What to do about the Ugly Chairs

Recently I was browsing fabrics online, looking for ideas for the reformation of the set of ugly chairs.  I actually love these old chairs, as they were my grandparents', but I'm not too fond of the pattern of the fabric.  I'm sure they were totally fashionable at the time, and perhaps some people would still love the design, but me.....not so much.

If I was going to choose a new fabric, I'd love to find something still fitting with the style - not too contemporary - but perhaps a little less flashy.  I found several options I thought were excellent on the BuyFabrics.com site.  Like Cafu Gold Green -

 

Or Casablanca Geo Citrine (which I think is my favorite because it's simple yet elegant) -

Or maybe even Freya Watermelon Chenille -

It's so convenient and fun to look online, avoiding all the crowds right now in the stores.  I don't like to go in the stores again until after the holiday season!  BuyFabrics.com also has a wide selection of drapery fabrics and there are many discounted options available.  I found the site easy to navigate, and in particular, I liked that I could change the settings to look at a larger number of fabrics at once.  They currently have a large Premier Prints sale that is running through December 3rd.  Plus, there is a convenient Yardage Chart to help you figure out exactly how much material you would need to order to finish your project. 

While, admittedly, it is not in our budget to reupholster these ear chairs at any time in the near future, it's always fun to dream.  What about you, readers?  Do you have any projects you are dreaming of this winter?

Disclaimer:  I have not purchased anything from the BuyFabrics.com site, so my experience relates only to looking at the website.  I was compensated for this post, but the opinions above are my own. 

Winter Garden - Rural Thursday

I suppose it's not technically winter yet, and by the time it is the few items in my garden will be gone.  Besides somehow, it doesn't really feel like fall after Thanksgiving.  All the Christmas items hit the stores and the radio and it feels like winter. 

At any rate, this was the first time I've planted any seeds for fall harvesting.  I planted broccoli and peas, which were doing fabulously until Hurricane Sandy passed through.  Thankfully, a few items I planted did survive the high winds and our recent morning frosts. 

 I harvested this cabbage and did a lima bean cabbage soup in the crockpot, which was delicious.  I have some other cabbages still out there and growing.

 These stubby carrots were roasted with potatoes, olive oil and sea salt, and were a wonderful side dish (and I still have some to pick).

And I have several patches of lettuce growing still.  I'm impressed by how hearty it has proved during the repeated frosts each night.  It is just now starting to look a little worse for the wear. 

I'm pleased that most of the seeds I planted in late July did well.  Next year I'll have to try to plant the peas and broccoli just a little earlier. 

It's Rural Thursday!  Please note that this will be the last Rural Thursday, so I hope that everyone will take the time to link up today with Nancy from A Rural Journal and myself. I have really enjoyed reading your posts over the past months, but want to maximize the time spent with my family during the holiday season.  Huge thanks to Nancy for inviting me to cohost Rural Thursday!  So to participate today, just grab the code beneath the button and paste it into your blog post.  Then come back to add your post to the linky.  Please make sure you comment on at least 5 other blog participants.  I always look forward to visiting and reading what you write! 

Tulley is back!

Our Elf on the Shelf, Tulley, has returned for the third year in a row.  The boys were very excited to see him.

 Every night, he flies to Santa to report on the boys' behavior.  And each morning he shows up in a new spot in the house.  Unless he forgets to change spots (ahem). 

What about you, readers?  Any fun holiday traditions that return year after year?

What Happens When You Throw Out the Halloween Candy

After a few weeks of doling out a couple of pieces of candy each evening to little boys who ate their dinner, I decided it was time to get rid of it all.  Besides, I'd already picked out and consumed the good chocolate myself.

 We let the boys each pick out 3 pieces and then say goodbye to the candy.  And then we realized, that somebody was hoarding! 

All we could do was laugh.  Can you blame him for trying?

The Battle of the Stinkbug with Giveaway!

If you've been following my blog for a while, you know that we have battled and battled the stinkbug population the past couple of years.  It's definitely been a losing battle.  We've tried all sorts of remedies and traps but still they descend on our house each Fall and put me in the grumpiest of moods.  This year we tried to be proactive by filling in some small cracks before stinkbug season rolled around, and I do think it helped, but we still have a few that have made their way in.

I have good news, though!  Terro has recently released two Stink Bug Killer sprays.  One comes with a nifty little straw for spraying in those tiny crevices, like all the ones we have in our logs.

 You know what else?  These sprays are also effective on boxelder bugs, asian lady beetles, carpenter ants and a few other pests.  Since we didn't have many stinkbugs in the house right now, I headed down to one place where I knew they were congregating....our tack shed.  Check out my saddle after I took the cover off:

 Even worse?  Look at what I found when I lifted up the flaps to look underneath.  Gah, totally creepy!

 They were in every little saddle crevice!  And I have several saddles.  I knocked all the stinkbugs out, because I didn't want to spray the Terro directly on my saddle leather. Instead, I sprayed the ground where all the nasty little stinkbugs were scrambling about.

Then I sprayed along all the crevices and windows inside our tack shed, and followed up with a good spraying along the outside as well, which you can see below.  You know what's great?  The Terro Stink Bug Killer works for up to 4 months, so any little creepies crawling through it anytime soon will be a sorry little creepies!

If you want to learn more about Terro products, you can check them out on Twitter and Facebook.  And if you'd like to put Terro Stink Bug Killer to work at your own place, you can enter my Rafflecopter giveaway, below!

Disclaimer:  I received the above pictured two products for review purposes.  The opinions stated above are my own.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

A Day of French Cooking

Last week I was pulled into the beautiful book My Life in France by Julia Child.  It was so much more than I expected, and I fell in love with her story, her writing, her determination, and her foods.  When I was in high school, I took 4 years of French, and in college I followed it up with another 4 semesters of the language.  And yet not only have I never been to France, but I've never even been to a French restaurant.  It's just too expensive for either to be practical.  So I decided to try my hand at French cooking at home. 

Thrilled with the idea of the daunting task of French cooking, I perused recipes on the internet.  I finally decided on a menu of salade verde with Humboldt Fog (aged goat cheese) and walnuts in a lemon vinaigrette, estouffade provencale, a slow cooking beef stew with slices of French baguette on the side, and gateau nantais which is a rum cake from the Northwestern region of France. 

All of the ingredients I had on hand except for the cheese, the baguette, the nicoise olives and fennel that go in the stew, and the rum.  The salad greens and veggies were even fresh from my fall garden!  So overall it wasn't too costly to prepare the meal - definitely much cheaper than a French restaurant.  Maybe one day I'll get to eat at one, or even get to travel to France, but for one evening, it was fun to pretend. 

 

The foods took time to prepare, but were divine in their assortment of flavors.  It was fun to put on French music, drink wine, and enjoy several courses at dinner.  The food was so rich that I was stuffed for hours afterwards, even though I had small servings. 

 

How about you, readers?  Is there any type of food that you've always wanted to try?

Happy Thanksgiving!

May your bellies be full and your hearts be warm today.  Happy Thanksgiving!

From Reid, Cort, and Harry Potter!