Growing Green

 We spent our weekend in the yard... planting and playing.

For many the temperature is in the teens and the snow has engulfed the grass. I'm not complaining but it has been cold here in Florida for over a month. I'm not much of a cold weather person and mostly I'm looking for a reason to get outside and grow something.

It was beautiful today!
We were so happy to be outside, enjoying the warm and sunny day.

K-Bear and Boo hard at play.

Oranges from our backyard

 

I love living in Florida for many reasons. Among them, you can grow yummy fruits and vegetables year round.  There's nothing better than picking your own vegetables from the backyard.







Some of last year's crop



We started our raised bed garden three years ago. We wanted to show our little ones where certain foods come from. They enjoy being a part of the process and we love watching them grow with each season.



Boo, 2 years old, eating a radish fresh from the garden.

K-Bear, 2 years old, hard at work planting.

We started with building a small compost bin and a lot reading.

Last year we had 16 corn plants growing in a 4x4 raised bed.



Backyard gardening is popular these days, which means there are a variety of interesting gardening books on the store shelf.  Want to learn more about making your own raised bed garden? Or how to start composting? There are great resources out there and they're not boring encyclopedias.

Cubed Foot Gardening by Christopher O. Bird would be a great place to start. The author guides you through building your raised beds, filling them with the best soil and growing the most popular vegetables. He offers innovative tricks and techniques for the most efficient and fun gardening.

Christopher O. Bird has the best tip for growing corn and has the most wonderful family recipe for bread and butter pickles. 





You can have the best tomatoes growing in any old planter you have around the house. I have used newspaper lined milk crates as planters in the past. The newspaper (only the black print pages) blocked the holes in the crates and was great compost after.

 

Grab your boots and get creative outside!

The Baking Experiment

 The 100th Day of School Cookies was a great success!

I was happy and relieved because I had to change my original plan due to a baking disaster. The original plan included a basic Chocolate Chip Cookie and a Classic Sugar Cookie.

I made the dough during the day while the girls were at school. I was hoping to make my evening of baking easier. But I was wrong.

As soon as the kids were in bed I started baking. The Chocolate Chip Cookies went in the oven first and they didn’t rise. I knew it had something to do with the baking soda but didn’t have the time or ingredients to fix the Chocolate Chip Cookie disaster.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Disaster

First, I thought an Oatmeal Raisin Cookie recipe would work. I always have quick oats and wheat germ on hand for our Sunday Morning Cowgirl Pancakes. All the recipes I found and my remaining ingredients didn't match completely. And here is where the Trail Mix Cookie was born.

Trail Mix Cookie

2 ½ cups quick-oats

½ cup wheat germ

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon cinnamon

1 ¼ cup packed brown sugar

½ cup olive oil

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

¾ cup walnuts, very finely chopped

½ cup raisins (and other dried fruits, sunflower seeds, etc.)

Yes, I really did use olive oil. I did a little research before using it and it has been done before, but I was very unsure. I also added wheat germ because I didn’t have enough oats or flour. The raisins were scarce so in went the assorted dried fruits.  

I was very surprised at how well they came out. The kids and teachers loved them almost more than the sugar cookies. 

I am no baker but I love to share with others.
When life throws you a flat cookie don't give up.... create.

The 100th Day of School

I love celebrating the little things.

Celebrating the little things in life transforms an ordinary day of the week into an extraordinary day.

For my kindergartner the 100th day of school is cool. And what better way to celebrate this date other than with 100 little cookies.


The sweet 50

When it comes to baking I love experimenting.

I haven't used a complete baking recipe in several years. 

I would like to say that I'm trying to make recipes healthier but that's not always true.

We're usually without one or more ingredients so I have to make due with what we have. 



The Trail Mix 50 - The Experiment

The Trail Mix Cookie came out as a pleasant surprise. Replacing two cups of flour with quick oats and wheat germ gave this cookie a nice healthy balance. I will have the recipe posted over the weekend.

Go out and celebrate this fabulous Wednesday.

Valentine's Day Garland

 With great inspiration from Pottery Barn Kids it was easy to welcome

Valentine’s Day. 

  

The paper garland has been one of my favorites.

I like the sweet and fun way it dresses up the room.

I made mailbags for Boo and K-Bear a couple years ago before I learned how to sew. 

I know the girls would appreciate an upgrade from the paper one I made.

I'll also be using the PB Kids' Valentine's mailbag as a guide for a future project.  

I'm not a scrapbooker but I love the paper. I like how versatile it is and love the varieties you can find. I found the paper used to create the garland in Tuesday Morning’s Clearance section last year.   

I'll also be using this playful paper for the girls' Valentines this year.

  

Valentine Garland

I used three different size hearts to give it a little twist of my own.  

I also wanted to incorporate some other colors.

I love reds and pinks but wanted to be thoughtful of my husband. 

He never complains but I know he enjoys the break from the pink.  

l hope to have the Valentine Heart Barrettes from The Purl Bee finished soon.

http://www.purlbee.com/valentine-heart-barrettes/ 

Clips and bow and ribbons, oh my!

We have so many hair clips, bows and ribbons lying all over our house. Every season, event and holiday deserves the proper hair accessory, but we couldn’t find the correct accessory for the occasion. I decided to redo a garage sale picture frame and Thrift Store chalkboard as hair accessory organizers.

This basket was located in our bathroom as a catch all for the girls’ accessories before bath time.

With two cans of my favorite spray paint we solved our problem. Spray painting is a fun, fast and easy way to complete your projects indoors and out. Krylon is one of my favorite brands because it goes on easy and even, dries fast and has no odor after drying.Check them out at http://krylon.com/index.jsp.

This fancy old picture frame was found at a garage sale a couple of years ago. At first it was made into a chalkboard for the girls but it wasn’t used. I popped the chalkboard out and decided to make their first hair accessory organizer.

For the second organizer I did pretty much the same thing except I experimented with the ribbons that are holding the barrettes.

I had a couple of large canning jars around and made them into headband holders.  I added handful of beach colored stones to help the jar from falling over.  

The girls love to look at their upcycled picture frames in the morning. Problem Solved!

Over the weekend we've been working on decorations for the house which I hope to share with you tomorrow. We've also been busy making new Valentine hair accessories. Now that we have a place to store and find them I am happy to make more.

I found Molly's Sketchbook: Valentine Heart Barrettes over at The Purl Bee http://www.purlbee.com/valentine-heart-barrettes/.

After Christmas I tinkered with making Valentine barrettes for the girls. You can find this blue heart in the first picture frame above. I love the colors and variations over at The Purl Bee. 

I hope to get a couple barrettes done tonight to share with you tomorrow.

Kitchen Cabinets

We started painting our kitchen cabinets five years ago.

I can't believe I just said five years ago. Yikes!

We had our first daughter, Boo, five years ago and two years after that we welcomed our second daughter K-Bear.  We thought we could finish our projects while our little ones napped. We weren't very smart five years ago. 

I think we've been doing too much of this...

All play and no work means unfinished cabinets!

THE KITCHEN PLAN

Finish the cabinets

Tile a backsplash

Paint the walls 

Organize 

If you have any DIY projects you need to check out http://www.younghouselove.com/.

This adorable young and energetic couple makes any DIY possible.   Their blog covers projects ranging from upholstering a headboard, creating a compost bin to painting your kitchen cabinets. I found this kitchen on their blog along with a step by step tutorial.

I'm loving this kitchen.

And can you believe this is what it looked like before?

I'll have to start tomorrow.

Last night I was up making muffins until 2:30am! 

I need a nap and reload for tonight's Family Game Night. 

I'm also trainig to run my first Half Marathon http://www.tampabayrun.com/ and need to get in a long run today.

HAPPY FRIDAY!

Starting Today

Starting today I will overcome my fear of posting. I’ve had this blank blog since October 2010 and need to get this thing going. I think we all need a place to… sew, read, listen to music, pray, relax. I need a place to sew and create to give my very active mind a place to run free.  I want this blog to be a place to get away, create and share with others.

I hope you’ll join me on this adventure.