It's New Years Eve...

Are you seeing double yet?

Jen and James, Doublemint Style

Have a safe and happy New Year! 

Merry Christmas!

I love being a parent. It's so much fun to witness the awestruck wonder Christmas from a two year old perspective brings. Magic, for real. Or just extreme gullibility. But I'll take it. 

We had such a great time with our extended family, lots of traveling but lots of fun to be had. As a bonus Henry learned all about dragon slaying and jukebox playing, skills this nerd child obviously will need. 

Slaying Dragons at Gammie's House

Playing Records at Pappy Rick's

At the Perdue house, we have started our very own tradition with "Gandalf Santa" (Merry he could be, and kindly to the young and simple, yet quick at times to sharp speech and the rebuking of folly; but he was not proud, and sought neither power nor praise...how dorky are we?) watching us and monitoring bad behavior to report to the real Santa. 

Gandalf Santa was found lurking among my Nans treasures when she passed away. He came to life through the hands of my great Aunt Mary Ann as a Christmas gift to her several years ago. He is very handmade in appearance, with a sketched on face, a ragged cloak with fur lining, a long grey beard and a wooden staff. I wish I had taken a picture of him before he returned to his home in the attic so you could see how awesomely Gandalf he is. Something for you to look forward to next year, I guess. 

So anyway, Gandolf Santa witnessed Henry misbehaving on a few occasions which led Henry to believe Santa wasn't going to bring him presents. We didn't realize this until my mom asked him on Christmas Eve if Santa was coming, and he replied "No...Henry was bad. Santa saw him." We tried to assure him that Gandalf Santa saw him being good WAY more than he saw him being bad so of course the real Santa was coming, but he still wasn't totally convinced that Santa would bring presents to his house. 

On Christmas Eve Henry left Santa some cookies and salt for the reindeer, and his excitement starting picking up a bit. Maybe Santa is really going to come if we are leaving cookies for him?

When he woke up on Christmas morning, he was so mind blown that presents appeared out of nowhere (with "SUPERDUDE" WRAPPING PAPER!!) and he found a really sweet note from his pal Santa thanking him for the cookies. (I love my husband! He's such a cute dad.)  It was so, so awesome. I got a little too caught up in the moment and took zero pictures. Fail! Santa brought Henry some new puzzles, books, playdough (already on the carpet) and about a million little guys, who seem to have multiplied since then. I feel like I've stepped on half of them already. Mom the Godzilla monster. 

Henry at Pippy & Pappy's House

I hope everyone had a great Christmas.

Making December

Making "No Men" with Pappy

Making Weird Faces

Making Christmas ornaments! Every year my sibs and I do an ornament exchange, with a good attempt at doing homemade ones. This year, the Perdues are saving every single penny to start our B&B renovations, so we were looking to score homemade on the cheap. After raiding some cupboards, here's what we came up with:

Salt Dough Ornaments! 

Fox & Hedgehog

Lady Bears

 There are a TON of recipes out there (seriously, Google "Dough Ornaments"), so the one we used is as follows:

2 cups flour.
1 cup salt.
1 cup water.

How simple is that?! You can bake them, but we didn't want to deal with the brown spots some people ended up with. We tried microwaving some of them (four minutes is WAAAAY too long! Hello, smoking black pile of stinky. Better luck with 5 second intervals!) but we ended up with weird bubbles from that. So we went the ultimate lazy route, and they sat on the counter to dry for two days. Just make sure you keep turning them so they dry all the way through.


You will also need:
Cookie cutters.
Wax paper if you're smart. Good luck peeling that off of your moms counter.
Ribbon or twine.
Some sort of hole poking device! We used a drinking straw, but any old chopstick will do.

Optional:
Stamps for decorating those dudes, or buttons to embellish.
Food coloring if you feel like it. (If you want completely colored dough, mix in the food coloring with the water. If you want it marbled, add it after the dough is mixed and fold it in.)

Festive Fox

Simple & Marbled

We stamped ours while they were still doughy, then added color with some Sharpies when they were dry. So easy.


Next on the list...

Bird Seed Ornaments!

Also super easy, but when I started making these I was convinced it was going to be an epic fail.

Also a ton of recipes for these, but most of them call for unflavored gelatin (not in the cupboard!), so the recipe I used was this one:

3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup water
3 tablespoons honey
4 cups of bird seed.

You will also need:
Cookie cutters.
Previously mentioned hole poking device.
Better not forgo the wax paper.
Raffia or twine for hanging. (I preferred a natural fiber for this, in case the birds stole it for nest making)


Mix that mess up, be doubtful that it will work, then cram it into your cookie cutters. I made the hole while it was still in the cutter, and I coated my cutter with some cooking spray to make it easier to get the mix out while holding the shape. Put them on wax paper and let them dry overnight, turning them frequently to make sure they dry on both sides. I used raffia to finish them off.

Happy making!

Investor Opportunities

Hello friends!

The Spotted Owl is a fun, quirky B&B with environmentally friendly philosophies that strives to support all things local. You can read more in depth about our mission in our business plan, which we would love to share with you! The Spotted Owl will be hosting a "meet and greet" on Dec. 29 and Jan. 5 at 3 p.m. The meeting will be held at he future B&B site: 2035 Dinnerbell Five Forks Rd, Farmington PA 15437. These events are open to anyone who may be interested in our investment options. We will be going over our business plan, answering any questions you may have, and giving a tour of the site. Come check it out and pass the word to anyone you think might like to become an investor! 

We have been receiving a lot of emails asking for more information about our investor options. Here are some frequently asked questions and their answers:

Q. Is there a minimum I can invest? Are there benefits to investing more?

A. No, there is no minimum investment amount. However, there are some perks for those investing more than $10,000. These investors will receive 1 free room night per year as long as the company is in operation. These can be redeemed by family and friends with investor consent. These room nights do not expire and will rollover to the following year. These investors will also receive 10% off regular rates for room stays and weddings or special event rentals, with no limitation on the amount of use.  ALL investor feedback is important to us. Regardless of contribution amount, all of our investors will be invited to attend regular board meetings where they can receive company financial updates and share their opinions and suggestions.

Q. Am I purchasing equity in the company?

A. No, at this time we are not selling equity or stock in the company. Equity investing carries a lot of risk, and since we are targeting people we care about we want you to have a guarantee on your return. Our investors act more as personal lenders working with a high interest rate. All of our agreements are secured with a promissory note.  Another factor in the decision to not currently sell equity in the company was the problem of how to price it. Since our financial projections are based on very conservative numbers, we didn’t want to overvalue or undervalue our equity shares. Our early investors will have the first option to buy stock when it becomes available. At that time, investors who are still due payment will have the option to apply their owed balance towards the purchase of equity if they so desire.

Q. When will I receive payment?

A. The term of the loan will vary with the amount of the investment, with all balances due paid in full within five years. Each year a portion of the profits will be applied to investor repayment, so the amount paid will vary by year. 20% interest will be applied 90 days after the agreement is made, so you will receive the full return regardless of early payoff.  We are delaying the interest for 90 days only in the event that there is some unforeseen problem with the site when we begin renovations.

Q. How much are you raising?

A. Between ourselves and our investors, we are hoping to raise a total between $52,000 and $72,000.

Hope this helps! Feel free to call Jamie at (724) 329-0159 or email Jamie@spottedowlbnb.com with any other questions you may have. 

Thanks friends!

-Jamie & Wes

The Spotted Owl Bed & Breakfast!

As you may have gathered from the new blog name and this headline, we are on our way to our new occupation as Innkeepers! We are waaaaay excited to begin this adventure, check out our website at www.spottedowlbnb.com. I'm going to try to post an update with property pictures, news, and all that jazz in the future.

I'm finally making my return to the blogging world. It's been over a year since I've posted on Blogger! What?! How did that happen?

Hank is now TWO!!!! It blows my mind every time I tell someone that I have a two year old kid. He has inherited his dad's love of all things geek. He knows the names of more "superdudes" than I do. His vocabulary is growing at an alarming rate, and he needs to quit talking to me like a five year old. He is the best thing ever. Some December recaps...

First Christmas

Second Christmas

December 2012

 I'll leave you with some adventures in Christmas tree getting...