Fishing . . . Sort Of

You may be wondering why, under a post titled "Fishing" I have posted butterfly photos. Well the truth is when we go fishing at the river my husband will wade in to fish while I prefer to sit in a lawn chair and cast from shore. I tend to get distracted by things, such as this lovely monarch butterfly, and the fish steel my worm before I notice them! My husband only caught 2 fish which were very small so he would not let me get a picture of them. However I was very proud of these beautiful butterfly photos I got (while the fish was busy steeling my worm!) so I thought I would post them. We just stayed out for the morning as it got extremely hot! It was nice to spend some relaxing time together and to get to the fishing spot we had to walk a short trail which I also enjoyed.

Local Tractor Pull

This past weekend was the civic holiday weekend and I took the friday off work as well to make it a 4 day weekend. We live on a small dairy farm and therefore we do not go on many trips. However this weekend we found some fun things to do locally. A nearby town had a tractor pull which we went to on Friday night. My husband wanted to go the Friday rather than the Saturday as that was when the regular tractors were there. On the saturday they had horse pulls and vintage (pre 1961) tractors and later in the day the modifed tractors. I really would have liked to see the horses and vintage tractors but there was hay to cut so hubby was not able to take me. But it was fun seeing the regular tractors on the Friday and it was fun to just go out together for the evening. They started with the smaller tractors and worked their way up through different weight classes all the way up to the really big tractors.

It's great finding local activites to attend. The only thing is if we go again next year we are bringing lawn chairs so we do not have to sit on those hard bleechers!



Local Raspberrys

I just love the warm weather when we have a variety of local produce available! This weekend was the last weekend that our neighbour (term used losely in the country, they live about 5 minutes away) was offering raspberries for sale. I had purchased one flat earlier, I froze most of it and ate a couple of pints. I also purchased a flat this weekend, though I found the late ones spoil quickly as they are extremely ripe, but that is okay, I made some jam with them and boiled the rest and froze them. The first flat I froze simply by tossing the berries into a freezer bag. In the winter I just love being able to go to my freezer and pull out locally grown produce. We particularly like to use the berries for pies in my household! My husband just loves pies, and I must confess that I love them too!

We set aside some of the boiled raspberries and added sugar to use on top of scones, this was very good. I am very glad my husband did not buy scones as I discovered that they are extremely easy to make. They are similar to pie dough in that you do not want to work the dough any more than absolutely necessary. However, the dough is much more moist than pie dough. But I must say after making them for the first time this weekend I will not be buying them from the grocery store again!

Life & Weather

Well it seems I have procrastinated on my posts again! My husband and I are expecting our first child in December so this is very exciting! However, the pregnancy has made me feel very ill and caused me to have no energy. Now that I am approximately 5 months along I am feeling somewhat better, but my energy levels are still low. I had hoped that my energy would return in my second trimester as people have told me it should but it seems that I am one of those where the energy levels stay low throughout. Though I do need to get back to work on our bedroom as we moved into what will be the baby's room so I could redecorate our room which is the only bedroom I have not finished yet. It wouldn't be so bad except the walls are old plaster under the wallpaper and required a great deal of tlc so I can paint. Also, the pine floor under the carpet will need to be stripped and while I think I will be okay painting I do not think I should work with paint stripper while pregnant so I have requested some help with that from my younger siblings. Many people ask why I do not get my husband to do that and there is a very good reason why. Between the farm and his full time job he has very little free time. Since this weekend is a long weekend I am hoping to get all of the cracks in the plaster repaired then I can rip the carpet up and have my family over to help with the floor stripping. I am trying to arrange it for a day when I am working from home so we can time it so they will be done when I am done work and I can visit with them and make them a nice dinner.

This week it has finally cooled down a bit and we have finally got some rain. The excessive heat we were getting was really hard on me. Usually I am not to bad with the heat but the pregnancy has made me find it unbearable, thank goodness for air conditioning! I am also very glad we have finally got some rain, the crops, garden and flowerbeds really need it. Thankfully in my flowerbeds I have planted mainly hardy perennials so I have not had to water them. Though we are on a well I still do not like to waste water so I try to plant flowers and shrubs that require little maintenance.

Rain Rain Go Away!

Well it seems we have gone from snow to steady rain! At least it is warm. But it seems whenever I contemplate my annual yard clean up mother nature has other ideas! This past Easter weekend was lovely, but between visiting with family and preparing for my exam tomorrow the yard work did not get done. I decided that I would do it this coming weekend since exams will be done but then I heard the weather forecast, rain rain and more rain for the next 5 days! So even if it is not raining by Saturday the yard will be to wet for me to go traipsing around. Not to mention my husband, because of all the wet weather they haven't been able to get out on the fields to get the planting done, and if they can't get out soon he will not be fit to live with! They get quite cantankerous when they can not get their farm work done! I really do hope it is not raining Saturday as I am planning on going to my first town-wide garage sales of the year. I love going to yard sales, I have started marking on my calender when my favourite ones are this spring/summer.

Enough of Winter Weather! (The favourite Canadian passtime of complaining about the weather!)

Last week and early this week I was so looking forward to spring weather. The robins are around, the hyacinths and tulips are coming up, and it was really making me feel more energetic, renewing my ambition on the many little projects I have on the go. Then Wednesday came, and it brought chilling winds and heavy snow! Now yesterday was sunny, and thus far today has dawned bright and sunny but the temperatures are back into the below zero range. I have really just had enough of winter and would be perfectly happy to not see this weather again until December! I was starting find out when my favourite town-wide yard sales are as some are in April, and I was starting to contemplate the annual spring yard clean up. Living on a farm is wonderful, however having a year full of trees inevitably leads to many many branches to be cleaned up come spring. Also occasionally the father in law and my husband leave the bale wrap from the large round bales outside, instead of in the barn, which of course means there are pieces of it all over the place once the snow melts, There is even a large piece caught up in our red maple! I was noticing earlier in the week the quagmire of mud and puddles was starting to dry up and I was hoping to get a start on the clean up this weekend. Now it is far to cold and there are patches of snow again!

Bugeting: Is It Non-Existant???

Good Morning. This picture is not at all related to my post but my little Tess kitty is cute and had apparently decided she wanted to be my mothers birthday gift!

Yesterday I was listening to the radio on my way to work as usual and the people who do the morning mention interesting little bits of news. That morning they were talking about these wallets that a company created so people can be more aware of their bank balance or spend. Basically there were 3 types discussed. These wallets are some how connected to your bank account and the 1st wallet gets bigger as you balance increases and smaller as your balance decreases, the second vibrates when you make a purchase and the bigger the purchase the longer it vibrates and the third has a hinge that gets harder and harder to open as your balance goes down. I could not believe! I certainly understand there is a whole psychology around it being easier for people to spend more on plastic (ie: debit/credit cards) than to spend the physical cash, people are more reluctant to part with it when dealing in cash. However what has become of us that we can not even be aware of how much money we have in the bank! What ever happened to making a budget! I have an excel workbook that I use to track everything, right down to if I should buy a cup of coffee, I track how much I withdraw and what bills will come out when, then I keep track of how much and on what I have been spending my cash. It's not hard, it doesn't take long and once you start it feels good to know exactly where every cent had gone and it becomes kind of fun. We are not children who need to be told by a gadget (that by the way cost you money to buy) that your bank account balance is going down when you spend! I mean really!

Cherry Pie

I really should make a more concentrated effort to take pictures of things! But if I always waited to post until I had a picture to go with it my posting would be even more erratic than it is now. However I do feel pictures make blogs more interesting. I made a very yummy cherry pie last night but forgot to take a picture before we had some for dessert. I have become fairly proficient in my pie making as pies are my husbands favourite! And this particular recipe is his absolute favorite and I must add it is my favourite pie recipe too as it just tastes amazing. It is a recipe using either fresh or frozen sour cherries, I use ones I froze from our cherry tree, the recipe is out of an issue of the Harrowsmith magazine. Two differences in this recipe that I think are key to the amazing flavour are the use of minute tapioca as the thickener and the use of almond extract. Ever since finding this recipe almond extract had become my favourite, I often substitute it for vanilla or even add it when no additional flavouring is called for if I think it would be suitable. The pie wasn't really pretty, it boiled over a bit and I didn't do the nice lattice top but I think all pies look yummy. When I make pie I always use the whole brick of lard and separate it into balls (there are instructions on the Tenderflakes brand box), and then I freeze the extra so next time I just have to leave it out to defrost and just roll it out. As a side note you should not defrost in the microwave, this damages the dough and makes it tough. I have found when freezing the balls it is best to wrap them in cling wrap and then put them in a freezer bag to keep them fresher. My mother in law actually will line her pie plates and freeze it like that so it's even quicker to make the next pie but I do not have the freezer space for this and would worry that I would end up damaging it by putting something on top of it, but it is an excellent idea if you have the space.

Have a good day!

Too Much On The Go!

Disappointingly I have not yet used my new sewing machine. I didn't get to it this weekend because on Saturday I took mom out for her birthday which is on the 19th, and on Sunday I worked on the bedroom, taping and mudding to patch the cracks in the plaster. Since I went to all the work of stripping the wallpaper I don't want to put more up to cover the cracks so if I am to paint I must go through the laborious process of patching even the tiniest hairline crack so it will not get bigger and show through the paint. This process has worked very well on the other two bedrooms, I did the first about two years ago and still not cracks! I want to get the bedroom done before summer so that during the summer break from classes we can work on redecorating the kitchen which is a much bigger job than a bedroom.

I have made plans with my mom, she will be coming over in a week from Saturday (she works every other weekend), and is going to help me with making my skirt. So if I don't get to it before, I will at least be using my sewing machine then. She used to do tons of sewing when I was little. She used to make me cute outfits and Halloween costumes. I think it will be fun and I think it will probably go a lot better with her there to guide me rather than trying to figure it out myself. I have never made clothing before, all I have made are some tote bags, a set of very simple curtains and the garter for my wedding. None of these projects required a pattern or exact measurements.


I also didn't get much of a break between terms. My last exam was on Dec. 21st and classes started up on Jan 3rd (the 4th for me). I shouldn't be surprise at how time consuming it is to work full time plus take 3 university classes since I worked while I was in college but I think being out of school for 3 years made me feel like it wasn't so bad. Lol, it's a good thing though because had I remembered how crazy busy it was I may not have done this. Despite how busy it is I am glad I am doing it. I will only need 6 more classes after this term (so one more year of part time classes) and I then will have both a college diploma and a bachelor of science and my work is very supportive of my doing this.

New Sewing Machine

I don't have a picture yet but yesterday I bought a new sewing machine and am quite excited to use it! I had bought a used one last year but I found it really was not meeting my needs. It did not come with a manual and I was unable to find the model online and it only came with the normal foot, and I really wanted a zipper foot. I also found that once I had a few layers of fabric it had a lot of trouble with it. I think I will try to sell, though not for much, but I am sure someone will have a use for it because it still works and it is good for very simple projects, it's just not good for me as I want to advance my skills, but it would be fine for basic mending and such and it does have some decorative stitches. I have a skirt pattern and fabric so I am hoping to start on it on Sunday or tomorrow afternoon. Tonight I need to clean and bake a cake as my husbands family is coming over for brunch tomorrow to celebrate his mothers birthday. I am going to make my chocolate hazelnut cake (gluten free: no flour) with chocolate cream cheese icing, and I will use butter cream icing to decorate it. My husbands sister will be bringing the main course and his other sister will bring the side dish.

Christmas is Almost Here!

Well we are now only a few days away from Christmas. I really do love this time of year, it is very busy but I just love getting together with family. Now-a-days it seems that everyone is so busy that Christmas really just makes people take a time out and make a point of being with loved ones. I always have a dinner with my mom and siblings at my house and this year my aunt and uncle are coming and I really look forward to it. I actually quite enjoy doing all the baking and helping my husband with the meal. He cooks most of the meals around here while I am the baker.
I am for the most part done my shopping, I made alot of gift this year. I think there is too much emphasis on buying and that if you are going to give a gift it should come from the heart. On Friday I decided I wanted a hair cut so I made an appointment for the evening. The hair salon I got to is in the mall and wow was it crazy busy, I couldn't believe! I have done so little of my shopping at the mall this year and last I forgot how busy it is! I think the next time I want a haircut during the Christmas season I will go early in the morning on a weekday!
I hope you are enjoying the Holiday Season too!

Christmas Shopping

This year I have become a great deal more budget conscious and more aware of where things are manufactured. It has really made me notice how much media is directed at trying to get people to spend more. I was shocked the other day to see a commercial that did not just promote a credit card (those are common) but was actually promoting spending on credit, and not in the usual sneaky way of x points or dollars for x dollars spent, but blatantly showing characters partying it up and loaded with purchases. Its kind of scary since I know alot of people who do not have the income they had before the recession hit. And there is so much pressure on to get Christmas gifts. I mean I certainly do my share of Christmas shopping but I think that it is so commercialized now that many people lose sight of the fact that its not about getting a great gift, it's about making time in your busy life to spend time with loved ones. This year I have actually really tried to make many of my gifts. In one of my more recent post I made a resolution to try to not buy things made in developing nations (unless its fair trade) and I did pretty well but there are a few items that I did end up getting the were made in China, but overall most of the gifts were made in Canada/US or by me. I particularly had problems because I made recipe scrapbooks, but all the scrapbooking materials were made in China! But I also made wedding photobooks which are printed in the US. I am also giving out some of my home canned items, a scarf I made, some things I got from the local craft show, a nice wooden shelf made locally, locally made chocolates, Ontario Wine. I am trying to give thoughtful but inexpensive gifts because I am on a rather tight budget this year from the wedding and starting university classes, but again isn't that what it's about? If you are going to give gifts isn't it more important that they be thoughtful rather than worry about spending "enough".

New Woodstove

In early October we had this wood stove installed. I love it! I have been using it almost everyday, there is something just so cozy about curling up in front of the fire. I grew up in home where our only heat source was a wood stove so it also has a sort of nostalgia for me. A few years ago we put in a grain burning stove which was great until we started putting barley in silo instead of corn which went to corn silage as the stove couldn't burn the hulls of the barley so the fire just goes out. So we talked about a wood stove but didn't get one right away because once you buy it and pay for installation it gets very expensive. This summer we decided to look at them again and this wood stove was about $1000 off because they were getting rid of some of their floor models, so that was how we decided to get this one. We wanted an alternate source of heat, we have an oil furnace and the cost in the winter is just ridiculous! We don't expect this to full replace but at least supplement the oil to reduce our fossil fuel use. Wood is a good option for us because living on a farm we have access to a bush and we don't need to cut down any live trees because there is tons of dead trees or large branches around. Sadly this is mainly due to the deaths of the ash trees from the ash borer and the elm from dutch elm disease. We actually have two elms in our backyard that need to be cut down because they are nearly dead. We have also got some of our wood from trees that have broken off in the pasture or along the fence line as well since that must be cleaned up anyways at least now we can make use of it. Another nice thing is my husbands father and a family friend love wood working so if we come across any large pieces that are in good shape we can give it to them so they can get it made into boards so they can use. As you can see in the picture, us humans are not the only ones who love the wood stove, the cats love to just stretch out in front of it and bask in the heat! One thing that disappointed me was, we decided to get the tile from a local flooring place to support local business instead of those big chains and yet the tiles were still made in China! When we ordered them I guess I thought that Canada being so rich in natural resources that surely the slate tiles would be Canadian made, it didn't even occur to me they would be made in China. So when we picked up the tile and in capital letter on the box was "CHINA" it was rather disappointing. It is so hard to find anything Canadian these days! I am certainly going to have my work cut out for me for Christmas shopping this year ensuring none of the gifts I buy are from China (my last post). But I digress, at least the wood stove is Canadian made and very lovely! Eventually I need to redecorate the living room, you can see in the picture the 1970's decor of orange carpeting and wood panelling. I'm hoping there will be lovely pine floors under the carpet since that's what I found upstairs in the two bedrooms I have done thus far.

Well, I have a midterm today so I must go prepare! Happy country living!

Christmas Resolution

I have been thinking a lot lately about where the stuff in our stores comes from, I remember one moment this summer when I was in Homesense looking for something or other and I was checking where everything was from and it was all imported, quite a bit from developing countries and it made me sad. Here I was at this store having avoided going to Walmart for the same item because everything is from China and its no better. Now I know that most of the stuff I buy is from places like China but I have been trying to be more contentious about it. So I have make the resolution that this year for Christmas I will not buy anything for a gift if it was made in China/Japan/Taiwan or any other county where the workers are exploited and there is absolutely no concern for the environment. I had thought about resolving to buy all Canadian but I'm not sure if I will have the time to search out enough different types of shops because right now with working 40 hours a week and taking 3 university classes it is very hard to go wandering around poking through all the little shops, though I greatly enjoy doing so. So I though if I at least limited to things from places like here/US/UK at least I will know that it was not made by some poor worker getting paid pennies so I could buy a shiny new item cheaply. I have found a few local shops that I know I can get Ontario made things in, but for example I want to creates some photo books as gifts and there is this great US company called Blurb that I love using.

Lately people are very upset about so many jobs moving to China or Mexico but very few actually think about the fact that it is our spending habits causing it. If we were not so focused on getting everything as cheep as possible and actually thought about where the product came from and simply refused to buy if it wasn't made here than there would be no market for them to sell to. If there is no market than they wont import as much. If we bought as locally as possible more small family businesses would be able to survive. I know this is easier said than done, the big box stores are so convenient and have longer business hours but I think it is worth the effort.

Fall Gardening

This weekend on Saturday I spent some time outside getting some fall gardening done. It was gloomy and threatening to rain on me but it was actually fairly warm out.  I was supposed to be doing homework but I felt that since there had actually been a bit of, oh I hate to say it, SNOW the other morning,  I thought I should get my bulbs and mums planted. My grandma let me dig up a bunch of irises from her place where they were getting over grown back in September so they were long over due to be planted. I had also bought some tulips and crocuses for the front flowerbed we just put in this year and my Aunt gave me a few leftover pink daffodil bulbs she had. It is getting late enough that I figured I had better get them planted before there is not point to it. And besides, one needs a break from homework which is consuming most weekends. I also had some mums and pumpkins leftover from decorating at my wedding in September so I put them in the side flowerbed by the main door and they look so pretty! I just love working the garden and/or flowerbeds, maybe because I work at a computer all day and am spending extra time on the computer now that I am taking a few classes too, but there is something relaxing about just puttering around outside.



Consumerism and Weddings



Since I am recently married I thought this might be a good time to post about some trends I noticed going through the process. There is a whole industry built around weddings, they are constantly bombarding brides and grooms to be with things they absolutely "need" for their wedding to be a special day. There are commercials, radio commercials, TV shows, bridal shows and magazines all geared at making you think you need all this stuff for your day to be special. It is becoming normal for people to take out loans just to have their dream wedding, but what I would like to know is, what would your dream wedding be if you weren't surrounded with all these different medias telling what your dream wedding should be? Do you think it would be the same?
Now we did spend enough on our wedding, but the key point is we did not spend more than we could afford. To save costs I bought fake flowers on clearance at Micheals and made my bouquets, we did not rent any transportation, I made the centre pieces, we live on a farm so we used our beef so the caterer would knock some off the meal cost (it ended up costing around $11.50/person), I set myself a limit of $1000+tax for my dress and did not go over, I even made my own garter and there are many more things I did, but the point I am trying to make is that I did not read those bridal magazines and at the bridal shows I ignored all booths except those for services I had already decided I was interested in. I did this because seeing all these things truly does make one want them, I certainly felt it when passing by a booth with elaborate sparkly centrepieces or advertising some unique form of transportation and such. Or even when I was searching the web for ideas. It is so easy to loss sight of the fact that it's not all the stuff that makes the day special, it's you and your partner, the knowledge that you are pledging to spend your life together. The stuff is very nice but it is not what is special.
Also making the process difficult is everyone has their own ideas of what you should do, and sometimes you might be ready to go "bridezilla" on them. I certainly felt that temptation too, but it is important to step back and remind yourself that these people are trying to help because they care and I actually made a list of certain items that I set aside so they could choose things too, because at the end of the day are you really going to care what ribbon was used or whatever as long as it comes together. And then the people you love get to feel like they were able to help you and be a part of it.
I'm sure everyone has different experiences when planning their wedding, this is just what I myself experienced.

Hectic Few Months

Today's post will be one without a picture I'm afraid. I usually like to post photos with my posts because I think it makes them more interesting.

I haven't posted in quite a while because I got married in September, which was very exciting! It was also very time consuming, August was a flurry of activity with all of the last minute preparations, even with all the help from my wonderful family, in-laws and friends. The wedding was everything I could have asked for, the rain even held off for the outdoor ceremony and did not begin until we were just taking the final pictures outside. Though it was an amazing day for us I am glad it is done, it really does take a lot out of you, I did a great many DIY projects and just tried to give it many personal touches so that the day would feel like "us". It was well worth the effort!

After the wedding, and I mean right after,  our wedding was on a Saturday and on the Tuesday I started part time university classes while still working full time. So now my free time is down to nil. I already have a college education but with transfer credits I would only need one year of full time classes to get a university degree, doing part time it will take me two years. I thought this would be a good idea just to make sure I leave as many doors as I can open. It is alot of work but it has been 2.5 years since I finished college and I only have 5 years from graduating to get all the transfer credits so I though if I was going to do it I had better do it now before we decide to have children. Not that it can't be done with children, I know plenty who have and/or are, but I don't think that I would bother doing it if I threw a child in the mix. Right now I am into mid-terms but I decided to steel some time away from study to do a brief post since I have been very neglectful of posting lately!

Well, I am off to a late thanksgiving dinner with the in-laws, then back to studying.

Lots and Lots of Canning

Oh, I just love this time of year! My vegetables in the garden are all ripening, though this year with all the wedding preparations I have neglected the garden and it is in a sorry state! But the veggies are still growing. We enjoyed the earlier things like radishes, carrots, beans, lettus and spinach and now the latter things are ready, squash, turnip, bell peppers and hot peppers. Also all the locally grown produce is ready and in the farmers market. That's where I go to get most of the veggies for my canning, though I do use some of the ones from my garden too. So I have been very busy canning away, and ignoring wedding things I probably should be doing!

This pictures just show a few things I left out to give away, I have already put everything else away. I have made jam, relish, peach salsa, vegetable salsa and sweet dill pickles. The pickles are from my Smelly Man's grandma's recipe and they are the best pickles I have ever had! I still have much more canning to do but it may have to wait until after the wedding which is a week from this Saturday. I think there is nothing better than having food that is homemade and it taste better! For example, I always hated relish, I only made it because my Stinky Man likes it, but when I actually tried the homemade stuff I thought it was great! It tastes nothing like the store bought stuff. People always tell me that they love home canned goods but they just don't have the time to do that sort of thing. Well, I may not have kids but I do work full time and we have a farm and I find time to do it. I think a big difference is that around here the TV almost never gets turned on before 7pm on a week night, and I will take my Saturday or Sunday and spend a good portion of the day canning. Sometimes if I am pressed for time I spread it out over a couple days, I will prepare all the fruits or veggies one day and do the cooking and canning the next so it cuts the amount of time I am spending on it in one day in half.

The other day when I was canning I ran out of onions, sugar and vinegar so I ran into town to pick these things up and I was not happy to see that the red onions were imported! The yellow onions were Ontario, but we grow red onions here too! I am always really upset at the grocery store by the lack of Ontario, or at least Canadian produce. I realize there are plenty of things we can't grow here like sugar, coffee, and all that, but I think that if you can get it locally, where every you happen to live, you should. I have started stopping at an orchard on my way home from work to get apples because at the grocery store they too are about 95% imported! The only apples I could find at the local grocery store that were not imported were empire which personally I think are only good pie apples, not good eating apples. And I will admit that some grocery stores are better than other for selling local but I live on a farm near a small town so if I only need a few items my choice of grocery store is limited as I am not driving half an hour for 4 items. I suppose that means I need to plan my shopping trips. I think that is part of the reason I like canning so much, because I know that the fruits or berries or vegetables used were all grown right here.

Thrift Store Bakeware Finds

I just love wandering around the local thrift stores and see what treasures I can find, my smelly man likes to tell me that I am filling our house with junk, obviously there is no appreciation for vintage things. But that's okay, we are all different! Anyhow I digress, back to my finds. There are two thrift stores in the town I live near and one is very much geared toward vintage and so is a bit more expensive than the other. I think vintage has grown in popularity here. The other thrift store in town only very seldom has any treasures to be found. But when I visit my mom, she lives about a half hour away and I go to the thrift stores in that town I can always find something there.

So here are a couple of photos of the bakeware treasures I have found. The small blue dish is my most recent find. But my favourite is the yellow dish with the big yellow flower on the lid. I use that to serve nacho dip so I can do a hot and mild one because it is separated into two sections. In one of the mixing bowls you can see the vintage cookie cutters I found, I got those at a yardsale for $0.25! I find it very useful to have these things around, because when you have company you always need extra bowls and such.

My Yardsale Dresser is Finished!

In the spring I wrote about a yardsale I had gone to where I found many wonderful buys. One of these buys was this dresser, except is was painted pink! Also, someone had replaced the brass handles with ugly ones. Well, I have finally completed refinishing it. I love it, I think it is beautiful. I didn't stain it, I just used polymerize tung oil. I also went out and bought some nice brass handles for it. I knew that was what it was supposed to have because once I got the paint off the keyholes were brass. I know it didn't turn out perfect but I just love it! You can see that the carving on the mirror is darker, that's because I couldn't sand it to get the old stain off properly but I think it looks good like that, it makes the carving stand out. My fiancee, the smelly man, was not please when I brought this home, he thought it was junk! He now agrees it was definitely worth the $30 I spent on it. Though I did spend a lot more on materials to refinish it, it is still cheaper than buying a new maple dresser.