Juicing, Painting, and cooking chicken.

I don't think it is so much the "juice" itself that makes one feel so good, but the concentration of fruits and vegetables that one would otherwise not eat. Goodness knows that without today's smoothie, I would never have consumed an apple, spinach, carrots, beets and pineapple!

No matter, I feel wonderful. I feel nourished inside and out, grateful, and peaceful. Is it the juice/smoothie? Who knows, but I like it. Tomorrow I am sure I'll have another and we'll see from there. Thank you, Rawesome!

And to top it off, she saved yesterday's juicing pulp for my chickens/compost. Rock. On.

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The dresser project is SO CLOSE to being finished. There are still a couple of question marks, mostly how I am going to attach the piano hinges to the drawer fronts. We'll see how that goes. I still need to varnish the body of it, but that's easy using wipe-on poly.

And yes, that is a canning jar with a Cuppow! lid that turns it into, essentially, a sippy cup. Love that thing - now I just need to make a jacket for the jar.

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And for dinner? Crock-pot Chicken with Rosemary and Lemon:

* truffle salt
* pepper
* several cloves of garlic
* 2 lemons
* fresh rosemary (mine is sundried, but still on the stem)
* whole chicken, skinned

Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper to taste. Stuff garlic into cavity. Quarter one lemon and stuff into cavity. Place chicken in crock-pot. Drape rosemary sprigs across top. Cook on high for four hours, or cook on high one hour then low for six.

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Oh, and I did manage to buy lumber for framing the chicken coop. But as of right now, it is still in the truck and the floor is still not nailed to the joists. Tomorrow's job is waiting for me.

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Peace, love and lizard kisses,
Petunia

18th Century WHAT?!

So yes, somehow I convinced myself that I could create a fun 18th century costume in a month to do a costume mob.

And yeah, I probably could have done it...
...except I waited until last week to start working on it!

So really, nothing is done except the stays, but I'll freely admit that I'm quite pleased with them. I apologize for the bad pics - hubby had the camera so the phone had to suffice:

Here's the front, as modeled by my lovely pillows. The fashion fabric is from a curtain swag I fell in love with at the thrift store. The binding is medium weight brown linen. There is non-woven interfacing inside, and the lining is a heavy-ish twill. The bones are the only thing that wasn't in my stash, and I used heavy duty duct ties from the hardware store. 

Here's the back. Notice the spiral lacing which is rather interesting to get into. Can't do it alone, that's for sure. And of course the black shoelace isn't ideal, but I don't own any brown boots to steal laces from.













The pattern is from J.P. Ryan (found here:http://www.jpryan.com/details/stays.html) and I strongly recommend it. This was a cinch to put together (no pun intended), but it was certainly time consuming. This one was made from the unaltered pattern and it left no gap in the back. Next time I'll order a size smaller or do some manipulation to give a little  more cone-cinch and some gap.

Next up: the J.P. Ryan Pet-en-l'air (found here: http://www.jpryan.com/details/petenlair.htm) made from some lovely blue and white curtains - thrifted, of course!

It feels SO GOOD to be sewing for myself, for fun...

Main Ingredient: BEANS!

I'm starting to collect bean (including lentils and soup peas) recipes. Sounds exciting, no?

From my friend Virginia A.:
Split Peas with Smokeys
"Well, I don't measure stuff! I use a package of dried split peas, chop a good-sized onion (saute that and as much minced or smashed garlic that you like in a little oil), thinly slice carrots, finely mince as much spinach as you want, and put all that and the Little Smokeys (I use the beef ones) into a pot then cover above the mixture with water (or chicken broth if you want). I bring it to a boil and then put it on simmer until it's pretty mushy (except for the sausages, of course!) and add water as needed during the simmering."

From my mom, Deborah T.:
Soup Beans
"There's nothing simpler than Soup Beans and they're great made with any kind of bean you have around. Just soak the beans overnight, rinse, cover with water, add a stick of good butter, a little oil and an chopped onion. Simmer a couple of hours until tender. Don't add the salt until fully cooked or they get tough. Serve with gluten free corn bread and chopped raw onions and/or chow chow." 

From a neighbor, Kevin H.: 
Refrigerator Chili (or bean salad)

It's a quick and easy thing to have handy for snacking, lunch or a side. I thoroughly rinse all items in a strainer except the tomatoes, and use low/no salt versions when available, or cook and chill your own fresh or dried beans.

3 different cans of firm beans like Black, Garbanzo, Kidney
1 can niblet corn (optional)
2 small cans mushrooms
1 or 2 cans diced tomatoes (to taste)
1 small onion, finely diced
1 bell pepper, finely diced
Mix all the above together and season to taste. You can think chili (cumin, garlic, pepper and chili powder, liquid smoke), Italian (various herbs and garlic), or Indian with your favorite regional spices. just toss with a little oil, maybe some lemon, balsamic, Worcestershire, or whatever floats your boat at the time.

Any of these that I make, I'll post a picture and review.  
This will be a fun project!