25 Things

1~I'm typing this in my pajamas, eating oatmeal with raisins for breakfast and listening to Comedy Central.

2~I like to read. In large print. So that I can read.  

3~I wish I could write like Alice Hoffman.

4~I had a near death experience once. When it was all over, I was shocked by how little I fought dying. I was OK with it, I guess.

5~My dream car is a dark blue Mini Cooper. But I probably won't ever buy one. Not enough cargo room.

6~When I watch a movie, I get so distracted by the sets that I lose track of the plot.

7~I worry that I'll be a hermit someday. I like to stay home too much.  

8~I have a mole on my upper lip. On the left. I grew up being told it was a beauty mark. I tried to shave it off when I was 5. It was, of course, an unsuccessful attempt. I had it burned off when I was 25 and it came back like a bad penny. I gave up after that.

9~I like to cook. But I still wish someone else would do it once in awhile.

10~I'm 45. Other than the aging part, it's way better than 25.

11~I hate cleaning out the fridge. I figured out that if I just don't, my husband eventually will. Passive aggression at it's finest. Poor man.

12~Speaking of my husband, he makes our bed every morning. And not as the result of me being passive aggressive. I love that!

13~My favorite thing to do is spend money. I'm not kidding. I'm all about a good deal, but I can spend money like nobody's business.

14~My religion is one of the most important things in my life, but that's probably the most I'll ever say about it on my blog.

15~I'm going to a Post Secret event with my daughter next week. We're huge Post Secret dorks. 

16~I cry very easily.

17~My grandma's house is for sale. I'm obsessed with the idea of buying it and renovating it and living in it. I really, really want that house! But there's no reason for us to live there. My husband's job is here. So I just re-do it in my head, over and over.

18~Speaking of jobs, we found out yesterday that someone is going to file to run against my husband. I HATE election years.
 

19~I miss my old job. I was a massage therapist. It was a good gig, but too hard on my back. And arms. And hands. And bum shoulder. But I still miss it.

20~I've never had a speeding ticket.

21~I'm not outdoorsy at all. Grilling steaks on the patio is my idea of camping.

22~I've lost the ability to sleep in. So depressing.

23~I love being married. I can barely remember not being married. I pray that I'll never be a widow.

24~I once said, out loud, that I'd love to see a speeding train hit a semi. It got really quiet, and when I looked up, everone in the room was staring at me with their mouths gaping open. I thought that it went without saying that I'd only like to see that if no one got hurt. Guess not!

25~My dreamhouse would be a barn.

  Thanks for reading, 
and have a great weekend!



Vintage Linen Pennant Banner

I may have mentioned a few times that I don't like to sew. At all. I avoid it whenever I can.

So this project required very little sewing, and none of it is done on a machine. Although, it wouldn't have been that hard to just sew it. Anyway. It's for Claire.

Who is 15 pounds of pure joy.

Her mother and I went to an antique store, and she tagged along. She actually chose those cocktail napkins.

I bought green double fold bias tape since green is the only color in all three napkins. Well, there's black, but I didn't think black would be as cute. Do you see how it's folded over? That made this project really easy.

I cut the napkins in half on the diagonal.

Since they're handmade, they weren't exactly square, so I had to fudge a little.

I thought about just laying them out like that for the banner, but I didn't like it very much.

So I folded the triangles in half, making sure the embroidery was centered, then pressed them.

Then I cut off the little tails, making the tops straight.

I used this stuff to glue the pennants inside the bias tape. I'd never used it before, but I like it a lot. It's easy to squeeze out a uniform line of glue, and it dries fast.

When the glue dried, I hung the pennant banner up and was instantly disappointed. The pennants were too far apart, and it looked like it was missing something. 

So I improvised. I gathered the extra bias tape between the pennants, and made a tailored little bow. I hand stitched it into place. Then I used the leftover scraps to cover some buttons to put in the center.

It ended up turning out much better than I'd thought it would. 

In fact, I wouldn't mind keeping it.

 But I won't. 

I might have to make another one for myself!
Thanks for reading!

Chocolate Orange Bundt Cake

This cake is a little bit of work, but it's so worth it! I found the recipe here but changed just a few things.

Chocolate Orange Bundt Cake 

• 3 1/2 cups cake flour
• 1 Tablespoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 sticks (1/2 pound) unsalted butter at room temperature
• ( I don't normally buy unsalted butter, so if you only have the salted kind like I do, just use it and decrease the salt by half.) 
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 large eggs, left at room temperature for 30 minutes
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups sour cream
• 1/2 teaspoon orange extract
• zest of 1 large orange (I used 2 oranges. I like things orangey.)
• 4 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips (completely optional, but the cake won't look quite the same. 2/3 cups might even be a good idea.)
• Put rack in the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Butter and flour a 12 cup Bundt pan.
• Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
• Beat together butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition, then beat in vanilla.  Reduce speed to low, add half of flour mixture, and mix until just blended.  Add sour cream, mixing until just combined, then add remaining flour mixture and mix until smooth.
• Divide the batter evenly into two bowls.  In one bowl add the orange zest and orange extract and stir well.  In the other bowl add sifted cocoa powder and chocolate chips and stir well.
• First pour the orange batter into the buttered Bundt pan, spreading it evenly around the bottom of the pan.  Next, simply add the chocolate batter on top of the orange to cover. You don't have to swirl it, but you can if you really must swirl. The chocolate batter is heavier, and it will sink a little, giving the cake kind of a cool effect. 
• Bake until cake is springy to the touch and a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean, 45 minutes to 1 hour.
• Remove from oven and cool cake in the pan for 30 minutes.  (This is important. Wait the full 30 minutes! If you don't, you'll have a cooling rack full of cake chunks. Ask me how I know.) Invert onto a cooling rack and cool completely.

 Yay! It came out in one piece!

 I made some orange-fudge frosting to go on top. 

• 1/2 c. butter
• 3 T. cocoa powder
• 2 T. corn syrup
• 3 T. orange juice
• 1/2 tsp. orange extract
• Powdered sugar
• Melt the butter in the microwave. 
• Add cocoa and corn syrup, blend well. 
• Microwave for 1 minute. 
• Add orange juice, the extract and enough powdered sugar to make a good spreading consistency. 

This is almost like a ganache. If you don't want anything that rich, just make a simple glaze out of orange juice and powdered sugar. It's even good with no frosting.

Anything chocolate and orange flavored always reminds me of my grandpa. 

(He was a cute little boy, wasn't he?)

He loved this kind of candy, and always had a box he would share.

I found out not too long ago that my other grandpa loved Peppermint Patties. I think I need to find a cake to make in his memory.

Thanks for reading!

$3.50=Happiness

There was an estate sale this past weekend.My favorite kind. An old farm fallen into disrepair. The house looked good, but there was a barn and some sheds that were falling down.They were also full of junk.

 The lady that runs the sales told me that if I went outside and dug something out, she'd give me a good deal. She just didn't want to deal with anything out there. When I went out, I couldn't say I blame her! I found the jar in an old trunk that was buried. I didn't look to closely at what exactly it was buried in. I did see some hair~that was when I stopped looking.

This was on a workbench outside of a shed. I was told they were ice tongs, but that bracket on the back was kind of confusing. Plus, they don't open and close.

 I brought the tongs home and poured Pepsi on them. It removes rust and gunk.

(A trick I learned from my uncles. They're farmers, and they used a lot of Pepsi to loosen parts on machinery that needed repair.) 

I thought they'd open and close once the gunk was eaten off.

 But no. I think maybe they aren't supposed to move. I think this is something that was manufactured to look like ice tongs~maybe to hold paper towels. But they're so cool and old and rusty that I don't really care.

I think they'd make a good coat rack. Or, if I can figure out how to affix some wood to the top, I might turn it into shelf.

 This was the big ticket item of the day. $2.00. I think that's bird poop on it. Again, not worth looking at too closely. I'm going to take it to a car wash on the next warm(ish)day we have and see if I can clean it up. If not, I'll just take off the keys and use them for something later on.

And that was all it took to make my day!

Thanks for reading!