting trim
Decided that while I had the wall paint out for the ceiling, I should repaint the front entryway - finished painting the walls. Looks much better.
Go out to dinner (too tired to cook or clean)

The planned for this week:

Finish sanding the dining room walls
Paint the dining room trim
Paint the hallway trim
Finish stripping the paint from the built in doors and drawers
Have DH call the electrician to install new entryway and dining room lights.
Buy velcro for Sarah's blinds
Paint wood for Sarah's blinds


I have more, but I'll stop here. I do have to work still, and make dinner, and take care of the family.

But, once the girls are asleep, I'll take my bath and go to sleep!

Oh, I can't wait for this project to be done!!

One home task complete

I finished sewing the curtains for the hallway yesterday. I think I like them. I do need to work with the ribbon placement.