Garden plans (and a "before")

Now that spring has finally sprung (hopefully? finger crossed!) we're turning our attention to the outside.  The house has a side yard for the dogs and a courtyard.  We see lots of bbqs in our future.  Both are a bit overgrown right now and we've got our work cut out for us.

(those roses and I are not friends.  I've already shed quite a bit of blood b/c of those suckers.)

 We are making progress, bit by bit.

Roxy and Kinsey were happy to hang out outside while I worked.

I can see the potential, it is going to be great.  It has me dreaming about a veggie garden.  We don't have a lot of space or a lot of sun, so we'll need to be creative.  Some inspiration I've found:

 
from here



Both from here

This area of the courtyard gets lots of sun, so may be our best bet.  I'm imagining a raised bed, and maybe even a pallet garden attached to the wall.

I was also thinking about the front yard - it gets good light, but neighbors have warned me that people will steal the pots/pick the veggies.  City living does have its drawbacks.

I guess some of the neighbors were annoyed that the previous owners left the lattice white when they redid the porch.  Because white wasn't available in the 1880s, obviously.  We live in a historic neighborhood and I guess some of our neighbors are pretty serious about it.

Odds and Ends

Last week was a rough one for us, we were both pretty sick.  Kevin managed to work through feeling badly and took up the bathroom floor (before and after pics coming soon).  I took down the wallpaper before succumbing, but once I did I was down for the count.  You don't find me working through being sick, you find me mewing and whining on the couch with tea. 

A few things we've been up to that don't merit a post on their own:

My black thumb strikes again.  Kevin's grandma gave us this plant.  We were planning on putting it outside once the weather broke, but it didn't survive us.

You know you drink a lot of boxed wine when you know that there is still a glass in there even after it seems empty.  You have to pull the bag from the box.  (Bota Box is actually pretty good.  I call it eco-wine to avoid the boxed wine stigma).

Kevin got this rug with our credit card points and I love it! I think it is going to pull the rooms together perfectly.

Kevin's parents generously gave us their oriental rug.  I love it, it was like it was meant for our library.

Pippa and Roxy love it too.

And some new books.

We are looking forward to our Montana trip in September.  We are planning to hike and camp and catch up with friends we see far too infrequently.  I've tried one recipe so far from the Indian Slow Cooker.  I didn't read the part where the author said she likes things spicy so feel free to lighten up on the spices.  I also confused red cayenne pepper with red chile powder.  Since I'd never made Indian before I followed the recipe to the T and it was HOT.  I could barely eat it - it was almost too hot for Kevin.  It was good apart from the spiciness so I think I'll try again (with just a bit of cayenne pepper though, not a tablespoon).
 

Basement find: MacKenzie-Childs

While rooting around the basement (looking for some wallpaper scraps to take into the paint store) I found some MacKenzie-Childs tiles.  I didn't find the wallpaper (I ended up taking a picture and bringing in my camera) but finding the M-C nestled among other tiles made it a very good day.

We're going to use them as trivets.

(excuse the wrinkled table cloth - I don't iron linens).

Here they are full of food from a potluck we recently hosted:

MacKenzie-Childs is a local artisan studio/farm with a pretty distinctive look.  We have been given a few pieces (as wedding and house warming gifts).

I'm just thrilled to add to our collection. 

DIY: Stenciled Nightstand

My first attempt at a DIY project was a stenciled nightstand. I followed these instructions from this blog I like.  Anything that has "good enough" in the title is something I feel confident in tackling. I got the nightstand from the Habitat for Humanity ReStore (one of my new favorite places) for $25.

I kind of liked it as is and was a little reluctant to risk messing it up but I figured for $25 (plus about $9 for supplies), I'd give it a go.  Worst case scenario it is terrible and I put it on the curb.  At least a good charity profited from it.

I used primer because I found it in the basement (the "good enough" method says it is not necessary).  I also found the white and purple paint down there too.  I was going to sand it down a bit (also not in the GE method) but was so excited to get started that I forgot.  We'll see if I regret it.

What I did regret (and a Learn From My Mistakes tip) was that a single sheet as a dropcloth does not cut it.  The primer went right through that sucker and onto our beautiful hardwood floors.  I was really upset when I figured that out*.

After a Google search I tried rubbing alcohol (I also found positive feedback about Goof-Off but I figured I should start with what we already had on hand).  With a lot of patience and scrubbing the primer came off.  Whew!

I soldiered on and moved onto the white paint coat with a plastic liner AND cardboard under the table.  I was also more mindful of drips.

Of course I had my usual fan club watching everything I did:

I ended up needing to do three coats of the white paint.

Different day, same audience.

I used a large paint brush to stencil the left side and a small one on the right.  I liked the right better.

Ready for guests!

Good thing too, because my sister was coming a few days later.  I put some books I've read recently and some candy I know she likes on the new nightstand.

 
*Kevin's reaction when I sheepishly told him what I'd done was to reassure me not to worry about it.  He said they make stuff to fix that and worst case scenario we'd refinish the floors.  He makes it really easy to live with him.

First visitors!

We had our first house guests visit last weekend -- my family.  Even with three extra adults and two kids we had plenty of room in the house.  Fun was had by all.

We...

lunched with lions

ate brownie sundaes bigger than our heads

(yes there was a brownie under there somewhere)

hunted for easter eggs

ate all the chocolate the EB left us when mom wasn't looking

And played with Pippa and Kinsey.

Pippa gave the kids a wide berth until she realized they were a constant source of food (they realized she would stay around when they fed her cheese so were happy to do so). Then she was all about them.  Her goal is to be a fat kitty.  My goal is to have my nieces associate my upstate NY city with so much fun (activities and chocolate) that they are begging to come back.  I think we both moved towards our goals this weekend.

Homemade Pantry: Tortillas

I saw this

 

on Pinterest* the other day and noticed it called for whey, which I have a lot of from this. I realized we had peppers, onion and ham in the fridge (the original plan was a southwestern omelet) but no tortillas so I decided to give it a try.

Will I lose my homemade credibility if I admit I used crisco?  The recipe calls for lard or hardened coconut oil but I didn't have either (maybe someday when we get a half pig for our yet to be bought extra freezer I'll have rendered lard on hand).  I could have used butter, but I generally fail at creating butter pastries.  We bought crisco for seasoning our cast iron pans and I (hanging my head sheepishly) sometimes use it in baked goods.  Only very rarely though, because I know it is bad for you (the term "partially hydrogenated" is in every ingredient listed).  

Anyway, the recipe is only four ingredients:  some kind of flour (I used bread b/c that is what we had), salt, some kind of solid fat, some kind of liquid (the recipe called for milk, whey or water).  I still have lots of whey from the Greek yogurt.

You mix the flour, salt, and fat together until it forms clumps and then slowly mix in the warm liquid to form a dough. Knead it a bit and let it rest 20 minutes.  Easy enough.

At some point I realized I had an audience.

The clothes in the basket were dirty so I let him stay there.  After the rest period I formed the dough into eight balls and roll them out to thin disks.

I used our new Lodge cast iron griddle (ode to Lodge cast iron will be posted in the future) and after the first couple realized:

1. I shouldn't have oiled the cast iron (the later ones were better, less greasy)
2. The tortillas needed to be really thin
3. The griddle needed to be really hot 

I realized the meal didn't even need the eggs - the ham peppers onions with cheese and salsa wrapped in the tortillas were plenty.

Someone else thought it looked/smelled irresistible too:

(I didn't share).

*Yes, I'm on Pinterest (pretty late to the party but I like it for organizing house decorating ideas).  You can find me as my internet alias Rowena Coughlin (NOT my real name).