I Love Vinegar

I would like to introduce you all to my new favorite thing: Vinegar. Well, actually, I hate vinegar, in terms of taste and smell, but recently, I've discovered its versatility, particularly as a natural household cleaner.

My friend Kaitlyn got me a book for my birthday called Vinegar: 1001 Practical Household Uses. And that's what really got me hooked. It's broken into different sections (laundry, cleaning, DIY, outdoor/gardening, cookery, health and beauty, and pet care) and outlines all of the different uses for vinegar in that category. And what different uses there are.

The first thing I tried from the book were oven and microwave cleaning. For the oven, you mix vinegar with borax or powdered laundry detergent and make a paste. Heat the oven to 180 degrees for 5 minutes, spread the paste at the bottom and leave it for an hour. Then I used a rubber spatula to pick up the paste and scrubbed with a scouring pad. Our oven is beautiful! For the microwave, I just mixed water and vinegar, put it in the microwave, and "cooked" it for five minutes. The steam loosened spills (gross) and made it easy to scrub up. Magic!

I think I'm now addicted.

Winter Baking

As some of you may know, I'm not the most successful cook most of the time. Something always goes wrong, even if whatever it is turns out fine in the end. Except banana bread. I am quite good at making banana bread, if I do say so myself.

I've come across lots of different variations for banana bread. Some have chocolate chips or peanut butter glazes. But I prefer using the recipe we've always used, which was my great-grandma's. It's the one my mom always made, and my grandma always made, though she added nuts and I omit those from my recipe.

Yesterday, we got hit with a pretty big snowfall, and what else do you do when you the snow is falling and blowing across the yard? You bake (or shovel, which I probably should have done before it built up so much). I happened to have four bananas that were too brown for me to eat, so I peeled them, mashed them up, and added them to Sunny, my stand mixer. When we registered, I thought about the default Kitchen Aid. But then I saw the Sunbeam mixer at Penney's and fell in love with its vintage style. We got it as a wedding present from a dear friend, who had the sweetest intentions of giving it to us. And I love it.

I didn't have regular crisco, just butter-flavored, but I think it gave it an extra bit of deliciousness. Shelby was glad I was baking because she got to lick the floor after I sprayed the pan with cooking spray. And the whole house stayed warm and smelled delicious on a late winter day.

I personally like the banana bread to be a little underdone, so in 50 minutes, it was ready to come out of the oven. And that was perfect: It had just a little batter strip at the top and was warm and yummy otherwise. A perfect treat--and a success story.

Managing Paperwork

I realized this morning as I was putting stuff away that I wanted to write a post about our home binders, something I teased a while ago. These are still a work in progress, as I don't think any organizing system can be truly judged (and adjusted, in my case) until it's been tried out. So far, this is a pretty good solution for us, so here's what we did.

When we built my new desk, we moved my old desk upstairs. It has really found its calling as a grown-up bedroom desk, as I knew it would. I keep all of my cards, paper and envelopes, stamps, address labels, in the drawers, and on the shelf nearby, we have our binders. We have one for house stuff, one for other bills, and one for personal stuff and Shelby stuff.

In our house binder, we keep manuals, utility bills, receipts and proof of any upgrades we've done, and paint samples. Essentially, this will be the book that will have any relevant information when/if we ever move. I also plan on doing some before and after pictures, just because that could be kind of fun for us to see how we changed the house.

Our second binder has insurance information and other bills and account information we might need that doesn't necessarily relate to the house. The third has everything else, including Shelby's vet records and camp bow wow application.

We keep plastic sleeves in each binder, so we don't have to hole punch anything and everything stays together. Then it's just a matter of choosing the right binder and pulling out what we need.

I also plan on doing a binder for recipes and meal plans, so that hopefully putting in a bit of time now will save me some time later. This way, I can rotate in recipes we like and make it easy to find what I need that night or when I'm making a grocery list.

So there you have it, a simple-ish way of getting organized when combining two lives.

Life Lessons

After scorching my first batch of homemade spaghetti sauce (it still turned out, thank you very much), my mom decided I needed a lesson. So, she decided that my dad and I would make a small birthday dinner for some family this weekend. I love our secret family recipe for spaghetti sauce, not only because it tastes great, but also because I love hearing my dad tell stories about his parents, who I did not get the pleasure of knowing. He paints pictures of their cafe and what it was like growing up there, and that's truly the best part of the making

He started off by teaching me the correct way to hold a knife and peel and smash garlic, how to follow the recipe but also follow my tastebuds, and the best order to follow the recipe in. And in the end, we ended up with some delicious sauce.

While we were cooking together, I started thinking about all of the things he's taught me over the years, even though when he asked me what I was thinking about, I told him I was thinking about when we needed to stir next. And here's what I came up with.

For starters, there's work ethic and determination, the value of hard work, strength and patience, protecting your family and standing up for what you believe in. He taught me how to make friends, telling me to just go up to people and say, "Hi, my name's Whitney, what's yours?" and this was especially useful for someone so shy.

After I'd memorized my prayers, he taught me Hail Mary, leftover from his Catholic teachings, and I find it is my favorite prayer, one that I repeat over and over to myself on nights I can't find sleep; perhaps because I'm not Catholic, I find it beautiful and comforting all at the same time, and it is always the cure for my insomnia (which he also gave me).

Of course, there's car maintenance: I can check the air in my tires and fill them when they get low, and I like to think I could change the brake pads on my car if only I could get the car jack thing (isn't that the name?) to work. He helped teach me to drive, even though I was less than successful on the "big roads." I feel like I know how to pack a car efficiently, though he's the best, and to always be prepared, especially during cold Nebraska winters.

There's also a love for the ocean and the Nebraska plains, the basics of skiing and sledding and swimming and snorkeling; riding a bike, cheering for the Huskers, caring for family pets, looking words up in the dictionary, even if you don't know how to spell them. The best way to find open houses, how to buy a house, inspect a house, fix a house, and how to see potential in everything. How to put everything in piles while cleaning, which I still do, even if I don't pick up the piles.

He instilled in me a passion for adventure, and taught me that life is adventure, family is an adventure, love is an adventure, and to try and live each day as an adventure, which is perhaps the best lesson of all. 

Finding Fancies

On Saturday, my mom and I hit up the shops in Downtown Littleton. I couldn't believe how much has changed in the small downtown Main Street. When I was in second grade, we took a field trip, stopping at Two Potters (I believe this was the name . . . )  and Chocolates by Mary Carol, which are now gone and replaced with Lola's Sweet Shop, where we stopped for half-price Valentine's Day-colored sour gummy bears and Twin Bings for my dad for his birthday, and a paint-your-own pottery shop. This is where my brother and I went to paint together before I left for college. He painted a fish for me that moved to Lincoln with me and has lived on my desk in each of the sorority rooms I moved into, my first apartment, and then my first real grown-up job. When we had the big move to the other building, the fish stayed on my desk, despite the suggestion it move to a drawer, and I would say it is one of my prized possessions; it now has a safe spot on my desk at home.

What has not changed is the number of antique stores, and we spent the morning exploring several. It has only been recently that I have acquired a vintage taste, though I don't think it's surprising, considering, well, my mom. She  took us to antique stores when we were younger, telling us to keep our hands in our pockets and DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING. I am still to this day a very tactile (thanks for the word, Mom) shopper and not letting me touch anything may have been smart on her part (especially considering how clumsy I was) but was torture to a younger Whitney. But now that I'm older, I'm glad to go with her, because she knows what's new and old and what's a good price for the things I want. And I found many things that I wanted in Littleton Antiques and Such and the Pink Attic Cat, among other stores. I love vintage ribbon and lace, half-completed sewing projects, aprons, books, paper and postcards and photos. There were vintage glass door knobs, depression glass, champagne flutes, and other kitchen knick knacks that caught my eye. In the end, we walked out with four dessert/champagne glasses (mom) and a printer's press block in the shape of an L (me), plus a present for my friend Kaitlyn's wedding. But more than that, I walked out with a few ideas and lots of inspiration.

Road Trip Reflections

I decided to take a solo road trip home this weekend, leaving Nathan and Shelby to fend for themselves. One of the reasons I thought the part-time job was a good fit was that it would give me more time to take quick trips home to see my family. This week's work schedule, the weather, and the fact that it's my dad's birthday weekend gave me the perfect opportunity to hit the road.

It used to be that every time I left Colorado I would be hit with a pang of sadness telling my parents good-bye and pulling out of the driveway. Today, I was surprised that I felt the same way leaving Nathan and Shelby, which means that I finally consider Lincoln home (even though I'm sure that I'll still feel the same way when I leave Colorado Monday. I'm lucky enough to have two homes.)

My favorite companion on a road trip is a book on tape (or CD, as my case may be), at least when I'm driving alone. Some of my favorite past "reads" are Kitchen Privileges, Dear John, Certain Girls, and Marly and Me (though I only got about three-quarters of the way through because I could see where it was going). I'm listening to The Glass Castle now, and so far, I really like it. I find that a book on tape has to be just right. The best ones are funny, romantic, or biographical, in my opinion. And the reader has to be just right. We tried listening to a Laura Ingalls Wilder book on CD and it just did not work, especially with the fiddle playing and singing.

I was able to have company, however, on the last part of my journey. I picked up my  Grandma and we were able to catch up and talk about books and many other things. I'll get to take her back on Monday, too, and I'll be able to finish my book on CD on the last part of my journey.

Once I arrived home, I got dinner cooked by my mom and homemade hot fudge and now I'm enjoying cable TV. And I'm excited to sleep in my old room tonight.

DIY: My New Desk

So, I've already teased you with this link showing you the plan for my new desk. Well, not the exact plan, but that's the point of this post. I'll show you how we adjusted the initial plan to better suit my needs and show off some pictures of the work in progress and the finished product. Here we go!

I started looking for a new desk when I got my new job. I was going to be working at home, and I felt I needed something more functional than what I had if I'd be spending so much time working at it. I had a desk in my room with my computer and piles of stuff to be filed, stuff to be put away, stuff to be shredded, stuff to be tossed . . . you get the idea. In the basement, I had a craft table set up, with stuff I'd bought for my etsy store, stuff leftover for the wedding, works in progress, and supplies. Basically, I had two desks full of stuff and no space to work. So I started searching for something that had lots of storage and a huge area for me to work. I found a plan that used a door as the top and then found a door on craigslist. Alas, the man wouldn't let me get the doors the next day—he wanted them gone ASAP and couldn't guarantee me a door. So, I finally convince Nathan we/he could build my craft table.

The only problem was that my room is not quite big enough for what the plan originally called for. It's a small, cozy room, with a daybed and a rocking chair, and I didn't want to sacrifice either of those. So we cut the depth down, and to keep the space, we also made it longer. It was also too high for me, so we made it shorter. And because of these measurments and the fact that I wanted to store my sewing machine on a shelf, we decided to only have one shelf on the sides. Let's just say we spent almost the same amount of time figuring out the math for the new plan as we did building it. But we got it (almost) perfect in the end.

We checked with Nathan's dad to see if he had any scrap wood he could cut for us, but while he was waiting for said scrap wood to dry out enough, Nathan's mom found a sale on plywood at a local hardware store. They were able to pick that up for us and cut it according to our measurements, which was very helpful. And then, on my birthday, the wood was delivered and ready for us to put together.

The first thing we (I mean, Nathan. Let's face it—I helped but he did the hard work!) did was build the big side box. We had to hold everything up so that we could visualize where it went, and then Nathan put everything together. We only had a few missteps along the way, mostly in shelf placement, but it only took about an hour and a half.

We thought the second one would be even easier because we'd already done it once. WRONG. We started with the wrong boards three times before we figured it out. Turns out we need to visualize and then build, even if it's just repeating a process we've just done; we don't learn from experience. Once both sides were done, we carried them upstairs and put the top on in the actual room. We'd discovered earlier on that the only mistake we made measurement-wise was that the front side pieces were taller than the top, meaning that we needed to add a quarter-inch board to the back to level it. Luckily, I remembered that we had one in the shed that the previous owners had left behind, and Nathan used the snowblower to get back there so we could finish the desk. 

And there you have it! Now for a tour of the desk. Shelby does like to sit on the rug while I'm in there working (or Facebooking, as the case may be). On the left shelves, I have all of my etsy stuff: paper, fabric, ribbon, notebooks, and everything I have in my inventory. The front shelves in the left hold my craft supplies: glue, glue gun, tape, markers. The right side has all of my personal projects and supplies: paper for my scrapbook, work stuff, a plastic bin of things I need to scrapbook. And the front shelves hold office supplies (staper), my books (dictionary and style guides), journals, and supplies for the printer. It's really nice to have everything organized in a way that makes sense with my mind, even though it doesn't look especially neat (which is why you don't get pictures of the finished space!). But what's important is that it's functional. And don't worry: we plan on painting the whole thing white when it gets warmer out, though I can see a benefit of leaving it as is: If I get paint or glue or whatever on it, it doesn't really matter.

Be My Valentine

On our first Valentine's Day together, Nathan and I decided to give each other books. We're both bookworms, perhaps best evidenced by our book-themed wedding, so it seemed fitting. And we've continued the tradition during our relationship. The first year, we added The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, The Rim of the Prairie, The Graveyard Book, and James and the Giant Peach to our library.  Last year, the Valentine's Day library grew to include Lamb and The Believers. And this year, we've added This Book Will Change Your Dog's Life, Why Does My Dog Do That?, Michelangelo and the Sistine Chapel, Great House, and The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels.

As far as dinner goes, everything tasted fine, but didn't turn out exactly as it was supposed to. The tart filling all gathered on one side and leaked through the bottom of the pan, but it sitll tasted good. And the chicken was perfect, even though I adjusted the recipe. We had some "expensive" Trader Joe's wine ($7!!) and asparagus and rolls. And the best part of staying in was that we could sit and talk as long as we wanted without getting rushed out.

And what did Shelby get for Valentine's Day? A fancy treat, lots of pets and cuddles and peanut butter. Yum.

Inspired By Love

Happy Valentine's Day to all of my readers, whether you "believe" in the holiday or not. It seems I have quite the day ahead of me: DMV to register Nathan's car (now there's a benefit of having a wife work part-time: She can go to the DMV during the day and not fight the crowds), baking a lemon tart and roasting a chicken for our Valentine's Day dinner (accompanied by rolls and asparagus), and going to work, wearing my red dress. Nathan's books need to be wrapped, and the card needs to be signed. Tomorrow, I'll talk about our Valentine's Day tradition.

I also have a lot to think about after this last weekend. As I mentioned Friday, I went to a writing group yesterday and while I was feeling a little apprehensive about it, it was so beneficial and I really feel inspired and awed by everything we talked about yesterday. I want to talk more about that, and how it's going to fit into the actual writing of my novel idea (which I've had now for almost two years) and the research that I'll have to do for it, as well. But I still have some links to explore and thinking to do.

We also checked some items off our list this weekend, including choosing paint colors for the living room. I'll definitely want to show you those and talk about my inspiration for the living room.

But for now, consider this a teaser for what's to come this week, while I settle my thoughts and take Shelby for a walk on this sunshiney day.

Friday Fancies

It's been a while since I've done Friday Fancies, but here we go. There's some fun stuff that's been going on this week!

*Here's an article (from the Daily Nebraskan, even, which I used to be a copy editor for) about the writing group I'll be going to on Sunday. I think it's really going to help me get back on track with my writing, especially now that I have the time to focus on it.

*A different kind of WWII Rosie.

*It's a good thing our workplace relationship didn't turn out like this.

*In honor of Valentine's Day, my friend Kelley posted this on my wall. Perfect for journalism nerds. We haven't quite nailed down our plans yet, but tomorrow, I'll be working in a flower shop. That means I only need chocolate factory to complete the Valentine's Day employment trifecta: Hallmark, Florist, Chocolate . . . get it?

*For Jane Austen lovers, my aunt posted this on Facebook after the Super Bowl. I think it's pretty fun.

*Two of my favorite things combined: Glee and Annie.

*I think it's safe to say I have an obsessive personality. I've gotten hooked on reading biographies about MGM startlets. I am in the middle of The Golden Girls Of MGM, and also checked out Enchantment, about Audrey Hepburn, and True Grace, another Grace Kelly biography, at the library. And maybe the two Tori Spelling autobiographies . . .

Book Review: High Society: The Life Of Grace Kelly

For our honeymoon, Nathan and I went on a European cruise. It was the trip of a lifetime. Not only did we get a chance to spend time together and relax after a year of wedding craziness, but we were both able to experience Europe. Our first port was Monte Carlo, and we were able to visit the village of Eze and Monaco.



In Monaco, with Monte Carlo in the background. The picture was taken by our (very handsome) tour guide.



While taking our walking tour of Monaco, we saw the church where Grace Kelly was married and buried and saw the Palace and the Princesses' houses.  



The church. Photo taken by my (very handsome) husband.



The Palace



Afterward, I became interested in learning more about Grace Kelly and her life. What better way than a biography? When I was at the library on Tuesday, I found High Society: The Life Of Grace Kelly, by Donald Spoto, and it seems to be the perfect book to start with. He definitely presents her in a positive light throughout the book and provides facts and proof about experiences that happened (or didn't happen, for those of you familiar with her life). I think what I found most interesting about the book was the history it provided in terms of how Hollywood came to be what it was, and essentially looks at how Hollywood stars as we know them today were created during that timeframe. It also discusses her career, which essentially made her who she was. I definitely recommend it, especially because the Oscars are right around the corner.



Heavens To Betsy

Has anyone ever read the Betsy-Tacy series by Maud Hart Lovelace? There are few series out there that follow a character on the journey from childhood to adulthood and are so timeless in the portrayal of emotions and life that even 100 years later, they still seem relevant. Obviously, I think Laura Ingalls Wilder is one of the best, but Maud Hart Lovelace's Betsy is just as lovable and timeless. And the newly released versions are truly lovely, with forwards from Meg Cabot, Laura Lippman, and Meg Cabot.

I was reminded of a part of Betsy's Wedding last night, where she is trying to learn to cook for her new husband and it always seems to turn out wrong, particularly a meat pie.

"Betsy approached the oven dubiously. The accident had been a little more than 'nothing much.' She had thought she remembered just how Anna made meat pie--cutting leftover meat into chunks, and dropping it into gravy along with potatoes and onions and carrots, spreading biscuit dough on top. But something had gone wrong. The dough had overflowed and stuck to the floor of the oven, and burned. She had scraped it off, and scraped and scraped, but it kept on overflowing and sticking and burning and she had run frantically to fling up all the windows and run back to scrape some m ore. Eventually she had decided that the oven wasn't hot enough and had turned it up as high as it would go. Then the top of the depleted crust had burned."

This is how my dinner turned out last night. Kind of. Last night, we tried to make chicken and dumplings. What we ended up with was chicken and vegetables covered in dough because the biscuits didn't form and instead just sat on top in a floury mess. It was still good, but not exactly what we were going for. It's really at the point now where it's more humorous than maddening. Particularly because it's not that it's not edible, but just not quite right.

On that note, here's our second two-week meal plan.

Chili
Pizza
Waffles
Chicken nuggets
Chicken and dumplings
Pasta Presto [pasta with peppers, feta cheese, and sun-dried tomato and basil chicken sausage, yum.]
Chicken Curry

We also have beef enchiladas, mac and cheese, soup, and porkchops. Yum.

Making A List

When I decided to start working part-time, I kind of sold it to myself by deciding that work around the house would get done more often and the house would be cleaner. Before we got married, we decided that I would take care of the inside house stuff and Nathan would do the outside. But once we moved in together, we kind of ditched that and both did both. I help shovel, he does the dishes and vacuums. But, truth be told, all of this has fallen to the wayside since I stopped working 40 hours a week. Except the snow shoveling and laundry. So Saturday night, we went through the house and tried to get everything in a more permanent state. By that, I mean there was a lot of rearranging going on, and it was all part done. So now, my room, which was a semi-disaster, is now a total disaster again. Guess what I'll be focusing on today . .

We also went through and made a list of all of the house projects we want to accomplish in the near future or future. This also creates a list for me to go off of when I need things to do during the week or we have free time on the weekends. Here it is, in case you are curious.

Basement (which includes storage room, home theater, and laundry room/bathroom)
*Paint trim
*Fix mess ups from paint job
*Fix windows [These are really old and outdated and are actually letting air in. Bad.]
*Paint stairs [We want to paint them to match the rest of the room, kind of a khaki-green color.]
*Paint stair ledge and trim
*Hang photos [These got taken down when we moved the furniture down.]
*Put lights in sconces [The sconces cover up the rear speakers.]
*Make bar/organize bar [Turning my old craft desk into a bar. It's going to be cool!]
*Organize the pile of nails and screws in the tool drawer [Nathan's addition to the list.]
*Replace tile [Shelby chewed a hole in the floor when she was a puppy. We then moved her up to the kitchen.]
*Add baseboard [Shelby also chewed up a wall that didn't have a baseboard on it. It needs to be fixed.]
*Paint laundry room [There are some holes that need filled.]
*Fix shower [There are some tiling issues currently.]

Living Room
*Paint [While most people love the color in there now, we aren't the biggest fans, so this is one of the last rooms we need to work on. We're thinking a purple accent wall leading into the kitchen, and then a gray/tan/cream on the rest of the walls.]
*Paint trim [This is one of the worst rooms in terms of not clean trim...]
*Stain loveseat/recover [We bought a love seat off of craigslist that just needs to match our existing furniture.]
*Hang curtains [which we did this weekend!]
*Hang photos [I have some fun ideas for the room, but until we paint . . . ]
*Organize shelves [The big bookcases in here are starting to have random piles on them, kind of a throwall if you will.]
*Get pillows for loveseat [We'll have to see how the rooms turn out first.]

Kitchen
*Re-organize cabinets and bakers rack [The way we have it now still just doesn't feel right to me.]
*PAINT!!!! [This is how it appears on the list. The kitchen paint is my least favorite in all of the house. Four colors of gray/silver and a bright blue, with wood cabinet doors only.]
*Clean oven and microwave [I'd be really embarrassed if anyone ever saw these. I just always forget about them when cleaning!.]
*Set up recycling system.
*Add door that goes out to the backyard [This is a future project.]
*Remove molding [One wall has molding that will need to be taken out to add cabinets.]
*Hang photos

And that's how far we got before we took a break. The other rooms are mostly done though. We just need to organize, declutter, and hang art. I'll keep you updated on our list progress as we go.

Date Night

The weather lately has lead to me feeling uninspired, despite the beauty of the snow and the comfort I can take in staying home and not having to drive anywhere, but rather, curl up in my warm house and do whatever project I can come up with. Which is an explanation, not an excuse, for why blog posts haven’t been up as often as I planned on when I originally decided to stay home. Because this blog, and my writing, and my etsy store, which, by the way, now has six listings, were all things I thought I’d focus on once I had the time to.

And yet, I didn’t expect to not know what to do with my time, and instead of doing everything I intended, I just watch TV, or hang out on the Internet. Or, bribe Shelby with brand-new, extra delicious treats to jump through a hula hoop during our 10 minutes of training today, after she wouldn’t last night. (Which I did today.) But, I’m also learning a valuable lesson: That it’s OK to take it slow and not rush. Eventually, the novelty will wear off and I’ll settle into a routine. That’s what I tell myself anyway.

With all that being said, I got a sudden burst of inspiration just now when I realized tonight is date night. And I realized that I never shared Nathan’s Christmas gift with you all (though I believe that some of you do, in fact, know what it was).

I found the idea on one of the many blogs I used to peruse during the workday. It’s called the 12 dates of Christmas. Basically, I came up with 12 different dates that we would do during the year, on the date that corresponds with the letter of the month; for example, 2-2. And then I spent probably an hour in Ben Franklin finding my perfect supplies:

Those include a beautiful Christmas-y book, matching stickers, minicalendars, and black and red paper. I actually had to go buy a secondbook, because I counted wrong. Note: Just because something has 12pages, doesn’t mean you can use all 12. You need to have a cover afterall! And there might be blood on some of the pages, because I cut myfinger opening my paper cutter (I know, right?) and didn’t realize it.But he loved it all the same, and it gives us something to look forwardto every month. Who knows, maybe it will become a tradition.

As far as tonight’s date goes, we’re planning the garden for the spring.Nathan has some big ideas for the backyard, and even though it’s allcovered in snow now, the groundhog says we don’t have much longer. Orat least that’s what Facebook tells me . . .