around here

I'm writing this post at 10:00 PM on Thursday night - thankfully, upstairs and safe -  after being in the basement family room for a couple of hours due to tornado warnings. We had thunderstorms all day with brief pauses where during one of them, I went outside to take some photos. I love spring and finding the promise of new growth after a long winter.

Sedum in the butterfly garden...

 

Chives in the herb garden ~ and, of course, the lemon balm is already popping up too, as you can see in the background...

 

The tiger lilies in the backyard around the composting bin are loving the rain. I swear they grow at least an inch a day!

 

Lilac buds...

 

Since I can't play in the dirt outside yet, I bought some succulents and planted them in teacups, two new mini vintage planters (the deer and the chick), and a milk glass container. How do you like that gorgeous teapot? I recently found it - plus matching teacups, saucers, little plates and a creamer - at Goodwill. The milk glass container was also a Goodwill find. More on all that in another post.

I did some painting today, too. My aunt had given me a painting last fall when she was packing her house to move out-of-state. I loved the painting itself, but not the frame. Auntie had painted the frame red, which - to me - clashed with the painting. I got a small jar of Americana Decor chalk paint (the color is Serene) at Hobby Lobby and gave it a whirl. I'm not much of a crafty person, nor am I a DIYer, so I was a little nervous at first.

Here's the painting after the first coat. Much better, don't you think? I just now noticed after uploading this picture to my blog that Clementine is photobombing this photo. I shouldn't be surprised - usually one of the cats is doing so. Anyway, I have to give a thumbs up for this paint. It went on very smoothly, gave great coverage without having to use a primer, dried quickly, and had no odor at all. Now I just have to wax the frame and then decide where to hang this painting. At first I thought it could go in the living room, but the light blue frame clashed with the aqua accents in the room. Blue overload! I think I'll wait and hang it in our bedroom after we paint and re-do that room. (And that's another huge, looming project.)

I'm turning the laptop off now and reading for awhile before I go to bed. I'm in the middle of "The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy" by Rachel Joyce. She's the author of, "The Pilgrimage of Harold Fry." Are you familiar with that book? Brian and I read it last year and we both loved it. So when the author came out with this sequel, we couldn't wait to read it. I've had the book on my amazon wish list since it came out, but the price has been too high to buy the book. I kept checking my library's web site and was thrilled to see last week that they got the book! Brian read it first - in two days - and he said it was excellent. I'm halfway through and loving this book. One of those that's hard to put down and has you reading way past your bedtime.

easter aftermath

 Hello! If you observe Easter or Passover, I hope that you had a lovely celebration with family or friends this past weekend. Twelve of us family members gathered at my mom's house on Sunday for Easter dinner around her beautifully set table.

 We had so much food! The main dishes were ham (Mom got a nitrate-free one at Trader Joes) and pasta with a homemade marinara sauce. The buffet was set with those dishes plus all the sides that everyone brought ~ sweet potato souffle, corn casserole, tossed salad, glazed carrots, mashed potatoes, and marinated asparagus. We have a few lactose-intolerant people in our family, so we try to make as many dairy-free recipes as possible. I'll post the recipes for my own creation of glazed carrots and the marinated asparagus at the end of this post. Both were gobbled up and raved about. Mom also made homemade rolls and had them warm in a basket on the table.

My sister made the prettiest spring jello salad!

For dessert, Mom made this gorgeous chocolate cake with strawberry buttercream frosting from the March 2015 issue of Better Homes and Gardens. You can find the recipe here.

 Even better than the food was being with family. My teenage nieces never let me take their photo. Typical at this age, right? But yet they'll do selfies. I don't get it. I guess because when they do selfies, they're in control of the photo. OK, I do get that from a teenage point-of-view. I wish teenage girls could somehow realize how truly beautiful they are instead of being self-conscious and critical of themselves. I love my girls and hope they can spend a weekend at their Auntie Mimi's (that's me!) house soon. My oldest niece will be graduating high school this year. So hard to believe. How did they grow up so quickly?

My handsome cousin enjoyed his food out on the deck. He is so kind and warm-hearted and has always been there for me ~ yes, even through my own gawky, critical, self-conscious teenage years. He's six years older than me, so I always looked up to him. Of course, I thought he was so cool, too. He had the best disco records.

 

My mom - superwoman of the day! And her little fluff ball, LuLu, too.

Lastly, me and my "baby". The sun was so bright, so pardon my squinty eyes. Tim was smart and chose to keep his sunglasses on.

 

GLAZED CARROTS

(Recipe by Melanie Riley)

1 lb organic carrots, peeled and sliced into coins

4 T organic cold-pressed coconut oil

3 T organic pure maple syrup

2 T whiskey or bourbon

Salt & pepper, to taste

In a large saucepan over medium heat, melt the coconut oil. Add the carrots, give them a stir, and then put a lid on the pan. Turn the heat to medium-low and let simmer in the oil for about 10 minutes, or until carrots are tender. (Check them with a fork; if not tender enough, cook a couple of minutes longer.) Stir in the maple syrup and whiskey (or bourbon). Add salt and pepper to taste. 

MARINATED ASPARAGUS

2 lbs fresh asparagus

3/4 c quality olive oil

1/2 c white wine vinegar OR white balsamic vinegar

1 T dried basil

2 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

2 garlic cloves, minced

4 green onions, chopped

Place asparagus in a large skillet. Add 1/2" of water. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, cover and simmer for 3-5 minutes or until crisp-tender. Rinse in cold water and drain. Refrigerate 2-3 hours. Arrange asparagus in a shallow dish. Combine remaining ingredients and pour over asparagus. Let stand at room temperature for 1-2 hours before serving.

the little red chair(s) that could

I've been on the lookout for sturdy, solid wood chairs for my kitchen table for a long time. I've had my eye on a set on overstock, but they're not within our budget right now. Last week when I was shopping at Goodwill, my eyes zoomed right in on these red wooden chairs. The quality isn't exactly what I was looking for, but for $4.99 each, I decided to take my chance on two of them. I figured if they didn't look good at the kitchen table, I could use them outside on my little front porch. They were just so darn cute (RED!), I couldn't pass them up.

I have the perfect spot to store the chair when it's not needed at the table (since it's only me and the husband at home now) ~ and the color is perfect in my kitchen.

So here's my mish-mash of a kitchen table and chairs for now. The two tall-backed chairs are from our old mid-century modern teak dining set. They have to do since they're all we have (besides a couple of rickety chairs that I don't trust) at the moment. I'm thinking about at least painting them white in the meantime - and I know I desperately need to change the fabric on the seats. A trip to Jo-Ann Fabrics is definitely on the agenda.

Here's wishing you all a happy and blessed Passover and Easter weekend.

weekend round-up ~ treasure hunting

 Despite the cold day here this past Saturday, the sun was shining and I was on my way to meet up with my mom and aunt for a day of treasure hunting and going out to lunch. Who cares about the cold on a fun day like that, right? As I was rounding the corner by my house, there were two sandhill cranes in the field. One good thing about living far away from the city is seeing creatures like this close to your house. Sorry for the poor photo quality - I rolled down the window of my car and zoomed in with my phone camera to get a photo. It was only when I rolled up my window and looked in my rearview mirror, that I noticed there was a van sitting behind me. I am so glad the driver was patient with me and didn't honk their horn. I gave the driver a friendly wave as I went on my way.

 The first shop we went to was one I had heard about and always wanted to check out: Lucky Junk. To be honest, we were expecting more of an antique shop where we could hunt for our little treasures, so we were disappointed. Yes, there are antiques in this store, but it's mostly repurposed vintage finds and they're quite pricey. The one thing I did really like in this store was how they made a chandelier out of branches and little clear lights. The owner was friendly and welcoming and I had a short chat with her about how I was familiar with her store due to reading about it on some local blogs.

Our second stop was Vintage Deja Vu.This was more our type of store...lots of vintage things stacked all over the place, so everywhere you looked there was something to discover. We looked through the same areas several times over because we'd find things we missed the first go-around.

 

I loved this retro pink kitchen! And yes, that's a real kichen from a house that was demolished.

 

 My eyes were drawn to that red, blue and yellow metal recipe box in the stack in back. The colors were perfect for my kitchen. The price was a little high, so I was debating whether to buy it or not. Then I heard another customer asking the owner of the shop if her prices were firm. She said no, that they were negotiable. (Hooray!) I asked her what was the best she could do on the price of the recipe box and she knocked $5 off. Sold!

 The recipe box is now in my china cabinet on top of a stack of cookbooks. Loving these colors!

Well, here it is Monday and what a difference a day makes. It's 57 degrees with the sun popping in and out. I opened the living room window to let in some fresh air and as you can see, Clementine and Monkey were enjoying their bird and squirrel stalking.

Here's hoping that you had a wonderful weekend and that today is the start of a new week of dreams and possibilities.

little happies, cute bunnies and naughty cats

 Hi there, hope you're having a good week. The weather here in northern IL has been so cold and gloomy all week. It's more like winter with temperatures in the 30's and gray skies. We still have little piles of snow in the yard and mountains of snow in parking lots. It's rather depressing for the end of March. Sunshine came in my front door this morning in the form of a friend though. D lived across the street from us for about 22 years and she and her husband moved out-of-state last year. I've missed her so much! She's back in town for a short visit, so she came to visit me this morning for coffee and chat. D gave me such a lovely compliment when she walked in my front door. She looked around my living room and said, "Your house is so pretty. Your photos don't do it justice." I thought that was so sweet, especially since I'm still working on my living room and staring at a blank fireplace wall and an antique buffet that desperately needs a makeover. To brighten my day even more, Brian and I are meeting Tim for dinner at a restaurant in-between our house and his. I'm so glad he's at a school where he can come home for a weekend every once in awhile and where we can meet up with him for dinner.

I don't decorate much for Easter anymore, but I do enjoy my collection of bunnies. I placed a few on some shelves in the kitchen. I especially love the little Beatrix Potter teapot on the top shelf.

I put the rest of my bunnies and a couple of other Easter-related items on top of the dresser in my office. Silly me for thinking plants and breakables were safe up here.

 Nothing is safe from naughty kitties! The little plate that I was using as a saucer for the orchid was so pretty and one of my faves. But the plant seems to be OK and that bunny that's underneath the dresser somehow survived with nary a chip! {Sorry for the poor photo quality of this picture but when I heard the crash and went to investigate, I had my phone on me so used it for an evidence photo. ;-) }

"Wasn't me. I don't move from my sunbeam."

"Not me, either. I was napping on your nice quilt."

 

"Um, I was busy washing myself."

 

 I think I found my culprit. Happy Thursday, everyone!

thoughts from the bathtub

Don't worry, there's certainly not going to be any bathtub shots in this post. Not of the tub itself (nothing of beauty - the thing is fiberglass and 27 years old) nor of me soaking in it. Yes, it was a soaking-in-the-tub kind of morning as I woke to a beautiful spring day of 25 degree temps and three inches of snow. Mother Nature sometimes gets a little confused around these parts. Anyway, you know how when you're in the shower or tub and all these random thoughts come to you? I really need to buy Aqua Notes so I can write down all my brilliant light bulb moments when I'm water-logged.

 Before I delve into what mindless drivel  thoughts lit my brain on fire, I thought I'd share some fun things with you first. Saturday was spent antiquing with my aunt. Our original plans were to visit a new-to-us vintage store in a neighboring suburb. I was all set to go and grabbed my coat, purse and umm...where were my keys? I then realized in a moment of panic that I had left my keys in Brian's car the night before when we went out to dinner. Problem was - Brian was at work! I called my aunt and she said not to worry, that she would just come out to my house and we'd go somewhere else. We ended up going to the antique mall by my house. How do you think I'd look behind the wheel of this truck? Just kidding - not my style at all. Now if I were posing by an antique Corvette, that'd be another story. 

 We both found a couple of fun treasures. I got this fun tray for $2. The colors were perfect for my kitchen.

 I put a 3M sticky strip on the back of the tray and hung it on the wall space between my upper cabinets and countertop. Adds a little bit of personality to the wall since I don't have a tiled backsplash.

 I also found a vintage framed owl print which now happily resides with owl friends in a bookcase in the family room.

After me and Auntie were done at the antique mall, we went to a privately-owned vintage shop in town. Auntie found the prettiest yellow metal pie safe which she is keeping on top of her fridge. She said she's going to store bread and snacks such as rice cakes and pretzels in it.

 

 I found two little antique planters: a pretty deer....

and a sweet chick and egg. I wish I had wide window ledges where I could line up a collection of these cute little planters.

 

 The thoughts I had while soaking in the tub were about blogging. I'm on a new Facebook group for a specific blogging group and we had a discussion about blog comments. Of course, there were different opinions on how to handle these. In all my years of writing this blog, I have always replied to comments underneath the comment itself - even if just to say "thanks for stopping by my blog and leaving a kind comment." I realized that the person leaving the comment was most likely not coming back to see my reply. But I thought acknowledging comments was part of blogging etiquette. If someone asked me a specific question in a comment though, I would - and do - answer that question either on that person's blog or in a personal email.

 I would love to reply to every comment with a personal email, but I simply don't have time to do so. (Nor does any other blogger that I know of!)Taking photographs, editing them, uploading them to my blog, and writing and editing content are time-consuming as it is. I think the consensus was that if no one comes back to your blog to read your reply to their comment, why keep on doing it? True enough. Thus said, I'm going to stop replying to my comments just on this blog. This does not mean that I don't read and treasure every comment - nothing could be further from the truth! Comments mean everything to me. To know that people are taking their precious time to even read my little blog warms my heart ~ and reader comments are like finding an unexpected twenty dollar bill (heck, I'd even take a dollar) in my coat pocket. So, please ~ do comment!  In turn, I will visit your blog and leave comments and answer any questions you might've asked me. If you don't have a blog, I will send you an email if you have one listed through your profile information.

I've been working on and off on this post all day and now it's dinner-time. Seeing it's a cold, snowy evening, I think grilled cheese sandwiches and roasted pepper tomato soup sound mighty good.

thrifty nifties

Like most women, I like accessories ~ but I certainly don't want to pay full-price for them. I have a bunch of scarves and most of them were found at Goodwill and Savers. Can't beat the price of $1.49 for a scarf! I won't - and can't - pay $25+ for a scarf. I thought this one with the pretty shades of blue would be perfect for spring.

And this cotton navy and white eternity scarf is another good one for spring.

 

Ah...cookbooks. How I adore thee.  I love to cook and enjoy being inspired by new recipes. I don't hold on to all my thrift store cookbooks though. If there's only a few recipes that interest me, I just photocopy them and then re-donate the cookbook. That's what happened with the Chicken Dinners book. I've only gone through one of the Food & Wine books so far, and there's a lot of good recipes, so I think these might be keepers.

Is this not one of the most beautiful covered casserole dishes? It's made in France - brand name is Lourioux and the design is la faune, which is loosely translated as wildflowers. There is a small chip on the edge of the lid on the other side, but for $4.99, I didn't care. I looked this piece up online...someone has it listed for $100 on eBay!

 

Bowls in my favorite kitchen colors - aqua and red. The red bowls are made in Germany.

On Wednesday, my "oldest" best friend (we met when we were three years old and lived across the street from each other) came out here from Chicago to visit me. We went out to lunch and then we hit a thrift store. Cin found a gorgeous teapot and some toys and clothes for her little boy. I found this metal rack which was marked as a dish rack. I was dubious. It looked more like a mail or bill holder to me. I wasn't going to buy it but Cin said, "I bet small dishes would fit in it. It'd look perfect in your home!" So, I bought it. But guess what? It is not a dish rack! I tried different sizes of plates and nothing fits. I knew I could figure out something to do with it though, so for now it's serving as a book display. I can always spray paint it a different color, too.

 

Happy spring! Our weather is still wonky, which is to be expected. Sunday and Monday will only be in the 30's. I spied my first robin yesterday and now as I'm sitting here looking out the window that faces my back yard, I can see several plump little robins hopping all over the grass, pecking at the ground. Hooray for spring and happy weekend!