Somethings are just too pho-king good...

Today, I made Pho.  (pronounced Fuh.)  We used to eat Pho a lot in Buffalo, at 99 Fast Food mostly.  Not a great part of town, but the Pho there...Delicious stuff.  There's a little place in Utica we found, though we've only been there once, and another, called PhoShizzle, opened, then closed rather quickly.  I've been wanting some.  Badly.  Enough to make me find that link I booked marked so long ago, and read through it several times, and even enough to go to the store and find all the ingredients, including bones.

I'm an American girl, I admit it.  Buying bones made me a little weirded out.  Not that I could tell you why- maybe because they were, you know...bones, and not meat.  Of course, when I went shopping for them, I couldn't find them, and in the end, John found them and bought them.  But the point is...buying bones is just not something I ever did before, and it was just really odd.  For like 5 minutes.  And then I made Pho and I will be buying bones again.  And trust me, it was not as bad as having to cut the feet off my own semi frozen fresh turkey, complete with more than a handful of feathers and gizzards still intact. That's a story for another day I suppose.

Cooking all day baby

It was a sort of nice way to combat the cold and snow that hit today.  our area was hardly hit at all, thankfully, but it was cold!  I figured today of all days would be a good day to make something so warm and delicious.

The recipe was easy.  I followed it pretty precisely, only lacking a cardamon pod.  I parboiled the bones, and charred the ginger and onions, and a bag of spices (which I really liked using.)  Within minutes of the bones, meat, and spices boiling, my entire house smelled like a Pho restaurant.  It goes without saying that I was very excited, and very hungry all day.

In the end, the Pho broth was REALY good.  A little greasy, but according to that blog, I can reduce the amount of marrow I use, and it won't be as greasy.  My mistake was grabbing the wrong type of noodle, and canned bean sprouts.  Before you ask "What??!!", let me tell you...I couldn't find fresh bean sprouts, and forgot how soggy the canned ones were. And sadly, the only rice noodle product at the store was the uber thin "rice stick" (mifun) style and I really needed the thicker style. 

My bowl of pho!

However, in the end, it was really good.  Pho-king good.  And I still have a ton of broth left, happily sitting in my freezer, for another cold day to be combated with a bowl of steaming hot Pho.

Who needs HGTv? (Me!)

Updating the house is a slow process, with two kids under 5, a working husband and winter.  Particularly, it's hard to do the living room, since that's the main area we all hang out in.  However, that's going to change, mainly because it's starting to all get under my skin.  Usually I just do something than show, but I figured...hey it's kind of fun to share my planning process.

Needs: New door, No wall paper.

 You can see the first changes needed here.  It's a small living room, with only two windows.  It's not very bright at all.  I'd like to add a new door, with a bigger glass section, one that allows more light into the room.  The wall between the window and door needs some sort of art work.  Our giant framed map of Middle Earth is still in need of a home on our walls.

Of course, you can also see the biggest change to make is getting rid of that wall paper, and painting the room.  Since our sofa is a dark chocolate brown, I'm going to go with a very light brown, maybe a nutmeg, with a darker trim.  Probably not very original, but most definitely very me, and nice.

Maybe some lighting, and definitely some new curtains.

This isn't the best picture, but you would just see more of that ugly wall paper, and some very old curtains and drapes.  New ones will be put in, along with some Roman shades.  To make more room, we plan on getting rid of that particular TV stand, which is old and broken, and getting something smaller, and maybe taller

I can't wait to do everything, and have this be my before picture.

You can see the ugly paneling wall in the next picture.  I don't know why I hate it so much, but I do.  It's got to go.  I'm afraid that it's going to be brick behind it though, so my plan is to spackle the ridges, and paint over paneling.  It's going to be a dark brown, because instead of keep those walls bare, we're going to add shelves, most likely in a contrasting color, for books, DVD's and games..

I'm also going to paint the fireplace, (Twilight Taupe) and add a lovely hearth rug for in front of the fireplace.  The DVD rack thing will be moved, as well as the light.  I think above the mantle also needs some art work, as well as some plants on the mantle, and by the fireplace.  Small orange trees, anyone?

Do your eyes burn looking at that wall paper?

It's hard to see in the next picture, but the very corner of the room, where the couch is against the wall, sticks out immensely.  It's actually a linen closet on the other side of the house.  I'm so tempted to knock that down...  More of the same plan here.  Remove wall paper, paint, add some wall art.  I'd also like to add some wall sconces.

Because I live here, and it makes my eyes burn.

A part of me wouldn't mind taking out the wall near the stairs, on both sides, opening the room to the Dining room.  I love our banister, but it's only on one side.  I've have to find a matching one, though I'm sure it's not too hard.  If not, some smaller corner shelves would be really nice, along with some wall vases.

So I guess in the end, the one thing that doesn't need changing is the carpet.  it has nice carpet, although it's hard to tell at times, as my living room is usually covered in kids toys...

I think the first step is going to be to slowly remove all the wall paper, scrubbing section by section until it's read for the first coat of paint.  Then we'll paint, add the bookshelves, and change the curtains.  After that, it'll be a "one piece at a time" change, maybe starting with the TV stand, and ending with the door.

Talking about this has made me totally psyched, and I'm so tempted to just tear off one panel of wall paper, just because it would feel so good.

Monday Musings

Well, the bad news seems to be that my computer is broke. I'm lucky enough that John recently got free laptop computer from his work, so I can use that when he's not at work. But it's amazing how reliant I am on my computer. I've got my blog here, and on LJ. My business/etsy shop. I play on ravelry almost daily lately. Window shopping on Amazon, various communities and forums. I talk to my friends via colloquy and adium and gchat and IRC. Everything is bookmarked. I feel sort of disconnected from everything at the moment.

I guess it's good to disconnect at times, right? I try not to be online 24/7, but I admit fully to being guilty of being online a lot more than most people. Of course, it's hard not to be, when your socially isolated, living in the wilds of Central NY. Sometimes, online is the only adult interaction I get in a day, outside of the husband.a

Ah well.  The entire point of this post is to let you guys know I'm trying hard to remember to post here.  Even a dead Mac isn't stopping me.  And hopefully tomorrow and Wednesday's big snow storm won't either.

Confession

Alright.  I admit it.  For years, I made fun of Snuggie users.  Seriously, what purpose does a backwards bathrobe serve?  Nothing! At least that's what I told myself.

Well then I saw it.  The Sabres Snuggie.  I laughed, I made fun of it, I resisted as long as I could.  And then I caved.  Sluggo Snuggie...I would have you.  So, at the arena in December, I saw it...and I bought it.  Actually, I bought one with the new logo, despite it being a bit more expensive...If I was going to shame myself with a snuggie, I didn't need the shame of it being the slug too.  So instead of the Sluggo Snuggie, I have the Sabres Slanket.

I love my snuggie, I admit it.  It's warm!  It's soft!  I can't knit in it, but I can read my kindle and hug a baby or two.  At some point, I guess we'll have to try some of the (NSFW) Snuggie Sutra... (omg tmi! TMI!)

Now, before anyone goes off and makes fun of me, I have to tell you- Snuggies are contagious.  Wear one, and you'll want one of your own.  John has been making fun of me since I got it, and yet, he wears it quite often.  A few times I've had to threaten his life because he didn't want to give it back to me.

(Please note, no life threatening has really occurred.)

Guinea Pig days

Is it February yet?  Seriously...the sooner January ends,  the sooner February will end, and then maybe, just maybe, we can get some better weather.  I think January and February are the only months of the year that I question my sanity of living in the North.  Of course, like the sun, my wits return in the Spring and I enjoy life in the North...but really, right now...I'm so sick of the snow, cold and dreary days.

Winnie the Squeaky Butt Guinea Pig

Remember this little guy?  He's still around, and getting fat and spoiled.  I didn't get a chance to let you all know what Lilia decided his name was.  The winning name was...Winnie.

Ok, so no one gave us that name.  Lilia picked it herself.  It's cute, although I don't think anyone in the house calls him Winnie!  I call him Squeaky Butt, which cracks Lilia up (If you don't know, Butt is the funniest word ever for a 4 year old).  Lilia stills calls him Guinea Pig, and Liam...well, Liam is still a bit confused, and calls him Bunny.  So there you have it.

He's not a bad Guinea pig.  Squeaks a bit more than I expected, and it's most whenever I enter the room, as I'm the one that feeds him.  He loves apples, carrots and lettuce, and will eat the occasional tomato, and pepper.  It loves all the stuff I'm not supposed to give it- like popcorn sticks.  For some reason, he likes to tip over the big pink igloo.  I find it sleeping underneath the hay bale a lot, which is cute.  And the thing LOVES hay.  Good thing Timothy Hay smells so good.

The only thing I don't like is cleaning the cage.  I think I need a shop vac...

Hopefully the only long post of the year, just to kick things off!

Late to the game as ever.  Welcome to Parenthood, where I feel like there's never "nothing" to do.  It's already January 26, and I've only posted once...so much for New Year's Resolutions!  But for better or worse, both kids are entering very fun ages, though that seems to mean less ME time, in some ways.

A pair of Soakers I knit up for Bozu Bottoms

Actually, it also isn't helping that I'm attempting to sell some of my knit goods on Etsy. (Shameless plug!)  While I've made one sale since starting three weeks ago (Yay! *throws confetti*) knitting can be a slow process, and selling stuff can be even slower.  On top of that, I was working on some freebies for some friends.  It keeps me busy- since January 1st, I think I've knitted at least 4 hours a day, with most days being around 8 to 10 hours.  Phew!

This year is promising to be fun for me, or at the very least busy.  We're still doing lots of renovations on the house.  In fact, I've been twitching to do a new room...either the living room or dining room.  Yes, yes, I know I failed to post pics of our bedroom last year.  Take my word, it's pretty cute!  ;)  Ok, I solemnly swear to make a post...even if the bedroom isn't 100% done, and any pictures I have may or may not have a dirty sock on the floor...

Veggies Veggies Veggies

I'm also hoping to make this a big vegetable garden year.  I'm already looking forward getting my hands in the Earth.  I'm thinking I shouldn't make it too big, since this will be my first year doing my own garden that isn't in containers.  Carrots, tomatoes, peppers, peas...I am thinking I might use this site for guidance.  I really like the high yield, and kids gardens, plus the Kitchen Herb garden.  Of course, the part that makes me giddy, but reminds me I must show restraint is the fact that my yard would fit all three of those gardens, and more.  Add to that my desire for both blueberry and strawberry bushes, and my apple trees (Oh dear, I'm so worried about them right now!) and I've got a lot of fresh food in-fluxing this summer.  Maybe I won't have a need for a CSA this year...

I'll also get my compost pile going again.  Even just the little time I had one last year...the results were very awesome.  I hate throwing away all the little scraps of food that we do.  It seems like such a waste.  Having a compost was actually really cool, and not nearly as smelly as I thought it might be.  The resulting soil was really dark, and rich, and I swear it was one of the reasons my container crops were so successful last year.

Cluck!

We've started the planning for chickens as well.  Oh Fresh Eggs...I can't wait.  Choosing a coop is difficult though.  I don't think either of us have much skill in building, so we won't be building our own coop.  There are different options out there, some really inexpensive, although I question how well they'd protect the chickens in the cold, and some really expensive...I personally love the idea of the Cube.  But we'll see.  John has also nicely pointed out (while being super supportive, mind you.) that I hate the cold, and have to ask myself if I really want to be trekking out daily in the winter to feed the Ladies.  He has a point...Am I allowed to keep them in the basement?

So we've got kids, knitting, house stuff, gardens, chickens...anything else?  Oh yes!  This post was brought to my attention.  Of course, because I'm not busy enough, I want to do it.  I'm starting in February because it's a little late to do it in January.

And hopefully, I'll record all of it here.   I know you're looking forward to it!  I am, at least.

Happy (belated) New Years

Ok, ok, we all know I'm a little slow on the upkeep of this blog.  But I promise, I've been a very busy woman this month.

New Years are good.  All our friends left town, so it was just us and the kids.  We each had nice dinners.  We gave the kids sparkling grape juice and had a mini celebration before they went to bed.  Lilia, who has never had anything carbonated before, didn't like it.  "It hurts my tongue!" she informed us, and asked for "real" juice.  It made me laugh.

After the kids went to bed, we had a nice relaxing evening to ourselves, and rung in the New Year with the traditional kiss, and 46 & two.

Liam had his second birthday, which meant CAKE, and a delay in the start of our dieting.  I'm still not feeling up to dieting, so we'll see how successful January will be for me.

I also decided to open up my own Etsy shoppe, which was a big decision for me.  I still get very anxious about the decision- and I agree with one of my friends who is opening her own shoppe as well, it's hard not to sit there and think "Am I throwing money down a hole here?"  Thankfully, the type of product I made (knit goods) can always be used as gifts, and even with all the yarn I bought, it can be used.  So it's not the same as say...opening a real business in the real world.  I don't risk losing everything, which is sort of reassuring.

Of course, at the same time I was getting my shoppe up, drama came crashing down at home, and I found myself needing to find my mother a place around here, and moving her up.  It was stressful, and almost a resentful situation, but now that she's up here, I find the situation isn't bad at all.  It makes me life a little more busy, but hey...I can handle it- I'm a Super Woman.

SO there you have it.  January so far.  It already feels like February should be around the corner, and yet I just realized it's on the 13th, and not even half the month has gone by.

Liam's Birthday cake

Let's just hope that I don't need too much of this, and it will all be good.