A little paint

Sometimes a little paint can do a world of wonders. I rescued this cabinet from my mother's back hallway a few months ago. This is quite a color, isn't it? It's a cross between pink and peach and dare I say...UGLY!
This thing has taken a beating over time.
Would you look at that, the back was never even painted!! Oh the disgrace!
I really love the mark left by an iron on the top, don't you? It lends a certain elegance...a certain grace...a certain je ne sais quoi...no? :) It's a shame I had to paint over it.
I finally got myself in gear and gave it a little paint. Or love. Or both. This is how she looks now.
I don't think she'll win any awards but you have to admit she's come a long way. Now, if I could only decide where to put her. You see, she's a little too large for the spot she was intended for. This kind of thing always happens to me. Oh well. I am sharing my cabinet for Met Monday over at Between Naps on the Porch. Go on over and take a look at what other transformations fellow bloggers have created. I'm sure you won't be disappointed. Have a wonderful week friends!

Walnut Banana Cupcakes

(Hmmm....my last post was titled cupcakes that won't make you fat, maybe this post should be titled cupcakes that will make you fat!)

I made these delicious little cupcakes before the holidays. Oh they were so good! I believe the recipe came from an old Taste of Home magazine. Here it is:

Walnut Banana Cupcakes
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup mashed ripe banana
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sour cream
In a small mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add banana and vanilla; mix well. Combine the flour, baking soda, nutmeg and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with sour cream.
Fill paper-lined muffin cups half full. Bake at 350 degrees for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to wire rack to cool completely.

Cream Cheese Frosting
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
3 tablespoons chopped walnuts
To make frosting, in a small mixing bowl, combine cream cheese and vanilla. Gradually beat in confectioners' sugar. Frost cooled cupcakes; sprinkle with walnuts. Store in refrigerator. Makes 1 dozen.
Now enjoy!

Cupcakes that won't make you fat

I ordered thees adorable little cupcakes from Jenny's Bake Shop at etsy. How cute are they? I ordered them in September but because they were so backed up with orders, I didn't receive them until late November. (Actually I only ordered the one with chocolate frosting, the other was a freebie because of the excessive wait. How generous, huh?) Anyway, by the time I received them, I was all decorated for Christmas, so I put the cupcakes aside and decided to display them after the holidays. I just remembered them last week. I still haven't hung them up yet, but I had to share because I love them. Because of the wait, they also sent me this print as a freebie: The wait may have been long, but they certainly did compensate for that. So, if you don't mind the wait, Jenny's Bake Shop at esty is the place to go for adorable confections such as these. If I had more wall space in my kitchen, I think I'd buy one of everything!

The gym is open!

Hmmm...I wonder if that title is misleading? I don't actually mean the gym, I mean my dining room. I believe I mentioned a few posts ago about having our hardwoods in the dining room and front entryway refinished. Well, they are finally done and I must say they did a bea-U-tiful job! Here's what we were looking at before:

Pretty bad huh? We pulled up the rug last year and have been looking at that mess for months and months. (I guess it's to be expected, after all, they are the original floors and the house is 77 years old, but ugh!) So after day 1, the floors were completely sanded and looked like this:
I gotta tell ya, this was such a complete difference and such a sight for sore eyes, I honestly wanted to tell the guy to just polyurethane them and forget about the stain! (However, I knew it wouldn't match the hardwoods in the rest of the house, so I quickly came to my senses.) Just a side note: The two men who worked on the floors thought the wood was in beautiful condition for it's age. Who would have thought? After day 2,3 and 4, they were finally done and now look like this:
Is that some improvement or what? It reminds me of a gym floor. Now we couldn't put the furniture back until 72 hours later (which was today) so this project really did take a week from start to finish. I couldn't wait to get my furniture back in. We lost 3 rooms of the house while this was going on (the family room filled with all the furniture, the dining room itself and the living room to the right of the dining room because we couldn't walk on the floors) We were down to just 3 rooms in our downstairs and I felt like I was living in a cage!
But now they are done, I LOVE them and it was worth the torture of being confined. And let's not forget the smell. Oh, that was bad! Nothing like wanting to open windows when it's 15 degrees outside! I never thought I'd have a project done this quickly in the new year. I decided to participate in Met Monday over at Between Naps on the Porch, so I have linked this there. Have a great day everyone and thank you for visiting! (Oh and just an update from my last post: I'm down 6 pounds!)

Surviving Day 1

Here it is, day 1 of the BIG DIET and why am I posting a picture of chocolate pistachio nut biscotti? Because that's just how I roll! Or maybe I'm a little demented? Ok, ok, I made the biscotti yesterday as a "farewell" treat...as in "farewell to eating" anything remotely delicious for awhile.
Several years ago, I did a low carb diet and lost a good 44 pounds. However, because I did not continue to live this "lifestyle," I have gained a good portion of it back. So here I am, chubby as all heck and ready to begin, yet again. It is 7:16 pm and I have made it through this day with willpower. I even visited my treadmill today and enjoyed it. Did I just say enjoyed? Who would have thought?
I'm posting all of this so that when a day comes when there is no willpower(tomorrow? LOL) I can look back, read this and be refocused. Sounds like a plan, right?
If you are dieting and have survived Day 1, (or maybe for some of you this is Day 4) congratulations & keep up the good work! I plan to go to bed early tonight, lest those Pop Tarts in the cupboard start singing a torch song to me. LOL (Did you ever notice when you're dieting, the things you'd never even think of eating in a regular day, start looking really appetizing? Like those darn Pop Tarts in my cupboard!)