5 thing Friday - water works, sewing cabinet, warm cookies, home thoughts, travel

 Plumbing issues: low water pressure all around and especially so at the kitchen sink.

So I got a plumber to replace the property and irrigation shut off valves, and replace the pressure reducing valve, all out at the curb. (now to see if City of Austin will cover any of that)

Increased water pressure is a very good thing, and now I'm going to have the plumber check the water heater and replace the entire kitchen faucet. Meanwhile, Moen is sending me an aerator installation kit with a new aerator - for free.

I moved that big worktable out of the craft room/office and moved the small sewing cabinet back in.  Since I could trim down the backs of the screws with my new handy metal saw, I also swapped out the hardware.  

These are from a bag of pulls The Girl bought at Hob Lob.

Now I think I want to paint allll of the furniture in here.

Is there anything better than warm from the oven cookies and a cup of tea while you read?  These are from a Betty Crocker mix with extra added cinnamon, sugar, and ground walnuts - 10/10.  I added another couple bags to my grocery order.

I am mostly OK with paring down some of my decor and distractions around the house, but I don't want it to look sterile.  I am gradually thinking more and more about what I want to keep/use/display.  Less about minimalism, more about aesthetic.  Case in point is this bookcase, and by extension the mantel next to it.  Right off the bat I think the black speaker can go, more books can be added, the DVDs can go away, and some family portraits added. 

Maybe including this lady, among others - Muriel Ellen, my paternal grandmother.

We seem to have a lot Cannary history represented around this house.  But I have a family history of my own that I would like to acknowledge.

 Whatcha think?

Google reminded me of my path last year.  It was mainly central Texas.  Taking care of repairs and sale of Highlands, visiting Mom in Brenham/Bryan/Caldwell/Georgetown/Pflugerville, then more travel to Brenham to take care of Mom's home and finances, packing and moving Bubbie back home from San Marcos, and finally to Leona and Madisonville for funeral arrangements, etc.  I put an extra 10K of mileage on Subie. I would love for this timeline to represent something different in 2024.  Maybe some travel to places for relaxation, fun, learning, adventure.  Far less of that other stuff.

Gina

Monday menus #21

This probably is not a new discovery to anyone, but I have learned to microwave scrambled eggs!  I spray the little glass dish with Pam, add a little salt.

and they turn out perfect - 32 seconds for one egg.

Monday - kitchen closed

Tuesday - Tilapia with O&P, Trader Joe's street corn salad {last college tuition bill for Bubbie due today}

Wednesday - Pork Chop, Brie and Mushroom Farfalle, zucchini {begin kitchen cabinet refresh}

Thursday - Tacos (beef, lettuce, tomato, cheese, sour cream) {SS webinar at lunchtime, on call in the evening}

Friday - Grilled Chicken, jalapeno poppers, corn {Highlands, chores}

Saturday and Sunday - kitchen closed

Normally I slip them into an English muffin with some cheese, but this time I served them alongside a leftover burrito.  A fast way to get a little extra protein with my breakfast, and they taste good, too!  

Gina

5 thing Friday - food trucks, faucet, plant babies, socializing, earrings

I found a mini food trailer park really close to my house and stopped by for lunch last Friday. 

There were many options - Jamaican, Thai, burgers - but I went with carne asada fries with queso and an ice cold Horchata from Sopa de Fideo and was not disappointed.  Under the trees it wasn't too hot to eat outside and the lady at the food truck was super friendly.

However, next time I will try the torta with carne asada because she seemed pretty jazzed about that.  

The saga with the outside faucet continues...

A pretty succulent pot sent by a friend last Friday.  I hope I can keep this alive - I'm having a hard time getting my plants to thrive - even the ones in the kitchen window, outside of the heat.

Exhibit A:

I rescued the spearmint plant from the patio and trimmed it back.  Hopefully, he will survive - if not I will plant another aloe vera in this pot.

Sadly, I gave up on the orchid who suddenly dropped all of her flowers and checked out.  I bought a coconut liner from Lowe's so I could re-use the orchid pot, added a dracena, and this will go BACK to The Girl's apartment.  We really have to stop batting plants back and forth.  I'm starting to really enjoy the fake ones, thanks.

The "Taste of Turkey" on Wednesday evening was educational and delicious.

I sat with some nice people who have a trip to Turkey planned for next month. They told me to look for them whenever I'm at the winery or at pick-up parties.   Made new friends, rejoined the wine club, ate some tasty Turkish food.  Wins all around.

The ladies at Spur are working on my pearls and the above photo is what they are aiming for.  I could not be more pleased!  I love the bezel setting for my little diamonds and although this photo makes the earrings look large, I think they will be perfectly proportional and easy to wear.  I envision them being heirlooms for future Cannary brides and to that end, I may have to have my portrait made, wearing them, giving them some provenance.  Whatcha think?

Happy weekend!

Gina

To wine or not to wine?

 I know I have mentioned this before, but wine club pick-ups don't have the same feel that they did in the past.

Last weekend I took two of my peeps to one of my favorite wineries.

It was a beautiful day - the sun was out, the music was great, the wine wonderful as always, the burgers tasty.  What's not to love?  My sister and BIL joined us a bit late, and we didn't stay long after we finished our bottle.

We really enjoyed the tasting among the vines.  The teeny tiny grape flowers smell amazing!

A couple of silly selfies were taken.  We had such a great spot under the trees outside of the tank room.

And enjoyed petting the winery cat.

But everything about it feels like the shine is off.  Mark would have loved everything about this pick-up party and I'm sure we would have stayed longer, even though the day was quite warm.  I can imagine us leaving mid-afternoon and heading back to Highlands to sit in our lounge chairs a while, build a firepit, and make dinner on the camp stove before watching the sun go down.  And I feel a little sad when I think that it will never be that way again.  

So what do I do?  Keep the wine clubs and just accept the different vibes or move on and find something else to do?

Gina

Winter art

Last year when I un-decorated for Christmas, I left the gold metal angel art hanging in the front room.  I always meant to get around to moving her, then hanging the clock back up where she had been, but you know what they say about the best of intentions.  It would have left a big empty space over the bookcase*, which is where the clock had been. But I knew I wanted to put it back where it belonged.  And I didn't want to spend any money to put something in that big empty space.

Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago and I saw an idea for making snowflakes out of clothespins from this blog.  I had a bunch of well-loved clothespins and made my own shabby chic version.  It was such fun that I made three more!

You can see traces of paint on a couple of them from some long ago art project.  Using the snowflakes, a rustic wood frame, burlap ribbon, faux eucalyptus (all stuff I already had) and an hour of my time I made this:

Its winter-y, not Christmas-y.

And it fits the space and the vibe perfectly.

Since the snowflakes are tied on to the frame with baker's twine, I can easily change them out to something else as the seasons change. 

Whatcha think?

Gina

Shared with:

Handmade Monday

*what's in that bookcase?  Everyone's old yearbooks from grade school on...

5 thing Friday - trees, decor, small town places, nails, crafting

It seems like Thanksgiving was last week, but no, it was three weeks ago and its about to be Christmas.  It has flown by!  

 The living room tree didn't get decorated like it looked in my head and I am OK with that, too.  Its done.

This year's ornament from Hubby's boss is a sweet light up snow globe from Pottery Barn.  It has one of those "magical" trees in it - the little bottle brush kind.  Other than the blue ribbon, I purchased nothing new for the tree. 

Speaking of Christmas trees, check out the one in front of the courthouse in Burnet.  All of the light posts near the square are decorated like peppermint-striped candles.  All of it is so lovely. Maybe on Sunday we can walk through the square when the sun goes down. 

You can make beer kegs into reindeer!  This was in a window in Johnson City at a favorite place to eat lunch.  I love walking these small town squares, eating at the restaurants and poking around the shops!

 

 I've been trying to look cute on weekends, starting with painting my nails. 

Its a hit or miss thing.  Whatcha think?

I bought some plastic ornaments for super cheap at Michael's and filled one with corks and jingle bells, the other with fake snow, crochet snowflakes, and some faux greenery.  I had everything but the ornaments already, so it was thrifty, too.  They will be a sweet addition to some gifts and about the last craft I will have time for before Christmas gets here.  Ho, Ho, Ho.

Gina

Grillin' plans

With Bubbie headed off to college there will only be two of us to feed - a thing that hasn't happened in 29 years!  Its time to rethink our meals.

 I came up with a plan that I think will simplify dinners a couple times a week.  I bought a package of thick cut pork chops and a couple of packages of chicken breasts.  I also "found" a pork tenderloin in the freezer from Easter.  I divided and marinated the meats, then froze them in containers for the weekend trip to Highlands. {I pounded the chicken breasts to get an even thickness}

There are nice big spaces for me to set out my grilling project at Highlands.  Hubby got the coals going and I did the grilling.  

This grill is much bigger and has the added benefit of me being able to add wood chips to a smoker box.  I grilled Greek chops, rib rub chops, the tenderloin which was marinated in worchestershire and seasonings.

 ...and some balsamic fig and rosemary chicken breasts. 

Everything smelled so good!  I cooled it all off, packed it up in portions in quart sized freezer ziplocs, and stored it in the barn's fridge until time to go.  As soon as we got home it went right into the freezer.  
Whatcha think? Any suggestions for me?

Gina

The blinds in the den are DONE

Remember that blinds project that I thought would never happen?  I chatted about it here,  and here, and here...The entire thing was a study in procrastination.

We started out with cellular shades in  the den, put here by the previous owners.  They were a cream color originally, but over the years they had gotten dingy.  Then the middle one broke.  Then I propped it for a while (which was ridiculous), then I took it down and raised the others so it wouldn't look so awkward while I finally ordered the wooden shades I knew would look great in here.

 Here is a closer view of that.  I had made "curtains" to hang between the windows, just to add some dimension to the window wall.  I used something similar to drop cloth material and trimmed it in burlap.  But I knew those would eventually come down, too.

 It was so blah.

I ordered samples from Blinds.com and The Girl and I spread them all out to choose.

We ended up with this combo - a natural woven shade with a natural burlap-looking trim, unlined to let more light in.  They came in after a couple of weeks and sat in the front room for about a week...I had to wait for Hubby to help me put them up, and I'm glad I did.  

Because the hardware that came with them was completely inadequate!  Not sturdy and not configured for side mount.  Not even the correct installation instructions. Much disgust.  We briefly considered sending them back.  After a momentary freak out on our parts, he ran to Home Depot and came back with brass L brackets. He had a plan.

He spent four hours, after working all day, configuring new hardware and hanging those blinds.  No way could The Girl and I have done it alone!

This was the solution to the hardware issue and mounting them from the side: remove the roller hardware, screw the L bracket to the stud in the wall, reattach the roller hardware over that.  Simple right?  HUGE pain in the butt involving measuring, remeasuring, and both of us standing on the ladder to steady the whole thing.  But that sucker is secure. We had to figure out how to adjust the tension on them and how they worked - again, inadequate instructions on the manufacturer's part.

 The next morning I tried to get some good pics, but it is devilishly hard to do.

They let in a lot of light, which is fine, because they are so beautiful and allow us to still see out of the windows.  They accordian up with a pull ring in the back center of the blind.

 So simple and pretty.  But I will probably leave them down most of the time.

All in all, worth it to improve the den, though I wish I had done more homework on whether they could be side-mounted.  And next time we install them (in the kitchen window seat) it will be easier since we will do a top mount.

Whatcha think?

Gina