air conditioning, roofs and porches ~ oh my!

The weekend started out great. Me and hubby and son enjoyed dining al fresco on the river in our town on Friday night, followed by a family BBQ on Saturday at my aunt's house. Her daughter - my cousin - and her three-year old daughter were in from Tacoma, so it was wonderful getting to see them again. Even though it was 96 degrees and humid, we sat out on the patio talking, laughing, enjoying my uncle's amazing smoked ribs and steak and my mother's fried chicken and my salads...enjoying the family time with sweat rolling down our faces and backs. We'd duck back inside the house to cool down and then go back outside for some more Midwestern torture.

Sometime in the middle of the night/wee morning hours of Sunday, our air-conditioning bit the dust. I woke up several times during the night, overly warm, but chalked it up to those lovely night sweats due to menopause. But when we got up Sunday morning and saw the thermostat was at 80 degrees...and then I put my foot over the vent to feel the air coming out and found that it wasn't cold, I knew something was wrong.

Brian called our AC guy and he had Brian test a bunch of different things. Since our HVAC system (central air conditioning and furnace) are the original of the house - 30 years old! - our AC guy said most likely it was the compressor. We knew we were living on borrowed time, so we weren't surprised. Our AC guy referred us to a local business who does more complicated HVAC work and can also replace the system, if need be.

In the meantime, Sunday and Monday were two of the hottest days we've had, with the heat index reaching 102F. It was 90 degrees in our house. We spent a lot of time in the basement where it was a little cooler (good thing we have a little family room set up down there!) and didn't get much sleep Sunday night.

Rocky - the referred HVAC guy - was supposed to come out yesterday. He was going to try to squeeze us in between other jobs he had. Turns out, it didn't work out. Our area got bombarded by torrential rain and flooding, and that put him way behind.

It was still raining this morning (and finally cool - hooray!) and like Rocky explained to me, he couldn't do electrical work in the rain. I totally understood. However, it's now noon and it finally stopped raining. Rocky just called and will be here within an hour. Only time will tell if this is something that can be fixed. There's a possibility it's the capacitor. But like I said, I wouldn't be surprised if this is something that can't be fixed and we need a new HVAC system.

In the meantime, still waiting for two amended bids on the roof. These two companies simply mentioned the gutters and soffits in their bids and forgot about the rotting plywood underneath. It'll be a miracle if we get the roof fixed, the HVAC system fixed/replaced, and the porch and sidewalk project done before summer is up! 😎

"If it isn't one thing, it's another! It's always something."
(Gilda Radner)

a quiet birthday celebration and fun with cousins

(me, NC cousin, local cousin, sister)

A low-key and lovely birthday last week for moi...

The perfect new shoes for this Crazy Cat Lady - Bobs by Skechers and Pad Kee Mao at my favorite Thai restaurant. That was followed by a weekend of family togetherness...

Family from North Carolina were in town for a few days and we had a get-together at my sister's house. Is there anything cuter than a little girl (my second cousin) in a summer dress and cowboy boots playing cornhole? 

The next morning, I headed to downtown Chicago with my sister, our cousin who lives locally, and our cousin from NC. I hadn't seen my NC cousin in almost 19 years! The four of us sat at a table by the beach and talked and laughed for two hours. NC cousin couldn't get over the fact that buildings were right there at the beach. We had a perfect view of the John Hancock building from our table. After lunch and drinks and people watching (side note: thongs on middle aged women are not pretty), we walked around and made our way to Water Tower Place, which is basically a seven-story shopping mall. We eventually wound up on the seventh floor and found Garrett Popcorn - a Chicago must that I've never had! My sister warned me that it was very rich. I got the cheese-caramel mix and she wasn't kidding. A couple of handfuls and I was done. More walking around where we spotted Fourth Presbyterian Church of Chicago and were awed by its outside beauty amongst the highrises. We crossed the street to take a look and lucky us, the doors were open so we were able to go inside. Of course, my phone camera couldn't do the interior any justice, but wow. I was immediately struck by its reverence and beauty. 

I wish I could bottle up these long days and brilliant sunshine and family memories.

hello august

How did August get here so quickly? For those of us in the northern part of the US, summer just doesn't last long enough. 

I'm welcoming this last complete month of summer by saying hello to a certain young man and all his stuff moving back home after being away at school for three years.

It's only been a few days and we're all learning to adjust (more bodies in the house, more stuff, more dishes to wash, different attitudes and schedules) but so far, so good. I had to smile when I went to do yoga in my office and found Tim's bulletin board and two pieces of artwork in this room...he still needs to hang them up in his bedroom and didn't have enough floor space yet in his own room to lay these pieces down. At least he was neat about it! I simply laid my yoga mat on an angle and did my practice that way. A little aggravating, yes, but not worth making a fuss about.

Hello beautiful and bountiful butterfly garden...

and hello to this gorgeous swallowtail that visited the butterfly garden today.

Hello to tomato plants that are bursting forth with red and yellow cherry tomatoes.

Hello to making gazpacho from just-picked tomatoes, cucumbers and sweet corn from the farmstand down the road.

Hello to summer family gatherings (that's hubby in back, on the left in the red striped shirt and me next to him with the blonde hair and glasses).

Hello to my little self 47 years ago today when I was a flower girl in my Aunt Barb's wedding. (Aunt Barb is the woman in front of me in the yellow shirt in the above photo.)

Hello to August being my birthday month.

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Hello to warm summer evenings on the patio.

Hello to summer sunsets.

What are you saying hello to this month?

Sharing with Thoughts of Home on Thursday.

easter aftermath

 Hello! If you observe Easter or Passover, I hope that you had a lovely celebration with family or friends this past weekend. Twelve of us family members gathered at my mom's house on Sunday for Easter dinner around her beautifully set table.

 We had so much food! The main dishes were ham (Mom got a nitrate-free one at Trader Joes) and pasta with a homemade marinara sauce. The buffet was set with those dishes plus all the sides that everyone brought ~ sweet potato souffle, corn casserole, tossed salad, glazed carrots, mashed potatoes, and marinated asparagus. We have a few lactose-intolerant people in our family, so we try to make as many dairy-free recipes as possible. I'll post the recipes for my own creation of glazed carrots and the marinated asparagus at the end of this post. Both were gobbled up and raved about. Mom also made homemade rolls and had them warm in a basket on the table.

My sister made the prettiest spring jello salad!

For dessert, Mom made this gorgeous chocolate cake with strawberry buttercream frosting from the March 2015 issue of Better Homes and Gardens. You can find the recipe here.

 Even better than the food was being with family. My teenage nieces never let me take their photo. Typical at this age, right? But yet they'll do selfies. I don't get it. I guess because when they do selfies, they're in control of the photo. OK, I do get that from a teenage point-of-view. I wish teenage girls could somehow realize how truly beautiful they are instead of being self-conscious and critical of themselves. I love my girls and hope they can spend a weekend at their Auntie Mimi's (that's me!) house soon. My oldest niece will be graduating high school this year. So hard to believe. How did they grow up so quickly?

My handsome cousin enjoyed his food out on the deck. He is so kind and warm-hearted and has always been there for me ~ yes, even through my own gawky, critical, self-conscious teenage years. He's six years older than me, so I always looked up to him. Of course, I thought he was so cool, too. He had the best disco records.

 

My mom - superwoman of the day! And her little fluff ball, LuLu, too.

Lastly, me and my "baby". The sun was so bright, so pardon my squinty eyes. Tim was smart and chose to keep his sunglasses on.

 

GLAZED CARROTS

(Recipe by Melanie Riley)

1 lb organic carrots, peeled and sliced into coins

4 T organic cold-pressed coconut oil

3 T organic pure maple syrup

2 T whiskey or bourbon

Salt & pepper, to taste

In a large saucepan over medium heat, melt the coconut oil. Add the carrots, give them a stir, and then put a lid on the pan. Turn the heat to medium-low and let simmer in the oil for about 10 minutes, or until carrots are tender. (Check them with a fork; if not tender enough, cook a couple of minutes longer.) Stir in the maple syrup and whiskey (or bourbon). Add salt and pepper to taste. 

MARINATED ASPARAGUS

2 lbs fresh asparagus

3/4 c quality olive oil

1/2 c white wine vinegar OR white balsamic vinegar

1 T dried basil

2 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

2 garlic cloves, minced

4 green onions, chopped

Place asparagus in a large skillet. Add 1/2" of water. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, cover and simmer for 3-5 minutes or until crisp-tender. Rinse in cold water and drain. Refrigerate 2-3 hours. Arrange asparagus in a shallow dish. Combine remaining ingredients and pour over asparagus. Let stand at room temperature for 1-2 hours before serving.

joyous, magical and busy

Well, it's over for another year. All the planning and preparing and then the holidays go

by in a flash. I said a few days before Christmas that I couldn't wait for it to be over, and

 that day is here. But truly ~ I had a wonderful Christmas and loved the time spent with family.

Christmas Eve, we met Brian's father and two of his sisters for dinner at a restaurant. The

 place was packed and service was a little slow due to the busyness, but everyone was in 

such a good mood that it didn't matter.  

 My sisters-in-law surprised me with a Le Creuset dutch oven! My mouth actually

dropped open when I opened this. If you're a regular reader of this blog, you know that

I love to cook. And since I cook a lot, I appreciate quality cookware. Le Creuset is my

favorite, but let's face it, who can afford it? Not me. The only piece I had before this is

a saute pan - which I won in a blog contest over a year ago. I use the saute pan all

the time and it cooks food beautifully and cleans up so easily. And the pan still looks

barely worn. I can see why this cookware lasts "forever" and can be handed down

generations. This gift - to me - is more precious than gems. Forgive the poor quality

photo...I took it with my phone the minute we got home. As you can see by the clock

in the background, it was almost midnight. Yes, I was excited.

After dinner, we then went on to my aunt and uncle's house. They host Christmas

Eve festivities at their house every other year when their son (my cousin) and his 

wife fly in from Washington. I had forgotten my camera and only took a couple

of photos with my phone, so no pics to post of the goings-on that night. I don't

 think you would be interested in seeing photos of my aunt demonstrating

 how to use squat toilets in China or us sitting around a dining room table discussing

the stock market and Sweet Brown videos.  

Tim had to work on Christmas Eve until Christmas morning at 1:00 a.m., so he didn't

get home until 3:30 a.m. He immediately headed to the kitchen and started heating up

food in the microwave, so that's what woke me up. I got out of bed and went into the

kitchen to give my boy a hug and talk to him for a bit. Between that and waking up

numerous times to use the bathroom and shoo the cats out of our room, I was thankful

that we could all sleep in on Christmas day. I made a breakfast casserole and the

three of us relaxed in the living room with our food and coffee, opening gifts and

talking and laughing at the cats playing in the wrapping paper and gift bags.

 

In the afternoon, we went to my sister's house for more festivities.

 What is with teenagers and not wanting to have their picture taken? My boys

did the hands-over-their-face thing too, when they were teens. We had a ton of

wonderful food...appetizers of smoked salmon dip and crackers, guacamole and

tortilla chips, spiced nuts, and party roll-ups, and then Italian beef sandwiches, 

ham, tamales, smoked rib tips and three-layer Christmas jello salad for the meal.

The jello concoction was made by my second cousin, Greg in memory of his mother and

 her sister (which would be Greg's aunt and my grandma) : they used to take turns making

 this dish for family Christmas dinners. Homemade Christmas cookies and my
 mom's homemade French Silk Chocolate pie were on the dessert table. 

With Tim being away at school now, he doesn't get to see his cousins often. And now

that they're older (Tim just turned 24; my nieces are 18 and 16), they all seem to be

much closer. I think when they were younger, the age difference was that Tim thought

of them as pesty little girls (even though he loved them). I love seeing their relationship

evolve, much like mine did with my cousin, Greg.

 Today I actually de-Christmased the entire house! I do this every year on the 26th.

 For me, Christmas is over and 3-1/2 weeks was plenty of time to enjoy the decorations.

I just kept filling up the laundry basket with decorations and Brian made several trips

downstairs to pile everything all over the bar. The hard part will be packing everything

away properly. We ran to Target in the afternoon in hope of scoring gift bags at 50%

off, but we were too late. There was nary a one. We decided on not using traditional

wrapping paper anymore and starting next year, will use brown kraft paper.We found out 

that wrapping paper isn't recyclable! Did you know that? But the brown kraft paper is.

 And it can be decorated in many ways with rubber stamps, doodles and drawings,

 stickers, ribbons, and other embellishments.

However you chose to spend your holiday, I hope it was filled with lots of love.

The best gift of all.

the love of vintage runs in the family

Hello!

I switched a few things around in the living room again.

Here's the before with the white stool and the small chests and lots of plants.

(My plans still stand to get rid of the black and white prints and put up a big 

shelf to use as a mantle.)

I took the large vintage suitcases that I was using beside the couch...

 and stacked them where the stool and smaller chests once were.

I'm now using my grandma's table as a side table where the large suitcases were. 

The lamp base belonged to my grandma, too.

 Speaking of family and their lovely vintage things, this past weekend we

visited extended family 2-1/2 hours south of us. We all connected the past

couple of years when my great-aunt was ill. Otherwise, I hadn't seen these

family members in about 35 years. We all gathered for lunch at a restaurant, then

went to my second cousin's house for dessert and talk. I'd never been to my

cousin's house out in the country. Her dad - my great-uncle -  used to own an antique

 store (and he still sells antique furniture in a booth at a store) and I knew  she sold 

vintage items on eBay and etsy, so I wasn't surprised that her house was filled with 

beautiful antique furniture and vintage collectibles.

This was one of my favorite pieces - a library card catalog cabinet.

 Another favorite was this curio cabinet-desk. I love the curved glass of the cabinet

and the leaded glass above the desk area.

A vintage bread board was filled with pumpkins and gourds from my cousin's property

 and used as a centerpiece. 

 I don't have one favorite decorating style ~ I also like contemporary, mid-century

modern, cottage, and a little farmhouse and french country ~ but vintage will always

have my heart.

Sharing this post at Cozy Little House: Tweak it Tuesday.