Pepper Paints

2 Thumbs Up For Home Demolition Project

Just a quick update on our home improvement project. We have been busy cleaning up and taking up the rest of the garage foundation and the rest of our 10 inch thick concrete patio that has a brick patio underneath it.  The permits should be back any day and our “list of things to do so the builder can get started” has just taken priority over everything else.

One of the things I have been excited about is the possibility of finding treasures when we dug up the yard for the foundation. I have been told our house once held the original farm house for this area. Most of the existing house was built in the 4o’s so there could be old stuff as well as newer “trash.” I have found some broken dishes and marbles out back.

Over the weekend my husband found our first treasure! An Oneida lmtd Silversmiths  Triple cocktail or olive fork.

I think it is railway or cruise ship flatware. I can’t wait to see what we dig up next!!

Here is the video of our garage demo–in case the photos weren’t enough for you! You can view it in live action. I’m pretty sure Siskel and Ebert would give it 2 thumbs up!

The Seven Year Itch

I have always dreamed of putting an addition on our house. All the little things I loved about this house to make us buy it–I eventually came to hate. The chopped up rooms and tiny door ways, nooks and crannies. If you know me in real life, you know that my husband and I have talked about “the addition” for years-to the point where I am  sure our friends and family were sick of hearing it. We mention it almost every night at dinner when four of us eat around our table shoved against the wall and the fifth person sits alone at a different small table. And when we have extra dinner guests–which is more often than not—there is nowhere to sit. People always tend to gather in the kitchen-but if you are in my kitchen there is no doubt that you are just in the way. For years we have put off fixing things because of “the addition.” ” We are just going to remodel anyways”

Over the last few months we have met with our architect many times until the drawings were just what we wanted. We met with our builder several times so he knows just what we want. And….Well…. after seven and 11/12 years in our house finally “the addition” is underway!!!

We have the most awesome labor! First Jake dug part of the 50 foot trench where the bobcat won’t be able to fit so that we can bury our electrical lines. Did you hear him mention that our soil is mostly clay and full of tree roots.

Next thing on the list was taking our stone patio wall down. This involved swinging a sledge hammer and and busting stuff up. A boys dream!!

The girls helped with the relocation of all of the rocks (so we can re use them). This was not a parent approved part of the process. I looked out the kitchen window to see  them filling up a cart with the rocks, attaching it to the back of my car with a chain and Molly (who was more than happy to help!!) driving my car into the back yard with Jake making sure the cart didn’t ram my car.  My 12 year old driving around my back yard made me a little nervous I must add!

Early Sunday morning to my neighbors dismay the jack hammer arrived.

Actually my neighbors didn’t care at all (not yet anyways!). Word spread that we had a jack hammer and teens and men needed to try their hands at  the ultra, manly power tool. They got to play and we got a little help-win -win!

Four to six inches of concrete is hard to bust up and heavy to move! Here is a flat on the trailer. But have no fear—more manly toys and tools!

This is just the start of the demo that we are doing before the real project starts. Which is scheduled to happen in just a few weeks. I am way overwhelmed with all of a sudden the need to pick out windows and siding and get everything out of the garage and order the dumpster……One would think in the almost 8 years that I have been thinking about this I would know what I want.  So many choices! That I will have to live with forever! Doh! No pressure there!

I will update frequently on the progress so stay tuned! If you have remodeled or put an addition on your house and have any need to know advice-please pass it on!

Colorful Ice Blocks To Play With Outside

When we finally had enough empty milk and juice cartons to make blocks I cut the tops off the cartons, the kids dripped various combinations of food coloring into the cartons and we filled them with water and put them outside to freeze.

A couple of days later we peeled the cartons away from the ice blocks…some were frozen a little more solid than others.

The colored water that dripped out made for pretty snow to play in

Colorful snow balls!

Now I am back to hording the empty cartons and yogurt containers to make more colorful ice blocks!

Thursday’s Recipe – Holy $hit, That’s Hotter Than Hell, Hot Sauce!(aka fermented hot peppers)

I LOVE hot and spicy food.  I saw a recipe for Fermented Hot Chili Sauce at Nourished Kitchen and thought it would make tasty gifts to share.

Holy crap–this is some hot, hot sauce!

I bought just about all the habanaro peppers at our grocery along with a few jalapenos and a couple of pablanos for flavor. I cut the stems off and threw them into the food processor with a few sweet onions, several cloves of garlic and a few handfuls of basil and salt and a little sugar. I mixed up the only living cultures I had-keifer starter-with a little water and threw that in too. I put everything into a mason jar–it took several tries as just inhaling the fumes were tough! I let it sit on my counter for about 12 days. There wasn’t much bubbling and not much liquid so I ended up just bottling it up seeds and all.

The brave decided to try it yesterday………….

I ate some on tortilla chips and yes it was hot but super tasty. I love the taste of habaneros!  I think it will be really good in a bowl of beans and rice topped with some yogurt! Mmmmm

The Nourished Kitchen blog is loaded with really delicious recipes!! Be sure to check them out.

Living Ornaments

Now that the gifts have been given I don’t have to keep secrets any more and can share the living ornaments we made.

We took the tops off of clear glass balls and pushed a pinch of Spanish Moss and a few small tillandsia (aka air plants) in the hole.

We used a skewer to position everything inside our ornament and to help push the stuff in. Be careful of sharp edges around the opening of the glass ball.

Tillandsia don’t need any dirt and very little water to survive. Before putting them into the ball we did give them a good rinse and shake. These can be hung in a humid place…above the sink or in the bathroom in filtered light.

Look for “bulk” tillandsia because they are cheaper and can be broken off into smaller plants.

We have a few in tiny pots but those are too big to fit inside the ball.

A great gift for any time of the year!

Poinsettia Sponge Prints

First I set out a little inspiration!

I cut up some sponges into long petal shapes and shorter ones into leaf shapes. Squirted a little tempra paint onto a tray. Squirted a little more tempra onto a dish with some q-tips  and voila…..

The kids got down to business!

And made many , many beautiful poinsettia sponge prints!

Thanks to Deep Space Sparkle for the idea! I especially love her blue ones!

Dried Bean Pictures

I see 15 bean soup made with the left over art supplies in our future!