Well, nothing new since my first post. There was some evidence that there is still another one (more insulation pulled out of the hole about a week ago) but nothing has gotten caught in the trap again. My H did get some sticky rat trap pad things and re-set the whole area/trap. Well, it appears that one of those little buggers got his foot stuck on the corner of the sticky pad, and then chewed off the corner to get free! Seriously? Why couldn't he have just stayed there and been stupid so we could kill him!?
I'm feeling a little discouraged, and unsure of what is going to happen. It is getting colder here, been raining a lot as well, so I don't know if that is deterring it/them from coming out of hiding. If we don't catch another one by the weekend, I think my husband is going to try to rent a snake/camera thing.
If it comes to this, we will have to clear out the whole breezeway, roll up the carpet and cut a few holes in the sub-floor to see what is going on under there. Oh man, I really hope it doesn't come to that, but it is looking more and more like that will be the plan.
While we did want to rip apart the breezeway eventually (there is a soft spot in the sub-floor that needs to be repaired/looked at) we did not have this on the agenda to be done right now.
My husband did call an exterminator and since it is getting into the winter season, they will really only set traps/bait and remove any that are caught. So we don't feel that paying for that service will do any good since we have a trap set already.
Cross your fingers we catch one this weekend.....
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Pasta Primavera....HmHW style!
I will start by saying that this dinner is probably not healthy, and probably not the right proportions of the food groups, but I don't really care because it's yummy and super easy! (H loves it when I make anything with pasta in it)
Ingredients:
1 box of small pasta (nuggets, ditalini, rings, small shells)
1 large can of canned chicken ( can use cubed chicken breast as well, I'm too lazy)
1 frozen bag of mixed vegetables
1 packet of Knorr sauce packet (I use either: creamy pesto, garlic & herb, or four cheese)
1 tube of biscuits/rolls/crescents
1.) I preheat my oven for the rolls first thing as it takes forever to heat up.
2.) After I set the oven, I fill my big pot with hot tap water, and get that boiling
3.) I mix all ingredients for the sauce in a small saucepan, but do not turn that burner on yet. (If the sauce gets done too early and sits, it gets kind of thick and clumpy)
4.) Once oven pre-heated and water boiling, put rolls in the oven and put your pasta in the water. (I put my rolls in for the minimum time suggested and they come out perfectly!)
5.) I put mixed vegetables into a bowl and put in microwave for 2 mins 30 secs.
6.) While veggies in microwave, open the can of chicken and drain. Once drained, take fork and mash up the chicken chunks.
7.) Stir veggies, probably still partially frozen, put back in microwave for another 2 mins. Once they are fully heated through, add chicken to bowl and mix together.
8.) Check your pasta, should be getting close to done (the time for the rolls is usually a good amount of time for the pasta)
9.) Once pasta is almost done, turn on your saucepan to medium heat. Use a whisk to make sure ingredients are well blended (make sure you use a rubber coated whisk for non-stick cookware)
10.) Remove rolls from oven when done (usually done first), then drain your pasta.
11.) Return pasta back to cooking pot (not on the hot burner) and add the veggie/chicken mixture and mix well.
12.) Keep an eye on your sauce through all of this, stirring frequently and reducing to low heat once ingredients are staying mixed together (oil and milk separate easily until heated up). It heats up fast and it can burn easily, once it starts to slightly bubble, keep stirring it until a saucy consistency. Remove from heat and immediately pour into cooking pot with pasta/veggies/chicken. Stir together well.
Basically, prepare all ingredients as you normally would and dump them all together in the cooking pot (except your rolls) and stir together. Follow instructions for the sauce packet, each 'flavor' has different ingredients and amounts.
I forgot to take a picture of the rolls, but hey, they are rolls, not sure you can really screw them up unless you forget them in the oven and they are burnt to a crisp!
This feeds my H and I for one dinner and usually one person can have leftovers the next day. To make this not so bad, prepare grilled chicken and use this as a side dish (leave out the canned chicken if you go this route).
ENJOY!
Ingredients:
1 box of small pasta (nuggets, ditalini, rings, small shells)
1 large can of canned chicken ( can use cubed chicken breast as well, I'm too lazy)
1 frozen bag of mixed vegetables
1 packet of Knorr sauce packet (I use either: creamy pesto, garlic & herb, or four cheese)
1 tube of biscuits/rolls/crescents
 | |
| All ingredients needed (plus milk and olive oil for the sauce) |
2.) After I set the oven, I fill my big pot with hot tap water, and get that boiling
3.) I mix all ingredients for the sauce in a small saucepan, but do not turn that burner on yet. (If the sauce gets done too early and sits, it gets kind of thick and clumpy)
 |
| The oil and milk won't mix together yet and still want to separate |
5.) I put mixed vegetables into a bowl and put in microwave for 2 mins 30 secs.
6.) While veggies in microwave, open the can of chicken and drain. Once drained, take fork and mash up the chicken chunks.
7.) Stir veggies, probably still partially frozen, put back in microwave for another 2 mins. Once they are fully heated through, add chicken to bowl and mix together.
8.) Check your pasta, should be getting close to done (the time for the rolls is usually a good amount of time for the pasta)
9.) Once pasta is almost done, turn on your saucepan to medium heat. Use a whisk to make sure ingredients are well blended (make sure you use a rubber coated whisk for non-stick cookware)
10.) Remove rolls from oven when done (usually done first), then drain your pasta.
11.) Return pasta back to cooking pot (not on the hot burner) and add the veggie/chicken mixture and mix well.
Basically, prepare all ingredients as you normally would and dump them all together in the cooking pot (except your rolls) and stir together. Follow instructions for the sauce packet, each 'flavor' has different ingredients and amounts.
I forgot to take a picture of the rolls, but hey, they are rolls, not sure you can really screw them up unless you forget them in the oven and they are burnt to a crisp!
This feeds my H and I for one dinner and usually one person can have leftovers the next day. To make this not so bad, prepare grilled chicken and use this as a side dish (leave out the canned chicken if you go this route).
ENJOY!
Friday, October 12, 2012
Hanging our Wedding Puzzle.....3 years later!
When we were planning our wedding, we wanted a unique guest book, not the traditional book and pen. I did a lot of internet searching and tried coming up with different ideas, but my husband didn't really light up on anything. I finally found customized puzzles, DING DING DING! He was intrigued! We took one of our engagement photos and turned it into a cartoon print. We chose our size (HUGE) and sent off the picture!
The puzzle is a 5-layer birch wood jigsaw puzzle. The whole thing is hand-cut, with 2 special pieces in the center; 2 hearts that inter-lock. When it finally arrived we wanted to put it together! It also came with 3 special pens to be used for our guests to write messages on the back of the pieces.
When we dropped off our stuff to the reception venue, our coordinator was very impressed and loved it! They set up an entire separate table for it inside our room.
We got so many compliments on it during and after our wedding, everyone had fun leaving us messages and once pieces were signed, it started getting put together.
After the wedding, we went through and read all the messages, it was awesome. But then we looked at each other and said "now what?". We found a custom framing shop and put it together and transported it between 2 pieces of cardboard. The lady at the frame shop was amazed. She made a beautiful custom frame for us so we could see both sides. I will tell you, this was THE MOST expensive guest book ever!
So it sat in our apartment for the next 6 months wrapped in kraft paper. When we were house hunting, and we found our house, it had the most perfect spot for this to be put. It had to be spot that you could see both sides otherwise, what would be the point?
It's now been 2 1/2 years since we bought our house and it's still not up, but it's getting close! Because of it's size and weight, it definitely needs to be secured and supported well. So I had this idea that I would make a base out of a 2x4. Well 1 piece wasn't tall enough, but 2 gave me the height I needed. I cut them to length and sanded off the rough spots real quick because ultimately, the 2x4s will be covered up by something else. I first screwed in the bottom piece to the window frame since I didn't have screws long enough to go through both pieces and the frame. Once the bottom one was secured, I put the 2nd one on top of it, and screwed that one to the first one. It does not move! I also picked up a pair of hooks to attach the chains to. So I drilled a hole and twisted in the hooks. Kind of stuck at this point for right now since the rest is probably a 2 person job. This is the most progress in 3 years though!
The puzzle is a 5-layer birch wood jigsaw puzzle. The whole thing is hand-cut, with 2 special pieces in the center; 2 hearts that inter-lock. When it finally arrived we wanted to put it together! It also came with 3 special pens to be used for our guests to write messages on the back of the pieces.
When we dropped off our stuff to the reception venue, our coordinator was very impressed and loved it! They set up an entire separate table for it inside our room.
After the wedding, we went through and read all the messages, it was awesome. But then we looked at each other and said "now what?". We found a custom framing shop and put it together and transported it between 2 pieces of cardboard. The lady at the frame shop was amazed. She made a beautiful custom frame for us so we could see both sides. I will tell you, this was THE MOST expensive guest book ever!
So it sat in our apartment for the next 6 months wrapped in kraft paper. When we were house hunting, and we found our house, it had the most perfect spot for this to be put. It had to be spot that you could see both sides otherwise, what would be the point?
It's now been 2 1/2 years since we bought our house and it's still not up, but it's getting close! Because of it's size and weight, it definitely needs to be secured and supported well. So I had this idea that I would make a base out of a 2x4. Well 1 piece wasn't tall enough, but 2 gave me the height I needed. I cut them to length and sanded off the rough spots real quick because ultimately, the 2x4s will be covered up by something else. I first screwed in the bottom piece to the window frame since I didn't have screws long enough to go through both pieces and the frame. Once the bottom one was secured, I put the 2nd one on top of it, and screwed that one to the first one. It does not move! I also picked up a pair of hooks to attach the chains to. So I drilled a hole and twisted in the hooks. Kind of stuck at this point for right now since the rest is probably a 2 person job. This is the most progress in 3 years though!Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Rodents
Rodents.....ugh! (Stop reading now if you don't want to read about rats)
So sometime in August, our fur-baby, Hannah, started being really interested in our breezeway. Like wanted to get behind the mini-fridge in the corner obsessed! My parents also came over about a month ago to help us with the vinyl siding on our garage and their dog was going crazy in the breezeway too!
When putting the vinyl siding up, we had to mess with the corner where the breezeway and garage meet. Some insulation had to be monkeyed with but we were able to put the inside corner piece up to start the siding.
We have no access under the breezeway, it was an addition and is just kind of there. We have no idea how it was constructed or anything.
A few days later, my husband takes our dog out in the morning and there is insulation strewn about from the corner. GREAT! FABULOUS! OH MY GOD!
(I'd make it bigger but then it's blurry)
So our minds start running rampant. What could it be? Squirrel? No, hole is too small. Chipmunk? Maybe (we hope it is just a chipmunk). Rabbit? Again, hole too small. Then we both think it.....Rat? Good possibility. Our town has a rat problem, this is widely known but not much is being done about it.
This is where I started getting the heebie jeebies, willies, squicked out, whatever you want to call it. I DO NOT do rodents, spiders or snakes. No sir, not now, not never, just NO. Ugh, so H calls his dad and asks if we can borrow his Have-a-Heart trap. Still hoping at this point that its any of the things listed except for the rat and that we could take it to the park and let it go, etc.
We set the trap and put some bread in it, not wanting anything really smelly as not to attract anything else. Nothing happened for a week, bread disintegrated from the rain, and we were going to put more bait in it when it stopped raining. Well, this past Saturday morning H went to let Hannah out and didn't think to look in the trap first and sure enough, there was a rat in it. And he was so scared of Hannah, it was crying and whimpering in the cage.
At this time, H wasn't sure it was actually a rat, said it looked like a hamster and had light brown fur, thought it was just a mouse. He decided to take it to the park and let it go. Ok, fine.
So we reset the trap for that next night. H also filled in the hole with more insulation and pushed the pea stones up against it. This would let us know if something was still trying to get in or out before we officially plugged the hole.
Sunday morning rolls around and we caught a rabbit. We have a resident rabbit who knows right where the holes are in the chain link fence because Hannah chases it in the dark almost every night. So I am sure it was the same one. Why s/he was over near the trap, we will never know. So s/he gets set free and we set the trap again.
H went to the store Monday night to get rat poison in the event we catch more. Yup, another rat in the trap Tuesday morning. So, H moved the trap to inside the garage, put a Decon packet into the cage and so we wait. I refuse to even deal with it. I do not want an image of a rat burned into my brain. I find the rats in Lady and the Tramp to be terrifying enough as it is.
H plans to go out and look at getting a pellet gun so that we can get this over with and reset the trap, again...
This needs to end soon, it's getting colder here...
And yes, H said yesterday that we are complete idiots for not taking care of that hole months and months ago. We should have known that something would find it and make a nice home. Just our luck, always is...
So sometime in August, our fur-baby, Hannah, started being really interested in our breezeway. Like wanted to get behind the mini-fridge in the corner obsessed! My parents also came over about a month ago to help us with the vinyl siding on our garage and their dog was going crazy in the breezeway too!
When putting the vinyl siding up, we had to mess with the corner where the breezeway and garage meet. Some insulation had to be monkeyed with but we were able to put the inside corner piece up to start the siding.
We have no access under the breezeway, it was an addition and is just kind of there. We have no idea how it was constructed or anything.
A few days later, my husband takes our dog out in the morning and there is insulation strewn about from the corner. GREAT! FABULOUS! OH MY GOD!
So our minds start running rampant. What could it be? Squirrel? No, hole is too small. Chipmunk? Maybe (we hope it is just a chipmunk). Rabbit? Again, hole too small. Then we both think it.....Rat? Good possibility. Our town has a rat problem, this is widely known but not much is being done about it.
This is where I started getting the heebie jeebies, willies, squicked out, whatever you want to call it. I DO NOT do rodents, spiders or snakes. No sir, not now, not never, just NO. Ugh, so H calls his dad and asks if we can borrow his Have-a-Heart trap. Still hoping at this point that its any of the things listed except for the rat and that we could take it to the park and let it go, etc.
We set the trap and put some bread in it, not wanting anything really smelly as not to attract anything else. Nothing happened for a week, bread disintegrated from the rain, and we were going to put more bait in it when it stopped raining. Well, this past Saturday morning H went to let Hannah out and didn't think to look in the trap first and sure enough, there was a rat in it. And he was so scared of Hannah, it was crying and whimpering in the cage.
At this time, H wasn't sure it was actually a rat, said it looked like a hamster and had light brown fur, thought it was just a mouse. He decided to take it to the park and let it go. Ok, fine.
So we reset the trap for that next night. H also filled in the hole with more insulation and pushed the pea stones up against it. This would let us know if something was still trying to get in or out before we officially plugged the hole.
Sunday morning rolls around and we caught a rabbit. We have a resident rabbit who knows right where the holes are in the chain link fence because Hannah chases it in the dark almost every night. So I am sure it was the same one. Why s/he was over near the trap, we will never know. So s/he gets set free and we set the trap again.
H went to the store Monday night to get rat poison in the event we catch more. Yup, another rat in the trap Tuesday morning. So, H moved the trap to inside the garage, put a Decon packet into the cage and so we wait. I refuse to even deal with it. I do not want an image of a rat burned into my brain. I find the rats in Lady and the Tramp to be terrifying enough as it is.
H plans to go out and look at getting a pellet gun so that we can get this over with and reset the trap, again...
This needs to end soon, it's getting colder here...
And yes, H said yesterday that we are complete idiots for not taking care of that hole months and months ago. We should have known that something would find it and make a nice home. Just our luck, always is...
This Old House
Where do I begin? Our house is a Cape Cod style built in the 1950's. We are only the 2nd owners of our house but boy did the previous owner like to do all of his own home repairs (nothing wrong with that, we are trying to do it ourselves as well). The electrical is atrocious, luckily my father-in-law can fix that, and has fixed a lot of it, for us. We are very lucky in the handy-dad department because this house needed work!
Our upstairs has a dormer on it, so instead of the traditional ^ cape cod roof line, the back side is squared off to have a bigger room. Our kitchen was also added on to as kitchens in this style house are generally very small. There was also a breezeway that was added later on as well. These types of homes in our neighborhood are approximately 900-1,100 sq. ft. with no additions or modifications. Ours is about 1,400 sq. ft. plus a semi-finished basement to boot.
From the day we closed on our house until the day we had to move out of our apartment was approximately 6 weeks. So we basically had 5 weeks to whip this house into shape. The bathroom (the only bathroom) was gutted and has all new electrical and plumbing. Our master bedroom received all new insulation and drywall, plus paint. Our living room got new carpet, popped off some z-brick and put drywall up over that area plus new paint, chair rail and floor/door trim. The 2nd bedroom had beautiful original hardwoods under the carpet so we had that refinished, new paint and a new ceiling fan. The kitchen also had some z-brick that we removed, and received paint, new light fixture and new cabinet hardware.
All major work was done in 5 weeks. We are eternally grateful to both sets of parents for all their help. Each project listed above did not go smoothly, we ran into hiccups but that's the short version :-)
 |
| This was the bathroom before we gutted it. |
 |
| This is after the makeover |
Our upstairs has a dormer on it, so instead of the traditional ^ cape cod roof line, the back side is squared off to have a bigger room. Our kitchen was also added on to as kitchens in this style house are generally very small. There was also a breezeway that was added later on as well. These types of homes in our neighborhood are approximately 900-1,100 sq. ft. with no additions or modifications. Ours is about 1,400 sq. ft. plus a semi-finished basement to boot.
From the day we closed on our house until the day we had to move out of our apartment was approximately 6 weeks. So we basically had 5 weeks to whip this house into shape. The bathroom (the only bathroom) was gutted and has all new electrical and plumbing. Our master bedroom received all new insulation and drywall, plus paint. Our living room got new carpet, popped off some z-brick and put drywall up over that area plus new paint, chair rail and floor/door trim. The 2nd bedroom had beautiful original hardwoods under the carpet so we had that refinished, new paint and a new ceiling fan. The kitchen also had some z-brick that we removed, and received paint, new light fixture and new cabinet hardware.
 |
| This was how it was staged when before we closed on it |
 |
| Excuse our random crap, but mostly done |
All major work was done in 5 weeks. We are eternally grateful to both sets of parents for all their help. Each project listed above did not go smoothly, we ran into hiccups but that's the short version :-)
Monday, October 8, 2012
Homemade Applesauce
I recently made homemade applesauce. Now this is probably the easiest thing I've done, but it reminds me of being a kid again. My grandma always made homemade applesauce when I was younger and it's very comforting. She always left the skin on and the red color would turn the applesauce a nice shade of pink.
How to make homemade applesauce:
Apples- cut into medium sized pieces (any kind, but I recently used empire apples, and I'm not sure they were juicy enough, it turned out a little thicker than normal)
Apple Juice- (optional-had it in the fridge) Used as needed when applesauce was still thick, didn't want it to burn
Cinnamon
Sugar
Use a good sized pot (a few apples= saucepan, but a lot use a stockpot) and put apples in it.
Turn on stove to low heat, and just let simmer. Stirring occasionally to keep from burning.
Apples will start to cook down, but the skin will not. Once it has cooked down about 1/2 way, I add in a couple large spoonfuls of sugar and sprinkle in some cinnamon.
Once your applesauce cooks down to your liking (I like to have small apple chunks in it) remove from hot surface.
As it cools down, I use 2 spoons (large spoon and regular spoon) and start digging out the apple skins. (This is a tedious process and the only downfall to leaving the skins on) Basically, I just scrape and much 'sauce' off the skins as possible so I don't waste it, and throw them away.
Once that is done, I let it cool down completely then put it in the fridge!
Enjoy!
How to make homemade applesauce:
Apples- cut into medium sized pieces (any kind, but I recently used empire apples, and I'm not sure they were juicy enough, it turned out a little thicker than normal)
Apple Juice- (optional-had it in the fridge) Used as needed when applesauce was still thick, didn't want it to burn
Cinnamon
Sugar
Use a good sized pot (a few apples= saucepan, but a lot use a stockpot) and put apples in it.
Turn on stove to low heat, and just let simmer. Stirring occasionally to keep from burning.
Apples will start to cook down, but the skin will not. Once it has cooked down about 1/2 way, I add in a couple large spoonfuls of sugar and sprinkle in some cinnamon.
Once your applesauce cooks down to your liking (I like to have small apple chunks in it) remove from hot surface.
As it cools down, I use 2 spoons (large spoon and regular spoon) and start digging out the apple skins. (This is a tedious process and the only downfall to leaving the skins on) Basically, I just scrape and much 'sauce' off the skins as possible so I don't waste it, and throw them away.
Once that is done, I let it cool down completely then put it in the fridge!
Enjoy!
Welcome and Introduction
Welcome to Homemade Home-Wrecker! This blog is going to mostly be written about the adventures I have in the kitchen cooking and baking (love to bake more than cook!) and the adventures of home-ownership my husband and I have. I will generally post pictures of what we're doing, and I will for sure post recipes for everything I make/post on here. (Main reason for creating this, I had lots of FB friends asking for recipes).
With that said, I am married, late 20's, and we have a dog named Hannah. She is a Shetland Sheepdog/Sheltie/Retriever mix. She is 5 years old and we adopted her from a rescue group May 2008.
I am currently a college student finishing up my bachelor's degree in Communications. I quit my full-time job as an Administrative Assistant at a small company last summer to go back to school full-time. I currently work in retail and am enjoying it so much, I might stay there after I graduate!
ETA: I might throw in some retail ramblings because customer service/retail is a tough gig and can be stressful, so I might need to vent (or share funny stories)
So enough about me, let's get blogging!
With that said, I am married, late 20's, and we have a dog named Hannah. She is a Shetland Sheepdog/Sheltie/Retriever mix. She is 5 years old and we adopted her from a rescue group May 2008.
I am currently a college student finishing up my bachelor's degree in Communications. I quit my full-time job as an Administrative Assistant at a small company last summer to go back to school full-time. I currently work in retail and am enjoying it so much, I might stay there after I graduate!
ETA: I might throw in some retail ramblings because customer service/retail is a tough gig and can be stressful, so I might need to vent (or share funny stories)
So enough about me, let's get blogging!
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