Have you repurposed lately?

It has been a awhile since a repurposed post. This one is fun! If you have been here to see pics of our living room, you know there is a ladder in the corner. It can be seen here  and apparently I haven't blogged about it as much as I thought I have. :(

Anywho! Jim's Mom gave me this wooden ladder (the other part to it is in her kitchen as her pot rack!!!) when I moved into an apartment not long after Jim and I started dating. The ladder sat in the corner there and held my "girls" -- my raggedies. The girls can be seen below.

This would have been our first fall in the house.

Valentine's Day.

A general purpose look.

I must not have liked the set up of much of anything in this room...

because this was the same year. :)

Halloween

Thanksgiving last year

Christmas last year.

It is a fun piece to decorate!! Do you have an item that you use for seasonal decorations??

Well. We have shuffled furniture around to make room for my Grandma's china cabinet. It all started with moving the church pew out of the dining room. It is odd to me how moving one piece of furniture has made changes in three rooms, actually four. The dining room will be another post once the china cabinet is here and I can tell a full story. But...church pew out - now sitting in garage because it is 11 feet long. Church pew for sale. China cabinet shuffle -- move one to different spot in dining room and move a friend's to the living room  (full story revealed with dining room post). China cabinet in living room displaces ladder in corner. 

Where to put ladder??

Are you tired yet just thinking about it?

Entering stage right...the bathroom!

The bathroom is a room that has given me fits. We thought white would be great since the space is 

sooooooooooooooo small! It looked great. It was crisp and clean, but at the same time, the crisp and clean was, well, sterile and lifeless compared to the rest of house and our personalities. I had thoughts, but it was one of those spaces that didn't excite me. Jim did build me a shelf that fit behind the door, but that didn't lead to anything else. Still boring and lifeless.

Entering stage right...the homeless ladder!

We talked about where to put the ladder and we both suggested the bathroom. 

We had two different ideas, but this is the one we decided on.

Yep!! The ladder is repurposed to the bathroom.

I LOVE IT!!!!!!!

It makes all the difference in the bathroom too! It isn't lifeless and boring anymore!!!! 

YAY!!!!!

Well what to do with a ladder on the wall in the bathroom???

I'm glad you asked!

 Crows and clear glass bottles.

All things that were under the church pew. 

Don't judge, but yes!!!! I had baskets full o'stuff under the 11 foot church pew!!

Now that the bathroom was gaining life, the other blank spaces are REALLY blank.

I love when a plan comes together. The washboard was sitting behind some stuff in the kitchen VERY MUCH UNDERUTILIZED!!! The wreath was hanging over a doorway in the living room.

I knew the wreath needed to move to the bathroom, but it was definitely odd looking on that wall all by its lonesome. I saw the washboard when I fed Jynx this morning. As soon as I saw it I knew where it was going. Just needed to figure out how. It was pretty much the first thing Jim did after getting up!!! he he.

Those white curtain things HAD TO GO!!!!! They looked RIDICULOUS with all this cutsie stuff.

My favorite little LOCAL country type store didn't let me down.

A burlap looking valance!! YAY! 

I am so in love with my bathroom right now.

There are more changes to come. We are going to repaint the whole thing a dirty white or something along those lines. The bright white needs to go now. There are also some other spaces that need to feel the love.

I now have some empty spaces in the living room and the bedroom that need some love.

Things were moved to go on the ladder and go here or there. Redecorating the house and not spending hardly anything. So far the only thing that was purchased recently is the valance. Even the hooks we hung the ladder with were downstairs in Jim's inventory. :)

What do you think? Would you have thought or been brave enough to hang a ladder on the wall like this??

Partying here:

How do your tomatoes grow?

Ours grow big and dusty rose!

As in the form of a Cherokee Purple tomato.

This one weighed ONE pound 11 ounces.

That is Jim's hand.

The Cherokee Purple tomato is said to have originated with the Cherokee Indians.

Jim sliced this baby up and gave it an egg bath and then coated it in bread crumbs.

He heated a pan and some oil and fried them up.

They were topped with fresh basil from the garden and fresh shredded parm.

There is no picture of the fried goodness, but I can assure you, they looked pretty and they tasted even better!!! They were super sweet and full of flavor.

Here is a peek at some squash, our first cucumber and another Cherokee Purple.

When I walk away from the computer I am going to start the process for a squash relish.

I also need to look at some recipes for green tomatoes. Some of our plants have been hit with leaf spot and possibly blight. /sigh

I am also hoping to sit in front of the computer a little later and do a couple posts that I can set to automatically post! Lots to share!!!!!

How are you? How do you like your tomatoes?

Blueberry Muffins

I bought some local blueberries last weekend. I had intended for us to have blueberry pancakes but the weekend didn't allow for blueberry pancakes. Sooooooo, I made blueberry muffins!

I used the Barefoot Contessa's recipe.

3 ½ cups all-purpose flour 
1½ cups granulated sugar 
4½ teaspoons baking powder 
1 teaspoon baking soda 
1 teaspoon kosher salt 
2 cups buttermilk, shaken 
¼ pound (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled 
1½ teaspoons grated lemon zest 
2 extra-large eggs, lightly beaten 
2 cups fresh blueberries (2 half-pints) 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tins with paper liners. 

Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl and mix together. In a separate bowl, mix together the buttermilk, butter, lemon zest, and eggs. Make a hole in the center of the dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Mix with a fork just until blended. Fold the blueberries into the batter. Don’t over mix! With a standard (2¼ -inch) ice-cream scoop or large spoon, scoop the batter into the prepared cups, filling them almost full. 

Bake the muffins for 20 to 25 minutes, until golden brown. 

I don't have enough muffin pans to make the 20 muffins the recipe said it would.

I got brave and sprayed my mini muffin pans, said a prayer, and scooped the batter into the mini muffin pans.

I don't have a picture, but they came out in one piece. ALL OF THEM.

The muffins are almost gone. I would like a little more lemon flavor in the recipe.

Very good as is, but we both think more lemon would be good!

Blueberry pancakes or blueberry muffins. Which do you prefer?

What do you do with your blueberries?

A little of this and a little of that...mostly about the weather

Big news!!!!! It rained today. I swear to you, when I pulled in the driveway from work I could hear our plants cheering. They were oh so happy it finally rained on them. We were happy too. We like happy plants!!!

I think this is how the plants were feeling.

I saw this picture over at my friend Cindy's blog

Art, Books, Tea

That link will take you to the post where I saw it.

She posted about the much needed rain today.

Her blog is fun for me. It is place a little different than my own, a little escape.

She posts about, Art, Books, and Tea! Clever huh?

I recently won this bird from a giveaway on her blog.

This is her photo. It looks pretty cute sitting on the bird bath doesn't it?

I haven't yet found a home for him here. When I do, I will take my own picture.

I hope you don't mind that I borrowed your picture Cindy. The complete post can be seen here!

She also has these awesome cats that post now and then!

I do hope you will stop and pay her a visit.

My friend Cathy over at My 1929 Charmer posted about deadheading our flowers in our gardens to help them survive in this heat. That is such great advice. I have some that I have deadheaded out of habit, and others I will be visiting tomorrow, to help them through this heat. Yes, it rained, but it has still been a stressful summer for our plants. Cathy's blog is fun . She actually has a '1929 Charmer' and she has an awesome linky party on Sundays. Take a break from the heat and say hello to Cathy!

My friend Sam over at FarmGirlSam finds plenty of ways to beat the heat.

In my house, this wouldn't be a beating the heat sort of task since we don't have a/c, but...

If canning isn't your thing, Sam loves to create with yarn and string. She has taken on the challenge of a year of projects. You just never know what sort of interesting thing she will share from day to day. We've become friends. If we lived closer, we would beat the heat sharing a nice cold beverage!!! She would love new visitors!  (who wouldn't right?)

Despite the lack of rain, the yellow squash are doing fine!

I wish I could say the same for our cucumbers. We have TONS of blossoms, but no cukes. :(

It was soooooooooooo nice listening to the rain drops fall earlier.

If only they were gently falling shortly as I fall asleep.

I won't get greedy though. The rain earlier was very much needed. They are comparing this summer's lack of rain (and winter lack of precipitation) to the drought of 1988. ICK!!!

I hope you will take some time to beat the heat and pay my bloggy friends a visit.

Hugs!

Jen

One of the reasons I love our backyard

Hazy, Hot and Humid! Is that how it is where you are? If so, I hope you are staying hydrated and cool.
I miss not posting on a regular basis. I've decided that I can share whatever, not just creations. I think I have learned I am a better crafter when the sun goes down early. Plus, with the garden, crafting time is a little less. So....let us start with one of the reasons I love our backyard...

We get cute moments like this! Having a wildlife friendly backyard is very cool!

I hope you have grinned, at least a little!!

Hugs!

Pallet planters and trellis

In one of the last posts I shared a picture of our planters and trellis. Here is a little more info and a bunch more pictures!!!!

It started with the above picture.

Jim brought home a couple of these plant pallets.

They were pretty cute as is, but have you known us to take the easy way on things?

NOPE!!!

Those plant pallets were turned into TWO pallet planters!

We filled them with bricks (about halfway) before we added the soil.

We got them positioned. Then we had another idea (imagine!)

Why not connect them and give this part of the yard a feel all its own??

Yep!!! An arbor/trellis...made from pallets!!!

(I'm pretty lucky he loves me right?)

Taking shape!

Putting the pieces on the top.

Do you like the telephone pole looking thing?

This reminds me that I don't think I have shared it with you. :(

All done!

Sitting in, looking out.

On the "outside" looking in!

It really does give the patio/fire pit area the feeling that it is its own room!!!!

Pretty neat looking and all the wood was FREE!!!!

This picture is a few weeks old.

In the planters we planted pole beans and bush beans.

The pole beans are now as tall as the first 'step'

The birds have let us know they approve!!!

I think it needs a sign hanging in the middle of the arbor. That may be a rainy day or a winter time project though. The tomatoes are starting to turn red so we will soon be busy canning away! We will have to remember to take time to sit and enjoy our 'new room.'

I wish those of you that are my bloggy friends lived closer so we could sit out back and catch up!

Hugs!!!

Jen

I'm linking up here: