February 20, 2014 by gn0mel0ver

It’s The Little Things: On Our Fireplace Mantel

Sweet Brynne asked me last week if I would do a post about the items on my mantle. I thought it was a great idea. I take most of my outfit photos in front of my fireplace, because of the convenience. I love the items on my mantle. Each piece is special to me. I am excited to share!

First, let’s talk about the painting above the mantel in case you missed my post about one of my favorite artists, Ginette Callaway. In 2004, I commissioned sweet Ginette to paint me a peacock for above our newly tiled fireplace.

Ginette really came through. She painted three paintings and let me choose one. My biggest regret is not buying two. I loved another one as well. Actually all three were stunning. The other one I vividly remember showcased a smaller peacock with a giant fan of feathers in colors of the rainbow, but mostly lavender hues. Gorgeous.

But I love this painting. I love Ginette. The painting makes me happy every day to look at it.

In the center of our mantel is a Lego VW Bus. My husband and son love Legos. My husband has a 1967 VW Bus that we adore. I bought this for my husband as a Christmas present a few years ago. They built it together.

This year, Lego offered a free (my favorite word) mini Lego VW Bus with an online purchase. It happened to be near my son’s birthday. Score!

The felted gnomes riding the dragon and the VW Bus are from Moongoat on Etsy. I love her shop. I have many of her gnomes hidden throughout my house. I cannot resist a felted gnome.

The little girl gnome is from ABC Carpet and Home in New York. It is the most amazing store. Every time I am in New York, it is my favorite shop to visit. I cannot afford most things there, but I have managed to snag a deal on each of my trips.

I had seen the gnome when I had gone on a family trip in June three years ago. She was part of a trio (a scruffy male gnome and a wizard gnome). They were $48 a piece (the store is pricy). I do not know if the gnomes were antiques. They had been loved on. Hard. I obviously was not going to spend $144 on three felted gnomes. I left them behind.

In September of that same year, I took a trip to New York with my girlfriends. We visited this store. The gnomes were still there. Their tags were removed. I asked the sales girl how much they were now. She sold them to me for $10 each. And she wrapped them up so cute.

I gifted them to my husband when I got home.

Every year my husband and I go on a two to three night trip for our anniversary sans kids (this year it is Vegas). On one of the trips, we went to San Francisco. In a small little store in Chinatown, I spotted this amazing rope dragon (my husband collects dragons). I remember he was $45. And he always has a gnome riding him. Although, it may not always be the same one. ; )

About three years before my grandmother passed away, she gifted me this jar of buttons. The jar was my great grandmother’s. Her and I looked very much alike. She was Polish. And I once got chased through the college campus by a little old man who wanted to know the exact place I was born in Poland. Anyway, I never met her. Half of the button’s were also my great grandmother’s. The other half my grandmother purchased off of eBay. My jar of buttons is one of my favorite things in my home. I like the idea of my grandma shopping on eBay. I also like the history of the jar and the buttons.

The green candle hanging from the jar was made by my daughter in the fifth grade. Fifth grade is when the children in California learn about Colonial Times. At our school, they have a day where all of the kids dress up in colonial clothes and participate in activities that they would have done back then. I have been waiting to add a candle made by my son for years. This year he is in the fifth grade. I have made him promise me he will choose candle making as one of his activities. Hopefully, the mantle will have a new addition soon.

And the beehive candle was a Christmas present from my stepmom. It is made from my dad’s beeswax (he is a beekeeper). I LOVE it.

The small blue candlesticks were a Christmas gift from my mother some years ago. I love the color. I love everything about them. They are perfect!

The beaded purple candle holders were some of my first purchases from Anthropologie. I waited for them to go on sale. This was many years ago.

The felted gnome on the jar of buttons wearing the snail as a hat is also from Etsy. This one was done by Eve’s Little Earthlings. I think they are extremely cute.

I think with the snail on his head he looks like the man with the bird on his head from one of my favorite movies, “Labyrinth.”

The little pig next to them is from my favorite video game. The video game is Monster Hunter. The pig’s name is Poogie. In the video game I fight jelly beans (just kidding. We obviously fight monsters. I am quite the Monster Hunter. Not to brag or anything). My husband and I play it together. We each have Poogie in our house in the video game. You can change his clothes. If you pet him right, he does a backflip and little red hearts spring from his head.

Yep.

I actually have a stuffed Poogie on my husband’s desk in our bedroom. And I am also the ~~proud~~ owner of a blow up stuffed giant piece of meat (also from the video game). Maybe I should pose with it sometime.

Or not.

On either side of the mantle are two little roosters. I purchased them at an antique store a few years ago. They have remains of a cork on the bottom of them, so I assume they used to be wine stoppers. I think their colors are fantastic.

The little chipmunks were painted by my children many years ago from a pottery place in town. We have pieces like them all over the house.

The blue vase was a purchase my husband and I made on a family vacation to Arizona when my son was a year old. It was our only souvenir.

He bought me these orange roses on clearance this week (they are not doin’ so well). One of his favorite things to do is buy huge amounts of flowers for me after a holiday when the stores have a surplus of flowers to get rid of. One year, he bought me seven dozen beautiful red roses for $7!

He is sweet.

Next big after-holiday flower discounts? Easter and Mother’s Day!

It’s The Little Things: Displaying what you love, because the items mean love to you.

What is on your mantle? What is your favorite piece to display?

Thanks Brynne for the great idea! : )

November 25, 2013 by gn0mel0ver

I’m Crafty Crazy

I am not crafty. Oh, how I long to be.

But I’m not.

Please remind me of this the next time I decide to do a project. Because I always do. And I always end up reenacting Amelia Bedilia. And crying. Then laughing like a maniac. Then crying. I think I confuse “crafty” with “crazy.”

I saw this Chevron tablecloth on Anthropologie’s Website and I loved it! But at $228, I knew that even if it went on sale, it would be too expensive for me. I thought, how hard could it be to make one myself?

You probably all ready know the answer to that.

Well, first I purchased a tablecloth in a neutral linen from Target’s website. Then it came and I promptly set it on my husband’s desk for three weeks and ignored it. Until finally, I begged my husband to help me make this tablecloth. And because my husband is the closest thing ~~to committing me~~ to a perfect human being that I know, he agreed.

He cut me a templet from Elinee Studio. And we watched the video Her video is for a rug, but I figured it would be similar enough to my project to work. This was incredibly helpful. Honestly, if we had not watched the video or used her template, we would have had a tear-splattered fiasco at the end of this project.

I took the tablecloth out of the package. And I stared at it. It was itty bitty. My husband looked at it.

“What size did you get?” He asked.

“Um. I don’t know. Whatever size it came in.”

“You mean you didn’t look at what size the Anthropologie tablecloth was and buy the same one?”

“I didn’t even think of doing that,” I said, as air whistled through my ears.

“Well, what are you going to do?”

“I don’t know! Maybe I’ll just use it on our breakfast table.”

“Is it square?” Says my my husband, who is the owner of a square breakfast table…as am I.

“Uhhhhh. No. But I could just let the sides dangle.”

Silence.

Then the sound of me tapping on the computer and ordering the correct size off of the Target website. Thankfully they had it, and because I used my Target Debit Card I got free shipping.

But now I had to wait for the correct size to come…

It came rather quickly and we set to work.

It took the two of us approximately three hours to tape the tablecloth.

The next day, we decided to paint it. We mixed up our two bottles of orange fabric paint and quickly realized that it would probably not be enough.

We added some yellow and red that I had on hand and made this color. It still did not look to be enough. I suggested that we paint every other row just in case. Thank goodness we did, because we ran out. As you do…when you suck at DIYing.

Now, we had a soggy half painted tablecloth outside.

I decided to sacrifice my pink paint I had on hand to fill in the other rows. I just wanted to finish it. So, that is how our tablecloth ended up looking like this. A mished mashed version of the original. I am not sure how I feel about it. I would have preferred all orange, but we worked with what we had.

While we were painting, my husband burst out laughing. I smiled and asked him what was so funny. He said he was imagining what I was going to write about this tablecloth in my blog post.

I said, “Don’t laugh. We’re creating a family heirloom.”

He responded, “This will be the first thing our son’s wife will throw away.”

We both laughed. But now that kind of breaks my heart.

We continued to paint. And I asked my husband, “So, what do you think this is going to look like?”

The eternal optimist responded as if there was no other option, “I think it’s going to look great!”

I laughed and said, “Honey, when have we ever painted a straight line? Even with painter’s tape?”

He laughed.

I think you can guess the answer to those questions, too.

This was our finished project. It ended up costing much, much more than I thought it would. My husband is in love with it. Which is cute. I think it is okay. We will definitely use it. And I have happy memories of us making it together. You know, we should make another one! I cannot believe it actually turned out with no major mishaps.

On second thought, maybe waiting for sale isn’t such a bad idea after all.

Look at what us DIYers did to our concrete. Yup! We are ~~super smart~~ professionals. Obviously, if you attempt this, and why wouldn’t you after seeing all of the fun we had, place a tarp underneath your project.

Or maybe you want a permanent reminder of the day you painted a tablecloth?

Because, obviously, we did, too. Forget the tablecloth! Let’s just make a random half painted tablecloth design on our concrete. This is genius if you ever have company you don’t like over. Just start laying dishes on the pattern on the ground. Then sit cross legged around it like you would at a table. How fun would that be?

Thankfully it came off, but I should add paint stripper to the final total. And maybe a therapy bill. Because why do we keep doing this?

Project Costs: $61.76

After tax and my discounts (ebates, using Target Debit Card) Tablecloth = $16.78
Fabric paint (7 4 oz. bottles after tax and discount) = $29.48
Paint pan, 2 rollers, 2 sizes of painter’s tape approximately $15.50 (I lost the receipt. Surprise! But I remember it being $15 something).

Have you DIYed anything lately? Are you ~~crazy~~ crafty? Or are you like us and just think you are sometimes?

Oh, and if you are wondering what became of the “too small” tablecloth, well, I have just the project for it… ; )

* I am playing catchup from being sick. Sorry I am behind on emails and posts. I hope to accomplish everything by Wednesday. A new post will run on Tuesday night. I will also post Wednesday. And I am doing a “live” Thanksgiving post on Thursday, updating throughout the day with things I am grateful for. After that, my regular daily schedule will commence. Thanks for bearing with me! I hope your week is great!”

November 19, 2013 by gn0mel0ver

Mashed Potato Soup

I recently had mashed potato soup at a local eatery and wanted to recreate it at home. I loved the restaurant’s tart cheesiness of its soup. Instead of asking for the recipe, I decided to guess it out at home. This is what I like to do for fun. Yep. Weird.

I think the only difference might be the mirepoix instead of just onions and the use of regular pepper instead of white pepper (if I had to guess… And I did). I used the mirepoix because I wanted to add some additional vegetables hidden for the kids. And I wanted a deeper depth of flavor.

When I announced my intentions of taking my mashed potatoes and making a soup with the leftovers, my husband and son were aghast. They were coveting those mashed potatoes in all their decadent leftover glory. I do make some mean mashed potatoes, if I do say so myself, and they are so incredibly easy. I do not buy into that whole ricer theory or grating. Just mix the darn things and be done with it. ; ).

Mashed potato tip: After you add your cut potatoes to your pot of cold water: Bring them to a boil and then set your timer for twenty three minutes. Not twenty two. Not twenty four. Twenty three. Timing is key. Then immediately drain them. Return them to the pot and cook them for an additional minute, while stirring, to get all of the extra water out. I feel very strongly about this. Who knew?

For this recipe I followed my mashed potato recipe, but I used 6 large baking potatoes. I doubled the butter and added 1/2 cup of sour cream, and a pinch more salt.

I set aside approximately 1 and 1/2 cups of cooked potatoes in a bowl before I made my mashed potatoes (I refrigerated them), because I knew I wanted yummy chunks of potatoes in my soup the next day.

Ingredients:

Approximately 2 cups leftover Mashed potatoes
1 cup mirepoix (I get mine at Trader Joe’s)
1/2 tsp. dried mustard
3 cups shredded white cheddar cheese
1/2 stick butter
1/4 cup flour
5 cups chicken stock
1 1/2 cups cooked potato chunks set aside
1/8 tsp. ground pepper
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

Garnish

I make a pound of bacon and serve the whole crispy slab with it

Other options

chives
Sour cream

I add my bacon to the oven (recipe here) before any of the following steps, so it is cooking at the same time the soup is.

Melt butter on low heat. Add mirepoix. Sprinkle a little salt on this so it sweats out. Cook on medium low heat for 8 minutes until vegetables are tender and onions are clear.

Add flour. Stir continuously for two minutes.

Add chicken stock. Simmer for five minutes.

Blend with stick blender until all of the vegetables are pureed.

Add mashed potatoes

Whisk. This took me about three minutes.

Add cream.

Stir. One minute.

Add cheese

Stir. Two minutes.

Add reserved potato chunks and stir.

Heat up until hot.

Turn off stovetop.

Serve in individual bowls. Garnish with bacon, sour cream, and chives (if desired). Please be careful! This soup is so hot! I burned the roof of my mouth…badly. Patience has never been my virtue.

After my family ate their dinner, both my husband and son both declared this an excellent use of the leftover potatoes. They are all ready asking me to make it again. It was scrumptious. If I do say so myself. And I do. : )

So do my thighs.

October 14, 2013 by gn0mel0ver

The “Do Not Call” Registry Shutdown

So, this government shutdown? Yeah. There are many ways this sucks, but let’s get to another “little” one that I have found this week.

Have you noticed you have been getting more and more calls from telemarketers lately?

Well I have.

I have a whole post going up in a couple of weeks dealing with one of these calls (don’t worry, it’s funny).

I just received my fifth one of the day, today. I had all ready heard about a time share, solar power, carpet cleaning and refinancing. So, I thought to myself, What the heck is going on?

Am I not on the “do not call list” anymore?

This was prompted when yet another telemarketer called me to talk to me about solar power.

This is how the conversation went:

“Hello.”

“Hi, Mrs. So and So, this is Dan from Generic-Something-With-Sun-In-Its-Name Solar Power. How are you doing today?”

“Good.” I breathed. Why is this happening to me today? I secretly thought.

“Ma’am, I want to talk to you about something-something program guaranteed to save you money.”

I replied, “I’m sorry. I’m not interested. Could you please take me off of your calling list.”

“Sure. Can I ask why?”

“I am just not interested. Please take my name off of your calling list.”

“But, ma’am, this solar program could save you money.”

I said, “This is the third time I am asking you to remove my name from your calling list. I do not have anything more to say.”

He snarked, “Why? Am I bothering you?”

To which I cringed. But I am nothing if not honest. So, I replied, “Well, actually, yes you are.”

He took a deep breath and before he hung up loudly on me, he yelled, “FINE. IF SAVING MONEY BOTHERS YOU…”

This is when I decided to check the “Do not call registry.”

Because although these types of calls are ~~torture~~ fun, it would be rather nice to not dread answering the phone.

I went to the do-not-call website. And yes, you can guess where this is going… IT’S SHUTDOWN!

Now the government shutdown is invading my bedroom. I am feeling its effects through the irritated strangers breathing in my ear.

My phone has been taken hostage. When is this going to end?

I am beginning to acquire a twitch with each ring of the phone…

Maybe I do need that timeshare.

This was written in response to the Daily Post’s Weekly Writing Challenge: Living History.

Gnome Lover

Stumbling through life while still having fun

do

It’s The Little Things: On Our Fireplace Mantel

I’m Crafty Crazy

Mashed Potato Soup

The “Do Not Call” Registry Shutdown