Tell All Tuesday-Food

I hate food waste. I really, really hate food waste. 

I guess it is my practical side winning out.

It might be from having so many kids....

and all their friends....

and sometimes friends of their friends....

but there was hardly ever waste.

So now, when it is just the two of us

(the Hubs and myself),

or just a few of us,

things tend to pile up in the fridge.

Little bits of this and that.

Too much to throw away, 

but not enough for a meal.

With the weather still slightly cool

in the evenings, 

it is the perfect time for omelets.

Every ten days or so I will check to see if there 

are any good leftovers.

I whip up an omelet

and add in the leftovers.

Really. It is better than you think!

We have had taco omelets, ham and cheese omelets,

various cheese combo omelets,

spicy omelets,

vegie omelets,

shrimp omelets

and potato omelets.

Quite the smorgasbord of 

of treats.

They are a trifecta of goodness tho:

1. the leftovers are used up

2. they are super fast and easy to make

3. the variety is endless.

Eggs. It's whats for dinner!

Willowy Mantel

If it had the look, smell or character of winter this weekend, then it was kicked OUT of my house!

Pinecones, snowmen, winter wreaths, feel-good flannels....

all banished to the basement.

I know. I know. I know.

The joke will be on me.

March will roar in with a winter vengeance.

We can all blame me.

It has been such an 

incredible un-winter

that I felt like a fool

everyday when I would come home

to see (fake) snowmen sitting in the 

urns by my door

and a winter wreath hanging on the door.

I never even took a 

picture of them,

as I was determined to 

take the picture when they 

actually had a layer of real snow 

covering them!

So among the winter ware I banished,

was my tartan throw on the

dining room table.

Then I thought to myself,

"Self, that little centerpiece is still cute.

Just move it somewhere."

So the blue willow creamers and gravy boats

became front and center

on the mantel.

The mantel had 

(mercury glass and white) pinecones

so the mantel needed new

occupants anyway.

I took the pictures just as the sun

was setting, which made for 

some very interesting brights spots and shadows.

I added a few 

teapots to each end

and put a platter in the middle.

The mantel is almost seven feet long

and is daunting to decorate.

I never know whether I have 

too much

or 

too little.

Not to mention

the world's biggest mirror 

that I'm always 

ducking from!

Since I robbed the table

to pay the mantel

I had to redo the table.

I'll show you that in a day. 

Or two.

(While I'm waiting on winter to arrive!!)

Linking with Metamorphosis Monday. 
Wow Us Wednesday

Simple Sundays

Today would have been my Granddad Flanagan's 101st birthday. I was thinking about what a good, honest, hard-working man he was and how we sorely miss those types in this world. He went by the idea that a "man's word was his bond". Don't you just love the purity of that simple ideal? I was looking for a quote to honor my Granddad and his strong principles and saw where my brother had used this quote on the front page of his newspaper this week about a story on virtues and honesty. Bingo. I couldn't resist passing it along. I think I could quote Lincoln and Twain every week and learn something. Hmmmm. I might have just come up with an idea!

Stripes and Suckers, Dots and Fish...

Because my knee is still tender,

I have not done any projects this week.

When I come home from school each evening,

my knee is ready to rest!

BUT, I have not just been sitting around

letting my mind muddle!

Instead, I have been gathering up

thinking,

imagining,

pondering,

what I will do for my

annual tribute to the good doctor.

That would be Dr. Seuss!

As in the past, 

I really have no set plan in mind.

I'm just looking around the house and 

gathering ideas

from my plethora

of 

red and white objects.

And maybe some blue too.

Or perhaps yellow!

If I had been planning better, I could have done a tribute to 

Lorax.

Whatever I come up with,

I am sure I will have fun 

putting it together,

 just like years past.

So you know what I will be doing this weekend!

These are from my 2010 table

"You can set at my table, You can use the red plate"

And then my 2011 table

"One stripe, two stripe, Red dot, white dot"

I told you these were fun tables.

I'm going to have to kick it in gear

to 

have this much fun a third time!

Come back and see next week.

Tell All Tuesday--A Name

We are on the countdown.

Technically we have been on 

the countdown for months.

Now we are on the homestretch countdown.

And she has a name!

In less than a month,

we will welcome our first grandbaby.

We have been on a 

fixing and buying frenzy,

making sure that everything 

is perfect

and ready

to welcome 

Miss Leightyn Elizabeth Lucas.

Diaper covers, frilly curtains,

monograms for furniture...

everything is being put into place

to welcome 

Leightyn

into the world.

One more month!

We can hardly wait!!

Coco and Duck Eggs.....Paint!

Yes, I am still gimping around, but I have found there are plenty of things that a gimpy person can do.

One task I finished while I cannot move around much,

is this huge piece.

Granted, I only had those two bottom drawers (pictured above)

to finish, but I can finally call it DONE!!

(For some reason I never finished the last coat on the two bottom drawers~~~????~~~~)

Back in November my SIL had come over for dinner.

When she arrived, she had with her the following two pieces of furniture:

She had just bought a new huge TV and thought one of my 

college kids

might want her old 'entertainment center' 

to use.

They sat in the front of my garage for a few weeks, till the Hubs put it inside the garage. He absolutely hated the furniture and thought we might just throw it away.

We have a little study on the other side of our den.

It has a small TV in it that I thought might just fit in one of those pieces!.... So....

One day I pulled one of the pieces out and began painting it

ASCP Duck Egg

I figured if all else failed and it was still ugly,

I could still pass it along to one of the kids.

HA!!!!

I first cut off this attractive piece.

I just took the saw and cut it right off.

Then I painted both pieces with the Duck Egg.

(I cannot find the pics I took of this step. Just trust me!)

Then I painted over both pieces with 

Coco.

I had not used that color before.

I wanted something different than the Old White I kept using all the time.

I think using the Coco over the Duck Egg gave it 

a different color, than if just used alone.

I have also been using a different wax than the AS Clear wax.

My usual place was out of the clear wax, so I bought a

Minwax Paste in Natural.

It has just a smidge of color to it,

and it is super easy to use.

Since it has a hint of color,

I haven't been using my AS dark wax either!

I still need to put the rest of the knobs and pulls on this piece.

I did not use the ones that had been on it before,

although I did buy some cheaper knobs and

spray paint them Oil Rubbed Bronze.

I have to get the Hubs or one of the sons to counter-sink some holes for me.

I also need to add beadboard to the back, since I got rid

of the cheap laminate/whateverstuff that had been on there.

And I still need to get my sons to move it

to the other side of the room.

But this afternoon I caught the evening sun 

peaking in and catching the new paint job.

I decided I would snap a few pictures,

even if the piece is not quite finished...

or staged.

Then maybe a few of you will look at those 

bright shiny "wood" pieces from the 

80's and 90's and see new life...

in a can or two of paint!

Linking with Between Naps on The Porch.  and Wow Us Wednesday! and Furniture Friday's.
 And Open House Thursday.