New Construction

After 8 years on Blogger, Jon and I have decided to move to our own web address...  yikes, I hate learning a new system... yet I kind of love it at the same time!  If you read my blog on a regular basis (Well as regularly as I post anyway) then stay tuned for the new address.  We hope to be up and running in the next couple of weeks...  

We are also planning to combine our Photography portfolio into the same site since we haven't been doing a lot of work outside of friends and family.  Exciting things coming!

Rolls!

I made these rolls for dinner tonight.  OMG they smell so good, I can't wait to dig in!  Click on Bun Recipe to view the link.  They are "marketed" on the original post as bread bowls...  I tried that a few months ago and found that it didn't work that well... partially because I used whole wheat flour which made them very dense, and partially because I didn't make them big enough.  Tonight, we are having them with burgers!  So I feel really confident that they are going to be a huge hit!

No pain, no gain

Happy Easter!  The big bunny left each of our kids three of these homemade Jon specials... Chocolate peanut butter eggs. They are delicious, but supper rich and could be half the size! 

Jon totally out did himself today with Easter brunch... It was really good. We enjoyed ham, roasted carrots and parsnips, bacon wrapped asparagus, colored Chala bread, and deviled eggs (traditional and avacado filled). For desert, the children enjoyed their graham cracker peep houses!

The rest of us had Blueberry lemon cake!

We washed it all down with a mimosa! Or orange sunrise drinks for the littles. 

Unfortunately, Jon had an unpleasant encounter with a Cerano pepper, and spent most of the day in agony as it's oils stimulated the pain receptors in his hands! :(

Carrots?

Carrot Play Dough

I found this on a pin on Pinterest, and I had to do it.  So after I coaxed Ava to bed for a nap this afternoon (wasn't too hard since she has a little cold right now) I crept back downstairs and made this orange play dough.  Since she woke up just as it was finishing, Jon had to stuff it into the pastry bags and tie it off after they went to bed for the night! I am super excited for Easter morning, aren't they simply adorable?!?

We also decided to keep the candy to a minimum this year, and instead, we picked up a couple of Lego kits.  The good bunny is going to split up the bags inside the kits so that they each have a part to  put together.  Legos are huge right now so I think it will be a huge hit... not to mention that we bought Lego MOVIE kits...  Ava is going to flip when she sees that UniKitty and Emmett!

Of course we did get the obligatory chocolate bunnies, and I am sure that Grandma M will not arrive sans bags of chocolate... so I think Easter is going to go over quite well with the little people.  For the adults, Jon is planning quite the spread!  I am so sick of hearing and thinking about it as it makes my stomach growl!  

Pi

All the geeks out there know that Friday was Pi day.  Jon made this amazing, rich, chocolate pie in celebration.  It was delicious, but very rich.  

Today we did a lot of clean up for the week ahead.  I made Sweet Potato Waffles from a recipe Jon found on Pinterest... very good!  Even the kids ate them well... although I didn't see the point in sharing that they were eating sweet potatoes either.  

I ran 7 miles on my training plan, agreed to run a half in place of Jon if he can't run the Cellcom in May... WHAT!?!  I can't believe I did that either.  Its been rolling around in my mind for a week or so, I know how frustrated he is.  I also know there isn't much I can do to help him, so if it eases his mind at all... there it is.  I will run a 1/2 Marathon in his place (yes, he is signed up for the full, but I am not going to be ready for a full in 9 weeks...) if Jon can't get there.  If he can, he can run his own half or full... but we will see... 

I made two loaves of bread, well Jon finished them while I was running... I finished his bunny shaped homemade graham crackers, finished the laundry (Jon folded and put away) and well I think that was it. It was enough for one day, I think... 

So Happy Pi Day... And 

CONGRATULATIONS to Melissa, my sister in law who finished her first Half Marathon today!  Well done!

DIY

I have been wanting to try one of these large print DIY projects for years... Last week an ad popped up on Facebook, and I had my chance.

The National Photo Lab was the company in the ad, and the ad was for a sale, 50% off large sized prints. I ordered a 30 x 40 in print for $22! Which is a huge discount! I decided not to pay $65 to mount it to foam core through their lab. Instead, I went to Home Depot and had them cut me a 32 x 42 in piece of 1/4in birch underlayment. I selected 2 10 foot 1/4 x 1.5in pine trim and went on my way. Jon helped me glue the print to my birch with spray adhesive. Then he cut my trim to 32.25 and 39 in lengths. I sanded the edges lightly by hand then laid them out. We taped the corners wth masking tape and flipped the whole thing. Finally I used 3/8ths in staples and worked them around the perimeter. I attached some hooks and a wire. 

I think it is amazing and I love the results. $50 investment and some time.

Crochet

Crocheted this hat for Ava two years ago.

I crocheted a scarf today with the most gorgeous variegated blue home spun yarn.  It was a little frustrating at first because I couldn't find the end of the yarn.  The yarn was also a looser weave, so it was difficult to see where to insert the needle...  But in the end I was really happy with it.  I gave it to one of the awesome nurses that I work with.  She had jokingly asked me about it yesterday, so I took the inspiration and ran with it.

It has been a while since I last crocheted anything.  But the other day I saw all my yarn sitting there wanting to be used, so I pulled it out and started a blanket.  Which is what I was working on when she made her comment.  I wasn't really loving the blanket, so we will see what I do with that.

Bread

I have been trying really hard to find a bread recipe that is both heathy and tasty... and I have found it.  OMG!  This bread is amazingly delicious, homemade, and whole grain! The recipe worked on my first try, which gives it a huge thumbs up in my book.  It was reasonably easy, and didn't take too long.  I put together and baked the first loaf in its entirety just to make sure it was going to work out.  When it did, I went ahead and made another loaf.  I started baking the first loaf around 9:30, and finished the second around 3.  If I had known that it would be so successful, I would have pumped out the additional loafs while I waited for the first hour long rise, therefore all the loaves would have been finished in a shorter time period.  I definitely don't consider myself to be an adept enough baker to double ingredients with the confidence that it will all work out the same.  So therefore, I will continue to make separate batches, which is easy enough. 

I love that I can control what I put in my bread.  I love that I have to work for a little bit more, and because of having to work for it, I think I actually like to eat it and savor it more.  Maybe that sounds silly, but I appreciate it in a totally different way.  I have the same feelings about my veggies that I grow in summer.  

Pitas

Last week I pinned a recipe for home made Pita bread on one of my boards in Pinterest.  

Saturday night we had an opportunity to test it out.  

After mixing, sugar, yeast, warm water and flour.  Letting the mixture rest for 10 minutes. Then I added some salt, olive oil, and the rest of the flour. I kneaded the dough until elastic and non sticky.  Then I coated it in oil and left in a warm place to rise for 2 hours.  The rising was really cool as the saran wrap bubbled up on top creating a dome.  

Then I punched down the dough, kneaded gently for a few minutes and cut into sixteen small balls.  Jon rolled them out creating 7-8in disks.  The disks were placed on a lightly floured towel and allowed to rest for 20 minutes.  In the meantime, I preheated the oven to 500 degrees F. I placed a baking sheet in the oven as it preheated.  

After the 20 minute rest, I placed two on the cookie sheet at a time. After 3-5 minutes they puffed up perfectly.  They were fluffy but hollow on the inside.  Perfect for gyros! The kids didn't even fight us on my requirement that they put either lettuce or tomatoes in them! 

Vomiting Hearts

Its that time of year, yup the month of love, or the month of classrooms begging for food donations for their Valentines celebration, and notes home reminding families that if they want their kids to distribute Valentines cards, they MUST distribute them to every member of the class.  Call me naive, but are there really parents out there who allow their child to just bring in a valentine for their select favorite besties? Ok, I am not that naive, I know it has probably happened... I just find it stupid. Parents (of students in 4K and 2nd grade no less) should be smart enough to know that their kid can't just bring something in for a couple kids in the class.  Humbug!

Montessori kicked of the season of love with an email well over a month ago introducing me to a concept that I kind of love.  The email told us that it is Montessori tradition not to hand out individual Valentines, but to do something for the classroom.  So my heart themed mobile (pictured above) was born.  I loved this idea so much, that I chose to do Wes' Valentines that way too.  We traced, cut out and labeled each of the paper hearts with the names of their classmates.  Then Jon and I tied them to strings and suspended them from a foam heart shaped ring.  I affixed a string for hanging, and Jon helped me glue Valentines colored ribbon to the foam.  It was inspired by some pins on Pinterest that were also Valentines themed.  Don't hate me, I love Pinterest. Taylor and Alivya helped Dad print out and cut Minecraft bookmarks which they then labeled with the names of their classmates.

Wes' teachers hung his over the snack table, which I thought was totally appropriate.  Ava and I got to join Wes in his 4K class room for a Valentine's celebration.  They frosted, sprinkled and ate heart shaped sugar cookies. Then they rolled a really big dice to make a fun big Valentine. Then they made fun paper mice out of different sized hearts, and finally we did gross motor "exercise".  The kids rolled another big dice which told us what exercise we were going to do (hence a lot of hopping on one foot) and then another kid picked a card which told us how many.  So we did a lot of hopping on one foot, running in place, jumping on two feet and jumping jacks! After that we settled down to sing at the carpet before going home for the day. 

Update: Woolite, Celery, Onions

So, last week I posted on a few Pinterest pins that I tried out.  This week, I thought I should update on the progress.

Woolite:
I used my Woolite to cover all the grout in the kitchen this morning.  I covered all the grout before I left to bring the kids to school.  When I got back I got out a towel and hand scrubbed all the lines.  I worked in small six square areas, scrubbing with my brush first, then gently with a damp cloth.  Finally I towel dried the floor using the towel I was kneeling on.  As I rinsed my cloth I watched all the dirt deposit into my tub.  I had to switch out the water several times.  It was amazing.  I didn't even know what color the grout was supposed to be.  I don't know how much the Woolite really effected the effort of cleaning the grout.  I felt like my scrubbing with water almost did most of it.  So I might just try it next time without Woolite and see how it goes.

Celery:
After posting about my celery, growing in a mason jar from the remnants of a bunch that was rotting in our fridge, I planted it in a pot with dirt.  I didn't think about how I would get the celery out of the jar when I first put it in there.  Honestly, I didn't think it would grow.  So when it came to getting it out of the jar... well it took a beating.  I planted it anyway, but it was really doomed.  It never showed more growth after that and today, I'm calling it.  Time of death: 12:52pm.

Onions:
Another pin I saw showed people putting green onions in a jar with water.  They said that the onions could be used like herbs and would regrow... somewhat indefinitely.  As it turned out, I had some of those starting to rot in my fridge too.  So I put them in a jar with water, and placed it on my window sill.  It took a few days, but suddenly I noticed that the leaves had all perked up.  I clipped off the brown stems, and new bright green ones slowly replaced them.  Jon and I actually have been clipping on them too.  I can see in the jar how the roots have spread out and they look really healthy thus far... I am not sure if I intend to plant them or not.

On a side, we also had some yellow onions that started to sprout on us in our pantry.  Since I was experimenting with the green onions and celery, I just went ahead and planted them.  Actually, I told Jon that he should plant them, he was the one who just kept buying more and more onions thereby leaving them to spawn in the cupboard.  He took them and put them on top of some dirt in the pot I had designated for them.  But he did not actually plant them.  So after a few days of this, I got sick of waiting and did it myself.  I was surprised that the growth had almost doubled, and the onions had rooted into the dirt all by themselves.  I am not sure what I expect to achieve from this, but maybe I can transplant them in the garden when the weather is suitable.  As for now, they are doing really well, green and growing, even though I am terrible at watering.

Basil:
I rescued two of my basil plants that I grew from seeds last year, I potted them, and we have been eating from them since early summer.  I am really sad to report that they have taken a strong turn for the worse.  One is totally dead, and the other is so wilted that I don't think I can save it.  I am not really sure what went wrong, but I think they didn't like being moved to the patio door light.  I never knew that indoor plants could be so particular.  So I guess its time to plant some new seeds and see how it goes.

Grout

Allow me to preface this post by explaining that of all the neglected places in my house, this floor has been MOST neglected.  Yes we sweep it, and we even "mop" it (if Swiffer counts as mopping, and I am not convinced it does...).  So this is something I have been dreading, grout cleaning sounds like the worst task in the world.  

So I found this Pinterest Pin that claimed that Woolite carpet cleaner was "amazing".  It claimed that she (yes I am being a little sexist here, but I assume it was a she...) sprayed it on the grout and minutes later she whipped it away with a damp rag and voila "amazing"! So I had Jon pick up some Woolite last week, but I didn't get around to testing it out until this morning. I knew I only had a few minutes to try it, so I pick the worst area of the floor and took a "before" photo (the one just above this text).  I sprayed on the Woolite and let it sit for about 5 minutes.  Then I got down with a scrub brush and rubbed in the foam a little.  Since I didn't have a lot of time, I focused only on these two squares, at least that was my intent.  The stuff sprays though, and a bit more than I planned was covered, so I went ahead and did the whole area.  

When I got down to scrub, I was very underwhelmed.  It didn't appear that anything was getting clean.  After a minute or so of scrubbing, I covered the bottom of a small bucket with water.  I wet a towel and started whipping the grout.  Pretty quickly my rag was covered with dirt.  I rinsed it in the bucket and watched the dirt empty into the bucket.  The more I scrubbed with the rag, the more dirt came off.   After 10 minutes of invested time, I cleaned an area that was 3 foot long tiles wide and 2 tiles deep.  The first picture posted above with the Woolite can is the "After" photo.  

Below is a close up of a tile that I only did half way.  Obviously, I have more work to do, but I thought for the small investment of time I put in, it did give me some results.  Tomorrow, when I get around to the rest of the kitchen, I am expecting a better result yet.  Our tiles are also textured, so that there are these nasty grooves that dirt tends to stick in too.  As a bonus, since the spray sometimes goes wider than the grout, and the scrubbing moves it around, it also cleaned those grooves.  Without any really extra investment.  

So I think this is a "do it again" Pinterest project.  (But not for another 8 years! lol)

Winter Cleaning?

I started school in 2009 after Jon lost his job in that huge auto industry depression.  Since then, house work has been limited to pretty much laundry and sweeping.  So, now that I graduated and passed my board exam, its time to take back the house!  I pinned a bunch of cleaning tips on my Pinterest boards, and now I am putting a lot of that advice to use.  

For today's project, my goal was to clean the vents from the above the stove Microwave Stove Hood. That hood had accumulated this film of truly nasty grime. I have tried over these years (although admiringly only half heartedly) to clean it off to no avail.  I actually tried another Pin to get the stuff off the microwave... the tip was to use mineral oil and it should wipe right off.  Well, not so much.  I was able to scrub a bunch off, but I think Soft Scrub actually worked better.  Still, both require exhausting elbow grease.  

Anyway, back to these grease and dust covered grimy filters.  I boiled water in a pot, then added (VERY SLOWLY) 1 Cup of Baking soda.  Then I added the filters.  I agitated the water periodically, which did seem to help. 

After about 15 minutes, I started taking them out with a tongs one at a time and rinsing them with a forceful hot water stream.  Then I replaced them back in the pot, flipping occasionally.  I decided after about a half hour that it was good enough. I wiped a little more off with a rag, but I am pretty pleased with how they turned out.  

And, since we were on the topic, I opened the light compartment, the bulb to which had burned out years ago.  I was annoyed to find out that I couldn't turn the darn thing out.  Much to our surprise, we found that they had a dob of silicone attaching the bulb to the unit. Apparently something that is commonly done... Jon found a tip about using dental floss to loosen it.  After that, the bulb turned out easily.  Now, I have a clean and shiny microwave and hood, complete with a functioning light!!!!

Bread Bowl

Trying out another Pinterest pin today.  Jon has planned a vegetarian chili for dinner tomorrow.  Keeping in that spirit, I decided to spend the cold "snow" day baking with the kids.  Unfortunately, only Ava was actually interested in helping me in the kitchen... when did that happen?

Any way, Ava and I started with flour, brown sugar, butter and water, and created deliciousness!  This pretzel bread bowl recipe can be found by clicking on the link below.

http://magazine.foxnews.com/food-wellness/got-bland-soup-add-homemade-pretzel-bread-bowl

I tweaked the recipe a bit and substituted 1/3 of the AP flour with whole wheat flour.  I did so because, 1) a little whole wheat is good for everyone and 2) I didn't have enough AP Flour to do it without.  It made the bowls color a little different from the original source.  And I suspect the dough was a little dryer than it would have been with AP flour only.  Consequently, they didn't shape quite as well.  So the next time I make them, I will have to adjust the water a little bit too.

After they came out of the oven, the kids and I taste tested them.  Thumbs up all around.  Let me quote my difficult child (T) "It's actually good!" As if I ever disappoint!

And I should mention, it smells amazing in our house right now!

Pinterest

From the moment I signed into Pinterest, I knew was going to be "bad" for me. And it has. I have done many many of the Pinterest recipes and projects I pinned. This I thought was the most clever idea. I hated having my tassels sitting around in a drawer. Now I can see them every year (for a limited time too :) 

It wasn't as easy as I had envisioned... I am guessing that the original pinner used the plastic type that snapped together around the tassel. I didn't... I used clear glass bulbs that I had to string the tassels in... And I had to get creative about fitting the metal year plates in as they were all too big to fit.

So it took a little more time and creativity than I planned, but I'm in love with the result! Best $6 investment!

Time is flyn!

I cannot believe that its almost the middle of January already... yikes. I have so much to do! My brain just registered that its a new year, which means that I have to get all the taxes filed (sales, property, income...) Ugh... 

I also need to study for this nursing board exam sooner or later (the date is rapidly approaching!) Osmosis really isn't working. Yet, all I really want to do is lay around watching sappy romance movies with a vat of ice cream. I think I have seasonal depression. Its a good thing, perhaps, that there are never less than two loads of laundry to do at our house, or I might give into these whims! I also have a long list of house projects that have been waiting for my attention since school started two years ago. The Monster patches was just the beginning.

Monsters invade

My kids have worn holes in the knees if nearly all the pants they had before Christmas. I saw this idea for patches on Pinterest and thought the kids would love it. 

It takes a lot of time since it is all hand sewn... But the kids do love them and the pants all have new life!

Crystals

I saw this little "science experiment" on Pinterest a while ago, but it also showed up in Taylor and Liv's Christmas/Birthday gift from their Aunt and Uncle in California.  Therefore, it was written in the cards that we must try it.  Our first attempt was a huge flop, not enough Borax I think. The second try, though, worked like a charm! While we boiled water, we shaped two pipe cleaners into stars.  Then we tied a string to them and tied the other end of the string to a pencil.  We filled the mason jars with the boiling hot water and added a ton of Borax... The directions said to add it until it didn't dissolve anymore, I would say to add it until you have a little film of Borax floating on the top... Then we dropped our stars into the jar so that the sides were not touching the jar.  After that we set up a camera to take a photo every ten minutes, and let it sit for 24 hours.  This is the resulting video: 

We all got pretty excited about it.  I think they look cool.  

Summer projects

I spent a lot of my time this summer working on some craft projects.  I made a quilt for my friend Heather's bridal shower.  She got married last month!  I didn't think to take a photo of her quilt though...  Next my girl friend Kristin was pregnant with triplets!  So pictured above are some burp cloths I made for her shower.  Below are two carseat covers that I made for her (I ran out of time and fabric to make three :(....

 

I am in love with idea of keeping the outside sort of elegant and sophisticated (for mom) and the inside fun and colorful for baby.  I found the fabric on the bottom of the outside first, then matched two other pieces from those colors.  

This Peter Pan fabric was a real find for me.  I chose it from the remnant clearance section years ago. Earlier in the year I used some to make an apron for Ava, but I thought the was the perfect way to use what was left.  I cut the squares of the story apart and patchworker it together to make a large piece of fabric for the underside.  Tinkerbell, Wendy, Peter Pan, and the Lost boys are all featured.  I think this ended up being my favorite part of the carseat covers.

These photos are of the outside of the second cover and the underside of the second cover.  Like the first, I used the matching fabric on the bottom and for the hanging loops, and a patchwork style for the underside.   I used a number of the scraps from the burp cloths on this piece. 

I found this fabric while I was shopping for my other fabrics, and well, I just could not leave it in the store.  So I took it home, hemmed the edges and made a very large blanket that she can use to have all the boys play on together... at least while they are little :O)

Finally, for the baby shower, I found a pattern for these cute shoes pinned to Kristin's Pinterest page. (all of the gifts were things I found pinned to her Pinterest page) Arn't they super adorable?

Although she was due in December, Kristin's babies just couldn't wait to come into the world (sound familiar?).  They were born in late September and all are doing very well.  They are still in the NICU as expected, but making progress toward coming home around their due date.

My final project for the summer was this quilt.  We gave this as a wedding gift for a friend who was joining together two families.  I love the idea that a single parent who gets married to another single parent is literally stitching together their families...  So I thought it was rather appropriate.  Congrats Sofia and Mike!