Moving filing system

Moving filing system, originally uploaded by House on the Corner.

We went to the Container Store (one of my favorites places on earth) tonight and bought this rolling filing cart. I love it because I can put it away in the closet whenever I want. I have three colored hanging folders so we each have a set. It came with with two baskets on the bottom. In the top one I put thank you cards, stationary, and bday cards. In the bottom one I have bags and other gift stuff. Now when I need to send a card or write a letter I know where to find all my stuff!

I have a few more pictures on my flickr account.

M.

Vacation is over

On the ride to Denver leaving Breckenridge, originally uploaded by House on the Corner.

Well the holidays are over. After Christmas we flew to Colorado until after New Years. It was a beautiful place but I am really happy to be back home with warmer weather. My first day back at work is tomorrow so I'm sure it will be a long day. Today we finally bought some cabinets to finish cleaning the garage. After work tomorrow I hope to clean more and take pictures.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Year. My new project will be do redo my son's room during spring break. I want to paint and clean out his old clothes and toys. Now that will be a huge task!

Getting ready for Xmas

Getting ready for Xmas, originally uploaded by House on the Corner.

I am slowly getting the house ready for the holidays. Our stockings are my favorite thing to put up so they always go up first.

Hopefully this evening we will finish and I can take more pictures.

M.

(if you click on any picture you can see it larger)

Cranberry cream pie recipe

Here is the recipe for the pie we made last night. It didn't firm up as much as it should have so it was more like a pudding than a pie but maybe if someone else makes it they can figure out where I went wrong. It seemed like the gelatin didn't dissolve well so maybe that is why it didn't harden as much as it should have. It was delicious anyway. We had a pie of it today but had to but it in a bowl instead of using a plate, haha!

I plan to try it again since I still have all the ingredients. This time I may add more gelatin. Oh, and we bought the crust to save on time and it was a good thing since we plan to try it again tomorrow.

This is taken from the Real Simple site:

1 cup fresh orange juice
1 cup sugar
5 ounces shortbread cookies
1/2 cup (2 1/2 ounces) roasted almonds
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1 8-ounce package frozen cranberries, thawed
1 1/4-ounce packet unflavored gelatin
2 cups heavy cream

Special Equipment: 9-inch springform pan

Warm the orange juice and sugar in a small pot over low heat until the sugar dissolves. Transfer to a large bowl and refrigerate until just cool, about 30 minutes.

Pulse the cookies and almonds in a food processor until finely ground. Add the butter and pulse to combine. Press the cookie mixture evenly into the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan.

Clean the food processor, then add the cranberries and 1/4 cup of the cooled juice and puree.

Sprinkle the gelatin over the remaining juice and let stand for 1 minute. Stir until the gelatin dissolves. Add the pureed cranberries and stir to combine.

Beat the cream in a medium bowl using a whisk or electric mixer until soft peaks form. Fold the whipped cream into the cranberry mixture until well combined. Pour the cranberry cream into the crust. Place on a rimmed baking sheet and refrigerate until set, at least 4 hours.

Tip: The Cranberry Cream Pie can be made up to 2 days in advance and kept in the refrigerator until serving.

Real Simple recipe

Real Simple recipe, originally uploaded by House on the Corner.

This is the first pie I have ever attempted to make. It is the cranberry cream pie recipe from the November issue of Real Simple. If it turns out good we will take it to my husbands family for Thanksgiving.

Tomorrow we are going to make a pumpkin pie. I've never been a person that liked to cook or bake but now that i will have more time at home I really want to start.

I'll let you know how it tastes tomorrow.

M.

Twins hands

IMG_0597, originally uploaded by House on the Corner.

This was taken on our last camping trip. I feel very fortunate that my twin sister and I can enjoy time outdoors with one another. We used to go camping with our mom when we were young and still love doing it.

If you click on the picture you can see it enlarged.

New project - Clean garage!

So we started cleaning out the garage today. We took everything off the shelves and put it in the center of the garage. The shelves had been up I think since the house was built in 1984! They were particle board and just crumbling away. We will buy some metal shelves and hopefully keep the garage organized from now on.

Hopefully this project will be done in a week or so.

PS. Thank everyone for all their kind replies to my previous post. It really made me feel good about my home.

M.

Camping trip

We took a small break away from the home and went camping this past weekend. It was really nice to get away and enjoy this cooler weather.

Camping trip photos here

Nobody loves my house but me

I posted before and after pictures of my house in another community and was really shocked that nobody had anything nice to say. They all seemed to love the ugly old fake wood siding and ugly 80's baby blue trim. To me it looked out dated and "country". It looked like the kind of house that had duck pictures hanging in the kitchen and rosters everywhere. Now, I'm not saying anything bad about that stuff but it's just not me. I know I shouldn't worry about what other people think but it did hurt my feels. We have spent a lot of time and money on the house and I guess I expected others to see the new change as a good thing. Lots of people hated my blue door and said we should go with red but ALL my neighbors have red doors and I wanted to be different. Oh, and this is not the door we plan to keep. We want to buy a new one with new locks and knobs. We just thought it needed to be painted since the old one was peeling and totally didn't go.

Maybe I just don't know whats "in" these days and people prefer bad siding that's cracking and ugly wood shingles where siding should be,

Anyway, rant over...

The house is done

The house is done, originally uploaded by House on the Corner.

It's done. Many pictures on my flickr page. (you can find my link on the right column)

They painted the doors green and we originally wanted them white

They painted the doors green and we originally wanted them white, originally uploaded by House on the Corner.

So we have until tomorrow morning to decide what to do. We had said we wanted the french doors the color of the trim of the house but my husband kinda likes them green.

Gah, decisions....

This is what they were before.



I can't wait until that ugly baby blue trim color is gone! Tomorrow they should finish.

Oh, we have a blue door now. We need to replace the ugly lock and handle but for now this is a HUGE improvement.



EDIT: We are going to have them paint the french doors the cream color again.

They started painting!!

Ugly house before





They will do the trim after lunch but this is the color of the siding...

Possible color for house

This is the sage in the full sun and the bottom pic is in the shade more. I can't decide if I think it's too green or not. This is hard.

IMG_0311, originally uploaded by House on the Corner.

We like the one of the far left and the navy would be the door color.

Ugly brown shingles are gone

ugly brown shingles are gone, originally uploaded by House on the Corner.

Look above the big window! Those ugly brown "cottage" shingles are gone. I am so excited to see them removed.

They should be done with all the siding today and then they will start on the rest. Tonight we need to make a decision on the paints. All of this makes me really happy. My house needed this for so long.

BTW, to see the before picture with the ugly brown shingles you can scroll down my blog.

Yard work weekend

Before I trimmed the bushes



After



And I have a question that hopefully someone knows the answer to. We have this monster vine on the side of the house that we want to get rid of. Anyone know the easiest way to do this. The thing is a monster and we hate it. It's always out of control and gets tangled in the crepe myrtles.

More pics of siding on my flickr account

They worked all day and have the back of the house almost done. I am guessing they will finish the front this weekend and then work on replacing all the old trim. Hopefully we can decide on paint colors before Monday because I don't have a lot of time to look during the week. I feel like I am getting a whole new house!

I have more pictures of the work being done on the house on my flickr page which can be found on the right column if you are interested.

Happy Friday.

M.

New siding started today

IMG_0095, originally uploaded by House on the Corner.

YAH! They started yesterday and I couldn't be happier. So far, so good....

Sunday

We had a beautiful day. The weather is still very hot here so toes in the water are a must...



Thank you for the comments on my son's eczema. We are going to try out the suggestions and hopefully will see an improvement. Thankfully he was able to be outside and not scratch all day.

Help with eczema?

I love seeing my son outside playing sports but the poor little guys eczema is so bad. He scratches to the point that he breaks the skin. The entire game he stands on the field and just rips apart his legs.

I am going to set up a doctor appointment for him first thing Monday morning to see if there is anything else we can do about it. Right now he has two meds but they just don't help.

Anyone know of anything?? Maybe in a pill form?


During the game



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After the game

We returned the lawnmower

So we ended up returning the lawnmower back to Lowe's after trying to work with the "warranty people" for over a month. I can't believe what an ordeal it was trying to get that thing fixed when we only had it for a month. What horrible customer service.

I tore up that credit card!

We went to Home Depot and bought a Toro instead. So far, so good.