Welcome to the Family

Kermit found this little baby for a SONG on ebay. It's a 1901 Steinway Upright "Grand". He snatched it up and had it delivered from Tennessee. We weren't sure what kind of condition it would be in until it arrived. Let's just say we were pleasantly suprised and are 100% convinced that we got an amazing deal! We really feel like this old piano just belongs in the family.

Kermit has serioiusly been obsessing with it's restoration. He started with the exterior finish. It looks great especially considering its over 100 years old! He then read from cover to cover PIANO SERVICING, TUNING, AND REBUILDING by Arthur A. Reblitz. Before long he had the entire piano disassembled for a thorough cleaning and repair job. 100+ years of dust takes a bit of elbow grease to remove. I helped when I could and have a new appreciation for piano construction. It was really fascinating to see how everything fit back together. Last week we had it professionally tuned. Good report from the tuner. He thinks we got a great deal too.

Kermit will continue to obsess until it plays like new working to rebuild all the action parts. Both of us are obsessed trying to remember how to play the few songs we once knew. I hope that we can have Annaliese started up in lessons in the next couple of years. I'm thinking I'd like to take lessons along with her. Why not. =)

Catch up (and some Mustard & Celery Salt), etc.

This a "Catch Up" post. I've been bad at keeping up with the latest this summer. So here is my attempt to catch up.


Here are pictures from our visit to the Chicago History Museum.
















The kids had fun playing in the larger than life size "Chicago dog" (a favorite meal of ours actually). Don't forget the secret ingredient that makes all the difference in the world...CELERY SALT! I like my dog with mustard, fresh tomatoes, a dill pickle spear and celery salt. YUM!




















Here are my little chicks at the Farm in the Zoo. They got to pet a real live chicken and of course view the newly hatched baby chicks. Also watching the baby piglets play was so much fun!


















Picking Clovers. Listening for Who's.

Visit to the Brookfield Zoo. They have elephants which was very exciting! (Our LP zoo does not have them anymore...so sad.) The girls loved petting sting rays (sorry no photo) and these goats. They LOVED loved LOVED it! These goats were pretty mellow. Just our speed.

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Here is a family photo from the Train Museum in CA. This museum is perfect for the little kid in everyone! We went with my parents, Erin & Romney. We had a little picnic and then let the kiddos explore all around on the old trains. The girls LOVED playing in the little trolley above. We took plenty of pics that day, and some fun video. A good time was had by all.

Kermit's new find! A very cool old library card catalog file. 60 drawers. He has enjoyed the restoration process. Here is a before picture. We have it in our study. We love that all our pens, scissors, paperclips, glue sticks, tape, markers, etc. all have their own drawer. There are so many drawers that the kids even have a few for their own treasures. Love it!

We enjoyed a visit from Eric & Cheryl VDG. Eric was one of Kermit's best companions on his mission. They live in Nebraska now and have a darling little girl, Ava. We love the VDG's! A few years ago we discovered that Eric and I are actually cousins. Eric's mom and my mom have the same maiden name. We traced it back and sure enough 3rd cousins once removed. Here is a cousin shot of Ava and Annaliese. We sure loved having them visit!

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I couldn't resist adding this photo of topless Avrie making sand pies in her tutu and sneakers. Summer fun!

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So, I love pretty landscapes and yards. Every year I attempt a beautiful garden. This year no exception. I think the window boxes turned out the best I've ever done this year. I take multiple trips to Home Depo, spend hours and hours planting, replanting, planting again until I'm pleased with the results. My problem....keeping it watered! Maybe one of these years we can get an irrigation system to help me out. Until then, I'm trying to train the kids to help me out. I do just love it!

Here last but not least, I bid farewell to a dear friend. Suzy and Greg have moved their family to Switzerland. *sniff, sniff* I just love Suzy! She has been one of my truest and dearest friends. I met her when we first started going to Logan Square ward 8 or 9 years ago. She is just an amazing person! Always optimistic, very fun, happy, uplifting, tough, kind, honest, creative, just an AMAZING friend all the way around! *sniff, sniff*

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We share a passion...shopping for cute kid clothes!!! =) (Yes, it's true! We are both addicted!) Here we are in front of our favorite place to shop. Before she left she and I went out to dinner sans kids and had a lovely time. I MISS YOU SUZY! When can I visit?!

My Martha Moment Continued

Remember this? Well I finally finished this project. It only took how long? Who's counting though? (Not even me.) It turned out pretty good I think. Better than it was that's for sure.

I got the fabric on a major clearance. This place had some GREAT remnants for SOOOO cheap! I think we paid $40 total for about 8 yards....EXACTLY the amount I needed....no extra fabric allowance for mistakes though, yikes. The entire project I pretty much felt in over my head. I really did not know what the heck I was doing but for $40 how could I loose? The couch was free. Well, it turned out and I'm happy with it. The best part....it's done!

Cake Deco 101

A couple of weeks ago I finished a cake decorating class with my friend Karyn. (It was the Wilton beginning course one at JoAnn's.) This is actually something that I've wanted to learn to do for the last 10 years! I'm so glad to finally know what all those little metal tips in my dusty cake decorating kit are for and how to use them!

For class we had to make icing at home and bring it to class to use. Figuring out the right consistency was tricky for me. One week I'd make it too thick, the next too thin. I definitely have a new respect for the art of cake decorating. It's a lot of work! The last class we had to bring in a cake to decorate. I can't tell you how excited the family was to see this cake when I brought it home. If I would have known how big of a hit it would be I would have made a yummier cake cared more about my end result! Anyway, here it is. I'll have to keep practicing and make some fun cakes in the months and years ahead! YUM!

I have a thing for cute cake plates and stands. I hope to finally be able to put a pretty cake on a pretty stand. Can't wait!

My Martha Moment

So a few years ago as we pulled into our garage early one evening we found that our next door neighbor had placed a perfectly good couch in the alley by her garbage...a very nice couch I might add. It looked like rain so we decided that we needed to save this couch from the rain and the dump so we pulled it inside....

I'll admit it was pretty darn fun to snag such a great find for free. I also have to admit that I have been somewhat annoyed with this couch for the last TWO YEARS. Here is why.

This couch was meant to be slip covered but the original slip cover was thrown away separately, & we weren't able to rescue it from the dump...so the couch as we found it was covered in just a thinner plain white muslin with unfinished edges, etc. I researched everywhere to try to order a new slipcover from Mitchell Gold for that specific couch...NO LUCK! So...we gave up and just threw a blanket over it and stuck it in our front room. Yuck. It just looked so cheesy to me but I never had any time to do anything about it. Two years of staring at this free couch with a blanket slipcover has been driving me crazy....so FINALLY....I tackled the impossible....


As you can see I'm not done yet....but hope to be by the end of the week. Not bad for a rookie! I think the cushions might be harder...I shouldn't gloat yet.

Kermit admiring my handywork.