Manor Minis and More

This post is way overdue because of some nasty WordPress hackers.

During the last couple of weeks my husband I have finally gotten back into renovating mode. He has been working on getting us together a bathroom in the new house and I have been gutting the old kitchen to make ready for new drywall and a new ceiling. My husband was not sure at first that tearing down the ceiling was necessary, but, boy oh boy, I am so glad I did. Resting in their final repose above our heads was a mummified squirrel, some mummified mice, a mummified snake (I think?), and a not so mummified deceased bird. Can you say nasty yucky gross?

I took the weekend and did some things I consider fun. Planting flowers, herbs, and seeds on Saturday. Cleaning out the garage on Sunday. Wait! Cleaning the garage is fun? Well, in this case it is. The garage cleaning is at the Victorian house. The house used to be owned by a preschool teacher (and serious packrat) and I made the mistake of purchasing the contents. Most of the stuff is just plain junk, but occasionally there is a surprise. I’ve uncovered an old record player cabinet, some vintage Barbies, a Brownie (as in Girl Scouts) doll, Lincoln logs, an old chair with potential, and a child size chifferobe. The chifferobe and a lot of the preschool furnishings went to a neighbor who loves to repurpose old furniture.

In the course of packing, I rediscovered some old Concord furniture I had tucked away. Back in the nineties, I think it was, Concord came out with a line of furniture that was 1/6 scale/Playscale. I snapped up some for my daughter to counteract all that Barbie pink. Unfortunately, at the time funds were tight (still are!) and I could only get some of the pieces available. You can see a real Ethan Allen Colonial influence here.

Not sure if I want to keep it or sell it. When it comes to Barbie, I prefer 1960s vintage.

A quick Menu Plan Monday!

Yes, I know it is Wednesday and I actually cooked Tuesday this week, but what the hey.

Pasta with Pesto
Cheesy Brown Rice and Broccoli
Falafel and Pita Bread
Chickpea and Feta Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette

I don’t know why, but I have never made chickpeas from dried before. I did this week and it will be my new thing to do. Super easy (as in soak and boil) and cheaper than canned.

Have a great week!

Sandra

P.S. Still have snow when it should be Spring? Check out all the Spring Flowers Clipart over at Bry-Back Manor!

My posts are pretty random these days, both in frequency and content. That is the way my life is at the moment.

Still packing and moving things to the new house, also pretty randomly due to things like snow!

(I would much rather be seeing more of these:

and less of the wet white stuff.)

In the course of moving so many things at different times, I am unpacking and reusing a lot of my boxes. I now have one room that looks a lot like this:

Of course, pottery is not the only thing I seem to collect, I rounded all the cats up (minus the black and white ones in the Fascination Station house) for a family photo.

A few days after I took that photo, I found a surprise, or I should say three surprises, spread around the living room floor.

Apparently, the stray cat I took in a little while ago was expecting. Silly me. I had just mentioned to my husband a few days earlier that she looked a little bloated. We were wondering if she was eating too much or had worms. Oops!

Sadly, mom was not at all interested in taking care of these guys and while I tried to feed them things just didn’t work out and they only survived two days. Sigh.

On a slightly happier note, it’s Menu Plan Monday!

I usually go on a cooking binge on Mondays to restock the fridge, but this week I think we will be primarily eating leftovers from the freezer. We will have:

Broccoli and Tofu Stir Fry (not from the freezer)
Lasagna
Ratatouille
Empanadas

Yummy stuff and hardly any work – not too shabby.

Have a great week!

Sandra

P.S. If you come just for the blog, please check out all the Springtime Fun and Easter Fun over at Bry-Back Manor!

No, not a new dollhouse. A new cat! (Not that I especially need a new one of either right now.) I finally caught the little gray girl who I had been feeding since last Spring. I had been hoping to woo her into voluntarily coming in the house, but it wasn’t happening. So, I took the plunge just before a cold spell and here she is:

The picture is not the best because, frankly, I am only allowed to get but so close before she bolts under the bed. But, overall, she is adapting to the household and not just hiding in a closet (like the formerly feral cat I caught some years ago).

My packing is still moving (no pun intended) along. I now have many empty cabinets and shelves and many full boxes. (I thought to take a picture of my empty shelves, but who the heck wants to see that.)

Kudos to all the Creatin’ Contest winners over at Miniatures.Com! I am in awe. I am always impressed when folks find the time to start AND finish their entries. I did manage to finish the Fascination Station house, just a month or so AFTER the contest was over. And here is my unfinished entry for the Spring Fling of 2010 (alas, sitting sadly ignored for the last two years):

Maybe some day…

Because it’s Menu Plan Monday, here’s what we are eating this week:

Spaghetti with Morningstar Farms Meatballs
Can Can Chili
Baked Tofu w/ Barbecue Sauce and Roasted Veggies
Bonus items – Egg Salad and Brownies

Have a great week!

Sandra

P.S. If you come just for the blog, please check out all the Valentine’s Day Fun over at Bry-Back Manor!

As I continue to pack and purge, I’ve discovered that our house is packed with little things.

Of course, there is the obvious – the drawers (and boxes and tubs and tubs and tubs) of my miniatures collection.

And the pile of houses I’ve already moved to the new place. (That wallpaper, by the way, is not my doing!)

But, I’ve been discovering little things everywhere. I found tiny toys that belonged to my kids stored in tubs. I see in our three desks containers of paperclips, push pins, and rubber bands. I open small metal storage boxes and find screws or nails or pennies. I dump out the “toss things in to be put away” baskets and find buttons and beads (or more screws, nails, or pennies). And so it goes in a house I’ve lived in for 30 years.

What is not little is the pile of stuff to get rid of and it continues to grow each day.

Since my kitchen also had some small things to purge (rubberbands and twist ties, for example), I thought I would go ahead and do a Menu Plan Monday.

This week we are eating:

Lentil Soup
Fried Rice with Broccoli
Penne with Quorn Tenders, Peas, and Alfredo Sauce (A comfort food for me.)
Ratatouille (If we run out of the above goodies before the end of the week.)

And more on the subject of little things, we have had unusually warm January weather and I saw this when I looked outside this morning. Yes, a crocus in mid January!

Sandra
P.S. If you come just for the blog, please check out all the Winter Activity Pages and Snowman clipart over at Bry-Back Manor!