Advice, Good and Otherwise

Several things were brought to my attention recently. In no meaningful order, we're famous (again), our fan was ravenous for a post, I would be well "rewarded" for painting our fireplace, but I would never ever be rewarded again if I didn't write a post.

AHEM. So, here I am. Let us proceed.

Firstly, Betsy Speert responded to Starr's plea for kitchen redecoration ideas on her blog. Her suggestion to do precisely what we'd already decided to do paint was carefully considered as we gazed upon our freshly painted kitchen walls. In spite of the fact that Starr insisted I'd never paint again after the last paint job, I'll give you three guesses who did the majority of this work. Since I paint even sloppier than I write, Starr has to inspect my work to find and correct any drips or streaks before things get too sticky.

Painted.

Painted. For the un-initiated, that phallic device is a Yonanas machine that
does indeed turn bananas into ice cream.

I took other pictures showing the whole friggin' thing, but the room was so insanely messy that I thought I might get punched in the teeth if I posted it on the web. Clean up? Not happening this late. Just know that there's no fake wood panel left unpainted in the kitchen!

The fireplace, on the other hand... it's a work in progress.

Okay, I lied about posting pictures of the whole mess.
I forgot to take a picture of the fireplace by itself.
Sorry, Starr!

The "bricks", as I'm certain Starr's already enlightened you, are actually tiles. Tiles. Tiles that are all textured to add to the authenticity, and thusly a severe pain in the wrist to paint, which makes it much more difficult to paint two days in a row. At least every fifth "brick" is a proper pain to properly paint. It'll be a while before I get to touch a boob again.

Finally. Here's a cat picture.

Don't be fooled by the innocent "Brrrrrrrt?" look. He's a very bad kitty.
He's also currently keeping my feet warm.

Blog Hop!

You might have noticed a new "follow" tool over on the right.  Well, the old tool won't work pretty soon for any wordpress blogs, and there's an unconfirmed (for now) rumor that the tool will disappear for blogger users, too, so we have a new way of staying connected!

I'll tell you that my experience with Linky Follower was initially a bit bumpy.  I hit a few bugs.  However, the designer Brent got back to me ASAP about my problem, and all was well soon enough.  So if you have an issue, email him directly! (I'll note that Ryan added himself as a follower and thought it was hilarious to use my photo, so it looks like I'm following my own blog...durrr)

There's a Blog Hop around the webs to get folks signed up for the tool, and I figure why not?  Thanks to It's So Very Cheri for posting excellent instructions on how to participate and hosting the party.

RULES:

1. YOU MUST HAVE THE LINKY FOLLOWERS TOOL ON YOUR SITE TO PARTICIPATE.

{You can have both the LINKY FOLLOWERS & GFC on your site but you must have the LINKY FOLLOWERS to participate in this party hop.}

2. YOU MUST FOLLOW THE PERSON WHO HAS THE PARTY ON THEIR SITE AS A THANK YOU.

3. JUST ADD YOUR BLOG BUTTON TO THE LINKY PARTY BELOW.

4.THEN GRAB THE BLOG HOP CODE

You will find the code right under the Linky Party where it says CLICK HERE TO ENTER–

just under that it says: WHAT IS A BLOG HOP? GET THE CODE HERE

Click on GET THE CODE HERE and enter it into a post on your site.

You can grab the party button code in the FOOTER at Its So Very Cheri

You can grab info from my post if it helps you with your post.

5. THEN YOU FOLLOW OTHER BLOGGERS–(AS MANY AS YOU WANT)
–LEAVE EACH ONE OF THE BLOGS THAT YOU FOLLOW A COMMENT LETTING THEM KNOW YOU ARE FOLLOWING THEM AND ASK THEM TO FOLLOW YOU BACK.

If you want to add the BLOG HOP to your own site you will get lots of new followers–(see rule #2)

Cake...in the Microwave!

We've already visited the bad day cure of from-scratch cooking.  Homemade chocolate cake works as well as a booboo kiss from mommy.  But what if you don't want to wait to bake a cake? What if mommy just isn't around?  Or what if you only have 2 tablespoons of cocoa?

You make a little cake in the microwave, of course!

Yes, m'loves, in the microwave.  Now, I know some of you don't own one.  You'll have to revert to some other method (I bet it would work over an open fire).  I mean, I considered getting rid of ours. We rarely use it.  I'm not sure, though, if I can say goodbye now.  I kind of love this quick fix.

Just so you know, it's not a full-on cake substitute.  You cannot serve this to your kid for his birthday.  It's not worthy of a cooking contest.  And I wouldn't serve this at your Michelin starred restaurant. I guess you could, but I wouldn't.  This cake is for those bad days when you need cake NOW.

Adapted from Mama's Minutia Blog.

1/4 c flour

1/4 c packed brown sugar

2 T cocoa

Dash of salt

2 T flavorless oil

2 T strong coffee, water, or milk

Mix up the dry ingredients.  Add the wet.  Pour half the batter into a ramekin, the other half into another.  Put one ramekin in the microwave for 30-60 seconds.  Plop ice cream (optional) onto the cake and eat that sucker.  Store the other ramekin in the fridge (cover with plastic wrap) or cook it and serve to your 4 year old.

So that's the basic recipe.  FYI: I do not own ramekins (hint, hint).  So I used these little bowls my mom bought for me last year.  I also did not have coffee made, so I used milk.  Finally, our microwave is terrible and requires extra cooking time. The cake needed the full 60 seconds.  A good microwave? I'd start with 30.

I made mine, ate it, and then later decided to blog about it.  Sorries, y'all. It was quite tasty and is very chocolate-y.  Katie loved it, too.

The cake won't bring about world peace, but it did me good tonight.

Shared this post at The Shabby Nest's Frugal Friday, Type A Decorating.

Design Dilemma

Y'all, I've asked Betsy Speert for some kitchen color advice.  She has a fun Tuesday special called "Oy Vey Q&A!" where folks write in for help.  I adore her blog because bottom line, she is damn funny.  So many blogs are way too serious, or filled with too many unnecessary and undeserved LOLZ.  Betsy deserves a good laugh.

I sent her waaaaay back to my kitchen post from July 2011.  Not much has changed since that time, mainly because we were thinking if we put off the work a little longer, it'd be easier to complete. We all know that is a lie.

Anyway, if Betsy helps me out,  I'll let you know!

Rubber Treasure

Tell me what you see.

Regular ol' citrus with a really random fake sunflower.

A messy and quite offensive kitchen.  

Garbage.

I see very different things. These aren't just citrus nothings.  They are honeybells!  The juiciest fruit out there. Google 'em and you might be able to still order a box--they are only found in January!

The kitchen?  That's a "before".  The paint starts tonight.

And the tire isn't a piece of trash.  I see a portable raised bed for the yard.  I thank my father-in-law Frank for such a great idea.  And to the fool who left it on the side of the road, thanks for being a litter bug.