Tuesday, December 16, 2014

A Bit of Everything

Slow Cooker Mix

We were perusing the grocery aisles and ran across a line of Campbell's mixes ready to use for crock pot meals. We've learned it is not a good idea to go grocery shopping while hungry, but these looked good so we gave it a chance.

We were not disappointed as the resultant pork roast turned out great.


Other Flavors available also


Castle Trucks

Every so often you run across something on the internet that makes you happy people with these kinds of talent exist. I subscribe to a newsletter for Tiny Houses. There is something about designing living spaces that are very small that appeals to me. Anything along those lines is of interest which might explain our going on tours of submarines, yachts, RV's, space capsules and every other kind of small living space we can find. The Tiny House newsletter is full of links to interesting small living spaces.

This couple in New Zealand has raised the bar on getting the most amount of living in a road-able vehicle while keeping the design theme of a castle. Watch for the video near the end of the link...



http://tinyhousetalk.com/solar-off-grid-transforming-castle-house-truck/


Lubed for Life

I was searching for an All Wheel Drive (AWD) vehicle that would be a good grocery getter for use in snow country. A search on Craigslist brought up an older Jaguar X-Type which has AWD as standard equipment. The car was priced right and is now part of the fleet.

One of the 'features' is the car came from the factory 'lubricated for life' which is the term meaning there is no easy way to change lubricating fluids. Fortunately the Jaguar owners club has come up with all kinds of techniques for accomplishing fluid changes in a car not designed to easily have them.

Our local body shop also does mechanical work so the Jag spent a day on the lift getting new fluids installed. Hopefully this will greatly extend the life of the vehicle.

Jaguar getting fluids changed


Big Lots

My Dad was a big fan of going to his local Big Lots store and seeing what goodies arrived on the truck for that week. Going there was a regular part of his retirement and it was a rare trip to visit him in which we didn't make the trek to see what he had found.

Today we were eating lunch and I looked up and saw there was a Big Lots across the street. This brought back a lot of memories so we ended up checking the place out. I can see why Dad liked the store as there were several goodies that will find their way under the tree.


We thought this had the right style for our tastes





Sunday, December 7, 2014

Back in Kansas

We journeyed back to Kansas to spend time with family for the holidays and get caught up on projects around the house.

We went to Kansas City to spend time with Betsy, Blake and family. Had a great time at their place. Betsy took me to see her classroom and told me all about her school. That was enjoyable as a parent to see our daughters vocation up close.
Betsy in her nicely decorated class room
Betsy enjoys teaching third grade


Over the Holidays we watched movies with the little ones finding space where ever possible. Bennett found a soft lap.

Bennett, Julie and Dieter watching 'The Incredibles'

Some toys continue to be timeless and fun to assemble.

Made a trip to IKEA - first time at the new one in Kansas City.
Betsy and Julie checking out the new IKEA store.

The IKEA tent/fabric castle was a big hit with the boys and the cat. The latter seemed to think it was his personal cat cave...
Bennett checking out the fabric castle

The construction of raised bed garden structures required a trip to the lumber yard for supplies. The boys did a great job of helping select and stack wood.
Getting the boys exposed to the wonders of the lumber yard
The raised beds are ready for spring planting.
Raised beds await spring planting
The movie 'Frozen' is a hit with the grandsons.
 
Focused on watching 'Frozen'