Declutter challenge update and house reconfigure

My month of decluttering in October went pretty well. I took one load of stuff to the good will and have another load ready to go this week. The amazing thing is that it seems like I could do this forever - there is just that much stuff in this house! Every time I think I am making progress, I notice a new area or corner that has a pile of homeless stuff.
I did make enough progress to start rearranging my house (which is pretty darn exciting!). I am turning the basement (our entry level) into a family room that opens into a big kids play room. It used to be a sports room and an office. That space has been under utilized since Ryan finished school.
The area of Ryan's office is mostly going away as we turn it into the kid area. We are leaving the desk down there for Audrey to use for homework, but the files and other office type things are being added to the library upstairs. I am moving the toys that Audrey likes to play with the most from her room into the kids room.  Eventually we are moving Meredith's toys from the living room too. I am moving my craft stuff upstairs into what has been the toy area of the living room. I am trying to declutter as I move things about and Meredith is still too little to play on her own, so it is a slow transition.
The sports room just got rearranged to make it into the family room. The sports decor may end up staying since we don't really have anywhere better to put that stuff.
Clearly that is a lot of moving about and it is giving me ample opportunity for decluttering. Even though this is a slow process it feels nice to have a plan.

Halloween fun

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. I own three Halloween shirts, five pairs of socks, and almost as many decorations as at Christmas time.

Naturally I wanted to have a Halloween themed party for the neighbor kids. The plan was to have the kids over in two batches too correspond to the ages of my two sweet baby girls. We invited two families over for cookie decorating and dinner in a pumpkin and dancing and playing with Meredith early. We invited two other families over for round two later for the same plus a spooky kids movie and game night for the parents. The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry....

Meredith got sick the night before and has been sick since. So we canceled the parties and just did those activities as a family.  It was still a pretty good Halloween weekend.

Halloween begins

I took the girls to a Halloween activity at the Disney store tonight. Honestly, it was a bit lame. However the girls had fun in large part because they got to wear their costumes to the mall.  Every one waved and said hi to Audrey as if she really was Ariel.

Me and Meredith

I took this with my poor quality camera phone this morning.

Socks - finding my way

I use Susan's basic sock pattern. However, some where along the way I felt like the pattern needed tweaking to make it fit better.
So I've tried different sizes of needles, more stitches, and short row heels. In the end I have come to the conclusion that Susan's sock recipe is pretty great just the way it is...  And I have a few less successful sock starts to frog.

A maker

I love to make things myself.  Food,crafts, anything. One of the big ways that I am trying to be thrifty is by making gifts for people instead of buying gifts.

I have been toying with various ideas for cousin gifts. My latest idea is ornaments with their names on them.  Today I whipped up a prototype (without any colorwork) using leftover sock yarn.  I love how it turned out and this may become a good way to use up the little bits of leftover sock yarn.

Decluttering challenge

I decided to declare October declutter month. My challenge is to get rid of one thing each day for all 31 days. I can do more than one thing on any given day. 

I am three days in and happy to be doing well so far.  Today I took a load of items to a donation drop. It felt awesome to move stuff out forever.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

I love chicken tortilla soup. I used to get it almost every time I went out to eat.

Now that we don't go out to eat much, this is my homemade version. No surprise, I think it is better than the soups I used to buy at restaurants.

Sauté chopped onions and red bell pepper in olive oil and salt until soft.  Add chopped garlic, chopped jalapenõ, cumin, chili powder, and oregano just after the onions soften.  Add: canned (or fresh) tomatoes, canned green chilies, cooked black beans, zucchini, squash, corn, cubed chicken, and chicken broth and bring to a low boil. Stir in some corn meal and simmer for at least 20 minutes.  Squeeze in fresh lime juice and a generous amount of chopped cilantro just before serving.

I like to serve it over some crushed tortilla chips with avocado on top. If I want to kick up the heat, I stir a small amount of pureed chipotles in adobo sauce into my bowl. (We keep this in the fridge as a condiment. ) Seriously awesome!

Cotton wool blend socks finished

I have been really into sock knitting lately. It is easy, portable, and useful.  Triple win.

However there does seem to be an art to it that still eludes me.  There are a couple of different heel types, lots of needle sizes and types, yarn options to make a person spend way too much and then the whole top down or toe up knitting direction debate. 

This pair, with the lovely Opal yarn from my dad, was knit top down on size 1 double pointed needles, one at a time, using Susan's pattern (64 stiches) except for the heel. On the heel I used a short row heel to 10 stitches.  

I like this heel just fine, but I like the depth of the heel with a heel flap slightly better.  So I will stick with that for my next pair.

The colorway of this yarn may not be coming through the computer well.  It is really an awesome yarn. It is a mix of various intensities and shades of denim blue.  Most of it has a slight grey undertone, except the white wash.  It is like wearing a pair of socks with all the good things about acid washed and white washed denim when it was really cool! These socks match blue jeans perfectly. Pb&chocolate.

Bike days

I am still a huge fan of my Costco bike.  I had to change the front child seat out for a rear one half-way through the week. Meredith has a funny habit of playing with my hair and sticking it in her ear or rubbing it on her cheek.  This endearing little habit is often done with surprising enthusiasm and strength (read: sometimes she pulls my hair hard and my head is forced to follow). Let's just say such actions make it more difficult to ride up hills, and the ride to school is rarely flat.

Now she is in a back seat where she can be heard telling me to sit down as I take her up another hill. :) (no idea where she gets her bossiness)

We are loving the bike ride to and from school.  The mornings are easy, there is a bit of a chill in the air and it just feels good to be out and about.  The afternoons are less easy.  In the heat of the afternoon I prefer to hide inside my house, or at least in the shade.  But I am always glad when we get back that we made the effort.  It is getting easier and we are getting faster.

I also recently purchased some upgrades for my bike - a bell and a front basket.  The front basket is awesome.  It is plastic coated metal, it has small holes on the bottom to keep things from falling out, bigger holes at the top, to make it easier to chain up if needed and nice sturdy handles that are perfect for taking the basket off.  It is the perfect size to hold a bag of snacks and drinks and/or Audrey's backpack on the way home from school. 

Reading

I just finished Lady Susan, Jane Austen's first novel. It is written in the form of letters.  A cool style until the end and it's almost as if she writes herself into a corner. At which point she just concludes the story with a conclusion. The main character Lady Susan reminded me of the leading lady in Vanity Fair. Not entirely likeable. Certainly no Elizabeth Bennett!

I also recently read Casual Vacancy by JK Rawling.  She is immensely talented.  It was like a condensed modern day version of Les Miserables. It dealt with the mixing of the classes and the reasons people take desperate measures.  It was good and disturbing. In some places it felt a bit abridged. I for one would have enjoyed the depth in the characters and a longer timeline had the author taken a Victor Hugo approach.

Back to school

Audrey started third grade this week. Third grade!  Where have the years gone?

We are riding bikes to and from school every day.  It is about 1.5 miles each way of nice wide side walks. However, it is all hills. Free exercise, is what I tell myself. And it sure beats sitting in the car line.

Denim rug project

The entry to our townhouse has a slightly awkward shape to it. Because of this we have never found just the right rug for the hardwood floor. The current rug is a cheap one that has served us well beyond what we anticipated when we bought it five years ago.

I love all crafts using old denim. It seems like the perfect union of utility, thrift,  and beauty. So naturally I am always collecting old jeans. I dream of making quilts and sofa covers out of them. However, my dreams are a bit ahead of my sewing skills, so naturally I decided to cut up the jeans i have into denim yarn balls and crochet myself an entry rug.

It is an easy project with almost no sewing. Incidentally, I actually really want to sew but my projects are limited to things that can be easily started and stopped for the time being, like knitting or crochet or cross stitch.

First I cut the seams out of the jeans.

Second I pick off the pockets. The perfect job for my favorite 8 years old helper.

Third i cut the pant leg into one inch ish strips of yarn and roll that yarn into a ball.

Fourth I start single crocheting an oval shaped rug. I am not following a pattern and i am not super worried about added and missed stitches. If it starts to curl I add a stitch or two. If it starts to get wavy I combine a stitch or two. Afterall it is just going to be walked on. :)

When I get to the end of one denim yarn ball as I am crocheting I can sew a new yarn ball to the ends of the denim yarn together. Or I cut a narrow slit in both ends and run them through each other.  I like the look of many shades of blue so i am  alternating the colors.

That is it. Easy!

Spice mixes

I have been thinking about spice mixes the last few days. (Don't we all ;)).

The other day I made keish and pulled out my bottle of herbs de Provence with lavender. As I have mentioned previously, I like to use up a whole assortment of leftovers in my keish and herbs de Provence just pulls the flavors together beautifully every time.

While making the keish, I also made apple pockets using the other half of the pie crust that the recipe makes.

I mixed a couple apples with cinnamon but that seemed a bit dull so I added some nutmeg, cardamom, and clove.  It was great. We had about 3/4 cup of the apple mixture left after the apple pockets so I added it to our Scottish oats the next morning. Audrey loved it and commented on them several times.  She said the spices were better (I usually "just" do apples and cinnamon).  So I decided to make my own little Cinnamon spice mixture in one of my beautiful little portmerion spice containers.  It has already come in super handy for banana bread and of course - oatmeal.

Sweet Spice Mixture:
4 Tablespoons Cinnamon
2 Tablespoons Nutmeg
1 Tablespoon Cardamom
1/2 Tablespoon Cloves

Books

We have been a library going family this summer and it is a good thing with the way Audrey is plowing through books.  She finished the last of the Roald Dahl books - he is her favorite author.  She also read all of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series and is now on the Thea Stilton series.  She has read 14 chapter books so far and counting!!

Meredith *loves* books.  It is like she has just discovered them.  I swear I read Spooky Old Tree, Knuffle Bunny, and Goodnight Moon at least 4 times a day - each.  Plus she will throw in a random assortment of other books as she finds them - though she doesn't seem to appreciate the library books that I manage to grab for her very often.  We read the same books so often, that she has them memorized and often reads the books with me, which is super cute.

I was happy to find that the knitting mystery series that I like by Maggie Sefton had another volume out.  So I borrowed and finished Close Knit Killer pretty quick.  I *love* the library's ordering system, by the way.  It is awesome, especially since Meredith thinks that the library is meant for laps.  She literally runs, or walks at a very fast toddler pace, through the stacks of books in search of fish tanks.  Every time she finds the only fish tank in the library, in the kids sections, she yells, MAMA! LOOK! FISHIEES! Awesome enthusiasm. :)  Back to the point, it is difficult to actually search for a book while trying to keep an eye on her, so I love the ordering system and always hope that the books I want are already checked out so that I can just order them.

I am slowly making my way through Down to Earth.  After wanting to read Rhonda's book for over a year, I devoured it in parts when I first got it about a month ago.  It followed me throughout the house for weeks, just in case I had a few minutes to peruse or read.  Then I settled into it and decided to just read it slowly and deliberately from the beginning and savor it.  It is truly a beautiful and delightful book - a breath of fresh air that is worth savoring.  It is only published in Australia, and I ordered it through FishPond for the free international shipping.  Even so, the book was about $40, which is much more than I normally spend on a book.  But I *love* it.

I also have been thinking about getting back to some of my old favorites.  This winter, I want to watch my Jane Austen movies again.  I find it is always better to watch them after reading the books afresh.  This time I am going to read the Jane Austen books in the order she wrote them.  I think it will be interesting to see if I notice a change in her style over the years.  So I am starting with Lady Susan - anyone else want to join me...

Party time - under the sea style

The view as you enter the front door - where's Nina?

Top Picture is Audrey (and Nina) in front of the water wall.
Huge Ariel plastic panel in the living room.

An under the sea plastic wall film - these things are great.

Pool noodle Seahorse - one of the party favors

Audrey's favorite blanket - hung over some sports stuff

Stairway Art Gallery - each child colored an Ariel picture for the gallery

Top of the stairs, transition to up on the shore

A couple of pink plastic grass skirts dress up the dining room light.

Ocean View plastic panel in the living room

For Audrey's birthday party this year, I wanted to do something that was not strictly princesses, but that still let her go a bit princessy.  Audrey was so excited with the "under the sea" birthday party theme because she could incorporate elements of her favorite princess - Ariel. I thought that doing a party at our house would be much cheaper than some of her other ideas.  I came up with a few decorating ideas but then somehow things got crazy...

Under the sea became a first floor theme. Up on the shore became the upstairs theme.

My original idea was based on some pinterest boards.  The twisted crepe paper in varying shades of blue were perfect for creating a cheap and easy water wall.  We added some fish in the background - to add to the under water feel.  Audrey wanted to hang her Ariel blanket on one wall.  Then I wanted to do an art gallery up the stairway - where each of the kids brought a picture that they had colored that Audrey had given to them with the invitation.  That was the extent of the original decorating.  Plus we picked up the big pool noodle animals at Walmart - at a super discount - as favors for the kids, so we hung those from the ceiling.

I invited my MIL over to help us decorate (and/or hang out with Meredith so that Audrey and I could decorate) and she brought over some decorations she had - all of the up on the shore stuff and a couple cool plastic panels.  Then Audrey bent her ear about how she really wanted more Ariel stuff - so Grandma found a great big plastic Ariel wall panel for the living room and some more little fish to hang up.  Seriously, the house looked as awesome as it ever has for a party.

The party started with water games for the kids in the backyard.  After the kids changed, we had dinner for everyone, fish and veggie sticks with marshmallow fruit salad for the kids, kalua pork and pineapple fried rice (served in a pineapple ) for the adults.  The adult food turned out awesome.  I was worried because both of the recipes were new to me, but they turned out great - especially the pork!

After dinner it was cake and present time.  Audrey wanted a pink sparkley ice cream cake. Plain ice cream cakes were expensive and I didn't even want to imagine how much the extra food coloring and sparkle would cost us, so I decided to make Audrey's cake myself.  It turned out very pink, very sparkley, and very delicious.  The other kids at the party said it was the best  icecream cake they ever had - high praise indeed.  After presents and play time, the kids watched a movie (Hook, Audrey's choice) and had mermaid's munch (snacks).

The party was great.  Audrey loved it, but I tell you, I was one tired mama by the end of it. :)

Technical difficulties

Summer 2013 - Meredith and Audrey playing with water in the backyard.

I have been having technical difficulties, between the new operating system (Windows 8 - which I really do *NOT* like), a new computer, and a new phone, and no real time to sit down to figure them all out, I find myself cussing at my technology fairly regularly (which leads to less blog posts...). I am slowly figuring everything out, so I should be back to more regular posting soon.  It is definitely a PEBKAC (problem exists between keyboard and chair) error, which just makes it all the more frustrating.

The cake

As I mentioned in a previous post, I was rather looking forward to making and eating my birthday cake this year.  And let me tell you, this recipe did not disappoint.  It was AWESOME!!

It was moist, rich, and chocolatey goodness.

I added a little less sugar and a touch more salt.  I baked it in a 13x9, rather than two circular pans, because I wanted no-fuss.  For the icing, I did a chocolate butter cream frosting.

As an added bonus, I can now check one more item off the food bucket list!

Birthday Week

This week is birthday week around these parts.  I am just about to be 37 and Audrey just turned 8!  I can't believe how time has gone.  Where did my 30s go? I know they are not completely behind me, but they aren't far off now...

For Audrey's birthday we will be having an "under the sea" party with the neighborhood kids.  However, that is on hold until we can get schedules to align.  For my birthday, I will be breaking from my usual yellow cake with chocolate frosting routine to try my hand at the "best chocolate cake ever" and I plan to make it super rich and dark just like *I* like it and top it with a chocolate butter cream frosting that Claire and I rather like on top of brownies (others in the house believe that is a bit of chocolate overkill, and I suspect those same people may think the same of my birthday cake).  I am really looking forward to it. I nearly never have a reason to cook a cake with just my taste/preferences in mind.  One more item to check off the food bucket list. 

Female Role Models Shine in Blogs

Quitting work (for a bit) and becoming a full-time homemaker has made me really think about what is encompassed in the role of a homemaker.  I think it is or can be whatever you want to make it - that is just one of the reasons Rhonda refers to homemaking as a power career.

As I have been thinking about what I want this role to be for me, I am constantly inspired by the wonderful world of blogs.  The internet has opened a whole new world of female role models for me right in the comfort of my own living room.   I am able to learn new things and consider new ideas everyday thanks to the wonderful women who self-publish these great blogs.

Some of my current favorites:

• Down to Earth - simple living, authentic, homemaking champion
• Clover Lane - mama goodness
• Posie Gets Cozy - style favorite, knitting, crafting, home time goodness
• Susan B Anderson - knitting and family
• Thrift at Home - raising a family creatively, interesting projects and approach
• Taylor Made Ranch - simple living tx ranch style 
• This Sorta Old Life - 70s style and family life

These blogs are all written regularly by real women with real lives and their authenticity shows in their writing. They write about everyday things and share the stories and the details of their lives.  It is awesome to read about the cooking lessons for kids, how to properly hang laundry, or why work done in a home matters.  I love seeing pictures of gardens, kids, chickens, handmade decor, and food as it is being prepared.  Most of these wonderful women find their daily work interesting and so they write about it.  I'm so glad they share their thoughts and their stories.

These blogs seem to me to have a few common threads: authenticity, good pictures (but not too staged), regular postings, interesting and positive commentary about life, and a general personal contentment that shines through in their blogs.  As an added bonus, I find that most of these blogs tend to have very nice readers/commenters and I usually enjoy reading the comments and find new blogs to enjoy through the comments all the time.