Updating a tired room into an office

I am on my way to make something amazing. At least I hope so. My office. Sewing room, craft room, office, studio, whatever you want to call it.
We moved to our new home in August and I left behind my pinterest haven, beautifully crisp, clean, bright, cheery, happy office. However, I got the best place in our new house to make my own. It's large (10x19 in fact!), It's attached to a play area (what could be better than creating while my babies play?!), it's in a quiet part of the house, and there's even the beautiful woodstove/fireplace in the large room. The room is in the basement so it's cool in the summer and warm in the winter. What could be better?
Eh hem. It's dark 70's wood paneling. It's dreary. It smells musty and there's yucky carpet.  There's nothing to separate my space from the flood of toys (which desperately need organization), and with all those things combined, it takes all wind out of my sails. I have no inspiration or desire to be in the sewing room at.all.

I did my very best to take a photo that would show you my distaste for this area. The lighting shadows show the accurate depiction of this space.

After a long talk and look at the budget, we decided that my sewing room was our next room to tackle in our outdated, but very fun to remodel home. However, as I put together my supply list, even with using reclaimed items, the price kept climbing and climbing until it was at almost $600 for this room remodel. For some, I'm sure that is nothing....but my business is meant to help my family - not be a dent in the budget. This will be something to come back to.

For now, I decided to draw up a plan of my favorite way that I could use this spot. I spent some time last night making up a plan of how I thought this space should look.

Today was the first day on remodeling my office. I decided that since I share this large space with the play area, that I wasn't willing to eliminate the entire space for the children. To fix that problem, I would have to start by doing a portion of my space at a time. I very well might nix this idea, but for today, that's what I'm thinking. 

Step 1. assess the room as it is. 

What was once a nice desk needs updating or a new home

I love these built ins, but I think that I put them in the wrong place

This is a painted metal desk. It's in good shape but I think that I want something fresh.

This was the first piece of furniture that I ever redid. I love it. But I think that I'm going with bright, neutral white/gray scheme. I might include some vintage jar blue, but the yellows and reds aren't invited back. I will miss this piece, but maybe I can catch a good price that will help pay for my space!

My studio backdrop has been used to hide my college student, sister's, blow up mattress while she is on Christmas break. I think I'm going to move her to the couch so that I can start my process.

Step 2: Clean out the easiest part of the room. 

I figured that the easiest part would be to move out my sister from my space and take down the backdrop. It was easy and hardly takes up any space in the rest of the room where I am storing it. 

I also decided to list the dresser for sale on facebook. We have a "buy sell trade" page in our area. I love it. 

Step 3: I put other things away in the rest of the space so that I could get a good look at what I had left. At the very least, I shoved all the fabric pieces and nick-knacks into safer places.

Step 4. Reasses my assets.

As I was putting things away, I was reminded about my conscious effort to waste less and to reuse. I keep looking at this tired old desk and metal table. 

I think some paint can do this one good and I might be able to use it in a different way or place. Get rid of that fake, laminate wood grain.

This metal table is in pristine condition. I had gotten it from a junk pile 8 years ago. I don't know what those people were thinking when they threw it away. It was an ugly wood grain as well, but a few coats of paint later it was beautiful. I might have to repaint this baby again too. 

Step 5: Consider saving money in any area that I can.
I started to think about the 1/2 wall that I wanted to build to separate the living space from my work space. It was then that I noticed these shelves. They were one large shelf that was built in a different room in this house. I used my husband's handy sawzall and quickly cut them in half so that I could use them in a different place for these toys. But as I was looking at them today, I wondered if I could put a back on them and use them like a floating wall for my sewing room. I am going to think about this some more. It would significantly reduce my costs.

Step 6: Consider a new layout

As I was thinking about saving money and re-using the furniture that I already had, I thought that I needed to redo my layout of the room. But then I pretended that I was sitting in the corner where I had planned on putting my sewing table. hmmm....not exactly what I had in mind. I think I would hate sitting up against the wall to sew. New idea.  **At the very least, I would need to put a gigantic mirror on that wall to bounce light and "life" from if I ended up in the corner.

So what about you? Do you think I can reuse those shelves? Do you like to breathe new life into old things?

How to make chicken feet broth

I love to eat. My kids love to eat, and so does my husband. We eat very well for a family of 8. In fact, I will quite often make meals that are so huge that I have to find families to give dinners to. One of the reasons that we eat so well is because God has blessed me with a mother who'll try almost anything. I have learned well from her. Since my husband is also great at trying anything, I am always open to new ideas. My latest attempt at trying something is sure to be one that I will repeat: Making stock from chicken feet. I know that the first thought is “OH MY GOSH, REALLY!?!!?”, but when you get past that, it's smooth sailing.

Claire is one happy and well fed baby!

I raise my own chickens and butcher them myself. I have read that chicken feet are the 'greatest thing for broth', but because I was unclear on how to clean them, I threw them in the carcass pile. When you butcher 25-30 chickens at a time, that's a lot of chicken feet that could be saved, yet because of my uneducatedness, I simply tossed them to the coyotes.

My best friend helping me butcher chickens in 2013

Chicken feet are very high in chondroiton and gelatin. If you have any joint pain or arthritis, you KNOW what I am talking about. This is for you.

I will typically make one to two chickens on an average week. Each chicken gets about 3 meals out of it.

• Day one I will roast the chicken or put it into the crock pot. That night, I will cook the bones ALL NIGHT (maybe throw in a neck, or a carcass that I saved in the freezer too) in the crockpot. In the morning I have a delicious stock that I save in the fridge. 
• Day two: I make some sort of chicken soup or meal with the stock. You can use chicken stock more ways than you think. Did you know that chicken stock in grits with garlic and thyme make the most delicious 'breakfast for dinner' that you ever had? Just had that for dinner tonight. mmmm, I wish there were leftovers. 
• Day three: I use the left over chicken pieces from day 1 to make something like a pot pie (great for left over potato soup from day 2) or chicken Alfredo, or chicken salad sandwiches.

Of all of these three days, I still end up wishing that I had more stock. If you have to add water to a base (stir fry, soup of any kind, scrambled eggs, etc), you should be adding stock. It makes the most incredible food that you can put into your mouth. Not only good tasting food, but highly nutritious as well.

Recently, I had a friend talking about how she had multiple bags of chicken feet to make stock out of. I had already read that they were awesome for that purpose, and when she expanded on the subject, I KNEW that I needed to try it. When she saw that I was interested, she gladly gave me 10 lbs of chicken feet. TEN POUNDS! I thawed them and quickly went to work.

These chicken feet were directly from the butcher that she takes her home-grown chickens to. Since I butcher my own, I will have the extra step of blanching them first to do anything with, but I wanted to share my first experience with you.

Since there were 10 lbs, I decided to make the chicken feet in two separate batches of stock. The first batch went right into the pot. The second batch I baked for an hour and added vegetables and seasoning to.

The first batch that went into the pot turned out to be okay. It was rich tasting, but it smelled terrible. I was expecting it though. I don't know if you have ever cooked a chicken all night without seasoning....you wake up to a dreadful smelling meat. I hate it. I almost always add a bay leaf and celery to my chicken bones when I cook them all night to avoid the scent.

The nice thing about the first batch was that it was quicker to get into the pot.

The first thing that I did was thaw the chicken feet. Then I set up my working station.

From left to right: Junk Container, Cleaned chicken feet bowl, un-cleaned chicken feet

If I was going to butcher my own chickens and start from the beginning, I would pile all of the chicken feet into a 5 gallon bucket. Then I would pour boiling water over them. I would put in dish soap and stir. Once it was cooled enough to touch, I would take one foot at a time and peel the yellow skin off of each foot. At that point, I would rinse them and freeze them until a later date.

Since these ones came from the butcher though, the chicken feet are almost cleaned off already.
Each chicken foot has a soft pad at the bottom. For some reason, this pad gets a bit gnarly at times. If it's gnarly, take a sharp knife and slice part of the pad off to cut off the offending gnarliness. Put the nasty part in the “junk container”.

The next step is the toenails. I have read mixed things about them. Some people say “why not leave them on if you are going to strain it later anyways?”. Other people say, “cut the nails off and open up the cartilage at the same time for a more wholesome broth”. I went with the latter and chopped them off. This was the hardest part for me. Not only was it a daunting task until I got the hang of it, but the chicken feet resemble human hands too much. I might skip this step in the future.This was not an easy task until I figured out the best way. When slicing off the end of each toe, simply cut at an angle, just beneath the toe nail. This will keep your blade sharp and will go faster than chopping through any bones. Put the toenails in the “junk container”.

Put all of the chicken feet into a large bowl and rinse. Rinse. RINSE.

At this point was where I deviated both times. The first time, I simply put the feet into the pot.

Place the chicken feet in a large pot. I am using my pressure canner/cooker for this. Mine is a Presto 23 quart canner. I love it. It is aluminum and although I was worried at first about cooking in it, I am moving past that. Place the bottom rack inside, put the chicken feet on top and fill with clean water until the canner is 2/3 full.

The second time, I put the feet on a cookie sheet and placed them in the oven at 350 degrees. I baked them for an hour.

Overall, I liked the flavor better of the ones that went into the oven to bake. The broth also has more color and seems to be richer. I will probably do this method more than "straight pot" chicken feet method.

Bake those chocken feet for about an hour at 350 degrees. It will smell like a roasting chicken. Pull the legs out after an hour. The color will be slightly browned and the skin will look translucent. Chicken fat will also be on the cookie sheet (rather than in your stock...woot!).

Place the chicken legs into the pressure canner/cooker. Add an onion or two, celery, bay leaf and thyme. Also add a few tablespoons of vinegar. Vinegar will pull out more calcium from the chicken bones and put it into the stock. Put the lid on and place the regulator cap on your pressure canner/cooker. 

Turn heat to high and keep watch.

When the pressure gets up to 15 lbs, hold it there for 15-20 minutes. I have seen other recipes that say to cook at 15 lbs of pressure for 10 minutes. I personally like to a little bit longer. Just because.

After 15-20 minutes, shut off the heat. Wait until the pressure canner completely de-pressurizes before touching. When you remove the lid, this is what the stock will look like. I have seen that some people remove the top layer of fat....and some people keep it. It's personal preference. Do skim the scum off of the top though. It is full of impurities that you don't want in your stock. 

Strain the stock and put into freezer bags when it is cooled. You can also can this stock easily by following your pressure canner directions. Only can meat products with a pressure canner to manufacturer directions. NEVER try to wing it. *Ha ha...wing it.....or 'foot' it*.

I hope that you enjoyed this tutorial! Thanks for joining me!

How to make a homemade boot dryer

I have 6 children, a husband and myself who wears boots. So I decided to make a homemade boot dryer!
I don't own a conventional boot dryer.  Not only because one would not be enough to dry our boots, but also because I simply cannot afford 8 boot dryers. At about $40 a piece, I would be spending a heck of a lot.

Today is Saturday and it is raining. All of my kids were disappointed to be inside this morning, so when I suggested that they play in the rain, they jumped at the chance! On went the puddle jumpers and play clothes. When the finally came in, they were soaked to the bone, including the insides of their rubber boots. How will I get them dry before tomorrow?
So I came up with this idea for a homemade boot dryer! It is really simple. Most people who have large families, probably already have these items in their houses!

I have a large clothes drying rack that I bought at our local Amish store. I think I paid $30 for it, but I'm sure that you can get one for cheaper if you are looking at using it strictly for boots.
Second, is a box fan.

Open the clothes drying rack so that the boots can sit upside down between the dowels. Place the box fan on top of two dowels to create a 'shelf'. Aim the air going upwards into the boots.
Turn on high and walk away for a couple hours. As you can see, I have 6 pair of boots on this rack,but could easily fit another 8 pair, for a total of 14 pair. I'd like to see someone buy 14 boot dryers. :)

That's all! So next time that your kids want to jump in the puddles, don't fear - you'll get those boots dry in no time!