Day 3: Egress Complete

The almost finished product.  We need to paint the new window trim and touch up the wall paint around it.

Here is a close up of the new window.  It is a fancy Tilt and Turn, which is awesome, but we are not sure how we are going to be able to put up any kind of blind or window covering without making it difficult to open the window.  It swings really wide in the turn position.

The window in the "big room".  We have a ton of work to do in this room.  The first thing on the list is a good coat of paint on the walls and ceiling.

Cow Girls

Erica, Amy, Katie

The girls at Cheyenne Frontier Days.  You can't see 'em but I was sporting my new Cowboy boots.

The Bzz: Keurig Brew Over Ice

I received K Cup Samples and a Brew Over Ice Keurig 16 oz tumbler from Bzz Agent.  The K Cup Samplers were from Green Mountain Coffee and Celestial Seasonings.  

I usually don't make coffee in the morning before work, but I have been making iced coffees since receiving the samples.  So far, my favorite is the Hazlenut Iced Coffee with a little soy milk and sweetener.  The "Brew Over Ice" K Cups are supposed to be specially blended for use over ice, but I have used regular K Cups and it seems the same to me.

I have $2 off coupons for any K Cup pack with the "Brew Over Ice" logo.  Let me know if you would like one!

Also, get $2 off all Brew Over Ice K Cup packs and a free tumbler with Code: QUENCH-COLD on the Keurig Website, through tomorrow (July 30th). 

1. To start, fill any 16 oz. cup to the top with ice. Do not use glass.
2. Grab a Brew Over Ice K-Cup^® pack, lift your brewer's handle and place it inside.
3. Remove the drip tray before placing your tumbler under the brewer.
4. Select the stronger 6 oz. or medium 8 oz. setting, depending on how you like your brew.
5. Drink the iced coffee as-is or add cream and sweetener as desired. The iced tea comes in sweetened and unsweetened varieties.
6. Stir and enjoy!

All of the coffee flavors seem much more bitter to me when they are iced.  I always select the 8oz brew.

Blinded by the Light Pt 2 (after egress)‏

Look at all that light in the basement now!  

Look for more pictures soon.

Blinded by the Light Pt 1 (before the engagement shoot)‏

Chris being blinded by the the camera at Florence + The Machine tonight at where else but Red Rocks!

Before the show, the couple in front of us asked to have their picture taken.  Chris was happy to oblige.  During the first song, that same couple got engaged.  Everyone around them started clapping and cheering, including us.  The man was still on one knee when the woman, in shock and bewilderment, thrust her camera toward Chris.  Chris got the camera up and running and we were able to capture one or two pictures for them.  It was quite funny.

Florence put on a great show.  She is very charming and has an amazing voice.  It was apparent that she has quite the cult following, more so than the fans at the other 2 shows we have seen this summer.  People were waaay into it.

Day 2: Egress

The windows are HUGE!  With all of the light, it seems like you are in an upstairs room.  Very excited for them to be completed, hopefully tomorrow.

Day 1: Start of Egress Installation

Luckily the gas line was not in the way.  You can see part of the meter on the left.  We had the gas marked beforehand and it came in at a right angle from the driveway right to the wall.

See the black "wire" running under the window?  At first, we thought it was sprinkler wire.  Turns out it is coax cable poured into the concrete.  The line was cut on day 2.  No TV for a while - Netflix to the rescue!

Sky Sox

At a work event. watching the Sky Sox take on the Tacoma Rainiers.  

The Sky Sox are the AAA feeder team for the Rockies.

Ring of Fire

Kirk and Chris on the Ring of Fire.

Wild Horse Race

Teams of 3 have to saddle and then ride the horse around the arena track.  First one across the line wins.  The horses are unbroken.  On top of that, they fired guns and a couple cannons throughout the event to spook the horses.

Cheyenne Frontier Days

Bronc Riding

We drove up to Cheyenne to watch the rodeo, eat fried food, drink beer, enjoy a couple rides and see the Brad Paisley concert with friends.  It was a fun day, but also long.  We got home in the wee hours of the morning on Sunday.

It's a Hot One Today

More Rockies!!

GE at the Rockies

GE summer picnic time.  Rockies down by 2.

The Saab is Getting a Face Lift

This week, American Family Insurance (insurance for the 3rd car in the accident) accepted liability and they are moving forward with paying for my repairs.

Got an estimate this morning to the tune of $2000.00.  There might be frame damage, but they won't know until they disassemble the car.  You can sort of see the verticle buckle above the gas cover.  It is lighter in color. This makes them suspect frame damage.

American Family also requires the use of after market and reconditioned parts.  The auto body guy said it is not likely he will be able to find them, so brand new parts will be used.

I can't get it in until the 25th and then they will have it for a week.

All repairs are guaranteed by the shop and American Family for the life of the car.

Do You Know What This Means?

 We can finally put both our vehicles in the garage!  It is so nice.  

Chris has been Craigslisting like crazy the past few days to get rid of all of our garage junk.  We have given away or sold a motorcycle helmet, washer & dryer, mountain bike, a disassembled road bike, 7' of chain link fence, a toilet, and old gutters that came with the house since Friday.

The cabinet at the back of the garage and the medicine cabinet on the left of it are currently Craigslisted.

Chris has tidied it up quite nicely, even hanging the Tibetan Prayer Flags we got from Cori during her travels.

The Eye Sore

When we moved in, the fence, concrete wall, and a lot of the garage were covered in vines.  Chris had initially ripped all of them down last fall.  But these were some old vines and the roots on them were huge and difficult to remove and the vines started growing back this spring.

Once the vines were down and we saw the poor condition of the fence, we thought about replacing it.  It isn't ours and technically anything on the south side of the driveway isn't even our property, but we hated the vines and aren't fond of the ugly fence either.  The cheaper and easier alternative was to work up the bed and plant something that would detract from the "situation" without having to track down Ernie, the owner of the rental property.

Another fun detail is that at some point, this bed was full of stone.  I filled 2 wheelbarrows full of it and there is still quite a bit in there.  But, we could be picking stones until the end of time and we needed to get on with the show.  

Yesterday, finally, I finished digging out the huge roots that of course were growing right up next to the delicate rotten fence and was somewhat happy with the stone removal.  Yay!

The New Garden Plot

Now the "Eye Sore" has officially turned into new garden!  We planted Karl Forester in the back and yellow Day Lilies in the front.  We purchased the plants probably a month ago and had not planted until yesterday, so they were a little root bound.  The grasses, which had turned brown after purchase, are sprouting new growth and will grow 3-4 feet to disguise the unsightly fence.  It has been cooler and rainy the past 3 days, so they should be off to a good start in their new home.  

Project Cost Breakdown:

Elbow Grease: $0
5 bags of black mulch: $12.50 (bought at end of season sale last year)
6 Karl Foerster grasses: $30
6 Stella d'oro Day Lillies: $20

Grand Total: $62.50

Cherry Creek Arts Festival

These are 2 new prints we picked up at the Cherry Creek Arts Festival yesterday.  These were shot with a Holga by Michael Bryant.  I popped them into some frames that we had around the house and they are ready for display once we decide exactly where that is going to be.  Right now we are leaning toward somewhere in the upstairs living room.

We also got to see a neighborhood artist who was exhibiting for the first time at Cherry Creek, Kelly Schurger.  We bought this print of hers last fall.  We got it framed and have the spot picked out for it, but have not hung it yet.  We need to prep and paint the space first.

Hey PB&J!

Friday night we ended up on Tennyson Street; Chris needed his Hops & Pie fix.  Unbeknownst to us, it was also First Friday and it was nuts everywhere.  We had an estimated wait time for a table at Hops & Pie of 45 minutes, so we strolled up and down Tennyson checking out lots of shops we had never been to before, like Pearl Velo (bike shop) and Clotheshorse (consignment shop).

Since we weren't going to be seated until after 8pm, we stopped at the Hey PB&J truck for a gourmet peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  We split a Blackberry Jalapeno to tide us over.  It was pretty awesome: peanut butter, charred jalapeno, homemade blackberry jam, cream cheese and bacon.  

We finally made our way to Hops and Pie to be seated.  The beer Chris really wanted to try had been kicked by the time we got our table.  Chris ordered his favorite, the Reuben.  I had the soup of the day and a grilled cheese and found a new favorite beer: Sour Kraut by Fort Collins Brewery.  It is very light and sour. Think sour apples and sour patch kids.

Happy 4th of July Swordfish!

Happy 4th, everybody!  We had a super lazy day.  It is so hot out, we stayed indoors.  And, there were naps.  Chris got out for a bike ride this morning and Erica will be heading out for a run yet tonight as well.

For dinner we had Grilled Swordfish with Lemon, Mint & Basil.  We used fresh basil and mint from the herb garden and I also used some thyme.  So simple to throw together.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh mint leaves
• 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil leaves
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 4 (5 to 6-ounces each) swordfish steaks

Directions

Prepare the grill (medium-high heat). Whisk the oil, mint, lemon juice, basil, and garlic in a medium bowl toblend. Season the lemon and olive oil mixture with salt and pepper, to taste.

Brush the swordfish steaks with 2 tablespoons of the lemon and olive oil mixture. Grill the steaks until just cooked through, about 3 minutes per side (depending on thickness of steaks). Transfer the steaks to plates. Spoon the remaining sauce over and serve.

More Red Rocks

Kimbra and Mayer Hawthorne and the County opened for Foster the People.  A guy Erica works with gave us the tickets for free; he couldn't attend.

Fish Tents

The real name for this recipe is Fish in a Pouch, but Chris likes to call them Fish Tents.  Cod fillets were on sale this week, and we picked some up yesterday.  We did not use the Baby Bam, and instead used some spice mix we had on hand that proclaims it is good on fish.  Anyway, on to the recipe!

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons Baby Bam, recipe follows
• 4 (8-ounce) white fish fillets such as flounder, sole, cod, scrod, or whitefish
• 1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened at room temperature

Directions

In a small mixing bowl, combine the butter, Worcestershire sauce, parsley, garlic, salt, and white pepper. Use a rubber spatula to mix the ingredients well until smooth. This is called a compound butter.

Position rack in center of oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Season each fish fillet with 1/2 teaspoon of the Baby Bam.

Lay each fillet in the center of a piece of aluminum foil and spoon 2 tablespoons of the compound butter over the top of the fish.

Bring the long edges of the aluminum foil together and make thin folds to form an airtight seal. One side at a time, bring the outer short edges together and fold 2 or 3times inward to seal the sides of the pouch.

Repeat with the remaining fish fillets.

Lay the pouches on a baking sheet and place in the oven.

Bake for 20 minutes.

Using oven mitts or pot holders, remove the baking sheet from the oven and cut the pouches open with kitchen scissors, or carefully unfold the pouches. Watch out for steam--keep your face away!

Serve immediately.

Baby Bam:

• 3 tablespoons paprika
• 2 tablespoons salt
• 2 tablespoons dried parsley
• 2 teaspoons onion powder
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon celery salt

Place all the ingredients in a mixing bowl. Stir well to combine, using a wooden spoon. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 months.

Yield: About 3/4 cup