Pancakes a la Chef Rowan

In the last few months, I discovered how quick and easy it is to make pancakes!

Since I misplaced my mom's recipe {which is still my fave}, I've tried a few different recipes from the internet.  We're not big on the super fluffy pancakes, so so far, our favorite internet recipe is this one.  Only, we skip the butter in the batter {this happened by accident the first time and then we realized they didn't really need it}, and put a little less baking powder in the mix, because I hate that baking powder taste, and because we don't like super fluffy pancakes, remember?  We also use sugar instead of malted milk.  Still, I should just get my mom's recipe again.

This Sunday, Rowan decided he should make the pancakes.


He did a great job!  I must admit, I was a little surprised that he didn't make a mess at all.  He whisked that pancake batter like a pro.  What a chef! 

 No mess!

 looks about ready, Mom!

COMING SOON: "Built-in" Window Seating

I've always pictured a built-in window seat and bookshelf around our front living room window. 

We thought it should be easy enough to build.  Especially after looking at plans from this website, which I found through Simply Sadie Jane.

While, that does seem easy enough, our time and space in the garage or "woodshop" is very limited. Not to mention that not having a truck makes large amounts of wood material pickup difficult. As we realized that we were never going to get around to a true built-in, we decided we would fake a built-in using some sort of Ikea modular system.

We originally were going to go with the Billy system, and trick it out with our own fancy trim.  But when we got to Ikea, we found the HEMNES system, and felt that the real wood gave it a nicer touch, so even though the measurements were a little off {nothing non-custom quite fits the dimensions of our windows}, we went for it.

We DO have to make some modifications, and they are a little tricky to figure out, so we're taking our time...haha...what don't we take our time with, eh?

Well,  for now, here is a {grainy} photo of the fairly bare window.  I'll post later on the progress and finished result.

Window with one HEMNES bench constructed

Hello, Again

It's been a while.  I pretty much get an "F" in blogging.

A lot has been going on around here and blogging is the last thing on my list of to-dos.  Can you believe that in just a few weeks, we'll have another little baby boy?!!  It doesn't seem real.  And the fact that I've been through it before doesn't give me a whole lot of comfort when I think about the whole labor/delivery process...or breastfeeding...*cringe*

But I am excited to meet "Trouble". Just like with Rowan, we wonder what he'll look like and what his personality will be.  This time is a little different because we can't help but compare to the only thing we've got to judge by, which is the Ro-Bear, himself.  I wonder if they'll look like siblings?

We feel both ready and unprepared at the same time.

Work has been crazy for me.  I'm trying to get a couple projects completed, which is burning into my month of pre-delivery pregnancy leave.  DAMMIT!  But I couldn't in good conscience leave my projects half done on someone else's shoulders.  That said, the 13hr days and restless nights, worrying about my projects are killing me!  I'm so exhausted....so....that's why {well, part of the reason}, not much at home is getting done, and no blogging either :(

Unfortunately, we also have had a few computer issues {not sure if the dog knocking the computer off the couch and breaking the screen counts as a "computer issue" but it ruined one of our computers none the less}. Basically, we have 4 computers, all with different operating systems, saved information, programs, etc. Three of which barely hold a charge, one of those has a shattered screen, and the fourth is hooked up to the tv. This makes finding/posting photos and doing any kind of computer work super inconvenient. I'm ready for ONE decent computer, and sooo wishing we had a Cloud account.

BUT.....I do hope to share a couple house projects soon. 

We're working on a "built-in" bookshelf/bench at the living room window!  We're really happy with how it's going so far! 

Oh yes, and there's still the lawn.  We got some good momentum on it about a month ago, and then my birthday happened....my big 3-0.  {kind of a big deal, right?} Well, I wasn't really in the mood to do anything, including what we had planned, which was to go to the snow.  Just seemed like a hassle, especially with even the remotest posibility that our baby would come early and I'd be giving birth in some strange cabin in Strawberry.

So instead of going to the snow, Rogér brought the snow to me! And he did it all behind my back so that it was a HUGE surprise! Fake snow all over the front "yard"!!

Fun for us, not so great for lawn progress, but we're getting there.

Anyhow, I did manage to scrounge a few photos of the "snow" off my new iPod Touch. So here ya go!

 looks real!

 until you notice the orange tree and snow-free neighbor's lawn

People who drove by were a little dumbfounded ;)