Accidental Hiatus, 4 of 5

16. Tiled the tub wall - Beautiful tiles for the new wall Lisa built to make my tub faucet work for this tub arrangement. Originally, the faucet was mounted on the side of the tub wall - a wall-mounted faucet, but I could not find one that I liked for the life of me. So to make the deck-mount faucet I ended up buying work, Lisa rebuilt the tub wall, made it lower and more substantial to support such an impressive faucet and then together we tiled it. Then the next day, I grouted it - my first time ever gouting - and did a great job, if I do say so myself!

You can't imagine how much I love to look at this beautiful tilework - the real and the faux!

17. Spray painted ALOT of things "oil rubbed bronze." And when I say ALOT here, it's not like the claim that I painted a lot of things white. I really did spray paint practically everything to coordinate with the new metal. Originally everything was chrome or was painted white. So I stripped the white paint from the heat register and the hardware on the medicine cabinet and spray painted that. I also sprayed odd things like the toilet pipe and the door threshold. I must have gone though about 10 cans of spray paint - well, maybe 7.

These lovely candle stick - or candle stands - were a gift
from my mom to Michele and I years ago. They were originally
silver/steel, but now look lovely in oil rubbed bronze with copper highlights.

This register had about 6 layers of paint on it. Once removed it was a very
bright chrome, which, while lovely, didn't match at all, so shake, shake, and spray away!

I chose this rope trim to trim out the glass tiles on the wall and spray painted
it bronze. It looked nice, but was missing something, so I got a copper leaf pen
and "painted" copper leaf in all the indentations. In real life, it looks very much like
metal and adds just the right touch around the tub.

18. Met a new neighbor across the street whose name is also Michelle. Such a sweet family! And went to a Scentsy party in her home - Scentsy is scented wax that you put in holders on pretty ceramic lamps. I of course got just the perfect night light for the new bathroom. The scents are a bit strong for me, but I really love the lamps!

I love how the little bee hive shoots light out across the ceiling and wall.

19. Bought and obscenely ridiculous number of oil rubbed bronze accessories. My two favorites are the toilet paper holder with extra roll caddy and the pretty little container to house toothpaste and brushes. How I love picking out the little finishing touches!

I'd planned to make a toilet paper caddy with roll holder myself, but I saw
this one and really loved it. I decided instead to use the supplies I'd
bought for the caddy to make a little cabinet to sit beside the tub
and hold my Sunday bath pot of tea and bowl of ice cream. I haven't
designed or made it yet, but I bet it will be awesome!

We've always laid the toothpaste on a shelf in the medicine cabinet
and held the toothbrushes in an old mug on the same shelf. This container is
completely unnecessary, but it makes me feel very fancy, so I got it - plus it
was on clearance (clearly everyone agrees that it is pretty frivolous.)

20. Took one evening off and didn't work on the bathroom. I ordered a pizza and watched Star Trek, the Original Series. I'm half enjoying it - I love the history and their over the top acting is quite humorous. The other half of me rolls my eyes constantly at the over the top acting! Wow! It's really bad sometimes - yet oddly appealing!

OK, the final five and the finished bathroom reveal will come tomorrow. Plus, you'll find out the MOST exciting thing I did over the last five weeks! Oh boy was it thrilling!

Accidental Hiatus, 3 of 5

These next five have a common theme - of course these last five weeks have had a common theme.

11. Scoured the internet to find and purchase the perfect lights for the bathroom, upstairs hall, and foyer. . .and then had an awesome electrician install them. The upstairs hall and foyer required rewiring and we also had him install a light in the newly renovated bathroom closet, so he nicely switched out the bathroom light, too!


Bathroom light - how I fell in love with this one



Upstairs hallway light. I actually bought this one for the bathroom closet,
but NY law only allows flourescent lights in closets, so into the hallway it went.



We now excitedly have have a light in our foyer - we've always had table lamps
and now have an actual light that runs on the same switch as the upstairs hall light.
I can't tell you how excited that makes us!



12. Scoured the internet and read every review I could find to choose the perfect toilet. How I love this toilet! It's a dual flush toilet that stands at chair height - eco-loving and comfortable to boot!

Is it okay to have a love affair with a toilet?

13. Painted ALOT of things white. Not really, but it sure felt like that. Conversation with Michele: Me: I need to paint the shelves for the closet. I am SO tired of painting things white! Michele: But you've only painted the trim and the ceiling white - everything else is color, color, color.
I guess it just feels like a lot because it's white - why paint white when I could paint yellow, right?

Our newly renovated bathroom closet with six lovely white shelves that I haven't even half filled.
I was so tempted to paint each one a different color from the selection of
colors I'd used on the bricks, but by this point I was SO tired of cleaning paint brushes
that I just stuck with white. Plus, it makes the closet look crisp and clean!

14. Scoured the internet to find the perfect vanity. Actually, I chose the perfect vanity and designed the rest of the bathroom around it.

This is without a doubt the most gorgeous vanity we've ever owned.
It's actually our very first brand new, didn't come with the house, never used by another
person vanity. Very exciting for us!

15. Scoured, and I mean SCOURED, the internet for the perfect sink and tub faucets. My whole design really hinged on finding the right faucet for the tub. Not because the tub is the focal point of the room - though it is - but because I needed to find a faucet that would fit on this tub that did not have an attached shower. . .that I liked. And I couldn't do it. So, I found one that I loved and worked with my wonderful handy lady to make it work for my tub. I'll show you the faucet today, but you'll have to wait until tomorrow to see how it works. You can see the perfect - and matching - sink faucet on the image of the vanity above.


I do so love this faucet!



Accidental Hiatus, Part 2 of 5

Thank you so much for the warm welcome back comments on yesterday's post. And now for five more things I've been doing over the past five weeks.

6. Observed recycling in action. Michele hauls for a company that makes paper products. A lot of the time she hauls the finished products, but she often hauls the materials that they recycle into the finished products. I'd like to think that some of the items I put in my recycling bin end up in one of Michele's trailers.

Bales of paper "hay" in the trailer of Michele's truck

7. Ate potatoes and beets from the garden. Michele and I have enjoyed copious amounts of potatoes and beets from the garden. Oh yum!

Freshly dug beets and potatoes from our square foot garden

8. Took my car for an oil change and watched the car next to it explode. Thankfully no one was hurt. It started with a little smoke and then a little fire - at which point they moved my car - and then a big kaboom as the front of the car exploded. The lady driving got out of the car while it was only smoking, so really the only damage was to her car. My car got a free car wash to remove the foam from the extinguishers the oil change folks used while waiting for the fire department.

A very grainy picture of the fire

A very grainy picture of the fireman and car post "kaboom"

9. Made second batch of barbecue sauce. I don't know how I neglected to capture this on film (or on storage card), but I made a second batch of barbecue sauce. Not because we gave it all away, but because we ATE AN ENTIRE BATCH (about a 15 half-pints) in about a month! My handy lady and friend, Lisa, wondered what two vegetarians could put that much barbecue sauce on and I explained that nightly when Michele is home we'll use a half-pint of bbq sauce to marinate Gardein meatless chick'n and then roast it with freshly dug potatoes - oh yum! So I made a batch of about 20 half-pints and 10 pints to tide us over for the next month or two! Ha!

10. Finished painting the bathroom walls. This picture shows all nine of the colors, though the variation between the dark green and the next lighter green is so subtle, it looks like the same color in the pic - so I numbered it for you! I used Martha Stewart's line of paints. They had such cool names like persimmon, custard (really exactly the color of custard), fortune cookie, and tahini.

Not for a million dollars will I attempt this kind of paint job again, but I do so love how it turned out!

Check in tomorrow for 11-15!

Accidental Hiatus

Well, I've accidentally taken a five-week hiatus from my blog. Life has been so good, but so busy! Well, to make it up to you, over the next five days, I'll share five things I've been doing over the last five weeks.

1. Picking peaches - OH SO FUN! I picked two baskets of peaches and had a ball doing it!

A tisket, a tasket, lovely peaches in a basket . . .or two



The trees were full of beautiful fruit

2. Canning peaches and making peach butter. I brought home a lot of peaches and was very excited to try my hand at canning them. Well, peeling that many peaches took FOREVER - I tried dipping them in boiling water and then slipping off the peels, but that didn't work for me. But I canned bunches the day I picked them and the next day I made the rest into peach butter. YUM!


freshly washed peaches



Pretty cans of peaches lined up like soldiers

3. Auctioned off two quilted wallhangings at my church fundraiser - fun and a great cause!

I really loved making these and watching the ladies go ga-ga over them at the auction!

4. Took some "before" pictures of my bathroom. You may recall that when Michele went out on the road I ripped up the floor. . . and then never touched it again. Well, I've been working with my beloved handy lady Lisa Golden to renovate the room.

The bathtub doubled as a landing pad for the paint and supplies



Bathroom sans vanity and toilet - can you really call it a bathroom?

5. Began the weeks-long effort of painting the "bricks" on the embossed wallboard on the lower half of the bathroom walls. I think by color #2 I was cursing myself for thinking of doing this. By color #9, I was no longer on speaking terms with whoever's bright idea THIS was.

First pass with colors 1-6

More on the past five weeks tomorrow! Thanks and it's great to be back!

Featured Square, Week Whatever: CORN!

One of our lovely ears of corn!

Yes, corn! We were so excited when we saw the first ear of corn pop out. We'd just had two ladies on two separate occasions tell us that we wouldn't be blessed with corn because we "didn't plant the seeds right." The said, "corn will only grow if planted three rows by three rows." They both said the exact same thing and do not know each other, so we believed it must be fact. Well, fact or not, we have about 30 ears of corn growing wonderfully in out garden! We haven't tried any yet, but there are a few ears that will be ready when Michele comes home next week and try them we will! SO EXCITED!

I love the look of corn stalks in the garden...and I
love it even more that there are ears of corn upon them!

Church Fundraising

This little beauty goes on the auction block on Sunday. I wish
I could keep it, but it's for a good cause. (And I COULD make
myself one.)

I'm on the fundraising committee at church and it is surprisingly fun! We get together and plan wonderful events that will 1. raise money, 2. attract new members, and 3. increase community within the church. I love being so involved and brainstorming with the three other folks on the committee. This Sunday we're having a silent auction and I am coordinating it - a first for me! It's fun collecting things from the congregation to auction off. I planned to contribute two items myself: a mini quilt and a prayer journal. I've been so busy with everything that I just started making them yesterday, though! I got the quilt done, but have yet to start on the journal. Hopefully I can get that done tonight (because tomorrow I need to get all the auction sheets done and Saturday I plan to make more pickles (yes, more pickles) and can some peaches (yum!)) I actually had so much fun designing and making the quilt that I am really tempted to make another one instead of the journal. Hmmm. We'll see. So, what do you think? Will it do well at auction?

Star Trek

As I've mentioned before, I have a Star Trek mission: to watch every Star Trek episode and movie in the order they happened in "real life." I started my mission after I'd already watched several seasons of The Next Generation (TNG), so I just went from there through Voyager (VOY) and then started from the beginning: Enterprise. Well, I've been slowly making my way through Enterprise these past many months. It's the only series I'd never seen and it is my very least favorite. I really had to work to get through it, but there were some points I enjoyed. They ended up explaining things that never really made sense, like why Klingons in The Original Series (TOS) looked human, but don't in any other series. It was fun to learn the history of the Federation, too. That being said, I'm glad I'm done with Enterprise. Now, I get to watch the latest Star Trek movie, which actually fits chronologically between Enterprise and TOS, and then I start on TOS - I know, it's full of flaky over-acting, but I really love it! I figure I'll just keep watching all the series and movies over and over in order for the rest of my life - I doubt I'll get tired of them (except maybe Enterprise, but it's worth the pain to continue my life-long mission).

Birds, Birds, Birds!!

Bald eagle - see how
she eyes me!

This weekend, in addition to the fun I had at our church picnic, I went to a fabulous craft show at the Braddock Bay Raptor Research Center. Yes, that's right, I said RAPTOR. It was fearsome at first because at the very first booth was a display of birds of some sort - living ones that were not in any sort of cage. I hurried by and the rest of the show was lovely - full of wonderful crafters whom I know and adore. I was about to leave when my friend Casey, whose bird I've actually held and petted, said "Oh, why don't you stay to see the eagles." And I said, "well, that sounds like a really good reason to leave." But I stayed, oh boy did I stay. And I swear those HUGE birds eyed me the whole time - and they are bred to kill and eat, so I think it's completely understandable to fear them! Those talons and hooked beaks look just perfect to peck my eyes out!

She's looking right at me hungrily,
don't you think?

Golden eagle - staring me down

I'm so proud of myself, though, for staying and being in a very small room with two very big birds. I mean, I'm afraid of little birds that eat bugs and worms and have no interest in people. It's uncommonly crazy to be that close to birds that are actually MADE to eat meat and that are probably strong enough to at least rip off an arm. Baby steps to facing my fear (actually, I would consider this a great big giant leap, which should satisfy my quota of fear facing for the decade.)

On Display

How fun to have my work displayed
for all to see - and looking SO gorgeous!

My work is on display in a local Michael's! It's actually to show folks how lots of different items can be framed. My friend Karen's husband Randy, who works in Micheal's framing department, used to work of local artists and crafters to create the display. I can believe how awesome my hotpads look! Thanks Randy!

The mat he used for this one looks like it
was made just for it!

The framing makes a pair of simple
hot pads look like a work of art!

Canning Addiction

Sweet pickle spears - oh yum!

Absolutely the most divine bbq sauce

Pickled tomatos - so pretty!

Salsa and hiding behind in the quart
jars is roasted roma tomatos

I've become addicted to canning. It's just so fun that I can't stop myself. Last Friday, I made sweet pickle spears, roasted roma tomatos and garlic, and salsa. Saturday morning I made pickled cherry tomatos with garlic and rosemary. And Sunday afternoon, Michele and I made barbecue sauce. I just love the whole process from planting to harvesting to preparing to cooking to canning to enjoying the fruits of my labor! This weekend I have a craft show to visit (not vending just supporting friends), our church picnic, another church event tomorrow, and I'd like to wedge some canning in there tomorrow afternoon. I don't even know what I want to can, but it will probably be variety #4/5 of pickles (I've already made bread and butter, garlic dill, sweet pickle spears, and relish (though I don't know if that counts as a pickle variety, hence the 4/5)). I plan to do either kosher dill or a zesty sweet - I'm really leaning towards a zesty sweet this week and a potential kosher dill next week if I can harvest more pickling cukes. Like I said, it's an addiction!

Zucchini Cupcakes

Zucchini cupcakes with cream cheese frosting - I'm sure my
icing piping skills will improve with practice!

I've never made cupcakes before that I can remember. I've only actually made cake a few times. So, I wanted to try making cupcakes for our church's anniversary picnic tomorrow. I also wanted to use something in my garden to make them - enter the zucchini cupcake. I just used that zucchini cake recipe I made for the Squash You Very Much dinner, but I tripled the recipe. I had no idea how many cupcakes that would make, so I ended up with 70! Oh well, they are really yummy so any not enjoyed at the picnic can be taken to church on Sunday for after-service socializing. And since I really like trying lots of new things all at once, I wanted to trying piping on the frosting (my friend Karen does that and it just looks divine!) After a bit of trial and error and a LOT of mess - i.e. icing on the floor, counters, hands, feet, and most body parts in between! - they turned out pretty good looking - and they taste just awesome! If you remember from the dinner party post, the recipe calls for raisins in the cake, but I substituted craisins. Well this time, I used half craisins and half dried apricots - oh heaven!

We All Scream for Ice Cream!

Making vanilla ice cream for the first time

I'm not sure how I keep forgetting, but since April, I have been making ice cream about once a week (I don't eat the whole quart in a week. I have about 6 in the freezer at a time so I can choose from a variety). Small batches of creamy dreamy ice cream. Oh, it's been so fun! Michele and I made vanilla together when we first got the ice cream maker - it was wonderful. We even made some the morning of my birthday brunch to have atop the blueberry stuffed french toast - so decadent!

Yummy bowls of vanilla - Michele's fave!

My favorite flavor so far is sweet potato. I know it's a bit unusual and not at all a standard flavor, but it tastes amazing! It tastes simply like sweet potato, but icy cold. It even retains its sweet potato texture. Michele does not at all enjoy the sweet potato - in fact of all the flavors we and I have made, she really only likes the vanilla.

Jack Fruit ice cream

Tied for favorite in the exotic ice cream category is Jack Fruit! I brought a bunch of Jack Fruit home with me from Georgia and used most of it to make the most amazing ice cream I've ever had. Since Jack Fruit has flavors of several other fruits, Jack Fruit ice cream has a flavor that is uncatagorizable. Michele actually conceeds that Jack Fruit ice cream is very good, but she doesn't like the aftertaste. I admit that it does indeed have an aftertaste, but to me its like getting to enjoy the deliciousness twice!

Sweet potato &
chocolate chocolate chip sweet potato

And because I am me, I am going to make carrot ice cream as soon as my carrots are ready to harvest. I've found several recipes online (I guess carrot is a popular Thai ice cream flavor), but I'm not quite happy with any of them. I think I will make up my own recipe: Carrot ice cream with crystalized ginger chunks. I imagine it will taste like ginger glazed carrots (but cold.) I'll keep you posted. And now I think I will have my after dinner bowl of ice cream - Jack Fruit tonight!

Mama's Got a Brand New Bag. . .and Wallet

All my favorite colors - and of course they
coordinate with my carrot bag charms!

About a year ago, just after I opened my shop, I designed a tote bag that I wanted to offer for sale. Before selling most items I make, I give them a trial run to make sure I like the design and that they hold up well and function as expected. So, I dutifully made myself one of my Perfect Big Sis totes and have been carrying it day in and day out for a year (I've never been the type to switch bags often or coordinate my bag with anything, like my clothes. I just use one bag until I'm forced to retire it.) My bag has held up so well and its use has provided me hoards of information so that I can continuously work to perfect the design. And now I've decided that it's time for me to make a new bag for myself. And so I did - I made my dream bag (I have indeed actually been dreaming and thinking about it for months!)

I simply love just taking this out of my
bag and opening it - simple pleasures!

Making a new bag also provided me with the opportunity to make a matching wallet in a new design I have been working on for a few weeks. It is a billfold-type wallet with space for six credit cards, business cards, or IDs and space for money. I'm very pleased with the design, but I want to use it for a few weeks before I introduce any to my shop. It's such a fun process to design and make and test and redesign and make and . . . ahhhh!

The card slots in this wallets are SO fun to make!

Fire and Ice

While I was sick, I looked through the pictures I've taken this summer - I missed my garden so much, but "flipping" through the pictures made me no so sad that I couldn't go out and play. Well, while looking through them, I found two images that I took while Michele and I were in Georgia. It was hot, hot, hot. It had been 107 the day before we got there. The day after we arrived, we drove to Atlanta and I took this picture that morning:

100 degrees at around 10 am! WOW!!

And then later that day, I noticed this car and thought 1. what a great juxtaposition against the heat and 2. the person whose car this is must feel even hotter than Michele and I are feeling!

An Alaskan in Georgia in the summer heat