Rainy Weekend Fun

We had rain all weekend (except when it was snowing), so I spent most of my time inside. I took this opportunity to go back to an old hobby of mine--beading. That was motivated by the fact that I needed to clean the room where my work space was for another reason. And when I saw that I could actually sit down at my beading table, the call of the beads was more that I could resist. I was itching to take the large jumble of beads I have to see what I could do with them. I decided to make badge holders for some of my coworkers. I had to do a bit of creative design to work with just what I had on hand. It was much too yucky out to go for more supplies. However, I liked the challenge of this.

So what did I end with? I ended up with five new badge holders to add to ones that I had made before. After my intense sessions yesterday,  today I'm going to see if I can get my eyes to refocus more than five inches in front of my face. :)
Here are a few pictures of the fruits of my labor. The pictures didn't turn out so well, but I think you'll get the idea of the tedious detailed, fun weekend I had.

Is there an old hobby that you want to try again?

Thankful Sunday--March 30, 2014

I am thankful that this grinder has found its new home.

Theo bought this very large grinder for his grandfather several months ago. However, it has been living in our garage until yesterday when it was finally delivered to its new owner. His grandfather was happy to get it and we are happy that we now have a little more space to maneuver in our garage.

Food Waste Friday and True Food Confessions--Mar. 28, 2014

It's time for Food Waste Friday, when the Frugalgirl encourages us to post pictures from the previous week of wasted food from our household. This accountability hopefully will help us to be more careful with our food and maybe save some money. Also, I am using this public forum to encourage us to eat out less which includes better meal planning. You can follow how we are doing in this endeavor by reading True Food Confessions. 

This Week's Food Waste

A Tomato

I have a suspicion that this tomato was starting to rot before I brought it home. Luckily, the others in the bunch have held up. Otherwise, we were good to go this week. :)

This Week's True Food Confessions

Do you know what happens when you go to the grocery store when you're thirsty and hungry? You buy a lot of juicy, sweet fruit and a couple of vegetables for good measure. So guess what? We've been enjoying a lot of fresh fruit this week. :)

Also, I got asked an interesting question recently when a friend was seeing our redone kitchen for the first time. After the proper ooohs and ahs, she asked if I liked cooking any better in my new space. Without hesitation, I said no. However, I have been thinking about that question since then. While I enjoy being in my kitchen more, I do not like cooking more. You know how they say (whoever they are) that you should trust your first reaction? Well, I guess it's true in this case.

Do you find that your first response to something is often the right one? 

Until next time...

Hillwood Estate

Recently Ward and I got a chance to visit Hillwood Estate and Museum in Washington, DC. The visit had been on our list of things to do for over a year now, and we finally made it.

Hillwood Estate was home to Marjorie Merriweather Post in her later years (1955-1973). Besides living in the mansion, Post used it to display much the art that she collected over the years. She was the richest woman in the United States at one time thanks to owning General Foods. That afforded her enough money to follow her passion of art collection. French and Russian were her favorites. After her death, Hillwood was opened as a museum for the public.

We visited on a warm afternoon, and we weren't the only ones who thought it was a good day to go. It was crowded, but we were able to work our way through the crowds to see what we wanted. Besides the seeing richly furnished bedrooms and kitchens, we saw many built-in display cases scattered throughout the house. These held much of her collection. Porcelain was a favorite of Post, so we saw numerous sets of dishes among other things. The thing that impressed me the most was the opulence of what we saw. Intricate details, fine painting, and gold everywhere. Amazing. It was almost more than my eyes could comprehend.

Next we wandered through the gardens around the house. We visited the greenhouse that was full of orchids. The color, beauty, and variety of them was like the plant version of what we saw inside. Opulent and amazing.  Then we ventured through the rest of the gardens. It was early in the season, so there was very little in bloom. We found a crocus here or a daffodil there. And while I appreciated what I had seen thus far, it was this part of the visit I liked best.

 Here are few pictures from our afternoon.

Library

Adam Bedroom Suite

Russian porcelain and English painted enamels

Orchids

 

Path to Japanese Garden

Crocus outside of Dacha

A Second Look--March 26, 2014

Where I live, there are a few robins that hang around all winter. However, I still get excited when I see a flock of them for the first time in the spring. When I was a kid, spring wasn't officially here until the first robin arrived. Well, it's here! The robins are out in full force. While watching them this week, I saw a robin tugging a worm out of the ground. Now that's a picture I've seen everywhere--in cartoons, greeting cards, books, and now I've seen it for myself after all of these years. It's was an exciting moment. (Sometimes, it's the little things. :) ) Also, there are a few more crocuses blooming and guess what? We had more snow.

Here's what I saw this week during my Second Look.

This was one of many robins that were visiting. It was a windy day, so notice the ruffled feathers.

A few more crocuses have been popping up here and there.

This crocus came up in the middle of the grass where a squirrel had planted it.

 

One foggy morning, I saw these deer grooming each other. Usually, I just see them eating.

This tufted titmouse has its tuft down.

We got a few more inches of snow yesterday.