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I have been working on expanding my repertoire of foods that I can cook. My standard fare tends to be mac & cheese and grilled chicken with my idea of a fancy meal being a Cornish Game Hen baked in the oven with some instant rice on the side. I started searching my cookbooks and the Internet for recipes and came across a few that I have really enjoyed. I found the above titled recipe at the EatingWell website and have provided the link here:  http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/chicken_piccata_with_pasta_mushrooms.html  I will admit that I had to look up what wines that I should buy for use in cooking chicken and found that a pinot grigio works really well. I bought a bottle at my local liquor store for roughly $6. You also get to enjoy the rest of the bottle with and after dinner! YAY! I usually shy away from recipes like this one with ingredients I have never eaten much less cooked, but I found this one wasn’t too difficult. You can find capers in the local Wal-Mart grocery store. I did substitute linguini for the angel hair pasta but the wheat stuff is pretty good. So be adventurous, try it out, and let me know if you liked it! – Melanie

I really enjoyed hosting our entire family for Thanksgiving! Everyone was stuffed and we still had a ton of food left over. As I am the youngest of three tThis was the first time I have actually gotten to host. We already had the house decorated for Christmas and we received lots of compliments on how beautiful it looked.  We also had a great weekend after Thankgiving. It is a tradition I have started with my neice and nephews that every year we spend the weekend together after Thanksgiving. This year I got to share this tradition with Tim and Timmy. We stayed at the Weston , went ice skating, had dinner at Skies, went to a show at the Coterie and about a hundred other things. This was by far the most we have ever done in a weekend and it seemed that everyone had a good time. I was so proud of Timmy as this was his first time ice skating and he did so well! He held my hand around the rink about 5 times and then he was ready to go it alone! I’m starting to get the itch to do my holiday baking but want to wait until my Christmas present arrives. Yes I already know what I am getting from my wonderful husband but don’t want to ruin the suprise for any of you that may be reading this. We actually have finished most of our Christmas shopping this year. We used Amazon.com to do our shopping from the comfort of our living room and it was wonderful! I hope everyone has a happy holiday! – Melanie

We have been doing a lot of fun things over the past few months and the countdown to Timmy’s 8th birthday has begun! Only 10 more days! We were just looking at a picture of him this morning that was taken in April and couldn’t believe how much he has changed in just a few short months!

We finished off the Worlds of Fun Season by going one last time. Timmy loves the roller coasters! He is the bravest 7 year old I know! I wouldn’t ride them until I was 13 and I practically had to be forced! Our only regret was not getting one last funnel cake on the way out.

Halloween was fun as the house was decorated to look like it had a spirit of it’s own. I loved hearing all the kids make comments as they came to the front porch for candy! The little bitty ones had to be talked into walking up the front steps. Timmy was a ninja for Halloween and did the best he could to fill up his pillowcase with candy. He and his dad had a good time trick-or-treating.   We also made a trip before Halloween to pick out our pumpkins and Tim did an excellent job navigating us through the corn mazes!

Football season has officially ended for Timmy as his last game was in Lexington on Saturday. His team was undefeated this year! We have been playing catch outside a lot and Timmy can run routes! We both think he will make a great wide receiver! We also attended the UCM vs. Maryville game that day. Unfortunately UCM lost because of  a 47 yard field goal kicked at the last possible second of the game. The record breaking crowd was counting down the clock thinking UCM had clenched it. Wow, it was fun to go but sad to see them lose. We also watched the Cheifs lose the next day in a very disappointing game, but finally got to celebrate a victory when the Richmond Spartans beat Maryville in their second playoff game! My nephew Brock is a Freshman this year and dresses out for the games. He occasionally gets to play when they are way ahead in the 4th quarter.

We are hosting Thanksgiving dinner this year and I am super excited! I am having to resist the strong urge to get all the Christmas decorations out already! I have already gone shopping and gotten some of my holiday baking supplies! Christmas here we come! – Melanie

I’ve recently got a new car. A couple year old Cadillac DeVille, with somewhere south of 25,000 miles. It was my Grandfathers car, and since his passing it has become mine. I remember when he got it. New cars were always a big deal to my Grandma and Grandpa. I remember lots of cars they had over the years. The super cool early eighties Buick Riviera. It was a coupe with those seemingly never-ending doors that all those eighties coupes had. The hood went on forever, and it had leather everywhere! I remember looking out the front windshield from the back seat and thinking to myself, “how could anyone drive a car with a hood that big?” Then there was a covey of minivans for the trips to lunch after Sunday mass. Then came a cool woody Oldsmobile Cutlass wagon. Then the Cadillac. My Grandpa always had new keys cut for his cars on Cadillac blanks. He often said the only time he’d ride in a cadi was in a hearse in his casket. Well it didn’t turn out that way… I can’t imagine how he talked grandma in to such an extravagance, but I’m happy he did. Not because it’s mine now, I would have liked any car that was my grandpa’s, but because I think it’s great someone so devoted to someone else should get something he, himself, always wanted.
I gotta say, it rides so incredibly smooth, I see why people like them. Joe teases me that it’s perfect for me cause it’s an old man’s car, and I’m an old man. Maybe, at least old men have wisdom. And I can see why they like Cadillacs… I do too. – Tim

So the female voice of the house is finally here! Tim has set me up so I can update our family site.  Just a short hello for today but soon I’ll be posting pics and news about the Hamilton household! – Melanie

Our Wedding from Timothy Hamilton on Vimeo.

Here’s a link to a gallery of all the wedding pictures. I haven’t had time to sort or retouch them yet, so here they are in their entirety! Enjoy! Eventually I’ll put them into a slideshow and embed it here. Wedding video to follow shortly, it’s uploading to Vimeo right now.

Wedding 5-15-2010

Spring has sprung and the grounds are looking fine. Fine indeed. I will try to get some pictures of the remaining tulips (over 200 this year) and the new annuals that we planted surrounding the back decks and patios. The hot tub is full and seems to be operating optimally. Need to come up with some sort of idiots guide to hot tub chemical maintenance.

The campaign is over, and so is my use of Hamiltonius for political purposes. Back to just my blog. Enjoy!

Tim