failed breakfast bars

I've been eating a lot of granola bars from Trader Joe's lately (whole grain, healthy snacks help stave off both hunger and headaches) but decided I could do better by making my own... so I dug out Nigella Lawson's recipe for breakfast bars (from her Good Food Fast cookbook; you can also read a modified recipe on the Sweet Kitchen blog) and had a go at it. I think I must've played with too many variables, though, because they turned out less of a bar and more of a crumbly bread pudding/granola mixture, some parts being soggy and other parts crunchy.

I didn't have any condensed milk on hand, so I substituted a can of coconut milk (not really the same thing, I found out later), then left out the coconut flakes (which I didn't have either), and instead of dried cranberries I used raisins, and instead of unsalted peanuts and assorted seeds I added slightly salted cashews. I did think to toss in a little ground cinnamon, which would've been a nice touch if only the texture had come out properly.

I'm still getting used to the new toaster-sized convection oven, so I think I took it out a little early. Not much else could have gone wrong, but at least it's not burnt, right? It's actually still munchable, but just not as appealing as a good solid cookie bar would've been.

I'll have to pick up some condensed milk from the store and try it again, one of these days. Does anyone else have any good recipes? These raspberry bars and these blueberry bars also sound great.

warm and fuzzy: guerilla knitting at the library

A librarian friend of mine coordinated with a crafty group of knitters to decorate some of the trees around her library... I love guerilla knitting, and I am kicking myself for not having thought of this idea myself. The tree cozies fit in perfectly with this year's summer reading program theme, "Be Creative," so I thought I'd take this opportunity to remind everyone to sign their kids up right away, if you haven't already done so, and if your library allows adults to participate, sign yourselves up as well. Not only does the summer reading program help to keep your kids' brains nice and sharp, it's just one more way to show your support for your public library*. And, if you can believe what your local librarian tells you, it's "loads of fun."

*Little known fact: Higher usage rates and other "measurable" statistics can help us to secure funding in order to continue providing the programs that you and your kids love. Though government budgets are tight these days, corporations and local businesses are often willing to donate money (and sometimes goods or services) if they know that their contributions will be appreciated.

this makes me happy

I can't remember if any of us actually wore this darling little baby sweater, but it certainly looks like something that should be treasured and kept so that future generations may drool and make spittle all over it.

I am needing a break from the cleaning and decluttering and the shoveling of dirt, so today I plan to relax and do a little sewing/mending, and perhaps a little reading.

I hope everyone is having a great week!

how to: feathered hair clip fascinator

I've been obsessed with hair accessories lately, so I finally decided to roll up my sleeves and make my own. I came up with these cute hair clips that are casual enough to wear during the day (or at least outside of a cocktail party) They also look pretty sweet clipped onto a purse strap, or perhaps a lapel. Here's how I did it:

Step 1: Gather your materials. In addition to the feathers (your standard craft store variety, though you can go fancier if you like), I used buttons, ribbons, and some leftover scraps of lace and tulle. I just grabbed a few plastic barrettes from the bathroom drawer, but I would recommend using those metal triangle-shaped hair clippies instead, as they are sleeker and would minimize the bulk of the fluffier materials we'll be adding later.

You will also need some sort of strong crafting glue--I used a low-temp glue gun, which is like a hot glue gun except that it doesn't get so hot/burn your fingers as much.

Step 2: While you're waiting for your glue gun to heat up, play with your materials until you've decided how you want to glue them together.

Step 3: Wrap a bit of lace around the top segment of the barrette and glue it down. This part is optional, but it will help camouflage the colorful plastic as well as give the glue/feathers something to stick to later. Here you can see I've wrapped the ends to overlap on the top of the barrette (the part that will show when you put it in your hair). Make sure the barrette can still close--I guess I should've taken another picture here to show you the back, but if you skip down a few photos you'll see a pretty clear shot of the toothy bits of the clasp poking through the lace. You could also use fabric instead of lace, if you're careful enough.

Keep in mind that all these layers of feathers and fabric and glue will add up, so try to keep each layer as flat as possible.

Next step: If you want to add some tulle or netting to your clip, just bunch it together and glue down before you start adding the feathers. Try to get it as flat as possible (it might be worthwhile to pre-stitch it flat before glueing) to avoid adding a lot of bulk. [This is a picture of a different hairclip, just to show you what mine looked like after glueing.]

If you would like to skip the netting, then just go ahead and glue on your feathers. I applied a line of glue, then a feather, then another line of glue, another feather, and so on. I think I used between 3 and 5 feathers for each clip.


Here is what the back will look like:

Step 5: Next glue on your ribbon and buttons, as desired. Let dry, and you're done!


I put fake stitches on my button before I glued it down, because I think the cute little 'x' stitching is half the charm of a button, but it's not necessary.

more closet space

I'm still working on the closets in the master bedroom. I'd like to be able to just shove all the stuff that's cluttering up the floor of the bedroom, but I don't think it will quite all fit. At least, not without getting the closets straightened out first.

Ok, I exaggerated the height of the pile a little bit, shooting this picture from the floor looking up, but the point is that the closet had long ago ceased to be a functional space. I started by picking up the clothes off the ground and packing them away into boxes; it was clear that nothing (save for the odd blanket or sheet set, which really don't belong in here) had been retrieved from this room in a very long time. Inside the pocket of a pair of jeans I found among the rubble was a grocery coupon that expired in 1992, if that gives you any clue. I am having some trouble getting rid of some of the clothes, since I think that some of the fabric might make for a nice refashion (like this clever girl does), but I should probably just let them go, and focus on using the stash I already have. Also, there is a box or two of that old polyester fabric that turns out to be great for making tote bags.

Anyway, that was the "hers" walk-in; here is the "his" closet:

The overhead shelf was where all those old receipts and utility statements were hanging out; I finally got rid of those and decided to store tax documents up there instead (even though I'll only have to go through those later and shred those up too). I've already donated most of my late father's clothes but the space filled up again with spare jackets from the downstairs coat closet. I wish I didn't need to store all those bins full of teddy bears (more of my mother's "prized" collections) but I should be able to make room for them, somewhere, given all of the stuff I've been getting rid of and all of the stuff that I most definitely probably should get rid of, but just haven't gotten around to quite yet.

I'll be relieved when I finally get these two spaces cleaned up, but don't expect to hear about it from me for a while, as the backyard renovation is taking up so much of my time these days.

purple heart

Apparently I stink at making jello, too, since I don't heat the water enough or don't stir enough to get all the lumps to dissolve. Bah! Sometimes lumps can be good for you.

In other news, I just brought home a bunch more boxes, so I can resume my closet-cleaning this weekend.

I hope you're all having a good one.

room for three

It is too often observed that people leave their most valuable property parked out in the driveway (or on the street!) while their most worthless junk is safely locked away in the garage. Some of us even pay money to keep our extra junk in storage, and still have no room to put our cars. Maybe the storage industry isn't doing as well these days, as consumers look for ways to cut expenses, but I have a feeling that it's one of those overlooked things that people would rather forget about.

When we moved into this house a year ago, the garage floor was littered with receipts and boxes and even someone's strange idea of wall-to-wall carpeting, but we made short work of that and soon had enough room to park 2 cars, and a month or so after that, all three cars. Since then I've been gradually sorting through the boxes, getting rid of the stuff we don't need to keep and getting the place organized. See my makeshift post-it labels? As with everything else, it's still a work in progress, but it's getting better.

always more work to do.

I found this tiny robin's egg shell while I was sifting bulbs out of the freshly tilled soil. It must have fallen from my neighbor's tree, since I don't see any evidence of a nest in ours.

I've been slaving away in the yard for days and days and days, but it seems there is never a shortage of stuff to do, no matter how long you've been at it. I think the garden is perhaps the most difficult challenge for me to get cleaned up, since it's not an environment I can really control--weeds keep coming back, plants continuously challenge the boundaries you set for them, and neighborhood cats keep mistaking certain areas for litter boxes. I'm so, so thankful to have wonderful H. around to do all the heavy lifting and grunt-work, though--I'd never be able to accomplish half of this stuff if not for him.

I've also been busy sorting and shredding my family's financial documents from the past 20 years. Apparently my parents had been keeping all of our utility statements, phone bills, credit statements, bank statements, paycheck stubs, store receipts, check stubs, and other miscellaneous scraps of paper, all tucked away in shoe boxes on a dusty shelf in the closet. I have other plans for that shelf, though, as well as the rest of the closet, so all that stuff needs to go.

Progress with everything has been very slow, but I'll post more when I get closer to the finish line, or at least close to something that resembles a finish line. In the meanwhile, it makes me happy to see this peony in bloom, even with the ants crawling all over it. I hosed them off before I took this picture, but if you look closely you can still spot one of them huddled up in the corner. You can also kind of see the scrappy weeds peeking through around the periphery, but like I said, it's a process.

and the winners are...

Emily from Washington (comment #12) is the lucky winner of the "everybody was tofu fighting" tee and Paul Thompson of Wisconsin (comment #88) wins the vintage buttons.

Whew! Thanks for playing, everyone, and especially thanks to the folks at Sew Mama Sew for organizing the big giveaway bonanza! Emily and Paul, email me back with your mailing addresses and I'll ship your prizes out straight away.