Bedroom Move

We moved our bedroom into the blue room. It still needs decorating, but already has a new dresser for Jeremy and a bed--so that's enough for us!

My side

 Ignore ugly blue bathroom, please.

Jeremy's side with ikea rug and underbed drawers.

New dresser for Jeremy!

A Dose of Fall

Sun across the leaves in the backyard

2 Serving Acorn Squash Soup

Easily scaled up for leftovers or bigger groups.

Ingredients

1 acorn squash, cut in half and deseeded

½ yellow onion

1 clove garlic

3 tablespoons olive oil

3 tbsp butter

2 cups of chicken broth

1 teaspoon salt

1/8 tsp/pinch of pepper

1/8 tsp/pinch of cayenne

1/8 tsp/pinch of ground sage

¼ teaspoon of ground mustard

1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce

1/3 cup heavy cream

2 tablespoons parmesan

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cut squash in half and deseed. Chop up onion and garlic. Put ¼ of your chopped pile of onion and 1/2 of your garlic clove into each squash.  Put the rest aside. Pour olive oil over squashes. Put squash in oven for about 50 minutes to roast.

After taking the squash out of the oven, let the squash get cool enough and scoop the insides out of the skin. Then, melt the butter in a large stockpot.  When melted, caramelize the remaining garlic and onion.* Pour in the broth and squash. Use an immersion blender to make the soup really smooth. It might take a couple minutes. I was targeting big pieces of squash with mine to get it totally smooth. When smooth, put in all the spices and Worcestershire. Stir in cream and parmesan cheese. Serve.

*If you’re like me, you don’t get the whole “caramelized onion thing” so just wait until the edges look brown and it smells pretty good. That may not be a caramelized onion, but whatever, it’s works just fine for this recipe.

This is the lazy version of this recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/guy-fieri/acorn-squash-soup-recipe/index.html

Walk-In Closet

We're in the middle of moving from our green room to the master bedroom. I still have some organizing to do, but here's a sneak peak....

Before:

After:

Check out that sweet rug. Yeah, it's a yoga mat that doesn't get the use it should, so I count that as resourceful.

Ha, okay, it's just my closet. I'm sure you're all riled up about how excellent it is. I'm happy to have a walk-in closet again. This means I get to pick out my clothes in the light again. Yay!

Summercraft

So, summers off? Summers off of work, summers off the blog. Weddings, babies, seminars have kept us busy for the pst four months. Not too busy for crafts, just too busy to remember to post the creations.

A quilt for baby Meadow....

Up close the stitching is supposed to look like tree bark. She turned out pretty cute (both the puppy and Meadow)

Tye Dye with the wonderful Heather...

Not really a project... but this zucchina/squash/carrot/ham tart was cool lookin' and tasty.

Finally, Baby P's baby shower. 

Invites! Those little pennants tried to warn me away, but I perservered!

Stuffed animals hanging out on the mantle for the Jungle theme.

The cake turned out pretty well--but I am convinced that I am going to improve on this technique.

These are the little animal magnets I made for favors. They're stuck to a magnet picture frame made out of a sheet of metal from Home Depot and a picture frame. I kept an Emu for ma-self.

A Treasure for Trash

We have the prettiest trashcan on the block, nay, the city, nay, the county!

My parents have this pretty utilitarian wood trash can. It's sturdy and has a solid to keep the smell of onions from permeating the house... So both my sister and I requested reproductions. She got hers around her wedding(ish) time, which was a few years ago. After our most recent escapades out west, I requested one as well.

My Dad has been refining his woodworking skills--- Here's the lovely beetle-kill ponderosa pine trash can :-)

On top of the lovely box itself, my Mom "inlayed" some turquoise powder into all of the beetle holes in the pine. Below is a picture of the top. You can see all of the different flecks of the individual shavings when you look closely.

Thanks Mom and Dad! You're the best!

Wedding Gift

Inspired by a piece at the lovely vineyard where she had her bridal shower, I made a friend of mine a driftwood mirror (after I discovered that they're, like, $200 at the store...) I'll just say mine is a significantly better deal.

The pictures aren't very good. The deck where I took pictures was hot. Instead of going inside to put shoes on so I didn't burn my feet, I decided to take pictures recklessly instead.

I think it looks better in person. Happy with the outcome, though!

Firmly Planted

Today has been a whirlwind of a productive day. I've been grocery shopping twice (once for cupcakes, once for weekly shopping), went to Old Dover Days, hit up Lowes, went to Clark's Seeds for Vegetables, built a climbing trellis for my snow peas, planted all my vegetables and a whole bed of strawberries, and made 75 cupcakes.

Here's what the garden looks like now:

Peas with new trellis!

Strawberry Plants

Tomatoes

Asparagus!

Yeah Mom, our asparagus plants are really that big :-p

(Not pictured: cucumbers, zucchini, and spinach)