Dining Room re-do update

Way back in August,  I started a re-do of this dining room.  Then in September,  I sewed up the new curtains and swapped around some furniture.   This weekend,  Jeff did this woodworking project of building a pair of shelves to hold his plate collection.

He stained the shelves to match the buffet table and the dining room chairs.  He worked hard and measured and measured again.  He was worried they would be crooked or off-center but I think all his efforts paid off, and he got them straight and even. 

His plates are the Professions, a line of plates put out by Royal Doulton. 

Jeff's grandmother had a huge plate collection.  A big wall in her farm house was covered with plates, many were gifts from friends and relatives.  She had a  lot of souvenier plates and state plates and holiday plates.  She let all the relatives pick out the ones they wanted  and she wrote their names on the back with permanent marker. 

I think Jeff picked out the classiest and most valuable of all the ones she had, at the time, he was just a kid and had no idea what they were, he just liked them. 
After he got them,  they pretty much went into a cabinet.  Years later,  we saw one of the plates on a British tv show called Bargain Hunt and Jeff started doing some online research on them.  He bought a few on Ebay and then we found 2 more at the Antique Mall in our town. 
This summer, he got the oldest and hardest to find one, The Bookworm, on Ebay and it completes the set.
I really like the plates on the shelves,  and how nice that they are mostly green and red and match my green yard sale table cloth and the vintage rose fabric I used on the curtains and stool!


the 93 was Grandmother Pearl's numbering system.  She had over 200 plates and Jeff's were 93 and 96.






















So making this room pretty again has taken awhile but I am really happy with it.  There is still one huge blank wall but I can live with it. 

This project really went with my Tightwad October theme too.  We did spend money on the wood, stain and hangers to make the shelves.  But everything else was just re-used and things that we already had.

I am linking this to Cottage Instincts Make it 4 Monday.  This is a wonderful blog with lots of links to other decorating projects. 

Nina's latest project

Nina came over yesterday and used the Cricut machine to make these cute labels for her canisters - if you want to read how she did them,  she posted more on her blog Love Sweet Love

Tightwad October - Day 7 - borrow if you can

I take care of my grandchildren some of the days that their parents work.  4 month old Elizabeth usually spends 3 days each week with me.
At her home home,  she has a swing that rocks side to side and she puts herself to sleep in it and takes long naps. 
Well,  the swing at my house just went back and forth and she would only sleep 10 or 15 minutes at time in it.  Elizabeth was not getting enough sleep at my house and we were both getting a little cranky. 
Nina mentioned this to some of her other new-mommy friends.  One of them has a daughter that is almost a year old and she had outgrown this pink swing that rocks side to side.  That mommy had her husband fetch it from the basement and even washed the cover so it would be fresh for Elizabeth.   Nina brought it over and set it up this morning and little Miss Elizabeth had a much better day today rocking side to side the way she is used to at her home. 

Babies, like most Americans,  seem to have so much stuff these days.  Especially if you are needing baby things or child things or most anything,  just spread the word among your friends that you are looking for it.
 I think the odds are pretty good that somebody else has one and would like to get rid of it. 

Even the side to side swing Elizabeth has at her home is borrowed from their next door neighbor.  

Tightwad October Day 6

this is pretty much a repeat of a post I did back in March.  Several of you asked about this recipe and I did not realize it was so long ago that I first posted it.  This is for sure a tightwad recipe,  it uses just regular ingredients that I think most cooks keep in their kitchen.  The actual work time to make this is just 15 minutes,  it does have to rise twice so you need to be home keeping an eye on it but not much effort at all.
I use this recipe for everyday bread loaves.  Sometimes I roll it out and cut it in circles for sandwich buns.  Tonight, we had some of these buns from the freezer.  I cooked small hamburger patties and we had sliders for supper. 

this is my grandparents at a picnic.  Grandma is the first woman in the left.  Grandpa is wearing a hat.  The 2 pretty women beside Grandpa are my Aunt Evelyn and Aunt Bernice.  Look at all the "real" dishes on this table.  They are even drinking from real glass tumblers! 

Grandpa's Bread


This is the recipe for my grandparents daily bread. Both Grandma and Grandpa were the best bakers and I learned how to make this bread from Grandpa.

It's just about the simplest bread recipe I've ever come across. And the best tasting. No fancy ingredients or equipment needed.

This bread is perfect for breakfast toast, sandwiches and just eating with any meal


Grandpa's Bread

2 cups warm water
1 package yeast - or a scant T of yeast
1 t salt
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup oil - can use melted butter but I usually use oil
about 6 cups of flour - I usually use white but can use a combination of whole wheat and white
dissolve the yeast and sugar in the warm water. Then stir in the salt, oil and most of the flour. Mix well, then knead until you have a smooth dough. My grandparents  kneaded it all by hand, I let my Kitchenaid mixer do most of the work

Let dough rise in an oiled bowl, covered with a clean kitchen towel, until at least double in size.

Punch down. Divide in 2. Shape into loaves and place in greased bread pans.

Let rise again, until at least double.

Bake at 375 for 35-45 minutes.

Edie posted here where she baked this recipe
and  Joyful blogged here where she baked it.
so if you are looking for a good basic old fashioned bread to bake,  you might want to try this one.  It is our favorite. 
And as I type this,  our son just got home from law school and is eating some of the leftover sliders on buns.  He looks pretty happy about it too. 

Tightwad October Day 5

Today's frugal doings - 5 pies for less than the cost of one frozen pie.

Jeff brought home a sack full of apples from a coworker several weeks ago. 
 So this morning while Gavin took a nap, I made pies.
I mixed up a double batch of never fail pie dough and lined 4 pans.
Then I peeled and sliced all the apples and mixed them with sugar and cinnamon.



 3 of the pans I used had a small rim and the whole pie fits perfectly into a gallon freezer bag.
Pan  #4 had a big rim and would not fit,  so I wrapped it in freezer paper and will bake it first.
I froze the pies unbaked.  I will leave them frozen and bake them  just like you would a frozen Mrs Smiths pie.

After I trimmed the 4 pies, I had a good size pile of dough trimmings left.  I also had some sliced apples left. 

I know all the TV cooking hosts say to never over work or reuse crust scraps because they will be tough,  well,  I broke that rule and used those scraps to make one more pie.  I baked it today and Gavin and I enjoyed some with our lunch.  That re-worked crust was flaky and tender and I am so glad I did not throw those scraps away.

Never Fail Pie Dough  (I doubled this recipe today)
4 cups all purpose flour
1 T sugar
2 t salt
1 1/3 shortening - I used regular Crisco, butter flavor would be good too
1/2 C water
1 T vinegar
1 egg
Mix together dry ingredients. Cut in shortening until it is fine crumbs.
Mix the water, vinegar and egg together.
Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients. Toss with a fork just until it is all mixed together.
Divide into 4 parts.
Shape into balls, then roll out on floured surface.
This will make 4 9 inch pie crusts, maybe 5.


This is what the sink looked like after lunch and pie making - I guess this is why some people don't cook much as they don't like to do the dishes. 
Actually, they only took about 5 minutes to wash up.