Big Store Project Done!

Doing any project at the thrift store involves a lot of spinning wheels. This display cabinet was donated for us to use and not sell. The store of course would not have taken such a big piece otherwise. Some very old metal shelves that had seen better days (you can see the lines) had to be unbolted and tossed out. That required a work order with Pacific Clinic. The next task was telling the volunteer that her section was being moved. She doesn't like change and yells a lot about everything. Moving everything off the old shelves and finding a new home for everything while customers were in the store was also a challenge. I was motivated to help get the project done as having this big piece in the backroom was getting in my way during intake. I think it turned out nice and shows off many items I didn't know the store had!

Where's the snow? 2026

One of our plans was to have Henk learn to ski but the snow didn't hang around long enough for that to happen. We did go running around and Henk had a snowball fight with Uncle Chad. I was in charge of make the amino. 

You can see the lack of snow and it was very icy.  It was still nice to finally to use his green snowsuit. 

We also went to all 4 thrift stores in town to find a coat rack.  It's surprising for such a small town how many there are. Of course prices are high and not much of a selections but there's really no other shopping around. Specialty stores of course but those are for the tourists. During snow season online and mail service is at a stand still. 
 

Finally Got The Art Hung

I got these vintage photos in custom made frames at auction several months ago. My son has a huge bare wall at his place. I finally made the drive up to deliver and hang them. The wall still needs a few more things to balance it all out.

The other thing I needed done was being able to download photos to my blog. I had no idea why it wasn't working but everything went haywire after I update my computer and iphone.

I was a little nervous driving up but the heat wave melt most of the snow. The ski slopes are closing down a month early. 
 

Strawberry Coffee

I still can't figure out how to add my photos to my blog. Waiting until I find someone with more tech savvy to help me out.  So my blog will be a little boring. 

This morning I'm getting ready for a visit from my grandson and daughter. Stock the house with food and make the house baby proof. I spent last week stashing boxes of all my crafting projects up in the attic. 

I did try the new coffee hack of adding freeze dried strawberries to your coffee. I give that a 👎.  Not sure why anyone thought this was a good idea. Good thing my grandson likes strawberries. 

Really hate software updates!

 

I found out why I was getting blurring images with I was trying to emboss on velvet. Using a stamp mounted on wood will make the image move. Since almost all my red rubber stamps are the old fashion wood mounted, I'm limited on what I can use. As I was doing some tidying up of my craft supplies, I found a very old unmounted set. It worked out very well!  

I really hate when you have to update your computers and they friggin change everything. Like why? I can't add photos to my blog anymore so I have to do a work around, which took me days to figure out. I know someone who's a techie could figure it out but until I find that person I'm going old school. Cut & Paste. 

Comfort Food 2026

One of my comfort foods is fried rice. 
 I usually make it when it's time to clean out my refrigerator and use up all the little bits of veggies. I'm getting much better at not leaving that one little piece of broccoli or cucumber. I wonder why we feel the need to save one little piece? It's not like you can really do anything with it other than watch it wilt away in the bottom of your refrigerator. 

Yes, I picked up another cookbook. Since a lot of recipes I like are from Food 52, I thought I would check it out. In researching who this company was, I found out that American Test Kitchens just purchased it at auction. I'm glad that I found an older copy because I don't have high hopes that ATK will do anything for the brand.

 

Accidental Surprise

I went to Savers on Thursday to drop off and do a little picking. It wasn't senior discount day so it wasn't too busy. I still ended up with a cart full of stuff!

I did find a small pressed glass bowl (sorry no picture, I already have it at CCB) and it had a purple tinge to it. I didn't have my UV light so I gamble ($1.99) it was uranium glass. Got it home and it turned out to be just plain glass. What did surprise me was my measuring cup I use to make my coffee. It was sitting on the counter when I was testing the bowl. It blew up bright green when my UV flashlight passed over it. All this time I thought it was a reproduction! 
 

Tea Leaf Salad Update 2026

This attempt at making a tea leaf salad was way better than last time I tried. It's good but I think I need to add more garlic. It just needs a little more punch of flavor.

The tomatoes are from my garden. Yes my little cherry tomato plant lasted this long. The cold weather we had a few weeks ago finally did it in. I think it may reseed so fingers crossed it will grow again. I will make this recipe again and add the things that fit my taste palette.

Sun Printing 101

Today I did a little more experimenting with sun printing. 

They said if it wasn't really sunny, it would just have to be exposed longer. It was a little overcast this morning and it was a hot failure. Really need bright light to make it work. 

I know you can sun print on fabric so I gave it try when the sun came out. That turned out ok except you can't hang the fabric to dry. The star fish started to bleed and when I realized this was a problem it was too late. The fern one turned out so much better. The next step is to wash the fabric and see what happens. 

 

Tea Leaf Salad 2026

Year ago I went to a Burmese restaurant and everyone said to try the tea leaf salad. Sadly that mom and pop restaurant didn't survive the pandemic. I like it so much I tried to make it home. I wasn't successful at all. 

Now fast forward and when a good friend took me out for lunch to a new Burmese restaurant we of course got the tea leaf salad.  It inspired me to research authentic recipes. Many recipes are dumb down to what you can find in main stream markets. Living in the Bay Area that's not a problem most of the time. I did have a heck of time finding Sencha loose leaf tea. I'm not sure because of the tariffs or it's not something that sells well. I remember seeing it in the store back in the day. Sure miss Imhara's produce! 

I picked this recipe from Food 52 (recommended by a food group) because you have to ferment the dressing for two days. That to me just seemed right to get that extra layer of flavor. It tastes great right out of the blender so we'll see what fermenting does. 

 

Shadow Box Project 2026

One of the many projects I'm working on. This is a gift to one of my daughter's best friends from college. She flew out to Holland to help celebrate her birthday. They both love to travel and this is one of my favorite photo. All the parts for this project sat for weeks on my crafting table waiting for me to decide. 

I'm planning on doing shadow box project with the boys but this one is an adult version. 
 

Waffle Maker Bust

This looked like a good idea for a waffle maker but it was a hot mess. Totally understand why it was discontinued!  

It does make a really thick waffle but getting the right amount into the pan is the hard part. If you measure incorrectly you either get an over flow (which is very hard to clean up) or just a partial waffle with brunt edges. I was using my gluten free ube pancake mix so I give it a little slack for that.  I'm not a waffle pancake fan so I only have the Trader Joe's ube pancake mix because it's a favorite of the boys and Posey. Yes I make the dog pancakes for her snack time. 

It's going back to the thrift store or maybe the recycle bin.