A Quick Fix...

Our antique dining chairs with cane seats have seen better days. With two moose boys in our house and Kevin's friend all putting a knee through them here and there, they look really bad! We still use them, just ignoring the obvious-they need to be re-caned!!

With the big party coming up tomorrow, and no time to learn to cane, and no extra money to have someone do them, I remembered that we used to use some purple chair pads (in case you don't remember, everything was purple at one point in our house) and I kept them.

Kevin found them in the basement and brought them up and tied them on the chairs...they are so worn, ugly, stained and nasty there is no way we can use them for the party! Some of them only have one set of ties to tie them to the chair.

I got an idea to cover them to match the Santa hats I picked up for the backs of the chairs at the dollar store. I went to Joann and they had fleece on sale for 50% off, and I had a 40% off coupon...then I got busy cutting and tying.

Nothing fancy, but it sure beats the yucky purple chair pads!! I thought about just buying all new pads, but this was cheaper than buying one!

What do you think...be gentle...I'm not a crafty person...

Peanut Butter Cup Recipe

This is a good recipe, but I think I'm going to try it with no peanut butter mixed in with the chocolate...let me know if you try it what you think of it. I got it from Taste of Home. I LOVE their recipes! I always used their recipes when I was doing catering and never had a complaint about the food-ever! Most of the time people were asking for the recipe!

This was wayyy easier than dipping all those buckeye balls-and then trying to cover up the toothpick hole in the top!

Ingredients

• 1 cup creamy peanut butter, divided
• 4-1/2 teaspoons butter, softened
• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips
• 4 milk chocolate candy bars (1.55 ounces each), coarsely chopped
• Colored sprinkles, optional

Directions: In a small bowl, combine 1/2 cup peanut butter, butter, confectioner's sugar and salt until smooth; set aside.                             

• In a microwave, melt the chocolate chips, candy bars and remaining peanut butter; stir until smooth.
• Drop teaspoonfuls of chocolate mixture into paper-lined miniature muffin cups. Top each with a scant teaspoonful of peanut butter mixture; top with another teaspoonful of chocolate mixture. Decorate with sprinkles if desired. Refrigerate until set. Store in an airtight container. Yield: 3 dozen.

Mmmmmmm....Cookies!

I've been baking up a storm trying to get all of the cookie request filled for our family. I haven't gotten to the chocolate dipped pretzels or the caramel corn yet-maybe that will come next week, and then again maybe not!

 Peanut butter blossoms-they went a little flat because I used a scoop instead of rolling each one into a ball, but they taste the same-so no one minds how they look!

 Cut-outs-just waiting for some frosting and sprinkles!

 Snowballs-my dad's mother's recipe-She's died on Christmas Day 27 years ago-these were my favorites of all the cookies she made every Christmas. I miss her! She never got to meet my boys!

 These are something new I tried. Store bought sugar cookie dough wrapped around a mini snickers bar. In the pictures online-they look like a ball-mine went a little flat (seems to be a repeating theme here doesn't it?!?)

 Usually I make buckeye balls, but this year I decided to try these peanut butter cups instead-they are a keeper! Much easier to make!

 Molasses cookies! The recipe for these comes from my parent's friend PJ-she plays volleyball with us on our co-ed league on Saturday nights.

 These are not usually covered in red and green sugar-usually it is white sugar. They are my mom's recipe called double treat cookies. A peanut butter cookie with peanuts and chocolate chips.

 These are super easy and fun to make! Almond Joy mini candy bars, with mini twist pretzels broken in half, mini marshmallows cut in half, a little black gel frosting and a mini red m & m.

 These were pretty easy too! Square pretzels with a rolo on top and heated in the oven til soft-then smooshed with a pecan.

These are Kevin's favorite-Magic 7 Layer bars. I hate to make them! That's why he only gets them once a year-aren't I a mean wife?!? They are miserable to get out of the pan, even if I line it first!

  Tomorrow I'll be making all the appetizers for Saturday.

Thank You Mary Lou & Jan!

Look!
         What
                    I
                          got!!!

My blog friend Mary Lou read about me wanting to find a vintage aluminum Christmas tree and she knew her friend Jan was wanting to sell hers, so she contacted me and told me how to get a hold of Jan. Then a friend from work who lives near her picked it up for me, and I got it today!!!

Six feet of shiny, vintage awesomeness! I can't wait to put it together!!! Thanks again for thinking of me Mary Lou!!

Ugly Enough?

I don't have much time to uglify our ugly sweaters for the party Saturday-too many other things to do! I just found out our volleyball playoff game that was cancelled two weeks ago, is tomorrow night at 7:30...if we weren't playing short one player already, I would just cancel, but since it is the playoffs...sigh...I don't feel like I can let the team down by not going.

What do you think? Are they ugly enough? any suggestions on something quick I can do to make them uglier?

I pinned on ornaments, rope garland and icicles hanging from the waist on both. Kevin's sweater has a bright blue glittery butterfly on the shoulder!

Skipping chores to go to sales...maybe it wasn't such a good idea after all!

Yesterday I had a date with Adam's best friend's new wife to bake Christmas cookies all day, except she cancelled late Thursday night. She is pregnant (about 14-15 weeks) and is borderline preeclampsia  and because of the high blood pressure, she's been having horrible headaches. Please keep her in your prayers, she is very scared.

Since she cancelled, I decided to try a couple of estate sales. One was in an area known for big expensive homes, but their ad made it sound like there might be some of my kind of junk and I was hoping it might be reasonable...HA! As soon as I walked in and the house was decorated for Christmas and they made me put booties on over my shoes, I should have just turned around and ran back to my car!

The next couple of sales were not really worth the drive either-I got a couple of things, but I am wondering if I might have been better off staying home and baking the cookies!!!

Today there was a sale in Ann Arbor with LOTS of vintage quilts and linens in the photos, so I decided to take a chance and check it out (instead of making cookies and cleaning, and catching up on the week's laundry). I was #29. It was 15 degrees. It was a tiny house. Only 15 in at a time. It was PACKED with stuff. It was by a company who's sales I've shopped many times and they have great prices, but they haven't had any sales with my type of stuff for many months. so, you see, I HAD to go-right?!?

I parked across the street, near a sign that said "No parking M-F 8am-6pm -2hour limit". I figured -"Cool! It's Saturday and I'm not going to be here for 2 hours-I'm good!" I got my goodies, and got out the door and was congratulating myself on my decision to skip my chores to go to this sale as I was driving toward the expressway.

As I picked up speed on the on ramp, I noticed something starting to flap under my wiper....oh noooooo! Yes....I got a parking ticket! How do you get a ticket on a Saturday, when it states M-F? The ticket says it was a no parking at any time zone. Now my deals don't look so good-with the extra $25 I'm going to have to spend to pay the ticket!!

I wonder if the other 12 cars parked in front of and behind me also got tickets? Or maybe my dirty car just stood out (since I live on a dirt road my car is always more dirty or muddy than clean) in the city?

I went on Zillow and looked at a street level view of the street I was on, and found the parking sign...maybe I read it wrong...there are two signs together the top one is the red "P" with a slash the one under says M-F 8am-6pm in green letters...does that mean it is OK to park M-F 8am-6pm? Sigh! What a bummer way to end a fun sale and cast gloom on some good finds!!

Here is what I found yesterday and today...

Seven full aprons, two half aprons, a pink chenille bedspread, 4 vintage tablecloths(one looks to be mint), vintage Christmas curtains with valance, a Christmas card holder, a lingerie box, a folding wooden bed tray, a vintage blue Fiesta covered casserole (mint!) a Little Black Sambo syrup pitcher a Fiesta go-along shaker, an ice crusher, a chichi's chip tin and a wooden bird cage! Whew!

Even with the parking ticket, I still got some great deals. If I was to add the price of the ticket to the casserole, it still would be worth over 4 times what I paid for it.

As I was downloading pictures, someone came in through the sun room and slammed the door-and CRASH! My little red (mint) Pyrex fridgie bit the dust! Now to vacuum it up and get busy with laundry, housework and baking the cookies-not really in the mood now...


It keeps on getting better...just cut my finger picking up the big pieces that the shop vac couldn't get...yep---shoulda stayed home!

Air-vacuate?

This afternoon, both boys wanted to go to Kohl's-one to look for a winter coat, and the other for a pair of khakis for work. We bought "a" coat, but decided to check at Dunham's and Elderbeerman (just down the road a couple blocks distance & right next door to each other) to be sure it was "the" coat.

As we were pulling into the parking lot, I smelled a propane smell and when we got out to walk up to Dunham's the smell was really bad. We were met at the door by the manager who told us he couldn't let us in because they were "evacuating the area" because of a gas main leak and to try back in about an hour.

We got back in our car, and drove through the parking lot and had to wait at the light. As we were sitting there, Eric pipes up from the backseat, "That man is crazy-there's no such thing as an "air vacuum-he can't vacuum the air"!" I thought Adam and I were going to die laughing!! Usually it is me who makes the blonde comments in our family.

We all have had a good laugh about that one all evening! 

Mr. Air-vacuate to the rescue!

What Have We Been Doing?

We've been really busy the last few weeks, trying to get the built-in cabinets for the sun room done in time for the big party for Kevin's co-workers (yikes!). I feel like I could stain and polyurethane in my sleep now!

Kevin thought he would be helpful and stain the second cabinet for me before he put all of the pieces together...unfortunately, he has a heavier hand with the stain and his cabinet came out darker. Fortunately, I have LOTS of vintage goodness to fill the shelves with that hopefully no one will notice!!

 This is the one I stained...

This is the one he stained-in the pictures they look pretty close...

Today he got the crown molding in place, and the trim along the bottom-so we're almost to the finish line!! We just need to get some glass for the outside doors, and hang the doors. I think once they are all done, things will seem a lot less stressful. Having an air compressor and tools, and saw dust all over doesn't make it very easy to clean!

We've been playing volleyball as a family on Tuesdays and Saturdays, and I've been playing in a women's league on Wednesdays (we're in second place!), but everything is winding down now for a couple of weeks. We're going to have so much time on our hands we won't know what to do with ourselves!!

We're both off for the week between Christmas and New Year's -staying home while the boys and their friends go up to my parents-looking forward to a clean, quiet house for a few days!

Today I got to go shopping and wrap presents and got paid for it!! The church I work at does Angel Tree ministry, and this year there was a glitch and 22 names for clothes and toys didn't get to us until yesterday! So, since my work was pretty caught up, I got to go shopping with a coworker. We only had to buy the clothes and gift bags, but we had to sort and wrap clothes and toys. It was so much fun!!! We were done with everything by 2:00.

Then once I got home, I had to go grocery shopping for my family-I'd much rather shop for presents for other people than grocery shop-that's for sure! Now that it's all put away, I get to put my feet up and enjoy some relaxing time-Adam is making dinner! Pretty cool! He's making shrimp scampi and linguini from scratch. We used to play "Emeril" when he and Eric were growing up and they got to cook a lot, but it's a rare treat when either one of them actually wants to plan, shop for and cook dinner!!!

Tomorrow is cookie baking day! Hope you're having a great week!!

Oh Christmas Tree!

I found one!!! I feel like I need to pinch myself-I am just tickled pink!!! It is exactly what I wanted, in excellent shape-the only thing that could have been better would have been if it was a little cheaper.  I've been smiling ever since I was taking it apart and putting it in the box at the mall!

The story gets even better (pinch, pinch, pinch)!!! Last night I got an email from Mary Lou, a blog friend just west of where I live. She wanted to let me know that her friend has a 6' aluminum tree for sale, and would I be interested! It was too late to call last night, and too early to call before work (I start at 7am), so I called her friend after work.

It sounds really amazing! It used to belong to her grandparents! I LOVE that!!! One of my coworkers lives in the area where Mary Lou's friend lives and has offered to pick it up for me-how cool is that?!?  Now I will have a 4' tree in the dining room on the buffet, and what do you think about the new big one right in the middle of the sun room? So you can look at the the vintage-y awesomeness from every side?

Somebody pinch me! I must be dreaming!! Thanks so much Mary Lou for thinking of me! You're awesome!!

I wasn't planning to go to any sales today...

I slept in this morning, and I have a list a mile long of things to do to get ready for the big party for Kevin's co-workers, so I was planning on getting right to work. Then I looked through my emails and saw an interesting sale...I was able to find 2 more within a few miles to make it worth the drive.

I was lucky that it didn't start til 10. I got there about 15 minutes early, and was #30. There was one thing I was extremely interested in, a vintage aluminum Christmas tree. I heard other ladies in line in front of me saying how they have been hitting all the estate sales looking for vintage Christmas stuff, so I thought-it won't even be there when I get in.

I ended up being about #20 to get in because when they opened the doors, a lot of people weren't there. I found the tree, sitting in the box in the living room and since I didn't see a price, I asked...$80! Gulp! Is that high, or am I just cheap? It was a 6' tree, and I am looking for a 3 foot tree for the sunroom for Kevin's party, so I passed it up. I saw a lot of people looking at it, but they all passed it up too.

They had a LOT of stuff in a tiny house. Some prices were good, some were ridiculous. This is what I found:

 Lime green Pyrex baking pan, a couple condiment jars with spoons, 2 Pyrex Cinderella bowls, some ornaments, a light up Jack-o-lantern, some vintage dish towels, a mini Pyrex oval casserole (a quarter!) a glasbake mini casserole with lid some beaded garland, a red basket with a Christmas bow (perfect for napkins for the party!), an amethyst Pilgrim glass vase, and another casserole with lid and wire stand.

 This cute little guy was only fifty cents! He has a JAPAN sticker on the back of his head.

A dirty set of amethyst Moroccan chip and dip bowls.

A chippy white old shelf.

I also found this awesome "ugly" Christmas sweater! At first the lady wanted $4 for it and I said no and set it aside while she added up my other stuff. After I paid and was starting to walk away, I asked if she would take $2 for it and she agreed! I found the guy's "ugly" sweater at Salvation Army, and I stopped at the dollar store and picked up some stuff to ugly it up even more!

I'll show pictures of them after I add the magic from the dollar store! ;)

Tomorrow I'm going to Williamston Antiques Christmas Open House with 3 friends from work. I'm looking forward to just girl time and having some FUN! Hope you have a GREAT weekend!