Easy Dill Pickles

We have a bumper crop of cucumbers this year, all from three little seeds my neighbor gave me a few months ago. I poked them into the soil at my feet when he gave them to me, and then I forgot all about them. They were truly ignored. I was busy with a wedding and guests and renovating two bedrooms. I didn't have time to think about struggling little cucumber seeds by the garage.

Then one day I happened to see a large jumble of leaves crawling across the remains of the woodpile. Weeds...big weeds. I need to pull them, I thought. Was I ever surprised to see little cucumbers peaking through the leaves! Soon they ripened, and their brothers and sisters and aunts and uncles and 12th cousins have been ripening ever since. We have too many!

Last week I tried making refrigerator dill pickles. That used up a tiny portion of our supply, which was a good thing. We allowed them to marinade for a week, then we tasted them. They are good, but the spices need a bit of adjusting. Today I made more. They are sitting in a crock until tomorrow, when I will get them into jars and in the refrigerator. Refrigerator dill pickles are very simple to make and a good way to use up lots of cucumbers.

Thrifty Finds

It's almost too hot for garage saling now. Almost, I said, but not quite. Heather and I hit the road early this time, and stopped at Einstein's Bagels for our free treat. We had to do a bit more driving than usual, but we found enough sales to keep us happy.

My haul:
A third pizza stone, this one includes the rack. New, never opened box, until we used it tonight for veggie pizza; $2. I have enough pizza stones now to keep the pizza coming for my crew.

A blue metal wastebasket with lighthouse design for our hall bath. 50 cents. Price tag on the bottom says $30! Who would pay $30 for a trash receptacle? Only someone who lives on a street called Highborn, I think.

A cute little apothecary jar, 50 cents.

A blonde wood desk organizer. I envision painting it white to go with the desk we don't have, and finally being able to organize The Professor's desk clutter.

That was it for me, a small haul, but it makes me happy.

Painted Pedestal Bowl

I finished a quick little project, except it wasn't all that quick. I found this lathe-turned wood bowl at an estate sale a month or so ago. In the before picture you can see that the finish is in really bad shape. The wood has a number of cracks in it, and, except for the pretty silhouette, there isn't much to recommend it.

After sanding, filling in the cracks with wood filler, and sanding again, I primed it, then spray painted it black. It took me forever to get it painted because I did it in the HOT garage, where, between coats, I kept forgetting about it. But it's finally finished and I'm very pleased with it.

July 4th

One of our family traditions has become a patio party for friends on or near July 4th. This year we decided to have a backyard BBQ, or perhaps I should say a backyard "cookout", on July 3rd. We have plenty of room on our patio, so we invited lots of friends. We had 27 attend. We grilled burgers and dogs, and baked a pork roast. Our friends brought various side dishes.The patio from above, before our guests arrived. I didn't get any photos after guests arrived; I was too busy!

The welcome wall pocket on the front porch.

Heather found a cute vintage patriotic print for the table by the front door. She also made all the pleated fan shapes we used in our centerpieces. To trim them, she created folded stars and added more vintage prints and star garland. They turned out so cute!

I made the red, white and blue table runners for our party last year.

River rocks and clear glass marbles anchor the fans. Heather glued the fans to painted paint stirring sticks.

Thrifted votive holders tied with polka dot ribbons.

I made patriotic cupcakes using an old jello cake recipe. When I discovered I didn't have white cake mix, I used coconut cake with raspberry jello. They were very good, except to the coconut-haters in the family.

Free in June

Here's my list of all the stuff I got free in June:
4 heads Romaine: $8
2 eggplants: $3
5 cucumbers: $2.50
4 mangoes: $4
1 lb green beans: $1.49
Smart Balance sour cream: $2.79
Aunt Jemima syrup: $3.69
2 Publix apple juice: $3.98
5 Mahatma rice: $4.95
6 1/2-gallons Smart balance milk: $21.74
8 oz blueberries; $1.49
4 Taco Bell sparkling limeades: $6.76
2 Einstein's bagels: $2
Schick Hydro 5 razor: $ 9.99
2 Gillette Fusion ProGlide razors: $21.98
Nivea body wash: $5.99
2 Old Spice body wash: $9.98
2 Schick shaving cream: $6.98
Ibuprofen: $4.49
Colgate Total: $3.89
bath tissue: $3.49
4-roll pkg bath tissue: $2.49
2 pkg Angel Soft bath tissue: $8
Airplus moisturizing socks: $4.49
nail polish: $2.49
Preen: $10
SLAH Signature Flowerpot: $ 14.96

Total: $177.10

David's Room

I finished repainting David's room last week.We had three false starts on the color before we settled on this pale gray one. It's Behr "Gentle Rain", color # 790-E; David declared it perfect.

End-of-June Garage Saling

This weekend was very, very hot but Heather and I bit the bullet and went out Friday and Saturday mornings anyway. We were surprised at how many garage sales we found, considering that people have to sit out in their non-ac garages all day long. I found:

A very tiny cast iron skillet in need of seasoning (50 cents) and a mini muffin pan (25 cents). That brings my mini muffin tin count up to six, just right for a batch of cupcakes from a cake mix.

12 clear glass plates ($3) photo to come. I almost didn't buy them because I have so many kinds of plates, but Heather reminded me that several times in the past few weeks I have wished aloud that I had some for group gatherings. Then I remembered that I really want to use clear glass when we have a themed party, such as the one-year-old birthday last week. Our standard floral plates just didn't go with the nautical theme of the birthday party.

A pizza stone and a Sil-Pat mat ($1 each)
Three vintage fingertip towels with embroidery (25 cents each)
A cute wooden couple from Sweden (25 cents)