Dining room plans

The trouble with this room:

 

Well, in fact, there are many troubles here...The shiny of the brass fixture, the mint green Martha Stewart paint, the curtains (yuck), and the un-inspired decor in general.  I love the mirror, the furniture, and the stained glass cling on that window.  But this room need s a re-vamp for sure!  I purchased a couple gallons of paint in "Tobacco Leaf" - a neutral that I think will go better with the earthy colors of the textiles in here, but I am leaning towards putting wainscotting below the chair rail, and that makes me a bit nervous.  I'm not exactly a Handy Woman when it comes to tools!

See what I mean about it being un-inspired?  I have since moved those two small line drawings of a church in Galveston...and those portraits need to be restored and re-framed.  And the green looks different on each wall because mama didn't buy flat paint... the sheen of the paint makes a big difference.  It's starting to get under my skin a little more each time I pass through here.  But this week we are expecting a cold front and I won't be able to throw open all the doors and windows in here and really go to town with the painting.  So, I'm still laying my plans for one big dining room re-do week - Whatcha think?

21 years

Firstborn turned 21...

For some reason it was really hard for me to get a decent picture!  He was squirming, cause the spotlight and all eyes were on him - the introverted, shy type who doesn't go in for a lot of fanfare.  Still, I had to tell the story of the day he was born, because I never want him to think we'll just forget how special his birth  is to this family...how it was rainy and cold, and his dad drove me to the hospital in the very early morning in our little red pick up truck.  How dad ate a breakfast taco and watched the Three Stooges in my labor room after he was sure I was comfortable from the epidural.  How our college friends came to admire our sweet baby boy, then decorated our front yard and brought us food to last the week.  After that we had to talk about his first birthday;  it had a train theme because he loved Thomas the Tank Engine, I forgot the balloons until after the party started, so dad ran to HEB to pick them up and it turned out, Firstborn was afraid of balloons!....

21 years, 21 birthdays, and so many  memories...

I'll remind him every year because I never want him to think I don't treasure every one.

Slow Cooker Bacon Jam

Just the sound of those words together make my mouth water and so, when I came upon this recipe from Everyday Food magazine, I thought I would give it a try!  Everything is better with bacon, right?

You will need 1-1/2 lbs, bacon (I used two 12 oz. pkgs.), 2 medium onions, garlic, cider vinegar, brown sugar, maple syrup, and brewed coffee.

Cut the bacon into 1 inch pieces and fry it up - since my pan is smallish, I did one pkg at a time, then I switched to a larger pot so it would all fit together.  I cooked it down til the fat was rendered, then saved 1T. bacon fat* and scooped the bacon out with a slotted spoon to drain on paper towels. *Who am I kidding? I saved the rest of the bacon fat - it makes kale taste amazing!

 Here is 1 1/2 pounds of bacon continuing to cook while I saute...

 ...both of those onions diced fine, and about 1T of that minced garlic.  If you've ever wondered, "who on earth is buying those gigantic jars of minced garlic?"  That would be me.  I used it in 99% of my cooking.  Tonight I am fixing pancakes; I will leave it out.

 Crispy bacon, draining!  
At this point, Firstborn came out of his room to see what was up...

 Add the  bacon to the onions in the skillet with 1/2 cup cider vinegar, 1/2 cup packed brown sugar (light or dark, your call), 1/4 cup pure maple syrup, and 3/4 cup brewed coffee.  Bring it to a boil and cook about 2 minutes.

Dump it with the bacon  into a crock pot.  The recipe says to cook on high, uncovered for 3 1/2 to 4 hours.  I did 2 hours on high, uncovered; then 2 hours on low, covered.

It seemed like it was getting dry and I needed to go run a couple errands.   I didn't take another photo after 4 hours but it was a much darker color and the house smelled amazing!!

 I let it cool a little, then pulsed it in my blender a bit.  The  recipe says "pulse til coarsely chopped" in a food processor - a blender can do that just as well.  There should still be some texture to it.  I ladled it into a jar and popped it in the fridge.  Supposedly it will last 4 weeks.  I can tell you right now, it will not.  It has a smokey sweet bacony flavor that is soooo good!

Can't wait to spring it on my bacon-loving peeps!

 Shared with:

and

Dinner theater

What do you get when your mom makes some kind of alfredo-pumpkin-ravioli dish and you get your choice of that or something leftover, and no one else is eating dinner right now because they are either at work or a scout meeting, and that's fine with her because she has her feet up watching Lidia's Italy?

Dinner and a movie!
Ghostbusters 2, with  fried chicken, corn on the cob, and apparently, lots of butter.

It's good to be the baby of the family!

Shared with:

Lovely little laundry space

It's hard for me to store things without doing a little purging at the same time.  Closet space in this house is at a premium with six people and 25 years of marriage.  Translation: We have a lot of stuff.  So, I took extra care when I put up Christmas decor and managed to clean up my laundry area at the same time!

I stacked Christmas decor all neat above, new ironing board cover, cleaned the tops of the old "workhorses"...and this is the space all my pretty blue stuff went to live...

Vacuumed all around the appliances and vents, cleared the hanging things off that tension rod so I could use it for air drying once more.  I may not have a laundry room, per se, but I  have a pretty and neat little space to get the job done!

This is IT.  All of the Christmas tree(s) decor and a little more.  Believe it or not, I donated a LOT.  Some of it is in the kid's linen closet, but it is very manageable.  You gotta love those plastic storage bins that let you see inside.  So pretty now...

and hidden from view!

Shared with:
Domestically Speaking

Disloyal cat!

Does she ever sit in my lap? No.  And she won't even come to me when called.

You would think she belongs to Firstborn - she loves his room.

A Man and his Lap Cat.  It's a beautiful thing.

I guess.

The bedroom chairs

I have got to do something about these chairs in the master bedroom...

and maybe if I post about it, that will help nudge me along!

I love them.  Vintage-y circa late 40's, and they've been re-covered once before.  My MIL sent them to us about 23 years ago and at the time,  the pink/gold/moss tapestry print went great with our bedroom.  In fact, the buyer of our first house wanted them thrown in the deal.  NO.

They have damage on the sides where the cat sharpened his claws.  And they are FILTHY and getting threadbare. Not to mention, I don't have that color scheme in here and it's always been a challenge decorating around it..

Yes, I am making a case for getting them re-upholstered, because I love having a cozy place in our bedroom to read and such.  And maybe, I will add some curtains to this area, too.  And that eucalyptus has to go...sigh.   Why does one project always morph into half a dozen projects?

Notice how one is a "male" chair" and one is "female"?  Just because of the back height.
My MIL pointed that out to me.

 And this is what I picked out - not too feminine or fussy and if I change out the accent colors in the room, 

I won't have to worry about whether the chairs will clash.

So I'm headed to Joann's for decor fabric that's half off.

Time to get this project done!

It's the little things...

I found these neat script initials on sale at Joann's...

they are self adhesive and pretty up 

a plain lampshade in about 10 seconds!  

I will probably never own a Cricut, 

but these are like embroidery and were about $5 each.

Even though the G is a little strange....I still like it!  The lamp shades needed a little spiffin'.

Hubby gets an "M", and the phone...I get a "G" and the alarm clock

We can share the cat! (:
And it's been a loooong weekend.  So, after dinner,
I will be moving that cat out of the way and crashing!

Shared with:

How I am turning into my mother

I made it home from work and Wally World in one piece and am enjoying my hot cocoa while I check email and blog about how sheepish I feel...so pull up a mug and

You must buy these gingerbread marshmallows - soooo good in cocoa!

I may have to start a regular rant on how I am turning into my mother.  Not that she is a terrible person or anything - it's just that at 50, I am starting to see more similarities between how she and I operate on a daily basis.   (And she's 80)  Case in point: I recently got a parking ticket on a fun lunch outing with the boys. I. Hate. Parking. Downtown.  It is impossible to find a spot, then when you do, they make it so complicated. 

These new parking meters take plastic, which is good, but they spit out a sticky ticket you must place curbside on the inside of your windshield.  Which I did.  I even paid for 3 hours so we would have plenty of time.  Mere seconds after we passed the meter guy walking away from our car, I saw it on my windshield.  

A ticket.  But where was the meter receipt? Under Scout's shoe.  

It had fallen off, probably right after we left the car.  Dammit!!

I'm not proud that I chased the poor guy down in my vehicle and asked him to take back the ticket.  Not happy that, days later, rather than go downtown yet again to pay it, I wrote the freaking check.  Yes, I acted the fool by writing on the memo line that the attendant was a stooge.  And, I wrote "Payment for Parking Ticket Written to me in Error" in bold letters on the front of the envelope.

Today I got a note that the fee was waived, and my check back.

Huh.

Just like something my mother would do...

Winter garden

It's technically winter here, but it was very mild for our trip to 

Brenham to visit Grandma.

It's about to be over for the growing season, but that doesn't mean she isn't still harvesting a little from her garden and making plans for what to plant in the spring.

Today she harvested  kale and some cabbage.  Yea! 

Cabbage for the New Year is supposed to bring wealth!

 The woman gardens wearing her gold joory...

...and wielding a sharp kitchen knife!

We toss the big cabbage leaves out to the hens, 

keeping only the light green compact cabbage heads.

The boys tried to stay occupied by hand feeding the chickens - they're really just egg-laying pets!

 Baby spinach that will hopefully survive the cold front we expect.

Some of the cabbages look like giant roses

She pulls up some beets for her supper.

 They look pretty - all organic.  She has the best diet of any elderly person I know!

Baby carrots are down there, but not big enough to harvest.

 Delicious kale to go with our lasagna tonight!

It almost makes me want a garden of my own...

Gina