altered books

i love old books. there's just something romantic about them. the hard woven covers that encapsulate torn, aged pages of printed thoughts. ever since my first visit to one of my most favorite stores on the planet (that i cannot afford) anthropology - there was an entire wall covered entirely in these folded books. so, if you know me, once i get something in my head, i have to make it right then! so off to the thrift store, and bought some neat old books for only a couple of dollars. i chose books books with images, well aged pages, and song books. got home and started experimenting. they have become such conversation pieces in our home, and were so fun to make.

How to make them...

It’s essential that the books are well bound; not coming apart at the binding, or loosing pages.

Open the book up to the middle page and place in front of you.

Work with only 1-2 pages at a time.

You can take a page, and loop it in to the binding so that it stays stuck in there, do not crease.

Or crease in half and put edge in binding

Fold in corners, or fold in corners then loop inside

Whatever you do with one side, do to the other.

Before you know it, you will have patterns of pages & each book you do will be different.

You can paint your books, hang beads from the pages, glitter them.

Have fun with it, you can't "mess up!"

Screw into your wall, hang from a plate hook, or leave open on the coffee table.

Grandma's Rolls

This is the best bread dough recipe. You can use it for pizza, rolls, bread, whatever...perfect old fashioned high-carb goodness!

I have this great Kitchen Aid mixer my mother-in-law gave us for our wedding almost 9 years ago. Oh my have I been married 9 years? Wow. Anyway, it wobbles across the countertop when kneading nocking off anything in it's path. This can be such a pain. When I made these rolls (above) the other day, I heard this loud crash in the kitchen. In a split second I did a head count (1,2,3,4...kids were accounted for) Sure enough it was that dumb mixer, flat on the ground. Danny picked it up, plugged it in and it kept on truckin! This was it's second canonball to the linolium, once before Mountaineer (90lb big black dog) did a flying leap onto the kitchen table...disaster. I think we need to bolt it to the counter!
So, if you don't have a mixer that likes to walk around or if you'd just like a little excitement, here's the recipe.

In mixer bowl put 1 1/2 cups warm water, 2 T butter, 4 Cups High Gluten Bread Flour (this is where the high-carbness comes in) 2 T dry milk, 2 1/2 T sugar, 1 3/4 t. salt, 2 3/4t. dry yeast. With your dough hook knead for 24 minutes.

Cover and let rise for 50 minutes. It will then look something like this. Punch down and shape into rolls or 2 loaves of bread. Easy Peasy. Bake @ 350 for 20 minutes.

Seventy-nine

Yesterday,

our family gathered at the farm for my Great-Uncle Raymie's 79th birthday.

I think he had a pretty good day!

Jake had a great day too, just lounging around, enyoying her final days of peace & tranquility before becoming a first-time mother.

It was such a pretty day, Mad-o took her pony Moonie for a little stroll. Moonie is an old, rescued carnival pony. She's kind & gentle, and enjoys the company of the bulls, cows & pigs, goats & sheep.

Junkin'

For the first time in about 4 months I made it to my favorite Thrift Shoppe! Here's what I got for $10.50.

vintage bedsheet and pillowcases, lacy bedskirt, glass flowers, small pot, some old plates, and a very cute old swiss linen apron. As you can see for some reason I'm drawn to all things pink & green.

I also bought a very cute new easter dress for #2, some old home magazines for 10 cents and some easter eggs.

Biscotti

made orange pecan biscotti that turned out perfectly. link to recipe here. used the fresh orange juice from the grated orange instead of grand marnier. and more like 3 T grated orange peel.

when you bake your biscotti standing up like this instead of laying down 1) you don't have to turn it over while baking and 2) turns out much crispier and 3) you can fit more on the baking sheet. these were gone in less than 48 hours.

Big Yummy Cookies

Came across this really good, super easy and quick, recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookies

Oven: 375 degrees. Combine 2 ¼ c. flour, 1t. baking soda, 1t. salt in bowl, set aside. In large bowl mix by hand 1 cup melted butter or margarine, 1 cup white sugar and ½ cup brown, 2 eggs and 2t. vanilla. Add dry to wet, stir only until combined, add 2 cups chocolate chips. Drop by heaping Tablespoons onto silpats (6 per sheet) and bake 12-13 minutes. They will be soft in middle when you take them out. Let sit on sheet 2 minutes, then transfer to wire racks. Makes 18 big yummy cookes – great for dunking.