Living Room & Office Before

Renovations on the living room and office began this week. It took awhile for me to find a new contractor that I believe will do a better job, but I *hope* I've found him. He appears to be almost as anal as I am about details, so that's a good sign. ;o)

I've taken some before pictures of these rooms, but they won't be nearly as shocking as the kitchen and family room before shots. Someone had already begun to remodel these rooms before we moved in, so they really aren't that bad. I just need to make them my own. I'm going to do my best to keep up with weekly remodel updates during this process like I did last time with the kitchen and family room, but I'm hoping it goes so fast this time that there won't be a need for too many updates! ;o)

The living room was turned into a bedroom by the last owners of the house. Our plan is to turn it back into a living room, or more like our library/music room. We plan to rip out the closets the previous people put in and build built-in bookshelves. This will open the room back up again and give us some more space.

Right when you walk in our front door, this room is to your left through a pair of french doors. It makes much more sense as a living room than a bedroom. This will give us two entertaining areas - the family room will be more relaxed since the TV is in there, and this will be the more formal living space. It's a very long room, so I'm hoping by knocking out the closet, it'll balance the space a little more.

The office is attached to the living room, separated by another pair of french doors. It looks out over the back pasture and leads into the kitchen, which I love. We do not have an open floorplan, but the flow in this house is excellent. It more than makes up for the fact that every room is cut off from the next.

Please excuse the broken down fish tank. These were taken right after we lost our fish. I'm going to miss turning around from my computer to see six little fishies staring at me. ;o) I just know they were always plotting something...

Anyways, not a lot is going to happen in this room. The windows are over 30 years old and need to be replaced. We will put down the same wood floor that we did in the other two rooms, and we'll repaint. I know a lot of people like the ceiling to be painted the same color as the walls, and that's what someone did in here, but I don't like it. The ceiling will go back to white and we will choose something else for the walls.

I'm looking forward to the remodel being a little less intensive this time around. At least I won't be kicked out of my kitchen for 6 months again! I've moved my office into the empty dining room, so I don't even feel displaced. Cross your fingers this portion goes smoother than last time! ;o) I'll have updates soon!

goodbye, officer wooten

Last week was a little rough. I didn't talk about it on the blog because it was just too sad. And some of you may laugh because truly, he was just a fish, but we get attached to our fish. Anything or anyone that lives in this house is family.

Tuesday night I did my routine headcount in the fish tank to make sure no one had escaped during the day. I turned off the light, and fed Officer Wooten his pellets. Everything was fine. We wake up Wednesday morning and I go to feed the fish and I can't find Shimmer, one of our newest fish. I'm looking for him when Lexie comes in to help. She notices that Officer Wooten didn't eat his pellets last night. That's when I notice poor Officer Wooten is dead. He was our five-year-old plecostomus. You can see a picture of him here. (Spoink and Elvis also made it into that photo!) He has grown even more since this photo was taken last April.

Anyways, in addition to losing Officer Wooten, Shimmer was also nowhere to be found. Our hearts were broken. I almost let Lexie stay home from school since this all happened about 15 minutes before we had to leave. She was a trooper though, and decided to go. I spent all day wondering why in the world I can't keep our fish alive and I finally decided we are warm-blooded pet people. It also might have a little to do with the fact that we are on a well, so our water might not be healthy enough for fish (or us for that matter...). But to spare the lives of our remaining fish (Elvis, Spoink, Poppy, and the baby who Lexie had just named Todd), I asked my friend Stacy to take them in. She has a 20-gallon tank where hopefully they will have better chances of survival. We took them over Wednesday night and Lexie got to say goodbye, with an offer to come check on them anytime she wants. :o)

Excuse these photos. They were taken with my phone in the dark, and I believe that's also why Ethan looks a little devilish here... I think they'll be better off in their new home, but I miss them a lot. Our fish tank was in the office and all this week, the silence was unbearable. I'm so used to hearing the filter and the bubbles going. It was strange to be able to hear every click of my mouse.

I'm also dealing with the acceptance that I failed at this. I am not a good fishie mommy. I hate when I can't do things and give up, but really it was just too hard on us whenever they would die. So we gave the tank a good cleaning and are going to try to sell it. Maybe, just maybe, after we get back from India we will use the money to buy a guinea pig. Lexie's been wanting one forever. And maybe we'll have better luck with that.

On Saturday we said goodbye to Officer Wooten with a funeral. He was much too large to even consider flushing him down the toilet. Not that we would do that anyways... ;o) Lexie picked out a pretty spot under a tree and Cory dug a large hole for him.

Lexie went and picked some of the beautiful daffodils that have been blooming with the warm weather and she gave him a eulogy. Halfway through, she says, 'And Shimmer, if you're in his body, we loved you, too!' :o) Cracked us all up. We never did find that fish, so it's a logical conclusion that he had been eaten... Cycle of life, I guess.

I'm hoping we make it through this week with no more casualties or surprises. And I'm hoping that Poppy and Spoink don't procreate so much that Stacy decides to give our fish back to us!

Recipe Of The Week: Picadillo Meatballs & Rice

This recipe looks a lot harder than it actually is just because there are so many ingredients, but it's actually very simple! My favorite part about this recipe is that you can double it, triple it, whatever you want to do, and the meatballs can be frozen for two months. The next time you're running behind or don't have anything on hand to cook with, you can grab these out of the freezer and throw dinner together in no time. I really, really loved the flavor of these meatballs, too. It's a lot different than any I've ever tried and I'll definitely be making them again!

Picadillo Meatballs & Rice

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Makes: Dinner for 4

Serve With: No side dish necessary

 

 

Ingredients:

 

1 cup long grain white rice

1 tbsp olive oil

I cup onion, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 ½ lb ground beef, thawed

¼ cup pimiento-stuffed olives, sliced

¼ cup raisins, chopped

1 tsp salt

1 tsp ground cumin

¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp pepper

1 (14 oz) can tomato sauce

1/8 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tbsp red wine vinegar

4 tbsp cilantro, chopped

Instructions:

1. Cook the rice according to package directions.

2. Meanwhile, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring often, until tender, about 4 minutes.

3. Stir in the garlic and cook for one minute. Remove from heat.

4. Heat broiler. Transfer half the onion mixture to a large bowl. Add the beef, olives, raisins, cumin, salt, and pepper. Mix to combine.

5. Form the mixture into 1 ½” balls, about 20, and place on a sprayed, foil-lined broiler-proof baking sheet. Bake until cooked through, about 8 minutes.

6. While the meatballs cook, return the skillet with the remaining onion mixture to medium heat. Add the tomato sauce and cinnamon, and simmer until heated through, about 3 minutes. Stir in the vinegar.

7. Add the meatballs to the sauce and toss to coat. Serve over the rice and sprinkle with the cilantro, if desired.

Substitutions/Additions:

*Can substitute turkey for the beef.

*The cooked meatballs and sauce can be frozen for up to 2 months. Thaw in the refrigerator, then warm in a saucepan, covered, stirring occasionally, over medium heat.

Photo from Woman's Day