Dyer & Dyer

5 weeks old

2012-01-25T12:15:00.003-06:00

She started scratching her face so she now has to wear gloves. The long hair is still there. I am not sure when it will start falling out For now, it's just growing :) OK, this one is for Grandma Dyer - it is in fact a pink hat with a flower on it :)

And this one is because she is half Polish so we have a red and white hat to match the Poish flag. This hat will be useful this summer because it matches the Polish soccer shirt that she will wear during the European Soccer Championship.

Sofia at 2-4 weeks old

2012-01-14T13:16:00.003-06:00

Zosia at two weeks! She looks like she is dancing :) I love the owl outfit. The hat doesn't fit anymore because she has already grown so much.

Sleeping soundly...she has been doing pretty well. She still has no concept of day or night but as long as she is sleeping I don't mind. She sleeps for about 3-4 hours at a time at night so it's not too bad.

This was a little earlier...sometime during Christmas but I can't really remember exactly when. She looked adorable in her Christmas clothes!

And this is from January 14th. I love this little bunny shirt...I know it is brown but it's cute! She has definitely been more alert lately. She is looking us in the eyes and recognizes people now. She is also holding her head up really well. I can't believe how much she has changed already. She is already one month old!

Sofia during Christmas and first walk

2011-12-31T14:09:00.002-06:00

We had a difficult time finding clothes that fit Sofia because she is so long! The clothes that are long enough are really big but we managed to find some christmas outfits :)
She sleeps a lot so it is not easy to get a picture with her eyes open but we got one.

Today we took our first walk with the dogs. The weather is beautiful so we put Sofia in her stroller and walked around the neighborhood. She slept the whole time!

The dogs enjoyed it as well. It was a little tricky when we met anyone on the street because the dogs wanted to run to them and we had to coordinate to make sure they didn't run over the stroller.

When we got home Sofia got a bath and fell asleep. I think she enjoyed the fresh air :)

Family is in town!

2011-12-23T11:06:00.002-06:00

Sofia wearing my favorite hat sleeping soundly in her crib.
Haley and grandpa Dyer with Sofia relaxing on the sofa after a long day of shopping at a variety of pawn shops :)

Uncle Bart with aunt Tiffany came Thursday night from Baltimore. They had a chance to feed the baby and...

...even change a diaper! This was a new experience for Bart. Jamie walked him through it and the mission was successful!

Video 1 - 4am - Ania wakes Jamie up and the fun begins :)

2011-12-19T09:33:00.002-06:00

Baby Sofia Michelle

2011-12-19T08:29:00.004-06:00

Introducing baby Sofia Michelle Dyer!!!! Born 12/16/11 at 12:08 pm in Starkville, MS.
She weighed 8 lbs 5 oz and was 21.5 in long. She has a head full of dark blond (light brown) hair and very light eyebrows. Her eyes are bluish color...but I think that they will change.
I will be posting lots of pictures and videos but they may not be in the right order. Sorry...

Here she is just a few hours after being born, sleeping in the nursery and stabilizing her temperature.
Here we are ready to go back home from the hospital. Sofia is wearing her pretty outfit with owls on it :) I think you will see it better on later pictures.

Sofia taking a nap at home. She got this hat at the hospital and it love it! She did great Sunday during the day but night time was not so great. She was hungry all the time and my milk has not come in yet so she was frustrated. But Monday morning she was finally able to eat a good meal so she slept some :)

Monday after breakfast we spent some time with the dogs. Chief is still fascinated by Sofia. He keeps sniffing her and wants to lick her. He goes to her every time she makes any noise. She doesn't really care that he is there. She pretty much ignores him.

Jamie is hanging out with Sofia and the dogs. Everyone is happy when they are full :) Bailey is not the oldest of the three children :) She looks so mature next to the crazy Chief and tiny Sofia. She seems to have gotten used to Sofia very quickly. She mostly just ignores her now, just comes over every once in a while to sniff her.

More pictures will come soon!

Christmas tree and Ania

2011-12-07T17:44:00.004-06:00

We have the big fat christmas tree and the fireplace all decorated already! It's not the tallest tree we have ever had but it is the fattest :) (Just like me at this point...as big as I have ever been)

Fire wood and extra photos

2011-11-18T08:53:00.006-06:00

As you can see we are ready for the winter. Jamie has been working very hard on getting us firewood. These are the results of his work :) I think we are set for the year!

I have been making homemade gifts for friends. They turned out so great that I had to take pictures :) In the big jars is peppermint cocoa mix and in the small ones - a peppermint hand scrub.

And here are some pictures of the nursery. We got furniture from Mike and Renee so that saved us a lot of money. Below is Sofia's crib with her owl-theme covers.

And here the stroller from Jamie's family. With an owl on it :)

Baby shower

2011-11-18T08:38:00.006-06:00

On November 3rd we had our first baby shower for Sofia. Our friends from the university organized a great party. The cupcakes above were chocolate, red velvet, and carrot cake and they were delicious. The party was mainly for the girls but the boys spent time together in the back yard sitting by the fire.

Above is Amie, my friend from work. And below Jon, with the silver tea set for Sofia. He promised that he will come over and play with her. I can already see it, Jamie and Jon sitting by the little table with Sofia drinking imaginary tea, wearing pink hats :)

During the party there were lots of fun games. Including tasting the baby food (which was absolutely horrible and reassured me that my decision to make my own food is a good one!) and a game where everyone had to dress up like a baby :) I think everyone enjoyed it. I know I did. It was one of those showers where everyone can just relax and be silly.

And here are some of the girls that came to the party. Most of them are my friends from work.

Preggers pictures

2011-10-23T11:42:00.003-05:00

Pregnant at 31 weeks :) As you can see the weather is changing and the leaves are starting to fall. We have exactly two months left until we meet our little Sofia Michelle. I am really enjoying the cooler weather. Finally I can wear my favourite colors: black, brown, and gray :) I think Autumn is Ania-season; everyone wears my colors!

Home grown food

2011-09-24T14:02:00.002-05:00

The eggplant harvest has been incredible this year. We had about 20 eggplans so far and they are still growing. So we are having lots of Eggplan Parmesan for dinner :)

Trip to Arkansas

2011-09-24T13:55:00.002-05:00

Last weekend we went to Arkansas with Jon, Melanie and the kids. We stayed at a cabin by the river and visited the Folk Music Capital of the world - Mountain View!

One morning we went to a ropes course and everyone (except the preggers Ania) got to play Tarzan for a while.

The town of Mountain View was really nice. We went to several music stores (where Jamie wanted to buy pretty much everything) and ate at really good restaurants...good mountain / home food.

Preggers pictures

2011-09-24T13:32:00.004-05:00

As you can see, I am now clearly showing! Sofia weighs about 2.5lbs (a little more than 1kg). She is doing great and kicking all the time. She seems pretty active. We went to the doctor yesterday and everything is in order. I am at a good weight as well so I'm happy because I have not gained too much :)

It's a girl

2011-07-27T20:40:00.003-05:00

It's a girl!!! Sofia Michelle Dyer!!! We have a few photos from our last ultrasound. She is going to be a pretty girl :) Above is the picture of her belly and her arms, folded together near her head. During the ultrasound, she kept moving her arms around, we think she is going to be a drummer.

And finally a beautiful photo of her face from profile. Look at the little nose and mouth and eyes! Isn't she pretty?

I have gained about 5 lbs (about 2.5 kg) so I still look pretty much the same. For now...

Here is my birthday present from Jamie - a display case for my travel spoons. I love it. As you can see, I still have some empty spaces so I guess I will just have to travel some more :)

Summertime in Mississippi

2011-07-12T13:52:00.003-05:00

I know I have not been updating anything for a long time, but I'm back now!

First we have an update on our family status: we are growing...quite literally in my case! We are expecting a baby :) We don't know if it is a boy or a girl yet, we will find out on July 22nd. The due date is December 21st, so it will be a Christmas baby. We are really excited and we will keep you posted as we continue this new chapter of our lives.

OK, now back to the important stuff...the food :) We have been enjoying the summer. We had a huge cook out recently and one of the attractions of the day were the crawfish with potatoes - a local favorite. One afternoon we made the chicken and artichoke pasta dish. It is one of my favorites and I can never get enough of it :)

And another night we made chicken skewers with spinach and feta triangles. They were delicious!

The problem with being pregnant and taking pictures of and talking about food is that it just makes me hungry! I have a feeling that there will be more food photos posted here soon.

We also started a vegetable garden and we have four types of plants: tomato, zucchini, pepper, and eggplant. So far, we have about 5 eggplant fruit growing! I cannot believe it, I have never tried growing eggplant before so I'm really excited.

And here is another look at the herb garden, which has pretty much exploded! The plants are beautiful and really big. We have been making pesto pasta, mint mojitos (without the rum for me) herbed chicken and other delicious herb dishes.

Herbs and Chief

2011-04-03T13:11:00.002-05:00

Chief has really been enjoying this weather. He just sleeps in the grass all day. My herbs are growing really well. I have oregano, thyme, mint, basil, parsley, cilantro and some lavender. I have divided the garden into food / drink areas. Jamie always says he doesn't know what is what so I told him that all he has to remember is this: this square is for pizza and pasta, this one is for mexican foods, and the last one is for mojitos! It works!

Random pics from the early Spring

2011-04-03T12:53:00.003-05:00

The pollen started early this year. One day I cane home from work and found that I had two yellow labs instead of black ones. Chief had apparently rolled around in the pollen and sneezed for the rest of the day.

I got some new motivation for cooking...I bought a new cookbook...always a dangerous thing in my house...and I made a praline apple strudel with home-made whipped cream

Jamie got tenure and one of our friends bought him a cake and brought it to us all the way from New Mexico! I can't believe she didn't eat it on the plane! I probably would have...which is why I don't bring food on the plane.

The weather is now perfect for riding our bike. One afternoon we went down the Natchez Trace with Bart and Robert. I was beautiful. We are taking lots of afternoon trips to nearby towns and enjoying this perfect weather while we can! We know the heat is coming soon!

OK, this was a while back but I had to show it to you. This is the Red Velvet Valentine's Day cake I made for Jamie. I decided to go for the non-traditional bloody valentine cake this year...just for fun :)

Again, while it's cool enough to be outside, we take the dogs out as often as we can. We went to the Noxubee Refuge with the little monsters and they loved it! We saw an armadillo and a turtle... and of course, as you would expect, Chief wanted to eat them, but we managed to keep him away.

More snow!

2011-02-12T10:51:00.002-06:00

I couldn't believe it! More snow...this is the most snow I have seen in Mississippi in six years! Our house looked beautiful! School was cancelled Thrusday so we spent the day with the animals :)
First, we played with Eric...he is not sure what to think about snow but he stays warm in his bed.

Then, we took Bailey and Chief to the park. As you can see, Bailey loved it. We threw snoballs at her and she turned into a white labrador for a while :)

Chief was sooooo cute! He kept running and eating snow. And then he would sit down and make snow angels with his tail. You can see the snow behind him being moved by his tail.

There was just a lot of running and prancing around. They loved having so much space to run and just kept running in circles around us. We didn't even have to have any toys, they just entertained themselves.

At night we came home and just sat by the fire. It was really cold (even by my Polish standards) so we enjoyed a warm fire.

Souper-bowl and food

2011-02-12T10:45:00.003-06:00

I discovered my new favorite desert: a tiramisu cake! It has coffe cake with mascarpone cheese, coffee, Kahlua, chocolate and whipped cream. It is one of the best cakes I have ever made...mmm
We brought two things from Seattle: cheese and smoked salmon. Both were from the Pike Place Market and were delicious. We could not get enough of them!

Last weekend we went to the annual charity event: Souper Bowl. Restaurants from around town bring soups and people go around trying the food and rating it. There were about 15 soups to try and we, as usual, tried all of them! They were all delicious but the best was a sweet soup made from squash.

Bart...contemplating the soups...

Seattle, part 3

2011-01-26T17:51:00.003-06:00

Sunday and Monday we took a little time for tourist sightseeing. We visited the Space Needle...

...saw the building that serves as the front of the Seattle Grace Hospital in Gray's Anatomy...

...and finally we went to Pike Street Market where we saw the fish-throwing salesmen, cheese makers, French bakers, Russian cooks. We tasted Italian ice cream, Pacific fish and we drank gallons of coffee (both from Starbucks and Seattle's Best).

Washington part 2

2011-01-26T17:35:00.003-06:00

This is my first picture ever at the Pacific Ocean!!!! It was amazing! You could just feel the power of the rumbling waves under your feet.
The sun came out from behind the clouds just long enough for us to enjoy the views.

Happy Polka!

I feel like these pictures really don't need much description. They speak for themselves.

Since we were in the area we had to go visit the city that is the setting for the latest blockbuster - Twilight. Here Jamie and John demonstrate their excitement at being in such an important city :)

Yes, I had to have my picture taken here as well.

That evening we visited John's classroom. John is an astronomy (not astrology) and geology teacher in Port Angeles.

Later we went back to John's house and his wife made incredible pizza and (to my great surprise) a zebra cake!!! Just like the Polish one!

Full of incredible food and tired after a full day of fun, we returned to Seattle.

Washington part 1

2011-01-26T17:02:00.004-06:00

This weekend we went to Seattle, WA. We had time on Saturday to see the Olympic Peninsula. We began our day by taking the ferry across Puget Sound to Bainbridge Island.
This is the view looking back at Seattle in the morning. The weather was really nice. It was cool and cloudy but no rain.

Our friend John picked us up and took us to Port Angeles, where he lives with his family. Together with his wife and son we had breakfast in a little cafe and then we went to get some delicious doghnuts. After that we put on some warm clothes and went to the Olympic National Park. The park was beautiful. At one point we even spotted a Yeti...

These were some of the biggest trees we have ever seen. I am not sure why standing with our arms stretched out was appropriate but here we are... To the right of the picture you can see James, John's son (he tried to hide but we managed to catch him :)

In the park we climbed a little to get to this beautiful waterfall.

At the end, we stopped at the Glacial Lake to admire more amazing sights.

This is one of my favourite photos. Everything was so green and soft.

Jamie and John stayed in the back most of the way and talked about some amazingly interesting nerdy stuff :)

Snow in Starkville!!!

2011-01-10T17:36:00.002-06:00

Hurray!!! Snow in Starkville!!! And so to celebrate appropriately we had a snow party and prepared four kinds of meat, potatoes, spinach and feta tart and a broccoli and tomato salad.
Then we went outside to document this event...since I did not think anyone would believe me if I didn't have pictures!

The next day snow was stil here! On Sunday we had taken the Christmas Tree outside and now it is really pretty covered in snow!

Oh, and this is Eric, our little outdoor cat. He does not seem to mind the snow, he just sleeps in his cat house and eats.

New Year!!!

2011-01-10T17:29:00.002-06:00

This year we went to New Orleans instead of having a party at our house. One of the main attractions of the night were the amazing fireworks at midnight!
We decided to walk around town and eat our way through the city. We ordered gumbo and drinks at every restaurant.

Yes, we had two take two pictures because Jamie had to do his special take...

Christmas 2010

2011-01-10T17:13:00.002-06:00

These pictures are a little out of order...
On December 25th we went to the mountains to visit Grandma Lee nad Les. We were really excited because we knew that a trip to the mountains meant that we would see snow! I think this was the first time that Havoc has seen snow but he go used to it quickly.
Out two little monsters loved it (as always) and as soon as we let them out of the caar they started running around and eating the snow!

...and rolling in the snow...

The previous day (Christmas Eve) we had a great supper and opened presents. Everyone joined us and we ended up with a full house which meant that we had a lot of food! Polish style!

including a selection of Polish meats: kabanosy, kielbasa i pasztet.

Everyone enjoyed opening presents (of course :)

This one was Jamie's new T-shirt that he got from Renee and Mike. How appropriate!

Hunter got a new MSState bookbag. I wonder who got him that?

Steve got a block of wood...with a phone number on it...but I can't remember why...

Renee got...I don't know...but this is the only picture that i managed to take because apparently I am really bad at taking pictures...

Christmas card

2010-12-21T13:41:00.002-06:00

This year again we tried taking a Christmas photo for you. It started with some difficulty. There were some problems: for example missing Ania...
Ania running from the camera to the fire place and not making it in time + distracted dog...

Finally we managed one or two reasonable pictures :)

Buffalo Park in Tupelo

2010-12-21T13:25:00.002-06:00

Sunday Jamie's cousin, Presley, came to visit us and we took her and her friend to Tupelo. We went to the Buffalo Park and saw these animals :)

and some other ones that did not want to ppose for the camera :)

Christmas decorations

2010-12-15T16:29:00.002-06:00

Before I get to the Christmas decoration photos, here is one of Jamie and our little dog :) I know she weighs 90 lbs but she thinks she is a lap dog.
And here is our tree. Not quite as big as last year's but it is really pretty. The tree drinks about 2 litres of water per day so that is a good sign. I hope it lasts a long time.

And here are the decorations over the fire place. We have a fire every night and we often sleep in the living room because is nice and warm. This helps us keep the gas bill down to a minimum because we don't heat the whole house.

Bedroom renovation

2010-11-12T16:58:00.003-06:00

A few weeks ago we decided that it was time to change the bedroom colors and design. We decided that we needed to have a lighter color and we got this great green color at Lowe's (of course). Here are some pictures or the "reading corner"...
the writing corner...

and the bed. We got a new bedspread and everything! We also put the puzzle from the kitchen in the bedroom and the one from the bedroom in the kitchen. The colors worked much better and now everything is perfect!!!

More food

2010-11-12T16:41:00.002-06:00

My recent culinary undertakings: salmon baked in semi-French dough with creamed spinach...
and bigos (the Polish cabbage stew) baked in pastries...

Both were first time tries for me and they worked really well! I could not stop eating!!! This weekend we will be making some cookies shaped like Bailey and Chief. We are going to take them to our neighbors who always catch our dogs when they run away...so they definitely deserve some cookies :)

Starktoberfest 2010

2010-10-24T17:15:00.002-05:00

As usual we decorated the back yard with white and blue ribbons and balloons. A lot of people came this year. We had guests from noon until 10 pm! The Starktoberfest 2010 was definitely a success!

Jamie and I spent Friday night cooking a huge pot of bigos for everyone. We cooked so much that we still had 10 jars left after the party!

Labor Day Ride video!!!

2010-09-12T12:51:00.002-05:00

Labor Day Ride

2010-09-12T12:43:00.002-05:00

For Labor Day weekend we went to Georgia for a Labor Day Ride organized by our friends. There were 10 bikes in the ride. It was really nice because the weather was perfect for riding.
The three biker Dyers!

...and here is Mamma Dyer trying out a motorcycle! I bet you thought you would never see this!

Sturgis South 2010

2010-09-12T12:39:00.002-05:00

This year's Sturgis South rally was extremely hot! We did not spend much time there during the day. We mainly just went there at night to get some food. Here is a great set of pictures with us eating the biggest smoked turkey legs EVER!

Summer 2010 - random photos

2010-09-12T12:32:00.003-05:00

Here are some of our random summer photos. Starting with my birthday cake made by Amie!
This year my garden did not grow very well. It was so hot that it did not matter how much I watered everything, nothing grew! I had very few beans and no tomatoes! The herbs did not mind though and I had lots of basil.

Once the kitchen was finished I went a little crazy with cooking. I cooked every day! Here are a few samples: first up, Spanish paella!

Then we have eggplant parmesan...

and next one of our new favorites: chicken tikka masala. An Indian dish that is one of the best things I have ever eaten.

Kitchen photos - details

2010-07-14T16:23:00.002-05:00

Some extra photos of the kitchen! Here is Jamie enjoying his morning coffee...
our new oven...

one more picture of the stove...

and the new dishwasher that was installed today!!!

More kitchen pics

2010-07-07T22:56:00.003-05:00

We are almost done putting everything back into the kitchen. Some things still need to be done but those are just small things that I am not going to worry about. Now that the main part is finished I can slowly get the rest done.
Every time I come into the kitchen I like it more and more. I cannot believe that we are pretty much done! And that we did almost all of it on our own. I have to say though, it is going to be a long time before I do any more tile work :)

I know this red wall looks a little bare right now but Jamie bougth me a new 9000-piece puzzle for my birthday, which will be hung on this wall when I finish it (which could take a while)

From a practical point of view, I have to say that I am really happy that we have added about 10 sq. ft. of counter tops plus about 10 sq. ft. of the bar counter! This makes cooking much easier!

And this is just our little bonus sitting area. It is perfect for the morning coffee and bagel!

The dogs love the new kitchen as well. They have already found their favorite spots and sleep on the cool tiles all the time.

Is it done yet?

2010-07-07T22:38:00.003-05:00

Sorry for not posting anything for such a long time but we have been really busy here. Here are the updates: we finished grouting all the floors. In the end, we decided that we love the light grout because it makes all the rooms look bigger!
Here is the last picture before we started painting. I actually liked the old color but everything was a little too beige. You know me, I love beige but we needed some spice in the kitchen so...

...we decided to go with a color that reminds us of one of our favorite spices: paprika. Even though not everything was finished, I had to start painting :)

Jamie did a lot of the painting since I could not reach everything. Now, don't panic, there is going to be some kind of molding on the top so that is why the edge is uneven.

That is the dining room wall after the first coat. We really did not need another coat but I will paint it again just to even it out.

And here it is, the new kitchen!!! Still a few things need to be finished but overall, it looks great! It is much better than I expected!

Grouting...

2010-06-28T21:20:00.003-05:00

I was going to wait for Jamie to start grouting but I had to try it. I am not too convinced about it because it is lighter than we were hoping it would be. I can't decide. It's interesting that I have been reading about grouting for a while now but nobody mentioned the part about it looking lighter than o nthe samples. Not until I had the problem and typed it in Google specifically. Now they tell me!
I think it still looks OK, it's just lighter than expected. Any opinions or suggestions? I did read online that sealing the grout might darken it a little bit so we will try that.

The last bucket!!!!

2010-06-27T22:08:00.002-05:00

The countertop guys came in on Friday. They were almost 2 hours late but I did not mind that because the reason they were late is because the manufacturer of the countertops did not deliver my stuff on Thursday so they had to drive to meet them in the morning. So I was just happy that they had the countertops. It took them about 5 hours to do the job. They were really good and meticulous. It is amazing what a difference the countertops made!
This weekend was quite busy, as you can imagine. On Saturday, I spent about 2 hours putting the sink back into the counterop. The sink itsefl was not too big of a deal (it only took about 1 hour) but the garbage disposer took forever! That thing was soooo heavy. The problem was that I simply cound not lift it so I had to build some temporary support system while I tried to attach it back to the sink.

After that was finished, I put some of the cabinet doors back on. I bought new handles and I wanted to make sure I liked them. I still have to buy 20 more but I do like them so that is a good thing :)

Oh, I don't have pictures of everything because I don't want to spoil the final look of everything.

Sunday was my designated day for tiles. I decided that I would finish allllll of them today. I woke up at 7:30 am and measured everything. I had to move the fridge, which was quite a job. It was heavier than the over and the washing machine put together (well, I think so anyway). That took me about 30 minutes!!!
Then I cut all of the remaining tiles. I took a lunch break and watched some soccer while eating take out (again).
Finally, I mixed the last bucket of mortar and installed the remaining tiles. It all sounds so quick and easy when I'm describing it, but it took me all day. I finished at 9:45 and started returning phonecalls and emails. (If I didn't call you back today, I will tomorrow)

And here are the final results: The laundry room...
behind the fridge...

the little bathroom (there are 2 pieces missing because they would not fit. I found some smaller ones later but I could not get inside to put them where they needed to go. Maybe I will just superglue them tomorrow :) Oh, yeah, I almost forgot, I had to take the toilet out too (it was not quite as bad as the fridge)

There are two more spots in the dining room but I couldn't take a picture because I can't get there now. I have tiled myself out of the dining room for now.

Well, that's my weekend. Next will be the grouting. I haven't got much experience with that either but that never stopped me before. We'll see what mess I can make of that!

One more bucket...

2010-06-25T15:49:00.002-05:00

First, thank you to Emma and Steve for the coffee pictures. They will be perfect in the new kitchen!!!
Yesterday was a very long day. I worked from 2:30 pm to 1:30 am. The good thing is that I only have to tile under the fridge and about 10 sq. ft. in the laundry area and I'll be done. Well, then I have to grout everything and seal it.

The dogs are already enjoying the new floors. The come in from the outside and spread out on the cold tiles. They love it!

Guess what I did today...

2010-06-23T22:55:00.002-05:00

I have quite a story for you. As you know Rolland did not come yesterday to help with the tiles. He wanted to stay at his house and work on the renovations there. Well, I found out today that he jumped / fell off the ladder onto a screw and the screw went all the way into his foot and got stuck there!!! So he is out for the count for a while.
But that did not stop me. I spent the day cutting tiles and installing them. It was much slower than yesterday because the cutting and measuring takes forever! But here are the photos of parts of what I did:
As you can see, the dining room tiles (that did not need cutting) are done.
These are some of the tiles I had to cut. That's about a fifth of all the tiles I cut.

I got almost to the end of the laundry room. I probably have about 30 sq. ft. left.

and here are some more cuts, these took a while because they had to be very exact since this is the doorway between the living room and the kitchen.

Tomorrow my goal is to finish cutting everything and then I will install remaining tiles on Friday. We'll see if it happens!

Inspiration

2010-06-23T14:28:00.002-05:00

I just wanted to show you the inspiration for the new kitchen colors. I will have dark red walls, beige floors, brown / beige countertops, and cream cabinets. Mmm...coffee :)

1 bucket, 2 buckets...

2010-06-22T22:29:00.003-05:00

Sooooo, Rolland was not able to come today. And I was just going to do some painting butI thought there is no real reason why I cannot put the tile down on my own... so I did. Hm.
It took me a little while to get it out of the trailer again but once I had it in the kitchen it took about 2 hours per bucket of mortar. Oh, the mortar...let me tell you, it's heavy! But I managed to slide the bucket across the floor to where I needed it. I will definitely have some serious muscles after this renovation!
Anyway, here it is! The first bucket took me all the way to the spot where the wall used to be...
and the second one almost all the way to the door to the laundry area!

I still have to get all the edges done but I am too tired to even think about that now. It looks pretty good, doesn't it?

Monday...tiles

2010-06-21T21:43:00.002-05:00

Today I just cound't wait any longer and I put some of the cabinet doors up. They look great! I don't have any handles yet but the newly cleaned hinges look good already! the paint was so fresh that I had to keep the doors open so that they would not stick to the cabinets.
And here is the finished living room tile!!! I know it's not grouted yet but I an soooo pround of all my cuts! Can you see? They all fit!

Once the living room was done (well, there are still 5 tiles missing but I have to make some intricate cuts so I am waiting till tomorrow) Rolland helped me with the kitchen tiles. We got about 25 ft. sq. down. Tomorrow will be another wonderful day of tiling! Yeay!

My life revolves around tiles!

2010-06-21T21:35:00.002-05:00

Since Jamie is out of town I had to bring in the tile into the house on my own. That was not an easy job. Silly me, I decided high noon was the perfect time to start! Yeah, I know, not my brightest thought.
Anyway, it took about one hour to bring in these 50 tiles into the garage!!!
Then I had to take a breat from tiles and decided to paint the cabinet doors. I had a good set up in the garage (out of the sun!) I turned the fan on and that helped a lot.

Then I went back to tiles and cut almost all the remaining pieces of tiles for the living room. Bailey and Chief were trying to help by testing the strenght of the tile and walking on it before it was in place. Well, the tiles are strong enough! The little orange spacers went flying all over the place though.

New range and more tiles!!!

2010-06-17T22:18:00.002-05:00

Wednesday night we installed more tile :) We almost have the secind part of the living room done. That was the relatively easily part, though. Now we have to edge the whole area. Until now we were just putting down the tiles that did not have to be cut. Now we have to cut about a brazillion tiles.
The good news is that our new range was delivered Wednesday!!!!!!!
I cannot wait to use it. It has two ovens and a ceramic cooktop. I love it already! we also have the new cabinet built already and just have a few finishing touches left. the countertop guy came today and measured everything so we should have that delivered next Thursday!

More tiles!

2010-06-16T10:44:00.001-05:00

Tuesday we continued with the tiles in the living room. We have almost half of the room finished!

Tiles

2010-06-16T10:40:00.002-05:00

We started tiling on Monday night. It took a lot of prep work because we had to scrape off the paint and sealer from the concrete. But once we got going it went pretty smoothly.

This is what we got done on Monday. It is looking really good. I can't wait till it's finished!

Kitchen...

2010-06-13T21:51:00.002-05:00

This is part "I-can't-remember-how-long-it's-been" of the renovation. The walls are down and we are done with the demo. Now we are working on putting it all back together.
This should give you an idea of what it will all look like though. The cabinets are where the bar will be. We just bought some bar stools and a couple of cozy chairs. This is from Sunday. As you can see the bar is already framed. The panels are up and ready for painting.

Rolland will be coverung all the beams and posts on Monday. Our range will be delivered on Wednesday together with the hood. The countertop guys are coming Thursday to measure.

Sunday I painted the cabinets on the inside. It made a huge difference. I wanted to paint the cabinet doors as well but it was about a brazillion degrees outside so it was impossible. I was outside for about one hour and couldn't stand it any longer. Just so you know, there are heat warnings in Mississippi even at 11 pm! It's crazy! Anyway, so that is why I just decided to worki inside today. Maybe Monday afternoon will be cooler and I can get the doors painted.

Kitchen days 4 and 5

2010-06-08T19:02:00.002-05:00

OK, so Monday our friend came in and we took down the oven and all the cabinets around it. We also discovered a return vent that is in the ceiling that we will have to create an opening for, but that should not be a big deal.
Here is the view from the dining room into the kitchen! It already looks so open and spacious...but wait, there is more...

Tuesday - the 2x4's go down and the 2x12's go up!!! The wall is oficially gone.

and this is the view from the dining room on Tuesday! It looks like a brand new space, I can't believe how open and huge it is!!!

Kitchen part 2 - during the renovation

2010-06-06T23:45:00.004-05:00

And so the fun begins...on Friday I emptied the cabinets. On Saturday Jamie started with the tile...
I couldn't wait till Sunday, I had to make at least one hole in the wall on Saturday.

The cabinet doors are coming down for a refinish. Jamie worked all day Saturday to get the tile up. He put it down so well that it was difficult to get it out. But he finished that in one day! He was still smiling at the end of it!

I didn't do too much on Saturday because I was sick. I spent half of the day sleeping and trying to lower my fever! But on Sunday I got to work and I took down the wall between the kitchen and the dining room!

I had a great time doing the demo! That was a tough but a fun job!

Kitchen part 1 - before

2010-06-06T23:41:00.003-05:00

Some photos of the kitchen and the "dining room" before the remodelling!

New Mexico

2010-06-06T23:32:00.002-05:00

A few weeks ago we went to New Mexico. the weather was beautiful (of course) and we had a great time. We had Saturday and Sunday to play and sight see and Monday Jamie had some business meetings (I still got to play :)
First we went to White Sands. It was beautiful, as you can see!
We enjoyed sleding down the dunes...

a little bit of hiking on Sunday

a rest in the one shady stop available!

It was lots of fun and we ate too much all the time!

Poland 2010

2010-06-06T23:15:00.005-05:00

OK, so I know I'm a bit late posting these but here are the highlights of our trip to Poland with Jon and Melanie this year.
A visit to Naleczow to enjoy a walk in the park and the mineral water springs.

then, a trip to Stamislawka to check on our land...it's still there, by the way

Then a visit to Kazimierz nad a great lunch with the aunts :)

Next a trip to the folklore museum.

Me and Grandma Julcia strolling through the garden

Grandpa Bronek on the porch :)

Beer!

...beer and food!

a visit to the Tower in Lublin (500 and something stairs!)

My cousin's son's first Comunion

Dinner in a downtown Warsaw restaurant with the aunts :)

and Jamie's steak tartare!

more food and dogs

2010-04-25T21:22:00.004-05:00

I got a new cookbook. It has about a brazillion appetizers and they are delicious. So here are the first two things I tried...chicken kebobs marinated in mint, garlic, oil, pepper and other spices
and a roasted vegetable fritatta made with mushrooms, eggplant, zuchini (?) covered with mozarella, parmesan and eggs.

And here is the dogs first swim of the year! Pool season has oficially started :)

Easter and flowers

2010-04-25T21:13:00.005-05:00

This year I had about 20 tulips in the front yard. They were beautiful!
But for some strange reason, the flowers in the back are not growing. Hmmm, I wonder why?

I bought some more tulips for the easter table. They were so pretty, I couldn't resisit

Haley and I colored a few eggs. They turned out great

More flowers, these were not as abundant as last year. I guess you can't have all of them at once.

Memphis with the family

2010-04-25T20:50:00.005-05:00

For Easter we had a visit from Jamie's mom, Renee and Mike and Haley and Hunter. We went to Memphis to try Dyer's burgers and visit Elvis' house. We also stopped by the MS river and drove to Arkansas...just because we could.
One of the rooms in Graceland has a mirror ceiling so here we are, reflecting in the mirrors :)

Jamie and I were perfect little turists: headphones and all

Haley and I are smiling after enjoying our vitamin G at Dyer's burgers.

Jamie and Renee at the Mississippi river.

Mmm...ribs...

After the tour of Graceland we lined up for a picture

The boys in Graceland

and the girls (resting after hours of walking)

The kids in Elvis' back yard

The inside of the house. As you can see, this is what happens when you give someone too much money and they have no taste. I'm just kidding, it's a matter of opinion, and the decade :)

Just one more shot of Dyer's burgers...

Herbs and back yard / Ziola i ogrod

2010-03-16T18:08:00.002-05:00

I got some herbs this weekend and planted them in these great ceramic pots!
First we have mint...
...then basil...

...and finally parsley!

And here is the back yard. Just look at that bright and clean concrete and fresh mulch!

Now we just need some plants. That is a project for next weekend.

Spring / Wiosna

2010-03-16T17:51:00.004-05:00

We have been working around the house for a few days now and we got a lot done. We mowed, pressure washed, mulched, planted, cleaned, raked, painted the shutters, etc. It has been a lot of fun and we are really tired now.
I took some pictures at the end of the day to let you see everything, especially our pretty flowers!
First, we have our rosemary, which is actually blooming this year!

Most of these flowers are from previous years and they come back every year! I love them because I don't have to redo them every year.

In the background of this picture you can see the cat bed for our pet cat Eric. Eric is an outdoor cat that we feed every day. He is black and white and really furry. And he comes to the front door and "miau's" if he gets lonely.

And here are the shutters. We painted those today. I was tired of the light green so we found a great color called "Shutter Green" and it works great!

The Fourth Law concert

2010-01-23T16:01:00.001-06:00

Last night Jamie's band had their first real concert in Starkville. I got to sing two songs with them!

Snow in Starkville!

2010-01-23T15:58:00.002-06:00

We had one day of snow this year. The school was cancelled so we played outside with the puppies.

New Year's Eve

2010-01-23T15:49:00.003-06:00

We had lots of people at our house for the party this year. Everyone hada great time even though we ended up missing the New Year by aboout 5 minutes!

The next day we decided that a game of sharades was appropriate.

Christmas photos

2010-01-23T15:39:00.002-06:00

Here are some extra photos from Christmas.

Bela Fleck Concert

2010-01-23T15:33:00.002-06:00

Thanks to one of Jamie's students we got some tickets to see Bela Fleck in concert in Meridian.

Christmas part 2

2009-12-14T12:49:00.002-06:00

We finally got done with all the decorations. I ran out of ornaments so we had to go and get some more. I guess a 10-foot tall tree requires a few extras.
We also decorated the outside. The theme for the outside tree is "Puppy Christmas" and we have dog toys and christmas stockings with dog paw prints on them.

Today we also decided to finally take our christmas photo. It was not an easy tasks since chief is not exactly a cooperative dog. We had to take about 15 pictures. Here are some of the examples:

The puppies did not look at the camera. Apparently there was something really interesting on the fireplace mantle.

Finally, Jamie came up with a way to trick them: we put dog treats on the camera and we got the perfect picture. You can actually see Chief trying to extand his neck out to sniff the treat!

Christmas tree part 1

2009-12-05T22:20:00.003-06:00

We started our Christmas decorating early this year. I just could not wait any longer. First, I got some branches from our trees outside and decrated the fireplace. It instantly made the livingroom more Christmas-y.
The doggies are enjoying the fireplace. Every evening we start the fire and it warms the whole living room. We just fall asleep next to the fire and in the morning move to the bedroom. This actually is really nicee because it saves us money on heating and it so much nicer then regular heating.

Saturday morning we went to several places to choose our Christmas tree. We ended up finding a 10 foot tall fir. It was the biggest one they had.

We had to cut about 5 inches off the top and now it fits perfectly. It is about twice as tall as I am!

In the evening we started decorating the tree. For now I just have lights on the tree but tomorrow we get started on putting up all the ornaments. I will keep you posted!

Halloween part 2

2009-11-02T21:50:00.003-06:00

Saturday evening we all dressed up and went to one of the central areas in St. Louis. Jamie and I were characters from the Resident Evil movie - Jamie was a zombie and I was the zombie hunter; Bart and Tiffany were musicians from the band Kiss; Marcin and Karolina were the 70's disco dancers.

Halloween in St Louis

2009-11-02T21:26:00.004-06:00

This weekend we went to St. Louis to visit Marcin and Karolina, It was the first time that I was in St. Louis and Jamie has not been there in many years either so it was a great new experience. I loved the city. I had a very Ruropean feel to it. It actually did not feel like such a large city. One of the places we visited was the Cathedral Basilica. It was originally constructed in 1908 but in was recently renovated. In 1997 Pope John Paul II came here. The cathedral is beautiful.
The are inside is incredible. the walls are covered in mosaic tiles. There are beautiful sculptures everywhere.

We could not go to St. Louis and not see the arch. I was actually a lot more impressive in real life than on the pictures. I was not expecting it to make such an impression on me. I was amazing. And near the arch there was a little park and the old cathedral. The leaves on the trees were changing and it made the area even more beautiful.

It started getting cold after a while so we started bundling up. I think Marcin got a cold from walking around in the cold all day adn most of the night.

Karolina and Marcin took us to the area where the two of them first met. We went to this restaurant and had a few morning drinks and snacks.

Since we have been living in Mississippi, I miss the fall colors and the changing of the leaves. It was the perfect time to go to St. Louis because the weather was perfect: cool, sunny, and dry. We went to one of the popular partks in the city and enjoyed a nice walk.

We took some pictures and played football.

Hunter and Haley

2009-11-02T21:08:00.002-06:00

Hunter and Haley at the ball park. Hunter is working hard...
...practicing pitching...

...whie Haley runs around playing with all the dogs that she can find and drinking gallons of slushies! I can't say anything, I was right there with her :)

Oktoberfest 2009

2009-09-22T15:02:00.002-05:00

Just last weekend we had our 3rd Oktoberfest party. It was a big success and we had a great time.
Bart took care of the decorations and they were perfect!

And of course there was the grill. We had lots of sausage, chicken wings and lots of extras.

August and September pics

2009-09-22T14:55:00.004-05:00

First we have some pictures of our monsters. This is one of our favorites - the expectant look of the monsters awaiting their milkbone treats.
Isn't he adorable?

Mmm, more milkbone photos!

A few weeks ago we had some visitors from St. Lois - Marcin and Karolina came for a weekend to visit Bart and we had a little get together party thing.

The boys...

More food

2009-09-22T14:49:00.002-05:00

mmm, this was so good I had to take a picture! We had pancakes with Wisconsin maple syrup, peaches and blueberries! Yum!

My own home grown tomatoes!

Sturgis part 2

2009-09-22T14:24:00.003-05:00

Sturgis South 2009 part 1

2009-09-13T16:48:00.003-05:00

We had lots of fun this year at Sturgis. It all started with Melanie's birthday (her 25th) We had a party at the Harris' house with lots of low country boil and red velvet cup cakes!

Mmm, the food was delicious!

And here are the cup cakes! I made them myself with Melanie's mom's recipe (they have the icing on the inside!)

Food and other random photos

2009-09-04T17:10:00.002-05:00

This year I have decided to try something new. I made ten jars of preserves (strawberry, plum and peach). They are delicious. Then I also made some fig preserves using our figs from the garden. Yummy! And this is what Bart brought us from Hattisburg from a French bakery whose owner is Polish. Chocolate mice!

Our new favourite - bacon and brie burgers on onion rolls. We can't get enought of them.

A little breakfast treat - french toast with fruit and maple syrup.

Mmmmmm cake! This is my version of W-Z cake from Poland.

Floor

2009-09-04T17:01:00.003-05:00

Since we could not stand the old carpet and did not have money to get tiles, we decided to find a different solution. Concrete stains!!! First you will wee the finished product and then take a look at what it took to get there. We absolutely love the new look. It is open, clean and easy to maintain. With the monster puppies and the pool, that last one is an important characteristic.

And here is the team of workers. Everyone worked for food.

We even got Walked and Will to help us. Here they are vacuuming thethe dust from sanding the concrete.

And here is the dust!

Happy birthday Hunter!

2009-06-24T22:14:00.003-05:00

Happy Birthday, Hunter!

Shish Kebabs

2009-06-24T22:07:00.003-05:00

This is one of our summer favorites. We always make severa skewers with vegetables and some with meat. I cook them separately because the vegetables take longer to cook than the meat. This time we used three different seasonings. Mesquite and cajun for the chicken and greek for the vegetables. As you can imagine, we ate too much!

More food!

2009-06-24T21:50:00.002-05:00

OK, I may be going a little too far here but I can't help it. I am enjoing trying out new recipies and creating new ones!
This is my newest cake favorite: rhubarb and strawberry cake. It was definitely worth the time. Ask Jamie if you don't believe me :)

Tuna burgers and mango salsa

2009-06-24T21:36:00.002-05:00

As you can probably tell, I have some time off now so I am cooking lots of things. This one I have never tried before: tuna burgers with mango salsa and jasmine rice.
It was a perfect summer dish!

Mexican casserole

2009-06-24T15:10:00.002-05:00

I came up with a new recipe for a mexican casserole and Jamie said it is really delicious so I am putting the recipie online if you want to try it. It is really simple and takes about 30 minutes to prepare. This is a really flexible dish and you can add or take out anything you don't like. You can also change the green sauces for red ones if you prefer.

1 lbs chicken breast
12 small corn tortillas
1 jar of green salsa
1 small can of green enchilada sauce
1 green bell pepper
1 red bell pepper
1 medium onion
1 cup shredded cheese
2 cups cooked rice
mesquite or southwestern seasoning
sour cream
salt and pepper
cilantro
olive oil

Marinade the chicken breasts in oil and seasoning for 30 minutes. Slice the chicken into strips and sautee them in a frying pan. Once the chicken is done take the chicken out and set aside. Chop the onions and peppers and sautee them until soft adding salt and pepper to taste. When the vegetables are done add the cooked rice and the chicken back to the frying pan. Add the enchilada sauce anad about 2/3 of the salsa to the pan. Mix well.
Spray a 9x12 baking pan and cover the bottom with 6 corn tortillas. Spread the chicken and vegetable mixture evenly and cover with half of the cheese. Layer the ramaining tortillas on top and pour the remaining salsa and cheese on top.
Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 15-20 minutes.
Serve with sour cream.
Enjoy!

Alcala de Henares

2009-06-05T15:33:00.002-05:00

since this is my second trip to this city I have not been taking nearly as many pictures.
the weather has been beautiful and so I have been walking everywhere whenever I get a chance. This trip so far has been very tiring for me because with all 30 students here, there seem to be a lot of issues. but slowly now the students are settling in their new environments and getting accustomed to the Spanish lifestyle.
I average 20,000 steps per day = about 10 miles. That is a lot of walking. But I get a chance to take some nice photos:
The family that I am staying with lives in a really tall building so I had a chance to go to the roof and take some photos of the city from a higher point.

I am going with all students to Segovia and Madrid this week so wish me luck!

mmm...steak

2009-06-05T15:29:00.001-05:00

A few days before I left we decided to go all out and get some good steak. We found out abouta a new meat market in town and Jamie got a Tbone (1.5lbs) and I got a something (I can't remember)
All I know is that it was one of the best steaks I have ever had. It was simply delicious. I would eat it even if it was covered in spicy brown mustard (he, he)

Noxubee Refuge in the spring

2009-06-05T15:24:00.002-05:00

Because the weather was so perfect we packed up some chips and drinks and went to the refuge on our motorcycles.
And as usual, we took some random pictures of ourselves...

what more could you expect?

And of course, then there is Bart...

Haley's performance

2009-06-05T15:21:00.002-05:00

Down by the coast...
After we finished our classes we went to Atlanta to visit everyone. We got a chance to watch Haley perform in a school production of Georgia on my Mind...

Spring in Mississippi

2009-05-01T22:56:00.002-05:00

Spring came a little late this year. It was cold fora loooonnnnngggg time. Well, cold is a relative term. It was chilly. But the garden is doing well anyway. Here is the first example, my first strawberry! It was tart and bitter but it was delicious!
Our irises (I'm not sure of the spelling) They are as tall as I am.

And of course the roses...

A little close up

more flowers! Hurray!

Wielkanoc / Easter

2009-05-01T22:51:00.002-05:00

This year I tried a new cake - Mazurek Kajmakowy. It looked great! It looked better than it tasted though. It was way too sweet and the butter I used was not the kind that I should have used so it did not turn out like I wanted. It was worth the try.
Bart and Tiffany joined us for church and a great meal.

There are more pictures but they are on Jamie's camera and he will have to download them. Hm! You can bug him about the pictures if you want. I already tried :)

JMG Le Clezio

2009-05-01T22:43:00.003-05:00

In April we had the pleasure of meeting the 2008 Nobel Prize Laureate J.M.G. Le Clezio. He accepted Kieth's invitation and came for a week to Starkville!
Jamie, tiffany, Barted and I had the opportunity to meet him in the MSU bookstore and take a quick picture. We waited for a long time but it was well worth it.

The following day we attended a lecture in Lee Hall auditorium. It was a once in a lifetime experience!

Snow in Starkville

2009-03-23T21:24:00.004-05:00

It really happened. And I have the pictures to prove it! We woke up one morning and our street was white! I was beautiful. It did not last too long but it was long enough for us to enjoy it!
The doggies had the best time! At first they were not sure where to go and what to do. They started running around trying to eat the snowflakes as they fell. But they would get distracted by the other flakes that were falling around them.

Bailey managed to sit still for approximately 2 seconds. Just enough for a pretty picture.

and then it was back to running and playing with Chief.

I think this was Chief's first snow. He wanted to eat it all!

Awwwww...isn't he cute!

It's OK that it's not movie quality...

2009-03-23T21:04:00.003-05:00

Just because we can! Bart and Jamie got some Hulk Hands for Valentines Day. I think it was their most favorite gift ever! But I'm not sure...you tell me :)
Yeah...no comments here...

OK, Tiffany and I joined in the fun.

just a little :)

Fishing in Ackerman

2009-03-23T20:11:00.004-05:00

Friday after the cruise we went with Bart and Tiffany to Ackerman to her family's farm. Jerry has four ponds and we decided we would try our luck in all of them. I am proud to announce that I was the first one to catch a fish. Here you can see my skils in action :)

And here is my catch! Isn't it perfect? Jerry later said that he did not see me catch the fish but he could sure hear it! I was screaming like a little girl, hehe.

Bart and Jamie getting their stuff ready. You have to pick the right lure, it has to be the right size and color and make appropriate noise in the water.

Take your time boys...

I'll be over here catching dinner! By the end of the day I caught two (2) bass. And then it was time to cook them! Look at that! It tasted as good as it looks!

Now it's time for some random pictures of the day.

First, we have Sam, the lovely doggie that followed us around all day.

Jamie and Bart still trying to catch some fish. They did manage to catch part of the dinner :p

A day on the farm would not be complete without a four-wheeler ride. Happy Jamie and Ania!

Cruise...the random photos

2009-03-22T13:21:00.002-05:00

The last day. We still had lots of fun. This is the view we had as we were leaving mobile after the fun five day cruise.
We could not leave the ship without taking one last picture with Alexandrov...our waiter. Yes, it was largely his fault that we ate three to four times our daily allowance of calories. But who cares, we enjoyed every single bite. My favorites were the lamb, souffle, cheese trays, fruit, escargot, salmon (grilled and smoked) salads, shrimp, lobster, onion soup, lobster bisque, bouillabaise, etc. I could go on for a while with this.. I t hink you get the picture :)

As Melanie said: "Jamie and Ania being, well, Jamie and Ania..."

If you can't have fun and act crazy, don't go with us! Melanie and Jon were the perfect match for us! They don't mind having a little fun!

As mentioned above...

Cruise part 3

2009-03-22T12:57:00.005-05:00

The second day on shore was at Cozumel, an island in Mexico. We could not do the same thing twice so rather than taking a cab, we rented some scooters. Yup, two scooters, four of us!
Now we can truly say that we are the Scooter Trash!

How about that! And they said we could not do it! Look at it go...

We drove down some dirt roads to see the capotes...cenotes...chipoltles :)

We went to the other end of the island, away from the tourists, and ended up in a little Mexican bar eating real guacamole, and drinking beer.

Soon after we got to Cozumel another Carnival ship arrived. It was quite a sight: two huge ships right next to each other.

Some fun pictures back on the ship...as always, the wind right in our faces.

A little snack before supper: fish, chicken, pork, lobster bisque, rice, lobster bisque etc.

Back on the island, chillin' in the bar.

One of my favorite pictures. Just the ocean and the scooters!

...and beer

and real Mexican food!

and iguanas...not barbacued, but oh well. You can't have it all.

Cruise 2009, part 2

2009-03-22T12:11:00.006-05:00

The third day of the cruise we went to Progreso, Mexico. Rather than go on the tours with all of the people from the ship we went to the first cab we could find, paid him $100 and asked him to take us all over the area. It was great and we saved a lot of money by doing that. First, we went to Merida, a large city about 30 minutes from Progreso. Here we walked around and visited some tourist attractions.
Oh, the cab was a little Toyota and Jamie, Jon, and I were all sitting in the back seat. We were a little squished. When we first got into the cab, the car would not start. The other cab drivers were going to push it but they couldn't, because of all of our fat butts inside. So we had to get out, and then the car started, and we were on the road.

After visiting the city, we went to Dzibilaltun, the Mayan ruins in the area.

Immediately after getting out of the car we knew it was not going to be easy. There was no shade and the sun was just baking us and everything around us.

Back in the city we were bargaining with the Mayans about the price of Guayaberas for Jamie and Jon.

We found the Mayan shop thanks to a gentleman claiming to be a professor of the Mayan language and history at a local university. I say "claiming" because I am not sure how much to trust we could trust him. But we had a good time anyway.

We also managed to go into a theater that was over 100 years old. It was beautiful.

And back at the ruins Jamie and Jon dove into the cenote (aka capote / chipoltle) that was about 150 feet deep. It was in the middle of the mayan ruins.

The ruins were incredible. Even though they were considered to be the smaller and less impressibe ones, they were amazing. We definitely need to plan a trip for at least a week to go just to drive around Mexico and Guatemala and visit the ruins.

Little bitty rooms.

Jamie climbing the pyramid.

When we got back to the car, Miguel, our driver, was soundly asleep. I can't blame him, it was hot...I mean really hot!

A few more pictures from the ruins. These are from the Temple of the Seven Dolls. To get to this temple you had to walk about 10 minutes down a road with no shade. People must have been quite devoted to go pray there.

Jamie inside the temple.

This is a good picture of the temple. And of course of Jamie :)

Yeah, there we are, walking towards the temple. You see what I mean...there is no shade. It is scorching hot.

Cruise 2009

2009-03-22T10:58:00.004-05:00

Saturday March 14th, 2009. 6am. OK, maybe it was 6:45am. We all piled into our car and left the metropolis of Starkville, MS heading for Mobile, AL. On the way, we stopped for a quick breakfast at CrackerBarrell. Yummy biscuits and gravy, pancakes, sausage, bacon...all healthy and delicious!
We arrived in Mobile and by 1pm we were on the Holiday, one of the oldest ships of the Carnival fleet. It was perfect for me, but as you will see later, Jamie had some problems fitting in.

Our first mission, find the bar. And we did. It became our favorite spot on the ship. Here I am walking around the Holiday with a delicious drink.

After drinks we found the buffet and refilled our drinks :) Happy Ania and Jamie!

Jamie and Jon at the bar on the Lido Deck. At the very back of the ship was the Wharf bar, where the two bartenders Anne and Ramona became our good friends.

Melanie and Jon got aup at 6am the first morning and took pictures of the sunrise. Jamie and I just kept on sleeping. We got up around 7am and headed for breakfast buffet. The food on the ship was amazing. There were buffets open from 6am to 2am every day. At the same time, at 7am, noon, and 8:15pm were the regular meals in the dining rooms. And of course the pizza and ice cream were avaiable 24/7. Needless to say that eating was a major part of our cruise. It was our goal to try as many different things as possible.

Here is Jamie...not fitting on the boat. He hit his head on doorways, sprinklers, lights, etc.

First day at sea...relaxing in the lounge chairs and drinking fun ship coctails.

The winds were quite strong se I had to cover my head the whole time. It's not a bad thing, at least I did not have to worry about the sun.

Every night at 8:15 pm we had a dinner at the Four Winds restaurant. We had the same waiter, Alexandrov from Bulgaria every time. It worked to our advantage because he quickly learned that we loved the food and started bringing us lots of food. We would order two to three appetizers, two entrees, adn coffee, tea, and deserts for every one of us.

The second night we had a fancy dinner at our restaurant. We all dressed up and got ready for the shrimp and lobster night.

Don't we all look nice!

With Friends

2009-03-22T10:51:00.002-05:00

Before going on the cruise we went out to eat with our friends. D'Lisa and I alsways have a good time together.
Awww, isn't this a good picture of a happy couple! You would not believe how many takes it took to get this shot.

And here is an example!

Christmas '08 part 2

2009-02-12T21:43:00.004-06:00

I could not go long without pictures of cats. Kacper...
...and Kicia...sleeping soundly

Back at home we kept snacking on pierogi. They are addicting, you just can't stop eating them. Well, we did not really try to stop, hehe. I was a little worried that Jamie would eath them all. Hence the full mouth and the look on my face :)

We cut a Christmas tree from the neighbor's garden.

The Chlebinski clan came over for a visit several times. Here are Peter and Tosia waltzing into our kitchen.

Zuzia appears to be counting something. Maybe how many pierogi Jamie ate. Keep counting!

With Bart and Tiffany we went to Kazimierz. It was beutiful. It started snowing when we got there and by the end of the day it was beautiful!

We made a snowman in our garden. Here is the PG version of the snow-person.

Christmas Eve

Christmas '08 part 1

2009-02-12T21:20:00.003-06:00

This year we spent Christmas in Poland. We managed to get tickets together so we dropped off the dogs at Mom and Dad's and went to the airport. Of course, sitting at the airport for several hours we started playing around and taking random pictures.
Yeah...that would be one of them :)

Here we go again...

And here we are...in Konopnica! Taking a walk in the garden.

with the doggie

One of the first things we did was to sit down and have an huge meal. It started with some small and light appetizers...and then we had zurek soup, pork chops, pierogi, etc.

One day we went to the castle where Jamie and I got engaged. We went through the museum and to the chapter of Holy Trinity. These pictures are from the castle courtyard.

Dinner and Aunt Brygida's and Iza's house. We had shrimp appetizers, nachos, lamb and more...

Thanksgiving 2008

2008-12-07T13:46:00.007-06:00

For Thanksgiving this year we went to Georgia and North Carolina. We spent lots of time driving but it was all worth it because we got to see everyone!

We went to Madison to see Emma and Steve. With them we went to a Christmas concert at the Ritz Carlton. Look at all these couples (I discovered that Emma and Steve have special powers...in the 400 pictures that I took...they appeared maybe once or twice...and each time they made sure that their faces were not to be seen!!!)

At night we settled in for a nice game of Trivial Pursuit. Hunter was our Alex Trebek.

Thursday we went fishing. We were not very successful but luckily we had turkey to eat.

The dogs had a great time. They loved being outside...

Swimming...

Jumping...

and finally sleeping and resting.

They would have liked to have some turkey but we ate it all.

Together with the sweet potatoes.

Haley was dressed appropriately :)

Saturday night we went to Mike and Renee's for a quick game of Rock Band and some extremely large pizza.