watching ice melt

the snow piles in the front of our house are almost taller than I am and there is more on the way starting tomorrow evening... if the predictions are right...

the snow from the last round has been melting off the roof and refreezing so we have some pretty incredible icicles off the roof and some in a tree that hangs over the walkway to the back of our house.

I am, unfortunately, not feeling well today so I am happy to be inside watching the ice melt which is a longer process than watching the paint dry last week. And getting to look out at our giant piles of snow, wondering where I will be able to put more snow when it comes.

heart sketch

Working on more valentines I wanted to try my hand at sketching a heart. I did a search and found some images on the internet and did a sketch that I then scanned and stylized a little in photoshop and used on a new card that I put in my etsy shop.

stuffed acorn squash

Tonights heat and serve dinner I made was stuffed acorn squash. * photo of squash before heated and served

Ingredients:

• acorn squash
• couscous
• quinoa
• onion
• green pepper
• garlic
• parsley
• seasoning
• grated parmesan
• bread crumbs

split squash and put face down in water in the oven at 350 until soft

cook couscous and quinoa

saute in oil onion, pepper, garlic

mix together cooked ingredients (couscous, quinoa, onion, pepper, garlic) add chopped parsley, any seasoning you want - salt, pepper etc - added some parm

put stuffing in squash, add a little more parm on top and breadcrumbs

bake at 350 until warmed through

warm breakfast for cold days

So simple yet I often forget about it... oatmeal. I find that the portion size recommended is usually almost twice as big as it needs to be, so I made half a portion size and made it with half milk and half water. When it was almost done cooking I added a dash of maple syrup and some fresh strawberries that I cut up. Nice way to start the day!

patching, painting

We had patched up some places where there were holes in the walls and even primed the plaster but it still needed to be painted. Thankfully the last owners had left behind some of this green paint that was used in over half of the downstairs and follows up the stairs.

Also, although we'd refinished the treads on the stairs we had not repainted the risers, so that was on today's to do list too.

So, I got out the roller and painted the green... and then used a little edger that's one of my favorite painting tools and used that for the risers.

Gnome Necklaces

I found some cute little door lockets that I thought would be a prefect place for my gnome to live, and then he'd be right there, around your neck when you need someone to talk to... so I took his picture and put him in the locket and posted it on etsy along with some other necklaces. And I started working on some photo medallions too which should be up there soon.

thinking ahead to holidays 2011

Since I think about photos of snow as being good for winter holiday cards I realized I should be out now taking pictures of snow. So, I got up early this morning and headed downtown to take some photos.