Flapper's Folly

Christmas is over, hopefully your tree and decorations are put away, and if you are like most folks, you now have  a lot of holiday photos.  Most likely the photos are digital and sitting somewhere on a computer, a memory card, or even still in the camera.

I think the  biggest benefit of digital photography is being able to take all the pictures you want. With no  worry about the cost of film or developing, you can snap away. So instead or 40 or 60 images, you now can have hundreds from one holiday season. I know some folks who use their digital cameras much like a film one and print them soon after they are taken.  At our house, that never happens. Indeed they are scattered. The card was emptied onto the laptop or one computer or another every time it is full and soon we don't know where all the pics are or if we ever even looked at them.

Today I came across an article online at Southern Living all about organizing one's digital  photo files.  There are lots of good ideas in the article and included are downloadable templates to make the cute CD covers at left.  There are many more than those pictured and something to suit nearly every occasion. I printed one out and it fit like a charm with no adjustment. There is space provided for the date and event or subject.

We've been using a digital camera since at least 2003 and have racked up a lot of files.  I'm thinking how nice it would be to clear that space on hard drives and place the images in these neat little envelopes in a notebook. Guess I know what I'll be doing in my spare time this week. 

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The above picture is the start of the dining room project. Yes, it will be red, but first this nasty shade of Pepto Bismol primer goes up. Hopefully it will allow two coats of the red to cover and be true. So why is the room not finished? Let me start by saying that home improvement television is a LIE! You know, where a couple of people paint, sew, and build, not to mention create art, totally transforming a room, in only two days. There is no way. Think of the phrase "Watching paint dry," because caulk, primer, and sizing all have to dry and it takes time. This is not even taking into account the snafus. The crown molding had to be cleaned and recaulked in places. Twenty-four hours to dry. The repair to cracks and such on walls and ceiling require another twenty-four. Then sizing and primer are several more hours. In between steps time is required for tears and ibuprophen. Sunday what really ground us to a halt was the ceiling paper. It's a heavy textured paper, looking like tin tiles, that was prepasted. I've hung lots of paper on walls, but never on a ceiling, and after this, never again. We're all set to go, cuts all lined up, me on the scaffold and John on a ladder, water dripping, and we rolled and we brushed and we pushed, and the damned stuff would not stick!!! It just fell down on our heads. So while I sat and cried like a baby, John went back to the store, and after a call to the manufacturer, he returned with an adhesive that will hopefully do the job. By then it was too late to start again, but we did a test piece on foam core and it looks like it will work. It's a two person job and too much to do at night, so we are stuck until the weekend. After which, it must cure for 36 hours before painting and glazing. Only then, will I be able to paint the walls. I'm tempted, but if I get the paint up now, I know it will be ruined by work on the ceiling. The deadline on this job is Easter. Last night, as I recounted our difficulties on the phone, my daughter told me not to sweat it, it doesn't have to be done by then. But it does, and who knows how many other things will go wrong. So it's one step at a time, even when each step is a day. Hopefully I will soon have a pic of the finished, or at least semi-finished room to post.

Posted by Rockelle at 8:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Sometimes the simplest chores grow into huge projects. We plan to redo the dining room. We have purchased anaglypta wallpaper for the ceiling, which hopefully, will give us the look of tin ceiling tiles without the trouble and expense. The walls will be red. Which red is still being debated and there is even dissension on the part of the Puter Ho as to the wisdom of using red at all. The plan is to have this all done by Easter.

But enough about the particulars. The dining room is full. It is a small room and it is packed. Before my time here, it functioned as a playroom for a toddler. I brought a large table, six chairs, a buffet and lots of stuff. Although it was easily transformed into a dining room, one large white cabinet remained because something had to hold all the stuff. Now there is a spiffy new corner china cabinet destined to replace the huge white monstrosity.

Simple. We'll move the white monster into the garage. But wait. The garage is full. So we start on the garage and realize we can't really make way there until we have a large item pickup from the city. The city of Fort Worth last year went to once a week small cart pick up. We have a cart for garbage and a cart for recycling. We are always behind. These carts must be hidden from the street except on pickup day, so where do you suppose they reside? In the garage, of course. Adding to my frustration, I learn that a "Big Trash & Brush" pickup does not include picking up bags of garbage, of which I now have many, but only large items. What's more they cannot tell you when they will come, so one must place the mess on the curb and wait for pickup. Something I'm certain the neighborhood association will frown heavily upon.

Can you see where this is going? The dining room project should be doable in a weekend, maybe a bit more. But:

For want of a nail
the shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe
the horse was lost.
For want of a horse
the rider was lost.
For want of a rider
the battle was lost.
For want of a battle
the kingdom was lost.
And all for the want
of a horseshoe nail.

Posted by Rockelle at 9:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

What a great morning! Chilly and an extra hour in bed. Mmmmm. Friday I wrote here about making bath salts and mentioned I would share recipes. Over the weekend I put together the most basic recipe and some information that might be of use, especially for a beginner. You can go here for that info and I have also added a link to the left. I'll build upon that basic recipe this week, adding variations, and also share recipes for bath bombs, milk baths, and other scented bath goodies. I'll post an update here in the blog as recipes are added. Reports this morning on the Southern California wildfires are that 14 lives and 850 homes have been lost. 24,000 more homes are threatened. I have lived where wildfires were common and know firsthand the devastation and fear they wreak. My prayers are with those who have lost loved ones, folks losing their homes, and to the brave firefighters affected in California.

Posted by Rockelle at 11:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

My stepson gave me a lotion and lip balm kit for my birthday. I had seen it at Michaels and mentioned that I would like to try it out. I make soaps, bath salts and bombs, but had never ventured into lotions or lip balms. I was so disappointed in this thing. Made by Life of the Party, nothing was labeled, so you didn't know if you were using the color meant for lip balm or lotion. The scents, apple and something vaguely reminiscent of bubble gum, were horrible. I got out my own supplies and doctored up the lotions, but made the balms according to their instructions. It's terrible.

The mixture must be heated to a very high temperature, then transferred with the most cloggable pipettes imaginable into little tubes and pots. It's hot. It's messy. And they don't give you enough containers to hold all the muck you create. I ended up pouring the rest into the garbage, but the glass containers used for heating are still setting on the counter while I figure out a way to clean the gunk out of them. Too bad pyrex measuring cups aren't disposable. This kit seems as if it would be popular with preteen girls, yet I can't imagine the mess and the danger involved with children.

The best part of the gift is that I am now inspired to start making bath goodies again. Every few months I turn my kitchen into a factory and churn out salts, bombs and scrubs for myself and my family. In looking to order some oils, I found that my favorite supplier, Majestic Mountain Sage , also has a lip balm kit. For the same price, you get a lot more and from my experience with their products, it would provide a much nicer experience and final product.

Next week, I'll try to share some of my recipes for bath goodies. It's ridiculous to spend so much for something so inexpensive and easy to make. They also make great stocking stuffers and Christmas is just around the corner.

Hope everyone has a great weekend. I plan to spend mine OD'ing on lavender. :)

Posted by Rockelle at 2:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I just have to share this. Monday I cooked ribs. Potato salad seemed the logical accompaniment. Easy enough, right? Well, in this family what potato salad consists of is the subject of debate. The Puter Ho hates eggs, doesn't like the mustard type and is generally hard to please. Potato salad-wise, that is. Many times I have tried to duplicate some German potato salad fantasy of his. It never works out.

A potato salad we have both liked is a baked potato salad purchased at Albertson's deli. The dressing is sour cream based and it contains cheese. It's creamy and tasty. I began searching for a recipe. Dumb me, I was amazed to find that the potatoes in baked potato salad are actually baked. I probably came up with 20 versions of BPS. (To heck with typing that again)

I settled on the recipe of Chef Kent Rathbun of Abacus Restaurant in Dallas. It is absolutely scrumptious! I cheated by baking the potatoes in the microwave and I added sliced ripe olives. It makes a lot and the next day we heated it and it was even better! I rarely rave, but this deserves a rave. Try it, you'll love it.

Note: Ever since Dan Quayle mispelled potato, for some reason I get confused on the plural form. I looked it up and for the record, the plural is potatoes. Damned Republicans!

Posted by Rockelle at 11:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I hope everyone had a fun and safe holiday weekend. We did.

Our home is in a constant state of disarray these days. The kitchen is almost finished, but we've decided we want to do the glazing we did on the walls on the ceiling too. Sadly, we haven't found the energy to get up there and do it yet. We gained a bedroom recently when the oldest son moved out and we've picked up a few new pieces of furniture. One of the new things (at least to us) is an old armoire we bought to put the bedroom tv in.

It was unloaded in our bedroom and I had been running into it in the dark for a week, so yesterday we finally got it in place. Our tv had been on one of those RTA stand things, ugly as sin but strong. We researched the best way to beef up the old armoire to hold the tv and have plans to totally line it and reinforce it with plywood inside, but after some measuring we realized we could fit the stand thing we already had inside it. So off to Lowe's we went. For now John got the floor lined and strong and we just set the little center inside. The back of the armoire is really thin and we knew that all those cords and cables running through a simple hole would quickly split it, so after searching through plumbing flanges and other nifty hardware we found these neat brass things that normally go around doorknobs. He drilled the hole and then adhered these on both the inside and outside. It looks _really_ nice.

Since the armoire is not in it's final place and I may refinish it, I needed a way that I could move it. I've always seen those furniture mover things that depict a woman moving a fridge with one finger and we bought some. They work! Maybe not with one finger, but I can slide that heavy armoire easily. They were only about $3.50 for four and come in all sizes. Next time I'm there, I intend to pick up several sets. Imagine being able to move furniture when and where you want without a guy!

A big hug for the Puter Ho and all the hard work he has done for me lately. I'm sure I'll still find a use for him now that I don't need him to move furniture.

Posted by Rockelle at 12:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)