anniversary date (the no kid kind!)

On Saturday we were incredibly blessed with an entire night away without kid(s)! This was her first overnight away from parents and home, but our good friends who know her well took marvelous care of her. She got sweaty and dirty and played hard and didn't utter our names once. That's our girl!


We went back to Kansas City and visited the three floors of the River Market Antique Mall before we decided we were tired and ready to eat.

We saw a lot of great things including ...
this great trunk (coffee table anyone?!)

(Above) An incredible Heywood-Wakefield midcentury piece - I almost died. And a great mod-looking orange stove from the 70s. I love that style but am not sure it's MY style.

(Below) And, an ode to my dad. Did you know John Deere's colors were originally yellow and red? This sign is from the very early 20th century. I thought about picking it up for my dad until I saw the tag. "Rare" and $1000 don't fit my budget. Sorry Dad. ;-)

We went to eat at The Farmhouse - a local eaterie with great atmosphere, eclectic staff and an incredible menu. Completely supported by local farms - it's fresh and local! It's pricey, but a great place to celebrate a special occasion. And we did!

Here is my husband of 5 years.

I indulged in a "mocktail" of lavender lemonade - delicious - and we shared an appetizer of fresh, local cheeses with sauces on crisp, salty homemade crackers.

The Farmhouse comes highly recommended! Thanks for sharing in our special weekend. Now on to the next 5 years.  

*rose garden*

Part of our Loose Park adventure last Friday was its infamous Rose Garden. Absolutely stunningly beautiful and sweet smelling roses in so many colors. Here are just a few.

anniversary (family) outing.

Friday was our 5th anniversary - we celebrated family-style with a picnic in the park. Loose Park in Kansas City to be exact. Complete with anniversary cheesecake, a sweet, swinging 2 year old, lots of green grass and a vintage romper.

Lovely, relaxing and completely enjoyable. I love having no agenda but to be together.

weekend thrifting finds!

This weekend I let the garage-sale craziness sweep me away. And I think I'm good for quite awhile.

I wanted to share my vintage finds (although I did find a few other clothing items, etc for Ladybug and me) - some for the Market, some for me.

At one sale, a guy was just trying to get rid of things. The Brother Valiant typewriter I scored for $1 (YES! a dollar!) and all of the 78s (the round case and burgundy album) for $2. He was basically giving stuff away. How could I resist!? Oh, and the working 1959 Zenith alarm clock for $5.

Four blue ball jars with lids ($3 ea), a small blue ball jar for .50, a flour sifter for $2 and a Mouli grater for $2.

I've wanted a typewriter forever just to display and this one is small and perfect. I love it!

I found the large Ball jars (above) and this perfect little table for Ladybug at an estate sale on Friday morning after our garage sale rounds. The table was tucked in the basement and still waiting for me when I got there. I scooped her up quick - and good thing because there was a collector there!

One leg must be slightly shorter and they all need a coat of ivory paint, but it was exactly what I was looking for.

I cannot tell you how thrilled I was!! It pretty much wiped us out (Jeremy too as he was home with Ladybug) and my garage saleing itch is scratched for awhile, but it was so enjoyable.

I'll be sharing the rest of my vintage clothing finds soon!

Thrifted anything great lately? 'Tis the season!

Lisa

with love from Germany

My dad went to Germany a few weeks ago for a work trip (jealous? can I say jealous!?!) - and he wanted to know if I'd like anything for him to bring back for me.

Of course, I said, "Yeah, the whole European aura, please." :-) I do love Europe.

But I settled for chocolate and my favorite spice.

{milk chocolate, marzipan chocolate and chocolate with raisins and hazelnuts}

{a favorite spice that I can't find here!}

"Tomaten" is what you think = tomatoes. It's wonderful sprinkled on just about anything, but especially toasted bread with nice cheese. Mmm.

Dad, you did great!! Exactly what I wanted. Thank you. :-)

Garden Update: Spring is *finally* here!

After a few frozen plants and frustrating weather, spring is finally here! {I hope.} I came back from a long weekend to see my flowers and herbs had grown in the sunshine, and my strawberries are blooming like crazy!

I am container gardening mostly this year - and only tomatoes, peppers and herbs. In the actual ground I've planted garlic, kale and a couple of extra tomatoes for kicks. Oh, and green beans - two out of 20-25 sprouted, so I'm not really hopeful for a bountiful harvest of those...

{berries!}

{daisies}

 {my hosta came back!}

{dill and parsley}

{front door flowers - I need to replace the one that didn't like the May snowfall}

After last year's frustrating growing season and drought, this is my last go with a garden here. If container gardening works out, I'll be thrilled. If not, I'll shrug and say, "oh well." Kansas just isn't a great place to grow things. At least not for my not-so-green thumb.

We're planning to make regular trips to the Farmer's Market in town on Saturdays to make up for my garden's lack and to buy local, fresh and organic (the CSA pick-ups stopped in our area, so that decision was easy). Two weeks ago we scored with a huge bag of wintered spinach for $3 and a dozen pastured eggs - green, brown and white - for $4. I'll keep my budget low, but I am craving fresh!!

What are you craving? Are you growing anything? Do share!!

montessori learning: DIY busy-board

I've recently run into Montessori-type learning for children and it really lines up with what I've been trying to do with Ladybug. For the most part, it seems to be practical learning with every day items to refine motor skills and learn. I'm not really into putting tinies in school per say, but I love that she can learn while we live our normal life. And I can do easy, already in our house, activities to keep her busy like pouring beans or rice into containers, washing dishes, helping me cook, learning why things float/sink or are hot/warm/cold, etc. Montessori really pushes have children-sized things to work with (like child sized tables, tools to work with, etc.) and I agree in part, although I think it can go overboard. Plus, we don't have the space or resources right now to have a miniature-sized everything.

That said, here is a project I've been working on for our 6 hour trip to Iowa this weekend.

A DIY Montessori "busy board".

I used all recycled/vintage items except the black plastic buckle and the metal eyelets - so using what I had, in all this probably cost me about $5.

For this I created (from left top, clockwise) large buttons/holes, lacing, elastic pull & button, buckle, hook & loop, a small snap, zipper, bowtie, and a hook & eye.

Some will be simple like the velcro and zipper ... others will take some practice as her skills develop. I designed it that way on purpose.

 Here it is all undone and ready for a busy two-year old!

And a front to back look. I sewed on all of the notions before I put it together like an envelope pillow. Sort of. Then, Jeremy cut me a thin piece of veneer (left over from THIS project) to fit and make it sturdy.
 

If I were to do it again, I think I would've:

1) just sewn it together - the envelope was difficult to fit over wood ... it's not flexible like a pillow. ;-) Luckily the vintage polyester (remember seeing THIS dress makeover?) was a little bit stretchy. I thought I may want to put something on the back in the future - so this was the option I chose.

2) I might've left the eyelets off. You really need a good tool to do them right, not just the little kits you can buy at the hobby store. They're a little rough. And I need to replace the ribbon with a reclaimed shoe lace - I just haven't found one yet.

That's it!! what do you think? I'll let you know how it works in the car.
_________________________________

As for resources, here are some books I've flipped through:

source

source

And I'm going to read these two ...

source

source

Any other Montessori learning fans out there? Any other resources you would recommend?

*************

And here is an Etsy shop full of fun whimsical Montessori learning toys.

source

 Aren't they cute? I think I've just gotten another project brewing on my list...

(And what about these clouds!)

source

new blog look!

I've been really ready for a clean, new blog look for awhile. Recently I ran across a blog called Sincerely Lara and it just so happens that she had a perfect (free!) template. What?! The next day it was in my inbox and here it is.

Isn't it great?

I'm still working out the kinks, but it's up and running for now! Woo hoo.

:-) Love.

An in-season, out-of-season dessert: organic strawberry rhubarb pie

There hasn't been much activity on the blog this week because there isn't much to say! We've been attempting to enjoy the 4 days of warm weather because it dropped almost 40 degrees overnight and is chilly, chilly and rainy. Ick.

I thought it was quite appropriate to share a still-out-of-season, yet in-season-in-my-freezer dessert today. Doesn't a piece of organic strawberry-rhubarb pie with a cup of something hot sound amazing? Perfect for a drizzly, cold, gray day. Mmmm.

I've been trying to use up the frozen goods in my freezer to make room for this year's harvest to come. We are eating up the end of last fall's apple butter and applesauce as well as the rhubarb and zucchini.

My in-laws brought some frozen strawberries from their garden when they came over Valentine's day weekend, and my mom always provides plenty of rhubarb from her garden. Garden goods equal organic in this case! I was inspired to whip up this pie a few weeks ago for book club.

I have to admit that it was super yummy - and was deemed "the best thing I've eaten in 2013" from a very credible source. Wow! It was simple but SO yummy.

Here's the recipe:

Double pie crust
Martha Stewart's pate brisee

Strawberry-rhubarb filling
(from Betty Crocker's Picture Cook Book - the 1998 facsimile copy of the 1950s version ... a much loved high-school graduation gift!)

1 c. sugar
4-1/2 T. flour
1-1/2 c. rhubarb, thawed & drained
1-1/2 c. strawberries, mostly thawed & drained
1 T. butter

Stir first four ingredients in a bowl. Place in bottom crust - dot with butter. Add top pie crust. Bake at 425 degrees for 40-50minutes. Cover edges halfway through baking time with foil to prevent burning.

Happy spring! It's not quite rhubarb/strawberry season yet but it will be soon.

recent reads - American Wasteland

In honor of Earth Day this past Monday ...

I'm usually one to fly through a book in a day or two, but this one took at least a week. It's full of good info, but chock full of stats and information, it's a bit sluggish.

However, I'm glad I read it and have taken several things from it.

First, I am more aware of my waste - even though I have been careful, there are some things I've just been lazy about. It's nice to have a heightened awareness without feeling guilty. Creating a "game" out of using up leftovers or making new creations (heard of "ketchup soup" from the Depression era?) is motivating to me. 

Second, I feel more willing to ask for things that might go wasted (heard of reclaiming food before??).

And finally, he includes intriguing research on anaerobic digesters - machines that actually "digest" food waste and provide natural gas to live (cook/heat) on! How cool is that!?


Have a great weekend!

Pet peeve: Cashiers talking about customers behind their backs

I was recently very annoyed by a couple of cashiers at a mainstream retailer. Within a few days of each other, I heard both speaking negatively about WIC customers to the customer behind them.

Not familiar with WIC? It is a "special supplemental nutrition program for women, infants, and children (WIC)" - essentially, WIC is a federal/state supplement program for low-income families. My family has benefited from WIC since I was first pregnant and lost my job. It has saved us up to $80/mo on groceries and now provides us about $50/mo on basics like milk, eggs, bread, juice and fresh produce.

I'm not really shy in sharing this information with you ... my husband is a student with two part time jobs and while I could be working outside the home full-time, we've chosen to have be stay home and be a mom to our girl. This drastically reduces our income but substantially benefits our family. We don't plan to be low-income forever, nor live off the system forever, but while we are in this place at this time, we are taking advantage of this help that is available.

There are some who take advantage of the system, yes. But there are also hard-working, educated people like us who need some supplement and are willing to use it for a time.

That said, back to my story.

__________________________

Cashier 1, annoyed that WIC mom accidentally picked up medium sized eggs instead of large, says: "WIC customers, seriously, every time I help one they get something wrong."

(It's like they have to insult you behind your back to make the next customer in line feel better?)

What I wanted to say: "Actually, I pretty much get the same stuff every time, but the last TWO times, the cashier has made a mistake ... " Everyone makes mistakes with WIC - cashiers and customers - it takes a while to get used to the system, but once you have it, it's fine. Give people a break.

What I actually said: nothing. 

________________________

Cashier 2: "Ugh, they use their coupons and then they pay for the rest of their groceries with a $100 bill. That just makes me so mad."

What I wanted to say: "Seriously? What if they just got paid? What if that's all they had and needed to break it? And besides that, WIC is solely income based, it doesn't matter if I have a $1 or a $100, and why is it your business anyway?"

What I actually said: nothing.

_______________________

So annoying. Very unprofessional (although I don't really expect this retailer's cashiers to be professional).

Next time, should I say anything? What do you think?


P.S. I had my favorite cashier yesterday and told her so. :-) 

new legs! {hairpin table legs, that is}

A little project last weekend made me VERY happy. I'll admit up front that it's not earth-shattering or extremely shocking and beautiful. But for me, it's amazing.

Backstory: I've tried to be content with my kitchen table for the last 5 years and for the most part I have been. Jeremy got it for free before we got married and we've used it ever since. I've been thankful to have a table. Really.

But honestly, I've hated how it looks. Even with paint and recovering, the chairs and table legs would just be ugly. I have worked hard to see any redeeming decorative qualities, and/or ways to make it prettier, but I just can't.

So maybe a year ago I realized that I liked the top just fine (it was easy to clean!!), so maybe I could change out the legs. Then, I saw these legs sticking out of the dumpster and got excited.

It ended up that those legs weren't easily removable, so I traded that whole table in for my other craft table. But, we were back to square one with our kitchen table.

Then I recently ran into leg inspiration found here, here and here. And after letting hairpin legs grow on me, I was sold. Those I could do this!

So this weekend, I did.

Before:

After! 

It looks cleaner, simpler, more modern with a little bit of industrial. Love! 
(Hairpin legs found here.)

With a few #10 screws and a few drill recharges, it was Lisa's oh happy day! I am working to replace all of the chairs with mismatched, thrifted chairs and will update when that is finished, but for now, REJOICE!

:-)

little handsome man - onesie vest and bowtie diy

Lately I've been honing my sewing skills by upcycling an old pair of my dad's dress pants into a cute little size 18 month onesie vest and bowtie complete with little shorts! My nephew needed something to wear to a family wedding, and my sister found THIS inspiration. I offered to try. And it worked!

There was no tutorial, but I pretty much copied it exactly from the picture... with a green polka dot bowtie and pocket square and three buttons instead of two. But pretty much the same.

I drew out my own rough pattern on old packing paper so I'd at least get both sides of the vest symmetrical - and the rest came together so quickly! I found a thrifted napkin (seen here) that would work perfectly and hoped that polka dots wouldn't be too feminine.

Um, how baby manly can you get?! :-)

Then I tried my hand at little shorts - mostly using Dana's pant tutorial and a pair of Ladybug's old jeans. I used the old waistband from the pants and had a few trial and error/imperfections to work out, but on the whole I'm pleased. My favorite parts are the little faux front pockets and the little coordinating fabric in the back.

front:

back:

Now we just have to wait and see if they fit this little guy for his uncle's wedding. I'll update and get pictures of it on this sweet guy after the wedding in June!

Update: With the exception of rolling up the shorts, it fit! See it on him HERE. 

Thrifting score! {Irish Coffee Mugs}

I've been looking for some Irish coffee mugs since before Christmas - Jeremy even got me some clear glass mugs for Christmas, but all of the rims weren't cast smoothly, and I really didn't like drinking out of them. So back they went.

{Irish coffee mugs remind me of my favorite cafe in Schaffhausen, Switzerland - they are fun to drink from and they make for great pictures!}

So we searched online and all of the new clear tea/coffee mugs were either very expensive or very fragile (neither one good for me). I just gave it up for then.

To my surprise, the other day I saw these sitting at a thrift store - 2 for $1.98.

I'll take those, yes please.

These two are replacing a set of 4 I thrifted - which have joined the garage sale pile.

Pretty!

Tea pictured: Organic Herbal Berry Tea from Grandpa's Cheesebarn in Ohio. YUM!

DIY Mason Jar Gift Idea - Fill with Dried Fruit

Pretty, fun and yummy, don't you think? (Bottom up: cranberries, kiwi, strawberries and pineapple)

Happy Wednesday!