Bench Makeover

Just before Christmas I fixed up little bench that had seen better days. It was covered in pink, quilted fabric that was stained. It's legs and bars were loose. I took the top off of the frame. I glued the frame back together nice and snug. While the glue dried, I recovered the seat.

I found some cream colored upholstery fabric with tone on tone leaves in my fabric stash. I cut it a few inches larger then the seat.

I stapled the fabric in place as I pulled it tightly. Lastly I reattached the seat.

Nothing like a Christmasy picture as we get close to spring, right?

The bench is nice and sturdy now and looks much nicer in our living room. Not a bad makeover for not spending any money.

Happy Valentine's Day

Yesterday we all sat down to assemble the Valentine's Day treats for Evan and Charlotte's classmates. Charlotte wrote her To: and From: information on the back of paper hearts and then she glued her heart to a lollipop and added a leaf.

Evan had a fever yesterday and had just woken up from his nap when I took this picture. He said he felt good enough to make his Valentine's. Do you like his hair? He and Jon always wake up from naps with the funniest hair.

Evan is home sick today but he's feeling much better today and doesn't have a fever. As he bounded out of bed this morning, feeling more like himself, he said, "My fever still bothering me. I want to watch TV, lay on the couch, and drink juice." I think he's enjoying this pampering. I'm glad to see him feeling better today.

Today I'm going to make our traditional Valentine's dinner.... heart shaped meatloaf, pink mashed potatoes, and a Valentine's treat for dessert. Last year we went all out for the holiday but this year we're planning a more low-key evening. We're going to spend some quality family time this evening without TV or computer. I'm going to make cupcakes today for our dessert. Then I have plans to beat Jon at Uno again. I won 2-1 last week. I plan on staying the champion! Wish me luck.

Happy Valentine's Day!

My Cure For Cabin Fever

Every year about this time I start to feel the walls closing in around me. My house begins to feel old, messy, and shabby. I have the strong desire to repaint every room and completely redo each room's decor. Our tight budget keeps me from acting on those redecorating whims. There is something I've found that helps and it doesn't cost me a penny....spring winter cleaning. I take a room, clean out every corner, closet, and hidey hole, throw out or donate anything we no longer use and give the whole room a thorough cleaning.

Yesterday it was the kitchen's turn for a makeover. I cleaned out the cabinets a few weeks ago so it only took 3 hours to make my kitchen feel fresh and new. So, now that the kitchen is "company clean", I thought I'd give you a bit of a kitchen tour. Don't worry, it won't take long... my kitchen is small.

Here's the view looking into the dining/living room. To the right of the sink is the "chicken bucket" where we collect food scraps to be given to my mom's chickens. To the left of the sink is my Cinderella mug with my beloved fine-point markers that NO CHILD is allowed to touch. My children love to make dots with their markers rendering them blunt. I love to use colored markers to make my many, many lists more colorful. Blunt markers drive me nuts. So, this mug is only for Momma. Brightly colored, sharp-pointed markers... another one of my cures for cabin fever.

"Rainbow Fish" the female beta lives on the half-wall above the sink. She's really Charlotte's fish but after cleaning her out one day, I set her bowl on the half-wall and Charlotte hasn't cared that I've left her there. I'm so glad she doesn't mind. I love watching her swim while I'm at the sink. She swims over to the glass and watches me. Did you know that fish know people as individuals? Once I learned this, she became more of a pet to me then just a pretty fish in a bowl. I like to think she is happy to see me each morning but it probably has to do with the food in my hand.

If you turn clockwise, you'll see the stove wall. I'm glad to have a smooth-top stove because it acts as extra counter space since it's in short supply in this kitchen. I hung up a copper gingerbread man cookie cutter I bought at Williams-Sonoma this past Christmas. I like him above the stove.

Perched on top of the cabinets, next to the applesauce, sits the Wicked Witch Of the West. My Aunt Linda gave me her cookie jar. Jon has seen the musical "Wicked" twice now and his marching band had a "Wicked" themed show a few years ago. Evan and Charlotte love the music from from the show so Elphaba makes a fun addition to our kitchen.

If you turn again clockwise, you'll see our window wall. I hope one day to put a few cabinets along this wall to allow for more storage and counter space.

I love my chick salts in their little nesting boxes.

My Aunt Linda also gave me a roller washboard that she found at a thrift store years ago. It's a Mother Hubbard Roller Washboard. They were produced until 1935 when washing machines became popular. This roller design made washing much easier apparently. I hung it with the back facing out because I love to read the instructions on the back. The first two lines read, "Place tub high enough for operator to stand erect. Back aches are unnecessary." I don't know.... Just the thought of using a washboard gives me a back ache!

If you turn once more clockwise, you'll see the final side of our kitchen. Believe it or not, this is what the fridge looks like after it's been cleaned off. I sort through the art work about once a month or so and only keep the really special things. This is what has been created in the past week or two. The countertop to the right of the fridge is where I keep my stack of printed out recipes and my cookbooks. This counter also serves as our office space.... sorting out bills, mail, Jon's "empty his pockets when he gets home" basket, etc. It's a counter that gets messy fast so I was excited to take a picture of it while you could still see the countertop.

Our pantry is the door to the right and you can't see the small closet to the left of the fridge where we keep the cat box and pet supplies.

So, that's it. That's my kitchen. It's where I spend a good portion of my day. Now I can go into the kitchen and take a deep breath. The walls of the kitchen no longer feel as though they're closing in. I feel a little lighter and it makes winter seem a little more pleasant. I had good timing too with another winter storm brewing for the South. Yikes!

Snow Days

Jon took this picture of Charlotte running around in the backyard when it started to snow Saturday morning. We only got a dusting. That storm missed us by a lot.

The storm coming up from the South on Monday did not miss us. They called off school on Monday in anticipation of the storm. I still worked since they made it a teacher work day. Charlotte was excited to stay home with her daycare buddies.

Tuesday morning we woke up to about an inch of snow and a layer of ice on top. The patio was a skating rink. The snow that had fallen on the slightly warmer patio had melted and refrozen to make the ice even thicker. They closed schools completely for Tuesday.

The birds have been very busy.

There's a waiting line for this feeder. Maybe these are the Three Musketeers of the Gold Finch world.

Here's a video of one of 4 busy feeders in our yard. Jon's playing piano in the background. He didn't know I was taking a video but it worked out well to give the video a soundtrack.

Here's our driveway in front of the cars.

The ice broken on our doormat.

Jon went out mid-day to scrape the cars off and shovel the driveway the best he could.

The road was a skating rink. We saw only a handful of cars brave the road. We haven't seen a snow plow or salt truck.

I got a lot done during our day off yesterday.

I spent an hour organizing my knitting bags, finished projects, and yarn.

I made 9 batches of spaghetti sauce for my brother to bring home with him when he comes for a visit later in the month.

On Monday I made a huge batch of chicken/turkey stock with carcasses of the last few birds we roasted that I had in the freezer. After the stock cooled in the fridge overnight, yesterday I put the stock in containers and froze it.

Last night I used some of the stock to make a big pot of turkey and veggie soup. I made some dinner rolls to go with it.

It was a great way to end a chilly, productive day.

We have off school again today due to icy roads. I'm not sure I feel quite as productive today. I think today's plans include knitting while watching some TV, catching up on some blogging, and maybe baking some cookies.

The First White Christmas in 42 Years!

**I have so many blog posts to catch up on that I'm going to be posting several a day for the next few days so keep scrolling down to see other new posts**

In North Carolina, we got an additional Christmas present yesterday... a white Christmas!! It's the first measurable snowfall we've had on Christmas day since 1969 when this area got an inch of snow. Before that it was in 1947 when this area got almost 3". The snow started around noon on Christmas day and it was still snowing this morning.

Nothing like snow falling while the Christmas tree is still up.

Here's what the backyard looked like this morning. Click to enlarge.

We have between 7-8 inches of snow!

The snow is the most beautiful kind... the kind that sticks to everything.

We have to enjoy it while it lasts. It's supposed to be 60 degrees here on New Year's Day. That's what I love about North Carolina. We get the beauty of winter but a break from it every now and then.

Hey! Who Turned Off The Lights?!

Everyday at 6:30, I eat my breakfast while checking my email. The house is quiet and peaceful. Each morning the same, predictable routine. I like routine.

Well, yesterday's routine was interrupted by the electricity going off when I was halfway through with my cereal. The computer when black and the house was completely dark. I started to make my way to Charlotte's room by running my hands along the walls. Charlotte was already awake and reading in her bed so I knew she was going to be worried about being in the dark. I got to her as she was coming out of her room. I calmed her down and then I heard Evan calling from his room, "Mama, my lights not work!" So, with both kids in tow, we made our way slowly to the back door where they could look out and see the pre-dawn light while I searched for a working flashlight or lantern.

It should have been an easy task since we have about 20 flashlights and several camping lanterns. This task was made more difficult since it was completely dark inside. None of the flashlights that I found had working batteries in them. I finally found a small flashlight and replaced it's batteries by feeling my way around the junk drawer... a scary job. I found our camping lanterns then with the help of the flashlight and found that they were too cold to work properly since I store them in our unheated storage closet.

After finding out from the power company that they expected power to be back on in our neighborhood by 10am, I called the daycare parents and told them to go ahead and bring their kids and we'd have an adventure today. On parent offered for us to use their house if it got too cold in mine.

I helped Evan and Charlotte get dressed and ready for school by flashlight. Boy, the sun sure takes it's time rising when you need the light desperately! The lantern started to warm up and give off a little light as the sun came up. Figures.

I got Charlotte onto the bus and then the kids and I played in Evan's room because it was warmer then the playroom. When we returned home after dropping two kids off at preschool, I noticed the temperature inside. 53* inside! No wonder I was so chilly!
Did I mention that it was 15* overnight in NORTH CAROLINA?!! The high was going to be 32*. This is super cold for our part of the country. This is our second cold snap lately. The average temp. for this time of year is 53*. We've been far from average for weeks now. The sink in my bathroom only had hot water because the cold water pipes had frozen. Luckily the pipes didn't burst.

So, with two daycare kids in tow, we drove to the daycare parent's house to hang out until our electricity came back on.

Every 15 minutes I would call my house waiting to hear the answering machine that would signal that we had power again. I was never so glad to hear the answering machine working around 11:00. So, after we picked up the preschoolers at noon, we headed back home to find the lights on and heat on. Luckily the house was up to 63* which felt quite balmy compared to 53*.

After our interesting morning, I've decided that any future house of our must have an alternate heat source. A heat pump just doesn't cut it when it's this cold outside. The emergency heat has been kicking on a lot more then it should because it's just too cold. I need a wood stove. Not only would a wood stove generate heat during a power outage, it would also help supplement any other heat system during these unusually cold winter days and nights.

Santa, can you bring us a wood stove? Oh, and the chimney it would need, the hearth, the neatly stacked wood outside, and pretty kettle to set on top of it? That's not too much to ask, is it?

How To Tell When You Need A New Mixer

When your mixer sounds like this on LOW speed!

I'm pretty sure I broke our mixer. Before I tried to mix up this batter, I tried to use the dough hooks and the dough setting to knead a double batch of cinnamon roll dough. I think it was just too much for this mixer. It sounded kinda funny but I ignored it and put it away until I needed to mix up Charlotte's birthday cake batter. When I tried to mix up the cake batter, I turned it on low but it was spinning faster then the fastest speed. It would race super fast and then slow down for just a second. I thought maybe I could just keep using it only everything would be mixed on high. I added the milk to the cake batter and milk started spraying out of the bowl onto everything in the kitchen. At that point I realized that this mixer was dead.

Jon was so sweet. He said to go buy a new mixer right then and there. I told him that we really shouldn't spend the money on a new mixer and I could try to make due with my hand mixer (which I hate) . He said that considering how long I've owned that stand mixer (7 years) and how often I use it (almost daily), it's high time for a new one.

So, meet the New One. It's the same brand as the old one but it has an updated style. There are only slight differences in the two but I'm still getting used to them. I really wish I had my old one back but that's just because I knew it so well. It was like a friend who helped me bake. I'm sure I'll come to love my new kitchen friend but I have to get to know her first.
So, hopefully this $90 mixer will last me another 7 years.

She is pretty. I guess she's starting to grow on me after all.

Chick Salts

I recently hung up my chick salts for the first time since moving here 5 years ago. I love them dearly but kept them packed away... not sure why.... maybe I was afraid they would get broken or maybe I hadn't come up with the right place for them. I'm so glad I got them out of hiding because looking at them makes me smile.
These are Boyd Chick Salts and they were given to me by my Aunt Linda about 10 years ago. This is actually only half of the collection. I very begrudgingly happily shared the other half of the collection with my sister.

You can read more about Boyd's Chick Salts here. These are what they call their 1" chicks but they're really about 2 1/2" x 1 1/2 ". You can lift the little hen off of her nest.

Each color has a name and my Aunt put a tiny label inside each chick with it's name. Though it's impossible to pick a single favorite, two that are in my top 12 are John's Surprise (the translucent cobalt blue in the top right of the picture) and Royalty (a deep purple in the bottom left corner of the top picture).

I'm so glad I unpacked them. They certainly brighten up the wall in my kitchen.

No One Told Me There Was An Earthquake....

This was Charlotte's room as of Monday. It's amazing what a 5 year old can do to a room. The thing that blows me away is that she saw nothing wrong with it. She continued to play in there each day and somehow didn't break any bones. Each night I would ask her to clear a path for us to be able to reach her bed without falling.

While she was having a sleep-over at Nana and Grandpa's earlier this week, I set to work. Usually she would be in charge of cleaning her own room (I don't plan to ever clean her room for her after she's about 6 or 7) but this mess was bigger then she could handle. She also hates to throw anything away so I knew this was up to me... then up to her to keep clean after I found the floor again.

After almost 3 hours.....

Wow, there was a floor under all that mess after all. She was thrilled by her room. She's been doing a great job keeping it clean and I double check before bed each night to be sure she's put things where they belong and not under her bed. (this child reminds me so much of my sister and my husband when it comes to cleaning)

Now we're one step closer to being ready for school to start.

All In A Day's Work....

Monday, we woke up to a toilet that wouldn't stop running. After trying all the things I know to do to stop a running toilet, I trouble-shooted online and decided we had a faulty fill valve. I watched a video on how to replace one and it looked really simple. Evan and I headed off to Lowes at 7:20am and bought a new fill valve for $11. That's my kind of price!
Evan helped me for a few minutes until he decided to watch Finding Nemo with Charlotte.

The fix took me about an hour and it wasn't difficult at all. The toilet is back to working dependably and it feels great to know that I fixed it. Let's see... what else needs to be fixed around here?




On Saturday I went to the farmer's market and brought home these goodies. It's not quite peach or blueberry season here but some farmer's in the sand hills have early varieties and I was happy to pick some up. The blueberries are great but I found the peaches very tart.


I wanted to use the fruit in a pie to take to my Mom and Mark's house Monday evening for a Memorial day dinner.

I used this recipe, substituting whole wheat pastry flour for half of the flour in the crust and all of the flour in the topping. I also use half lard and half butter in the bottom crust. The crust and topping recipes are enough for two pies (though it doesn't say this in the recipe), so I made two pies. I used 1/3 slices peaches and 2/3 blueberries. I increased the cornstarch to 1/3 to insure the filling wouldn't be runny.

Yum! Especially delicious with a big spoonful of whipped cream on top.

I also made a double batch of cornbread to take to Mom's and swirled grated cheddar into half of the batter before baking it. I put the double batch of batter into a 9x13 pan so it made a really tall cornbread. I loved how tall the slices were and will have to do that again in the future... or maybe put a single recipe in a smaller, square pan would give the same result.

Nothing like being able to fix the toilet and doing some baking to make my day. I'm an easy gal to please.

Tomorrow I'll show you what I accomplished in the garden this weekend.