The Thing with Feathers

"One has to accept pain as a condition of existence. One has to court doubt and darkness as the cost of knowing. One needs a will stubborn in conflict, but apt always to the total acceptance of every consequence of living and dying." --Morris West

This winter my husband found and brought to me this beautiful nest, which we filled with our pain and hope. 

"Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul - and sings the tunes without the words - and never stops at all." --Emily Dickinson 

Dresser Conversion Project

Procrastinating about posting a dresser for sale on Craig's List paid off last month. Long after it should have been sold, I was pondering the best housing solution for our stereo system. It hit me one day on... Pinterest. Here's how our project went:

Here it was ready for a sale. We could've gotten fifteen bucks, maybe?

Mirror and drawers removed & lightly sanded

We decided to keep one drawer. The rest of the supports were removed except the top drawer supports.  Two cans of spray paint later on a warm day, and this is what we had.

So there you have it! 

This project was definitely a favorite. It was easy, fast, used something we already had and best of all, it prevented us from having to purchase an additional piece of furniture!

Our new playhouse bed!

The inspiration for our playhouse bed

Between our first visit to the life-size doll house at the Oak Ridge Children's Museum and seeing the above cool house bed on Facebook (and later on Pinterest), we made up our mind on this one a long time ago.

Our kid would have one! The moment we won the bid on our home purchase, the idea gears were in full motion. We knew the room to hold it would be large enough (not some small attic room with a half wall, in other words), so about a week before we closed the deal, hubby began what is in my opinion--his best project of all time!

We wanted it to be fully functional both upstairs and downstairs and also fit a double/standard size mattress. We drew out some simple plans, purchased supplies and began in my parent's garage. Then, we disassembled and reassembled it in her new room. A couple coats of paint and a little decor were all we needed after that.

And so, without further adieu, here's the story... in photos:

Assembly

Little helper

Reassembly and painting begun

Little helper again

Finishing touches

Completed bedhouse!

View of upstairs

Side view with ladder

Cat on the roof--what a perk!

Typical Errand Involving Junk Food

Does anyone else have trouble not picking up junk food when you make a quick trip to the grocery store? I sometimes eat something I'd not eat otherwise except for there it is staring at me in the check-out line at Kroger. It says to me, "Oh, come on, just this once!"

For my husband, it's Reece Cups. My kryptonite? Chocolate-iced doughnuts, but let's not even discuss how I eat those until I make myself sick.

Today, he came home from Kroger with peanut butter cups that claim to have no GMOs, partially hydrogenated oils, preservatives, artificial ingredients or corn syrup. Read about it here: http://getunreal.com/our-story/

They were right in the check out lane at Kroger and from their Website, they appear to be at a good many stores already. Try them out. Next time those shall-not-be-named peanuts & chocolate bars call out to me, I'm going to try the UNREAL version instead.

Learning to Make Bread

Earlier this month I was lucky enough to attend a bread making class with a friend of mine. Her friend Rena of The Royal Slice of Bread blog put on the class, which was basically a trial run for teaching bread-making classes in the future, which she hopes to do. Her post about the class.

It went great! Though I grew up watching my mother make bread, I never really learned the process. I saw it, but I didn't internalize it, memorize it. I also watched mom make pie crust, but even with her recipe, mine were awful. But, back to bread. Another reason I didn't learn bread-making is because as time went on, my mom no longer made bread very often. When she did, it was a special, yummy treat!

And so I jumped at the chance to attend the class. After I left, I was eager to try my skills, and here's how my first try at home went. (By the way, I'm a visual learner if you can't tell.)

The dough after kneading

The best part has got to be watching dough double its size. Seems like some kind of  supernatural  power.

After I'd already kneaded, I decided to make one loaf into cinnamon-raisin bread, so I kinda rolled them in the best I could before putting the bread in pans.

My loaf pans are undersized, so...

After their second rise. The one on the left was so high I had to punch it down a bit before baking.

All done! They looked wonderful, but did they taste wonderful?

Indeed they did! 

I prefer the taste of whole wheat for most bread, but I didn't have any whole wheat flour, so for these loaves pictured I used King Arthur's white whole wheat which yielded a lighter taster than my preference.

I'm excited to have learned something and am going to keep on practicing and making my own bread as much as possible! If you're interested in one of Rena's classes, contact her via her blog or The Royal Slice of Bread on Facebook.

And finally, if making bread isn't your thing, you can still get excellent bread at a great price at Old Mill bread Company or at Kroger stores that carry their bread.

Just like her mom

In working on a different look for the blog, I've loaded tons of new pictures for the side bar.  Some of the things might be familiar but others are things I hope to blog about in the future.

I'm still not finished with labeling them as I'd like to, but at least they are here.

A sampling:

At Cruze Farm's corn maze last fall, a mini paradise.

My cat and most recent painting in progress. A gift for my husband for our recent twelve year anniversary.

My dogs, one boy and one girl, always moving. Getting a picture of them is nearly impossible. 

Just like mom! Rescuing an earthworm who'd found itself in bad spot.

A new home for earrings

Earrings, bracelets and necklaces at my casa now have a new home. It's yet another hubby project--completed! After seeing so many cool ideas for storing jewelry on Pinterest, I felt it was time to free my earrings from their fishing tackle box prisons. The tackle boxes I used were great for years, but they don't work at all in my new bathroom because there's not enough counter space or storage.

Another problem was that I'd often long neglect pairs that got hidden or were oddly shaped and not with the others. Finally, most of the ideas I'd been seeing were made from old picture frames and were much too small. I wanted something much larger that would hold all I have now and hopefully all the earrings I'd ever have or ever want. At first I thought I could divide and conquer the task myself, but after discussing it with hubby, we realized it'd take both of us (ok, so basically just him).

First, we worked out a "plan" for what I wanted. It took a while to figure out how to make it work.  The supplies were very cheap.  Basically a couple of trim boards, some hooks, hardware and a roll of screen from The Home Depot. (see above)

"B" (hubby) cut angles on the trim.

B used both hardware and wood glue on the corners. (see above)

Daughter helped. (note my wall hen decal--purchased off Etsy, love it!) We let it dry until the next day. (See above)

And of course The Cat helped. I used a little acrylic paint and water to make a wash for the wood. No reason really, just seemed like the fastest and easiest way to get it done.

Time to attach the screen! Seemed like it would be easy, but even with two people, it was a real challenge trying to hold the screen tight enough while also stapling it. You don't want the screen to sag when finished.

Here's what it looked like close up. (see above) But, the staples will be covered with an inside trim piece.

It was then time to cut more angles for the inside trim pieces. My new counter-top has taken a beating already!

And here's the first of the four inside trim pieces (bottom of the top edge) that went along the inside edge of the frame and performed two purposes: hiding the staples and tightening the screen even more than with just staples.

Daughter was THRILLED to finally be able to "play" with mama's earrings and have such an important job--transporting them pair by pair to their new home.

Last but not least, I added hooks (my fingers got so tired!) all around the perimeter to hold hoop earrings, bracelets and other pieces that would fit.

And hooks along the bottom for necklaces. Though nothing's happened yet, these could become dangling cat toys... yikes. I hope to find the perfect little containers to go across the bottom shelf to hold small, non-dangle earrings. If you have an idea, please let me know. I'm picturing small, wire-like circular or square containers that I could glue onto the ledge.

It's exactly what I wanted! Thank you, hubby!

Reading Goals and Bookshelf Plans

One of my (important to me) goals is to change my life. Isn't that always The Goal? But, this change is in regards to my mental health: I feel so much better when I read! I fell off the book wagon a few years ago, however, and haven't been reading as much as I'd like to.

So, my new goal is to read at least one book a month. And no garbage. I only want to read seriously-good-change-your-life books. Afterall, I only have so much time left in which to apply the lessons from my reading into my life, right? So, no fluff, nonsense or romance novels need get in my way.

Besides going out and buying the book, one of the easiest ways I've found to keep track of what I'm wanting is to keep an on-line list. I keep one on both Amazon and Goodreads since my to-read list seems so much bigger than my have-read list, and buying that many books would never work. Goodreads also allows me to interact with friends and see what they're reading, which of course only makes my to-read list even larger.

I also now have an e-reader, which I enjoy though it can't take the place of a physical book. I like the smell of a book and the weight of it in my hand, not to mention the satisfaction the comes from viewing a stack of "have-read" or "to-read" books lying about.

I've been enjoying looking through the free book offers on Amazon that I can send right to my Kindle and also I've checked a few out from our local library. For now, my own physical books are still packed away, and I miss them immensely. They will go here (see below) around this fireplace. My spouse, B, is going to build for me, grand, floor-to-ceiling bookshelves on either side, and I could not be more excited.

The house came with this purple-gray wall color, which we love but would have never chosen on our own.

Of course, we have our first home to thank for the inspiration (below), but the new shelves will be open, and there are no windows in the space.

How it looked after it was ready to sell.

I most enjoy books by and about women (Sula is a favorite), about biracial experiences (some favorites are Ceremony and The Girl Who Fell From the Sky), coming-of-age (To Kill a Mockingbird, Forever by Blume), transformations (Song of Solomon), autobiographies (Malcolm X by Haley) and the grit of human experiences (Grapes of Wrath, Bloodroot, Roots).

If you have similar tastes, share a book recommendation with me & I'll share one with you, or join me on Goodreads. I'm Mamabelle, and if you're on the blog, you can click on my bookshelf to the right.