Halloween Around Our House

Saturday Emma had her first Halloween Party.

Spider craft kits.

Lots of sugar.

A decorated mantle.

Feathered friends.

Old silver and books.

Uninvited guests.

S'mores anyone?

Not enough time for everything we planned, so there was a post party apple bob with a sweetheart of a big sister.

 Power pumpkin carving. That's how my man rolls.

What I Learned on My Fall Vacation

There are few things as good as Smores eaten by the fire with people you care about.

The only thing better than reconnecting with a Father after a 25 year absence is reconnecting with the little brother that is quickly becoming one of my favorite people. Seeing him wear the hat I knit him was a bonus.

Cousins are one of the greatest gifts in this world.

Climbing that mountain is almost always worth the effort.

 If you take your pioneer loving daughter to a pioneer living history museum right before Halloween, there is a good chance she will change her mind and no longer want to be a vampire for the big day, but will instead be donning an apron and bonnet along with her new prairie dress.

A brisk morning spent surrounded by the vibrant colors of Autumn will surely help you appreciate the beauty that surrounds you every day if only you will take the time to see it.

Getting Horizontal

I have a deep love for shiplap or horizontal wood walls.

I think they have lots of character and add tons of charm. Typically I like the boards wide. The wider the better.

Also, they hide a multitude of sins. We have a lot of sins in this house.

We have decided to try this technique inside the studio closet which currently is nothing but studs. And since we are terrible at drywall, and this is a diy level project, it seems like a good choice.

This will be our practice room because we also hope to do it in our master bathroom and in the mudroom.

I find it best to always practice in a less conspicuous place. We are getting started soon so if any of you have successfully attempted to get horizontal, I would love some tips.

Answers

Now to answer some recent questions:

-The stamp used on Emma's packaging was gifted to me from a fabulous friend so I don't know where it's from. Inside the packaging it says poppyink.com so I would start there if you want to find it. The tags were easy to make. We just used an xlg oval scalloped punch from Marvy Uchida and stamped the image on.

-For those of you worried about the birdcage in the garage sale picture, it is still in my possession. It is one of several things it turned out I wasn't ready to part with.

-We plan to spend our profits from the garage sale on these new flannel sheets, a blu ray DVD player (yes we finally entered the 21st century), a rug for our bedroom, renewing our Children's Museum membership, a secondhand eliptical, a bookcase, an antique dresser for our entry (which I am shopping for today) and approximately $50 worth of cheese from Trader Joe's. I'm not even kidding about that cheese.

-The wall color we have used in most of the house (including the family room and dining room) is Benjamin Moore Natural Cream color matched at Sherwin Williams. I love it so much I'm getting ready to continue it upstairs (I'm hoping to wrap up my painting projects by Thanksgiving). Also, many people questioned why we want to get rid of these french doors. Only one of the doors opens so we would like to have double opening doors. Long term, we hope to enclose the area outside those doors to become the dining room and at that time the doors would be removed all together.

-These much asked about cups are from Anthropologie. I have a cup problem (to match my bowl problem). More on that soon.

One Girls Dreary is Another Girls Dreamy

Today is rainy and dreary. Rainy and dreary are two of my favorite things. This is a dreamy, snuggly, cozy, ignore the to do lists and unfinished projects kind of day. Who am I to argue with that?

I grabbed my boots and umbrella and meandered over to Main Street and the yarn store where I took some pictures of yarn for a sweet friend that wants me to knit something for her. Then I stayed for a class and finished a mitten. That mitten pattern proved to be a killer and some alterations were made. Also, I wonder if there is any chance my two mittens will match when I am done. If not, please pretend not to notice if you see me walking around in them.

 My pace on the way home was much quicker as the rumbly in my tummy told me it was lunch time and I couldn't wait to make my current favorite salad which is filled with grilled chicken, walnuts, blue cheese and figs and topped with straight up balsamic vinegar which I seem to have developed an addiction to. Have you ever had a fresh fig? If you have resisted then I urge you to go buy some now before their short season ends, so you too can fall in love. They are perfect when they are super soft to the touch and feel like they are over ripe.

Tonight I'm making homemade soup. Butternut squash soup, to be exact. Never mind that I've never even had butternut squash and don't even know if I like it. I adore making soup from scratch. I always forget that, and then every time I do it, I fall in love with the process all over again. Go ahead and give it a try. It will transport you. You can see some of my other favorite soup recipes here and here.

Finally, I just want to say how wonderful and special you all are. You guys made Emma's day with all of your sweet comments. I know my blogging has been hit and miss lately and I truly appreciate that you guys always show up and support me here. I feel like I am finally getting my mojo back as my project list gets smaller. I will be back next time with some answers to recent questions that I have been remiss in answering. If you have any questions or think I've missed one of yours please feel free to leave it in the comments here or email me!

The Sale

You know how I said I was never going to have another garage sale ever? Well, we had so much fun having it that I would almost consider doing it again. However, I have no plans to accumulate that much stuff again. We made a lot more money than we anticipated thanks in part to one of our first customers who bought almost $400 worth of stuff! Also, what a feeling to load the rest of the trappings of our old suburban life into the back of the car and drop it at the nearest donation center. While all of that was great, the highlight of the weekend was definitely the friendly people.

Well, that and Emma's bake sale! No more lemonade stands for her. She found her calling. I loved that people came up to her and talked to her like they knew her because her name was on her sign. She was very professional and prepared. Her packaging was adorable and all of her female customers really appreciated it. I think this girl has a future ahead of her. I'm thinking there is a Mom and Daughter shop in our future.

Wednesday Morning Random

I am super busy this week preparing for our garage sale Friday and Saturday. I will be so happy when it is over and I swear I will never have another one. Of course I say that every time I have one and you can feel free to remind me of that next time I say I'm having one. Which I won't. Because I will never have another one. By the way, those scooters are not for sale but just moved out of the garage to give me space to sort the 376 boxes of stuff we no longer have room for.

Last night I made this chili for dinner. It is one of my favorites. I'm not a beans in my chili (or anything else) kind of girl. To go along with it I made this girls fabulous biscuits that she shared with me. The recipe comes from her Grandma Carrie Wright who was apparently an amazing baker. They were hands down the best biscuits I've ever made and probably the best I've ever tasted. My entire family is in Claudia's debt and my search for the perfect biscuit recipe has just officially ended. I may have just polished off a leftover one for breakfast. Here's the recipe:

Grandma Carrie's Cloud Biscuits
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. sugar
4 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup butter
1 egg, beaten
2/3 cup milk

Mix together dry ingredients. Cut butter into dry ingredients, until well chopped.
Stir egg into milk and into dry ingredients. Put on floured board and knead until blended.
Flatten out (but not too flat, or they won't be fluffy), cut with a cookie/biscuit cutter and place
on an oiled cookie sheet. Bake at 450 for 10 minutes.

Claudia's tips:
I learned not to flatten too much after kneading. You want the thickness of the dough to be at least a 1/2 inch or more for fluffiness, hence the name "Cloud" biscuits. Also, in my oven I've learned to bake them for 12 minutes.

Jen's tips:
Always make sure your biscuit ingredients are super cold. I dice up my butter and put it back in the fridge to get cold. Never overwork your biscuit dough. I also used buttermilk instead of regular milk because I had some I wanted to use up.

Tonight I'm making these with the leftover chili. If you are one of those foodies that doesn't eat hot dogs then just look away now. I however, justify my love of them by telling myself they are all-American. It's practically my patriotic duty to eat them.

This morning I'm headed to knitting class with my girl Sarah where I'm going to attempt these mittens. Wednesday mornings with Sarah are usually the highlight of my work week but I am especially looking forward to the break today.

You see? I wasn't kidding about all of those boxes! So that's about it for me this week: clean, sort, price, cook, knit, grocery shop, sleep. Come to think of it that's pretty much a typical week if you substitute paint for price! Hope you are all having a productive week too.