Guacamole

After years of eating restaurant/store/packet prepared guacamole I finally discovered that my favorite guacamole is homemade by me. It's perfect! You add what you like and leave out what you don't like. I leave out onions for me and tomatoes for Chris. The ingredients for my guacamole are as follows:

2-3 avocados
1 serrano chile pepper, (chopped, remove seeds and ribs)
1 clove garlic (pressed or chopped)
1/2 lime (juice)
a pinch of kosher salt
cilantro (chopped)

Spaghetti Squash Tossed with Olive Oil, Avocado and Parmesan

Ok, just a couple more posts for today to catch up. I found this recipe here. It was very delicious. Not terribly filling, but so so good.

Green Onions

This summer I watched The Next Food Network Star and learned some handy tips from Melissa D'Arabian. One tip was that after cutting green onions you can put the roots in a glass of water to regrow them. I gave it a try and it worked great. It isn't something you can do forever, but I used them several times so I really felt like I got my money's worth.

A Summer Hat

I made this hat for Fiona in anticipation of a trip to Wyoming. Although the weather would be much cooler there than summer in Texas, I knew we would be spending much more time outside as a result of the lovely weather. I used one of Fiona's other hats as a pattern and chose some fun colors to create a reversible sun hat.




It ended up being a little small for her head, but we made it work.

Magnets

I made these magnets at a Super Saturday activity a couple of weeks ago. That inspired me to create many more magnets, but I don't have pictures of those yet. These were created using images from a Hancock's of Paducah catalog I got in the mail recently.


To make the magnets, we used clear glass stones, Modge Podge, magnets and Gorilla Glue. You can use paper, fabric, pictures, etc. for the images inside.
I'm not sure why I put the stone with the crack in the front.

Yummy sandwich

I wanted to post this sandwich so we don't forget about it. It was pretty delicious. Being inspired by a recipe here I was shopping and found salami on sale so I picked some up, got a nice loaf of bread, some provolone, baby spinach, and kalamata olive spread. When I got home, we put the ingredients (minus the spinach) on both sides and broiled them until the cheese browned. The leftovers were great cold as well.

A simple makeover

Lincoln's little table was starting to look pretty bad and I finally got around to covering it. I found a great green and white contact paper to match the kitchen. I took the table and chairs apart and covered the white then put everything back together. It was a nice hour project while Fiona slept and Lincoln "helped" with the tools. I may paint the wood someday. I don't see that happening for a long time.

Home again

I don't suppose I'll be posting any recipes or projects for quite some time. Our new little baby will be keeping me very busy for the next few months. I'm really just here to remove the growing baby on the sidebar. I wouldn't want anyone to think I was getting more and more overdue.

Lincoln's dresser redo

Here's the best before shot I could find.



Here's the after.



The white paint is what I'm using for trim in our rooms. The blue paint is a small can I bought a long time ago on the mistake shelf at the hardware store. I wasn't sure how it would turn out and whether I would like it with the two colors, but I really love it. I like how the details show more in the after. I never really paid attention to them until I painted them. I love putting new hardware on things. I had to haggle to get them for a good price, but it all worked out. I still can't pay $40 for hardware when I paid $5 for the dresser. I managed to get all 10 drawer pulls for $10. I got to use the drill quite a bit since I couldn't find hardware that fit the existing holes. I used 1 of the 2 existing holes and filled the other with a mixture of elmer's glue and toilet paper. I found that recipe online and it seemed like the perfect filler.

A few more nesting projects

I've been busy nesting away and it's been a while since I posted something so I figured I'd show you what I've been up to lately. First off, we have Lincoln's (and eventually Fiona's) bedroom. I finished painting the walls, but I still need to paint the trim white. I hung the curtain rod and made a red curtain to block out more light when we want Lincoln to sleep. I really like the red even though it was chosen based on the limited fabric selection I had in that amount of yardage.



Next, we have the storage and changing table we will be keeping in our bedroom when Fiona first comes. I showed you the little dresser earlier. The changing table was purchased on Craigslist. I made a cover for the changing pad and covered some boxes with fabric.



I love this fabric.



I love this fabric too.

Ikea boxes

I just wanted to post a picture of the boxes I found at Ikea. They are great for hiding away the stacks of piano books that were previously visible in this space. Last week I bought a third and I know exactly where it will go. That's another project for this week. I'm crossing my fingers that the nesting energy will stay with me.

A makeover project

When we were living in an apartment a year and a half ago we had a small chest of drawers we used for random storage. I picked it up at a garage sale and I think I paid about $4-5 for it. The yellow paint on it was already sanded and ready to be redone, but of course I didn't get around to doing anything about it. Then we moved and the yellow chest went into our in-laws' attic. It had been forgotten. Recently it reappeared and was brought back to our house right when we needed it. I had actually tried to buy similar things on Craigslist. The other bonus was that it came back right when I'm in the middle of painting walls so adding an additional item that was ready to go was no problem. Lincoln and Chris helped with the primer and then I painted two coats in between using that same paint for the trim in the study. I don't have a picture of the wall in the study yet, maybe I'll end up painting the other 3 walls too and can get a great after picture to post.

So anyway, I'm posting the before and after pictures as well as a closeup of the new drawer knobs I put in. They were a little on the pricey side ($3 each) considering the price I paid for the dresser, but they are lovely and I'm glad I splurged a little and got some I really like.

Some new inspiration

Lately I've been really trying to organize my home and make it more visually pleasing. This past week I started reading the House of Turquoise blog and yesterday my friend Erin loaned me an organizing magazine. Those three things combined with a chance encounter with the Container Store last night led me to purchase these beautiful turquoise and blue baskets for organizing. It all seemed like destiny.