JUST HAVING SOME FUN!

Are you ready for "you know what"?  It's the final crunch and this is where I lose all sense of urgency, organization and sanity.  Last night I was lying in bed just, drifting off to sleep and I remembered the turkey.  The turkey downstairs in the freezer.  The 18 pound turkey that needs to defrost in 48 hours.  Whoa...see Jane run!

I guess it's just a waiting game.  I did my shopping Friday and even ran out last night to pick up a few things I forgot.  I will probably duck out tomorrow with The Husband to get the wine and pick up some fresh flowers.  When I saw these at my grocery store last week I asked it they were fresh and I was assured they came in that morning.  I just felt that they looked a little shaggy so these can stay on the island and I think I may get something else for the yet undetermined centerpiece.  I can't set the table yet as I need it and to be honest, I love mixing and matching dishes and napkins and whatever...I don't want to rush it.  I can play with that tomorrow, so, no tablescape until my next post.  I want to take my time. :)

The Husband and I got IPhones.  Up until now I've had an android.  I didn't know they were so much fun.  I was in the middle of painting that hall closet (more on that later) and I noticed the lighting in the bathroom was quite flattering (and believe me, I need that!).  So I took a few "selfies". I'm not crazy about the light on my nose, it's really not crooked like this!

I don't know if any of you are familiar with Sonya of Beyond The Screen Door.  This girl can sew!  She made me a beautiful table runner last year that I prize.   I recently asked her to make me a tree skirt, the one I have has seen better days.  This arrived the other day.  I'll get a better picture when it's under my tree.  It's a pretty oatmeal colored linen with a cream colored ruffle.  There are cute ties where the skirt meets in a circle.  I also had to have this star shaped tray which she had in her shop.  I highly recommend that you visit her.  You can even email her if there is something special you want.

Still having fun with the selfies.  When we got these phones after our other contract ran out, I was a little cavalier.  I asked my son, Jeff, "So what's so great about this phone?"  His eyes almost bulged out of his head.  "Do you know that you are holding a $500.00 miniature computer in your hands??"  So I'm spending a little more time with this.  I do Facetime with my girls, store my notes and reminders in it and actually use the calender.  And I downloaded some Christmas music.  

Have you been watching any of the Christmas movies?  I had my fill again on Sunday.  A lot of these are shown over and over.  If you missed Naughty Or Nice, you have to watch it.  It's hysterically funny!

 

I thought I'd show you a recent picture of my granddog, Rusty.  What a beast he is.  I'm glad Emily and Mike are waiting a bit until they have kids because this guy is a handful!  He loves to get into everything.  She's not sure what she's going to do with having a Christmas tree.  It will only take a matter of minutes before he knocks it down and eats it in one bite.  But he's so darn cute!

Oh no!

When I last wrote, I had some plans for this closet.  We thought we might make it look like a mud room sort of set up because I was changing things around and hanging hooks along the back.  I painted it gray (sorry about the bad picture...very poor lighting here) and it wasn't a fun job.  This doorway is about 4 feet wide but inside, the width of the closet is 9 feet and I had to squeeze into the sides.  Anyway, I had my doubts about how it would look without doors, mainly because this is a "real" closet that gets used and The Husband's black and gray dress coats and many many golf jackets aren't going to look so fabulous.  If you've seen  mudrooms in magazines, catalogs or on blogs, they have the picture perfect bench with pretty baskets and hooks and shelves above.  And those hooks are holding nothing more than a dog leash and a straw sunhat.  I speak from experience.  We have a mudroom at the lakehouse just as I described and it's totally ready for it's close up!  And so...the closet doors are going back up.  I have to paint them and then I will be done with this project.  And I am never ever ever ever painting anything else again.

So there.

Now I'm off to the Dollar Tree to find a plastic container to brine my turkey in.  I will be up bright and early to do that.  And I always make my potatoes and stuffing ahead of time as well as desserts.  So it will be a busy day.  And then Thursday the family will all be in one place, here, in our home.  Just the thought of that warms my heart.  That's what I give the most thanks for, I've been blessed with a family and so many great people in my life.  We are all in good health and life is good.  I will be thinking about this as I bustle around my kitchen on Thanksgiving, doing what I love the most for those I love even more!

Many blessings to all of you.  Happy Thanksgiving!

XO,

Jane

HOLIDAY EXCITEMENT AND YET ANOTHER PROJECT!

Why does my food never look good?  I made chicken noodle soup last night to use up the overabundance of veggies I had in the fridge.  It always turns out different depending on the herbs and spices I use. This came out quite good with some cumin for depth and thyme because it goes so well with chicken, and of course, a bay leaf.  One must always have a bay leaf in soup or stew.  Says me.  Since I started my healthy eating plan back in early September (which I haven't spoke of very much as I keep ruining it with sugar), I have been buying naan.  it's similar to pita bread but much softer.  I brown it just a bit in a skillet with a drop of olive oil...crisp on the outside and soft and moist on the inside.  So it was a nice, comforting dinner for the onset of the cold weather.  

I was on a roll posting about twice a week.  Then my computer died and while I wait for The Husband to find me a laptop that meets all of his picky criteria, I am using his.  You know how that is, everything feels slightly "off".  And I don't want to load pictures in his.  Sigh.  So I'm just winging it today.

I've had a lot of fun these past few days.  Emily and I had our weekly outing last Thursday.  She wanted me to ride with her to a suburb about 40 minutes south of here.  She belongs to a Facebook group where people buy and sell things.  She found a vintage sled for $25.00.  She's doing an arrangement on her front porch for Christmas with the sled and ice skates, etc.  I was so surprised when we pulled up at this house in a beautiful neighborhood of big, newer homes.  This is what the porch looked like.  The owner wasn't home and said to just leave the money in the coffee pot.  Wow!

See the red sled to the left?  And he had two!!  I just don't have much of a porch if you've seen my house in previous posts (and very little room inside).  We had a great time looking.  See the shutter in the background?  And the crates?  He had at least 10 windows lined up along his house but the rational Jane knows that the two vintage windows she has is more than she has room for.  And who knows what we'll think about windows in ten years?  That we were nuts?

On our way there we spotted a big shopping center just off the interstate, so on our way back we hit Homegoods and Kohls.  Not much damage was made.  I wanted some sparkly candles and I found a few large ones for about $4.99.  Great bargain.  Emily found a large black lantern with a battery operated candle in it for her front porch.  And at Kohls I bought a welcome mat with a snowman on it.  We had a ball as usual!

I was reading an article in Real Simple magazine last night about how stores and shops manipulate us into spending.  None of this is really new to anyone and I take total responsibility for what I do when I'm in a store.  They were talking about the music and the decorations (the sparkly stuff really grabs us whether we know it or not, it signifies luxury), the scent of pine and cinnamon wafting through the air via electronic aromatherapy diffusers.  All of this makes us nostalgic and we buy things in an effort to recreate our past or at least our vision of the past.  I found this article to be so true.  But you know what?  I love how I feel when I'm in a store that's seducing and enticing me with all of that stuff...something for all 5 senses.  And I really, really enjoy shopping with Emily as she creates her very first Christmas of her own with Mike in their new home.  I'm not crazy about the "hustle and bustle" that starts after Thanksgiving, I'm a little weird with crowds, but lately it hasn't been too bad, maybe with the online shopping advantage. 

 

Here's my usual spot on the bed for  reading.  Nice of the pups to give me some room. Layla does this thing where she sits up like a gopher (with perfect balance I might add) when she wants her tummy scratched. The Husband and I actually watched three Christmas movies on Saturday!  They are now on 24/7 on the Hallmark channel.  Since I last wrote I devoured 2 books, I was literally flying through the housework every day so I could grab my book!  Ahhh...just one of the pleasures the impending cold winter will bring!

I suppose some of you have heard of the storms and the tornado they spawned in Illinois this past Sunday.  I thought it was very odd that it was so warm outside when I got up that morning.  It was like an August day with bad weather coming.  And sure enough, by 11:00, the local news was breaking in on the television shows to tell us that a tornado was on the ground just north of central Illinois and from the Stormtracker, it was heading right in our direction.  I really didn't think much because it was so far off and anything could cause it to die out or go in another direction.  But it was coming on a straight path, not leaving the ground, at 65 miles an hour.  In the meantime there were all sorts of storms around us.  The wind was gusting and the rain made everything around us invisible.  The Husband had started watching the Bears game and when they took the players off the field and started evacuating the stands, he decided we should set up camp downstairs.  So he, Abby and I grabbed flashlights, candles, our phones and her IPad and sat in the laundry room.  My first worry was Emily, who was at work  She, too, was in the path just southwest of us.  The Husband didn't want me to call or text her in case I frightened her, but I thought that was crazy.  We were able to follow the storm on the IPad and by the grace of God, that tornado veered northeast and headed south of us toward Lake Michigan.  We got a group text going and Emily was fine.  She and her co-workers took shelter in the bathroom.  Her hubby Mike texted and asked if it was okay to go back upstairs and put his chicken wings back in the oven.  

A small town where the tornado originated was leveled.  It's heartbreaking to see.  Three people were killed but it could have been so many more.  A friend on Facebook wrote, "It was 70 degrees and I was out running.  An hour later I was hiding in my basement."  It was all very frightening.  I think we can all praise the weather people on TV in Chicago for their coverage and for constantly instructing people how to take shelter.  Good job.

Other than the garage (which I just have one more heavy load to get to the curb in order to be done with), I had plans to clean out and organize our office and this hall closet which has been the bane of my existence for so long.  Here's the deal.  When we had our kitchen renovated about 15 years ago, a wall was knocked out to make it bigger. Our once large hall closet was minimized to this and as you can see by the coats jutting out, it was not deep enough.  It wasn't long after that the bi fold doors came off the track.  Is this not the worse "before" picture you have ever seen?  One afternoon last week I had a light bulb moment.  And you always wonder why you never thought of it before.  If we couldn't make the closet bigger, we had to do the opposite.  I decided to eliminate the bar  and instead use hooks along the back wall.  Not only are there 10,000 coats in here (85% of them The Husbands, honest!), but we stored enough light bulbs on the top shelf to illuminate Michigan Avenue.  The floor was a menagerie of totebags, boots, essentials like toilet paper, napkins and paper towels bought in bulk.  The Husband had also saved every box from every electronic device we have ever bought (laptops, phones, cameras, speakers) in the event we had to return them.  

It took me over an hour to clean it all out, make bags for Goodwill, and relocate a lot of stuff to the basement.  

And here we go before a good scrubbing.  I'm going to remove the bar and the top shelf, I think that's only going to invite storage and  storage means organization and that's a job always left up to me.  And I resent it.  That little shelf  midway down on the left side is perfect for a basket to hold our hats, scarves and gloves.  After I scrub away, I have almost a full gallon of gray paint from our bedroom job.  I'm going to do the trim in white.  And then I'm going to have a long piece of wood cut, attach it to the wall about 3/4 of the way up and then add about 10 double hooks to it.  This will keep me busy for the rest of the week.  I have a bench in the garage that I found at a thrift store years ago.  I'd like to bring that in and paint it, but I'm afraid if I use it in this closet, it will become a catch all, and as you can see, I'm trying to get away from that.

Now, I have a question.  I was going to have the doors put back on, but of all people, my son, Jeff, suggested that I leave the doors off and go for a "mudroom" closet sort of look.  I was really surprised.  I thought that was something that I would have come up with and of course, been vetoed out.  I'd love for you to weigh in.

Do you have your Thanksgiving menu planned?  Have any of you started Christmas shopping or decorating?  I just love all the excitement I see on the blogs.  Sometimes I'll be ripping recipes out of magazines or jotting down ideas and I forget if I'm thinking of Thanksgiving or Christmas!  We will be having 9 for dinner on Thanksgiving and then I have been hosting dessert for the past several years and we will have about  15 more.  

The Husband and I have been tossing around the idea of going to a Christmas tree farm and cutting down our own tree.  I happened to be emailing back and forth with a guy in North Carolina that grows and ships trees and he told me that the ones you find in nurseries or temporarily  in parking lots, are most likely cut over a month before.  A fresh cut tree can last 2 months.  That's why I'm always scrambling around in mid December because a live tree would never make it until Christmas if we bought it any sooner.  So we are planning to go to the lake after Thanksgiving and see what they have in that area.  I also remembered that I left the cushions and pillows on the furniture on the front porch.  Gawd!  And The Husband doesn't remember if he put away all my pots and little garden doodads.  He and Jeff seemed to have just taken care of the big stuff on their trip last month.  It would make for a nice 3 day weekend.

Okay, I have a trip to Home Depot in the works but I am waiting for a person that The Husband came up with to come and clean our gutters.  At this rate he is going to be doing it by moonlight.  Let me have your thoughts on that closet and also, how do you feel about holiday shopping?  Do you avoid it?  Dread it? Love it?  Get it done early, late or pretty much go with the flow.  And most of all...are you in the holiday spirit?  I am.  I'm just loving it all.  

XO,

Jane

STENCILED BANNERS & MY USUAL RANDOMNESS

I am so excited to report that The Husband and I actually got out this weekend!  And for dinner!  It seems like it's been ages and I have been climbing the walls.  There's a busy street not too far from us comprised mostly of Irish bars  (we live in a predominantly Irish Catholic neighborhood).  And these little pubs have been here for ages.  Every now and then something new springs up and the kids told us great things about this place, Horse Thief Hollow, so we gave it a shot.  Apparently back in the 1850's, horses stolen from Missouri brought for market in Chicago were hidden in the dense forests and woods that were once here.  A little bit of lively history for you!  Very neat place...industrial like with very high ceilings and exposed duct work, concrete floors and lots of metal along with polished wood.  We LOVED it.  I had the Flat Iron Steak with root veggies and The Husband had an Autumn Turkey sandwich with cranberry chutney and cream cheese.  Yum!   They also brew their own handcrafted beer, The husband sipped on The Kitchen Sink .  I don't have that list but I think it has something to do with all the ingredients. :)

   

After that we went up the street to the little Irish pub Abigail works at (sorry, this picture was taken with my IPhone in a very dark place). We've never seen her at it in two years!!  She not only waitresses but makes her own drinks if she has to.  It was early so she wasn't busy and could stand and talk with us.  Have I ever told you how proud I am of my little caboose?  She has been student teaching this last semester of school and the privilege she feels for this opportunity and attachment to these high school children is more than I imagined.  She teaches English in a predominantly Hispanic school.  Not an easy task.  I worried, how will a young girl, just barely older than her students and tiny, tiny, tiny...be accepted?  They love her!  One boy calls her Mona Lisa because she is "so pretty".  The girls think she dresses "swag", which for this generation (and Abby had to ask!) means "cool".    She finishes up at Thanksgiving, it makes her sad but I now know that she chose the right studies.  She is going to be wonderful in her career and she's going to be happy and that's all that matters to me.  You Rock, Abby!!!

And while this was going on, my other daughter, Emily, and son, Kevin, along with their spouses were enjoying Cedarburg, Wisconsin.  Yes, that's where we were a couple of weekends ago.  Last December when we went for the first time, we got it in our heads that the kids might like it and  got them gift certificates for rooms at the inn we stayed at.  They went up Saturday but not before I could send them off with a little spending dough and a few bottles of Cabernet!  They loved it.  Emily said if it weren't for stopping for food and drinks, she could have shopped the whole time (the apple doesn't fall far from the tree)!  She made this little collage for Facebook and I stole it!  Center picture. L to R:  Mike, Em, Kevin and Mary Clare.

Like a lot of you, we had snow yesterday.  I took this about 5:00 p.m.  It rained most of the day and then finally turned into big wet flakes...I'm surprised it stuck.  Milo loved romping around in it.  It was cold (30ish) today and sunny, so it melted.  Did you know today is 11-12-13?  Seems like something magical could happen.  Or not.

Okay, on to my first project.  I'm doing a little step by step thing here because not only does it make me feel really crafty (!!), but I really didn't have a clue what I was doing the first time I stenciled anything.  Now that was back in the dinosaur age when I had a little toddler and well, 2 more under the age of 7.  I decided to do a border along the ceiling of Emily's room, pink bunnies.  The stencil itself was quite large, the bunny the size of a dinner plate.  Well, doing a ceiling border is no fun...constantly moving the ladder and re-taping the stencil, the pain in your arms from reaching up high.  I worked a little on it every day.  My problem is I never read directions.  I didn't know you "dabbed" the paint on a stencil.  I layered it on THICK!!!  I think people were too polite to tell me what I did wrong.  Eventually, when we re-painted that room, the bunnies had to be sanded down! lol!  I did however go on to stencil around doors and windows and everything I could...ivy, flowers vines, you name it!  The right way!

So, I've always wanted to make a banner.  So,  make a template out of heavy paper, like card stock or even cardboard.  Trace that on your burlap or whatever fabric you like and cut them out.  I folded over a small flap at the wide edge and ironed it to give it a strong crease.  Flip it open and make a line of glue (I used fabric glue found at any craft store) along the very edge.  Lay your twine or jute or whatever you're using in the crease of the flap and then seal it like an envelope.

Then put something heavy and useless on it, like Almond Bark, which is the first thing I grabbed, to hold it down while the glue dried.

These stencils are from Hobby Lobby, around $7.00 for the whole alphabet.  You can wipe them off and use them countless times.  I also used fabric paint, just put it in an old bowl (you can even use a paper plate, much more sensible), and then just dip a small round, cheap brush in the paint and dab lightly.  I go around the edges of the letter first to make sure it's nice and crisp.  I've seen bloggers use all sorts ofideas for this type of project; downloading templates and transferring letters and words and embellishments with all sorts of methods.  I guess this is the old fashion way, but I love it and it's simple.

Ta Da!  Obviously I'm not going to leave this up right now...in fact it fell down right after this picture.  I was using my handy dandy Scotch tape.  So, for some of you banner aficionados, what do you use to hold those banners up with?  Nothing seems to stick to that twine.  Nails, thumbtacks...The Husband would croak!

Another view.  See that rain and gloom outside.  Yuk!  It's official Blues Weather.

Moving on.  Blondie was really getting her groove on.  I remembered Thanksgiving comes before Christmas! lol!  I showed you these pre-made little flags last week, all nicely stitched around the edges with little grommets to make a simple job of threading the twine.  I stenciled these, too.  Did I tell you that Emily had a baby shower for a friend and they had a project of making onesies for the baby with fabric paint?  She brought over the leftover paint the other day, about ten plastic bottles.  God love her, I'm set for life. 

Again:  Ta Da!  (I can be so full of myself!).

So that was my crafty little week.  I had fun.  I think I'm ready to start going around doors and windows again.  Look out.

How are all of you doing with your Thanksgiving plans?  We are having two of the kid's cousins coming as their parent have to work...two big guys in their twenties.  In recent years I have gone down to a 12 pound turkey from 22 pounds.  The Husband always insists on a huge one for the leftovers.  Well, you can only eat turkey sandwiches for a few days and then they get old and personally, I feel that turkey is very bland and I have little desire to make up a recipe for the leftovers.  So last week I picked up an 18 pounder.  And a brining kit full of the required spices.  Emily made the brine last year for the first time with the help of a friend who had the extra spices and her own method.  In spite of the fact that I cannot even change the way I make sweet potatoes without protest that I'm deviating from tradition, everyone loved this turkey, surely because it was brined.  And this was the year that The Husband also admitted he didn't like Brussels sprouts...after 28 years might I say.  I couldn't win for losing.  So I have to trot over to Home Depot and get a big drywall bucket to brine my turkey in, which will be in the trunk of my car so that every raccoon, squirrel and opossum in the near vicinity is not hanging out in my garage.  Monster Turkey will also require me to get up much earlier than the 12 pound one did,  Errrrrr...

Now, I'm not going to say that I am at work on another project (although I am) because when I say that, even put it in the title of my post,  what I think I'm seeing is some very DIY loving people coming to see what it is...don't see it and high tail it away.  Nothing wrong with scanning.  I had page views that exceeded comments (by you lovely loyal friends) ten fold.  Not to sound like a saint, I am first of all a lover of writing, sharing my goofy life and times, giving you something to chuckle about, maybe a little inspiration here and there that if Blondie can do it, you can, too.  And then the fun of visiting your blogs.  Ladies I have known for 5 years or 5 months,  if I follow you, I hold you close to my heart.  So stats mean very little, the NUMBER of followers mean very little although I am so flattered and chuffed that any of you have chosen to follow my blog.  There will always be some of you that look but don't comment...I don't bite and I'm always looking for new blogs to follow and inspire.  Secondly...I mentioned a few weeks ago that I have been falling off some of your Followers Lists.  I am trying to get back on them...so puleeeeeze, if you haven't heard from me lately, let me know and I'll pop over and Re-Follow.

Sorry for such a long post.  Your head is probably spinning.  Just feel free to comment on what turned your crank.  I'll try to be back soon. :)

Joining Jennifer Rizzo at Fabulously Creative Friday

Courtney at Feathered Nest Friday 

XO,

Jane

HOLIDAYS & PROJECTS ON MY MIND!

Well hi, everybody!  I thought before I started blathering on about everything and nothing, I would tie up some loose ends on some of the things that I had finished up here in Blondieville.  I don't think I've ever shown you the mirror I painted actually hung up on the wall in my living room.  I'm liking it and I think there just can't be enough said about rescuing something from someones trash and giving it a new life.  Actually daughter Emily did the rescuing and it was one of her girlfriend's.  I'm really happy with it and I added a pretty boxwood wreath to it.  I found a website of a girl that is a florist and has her own shop.  She custom makes all sorts of neat wreaths and arrangements and such.  I personally think she has the best prices around if you are looking for anything live.  Let me know if you want any information.  

As far as the bedroom redo, I am just finishing up the gallery wall...it's addicting.  You keep finding space for "just one more picture!"  I also started out using my own photos in black and white and they just faded into the wall so I had to reorder and frame other pictures..  But The Husband did get the blinds on the second window (they only come down this far...thank goodness for ivy!).  And I know this looks like an ordinary dresser but if you could have seen it before.  It was definitely organized clutter.  I love beautiful trinket boxes, blingy picture frames, bowls and dishes filled with sparkly jewelry and I wouldn't throw out a bottle of perfume until it was down to the last drop.  Well, I made a clean sweep and I'm proud to say it has stayed this way for a month now.  Shhhh...everything else is just tucked into one of those top drawers! :)  The wicker basket in the background is my laundry which I disguise with folded quilts.  Our closets are like phone booths.

Thank you so much for getting me out of the slump I was in on Tuesday.  It really helped.  And I think the best thing anyone can do when that comes out of the blue is just get outside, even to walk around the block.  You have to have a change of scenery, smell the fresh air, hear the rustle of the leaves...involve all those senses that have gone dormant.  My remedy was close enough, over to Katie's for my highlights and a cut (yep, two more inches off the hair, it now rests on my shoulders.  I can still get it in a ponytail and I am thisclose to chic!!).  Now, you know Katie is my daughter in law's sister, so we were all there eating donuts and laughing while I was being pampered.  Afterward I went over to Emily's and we had pizza for lunch and headed out for some retail therapy.  Hello Target!  She was not such a happy camper, she had to buy a cover for her patio table as it wouldn't fit through the back door to her basement for winter storage.  Nothing like having to spend good money on necessities.  ;-D  Well, what do you think we found next to the (pretty bare) outdoor section?  The Christmas decorations!  And freshly stocked I might say!  We had a ball looking at everything.  I like to pretend to be a consumer reporter every once in awhile, so here's my take again on what's "en vogue" for the holidays.  Woodland creatures, especially deer, deer, deer.  And antlers and mounted deer heads (I guess it's cool to have it in all forms of it's afterlife).  Lots of felted ornaments, too, as well as knitted.  You crafty ladies can do this easily.  And I will also say that Target has wonderful prices compared to other stores, only rivaled by the craft stores and Marshall's, Homegoods, etc.  They had a cute bin with $3.00 ornaments that were just darling.  

I bought a book, too, couldn't help myself.  The Kitchen House came out awhile ago but I remember my SIL raving about it, so I had to grab that.  And then my friend Melanie from Comfy House knew I was getting into Elizabeth Berg and was nice enough to send me one of her copies of one of the author's earlier books.  Thanks, Mel!  I feel like a squirrel hoarding nuts for the winter.  We could get snowed in from now until March and I would have plenty to read!

In spite of all the allure and promise of getting started on a Holly Jolly Christmas, we walked away with just 1 ornament apiece, with mind boggling plans to come back the day after Christmas to wipe the place out.  As we made our way to the outdoor department and then on for me to buy toilet paper, I asked Emily, "Are we materialistic?"  She never blinked an eye.  "No, Mom, we just love Christmas."  And all was well and good in my world.

  

We made our way to Hobby Lobby as Em wanted to buy a tree skirt she had seen there a few weeks ago.  I'm in the process of working on a project involving stencils and I was looking for a brush when I came across these fabric pieces for making banners.  They are in packages of five for $6.99.  For someone like me that can't sew, these are a Godsend.  See the neat edges and holy cow...grommets!  I have always wanted to make a no sew garland or banner and I do have some bleached burlap, linen and drop cloth fabric.  I just didn't want the frayed edges, so this is just perfect for me.  I hope to get to work on these this weekend.    Emily also bought a few simple supplies for a holiday project she came up with and she went home last night and finished it up by 9:00, texting a picture of it to me.  I will include it in my next post.  It is an amazing project for under $10.00!

Now I am going to put my Consumer Reporter hat back on because I came home to a package with a set of ornaments I ordered from World Market (we don't have one near us).  I've always found their prices to be exceptional so when I saw these deer, I ordered them.  I was so disappointed to see they were much smaller than I thought (READ THE DIMENSIONS!).  They are not well made and after seeing something so similar at Target for half the price, I was really feeling foolish.  I had also seen some really cute ornaments on the West Elm website and last weekend the Husband and I were actually going to take a trip to the store on the Northside, but didn't.  The same woodland critters are everywhere and much less expensive.  I have to say, when an idea catches on, it spreads like wildfire.  And I'm all about unique, one of a kind things, so these deer (or moose or reindeer or whatever they are) are the end of the line for me.  

I won't go on long here because this has been such an upbeat post but I had to mention that the great chef, Charlie Trotter, from Chicago passed away this past Monday at the young age of 54.  If you are from Chicago, you definitely knew of him and his iconic restaurant.  He was also the recipient of several James Beard Awards and a great humanitarian and philanthropist known throughout the world.  I was so lucky to have met him many years ago at his restaurant.  I wrote a post about it here.  He signed his cookbook for me and we had our picture taken together, which you can see on that post.  

Personally, I am just so, so sad.   There is something very unsettling and confusing when someone you have never met, or someone you knew very little passes away.  There's that distance or barrier outside of the circle where you long to be because no one else understands your own inner loss.  For me, when someone dies, they leave only a legacy.  The deep down pain comes from the realization that there will be nothing else forthcoming from this person; no further words of wisdom or advice.  He will never make another outstanding meal, write another cookbook, open another restaurant.  I had my ten minutes with him, someone I that I had admired for so long, and I will never again have that chance.    This probably sounds frivolous; he has family and friends and colleagues who are in deep mourning right now, but I can't tell you how much I wish I could go back to that obliviously happy time before I heard this news.  

Today is the first day of sunshine that we've had in over a week.  The dogs stay in bed with me in the morning until I get up, no matter who is up or coming or going.  Milo is like a sentry in my bedroom and Layla is just lazy.  They are not liking the rain and cold at all.  I let them out about 5-6 times a day and like clockwork, they are  sitting on the back porch wanting to come in after 5 minutes, even in nice weather.  They just don't like to be outside alone.  So I've been pulling on my boots (or even flip flops for convenience) and  taking a little stroll around the garden beds, checking out things here and there, dreaming about spring and all those shoots from the tulips and crocus and hyacinths popping up.  Milo romps like a pony in the grass, and Layla has her nose to the ground like a bloodhound.  We don't want to go back in.

So they pretty much get up in the morning and then head for their favorite sleeping spots; Milo, his chair, and Layla, her basket (she looks like a baby skunk in this picture!).  I have decided to start walking them, Milo needs a harness first.  You don't walk Milo...he walks you!  And the pulling of his collar makes him gag.  We never walked Layla, she didn't like it and would sit defiantly on the sidewalk while we tugged at her leash.  Nope, she wasn't having any of it.  But she will do it if they are together.  I've felt like a negligent mother (and lazy, too) not taking them for walks.  You would never do that to a baby.  And they look so pathetically bored!!

Okay...off to the grocery store.  As you can see I'm trying to post more. I wish you all a great weekend.  I'm back to "normal" sleeping patterns and I'm feeling a lot more motivated to pick up where I left off before the blues hit me earlier this week.  Thanks again for all of your words of encouragement. :)

XO,

Jane 

THE GLOOM SETS IN!

Be forewarned, I'm not in the best of moods.  I'm going on 5 days straight of minor inconveniences, grievances and frustrations.  No, nothing up there with the problems of the world, but just those irritating, "Why do these things keep happening to me?" sort of problems.  If my Playlist worked, you could have some upbeat Katy Perry blasting while you read (oh, did I mention my Playlist doesn't work?), but instead I am going to provide you with some beautiful fall foliage to look at while I complain.  Note the gloom and rain?  I love that tree over my driveway, especially since the trim trimmers had at it in August.  There are very little bird droppings on my car now, but there are very few branches.

I haven't been out of the house since last Wednesday.  That's unusual but it's happened, especially in the winter.  And then, as if being cooped up wasn't bad enough, I thought I had come down with malaria or something.  The Husband and I rarely get enough sleep, at least "good" sleep, he's an insomniac and I am a sympathetic insomniac.  If he doesn't wake me up with his getting up and down, I sometimes just get up to keep him company.   In fact, my good friend, Mel, asked me last week, "Was that you on Facebook at 4:00 a.m.?"  So this has been the score for a long time and then something happened.  I have been falling into bed at 9:00 for the past week and struggling to get up in the morning.  I feel very lethargic and downright sleepy.  I feel like a slug.

I'm not sure why the rain looks like this on my porch...very odd.  I managed to hang on to all of my pumpkins this year, except for one that a squirrel got after the rain washed the Pledge off it.  I think I am going to bring these around to my backyard for a little squirrel buffet, a little reward for them being so thoughtful this fall.

Looking down my street.  The leaves will probably be off the trees by weekend.  I think I mentioned that we had our lawn dug up and reseeded this past spring. It came in terrible with weeds and crabgrass and big bare spots.  I called the company out twice to use weed and feed and over~seed.  Last week I was doing my Wednesday Trash Haul (***Hey, the garage should be finished tomorrow!!***) and found two big 1 pound bags of grass seed that The Husband must have bought at the lake. So I spent an hour filling in all of the spots by hand, not with the spreader, I really laid it on thick.  Shortly after a nice drizzle began to come down and I thought, "Wow, this is just perfect!"  Then it came down harder and harder and it rained for 2 days straight.  I couldn't find one speck of seed in the any of the bare spots and I could just cry!  The Husband thinks it probably just washed in with the rest of the grass and will come in nice and full.  Grrrr...

My mind keeps going fast forward to Christmas, I don't know why.  I can never understand people that decorate super early or start shopping in July.  But I feel unusually upbeat and cheery when I think of Christmas coming next month.  I showed you that wool candy cane I bought last week on our trip and then I found these in Grandin Road.  Beautiful, tall wool trees!  The tallest is about 26 inches.  Even Abigail, who is quite utilitarian, likes these!

So simple, so soft.  I thought I'd show you them now before they fade into the riot of all things colorful and festive just around the corner.  Which brings me to my next subject that leaves me feeling a little out of sorts.

To feed my Christmas zealousness, I've been picking up magazines here and there for inspiration and ideas.  I subscribe to the seasonal Cottage series and I've been picking up Matthew Mead's Christmas for the past few years.  Both issues disappointed a little.  

As always, the homes featured in Cottage are undeniably beautiful.  No question about that.  And in keeping with the current popularity of decorating with natural elements, I wasn't too surprised to see a lot of greenery and pinecones in the featured decor.  But sparse?  This went beyond simplistic.  I found nothing about this table or dining room to be festive or holidayish.  The centerpiece is very subtle, there might be some berries in there somewhere.

Other than the two lighted trees and the greenery on the mantel, this is pretty boring as well.  Am I all about red and green and holly jolly Santa's everywhere?  Am I in over my head with Christmas commercialism?  No, no.  I just found each home lacking in the holiday festiveness department.  Are they making a statement about paring back?  Is less truly more?  Is this really the Christmas issue????

I'm not bashing these magazines.  Matthew did a fine job other than going on for four pages on how to make marshmallow snowmen (sort of a no brainer).  I love my magazines and I get so much inspiration from them, especially during the holidays.  I'm disappointed,  I didn't get my money's worth.  I know there are people out there that will say, "Yes!  I like this simple, calm and natural look.  I'm going this route this year."  I really hope that happens.  For me, I just want to jump into this picture and spread some color and glitter and sparkly lights and candles and maybe a few little elves around!  Is it just me?

I saved you the 10,000th picture of my little red stew pot and actually plated Sunday night's Hungarian Goulash!  It was wonderful.  Emily came over and had it for lunch on Monday.  I kept the spices to a minimum for The Husband's sake.  Because you might not be used to adding these spices to meat, just start out with these measurements and add more at the end.  In Blondies Shorthand:

Saute about 2 cups of cubed pork in 1 T. canola oil until browned.  Remove to a plate.  Add 1 chopped onion and 1 chopped clove of garlic and saute until soft and translucent.  Add the meat back in, 2 T. paprika and 2 T. of flour and stir to make a roux.  Pout in 4 cups of beef broth, 1 t. nutmeg, 1 t. cloves and 1 T cinnamon and bring to a boil.  Add 1 cup each of sliced mushroom, carrots and new potatoes.  Salt and Pepper.  Bake in 350 oven for 1 hour. Stir in a few tablespoons of sour cream. Adjust seasonings.  Serve with a dollop of sour cream over cooked egg noodles.  Enjoy!

Okay, I feel I'm out of my slump, at least a little!  It's still raining and gloomy, I'm still tired, I'm still &$*%@# off at that grass, but somehow I think I've touched base with you guys and you've given me an ear.  Thank you for that.  :)

XO,

Jane

HELLO NOVEMBER!

I hope everyone had a Happy Halloween.  I know I don't decorate much, or even look forward to this holiday the way some do, but when it actually rolls around and I see all the eager children in their costumes climbing my porch steps, my mind instinctively goes back to when my kids were that age and then I feel the old excitement again.  Our neighborhood has changed a lot in the past few years.  Older folks have moved out and young families have moved in.  The parochial elementary school (where my children went) is just around the corner so I recognize many of the families having seen them walking to school every day.  It's a whole new generation and it doesn't make me feel melancholy at all.  The challenges of having kids are never over, and I like where I'm at with mine, they're great to spend time with.  Anyway, I had to run out for more candy the day before because The Husband really likes his sweets.  I shouldn't be surprised, this happens every year.  And shhhh...I get into my fair share, too.

 

In between answering the door, I decided to make this Chicken and White Bean Chile.  You can find the recipe here.  You might notice that I have a variety of beans in mine as all I had were garbanzo, chili and black beans.  It made no difference, if anything, it's a little more colorful.  And I threw in some red pepper flakes for some heat, and some chopped celery for crunch and a little fresh color.  It's very simple, you should try it.  

This morning, like every morning, I had The Chew on.  Most of you know I'm hearing impaired so I watch very little TV.  I do like the muffled background noise and sometimes if I hear a lot of laughing, I go over to the television to see what's so funny.  Well, there's a lot of laughing on this show, along with cooking and guest appearances, so I find myself wandering over to it a lot.  Today Ree Drummond, The Pioneer Woman was on and I really enjoyed seeing her cook (I've never seen her show on the Food Network).  And she made Chipotle Chicken Chile which was quite a coincidence.  The recipe is on her blog today. It's my next comfort food meal.

While the chili was simmering, I made a pumpkin pie.  This is just the recipe on the can.  The pumpkin puree, evaporated milk and 2 eggs mixed and  poured into a crust.  The next time I will cover those edges with foil so they don't brown so much.  And forgive me, I've pretty much tossed out the idea of staging food.  I know if it looks attractive, people are more inclined to try it.  I guess I'll leave that to the food blogs.  I just like to share what's cooking in my kitchen because it brings me a lot of joy.

 I forgot to show you a few little things I picked up last weekend when we were in Cedarburg, Wisconsin.  I just loved this little sign and I hope my family OBEYS!!

I found this wool candy cane and fell in love.  It has a worn, faded vintage feel to it like I've had it forever.  A bar of Christmas Pine scented soap and a candle in Pumpkin Spice also came home with me.  I enjoyed the company of good friends much more than the shopping!

 

Would you believe first Abby and then The Husband confiscated my book Beautiful Ruins?  I didn't make a fuss.  If I can get Abby to read anything more than Jody Picoult or Nicholas Sparks, it's an achievement.  And I like to see The Husband get involved in a little fiction as opposed to history and politics.  He is always glued to CNN and although there is nothing wrong with staying on top of what is happening in the world, it's so great when he happens to come across a silly, funny movie...I love hearing him laugh.  Back to the book, when I was growing up with my sisters (all five of them), one of us would find a good book and we would all start shouting, "I call it next!", and it would end up getting passed around among all of us.  My mom was a big reader and she passed that on to us.  So...I've read a few books by Elizabeth Berg and then I started following her on Facebook and on her blog.  Her books are light reading but very much about women and relationships with others; family members, friends and men.  And she's from Chicago.  I noticed she was scheduled for a lot of book signings in my area after she published this book I've shown above, and then when I got to her blog I saw she lived here.  I'd love to meet her someday.  Writers are like rock stars to me!

I get a lot of, "You are so busy, Jane" in my comments section, and while I love you all for meaning that as a compliment, I have to clarify how this may appear to be the case but in reality, is not.  I post on an average of every 5-7 days.  If I spend an afternoon gardening, blog about 1 meal I cooked and showed you some progress I made in the bedroom redo that took about 1/2 hour, that's a very minimal amount of time spent actively doing something.  It just sounds like a lot on paper.  And this is my blog style, just snippets of my life.  The key word being "snippets".  A lot of the time you will find me reading (which I don't downplay), napping, sitting and talking with the kids, blogging, writing long emails to friends, shopping online, and generally leaving the house very little.  So much of the perceived busyness just doesn't exist.  

I wonder if I carry around a lot of guilt that I'm not working outside of the house now that my children don't "need" me.  When The Husband comes home from work I tend to nervously rattle on about the events of the day.  When the kids tell me that I don't have the school/job stress they have, I hold my tongue because I refuse to defend myself when they clearly know I paid my dues, but a part of me wishes I had more challenges.  I do hope when they reach my age, they have the sort of freedom and happiness I do.  But still, the guilt.  And our need to be busy to justify our purpose in life.  What do you think of this quote I found (somewhere) on the internet?  Do you feel your self worth is tied into what you accomplish each day?  Do you hesitate to admit you had a completely lazy day or even days?  Or maybe you are even the type that runs like a rabbit on a treadmill because you can't sit still.  I was reading an article in a woman's magazine today about giving yourself a salon facial at home.  It started out, "If you find yourself with 30 minutes to yourself one day, you can pamper yourself..."  I see this type of wording a lot directed toward women.  30 minutes?  That's all we have for ourselves during a 16 hour day?  That's ludicrous!  We would all be walking zombies if we only had that minuscule slice of time in our day for ourselves.  I can honestly say I would spend it in the office of my therapist.  

Okay...just speaking my mind a bit here.  Feel free to open up and vent in the comments section.  I don't suppose there is a party I can join this week to inspire anyone!

Have a great weekend!

XO,

Jane