Staircase Update!

It's about dang time, eh?

Well, shortly after that last post about the staircase our house nearly exploded. Ok, not really, but it felt like that's what was happening.

Pretty much everything that could have broken, did just that. All at once. Here's the list of everything that broke:

Air conditioner.
Underground plumbing
Hot water heater
Washing machine
Dryer
Dishwasher
Upright vacuum cleaner
Shop vac
Globe on light fixture

Yeah, so needless to say, finishing the stair case got pushed aside.

Well, we're back on the stairs thanks to my Father in Law. He helped me blow some insulation into the attic recently and decided we really needed a railing up there. And since the flooring and drywall needed to be finished first, were only going to cost a few hundred dollars, and I wanted to do most of it myself, he said he'd pay for it. Woohoo!

So I went and got the floor. Unfinished yellow pine, oh yeah, $160. It took us about 5 hours total to put it in.



I had to use the unfinished flooring so I could stain it to match my stairs. I still have to fill some cracks and sand before I can put the stain on but holy crap things are getting done!!

I decided to wait for the walls to be finished before I put the stain on the floors. That probably wasn't the best idea, but too late now.

The guys showed up this morning and stamped my ceiling.



I have a ceiling!!

Maybe by the end of the week my walls will be paintable!

Later.




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Fall Foliage Fiasco

I adore alliteration. That has nothing to do with this post. I just wanted you to know that in case you were wondering why some of my post titles sound like they were named by a well read kindergartener.

Right, so I've been trying to manage my plant to space ratio issues. Which wouldn't really be a problem if I were physically capable of simply repotting a plant.

I'm sorry but moving a plant from one pot to another just isn't that exciting. I NEED excitement. Seriously, I'm a housewife, I get most of my entertainment by coaxing my kids to say things that I know they can't pronounce properly. Like "fork" and "clock". And, occasionally I use baking soda and vinegar to clear the clog in the bathroom sink.

How lame is that!?

Don't answer that.

I think you get the point. I can't just repot a plant. I have to repot it awesomely.

I've done the macramé and orchid terrariums. Eww, those are so last week.

This time, it's going to be fantastic!

First, I acquired a moss ball. I could have made one out of moss in my yard, but I just bought it. Then I poked a hole in it and filled it with potting soil.





I tied a piece of sting around it just in case.

Then I rescued a small plant from the ferocious Tiger. (She's so cute!)





And shoved the plant into the dirt filled moss ball.


Then I tried to water the moss ball. F.Y.I. Rolling balls of wet dirt make huge messes. I stuck the rolling dirty mess into a bowl to keep it still (and to keep it from dripping everywhere) then shoved the whole thing into a big hanging wire thingy.




Ta! Da! Pretty cool, huh?

Yeah, I'm pretty proud of myself. Although, technically, now the plant takes up dramatically more space than it did before. And, I takes up way more space than it would have if I had just put it in a bigger pot. So I didn't really make my plant/space issue any better. But, I did combine three things into one thing so that's a plus. Right?

Well, that's all I've got for now.

Later.




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Hot peppers

Just in case you haven't noticed, I really like Jelly. Well, actually I don't like jelly that much, I just really like making jelly.

So when I have too much of anything edible, the first thing that comes to mind is to make jelly out of it. So when I found myself with a serious abundance of cayennes and jalapeños I made jelly.

First up, Cayenne Jelly.



I've never actually eaten any of it, but I hear it's really good. There's never any left for me to try so I'll just believe everyone. Oh, and it's pretty.

Next we have Jalapeño Pear Jelly.



I had never made this one before. It was surprisingly good.


I'll be making Habanero Pineapple jelly this year as well. I've been trying to make this for four years! It's is the first time I've had enough peppers to make it. My stupid Habs won't ripen though so I'm trying to force them to ripen in paper bags. We'll just have to hope it works or that batch of jelly might taste like crap.

That's all I've got for now.

Later!

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A Sudden Adventure in Plumbing.

I cleaned out our refrigerator the other day to make room for the new groceries. As usual I set all the old food on the counter for Elly to compost when she gets home from school.

As she was taking care of all that she came up to me and asked why the salsa was with the compost stuff. I told her it was gross and needed to be composted. She got sassy and started arguing with me about eating the salsa. I glared at her, told her it was compost, and to go take care of it.

Apparently this really pissed her off. So, instead of carrying the salsa out with the rest of the compost, she dumped it down the sink drain.

Now, in a "normal" house this probably wouldn't be a big deal. But in our house this type of thing comes close to setting off World War III. First, we have ancient galvenized steel plumbing. So the insides of our pipes are like low grit sandpaper. EVERYTHING gets stuck in them. Before we figured this out they got clogged a lot. Second, Elly has a serious attitude problem. If you want something done wrong, ask her. If you want something done horribly wrong, and you want it to take 6 hours the first time through, ask her. She tries really hard to do things SO wrong that I stop expecting her to do them. It 's been six years and she's still doing the dishes wrong. I. WILL. OUT-STUBBORN. HER.

Anyway, the result of her dumping the salsa down the drain was that the main pipe from the kitchen got clogged. So when she turned on the dishwasher it eventually backed up into the sink and drained out the front of the dishwasher and partially flooded the kitchen.

This was partially discovered by the husband when he couldn't figure out why the sink was full of really nasty water. (That's as much as he figured out). The rest was discovered by me when I walked through the kitchen at midnight and my pants got soaked with nasty water.

It only took me about 10 seconds to figure out what had happened after I saw that the sink was full of tomatoes and onions. Boy was the husband pissed when I explained it to him. To make a long story short, I did not let him clean it up himself, nor did I let him wake the monkey up at 2 in the morning to clean it up, I did however get him to agree that she would be going under the house with him the next day to unclog the pipe.

Plus, I was going to make her disassemble the pipes under the sink and try to dislodge the clog that way. That's what we had to do to figure it out, so that's what she'd be doing. So when she got home from school the next day I set her to fixing the clog.



She didn't even complain about it!



She completely disassembled the plumbing and threaded about 35 ft of plumbing snake into the main pipe by herself!! After she fought with it for a little while I took over, gave the snake a few good cranks, and handed it back to her. She pulled the snake back out and reassembled the pipes. I sat and watched the pipe while she turned the water on.

SHE UNCLOGGED THE PIPE!!!! Holy crap, I am so stinking proud of her.

The only problem is that one of the compression fittings broke while she was unscrewing stuff. No big deal, the kid just unclogged the pipe I am SO not going to get mad at her for a broken piece of PVC.

I just took the part back off and carried it up to Lowe's. of course while I was there I decided to remove the old garbage disposal and completely replace all that old PVC.

$39 dollars later the underside of my sink looks like this:



Nice.

Here's a before and after so you can get the full effect.




How cool is that!? The kid dumps salsa down the drain and I get new plumbing!

Plus I replaced the drains in the bottom of the sink. Ours were old and nasty and one was completely missing for where the "InSinkerator" had been.

That's all for now,
Later!!

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Pears

I recently acquired 50 pounds of pears. All at once. Unexpectedly. It was dramatic.

The first thing I made was jam. I've never made jam before so this was technically an experiment.

Did I mention it was Candied Ginger Vanilla Pear Jam? No? Well it was.





It made two jars.

I made another batch.





Cherry Pear Jam. Another two jars.

At this point I completely gave up on that jam recipe I was using. I had 50 pounds of pears and after two batches of jam I hadn't even made a dent. I had to find a way to use up a lot of pears all at once.

I found a recipe on the Splendid Tablewebsite that called for 8 pounds of peeled, cored, and sliced pears. Rosemary, pear and Pine Syrup jam. It also said I was supposed to combine the sugar and the pears and let sit in the fridge overnight. Well, I did that. Then I forgot about them for about four days.

In the meantime I baked some of them.



These were so easy and SO good. Sprinkle the pears with butter and brown sugar, bake at 350F for 10 minutes. Pour in a little bit of something creamy. I used unsweetened almond milk. Bake for another 15-20 minutes. Serve warm. I made a second batch of these and added cinnamon and nutmeg to the brown sugar sprinkle and made a caramel sauce to serve with it. It was equally as yumtastical as the first batch.

Then I realized I could just pack them in syrup and store them that way. For some reason that was a major "Ah-ha moment."

The first batch was Cardamom Vanilla flavored.



Again with the two jars. Gah!

The next batch I just went crazy and peeled and cored as many pears as I could fit in the pot. It was Molasses and Honey flavored.



Five jars.

Plus I had a lot of syrup left over. I didn't want to waste it, but what can you do with water sweetened with molasses? I have to admit that I stared blankly at it for a really long time. Eventually I decided that what I had was just weird sugar water. Ok, what uses sugar water as a base? Candy. It wasn't a heavy enough syrup to make hard candy out of. Caramel.

I made Molasses Honey Pear Caramel sauce.



Holycrapnom!

Yes! At this point I've got just enough pears left to make the Jalepeno Pear Jam.



12 jars!!

I also finished that Rosemary jam recipe. I ended up leaving out the Pine Syrup. Partially because it's made from some specific type of pine tree that only grows in Italy. Mainly because costs $30 an ounce. Yeah, that's a big nevermind.



It made 14 jars.

Well, that's all I've got for now.

Later!




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Basil

I have seven different kinds of basil growing in my garden. Yeah, let's just say moderation isn't my forte.

So for a few weeks, I had a serious over abundance of basil at my house.



It looked like this every day.

I can't waste it, so naturally, I made stuff with it.

Pesto,



Nomnomnomnom.

I froze most of it.



Basil cubes are super convenient. I've frozen basil before, this is by far the best method I've tried.

I also made...pause for dramatic effect...Jelly!!!!



I separated the lemon/lime basil from all the rest and used that for the jelly. The batch only made about 5 jars so I'm totally hoarding them. If you're lucky enough to have gotten a jar of it, know that I love you.

Anyway, I still have too much basil. If you want some, let me know and I'll cube some up for you.

I'm not at all looking forward to the day before the first freeze. My house will be overrun with the stuff.

My pepper post will have to wait for another day, I picked more today.

That's all for now.

Later!

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Apple-tastic Treats!

Next year I will be taking a break from all my crafting/refinishing/painting/demolishing activities beginning August first.
Why on earth would I do something like that!?
Apples, of course! This is my second favorite time of year. I get to run around town and pick apples off the untended trees and then turn them into fantastical yumminess!
One of my favorites is Dandelion Jelly. It's one of those things that you'd never think would even exist. But, once you've had it, if you ever see it anywhere, you'll buy more than you need because it's so stinking good. Unfortunately I ran out of apples before I had a chance to thaw out my Dandelion flowers.
This year I was able to get ahold of 60-70 pounds of apples, 50 pounds of pears, and more basil, cayennes, and jalapeños than any normal person would know what to do with. Whew, I felt a little overwhelmed just typing that.
First I made a giant batch of apple jelly. it was so big I decided to dissolve some cinnamon candies into half of it and make cinnamon apple jelly.

The monkey was helping me, she ended up spooning the leftover jelly straight out of the pot and into her mouth. It was really that good.
Then I made lemon apple marmalade.

It was a giant batch which made a small army of jars.

It was my first ever attempt at marmalade. It was super yummy, but didn't set the way I wanted it too. Lesson learned: weigh your apples before you peel and core them.
Lets see, oh yeah! Cinnamon Apple Raisin Bread. This is one of my staple recipes. I make this every year, ten or twenty times, then freeze it. It makes great breakfast bread.

It's the loaf on the bottom. The top one is dark chocolate cherry bread. Ignore it.
Anyway, that's a little glimpse of what I've been up to lately.
Next up, what to do with tons of basil and hot peppers!
Later!
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Miss Tennessee Pole

I got a FREE PASS to the Miss TN Pole Fitness Competition!!!!!

Ok, so free may be a little bit of an exaggeration. I was supposed to assist my friend Nicole who just happens to be the owner of Studio Goddess with her vendor table. But since that's technically something I like doing it's not really work. So...it was a free pass. Woot!

I wasn't really sure what I was supposed to do. And, arranging stuff on a table just isn't enough work for me, so I made this awesome thing.



They're Hershey's Kisses with her logo on the bottom!




That's a damn effective way to get your brand name in the hand of every person in the room if you ask me. Especially when the majority of those people are women. Yeah, I'm a genius.

Nicole had a bunch of flyers and business cards printed and brought a table cloth, some standees, t-shirts and such. Jacob did those awesome flyer swirls and arranged all the merchandise. I brought cake dummies to add height, and worked on getting all the tall stuff placed properly.

The table looked amazing!



I am so proud of all the girls that got out there to compete. They each did an amazing job. Especially our Studio Goddess girls; Diana and Sara Beth.

Oh, and here's a shot of Nicole after she won the award for People's Choice, Miss Echo, and Miss Tennessee Pole!!!!



Now we get to start planning our trip to the next competition!!

Totally Random Free Crap Redux

Woo free crap!

I recently scored these delights:

A table.


Another table.



Another table...


Wait, this one has....

WINGS!!!

A lamp.

Which I've already disassembled and begun repurposing as something else.

A little bookshelf.


A hutch.




A train set.


A wash stand bowl and pitcher.


A basket of colanders.


Some teeny tiny turtles.


All of this crap came to me courtesy of my FIL. He's a good crap finder. Some friend of his is moving to Florida and they asked him to carry all this to the dump. They apparently didn't want to spend the money to rent a U-haul so everything that they couldn't fit in their truck was going to the dump.

May I rant for a minute? What the heck people? Have we completely stopped caring about everything? When I see a thing, wether it's a piece of furniture, toy, knick knack, whatever. I recognize that someone had to work for that. Someone wanted that thing badly enough to spend their time and energy, add wear and tear to their body, and exclude themselves from their family to work to earn money to buy that thing. What about that rustic table up there? That was made by Amish folks. Someone made that with their hands! So not only did some one have to work to buy it, someone had to actually work to build the thing. A whole lot of human went into that. Not to mention the fact that that was obviously a tree. It was probably a couple hundred years old before it was chopped down to be made into that cute little table. Am I the only person left that looks at things this way? I see the time and effort and life that went into it. I try to use it for every last little thing it can be used for, not just send it to the dump. When did so many people start viewing so many things as disposable? Every last bit of this stuff is perfectly fine, totally useable, absolutely nothing wrong with it stuff. It had absolutely no business going to the dump. Ok, i've lost my steam. Rant over.


Please, please don't send perfectly good stuff to the dump. Even if it's broken, it usually just needs some glue and a clamp. Call me or something, I'll fix it just for fun or take it home with me if you've gotten too mad at it.

I'm actually serious about that last bit.

Later.


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Halloween Wreath or Why it's Important to Use Primer.

So, this post is more about the lesson I learned while making my wreath than the actual wreath. Here goes...


Yay Halloween!

Ok, so I really just went brain dead. Why in the world did I make a Halloween wreath!? Wreath's are for Christmas, not Halloween. Oh, I think I may have Old Lady-itis.

Well, so anyway...I made a Halloween wreath (boy do I feel silly). It was pretty simple. I used a pre made wooden wreath form, a bag of big plastic snakes, two bags of little plastic snakes, and a can of black spray paint.

You can find everything except the spray paint at the dollar store so the whole thing ended up being around $6.

My plan was to spray paint everything black and hot glue it all together. It's super simple. It's super cheap. Plus, it'll only take as long as it takes for the paint to dry!

So I got to painting. I got everything painted in one day...in August...of 2011.

Oh the shame!!

But!! I have a really good reason for this project taking a year to finish.

The paint never dried. No really, it was still wet when I took the snakes out of the ziplock bag two days ago.

So, being the stubborn ox that I am, I attempted to finish the thing the way I intended to initially. With hot glue. Which was a huge failure. The hot glue cooled to the wet paint and the snakes just peeled off. Well, when hot glue fails I break out the E-6000. (I'm stubborn and lazy)

This is the wreath after I epoxied all the wet snakes onto it.



I had to tie everybody down so the epoxy could cure. The snakes, not the kids. Although, that may have worked better...

Well anyway, now I have this super awesome wet snake wreath. Yay? I guess I've always wanted a sticky snake wreath.

No actually I haven't. I have to fix this. What do I do when I don't know what to do? I put primer on it!



I used Valspar grey primer. Yesterday. It's still wet.

Okay......more primer!!!



This time I used the shellac based Zissner, which I know I should have done from the very start. And guess what!? It dried!!!

Of course I have a completely new problem. I've seen the snake wreath in black, grey, and white. Now I can't decide what color to paint it! What color do you think it should be? I'll update in a few days when it's completely finished.






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Estate Sale Sofa

I scored this awesome French Provincial Sofa and Chair set at an estate sale this past year for $25 dollars.





I was pretty freaking proud of myself.

So, other than having this really awesome sofa set, my living room is generally in a constant state of discord (yeah, that's right, discord). Ok, I'm not kidding anyone, my whole house is a state of disharmony between ponies.

No, seriously. My mantle is orange.



Oh, uh...ADD, sorry.

Anyway, Tom is redecorating his house and it looks fantastic!!! There will be some guest posts! Before the remodel he had this really awesome formal/romantic/cozy/bookstore/cave thing going on. I LOVED it. I subtly tried to convince him not to change it but then he said that it reminded him of his ex. That's the single best reason I've ever heard. End of argument. Change it. Change it NOW!

Holy crap...did I mention I have a cold? I just can't focus. I'm soooooo sorry.

So...Tom gave me the area rug that he had in his living room.



Suddenly my living room made sense. This rug seriously pulled the room together. Like, Big Lebowski style, Pulled. The. Room. Together. I was really happy.

For about 10 minutes.

Then this happened.



Ugh...even trying to write this post I'm staring at that picture and feeling my heart break a little. Now I have a hot pink stain on my sofa. Fan-flipping-tastic.

My initial reaction was to reupholster it. But, I really haven't been feeling the "reupholster an entire sofa" itch lately. So that just bogged me down. Then I remembered this awesome sofa over at DesignSponge and knew what I had to do. I had to paint my sofa.

So I ran out to Home Depot to get some paint and to Michael's to get the Textile Medium stuff then set out on a quest to make my sofa the most ass kicking-est sofa there ever was.

Now it looks like this:



Pretty freaking cool, huh!!! My mom thought I had reupholstered it in purple leather!

I decided to leave the chair gold and rearrange a little. Now my living room is making WAY more sense, plus my sofa is water resistant! I'm SO HAAAAAPPPPPEEEEEEEEYYYYYYY!!!!!





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