A Day Off

Sometimes little things can be the most frustrating to deal with. I have multiple choice philosophy for such days: A) When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping. B) When the going gets tough, the tough eat something delicious. C) Both of the above. Yup, today was a choice C kind of day, so I took the boy out for lunch at our favorite California Mexican place (Rubio's) where we devoured fish tacos with smoky chipotle sauce (me) and overstuffed bean burritos loaded with cheese (Jade). Next, we headed to Hobby Lobby's big sale to hunt for home decor. Take a look at our finds!

Since white vinyl decals are hard to come by, I decided some soft colors that play well with the pale blue  would look good. In addition to adding some whimsy to the space, these afford a couple more choices for towel colors.

Here's the artwork I picked up for the guest bath wall. I have been torn between something with muted, romantic colors and something with a more graphic quality. This just seems tailor made for the space from its dark brown tree, to its bright white background and lone touch of blue. (And who could resist a bird in a tree?)

Next, these sconces caught my eye. I fancied they looked like stylized bird cages,
and so I just had to bring them home, too.

My final purchase of the day came in the floral department. I've spent the last two weeks looking for something to put in these aged vases that used to live on the fireplace. (Once the new coat of white when on, their creamy beige just didn't seem to look right, so they have a new home in our bedroom. The combination of silk flowers with the assorted dried grasses seems to be just the right amount of drama for the space.

After lunch and shopping, I felt immensely better and we headed home. While Jade worked on his online class, I put all the purchases in place. Then to cap off the day, we decided cookies were in order. (OK, I decided, but he'll eat most of them!) My first thought was to make jam thumbprints with some of the fig jam from last week, but then I spied the snicker doodle recipe. As I rolled the dough into little balls, it occurred to me to combine the two ideas and press thumbprint indentations into the snicker doodles. However, since I didn't refrigerate the dough first, the shape didn't hold. Not to be discouraged, I pulled a can of cream cheese frosting from the pantry and mixed in a good portion of fig jam. (I couldn't tell you how much since I just kept added jam until the icing tasted distinctly of figs.) Once cooled, the cookies became wonderful little sandwiches. Soft and cinnamon-y cookies, cream cheese and fig filling - what's not to like? This filling would be great between layers of spice cake, too. It might even be the type of filling Jeff is enjoying so much in Viennese tortes since it has the creaminess of good icing, but the taste of fruit. Overall, the day may have had a rocky start, but it had a sweet ending.

Snicker doodles with cream cheese and fig filling

Still Painting

As I write, the 12-hour top coat wait time has begun on the lower kitchen cabinets. (Hooray!) This means that tomorrow I'll be able to replace the fronts (and all the pots, pans, and utensils that are in boxes in my living room) and begin the final section - the upper cabinets. I'm anticipating and dreading this part because I'll have to stand on a step ladder to reach the top, but I'm almost done with the required painting. Don't get me wrong, I won't be finished painting since I have a dining table and china hutch to go, but if one of those doesn't get done before Jeff's welcome home party, it's not a big deal. I have to admit, living with the disarray is wearing on my nerves, but I'm happy to be able to see the end. I'm also happy with the results.

My dining room has become project central.

Half of my cabinets are empty, making it feel like moving day!

This is the finished product in the guest bath.
I still need to accessorize, but the basics are there.

I couldn't decide whether to paint it white or brown, but after an initial coat of white, I decided brown is the better choice. (Guess I should have listened when Mom said it would be.) I'm still looking for some vinyl wall stickers to apply to the doors, but white ones are hard to come by since the manufacturer seems to assume everyone has light colored walls. (ha!)

Here's the main attraction - kitchen island - in black and white. You can see the original cabinet color in the background (though that view will be very different come tomorrow morning). I'm contemplating a black vinyl design on each door and some pretty hardware (retro glass handles or maybe something in wrought iron).

Of course, as painting continues so do some smaller projects. The last couple of days I have cut out fabric for eight place mats in a simple pieced quilting design. The first set of four is made from a heart of hearts block with (of course) graduated hearts appliqued to the front. The second set of four is made from a windmill block that consists of strips of fabric turned in different directions. Cutting out the pieces was pretty simple once I made a set of card stock templates. (I realize this is elementary for all you quilters, but I'm new to the craft.) I'll be posting photos of those as I stitch them up (tomorrow?). For now, I'm calling it a night to enjoy some fireworks and a glass of wine (which reminds me of a wine bottle project I want to get started on as well).

Figs Galore

When Charles Dickens wrote, "Train up a fig tree in the way it should go, and when you are old sit under the shade of it," he neglected to mention having to deal with the fruit in the meantime. Don't get me wrong; I'm not complaining about how prolific my lovely (not so) little tree is, only about its timing. Figs are delicate morsels that must be eaten or cooked within a day or two of picking or they begin to shrivel (which means, I suppose, that it's time to get out the dehydrator). So last night, after I put the guest bath and kitchen island cabinets back together and everything back in the drawers, etc. I decided I'd better cook some figs.

Of course, finding my jar stash to be nearly nil, I had to make a quick run to Wally World for supplies.  At the time, the quart jars looked like the way to go - plenty of room for all those figs. After filling some of them, however, I see that pint jars are probably a better choice for portion control during later use. (Live and learn!) I also discovered that the largest pot I own accommodates only four pounds of figs with their accompanying liquid/syrup. This severely restricted the process since I had to make something, wash the pot, and start over each time. (I feel a VERY large pot coming home in the near future.) I wanted to use eight pounds of fruit to make the pickled figs, but ended up with only the four that would fit. Since they take awhile to make, it becomes problematic to produce small batches. Though, the smell was heavenly and the small amount of syrup left over at the end, delicious! It reminded me of cinnamon crab apples I've eaten somewhere down the line. Even today, I'm staring at the beautiful jars thinking I should just open one and dig in, but I'm trying to practice restraint until fall when all the fresh fruit is gone.

Once the pickled figs were in the jars, I decided fig chutney (one of my personal favorites) should be next on the menu. Another four pounds of quartered figs went into the pot along with other yummy ingredients like chopped onions, cinnamon, all spice, and ginger. This too has to simmer for quite a long time, so I contemplated what to do with the remaining four pounds but decided to quit for the night by the time the chutney finished bubbling. So, here's the tally for the week: four pounds of figs into jam, four pounds of figs pickled, four pounds of figs into chutney, four pounds of figs still in the fridge, and four pounds of figs eaten fresh and given to a neighbor. Judging from the size and color of the fruit remaining on the tree, I have about a week's reprieve before the next harvest begins. (I'm actually hoping for two weeks, but that's selfish.)

Anyone want to trade some pickled okra or canned salsa for figs? I think I'll have plenty.

Start here - with fresh, ripe figs

Fig jam

Pickled figs

Fig chutney

Hanging in There

I've always been a little clumsy, and home improvement projects tend to bring out my inner klutz. In the last two weeks I've bumped my head (twice), banged and bruised my knee, smashed my toe, squished my finger, broken every nail I have, and stepped on an industrial size plug with bare feet. Rest assured, none of these mishaps has caused any serious injury, but I have kindled a close friendship with ibuprofen. Still, minor injuries only create momentary setbacks as projects continue to move forward. Today (I'm happy to report.) I put the top coat on the cabinetry for the guest bath and kitchen island. This means that tomorrow morning (after the final 12 hour drying time elapses), I can replace the doors, admire my handy work for a few moments, and move on to the lower kitchen cabinets.

In the meantime, I managed to accomplish only a couple of small projects today (mostly because the boy and I goofed off for several hours this morning). First, I picked up some trim to finish off the tea cup niche which I covered with black and white toile fabric yesterday. I must say, the trim really sets off the fabric and the shape of the niche, making the project look polished and professional.

Next, I decided to install a spice rack I picked up at Walmart for a mere $12. This rack is particularly nifty in that it swivels down from the shelf to allow full view and easier access to the spices at the back of the cabinet. My only complaint is that some of my (mismatched) jars were too tall for the back rack, which left me with two options: raise the shelf above the rack, place the taller bottles in the front. Option one seemed out of the question since I couldn't budge the shelf supports (those silly little plastic ones that click in place and require huge amounts of pressure concentrated into nimble fingers). But once I moved the taller items to the front, all worked well.

Here's the rack tucked neatly inside the cabinet.
I centered it so that side space could be used for larger items like salt containers, extract bottles, etc.

Here's how the rack looks when it swivels down. Cool, huh?

The installation was pretty easy since it consisted of attaching a bracket to the bottom of the cabinet, slipping the rods on the back of the rack into the bracket, and then attaching the one on the other side. I have to admit, though, I had a couple of minor setbacks. First, I did not have the hand strength to simply screw the brackets into the wood. "Aha!" I thought, "I'll use Jeff's drill to create pilot holes!" However, the drill was too large to fit under the shelf above (and as I previously noted, there wasn't any way in Hades I could make it move). So, I decided to use a nail to create a small starter hole. (Eureka!) This worked like a charm and the screws when right into the cabinet base at last. (Yes, stick-to-it-ness prevailed again.) All in all, the whole thing took less than 30 minutes - even with the delays. Take a look at the finished project.

Here is everything resting neatly inside the cabinet.

The downward swivel provides easy access to items in the back.