Is it spring yet? Is it spring yet? Is it spring yet?

Have I mentioned that I am SICK OF WINTER?

Only 100 times?

Well, I am.

It SNOWED on Saturday and Sunday. 

What kind of witchcraft is that?

Come on Spring...you are so close!

Those evil squirrels totally missed more bulbs than I thought they did. 

We have the promise of about half the tulips I planted, but way more than I thought survived.

It's going to be so pretty.

We found out that we have at least a dozen giant rocks in the back yard when that tree blew over. Now we just need to get them in the front and side yard where I can get my curb appeal on. I never quite figured that out in Utah, but we have an itty bitty front yard here and I'm not so intimidated by it.

I don't remember what we planted here, but it grew in a big cluster. 

Maybe Romy or the squirrels put a bunch of bulbs there.

Any guesses, Blog Readers?

Remember these unfinished chairs I picked up that the thrift store last week?

Well, yesterday I was running errands and the crazy DIY voice in my brain kept nagging me to go back and see what was new at the thrift store. The cool thing about a big thrift store is that the inventory changes every day. Oh sure, there will be some stuff that is there forever, but there is always something new, too. 

There was the cutest bench and I came thisclose to buying it. It was only 25 dollars, and I even have a place for it. I didn't buy it. 

I didn't buy it because it would need to be sanded primed and painted and it would look great, but it would be a real project and I am trying to finish what I start these days and I have this vision for a casual fun dining room arrangement so we can play games with our friends.

As I walked away from the bench, simultaneously trying to talk myself into and out of buying it, 

 I saw two more clean and unfinished wood chairs.

They are a different design, but I had no intention of having the chair match in the first place, I just wanted cohesive. These are the perfect chairs to go with the other two. At 8 dollars each, they were coming home with me and I left the cute bench.

 Now I have four chairs, just waiting for me to love them:

And love them, I am.

The sun came out this morning and as soon as the kids were dropped at school, I threw on my paint shirt and got to work:

I may have also painted the grass blue.

Oops.

That's right folks, Chris Olson is breaking up with tan and black as her signature color scheme. 

Okay, they will go in a  room that is primarily tan and black, but I'm working on it.

 I went so crazy with color in the first real house I owned and realized that there is a big difference between a pop of color and a house that looks like a circus threw up in it. I learned my lesson while painting over my neon orange and green Nickelodeon inspired kid's bathroom when I put the house on the market.

Eight coats of Kilz, folks.

Rainbow chairs are a safer choice.

The total cost for them is less than 50 bucks including the paint. I have some weathering to do on them and then a coat of clear gloss, but with the sun peeking out of the clouds and the tulips peeking out of the Earth, I am excited to have some color peeking out of my dark and boring dining room.

I am already in love with them.

Tomorrow is 25% off day at the thrift store.

 I am sure it will be gone, but I might just pop in and see if the bench is still there....

Homey

I know you were hoping for a third post about apples, but I finished making enough applesauce to feed an army and I'm all appled out.

 

I'm sick of them to the core.

Nyuk nyuk...

Oh, count your blessings, I have at least 5 more really stupid apple jokes I could post.

 

Speaking of counting blessings...

 

 

This little house with the deli on the corner is starting to feel more like 'us' every day.

 

I've been going through some hard things, struggling with a shadow that was resting on my heart and it's starting to lift. 

 

Getting out our little box of Halloween decorations helped.

 Seeing our old and familiar stuff in the new place helped.

The walls are in different places and the sounds are all new, but it's still home.

 

 

We never use this door, but it's an awfully cute space.

 I'm sure the mailman is enjoying it- that is, if he bothers to come.

 

 

 Four times since we started living here, he just didn't show. The next day we had a ton of mail. The neighbors said that sometimes he runs out of time so he just skips our street. Weird.

Even weirder is that sometimes, he comes twice. I thought maybe it was just on days we had packages, but he has delivered letters and bills twice in the same day, too.

New Jersey is weird. 

Anyway...

 

Isn't this pretty?

 

 

My friend Lee made it for me last year in a little craft swap we did.

It's so gorgeous. The modge podge birdhouses I made in exchange were pretty  lame in comparison.

Lee is an old friend, though, so I wasn't worried about comparisons. I just got to feel loved by her generosity and admire her talent.

 

That giant skull in the corner? Matt saw it at the store and HAD to have it. He's not one who HAS to have many things, let alone decorative things, so when Matt HAS to have something, we get it.

The eyes have red LED lights in them.

Very spooky.

 

 Now, who wants to come Trick-or-Treating at the Olson house?

I promise, we're giving out candy and not apples.

 

Martha Made Me Do It

Eight solid hours on my feet.....

NOW I will admit that I was absolutely nuts to buy 150 pounds of apples.

 

I know you already knew that, but I had this vision of myself having some totally Martha Stewart moments as I filled my home with the smell of cinnamon and apples and sang songs about pioneers and ...um...apples and stuff.

 

 I did not envision nearly amputating my thumb with the paring knife, burning the bottom of my most expensive pot because I got distracted and covering my hands with hundreds of splatters of boiling hot apple water.

The fact that it happens every single time had no impact on my canning fantasy.

It never does.

 

Actually, it was just fine.

Romy helped me for the first 45 seconds and then went off to go watch the video of that I Love Cats lady on youtube.

 

I cooked and mooshed 50 pounds of apples and got about 12 quarts done.

I tasted it after everything was finished and I'm not in love with the flavor of this batch. It's a little on the tart side. Sour apples are great, but not in applesauce.

 

Normally, I boil my apples in apple juice and sometimes add a little sugar to make it sweeter. This time I was going for super healthy organic.

Super healthy organic isn't awesome, IMO, at least not the way I made it.

It's not a loss though because applesauce makes a great oil substitute in a lot of baking, so I'll add it to my fats and oils in my food storage. It's always good to have some 'oil' that doesn't go rancid quickly. This will keep for 10 years, so I am happy with it, even if it isn't yummy applesauce.

 

I don't plan to touch the apples tomorrow, but I'll be back at it on Monday.

Try to wait until then for my third, fascinating post about apples.