Life under construction

And after children.

The kids are gone. Off to college, leaving Mom home alone all day.

Oh, wait. Home with Milo all day.

Milo is the only member of the family who is currently unable to stay home alone.

Because he believes that all contractors are here to visit him.

They could not possibly have anything more important to do than play with the homeowners dog.

And so, this is our schedule:

6:00 am.: prepare for 1st walk.

7:00 am: contractors show up, greeted by a dog, or a dog barking from behind the barricade I've erected on the 2nd floor.

7:10 am: noise commences. Don't get me wrong. Noise is a good thing. Noise = Progress = :-).

8:30 am: 2nd walk.

9:30 am: Milo naps, Carol captive in 3 room living space doing 'stuff'

11:30 am: we go somewhere, which invariably involves 3rd walk.

3:00 pm: Milo naps, Carol pulls hair out and wonders why she has a dog. She does more 'stuff', which is important but not especially fun and dreams of the day she will be laying floor, painting or tiling.

4:00 pm: contractors go home, and noise ceases.

4:15 pm: 4th walk.

5:00 pm: Carol goes to run errands since Milo can now be left home alone. I also wonder WHY every hardware store I need to visit closes at 6:00 pm. Really????

7:00 pm. Contemplate what to fix for dinner in our kitchenless house. It usually involves the salad bar at the Hingham Fruit Market.

7:30 pm: Dave gets home from work and we eat dinner. When we're lucky this occurs on the back deck and coincides with the sun setting over Bumpkin Island. It used to set over Boston. Anyone know why that is?

We also contemplate the fact that if Dave could get off work at noon in the winter we could continue the sunset dinner tradition by eating at 3:00 pm.

8:00 pm: 5th walk and family tour of progress on the house.

The End.

Please come over and entertain me. Please.


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Location:Hull, MA

Laughing all the way to the oven

I made these cookies for our Ward Primary Scripture Camp.

They were a huge success. Apparently, everyone loves a cookie with snicker in the name.

It was a favorite of my Dad. One of the few things he made in the kitchen, although he made a lot of things in the shop.

This is the recipe I used at the bakery. And a tasty one it is! Even if it doesn't have chocolate, which I think is a very important key to anything truly delicious.

So, for all you cinnamon sugar lovers out there . . .

Snickerdoodles:

Ingredients:

5 cups All-purpose flour
2 teaspoons Cream of tartar (that magical ingredient kept in pantries everywhere for the sole purpose of making snickerdoodles, I think)
1 1/2 teaspoon Baking soda
1teaspoon Salt

1pound (2 cups) butter
2 3/4 cups granulated sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla
4 eggs

1. Whisk dry ingredients together

2. Cream butter and sugar (remember my 5 minute rule. Cream until very smooth and fluffy)

3. Add vanilla and eggs and mix at low speed until well blended. It might look curdled, but that is normal, not a sign of anything icky or weird.

4. Stir in dry ingredients until just blended.

At this point, I suggest refrigerating the dough for an hour or so which will make the shaping part less sticky.

5. Mix together 1 cup sugar and 2 tablespoons (or to taste) cinnamon.

6. Roll a heaping tablespoon of dough into a ball and roll in cinnamon sugar.

Bake at 350 F for about 12 minutes or until edges turn golden brown.

This recipe makes quite a few cookies. I am not sure exactly how many as Milo did in fact eat the corner of the paper on which I had noted the yield.

Sorry. I think it made about 5 dozen.

Happy eating! sol (snicker out loud)







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Location:Hull, MA

I love what you've done with the place . . .

We now have exposed beam ceilings and an open floor plan.



We've added this convenient basement entrance. A fireman's pole might be useful.


Views of the harbor from the front door.


When I say we are doing our own demo, some people aren't sure what I mean.

Well, this used to be a house with walls, ceilings, and a fireplace and chimney.

Now, it is this.

And, we did it with pry bars and sledge hammers. THAT'S what I mean.

I'm tired!!!

Location:I love what you've done with the place. . .

Goooooo Dinner!

Not having a kitchen makes you view things differently.

Like English muffins, for example.

I had a toasted English muffin with peanut butter four meals in a row.

And I was grateful to the Browns for sending them, along with their son, because I am not sure what I would have eaten otherwise.

Today, I rallied my motivation and cooked an entire meal.

This is what we had:
*ribs, slow cooked in the crockpot, and finished on the grill
*corn on the cob, soaked in cold water for 30 minutes, then wrapped in foil and cooked on the grill for 30 minutes, followed by 5 minutes unwrapped to give them some color
*potatoes, 'baked' in the microwave

A very respectable dinner for someone with no kitchen. But, here's what sent it into high five territory.

I mixed up a chocolate pudding cake in a foil pan, and baked it on the top rack of the grill. And, it worked!

I felt an intense sense of accomplishment after Tagg, Christy, Dave and I finished eating. Like we needed to have an end of game cheer.

And, we did. Well, I did, and everyone agreed it was totally warranted.

Two, four, six, eight, who do we appreciate? Dinner! Dinner! Dinner!


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Location:Nantasket Ave,Hull,United States

Spice up those hot summer days!

I normally make these cookies in the fall and winter, for they are quite fallish.

But, why? It's hot out there, anyway. Why not spice things up?

These are the ultimate molasses spice cookie, complete with the ultimate 'spice'. I have never had anyone guess the secret spice without being told.

If your friends can, they are geniuses worthy of your friendship.

Molasses Spice Cookies

Ingredients:

2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 ½ tsp. ginger
¼ tsp. cloves
¼ tsp. allspice
¼ tsp. pepper (yes, this is good old black pepper!, the secret spice)
¼ tsp. salt

1 ½ sticks (12 tablespoons) butter, very soft
1/3 cup brown sugar (packed)
1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg yolk, room temp
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ cup molasses

1. Stir dry (first 8) ingredients together in bowl, and set aside.

2. Cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. You know the drill. 5 minutes is NOT too long. Cream away now, before adding dry ingredients.

3. Add egg, vanilla, and molasses, and beat until combined. It is quite likely to look curdled, which is not a problem, just be sure it is well combined.

4. Stir in flour mixture at low speed until completely combined.

5. At this point I like to refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes before shaping, or freeze the shaped dough, and bake from frozen. This creates a cookie that holds it's form. If you like flat cookies, you don't need to worry about this step.

6. Roll cookies in granulated sugar before placing on parchment covered cookie sheet. I also like to sprinkle a course sugar such as turbinado on top if I have it around. It is not necessary, of course. Just extra crunchy sugar.

7. Bake at 375 F for 10-12 minutes, or until golden and set, but not brown.

Now, eat cookies everyone!


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Location:Hull, MA

Day 4 of extreme home make it empty

I'm feeling a bit tired.

We are packing our things.

Moving them to the storage container parked in front of the house.

Close to the dumpster parked in front of the house.

Close to the port a potty parked in front of the house.

It is very attractive out front.

We moved a few things upstairs.

Into our spare room. Which is no longer spare.

It is quite necessary.



Do you like how efficient everything is? You can watch tv, and make breakfast, while running on the treadmill.

You can also admire the toilet, which is conveniently located right across the hall. You can see it from the couch, and the desk, and the treadmill, and the toaster.

Genius, why did we never think of this before?

Who needs kitchen, a living room and an office?

The 3 of us will be just fine like this. We do have bedrooms, after all.

Well, other than Kami, who comes home in 3 weeks.

She's going to use the spare room until we get the addition finished.

Oh, wait . . .


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Cabinets the Carol way

I got this email from my cabinet supplier today:

Hi Carol,

they shipped your door to me by mistake. It's very pretty, my daughter was in the office and wanted me to get her a pink one. I will ship it out to you right now, and you will probably get it Mon. Thanks Carol,

Ron York
Cabinet Pro-Supply
phone 928-775-4828
fax 888-715-9589

Hmmm, maybe I want a pink one too.

So far, I love this online cabinet supplier. Great service! Great prices! I have enclosed his contact info. in case you need cabinets.

FYI, I am getting a custom color for my island, hence the sample door. I think you can guess from the email that it's not a very neutral color.



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