To get a true appreciation for beauty of the windows in American System Built homes, it’s best to wait until after darkness falls. Oh that golden glow!
Here in the upper Midwest, the first snow of the season – whether it comes in October or December – is always exciting. Snow has a way of quieting the world and making the newly naked trees seem a little less obscene. It’s winter, folks. Grab the beauty while you can. For a new year awaits us on the other side.
before & after, decorating, DIY, kitchen, renovation
Before & After: A Mini Makeover for the Kitchen
11/29/2016
While most people spend the week before Thanksgiving finalizing menus and trying to think of conversation starters for certain relatives with opposing political views, we spent last week overhauling half of our kitchen. Oh, we still found the time to roast a bird and whip up a pan of homemade macaroni and cheese, but we prepared our feast in a kitchen that was getting a mini-makeover.
Painting the exterior trim and windows on the house is the biggest job we’ve undertaken so far. It was its daunting nature that led to us putting off the job a little longer that we should have. That, and we had a hard time selecting a color. Finally, we could put it off no longer. The paint on the trim on the south side of the house had worn away completely, leaving the wood exposed to the elements. So this summer we finally took the leap and painted the trim and windows. And now that it’s done, I can’t believe we waited so long! It looks like a whole new house!
You know how it is. One day you have a plant full of green tomatoes and the next day you have a hard frost. And that means you’re about to become the proud owner of an army of green tomatoes. If you should find yourself in this pickle, here’s a suggestion: pickle ’em!
I picked up the spicy pickled green tomato recipe from Food.com. It’s an easy recipe that makes quick use of a crop of green tomatoes. And it’s really quite basic. Just chop up the green tomatoes and stuff them along with a couple cloves of garlic and jalapeno pepper slices into sterilized jars. Add some salt and a hot white vinegar/water mixture and then top with lids.
The only problem is, I won’t know how these pickled green tomatoes taste for another couple of months. According to the recipe the mixture has to cure for at least two months!
