Gnome Hats

 I've been busy knitting up a storm the last few weeks. I finished two gnome hats for boys

 and I finished a voygeur hat for my husband. It just came off the needles so I don't even have pictures yet.


Happy knitty winter!

Peace and Love--

Hats, Gloves and Scarves-OH MY!

Whew, it's tough to keep your entry way or mudroom at least minimally controlled in the winter. There's so much stuff to keep track of. Here's how I do it, thrifted style of course!

First of all the book shelf is on it's 14th reincarnation--it was a book shelf, then toys, then books and on and on...it's well traveled in our home, to say the least. Right now it's here occupying a spot in our mudroom, a place holder for things to come. Because we own a big old dusty rusty farm house things are always in a state of remodel, that's why some of our walls are drywall and some are sweet 1970 wallpaper and why book shelves are place holders for several years.

The top holds an egg basket for gathering eggs.

Each shelf holds a thrifted wire basket with the appropriate gear in it. Top is for hats, then progressing down the body to gloves and the bottom shelf is for scarves, goggles and miscellaneous. It works so well, it's easy to sort it out when it gets off kilter and I love old wire baskets. WIN!

I also store my egg cartons here and the birch bark off to the right there is covering our fire extinguisher, you know for the next time I cook a ham on the grill...




Peace and Love--

Just Another Meatless Monday Ain't Yo Mama's Pimento Cheese

Pimento Cheese, is it a dip or a spread?

Do we care? NO! because we only want to eat Pimento Cheese not ponder it's very existence.

I love a good Pimento Cheese. That junk you buy in the store is a very pale imitation of the original which can be found in abundance all over the internet. This one of Paula's is classic and damn fine if you're looking for a jumping off point in the world of Pimento Cheese, you can't go wrong with Paula's easy delsih recipe. Except I like mine with a wee bit of spice and crunch so I added hot wing sauce and some pecans. Whoooo yum, it was like Pimento Cheese the 3d version, an Ain't Yo Mama's Pimento Cheese if you will. I think you'll agree that the basic premise of creamy cheesy is only enhanced with the addition of spicy and crunchy. Seriously.

 Ain't Yo Mama's Pimento Cheese
4 ounces of cream cheese, room temperature
2 TBSP mayonnaise
1 TBSP plain yogurt
2 TBSP Franks Hot Wing Sauce--more if you like it hotter--this amount made it tasty not fiery 
1/4 finely chopped pimentos or roasted red peppers
1 1/2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 blue cheese crumbles
3 TBSP chopped pecans

beat the cream cheese, mayonnaise, yogurt and hot sauce with a mixer until well blended
add the rest of the ingredients and mix well
serve with crackers or bread
can be used as a sandwich filling
can also be eaten furtively in the kitchen with a spoon when no one is looking

Peace and Love--


 

The Penny Worthy Project

So, did you go Black Friday shopping? or did you pull a Black Friday Black Out like we did? Good grief I heard people were being pepper sprayed over video games, sure glad we stayed home!



We had a mellow and snowy Thanksgiving Day

our thrifted table for Thanksgiving

followed by a more than mellow Black Friday Black Out--we played games, ate leftovers, some of stayed in our pajamas some didn't, watched some Star Wars movies and generally had a great day at home. The only exception was taking my macbook to the mac store and then to my husbands office to see if it would plug in and charge. Argghh hard to be a blogger if your computer will not charge. But the upside is A) the MacHaus is locally owned and B) it's not dead just would not charge--they ran free diagnostics and couldn't find anything wrong. Curious.

 In the end we were mostly stay at home and when we did need to go out it was to a local business. We're calling it successful.

Today I went shopping to for Buy Local Saturday and took my camera along for the fun. I started at my favorite thrift store where boxes filled like this

make my heart beat faster.

Then I made my way over to our local bookstore Fireside Books and spent a good long time perusing books. They are soon celebrating their 10th anniversary in Palmer, they make a great addition to our down town district, I love to shop there.

one of my favorite sections...

and another favorite section

and I popped in next door to Non-Essentials and browsed and shopped some more. This store has all kinds of goodies from Fiesta Ware to Le Creuset to locally produced honey and bulk teas. I'd love to share all my goodies here BUT someone might see their present online and have their surprise ruined.





















I did find some cool things while thrifting this week--

listing on ebay soon

Taylor Smith Taylor soup bowls--I'm assembling a set of beautiful vintage florals for spring and summer dishes--I have some 200 year old plates these will be fabulous with--and yes we will be using them daily

more gift tags and stickers and such--the candy cane pen is going in a stocking

book ends for our library so our books can all live an upright life...

I've wanted to read this for a long time, when I'm done I'll pass it on to anyone who wants to read it

Peace and Love--

Black Friday Black Out

We're joining with folks all around the United States  for a "black Friday black out". This is a direct quote from their website "Corporations offer lower prices on Black Friday because they depend on us buying their products. Large corporations use the holiday season to sell more products. Every year we hear about fights over toys, video games, and clothes. We will no longer let the corporations divide with the cheap trash they sell. We don't want "deals". We want real change. We will not work to sell the corporations garbage. We will not buy their corporate trash."  Our family is standing in solidarity with people all across the world who are standing up to oppression, standing up for their beliefs and I invite you to join us in the "Black Friday Black Out" and for the equally impressive "Buy Local Saturday" event.
If you need any inspiration for skipping the box store crap, you should really watch the 20 minute or so movie called "The Story of Stuff". It will positively change your views on the way we live and why we need to change the course we are on, it certainly solidified my views on where I want to spend my money. Did you know that 99% of stuff bought in big box stores doesn't last past 6 months? It's designed to be consumed and replaced.


Things to do instead of spend money at box mart on Friday:

1. sleep in--seriously, if you rush off to work everyday why leap out of bed early another day 
2.  eat leftovers, and more leftovers,
3. have another cup of cheap, homemade coffee, that'll save you 5 bucks right there 
4. engage in a massive all family game of risk or candyland, depends on the age of family members
5. have a craft-a-thon invite friends to come over, bring their leftovers and craft the day away 
6. take a nap
7. watch all three Lord of the Rings Movies or Star Wars
8. have a snow ball fight
9. make cookies with your kids
10. start reading a classic out loud to your kids
11. put you feet up and be thankful for all the things you have
12. cut snowflakes with your kids
13. dig around in the cupboards and make something totally unusual 
14. or better yet let the kids cook
15. stay in pajamas all day
16. find a place to go sledding
17. look up local bazaars for Buy Local Saturday
18. learn to knit
19. dust off your sewing machine and make something
20. eat another turkey sandwich
21. build a fort in your living room
22. take a long bath
23. create your advent wreath, if that fits with your beliefs
24. boil the turkey bones for stock, strain and freeze for good soup all winter
25. learn to make bread, why not? you got plenty of sandwich makings on hand!

 See? There are plenty of things to do besides spend a bunch of many on crap that won't last.


Peace and Love--

Thrifted DIY Decorating

I needed to fill a rather large spot with some sort of a fall decorations for the upcoming Thanksgiving dinner at my house. I was home for the day, not going anaywhere, so I dug around and got down to work.

Here's how it went down:

• first clean off the work table--ha easily said, not so easily done--this poor table gets more than it's fair share of stuff dumped on it--usually just a place to rest before moving to it's proper location (hint hint family!)

•  so I rallied the troops and handed out the stuff to be hauled of--leaving only the necessities, mostly 

• I moved some dry flower oasis the green foam from one second hand container to another, this stuff is highly reusable

•  Then I started picking through my collection of second hand fake flowers and grasses--

• and began adding bits and pieces here and there, I stepped back several times to check for height and width--the space I wanted to fill was pretty big so I was going for big and my pumpkin bowl was big but truly I don't think it's bigger than the recommended "container should be 1/3 of the height" so 1/3 is the container and 2/3 are the flowers or in this case, grasses

• and here it is residing in my bathroom, on the counter, the fall foliage in the window and the candle sticks are all thrifted as well--the total cost for this project was around 2 dollars--not bad, not bad

Peace and Love--

Just Another Meatless Monday Maple Roasted Pears with Pecans

If you're looking for a delicious Vegan Dessert to to dazzle guests with, this one might be for you. Yes, we are still working our way through a case of pears, thankfully they're good eating and the work isn't too hard. This simple recipe is quick to make, easy to pop in the oven at the last minute and will delight even young guests.

Maple Roasted Pears with Pecans

6-8 firm ripe pears, I used D'Anjou
1TBSP lemon juice
3 TBSP maple syrup
1/2 cup pecan halves
1 teaspoon celtic sea salt or kosher salt

preheat oven to 350˚
wash and dry the pears
slice them into 4 pieces, I sliced off two whole sides and then the remaining pieces
put them in a bowl and drizzle on the lemon juice
then toss with the maple syrup
add the pecans and set aside
lightly grease a baking pan and pour in the pears
roast in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes or so
remove from the oven, sprinkle with salt and serve hot

The pears can be prepared ahead up to the point of tossing with lemon juice, then refrigerated until you are ready to roast them. This would make preparation even easier. 







Peace and Love--

The Penny Worthy Project

I've spent a lot of this week working on a deep clean of my house, the main floor anyway. While I've been scrubbing cupboards and enjoying the meditative work of cleaning I've been thinking a LOT about the disposable life that's so prevalent in our country. I wrote Does Thrift Store Shopping Lead to a Disposable Life? the other day and I had so many thoughtful comments, they really gave me food for thought. What do you think, I'd love to know.
Does pondering the disposable life make me stop thrifting? NO! It was certainly not my intent to stop thrifting, but perhaps thrift with purpose. Looking for goods I need or will gift to others rather than goods I want. I also do a bit of reselling, so between those things I have my goal: I either NEED it, will GIVE it or RESELL it. Now I have a goal, lets see how I did.


Ahahaha looking at my purchases this week I see this mug, an exact replica of one I bought for myself in Disneyland 8 years ago--now we have a matched set of cups bigger than my head--YEAH!!

And a vintage tin--hunh I guess I didn't NEED this one, guess I better put it to work

 Oh I DID need these, fold-able Christmas boxes. Collapse when not in use, pop up for wrapping and then poof flat for storage. I like these because we'll be able to use them again and again.

 last weekend was particularly crafty--here is one of the hats I made--ignore the goggles, it was super windy and cold outside

And we made some Martinmas lanterns last week too, this is mine with the sun shining though it

Don't forget to check out Hey Who's a Winner Mom? to see if you won the Seventh Generation/Le Creuset giveaway--I need the winner to contact me pretty quick or I'll have to draw a new a winner.

Peace and Love--

Vanilla Honey Poached Pears

Whether you order 20 pounds of organic pears at one time or buy a bag from the local grocery store, now certainly seems the time to indulge in pears. In the last month I've seen D'anjou, Bartletts, Red Bartletts and Comice pears for sale, yes it is the time for pears. I personally happen to have a 20 pound box of organic pears from Azure in my pantry, we are chugging through them, they may be the last for the season, we'll see. And since they may be the last for the season, I don't want to let them go to waste, I also have to balance that with not burning my kids out on pears. Poaching the pears took them from a fruit to snack on to a dessert that will leave them begging for more. Heh, score one for mom.

Vanilla Honey Poached Pears 

4 cups water
1/2 cup of honey, more if you need them sweeter
1 vanilla bean
4 firm ripe pears, I used D'Anjou

in a small deep sauce pan bring the water and honey to a very low boil reduce heat and let simmer split the vanilla bean and scrape the seeds into the liquid, toss in the bean too
wash and dry the pears
scoop out the blossom end with a spoon
add the pears to the pan
simmer 10 minutes or until the pears are soft but not mushy
remove from syrup and set aside
serve warm or chilled
the syrup can then be boiled until reduced by about half and drizzled over the pears before serving

I felt like throwing away the luscious leftover vanilla honey flavored syrup was wrong and a total waste. So we decided that ours would be poured into some vodka for a vanilla honey cordial. It should ready just in time for Christmas. Waste not, want not, right?




Peace and Love--