The Stolees

Treasures

2009-07-12T14:41:00.001-07:00

Today, I found some new treasures in the garden (and a bunny!). We have some peas, cherry tomatoes, and my first crooked-neck squash of the season.

Back to the bunny, the latch on our gate is not the most reliable, so if you're not careful when closing, it will pop open. Today, I found a little bunny running around the squash plants. Derrick was able to hop around the garden and chase it out the gate without crushing anything - this was quite a feat! The bunny tried to get out through the fences, but we just learned how bunny proof the garden really is, outside of the gate. It would have been quite easy to pick up the bunny out of a corner, but we refrained and were able to run it out the gate. Cici enjoyed the chase after it escaped into the yard and was very close to catching the little furball. We also learned that the bunnies live under the deck.

Jungle

2009-07-11T08:23:00.000-07:00

My tomato jungle: The cherry tomato plant yielded it's first tomato yesterday, and it's already taller than me! In this picture, I am using string to support the tomato plants as they grow taller.

Here's an interior view of the zucchini plant. Can you believe it's just one plant???

Harvest

2009-07-09T19:25:00.000-07:00

As I was making my grocery list this afternoon, I came to realize that I could leave one item off: Zucchini. You see, in my quest to save the planet, reduce my carbon footprint, eat healthier, buy local, lead a greener life... however you want to put it, I have planted a vegetable garden. Actually, it's not fully a vegetable garden as I have a melon plant and a handful of tomato plants (fruits) and some parsley and basil (herbs), but everything else is in the vegetable compartment on the food pyramid. I think the planting started sometime in mid-May, and we had our first yield from the zucchini plant this week. Thankfully, the third zucchini removed from the plant was of sufficient size! It's somewhere between the size of a zucchini from the supermarket and a zucchini from the Farmer's market, but it is delicious. I have been harvesting the herbs for weeks, and we have some crooked-neck and butternut squash in the making, though it'll be a couple weeks before they come into a decent size. A few more zucchini's are gracing us with their presence and a couple cherry tomatoes are transitioning from green to red. All in all, the garden is healthy and thriving! Here are a couple pictures from the garden's humble beginnings. Soon, we hope to share recent pictures of the jungle we affectionately call a garden.

In process...

Humble beginnings...

Here comes zucchini...

Success!

Cici meets Stella

2009-06-10T12:09:00.000-07:00

Being siblings, Colin and I decided it would be fun to get dogs that have similar genetics (actually, it just turned out that way). We have each adopted a German Shorthair-mixed puppy, his with Lab and mine with Dachshund. A few weekends ago, the pups had a chance to meet, and truly did play like siblings. All the action shots from the playtime are on the stolee flickr account, but this picture, taken by Colin, sums up the event.

Vancouver

2009-05-26T20:20:00.000-07:00

Katie went on a trip to Vancouver for ICSE 2009.

Florida

2009-05-26T20:18:00.000-07:00

This sums up our trip to Florida

New Furniture

2009-05-05T18:09:00.000-07:00

Soon, we will gain a new rear-projective HDTV, so it was time for our current TV stand to say goodbye. But, we needed a place to put all of our other entertainment devices. Most choices were too expensive or wouldn't fit our space correctly. So, I built my own.

This collection includes our printer, cable modem, Time Capsule, Blu-ray player, audio receiver, Xbox 360, and some space for games and Playstation 2 storage.

Evidence

2009-05-03T15:30:00.000-07:00

This is evidence that I do something other than work and wear silly hats. :) Aimee and Stephanie - thanks for the run!

One more thing...

2009-04-20T20:47:00.000-07:00

I know it's uncharacteristic to blog twice in two days, but I forgot one thing. Yesterday marked the 0.75*year anniversary for us, and married life is beary good!

(This is actually the most-recent photo of the two of us I could find....)

Easter Weekend, Part II

2009-04-19T21:01:00.001-07:00

We had a relaxing Easter Sunday with friends and family. Dan, Ann & Fam came in their van and we had an Easter egg hunt in the backyard. Lillie was very concerned that Aunt Katie couldn't find all the eggs left by the Easter Bunny and was excited to help.

Vivian was a master at hunting for eggs and found many of the tough ones.

The girls had fun climbing around in the gardens with their Easter bags full of eggs.

Then, it was time for some indoor play with stuffed animals. The leopard is always a big hit. The girls ate their Easter candy while the rest of us enjoyed some coffee.

After the egg hunt was over, Derrick and I prepared for friends to join us for Easter dinner. We had a fabulous meal with all the trimmings - BBQ ribs, garlic bread, salad, deviled eggs, beer, and strawberry shortcake. We even had some festive decorations with the Easter egg platter, courtesy of mom. Lillie and Vivian dyed a couple of eggs for us, personalized with our names and everything!

After all that celebrating, we were sad to return to classes. Just a couple more weeks until summer!

Easter Weekend, Part 1

2009-04-11T21:08:00.000-07:00

Easter weekend has started off well! Derrick did some handyman work while I did some kitchen work and homework (different from work around the home!), and it's still only Saturday. Additionally, Cici has been working on her tree climbing abilities. We hope that someday she will learn to rock climb so we can take her to Colorado. Don't let that squirrel get away!

Derrick is finishing off some railings on the deck so we can enclose Cici on the side patio. This way, she won't tear up the yard (hopefully). Tomorrow he will build a gate door and attach it where he is currently standing.

Here, you can see that indeed he did do the work himself. :)

Our little bundle of insanity

2009-04-05T21:11:00.000-07:00

Cici is a strange dog, but yet the perfect dog for us. She's not too big, not too small, and quirky enough to fit into our strange lives.

Here she is eating an Easter treat from Gran-E, a special lolly pop made for puppies.

Cici found a new way to sit in her favorite chair; one that allows her to see what we are doing in the kitchen. She even sits there when the gate is open, as she gets a better view of the counter.

It hasn't been all cute fun, though. This week she dug a hole big enough to plant a small tree. She wasn't happy with us for leaving her outside for over 12 hours on a very busy day at work. Hey! At least you were outside and not in your crate!

Coffee

2009-04-05T14:59:00.000-07:00

We found a new coffee place in Lincoln. Cultiva Coffee is about a mile from our house and they do all their roasting in the shop. We are trying out a bunch of different roasts at 6.50 per half pound (very competitive price around here) before we make the leap for a 5lb order, which will be roasted-to-order. By buying local, we hope to accomplish three goals. One, drink really good and fresh coffee. Two, stimulate the local economy and keep Lincoln at the top of the list of the best cities for business and career. Third, reduce our carbon footprint. Cultiva also provides coffee to several of our favorite cafes and restaurants in Lincoln, such as Maggie's and Bread and Cup. I had a latte this morning at their shop and it was the best latte I have ever had (not to mention the most beautiful).

Just a little lovin'

2009-04-03T19:13:00.001-07:00

It's been too busy to blog lately, but when Cici licked Katie's face dry after a run we could not resist sharing.

Some Rooms, Now Filled

2009-03-16T08:36:00.001-07:00

Here are some pictures of the house, now that they have some items (and people) in them! Thanks to Nate for lending me his camera and wide-angle lens.

Moved In!

2009-03-15T16:15:00.000-07:00

Katie and I have now fully moved into the new house. We made record time due to the multitude of friends and family that helped out. Thanks so much to everyone!

Of course, you got fed at the after party, so we owe you nothing! Just kidding - We are now in your eternal debt!

Prison Break

2009-03-07T17:10:00.000-08:00

We're trying to use a baby-gate to keep Cici in the family room only. To keep her from (easily) jumping over, we raised the gate a few inches. Then, she decided to attempt a break through a different technique.

What Lies Beneath

2009-03-07T09:00:00.000-08:00

We are now full-fledged homeowners. Our first task to complete before we move in is to rip up some carpet in the master bedroom and get it replaced. We knew there was some settling in the foundation under the carpet, but we didn't know exactly why until we got down and dirty.
		The master bedroom used to be two rooms, which were then combined into one big room. We enjoy the size, but the foundation was poured around the outline of the old rooms. The settling is due to the corner of the old room and old closet. The owners placed their bed in such a way that the foundation sunk at the corner.
Here are some pictures of the ripping process.

A utility knife was used to cut the carpet into smaller pieces which easily rolled up, except for the occasional spot where a door hinge was in the way. It was held down by tack strips along the edge, so be careful around these sharp strips. After the carpet is removed, the pad can be pulled up. This is more difficult because it doesn't cut as nicely as the more sturdy carpet, and it is glued down along the edges just before the tack strips. It'll take a putty knife to scrape up those remnants.

Day of Food

2009-02-21T17:33:00.000-08:00

This week was one of the busiest weeks we have encountered as graduate students. For whatever reason, 10-15 hour days have become normal but work is getting done. That's what is important, right? Well, to celebrate a hard week and prepare for the next (and many Monday deadlines), we decided to eat well today.

Brunch included Eggs Benedict with a bagel instead of an english muffin and turkey instead of ham. The hollandaise sauce turned out wonderfully and I look forward to experimenting with variations on the sauce in the future. In fact, for dinner, we had the leftover sauce served over sauteed green beans and onions with a pinch of cayenne pepper. This accompanied pork chops served with a pear-ginger sauce a la Elise. Yum!

For Valentine's Day, Derrick bought me a pint of strawberries. The week was so busy that they sat in the fridge until today. For dessert, I made mini-strawberry shortcakes, which turned out perfectly. I used a biscuit cutter from my grandmother and made little 3" shortcakes. They were as delicious as they look in the picture.

I would like to thank all those who support my cooking and baking habits by providing kitchen utensils, sauces, fruits, or empty stomachs for me to fill.

Working Overtime

2009-02-14T06:26:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the lack of posts recently. We've been very busy with school, research, teaching, and getting everything in order to move into our new house. Sometimes, we are so busy, we need to resort to extremes in order to get our work done, as seen here when Katie had a few simultaneous deadlines.

Home

2009-01-17T17:46:00.001-08:00

It's the little things in life.

2009-01-15T07:01:00.000-08:00

Yes, Cici is balancing on the back of the futon. This is her new favorite spot in the house. We get to witness her acrobatics every morning and it always makes us smile. (sorry for the low resolution - this was taken on my iSight because my camera battery is charging.)

The Flying Puppy

2008-12-25T21:17:00.000-08:00

Christmas this year was spent at the Stolee family in Perham, Minnesota. The snow was especially deep as we were able to arrive a day early, avoiding the big snow. We were able to take advantage of the snow, and Cici enjoyed every inch. Take a look at some of the pictures we took as we let her go free in the backyard.

Happy Holidays, from Cici!

2008-12-19T17:10:00.001-08:00

Have a happy holiday season, everyone!

Special thanks to Matt and Adam for the sweater! It's really cold outside, and Cici needed something to keep her warm. She hates putting it on, but she's been very good with it so far.

It's been a while!

2008-12-16T19:54:00.000-08:00

Between Thanksgiving, finals week, projects, papers, presentations and a puppy, the Stolee household has been running ragged these past few weeks. Fortunately, we had time to set up some meager Christmas decorations. Because we've only been married half a year, we only put up half a tree.... but really, our little 12" tree is perfect for the space we have available. The tree skirt is a lovely fat quarter Becky gave me this fall and the ornaments are from my childhood. Derrick promises he will contribute decorations in the years to come. Our nativity scene was a gift last year and was hand-crafted by artisans in El Salvador, purchased fair trade, of course!

As finals week is wrapping up and we are both finished with big presentations today, we spent part of the afternoon relaxing. For Derrick, this meant some napping and some games. For me, it meant quality time with the oven - truffles, chocolate-dipped macaroons, and spritz were on the menu. Delicious and ready for the holidays!

That's it for now, but stay tuned for updates as the Holidays roll around and our lives get more exciting.