Kinderware?

Mark and I took a morning walk on Saturday to the Farmer's Market in downtown Wheaton. In one of the booths, we saw some adorable dolls that looked like they were handcrafted, but were apparently by a brand called Kinderware. Many of the dolls are made up of colorful felt or fleece balls, and I'm wondering how easy it would be to make them at home. For 24-50 dollars a doll, I feel like there has to be a way to create them for less. Anyway, if I can figure it out, I'll pass along the instructions!

Cool Rubber Totes

Thought this was pretty neat - I've realized I need bags that are more rugged now, as I'm not able to be as careful with stuff while also toting the munchkin. Check out these recycled tire bags - definitely not a typical "green" bag and I'm SURE they're more rugged than my current canvas purse. It does make me wonder what they smell like though; I could definitely do without that fresh rubber smell.

Craving a change

What do you think of the brown? On a whim today, I decided it was cold enough to get rid of the bleached out blond from the summer and go dark. Over the last year, I've become much more comfortable changing up my look. After dyeing my hair for the first time last winter, I realized that it's a much less life-altering decision than I had previously felt. And it's a fun change:) What little things do you do to indulge the need for change in your everyday life?

Calzones at home!

Tonight, Mark's bro, Steven, visited us and we made delicious calzones. Good for a crappy rainy day! They're easy when you use Rhode's bread dough for the crust. The "recipe" is below, if you can call it that, as they're so simple to put together. Nothing like calzones and some Funniest Home Videos on the couch:)

Home Calzones - makes 4 calzones 

1 roll of Rhode's frozen bread dough

pizza sauce

any pizza toppings you like

oregano, basil, pepper

Plan on 5-8 hours for thawing and raising the dough

Put a frozen loaf in a pan you've coated with cooking spray. It will end up growing about 4 times it's original size, so use a 9 x 13 pan, especially if you're doing multiple loaves.

Cover with wax paper or saran wrap coated in cooking spray.

Allow to rise for 5-8 hours.

Once the dough is ready, split each loaf into 4 even balls (or fewer if you want larger calzones)

Stretch until about 6-8 inches in diameter.

Fill one half with cheese, sauce, toppings and spices; seal by folding the other side over and pressing the edges together.

You can also add an egg white or milk wash for a nicer golden brown. 

Bake at 375 degrees until golden brown, about 20-25 minutes.

Enjoy!

Excellent (super easy) soup recipe

For all of you that like the ease of crock pot cooking, I finally tried a great recipe from one of my Tyndale friends. It takes about 10 minutes to put together and then after about 6-8 hours, is awesome. Mark and I make it without the green chiles, as he's spice-averse:)  It's an excellent recipe for freezing and reheating, and since it's so simple, great to make a double batch and enjoy for weeks to come. It would also be tasty with a nice batch of corn bread. Which will be especially nice now that the cool, crispness of fall is on it's way.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

4 chicken breast halves

2 15-oz. cans black beans, undrained

2 15-oz. cans Mexican stewed tomatoes, or Rotel tomatoes (I use regular diced sometimes, too)

1 cup salsa (mild, medium or hot – whatever you prefer)

4-oz. can chopped green chilies

14½-oz. can tomato sauce

Tortilla chips

Grated cheese

 

1.)  Combine all ingredients except chips and cheese in large slow cooker.

2.)  Cover.  Cook on Low 8 hours.

3.)  Just before serving, remove chicken breasts and slice into bite sized pieces.  Stir into soup.

4.)  To serve, put a handful of chips in each individual soup bowl.  Ladle soup over chips.  Top with cheese and green onions.

MMMM.

 

Mad for plaid (walls)!

My project today, and for the last couple weeks has been painting our foyer walls in a wild plaid to brighten up a naturally dark and boring space. Well, it definitely won't be boring after this. 

Along the way, we had some problems with the underlayer detaching from the wall. Not much we can do about that, but at least the mirror on the wall covers the entire torn up patch. It's hard to see all your hard work falling apart! 

I started with the same blues we've used in the other rooms in our house, and then layered on a black stripe. 

Which I hated. Crap. I didn't want to make it look like a jail cell...so after our incredibly busy last couple weeks, we finally went out and decided on a new color. It's called Ashwood, and is gorgeous! We originally wanted to go with grey, like in the rest of our house, but I decided that I wanted something a little warmer, so we went with a warm, almost taupe-y grey. We originally bought it for our bedroom, but I realized that the lighter shade would be a great fix for the jail bars:) We ended up with a much more neutral, monochromatic scheme. Love it, finally!

Our first real vacation!

Mark and I have been way out of the loop the last couple weeks due, in part, to our first vacation without Dane. It was definitely something we considered for a while before doing, but with Mark's limited schedule, it ended up being now or in a few months. We've both been feeling a little stir crazy with our very repetitive and lonely days lately. My mom and dad were kind enough to take the little man for 6 days, with our Aunt Laura filling in a for a few days. I know it wasn't a huge burden for them to take him, as they loved every minute. I really thought I'd be perfectly fine, but about 5 minutes after we pulled out of the driveway to start the trek to MN, I started crying. I guess when you put what seems like 24 hours a day for 6 months, you get a little attached:) As Dane's personality comes out more and more, we both fall more and more in love with the happy little guy he is. His giggle is the best part of many of our days:)

So after Mark doing a great job of calming me down, we continued on to New Hope, MN to visit some of our great friends, John and Jodie Swee. We met them through fun stuff at Blackhawk Church in Madison, like Frisbee and small groups, and have realized over time that they're like our couple double in many ways. We had some great times, including a delicious meal at Burger Joe's, a wicked game of Settlers of Catan, and even a barfing kitty, thanks to our housewarming gift. Ooops! It was a very good, relaxing time together and with them, something much needed for both of us. Mark was even sweet enough to run out and find a pharmacy for me at 11 at night when my allergies kicked in for the first time in years.

Then we continued back to Madison to see a close friend whose father had passed away after fighting through brain tumors. I've been so inspired by her strength and hope in God, given all the difficulties they've been through this year.

The following day, Mark's dad got us tickets for the Badger game, which was awesome. it went into double overtime, but fortunately the Badgers still prevailed. It was great; excellent seats, only in the sun for the last quarter, so not too much of a bad sunburn:) We had then planned on going to our friend Lucas' law school grad party, but for the first time in our lives, we had to get back to the little one. It was truly a wonderful week, and we made it without any disasters, so that was encouraging. 

Bleeding for light?!

I was just checking out some of the fun stuff on a blog I follow, and what the heck did I find?! Not sure I love this...but I guess if it really would make people be more frugal with their energy use, it's not such a bad thing:) I wonder how many people would actually USE the lamp once purchased. It's an interesting idea.

Step 1!...or, wait, I guess this is step two...

Finally, I started the process of working on the stuff I want to put on Etsy! Dane gave me a great 2.5 hour nap on Monday and hence, I had time to start the chair project. I was able to find a number of old magazines around the house and started cutting. While this is as good a place to start as any, I still need to find a chair and without the chair, well, it definitely won't be a chair project:) If anyone knows good places to find old wooden chairs for super cheap (my last one was on the side of the road), let me know! I was so excited at how ideas started flowing once I got started...I remember now why I loved this so much!

Yummy Salad

I just wanted to put up this super easy salad/dressing recipe that I saw on the Rachel Rae show. So simple, but you can vary depending on what fruit you have around the house that day. The great thing is the dressing. We've done strawberry, but are going to try doing an apricot jam with mandarin oranges next.

Salad - fresh spinach, or baby lettuce mix, sliced fruit, pecans, granola, whatever you like (we've done bean sprouts, trail mix, dried cranberries as well)

Dressing - 3 tbs. extra virgin olive oil, 3 tsp. balsamic vinegar, 2 tsp. jam or jelly, in these proportions to whatever size you need. Whisk until well blended, drizzle over salad.