Life...

Life sometimes happens. This summer has been a roller coaster for us. I know it is almost over, summer that is.

Anyway, I wrote out the recipe for yesterday, and planned on taking pictures while I made it for dinner... Two things happened, 1) I can't find my camera... and 2) I HAD to leave for Spokane right after work to get something inspected for it's warranty, because our local store CLOSED!! And of course I am one of those people who do important things last minute... (It had to be inspected by FRIDAY!)

So now that is out of the way, my mission today, is to find my camera, make the dish for yesterday to get some pictures, and post about the finished chair redo.

Homemaking Tuesday: Bottle Labels

I was reading on another blog about something... And they said something about needing to label their reused bottles. I thought that is great, I just use a marker, but it is kind of tacky. So since I read that I have been working on a label design.

It is super simple, but now I have a fun label! You can print some too! Here is a link.

Also, because of how they are saved, the easiest way to print will be either on a 8.5x11 sheet of solid sticker paper, and cut them or to print them on what ever paper you would like and then tape or glue them to the cleaner you made!

No more smelling bottles to figure out what is in them!

Oi vey!

I haven't post much, for various reasons. I am sure you all understand. With a new month looming I thought I best get my fingers moving!

I know we have a bunch of promised posts in the works so I will try to get those done, soon. I hope everyone has been having a good August. Mine, not so great. But that is life.

Thrifty Thursday: Chair Redo

Over a year ago, we discovered we have an attic. As renters, we knew we couldn't store stuff up there (some kind of hazard...), but we decided to see what was up there.

We found an old wrought iron bed. Which once we figure out how take apart, we are taking! And this beauty!

Seriously, it is GORGEOUS!!! I love it. It has so much character.

I have been refurbing furniture for almost 10 years now. It is so much fun. Even in the last few years, when I have had no space, I have been making plans.

The weather is finally nice, and looks like it will stay for a while, so the two chairs that I have had sitting around in despirate need of some deep love an attention are going to be work on!

This chair needs a LOT of TLC.

It is missing the cross supports. When looking at the construction of the chair, I believe that they MUST be replaced.

A little bit of wood glue, some primer, paint, and some new fabric is going to turn this chair into our piano chair.

This is the fabric I picked out for this chair, last Thanksgiving!! I am going to paint the chair off white to match the white. The chair will also get covered with some vinyl over the fabric, for some extra protection.

I hope to be able to finish it next week, and the get started on chair number two!

Recipe: Beans

Happy AUGUST everyone!! I am so excited it is August, because August is going to be a great month!!

I was going to give you a really yummy bean recipe, but I don't have all the ingredients, and I don't want to make it... And I am an advocate of using dry beans, so I thought people might want to know how to cook them first.

There are a couple of ways to cook dry beans. There is a fast and an over night process. THEY DO YIELD DIFFERENT TEXTURES!!!

I like to cook my black beans fast, but my kidney and pinto beans slow.

Cooking Beans Slowly (Over night method)

Take about a pound of beans (about 2 cups)
Rinse and check for rocks
In a large pot with lid, cover the beans with 6 cups of water. Add 2 TBSP of salt.
Refrigerate for 8-12 hours (over night!)

In the morning, drain the beans and rinse the beans.
Using the same pot add the beans and enough water to cover the beans by about 2 inches.
Bring to a boil and simmer covered, until desired doneness.

Crock Pot/Slow Cooker:
After refrigeration and rinse, cook for about 6-8 hours on low. (With some water of course!)


Cooking Beans Fast (One day Method):

Rinse and sort beans
In a large pot with lid, cover the beans by about 2 inches of water. (You might need to add more water as the cook) Add 2 TBSP of salt
Bring to a boil, and simmer with the lid on a wooden spoon holding the lid slightly open. Cook for about 2 -3 hours until they reach desired doneness.


Tips:
Beans that I am going to cook longer, in soup for example, I don't cook as long.
2 cups yields about 4 cups.
Cooked beans can be frozen and stored in the freezer for 3 months. Freeze, while still hot and with some of the cooking water. This will keep the beans from "drying out"/freezer burn.

The Bathroom Experiment: FAIL!!

I was all excited about starting the experiment this morning and Wonderful Man said it was a good set up... But when I got in the shower after him, I realized what he meant...

My water tight set up, is not water tight... So experiment is on hold, until we find some thing to replace the picture frames with... I really thought it would work... Wonderful Man suggested locker mirrors...