Designing in Life

Boogie-Woogie Mid-Winter Blues

Yup, I gottem.  It's almost March, and that means Mud Season.  What?  You've never heard of Mud Season?  I should be so lucky.  It's the time of year when mud darkens your doorstep and you never want to allow an animal to come in from the outdoors without a wad of paper towels in your hand.  It's when the air is starting to have that oh-so-spring scent and warmth to it, but you still have to wear a coat, and gloves, and a scarf, and a hat, and boots because it can change in an instant to a vicious, wild-wintery-windy mix of yuckiness.  Yup, I certainly do have the blues.  So, instead of trying to take any pictures of what it looks like outside, I'm inviting you to take a glimpse of where I'd rather be.

Let's face it, life is a beach.

What's Your Style?

I was searching the IKEA site for nothing in particular since there is no IKEA in Vermont - geesh, no Target and no IKEA, we are a deprived bunch up here - and I ran across this little tool that helps you determine your style.  Mine, I found out, is 0% modern, 20% Scandinavian and 80% country.  What's yours?  And while I'm on the subject of style, what style category does one of these fall into?

I don't know either but it adds to the eclectic furnishings we have, which I believe is just another word for mismatched!  Nick considers this one of his heirlooms, yes, I'm rolling my eyes.

Blueberry Bread

I decided it was time to use up the remainder of the blueberries I had frozen from my garden.  I also made applesauce this fall (sorry Chloe, I meant to give you a jar when you were here) and thought I should make a bread with both.
As you will see, this is really a lower fat recipe because it has no butter or milk in it.  I doubled the recipe so that I could take one of the loaves to work to share.  For the loaf that stayed here, I put walnuts and golden raisins along with the blueberries in it.  For work, just the berries because there are quite a few people who don't like raisins or walnuts or both.  I have no idea where this recipe came from – it's been stuck in my recipe book for some time(I'll give you a peek at it some day - you won't believe what a mess it is).  Here it is:

Blueberry Bread

1 c. whole wheat flour
2 c. all-purpose flour
1 c. sugar
1 tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
2 eggs
1 c. applesauce (you can a little more if you feel the batter is too thick)
1/4 c. oil
2 c. fresh or frozen blueberries
1/2 c. chopped nuts

Beat eggs, add oil and applesauce stirring until incorporated.  Add the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg (feel free to add cinnamon if you like it)  stir until the dry ingredients are all mixed into the egg mixture.  Add blueberries last.

Bake for 50mins - hour at 350 degrees.  Every oven is different, so I'd advise you to do the skewer test to make sure it's baked in the middle.

Enjoy!  The bread was gone in 1 hour at work, so I guess it was pretty good.

A Fun Weekend

We had visitors this weekend.  Beth's (daughter) family came – which means getting to play with Chloe and Phoebe - and I consider that fun.

Jim and Beth bought Chloe some cross-country skis...they're so little!  With dad's help, Chloe got the hang of it pretty fast.  We didn't have a lot of snow, but enough for her to give it a try.

Aren't these cute!  Beth gave them to me.  They are from the Orla Kiely Collection for Target.  I'm told that this collection is hard to find because of their popularity.  Don't have to worry about me snatching them all up because there are no Targets in Vermont!

Jim made us some great pizza on Saturday night before the kids got bundled up to head home.  He and Beth find it easier to drive with the kids sleeping.  Instead of 6 1/2 hours it takes 5 or a little less to get home.  Which reminds me...Jim said Chloe started asking if they were at "Nella and Pop Pop's yet" a few hours before they got here. (wait until Phoebe can chime in!)  I can hear my parents chuckling and thinking about Beth asking over and over if they were in Vermont yet, while making the 7 hour drive back home after a visit.

A Little Piece of the Past

These are pictures of my mother and father when they were about 18.  My home is full of pictures of my family and Nick's family - reminders of who we are and who we love.

The tea cups belonged to Nick's mom and the ruby glass decanter and glasses were...well here's the story – My mother bought them for her mother when she was 12 years old.  She had some money saved (it was a lot of money for that time) and wanted to buy her mother something special for Christmas.  Because there were only 5 glasses, she was able to buy them at the 5 & 10 for $5.00.  My grandmother told her she loved them and that they were beautiful.  What my mother didn't know was that these are sherry glasses and her mother did not drink.  I always loved the story and my mother knew that some day I wanted the ruby glass decanter and glasses.  At some point my mother asked me what I wanted for Christmas and I told her I'd love it if she would give me something that she wanted me to have one day - and these are what I got - the best present ever.  It just seems right to keep them next to a picture of my mom.

The pictures of my mother and father came to me as is.  I was cleaning the dust from them and realized there were pictures behind the pictures.

My Aunt Dot and Uncle Paul, plus my brother's senior high school picture.  You just never know, do you?

Door Knobs

I collect door knobs, yes, door knobs.  I don't own thousands, and I'm picky about the ones that I buy. I find them interesting and even fascinating.  They are someone's history.  Who's door where they on?  Who touched it when opening the door.  Where was the house that owned it?  I notice door knobs where ever I go – and actually, I notice the whole door and the hardware that goes with them. (Oh come on, I'm sure you have a few strange collections of your own!)  Here are a few of my favorites.

So just a suggestion, make sure you always carry a screwdriver with you in case you see a door knob you know I'd love!  Hmmm, what do the door knobs in your house look like?

This 'n That

Here is what we had for dinner on Saturday. 

Spinach salad with oranges, pomegranates, toasted pine nuts and balsamic vinaigrette...roasted salmon and shrimp with a dill sauce, wild mushroom risotto and steamed asparagus.  Sorry, we ate the heart shaped ice cream cake before I got a picture of it!

Yesterday we spent some time outside.  It was a taste of better weather to come.  It was not warmer than maybe 40 degrees, but the sun was glorious.  The birds were singing, the sun was warm and I got a good look at some weeds that are surviving the winter!

My marble Zen bench is starting to lean westward, so it will have to be fixed in the spring.  Those are the Adirondack mountains in the background...notice how little snow there is!

Hope you're having a good start to another week – spring seems like it's just around the corner, although the Farmer's Almanac says we're going to get dumped on in early March.  They've been pretty right on so far...sigh.

Happy Valentine's Day!

So...if anyone out there is not happy with what their sweetheart presented to them on this special day, I would not complain – unless perhaps you received one of these:

WHO YOU CALLING A HOE? Let your Valentine feel the earth move! Described as a "very special tool," this touching hoe ($32.50, with 5-foot handle) will help your beloved pull weeds, edge borders, break up sod, and break up with you. After all, you gave him/her a hoe! The implications could hardly be clearer.

For more of these wonderful gifts, you can visit shoppingblog.com

And on that note, I'm off to make my sweetie a nice dinner – he might be a funny guy who loves jokes, but he knows better than to give me one of those! 

We All Love Ice Cream Cake!

Really now, who doesn't love ice cream cake – and with Valentine's Day just a few days away, why not make that special someone a special something.  I went looking for one and this is what I found.

The recipe is in the archive of Joy the Baker and it looks absolutely delicious. But if you're not in the mood to whip up a cake, you can always do this:

Take chocolate wafer cookies  and crush them up. Soften your favorite (or his/her favorite) ice cream.  In a cake pan (heart shaped is nice for this special day) spread half of the ice cream.  Then sprinkle a good layer of the crushed cookies spreading the remaining ice cream on top. Who needs icing?  Pop in the freezer and pull out about 10 minutes before serving.  I love shortcuts!

What a Great Idea

I saw this post and picture the other day on Craftzine and have been thinking about it - possibly because many of the things on the shelves are scattered about my house.  I have a big canister of wine corks and many collections of shells.  Plants, books and kid's pictures - yeah, I've got those too.  I love the color of the drawers (that's what they've used here) and has me thinking once again of color for accents to my subtle orange hallway.  Anyway, here is the link to the site.  These shelves would be perfect if only there were some door knobs displayed...more to come on those!