Versatile Blogger Award!

Wow- Maureen over at This (Kinda) Old House totally surprised me by passing a "Versatile Blogger Award" to me.  A BIG THANK YOU! 
If you haven't checked out Maureen's blog, please do!  There are lots of fun projects going on at her house- I'm keeping a close eye on the bathroom renovation :o)

I'm completely honored that anyone would even read my blog... nevermind refer to it in their own blog & pass along an award!

Since I'm rather new to blogging, I had to click around to find out the "rules" of said Versatile Blogger Award.

List 7 things about myself:
-I'm a 30-something mom of two boys.
-I've been married to my college sweetheart for 10 years.
-I love my job- it's a great feeling to get up every morning and look forward to going to work.
-Some couples feel strain on the relationship when house renovations are underway- but I think that's when Mike & I are at our best!  We love a good project!
-When things aren't organized, I feel kinda frantic (which leads me to...)
-I love lists: shopping lists, to do lists, packing lists, lists of lists (just kidding! sort of!)
-I couldn't live without our DVR.  I'm always way behind on my favorite shows- so don't tell me the latest storylines, I'm probably not there yet!


Now I'm to bestow the Versatile Blogger Award to other blogs that I enjoy reading... as I like to say, these guys give me information AND inspiration!

Vintage Junky- I first started following Michelle's blog in August when I stumbled upon the train party she did for her son.  Great party planning, plus tons of antiques... I was hooked!

My Old Historic House- I started reading Richard's posts this past summer, after we had moved into our 1790 house.  I was looking for information on Butler's Pantries and found this.  Each post on Richard's blog is a treasure trove of beautiful antiques & the history behind them.

Poofy Cheeks- I found Kelsey's blog after seeing her projects on Pinterest.  Such creativity!  I have a list (big surprise!) of about 15 projects that Kelsey has inspired and I will (someday) complete.

Cake & Coffee- So proud of Beth receiving her PhD!  Beth has a way of enlightening you about nutrition, without making you feel like a complete fat ass for enjoying a latte as you're reading her blog!  And to top it off- she's funny!

Northern Cheapskate- Christine keeps me up to date with all the great offers & fun things to do with the kids, without spending a fortune! (In my list above, I probably also should have mentioned how much I enjoy getting a good deal!)

Dressing up a wall

Since the previous weekend was a complete bust, due to weather... I was itching to get SOMETHING done around the house!

And I have to say, we were busy!  But there was only one project that we actually completed.

Ever since I painted the little hallway back at the beginning of October, I've been going back & forth on how to fancy it up a bit.

Here's where we started:                                        And some progress, with a gray base coat:
                                                 

I considered doing a stamp in silver, on top of the gray. 
I even went so far as purchasing this stamp online--->

And when I tried it out, it just looked like a silver blob. 
The tree lost all definition. 

Not the look I was going for.

Next I saw this post about "painted wallpaper" by Emily at Jones Design Company. 

SO Pretty! 

I downloaded the template, and got tracing...

I thought I was all set with my paint choice- Valspar Brilliant Metals, Violet Gleam. 
Until I read the directions on the paint chip more closely... it wasn't a mixed color, it required a very dark purple base coat, with the finishing coat on top to make it shimmery.  Well, that wasn't going to work!  UGH!


So, as is typical, I decided to wing it  (with hubby looking on doubtfully!)
I picked up this silver metallic glaze & mixed in some left over paint from the master bathroom (thank goodness we took that with us when we moved!) 
It mixed perfectly (whew!)

I got out a couple of brushes... the sponge ones didn't work.  They'd probably be great if it was a pattern with straight lines, but this had too many curves, and the sponge didn't give me enough control.

I raided my son's art box & came up with this smaller craft brush.  I also found this stencil in there (should have checked there before ordering that stamp online!) 

But more on the stencil later...

Emily had done a double pattern, tracing the inside of each line.  I tried to replicate it, but didn't have much luck.  I'm a little short on patience, and apparently more of a "color within the lines" kind of gal.

Which I'm okay with,
given the results!

  

Here's a view from the main hallway  --->
I thought about continuing around the hallway, but the uneven ceiling would likely be even more noticeable with a pattern on it!

On the right side of the photo, you can sort of see the purple bathroom.  This hallway will eventually be our walk-in closet, so I think the silvery/purple pattern will be a nice transition from our (soon-to-be) gray bedroom into the dark purple bathroom.



<--- Here's a view from the bedroom door, looking into the bathroom.  That wall remained plain gray.

I'm pretty tickled with how the whole thing turned out!

 

Update: 
I did another version of this stencil in the new master closet... you can check that out here.

So, back to the stencil I found in my son's art box... 

Of course, as soon as I got out the paint my little  hooligans helpers showed up.  To keep them busy, I gave them the discarded sponge brushes & some card stock.
My three year old covered the paper with the metallic purple.  My six year old used the stencil.

After they dried, I got an old frame out of the attic (can't believe it was actually already purple!) and put them together. 

I think I'm going to put it on the wall in the bedroom, to bring together the whole master suite color scheme.  That is... once we get the bedroom painted (fingers crossed for this week!)

And I just found a couple of little purple hand prints on the kid's bathroom wall (on the way to the sink!) 

Mr. Clean Magic Erasers to the rescue! 



Canning

We weren't able to plant a veggie garden this year (too busy unpacking from our big move!)

So, we decided to sign up for a CSA. 

I was a little hesitant... I've looked into CSAs in the past & they often included lots of veggies that I wouldn't even know how to begin cooking!

What I love about the one we selected is that in addition to corn, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, lettuce, & string beans, they include lots of fruit in the weekly pick-up.  We're talking BAGS of peaches, pears, nectarines, apples... and now that it's fall, a gallon of Apple Cider is included each week too!

It's been wonderful!

The only struggle we have had is eating it all before the next week's pick-up!  That's when I decided to try out some canning. 





My Mom gave me two dozen (at least!) of her canning jars.  I just had to pick up some new lids for them.

She also gave me an old cookbook on canning called "Sweetmeats" which was published in 1935. 

Check out some of the words of wisdom it includes:

"Surely, no housewife need be told the value of fruit in the diet- it has laxative values and is an excellent regulator..."

"It is better to do the preparatory work, such as getting out needed kettles, examining and cleaning jars, and similar matters the day before, so that early the following morning one may start in at the real work while still free from fatigue."

"One of the refreshing things a housewife can do is to keep a cold drink on hand and when tasks become tiresome, take a few minutes to rest and sip a refreshing drink."

HA!  I found it quite amusing!

For more practical (and modern) advice, I found this website really helpful: http://www.simplycanning.com/

I prepped my peppers, cucumbers & peaches.  Since I didn't have a very big cooking pot, I could only process two large jars at a time (or three small jars).  So, it took a little longer than it would otherwise, but it was a success!

Here's a pic of my peppers and soon-to-be pickles:


I definitely could have packed the cukes in there even tighter...

good to know for next time!

 

And I'm in love with how pretty the peaches look!

Realizing this is something I can actually do... I started the search for one of those really big cooking pots- but they were over $50 at Walmart! 

Then we went to a flea market and I found one for $5- WooHoo!

I tried doing a second batch in the new pot, but our stinkin' old stove takes FOREVER to bring that much water to a boil. So, I'll have to wait until we get the new stove to try it out.

  

Over the snowy Halloween weekend, we made a big batch of Apple Butter.  While we ate some of it right away, I also canned a couple of jars to have later this winter (SO yummy on toast or warmed on top of vanilla ice cream)!

I absolutely can't wait until the kitchen is done and I have a nice place to display our pretty, filled jars!

Snowy Halloween!

I was planning to go out in the yard and take some autumn-y photos to post, but then this happened:

We were lucky, only losing power for the afternoon/evening... many of our neighbors are still without it.

Looking on the bright side, not having heat gave us the opportunity to try out our fireplace!  We weren't sure how well it would work, since the chimney cleaners told us the opening was really small. 

Hooray- great draft, so we're good to go!

Once the snow stopped, it was actually quite beautiful outside!  The sky was SO blue! 

We went out to survey the damage...

Lots of tree limbs were down- and one fell on our picket fence.  (Good thing we have those extra sections that we took down & saved when we put the new fence in!)

A big branch also fell on the car- THANKFULLY no damage!

So, we ended up having a cozy weekend at home, and the kids had a great time playing in this freakishly early snow  (let's hope they still have this enthusiasm come February!  I highly doubt I will!)





Hot Cocoa by the fire, to warm them up after playing outside!



Here are a couple Halloween photos I did manage to take before the snow:

Antique corn roaster-
didn't actually try it, but thought it looked quite pretty!



Pumpkin picking two weekends ago





An autumn sunrise



On the Fence

As mentioned before, our property is on a corner.  We love the way this allows our driveway to swoop around, and we can enter from either street. 

The down side is that despite the very pretty picket fence, our yard feels a little too exposed to passing eyes- providing a grand view of the multicolored plastic playsets (you know, the ones I swore we'd never own... before we had kids!)

The white string (which runs in front of the tractor)
 marks where it needs to go.

After a couple of visits to the local municipal building, we obtained a permit to put in a 6 foot tall privacy fence. 

It has to be at least 30 feet from the property line, which is a bit further in than we were hoping, but those are the rules! 

We plan to plant a variety of trees and bushes on the street side of the fence, so that'll be fine.

The fence will come back from the corner of the house.

We ordered the fence panels & posts, and had them delivered. 

Next was renting the auger... there were 26 holes to dig!  Way too many to do by hand.







Progress!!!!

Mike tried to level the ground as much as possible down the 200 foot length of the fence, but it got really high on the end furthest from the house.  

So, although we were trying to avoid it, we had to do one "step-up" of the fence panels. 

While we would have rather it been all even, once the plantings are done it won't be as noticable.

And the fence is up!!!

Next Mike made the gate (so we won't have to walk  all the way around if we need to get to the other side!)

He took a panel and cut it to fit the opening he had left.  At Lowe's, he bought a heavy-duty set of hinges & a handle.

Gate open

Gate from the inside of the yard



Now we just have to stain it- we want to make it hunter green so it doesn't stand out as much.  Then colors in the future plantings will really pop! 

We plan to go out to select & purchase the stain this weekend, but since it's still going to be quite wet from all this rain, we'll have to wait until everything dries out a little to complete the project... more to come!