Merry Christmas

It's been cold here in Chicago, just like in the rest of the country.  So we've been spending most of our days inside, watching shows, listening to Christmas music, baking treats, and reading Christmas stories.  It's really been pretty perfect.

Grayson had his first pickle, and walked around with it in his mouth like this for 5-7 minutes.  I could not stop laughing.

He was pretty pleased.

Nate pulled out his trumpet and helped the kids try it out.

Katie was pretty good--and actually got it to make trumpety sounds.

Grayson was sort of lost as to how to work the mouthpiece.

We decorated a rice crispy train

Played in the snow (briefly)

Decorated the tree

...and made silly faces next to it.

Checked out the windows downtown

Took pictures of the tree using Pinterest Tricks

And Self-timer family pictures in the courtyard.

Even though we're not spending the holidays with family this year, we're all really happy.  Katie is so excited for Christmas, and Nate and I can't wait to watch her and Grayson get up on Christmas morning.  Here's hoping that your holiday season is full of happy!  Merry Christmas from us Murrays.

DIY Distressed Boyfriend Jeans

This post showed up on my facebook feed a few weeks ago, and I immediately fell in love with her pants.  I've seen a lot of people wearing the boyfriend jean, with varying degrees of distress.  The thing I loved about her pants was that there were patches behind the holes.  I just wouldn't feel comfortable (at all) with a large portion of my upper thigh showing.  I looked up boyfriend jeans on the Zara website, and was completely unwilling to fork over around $60 for a pair of jeans that's partially destroyed.  Then I remembered a pair of jeans that I bought on super clearance at Target (I got two pairs for $9.00).  That were bootcut.  I thought they'd work, they were the right size, and they fit well, but I just didn't like them.  I guess I'm over bootcut?  At any rate, I knew I could do something to them and I wouldn't be upset if they were ruined.  

I started with a pair of Bootcut jeans, so I had to go through a few steps to get to the distressing part.  If you're already starting with straight leg jeans that fit, skip the first parts.

Bootcut to Straight Leg

The first thing that needed to happen was to make them into straight leg pants, not skinny. Rachel at Apple Blossom had a great tutorial for that.

Fold the bottom hem up to the knee of the pants.  If it's wider, it's bootcut (or flare).  If it matches, it's straight leg, and if it's smaller, it's tapered or skinny.

Easy Peasy.

  After sewing the straight line, trying them on, and liking them, I sewed a zig zag stitch along the edge to help the jeans avoid fraying.

Zig Zag

Hemming

Typically, boyfriend jeans are cuffed, so you can just cut the hem off and skip hemming your jeans, but I wanted to do it. To do this, and maintain the original hem, follow the following steps:

Yeah, it was like, 4 inches.

 Stitch all around the hem, as close to the top (bottom?) of the original hem.

If the left is top, and right is bottom, stitch as close as you can to the bottom of the original hem.

 Cut off the extra, fold down and press, and you're done.  Jeans straight and hemmed.

Distressing

 Distressing the jeans is really easy, it just takes a lot of time.  First, try on your jeans, and use a piece of chalk to mark where you want your holes to be.  After you've marked the lines, take the pants off again, fold them in the middle of where you want to have the hole, and make small snips with sharp scissors.

Keep the space between snips about half an inch or so.

 If you don't care about your leg showing through, skip the next steps.

Holes in Jeans.

 Use a separate piece of fabric to create a patch.  I cut some pants into shorts this summer, so I had some denim scraps lying around.  Cut a patch that's a little bit larger than the hole you're creating.

Place the patch inside of your jeans, behind the holes you cut, pin, and then sew carefully around the edges of the slits.

Turn your pants inside out, and trim the patch.

Your slits should look like this.  The white thread won't matter--but you can use a different color to match if you'd like.

Next, use a piece of sandpaper to rough up the seam you created by making your pants straight leg (if you did that)...

...and the hole you've created.  This should make it easier to get at some of the blue threads you'll be pulling.

Jeans are made up of blue threads running vertically, and white threads running horizontally.  You want to pull out the little blue threads, and leave the white threads intact (as much as possible).  This creates that stringy patched look. This is the step that takes the longest.  

Tweezers are vital to this part of the process.

 Tweeze out all the little blue threads, and repeat the process with any other holes you might want to add.  In the end, you too can take awkward pictures in the walkway behind your apartment!

Meal Planning and Groceries

Lately, we have been making an effort to have a pretty strict grocery budget.  This involves actual meal planning, and making grocery lists.  Typically, I just go to the grocery store, buy stuff that's on sale, and then figure out what to have later.  This isn't a terrible way to shop, but it leads to a lot of last minute trips to the store after I've browsed pinterest, or read blogs and found something that I suddenly HAVE to have for dinner that night.

Honestly, how can you NOT suddenly run to the store for ingredients to make these pumpkin doughnuts?

The beauty of actually planning my meals is that I can pull up my pinterest boards and select meals that I've been intending to cook and (gasp) actually cook them.  We're not stuck eating ramen and boxed mac and cheese, and I don't usually hit thirty minutes before Nate gets home and suddenly think, "Shoot...what on earth are we having for dinner tonight?"  It's really pretty helpful.

I've created a little worksheet for myself to help me keep on track.  It includes the week's worth of meals, and a place for my grocery list.  I take the whole thing with me to the store so that I don't stray too far off track, and also so that I can track the spending and split the receipt immediately, if needed.  We use Mint for tracking our budgets, but you have to wait a day or so before receipts can be split, so this helps me remember by the time I get around to tracking online.  I thought I'd share the worksheet with you, in case you're looking to be a little more diligent in meal planning as well.  New Year's isn't the only time for resolutions, right?

Harem Pants??

I recently read a post by Grace over at Camp Patton, and ever since then, I haven't been able to get the idea of Harem Pants out of my head.  I've seen some versions that I don't love at all, but I really liked Grace's.  I was convinced that you had to look like Grace (tall & thin) in order to wear them, but I might have changed my mind...

Yesterday, I had the combination of wanting Harem Pants, and really wanting to sew something.  So...those two things came together to form these:

Now, in anticipation of these being a massive failure, I didn't really take any pictures of the process, but, if you're interested in doing it yourself, it's SO easy  It took me 10 minutes, and 5 of that was spent refilling the bobbin.

DIY Harem Pants

1.  Get yourself a pair of really super-relaxed pants.  Mine are these, given to me by my mom right after I had Grayson (bless her for that).  They're also a size bigger than I would normally get.  I only ever wear them around the house, so if they ended up looking funny, it wasn't a big deal.

2.  Cut off the bottom 4-5 inches from both legs.

 3.  Using the part that you've cut off, measure around your ankle.  I used one of the leg pieces, cut off both side seams, and sewed it into a circle.

  4.  Using a loooong basting stitch, sew around the cut leg opening, and then gather so it's the same size as your ankle cuffs

5.  Place the ankle cuff and gathered pants right side together.  Using a zig zag stitch, (you're definitely going to need it to stretch), sew them together at the top, retaining the original hem of the pants at the bottom.  Flip the cuff down, and you're done!

My verdict on them--I LOVE them.  I am fully aware that I probably look a little ridiculous (Nate couldn't stop making Aladdin jokes) but they're so different than anything that I own, and they kind of make me want to dance all the time.  In the spirit of this fabulous post, I think I'll keep wearing them, and loving them, as silly as I might be.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to learn How to Do the MC Hammer Dance.

Sourdough Bread!

UPDATE:  Since this post, I've used my starter, and this sourdough recipe to get the sourdough of my dreams.  The pictures are a lot to get through, but the recipe is easy, and turns out a delicious, chewy, and more sour loaf.  I highly recommend it if you're looking for more authentic sourdough.  The recipe below does make a delicious sandwich loaf.

I love sourdough bread.  Honestly.  Ever since I was about 10, and went to Fisherman's Wharf in Monterey, California and had the clam chowder in the sourdough bread bowl, it's been over.  Sourdough=my favorite.

I've always wanted to make it, and I knew that there was a starter involved, but I thought you had to get it from somewhere.  As though there were some ancient sourdough start from the first days of sourdough that was passed down from generation to generation.  So I resigned myself to never having my own sourdough because I was not privileged to be born into a Sourdough Starter Dynasty.

But...yeah, that's wrong.  You can totally make your own starter.  I was browsing through my Betty Crocker Bridal Edition Cookbook, and there it was--a sourdough recipe, and a recipe for a starter!  So, in case you want to make your own sourdough dreams come true, here's the recipe.  Be warned, it takes about a week and a half--a week for the starter to be ready, and a full 12.5 hours on the day that you'll be making it.  You'll only be actively doing anything for about an hour or so--but don't start it in the afternoon thinking you'll be eating it for dinner.

Unless you eat really late.

Sourdough Starter
1 teaspoon regular active dry yeast (I actually used instant yeast, because that's what I had--it worked.)
1/4 cup warm water
3/4 cup milk
1 cup all purpose flour

1.  In a 3 qt glass bowl dissolve yeast in warm water.  Stir in milk, gradually stir in flour and beat until smooth.  cover with a towel or cheesecloth and let stand in a warm place for about 24 hours or until starter begins to ferment (it gets bubbly).  If you don't get any bubbles within 24 hours, throw it out and try again.  If you do (yay!), then stir it well, cover it with plastic wrap, and leave it in the same spot for 2-3 days.
2.  When the starter is really foamy, stir it well, pour into a 1 qt crock or glass jar with a tight fitting cover, and put it in the fridge.  Starter is ready to use when a clear liquid has risen to the top (this took another 2-3 days for me).
3.  Use the starter regularly--every week or so.  If the volume of the breads starts to decrease, dissolve 1 teaspoon of yeast, 1/2 cup milk, and 3/4 cup flour into the remaining starter.

Once your starter has reached this point, you're finally ready to make the bread!

Sourdough Bread
1 cup sourdough starter
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups warm water
3 3/4 to 4 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3 Tablespoons Sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3 Tablespoons vegetable oil

1.  in a 3 qt glass bowl, mix the sourdough starter, 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour, and 2 cups warm water with a wooden spoon until smooth.  Cover, and let stand in a warm place for 8 hours.  To keep your starter going, add 3/4 cup milk, and 3/4 cup flour to the remaining starter in the container, stir until smooth, and let sit for 12 hours before putting back in the fridge.

Add Flour and Water

Let Stand for 8 hours (this is after about 5)

2.  Add 3 3/4 cups flour, sugar, salt, and vegetable oil.  Mix with a wooden spoon until the flour is absorbed.  The dough will still be pretty soft--it should be just firm enough to form into a ball and put on the counter to start kneading.  Don't add in the extra 1/2 cup of flour unless the dough can't be formed into a ball at all.

3.  On a heavily floured surface (seriously, like, one-whole-cup-of-flour, heavily floured, plus more possibly), knead the dough for 10 minutes, until the dough is soft and springy.

You know...in case you don't know how to knead?

 Place dough into a greased bowl, turning to coat all sides.  Cover, and let rise for 1 hour 30 minutes, or until dough has doubled in size.

4.  Grease a large cookie sheet.  Gently push the risen dough down a few times to release the air bubbles.  Split the dough in half, and form each half into a circular loaf.  Place the loaves on opposite ends of the cookie sheet, with plenty of room around the edges to allow it to rise.  Cut three slits in the top of each loaf and then cover and let rise for 45 minutes.

Unrisen dough

 5.  Heat oven to 375 degrees.  Brush the loaves with cold water, and place in the middle of the oven.  Cook for 35-45 minutes or until the loaves sound hollow when tapped.  Then, let cool for 1 hour.

Actually, I don't blame you if you don't want to wait, but it's really better if you do.  After a week and a half of work, I dove right in...and I was really disappointed.  I tried another piece about an hour later, and it was much better.  So...wait, just a bit at least.  Then it will be sourdough.  Delicious (though maybe not quite there) sourdough.

There are several things I might do differently the next time I make it--I followed all the steps almost exactly (instant yeast instead of regular, and I used cooking spray instead of shortening).  I bet you could use a machine to do the kneading, instead of doing it by hand, and I hear that your starter's flavor changes a little bit each time.  I'll definitely be doing this again, if only to make the week for the starter worthwhile.