a cool birthday gift

when i turned 30 my good friend gave me a very fun birthday present.

her grandma had just passed away and had spent the weekend going through

her grandma's things.

she gave a me a funky mason jar filled with these button magnets.

all of the buttons were from her grandma.

i love how each is different in style and color.

they are on my fridge now and each

day it makes me happy to see them, that and it can keep zoe busy for at least 20

minutes...pulling them off and putting them back on the fridge. and how!

chaco's for sale

anyone need a sweet chaco tan for the summer? i have a women's size 9 pair for sale.

they've been worn 10 times. i'm asking $65 for them, they retail at $95.

if you buy them, i'll pay shipping....priority too! :)

if anyone is interested, email me @ afetters@gmail.com

thanks for looking!

Chair Re-do

i snagged these two matching green chairs at a goodwill in virginia five years ago. they had a horrible floral print fabric on the seats, but i LOVED the color. so i just redid the cushions. today i decided it was time for a re-do for these chairs. i tend to re-do these chairs every 6 months or so. i could use oil cloth and just wipe them down, but something about sitting on plastic is no bueno to me. instead i just buy some funky upholstery fabric and go to town. the previous fabric is from ikea, and this fabric i'm using today is from the remnant section at a local fabric store here in minne. all you need for this project is a staple gun, foam, batting, and fabric, and the chair(s) of course. :)

first, i had to rip out all the old staples. this is the most time consuming part. it took a little while. my grandma who is an amazing seamstress gave me a grea tip the first time i re-upholstered these chairs. she said to buy the best quality foam for the cushion, and to wrap the cushion in batting. this way, it's easier to wrap the fabric around the corners. and the corners won't be so square.

next, i just took the old fabric put it on top of the new to make a little pattern. what i love about this project is that there aren't any hems, sewing, or worries, you just cut what you think is right and it will turn out fabulous.
and then the fun: stapling! i actually like this part. i start on the bottom end and do the top and bottom, then the sides and last, the corners. it's easiest to do the corners last and you can cut the corners at a 45 degree angle to give you less bulk when you staple.

and wa-lah! happy saturday to me!

summertime in indiana

just had a breakthrough!
i have tried to load more than four pics at a time on blogger, and it's never worked.
not sure what i was doing wrong-but alas! today it worked!

evan was headed to go backpacking in north carolina with his best friend from law school.
google 'roan mountain nc' and you will see where he went.
i'm insanely jealous. the mountains are covered with rhodedendrons
and will blow you away.
anywho, he was headed out of town and i thought 'why don't i drive to indiana?'
and so i called my sister in law amanda in upstate new york.
she came down with her gals ages 3 and 2, and we had the best time.

we stayed for 3 days at grandpa and grandma's. we found a frog, went exploring, had a water fight,
looked through old pics, and reveled in the quiet country. i love going out to evan's parents for the quiet.
amanda and i took the 5 little women to goodwill where we found some excellent finds, namely evan's father's day present:
a tasmanian devil/looney toons tie. :)

we headed up to evan's sister sarah's house for a few more days. there we swam, went on more treasure hunts for funky things, played outside, and i hardly saw my girls because they were playing with their cousins and it was awesome.

thanks everyone for such a fantastic visit!
we loved it!


the indiana landscape is breathtaking. love the rows of green corn and the overcast sky.

great grandma fetters and us. and we're all smiling-a miracle!

a spitting water fight-and looks like grandma is winning!

maya was completely soaked.

maya's first fat lip-she was actually kind of proud of this. it was awesome.

little zoesy cat at the pool. she kept dunking her face. looks like we have a water baby.

madden and zoe. this is evan's sister sarah's little man. sarah and i have been preggy at the same time three times. woot woot!

on the way home i earned the 'coolest mom EVER' award. we stopped at buffalo phil's in wisconsin. inside the restaurant a train brings you your food. best decision ever to eat here.

jumping puddles in the corn.

summer night in indiana. love love love it.

wish i could dance like this

first flowers

i could almost weep!

it's my first flower! and it's beautiful!

in my flower beds there is nothing but fugly shrubs and white rocks. and i've tried to remove some of the white rocks and they are deep, and a ginormous pain. but i have one tiny bed of dirt-oh glory be! and i planted this iris last summer and here she be!

this is my first victory against my yard! i will prevail!

zoe's first campout

a little fishing with dad

building a 'campsite' together

happy little gnome

ahh dandelions

a glorious success!
zoe loves camping, and we love that she loves it.
we almost didn't go camping and maya and brynn had HUGE problems with us not going camping.
we hiked up a huge hill of stairs to a water tower.
we found a caterpillar maya named 'sudee.'
we then lost sudee in the laundry room. boo.
evan, maya and brynn started to hike up a huge fire tower lookout. it freaked maya out, and they only made it halfway. brynn wanted to hike to the top, and was super ticked to have to come back down.
a great weekend had by all!

fire pit + camping = muy bueno!

maya trying out roasting hot dogs. she complained that this method "took too long."
it's really hard to wait 1.75 minutes for hot dogs. the hat she is wearing is one that evan and i
got at a fly fishing expo. she loves it...wears it to her preschool, out and about, and has started to
be sassy and wear it backwards. word.

we were smiling, but smelled like burning plastic from the fire pit.

the squirrels are a tiny bit excited for the first fire pit of the year.

and how. this is what i'm talkin' about willis.

we bought a little fire pit for our deck this year, and after the plastic funk-nasty smell was burned off we had a great time with it. the girls love fire, and we like to just sit on the deck. we tend to eat out on the deck even though we really don't have any furniture other than camping chairs as of now.

we taking off this weekend, the first camping adventure with three! we're headed to one of our favorite little spots here in minnesota called whitewater state park. maya and brynn both have fishing poles, and can't wait to fish with evan. that leaves little zoe with me and we'll just have to go on a little hike. i put her in the kelty pack on my back this week, and she made a growl/squeal sound the whole time, which for her means she is a happy camper.

happy memorial day weekend!

sayonara el mullet

the time had come.

little zoe's mullet needed to be gone, like demon mice and slugs be gone. it was cramping her style.

plus she had three dreds going in the back of her hair, so i was already working baby oil in her hair to get the dreds out. i cut off about three inches of her locks. and we love the outcome.

*i love her cheeks in the last picture-i want to bite her.

you will thank me for this....

....the best recipe of granola i've let my little taste buds try.

first the story of my love of granola:

in 8th grade, my history teacher mr. black let a few of us students try some granola his wife made. it was pure heaven, a perfect mix of coconut, sweetness and nuttiness. i asked for the recipe and have never been able to duplicate the taste i remember. i've made a few different varieties over the years, and then one day i happened upon this little recipe in the martha stewart everyday food recipe book, which mandy gave me for christmas-thanks mand.

what makes this recipe superior to all others is the simplicity of it, and the cardamom-oh for the love, what a great spice this is.

without further adieu i give you:

pistachio-apricot granola

3 c rolled oats (not quick-cooking)
1 c shelled pistachios
1/4 c butter
1/3 c honey
1 t cardamom
1/2 t coarse salt
1 c dried apricots

preheat oven to 300. in a large bowl combine oats and pistachios. in a small sauepan, combine butter, honey, cardamom, and salt over medium heat. cook, stirring occasionally, until butter melts. pour butter mixture over oats and pistachios until they are completely covered. transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet and spread in an even layer. bake until oats are lightly golden, 30-35 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. let cool completely on a wire rack, 20 minutes, then stir in apricots. store in an airtight container up to 3 weeks.

*evan and i are on our 3rd double batch of this stuff in 5 days.....but i did give some to my neighbors, so i haven't quite consumed all of it myself.