Winter of discontent

I am in the mood for spring to come right now.  I have observed the bare beauty of winter trees, luxuriated in the feel of soft scarves and warm mittens.  I have drank cider, made cookies, and packed away all my Christmas things.  If there is not going to be snow this year then I am ready for spring.  (Not that things work that way and, yes, I know that, "If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.")  It is just that last year we had lots of this at home..

and this at our favorite local historic site, where we spend a lot of time year round.

No snow so far this year though and it has been rather dreary.  Dreary paired with illness has had me stuck in the house.  The upside is that I have been working on projects and planning projects.  (Okay, okay, and reading blogs and spending way too much time on Pinterest.)  I was inspired to work on our living room thanks to Donna at Funky Junk Interiors.

While it has been dreary, it is no reason to be discontent because I find gifts from God daily that I am counting here.  This was a gift today...

So were Bitsy's words breathed out in awe, "Oh Mom!  It is like the sun is posing for you!"  I think I need a reminder of the beauty around me, of possibilities, and of gifts.

Picture Perfect Room for 2012

My living room is in need of an intervention.  I have furniture that is too large for the space, an awkward floor plan, and a strange squarish shaped room that defies my limited knowledge of furniture placement.  When I saw Funky Junk Interior's Picture Perfect: A completed room for 2012 challenge I was excited.  I am a little competitive.  Even with myself.  Give me a challenge or even a list to cross off and I will be more productive.  My problem with focusing on a single room is the Murphy's law home improvement clause.   

Any home improvement project, once started, will grow larger and more expensive than said homeowner ever imagined it would.  

It is easy to do little projects here and there but the big projects always turn into a bigger deal.

Well, at least that is how it seems to be around here.  Already ideas are percolating in my head that will cause my husband to groan.  It is kind of like If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.  One thing leads to another and then flooring is ripped up, walls come down, and attics are reorganized.  All from a living room redo?  Um, yep.  The good thing is, with all those plans in mind I now know what color to paint my kitchen.  (I always try to look on the bright side.)

Here are the before pictures of our living room.  No photographic touch-ups or soft focus. (Don't think I wasn't tempted to do anything to make this look better.)  It is tidy though.  Surely that counts for something.  I hope to get a new couch and chairs this year. 

I sold the loveseat that matches our couch thinking that these two chairs would work better, or take up less room, or something.  I was wrong. (Don't tell my husband I admitted that!)  The black one is the most comfortable in the house though.  I am thinking about ordering a slipcover for it and painting the wood.  Since it is completely worn out, I might even try painting the fabric like one of my favorite bloggers did here at Girls With Good Taste.  

This is the view from the dining nook.  Six plus months ago Barry and I painted and distressed the armoire and we still have not finished the doors and put them back on.  That is first on my list.

All the streaky marks from my quick spray paint job on this yard sale find are sooo visible in this photo.  I am going to try chalk paint on this piece.

These chairs are also going to get a paint job.  The small one is a yard sale find but the large one is from my Grandma Conner's kitchen.  It is not very sturdy, but I plan to tighten it up with some wood glue and keep it aside for decoration rather than everyday use.

Everything in this picture is being revamped to some extent.  The chair and stool will both be painted and recovered.  The large painting over the piano will probably go to a project for my bedroom, and I would like to figure out a way to touch up the nicks and dings in the piano.  I have seen some fantastic painted pianos but I do not think I am that brave.  It was an amazing find at $25 and is in excellent playing order.  I do not want to do anything to change that.

Here is our Lego village that is often located right in the middle of the living room floor.  We are trying to think of a cool way to make them sturdy yet moveable.  More on that later.

My three dollar typing table is going to have a makeover.  Black legs with a cream top all distressed.  I want a cottage look with a little industrial here and there to keep it from being too sweet.

I find this little lizard family all over the house.  They are Bitsy's latest favorite toys and they go everywhere with her.  Gotta love my tomboys!

Our entrance is small and kind of blah.  To the right are the doors that should be on our TV armoire.  You can see all our junk piled by the front door.  With no garage and only two closets it is a struggle to find places for our everyday items, but I did get some excellent ideas from the latest issue of Cottages & Bungalows.

So there it is in all its hideous reality. The attic reorganization started yesterday.  We have to clean out the attic (Part of the bargain to get my husband to take up the plywood and rewire the cable and surround sound.) The good thing?  I have a few boxes of stuff to take to the resale shop.  I went through all my holiday boxes and some vintage stash this week.  The next foray will be camping gear then keepsakes.  Ugh.  That is why I am blogging about it.  I will be ashamed of myself if I do not keep working on it, so...here is my link to:

Autumn in January

I had my best Saver's find to date so far this week.  One of my humidifiers did not work but I found this beautiful basket of Autumnal flowers when I went to exchange it.

With my return I paid $1.09.  ($5.99 ticket price.)  When I got the home I found extra flowers that had either fallen or were just shoved in the bottom and most still had their price tags so I was able to guesstimate the original price.

There were 5 mum clusters priced at $3 and 11 assorted smaller clusters priced $1.  I am thinking the basket would cost at least $10 new so that puts me at least at $36 for the lot of it.  Woo-hoo!  I am already looking forward to using this in the fall!

Savers buy one get one finds

Today I ventured out again (The month of sickness is driving me insane!) because Savers was having a buy one get one free ($10 and under) sale for club members.  I was hoping to find some decent looking greenery but instead I bought this in two trips.

All this treasure for seventeen dollars!  The humidifiers may not be decorative, but they are sure needed.  We are having a dry winter in Arkansas so far.  We are drying up like fish out of water around here!  I am going to have my father-in-law blow them out with his air compressor and then run a round of vinegar water through them to clean them out.  The camera!!  Vintage love.  All of my vintage cameras are black so this gray and silver beauty will be a welcome change.  (I am still looking for a creamy white vintage camera...not sure if one exists, but I am keeping my hopes up.) I plan to scuff the skates a bit more, treat them with tea stain wash, and rust the blades a bit more. They will be part of my Christmas decor next year.

I got a kick out of my friend Travis' comment about the skates, "Ice skates in (Arkansas) seem like mission workers; somehow brought here to spread word of another world, where water turns cold and people walk on ponds and lakes."

 

I found these three things at the Salvation Army for three dollars.  The vintage felt letters are perfect for a project I have in mind.  The bowl will soon hold my one little house plant.  The fifty cent frame is for a wreath alternative project I am working on.  

I am seriously loving my new old camera.  Here it is in its new home on top of our TV armoire. 

(See my greenery need?)

Those are my fabulous finds for this week.  

I think it was twenty dollars well spent and I love the fact that it was all resale finds.  

Saving money and making use of old things. 

Happy.

Fabulous Finds from 2011...just now

Due to the last semester of crazy I have a lot of neat things that I picked up here and there but never have really done anything with.  Here are a few pictures of my fabulous finds from 2011. (I am hoping this will motivate me to do something with them!)

 

This was a great yard sale weekend.  There were some more finds, but this was the cream of the crop and most of it came from my friend Stacy's yard sale.  She has great taste and I will be camping out at her house before future yard sales.  Look at that chair!  I am thinking it would be a great chalk paint project.  I haven't tried it yet, but I am planning to soon. 

 

The little bird pillow is a favorite.  The vintage camera case is now a purse for one of my girls.

 

The thermos is now a repurposed vase and the tray is hanging on my bathroom wall.  

 These French scene coasters are another favorite.  They are like little works of art in themselves.

I found these tags at Remember When Antique Mall for a dollar each.  They were from an old hotel stood at the end of Garrison Avenue in Fort Smith, Hotel Goldman.  I was sad when the building was torn down because even in its dilapidated state its former grandeur was still evident.  My Grandma Conner told me a very funny story about applying for a job there once when she was a young woman that is a post in itself.  I am trying to decide whether or not to mat them or put them in a shadow box of some kind.

I took a trip in the fall to Ozark, AR with my mother-in-law and sisters-in-law to eat lunch and hit the antique stores.  It was fun and I found quite a few neat items, although this picture is not the best.  Another chair, a vintage ceiling tin, five books for ten cents each, milk glass salt and pepper shakers and other little things including a vintage lunch pail and a typing table for three dollars.  The brick is vintage and from the Acme company in Fort Smith.  It was a neat find and at seven or nine dollars it was also my most expensive purchase.  Barry and I are planning a trip there at some point this spring and are hoping to find a bed and breakfast nearby.

These little snowmen houses were a giveaway rather than a find.  Our neighbor, Barry's cousin Chuck, gave them to me when he was packing away his Christmas decorations.  They will be in my kitchen next Christmas!


I hope this will motivate me to finish up existing projects and edit picture of the projects I have completed.  Please post links to your projects and finds in the comments section.

Post-holiday decorating blah

Sorting out some of the junk decorative items that had been packed away while our Christmas decorations were out.  Everything looks so bare right now with Christmas things put away and the normal bits and bobs back out.  I feel like everything needs a little touching up but I am not sure what would make it work better.  What is something you changed after the holidays?

I am perusing my favorite Cottage blog, Cottage Instincts, for ideas.  Cindy's blog is my favorite cottage blog because she is so real and down to earth.  She is not ashamed to be on a decorating budget, she put up pictures of her house while messy, and she is funny...all things that make me like her even more.  She also has an amazing collection of cottage blog links that helped me to understand what style of decorating I like and why.

So check out Cottage Instincts and check back here for sad pictures of my post-holiday decorating.  I need some fresh ideas!

Naming Thrush Cottage

   

I have always wanted to name our house.  It is an interesting little place, built by Barry's grandfather, Pat Mason.  (I will post pictures of the house at some point.) We love history and literature and this spills over into our (developing) romantic flea market cottage decorating style. 

A few semesters ago I took a Modern Poetry course and was studying the symbolism of birds in poetry.  The Thrush snared my interest.  Such an everyday bird but with a beautiful song.  In Whitman's When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd  the thrush represents the voice of America crying out at the death of Lincoln. The thrush also symbolizes poetry and the imaginative spark that brings about its creation.  With such symbolism what name could be better for the history major and his wife, the English major, in the little cottage home where stories, poetry, and art is created by all its inhabitants.  We are all thrush and we each have our own song.  

Granola Crisp Baked Apples

Happy New Year!  To celebrate the day I am sharing a recipe that I developed while trying to merge two delicious things, apple crisp and baked apples.  Neither were recipes that I grew up with.  My family is pretty plain jane when it comes to food and while that is fine (All my comfort foods are from family recipes!) I like to experiment and try new things.  Hence the Granola Crisp Baked Apple recipe.  My friend Sarah Beth and I made this for our Intermediate Spanish I power point recipe presentation and it received rave reviews.  (Blushing!) It made my day when I was walking through the cafeteria later and overhead a girl from my class telling her boyfriend about them.  (Really, it did.)  And, to make it even better, we both made A's on our assignment.  (Okay, okay!  The A's were more to do with Sara Beth's amazing Spanish talent, but our classmates did like the apples!)

 Ingredients

• 6 medium Gala apples
• ¼ cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons butter, softened
• Extra butter for topping filled apples
• ¼ cup pecans, chopped
• ½ cup granola
• ½ cup apple cider

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine brown sugar, cinnamon, and butter in a small bowl.  Then stir in pecans and granola. Set aside.

Remove the core from the apples. Remove skin from 1/2-inch around top of apples at the opening. While some recipes recommend leaving in the bottom of the apple, it is not advisable for this recipe as it keeps in excess moisture and could cause the granola to turn mushy.

  

Fill each apple with the mixture. Top each apple with a teaspoon of butter. (My oldest daughter likes it with the butter best, but I like leaving this out because it makes the filling crispier.)

Place apples in baking dish and pour apple cider around them.

Bake for 40 minutes until apples are fork tender but not mushy. (Test with a fork after 30 minutes.)

Remove from heat, place on small plate, and baste with juice from pan.

Serve hot. (Baked apples are also delicious served room temperature, so they are good in a sack lunch but should be eaten within 24 hours to prevent mushiness.)

If anyone has ideas to make this healthier by replacing the butter and sugar without compromising the crisp please let me know. 

Recipe posted below in entirety without pictures for easy copy and select printing.

Granola Crisp Baked Apples

Ingredients

• 6 medium Gala apples
• ¼ cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons butter, softened
• Extra butter for topping filled apples (optional)
• ¼ cup pecans, chopped
• ½ cup granola
• ½ cup apple cider

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine brown sugar, cinnamon, and butter in a small bowl.  Then stir in pecans and granola. Set aside.  

  

Remove the core from the apples. Remove skin from 1/2-inch around top of apples at the opening. While some recipes recommend leaving in the bottom of the apple, it is not advisable for this recipe as it keeps in excess moisture and could cause the granola to turn mushy.

Fill each apple with the mixture. Top each apple with a teaspoon of butter (optional). Place apples in baking dish and pour apple cider around them. 

Bake for 40 minutes until apples are fork tender but not mushy. (Test with a fork after 30 minutes.)

Remove from heat, place on small plate, and baste with juice from pan. 

Serve hot. (Baked apples are also delicious served room temperature, so they are good in a sack lunch but should be eaten within 24 hours to prevent mushiness.)