Our little Puppy

By: Laura

Well, I promised that I would post a picture of our little puppy and here she is.  Tonight we headed to our church picnic area for "trunk or treat" and Ella showed off her new little costume.  It was a big hit and so was she, but really, are you surprised?  I'm not, but hey, I'm her Mom.

The whole fam here.  Look at that little nose!  

Mom trying to get the little puppy to smile.

 And there you have it, our little trick or treater.  Sorry I didn't get a better shot of the whole costume, but it's hard to get little ones to cooperate sometimes!  Enjoy your Halloween.

A Handmade Halloween Costume

By: Laura

It's a glorious fall day and Halloween is just around the corner, so have you gotten your costume ready yet?  Well, neither have I, but I did manage to get Ella's put together a while back.  A few weeks ago, I headed to my parents' house to do a little Halloween crafting.  My mom and I wanted to make something simple and fun for Ella to wear on Halloween, so we decided on her favorite animal at the moment: a puppy.  And it really was a simple project, with no sewing involved.  Check out it out below and make your little kiddo one tonight, it's cheaper than buying a costume, seriously!

Begin the project by purchasing a sweat suit.  I found this gray outfit at Walmart for around $10.

Gather some supplies: felt and tacky glue (yep, that's it!)

Here's the magical glue, always keep it around, it's pretty great stuff!

Now begin creating some spots.  Mom and I tried to go as "life like" as possible. (i.e. not so round)

Mom started gluing the spots onto the puppy costume .  Be sure to lay the spots out so you don't have too much alignment.  It's hard not to have spots lining up or matching up. (but that might be the hardest part of the whole process, seriously, this is so easy!)

Now the puppy is starting to come to life, but what's a puppy without some big, floppy ears? 

Big floppy ears...

Mom pinned them so they would lay nicely on the top of the hood. 

Pinned and ready to stitch.  Whoops, I lied, there is a bit of sewing, but you could glue it.

Finished Puppy!  Isn't it cute?  Now what's the only thing that could make this cuter?  A little Ella!

And guess what, I'm going to make you wait for the cutie pie in the costume, tune in tomorrow on the test nest for the little trick or treater.  What's your little one going to be for Halloween?  Do tell...

Make your own Chai Tea concentrate!

So, we all know that one way to save some money is to avoid overpriced drinks at coffee shops.  I don't even drink coffee and I know it.  But when fall arrived this year I was just achin' for a hot beverage.  I mean, you know how it feels to feel "fall-ish" and "chilly" and watch someone delve into a hot cuppa joe.  Jealous!  I've never been a coffee gal, or even a tea gal, but I have learned to like Chai tea.  The flavors are good and, let's face it, it has a lot more sugar than regular tea.

I first starting drinking chai with the Oregon Chai Original concentrate.  That stuff is good.  And there's a reason why.  Sh-sh-sh-sugaaaaa.  There's a lot of it in there.  So I decided to check out options where I could control the amount of sugar.  I found a really great recipe on Eighty-Twenty.  She cuts out a lot of the sugar, but not all of it.  It turned out really great, and after getting used to it, I didn't really miss the sugar.

So, here's the process:

Gather your ingredients--black tea, ginger, cardamom, an orange, cinnamon, cloves, star anise.  A little tip: I bought my ginger and spices at the Asian market--definitely cheaper!  Although I have enough cardamom pods to last me the rest of my life!

Tea and spice and everything nice.

After you have added all your ingredients, you let them steep on the stove.  It's getting steamy in here!

Here's a better view of my magical brew!  It smelled great!

Add your brown sugar...

Your honey...

and your vanilla... Whisk it up.

Use a fine mesh strainer to drain the liquid into whatever you are going to keep your concentrate in.

We're ready!  Fill a cup half full with the concentrate.

Fill the other half with milk.  Heat it up and enjoy!

Homemade Chai Tea Concentrate
Print Recipe

Serves 8
Adapted from a recipe by eat8020.com

6 cups water
8 black tea bags
½ an orange (and the zest from it)
20-30 cardamom seeds (or you could use 1 tsp ground cardamom)
10-12 whole cloves
1 cinnamon stick (I used two)
1-4” slice of fresh ginger, peeled and sliced
¼ c. brown sugar
2 T. honey
1 T. vanilla extract

In a large saucepan, bring the water to a boil.  Remove from heat and add the tea bags, spices, and orange zest.  Squeeze the juice from the orange into the pot and add the orange itself to the tea.  Allow to steep for 20 minutes.

Whisk in the honey, sugar, and vanilla.  Strain the contents of the pot into a container for storage.  Keep concentrate refrigerated.  

To prepare chai tea, fill your cup half full with chai tea concentrate and fill the other half with milk.  Enjoy it hot or cold!

Pumpkin Carving

By: Laura

The smell of fall is definitely in the air and the leaves are falling fast, which makes me smile, but cringe as well (fall means winter is on the way.)  Nevertheless, I have one holiday to look forward to before the weather really turns nasty, and that's Halloween.  Though I don't get crazy and dress up like I used to, I still enjoy seeing the trick or treaters come running up to the door with their rosy cheeks and spooky get ups.  I also love to get a little pumpkin carving on and that is just what we did last weekend.  I hit up the farmer's market on Saturday and picked up the perfect pumpkin for carving.

Then, on Sunday night the whole fam, Derek, Ella and I got to work.  (well, maybe it was mostly me, but who cares, it was fun to get a little gooey.)  Check out the highlights of the evening below.

We began by opening up the top of the pumpkin and I was waiting for Ella to dive into the sloppy mess of the inside of the pumpkin, but after a quick touch, she was not too interested.

Derek tried to capture Ella's disgusted face in regards to the pumpkin (she had many of those during the whole process) 

Yuck, it's so sticky!

Now Ella is getting into it.  She seems interested.

Getting more curious.

Hmmm, I don't know about this

After all the insides were scraped out of the pumpkin by me, Derek started the jack-o-lantern's face. We modeled after Ella (two teeth on the bottom, one on the top.)  

Ella started the cleaning process, but wasn't too enthused about it.

But, after clean up was done (as well as the pumpkin carving), Ella was happy to show off her jack-o-lantern.

Even though Ella didn't get into the pumpkin carving too much this year, I'm sure she will over the next few years.  It's fun to start traditions on holidays and this is one of many we plan to do.  What are some of your holiday traditions? 

A Fall Treat--Potato Leek Soup

With colder weather, I always crave soups.  My mom used to make great soups for the fall weather--ham and cheese chowder, chili, or simple potato soup.  I loved them all.

Eating soup on a cool fall night takes me back to Cross Country meets, football games, and marching band.  Some of those things I like to remember more than others--I always hated trying to play the flute with gloves on.  The excitement was great, though.  Hanging with friends and watching or not watching the game...and then heading home for something warm and comforting.

Today I've got a great recipe from David Lebovitz , who, if you know anything about him, is obviously a culinary master.  I have loved every recipe I've tried of his.  This one is no different.  It is one of the easier soups you'll ever make and it is filling and delicious.  Here goes:

Start out with a pound and a quarter of potatoes.  I used fingerling (from our awesome farmer's market), but any ole' kind would do.

Trip and chop 3-4 leeks.  I like to cut mine lengthwise, then chop them into small slices and then clean them all in a colander.

Saute the leeks and a couple sprigs of thyme in some olive oil with salt (you will need quite a bit of salt, as there is little else that will season the soup).

Add some bay leaves and bring it to a boil.  Then let is simma down now!

After the soup flavors have combined, puree the mixture in a blender or using an immersion blender.  Sprinkle with some black pepper and enjoy!  (Perhaps some crusty bread is in order, too?)

Potato Leek Soup Recipe
adapted from the original by: David Lebovitz 
Serves 6-8

2-3 Tablespoons olive oil or butter
4 leeks, washed and chopped into half moons
salt to taste
1.25 lbs potatoes (I didn't peel mine, but if you are using regular potatoes, I would)
1 tsp. chopped fresh thyme (I'm sure dried would work great, too)
1 tsp. chili powder
6 cups water (or you could use any kind of stock)
2 bay leaves
black pepper to taste.

Begin by chopping your leeks and cooking over medium heat in the (heated) oil for 5-7 minutes or until they are soft and aromatic.  Add the chili powder and thyme and stir to release the flava.

Pour the water over the leeks and add the potatoes and bay leaves.

Cover and simmer until the potatoes are fork tender.  This took me about 30-40 minutes.

Remove the soup from the heat and puree the mixture until it is smooth and creamy.  Remember that if using a blender, only fill the container about half full because the soup will expand and explode all over you if you don't.

Enjoy this soup with some crusty bread or maybe a dollop of sour cream.

Before and After...the Master Bedroom

By: Laura

After Erin's post about her new house (awesome!), I felt the urge to look back at some of our lovely before and after pictures on the rooms in our own home.  Erin's question of how to remove wallpaper brought back horrid memories of one room in particular in our house: the master bedroom.

The room had classy bird and flower wallpaper from the 70's that we guessed had been in the house since day one, maybe that's why it was so ridiculously hard to get off.  We used all of the tricks we could find: vinegar, fabric softener, DIF (a product for wallpaper removal), and little tools said to "surely get the job done," but it was all a hoax because nothing worked for us.  We pretty much had to use hard labor.  If I had to do it again, maybe I'd try the steamer technique, but at the time, we couldn't get our hands on one.  So, check out the pictures below to see the tremendous transformation.

The 1970's traditional master bedroom, complete with flowery wallpaper.

Notice the light fixture in the corner of the room, what's up with that?

Begin: wallpaper removal.  Derek is looking a bit haggard.

I think Derek summed up our feelings about this wall.

Argh, is this really all I've done!

Ta da, a painted room!  We made it through.  The color on the walls is Sherwin Williams, Gris.  Love it!

Now to add in the decor, including this awesome painting done by my friend Aileen.  See more of her stuff here.

And here is the finished product.  Modern and clean.  Notice the light fixture has moved up a bit.

I will have to admit we did this renovation right before we moved into the house three years ago, but it's nice to look back and see all the hard work that went into making the place our own.  We still have more rooms to go, but at least we've made progress.  What was your proudest room makeover?

Kitchen Pantry--A project is in the works!

by Leslie

Whilst Erin was buying and starting to clean out her new home last week, I was here in Rochester, inspired to find a project of my own--although nothing as big as fixing up a house!

I went to our local Salvation Army to search for something to work on.  It just so happened that the workers there were unloading a truck as I was walking through the furniture.  Lo and behold, they set before me this beauty:

It's a cute little antique kitchen pantry cabinet.  Well, I don't know how antique it is, but if you look closely, this comic doesn't look like it's from last week's paper...

It's the wordiest Peanuts comic I've ever read.  You don't need to attempt it.

So, what do you think I should do with this work of art?

Here's the inside.  You can see that there are several layers of paint.  The green is underneath the white.

I'm thinking I might strip it and start afresh.  What do you think?

All I know is that it needs some work and some love.  Which I am definitely willing to offer.  So lend me your suggestions, folks.  I need some inspiration!

We're Homeowners!

by Erin

Laura and Leslie have been really holding down the fort here at The Test Nest for the past couple of months, and they have been very understanding of the back to school craziness and dantaladaaaaa! Max and I bought a house!

Here it is!  Isn't that front porch grand.  Max and I thought this day may never come, but after diligent looking and learning what being patient really meant, we found a house that we love, and that we can really make our own.

So this means many home DYI projects are to come on The Test Nest.  After all we've got to figure out how to deal with this:

gross 80's wallpaper

We have resolved to tear off a chunk of wall paper every time we use the bathroom.  Hideous.  Btw, if anybody has any good wallpaper removal techniques, please leave a comment.  As you can see, we're going to need them.  We've also got to work on this delicate pattern:

Kitchen wall paper

 If you look closely you can see a sweet painting of a birdhouse on our back porch (insert sarcasm here).  You can also see the beautiful stain glass that we have over the door to the back porch.  I think it is going to look great in the morning, with the sun streaming in.

Anyway, enough about the, shall we say interesting, because there is so much to love about this place.  We don't have any pictures without the previous owner's furniture, which didn't do much for it, but those will be forthcoming.  After closing yesterday, Max and I got straight to work on pulling up carpet.  

Carpet bounty

 We pulled up three bedrooms, the bedroom that was converted to the stair room (we've got to figure out a name for that) and the staircase!  We worked from about 5pm - 8pm.  Not bad, if you ask me.  The floors really vary in condition.  The stairway room was the worst, as they glued the carpet down. 

 

The back upstairs bedroom was the next level up.  That gross carpet padding is kind of stuck to the wood, but ultimatly the wood is in good shape, we just have to sand those toxins off.  

 This bedroom looks pretty good. 

And the upstairs bedroom looks beautiful.  It is really a shame that there are so many staples in the floors.  Otherwise it is really lovely.

 

So with a little sanding and some elbow grease, I think these floors are really going to shine.  Fortunately there were no boards that need to be fixed or replaced.  Score!

What I love best about this house is that after a tough day of carpet removal or crazy students, I can take a load off in our pretty back yard!

Stay tuned for more updates on our house progress!  We're off to borrow a floor sander.