Things just keep moving along...

The graduation counter is getting low!

As for the house, the inspection resolution process went well and is over. The sale is now "pending" which means no more showings. YAY! It is really hard to live an immaculate lifestyle ;)

Update

Inspections on the house were Friday afternoon. According to the Buyer's agent, inspections went well, and nothing major came up. They will be sending a resolution to us in the next day or two.

We got an offer. We countered. They accepted!

We close on May 18th.

National Medical Laboratory Professionals Week

It's Lab Week! This means a week of lots of food, service activities, and games. (Don't tell any of my co-workers, but I am not so keen on the games)

Fun With Wedding Presents

Today we used our new fondue pot for the first time! We made Pub Style cheese fondue. We dipped Tuscan bread, broccoli, granny smith apples and carrots. Sticking with the fondue theme for dessert, chocolate fondue. The chocolate fondue was delicious with bananas, strawberries and more of the apples.

Pub Style Cheese Fondue

1 1/4 pounds medium Cheddar cheese (we used shredded sharp...yummm!)
1 tbsp flour
1 sprig parsley, chopped
A pinch (no more than 1/8 tsp) garlic powder (we used way more!)
1 tsp paprika
1 tbsp butter
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1 small shallot, chopped
1 cup beer (we used 2 year old bud light...yummm!)
2 tsp lemon juice
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
Whatever you want to dip...

1. Cut the cheddar cheese into cubes. Combine the flour, parsley, garlic powder, and paprika. Toss the cheese with the flour mixture and set aside.

2. Melt the butter in a pan. Add the onion and shallot and saute until the onion is translucent but not browned. Turn off the heat and let sit in the pan.

3. Warm the beer in a medium saucepan, without bringing to a boil. Add the lemon juice. Add the cheese gradually, a handful at a time, stirring constantly. Make sure the cheese doesn't come to a boil. Don't add more cheese until the cheese is fully melted. Do not taunt the cheese.

4. When the cheese is nearly melted, add the onion and shallot. Stir for another minute, and then turn up the heat until it is just bubbling and starting to thicken. Stir in the Worcestershire sauce. Transfer to a fondue pot and set on the burner. Serve with all your delicious dippers.

We did step 3 and 4 right in the fondue pot.

ENJOY!

Not So Much Fun With Wedding Presents

Today we enjoyed delicious fondue made in our new fondue pot. While making the fondue Erica did not have so much fun with our new, super sharp, bread knife. Erica was cutting away, doing a fine job on our dippers, and managed to slice the tip of her finger almost immediately. Don't worry, everything is still attached. That knife is sharp! Chris ran and got band-aids and we quickly patched up Erica's finger. Not more than 10 seconds after Erica resumed bread cutting she got her thumb. Did we mention that the knife is sharp! Chris got more band-aids and we got things under control again. Needless to say, Chris finished the bread cutting. The bleeding stopped, we redressed the wounds and it appears that everything is going to be OK :) Phew!

Erica likes this car. A LOT!

My Guitar Hero!

Pure concentration, folks!

I Dreamed a Dream

If you have not heard the Susan Boyle story or seen her sing, you must. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY This will take you to her performance on Britain's Got Talent.

The Rest of the House

The house is going on the market tomorrow. In the mean time, here is the rest of the house - show ready! Fingers crossed!!!

Living Room

Bedrooms

Master

2nd Bedroom/Office

Bath

Dining Room

Kitchen

Happy Easter Everyone!

Erica has been pretty sick for an entire week now. She was feverish last week and has been waking up soaking wet with night sweats. She is hanging in there and thought she turned the corner late last week, but she is still feeling pretty crummy.

We did some major spring cleaning yesterday, throwing away trash bags of papers and junk and taking a car load to Good Will at the end of the day. Chris also mowed and edged the lawn for the first time this year.

Today Erica worked in the laundry room and Chris got out in the yard again. He raked, picked up sticks and branches that fell over winter, cleared off the back patio, and threw out some grass seed.

Erica met with a realtor last week. A sign will hopefully be going up in the yard in a day or two.

Now we are trying to figure out what to do for Easter dinner. We hope our favorite Thai place is open for Pad Thai. Otherwise, our old standby, Aloha Chopsticks for good and cheap Chinese will substitute.

We hope everyone is enjoying their Sunday!

Improved Laundry Room

We painted the walls Oatlands Dainty Blue, hung a shower curtain on the rod that was there and put down some textured foam garage flooring tiles. We used a little elbow grease on the trim and doors too.

You can see the flooring tiles in front of and between the washer and dryer a little more in this picture.

More Sunday Funday

We all got together this past Sunday. It was another nice break from the house!

The homemade chicken noodle soup and Guinness were flowing.

Franzy made me a birthday cake for the occasion.

The Before Picture

Ta Da!

floor sneak peek

Fogo de Chao

Last night we went out for birthday dinner and a work break. Chris had originally made reservations at The American, but he forgot a dinner jacket. So, we went to Fogo de Chao instead. We were both more excited about Fogo anyway. It just opened up on the Plaza and is a Brazilian Steakhouse. The word of the night was MEAT!

It is all you can eat spit fired meat - filet, top sirloin, pork sausage, bacon wrapped filet, bacon wrapped chicken, pork ribs, parmesan encrusted pork, and a house special beef. There were 15 meats in all. They are accompanied by an incredible salad bar and bottomless polenta squares, carmalized bananas and garlic mashed potatos.

The service was excellent. Everyone has a red and green sided disk that signals the Gauchos to bring more meat. They carve it table side on large skewers.

Chris is wide eyed. The Gaucho was about to deliver more filet mignon!

Erica sipping on and looking down at her caipirinha.

Stuffed and Happy

After dinner picture

The front of the restaurant is all windows. You can see all of the skewered meat on the fire. We were trying to capture us and the meat. It didn't work out so well. We were too full and happy to mind.

Attic

Cutting in for the ceiling paint.

Work in progress. Nice and bright.

The boxes stacked up on the right contain the new laminate wood flooring we are installing tomorrow. It was the cheapest and easiest option at $.97/sq. ft.

We also special ordered the attic window today. Should be in in about 2 weeks.

Patch and Paint

Chris worked on the attic stairway today. He patched a hole in the dry wall (above his head in the picture) and he was working on taking the rail down to paint when I snapped this pic.

In the jungle, the mighty jungle...

Circa 12:30 am - The lion sleeps tonight.

We worked until 8pm last night, ate dinner, watched the newest Grey's Anatomy and ran to the grocery store. Then Erica had homework to do, and Chris napped on the couch next to her until she was ready to go to bed. We were pretty worn out yet this morning and got a slow start to the day, but we still made progress none the less.

Crisp and clean

Today we painted the kitchen cupboards, washed all of the hardware, and re-hung all of the doors. Erica had sanded, caulked, and spackled over a week ago in preparation. The cupboards were a dingy matte white/cream color and now they are a bright white semi-gloss. We are shocked at how a seemingly small change made such a large and positive difference.

The kitchen took up most of the day, but Erica also managed to get up in the attic to paint some trim as well. More pictures on that tomorrow...

4 day weekend

We are both in KC for a long weekend to work on the house. We are hoping to get it on the market next week.

Chris got in late last night. His flight was delayed and he didn't get in until after midnight so he technically missed my birthday. But, we are going to a fancy dinner at The American on Saturday night to celebrate.

We will keep you posted on our house progress.

Happy Birthday Sister!

Countdown

School has been a major challenge this past week. I am really ready to be finished. So, I added a countdown 'til graduation. It will be here before I know it (or that is what I keep telling myself, anyway).