monday menu planning

Ah, Monday morning. A week full of new beginnings and promises...

and the inevitable "what are we going to have for dinner?" question that looms

over my head every day. I love to cook, but sometimes have to be in the mood

to do so ~ and there are other days where I just don't have a taste for anything.

I eat mostly vegetarian, but will eat little bits of meat and fish; my husband will eat

anything (thank God); and our son is pretty picky, but I don't cater to him. ;-)

Starting last Monday, I've been planning a week's worth of dinner menus

so that I'm not scrambling for ideas at the last minute every day.

Looking over last week's menus, I saw that we ate mostly vegetarian meals.

So much cheaper - and healthier - than meat-based meals!

Here's one of the meals I made that is easy to keep vegetarian, or you can add

a little bit of meat to keep the meat-eaters in your family happy, too.

Chop up onion and celery...

 Little side note: did you ever notice how beautiful the inside bottom of a bunch of

celery looks when you cut it open? It has a flower pattern. A few years ago, I used

this open celery bottom as a "stamp". I dipped it in paint and stamped the pattern

on my kitchen wall!

Back to the cooking:

Put a pound of dried beans (I used a mixture of red and white) in the Crockpot...

Add your chopped onions and celery and a ham hock (or not)...

Cover with water. (Note: I used too much water and ended up having to drain some. 

You'll want to add just enough water to cover the beans.)

Set your Crockpot to 8 hours on low.

Add seasonings of your choice (salt, pepper, oregano), to taste.

That's it!

I made cornbread to go with the soupy beans...so hearty and delicious!

Another mid-week dinner I made was a quick, simple one that we all enjoyed...

Sauteed veggie pizzas on naan bread.

Saute veggies of your choice (I used onions, red pepper, green olives, and mild pepper

rings because I was going for a Mediterranean vibe) in a little garlic olive oil,

top purchased naan bread with the sauteed veggies, and add cheese.

I used shredded mozzarella and a little bit of feta.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 15 min. or until cheese is melty - and enjoy!

 Other meals we had during the week were Southwestern veggie chili; garlic chicken

in the Crockpot with mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli; grilled cheese and tomato

roasted red pepper soup; and....Chinese take-out!

What have you been cooking up lately? Do you do weekly menu planning or do

you fly by the seat of your pants?

hit the thrifting jackpot ~ part one

I had cabin fever yesterday and was in the mood for thrifting.

I know ~ surprise, surprise.

Instead of hitting my usual Goodwill store, I went a little further up the road to check

 out a new Savers store. I was really impressed by the organization and cleanliness, 

though their prices were a little higher than Goodwill.

Found some fabulous stuff ~ and this is only part of it!

The colors on this vase are perfect for my living room - bright blue and, ta-da -

the lime green I've been looking for! The bottom of the vase says it's hand-painted in Thailand.

 I like this stainless steel utensil holder better than the plastic one I had.

The plastic one always seemed to get little crumbs and stuff caught in it.

Plus, this just looks better than the plastic one. Not that anyone is opening your

kitchen drawers and looking at your utensil holder. (Are they?)

Yay, more books!

Was especially excited about the Julia Child one, as I have a JC book collection going on. I already had As Always, Julia; Julia's Cats; and Appetite For Life.

I've had this little courtship thing with small vintage pictures

and thought this oil painting was quite unique with the raised flowers.

Displayed in my office...

I wore this Alfani cardigan (they carry this brand at Macys!) today with

a black shirt and light pink scarf.

Don't these Valentine chocolates look extra pretty in the

glass dish with sterling silver trim? The silver was tarnished, but it only

took a few swipes of my silver cloth to clean it up.

I'll be back in a couple more days to share the rest of my treasures with you!

Have you had any luck with thrifting lately?

Linking up to Mockingbird Hill Cottage - A Favorite Thing

and a living space: The Nifty Thrifty 

 

master bath in progress

 Last month, we had both our bathrooms updated.

It certainly was about time...we've lived in this house 24 years and we

hadn't done anything to the bathrooms except to paint them!

We were still living with the original linoleum, which was beyond disgusting,

and the original fixtures (can anyone say 1980's lightbulb bar?)

So now I'm in the decorating phase of the master bath ~ which is the fun part, right?

Found the large, white mirror at Lowes. The cat picture is from Goodwill.

I'd been on the hunt for some vanity accessories, but couldn't find ones that I really liked.

Until yesterday, when I found the white porcelain tray and drinking cup at Target. On sale.

Love the raised flower detail on the cup and tray...

I also found the perfect-size-and-color bath mat at HomeGoods.

The master bath is tiny and doesn't have a tub - just a shower. So it's really

hard to find a shower curtain that fits a free-standing shower. After hunting

in stores and online, I finally found one online at Bed, Bath, and Beyond.

They are made to fit just a free-standing shower instead of the standard 72" bath/tub

shower combos. I haven't ordered it yet though, because it's rather pricey and the

clerk at the store told me that if I bring in a 20% off Bed, Bath, and Beyond coupon,

they'll place the order for me online and that way I can use my coupon.

Sooo...I'm still waiting to receive a coupon in the mail or find one in a magazine.

I used to be inundated by these coupons and now I have none. Doesn't that just figure?

Another  thing I'm looking for: some kind of white shelving unit

to go underneath the towel rack, beside the sink.

This bathroom doesn't have any storage except for under the sink (oh - and I do

have one of those over-the-door clear plastic shoe racks that hold a lot of 

my bath and beauty items) - but I'd still like decorative shelving in this area.

NOT the stool and basket that I currently have there now.

Still looking for just the right artwork to go in the commode area, too ~

or I might actually create something, who knows.

Thanks for visiting!

a pretty new find ~ and more tweaking

Look what I found at Hobby Lobby!

The colors are perfect for my living room and you all know how

I love birds in my decor. It was also on clearance ~ bonus.

I took down the little pictures I had hanging on the wall by the front door

and hung the new bird picture there instead.

Then I tweaked the console table.

When I had hubby hang the gold mirror on the wall, I thought the placement

was going to be perfect. Turned out it was hung too high. Oops.

So, I try to fill in the wide gap between the bottom of the mirror and the top of the table

with taller items. I "shopped around the house" and took the two white candlesticks

and glass pedestal from the buffet area, and the white dome with the bird nest in it

from my office. I'm thinking for more of a permanent fix, of buying a long

floating shelf and putting it underneath the mirror.

The middle shelf of the console table was looking too boring and brown.

So I added a little blue dish (remember my previous post about me using touches of blue

in the living room?) and a pretty bird candle that I recently found on clearance

at TJ Maxx to brighten things up.

Here's the whole shebang ~

Linking up to Cozy Little House Tweak it Tuesday

how to clean a stainless steel sink

If you have a stainless steel kitchen sink like me, then you know

how dingy and gross it can look, no matter how you clean it. I think I've

tried just about everything...baking soda, vinegar, disinfecting wipes, Trader Joe's

natural cleaner, bleach, Comet, Bar Keeper's Friend.

So when I came across a tutorial on Pinterest on how to make your stainless

steel sink really shine, I knew I had to try this cleaning method.

Here's my sink before. Not too bad, I guess. You can see some of the crud

in the ring around the drains. Eww.

Here's the after:

 A lot better, I think. This was several days ago and the sink still looks

pretty clean. I've just been maintaining it with the Trader Joe's cleaner.

Here's the tutorial in case you're interested in trying it:

How to Make Your Stainless Shine

Though I have to say, her sink looks much better than mine.

I eventually want to get a white cast iron sink. 

Do you have one? Are they easy to keep clean, especially if you have well water?

Linking up to Make it Pretty Monday at The Dedicated House.

adding pops of color to neutral decor

 My living room is done in neutrals, but I like adding touches

of a bright color to keep the room interesting.

I am loving bright blue mingled with beige and brown lately.

I've noticed that bright blue and lime are are the new go-to color combo,

but I'm having a hard time finding lime green accessories.

And I'm just not "feeling" the lime right now. Maybe in the spring.

 I found this pretty blue vessel at HomeGoods.

I played around with my buffet decor again and came up with this new vignette

with several touches of blue.

Which led me to more rearranging of the ladder shelf.

After Christmas, I had posted this picture of the ladder shelf.

I wasn't crazy about the top shelf - I thought it looked too uniform

and boring. And there wasn't enough blue for my liking.

Soooo...

I moved one of the owls to the top shelf and added

a collection of blue vases to a tray on the second to last shelf.

 Loving the blue!

 Are you a neutral or whites type of decorator, or do you like pops of color?

mission organization - before and after

 Well, here we are...a new year. I don't make resolutions or pick a word or mantra

for the year. I don't even necessarily make new goals at the first of the year. Instead,

I make goals for myself throughout the year.

One of the most positive things that happened to me last year - a huge change -

was leaving my job. Did you know I contemplated leaving that job for at

least two years?!

So, 2013 finds me settling into myself and let me tell you - it feels good.

I love being on my own schedule and being a full-time homemaker.

I have time to clean, organize, decorate, putter, get together with friends,

take more walks, work on art projects, read poetry, cook and bake, and

be of service to others in different ways (visiting the sick, making a meal,
helping with a home project, etc.)

I do keep my eyes open for job opportunities and I have applied for one job,

but haven't heard back from them. I'm trusting that these things are meant to be.

One thing I like to do in January to get a fresh start, is to declutter.

This morning, I started with a drawer in the buffet.

It held my camera, old eyeglasses, coupons, restaurant menus, 

bills, and the checkbook.

 

After:

I put the old eyeglasses in my car to bring to the Lion's eyeglass drop box.

I put all the rechargeable batteries in a little basket.

Weeded out all the expired coupons and restaurant menus that we don't

use - or don't need if the place has a web site.

In the bill and checkbook pile, I shredded old receipts and filed some bills that had been paid.

 In the kitchen, my baking cabinet was a fright.

On the bottom shelf, you'll see a plastic bag with biscuits and a large, gray

bag in the back left - which contains bagels. Why? And in the baking cabinet?!

Two of my kitties are very naughty and love to get into anything wrapped

in plastic or in a plastic bag. They both have a plastic fetish.

Seeing I can't leave anything in plastic on my kitchen counters, I have

to hide them! So, at the time I was lazy and threw the bread items

into the first available space.

After:

Baking cabinet is neat and organized and the bread items are in the freezer!

Now, on to the dreaded basement. I didn't work on this area today.

This clean-up was actually done a few days ago when Brian was home from

work and could help me out. We were packing up all the Christmas items

and getting rid of a lot of it, as we simply have too much and don't decorate

for Christmas as much as we used to.

The piles of stuff in the background is all stuff to donate!

 Brian loaded it all up into his car and took it all to Goodwill.

(Sorry for the quality of the basement pictures - there's hardly any natural light

down there so the pictures turn out fuzzy with my point-and-shoot camera.)

After:

Cleared out! (Except for all my books. Yes, I have a mini-library.)

Brian was saying that we needed a little sitting area in front of the 

bookcases. I agree it needs something, though we already have a sitting area down

here in the family room. I was thinking a little table and a couple of chairs.

It'd be a good place to sit at and look at books, or play some board games.

Here's another view so you can see most of the sitting area. 

 Tomorrow will bring a little more decluttering - another drawer in the buffet

and my pile of personal paperwork.

How are you starting 2013? Do you make resolutions or goals? 

Start new projects?