Check this out! Shrubs

Blueberry thyme shrub with soda water.

I recently heard a Seattle blogger discussing shrubs (or drinking vinegars) on the radio. I would highly recommend trying them out! Both the recipes listed in the blog post linked below sound delicious.

As it is currently berry season I tried her recommendation of strawberry basil and blueberry thyme shrubs. There isn't an explicit recipe for those versions but it is pretty easy to switch out the fruit in the recipes provided with two cups of whatever you like. I'm thinking a cranberry version of this would make an awesome gift around the holidays.

Check it out! http://www.cooklocal.com/2011/04/27/make-your-own-shrub/

Dried Apples

This time of year...right before the apple harvest begins, I like dried apples best. Even apples that have been in storage for a year are pretty tasty when dried :)

Decision Time: Fireplace Tile

 We went to the tile store yesterday and checked out some samples. We need to pick a tile color and style and make some decisions about a pattern as well as which decorative tiles we want. It's a lot of pressure because the fireplace will be the focal point of the front room of the house. We've been gravitating toward earthy, greenish tones. Here are some photos of the samples we are considering...

For decorative tiles, I like the 2x2 in the upper right corner of this board.  It is a floral design.

My favorite for the main tiles is in the middle of the three swatches with 2x2 and 4x4 tiles. It is a greenish gray with some rusty brown around the edge.

Saying Good-Bye to Some Old Friends

Tony is putting the final touches on plans for a deck. Assuming all goes well, this deck will be built this September. Today I decided to tackle the pile under the existing deck and get it organized in anticipation of the new addition. I cut down the tall weeds and grass and removed three unruly rose bushes in the area the new deck is planned to go. (Big thanks to Grandma Julie for watching Iris so I could actually spend the time to do this!)

I felt a little sad taking out the rose bushes because the previous homeowner, Mrs. Shellman, planted them and I'm sure she took a lot of pride in them. People in our neighborhood still stop to tell us how nice the Shellmans were and how happy they would be to see us fixing up the place. They lived in this house for over 40 years and I often think of them raising their family and growing old together in this house. I'm sure that Mrs. S. kept those roses beautiful throughout those years, but they were diseased and sickly when we moved in. I think she would have been disappointed to see them in such bad shape. So I'm taking them out in hopes that she would prefer it that way. I cut the good flowers this morning and they are brightening our living room one last time.

Fire!

Just trying to get your attention :) This post is actually about our fireplace. When we moved in there was a large gas fireplace with a faux rock fireplace surround. The surround extended about 1 1/2 feet into the room. There was also more stone extending into the room on the floor about another foot. The stone on the floor was removed when the floors were re-finished. Tony has been itching to get the rest of the fireplace removed and to put in a more appropriately scaled fireplace. We are still planning to have a gas insert but will put an insert in that fits the original fireplace instead of using up precious space in our small living/dining room.

Here are some pictures of the removal...

Tony plans to tile over the brick instead of trying to clean it up as it is in pretty bad shape. The tile will be extended onto the floor as well. He is also planning a mantle piece with legs on either side of the fireplace.  

Painting Party

We finally painted the living room last weekend! It looks so great and after the painting was finished Tony installed some of the baseboard trim. The room is really starting to come together. Although you can see in some of these pictures one major project still to be completed is the fireplace. (More on that to come in a later post). You'll note that I'm carrying Iris around while painting. We were using our favorite paint brand, American Pride, which has very low VOCs and no detectable odor so it is really safe to be around.

Flowers from the Garden: Fairy Garden Seeds

I picked up a packet of flower seeds from my local garden store a few months back. It was called the "Fairy Garden" mix. Now I've got my very own fairy garden brightening these gray summer days!