Sad News

For a very long time, Daughter has wanted to breed her sweet, athletic Warmblood mare, Tango. 

  

(There are a couple  additional photos of Tango on my sidebar.)

Now that we have our own farm, it was finally feasible to breed her.

Daughter did a lot of research and chose this beautiful up and coming stallion in Pennsylvania to be the sire.  He is appropriately named “Amazing.” 

 photo source 

The artificial insemination “took” on the first attempt and we were very excited at the prospect of  Tango delivering her first foal next April.

All previous vet checks and sonograms in the last couple months revealed Tango was doing well and the pregnancy was progressing normally.  Sadly though, at Tango’s 90 day sonogram earlier this week, it was evident that Tango has miscarried.  :(

At this point, it is rather late in the season to try again so a second attempt to breed Tango to Amazing is planned for early 2011.

Boiled Eggs vs. Steamed Eggs

Did you know…

if you steam (instead of boil) eggs in their shells  for about 15  minutes and then let them sit in the pot and cool before peeling, the shells almost always slip off like butter?

I use a Revere Ware steamer pot which is similar to a double boiler except the top pot has holes in it.   However, any method you use to steam vegetables will work for steaming eggs. 

Since my mom taught me this trick years ago, I rarely have to fight those teeny tiny little bits of shell that so often stick to the eggs, nor do I have to throw away part of the eggs because the shell is impossibly stuck to them  like glue. 

You’ve had that happen, right?

I have heard many reasons why the shells stick, the most common being the eggs are too fresh.  But what is considered “too fresh?” 

I’ve also heard (and tried) many tricks to keep the shells from sticking such as adding salt or vinegar to the water. 

Overall, steaming the eggs seems to produce the best and most consistent results for me. 

Try it and let me know if it works for you.

The Fate of the Craigslist Cherry Buffet

Several readers asked if I was planning to paint the bargain Craigslist cherry buffet white.  My husband just assumed I would because, in his eyes, I have a “white obsession” and I paint “everything” white.  lol. 

I make no apologies for that.  I love white.  I love painted white furniture.   And I know I am not the only one.  Right?!   :)

It would definitely be beautiful painted white, wouldn’t it?

 

In all honesty though, the fate of the cherry buffet is still undetermined. 

When I bought it, I had a concrete plan.  Now? I am rethinking it because I have realized there are a couple options for it.

At the moment, the buffet  is just temporarily parked in the foyer at the house in Hooterville because it’s out of the way while we continue to renovate, but I originally bought it with the  intention of using it  in  the home office with my distressed cherry Ballard Designs desk and hutch (below), which is in the office/guest room in the current My Cottage of Bliss.   I envisioned using the buffet to  store unsightly, but necessary, office supplies and paperwork for our Windswept Farm business.

However, once I got the buffet inside the house in Hooterville, I realized it would also work perfectly for the vision I have for the formal dining room.  I’ve mentioned before that I am striving for a similar look to this dining room that Layla designed for one of her clients.

photo source: The Lettered Cottage

So far, I don’t have any furniture for the formal dining room yet, except a mirror (which I found at Goodwill for $15.00) … and now possibly the buffet.

If the buffet ends up in the formal dining room, it will stay the cherry wood tone.

But if I decide to put it  in the home office, I’m actually toying with the idea of painting the buffet a pretty muted French blue to go with the blue and yellow color scheme of the office.

I’ll let you know what I ultimately decide.

Another Craigslist Bargain

Back in April, I saw this cherry buffet advertised on Craigslist for $300.00.  I really liked it but didn’t want to spend $300 for it so I just bookmarked the ad and kept checking on it periodically. 

Every 2 or 3 weeks, the seller would renew the ad.  After several weeks she lowered the price to $275.00.  A couple more weeks passed and she dropped the price to $250.   When she reduced the price to $225 two weeks ago, that was more in the ballpark of what I was willing to pay so I told my hubby we needed to make arrangements to go see it. 

Since the buffet had been listed for so long, I had a feeling the seller might be tired of messing with it so I thought I’d take a chance and see if she would take $160 for it. 

She countered with $200. 

I came back with an offer of  $180. 

She agreed to the $180 commenting, “Yeah, I’m just ready for it to be gone!”  

The moral of the story…  never be afraid to (politely) haggle a little over the price of a Craigslist item, especially if you know it has been for sale for a while!

Linking to:   Thrifty Thursday #72 @ Tales From Bloggeritaville

                       Today’s Thrifty Treasures @ Southern Hospitality

Rollin’, Rollin’, Rollin’…Keep That House a Rollin’!

It’s hard to believe it has already been 8 months  since we bought the house in Hooterville.  Since purchasing the property, we have been working diligently on a long, long, very loooong  list of projects and goals.  It was an exciting day, indeed, when earlier this week, one more BIG thing was checked off of our “To Do” list… 

Daughter’s new modular home was delivered to the Hooterville property! 

The home site…

Our neighbor graciously consented to allow the modular home to be brought through his orange grove because that was easiest way to get it to the site we had chosen.

Our county requires that these modular homes  be off the roadways by the start of morning rush hour, 7:00 a.m., so bright and early, not long after the sun had come up, the driver was already waiting for the fence to come down so he could start moving the modular home down the dirt road through the  middle of the orange grove. 

See the truck in the center of the photo?   The modular home is the white thing behind the cab of the truck and to the right of center.

Hubby and I were following  behind as the first half of the modular home  was being trucked through the orange grove toward our property.

After they moved the back half of the house,  they started pulling the front half of the house through the orange grove.

Rollin’…

Rollin’…

Rollin’…

coming through the opening in the fence, half on our property now and half still in the orange grove.

Here the 2 halves are temporarily parked and waiting for the site to be prepared.

Below the tractor is prepping the site by spreading  3 big truckloads of dirt that had been delivered the day before.

The back half of the modular home is in position and the front half is being moved into place.

They placed the front of the house a little too close to the trees  for my liking but there was an old, existing concrete slab we were trying to cover up with the house so we wouldn’t have to dig it up and that dictated the house placement, to a large degree.

The modular home crew spent about 10 hours putting the halves together, anchoring the house down and putting the siding on the ends of the house.  We opted to finish applying  the siding down to ground level ourselves because we can buy the same siding and install it a lot less expensively than the modular home company was going to charge to do it.

We Hubby will also be building the front and back porches ourselves with the help of some friends.

Soon, the “inside crew” from the modular home company will be coming to put the finishing touches on the inside…joining the seams of the 2 halves, laying carpet, tile, caulking etc.

I thought it was kind of funny the house arrived with all the kitchen appliances already in place and all the cabinet doors and drawers  tied shut.

 

Water pipes still have to be laid,   the power company has to connect the electricity, heating/air conditioning work has to be completed, and we have to have a septic tank installed so it could possibly be a couple more months before all that is done and Daughter can actually move in. 

Linking up to Show & Tell Friday @ My Romantic Home

Lamp Love

As I travel around in Blogland, I see that a lot of you love lamps.   Almost never meet a lamp you don’t like, right? 

My mom was a lamp lover too.  She could never pass up a good lamp at a garage sale.

Me?   I didn’t get the “lamp-a-holic” gene.

Frankly, I get the heebee-jeebees when I need to buy lamps because I rarely see lamps I like.    When I do find a lamp that appeals to me, it usually costs a bazillion dollars.  You know…”champagne taste on a beer budget.”    This was one exception.

Earlier this week, I visited a blog where someone had just purchased a new lamp from Target.  I took one look at her picture of it and immediately felt those rare and elusive feelings of  “lamp love.”  Unfortunately, I can’t tell you which blog it was  because I was grabbing my keys and rushing out the door  to Target way too fast.

HAD. TO. GET. THAT. LAMP. NOW! 

Believe me, this photo does not even begin to do this lamp justice!  My lousy photography skills don’t adequately show the pretty natural linen-like shade and my picture makes the shade look way too big for the green glass base when, in fact, it’s just perfect. 

I {{{{HEART}}}} this lamp!

I plan to use it in the house in Hooterville family room.  Right now I don’t have any tables in the room to put it on but as soon as I decide on end tables and  a coffee table for the room, I’ll show it to you again in it’s new setting.  (The new slip covered sofa, chair and ottoman  I ordered for the family room  have come in so I’ll be showing you those soon too.)

If you are interested in this lamp, you might want to visit your nearest Target store pronto.  I bought the only one my Target had.   And just FYI, I found it in the area with the home decor accessories, not in the lamp section.  It was also available here, but they appear to be sold out, although it says you can sign up to be notified when (if ?) they are available again.

On another note…   Daughter’s modular home is  suppose to be delivered next  week.  They’re bringing it in two halves through the center of our neighbor’s orange grove, which should be interesting to watch.  Of course, I’ll be out there with my camera.  :)

Edited to add:  Thanks Gloria! It was Kim’s blog where I first saw the lamp.

Linked up to Show & Tell Friday @ My Romantic Home

Rainier Cherries

Have you ever tried Rainier cherries?  They are one of my favorite summer fruits and June is the peak month for them.

The best Rainier cherries are large and firm.  Since they are considered a  “premium” type of cherry, they are  somewhat on the expensive side but usually worth the price, if only as an occasional treat/splurge.  Of all the cherry varieties, Rainier cherries contain the highest percentage of natural fruit sugar so they are almost always exceptionally sweet and tasty. 

What is your favorite summer fruit?

Tidbits From Hooterville

Here’s a few things  currently going on at the house in Hooterville.

When I was debating whether or not to use a  toile valance on the guest bathroom window, it was suggested  that  a black and blue pinstripe  valance would compliment the blue toile shower curtain and the black accents in the guest bathroom without creating toile overload.  The more I thought about that, the more I liked the idea so after a lot of searching, a blue and cream ticking stripe was the closest thing I could find.

I decided to incorporate black by using  black tassel fringe I bought from the local JoAnn Fabrics store.  Since I haven’t used my sewing machine in oh… probably 20 years, I just attached the fringe along the hemline with fabric glue.

Even though I was trying not to go crazy with toile, I couldn’t resist purchasing a couple toile switch plate covers for this bathroom.  I got them from the eBay seller, Comfort At Home and was very pleased with the quality and “Buy It Now” price (which included free shipping).

On a recent trip to HomeGoods, I found a big French-inspired wall clock for the breakfast room.  These large clocks tend to be on the pricey side so I was happy to find this one  for only $24.99!

The breakfast room still doesn’t feel warm and cozy to me yet but I have to keep reminding myself that it isn’t done.  Obviously I still need more accessories to  make it feel “homey.”  When it comes to decorating, patience is not always one of my virtues.  I often tend to want it done yesterday.

Ballard Designs finally put their “Abigail” rug on sale so I bought the 5 x 8 size to go under the breakfast room table.  This rug was actually the inspiration for the blue and green color scheme in the breakfast room.  Again, I’m trying to be patient and wait to put the rug down until we are “officially” moved in.

photo source:  Ballard Designs

And then once the rug goes down, I am going to hang this chandelier I got from eBay over the table.

Friday I met with a cabinet guy regarding remodeling the house in Hooterville kitchen.  I have a consultation scheduled with another remodeler this week.   Oooooh this kitchen remodel is going to be painful…and expensive.

We are still waiting on the cabinets we had to special order for the laundry room so there has been no progress there.

Recently I was asked  about the outcome of the problem I was having with the new Samsung washer I bought in January from hhgregg.  Much to my dismay, that fiasco is still unresolved but I will be sure to post an update when it has been settled.

We appreciate all the well-wishes for Bo after his recent emergency surgery.  He’s improving daily and is scheduled to have the staples removed this week.  Of course, a little “doggy ice cream”  treat always tastes good and lifts the spirits when you have been sick.  ;)

The little filly born to Daughter’s PMU mare, Jolie, is now 4 weeks old and growing like a weed!    Daughter  decided to name her Lira (pronounced Lear-a).

What an absolute riot it has been watching  her check out the world around her.