How to find a Christmas Tree

When it comes to picking out that perfect tree,  it can get a little tricky.  Especially if your wife is 9 months pregnant and sends you out on your own to get it.  That is exactly the situation I found myself in last year.

I dont make those kind of decorating decisions without her,  but she had no interest in walking around outside for hours tree shopping.

Ultimately,  I got one,  after returning to the house 2 times saying I didnt think that I could do it.

This year with a 1 year old,  we decided to go with the small table tree that he cant pull on or try to eat.

The thoughts of that fateful shopping trip still run through my head though,  and that is where this video stems from.

How to Decorate with Poinsettias

So here they are in the van.  I was pretty excited about getting them home and seeing how my wife integrated them into her holiday decor that she had been working on.  There is one key problem with Poinsettias though (aside from pronouncing them)  They almost always come in this hideous foil wrapping around the pot!

While in the lobby of a corporate building,  or in a business window display this may work ok,  it is not really part of our style.  I mean I am all for shiny gold,  but in a different format entirely.

So I love the plants, but hate how they look,  and dont really want to just remove the foil and leave the plain plastic pot either.  The good news is that all hope is not lost.  We grabbed a roll of wrapping paper that has an old print pattern on it to look like a book or newspaper.

 Cut it to size, pull the sides up over the pot,  and wrap with a string.  You could use a rubbber band here as well.  Given that we have 2 elementary age boys in the house,  rubber bands are never hard to comeby here.  I will say though,  you will need a bigger one than the kind everyone is making jewelry out of.  but a piece of string will do just fine too.

And there you have it.  a piece that fits the decor,  without breaking the budget!

How to restore furniture / The Upcycled Dresser

In my opinion, there is a difference between refinishing and restoring furniture.  In fact what I enjoy most actually doesn't fall into either category.   I like to give old furniture new life,  maybe even re-purpose or upcycle,  so the terminology of the project,  is really not as important as creating something that you love.

In this case,  I saw a craigslist add for a free dresser,  no picture,  and it was sitting curbside.  I thought,  "hey,  if I can cram it into the back of my Mazda 3,  this may be fun." On a side note,  a Mazda 3 with the seats down,  functions a lot like a pickup truck.  Not as convenient,  but I did get the dresser home.

This is what it looked like out of the car

First I removed the drawers

The back was in rough shape,  so it was removed as well

Part of the original plan was to create a new back,  I traced the old one onto a new piece of wood,  filling in any missing corners with proper right angles

Then PAINT PAINT PAINT

The top "drawer" is actually a fold out shelf which I thought was really cool. so I left it.

I thought it could use shelves where the drawers used to be.

A nice walnut stain can really transform a piece of wood

now its starting to look like something new

This is the inside of the fold down top.  It needs to be painted

I used chalkboard paint,  as I thought if it were a bar, one could store recipes there

Something had to be done about the knobs though,  they didn't really work with the piece anymore

There thats better.

So for me, restoring this piece meant giving it a new purpose and life.  Refinishing it too, or upcycling.   but like I said, as long as you love the process,  and like how it comes out,  what you call it is not all that important!

How To Make Dinner

So let's say that you are not the one in the family / relationship  that typically takes care of making the evening meal  known as supper, dinner, Ect.   Here's the thing,  you are not only the one who is not usually in charge of cooking,  but you also have about 3 total recipes in your arsenal.   Easy Mac,  Scrambled Eggs,  and Grilled Cheese.   Well fear no more.  I too recently found myself in a similar boat.   We are expecting our 3rd child in mid December   and that means that right now,  my wife is fairly uncomfortable,  and is not always interested in slaving over a hot stove for my benefit every day.  That works out great for me though,  because, even though I am not very good at it,   I LOVE TO COOK!!

When called to the plate in the bottom of the ninth,  naturally,  my first thought is to turn to the Garden!   Guess what,   it is November in Maine,  the garden is long gone.   Thankfully,  the one who usually cooks,  had the foresight to take the minuza that I planted from the farmers market this spring,  and make it into pesto,  frozen for a later date.  Today is that date.

Step one: Gathering the ingredients

For this particular meal,  you will need.  1 half red onion, mini peppers, olive oil,  pasta, red wine, precooked sausage,  and pesto.

Step Two: Getting started

Now it should be noted that we do have a wine glass in our house.   However,  we have just that A wine glass as in one,  and it was dirty.    When you find yourself cooking pasta with a bottle of red,  and no wine glass,  almost anything will suffice.  My Father in law and I have spend many a night sipping the finest boxed wine from our plastic sippy cups sans lids.  In this case a good old fiesta ware glass made do just fine.   Pour 8-12 oz. of the wine into the glass and begin consumption.

Step 3: Cooking

Now that you are started,  Bring a half of the biggest pan you have to a boil.   Ok,  so when I say the biggest pan you have,  I do not mean the one that is usually used to seal canned goods.  I mean the largest one that is in the drawer with the other pots and pans. (tip,  if you fill it with hot water,  it will boil faster,   then again,  if you fill it with cold water,  it gives more time for a second kiddie cup of wine.

Put that pan of water on a burner,  and set to high

While the water is heating up,  Take the peppers and remove the tops.   This should contain the stem and the seeds.   Cut both the  peppers and the onion tito small pieces and add to a frying pan that has a light coat of oil on the bottom.   Put that pan on medium,  and allow everything to heat up.   It is important not to over heat the oil,  as this can cause.... well I am not sure,  but I am told it is really not good!

Quick recap.   At this point you should have a big pan of boiling water, a frying pan of sauteing onions and peppers,  and a fresh cup of wine.

Add a box of pasta to the boiling water and let boil for 10 minutes.

It is said that you can tell when spaghetti is ready by tossing a piece up to the ceiling,  and seeing if it sticks.   I used this technique for the first 6 months of marriage,  when one day my wife said "WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON WITH THE KITCHEN CEILING???"

Step 4:  Remove any tested pasta from the ceiling.

After the pasta has boiled for 10 minutes,  or until sticky.   Strain it,  and put it back into the big pan.   Add the pesto,  and the sauteed mixture.

Step 5: Lets be honest,  you are winging it at this point

At this point take the precooked sausage,  and slice it into  half inch lengths.  Add it to the frying pan that the veggies were in  and move it around until it is warmed through.  This should only take a few minutes as your other ingredients are now getting cold.

Mix in the sausage with all the other ingredients,  pour a final glass of wine,  plate,  and you are ready to enjoy.   Make sure to serve whoever usually makes dinner first,  and let them know you appreciate the process they go through for you every day!

Adding Labels to your blog

I noticed lately in reading a lot of blogs, that some used labels. A label is basically a way of categorizing past blog posts. I think this is FANTASTIC. especially since so many of the blogs I read have themed days.

If you post Sandwich Saturdays, with a new sandwich recipe every weekend, you can label them, so that I can click the label and see only those posts rather than having to go back through 5 weeks worth of pages.

This is good because it allows you to get traffic to past posts. If you look at your blog stats, I am willing to bet that once a particular post is no longer the most recent, it stops getting hits, but that doesn't mean it isn't still good.

Now some blogs are able to go above and beyond and create buttons for their labels, A great example can be found at Bubby and Bean Which if you dont already read and follow, YOU SHOULD.

This quick tutorial however is to show you how to simply add labels to your blogspot blog, easily, quickly, and for FREE!

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Step 1: go to your dashboard, and click the design link. This will bring up your page layout.










Step 2: Your page may not look the same as mine, but you will have an area designated to gadgets. You want to add a new one.














Step 3: In the list of pre-made gadgets that Blogger provides you with scroll down too labels. The button looks like this:





Once added your labels will display in the position you selected in step 1.

Step 4: now that you have a way to display your labels you need to add some to your blogs.













To add labels to past posts, just go to edit posts click edit on the entry that you would like to add a label to, add the label, and save, you keep the publish date the same so that it doesn't move your post chronologically.













Thats it you are finished! start Labeling away!!!!