We love granola!

One thing that I started making last deployment was granola. It’s easy to make and tastes so much better than the store bought stuff. Last time the food was terrible so granola was a big hit! I was getting the first package together for N and decided it was time to break out my recipe folder and get cooking. I made 3 different kinds so he’ll have a good variety!

This is what the kitchen looks like when I get started! And yes, I did open the flax box upside down. I wasn’t paying attention.

Nicholas laughs at the way I keep my recipes. I have a bad habit of grabbing whatever paper is closest to me and jotting the ingredients down. I have a number of scraps that don’t even have the recipe name on them. I still know what they are, even if he doesn’t! lol

Yummy Granola

See that little dash between wheat germ and honey? That means the ingredients need to be in separate bowls. Just so you know.

Can I just say I love these mixing bowls!! I got the set from Kohls and I have a medium size green one that you’ll see later!

All ready for the oven.

How delicious does this look! That’s why I call it Yummy Granola.

Now for the next batch of granola. This one is Fruit and Nut Granola. It has cinnamon and nutmeg in there for some extra yummy. Nicholas loves to eat this one with peanut butter. He says it’s awesome.  Oh and it has almonds for the nuts.

The fruit!

The fruit all mixed in and my green bowl!

A little closer.

And finally all bagged up in their single serve snack bags and ready to go! I tried sending it in a big container last time and he said bags were much better because he could stick them in his pocket and go and it was easier to eat while out on the flight line working.

I made one batch last night before I thought to take pictures. I know I’ll be making it again so I’m not worried.

 

I did get a short email today from Nicholas. He is having issues with the internet on his computer and had to use a friends. They are still working very long hours and he’s worn out. He says he loves it though because it makes the day fly by when he’s working so hard. Whatever helps, you know.

It finally feels like spring in TN and I had some yard work that needed to be done. We planned 3 forsythias last year and 2 didn't make it through the winter so they needed to be replaced. I somehow ended up with 1 poor tulip in the front flower bed so I bought some more to set out with that one. I had 2 rose bushes in the bed under the dining room window and I decided to pull them out. One didn't bloom very much and the other grew so fast that I had to constantly cut it back. Every time I went to GA for a few weeks I would come home to it taking over the front walk way. I want something that's easy upkeep for when we sell the house next year and so bright day lilies seemed like a great choice. I had some bulbs and I finally got them in the ground. I think it will look great in a few weeks.

The new plants in. They are covered in buds that are hard to see in the pictures.

The front bed with the lonely tulip starting to come up.

Now it has friends!

The other bed sans the rose bushes. I forgot to take a before picture. In a couple of weeks I'm hoping to see some green peaking through and I can add some more mulch.

I'll probably add some bulbs to the flower bed in the back yard next week. Hopefully Kiowa won't dig them up this time like she did last year. Apparently she thinks she's part rabbit and I found half chewed bulbs all over the yard. Fingers crossed I'll have better luck this year. I had said that I planned to swear off planting flowers this year since I know I'll be in GA a lot but I just can't help planting a few things.

I finally heard from the boy!

Nicholas finally had a chance to get online today. He said that it has been insanely busy over there and he hasn't had any down time at all. It takes a lot of time to get all the aircraft tweeked to fly in the conditions over there (the air is a different density) so he's been working all day every day getting them ready to fly on top of a few missions and getting to know the area that they are flying before the other unit leaves out. This deployment is very different since he is a Maintenance Test Pilot (MTP), he has a lot more responsibility than what he's had in the past and that's taking a lot more of his time. Once all the aircraft are set up and the other unit is gone things will settle down a lot and his job will get easier. He is doing really good though and said the food there is actually great when he gets the chance to eat and their housing is SO much better than last deployment. He said it makes a world of difference to be able to take a hot shower every night and to have good living conditions. They are still waiting on a couple of parts for their satellite so the internet in their rooms isn't the best yet but it will get better.

All in all things are going really well and he said his hip actually hasn't bothered him nearly as much as he expected. One day it was hurting and he had some issues but other than that it's been ok. I was really glad to hear that.

If you have any questions please let me know!!

I'm babysitting 2 little boys this week and they need a little more exercise than my lazy girls so since it was pouring rain this weekend I tried putting them on the treadmill. That didn't work out too well for them but Pooh jumped right on! I've had that thing for 4 years and this is the first time she's ever walked on it and I was amazed! lol Things were going well until I mentioned "Daddy" and that got them excited. I know they miss him. Please excuse how the junk room looks. No matter how often I clean that thing it always ends up right back like that and we are trying to collect big boxes for the move next year and they are stuck in there too! Big mess!!

No internet

I found out today from a friend that the internet is down at Nicholas' location so that explains why I haven't heard from him since Saturday morning. This happens sometimes and anything could be causing it. I think it was during the last deployment that the internet was down for a few days because of a huge dust storm so the recent volcano eruption in Iceland could be causing satellite issues for them. Who knows. I'll update as soon as I hear from him again!

Mailing Address

I have Nicholas' mailing address now. He sent it to me today. He is at his final location and trying to get settled in. He said that all the parts of the satellite are there but they still need the wood to build the tower for it so as soon as that's done and he has steady internet he will be on here. I sent out the address to everyone I have email for, if you want it please email me at Heather_C_Hutchison@yahoo.com and I will get it out to you. He said the food actually isn't bad at all and he doesn't know what everyone was complaining about! He said it's much better than last deployment so that's great and they are in 2 man rooms instead of a tent or 8 man rooms like last time. At least so far things are more positive than last time and I'm happy for that.

The finished dresser

We were able to get the dresser moved into the bedroom on Tues with the help of a great neighbor! I kept the fan on all day with the window open and by that night all the smell from the poly was gone. I like the water based so much more than the oil based that we used on the table. The smell wasn't nearly as strong and it dried much quicker. Now I need to get all the clothes back into the drawers and off the floor of the bedroom. I think that will be a good project for tomorrow.

Doesn't it look AWESOME!!! I'm so happy with how it turned out!! 

Here are a few more pics of the building process.

I heard from Nicholas again, just a quick email. He said that they should have rooms waiting for them already open and ready to move in at their final destination!! That's super great because they usually have to live in tents for a few weeks while the other guys pack up and get out of there!! He was pretty happy about that. He said the next few days will be very busy so he probably won't have a chance to get back online again but Jeremy usually gets their internet set up and working pretty quickly so hopefully it won't be too long before he's back online and hopefully give an update on here himself.

I heard from Nicholas

I don't know where he is or if he's at his final location but he did send me a short email last night. He was very tired because he hadn't been able to sleep since Tues morning but that's how it usually goes when they leave. He never can sleep on the plane over. Again, I'll let you know as soon as I have a solid address and when I hear from him again. I was actually surprised to get an email so quickly.

That Murphy's Law

Always seems to rear it's ugly head at the most perfect moments. Days away from N leaving and our only form of communication being on our laptops my computer dies. We aren't really sure what happened but it was working this morning, we took the back off to clean it and it never turned back on. :( We called Marklin and he suggested a new computer to us and I put a rush order and next day delivery on it. I hope it makes it by Tues. I guess the lead up to this one was just going way too well. N and I are both doing really well this time, no fighting or super stress/freak outs. Seems like that just ticked Murphy off and he had to do something to screw things up. Oh well, I get a new toy! Would have rather spent that money on a table saw for my next wood working project but what can you do?

Things we've learned.....

1. Building a dresser requires 2 people, at least.
2. Wood glue is forever. If you decide it shouldn't be forever in that spot it's REALLY REALLY REALLY hard to get it apart and requires a hammer and scraper.
3. Once you can't laugh at the little annoying stuff it's time to go back inside and call it a day.
4. It's pretty awesome building something that will be in your house for years to come.
5. MDF is freaking HEAVY.
6. Always wear protective eye gear before cutting MDF with a miter saw. Trust me on this one.
7. The middle always needs extra support.

The legs going on. We adjusted the length of the legs since we added the bottom drawers. I think we made them 2 in. shorter than the plans.

Adding the support to the middle. Again, MDF is flipping heavy and the middle was sagging some.

Finally got that finished, now for all the trim work.

And that was it for the night. Quitting time is 5pm!

Yesterdays progress....

First off.... all the wood!!! And our scrap pile, getting pretty big!

Next, attaching the drawer dividers was HARD! It was almost impossible to keep the boards at a 90* angle so I had the idea of putting on guides to use while attaching the boards then taking them off. This is what it looked like for the top drawers.

Finally have them attached and working on the last divider.

All the "insides" done and ready to start the sides

The sides are finally on!!!

And now the top! Yippie, we were done for the day!

Today we will do trim work and get the legs on. Hopefully that will be a lot easier!

Our next project.

N will be leaving soon (booooo) so we are trying to stay busy and keep our mind of the huge suck that is quickly approaching, that leads us to another project. We had so much fun working on the table (and it turned out AWESOME) that we decided it was time for a new dresser in the bedroom. Well, I decided and he pretty much agrees to anything. I figure it's only fitting since I built the bed, now I'll have a dresser and soon new nightstands that all match. Plus it's nice to start getting rid of all this old furniture that we never liked anyway!

So here is a link to the new project and we are starting today! New Dresser!!

It's in the house!!!

It's DONE!!! Well, it's mostly done. We don't have the feet on it right now because it make the table too high for the chairs but hopefully we'll have new chairs soon and the feet can go back on. I'm happy with it.

 

 

First coat of poly!

The second coat of stain FINALLY got dry today after putting it out in the sun for a few hours. I think it's just been so cold in the garage with no air flow that it was taking forever to dry. Plus being outside aired it out a lot and it doesn't reek nearly as bad as it did before.

 

  

  

Hopefully tomorrow we can get it finished and start the week with it in the dining room!!

First coat of stain!

First coat of stain

The table top

 

My hand prints...

 

  

I have no idea how I did this but I ended up with 4 hand prints on the table in different spots. N thinks it's funny but I'm pretty annoyed. It's not that obvious unless you know to look for them. I wanted it unique and now it it! lol