So, about my blog...

Well, the last post I have on here is from June 2012. Oops. If you have a blog of your own or know someone who had a blog, it can be very easy to stop blogging. Let's be honest.

 I personally love reading blogs. Some of my favorite ones are The Elliott Homestead and Young House Love. I don't mean they are just "good" blogs. What I am really saying but not saying is how I could spend hours and days reading their posts. They inspire me in many ways. Check 'em out. Anywho, I have been caught up in other blogs and neglected mine in the process. But, I am back!

I often feel like I don't have anything special to blog about on a regular basis. When we were remodeling our home, I had tons of things to post. Like this. And this one. Okay one more. But now that that is all done, praise Jesus, I want to start blogging about other things. I do a lot of things I guess that are "blog worthy", but I need to be consistent and possibly have a theme or goal. My mom helped me come up with some ideas. So far, they are still ideas :)

But, today I did a fun little paint project. I woke up today and said to myself, "Self, you need to paint something." So I did. I have had this cart in my kitchen for a long time.

Plain. Not stained. But today I painted it and stained the top. I like it a lot! Pretty easy. The part that took the longest was painting the shelf slats. Just a little time consuming is all. I sat out on my little deck in the sun with Pandora on. A great way to spend my day. I already had the stain and some brushes. Not to mention the cart. It cost me a whopping $9 for the paint. And it kept my entertained for 3 hours! :)

I also made this sourdough bread tonight. It doesn't look anything like the picture. HAHA its actually really funny how opposite they are. But the taste is great :) I am really trying to perfect some sourdough bread. I will keep trying. Sorry husband.

Hello Day off

Today I was supposed to go to jury duty. Thank the Lord when I called in the night before I didn't have to report! So what's a girl to do on a day off? All the projects in her dreams! Or on her to-do list :)

Today I "glazed" a dresser I've been painting to go in my craft room. It was actually very simple to do. I unfortunately don't have any before/ pictures of that. The dresser was a garage sale gem I found last week for a whopping $30. I already had the paint and I bought some glaze for $5. I was going to buy new hardware but decided I liked what was already on it, score! So, that project was finished by 9am.

After that, I found myself being called to Hobby Lobby. It really is a calling. What can I say? $100 later I had enough stuff to occupy me for the rest of the day.

First, I finally picked out some curtains for the craft room. We've been in this house for over a year now and I am still working on ''finishing" rooms. This feels like a forever project, though. I LOVE nesting in my home.

before

 

after

 

 

Then, I worked on some letters I want above our bed. Our bedroom is not very decorated. I have had lots of ideas but today I finally decided. I bought some cardboard letters at Hobby Lobby for $1.99 each. I already had spray paint and the glaze that I used to make them look like metal, sorta an anthropologie look.

They started off looking like this.

This was the empty space above our bed. 

This is what they looked like after I painted and distressed them.

And this is the finished project.

Then I moved into the dining area. I found these awesome jumbo silverware at Hobby Lobby of course and fell in love with them.

Before

 

After

The "new" dresser in my sewing room. I'll store my fabric and craft supplies in it.

I've got the project itch

This next project of mine is no small undertaking. Chair re-upholstery. Yep, it's crazy. I might fail. I might not finish it. I might have to buy the really cute chairs I see at World Market or Pier 1. Ha ha, never mind, I will finish it because I don't want to spend $$$ on a new chair.

You might be wondering why I want to get a new chair in the first place. Our roommate Kaitlin will be moving out soon and we have been using her chair in our living room. I'm assuming she wants to take it with her, since it is a lovely chair, it's comfy, and well, hers.

So, I've been looking on craigslist for some cheap wing back chairs that I could re-upholster. Than I thought to myself, "hey that's a lot of chair and you've never done this before." Right! Then, I remembered that Erin brought a chair home a few months ago and stashed it in our basement. Where everything else gets stashed and doesn't come out. Like the couch that's also down there, and the extra fridge, and the extra stove, and the extra little cute vintage furnace, and the other extra stove, and the old cast iron bathtub, and the buried bodies. Whoa, just kidding. Anyways, it's slowly becoming a man cave/junk yard, which is fine for Erin's man cave since he is a big fan of junk yards. I'm not kidding.

Alas, I am going to re-upholster this little beauty.

I've already started ripping out hundreds of nails, getting a few new calluses and a sunburn on my feet. It's really fun! Actually, I'm not really kidding. It's hard work for sure, but I enjoy spending time working on it. I spent 2 hours on it and I only took apart the bottom cushion/seat. Yikes. This is no 1 day project. Especially since the fabric I picked out won't be in the store for at least 3 weeks. Boo.


You might be thinking, why does it need to be re-upholstered? You're right, it is a cute little chair. And it is totally my color, don't get me wrong. But, it's vinyl...

And it has a few little tears in it.

 And I really want to strip, sand and re-finish the wood, too!

Doesn't it sound fun!??!

I started off with my tools. 2 flat head screwdrivers, needle nose pliers, a bowl and a Starbucks coffee, most important tool of all. The bowl was also found in the basement, holla.

I ripped out so many nails. SO many. Then, at one point, I got down to this.
 

I realized the stripes fabric was the original fabric. Yay for surprises. And more fabric to have to rip off.

 Yes folks, this is straw/hay. This is the seat cushion. It is folded inside the batting. Straw/hay was used a long time ago. Pretty sure I need to buy a new foam cushion for it. And pretty sure this chair might be as old as our house, so cool!

See?? Hundreds of nails! Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating. But it's more like 73. I counted.


So far this project cost me $50. The fabric is SO expensive. And I had to pay $8 just in shipping. Boo. But, the chair was free. I'm planning on also having to buy new foam cushion, and new batting, and possibly some Dacron. So, it could easily be over $100. But, not nearly as expensive as paying a professional. We're talking well over $300. Stay tuned!

p.s. Here is the limencello I made! It tastes okay. Just okay. It's not as tart as I was hoping. It's pretty sweet. So, I'm planning on adding fresh lemon juice to it and making a cocktail with sparkling water, limencello, and fresh blueberries. MMM.

Friday project

This morning, my sister and I, (hey Colleen!) went to Denio's flea market. I really wanted to get a desk/table to use for my future sewing room. She wanted to look for a dresser. We left empty handed. I'm still shocked! But, luckily for me, we stopped at the Goodwill outlet on the way back to Sacramento and I found a desk. It was also probably so much cheaper than what we would have paid at the flea market.

I'm not making it up. It was $5.50. That's my kind of deal!

It started off looking like this

It was in pretty decent condition. I ended up giving it a little sanding and removed the keyboard tray. My sewing machine does not have a keyboard. 

I used some teal paint I had left over from painting my potato bin. So that was a plus. Then, I bought some super cute hardware for the drawer and a wood stain for the top of the desk, making my grand total just under $15. Hey!

And this is the finished project! The hardware ended up being the wrong size, after I cut open the plastic container and everything! But, I'm okay with it. Maybe I could order a super cute pair of scissors drawer pull or something.

It is also distressed. This was my first time really distressing a piece of furniture and I'm pretty happy with it. Next time I'll really ding up the piece before I paint it, so that when I paint it and stain it the imperfections stand out more and it will look more shabby chic. I'm super excited to use this as my sewing table. My sewing room will be put together in just a few weeks!

My other awesome bread recipe I found!

This bread will blow your socks off! If you're wearing socks, that is. I have made this a few times and every time it amazes me that I made something so delicious and beautiful. I'm not a pro bread maker, but this makes me look good :)

I love this bread because 1) It's soaked and 2) It makes 3 loaves, which means I don't have to make the bread as often, about every other week. Have I mentioned that this girl hasn't bought bread for over a month!?! Okay, okay, one time I bought hamburger buns. But it was a last minute BBQ sort of night, and hot, and I'm not allowed to use my oven when it's hot in the house. Erin will make me cook with the stove in the basement, yikes!

The recipe is here! You need to make this bread! And you need to follow it exactly, because the recipe is spot on. Buy some vital wheat gluten, one of the ingredients, and you will be glad you did. It really makes the bread. And, heads up, the recipe calls for large quantities of ingredients, such as:

-1 cup of honey
-11 cups of whole wheat flour
-1 cup of kefir
-2 cups of oats
-3/4 butter or coconut oil (I like butter)

I make sure I have about 4 lbs of flour on hand and 1 lb of honey before I make this. But, when you think about it, you are getting 3 BIG delicious and nutricious loaves out of it (which also freeze wonderfully!)

You soak this bread overnight, which allows the phytates to break down and they are more easy to digest. I don't mean take the loaf and soak it in water. I mean, you take most of the ingredients, mix them all, and leave them be for 12-24 hours. So, usually at night when I am not doing much, like watching an episode of Seinfeld or looking at pinterest, I think to myself, I'll make bread tomorrow! And I do this

Throw the ingredients into the kitchen aid. This is why you have a kitchen aid, to make it work for you!

After it is all mixed, cover it with plastic wrap and leave it on the counter overnight, or for 12-24 hours.

I forgot I was making bread until hour 22, which was about 7:30 at night. Oops. That was a close one. I was trying to figure out the binding on my quilt, which consumed most of my day. So, I added some more ingredients, kneaded it for 10 minutes and let it rise for 1 hour. It looked like this

I knead this by hand. My secret: I wear heels. Haha, Bet you didn't think I was going to say that! Seriously though, my counter is just an inch or two too tall for me when I am kneading bread and I have to stand on my tip-toes. So I put on some heels and its perfect. Try it!

 

Before

After 1 hour of rising. Whoa!

Then you punch it down, flip it over and it will rise again in just 30 minutes. Then, you make the loaves and plop them into their pans and let them rise again, for 30 minutes. Bake them and viola!

Oh baby! They taste amazing and it makes so much bread! I hope this makes you want to make some bread. And if you need a taste-tester, me me me! I'm selfless like that :)

Where do I start?

I have too many things going on right now, mostly in my kitchen. I'm really getting adventurous in what I make and eat. I am trying knew things, getting new appliances and then realizing, "where am I going to store all this stuff?" I'll figure that out later.

This week I have going:
-Kombucha (This has been my "go to" drink during this heat and I am it continuously brewing on my counter)
-Limoncello (When life hands you lemons, thanks Faith!, make....liquor? :))
-Yogurt in the crock-pot
-sourdough english muffins (They turned out okay, next time they will look better)
-fruit skins in my dehydrator
-that's enough, it's only Wednesday

This girl got a dehydrator for her birthday!!! Thanks mom and dad!

The first thing I made was fruit skins! My house smelled like strawberry fruit roll ups all day. Heavenly!

This is my limoncello. I found the recipe here. And my mouth is watering already!

It took me, oh, I don't know, an hour!!! to peel 10 lemons, carefully cutting away any white bitter pith.

I hear in Nevada they sell over a 100% proof everclear, hopefully the measly 75% will do. :)

And here they go, in the jar for 2 weeks! I will keep you all posted on the next steps.

 

 

 And, I made yogurt yesterday/overnight. I haven't tried it yet. If you don't hear from me for a few days, send in help. I can't try it now, you'll put me on the spot! But I pay about $4.99 for greek yogurt at the store, for a quart. And I made almost 2 quarts of yogurt for $3. Holla! And its homemade and I know what the ingredients are: milk and a little bit of yogurt culture. Bam, yogurt!

Yum! Maybe next time I'll experiment with raw milk, but I don't want to waste it, so I started with whole milk. And I'll let you know if I die, I mean if I like it!

Meatballs

Do you have a "go to" meatball recipe? I do, and I'll share it with you. I love the good ole' ground beef in the spaghetti sauce, but meatballs just spice it up a bit! And they are fun. And they can be slightly messy. And they might roll off the table. But they are easy to make and can impress your dinner guests, in my case, my husband. 

I use 1 lb ground beef and it yields 12 good sized meatballs. I don't care for sausage, so I only use beef. If you want to get crazy, use half beef and half sausage or turkey. 

Here is what you need:

-1 lb organic ground beef (I think I used 80/20. You don't want them to be too lean or they won't hold together)

-1 egg, beaten
-1/4 cup chopped parsley
-1/4 cup shredded parmasaen cheese
-1/4 cup bread crumbs
-1 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning (or a mix of rosemary, oregano, basil, ect.)
-salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat your oven to 350. Line a baking sheet, one with a lip around the edges, with foil. Spray a light coat of Pam or something similar on the foil. Do this step before your hands get all dirty. Set the pan next to the bowl you'll be using. I'm teaching you my short cuts people!

In a medium bowl, beat the egg with a fork. And the Italian seasoning, salt and pepper. Mix in the ground beef. Break it up with a fork. Then add the parsley, bread crumbs and cheese. If you can't get it all incorporated with the fork, use those hands!

 If you haven't used your hands yet, now is the time. Roll about 2-3 tbsp of meat mixture into a ball. Place on the lined baking sheet. Sorry, no photo. Just use your judgment on how big of a meatball you want. Do you want 30 small ones, or a couple big ones per serving? Your call.When your done making the meatballs, throw them in the oven for about 30-40 minutes or until done in the center. 

Add them to spaghetti sauce and viola!