My winning Pumpkin!

Every year my work has an pumpkin decorating contest. Every year I set out to win 1st place in one of the categories. For the 3rd year in a row I have!

This is my Wild Thing pumpkin. I thought it was a very topical choice given the movie, but he's actually closer to the look of the book character.

I spent Saturday and Sunday creating him. His legs and arms are baby tights that I drew on with a Sharpie and died. His claws and horns are made of Sculpty. He's one of my favorite pumpkins and he won me $300 which makes him even more lovable!

Nothing to report

So I really haven't been keeping this blog thing up. Sorry about that my non-existent readers. Maybe you should only start blogs in winter when it's too cold and wet to go outside. I'll try posting again in November.

I made bread

I don't know why, but I find the process of making bread amazing. You take a little flour some water and some yeast (with a few additional ingredients) and like magic you've got bread. It's like what you buy at the store, but better!



This bread recipe came from The Gourmet Toaster Oven cookbook. It was the basic breakfast bread recipe. While I'd never wake up early enough to make this for breakfast (it needs at least 2 hours to rise) it was very tasty and pretty easy.

I didn't take the best photo of the bread. I blame it on the heavenly smell coming from the loaf. I should have taken a photo the warm slice I ate dripping with butter, except, I was too busy making yummy happy sounds. Maybe next time.

From Junk to Chic

In these tough economic times everyone, myself included, is trying to save some cash. Cutting back on big purchases is a first step. Luckily for me, Louisville has a wonderful thing called Junk Day.

4 times a year you can put out pretty much anything and the City will haul it away for you. This is a great opportunity to furnish your home if you've got a good eye and a big trunk. Most junk piles get picked-over pretty quickly. But, I've managed to grab a few good pieces now and then.

My most recent acquisition were 2 dining room chairs. I picked them up from my neighbor's junk pile. I was sure with a little TLC and pain they could be awesome.

Here are some before shots.






Of course, the chairs sat in my dining room for 6 months before I got around to doing anything with them.

I finally got the energy to fix them up a few weeks ago. After a quick trip to the hardware store I was busy sanding, gluing the joints, and priming the chairs. Then I gave them 3 coats of paint and a spray clear coat. Next I recovered the seats. The hardest part was pulling all the staples out of the seat bottoms. I got a few blisters for my troubles.

All in all, I spent about $50 for paint and fabric. I also spent a whole lot of my time!

Welcome to my blog.

So, I read a lot of blogs and I thought I'd join in on the fun. My very first post is going to be short. I promise the next one will have a little more substance.