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Showing posts from October, 2013

A little different redo

If you follow our blog you'll see we've inherited a love for old furniture...either refinishing or something else to make it useful for everyday life.  Well, we don't just do that for furniture - I do it for clothes too!  Ok, maybe not as much as with furniture (because I can't see potential/ideas for clothes as easy!), but every once in awhile. Take this 80s dress I found at the thrift store (at least I think it's from the 80s, maybe it's older!)     I wore it just like that (with a skinny or br oad bel t) for awhile, but I knew that I wanted to do something to make it feel more modern...knowing I'd wear it more if it felt less 80s. S o after fran tic brain storming emails with sister #3 I had a game plan .  But it was still hard to make that first cut!! I cut off the sle eves and made them more of a c ap sleeve and shorte ned t he skirt by 4 ".  I'm trying to decide if I want to go another 1.5 -2" shorter....     And here

Breathing new life into an "old" piece

This is one of the few pieces that has moved with me to every apartment I've lived in.  Actually, now that I think about it this is THE only piece of furniture that has moved to every apartment/house I've lived in (except the first two).  Wow - I must like this piece ;-) Our love story began when I was in college and wanted to "build" some furniture.  This was back in the day when Lowe's sold build-your-own furniture (do they still do that?).  I picked up two pieces and put them together and stained them.  This piece came with wooden knobs and at some point in my NY moves one broke.  I replaced all the knobs with the metal ones in the picture.  I knew I wanted to do something different with the piece.  It was stained cherry and I couldn't decide between going darker or painting it.  So for THREE YEARS  I lived with this piece and the fact that the stain didn't go cover the whole piece (look closely under the knobs, you'll see it....) Finally I dec

What's Cookin Wednesday - Sweet Potato & pinto bean tacos

SWEET POTATO AND PINTO BEAN TACOS adapted from thugkitchen.com ....but there is offensive language on the site (and in the recipes) - so you've been warned! 3 cups of cooked pinto beans (about 2-15 ounce cans) 1 teaspoons of coconut or olive oil (Olive oil is what I had) ½ cup veggie broth or water (water....) 2 teaspoons smoked paprika or chili powder (I went chili powder) 2 teaspoons blackstrap molasses (I used what I had in the cabinet) 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar or lemon juice (I have both of these at home usually, went with lemon juice this time around) 2-3 garlic cloves 1 pound of sweet potatoes (this should be about 2 cups when you chop it all up) ½ of a yellow onion 1 teaspoon coconut or olive oil salt to taste soft corn tortillas standard taco toppings that you like to add. Warm the first teaspoon of oil in a medium pot. Add the beans, water, chili powder, molasses, vinegar, and garlic. Get it to start bubbling slowly for about 5 m