Another Inside Day!

 My grand dogs are still here and we have decided that this will be another inside day. I thought I would visit you here and then go on to write "My Story" for this week. That always takes me a bit of time because I have to write it long hand and then get it on the computer. And then, even if it is the weekend-when I usually refrain from cooking-I thought I would get in the kitchen a bit this afternoon. My son-in-law always likes to bring over food when he brings the dogs. He knows I won't leave them alone and I guess he thinks I will starve if I can't get out to Publix. The truth of the matter is that I could probably live for a month from what is in my freezer but, since he usually brings me lots of fresh veggies, I do not discourage him. Lol I am going to make my favorite Ina Garten corn salad since he brought me many ears of fresh corn and then I am going to do my own version of the Carrabba's sauce that I fell in love with years ago. I am not an adventurous cook and usually need a recipe but when I had that sauce for the first time, I was pretty sure I could come close to it at home-and I did. I just sauté summer squash, zucchini, onions and garlic until they are soft and almost caramelized and then I cheat and add a large jar of Rao's marinara...and it has to be Rao's. It has the perfect amount of sweetness. I'm thinking I will make it with angel hair spaghetti tonight-yum!

In any case, since I'm here, why don't we head into the dining room?

This is the way the side board looked originally...

And here is how it looks now that I moved the sunflowers and brought in the olive branches...

And I just realized that the jar that I put them in is an olive jar! Who knew?

I still love the sunflower pillow cover that I painted a few years ago. I am by no means a painter but this one was simple and I love the pop of color it adds to the room.

And here are the Mason jar ring and muslin sunflowers that I made a few years back-I think maybe during Covid. I do remember that they took FOREVER-which was a good thing when we were all stuck at home and looking for things to do to stay busy-just realized that my life hasn't changed much. Lol These things had so many steps. The muslin had to be dyed and then "grunged". Then, after ripping the muslin into strips, they were looped and tied around the rings. Then, the middle was added to the ring and I glued in aquarium gravel and then painted it. Once I was that far, I made the leaves out of green dyed muslin and added wire to them so that they could then be added to wire stems and covered with floral tape. I will say that after they were done, I wasn't that crazy about them but they took so long to do that I wasn't about to not use them. 

In the past I displayed them in this antique crock but it was so difficult to arrange because the crock is so large...and flower arranging of any kind is just not my favorite thing to do.

 

So this year I took the easier way out and used this smaller vase and I actually think I like it better.

So that is the late summer decor for the dining room for this year. Before I head off I thought I would give you another update. See if you can catch it.

I felt like the middle of the bow needed something. I had this cream colored flower in my stash and it is definitely better but I just put it on there temporarily because I think I will look to see if I can't find a crimson red flower instead-I think it needs a bit more pop.

So, I'm now off to get "My Story"-which was a Christmas gift from two of my grand daughters-for this week written and sent off before my next prompt arrives in the morning. I don't actually consider myself a very good writer so I may have faced this with a bit of dread when I first started but I am actually enjoying it very much. It has made me look back on so many things and brought back to the fore front so many things I had forgotten over the years. I'm definitely glad they got it for me and I'm even happier that I am doing it. Kind of how this blog started. One of my same grand daughters started this blog for me as a Christmas present a good number of years ago now-kind of when blogs were just coming into vogue. I loved her for taking the time to do it but I kind of thought it would be something I would thank her for but never touch again.

But then that kind of rudeness wore on me and I didn't want to hurt her feelings so, even though I am really pretty technology ignorant, I started out on this adventure and it is one of the best decisions I have ever made. I love thinking of things to do that I can share with you and come and visit. It has really become such an important part of my life. When I started, I thought it would be fun if friends and family could read this and keep up with what I was up to in life. These days, I am overwhelmed when I see the numbers of people who are reading this blog and all of the places they are from. I'm not sure why they're here but I love to have the company. 

So, thanks for visiting for whatever your reasons. Stay safe and stay tuned.