Tuesday, July 31, 2018

Double Crunch Apple Salad


1 large golden or green apple, cut in bite size pieces

1 large red apple, cut in bite size pieces
1 tsp. lemon juice
1 can (20 oz) pineapple chunks, drained
1 cup miniature marshmallows
2/3 cup flaked coconut
1/2 cup nuts
1 small container of cool whip

Toss apples with lemon juice and add the rest of the ingredients. If you don't have any cool whip or want a more savory salad, substitute the cool whip with 1/4 cup mayo and 2 tablespoons each of celery and raisins.

Friday, July 27, 2018

Clutter Busting Challenge July 2018

I'm purging about 50 items. I looks like more but the two bags in the back of the truck contains the items in the first 2 pictures and the little plastic picnic table is in parts. We dropped off a truck load of our 26yrs. daughter's stuff to her storage bin earlier in the month too. It's nice to get a few things out of the barn that aren't used or didn't belong to us. We're moving our campfire wood into the middle stall of the barn to allow more space behind the camper.

My Purge Pile:


















































Tuesday, July 24, 2018

Our July Home Projects

My husband and I started moving everything back into our living room. We put the curtains back up, moved the blue couch back in, the end tables, corner cabinet, and decor. We aren't finished yet since we can't use the living room until after the family room is done. We left the family room table in the living room while we work on that room. The entertainment center isn't in it's final spot yet either. It does look better and is starting to take shape. I haven't decided if I'm doing the stencil yet behind the entertainment center or what decor I want to put back up. I was happy to start redesigning and putting my decor back together. I added a couple things to my corner shelf that I thrifted recently.























A close up of the decor on my corner cabinet. The little china flower bouquet on the middle shelf I bought at a thrift store for $1 and on the bottom shelf the figurine with the two little birdies was $1 at a different thrift store. 


















I painted the little round table that I purchased for the family room seating area. I'm storing it in the living room temporarily while we paint the family room and refinish the floors. I used the same Behr Alkyd Satin Emamel color Granite Gray that I used on the entertainment center in the living room. I'm painting shelves for my husband's hobby room next.


















This is the current state of our living room. We started work on the family room so this room isn't usable yet. We've blocked off the double door leading into the rest of the house. If we want into this room we're using the extra outside door that we have a curtain on to hide the fact that it's a door and not a window. We have an old house with extra doors. I can't wait til the family room is finished the living room and family room haven't been usable since February. We took too long of a break once the living room was painted and the floor refinished.


















  

































In my exercise room I hung the cross up that I thrifted for $3 a couple months ago on the wall. I'm still on the lookout for something to add to the other side of my wood sign. I'm thinking maybe a silk flower with red since that's my main decor color in the room.

















I added this little crystal bird vase that I thrifting for $3 to the shelf in the exercise room too. I'm not sure yet if I'll keep it there or not, if I do I'll add a bit of a red silk flowers.

















My next project will be to repaint these shelves for my husband's hobby room. I had spray painted them but they didn't turn out well, due to the spray paint bubbling up. I had my husband sand the shelves with an electric sander. I'll paint them with the same paint that I used on the entertainment center and the little round table. You can see the gray is similar to the entertainment center gray. I did my best to color match the gray so that I could use the same spray paint and Alkyd on several projects and have them match. I chose the gray paint colors to match the curtains and mirror that I put into his hobby room.

















You might be interested in:

Our May Home Projects

Our Living Room Redo

Our Living Room

Friday, July 20, 2018

Our Outdoor Projects for July

I spend time this week over 3 days working in the barn, shed, and yard. My husband helped a lot too.


I returned things to the shed to were they belonged and straightened up. I had previously spent a day cleaning up this space in late June. It's not too bad but will probably get a bit more tidy before winter.


















I straightened up the 1st stall of the barn, collected donations, and trashed a few things.

















In a previous post I mentioned removing our 26 yrs. daughters stuff from the barn and taking it to her storage locker. It freed up the back of the 2nd stall in our barn. I moved a few things around, collected a few things to donate, discard unneeded items, and swept the floors. My husband moved the wood crate from the 3rd stall into the empty spot in the 2nd stall. He cut up wood border, a few pallets, and logs that we had for firewood. We both stacked the wood into the new area that we are storing it. This freed up our 3rd stall so that we can get the camper a bit further into the stall once the camping season is over. My discard pile from this project will be in the Clutter Busting post at the end of the month.

















Once we moved the firewood, I took all the bricks that were under the wood crate and stacked them with our brick pile that we're collecting to build a patio. I used the scalloped concrete border around our shed and removed the wood border. We have more space for the camper to store during the winter.

















We haven't done much in the yard since I posted in May about Our Finished Outdoor Overhaul.
We've been rather lazy and just mowing the lawn. Our vegetable garden doesn't have anything growing cause of the weeds and we have weeds in the flower beds too. I did go out and started to weed around the shed, my fairy garden area. I removed all the timber border and added the scalloped concrete border that I had. It wasn't enough so I'll need to look for more that is similar at the hardware store.


Tuesday, July 17, 2018

Wine Country Chicken Salad



4 chicken breasts (boneless, skinless), cooked and chopped into one-inch cubes
1 bunch red seedless grapes, cut in half
2 celery stalks, cut in half lengthwise, then chopped finely
1 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 to 3/4 cup mayo (or to taste)
1-2 tablespoons Apple Cider vinegar
2 teaspoons poppy seeds or celery seed
salt and pepper to taste

In another bowl, combine the chicken, grapes, celery and nuts. Pour mayo/vinegar mixture over chicken and veggies then mix together. Cover and place in the refrigerator for two hours (or overnight) to chill and allow flavors to heighten. Serve with whole grain bread or crackers with dark green leafy lettuce. Delicious, nutritious, and refreshing on a hot day!

Friday, July 6, 2018

Redesigning and Cleaning Wreaths

I spent a day redesigning and cleaning my wreaths in the living room, family room, and kitchen. I've had them for many years, they get dusty and every so often I get bored with the design. 


I have two wreaths that I keep on the double doors leading to my living room. I put the original design together and hung them 15 yrs. ago, it was past due for a change up. I took the greenery/flowers off, added a variety of lace from my craft stash, and re-added the greenery. I'm going to buy silk hydrangea to add later. I hung them on my curtain holder to take the pictures since we're working on the family room and I couldn't rehang them yet.



  















The second of the two wreaths that I keep on the double doors leading to my living room.



















I took all the silk hydrangea out of the metal basket, sprayed them in the shower, laid them on a towel to dry, dusted the Spanish moss the best I could, and rearranged the hydrangea back into the basket. I'm not sure yet were I putting this one yet, it had been in the kitchen.



















This wreath I laid the whole thing into the shower, sprayed it off, and let it dry before rehanging it.




















I put this wreath in the kitchen sink, sprayed it with the sprayer, laid it to dry, and rehung it back on the kitchen door leading to the basement. I dusted the cross too.  



Tuesday, July 3, 2018

Fruit Salad


8 oz. lemon flavored yogurt
¼ tsp. vanilla extract
½ tsp. nutmeg
8 oz. can mandarin oranges, drained
2 apples, peeled and diced
2 bananas, sliced

In a large bowl combine the yogurt with the vanilla and nutmeg. Add the fruit and toss. Chill and serve.