Check, Check, DONE!

Here are some of the projects that I've crossed off my to-do list the past few weeks/months. I need to pat myself on the back because I have a gazillion more projects staring me down!

1. Oilcloth chair covers for a friend who was moving to Chile. I think they turned out great and am thinking about making some for our kitchen chairs too.

2. Re-paint the upstairs guest bathroom walls & cabinet

before we moved in: the renters who were in the house before we moved in left this house in shambles. It was so disgusting. Check out the ceiling shot of this bathroom. We had it all scraped off and treated for mold since it the black stuff was all over the ceiling. Lucky us.

after we moved in: We took down the light fixture, painted it yellow, and had the tiled walls & countertop sprayed white by Miracle-method. But we hated the yellow paint the minute we saw it on the walls and I've been meaning to re-paint it for the past year. Sorry no picture of the mess.

now: I finally used the rainy cold weather to paint the walls. The ceiling still needs a little touch-up, but I'm happy with it. I just used the same paint that is in the hall & kitchen so it flows well. Ryan wanted the lighter taupe in the family room, but since I did the painting myself, he lost :)

I also decided to paint the cabinets because they were just ugly old wood (as in the before we moved in picture). Since we plan on remodeling the bathroom from floor up when we do the kitchen/formal dining room in a few years, I figured I'd do a fun color and I'm very happy with the way it turned out.

We also got the new mirror installed which meant Ryan could FINALLY get our light fixture put up - a year later of course. Yay for having light in the bathroom :)

3. Clean out the barn - I wish I had a before picture to do an after picture justice, but oh well. Ryan and I busted our butts this weekend getting the barn cleaned out and organized (as much as it could be) before our dumpster was collected. All I can say is that we packed that dumpster FULL! The only thing left is to take the hundreds of oil cans, gas cans, random chemicals, paint thinner, old tires, and paint cans left by the renters to the waste treatment center.

Of course, this checked item just leads to more "to-do's" have we uncovered lots of old fun furniture/shelves that I am dying to re-paint and re-purpose. I'll have pics of those project before & afters soon - or once the weather clears up.

Coco Loco Popsicles - update

I bought the goods, I made them, I've tried them ... and the verdict is: not so divine. I followed the recipe exactly and I have to say that they are very bland. Even Ryan said they needed a bit of sugar or something to sweeten it up and enhance the flavors of the ingredients (and he usually thinks most things are over-sweetened).

Here's a pic of all the ingredients. The recipe called for unsweetened coconut milk, but I think next time I'll look for sweetened (if it exists). I also used fresh pineapple and chopped it in the Cuisinart and now I wonder if using canned crushed pineapple would make it sweater too? The mint leaves are from my garden. The most expensive ingredient was by far the ground cardamom spice. I had a hard time finding it and when I did, it wasn't cheap($12.99).

I could only eat 1/2 a Popsicle so I have a feeling my kids aren't going to go for them either. But not all is lost, I am determined to work on this and make it better. Yay for food experiments!

7 years ago

we got hitched.

These past 7 years have been great ... rewarding, hard, emotional, silly, stressful, sincere, and insightful. It's been a little bit of a wild ride with ups & downs, but like any good roller-coaster it's been exhilarating. I'm just glad that I'm still able to make him laugh and vice-versa. Ryan really does know me better than anyone else, he's forgiving of my faults, he supports me in my role as mother, and he knows how to make me laugh. With 7 years (11 if you add our 4 years of courtship), we have lots to laugh about - and that's just what I want to do with this guy for the rest of my life - laugh.

Coco Loco Popsicles

Oh my divine goodness. That's all I have to say. I am heading off to the store right now to get the goods. I'll let you know how they are tomorrow.

Coco Loco Popsicles

(as seen here on Design Sponge)

The Goods:
-1 13.5 ounce can unsweetened coconut milk
-1 c. chopped pineapple
-1 ripe banana, lightly chopped
-1/2 tsp. ground cardamom
-1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
-A few grinds of fresh black pepper
-A few fresh mint leaves

The Deal:
-Toss everything into a food processor or blender.
-Puree until smooth (optionally, you can leave some chopped bits whole, if that’s your jam).
-Pour into popsicle molds.
-Freeze until solid.
-Remove from molds (if necessary, run the molds for just a few seconds under hot water until they release)

Bear Lake 2010

Oh yes, it's that time again when we start going to Bear Lake. Finley has been asking for about 3 months when he can go to the cabin. So, we went up and opened the cabin last weekend. The weather wasn't so great but that didn't matter as we knew this was mostly a cleanup weekend. If Ryan's cousins hadn't been up too, our kids would have been bored out of their mind as Ryan and I spent most the time cleaning the cabin, mowing lawns, and cutting down dead branches/limbs from the bushes surrounding the place. The latter hasn't been done in oh, about 15 years, so there was more than we expected. And we didn't even come close to finishing.

It didn't help that it started raining. Then we discovered a robin's nest in one of the bushes and I was nervous because the two little babies were waiting for their mom and I didn't want them to starve so when I saw the mom hovering by with food in her mouth I told Ryan and he stopped so they could be together. I just didn't want the death of two babies on my conscience. It slowed us down, but that's ok. There will be plenty of time to finish this next weekend.

Our usual hike along the Limber Pines trail was a no go because it was still covered in snow. So we went on a drive instead. But we did get down to the water - bundled up in sweatshirts and pants. It was still fun though and we are excited for more trips this summer. I love that we have the opportunity to go up as much as we do.