Tagged

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Photo is a road in Edgartown, Marth's Vineyard

I've been tagged by "From My Cherry Heart" and "Raised in Cotton"
One was 7 weierd things about me and the other was 7 random things about me . I'm combining these, so here are 7 random weird things about me.

1. I tuck my dog, Beau, into a blanket on the couch every morning before I leave for work. Then I put the TV on the Animal Planet channel and set the timer on the TV for 2 1/2 hours. He still looks at me those sad puppy-dog eyes though.

2. I hate feet unless they belong to a baby or toddler.

3. I'm the worst judge of character when it comes to men. I've been divorced twice and I could tell you some unbelievable stories about some of the men I've dated. It's so bad that I've given up on dating until my daughter is 18 so I don't drag her into my men drama. It's better for me not to be a role model for her in that area. (Just to be clear, it's not that I went out with men that looked or acted like bad boys, that's not my type. These men seemed normal on the outside.)

4. I have a fear of driving long distances. This keeps me from doing things I would like to do, like visit my parents, visit my son at college and go to Susan Branch's store. These are all about 2-3 hours away from me. My fear is that my car will break down and something bad will happen.

5. I LOVE clean sheets and if I had the time and energy I would change my sheets every day. I change them every Saturday and sometimes midweek.

6. I drink a ton of coffee. I drink it all day long at work.

7. I cry very easily. I cry watching American Idol, when they show the proud parents in the audience and I cry every week when someone gets kicked off. I cried the other day when I saw a man at the stoplight next to me crying...a stranger. I started wondering why he was crying and the next thing I know, my eyes are watering.

I'm not going to tag anyone but if you haven't been tagged with this and you would like to be, then I tag you.

Inspiration Friday - Black & White

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In honor of the great news this week that Victoria Magazine is coming back, I thought that this week's inspiration pictures should come from an old Victoria magazine (April 2001). If I ever changed my color scheme in my home to something other than blue and white, it would probably be black and white.

Also, I've been tagged a couple times this week. I will try to get my list of weird things about me together to post tomorrow.

Thank you Joanne for the cupcake recipe! Joanne left a cupcake recipe in the comments section of my post yesterday. I'm sure it's much better than Betty Crocker! I know a couple of you mentioned you want to make cupcakes so I thought I should let you all know about it.

One more thing, I just want everyone to know how much I appreciate every kind word I receive in my comments. Blogger does not allow me to reply to your comments so please don't think that I am being rude by not replying back to you. I really appreciate all your kind words!

Butter is better!

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I was so busy last weekend. I stripped and painted the table, painted the glass house, cleaned my house, did laundry, went grocery shopping, taxied my daughter around, did some gardening, and I had planned to practice my cake decorating skills by making some cupcakes with roses on top. Well, I made the cupcakes but ran out of time (and energy) for the roses. So, here are the cupcakes without the roses. It was still fun using the pastry bag to pipe on the butter cream frosting. This time I made my own butter cream which I have to say it 100% better than the premade stuff I bought at the cake decorating store. They use high-ratio shortening (no butter) in their butter cream frosting. I used Betty Crocker White Cake Mix for these and they were really good. Here is the homemade butter cream frosting recipe I used:

Real Butter Cream Frosting

1/2 cup softened butter

1 lb powdered sugar

1 t. pure vanilla extract

3 T. milk

Beat together with mixer, add extra milk if needed to thin out a little.

In the photo above, I have two cake stands stacked together. Both were flea market finds! The one on the bottom is my favorite. I bought it about 10 years ago and I still remember how excited I was to find it.

Also, many people have asked me for the process I use to paint my furniture. I'll be putting together step by step instructions on how I do it (just remember, I'm not a professional). Someone asked about where I get my Rub N Buff. If you go to yesterday's post and click on Rub N Buff (in pink text) it will take you to a website. I didn't buy mine there but I'm a visual person so I wanted to show you what it looks like. I bought mine at a little hobby store in my neighborhood. Michael's also has them but only a few colors.

I painted it!

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Remember this cute glass house I bought at a garage sale for $5.00? I decided to paint it white. I didn't want to just spray paint it white because I wanted it to look old so I used Rub N Buff in Antique White and Patina (I let some of the rust stay). This took FOREVER to do and I think I sanded off my fingerprints on my right index finger. I tried rubbing it on with a rag but it just works so much better with your finger tip. The glass was easy to take out but putting it back in was a nightmare. I broke two corners off try to get it back in. Yep, that's two things I broke last weekend (see Monday's post) After I finally got the glass back in, I realized that I had the whole thing upside down (this thing has three separate pieces) and if I had it right-side up the glass would have slid right in. Oh well, someday I'll get a new piece of glass cut for it but for now I just put the broken side against the wall and you can't even see it. I also put some white Rub N Buff on the little terracotta pots. As usual, it looks a lot better in person that in these pictures.

Below is the "before" picture. I like it so much better white.

Thrift Store Table Makeover

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I bought this table at a thrift store last week for $12.99. Last weekend I stripped it and painted it white. I still want to distress it a little so this is still a work in process. When I bought this table, I had no idea where I was going to put it but for that price I knew I HAD to buy it. I think it would great in an entry way but my entry way is too small so I'm using it a side table for now. Now I need to strip and paint my coffee table so they match better. Funny how one thing always leads to another!
Here are some flowers from my garden, the apricot colored ones are called Nancy Reagan and the blush/cream are called French Lace. This seems to be a great year for roses around here. Every rose bush in the neighborhood is covered with roses.