Month: August 2012 (Page 2 of 2)

If any of you have tried making your own salad dressing, you know how easy it is and how much money you can save. I haven’t learned to make a “diet” dressing, but I figure this is all natural and made with a healthy oil, and tastes sooooo good, that it is worth the calories!

Honey Mustard Dressing

1/3 cup honey

1/4 cup Dijon mustard

1/4 cup cider vinegar

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 clove garlic, minced

1 cup oil

In blender (regular blender, not immersion -the immersion blender doesn’t really work very well) combine everything but the oil. Then add oil in a very slow stream while blending. If you don’t add it slowly enough or blend fast enough, it won’t turn out as nice. It is supposed to emulsify, which is what makes it thick and creamy.

I have a laundry room. In the house where I live! Whoo-hoo!

I know, it isn’t all painted, but at least I have a working washer and dryer. It took just about all day Saturday, but it is in and the dryer vented and washer plumbed, etc. Now Dad has to concentrate on 126 to get it completely ready by September 1. And the renters we thought were going to move into the Chetek house didn’t pan out financially, so we aren’t going to rent to them. So back to the drawing board on that one.

Off to a great start – NOT!!

I started the week well, then did ok, then ended awful. So I gained 1/2 pound. Wrong direction!

Of course, it didn’t help that Wednesday Erica, Chloe, JD and I went out to  Culvers. For lunch and dessert. Then yesterday was our big trip down to Fort Atkinson (a 4 hours drive) to the Fireside \Dinner Theater to see The Rock and the Rabbi. It was an amazing show and what a treat to see real, top-notch professionals. Wow! But I ate too much on the way home, so it is no surprise that I am up. So, back at it and I’ll try to do better this week!

She turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself. Wish I had a picture to post like she always does for everyone else’s birthday. I got to spend a little bit of Erica’s birthday with her as I was returning Dende to his rightful owners (who were very excited to see him, as was he, them).

I was thinking the other day how, now that everyone is grown, I tend to think that everything they are is their own doing. Then I realized that I could actually take a little bit of the credit.  When you are raising kids, you tend to take all of the blame if things aren’t going well. Then when they grow up, you are unwilling to take any of the credit. So I’m taking a little credit today – I couldn’t be happier with the way she turned out. And part of that is because she is my daughter and inherited some of my genes. And part of it is because I wouldn’t let her do dumb or dangerous things when she was growing up. But mostly it is because she has always been a wonderful person and has lived her life thus far very well.  And, of course, God gets the credit for orchestrating both her life and mine as this whole process was taking place.

Happy Birthday, Erica.

Does anyone else get the magazine Mental Floss?  I’ve been hearing about it for a while now and it sounds fun, so I just ordered a subscription and I’d be glad to forward it to anyone who wants to read it when I’m finished with it.

Okay, Amy. I’m with you on this. I was up another pound today and this just has to stop! So, I’ll report my progress here every Friday, as well. I have considerably more to lose, however – 34 lbs. I’m not going to put a before picture, either, because 34 extra pounds is not something I want to put out there for even close family members to see! Sorry. I promise I’ll post an after picture, though.

Dad took a vacation day today so he could work some more on the laundry room. He needs to get enough done that he can hook up my washer and dryer before the new people move in across the street. That is still a month away, but there are a lot of things he wants to do over there, too,  before Sept. 1, too. We looked at the extra cabinets we have yesterday and designed the way we are going to fix up the kitchen a little, without putting all new cabinets in. But that will take a couple days at least.

And now we find out that we will be losing our renter in the bottom apartment in the Chetek duplex. So there are two we need to fill by Sept. 1. We put it in the paper today and have received 3 calls, so we are hopeful. One of them has already given his current landlord notice, so that is good, because we won’t have to wait that extra month like we are with the one moving in across the street.

Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the summer!