End Times

Alright, this is the end. No more posts on blogger. "Why!?" You ask?

Because I've moved!

Greenerliving is now to be located over at www.hitherehammy.com on a brand, spakin' new blog! Hurrah. It's no longer "Greenerliving" either. I know, change is hard, but I like "Hi There Hammy" much better. Don't you? Go ahead and sally on over to the new site because that's where all of THIS sweet stuff will be happening from now on. P.s. the site is going through changes of this and that nature so what you see isn't what you're going to end up with. Exciting, no?

See you there!

The Small Object

Today's discovery: The Small Object. Ohhh I think I love them!The Alphabet Stamp Chart.

Alphabet Folk ABC Chart

The Bandit Bag Lunch Sack

The Get-a-Long Gang Stamps.

A is for Artiststamps.

So Very Beautiful

These are some amazing prints from dust breeding. He's taken bits of type and used them to create these little animals. My mind is blown by how long it must have taken... but it was so worth it.

So very worth it!

Monty Needs...

a lady friend. It's no secret. While I seem to have become his lady-friend-substitute, the best I can do is give him some pets and carrots. There's no quality groom time... or quality time of other sorts. This doesn't mean that he'll get one any time soon (or at all... you know he's got to get some alterations done before we can have a lady in here without the potential twelve mini-Montys showing up every sixty days for the rest of their lives). Someone over at Vice Magazine had some similar trouble and here's his little thing about Bunny Dates. Please, no bunnies people. I'd love to have them but the house gods have said no.

This is the potential photo for Monty's "Lonely Buns" add.
Soooo suave... so Gunther (warning, Gunther not safe for everybody (NSFW!)).

The Bachelor Pad

Before work I traipsed outside to sink Monty's new pad de bachelor into the ground yesterday. After a few choice words directed towards those stubborn rocks wedged in dirt where I was trying to dig I finally wrestled this (really) heavy contraption into place and then reburied it. Monty seems to like it so far. Dad built a little shelf for him to hang out on in the back but I haven't seen him make much use out of it yet. Hopefully this'll keep everything from kittens to raptors out and keep his beastly self in. I'm thinking it will.

Stay tuned for a sweet new paint job in a couple of weeks when it warms up a little.

Right now it's looking a little trailer.

In Class

We've been talking about logos and business cards in class this week. One site, cardobserver.com has some really beautiful examples of business cards. So gorgeous but also sooo expensive, I'm sure. Anywho, I thought I'd post some of my favorites.

Oh My Goodness

A new perfume called "In the Library" described as "English Novel taken from a Signed First Edition of one of my very favorite novels, Russian & Moroccan leather bindings, worn cloth and a hint of wood polish." Ohhhhh I can smell it now! Me want... well alright, me like idea... I don't think I really want to smell like musty books all day, as much as I love that smell on the books themselves.

A Comic an Hour

Star and I decided to do a comic an hour for all the hours we were awake on February 1st. It was fun but I definitely realize how much time I spend doing... nothing. And how important things like toast are. Ohhh toast. So very tasty.

You can click to enlarge.

Monty Madness

Dad just started building Monty an outdoor bunny run yesterday! I'm really really excited. I've been planning a good one since Jessie found him a year ago and now I'll be able to stick him in the yard for some exercise in safety. We have a healthy looking hawk that likes to perch in one of our trees out back, about a dozen large dogs that roam the neighborhood freely, some small ones too, and at least two cats that have a habit of sitting right outside our sliding door and mock Monty throughout the day. All of these are bad news without a heavily reinforced pen and that's exactly what Dad's building from scraps of the old deck rail we tore out when we redid it.
The wire is left over from the totally lame pen I made him while we were in Olympia. It kept the neighbor's cat out and Monty in so I guess it did its job. Mostly.

Star's Influence

When I was in Olympia a few weekends ago Star and I started pouring over seed catalogs. She'd already ordered a good handful or so different kinds and, after looking at all the cool tomatoes I could order, I decided that I'd probably have to order some too. Fast forward a few weeks and here I am, a little giddy because I just placed my order with Territorial Seed. Curious about what's going to be growing in our planter boxes? Yeah, I knew you would be! So here's a list:
Lemon Cucumbers
70 days. These 3-4 foot, semi-bush type plants bear loads of apple-shaped cucumbers with lemon-colored skins. The flesh is VERY mild and sweet, never bitter. Scrumptious and colorful in salads. Best harvested when the size of limes. This old variety is a favorite among many cool season gardeners. HE.
Goldrush Squash
C. pepo 55 days. This bright golden-yellow zucchini yields wonderful, smooth cylindrical fruit on compact plants. The attractive color and gourmet quality sets Gold Rush apart from other yellow zukes. At their best when picked at the 8-10 inch stage. The sweet white flesh is a perfect addition to both raw and cooked dishes. An AAS winner.
Gladiator Parsnip
110 days. You'll be impressed from the start with Gladiator's quick germination and vigorous early growth. The vitamin-rich, cream colored roots have a clean parsnipy sweetness that makes it the most flavor-packed parsnip we've had the pleasure to eat. The smooth tapered roots reach 7 inches when they're ready for the kitchen. Try Gladiator in stews or grated in salads. Seed is from England.Mamoth Sweet Basil
Ocimum basilicum The beginnings of a culinary masterpiece! Hailed by the chefs of Italy, we bring you the largest-leafed basil we have seen. Sought after for its culinary wrapping qualities, Mammoth Sweet has large yellow-green leaves with slight puckering and the most heavenly aroma.
Roodnerf Brussels Sprouts
100 days. One of the last open pollinated varieties in existence that still retains excellent eating quality and uniformity. Bred in Hurst, England, Roodnerf is quite cold hardy. The medium to tall plants yield plump, green sprouts. If you've turned up your nose to Brussels sprouts in the past, Roodnerf will certainly turn you into a fan!
Purple Haze Carrots
70 days. This 2006 AAS winner is the first Imperator-shaped purple carrot. Sure to be the talk of the table, Purple Haze has a sweet flavor with a tender yet snappy crunch. The 10-12 inch purple-skinned roots have vivid orange centers, which make quite an eye sensation when sliced on a relish tray. Purple color will fade when cooked.
Red Samurai Carrots
75 days. We've searched worldwide for a great tasting, true red carrot, and finally found it! Its bold, sweet flavor synchronizes flawlessly with the crisp, bright, rosy flesh. Red Samurai adds panache to salads but the flavor really shines when cooked. It even retains its distinctive color when steamed. The slim, tapered roots reach 11 inches.Oregon Giant Peas
70 days. This snow pea has unusually large, broad pods growing to 5 inches long. They are thick, very sweet, and tender, and remain so longer than others. The plant is 30-36 inches tall, similar to that of Oregon Sugar Pod II. Developed by Dr. Jim Baggett at Oregon State University.
Canoe Peas
70 days. Canoe packs more peas per pod than any other variety we've seen. Approximately a dozen delightfully sweet peas snuggle in each long, slightly curved, boat-shaped pod. The semi-leafless plants reach 30 inches, and provide plentiful crops. This variety is a canner's dream since more peas per pod means less shelling.

We're going to get some strawberries, rhubarb, potatoes and tomato plants locally instead of ordering them and all the rest of the things we'll just buy at Twelve Mile or farm stands around the countryside. After all, what's the point of living out here if you're not going to buy the food growing right down the road?! I think all but two of the seeds is Organic (that damn basil sounded too good to buy the boring organic version and none of the yellow zukes were organic... all hybrids.) and I think 90% are open pollination. Something like that.

Her Morning Elegance

This is a very beautiful little video. Ohhh it made me so happy this morning! Via: swissmiss.

Oooohhh No You Didn't!

Someone hacked into the traffic control signs in Austin. Can YOU think of anything more awesome than these new warnings!? I sure as heck can't. (Plus whoever it was changed the password after they were done and they haven't figured out the new code so the messages are still there.... nice.)

Baby Timelapse

That baby spends a good deal of time at the end staring at himself in the mirror on the floor.... and karate chopping that cardboard box. Busy little thing isn't he?

Me WANT

This is amazing! It's a flatpack mule storage thingy. So amazing. Unfortunately, this lady's site is terrible and I can't find it anywhere. She does, however, have some very cool animal stools like this. Via: Design-milk.

Hanzipan, it's Official!

My darling lady-love Star and I have started a cooking/baking blog. I wanted everything to be ready before I shared it with ya'll and I'm thinking it's pretty darn close! So here it is... Cooking with Hanzipan!

Old School Star Wars

In Hannahland, this is funny. Like it or be banished from Hannahland... forever...

If I had to Pick a Way to Go....

It would probably not be death by peanut butter.

Thanks for offering anyway: South Bend Chocolate Co., McKee Food Corp., Perry's Ice Cream Co., Hy-Vee Inc., Kellogg Co. and Peanut Corp. Salmonella laced peanut butter has struck down five Oregonians and since that's where I live, I won't be touching peanut butter for a while even if it does come with a cute baby.

That Northern Town

OoooliolioOooooO! I went to Olympia this weekend for a mini break. The trip was uneventful and after I'd set up my roost in that crazy room-that's-not-a-room room (it's essentially a way of connecting the sauna that was added later to the house... like a huge glorified hall with no insulation, that is separated from the rest of the house by a sliding door.) Star and I immediately started mixing this and that in bowls and eventually we created these!Butterfly cupcakes from that cupcake book we got together. They are a lemon-poppy seed cupcake, with lemon filling and a lemon sauce drawn down the middle. Even though they took zest from three lemons and the juice of two to make, they were wonderfully light and not too lemony. That book is definitely paying for itself.

I'm sorry these pictures are still so yellow even after I worked on them in the ol' Photoshop... we took them at night and whether we used flash or not they just wouldn't turn out beautiful. Trust me, they are wonderful and pretty in real-person life.After cupcakes we went to the re-opening of the library in town (apparently there was some sprucing up going on between the time I left and my visit) and listened to Kimya Dawson play. I say listen because there were so many people there that we couldn't actually see her, however Star did manage to gain about two feet by climbing on Ben for part of it. If you aren't immediately saying "Ohhhh Kimya Dawson... cool!" to yourself, it's because you don't realize that she's the one who is on the vast majority of the Juno movie soundtrack. Once you've heard the cd, I think you can imagine the gist of her style... there was an awfully cute children's song talking about poop and butts though. I'm always charmed by children's songs that don't try to avoid references to bodily functions because that's really all children talk about (ok, I'm going to qualify that, it's really all boy children talk about.)

After everyone woke up the next day we went to the Co-op down the street (I'd never been to that one and now I wish I had!) and got some tasties including some pretty purple carrots! Star had invited some people over for a little visit at 6 and in the mean-time we made cheese!Star had read about a cheese making kit either in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle or Omnivore's Dilemma (sorry Star, I can't remember, but I'm sure that you'll correct me in the comments later). The idea intrigued her and she bought the makin's for hard and soft cheese. We made some mozzarella. Now, in hindsight, we probably should have used whole milk to do it (I think that's why we didn't have many curds, Starzy... just occurred to me... unless we did and then I don't know what happened), as it was we used a half gallon of milk, a tablet of some such thing that makes curds appear like magic, and a stove. When you make mozzie you have to knead it for a while until it looks like taffy which just so happens to be what I'm doing in these pictures. Unfortunately, you have to heat the cheese in the microwave until it's lava hot, so I was pathetically trying to do it with a spoon. It worked, more or less.

(p.s. If you ever wanted to create the illusion of cooking with yours truly, I bet you could print this last picture, blow it up real big, cut it out and then stick it on the wall of your kitchen. Cooking never seemed so cool! Just a thought.)

And then you have cheese! We made a lovely quiche for the party with the purple carrots, mozzie cheese and other tasty things. I decided to write about what we were doing in the pictures because Star has already done a lovely summery of what we did together on her own bloggerino and I'm going to be lazy and point you in her lovely direction. It was a fantabulous weekend, I even miss that little room I commandeer when I visit.

The Best of Both Worlds

So I've been taking a couple of graphic design classes at the college these days and today's Swissmiss post really really makes my day! Knitted font... sooo fabulous.

To the Batcave, Robin!

After much gnashing of teeth from Aunty Carol, here are some pictures of the (now warmer) basement. Mom and Dad have set up a little heater between the couches and as long as the door to the upstairs is close it can actually be quite toasty.The main room. Jessie has a futon just to the left outside of the picture that she sleeps on when she's home. The infamous dirt room is behind that door and Monty's bachelor pad is right in front of the sliding door so that he can guard the house against the neighborhood cats.

The doorway into Hannahland, you must be this tall to enter. Epic, no?

The land of make-believe. This is where all that crafty magic happens, more or less (really that magic happens all over the house... a needle in the arm of this chair, a wad of yarn on this table, some fabric in the kitchen. It's all good.) Oh, and you can see the little shelf Dad built for all of my books along the ceiling there. I think that's my favorite thing in the whole room!

The place for to be sleeping and snuggling (Monty is banned).

More crafty action happening this corner too. There are little things tucked into every feasible cranny and bits of thread clinging to everything else. Anyway, that's the tour of the downstairs.