Beach Week Capsule Wardrobe

June 12, 2019travelbeach week, capsule wardrobe, not a fashion blogger, packing tip, summer style, summer travel, vacation, wanderlustarthurized 5 Comments

Now that school has let out for the summer, it’s time to hit the road for some fun in the sun! Once a year, my family gets together for beach week. Maybe we’re strange, because beach week is spent on the beach; we rarely leave the island. We read, go shelling, run and walk, play in the tide pools, build sand castles, people-watch and doze under the umbrella. The men, nieces and nephews boogie-board for hours on end. We try to solve the Mazematician’s puzzles.

Mazematician throwing us a curveball. No left turn?!

In the evening, we play all sorts of games. Some favorites are Codenames, Telestrations, Exploding Kittens, Apples to Apples and Balderdash. Those with more patience for board games (bored) than I, play Pandemic for hours on end. Our evening Mad Libs sessions on the porch are legendary. Some of our favorite inside jokes and malapropisms are born on the porch during beach week. We plan one evening for the entire 20+ person group to go souvenir shopping at the local gift shop.

Beach week is very casual. Tee shirts and shorts are the order of the day. Because we have laundry facilities in the beach house, we can pack lean and throw clothes in the wash as needed.

Mexican Blanket Flower growing on the dunes.

Recently, I’ve started packing capsule wardrobes for travel. They’re amazing because they are like Garanimals™ for grown folks! Grab a top and some pants and they coordinate. No thinking necessary, and it doesn’t matter what’s in the wash at the moment!

Here’s how I plan our capsule wardrobe:

Decide on the number of outfits needed. I’ll pack four tops, three bottoms and we’ll wear one of the capsule outfits on our travel day. (Because nudity is frowned upon during family beach week.) With this small capsule, we have the potential for 12 different looks and won’t have to repeat the same outfit during a week long vacation. In case of cooler weather, I’m adding one jersey and one pair of jeans.

Pick a color scheme. It’s red, white, blue and khaki for us this year. Look at the colors you wear routinely. What do you have on hand? Which colors are most flattering on you? If you are able to dress the whole family in the same color scheme, even casual snapshots will be color-coordinated.

Each top must work with each of the bottom pieces. Outfit coordination is easiest if only the tops or only the bottoms are patterned, not both. Pattern mixing in a capsule wardrobe is expert level. If that’s your jam, go for it!

Pack shoes that will work with each outfit. Neutral colored flip-flops and a pair of kicks are all we need for the week.

If you’re fancier than we are, pack coordinating accessories. I’ll pack one everyday necklace and one set of earrings. Maybe throw in a scarf? Hubby keeps his accessories minimal with a leather wrap bracelet.

These bags contain all of our clothes for the week plus bathing suits, cover-ups, running clothes, lounge wear, pajamas, socks and underwear, We had enough room left over to pack hand towels and washcloths in the tote bag.

So, that’s the sum total of my capsule wardrobe knowledge. This makes packing for any trip so much easier. Now, it’s your turn! Will you give this a try? Are you already a capsule wardrobe expert?

Pro tip for flying to your vacation destination: In each piece of checked luggage, pack at least one complete outfit for every member of your family. If the airline misdirects a piece of luggage, you each still have a fresh change of clothes.

Have a wonderful, relaxing vacation!

Disclosure: In addition to occasional sponsored posts, Arthurized Home uses clickable affiliate links. That means that I may receive a small commission from sales at no extra charge to you. As always, my opinion is 100% my own, and I only recommend things that I truly love or use myself. Thank you for patronizing the brands that support Arthurized Home!

Copyright 2019-2021 © Arthurized Home – All Rights Reserved. This post is the original content of Arthurized Home. If you’re reading this on another site, it’s unArthurized.

Meal Prep for Week of 6.9.2019

June 10, 2019meal prepketo brownie bites, keto cobb salad, keto philly cheese steak skillet, lemon cheesecake keto fat bombs, low carb chicken pot pie with cheesy biscuit crust, mexican cauliflower rice skillet dinner, noatmeal, pimento cheese, slow cooker bacon cheeseburger pie, stuffed peppers with ground beef and cheesearthurized 2 Comments

Welcome to another week of clean eating! We’re trying out loads of new recipes this week and we’ve already found a couple of keepers! Noatmeal is a nice change to our usual egg-based breakfasts and fun to come up with new topping combinations. Strawberry/Peanut Butter is my favorite combination so far.

I’ll let the pictures of the Chicken Pot Pie and Philly Cheesesteak Skillet speak for themselves.

Here’s this week’s menu:

Breakfast:
Noatmeal – Toppings: Strawberries, Walnuts, Unsweetened Coconut, Lily’s Chocolate Chips, Peanut Butter
https://www.healthysweeteats.com/my-favorite-noatmeal-aka-low-carb-oat-free-porridge-the-basic-recipe-and-6-variations/?cn-reloaded=1

I mixed up double batches in sandwich bags. Because these have flax seed meal in them, they need to be stored in the fridge. When I empty a bag each morning, I fold it up and put it back into the storage bag; that way we’re not using as many plastic bags from week to week.

Lunch:
Hubs has requested stuffed peppers this week.
https://www.dietdoctor.com/recipes/stuffed-peppers-with-ground-beef-and-cheese

Dinner:

Slow Cooker Bacon Cheeseburger Pie – New Recipe!
https://alldayidreamaboutfood.com/keto-slow-cooker-bacon-cheeseburger-pie/

Low Carb Chicken Pot Pie – New Recipe! One word: Delicious.
https://asweetlife.org/low-carb-chicken-pot-pie-with-cheesy-biscuit-crust/

Keto Philly Cheese Steak Skillet – New Recipe, and this one is so good! It comes together quickly too. Hubby rated this one a 10/10!
https://www.eatingonadime.com/philly-cheese-steak-skillet-dinner/

Mexican Cauliflower Rice Skillet Dinner – New Recipe!
https://alldayidreamaboutfood.com/low-carb-mexican-cauliflower-rice/

Keto Cobb Salad – New Recipe!
https://www.ketoconnect.net/keto-salad/

Keto Snacks:
Celery sticks with either pimento cheese or peanut butter, green pepper strips, cucumber slices, boiled eggs
Beautiful Carb Snacks: Bananas, Oranges, Red Grapes, Tiny but Mighty Popcorn

Treats:
Key Lime Cheesecake Fat Bombs – The lemon version was delicious, so I’m trying lime flavored bombs next.
https://www.eatwell101.com/lemon-cheesecake-keto-fat-bombs-recipe

Velvety No Bake Keto Brownie Bites – New Recipe! Scroll about halfway down the page to find the recipe. I added a few tablespoons of milled flax seed, so maybe mine aren’t as velvety as the recipe indicates. They’re still tasty, though! I used a 1″ cookie scoop and got 5 fat bombs from a single recipe. The picture below is a triple batch.
https://hungryforinspiration.com/keto-brownie-bites/

I hope you have a great week!

Seriously, this Keto Philly Cheesesteak Skillet is amazing!

How I Remove Rust From Cast Iron

June 7, 2019Cottagecast iron, diy, home cooking, season cast iron, thriftyarthurized 3 Comments

Now that we’ve made it through our rainy, Virginia springtime; we’re overdue for some outdoor chores. At Arthurized Home, we use cast iron for our everyday cooking. We’re careful to season it regularly so rust is not a problem. However, I just bought a cast iron pot with some pretty severe rust on it. It’s not pitted, so that’s good. Actually, I would have passed on buying pitted cast iron. No amount of TLC can bring that back.

A quick Google search shows countless methods for removing rust from cast iron. The process I’m using is one that I have used successfully over the years. I burn the rust off the cast iron in a fire and then season it in the oven. This method avoids using noxious chemicals and hours (and hours!) of obnoxious scrubbing.

My cast iron is good quality and very serviceable, but solidly average. It’s not rare or valuable. I would not use this method on Granny’s heirloom cast iron. For that, I would get out the steel wool, get to scrubbin’ and develop tendinitis.

I can’t speak to whether vinegar baths, oven cleaner (seems toxic), electrolysis and lye baths work on rusty cast iron, because I haven’t tried those methods.

Cast Iron Care: Take care not to shock your cast iron, which can cause it to crack. Bring the cast iron to temperature along with the heat source. Never place cold cast iron onto a hot stove, into a hot oven or fire. Never place hot cast iron into the fridge/ freezer, cold water or an ice bath. Remember ‘hot with hot’ and ‘cold with cold’ and your cast iron will be just fine.

Pa Kettle decided to get in on the action by providing an actual kettle that he found in his basement when they bought the home. It’s been unloved and in Basement Purgatory for 50+ years. I’m not sure if it is salvageable, because the rust is thick and the pot is severely pitted. But, why not throw it in and see what happens?

This is a good project to start in the morning, as you need several hours for the fire and several hours for cooling. To prepare the fire, I placed a few logs into the fire pit and laid the pots on top. I positioned the pots so that as the logs burned down, they drop toward the center of the fire, not out of it. Then I covered the pots with more logs. The idea is to have the fire reach the entire pot, including the undersides.

Bring out a few of those great fire starters and put them to work. Once you have a roaring fire, it’s time to relax.

Contemplate the meaning of life, sing a few campfire songs and break out the hot dogs or s’mores fixin’s.

Without leaving the fire unattended, burn the cast iron for a few hours (I like a minimum of three hours) and then let the fire die out.

Don’t pour water to extinguish the fire, as that could shock the cast iron.

Once, the ashes cooled, I pulled the pots from the fire pit. See that red stuff? It’s red rust. This is oxidation at high temperature when raw metal is exposed to the air. Not to worry, though. A quick scrub with a paste made of baking soda and a splash of water, will take most of that off. I’ve read that a thin coat of red rust helps the first layer of season to bond. I have no idea if that’s true, but I’ll soon find out!

Pa Kettle’s pot will need another turn in the fire.
I would like to get all of the brown rust off of it before moving on to the next step.

Thoroughly rinse the baking soda off of the cast iron. If all the old season has been removed and the raw cast iron is exposed, the pot should be matte grey.

I placed a large baking sheet onto the lowest oven rack and put the pot on the top rack. I turned the oven to 300° and left the pan in for about five minutes. This ensures that the pan is completely dry before seasoning.

After drying the pot, let it cool a little, then season with oil or grease of your choice. I spread an extremely light layer of bacon grease over the pot, coating it entirely. Wipe excess grease off with a paper towel and place the pot back into the oven upside down. This allows any excess grease to drip out of the pot onto the baking sheet below. I usually season my cast iron between 375° and 425°, so I crank the oven up at this time.

After about an hour in the oven, I turn it off and let the cast iron cool down. Then I repeat this step. Again. And again. And again; building thin layers of season each time. Once the season is built up on the pot, it is ready for daily use in the kitchen.

A few more tips on cast iron care: Moisture is the enemy of cast iron. Never let cast iron soak in water. After use, and while your pans are still warm, quickly rinse, dry and re-oil your cast iron. If there are food particles cooked on, use a plastic scrub brush to remove them.

Cast iron is for cooking and baking, not food storage. You’ll need some vintage Pyrex refrigerator boxes for that. *winks*

Because our kitchen is small, we stack our cast iron for storage. Scratches can damage the season, so we place a microfiber cloth between each pan.

Take good care of your cast iron and it will serve you for a lifetime. Who knows; maybe the grandkids will fight over your collection one day?

For more reading on caring for cast iron, here’s an interesting article:
https://richsoil.com/cast-iron.jsp#seasoning

Rescuing Clearance Rack Perennials

June 5, 2019plantsballoon flower, bees, butterflies, coreopsis, daisy, flower garden, flowers, gardening, herb garden, perennials, plants, poppy, speedwellarthurized 1 Comment

While shopping for deer fence T-posts, I happened upon several racks of clearance perennials marked down to $1 each. Of course I loaded up my cart! Some of the blooms were ready for deadheading, but the leaves looked fresh and healthy. I figured these underdogs were worth a chance.

Perennial flowers are fantastic because you do the work of planting once, and are rewarded with year after year of blooms. Given the right growing conditions, most perennials are easy care, requiring only deadheading and occasional dividing.

We purchased these for the herb garden, because that is the sunniest area of our property. They range in height from 6″ to just over 2′ tall, so they shouldn’t shade other sun loving plants nearby.

Thinking about their mature size, bloom time and relation to neighboring plants, I placed them around the garden. I like to arrange them in irregular shaped, odd numbered groupings of 3, 5 or 7 of the same plant. This gives the garden visual ‘flow’ and is more appealing than planting in straight rows, as you would in a vegetable garden.

Here’s what we planted:

Balloon Flowers – one blue, one white
I’ve wanted to try balloon flowers forever. These deer resistant plants are whimsical and fun. They both had tags showing blue flowers, so the white one was a surprise!

Poppy
This one is a mystery plant only because I misplaced the tag. Oops! I seem to recall that it is an orange variety.

Darling Daisy™ Shasta Daisy
Daisies were my husband’s great aunt Ruth’s favorite flower, so I remember her fondly when I see these. This variety is fairly compact, growing to just 12″ tall. I deadhead these about once a week, and they are blooming their little hearts out.

Dwarf Coreopsis
We picked up nine of these, and I’m hoping they will provide a sea of golden blooms. They grow to 12″ tall, and bloom from spring through fall.

Giles Van Hees Speedwell – These tiny flowers bloom in summer. They seem a little finicky and we’ve already lost two of the five that we purchased. (R.I.P., little guys) I’m holding my breath that the remaining three will settle into the garden nicely.

Little Women Daylily – I’m not sure where we are in the bloom cycle, but I suspect that we’re done for the year. I bought three of these for their unusual, peach color which will pair nicely with the nearby lavender.

Hopefully our plants will be happy here, and provide some interest to the garden. They’ve already drawn the attention of neighborhood butterflies, so we think the bees will find them soon as well.

How about you? Do you take pity on the clearance rack plants, and take them home?

Meal Prep for Week of 6.2.2019

June 3, 2019meal prepbreakfast for dinner, cauliflower pizza, cloud bread, deer fence, greek salad, keto western omelettes, lemony avocado and tomato tuna salad, mason jar spinach salad, meatloaf green beans and mashed cauliflower, pimento cheese, southwestern squash casserole, strawberries and whipped cream, zucchini saladarthurized 1 Comment

This past weekend was a blink-and-you-miss-it blur. We did loads of adulting and gardening. Hubby had a 16 mile trail race, and we spent some time catching up with friends we hadn’t seen in awhile.

Last night we watched a couple of deer work their way through, sampling from the delicious buffet that is our side yard. They completely ignored the herb garden, which made us wonder if they had bumped into the new fence and were spooked by it. Time will tell.

Diving into this week’s menu:

Breakfast:
Cloud Bread – New Recipe! I made two flavors; Parmesan and Everything Bagel. Will serve these with a schmear.
https://www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-ideas/a24749186/cloud-oopsie-bread-recipe/

Lunch:
We’re having a mixture of cold salads for lunch this week.
Mason Jar Spinach Salad – New Recipe! I made four of these salads. I substituted stevia sweetener for the sugar in the dressing. Instead of spooning the dressing into the bottom of the jar, I stored each portion in a tiny container.
https://www.theseasonedmom.com/wprm_print/57058

Zucchini Salad – New Recipe! I’m intrigued by the prospect of a low-carb imitation potato salad. UPDATE: We like this! I added a little extra mustard and three boiled eggs.
https://www.dietdoctor.com/recipes/zucchini-salad

Greek Salad – An old favorite
https://www.spendwithpennies.com/greek-salad/

Dinner:
Meatloaf, Green Beans and Mashed Cauliflower – New recipe! I substituted almond flour for the oatmeal in the meatloaf, and used prepared mashed cauliflower.
https://cleanfoodcrush.com/meatloaf-dinner/

Keto Western Omelettes – New Recipe! We love breakfast for dinner.
https://www.dietdoctor.com/recipes/keto-western-omelet

Cauliflower Pizza – This is as satisfying as “real” pizza; and has become a default when we need some dinner inspiration. I use ground flax seed (from Aldi) instead of the psyllium husk.
https://thestonesoup.com/blog/2016/09/27/cauliflower-pizza/

Southwestern Squash Casserole – To make this gluten free and lower in carbs, I’m substituting coconut flour for the wheat flour. UPDATE: Do not do this! The coconut flour did not incorporate well and the casserole was gritty as a result. It didn’t affect the flavor, just the texture. I’ll try arrowroot powder next.
https://12tomatoes.com/southwestern-squash-casserole/

Lemony Avocado Tuna Salad – We’re slightly obsessed.
https://cleanfoodcrush.com/eat-clean-lemony-avocado-tuna-salad/

Snacks:
I’m finding that I need fewer snacks on keto.
Pimento cheese and celery, cucumber slices, pickles, walnuts, green pepper strips
Beautiful carbs for hubby: Pineapple, grapes, bananas, watermelon, Tiny but Mighty popcorn

Treat:
Fresh Strawberries and Homemade Whipped Cream with Lily’s Chocolate Chips on top – If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! I sweeten the cream with a packet or two of Whole Earth. This tasty keto treat is a good substitute for my nightly watermelon.

I hope that you will give some of these recipes a try. If you like them, let me know in the comments or via email at arthurized dot home at gmail dot com.

Everything Bagel Cloud Bread with a schmear.

This is not a sponsored post. I am not in partnership with, nor do I own any of these websites or the recipes linked here.

Let’s Make Fire Starters

May 31, 2019create, giftscampfire, camping, chiminea, fire pit, fire starters, gifts, homemade gift, recycle, upcycle, wood stovearthurized 3 Comments

Years ago, we took two of our nephews and a niece on a white-water rafting trip in West Virginia. We tent camped that weekend and planned to roast our dinner (and s’mores) over a campfire. My niece and I got to work starting the fire. We had nice, dry firewood, sturdy matches and kindling gathered from the surrounding area.

There were thunderstorms that day and the humidity was nearly 100%. We couldn’t get our kindling to ignite, so we started looking for paper to burn. Having none, we did what all intrepid explorers do and burned our atlas! (This was in the days before GPS, when dinosaurs roamed the Earth.) Fortunately, that worked. We had a nice cookout that night and were able to find our way home at the end of the trip.

Shortly after that, my sister gave us these awesome egg carton fire starters and we’ve been using them ever since. The combination of wax and paper helps them to burn for several minutes; long enough to ignite a nice fire.

Disclaimer: I should warn you up front that this project is for careful adults only. Always use caution when working with fire, flammable materials and heat sources. I don’t want you to singe those beautiful eyebrows off. Or worse.

That said, and because I love an element of danger, let’s dive right in!

Here’s what you’ll need to make the fire starters:

Paper egg cartons with lids removed – do not use foam!
Wax from discarded candles
Flammable Filler, small pine cones, tree bark, sawdust, etc. The lid of the paper egg carton torn into small pieces will work.
Scented/Decorative Filler, dried citrus peel, cinnamon stick pieces, etc. – this is entirely optional
Double boiler for melting wax – Mine came from the flea market for $1. You can often find vintage, aluminum double boilers inexpensively at yard sales and thrift stores. I do not use this one for food.
Metal ladle – optional, but useful if you’re like me; not very accurate when pouring liquids.
Sturdy scissors – I used herb scissors.
Cardboard, plastic and newspaper or paper grocery bags for protecting your work surface.

This is a great way to recycle/upcycle both the egg cartons and discarded candles.

Cover your work surface with cardboard or plastic with layers of paper on top. The melted wax makes this a messy project! Children could help with gathering the supplies and arranging them in the egg cartons, but the wax melting and pouring is an adults only step in the process. You may just want to send them to Grandma’s (or at least out of the room) while you’re working with hot wax.

Remove the lids from the egg cartons, Set the lids aside for another use or tear them into small pieces to use as filler. Using scissors, cut in between the cups without cutting them completely apart, like the photos below. This will make it easier to break them into individual fire starters.

Fill the cups of the egg carton with your choice of flammables. If you are using scented/decorative filler, arrange that on top of any less attractive filler. I layered mine with torn egg carton lids, dried orange peel, hemlock cones and birch bark.

Gluten for you, gluten-free for me! Kidding. Don’t eat these.

Over low heat, melt the wax in a double boiler. Watch the wax as it melts. Do not leave it unattended and certainly don’t let it come to a boil. Also, don’t bother cleaning your stove until after this messy project!

Once the wax has just melted, remove it from the heat and carefully pour or ladle it into the prepared egg cups. Fill just the whole cup section. You can carefully press the filler materials down into the wax if needed.

I wish that you could smell these fire starters. I made two batches, one is from a vanilla bean scented soy candle and the other is cinnamon scented. Both batches smell amazing!

Let the wax harden completely, and then pull the cups apart. You’ll appreciate that you cut the cups before filling them. I forgot one time, and spent the next few evenings hacking at them with a utility knife. #blisters

To burn, just light a corner of the fire starter.

These fire starters make great gifts (hint: Christmas) for the outdoorsy people in your life. Or anyone who enjoys a fire pit, chiminea or wood burning fireplace. Fill a pretty basket or bowl with fire starters and a nice box of matches or a butane lighter. If your friends love a fire in the fire pit, give a pretty bag of these fire starters along with a cozy throw for chilly evenings.

Fill a cellophane bag with fire starters and place into a large gift bag with s’mores fixins’: a bag of marshmallows, a box of graham crackers and some Hershey’s chocolate bars. Go crazy, and add some Reese’s peanut butter cups to the kit. (Don’t grill foods directly over the fire starters, wait until you’ve got a roaring campfire.)

Throw a few of these into your pack when you go hiking or on a camping trip. As Pa Kettle says, “you just don’t never know” when you’ll need to start a fire.

I hope you will give this project a try. If you do, I’d love to hear from you! Comment here or email me at arthurized dot home at gmail dot com.

I’m not in partnership with any brands referenced in this post. I’m simply sharing products that I use and enjoy, and I hope you will like them too!

Succession Planting Herbs

May 29, 2019gardenbasil, cilantro, flat leaf italian parsley, garden with kids, herb garden, herbs, home gardening, lime basil, seeds, succession planting, thai basilarthurized 3 Comments

Succession planting is simply sowing seeds at intervals so that you have a constant supply of produce. In years past, I’ve made halfhearted attempts at succession planting our gardens. I’ve never made a planting schedule and stuck to it. This year I’m sowing seeds at two week intervals, so that we can enjoy our favorite herbs throughout the growing season.

Purple Basil. But you could’ve guessed that!

I’ve planted cilantro, flat leaf Italian parsley and three varieties of basil; lime, purple and Thai. These are all familiar plants except the lime and Thai basil. I try to plant about a dozen seeds each time, because we tend to pick small batches.

My method isn’t very organized but it seems to be working. Every two weeks I wander out to the garden, seeds in hand, and find a little patch of soil near the previous plantings. I pull the mulch back with a hand rake and loosen up the surface of the amended soil underneath. After carefully placing the seeds over the loosened soil, I sprinkle bagged garden soil over them to the recommended planting depth. Basil takes 1/8″ of soil and the parsley and cilantro require 1/4″ of soil covering.

Once I’ve pressed the new soil down lightly; I water the planting area, taking care not to wash the seeds away. Unless we get a nice, overnight rain shower, I water every morning. If the weather is unseasonably hot or dry, my planting beds get a second drink of water in the early afternoon. After the seedlings sprout and the plants are established, I water according to the directions on the seed packet.

Just look at those babies in circle two!

I hope you will give this project a try. If you do, I’d love to hear from you! Comment here or email me at arthurized dot home at gmail dot com.

Real Food Meal Prep for Week of 5.26.2019

May 27, 2019meal prepalmond flour pancakes, Best Ever Broccoli Salad, crack slaw, easy garlic butter chicken thighs with green beans, lemony avocado and tomato tuna salad, strawberries and whipped cream, stuffed peppers with ground beef and cheese, zucchini noodle carbonaraarthurized Leave a comment

My husband started creating a grocery list, so I asked him to pull together a menu as well. I think he did a great job of it! He pinned several new recipes to try this week. I found out after he made the menu that he Googled “inexpensive keto meals”! He’s so sweet. I don’t have anything to report about my keto experience except that I avoided the keto flu, and I’m solidly in ketosis.

Breakfast:
Almond Flour Pancakes with Chocolate Chips – I’m adding cocoa powder to some of my batter for a double chocolate variation and sweetening with Whole Earth powder.
https://joyfilledeats.com/almond-flour-pancakes/

Our nephew painted this plate for us when he was four.
He’s 25 now, so yeah, it’s been a few years.

Lunch:
Keto Stuffed Bell Peppers – I’m making a jelly roll pan full of these goodies.
https://www.dietdoctor.com/recipes/stuffed-peppers-with-ground-beef-and-cheese

Dinner:
Lemony Avocado and Tomato Tuna Salad – So good! I sub in cucumber for the avocado, and use tuna packed in olive oil, omitting the 2 T. of olive oil in the recipe.
https://cleanfoodcrush.com/eat-clean-lemony-avocado-tuna-salad/

Easy Garlic Butter Chicken Thighs with Green Beans – New Recipe!
https://www.ieatketo.com/easy-garlic-butter-keto-chicken-thighs/

Best Ever Broccoli Salad – We’re slightly obsessed with this salad. Pa Kettle gave us some home grown broccoli this week.
https://thestonesoup.com/blog/2018/11/20/best-ever-broccoli-salad/

Crack Slaw –
New Recipe! Can’t wait to try this one. I hope it lives up to its name!
https://www.tasteaholics.com/recipes/video/easy-crack-slaw-video/
UPDATE: This was tasty, but I wouldn’t quite call it ‘crack’. Maybe ‘Gateway Drug Slaw’? Anyway, it was good.

Zucchini Noodle Carbonara – New Recipe!
https://skinnyms.com/zucchini-noodle-carbonara-recipe/

Snacks:
Deviled Eggs, Pimento Cheese, Celery Sticks and Peanut Butter, Cucumber Slices, Walnuts – I’ve been on keto for two weeks and I’ve noticed that celery tastes ‘sweet’ now. Weird, huh?

Delicious Carb Snacks for Hubby: Watermelon, Oranges, Bananas, Tiny but Mighty Popcorn

Treat:
Fresh Strawberries with Homemade Whipped Cream

Have a safe and happy Memorial Day!

Race Tee Shirt Scarf

May 24, 2019stitchbrother sewing machines, crafty, race tees, repurpose, scarf, sew, sewist, stitch, upcyclearthurized 2 Comments

If you’ve ever done a 5k (or twenty), you know that race organizers love to throw shirts at their participants. Most of the time you’ll get a technical shirt that is perfect for wearing during your next training walk or run. But sometimes you’ll get a cotton shirt in your swag bag.

Now, don’t get me wrong, cotton tees are great for casual weekend wear, bumming around the house or even wearing as a night shirt. But, cotton is no bueno for sports. It grabs sweat and holds it in the weave of the fabric, which can cause chafing, which can cause pain and well, you know, use of bowling words. No one wants that.

There are plenty of options for unused shirts. They can certainly be donated to charity, passed along to family or friends who will wear them, or upcycled into a myriad of other useful items. Just ask Pinterest.

Speaking of Pinterest, this project was one of my first “pins”. For the past few years I’ve been collecting cotton race/volunteer shirts and setting them aside. You could use favorite shirts you just can’t part with, clothing your kids have outgrown, tee-shirts from sports teams, schools and concerts, or simply a collection of thrifted shirts with attractive graphics. Make sure the shirts are in good condition without holes or stains.

Because I wanted to capture a few larger graphics, I cut my rectangles slightly larger than the tutorial. Mine are 9.5″ by 4.5″, and I cut 21 of them for the front of the scarf. Most of the blocks were cut along the weave of the fabric, but some of them I cut on an angle as below.

I lined them up and rearranged them until I was happy with the layout. If you are working with blocks of text or titles, reverse directions of the layout at the center, otherwise one half will read upside down while the scarf is worn.

Early morning and late night crafting is not conducive to good photography.

Cut the pieces for the back from the remainder of the tee shirts. Cut one more rectangle for the back than you cut for the front, because the blocks will be offset to reduce bulk at the seams.

Sew the front pieces into a long strip, and then do the same to the back pieces. I used lime green thread because with so many colors going on, it didn’t really matter what color I used. Might as well pick something fun! Plus it was already in the machine and I didn’t want to make a bobbin. #lazysewist

Iron the seams flat and trim off any excess fabric from the seams. Pin the front and back together, with right sides facing each other. Make sure the seams lay flat on both sides of the scarf as you pin. When you stitch the edge of the scarf, leave a large enough opening for turning it right side out. Trim off excess fabric from the edges.

Once you’ve turned the scarf right side out, iron it flat. Stitch the opening closed using either a machine top stitch or by hand using an invisible stitch.

Now it’s time for the good stuff…styling your new scarf! Have fun with it!

Invisible Stitch Tutorial:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbE5hXt27uU
Tee Shirt Scarf Tutorial:
http://justsomethingimade.com/2011/02/t-shirt-scarves-the-art-of-repurposing/

I think the back of my scarf resembles a vintage, TV test pattern!

If you make this project, I’d love to see it!
Email me at: arthurized dot home at gmail dot com

An Experimental Deer Fence

May 22, 2019gardendeer fence, garden fence, herb garden, inexpensive deer fence, low cost deer fencearthurized 5 Comments

UPDATE: Having just finished our second season using this fence, it’s safe to say this is no longer experimental. We’ve watched the deer grazing all around the herb bed, but we haven’t had one single break-in of the four-hooved variety. I’m pleased with how the fishing line has held up as well. I did not need to glue it in place. Now that we know this works, we’ll install the same fencing around our vegetable garden and other large sections of our property.

Now that we’re planting the herb bed, we need a way to keep the deer out of it. My father-in-law (affectionately known as Pa Kettle) is a country farmer from way back, and he’s tried nearly everything to prevent deer from ravaging his garden. Mothballs, garden spray with hot pepper, smelly plants like marigolds; you name it, he tried it. He hung bags of (humanely collected!) human hair on stakes throughout the garden, and did the same with bars of Irish Spring soap.

Each of these methods works for awhile, the deer acclimate to it, and then it’s no longer effective. He currently has an 8′ tall, wire fence around the garden which seems to prevent most break-ins.

Just look at those wee, little seedlings, will you?! I’m like a kid at Christmas!

Our neighbors paid $500 to have an electric fence installed around their large garden, and we’ve watched the deer leap right over it as gracefully as ballerinas. The little, tick-ridden acrobats.

Because this garden is in our front yard, I need a fence that is reasonably attractive. Or, at least not ugly. I read about a fishing line deer fence and decided to give it a shot. It’s easy to install, low maintenance and a minimal investment.

Materials:

T-Posts, or other fence posts – we needed 10 – Cost: $70
1 spool of 30 lb. fishing line – Cost: $2
1 Sturdy Gate Post – we used rebar
PVC Pipe – two pieces, cut to 18″, use the correct diameter for your gate post
O-ring, Rope or another contraption to use for the gate latch
Shovel or Post Hole Digger

We dug the post holes about 5′ from the edge of the bed. This leaves a wide path to maneuver a wheel barrow or push mower inside the fence. It’s far enough back that if deer manage to poke their nosy, little heads under the fence, they still can’t reach my herbs.

T-Posts are easy to install. The process goes like this: dig, level, fill, move on, dig, level, fill, move on, dig, level, fill, move on. Repeat until you can’t stand to look at another fence post, ever again. Burying the metal flange just below the surface stabilizes the post.

Once the posts are up, it’s time to wrap them with fishing line. Leaving the gate section completely open, I worked my way back and forth, wrapping the perimeter using one continuous piece of line. I might come back and hit the knots and hooks with a little E-6000 if the line doesn’t stay in place, but for now it’s holding.

The gate post is made from a piece of rebar. If this works well, I’ll paint it to match the T-posts. We tied fishing line from the post to the right of the gate and straight over to the rebar. The rebar recesses into the PVC pipe and it holds the gate in place.

To secure the top of the gate, slide an O-ring or loop of rope down over the top of the T-post and rebar post. I didn’t want to put downward pressure on the fishing line, so I looped a hair elastic through a hole in the T-post and attached a carabiner to it. The carabiner slides over the rebar to hold it in place.

When we want to open the gate we simply lift the rebar out of the PVC, walk it over to a second piece of PVC that we sunk into the ground to the right of the gate. This holds it upright until we’re ready to close the gate again.

We’re hopeful that this experiment works and we don’t have to resort to using guard dogs and explosives. (I’m kidding about the explosives. Mostly.) I’ll keep you posted.

To read the post that inspired this project, go here:
http://blog.seedsavers.org/blog/deerfence

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