Roasted veggies

My good friend posted this recipe on her blog for roasting veggies, and I had to try it. I'm hooked and it's the easiest way for me to get my veggies in.

Your choice of veggies. I did zucchini, broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, leeks, red bed pepper, mushrooms, and squash. Sprayed some spray Pam and threw them in a roasting pan, seasoned with Dash.

Roast in oven at 400 for 20 minutes

Clean Eating

I tried a new recipe this evening from the Clean Eating Magazine, Pork Tenderloin with pineapple. It was a huge hit for the whole family. I will most definitely be adding this to our regular meal plan. Easy and doable, not too many ingredients and healthy.

Pork Tenderloin with pineapple serves 8

Ingredients:

1lb Pork Tenderloin

Olive oil cooking spray

1 pineapple, cored, peeled, and cut into 1/2 - inch pieces

1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 Tbsp real maple sugar

1/4 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

One: Preheat Oven to 375F. Rinse tenderloin under cool running water and lightly dab dry with paper towel.

Two: Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat and mist quickly with cooking spray. Place tenderloin in skillet and sear on each side until golden brown, about 3-4 minutes total. Remove tenderloin and place in baking dish.

Three: Immediately pour pineapple into hot skillet and saute for about 3 minutes, stirring once or twice as pineapple browns slightly. Meanwhile, stir together vinegar and maple syrup in a small bowl, and add to pineapple. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 1 minute.

Four: Pour pineapple-syrup mixture over tenderloin;then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place in preheated oven and bake for 40-45 minutes, until juices are only slightly pink in the middle.

Remove from oven and let rest for 5 minutes. Cut into 1-inch slices and serve with roasted pineapples on the side.

Calories 290, total fat: 4g, Sat fat: 1g, carbs: 34g, fiber: 3g, sugars: 26g, protein: 31g, sodium: 213mg, cholesterol: 82mg

Little bit country

This kid is full of surprises. The flags were supposed to be for the flower pots, but the kids seems to think otherwise. This afternoon Lil T comes waltzing shirtless, undies hanging out of his jeans, camo hat and the flag...talk about identity crisis. Little bit country, little bit army, little bit YMCA? crazy kid.

I did manage to snap some eye contact, which is rare in our house!

So proud of the kids

Granted the kids have only been at this new school for 2 months. Today was report card day and they didn't dissappoint. It's no secret the kids have had a really tough time with all the changes at home unfortunatley it was showing at school. All three are thriving now and it helps that we as parents are in a much more stable envirnoment and are able to really focus on the kids needs.

Today was the last day of school, Yeah!!!! Rain or shine we are going to have a wonderful summer regardless of what Mother Nature has in store for us!

I gotta a feeling...

that tonight's gonna be a good night...

Hahaha, I love that song by the Black Eyed Peas!

I'm feeling great! We're finally in a better season of life. Much credit goes to getting back to a fitness routine and back to healthier eating. My mom passed on her past issues of Clean Eating Magazine and I'm having a blast going through some of the recipes. Some are pretty good, others, um mm not so much! Just like with all new recipes it's all trial and error.

Tonight's menu, roasted red potatoes, zucchini, bell peppers and onion with a little bit of balsamic vinegar. Grilled flank steak on the Kamado (ceramic coal bbq) and green salad.

Exercise for the day....long walk with the dog this morning, and another walk this evening. I would normally go to the gym, but since the sun is acutally out, I'd much rather get some fresh air and Harley needs at least one good walk a day. In this case, it's a win win for both of us!

I forgot to mention we have a new addition to our family....meet Harley. We found him at the humane society about 2 weeks ago. and fell in love. He's a 2 yr old lab mix. The kids are in love and he loves them right back. He's incredibily mellow and well behaved. He has one major issue, separation anxiety, BIG TIME. So bad, that he broke out of his wire crate, busted down the door on the crate, not once, 3 times! He's not a chewer, but he paws at the door to get out and cry and whines for us to come home. He's jumped over a 5 ft chain link fence, just to get to me on the other side (I was just going to get the mail). The only time he misbehaves is when we leave him alone.

We assumed since he was so cooperative the first few days that he was already crate trained but now we're rethinking that. At this point I'm working on crate training him. I have a lot of work with him, thankfullly it's summertime and I have the time. I'm also working with him on rewards when I leave the room and he stays put. Right now we're at 45 seconds up from 0.....like a said lots of work, the internet has a vast amount of information on separation anixiety so I'm hoping I can get this dog to his happy place!

Healing those broken wings

This week a huge weight has been lifted. Our foreclosure was the last of the big events in our perfect storm. As of this week we are legally done with the "B" home. While it's heartbreaking walk away, there were so many wonderful memories in that home, but also so many painful ones that remind us of a very tumultuous time in our marriage and it's healing to move forward.

The last few years I've been mending my wings but today, I feel as if those broken wings are mended. I'm ready for take off.

Kids start summer break next week. After living the last few summers in survival mode, I'm really excited to have an action packed summer with the kids.

Ballard Locks

I ♥ Washington! I've lived my entire life here and I'm continually amazed by it's beauty! Now having kids of my own, it's so much fun getting to rediscover places from my youth and discovering new places.

I'll post more photos from our last few outings (Ballard Locks, Des Moines Marina, Museum of Flight), I've somehow managed to misplace them in LR.

Of another era

Do you ever wonder what it would be like to live before your generation? I do. Sometimes I daydream of escaping to another era. Especially now that I live in my grandparents old house. Kinda weird to think that my grandma moved into this house from Burbank, California when she was 37 yrs old and here I am moving in at 36 (pretty dang close to 37). She and grandpa moved up in their prime years, set up their future, my mom grew up here, and now my kids will grow up here. Surreal for sure!

There are still many remnants of the past in this home, an old car, trunks, tools, fur coats, old dresses, and vintage hats. I'm still trying to go through all that is left behind to decode and figure out where it needs to go. Much of which I simply can't keep for lack of space. At this point in my life it's not about keeping, it's about simplifying.

Today I focus on the 1950's pink refrigerator, it's taking up too much space in the garage. Crazy that after 54 years this fridge still works and works well!! I love the lazy susan idea, and the refer over freezer, I can't believe that was cira 1956! Pink inside, well it's better than pink on the outside as well.

I listed it on Craigslist. Lets hope it goes over the long weekend!

Another practice session

I'm not in business, but when the opportunity came about for a lil practice session on a newborn, I was all over it. And let me tell you, I knew it was going to be hard, but it's REALLY challenging photographing a newborn. Thankfully this little baby was absolutely delightful.

The lessons I took away from this practice session were priceless. Now I need to step it up and do more shoots so I can really apply those lessons to improve.

Broken birdie

The kids found this little bird in the backyard this afternoon. I'm not sure what type of bird it is, but I'm suspecting it's a young robin. I couldn't tell what was wrong with little birdie. I was within a foot and usually I can't get that close to any birds. Emma was determined to make this her new pet....I'm hoping by morning the little birdie will have moved on. Photo taken with my 70-200mm f4. Love the bokeh on this, I need to dig this lens out more often.

Lil Guitar

Two months ago on a normal shopping trip to the grocery store I stumbled accross this guy selling little guitars in the parking lot of QFC. It's so out of character for me to buy something this random, let alone in a parking lot. Plus I'm on the hook for a birthday present. He tells me this cute lil thing is $25 (which I'm sure is completely overpriced). This little voice is telling me "I have to have it"!!!

I glance over to a pile of wadded up cash on the front seat of the van and offer him what I have, and he says yes. Score for me!

Lil Tyler has loved music since he was un utero and I coudln't resist. I wrapped this up and gave it to him for his 6th birthday, He was so flippin excited. He plays all the time, thinks he's a little rock star.

Few of me and the kids

I'm going back on my word on exercise this week. I haven't been feeling very well. It's almost just too much to be obsessing about my first week back on Weight Watchers and trying to add exercise. I have to remind myself we've just been through some pretty heavy stuff and I need to cut myself a little more slack. Plus I seem to be more sucessful when I focus on one goal at a time. So next week will be exercise, this week journal, journal, journal. I know you're not supposed to peak mid week, but I'm already down 2 lbs....if only I could make all 20 melt off as easy!

The kids took these photos and I've taught them to not take MY photos dead on (isn't that terrible?). I will try to take a more unflattering "real fat" photo when I work up the nerve.

Finding a new normal

We moved several times when the kids were babies, so it wasn't as big of a deal. This time around it's a little more complicated. More specifically our 9 and 11 year old are taking this move pretty hard.

I wish I had some magic wand that could make it all better. I had a conversation with my 11 yr old tonight that was pretty heart wrenching. It seems as if everynight he's been crying himself to sleep. While I try to comfort him I'm at a loss for what to say. If anyone knows of any good books or references on moving and dealing with family hardships, I'd love some recommendations.

With all this craziness we are still trying to unpack and settle into a new normal. Friday the neighborhood pool opened, and I hope that by being actively involved we'll meet other families.

Starting monday, and I'm sharing this here...back to the gym, no more excuses! I've started back on Weight Watchers online and my goal this week is to show up to the gym 4 days. No expectations on weight lifting, just get my chunky butt to the gym!

As one door closes another door opens

I can't believe we are done at the "b" house. This process of letting go of the other home has been a long time in the making. The last 3 months of downsizing and moving out have been extremely hard emotionally.

I can remember 3 years ago my husband bringing up the conversation ( little bit before he'd lost income) that he brought up the topic of "is this house worth it" and the whole foreclosure crisis that was starting. I can remember an entire year going by with so many heated discussions of how much I loved the home, morally how anyone could walk away, and no way it could happen to us (after all life was good). Of course I had no idea what changes were on the horizon and that the "Perfect Storm" hadn't yet hit, and neither one of us it really saw it coming, all though looking back it's clear as day something had to break!

So here we are post hap, the house now belongs to the bank. Yes, that's what I said. After more than 14 months of a constant circle jerk with the banks, calling constantly, faxing documents, only to be outdated every 30 days, hiring a mediation company, and finally a lawyer. We walked away. Some may call it a "strategic default", but reality was we could no longer afford the home as incomes have dropped significantly in my husbands line of work since the time we purchased our home.

This evening we packed of the remains of our personal property and took to our new home. While there was a twinge of sadness, that my kids would lose constant access to all their friends, the wonderful neighbors, my awesome mommy friends, and my beautiful home. The memories are always for us to keep, regardless of where we live. It occurred to me that it was the friendships that I will miss the most, not the home. We can make a home where ever we go. This day marks the end of some very hard times our family and our marriage have endured and we're all ready for a new chapter.

Mother's Day

This years Mother's Day was fabulous and refreshing! We are still living in chaos, and getting away from the house with the family was just what we all needed. First I was showered with gifts (which considering my husband did a huge NO,NO a few days earlier for my birthday, he wasn't going to strike out on Mothers Day). After cards and gifts, we then went to breakfast, then to Ballard Locks in Seattle for a picnic.

So now we are back to reality, and this week was pretty rough. In a nutshell we hadn't moved all our things out of the old home yet, and basically we had to get things out in a mad rush this week. The 3 car garage is packed from floor to ceiling. My grandma's things have not been fully removed from our new home, and it's become a real challenge working around everything. I spent today unloading the kitchen, and of course because many of these things are family heirlooms, it's a bit of a challenge just throwing things away. I hate to say, 5 months ago when we started this process I had hopes to keep many of the family heirlooms, I just can't hang on to the things for lack of space. This downsizing has proved to be more challenging than we originally expected, but good things are just around the corner! I look forward to simplifying our lives, living within our means during this difficult economic season, and focusing on family.

April Showers...

The old addage April Showers bring May flowers is really living up to it's word here in Western Washington!

I changed clothes 3 times yesterday. From flip flops, tank and capris, jeans, and tshirt, to layers upon layers! I did manage to cut back some shrubs, weed, fertilize and mow all in between showers.

Photo in between showers, if only I could find that pot of gold!

Bugger, looks like I pushed the color too far on this!

First Tooth

A milestone today, Tyler lost his first tooth. It seemed like yesterday he was just cutting these front teeth. He was so excited he made sure that I had his bed properly made for the tooth fairy's arrival. Sweet dreams little boy.

1900's carpenter chest

This stinky old chest has been sitting in this basement for the last 50+years. It belonged to my great grandpa Emmanual J Lensing. Not sure the dates on all the tools but I know great grandpa was born in 1885, these were his tools and in the 40's he shipped them out to my grandpa(Donald)in Burbank, CA.

Now the big question, what do I do with this chest and the old tools inside of it? I have no use or desire to save these. The woodin chest, stinks like old wood. While it's like a time capsule, I wish I could find someone who would appreciate it antiquity/character.

Birds nest

I feel really bad, I unintentionally disrupted a birds nest in the rockery to get this shot. I never really put much thought into birds making a nest in rocks. As I was taking these shots, I startled the birds and they flew out....scared the living tar out of me, that's for sure! Thankfully all the little birds could fly, but they have not returned to the nest. It makes me feel a bit better than I can hear them all nearby in a neighboring tree, I'm assuming they found another home.

Maternity Session from a few weeks back

Almost forgot, I did a practice session a few weeks ago. To make matters a little bit more challenging the flash tube in my strobe broke. Ended up just using my external flash, but not really the efffects I was going for!

Some After photos of the house

Test

Trying out my new wireless trigger/receiver with my Alien bee. Only bribes that involve food work for photos.

Moved in

We're all moved into our new home. Still a ton of work to do. Our floors turned out amazing! Now that I have my camera stuff here, I'll get some photos up.

I'm LOVIN this old house! I can't seem to find the appropriate words to describe how I feel about this house, other than it's sentimental (being that it was my grandparents home for the 50 years).

So much work, so little time

Feeling a bit overwhelmed this week with so many things on the "to do" list. My mom is such a trooper. Her and I have been working hard the last few days cleaning up the downstairs foyer and family room of the new house. It's no secret, we both enjoy house projects and we make a great team. It's been fun working together and I look forward to being closer in location.

With all this manual labor....I am looking forward to a little girl time! I've been sporting my grubby clothes and messy hair (which btw is showcasing several colors from the new paint palette).

On a sad note, the last few weeks I've had a chance to spend a lot more time with my parents. I had no idea how much my father's health and mental capacity has deteriorated. He was diagnosed severe dementia a year ago, and since then he's slipped quite a bit. At this point his Parkinson's symptoms look meek in comparison to his cognitive abilities. Being closer and quality time with my dad is priceless these days. We're not sure how much longer he'll still resemble himself :(

1950's fireplace wall

Now you can see a before photo. The piano movers are the end of the week to move the piano so we can rip up the carpets, tear down the popcorn ceiling, and the wood paneling. Underneath the carpets is solid birch floors that have been covered for 50+ years. The fireplace may have to wait, as we have budget constraints and time limits. Either way, that fireplace it nasty and the drapes are coming down right away.

My quest to reface the fireplace has been narrowed down. I need to consult with a contractor and most likely we'll be adding a gas insert as well.

I have my vision for the upstairs as very much clean lines, nuetral colors and airy. The photo above, represents many of the elements I want in the room. Though, I'm not a huge fan of the blue sofas (I like them, just not sure if that's the color scheme for me). I do however already own an offwhite tailored slipcovered sofa, similar to what is shown, add the piano back in and I just need a few more items to finish off the space.

This weekend, we'll be moving everything out for the estate sale and starting demo!!!

Kitchen Pain in the @ss

We have no sink, no dishwasher and half of the kitchen looks like a scene from CSI. Totally a pain in the butt!

There is some good news, the mold wasn't a as bad as first though, though looks like the contractors may have to rip out a small section of our exterior kitchen wall. At this point, I don't really care what they do, just get it done.

Girl Time

Tomorrow marks the start of the kitchen repair from the water damage that occurred over New Years. The remediation people want us nowhere near the kitchen while the mold is being treated. Our kitchen will be under construction for the next 3 weeks (we hope it's just 3 weeks), add that with all the other major life challenges. I've had so much mom guilt going on and I needed a little time out today. So E and I went shopping and had a great time.

What really was fun, I was able to use my camera today. Needless to say, even if I'm not that good at photography, shooting makes me happy!

The fun was short lived. I had to come home to packing up the cabinets and empty the refer so the construction guys can remove the counters in the morning. We are 4 weeks out to moving. This week I will also be moving my grandma into her new place. We are in peak mode right now, and things are now about to really get crazy.

More more decor stuff

This here happens to be one of my favorite design sites...Decor Pad

As I was browsing through the site, under Looks 4 Less I found my dinning room chairs for $100 less than Restoration, woohoo!!! What I love about these chairs, is that I can incorporate them as seating in the large living room as a separate little seating area. http://www.decorpad.com/look4less.htm

Inspiration

Been doing a bit of online shopping/surfing lately. I've been trying to work out how I'm going to incorporate the inherited pieces of furniture with my style and my existing pieces.

The dinning room table that I'm getting is very much like the one above, it's an oval shape. The chairs that my grandma picked out years ago, are beautiful but way too traditional for my style. I've been eyeing these chairs for awhile and of course they are from Restoration Hardware, GULP (probably cost just as much as the flipping table). I'm also looking at a more clean lined upholstered seating as well. For now these go on my inspiration list.

For lighting, I'm thinking of this...but I keep going round and round. The space I have isn't as large as the photos shown so I'd only be able to do one light.

The dinning room is attached to a formal living room. My other big piece of furniture I have to work around is a grand piano. The lighting is fantastic in the living room, as there are 3 really large windows facing west. Not quite sure how it's all going to work out.

After I have an empty room to photograph, I'll share photos.

Mommy Goggles

I admit it, I'm ga ga over everyday photos. They may not be technically perfect, but nothing pulls faster at my heartstrings than seeing my kids do everyday simple things. So with my mommy goggles on, I {heart} this photo. The book, Where the Wild Things Are is one my personal favorites as a child, and the shirt is priceless, as is the little boy wearing it!

Oh, and the piano is sold! One more major thing to check of the big list before we move!

Piano For Sale

Please excuse the fact that I haven't dusted in awhile. Thanks to these photos I now know what I'll be doing this weekend!

It breaks my heart to have to give up this piano. We don't have room for it in our new home, and well, I've inherited a grand piano.

Here's the details on this....Temple is listed on the front of the piano. However it's manufactured by Winter & Company New York made for Benjamin Temple Music which is shown on the inside of the piano. At one point the piano was restored by A1 Piano in Seattle. Estimated date built is early 1900's.

The cabinet is in very good/excellent shape, with a few minor nicks and normal wear. The bench is a bit shaky and looks like it was repaired at one point, could use a little beefing up, but still functional.

As for sound, well it's no Steinway concert grand. It's sounds good, all the keys are in good shape. It will need a tuning after it's moved. And the keys from middle C,D,E have a little sticking going on...(I believe it's a few crumbs from my kids and should be repairable when you have it tuned). I do not have a key for the keyboard either.

Moving, this is a beast to move. Seriously no joke! It will take qualified movers to move this. Whoever purchases it gets the responsibility of moving it. YOU WILL NEED PIANO MOVERS. We hired a company when we purchased the piano and 3 huge dudes could barely get this in my house, and in the process they damaged the brand new hardwood floors. ProPiano Mover in Seattle came highly recommended and also Advance piano movers.

I paid $600 for it 4 yrs ago and I'm willing to start my price at $500 or OBO, CASH please on pickup.

To grandmas house we go..

Our new weekend routine now includes a day spent at grandmas helping with the downsize.

I took some photos today of the new/old house...as you notice I haven't posted them. Why? Cuz, I freak when I see them! There is still so much work to be done. When I'm there in real life, I see the potential and I get excited. When I see the house on film, it has the opposite effect.

Patience grasshopper! In a few short months, those photos, will be "before" photos and we'll have "after" too follow.

The photo that I do have...well, meet Ludwid with a 21st century spin! Pretty hot, isn't he!

Breathe

"Take a nice deep breath in through the nose and exhale".... I'm having withdrawls right now. After an entire weekend doing homework, I'm ready for a cleansing evening in hot yoga with the gals. One night of hot yoga and I'm good for days. I'm not sure how to explain it other than feeling more balanced both physically and mentally. Good stuff for sure!

The last 2 weeks I've dove into school. In many ways I feel excited at the new challenges ahead, but I'm so very overwhelmed. The reality that I've spent the last 11 years as a mom, doing mom things, not working, not communicating, I feel so far behind intellectually. I've lost skills. I'm struggling with articulating my thoughts into words. Out of practice in so many ways.

As the months go by, I'm sure I'll get back into the swing of things. I just need to be patient and take one day at a time. A little deep breathing helps too!

Photos tomorrow I promise! Got my new hard drive and no school tomorrow!

Darn computers!

I have photos to post, but apparently Lightroom and Adobe Bridge have worn out one of my hard drives to the point where I've been told to not use either systems until we replace the hard drive. Fortunately we have enough systems in place NO photos are lost this time around.

We spent the last few days sifting through my grandmas stuff. It was wonderful having her in the room to tell us what we were looking at, and the origins of where items came from and the memories behind them. Beer steins from Germany, tea sets from Sierra, a ottoman from Budapest, flokati rugs from Greece, giant boomerangs from Australia, and the stories go on and on. We are so lucky that grandma is leading this downsize, I hate to think of what this would be like under different circumstances of illness or even death.

New Beginnings

Things are starting to fall in place for 2010. By summer time we will be moving into my grandparents home in Normandy Park.

With college, kids, downsizing our household, going through 60+ years of things from my grandparents home and some renovating before we move in, our plate will be full. I'm excited for the changes but also a bit scared.

This 1955 brick ranch is going to need some cosmetic updates to bring it into the 21st century. I'm looking forward to updating and putting our personal stamp on the home. The biggest undertaking will be removing the barf green carpets from the entire main floor, refinishing the hard wood flooring that haven't seen daylight in half a century. Did I mention the popcorn ceiling with red, white and blue sparkles? LOL! We also can't forget the basement covered in wall to wall wood paneling, and finishing off 2 extra rooms.

With all this excitement there does come some sacrifices on our part. It's going to be hard separating from our life up here in Bothell. We will all miss our dear friends, neighbors, and the area as as whole. The commute will go from 20 to 45+ minutes each way. At this point in our lives we need to put our needs ahead of our wants.

Cheers 2o10, to new beginings and new endevors!