Pot Bellied Stove / Water Cooler

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Replies

  • anewstart22
    anewstart22 Posts: 885 Member
    edited September 2015
    Good early afternoon, so glad to be awake now instead of 2:00 in the afternoon. Not much to do today, we'll go to dinner tonight at our favorite mexican food that's about 25 miles away. In my collection of silver pieces I found 6 knives that were needed to complete the knife portion of the twelve place setting. I still need to know how many spoons and forks of different kinds they have but haven't heard back yet. I know they have all the serving pieces except the sugar tongs but who uses square sugar chunks anymore anyway? Can you even buy those in the store, I don't know because I have never really been a sugar chunk kind of gal, lol.

    Edit: Yep, I guess you can still buy sugar cubes, I see they are sold at Walmart so I guess I must have just not paid any attention to them, lol.

    walmart.com/ip/17768249?reviews_limit=9&

    Arobed-Have a great trip and be safe out there. I love that rack a lot and when I showed hubby he said, "yeah" with a head nod, lol. I thought to myself, glad you like it because I already decided what I was going to do with it. :)

    Sannferris-Oh boy it looks like John is loving it. Maybe you can empty it all out one day and tell him "sorry, I didn't mean to do that" so he can do it all over again. He'd probably forget he did it he first time.

    Have a good day all!

  • anewstart22
    anewstart22 Posts: 885 Member
    Hahaha, I am still a-w-a-a-a-k-e, ugh!

    Good early morning everyone, I have been busy planning out the actual interior design like shelves and drawers of my new island and the little coffee bar cabinet. While doing this I am planning out my paint and I happened upon this awesome paint selector. I have lots of mistake paints I bought at Lowe's when they made a mistake and someone didn't like the color or they didn't match. I found all kinds of colors I can make with them so I am super excited to see how it works out.

    Here is the color selector, it's lots of fun to play with colors to see what you can come up with.

    trycolors.com/

    I hope everyone has a fantastic holiday weekend!
  • mygnsac
    mygnsac Posts: 13,413 Member
    Anew, I'm awake with you!

    Hi everyone. I'm trying to stay off the keyboard to let this stupid finger of mine heal. I went to the Med 7 clinic earlier today (I guess that's yesterday now). They took some x-rays and confirmed it's not broken. Looks like it's a pinched nerve. Will probably take a couple weeks to heal. Just need to keep it iced and avoid using it as much as possible. Why couldn't it have been the finger on the left hand?! I have this little slip on blue ice finger sleeve that is perfect for icing a finger. Found it at Rite Aid the other day.

    I'm going to do my best this weekend to not use my right hand, but it sure is hard. My instinct is to reach for things with it. I decided not to get a watermelon this week because theres just no way I can cut up a melon right now. Hopefully I can get one next week. They're not going to be around much longer.

    Dad and I went out to The Old Spaghetti Factory for dinner last night. We both thought it was Saturday and couldnt figure out why there was so much traffic on the roads, then realized it was rush hour on Friday! I swear, when I retire I'm going to get my days mixed up all the time! I had my usual chicken marsala, with lots leftover. He offered to cut up my chicken for me. Ha! Here's a pic of the leftovers I just had as my wierd early morning breakfast. Had that with a yummy gala apple.

    3od5v4xpjwes.jpg

    Here's a rare pic of Simon and Cisco near each other. Most likely it was just Simon irritated at that dog for being in his chair.

    ra2lup2vgfxp.jpg

    Sheryl, good to hear from you again. Love the pics. Lots of busy work for John. Love the back story on how you got your first llamas.

    Hey to Deb, Isabella, Jannie, and anyone else out there. Have a great weekend everyone.
  • anewstart22
    anewstart22 Posts: 885 Member
    edited September 2015
    Mygnsac-I hope your finger heals quickly. We went to dinner last night and some friends said it would be too busy because of the holiday so they didn't want to go. I protested and said no, not usually even on a Friday night and sure enough that place was half empty the entire time we were there, lol.

    They didn't come either but the promises of getting older because you don't want to drive anywhere when you are is something I don't want happening anytime soon and that is the problem with my friends, they are just much older than us, lol. I love them dearly though! I don't look forward to staying home anymore than I already do, HA!

    I just pulled out some eggs and leftover Italian bread and am trying to figure out how I can make some pumpkin french toast. I figure I'd like some pumpkin and the can is just staring at me, lol.


    So in my search for a recipe I found this one. I have half the bread from a french loaf and I will double the recipe for the pumpkin and eggs so it will be more eggy, fluffy and have more pumpkin in it resulting in less carbs. This ought to be good, lol. I feel punchy this morning.

    twopeasandtheirpod.com/baked-pumpkin-french-toast/



    Just in time to edit and tell you all what I did!

    Okay so I used the first items below and now the oven is preheating. I made a very thick custard that will probably cook up like a pie with bread mixed inside and I can't wait to try it. I used the wisk I mixed with to make sure all the bread was surrounded in the mixture, covered the pans and am waiting on the oven at 350 degrees preheating. I might make the Streusel Topping but I don't know, I think maple syrup will be plenty sweet enough. I'll ask hubby what he wants if he wakes up before it goes in the oven. I had only taken a small pan out and had already buttered it and had the bread in it when I realized it was way too small for what I was doing, lol. So, I added another pan but smaller and I'll probably just pop it in the freezer or something. If I make the Streusel I will probably only make the one recipe below for it and not double it. I just don't like that much sugar.

    So, this is my version!

    1/2 a french bread loaf
    7 eggs
    3 1/2 cups 2% milk
    1 whole can of pumpkin puree, the big one, lol.
    3/4 cups granulated sugar
    4 tablespoons vanilla extract
    1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
    1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

    Streusel Topping:
    1/2 cup all-purpose flour
    1/2 cup brown sugar
    1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
    1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
    1/4 teaspoon salt
    1/2 cup cold butter, cut into pieces

  • mygnsac
    mygnsac Posts: 13,413 Member
    I don't blame you Anew. We have to get out of the house sometimes! The restaurant we went to was packed to the gills. Unusual for a Friday at 4:30 pm. We had to wait about 20 minutes to be seated. We thought about going somewhere else, but stuck it out. I wanted my chicken marsala! Ha!
  • anewstart22
    anewstart22 Posts: 885 Member
    edited September 2015
    Yep, I wanted my shrimp quesadilla, lol. Had to have it cause I only get it about 5 times a year!

    Hubby just woke up and scared me to death since I was standing in the kitchen with my back to him, lol.

    Oh and Mygnsac, that Chicken Marsala looks so GOOD!
  • sannferris
    sannferris Posts: 1,432 Member
    Good Morning. John's in the shower and we're getting an early start on another "adventure". Driving down to Salem (about 50 miles south) to watch a Fast Pitch Softball Tournament. My sister has a new man in her life. Many of you know that she has been widowed for nine years. Tough times at first, then she was happy on her own, but this last year she started dating again. Most men her age (65) are disabled and moving slow and absolutely can't keep up with her. She is so active, you'd think she was still in her 20's. Anyway, she hit the jackpot with Simon, 68, retired railroad engineer and trying to keep up with Norma's pace as best he can. Doing a pretty good job of it, he's pitching in this tournament and we'll go watch. After the end of the games tomorrow, they will be coming up to stay with us for the holiday. Plan to take them on the Columbia River Gorge Scenic Highway drive...Vista Point and Multnomah Falls on Monday. Will probably be crowded with people, being the holiday, but it's so beautiful, I want to show it off. Simon has never been to this part of the country before.

    Yesterday, my blood numbers came back perfect...staying on the same dosage of warfarin. I go back on September 23rd for full blood work and see the doctor for a 2 month follow-up. I'll be glad when my follow-ups are further apart, these appointments have been going the same way for quite a while - good blood work, feeling fine and getting stronger, come back in 2 months.

    My computer is not showing your photos, Marcie. I am imagining your chicken marsala, yum, and Simon giving Cisco the "evil eye". Probably, after I close this and come back tonight or tomorrow, they will appear. That's what my photos finally did.

    I was able to sleep well last night or I would have joined you two in your late night chat.

    Better go, almost time for my shower.
  • sannferris
    sannferris Posts: 1,432 Member
    Ha ha ha, yes, I better get into the shower FIRST...I just realized that John went back to bed.
  • mygnsac
    mygnsac Posts: 13,413 Member
    Tried a new cafe called "Love At First Bite." I got their house cheese burger with fries. Really messy, but really good. Now my shirt needs to be soaked and washed. I dribbled all over myself. I managed to inhale a little over half that burger.

    o430oe09ecpw.jpg

    While I was there I ordered to go a quinoa kale patty to go. I was curious about it. Really good. Would be good as a hashbrown substitute for a breakfast meal. Dad just scrunched his nose up at it. The owner at the cafe was talking to me about their menu and said they had a really good french toast that they soak in a custurd before cooking it up and top with berries and whipped cream. I told her I'm a stickler for french toast and it should only be soaked in eggs and milk and should only be topped with maple syrup. Ha!

    Anew, I love quesadillas, but no shrimp evahhhh. Ha!

    Sheryl, I hope your computer problem gets resolved!


  • isyvanek
    isyvanek Posts: 1,039 Member
    edited September 2015
    Hi all, it's been a busy couple of days! I took Friday off so I can enjoy a 4 day weekend. Yesterday Dan and I met an old friend for lunch at a new restaurant we wanted to try. Dan had the 1/2 lb burger and I had the French dip. We sat and chatted for 2 1/2 hours! It was nice to get caught up. Then we stopped at Grocery Outlet and got a few things. I got some organic spinach for $4.99 and Dan got a metal rake for $5. Great deals! We later enjoyed a really nice spinach kitchen sink salad for dinner. We sat and watched a Marx Brothers movie called Animal Crakers we had recorded. Very zany - or maybe I should say manic. :)

    Today a co-worker friend and I went to the farmer's market in Little Italy in downtown San Diego. We had a really nice time together. I got some nice local honey, some zucchini, some green beans and some locally caught tuna that was just caught this morning. It was a little pricey but WELL worth it since it was that fresh. We'll have it for dinner tonight. Then we stopped at a taco shop that has been in business for 75 yrs and got machaca burritos. We each ate half and brought the other half home. I really enjoyed our time together.

    Our free concert was moved up a weekend so we went today. In honor of labor day they did "labor type songs" such as Woody Guthrie songs, etc. They had several different performers and played longer than usual. It was a great audience, we all sang along and we had a great time!

    Debora, the wall is finally done. Dan did a great job. Now he is working on putting the landscape back together. Back breaking work but it's keeping him busy. Sounds like your family weekend is going to be really nice. Look forward to hearing all about it.

    Anew, sorry to hear that you're not sleeping again. Hope that gets better. John Wayne movies were before my time also but as kids we used to watch the re-runs on TV. Your wasp situation sounds awful. I hate wasps. We used to have a lot of them around our house growing up. You sure are finding a lot of neat things for your coffee corner. The spoon rest looks great and I really like the hanging rack you found. That will be perfect. I hope they have it when you are ready to buy. I kinda know what you mean about creepy. I got creeped out the other day when I received a friend request from my brother on facebook. I accepted and they showed me a long list of other people I may want to friend and they listed people from many different areas of my life that I would never have imagined they would have linked me to - especially since I don't even really post on facebook except to comment on other people's posts. Any and every data base that I may be in seems to be linked to facebook. Even the woman who owns my curves gym was listed as a possible friend.

    Marcie, The quiet man is another of the John Wayne movies that we recorded. Maybe we'll watch it tonight. I like his older stuff the most. I don't remember seeing any detective movies with him in them. Hope your finger gets better soon. Sounds like you found a great ice pack for it. That burger picture looks great. Sounds like an interesting restaurant. Would you go back?

    Sheryl, so nice to have you home again! Glad it was a good trip even tho John had some anxious times. I know what you mean about your love for cruise control. I use it whenever possible. Love the pics of John sorting the brass fittings. What other treasures did he come home with? The before and after pictures really get the point across. The patio especially made a huge difference. Loved seeing your feets in the cement. :) I bet the house sells quickly. Tuna in mac salad sounds really good. I'm going to have to try that. Glad you had another good check up. Hopefully they'll go to every 3 months at least.

    We don't have much else planned for the holiday weekend. I'll buy some Applegate farms no nitrate hot dogs for dinner for Monday and treat us to some potato chips. I'll also make my quinoa, artichoke, cheese and egg casserole tomorrow so we can have leftovers during the week. Otherwise it's going to be R & R. Well, maybe I'll force myself to clean something.

    I've rambled on long enough so I'll say ta-ta for now and try to check in tomorrow or Monday.
  • anewstart22
    anewstart22 Posts: 885 Member
    edited September 2015
    Hi everyone, I got about 5 hours sleep today and that's about all I will get. We just got back from Lowe's to buy some things needed to complete the building of the island and little cabinet. I got three small sample paints of Valspar Latex water based without any additives to make my chalk paint with. If I need more I can get another sample to match so I am happy with that.

    One quart of chalk paint by Valspar is $29.99 at Lowe's (lots of leftovers though) and then you have the $16.00 each for one half quart of regular wax and wax with stain in it to make things look old (also lots of leftovers with those). I bought all the paint supplies needed including my three sample colors for less than the cost of one single color of chalk paint. I would have had to buy two quarts of chalk paint to get three colors, one eggshell white or cottage white and one dark grey that I could mix with some white to get my light grey I am using. Instead I bought three sample products all three colors I wanted for less than $12.00 total. There is probably 1/2 quart of paint in there total.

    Amazing how much money you can save if you do it all yourself and I have been doing all kinds of research on that too. Here is the website that has brought it all home for me

    salvagedinspirations.com/best-homemade-chalk-paint-recipes/comment-page-15/#comment-12761

    I bought the Calcium Carbonate by the NOW product line that is food grade to make my chalk paint. My husband doesn't understand what I am talking about and he is giving some resistance but I told him he will understand when it is all finished. Lol, perfection is in his mind when it comes to woodworking and he wants to sand everything totally smooth, I have to keep explaining to him this is not perfection, lol. I can't help but laugh because he just doesn't understand. I can't wait to see the look on his face when he sees it all done!

    I do still need the wax paste in clear (minwax) for about $7.00 but they didn't have it here at Lowe's so I might just finish off with a polyurethane finish instead of the wax that way I don't have to go to big town to get it. I am keeping a cost log to find out what the actual cost of these things will be in the end. It won't include anything except the cost of the island and the coffee bar cabinet so I can compare them so something pre-made on the market.

    At this point we have a total of $259.11, including the screws we have here and the plywood we have here from the last project. That means I get a kitchen island with a sliding drawer and a coffee bar with a pull out drawer and two sliding shelves. All are on high quality kitchen slides purchased at the cabinet company. The island also has four swivel casters of high quality and we still need the butcher block tops but that should be it. Those are around $300 or so between the two and I will have a separate butcher block I will actually use from the leftovers.

    So, that makes the project to be cost projected at around $559.11 for two high end cabinets. Yay!

    I have a cottage white which is kind of creamy, light grey and dark grey. The dark grey will go on the outside, the light grey will be the inside walls and the white will cover the top shelf. We already have stain so it's available for the bottom shelf along with the polyurethane. This is exciting. I think we have all the wood we need to finish for the drawer bottom, bottom shelf and the upper shelf of the island. I might need more to complete the little cabinet but we were holding off to see what it will take. Oh yeah, we also have some plywood here leftover from our sliding drawer kitchen project to use so that saved us some money too! I love it when I can use products like that again and again. Unfortunately a lot of my paints I had on hand have a combined acrylic and latex or ultra protection or primer in them so I couldn't use them for the chalk paint. I have another project for that anyway and had planned to use the colors on my back patio but the weather is definitely in the way for that right now.

    The french toast came out well but it was definitely much more like pumpkin bread pudding and tender as all get out. I would add more seasoning the next time, my husband didn't taste enough of it and it took at least 1.5 hours in 350 degree oven to bake. It came out so good though and was not bogged down in too much bread, what a winner!

    Mygnsac, The quinoa kale patty and burger sure sound good.


    Isyvanek, Good to hear the wall is done, Yay! I am on Pinterest but I have it totally locked down because it seemed everywhere I went it followed me so I went into settings and locked it down for privacy. It is sad we can't have privacy and of course they say, "well you are on the net or you are out in public". I say to that bahumbug. If I am not out there making a mockery of myself and causing myself to have attention then I deserve some privacy but others don't see it that way, lol.

    Have a great night everyone!







  • isyvanek
    isyvanek Posts: 1,039 Member
    Anew, your project is really coming along! Great research on making your own chalk paint. You are so good at DIY! I used to tease my friend Jami that if you look up DIY in the dictionary her picture would be in there but I think you have now taken over that position! :) What a great way to get what you want at a fraction of the cost. My hubby and I are not very adept at those things.

    I totally agree with you on the privacy thing. I'm not very tech savvy but as far as I can tell I have all my facebook privacy settings as locked down as they can be.
  • anewstart22
    anewstart22 Posts: 885 Member
    edited September 2015
    Hi everyone, I got some sleep today so I am rearing to go. Hubby was working outside on the RV to make it ready for it's trip to the inspection station and discovered two more wasp nests under the RV. He said they were small enough he could handle them himself and he watched the ones that got away come back and try to find a new spot. I think we'll battle this for a long time I guess it's a huge problem out here this year.

    Isyvanek, I am so excited about the project but it will take a couple months to really finish it though. Piece meal is what I call it, lol. Thanks for the positive thoughts but I can't take that position in the dictionary because there are many out there online who I get my inspiration from, lol.

    Hubby asked how big my drawer needed to be in the coffee bar and I told him how I wanted it to go. he told me I was cram packing it, lol. I told him, "well yes, that is the point, live big in a tiny cabinet". He told me this was taking too much time to plan and I told him it has to be planned out, if not it won't fit all the coffee and hot drink related stuff I want out of the kitchen so I have the space there.

    He rolled his eyes, lol. Hey, the wall is only 24" wide and I am getting my 4' counter space back, I want it, it's all mine, lol.
  • jlhawki
    jlhawki Posts: 225 Member
    So this is a big step for me, I picked a real paint color instead of beige! What do you think?
    40s180xdhcn0.jpg

    Not sure if I 'like' it but it is growing on me :)

    Been so busy with getting the floor grouted and the ceiling and walls painted that I had 23 new PB/WC items to read! I got through them and everyone is SO busy! Hope you all enjoy the extra day off tomorrow--I am glad to have an extra day to finish the painting. Cabinets come this Thursday :):):)

    Anew-- love your DIY skills and hints. The chalk paint sounds like a lot of trouble but I'm sure will look fantastic when it's done! 4 inches is a big deal (anyone with a small house would agree!)

    Marcie-- sorry to hear about your finger. Hope the nerve plumps up soon and lets the pain lessen! We have an Old Spaghetti Factory here but I haven't been to it in 30 years! Your food looked great :)

    Aero-- enjoy your vacation! Am looking forward to the details when you are back.

    Sheryl-- glad you are back and love the fact that your dad still had your foot prints from '57. You and Norma got a lot done! Enjoy your sister's visit :)

    Ivanek-- glad the wall is finished! I'd love to see a pic once it's all put back together. $4.99 for baby spinach seems high to me. I got a bag for $1.99 here. Labor day songs sound interesting, I would never think to use that as a theme ;)

    Happy Labor day all!



  • anewstart22
    anewstart22 Posts: 885 Member
    edited September 2015
    Jlhawki-I love your wall color, it's all in combining other colors to pop against the grey that will make sense later on. I love your floor grout being darker, it will be so much easier to keep clean too!
  • isyvanek
    isyvanek Posts: 1,039 Member
    Jannie, love the grout used on your floor. It really accents the tiles. Is the wall color a light gray? It seems to pick up one of the colors in the tile quite nicely. Let me see if I can figure out how to post a picture or two of the wall.sls4ek00jtig.jpg
    dkc0qxncp60n.jpg
    jkwtbynvet2k.jpg
    They didn't post in the order I wanted them to for some reason. The last pic is our house before all the trouble began. The first pic is the collapsed wall. The middle pic is the new wall before it was painted. I'll have to find what hubby did with the pic of the completed painted wall and post it later.


  • anewstart22
    anewstart22 Posts: 885 Member
    edited September 2015
    Wow, the wall even though not painted looks great and I am sure glad there were no injuries because of it falling. Did you ever find out what caused the wall to fall down?

    Beautiful home too!
  • sannferris
    sannferris Posts: 1,432 Member
    edited September 2015
    Good Morning. This will be short because I need to get in the shower before everyone else gets up and wants a shower. My sister and her "boyfriend" are here. Strange to call a 68 year old man a "boyfriend" but I can't come up with a better word. They are more than just friends, but not too serious yet. I had to clear out all my clutter from the extra spare bedroom and put the air bed in there so they would each have a room.
    We had a good time at the soft-ball tournament. Unfortunately, Simon's team did not make it into the finals. I had misunderstood, I thought he was still pitching, but he doesn't play anymore, he is now a sponsor and just supports the team. There was a wide age range of guys playing, from college age all the way up into their 50's.
    Today, I hope we will drive through the Columbia River Gorge, but the scenery might be obscured by fog and rain. Four days ago, it was forecast to be sunny and in the 80's. Not so, it's been rainy and in the 60's...my sister is NOT happy!! She thrives on the sun and heat.

    Isabella, John also brought home a battery charger, several small multi-meters, a generator that converts 12 volt to 110, I think it must be for camping when your car is the only source of power. We don't do camping, but John couldn't part with a generator of any kind, you never know when you need power and the car is always there?!?!?!
    Lots of drill bits and a drill motor. And, an old ratchet and socket set that belonged to my grandfather. We brought home the big picture (with a clock in it) that hung over the fireplace mantle. I have no idea where to hang it here, but we both like the picture. Two big boxes of books, John took all the motor manuals from the garage and I took my Dad's study Bible and some song books from the house.

    All of you are doing fantastic jobs on your various projects. I love all the photos.
  • isyvanek
    isyvanek Posts: 1,039 Member
    Thanks for the complements Anew! The wall fell because although the wall was still sturdy the large wood beams (picture railroad ties) holding it up rotted from being in the ground for so long.

    Sheryl, sounds like all good stuff to take for the most part! :) What an honor to have your dad's study bible! Nice to have your sister visiting. Hope the clouds clear up a bit for that beautiful drive!

    I'm going to go make breakfast now. Be back later.
  • isyvanek
    isyvanek Posts: 1,039 Member
    Hi all, we had 2 eggs over easy, 1 slice of uncured ham, and Trader Joe's multigrain toast for breakfast. It was yummy! We are being very lazy/loungy today. I sat outside and read until it finally got too hot - 96 degrees - and I had to come back in. This is kinda annoying since earlier in the week they said it was supposed to cool down a bit. Just read an article in consumer reports on the evils of "conventional" beef. We don't eat beef often and when we do we only eat grass fed or organic and have for some time but this really solidified my conviction to do so.

    Hubby just showed me where the pictures of the completely finished wall are (after he finished painting it) so I will post it here now. Then I promise not to mention it again! :smiley:

    xd2fcqonwxb2.jpg
    2fwparov331u.jpg

    OK, I'm going back to my reading. Have a great rest of your week everyone!