Peek-A-Boo!

Hey friend, there’s a fox in your pocket!

Just made a little something for my nephew…he’s almost one!

Book Review!

 Hey, I just finished another book, that I think you would like...especially if you are a dog lover.

It's called The Art of Racing In the Rain, and it looks like this...

 

I have never read anything else by this author, Garth Stein, but I will tell you that I really enjoyed his style.  The pages turned effortlessly, which is just the way I like it.

So, the book is not about dog racing...in the rain, as the title may suggest.  

It's a wonderful story of a man, a race-car driver {there you go, guys}, his beloved dog, Enzo,  and their life together.  A life full of victories and tragedies.

The narrative voice is the dog, which I originally thought would be, well...dumb, but it wasn't at all.  It captured my heart....and it made me want a dog...more than I already do.

I think you should read it...it's a great casual, recreational read and it won't take long.

I give you 2 pieces of advice...

1.  Kleenex...{I'm a crier and there are a few tender moments.}

2.  Heed the advice that was given to me when I started...."when you get to the part about the zebra, you are going to want to quit, but don't.  Just get through it. "   Good advice.  The Zebra part was....weird.

Happy Reading!

Love,

S

Homemade.

This past Christmas I decided that rather than buying the girls more toys, which I knew that they were going to get loads of anyway, I wanted to make them something to play with. 

Do you cringe at the idea of homemade toys?  

Did you have a bad experience with something your parents slaved and toiled over just to have it wind up in the lame "toys-I-never-play-with" box?

Actually, I do have one memory worth mentioning...

So, my older sister has a September birthday.  One year {I don't even remember how old we were}she got a Cabbage Patch Doll for her birthday.  This doll was beautiful and I was jealous!  

Kelly{my younger sister}, were you as jealous as I was?

I think that the biggest part of the beauty of this doll was that it was BRAND NAME.  AUTHENTIC.  It had a signature on it's behind and it came with a birth certificate!  

Zip forward 3 months to Christmas....I don't remember doing it, but I must have made my desires clear because I was in the middle of opening a present I knew was about to change my life...I was becoming a mommy..sort of.  And there she was...my first Cabbage Pat...wait a minute!  What is this?  A homemade Cabbage Patch Doll???  

Oh no you didn't just give me (and Kel) a knock off!  

...looking back, I am ashamed that I was so ungrateful.  Someone {not my mom or my grandmother, by the way} stitched that doll together carefully and probably lovingly.  And I rejected it.  What a BRAT!!

Anywho...Homemade gifts don't always go over too well.  But, allow me to redeem my childhood self, and tell you that some time later my dad crafted us some awesome couches and chairs for our Barbies and I played with them endlessly.  I wish I had known to save them....they were quality construction.  

So, back to the present day. I decided I wanted to make the girls a front loading washer and dryer and I wanted to do it on a shoestring budget.  

I scoured Craig's List and Goodwill for the pieces to be the basic shell of the miniature appliances...here's what I found...a couple of laminate book cases at Goodwill.  $11/each (which is actually a little more than they are worth...can one haggle at Goodwill? {I was too shy to try.}

I knew that there were plenty of tutorials out there on how to paint laminate furniture, so I purchased them, despite the fact that they were the wrong color.

**Note: I do wish I had spent a little bit more time on the process of painting the laminate.  It is crucial to get this step right or they will chip and scratch...which may very well happen anyway with kids...**

I had a little bit of MDF {medium density fiberboard} from some previous project that I used to make doors and control panels.  I also had some paint left over from previous projects.  Finally, I had 2 sets of casters {wheels} from some Rubber Maid storage cabinets that I never put the casters on.  

Perfect example of how "I think I'll save this seemingly worthless thing..I might be able to use it someday.." is totally valid.

Supplies I bought:  Hardware including hinges, door pulls and these little latchy-catchy things that hold the control panels on and the doors closed...$12 for all, a couple of frosty glass round trivets from the dollar store...$2. I also walked the aisles at Lowe's to try and find some kind of trim pieces for the fronts...I can't even tell you what they are or what they are for.  What I can tell you is that they were originally black and they cost $2.50 each...so $5.

Me, my jigsaw and my friend, Jon's power drill donated our time.  FREE.  

First, measured and cut out the doors and control panels.  Then I traced and cut a circle in the middle of the door for the window.

Then I painted.  I used some oil based paint on the inside since I knew it needed to be super strong {kid proof?}. The lavender for the outside is a mixture of a light silver gray and pink that I mixed together.  

After everything was good and dry, I glued the trivets on for the windows, screwed the trim pieces over those and attached all the hardware and casters.  

{selecting and attaching hinges and latchy-catchy things is a little bit complicated, but it's boring and tedious, so I won't go into it.}

The final step was to put some details on the panels. I used some little wooden crafty pieces for the knobs.  

When it was all done they came out looking pretty good! I was happy with them and the girls loved them...still love 4 weeks later...let's hope it lasts.

Love,

S

PS: I did eventually get a real Cabbage Patch Doll with the signature on the behind and the birth certificate...but I don't remember anything about it, not a single detail.  

Next Stop, Memory Lane

A couple of months ago I was at our Trinity Church worship gathering and the were playing Keith Green....

woah!  Blast from the past!  

Care to guess my age?

Keith Green was actually my parents' music.  But, I grew up hearing it at our house.  I told Ryan how nostalgic I got listening to this music, so he bought me a Best of Keith Green album.

{born in '79}

Okay, this music is pretty cheesy...but it stirs something up in me.  Something so sweet and familiar...like Muppets, and Fraggles and Annie....sigh, sweet memories.

Anyway, listening to Keith Green reminded me of something from when I was a kid...my parents had records...vinyls.  And one of Keith's records had a picture of his wife, Melody, on the back. It looked like this...

Do you know that I SWORE that was my mom on the album?!  

And why was she making a finger cross with that furry man?

This is why I thought that....

This is my mom in high school...isn't she pretty?

Well, needless to say, I was pretty glad that things didn't work out with the furry man and she married my dad so that me and my sisters could be born and listen to Keith Green's, So You Wanna Go Back to Egypt, while dancing around like goof balls. 

Kids have funny minds, don't they?

I have a lot of these good memories from my childhood...do you?

Love,

S

**UPDATE:  my mom just told me that I thought that John Oates of Hall and Oates was my dad!**

Interior Design 101

Do you know what a crémone bolt is?

It's a long piece of door and window hardware {french origins} with a latch at both the top and bottom.  When the lever is turned it releases the latches at both ends, allowing the door or window to open.  

crémone: pronounced kre-mone.  

Aside from it's practicality, it is, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful pieces of functional hardware there is.  It says, "look at me, I'm French...therefore I am lovely."  I think it's one of the best examples of form and function married in a perfect union.

If you see one...appreciate it.  

It's not something you'll come across all the time...unless you spend most of your time in historic landmarks.  

crémone.  très magnifique!

Don't Rock the {zucchini} Boat.

Last night I took a chance in the kitchen.  

Lately I have been trying to cut the fat...vis-a-vis cutting the carbs.  

By the way...I {heart} carbs.  

{sniffle sniffle}

Here's another thing...I don't really love veggies.  It's not that I'm against them, but I just don't prefer them. But I know I need to eat more of them, so this recipe was an attempt to get more veggies in me. 

I was surfing around on one of my favorite sites...it's a very {P}interesting site. I found a recipe that inspired me to try something...stuffed zucchini boats.

Here's how it went down...

Grab 2 medium zucchinis.  

 Maybe just a bit smaller than that.  Actually, this is what happens when you give up on your zucchini plant...it makes monster zucchinis.  Fact: After about 15 minutes of  grating that bad boy I had enough zucchini for about 12 loaves of bread!  Not.Too.Shabby.

Give 'em a good scrub, cut off then ends and slice them in half lengthwise.

Using a spoon, scoop out the seedy part, creating a boat.
You'll put the filling the boat.

Place them face down on a shallow pan in just enough water to cover the bottom of the pan.  

Bake them on 350 degrees for about 15 minutes while you prepare the stuffing...

Then I made a mixture of meats, savory spices, and vegetables.

For 2-3 zucchinis (5-6 boats) I used a combination of...

1c. ground turkey browned with garlic and onion (I used minced/dried onion this time)

1c. browned Italian sausage

{I had the sausage for something else...
for a healthier version, just do a second cup of  ground turkey or lean ground beef, but be sure to season it with Italian seasonings.}

1/2-1c. sauteed mushrooms  

{I'm sure you could just throw the mushrooms in with the meat while it's browning to save yourself some time and dirtying another dish}

**you can get a creative as you want here...maybe throw in some tomatoes, peppers, turkey pepperoni, Italian croutons, whatever!**

1/2c. savory tomato sauce, marinara, or pasta sauce...again, whatever!

Note: This stuffing is a great "make ahead".  Brown 1lb. of each of the meats and some extra veggies and throw it in a freezer bag for another fast dinner!  

DING! 

 Zuchs are done!  Don't turn off the oven!

Drain the water from your pan and turn the boats right side up.

Fill each boat with the stuffing mixture.

Top off your boats with a sprinkle of mozzarella or whatever Italian cheese you like.

Back into the oven for 15 minutes to heat and melt the cheese.

DING! Here's what you have....

I wonder if my kids could be tricked into eating something that I called a "boat"?  Doubtful.  

You know, this would be a great summer dish when you can just grab a pair of zuchs from your garden!  

If you try the recipe...let me know what you think.

Love,
S

Transform

How about a little Before and After?  I love a good transformation.  Don't you?

 First, a little back story...Last year right around this time I got this itch to learn how to reupholster.  I posted about my first project here.  I've done a few things since then, including refinishing a large antique buffet, which is actually one of my very favorites.  You can see it here.  I love to find pieces that need a face lift and transform them into something pretty and new. 

{...and then sell them. I don't have room in my house for this stuff.}

It's fun and it allows me to be creative.  

Have a look at a small sampling of my pet projects....

Before..nasty, dingy, gray

After..glossy and bold.  {Go Colts?}

This next chair had such an interesting shape. I had to transform it. 

Before...

{the real before is that it was cane...that needed to be re-caned.}

I added the plywood....

 padding....

 and fabric. 

Then I furniture waxed her up and voila....

One more.  

These little cuties I found while running in my neighborhood with my friend, Holly.  It was dark and rainy and I spotted these little treasures in someone's curbside trash pile.  After our run, Holly helped me load them up in the van, which felt a little like weird, like pillaging.  Still..I took them.  Their loss, my gain.

 I've done a lot more. And there are plenty more projects to do.

{Ryan *claims* that I have 7 chairs in the basement waiting for a new home...}

Happy Long Weekend, friends!

Love,

S