Tag... I'm it.

I ended up with this via Joellyn's blog. Sounds like fun, although I'm not sure there are five poeple who read this blog... :)

****************

Lucky you! The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you. This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!

2- What I create will be just for you.

3- It'll be done this year. (might be a little while)

4- You have no clue what it's going to be. It may be a story. It may be poetry or an article on properly cleaning your face before a masque. I may draw or paint something. I may bake you something and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure!

5- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must repost this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog.

The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me! Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it!

kitchen counters installed

Here are a few shots of our new countertops, sink, and faucet.

The color is not quite right, so we will have to try some more with better lighting or a better camera or something!

The sink is seamlessly connected to the countertop.

We are planning to put white subway tiles in the gap between the countertop levels here and along the wall where the backsplash was. That project will have to wait for some more energy, though! We'll also have to repaint the kitchen since our greens clash a little.

Demolition!

Guess what we're doing tonight?

Pizza crust!

I had a few requests for this recipe over New Years, and completely forgot to put it up! Sorry, guys! I also stole this picture from Joellyn, because I keep forgetting to take any myself. Maybe next time I'll get some 'process' shots.

Overnight Pizza Dough
4 c. flour (I often put in about 1/2 c whole wheat or rye)
1 tsp. yeast
2 c. water (may need a bit more in the winter)
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. salt

Mix the flour with yeast and enough water to make a slightly wet, lumpy dough (like really thick pancake batter) in a large bowl. You can also use the bowl on your stand mixer for this! Put this dough in the fridge and let it sit for 10-15 minutes. Take out of the fridge and mix in the olive oil and salt. Knead, adding a little extra flour as necessary, until dough is soft and elastic, about 5 minutes. Dough should still be pretty sticky at this point. Put the dough in a covered container that is about twice as big as the dough ball (it will rise quite a bit, and may push the lid off a too-small container). Let sit in the fridge overnight or for up to three days. Tear off chunks of dough as needed, roll out, top and bake! I usually make one batch of dough into three or four pizzas.

To bake:
If you have a pizza stone, put it in your cold oven to preheat. Turn the oven up as high as it will go and let it heat for a good long time (at least 1/2 hour, but longer is better). Take your dough out at the same time and pat it out into a circle on a floured surface. The dough will roll out more easily if you let it warm up a bit first. You can make the pizza thick or really thin, depending on how you like it and how long you want to bake it for. Let the dough rise while the oven heats up. Transfer the dough to a piece of parchment paper or coat the bottom of the crust liberally with cornmeal. Top it with your favorite pizza stuff. Baking time depends on your oven and baking situation, but it's usually 6-10 minutes for me. I usually take the pizza out when the cheese in the center is just starting to brown. Enjoy!

You can keep the rest of the dough in the fridge for up to three days, but after that it starts to go a little funky. You can also pat the dough out into 6-inch circles, freeze them on a sheet pan, and then throw them in a freezer bag or sealed container. They will thaw overnight in the fridge or in 2-3 hours on the counter. Bake as usual.

Thanksgiving!

I don't really too many pictures of Thanksgiving... I guess I was too busy running frantically around the kitchen! You'd think since this was my third time hosting Thanksgiving dinner I'd have it all figured out by now.

Here's the whole spread:

I guess you'll just have to imagine Roger & Linda and Ashley sitting around the table with us!

I meant to take another with everybody seated (Weeda family tradition, you know) but I guess we all just wanted to start eating!




It doesn't look like a ton of food in this picture, but there was SO MUCH FOOD leftover!






And here are the desserts:
Pumpkin Cheesecake


Apple Pie


and


Toasted Pecan Pie




Next time I think I'll try a different cheescake recipe (this one maybe?), because I thought the oven was a bit too hot on this one. The edges got dark before the center was set, and then it cracked a lot. Not beautiful, but still tasty.

The apple pie recipe is totally a keeper! Brad says it's a state fair winner. I think I need to improve the crust a bit before it's to that point, but it sure is delicious!

And the pecan pie is my favorite thing ever. I don't dare make it more than once or twice a year... or I'd probably start eating it for breakfast!

We are still eating the pecan pie but had some help finishing up the rest of in the past few days. It was fun to have Julia Brist here for special meeting company! Nate and Brittany also came over to eat with us. I should have taken some pictures of that visit too! Someday I will learn to keep my camera handy.

Happy Halloween!

Today I went to work dressed as a princess! I even changed my nametag to say "Rapunzel." Several of my coworkers dressed up as various literary characters. We had Harry Potter, Amelia Bedelia, Madeline, and even a female Sir Lancelot!

Several of our patrons came to the library in costume today, too. There was an adorable Spiderman in one of those costumes with the padded muscles. He even showed me how he could shoot spiderwebs! There were also several bugs, dinosaurs, and furry creatures. The candy dish we had at the desk was pretty popular, but it was still half full when we left tonight!




I made my crown this week, and it was a pretty fun (and really easy) project! Here's a closeup:

I think I might have to make some more crowns like this for a few little girls I know!

Basically, you take a piece of lace big enough to sit on your head (I cut mine to 20 inches) and slather it with ModPodge. Keep the cat off of it until it has dried. Then apply a coat of craft paint in your choice of color (although metallic is preferable) to each side and let it dry again. You may need to lock the cat out of the room for this to happen. Close the piece of lace into a circle using craft glue and apply some reflective gem stickers. If you buy lace with open holes on the bottom, you can use bobby pins to help secure the crown--although it will stay put pretty well without any! The crown is really lightweight and comfortable to wear. Make one today for the cute little girl in your life!

Flooring Project

Okay, so this project took place on Labor Day... I realize the update is a little bit late!

I don't know if those of you who were in our place pre-flooring remember the carpet, but it was ugggglly! I don't think the pictures really do that description justice, but it was faded in some spots, stained in others, and kind of gray around the edges no matter how much I vacuumed.

This picture is from when we were house hunting... it doesn't look too bad, here. Then again, it had been steam cleaned and the place had been vacant for a while.

This picture was from when we moved in, and again it doesn't actually look too bad. I forgot to take closeups of the really ugly spots before we tore it up, but I really don't regret that :)

On Friday night of Labor Day Weekend, we tore up the carpet and got ready put in the flooring!

Kitty supervised (and kept Joel's tools company)...

Dad read the directions...

And Mom and Brad and I pulled up padding and tack strips and staples!
Okay, Dad helped with that too :)
We also took off all of the baseboards so that we could re-mount them flush with the new floor.

After sweeping up several years worth of dust and other gross things from the carpet padding, we realized we would need to seal the floorboards with something, so we made a late trip to Lowe's. The previous owners' cat must not have been as well trained as ours (Thanks, Eli & Michelle!) and a few of the corners were a little... umm... unpleasant. So we put down a thick coat of odor-blocking primer, had some cake for mom's birthday, and went to bed.

Unfortunately (or maybe not so much for me!) I was at work on Saturday when the put the flooring IN, so I don't have any pictures of that process! Mom, do you have any?
By the time I got home, they had put in all of the flooring, painted the baseboards (and every other piece of trim in the downstairs) with fresh coat of white, and moved some of the furniture back in. Brad even had time for a nap!

And here is the finished product.

The flooring is a laminate that we got at Costco - it's made with mostly recycled wood fibers, so it actually smelled a lot like wood when we took it out of the box! It's a dream to keep clean compared to the old carpet (although I do notice the cat's shedding a bit more -- but then I remember that it used to just hide in the carpet, and I feel better!). It still surprises me sometimes when I first get downstairs in the morning!

Of course, we still had all of Monday to kill, but I'll save that for another post.