roasted broccoli

I love broccoli any way I can get it but this version is our new favorite.  Dump 2C broccoli onto a sprayed baking sheet, toss with 2-3T olive oil, 2 crushed cloves of garlic and salt and pepper.  Roast at 425 about 20-25 minutes until it's turning brown and crispy around the edges turning a couple of times. YUM!!  You could do this with cauliflower or brussel sprouts also.

sugar scrub cubes

I love the idea of sugar scrub in cube form.  One use and you don't have to keep putting your hands into a jar to scoop it out.  I've experimented with several different variations but most of them have turned out fragile and crumbly.  They just did not withstand handling.  That's not a good idea if you are going to pack a product and move it around.  This time I used VCB's newly formulated sugar scrub with coconut oil and glycerin along with glycerin soap.  I will pass these around to all our guinea pigs(friends and family) and see if it will be a viable product.  I'll let you know.

Not picture perfect yet, but I'm working on it. The scent is lemon sage one of our most popular, I love the color. Here I used an individual silicone brownie mold, I also tried ice cube trays and a shallow heart mold.  As my mama always says "if at first you don't succeed, try try again".

oven baked pork chops

Easy and quick is the way I like cooking when I'm really busy.  These chops fit the bill, add a salad and fresh bread or a small baked potato and dinner is ready in less than a half hour.
4 boneless 1/2" thick pork chops
1C panko bread crumbs
1/4C Parmesan cheese
herbs and spices you like, I used garlic and onion powder,salt, pepper, parsley and thyme
1 egg plus 2T water mixed together
Mix the crumbs, cheese and spices together and put in a flat dish
Dip the chops in the egg wash then in the crumb mix on both sides
place on a sprayed baking sheet and bake at 350 for 20 minutes turning after 10 minutes
If they aren't golden brown but are cooked through just pop them under the broiler for a couple of minutes just to brown them.

Easter decorating

After redoing the living room and  kitchen for spring I brought out all the Easter decorations and sprinkled them through out the rooms.  I don't do a lot, but just a few touches bring the holiday to mind.  Dusty the very ornery kitten is planning her own Easter egg hunt by knocking all the eggs around the rooms.  I usually find 8-10 every morning  Hard telling how many I'd find if I moved furniture.

Iron basket filled with eggs, dressed stones at the bottom.

The whole cabinet vignette. 

Aqua glass and spring birds.

Table centerpiece, two weeks later more than half the eggs are gone.  I'll be finding them all year.

Decorative basket I found when I cleaned out the closet,  It had never been used.

I  found these fancy bunnies packed in a box, they are brand new and probably have been in the closet for 7-8 years

Spring decorating

It's past the first of March so it's time to put away the reds, browns and dark accessories of winter and bring out the greens and aquas.  Different window coverings, washing windows, moving furniture all make me feel like a new season is here.  I haven't added much that is new this year, I just use what I have and move it around.  It makes for good mental therapy and lifts my spirits.

When you have multiples of something like these mirrors, group them together for more impact.

New wall grouping mirrors and signs.  The small signs are new I already had everything else.

These shelves are gigantic, almost 11' high and 16' wide, they are only 11" deep.  It takes a lot of accessories to fill them up.  Just one item per shelf, nope, not me.  I like lots of stuff.

succulent favor

I recently attended a Master gardeners class and they used grouping of these succulents as table decorations.  They gave them to everyone as a favors at the end of the day.  Simple as can be the tin cans are wrapped in brown paper, a strip of burlap, tied with raffia and a tag of hand made paper with seeds embedded in it.  The plant is in a paper cup and the can has gravel in the bottom for stability.

The closet of shame

We have this closet in our house that is an absolute disgrace.  It holds our water heater and vacuum and is a long triangle shape that make it difficult to get into regularly.  I must confess it has not been cleaned out in years.  Last time we were snowed in on a weekend AH moved everything out and I went through every bag, box and container in there.  After purging and and looking at all of it, it's back together and looks much better.  I can find what I want and know what is in each box.  I can get to what I need without fear of an avalanche of papers, boxes and pictures.  AH is mortified that I'm sharing the before picture but I'm willing to bet that plenty of you have a place in your home just like it, except my mother who is such a neat freak she puts Mr Clean to shame.  I unfortunately did not inherit those genes.

disaster before

after shelf space for more stuff

after

check out the retro wall paper

a place to hang purse on the back of the door

garden ramble

It is 55 and sunny out this morning so of course I had to go for a walk around the yard just to see if anything is starting to grow.  The red bud, lilac and pussy willow buds are starting to fill out.  The grass and the roses have a touch of green to them.  Spring will come, maybe not as fast as I would like, but in Gods time.

roses getting green at the bottom

grass starting to green up

gazebo got to get the grape vine trimmed 

This is the front of the house I want to redo this whole area this year.  I think I'll cut the boxwood down low, remove all the day lilies and arbiviate and plant more knock out roses behind the boxwood. Maybe make this bed 2'deeper and plant bulbs and cutting flowers in the front

pussy willow ready for forcing

Keep dreaming and planing, spring will arrive.

jewelry score

My friend Jan has great taste and always looks fashionable and put together.  She frequently passes on her jewelry when she feels the need to update her accessories.  I started with a big pile on a cold snowy day recently and in little more than an hour had 5 new pendants and two bracelets redone.  I see a couple more pendants, some tie bracelet bling and some fun beaded bracelets my grand daughters and I can make just with this pile.  You can find loads of jewelry at thrift stores and rummage sales.  Look for bags filled for even better prices.

star burst mirror

This was the final touch I wanted to make for our bedroom redo.  I've loved these mirrors for ages, even though I'm not a fan of mid-century modern or contemporary furnishings.  I think it turned out great and cost $11 because I didn't have a coupon for the big mirror.

I started by gluing two different sizes of wooden skewers cut to different lengths to a 5" circle of black foam core.  I went heavy on the Tacky glue and let that dry overnight.  I then had to wait several days for it to be warm enough to spray paint the piece silver.  I glued another 5" circle over the skewers for a little more stability.  On the back I glued a 2" square of the foam core with a wire formed into a loop pushed through as a hanger.  The final step was gluing on the little mirrors.  I had 75-90 1/2", 3/4", and 1" mirrors and just started placing them randomly.  I have a mirror on every stick and some have two.  I used contact cement to glue and if the mirrors wanted to slide I held them in place with scotch tape until they dried for 24 hours.  AH had the hard job of getting it centered on the wall and hung.

Diva coat

Some how I managed to leave Divas coat at my parents house during our last visit.  She gets so cold she had to have a new coat to brave this nasty winter.  Out came a blue wool sweater and I started cutting.  One piece big enough to cover her back from neck to tail, one piece to cover her chest and belly and the ribbing to fit her neck.  I just stitched it together, did a little fine tuning, finished the raw edges with a zig-zag stitch.  I added a bow and sparkly button for a little bling.  She loves it so much she runs away from me when I want to take it off of her.  Since I had everything on hand this was a free project compared to $10-15 for a dog caot from a discount store.  A good snowed in day project.

dryer balls

More greening my life.  I recently made dryer balls to use as an alternative to fabric softener.  The cost was $5.50 for a year of static free drying, compared to Downy at $84.20 for a year, and that doesn't even consider all the chemicals you aren't putting next to your skin.
They couldn't be easier.  The hardest part was finding 100% wool yarn, I found this at Joann's. I used about 1/2 of the skein to make 4 balls.

Wrap the yarn around your fingers about 30-40 times remove from fingers and continue wrapping yarn to form a tennis ball size . Slip the end of the yarn through a couple of loops of the ball just to hold it in place. Repeat 3 more times.  Tie 2 balls in a sock, run through the washer and dryer.  That's it, you're done.  Just leave them in the dryer and let them bounce around through each load for a year.  At that point they will be tight firm balls,  you can give them to your dog or cat to play with.  If you really can live with out the April fresh smell, add a couple of drops of lavender, lemon or floral essential oils to a wash cloth and toss that in the dryer with each load.

After the first dryer load those ends were felted into the balls.

signs

When we redid the bedroom we took down the old cornice boards.  Now I'm not going to just throw away perfectly good wood so I pulled off the fabric, pulled out the staples and had AH cut the boards in 4 pieces.  I painted them white, distressed them then added these wall word decals from $Tree.  I don't have them hung yet, but have the perfect place picked out.  Another snow day project.  I have stayed inside 20 days in January and so far 10 in February, gotta have lots of projects to do.  Total cost $4 for the decals, I already had everything else.  Just to clarify each picture is 2 signs.