Another Garden Update!
Posted on June 22, 2008, under Uncategorized.
Thanks to a couple of amazing warm humid weather weeks(with some juicy rainstorms), we have the first crop of the garden almost ready. Check out the cucumbers!! The first crop will probably be ready over our 4th of July camping trip (go figure!)
Here’s an overall shot of the garden.. I added a pseudo trellis in the front to let the ‘cukes grow up and out of the garden… Oh.. Missing from the shot is the garden with the strawberries!!! (They’re green and growing like weeds!!)
Beatin’ the Heat!!
Posted on June 10, 2008, under Uncategorized.
We had our first official heatwave this week and here are a couple of pictures of the family keepin’ cool. Hammie (Hamlet, our basenji) just living it up in the yard in the sun! He prays for days like this.. Loves the 100 degree weather and 110% humidity. Once it gets below 60 degrees, he’s ready to stay inside under covers and wait until the ‘dog’ days of summer… LOL
Here’s a pic of the girls enjoying some Cold COLD COLD!! water in the swimming pool in the back yard. (BTW, Dad was sittin in the shade…)
The Family Reunion Invitations are out!!
Posted on June 9, 2008, under Uncategorized.
This just in!!
The Milliron family reunion invitations are finally done and should arrive in mailboxes everywhere soon!
I had a little bit of a creative mind block on the invitations this year and then all of the sudden BLAMMO an awesome idea!
So I had a couple of initial ideas…
1. The invitation would read ‘Can you believe it’s time for the reunion again’ and then the invitation would look like a can of vegetables and the who, what, where, when would look like the nutritional facts label on a can (Yea, it was an AWESOME idea — I even had the exact required fonts and sizes required by the FDA for the label)… Problem — My photoshop skills really suck and I couldn’t get the label ‘wrapped’ around the picture of the can… Blah… Scratch this idea and let’s move on..
2. The invitation would read ‘HEY! It’s time for the reunion….’ and the invitation would be a large hay bale with all of the images, etc… (farm theme). Well.. This didn’t work because I just couldn’t find the right images to make it work…
Frustrated and in desperate need of a new idea, I started pacing and came up with the ‘remember’ theme.. I thought what do you do whenever you get an invitation… You usually stick it up somewhere.. Well, what if the invitation was on a post-it note? BINGO!! We’ve got a great idea!
End results??
An invitation with a post-it note attached that has all of the important information (date, time, etc) that you can remove from the piece of paper and attach it wherever you want! EWWW!! This rocks!
Here’s a scanned picture of it…
Okay.. So.. how did I do it?? Well, I opened Word and created a table with 3 rows and 3 columns that were 3.25 inches each.. (Standard post-it notes are 3×3)
Then I printed the page.. This gave me a ‘template’ to stick 9 post-it notes per page to. Then I edited my table to not print any grid lines and then typed the text I wanted into each cell. I then took the template and added 9 post-it notes to it (carefully aligning them up in each box) and then placed this piece of paper with the post-it notes attached back into my ink jet printer and then printed! Bingo! 9 post-it notes with everything on them I wanted…
Of course, I had to make the envelopes match the invite… so here’s a scan of the envelope as well..
MMMmmm Ribs…
Posted on June 8, 2008, under Uncategorized.
Last friday I just started Jones’n for some awesome ribs… (well, I totally blame the Food network DAMN THEIR BBQ WEEKEND WITH BOBBY FLAY!)
So, saturday morning started as the usual errands.. and and additional item at Costco… Ribs!
Had to buy 3 racks of ribs (You know, I thought this was pretty good for Costco.. I figured that I would have to buy an entire meat locker full and then haul it home with a 18 wheeler…)
So.. Let’s see.. Meat.. Check.. Umm, I needed a good rub.. (Easy now… keep your mind out of the gutter!)
I found this recipe on the internet..
1/2 C brown sugar
1/4 C paprika
1 Tbsp Black Pepper
1 Tbsp Salt
1 Tbsp Chili Powder
1 Tbsp Garlic Powder
1 Tbsp Onion Powder
1 tsp cayenne
Mixed it all up and rubbed 1 rack down…
So, I could just dump it on the grill but OH NO! I don’t do anything easy… I thought that I would do them over Charcoal instead. This was an extra stop at Target to pick up some charcoal and I decided to use my propane grill and an aluminum 9×13 disposable pan to place the coals inside the pan and then inside the grill to get my desired 250 degree temperature. (The disposable pan fit down under my rack inside the grill…)
Well, this worked for about the first hour and then I couldn’t keep the temperature up even with adding more charcoal….
Okay.. Scratch that! What the hell was I thinking?? Am I Martha Stewart?? So…
I turned on the propane and got the temperature regulated at 250 degrees for 8 more hours… YUMMY in the Tummy!
I have a friend that gave me an awesome vinegar based bbq sauce one time that I just have to get the recipe for… it would have been even better with the ribs..
The Diaper Cake
Posted on June 3, 2008, under Uncategorized.
Sara and I have heard, seen, and read a lot about diaper cakes for baby showers etc… But up to this point, we have never decided to say ‘Hey, we can make that’ well… until today. There is a baby shower at my office tomorrow and I needed to bring a great gift. I think this will do…
This diaper cake has been in the plan for a couple of days (yea, that’s us… Let’s wait until the last minute and then come up with this ‘over the top’ idea and try to make it a reality….) So, here is a good picture of the end result.
Now, keep in mind Sara had a much smaller diaper cake in mind, and me, well.. everything MUST be bigger and better (such an American lol)
So, what’s in this diaper cake you may ask? (Thanks for asking..)
- 180 diapers each individually rolled and secured with rubber bands
- 14 yards of ribbon
- 8 washcloths
- 3 pairs of socks
- 2 tubs of baby wipes (concealed in the inside)
- 2 hooded bath towls (concealed in the inside)
- 2 bottles of baby lotion
- 1 bottle of baby powder
- 1 pair of swimming trunks
- 1 soft, fuzzy bear
- and finally, 1 yellow rubber ducky
I think it turned out pretty cool!!! (A little tacky I must say, but Sara would strongly disagree!!!)
Mendin’ Fences
Posted on June 1, 2008, under Uncategorized.
So, the fence around our backyard that has kept the dogs in for years and troublesome animals out (well, except the possum we had in our window well, but I’ll save that story for a different day) is in more than desperate need of repair.
The ‘renovation’ of the fence has been underway for almost 3 years now. The initiation of this never ending task starting with a neighbor’s oak tree falling through it as seen below.
So, what IS the plan? Well being cheap, dumb and young, I am removing each section of shadowbox fence, tearing it apart and removing all of the nails and re-using the face boards on a new rail. Most would probably think that I’m insane, but I think of it as my own little way to ‘recycle’.
Last month I finally finished the back section of the fence and now I needed to start on the neighbor’s side. This time, I enlisted the help of the entire family to get the job done. (Well — The weather was too damn nice for the girls to be inside watching TV, so grab a hammer, tape measure, hell - even a wooden crab hammer and start removing some nails..)
Here is a picture of my mini-Berlin wall coming down.. (Take some notes Gorbachev)
Here is an funny picture of how we setup the sawhorses so that even someone with a broken foot could help out!
Hannah helping out with a wooden crab hammer (and believe it or not, she actually removed a lot of nails with this..)
Mia doing what she does best… Eating.. lol
Ahh, the finished product… 2 sides down and 2 more to go!
Garden Update
Posted on May 31, 2008, under Uncategorized.
The onions are finally coming up..
And Hannah found a mini-mini-mini green pepper that must have fell off in the latest hard rain.
Anywho.. Here’s the latest pic..
Hooray! My new PC is finally here!!
Posted on May 28, 2008, under Uncategorized.
Not only am I excited. Hannah is dying to get her own pc, that way she can play her nickjr games right next to dad…
She actually seemed a little disappointed that she was getting my ‘old one’ instead of a new one like me… Spoiled and not even 5 yet… Wow, *holding back my tears* I’m soo proud.. lol
Well, less typing and more configuring.. Gotta get the data transferred from the old guy!
