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