A visit with Santa...

Tonight we visited with Santa Claus at one of the local malls. Rylee was thrilled, to say the least! We intended to get his picture made, but the elves' were having trouble with their credit card machine (y'all know we didn't have cash). So, we were able to settle for cell phone pictures. I refuse to think about life without my phone. Either way, Alex didn't care so long as he had a chance to chat. Santa even helped him work on the proper way to laugh "Ho! Ho! Ho!"

A great way to top off such an evening was with a visit to one of the BBQ joints near the EE. Today was the first sign of a regular appetite since Rylee caught the crud last week and began taking an antibiotic containing a known allergen. So, when he asked for a big sandwich and fries, Ryan and I were happy to oblige. Considering he polished off all the fries and 3/4 of the sandwich, I feel certain a recovery is imminent.

The Christmas Train

Christmas trees need a train. I have no idea why, but they just seem to go togther. The EE is privilaged to have an especially significant train. Years ago, on Rylee's first Christmas, his beloved maternal grandparents deemed that their little man needed a train. Notice the word  NEED was used. They were serious about this gift. They were even brand specific; nothing less than a Lionel steam engine would do. With their gift in mind, Santa Claus left a holiday boxcar that Christmas and has continued to do so as the years pass. It looks like next year will require a track expansion as the engine and caboose are close to touching with our current setup!

Ryan made a video to share. The engine, tender & caboose are from the original set. There isn't room for the other cars that came with them! The Hogwarts Express is sitting on top of a table looking rather forlorn at the moment. Rylee has mentioned for the last year that he would like the Polar Express by Lionel. I'm not sure where we would put it. I have expressed a desire for tracks running around the living room suspended from the ceiling. Somehow that just hasn't happened.

We will need to update with a picture if Santa follows through with tradition and leaves the 2011 boxcar.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaB7Ft74Fco&feature=player_detailpage

Pumpkin Cheesecake Dip

Pumpkin is yummy beyond words. The EE kitchen uses this quintesential fall fruit in savory and sweet concoctions. The sweet dip we're featuring today surprises most people willing to give it a try. It has been described as both surprising and addictive. Pumpkin Cheesecake Dip is great on a buffet or as a special dessert treat.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Dip

16 oz cream cheese, softened
4 oz. unsalted butter, softened
15 oz. pumpkin puree
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup confectioner's sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon allspice

In an electric mixer, combine cream cheese, butter, and pumpkin until well blended.
On low speed add sugars, extract, and spices.
Place pumpkin dip in a covered container. Refrigerate until serving time.
Serve with cinnamon graham crackers or apple slices (lemon wash to prevent browning).

Victorian Pomander Hand Scrub

Earlier this week I posted a receipt for Gingerbread Hand Scrub in which I described my love of pampering hand treatments. The post for today includes a receipt  for one of the most popular scents here at the EE, Victorian Pomander. This fragrance is gentle yet vibrant with the spicy tang of cloves and sweet oranges. It evokes a warm feeling on a chilly winter solstice such as today!

Victorian Pomander Hand Scrub
1 cup Epsom salts
6 drops sweet orange essential oil
3 drops cinnamon leaf essential oil
3 drops clove bud essential oil
1/8 cup veggie oil

Blend ingredients well and store in a tightly lidded jar.
Gently scrub hands with 1 tablespoon of mixture and rinse under warm water.

Now go throw on a Yule log and enjoy Midwinter!

Verde Veggie Dip

Warm, cheesy, green veggie goodness. This dip is delicious served warm with crackers or crudite. It also proves vegetables can be bad for you under the right circumstances. But your tastebuds will thank you. Just ask the PMAHA board members. We enjoyed this and Chocolate Chip Cheeseball
at a recent meeting while the kids slogged away on the ice.

Verde Veggie Dip

8 oz. cream cheese, softened
4 oz. unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup grated Asiago cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon ranch dry mix
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1 can heart of palm, drained & diced
1 can artichokes, drained & diced
1/2 cup chicken broth
3 cups fresh baby spinach, washed, dried, & roughly chopped

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Combine all ingredients in an oven proof dish.
Bake for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.

Gingerbread Hand Scrub

The EE’s kitchen is filled with surprises. One never knows what to expect from day to day. Sweet or savory? Mundane or exotic? Recipe or creation? Something or nothing? Just teasing about that last one! One thing that seems inevitable is strong smelling ingredients refusing to budge from my hands. It’s a pet peeve. For example, I love eating garlic, but despise the smell of the raw stuff on my hands. Another inevitability with lots of cooking is lots of hand washing which leads to dry skin. This cycle resulted in the following receipt for Gingerbread Hand Scrub.

Gingerbread Hand Scrub

1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/8 cup veggie oil

Combine dry ingredients. Gently stir in vanilla and oil until well blended.
Store in a jar by the kitchen sink. When your hands need a pick me up, gently massage 1 tablespoon of Gingerbread Hand Scrub into your hands and rinse thoroughly under warm water. A gentle exfoliation, moisturizing, and a delicious scent… what more can a cook’s hands desire*?

*Trick question. Of course this cook’s hands would desire a lovely set of Wusthof knives…

Veggies for Breakfast? Spinach Egg Cups

Fruit seems like a no brainer for breakfast. Having some oatmeal this morning? Throw in some apples or raisins. Cereal? Throw in a sliced banana. Quiche? Melon wedges with that. Now mention a green vegetable in the context of breakfast and some folks might look at you funny. Eggs, one of the most versatile foods on the planet, love veggies. Omelets are the breakfast version of gumbo*, but sometimes you just lack the time or inclination to stand at the stove making individual omelets. My response? Egg Cups. Preheat your oven,  then grab a mixing bowl and a muffin tin. Food will be on the table in no time!

Spinach Egg Cups

6 eggs
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon mustard
1/2 cup grated Asiago cheese (or other crisp, pungent cheese)
1/2 cup fine bread crumbs
1 cup fresh baby spinach, washed, dried, & chopped
salt & pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Spray a 12 cup muffin tin with oil (even if a nonstick pan!).
In a bowl, whisk eggs, adding subsequent ingredients until well blended.
Pour egg mixture evenly into oiled muffin tin.
Bake 20+ minutes OR until golden and not to0 jiggly. Yes, jiggly is a technical term meaning cooked and set but not dry and hard.

Fresh herbs are a lovely addition to this dish. Thyme and Asiago cheese taste sublime.  Minced rosemary would be gorgeous if you threw in a few diced tomatoes. The possibilities are endless! While the egg cups are cooking, prepare some fruit and whole wheat toast or bagels. A menu like that is always welcome at the EE on a Sunday night when supper needs to go from none to done in 30 minutes after church!

* My personal creed is that gumbo should be prepared by looking through the refrigerator for everything needing to be used up and throwing it in the pot. I have been known to get a wicked thrill from serving up a pot of gumbo, then waiting to be asked “So, what’s in this?” <insert evil grin>

Menu Plan for December 11-17

Following a meal plan for the last few days has been such a good experience! The time needed upfront to shop the pantry/refrigerator and then shop according to a specific list is so worth it when meal time rolls around. Ryan and I have agreed that it is nice to avoid the "What do you want to eat?" discussion. That one line can suck the life out of the joy of cooking at the end of a busy day. It seems to spiral into a miasma of frustration every time, even though we should feel blessed to have a choice beyond stale bread and a cup of lukewarm water.

Our food waste is going down considerably, too. By this time next week, I hope to be starting fresh with a cleaned out kitchen (from pantry to cabinets and everywhere in between). I work better in an organized space but the last few months of surgery recoveries, etc. have taken a toll on organization. It feels so empowering to accomplish this task! So, here we go with the menu for the coming week:

Sunday, Dec. 11
Breakfast: cereal, whole milk
Dinner: steak salad (This is a toss-up considering our schedule between church services.)
Supper: spinach egg cups, toasted whole wheat bagels, mandarin oranges

Monday, Dec. 12
Breakfast: ambrosia
Dinner: warm couscous and herbed tomatoes
Supper: Italian flag soup (tortellini, sausage, spinach, white beans, tomatoes)

Tuesday, Dec 13
Breakfast: pumpkin raisin oatmeal
Dinner: pepperoni whole wheat tortilla pizzas
Supper: pan seared ham, corn fritters, salad

Wednesday, Dec. 14
Breakfast: bacon grits, apple
Dinner: peanut butter, local honey, whole wheat toast
Supper: pumpkin chili, cornbread muffins

Thursday, Dec. 15
Breakfast: cereal, whole milk, fruit
Dinner: grilled cheese sandwiches
Supper: Eggrolls, white rice

Friday, Dec. 16
Breakfast: pumpkin butter, whole wheat toast
Dinner: veggie plate
Supper: coconut shrimp, soba noodles, pineapple/peach/cilantro chutney

Saturday, Dec. 17
Breakfast: cereal, whole milk, fruit
Dinner: waffles, nutella, raspberries, maple syrup
Supper: thyme oil roasted chicken, black eye peas, rice trio, vinegar cabbage slaw

Snacks include raw veggies, yogurt, granola, crackers with a spread or cheese, and other things of that nature. Drink options include crisp, refreshing tap water, ice tea, hot tea (herbal & decaf), whole milk, cranberry juice, and unsweetened apple juice.

Have a blessed week! I hope to post a few easy breakfast recipes and some homemade scrub receipts this week. Be watching for a tweet on facebook when they are posted.

Menu Planning

The EE is undergoing a food revolution. The current state of the pantry proves this. It was needful. It was necessary. Hopefully, it will also be helpful! Now to be fair, we have been on the made-from-scratch bandwagon for a long time. Not to say packaged foods could never be found in our home, crackers and such abound! However, packaged meals generally had two things working against them: 1) too pricey for our modest budget, and back in the day, our budget was thinnnnn LOL 2) often contain ingredients a certain little guy couldn’t tolerate.
Fast forward a few years to a budget blessed with abundance and a little guy who isn’t so little anymore who has fewer food issues. Some of those packaged foods crept into the pantry. Then came the day of a brand name gelatin product containing copious amounts of Red Dye 40 and who knows what else. It confirmed a suspicion we wished to avoid. Rylee still can’t handle artificial products.
At the same time I had been making some substitutions in my eating to get healthy. Sounds good, right? In my zeal to do better, I pulled out some artificial sweetener for my tea and occasionally had diet soda. I was reminded rather forcefully that this has never been kind to me in the past. Yep, lethargy and headaches ensued; not precisely conducive to a healthier lifestyle.
So, where does all this leave the EE? Remember the comment about our pantry? I had an epiphany, obvious though it may seem, that we need to shift back to a natural diet and everything else will work itself out with discipline and forethought. For myself, I would rather have a small amount of real sugar or local honey in my morning tea than the fake, hard to pronounce stuff that makes me feel yucky. Rylee enjoys eating a variety of foods and truly understands some things are better left untouched because consequences can be painful (I could stand to learn from him!). Ryan will be the first to tell you a desk job and restaurant food are not the best combination, financially or health-wise. All of this and many other factors meant  frugality and ideology must find common ground.
Hence, a desire to post a weekly meal plan for the world to see. Not to say the world at large cares what we eat but it lends a moment of accountability for me to plan ahead; thus avoiding food waste, encouraging frugality, and not getting sucked into “What do you want for supper?” which invariably means takeout. It seems an obvious Step 2 to follow Step 1: The Great Pantry Purge.
Wednesday, Dec. 7
Breakfast: crispy rice cereal, whole milk, banana
Dinner: veggie plate
Supper: potato clam chowder and garlic cheese popovers
Thursday, Dec. 8
Breakfast: ambrosia
Dinner: fire roasted tomato & thyme soup with alphabet pasta
Supper: baked ham, rosemary & honey smashed sweet potatoes, green bean gratin
Friday, Dec. 9
Breakfast: cranberry pear compote and whole wheat toast
Dinner: tuna & rice
Supper: bean soup with ham hock, cornbread muffins
Saturday isn’t getting a plan because it won’t see us together much. The perfect day for grabbing whatever leftovers are in the refrigerator! The intent is to prepare supper for 4 to allow leftovers for Lee’s weekday work dinners (he much prefers it this way). I’m going to test publishing a menu on Saturday for the coming week to coincide with a jaunt to the grocery store for needed items.
Have a blessed day!

Peppermint Bath Salts

Scrumptious bath products are a vice for some of us here at the EE. Candy canes also hold a pretty good sway over two of us. With the air turning cool, yesterday seemed like a good time to throw together a treat for our poor skin. Peppermint Bath Salts were the order of the day!

This barely qualifies as a recipe, but here goes:

2 cups sea salt
16 drops peppermint essential oil
Jar(s) with a tight seal
Optional: red food coloring

In a bowl combine salt & essential oil, stirring gently for a few minutes. If you like, divide mixture in half. Tint one half with red food coloring, one drop at a time, being observant not to make the salt too wet in an attempt to add color. The red & natural salts can be swirled in the jar for a pretty look!

We chose to keep things natural and went sans food coloring. The scent of 1/3 cup of these salts poured under warm running water cannot be described! The sweet, invigorating aroma filled the room without being overpowering. My skin was left feeling soft and lightly scented. Enjoy this frugal, relaxing treat today!

Harvest Chili

Turkey & Chili Never Had It So Good

As the weather begins to turn crisp and cool,  nothing seems to sooth the soul quite like a tasty bowl of chili. This recipe was created on a whim after hearing relatives talk about all the pumpkin flavored dishes available at a fall festival in their area. We enjoyed it for supper one night, lunch the next day, and so on until nothing was left! Later that same week, I fixed it for a group of ladies from church who were visiting the Emporium for our monthly get together. It seemed to be a hit since more than one of the ladies came back for seconds. This recipe is incredibly simple to throw together in a crock pot or on the stove, so don’t be intimidated by the list of ingredients. Opening cans is the most difficult part of this recipe. Enjoy some yummy goodness today!

Harvest Chili

8 oz. ground turkey
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground pepper
1 teaspoon chili seasoning blend
½ teaspoon garam masala
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil

Combine these ingredients in a small bowl until well blended. In a sauté pan over medium heat, thoroughly cook this aggressively seasoned turkey mixture. This is the beginning of our flavor base!

Turn heat down to low and add the following to the pan:

29 oz. can pumpkin puree
6 oz. can tomato paste
4 oz. unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Blend these ingredients into the turkey mixture. Allow to cook for 5 minutes, stirring regularly to prevent scorching.

At this point the flavor base is ready to be transferred to a stock pot.

29 oz. can pinto beans, drained & rinsed
29 oz. can northern beans, drained & rinsed
14.5 oz. can fire roasted diced tomatoes
1 small onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tablespoons chili seasoning blend
2 teaspoons garam masala
5 cups water

Gently combine these ingredients with the flavor base and bring to a boil, stirring regularly to prevent scorching. Immediately reduce to a simmer and cook at least 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Before serving, adjust chili seasoning & salt to your family’s tastes.

In my humble opinion, Harvest Chili is best when prepared predominately in a slow cooker. At the point in the recipe where one transfers the flavor base to a stock pot, just throw the whole shebang in a crockpot, give it a good stir and forget about it until supper! A low setting is best as it avoids the omnipresent chili problem of scorching!

Click the link below to open a printable version of this recipe!

Harvest Chili PDF

Culinary 101 ~OR~ What to do after you get the water to boil…

 

The culinary arts can be very intimidating. There was a time when cooking from scratch was the only option. Nowadays, preparing a meal entirely from scratch seems more closely related to ancient alchemy than a daily occurrence. Yet more of us than ever yearn to return to such culinary habits for a myriad of reasons: frugality, health concerns, avoidance of preservatives & additives, etc..

It’s no secret that I adore food. Designing a menu. Finding just the right ingredients. Tweaking the recipes until they taste just right. Enjoying the end result along with my two favorite men, Lee & Alexander. Another thing I enjoy just as much as all of that is sharing the passion for good food with other people. For many years, that passion was assuaged as the owner and chef of a successful catering establishment.

Which leads us to my new endeavor as a chef: teaching private, in-home classes of two varieties, Culinary Creations & Just Desserts. 

Culinary Creations will allow up to 4 students to gather their groceries and perfect their culinary skills in a relaxed and enjoyable  environment. The best part is enjoying the tasty results with your friends during  the Q&A segment at the end of class!

Just Desserts will allow up to 6 students the opportunity to learn  how to prepare two tantalizing desserts: one traditional, generally following French patisserie, and another avant garde, a modern rendition of flavors and design.  The entire process, from measuring ingredients to preparing decorations, will be covered in this class.

The PDFs below contain more detailed information along with menu samples:

Culinary Creations

Just Desserts

To book your event or for more information, send an e-mail to dupreedb@gmail.com

Boutonnieres, Centerpieces & Swags… Oh, my!

My maid of honor went and grew up. I never really expected it to happen. It’s as if one day she was my adorable baby cousin and the next day she had grown into this extraordinarily strong, beautiful young woman. She caught the bouquet at our wedding more than a decade ago. Now I’m making her bridal bouquet.

The wedding is in a few months, but since we are using faux flowers I can get things done ahead of time. The stems are a diamond white with green blush. Along with the high end material and realistic design of the flowers, this makes for an incredibly life like floral arrangement.

First up is the prototype for the centerpieces. I’m not yet satisfied with the container as it is in this picture. However, I know what is needed to rectify the situation, so, no worries! The wedding color is either aqua or turquoise depending on what label you look at. The pot and stakes need to be a darker hue in order to match the actual color. The orchids are tied to the stems with iridescent turquoise ribbon. The arrangement is roughly 18” wide and 26” tall.  There are little turquoise glass drops scattered on top of the spring green moss. I’m totally in love with the orchid branches. They look divine in person!

Next are the boutonnieres. Photography is not in my skill set. Photographing boutonnieres is really beyond my skill set. Trust me that these are gorgeous! The groom’s is on the right and features a mini calla lily, 2 orchids, and buds. The bout on the left is the design for all the other gentlemen. Each design features a spray of clear crystals, a clear crystal pin and a hard knot turquoise ribbon with pinked ends. By the way, the bouts are sitting on a pile of the little turquoise glass drops used in the centerpieces.

This is the swag for the ceremony arch. It consists of a variety of greenery, calla lilies, mini calla lilies, hydrangea, spring green berries, diamond white berries, orchids, and 5 clear crystals dangling from ribbon. The placement of flowers is purposefully not symmetrical,which presents a special challenge to a perfectionist!  We are going for casual elegance befitting a garden wedding and to me that means a certain random, thrown together look. Of course, this random stuff takes longer to arrange than perfect symmetry. Go figure! I am reserving the right to wire some more clear crystals into the actual swag. Not sure as of yet…

What do y’all think? Feel free to leave a comment!

What do potatoes, garlic, bananas, and cranberries have in common?

Answer: Not much, unless you consider they were all in our supper last evening!

We had Corned Beef and Cabbage as the entrée, store bought rye bread, Potato Galette, and Banana Cranberry Sponge Cake. It is no surprise that we needed to be rolled the short distance from the dining table to the living room! Once we regained the ability to waddle walk, it was time to put up St. Patty’s decorations. We then returned to our food induced stupor.

Potato Galette

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

5 medium potatoes, washed, 1/8” slices, cover with ice water

4 cloves garlic, pressed or finely minced, set aside

salt, fresh ground black pepper, Parmesan cheese: to taste

In a cast iron skillet or oven safe sauté pan, warm:

3 Tablespoons unsalted butter

1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 Tablespoon milk

Pour butter mixture in a small bowl.

Use a pastry brush to spread remaining liquid around the sides and bottom of skillet/pan. Gently drain ice water from potatoes. You will now begin making even layers in the following order:

potatoes

butter mixture (apply with pastry brush)

garlic

salt & pepper

Parmesan cheese

Carefully cover skillet/pan with aluminum foil. Bake for 20 minutes. At that time, remove the foil and continue baking 15 minutes or until potatoes are fork tender and with crispy edges on top. Traditionally, a galette may be flipped over in the pan at the point in the cooking process where the foil is removed. This is to ensure the bottom is crispy just like the top. The advantage with cast iron is the galette is crispy all around!

Banana Cranberry Sponge Cake

Preheat oven to 325 degrees and grease a 9” x 12” cake pan.

Whisk together the following and set aside:

3 eggs

2 large bananas, mashed

2 Tablespoons milled flax seed

7 Tablespoons water

1/4 teaspoon  cinnamon

1 pinch ground all spice

1 tad poppy seed

1 tad ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon dry orange zest

1/2 cup dry cranberries

1 tad vanilla butternut Lorann oil

In a stand mixer, cream:

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

8 oz. butter flavored Crisco

Add egg/spice/etc. mixture to the creamed mixture and combine.

On low speed, add:

2 cups all purpose flour

Mix until flour is just combined. Pour into prepared cake pan.

Bake for 30 minutes then begin checking for doneness every few minutes thereafter. When it passes the toothpick test, remove from oven and allow to cool 10 minutes. Turn out the cake on a rack, then place back in cake pan, bottom side up. Once completely cooled, it can be frosted with cream cheese icing if desired.

We so desired. I can also attest to the fact this cake is good with a cup of coffee the next morning!

It’s beginning to feel a lot like St. Patty’s Day!

Embracing the slight breeze and partly cloudy sky outside the EE, we have thrown open the windows and embraced the coming spring. Yes, I realize that particular season is still a ways off, but given the winter we have endured, I’m willing to imbibe in this little self-delusion! That said, St. Patrick’s Day is the next holiday to light up the calendar. At least, it is the next one we decorate for around here! That activity shall commence today. Woohoo!

While perusing the contents of the galley, the idea of corned beef and cabbage occurred to me. Rylee was up for it and Ryan wasn’t around to throw in his opinion.   On the last grocery trip, we bought a pair of large, Angus beef roasts from the local club store. These sat patiently in the refrigerator for the last few days waiting for me to cut them down to meal size portions. I cut a long strip from one and it has now begun brining for supper. YUM! The other inspiration for supper was the partial head of cabbage in the crisper, begging to be used. Waste not, want not!
I’m also considering a recipe for a Potato Galette from Joy of Cooking (which is not my favorite cookbook for flavor, but a good jumping off point for recipes to tweak). First, I plan to leave the skin on the potatoes (well washed of course). Second, garlic cloves and a touch of milk will be involved. A bit of influence from a Gratin Dauphinois. Personally, I’m also experiencing a hankering for Monkey Bread.
So, drop by tomorrow for a pictorial recap of our day’s adventures! If the food turns out tasty, I’ll post a few recipes as well.

Hedwig is growing up!

The process of growing out a Maltese puppy’s hair is fraught with peril. Upon hearing this some of you may think I am exaggerating. If only I were a number of things would be different around the EE. I would spend a lot less time wrangling an energetic critter with doggie brushes, combs and grooming products. Ryan would not have needed to work a new line item into the family budget: Hedwig’s Grooming Expenses.

The easy out would be to shave most of Hedwig’s hair in a modified puppy cut for the rest of his life. We did that a few months ago because his first coat, as is often the case, was an absolute nightmare of matted, kinky hair. It was the right thing to do as now he is growing in thick, long hair destined to be a beautiful floor length coat. Today’s grooming session marked a first that is a big deal  to approximately 3 people on this planet: enough hair to make 2 topknots! They aren’t long enough to fold over and paper, but he is getting there!

Those are the chocolate chip eyes that melt our souls!

Rylee & the Tale of Patient Remodeling

Eight year old boys are rarely known for their patience. Thirty-three year old mothers aren’t either. In the case of his bathroom here at the EE, Rylee has shown quite a bit of that much sought after character trait. I’ve learned a bit more about perseverance. Ravenclaw’s Quidditch team isn’t exactly a theme that lends itself to buying décor off the shelf. We still have details to attend to, however it’s actually becoming recognizable at this point!

To begin with, the walls are a matte navy blue and the trim is off white. The bathroom is roughly 5’ x 9’ and painting it such a dark color seemed to fly in the face of conventional wisdom. In fact, the space feels bigger and more, well, for lack of a better term, lush. The contrast between the navy and the off white trim/ceiling is high impact. Then we get to the floor, which seals the deal. Rylee picked out the gorgeous glass tiles which sparkle with tones ranging from pale gold to copper to bronze. The lighting stunk for a good picture and the above photo does not do it justice! Ryan did an awesome job laying the tiles. I painted and made a mess as usual. So, the stage is set. Now on to the décor!


The clear shower curtain liner was a fortunate find at Old Time Pottery. The gold  circles being reminiscent of Quidditch hoops. The bronze panels and navy valance were sewn from heavy satin and are stationary. Lanterns are a must to get from the Quidditch Pitch to your common room after a long evening of practice, so the first of 2 is pictured here. It is actually hiding the bathroom spray. One of the players has left behind a jar of sweets from Honeydukes (gummy vitamins in a decorated Ball jar). Madam Pomfrey has sent along a tray of Pepperup Potion complete with doily and glass (mouthwash). The broom floating near the towel rack is soon to be christened with a name brand via Ryan's elegant script and a paint pen. The painting visible in the mirror is a close up of  a Quaffle set to score on goal. Perhaps the painting moves?


To the left of the sink features a reproduction clock I’ve had  for ages. Someone has flung their Hogwarts crest hat onto the top of the second lantern.  A golden snitch that failed to be put away is resting behind the soap dispenser. The glass cylinder holds jewels designating Rylee's house points ($1 Store vase, clear and sapphire floral arranging stones). Another as yet unnamed broom is flying overhead. The painting visible in the mirror is of the famous Golden Snitch.
Still to come are a jersey, a shadowbox filled with memorabilia from the Quidditch World Cup, and assorted whimsies!

P.S. Does anyone know where I can find a frugal eagle door knocker?

I love a theme…

even when it is just cleaning products!
Lavender is the flavor of the moment. I particularly like the lavender vanilla blend which mellows it out a bit. You see, this type of cleaning binge happens when your house has been undergoing a major purge for the last few weeks. It is amazing to be able to close closet doors without resorting to prayers of protection. Come on, be honest, you know the ones I’m talking about. Those moments where your shoulder is against the door and your are praying nothing heavy falls off a shelf and onto your head. It can’t be just us. Right?
*chirp*chirp*chirp*
I really despise those crickets sometimes.
Any-who, wish us fair fortune as we find the fun in passing on goodies with some life left in them and tossing the rest!
P.S. Yes, I did in fact coordinate my purchase of $1 microfiber cleaning cloths to the scent/color of the cleaning products. Told you I like themes! Poor Ryan lives with this every day, y’all.