Poster Frame Dowel Kits, Installing Ikea Medicine Cabinet, Independence Days Challenge, Pear Crumble

Poster Frame Dowel Kits-

After I got my wonderful 20 x 28" poster at U Of Utah museum gift store above I started pricing frames. Ouch! I went to the manufacturer's website Cavallini.com and found these-

Oak Dowel hanging kit, $15.00

The poster website has gorgeous bags, prints and more, check it out! No, they're not reimbursing me, just nice stuff! I should have in a week or so and will post a photo.

Installing Ikea Medicine Cabinet-

We installed our new Ikea bathroom cabinet this weekend and it looks great! I have a very white blue I painted on the walls originally. The directions were pretty clear that came with it, and took us about 2 1/2 hours to install. You want to take the time to do it correctly. When I looked at the tag I was interested to see where the cabinet was actually manufactured, it was in Italy!

Has a really nice finish and is very roomy. The first thing we did was basically lay everything out on a card table with the towel since the two of us were going to put it together simultaneously. 

It was much easier to sit down to do this. They even supplied a little short screwdriver but we used our own. Basically we laid out the directions and started counting all the hardware which is included, then laid out the pieces. Since you use the mirror door last we set it aside. Basically you attach all the hardware as you go to create the box of the cabinet. Which we did. Then you had the back piece which two slides into the slot. Make the box into a cabinet, put on the back-

We didn't use the cheap plastic anchors, that they included, since they're not really heavy duty. Dave bought 3/4" L brackets and we used those. Bolt them into the studs.

Then we mounted the cabinet on the wall, adding the door last. We tried to add the door per the directions but that was tricky. Basically they say to add the hardware to the door, then attach that hardware to the cabinet. We found it was much easier to reverse the process, by adding the hardware to the cabinet and then attaching it to the door. So we got it up, it's level and it looks great. I have 3 shelves and tons of storage. The old one will go to free Craigslist. Love the new one! 

Independence Days Challenge-

This time of year is definitely a busy time so here's a review of what we've been up to recently. Last weekend there was fruit all over the counters and dining table, not a bad thing!

1. Plant Something- No, it's harvest time! We don't do fall/winter gardens here, too much erratic weather. 

2. Harvest Something- No eggs, both girls molting, but the younger ones should start in a month or so. Herbs, tomatoes, cukes, pears, peppers, beans, and squash have been really coming in steadily and it was time to start freezing somethings. We'll dig up the 3 bins of potatoes soon too! 

Our organic pears

3. Preserve/Store Something- Freezing veggies and fruits. We were gifted by one of Dave's co-workers with some huge, ripe peaches! That was great since our peach tree did not have a large harvest this year. I decided to freeze all of them except a few to eat. We have lots of fresh pears that I baked. More are on the tree, but not that much. Too little to can IMO. I found a great deal on fresh Blackberries and local gourmet Italian breads. Pesto is coming soon with my 2' high Basil, to freeze in little jars. One of the things I like to do is to add some of the sweet Gypsy peppers and Italian peppers to the frozen tomatoes. Since I will primarily use frozen tomatoes to make pasta sauces in the winter or soups that's always a good addition. I'll be freezing kale soon too. This weekend will be food preservation as a top priority.It's always nice to be able to fill up your freezer! 

Free!

Off to the freezer, 4 gallon bags

More to eat fresh

4. Manage Reserves- Get a Good Deal/Barter/Stock Up/Prep- Dave and I cleaned out our bedroom pantry closet of some older items, creating more room. There were some dry mixes and some canned goods that were past their prime. It's a good reminder not to buy odd foods just because they're on sale and then not use them! The good news- it freed up some room to move things around and open up some space for canned goods that we do use on a regular basis. I always keep things like canned beans on hand to make quick soups. I always love to make homemade soups and pasta sauces on the weekends when I have time. Love to let them really simmer and reach full flavor. I do used dried beans as well. Sometimes on a work night though it's nice to have things like canned beans to just be able to chop up some vegetables and throw it in a pot for an hour. It's a fairly instant dinner. I know there's a big thing about the instant pot but sometimes it's just another thing to buy and store. And it's just the two of us I don't really see the need for that. 

Got a $10.00 coupon for a nice sale shirt at L.L. Bean, scored for $12.00, free shipping. Perfect for work! Got a $50.00 Amazon gift card from a business acquaintance and Dave and I split it. I got a new wireless weather station, was $85.00 for $17.00 and some teas. I'm a weather geek, what can I say? My old weather station died. Dave got a wireless headset and a new CD. Both happy. I do want to say we also get rid of things on a regular basis.  Dave gets batteries wholesale sat work so we stock up on 3 lantern ones. Winter is coming...

5. Eat the Food- Try New Foods/Recipe- Ate peaches and pears oh my! Bought the new book Little Swedish Kitchen by Rachel Khoo She started off  her books on French food, then married a Swedish man, equals a new book! I did break down and bought an actual paper one! I like to actually sit down with a cookbook and read it, turn the pages, etc.  I bought several of her used French cooking books and really like her cooking style. When I looked online at some of her recipes they looked great. I like some Swedish cooking, so I thought it would be good to try. Ironically the paper copy of the book I ordered through Amazon was shipped from the UK. The only thing available in the US was electronic, oh well a sign of the digital times. I'll post some photos after I try some of the recipes.

6. Build Community Food Systems- Got the free peaches. Will give our neighbor some free eggs for her rhubarb when the girls start laying.

7. Recycle/Re-Use- Gifting our old medicine cabinet, old towels. I was gifted a heavy, steel file folder rack. I used it for all of my food preservation books to keep them together.

8. Skill Up- Learned all about installing a shower faucet cartridge after Dave's attempt!

9. Regenerate What is Lost/Salvage Something-  Another home improvement was getting a new cartridge installed into her shower faucet control. Since it was still under warranty we got a free cartridge from Moen to replace the old one. Dave did have good directions but was unable to remove the cartridge dou to a lot of hard water build up, so we had a plumber do it. The old cartridge caused the shower faucet to drip a bit. Having the new cartridge in made a huge difference! Not only did it make the handle on the shower faucet move really easily, it actually increased the water flow. Dave thought from the sound of things that the mix probably was not correct due to the cartridge being jammed. Anyway the main thing is is it works great now! The plumber said due to hard water there was just a lot of gunk in there over the years. We're talking now about potentially adding a water softener system to the house, but don't know if we really want to spend the money for that. There's also environmental issues with all of the salt used in that. We will do more research and think about it. Will be touching up the paint on the coop soon, before the cold weather hits and reinforce a couple areas. Need to keep the girls cozy!

Pear Crumble-

With lots of fresh organic pears it was time to bake! I made this last year Justapinch.com but subbed Puff Pastry this time, and used nutmeg instead of cinnamon. Oh my, almost silky!