A Little Bit of Silver

I found this beautiful and almost contemporary looking silver and glass pitcher at the Goodwill. And I only paid $2.99 for it! I have to admit that it was tarnished and it had some dried white stuff on the bottom of the pitcher but there were no chips in it and I just couldn’t leave it there!

When I got it home the first thing I did was wash it and I used my kid’s favorite science experiment…vinegar and baking soda to bubble up the white stuff stuck on the bottom. Then it took me about 5 minutes of elbow grease and some silver polish to get the tarnish off the handle and the top of the rim and spout. It shined up beautifully!

I come across silver bowls and candy dishes all the time at the Goodwill. And I have some silver pieces but truthfully they are still in same box the movers packed them into from our last move and they are somewhere up in the storage room. Someday I will bring them out and shine them up when I decide where I might want to put them. But, I have no intentions of growing a silver collection unless I come across pieces that I know we will use. And I do believe we will use this pitcher. Pitcher of iced tea or orange juice on the weekends? A pitcher of Cosmo’s or Pomegranate Martinis perhaps? Yes please!

(See that little lamp next to my pitcher? I picked that up a few weeks ago for $6.00 at a consignment store.) Have a Happy Wednesday!

Sunflowers Wrapped in Burlap

One of my favorite flowers especially this time of year is Sunflowers. You can still get them fairly easily and inexpensively and they bring a little bit of summer back into the Fall. I absolutely love this photo from BEADBOARD UPCOUNTRY where the sunflowers are wrapped in burlap and tied off with a big yellow ribbon.

If you are lucky enough to live near Brenham Texas you can visit the Beadboard Upcountry shop yourself. If you are like me and you don’t live anywhere near Texas, you can enjoy it right on your laptop! It is a fun blog to visit and she blogs about all kinds of things but every now and then you can get a peek at what is in her shop.

Be quick. The amount of time left to enjoy sunflowers is running out. It is just a matter of days before the Poinsettias take over!

Bye Bye Brass

One of the things that I never believed about spray paint was that it would stick to shiny surfaces. It really does and each time I spray something I am just as amazed as the first time I tried it. We have had this brass lamp probably since we first got married. Shiny brass was very big in the 80’s. It is a great lamp and it gives off a lot of light.

It’s the same lamp I mentioned in an earlier post when I mentioned that it “buzzed” when you turned it on. We tried to replace the socket on our own and it still buzzed after we were done so it was then time for a professional. Well, I took it to a local lamp shop and had them put a whole new socket it in it….good as new. Almost. It was still UGLY. And the lampshade had a drip of dried paint on it from when we painted the living room and turned it into an office.

A can of Rust-e-oleum Metallic spray paint is what I used to bring it up to date.

See how shiny it was?

I taped off the cord and the socket area and gave it couple of coats of spray paint.

And wow did the details become more noticeable!

It is amazing to me that I can get that oiled rubbed bronze look with a can of spray paint!!

I picked up a new shade for it too. I am loving anything Burlap these days and found another shade that was bigger and I love the whole look. I re-did a floor lamp a week or so ago that I found at the Goodwill…remember the “danglies”? Well I decide to move that one to the family room and put my new re-do in it’s place in the office. It is a bit bigger and gives off more light and it also just looks better in there!

Another miracle created with the help of Rust-o-leum. :) (I know...I need to start hiding my cords.) :)

And the Winner Is….

A special THANKS to all who entered my very first GIVEAWAY! Csnbaby. com , which is a great source for all your baby needs including Nursery Furniture , generously offered a set of these 3 wall plaques which make a great baby or shower gift and are perfect for decorating a “little one’s” nursery.

The Winner was selected using the Random Number Generator at Random.org. And the winner is……

LAURA at THE ROAD AHEAD!!!!!! Laura has a great blog and is currently in the process of adopting a baby girl from China! Congratulations and Best Wishes to Laura and her family as they travel “The Road Ahead” and I look forward to reading all about it!

(Thanks to everyone who entered and I hope I can do another Giveaway some time soon!) :)

What’s for Dinner?

Ham and Cheese Potatoes

Everyone in my family likes it when I make this for dinner. I like to buy the Ham Steaks you can get at Costco for this. They come 3 steaks to a package and unless I am feeding the neighbor’s kids or the First Year College Student is home, I can usually get away with 1 Ham Steak per meal but sometimes I make two so that I can use the leftovers in a quiche or a Jambalaya the next day. This is a simple dinner and easy. I like to grill the Ham steaks outside on the BBQ if the weather is nice. I steam the green beans in a little bit of olive oil and garlic and then comes the potatoes. The potatoes are what makes everyone’s eyes light up. These are so good and so easy. They are great served with dinner and they are also perfect if you are serving a big breakfast. Do your see that golden brown crunchy piece in the potatoes? That is my favorite part!

Cheddar Cheese Potatoes

1 package (32oz) frozen Southern Style Hash Brown Potatoes (I like Ore-Ida brand), thawed

1 Cup milk

1/4 cup (half a stick) of butter, melted

1 teaspoon of dried Onion Powder (sometimes I add more):)

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar Cheese

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a small bow, combine the potatoes, milk, Cheddar Cheese, onion powder, salt and pepper. Mix together and spread in a 13 x 9 casserole dish that has been sprayed with Pam Cooking Spray. Drizzle the melted butter over the top. Bake 1 hour until bubbly and golden brown.

Mmmm! This is a keeper recipe. I am going to post this over at Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum.

And don’t forget to enter my Giveaway. The Giveaway ends at midnight on Friday, November 14, 2009. Hurry and enter today. See my sidebar and click on the blue gift box for more details. Good Luck!! Winner will be announced on Sunday, November 16, 2009.

Bright Red Geraniums In Big Black Pots

I don’t know what I did to deserve such beautiful Geraniums this year! They were big and bushy and I had tons of blooms. And unbelievably to me, this is how beautiful they still are and it is November!! The remnants of Hurricane Ida started blowing through here yesterday and today it is cold, windy, and rainy. Last night we brought all the pots off of the front porch in so that Ida could not tear them apart.

I have them sitting in the front window of our living room converted to an office. I wish I had a hot house to keep them in for the winter. Are there any gardeners out there who have had luck keeping geraniums alive through the winter????

I buy my geraniums at a great family owned Nursery in Brown’s Summit here in NC called A and A Plants usually near the end of April each spring. I always have great luck with them but this year they were exceptional. I planted them in Miracle Grow Potting Mix and our summer was not as hot as it sometimes is and believe it or not I don’t think I watered them as much as the previous year. Go figure!

Here is one of the pots next to my front door.

They look so pretty sitting in the front window.

I just hate the thought of loosing them them to the winter time! I have heard that you can winter them over…that they go somewhat dormant…and you can keep them alive in your garage in the winter. They will look like they are dead but come springtime when you move them back outside they will spring back. Does anybody know if that is true?

My geraniums are protected from Hurricane Ida for today. Tomorrow it is supposed to be sunny and in the 60’s so I’ll be able to move them back to the front porch tomorrow. But sadly I think their days are numbered! :(

DON’T FORGET TO ENTER MY GIVEAWAY…THER IS STILL TIME TO ENTER. CLICK ON THE BLUE GIFT BOX ON MY SIDEBAR FOR DETAILS. GOOD LUCK!

I am also linking up to Outdoor Wednesday over at A Southern Day Dreamer. Stop by for some fresh air!

Pottery Barn

I love Pottery Barn. But really, who doesn’t? It is probably a good thing that we do not have one here in Greensboro, at least not yet. Because if we did, it would be trouble. I get to shop at some of my favorite shops when I head over to Chapel Hill to either visit our daughter or bring her home for the weekend. There is a great outdoor mall there called South Point and they have a Pottery Barn, Restoration Hardware, and an Anthropologie. Why does it always seem that any other city but your own has more fun and exciting shops and restaurants? So, until my next shopping trip and visit to Chapel Hill/Durham, here are just a few of the things I spotted on the Pottery Barn web site:

Look how gorgeous this cheese set is! Someday, it will be mine…oh yes, it will be mine. :)

And these vintage clock plates and bowls. I am already trying to figure out a way to make them for myself. :)

Now I loved seeing this tray because I just picked up a great tray from Goodwill that I am going to rehab and post for you to see soon. This one here has a price tag of $49.99 but I think mine will be MUCH less expensive. :)

And oh how pretty are these mini dessert domes??? I made a version of my own with some things that I found at the Goodwill and posted about it yesterday. If you have a minute you can click here to see what I did. My Dessert Stand Set.)

And finally, I loved these antique look number napkin rings. I actually ordered these today. They come as a set of 6 for $32.00. Big splurge but I think I will love them forever. I’d better!

P.S. Don’t forget to enter my Giveaway! Click on the blue gift box on my sidebar for all the details and Bon Chance!