Dining Room Views

For several months,the dining room has been undergoing a transformation.  First, the floor was painted to reflect more of a cottage look.  Second, three pieces of furniture which were tired and somewhat beat up were transformed with my favorite high-gloss white paint.  Of course, all of this took much longer than I originally thought, but the end results have been worth it.  The hutch that has the soup tureens was given to me by a woman who once lived next door.  It is half of a Hosier cabinet. The other half is in my bedroom.  I purchased the very large Victorian breakfront at a thrift store in Honolulu.  I inherited the pie crust table from my grandparents.  The two-door crackle finish cabinet was a housewarming present from my mother.  It has always been white and actually was the inspiration for the rest of the room.  The green drawing on top of the crackle cabinet came from Dollar General, of all places!

Frugality and Flexibility

As I learn more about being frugal, I have come to realize more and more that a key factor in successful frugality is flexibility.  Actually, being flexible about things is a key to a successful life in general.  In the world of being a good steward of one's resources, the ability to switch to Plan B, C, or D to remain frugal is essential.

Take tonight, for instance.  I feel lousy.  I've got that beginning of a really bad cold feeling, in which I am tired and my head feels like it is filled with old socks or something.  I had dinner planned.  I don't know about all of you, but if I don't have a plan for dinner by noon, I'm sunk.  I don't have to make dinner by then, of course, I just have to be Anne with the plan.

I got up from a four-hour sleep with napover.  That's like a hangover, folks, but without the happy feelling of having imbibed.  I went downstairs to start my planned dinner, a stir fry with chicken breast, green pepper,and onions.  Somehow, the chicken taken from the freezer earlier in the day was more foul than fowl, if you know what I mean.  YIKES and here I was all fuzzy-headed, well more so than usual, anyway.  I had already started the peppers, onions, and mushrooms. 

It occurred to me as I stood there in my jammies that one of my favorite subs is a veggie sub in the oven with mozzerella cheese.  I had everything for veggie subs, even some sub rolls from the Dollar Store in the freezer  I seasoned the stir fry with some red pepper flakes, a squirt of lime juice from the plastic green lime thingey, and a bit of mozzerella cheese.  YUM.  And so was born another meatless meal added to the permanent repertoire.  Flexibility, that's what its about baby.

Pic courtesy of Thriftyliving.net.

It All Started With A Piano Bench

My friend Nancy has some kind of internal radar for finding interesting things left out for trash pick up. A few weeks back, she spotted a beat up, but structurally sound, piano bench while we were out walking the dogs. She didn't need it, but I had a vision for it.

I took it home and spray-painted it white.  I've had no decorations out on the porch since Christmas, so I assembled the vignette you see here.  I spent no money.  The baskets were thrift shopped.  The little blackboard says, "There's No Place Like Home." 

I've been fascinated with the labeling I've seen a lot of my block girls doing and took a stab at it with my "Deliveries" tag.  I get a lot of things, like old books and items from catalogs, by mail. The basket is for my  mailman to leave my parcels in.  The old-fasshioned font was downloaded from a free website and printed out on cardstock. 

I had a lot of fun with this.

I'm participating in Show and Tell Friday
http://www.romantichome.blogspot.com/

Peter Johnson, Jr.

I'm a big Fox News junkie.  It is on in the house almost all the time when I am at home.  There are quite a few of the different commentators, analysts, and anchors whom I like.  One of these is Peter Johnson, Jr. who subs in as an anchor for the morning news and appears as a news analyst for legal matters at other times.   I like Peter because he is very measured and fair.  He makes insightful comments and reasonable arguments.  You can certainly see that he is an attorney without being told.

This past week, he's been on a lot substituting for vacationing anchors. I wanted to find our what kind of lawyer he is and got to his company's website.  There was an email address, so I sent him a quick note of thanks for his great reporting.  I also suggested that he'd be a great blogger.

Imagine my total shock when I received this personal email from Peter before dinner this evening.

Anne. Thanks so much for your extraordinarily generous e mail. It really made my day and I hope to keep your confidence in the future. I write from time to time for foxnews.com and foxnation. Be well and I will think about a blog-not a lot of time to do it though. Peter.

Isn't it great when someone you admire from afar really turns out to be admirable?

Happy Valentine's

1 John 4:8

Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

Little "Greenhouse"

What did I ever do before Goodwill opened up near my house?

I love this little miniature greenhouse that I picked up at Goodwill a few weeks ago.  The top comes off and it has a delightfully "cottage=y" Victorian look to it.  It sits on my coffee table in the living room with a marked-down daisy plant from Food Lion.

It makes me happy every time I look at it.  I think I see a future with it filled with shells during the summer.

Updated Living Room Mantel

After I did this "fluffing" on Saturday, I thought...is this influenced by Daisy Cottage Kim or what?  Its a stronger color palette than I usually use and the books just made me think of her.  I picked up four of the books at my favorite informal book exchange at Starbucks.    The bright orange one has such an interesting cover that I'm trying to think of a way to display it.  And the price was right

On Thinking Frugally

I was invited to a Superbowl Party which was pot luck.  I don't like football much, but the ads are fun and I really like my friend, Pat, who asked me to the party. She has an amazing old house on a peninsula surrounded by a beautiful creek.  They have added a great room to the house with a large stone fireplace, which is where we watch the game.  It has been a neighborhood tradition for many years.

I was completely stumped on what to bring and so let it go until the last minute.  I was going to buy something after church, but was totally uninspired on even that.  Finally I decided to buy two Subway foot longs and slice them into individual pieces.  I was musing aloud to my husband and we both thought that surely we must be able to come up with something that cost less than $12. 

Finally it came to me.  Hummus; a great Middle-Eastern dip made from chick peas.  I had all the ingredients in the house.  Chick peas or garbanzo beans, as some people call them, are a staple at our house.  I sliced up some flat bread, arranged some celery and carrots on a platter and I was done.  For no additional outlay of cash.

Frugality is a mindset that has to undergird everything that we do in order to be practiced successfully.  There is always a way to do things less expensively, more efficiently, and in a more timely manner.  I slip in and out of this mindset. 

However, I find that when I look at it as if it is a game, rather than a grim necessity, I am much more willing to remain in the frugal zone.    Thinking "I can't buy that" is not fun.  Thinking, "I'd like to bake some bread" is fun.  Getting a used book on Amazon for next to nothing is fun.  Planning a special meal for after church is fun.  Thinking that you can't afford to go out to lunch is bleak.  Finding bargains at Goodwill involves the thrill of the chase and is great fun.  Re-arranging things you already have in wonderful new ways is fun and is a way that I express my individuality.  Anyone can hire a decorator, spend a fortune, and have a beautiful home.  But it isn't creative and it doesn't use intelligence.

The women I admire, my heroines, Debra @ "As I See It Now," Judy @ "Anybody Home," "Manuela @ "The Pleasures of Homemaking and Kim @ "Daisy Cottage" all have created gorgeous homes using elbow grease, creativity, thrifted finds, and panache. Alex @ "Living Without Money" created amazing artwork (very Pottery Barn looking)  by printing black and white shots of local landmarks.   Frugality:  it is smart, it is creative, it is "green," and it is beautiful.

pic courtesy of the recipe exchange

The Chrysler Building

I love New York City.  When I visit, I don't take in a Broadway Show, I don't go clothes shopping at Macy's, and I don't go to expensive restaurants.  I walk for hours, find interesting ethnic restaurants or noodle shops, and I take pictures.  I love the architecture and the wonderful old brownstones.  My favorite building of all time is that Art Deco beauty, the Chrysler Building.

After my last trip to New York in October, I printed a number of pics we took of iconic New York sights like Radio City, the Empire State Building, a horse-drawn carriage in Central Park, photo-shopped them to black and white, and printed them out.  I used cheapie black frames on sale from Walmart and hung them in a kind of gallery in my long, dark upstairs hallway.  Then I found a wonderful New York skyline painting to go with my own pics.

Enter Megan, one of my favorite Starbucks peeps.  In addition to making one heck of a Skinny Cinnamon Dolce Latte, she also represents a company called Upper Case Living.  They have wonderful decals of various sayings and other decorating features  which you can transfer to your walls.  Megan kindly came to apply the Chrysler Building decal which I chose.  This was good, because I stink at that sort of detail work.

And the result is what you see right here; an homage to my beloved City. Now when I wake up and see it as I start my day I think, "How cool is that?"

Ghostly Snow Landscapes

Through the wind and the rain she stands hard as a stone

In a world that she can't rise above

But her dreams give her wings and she flies to a place

Where she's loved... concrete angel.     Martina McBride

The View From My Front Porch Today

Two weekends of snow...unheard of in the Tidewater Region of Virginia!

I think it's beautiful, but folks are grumbling.

Norman Rockwell

I use Google for my business constantly.  I love how those clever Google folks change up the Google logo for various holidays or events.  And they're kind of random, too, and I do love random!

Did you use Google today?  Today Google celebrates the birthday of one of my favorite artists, Norman Rockwell.

Norman Rockwell celebrates all things family, old-fashioned, patriotic, and quietly humorous.  One of my favorite paintings is one called "Breakiing Home Ties."  I assembled a huge puzzle of this painting many years ago.  We put together the puzzle over several days, so it gave me a lot of opportunity to contemplate it as I looked at the box for clues to find the right piece.  In the end, it taught me how to view all art.

Norman Rockwell's work always tells a story and the story is often more than initiually meets the eye.  All art is like this, but Rockwell's particularly so.  "Breaking Home Ties" is the story of a farmer and his son, as the son prepares to leave for college.  But look closer.   

The father is weary and careworn, but the boy is eagerly looking for the train.  Even his socks are in colleage colors.  He is anxious to succeed.  If you look very closely, his new school books have been read halfway through, with the bookmarks in place.  He was reading them over the summer.

Rockwell was also a social commentator and didn't sugar coat evil.  His painting, "The Problem We All Live With" needs no explanation and holds nothing back. Look carefully toward the second group of men to see the aftermath of the tomatoes which racists have thrown at the little girl.  Note also how carefully she is dressed and that she is clothed entirely in white, the color of innocence.

I"m off to have coffee with my old-timey friend, Hester.  She is 96 years old and full of life in every way.  I am proud that I gave her a Starbucks habit when she was 91.  It is our special pleasure that we share together.  My morning will be filled with stories of her youth in Wales, living through the depression and World War II, and a lifetime of wisdom gained by knowing the Lord.  She is a treasure.

Show and Tell Friday

It is a very cold evening here in Southern Virginia and we anticipate a significant amount of snow  I hope that I never grow so old as to complain when it snows.  I can't wait!  Even though I'm planning some snow angels Saturday morning,   I always love to have fresh flowers around the house.

I've had my old sewing machine table so long that I no longer remember where it came from.  I spray painted it off-white several years ago. The picnic basket was recently thrifted at Goodwill.  Today I filled with cut flowers and plants from Food Lion.  The lacy fabic you see coming from the basket was tatted by my husband's grandmother, Irma Fodge.

Please visit over at "My Romantic Home" for more Show and Tell Friday ideas at http://romantichome.blogspot.com/.

I Love It When a Plan Comes Together!

Somewhere along the way, I realized that I loved old suitcases.  Maybe it was something I saw in Victoria Magazine.  It was so long ago that I don't recall.  For the past five years or so, I've been picking up vintage suitcases at church tag sales, from the curb waiting for the trash, and, most recently, for $4 from Goodwill.

Finally, I have enough to make the stacked vignette I've been planning for my stair landing for all these years.  That's my grandmother Dunn in the flapper-esque picture.  I believe this was her engagement photograph.  The little orangey box  came from her dresser set from way back then.  There was a mirror, long gone now.

Stormy Weather

Greetings from damp Tidewater area, Virginia.  I sipped my morning Earl Gray, listening as great gusts of wind rattled our windows and wet tires outside whooshed their drivers to school, to work at the shipyard, the Naval Hospital, the Norfolk Navy Base, and parts unknown.

When the weather rages ugly outside 256, I always think about the storms, weather-related and metaphorical, that this old house has witnessed over all the years.  World War I, the Depression, Jim Crow Laws, World War II, Korea, the Civil Rights era, Vietnam, and on and on and on.

Today's reading in my "The Journey" devotional?  Coincidence?  I think not.  "And the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall because it had been built upon the Rock."  Matthew 7:25

Mixed Messages

I spent time yesterday "fluffing," but noticed when I'd finished that I'd given some mixed messages.  I have hopeful spring flowers out front and I'm bemoaning a cold winter in the front hallway.  C'est la vie

That's Little Bit in the doorway.  She runs the household.

Seek Ye First

So I was finishing up my eye make up, shower done, hair done, when I heard my sink making this ominous glug, glug, glug sound that I imagined as Jabba the Hut's voice.  I was about to run downstairs to tell Bruce, when I felt the Spirit tell me, "No, wait.  Don't worry about it until after church."  I'm generally not quiet long enough to hear that voice, so it is a true miracle that today I was praying while I put on brown eyeliner vs. worrying about something or thinking about the smart-alecky things I could have said the last time I got mad.

Then Bruce came up with a grim look on his face and told me not to use the water, that the plumbing was all backed up.  He said he needed me to got to church by myself while he called a plumber.  Instead of just giving my un-asked for opinion, as I often do, I asked him if he wanted some input.  He agreed that he did.

I brought up the Scripture that we'd recently read in our devotional, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all these things will be added unto you."  We talked about how this would apply to our situation.   We made the decision to go to Sunday School and church and worry about the darn plumbing later.

The sermon, by the way, was based on Jesus' admonition to Martha that "she was worried and upset about many things, but Mary has taken the greater part," which was to sit with Jesus.

And when we came home, all the plumbing worked.

'Twas a Dark and Stormy Night

It was the proverbial dark and stormy night this evening, the stuff about which melodramatic and lurid Victorian novels were penned.  But we were just dropping our godson off at home and getting some gas at Wawa.  That name always cracks up people unfamiliar with the chain convenience stores.  Think 7-11 but better.  However, saying, "I'm going to Wawa" still makes me feel faintly infantile.

Tonight was one of those serendipitous evenings.  Sometimes you can plan to do something, look forward to going to a restaurant for a week and not be too impressed. OR you can get gas in the pouring cold rain and happen upon the best Mexican food you've eaten east of San Diego.

I had zuccini fajitas and Professor Bremer had the Mexican burrito.  The food was superb...fantastic guacamole, our waiter Luis from Guatamala was lovely and the bill didn't break the bank.  The best part was that I left feeling that I had not only had a delcious meal, but I had eaten in a way that is kind to my body as well.

And the evening didn't seem so cold and dreary after all.

Haiti

Old pirates, yes, they rob I;

Sold I to the merchant ships,

Minutes after they took I

From the bottomless pit.

But my hand was made strong

By the 'and of the Almighty.

We forward in this generation

Triumphantly.

Won't you help to sing

These songs of freedom? -

'Cause all I ever have:

Redemption songs.          Bob Marley

I really don't have the mind to encompass the horror of Haiti.  I don't really have the words.  I haven't been able to post about it for a week.  Somehow, my little life seems all too easy, my solutions all too few, and my bargains at Goodwill, well, not too important. 

All I can pray for the people of Haiti is, "mercy." 

They called out in a loud voice, "How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long?" Rev. 6:10

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Time for Flowers

In the depth of winter I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer.


Albert Camus

Thrift Love - Goodwill

I sure do love the Goodwill close to my house. I'm not a big garage saler. It makes me uncomfortable to haggle But at Goodwill, I get a punch card for donations that enables me to accumulate 20% off all my purchases after making four donations. My Mom often gets rid of things, hates to go to Goodwill to donate, so I do it and get my discount.

Yesterday, there was an amazing shadow box from TJ Maxx with the original price tag still on it, marked way down, which I purchased for a few bucks. I already had the items I put inside. I'm crazy about birds, skelaton keys, old silver, and white-on-white decorating. Strangely, Blogger doesnt see to have the pic function available. Will post one when I can.

Frozen Laundry

Okay, I've been cold before. I grew up in New England and New York State, for Pete's sake. I'm not one to complain about the weather In fact, I far prefer cold weather to hot weather.

However, there IS a limit. Our laundry room is off the dining room and is not insulated. I've never noticed that it was particularly frigid before. Just now, when I picked up the Tide, it wouldn't pour out, despite feeling quite heavy. I peered into the spout. It was FROZEN. That's ridiculous!

Before and After - Dining Room Hutch

I NEVER remember to take "before" pics. Except today...for once I remembered!

A woman named Beth used to live next door to me, in a little white, run down but charming, Craftsman bungalow. She was hard-drinking, attractive in a sort of hard way, with an enormous tattoo of a phoenix which covered her entire back. Beth's mother was a decorator and Beth had an amazing shabby-chic home. Beth was full of contradictions, to be sure.

Then the owner decided to renovate the house and Beth moved out. Kate, the newspaper reporter, moved in. Things were much quieter, more gentrified, and quite a bit less interesting, if you know what I mean.

However, before she left, Beth gave me the bottom of a Hoosier cabinet. It had been painted a truly hideous seventies green. It had great "bones" and I covered most of it with a crocheted tablecloth. It has great storage.

Beth said she might be back for it, but we both knew she never would be. Still I waited 7 years before repainting it. Which I finally did this weekend.

Happy New Year

Good Evening and Happy New Year from 256!

We are spending the first night of 2010 quietly, having dinner with our dear friends, Neil and Nancy. They like a block away in a wonderful Queen Anne style Victorian Home. Nancy loves all things vintage. Her father was an antiques dealer and she has so many wonderful things in her house. She's always up for a walk or a bike ride.

We are having twice-baked yams, an Indian main dish called "dal," which is based on legumes and vegetables, a black bean salad, and a green salad.

I challenged myself to spend very little money on my table. The candles are from the dollar store, as are the silvery decortions. The tray is from Goodwill, as are the white pillars for the candles. The silver is inherited and the plates and chargers were given to me by someone who didn't want them anymore. They are Mikasa.

Christmas at 256

We're waiting for snow here in Virginia

I've been watching this beautiful aviary shown above in Bowman's Garden Center for about 7 months. It was far too indulgent of a price, but I admired it from afar. Last week at Starbucks, I ran into one of the owners and mentioned how much I loved that piece. He said, "Take it, I'll give it to you half price. You can see it displayed on the built-in book case.

My godson and I had fun putting it together and getting the lights inside. Please enjoy the rest of the decorations. The silver tea service is extremely precious to me. It was my grandmothers and we would polish it together when I went over to her house.

A Member of Our Family

Last week, I was visiting my sister in Atlanta. At the same time, one of the inner-city kids I mentor got himself into terrible trouble. He made some bad decisions about what type of people he was associating with. However, the bottom line is that he was falsely accused of something I am 100% positive he did not do. Bruce and I are assisting him and have left this in God's hands, believing that (as Romans 8 says) that "All things work together for good for those who love the Lord and are called according to His purposes."

As I was advocating from afar for Kewon, I was having to make a number of phone calls in the presence of my two young and appropriately sheltered nieces, I realized that, smart as they are, some explanation would be needed.

We all went to IHOP for breakfast and over Funny Face pancakes with whipped cream smiles on them, I struggled with how to explain this all to the girls. They live in a world composed of Burnt Hickory Baptist Church, Christian Cheering (GO STINGRAYS), practice for the play, and Christian private school. They are loved, cared for, cherished, and have no concept of what Kewon's life has been about. They live in a house with their Jewish convert father, my sister, who loves the Lord, and their grandparents, a teacher and pastor, respectively.

Finally I said, "I know that we are not used to this in our family, but I guess you've both figured out that Kewon is in trouble. Now, you have been raised to respect the law and police, but it is possible to be falsely accused and arrested and this is what has happened to our friend, Kewon."

Jaime raised her hand. I love when little kids raise their hands to speak outside of school. It is adorable. She said, "I know someone from our family who was falsely accused and arrested."

My sister and I looked at each other across the table, mystified.

"Jesus was falsely accused and arrested."

She is 7.