Nester's Home Tour

Welcome to my home!

Come on in!

My office.....

The guest room.....

Living room.....

Thanks for stopping by!!.....

Too cute!!

I stole this pic of my Emily from her momma's blog.....and it is too cute not to share with you! She's such a big girl now.

Thanksgiving

Home again and ready to be back on a routine for a bit....after enjoying a great 4 full days at home with the whole family. Lots of pictures taken, Scrabble games played, and Emily giggles. Here are some photos to recap.

Grandpa and Emily make bread on Friday.....it is a new tradition that he started last year and will do every year with grandkids.....it was YUMMY too!!!

Emily and Pearlie (and two dollies) play in a box!

Emily rearranges the dollies' rocking chairs....over and over and over!

and sets them in their chairs in a somewhat uncomfortable looking position! but is SO proud of herself!

Emily was a good helper in decorating the Christmas tree ..... and (so far) has been very gentle with the ornaments!

and finally, a trip to Harold's Barbeque.....you can see that Emily loved it!!

My girls

This past weekend my home was flooded with friends. My best girls from college came in and we spent a fantastic weekend ..... eating, laughing, praying, crying, singing, creating ..... it was so so fun.

A tiny sampling of the fullness of my kitchen:

Mollie and Dara:

Mollie and Sarah making some YUMMY cake balls.......

Sara, Mollie & Sarah at Bueno (a request of Dara, our California girl)

Sarah had a great idea for us to have a creative project to enjoy while visiting, so I dragged out my scrapbook supplies and we went to town!

Saturday afternoon we ventured out to the Etsy Jingle Bash. Lots of fun, handmade treasures displayed in a funky old building down in Deep Ellum.

One of my favorite things about these weekends is our late night singing & praying. This year we spent almost 5 hours in worship together, rejoicing and mourning with each other and bearing each other's burdens. These girls are such a blessing to me!

Sadly, it all had to come to an end. Monday afternoon, I did loads of sheets and towels and began to deck the halls of my little home for Christmas. Now, off to visit with my little Emily for the next several days!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Colorado Springs weekend

En route to a conference in Denver, I spent the weekend in Colorado Springs with my friend Sara and her family.

Saturday morning, we got up bright and early and headed up to the Air Force Academy to experience ESPN shooting College Game Day. Unfortunately for us civilians, they had a great spot for the Army/Air Force folks, but we were relegated to kinda far back. Lots of folks brought their signs and flags supporting their own teams to try and get on TV. It was a fun experience.....something I doubt I will have a reason to do again!

View from the security checkpoint of the plaza:




















For my Army Ranger friend Ovi:




















a view of the back of the set and the cadets





















Kevin and Jenna

























Sara and I
























but the coolest part by far, in my opinion, was the F-16 flyover.....here's a little video that in no way adequately captures the feeling of those planes flying over so close and so LOUD






Sara and I enjoyed a yummy lunch with Rebecca and Kate and then headed to a craft fair in support of a local high school band. I picked up a few things that I didn't really need, but found to be quite unique. I like buying handmade items. It was a full day, but very fun.

After church this morning, we drove towards Pike's Peak and enjoyed brunch at The Pantry in Green Mountain Falls. I had a delicious cinnamon roll french toast, with eggs, bacon and hashbrowns. Yummmmmm!

It's almost time.....

I've had quite a few people ask if I am doing my Christmas party this year....and the answer is: of course! So, to get it on the calendars, here is the info..... if you live in my area you are invited, even if you don't get a formal invite in the mail.

Kitchn Cure Assignments #1 and #2

So, I told you here that I've joined the Fall Kitchen Cure hosted by The Kitchn.

First assignment was issued on Oct 16....and I promptly left town. No, not to avoid the concept of cleaning out my fridge, freezer and pantry, but for ACU Homecoming. Emily really enjoyed running around campus before the parade and climbing up and down and up and down the stairs at Sewell Auditorium. Then she enjoyed running and dragging me all over creation at the football game. It was really fun.

So, back to the assignment......I didn't get around to doing it until last night. My fridge and freezer were in pretty good shape, but one recommendation was to really assess spices and such for expiration dates and consider how often they are really utilized. So, I emptied several bottles that were many many years old and finished off a trash bag with stuff from my fridge. I have often wondered what happens to sour cream when it goes bad....does it get sweet? No, the answer is that it grows a lovely colony of mold as evidenced below. I almost dropped the container it grossed me out so much.....ICK!!

Here is my pantry - after:

newly consolidated crackers:




















and the pile of boxes for recycling!



















Assignment #2 was issued yesterday. We were instructed to de-clutter kitchen tools and gadgets. Now, I'm a gadget junkie, so this was actually a really good thing for me to do.


Here are the de-cluttered items.....anyone want to claim dibs before these get shipped off to Goodwill??


Chopping implements:

• 1 cup handy chopper (replaced recently, but still works ok)
• hand grater (pretty sure I've never used and got for free)
• multi grater (not used in many many years)

KitchenAid mixer attachments:

• food grinder (inherited from my grandmommy - I've never used and can't imagine why I would)
• sausage stuffer add-on to the food grinder (ick. that's all I can say);
• two-piece splash guard (doesn't keep much of anything from flying out of the bowl)
• juicer attachment (had grand ideas of using this and received it as a Christmas gift - it was so incredibly messy that I only used it once)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Various and sundry other stuff:

• 3-2 quart pitchers (I had at least 6)
• a pint container that is hard to use because it is hard to clean
• toaster (replaced)
• mason jar style drink dispenser (love the idea, but this one is very hard to use because you release the liquid by turning a screw)
• George Foreman grill (haven't used in many years)
• fold flat colander (great concept, didn't work so well)
• microwave egg poacher
• wine glasses (received free from Central Market - never used)
• 5 other wine glasses not pictured (still have a full dozen basic glasses that match - these don't)
• Pampered Chef oil spritzer + extra pump
• extra pump for PC foaming soap pump that I tossed who knows when
• turkey baster (never used)
  

and after photos of two cabinets that housed a lot of these items.....the before/afters on most of my cabinets are really hard to see progress because everything was pretty neatly organized. but there is lots more wiggle room now.

I think that is enough for now....if you stuck with me this long....thanks! Let me know if you want or need any of my stuff to come live at your house!