Keller Fine Art

This recipe is from the October 2009 issue of Good Housekeeping…  Do it yourself Granola bars!  Aside from the savings, you’ll never go back to store bought.  They are that good.

2 c. old fashioned oats

3/4 c. toasted wheat germ

3/4 chopped walnuts (we subbed in sliced almonds)

3/4 c. dried cranberries

2-3 Tblsp. packed brown sugar

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. salt (I used sea salt)

1/2 c. honey

1/2 c. vegetable oil

2 lg. egg whites

1.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  spray a 13 x 9 inch pan with non stick spray, then line with aluminum foil and spray again.

2.  In a glass bowl, spread the oats and microwave in 1 minute increments for 4-5 minutes total.  Stir after each nuking.  Oats should turn fragrant and golden.  Cool to room temperature.

3.  In a large bowl, combine oats, wheat germ, nuts of choice, cranberries, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt.  Stir in honey, oil, and egg whites until well mixed.  Transfer to prepared pan, and with wet hands, press mixture down into an even layer.

4.  Bake 32 – 35 minutes or until dark golden.  Cool in pan on wire rack.

5.  When cool, use foil to transfer to cutting board.  Cut into desired bar shape.  Store ina  tightly sealed container up to a week.  In freezer up to one month.

Enjoy!!!!

I knitted this one loosely along a pattern.  I made a few changes, I wanted a rolled neck, and rolled hems.  Something super casual for the Five-Year-Old.  Here it is::

Here it is on her::

front

and back

and silly face

Wanna play Ugly dolls?  OK!

We have this book for inspiration::

And we made our paper dolls to look like these guys::

Myself and my little peeps had so much fun building an “Ugly Town!”

Here are some of the highlights::

This is Poe.  He is a bat.  He lives in his own Poe house, and often drives to work {in his Poe car} to his shop, “Poe’s Shoes.”

His car is great, just a bar of paper glued to the backside like a pocket makes him stay seated.

Then there is Wage, who wears his apron and works at our “UGcafe” vending free lemonade.  Way to shoot your business in the foot, Wage. {*Please note the dingle ball trim on the sunbrella.}

We also find Peaco and Wedgehead as neighbors.

Uglyworm used to live here, but he skipped town in his wormcar.  Babo lives here, but he lives alone, and it appears that he is the first in town to own a “Segueway” for getting around…

There you have it:: Ugly paper dolls.  Ugly fun on a budget.  An Ugly Town that you control.  This book can be checked out from your local Library.  {I always capitalize Library cuz it’s that cool a place.}

I just finished the “owlet sweater” by Kate Davies.  I have a big amount of Patagonia blue cotton yarn in my stash.  *I use the term “stash” lightly here, I have an old fashioned trunk with a few balls of yarn inside.  Maybe a total of 20 balls.  Nothing to write home about.*  Anyhow, I wanted to make a cotton sweater for my big kid, and I truly liked how the owlet sweater pieced together…  But I didn’t want a rib knit (I call it “corrugated”) bottom hem and sleeve hems.  I envisioned the whole works in stockinette…  And sorta baggy…  Maybe three quarter sleeves?  Something summery and not too overbearing.  Something she could wear all the time…  So I am following the same pattern, for the next size larger than the one I just knit, and I am omitting the rib knit parts, and also measured her to see where a three quarter sleeve would hit.  And, I was off and running!  I wonder slightly if the short rows will work out the same or how that will pan out…  I may have to do a little math there to make it land right, but I have begun it::

*In the immortal words of Doug Heffernan, on that show “the King of Queens,”

“It’s already been WUNG.”

My sister gave me a gift certificate one month ahead of my birthday from this business::

The G.C. arrived in the mail and told me about how to navigate the website and choose my own adventure when it came to a new handbag!  How fun!  First I chose the type of purse/satchel/handbag I wanted, and then I chose the inside, the outside and the handle out of their online fabric selection.  It was really artsy, and I loved that I got to go wild, but still stick to my favorite color theme.  I almost went a little too wild…  But at the last minute I reigned it in and came up with my new favorite purse!  It just got delivered!  And, I didn’t realize when I picked it out, THIS ONE IS REVERSIBLE!!!!  Two purses in one!

and now for another view::

And just for size perspective, here is what fits into my new purse::

Oh, and sunglasses fit in there nicely too.  (*Jen, can you arrange for some sunshine this way, please?  Perhaps I should take that up with Grandma and Grandpa in Florida…)

Here is the reversible side ~ in a calming ocean blue::

If you could just see the fabric with these soft to the touch velveteen brown outlines, and a burlap-ish texture, and the colors are true to what I picked out online too!

That was super fun!  What a great idea for a birthday gift…  I really love it and hope you know how much it meant to me that you did it all ahead of time so that I could actually have the purse IN HAND on my birthday!  Thanks a million!

xo

Happy Easter and Happy April!

Melted chocolate chips, Chinese crunchy noodles and malted milk balls in the shape of eggs…  I know, I know, EVERYONE makes these…  Everyone makes them because they are so easy and so good.

A little bit of yard work...

And a whole lot of fresh air!

The simple, traditional act of coloring eggs is such a wonderful build up to a day as important as Easter…  And it is one of my all time favorite things to do EVER, anytime of year.

Wisconsin Spring::

It’s why we live here.