Friday, October 29, 2010

October 2010 Project

Well as a part of my list to complete two crafts per month (#47) here goes my wrap-up for October 2010:
 
Unfortunately I only got one craft/project done for this month which is okay as it was a bit more time consuming than other crafts I have done in the past. Craig and I spent three solid weekends in thrift stores just to kill time during the days. We have so much fun finding all the interesting little objects in the stores (which we usually don't buy) and then we tend to find several items we've been on the lookout for, like this:
 We saw this on our first trip to one of several Salvation Army stores in our area, we happened to be there during their half-off weekend. The sticker price on this baby was $250. I pointed out the piece to Craig and we passed on buying it. Even with half off we thought $125 was still too much to spend. The following weekend we ended up in the store again and I didn't see this piece anywhere, it had been on my mind since first seeing it. The third weekend we went there ta-da this baby was still there! It was a half-off weekend again and the $250 tag was still on it. I called one of the workers over and told him I saw this 3 weekends in a row and the price was still the same - I checked to see if he could lower it any. We ended up buying it for $100 total. It was still a tad more than we wanted to pay but it was exactly what we were looking for for our kitchen/dining room. The weekend after we brought it home we ran to Lowes and bought some stain/sealer in one and started the re-finishing process...
 
 
I was surprised at how well this color stain matched our dining room table. I was very pleased with the outcome; however, I must let you know that this project is still incomplete...

...more to come, later.
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , ,

Thursday, October 28, 2010

New Recipe: Pumpkin Chili

I was looking around on allrecipes.com for some good pumpkin pie recipes and stumbled upon "Pumpkin Chili' so I had to give it a go. Here is the recipe (with my modifications) and the results.

Oh yea and I am changing the name of this to "Pumpkin PIE Chili" because I like it better.

Pumpkin Pie Chili
  • 2 Lbs. Ground Beef 
    • I only had 1lb so that is all I used.
  • 1 Large Onion, Diced
    • The recipe didn't specify what type of onion, I used yellow.
  • 1 Green Bell Pepper, Diced 
    • We bought our peppers from the farmers market, so they are much smaller than what you'd find at a regular grocery store I used two small ones to compensate.
  • 2 (15 ounce) cans kidney beans, drained
  • 1 (46 fluid ounce) can tomato juice
  • 1 (28 ounce) can peeled and diced tomatoes with juice
  • 1/2 cup canned pumpkin puree
    • Rather than only using 1/2 cup out of a 15oz can of pumpkin puree I used the whole can - waste not want not, right?
  • 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice 
  • 1 tablespoon chili powder
  • 1/4 cup white sugar
    • Because I used the entire can of pumpkin puree I decided not to add the extra sugar. I didn't want the chili to turn out too sweet.
In a large pot over medium heat, cook beef until brown; drain. 
Stir in onion and bell pepper and cook 5 minutes. 
Stir in beans, tomato juice, diced tomatoes and pumpkin puree. 
Season with pumpkin pie spice, chili powder and sugar. 
 Simmer 1 hour.  (Note: While it's simmering, be sure to stir every so often - I didn't and ended up with some burnt yuck at the bottom).
 Overall it was really yummy! We have enough leftover to play with so I intend on adjusting it a bit. It had no "kick" to it so if you're not a fan of spicy chili then this would be a great recipe for you - if you like spicy I'd suggest adding some diced jalapeno (that will be my next adjustment). I am glad I made the adjustment with the pumpkin puree and nixing the sugar. Oh and only one bowl was enough for Craig to get nice and full...although he had three biscuits with it.
Posted by at 1 comment:
Labels: ,

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

The Latest in Thrift Store Finds

I thought I'd share our latest thrift store finds and what my plans are with them. The first collection was found at a combination of about four different thrift stores. You'll see the glass jars in an upcoming post so I'll leave those a mystery! The bamboo looking thing is actually a really nice table runner that I found for a buck. I wasn't looking for a table runner but for a whole dollar I couldn't pass it up. I also found the Pampered Chef spoon rest (the white bowl thing with the metal base), my mother in law had one and I always liked it. I got that for a buck fifty and it's in brand new condition. The portion of the frame you see is for a project in our bedroom, I've been looking for an empty frame large enough for a project I've been thinking of - it'll have something to do with my jewelry. The spoon, small mirror and potato masher aren't interesting so I'll skip on by those....

 ....and move right on to this beauty. I found her sitting on a shelf all alone and I felt SO bad for her that I just had to take her home. I spent three dollars on her scary little face. I can only imagine the story behind her. She looks as if she was thrown at something due to the nature of her injuries: her poor nose is chipped off as well as a portion of her right eye. I fixed her eye with a little bit of white nail polish and now she sits proudly (and creepily) on our mantle. Eventually she'll make her way to another place in our house but for now that is where she'll be. Looking over us with those creepy eyes.
 The last item we found (well that I am posting about) is this ottoman. Four bucks. We actually found three of the exact same ottomans but only brought home one. I didn't realize our dogs would love it so much - BOTH of them have taken turns curling up on it. For that reason I wish we had purchased two of them. Oh well. I intend on re-upholstering it, as soon as I figure out how.
Posted by at 2 comments:
Labels:

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

54. Sofas & 56. Bedroom Furniture

I thought I'd combine these two goals from my list as they are #1 not completely all that interesting and #2 they happened right around the same time as one another, which was totally not expected but totally welcome. 

54. Get sofas for living room:

We finally ordered sofas for our living room! Yay!! No more sitting on a really uncomfortable camping chair that smells of many bon fires! WooHoo! We ordered them on 10.11.10 and they were finally delivered on 10.26.10. They are super comfy and feel like velvet (that'll be fun with the dog hair). I plan on making some pillow covers in a coordinating (but not brown) pattern, in addition to making a few more pillows just for decor purposes. What do you think?! Now I just need to cross off goal number 55: "Get entertainment unit/living room storage" for our living room to be more complete.

56. Get bedroom furniture:

We totally did not expect to be getting bedroom furniture for a few months - probably after the holidays to be honest. We wanted to pay off our current debt (the mattress and the sofas) before even looking at furniture sets but, being a huge craigslist shopper I was up late browsing the furniture section just for kicks. I had no luck finding anything interesting at all when all of a sudden I saw "4 piece bedroom set: $150" I thought: ok it's going to be crap but I'll look anyways. This is what I found:

Sooooo awesome! I sent the seller an email before I went to bed thinking "there is no way they will still have these by tomorrow at THAT price!" I woke up the next day, checked my email (good news, obviously), we ran to the bank and then met the seller to check out the pieces. He agreed to deliver them for an extra $20 which wasn't a big deal at all. All of the pieces have zero scratches, scuffs or nicks; all of the drawers slide wonderfully and are even lined with shelf paper; all of the pieces are CLEAN and in brand spankin' new condition. I was amazed! The coolest part of this bedroom set (aside from the price) is that the lines and style are exactly what I was looking for! The original picture from the seller they appeared to be a lighter shade of red, but once we got them into place they are a bit darker which is perfect for our taste!!

LOVE craigslist and LOVE Craig for letting us get these!!

PS - I know these pictures aren't that great, but maybe I'll take some better ones when the rooms are both more complete!!! Stay tuned!
Posted by at 1 comment:
Labels:

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

96. Get lost in a corn field

Well I've managed to get lost in a corn field. Yup!

We went out to The Haunted Corn Maize on Sauvie Island for some good ol' spooky fun!! It was frigid cold. I was not prepared. I still had fun. The maze was actually quite spooky and we were startled quite a few times. I was impressed with it, actually. I have been to haunted houses before and there was typically nothing spooky about it - or there were crowds of people ahead of us who ruined our experience with excessive screaming. This was not at all the same. For the most part you couldn't see where "ghouls" were hiding because they constantly moved around behind the corn. It was fun!We had planned on getting pumpkins after the maze, but they had closed the patch and it was too dark and I was ready to leave cause I was freezing cold! So we went home and decided to do pumpkins the next day.

Dustin, Katie, Mike, Heather and us in the corn!
The next day, after we got home from taking the dogs on a long walk through the Hoyt Arboretum we headed over to the Roloff's Farm (Little People, Big World on TLC) just to check it out. It was about an hour from our house so we thought 'what the heck.' The farm was much smaller than we thought it would be - at least the pumpkin part of it, I am sure if we took a tractor ride we could have seen the entirety of the 32 acre farm. We meandered around looking for the perfect pumpkin and saw Amy and Jacob Roloff entertaining visitors and taking pictures with them, lots of kids running around and enjoying the place. It was much more fun than finding a pumpkin at the grocery store or parking lot patch! After we got our pumpkin seat belted into the car safely we headed over to the farm where the corn maze was to browse through their market. We ended up taking home some honey, a sugar pumpkin, some cheese, apples, and apple cider. Oh and on our way out we got a caramel apple!
 
I love fall. :-)
Posted by at No comments:
Labels:

Monday, October 11, 2010

20. Brew my own beer

On 10.10.10 Hubby and I set out to brew my first beer. Hubby helped with the heavy lifting, gave me direction and basically told me to pay attention a few times (watching a pot boil for an hour can get kind of boring). A while back at the Southern California Homebrewers Festival I tasted a beer someone had made: Chi Cream Ale. Ever since then I have wanted to try my hand at making it - it was so wonderfully good! The one I tasted was really light and would make a great summer beer but at the same time it had all the hints of fall flavors and spices - nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon. I had asked the brewer what ingredients he used and he told me to use a basic cream ale recipe and then add Trader Joes chi tea bags to the end of the boil. He left me with no accurate measurements, just a general idea. We went to Trader Joes and found their Ruby Red Chi tea in boxes of 20 and bought 4 of them. We figured at 8 ounces of water per tea bag, 80 bags would work for 5 gallons. Strangely enough I had never once tried chi tea so I used one of the bags for a cup of tea so I could judge how strong the flavors were - we ended up using the remaining 79 bags in the brew and added it to the last 10 minutes of the boil as well as kept it in the pot while we cooled everything. Overall it steeped for about 20 minutes. The aroma was amazing! Now we wait for the beer to ferment so I can see how good (or bad) my first brew turned out! I am excited to taste it and so hopeful that it's at least drinkable!!

80 bags of tea
Cleaning out the mash-tun.
Stirring the wort - such a nice aroma!

Adding Hops
Adding the tea bags

And finally a bit of Ginger.
Posted by at 3 comments:
Labels:

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

95. Compile the List of 26 Movies

From my revised 101/1001 list, here are the 26 movies from A to Z.
Movies that I have watched will be crossed off.
Last updated: 01/03/2011
A - Absurdistan
B - Baby Mama
C - City of God
D - Dreamgirls
E - Eagle Eye
F - Fireproof
G - The Golden Compass
H - Hannibal
I - Inside Man
J - Joy Luck Club
K - Kiss the Girls
L - Les Miserables
M - Moon
N - Never Ending Story
O - Original Sin
P - Princess & The Frog, The
Q -Queen, The
R - RocknRolla
S - Slumdog Millionaire
T - Taking Lives
U - Under the Same Moon
V - Vanilla Sky
W - Where the Wild Things Are
X - Xanadu
Y - Youngblood
Z - Zack and Miri Make a Porno
Posted by at 4 comments:
Labels:

24. Read 50 New Books

As a part of my new 101/1001 list I am slowly compiling a list of (at least) 50 books to read, in no particular order.  As of 10.6.2010 this list is very small so feel free to leave me some suggestions. Actually, please leave me suggestions. Also if you have any books you want to donate or long-term loan to me (as I am not local to most) I would love to have/borrow them!

Unread, Own It, Currently Reading It, Read It
  1. Life of Pi - Yann Martel
  2. Eat, Pray, Love - Elizabeth Gilbert
  3. Man Eater - Gigi Levangie Grazer
  4. Wicked - Gregory Maguire
  5. Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk - David Sedaris
  6. The Modern Girls Guide to Life - Jane Buckingham
  7. Something Borrowed - Emily Giffin
  8. Something Blue - Emily Giffin
  9. Baby Proof - Emily Giffin
  10. Love the One You're With - Emily Giffin
  11. Heart of the Matter - Emily Giffin
  12. Belly Laughs - Jenny McCarthy
  13. Baby Laughs - Jenny McCarthy
  14. Life Laughs - Jenny McCarthy
  15. Love, Lust & Faking It - Jenny McCarthy
  16. Water for Elephants - Sara Gruen
  17. The Memory Keepers Daughter - Kim Edwards
  18. My Sisters Keeper - Jodi Picoult
  19. Keeping Faith - Jodi Picoult
  20. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo - Stieg Larsson
  21. The Girl Who Played With Fire - Stieg Larsson
  22. The Girl Who Kicked in the Hornets Nest - Stieg Larsson
  23. The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins
  24. Catching Fire - Suzanna Collins
  25. Mocking Jay - Suzanne Collins
  26. Stephanie Plum Series 01 - Janet Evanovich
  27. Stephanie Plum Series 02 - Janet Evanovich
  28. Stephanie Plum Series 03 - Janet Evanovich
  29. Stephanie Plum Series 04 - Janet Evanovich
  30. Stephanie Plum Series 05 - Janet Evanovich
  31. Stephanie Plum Series 06 - Janet Evanovich
  32. Stephanie Plum Series 07 - Janet Evanovich
  33. Stephanie Plum Series 08 - Janet Evanovich
  34. Stephanie Plum Series 09 - Janet Evanovich
  35. Stephanie Plum Series 10 - Janet Evanovich
  36. Stephanie Plum Series 11 - Janet Evanovich
  37. Stephanie Plum Series 12 - Janet Evanovich
  38. Stephanie Plum Series 13 - Janet Evanovich
  39. Stephanie Plum Series 14 - Janet Evanovich
  40. Stephanie Plum Series 15 - Janet Evanovich
  41. Stephanie Plum Series 16 - Janet Evanovich
  42. The Good Rain - Timothy Egan
And here is a list of books I want eventually, more reference / crafty / how to types. These don't count toward my 50 new books to read, I just thought this was a good place to stick them. :-)
  1. Simple Times: Crafts for Poor People - Amy Sedaris
  2. The Write Words - Crystal Dawn Perry
  3. The Write Baby and Toddler Words - Crystal Dawn Perry
  4. Top Titles & Tips Too! - Crystal Dawn Perry


Posted by at No comments:
Labels:

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

101 Things in 1001 Days (revised)

I don't think it's in the rule books, but I am revising my 101 things in 1001 days list. Yea, I know - cheater cheater pumpkin eater. After moving to Portland I've realized that a lot of the things I had on my list were location based. So I am revising it as not to become a complete and utter failure all because I moved away. I also visited the Day Zero Project website and discovered that they now have account capabilities available, to keep a running track of lists (super cool, but I will still post my list here and blog about completed tasks). 
And yes, because I am a cheater, cheater pumpkin eater I am starting my time-line over. I'll have you know I also have 51 new tasks to complete. So, a year (and 16 completed tasks) after the first one was created...here goes my new list:

101 Things in 1001 Days, inspired by Day Zero Project

Start: October 5th 2010
End: July 2nd 2013
In Progress, Completed
Last updated: January 2, 2011

1. Complete Design Portfolio
2. Get a job (again)
3. Pass LEED AP Exams
4. Study Interior Design Books
5. Learn Google Sketchup
6. Learn (and practice) Yoga
7. Learn the alphabet and 25 common sign language signs
8. Take a photography class (enrolled! 12/2010)
9. Photograph a Sunrise (time lapse)
10. Photograph a Sunset (time lapse)
11. Photograph the Stars
12. Get a Kitchen Aid Mixer (in Boysenberry!)
13. Get a food processor
14. Learn to can
15. Make Pickles
16. Go fruit picking
18. Compile Favorite Recipes Book
19. Make Homemade Dog Treats
20. Brew my own beer 10.10.10
21. Make a Martini 12.31.10
22. Get a Wine Membership
23. Host Cookie Exchange
25. No Caffeine for 2 weeks
26. See Dermatologist
27. Get My Knees Examined
28. Get Teeth Whitened
29. Don't dye hair until July 2nd 2013
30. Update Passport
31. Update Drivers License
32. Update Social Security Card
33. Go White Water Rafting
34. Acquire a sewing machine 11.11.10 (Thanks Colleen!)
35. Learn to Sew (enrolled! 12/2010)
36. Reupholster a piece of furniture
37. Make: Pillow Covers
38. Make: Bed Linens
39. Repair: Gma Smiths Christmas Ornaments
40. Make: Christmas Ornaments
41. Have a Scrap-a-thon Weekend
42. Finish: Wedding Scrapbook
43. Finish: Honeymoon Scrapbook
44. Finish: Year Scrapbooks ('06, '07, '08, '09, '10)
45. Finish: Puerto Vallarta Scrapbook
46. Finish: Cruise Scrapbook
47. Complete two crafts per month
48. Make Pottery Barn Inspired Mirror
49. Make: Beaded Ring (or two)
50. Make: Flower Hair Clips/Bows
51. Get a Wii (again) Get an Xbox360
52. Get Wii Fit Get Kinect for Xbox
53. Get a new lens for Camera
55. Get entertainment unit/living room storage 12.05.10
56. Get bedroom furniture 10.23.10
57. Get 5 year Ring from Hubby
58. Get a Carpet Shampooer
59. Get a Dyson
60. Go to Photography Meet-up
61. Get Awesome Gift for my Hubby (I have two great ideas)
62. See Disneyland at Christmastime
63. See the Rose & Japanese Gardens
64. Go Fishing
65. Go Kayaking 11.06.10
66. Shoot a real gun
67. Attend a Concert
68. Take a Trip on a Train
69. Visit SoCal for Christmas (1/3)
70. Visit Family in AZ
71. Visit Family in CO
72. Visit the Oregon Coast
73. Visit Ireland (currently planning)
74. Visit Europe 
75. Plant an Herb Garden
76. Plant a Vegetable Garden
77. Start a Compost Pile
78. Buy half a cow
79. Pay off Student Loan (mine)
80. Pay Off Student Loan (Moms)
81. Donate Blood (if they'll let me)
82. Build a house with Habitat for Humanity
83. Volunteer in a different country
84. Become Pen-pal's with Niece and Nephews
85. Get pregnant / have a baby
86. Get a massage 11.13.10
87. Have a Garage Sale
88. Payoff our credit cards/debt (again)
89. Make a new (local) friend
90. Buy a house
91. Sell both of our cars
92. Buy one new car
93. "Disconnect" for a week (excludes phone calls).
94. Watch 26 movies I've never seen starting with each letter of the Alphabet
97. Fix my Tattoo
98. Influence a person to make a day zero list 10.16.10 (Amber Dwyer)
99. Save $5 for every completed task (11/101)
100. Send my Grandma Fall Leaves 12.25.10
101. Donate $100/year to various charities. (to date: $50)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And in case anyone was wondering, the items I have completed from my previous list are as follows:

1. Got a job (I moved and now I don't have one again so it's a repeat item).
2. Attended a meet up for digital scrapbooking.
3. Saw a Broadway show live (Lion King)
4. Watched all current seasons of Dexter
5. Got DVD storage unit and moved DVDs to sleeves
6. Learned how to use my 4-cup coffee maker
7. Made everyone a gift for Christmas
8. Went hiking (a few times).
9. Acquired bikes for myself and my husband
10. Went camping (a few times)
11. Planned an Owens family picnic
12. Paid off credit cards (and then acquired more on them since, oops)
13.  Moved out of my in-laws house (and to Portland)
14. Saw New Moon with friends.
15. Got a new mattress (a sleep number, too!)
16. Bought a nice DSLR Camera (and am loving it)..
17. I now owe myself $80 to my savings account, per my 101st item on my previous list. :-)
Posted by at No comments:
Labels:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)