San Antonio Rose

I know this post is not about Thanksgiving planning.

I'm planning.  I really am.  It's just that hubby and I celebrated our 22nd anniversary in early October and we decided to visit San Antonio for a special anniversary trip.

San Antonio is so beautiful.

The Riverwalk is something you must see.

The buildings are well maintained.  You don't see crumbling, aging buildings on the Riverwalk.

Form always follows function.  Attention was given to some of the smallest details.  Notice the support under the staircase.

Form again...this is part of the drainage system!  Beautiful, isn't it.

The Aztec Theatre...originally opened back when the films were silent movies.  It's still in business today with live theatre performances.

And, of course, the Alamo.

And, just because I can't visit a city without a visit to an antique store.

Cool fans.  Cast iron.  Vintage enamelware.

Vintage kitchen.  Need I say more.

There are so many more pictures I could add but I'll save some of them for later posts.  I hope you enjoyed this trip with us!  I promise to post more of the Thanksgiving preparations very soon.  The kitchen is almost ready.

Clean Drawers!

I have clean drawers!!
LOL, no it's not what you're thinking. 
I have nice, clean kitchen drawers!

Remember when I was freaking about cleaning my house. 
If not, you can read about it here. 

Honestly, I tend to freak when it comes to having parties or guests at my house.
Doesn't everybody?  No?  Yeah, that's what I thought...it's just me.

Well, once I regained by composure, I went on a mission to solve my problem.  I had just the solution to my woes.

No, can't lie, really I was in Dollar Tree looking for some of those cute ceramic pumpkins everybody and their brother seems to have found but me.  Yep, they're all gone.  So, I was just meandering the aisles looking for fall-ish stuff when I noticed a box of the foamy stuff you line dish cabinets with...you know what I'm talking about?  Well, they had black and, lo and behold, right in the same box was a roll, a BEAUTIFUL roll of black toile drawer liner!  See, I didn't really know what my solution was...it sorta found me.

So, here's the before.

By the way, that's not crumbs in the bottom.  It's scratches in the paint.  Oh, there were crumbs or debris as I called it before but I did clean the drawers before this : )

Enter the beautiful toile paper!

See!  Isn't it beautiful!  It's adhesive backed and super easy to cut and put in.

Clean, beautiful drawers!  For now.

Oh, and here's the black, foamy stuff in my glass cabinet.

Looking pretty good too!

Happy 10/10/10!  Check back for more updates on my kitchen redo!  And, I'm sorry for the pictures spilling over into the sidebar but I really liked the impact of them being big.  Does anyone know how to change my column widths?!

Corn Pudding...Yum!

As promised, here's the first of one of the dishes I'll be preparing for Thanksgiving.  It's SO super easy and great tasting.  It's one of those dishes that word gets around about when I take it to potlucks.  It goes fast!  So, I won't make you wait any longer.  Here it is...Enjoy!

Corn Pudding

5 simple ingredients:

1 cup sour cream, 1/2 cup melted butter, 1 can drained whole kernel corn, 1 can creamstyle corn, and

this is VERY important...1 box of JIFFY corn muffin mix

You can use any brand of corn muffin mix but it won't be the same.  There's just something magical in the Jiffy brand. 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Then, easy peasy, dump all of the ingredients into casserole dish like this:

No need to spray the dish before, there's enough butter in there to keep it from sticking : )  Now, stir the ingredients together until the batter is uniform.

Pop it in the oven for 45-50 minutes until golden brown.  (Don't you love the vintage Corning Ware!?)

Honestly, you can't mess this up.  If it's still wet in the middle, put it back in for a few minutes.  I've served it all the way from "right on the edge of moist" to "really done" and it's still wonderful.  My girls actually ask to lick the spoon after I've mixed it...yeah, it's that good.

Enjoy!

Thanksgiving Planning

My husband and I are hosting his family at our home this year.  I'm really excited but having begun the planning, I'm looking at a l-o-n-g list of things to do.  I love entertaining...the festive dishes, decorations, spending time with family and friends but my biggest concern (actually it's more of a freak-out moment) is cleaning my house.  I'm not a great housekeeper.  I love having a clean house.  I just don't know exactly how people get it all done and maintain it!  I'm domestically challenged in that area.  I mean how do you keep your silverware drawer clean and organized??  It's a mystery to me...honestly.  I cleaned mine the other day.  Took everything out, washed the silverware tray, put them all back in an organized manner and there, just a couple of days later...debris (for lack of a better word) in the silverware tray AGAIN!  That's just one small example of the many!  Spots on the faucets, dust on the baseboards, crumbs on the counters, fingerprints on windows, smudges on doors, oh! and dog hair (but that's my fault 'cause I love my dogs) and on and on and on....it's mind-numbing to me. 

I'm a perfectionist that's a terrible housekeeper....the two DON'T mix : /   Can the two ever live at peace with each other?  How?  Do you have this trouble?  Is my house really not as bad as I see it?  How do you know when clean is clean enough for company?  I want to be able to enjoy my company and not feel the dust bunnies taunting me behind the backs of my family and friends. 

Well...I have chosen a safe but somewhat expensive fix to my disorder, problem, situation...hire someone!  Ahhh...now I like the sound of that.  How is it that I'm more confident in a strangers housecleaning skills than my own?  I don't know.  Refer back to the crossed-out words above...it's a disorder. 

SO, back to the main reason of my post.  I'm going to be blogging about my plans, recipes, and decorations as we get closer to time.  I actually prepare Thanksgiving dinner for my husband's employees every year.  I've done so for the past 6-7 years and I love it!  I prepare most dishes at home before (where I don't have to worry about my house being clean and I can enjoy the cooking process) then finish everything else at the office which has a full kitchen.  It's a little Sandra Lee, a little Paula Deen, and a whole lot of southern.  No holds barred on this meal...no calorie, cholesterol, fat gram, or sugar counting here!  Yep, it's all about eating until you're full, kicking back in your chair afterwards and loosening the button on the waistband.  Does a heart good to see people enjoying your food like that. 

Between the two meals, one for my husband's work (the Thursday before Thanksgiving) and my in-laws on Thanksgiving Day, I should be able to do alot of cooking at one time and freeze some dishes for the second meal.  I'll let you know how it's going.

Have you begun your holiday planning yet?  What's some of your favorite recipes?  Check back for one of mine....super easy, guaranteed crowd pleasing dish!

It Takes a Village...

Okay, I'm not really going "there" with this post but it does involve a village!  I purchased these at the thrift store.

There are seven buildings in all.  They are made from plaster or chalkware??  I spent a grand total of $2.99 for the set!  I loved the details...hated the way they were painted.  It was super glossy spray paint, poorly done.  So...out comes the oyster white spray paint.  I tried to take them back to a blank canvas.  However, I can't decide how I want to paint them.  I started with antiquing the off white and got this:

Hmmm....not sure I like it.  So, on to the next attempt of painting all of the details as they would appear in real life (okay, really I copied a Dept. 56 village building) and got this:

I like this better but it was a-l-o-t of work getting all of the detail painted.  (Not a great pic as the top of the building seems washed out...sorry).  But, then I kept looking at the remaining five buildings sitting there in their creamy white beauty and sort of liked them too.  Just think of these charming cottages nestled among some ironstone dishes in a holiday vignette : )

So, fellow villagers...hehehe, I know there's only like 8 of you but that's okay : ) ....which do you like best??