Sunday, August 31, 2008

A Savannah Icon Gone Forever!


Written in this morning's Savannah Morning News: (edited to omit names)

A car had sped north on Drayton Street, jumped the curb at Bay Street, knocked down a section of antique, wrought-iron fencing, taken out a 19th century terra cotta statue, snapped a lamppost in half, soared over a pedestrian walkway and come to a grinding halt at the front steps of the Savannah Cotton Exchange. The freak accident happened about 7:15 a.m. The driver was unable to tell police what had happened, although investigators are certain the vehicle went airborne after hitting the fountain and its water-spouting lion.
Debris from the 19th century terra cotta statue was smashed to bits. Some of the accident debris had first turned into projectiles after the car's impact, smashing windows two and three stories up in the old Cotton Exchange. City officials gathered up the iron fencing in hopes that a blacksmith will be able to restore it. The clay statue, however, is a goner.
Here are some before and after pictures that were copied from Savannah Morning News website. I know I have tons of pictures of this statue, but of course when I want them, I can't find them anywhere! Alcohol, and high speed HAD to be involved, to take out the fence, the statue, AND the front of the building! Moron!

Friday, August 22, 2008

My Baby Is A Movie Star!

Thanks to the rains and high winds, John was called out to pick up a sign that blew over. When he got there, the news crew was there, and filmed this. He made his debut on the 6pm new broadcast. I DVDR'd the news, but lo and behold, WTOC has a link to the story on their web page!

(hint-you have to click onto the arrow under the video to get it to play!)

WWYD?

Ok, there's a tropical storm going through the area. You're inundated with 3 days of rain and wind. What would YOU do for fun?
If you are my husband, you make the most of a muddy situation. LOL
They do say that mud is good for your skin! :-)


Cha-Cha-Cha-Changes

It's amazing how Mother Nature works! At the beginning of the summer, I planted hydrangeas in front of the house. Pretty blue hydrangeas. I picked them because they were different. The color popped against the house. They made a nice contrast with the other plants that we have.
Well, that was in June. Here is my beautiful hydrangea in June.


I planted 8 of them.
And here they are now.


Notice anything different?! Mysteriously they are now all PINK! Which is fine by me, I love pink. But, I intended for them to stay blue! Now I'm gonna have to play with Mother Nature, and see if I can make them turn back to blue again.
Wish me luck!

Saturday I tried out another new recipe on John. He was working so hard in the other house, and I wanted to make him something special for lunch. I found these sandwiches online, and wanted to try them for my baby. Not bad if I do say so myself. Ask John what he "REALLY" thought of them. I wish the meat had been more tender. Stupid Walmart meat! I added mozzarella cheese to the top, because they just were not fattening enough!

Marlboro Man’s Favorite Sandwich
2 to 3 pounds cube steak (tenderized round steak that’s been extra-tenderized
1 large onion OR 2 small/medium onions
4 French/Deli rolls
Butter, man
Lawry’s Seasoned Salt
Worcestershire Sauce
Tabasco
-Slice onions and cook in 1/4 stick butter until soft and light brown. Remove and set aside.
-Slice cube steak against the grain. Season with Lawry’s.
-Heat 2 TBSP butter over high heat (in same skillet) until melted and beginning to brown.
-Add meat in single layer. Cook one side until brown, then flip and cook until brown, about a minute on both sides.
-Add 1/2 (at least) Worcestershire sauce, 5 to 6 shakes Tabasco, and 2 TBSP butter. Add cooked onions. Stir to combine.
-Butter halved French rolls and brown on skillet.
-To assemble, lay bottom half of French roll on plate. Place meat mixture, followed by a spoon full of juice from the pan. Top with other half of roll, cut in half, and devour!
And go get on the StairMaster. Now.
not MY photo, it belongs to the maker of the recipe!

Sunday, August 17, 2008

House Update

Ok, a lot of you have been asking how the house next door is coming along. It's a rainy day in Georgia, not fit for man nor beast. So, while I have some spare time, I thought I would blog some photos of John's progress.
We have owned the house since May 30th, and he's been working on it since then! This place was in some pretty bad shape when we took the keys. I couldn't believe John wanted it. But, with some TLC and lots of elbow grease, it's realy starting to shine! It's a small house, but it has some charachter. And our upgrades are bringing out the good features.
The house now has brand new energy efficient windows, A/C, and a brand new roof.
Here is the view as you enter the front door.

This area was painted a pale 1980's seafoam green. The hardwood floors are original, and John has hired a guy to sand them, and bring out their natural beauty. The floors in the "after" shot are covered with saw dust and dirt, we haven't done anything to them yet. He painted this area "malted milk" which is a soft beige color. I think the white trim really pops against the beige. He replaced the lighting fixtures, and I repainted the french door, which you cannot see in the after shot. The french door leads to a small room which we will be calling the home office. It was the original porch of the house. Right now, there are no porches. :-(
Now for the bathroom. Probably, hands down, the WORSE room of the house! It was just disgusting! We tried to salvage the tub. Judy scrubbed it, and scrubbed it, but it was just too far gone! John hired Bath Fitters to come in and redo the tub and surround.


A HUGE improvement! He also replaced the vanity, sink, flooring, and light fixture. Since everything else was new, he went ahead and replaced the toilet as well. This room still needs work. When the wallpaper came down, there was a lot of damage to the sheet rock. After the painting was all done, he discovered the wall with the window is rough. He's going to have to sand it down, remud it, and repaint! Also, the wall behind the vanity is not level. He has to fix that before he can hang the mirrow.

Another huge project has been the kitchen. Us ladies did not like the layout. The stove sat on a wall all by itself, with no countertop next to it for food prep!

We convinced John it would do much better where the fridge used to be. Which of course meant rewiring for the oven to be moved. He hung a microwave over the stove, instead of just using a hood.

Next came demolition! Once upon a time there was a wood burning stove, with a chimney that ran in the wall between kitchen and dinning room. During one remodel, the chimney was boxed in. John wanted the chimney off of the roof, since there's no stove. Then, he took out the wall that had encased the old chimney. Which was an area just big enough to move the fridge into! William helped put up the dry wall, and John hung the cabinet, and is now working on the floor where the fridge will go.

In the above picture, the fridge is not moved into it's place yet. It will sit under the small cabinets.
Today John is placing tiles where the fridge will go, and replacing some of the old, cracked tiles, as well as removing all of the grout. Then he can go back and grout the tiles, move the appliances where they belong, and finish the painting. The kitchen is a soft shade of bluish-grey to coordinate with the counter tops. We don't have money in the budget to replace the cabinets and countertops, so we have to make them work for us. The trim needs to be painted, and the kitchen will pretty much be done!
There's still a lot of work to be done, but it's coming along nicely. We had hoped to have it ready by September to rent out. I don't think we'll make our original deadline. But, hopefully October!
When the weather dries up, I'll get more photos. And of course we'll have the official before and after shots.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Just Wanted To Share

Some of you know that John and I are home alone. Judy went to Boston Saturday, and won't be home until a week from Sunday. So, I have to be a domestic goddess every day while she is gone. Usually, she cooks on days that I work, and I only cook on my off days. So, I have been having to cook EVERY day for my baby. I don't mind cooking, but I HATE cleaning up the mess afterwards! If someone would clean up the mess, I'd love to cook more often!
Monday I made him my famous Chicken Enchiladas with Spanish rice. Tuesday we had roast beef with roasted red-skinned potatoes and peas. (John's favorite meal). And he liked it! And tonight, I wanted to try something new. Since we live in Savannah, and have an abundance of shrimp, I wanted a shrimp recipe. I found a recipe on the Olive Garden web site for their Grilled Shrimp Caprese. Oh my God! It was sooo good! Even if I do say so myself! I have had it in the restaurant, and this tastes exactly like it! I cheated a little. Couldn't find fresh herbs in Publix supermarket, probably looking in the wrong places! So, I used dried. Didn't have minced garlic on hand, didn't want to mess with the real thing, so I sprinkled some garlic powder. And, I didn't bother putting the dish under the broiler, just sprinkled with grated Parmesan and some parsley flakes. Everything else was as their directions. And it was YUMMY! Now, what am I going to cook next week?! I have a few more days of cooking left. Any tried an true recipes that anyone cares to share?
Here is the Grilled Shrimp Caprese recipe for ya. Enjoy!



Grilled Shrimp Caprese

Prep Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Serving Size: 4

Ingredients
Marinated Tomatoes:
1 1/2 lbs Roma tomatoes, cored* and cut into 1” pieces
20 medium fresh basil leaves, stems removed and cut into 1” pieces
2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp garlic, minced
1 tsp Italian seasoning
Salt to taste

2 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup white wine
11/2 cups heavy cream
1 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1 lb angel hair pasta, cooked according to package directions
2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
1 lb 26/30 or 21/25 shrimp, peeled and deveined

*Chef’s Note: To preserve juices and seeds, use a pairing knife to remove just the top of the core on each tomato.
Procedures
Preheat broiler.

COMBINE tomatoes, basil, olive oil, garlic, Italian seasoning and salt in a large bowl and blend thoroughly. Cover, set aside and marinate for at least 1 hour.

HEAT a large, nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add butter and let melt. Stir in white wine and bring to a boil. Add heavy cream and Parmesan cheese and bring to a simmer. Let sauce reduce to desired consistency.

ADD cooked, drained pasta and marinated tomatoes to skillet. Stir to thoroughly coat pasta with sauce.

TRANSFER pasta and sauce to serving platter and top with mozzarella cheese.

GRILL or SAUTE shrimp until internal temperature reaches 150°F and set aside.

PLACE serving platter in broiler for 2-3 minutes, or until cheese has melted.

TOP pasta with cooked shrimp and serve.


ooppss....i didn't use the mozzarella cheese. Just Parmesan. My bad!

Saturday, August 9, 2008

I Got My Buffet!

Or liquor cabinet, or server, or credenza, or whatever you want to call it in your part of the country.
It came with these basic wooden knobs painted in the same country white. I don't know, I just think they scream "cheap piece of knock-off furniture"! Which it wasn't cheap, so I didn't want to advertise cheap! John had to make a run to Home Depot, and I went along to look for knobs. Below are the before and after photos. What do you think?

BEFORE



AFTER





I am having fun picking wines to add to my collection. I go for the ones with cool labels on them. They might taste like vinegar, but I don't care. It will probably be 10 years before we even open all of them! I found a wine called "Middle Sister", I thought that was cool, since I am the middle sister of us siblings. One named "5 Friends". I probably have more than 5 friends, but that's ok. "Little Penguin", well that was just too cute to pass up. "Twin Fins" which had a picture of an old car with fins. And "Bare Foot". I thought of John and Big Foot when I saw that one! :-) Any suggestions for some good things to add to my collection? If anybody wants to come visit, and sample my wines, just give us a ring!

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

You Can Help Too


Hi everybody! I'm participating in the Arthritis Walk® this year. I am inviting a team of my past hip and knee replacement patients, as well as fellow co-workers to take part in the walk in Savannah this year. Our team name will be "The Replacements". Cute, huh? I'm excited to have the opportunity to raise money and walk this year.

I'll be joining many others to walk 3 miles and share in the joy of accomplishing a feat that many people with arthritis find hard to do. The net proceeds will support arthritis research, programs and services for those with arthritis.

According to the Arthritis Foundation, there are 46 million Americans with doctor-diagnosed arthritis, including 300,000 kids. That's about 1 in 5 people who are affected. Those 46 million people are my reason for walking. To do something about arthritis and find a cure! With your help, hopefully others won't have to suffer through having arthritis. I hope that you'll support me in my fundraising efforts.

Just click the link below to go to my personal fundraising web page and donate online. You will immediately receive an email confirmation that you can print out for tax purposes. Thank you for your support.

Thank you in advance for your generosity!

CLICK HERE



Now for some fun stuff.
Here I go with the video links again. Sorry, but I just GOT to share them! They are so much fun!
My on-line friend Deb had this one on her blog today, and I just had to put it on mine! Sorry for stealing Deb, but they say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Do you believe that? :-)
Somehow I don't think I could get Jingle Bells anyways close to the ocean to even try this! LOL!