5 thing Friday - puzzle table, easy craft, mantel, plants, headstone

My den is a large and mostly un-used room that has fairly decent light near the windows, with lots of empty space. What better place to set up a puzzle table?

 

  I hauled a very heavy folding table and two chairs in from the garage and gave it all a good wipe down. I don't know why I didn't do it this way last year!  Its not in the way of anything so it can stay set up as long as I want it to.

A few minutes spent each day, unplugged from my electronics.

I hand-stitched one of Mom's small crochet pretties to a scrap of burlap in an embroidery hoop.  Then I added a couple of jingle bells on some twine.  It sits nicely in the greenery of the china cabinet.  It was a fun 5 minute craft this week.

I never got around to taking photos of the house decorated for Christmas.  I kept everything pretty simple and sentimental.  I love the look of the mirror ball here, but I would still like to find it a permanent home in a window.  (Less decor = less to put away come January.)

All of my smaller plant babies came inside to live in the kitchen.  I wiped off the outside of the pots, cleared out any leaves, then set them on clear plates to protect the window seat.  

Prettier than the plastic ones!

I think I will be leaving the big plants outside, unless we get a ridiculous ice storm like we did a few years ago.

The very kind lady at the monument place sent me a picture of Mom and Jim's stone in place.  Fifteen months later it is finally there, Mom.  The photo proof of it really wrecked me, but I think she would approve of it.  And it is one more thing, a biggie, crossed off the 2024 list of things to do.

Gina

Monday menus #102

 I made a Tilapia riff on Chicken Piccata a couple weeks ago*.  I lightly coated the tilapia in flour, sauteed that in butter, then added lemon juice and capers to the pan drippings to make a sauce, and cooked the fish through.  I boiled a couple of small potatoes to make one small serving of skinny masheds to spoon sauce and fish over.

I served mixed greens alongside, and it was restaurant-worthy!

Monday - kitchen closed {mail Christmas cards}

Tuesday - Skillet Chicken Thighs with Butternut Squash, mixed greens salad {telehealth appt. in a.m., might take myself to Wicked in the p.m.}

Wednesday - Mixed Greens with rotisserie chicken, olives, tomato, Greek dressing {dietician appt. in p.m., set up puzzle table}

Thursday - Smoked Pork and Butter Bean Cassoulet, herb biscuits {taking myself out tonight}

Friday - Beef Soft Tacos with lettuce, tomato, and purple onion, side of refried beans

Saturday and Sunday - kitchen closed but I will eat "planned leftovers" and I am off on Monday!

Gina

*I still don't "love" cooking lately, but as I make these satisfying creative dinners I feel a little more at ease with the idea!

5 thing Friday - Christmas decorating, tennies, coffee station, thrifting, church

 I couldn't decide where to hang the mirrored ball, so I just ordered a clear plexiglass stand for it and plopped it onto the mantel display, like a giant ornament.  I have been on the look out for mini mirror balls to add to this vignette.

But mostly, I am done decorating my home.  I will show all of it next week.  I managed to only purchase a few things: A piece of art for the front room, an ornament for my skinny tree, some lights for the patio, a throw for the front room.  A lot of it will stay out past Christmas.

Back in June, I ordered these tennies on the recommendation of another blogger who loves this brand.  I also ordered a pair of Brooks, as suggested by the podiatrist.  The Brooks won out -  I barely wore these - so I am selling them on Ebay.  When they sell I may buy another pair of Brooks - I love how they feel and my feet are worth it!

On Wednesday I ventured over to World Market to buy some Torani syrups, and lo and behold, they were 20% off.  So, using a Chinese lacquered tray gifted by my mother years ago, I made a coffee station with my tiny coffee pot and syrups.  I am trying to break the creamer habit, and a splash of one of these might do the trick. Plus they are good in a diet coke!

A local thrift store has moved to my part of town and I stopped in to have a look see.  I found a sweater, summer top, two paperbacks, bag of ornaments, pretty dish, bag of green excelsior, and the button art.  Mostly of the things I bought were $3 each and some were "on sale".

The buttons were removed from the ca. 2013 art and added to my growing collection.  Some of them look vintage - well worth the $3.  Look at the tiny ones!

We are being encouraged at work to bring an ornament for the hospital "legacy tree" with our names and department noted on it.  One of these will work nicely - also $3 for the bag.

This year I will be off work M-F of Christmas week!  I am going to find a church that has Christmas Eve services and take myself in person.  And I was originally looking for an Episcopal church, then realized that I can basically choose whatever church I want.  Mark was the one who decided we were going to raise our family in the Episcopal church, and though I agreed to it, I know now that I can choose to go somewhere else if I please.  Call it another epiphany.

Gina

Monday menus #101

I started a tradition with The Girl of giving her a Christmas ornament every year.  Sometimes I make them, sometimes I buy them, usually from Pottery Barn.  And this year, she gave me one! 

I put it right on my bedroom tree, which has a snowflake theme.

Monday - kitchen closed

Tuesday - Trader Joe's Gnocci ala Sozzentina with mini meatballs, green beans {Telehealth appt. in a.m., on call in p.m.}

Wednesday - Seasoned Chicken Drums, sweet potato, side salad {on call in p.m.}

Thursday - Skillet Curry Tilapia, root veggie fries, corn

Friday - Thai Pork with Peppers, pot stickers {payday}

Saturday and Sunday - kitchen closed

Its a smallish slim tree on a timer, and pretty to wake up to!

Gina

5 thing Friday - chili jam, H-Mart lunch, thrifting, glass vase, patio lights

My goal going forward is to give each of my peeps at least one handmade or homemade thing each year for Christmas. Last year it was fudge.  Seasoned snack mixes the year before that.

This year, I tried my hand at Chili Jam - a recipe from Rhonda, whose blog I love to read.  I borrowed a snipet of her serving suggestions to include.

Mine looks a little more like salsa than jam, and its quite spicy!  I think the boys will love it - not sure about The Girl.  In any case, I have 5 small jars to gift, and one big jar for my own fridge.

Chicken Katsu at H-Mart.  The prices are high, but the portions are really for two people.  That angel hair slaw was sweet and crunchy - all of it was really good for lunch out on a gloomy day.

The giant food court was made for people watching.  I saw a lot of people going for big bowls of steaming noodle soup, but to me, it didn't feel like a soup day.  I ate about half of those fries and am not ashamed.

I did a bit of thrift shopping at a really funky jam-packed store on Burnet Road and got this metal pinecone for $4.  I couldn't put it down, I love it.  I should have taken a photo of the inside of the store.  It was like a hoarder's paradise.  Anything and everything piled to the ceiling - no joke.  The owner's son waited on me and he was the nicest person I came in contact with all day.

I had $5 Kohl's cash to spend, so I popped in and found this pretty green glass vase that I reappropriated as a tissue holder.  It was originally $22 but I paid $5 with tax. Its so pretty in person!

It gets dark now at 5 p.m.  So I guess some lights out here would help. I spent $9 on two strands of 100 warm white lights at Wal-Mart, then around 30 minutes draping them from the existing cup hooks.

Easy projects are my jam.

And now there's just enough sparkle to sit and enjoy the cool evening.

Gina

Monday menus #100

 I hadn't been in a church in a long time, so the candlelight concert at an Episcopal church gave me the opportunity to walk around the building a bit and admire the scenery...

...and a beautiful chandy.

I do miss going to church, which is why, at least until I retire from this job, I will be the occasional "poinsettia" or "lily".  I do often drop into the chapel at work.  But its not really the same.

Monday - kitchen closed

Tuesday - Tilapia Piccata, mixed greens, skillet potato

Wednesday - Pulled Pork on Toast, root veggie fries

Thursday - Teriyaki Beef, rice (save half for weekend meal)

Friday - Rotisserie Chicken Breast Strips, baked sweet potato, mixed greens {make chili jam}

Saturday and Sunday - kitchen closed

Can you believe it is December?  Me neither.

Gina

5 thing Friday - art, Thanksgiving table, comfort food, mirror ball

Long story short:  I want to change out the "art" over the mantel this year seeing as how it hasn't changed in years and years.  I ordered a print from Kirkland's, then when it arrived, I thought it would actually look better in the front room.  So on to Plan B, which is just make something myself.

Using some spray water and gold spray paint I added a little aged glimmer to a wood frame.  My plan is to hang a wreath in it, embellished with some picks, and fashion a Christmas tree scene below.  Its gonna be kind of shabby chic. 

Stay tuned.  

For no good reason I had FOMO about giving Thanksgiving such minimal effort.  I know that a lot of how I'm feeling about it has to do with grief, but I also know I want quality time with my family.  And even though I did work most of the day, I didn't want them thinking that they weren't actually the single biggest thing I am thankful for.  So I hauled out some stuff I already had - a plain tablecloth, white plate, battery candles, and greenery.  It wasn't fancy, but neither was the menu, and we ate off paper plates.

Taking my cues from "comfort food" I decided to fix Turkey and Biscuits.  Easy enough to top with biscuits and pop into the oven when I got home around 3:30 pm.   Right around the time the candles came to life, ha ha. And you know what?  It was delicious.

For dessert, I made Monster Cookies and No Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake Balls.  I spent at least two hours in my kitchen, not including the roasting of that bird last week, but I knew I would reap the rewards on Thursday with an easy meal and clean-up.  And today I will decorate the house for Christmas!

Check it out!

Mirror balls are IN and it just so happens that I have one.  When Mark was in high school he had his own little business DJing parties {named Rotation} with a mobile sound system, complete with twin turntables, giant speakers, and a mirror ball.  Years later, he hung it on the basketball goal at Halloween for our "Deadbeat Disco" theme.  Its going to be fun to decide where to place it and bring it out of the garage and literally, into the light.

A very hot summer and little rain spelled doom for three of the lantana I planted, and the ones that survived are looking pretty sad.  Maybe I will try again - rearrange them and add in some other type of shrub, like dwarf nandina.  For now, the ones left are hanging on for dear life.  This is one of those "tomorrow problems" and can be dealt with in the spring.

Let's get December started!

Gina