Rebecca Homecca

Last night we went into town to start couch shopping. We had kept saying when the house was done we would buy new furniture. Well, the house is NOT done, but we are sick of this old furniture! The chairs are totally falling apart and the setee is just too small for lounging.

We went last night and found a couch we liked right away. It’s actually the first one you see when you walk in the door of the place and the first one we sat in.

We borrowed some fabric samples to check against the paint. We also let the cats have a go at it to make sure they couldn’t snag their claws on it. We brought home a green one, an orange one, and a tan one. I suspect most people would pick the tan one (it does match the cat fur the best) but it is too boring for us.

All of them look fine against the paint, so that did not narrow it down any. Marvin prefers to lay on the orange sample, while Maisy laid on the green sample. So they are no help…

Hubs likes the green best, but I think I like the orange best. However, I think the green would be more practical. Greens are kind of like neutrals, you can put a lot of different colors with it (think leaves on a flower).  So if I wanted to re-paint or anything I would have more options.  Also the orange is darker and would probably show more of Marvin’s white belly fur.

We are going to check out a couple of more stores, but I am sure everything will be compared against this first couch option.

We also need to decide on whether we want two chairs, a chair and ottoman combo, or a loveseat to go with it. Then we have to choose fabric for that!

Not to mention the fact that we will then also need a new rug, curtains, and end tables.

And here we just thought we were getting a new couch.

I don’t really have much to talk about today. So when you live in Michigan and have nothing to talk about, there’s always the weather.

Yesterday the weatherman put up the big ol’ down arrow on the forecast. That is never a good sign.

I saw the low tomorrow is 1. Yes ONE. At this point, freezing would seem like a heat wave.

It has also been very windy, so I know the windchills are crazy low. When I open the garage door in the mornings it feels like I am getting punch in the face by Jack Frost. That guy is such a jerk anyway…

When I walked out to my car to day after work it made me cough the air was so cold.

We have a lot of people near where I work that have to walk places or take the bus. I always feel bad for them as I sit at the stop light with my heated seats.

The only positive side to all this cold air is that when it gets this cold, the sun always shines. Seems backwards, but the clouds keep the heat in.

So if you can get your seats heated up enough you can sit and read in your car at lunch and soak up some Vitamin D. And we need all the D we can get in these parts.

I just read that January is National Soup Month.  I am a big fan of soup, especially in January!

Here is a souper easy (ha!) 4 step recipe. This is top secret Rebecca Homecca stuff here, so pay attention!

Step 1: Saute the big three (onion, celery, and garlic) in some olive oil. This is your first flavor layer and how I start most soups. And don’t throw away those leafy tops to your celery! Add them to the soup (or thrown them in a salad for a nice surprise. They also add interest to chicken or tuna salad. Sounds crazy, but try it. Trust me!)

Step 2: Add your liquids. This may be broth and/ or canned tomatoes. For this example let’s go with 1 can chicken broth and 1 can diced tomatoes.

Step 3: Add your mixins. I like to use leftovers. Cooked chicken, leftover rice that you never know what to do with, chopped veggies (any variety), even leftover sauteed veggies works.

For this example, let’s pretend we had grilled chicken breasts and zucchini for dinner last night. Chop that up and throw it in. Oh, you made rice too? Nice! Throw it in. Frozen veggies are also a great option. You know me, throw a handful of corn in everything!

Step 4: Add your spices. Depending on what your leftovers were flavored with, you may just need salt and pepper. Otherwise I am a big fan of Mrs. Dash, she’s got a bunch of varieties, pick your favorite.

OK, now mix it up!

Use spicy tomatoes and green chiles (and corn).

Made too much macaroni or penne? Save it and throw it in your broth and tomatoes with some Italian Seasoning, zucchini, and carrots (and corn).

Leftover turkey finds a new life with rice, chicken broth, and soup veggies (don’t forget corn!)

Don’t be afraid. Because seriously, weren’t you considering throwing all that stuff away anyway?

We have a bunch of activities coming up this week so I decided to plan ahead (it’s a new thing I’m trying…this planning ahead business) and make a big pot of chili to have on hand. I figure that way we can just heat it up and eat it whenever we are around. Since we probably won’t be eating at the same time, this seemed like a good idea.

Besides, who doesn’t love a big pot of chili on the stove on rainy January day?

We had Souper Wednesday this week at work (in lieu of Wienie Wednesday). We had 3 different soups, salad, rolls, dessert, crackers and toppings.

I made Potato and Corn Chowder. I can not comment personally on how it tasted because I ate the other people’s soups instead. But everyone that ate mine said it was good, but could have used a little salt. I skimped a little on the salt because I was afraid the bacon would make it too salty. Guess it didn’t.

This recipe is so easy it’s crazy. You just throw everything in the crockpot and let it go for 3 hours on high or 6 on low.

1 bag frozen hash brown potatoes (I used to O’brien kind)

1 can whole kernel corn

1 can cream corn

1 can evaporated milk (I used skim)

8 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled (I used the pre-cooked kind and just cut it up)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce

1/4 teaspoon pepper

It called for 1/2 cup chopped onion, but I omitted that on account of using the O’brien style potatoes.

To be honest, when I first put everything in the pot it kind of looked like something that someone had already eaten, but once it was cooked it looked (and smelled) quite tasty.

Em brought chopped green onion, shredded cheese, and bacon bits for toppings. I enjoy toppings on my soup.

Tuesday night I went out to dinner with my BFF Em (yes I sit next to her for 8 hours a day…but somehow we still don’t get all of our words in!). We were supposedly knitting, but I don’t knit. I do talk though, so I did that instead! Got home late (and by late I mean 9) but had to talk to hubs (still don’t have all my words out? Good Grief!) for a few before bed and went to bed too late.

Wednesday I had art studio and even though I got home usual time, I still went to bed late!

I don’t know why I am having such trouble getting into bed on time. But it is catching up to me I can tell you that…

There is a “postcard” show that we were all going to enter, but it proved to be more difficult than you would think! Basically, you had to make 4X6 paintings. Since I had just made a bunch of cards for that Christmas show, I was a little burned out on working small. I tried for the past 2 weeks, and finally gave up last night. So I started a new painting with snow.

Snow is very difficult because it isn’t just white, there are reflections of other colors and shadows. But I just read an article in a Watercolor magazine about it.

Yes there truly is a magazine for every interest.

Speaking of art…tonight one of our friends stopped by tonight to buy one of my paintings to give as a gift. How exciting!

Now that we’ve had dinner and are sitting down to relax I feel like I could go right to sleep. And I just might as soon as the laundry is done!

Heard on the way home that the founder of Taco Bell has passed away.

Glen Bell Jr was truly a master. He somehow managed to make a food that is absolutely disgusting and yet totally amazing at the same time. He brought the world of mediocre Mexican food to the masses and we loved it.

Taco Bell is the one food from college that I have not been able to give up. It’s my one downfall. And the more I eat it, the more I want it. It’s like crack in a taco shell.

So here’s to you Glen Bell Jr…for the best worst fast food out there. I’ll be sure to have a couple of tacos in your honor this week.

A while ago I got on the waiting list for the Master Naturalist program (similar to the Master Gardener program). I’m still not in the program, but they do allow you to take some supplemental classes to learn about various things.
Today I had my Naked Trees and Cold Feet class. It was how to identify trees that don’t have leaves on them (clue: it’s all about the sticks) and how to identify animal tracks in the snow.
The weather had warmed up which was good for the animal tracking. The animals had been moving around more so we got to see a lot of tracks. Even though the weather was supposedly warmer, the wind was insanely cold and some people were not dressed for that. I was so glad we got snow pants the other day!
Half of the class was inside looking at slides. Then we went to the nature preserve to identify some trees. The instructor is a biology professor at one of the local colleges. He also just happened to be the person who did the trail map and interpretive signs at the preserve. Needless to say, he is very familiar with the area! He can tell you where exact trees are. He can also tell you what birds are by listening to their calls.
I learned a lot not only about trees, but animals and ecology too. It was a lot of fun. I learned about a frog that makes like anti-freeze in it’s body and freezes solid in the winter, but has all it’s organs protected by this anti-freeze until he thaws out in the spring. That’s crazy!
We ended our journey with hot chocolate and cookies in the parking lot. Can’t beat that!
The next class I can take is about snakes. That should be interesting…

I just realized I haven’t blogged in like five days. Other than vacations and holidays I don’t think I’ve ever gone that long!

We have been very busy. Doing what? I have no idea!

We did have an unexpected adventure last night. Hubs saw a thing online that the Historical Society was putting on, so we went.

It was really interesting. There was a man who had taken a bunch (like over a 1,000) of pictures during a certain period in the sixties and used to give presentations of them. Now his son (who is very old himself now) does it.

Apparently, what we know as downtown used to be plagued with urban blight. So our fearless leaders decided to do an Urban Renewal Project. This consisted of tearing down a bunch of buildings and building some new (and uglier) ones. It sounded like there was some shifty back door dealings going on and a lot of things that would never happen today.

Like just taking homes from low income people and making them move, where?? I have an idea…Probably where the most recent clean up of urban blight took place.

Another shifty deal was  one of the buildings they tore down was actually a registered historical sight and had won a bunch of architecture awards. It was beautiful. Now it is buried somewhere on the west side. It was disgusting.

I had never really seen any photos from this time period. He took pictures of the buildings in the area as they stood, as they were being tore down, and the empty lot that was left. Some were left empty for a while, some had new buildings built, and he took pictures of that too.

I am always very interested to see the changing landscape of my town. Right now there is a big building boom going on around the hospital. Towers are going up all over.  He had pictures of that street too, and it looked very different for sure!

I was afraid it might be kind of boring, but he was very funny. And it went very fast, we saw 280 slides in about an hour. That’s a lot of history!

I have another big adventure tomorrow, so stay tuned!

Friday night we had dinner at a friends house. They have 3 boys, age 7, 4 (and half, he would want me to get that in there) and 2.

It is always so fun to go there. The noise level is very different that what we are used to. As is the activity level. Three boys are very very busy, all the time, every minute. It’s no wonder she’s so skinny.

We got them each a funny little book for Christmas. Which I did not think would be any big deal. But they loved them. The oldest one had them all read in no time.  As soon as the littlest guy opened his, he was telling Hubs “read! read!”

The oldest one could take 2 of the books up to bed with him and the middle one could choose one. I thought it was very funny that he chose the book he had opened and said “that’s mine!”

They are so funny. The two oldest one have all kinds of stories to tell, most of which I don’t catch because I’m not used to kid speak. But it was funny none the less.