Jay Made It

We saw the goats again

2012-01-23T20:42:00.000-08:00

Ha, can you tell I've been busy working? Long days on my feet = evenings on the couch curled around my embroidery hoop; not much to blog about.

I may try to sneak my camera in to work sometime to take pictures of the greenhouses, though the best parts aren't photograph-able: the sunny, balminess that fogs up my glasses as I come inside from the cold, and the neat, satisfying feeling of clipping leaves as I tidy the houseplants up for customers. Even though it's hardly the stuff a career is made of, it's a pretty sweet for-now gig.

We did make the trek to River's Wish last weekend to visit our favorite baby goats. They've come a long way since we first met them. Where before they both sort of tottered around newborn-Bambi-style, now they hop like fleas all over the place. They both liked to jump on our backs when we leaned over, and they gummed the crap out of my coat.

Said coat now smells like goat, but I can't say that's a bad thing.

Love, J

Christmas photo dump

2011-12-30T20:27:00.000-08:00

Day One:
~ Fancy dinner with grandparents and mi padre y madrastra.

Day Two:
~ Grandma made slippers & cake; the Aunts made tamales. Life was good.

Day Three:
~ Beth made the hubs the coolest sweatshirt EVER; G made all the sisters stuffed animals.
~ Step-dad got BIL Airsoft guns, which he and the hubs promptly took outside to shoot at each other.
~ Beth used Step-Dad's stocking jump rope to demonstrate her mad criss-cross skillz.

Later on Day Three:
~ I lost interest in taking pictures as I grew too worn out and full to move around much, but we had another lovely celebration at the in-laws.
~ Hubs made a personalized coloring book for baby niece which turned out to be a big hit, and was nicely accompanied by some nubby crayons G and I melted for fun a few weeks ago.

Love, J

Baby goats

2011-12-30T18:42:00.000-08:00

I have some Christmas wrap-up photos, but this is better, so those can wait.

I all-of-a-sudden got a job this week, which it turns out is full-time, though seasonal, work. On my first day of this job, I woke up with a terrible head cold and then had to bluster my lightheaded way through meeting a bunch of new people and doing semi-heavy manual labor all day.

It was not a good day.

I got home and just as I was about to change into my jammies and totally crash, Kit from River's Wish called.

She and Pete (Mr. River's Wish) were driving by our house on their way home from rescuing a mom and her day-old baby goats, and would we like it if they stopped by so we could cuddle them a little bit?

And just like that, my day got So. Much. Better.

(Sorry for the poor quality of these pictures, it was dark and I hate using the flash.)

I totally know this visit was a plot at getting us to adopt the sweet little pair (Kit's not very sneaky about stuff like that), and I don't even care. Sometimes you just need to snuggle a goat.

Love, J

Extreme hunting tee

2011-12-24T07:00:00.000-08:00

I so totally plagiarized this from Pinterest:

Love, J

Wood burned frame

2011-12-23T09:01:00.000-08:00

I forgot about the hubs' long-lost skill of wood burning until he found this frame at Value Village and turned it into a sweet gift for his mom.

Love, J

Black Friday Shopping Prank

2011-12-22T07:00:00.000-08:00

Love, J

Another starry tee

2011-12-21T07:00:00.000-08:00

This one's for my Dad. It's the same as the one I made for the hubs, just different colors.

And here's a picture of one of the myriad ways the hubs likes to torment poor Bread.

Poor baby. Between Lily and the mean man, he can't get a moment's peace.

Love, J

bluebell tee scarf

2011-12-20T07:00:00.000-08:00

Not super-warm, but SO soft:

I must confess that I really wanted to keep this one for myself rather than send it off as a Christmas gift.

But there's never a shortage of t-shirt scraps, so I can always make another!

Love, J

Line a day journal

2011-12-19T10:16:00.000-08:00

I kind of love this journal idea, and it's great as a gift:

date stamp 365 note card halves (Jan. 1, Jan. 2, etc.) and then each day, write the year and about 5 words about your day

the tutorial above says to use vintage postcards, but I used pieces of old greeting cards instead

and it only took about 30 seconds to find half a dozen date stampers at Value Village

warning: it takes one million years to individually stamp the date on 365 cards

love, J

New Grandpas

2011-12-18T07:00:00.000-08:00

This made me cry, it's so sweet:

Love, J

Bad presents on Jimmy Kimmel

2011-12-15T23:12:00.000-08:00

(Warning to Grandma - the boy at the very end has a terrible potty mouth, I'm sorry! But the rest of it is pretty funny!)

The boy who freaks out over the Hello Kitty shirt was kind of a butt on the Halloween video too, if I remember right. He's like the villain on a ton of different kids' movies - Dudley from Harry Potter leaps to mind first.

I like the idea of people messing with their children, but it would be super-hard for me to give the kid a good, real gift on Christmas if they had a giant, ugly meltdown over the joke present.

The ones who are just puzzled or dismayed are the best. An old banana... ?

Love, J

Craft ideas

2011-12-14T07:00:00.000-08:00

Pinterest is totally capturing my imagination this season. So many ideas, so little time!

Here's my board for misc. craft projects to try, and here's the one for crochet, sewing, knitting.

My favorites this second are:

Source: simplysavannahevents.blogspot.com via Jessica on Pinterest

Salt dough tags

Source: kirstenerickson.blogspot.com via Jessica on Pinterest

Spoon rings (springs? ; )

Source: wanelo.com via Jessica on Pinterest

Jewelry board

Source: blog.craftzine.com via Jessica on Pinterest

Spraypaint ALL THE THINGS

Source: 2littlehooligans.blogspot.com via Jessica on Pinterest

Casserole carrier - this is actually on my "make for myself after Christmas" list

Bach, who am I kidding. They're all my favorite, and I could keep re-posting stuff here all day. Like I said, SO many ideas!

Love, J

Broomstick lace cuff

2011-12-13T07:00:00.000-08:00

For sweet Alex on our first Christmas as real, live sisters-in-law.

Tutorial here.

Love, J

Santa Paws

2011-12-12T07:00:00.000-08:00

The hubs, G and I had a blast helping out at the winter fundraiser for River's Wish. We made vegan treats for the bake sale, snapped pictures of people and their pets with Santa, and enjoyed the general, Christmas-ee merriment.

We kind of had the best Santa ever. He told me that when he was a teenager, his mom got him his first Santa suit and he put an add in the Nickel Nick that he'd visit kids and parties and stuff for $15. His dad had to drive him around town then, he didn't even have his license yet.

I always want to send out holiday cards, but the tree-hugger in me can't abide the paper waste.
So consider this photo the Hubs' and my festive, green greeting!

How much does this cutie look EXACTLY like Cindi Lou Who?!?

G and I had great success with our vegan snickerdoodles (from an old magazine I had lying around) and one for homemade, vegan peanut butter cups

5 straight hours of jolliness takes its toll

Love, J

a month in pics

2011-12-11T14:03:00.001-08:00

Hola,

I've been a neglectful blogger. Here's a brief Nov. recap in photos, and maybe I'll start keeping up after this!

Love, J

Clothes makin' the man

2011-11-30T15:57:00.000-08:00

If you want a cool illustration of the difference that just makeup, clothes, and hairstyles can make, watch Lars and the Real Girl. Then check out an episode of Pan Am to see Kelli Garner as a total bombshell and... basically anything else with Ryan Gosling to see him very, very yummy. (The Notebook, if you've a high saccharine tolerance; Fracture was good too.)

I watched Lars last night, and man, that movie rocks so hard. Every single performance is impeccable, touching without being sappy; I love it. I keep it with our holiday movies because the setting is so wintery and cold, I can't ever get into it any other time of year.

Anyway, last night the first scene featuring Kelli Garner had me bolting upright on the couch: That's the girl from Pan Am. No way. Because she looks SO different, it's crazy. When I first saw "Lars," I never in a million years thought that actress could be done up to be the bombshell she is on the TV drama. In fact, though I've been watching the show all season, I didn't even recognize her from my favorite movie until I re-watched it last night.

It makes me wonder if eyeliner and red hair would work the same wonders for me!

Love, J

Pretty products - kitchen edition

2011-11-11T07:00:00.000-08:00

Just some cool things I've seen on Pinterest, thought I'd share ; )

Source: kitchenkrafts.com via Jessica on Pinterest

Source: coxandcox.co.uk via Jessica on Pinterest

Source: westelm.com via Jessica on Pinterest

Love, J

Carrot harvest

2011-11-10T07:00:00.000-08:00

I finally pulled out about half of my carrots the other day. I'd planned to leave them in and see how they managed the winter, but the greens were looking so sad after the freezing nights that I took pity on them.

I pulled the greens off the carrots I picked, rubbed most of the dirt off, layered them in a basket with an old sheet, and stuck them in the garage. (Oh, and took all the split, holey ones inside to be eaten soonish.)

The other half of them is still planted, so I can keep an eye on them and see how they do. Man, I wish I had the guts to just dig a root cellar behind the garage or something. But I'm afraid: 1) It wouldn't work. Like, I wouldn't be able to get it deep enough or something and then I'd have ripped up part of the yard for no reason; and/or 2) I might find the skeleton of a pet the previous owners buried. The idea of this TOTALLY freaks me out.

Anyway, the carrots are gorgeous, and I am SO planting the same rainbow mix next year. A couple of the yellows are mutant monsters, they are so huge! Though there were hardly any purples, which seems odd - I'd think there would be an even mix.

Love, J

Make a brownie in minutes

2011-11-09T07:00:00.000-08:00

I am on a MAJOR baked goods kick lately, in that I need at least one cupcakebrowniecookie per day or else.

Thing is, in our house, a batch of cookies or whatever will get eaten within 12 hours of coming out of the oven. There are no exceptions to this rule. Even if they were burned to a crisp, the offending black bottoms would be cut off and the rest of them devoured.

And while I may have more free time on my hands than most, and I do love baking, I'm not really up for making a new batch of goodies every single day.

Enter, microwave brownie.

In a ramekin, mash up an old banana (I throw mushy ones in the freezer so I've always got a stash). If it is from the freezer, cut the peel off, slice it into rounds and microwave it for 10-15 seconds, until you can smash it with a fork.

Add a few tablespoons of brownie mix. Just keep adding and stirring it into the mushed banana until it has a batter consistency.

Add walnuts. (This is not optional - brownies are incomplete without walnuts. If you disagree, you have no place eating a brownie.)

Microwave it all for about 2 minutes. (I just do this on high, but probably you'd get fancier results if you tried it at half-power for a little bit longer.)

Mmmm, brownie.

Note: I use banana because that's what I've always got around. I'm pretty sure any sort of liquid would work, just so you get the right consistency. I know yogurt does the trick because that's what my grandma and aunt use and I stole this idea from them!

Love, J

Pumpkins & pears

2011-11-08T09:29:00.000-08:00

Did you know Albertson's (at least the one in Liberty Lake) gives away its leftover pumpkins FOR FREE after Halloween?!? I learned this as I drove by last week (and this was even on Nov. 2 and there were still some left!) and saw the big "free" sign in front of the pile. A quick call to Grandma - "Can you make pie from any kind of pumpkins?" "I think so" - and I backed the car up to the pile and filled the trunk with six of the biggest squash I could lift.

After two days of slicing & scooping & cooking & blending, I've preserved my way through 3 of the monsters, and have stashed the other three in the basement until I've the ambition to do the rest.

COOKED PUMPKIN GOO:

Slice it open, scoop out the guts.

Cut it into wedges, slice off the peel. (Peel? Rind? idon'tknow.) The hubs used the vegetable peeler for this, but I preferred to hack it off with a knife.

Cut it into smallish chunks and toss it in the slow cooker with a cup of water, cook on high until it's all mushy.

Drain it really, really well (like, smash it into the strainer with a heavy mixing bowl to squish out all the liquid, then let it sit to cool and finish draining).

Run the hand mixer through it until it's all smooth.

Scoop it into all those leftover cottage cheeses containers Grandma saves for you and freeze.

I may try to make soup with some of this, but probably it will all wind up as pie.

AND...

This was the first year we've gotten any pears off the tree in our yard, and they were sooo good. They confused me at first by not really getting soft on the tree, but once they fell to the ground, they turned so ripe and yummy. And then after it got really cold out, the fruit left on the tree was pretty good too. Not counting the dozens I ate fresh & put in my smoothies, we got an overflowing fruit-box full to preserve (maybe 25 lbs?).

PEAR SAUCE:

Slice and core pears into chunks.

With a little bit of water, cook on the stovetop on low/med, stirring frequently, until mushy & cooked down.

Run it through the food mill.

I was expecting this to look like the applesauce I've been making for my apple butter practice batches, but it's way thinner. I could have boiled it down after the food mill to make it thicker, but it's just so damn GOOD like this - I was sipping on it while it was still hot from the stovetop and it's like this sweet, hot slurry and I think it will be amazing added to smoothies, desserts, or just as a hot drink in the winter. So I froze it in mason jars - the big boxful gave me 8 quarts of pear sauce.

Love, J

PS ~ I love my Lily rabbit.

Halloween light display

2011-10-31T00:31:00.000-07:00

These people are so cool:

Source: geekologie.com via Alexandra on Pinterest

Happy Halloween!

Love, J

Running

2011-10-27T20:53:00.000-07:00

Source: google.com via Amy on Pinterest

Yes, I've been spending a bit of time on Pinterest lately. It's just so. much. fun.

And I found the tweezers. They were in the pocket of my bathrobe.

Love, J

Cat & Mouse & MIA Tweezermans

2011-10-26T12:16:00.000-07:00

That mouse has a potty mouth.

This afternoon I'm really wishing I could track down my tweezers. My eyebrows are out of control. They're hot pink (the tweezers, not the eyebrows), so you'd THINK they'd be easy to find...

Love, J

Potatoes & squash & mushroom sauce

2011-10-25T09:06:00.000-07:00

I cook too little, considering how much I enjoy it. Now that garden season's wrapped, my fall & winter resolution this year is to spend more time planning & executing real meals.

What I'd really like is to work my way through my food board on Pinterest. I put a little dent in it last night, with three successful new dishes:

Crispy potato roast:

Source: None via Jessica on Pinterest

Spaghetti squash & vegan cream sauce:

Source: None via Jessica on Pinterest

I'm just posting the links because one of the many things I've learned from blogging is that it is very, VERY hard to take appetizing photographs of food, especially after dark in our dim kitchen. The photos above do justice to the yumminess of the food in a way that my shots cannot. And they pretty much look the same anyway, except I made my potatoes in a low tart pan with fingerling potatoes from the garden, so it turned out really tiny and cute.

In a perfect world, I try not to use processed food overly much, but the "cream" sauce has almond milk & fake cream (kream? like krab?) & nutritional yeast but it tastes kind of amazing so I can forgive all that.

Love, J

Lafawnduh

2011-10-21T07:00:00.000-07:00

Some photos on Pinterest that make me laugh:

Source: stampinwhenican.blogspot.com via Jessica on Pinterest

The hubs says of this picture, "it gives me just one reason to have a child:"

Source: None via Jessica on Pinterest

Source: thegarebear.tumblr.com via Jessica on Pinterest

Source: craftfail.com via Amber on Pinterest

And this one is hardly timely, but it still makes me laugh so hard:

Source: funny.com via Jessica on Pinterest

Love, J

nothing special

2011-10-20T07:00:00.000-07:00

Me (fixing dinner): Hey, honey, will you play with the camera a little bit? I knocked the lens funny earlier and it stopped taking pictures. I'm worried I broke it.

~ 3 minute pause ~

Him: No, it's working fine.

Later I found the camera full of the following pictures. I like the quiet, random snapshots of this average evening:

Love, J

Next up: apple butter

2011-10-19T07:00:00.000-07:00

#9: Apple butter is messy.
After I cleaned all this up, I noticed splatters on the ceiling above the stove.
They're still there.

I'm trying to keep up my canning momentum as much as possible, with such a weather-dependent business. I feel like apple butter fits the bill because:

1. It is awesome.
2. It is delicious.
3. It is sweet, which is different from the savory pickled green beans.
4. It is something that is always better when homemade.
5. (And I think my stuff counts as "homemade.")
6. The apple season arrives after bean season has ended.
7. Apples will keep a bit and give me more wiggle room as I try to sell beans and process the butter during the same weeks.
8. Really, apple butter is awesome.

So now I'm getting some butter samples ready for Mr. PhD to approve. Since Mr. PhD is 1/2 retired and works only in fits and starts, this approval could arrive in a matter of weeks (plenty of time to roll out some jars this year) or many months (in which case, I'll be ready for next year).

Fortunately, having been through this process once before, and having other stuff keeping me busy, I'm much more calm about it this time around!

Love, J

Fall garden

2011-10-18T07:00:00.000-07:00

I'm trying some cold weather garden food this year, to see if I can stretch out our fresh-eating season, and am having mixed but mostly good results.

Broccoli in the greenhouse.
So far it looks great, but we'll see if it gets big enough to do anything.

These peas illustrate my total novice-ness in the garden.
I was so proud of how beautiful the vines came up, and kept bragging about how cold-tolerant peas are and how you can plant them so late in the year.
Then I got about 2 peas off the whole bunch.
Because (duh) cold weather = no bees = no pollination.
Damn it.
The bunnies love the vines though, so it's not a total loss.

Speaking of the little 4-legged scamps, they may hate their new, reduced hours out in the yard, but they love how negligent I've been in picking up after the pear tree.
Pear butter will finally get made this week, if I can get my act together.

Fewer/smaller pumpkins then I'd hoped for,
but the crop we did get sure is pretty.
I'll plant more next year for sure.
(Especially since I'll have room to spare without all those nasty eggplants.)

I'm trying some broccoli and some bok choi outside too, just to see how much cold they'll really handle. Bok choi look great, broccoli not so much.

Love, J

Last drop of sun food

2011-10-17T07:00:00.000-07:00

It's cold, but we're still eeking by on the last of the tomatoes and other fading garden goods.

I have to remember this salad for next year, because it is awesome:

Tomatoes
Corn
Red onion
Basil
Balsamic vinegar

Holy cow.

This week I also took a stab at eggplant parmesan. It was not good. At least, I hated it, but the hubs has been soldiering through the big dish of it all week. This is the final straw for me and eggplants. We are finished, at least as far as the garden goes.

This year I learned not to grow:

- Swiss chard (don't like it/pretty sure I'm allergic)
- Eggplant (just blech)
- Watermelons & cantaloupe (by the time they were finally ripe, it was too cold to be melon weather, and this is more of an end-of-July food)
- Beets (MAYBE I will try these again, but they seem to make my throat hurt the same way chard does)

To end on a high note, I had this awesome meal almost every day last week:

Soup = misc. tomatoes in a crock pot all day, cook them down and then hit them with the hand mixer. That's it. Serve the soup while it's still crazy-hot.

Sandwich (layer as follows):

Bread
Mozzarella
Chopped basil
Onion
Tomato
Tomato
Onion
Chopped basil
Mozzarella
Bread
Olive oil
Frying pan

Love, J

Ferris craft fair

2011-10-16T20:01:00.000-07:00

Another record sales day!

I don't like to be too pushy, but I had the following exchange FIVE different times yesterday:

Me: Would you like to try a sample?

Them (walking by): No, thank you.

Me: Are you sure? They're kind of amazing.

Them (stopping): ... Well... okay. (They eat bean. They are wowed. They buy a jar.)

Two girls I had this conversation with even got on Facebook later that night to "like" Stock the Cellar.

And THEN, that night I got a text from BFF telling me she needs to buy a whole case, and quick, because she put some beans on the hummus plate at her wine bar and people were freaking out over them.

I had trouble sleeping last night, with all my giddy adrenaline. I've been reading Mansfield Park and even that snoozefest couldn't wind me down until after midnight.

Love, J

Some updates

2011-10-16T07:00:00.000-07:00

1. Several emails this week have informed me that Blogger's being squirrely and only sporadically allowing people to post comments. I'm sorry. I don't know how to fix it, but hopefully it will be one of those problems that will just go away if I ignore it. (I love those kinds of problems.)

2. For all those sissies-like-me, my buddy Wesley sent over this link to tame Halloween movies. I think I'll for sure be checking out Idle Hands this year. Whatever cool points it loses for having Jessica Alba in it, it more than makes up with Seth Greene.

3. Little cousin was my first taker on the Owl. She's very excited to pick her own colors. I'm excited to knit something that giant. I'm also pleased to have this new way of getting to knit things I like without the chore of buying the yarn or having to figure out what to do with the damn things when they're done ; )

4. AAAND, the beans are flying off the shelves. We have a hit, people! I've only got one batch of quarts left, and fewer pints almost daily. It's crazy, and I am so, so grateful. Right now I'm getting a little bit of business coaching from a friend, and hopefully you'll soon be able to order my wares at a bar or two in town!

Love, J

Halloween movies for sissies like me

2011-10-12T07:00:00.000-07:00

Here is a link to photos of people freaking out in a haunted house.

Let's play a game. I'll list four activities, you tell me which one doesn't belong:

1. Buying someone a gift
2. Going to the movies
3. Eating at a good restaurant
4. Being terrified shitless

Do you know why #4 doesn't fit with the rest of the list?

Because it's the only thing for which I'd never shell out $20. Nor can I understand why anyone else would. I love Halloween, but in more of a candy corn, jack-o-lantern, corn maze kind of way.

For example, no scary movies for me, no thank you. I had nightmares for about 3 years after I saw The Sixth Sense, and that's not even supposed to be *that* scary. (Yeah, right.)

But because fall is a time to hide from the rainy weather and cozy up in front of a movie, I'm always looking for good, non-scary autumn flicks. So far I have:

~ The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (Disney)
~ Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog
~ Practical Magic
~ All the Harry Potter movies
~ Rear Window
~ Wallace & Grommit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit
~ The Patriot (the hubs put this one on here because he finds if fall-y. I used to love it but haven't seen it since Mel Gibson went insane.)

And I love Nightmare Before Christmas, but I have trouble with it because it's too Christmas-y for Halloween and too Halloween-y for Christmas.

Any other suggestions are welcome! (And I know Hocus Pocus seems obvious, but for some reason I cannot stand it. It does have pretty scenery though.)

Love, J

An offer of an owl

2011-10-11T07:00:00.000-07:00

Over the winter, I would like to knit this owl.

The thing is, I have no use for a giant, stuffed owl.

So if anyone out there would like this owl, but doesn't want to knit it, I'm your gal.

I won't get it done by Christmas, but Valentine's Day isn't out of the question.

Lemme know.

Love, J

Family Feud

2011-10-10T22:36:00.000-07:00

Love, J

The Lady is a Tramp

2011-10-09T21:21:00.000-07:00

Love, J

PS ~ If anyone out there is looking for a choreographer for their next music video, probably you should give Foxy Shazam a call and ask who they use, because whoa, man:

She gets her yoga moves from her mama

2011-10-08T20:09:00.000-07:00

~ When Lily chews on the bottom of her own foot, like so, it absolutely slays me.

~ I sold almost 30 jars of beans at this weekend's craft fair. I'm still playing with the numbers to see if I can get the bucks to make sense enough to make a go of it, but in the meantime I sure do enjoy standing at a table and receiving compliments all day ; )

~ The best part of The Rachel Zoe Project has got to be how Rachel and Rog get each other ridiculous gifts like an Escalade or a $60k watch and then act so cavalier about it they may as well have just picked up a Kit Kat from the Circle K for each other a la me & the hubs.

~ G texted me this week to ask if I'd go trick-or-treating with her this year. I'd thought she was over that activity, but apparently she just needed a two year hiatus. This makes me about as happy as the above-pictured foot chewing.

Love,
J

Canary Islands Time Lapse

2011-10-07T07:00:00.000-07:00

This is just about the most beautiful thing ever. Watch it in full-screen mode, for sure.

The Mountain from TSO Photography on Vimeo.

Love, J

The last of his T's

2011-10-06T14:42:00.000-07:00

I made a blanket for the hubs last Christmas, using his old t-shirts.

But 20 years of sports and concerts = too many t-shirts for one blanket.

(Unless it was a giantmegablanket, which would actually be kind of cool.)

So he got another one for his birthday:

I like this one better, as it's all stitched by hand and has a raised border along each block.

And the basement is one garbage-bag-full-of-accumulated-junk lighter!

Love, J

Pool party pics

2011-09-27T07:00:00.000-07:00

This was supposed to be just a picture of step-dad's sweet flip off the diving board, but I now notice it also depicts the hubs trying to drown brother-in-law.

Love, J

In the kitchen

2011-09-26T07:00:00.000-07:00

Happy to have a Redbox to watch,
or just smug because he doesn't have to wear a sexy hairnet?

Hard to say.

Love, J

My first show & sales!

2011-09-25T20:59:00.000-07:00

Even though the show had a pretty low turn-out, I still sold a case of beans, got a LOT of encouragement from satisfied samplers, and worked out some kinks in booth-setting-up.

After my first sale! I'll be framing that dollar.

It was just the boost I needed before kicking it into overdrive this week - the bean season is right about spent and I've only got a few more nights in the kitchen to build up my inventory. I'm excited to wrap it all up though, so I can move on to my next product.

Love, J

Old but new to me

2011-09-20T23:02:00.000-07:00

Just popping in to say I've discovered a new-to-me show that I'm sure everyone and their mom has seen but I just discovered for the first time on Hulu: Hearts Afire.

It's kind of awesome, and not just in a "good for an old sitcom" way, but actually laugh out loud funny. I never thought I'd develop a crush on John Ritter, but it appears to have happened. It's just perfect to watch marathon-style while I sit here and snap beans.

And my labels ought to be here by Friday, so hopefully I'll have a photo of the finished product soon!

Okay, back to the snapping.

Love, J

Stock the Cellar

2011-09-19T02:12:00.000-07:00

I am:

~ officially in business as the owner of a small batch cannery.

~ 324 jars deep in pints of pickled green beans.

~ exhausted and exhilarated from long days in the field & kitchen.

~ planning on keeping up the pace until the first frost ends the beans.

~ getting ready for my first sale booth this weekend at the Cheney rodeo.

~ regretting that I'm too tired to post any photos. maybe i can make up for it soon with one of G in a hairnet, because that's really too sweet for words.

~ so, so so hoping against all hope that this little project turns into something bigger. it's backbreaking, impractical, and not too lucrative but oh my gosh do i love it so much. like, love. for reals.

love & goodnight,

a very content J

New game

2011-09-09T08:31:00.000-07:00

I like this.

Love, J

PS ~ If the image above is too foggy for you to read, click on it and you'll jump the the Pinterest page where I found it.

Frustrating

2011-09-08T14:10:00.001-07:00

You know that feeling, when you start something and get deep enough into it that by the time you realize maybe it wasn't a very good idea, you can't really back out of it without making a huge mess, so you have to follow it through to the end?

This morning my canning company plan sort of took a turn in that direction.

My big jar order was supposed to arrive yesterday, if not the day before that. I confirmed this with the company last week. Hubs and I scoured the basement clean, made room for the jars and my other equipment, and I got the house all in order so I could disappear into the steamy kitchen for the rest of the month the minute the jars arrived.

Tuesday came and went. No jars.

Yesterday came and went.

No jars.

I even called the sales rep I ordered through and left three - increasingly curt - messages for her yesterday, in a vain attempt to learn the jars' whereabouts so I could schedule my time in the commercial kitchen and order produce from the farm. No answer.

This morning I got a call from a woman in their billing department, just letting me know, "as a courtesy" that the payment information I gave them didn't work, and so the jars were never shipped.

Said billing department lady then got an earful. Fortunately for her, even at my most pissed-off, I'm cripplingly polite and I probably apologized to her as many times as I told her what crap this whole thing was.

After scrambling like mad all morning on the internet and phone, I came to the annoying conclusion that ordering through the original company is still the best way to go. I was very thorough in my product & price research, and no better options have emerged in the month since I placed my original order. Plus, a week is still faster than anyone else would be able to deliver them.

So I stand here on the path and I look ahead of me and see that I will still need to expend more resources - for produce, kitchen time, fair and market booth fees - if I go forward. And the window for production is rapidly closing, as the beans I need will be toast as soon as the first frost hits. Losing a week of this time is a major, major, major blow.

But on the same path, behind me is the even more money spent to get this far. And the hopes I have built up for my little fledgling cannery, which I know are probably disproportionate to its actual potential, but still, they're there and would be dashed if I give up now.

So I went ahead and ordered the damn jars.

Now I just have to try not to mess up the house & basement before next Wednesday.

Love, J

I want to grow food and stuff

2011-09-06T07:00:00.000-07:00

Farmhouse painting by Nancy Tobin

I am on such an agrarian bender right now that it's begun interfering with the rest of my life.

What's that?

There is housework to do? Meals to make? Business stuff to square away?

So sorry, I'm too busy sitting amongst my pumpkins, daydreaming about what it would be like if the patch were an acre rather than 20 square feet. And maybe bordered by a stream on one side. With a white farmhouse in the distance, short in stature, long in charm. Wrap-around porch with a swing; cozy fireplace(s); clawfoot tub; root cellar.

Mmmmm... root cellar...

The end of summer and harvest time always pushes my gaze toward the fields like this, but the attraction is stronger than usual this year. And it is apparently contagious, because I only had to mention it once and the hubs immediately seized the idea and has spent parts of two weekends now driving me around to his favorite little satellite communities, scouting for good candidates.

"Good candidate" = All of the aforementioned charm on 5ish acres, not *too* far out.

Room for a mega berry patch of blue; rasp; black; and straw. Space to grow some Christmas trees and enough corn, potatoes, onions, garlic, squash, to make us through the hungry gap.

Chickens.

Maybe some rescued sheep and a pair of donkeys? (Though maybe not. I'm still pondering whether I'd be cool with having outside animals. I really need to have all my little buddies tucked in the house safe and sound after dark.)

A while longer in town and just maybe I can build a little business that will travel with me into the hills and off into the fields.

Or I may still land some lame desk job and life will take a different course.

?

Until then I will continue to enjoy and be grateful for my own little patch of Earth.

Love, J

PS ~ Speaking of my little company, it's pretty much up and running! I'm due to get my big shipment of jars this week, and then will be a canning maniac, filling as many jars as possible until the first frost ends bean season. (Cross your fingers for me that's at least a couple of weeks, more would be great.) Pictures to follow!

Cooler evenings

2011-09-05T22:58:00.000-07:00

From Harvest, by Nicola Smith:

People started to make dark noises about winter coming, the end of light and warmth, and the beginning of cold and privation, when the land shrank back into itself and humans retreated to their houses and the animals began to seek shelter. It was a perverse thing -- and quite Yankee, a vestige of the Puritans' Calvinist outlook -- the way people, basking in September warmth weeks before the snow came, began to lower expectations and anticipate trouble and make unhappy predictions as if pleasure was not an end in itself but a foolish indulgence, an open invitation to hard times and harder weather.

We're still basking in September's warmth, the bunnies and I, but the nights have cooled off considerably, and I can certainly smell autumn each morning when I open the windows.

Normally this would not concern me, but I've only enjoyed a smattering of ripe tomatoes - none of them my beautiful, long-awaited chocolate stripes - so I do need the heat to hang on just a bit longer this year.

Oh all right, I admit it, deep down I'm quite greedy and hoping for this last hot snap to last a good 6 weeks.

Is that so wrong?

Love, J

We like cucumbers

2011-09-02T07:00:00.000-07:00

Lily and me.

Love, J

Margarita Jello Shots

2011-09-01T07:00:00.000-07:00

Makes 36 shots:

Halve and hollow 9 lemons*

Make up a small box of lime Jello, substituting tequila for 1/2 of the cold water.

Fill 'em up and chill, then slice each half in half.

I didn't try any, but they looked pretty cool, and were mostly gone by the end of the night, apparently relished by those who don't share my Jello aversion.

No, make that Jello revulsion. *Shudder* Jello.

Love, J

*There are more than 9 lemons and a box of raspberry mix in the first photo because we also made an alcohol free kid-friendly batch.

Par-tay 2011

2011-08-31T07:00:00.001-07:00

This took place weeks ago, but I've been an absentee blogger lately, so here you go:

In the post-party letdown, I like to console myself with leftovers:

Love, J

Chard broke my heart

2011-08-30T07:00:00.000-07:00

I grew a ton of chard this year, because it seemed exotic and I do love my leafy greens.

The good news is that it turned out absolutely gorgeous. Like, very, very beautiful.

The bad news is that I apparently am allergic to it. It makes my throat hurt and feel funny for the rest of the day after eating even just a tiny bit. And to add insult to injury, the hubs doesn't like it so he won't eat it either.

So now it sits in the garden, taunting and beckoning me with its verdant, vibrant leaves and rainbow stalks.

I give it away as fast as I can.

(Which is not as easy as it would be with, say, tomatoes, or strawberries, or anything people actually enjoy eating.)

But I also cave in and re-try it myself once a week or so, because I am a slow learner and because it just looks. so. good.

As do these suckers, which I'm enjoying as a lovely orange consolation prize:

Love, J

Leather bracelets

2011-08-29T07:00:00.000-07:00

Thrifted dancing shoes for the hubs that turned out to be too small = $1.50

Afternoon with G = way fun

New strappy leather bracelets from the shoelaces = pretty!

Love, J

Beans x 3

2011-08-28T21:53:00.001-07:00

This photo's over a week old, and the yellow & purple beans are pretty spent by now, but look how pretty!

I'll definitely be growing these again next year. (Though yesterday I canned a bunch together, thinking they'd be gorgeous, and the yellow & purple do NOT look good in the jar. They got all faded and wimpy looking.)

Love, J

Your rabbit's in the mail

2011-08-15T20:58:00.000-07:00

Dear Aunt Sue,

I dropped this little fella off at the post office this afternoon. He should be in your arms in three to four days. Thank you for supporting River's Wish!

Love,
J

We're on a bridge, Charlie!

2011-08-08T07:00:00.000-07:00

At our sleepover last week, little cousin had to try her hand at doll-making too.

This is Charlie the Unicorn. He's named after Charlie the Unicorn.

If you haven't seen this yet, you're welcome:

Ssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhuuuunnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnh ... !

Love, J

The cute-off

2011-08-07T07:00:00.000-07:00

Sorry Vinny, but it's really no contest.

Love, J

Ice Blocking

2011-08-06T07:00:00.000-07:00

Neither G nor little cousin had ever been ice blocking before this week.

I find this shocking.

It's not that we go very often - maybe I've been 5 times ever? - it just seems like such a basic, wholesome summer activity that it should be on everyone's list of stuff-they-could-do. Like sledding; you may not go much, but it's nice to have in your back pocket.

And because no night of fun is complete without a friendly wager, I bet the hubs he couldn't run to and from that telephone pole way at the bottom of the hill by the white fence in under a minute.

He won us all a trip to 7-11 for Slurpees by finishing the loop in just over half that time.

Then little cousin wanted to try, and then G had to give it a go, which left me with no choice but to try it too. (Or risk losing all cool sister/cousin street cred.)

I almost died. And THEN, to add insult to injury, both girls had faster times than me.

(By sort of a lot.)

I guess I should stop telling people what a great cardio workout I get from yoga.

Show off.

Love, J

PS ~

Around the garden right now

2011-08-05T07:00:00.000-07:00

For some reason we haven't got any pears from our tree since we moved in.
It looks like that trend ends this year!

The first couple of eggplants are almost ready.

This tomato sprouted up on its own from a fruit I'd missed and let rot in last year's garden.
This tomato lives life on its own terms.
It has about 10 buddies who also popped up unbidden.
They chose sort of inconvenient places to grow,
right in the middle of other patches,
but they take care of themselves and I respect that.

My they-don't-look-like-they'll-live-so-I'll-just-throw-them-in-the-dirt-and-see cucumbers have actually sort of taken off.

Watermelon SOS: WHAT THE CRAP IS THIS?!?
The vines all look vital and healthy. The blossoms turn to sweet, tiny green melons. Then over the next few days, the little fruit turn yellow, then black, and wither away.
I am not amused.

Yellow onions have dumped over and are ready to be pulled and dried.
The reds aren't far behind.

The parsley is beautiful, but unable to live up to its potential in the kitchen until the tomatoes are ripe.
Also suffering from this dilemma are the cilantro and basil.

Pyramid O' Beans.
The sticks reach about 5' up, which apparently isn't enough because a few vines have leapt above this and are waving at least 6" higher in the air, and they're still growing.

I'm not sure what I did differently, but this year's bean patch looks about a million times better than last year's wimpy vines.
Maybe they decided to take me seriously when they heard I'm going professional with my bean-ing?

Love, J

Bunnies hate to swim

2011-08-04T07:00:00.000-07:00

But it's 90 degrees outside, and they needed to cool off.

Also, I'm sort of a jerk, and I'll put them in the little pool just because it's cute even though I know they hate it.

And look how funny and frumpled they are all wet.

They're still acting a little pissy with me. But you know what? Worth it.

Love, J

Old Bear Mountain

2011-08-03T14:56:00.000-07:00

I am so very smitten with this band. They are The Weepies meet The Avett Brothers, they're about my age, and they're from Greenbluff to boot.

They're playing the MarQuee tonight at 9 pm, no cover charge. I won't be there, as I have a play date with two awesome pre-teens, but I do get to see them play a friend's wedding this Saturday. (And excuse me, but how cool is it to have a real band play your wedding? So jealous.)

Love, J

More Garbage

2011-08-01T07:00:00.000-07:00

G's on a roll. I got this email from Step-Dad yesterday:

Jay,

I had to send you this pic. G really loves “Garbage”, the little bunny she made with you. She decided to make one like it for her friend who likes elephants.

So she worked late into the night and came up with this. Pretty cute. It’s supposed to have a tutu, but I guess she will add that later.

I took the picture as she slept after all her hard work.

I've since seen the little gal in person, and her details are so sweet. She's even all blinged out with a necklace and button earrings. G's calling them her "Garbage Dolls," and I think she plans on building a whole army of them.

Love, J

Summer breakfast

2011-07-31T07:00:00.000-07:00

My favorite meal right now:

Sprouted grain toast with almond butter and smashed backyard raspberries, with a side of greenhouse cucumber.

Love, J

WAY cooler than Build-a-Bear

2011-07-30T07:00:00.000-07:00

Name: Garbage
Designer/creator: G
Reason: More fun than playing Bananagrams with me for the 50 millionth time. (This month.)
Materials: Old t-shirt scraps; thread; buttons
Time from inception to completion: ~ 3 hours
Admirer: Me

Love, J

PS ~ Bananagrams is fun.

Art for the Animals Recap & Thank You

2011-07-29T15:09:00.000-07:00

The first ever Art for the Animals auction was hugely successful in both ways that count: it raised a bunch of money, and it was a really fun night. Check and check.

I call this: Volunteer with Goat

This is Kit.
Kit runs River's Wish with her husband Pete.
Kit gets stuff done.

My BFF knows her wine.

Truly this photo is too blurry to be posted.
BUT, it's the only one I have of a very cool lady:
the animal control officer who rescued our sweet Sarah.

I award this pair two prizes for the evening:
Traveled the Farthest
&
Best-Looking Couple

And I call this one: Did I Win the Genetic Lottery or What?

And for the grand finale, Aunt Micky came up to me at the very end of the night with a neat little square package and informed me that after a bidding war with her, Grandma & Grandpa won Aunt Mary's painting and wanted to give it to the hubs and me. So now I have a new favorite thing ever.

Boo yah.

Thank you to everyone for donating and/or attending the auction. This is one charity that I know does incredible things; I've seen it. And they really do appreciate the bucks and put it toward very worthwhile work!

Love, J

Some great local rock

2011-07-27T01:00:00.000-07:00

Earlier this summer, we hit the final Spokane concert of Joyfield (formerly known as "Siege of Cranes.") We went because I used to babysit the lead guitarist when he and his brothers were little, and because the concert was on a beach.

Oh. My.

They are all kinds of great, and I'm so bummed I didn't catch on to that fact earlier, because now they have moved down to CA hoping to make it big.

This song's my favorite:

I'm normally more of an angsty-boys-with-guitars type, but this is some good, good music.

They really ought to make it to the top, but before they're super rich and famous, I'm gonna need them to come play our summer party - maybe next year?

Love, J

A sister got married!

2011-07-24T22:02:00.000-07:00

My goodness, this was a great wedding. Beautiful day, beautiful people, beautiful fun.

Aunt Sue, I followed your orders to take a lot of pictures. Then I even stole some from other cameras, so scrolling through these should be practically like being there.

(Towards the end, feel free to crank up some "Journey" for the dance pics, just to get the full effect.)

In the last picture we have with all 7 sisters, G is about 2 years old, so this little series is both very special and long overdue:

Love, J

PS ~ I notice the groom is not in many of these photos. I have some more really good ones of him visiting with guests outside before the wedding. However, a certain uncle who avoids being photographed somehow wound up featuring prominently in these pictures, so I cannot post them here, lest he disown me. And I'm probably already on his list for participating in the 7-niece flash mob that danced around him while he ate his cake.

(Participating, but not instigating. It was Beth's - very good - idea.)

Zooey on TV

2011-07-20T22:49:00.000-07:00

Zooey Deschanel has been in my top 5 girl crushes since Elf (and have you HEARD She & Him?!?) Which is why now, when I am absolutely zombie-tired and ought to be dragging myself to bed, I am instead blogging about a very exciting thing I just learned: she's in a new show this fall! The trailer below actually makes the show look really terrible, but I will watch it anyway. Because I watch tons of really terrible TV, and at least this will be really terrible TV starring Zooey. (Sorry for the reeeeeeally long and stupid ad before this video.)

Love (and goodnight),
J

PS ~ In case you haven't heard She & Him...

And one more, this one also starring one of my top boy crushes:

Art for the Animals Submissions

2011-07-18T15:19:00.000-07:00

If you make it to Art for the Animals this Friday, here's a little bit of what you'll see:

This sweater was made & donated by my lovely grandma

I suspect there will also be a lot of serious art there, so we definitely have our bases covered - something for everyone!

Love, J

Purple potatoes

2011-07-17T15:01:00.001-07:00

I pulled this from the garden yesterday morning:

See the four tiny potatoes at the bottom, next to the funny carrot? This is my first year growing potatoes, and yesterday was the first time I tried to pick some. They were so small, I knew I'd have to wait a while to pick any more.

But as I worked in the garden, the potato plants called to me. It's so fun to root around in the dirt, searching them out with my grubby little hands. I had to go back and try once more.

And I found some! Still not huge, but a respectable bounty. Enough for my lunch and an afternoon snack for the hubs, certainly.

The real pleasure in these is their beauty. Taste-wise they're okay, though I prefer the sweetness of new baby reds. But man these purple guys are gorgeous, and colored all the way through.

My first garden potato bake:

Cubed potatoes
Chives
Black pepper
Two large garlic cloves, sliced
Drizzle with olive oil
(taken from jar of preserved garlic eggplants - oh, my - more on that later)

Cover and bake at 400 for 20 minutes. (This was the perfect amount of time for the two yellow potatoes, but probably 4 minutes or so too long for the purples; they got a tiny bit mushy.)

Serve over bed of snow peas.

Yum!

Love, J

Peas and lettuce and pumpkins

2011-07-13T07:00:00.000-07:00

Altogether in one patch. I sort of thought the peas & lettuce would be fried from the heat and pulled out before the pumpkins really took off, but that's not how it's panning out. It will take a few years of trial and error before I figure out how to overlap crops!

This year we're trying Cinderella pumpkins, which I think are SO pretty. I hope we get at least a couple monster ones - I've never grown a really big pumpkin before.

I've been eating about a cucumber a day from the greenhouse for a couple weeks now, but they're slowing down. Maybe because they're in pots, I need to fertilize or add some sort of food? I'm contemplating a bunny-droppings-tea. (That sounds gross, but my garden books all swear by the concept, only usually with chicken poo.) Anyway I am SO glad we got the greenhouse up this year, because it was a rotten cold spring and I feel way spoiled with my early cukes. If I'd planted them outside, I don't think I'd have any ready yet!

The calendula are happy too. They're on my list of seeds to save this fall. I sort of overdid the seed buying this spring (nothing unusual there), and hope to get a system down this year where I only need to get packs of the hardest-to-save seeds each year, like greens and stuff.

I keep encountering little tomato and squash sprouts in the garden, where I let some of the fruits decay. If the seeds will volunteer and plant themselves like that, I'm hoping they'll do even better when I purposefully collect them and keep them safe over the winter!

Love, J

Misc. rabbit stuff

2011-07-12T07:00:00.000-07:00

First here are a couple of my homemade bunnies, which will be included in a silent auction basket at Art for the Animals at the end of the month:

And then, here are some funny rabbit shots we've recently captured. They mark their territory by "chinning" stuff, and Lily is constantly rubbing her dainty little chin on everything she encounters.

And this was just lucky timing with Bread licking his nose; so cute.

Love, J

The Bean Biz

2011-07-11T18:34:00.000-07:00

I have a new project going on, and it involves a lot of my favorite things:

*fresh, local produce
*fancy jars & labels
*craft fairs & farmer's markets
*not wearing pantyhose

My business license is set to arrive in the mail this week. The state's food processor requirements are pesky, to say the least, but I *believe* I will have muddled through them all in time to snag and jar some of this year's harvest. (Knock on wood!)

Love, J

* I really don't deserve to use this picture, because as soon as I heard the shutter click, I spun around and shrieked at the hubs for bothering me while I was in the middle of the water bath. The water bath makes me edgy. Sorry sweetie. (And thanks for the photo ; )

Funnies

2011-07-09T19:32:00.000-07:00

More funny things found on Pinterest:

stumbleupon.com

reddit.com

This last one made me cry, I laughed so hard:

akwardfamilyphotos.com

Love, J

Local food blog & book

2011-06-21T07:00:00.000-07:00

In researching for my latest (and maybe last? Hopefully?!?) career plan, I just found Year of Plenty. It's got a religious bent that I'm not really on board with, but it's still cool to see something like this being written locally. I'm excited to get the book from the library and see if it's got any good local resources or tips.

Love, J

New blue couch

2011-06-20T07:00:00.000-07:00

Our pretty Craigslist couch fell apart pretty quickly and demanded to have some work done once we brought it home. The fabric was so old and thin that it ripped at the slightest provocation, and each new tear leaked out foam-sand where it should have been cushion.

So my grandmother, woman-of-many-talents, taught me yet another new skill: reupholstery.

We finished it a couple months ago now, and it's holding up great! One of the cushion covers even took a swim in a mud puddle before it was completed, and it was so easy to clean, I know this fabric is in it for the long haul.

Love, J

Rainbow cake

2011-06-19T17:51:00.000-07:00

I saw this idea on Pinterest, and G decided we should take a stab at it for Father's Day. We cheated and used boxed cake mix and cans of frosting, and it still took us a couple hours - I can't imagine trying it from scratch!

Love, J

Art for the Animals: Exhibition and Auction

2011-06-18T07:00:00.000-07:00

River's Wish is having a benefit next month, and Aunt Mary painted this special little something for the auction. It's basically fantastic, and I love it (and her!)

The benefit is at the Tinman Gallery on July 22, from 5:30 - 8:30 pm.

Tickets are $10 and include hor'dourves (and drinks, I think), and of course, the chance to bid on beautiful art like the painting above, and other great items. Let me know if you'd like to go, and I'll email you the link you need to get tickets.

I know a lot of my readers *cough* family *cough* don't live in Spokane, but there's a certain big event the next day, so maybe you'll be in town that weekend anyhow? ; )

Love, J

Om Shanti shirt

2011-06-17T07:00:00.000-07:00

For dad-in-law's Father's Day present.

I love how this turned out, which is a relief, because my fingerprints were completely worn off in the 30 hours it took me to hand stitch around all that blue.

Pro: Without fingerprints, I can now add "bank robber" to my list of possible careers.

(D-I-L really deserves about 100 shirts and then some for all the house help he's given us in the past couple years!)

Love, J

And NOW for the big reveal

2011-06-16T07:00:00.000-07:00

This is a long time coming, but the house is finally done!

And worth the wait, if I do say so myself.

Love, J

June greenhouse

2011-06-15T07:00:00.000-07:00

This is my favorite spot in the world right now. I sit in my blue chair with a cup of tea and watch the rabbits tear across their patch of the yard.

The hubs put up this nice pen for them, complete with gates fashioned from bits of the playset he tore down.

I usually leave the greenhouse door open when we're all outside, so they can wander in and out. Bread loves to hide out and nap in the tall grass under the table.

These tomatoes are my pride and joy of the moment. They were all started at home from seeds, thanks to the fabulous greenhouse. This little building has increased the garden's possibilities so much, I'm still having trouble comprehending all of its potential.

The melons are a little bit slow in taking off, but the cucumbers are shooting right up. I think we'll have a handful of green ones and a few lemons ready next week!

Love, J

June garden

2011-06-14T21:10:00.000-07:00

The weather's working its damnedest to keep the garden slowed down this spring, but most everything is still coming up nicely, if slower than last year.

After the big fail in garden marker-making last December, I finally stumbled on a version that worked for me (though "me" means the hubs, as I invariably miss the tiny letter tops and hammer my thumb):

I can't find the tutorial to link right now, but you just take a juice can lid and stamp it with metal letter stamps - I found a set at retail tool store - and then write in the indentations with a super-fine Sharpie.

For my second season in the garden, we have some new additions, including strawberries, carrots, chard, beets, asparagus (which won't be ready to eat for 2 years, but at least it's planted), eggplant, and potatoes.

And also melons, but they're in the greenhouse, so you'll see photos of them tomorrow!

Love, J

I love my kitchen, but...

2011-06-09T07:00:00.000-07:00

This stove might be the most gorgeous thing ever:

From Apartment Therapy

And if it isn't, then this is:

This one's from Design Milk

I'm not even in the market for a new one, these just caught my eye as I was out surfing. Before I owned a house, I never would have considered an appliance artistic, but now I can see their potential.

Love, J

Nachos no on dis list

2011-06-08T21:24:00.000-07:00

Okay, I'm back. Our wireless is still out, for some undetermined reason, but the hubs found a cord that's roughly two million miles long so we can still use the laptop on the couch. I'm back in business!

BUT, I'm still not to the point of having any new photos for posts. In the meantime, some funny things I've seen on Pinterest:

Love, J

Love listing

2011-04-27T13:44:00.000-07:00

Our wireless isn't working for some reason, and it's way less fun to kill time online when I'm stuck back in the office, rather than on the couch in all the action.

But just for the sake of checking in, here's a little love list for you:

1. This weekend = Dad and other family in town for Bloomsday. Out dancing Friday. Then probably more dancing Sat., at brother-in-law's wedding.

2. I got a heat mat with a birthday gift card, and now my starts are popping up like gangbusters. The greenhouse is filling up with a few new baby plants every day!

3. The peas in the garden have sprouted.

4. Oo, and I've got a new project. The library in my neighborhood is sort of lame small, but I recently realized that it's teeniness may make it possible for me to eventually work my way through all of its books. Or at least the novels (and I'm skipping anything too macabre). (Our internet issue is helping me move through books very fast, since it also nixes any TV watching.)

5. The hubs got his summer schedule assigned this morning and it's waaaay better than his winter hours have been. We may actually be able to hang out together in the daylight at some point!

Love, J

Reposting Found Animals

2011-04-23T20:48:00.000-07:00

If anyone cares to check out Found Animals again, they posted a couple of videos of the rabbits throughout the week. I *think* there may be another video put up before they replace us with next week's stars, but I could be wrong. I just wanted to throw this up here while I know we're still on the site: http://www.foundanimals.org/pet-adoption/stars-week

Love, J

PS~ Aunt Micky: I've only lost ONE tiny seedling since moving everything to the greenhouse and starting to use your lights. So thank you very much!

Very Pinteresting

2011-04-20T07:00:00.000-07:00

I have found and LOVE pinterest. It's like we heart it, only there are links to tutorials and recipes and stuff, so it's actually even better.

I've sent off for an invitation and soon will have a pinboard of my own. If any of you join, let me know and we can link up! I kind of love stuff like this for inspiration.

Love, J

A house for greens

2011-04-19T07:00:00.000-07:00

Isn't she glorious? No matter how many projects like that he undertakes, I will never get used to my hot husband's mad building skills. I mean, he can go buy wood and nails and then just make a freaking greenhouse with plans he made up in his head, for crying out loud.

It's *finished* in that it is functional and I've moved my starts out there full time. The hubs still wants to seal up some of the cracks and side and paint it. And I've got plans that involve gutters and rain barrels at the corners. And filling the thing with all kinds of big, heat-loving vegetables, of course.

But even without those finishing touches, it's basically the coolest (warmest) thing ever. The photo above was taken from inside the greenhouse. It's so bright in there! Wonderful! I'm gushing and I don't care!

Love, J

Found Animals website

2011-04-18T10:28:00.000-07:00

The hubs and I are "Stars of the Week" on the Found Animals adoption website!

Check it out here. They'll post more stuff on our rabbits as the week goes on, including some pretty cute videos, which I've tried to post directly on the blog but can't figure out how.

Also, the big project is done, photos tomorrow... drumroll please...

Love, J

In the rafters

2011-04-09T17:59:00.000-07:00

My birthday present is nearing completion, and looking sooo good I can hardly stand it!

Love, J

Pay attention to me

2011-03-31T07:00:00.000-07:00

Lily kept following me around the other day, tripping me as she tried to sweet talk her way into some affection. Whenever I stopped to look down at her, she'd come up on her hind legs to get closer to me. This both broke my heart and made for some crazy cute pictures.

Oh, I love her so much.

Love, J

Suit protectors

2011-03-30T07:00:00.000-07:00

Grandma used strips of old pillowcases to sew these brilliant covers for the tops of the hubs' suits. Now his dress clothes can hang in the closet, undisturbed for years, and remain dust-free.

I had to swipe the pretty one for my own.

Love, J

Tiny Die

2011-03-29T14:45:00.000-07:00

Just for fun:

Love, J

Waiting

2011-03-28T07:00:00.000-07:00

It is still SO gross outside, both weather-wise and yard/garden-condition-wise.

Today it was rainy enough that the hubs hauled his construction project into the garage. It looks like he's going to finish late next weekend! I'm so excited to see it all done and share pictures.

It's easier to be more patient than usual this spring, because I'm growing my own starts. As long as these little guys need to be tended indoors, I'm okay with the cold rain. But the second they're big enough for transplanting, I will want 70 degree sunshine!

Love, J

Kissed a Girl, Unplugged

2011-03-27T07:00:00.001-07:00

It's funny how I can hear a song with just a few changes, and go from hating it to really liking it. "Jolene," done by The White Stripes = me likey. The original by Dolly Parton? Not so much.

I normally am not a Katy Perry fan at all, but the hubs loves her music, so when we stopped at the library last week to stock up on CDs for a little road trip, he picked out one of hers.

Lucky for me, this particular album was freaking awesome; acoustic versions of Ms. Perry's hits. When the poppiness is replaced with a jazz bent, her voice is actually really great. I had no idea!

(This doesn't solve the issue of her lyrics, if they bother you - I've always thought they were sort of funny.)

Love, J

Naptime

2011-03-26T07:00:00.000-07:00

Vinny is confused.

He plays ON the bed,

and then sleeps UNDER it.

Silly.

Love, J

And uh-one for me

2011-03-25T07:00:00.000-07:00

This could be improved upon, but for an experimental first round that I pinned myself while wearing it, I am pleasantly surprised with the final result.

It began as an average, too big, shapeless t-shirt. The idea was to give it seams and structure to make it flattering. Having a model or dress form to wear the shirt while I pin it could potentially make this project one of the best I've tried. I'll track down a friend or sister volunteer and get back to you.

Yes, I have a garbage can full of hay in my living room.
That's how we roll.

Love, J

PS ~ I just found a tutorial on BurdaStyle that basically explains how to do this the right, non-making-it-up-as-you-go way. I think I'll try it that way next time!

It's coming...

2011-03-24T07:00:00.000-07:00

That most glorious, beautiful time of year. The season when you walk around barefoot, play in the dirt, and grow good food.

Yesterday my favorite person in the world began construction on what is simply the best birthday gift I have ever received. Oh, I cannot wait.

Tutorial for newspaper transplant pots here from Bonsai Aphrodite. (But I make mine double-layered, they hold together for me better that way.)

Currently in the inside dirt: all my tomatoes, most of the first round of broccoli.

In the outside dirt as soon as I get around to it: first round of spinach.

Love, J

Bicycle t-shirt for my dad

2011-03-23T17:04:00.000-07:00

Complete with "the making of" photos:

A Father's Day gift that's not an e-card! He won't know what hit him.

Love, J

Thursday night tidbits

2011-03-17T22:39:00.000-07:00

First of all, this lady's paintings might be some of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. I need me some.

And second of all, I know that I know better than to try to sew my own clothes (they never, ever turn out), but if I were to have a lapse in judgment and give it another go, I'd try something like this beauty from 13 Bees (she always has the best stuff):

Thirdly, forget Gap Kids. If I ever have children, I'm dressing them all in clothes made from Oliver + S patterns. The jump rope dress is about the cutest thing ever:

And finally, a video I keep forgetting to post. Oprah recently had a contest where people sent in audition tapes, trying to win their own show on her network. I am totally crushing on this guy Zach who won his own travel show. Here's his audition tape:

A couple weeks ago, I caught his hilarious first episode, where he gave a tour of Hollywood. (Zack says, "Hollywood: where many stars live, and millions more are obscured by the smog.") Unfortunately, now I can't find that clip anywhere, but here's his Youtube page, with some other episodes and web clips.

Love, J

Blue shirt for the guy

2011-03-16T07:00:00.000-07:00

This shirt wasn't ever anything fancy. It just said "Reebok," and I think it was a freebie he got when he was on the track team. But I always liked how it fit him, and so I was sad when he took it out of rotation after getting paint on it a while back.

But turned inside out and sprinkled with stars (which were drawn just by tracing his badge onto the fabric), and it's back in business.

What else can I applique? I'm so addicted to this right now, it's not even funny.

Love, J