penny carnival

It was a 7-onion day

Once. a. month. cooking.

I'm not sure if I have much more to say beyond that (but you know I always end up blabbing about something or another, so bear with me).

I'm pooped. I just spent the day grocery shopping and then making 10 meals to stock away in my freezer (four recipes, multiplied). Amazingly, the giant bag of onions I bought this morning is half gone, and the smell lingering in my house right now is proof.

But I do think this will all be worth it in the end. If all goes as planned, by the end of tomorrow there will be 29 dinners in my freezer, waiting for my hungry family to devour them at the end of each day.

There should also be enough for some lunch leftovers, too, but to convince Bo to eat anything other than the school's hot lunch is difficult these days. I think she likes the element of surprise--will it be corn dog day ... or chili and cheese with a giant cinnamon roll (my favorite)? Yes, I realize the school gives us a calendar each month that should take the surprise away, but I always forget to look at it.

Has anyone else done the freezer meals thing? As tired as I am right now, I might be hooked, especially since I just calculated the cost:

Our 29 dinners will end up costing us a total of $249.06. That's about $2.08 per serving, which, by the way, is cheaper than hot lunch at school.

I don't even want to tell you what we've been spending at restaurants over the last few months (read: ever since I got my teaching job). An embarrassing amount. I'll leave it at that.

So what's on the January menu?

1. Sausage and bean casserole. We ate one portion of this for dinner tonight--DELICIOUS. I know Martha Stewart has a reputation for complicated recipes that don't taste good, but I can honestly say that everything I've made from her has been very good. And I didn't take any pictures tonight, but I swear mine came out just as pretty as hers. I think we even used the same dish.

 

(image from Martha Stewart)

 

2. Deceptively Delicious' meatloaf, which is our favorite meatloaf recipe. Seriously. I know people have strong feelings about that book, but it's another source that I turn to a lot. I skip the deception, though. Like tonight, the girls were on their chairs at the kitchen counter and Bo asked if she could be the one to put the carrot puree in the bowl. She doesn't care ... as long as there's ketchup involved.

3. Manicotti.

4. Enchilada lasagna.

5. Risotto con pollo (you know, risotto, chicken and frozen peas. It doesn't get any easier, but it's more fun to give it a fancy name).

6. Spinach pie, which is what our family calls something that is really more like a spinach calzone with turkey pepperoni, olives and mozzarella cheese inside. Roll up, bake and slice like stromboli. The kids go nuts for it, spinach and all.

7. Chicken-tortellini soup. This is one of those semi-homemade things, where you toss in some pre-made tortellini from Costco.

Speaking of soup, we made this one from Sunset magazine last week.

(image from Sunset magazine)

We've made it before. I go crazy for it. What is better than bread and tomatoes? Oh, bread and chocolate. But still ...

8. Empanadas.

9. Baked penne with chicken.

10. Enchiladas.

And then we bought two ready-made things that looked really good:

11. Butternut squash ravioli.

12. Another pasta bake sort of thingamajig.

Do some doubling and tripling and you get 29 meals.

Will we get tired of repeating meals two or three times? Probably. But I will get through those moments by daydreaming about how to spend the money we're saving (hmm ... paying bills ... so sexy).

In other news ... how were the holidays for all of you? We had a lovely, quiet Christmas with the girls, thank you. I crafted up our Christmas breakfast table, but it was tough to get good shots of it. 

I cut some branches from trees in the yard (is that bad? are you not supposed to do that during winter?), stuck them in clear vases and hung birdie ornaments that I made from brown paper grocery sacks and glitter.

 

I used burlap coffee bean sacks from a local roaster (Doma Coffee--great coffee!) as a table runner.

Next to them there cinnamon rolls is maple frosting, a little trick I saw on the Pioneer Woman website. Amazeballs. J and I were dying. I think I'm going to put maple frosting on everything from now on (including on my hips, which is where the maple frosting from Christmas now resides). 

Magpie contemplates whether to eat the whole cinnamon roll or just lick off the frosting. She's 3. I'll let you guess which option she chose.

Red and green fruit for Christmas (I have serious guilt over how many miles those strawberries and kiwi had to travel to reach me in the middle of winter, but I couldn't resist the color scheme):

 

I did manage to give the girls a couple of handmade gifts, but I haven't taken pictures yet. In the meantime, here are a few other shots from our holiday vacation:

Paint-a-Nutcracker kit was one of the favorite Christmas gifts ...

 

Out for breakfast at (a fantastic restaurant here in Spokane called) Sante before seeing the Nutcracker ...

Magpie ...

Bo ...

 

Remember my old rants about Disney princesses? Um, yeah, I'm responsible for this ...

 

Happy holidays from the Penny Carnival crew! Here's to a happy and healthy new year. 

 

What a week

So much to say, but too exhausted to know where to begin.

The teaching is going great, although I have to keep reminding myself that it takes more time than I think for a classroom of kindergartners to put on their p.e. shoes and take bathroom breaks.

Oh, and good golly, I think schools should have a rule that pencil sharpeners aren't allowed anywhere near the primary wing of the building. After three days with the constant hum of either the electric sharpener or the old-school manual one, I decided to remove them both and, as my friend Tracey suggested, leave a "bouquet of sharpened pencils" atop every table in the morning. 

Problem solved.

The rest of life continues to march on (how, I'm not quite sure), and I was honored to run a booth at our museum's "I (Heart) Art" event for children last weekend. We purchased some of the large-scale murals from Kathy Barbro's Art Projects for Kids site (you might remember the MLK mural the girls and I made last January following one of Kathy's kits).

I still can't get over what a fantastic event this was. Children of all ages got to sit down with talented local artists (I am DEFINITELY not including myself in that description) and create amazing sculptures, paintings and prints. I was lucky enough to be around the corner from the amazing Tiffany Patterson, who taught kids how to use watercolor pencils.

At my booth, we only had enough time and manpower to make one of the murals, which you can see in progress here.

 

This was my favorite moment--as we were wrapping up, there was some blank paper left on the wall and these creative siblings grabbed the leftover paint and went to town:

There was also some bubble fun with the dude who holds the world record for making big bubbles.

That inspired this blog post on how to throw a bubble-themed birthday party.

And, of course, our girls wouldn't miss a chance to mess around with paint:

Let's see ... what else? I ate about a pound of butter making Halloween cookies tonight. How's that? If you're looking for ideas for making Halloween cookies, check out my Kids' Parties blog.

Good. night.

Farm Chicks ... the store

I'm double posting this from Dwell Well because I know there are some local readers out there and because I enjoy making people wish they lived here in Spokane (bwah ha ha). 

Here's the scoop on the Farm Chicks' new store:

Farm Chick Serena Thompson has finally revealed the location of her new store: 1601 W. Pacific Ave. in Browne's Addition.

It opens tomorrow (Wednesday) at 10 a.m.

Pacific is the same street that The Elk is on, but the shop is on the east end of the street, as you head back toward downtown. It's kiddy corner across Maple from Spokane Fire Station No. 4 (you know, the pretty one) in a building you've probably passed a million times but never noticed. You will now.

I got a sneak peek at the new shop tonight and it. is. adorable.

It's cute and colorful, like you'd expect, but also has a rustic farm feel to it, thanks in part to raw wooden boards Thompson added to the store's ceiling and the use of corn kernels as a decorative element. How does she come up with this stuff?

The products are delicious. The store carries kitchen gadgets, aprons, enamelware, jewelry, baker's twine, mugs, plates, cake stands, small gifts for kids and party supplies (such as cupcake liners that are way cuter than anything you'd ever find in a grocery store and striped birthday candles that would be the only thing require to make a plain white-frosted cake look special).

They carry Emerson Made fabric flowers (a personal obsession of mine--what a treat to see them in person instead of only online) and clutches.

And then, of course, there are vintage treasures for sale, too. Wouldn't be the Farm Chicks without that now, would it?

Thompson said she has dreamed of opening a retail shop for the Farm Chicks for a long time, but logging retail hours is difficult when you have young children at home. She said she finally realized she could hire someone to manage the store, and that someone ended up being a creative 19 year old named Amanda.

The Farm Chicks store will be open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Enjoy!

And now here's what you really want: the pictures. 

1. A building I've driven by a million times and never really noticed. Until Serena gave it her magic touch, of course:

 

2. Emerson Made flowers! In the flesh! 

 

3. Too lovely for words:

 

4. Necklaces, etc.:

5. The party supply department:

  

6. I have no idea what you use these for, but I want to hug and kiss them anyway:

 

6. Love that barny ceiling:  

7. She has a ton of these ribbons for sale. Many were from contests held long-ago at the Northwest Washington Fair, which is the county fair I grew up attending. Might need to go back and buy one of these treasures for ol' times sake (not that I ever won a ribbon at the county fair, but I think I kissed a middle school boyfriend in one of the RV displays. Do you see a ribbon for that?!):

 

8. Farm charm:

9.

10.

11.

 

12.

 

13. These were tiny little notepads on popsicle sticks. She carries boy ones, too.

 

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

 

19. Serena and her store manager Amanda:

 

20. Cotton candy in a jar. Brilliant.
    

21. Tonight's spread:

   
 22. Good night. Sweet dreams (about how you're going to hop the next flight to Spokane).
    
 
 
 

Cake, camping and crafting

I have nothing profound to say. I'm only here to report that I love summer.

Who doesn't, right? I love it so much I want to make out with it in the back seat of a car. I want to tattoo the word "summer" on my right bicep (the left bicep is reserved for the imaginary tattoo I have designed in my head but will never get). I want it to last for-ev-uh.

Here are some reasons why:

1. The new bakery at Chaps called Cake, and eating lunch with my girls in the grassy outdoor seating area. 

I believe we were there for almost three hours the other day. That place is heaven on earth for a mom because the kids can just play in the sandbox while I read the paper and drink delicious coffee (Bumper Crop, of Coeur d'Alene).

Inside Cake, you can see how owner Celeste Shaw found amazing new uses for old objects. Can you tell what this round blue thing is?

Yep, an old display case from a hardware store that formerly held nails and screws. She has two of them in the space, and if I remember right the plan is to load them with to-go bread.

Celeste's creativity never ceases to amaze me. Here's some eye candy (or should I say "eye cake"?):

My pictures don't do it justice. You must see it in person. Perfect opportunity: The Latah Summer Market, organized by Celeste and happening July 10 and 11 in the parking lot in front of Chaps and Cake. Artisans, antiques, produce, baked goods, flowers, more. 4241 S. Cheney-Spokane Road off Highway 195.

By the way, Cake pastry chef Gina Garcia made my birthday cake this year. Lemon chiffon. Delish. 

2. Backyard camping.

You know we're getting ready to go camping bananas around here. Well, J and his close friends decided to celebrate the Great American Backyard Campout with a night of practice camping with the kids. (OK, they had no idea there was a national effort to promote backyard camping yesterday, but we were pretty impressed by their good timing.)

Hot dogs, s'mores, an outdoor movie and nine kids with their dads in tents. Does it get any cuter? 

Apparently the picture below was taken during a hilarious game of hide and seek. Our friend H was "hiding" behind a tree, and it took Bo forever and a day to find him. It's not even an old oak tree or anything. It's more like a cluster of thin branches with a big dude behind them.

Is she rocking the pajama bottoms + 2T T-shirt or what?

For breakfast, they grilled French toast kebabs.

 

So much fun I almost wish I'd been there instead of out to dinner/drinks with the wives and then on a long run in the morning with one of them. Darn. Maybe next year. (But probably not.)

3. Nature crafts.

I'm working on those eco kid crafts I mentioned the other day (prepping for the make-and-take craft booth at the county fair).

Here's our take on Maya Made's nature crown:

Bo opted to draw pictures of nature objects instead of taping them to the crown, (although I was not aware that Sleeping Beauty counted as an object of nature):

I also made a bird mobile from newspapers, inspired by projects from the Queen of Tarte, Kayte Terry and myself a couple years ago:

 

Do they look more like rubber duckies than birds? Oh, dear.

 

A bit of advice if you're doing newspaper crafts with kids. Do your best to use articles with nice words. This little bird snuck in somehow:

Damn media. (Wink, wink.)

Tidbits

Poor Penny. She's been pushed aside again. I've been hustling to get a bunch of work done before camp-a-palooza 2010, and this little blog has suffered as a result.

I do have a bit of stuff to say, though, so please accept this random wrap up of thoughts and experiences. There's no theme here, unless you care to find one?

1. First, congratulations to Spokane seamstress and Etsy seller Cherie Killilea, who recently landed a licensing deal with Simplicity patterns. Simplicity will begin selling her patterns for duffel bags (remember mine?), clutches and luggage tags next year under the name Studio Cherie. What a thrill, huh? You can read my blog post about it (including some comments from the designer at Simplicity who discovered Cherie) over on Dwell Well.  

2. Also on Dwell Well, I posted a roundup today of links to several eco crafts for kids. I'm gearing up for this year's make-and-take craft booth at the North Idaho Fair, which you might remember from last year. There are some neat projects there from Kayte Terry, Maya Made and others. Check it out if you're looking for something fun to do with the kids.

And by calling them "eco crafts," I'm generally talking about projects you can make from stuff around your house or stuff headed for the trash bin. In other words, they're the best, most creative kinds of crafts.

3. Speaking of all things eco, have you seen this video yet? It's excellent. It's 20 minutes long, so grab a cup of coffee, and the start is a little slow, so hang in there. 

4. We are going on four different camping trips this summer, one of which involves visiting three different campgrounds within one week. In other words, we will be living out my mother's worst nightmare. 

A few weeks ago, in a moment of irritation, Bo turned to her little sister and snapped, "Get out of my campsite!" instead of "Get out of my sight!" Hilarious.

A big part of planning a camping trip is preparing the menu. I'm sure I'll post photos of our camp-food successes and failures when that time comes, but putting all this thought into meal planning has reminded me that I never wrote about some of the wonderful meals we ate this spring. 

For the last few months, we've been spending two weeks with a particular cookbook (like Almost Meatless), a stack of magazines (like Sunset) or a blog (like my friend Sarah's, called In Praise of Leftovers). We pick two weeks' worth of meals from each, grocery shop for the main ingredients on one day and leave a few last-minute items on the calendar so we can pick them up fresh, as needed. The system has worked beautifully, and here's a sampling of what we've been enjoying:

Broccoli Fried Rice with a Poached Egg:

or two.

Squash-Walnut Galette:

Moroccan Grains & Greens:

Some of our other favorite dishes were:

Potato Taco Salad with Creamy Lime Dressing

Bruschetta Steak Salad (uh-mazin')

Eggplant and Chicken Stacks

Almond Gnocchi with Lamb Ragu (although I must admit we used plain, store-bought gnocchi instead of making it from scratch, which--when you have two young "helpers"--can get quite messy)

5. Besides love, family, children and sex, running is the key to happiness. You don't have to go fast. Just go. 

6. I turned 36.

My plan was to do 36 random acts of kindness, like Robyn of Mix Mingle and Glow did on her birthday. I even had appointments scheduled at the blood bank and a nursing home (we were going to help with an ice cream social). But Magpie woke up sick, so I only got to squeeze in a few things, like buying coffee for the person behind me and bringing grocery carts inside from a parking lot.

My wonderful friends on Facebook picked up the slack, though, and completed their own acts of kindness as a birthday gift to me. It was so fun to read throughout the day about the things they did, like my friend JoNelle, who was buying a candy bar for her son and decided to buy one for the cashier, too, because the woman mentioned it was her favorite treat. 

Facebook gets a bad reputation as a time waster and all, but how else could I spend my day at home with a sick kid and see friends I've known since grade school and friends I've made just recently spreading joy to other people in my honor?  

7. Like any family, we get caught up in the go-go-go-ness of life. Rush to preschool so we can rush to work so we can rush back to preschool and rush to get dinner on the table. Every once in a while, we have a day that stops me in my tracks and reminds me of who I am and what is important to me. 

It's never any big, major deal. Tonight, for example, we decided to go out for ice cream. As we passed the market near our house, we realized they were hosting one of their outdoor music nights. Very low key--just a bunch of neighbors sitting in the parking lot drinking beer and eating cookies.

There, we ran into the parent of one of J's former students. She (the parent) is running for office, so we got to catch up with her and talk about that.

Then, we saw a teacher J knows and his wife, who just had a baby. Had a wonderful conversation with them as the girls ran around in circles to the music.

By that time it was 8:30--way past bedtime for us, but J decided pizza sounded good, so we drove to another neighborhood we love and ate a pie on the patio, struck up a conversation with the sweetest 4-year-old boy you can imagine, and then got to talking with his parents, who we hope to bump into again.

Yes, the girls were tired, but happy, like us. They won't remember this night, but maybe somewhere deep down they'll make a connection. Meeting new people + building relationships with neighbors and old friends = happiness + love.  

8. Thunder and lightning out my window right now. Life is good.

   

Farm Chicks Part III

We couldn't resist. My friends and I went back for more Farm Chickery this morning and walked away with a few additional treasures. I'll show off my finds in a future post.

In Farm Chicks Part I, I noted that the color white seemed to be a popular choice this year. In Farm Chicks Part II, I said burlap was also a material of choice this time around. 

One final theme we kept seeing: laundry. It came in the form of wheely laundry baskets lined with ruffled linens, a giant metal sign that spelled out the words "coin laundry" and other really good goods. I have one of those scary basement laundry rooms with all the pipes showing, but this booth from Station 8 Antiques has me thinking I could add some brightness and cheer by draping (a lot!) of fabric.

Update: Debi Burton from Ormolulu saw this post and kindly sent me a photo of the "coin laundry" sign she had for sale at the show. This thing was huge. Makes me wish I had a GIANT laundry room.

 
 
Every vendor I asked said they were pleasantly surprised by the volume of sales. And I don't blame them. Serena announced on the loudspeaker this morning that 4,300 people attended Day 1, and several booths were notably more bare than I've seen before on Day 2. 

Update: Serena told me today that they normally get less than 4,300 attendees the entire weekend, let alone the first day. It was a big year!

One note about the pictures I'm posting here: The vendors enthusiastically and generously allowed me (and many other people) to take photos of their creations. Much of what you see are vintage household goods that look great because of their timeless design and well-worn patina. Other items, though, are crafts that the vendors came up with themselves--ideas that belong to them.

I, personally, am inspired by their work and have plans to re-create a few projects in my own home. But please don't use these images to replicate the creativity of these talented individuals with plans to sell the goods. I don't mean to be preachy; I just think there are still a lot of people in the craft community who don't understand that that's not OK.

OK?

On to the pictures ...

A daybed from Station 8 Antiques:

 

Thread spool photo holders from Carly Tee Photography & Design :

Total darlingness from Funky Junk:

Enamel goodness from Big Ship Salvage:

    

Honest Abe from the Queen of Tarte (this painting was my "one that got away" this year):

A lovely deer, also from Tarte:

Sweet bunnies from Hutch Studio:

 

Birdies, too:

Super cute hats from Old Mans' Pants (yes, they're made from old mans' pants):
 

 

I think the nice man behind me approves:

Many, many beautiful things from Celia (who happened to get engaged this morning! Congratulations, Celia!) and Gladys from Junebug:

From The Rusty Bird ([email protected]):

From the Vintage Barn:

From Wild Whimsy:

(These are fabric flower cuffs for your wrist:)

      

Whew! And there's so much more to say, not the least of which is a huge thank you to Nis and Emily for making the trek to Spokane and filling my weekend with laughter. More on the treasures we found ... coming soon.

  

Farm Chicks Part 2

This is a continuation of today's earlier post about the 2010 Farm Chicks Antique Show, which is happing this weekend here in Spokane. 

We went back to the sale after lunch and detected another theme among many vendors: burlap. 

It was used in every which way--as tablecloths, wrapped around wreaths, as upholstery for chairs and benches, etc. One vendor made what were sort of burlap socks for flower vases.

I love the look but I read something recently (don't ask me where) about all the icky chemicals that are in burlap. I have no idea whether that's true or not, but I like brown muslin just as much so I think I'd go with that if I were trying to re-create the rustic look from the show today.

Here are some more shots from the day. I'll probably post parts 3 and 4 tomorrow. 

From Retreat:

I want this kitchen island!

 

From Summerland Style:

   

 

  

From Bella:

I love, love, love these rolling laundry carts--

 

Walking into each booth was like opening a book of creative inspiration. I'm always amazed at the effort and talent that the vendors bring to the show.

More Farm Chicks pictures coming Sunday. Time to sleep.
  

Farm Chicks Part I

It's Farm Chicks weekend here in Spokane, and I'm tickled to have my friends Nis and Emily here to enjoy it with me. 

The show opened this morning, and we're home for a lunch break right now. We've decided that the big theme among vendors this year is the color white. White on white. White on cream. I love it. It's gorgeous. But maybe these people don't have young kids?

I'll write more about it later, but here's what you really want. The pictures.

(I'm breaking this into a couple parts. Here's the first batch.)

Cubbies, lockers and other goodies from Lisa Souers:

 

From Heather Bullard Home & Lifestyle:

 

From Luluz:

Cake from Celeste Shaw:

 

Hanging clouds from The Farm Chicks:

Hobby horse, from I don't know who:

More later ...