New blog address

I changed my blog URL. Check it out for some more updates!

http://whiteallover.wordpress.com/

 

 

 

She’s crafty!

I have always had trouble finding the perfect tool to clean the counters with. I always loved sponges, but those commercials with all the bacteria dwelling within them terrified me! I then moved to paper towels, but I am easily influenced by advertisements and I felt I was creating my own garbage dump (exaggeration was necessary).

I knew that I loved using cloth hand towels, but hated spending the money on something to clean counters with and also the towels never washed or dried well.  SO instead of buying hand towels or just not cleaning the counters (which I had contemplated) I found an old white towel and cut it up. That’s right folks. I cut up the towel. I cut it in squares – literally big enough for my hand to fit on and started wiping the counters off.  They worked. It was true love – well as much as I can love the idea of a utensil created to clean. When I was finished I just threw them in the washer and moved on to my next towel; also, because it came from a towel and I made them so small I had a ridiculous amount of hand towels.

The love faded. After washing the cloths they began leaving little white fillament all over the counters and everywhere else. Sad. My wonderful invention was fraying apart. LIGHT BULB! I got out my handy dandy sewing machine that I can literally only sew a straight line with and hemmed up the edges. Now they are cute, inexpensive, and totally efficient!

Check it out! SO cute!

Sorry that one is a little stained, but they were so cheap I can either ignore the stains or throw it away.

I love this Do It Yourself project because with DIY, if I can do it ANYONE can!

Supplies:

An old towel

Scissors

Sewing Machine

String

Instructions:

1. Cut towel into desired shape and size

2. Hem up the ends of the towel  (if you are feeling really pokey you can add some fun stiches)

3.  ENJOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That is about as crafty as I get!

We have curtains!

Much movement going on in our little gray house! We have finally put up curtains.  We have rented for so long so I was never able…eh hem…motivated enough to put up curtains.

A few weeks ago we ventured to IKEA and bought some Ofelia Rund curtains. At such a great price we fought the college IKEA traffic to get them. WOO that place was packed. We have found a way to weave through the entire store so we can literally run in and out – with a cinnamon roll in hand!

Check out the before and after. I LOVE them. Please let me know what you think. These curtains will be going up in EVERY room.

BEFORE:

Before

After:

After

YAY! I’ll keep you updated with the rooms that more curtains move into.

Saving Money Left and Right

I am not actually sure if this saved money, but we didn’t have to buy wasp killer we used what we had one hand…firecrackers.

That’s right folks in order to save some cash and get some entertainment we blew up a wasp nest with a firecracker.

The family of wasps:

Mr. and Mrs. Wasp

Contemplating what a Black Cat (the name of the firecracker) would do to this home:

Thinking hard

Fashioning a way to attach the Black Cat to the nest:

The Black Cat in the wasp nest:

Sorry guys

And the result:

I feel a little bad -I gave them a name. I have got to quit doing that!

The Kayaks Have a Home!

Not only do the Sykes have a home, but the kayaks have a new little nook in the garage. The kayaks have used many random things as a stand.  They had spent much time outside and endured much damage, but now they are cozy in their home.  AND it will be super easy to put them on the truck – too bad the summer is coming to an end, BUT I do sense a kayaking trip in the near future.

While I was sick on Saturday boy spent all morning creating his own dolly/ pully system in the garage. We had looked around for a system that would work for the kayaks in the garage, but could only find mega expensive prices for the yaks. We looked a little closer at the systems and they all consisted of the same thing: pullys and rope.  We could buy that at Home Depot. So we did. We bought a bunch of pullys and Greg made his own system to hang the kayaks in the garage.  The grand total….$30. Awesome! BLOW IT OUT YOUR HOLE AQUASLINGS (this was the company that was charging $60 for just one kayak)!

Check it out:

Not only do the kayaks have a home, but the cars can now park in the garage. YAY! I really feel like this house is ours now – we have a place to park our cars.

Lavender Woes!

After perusing Design Sponge I am mourning the lack of Lavender growth in my life! WHY WON’T IT GROW!!! I have tried planting directly in the ground. I have tried in a tiny greenhouse – in a boat and in soap…OK not really the last few places, but you get the idea.

Please read this wonderful blog post and mourn with me that I cannot have lavender lemonade or a beautiful smelling plant as I walk in my front door.

Lavender Lemonade

The sun is a mass of incandescent gas

Soup and some gingerale

This has been titled with a “We Might Be Giants” song to celebrate summer. In an effort to allow the summer to live on I made summer minestrone soup last night. It is chocked full of summer veggies that will no longer be fresh in a few weeks.

Summer brings many wonderful things including slower work hours. For some reason, may it be kids on vacation or adults desire to still have a summer vacation, the summer hours are a bit more relaxed. And as fall is approaching I see less and less of these relaxed hours. Not only do we have a slower work day, but summer also brings amazing veggies.

The recipe is a Rachel Ray recipe. Rachel Ray and my husband actually taught me how to cook, so I am very fond of RR (as well as my husband). This soup is easy and it will look very odd while you are a brewin’, but I promise nothing but fresh deliciousness.

I will attach a link to the recipe and also show the recipe below and show how I altered the recipe a little.

Summer Minestrone Soup

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
• 1 cup orzo
• 2 small or 1 medium zucchini, finely chopped
• 1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
• 1/3 pound green beans, cut into thirds (a generous handful)
• Salt and pepper
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 4 cups chicken broth (32 ounces)
• 4 scallions, chopped
• 1 cup basil leaves
• 2/3 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese (a couple of generous handfuls)
• 1/2 cup flat leaf parsley leaves
• 1/4 cup tarragon leaves
• 3 tablespoons pine nuts, lightly toasted
• 1 clove garlic, halved
• 2 teaspoons grated peel and juice of 1 lemon
• Crusty bread, for passing around the table

Preparation

In a deep skillet or soup pot, heat 2 tablespoons EVOO, two turns of the pan, over medium-high heat. Add the orzo and toast for 2 minutes. Add the zucchini, tomatoes and green beans; season with salt and pepper. Cook until the tomatoes are softened, 8-10 minutes. Add the wine and boil for 1 minute. Add the chicken broth and bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Stir in the scallions and cook until the orzo is al dente, about 3 minutes.

While the soup is working, in a food processor, puree the basil, cheese, parsley, tarragon, pine nuts, garlic, lemon peel and lemon juice. Scrape down the sides and then, with the motor running, pour in the remaining 1/3 cup EVOO. Also in the food process add 1 cup of the broth from your cooking soup. Season with salt and pepper. Add pesto mix to the soup (this is where my recipe alters a bit).

Divide the soup among four bowls. Serve with the bread.

Either way you make the soup it is delicious and full of wonderful summer veggies.

Summer Minestrone Soup

Lastly, a little science lesson.

Artsy fartsy

In the last few years I have found some cheap and easy ways to decorate our MANY places we have lived. A few things have carried over from place to place and few things have been tossed. One thing that will stay with us for a while are these canvas paintings that I painted.

I am by no means an artist. I took a couple of drawing classes in college and then got to the drawing naked people part and got very uncomfortable. I would draw bathing suits on my drawings…the teacher did not like that. For some reason I am VERY uncomfortable with nudity. Needless to say, I didn’t continue in art. BUT trying to create some unique pieces in our homes has brought me back to the drawing table…sorry.

These canvas prints were SO easy and cheap to make that anyone could do them to make a room look unique and all your own.

Luckily I had these canvases donated to me by my friend Katie, a kick butt real designer. They had some awful cityscape on them and they just needed to be painted white. If you look closely (in person) you can see the texture of whatever was on it before the Sykes masterpiece.

This actually didn’t cost anything at all because I happened to have all paint, canvas and supplies. Why can’t everything be free?

For all you fools who want to try this on your own here are some easy steps.

1. Find some inspiration. Look in catalogs and magazines for that flare to hit you. The inspiration for the tree was from a West Elm catalog and I am not sure where the daffodil came from – I think fireworks morphed into daffodils.

2. Get some paint. Now that you have your inspiration and hopefully your colors head to Michael’s and buy some paint and paintbrush (don’t forget your 40% off coupon that comes in the weekly paper)

3. Draw whatever you want with pencil ( I did not do that with these paintings – I was a gambler)

4. Paint your canvases white (if there was something there before) and get to paintin’

Whatever the size or the fashion; anything can look good. Here is a link of some more steps from Young House Love that are very inspirational. This blog actually encouraged me to get to painting again. I think I am going to do the pears for our bedroom next. I love the colors!!! But this time I think I may have to buy the canvases – boo. Maybe they will give me a canvas if I bring a Camaro?

In an effort for free pizza

I am always trying to save a few pennies. Today when my friend Kris sent me this article I knew it was for my benefit of free food.

I love food – I love free food even more. My husband can attest to my absolute love of free food. On Saturdays when we go to The Home Depot I will wait outside until they begin serving hot dogs (occasionally on Saturdays a bank will hand out free hot dogs at The Home Depot).  At KSU I would attend many religious meetings just for the free food. I once went to Catholic mass just so I could get a free burger…I am not Catholic and I didn’t even know anyone there, but damn the burger was good. I sat on the picnic bench and carried on Catholic conversation and ate my wonderful burger. I LOVE FREE FOOD!

So, I came across this article and considered buying a Camaro for a free pizza – because nothing is better then free pizza! Thanks for the heads up Kris! For those of you also considering the idea of a Camaro let me know – we can have a pizza party!  PIZZA PIZZA PARTY! Chomp. Chomp.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090826/ap_on_fe_st/us_odd_papa_john_s_car

An Ode to the Blogosphere

Over the summer I have become addicted to the blogging world.  I have spent many wasted hours on my new favorite thing: Google Reader. I have all my blogs set up and I just stroll on down reader lane and find anything that captures my imagination.

Of course I have my blogs organized and if I could continue to folder my folders I would do so. The sections I have on my Google Reader are:

Design, Exercise and Eating, Friends, Fun, Teaching, Writing

I want to share my favorite blogs that occupy my time.  I hope that you will enjoy these as much as I do.

Favorite Design Blogs:

Design Sponge

http://www.designspongeonline.com/ Since buying a house Greg and I have been doing a bit of nesting. This website gives me inspiration to make things look pretty. Everything from file folders to plants to old vintage homes look amazing on this website. Design Sponge takes many before and after pictures. This continues to inspire me to buy old and grungy. I can fix anything up and some things just look better grungy…it is called vintage right?

Young House Love:

http://www.younghouselove.com/ This has been another website that has inspired me in my cheap decorating ways. It is always fun reading about these two update an old ranch. Greg and I hope one day to have a sloppy old house that we can fix up to be our own….one day. But in the mean time – we love our home now and these guys are an encouragement to keep thrifting! Thanks to Bethany who introduced me to this blog.

Favorite Health Blog:

I am mildly obsessed with food and exercise. I spend a majority of my time obsessing over what I get to eat next and where I get to run. I always try to make the food I eat to be holistically good for me – what I mean by that is I always hope to put enough of each food group into my body.

Eat, Live, Run:

http://eatliverun.com/. What I love about this chick is she is usually eating real food and enjoying it. She is also a runner and encourages me to get on the road in the morning. A lot of the girls who maintain these blogs are vegans and eat rice, which is not something I can do. But this chick eats lasagna and wine. I love that!

Fun:

These are the websites that make me laugh and remind me that I am not the craziest person in the world – even though my husband may think I am the craziest of the crazies 🙂

Emails from Crazy People

http://emailsfromcrazypeople.com/ The website name is self explanatory. Usually hilarious!

Passive Aggressive Notes

http://www.passiveaggressivenotes.com/ The author of this site doesn’t update all that often, but it makes me laugh.

Teaching:

The English Teachers Companion

http://jimburke.typepad.com/my_weblog/ Jim Burke writes this blog. He also writes a handful of wonderful books for English Teachers.

Writing:

The Rabbit Room

http://www.rabbitroom.com/index.php The Rabbit Room always contain wonderful stories and reviews of books and music. This website is one I often get lost in.

God:

Desiring God

http://www.desiringgod.org/Blog/ Desiring God always makes me think. I believe this is a ministry by John Piper ( I could be wrong).  But I love this blog/website.

I hope you enjoy some fun trails in the blogosphere!