From Empty Nest to Full House!

I thought I had better write an updated blog post least you all think I have fallen off the edge of a cliff on one of our hikes! Truth be told there hasn’t been any time for hiking lately. Long time readers of this blog know that two years ago this month our daughter Katy got married and around that same time our son David move out as well. We became “empty nesters” over night!

This summer Katy and her husband Esau bought a house not too far from us but the seller wanted to do a rent back and their lease was up on the apartment so they moved in with us. Then David decided he wanted to move back home to save money and finish up a couple college classes so a few weeks later we moved him back home!

We have done a lot of this lately! We have this moving thing down pretty good. Hubby Tom recently retired so the timing of all this was perfect!

Now that Katy and Esau have access to their house we are there everyday getting it ready for them to move in. That means we have been doing lots of cleaning. I forgot to take a before photo of the oven. It was beyond dirty –  it took me two days to get it to sparkle! Esau’s family came over to help and we had a cleaning party! Many hands make light work and everyone pitched in to wash walls, doors, baseboards and bathrooms.

Hubby has been working long and hard to get the garage floor free of oil and grease with awesome results!

I don’t know why these photos are so little – I couldn’t get them to post at a normal size! But you get the idea of what an improvement there has been.

I spent one day at the house just working on removing paint splatters that the previous owner left behind.  I was pretty pleased with my results!

The painter has started working his magic and it’s amazing how quickly the professionals can get this job done. It would have taken us at least twice as long to all the painting done. Next up will be new carpet and then it will be ready for them to move in.

I have been making good use of  my new Cuisinart Slow Cooker this week. I can start something in the morning or even at noon and we can come back home to a cooked meal. We really enjoy the Easy Vegan Mexican Casserole. It feeds a crowd, the leftovers can be used to taco salads, burritos, burrito bowls or tacos. I made it Sunday and we were happy to have something quick and easy to reheat this week.

These Pyrex Snapware containers were recently purchased at Costco and they are amazing! I need to go back and get another set. They are microwave and dishwasher safe. Great for leftovers.

Today I will be staying home and cleaning my own house, making a menu for the coming week and restocking the pantry and fridge. The work never ends does it?

I ordered this cookbook from Amazon and it came yesterday. Lots of folks on Instagram like this one. I will be picking out some recipes to put on the menu next week. I like the idea of only spending 30 minutes or less on meal prep.  There are far too many things that need to be done outside of the kitchen these days. My friend Eve who I met on Instagram and got to meet in real life in San Francisco sent me her list of tried and true recipes from this new cookbook. Of course the Pumpkin Brownies recipe she tried are going on my menu!

We have truly enjoyed having a full house. It’s been fun to have time to cook in the kitchen with Katy again. We adore our son in law – he is easy to be around and he makes us laugh all the time! Of course son David still likes to twirl me around in the kitchen just like he did years ago! What a delight to have meal time chats with the young adults. The house is so full of life and laughter with everyone here! We are going to miss them so much when they move out.

Wishing everyone a safe and relaxing 3 day weekend!

Tami

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