...5.31...New House Update...now and then...

...still mostly working on the master bathroom...

...painting the cabinet doors...

...all of the caulking is done...

...we went with the 'biscuit' coloured caulk...it looks a bit too bright to me...but probably better than white...

...and now the Man is working on the frame for the big mirror...just strips of moulding like we did in the little downstairs bathroom...

...now back to the past...these photos are from several trips to the new house about a year ago now...

...back at the parsonage we refurbished these curtain rods...they were actually from our WV house...

...I gave them a good scrub...

...and we painted them antique bronze for the new house...they're wide enough for our three window set in the master bedroom...and new rods that long are crazy spendy...

...so this particular week at the new house was all about the window treatments...new blinds for the kitchen...

...and dining nook...

...these were the 20 year old plantation blinds in the Master bedroom...

...they let in an awful lot of light...

...and because this window gets so much light...they are discolored ...you can see the outline of the window panes on the blinds...so giving them a good scrub like I did the ones in the den is not really an option...

...this was the previous solution...hahaha...

...and so we really needed blackout curtains for the master bedroom...again...because it's so wide we needed three panels to cover the entire space...so I took one panel apart...

...and split it down the middle and sewed half onto each of the other two panels...so that it would be all even and close in the middle...

...on the newly painted old curtain rod...

...and half closed...

...and fully closed...it's so nice to have the blackout curtains in this east facing bedroom...

...the yard was looking pretty horrible...and the 20 year old sprinkler system was spraying in all crazy directions...

...some of the sprinkler heads were buried...

...and just needed to be uncovered...

...and some we had to completely dig up...

...and remove the broken one...

...and replace it with a new one...

...and some of them were completely broken off...like this one just spewing water straight out of the pipe...

...but we had bought several replacement heads...so we think everything is working properly now...

...the Man moved the light fixture that was in the new den into the hallway...

...it's maybe a little too big for the space...

...but with the ten foot ceilings we think it will be ok here...and we won't have to buy a new one...

...in the garage I did a little bit more organizing...I made labels for the totes we're using to store tools and such...

...that way...I can 'remember' where things are....haha...

...and I also removed the window section insulation...just long enough to spray a mirror coating on the windows...

...and I'm really happy with how that turned out...

...and really almost exactly a year ago...(these photos were taken on June 14th)...the bushes out front were so shaggy that they really needed to be trimmed...

...so we used the little aluminum platform stepladder that Mom gave us...it's perfect for this job..really stable as you lean in to cut the tops...

...this one is a circle around a sugar maple...so you have to kind of force your way into the center to trim it there...

...both of these front ones are Loropetalum...Chinese Fringe Flower...

...and then we drilled some holes to plant some pachysandra...

...and I wish I could show you the lovely bed of pachysandra under the big oak tree...sadly I cannot...because although deer aren't supposed to like it...they apparently liked ours well enough to eat all of it...

~Have a lovely day!

...5.30...Delicious Vegan Food we ate...

...just a quick and hearty breakfast one morning this week...

...sautéed some mushrooms...

...and added some leftover bulghur wheat...just to make it extra hearty and use up some leftovers...

...and served it over toast...really yummy...with a sweet and creamy mug of tea...

...what delicious food have you been eating lately?...

~Have a lovely day!

...5.29...W.I.P. Wednesday...

...well....I've hopped on the Emotional Support Chicken bandwagon...and I'm making it for The Airman's Wife...I figure she could probably use some emotional support and I know that she loves chickens...

...Our Airman texted me a photo of her 'favorite chicken'...he said it was a Plymouth Rock...so that's what I'm trying to replicate...haha...

...not sure what I'd say if you asked me what my favorite chicken was...probably the regular white one...you know like Foghorn Leghorn...I think they're actually called leghorns...

...anywhoo...it's an ingenious pattern...basically all the shaping is done in one piece with short rows...so it involves quite a bit of counting and attention...

...what's in your workbasket this week?...

~Have a lovely day!

...5.28...Tuesdays with Julia...

...we made the Vegan Veau Poêlé à la Matignon...

...another pretty yummy seitan and gravy recipe...

...and all of the particulars are over at The Vegan Version...

~Have a lovely day!

...5.27...Over the Weekend...

...we did a minimal amount of decorating for this solemn holiday...I added some ties to some small flags...white for the back porch and black for the mailbox...

...I also put the larger ones on the front porch...

...we got just a sprinkling of rain...I really wanted a lot of rain...everything is getting so dried out...

...I did the regular shopping...

...nothing unusual at all...I'm still trying to find a milk replacement for my beloved Silk 10 grams protein...that they apparently no longer make...this week I'm trying Ripple...it's kind of spendy though...we'll see...

...not sure I've showed you my trick for keeping mushrooms fresh...but mine always get slimy if I leave the plastic on...

...so I just pull that off before I ever put them into the fridge...and then I wrap a clean kitchen towel over the top and secure it with a rubber band...they'll seriously keep a couple of weeks like this...

...now for a what's blooming update...

...my Mother's Day hyacinth...pink and white so far...

...the hibiscus Mom gave me...

...ALL the lillies...

...they're so pretty along the walkway...

...I love this lemony yellow one...

...and all the Plains Coreopsis bloomed...

...so I cut a bunch and brought it inside...it's so pretty and cheerful...

...and the lavender is blooming as well...it smells so nice when you get out of the car...

...this Japanese star lily did not bloom last year...it's pretty spectacular and unlike the day lilies...it's bloom lasts for a few days...

...and we harvested the first batch of basil...this is the one that I got at the grocery store and then stuck in the ground...not sure it would survive...but it did great...

...I gave it a rinse and took off all the leaves...and laid them on a piece of waxed paper...

...added another piece of paper and another layer of leaves...

...three layers...and then I put them all into a ziplock baggie and put them in the freezer...

...we still have the much smaller plants that we grew from seed...so those will continue to grow and give us fresh basil over the summer and then I'll probably harvest whatever is left in the fall and freeze it as well...and we'll have delicious fresh basil all winter...

~Wishing you a lovely start to your week!