homemaking | kimberly ah

Mar 09 2013

Christmas, holidays, homemaking, in my library, what's for dinner

The BEST Christmas Gift

A long time ago, I was pilfering through my mom’s cookbook drawer searching for some recipe I’d loved as a kid. My mom hasn’t bought a cookbook in years. Nope, you won’t find a Rachel Ray or a Giada or a Barefoot Contessa book in her drawer. She does have plenty of old-school pamphlets filled with recipes promoting things like Philadelphia Cream cheese and Eagle Brand condensed milk and of course she has the Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook. (Does everyone have this cookbook? Naoto and I each brought one to the marriage and neither of us is willing to part with the copy we brought.) While I was looking through the drawer I found her old Methodist Church cookbook. I flipped through it finding all of the usual church cookbook fare: plenty of jello salads, punches and casseroles. I loved seeing familiar names from our small town and seeing which recipes my grandma and her church lady friends contributed. I told my mom that I wanted a copy of the cookbook.

Since the cookbook was published in 1984, I knew finding one would be pretty impossible. I sifted through eBay listings of church cookbooks for weeks, but gave up and kind of forgot about it for awhile. When we were celebrating Christmas Thursday, I opened a box that had some new kitchen towels and new measuring spoons inside and there it was, tucked under a kitchen towel–the church cookbook! Apparently my mom told my aunt that she was searching for one and my aunt offered up her copy for the cause! (Thanks, Aunt Karen!)

My mom and I spent a good amount of time looking through our books and discovering recipes that include outdated ingredients (Have you ever used Dream Whip before?), many cans of cream of mushroom soup, oleo (aka margarine) and lots of Jello. I’ve already picked out a few recipes to try. I’m starting with a Jello salad, since Naoto and I have been in a Jello groove lately and I’m super-psyched to see several lima bean salads and casseroles!! Limas are my favorite and who knew they were the star of so many dishes!!

Tagged books, celebrations, Christmas, food, holidays, home, homemaking, memories, parents

Mar 06 2013

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adventures, celebrations, Christmas, crafty adventures, handmade=happiness, homemaking

Monogram Tea Towel

I whipped up a quick tea towel for my parents last night. It was a last minute craft, one where I didn’t even iron all if the wrinkles out of the tea towel…

I keep a stash of plain white flour sack tea towels in my closet for craft emergencies. (Mine are from Target, but you get the idea.) They are the first things I learned to embroider (I made a sushi towel for Naoto) and the fabric is thin but not too thin for little stitches. My mom has several of these towels that she’s had for years, and like most things, the ones made today are much thinner than the old ones. (They don’t make things like they used to.)

Because I wanted to keep things simple with a monogram (A for Adami, in case you didn’t put that together…), I just practiced writing a few cursive A’s until I found one I liked, then I traced the A onto the fabric with a Pilot FriXion Pen. I use the FriXion pens in my calendar, I love they way they write and the eras-ability factor. So imagine my delight when I heard from Mollie and read a great tip here that the ink disappears when it’s heated, making the FriXion pen perfect for embroidery and quilting (and probably other crafts). I didn’t have to worry about heating up my A to remove the lines because my 6-strand split stitch covered the thin (0.5) line perfectly.

Sidenote: I do have first-hand experience with the disappearing ink. I left my FriXion pen on my balcony on a sunny summer day last year and when I went back to use it again, the ink flowed clear instead of black. Huge bummer for me, but thankfully I had about ten back-up pens…

I think my parents liked it–my mom told my dad he should use it when he bakes bread–and I think the red variegated floss (Anchor #1206) matches their kitchen just enough. All-in-all I think a quickie tea towel makes a nice little gift, don’t you?

Tagged adventures, celebrations, Christmas, crafts, diy, holidays, home, homemaking, parents

Mar 05 2013

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home is a 1970s apartment, homemaking

Another SNOW Post

It’s SNOWING again! And it’s a downright snow day for many people–schools are closed, church BINGOs are cancelled, people are going home from work early (or not going at all)…I, on the other hand, will be heading out to work later. But until then, I’m happy to curl up on the couch and watch the snowfall.

Yesterday I spent a good part of my day digging around in the guest room. It’s gotten to the point where I need to take another trip to drop off a carload of donations (yay!) and I really need to get rid of a chair and three desks before I consider things DONE, but as far as getting the stuff organized, I’m almost there.

I also have this little plan going on in the living room. I have three handmade papers all ready to go in frames on the wall.

Yay for progress…no matter how slow it is!

Tagged decorating, home, home improvement, homemaking

Mar 04 2013

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cocktails, homemaking

Cocktail Perfected: Brandy Alexander

Naoto has been spoiling me by filling our liquor cabinet with bottles of booze that have been on my wishlist for a long time. Last weekend it was Chartreuse, this weekend it was dark creme de cacao (among others which shall be shared soon). I’ve been talking about making a Brandy Alexander for a long time and this weekend I finally did.

Do you ever enjoy after-dinner drinks? When I was little, I remember my grandma ordering a Grasshopper after a family dinner at the Duck Inn. It was so green and pretty that I couldn’t wait to grow up and try one. When I was in my twenties, I ordered one at a restaurant and the bartender had to look it up in a book before he could make it…I had no idea it was so old-school! In spite of being a grasshopper-making novice, he managed to make a deliciously minty-rich cocktail.

On Saturday, after a quick trip to Michaels to pick out more frames for the rest of the artwork floating around here, I invited the neighbor ladies over to try a Brandy Alexander with me.

Brandy Alexander

1 1/2oz brandy

1oz dark creme de cacao

1oz half-and-half

1/4t nutmeg

In a shaker filled with ice, add brandy, creme de cacao and half-and-half. Shake until chilled and pour into cocktail glass. Garnish with nutmeg. Enjoy with your neighbors on a chilly winter night.

The Brandy Alexander was a hit, but we could only drink one–it’s rich and dessert-like…so Naoto opened up a bottle of wine and made up this fancy snack for us to enjoy. (Sorry for the weird angle of the cell phone picture!) The green cheese is a pesto gouda from Trader Joe’s–perfect for St. Patrick’s Day and so tasty!

This week, I am going to finish off the spare room and hopefully get the rest of the frames off of the floor. It’s supposed to snow six more inches tomorrow, so I have a good excuse to stay home and tackle my March to-do list. Maybe I’ll have some progress to share soon!

Tagged cocktails, food, homemaking, Trader Joe's

Mar 01 2013

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homemaking

March-ing On

Usually February drags on slowly for me. The brutal cold, the dirty snow that won’t melt away, holidays a distant memory, the fresh start of the new year wearing off…February might only be 28 days, but usually it feels like two months rolled into one.

Not this year. February flew! I think it had something to do with the Week of Indulgence, Naoto’s surgery and the fact that it hasn’t been overly cold or snowy this winter (so far!) The charm of the chill and the snow hasn’t worn off quite yet. (But take note, Spring…I’d love to see you soon!) Whatever the reason, I cannot believe March is already here!

In March, I’d like to…

…get back into our gym routine (We broke our habit while Naoto was recovering–I have no excuse–and now we need to work back into a good routine.)

…try out some new recipes (since every stand-by in our repertoire is off-limits until Naoto heals completely)

…finish an embroidery project (because it’s been too long)

…finish the bathroom & share it here on the blog (again, it’s been too long)

…finish clearing out the guest room (oh, how this project has dragged!)

…finish my framing & hanging projects (are you sensing a theme here?)

…plan a little birthday celebration (that includes something sparkly, like champagne!)

How about you…any plans for March?

Calendars: Rifle, Heather Lins Home and K is for Calligraphy

Tagged celebrations, decorating, home, home improvement, homemaking

Feb 27 2013

A Thankful Update

One week post-surgery and Naoto is feeling ready to go back to work. He had a follow-up appointment with his surgeon today and he gave Naoto the go-ahead to return to his office job and to Trader Joe’s (which makes me nervous because “light duty” means nothing to Naoto!) While he’s been home, Naoto has been showered with love on Facebook and Twitter, through phone calls and texts, in the mailbox and in soups from our neighbor friends and my book club friend, Peggy. We are truly so thankful to have so many kind friends and coworkers (seriously, Naoto works with the nicest people!).

Naoto has really embraced this liquid diet like a champ–getting excited about microwaving another bowl of pureed soup and spooning into a new flavor of Jello (my specialty) cannot be as easy as he makes it look! Next week, if all goes well, his diet expands like crazy–we can even add fish, pasta, rice and (meatless) casseroles! What a huge difference that will make!

In other news, it snowed again yesterday…this picture is from my walk home from work last night. It’s the kind of wet, heavy snow that leaves everything a mess. There are deep puddles at every street corner, which have pushed the “waterproof” standards of my cheap snow boots! It’s still snowing tonight, so I’m lucky I can stay home tomorrow and Friday to FOCUS on finishing the guest room…yes…I’m still working on the guest room. Actually, I stopped working on the guest room because I felt it was a lost cause, but now I’m ready to be DONE with the guest room, so I am going to work until it’s done. I’ve already donated ten bags of things (both from the guest room and our clothes closets) and there is plenty more that needs to go. It will be nice to begin March with a nice clean guest room so I can focus on other things around here…like framing more things…and making more Jello.

Tagged decorating, food, home, home improvement, homemaking, snail mail, Trader Joe's

Feb 25 2013

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home is a 1970s apartment, homemaking

Another Procrastination Project

The spare room is still a disaster. The bathroom still has no mirror or towel hooks. The floors need to be swept. Am I taking care of those things? No. I’m hanging up kitchen art.

I spent Saturday framing a bunch of old family pictures. My plan (eventually) is to make a family photo wall on the open wall in the dining room. (You can see a bit of the wall in this post.) I would have hung everything up on Saturday (I’m feeling very hammer happy these days.) except I realized I have zero pictures of myself. Grandparents, parents, and a young Naoto, yes…but no young Kimberly. I’m going to have to see if I can come up with some good choices (hint, hint, Mom!) before I start making holes. I’d love to do something like this by Young House Love, mixing my photographs with other sentimental things but, let’s be honest…at the rate I’m going it would take a lifetime to fill our wall!

Since I couldn’t hang up the stuff I’d framed (and the bathroom details are on hold until Naoto can help me lift things), I decided to finally hang two more doughnut pictures in the kitchen. The top one is a letterpressed greeting card that I found while cleaning and the bottom one is the picture (the sprinkles are police officers) that has been sitting on my kitchen counter for a long while. It took two minutes–no templates, no measuring, no level…I just eyeballed it this time. It’s a small improvement, but it feels good to get two more things on the wall (instead of on the floor!)

And while we are talking about the kitchen…when the weather got colder, we brought in our wicker loveseat from the balcony. It just happened to fit on the little wall in the kitchen. (We kept Presley’s food and water bowls along this wall, but she moves them around so much that pretty much the whole kitchen floor is her food and water bowl.) It turns out that the loveseat has been a useful little addition to the kitchen. We hang out there when we’re cooking and Presley takes naps on it every day. It’s kind of the perfect place for her. She can get her snooze on and be aware of what is coming out of the refrigerator. She can hear the sound of the cheese drawer opening and yogurt containers opening from anywhere in the apartment…being close gives her the advantage of seeing if the food choice is worth the effort of getting up to beg for it.

So, that’s what’s going on around here in the recovery house. Naoto is probably going back to his day job soon…Presley and I are going to miss him as we’ve gotten quite used to him hanging around with us during the day!

Tagged decorating, home, home improvement, homemaking, letterpress

Feb 07 2013

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home is a 1970s apartment, homemaking

Project Distraction…

You know those little home improvement projects that you finish and then say, “What took me so long??” Yeah, this was one of those. The Great Clean-Out unearthed a whole lot of art gathering dust in the closets and on the floors of our bedrooms. This week I decided to tackle the desk art.

On a giant piece of kraft paper, I tested my layout on the floor first (with Presley’s “help” of course) and traced the frames onto the paper. Then I cut out each “frame” and hopped on my ladder and taped them all up, readjusting a few times until I got them all where I wanted them. Then I measured for the picture hangers and hammered and hung each picture one at a time. I readjusted things as I went, based on tiny mis-measurements. It wasn’t an exact science (for instance, I’m not sure how I feel about the tiny cat floating away from everything at the top) but I’m pretty happy with my little collection up there. Eventually I’d love to take down my twine-o-postcards and have art hanging up across the entire desk unit, but I’m okay with this for now.

Finishing this was a nice distraction from the Great Clean-Out (which is still sprawled across the dining room table and the living room floor). Now back to putting things away and plotting the rest of the art in the apartment. Right now, I’m loving the haphazard collage look and I’m thinking I might need to “build” another one with some old family pictures in my stash.

Clockwise from the top left: Cat–postcard purchased in Japan//Girl on a Swing papercut–Tina Tarnoff//photo strip–taken at Fitzgeralds a few summers ago//You Are My Sunshine–purchased at Renegade a few years ago, but I can’t remember the seller//Presley–one of my first Instagrams, developed by PostalPix//Iron Head collage–Vivienne Strauss//Lord Byron Letter Writing quote–Bison Bookbinding & Letterpress

Tagged decorating, home, home improvement, homemaking, letterpress

Feb 01 2013

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home is a 1970s apartment, homemaking, Uncategorized

It’s Been Quiet Around Here…

…because I’m in the middle of the most depressing cleaning project ever. Depressing only because I’ve put it off for so long.

We’ve lived here for two and a half years, but in some ways, I feel like we’ve never settled in. Certain things have never had a “place” and the guest room has always been an easy home for clutter. So this week I’ve been making a “place” for the things I want to keep and bagging up the things that I don’t. On Wednesday I finished up in our bedroom and our closets. This makes me extremely happy because repainting our bedroom and finishing our bathroom (FYI: the big work is done and we’re using it, but we still have to hang our mirror, the hooks and some art) are the last two big things we have to do before I will feel completely settled here. (Full disclosure: Our bedroom is the first room I painted when we bought our apartment. I’ve hated the color since the first roll. Lesson: Life’s too short to live with a bad paint choice.) Now that the bedroom and the closets are decluttered, we can get in there and paint. (And when I say we, I mean me.)

Yesterday I started tearing apart the guest room…it’s a big job in there. It was already a disaster and then, while I was cleaning our bedroom, I used the guest bed as a place to hold the things I couldn’t decide about. Now it’s time to pay the piper and find that stuff a home, or send it out. The picture above is of my stationery drawer–which has gotten a little bit out of hand. (Just a little.) I’ve sifted through it and everything fits into a basket now, which will be much easier to transport into the living room for letter writing. Tonight, I’m tackling the craft stuff, getting rid of dead and uninspiring materials and organizing the stuff that’s left. I’m trying to consolidate all of the like items and find them a home once and for all.

As depressing as the Great Clean Out has been, it’s also like a mini surprise party! I’ve unearthed some amazing things that I’d forgotten about like letters from old college friends and my old work notebook, filled with haikus that I’d written during meetings. (I was a diligent employee.) I’m glad I’m taking the time to find a good home for these little treasures of my past. And, I’m glad that I’ll soon be able to see all the craft stuff so I can use it up and spend it out.

So, that’s what’s been keeping me away from doing anything fun. Hopefully I’ll be back next week with a finished project and some good stuff to share (like an old work haiku).

Tagged home, home improvement, homemaking, memories

Jan 25 2013

3 Comments

home is a 1970s apartment, homemaking

SNOW!

The last real snow we’ve seen in Chicago was 335 days ago. So today I am celebrating the freshly fallen 1.1 inch on my street. And I’m trying to pretend that you can’t see blades of grass peeking through the whiteness. This morning, I walked down the street to grab a cup of coffee in my oh-so-unstylish, but very practical winter boots. Now I’m off to spend the day finishing my closet clean-out, visiting the Hallmark store and maybe, just maybe hanging some art on the walls.

Tagged home, home improvement, homemaking