KNEE DEEP IN PROJECTS

This is not a repeat picture from my last post...this is the porch with all of the pumpkins arranged, along with the pansies, mum and hay.  I have a little scarecrow girl sitting on the hay next to a basket of apples and pears.  I actually wondered if this was too "1980's Country", but so far no one has complained.  I hope the mum blooms soon, it's a crimson red.  So that's my Big City Little Porch for 2013!

I know I've really let some time go by without posting.  I have so many irons in the fire right now.  As the days go by I think, "When I get this finished, I'll post."  That's just not happening so I thought I'd just check in and tell you what I have been doing.

I couldn't bear to throw out the summer flowers I had on my porch before the pumpkins.  This patio is on the side of the house and you can see it from the street/sidewalk.  And yes, the ivy has to be trimmed (story of my life).  At least here I am a little closer to the shed where I store my pots.  Do you save the soil in your pots?  It's a great money saver.  I pull the dead flowers out and about half of the soil and put them away for the winter.  In the spring I mix up some new potting soil with the old and maybe a handful of peat moss.  It's a big money saver.  And I also wanted to update all of you on something.  Remember back in the spring when I was on a rampage because someone had been opening our gate, as in the one above?  I had thought that someone was deliberately trying to let my dogs get loose and lost.  Well, the culprit turned out to be an old brown lab that runs around the neighborhood.  He gets out of his backyard by nudging the latch on his gate with his nose to open it.  And he took a liking to Milo and Layla and periodically came over and nudged open our gate!!  My neighbor caught him red handed (red pawed?)!  I keep a bungee cord on it now.

Last Wednesday I was trying to decide which iron in the fire to address.  Since rain was on the way, I knew I had to get my new plants into the ground so I did that.  I had a little bit of a backache from loading and unloading the car here and at the lake but I just didn't want to make up any excuses.  As I laid on the couch that night, waiting for the Tylenol to kick in, I smiled as I listened the to the rain and thunder.  

The rest of the week was pretty laid back, especially with the constant downpour.  I slowly added things back to the master bedroom after having it painted.  I was in no rush because I was actually liking it pared down.  I never realized how many framed pictures of family I had in this room, so I've just packed them up in a box for now.  I gave away 90% of the books I had on the shelves that are no longer there.  In that space I want to do a gallery wall of black and white photos I've taken.  So looking through my files for photos and getting some inexpensive frames is on my To Do list 

And I really felt the pressure to use up all of the apples I got at the farmstand. I found a recipe Pinterest called Salty Caramel Apple Pie.  Oh, the sound of it gave me the shivers!  The Husband and I were out and about on Saturday running errands in the rain.  We got home around 6:00 and I jumped in my warm PJ's and got started on the pie.  You can find the recipe here.  This is not a recipe for the timid.  There are a lot of steps involved.  I had trouble making the caramel and had to throw it out and start again.  How can you mess up boiling sugar and water?  Well, I did, even the second time, it overcooked,  I decided to use the caramel that wasn't stuck to the bottom of my pot and whisk.  And that, my friends, was my big mistake.

It did look sort of pretty, although after working on it 2 solid hours, I sort of slapped on the woven top crust.  But it was terrible, beyond terrible.  I know this is a wonderful, killer pie, and the blogger's post had many, many good comments.  I wrote her and yes, you must get the caramel off the heat at just the right point.  So, I have replenished my supply of apples and I am going to have another go of it.  Keep your fingers crossed!  I WILL get this right!

I fiddled with my mantel for fall yesterday.  I am still loving my windows so I added some fall leaves to them, some wheat and cattails to the old pitcher and a few small pumpkins.

Very simple.  I just didn't think a lot of orange would look good and I'm really happy that I found this yellow pumpkin.  He's very unique!

In addition to moving ever so slowly toward a final reveal on the master bedroom, this is a peek at the duvet cover I ordered from JC Penney.  It should arrive any day.  I looked at it quite a bit last week as well as a million others and kept coming back to this.  It's ivory, tone on tone, and the incredible news is that it went on sale Friday from $150.00 to $65.00!  It definitely put aside any doubt in my mind.  I always check customer reviews and this got very good reviews.  The area rug also arrived and The Husband seems to like the softness.  It's 1/2  inch thick.  So now I am working on the walls and the gallery wall I told you about.  We bought faux wood blinds at Home Depot last weekend and I'm still considering curtains.  We shall see.

Other irons in the fire...I found a cute project on Pinterest for Christmas and I made two trips out to get the supplies.  At Michael's I kept gravitating toward the Christmas items.  They have so many cute table top trees, rows and rows of ribbon and faux garland.  My thoughts keep projecting forward.  There are so many long, slow days before Thanksgiving and after it's over, we all scramble around trying to get it together.  I think I'm going to take it slow by planning ahead. 

I left you with other projects.   The ottoman for my vanity.  I bought foam and fabric Saturday at Joann's and I'm ready to go as soon as I have 5 minutes.  The plate racks that I painted, they are going to the lakehouse, there's absolutely no room here and I have a place in mind.  And the spring bulbs I ordered are here and ready to be planted, hopefully tomorrow. The mirror I painted gray?  I am going to hang it in the living room but because it weighs at minimum, 60 pounds, The Husband has to do some drilling, so I'm waiting on that. I finished the book I was raving about last week...sigh, what a fantastic ending.  It is still on my sidebar if you care to read it.  And one of my favorite authors has just released the sequel to her last book that I read over this past winter and I am so psyched to sit down with it tonight.

Well, I'm off now to get started on one of the many things waiting.  If I work hard and make a dent in all of the irons in the fire, maybe I'll be back by the weekend to share the finished results! :)

XO,

Jane