Have You Ever....

...tried to get rid of a tree stump and its roots? No? Well, let me give you one piece of advice: HIRE A PROFESSIONAL!! Seriously, unless you have a LOT of time and energy, get someone else to do this particular job!

My dear hubby and I (well, mostly I) have decided to take on this task ourselves. Because I felt like SOMETHING needed to be done at least SOMEWHERE in our new house, we went out and got some shovels and what not and started digging... this is what it looked like when we started:

Two weekends and a lot of sweat later, this is what it looks like now:

I KNOW! Not much different, huh? And look at those roots! it's amazing how long they are. They just keep going! I now have a love-hate relationship with this tree, I'm serious! As much as I like doing all that stuff, meaning, I don't mind getting down and dirty, but you just never know where those roots will take you! One moment you think "Aha! This one must be the one that's surfacing again over on the other end of the backyard." But NO! That one completely disappears into the ground, impossible to be dug out, and the one you though it was, is well, connected to one you haven't even figured out its origin yet!! AHRGG!!

Dear hubby has now drilled holes into the stump (which is still sitting there, because for that one we REALLY have to get a professional), and poured bleach into it. My mother-in-law gave him that tip. Supposedly, it will kill it, because right now, it wants to sprout more, and we really need to get rid of it (sorry my dear tree, but you HAVE to go!)

Sofia had a lot of fun "helping" and kept asking for the "hands", which are my gardening gloves:

Oh well, it won't be finished for Sofia's Birthday, but that's ok. I am learning to accept that I can't have everything done at once, as much as I want to.

I'll keep you posted on how everything is coming along!

Toodles,

B

Chicken Curry Recipe ~ To Die For!

Hey all!

A couple of posts ago, I mentioned that I'd like to share some recipes with you. Well, here is the first one! I'd love to hear your comments on it if you decide to try it!!

The recipe is for four people, but you can easily adjust it by cutting it in half. I try to use organic ingredients whenever possible, but that's totally up to you. You can also subsitute the chicken with prawns! I made this last night for dinner and my hubby thought it was super delicious! So i think it's worth sharing with you all! Here it goes:

• 1 cup of your favorite rice (or Couscous works well, too!)
• 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (or if you buy it fresh from the butcher, they might give you a whole breast, which is actually two)
• 1 Apple
• 1 medium can of Pineapple (about 8 slices)
• 1/4 cup of Pineapple juice from that can
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 4 Tbsp. Sour cream (you can use low fat, if you like)
• 1/2 cup of Chicken Stock
• 2 Tbsp. of your favorite Curry
• 1 Tbsp. Flour
• 1 Tbsp. Butter
• Salt to taste

Cook the rice (or couscous) according to directions on package. I used brown Jasmin rice, which worked beautifully.

Cut up your chicken into stripes (like you would for a stir fry) and brown it in a frying pan. Meanwhile, peel and cut up your apple in bite sizes, but not too thick. Open your can of pineapple and make sure you save the juice for later.

Drain the chicken if necessary, return to pan and dust it with the flour and curry. Stir well, making sure everything is evenly covered. Then add your chicken stock, the pineapple juice and the apple slices. Bring everything to a boil, then reduce and cook uncovered for approx. 20 minutes.

Stir in your frozen peas so that they have enough time to thaw (about 5 minutes). TAKE YOUR PAN OFF THE FIRE and add your sour cream just at the end. You don't want to heat it up anymore after you added the sour cream, it will curdle! Add salt to taste.

In a separate frying pan add the butter and heat, then add your pineapple slices and brown them on each side. Put on top of curry chicken and serve with rice. Voila! Bon Appetit, or En Guete, as we say.

It's Day Two Of My Workout Regime

I have started working out again after an umm, maybe 5 month hiatus. We have been really busy, first my daughter and I went to Switzerland to visit my family for six weeks (hubby followed us and stayed with us for the last two weeks, then we got all caught up in the house search, which, I am happy to report now, has ended in acutally moving into our "new" house mid August! Yay, for us! I'm saying "new", because it's actually a fixer-upper, or what's called "Starter Home" in Real Estate lingo. It's acutally in pretty good shape, but I'm sure I will find time to give it a whole separate section in my blog.

So, I have visited my local YMCA this week and got settled in today so that I can use their nifty Fitlinxx program. It's cool because it records my work out and logs my progress automatically! I am very excited about it, because my daughter seems to like the child watch, that's available! phew! It's so much easier to work out, knowing she's having fun, I'll tell ya!

I've been using the elyptical machine and the treadmill, plus some weight lifting machines, but what I'd really like to try out (and I'm going to this Sunday) is their Zumba class (I hope to be looking like the gal with the cut off shirt and blue bra showing off her fabu abs in NO time, folks!)! It is suppose to be great aerobic exercise, as you can see if you click the link. Anyway, I have more possibilities up my sleeve, but I will try these first.

So wish me luck! I have to lose about 20lbs...hmpf

Und nun auf Deutsch!

Hallo meine Lieben!

Herzlich wilkommen zu meinem Blog! Hier koennt Ihr mein Leben hier in Kalifornien mitverfolgen, da ich leider nicht immer Zeit habe mit Euch allen zu telefonieren. Ausserdem, ist es eine gute Uebung fuer mich in Deutsch zu schreiben. Ich merke es schon jetzt, dass es mir schwer faellt. Oh jeh!

Kommt bald wieder und seht wie sich mein Blog so entwickelt und seit so lieb und schreibt mal wieder, ja?

Liebe Gruesse, Eure

Bettina

Hellooooo World Wide Web!

Tadaa! Here I am! First of all I must give Janine Evans a shout out for inspiring me to start this blog. Unfortunately, I have no clue whatsoever at this point, whether I'll be acutally be doing this on a regular basis or not. I'd love to, but I know myself too well. In fact, this is not my first blog, I've tried it before and failed miserably after about three entires, because I all of a sudden realized that everything I write in here can actually be SEEN by anybody, yikes! So I guess I have to get over it, because after all, that's what blogging is all about! And since my husband and even my daughter Sofia have a blog, I really don't have an excuse.

So, what is my purpose here? To tell you the truth, I don't really know. I think what I'd like to share with all of you is my ideas, craft projects, recipes, mishaps, photos, and whatever else is going on at the casa Fernandez.

I will periodically post in German so that my family and friends in Switzerland can follow my life, since I'm very bad at calling them...

Well, I guess that's it for now, so thanks folks, for reading and feel free to comment, but please be polite, this is a G rated blog!

luv,
B