Britt's phone

The DIY- fabric I-phone cover was so easy and so fun.  See original post here for details.  I am loving mine and Colin is loving that my phone is a little safer.   My little sis, Britt, just sent me a picture of the one she made. I wanted to share it. It looks awesome B! Did anyone else make one? Email me a picture (there is an email button on the right side of the page), I would love to see it!

 It is that easy, right Britt?

Building the Coop!

It was another sunny 75 degree day in beautiful Sheridan! Colin and Hudson got to work building the chicken coop.

Grandpas, you should be proud, H already knows how to swing a hammer like a pro. 

The chicks are hit with everyone (except maybe mom, who is finding they do indeed smell!).  It is amazing how excited Hudson and his friends get about small, fuzzy. little things. I have never seen Hudson laugh so hard. Thanks for stopping by Jacobson family.

Hudson now knows where the park is and how to get there. He is not afraid to take himself there. Thank goodness for childproof locks.

Oh sweet SPRING!

Spring is official here and we couldn't be happier.  To celebrate we made some spring-time animal crackers. Well, that was the intention but as soon as Hudson saw the bus and horse cookie cutter that is what we were making. 

He was not as helpful as I was hoping he would be, he preferred to eat the dough (where did he get that from?)

 And to play with the dough...

 Or smash it.

Fortunately, he got bored quick and realized we couldn't have cookies without tea. So while he made the tea I finished up.

 Butterfiles! Now that is spring!

These might be a little more like cookies than crackers, but they are delish, light yet rich, but pretty fragile so not for snacking on the go, unless you are ok with crumbs. Here is the recipe, I adapted it from here, made it gluten free and a little lighter.

11/4 cup gluten free flour
1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut (you may need to warm yours up a bit, if your house is cold)
1/4 cup extra-virgin coconut oil
1/3 cup honey
1 egg lightly beaten
1/4 teaspoon salt


Beat honey, coconut oil, salt and egg until well incorporated. Add shredded coconut and flour mix until just incorporated, then need dough a few times on your counter until it a workable consistency. Divide into two, roll, and start cutting.  Eat dough. It is awesome. Bake at 350 for 7-8 minutes, until dough is just beginning to change color.

They are definitely better tasting and easier to work with when they are thicker, 1/4 inch-ish. And they brown really quick in the last minutes of cooking, so watch them!

ENJOY! HAPPY SPRING!

Sparks Fly!

So 2 months after Emily's birthday, I finally finished her prototype spark (norwegian for kicksled)!

I happend to snag a perfect chair at restore for $5.

Then, I added customized metal skis. 3/8 steel, I believe, bent at a guestimated curvature, with a few hardware platforms added for connecting skis to wood.  Our friend J.T. at Iron Mountain Anvil customized the skis. What a talented guy, check out his work here, Iron Mountain Anvil .

A nice straight box-elder or green ash?  I'm not sure, clipped it a few years back and thought I'd better keep it since it was so straight.  Now its the handle (bark for grip) and footrest for the spark with some nifty hardware inserted for serious strength.

A couple of past-their-prime hockey sticks and some cabinet plywood completed this prototype spark.

We took it up to S. Fork of Piney Crk trail to test it out today.  Probably would have been ideal about 2 weeks ago, as we had a couple of bare-earth spots resulting from the 60-degree temps this week.
That said, we found plenty of trail to spark on, and the consistency was pretty perfect - hard-packed end of season snow.  We rigged up a bungee cord to Hudson's lawn chair (thankfully, there is no word in Norwegian that means "redneck") and the rope was an additional safety precaution.  Next time we'll maybe take a long a helmet?

Took a few notes on design and will likely make a couple of minor adjustments before painting and calling it complete.  First will be to give the passenger a more level area for their butt, right now is angled slightly forward.  Other will be to chop about 1.5' off the end of the skis, don't really need all that metal wobbling off the back.

A few more pics and video.

This is really going to be a great way to get out and about town, once Sheridan has hard-packed streets this next winter.  I'll have to get a harness ordered for Luna too as she would have helped with the uphill today!

Pretty basic to build, spent under $120 for supplies (all wood was on-hand) and there were a few different designs online that were used to assemble spark/kick sled.  If anyone is ever interested I can get you the measurements and details.

5 minute DIY I-phone cover

Who has a free but bulky, sort of ugly i-phone cover, that they don't really like? AND who really likes the sleekness, the feel, and ease of use of the I-phone without a cover? ME!! So much so, that I opted out of using my free cover and deciding to live on the edge; going without a cover.  I did, however,  purchase an "invisible steel" screen cover...turns out invisible steel is not as strong as it sounds.  Without going in to the borrowing details, I decided it was time to cuten-up my old cover.  It took seriously 5 minutes and I am pretty happy with the results-

Make an outline of your case on pretty fabric. Decide if you want just the top (this might be a lot easier), or if you want to wrap around to the inside of the case, measure accordingly). If you are wrapping around trace the wholes on the sides on to the fabric as well.

Cut out the fabric with good sharp fabric scissors, cut really straight lines, and try not to fray the fabric.  ModPodge your fabric on to the phone cover. First put the ModPodge onto the case align your fabric and then cover fabric in ModPodge. Let dry.

As you can see, mine is by no means perfect.  You perfectionists out there (Meg) will want to take more time to measure perfectly and even sew your sides and holes.  But if are like me and have 5 minutes, and  want to make your case a little prettier, so you are not as sad when you look at the other side, do this!

As you can tell me lines aren't perfect.

It was late and I was tired so I decided to just cut this side off instead of cutting the circle out. 

Quick GO! Make your cover cute before your phone looks like mine does! 

What a day

An early morning run, a warm sunny day, a sleeping son, a cup of coffee made by the one i love, and a little quiet time.  Does it get any better than this????

Here's to a great day!

A place at the table...

Lent is here, which means Easter is almost here, which means Spring is almost here! YAY, yay, yay. Yay Easter, yay spring, yay new life, yay green growth, yay melting snow, yay warm sunshine on my face!!!!

This year for lent we decided to try something different and it has been awesome. I wouldn't normally share what we have been or haven't been doing for lent but I really want to because it has already been such a great experience.  I especially want to encourage anyone who hasn't given something up or doesn't have a lent focus yet, give this or something along the lines of this a try.  Inspired by the book, A Place at the Table, by Chris Seay, we have been fasting a following a diet similar to the diet of the children we sponsor through World Vision.  The book is nothing crazy, earth shattering or any we haven't read before, but the act of being obedient, willing to change our habits and norms has been.

You can check out his website here chrisseay.net/ if you want more info.

I have fasted before but so far this has been completely different, so much better.  I think mainly because it is not about me or my needs or wants or my small world.  But it is about seeing and better understanding the realities of the world and my very fortunate place in it.  And WOW! I take so much for granted, from the ability to choose between 10 different breakfast items and 35 different snacks, to a warm (and large!) house, the opportunity to work and learn and be free to make choices about everything from the food I will eat to the type of life I will have, but most importantly having a safe and healthy family. The last weeks have been a great lesson in gratitude and awareness, I have been blown away by our blessings and even more blown away by our surplus. We are blessed beyond measure.

So we have been faced with the question of "what are we called to do with our surplus?"

Following historic lent traditions (according to the book), we should take the first 6 days of the week to fast and identify with the poor but we get the 7th day off!!  It should be a day to relax and celebrate the love of our savior and our many blessings.  So today was feast day!  When Lent started, we joked about feast day and how much we were going to look forward to it and how Colin was going to make up for all the lost calories over the week, so he didn't lose any weight.  Although the food was great today, by far the best part of the day was the heightened awareness that we are blessed indeed.  The luxury of delicious food brought to us from all across the world, time with friends-new and old- breath-taking views of where we call home, and clean water.   And while all of these luxuries were amazing, the richest part of our day was the hours we spent recreating outside with Hudson and his little friends...they truly know how to be thankful for each moment of the day. WHAT a DAY!