While doing a bit of bird photography in our backyard, I had to take a snapshot of our swing that we bought for the cabin a few years back. The day we put the swing on it's frame will be the day that we'll be completely finished remodeling our house. For now, it sits up on cinder blocks waiting, just like us...waiting.
We've been at a standstill doing the tiling in GB #1. We had to lay it out in sections due to continuing the hallway from GB #2 to GB #1. We had to work our way into the room instead of being able to work our way out of the room. This took several days waiting for each section to cure so we could move on to the next section. Meanwhile...
Erika is suppose to be here on Monday. It's only Friday but the winds are kicking up and it's sprinkling outside. I've never seen a hurricane. I'm from the Midwest and I'm not sure what to expect. So far nothing has happened. Sunday evening we did have heavy rains. We weren't sure what would happen overnight. Apparently, neither of us weren't too concerned because we both slept like a rock.
Today is Monday and Erika has been downgraded so much that it's not even considered a tropical storm. Heavy rains are expected though. Don your raincoats Floridians, we may be in for even more flooding.
It took much effort on our part but by Saturday morning the porcelain tile was set in GB #1.
The
next morning Mi Miguel grouted the tile while I slept. Scleroderma
(CREST) has been wreaking havoc on me the past week. I gotta remember to
avoid stress. I'm rested up now and ready to take on putting this room
together.
Sunday afternoon, I got the baseboards for the hallway and GB #1 painted and ready to go.
I
cannot wait to get the furniture in this bedroom. The whole cottage
garden idea inspires me. I've had this potting bench for about 5 or 6
years in St. Louis and never found a place to use it. I'm hoping to use
it as an organizer for the closet.
While winding down Sunday evening from our hurricane scare, I did manage to bake a lemon cake with lemon frosting for Mi Miguel's co-workers. I tried the bakery method for box cake. I used melted butter rather than vegetable oil and added extra eggs. We'll see if it makes a difference.
Over the weekend while tiling, painting, looking for signs of a hurricane and getting Sclero under control, so many beautiful birds have been visiting our yard and neighborhood. I'm not sure what type of bird this is but they do a great job of aerating the yard. Anyone know what kind of bird this is?
If you are following Florida Restaurants A-Z on my Facebook page, we went to our E restaurant over the weekend. Like my page to read and see all about it.
This morning while blogging I spotted my first alligator,right in my own backyard. We've heard about them but I've never seen one in all the years I've visited Florida. Mi Miguel grew up in Florida and has never seen one. This has been the highlight of my past three days. The progress on our house hasn't been very productive.
The flooring in the hallway and GB #1 is moving right along at a snail's pace. We have to do it in phases in order to get to the bathroom. Other than that, no other work has been done.
There is so much still to do on our house. I'm completely distracted because I've been bit by the writing bug, it would have to be right in the middle of our fixer-upper project. The past few days, I've stepped away from remodeling the house to polish up my book. I will publish this book.
I've also been in hot pursuit of the perfect Bundt cake recipe. There is just something about that beautifully shaped pan that inspires me to bake these fancy cakes.
We did find time to do our D restaurant do over. Check it out on my Facebook Page: Florida Restaurants A-Z.
If you're from Florida or frequently visit the Sunshine state and have a suggestion for an E restaurant in the Pasco, Pinellas or other nearby counties, we'd love to hear your recommendation. There seems to be slim pickings for restaurants that start with the letter E.
Installing this mini chandelier and medallion was definitely a labor of love. It's up now and we have to love it. I don't think Mi Miguel would accept any disapproval after fighting with it to get it installed. After all the hard work it's staying up, so please when you visit, tell us how great it is for this room.
Now that the walls are painted and the light is up, we will move forward with the floor. All the tile has been cut for the hallway and the bedroom, now to thin set, place the tiles and spacers and grout.
Mi Miguel does most of the tiling. While he works on that I'm going to move forward with the colors from our fabric remnant for Guest Bedroom #1.
The bed from this room in our Indiana home will go in the Florida bedroom. It will be painted cream along with the baseboards and trim.
This shower curtain will be the inspiration for colors for the bathroom and the hallway that leads to both bedrooms and the bathroom.
I've selected the color swatches and the paint was purchased yesterday. Don't panic, the photo of the shower curtain has a blue tint that's just the photo. The paint actually does match. Starting this evening we will be incredibly busy working on the rooms. So, last night I thought I should make us a healthy meal and do some stress reducing office cake baking.
After we picked up our paint, we shopped for groceries. I'm on a strict, well kinda strict, chicken, fish, vegetable, fruit, nuts and beans regimen. We are going to get back into juicing a few nights a week. While picking out veggies to feed to our juicer, this recipe card caught my eye. We flipped it over and shopped for the ingredients.
After mentioning that I would be making collard greens on social media, a sweet friend, suggested pressure cooking the ham hocks. I remembered that the previous owner of our home that we just bought, gave me a pressure cooker.
With the hocks in the pot, we were ready to roll.
While ham is not on my list of foods that I should be eating, it would just be wrong to make collard greens and not put ham, bacon or some other flavorful meat with this wonderful recipe.
While the greens, onions, ham and such were getting tender, I mixed together this chocolate Bundt cake for Mi Miguel and his co-workers. It's triple chocolate. My friend Patty suggested going with caramel icing due to the richness. This time I didn't have the ingredients for caramel but I did for the chocolate. I hope Mi Miguel and his co-workers enjoy it in spite of it's richness. I'm talking to Mi Miguel as I write this blog post, he just stated that his co-worker from New Zealand gives my Bundt cake a thumbs up!
My friend Karen sent me a recipe for Preacher Cake. Even though I'm obsessed with making Bundt cakes right now. I think I'll deviate next week and make this unusual cake. South Your Mouth looks like an interesting site for recipes.
Elsa, you were right, pressure cooking the ham hocks and preparing it all with the pressure cooker was a wonderful idea. If you've never eaten collard greens before, I highly recommend that you google the nutritional value of this delicious vegetable. Just don't overcook it, that defeats the purpose of the eating it for the nutrients. I added half an egg to each of ours though. Tonight we will have the leftover collard greens with ham and beans, fried potatoes and corn bread. All that good food isn't on my regimen but changing the way you eat is a process.
I've been trying to come up with colors for our house and entry door. I think this screams Florida without being the same 'ol, same 'ol that you see with the aqua, yellows, peach and so on. I've got to come up with some version of this. What colors do you think of when you think of a Florida home?
I absolutely love chandeliers. The enormous one above is at the Kapok Tree. I've become fascinated with buying a plain chandelier and doing what I need to do to make it fit the room colors and decor.
Guest Bedroom #1 is ready for the light fixture that I thought I had masterfully created.
Michal meticulously put it together. He noticed that a piece is missing. We went to the place where we purchased it and they gave us our missing piece from their display.
We were back in business. I busied myself with the usual nonsense as Mi Miguel tried to brainstorm the best way to hang this mess.
Mi Miguel is good about helping make my creative ideas into reality. I've said it before and I'll say it again.
My husband would get me the moon if he thought it would make me happy.
There the light hangs after hours of trying to get it installed.
It was drawing nearer and nearer to midnight so we abandoned the project and went to bed.
We had hoped that little elves or some such hardworking creatures would have came in the night and hooked that chandelier mess right up for us. But, no such luck. We woke up this morning to the same dangling half installed chandelier that we had abandoned the night before.
I'm painting baseboards, sorting through more boxes, bird watching and waiting patiently for Mi Miguel to get off of work, I just know that he will get this installed this evening. He is that driven.
Hopefully by Monday's blog entry, we will be closer to GB #1 before and after photos.
It's so easy to just want to kick back and watch the wildlife from the Florida room window all morning. I'm not sure if this is a heron, crane or egret or both or all three. But I do know that I could sit here all day and neglect my painting chores just to watch these wonderful exotic birds prance around my backyard.
Two things I hope to avoid with our new home, any shade of coral and stainless steel appliances. Coral is everywhere and way overdone in the fashion industry and home decor. I have to see it every place I go. Why should I have to see it in my home? Coral is pretty, but enough is enough.
The stainless steel appliances make a kitchen look cold and abrupt. We've had them now in two different homes. I like silver but only on mirrors and then maybe a few little things here and there. Too much steel overpowers the room. I've got my eye on the newer White Ice appliances. I just need to figure out who sells that line. All of that will come later though. We're on Guest Bedroom #1 right now.
Here's our color palette for this room. I'm keeping with the water type colors. We're shooting for a more whimsical, garden cottage feel.
We love the sea blue/green ceiling so much in the other guest bedroom that we decided to paint this one a nice soft river blue. Mi Miguel removed the popcorn from all the ceilings leaving the effect that looks great for the beach/seaside look we're trying to achieve.
The
ceiling is finished with an inch of the darker blue coming down onto
the wall. This will keep the white from showing up between the ceiling
and the walls. The walls will be a few shades lighter than the ceiling
I
found this dandy at a discount store. I'm still working on it but I
think it will look great above the mini chandelier that we found.
I
put a rouge like coat over it and will rough it up a bit before Mi
Miguel installs this mess of a light fixture I've concocted.
The mini chandelier is in three pieces and painted all different colors to match the fabric colors. This masterpiece will either be incredibly beautiful or incredibly hideous.
This morning I painted the lighter blue along the ceiling/wall edge and around all the outlets, sills and doorways. I'll have all the walls painted by the time Mi Miguel gets home today. Then we can hang that chandelier monstrosity. Once that's done, onward to laying the porcelain tile in this room.
We took some time this past week to become residents of Florida. Every time I walk by the back of my car I see the words Sunshine State and it makes me smile.
Last evening we went to a Jazz Night at the Kapok Tree. Yes folks, The Kapok Tree is still around and incredibly beautiful. If you find yourself looking for something relaxing to do head on out and listen to some smooth jazz on Wednesday nights.
Here are more photos. If I weren't already married, I'd have my wedding here. It's like being in a fairy tale.
Mi Miguel and I met on the island of Crete. So you can imagine what it was like for us to walk through the courtyard.
The home we just bought is the first house that I haven't pulled some element of the neoclassical look into the decor. Now I can just go to the Kapok Tree when I need my neoclassical fix.
You have to make a point of visiting this treasure trove when you come to the St.Petersburg/Clearwater area. It's well worth the stop.
I'm a chandelier fanatic. So you can imagine what this room must have done to me when I entered.
I will never have another wedding. But had I known about this place thirty-one years ago, I would've chosen this as my venue to seal the deal with Mi Miguel.
I'm telling you, this place is crazy beautiful. Should I ever win the lottery, I'll buy this place and do amazing things with it. I'll have to win like a mega kajillion dollars though.
We will be boat shopping soon. We are so confused on what type of boat to get for this area. Do we want a fishing boat? A pontoon? What is the best boat for this area?
