Fun in the Kitchen

Yesterday's fun chore was organizing the cabinets & the recipes. Well not all of the cabinets are done but half of them are. I'm taking everything out, getting rid of what doesn't get used & organizing what's left. I also had these recipe cards that were stuck inside a big box & it drove me crazy that they were like that but I had no other way to keep them until I spotted a small binder that hubby had in the basement, only problem was it wouldn't even hold a third of those cards. Well I just happened to stop at Michaels on Wed & found these lovely little Paula Deen recipe binders on sale. *happy dance* I grabbed 6 of those binders. They come with 8 dividers & 20 sheets of recipe card holders. The recipe cards took up 4 of those binders :O leaving 2 for the small handwritten cards. So here are some pics:

before in their box....

the new binders

inside of the new binders

the sleeves for small recipe cards

the small recipe cards

the recipe cards in the new binders

and some small recipe cards with hand written recipes 

I also managed to get all of my cookbooks organized & in 1 cabinet, the pots & pans cabinet had been done as well as the cabinet above the stove & the 1 above the refrigerator. Next up the cabinet with the dishes in it....it's very scary in that cabinet so I am putting it off as long as possible lol plus the main pantry cabinet also needs a good cleaning. I suspect there are things in the back of the main pantry cabinet that have been in there since when dinosaurs roamed the earth :O
I also recently finished another of the shawls I was working on. That shawl as well as the one I knit for my friend are both on my bed blocking today. Pics will be coming soon :)

No post yesterday - I was too tired. For some reason I could barely keep my eyes open so Zeus & I napped for a few hours. I've gotten some knitting in at work the past 2 nights though as things have been thankfully slow. Now if we can keep on with that through the weekend I will be a happy girl. I have about 10 rows left on the border of my shawl then bind off & pics! I spent what time I was awake yesterday happily wasting time online. Let me introduce you to 1 of my all time favorite sites: http://ana-white.com/. For those of you who love new furniture but don't love the price tag and don't mind breaking a sweat you will love this site. Free plans for building all kinds of things: beds, bookshelves, outdoor sofa, pergola, etc. I have a giant binder with plans for all kinds of things, poor hubby his honey do list is super long ;) This is yet another of my favorites & it's full of ideas & tips for doing things around the home. http://www.familyhandyman.com

I got a little something new for the Wii this week too. Yes this will be my new workout routine. Oldest boy has a birthday tomorrow & I came across this deal while online looking for something for him. I'll be getting started with that once the weather cools off. I am not a fan of Summer, in fact I could go so far as to say I despise Summer, I always have. Perhaps this is due to being an Aries, thus a fire sign, I dunno but I really feel awful pretty much all Summer long. Needless to say I will be happy when Fall finally arrives. Working out with the Wii, hiking, long walks. The kids got this for the Wii as 1 of A's birthday presents. Those 2 love all things football lately so I thought this would be a good thing since they are also all about the Wii. I swear they would play Madden from sun up until midnight or later if I'd let them. Since I've been negligent with the pics lately but I still don't have anything productive to post here's a nice shot of how I spent my afternoon today after the kids & I got back from the grocery store. Yep that's my brat! He has to snuggle just as close as he can get.

I Need Some Color

I've spent far too many years with plain old boring off white wall & frankly I'm sick of them. So I've been seriously thinking about colors this week. At first all the kitchen is getting is new colors but just you wait I have big plans for that area. One of these days we are going to upgrade to butcher block counter tops *swoon* I cannot wait! I even found a tutorial to DIY!! But in the mean time there will be some color in that boring drab room. Imagine those colors with butcher block counter tops & stainless steel appliances! oh yeah & wood floors. I had originally planned to do white appliances since my kitchen is small but I scored a brand new stainless/black smooth top stove for $100 so my decision was made for me. Eventually I want to completely re-arrange how the cabinets are & everything. Once I get things semi-situated I'll post some pics & you'll see why. The master bedroom is also going to get some color. Basically there will be no more white or off white walls in this house with the possible exception of the weight/storage room. The colors for the bedroom. How many hubby's would be fine with a purple bedroom? Mine is :)  Thinking these colors for the bathroom upstairs. Then for the living room light yellow walls & re-upholstering the furniture with this color and adding some pillows in colors to accentuate. I love pinterest, it's my newest addiction. If anyone needs an invite please feel free to email me & I can send you one. I have to warn you it is totally addictive but you can find amazing ideas there. I'm seriously considering this color for the den walls, something really neutral for the pallet seating, then bright colors for the bean bag chairs & accent pillows. Since the floor plan downstairs is so open I may just do that turquoise for the walls in the office & craft room too.
The only downside to all this cleaning & planning is not much time for knitting. :(
But I am almost done with the Purple Martin shawl, I'm down to the lace border then bind off & block. Pics to follow soon :)

Some Outdoor Fun

Well the fun moved outside today. The kids & I tackled the yard & the carport. We scored a big metal cabinet for free....the kind with adjustable shelves & doors. Oh I am a happy girl & I'm sure my neighbors will be happy too as now I'll be able to keep my carport far more organized. So the kids chore for the day was to get rid of any trash, clean off the desk (which will be repurposed elsewhere) and put the cabinet on the carport & put all the stuff in it in an organized fashion. Next up hubby is going to build me a potting-bench we also found in the basement our old dining room table from before we had the kiddos it's a small round table so we've decided to repurpose that as a table for sitting outside on the carport. We just need to paint it & we also have some office type chairs (the kind you typically find in waiting rooms) so I'm gonna reupholster them with some pretty fabric & paint the metal part white. Oh I can't wait! And the man informed me the other day that they often get pallets in with flat tops!! Why would that excite me so much you ask? Well we've been talking about building a deck just outside the sliding glass door in the back yard for years now. But as you know those are a lot of work & wood can get pricey. Well take a bunch of those solid top pallets, attach them together, weatherproof them and you have...... a deck with no cost & not too much work! The man says I am a genius :) Then all we have to do is build the pergola & the outdoor sofa and that little section of the yard will be perfect. For the garden section I found this blog talking about using an old crib to make a bench. I totally never would have thought of that myself but I really want one now. And as luck would have it we happen to still have the crib the kiddos used when they were babies in the basement! See sometimes being a procrastinator can be a good thing? :D I promise there will be pics coming of the things we're doing here just be patient.

Changes lots & lots of changes........

What's changing you ask? Well along with the upstairs we have now started remodeling the basement. I couldn't be more excited! Why? Because I'm getting a craft room *insert happy dance* I have wanted a craft room for a long time now & finally it's gonna happen. A place where I can organize all of my yarn, sewing machine, fabric, patterns, books, etc. Now if only I could get a certain someone to come up here & help me with all of this organizing. But alas she is too busy doing her teaching thing ;) But hey Chickie if you change your mind there's some Malabrigo in it for ya.... oh yeah I play dirty lol  The best part though is once hubby got down there cleaning out the clutter I have found a lot of the things I need already in my basement. Some just need a coat of paint ie: desk for my sewing machine, some need some doors ie: bookcases to be used for yarn storage (we're gonna put some plexiglass doors on them so I can see what I have instead of having to dig through giant plastic tubs. He also found an old glass stereo cabinet which will also become a yarn storage cabinet. There's a plastic 3 drawer organizer down there which I think will be perfect for my fabric stash. He's going to build me some cabinets running around the edge of the room. I seriously cannot wait! There will also be a weight/storage/workshop room, a Den, an Office, the pantry & a bathroom down there. The bathroom was already there when we moved in... has a sink, toilet & shower stall in it but only 1 wall. I find it a little disturbing that they wouldn't close in a bathroom but hey to each their own right? There will be no before pics of my basement, pretty sure I'd die of shame if I posted something like that. But I promise to post after and even some in progress pics. I even found this pic of seating made from pallets for the Den: pallet seating  Is that not awesome? Since the hubster can get free pallets from work that means all our cost will be is whatever the fabric & foam cost *woot*  We already have a cabinet that will work perfect for a media stand. All it needs is a couple more shelves & a coat of paint, then he'll build some dvd media towers for either side of the media center, a coffee table & end tables made from..... you guessed it pallets. I've also found a tutorial about making bean bag chairs - oh yeah you know those will look great in with pallet furniture. The laundry room is getting some attention too: shelves, some wooden clothes racks, etc.  Oh the pics to come......

Back from Vacation and with an FO at that!

Last week was vacation week, I packed up the kiddos & headed to grandpa's house. It was really great having a week where I didn't have to clean house, go to work.... well you get the idea. I also got to spend some quality time with my little sister. There's 10 years between us so we've never really gotten to spend lots of time together :(  But we had a whole week to spend together, we had a great time thrift shopping, crafting & cooking.  She's getting ready to open an etsy shop .....that girl has some serious jewelry making talent! I put the bug in her ear about making stitch markers for us knitters ;) She even made me some super cute fishy stitch markers. Can't get a better pic than this....sorry

I also finished the shawl for my friend Kim. Now I was only blessed with 1 biological sister but consider myself very lucky that I have 2 more sisters I gained along my way through life. I worked with Kim once upon a time & we became instant friends, neither of us work there anymore but we've always kept in touch. A little over 3 years ago oldest kiddo was in an accident & was hospitalized for over 3 months.....we almost lost him as it was touch & go for awhile. The day after the accident I called Kim to tell her, her first words to me were "I'll be there as soon as I can". It's not often you find friends like that. That same time period is when I gained my other sister, Auburnchick (her online name). She & I had met on a knitting website a few months earlier & had chatted a few times, I emailed her asking her to pray for us. I had no idea she would end up being 1 of the closest people in my life. When she had details of where we were (what hospital), she called me every day during what were the 3 hardest months of my life. We still text each other daily & talk on the phone several times a week. It's amazing how sometimes you find just what you need when you aren't even looking.......
Ok now that I've gotten all mushy how about a pic of that shawl? Now I haven't blocked it yet so it's much smaller than it will be once It's done blocking.

And last but certainly not least here's a pic of the current WIP I spend the most time with, the Oaklet Shawl in Unplanned peacock colorway is Purple Martin

Look Who's Back

Wow it's hard to believe it's been over a month since my last blog post. Sorry about that life has been a little hectic here lately. Here are a few of the things to share:
1) I got the yarn from the local lady that hand dyes & oh my is it ever lovely!

I've been looking at shawl patterns on ravelry & think the oaklet shawl is what I will make with it.

2) I've been working on a shawl for 1 of my best friends. Kim is the kind of friend that you can call at 3am and she'd totally be there for you. I luv her bunches so I decided a boneyard shawl in her fave color would be a great way to say thank you for being an awesome friend. Here is my progress so far.....well it's a little bigger now since I took this pic a couple weeks ago.

 3) and last but not least here is a pic of yesterday's yields from the garden

Last week we got a basket of beans & onions, this week tomatoes. Hopefully next year we'll get an earlier start & have a bunch to can :)

Yarn Makes Any Day Better

Today I got to do 1 of my very favorite things...... yarn shopping. *happy dance*  What made today really great is I had full spousal approval. Don't get me wrong I don't have to have permission to go yarn shopping or anything but it's always better when the man knows what I'm doing & is absolutely fine with it. :-)  This was actually his idea as he had some apologizing to do......
Now who doesn't love a man who knows how to apologize in all the right ways? Yep the man knows yarn is his ticket out of the dog house ;) So on to the adventure, there is 1 store here about 10 minutes from our house and I like it but it's not my favorite store. They don't have Malabrigo for 1 thing :O and there's other yarns I love they don't carry so I every so often just get the urge to travel to the store about 45 minutes from the house. Now there are many reasons why I love this particular store: 1 I met a good friend online & when we discovered we live only about 30 minutes from each other we started meeting at yarn stores - the 1 closest to her house is this store, 2 Gina has the best sales ie: a 50% off room. So that being said I always head straight to the back room when I go in & see what goodies I can find. Today's find was Ella Rae Lace Merino now this is extra fine Merino wool & man is it ever soft. I already had 1 skein in a lovely blue-green colorway that  will eventually be a Traveling Woman shawl. So  of course when I saw this in the back room I knew it would come home with me. I got 2 skeins, 1 purple & 1 blue. I am on a serious purple kick these days - I'm not sure why but the color purple just makes me really happy (my children find this very amusing).

Next up I found some Berroco Ultra Alpaca Fine in the sale room. I got a skein of dark gray & a skein of beige. Yeah not quite as pretty as the Ella Rae but I bet they will make some cozy socks.

Last but certainly not least is my very favorite of today's purchases.  Something new to the store.....Shalimar Yarn. Now this stuff is just OMG awesome with 75% superwash merino wool, 15% Cashmere & 10% silk! And yes folks you guessed it my color of choice was indeed purple. I cannot wait to knit with this yarn & have been trolling ravelry looking for just the right pattern. I welcome any suggestions for all of the new yarns.

Oh I also & I had to caution Auburnchick not to cry over this......got rid of 12+ skeins of Red Heart SS today :O How you ask?? Well I traded it for a skein of hand dyed sock yarn *happy dance* A local lady hand dyes yarns & she mentioned last night at knit night that she needed some RH & perplexed I asked why on earth she needed that. She explained she uses it to tie her skeins once she's done dying them. I then told her I have a whole tub in my basement & she is more than welcome to it. She offered to trade and I immediately agreed. So when I came home last night I grabbed a big bag & filled it full of RH for her.....trust me she will never need more. She didn't have the exact color I wanted today so she's going to dye me some & get it to me when she can. This is the color I wanted: Purple Martin oh my gosh this yarn is soooooo gorgeous in person. I have some of her laceweight & sport yarn already.

WIP Wednesday

Today I have pics  of my knitting wip's (work in progress). I have 3 new projects going & I'm positive someone *cough Auburnchick cough* will have plenty to say about that. 1st is my birthday shawl....made with the Green Dragon yarn I got on my birthday. Pattern is charentaise by Katie White - I love her patterns.

I have a feeling this will end up being my favorite shawl :)  The other  2 new projects aren't far along so I haven't posted pics yet but they're coming soon I promise.  I also have some new pics of the garden. Almost done with planting for the season. Hubby has 2 more boxes to build for me & then we get to plan the chicken coop *yay*

SFG 1

SFG 2

Petunias :)

SFG 3

sometimes a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.........

I scored a bunch of pallets from hubby's work to pull apart & make raised garden beds out of and so far hubby has pulled 2 apart & made raised beds out of them. But like all men he does things in his dear sweet time instead of at the pace I'd like him to. Well Boy #1 went off to summer camp - about 2.5 hours away. Hubs didn't want to go round trip in 1 day like he did last time so he drove up yesterday, spent the night with 1 of his sisters, dropped kiddo off& drove home today. Well while he was gone the wifie got impatient lol. So this morning I woke up & decided I was gonna "Get R Done" and set to work taking pallets apart. I was done taking apart before I even had breakfast. After breakfast I measured the 2x4's & cut them to the size needed, measured my boards to make sure they were all the same length & cut those that weren't down to right size, next was removing the nails from the boards. And yes  I re-used the nails as well. Then I got to work nailing boards to my 2x4's. This is not the easiest thing to do but I am living proof that anyone can do this.....and yes I do mean anyone. So here are some pics of today's fun :)

BEFORE

 

the tools

AFTER

 

Not bad if I do say myself........
After all that I got to  head to  Lowe's to buy soil for the 2 new beds. I use a mixture of Peat Moss, Top Soil and Humus & Manure and I use the Square Foot Gardening method by Mel Bartholomew. If anyone has any questions feel free to comment or email me :)

some more gardening fun

Today was all about the garden day. I started off this morning at Lowe's for soil & of course ended up picking up some pretties on the distressed rack. I scored a raspberry plant for $2, a rhododendron for $1.75, a hanging basket of Petunias for $3 & some other flowers for cheap. All these babies need is some tlc & they bounce right back :) So I came home & unloaded the flowers but waited until dusk to unload the soil (the kids were so excited to get to help let me tell you.....) and start planting. I can't work when the sun is up & it's so hot out there.....it got up to 100 here today. Hubby built my potato bin yesterday *yay* so I planted them today. Here are some pics of the progress so far:

 <---- Potatoes, lima beans & marigolds. 
thyme, lavender & echinacea ---->

 <----Petunias
more hanging baskets --->




 
 

<---bulbs (can't remember what flower), catnip, coffee plant & stevia plant

dwarf orange tree, rosemary & more bulbs -->



and the pics above this set are of square foot garden #3 look at all those beans & peas sprouting!

Gardening Fun

This morning was spent in the garden. I was finishing up the third square foot garden. I needed to put divide it up into sections - didn't have any wood so it's just roped off with string for now. I also planted the last of my seeds - well last until hubby gets some more boxes built for me. I planted carrots, sugar snap peas, cucumbers, zucchini squash, yellow squash, green beans & marigolds. I need 3 more boxes 1 for corn, 1 for potatoes and 1 for more carrots & beans. There are some more pallets here so hopefully it won't be too long now. I'm really looking forward to fresh organic produce this year....it tastes so much better that the pesticide laden stuff from the stores & there's a great sense of accomplishment that comes with knowing you grew it yourself. Next up after all the gardening stuff is set up is building a chicken coop. Oh yeah baby!! Fresh eggs, less trash & toxin free pest control......what's not to love about chickens? So here are some pics of what's going on in the garden:

purple petunias

strawberry patch

flowers in the flower bed 

SFG #1

SFG #2

Pear Tree

SFG #3 1st half

SFG #3 2nd half

A great day and an FO

ok first and foremost........I have finally finished my boneyard shawl!! It looks amazing too yes yes I am a little biased :) The pics don't do it justice. It's actually much darker in person. This pic makes it look light pink but it's actually a dark purple. I need to keep trying to see if I can get some better pics but in the mean time here it is:

And after a very long very busy weekend today when I got home from my overnight shift I told hubby I'd like to head to the creek for some R&R. Man I love North Creek!! So relaxing & peaceful there I feel so refreshed afterwards.

busy busy busy

That's been life here for the past couple weeks. But today I have plenty of pics to share! This weekend was yard cleaning time! I weeded the flower bed out front, planted lots of seeds in garden beds & pots, hubby & kiddos cleaned the fenced off section of the  back yard & hubby took apart some of the pallets & made me a garden box! *yay* Tuesday evening I had the kids drag the soil around the house & dump it in the box for me plus I had a big trash can full of compost for the garden bed. Once we dumped it all in & mixed it together I was able to plant all of my tomato plants. Next I'll plant some seeds for corn, peas, green beans, etc. I also discovered this weekend that my peach trees are full of little peaches!! They aren't ripe yet but man I can already taste them! There's something great about knowing exactly where what you're eating is coming from. I tell you the more I hear/read the less I want anything that comes from a store. Now for those pics I promised:

This garden bed was 100% free except for hubby's labor. He took pallets apart for all the wood & even re-used the nails! And there are my little peaches! mm



I bought 2 hanging baskets of flowers yesterday. I can't help it pretty flowers make me happy  especially purple ones :) That being said here are the new babies which are hanging on the side of my carport:

It's been awhile............

Wow.....I hadn't realized it's been so long since I posted. Been busy with remodel stuff. I finally let the man have his way & he took out the closet in the Living Room. Well the only part that was actually  in the Living Room is the door the closet itself was actually in the Kitchen...yeah that's right in my tiny Kitchen |:(
So now my Kitchen is bigger which is nice but on the downside that means....... you guessed it more work & another trip to Lowe's. Drywall time! Thankfully my nephew has much experience with drywall since his dad hangs drywall for a living & he spent many a summer working with him growing up. Once the drywall is up I can hopefully finish up the Kitchen remodel. I have painted the cabinets in there so far & I have to say the change is remarkable. I don't feel like I'm in a dungeon anymore when I'm in there! Here are some before & after pics for ya:

don't get me wrong I think wood cabinets are pretty but not in a small kitchen - it just makes it too dark in there (btw those cabinets were darker in real life). So white cabinets & pale sunny yellow for the walls & ceiling. Can't wait until I can post some full room pics after all the painting is done & new floor is installed.