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!

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Post tags: brick patio, broken dishes, builder, concrete, concrete patio, demo, demolition, demolition project, Ebert, flatware, flickr, foundation, garage, Home, home demolition, home improvement project, house, husband, marbles, old stuff, oneida, photo, photos, project, railway, SilversmithsÂ, Siskel, trash, treasure, triple cocktail, video, yard

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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!

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Post tags: addition, architect, back yard, builder, concrete, demo, family, house, husband, Jake, project, remodel, stone patio, tool

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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!

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Post tags: art, Blocks, color, colored water, Colorful, containers, empty milk, food coloring, ice, juice cartons, Outside, Play, snow, snow balls

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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.

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Post tags: basil, beans and rice, Chili, chili sauce, cloves of garlic, CULTURES, Fermented, Food, habanaro, habanaro peppers, habaneros, Hot, hot chili, hot peppers, hot sauce, Hotter, hotter than hell, jalapenos, Kitchen, mason jar, onion, onions, pepper, Peppers, recipe, SAUCE, spicy, spicy food, sweet onions, tasty gifts, Than Hell, Thursday, tortilla, tortilla chips, yogurt

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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!

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Post tags: air plants, glass ball, glass balls, ornament, ornaments, photo, photos, spanish moss, tillandsia

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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!

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Post tags: art, inspiration, kid, Kids, leaf, leaf shape, leaf shapes, Paint, petal, photo, photos, poinsettia, print, prints, project, shapes, sparkle, sponge, sponges, tempra, tempra paint

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

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Post tags: art, art supplies, bean, bean soup, Dried, photo, photos, picture, pictures, soup

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Forgive the bad photos! I just could not get a good shot of this.

I love these, such a great way to preserve leaves. They smell good and look so pretty.

We added a few happy acorns to the branch too!

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Post tags: acorn, acorns, Bees, bees wax, branch, halloween, leaves, photo, photos, Waxed

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First we removed the dried kernels from the cob

A very satisfying exercise (at least for me it is!)

Then we soaked the kernals in a bowl of water over night

This makes pushing the needle through the white part of the kernel much easier

We used dental floss instead of thread

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Post tags: art, Bracelets, cob, corn, kernals, kernel, kernels, photo, photos, Stringing

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Let me start by saying, I LOVE Modge Podge!  I can totally see this in my future!!!

And….. that we  should have done this project a few weeks ago when the leaves were less crispy around here. They would have laid a bit flatter on the glasses.

I ordered some wax from Swan Creek Candles. These are lead free and really easy–melt and pour wax refill kits.

We went to the thrift store and bought several glass jars and containers suitable for holding candle wax. Collected some leaves and got out the modge podge and some brushes.

We “painted” the glasses with modge podge and laid our leaves down and then painted over the tops of the leaves also.

You can see how our dry leaves didn’t exactly cooperate and lay flat. But they still look great after they dry.

Next we glued our wicks into the bottoms of the jars with a hot glue gun.

We melted the wax in the microwave

We poured the hot wax into our prepared jars. Let the wax harden a bit and pull wicks to the center. When dry trim wicks down.

Then light them and ooh and ahh at the pretty candles and leaf candle holders you made!

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Post tags: candle, candle holders, candle wax, candles, dry leaves, glass jars, glasses, glue, hot glue gun, hot wax, leaf, Leaf Candle, leaves, Melt, Modge, project, refill kits, swan creek, thrift, thrift store, wicks

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