Ombre's the Hombre.

I don't have much time to blog right now, but I wanted to show you a project I completed last night.  It's not technically one I need to get done right now as there are a few others that are higher on the priority list - like getting the rearranged rooms back in order, but it's not like you can move furniture after the kids are in bed, right?

Anyway, I was handed down this mirror that had belonged to my grandmother.  It took forever for Nick to hang it because he thought it was ugly (not going to mince words here) which I completely did not understand because I spent years looking in that mirror that hung at the end of the hallway in my grandmother's house and it had a history plus it is freaking amazing.  Okay, so you'll probably fall on one side or the other about the mirror once you see it, but you should at least all agree what nostalgia will do to a person.  Like when you think you have the cutest babies ever and then they grow up and you look back at the baby pictures and still think they're the cutest ever but you're more willing to admit that there might actually be cuter babies out there.  It's like that.

So here's the mirror:

Sorry for the crappy picture.  It was late and I had spent all day nursing my husband's "man cold" while protecting him from children who clearly were unaware that the full moon had already passed.  I just stopped caring at this point.

Here was my inspiration (from Pinterest):

Here were my Blue Solo Cups, I filled them up, Proceed to painting, proceed to painting:  

Seriously, 100 points to whoever gets that.  I actually had a really hard time deciding on a color/whether I actually wanted to change the mirror forever.   I went back and forth and back and forth and BACK AND FORTH.  Yellow, teal, yellow, teal...grey? Should I? Shouldn't I?

Well, I did. 

Here is the after:

Up close it's got a fun, hand painted look to it, which I think makes it look a little more authentic.  I was afraid that if I had spray painted it a solid color it would have a cheap, plastic-y look to it and I would have cried.  This isn't where it will live, this is just where it was previously hanging.  Eventually we'll be hanging it in the guest room where I think it will play nicely with the grey walls we're painting and I'll be able to get a better picture of it.

Have you made anything old look new again by using a fun color?  Tell me about it! =D

Recipe: Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

Here it is folks - the recipe that will change your life.  Okay, maybe I'm being a little dramatic, but hummus was a serious topic in this household UNTIL...I made my own...

Nick loves hummus.  Plain and simple.  I on the other hand, could not wrap my mind around why anyone would want to eat something that tasted like dirt.  DIRT!  Maybe it was me, but it seemed like no matter what flavor of hummus we tried, Nick fell in love all over again while I might as well have been licking the ground.  Not one to give up, because after all, you can only rotate the same few healthy snacks over and over before your taste buds go on strike.  Enter homemade hummus.

Novel idea, right?  I know...it's hard being the first person to come up with these things. 

I got the recipe from here, but changed a couple things.

What you'll need:

• 1 - 15 oz can garbanzo beans, drained OR 1.5 - 2 cups cooked
• 4 oz roasted red peppers (about 1/3 of a 15 oz jar), reserve some juice from jar
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 1/2 tablespoons tahini
• 1 clove garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (consider reducing the amount for children)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Cilantro, for garnish (or parsley, if you're a cilantro hater)

Directions:

Peel Garlic. I always add more garlic than the recipe calls for because we can't get enough of it.

Do you have one of these?  It's a garlic peeler.  You put the garlic in the silicone tube, roll it and peeled garlic comes out.  If you love garlic and don't have one, get one.  It WILL change your life.  

Throw everything in the blender and add a splash or two of red pepper juice.  Do not mince or chop a thing.

Blend until it looks like this (if you want it thinner, add more red pepper juice):

The original recipe states that you need to refrigerate this for an hour or so before eating.  Hogwash!  I mean sure, the flavors blend together a little better (though I don't have scientific proof to back that up) but if you're hungry for some hummus, don't feel guilty if you can't seem to stop yourself from licking every hummus covered surface in your vicinity.  Just please don't lick the blender, it isn't recommended. 

I like to top my hummus with cilantro and eat it with my Seriously Seedy chips from Fresh & Easy.  They are seedy.  Seriously. 

Enjoy!

Winner!

Congratulations,  Jaimie A. (Entry #180 who Tweeted about the giveaway) - you are the winner of the minky blanket!  I will be contacting you within 24 hours with more info so I can get to work on your very special blanket.

Thanks everyone for participating - it was fun reading your answers to the daily questions.

I've got a healthy snack recipe coming up later today, so stay tuned!

Minky Blanket Giveaway

You made it happen!  On One Hand has officially reached 50 Facebook followers, so now it's time for a giveaway!  NOTE: You must be a FaceBook fan or Google Follower to enter!

Who may enter: Anyone in the US who is a Facebook fan or Google follower of On One Hand.  International shipping isn't available yet, sorry!  I'd really like this special blanket to go to someone who'll really use it, so please refrain from entering unless you've got a specific little recipient in mind as it really isn't suitable for adult use. =)

How to Enter:  Using the form below, enter as many times as possible for the best chance.  While most are one-time entries, you may earn daily entries by answering the questions I've asked and/or tweeting about the giveaway every day! 

Giveaway Starts: Monday, February 13th at 12:01 AM EST.

Giveaway Ends: Saturday, February 18th at 11:59 PM EST**.

Winner(s): One.
Prize: A ~36" square handmade minky blanket for either boy or girl!
Other info:  I will be in contact with the chosen winner within 48 hours of the contest ending.  I will be gathering info such as name, shipping address and discussing further details of the blanket.  Due to the nature of the item being handmade personally for the winner, please allow 2-3 weeks for delivery.

**In order to give you all day Friday to enter, I had to continue the raffle through to Saturday morning at 12:01 AM EST per the settings on the raffle widget.  Any twitter (or other) entries entered after 11:59 PM EST on Friday, February 17th will not be considered.

Repeat: You must be a FB fan or Google follower of On One Hand to enter.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Cast-Iron Conundrum

So...when a few of our non-stick pans started shedding their non-stick finish into our food, slowly killing us, Nick and I decided it might be a good idea to start looking for new cookware.  I had been pining for a Creuset dutch oven for a while, and decided on this beauty sporting the Valencia color which showed up at our house at Christmastime.

And we loved it.  I cook everything that I can in it, from oatmeal to ratatouille:

Since then, we've acquired a couple new pieces including a blue cast iron and stainless steel sauce pans.  I can't even fully explain how much I love my Creuset cookware.  It feels durable (hello? cast iron), it looks pretty, and the food cooks fast and evenly.  

If you've ever priced out Creuset, you know it's pretty expensive...which is why we've only got a few pieces.  We actually scored all the cast-iron enamel pieces (undoubtedly the most expensive) for about 40% off  each during various sales at their outlet (seriously, their outlet is the way to go - Williams-Sonoma, on the other hand is the way to go into debt - sorry W-S, but your deals just aren't as good.)  The stainless steel sauce pan we got for 25% which was fine because their stainless steel isn't nearly as expensive per piece.   I think we've only got a couple more pieces to get and we're covered like a tight fitting lid (bud-um-psshhh) as far as our cookware is concerned (and if you're curious, that would be a skillet and stock pot.)   I never thought that I would ever spend so much on cookware, but when you consider that cast iron is considered "generation cookware" because of how long it lasts, I feel much better about it.  I've heard from a lot of people who still have their grandmother's cast iron pans and they swear by them.  

Onto the weight - they're heavy, plain and simple.  While we're still young and agile, the though of lugging a bunch of cast iron around is not my idea of a good time.  We used to keep our old cookware in a cabinet next to our oven, but even while it held every piece of our 12-set pots and pans, it wasn't convenient.  Because we had no more room in said cabinet, I had been keeping my beautiful Creuset pieces out on the stove or counter so I could look at them and stop by to say hello periodically throughout the day.  When I went on my cleaning rampage last week, I threw out our countertop convection oven that we hadn't used in for.ev.er.  Now that we had this nice big space on the counter between our stove and sink, I thought, Hey! Why don't I build a shelf for my Creuset pots? So I did.  

I used scrap wood that I had laying around, however I did have to pick up some new dark walnut stain because the stuff I had was OLD (and I need it for another project as well) and some Safecoat Acrylacq to seal it.  The building itself wasn't too bad, and I finally got to break out the Kreg Jig:

Sorry for the grain, took it with my phone =)

While I don't have any pictures of the subsequent steps, I used a nailer to attach the top, finished sanding, then did two thin and even coats of both stain and sealer with a light sanding in between the layers of sealer.  

This was my first time staining/sealing anything, so I was scurred.  Almost to the point where I considered not finishing it at all, but if it was going in the kitchen with all the steam and grease, it had to be.  After staring it down for a few hours, I jumped in and it went fairly well.  I let the stain dry for a good 48+ hours (even though the can only says 24 hours if finishing with a waterborne finish) but because we've had lower temps it needed the extra dry time.  The sealer dried fast, and went on smooth since I used thin coats and did my best NOT to go over previously applied sealer as it was drying.  

Here's what it looks like in it's new home:

Isn't it lovely?  There won't be any modesty here folks, it looks (and feels) awesome!  I seriously can't even believe I didn't completely screw it up.  Now when I stop by to say hello to my pots I also cop a feel of my new smooth and shiny shelf.   I'm also giving it bonus points for taking up even less space than that used-less-than-once-per-year toaster oven.  Booyah.

I love combining beauty and functionality, all while doing something I love.  So now it's your turn.  Have you built anything lately that has made your daily life significantly better?  Tell me about it! 

Hi!atus

When I wrote that posting would resume January 3rd, I really meant Feb 3rd (plus a few days.)  You knew that, right?  No?  My bad.

Things have been a little craaaazy around here, and by crazy, I mean me.  We I've succesfully adjusted to Nick's new work schedule and about two weeks ago I got a wild hair up you-know-where (I totally have no problem using the word "butt", in fact - I kind of wish I could use it more but that would be awkward, and I like rhyming more) and decided to clean my craft room which led to me rearranging three out of four bedrooms in our house.  As in, I took all the furniture from all three rooms and put them in different rooms.   I haven't quite got that task completed yet, and apparently Laura Numeroff was writing about me because on Friday all I was going to do was vacuum and mop the house and I ended up dusting and moving furniture and throwing rarely used appliances away and...you get the point.

Getting back to the room rearrangement.  Let me break down the previous arrangement for you.  I don't have pictures of the before (although I might - I'd have to find them), so you'll have to try and keep up.  We've got four bedrooms:

#1 Master Bedroom

#2 Craft Crap Room

#3 Boys' Bedroom

#4 Playroom

#1 - The master bedroom is fine, so you won't be hearing about that room in this story (but don't worry, it will get its day in the sun in the near future.)  

#2 - The craft room, which I have appropriately named the Crap Room, is just that.  It's a landing spot for whatever we don't want to deal with in any given moment or anything that I'm too lazy to put away after completing a project.  I personally believe it's because I have too much space in there - the room is HUGE - and for someone who's lazy and gets frustrated by clutter, it's a problem in a Catch-22 sort of way.  Once I complete a project, it's a mess.  If something else requires my attention or I'm too lazy to pick it up, then when I need to do another project, I move to another less cluttered part of the room, and then that side gets messy. Eventually there's crap everywhere and I get overwhelmed and don't want to step foot in there.  I've witnessed though, that when I have less space it's actually easier to keep clean because I can't stand the clutter yet there's not SO much mess that I get overwhelmed.  So, now that you know why a dog only needs a crate large enough to lay down in otherwise they'll pee in it, there you have it.  

#3 & #4 - The boys' bedroom and playroom.  These rooms were actually fine too.  However, I had been thinking for a while about moving BOTH of their rooms into the much larger craft room) so that we could make one of the rooms a guest room/office.  We have a pull-out couch which really isn't that comfortable and we want to get rid of, so if we do that I'd like to have another place for people to sleep.  Of course I've already planned all that out and will share with you my mood board (when I get around to making it) so that you can see the ideas I've got for it.  Another reason we wanted the room is because we've got our computer tucked away in a little corner in our living room, our filing cabinet and printer in our master and office supplies in the craft room closet.  For my sanity, I need it all in one room.  Because we rarely have overnight guests, I'm not too concerned about combining these two rooms, but I definitely plan on doing it in a way that is both clean and functional.  

So here's what the layout is  now:

#1 Master Bedroom

#2 Boys' Bedroom & Playroom

#3 Office/Guest Room

#4 Craft Room

And here's what it looks like (please don't faint):

Room Numero Dos (#2) - Boys' Bedroom/Playroom

Little one was napping while I took the pic so I just took it from the doorway.  I'll try and get some better angles later.  

Room #3 - Guest Room/Office

What we're doing with this room:  Painting the walls the gray color you see in the corner, building a twin bed with storage underneath and a computer desk, as well as adding in some fun accessories.

Room #4 Le Craft Room

As you can see, it's still the crap room.  I couldn't even get in there to take a pic so you just get the doorway view.  We're focusing our efforts on the guest room at the moment so once that's done we'll be able to move some stuff in there from this room to make a little walking space until we can really go through everything.

I figured maybe if I blog about what I'm up to that maybe it'll hold me accountable so I won't sit on my butt (see how I worked it in there?) all day doing nothing.   I'm really excited about the changes we're making and I can't wait to see the end result, which of course I'll be sharing with all of you!