Not Quite Vintage

its been all about cleaning

I really don’t know where the urge came from, but I have been all about cleaning this week. When I returned home from taking care of my Pops last weekend, my house just felt closed up, stale, dusty... just icky. It really wasn’t that bad, but there is something about being away from your surroundings for a while that enlightens you to some things you were just avoiding. I have been cleaning, but just the necessities, no deep cleaning. I am not sure I even “Spring cleaned” my house. Spring was just a blur - basic functioning was an accomplishment for me after my Mom died and Pops was diagnosed with lung cancer... so, I am not giving myself a hard time about it. I am just glad things have settled down a bit, Pops is doing well and I am starting to get some motivation back.

This week I have been motivated to clean, clean, clean. It started a bit oddly around 5:30 on Sunday evening. I just got a wild hair to dust and clean all the windows and shutters. I was feeling a bit allergy-ish and thought the windows would be a good place to start. A couple hours later, sweating and sneezing I was finished. I was tired, but it felt so good. And I knew I had to do more... soon. So, I made a plan. Each evening this week I am attacking a different room. Monday was the living room and dining room. Last night was my bedroom. Tonight the guest room. Tomorrow the kitchen and bathroom. By attack, I mean every surface is cleaned including furniture, fabric, woodwork, floors, ceiling fans, vents. All dust bunnies must be eliminated! It felt so good to sit back on the sofa last night and breath in the fresh air (windows are open and nights are getting cooler) and look at all the sparkly surfaces.

A lot of “friends” have helped me through this cleaning frenzy. Let me share my favorites:

Method furniture polish and floor cleaner. If you haven’t used this, you must try it. It smells amazing! Almond, yum. I love the furniture polish because it isn’t at all waxy and doesn’t leave an extra, fake shine on my furniture.

Orange Glo mop. My sister gave me one of their wood floor cleaning kits a couple years back. The other products are long gone, but the mop survives. It has a detachable microfiber pad that can be rinsed out or thrown in the washer. I use it with the Method floor cleaner and my wood floors look great.

Swiffer sweeper and duster. These are a great invention. I don’t really like the use and toss part of them – too much waste – but I need to use what I have. After I have used up my current supply, I hope to make some reusable covers.  Check out these ideas: microfiber swiffer duster by Merwing, fleece sweeper and duster by Merwing, knit sweeper by Knit Playground (see downloadable free pattern in right column).

Murphy’s Oil Soap. Old school, but really good for wiping down woodwork. I think I get this from my Mom.

Shop Vac. Great for cleaning corners, window sills and vents. After wrangling with a coat hanger and the hose, I finally got mine working as it should. I swear it could pick up rocks!

Recycled t-shirt towels. When old t-shirts pass their prime in my house, I cut them up into rags and use them for a variety of cleaning tasks. Plus, I feel like I am being less wasteful if the t-shirts have a second life.

Those are just a few of my favorites. I haven’t even gotten to the kitchen and bathroom yet... Do you have any favorites? Or have any good sweeper and duster replacement tutorials to share?

so so easy rice cooking

Last night, I had a little extra time to mosey around the house, so I thought I would finally try Angry Chicken's rice cooking thing. I love brown rice and it fits right into my MHFC nutrition goals, but I really do hate cooking it - something always goes wrong, either it is too dry, burnt on the bottom or too mushy. For a while now, I have gotten around this by buying frozen rice at TJ's (which they are always sold out of these days) or the ones in precooked microwaveable packages (bags or bowls). But, honestly, while they are yummy and oh so easy to prepare, I feel like I am wasting a lot of money and using a lot of unnecessary packaging.

So, without having to purchase a thing, I just grabbed my jar of brown rice out of the pantry (it had been sitting there a while since I messed up the rice the last time I tried to cook it) and cooked up a ton of fluffy, nutty brown rice. It is almost as easy as cooking pasta - it takes a bit longer, but if you can boil water, you have all the skills you need. With Amy's recipe calling for three cups of uncooked rice, I ended up with 3, 2 cup bags of rice and 4, 1 cup bags of rice (approximately measured). That will keep in in brown rice for weeks! Oh, and the house smelled yummy too.

Did you notice I said bags of rice in the last paragraph. Yes, I know that totally goes against the "save packaging" notion I had in the first paragraph. I know, I know, baggies are not the best option, but they were what I had on hand. I plan to get some reusable packaging for the next time.

Now, I haven't tried it out of the freezer yet, but I am sure it will still be just as tasty.

a little spice... and organization

I know I am crazy busy with crafty holiday projects, but my pantry has been calling my name the past few weeks. It really needs some work... and if I am going to enjoy my holiday baking, it needs to be clean and organized soon.

On a recent trip to the store, I bought some new jars - the fun vintage, squarish looking ones with silver lids - for my baking supplies. But, I put them in the basket drawers of my rolling cart/island instead of in the pantry.

My pantry is pretty small. And honestly it has too much stuff in it. I am trying to limit my grocery purchases so I can use up what I have and take stock of what I really need. I also plan on being a bit pickier as I purchase new items - more healthy choices, less processed foods etc.

One shelf I really need to start with in the spice shelf. Have you seen the McCormick spices ad in the magazines that shows some old jars and tins? It tells you how crazy old some of your spices might be. I know mine aren't 10 or 15 years old like the ad illustrates, but I know mine could use a weeding out.

Over the weekend, I stopped into my neighborhood Penzey's Spices. I have to admit, I haven't actually visited before and it has been open for years. What fun. I know, it is a little odd to have a blast in the spice store, but I did. I picked up some small containers of spices I knew I needed and some I wanted to try. I am looking for as many unique ways to spice up chicken and fish... so now I have some new options.

More organizing to come soon (photos too I hope)... but hopefully, I can avoid last nights disaster - dropping an open jar of peppercorns. Seriously peppercorns move far and fast on a linoleum floor and are not so much fun to clean up!

thanks sis

My sister surprised me with these thrifted goodies over the weekend. Totally made me smile - I love embroidery, especially vintage finds like these. So nice to have her looking out for me.

Just wish I had the time to do a bit of my own embroidering right now, but I just seem to be on overdrive with everything else. Work. Family. etc. There just isn't time... and if there is, I am tired.

Another big surprise this weekend. Another sister surprised the family by visiting for Mom's day. My niece Nicole and nephew Sean even tagged along, all the way from Virginia. The surprise went off without a hitch. One moment the back deck was empty and the next it was filled with family - Mom was giddy. It was a good day.

Later that night she told me she had wished to have everyone together on Mom's day. I am so glad her wish came true.

so martha

Today, I received a very good email from Martha, well not really Martha herself, but you know. It was promoting the launch of her newly redesigned site. Most of us have noticed the transformation over the past few weeks, but now it is officially brand new. Yeah!

To celebrate, they launched a special game, so martha, where domestic goddesses like us can play, essentially, adult Mad Libs. Even better, when you create your own "so martha" moment story, you can enter to win a trip to New York and tickets to the Martha show. Wouldn't that be fun?

The first person I thought of when I saw this site was Kelli. She just threw a great party that would work perfectly under the "A Party To Die For" category and I am sure Amy with her Simplify 07 could come up with the perfect "You Put It Where" story.

From a designers perspective, the graphics are amazing. Clean and fresh. So, well, Martha.

cooking and thinking

I had a really peaceful, thoughtful Friday night - which was just what I needed after my fun day at work (by the way, thanks for all the wonderful words of wisdom I received after my last post). I spent Friday night burying myself in COAKII spirit - by cooking some freezer foods for my parents.

My Mom hasn't been her healthiest as of late and my Pops has had to pick up the slack around the house. At 71 he still loves going to work and now he works again when he gets home by cooking dinner, cleaning up etc. Don't get me wrong, he always has been a great helper, but it used to be more of a team project (and more fun because it was a team project). So, to help out and maybe make evenings a bit easier around the house I prepared a couple of my favorite freeze and go recipes: Empanadas and Stuffed Greek Chicken.

Mom and Pops now have 7 meals ready and waiting in their newly cleaned and organized freezer... and I have a couple for myself too (freeze and go is great for the single girl).

A few recipe notes: For the chicken, I don't use cutlets, I just butterfly boneless, skinless chicken breasts. And flash freeze everything on cookie sheets, then bag them up - this way nothing sticks to each other. Oh, and the empanadas are good with cheese melted on top. Yumm.

mmm... mint chocolate brownies

Last night I tried out a new recipe - Mint Chocolate Chip Brownies. The recipe is from Everyday Food - I get weekly emails full of yummy recipes and this one came at just the right time. Pretty easy to make, although it isn't a one bowl wonder. It involves melting chocolate and whisking in ingredients. The results are worth the effort. Yummy! The recipe notes a total time of three hours - not really, this includes cooling time. These were in the oven withing fifteen minutes, cooked for 45 and cooled quietly until just before bedtime... so definitely not three hours of effort. Try them especially if you love peppermint.

In addition, I also made my favorite Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Brownies. These are extremely easy and so quick - only five minutes to mix up. I have been making them for years.

The brownies are for snack at a trivia night - "Not Your Average Trivia Night." It is crazy fun... and for a good cause. It supports The Saint Louis County Truancy Court, which helps keep kids in school. The foundation is close to my volleyball friends - the foundation was founded in memory of  a teammates college roommate's father. We also play in a kickball tournament each year to show support.

Oh, almost forgot, Kickball starts this weekend - yeah! Old School Rejects all the way. For info about the St. Louis Kickball Association (SKA), click here. It is addicting and just as much fun as it was in grade-school! Pictures from our first season (gosh over 5 years ago) are in here.

mmm good... soup

Last night I whipped up (with supervision by my Ang) a really yummy soup - Mexican Chicken. It was quite easy... and quick.  Plus, the best part was the cilantro. I love cilantro! Seriously, I could eat salsa with cilantro all day long. But, that really isn't the point...

Just in case you are inspired to make some soup too, here is the recipe:

Mexican Chicken Soup

four split chicken breasts, bone in, skin on
olive oil
salt and pepper
2 cups chopped yellow onions
1 cup chopped celery
4 large garlic cloves, chopped
2 1/2 quarts chicken stock
1 28 oz can whole tomatoes in puree, crushed
2-4 jalapeno peppers, seeded and minced
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon coriander
1/4 to 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
6, 6-inch fresh white corn tortillas

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place chicken skin side up on pan. Rub with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast for 35-40 minutes. When cool, discard skin and bones, and shred the meat. Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in large pat. Add onions and celery. Cool over medium-low heat for 10 minutes. Add garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Add chicken stock, tomatoes with their puree, jalapenos, cumin, coriander, salt, pepper and cilantro. Cut tortillas in half, then cut crosswise into 1/2 inch strips. Add to soup. Bring to boil, then lower heat and simmer 25 minutes. Add shredded chicken and season to taste. Serve hot, topped with avocado, sour cream, grated cheddar and broken tortilla chips.

I was curious about putting fresh tortillas in the soup, but they actually dissolve and act as a thickener. The house smelled amazing while this was cooking! Yum!

pbarn paint

Well, actually, Benjamin Moore has Pottery+Barn inspired paint.  How exiting is that?  As a PB employee from way back, I still love pretty much everything PB. Not enough to have my entire house decorated in it... just some. But the stores and catalog provide tons of decorating inspiration. Maybe it is the comfy, yet classic styling. I am hooked.

So, when I checked out the website during my Bedroom Redo search, I was so excited to see that they finally have made the speciics of their color palette available. Just last month I emailed a friend with a picture from their website saying "and I would like to find a paint color something like this."  Now, I can. The website even gives you a color-map of the catalog by page. Love it. And I love the colors:

Check out the PB website for more info. You can even request your very own fandeck of color swatches. Yes, I said your very own fandeck, without being a professional designer - how fun.

I know this is free advertising... oh well.  I am thinking Buxton Blue or Misted Green.