some ups and some downs

This has been a roller coaster week here in the Lynchburg. Last Thursday, this huge box arrived at our door. . .

Our new iMac!!! It might be bigger than our television, but it is definitely the coolest piece of technology we've ever owned. And get this. . .it works!! If you didn't know, we've been using Susan Ada's 6 year-old laptop and, let's be honest, it has seen better days. So, hoorah for moving forward.

Curt surprised Susan Ada by taking Friday off so they could spend some time together before he left for his work trip. We had a great time hanging out at home, running errands, and going on a really fun date Saturday night. However, dread it as we may, Sunday came. And Curt is off to South Carolina for 4 weeks and then a week in Georgia with his family immediately following, so he will not be back to Lynchburg until May. Wow. Susan Ada is sure going to miss her man.

Bye bye baby!!

Monday, Susan Ada went back to the doctor to get her stitches out. She took really good care of it for the past 9 days so she was super excited to get that big bandage off and get back to normal life with two hands! The doctor thought the surface looked really good, so she took out the stitches. . .only to discover that they weren't deep enough in the first place so the actual wound had not healed. They could not re-stitch (thank goodness!!) so she glued it shut and put it in a splint for good measure. So, ironically enough, she came out wearing a MUCH bigger bandage than she was wearing when she arrived (compare the pic above with the one below. . .). Bummer!

So, Curt is saving America's electricity supply one nuclear power plant at a time, and Susan Ada (and her big fat boo boo) are off to Raleigh to help a dear friend with her two bouncing boys while she has foot surgery. Gimpies unite!

lemonpalooza

Curt knows how to make killer limoncello. It is refreshing and simple and delicious. So, as the days grow warmer, he has been dying to get this year's batch a-perking. Therefore, we Hamiltons decided that the making of the limoncello will be our new first day of Spring tradition! To start, all you have to do is peel 9 lemons and soak them in vodka for 2-3 weeks. . .

So, then, Monday morning Susan Ada was left with a bowl full of naked lemons:

What did she do? Turn it into a mission, of course. . .what could she make for dinner that would need the juice of 9 lemons and no zest? That "no zest" bit almost did her in, but she persevered and a yummy lemony dinner was (almost) ready for Curt when he got home. . .in her defense, she is operating on a one-hand system for the next 10 days. She made baked chicken with lemon juice and Mediterranean seasoning, spring veggie salad, and mashed potatoes. . .and drank an almond lemon spritzer.
And the grand finale??? Lemon squares! YUM!!

The one thing the doctor insisted upon is that Susan Ada not do dishes until the stitches come out. . .apparently that is just a germ breeding ground. Who knew? So, sweet Curt is learning just how many dishes it takes to keep 2 people well-fed. Hasn't complained one single bit. Susan Ada sure loves this man!!

a lesson in tree grafting

Last fall, one of Susan Ada's friends told us about an apple cider-making demonstration nearby. Naturally we went and checked it out. . .and we met a man named Tom Burford. He is 76 years old, grew up in a neighboring county, and now travels the world helping restore and plant heirloom apple trees. He has worked with Michael Pollan, Monticello, and UVA to name a few. He is a very knowledgeable man who is passionate about sharing his vast experience with apples. Yesterday, he held a workshop in Lynchburg to teach folks how to graft trees. So, of course, we went. We really enjoyed listening to Tom and learned about a lot of heirloom apple varieties. Then we each got to choose 2 trees to graft ourselves. Being the manly man that he is, Curt was a natural. He was slicing trees and sticking them together like a pro in a matter of minutes. Susan Ada, on the other hand, is not quite so gifted. . .


Turns out, it works better if you graft the tree and not your finger. Thankfully, it only took her 7 stitches to figure that out. Here are our 4 grafts that Curt made! Pumpkin Pound Sweet, Maiden Blush, Cox's Orange Pippen, and Virginia Hewes Crab:


A little pout. . .she made it 29 years with no stitches and isn't really excited about starting now. Stitches are for pretty fabric, not people!


Nevertheless, we had a great time and are very hopeful that we will have 4 baby trees in just a few weeks!! PS - Don't tell Steve! Some of these trees are a surprise birthday gift. . .

lewisvegas

As if last weekend weren't enough, the Hamiltons got to see our nieces again not even an entire week later. We headed down to Lewisville where, coincidentally, both Curt and Susan Ada's dad are from. The Hamiltons stayed with the Parents Hamilton for Friday evening and then woke up early Saturday for Bojangles and to move some furniture from Grandma Sheek's house up to the new place in the mountains.

Here's captain safety himself offering a ride to the girls on the excellent bicycle that's new to Susan Ada. It comes with fenders and a rack on the back. Susan Ada has a helmet in Lynchburg. . .

They liked it.

Once we made it up to the mountains we realized that Curt had managed to transfer only his bag from our car to the truck we took to the mountains. This meant we had neither our air mattress nor Susan Ada's bag. Luckily there was an extra air mattress. Susan Ada, on the other hand, was not so lucky. The fact she is wearing Curt's sweatpants isn't nearly as unique as the fact that the camouflage shirt is, in fact, her mother's pajamas. This action shot is of her painting the trim in our bathroom up at the new house. It's going to be awesome.


While Susan Ada was painting the boys were getting started on the wood floors. The bedrooms are mixed 3 and 4 inch-wide ash. The family is lucky to have Brent, our brother-in-law, who knows a few things about how to put down wood floors. This photo is the start of the flooring in our room:

After getting a good start on the paint and the floors it was time to begin our return home. Lucky for us we were able to enjoy a fish fry perpetrated by Curt's dad who caught everything himself. We were also able to go by the Fresh Market and Whole Foods. No offense family, but this might have been the highlight of our trip. We really like nice grocery stores particularly given that we don't have any up here.

Now that we've had some time to enjoy our new to us green pleather ottoman this evening it's time to hit the sack.

them illingworths done come and gone. . .

Last weekend, Susan Ada's sister came and brought her whole troop. The Hamiltons were so excited to get to host the Illingworths. . .and all the fun that entails. They arrived late Friday night so we pretty much all went to bed. Saturday morning we stuffed ourselves with sweet potato waffles and then went to a nearby park. We had heard it had a train on display so we went on a treasure hunt. It was fun to explore just a little more of the Lynchburg. Then we had lunch and celebrated Brent and Cynthia's birthdays. . .they are within 2 weeks of each other so that is pretty convenient. Curt made them a delicious 3 layer German chocolate cake. Oh my my!! That afternoon we took the whole troop to look at a house we are interested in buying. We actually really liked it, but need to wait until Curt gets back in May to pursue it any further. We are trusting that if God wants us there, it will still be waiting when we are actually ready to purchase. The rest of the day we were pretty lazy. The little girls drew lots of pictures and the big kids just enjoyed hanging out. Sunday morning was a downpour so we had a super lazy morning and then sent them off with a stop at our local frozen yogurt parlor. Yummy! Yay for fun family visits!

Kate discovered that she fit perfectly in our window sill:

daycay: roanoke, va

We have been wanting to explore Roanoke for quite some time now. It's only about an hour away from us, and we had heard there was a fun downtown scene to explore. So, since yesterday was warm and sunny and Susan Ada hadn't left Lynchburg in a month. . .we took a day trip to Roanoke. The drive there is quite pretty as the mountains get a little closer with every passing mile. We were a little surprised at just how bustling the downtown was. It felt like a real city! They had a wonderful market downtown with lots of shops to visit. We had a nice lunch then wandered around. They also have a pedestrian bridge that goes over a massive maze of train tracks. We enjoyed watching the train go under us.



Bye bye train!

There is another town on the outskirts of Roanoke that we had heard of as well so we decided to drive over and take a look. On the way there, what to our wondering eyes did appear, but a Krispy Kreme with fresh doughnuts! We were so excited that we stopped and purchased a full dozen. . .and promptly shoved hot melty doughnuts in our faces. Delicious!!!

I had to do a close-up of my new boots and the skirt I just made to go with them. . .

Then we continued on to Salem. It was a nice town, but very small and not quite as exciting as we had expected. Just in case you forgot where you were, you could go to the benches outside the library and be reminded. . .

We stopped in Roanoke again on the way back home for a yummy Mexican dinner. Brad Paisley was having a concert there that evening so the dining crowd was pretty entertaining. When we arrived home we discovered that the little dress elves had visited again. . .

Always nice to end a good day with a giggle.

my knight in shining armor!

When Curt heard about the package kidnapping he replied with utter confidence that he was certain he could get the package out of our mailbox. Knowing the challenge before him, I told him I would believe it when I saw it. So, this morning we went downstairs to face the enemy. It was a brutal battle, but Curt prevailed!!


He simply cut the package open while it was still in our mailbox. Those engineer minds just live to solve the problems of life. That's not all, though. Turns out, the package was amazing!! When I lived in India, there was a VERY spicy pepper that was delicious and I talk about it every time we eat Indian food. Curt's dad currently has some Nepali students so Curt asked one of them if he could get me some of this yumminess. Apparently they had all been working on this since last October and the student's parents brought me some Dallay corsani pickle from Nepal!! I seriously have the most thoughtful husband ever. . .and a pretty great father-in-law to boot. Guess what these Hamiltons will be having for dinner this week. . .