French Pyrex and Chocolate

I don't usually do food posts. Heaven knows there are enough food blogs not to mention I mostly eat pizza and spaghetti so the variety would be lacking.
Last weekend I was scouring that estate sale for some interesting Pyrex. I discovered her stash in the basement store room and there was a lot but it was all crystal. How boring! I did pick through it and found this set.

as modeled by Cammie and some stray baby toys.

 

I'm guessing it's not that old, 70's/80's? Though I forget that's getting to be 30+ years old now!

 

This is the side which caught my attention as they are made in France. That and the handles are funky. I didn't find out much about my new set with a quick internet search...probably because they are boring crystal!

 

 

I wanted to break in my new dishes and decided to try my hand  at a brownie recipe I pinned on Pinterest last week which replaced the flour with black beans. Hmm, veggies in with dessert? The recipe I used is found here: http://honestcooking.com/flourless-chocolate-chip-brownies/ and I am sure there are others out there. One commenter marveled it still tasted like chocolate. Yeah, probably as it still has butter, sugar and cocoa powder! With that being said, I'm sure the calories are still up there but hey, you're getting some fiber out of the deal.

 

Well, it looks like the picture on the recipe's site so that is a good start. (I posed it in front of my counter display to provide some eye candy for those of you who don't care about my brownies)

 

and a texture shot. The texture also looks similar to their photos though I think I needed a bigger brownie for the final product photo.

 

They don't have a horrible flavor and they look relatively normal but they have kind of a gelatinous? texture and I'm having issues getting over this. The husband had half of one, first thinking they were dark chocolate which he doesn't like but I think the texture got him too because he didn't eat any more after finding out what was "wrong" with them. I probably won't be making brownies with beans in them again despite the fact it is a good idea to sneak some veggies into dessert. 

What is that "old person" smell?

Whew, I managed to escape the house for a bit this last weekend with my parents though our time was cut short by rain and thunder. The estate sale we ended up going to had the strongest "old person" smell happening that I have ever experienced. I had to air out the stuff I bought there and I can still catch whiffs of it nearly a week later. What is that smell anyways? My grandparent's house didn't smell like that and they were in their 90's/100's so it's not something which automatically happens at a certain age. The estate sale house was clean so it doesn't seem to be a dirty smell per say.

Anyways, I did go a little crazy and ended up spending $7 during this shopping spree. I think sometimes my husband wishes my shopping sprees were simply clothing from the mall

because then he wouldn't come home in June to find this hanging on the door!

He knows I have problem with kitschy Christmas deer so nothing shocks him anymore. (did it ever? I'm not really sure.)

I'm not a big fan of candles since they are a little touchy. I felt sorry for these guys lying on the basement floor (along with the kitschy deer) and I guess they have survived this long.  They are tagged Gurly Candle Co. on the bottom along with the original price. I know I've seen some floating around at my grandma's, mom's and I think I have a few somewhere so I believe they are pretty sturdy and should stay safe in my buffet drawer. I haven't seen the church before with the tiny choir boy.

I did get a few things I don't feel obligated to put away for most of the year. This gal is now the perkiest World's Fair souvenir I own. So many are kitschy yet drab - see examples behind her.

Water, Water Everywhere

I went down to throw in some laundry today and spotted something dark over in the corner. Pulling away some boxes and my, umm, giant R2-D2 I discovered this:

It did rain over 2" in an hour last night so that is the cause but the only other time we have had water in the basement over the years was because someone forgot to put the tarp against the house while they were power spraying it. The confusing part about this is this wall is behind the porch, meaning it has no real exterior contact and the worst part is another storm is coming in as I type. My little dehumidifier is frantically working away down there. I tried cleaning and clearing the nearest  downspout to see if that helps but even if that was the cause, the water should drain well away from this spot. Who knows! Luckily? the only cardboard box to get wet was one which I discovered I hadn't unpacked since we moved with nothing water damageable and the rest were plastic tubs.

 

Switch to the non-angering portion of the post: a goofy salt and pepper shaker set!

 

Oh, I guess the scale is not obvious in this picture but those are standard sized salt and pepper shakers (my definition of standard is what Burger King has on their tables) on  14" handles. For grillin'? That would be my guess.

 

It's hard to get out with the little one but I did manage to sneak out to a couple of church sales before work which is were I found these and some pink pyrex.

 

I'm trying to limit myself to older Pyrex this summer. I say that now but I already had a new piece of Butterfly Gold sneak into my collection. *sigh* and then I wonder why I have to move 19 boxes when I spot some moisture in the basement! (OK, it really was only 6 plus R2).

 

 

 

 

One Troll Bikini Away From Being Crazy

I was going to give my trolls some love on the blog this past week and then I saw this was on "My Crazy Obsession"

 



 

I had my mom record it since I am too cheap and don't have time for cable. 

 

I think the only difference between us is I don't buy trolls online and I never have worn a troll bikini. I do have clothing with trolls and I'm pretty sure my husband has opened  the freezer door to find a troll chillin'. In my defense, I was told at some point if you find one of those little bugs in mohair you can't wash it so putting it in the freezer for a day or two will kill the bugs and eggs. They are not permanent residents.  

The best part is towards the end when she is trying to convince her husband for troll space in the basement. hehe, so funny.

 

Here is what I had hung up a few days before this aired:

 

 

I bought a whole box of these posters for $1 sometime in the early 90's after the craze ended. I recently found a stack of poster frames for free and one happened to fit so up it went in the troll room, er, the office.

 

I need to reorganize my shelves and there are little shelves and trolls all over this room so they are not just contained to this wall.

 

And yes, I do have my trolls catalogued with descriptions and where I got them. I started when I was 9 so I'm on top of that part of the crazy. I don't have photos. Maybe I should start?

Welcome back termites?

This is what I've been dealing with the past week.

Fresh termite debris! Ugh! Luckily I've only found fresh damage in the crappy plywood previous owners used to close in the porch. I also haven't caught site of any termites. I figured we weren't under warranty anymore since we had it treated right away when we moved in plus it was just someone our realtor set us up with. I got an estimate for almost $1000 and decided to dig deeper and find who we originally had do it - even if the termites did return. They told me I could "renew my warranty" through this year and they would inspect and treat the affected areas. mm, OK, that is way cheaper so I'll give them a second chance.

I've also been trying to fix? the yard as it did not fair well with the drought last year. I've noticed the areas which suffered used to be under the shade of trees (which were most of the way gone when we got here).

All of my hard work and this is now what it looks like:

Well, the lighting makes it look better anyways. What you can't tell is that I leveled out the tree stump holes and there is grass seed. Maybe. I spread it, covered it with a little dirt and wet it down thinking it was going to rain in a few hours. It did eventually rain but I woke up to 30 mph winds prior to the rain. The next morning I saw birds pecking away. I guess we'll see. 

A Home Improvement Project?

What's this!? I'm working on a home improvement project?? It is true. I buckled down and ordered myself to stop going back and forth about what to do with the woodwork and start scraping. This will take me about 2 years so don't expect any fabulous before and afters any time soon! I have windows, (all of these are pre-move in shots)

bookcases with mantle,

 stairs,

doors and the ceiling beams (ugh!) Most of this was redone quickly in maybe the 70's?? Since that is when a major overhaul seems to have occurred. They chose a dark, dark, dark brown - typical 70's. I've been trying to brainstorm ideas of how to do this process without a total scrape and refinish but I dislike the 70's brown and I can't figure out any other way to get it to go away. I came across this photo and it finalized my decision that I wanted to rid this space of 70's brown.

I'm starting with the front windows.

The finish is basically black and dirty. Gross! 

The sills have been abused by kitties, water, sunlight and I'm not sure what all. Also, previous owners had plastic taped over the windows which took care of the finish up the sides. 

The sun is reflecting but the windows already feel cleaner even though it's just the putsy detail trim parts which are cleaned. The advantage of old crusty finish is it flakes right off with some light sanding so I already almost have 2 of the tedious window parts done.

Also, I started to strip the bookshelf (as seen here during Christmas)

Despite it never being painted in my lifetime, it somehow manages to have 12 coats of paint on it and this stinky emerald green is at the bottom, in the grain. I had visions of finishing this to match the woodwork so it looks like a real built in but we shall see about that one.

Another Fantastic Estate Sale House (this time with photos!)

I was just being productive and scraping the gross finish off the living room windows when I was interupted by a giant clap of thunder. OK, probably not the best time/place to be working with my nose plastered against the window.

I just discovered this house listing earlier so it was a good excuse to sit in the middle of the house, on an unplugged laptop. I went to an estate sale at it a couple of weeks ago, mainly to see the house since it is in the fancy mod 50's section of town (which consists of maybe 20 houses). They had nice prices to go along with the nice house but I managed to find a nifty tissue box. I failed to get a good picture of it. I didn't realize how awkward it was to find a good angle to show a white plastic box.

The house was/is immaculate. I would swear it was brand new and not from 1952. There was an entire store room in the basement devoted to tiles, light fixtures and other odds and ends which probably helped maintain the look. The photos all link up to the listing to get all of the info and some more photos:

I love the crazy doors which this one is hard to make out. (there is an open view of one in a later shot)

This is a view from the living room to the front door (barely visible behind the bookshelf)

 The library section of the living room. I think I would call it a library/troll area if this was my space.

 A view of the back patio from the formal dining area with great floor tiles.

There is a grill or something by the stove top. I didn't notice it when I was there so I cannot confirm what it is. I did notice the tiles on the bar have a really pretty pattern which unfortunately isn't showing up due to glare. 

Opposite view of the kitchen. Unfortunately they don't have a picture of the "pantry" which probably was at least half the size of my kitchen. She had a section the size of my pantry completely devoted to plastic storage containers! A hanging rod for table linens and plenty of shelves for canned goods and dish towels. 

The casual dining area off of the kitchen. They had a white table with a glass top and matching chairs. They needed to take the photos before they sold all of the original furniture!

The spacious laundry room. 

 This bathroom wasn't open at the estate sale.

The tiles are lovely and great color choices as they have a timeless quality to them. 

The other bathroom maze between 2 of the bedrooms was open. This was the first room off of the front bedroom. It is hard to spot due to reflections, but that is a rotating toothbrush holder above the sink. 

 The linen room was off of the bathtub room. They had toiletries on the glass counter. The cupboards had towels and bed linens.

The toilet (no photos) was in a small room in between the sink rooms. The back bedroom got the shower room. 

Opposite view of the shower room. My tissue box was on the counter to the right. I feel bad it's new home is in my pathetic half bath where the only room I have for it is on the toilet. The small room in the back she had all of her crafts and a sewing machine.

This was set up as a game room. Here is a good view of the crazy doors. This one goes to the back yard.

The listing has more views of the exterior and some semi-boring (since they are empty) bedroom, exterior and basement shots.