Life At Korthuis Manor

Life At Korthuis Manor
Captain Randy and his First Mate!

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Girls get away

While Judy was here visiting we went out to Kathi's friend Janelle's beach house for 2 nights to scrap and chat!! Thank you so much Janelle!!


We arrived Sun. late afternoon, put on our sweats, set up our scrappin' stuff and watched a chick flick. Monday was my birthday and they spoiled me rotten - latte's, b'fast muffins, lunch, turkey dinner - it was awesome. More scrappin' on Tues. and then home. Judy brought 11 cartridges for the Cricut (her mom was very generous last Christmas - thanks Elsa!), and so we were cuttin' fools!!! (This is straight out of bed and right down to business - none of us looks glamorous - sorry friends - but it gives the true spirit of our get away)

I got 26 - YES 26 pages done in Em's book and I have her caught up to mid 2000! I have 3 1/2 years to get her book done - a goal I think I can handle.

I'll post some pics later of my pages.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

A Barnabella Party

Okay - I'm baaack! The swine flu was not a good time - the worst part was the 100+ temp for 4 days! WOW!! You forget how long it takes to get your strength back after that ride!!

Anyway - that is over - so let's move on! On Friday my BFF Judy flew in for 5 days - let the fun begin!! On Saturday morning we were sitting around in our sweats having coffee and BFF Kathi showed up about 9am (gutsy early on a Sat. AM) for coffee. As I went to make her a coffee, she stopped me and said "I'll make the coffees - you get ready - we have a 10AM appointment", then BFF Marla showed up! WHAT!! No hints, no nothing - just "get ready".

NOW - at this point I'm thinking, pedicures, coffee at Woods with a couple friends, shopping - you know - I HAVE to try and figure it out!

SERIOUSLY - this is how they took me out....................................
We headed out - I tried to keep track of where we were heading, of course Marla knew I would, so she got on those blasted round abouts and went around and around and around - I'm sure people were thinking "Stupid Canadian doesn't know how to use these things" :-)

After a short drive they brought me into a house.......................and I said "it smells like Sal's house" - they took off my blindfold AND I was right. I had absolutely no clue - but you know how you just recognize the smells of places - good smells of course!

Here's where the Barnabella party began............................

The best "birthday cake" ever - Sal's orange bow knots!! AMAZING!!
Even Brody donned a bow for the occasion!
Sally had been studying Paul and Barnabus and said she thought of me often as she studied Barnabus' role as an encourager. She asked my friends to come and write notes of encouragement to me about how I had encouraged them. Barnabella is just her female version of Barnabus - I like it - it sticks! Everyone needs a Barnabella party in their lifetime! TALK ABOUT COMPLETE SENSORY OVERLOAD!!!! It was kind of like sitting at your own funeral and hearing WAY TOO WONDERFUL things about yourself! When we got home I told Judy "I should try to be like her!!"

Sal - you succeeded - what an incredibly encouraging day! I am so blessed - words can't describe how precious ALL my friends are to me!

We had a delightful brunch, laughter, tears, and presents...................................WOW!!!!!

I'll post more pictures later, this is just getting way too long.

Also, on a future post - the gift from my husband!! He never ceases to amaze me!

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Here's how the yard is coming along...................

Earlier this summer I took pictures of the process of planting a yard and landscaping. I decided it was time to show you the progress - still lots to be done - but so much accomplished!

One weekend in August Marla and I took the girls school shopping for a couple days and I came home to this. It's a huge project - 2 ponds with a stream between them. Randy asked me to remind him next time not to build such a large water feature - I reminded him I had no input on this one :-) It will be beautiful - but a LOT of work ahead........(there's been more progress since I took these pictures - so more updates to come)

Upper pond..............
Lower pond..................................
Stream in between..................................
The fireplace on the back porch is done - what a fabulous place to enjoy coffee!!
Here's the front yard with a retaining wall..................
I love the look of a retaining wall lined with boxwoods - it makes me happy!

and someday there will be boxwoods lining the sidewalk to the front door.

I'll stop here now and show more on my next post.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Have you ever had one of "those" days?

So, last Wednesday was the day! I have been wanting to pull out my fall decorations, and I am off on Wednesdays, so that's the day it has to happen! Two weeks ago it was 85 degrees and I just couldn't pull out the fall stuff. Sooooooooooooooooo, last week was the day. It was a great day to light a candle, put on the music and dig in.

USUALLY I am a start a project one at a time, finish it, and move on.

BUT on this day................................not so much! I had so many things I wanted to do, that by 5pm I had all of this pulled out...........................................

Sorting files in my office........................
Decided to rearrange my living room..................................
Unpacked all my fall decorations and had them strewn out all over..........................
At 5pm, I had added the mess from making dinner and had hamburger browning on the stove...............and Randy walked in...............only to find me sitting at the piano "tickling the ivories"!! :-) He kind of looked at me strange and walked back out!

Don't worry, I got it all done and cleaned up before bedtime. Next post will be of the finished product. It's nothing grand, but I love the fall time touches!

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, have you ever had one of those days?

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Stew about it

So last week I mixed up a stew and put it in the crockpot. It probably took me 10 minutes to throw it together and that includes cutting up the potatoes, and chopping the onions. I got the recipe from my friend Tami's blog. I love getting recipes off her blog and so I will share also. Thanks Tami!

Easy Stew

1 can tomato soup
1 can cr. soup (I used chicken, but you can use mushroom or celery)
stew meat
carrots (I used baby carrots)
potatoes, cut in chunks (I didn't even peel them)
onion, diced
frozen corn
3 cloves garlic, minced

Mix soups in crockpot. Season stew meat with Montreal Steak Seasoning and place on top of soups. Add the rest of the ingredient. Stir ingredients together. Cook on low all day.

This stew had an awesome taste to it - not to tomatoey (is that a word? ;-0 )

It was a great feeling all day knowing I had dinner waiting for me!
I just came home and made biscuits and voila' - dinner!

Give it a try!