Domestic

Christmas. Bring It.

Sunday was Family Christmas Fun Day at the Urban Homestead. After grabbing some Holiday-inspired coffees at Northstar Coffee, we headed to Thornton's Treeland for our tree.

 

Posey and I had a hard time deciding....while Amy almost fell on her ass from tripping over tree stumps.

Back at home to trim the tree we had a slight mishap in failing to secure the tree in the tree stand. It fell down.

But we hoisted it up again and it's sparkling in its Christmas glory.

Next, onto Holiday Card making. Below is a sneak peak at some card-design supplies.

Christmas as officially been brought'n.

The Best Part of Waking Up

A few minutes past 1 am the other night, we were awoken by a loud thud, followed by the tinkling of breaking glass. (And by we, I mean Sonia and I. Posey, burrowed under the covers near my feet, didn't flinch. Such a good guard dog.)

My thoughts flew to the kitchen, where I installed a few shelves the day after we moved in. Those shelves are crammed with jars full of grains, rices, beans, flours, sugars--even my chocolate chips are in a glass jar. This is where we get the joke that I'll someday put Sonia in a jar for safekeeping. 

Sonia, meanwhile, thought we might have an intruder. Broken glass = broken window, right? But the thud came first, so that didn't make sense to me. We banded together, woke up Posey, and went to investigate.

I was right about the kitchen. But it wasn't my shelf that fell off the wall. It was our wall cupboard that holds all of the dishes.

Uh... what the hell? Not only did it leave that green ceramic bowl on top of the espresso machine unscathed (I made that bowl, so thank goodness), but it landed upside down and backwards on the floor. We think it did a complete flip on the way down--and we found a gash on the front of the fridge the next day, backing up that theory.

Taking stock, at least 80 percent of our dishes did not survive the crash. This weird cut glass goblet that I drank out of on special occasions as a kid (cider to my parents' wine) didn't survive, either. And the cupboard, as you can see, definitely didn't survive.

Despite the expense it will entail, I'm actually quite excited that we'll be able to replace the cupboard with something more 1920s bungalow--a farmhouse style one that goes all the way to the ceiling (which, as you can see from the unpainted shadow left behind where this cupboard was, this one didn't). If anyone has a lead on a good cabinet maker in Portland, let me know!

And I've got a scheme to save a bit on the replacement dishes. When we registered at Crate and Barrel in the past for our wedding, we got a generous coupon in the mail a few weeks later, urging us to pick up the remaining items at a discount. So I've registered for replacement dishes, for our "celebration" on January 1 (we are, after all, having a few friends for brunch on New Year's Day), hoping that we'll get another coupon.

Out of Hibernation

We are, I believe, about to emerge from hibernation. My work has slowed down for the moment, and Sonia's on the verge of a studying break (however short). We're already planning a trek to cut down a Christmas tree, I've invented a new cookie for Sonia's cookie exchange at work (more on that later), I'm back into knitting after an odd six month hiatus, and I've joined the gym (!).

Also, I'm turning into a collecter. I'm trying to rid our home of tupperware and other plastic crud, and instead we're storing leftovers in mason jars and these guys:

I scoured a recent antique show, and picked up two of the little guys that are plain white, and a medium sized one with stars on it. They stack! They're cute! They're practical! They're pretty cheap! That's the best kind of collectible.

Baby Got a New Pair of Shoes

If there's one consistent source of disagreement in the homestead, it's on the subject of footwear. I have protested at least one of Sonia's choices in shoes in the basis that the color combination of red, white and black literally gives me a headache (the 80s-inspired pattern those hues were in didn't help matters). She hates that I wear clogs with a hole in one heel (which you can't see unless I put the sole of my shoe in your face).

Sonia tends to put things like this on her feet:

Then she snubs my classic clogs, and wonders aloud whether they're appropriate for a professional woman. Let's take a look and compare, shall we?

While those may be the kind of shoes you tend to find in shops that advertise comfortable footwear, they aren't exactly sneakers (ahem).

Regardless, my clogs are scuffed up, and there's that hole. Time for new shoes, Sonia insisted yesterday.

My pal Mike happened to be behind the counter at the shoe store yesterday, and he got an earful about my mental crisis over shoe buying. The girl I am inside wants to wear something like this everyday (that girl also wants to wear skirts and dresses every day). But practical me, the gal who bikes to work most days (and wears jeans four days a week), is not so sure that's a great idea. Then there's price—if I'm going to shell out about $100 for shoes (which will, granted, last me about a year), it seems they should be pretty damn practical (see clogs, above).

I compromised. More stylish than clogs, but still fairly practical:

Well, how did I do? (And should I still get the heels?)

Epilogue: Sonia liked the shoes fine when she saw them in the box. But when she saw them on my feet, coupled with some argyle socks, she crinkled her face. I just can't win.

How Do You Clean Your Porch?

Amy vacuums ours.

Bread!

The bread rose quickly in today's heat...

And it baked so nicely.

You're supposed to wait for it to fully cool before cutting into it, but I couldn't help myself. As usual.

The Latest Obsession

I've been baking bread lately. I started with artisan-style loaves (and we're still using a recipe from the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day book for our weekly pizza night), but I've graduated to kneaded loaves for sandwiches. It's quite easy—based on a recipe plucked from the internets, and adjusted to be half whole wheat flour and half white flour, plus "Vital Wheat Gluten" from Bob's Red Mill instead of the "dough enhancer" called for in the original recipe. I'm not spending more than 5 or 10 minutes on it, and the loaf lasts us all week. It also costs next to nothing. And smells amazing. 

This week's bread dough is currently rising:

Check back later today for updates.

-Amy

Low-Car Dieting - Epilogue

By now I'm sure you're sick and tired of hearing about my damn Timbuk2 bag. Too bad.

After my bag went missing, I emailed customer service at Timbuk2 to relay my sob story and see if they could extend a small discount in the purchase of a second bag. Or at least commiserate with me that having your bag stolen sucks.

Well shortly after I sent my email, the bag was recovered and I emailed Timbuk2 to tell of the happy ending.

Those kooky Timbuk2 employees loved my story so much, they blogged about it on their Timbuk2 blog!

And now I'm blogging about their blog....blog, blog, blog. The word's lost all meaning.

Low-Car Dieting Pt. II

I've reached the end of my Low-Car challenge. And except for a miserable experience with a lost but then recovered bag, the experience has been positive.

(Last weekend my beloved Timbuk2 bag was taken from the Wonder Ballroom. The thieve(s) made good use of my credit and debit cards but left the rest of the bag and its contents untouched and stashed next to the old Cycle Oregon building, where Leon was able to match it to my craigslist posting and return it to me safe and sound.)

In my month being a biker I learned that bike grease stains, getting there is faster than you would think, and I love summer.

_{Portland is covered in bike}

So will I continue to be a full-time biker even when the weather turns?

Well thankfully Portland and New Seasons Market have me covered. For the entire month of September, my work will be participating in the 2008 Bike Commute Challenge!

Work places all over Oregon will compete to see how many employees can bike to work for the most number of collective days during September. And there are prizes!

So it looks like I will coast right through the summer and into fall as a bike rider extraordinare.

It's Baaaack...

Muffin of the week makes a triumphant return this week, with a Peach-Brown Sugar entry. Why we got away from MOTW, I don't know, but I'm glad we're reunited.

The recipe is a modification of this one, with the addition of two peaches, skinned, pitted and roughly diced.

More news from 'round the homestead: The garden is keeping us on our toes, with something new ripening every day. Just yesterday, I noticed that our cornichon cucumber—you know, those little guys that become mini pickles on your grandma's crudites plate—had cranked out a hefty gerkin. Oops. I picked a handful of little cornichon-sized ones today. We're up to our necks in zucchini, but it's manageable so far. The pole beans are almost there and same with our few ears of corn.