Exciting and Exhausting: Fly on the Wall

 

Welcome to our monthly Fly on the Wall, a blog post written in snippets. Marcia, Diane, Sarah and I invite you to catch a glimpse of what you’d see if you were a fly on the wall in our homes, at our writing desks, and in our worlds. Come on in, buzz around, see what we've been up to. Bet you laugh! 

This month's Fly on the Wall is going to be different from how I've written them over the past 14 (wow, has it been 14?) years. Usually my posts are little humorous snippets of family conversations and situations. But this past month (and all the way into next) has seen a huge change around here. 

Exciting, (stressful), and exhausting.

Actually, back in 2018, when my youngest son had graduated from college and started his job, he rented an apartment downtown. I completely furnished, stocked, and decorated it in one weekend. I wrote about it here: Home with an H.

And I thought that was exciting and exhausting. Pffft, turns out that was nothing.

One year later, his company sent him to live in Boulder to work at a wholly owned subsidiary, a tech company. A few months ago, they sold that company and were moving some of the employees back here. My son among them.

One week after my last Fly on the Wall post, he bought his first house. Sight unseen. His real estate broker is the owner of a real estate office and a friend of Hubs'. The market is insane, houses were being sold after just a few days on the market. Especially in the trendy areas where PurDude wanted to live.

But his broker (who, weird coincidence, has both the same first and middle name as my son) found a house, viewed it, videoed it, and had PurDude put in an offer that day. 

Great location (sort of, only 10 minutes to work but 30 minutes from us), in a historic, iconic, charming, and desirable neighborhood with a walkable lifestyle and close knit community.

A few days later, the offer was accepted pending the outcome of the inspection. But the house is over 100 years old and although the people who owned it before the current owners clearly loved and took care of it, the current (for the past 2 1/2 years) owners obviously did not. His broker took Hubs and I to the house and my comment when I left was that this house is a diamond in the rough.

I could see the beautiful diamond beneath, but oh how apprehensive I was about all that rough.

Everything had to happen at warp speed. The offer was accepted at the end of April, but the sellers had changed the purchase date from end of June (PurDude's choice) to the end of May. Yikes.

The inspection was done and there was a list of items that we felt had to be addressed. We weren't sure that the sellers would take care of the issues, as the owners have moved either out of town or possibly out of the country. If not, they'd have to offer money and we'd (I'd) have a ton more work to do, dealing not just with the changes PurDude wanted to make, but all of the necessary repairs as well.

After the broker sent his repair list to the owners' broker, as I said, we had to wait for their response. I thought it would be immediate but, no. And the wait was excruciating. I kept my cell by my side every minute waiting to hear. Between the stress and the exhaustion, I was just not thinking straight.

 

I was upstairs in my bedroom reading chair trying to read, got up to go to the kitchen to attempt my favorite stress relief, baking, and grabbed my cell, of course.

It wasn't until I got to the kitchen and started the Blueberry Upside Down Coffee Cake that I realized that my cell was still upstairs. Apparently, I'd brought my water bottle. To the kitchen.

Ugh, it was a long 5 days.

 

Blueberry Upside Down Coffee Cake

PurDude is very concrete and literal. And I am sarcastic. It makes for an interesting relationship.

When he finally called five days later, I didn't answer the phone with "hello." 

Me: It's about time you called, I haven't peed in five days.

He laughed. Laughed!

He may be concrete and literal, but that kid gets me.

 

Bad news: The owners, as I'd feared, were not going to do anything on our list.

Good news: They offered money for us to do them.

Bad news: We all had three different numbers. PurDude's broker estimated what the list would cost. I had a different number in mind, 50% more than the broker, because there could be unknowns. And then there was the amount the owners offered. Less than both of our numbers.

Good news: He made a counter offer (at my higher number), and, working for us, the sellers were running out of time to meet their closing deadline.

Bad news: They didn't agree to my number.

Good news: They came just barely below it. A deal was made!

Bad news: PurDude would be here for a week before going back to Boulder for 6 weeks. We got as many quotes from 10 different trades and started scheduling out the work. Then PurDude went back to Colorado and the rest was up to me.

We were eating dinner when suddenly I yelled out:

Me: Trades!

Hubs: What?

Me: Trades!

Hubs: Can you use a few more words?
Me: Remember the other day when I was telling you about all the people I'd have to get into the house to get quotes and I couldn't remember the word I wanted to use for those people so I said "professionals?"

Hubs: No . . .

Me: So let me get this straight, I couldn't remember the word, but you can't remember the whole conversation?

We're quite a pair, Hubs and I.

I'd seen pictures of the house when it sold in 2023, so I know it had been loved. But in the past 2 1/2 years, all of the boxwoods lining the front of the house were gone. In fact, most of the landscaping was sadly ignored. 

Worse, they had not cleaned out the a/c unit, change a filter in the heating unit, cleaned the windows, serviced the fireplace, had shoddy work done in the basement, the carpet was filthy and ripped in one place. So much general upkeep had to be done. 

And then there was the scope of work we were doing that were not on the inspection list, but PurDude's vision to make the house his. We were hoping to take down a wall to expand 2 rooms into one. We were ripping up the carpet and hoping the wood floors could be salvaged. He was painting the hallway and master bedroom (which had wallpaper), etc, etc.

And a 6 week timeline before moving day.

PurDude is a type B, wing it kinda guy. I'm a hyper organized type A. So I knew the electrician had to come in first to be sure the trades could safely use the electricity, HVAC next, they'd need the a/c working. Then painting. Contractor needed to let us know if we could take the wall down before the wood floors could be addressed. Then there was the plumber, fireplace, and all the rest.

So how much got done? How much is getting done? Everything going according to plan? 

I'll be publishing my July Fly on the Wall right around moving day. Hopefully I'll have an update, and pictures too. 

Fingers crossed.

 

Now click on the links below and see what my friends have to share:

Menopausal Mother 

On the Border 

Crazy Mama Llama

Blueberry Upside Down Coffee Cake

                                                                       ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

2 TBSP sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1 pint blueberries

2 1/2 cups flour

1 cup sugar

1 tsp salt

1 TBSP baking powder

1TBSP powdered French vanilla creamer

1 1/4 cup milk

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup oil

1/4 cup sour cream

2 eggs

Directions:

*Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8 X 8 baking dish. Mix together 2 TBSP sugar and 1 tsp of cinnamon, and dust the baking dish, bottom and sides, with half of this mixture. Set the other half aside.

*Wash the blueberries and pat them dry. Set aside 12 of them for later. Spread the remaining blueberries into the bottom of the baking dish.

*Mix the flour, remaining sugar, salt, baking powder, and powdered creamer in a bowl. Add the milk, vanilla, oil, sour cream, and eggs, mixing until fully incorporated.

*Pour about 2/3 of the batter over the blueberries. Sprinkle with the remaining cinnamon and sugar mixture and, using a toothpick, swirl just into the batter without disturbing the blueberries below.

*Top with the remaining batter. Dot with the reserved blueberries and push them gently into the batter.

*Bake for 50 - 60 minutes, until the center of the top springs back to the touch.

*Cool for 10 minutes. Run a knife along the edges, then a second time pulling in from the sides. Invert onto a serving plate.

*Store leftovers, covered, in the refrigerator.

Treinta Recipes for Cinco de Mayo

 

Cinco de Mayo. It's a Mexican holiday celebrated on the 5th of May (duh) commemorating Mexico's defeat of the Second French Empire back in the 1860s in a battle over debt.

You'd think, by the big deal we here in America make over Cinco de Mayo, that it's a major Mexican holiday, even their Independence Day, but in fact, it's not, it's not even an official federal holiday. Mexico's call for Independence was on September 16th, back in 1810, starting an 11 year battle culminating in their formal independence on August 24, 1821. Their federal independence holiday is celebrated on September 16th.

But we Americans? Who can blame us for grabbing any excuse to celebrate any Mexican holiday. Because we all know that any celebration includes food, and Mexican cuisine is a favorite. In fact, I think we should celebrate Cinco de Mayo, August 24th, September 16th, and Taco Tuesday.

For any and all of those dates you choose to observe, I've put together a collection of 30 (plus a couple of bonuses) of my family's favorite foods. From breakfast to lunch, cocktails and appetizers, dinners, side dishes, and all the way through dessert.

I've broken down the recipes into bite sized pieces, so to speak (sorry). Below you'll find 3 graphics, underneath you'll see the name of each recipe (starting at the top left and ending at the bottom right), a short description, and a link for you to click on that will take you to post where, at the end, I share that recipe.

I'll start the recipes where we all start the day, with breakfasts and breads (first row), then soup, salad and sandwiches (second row), and a cocktail and appetizers (bottom row):

 

Breakfasts and Breads

1) Breakfast Nachos with Buttery Tortillas

Homemade buttery tortilla chips are the base to this fun bacon and eggs breakfast dish, perfect for sharing.

2) Fiesta Quick Bread

A little smoky, a little spicy, this bread is packed with flavor. Delicious as is, or toasted. And pair it wih my Green Chili Chicken Soup with Taco Rice for lunch.

3) Tex-Mex Breakfast Casserole

This casserole is a one pan breakfast dish with a little bit of a kick.

4) Cinnamon Hojaldras Crisps

My interpretation of the light and crispy traditional Hojaldras Fry Bread.

Soup, Salad and Sandwiches

5) Steak Fajita Quesadillas

Thin sliced steak, vegetables, and cheese are sandwihed between crispy pan fried tortillas. They work as well as an appetizer as they do as a meal.

6) Green Chili Chicken Soup with Taco Rice

A hearty soup with a little kick (or a big kick, you decide how hot). Pair it with my Fiesta Quick Bread and you've got lunch.

7) Summer Salad Tostada

Fresh crisp vegetables and a flavorful con and black bean salsa in a homemade tortilla shell. Muy bueno!

8) Taco Chicken Quesadillas

Taco flavored chicken, vegetables, and cheese are pan grilled between flour tortillas for a flavorful lunch, dinner, or snack.

Cocktails and Appetizers

9) Raspberry Orange Margaritas

You can make them individually. we make them by the pitcher. The fruity flavors of raspberry, orange, and lime hit the spot on a warm day.

10) BBQ Pork Corn Chip Nachos

Great as an appetizer, but also for a snack, lunch, or dinner. The barbecue flavor goes so well with the melted cheese and a little bit of heat. And the warm corn chips are perfect for dipping.

11) Taco Roll Casserole

A shared savory appetizer inspired by Monkey Bread. Fill thes little rolls, allow to rise, bake, and wait till you see what you get!

12) Jalapeno Popper Rollups

Don't have a lot of time but want a delicious, quck, and easy appetizer (side dish or snack)? Try this option to slicing and filling whole jalapenos.

Main Dishes

13) Stuffed Taco Pork Tenderloin

Stuffed with salsa rice, rubbed with taco seasoning, this dinner isn't difficult to make, but it sure looks (and tastes) impressive. Taco night isn't just about tacos any more.

14) Shrimp Enchiladas

Large and small shrimp, spicy cheese, and rice rolled into a soft tortilla and baked. A delicious dinner ready in under an hour.

serve with:

Pineapple and Corn Salsa Fresco

A refreshing versatile accompaniment that comes together in minutes. Serve as an appetizer with tortilla chips, or as a complement to grilled firsh, chicken, or over enchiladas.

15) Taco Shrimp

Full of Tex-Mex flavors, shrimp is rubbed, pan sauteed, and served with Pico de Gallo and avocado slices.

serve with:

Pico de Gallo

This salsa is not cooked, it's served fresh. Great with chips as an appetizer, or as an accompniment to a meal. My boys love it on burgers too.

16) Sriracha Chipotle Ranch Chicken Nachos

These nachos are not an appetizer, they're a flavorful and hearty meal. Easy to make, fun to eat.

17) Taco Stuffed Potato Skins

A meal version of the classic potato skins appetizer. These meal worthy skins are stuffed with taco beef and vegetables, then topped with melted cheese.

18) Shrimp Alfredo Enchiladas

Spicy, creamy, these enchiladas are filled with taco shrimp, beans, and a whole lot more.

19) Taco Mac and Joe Casserole

Is this recipe Sloppy Joes? Tacos? Mac and cheese? Yes to all of them, a marriage made in the kitchen.

20) Chicken Enchilada Pot Pie

A family favorite, all the flavors of chicken enchiladas in a tortilla crusted pot pie.

21) Spicy Pulled Pork Pot Pie

Spicy pulled pork, cheese, and vegetables are topped with mashed potatoes for the ultimate pot pie comfort food.

22) Pepper Jelly Glazed Taco Meatloaf

Coomfort food at its best, baked with taco flavors and topped with a pepper jelly glaze.

Side Dishes

23) Street Corn Rice 

A side dish using a favorite summer treat as inspiration. Grilled corn, lime, cilantro, all the flavors are there. Goes really well with tacos or quesadillas.

24) Pina Colada Bread

This quick bread could be anything, breakfast, snack, served with lunch or brunch, even dessert. The flavors of a favorite cocktail baked into a bread.

25) Smoky Cornbread

This version of cornbread is infused with a little smoky flavor and a little heat.

26) Taco Rice

An easy, one pot side dish. This pairs well with Tex-Mex dishes.

Desserts

27) Strawberry Margarita Cake

Have your drink and eat it too

28) Frozen Strawberry Margarita Pie (no bake)
A fun summer cocktail in pie form. This refreshing dessert is no bake, so just assemble, freeze, and serve.

29) Strawberry Pina Colada Galette

A rustic tart inspired by the cocktail, made with strawberries, pineapple, an more.

30) Dessert Strata

Crisp homemade cinnamon sugar tortillas layered with chocolate vanilla, and strawberry shipped cream.

So let's get cooking (baking, drinking, and eating)!

And, as always, if you try any of my recipes, be sure to leave a comment here on my blog and/or stop by the Baking In A Tornado facebook page and let me know what you think.

Wishing you a delicious Cinco de Mayo.

Breakfast for Breakfast: Fly on the Wall

  

Welcome to our monthly Fly on the Wall, a blog post written in snippets. Marcia, Diane, and I invite you to catch a glimpse of what you’d see if you were a fly on the wall in our homes, at our writing desks, and in our worlds. Come on in, buzz around, see what we've been up to. Bet you laugh! 

PurDude comes home for a few weeks each year right around now, from just before Thanksgiving to the beginning of December. I always serve his favorite meals, snacks, ad desserts. It's a lot, so I start stocking up on the groceries I'll need ahead of time.

Me: I was talking to PurDude, we haven't had bacon wrapped fillets in a really long time. I'm going to add them to the menu this year.

Hubs: Sounds good to me, I love them, and we haven't had them in a while.

Me: Well, they're super expensive. 

Hubs: All meat is expensive.

Me: Yeah, but the bacon wrapped fillets cost a fortune, so will the prime rib we always get when he's home. And those thick rib eyes aren't cheap either.

Hubs: You only live once.
Me: I'm pretty sure the next part of that quote isn't "so you may as well eat all the meats."

It's rare that I get the chance to see all of the sports teams I want to see. Often, streaming channels buy the rights to a specific game, a channel we may or may not have. And it's difficult, in the Midwest, to pretty much ever get to see a Patriots game. But one Thursday:

Me: This is going to be a fun weekend, on Friday, the Purdue basketball game is streaming on a channel we have, on Saturday, Purdue football is on a channel we get, and we actually get the Patriots game on Sunday.

Hubs: That'll be three great days.

Me: Yeah! I'll probably lose my voice by Monday.

Hubs: So four great days. 

Sometimes you just need to limerick. Am I right?

There once was a woman from Boston, 

her baking obsession, got lost in,

she made some mistakes,

like completely flat cakes,

but perhaps that fact best be forgotten.

There once was a moron named trump,

whose actual surname is Dumpf,

teamed up with some jerks,

immorality among their quirks,

who say "how high" when dumpf says to jump.

In the spirit of the old saying "glutton for punishment," we were watching a Purdue football game, and they were playing the #1 team. 

During the game, they showed the Big Ten rankings.

Hubs: Poor Purdue, they're in last place.

Me: Yeah, but there's good news.

Hubs: How do you get good news out of being in last place?
Me: They're not in last place, they're tied for last place.

Hubs: As good news goes, that's a stretch.

You know that saying "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade?"

Sure hope those Purdue players like lemonade. A whole lot.

I don't eat breakfast, I'm a coffee in the morning girl. My family does, but none of them cook, so I always have bread, bagels, English muffins, an assortment of cereals, and oatmeal packets on hand. They know to fend for themselves.

But I do love breakfast, so I make it for dinner now and then, which makes everyone happy, including me.

I had an idea for a new recipe, a Breakfast Club Sandwich, which I thought might be a good brunch idea for over the holidays when I'd have a full house. I decided to give it a try yesterday morning.

Hubs came into the kitchen, went to grab a bowl for cereal and noticed I was cooking.

Hubs: What are you making?
Me: Breakfast.

Hubs: In the morning? 

Breakfast Club Sandwich

I have to admit, I'm a little freaked out. OK, a lot. I know all of our electronics can and are being use to track us and to target us. There is no such thing as privacy or anonymity.

But what happened last night took targeting to a whole new level.

I was in my room, flipping through the channels when I noticed a message in the lower left corner of the screen. It jarred me. I moved on with my channel surfing and found a show to watch.

Later, flipping through the channels again, although a different show was on, the message was there again. Now I'm starting to get concerned.

I took a picture with my cell phone, then googled the channel and the message. Nothing.

So, this is meant for me? And this is no subliminal message. Far from it, it's downright overt.

Should I make a run for it? Pull my sim card out of my phone and crush it, dye my hair, start wearing a ball cap, grab some cash and head for the border?

'Cause I don't think the idea of playing sitting duck is going to turn out well for me.

 

I'm not a fan of AI. In fact, I've said that AI is the next step in the extinction of humanity. 

But further than that it has, many times been just plain wrong. And I've heard of friends tell me that AI has stolen from both their books and articles they've written without permission or attribution.

We were watching a Purdue basketball game and there were a lot of players who were new to us.

Hubs: Who is that on the floor, #17?

Me: I'm not sure, I don't know who that is either.

Luckily, through Google, a whole lot of information is right at our fingertips. So I googled "which Purdue basketball player is wearing #17 this season?"

Top response on the page is AI, telling me that no Purdue basketball player currently wears #17.

That's either wrong, or Hubs and I are sharing a hallucination.

Fortunately, the Purdue website was able to tell me who it is.

I need a little advice from my girls:

I was watching TV, and a commercial came on for a Viagra substitute. It claimed to be easier to take, faster acting, bla bla bla. They ended their pitch with the promise of earning you a round of applause.

And I gotta know, like, is that a thing? Am I supposed to jump up and start clapping . . . you know . . . after?

 

I went to use my laptop and it was purring. Loudly. Fortunately, I'd been texting with PurDude.

Me: I have a problem. I think a cat is hiding in my laptop.

PurDude: I'm going to need an explanation.

Me: It's purring.

PurDude: Does it sound like a fan?
Me: Well, yeah.

PurDude: Then it's the fan.

Me: I've never heard it on before, and I've had this laptop for a year. 

PurDude: The fan turns on when the computer does something intensive.

Me: I wasn't even using it. So now I have a bigger problem.

PurDude: What's that?
Me: What was it doing behind my back?

Funny, he never answered me.

I had tried out a new recipe, a dessert. It was so easy, had very few ingredients, was no bake, and was topped with a chocolate whipped cream.

I had finally set it up for pictures the way I wanted, took out a large serving spoon, scooped out a serving and put it onto a plate.

Once all the pictures were taken, I needed to taste it to be sure it came out as I'd hoped. Since there was some on the serving spoon, I just took a big mouthful off of the spoon.

The doorbell rang. Perfect timing, I hate when I'm distracted while taking pictures, but I was done.

I answered the door, the salesman gave his spiel, all the while giving me a strange look. Whatever.

I declined, shut the door, and as I was walking away, glanced in the mirror next to the door.

Those strange looks? They probably had something to do with the big blob of whipped chocolate on the end of my nose.

Good thing I'll never have to face him again.

 

Now click on the links below and see what my friends have to share:

Menopausal Mother 

On the Border

Breakfast Club Sandwich

                                                                       ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients (per sandwich):

3 slices bread

2 TBSP butter

1 TBSP green onions, chopped

1 TBSP red pepper, chopped

2 eggs

2 TBSP milk

2 slices sharp cheddar cheese

2 pieces bacon

Directions:
*Preheat oven to a warm temperature, 200 degrees.

*Toast the bread. Butter them all on one side. Place in the oven to keep warm.

*Melt the remaining butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the green onions and red pepper. Cook and stir until they soften, about a minute or 2. While the vegetables are in the pan, whisk 1 of the eggs with the milk. Add to the pan.

*Omelet style, cook the eggs, flipping once. Fold into quarters.

*Place one slice of toast, butter side up, onto an oven safe serving plate. Top with the omelet, then one slice of cheese, a second slice of toast, and the second slice of cheese. Return to the oven and keep warm.

*In the same skillet, cook the bacon. Drain, cut in half, place on top of the the second slice of cheese on the sandwich. Keep warm.

*In the same skillet again, fry the egg to your liking. Place it on the bacon, top with your final slice of toast (butter side down), cut into quarters (add long toothpicks if you want, to hold the sandwich together) and serve.