To celebrate the start of the summer squash season (and the first fruits from our veggie garden this summer!), I went big with Giada’s Verdure al Forno.  This time, I even found fontina cheese at the grocery store, and let me tell you… yum.  I mean really.  If you don’t think parmesan, fontina, and mozzarella mixed with squash, breadcrumbs, and heavy cream are good, you’re crazy.  I know, “Who am I to say you’re crazy?!”  Try it and then tell me what you think.  This is certainly not the healthiest way to eat your veggies this summer, but I’m willing to be it’s one of the tastiest.

Peanut agrees with me, although he might be eyeing the leftover pulled pork, not the squash.

That was family brewing time at its best, thus the burner and such in the background and dinner in the driveway.  Nobody minded eating in the driveway a bit.

If that’s not enough excitement for one day, check this out:

Yes, Scott did rip out a huge chunk of our floor this morning while I was selecting books at the library and making event calendars and whatnot.  Color me impressed!

In case you’re wondering why we’re replacing perfectly nice laminate flooring, let me remind you:

See, it looks like a messy food trough for dogs, complete with blurry dog.  That’s not what most people look for in a floor, so we’re changing it to this:

We checked into lots of options for flooring–reclaimed wood, antique but not reclaimed wood, smaller and/or more local mills, bamboo floors, and last but not least, Lumber Liquidators.  As much as we wanted to go with a cool, environmentally responsible option, it just made more sense this time at the good ol’ LL.  The pre-finished option meant at least a week less manual labor and a total lack of fumes in the house.  The slightly cheaper cost meant that shipping at the next best option made it for reals more expensive.  So Lumber Liquidators won in the end.

This was their best competition in our book: Elmwood Reclaimed Timber.  Their prices are reasonable, their products are gorgeous (samples were even better in person than catalog pictures or website), and we really really like them.  But we also like living without fumes and being able to buy Peanut all the kibbles his heart desires.

I really like our pick though.  It looks a little bit rustic without that seriously distressed look (gently rustic).  It’s dark (as Scott prefers) without being super dark (which I don’ prefer).  It’s just right.