What To Do When It Snows...and Snows

After four successive snow/ice storms here in
Texas, it appears we may get back to normal.

While the snow-turned-to-ice made it impossible

to get out, I decided to paint something.

As promised a while ago, I did not use white paint!

I really want to paint one of the kitchen cabinets

this blue/gray color. 

Knowing I was having a little cabin fever, I

decided to try the paint on a few small pieces

first and see how the color looks with the cabinets.

This little do-dad box I pulled out of the garage.
It has been on my Fixin' To Do bin for 4 years.
I bought it at a garage sale in the late 80's and
used it to hold jewelry for years.

 
This little tub was a shiny metal before I painted it 
with chalk paint. I love how the paint sticks to
everything, even slick metal...

I have two larger ones I'm going to do next.

The third thing I painted was an old tray, purchased
at a garage sale a year or two ago. I "shopped" my
garage for it too...

A while back, I bought some Ce Ce Caldwell

paint in a color called Smoky Mountain Gray.

Forget the gray name, because it's really a blue:

The paint was really thick. As you can see, it held
this stir stick straight up without my holding it.
I put some paint in a glass jar and added some
water, which made it easy to use.

This is the first coat of paint on the little tub...

This is a close up of the tray before painting it.

Yes, it was very flaky. I didn't have much hope for

it, so I didn't bother to sand it before painting it.

 First coat of Ce Ce's paint going on:

I was surprised it didn't flake off after it dried.
In fact, a little disappointed...but, I'm going to
distress it and see if some magic will happen.


I haven't decided which cabinet I would paint
(if we did), but the top of the vent cover over the
stove might look good with a little color.

Meanwhile...back at the snow/ice situation.

The sun is coming out and it looks like it's 

starting to melt.

Thanks for dropping by!

Let's party at...
http://www.thepainteddrawer.com/2015/03/inspiration-friday-link-party.html

http://jannolson.blogspot.com/2015/03/share-your-cup-thursday-139.html


http://www.dwellings-theheartofyourhome.com/2015/03/amaze-me-monday-101.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheHeartOfYourHome+%28The+Heart+of+Your+Home%29




Caught My Eye

Have you seen the new GREEN cokes?

I'm mean, literally, green!

Wild Bill and I used to love Coke.

I mean, only Coke. Or Diet Coke.

We broke ourselves from the habit last year.

Now, we seldom drink soda. But, when we saw

these green cokes at Target the other day, we had

to stop and read the label.

60 calories

16 carbs

Sweetened with cane sugar and Stevia.

No high fructose corn sugar

(we avoid HFCS like crazy)

Once we read the label, you know we had

to try a 6-pack.

Tastes like the wonderful original Cokes.

If you're still drinking sodas, I recommend

the new green Coke.

Just letting you know about this product.

No payment received for the exposure.

Thanks for dropping by!

Let me know what you think of it if

you've tried it.

Iced In...Texas Style

About once a year we get iced in.

It's a Texas thing.

When snow comes down it's wet here.
The snow is wet I mean.

Some places I've lived the snow is drier.
But here, the snow is wet and when the sun
comes out it starts to melt the snow, then it gets
cold again and the melted snow turns to ice. 

More snow, more melt, then more freeze,
so...more ice!

Last Sunday the snow/freeze/ice thing started

in the afternoon. We've been iced in for 2 days.
No one went anywhere.

Finally this afternoon the big thaw started and

we were able to get out of our driveway. YAY!

I didn't go outside this time to take pictures,
but here's a picture from Dec 2013:

We were iced in for 4 days back then.

I know people in Boston with their big banks of
snow would laugh at us. But if you've ever tried to
walk or drive on a sheet of ice you'd understand.

Thanks for skidding dropping in!



Whole Food Your Face

Did you know that you can save a lot of money
on skin care products and improve your skin

and complexion by slathering on grease?

Well a nicer term is cooking oil, but I wanted

to get your attention. I know this sounds counter

intuitive, but it really has worked for me!

And if it works on me, it will work on anyone.

For 8 years, I've had a severe case of Rosacea.

Just a little salsa, just a little sip of wine, just a 

little bit of sunshine and my face breaks out in

bumps and stuff you don't want me to describe.

Then again, sometimes it even breaks out for

no reason at all.

I have been to six dermatologists over the years.

I have tried every product and skin care line,

every cream that burns like hell and costs a

small fortune (you name it, I've tried it)

and still my skin erupted all the time. 

For the last 2 months, I've gone "Whole Food"

on my face. At night, I slather organic coconut

oil on my face. I wear it into the shower and

use a warm wash cloth to gently remove the

coconut oil. 

When I get out of the shower, I smear organic

California brand olive oil all over my face, eyes,

lips, neck...well, you get the picture.

My skin is clear. My pores have shrunk.

The spider viens on my chin are disappearing.
I still get a bump or two at times, but I just put
some of either oil on it and it goes away. I've

stopped wearing foundation and now only wear

a tinted sunscreen daily.

I have to give credit to our oldest daughter, who got

us interested in the whole food lifestyle. Several years

ago Jenn lost over 100 pounds and has kept it off.

 She accomplished that by following a mostly Paleo and

 Primal lifestyle and getting off her butt more. We are

very proud of her, and I'll tell you about it some time.

But, for now, I want to stick with the skin issue.

One issue discussed on Paleo blogs and books is

the benefit to one's skin and complexion when you eat

less processed foods by sticking with whole foods and

eating more of the Omega 3 oils. If it works for the
inside of the body, it only makes sense that the

Omega 3 oils would be good for skin care too.

Interested in finding out more? Here's some resources:

Books On The Subject...

Great Posts On Subject:

http://missmustardseed.com/2015/02/whole30-results-styling-session-giveaway/

http://www.lizmarieblog.com/2014/01/natural-skin-care-routine/

Tinted Sunscreen I Use For Foundation,
Chemical Free:

I use to buy this tinted sunscreen from my
 dermatologist, but recently purchased it directly
via Amazon. It's $22 per tube, but lasts months.
I use it daily as my only foundation.

Thanks for dropping by today.

All recommendations are truly my own.
No one paid me or gave me any of these products.
This routine has worked for me. I hope you'll also
leave a comment if you have something that has
worked well for you.

Find Me Here:

http://www.livingwellspendingless.com/2015/02/26/thrifty-thursday-week-98/

Easy Cream Cheese Danish...Delish!

When I read Dee's blog post this morning, I knew

I would have to make her Cream Cheese Danish

recipe. Dee's blog is called Dressing Our Nest
and her recipe is so easy, even I succeeded on
the first try!

I did make a few changes to the recipe she posted.

First I added a squeese of lemon to the cream cheese

filling, then I sprinkled a few blackberries on top

 of the filling before closing it up. 

 This was really as easy as indicated in the original

post...and so good!

The recipe calls for Pillsbury crescent rolls,

softened cream cheese, a little bit of milk, one

egg, and some powdered sugar.

For the recipe and directions, go to Dee's blog.

http://dressingournest.blogspot.com/2015/02/cream-cheese-danish.html

Thank you Dee for posting this wonderful recipe.

And thank you all for dropping in today.

Looks Like White's Blog

I took a vow at the first of the year to stop

painting everything white.

Therein lies the problem...

I haven't painted a thing since.

I find myself looking at pins and stored photos

and of course everything is white.

I wander over to one of my favorite blogs:

Looks Like White

But, I have noticed lately she is actually using

more color and even has yellow and gray sections.

hmmm...traitor!!!

Here's what her blog used to look like before

she went to the dark colorful side.

 Looks Like White

 Looks Like White

 Looks Like White

 Looks Like White

Looks Like White

Every time I look at one of these pictures,

I think "Dang, I could paint ___ white."

I really am trying to think up another color.

Meanwhile, finding me dreaming at

http://www.lookslikewhite.com/blog

American Sniper...Don't Miss It

We saw American Sniper yesterday.

Despite all the Hollywood snipes being taken

against it, we were happy we saw it. And proud

of our military who risk, and lose, their lives

every day in the war zones.

My grandmother used to say about war:

"It's a rich man's war but a poor man's fight"

No truer words can be spoken about war in

general and this movie certainly makes it clear.

When you see the movie, be sure to stay until

the very, very end. It's not to be missed.

Don't wait for the video, this is one movie

I can't imagine not seeing on the big screen.



Super Hero To Be

Sitting in Texas with the temperature near 70,

it's hard to imagine what the people in the

Northeast area of the country are going through.

I'm posting this picture to cheer you up a

little and let you know there's one little boy

in Illinois who will someday be available

to rescue you.

Batman, fireman, Thomas the Train...

all rolled up into one little hunk of cute.

Thanks for dropping by today.

Hope this cheers you up a little!

Featured At Mrs. Olson's "Share Your Cup" Party

I'm thrilled Jaysa's closet was featured over at

Mrs. Olson's Share Your Cup party today!

 

Last week, I posted about our trip to help with
the closet's mini renovation.

Here's my "I was featured" pin.



Since my last post, Jaysa has been looking for

material to create a padded top for the bench.

She's also planning to paint the bench with Behr's

Swiss Coffee to match the white trim and said she

painted the walls outside of the closet Hale Navy too.

One tip I wanted to relay...

paint your boards before you put them on the wall!

Jaysa and I wanted to do that, but Wild Bill talked

us into doing it after he attached them to the wall.

We knew better! 

It made painting them so much harder.

You can be sure Jaysa painted the shelf before

it went up. So much easier.

(I'm sure he thought he could convince her to let him stain them)

Be sure to hop over to Mrs Olson's party and see

the other projects she featured in tonight's party.

http://jannolson.blogspot.com/2015/01/share-your-cup-thursday-133.html

Thanks for dropping in!

What We Did On Break

The day after Christmas, we drove up to

Illinois (14 hours) to spend some time with our

middle daughter's family and help them

renovate their heavily used coat closet.

This isn't actually the real "before" as Jaysa and 

Mike had already removed the folding doors and

moved all the winter coats to another closet.

The picture below shows how far we got before

we had to come back home. We call this phase one

as we plan to finish the bottom half next trip up.

We took this old bench up for them to use

temporarily until we can build in a full bench

with room below for more baskets.

Here's some pictures of the work in progress:

 Painting in a small space is always a challenge.

It got even more crowded when Superman

(almost 5) decided to lend us his superpowers

by helping us paint. He soon lost interest after
just 10 minutes of helping put on the second coat.

 Lucky for us, his little sister (18 months) was way

too busy running down the hallway the other way.

 Thankfully, she wasn't that interested

in the work going on at the opposite end!

 Wild Bill (AKA Grampy) installed a

wide board on the top for adult coats and a 

smaller one on bottom for the kid's.

  Above the adult's board, Grampy installed a

shelf wide enough to hold baskets. There was a

gap between them, so we decided to add

some trim to cover the gap.

We weren't able to bring all the tools and

saws we needed to do a perfect job, but

we found we could depend on Lowes and

Home Depot to do basic cuts for us.

 Luckily, Grampy brought his power drill as

Jaysa's wasn't strong enough to install the hooks.

He gave Jaysa a quick lesson on controlling

the speed, and she installed the hooks where

she wanted them.

When Grampy saw this next picture he

thought Jaysa looked really determined to

get those screws in and under his breath

he said "straight in Jaysa, straight in."

  Are you wondering why we didn't paint

everything before putting up the hooks?

 Well...snow and ice was forecasted and we

needed to leave early. In fact, it started

snowing as the hooks were being installed.

 Little Livvie stopped running long enough

to model her hook...

 Here's a shot of the trim all painted.

Lowe's didn't have enough hooks for the sides

of the closet so Jaysa is waiting on them.

On our next trip, we plan to help Jaysa add

more trim at the bottom and top of the boards,

along with building in a permanent bench.

Our daughter seems to have a problem

picking paint colors just like her mama!

Here's a shot of the outside of the closet,

which is in the laundry room:

I've heard Rome wasn't built in a day.

So many colors, so little time...

Here's another look at phase one.

When we got home, Santa Claus ordered

Jaysa her own drill just like Grampy's so

she'll be able to finish the hooks and cover

the top of the old bench, as well as help build
the new bench when the time comes.


The wall color inside the closet is
Benjamin Moore's Hale Navy and the white
is Behr's Swiss Coffee in their paint and primer
mix. The baskets are from IKEA, which we
borrowed from the kid's playroom to use until
Jay finds something she likes better.

Thanks for dropping in!

Find me here:

Dwellings...http://www.dwellings-theheartofyourhome.com/2015/01/amaze-me-monday-94.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheHeartOfYourHome+%28The+Heart+of+Your+Home%29


Mrs. Olson's Share Your Cup...

http://jannolson.blogspot.com/2015/01/share-your-cup-thursday-132.html

When Harry Met Sabra

My grandmother, Sabra, was around 26 when

she married my dirt-poor grandfather Harry

in the early 1900's.

Back then, single ladies of her age were

known as spinsters.

Harry, being a poor cowboy and hired-hand,

must have thought he'd died and gone to heaven

when Sabra agreed to married him. Her wealthy

father gave the newlyweds 100 acres of land.

My dad told me he remembered his father Harry

lighting cigars at poker games with $20 bills.

Surely Harry must have invented the term

 'Easy come, Easy go'

-- and it haunted him all his life.

Harry's mother was an Indian woman,

 (we say Native American now)

and his father was some sort of fur trapper.

Harry was born in a log cabin in the Ozark

Mountains. No birth certificates in that sort

of situation back then.

I wish I had gotten Harry's beautiful dark skin.

Instead I got Sabra's pasty light complexion.

When they argued, Harry called Sabra 

"a flat-headed, Pennsylvania Dutch woman"

One can only imagine what feisty Sabra

called him!

So, I'm setting out to learn more about these

two this year. I have a lot of family stories

and papers, and a few pictures, to help me

with my research.

Have you ever noticed how you can look at

your kids...or even your grandchildren...

and see your ancestors in them?

Thanks for dropping in!

Find me here...

http://jannolson.blogspot.com/2015/01/share-your-cup-thursday-132.html

The Best Pot Pie

I'm sure you've noticed by now

that I have no shame...
But, isn't it sad that my 'best of the best'

is someone else's recipe?

When I bragged to my son-in-law Mike

the other night that I could make a great

Turkey Pot Pie with his leftover turkey

from Christmas,

of course I was depending on someone else

to come through for me.

Mike loved that Turkey Pot Pie so much
he had three helpings then complained
all night that he ate too much.

So Mike...here's the promised recipe:
http://www.stonegableblog.com/the-best-recipes-of-2014/

And, from the bottom of my heart,
thank you Stone Gable Blog
for always sharing your wonderful recipes!

I did change it up a little by using a 13 x 8 pan,
and regular pie crust in a box from the
refrigerated section of the store.

I covered the casserole dish with the pie crust,
then baked it at 375 degrees until the crust
was a light flaky brown.

Thanks for dropping by!