Dining Room Makeover & Jalapenos

We’ve had a great week/weekend.  Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to workout (I’m totally bummed because I was doing so well!), but that meant I had time to relax!  On Wednesday, I went to Mike & Ginny Hughes’ apartment to notarize documents, and since the documents weren’t quite ready, I spent an hour there enjoying good conversation and a fabulous view!  It was such a treat, to spend time with such amazing people.  Then, we went to Daniel’s mom’s house for dinner– that was delightful, especially since Grandma Stella came.  She’s always good for lots of laughs.  After dinner, the poor college student, Annabeth, did a slip ‘n slide – fully clothed – for $20 (from her older siblings).  That girl is crazy, but obviously needs money!

Getting ready to get wet

...she slips and slides

Friday night, our favorite DC gal, Susan (well, tied for favorite with Sarah), stopped in for a quick visit!  She was on her way to sunny Myrtle Beach, and I’m sure is currently soaking up sun, or maybe even deep sea fishing.  We ate our favorite Mexican, Don Pepe’s, and of course had too short of a visit.  Good thing for me, she’ll be by on her way back home this weekend :)

We celebrated Matthew turning 2 on Saturday morning, and on the way home from the party, I decided we needed to go ahead and bite the bullet and paint the dining room.  I solidified the paint color – “Palm Leaf” – picked out by Daniel, put together a list for Home Depot, and off we went.  By the time we got home, we were both exhausted, took some cat naps, and went to bed early.  We woke up on Sunday to get some of the painting started, and so far, I LOVE how it’s turned out!  The color is beautiful, and looks amazing with the slipcover fabric for the chairs.

"Before" - a rather ugly, light minty/sorbet colored green

Before

Before - and ready to paint!

My hardworking husband painting the trim, and yes - he does it by hand!

working hard

Voila!  Two walls are Palm Leaf, and looks great next to the chair fabric

This past week, we harvested our first jalapeno!

check out that bad boy!

On Thursday night, we cut it up & made ‘Jalapeno Popper Chicken’.  We both took a bite out of the raw pepper, and oh.my.gracious – sooooo hot!  As in lips-were-burning-3-hours-later-hot.  I also told Daniel, since he was cutting the pepper, he needed to wash his hands really good.  Well, not surprising, he didn’t listen to me, and rubbed his eyes a few hours later, and yep – his eyes were burning.  After that, he STILL didn’t wash his hands, and rubbed his eyes again.  Silly boy, listen to your wife!  But the chicken turned out amazing :)

Daniel is making the big cut!  (and wants to document every part of the gardening experience)

you can probably smell the spiciness from here!

Since we had several jalapenos to harvest, Daniel canned a jar of pickled jalapenos.  We are looking forward to popping that can open in a few weeks and trying them out!

cooking the jalapenos in vinegar, salt, garlic, oregano

sealing that bad boy up

finished product!

A few weeks ago, Grandma Stella offered me her sewing machine – how sweet!  I said of course I want that, I’ve always wanted to learn to sew, but haven’t made the investment in a machine or the time into learning.  We picked it up last night, and also enjoyed a lovely dinner out.  I’m looking forward to learning to sew after the dining room is done!

Beautiful sewing machine cabinet - 50 years old, and the machine herself!

We have a busy week ahead – a Walmart summer party, dinner with Daniel’s family, starting to workout again, and painting the dining room!  Can’t wait to show you the finished product.  Next week, we are going to The Bay for a few days, it's always a memorable trip with lots of belly laughs... it can't come soon enough :)