Recommended Reading: Crime and Punishment

Crime and Punishment is a Russian Classic, so I feel that I MUST read it. I am only about 1/4 of the way through.  All I have to say about it so far is - DEPRESSING. I may post about it again after I have trudged through the rest.

Reuse Project: Old Wooden Toilet Seat

Is it possible to take a flattering picture of a toilet?!? Sorry. I tried.

This is a sneak peek of the downstairs bathroom update (ongoing).  For today, I just wanted to show the toilet -specifically the seat. It was once white, old, worn out, but wooden. I could have just thrown it away and bought a new one. If you're reading this you probably already know that's just not my style. 

I thought, "hmm.. it would be so much better in my updated bathroom if it were black." So I taped off the hinges/hardware, primed it with Stix (my new fav primer), and spray painted it with black enamel paint (two coats). I will probably also seal/wax it with my favorite orange smelling wonder.  Loving it so far!  

More on the floor/vanity/wall update coming in future posts.

Garden Progress: Fall Eggshell Starts

Everything out back is winding down now. I made another ground cherry pie and a large batch of fresh salsa. I picked a few ears of the popcorn and they are gorgeous! Now we just have to wait for them to dry on the stalk. (That is what the internet says anyway... Is that how you did it AJEH&Z?)

The tomatoes are late this year, but we are finally getting some ripe ones on the few plants that I protected from the deer. My children have caught on to my frustration with the deer's arrival and now tell people, "Mommy does not like deer.  She wants to shoot them with a gun." Oh dear me, I should probably NOT have stomped my feet and talked about a gun when those sweet potato vines were eaten to the ground...

Big Striped German Tomatoes are so beautiful

 The fall starts have been on my window sill since mid July (right side carton) and are ready to go out and replace some of the summer plants.

Plants started in Eggshells

cilantro, basil, and swiss chard

Sew Special: Another Kelly Skirt

This one was a "special order" for my little sister Camden, who just graduated from BYU. She chose the fabric. I really love how this turned out... possibly even more than the first one.

Megan Nielson Kelly Skirt

Homeschooling Summary for Last Week

I should be calling this "summer vacation summary" at this point, but we'll be back to school soon enough. This week we were all about the County Fair. Everyone was talking about it in my neighborhood. We have gone every year since we moved to the area. This was the first year that I went during the day with other moms and pre-schoolers. I liked the atmosphere better. We saw the petting barn - donkey and camel were the favorites there. We also went to the Poultry barn and saw the "chickens with feathers on their FEET" as Big Sister A so enthusiastically called them. They also had hatching and newly born chicks and ducklings. The Rabbit Barn is also a fun place since they can pet the bunnies. Personally, I was scoping out the meat rabbits and thinking of future homesteading projects. This was also the first year that we went on a ride. Big Sister A wanted to ride the Merry-Go-Round. It is super pricey to ride the rides, but she was determined (can't imagine where she gets that from), so we did it. Brother M was very frightened by the whole ride experience and after he had stopped screaming explained, with tears in his eyes, "Mommy, it was TOO fast." Noted.

Sammy is not too excited about the cow and calf

Testing out the tractors

Not having a fun time

Leopard print chicken

Hatching chicks

Ducklings

Caramel apple tradition -- and this year they brought their own "fun money" so that they could each have their own

Garden Progress: Thai Basil and Lemon Grass

Photo from here

Lemon Grass Plant

Thai Basil

Today I was in the mood for thai curry. So I went out to my garden, picked a few stalks of lemon grass, and some stems of thai basil and whipped up the following vegetarian goodness.  I am so excited to have these (sometimes) hard to find delicacies right outside my back door! And they are so easy to grow. Both of these came as tiny starts from my local farmers market. I hear that they are pretty easy to overwinter and restart next spring too.

Thai Basil Curry (vegetarian)

Ingredients:
3 T. Coconut or olive oil
1 t. minced garlic
several squirts of vietnamese fish sauce
1 small onion diced
5 small golden potatoes diced
1 red pepper diced
4-5 carrots sliced
1 (14 oz) can coconut milk
3 - 6 inch stalks lemongrass pounded with rolling pin
3 T. roughly chopped Thai Basil
1 T. Brown sugar

Use oil to fry onions and garlic. After a couple minutes, add fish sauce, potatoes, lemon grass (whole lower stalk) and carrots. Slice the pepper and add that and then the coconut milk and brown sugar. Pluck the thai basil off the stem and coarsely chop it, then add that to the skillet. Simmer until the veggies are tender, remove lemongrass stalks and serve over rice. This was very mild and my kids had no trouble eating it. You can add asian hot sauce to spice it up for the adults.

Sew Special: Rag Doll

My neighbor is a "Doll Doctor". She owns a business selling dolls and fixing them. She knows that I like to sew and brought over this little darling that had been so loved her arms were falling apart. I made new arms for her using the old ones as the pattern and sewed her little gold bracelet back on. It was pretty fun.

Homeschooling Summary for the Last Week

Nothing too formal again this week. We practiced spelling and wrote letters to Goomie. 

We played dress-up in the basement and learned to put balls in some "new" toys.

And best of all, or scariest of all, depending on whose perspective you are looking at it from: Climbed all the way up the stairs! Oh mi oh my. Someone please tell these boys to stop growing so fast.

Recommended Reading: Backyard Foraging

This week's reading is Backyard Foraging by Ellen Zachos. There is a reason this book has 5 stars on Amazon. It's amazing. Beautiful illustrations, clear descriptions, succinct text and directions. I only wish that it was: 1. Longer - 65 plants is not enough for me  and 2. Organized by regions (though many of these plants are found everywhere in the US).  Expect to hear more from me on this topic after I experiment with some of the RECIPES in this book.

Reuse Recipe: Vegetable Water (from blanching) Makes DIY All Natural Vitamin Water

DIY Vitamin water or juice

I have been harvesting massive amounts of kale and collards this summer. With all the other yummy fresh veggies available, most of the "boring" greens are being put aside for winter - blanched and frozen. This process results in some nice looking green water. I have used it as the beginning of a vegetable broth, but I got a little creative this week and made something else with it - ICE!  Stay with me here. (Unsalted) Vegetable water ice cubes + a glass of water = natural DIY vitamin water that costs nothing. Say you love lemonade, juice, or soda? Lemonade + veggie water ice cubes = a much healthier lemonade. OR say your kiddos always want to put ice in their chili, soup,  or tea (like mine do) - pretty green ice cubes are a fun and sneaky way to make everyone in your family get more vitamins!

I had plenty of veggie water left after I filled my 2 ice trays. The vitamins in this water are great for houseplants too. Dump it in the watering can rather than down the sink.

Garden Progress: Harvesting and Feasting

 This is a frequent evening scene in my kitchen or out in the garden: harvesting and feasting. It does not get any fresher than this. Still enjoying lots of ground cherries. Still wishing that I could accumulate enough at one time (4 cups) for an entire pie...

I made a giant bowl of fresh salsa this weekend with food grown less than 100ft from my back door (some from my neighbor's garden). The ingredient list looks like this (all finely chopped):

• 4 small onions
• 2 golden and 2 red tomatoes
• 10 tomatillos
• 2 medium size cucumbers
• 1 red pepper
• 3 jalepeno peppers
• salt to taste

It tastes so fresh and delicious. I can't get enough. It would be just heavenly if only my cilantro had not already gone to seed. Fall seedlings, including more cilantro, are making good progress though.

Sew Special: Cozy Sweater

Boy-ish Pickles Plain Cardigan

I made this sweater as a modified version of the Pickles Plain Cardigan Pattern.  Two factors spurred me to make this a boy-ish sweater: first, the fact that 2 out of 3 kiddos are boys and this way it can be worn longer and by more people - second, like most of my projects, style and colors were determined by what I already had on hand.
Daughter A loves this sweater - a very lucky happening since it turned out about a size 5-6.
Mods were minimal - I just continued in stockinette stitch while I joined the arms and then switched to garter stitch when the decreases looked about right. The wide, nordic-looking, garter stitch collar at the top of this sweater is one of my favorite features. This pattern is a quick knit since the yarn is chunky, but I would not recommend the pattern to anyone with less than intermediate level knitting experience. It spells things out in broad terms only and expects you to understand things like how to join the raglan sleeves.

Home Schooling Summary for Last Week

We returned home on Tuesday night from vacation and took it easy all week. Little brother S made some giant leaps forward though. He started cruising and climbed up two stairs while my back was turned! Time to remember to use all the baby gates again.

yes that is drool hanging off his chin - so gooey.

Recommended Reading: Matilda

Matilda is one of several classic children's books written by Roald Dahl. I enjoyed the cheeky-ness of Roald Dahl's style of writing.  I think it might be hard for kids though because they are so literal. I guess it could be funny both ways, but I will wait to read this aloud with my kiddos until they are older. Probably 7-8 would be a good age for this story.
There are some violent dialogues and scenes that pre-schoolers might find frightening rather than funny:

Reuse Recipe: Red Cabbage

I harvested about 10 medium size heads of read cabbage this year. And although I loved it in Borcht and fish tacos, I had A LOT of it - and I did not want to waste it. So here it is all canned using the Ball Blue Book of Canning recipe for spiced red cabbage.

Ways to use red cabbage

Garden Progress: Ground Cherries

I always joke with the neighbors about how my garden is very experimental. I love trying new things. The star of this year's show so far are these Ground Cherries. The kids love picking them and opening the papery coverings. They are sweet and smell wonderful. Sort of a cross between a white peach and cherry tomato. Here is a fun video about them.

Fun garden produce for kids -- ground cherries

I need to stop munching on them and try to save some so that I can make a pie! Sounds delicious.

Sew Special: White Slipcover Part B

We just came back from a 2 week vacation to Galveston and Houston, Texas. We played hard, had tons of fun with cousins and family, came home exhausted, and have been taking it easy this week.

New black and white ikea rug gives the room a western vibe, which I am loving lately

Just before we hit the road, I finished this white slipcover. I am so happy with how this turned out. I used the antique ticking that I mentioned having purchased awhile back. Here are some steps and pictures of the cushion covering part of the process.

white slipcover with denim and ticking

If you are like me and you want to do this as economically as possible - the PRE first step is to make some cording with laundry line cord, twine, or other hefty string. That could be a whole post in and of itself. Check youtube for video instructions on making cording - there are tons.

Step 1: Trace around the old cushions cushions to make an pattern for the new ones. I usually trace directly onto the new fabric - risky, but time saving.  Measure the depth (width of the strip around the cushion and cut some strips that wide plus 1 inch (for 1/2 inch seam allowances)

Step 2: Cut 1 side strip in half and insert the zipper. Cut this strip about 1/2 inch wider than the rest to allow for the insertion of the zipper plus the 2 side seams.

Step 3: Sew/Baste cording around the outer edge of your soon-to-be cushion cover. The only hard part on this step is at the end. You have to cut your cording about 2-3 inches longer than the actual circumference of your cushion. Open the cording and cut out the rope/twine so that it just meets up with the starting end. Then fold back the extra fabric to create a neat hem around the joint. Sew the two ends together. See video here (starting about 10 minutes in)

 Step 4: Sew fabric strip almost all the way around and then stop and join the strip ends together before completing the seam. Again - tons of videos on youtube about this - check it out!  Even this sturdy denim has a tendency to fray - so I trimmed all the seam allowances with pinking shears and then zigzag stitched close to the edge.

Step 5: Sew the other half of the cushion to the center strip and reinforce seam allowances. Turn right side out and insert foam cushion.