Share It Sunday’, Guest Blog Dianes’ Kitchen Table!

Nominated by last week’s guest Bongo Dog Blog!

Decorating the Tree – that was the plan

So I figured I’d get a load of laundry going, do a little cleaning, and start decorating the Christmas tree.  Standing downstairs in the laundry room I looked down and figured, eh these pants should go in…and the sweatshirt too.  Just as I got the washer, Lola went nuts barking, jumping and clawing at the front door.

Oh-oh…somebody rang the doorbell.  And I don’t have any pants on.  No shirt either. No way to get upstairs without going through the foyer and since the front door has side lights, there’s no way to go upstairs to get any clothes.  The only dry fabric available to me was a small hand towel.  So no problem, a little chilly but I’ll wait them out.  Except Lola’s still going nuts and instead of the doorbell, whoever has decided that with all the barking I might not have heard the doorbell so they decided to knock on the door.  Seriously, if I don’t come for the doorbell do you think I’ll come for the knocking?  And don’t you see what’s happening to my door and windows?

In the lull between barks I can hear a little tap-tap-tap on the side window and someone saying “aw…look a puppy…too cute”.  No it is not a puppy, it is not cute and if you don’t go away soon, I really am going to open that door naked AND let Lola out.  How fast can you run?  So please, feel free to stop by but do call first – I’d appreciate it.

The excitement of visitors over and myself dressed I finally got on with decorating the tree.  First decoration every year is usually this one.  Hey, you bring a tree into the house and things happen (better than what Lola did the first year):

I love my tree decorations because so many have been gifts or collected while traveling.  I also have a hobby of making eggshell ornaments that started with a gift to Niki for her first Christmas from my sister in law:

Once I took a look at that I decided “I can do that!”.  And started collecting eggshells whenever I baked by cutting an oval out of the front of the egg with teeny embroidery scissors.  We did spit lots of eggshells out because I always missed a few little bits.  After cleaning them out, I coat the shell with Mod Podge, then paint, then use layers of shellac – and I always put them at least 3′ up since the Berner tail takes out everything on the lower branches every year.  These I also fasten very carefully since everything on the tree is a cat toy.

So, at the request of my blogger friend at A Detailed House (please, you have to stop by her site because she is the most talented and creative person I’ve run across Here) these are some of the ornaments that I’ve created over the years. Niki used to skate competitively and one of my first was this of her on ice:

 A little gift for the teacher:

And lots of just fun things using minatures, my favorite being tiny seashells (yes, that’s Chatham beach sand) that I find at the beach.

So those are just some of the ornaments but what would a tree be without the angel on top?

Okay, so Lola wasn’t very happy playing an angel for long:

About me!

Dianes' Kitchen Table!

I have never been known to enjoy spending time in a kitchen cooking although I truly appreciate a great meal.  When we built this house 20 years ago I tried to convince the builder and my husband to not bother putting in a kitchen.   Why spend so much money on a room for brewing coffee and eating take-out?  Unfortunately I was convinced to add the kitchen because of  resale value.

Now I’m actually a pretty good cook and I have some recipes that are family favorites that I hope to share with you.  I feel great when friends compliment me on meals or ask for copies of my recipes.  It’s just that I always consider a successful meal one where the smoke alarm doesn’t start bleating and I don’t end up at the emergency room in need of stitches. I also have so many interests such as sewing, painting, crafts, reading, photography, gardening, jewelry making, that I get caught up in those things and find that dropping what I’m working on to put together a regularly scheduled meal is just boring and an interruption.  It’s usually too late to make anything exciting.  I never have enough or the right ingredients on hand due to poor or no planning on my part.  And so, I pull out whatever happens to be in the fridge just to get it over with.  Or even better!  Restaurants!!!  I’m a huge fan of restaurants both to sit down and enjoy a great meal or take-out.  It helps out the local economy, cuts down on your electric bill since you’re not using that energy sucking stove or dishwasher, and let’s face it, they’re experts – that’s why they were invented.

Also, since I’m now spending a lot more time in “the spare room” and it is about 20 years old, I am ready to embark on a kitchen re-do which I hope to post updates on once I actually get started.  The new tile floor will be first to replace the old vinyl due to a mishap a few years ago when Lola, our Bernese Mountain Dog decided that vinyl made a great snack & ate the floor.  And yes, I will definitely be writing about Lola who’s name comes from the song in Damn Yankees, “Whatever Lola wants, Lola gets”.  There will be many Lola stories and special cooking instructions with my recipes that includes cooking around a “plus size” dog.

Continuing to give something back on my ‘Share It Sunday’. We all share and we grow together.  Pop over say hello and make a new friend.

From the author Molly The Wally.

And don’t forget Roo’s Power Of The Paw web site where we can stop over and wish our furry friends who are under the weather well.

 POTP!