Sunday photos

Kirker Treehouse!

Kyle deserves a "World's Best Father" mug. He spent all day Saturday and most of Sunday morning finishing Ellie and Josie's treehouse. Then, the three of them spent the night out there Sunday. It really is the treehouse of their dreams!

Testing the loft Saturday night

Peaking from the loft to the main floor

Perfect place to read in the breeze

Making the bed

Josie couldn't wait to clean up!

All tucked in for the night!

We did quite a bit of "re-purposing" in the treehouse…

• Roofing was left over from the pole barn
• Deck spindles are saplings from our forest
• Kyle bought the windows at the Habitat for Humanity resale store
• The door is from Great Grandpa Kirker's cabin
• The white chair was one that my Grandma Payne refinished for me when I was a girl
• Grandma Payne bought the girls their bean bags as birthday gifts a few years ago
• The window pulls are old stirrups we found at Great Grandma Payne's
• The floor of the loft is covered with interlocking mats that we used for the basement play area
• The bed in the loft is the pillow top from our old matress.
• The two rainbow quilts were made by Grandma Payne as an engagement gift
• The six pillows are faded deck pillows that I covered in leftover flannel scraps

Hmm…maybe this should have a been a Frugal-Friday post!

Sunday photo

The deck is open for business!

A happy little feathered family

The neighbors hosted a family of geese Monday. We walked over after dinner to watch the fluffy goslings swim with their parents. We made sure, no matter how badly they wanted to hold them, that Ellie and Josie stayed far away. Nobody in this family wanted to be attached by an angry goose parent!

Seven fluffy babies

Time for bed!

Happy Birthday, Clover Ann!

It's all about Clover

Tomorrow is Clover's second birthday. We were looking through the photos from her first year with us, the words "so cute" and "awe" were spoken repeately. Before we were finished, Josie looked at me and said, "They grow up so fast, don't they?" (Yes, Bug. They sure do.)

The first time the girls met Clover

Graphic design work can be tiring

Seriously exhausting work.

This little (sassy) ball of fur has brought a lot of joy to this happy little family.

Spring Cleaning

This house needs a good Spring Cleaning. However, throwing the windows open and airing it out with dust balls flying while I scurry around with my Snow White inspired bunny and squirrel cleaning crew isn't an option. It could be the lack of such cleaning crew, but it's more likely that the continuous snow or rain that we've seen the past few weeks has more to do with it. Oh…and 18˚–38˚ daily temps kind of squash the idea as well.

No worries though, I've been getting through some of those tasks that have been on the list for months, yet drain your energy just thinking about them. For example, the guest room/sewing closet. As of Tuesday afternoon it's completely organized, sorted and refreshed. I didn't have bunny and squirrel assistance, but I did have Ellie and Josie next to me, helping the entire time. Much, much better!

Doing things Right

I saw this on Instagram yesterday. 

I need to remind myself of this daily.

Here's today's reminder.

A walk in the woods

Is there a better way to quiet your mind than a walk through a silent forest?

 

When we had snow…

 The tiniest snowman outside the kitchen window.

His much larger brother, stepped out across the backyard.

Taking Stock: late fall 2015

Late Fall 2015

making: pumpkin muffins
cooking: a few new dinner ideas from this book  
drinking: red wine  
reading: books that have been on my "to-do" list  
wanting: a much needed date night   
looking: at deer in the backyard
playing: with ideas for remodeling our kitchen  
wasting: time on the website Houzz
sewing: pajama pants
wishing: the hens would start laying eggs again
enjoying: earlier bedtimes  
waiting: November 29, we can put up a Christmas tree!
liking: this warm November weather  
wondering: if it will ever start to snow
loving: my family  
hoping: Ellie does well at the KOC Spelling Bee in December   
watching: Josie drive Ellie around the yard in the golf cart
needing: a new stovetop – one of our burners burned up
smelling: baking sourdough bread  
wearing: flannel shirts
noticing: that Ellie keeps getting taller  
knowing: winter is coming  
thinking: I should make an actual scrapbook about  
              our Disney trip (yes…eight months later.)
feeling: happy  
opening: boxes from UPS – Christmas shopping!
 
Spring 2015 list is here
Fall 2014 list is here  
Summer 2014 list is here

Strawberry Jam – healthier version

I love, love, love strawberry freezer jam. There's nothing better on a crunchy piece of toast than jam that basically tastes like fresh strawberry shortcake. I've always used the basic sugar/pectin recipe that comes with the Ball pectin box. Never fails, always delicious. The problem is that it's about 60% sugar, 40% berries. (Makes the daily PB&J that the kids eat basically and PB and sugar sandwich.)

I found Pomona's Pectin at our local health food store. So…I gave it a try. Instead of sugar I used Raw Honey that Josie's friend Kenai and her parents get from their bees. Local berries, local honey. Works for me! (No local lemon. Sorry.)

I'm not going to post the recipe since you can find it in the box or online here, but I'll tell you, it's delicious. Certainly not as sweet as the original recipe, but Ellie and Josie love it, and they're the ones that will be eating it the most. I think we're set for a while!  :)

Recipe redux

A couple of weeks ago my mom stopped by for a recipe. When I pulled out my recipe binder, she was horrified. What used to be a neat-as-a-pin, perfectly organized collection of our Kirker family favorites had morphed into a serious paper-bomb of recipes printed from the internet and torn from magazines. Long gone were the sections for "main dish" or "dessert". In their place were hundreds of loose pages shoved together in sections for "stuff we want to try" and "stuff we make quite often." She told me the mess reminded her of my Grandma Payne's drawer and cupboard full of miscellaneous note papers and magazine clippings. (I smiled inside thinking that she and I share that style of recipe collecting.)

Long story short I couldn't find what she needed and realized my "method" may need to be adjusted. So…two binders and a giant box of sheet protectors later, the Kirker family recipes are all back in their perfect little sections. Plus, the binders each have a clip at the front – perfect for those "stuff we want to try" pages.

I have to admit, despite the piles of paper I was buried in for a few hours last Sunday, the entire process was quite therapeutic.

Recipe: Coconut Body Butter

A couple of years ago I switched from using olive oil as a body moisturizer to coconut oil. Coconut oil is fine in the summer when our house is warm enough for it to be soft at room-temperature. However, in the winter, when our house is a "balmy" 65˚F, the stuff is hard as a rock. So…for most of the bloody year the colder months, I whip coconut oil with a little castor oil to make a soft, easy-to-use body butter.

Coconut Body Butter
Ingredients
1-1/2 cups cold-pressed, organic coconut oil
2 tablespoons castor oil
5-10 drops of essential oil (for scent) – optional

Directions
Place all three ingredients in a bowl and whip with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Place in a glass jar with a lid and enjoy as needed!

Note:
To use: Rub a quarter-sized amount between your hands until melted, then rub it into your skin. If you've never used coconut oil as a moisturizer, it might seem a little greasy at first. I promise that within five minutes, your skin will happily drink it in, leaving you soft and smelling like heaven. (Plus, your body will thank you for avoiding the parabens, petroleum and phthalates that are found in commercial moisturizers!)