Chris is now dimensioning and planing the wood for the landing surround and wall boards. The work is cold (you have to do it outside), loud, dusty, and boring to photograph. So here are some of the other things we've been up to:
Testing a new recipe for Cook's Illustrated (don't be impressed, all you have to do is volunteer). I love this magazine and it's great fun to try out recipes before they're published. Plus you get to see how they changed from the trial once they actually appear in the magazine.
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| Getting the ingredients ready |
Figuring out a Pinterest inspiration - a pinafore. Obviously I didn't have it quite right yet as the straps are not the same length. I'm using waste fabric (an old flannel sheet that had holes in it) to create the pattern as there were no instructions. It's been a lot of trial and error and I'm learning lots.
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| Not quite there... |
Listening to Chris play out with his band. This gig was at a local music hall. I like how moody the photo came out (as opposed to being upset with my blurry photography - that's my story and I'm sticking to it).
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| Playing out |
Attending agility trials.
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| The first jump - off to a good start. |
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| And then she saw me... |
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| Back on course |
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| Ta da! |
Finishing the mockup of the pinafore and showing it off (I'm such a newbie sewist that I really need the encouragement when I finish something!)
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| Ta da again! |
Destroying the house at 3AM as we help the dog and cat catch a mouse. Both animals had the mouse multiple times but apparently they've adopted a catch-and-release policy. Fortunately Chris believes in a quick kill and had the fireplace shovel to back it up.
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| The great mouse caper |
Making soup and using my improvised lid vent. This was a Pinterest inspiration too and I got to use a cork from my absolute favorite wine for it. Works great for releasing steam.
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| Venting steam to reduce the soup |
Battling deep snow from the latest storm.
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| Cooper loves the snow |
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| Look at that face! |
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| 16" in the first storm followed by another 12" |
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| Smiling despite freezing his butt off |
Bringing some sunshine into the house with key lime parfaits. And wearing the pinafore that is supposed to be just a mockup. Apparently I really like it. I did buy some linen to make the real one and wearing the mockup lets me know if I need to tweak anything (again - story, sticking to it).
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| Making the graham crust |
Experimenting with homemade fire starter. Since Chris is planing down a bunch of boards we have plenty of shavings. I saved a cardboard egg carton, some candle nubs from the candelabra over the table, and am trying to make homemade fire starter. I'll let you know how it works out.
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| Trial and error |
Unfortunately all of this has come to a screeching halt as Chris came down with the flu last night. High temperature and all. I'm nursing him along and hoping like hell that I don't catch it too. Let's hope my flu shot works...
I had no idea you could volunteer for Cooks Illustrated.... huh. That's really neat though.
ReplyDeleteThe pinafore looks great and so does your "moody" picture ;)
Your pup is so cute! Talented too.
I hope Chris feels better and that you don't get it. I hope Spring gets to you soon as well.
Yup, just go to their website and you'll find a spot to volunteer to test recipes. I've had great fun with it. Chris is finally feeling better and I ended up with "just" a horrible cold. Whew!
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