Kitty's New Rug

I bought a new rug, I thought it was for me. The cat has decided it is hers however. She does need to be careful as it is hard to see her when the hall light is not on. I've already stepped on her once, sorry kitty.

Good Bye Lacey House !

Boy I'm having mixed feelings right now. The Lacey House project has been such a huge part of our lives the past 2 + years. So I'm kind of sad, quite happy and in a bit of shock. But I'm very excited that a buyer loves the Lacey House! That was really important to me after all the work we put into it. And it really sounds like they do love it. The couple have 4 kids (one about 14) and this is the first house they have owned. They (evidently) were doing spins and dances in the front yard when they found out their offer was accepted. They were so excited to put the initial offer down that the wife was getting sick to her stomach because she did not want anyone else to get an offer in before they had a chance to submit theirs. We actually did not even think the house would close as fast as it did either. Just got the call this morning to sign papers this afternoon & hand over the keys. Tomorrow morning they sign and then the house is officially theirs. It will be a relief to not have two households to maintain, two lawns to mow, two driveways to shovel and two sets of taxes / insurance / garbage / utilities to pay. But it is still kind of sad...

Chicken Pasta Salad

This one is yummy! We've already started to make main-dish salads for the warmer days of summer. This is a keeper and pretty quick to put together. I boiled the pasta & prepped the chicken the night before, so today we just had to toss everything together right before dinner. Measurements are strictly a guide - throw in the amount that works for you.

CHICKEN PASTA SALAD
Bow tie pasta cooked according to package instructions & cooled
4 chicken breasts, cooked & shredded & cooled
2 tomatoes, chopped
2 cups celery finely chopped
1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese (the real stuff)
2-3 green onions, chopped

Dressing: Combine 1/2 bottle Zesty Italian salad dressing with 1 cup mayonnaise. Add 2 tsp. Dill Weed, mix well. Pour over pasta and serve.

Double Chocolate Banana Bread

I made this in a regular loaf pan. It took awhile (full 70 minutes) to bake which left a thick crust. I think next time I would make mini loaves or perhaps mega muffins instead. Though was a nice change from regular banana bread and still served the purpose of using up brown bananas, I think next time I probably will just make the traditional banana bread when I have a hankering to bake with bananas (more moist & different texture).

DOUBLE CHOCOLATE BANANA BREAD
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 & 1/4 cups mashed bananas (about 3)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 & 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350. Spray bottom of loaf pan with cooking spray. Beat sugar, eggs, and oil in large bowl at medium speed until combined. Beat in banana and vanilla at low speed. Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt in a medium bolw; beat into banana mixture at low speed just until combined. Sitr in chocoalte chips. Spoon batter into pan. Bake 60-70 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Remove from pan; cool completely on wire rack.

OFFER !!

I hope I don't jinx anything, but we got an offer on our Lacey house today and we accepted their terms with no bantering back and forth. Hope rest of closing goes as smoothly.

Think HAPPY THOUGHTS!!

PS - Any one that has been meaning to take a tour, we probably should schedule it now before it belongs to someone else. Let us know!

Spaghetti Salad

We went to our ward picnic today and brought this salad. Boy we have some good cooks in our ward. The ward provided Sloppy Joe's, chips and drinks. Everyone then brought either dessert or salad. There was plenty of food and it was all very tasty! I still did not figure out who brought the bow tie pasta in the metal bowl. If anyone knows, I definitely need that recipe. Also, Mary Fox needs to share her chocolate cookie recipe with me too!!

SPAGHETTI SALAD

16 oz Angel Hair spaghetti
16 oz bottle Kraft Zesty Italian salad dressing
6 green onions, thinly sliced
2 tomatoes, diced
1 cucumber, diced
½ bell pepper, diced (green, red or orange)
4 Tablespoons “Johnny’s Salad Elegance”

Boil spaghetti, drain & rinse with cold water. Put ½ in a large container; add ½ dressing and 2 Tablespoons of the Salad Elegance; mix well. Repeat with remaining spaghetti, dressing & Johnny’s. (You don't have to do this, it just makes it easier to make sure all noodles get the sauce & seasonings). Mix well. Refrigerate over night & add veggies & mix well before serving.

The Plane! The Plane!

Mike Mattoon made sure John kept to his promise of flying his plane (the little one, not the big one) on Memorial Day. So after a phone call this morning, John and I headed over to the Mattoon's place. They have a big field that would work great and the day was sunny and bright with a bit of a wind.

Here John is fueling the plane:


And Mike putting the plane in place so it is ready for take off:

And the plane heading back to the earth...

Straight down...

OUCH!

Unfortunately we had to call it a day so John could re-group & repair. And the hobby store was not open so we could buy another propeller. Oh well, another day!!