Inspiration.....

I'm sorry I haven't posted in a few days....I actually have an annoying cold! :-P  The nice thing about living in the south after spending most of my life up north is that I rarely get sick anymore.  Every fall thru spring up in New England, I (and my kids!) would get sick 2-4 times, mostly with a typical cold - you know, sore throat, stuffy nose, headache, coughing - and it would last from 7-10 days....BLAH!!  But since moving down here, we sometimes don't get any colds all year!  As a matter of fact, I think this is my first cold in two years!!  It's great.....except now I've had a sore throat and headache for the past three nights (and days), and....I hate it!!!  I guess I've become a ginormous baby, because I feel miserable! :-P
So I have a post started, but I just couldn't continue it because the post screen is so white it's hurting my eyes....it's been sitting in here half-done for two nights!  Well, I'm determined to finish it tonight!!

I've been thinking about Inspiration....it's the source of my creativity! :-D  I can be going along, not interested in a particular thing, like crocheting, and then I'll see a picture of something, or a skein of yarn, or one of my WIPs (Works In Progress) and then WHAM!! -- I've simply GOT to crochet it!  Or especially with the house -- I can have a space that I have no idea what I want there, and I can go along not thinking about it, not caring about it, even working on something else....then I'll find a picture in a magazine (or lately on Pinterest), and then I have to stop EVERYTHING and turn all my energy on that!! LOL

Lots of different things can inspire me, too!  It can be a color, it can be an old antique piece of furniture, it can be a whole room!  We've all seen the posts I've written about my paint samples! LOL  And sometimes finding a piece of wood in a woodpile can do it, and then a fever takes over and I simply have to make something with that wood!  I'm sure that happens to most people, only not everyone is inspired by the same things.  See, there is an artist inside each of us!! :-D

I want to share some of the pictures I've saved (online and in my magazines) that have really inspired me lately!

This room has really affected me....I saw it about two weeks ago on pinterest, and I haven't been able to close the tab! LOL  The first thing I love is the color of the room -- is it a pumpkin?  A dark tan?  A brown sugar?  After seeing this room, I've been consumed with a desire to repaint my library room....it's been a green that I got from the Seraph, but it almost doesn't seem right in there, and after seeing this color, I can't stop thinking about repainting in there!  But I also LOVE the chest and the dark cabinet hanging above it!!  And look at the floor cloth, or is it a painted floor?  I LOVE those stencils on it, whatever it is!!!  *Sigh!*

Look at this gorgeous cabinet!  I LOVE the bowls, one on each shelf, and the garlands on top, and the lantern....where can I get a lantern like that???  Oh, and the wood bucket and so-old mortar and pestles on top - I LOVE those!!!

This room makes me want to almost cry when I look at it, it's so heart-stopping to me! (crazy, right?! LOL)  But look at it....the trim color is perfect, and all the old pantry boxes, buckets and barrels, and that old wooden churn!  Oh and that candle holder in the top-left of the picture.....look at THAT.....*SIGH!!*  I have to have that!  Maybe I could make one....?  Of course, where would I put it?  I don't have a gorgeous corner like this anywhere!  Oh So Gorgeous!!!!

Now here is something I can have! :-D  I LOVE what this person put inside these glass jars!  First, note to self: make dried clove oranges!  Second, I would never think of putting metal cookie cutters in a jar to display - brilliant idea, it looks great!!

I know that I just built an "old farm box" for my table, and a cabinet, but I simply must have this apple box!!!  I love the hinge top!  and the curved sides!  And the open bottom-closed top!!  I've already drawn up the plans to make it, now I just have to put a spell on Brian so that he will buy the wood and not realize it!  WHERE is that spell book.....? (hee hee hee!)

I just LOVE love love these candlesticks!  I was thinking of trying to carve them out of wood, but what about sculpy???  Isn't that a great idea?  Any clay/dough recipe would probably work, I could try to make these with a salt dough recipe I just found online!!  How great are they, right?!!  I love how primitive they are -- perfect!!!

These last two things are so easy and lovely!  All the first one needs is twine and candy canes, and a glue gun - I can't wait to try it!  Candy canes are on my grocery list for the week!! :-D  And this little mitten - I have mustard wool felt, and little rusty bells....I could do this this week!  Ooooh, I just might!! :-D

So these are some of the things that have inspired me the past two weeks or so!  If I get anything I want to make finished, you can bet I'll post pictures....although I do have ADD tendencies, so I might post something completely different!! LOL  And actually, I really need to get some vacuuming and laundry done this week....BLAH!! :-P  That's not inspiring ONE BIT! ^-^

PEAR BREAD!!!

Oh YUM!!! :-D
Well, I made a small dent in the Asian pears that I had left from the Apple Festival last month....can you believe how long they've lasted?  I lost a few, or a few halves of them, but that's it!  I spent the other day chopping up the rest of what was left.....

What did I say I had....12 cups of chopped pears?!  That's a LOT of pear stuff to make! :-D
Everyone has been clamoring for the pear bread since we got the pears, so that's what I started with.....

This recipe comes from the Hometown Cooking in New England book I posted about a few posts ago....can you read the recipe?  It makes one loaf, so I doubled it -- I always freeze one loaf to take out when the first one is gone....it goes quick!! :-D

I creamed the butter and sugar together, and added the eggs and vanilla (I always add it to my wet ingredients in the beginning of my recipes, even when it calls for it at the end - does it really matter??)....

Then I mixed together the dry ingredients.....

That's the nutmeg, it's the only spice added, and it gives the bread such a delicate flavor with the pears!
Then, I add half the flour mix to the creamed butter mix, blend, and add the buttermilk or yogurt (I used yogurt this time)......

....blend it in, and then add the rest of the flour mix.
After that's blended, stir in the chopped pears.....

Even the batter is delicious! (I licked one of the beaters!! haha!)
Pour the batter into a greased/sprayed loaf pan.....

Remember, I doubled the recipe, so I have two loaves.
They bake for an hour at 350, although mine come out the best at 55 minutes....

If only you could smell them.....! :-D  (SORRY!!  I couldn't resist!)
After cooling in the pan for 15 minutes, turn them out onto the cooling rack to completely cool.....OR....cut them up and eat them right away.....

We put butter on it, and it is YUMMY!  This will be gone tomorrow!! :-D
Now I just have to make the Caramel Pear Preserves with the rest of the chopped pears.....!

I also played around with my new "old" box today -- this is my worst part!  I'm just no good at it! :-P
Here are two things I came up with so far.....

....hmmm....I have that berry garland from a few years ago - I haven't used it in a while because it got dusty and I can't for the life of me figure out how to dust it!  Whatever I do, it hardly gets any dust off, but the "berries" drop off like crazy -- I think I lost a handful today just trying to softly brush it with the wooly duster on the table! :-P  And I love the candle in there, but I wish there was a way to hide the cord.....
I know what AMY thinks I'm going to put in there.....are you thinking of my gingerbread ornaments I just made???? LOL  You are absolutely right, but I think it's a little too early to have them out....I'd rather wait until it's closer to Thanksgiving.  I'm thinking they would look great around Christmas in there with some pine tree (or cedar!) branches!!
Here was another arrangement.....

That's a little better, but NOT great.  *Sigh!*  I'm soooo bad at this! :-P  The yellow flowers are mum branches that broke off some plants at Walmart two weeks ago when I was there.  They were just laying on the ground to die, so I grabbed them and hung them up to dry - I really like them in there, too!  Hey, maybe a great little freebie!! LOL  This is how I have left it for now....maybe I'll come up with something different tomorrow....hmmm....!  I need something under it too, so I'll find that tomorrow too!

I'll have some more cooking to share tomorrow, although I wonder if I should be posting every day.....wouldn't that be annoying for anyone reading my blog once a week or less??  Who wants to catch up on 6+ posts all the time?  I guess if something is TOO exciting, I'll just have to post it, readers beware! LOL ^-^

And the Fun Thing We Made Is.......

I had a wonderful day today!! :-D  And just WAIT until you see what fun thing I picked to do.....!!  But first, it started out a little chilly this morning, so I asked Brian to make us a fire!  YAY!!!

Isn't it SO cozy!?  Even the smell of a fire burning fills me with peace and happiness! :-)  It warmed us up just enough, and we burned two logs and then let it die out -- by then it was getting really nice and warmer outside, and we could even open the windows!
Our little Minnie wasn't sure about the fire.....

She watched cautiously from her blanket on the couch!  Our little sweetie!! :-) 

NOW for my project of the day.....

I made that box that I loved at the antique store yesterday!!!!  Isn't it GREAT?!  Wait until I arrange it on my table and fill those little cubbies with cool stuff! :-D
Remember the original..?...

I just knew that we had old weathered wood like that somewhere around here, so I asked Brian to make me a box like that.....

He found the wood pieces, and cut them to the length I wanted (24 inches long, 6 inches wide).
We made them into two frames and just set them on top of eachother, and I used glue for some of the ends, just for extra strength and stability.....

Brian cut the rest of the pieces for the bottom (the original had a plywood bottom, but I didn't want that).....

And that was THAT -- I had my old farm box!!! :-D  I was/AM so excited about it, I love it!!!

What do you think it was used for so long ago....seeds?....feed?....tools? LOL 
I have wanted a trough/box like this for my table for so long....I can't wait to set it all up tomorrow! :-D

I checked on my hanging-drying weeds today, to see how they were coming along....

They aren't falling apart yet....of course, they are still mostly green....a few more days should tell!
Oh, and I wanted to show you another treasure I am saving up.....

MINI-CANS!!!!  Are these a treasure to anyone else but me? LOL  Oh, and.....shhhhhh!!!  Don't tell my husband!  He will make me throw these away if he finds out! :-D  I was looking at "primitive" tutorials on Pinterest last week, and there were some on there about making cans look rusty and decorating them, neat stuff, so I think I'm going to try that on these little 8oz cans! 
Here they are next to a regular can, I love their small size!.....

You can see I punched a pattern into those two old cans, I did that a few years ago so I could make little tin lights.....

See how pretty?  They look even nicer in real life, too!  So I could always punch a design into the little ones too!  If anyone tries that, be sure that you fill the empty cans with water, and then freeze them -- that way there is a solid backing to punch into (I used a flat head and phillips head screwdrivers) - at least until the ice breaks apart! LOL

Tomorrow I'll be doing some baking and canning (preserves), and I have all kinds of fun ideas for projects this week....I'm not going to list them, because I have NO idea what will inspire me tomorrow (except for arranging my table box!), but I will be sure to take lots of pictures!!! ^-^

I'm Having Lots of FUN!! :-D

OH!!  I am having a wonderful weekend!!! :-D
First of all, the weather has been gorgeous -- near 50 at night and near 70 during the day, with lots of sunshine!  Who could not be in a great mood with that all around, right?!  I took some pictures yesterday while walking around -- I was looking at all the dried weeds growing everywhere and wondering if any of them would look good hanging in my house!  Great idea, isn't it....you know, FREE drieds! :-D

You can see we don't have any fall color yet....it's coming!  The original owners who set up our house here had that light pole put there (because it's SO dark back here in the woods!), but it costs double (from what they paid) to have it on every night, so we keep it dark....I just wish the POLE wasn't there, either - UGLY! :-P  There's me taking the picture on the bottom! hee hee!!

Puppy and Minnie were following me and sniffing around! :-D  See the yellow and white flower-weeds?  I clipped some of those!  You can also see our kids' OLD treehouse Brian built them 7 years ago when we first moved here....it's not safe to be on anymore, but it's got the best old, weathered wood....hmmm! LOL

There's a sitting area we built the year before last....that's where my cat was sitting during the super-hot weather a few months ago....remember the picture of her basically melted to the bench? LOL  I planted flowering vines at the front posts, but they aren't grown up very much yet!  I love these white flower-weeds everywhere -- they look so much greener and prettier in real life!

Here's what I picked out there....I tied them up and they are hanging upside-down on the back porch now.  Let's see how they turn out dried!
Today, Emily and I actually planted the broccoli and cauliflower plants that I bought weeks (and weeks) ago.....

I almost didn't plant them, but the continuous cool weather these past two weeks helped them really develop in the little planting pots they were in - they looked so healthy, I just couldn't give up on them!  Besides, I really want to freeze those veggies before winter gets here, and I've never grown anything in the fall before - this will be so interesting to me!  I planted them where the bean plants were, and used compost and garden soil, AND I will fertilize these next weekend.  Let's just SEE what happens....! :-D

And outside again, walking all the dogs around (the other two need to be leashed), I took them all through the woods a little ways looking for treasures, and I found them......

:-D  I am so excited about these pinecones!!!  I am not sure what I am going to do with them -- maybe part of my gingerbread man garland, or a garland all their own, OR part of a wreath....?  They are perfect, the size of an egg!  I could dust them with white "snow", or tie them with homespun....so many ideas!  And they were right in my yard!!  Yay!

AND, we got to go to my favorite store EVER.....The Country Heart!!!  Super-Yay! :-D

I LOVE the Halloween stuff!!

A little bit of Christmas stuff is out, she said it will be in full swing in early November!!  I love that burlap stocking, and right next to it is the "tray" made from gray wood that I must have!!!!  I love the sections and the wood -- it would look SO GREAT on my table.....!!  *sigh!*  Well, I only got silicone bulbs today, but actually that makes me so happy, because that's what was stopping me from putting up my candle lights in the window this week - not the right bulbs!  Who wants to use the normal glass bulbs when you can get the most awesome silicone one's???  So I'll post a picture of that tomorrow, after they are all up!!!

So, I know I had big cooking and project plans for the past week, but I just couldn't get into it....remember I mentioned that I wanted to make a penny rug?  Well, I found a few on Pinterest that have me very inspired, and then I found some other crafting ideas that I could totally do, and I now I can't even remember what I wanted to do last week.....I am going to have to make a list again! LOL (that Pinterest is dangerous!)  I think I'm going to work on some garlands I've been thinking about, for my gingerbread too!  I bought oranges so I can dry slices this week for them.  That will be fun, but it does take a while.  And I am definitely making my pear items (jam and bread), and I have the pears all chopped up and ready (all 12 cups of them!), but I also want to make some apple stuff, too, and I picked up what I needed for that today while we were out -- wait until you see the yumminess!! 

OH, that's the greatest news of all -- we did the food shopping today!  So now I can stay home with Brian tomorrow ALL DAY!  No annoying errands in the morning! :-D  I can't decide what I want to start on first -- a project, or some baking....hmmm!!!  I do have a few other ideas bouncing around in my head, but I'm not going to overwhelm this post with them! Hahaha!  If I actually DO them, then I'll share them....IF! LOL

I hope everyone else is enjoying their weekend, too!!  I'll post again tomorrow night to show what I pick as the most exciting thing to do! ^-^