Kathy and Terri's excellent, and very wet adventure

It's been raining buckets around here, on Friday almost 3"  fell.  Life still must go on especially for a long planned road trip to a day lily farm.  So off we went in the torrential rain in search of the perfect red day lily.  We drove on even when the rain was a downpour.  We drove on through flooded roads and finally found the farm, Five Acre Day lily Farm near Tolono.  The owner was shocked at such crazy plant seekers but was a good sport about trudging out into the rain and mud to dig the perfect  lily called Bright Velvet. We slogged around the display beds snapping pictures while we waited. We thanked him profusely and promised to come back soon.   The day continued with a trip to a green house for a load of mulch, they also thought we were crazy, and some retail therapy.  A visit to the Courier Cafe for an old fashioned sit down dinner and a stop at the  Sidney Dairy Barn for ice cream sundaes finished off the evening.  Kathy and I are old friends and have shared many strange and funny adventures so we had many laughs about being crazy old ladies who once they set their minds on an adventure will not be deterred by a little rain, sleet, snow or dark of night.

Hollyhocks hiding electric wires

My adventure partner Kathy

my little town

The central Illinois town I live in almost looks like time has left it behind.  We have our share of unkempt houses and ugly trailers but we also have some beautiful places.  lets go on a little tour.

surrounded by corn and beans this field is over 5' tall already

flowers every where

ADM one of the towns largest employers

Helen's park named  for a long gone community leader

Ginger bread house

buily in 1836 it is the oldest house in town.

Old hotel now a private residence.

beautiful home

Pretty garden down the street.

This house was falling to the ground before Habitat for Humanity redid it.  It was the last redo in the county, now they just do new construction.

new projects

I always seem to have a few projects going on.  I have been working on painting and antiquing a few tables to take the the consignment shop.  A couple  coats of paint, a new top for one a stencil for the other and  some antiquing wax and the are finished.

I got this table free from a friend but it came without a top.  3/4" plywood scumble painted and waxed did the trick

 I'll do a tutorial on the paint technique some other time but if someone buys the table and wants a marble top this one could easily be replaced.

The carving on each side really pops with some antiquing

Llittle side table with Martha Stewart bee and wreath stencil.  Very light antiquing.

floor

The last big part of the kitchen redo was the floor refinishing.  I packed up and left town to avoid the fumes over the weekend and AH went to work sanding, vacuuming, moping and using a tack cloth in preparation for polyurethane.  I had spent a couple of days earlier in the week packing up the contents of a Hosier cabinet, jelly cabinet and wash stand.  Those boxes along with most of the rest of the movable things in the kitchen are in the spare room.  The frig, stove and table are piled in the living room.  Four sanding cleaning and rolling on the poly and the floors are beautiful.  We don't want to be on them for a couple more days then we will paint the walls.  We had originally decided to wait for paint until winter, but it was such a project to move all the heavy antiques we didn't want to redo that part again in a few months. We will get that done this week before moving the furniture back in.

The floors came out of an old high school 20 years ago and were in real need of refinishing

sanding and dust everywhere.  The doors go into the spare room and to the left is where the refrigerator usually sits.

the sander is huge and heavy, the frig, stove and table are in the middle of the living room

last coat of poly

  Our cost to do it ourselves was just under $200.  If we had paid to have them refinished it would have been well over $1000 for a room 21'X25'.

panzanella chicken salad

Now that the kitchen redo is winding down and I can find things again I'm feeling to urge to experiment with new recipes more.  You can make this on the grill or because it was raining, inside like I did.

1# cooked chicken or grill it  remove skin and bones cut in large chunks
1 onion cut in 1/2 slices
4-6 mini peppers or 1 large pepper seeded and cut the same way as onion
1/4 loaf French or Italian bread cut in 1" slices
1# tomatoes cored and cut in chunks add to bowl with dressing
2T chopped fresh basil
dressing
2T olive oil
2T cider or red wine vinegar
1 clove garlic minced
salt and pepper to taste
additional oil to brush on bread and veggies

Prepare dressing first mixing it in the bowl you will serve salad in
Grill chicken or warm cooked chicken in the microwave or a skillet
Brush peppers and onion and grill or saute until tender and golden brown, set aside
Brush  the bread with oil and grill or toast in skillet
To assemble
cut the chicken in large chunks and the peppers, onions and bread in bite size pieces and add to the bowl with the tomatoes and dressing add basil and  toss to mix.
This serves 4.  Next time I would add everything except the bread and add that after it was plated.  The bread the next day was very soggy.

how to make a tussy mussy

A tussy mussy is a small hand held bouquet of flowers that were given as gifts during Victorian times. Ladies would carry them to sniff when the nasty odors of no indoor plumbing and not so regular bathing became too much. When the tussy mussy was given as a gift the flowers usually each had a different meaning.  We went to a wedding last week and my grand daughter wanted to give the bride a gift so this is what we came up with.  If a nine year old can do it with little help so can you.  What a charming present for a sick friend or elderly neighbor.  There are many resources on line that can list flowers and their meanings if you want to include that with your gift.

You will need:
flowers, leaves and herbs that will dry well and smell great
rubber band
cutters
satin ribbon 1/2-3/4" wide
Starting  with your central flower held in your hand then add more flowers or herbs around it.  When the group is about 5-6" around fasten with the rubber band.  Trim the stems to 4"  Wrap the stems with ribbon to within 1" of bottom and tie off, a drop of hot glue will hold everything in place if you are worried about it coming apart.  Add a bow from the same ribbon if you like.
Stand the bouquet in a coffee cup with a small amount of water until you are ready to give it.  If you like add a card with the meaning of each flower and instructions to hang upside down to dry.  It will last for years when dry.

the beautiful artist and designer, all I did was show her which flowers would work best and wrapped the stems, she did the rest.

fun color run

For the last several years our town has done a 5K run to raise funds for various community projects.  From building a new play ground to upkeep of the swimming pool the proceeds help with a great cause.  This year they decided to do a color run and part of my kids and grand kids participated.  Since it goes right down Main street in front of our house we had a great vantage point.  I was watering hostas when the race started and had plenty of takers for my offer too spray them down, it was really hot a sticky out.  Everyone including my littlest grand son finished and returned to the house covered with paint.  We spent the rest of the weekend camping and even a  rain and a collapsed tent didn't stop a weekend of family, food and fun.  Now all I need to do is get the piles of laundry done.

before

before

she was so far ahead of the rest of the family she could stop for a second to get her picture taken

after

after

top secret project

I've been working on a not so secret project this last few weeks.  Can you guess what I'm doing?  It involves two van loads of things taken to the Restore.  Plenty of trash has been removed and there has been a whole lot of furniture moving going on.  In these picture it just looks like a big pile of junk but stay tuned and see what it is all about.

wedding time

Last weekend our pastors daughter got married and had the reception in our community building.  Her Mom had collected hundreds of vintage plates,linens, cameras, lanterns and books to use on the tables.  Each place setting was different and the big room which is very rustic looked beautiful.  No family weddings in our immediate future but I'm always up for ideas.

new bed

Yards and gardens change and grow throughout the years.  When we put in our front beds that line the side walks, they were in full sun.  Now the east bed has a large maple tree that makes it very shady.  Time to rethink the lilies, roses and sedum that are there.  I had AH mow around the tree and several feet out. The young man that is helping with the gardens, his brother and my grand daughter laid down card board and mulch.The two younger kids painted some yard sale chairs and we made new seats for them.  A quick lesson on how to use an impact driver and the chairs were whole again. with AH's help we dug and  transplaned several of my hosta that need divided.  We  added the two chairs, a rusty free a table, solar light and bird bath.  The kids worked hard, hopefully learned a few things and the new bed looks great.  Is it perfect, no but they had a great time and who cares if the paint isn't perfect?

before

crowded beds, it is good for hostas to be divided every few years

great helper

I could not have nearly this much garden without this guys help

bird bath won't hold water but does a great job of holding a plant

after the hostas will fill in quickly

close up of chairs and table

new chair two ways

We have owned an oak glider that was at least 20 years old when we got it for decades.  It was starting to make grunting and groaning sounds and the cushions were in a sad state.  It would have cost way more to fix it up than I was willing to spend on a 35+ year old chair.  So off it went to the Habitat Restore after I found this little beauty at the same place.  For $60 it is the perfect replacement.  It is very comfy and the colors go with my other furniture. For summer I have thrown a soft aqua bed spread over it to blend in with all the creams and aqua I'm using this time of year.  I will make a quick throw cover for the ottoman but for now a small throw works.  If I'm tired of it in a few years I won't feel bad about changing it out.  The kitties think it's theirs and it is almost never is empty.