March makes way for April

I had all intentions of posting this image around St. Pat's day but life got in the way, as usual!  So...even through it is the 2nd of April, I'm posting it anyway.  I loved this rock pot and there was a sign in the plant that said "Leprechaun Toes" ...its really baby tears but the idea was cute....and the sun shining on it all just called to be photographed. 

Granny Smith's

Good afternoon!  I spent a few moments in the kitchen this morning.  I had some Granny Smith's that were just begging to be put into a pie, so I put them in two pies!  LOL...they are not pretty but they sure did smell exceptionally good baking.  My mom picked up 2 pie pans for me at the flea market. All I've been able to find were 9 inch pans and this recipe calls for an 8 inch pie plate and trust me, an 8 inch pie plate is about as far as you can make the pie crust go once you divide it in half. The first pie I made like the directions and made a two crust but on this second pie, I decided to attempt a lattice top...don't laugh....it is not very pretty!  According to the directions, you roll the pie dough out onto wax paper but I found it much easier to use Parchment paper.  The dough stuck to the wax paper but peeled right off the parchment.  So, its been noted on my recipe to use parchment paper instead of wax. Maybe parchment paper wasn't as readily available when Joanna made this recipe but its definitely better to use then the wax paper was.

Like I said, its not pretty!  Maybe next time I will do a better job with the lattice...I realized after I cut it that I should have cut it all the same width and I made the mistake of laying the first way all on the top of the pie and then it got warmed up by the hot filling and I couldn't 'pick' it up to weave...but I'm sure Bill and I will eat it anyway!  We aren't too particular on looks as long as it taste great! This pie plate was a bit too deep but it was the 8 inch size, thus the reason why I attempted the lattice top...just divided the crust about 75/25 instead of 50/50, put the larger piece in the bottom and used the smaller half for the lattice top.

 Here is the recipe if anyone wants it:

Old Fashioned Apple Pie (a Joanna Lund recipe)

1 Pillsbury refrigerated unbaked 9-inch piecrust
1 (4-serving) package JELL-O sugar-free vanilla cook-n-serve pudding mix
1/2 cup unsweetened apple juice
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon Jo's Apple Pie Spice (or any reputable apple pie spice)
2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar Twin (I used Splenda Brown Sugar blend)
3 1/2 cups (3 large) cored, peeled and sliced cooking apples

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Meanwhile, let pie crust set at room temperature for 10 minutes. In a large saucepan, combine dry pudding mix, apple juice, and water. Stir in JO's Apple Pie Spice and Brown sugar Twin. Add apples. Mix well to combine. Cook over medium heat for 5 minutes or until the apples start to soften, stirring often.  Remove from heat.  Place saucepan on a wire rack and let cool for 5 minutes. Cut the pie crust in half. Gently roll each half into a ball.  Wipe counter with a wet cloth and place a sheet of waxed paper over damp spot. Place one of the balls on the waxed paper. Cover with another piece of waxed paper and roll out into a 9-inch circle, with rolling pin. Carefully remove waxed paper from one side and place crust into an 8-inch pie plate. Remove other piece of waxed paper. Evenly spoon apple mixture into pie crust. Repeat process of rolling out remaining pie crust half. Place second crust over top of pie and flute edges. Make about 8 slashes with a knife to allow steam to escape. Bake for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and continue baking for 30 to 35 minutes. Place pie plate on a wire rack and allow to cool completely.  Cut into 8 servings

8 Servings:
167 Calories, 7g Fat, 1g Pr, 25g Ca, 160mg So, 8mg Cl, 1g Fi.

And yes, I realize that those red apples are not Granny Smiths.....unfortunately, all the Granny's went in the pie and when I decided to take a picture, all I had left were the Red Delicious!
And, since I was taking pictures in the kitchen, I decided to take one of the newly remodeled area.  The dishwasher 'finally' made it in yesterday and Bill and I got it installed.  I haven't ran it yet to see how it works. It looks like I might be able to fit more in it than I could my old one.  BTW...did I tell you that I bought two more door shelves for the refrigerator?  Yep, we took the "Beverage Cooler" out and added two more shelves so I can put more stuff on the door.  It still seems like its smaller than the old refrigerator but I'm starting to adjust to it.  Next to replace will be the microwave and the range but that is for another year...maybe next year!  We need to get to work on Bill's bathroom and I'd like new carpeting in the family room...

At this time, we added new Armstrong Luxe Vinyl Plank flooring, bead-board to the back-splash, a new faucet, refrigerator and dishwasher.  I'm looking for new knobs for the cabinets so they match the stainless better.  I know the gold on the ceiling fan should be changed too but I have three of these in this room and hate to change them all....have thought about bronze or nickle spray paint but I'm sure I will hear lots of complaining from Bill when I ask him to take them down to paint...maybe the next person that owns this home can change them out...I'll just do the cabinet pulls. I really, really love my floor even if it does need sweeping every day.  All in all, I'm happy with this minor remodel!  I'm sure the young gals are appalled at the OAK cabinets but no amount of pressure will get me to paint over that lovely wood!  Some day...new counter tops too! I'll just add that to next years list too...  ;)

Have a GREAT day!

>>>

Phase One of the Remodel

It's been a hectic three weeks but things are really taking shape.  I've painted 10 gallons of paint and have two more to go. The living room, stereo room, bathroom, dining room, family room and two hallways have received fresh coats of paint and the great room is 3/4 done with the ceiling paint. Just have above the kitchen left to do and hope to get it done today.  It's raining cats and dogs, so no work outside and probably no walk unless it clears out later this afternoon. 

I didn't dig out any before pictures, as my picture folder is an unorganized mess and too hard to find them...LOL...but you will get to see what I've accomplished so far.

First up is the living room with new paint and beautiful, new Armstrong Luxe Vinyl plank flooring.  I have to say, I'm really liking this new floor!

Not the best image but I didn't have the best light and was in a hurry.  The color of the walls is called Wicker by Benjamin Moore and the green in the hallway is called Palm.  The flooring is called Exotic Fruitwood.  I'm debating on an area rug but can't decide if I want to go that route or just leave it open. 

And next is the most dramatic change...the bathroom.  I've always had wall paper so going to plain paint was a bit boring to me...LOL...

 

The color of the main walls is the Wicker by Benjamin Moore and the shower wall is called Tropical Bay.  I guess I should explain these colors so as to not confuse folks if they go to a Benjamin Moore store and can't find them...I actually found the color chips at Lowe's but my favorite paint is BM, so I took the samples to my BM store and they computer matched them.  I used their Ultra Spec 500 low sheen paint because it is washable but also hides my wall imperfections.  Remember, I stated that the paint was boring so I really had to add some color with my shower curtains and accessories.  But, I do like how it turned out.  I love the ceramic tile!  I purchased a new faucet and went with brushed nickel.  I had a gold polished brass one before but finding polished brass is getting harder and harder.  Lowe's had a whole aisle of faucets and not one single brass one.  So, to make things match, I purchased Brushed Nickel spray paint and gave my cabinet knobs, towel rack and toilet paper holder an up-do with spray paint and clear varnish.  It's not exactly like the faucet but close enough to match.  Those brown flowers above the tub are from the clearance Halloween/Thanksgiving section of Shopko and I picked them up for .65 cents a apiece.  I went back to get more but they were all sold out.  I want to find some dragonflies to add to them to match the shower curtain. I might have to cut some from vinyl on my Cameo! 

The space between my medicine cabinet and sink was way too boring for me and I happened upon this sticker at Wally World and liked the saying and the colors...cost me a whole warping .97 cents...I couldn't cut it out myself for that price!  I had to give my paint a week to cure and it stuck perfectly!  

And now, on to phase two...finishing the kitchen with beadboard back splash and English Walnut Vinyl Planks....but that is for another day!

Hope you enjoyed my remodeling tour!

A busy 2 Weeks...

A little over a month ago, I gave my old television and tv cabinet to Jerri Ann....we have been working on getting rid of all the super heavy stuff in our home that we can't move by ourselves anymore...Randy got the roll top desk and Jerri Ann got the TV....both weigh in at over 200 pounds each and it was all Bill and I could do to move them when we needed to shampoo carpets or paint or any other reason.  Bill had received a gift certificate for Best Buy from his employer for his 10 year anniversary.  So, we made a purchase of the new 50 inch flat screen and then I needed something to put it on.  We had it on our coffee table till this weekend when the entertainment center got completed.

I found the dresser at our local antique store.  It was in excellent shape and just the right size for what I was wanting to do....I'd already done the shopping route and didn't find any cabinets that I liked in my price range!  Unfortunately, I didn't think about taking a before picture until I had the cabinet in a dozen pieces.

This has kept me occupied now for the past 2 weeks....the first weekend, I took it all apart and sanded everything down...then, the second weekend, Bill and I worked it over!  I wanted it to me taller and the baskets I had purchased were not going to fit into the drawer space. So, I came up with this idea...we took the top of the dresser off...it was veneer and I wanted a wood stained top and that would not happen with the veneer top.  We cut the top down to size to use as the bottom of the dresser.  The dresser had straight feet on it and we just nailed the table top to the bottom of the dresser feet.  We then purchased some 'feet' from Lowe's and added them to the bottom.  This gave me the room I needed to add the basket and it raised the dresser up by another 6 inches.  The top row of drawers is no longer drawers.  We removed the fronts from the drawers and Bill put cup hinges inside of the drawer fronts and added a shelf to the inside (where the drawer used to be)...this makes it so I can open the drawer fronts and get access to my DVD player and receiver.  Luckily, the new Direct Whole house genie system doesn't have to have line of site on the 'slave' box so I don't have to keep the receiver door open when we are watching tv. 

After sanding it all down and rebuilding it to what I wanted, I painted it with homemade caulk paint.  Oh, I REALLY like that paint!  I had some Benjamin Moore Linen White that I'd purchased last year for another small project and all I had to do was mix some plaster of Paris in it to get my caulk paint.  I'd researched a bunch of homemade recipes and would have liked to have used the Calcium Carbonate recipe but I couldn't find any of that around here.  The Plaster of Paris worked fine, I just couldn't mix much up at a time or it would get hard on me before I was finished painting. It did stay great if I placed it in the refrigerator between coats.  It dries to a nice, super hard finish...Oops...I'm getting ahead of myself ....I first added a coat of primer to the veneer top.  I know the blogs all say I don't have to sand or prime but since it was really glossy and it was going to be used as a shelf, I wasn't taking any chances.  So, after priming it, I gave the whole thing the first coat of caulk paint, then added brown paint to the spots that I wanted to distress and then gave it a second, final coat of caulk paint.  After it was good and dry, I sanded down my edges and on my brown distressed spots and then glazed it all over and wiped it down.  After that was allowed to dry for a day, I gave it all a good coat of Johnson's Paste Wax...let that dry for about 30 minutes and then buffed it to this lovely sheen....it came out beautiful!!  The top was stained with a mix of pecan and walnut stain and then I added 5 coats of poly protection.  We bought window stop to add some interest and put it under the top drawers and around the bottom edge...just what it needed to give it some detail.  Added new hinges and it was done!  I LOVE the hinges!

The bottom two images are closer to the actual color of the cabinet...the top image is a bit too yellow.
It turned out exactly how I had envisioned it and it works perfectly as a flat screen television cabinet with plenty of storage for movies and such.  It was not a cheap redo...we have almost $200.00 in it with the price of the original dresser and the hinges, wood for shelves and back, feet, trim and the wood top but anything this size that I looked at was way over 400.00 and not nearly as nice.  All in all, I'm really happy with it!

New Cabinet

I've been needing some more storage in the kitchen so I picked this cabinet up on my last trip to the Ohio Amish country. I love this style of furniture.

Wonder how long I can keep that Ivy alive......LOL.....

Had a hard time getting enough light to snap these. Had the ISO up to 800.

Put a little Easter Out

Finally put a few Easter decorations out. It's hard to get in the the Easter.....Spring mood with this weather. Got up yesterday to a ground covered with snow....It didn't last long but still that's not good.

Snaps of Christmas

Just a few of my decorations.......Small hurricane with gold, silver & white ornaments is something new this year that I picked up at The Cobblestone in Waynesville, Ohio. The larger vase and mercury (fake) glass ornaments I've had but added a few more ornaments this year. The stacking snowman I made a long time ago....Maybe 15 years ago and I still love it.

Used Florabella's actions and a texture from Love that shot. The frames are mine.

Hope I can get more shots tomorrow.

No Purple

I admire Pat's images Here so much that I wanted to see what I could do.

Mine don't compare to hers but I had fun playing around and with some practice I might get better.
This is a table in the sun room that we never use. I couldn't stand to have the table in the kitchen set all the time. We use it to much. This is the only one I can do because I don't have that many different dishes.

Hope you have enjoyed your vacation and didn't work to hard.

Last of the sunroom images

The last of the images for now any way.
I still need to make a couple of toss pillows to match the chair seats and maybe a table runner.
I will probably pickup a few more of the yellow dishes to set around.

It's that little lamp and the table mat the cutest? Got the lamp at a local shop and picked the candle mat up on my trip last week-end in Washington Court House, Ohio.

More new look

More of the sunroom. Love the bookshelf...well heck I love it all. Notice the digital frame on the self...Christmas gift from Vickie....I have some images on it but I want to put all of the ones from the blog if I can. One thing about the new furniture is that I don't have to dust as often without all the glass tables. Not that the dust isn't there but you don't notice it as much.
Forgot to say the frames are by Nancy Comelab.

Recovered chair seats

Got the chair seats all finished. Will post some more images of the room tomorrow.