Craigslist Cravings.

photo via craigslist

Evansville has a listing for a oak rolltop desk for $125 or best offer. I'd love to strip it and try out a ceruse finish like this one that was featured in the Martha Stewart August 2010 issue.

photo via Martha Stewart

Wouldn't it look amazing?

Chow Down.

First, I must apologize--My blog posts that were supposed to go out Friday, Saturday, and Sunday--sat in my draft folder and didn't get published until I found them this morning, but now you've got a lot to read today.Image via How Sweet It Is.

Now on to today's recipe. It comes from the blog How Sweet It Is: Cheesy Sweet Potato Crisps. I want to try them, but convincing Mike to try something he will automatically turn his nose up at just at the name--(yeah, I married a five year old's sensibilities in a grown man--you should've seen me trying to convince him Quiche wasn't going to kill him)--and Sweet Potatoes aren't something he is very keen on. I guess if I just say they are regular potatoes and blame the flavor on all the seasoning, maybe he'll buy it. Either that or I'll just make them for myself and not share--that works too.

Proposed Projects.

Image source unknown--I lost my notes...oops, please forgive me.

Wouldn't this look nifty sitting on your coffee table? It's easy to make--just bore out the size hole you want in an old book, line it to keep everything dry, and then plant a succulent or other non-water loving plant and you've got a neat little conversation piece.

Compelling Compositions.

I downloaded The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells from books.google.com a few days ago, and finished it very quickly. I enjoyed it a lot. This is my first time reading Wells, and I liked his writing style. I remember watching the movie at some point, but my memory served me wrong on the main plot-line. The moral of "jacking with stuff for the sake of progress usually bites you in the behind" is a big one with this novel. I hope you enjoy it.

Blog of Note.

Smitten Kitchen is a blog that has given me so many good recipes so far--including my Graham Cracker recipe that I use often. What I enjoy about it most has got to be the detail of her directions. She gives a lot of tutorials for lots of cooking projects which I also enjoy reading. Her recipes are edible, if that makes sense. What I mean to say, is that each of her posts always has me saying, "Ooh, I'm definitely making that soon." Take a look and see what you'll be making for dinner tonight.

Last Night's Supper.

I of course forgot to photograph my Quiche when it first came out of the oven--and I apologize for poor lighting--I'll learn the art of food photography someday. This is my first butter crust (I made it from scratch)--and it came out so delicious. For the filling I added 6 eggs, a handful of cooked broccoli, salt, pepper, feta, Parmesan, Romano, Asiago, and Cheddar cheeses, onion powder, and garlic powder. It was very tasty. And if you think the picture looks too yellow--my chickens run around the farm eating bugs and grass all day and the yolks are as pretty a dark orange as you can find. The recipe I found for dessert was on Better Homes and Garden's website. They called them Peanut Butter Munchies. I didn't have any powdered sugar, so I just used regular sugar for the peanut butter filling too. They are so very tasty. I'm pretty impressed with my food photography here.

I've got lots more to tell you about, but I have to go get my nephew's birthday presents wrapped before he gets here today--it's hard to believe he's going to be fifteen.

Real Estate Hankerings.

This week's Hankering is a Sullivan, Indiana home located at 333 W Graysville Street. The picture listed isn't a great one, but I like the giant windows on the porch, and the mature trees. The house is large at 2,064 square feet with 3 beds and 1 bath with .22 acres for a lot. I would potentially stray away from my white house beliefs and make this one light yellow or a pale blue or green--it seems to need color. Curb appeal-wise this has a ton of potential.

Artistic Moment of the Week.

Night Mare

Dove

Black Angus

Barn Owl

(all images via annawilihighfield.com)

This artist has inspired me something fierce. Taking strips of paper and turning them into something as beautiful as these sculptures is remarkable. From Anna-Wili Highfield--enjoy.

Craigslist Cravings.

Everyone who knows me well knows I want 2 exotic animals someday--a camel and an emu. Well leave it to Craigslist--Cloverdale has 3 babies for sale this week--100 bucks or best offer. The ad reads:

I purchased 3 thirteen week old emu birds hoping they would get along with my chickens and turkeys in the same pen. Boy was I wrong, all they want to do is chase them around. Now my chickens will not come out of the coop. I am selling all three birds together for $100 or best offer. I have no way to haul them so you will need to bring your own unclosed trailer to haul. They are friendly, I pet the heads and necks on every visit. No special food is needed I feed them cow pellets that run $5 for a fifty pound bag. Has all the nutrients they need. One fifty pound bag lasts two to three weeks, they don't eat a lot.

Oh how I wish I was heading to Cloverdale to pick them up--sigh, someday perhaps, but not today.

Chow Down.

Image via The Teacher Cooks.

Cream Cheese Peach Cobbler--sounds interesting--I'm going to try it soon. Check out the recipe here. I love all these food blogs with their tasty picture-laden recipe posts--yum.

Proposed Projects.

I'm not 100% sure where this image was saved from--I believe it was from Apartment Therapy--sorry about the lack of source. However, how easy is this idea--take a mirror you no longer want and tape off a design, word, or image and then spray paint the rest--voila! I'm thinking a landscape would look neat with the mirror playing the part of a lake or stream. We'll see.

Compelling Compositions.

Image via hilaryupton on etsy.

"Time Lost and Found," Anne Lamott's article from Sunset Magazine, talks about finding time to live. I like her point that things we say we must do are not quite as important to us as they seem. I'm taking this article to heart. I want to raise a happy, un-hurried kid--so I should, myself, pursue a life that is full of wonderful things. I hope it inspires you too. Plus, Sunset's website has lots of great projects and articles besides this one.

Blog of Note.

Concrete and Honey is a great blog to find inspiration from--I love the paper sculptures she blogged about in this post. I plan on doing a write up on the artist (Anna-Wili Highfield) too. Anyway--this blog combines design, imagery, and food--which makes for a great read.

Real Estate Hankerings.

The second installment of "Real Estate Hankerings" finds a little bungalow in Pimento, Indiana at 7575 E Rodgers Street. It is listed for $14,900 and is only 1 bed and 1 bath, and is a mere 708 square feet, but it has almost a half an acre of land with it--which is always a plus to me. It was built back in 1900, and appears to have a couple little outbuildings that may be salvaged in the backyard. I'd say it would be very pretty with either a green or red metal roof with matching shutters on a white house. The porch needs some help, but it's rather quaint. I'd make the house have a fifties feel I think.

Artistic Moment of the Week.

Via Flickr.

This image was titled Lover's Lane, Wilmot Park, Fredericton, NB 1905 (?). It makes me happy in so many ways. I love old photos because I always wonder what life was like in that moment. I hope you find it pretty too. Have a great day!

Craigslist Cravings.

via here.

This item was free in the Bloomington, Indiana Craigslist. I think it is pretty ugly as-is--but I went back and saved it because I think it would look rather nifty if you spray painted the gold a bright color and put it in a kid's room. I'm thinking turquoise or bright pink.

Chow Down.

Image via thefreshloaf.

I made homemade pita bread last week. It was on my goal-list for this year, and I thought--why not. This recipe was extremely easy--believe me, if I can do it, then anybody can. My only 'do over' is that next time I'm going to let mine bake a bit longer than the 5 minutes because I think I'd like mine 'toasted' a bit more. I highly recommend trying out the recipe though. The author goes through step-by-step and dummy-proofs things which I always appreciate. Good luck.

Proposed Projects.

Image via lovely bud.

I am sick of the corporate logos on all the reusable shopping bags out there. I came across this tutorial for an easy bag made from a t-shirt. If you don't want to make one--you can always buy one--lovely bud on etsy sells them. Either bought from etsy or made yourself--this project would be really swell.

Compelling Compositions

Image via Flickr.

Edna Ferber's Dawn O'Hara has been a very good book--entertainingly and nicely written. I downloaded it from books.google.com--and read it for free--I'm going to try to read all of her books that are available on there. You should too.

Blog of Note.

Design Crush is always chock full of beautiful images, quotes, and links to other great blog posts, as well as some delicious food posts. It's always a good read.

Real Estate Hankerings.

I'm sure people who don't know me would've read "Real Estate Hankerings" and pictured mansions and fancy architecture, but when I search for real estate on realtor.com I choose +51 years as part of my search criteria. If I ever have the money to buy and fix up houses I want to start with something that has character, and a history. This house, that I chose to be the first enstallment of "Real Estate Hankerings," is located in Newberry, Indiana at 36 4th Street.

It's on a half an acre, 2 bed, 1 bath, 1,096 square foot house. It's listed for $9,000, and was built in 1915, and supposedly has an unfinished basement. I like the bones of this house--and if I had it I would probably take out the chimney and bring the porch on across the front and add onto the right side of the house. Of course that's just looking on the outside, but I'm sure I'd change my mind a bit when I saw how the house was layed out. It would definitely get a metal roof, and have the landscape tamed back a bit and have a few flowers planted around. It would make such a cute little bungalow for a young person to start out in, or an older person to slow down in, don't you think?

Artistic Moment of the Week.

This image is via Flickr and was uploaded by Daily Poetics.

Such a sweet story captured in an instant.

Craigslist Cravings.

This wardrobe was being offered in Bloomington for $99--if I had it I would paint it up with lots of beautiful colors to give it a Moroccan flare. I say that because my cousin in Texas has a huge wardrobe and it was beautifully painted and I loved it. I can't remember where it originated from, but I could easily see this wardrobe mimicking it.

Chow Down

Beef, Mushroom, and Onion Tart

via Better Homes and Gardens March 2010

Ingredients:

12 oz. lean ground beef

1 8-oz. pkg. sliced mushrooms

1/2 a medium red onion, cut into thin wedges

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. ground black pepper

1 (13.8 oz.) pkg. refrigerated pizza dough *(or make your own)*

3 oz. blue cheese, crumbled

Fresh oregano and/or pizza seasoning (optional)

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 425-degrees F. In a 12-inch skillet, cook beef, mushrooms, and onion over medium heat about 8 minutes or until beef is browned and onion is tender, stirring occasionally. Drain off fat. Stir in salt and pepper.

2. Meanwhile, grease a large baking sheet or line with parchment. Unroll pizza dough on baking sheet. Roll or pat dough to a 15x12-inch rectangle. Top dough with beef mixture, keeping filling within 1-1/2 inches of all edges. Fold edges over the filling, pleating as needed.

3. Bake tart 15 minutes or until crust is golden. Top with blue cheese, oregano, and pizza seasoning. SERVES 4.

Online version on Better Homes and Gardens' website here.

Themed Days Ahead.

Starting Monday along with my daily blitherings I'm going to write up some pre-planned works.

• Monday: Chow Down--recipes, and foodly goodness.


• Tuesday: Craigslist Cravings--the things I wish I could bring home.


• Wednesday: Artistic Moment of the Week--Artists, Artwork, Etsy Shops, etc.


• Thursday: Real Estate Hankerings--listings that I dream about owning.


• Friday: Blog of Note--the latest and greatest blog for the week.


• Saturday: Compelling Compositions--articles, quotations, and books to pass along.


• Sunday: Proposed Projects--neat little diddies that I'd like to make on my own.

I hope you'll like this addition to our regularly scheduled blogging. Stay tuned for the first week's edition.

Okay Margie--

(Images via House of Turquoise)

Since you're reading my blog posts today, my Marjorie, and in a super-commenting mode--look what I found. This is the color of chairs I want but with the table top the color of the counter instead of the ugly grey that the poor table they show is topped with--look at the post to see more pictures. If only there was a Porkfoot, Indiana (which is an inside story between she and I for anybody else reading this)--all of our wildest dreams would come true.

Someday Dreams.

What do you see when you look at an abandoned house? I doubt it's the same as what I see. I see so many wonderfully old and aged boards--with cracking paint and character. I see rusty metal from the roof and such that are a multitude of colors. I want to take every last piece of each house and turn it into art pieces like the works of Dolan Geiman, or use pieces to make my own little cottage to hide away in like the one I found via sfgirlbybay, or if the place is salvageable I dream about fixing it up to let it have a second chance. Grown over abandoned house in Greene County

Abandoned house tucked in the middle of nowhere--just the way I like them to be.

(Above images taken by me--on a gallivant back in June).

(Above two images by Dolan Geiman)

(above three images via a post by sfgirlbybay).

I hope you can see what I see. The beauty in the forgotten, but also the potential in it. On my birthday gallivant I saw so many abandoned barns and farmhouses that it hurt. I want so badly to be like a less sexy Lara Croft or a more feminine Indiana Jones and take the time to go through each barn, house, and outbuilding I see--taking things apart board by board, pushing away the cobwebs, and most importantly keeping things as much as possible from perishing into dust. I haven't the slightest clue how to go about tearing down a barn or house, but I am going to do it someday. The minute Joe is weaned my butt is getting down to figuring out how to get my first building under my belt--just think of all the amazing stuff I can make out of the lumber and metal--plus all the little things (besides spiders and mice) that history has left behind. Sigh--what a great thing to daydream about.

Amazingly Simple Desk Idea.

So I'm taking it easy today--it's too hot to be outside, and heck it's my birthday, right--anyway I was perusing various blogs and found this idea on Design*Sponge. Here is the post. Pretty cool, huh? I do believe this would make a great entryway-'drop all your things'-desk--but I'd have to put a corkboard and blackboard up behind it to keep my crazy life organized. Maybe this might inspire you to build something similar this coming weekend.

Happy Birthday to Me.

Yep, as of today I'm twenty-five. As per typical of my birthdays--I'm not doing anything exciting today. Although with this apparently trying to be the hottest day of the year, I spent the morning setting up fans outside for various critters. Whilst getting an extension cord out of the shop I got my jeans caught on some wire mesh and ripped a big hole in the leg--dang. That was for the fan that reaches the geldings at the end of the feed bunk. I then set my smaller doe and buck out of the barn and put a fan in front of them. I hadn't had a chance to take a photo of them before now, but the smaller doe had a litter of nine last week--aren't they cute? Now my big doe is outside pulling hair--of course she picks the hottest day--although yay for birthday bunnies. So I put a stand-up fan outside of her hutch. Let's hope the heat doesn't hurt her or the kits.

I went on my annual birthday gallivant with my best friend (of over thirteen years now, WOW) Margie--we headed westward into Illinois. we had a picnic in the back of the vehicle, and saw some amazing farms on our drive. Have I mentioned that my daughter is a bit of a goofball. At nine months old (almost ten) she is such a character. She loves to make people laugh and is an excellent face-maker.

She thought the gallivant was pretty nifty. Thank goodness because she's got a ton more in her future.

I think Margie would agree that Joe is the best infant gallivanter in the world.