London, The Shire, Jaipur

Arts and Crafts, Home and Renovation, Shopping

“When putting on accessories, take off the last thing you’ve put on.”

—Coco Chanel

Eh. Coco lied. Pile it on.

There’s an iron bedstead and a mattress in my living room. There’s four boxes of vinyl tile in my kitchen. There’s two boxes of accessories and knickknacks sitting uncomfortably next to the front door. The grandfather clock has been moved because the circuit breaker panel was behind it. There’s a large braided rug rolled up and leaning against my piano. There are cardboard boxes … everywhere.

Our contractor is now hammering and painting and sawing and wiring this weekend.

O

One of my favorite things I’ve found shopping is my crazy curtains. They’re made by a shop owned by ladies in India. They make them from surplus and seconded sari material.

Part of the fun has been taking a month or so to choose very particular items, discover clever new things. (I know a bit about rough gemstones now — I bought a 1500 carat Lapis Lazuli Buddha sculpture. LOL) It’s fun to hunt up better prices, take the time to look for exactly what I want.

O

I found a good price on a quilt! The pattern works with the room too!. Handmade, queen size, and very well sewn. This one’s from eBay.

Needless to say, I have a lot of work to do before Sunday, a little more prep — pulling nails and screws and filling in the holes, going to buy the paint, getting all the materials together for the guys. In the time in between, I have fun unpacking things and and telling Eli how much I like them any why.

Eli

O

O

Let’s be honest. It’s a tapestry on a fluffy pillow with a unicorn, a lion, bunny-cat-dogs, and a lady playing a tiny pipe organ. This was going to get bought no matter what. The young lady helping her is pumping the bellows. =)

One thing that’s kept coming to mind during this process — there are too many retail things! I absolutely do not need twelve pages of crown molding to choose from. Or forty pages of curtain rods.

You gotta have a little grandma-style in the mix!

Have a great weekend!

The Plot Continues

Health, Home and Renovation

Well, it must’ve just been marked down as a bad week.

Wednesday night I got in the car at 6 o’clock to go to work to play the Ash Wednesday service. It was 18°. The car wouldn’t start. I know a thing or two about this and that, and I knew I was the victim of an old battery in freezing weather.

I called our regular Cab guy, and mercifully, he was available. My friend Miss K drove me home. Jonathan called AAA and had them come out and jump the battery so the car could run for a while and hopefully start in the morning.

Thursday morning I called AAA to buy a battery and to bring it to me. The nicest man ever was here within 30 minutes, tested the battery and alternator, hooked up some box so I wouldn’t lose all my data, and installed our shiny new battery.

O

However, standing outside in the 20F-something weather for over an hour was definitely unwise.

Besides, I was feeling a stomach/GI attack beginning. (We’re taking medical steps to get that fixed.) I felt absolutely awful by noon, and my temperature goes up (weird) when this happens. Two of my doctors think that’s weird, and the other two are willing to chalk it up to the G.I. stuff.

I got to 102.9, I think. It goes back down as I start to feel better. It was 99 by evening after lots of rest. Along with this, I was without one of my serious medications because the drugstore hadn’t filled it yet. (Honestly, that was the worst part of it.) It was filled the next day, and I became more an operable human being than a groaning bed warmer.

So, that’s enough of that! I’m up to about 85%, and should feel pretty normal tomorrow.

On a happier note, our adding-a-bedroom project is started!

On the first floor we have the living room, the kitchen, the bathroom, and this other weird room. I suppose it could be a dining room, but it’s small and in a strange place. Plus, we have never used the dining room when we’ve had one. Of course, it became a “let’s just put it in there” room.

O

We’ve felt a downstairs bedroom would be a good idea for many reasons. (One of them is sick people wanting to be near the bathroom when needed.) My design is below.

We’re starting to move the furniture out of the room, after which my friend and contractor will build a new wall, replace the sockets and switches, and move a ceiling light fixture. After the bedroom is done, we’re looking at a bathroom redo.

My design, and probably very much what you would expect from me. =)

O

So! The process will be fun to take pictures and blog about!

I’ll keep you posted!

When it Snows, it Pours

Health, Home and Renovation, New York

I didn’t feel great on Sunday, but I thought, “Eh, just a day not quite as good as most.” Turns out that wasn’t the case.

Sparing you the (honestly) gory details, it’s been bed/bathroom about every 30 minutes for about 24 hours. Finally thinking to take my temp today, it was 101.1F. Which rose to 102.5F. It’s going back down bit by bit now.

We had a snowstorm overnight. Easily a foot so far. Bless Jonathan for doing all the snow chores!

I was supposed to have an outpatient procedure today. That’s a big nope for several reasons. Very lucky that it got rescheduled in the time frame we needed, on my day off.

Nighty-night!

Caked & Baked

Cooking & Baking

Since getting my all-powerful stand mixer, I’ve been a baking crazy person. (I went with a Cuisinart rather than KitchenAid – I love it!) I thought it might be the initial rush of a new toy, but a month later the baking has not stopped.

I’ve been on a bit of a binge. Luckily, I’m not a heavy eater otherwise! Thus far, I’ve made the following recipes, and a few of these two or three times. The big hits are marked with an asterisk. =)

  • Gingerbread Spice Cake with Buttercream*
  • Cornbread Focaccia with Tomatoes*
  • German Pumpernickel
  • Puffy Eggy White Bread
  • Peanut Butter Cookies
  • Snickerdoodles
  • Spiced Banana Cake with Cherries* (my recipe)
  • Simple Banana Bread
  • Zucchini Bread
  • Blueberry Muffins
  • Herb Parmesan Biscuits* (my recipe)
  • and a few things I’m sure I’m forgetting

It got to a point at which I was really liking some recipes (or had created them) and really wanted to save them. I started putting together my own cookbook to keep in the kitchen. (Including woodcuts of medieval baking and cooking, of course!) The upcoming list I’ve at least managed to center mostly around Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s.

  • Choux Pastry & Confectioner’s Custard
  • Puff Pastry for Turnovers
  • German Bierocks
  • Steamed Golden Christmas Pudding (my recipe)
  • Pan de Muerto
  • Sugar Cookies & Royal Icing
  • Yellow Cake & Marshmallow Fondant
  • Molasses Cookies
  • Homemade Pasta

Happy eating season, Friends!

O

The Lost Weasley

Home and Renovation

Know anyone who keeps a box of antique reproduction iron hardware around just in case he needs it? I have a box of salvaged mid-19th century iron nails too.

98% sure it’s going to be the big hinge.

O

The pantry is nearing completion; enough that I’m getting ready to build the doors. My drying rack arrived from the UK today!

I’m mulling over whether I want to go buy lumber right now. I’m tired, but if I do it now, I won’t have to go out tomorrow. Also, it’s raining. On the upside, the store would be slow. On the downside, I’d have to load lumber into the SUV in the rain. Plus I want to make some crème pastissiere and choux pastry. We’ll see. My tired back and cold toes will let me know soon.

Of course, like most things in this house, the pantry has taken much longer than anticipated. I’m used to it and fond of it. I’ve been known to build things purposely crooked so they can live in harmony with our slanting floors, crooked doorways, and cobwebs. So, everything takes a while. It’s a small price to pay for having the privilege of owning a 180+ year-old, super crooked Weasley cottage. =)

Out of curiosity, I just looked up a photo of Molly Weasley’s kitchen. I hadn’t realized it specifically, but that kitchen clearly sunk in and stuck in the back of my brain — it looks very much like what I am building right now. She even has my plate rack.

The Weasley’s kitchen

O

I’ll have pictures soon.