Winter day in Ohio

Beautiful winter day in Ohio. Candice using the tractor to bring some firewood up to the house while on Christmas Holiday.  We missed the big blizzard that hit the East Coast this weekend but we have had the joy of snow on the ground for a few weeks now.   It was a white Christmas for us.

Christmas Lights

Well, this year's Christmas lights pretty much sum up the news we have to share with y'all.

Our thoughts and warmest wishes are with everyone that we won't be able to share the holidays with - we miss and love you all.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

Christmas Lights - 2010

Baby Got Back

The last few weeks have brought rapid progression on the pregnancy front.  I have started to feel random sessions of baby movement.   Usually I am driving in the car or sitting at my desk working.   And last weekend, my stomach rapidly sprung into "obviously pregnant" position.  Anybody who had not heard the news  was made aware just by looking at me.  Check out the new photo on the belly shots page. 

Overall, pregnancy has treated me well.   However, my newest affliction that I have been fighting for the past few weeks is posterior pelvic pain.  Although I had heard of low back pain being a common pregnancy affliction, I had not been made privy to the sudden sharp pains that I am experiencing in my buttock area.  Quite frequently these cause me to stop dead in my tracks unable to take another step.   I hope it does not get worse, but from what I have read I can expect this to remain throughout the pregnancy and up to three months after.  If anybody knows any good way to treat this, please share as I am open to all ideas.   I believe it is made worse by the fact that I sit at a desk for nine hours a day and again in a car for an hour and a half.   Other things to avoid are mentioned as climbing stairs (aka doing laundry in the basement), vacuuming, and mopping.  I seriously did read that somewhere, I think it was written by a pregnant woman trying to avoid household chores.  Nate is not taking these suggestions seriously yet, but he is kind enough to rub my back on occassion. He also made me a footstool for the office to help with my posture. 

We have yet to start the nursery, but Nate did clear out all of the tools from the bathroom project that were strewn about.  I expect that we will pick up that project within the next few weeks.  There are so many things that we need to do in preparation that we have still not wrapped our heads around it all.  We will continue to keep you all posted as we proceed on this exciting new journey in our lives together.  We are slated to find out if it is a boy or a girl next week so expect an update around Thanksgiving. 

Chifforobe Project

Hi Everyone,

I've spent the past several weekends and almost every evening working on restoring an antique chifforobe.    I found the piece on Craigslist, it was being sold by a recently retired couple who were downsizing their home.  The story has it that they purchased the piece from an antique dealer when they were first married over 40 years ago.   On the bottom of one of the drawers, I found a stamp of the original manufacturer:  L. Marx & Bros.  I did some research and found that Louis Marx operated a mail-order furniture shop across the river from Cincinnati starting in 1888 until around the time of WW1. 
When I picked up the chifforobe from the couple, it was in pretty rough shape; the finish was all but gone, the hardware needed to be replaced, the mirror had lost all it's silvering, all the glue had long ago deteriorated and all that was holding the thing together were a handful of cheap metal brackets that the old man had screwed into the corners. 
I took everything apart and stacked up the pieces.  It looked exactly like a pile of firewood and nothing like an antique chifforobe.  Then I started the process of repairing, replacing when necessary, refinishing and then reassembling the piece.  I converted the left side wardrobe into shelves and rebuilt every drawer from scratch, only saving the original drawer fronts.  The mirror was replaced as well as all the hardware then a fresh coat of stain and polyurethane applied to match my other furniture. 
The chifforobe now sits in our newly refinished master bathroom and will be home to our towels, sheets, blankets and toiletries.   Below are some pictures I took of it this morning.  I wish now that I'd taken a few pics of the work in progress but all I have is the finished item.  Enjoy!



Full Moon

Hope everybody is doing well, and having some nice fall weather.  We are getting a nice taste of an Indian Summer here; we broke a temperature high today surpasing the previous 92 degrees to hit a high of 95.   I am glad that I only have to put up with the heat for only a few months during this pregnancy.  For the most part, my pregnancy side effects remain pretty mild.  My biggest complaint continues to be the desire to sleep all of the time, but having the inability to actually sleep through the night.  I guess this is my preparation for life after the baby is born.  My closet selection is continuing to get more snug every day, we will post another round of belly shots this weekend.  The purpose of tonights post is really to show the awesome pictures that Nate took of the full moon.  The first shot was taken a couple of nights ago and the rest were tonight.  They don't quite convey the full beauty of viewing in person but we hope you Enjoy~!    

Bathroom Remodel Finished

FINALLY!
The bathroom is complete.  From a construction standpoint anyway.  Still have to find a vanity type thing for Candice's get pretty space.  Also we are going to try to find a nice armoire to use as a linen closet.  But other than that, I'm done.  Here are a few shots I took...

From the doorway of the Master Bedroom looking in

Tiled shower with large window.

Closer view of sink and mirrors...

Hot Pepper Relish Recipe

Do you love that Hot Pepper Relish that they put on your sub down at the sandwich shop?  I sure do.  Here is a great recipe I found to make it.  You can tune the heat by changing the type of pepper. I used peppers mostly from the “medium” range of heat.   Great for use on sandwiches, hotdogs, burgers, eggs, noodles, etc…

 

This recipe will make 1 quart, or enough to fill 4 of those ½ pint jars for canning. 

 

Ingredients:

·       2 cups of minced fresh Peppers (or about 12 Cherry Peppers, 2 large Pablanos & 4 Jalapeños)

·       ¾ cup of fresh minced Onion ( 1 medium red & 1 medium white)

·       3 cloves garlic

·       2 tsp salt

·       1 Tbs sugar

·       1 ½ Cups cider or wine vinegar

·       A few healthy shakes of Black Pepper

 

To Make:

·       Place minced peppers in a large bowl and pour boiling water over them, let steep for 5 minutes and then drain water.

·       Combine peppers and all other ingredients into pan and simmer on low for about 20 ~ 30 minutes or enough to soften the peppers and get the relish mix to correct consistency.

·       Place into jars and water-bath for long term storage or refrigerate for near-term use. 

 

 

CHEERS!

~ Nate Morley

 

How to Tell Your Pregnant

1.  Pee on a stick:

First of 3!  Had to make sure...

2. Get an Ultrasound:

Taken on 8/10/2010 - 7 weeks & 2 days old

3.  Tell everyone you know...

Progress on the Bathroom Remodel

Here are some pictures of the remodel we have been working on for the past few weeks.  Actually, it has been since June 12 since we started this mess, so it is actually more like 8 weeks now.  Almost finished, though.  Can't wait!

Old shower is gone.  Pink tile still there

Dad looking busy for the camera

Concrete board up and window framed with PVC

Candice inspecting the spackle job.

Grouting is fun!

The tile work freshly grouted.

Fermented Dill Pickles

Here is my recipe for pickles:

Start with large glass jar, crock or food grade plastic bucket of at least 1 gallon size.    Old pickle jars DO NOT work well in my opinion because it is hard to find something to put on top of the cukes to keep them weighted down and under the surface of the water.   This is very important because any contact with air will cause spoilage.   A container that does not neck down at the top is what works best. 

Fill the container ¾ full with any combination of the following to suit your tastes:

·       Pickling cukes (of course)

·       Hot peppers (I like a few jalapeño and a few cayenne)
·       Fresh dill (do not use dill spice (or any other dried and ground up spice) as this will just float to the top and cause spoilage)
·       Garlic cloves
·       Celery stalks
·       Whole Peppercorns
·       Baby carrots
·       Pearl onions

Layer the ingredients so that everything is in as close proximity with everything else as possible to ensure even flavor distribution. 

Mix the following in these proportions until you have enough to cover the above ingredients by at least 1 inch.

·       2 quarts spring water
·       1/3 cup pickling salt
·       ½ cup cider vinegar

Once everything is in the crock, find a small plate or saucer or plastic lid that just fits inside the crock and put a mason jar full of water on top of it to keep everything pushed down and under the water.  It is very important that nothing floats up past the water barrier during fermentation.  Any exposure to air can cause spoilage.  (they occasional peek or taste test won’t hurt)  I always leave the smallest cukes on top for taste testing near the end.

You will notice after the 3^rd day or so a white film starting to grow on the surface of the water.  This is perfectly normal and is just natural yeast growing.  It is important that you scrape it off everyday, though.  While it is not harmful itself, if left there, it will change the PH level of the mix and could allow nasties to grow instead of the good bacteria that is allowing the food to ferment and creating the lactic acid that will preserve them. 

Cover with a towel and leave on counter away from direct sun-light and sources of heat.

The process is very temperature dependant.  The warmer it is, the faster the process will happen.  Not recommended if temps stay above 85 degrees.  72 – 78 is ideal.  At 75 degrees, you should have pickles in 10 – 14 days.

When they are done, place them into jars and cover with the leftover liquid and store in fridge.  Should be good for months this way.  If you want to can them for longer storage, you must boil the liquid first, then water-bath as you would for any other pickle. 

CHEERS!

~ Nate Morley