Twinkle Loon

I got snowed in at my Dad’s house… so naturally we cooked! We cooked massive amounts of spanakopita. We are Greek after all, what else would we cook on a snow day?

kefalotiri and a mouli

two different kinds of feta, kefalotiri, ricotta, spinach, yellow onions, scallions, parsley, eggs and dill!

Butter and oil!

Anyone who thinks spanakopita is “healthy” should take a second look at this photo because I think my Dad and I made at least four pans of butter and oil for brushing on the filo dough!

Yes, wearing pajamas is a requirement for snow day cooking!

Yummy! I wish you could smell it! So GOOD!

All told we made two large 9×13 pans and 31 individual triangles. Of course we cooked up and ate some of the triangles. Our reward for a hard days work. The pans are for a Christmas Party and Christmas Eve dinner. You’re welcome family!

Happy Snow Day!!

This holiday season I am all about making recycled decorations and I got everyone at work on board too! So this season we made a Recycled Holiday window at the store. Everything in the window was made with old magazines, packing material, and used printer paper.

I love these magazine trees! They are so easy and fun, all you have to do is fold! I have seen these lots of different places so it’s hard to credit one person. But I think the first time I saw these was at one of my favorite stores in Hampden, Red Tree. Theirs were different shapes but same basic idea.

And just because we are all OCD artists, we made a Yellow Pages Tree! I think that at least five people worked on this. But it was just too big so we did have to cut it in half.

We also made these super simple ornaments with the covers of magazines and a stapler. A few people went above and beyond and really got creative with it.

So there you go, a fun holiday window for zero cost! Happy Holidays!

Progress has been made on the basement bathroom! I sanded and patched… and sanded and patched some more and then I primed a couple times. Patching and priming walls and ceilings is no fun at all! Especially ceilings, such a pain! It could also be that I am very detail oriented and had to get everything perfect. But the walls are done for now, I will probably paint some “accent” walls and the trim or something… Um, when I have time. Ha!

Mud has been floated in the shower stall floor and a platform has been made under the toilet. Since this is a basement bathroom the plumbing has to be higher than normal for proper sewage drainage. But it will be tiled and hopefully blend in so you won’t even notice… till you sit down and your feet are dangling. In these old houses you have to kinda work with what you’ve got. Unless what you’ve got is boat loads of money!

The window is in a small nook and I would like to make a seat to put there since it’s kind of a dead area. I am thinking a seat with some storage underneath. And I am going to put some kind of frosting on the windows (after I thoroughly clean them!) and then put flat curtain panel over the bottom half so that you can lift the window but still have privacy. I know that window is so beautiful right now you are probably thinking why bother doing anything to it? sarcasm

And here are my tile selections! A little bland, i know. But I am thinking of potential renters in the future. I don’t want to do anything too crazy that will turn people away. The large tile will be the floor tiles (as well as the tile for the toilet platform), the small beige tiles are for the shower stall floor, the white subway tiles will be for the shower walls and the green will be an accent on the walls. I haven’t decided how to work in the green tiles. A boarder around the outside? A stripe around the shower, about two thirds of the way down the wall? I’m open to suggestions