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Remember the old commercial, "It's not nice to fool Mother Nature."?  Well, there is some foolishness going on in my part of the country and I think that mother is responsible. The sun is rising on another cold and snowy day in Dec.  (not really) More like January. (Wrong again.) Well, February then. (No, not February either.)  Would you believe these pictures were taken on March 27th, 2011. Soon to go down in history as the Battle of the Gods.  The god of Winter is having a tug-of-war with the goddess of Spring. And the poor little hyacinths are caught in the crossfire. The hostas were fooled by several days of 70 degree weather.  They grew about 2 inches per day and were well above ground when they were buried by 4 inches of heavy wet snow. The tulips are confused but hopefully they will get their wits back in time to show up for the REAL Spring. The Magnolias are used to getting knocked off their branches b...

I stopped making excuses for my obsession with furniture a long time ago.  However, sometimes I pause as I unload yet one more piece, and ask myself..."Where are you going to use this." Would this not be pretty in ANY color? Such a cute little toe, so hard to resist. It had so many pretty parts and just one... not so pretty part.  But even that made me want to take it home and make it better. Are you smitten yet? I think I was at first glance but it took me two trips to Upscale Resale to succumb. On the second visit when I saw that it was still there, I decided to ask for a better price.  This was to be the decision maker. I guess you know how that negotiation went. That's behind me now.  I'm committed.  So back to my question of "Where will I put this?"  I think I found my answer tonight.  We know how these things work out, don't we.  I had a few minutes to run down the list of my favorite blogs and randomly click on one.  Ton...

I'm on a roll now.  Wiping out the faux painting in one room has made it easier to tackle the next one.  The kitchen was done in a drywall mud tinted with paint and applied in a random manner to resemble a plaster wall.  To add to the effect, I left parts "unplastered" to show the bricks beneath the surface.  In this case those bricks were only painted on the wall with grout lines and the texture of real bricks. You can see some of these faux bricks above the stove, in the middle of the photo just above the countertop and above the shelf on the left.  Also note the light fixture.  I fell in love with this at Arhaus and when it went on sale it came home with me.  However, I started thinking this might also be one of those "owner specific" items and if that was the case then it is definately going with me when I move.  So a replacement fixture became the goal. I found this one at the Habitat for Humanity Restore for $15.00.  They e...

Anyone who has ever put a house on the market while still living there could probably top any story I have to tell.  Let's just say it is not really "living" in your home and it's not anything like what you'd call "home" during that time. For starters, you have to neuter the entire house because most prospective buyers cannot see past your taste in anything.  That includes artwork, photographs, books, furniture, accessories, color, and probably even your music collection. In preparation for putting my house on the market, I have stripped away as much as I could without renting storage. (well, actually I am using part of my brother's garage for some things.)  But it seems that is not good enough.  My home is still considered too "owner specific."  You see in the early 90's I got very involved in faux painting.  I took lots of classes.  Then to help pay for more classes I painted a few restaurants and took on many residential jobs. ...

For over 25 years I have belonged to a group that meets once a month to discuss and analyze our dreams.  (The kind you have while you are sleeping.)  February was my month to host this event that begins at 9:30 a.m. and ends somewhere around one o'clock.  So, of course, this involves food. It's a chance to try out new recipes as these gals are pretty adventuresome. I started with Praline-Pecan French Toast.  (Recipe is in Southern Living, Feb. 2011).  I actually have a very similar recipe that I called Night Before French Toast so I blended the two.  The changes I made to the magazine recipe are as follows: 8 eggs instead of 4 3 cups of milk rather than 1 cup. My recipe says you can chill for 4-36 hours and this time I did the 36 hours. I baked it for 45 minutes which is about 10 minutes longer than the SL recipe. It was pretty tasty so if you can't find the recipe, just leave me a comment and I will forward it to you.  You won't be sorr...