Sarah and Ryan

I haven't been to the house this week so I made Ryan take some picutres for me.  Things are really coming together!  Hopefully Admiral and I can stop by and check it out on Friday on our way out of town.

We FINALLY got a "Purchased" sign on our lot sign. 

The second floor walls are going up!

And the gameroom...

Posted by Sarah at 9:06 PM | 0 comments  
Labels: Home Building

The past couple of years we have celebrated Mardi Gras Galveston Style with Suz and Brandon and various other friends. This year, we didn't make it down to the island so I decided to bring Mardi Gras to us as best as I could... Shrimp & Crawfish Gumbo and King Cake.

I am not posting a Gumbo recipe because I haven't gotten it just right.  I use my friend Margaret's mom's recipe and sometimes try to incorporate other recipes.  The roux is still my weakness I think, but with enough Tony's and other spices, its good enough to eat. 

And, my King Cake... Well as you can tell, I didn't really go for looks this year.  Its not ring shaped and I didn't make purple icing, just green and yellow.  Oh well, it still tastes good!   

Happy Mardi Gras!

Posted by Sarah at 9:41 PM | 1 comments  
Labels: Cake, Holidays

On Friday, the entire second floor subfloor had been laid and the framer was making the lines for where all the walls will go.  All of the walls and the stairs are complete on the first floor.  We were able to walk around on the upstairs which made me very nervous since there was no sort of railing to make sure I didn't fall.  The framers act like its no big deal.  Eek, made me very nervous, my heart was racing whenever I got close to the edge. 

Here are the pictures!

The stairs

View from second floor loft down into the two story dining room.

Second Floor

Looking down into the downstairs guest bedroom (for you, Mom)

View from the back of the house at the other house Ryan is building.

View of the Pond from one of the Upstairs Bedroom windows. 

Posted by Sarah at 10:18 AM | 1 comments  
Labels: Home Building

I am trying to decide what I want for the backsplash in the kitchen, on the wall with the cooktop.  

This is my initial idea, using the liner and insert seen at the botton of the picture.  It would be in the oil-rubbed bronze color.  The main field tile would be 6x6, neutral color.  4x4 of the same tile, laid on the diagonal will go inside the box, with 2x2 dots.

The inspiration comes from some photo's like this:

 But with a border that's not quite so heavy... more like this.

This is the second option that I am liking.  It would be 6x6 tiles laid straight as the main field tile with 3 big 6x6 metal deco's in the middle.  Then, along the bottom would be 4x4 tiles laid on the diagonal with a metal liner above.

This is the closest picture I could find on the internet to what I am going for, but the tiles aren't exactly the same sizes.

Posted by Sarah at 12:19 PM | 2 comments  
Labels: Home Building

These three big windows are in the family room.

This is the right side of the house, behind the garage.  I have highlighed the guest bedroom and utility room windows.

We went out again on Saturday (in the rain) to see what they finished Friday.  As you can see, there were much more walls up.  I suspect that by midweek I will be able to walk into each room on the first floor!

Posted by Sarah at 1:31 PM | 0 comments  
Labels: Home Building

Red Velvet Sandwich Cookies

from Bakerella

1 Box red velvet cake mix

1/2 Cup butter, softened to room temperature

2 Eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix ingredients until combined.

Roll spoonfuls of cookie dough into balls and place on baking sheet about two inches apart.

Bake for 10-12 minutes.

Cool.

Cream Cheese Icing

1/2 Cup butter, softened to room temperature

1 8 oz. Package cream cheese, softened to room temperature

1 1lb. Box of confectioner's sugar

1 tsp Vanilla

In a mixer, cream butter, cream cheese and vanilla.

Gradually add sugar and mix until smooth.

Ice bottom of one cookie and place another cookie on top.

Since I didn't know how the cookies would turn out, I decided to split the cake mix in half and make half cookies, half cake.  I followed the cake mix directions (cut in half) and reduced the baking time by about 5 minutes.  I used the remaining cream cheese icing and sprinkled with red sprinkles. 

Posted by Sarah at 12:53 PM | 0 comments  
Labels: Baking, Cookies, Holidays, Recipes

I took a day off work on Monday so we could do some interior decor selections.  The first design meeting was mostly related to the outside... stucco, stone, roof, etc.  We had previously picked out the main tile used for the Kitchen, Family and Dining rooms and the granite for the Kitchen and Master Bath.  This is the Kitchen Granite:

Monday's meeting was to pick tile, paint and the rest of the granite.  It was a successful day, but we still have so much to do.  Our friend Jennifer work's for Ryan's dad as their designer -- she and Ryan's mom accompanied us to the tile showroom and had lots of good ideas!

We nailed down three rooms tile selections -- Downstairs Guest and both of the Upstairs bathrooms.  One of the upstairs bathrooms is all a neutral tile.  That room has a shower so we will spice it up with shower curtains, towels, etc.

Here are the Downstairs Guest Bathroom selections.  The main floor and shower tile is the same as the rest of the downstairs and the granite will be the same as the Kitchen.  The shower will have a 6" liner of the mosaic tile all the way around.  This is the bedroom/bathroom designed to be my parents room when they visit so Mom, I hope you like our choices!

The other room we picked out was one of the bathrooms upstairs.  This is the bathroom that will serve the game room as well.  I had been planning to do slate on the game room counter instead of granite and Jennifer suggested we do slate in that shower.  We decided on the slate below (without all the funky deco pieces) for the bathroom and shower floor, and to use as a liner in the shower.  We will use a more neutral slate for the shower walls to try to keep it from being too dark.  I think it is going to look great and I love this slate.

What's left?  

We are trying to find some affordable metal accent tiles for my kitchen backsplash. I want to do something like this layout above the stove but with oil rubbed bronze dots and border.  

We are still looking for the right accent tile for the master bathroom floor and shower liner.  We hope to use the same tile in some of the transition areas between dining and family, etc as well. 

After all our tile selections, it was too late to go look at more granite for the secondary bathrooms.  Instead, we went back to the office to pick paint colors.  Nothing exciting there... we are waiting on the larger samples from the painter so we can make sure everything goes.  

That's all for now.  

Posted by Sarah at 11:27 PM | 2 comments  
Labels: Home Building

Posted by Sarah at 8:30 PM | 0 comments  
Labels: Home Building

Posted by Sarah at 8:19 PM | 0 comments  
Labels: Admiral, Home Building

Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted 2 inches from side of pan comes out almost clean. Cool completely, about 1 hour. 

Posted by Sarah at 12:33 AM | 0 comments  
Labels: Baking, Dessert, Recipes

Posted by Sarah at 12:00 AM | 0 comments  
Labels: Life

Three posts in one day... but I have been planning to write this one for some time now.

Feb 1, 2008 was my first post on this blog. I wrote about making a King Cake and intended for this blog to be mostly about cooking. Ryan made a good bit of fun of me at the time, and still does sometimes in private. But he knows as much as I do that for at least my family and his family, this blog has been a good way for them to keep up with us. Over the year, there has been lots of cooking and eating written about here. I like to cook, we both like to eat, that's just how it goes.

But the blog has also had it's share of stories of our lifes and of late has transformed into a good place to post progress on our new house.

And, in all honesty, I didn't really think I would keep this up and be as regular at posting as I have been. I could be crowned the queen of starting things and not finishing them... like the cross stitch of the SAE coat of arms that I started in college and is 75% complete; or the wedding scrapbook that's barely been started; or the artwork I was going to make with Granddaddy's old license tags with his Ham Radio call sign on them; all the times I tried to start a journal. I guess there isn't a "finish" to this blog but I would have to say I really stuck with this and am proud of myself for it.

I enjoy writing when I can and it's nice to know there are a few "regulars" that read my blog... Hi Mom!! Thanks for reading.

Posted by Sarah at 4:22 PM | 2 comments  
Labels: Life

When I left the new house on Thursday to head to work, only about 1/4 of the slab was poured and of couse I couldn't walk on it. So on Saturday, Ryan and I went out to take a look and walk around. 

The first thing we saw when we approached our street was that the signs for our neighborhood and the Welcome Lodge have gone up.  They look really good!

Once we got to the house, we walked around a lot and tried to get a feel for everything.  It's hard for me to visualize things without the walls.  I could tell sizes pretty easily on the porces and showers because the slab is dropped there.  But the rooms are still so hard to get a good picture of.  But, it was exciting to see so much progress and to know that we are close to having walls. 

"Overhead" shot I took standing on a big pile of dirt, and posing in our entry/dining room!
Sitting on the front porch... and on the toilet in the guest room downstairs.
View from master bedroom into master bathroom, where Ryan pretends to take a shower.

Things will be a little slow for the next couple of weeks while we wait on the framing to start.  I'll continue to post updates as things happen. 

Posted by Sarah at 3:34 PM | 1 comments  
Labels: Home Building

The race started at 7 and not much later the first runners were passing my location.  They weren't even sweating yet. 

Posted by Sarah at 3:03 PM | 0 comments  
Labels: Life