Painting?!?!

Again? Yep - you heard it here first - I painted another wall!!  It was a small wall - so not so bad. Let me tell you a little story about a little bathroom.... the downstairs bathroom is a sink and toilet but someone decided to put a monster towel rack in there and no TP holder (OK it was not a monster but a regular size rack for a little bathroom - was not right) guess I didn't get a before picture *grrrr* Scott put in a little towel holder next to the sink and a TP holder on the wall under where the towel rack had been. He filled the holes but we could not tell what paint they used - this is one of the rooms we did not paint when we moved in. He used a paint that was left in the garage that seemed like the right color - it was not. Well, I did not want to paint the whole room - so we picked one of the blues from the Valspar National Trust for Historic Preservation paint line (that is the line all the other paint we chose is from)and painted the one wall.

small rack near sink

before - you can see where the wrong paint is...

Scott taped the heck out of it since we don't know what color that is

after - matches the blue of the rug too!!

 I think it's lovely!! Too dark to paint the whole room blue.
Scott hung up the one set of curtains we have bought - they are expensive and we are buying them one panel at a time with a coupon - may take years to cover all the windows!! It's hard to take window pictures - so here is my best shot.

room is not done - pictures are not up yet

this is what the sheers look like

If you follow this blog you know I LOVE LOVE LOVE Skinnytaste. Recently she posted a recipe for zoodles with lemon garlic spicy shrimp yes, zoodles - zucchini noodles and I HAD to have a Paderno spiral vegetable slicer . I love that thing!! I made Kung Pao shrimp and zoodles the first night I had it!!

zoooodles

my sauce is not thick enough this time

So delicious!! The key is to get your pan really hot - add a little oil and cook them for a minute or two - no more! The people on the comments complained that they did not reheat well but I disagree - it was wonderful the next day for lunch!! I put them on a paper towel to absorb some of the liquid until I was ready to cook them. I have two zoodle dinners planned this week - scrumptious!!  I told my friend Kristen I would share the recipe here...
Kung Pao Shrimp (and ZOODLES)

3/4 c chicken broth
1/4 c rice wine
2T soy sauce 
2T honey
1T chili garlic sauce (add a little more if you like it spicier)
2T cornstarch
1t dark sesame oil

2t peanut oil

4 scallions chopped
1T ginger paste
2 garlic cloves minced
4c broccoli florest
8 oz bamboo - Scott hates bamboo so I took a handful of baby carrots and sliced them each into 3 planks - so they look like shoots 
1lb medium shrimp peeled and deveined

4 medium zucchini spirilized
2t peanut oil

Combine broth, wine, soy sauce, honey, chili garlic sauce, cornstarch and sesame oil in a bowl - set aside
heat pan swirl in peanut oil add onions, garlic, ginger, carrots (or bamboo) and saute a few minutes. Add broccoli (I add about 1/2 c water so the broccoli steams a little - up to you) cook a few minutes then add shrimp and cook until shrimp is done. Add broth   - be careful it should thicken right up. in another pan that has been heated add the oil swirl it around and add the zoodles - only cook them for a minute or 2 so that they are warm.
divide into 4 equal servings. 

Last weekend for our 23rd anniversary we went letterboxing and out to St Elmo's steakhouse - wow is that food amazing!! Letterboxing was so much fun. One of the things I really love about it is it takes you places you didn;'t know about. Especially if you move to a new place.We went to Franklin IN - they have a retirement community for Freemasons - the buildings are beautiful!! I love the town - the library had a bunch of fun things to do - tee shirt designing, geocaching class, herb classes!

grave in the middle of the road

Letterboxing here has taken us to a wine and cheese shop, a really fun ice cream place, a fabulous pizza joint, a place to have tea, a fabulous cemetery, a lovely park, a local coffee shop. Plus we walked a total of 1 hour and 45 minutes (have to to burn off all that food!!) It was a great time!!

Scott bought me this crazy wine cask at an antique place.

I know nothing about it. There is one very similar on ebay that says it's vintage carved wine safe but we think ours is resin so I can't find any info about it. I think it's fabulous though!!

Don't you just LOVE this table? I really wanted it for my craft room but they wanted way too much for it.
I baked a different bread this week - Honey Oatmeal Sandwich bread by Brown Eyed Baker

It was good but I like the white bread much better - we ate it all of course. It was very good when toasted.
I hope you are having a lovely Easter Sunday - the weather is so nice here. Thanks for stopping by!

Mary Ellen's autograph book

Dear Mary Ellen,          (no date)
Roses are red
Volits (sic) are blue
Monkeys like you
Belong in the zoo.

Your friend Nancy
has a monkey picture drawn with "Mary Ellen" under it - mean girl

bloggers block

Yeah, I think that's what we'll call it. I have a job now and it's taken me a few weeks to figure out how to work regular hours. I don't know how people get anything done working five days a week. I get to have breakfast with Scott because I can clock in anytime between 8 and 9. I don't have to take a lunch - so I can just work 8 straight and they give us two paid 15 minute breaks. I don't have to worry about killing anyone or saving anyone. I'm home in enough time before Scott to do any laundry and make dinner (he does the dishes). I have nights, weekends and holidays off. The insurance is good. It's data entry for an ambulance company so I don't have to deal with anybody - we are not allowed to talk to each other unless it is work related.  Those are the good things about my new job. Scott does the grocery shopping on the weekend while I clean the house, then we are free to do whatever we want. I feel like it's worked out. It's slowed down my stitching time and internet time but I do get to listen to books while I work.
So, I hope everybody has been well - I have been keeping up on blogs and facebook on my phone during my 15 minute breaks!
We had a fun busy weekend! I have a ton of great projects to show off. I'll, of course, start with stitching!! I finished my Jardin Prive Carre d'abeilles  - love it!!

  I used 28ct and I ended up using thin cardboard - like the kind that comes in paper packs - against the walls. I had to use about 28 pieces of batting to fill it. Teresa from At Willow Tree Pond was nice enough to answer my million questions about it - since she made one first!! My next project is to finish Little House Needleworks mystery sampler.
Remember the shutter I bought in Ohio for only 12 bucks? Well here it is....

 

 

It was painted black already. I washed it and distressed it (my new thing to do to everything!) and Scott hung it in the kitchen - all the things that normally end up on the fridge now can go on here - restaurant coupons, cards, articles - stuff like that. Isn't it lovely!! Scott bought a fun knob and metal piece to put on it for decoration.

 

 Scott saw this over the door shelf idea in one of the antique shops. He made the shelf and we bought the iron and ivy. I think it looks great - he wants to do a few more in other rooms but he did this one first to see how it would look.

 

 This weekend we moved the office into the old living room (now it's the study) and moved the dining room into the old office. The kitchen is so much bigger without the table in there! I decided to show before pictures from when we bought the house of the three rooms we just moved around. Keep in  mind - the dining room and the study do not have correct wall hangings - there are not enough hours in the weekend!!

dining room - before

dining room after

living room before

now it's the study!! 

fireplace room before

now it's the living room!!

We are still slowly buying furniture from antique malls. This weekend we bought a dresser we had seen before - $30 off and a bookshelf also $30 off - and these fantastic State of Indiana chairs. We had only bought one - only $14 - but when we got it home we decided it was fabulous so we went and bought 3 more!! They are hard wood - antique chairs.  

 

bottom of the chair

also on the bottom of the chair

 Scott tightened the screws - added one or two where ones were missing, cleaned them and they are fantastic!! I also bought kissing dutch kids - I don't know why but I love them!! 

 Last thing I got was this pretty pottery butter pourer (that's what the tag said)

We are also buying curtains - one panel at a time ! They are expensive and we have a lot of windows!! We are using a coupon for each one at Bed Bath and Beyond - so it's taking awhile to buy them all. Here is what the sheers look like...

 I also added some Spring stuff to the house...

Calla Lily

 

 

 We went to The Barking Dog Cafe - the last one locally that's been on DDD (there is one at the top of the state we still need to go to and then we are done with the ones in Indiana)

the proof he was here

Clam Chowder

Barl Lard BLT and shrimp roll

berry crisp and chocolate pecan cookie with sea salt

It was $60 way too expensive.  The food wasn't very good. The side dish - coleslaw- came in a condiment bowl. The best part was the cookie. We won't be going back. Out of all the ones in Indy - that is the only one we wouldn't go back to.
Next weekend is our 23rd anniversary. We are thinking about going to the movies, out to a good dinner and doing some letterboxing. No working on the house (but who knows what will happen)
Hope you all have a lovely week!! Thanks for stopping by!



Grandma's Autograph Book
Dear Mary Ellen       3/10/42

I can bet my hat
That all people will
look at this page,
and the ones who do
are fools.
Carolyn L.