...striped carpet...

...I know I've complained mentioned before that we had carpet EVERYWHERE in this house...bathrooms...kitchen...and even the laundry room...

...so the other day...when the sewer backed up...into the laundry room...it was onto carpet...YUCK...

...well...there was no amount of cleaning that was going to make that carpet clean enough for me to live with it...and if we didn't have 1000 other things on our to-do list had time...I would have gone ahead and replaced the carpet with tile...

...but we have this super cute little soaker sink...that can't be moved without completely disconnecting it from the water line and drain...so it's going to have to come out when the floor does finally get replaced...

...and I adore this old sink...it's big and deep...perfect for soaking clothes...even hand wash only quilts can go in here...it's also perfect for watering plants...it has a counter top height rubber sealed cover too...

...and a neat little storage space underneath...

...so for now...we're living with striped carpet...we've pieced in a new slice of indoor/outdoor carpet...and that will have to do until we get the time to dismantle and re-floor the laundry room...

...WIP...Wednesday...

...actually posting on Wednesday this time...HA!...and I'm reading Bloom...the lovely Kelle Hampton's story of how the birth of her daughter Nella changed her life...

...I finished the first princess soled Super Simple Worsted Weight Sock...

...I love it - it's so squooshy and comfy...and can't wait to get the other one finished...I cast on and knit a little bit at Scouts last night...

...this is a closeup of the Kitchener stitch on the toe...it adds an extra row of Stockinette Stitch...so you have to decide if you want that row on the top of the foot or on the bottom...here - it's on the top...

~Have a lovely day!...and thanks for stopping by!...

...Honored...

...probably only of interest to family and local friends...

...The former owner of our little home is honored...

article here
...we only knew him through the purchase of the house...and he died just a couple of weeks after we moved...his wife and only daughter had died before him...but we've heard many wonderful stories about him and his family...so we feel like we knew them...and we're happy to have made their little house our home...

...Have a lovely day!...

...a very Happy Mother's Day...

...on Saturday when we were shopping...Scout asked to buy these oranges at the Health Food store...so we did...I didn't realize that he had a 'plan'...

...Sunday mornings are always kinda rushed around here...but Scout brought me this lovely tray...and I had breakfast in bed...there's instant oatmeal...a banana...and Teecino and Silk creamer...a perfect Mother's Day breakfast if you ask me...

...then after Church...there were flowers...

...they are so pretty...and they're purple...my favorite...

...there were a few little pressies as well...my new favorite spread...Biscoff...if you've not tried it you really should...

...then Scout got busy with his oranges...and Nanny's old glass juicer...to make the best orange juice I've ever had...

...we had a lovely brunch with scrambled tofu and toast and freshly squeezed orange juice...it was perfect...

...really I didn't do anything all day long...the Man made a wonderful bean stew for supper...I really must get his recipe...but it's a secret and takes hours...literally...and involves carmelized onions and about five different types of beans...carrots and celery...and bayleaf...that's what I can gather from the 'secret' kitchen...I really should have taken a picture or two...then we spent the evening watching the old Hawaii Five-0 on netflix...I love 70s tv...

...hoping you all had a wonderful Mother's Day too!...

...to each his own...project that is...

...everybody had his or her own little project for the weekend...

...Scout did the landscaping where we'd had the drain pipe replaced in the backyard...he did an awesome job...and we're looking forward to having some new green grass on that bare spot soon...

...the Man eschewed all photos...but replaced most of the 50 year old switches and electrical outlets in the house...there were a couple he couldn't get too...behind the computer cabinet and behind the aquarium...we won't be moving those anytime soon...

...and you know my project was to grout and seal the travertine tile foyer...

...first I made a big gritty mess...and then I cleaned it all up...

...let it dry for 24 hours...

...and then sealed it...travertine is very porous...so we did two coats of sealant...we'll have to repeat that at least every couple of years...

...Have a lovely weekend...

...How to fix a broken umbrella...

...don't-ya-just-hate-it when those little ends pop off your umbrella...and it will no longer stay stretched open...

...I don't know why it happens...I don't think I abuse my umbrellas...but every few years it happens...maybe they're just not very well made to begin with...

...to fix them...first I stitch through the black material and then around the stem a few times...some umbrellas I've had actually have a little 'eye', like on a needle, that makes this easier...but here I've just wrapped the thread around and through the cloth...

...but without the little plastic 'cap' this will just slide around and probably not last very long...

...so I need to fashion some sort of little plastic cap thingy...

...I made a form by wrapping some wax paper around one of the remaining little caps...taped that...and then slipped it off...

...then I popped it over the end of the stem I just stitched...

...and filled it with hot glue...

...let that cool off and set back up...and you'll have a new hard plastic sort of cap thingy...

...peel off the wax paper...

...and paint the new cap black...

...and the umbrella is once again usable...and you will have saved another item from the landfill...win...win...

Of course I didn't open the umbrella inside...that would be bad luck...or so I've heard...ever wonder why...of course you have...

I found this article at answerbag

Open an umbrella indoors and bad luck will "rain" on you. But why? There are two schools of thought:

The most common stems from the days when umbrellas were used mainly as protection against the sun. To open one indoors would be to insult the local sun god (especially Ra) and invite his wrath on everyone in your household.

Another theory borrows from the idea of an umbrella as a protector against the storms of life. If you were to open one in your home, the household guardian spirits might think you felt their protection was insufficient, and then they'd leave in a huff. Once again, everyone in the house is cursed.

In truth, the superstition is probably coincidental. (Someone left his umbrella opened in the hall and had a terrible day--he told his friend to keep their umbrellas shut, and it spread.)

It isn't always bad luck to open an umbrella inside. According to some, it's only considered bad if any of the following apply:
-The umbrella was a gift.
-The umbrella is black.
-The umbrella has never been used outdoors.
-There is a sick person in the house.

Other bad luck umbrella superstitions:
-Never give an umbrella as a gift.
-Never pick up an umbrella you dropped (ask someone to do it for you).
-Never place your umbrella on a table or a bed.
-If a single woman drops her umbrella, she'll never marry.



~Have a lovely day...

...Knitting Needle Experiment...

...donchajusluv science...and knitting...or knittin' as the astronaut says...love that...

description from Youtube:
International Space Station Expedition 30 astronaut Don Pettit uses knitting needles and water droplets to demonstrate physics in space for 'Science off the Sphere.' Through a partnership between NASA and the American Physical Society you can participate in Pettit's physics challenge and view future experiments here: http://www.physicscentral.com/sots

...I thought that would make you smile...Have a lovely day!...

...Spinach-Tofu Wraps...

I'm not really a fan of a lot of convenience foods...but our new grocery store has quite the vegan food selection...so I had tried a few of the Amy's brand wraps...

image source
...have you tried these Spinach-Tofu wraps?...they're very good...but as most convenience foods are...they are sort of expensive...or 'spendy' as they used to say in ND...I loved that...no one says it here...

...so I thought I'd recreate the same taste at home...

...it was super easy...and only took about 15 minutes start to finish...

...just put an entire bag of frozen spinach in a pan...no water or oil or EB...

...stir over medium high heat...add your spices...garlic powder, onion powder and curry powder, salt and pepper to taste - I listed how much I used below...

...crumble up a half block of extra firm tofu and stir that in...then just keep stirring and cooking until the spinach is cooked and pretty dry...

...scoop some into the middle of a steamed WW tortilla...and wrap it up...

...and you'll have dinner on the table in under 15 minutes...

...these were really good...


Spinach-Tofu Wraps

1 bag frozen organic chopped spinach
1/2 block extra firm regular tofu
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
salt and pepper to taste

3 whole wheat tortillas - I used Azteca fat free

Mash up tofu in pan with spinach and spices. Cook until spinach is done and fairly dry. Then just roll up a portion in a wrap...these were so good and so easy to make...

...I hope you like them as much as we did...Have a lovely day!

...Tea Totin' Owl...

..I finished the little "Tea Toting Owl" from Wool Free and Lovin' Knit...

...and I think it turned out super cute...I embroidered her little eyes and beak...and stitched some velcro under her beak...

...it's the perfect size to hold several tea bags...cause you never know what type of tea may strike your fancy...

...and now my sweet friend can have her tea with her all the time...

Have a lovely day!

...now that's what I had planned...

...we finally tackled that foyer project...

...this is quite possibly the first view the Man had of the house last October...see the lovely blue carpet and matching (er...somewhat) blue slate...

...just including a couple of 'before' reference photos...

...well the blue carpet's been gone for a while...and there were lovely oak stairs underneath...and the blue slate just really didn't match all of our new neutral tones...so...we took hammer and chisel...and hacked away at the slate...

...surprisingly (and thankfully) it was not mortared in place...it was glued down using a now pretty brittle mastic of some sort...so most of the tiles popped right up...we sorted and boxed them up...and we're going to reuse them in the downstairs bathroom...as they won't have to match anything there - the fixtures are white...and the slate is still in good shape...so I'll be happy to recycle it...

...all gone...notice that we pulled up some of the plywood...

...we sanded the bumpy brittle mastic...

...and patched the holes...

...put down the cement backer board...

...I took the threshold upstairs and scrubbed it shiny clean...it looks like new now...love that...

...then we did a 'dry fit'...and carried all the tiles downstairs in order...

...and now it's mortared in place with thin set...

...I know there's very little difference between the 'dry fit' picture and the 'mortared in' picture...some of the little spacers are in different places though...and there really was a lot of work in between the two...

...Now, it has to dry for three whole days with no one walking on it...that's going to be a little bit awkward not being able to use the front door at all and skipping a step as we turn the corner in the stairs...but we'll manage...I've already decided that if someone rings the front door bell...I open the upstairs window and tell them to come around back...haha...

...and I bet you can guess what next weekend's project will be...right...grout and sealant...I love it already...