working on stuff

One project is near finished, one is just beginning.

beans

We have a lot of beans around here right now. today was an extra big haul(you can't really see in the photo, but I barely have my arm around them), but we have already picked double that. I made soup out of them yesterday, now I am thinking about freezing some of them to use later.

homemade granola bars

Today Graham is off to a 8 hours race (mountain bike) which he is relaying with my brother, Josh. So, last night I made him some good for you, yummy granola bars to pack along.

Whole Grain Energy Chews (found here)

1/4 cup almonds, roughly chopped
2 cups rolled oats
1/4 cup dried apricots, chopped up
1/2 cup dried cranberries(I used dried sour cherries-yum!)
1/4 cup pumpkin or sunflower seeds
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1/2 cup Red River Cereal or Bob's Red Mill 10 Grain Cereal
1/2 cup honey(I only used 1/4 cup, I have made them once before and found them to be a bit too sweet for us)
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350, and toast the oats, almonds, and pumpkin/sunflower seeds on a baking sheet until just golden and fragrant. (Watch carefully, they burn quickly!)
Add the fruit and seeds to the oat and nut mixture. Mix well.
Bring 1/2 cup water to a boil in a small saucepan. Add cereal, stir and remove from heat. Allow to sit for 2 minutes.
Add peanut butter, honey, salt and vanilla to the pan and return to medium low, stirring often for 7 minutes. The mixture should start to shine and pull away easily from the sides of the pan. Stir constantly to avoid it sticking to the bottom. Do not overheat.
Add the warm peanut butter mixture to the oat mixture, and combine thoroughly. Press very firmly into an 8×8 glass or metal pan (place a piece of foil that matches the size of the pan on top and press with your hands.) Leave to rest for at least 2 hours. Cut in 36 small squares and freeze indefinitely, or refrigerate/wrap and keep at room temperature for up to a month. Since the ingredients are all non-perishable, they will likely go stale before they go “bad.”

old/new dining chairs

I recently purchased 6 of these chairs off of a local buy/sell website. Beautiful, don't you think? I plan to spray them and re-upholster the seats. The fabric is nasty. I am thinking either white-ish or black for the frames (I have recruited a spray paint extraordinaire/friend to help with the frames-she does a much better job than I do armed with spray paint?) and have no idea what I want for fabric! I know that will be a tough decision for me, narrowing down the 20 or so fabrics I decide I love. Feel free to give advice...

some fashion help please

I have this dress (it's from Old Navy) and I need shoes to wear with it. Preferrably inexpensive, not too high shoes. Can you help? I'd like to wear it to celebrate our 9th! anniversary coming up this Tuesday. By the way, this model in the photo makes the dress appear much hotter than it does on me; it looks more casual when I wear it.

home again home again jiggity jig

We spent the last week in Calgary visiting my cousin and her children and yesterday we made the long long drive home. The trip went pretty well, if you cound a blown out tire as pretty well. Photos to come soon, hopefully. Today we brought the tire to be fixed, had lunch at grandma and grandpa's and then came home for long naps, lot's of laundry, and some brownie making. Feels good to be home again.

growing veggies

Here is what our garden looks like these days. Or what it looked like 2 weeks ago when I took these photos.

Tomato bed-not really doing that well. I think the bed is just not deep enough for the plants. We'll have to fix that for next year. Anyway, all the plants are producing fruit.

Giant sugar snap peas growing all over my potato box. In fact, I gave up trying to add more boards to the potato box. Growing the peas on the box was a good idea, just not totally thought through. You can also see some carrots and some dill.

Rhubarb-thanks to my brother Luke. It's growing nicely, but will probably be more usable next year. I love rhubarb. Behind it are the cucumbers, purple cabbage and parsley that produces much faster than I can use it. Anyone want some?

Chives, onions, zucchini, butternut squash.

Beans, lettuce (pretty much done growing and being eaten for that matter), brussel sprouts (which I mostly planted because I was instigued by the way it grows. looks like we're going to have lots though, so I'll need to some up with some yummy ways to serve it) and more varities of tomatoes (these are doing way better that the others).

tressa's birthday

At the beginning of this year I made a commitment to have homemade sibling gifts for all of our brothers and sisters this year? {We have a total of 10 between the 2 of us, including in-laws and 1 boyfriend} Well, Tressa's (Graham's sister) birthday sort of snuck up on me this weekend and since we were in the midst of packing to head out of town for awhile, I slacked a little. Here is the 'homemade' part of her gift. A moleskin journal wrapped cutely. And really, who wouldn't want a new moleskin journal?

I better get cracking on some more homemade gift ideas since 6 of the 10 birthday's are in the next 3 months!