Happy new 'un

This will be a short post to wish all of you the best in '09.

I still have to mop the kitchen floor and swab out toilets--remember, Maria won't be back 'til next Tuesday and my SIL's coming for dinner tonight. Our tradition is to have lentil soup on New Year's Eve, so Tom put it on to cook before he went to play poker. I know, it's a bummer that he's playing poker and I have to clean. :P I usually play while he's away, but aside from the housecleaning chores I've set myself I also need to make lemonade for tonight. Lemons are inexpensive right now and Tom loves my homemade lemonade (we sweeten just about everything with Splenda--me being a Type 1 diabetic and he a Type 2). Yunno, squeezing lemons can make a mess. Better to do all that early.

Before I go though, I'll leave you with a couple of old pics. The first is the view of the golf course from our back yard.



The next is the outside of my studio. (Won't show the inside. Absolutely will not until that distant someday when it's all red up.)



This last is inside the studio, taken on one of those far distant past days when one little corner was clean. This is a chest/dresser Tom and I bought when we were kids, back in the dark ages. It was an unfinished piece, which we painted and painted and painted yet again. Finally, Tom sanded it down well and gave it its current white coat. I hand painted the bottom drawer pulls; the top are some vintage bakelite pulls I found on ebay ages ago.



I'll leave you with my New Years Resolution, which is, in short, to do all I do in moderation. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Today...

I thought I'd share pics of the kitchen makeover we did last summer. I wouldn't call it a major redo; we just changed countertops, backsplash, sink and faucets. But I think it looks terrifical.

The first two are pics of as it was. I never realized it looked so messy! Everything was clean and neat; I just had a lot of tchotchkes around. Cute, but messy.

And here are the new:

(Oh, and notice how uncluttered it looks now. Tchotchkes gone, well, most of 'em anyway.)

I took this pic this morning of my lovely--but not that clean!--sink. Maria took a Christmas vaca, so I'm doin' my cleanin' myself. I wipe the sink every evening after I clean the dishes, but it needs a good scrub. So, forgive me y'all. The Nester's sayin' is it doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful. Does that go the same for clean? Maybe not. Today, I give the kitchen a good scrub, and Maria'll be back next week. Yay

And now it's over

I've pretty much taken down Christmas. I still have a few things to pack away, but I'll finish that today. What's fun for me is redoing my displays. I never can remember exactly where I had what, but even if I could this is a perfect time to redo.

When I took out my Christmas decorations, I pulled out some boxes that haven't seen the light of day for several years. In those were several things I'd packed away at the beginning of Christmas about four years ago, so I rescued them from their exile: a couple of small paintings, a bronze dog, a vase and candle holder I'd completely forgotten.

I haven't been happy with the display on my barrister bookcase for some time. I know I've seen displays of a number of pottery vases clustered together but can't remember where or exactly how they were used. Here's what I came up with:



As you can tell, I'm not much of a stylist and never know if what I've done works. I'll probably fiddle with this until I come up with something I can live with. And Lord knows, whatever that is, my cleaning lady will change it from week to week. Repeat after me: Maria is a great cleaner! And I'm lucky to have her.

I piddled for a while on my new boxmaker tools. It's wonderful! Of course the one I made today isn't of a size I can use for anything. It was a test, just a test.

I also worked on tassels. I'm thinking I'll list this next one on Etsy, though I'm not sure I'm completely satisfied with it yet.



And this is one I made a long time ago, before I started adding embellishments. I may redo and list it as well.

Have a happy!

To my family and whoever else might have found me on the 'net, I wish a happy holiday season! Best to all.

Cats and diets

The vet put my cat Max on a diet! Bless his heart, he doesn't eat that much, though the vet doesn't believe me when I say so. Max refuses anything but his own kibbles and eats less than the cup the package says he should.



He's been on a reduced calorie food since he was maybe three--he's seven now--and he steadily gains. He was at 21.1 when the vet saw him a month or so ago. So he switched him to something they call the Atkins diet for cats and reduced his intake to 5/8 of a cup. Okay, I didn't give him just 5/8; since I was giving him half in the morning and half in the afternoon, I gave him 2/3 total, 2 T. more than the vet prescribed. But he always had food left. And he gained a half pound next time we took him in.



So--they have him back on his reduced calorie diet, back on his 1 c. per day, but I was supposed to count the kibbles I gave him and the kibbles he didn't eat. Did you ever try counting kibbles?!! I did it only once--485 kibbles in a half cup, and Max ate all but 108 of them. Tom kept saying I should be able to weigh how many ounces I put in the bowl and how many Max didn't eat, but I think the vet wants a more exact account than that. Still, it takes a bit o' time to count kibbles, all the while I got a hungry cat rubbing against my calves. So I weighed by grams. It's more exact than ounces, but still may not be what the vet wants. If he's not satisfied when I talk to him Monday, I think I'll count out 485 kibbles in multiples and package them in plastic bags, then only count what Max left after I give him the new. Sheesh!



But isn't he cute! I've lost cats to diseases caused by overweight before. Don't intend to do it again. So very likely, come Monday you can just call me the kibble counter.

As I'm sure...

You can tell, I'm a new blogger. Today I thought I'd upload my favorite banana bread recipe. I may well have overdone it on the pics; if so, please comment. I can only learn as I go.

This recipe came from a friend/co-worker who was (likely still is) a fantabulous cook. I make it every year for my Christmas gift baskets, but not that often otherwise. It is so not low-fat or low-calorie. I call it Becky V's Best-Ever Banana Bread.

Start with the ingredients: all-purpose flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, eggs, vanilla, vegetable oil, buttermilk, chopped nuts, ripe bananas.

Mix 1 3/4 c. all-purpose flour (I sift into the bowl, after measuring).

Add 1 1/2 c. sugar (I sometimes drop it to 1 cup and have in the past done half sugar, half Splenda).

Add 1 tsp. baking soda.

1/2 tsp salt

Mix all dry ingredients together.

Add 2 eggs

1/2 c. vegetable oil (This too I've cut, but never go below 1/4 c.)

1/3 c. plus 1 T. buttermilk (I often use regular milk soured with a touch of white vinegar).

1 tsp. vanilla and a cup of chopped nuts (the original recipe calls for walnuts but I generally use whatever I have on hand--today that's pecans).

And 2 crushed ripe bananas.

Mix.

Spray 9x5 loaf pan (today I decided to use these new muffin dealies) with spray vegetable oil. Fill with batter.

Bake at 325 degrees F. for 1 hour 20 minutes, or these took only 45 minutes. Test for doneness with a toothpick in the center. Remove from oven and let set for 5 to 10 minutes.

Turn out on rack.

I'm not sure I'll make these individual muffins again. Firstly I filled them too high. I knew I had but didn't want to squeeze in another muffin. Usually for Christmas I make several mini loaf pans. That's what I'll do the next time I make it, which will probably be tomorrow.

Do you have...

A favorite find? I have a number, but this one's way at the top.

I found it at a junk store in Mesquite, a small town outside of/attached to Dallas. Back then, I had a number of customers in Mesquite, whom I visited quite often, and this junk store was right on the way. I think she visited garage sales on the weekend, marked them up and put them in her shop. This was $3.98. It wasn't in this shape though; I wasn't even sure at first what it was. It looked like a bookend with a thing-a-ma-doodie on top of her head. I'm not sure how long it took to dawn on me that it was the base for a lamp! (Okay, that's admitting I'm stoopid. So now you know.)

There was a store just outside of downtown Dallas called...um...Uncommon something or other. Not sure if it's still there but it was a super cool place. They were just a small house full of neat stuff, but they had a warehouse full across the back alley, and they'd let you go in and rummage. The top floor was all lighting parts and pieces. That's where I found the connections that made her into a lamp. The shade, I know, is not really right, but I've never found the really right one. This one came from eBay a number of years ago. I'd love to find something white and thin and tall--

yunno, kinda like me? Not!

So that's mine. Show me yours!