You Can Call Me Gwen

Leftovers

 

I'm looking at the camera roll this evening and the snapshots of life around here during the last couple of months.

Of course, I spent a great deal of my time during the last couple of months up on the roof, up on the ladder, and up to my neck in house paint, so looking at the photos of more pleasant things which were squinched in there is kind of nice.

First up, an apron made from one of Prince Charming's old shirts which was sent to the Little Girl Who Moved Too Far Away.

 

Our model, Miss Helping Hands, had a nasty bit of sunburn from a her day at the OSU game.

Our recipient, Miss Mary Mack, opened the package and burst into tears.

Aw.

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Here is something that gave us a good laugh one afternoon when we opened our mailbox.

It yielded two catalogs.

This one addressed to Prince Charming:

 

 

And this one addressed to me:

 

 

Does that seem odd to anyone else?

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The morning glories were glorious in October, and even during most of November.

 

 

Alas, they are but a memory now.

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A couple of weeks ago, I got a text message from the Little Girl Who Moved Too Far Away, saying that she had been reading my blog and just realized how much she missed my all "little paper birds and beads and things".

She had her birthday this week.

I sent her a little bit of home.

 

 

I hope it helps.

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I had a play date with Goomba this month.

 

 

It's nice to date such a looker.

Man, I love this guy.

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When Able Baker Dana and I came home with our fall leaves for waxing, I noticed as I passed the monkey grass on the way in that it was sporting stalks of black berries.

I brought them in and waxed them, too, and the other day when I was messing around with centerpieces for the Thanksgiving tables, I added some of them to the candlesticks.

 

 

It's going to be a centerpiece made mostly of things I've found 'out there'.

But it's going to be on a table surrounded by people I love.

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And, last but not least, the photo Miss Helping Hands had me take today.

I had this item on the to-do list today: "Clean out the hidey-hole and replace the paper roll".

About every third visit from the grandshoots, I go in there to put everything in order and sweep up any little bits of paper, stickers or chalk.

Today Miss Helping Hands offered to do it, opened the door, and said, "Well. The hidey hole sure looks interesting."

Remember the hidey-hole?

This is the hidey-hole before fun has been had:

 

 

This is the hidey-hole Miss Helping Hands found today:

 

 

But that's what doors are for!

Do not envy.

 

If you struggle with envy, you should just stop reading this now.

Seriously.

I'm about to show you my fanciest kitchen gadget, a fabulously executed dessert, and some photos of my preparations for Thanksgiving.

You've been warned.

If you stumble, I will not be held accountable.

You're still here?

Okay.

I'm glad you're up to it.

Here I go.

It's about to be too late to turn back.

Ready?

Yesterday, I spent the better part of the day cleaning out and cleaning up the "annex refrigerator" and the pantry for the massive inflow of food that is about to happen.

Don't be jealous.

I know that not everyone gets to do this:

 

 

Also yesterday, our guest list had two more names added to it, so we're up to a whopping 25 eaters expected for Thanksgiving dinner.

You can guess it was a bit of a blow when the doctor called to tell me he had scheduled my outpatient procedure (think long needle!) for smack in the middle of the day before Thanksgiving; known around here as "Covered-in-Flour Day".

I've had to do a little re-grouping this week, and put a lot more things on the do-ahead list.

Today, I had to make a pie for Chince Prarming to take to the office tomorrow, so I decided to make seven extra pie crusts and put them in the freezer; something I've never done before.

It meant Covered-in-Flour Day was early this year.

Of course, getting out all these supplies...

 

...wouldn't do me much good if I didn't also get out my recipes.

And if I get out my recipes, that means I get to get out my very fancy recipe holder.

I'm going to show it to you now, if you promise you that really do have that envy monster under control.

You promise?

Okay.

Tada!

 

 

(Hmmm. "Lg" hanger. Must belong to the girls.)

You want one, don't you?

It gets the job done, and that really is a rockin' pie crust recipe it's holding (it was voted top crust on the family apple pie taste testing day).

Of course, the first crust I made went into the oven to be baked for the Prince's pie.

While it burned baked, I made the others and just popped them into the freezer for Covered-in-Flour Day, Condensed Version.

See this beautiful crust?

 

 

It's the other half of this burnt crust:

 

 

Dang.

I'm hoping the fact that I filled it with Pioneer Woman's French Silk Pie filling, and that there will be whipped cream to go on top, will make the eaters fuhgeddabout that burnt stuff.

 

 

A girl can dream, can't she?

Thanksgiving Preparations

 

My friend, Able Baker Dana, and I had a spur-of-the-moment play day a week ago.

We went out in the drizzling rain and collected some fall leaves.

We came home and put some beeswax on the stove to melt...

 

 

...while we dried the leaves...

 

 

...and ran a drying line.

Then we dipped the leaves in the wax and hung them to dry...

 

 

...just because we could.

I thought I might like to use leaves on the Thanksgiving tables this year, but I didn't want a bunch of crunched pieces.

The wax preserves them and restores their pliablility, plus it was just plain fun to dip them.

We felt kind of like school-kids again.

Since we're having twenty-three (23!) people-we-love here for Thanksgiving dinner this year...

And since I'm going to be having an injection of anesthetic+steroid into my ball and joint socket (European vacation injury), with instructions to "take it easy" afterward...

But, mostly, since I just plain enjoy it...

I've already been playing around with decorations and place settings for the holiday tables.

I piled a lot of the tablecloths, napkins, runners, napkin rings, dishes - and even a bolt of fabric - on the kitchen table to see what I could pull together for 23 (!) place settings.

 

 

We had enough of the black plates and gold napkins for twelve places, but needed something more for the others.

I'm thanking my Father for the leftover black fabric, which got transformed into additional napkins, and the (also leftover!) lovely rust-colored ribbon.

I pulled out our black napkin rings...

 

 

...tied a pretty ribbon on them...

 

 

...and tucked the napkin and one of those waxed leaves into it.

 

 

I think they'll do for the black and white plates.

 

 

The party room floor has been spit polished...

 

 

 The tables have been set up and some of the folding chairs have been dressed...

 

 

And I am finding it difficult to stop doing recipe searches for side dishes.

Do you have a favorite you'd like to share with me?

Necklace and Neck-less

Because it makes me feel so cheerful, I use this close-up photo of my big bowl of paper beads as my screen saver, even though it means I can't find my icons.

It's one of a few spots in my life where I allow beauty to trump utility.

 

 

The close up is misleading; there aren't as many beads in the bowl as there once were.

 

 

Prince Charming would say that this is because I wrecklessly let the grandshoots string 'em and fling 'em, but I know those little losses for love and good memories' sake don't count.

The real reason I need to make more beads is because I finally made a necklace like the one that first made me swoon over paper beads (though, try as I might, I couldn't get a good photo of it).

 

 

I really, really like this necklace and I really, really wish I had a neck to wear it around.

Alas, I think I'm part koala.

Overlook the Obvious

 

Yesterday, at the hair salon, I met a woman who was wearing a beautiful black and white houndstooth check scarf.

I stopped to tell her how much I liked it; and pretty much anything else that is black and white check.

She said she felt the same way, so I pulled out my phone and showed her the pictures of my latest 'redemption project'.

I had been searching for a small chair, because I'm short and because we need a chair or two which we can move easily to suit our needs.

I had also been searching for a gentle rocking chair.

On a pass through the local thrift store one day, I spied a little chair crammed in among other odds and ends, extricated it, and made the wonderful discovery that it was also a rocker.

It wasn't pretty.

 

One must overlook the looks.

It was small, in good shape structurally, and it rocked.

We went home together.

I carefully took the upholstery apart - taking pictures as I went -  and kept the pieces of fabric in tact so I could use them for patterns.

Inside the seat cover, there was a layer of batting...

 

 

...over the original seat cover.

 

 

Yikes.

And inside that seat cover was the original seat pad.

 

 

It was all pretty disgusting, even if the print was 'interesting'.

I was, for some reason, very happy about finding this stapled to the bottom of the chair:

 

 

I kept it.

After I had dismantled all the upholstery, I sanded the chair and applied three coats of black gloss spray paint.

Actually...

I applied a partial coat of red gloss spray paint and didn't like it, so I had to sand it again.

Then, I applied two coats of black gloss (starting to look awesome) and followed it with a top coat of black lacquer.

The black lacquer caused the undercoats to pucker, shrivel, and do all sorts of terrible things (starting to look not-awesome).

I put the chair away for many weeks (months?).

Then I sanded it all again and applied three coats of black gloss spray paint (starting to look really awesome).

I took my sweet time doing the upholstery parts of the chair, too.

I cut new foam and extra padding and wrapped it in batting.

I put it in the new seat cover and sewed the opening shut with the tiniest of stitches.

Then, I ripped out all those tiniest of stitches...took off the batting...reshaped the foam...wrapped it in batting...put it in the cover...and sewed it shut with the tiniest of stitches again.

Times two.

It wasn't fun doing those things over and over again, just as it's sometimes painful while God is shaping and molding - and re-shaping and molding - us into His perfect image.

But, remember, though I started with this...

 

 

...all that re-doing brought me closer to my goal, and...

 

 

 "...He, who began a good work in [me] will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus."

Amen.

 

A Wreath of Pleasant Memories

 

It's never been my wont to put much energy into adorning the exterior of my architecturally displeasing two-story home.

But, lately, the architecturally displeasing exterior of my home has commanded a great deal of my time and energy as the Prince and I spend ourselves repairing, re-painting and re-thinking it.

So, when the Prince returned to work after our recent 100 hour work week, and I returned to a more 'normal' schedule, my mind was still back-burner turning on how to beautify the place

On Friday, when I had the pleasure of taking a talk-and-walk through the neighborhoold with an old friend, we passed this beautiful pine tree someone had just cut down and placed at the curb for 'big junk pick up day'.

 

 

I say 'passed', but we actually stopped to harvest some really beautiful pinecones from this tree.

They were very 'pickery' and we had to handle them carefully to keep our fingers from getting punctured.

 

 

By the time we got back to the house, we had talked ourselves into making fall wreaths for our front doors.

Our newly-black front door looks much more inviting with it's new adornment.

 

 

Does it look like the typical fall wreath to you?

 

 

I wish you could see what I see.

It's actually a wreath made of memories.

The big, 'pickery' pinecones remind me of the lovely stroll I had with my friend on a beautiful fall day.

The small, slender pinecones remind me of another thoughtful friend who, recalling my penchant for making pinecone elves, picked these up in Colorado for me last year.

The small 'ordinary' pinecones remind of the time spent with my daughter, two fall's ago, searching for pinecones to use in the Christmas centerpiece.

The large pinecone brings back a walk I took on the mean streets and the wonderful surprise it was to cross a patch of grass with a lone fir in the middle and find it had  dropped a gift just for me.

(The 'silk' leaves remind me that I really hate artificial flowers, but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do to get a little color in her wreath.)

I think it's just a wonderful thing that this simple wreath can bring such a powerful bunch of pleasant memories to my mind.

Isn't life rich?