Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Banana Bread

This is a recipe that Linda Armstrong Kelly included in her book No Mountain High Enough. She described making loaves of this and handing it to Lance as he was biking. I had some old bananas and buttermilk in the house at the time and thought I would try it. I love this recipe now and keep buttermilk on hand! It has been a requested recipe this winter so I am posting it here. I hope you and your family enjoy it as well.

1 stick butter (softened) 2 mashed bananas (slighly old)
1.5 cups sugar 0.5 tsp. salt
2 eggs 0.5 cup chopped nuts (pecans or walnuts)
1 cup buttermilk 1 tsp. vanilla
1.5 tsp. baking soda 2 cups flour

Heat oven to 350 degreees F. Cream butter, sugar, eggs, bananas, and vanilla. Mix the buttermilk and soda together. Add to the sweet banana mixture. Gradually add the flour and salt. Add chopped nuts. Pour into greased and floured loaf pans. Bake for 1 hour or until the center is cooked.

Monday, July 28, 2008

Welcome, Micah!



The girls and I got to help welcome little Micah James into the world this weekend. It was great to be able to see Peter, Amanda, and Noah as well !

Wesley informed me that Kris only has 5 more inspections before we can move into our house. He stayed home to help Kris out.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

GARDENS

When I was training for a marathon my friend Jenny and I preferred run our long runs early in the morning. Our goal was to be finishing our long miles as the sun was rising. I was thinking tonight how I still prefer to run in the mornings but I love to we working in the garden as the sun is setting. It is so enjoyable to watch the sky turn colors as you fix up your little spot of earth. :)
As I was working I was thinking of other people's gardens that I have witnessed this summer and would like to mention a few of them. My brother John's garden had the largest tomato plants I have seen this year! My brother David's garden was sweet and sad to me because of all the work he put into it and I got to see it just before he packed up his house to move away. I sure hope one of his renters enjoys his efforts. My friend Betsy's garden is special to me although I have never seen it. I love how she shares my enthusiasm and her recipes and also how we share the same rain storms! :) My parents' garden in NY seemed much smaller then I remember growing up. It now contains more comfrey then tomatoes but is still very memorable. My in-laws garden has to be one of the cutest gardens. I know they have had bigger gardens in years past but a few plants now keeps them busy enough to garden and travel. I also appreciate the table at the back of our church where people can leave extra produce from their gardens to share with others. There would be an extra special award for someone to guarantee me that raising children is just like raising a garden. :)
On the building front Kris is hoping to have the rough plumbing inspection tomorrow.
Enjoy your weekend!






Monday, July 21, 2008

Choices

Kris is very involved with plumbing right now. Along with laying pipes come decisions. What type of bathtub did we want? Faucets? Where will the sink be placed? What kind of sink?
We are swimming in details right now! It seems like we just did this for the garage and now we are using our date nights to run to Lowes and look at fixtures!
Hope your days are filled with less decisions...and less sawdust! ;)

Friday, July 18, 2008

Holes

There are times that you need to purposefully inflict what appears to be damage to a project in order to bring it to completion. That is where construction is at this point today. It does seem to be an accurate summation of what is going on inside the house as well...namely with the residents!
Kris is busy working on coordinating inspections, readying the walls for electric and plumbing, and making sure things run as smoothly as possible. Up until this point the weather and his health were his biggest schedule busters. Now there are ditches, permits, and people to make or break his plans. There is also the unending task of finding things very specific to building our log home...just the right size drill bit to go through huge beams or a supplier for metal for these long electric "trenches". These pictures show the kind of work that occupied Kris today.
We had a great time seeing family and getting away on the two trips since I've last posted but there has been a lot to juggle to make that all happen. I found myself thinking this week that work has really become an obstacle to my social life!! :) Someone at work asked me for some patterns this week and I found myself becoming depressed. I know I have the ones she needed but as to which box it is in is yet to be determined.
At this point we are feeling some of the "holes" in our walls. We know they are temporary and a means to an end but they are holes just the same. I am looking forward to new mercies tomorrow after a full night of SLEEP.

Friday, July 11, 2008

Cherry Berry Vanillla Pudding






Here is a short post of a dessert I made. It was made with frozen berries, homeade vanilla pudding, and homeade whipped cream.Yum!!
By: Kristianna Williams

New look!

2 days+stain= good lookin' house!!












By: Kristianna W.

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

From Ellis to Vicars Island

I am doing the blog for my mom today. Here are some neat pictures that I took at Ellis and Vicars Island, and the Statue of Liberty with my new camera. I hope you enjoy!!

By:Kristianna W.






Wesley at our aunt's house
playing with their Jack Russell's.





Isabel replanting her Princess Pine on top of Black Mountain.


The Williams' kids on top of Black Mountain.


Isabel and I on the dock of the island we were staying at. I want to be a life guard during the summers when I get older. I practiced saving Wesley and Isabel and learned how to do the lifeguard jump. Overall, I had fun!!:)

Storm a comin'! Unfortunately we got stuck on a boat waiting to get back to N.J.! The best part was running to our car in the rain!!:)


Me at the Statue of Liberty.


Me at Ellis Island.


Ellis Island was very pretty and we really enjoyed it!