projects waiting

Do you have problem getting your husband to do projects around the house?  Like painting?  I do.  Some times.  I can bring it up in a conversation many times over and still nothing.  I know plenty of women who would just take the bull by the horn and head to the paint store and get the paint and stirring stick and trays and anything else they need and do the job themselves.  My husband won't let me paint.  He knows how I would do it....  and he's right....  I'm a sloppy painter.  I wouldn't tape baseboards or trim or light fixtures.  I would paint right around it all.... 

Confession:  When I get to that point that I'm ready to paint myself.... all I have to say is:  "I think I'm going to paint the bathroom" and my husband will be on it it just like THAT!  Do I actually intend to paint myself?  No!  I just know my husband will realize at this point that I am dead serious about getting the job done and he will, at that point, get on board with me.  He's a good man. 

With that said, I am "allowed" to paint outside!  Where the spray paint can dissipate throughout the neighborhood and the paint on the blades of grass will get mowed.  Yes, here I am master!  Well, kinda sorta.  He still directs me, which is fine, because what do I know about the proper way of using a can of spray paint.... 

I have a couple projects this week.  Lawn chairs.  Those ugly, white, plastic lawn chairs that over time get stained and you dread having company sit in them.  So I decided to paint them.  A lime green.  Or the closest color I could find. 

I have to say that even spray painting is hard for me.  I end up with drips, and runs, and dark blotches.  So I sigh a heavy sigh of frustration, and my sweet man will take over and fix it all for me.  Does he know I plan it that way?  We do make a good team. 

Another project is this old chandelier I found at a garage sale for $5.00.  I painted one a few years ago, but it turned out so well, that I thought I'd do another one.  I bought white paint.... but am tempted to paint it a color much brighter! Say lime or light blue....?  

What do you think? 

it was so worth it

Hey, sis.  I suspect you're sound asleep as it's midnight on the east coast.  I just wanted to let you know that I ate a cinnamon roll for you.  I know how you're going in withdrawals. 

Mike makes a batch every year for Christmas.  It makes four pie pan sizes.  Some years they're huge, too big for me, but this year he really hit it on the nail.  I wasn't going to have one.  My blood sugar, you know.  But that would have been just plain rude not to eat one.  Disrespectful.  So I did.  And I can feel my blood sugar rise as we speak.  But it was so worth it.  Especially with that dabble of butter melted on top.  Oh.  So.  Good. 

It's going to be a long night.  I'm washing bedding....  This isn't something I would normally do at 5:15 at night, but Hunter had a little accident during nap time.  You would think I'd have learned by now.... and put a rubber pad underneath the kids during nap time.  But I don't.  Well, not always.  And especially not Hunter because it's been a long time since he's had an accident.  So the bed got stripped down to the pad and the comforters and sheets are being washed.   It's just that those big, bulky comforters take forever to dry.  You have to keep turning and fluffing them.  Well, maybe by 10:00, it'll all be done.

We had a good craft project day today.  On the spur of the moment, we decided to make gingerbread houses.  Okay, first off....this isn't something you do on the spur of the moment.  Had I given it any thought, we would have done the frame of the gingerbread house yesterday or the day before and let the frosting set.

OR.... here's an idea.... Maybe I should  have tried making one on my own before subjecting to the little kids to it! 

But they had a blast and put so much energy into it.  They really concentrated.

I felt horribly bad when the roof would slide off... or the walls would collapse.  But we didn't let it deter (Peeezzzzz nahhhhhhh) and I'd re-caulk it with frosting and we'd continue on.  I did find that putting a graham cracker on the bottom to kinda hold it all in place was a good move. 

All in all, it was a fun morning and I'm so proud of the little kids for sticking with it. 

Then when their moms came, and they rushed them over to look at it, you just knew how proud they were.  It's times like this that it makes babysitting so worthwhile. 

Hope you're having a good time.  N.

little birdy

There are many things that warm my heart. But one is a cute little teapot and teacup. The other are birds. So imagine my delight when I found a cute little white teapot with a bird figurine on top of the lid at Anthropologie! I just had to have it! And it arrived. With the bird figurine busted in dozens of pieces. I was so very sad.

But I called Anthropologie and told them my sad story and they told me they would ship another one!

But this original teapot was still good.... excepting the bird was busted off.... so my husband and I put our creative heads together and thought maybe a knob that you would typically put on a cupboard door would work.... So off to Fred Meyers we went and bought some glue and a white knob!

The top of the lid was still a little rough where the bird sat, so he filed it down as best he could and then glued the new knob on top.

Not bad.... Not so great, but not bad....

It needs something around the base of the knob to hide the fact that it's not the original knob; that it's been glued on.... I thought I could bejewel it so headed to Joann's to see what I could find. Well, I didn't have much luck as beads typically have holes in them and I didn't want my jewels to look so rigid and in a straight line (which it would have to be to hide the holes).

I bought some small river rocks thinking they may work around the base of it. But I'm hesitant to glue them on before I feel totally good about it. Which I don't....

So I'm asking for any ideas. What do you think would work around the base of the knob to hide the fact that it's rough and ragged from the break and to hide the glue?

Meanwhile, I'm patiently waiting for my new teapot to arrive and am keeping my fingers crossed that it makes it in one piece. Then..... when my sister arrives next week for my daughter's baby shower, we can sit in the study, sipping tea from my adorable teapot and these darling teacups that also arrived from Anthropologie. (It's hard to see them, but they, too, have a little bird on them!)

Happy Easter! It's snowing like there's no tomorrow! Nancy

new and improved doors

Ta da! It didn't take much to make this old bathroom cupboard door into something new and improved.... two handles from Home Depot.... $2.49 each! Don't you just love it!

My husband even thought they turned out good and agreed to model them. That look on his face? It's visions of a nice, juicy steak sitting there!

We're going next door for dinner tonight.... at the same place I got these FOR FREE, and I'm going to carry dessert over on it :) A chocolate chip/zuchini cake. Yummy!

I was in a Fall mood yesterday and did some baking. I love anything made with zuchini, especially zuchini bread. This was made with applesauce in place of the oil though.

Zuchini Bread

In a bowl, mix:

3 eggs, well beaten

Add 2 cup sugar

Beat well.

Add 1 cup oil OR 1 cup applesauce

Beat

Add 2 cup grated zuchini

Add:

1 tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp baking soda

2-1/2 cup flour

3 tsp vanilla

Bake at 350 for 45-60 minutes for mini loaves or 1 hour 10 minutes for a regular size loaf pan.

From comments: Julie--thank you for visiting my blog! I love your comments and glad someone got a good laugh out of my FREE doors! Will be visiting your blog too.

Manuela, Jeru, Julie, and Cindy: Thanks for the ideas on my chandelier! I'm tempted to try the votives but will probably go with crystals. Yes, I was planning on keeping it outside.... although it might look cute in my bedroom....

a face lift

Finally! My inherited ugly gold chandelier looks brand new, and something I'm not so embarrassed to say is mine!

This is the "before" picture of it. An outdated, tarnished, ugly, ugly, ugly chandelier. Did I mention it was ugly?

A few years ago, I hosted a fundraiser for a co-worker dying of cancer. As co-workers and friends dropped off car loads of donations, all I asked is if the items didn't sell, that they return to pick them up. Most people did. I was left, however, with this gem of a chandelier. Not so pretty; no wonder no one bought it. And I knew it wasn't something Salvation Army would want. My options were to pay to take it to the dump.... or keep it.... I opted to keep it. Maybe I saw potential in it.... maybe I was just too cheap to pay to get rid of another person's trash! Regardless of why I kept it.... I did, and my son hung it outside over our deck table.


During the year, I'd wrap different vines and flowers around it to camouflage it some. I'm not certain it worked. I found these Martha Stewart candles that I laid on them, but that didn't work either as the Blue Jays would knock them off. I've seen some really cute ideas emerge with chandeliers from your blogs and that gave me hope for this one.


Today, it finally got a much needed face lift and I love it! It's amazing what a can of spray paint can do! It still needs something to jazz it up some, but I'm not certain what.... Any ideas? Keep in mind it's very damp here; a lot of rain; a lot of snow; and not enough sunny, dry days. But I'd welcome any suggestions.

This project has been hanging over my head for years now, and it feels good to finally have it done.


Earlier this morning I went for a brisk 3.5 mile hike along the Wetlands. This is a protected area along our airport runway and you can see all kinds of birds, like this heron. It was a beautiful morning for a walk. Then I visited Home Depot and got handles for my bathroom-cupboards-soon-to-be-trays, AND weeded. It's been a pretty productive day.