Introducing Our New and Improved Mud Room

After three long days of cleaning, taping, painting, repeat, our mud room has a new look. This small space is used several times daily -- it's where we keep everything sports, shoes, skis, and everything dog. And it's actually the main and only entry we use for the house. So I decided it needed a makeover.
This is what it looked like before--

Three different tints of white or grey, dirty, paint stained and plain boring and ugly.

It took one coat of a strange sort of pumpkin brown, then using a special brush and technique, I applied the second coat using a darker brown. It is supposed to look rusty, or at least rustIC. Once I was done with that, I realized that I had to do the trim (red), and then I realized I needed to do the ceiling. Oh, and if you are wondering, no Jim was not participating in this project.

Now I am sore, but pleased.

Tequila-Lime Grilled Flank Steak Recipe

At the request of several friends, the following is the recipe I used to make grilled flank steak last night. I made a few tweaks to what I found in an online recipe.

TEQUILA-LIME-GARLIC GRILLED FLANK STEAK

Ingredients
1 cup roughly chopped garlic (approximately 3 bulbs)
3/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice (approximately 8 large limes)
1/2 cup clear tequila
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 bunch roughly chopped cilantro, leaves and upper stems
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and diced
1 serrano pepper, seeded and diced
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1 tablespoon freshly cracked black pepper
1 1/2 to 2 pounds flank steak

(Optional garnish w/sliced tomatoes & avocados)

Directions
Combine the garlic, lime juice, tequila, soy sauce, cilantro, peppers, cumin, and black pepper in a resealable plastic gallon bag. Add the steak and let marinate in refrigerator for 2 hours. Remove from refrigerator, let marinate at room temperature another 30 to 45 minutes.

Prepare grill to medium-high heat. Remove steak from marinade, reserving marinade. Put marinade in small sauce pot and bring to a boil, then strain and reserve. Put tortillas on the corner of the grill and flip package a few times to heat through while steak is cooking

Place steak on the grill, cook for 4 minutes, turn 180 degrees, and cook for 3 minutes more (to create cross grill marks). Flip over and finish cooking for 3 to 5 minutes, depending on desired doneness. Remove from grill to a cutting board, and let rest, lightly covered, for 5 minutes. Slice against grain and serve.

We had ours this way, online they suggest serving in corn tortillas for a fajita style dish.
ENJOY -- and if you make it, let me know how you liked it!

The Bears are back!

This is our garbage bin after a bear attack in the middle of the night, last night. We have a "bear proof" garbage bin, and it was locked when we last used it. However, all evidence suggests someone decided he/she had to use our garbage last night and did not re-lock it. Thus the mess in the mornin'. Jim was really happy cleaning it up, but at the same time realized it could have been much worse.
Welcome back bears!

Busy bees

It's been a remarkably busy few days here at the Lillypad. We've cleaned closets, swapped summer and winter clothes and stored them, cleaned the basement and put stuff up in the attic. It marks the end of winter/spring and the much anticipated start of our summer lives here in Telluride, so all that work was worth it.

We had a chest of drawers made by a local artist/carpenter to fit into our upstairs hallway closet to replace the one that was literally falling apart. He made it out of beach wood, a heavy, rustic looking wood. He and Jim hoisted it up the stairs yesterday, fortunately while I was not here. Apparently it was unbelievably heavy, and negotiating the narrow stairs proved to be quite the job. It really came out great and is nothing like what you can get in retail stores.

We also finally ordered our bedding, Jim's holiday gift to me last year. We got a bear-themed chenille comforter set that comes with decorative pillows. It was much less than half of what I had been looking at, so now we won't worry as much when Boomer and Riley jump up on the bed.

I also made a food and supply run to Montrose Friday and came home with a Jeep full. It's easier for me to spend money when I know I'm getting food we need that is much less than if we purchased it in Telluride. Our basement counter once again looks like Kroger, and both refrigerators and freezers are packed. It will be a challenge not to consume more just because it's there.

It's been a little more cloudy and humid than usual for us at this time of year. But that hasn't kept us from starting our hiking! We hiked Bear Creek on Thursday and Judd Wiebe this morning. Our legs feel it, though we both noticed that we were in better hiking condition than the beginnings of previous summers. Boomer and Riley are thrilled to be out on the trails again, as are we.

Great visit, great memories

We had a spectacular 2+week trip to Atlanta filled with lots family time and some visiting with good friends. Too much to write about, so instead I will upload a bunch of photos. The trip started off with Kaitlin's 20th birthday party. Happy Birthday!

We stayed at my parent's house in Sandy Springs with our dogs (thanks Mom!) and had lots of fun dinners together, including this one with my sister and her family.


Kaitlin's party was the first time Jim and I ever had our two granddaughters together.


Family & extended family at Kaitlin's birthday party.


Our granddaughter Roxanne definitely enjoyed the birthday cake!


And granddaughter Mary Ansley digged the cake/ice cream combo.


Camera battery died before our trip was over, so not all of the visits are captured, though the memories are digitized in our brains! Had a good two day drive back, and now it's home again, home again jiggity-jig. And we are doing the jig.