Book Club

Our selection for this month was Mrs. Mike. I LOVED the book. It is based on the life of Katherine Flannigan. Her story is amazing. I actually had a hard time believing it could even be a true story. I found out at our meeting that there are parts in the book that did not happen. Our moderator was able to find some information about Mrs. Mike on the Internet. If you are looking for a good read, I would highly recommend reading Mrs. Mike. Someday I'm going to watch the movie.

I hosted this month & gave everyone in the club a bookmark that I made. I had numbers & the person that drew one got first pick.

They are made with wool felt, stitched with embroidery thread and backed with regular felt that is pre-glued. I am definitely going to make more.

I served cheese fondue. The first time I had ever made cheese fondue. Cheese fondue is made with wine & not milk or cream. I had no idea. I had always assumed milk based. It was delicious I'm going to start making it more often when we have get togethers. I won't host again until November although, next month I'm the moderator. The selection for March is The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.

Tip Thursday

Remember when "we" started this project? I say we since I'm not doing any of the work. It was January 25, 2009. The scope of the renovation project was to install a door going down to the basement.

Doors are in, painting is still required. I love the hardware. Oh, I did do some work. I cleaned all the hardware!

The interior of the powder room now has moulding similar as the rest of the house. It looks so much better then the cheap stock moulding! Painting is still required.
A phase of the project that we never imagined was to install recessed lighting in the family room. It required crawling in the attic.
It looked like a movie set.
When I designed the kitchen/family room the ONLY thing I messed up was not putting recessed lighting in this area. I thought I would have to live with my mistake. I am so very happy to have them. I can now sit on the love seat & be able to read.
Projects are always such a mess. The worse part. The never ending dust. Oh, I did do some work. I collected all the dust in the Dyson.
Thursday Tip. Plan on every home project to take more time than expected. Plan on the project to be more work than expected. Plan on the project costing more money than expected. Lastly, mentally go into the project remembering the above tips, you will feel better during the process.

Wordless Wednesday

Fashion Noted

I have a "cyber friend" and her name is Lisa. Lisa was Amie's classmate at FIDM. Together they traveled on the Spring 2007 Europe trip thru FIDM. Lisa now lives in SLC and has a great blog called Fashion Noted. She had 5 minutes of fame when she appeared on the Ellen Show. Her friends gave her tickets as a birthday present & while at the show she was a random pick to appear on the show.

I have Fashion Noted in my Blog List, make sure you check it out on a regular basis. She will have fame with her fashion writing and you can say you heard about her here first.

Someday I hope to meet Lisa in person!

The best night out.

Yes, that is a Cowboy shirt & he is our friend anyway.

They are in the middle of a basement renovation. All the Stine's & bottles are going away & will be replaced with sports memorabilia. They have been collecting old baseball gloves, skis, skates, etc. Maybe when they are finished they'll let me come over & take pictures to show you everything they have on display.The reason we were asked over was to visit, as she says, MY STALKER. My friend Kay was in town with her daughter, she attended preschool with Eric.

They a cute mother & daughter.

Now when Kay leaves GEL-Oh a comment you can put a face with the name. It was so nice seeing both mother & daughter. The best nights out are always at the home of friends. Oh, Kay is the sister-in-law of the Cowboy fan.

Country Home

I knew this was coming and I don't like it one bit. I have a huge magazine obsession. I haven't counted recently but, I have about 10 magazine subscriptions. The favorite of all my subscriptions WAS Country Home. O at Home, Domino & Mary Emmerling are also ceasing publication. Guess my subscriptions will be down to a single digit.

They think there is "good news"??? I just want my County Home.

: (

This darn economy anyway.

Tip Thursday

Did you know?If you use liquid fabric softener when washing bath towels or dryer sheets when drying your newly cleaned bath towels, the drying ability will not be as good since the products leave a film onto the towels.

Wordless Wednesday

Grandma & a few small buttons

Over the long weekend I was able to find some time to craft. I had the frame, it was a birthday gift from Mau several years ago. I have had a "thing" for old buttons for awhile now and got the idea to do something with buttons from Scrapbooking Life's Little Moments.

The photo is of my Maternal Grandmother. She was a phenomenal crafter, seamstress, knitter, crocheter, drawer, you name she could make it. She was also a wonderful cook! I like to think that my measly crafting ability came from her. The gene skipped a generation because my Mom has none. Thankfully, Amie has the crafting gene and she gets to craft for a living!The button card belonged to her & the labels I tore off spools of thread that were also hers.

This button card was also hers, and my favorite of the two. The measuring tape & even the safety pin belonged to her.
Guess what? These three buttons were hers. I bet you already figured that out. But, the lace belonged to my Paternal Grandmother. While making this project I found of bunch of sewing items that belonged to my Paternal Grandmother. I think I need to make another collage. I actually had some tears while making this project thinking about all the wonderful memories I had of my grandmother.
I'm going to hang this in our half bath off the family room. I feel funny having a "legacy" type item in a bathroom but it will look good in there. As soon as Mick is finished with installing the new molding it will get hung.

Free Fonts

I'm off today and so far I have spent most of my day, loading the dishwasher & unloading the dishwasher, loading the washing machine & unloading the washing machine, loading the dryer & unloading the dryer. I also started the task of dusting/cleaning my craft room. I've been told the door was shut when the wood on the stairs was sanded but it does not seem to be true. Every piece of paper, container & piece of furniture is covered with DUST. Anyway, I decided to take a break and came across a site to make a font out of your own handwriting. I immediately thought of Amie, Rachel, Katie & Brittany. They all have the nicest handwriting & need to visit Your Fonts. I should have saved this for a Tip Thursday in November. This would be great to use for a holiday letter. Now I think I'll waste a bit more time on the computer before I go back up to the dust bowl.

Sweet Comebacks

We spent Valentine's Day afternoon at our house with Mike & Dayle. We watched the SU basketball overtime victory. Yes, finally a victory. Dayle brought a Chocolate-Cherry Stack Cake. The recipe is out of the Better Homes and Gardens February issue.

According to the article, chocolate & cherries are making a comeback. Cherries may have gone out of style but chocolate certainly hasn't in my diet.

If you have the magazine this is definitely a recipe to keep. The cake is DELICIOUS.

Happy Valentine's Day

Have a cupcake from me today!

Felt Bookmarks

I finished only three bookmarks this work week. I was going to make a different pattern on each of the 12 pieces of felt that I cut out, I've given up on that idea. I'm going to settle for six different patterns.

Eric is home. He had yesterday & Monday off as holidays & he took a vacation day for today. Last night we went to Allie's home to see the progress on his Master's basement remodel. The cats were very playful and quite entertaining. Eric is looking at the extra toe on Allie's front paw. I guess I'm not a very good photojournalist. I should have taken a close up picture of the paw for all to see. I know the Park Ln household would have liked to see it.
I have Monday off. There is nothing better than a three day weekend. Well, maybe a four day weekend. Do they even make those?

Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs

CFLs use up to 75% less energy than regular bulbs and last 12 times longer. Each bulb costs about $3.00, I've found them less than that. If you used a bulb for about four hours day in NYS, the bulb would save about $1 in energy costs per month. Payback would be in about 3 months. In Nebraska the payback would be just over 7 months. It depends on the cost of your electricity. I've replaced all the bulbs in our house that we use on a regular basis with CFBs.

Oh, a bonus tip. Change your furnace filter after every 3 months of use.

Wordless Wednesday

It's for me?

In our mail yesterday there was a SPANX catalog. I didn't think it could have been for me but I checked the name & address on the back & my name was there. I became familiar with SPANX when I was in the Atlanta bridal shops with Debbie, Leigh Anna & Amie.

I just know that this was the page directed to me. Is it to late for an exercise & eat better New Year resolution? I hope not cause receiving that catalog got me motivated.

Green Project

According to my red husband, he is doing a green project. The wall was built with leftover & reclaimed wood. The reason the entire project started is an attempt to keep the cold air from the basement coming up to the family room.

The two doors are original to house and are over 100 years old. They are my favorite part of the green project. I really like how they came out after Mick refinished them. He also looked thru my old key stash & now the bathroom door can lock using a skeleton key.
My weekend project was making felt bookmarks. Hope to have some finished to show you this week.

Geneseo Ice Knights

I'll be watching Geneseo Ice Knights play tonight and as the saying goes, "you can never go back."

I'll miss my travel partners but, they may not feel the same about me, their designated driver. I won't be watching my most favorite defensive line in all the SUNYAC. I did get to see Sankey play last year. I hope he is doing well back in BC.

I hope I remember to "be aware." One time I wasn't & I had a mark on my arm for about eight months.
I'll even miss the old coaches.
I'll especially miss the Ice Knight's number one fan, Hiroko, who is back living in Japan. What she wouldn't give to see another Geneseo hockey game.
I won't be celebrating a victory at the Idle.

Although, I hope I will celebrate a victory.

I will be seeing Amber & Don.

Let's Go Ice Knights!

Tip Thursday

Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Over the years I've made garlic mashed potatoes with fresh chopped garlic &/or garlic powder and was never happy with the taste. I finally figured out the secret, roasted garlic. To roast; cut the tops off the bulbs, place in a muffin tin, rub with olive oil, cover with foil and bake for about one hour at 350. Once cooled, or you can refrigerate to use another day, squeeze out the garlic into the potatoes. I use two bulbs for five pounds of potatoes.

Wordless Wednesday

Rose Parade Floats

Bits & pieces of the display of flowers on the floats.