A Day in my Life - June

Here we are in June, almost halfway through the year. We've made it to summer with warm temps, flowers and longer days, all of which are happy things for me. 

Here's how the first day of the month went for me.

I was up around 7 and went downstairs for a 30 minute walk on the treadmill, then upstairs for a shower and a boiled egg for breakfast. I know some people think that's boring, but I'm a creature of habit in the morning and I enjoy that egg!

I started some laundry and then did a little catch up in blogland.

My sister had the day off from work and asked if I would come with her for a little shopping. She was looking for some things to wear to work.

As I was leaving, Bob was outside working on the flower beds. The sun was shining and it was 61 degrees, a beautiful day!

We got on the road and almost immediately were met with construction barrels. This is the norm for Michigan in the summer!

We had a successful shopping trip and both found a few tops.

We decided to stop and get a pedicure too, so now my feet look better!

We got home around 1 and I had some cottage cheese and fruit for lunch.

I finished the laundry I had started earlier and did a little cleaning, including the bathrooms.

Once that was done, I took advantage of the beautiful day and took a walk.  This is our road. The sun was shining and it was 70 degrees.

When I got to the woods I like to walk in, I found a small tree had fallen across the path, but it was pretty easy to get over.

A lovely path on the edge of the woods.

Lots of beauty to be seen along the path.

When I got back home, I did the last lesson in this Bible study I've been part of.  It was really good, and now we are breaking for the summer.

I made Spaghetti Pie for supper.

After supper, we walked around the yard to enjoy all the flowers that are blooming.

It was a quiet, peaceful evening and a perfect ending to a very nice day!

Friday Funny

 

Cooking Thursday

My sister gave me this recipe for a simple, but classy looking dessert which I made last week. It's Panna Cotta, which is like a custard, with a fruit sauce on top. It's easy to make, just needs a little time to cool and set up and the fruit over the sweet custard is so yummy! The original recipe called for strawberries, but Bob isn't a fan, so I made it with raspberries.  I think either would be good.

Vanilla Panna Cotta with Raspberry Sauce

1/4 cup whole milk
2 1/2 teaspoon (or one small envelope) unflavored gelatin
2 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup white sugar
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Raspberry Sauce:
1 cup raspberries (or strawberries, sliced)
3 tablespoons white sugar
1 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon lemon juice

Place the whole milk in a small bowl and sprinkle gelatin over top. Allow to sit for 5 minutes.
In a small saucepan, combine heavy cream, sugar, salt and vanilla. Bring to low boil and simmer for 5 minutes.
Whisk in the milk/gelatin mixture until smooth. Pour into 4 small dessert dishes or glasses. Cover and place in refrigerator for 4 hours.

In a small saucepan, combine 1/2 cup of raspberries or strawberries with sugar, water and lemon juice. Bring to slow boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Add remaining raspberries or strawberries. Allow to cool and refrigerate.

Serve Panna Cotta with spoonful of fruit sauce over the top.

Wordless Wednesday

 Our flowers have been just gorgeous this year - so instead of my usual one photo, I'm sharing several...

Finishing Phase 2!

A while ago, I told you Bob was working on a project at Heathers house.  I'm happy to say that another portion of it is done.  But before I show you that, I'll show you something fun I did with Cassie on one of the evenings Bob was there working.

She's decided she wants to do crafts too, just like her older cousins. So here's an easy one we did at her house. We made inside "snow" and a Spring snowman.

To make the "snow", we mixed lotion and baking soda. We used lavender scented lotion, so it smelled wonderful.  She said it was hard to mix! Then she rolled it into balls and stacked them up. We added a twine scarf, and some cardstock paper circles for eyes and buttons, and of course - a nose!

The "snowballs" settled, but she still had fun making this.

In the meantime, the other project was Heather and Andrews kitchen. You may remember that last year Bob built new upper cabinets for them. Over the winter he built the lower cabinets and now that the weather is nice, they were ready for tear out of the old cabinets and installation of the new ones.

Here's where we left off last time. The top photo is the before, with cabinets that were extremely low and not in good shape. The bottom photo is after the bulkhead was removed and new cabinets installed.

Bottom cabinets almost empty and ready for demolition.

New cabinets going in!

Connor was watching the progress

And...   a dishwasher!  They didn't have one before, so this is exciting.

Time for a little Cassie break

Here's Heather - loading up the dishwasher for the first time!

Here it is! Phase 2 is done. New cabinets, new countertops, a dishwasher!  The drawer fronts by the sink need to be put on and  there will be tile backsplash going in, but not till the next section is done.  That involves taking out the wall on the left and a floor to ceiling pantry being put there.  In the meantime, the kitchen is much more usable with every section that's done!

Memorial Weekend

I'm late, but still wanted to share a little from our Memorial Day weekend. 

On Saturday, my brother, two sisters and I went to the cemetery where my parents are buried to bring some flowers and pay our respects. This isn't something that we usually do together, but we were free that day and it was really nice to remember them together.

My parents stone with Dad's military plaque on the back of it.

We spent some time walking around, remembering people who are laid to rest there. It's a country cemetery, many family members are there, and lots of people we went to church with as kids.  It was a nice thing to do together.

Some of the family stones; Henry was my great grandfather, my grandparents, Peter and Adrianna, an infant that just says infant DeWeerd, and Edna, who was my Dad's sister. She was 1 year old and died of meningitis.

Here's the 4 of us.  My brother Duane, me, Terri and Cheri.  Our birth order is: me, Duane, Terri and Cheri. I'm blessed with a great family!

On Memorial Day, Bob and I went for a beautiful 3 mile hike. This is a trail that goes through woods and then along the Grand River. It was a beautiful day and we greatly enjoyed being out in God's great creation.

Imagine our surprise when we ran into our daughter Laura who was out for a run with their dog on the same trail.  (She's the one who told us about this place, so we shouldn't have been too surprised...)

On our way home, we stopped at the cemetery where Bob's parents and some other family members are buried.

We walked around here, just like I had done with my siblings, and found familiar names of people we remembered.

Bob's parents and a sister that was born with health issues and died before Bob was born.

Bob's grandparents and great grandparents.  Note that on his great grandparents stone Father and Mother are written in Dutch.

Then we came home and had a quiet afternoon and evening.  We watched a movie on WWII in the evening. It was a nice way to spend the day and be thankful for those who gave all for our Freedom.

Friday Funny

 

Cooking Thursday

Do you like cookies?  Fudgy, chocolate cookies?  Do I have a recipe for you!  These cookies are made with a brownie mix and are full of chewy chocolate goodness! They are quick to make because of the mix, and are dangerously good.

Brownie Mix Chocolate Cookies

1 - 20 ounce box Ghiradelli brownies (Can use other brands, but needs to be 20 ounces)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup flour
2 eggs
1/2 cup chocolate chips (May substitute dark chocolate, white chocolate, mint...)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
Mix all ingredients together until combined. Dough is thick, so using a hand mixer is easiest, but you can mix it by hand.
Scoop dough onto baking sheet using a 2 inch cookie scoop. Flatten slightly and bake for 9-10 minutes, until edges are set.
Remove from sheet to cool.  Makes 24 cookies.

Our little graduate!

We had a graduation last week,  Cassie graduated from preschool!  It was an outside event, so we were thankful that although it was cool out, the sun was shining.

Connor and Andrew, patiently waiting for things to start.

The kids sitting in a circle, having one last story read to them.

Singing a song to us

It was very sunny, and the class was facing the sun. The teacher had parents bring up sunglasses and caps if the wanted to.

Cassie getting her diploma.

Andrew, Heather, Cassie and Connor after the program.

Cassie with her friend Otto.

Hooray!

Leaving preschool for the last time.

Congratulations to our sweet girl!