22 Greystreet – Just another blog

United States canvas coloring picture

August 15, 2016 No Comments

One day I was thinking it would be fun for my kids to be able to track what states they’ve been to, and also have a reference to where all the states are located in the United States. For homeschool we’ve printed maps of the US and also have a coloring book with facts about each state, but I wanted something they could hang in their rooms that was more than a piece of paper or poster. I didn’t see many options I liked so I thought I’d try and make my own.

I enlisted my computer guy (aka, my husband) to make me a digital image of the United States. He made one blank and one with the state names. I then ordered a DIY sun screen printing kit from EZscreenprint. It took a little trial and error, but be were able to make two good useable screens.

You can see in the pictures that screen printing is not perfect. Some lines came out darker, some lighter, making each print a little different. It is also definitely trickier with the text, especially the smaller states. But, I think it gives a nice hand made look instead of a perfect manufactured look. The screens are standard paper size (I wanted to be able to use our printer at home) and then I screen printed on 11×14 inch canvases.

These turned out pretty much how I wanted and each of my kids has one to keep on their wall. So far they’ve colored in the states they’ve visited and decorated around the map with things like a compass, waves, and their own name for their map. I also made one for myself to color and used the screen to make a pillow for our camper. We’re also coloring in the states on the pillow as we visit them.

I colored the states using both fabric markers and Crayola markers and I think they both worked good.

Screen printing isn’t the cheapest DIY project, or cleanest, but it was fun to be able to make screens using the sun. If you don’t want to make your own, I have both styles available at my Etsy shop, Little Urbanite.

DIY/Crafts

Washi tape shelves

August 15, 2016 No Comments

I have been wanting to do something with washi tape for awhile now. All the pretty patterns and colors just scream fun craft project. I didn’t really know what to do until I was at Michaels one day and saw this pack of three little house shelves.

They were on sale for about $4.50 for the pack of three. I thought that was a great deal and bought one to hang in the kids play room, and then ended up going back a few days later for another one.

My thought was to decorate the sides with washi tape and then hang them on the wall to look like a little city where the kids could display little stuffed animals or lego builds or whatever. My 7 year old helped me with some and this is how they turned out.

I started the washi tape on the under side and then worked my way around each side, trying to keep it straight, all the way until I reached the underside on the other side. The washi tape seemed to want to pull off of the wood at the ends so I just used a piece of clear tape to hold them down. I love the look of the simple light wood with the pops of color from the washi tape. It was a fun,quick, and easy project!

Around the house

Our front entry redo

August 15, 2016 No Comments

When we bought our house, one of the things I didn’t really like was that the dining room was right next to the front door. I think if we had an eat-in kitchen it wouldn’t have bothered me as much, but given that this was our only place to eat, the layout seemed really awkward and not very private from anyone randomly stopping by our house.

The idea we came up with was to build a wall at the entry to give us privacy and the entry more of a feeling of purpose than just an opening into the dining room. To the left of the dining room table there was a wall that split the dining room and kitchen, which also seemed weird. So, part of our plan was to also rip out the wall dividing the kitchen and dining room in order to make an eat in kitchen. But that’s a post for another day.

If you look at the before pictures you can see blue tape on the floor. We did this to figure out where the new wall needed to go and get an idea of how much room we would have in the new entry. We were also limited by how far we could push the wall out because of the window in the dining room. Along with the tape we also briefly hung some curtain down from the ceiling to give us a better visual feel as to what the new wall would look like.

We paid contractors to build the new wall for us up to the point of texturizing. Then we primed, painted and installed new baseboards. The old door had seen better days, so my awesome husband also installed a new dutch door. I thought a dutch door out in the country would be fun. I painted it the same color as a built-in in our living room.

The rug, light fixture, and mirror are from Ballard Designs. The shoe cubbies are from Ikea, the pillow from Etsy, and the chair I bought on clearance a couple years ago from Crate and Barrel. The monkey lamp I’ve had for about 20 years and has been broken and fixed a few times.

The #SUMMER banner I made and is available through me Etsy shop, LittleUrbanite.

We have a catch all for keys and sunglasses and, some hooks for coats or bags, and a great book under the monkey lamp, Do Unto Animals by Tracey Stewart. The chicken and sheep photos on the wall I took at the Farm Sanctuary in Acton, our family spent Valentine’s Day at the sanctuary.

So there you have it, our new cozy little entryway!

Mom I'm hungry!

Sweet Potato and Rice Casserole

July 26, 2016 No Comments

Tonight for dinner I made a casserole that I’ve been making for about a year now. This is one of my you have to eat it dishes. My 10 year old has warmed up to it and now thinks it’s good and my 7 year used to like it but now begrudgingly chokes down every bite. That’s how it goes in our house, if one kid likes it, that pretty much means the other kid won’t.

One of the things I love about this recipe is that it gets some veggies in my kids. My 10 year old has finally decided that she’s ok with veggies if they’re mixed into her food. A lot of the time I chop up the veggies nice and small, but not in this recipe. My kids are used to sweet potatoes by now (we often roast them with a little oil, salt, and pepper as a side dish) and I think edamame is already small enough.

The changes I usually make to this recipe are that I don’t mix in the green chile peppers into the casserole (I tried it once and my girls didn’t like that). Instead I leave them on the side for my husband and I to sprinkle on top. I also usually don’t add the pumpkin seeds or the fresh sage and use brown rice instead of white. I think this recipe is great because my kids are getting good protein, fiber, and veggies. Tonight I served this with some organic strawberries on the side.

Here’s a picture of how mine turned out, not a pretty as the picture above, but still yummy.

This is what was left after we finished eating.

If you’re looking for something new to try, give this a whirl.

Mom I'm hungry!

What’s for lunch? Veggie burgers

July 24, 2016 No Comments

Today for lunch we made Umami almond, Quinoa,and sundried tomato burgers from Plant Powered Kitchen. These are one of my favorite veggie burgers because my whole family will actually eat them. It wasn’t always easy getting my kids to eat veggie burgers, I think partially because they would look so huge on their plate that it was a bit overwhelming. For awhile I would cut one in half and that helped, but then I discovered mini hamburger buns at Trader Joe’s. These buns have been great and my girls think it’s fun to eat miniature burgers. The only variations I made from the recipe is that I didn’t include the dried rosemary because I didn’t have any and I usually just use one bunch of green onions which is probably less than the recipe calls for. I made up the mix the day before and then my husband made up the patties today. We were able to make an extra set of two big and two little patties that went into the freezer for another time.

So, for lunch the girls had a mini umami burger, some fruit, and a handful of Barbara’s cheese puffs (we used to get these all the time in Oregon as a treat, but for some reason I haven’t been able to find them in the stores I shop at here, so I’m always on the lookout whenever I shop somewhere else than my normal stores).

My husband and I also ate an adult size umami burger, cauliflower and carrots with homemade vegan ranch dip, and a little homemade sauerkraut. We also shared a Blue Sky Natural Soda (we have to buy it online from Amazon since it’s something else I can’t find in our stores).

I didn’t think to take a picture of our food but I did snap one of our cats joining us for lunch. Letting them sit on the table at meal time is totally not proper, but then my kids are quick to point out that we’re not a proper family. We only let them do this when it’s just the four of us!

Mom I'm hungry!

Chickens and a Frittata

July 21, 2016 No Comments

I have been wanting chickens for a few years now and this last Easter I finally got some! We didn’t get little chicks because I didn’t want the anxiety of keeping them alive, plus I didn’t want to buy the extra stuff you need for chicks. I wanted ones old enough to go straight outside in their new home. We ended up with four chickens about 8-10 weeks old. We think the breeds are three rhode island reds and one black sexlink. The kids named them, but with three being basically identical, I’ve opted to calling them my lovely ladies. The black hen has been laying eggs for probably almost two months, but within the last week, the other three have started laying eggs.

So, with lots of eggs coming our way I figured it was time for me to make my first ever frittata. I had pinned a couple recipes and decided to try one from a blog I like called Dishing Up The Dirt. The recipe is for a swiss chard, feta, and leek frittata. The changes I made to the recipe were that I used rice milk instead of heavy cream (I try to avoid straight milk whenever possible and being vegetarian it’s easy to overdue it with milk and cheese on everything so I try to limit how much I cook with it at home). I also used only 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper instead of the 1/2 teaspoon in the recipe (even with just the 1/4 amount I could still feel some heat). Our chickens eggs are a little smaller right now than grocery store eggs so I used nine eggs instead of 8. We also have cherry tomatoes in our garden right now so I threw some on top before putting the frittata in the oven. I don’t have an 8 inch skillet so I used my 10 inch.

The flavor is really good and my husband and I ate it for lunch. I didn’t try giving it to my girls because I wasn’t sure if the cayenne would be too strong. I think even with using less they would have thought it was too hot. So, the girls each ate a sprouted whole wheat bagel that I cut open and made into pizza bagels. On the side one had organic kiwi and the other organic raspberries. Sometimes I make them at least try what I’ve made and other times I just want to be able to enjoy my meal without them complaining about what’s on their plate.Today was a day I wanted to eat in relative peace. Below is a link to the recipe I used. If you get a chance check out some other great recipes on the site.

Swiss Chard, Feta & Leek Frittata

This is our coop mid construction. We still needed to cover part of the top with a tin roof. We have coyotes where we live and I wanted to make sure the ladies were safe.

This is the size of our chickens when we first got them.

My first egg, ok second egg. I wasn’t expecting an egg for another month or so and the first egg got pecked at or stomped on before I found it.

Save

Around the house

Kid/Guest Bathroom Remodel

July 21, 2016 No Comments

So, we moved to North San Diego county at the end of July 2015 from Portland, Oregon. We lived in Oregon about 8 1/2 years and came to the conclusion that, well, we missed the sun. We had left California to try something different, but were now ready to move back. So, we bought a place with a couple acres of land out in the country and have been busy ever since trying to fix it up. The house is about 1850 square feet and was built in 1996. It hadn’t been updated and was well lived in and in need of some love. The paint colors were all very dark, so the first thing we did was paint paint paint. We chose a white color with just a hint of green, a color we used in our last two houses and decided would be a good neutral pallet since we weren’t quite sure what color scheme we wanted to use.

The next task we focused on was the kid’s bathroom/guest bathroom. Our house only has two bathrooms so it was important that we made an inviting space for guests, but also kid friendly. We did all the work ourselves, trying to keep the costs down as low as possible. The tub/shower was tiled in white squares with a dark green strip of small square tiles. Since the white tiles were in good shape we decided to carefully take out the green strip and replace it with a more updated look. We chose a mosaic tile with white ceramic and marble. We also replaced the floor tile with light grey 12/24 inch tiles. We put in a new toilet and replaced the old oak cabinet with a white cabinet with a marble top that came with the sink already attached and a faucet that came free with purchase. The marble countertop has proven to be a little more stressful to maintain than I thought. It discolors easily if water sits on it for too long, or if the kids drop toothpaste on it and I don’t notice right away. You also need to be careful what you use to clean it with. I use water for quick cleanup and hydrogen peroxide for a deeper clean. I can’t use my go to vinegar on the marble surface. So I find myself wiping down the countertops more often than usual since my girls seem to get water everywhere whether they’re brushing their teeth or just washing their hands. We also decided to put up another big mirror to cover up all the marks left behind from taking down the old mirror. If we did it over we’d probably patch up the wall and use a more decorative mirror to make it feel cozier. Someday I’m hoping to go back and trim it out with wood to soften it a little. The mermaid pictures on the wall I painted with water color (using a picture I found online as a guide) and then bought matching towels. My girls each have color and hang up their towel under the matching picture. Finally, the lighting was changed out, we installed a new shower head, the walls were painted, and we installed new baseboards.

This project took us about a week with weekends on both ends. We ran into problems with the new vanity being taller than the old one and plumbing had to be moved which was a big pain for my husband and resulted in a lot of trips back and forth to the hardware store for plumbing pieces.

Bathroom before

The bathroom after. We had just gotten two kittens and Sprinkles was checking out the new sink.

Save

Where are you going?

We bought a travel trailer?!

July 16, 2016 No Comments

So last weekend our family drove from North San Diego to Las Cruces, New Mexico to pick up a camper trailer we bought from Texas. Kind of crazy considering we’ve never slept in any kind of rv or camper trailer. We’ve never even taken our kids camping. The idea has always just seemed so miserable and uncomfortable. It probably doesn’t help that the couple times I went camping as a kid were, well, uncomfortable and miserable and I just didn’t want to go through that with my kids.

Thankfully my husband and I have a little bit of an impulsive side to us and once I planted the seed of the idea of solving our camping issue by maybe being camper trailer people, the idea started to sprout. Sometimes things happen for a reason because I somehow ended up subscribed to a blog and was receiving emails about this family in the blog who happened to be on a road trip across the United States in a camper trailer. The blogger is currently documenting their travels and I started finding myself looking forward to the posts. So, I decided it couldn’t hurt to just look up what travel trailers cost, what you get for the price, and if it is even something we could pull with our suv. My husband, Scott, and I found ourselves getting a little too wrapped up in researching travel trailers and were staying up way too late looking at trailer after trailer. Nothing seemed quite right until one morning (after Scott had been up way too late) he said I think I found something that meets all our criteria. The criteria was that my suv can pull it, it has a full bath (no wet bath), two permanent bunk beds for our girls, a little kitchen area, and bonus points if it looks cool (none of that tacky rv fabric). What he found was perfect, so the next step was finding one in the color scheme we liked that was hopefully used because a new model was more than we wanted to pay. This proved harder than we thought since the model we liked was only a few years old. We only found two used trailers on the west coast that met our pretty strict criteria. One in Colorado and one in Texas. The Texas one was cheaper and had a full size fridge, so that’s what won us over, and here we are.

I’m so happy we decided to make an unpractical leap and go for it. We’re hoping to have lots of adventures with our little travel trailer. We’re off on our first adventure in a couple weeks!

Save

Things I Like

Challenge Your Thinking

July 16, 2016 No Comments

I love people watching and wondering what their back stories are. Reading stories about people going from “rags to riches” or overcoming obstacles they were told couldn’t be done is so inspiring and interesting to me. If I could go back in time to college I think I would take more Sociology type classes. It’s so easy to get stuck in one way of thinking and not look at things from other points of view. That is why I love these books, they made me stop and think.

My dad got me hooked on these books years ago, written by Malcolm Gladwell. If you already know all about him, awesome. His books are right up my alley, when it comes to analyzing the psychology of people and society. Malcolm Gladwell is very clever in the observations and stories he uses in his books. The first book I read is called Outliers and it’s all about people who are outliers in society. I found it so fascinating and his style of writing makes it so easy to just keep reading and reading. I was addicted!

His other books, that are all as equally addicting and insightful are The Tipping Point, Blink, What the Dog Saw, and David and Goliath. If you get a chance, go to Amazon or some other book site/store where you can read the synopsis of these books. You may just get as wrapped up in them as I did and just maybe they’ll make you stop and look at people and society differently.

Save