28 December 2011
Crochet
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| Guess who was caught in a tangle of yarn one afternoon?? |
Here are a few more things I plan to make this winter:
Leg warmers - definitely plan to make these if we are having a girl...will likely still make them for a boy :)
Ear flap hat for baby
And a bunch of these super easy headbands
And, if I get super ambitious and also finish my quilt + other small cozy blankets I already have planned to sew, I hope to make some sort of square patterned blanket, like this:
I'm pretty sure I have crafting ADHD, as I can't seem to stay on one project at a time....so we'll see how this goes! :)
27 December 2011
Lentil soup
I know it's very grandma of me...but I just love lentil soup! I make it in the crockpot all the time, especially in the fall & winter.
Today, it's currently cooking in the crock and I love that I was able to use a lot of my garden veggies.
It's super easy, so I'll share...
The basics:
1 C Lentils
4 C chicken stock (I like the Organic Pacific Natural Foods brand)
2 C chopped onions (we really like onions, you could add more or less)
pinch of salt and pepper
Depending on what's in my freezer/refrigerator/cupboard/garden, I'll add all of these or just a few:
carrots (fresh from garden)
tomatoes (either from a can, chopped up fresh or frozen cherry/grape tomatoes from the garden)
spinach or beet greens (fresh from garden or frozen from garden)
...going to grow kale next year and give it a try!
zucchini (fresh from garden or frozen from garden)
...add this during the last 1-2 hrs, otherwise it's mushy...unless of course you like mushy zucchini :)
Herbs (I change this up ALL the time. Sometimes, I don't have any):
springs of:
thyme (happened to have it today!)
parsley
cilantro (tried this last week and it was good)
Meat (I've made this quite a few times without a meat and it totally works (just not as hearty!):
Italian sausage (spicy or sweet.yum!)
Ham
Ham bone (after T-day or Christmas)
Ground Turkey (not as good, but it works!)
Throw all this into the crock together, at the same time. Cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high 3-4 hours. Sometimes lentils cook a little fast, so check their progress after just 2 hours (cooking on high, 4 hours on low)...and throw in that zucchini!
Tonight, when my soup is done...I might just add a little heavy cream and see how that tastes. :)
So, what are your favorite soups?
21 December 2011
It's just about that time...
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| ...to buy maternity clothes!
Okay, so I've told myself that I am NOT going to buy maternity clothes until it's absolutely necessary (if ever?).
Most are ugly and expensive.
Regardless, today I found myself buying a Belly Band at Target. It's just not cool to have my pants unbuttoned with my fly down while standing in front of 30 teenagers, as I muster up enthusiasm about Photosynthesis. Not fun.
But more excitingly, I just got an awesome online deal from Forever 21 Maternity (yippee- for supporting teenage pregnancy!!)
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...I committed to buying them the second I saw them.
Forever 21 usually has super cheap cheap jeans. However, I already have two pairs and they fit AMAZINGLY (pre-preggo days) and they haven't worn out yet...so here's to looking in the mail everyday until they arrive!
16 December 2011
12 days...
12 days until we find out if this little one is a BOY or a GIRL!
Eeek!
Make your guesses now..... :)
12 December 2011
cupcakes + birthday
Leila made these fabulous cupcakes for her birthday. 
Her enthusiasm in blowing out her candles was contagious. :)
11 December 2011
16 weeks
The baby bump has arrived!
This weekend I asked Dan to take some "bump" pictures. When I wear looser clothing you can't really tell that I've got a little one growing, but when I wear tighter tops (or this dress!) it's a bit more apparent. Hopefully it'll start looking more like I have an actual baby bump and less like I ate a really big lunch. :)
08 December 2011
Missing
I miss this.
My garden looks like death.
This week we struggled to reach 35 degrees.
When I go to work, it's dark, foggy and icy.
When I come home from work, it's dark, foggy and icy.
I miss going out to the garden in the sunny, warm afternoons, just to stare at my vegetables growing.
I must have SAD (Season Affective Disorder).
Morning (aka ALL FREAKING DAY) sickness totally shot down any hope of fall harvests or prepping my raised beds for the winter months. Oh well. Now, Dan can do all the hard prep work for me this early spring, since I'll be way preggo. :)
Here's to crossed fingers that my onions and garlic are still growing (or quietly hibernating through the winter months, until the sun starts shining again!) :)
06 December 2011
Baby quilt
I've wanted to learn how to make a quilt for quite awhile now. I like the look of modern quilts, with clean lines or stripes and color blocking. Traditional quilting with the intricate shapes and patterns doesn't appeal to me as much. So having a baby is the perfect time to learn how to quilt and practice my skillzzz.
I decided to make this quilt and somehow found myself waiting in line at Joann's for over 2.5hrs on Black Friday. I can't believe I did that. I did not at all anticipate Joann's being so crowded, but once I saw the good deals and picked out my fabric, I just couldn't leave. I ended up getting enough fabric to make quite a few smaller blankets, as well.
So here's to hours of quilting! Actually, I've already started it and am quite surprised by how quickly the main patterned section is going. I think I choose a super easy pattern to start with, so I'm excited about that.
I decided to make this quilt and somehow found myself waiting in line at Joann's for over 2.5hrs on Black Friday. I can't believe I did that. I did not at all anticipate Joann's being so crowded, but once I saw the good deals and picked out my fabric, I just couldn't leave. I ended up getting enough fabric to make quite a few smaller blankets, as well.
So here's to hours of quilting! Actually, I've already started it and am quite surprised by how quickly the main patterned section is going. I think I choose a super easy pattern to start with, so I'm excited about that.
04 December 2011
It's about time...
We'll it's about time we shared our exciting news with the blogging world. Most of our blog readers (which, there aren't a lot of you...) know the news anyways! :)
It's also about time Dan and I enter the world of parenting...as we've been married for nearly 5.5 years and together for almost 8 years (time flies!). We are blessed to have made it this far together and even more blessed to have our little one on the way. Although waiting 5 years, (nearly 6 by the time the babe is born!), has seemed like an eternity, I am confident that this is exactly the right time to finally begin our family. We've had a significant amount of time to enjoy being together, getting to know each other and ourselves, traveling, starting our careers and preparing for how we'd like to raise our children.
Despite knowing that this is exactly the right time for us to start a family, it's still incredibly scary and surreal most days. But that's okay. :)
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| The day we found out. Of course, no baby bump yet! :) |
The most surreal moment was actually finding out we were pregnant. I took a test on a Sunday night and the line was so incredibly faint that I didn't really believe it. So I quickly and quietly went to bed, so I wouldn't prematurely blab it to Dan and decided to test again in the morning. Again, there was a line, but it was completely faint. Still not believing that this was actually happening, I stopped at the store on my way home to get a digital test. Words are easier to read than faint, nondescript lines, right? The words PREGNANT popped up so quickly, I couldn't believe it. I ran downstairs to tell Dan. I always thought I would want to have some creative way of telling him, but in the moment I was too amazed to think of anything clever. When I told him he said, "Well, that's what we were hoping would happen....right?" Wow. Nothing surprises him. Of course, Dan being the logical one, also immediately wanted to talk finances and "our plan" etc.
I thought by now that I would have lots of pictures of my baby bump, etc and would want to tell the whole world. I've actually been a whole lot more private about my pregnancy than I thought. For some reason I assumed that I would be the type of post weekly updates on my pregnancy and put up lots of belly shots, etc., but I've just been too exhausted to even attempt it. Also, up until lately I've really been nervous about something going wrong. But I've been blessed so far, so I've got to stop worrying about things.
Anyways, I do want to document life's happenings and how incredibly excited Dan and I are to bring a little one into our family. So I am going to try and be a more diligent blogger, plus, I've got plans for quilts, baby blankets, crocheted hats, the nursery, etc that I need to share! :)
So ya'll....expect to see thousands of pictures of our beautiful little child this summer, instead of vegetables! YAHOO!!!!! I knew you'd be excited... :)
11 November 2011
Dear blog...
Dear blog,
Yes, I've been ignoring you. Some what purposely. One day, I'll get my stuff together and start again. Because I only have 1,000 photos of garden veggies that I know the whole world is dying to see.
Also, I have big news to share with you. Not sure if I'm ready to share it with the big blog-o-world, yet though.
So until then...
Carlie
Yes, I've been ignoring you. Some what purposely. One day, I'll get my stuff together and start again. Because I only have 1,000 photos of garden veggies that I know the whole world is dying to see.
Also, I have big news to share with you. Not sure if I'm ready to share it with the big blog-o-world, yet though.
So until then...
Carlie
02 October 2011
27 September 2011
daniellukeharris.com
If you haven't seen it lately, check out Dan's art website. He's updated it with quite a few more paintings.
26 September 2011
Plans
Even though summers are kind of crazy in terms of menu planning, I've actually been really pleased with how well preparing a menu has turned out for us! This month we've actually stayed on budget for groceries! This is the pattern that works for us: 1 big shopping trip early in the month, a trip to costco, and a small grocery trip for fresh items. If we can stick to that, we do well budget wise.
Three weeks into school and I am amazing myself with how early I am coming home. I went home "early" 3:30-4pm every day last week except Friday (stayed until 5pm). I'm not taking any work home and I've been finding time to run with the XC team. I even made dinner most evenings last week! This is pure craziness, compared to where I was last year and especially Year 1. I love it.
So we have to hold out until the end of the week to make our budget, but here is what's on the menu for the next 1-2 weeks. We don't cook a big meal every night because sometimes we are too tired or we eat leftovers. So these 9 menus will get us far...
- Puff pastry pizza (new!) + green salad
- Basil Spahetti w/ Cheesy tomatoes + Biscuits
- Lemon Shrimp Salad w/couscous
- Lund-Harris Chicken Tacos
- Red Curry Mahi Mahi (new!) + rice + marinated zucchini & onions
- Lemon-herb Fully loaded Potatoes (slow cooker)
- Grilled Terriyaki Chicken(new!) + spicy sauteed green beans
- Pork Chops(new!) + Roasted beets, carrots & organges
- Slow cooker chili
25 September 2011
harvest monday 9.26
Things are going a little slower in the garden. We had another surprising week of 80 degree weather. Loved it. But now we'll get some cooler temperatures this week. Maybe this will help all the fall veggies start growing? I miss fresh lettuce and arugula. Oh well.
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| Sweet Banana Pepper |
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| 2nd growth Basil |
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| Finally more Brandywine tomatoes! :) |
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| Weekly harvest |
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Out of control tomato plants. That sweetheart grape is the most prolific and tallest (about 7 ft?)
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19 September 2011
Harvest Monday 9.19
This week, I linked up to Daphne's Dandelions again. Most of the gardens around the country are slowing down, but I'm excited mine is still going! Not a whole lot of variety this week, but I'm still satisfied. :)
The garden has really benefited from a "second" summer heat wave and the first fall showers. I'm happily enjoying picking my cherry/grape tomatoes and watching everything continue to grow in our 80+ weather.
I finally, finally harvested my red cabbage. This baby was transplanted in....MARCH! Can you believe it? Good thing the purple leaves were so beautiful, I decided to keep it around this long. We used some of it tonight in a Yakisoba noodle stir-fry. Delicious!
Most of this bowl if filled with sweetheart grape tomatoes. The rest are yellow pear, early girl tomato, oregon cherry and a few small san marzano romas.
A few small harvests of carrots, zucchini and tomatoes aren't pictured as they were quickly pulled for dinner or to bring to neighbors/family.
The only disappointment with our end of summer heat is that most of the seeds I planted for a fall harvest haven't germinated. Not sure if they will... My cascadia peas are doing great, but I'm starting to miss fresh garden greens. So far none of my lettuces have germinated. Hrrmph!
16 September 2011
14 September 2011
sand dunes
As soon as September hit, out summer weather finally kicked in! The heat was not so enjoyable for the 1st week of school, but it was definitely gorgeous over at the coast. Dan, Jeff and the kids and I went to Pacific City to take advantage of the rare 80 degree temperatures and sunny weather on the Oregon coast. The beach by the dune was packed with people!
Of course we climbed the sand dune to get this beautiful view. |
| "Tough girl" awkward smiles in pacific city |
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| This happy girl climbed up the ENTIRE dune herself. She's tough. |
13 September 2011
Harvest...Tuesday?
My garden is totally loving the mini heat wave we've been having in Oregon. My cherry and grape tomatoes are producing like crazy! We love it. No matter how many times my squash plants have succumbed to mildew, they keep coming back. Not sure if we love that.
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| Harvested Today (tuesday) - Look at my 1st hot banana pepper! Never thought it would get hot enough for them to actually turn red! Also, here is my awkward fat cucumber (we ate it today for dinner a top our spicy pulled pork sandwiches). |
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| random plant i found growing in our yard. pretty sure it's a pepper. no idea how it got here? |
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| Wow - my corn is actually growing! Pretty sure it'll be tiny though. |
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| So apparently I ended up with everbearing raspberries. Pretty excited about this, since I got the plants from a coworker and had no idea what they would do. I'll get a few berries in...a week or so? If my research is right, I'll then get a bunch more early next summer and again late summer. Love raspberries. |
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| Beautiful brandywines. |
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| My favorite snack: edamame (soy beans!) |
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| Red cabbage. Is it ready? No idea. |
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| Grows like weeds. |
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| I swear I get a bowl of these every other day or so. |
Finally checked the french fingerling potatoes and decided to pull them. I was too impatient.They weren't as prolific as I'd like. I'm not sure if I pulled them to early? Probably. But I also think that some animal or bird was nibbling on the leaves and didn't really allow them to get to their potential and so they just died down. Oh well. They are fun.
Last...look at this little carrot hugging the other carrot! Awesome.
