Friday, November 21, 2014

Mike is here finishing up the kitchen. Everything will be done today, with the exception of a modification to hide some wiring, the installation of a back-ordered tambour door, and the addition of a small soapstone counter for the Redneck Bar.  That puts the onus on Greg & me to do the dreaded tile grouting this weekend, & then we will be done. (Thank goodness we have a lot of downstairs storage to hide all of the stuff that we won’t have time to put away!)

Greg still has some construction work to do on the dining room table and I have to find some time to clear-coat it before our Thanksgiving meal (cranberry jelly on raw wood…I don’t think so!)   LeeAnn is coming on Wednesday to clean up the mess (thank you, BFF!)

Now for a Bear update. He had a very successful day of hunting & foraging yesterday, & he didn’t even have to leave the comfort of home!  His first conquest was to eat my new prescription glasses, which I just purchased a few months ago, to replace the first pair he ate!  Greg & I heard him happily chomping on something early Thursday morning.  We figured he was snacking on Riley’s plastic horseshoes, which are considerably transformed, as you can see from this picture of the yellow one (and the blue horseshoe is half the size of the yellow one!

Greg is the one that discovered the mangled frame of what were once my despised first-ever (and last ever) pair of bifocals in a trashy J_Lo frame.

(I guess you can tell I wasn’t heartbroken that he ate ‘em, but I am down to two spares whose lenses are old prescriptions.) Lyme disease plays havoc with your eyesight, so I’m not going to invest in a new pair any time soon.

And if that wasn’t enough goodness for one day, he also ate one of my red Land’s End leather fleece-lined slippers! You see, I made the mistake of taking them off before I showered, and there they were, lying next to the tub, just begging to be eaten!  I admit, they were getting a little “long in the tooth” (HAR, HAR!), but still very serviceable, and oh, so comfortable. We still haven’t found the mate to the chewed one (he hides lots of treasures in the yard, so it’s unclear if we’ll ever see it again.)  Santa has promised me a new pair.  Speaking of which, I wonder why Bear never destroys any of Greg’s stuff?  He is very Mommy-centric, in that regard.

Look at that face.  Does that look like remorse to you?  Nope. That’s a nonchalant look that belies his search for new forbidden fruit to attack!

About the holidays:  Everybody I know has their tree up, or is planning on putting it up momentarily.  I am so far behind in that regard.  You know how they say that there’s a fine line between love & hate?  Well, the same can be said about creativity & insanity. This is what my desk looks like:

There are at least 5 projects underway in that mess, with more in the planning/conception phase. The clothesline thingy is this year’s iteration of “what to combine with lights on about 70 feet of bannister that won’t break the bank”!  Yes, I’m doing exactly what I said I wouldn’t do this year, and that is to over-extend myself and put undue pressure on myself to produce things that won’t have any effect on the quality of our holiday celebrations.  But (sigh) I know I will do them anyway…

This week, I did manage to refinish Justin’s bed, and I am so pleased with the results. The finished product looks like an Ethan Allen hack, & if I had a son, it’s just the look I’d want for his room. The pics were kind of hard to take, since the bed wasn’t assembled, but this may give you an idea of what the finished headboard and footboard look like.

No, I don’t have before pics, but Faith’s bed is identical to Justin’s, so before I start work on hers, I will take pics. Yes, I did use chalk paint on the bed.  I am so impressed with how easy it is to use, its durability, and the factory-finish look it provides.  LeeAnn just left with the finished product in the back of her new car.

Saturday, November 22, 2014

I am in full-blown panic mode.  Thanksgiving is only days away, and I still don’t have a menu nailed down.  I have a doctor’s appointment on Monday in Marietta on Monday. With travel & the 2 hour time for the IV, that day is shot.  On Tuesday, we have a dog trainer coming to the house to see if he can fix a crazy Bear. The turkey (still at the store), needs to be brined and the casseroles need to be made, and the baked goods must be baked on Wednesday, the same day that Mike plans to put the finishing touches on the kitchen.  Greg’s parents arrive on Thursday morning…(help?)

Speaking of food, I made the most delicious soup this week.  In the past, I sort of spurned soup.  Now that I am “maturing”, it seems to be something I crave a lot. I found this recipe on a site call 365 Days of Slow Cooking.  The recipe is “Creamy Tortellini, Spinach, & Chicken Soup”.  It is quick to put together, then cooks in the crock pot.  (I used frozen chicken, and added an hour to my cooking time.) If you make it & love it, please let me know.

Slipper alert: Bear came dashing through the doggy door this morning with the mate to chewed red slipper!

Gotta go…Dining room table to finish!  ;>}