Pottery Painting

 Here are my latest pottery creations!  New light switch covers for the upstairs hallway.  I painted these at Created By Us, in Fairport, NY. This is such a great place for a little creative outlet.

New Door Stops

Okay so I have lived in this house for 6 years and it was BRAND NEW then. Six years really is not old, so you'd think everything, for the most part, would be similar to when we moved in, right?  WRONG!   
Maybe you can tell me where all of the spring door stops have gone? 

I can't!  Maybe the kids ate them, maybe they were used as weapons and lost in battle, or maybe they are buried in the bottom of a toy box?

It doesn't matter any way, they were not my favorite and I found their replacements...

Magnetic door stops! Who knew these were an option?  Now those little kids, (not so little anymore) can NOT take them off to be used a toys AND the wind will not SLAM the doors shut when the windows are open, anymore! 

I know, I know, I am a little late for this project as the windows will probably remain shut for the next 6 to 7 months as we prepare for winter. Oh well, I am one step ahead for the Spring cleaning :)

I am all set, I installed 7 of these gadgets on all the doors that they would work on.  By the way, out of the 7 doors that I replaced I only found 3 of the original spring door stops, huh?  Now I just gotta install a kick down door stop on the people door from the house to the garage...

 Just a little simple home improvement project!

  

Mmmmmm meatloaf!

Here is a recipe I just LOVE!  

I am not sure where this one came from, but I am pretty sure it came from the newspaper when I lived in Chicago?

Home Style BBQ Meatloaf

1 tbsp veg oil

1 onion – chopped

2 pounds ground beef

½ cup dry bread crumbs

1/3 cup BBQ sauce

2 eggs

3 tbsp ketchup

1 tbsp steak sauce

2 tsp salt

1 ½ tbsp liquid smoke

Heat oven to 325

Sauté onions in oil until soft

In l bowl – onions, meat, breadcrumbs, bbq sauce, eggs, ketsup, steak sauce and salt

Mix until well blended

Pack into an 8x4 loaf pan

Smooth on top

Brush with thin layer of liquid smoke

Cook for 40 minutes

Remove from oven and let cool

Refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight

Slice into 6 equal slices

Heat gas grill to medium

Grill -3 minutes per side

Brush with liquid smoke

We love to put our homemade ketchup on top. Grandpa Rzep, "Lefty" shared his recipe and taught Kris and I how to make it the year we got married.

Student Council

Mason is in 4th grade this year. Fourth grade is the year you are eligible to participate in Student Council.

I remember Mason telling me back in 1st grade that he wanted to be in Student Council.

In order to participate each interested student needed to have their parent's permission and they needed to write an essay explaining why they wished to participate.

Mason's favorite subject is not writing, but he has been writing one essay after the next...

After the essays were submitted each student would read their essay to their class.  Then each class would elect 2-3 Student Council representatives.

Mason said Student Council was something he wanted to do, and as expected he is in Student Council.  Mason is one of Mrs. Hoffend's 4th Grade Representatives!  Way to go Buddy!

Mason is very much looking forward to the work ahead, the first meeting is this morning!

School Picture Day 2011

Lookin' good!

Mason and Anna - October 19, 2011

 They are growing up so fast!

Pink, Pink, Pink...

...If you have a little girl maybe you think I am talking about a particular picture book... "Pinkalicious"
Although this is a great book, one of Anna's favorites, I am not referring to this book with a happy ending.
The pink, pink, pink, that I am talking about is in honor of breast cancer. October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. This year, 2011, NBCAM is celebrating 25 years of awareness, education, and empowerment.

Unfortunately, EVERYONE knows someone affected by this illness.  This illness has touched my family twice in the last 9 years.this illness.  This illness has touched my family twice in the last 9 years.

Ann Agosti, my grandmother, fought her battle with breast cancer. Gram, age 78, died on January 6, 2003. Anna, my daughter, was born in August 2003.  Anna never had the chance to meet Gram, or "Grand Nana" as she'd be named later, but they will always share a name.
I love you Gram!





Wendy Sue Vosper, my Aunt (by marriage), fought her battle with this illness. Wendy, at age 46 died on October 9, 2011. Wendy truly lived life. She was and still is remarkable and I am blessed to have known her.   For those who did not know her, I will let you read Kris' Eulogy.


You can do something about breast cancer! You need to understand what breast cancer is. You also need to realize that screening and early detection is vital!

There are so many organizations out there trying to help fight breast cancer, even the National Football League. The NFL and American Cancer Society together make "A crucial catch - annual screening saves lives."
Here are a few other organizations:
Susan G Komen
Fight Like A Girl
Stand Up 2 Cancer
Pink Ribbon
National Breast Cancer Foundation

One common theme here:

As far as Breast Cancer goes, early detection is A BIG DEAL!

Happy Birthday Christine!

Surprise...

Christine and Andy - Photo by Donna Nolan-Cheeseman (The Birthday Girl's Mom)

The Birthday girl and her Mom!

Andy, Christine's husband, threw her a surprise birthday party on October 1st at Pomodoro Grill and Wine Bar.  Andy assembled a GREAT group of family, friends, and co-workers to celebrate with a few snacks and drinks. I was in charge of getting her there - on time, not too early and not too late. Good news, everything went as planned and she was surprised.  We all had a great time! Today, October 15th, is Christine's "real Birthday."

    Happy Birthday friend!

Christine and Tricia - Photo by Donna Nolan-Cheeseman (The Birthday Girl's Mom)

Time for a technology update

Kris I know you are ready for a new cell phone, right? Kris has been struggling with his iPhone 3G and it's tethered battery for about a year now, UGH!

Kris was eligible to get an iPhone 3G from work when it was pretty new, but he had to leave our family plan with Verizon to start an individual plan with AT&T, leaving me to finish out my contract at Verizon.  I was using a Blackberry Pearl 8100.  When this phone was new, it was AWESOME, a great smartphone.  However, as this phone aged it became FLAKY!!! I had about 9 months in my contract and the phone started getting the "hourglass of doom" more and MORE!  I spent countless hours on the phone with Customer Service from Verizon and Blackberry, I also had to wipe it clean more than once! I waited and waited for this contract to end, and then the iPhone 3GS was released, and IT WAS TIME!  In July 2009 I made the switch to AT&T and got my hands on the Apple iPhone 3GS!  Kris and I were again able to save a few bucks having a Family Share plan and I LOVED my new iPhone 3GS - I still do.

Kris has been out of a contract with AT&T since January 2011, but he did not want to run out and get the iPhone 4 as it was already 6 months old. Apple had traditionally announced new products in June each year, so Kris said he could wait it out, "It's only 6 months.".  I think he just did not want me to have the superior phone again, because  my contract would be up in July and I would get the phone announced a month earlier.  Well this plan did not work out as planned, Apple did NOT announce a new iPhone in June, they pushed it out - all the way to October.  Apple did not announce the iPhone 5, but the iPhone 4S - a little disappointed, but still a huge upgrade. 

Time to make a decision - which carrier?  AT&T, Verizon, or Sprint?  Sorry but Sprint was quickly ruled out.  That left us with AT&T, our current carrier, or Verizon, our former carrier.  AT&T has been good to Kris and I over the past 3 years.  Let the research begin...

• The cost of the voice, text, and data plans seemed very competitive.
• Most of our friends and family, probably at least 95%, are Verizon customers.
• AT&T was offering us the unlimited data package - grandfathered in to that plan, but after further review of our past usage we were not even coming close to the 2GB data limit on current data plans offered by both carriers. 
• AT&T is said to be faster, and does offer the talk and surf, while Verizon does not.  
• Verizon seems to have better coverage.

Kris and I still had a few questions, but we were leaning toward Verizon. We took a few minutes today to go to the Verizon store near our house to get a little more information.
Ultimately, Kris and I decided to give Verizon another try, mainly because their coverage is superior and much more reliable.

We have pre-ordered our iPhone 4S - now we just have to wait for them to be delivered!!!! They should be shipped next Friday, October 14, 2011!

After our new iPhones are activated, maybe we should have some kind of celebration - the end of an era.... no more tethered battery! Happy day or Kris :)

Speaking of cookies...

I said before that I would share my favorite recipe for cut-out sugar cookies.  I have tried AT LEAST 8 different recipes, and for one reason or another, I kept looking for my favorite, until now!  I found this recipe on Cake Central - The place for everything cake!

Tasty Treats by Tricia - Pumpkin Cookies

I LOVE this recipe mainly because the dough holds its’ shape and doesn't spread during baking - making all cookies look like blobs! It tastes great and the cookies stay soft too!

No Fail Sugar Cookies – NFSC

Ingredients

• 6 cups flour
  3 tsp. baking powder
  2 cups unsalted butter
  2 cups sugar (white granulated)
  2 eggs
  2 tsp. vanilla extract or desired flavoring (I like almond myself)
  1 tsp. salt

Instructions

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix well. Mix dry ingredients and add a little at a time to butter mixture. Mix until flour is completely incorporated and the dough comes together.

1. Chill for 1 to 2 hours (or see Hint below)

2. Roll to desired thickness and cut into desired shapes. Bake on ungreased baking sheet at 350

3. degrees for 8 to 10 minutes or until just beginning to turn brown around the edges. This recipe

4. can make up to 5-dozen 3"cookies. HINT: Rolling Out Dough Without the Mess — Rather than wait for your cookie dough to
   chill, take the freshly made dough and place a glob between two sheets of parchment paper.
   Roll it out to the desired thickness then place the dough and paper on a cookie sheet and pop
   it into the refrigerator. Continue rolling out your dough between sheets of paper until you have
   used it all. By the time you are finished, the first batch will be completely chilled and ready to
   cut. Reroll leftover dough and repeat the process! An added bonus is that you are not adding
   any additional flour to your cookies.

   
   
   

Can you help support the Girl Scouts?

Anna is part of Girl Scout Troop 674.  This is her second year in Girl Scouts and her final year as a Brownie. 

Anna and her Troop are participating in the Girl Scout Cookie Program. What can a cookie do?

With a Girl Scout cookie, a girl can dream more. She has more opportunities. She can give more to her community. She is more empowered. And she can do more than she ever thought possible.

As Girl Scouting prepares to turn 100, we are very excited to usher in a new era of the Girl Scout Cookie Program. Our cookie baker is providing new tools and marketing strategies that result in more girls, more customers and more cookies making the world a better place. 

Anna is selling Girl Scout Cookies again. You can meet the cookies online.  If you would like to place an order, let me know.  The cookies for $3.50/box and will be delivered the first week in November.

Save the World It's The Only Planet With Girl Scout Cookies!

Thank you for your support!