I was doing OK till........

I got the first gardening magazine of the year in yesterdays mail!

I have been busy working on odd jobs in the basement, watching the Olympics, working on my genealogy and generally keeping myself busy. Then it happened!

When I picked up Friday's mail - there it was; large as life and twice as brilliant, covered with lilies, and roses and rich black dirt. With flower bed plans and pictures of new perennials, cute garden ornaments and little green nooks of grass and trees. There were hostas and begonias, gladiolas and dahlias, soapwort and salvia, asters and yarrow and a razzamatazz cornflower!
To prolong the agony they threw in 2, yes 2 new catalogues and a guide to the greenhouses (none of which are open yet).


I put on my coat and went outside, I stood in the snow and tried to imagine what my newest flower bed would look like (and where I would get the energy to build said flower bed). I opened the garden shed and surveyed the plant pots all nestled together waiting for spring and I stared sadly at the grey sky and the pitiful snowflakes that fluttered down.

It's at least 2 more months until I can do anything about gardening - the 22 of April is the earliest I plant anything and that will be my sweetpeas. The earliest I have ever cut my grass was the 27th of April and the earliest I have planted anything in the veggie garden was the 10 of May.

There is one bright spot on the horizon - a local auction house is having their first consignment auction of the year, next weekend, they are listing the estate of a gentleman who passed away last fall. It says lots of antiques, household furnishings, shop tools and supplies (in case hubby wants to come) and best of all, a whole list of Gardening Equipment!!!

Hopefully my sanity will hold together till then.

The Bedroom!!

Part of my "clean up the basement" project includes doing something with those upper kitchen cabinets I picked up from my girlfriend. Since the bedside tables I have are old, ugly, brown and falling apart, I decided I needed some new ones.



Last winter I built a new headboard using beadboard pine and white washed it, so I stayed with that style to make the tables.


I started with two cabinets that were 30 inches high, one was 24 inches across and the other 21 inches across and both 12 deep. I repainted the doors a pearlized white and ordered new cut glass handles (which still have to come in).

Added the beadboard pine to the sides of the cabinet with my handy dandy air nailer and put some small feet on the bottom.

Put 3/4" solid pine board on the top that had been well sanded and had 3 coats of satin Varathane.

White washed the beadboard to match the headboard.

Put some decorative boards on the top and back.

And voila! new night tables.

They both have 3 shelves and tons of storage.

The best part is including paint, pine boards, etc. they came in for less than 50 dollars for the 2 of them. This was almost as much fun as finding things at the local thrift store.......lol!

Debbie! Debbie!!

I did it! I did it! I finally made cornbread. Ever since you blogged about yours I have wanted to try it, so today was the day.

I dug Mom's old cast iron frying pad out of the cold room, cleaned it up and seasoned it, then checked the Internet for recipes. There were a lot out there so I got the basics and just made my own. It came out golden brown, just a little bit crispy around the outside and moist on the inside.
I had a big pot of bacon and beans simmering all afternoon and together they were delicious.

Sadly hubby decided he didn't like it, so now I have most of the pan to eat myself - I'm thinking warmed up with butter and syrup or honey or jam...... seems to me I remember Dad or one of my uncles talking about cornbread and molasses. So many possibilities, so many calories.....lol!