Screen House Update

AAAARRRGGGGG!!!!  Our internet went down last night, just as I was getting ready to do my blog post.  So, today I will be doing two posts to make up for yesterday!

Yesterday's Blog Post:  an update on the Craig's List Screen House.  My husband and I went north yesterday to our 40 acres outside of Bruno, MN to work on the insulation and wiring and we also brought a stack of sheetrock that needed to be unloaded from our truck.

The first thing he needed to do was the wiring near or in the places we were going to insulate.  He added boxes for a ceiling fan and lights in the kitchen and bathroom.  He also wired for a couple of outlets.

We are will be completely "off the grid".  Our little screen house will use only solar power.

The next step that had to be done was to add a fresh air vent.  We plan on have a little wood burning stove and fresh air has to be pulled in from some where.  We didn't want to rely on always having to remember to open a window so my husband made a spot for the air to be vented in from the outside.

Eventually this hole will have tubing that will go from the ceiling, down the wall to a vent.

Next, we started on the insulation.  We needed to get the rafters insulated before we put up the ceiling.  The rest of the ceiling can be easily insulated when the sheetrock is up - the rafters space is so small that  it need to be done first.

My husband had already done the corners on a trip a few weeks ago.

In order to hold the insulation in the rafters, we first had to put up plastic.  The plastic had to be tight and smooth when we stapled it to the roof.

After the plastic was in place, my husband measured and cut the pieces of insulation.  My job was to tuck the insulation into the rafters after getting instructions from my husband.

This was a very hot and itchy job.  I couldn't wait to get home to take a shower!

The last chore of the day was to unload the sheetrock.  That may seem like an easy task but it's a task that requires muscle that I don't really have!  We had to unload 14 sheets of 8 foot long sheetrock and 4 sheets of 12 foot long sheetrock.

My arms are pretty sore today!  The next time we go up to work, we will finish the insulating and start on the sheetrock.  I'm hoping that with a little help from our teenage boys, this little screen house will be completed this fall......or at least ALMOST done.

"Nothing ever comes to one, that is worth having, except as a result of hard work."  -Booker T. Washington

Fun Website for Beauty Product Samples

I was listening to the radio this morning and an interesting concept/website was discussed.  It's call Birch Box.  I was so interested in it, I got right on the computer to look it up.  Birch Box is a website where you select "high-end beauty, grooming, and lifestyle samples" and each month you receive a box of these goodies.

You pay a subscription price and then are allowed to choose different products that you'd like to try.  Each month, you're sent a box with samples of the products you've chosen.  I love this idea because often I buy a product, use it once and then can't use it again because of some sort of skin reaction.  Or I buy a perfume and then when I wear it, it smells rancid on my skin.  I have wasted so much money over the years!  With Birch Box, if you like the sample, they have a store where you can buy the full size.

They have products for men and for women.  On the radio show I was listening to, they suggested that this would be a great gift for someone in college.  I could see giving this as a gift to any teenager - boy or girl.  When I get a new job, I may gift this to myself!  Here's a link to the website   www.birchbox.com 

"She's not wearing makeup....or is she?"  -Unknown

Fine Dining in Coon Rapids, MN

I have the best network of friends!  They have been concerned about my mental health since I was let go from my job.  Tonight, three of them, Libby, Jenny and Tricia, took me out to dinner and a movie.  They made me laugh out loud.  Something I haven't done in a while!  Thank you ladies and thank you Chris for encouraging me to go!

They took me to dinner at The Harvest Grill at the Bunker Hills Golf Course in Coon Rapids, MN.  What a beautiful place - inside and out.  Here's a link to their website.  www.bunkerhillsgolf.com  The Harvest Grill has a very diverse menu - pasta, seafood, steak, salads, burgers - something for everyone. They also have a full bar with some great specialty drinks.  My friend Libby and I order the Lady Slipper Martini.

For dinner, we all ordered steak.  Our dinners came with a choice of salad or soup.  The potato choices were baked, mashed or wild rice and each steak was served with a side of sautéed fresh vegetables (yellow squash, zucchini, green beans, red pepper and onions).  I had the Carved Petite Tender which is a 6 oz. carved fillet.  My choice was to either have it prepared in a wine reduction or garlic butter.  I chose the wine reduction and it was fabulous!

Their dinner prices were moderate but well worth it.  I would love to go back for lunch and eat out on the patio before the weather turns cold.  It would also be a place with great ambience in the winter with all of the fireplaces.  It really has a nice north woods feel.  Definitely a place I will go back to!

"A good dinner is of great importance to good talk.  One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well."  -Virginia Woolf

Another Good Book

I love to read.  I always have multiple books on my nightstand, on the coffee table, in the car, in my work bag....anywhere I might want to pick up and read for a few minutes or a few hours.  My daughter loves to read just about as much as I do.  Recently, I started on a series that we both can enjoy.

The first book in the series is titled Divergent and it's authored by Veronica Roth.  If you, or anyone you know, has read The Hunger Game series, this series has a similar premise.  One huge difference is that the violence in Divergent is much more subdued and does not require a human hunting game.

Divergent  delves into human emotion, family dynamics, social order and many other "deep thinking" issues.  We chose this book for our September book club book.  I can't wait to discuss it.  I'm really looking forward to my daughter reading it as well.  I'll really be interested in her pre-teen thoughts about society, this fictional society as it relates to our real time society.

The next books in the series are Insurgent and Allegiant.  Search for all three books on Amazon to read their reviews and get a look inside the first few pages of each book.  When you've read them......let me know what you think!

"Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counsellors, and the most patient of teachers."  -Charles W. Eliot

Knit Monkey

Back in the middle of July, I blogged about a new knitting project I was working on......a baby gift for a friend of mine......a soft little monkey.  The pattern includes directions for the monkey, puppy and teddy bear.  It is a Skacel  Collection, Inc. Pattern.

At that time, I had picked out some very soft Caribou yarn,

Cascade Super Wash and a soft accent color.

I set to work on the monkey and......

over a month later, my little monkey is finally finished!

I found out today that out of all of these animal patterns, the monkey is the most difficult.  Not surprising as it took me much longer to knit it than I thought it would!  (Since I am giving this to the mom of a newborn, I used two little felt discs for the eyes and made the tail shorter.)  He's so soft!  My daughter either wanted to keep him for herself or wants me to make her one.  Maybe when I forget how much work this one was will I want to give it another try!  If you are a subscriber to the All About Yarn Newsletter, he will be one of the featured finished projects this week.  Yeah me!!!

"Cooking and cleaning are for people who haven't discovered knitting yet."  -Unknown

Our Annual Night Before School Starts Dinner

My boys start school tomorrow.  I will have a freshman and a junior in high school.  (My daughter doesn't start 6th grade until Wednesday.)  It is tradition in our family to have a special meal the night before school starts to celebrate the new school year.  So, tonight for supper I was going to make a heart shaped pizza and tie-dyed frosted cupcakes.  What I ended up making was a heart shaped pizza and chocolate cupcakes with buttercream frosting and yellow sprinkles.  Here's what happened with my attempt at tie-dying frosting.

I just used a regular chocolate cake mix to make the cupcakes.  They turned out great.

Mixing up the buttercream frosting went smoothly too.  I mixed together 1 cup of softened butter,

3 cups of powdered sugar,

1 teaspoon vanilla,

and 3 Tablespoons milk.

I used a hand mixer to blend the ingredients together into a smooth textured frosting.

Here's where the trouble started.......  I was out of frosting bags so I thought it would be OK to use a regular zip lock bag.  To get the tie-dyed affect, I used my finger and smeared lines of food coloring paste on the inside of the bag.

So far, so good.  Next I added the frosting to the bag and squeezed it to the bottom corner where I had placed the frosting tip.

No problem until I started to squeeze the frosting out of the tip.  My bag burst open and I had tie-dyed frosting all over.

So, I cleaned up my mess and decided to frost the cupcakes with the remaining buttercream frosting then used yellow sprinkles as the final touch.

The kids could have cared less.....they were just glad to have a sweet treat!

The pizza turned out much better.  I mixed up pizza dough in my bread machine - I just used the recipe that came with the machine.  I rolled out the dough and then shaped it into a heart.

I spread on our favorite topping and even cut little hearts out of the pepperoni.

I put it in the oven and about 30 minutes later, dinner was ready.

My boys act as if it's no big deal to have our annual Night Before School Starts Dinner but I can guarantee that they'd be very disappointed if I ever decided to skip a year!

"Education is learning what you didn't even know you didn't know."  -Daniel J. Boorstin

Mini Embroidery Project

My dad uses cloth handkerchiefs.  He has used them as long as I can remember.  I learned to iron by practicing on his freshly laundered ones.  My mom thought it was time for him to have some new ones and it would be nice for him to have them decorated by his granddaughters.  These would also make great gifts for someone like me, who seems to always be at a loss for tissues!

They started with nice white handkerchiefs and laid them out flat on the table.

 Then, my mom showed my niece and daughter how to use a plain No. 2 pencil to draw a design on the  fabric.

She told them to keep the design simple and to not worry about mistakes.  The handkerchiefs would be washed after they were done sewing them and any stray pencil marks would be "erased" by the washing.

After they drew on their design, the drew the fabric tight with a mini embroidery hoop.

Then came the embroidery lesson.  You start by using 3 to 6 strands of embroidery floss, knotting one end and threading the other end through a needle.  Pull the thread up from the bottom then work the stitch backwards - towards where you pulled the thread from the bottom - following the pattern on the fabric.

Both girls had no trouble catching on and were all smiles as they saw their designs become colorful patterns on the fabric.

Here is my daughter's completed handkerchief for her grandpa.

This was a great chilly afternoon project at the lake!

"He produced a handkerchief - crisply folded - and handed it to her.  She took it with silent astonishment.  She'd never before known anyone who carried a handkerchief."  -Cassandra Clare, City of Bones