Chickens - Show and Tell Friday

I have been re-doing our dining room, using mostly black and white, and also trying to use things we already had. I bought this corner shelf from Hobby Lobby and painted it black. The curtains were mostly made from fabric and supplies we already had too.

The picture above got me on the chicken idea. I got 2 framed prints at a church rummage sale, they were very nice quality but were silver and floral, very 1980's decor. So I found that French Country looking scrapbook paper in my craft room, covered the mats with one print and covered the center part with more paper with roosters on it. The frames were painted black.

So since I now had these 2 new chicken art pieces, I remembered I had some little glass chickens.
2 of them belonged to my grandmothers. 1 of them was a gift from son Jimmy.
I remembered this handmade wooden chicken bowl, a gift from my brother, Bert.

The bowl was handmade in Dequeen, Arkansas. It is all wood with chickens hand-drawn around the rim.
I had no idea I already had a chicken collection!

A Year of Savings - homebaked treats

http://www.xanga.com/pennyannpoundwise

It's been awhile since I did a year of savings post. So here goes.

I baked a batch of chocolate chip muffins today to have for dessert after the vegetable beef soup we had for supper.
I put enough of them for tonight and tomorrow in the cake dome that I usually keep on the counter.
I also packed some to put in the freezer for next week's brown bag lunches. I just put them in sandwich bags and they will be fine in the freezer for a short time. If I was going to freeze them longer, I would package them with more protection, either in freezer style bags or sealed in Tupperware.

The cost of flour, eggs, sugar, chocolate chips and butter have all increased but it is almost always still cheaper to bake at home than to buy already prepared treats.

Chocolate Chip Muffins
5 T melted butter
2/3 C sugar
1 t vanilla
1/4 t salt
1 C sour cream - I use low-fat sour cream
1 large egg
3/4 t baking soda
3/4 t baking powder
1 1/2 C flour
3/4 C mini chocolate chips (I only had regular chocolate chips so I chopped the regular ones with a hand chopper and I think I like them even better this way)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine butter, sugar, vanilla, salt, sour cream and egg. Stir well.
Stir in baking soda, baking powder and flour until well combined.
Stir in chocolate chips.
Fill paper lined or greased muffin cups 2/3 full.
Bake for 18-22 minutes or until done.
Makes 14-18 muffins.

Showing off my curves

Our home has 5 windows with curves of different types at the tops of them. The previous homeowners left their curtain rods all installed and they were installed covering up the top curves. I just used their rods where they put them. Privacy with any of these windows is not really an issue and since I am in trying to "cute-ify" parts of my home, showing off those window curves is at the top of my list.

Dining room window

Before

Dining room window
After

Most of this window covering was made from things I already had. The toile valance on top was previously used in a bedroom. I made the bottom leaf toile part from some fabric I got from my mom.
The ball trim was from a $1 a bag rummage sale and was avocado green, I thought it was 100% cotton so I dyed it with a box of Rit black dye and was very pleased with the results.
I only bought the off white muslin to line the long panels with and the dye to complete this project.
Because this window is right beside our front door, I think they needed to be lined so they don't look weird from the outside.

I've been busy this week working on other projects in this dining room and the living room - I will share them soon!

Menus for Week October 6

Monday
Pizza and salad

Tuesday
Black Bean Tamale Pie and Mexican Rice

Black Bean Tamale Pie Recipe added for LindaNuts request
1 can black beans rinsed and drained
1 can corn, drained
1 can tomatoes (I use Rotel brand)
1 cup salsa
12 corn tortillas
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
heat oven to 350.
grease a 7x11 or 13x9 baking dish. ( I usually use the 7X11 but it an odd size pan)
mix together beans, corn, tomatoes and salsa.
cover bottom of dish with 6 tortillas.
top with half of the bean mixture.
add another layer of 6 tortillas.
top with rest of bean of mixture.
Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes.
Remove foil, top with cheese and bake for 10 more minutes.

This slices like lasagna. I like to top mine with a little sour cream. It is
wonderful reheated for lunch the next day too.

Wednesday
Vegetable Beef Soup

Thursday
Black eye Peas with ham and rice, fried squash

Friday
Chili with baked potatoes

Saturday
Hamburgers or Ribs from the freezer

Sunday
Cornflake Chicken Strips

Friday show and tell -more laundry room fun

After I hung up the new clothespin bag in the laundry room, I decided to do a little more sprucing up in there. But this room is so tiny, there is not much that can or should be done in there.


This little house quilt was made by mother in 1994.
My aprons are hanging from a little shelf that I just painted red.
I keep laundry detergent in the Lance jar. Way back when I was young, the gas stations sold just a few snack items. Most of them had 4 of those Lance jars on a stand and they held peanut butter and cheese cracker snacks. My dad is sort of a junk collector and he got a set of these Lance jars, I guess from a gas station that was either updating or closing down. My parents still have the other 3.

When my children were young, we kept snacks like Little Debbies and yogurt covered raisins in the Lance jar.

I hope to get the other 3 jars if they ever downsize but for now I am very happy with my 1.

Click on the above link to see more Show and Tell Friday things hosted by Kelli.