Time for the Pinterest Challenge, a fun get-doing challenge from Sherry and Katie, cohosted by Sarah & Carmel this time around. I actually spent a little while thinking about what to do for this one–I have lots of things on … Continue reading
I’ve been working on a new bulletin board for the past week (I’ll share that project soon!) and I decided that I needed some new push pins to go with it, because my boring old thumb tacks just wouldn’t do. Then, as I was thinking about what I wanted to do there, I remembered a few projects I pinned and I thought:
Here are some of my inspirations:
From papervinenz.com
From Sarah Ortega
From NotMartha.org
It was actually really easy to do the magnets. I bought two sizes of flattened glass marbles, some craft paper, Mod Podge and peel and stick magnets. I also bought some letter stickers once I decided I wanted to do alphabet tiles too.
To make the alphabet magnets, I peeled off the round magnet backing and stuck it to the craft paper. Then I trimmed around the edge, leaving a little paper overhang to wrap around the edge. I centered a letter sticker on top, and Mod Podged the whole thing, smoothing the paper around the edge as I went.
To make the glass pebble magnets, I cut the paper a little larger than the pebble, than Mod Podged the bottom of the pebble and smoothed the paper against it. I let that cure, then trimmed the paper as close to the pebble as I could. I coated the backside of the paper with more Mod Podge (avoiding the glass as much as possible). After that cured, I trimmed a magnet to fit, leaving it as big as possible since the glass is heavy. I peeled off the backing, and attached the magnet to the stone.
I did the push pins just like the pebble magnets, but instead of attaching a magnet, I super glued a thumb tack to the back of the paper.
My most recent CSA box had a great selection of fall vegetables and lettuce greens. This salad was an easy make-ahead recipe that I ate all week. I roasted beets by wrapping them in tin foil and baking them at 375 degrees for two hours. I also diced the butternut squash (only about half the squash), wrapped it in tin foil, and threw it in the oven with the squash for about an hour. Then, I let both packets cool, and simply put them in the fridge.
The next day, I peeled and sliced the beets (after you roast them, the skins slide right off). I put some of my freshly washed mixed greens in a bowl, topped with sliced beets and diced squash, them sprinkled some pecans and goat cheese on top. Easy, delicious and pretty dang healthy!
Christmas-party-planning time! Crazy but true. For the past three years, I’ve hosted a gingerbread house party for Christmas. I blame these things on my not drinking and needing an activity. Regardless, its crazy popular. The basics: Come on over at … Continue reading
How could you see And want a stenciled room of your own? No idea. We both saw and wanted these, so Lesley came down for a quick Sunday afternoon paint and decorate (crazy productive) afternoon. My front hallway is tiny, … Continue reading
…sometimes the rain falls in your house. And it is NOT. GOOD.
This should be a final reveal of my new lovely bathroom. Except it isn’t.
So.
Two weeks ago I was fast asleep, snug in my bed at 2:15 am, when I heard water. Rain? Maybe, but I usually can’t hear it in my bedroom. House guest in the bathroom? Showering with the door open perhaps? Nope, doesn’t sound like the shower…
So I got myself out of bed, confirmed no one was in the bathroom but water, turned a light on and…promptly flipped it back off. Because water was pouring through it. My upstairs neighbor somehow overflowed her toilet (I’ll let you put the 2:15am pieces togethere here) and caused a whole lot of water to come through a whole lot of places into my house. I was up over an hour that night putting out bowls, ran late the next day, and generally did not have fun.
It could have been worse.
There doesn’t seem to be any significant damage to the bathroom, the water has stopped, and her insurance will cover the damage. But grabbing bowls, having water come through your (also new) hallway light fixture for over 2 days and not being able to close the bathroom door (ahem, still) are not my idea of fun.
But it really could have been worse. I was home. I woke up. I stopped a lot of damage before it happens, including water sitting on my radiant heat floors. Life will go on.
It just wasn’t what I wanted to be talking about here. You can see some nice demo pictures of the hallway Lesley and I painted back in January. It will get repainted now, same color. It will be smoother. But mostly it will be the same, and my house will get dusty and dirty and have random people in it again. I’m not exactly excited.
Have you ever had water pour through your ceiling? Oddly, this is at least my fifth time, although my first in this place.
So, what have I been up to? Running. Lots and lots of running. I’ve been training for a marathon for months and the last few weeks have translated to a lot of running and very little of anything else. But the big day is this Sunday, and then I’ll catch you up on what I’ve been doing–because I did squeeze a few fun projects in.
I’ve also been struggling with the CSA the past month or so. It’s been a hard year for the farm, and I completely sympathize with that. We had a hot dry summer, and they lost some crops. That’s part of the gamble you take when you join a CSA. At the same time, though, it’s hugely disappointing to have the amount of food you are getting in each batch drop off at the same time you are switching to a half share.
See, in the spring, I was getting vegetables every week. Almost more vegetables than I could reasonably eat. My grocery bill fell significantly because I was getting big deliveries of produce with a lot of variety every week. But when the summer share started, and I switched to half share–or every other week delivery–the amount of food I received each week also fell. I also stopped getting combinations of vegetables that were easily converted into well-rounded meals. So I’ve had to go to the grocery store to buy stuff to round it out, which is really disappointing when I’m pay so much money per month for veggies.
That’s not to say that I’m not happy with what I’m getting, just that I was expecting a little more–more tomatoes, for instance. Or zucchini. Or eggplant. But I’ve actually gotten more tomatoes from my mom this year.
We’ve definitely made the switch over to fall here in Milwaukee, and I’ve been taking advantage of the cooler weather and roasting most of my vegetables. This week I made a nice, almost stew-like batch of roasted veggies with potatoes, onions, cauliflower, turnips, and carrots. I sprinkled a spice mix (Forward from Penzey’s, a paprika-based blend), salt, pepper and little bit of honey on top and baked for about an hour. That’s the type of simple meal I’ve enjoyed. Not too exciting, but a great way to get a hearty meal out of a random mix of vegetables (note: I bought the potatoes and onion at the store to round out the veggie mixture).
Hopefully as the season winds to a close and I started getting fall squashes, I’ll feel more inspired.
homemade•handmade 