Under a blue moon

1.11.12

I thought we needed a palate cleanser after all the decorating/crafty type posts I've had lately.  

Plus it's written in Belle's contract that she is featured on my blog at least once a month or there are dire penalties. 

She sent a warning via a vole that she let loose behind our bookcase/tv cabinet in the livingroom.  When I got home last night Rick had all the books and whatnots off the shelf and had to remove the trim pieces that connect the bookcase to the cabinet in order to move the bookcase to get the vole.  

She said next time it would be a bat.  

1.10.12

In case it isn't obvious I've become rather besotted with Hobby Lobby over the last few weeks.  We just got one in our town this Fall and while the merchandise isn't all that new or different than what I can find at JoAnns or Michael's - the prices are really appealing.  If you wait a week the item you are interested is bound to go on sale for 50% off.  Or you can download a coupon for 40% to use on any one non-sale item.  

No I am not on their payroll.  

Before Christmas I bought a pair of tall, lidded jars (50% off, of course) and I filled them with an assortment of silvery ornaments and had them on my entryway table.  When Christmas was over I put them in the attic.  

Then I saw this picture.  

Back up to the attic I went.  Back down came one of the jars.  And off to Hobby Lobby I went.  

I wanted a less colorful version so my little birds are speckled white and brown.  I couldn't find any eggs the size or color I wanted so I made some with Fimo Clay.  The little nest was straw colored so I dabbed on some raw umber paint to darken it up.  Then, on the branch, I wired some left over leaves from some millinery flowers I used in another project.  

I arranged it all in the jar with a few big handfuls of moss.  

I like how it has a vaguely Natural Science Museum diorama feel. 

 

1.8.12

If you live in Northern California you know we have been having a very mild Winter so far.  And every year, around this time, we are tricked into thinking Spring is imminent.

We'll have a week of mild temperatures and you'll get all lulled into thinking Spring is on the way and you'll start planning your rose bed and your picnics and then bam!  It's Winter again.

I decided to bring a little faux Spring into the house until the real thing makes a proper appearance.  Our grocery store was selling the plant combo above for about $7.  Not bad for a little taste of Spring.

The bucket it is sitting is from Hobby Lobby.  I bought a set of three of them for $4.50 (50% off their normal price).  Not bad - a buck-fifty for each little bucket.  I painted mine white because, well - just because I wanted to.  

Friday's Favorites

Flickr Favorites (please click link to see the source of these beautiful images)

• Isn't this a pretty interpretation of an Adirondack chair? Rick doesn't know this but I have a 2012 To Do list for him too.  I think I'll add this to it.  
• And this too
• Lovely birdhouse out of reclaimed materials (this one sold but she has others).  I thought this was a fabulous idea for a bird feeder (first picture in the slide show).
• Tricia Foley has always been one of my favorite interior designers.  Never fails when I see a picture in a magazine that makes me go "ooooh" it is a Tricia Foley design.  Well I just found out she has FOUR different blogs!  In the Country | The Perfect Thing | The Table and The White List  
• 12 Things Happy People Do Differently

First week back to work wasn't too bad.  I think we should pass a law that the work week is only four days long, don't you?  That would make things a little more tolerable.  

I hope everyone has a splendid weekend planned.  We will have a house guest so I need to come up with a nice dinner for tonight.  The weather has been so lovely and mild that I might uncover the bbq and grill something.  

Happy Friday!!

1.4.12

Okay so my oatmeal post wasn't a resounding hit.  I still think it is a genius idea.  

We'll just get back to our regularly scheduled programming of sparkle.

I do have some fabulous readers here on Under A Blue Moon.  Patti, who just so happens to live near me and turned me on to the Under the Freeway antique fair (officially known as the **Sacramento Antique Faire) a few years back, is one of those readers.

Anyway - Patti emailed me and asked if she could send me some bits and bobs she had.  I find it hard to resist rhinestones so I accepted her gracious offer, figuring she send me a few broken brooches and loose beads.

Well imagine my delight when a very heavy box arrived a week later stuffed full of all kinds of beads, rhinestones, parts of necklaces and bracelets and the like.  

I can't wait for creativity to strike me so I can put them to good use.  In the mean time I'm just enjoying sorting through them and petting them.  

Thank you Patti!  This was such a treat.

**Sacramento Antique Faire is this weekend (1/8/2012 6:30am-3:00pm) if anyone is in the area.  

 

1.3.12

We are going to talk about oatmeal this morning.  Oatmeal is not very photogenic - I just want to get that out of the way up front.

I know in order for me to succeed at any weightloss effort it has to be easy.  I can't be whipping up a salad with ten ingredients for lunch or standing over a stove first thing in the morning.   

In order to address breakfast I thought I would get Trader Joe's frozen steel cut oatmeal to have on hand.  I wanted to find out the nutritional information first (in case they were loaded with sugar or syrups) and while I was searching the interwebs I came across this blog post:

http://amy-newnostalgia.blogspot.com/2011/11/oatmeal-freezer-pucks.html

Now is that genius or what? 

Basically you just make your oatmeal and then freeze it in a muffin tin. I made six servings of oatmeal and it divided up perfectly among the six muffins in a large muffin tin.  I froze it over night and them popped them out of tin.

I have a Food Saver gizmo but if you are going to be eating them within a week I think ziplock bags would work just fine.  

You can pull them out of the freezer when ever you want and heat them in a bowl in the microwave.  I microwaved mine for 2 minutes 45 seconds (stirring after two minutes) but depending on your microwave it make take more or less time.  

I used regular rolled oats (not instant) but you could do this with steel cut oatmeal as well.

(See what I mean - not a very glamourous food shot, is it?)

1.2.12

I hope everyone is settling into the new year nicely.  We, as is our habit, celebrated quietly and with little fuss.  The house was sparkly clean and denuded of anything Christmas related. 

Our typical New Year's celebration generally is a lovely dinner, just the two of us.  We rarely, if ever, stay up until midnight.  I wanted to stay up so I could text our two boys a happy new year (calling is never productive because they have not embraced the quiet celebration and instead are generally somewhere where the decibel level does not foster a telephone conversation).  I got all snuggled into bed and was watching the clock.  At 11:53 pm I thought "Oh good.  Only seven more minutes."  Then the next time I looked at the clock it was 3:00am.  Ah well.

Day 2 and I'm doing splendidly on my 2012 to do list.  I decided on a language - French.  German would have been the obvious choice since I started learning it as a child and took every German class our Jr. and Sr. High schools offered.  But when I think of a language I really wish I could speak French it is.  Oui.

I made thoughtful choices with my eating yesterday and even sprinkled some Chia seeds on my eggs this morning.  I guess Chia seeds are the new wonder supplement of this generation.  My parents' generation had wheat germ, we had flax seeds and now all the cool kids are throwing Chia seeds into everything.   They are innocuous tasting.  They look like poppy-seeds and add no dicernible flavor. They just add a teeny crunch to whatever you are eating.

I am going to buy a basket for my bicycle today. (I bought this basket - it can double as my shopping basket at the store) The excuse I keep giving myself for not riding it is that darned basket so today it is. Then I can ride my bike to the grocery store for our dinner makings, whilst conjugating French verbs and picking Chia seeds out of my teeth. 

Sadly today is the last day of my vacation.  Tomorrow it is back to work.  I was really getting used to sleeping in until 8:00 every morning and having the whole day luxuriously stretched out in front of me with nary a meeting in sight.  Sigh.  It was lovely while it lasted.