Moving

We are moving from our cozy cabin in the woods. This past month has been filled with packing, packing, & more packing!  How did we accumulate so much stuff?  We'll be moving into a cute cape cod style home the end of this month.  The house does need some paint & TLC; so there will be plenty to blog about.  So my Cabin in the Woods blog will need to be renamed.  Hmmm...

New Patio Table

Well, dear hubby has gone  and suprised me!  What a gem he is!  As a woman who's been married for over 30 years, sometimes I've wondered if he really listens when I tell him all of my wonderful plans for our cabin.  Many, if not most, of these ideas involve him building something!

My second blog post was about redo-ing my patio dining chairs. I had intended to sell them; but loved them so much after the redo that I decided to keep them.  And I did.  But, the chairs were a bit useless without a table.  Now, you know where this is going!  I subtly hinted to dear hubby (ok- several times!) that I'd love to have a patio table that would seat 6-8 people.

About a month ago he asked me what I would like for my birthday.  I told him I knew of the perfect gift, and it wouldn't cost a dime since we have lots of wood scraps around here.  Well, that caught his ear - being a frugal kind of guy who loves to build stuff!  I showed him a few different pictures of tables that I liked, and he took it from there. 

Sanding the table

Staining the table

                                           He did a fabulous job.  I just love our new table!

Now comes the fun part - redecorating our patio and tablescaping that beautiful table!   Of course I'll share photos of the project as it all comes together. 

Oh, dear hubby, what do you think about having a cookout this weekend?!!





This week I'm linking to:

http://www.theshabbychiccottage.net/

Best Laid Plans...

Today started off with great promise.  I was finally going to paint the two twin headboards, that have been stored in our garage for the past 2 years, and them use in our blue guest room. The beds just look unfinished without headboards.  (I just love the blue in this room; it's so calm.  Our daughter selected the color.) 

Sounds like an easy project -right?!  So, after breakfast I headed down to the garage to get things started.  I sanded the headboards so that the paint would adhere to them. 

And let me just say that the trusty little yellow palm sander is now my best friend for projects like this!! Love this little guy!

After the sanding was finished and I was preparing to paint,  dear hubby said that using the paint sprayer would make this project so much quicker.  Sounds good to me.  I'd never used a paint sprayer before - wow, it's great!  The paint seems to magically flow onto the wood; ooh...ahhh....Let me just say that the paint sprayer may now be my favorite tool in the garage!  Sorry, palm sander - but you're a very close second. 

Now, here's where the great promising day started to dwindle.  After cleaning the paint gun, I started to notice that the headboards had funny looking pink splotches all over them.  Definitely not what I had in mind! 

Dear hubby said that I should try spraying on  a coat of stain blocker.  So, I did.  And then the most horrible thing happened - the paint started bubbling and looking all weird.  And all of the pink splotches still showed!  It was truly awful; so awful that I couldn't even bring myself to take a picture of it.  We've sanded and painted lots of furniture in the past and never had this happen. I just wanted to cry...or kick something...or chop it up into firewood!  

So, now I still have no headboards for our blue guest room.  Plan B.  I didn't have a Plan B...  Ummm...Dear hubby, after you've finished chopping that white firewood...could you build me some headboards?!  Or, how about making a fire and let's toast some marshmallows?

(I'm linking to Metamorphsis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch.)

Mountain Gobbler!

Last Thursday my good friend, Jennifer, and I spent the day in Hiawassee Georgia.  Hiawassee is a beautiful mountain town with some of the most wonderful thrift, antique and home shops!  After several hours of bargain hunting we were famished and stopped for a late lunch at a cute little yellow clapboard restaurant.  We both ordered the most delicious sandwiches - we seriously considered licking our plates!   I loved mine so much that I recreated it today for dear hubby's and my lunch.  I'm calling my version of the sandwich the Mountain Gobbler. 

Here's how I made it:

In the food processor pulse together 8 ounces of softened cream cheese, a 16 ounce can of whole berry cranberry sauce, and a few dashes of hot sauce. 

For 1 sandwich:

Lightly toast 2 slices of sour dough bread.

Spread a generous amount of the cream cheese and cranberry mixture onto 1 slice of bread.

Top with several slices of Oven Roasted Turkey Breast from your deli.

Top with Green Leaf Lettuce.

Top with the other slice of toasted sour dough bread.


Hope you enjoy it as much as we did.  Dear hubby and I gobbled them up!

(Tomorrow morning I plan to try some of the cream cheese and cranberry mixture on a bagel - yum!  Oh my, I better go to bed, I'm making myself hungry.)

Patio Chairs Redo

This has been a creative week.  What fun!  I've been working on a few sewing projects (more about those later) and redoing our patio dining chairs.  Since, I didn't like their green paint and flowery cushions, they've been stored away in the garage.   And because I've been in a clearing out the junk state of mind these past few weeks; my intention was to repaint and recover them, and  then to sell them.  So, yesterday I spray painted all five of the chairs black.  Oh, my aching index fingers!  Today I recovered the seat cushions with a red and cream buffalo check fabric.  They look so cute; I just love them!  But, now I don't think I can part with them!  (My dear hubby shakes his head at this!) So, it looks like my next project will be to rearrange my patio!  Oh dear hubby...I've got a few things I need your help with...moving furniture...and could you build me a table?!  


                          Before - Chairs with green paint & flowery fabric - yawn.
 

After - Chairs repainted, recovered, revived, & so cute!

I'm trying to link to Between Naps On The Porch for the Metamorphisis Monday.   Hope I'm doing it right; this is my first time linking!         http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/

I love Blackberry Cobbler

I love blackberry cobbler!  As I child I can remember summer dinners of corn on the cob and blackberry cobbler. aaahhh!!!  My mom made the best cobbler!  Picking blackberries was so much fun because we knew that meant cobbler for dinner,  And what child didn't like eating dessert for dinner!!  

What is blackberry cobbler to you?  Does your recipe have a biscuit topping or a pie crust? Does it have the fruit on the top or on the bottom?  Do you sweeten your blackberries? Is your cobbler juicy or cake-like?  Each of us has a different idea or memory of how blackberry cobbler should be prepared.  What's yours?