We might as well be a fan site.

Do any of you remember that post I did about Maddie and Billy Joe Armstrong?  Well, after examining my Google Stats, it turns out that, because of that post, the search terms "billy joe", "billy joe armstrong", and "billy joe armstrong hair" have led people to my blog more than any of the other search terms combined.  Awesome.

Chicken Run

Well, actually, it was a Bird Run, even though Bella has a hard time remembering if she's a chicken, a chick, or a "canawy."  The cross-country team has a "Spook Scoot" as an awesome fundraiser, and you know I love me a good race.  However, my foot was really hurting in our training for a 5k at the end of the month, and I couldn't be sure how it would feel, so I just sent the big girls out with the wolves to run by themselves.

Their costumes were a big hit.  You can see the swan, the peacock (whose tail was not yet attached--to hard to run with a tail), the canary, and the grumpy, screechy owl.  

Olivia was nervous and intense at the starting line.

Naomi wasn't sure she could make it.

"One mile!  That's a really long way."

My parents and brothers were in town, so we stationed a cheer squad at the corner of each block, to make sure the little birds would keep going.  Olivia did awesome, stretching her long bird legs out and really running.

Naomi alternated between fits of slow-walking despair and manic fist-pumping "power bursts" (as she calls them).  They both did awesome, finishing in the top ten and winning a fancy medal.

I'm so proud of my little runner birds.

Extra! Extra! Read all about it!

We're in the paper.  Or, rather, my girls have their picture in the paper, and I was quoted.  Or, rather, I was paraphrased.  But still!  We're the news!  Read all about it here! Just click on the picture and arrow your way through to find the fascinating picture of four little Wells birds. (And, if you wish, you may borrow some of my extraneous exclamation points!  Because it looks like I'm just giving them away today!)

Delicious!

Picture courtesy of Pinterest, of course.  I didn't use the Pinterest recipe, however.

Lately, I've been making pumpkin bread and applesauce bread in mini loaf pans* for freezing.  It's immensely gratifying to have a freezer full of little loaves of goodness to cut up for breakfast (paired with peach smoothies--yum!) or to tuck into lunchboxes (as a treat!), and I've gotten it down to a science.  I can make a full batch of both pumpkin bread and applesauce bread and have them in the oven in less than 20 minutes.  So, because I love you all so much, I'm passing my recipes along.

Applesauce Bread
Modified from a recipe by Cassie Boyle, one of the best cooks I know, to use less oil and less sugar and whole wheat flour.  I honestly don't miss any of the old ingredients, but I like my fruit breads to be moist but not greasy.  Of course, I then spread butter on the bread when I'm really feeling like a treat, so I can't actually fool myself that this is healthier.  
1/3 cup oil
2 cups applesauce (unsweetened)
2 eggs
1-1/4 cups sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
3 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
3 cups whole wheat flour
Mix wet ingredients together then add dry ingredients.  Pour into mini loaf pans until the pan is half full and bake at 375 for however long it takes for the center to bounce back when you touch it.  (This will depend on your loaf pans.  Mine take about 20-25 minutes.)


Maple Pumpkin Bread
Modified from a muffin recipe by my Aunt Steph--another one of the best cooks I know. I've made a lot of the same substitutions as in the applesauce bread recipe, and I've also taken out the pecans and put in chocolate chips instead.  Feel free to do the reverse.
3 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1-1/2 tsp. baking soda
1-1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. ginger
3 tsp. cinnamon
2 eggs
1/3 cup oil
2 cups pumpkin puree (canned--but not the pumpkin pie mix, be careful)
1/3 cup water
1/4 cup maple syrup (the real stuff is best, but I've use the fake as well)
1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional, of course, but absolutely delicious)
Preheat oven to 375.  Mix dry ingredients together first then add wet ingredients.  Pour into mini loaf pans until half full.  Bake for 25-30 minutes or until centers bounce back when touched.

*I use the foil mini loaf pans you buy at Wal-Mart, five for $1.25, because they are the perfect size, just large enough to slice but small enough that two loaves will fit in one quart-size ziptop freezer bag.  I'd love to find something the same size but more sturdy, since I'm always afraid this will be the last time my pans will survive.

Why TV is Good for Me

Here's what I love:  Hulu.  Here's why I love it:  so many life lessons on just one website. John and I have a few shows that we watch consistently, and these are the lessons I've learned.

#1)  From Burn Notice, I've learned that anything can be accomplished with enough bravado, bluster, and threats to call a superior.
#2) From Project Runway (which John refuses to watch with me), I've learned that you'll be on reality television a lot longer if you can treat other people terribly, even if you have no talent.
#3) From White Collar, I've learned that every woman is susceptible to a charming smile and a fedora.  Plus, I learned that I need a crazy, ethics-challenged, bald little genius of a friend if I'm ever going to join the criminal underworld.
#4) From Castle, I've learned that NYPD cops are all extraordinarily attractive, extraordinarily brave, and extraordinarily funny.  Also that they would never ever solve a case if they didn't have the help of a detective novelist.  Weird how that works.
#5) From Alphas, I've learned that superheroes live among us.  And it turns out that superstrength is not nearly as awesome a power as the ability to talk people into doing whatever you want.
What lessons have you learned?

Halloween is for the Birds

Olivia is usually the driving force behind our Halloween costume theme every year.  Last year, she graciously allowed each of us to choose a costume for ourselves, even though they didn't all necessarily work together. (She did try to come up with a narrative, however, that would explain each character's presence.  Something like, "Well, when Mary's little lamb was lost then She-Ra came to help her, and the lion was the one who kidnapped the lamb.")  She's back in fine chief mode this year, and she has determined a bird theme for all of us to follow.  According to her assignments, which do take into account the preferences of each family member, I will be a flamingo, she will be a swan, Naomi will be a peacock, Bella will be a canary, and Maddie will be an owl.  John is to be a bird watcher, complete with notebook, vest, and binoculars.

Bella's costume is mostly done.  It just needs a beak and some eyes on top of the hood, and I still need to make her a pair of fleece leggings to cover those skinny little bird legs, but I think I'm going to make everyone's leggings in one go.  

Obviously, she loves being a bird.  This costume was my experiment, so there are going to be things that I do differently on the other costumes (and I may even go back and unpick *shudder* and fix some things on her costume), but I couldn't resist letting her try this on and go fly around the yard.  I've already had to wash it once, and I think it needs to be washed again.

I have the McCall's pattern 4618, and I have used it in one way or another nearly every year for the past eight Halloweens.  I love it because the hood is attached and the jumpsuit part is nice and loose.  Plus, it's super easy to put together.  For the birdies, I'm just making the legs much shorter, and then I'm tracing some of the girls' school leggings to make orangey-yellow fleece leggings to go underneath for warmth.

Bella's favorite part is the little feathers on the top of the head.

Projects

Can you believe how lucky I am that this is my kitchen?  I love everything about it.  

Just kidding, of course.  But I did love those barstools so very very much.  And I love seeing them on all sorts of shows (Peter and Elli Burke's kitchen on "White Collar" being my favorite example).  So, when I went to Ikea a couple months ago, I was determined to purchase them.  Regardless of cost.  

Except, by "regardless of cost" I didn't mean "even if they were $70 each, which they were, in Draper.  $70!  I couldn't justify it for a temporary rental kitchen.  So I bought these guys from Wal-Mart, for $28 each.  I like them about half as much as my dream stools, but since they were less than half the cost and I can't be sure I'll even have a bar in my real house,  (Where is that real house, by the way?) they work just fine.  

However, they had a microfiber seat that was nearly impossible to keep clean.  And Bella insists on eating both breakfast and lunch on the stools every day, so the yogurt spills were really getting to me.  

So, I went fabric shopping.  Online.  And I found this:

Laminated cotton might just be the best fabric on the planet for the purpose of recovering dining room chairs and barstools.  My Michael Miller print on the dining chairs has held up FABULOUSLY for the time it's been on there (all those spills just wipe away), so I was pretty sure this would be great.

The lighting in these pictures is terrible, because it was 10:30 p.m. when I finished, but I'm delighted.  The scale on this print is a lot bigger than I pictured from the online picture, but I think I like it even better than the small version I had envisioned.

Now, I'd really like to spray the black part of these stools ivory.  Or aqua.  However, I'm pretty sure black'll hold up to as many yogurt spills as Bella can dish out, so that's the color they'll probably stay.

What do you think of the change?  Should I have used something bolder like this?  Something quirkier, like this?   (I honestly considered the bikes for a good while.  I love those bikes.  I'll have to make something out of them someday.)  Something more understated, like this?  And while we're on the topic of my neutral, neutral rental kitchen, does anyone have any ideas about adding some color to the room if painting the walls is not an option?