Sisters

I love to look at Pinterest. You know, the website with all the photos of great clothes, beautiful gardens, clever ideas, fabulous homes and oh, the food! The Best Snickerdoodles I’ve Ever Eaten, Chocolate Lasagna, Twix Truffle Brownies, the ever popular Fried Cheesecake Roll-ups and on and on…..(notice I’m not mentioning the “18 skinny salads?)  Yum, yum, yum……especially if are someone like me, that would rather eat dessert and just skip the rest of the meal.

There is something that really irks me about all those photos though. I don’t like gaining weight from looking at pictures of sweet stuff I didn’t eat. That’s right, I am one of those rare people who gain weight from just looking at pictures of food. Even though I exercise daily (right….), watch what I eat (sure….) and never snack (are you kidding???), I have gained weight. The only explanation is all those glorious photos of the sweet stuff. Gooey, sugary, covered in chocolate, caramel glazed, outrageously delicious desserts, cookies, bars, you name it. For some of us, even though we do not technically consume the calories, photos of these delectable delights are downright dangerous when it comes to watching our weight.

I have decided the only solution to this problem is to never look at pictures of sweets on Pinterest again. I’m going to try stick to that plan…..right after I throw away my empty Milano Slices bag…k

January 18, 2015

It’s a beautiful Spring day here in New Glarus. What is unique about that is this is Wisconsin. In January. Last week, temperatures were around -30 with the wind chill.

Decorating trends are a lot like Wisconsin weather, changeable. It used to be that most home decorating fell into one of three categories. Lovers of the contemporary style generally liked cooler colors, sharp edges and furniture that almost looked like art. Those who liked more traditional style usually leaned toward warmer colors, softer designs and everything had to “match”. Then there are some folks who choose to use only antiques, preferring their homes, furniture and accessories to be from a time long gone by. Signs of wear and tear only added to the charm of the story of a piece that had survived many years of use.

Today, the trend we see is a fabulous mixture of old and new put together in a more casual, “evolved over time” style of decorating. Grandma’s vintage oak table has a new life with a set of contemporary metal chairs or those great mid-century plastic chairs in a multitude of colors.  An old Hoosier cupboard works well in a child’s room for storage and it looks just fine next to a new set of metal bunk beds. I have an antique armoire (a piece most often used in bedrooms) in my kitchen. I use it for storage because I don’t have a lot of cupboards. It not only works for me, it looks gooooood. Only my opinion,of course. 

If you have antique pieces that you would like to use in your home but don’t  like the finish or the stain, don’t stress over painting them if that’s what will make you love them. Having said that, I personally have trouble painting an antique that has the original finish but…..(there’s always a but) if you want to paint a piece, it’s yours, go for it!

So if you want a new look, go ahead, move it around, mix it up, repurpose, redo. Won’t cost you anything but time, effort and possibly a can of paint…k

January 17, 2015

As a new year begins, I also begin something new, blogging. I’m not sure where the word blog comes from, seems as though it’s a bit of an ugly sounding word for something one hopes to make enjoyable or interesting for others to read. I do hope just that, that what I write is enjoyable, interesting or at the very least fills a few moments of your day with a good thought. And so it begins.

My husband Allan and I have renovated 6 old homes in our 43 years of married life (yep, still managed to stay married through it all) and are presently working on number 7, an old farmhouse west of New Glarus. I sit here tonight as I do lots of nights, thinking about what we have left to do. We began work here May 1 with a dumpster in the front yard. Allan and his buddy Dave (who is silly enough to hang around us and therefore keeps getting drug into these projects) filled the dumpster with old carpeting, tile ceilings, fake brick and all the items from a 1970ish renovation that needed to go. 

Over the last 6 months, we’ve refinished, revamped and refurbished much of the house. We are not people with unlimited resources, so of course part of all that is doing much of the work yourself. And when it’s finished, we will have the satisfaction of knowing that not only did we put in some new, we saved some old and in the process gave this soon to be charming farmhouse some heart and soul… k

January 14, 2015