The one about the wall stenciling

Painting two walls in my living room took forever and that is primarily because I spent an inordinate amount of time wringing my hands about it. I knew what I wanted it to look like but was practically paralized by the fear that I was going to goof it up. There is nothing I fear more than "do-overs". Because, you know, they just never work out.
I bought the stencil ages ago from Stencilease and I've had the paint for months. And I have a pretty good working knowledge of how to dry brush, rag and sponge paint to achieve an aged effect. But I persisted in dragging my feet.
I finally jumped in back in June and did the faux aging paint thing on the walls. I used four different colors, all from Behr. The entire wall was painted Parchment Paper and then I dry brushed and alternately sponged Raffia Cream on down the wall a little more than half way. As I went down the wall I gradually lightened the amount of color so it faded into the Parchment Paper. After that I went back up to the top and worked down again with a dry rag dipped into Gobi Desert and rubbed it across the texture on the walls, but used less and less as I went down the wall. Then I went back up to the very top and into the corner with Bittersweet, mixed with a little glaze. That was to help achieve more of an aged effect.
Then the stenciling began. Just to complicate things I decided that I didn't like the stencil running the way it was supposed to...I wanted the little fleur de lis things pointing up at the top. So that entailed much measuring and lining up, etc., etc., all the while being on a ladder. Not so much fun. I did the stenciling in Parchment Paper, the color I painted the entire wall in.
I'm happy with the end result. I only did this painting on two walls. My living room is very small and I want to try to keep it as light as possible. That is part of the reason I gradually faded the color as I went down the wall.
The best part of this is that it came near the end of this home remodel thing we have been doing since January. We didn't completely gut the house like they show on Flip this House but close. Our 25 year old house seems new again.

On a roll of sorts

This weekend was something of a bust at the various yard sales I attended. Other than buying a great little metal chest chock full of teeny brass screws, nuts and bolts for $3.00 it was kind of depressing. I could write an entire post about how not to have an estate sale, this being due to one I went to but I get tired thinking about it. Ín a short dictate: have stuff priced, clean things up a little, maybe organize, but most of all don't just turn the stampede loose in the house to paw through things that are still in the cupboards, cabinets, drawers, etc. Sheesh.
On a happier note, last weekend I acquired yet another old typewriter for $7.50 and some other little things and I was out $18.80 for everything, some of which is not pictured here. That was a red letter weekend.

A short course in rusting tins

I've been stashing tins forever it seems and finally decided that I needed to do something with them.

I kept thinking that I had a can of Zip Strip somewhere in the garage or the Flower House but never came across it. I hated to start an all-out search for the stuff because those types of endevours always end up with me doing an overhaul of something else completely unrelated. And the next thing I know I have forgotten what I started out doing to begin with. So I got tired just thinking about it. And so I just didn't do it, thinking I would come across the can of Zip Strip in due course. And let's also mention I am too cheap to go buy a can when I just knew I already had some.

Then out of nowhere I remembered reading something about burning the paint off the tins. Since I am firing up the grill practically every day, anyhow, why not just throw a few of the tins onto the grill and have at it? It worked beautifully. Might I add that I did NOT cook the tins along with my veggies and meat. I suspect that the fumes of the burning off paint would probably taint my food. Just as a note: I got the grill fairly hot and it still took a little longer to get all the paint off than I would have estimated. It took about 10 minutes to cook up a batch. There was a lot of heat coming off that grill when these were done.

Obviously you want to let these cool.
This is what a few of them looked like. Yes, you can still see some traces on the back where the UPC was painted on. It sanded off very easily. I sanded these all over, especially along the edges and the insides. The insides were very smooth and I thought it would more difficult for them to rust if they weren't roughed up. I'm not wild about the Altoid tins that have embossed lettering on them but I'll figure out something to do with that problem later. I have enough other tins that are smooth to play with for the time being.

Here are the tools I used to get these tins all nice and rusty. I think steel wool would work well also.













This Patina Green made by Modern Options is the real key to rusting these tins. This is a bottle I have had for years and I think I have seen this at Michael's in different packaging so if you go looking for this exact product, it may not be the same. The Copper Topper can also be used. I found that it works best if you want that patina green look. You have to use a little of the Copper Topper first, then use the Patina Green over it. Otherwise the Patina Green will just rust the metal.

Use an old toothbrush or other small brush to coat your project and it starts to work immediately. I put mine out in the sun and within an hour I had some nice rusted tins. I cannot stress enough that you should wear gloves when applying the Patina Green as it will turn your fingernails green, too!

Sea of Glass

I read a blurb in a newspaper the other day (I think it was USA Today) that said sea glass is getting scarce and harder to find. This is due, apparently, to less usage of glass in packaging these days. This is just a small pile of what I collected on the beaches of Montenegro, Croatia and Slovenia in the last couple of years. This part of the world is still very busy putting all sorts of items in glass bottles and jars. And apparently they are busy tossing the glass into the Adriatic Sea, too, because believe me, there is still a lot of sea glass to be found on the beaches there. The best beach ever for sea glass is Jaz (pronounced Yawz) Beach just north of Budva, Montenegro. It's everywhere and believe me when I say this: There is no competition getting it. The other beachgoers looked at me like I was nuts and I even had one man ask me what I was looking for. When I told him he just stared at me. I'm sure it was incomprehensible to him why this crazy American would value a bunch of broken glass.

Mmmm....but just look at it. And a big plus is that you can occasionally find little bits of pottery on the beach, too.

I would give just about anything right now to be there. Heaven.

Tippity Tap

I mentioned that I recently returned from a family visit in North Dakota, Montana and Alberta. I went to see my big Sissy in North Dakota first and got to visit a bunch of places where I spent about 10 years of my life while I was growing up.

We went to an indoor antique mall which used to be called Hedrich's back in the day. It was a department store back then and even in the 60's it was kind of ancient. Or at least I thought it was. It had one of those old things where the clerk put the money in this tube, screwed it to another half of a tube which was dangling from a cord and then the clerk would yank on a handle and away went the money in the tube thingy, whizzing up the cable to the "office" upstairs on the mezzanine and in a minute or two, here came your change back down. I was fascinated by that thing.

So anyway, we poked around inside there and I visited one area where I could actually remember trying on clothes in the Junior section, and even some of the articles of clothing I bought. I remember in particular a green "poor boy" sweater and hip hugger pants with a nice wide belt, circa 1967. These were hot back then.

I digress. Anyway, down in the basement were about a zillion old books, but in one corner area there were a bunch of old typewriters and adding machines and other contraptions. I found this Underwood typewriter and it had a price tag of $50 on it. I really hate to try to bargain with people over prices because I know they have overhead at these malls. But I decided to ask, anyway, as I really didn't want to spend more than $35. The woman running the mall that day just happened to be the owner of this typewriter and she said she needed at least $40 so I took her up on it. When I paid her the money and I was going out the door she said, "Good luck finding a ribbon for it." I thought, "Rats, I was hoping to maybe type with it but I guess I'll just have to dismantle it for the keys." But when I got it back to my sister's house, guess what? It had a ribbon in it, and not only that it was inked, I could type with it. So I'm not sure what the send-off about the ribbon was about. Maybe she was just confused about which one I was buying, I don't know.

I got back home and last week I went to a few yard sales and the first one I went to they had this nice Royal typewriter. I asked, "How much?", and the lady said, "Well, I don't want to give it away so I need $20 for it." Nema problema. I forked over the $20 and didn't blink. It types, too, by the way. Only thing is, it weighs a TON! This one I think I will dismantle for the keys. More on that later if I make something out of them.

What are these things, anyway?

I found these at a flea market back in June and thought for sure I knew what they were. I thought they were some kind of tea light covers. I know, there is no way the tealights would burn if these were set on a solid surface. But I thought to myself, "Oh, but my patio table is that metal mesh stuff so oxygen will get in there and they will burn." Well, that did not work out at all. So I have them out on the table as decoration which pleases, too. The best part is I only paid about 50 cents each for them, so it's all good.

The aforementioned one about the squash....

The Husby returned night before last from a training class so in celebration of his return I not only fired up the grill for barbecued chicken, but I cooked up some fried squash, ala Great Mom. I usually never deviate from the required margarine, but I didn't have any so I fried it in butter! And this time I splashed a little buttermilk over the squash, Walla Walla Sweet onions and fresh from the farmer's market bell peppers. Then I liberally salted and peppered it, then coated it with the cornmeal and flour. Here's the result. It was real goooood. Confession time: my gallbladder is still squeaking about it, but what to do? You only live once, right? Oh, and just for the record all you butternut squash lovers out there: this is a thousand times better.

A Blast from the Past

All my life I heard people referencing experiences as a "blast". Such and such was "such a blast" or "I had a blast at.." (fill in the blank). Now, I have had lots of fun doing one thing or another but really never came up with anything that I would have defined as a blast. You know, I felt a little cheated. Until The Husby and I went to see Mamma Mia onstage in London at the Prince Edward Theatre. I had never been a huge fan of ABBA back in the day, but I certainly didn't hate them. I was very skeptical about how their music was going to be applied to a musical. But we went and seriously, I do not know how we kept from crashing down the balcony. Everyone, I mean everyone was on their feet clapping, singing along, whistling and cheering. It was the highlight of my entire trip to London. I mean it.

Awhile back my neighbor and I were talking over the fence ( can you believe you can still have neighbors that do that?) and we were comparing notes about seeing Mamma Mia in London. She and her husband had also seen it there. We were both pretty sure that the movie just could not live up to that experience. Oh, we were SO wrong. The Husby and I went a couple of days ago and aside from getting a little misty-eyed because we miss Greece so much, we had a BLAST!

Playing Squash

I just returned home a few days ago after a couple of weeks visiting family in North Dakota, Alberta and Montana. That's a whole other post so I won't go into that for now.

Before I left I asked The Husby to keep an eye on the squash. Well, I can't get after him because he did keep an eye on it. He watched it and watched it and watched it and.....

The first thing I did when I got home was to check out the garden and there they were: the biggest crook neck squash ever, I believe. Turns out all was not lost. I was surprised at how tender the skin was. It was all knobby and rough as a gourd but it wasn't hard at all. So I peeled it, cut it into chunks, drizzled olive oil over it and gave it a good dose of coarse sea salt and cracked pepper. Then I grilled it with some onions and peppers. Outstanding.

However good the above mentioned squash was, I am not going to even consider abandoning the method my grandmother used to cook it. Honey, she fried it. In margarine. Oleo is what she called it, but trans fat, nevertheless. The way we like it is to slice it about a quarter inch thick, slice onions and bell peppers, toss it all together and coat it with a nice layer of flour and corn meal, salt and pepper it really good and throw it in the hot melted oleo and cook until both sides are slightly browned. Yum! Just one of the best summer treats ever.

Another reason I like to grow squash is because I just love the blossoms. What is it about them? There they are just kind of hiding under all those big leaves and it just smells like they're cooking up something wonderful in there. And I have to wonder about the bee that is curled up inside this blossom. If he goes to sleep in there, will he get engulfed in the squash-in-the-making? Will I find him when I slice the squash? Just wondering because he seemed awfully sleepy in there.

Can't decide if I enjoy fried squash more than fried okra or not. They're both my favorites, I think.

My tomatoes aren't doing worth a darn. I have tons of Roma tomatoes but none of them are ripe yet and my other tomato plants just haven't done anything. I gave them all a big drink of water yesterday and fed them some Miracl Gro so here's hoping I at least get a few green tomatoes to fry up. That's another one of those "too good to miss" dishes. Oh, did I mention that you need bacon drippings not only for fried green tomatoes, but also okra? Don't even bother trying to fry it in something healthy. It just won't work out.