Suburbs Bound: I think I like it here...

You guys, I can't believe I'm going to type this, but I think I like it in the suburbs.

I wrote about the things I was already enjoying during our first week in the suburbs a few weeks ago, and I'm continually impressed by new things.

Grampa is enjoying the new yard!

Privacy.   Something I hadn't thought about when moving out of a twin (and previous row homes and apartments over the last 15+ years) into a single family home: it's really, REALLY nice to not share a wall or floor or ceiling with another family.  I don't need to know when the neighbors are up in the morning, or home from work, or having a bad day... I can let my kid tantrum it out without worrying the neighbors will call the family services (it's happened to friends...note the plurality on that one).  I can give my social security number to my husband verbally, and not worry that my neighbor is at the wall attempting to steal my identity.  I can sing in the shower without shielding my face from annoyed neighbors because I finally learned all the words to the chorus of "Shake it off."

I'm really impressed by the amount of nature that comes through our yard.  Part of the reason is our newly discovered pear tree.  No partridge yet, but there are bunnies, lots of birds, squirrels, and I even got to peep a frog in one of the bird baths with Mikey last night.

And did I mention the quiet? The lack of ambient city noise is pretty amazing.  I didn't realize how stressful it is to have noise like that all the time.  No wonder city folk have a reputation as being more gruff and quick to pounce.

Something I don't like:  I feel a bit more uneasy with unleashing the full scope of Kim onto our new neighborhood than I ever have before, but it's mostly because of the sense of permanence this move has brought.  We're in this house in the suburbs for the long haul--20 years or more most likely--and so are our neighbors.  I hate tempering myself, but I also know that most people just seriously can't handle all that is Kim without an easy intro period.  Here's to hoping it's not a long intro...

10 Things I Like About the Suburbs So Far

It's been a week since I took my city self and put her into the 'burbs.  And, I must say (albeit begrudgingly), I'm really freaking liking it so far!

Here's a list of 10 things I've found to be really awesome so far:
1. Neighbors.  So far, the ones we've met are awesome.  They brought us wine, they invited us to a party, and they've offered to help with all sorts of things like babysitting and breaking down boxes.

This showed up during a downpour
with a party invitation

2. Joe's Market.  I can walk 3 blocks to this awesome little cash-only grocery store and (a real, actual, honest-to-Jeebus) butcher.  And it's awesome stuff.  And that awesome stuff is reasonably priced.
3. Trains.  I'm a 15 minute walk from two train stations (20 minutes walk to a third).  And they're on 2 different train lines, so I get a lot of bang for that buck.
4. Union Jack's.  Again, a 15 minute walk to a really awesome pub, with a great beer selection (on tap and in bottles) and some legendary wings (which we've yet to try). Oh, and they started taking credit cards the week before we moved in, so that's pretty good timing on our behalf.
5. It's quiet.  At first, both me and the Big Guy thought the quiet would freak us out, but the quiet is good.  And teenagers running each other over with their bikes in the street in front of my house is way better than the constant sirens, helicopters, crazy folk, and poor neglected barking pit bull from the old place.
6. Grocery stores. They're cleaner, quieter, cheaper, and now closer. Even the Peapod delivery guy gave us a gift (and asked if he could offer a lollipop to Little Man).
7. People are NICE! The township administrators are actually helpful, courteous, and answered even more than my actual questions.  I called asking about trash, and ended up being told about a township welcome packet, and got signed up to receive it!
8. I have a driveway.  Never thought this would matter to me, but it's really nice have a place to park my car without worrying about it.
9. The commute.  Since I can take the train (when Mark takes the kids to school or eventually when the daycare near our house has a spot for the little gal), my commute is 30 minutes.  And that includes the walking to the stations part, which I love!  I can't wait until I'm taking the train every day, and not fighting for parking, or dodging crack heads as I drive past Temple Hospital.
10. Books.  Not sure why exactly, but I've been reading a lot more in the past week.  I actually finished two since we've moved in.  Fios isn't hooked up yet, but I don't even want to watch movies or anything.  I just want to sit and enjoy the quiet (see #5), and read a book...

Our first dinner out as official residents of the suburbs.

Okay suburbs, you're winning the race here, and it's only been a week.  I think we're going to like it here.

#SuburbsBound: Packing and moving

This week makes our journey to the suburbs official--Wednesday I pay some (probably) burly men to move all our family's possessions from our Victorian twin in Philadelphia to a stately Colonial Revival in the suburbs.  And hopefully nothing gets broken...

Over the weekend, we finished packing everything up.  The kitchen, the basement, the bedrooms...

I thought I would be most struck with nostalgia while packing up the kids' rooms--the blankets, tiny clothes, toys, and gifts from loved ones all getting stuffed away.  But I actually felt empowered packing their things away, remembering that we're moving so that they will grow up in a better way than what we could offer them while still within the city's borders.  They'll grow up with clean streets, a playground without drunks hanging out on benches, and a night sky (mostly) devoid of police helicopters and the inbound air traffic for Philadelphia International.

So after my freak outs last week about being a sell-out and becoming a soccer mom, I had a therapy session by means of cathartic box packing, and I am--dare I type it!?--looking forward to moving to the suburbs.

Look out, Glenside, the Bickertons are officially #SuburbsBound!

I'm on Pinterest!

When we had Little Man, we knew we were on a 5-year countdown to the suburbs.  Once Little Lady arrived, a fire was lit, and we got really busy looking for a place.  After more than 6 months of serious searching, hard-core cleaning, and a few months of storage unit rentals, I am happy to announce that our Philadelphia house will be sold in late June and that our future home in the suburbs will likely be ours a week before that.

Now comes the fun part of figuring out how to decorate the new place!

I've finally joined the rest of the world (and even my mother!) on Pinterest to help me organize and keep track of the furnishings and ideas that I'm interested in pursuing.  It's organized by room, and I'm just starting to accumulate ideas so it's a little sparse at the moment.

Frankly, I can't believe I didn't do this before!  All of the awesome sewing inspirations I've come across totally should have gotten their own pins to a board of mine YEARS ago.  Then I'd be able to remember them!

Let me know if you have any great ways of using Pinterest.  I'm new to this, and I'd love to hear any ideas or tips!

I miss making things!

Man, I never thought I'd be so out of touch with my own blog.  I've never been a super-regular journaling kind of gal (even when I had an actual diary with a lock and key that I really just drew on--not in), but the last few months (roughly 7, actually) have probably been the most unproductive of my life externally.

Since January, I've stopped my personal chef-ery business, haven't sewn a darn thing (except a rogue bra strap and hook & eye clasp repair on said bra), haven't brewed a single beer, have knitted or crocheted exactly nothing, and barely have the energy to make dinner most nights.  I've planted exactly 4 tomato plants in my garden, and put together a really cute herb garden in a strawberry pot--that's it.

Internally, I'm sustaining an expectant life.  "#2" as we affectionately call him or her is due, ironically, Labor Day weekend.  As he/she/it is literally sucking the energy right out of me, I do a lot of "supervising".  I'm lucky to have an actually helpful 2 1/2 year old and an understanding husband...

But even though I spend most of my days dreaming about making things and plotting what I might be able to make while on maternity leave, I am lucky enough to be reading a ton lately.  In addition to voraciously reading my National Geographics each month, finally catching up on my SKI and 32 degrees magazines (ironic since there's no snow and I'm really not fit to ski), I've re-discovered the awesomeness that "Leisure Reading" section at Temple University's library which is awesomely situated across the street from my office.

If you're interested in keeping up with what I'm reading or suggesting a new book, please link up!  I hate walking blindly into a book without a recommendation and I'm game to read anything.  I'm 99% sure this is my profile.

Until I'm game for making again, here are my current craft-crushes:
The Cutest Darn Thing to entertain your toddler on Two-Many
I need to have this skirt but am too lazy to make it, but I still really want to buy the pattern
Signs I may miss drinking a bit too much

I hope to have more fodder to share with you all soon, but it may just be musings on what I plan to brew for my post-baby hospital bed celebration...I'm excited about that!

Pretzel Bread Bowls & Butternut Squash Soup

Fall means a few things to me, and two of them are baking and soup!  And (as long as you have strong arms or a stand mixer), these two easy recipes will keep you ready to fight the impending frost.

First, I made these pretzel bread bowls.  And luckily, my trusty helper Little Man was there to help dump in the flour and make a mess.  Though the entire process took some time (20 minutes of mixing and kneading, an hour of rising, 25 minutes to punch down/separate/rest, 10 minutes of baking soda bath, 20 minutes of baking), it really couldn't have been easier.  And we fought over the left-over bread bowls...because apparently having 6 left over wasn't enough to make us all happy.

While they cooled, I made the butternut squash soup.  Very easy to do from scratch and it takes maybe 30 minutes and will feed 4 people LARGE soup portions.  Can be made vegan or vegetarian by using oils and water or veggie stock.

Butternut Squash Soup
1 large Butternut Squash, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
1 small onion, diced
1 quart of chicken stock (box or home made)
1 tsp of sage
1 bay leaf
1/4 cup cream or half and half
salt and pepper to taste

Put a stock pot over high heat with a tablespoon of olive oil or butter.  Once it starts to glisten, add in the onions, sage and bay leaf and pinch of salt.  When the onion is slightly translucent add in the squash.  Saute about a minute until the squash starts to turn a bit darker.  Add in enough stock to just cover the squash and bring to a bowl.  Put the lid on, turn the heat to medium, and cook until the squash is soft.

Take off the heat, remove the bay leaf. Using a stick blender, blend away until all the soup is smooth (can be done in a traditional blender as well in stages).  Add the half and half, stir and return to the heat for a few minutes until it's nice and hot again. 

Serve with a sprinkling of sage or a dusting of nutmeg.

Can be made vegan or vegetarian by using oils and water or veggie stock.
Freezes REALLY well.

Our Kitchen Makeover--the before pics!

I can't call this a remodel.  We're literally just giving this old girl some lip stick and new clothes in order to be our regular budget-conscious selves.  Since we are on the verge of done (hopefully the final paint will go up in the next few weeks, I figured I'd get this series rolling!

Here's a picture of what our kitchen looked like when we moved in way back in 2006:

I seriously wanted to kill myself looking at all that harvest gold.

Oh, and here's a close-up of that super-sexy floor

I know you're jealous.

So what did we do? And how much did it cost?

We removed all the drop ceiling, fluorescent lighting, vinyl walls, and ugly switch plates
We replaced all the appliances:
 -Fridge (twice since the yellow monster above didn't really get cold)
 -Stove
 -Added a Microwave
 -Sink & Garbage disposal
 -Added a dishwasher
We rehabbed the cabinets, reorganized them, and added some new ones--including a center island with butcher block top.
Replaced the back-splash
Replaced the old and added a lot of new electrical (lights, plugs, general wiring, etc.)
Installed a new counter
Installed a new laminate "hard wood" floor (also installed a floating laminate to hide the scary orange for a while)

And it only cost $5K...and took almost 7 years to happen.

I'm going to try to post weekly on the process until it's all done.  I'm not sure how to organize it yet though, so if you have any thoughts please let me know!

Summer Re-cap

I hate bloggers who apologize for not keeping up with their blogs--because blog readers are just glued to their computers waiting for us all to share what we had for dinner, the cute outfit we spent hours laboring over for our kid who messed it up 2 minutes after the photos were taken, or finding out what fun picture frame we fashioned into a completely useless piece of wall "art".

So, I'm not apologizing for not posting anything for almost 6 months--I have a life.  But, I've missed cataloging what I've been up to, so I thought I would do a bit of a photo montage that explains what I've been up to over the last six months.  Enjoy!

Garden:

We finally had a strawberry this year!  It rained a lot, my tomatoes are coming in like crazy (still), I built a vertical planter for sweet potatoes (that died) that seems very well suited for cucumbers, pesto: the elixir of pasta, a squash plant I started from seed and hydrangea. 

Kiddo:

 

Helping me make cinnamon buns with his friend one morning.

 

And thankfully, we had a lot of beach & lake time this summer.

Cooking:

 

I discovered the olive bar at Wegmans's; Mac n Cheese, grilled lamb leg, avocado pasta, pierogies with chorizo(!), the book that started it all, cold-brewed coffee (a revelation), we made baked beans from scratch, this crazy watermelon rum drink with limes and cilantro, Heizenberg special rock candy (just a touch of chili p yo), and the most beautiful fritatta I've ever made.

Beer/Liquor Drinks:

A small sampling what I've been drinking this summer.  Lots of ales and saisons, now transitioning into festbiers and porters.  I haven't brewed since probably Februrary, but I'm enjoying what others are making immensely!

The chill of fall has also reignited the bourbon (me) vs. scotch (my husband) debate in our house.  Here's a fun maple mint julep I made--it's actually better without the ice cubes to take that chill off your bones.

If you have any questions about what I have up here, just ask!  It may make its way into a full blog post one day!

Cleaning Sophie

I do much of my best thinking in the shower--the same location where Little Man does most of his best playing.  This morning, I noticed that his bath toys were a little less than sparkling and I realized that a lot of people probably have NO idea how to clean their children's toys without potentially poisoning them.

Rubber, plastic toys:  You can either immerse and/or wipe down with a water and vinegar solution.  If you can handle it, I recommend using 2 parts vinegar to 1 part water and then either rinsing in wiping down with clean water.  For squeezy toys (rubber ducks, Sophie the giraffe, etc.) squeeze under the vinegar water to get some inside and then shake it around before squeezing the water out.  You may want to repeat that a few times.  Some funky stuff can grow inside those guys--especially the bath toys! 

Fabric, plush:  Spot clean with warm water.  If that doesn't work, try a little clarifying shampoo (nothing moisturizing!). Don't rub if at all possible, especially on the plush.  Pat dry and let sit until completely dry or it will look worse than when you started.

Stuffed Animals: If it's just general ick on the stuffed animals (great to do post-cold, too) get a big paper shopping bag (plastic works, too but not as well) dump in a hefty amount of baking soda (about a cup) on top of the toy, close it up (folds, tie, etc.) and then shake it.  And I mean SHAKE it.  For 30 seconds to a minute depending on how gross the toy is.  Remove from bag, shake and pat (outside or over a clean garbage pail is best) until you get all the excess off.

Just a note: I highly caution against using baby wipes for "cleaning".  A lot of them have moisturizers in them that can discolor plastics, stain fabric, and flatten pile on toys.

I'd love to hear how others clean their kids' toys. Any suggestions?

On the menu for next week

I realized that even though I've been doing a pretty good job of sticking with my meal-planning, I haven't shared my experiences in this arena lately.

I have not stuck with a meal planning service--I didn't LOVE the recipes, and our fickle tastebuds tend to crave things that weren't in any of the menus I found.  I did, however, find a lot of inspiration of how I should be doing things and continue to use the models of execution from many of the websites I found.

So what exactly am I doing?  I've started bookmarking recipes and (GASP!) making a running grocery list of items we'll need to execute those menu items for the next few weeks.  You'll notice some things are crossed off, and that's because their procurement was delegated to the big guy who drives past a butcher on his way home from work.  Other things missing from the list are things I have in my garden, so no tomatoes, eggplants, herbs, cucumbers or raspberries will show up on here until October.

And what will we be cooking?
-Peach sauce for the little guy
-A shrimp, peach and spinach hot salad thingy (once I make it and figure out what I'm doing I'll post about it)
-Pasta with hot sausage, fried sage, and a cream sauce.
-Grilled flank steaks (probably slightly Mexican-style w/ fresh salsa and tortillas)
-Grilled chicken breasts marinated in a yogurt curry sauce.
-Eggplant (roasted, fried and baked into a "lasagna", possibly into a chutney I saw)
-Pretty much all meals will be accompanied by a tomato salad since it's that time of year.
-Left over corn chowder to eat with hamburgers and hot dogs over Labor Day weekend

It's amazing how just this little bit of conscious planning has really taken away the stress, made me a better grocery shopper in terms of both time and money, and has really made our evenings that much more enjoyable.

Life...a little less stressed!

This meal planning thing is actually working.  Last night, I went to bed on time for the first time in about 2 months, enjoyed a wonderful stress-free dinner with my husband (grilled curry lamb chops and watermelon), and even spent a few hours playing with the little guy before he went to bed....Heaven.

And the best part?  We've gone a week and a half without even MENTIONING ordering out--something we always talk about doing, fight about where we're getting the food from, and then end up eating grilled cheese.  I'd venture to say we've saved about 30 cubic feet of air and $30 so far with the elimination of take-out in this week and a half.

This week, I've got a few things on the menu:
Tonight, grilled chicken (not sure how exactly yet), coleslaw (I made a bunch on Sunday), and watermelon and blueberries.  However we prepare the chicken, I'll probably freeze an extra breast or two so I can just grab and go next time.
Tomorrow, I'm thinking hot dogs (we love hot dogs), the rest of the coleslaw, and maybe some zucchini pancakes.  I'll, again, make some extra (it's the same amount of work) and freeze them.
Friday will be grill-a-palooza since family's coming in for the weekend.
Saturday, PHILLIES GAME!  (I'm obviously not excited), so hatfield franks at the ballpark it is.
Sunday, grill pizzas.  This means I'll make a bunch of pizza dough, and freeze probably 2 batches for another day since I've used up my freezer dough stores thus far.

I'm also hoping to brew another batch of beer this weekend (maybe Friday) since we kicked our first keg last week!  I have to photos up for you soon--it's beautiful.

What do you all have planned for the coming week?

Meal Planning Sites

After my last post, I tried prioritizing a few things in terms of what was bothering me the most and what seemed to be the biggest issues.  I found that dinner seemed to be the root of a lot of my angst. After a long day at work, I have a long evening of parenting, cleaning, paying bills, advising my girls of poise and purpose, laundry, and bottle washing before I even get to think about dinner.

I figure if I can get dinner under control, it would solve the poverty issue, the time issue, and a lot of this stress.  My solution: meal planning!

First, I found this blog:
http://www.100daysofrealfood.com, which is a really great account of how a woman in NC stopped eating processed foods completely.  Now, while I try my best to eat as little processed food as possible, I genuinely enjoy my instant oatmeal, Dunkin Donuts, and pizza.  But when I cook, I really don't use processed food, so the recipes and meal plans were great inspiration for me.  There are also a few weekly menu plans, but the odd ingredients (coconut oil, almond butter, etc.) just don't really work for us and the grocery stores I have available.

Then I found another blog:
http://onceamonthmom.com, which is similar in ethos to 100 days of real food, but modified all of the recipes for bulk cooking and freezing and even has a shopping list and portion adjustable menus.  I downloaded the July menu, and I was pretty impressed.  Because you can adjust the menus to however many of you there are, it really takes the guess work out of things.  Even the shopping list adjusts when you change the number of portions.  I was even able to delete recipes that I didn't want to do (ham, yuck), which was really nice. 

I've made a few of the recipes (which are taken and adjusted from other websites) so far, and they've been pretty good.  I also substituted a few things (couldn't find sweet chili paste and I wasn't about to make my own tortillas when I'm trying to save time), but most of the ingredients were really easy to find and I already had many of them in my pantry. 

Enchiladas pre-oven

The one recipe I managed to get pictures of was the Thai Enhcillands.  They sound weird and I wasn't sure it would work, but there were really good and it was perfect for a night when we were tired and didn't want to do ANYTHING.

I'm not sure that I saved any time doing things this way, but it definitely saved me a lot of stress since so much less thinking was involved.  I even managed to get out of the grocery store for less than $150 for about 3 weeks worth of groceries and do that in under an hour...

Biggest take away from this part of my experiment--when I have the time, energy, and ingredients, I need to make a few extra servings and freeze it. 

Biggest advantage found so far--we didn't get takeout (or even suggest it) once last week...$!

Cooking on a budget, with no time and hoping it's healthy

This month, I'm feeling REALLY limited on time and money.  Between the 4 weddings this summer/fall, multiple family trips and visits, being an advisor to my favorite women of poise and purpose, and figuring out how exactly this parenting thing works I'm well...stressing.  So I've made a personal pledge to myself to take a time-out and get some things in order before the end of this month.

Step 1.  Schedule a hair cut.  I've finally stopped losing my hair (post-pregnancy side-effect) and I look like the dirty hippie I am on the inside but am not allowed to look like at work.  And I'll be honest, the vain woman in me makes me be more productive when I look pretty.  I'm like Melanie Griffith in "Working Girl" I guess.  Status: scheduled for the end of the month.
Step 2.  Make a budget.  I realized the other day I have NO idea what our family income or expenses are now that we have the little guy. Status:  I've entered in my income and expenses, as well as our "family" expenses (daycare, groceries, utilities, etc.) split into monthly increments.  The big guy is reviewing and entering his info so we can figure out where we can make adjustments for more wiggle room/savings.
Step 3.  Figure out how to cut back on the grocery budget without sacrificing the yum.  This is a tough one for me, since I really value good food.  But, I think with some advanced planning and increased lunch packing for both of us, I can probably get our grocery budget down at least by 25%.  Status: Researching online meal planners, calendars, etc. for ideas. I need to cross-reference them with food costs and what the little guy can eat at this point, since I'll probably start packing some real food for him to take to school soon.
Step 4. Figure out how to make more time for me to breathe.  Probably the toughest of all, since I've found that I rarely actually sit once I get home every night.  I'm hoping that the pre-planning of meals will help a lot with that since I'll be able to plan time for my sewing, which I miss dearly.  Status:  I'm planning to sew on Saturday since the big guy cleaned out our office where my sewing stuff is located.

I plan to keep track of the websites I'm looking at, and will share them in a few weeks to let you all know what I've learned.  [Insert shameless request for suggestion here].

Looking forward to less stress come August!

Summer Sewing Project Contenders

My dear friend has very thoughtfully lent me her sewing machine for a bit while I save up for a new one (she has two operational as opposed to my two unoperational machines), so hopefully I can get my sewing back on track! 

Here's a list of things I'd like to sew this summer:

- Finish sewing a shift dress I started before I got pregnant, and I thought of while fabric shopping in New York almost two years ago now.  It's a dark grey cotton shell with a lighter grey lace over lay.  I'm really excited to get this finished and on me soon.


- I'm thinking of re-purposing some old towels into changing pad covers.  I've got a curved changing pad, so it would look kind of like this, but without the monkey...unless I get terribly ambitious and make my own appliques.

- A jersey maxi dress which I would like to eventually tie-dye.  This has been inspired by one of the bloggers I follow, Feather's Flights.  She has just completed a maxi dress sew along, and has been playing with all sorts of fabric dying and treatments lately.

- A baby back pack for my little man.  I found some really fun batik double-sided quilted fabric while looking for notions for his christening gown, so now I'm searching for some shared patterns/ideas to make him a back pack.  Baby bags are kind of lame and look like old lady luggage in bad color combos (totally my opinion and I know you probably disagree).  The hippie in me sn also searching for some cheap to free corduroy to use as piping accents and bottom reinforcement on the bag.  I'm using this free set of instructions as a guide, but planning for it to look a little more like this one.
I think I'll also put a pocket on the front, but we'll see.


- And lastly, I'm considering fashioning myself some 40's sailor shorts or even a 50's style shirt dress like the to the right which I found on Simplicity's site.  I'm actually pretty keen on the entire "Lisette" line (introduced to me today by Casey), so hopefully they'll go on sale soon and I can actually afford them!

That's it for now!  Hopefully this post won't be followed with another like my pregnant projects one!