Windowscaping

I've mentioned a few times recently that I've been sorting and organizing the storage area in the basement.  I go down there to work and a few hours can pass without any effort.  It's mostly stuff I have to make a decision on and I've been trying to do it on my own.

This is the kind of stuff I've been moving around.  I'm not the physical dynamo I used to be so I go at all of this with much less speed!  I'm just glad to be getting it done.
 

I didn't have time to do a tablescape this week so I snapped some shots of my "windowscape" in the kitchen!

 I was out watering plants the other day and I accidentally snapped off this pretty hydrangea flower with my hose so I took it inside to put it in water.

  I quickly searched for something and spotted this sugar bowl and laid it in there.

This sugar bowl was part of a set from the mother of a friend.

Ruth was a kind and enthusiastic woman that anyone would like and I always admired her.  I found this hiding in the back of a cupboard that I had sorted out in the kitchen over the past weekend.  Some of this sorting has turned up some surprises so I'm glad I've been doing it!

These are my Endless Summer Hydrangeas where it came from.  It was still a bit overcast  when I took the picture since it had rained overnight. 
(The red piece is a whimsical rain gauge)

This is my window box outside the kitchen. The Browallia (purple plant) has been slow to bloom but it's finally showing it's color.  The sweet potato vine is getting large and tends to overwhelm the other plants.  I love the colors of summer!  Those little orange begonias make me happy!

Might as well have something enjoyable to look at inside and out- right? 

I'm joining
Between Naps on the Porch
for Tablescape Thursday

Morphed Mantel

Another small change in the living room. 

 I made a small change to my wire bowl candle display on the coffee table.  I was in Pier 1 Imports and saw the beach glass with the reddish/gold accents and grabbed it up because it was just what I wanted to go with the colors in my room.  I changed the candles to update the look too.  

 The rusty red candle and beach glass go perfectly with my pillow accents.

I've been on a quest to organize some storage areas of mine and I ran across this brown glass candlestick that I bought during the holiday season a couple of years ago.  I decided to see if I could use it on the mantel.  I propped one of the deco spheres on top of it and

I started messing with the faux book boxes and the covered marble dish and it finally dawned on me to stand the books up on end instead of stacking them like I had been.

I think an oval tray would be nice under the candlestick with the spheres so I'll be hunting for one of those now!

Morphed mantel!

I'm joining 

Between Naps on the Porch 

for

Metamorphosis Monday

The Dedicated House
for
Make It Pretty Monday

Our Home Away From Home
for
Tuesday's At Our Home 

A Stroll Thru Life
for
Inspire Me Tuesday

Ivy and Elephants

What's It Wednesday

So Easy Cake Mix Cookies

I had a hankering for some cookies but the temperature in the house was kind of warm and I didn't want to pull out all the ingredients and and have a lot to clean up afterwards. 

I love something easy and with good results and I found a way to make cookies super quick and without a lot of fuss! 

Infuse With Liz

 I chose a Devil's Food cake mix I had on hand and added some semi-sweet chocolate chip morsels and finely chopped walnuts.  Super tasty!  All you need are two eggs and veg. oil to mix with the cake mix.

This is great too if you find yourself short on time and were supposed to bring cookies to a school event or such.  Your kids could help make these in no time!

 I decided to serve them with some milk as a midday snack

So Easy Cake Mix Cookies

1 Box any flavor of cake mix (I used Duncan Hines Devil's Food Cake Mix)

2 Eggs

1/2 Cup Oil

Mix the eggs and oil together real quick and in the cake mix. You can add other ingredients like nuts, choc. chips, or even a flavoring if desired. (I added chocolate chip morsels and finely chopped walnuts- so good!)

Drop by spoonfuls (I rolled them in my hands just a tad to form them) onto a cookie sheet.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes (Mine were just right at 10 minutes)

Makes 3 dozen

Printable version below

 Yummy and so easy!

 Click "here" for a printable recipe

I'm joining
Between Naps on the Porch
for
Metamorphosis Monday 

The Dedicated  House
for
Make It Pretty Monday

Kathe with an E 
for
Your'e Gonna Love it Tuesday

Our Home Away From Home
for
Tuesday's At Our Home

 

This Week's Ramblings #5

Well another week has passed and I have to say it was a bit chilly here for a couple of days. That polar vortex hasn't quite forgotten us yet!  It dropped into the 40's for a couple of nights and I kicked on the furnace to take the chill off- I shouldn't have to do that in July!

First I'd like to thank Ron over at The Uptown Acorn for this great Insulated Tumbler that I won from his blog just before July 4th! 

I actually received it during the holiday weekend and was able to use it! I 've never had one of these before but they really work well and the ice stays good for a long time.  Nothing like a refreshing cold glass of lemonade- especially when it stays nice and cold!

Thank you again Ron!

 Ron is having another giveaway if you want to visit him "here" 

I posted about a a new storage solution for my faux florals "here"

I spent some time after this continuing to organize my storage area.  You can see a hint of my plastic tubs on the right.  We have some old cheap metal shelving units that we plan to replace and the tubs will go on the shelves.

We stopped into a little tourist shop on our way up to Mackinaw City called Sea Shell City and I posted about that "here" 

I added some palms to the fireplace mantel and posted about it "here"

 I made a change since I did that post with these candles

Pier 1 has these awesome beach glass pieces with a rusted red color, it's
more of the look I wanted before except I was trying to work in some blue
to the room which didn't really work in as well as I had hoped.

 I'll have to light them tonight!

 The coloring goes perfect with my accents in this room.

On Thursday

I added a tablescape I created

 called "Cheery Cherry Blue" as seen "here"
I've had a lot of nice responses to this- thank you everyone!

I also did a post on my garden blog If you'd like to see what else keeps me busy and where my flowers come from!

 Sit With Me In My Garden

I'm looking forward to this nice warm weekend that they are promising us!

I hope your weekend will be divine!