Grazing Grazing Grazing!

It’s summer again, and that means it’s time for me to go green and start grazing on lettuce and green produce stuff. You know.... just so I can bond with all the other dieters and all. It balances out the winter months when I go free-spirit by shoveling mac-n-cheese and mashed potatoes and gravy in my mouth. (We can have some pretty scary winter temps here in F-l-o-r-i-d-a, and I need the extra fuel to keep warm!)

I’m not one of those people who think that if something is found on a salad bar, that it’s free reign “diet” food so it can be added to my trough. Nope, I’m a no-nonsense, let’s-get-down-to-business version of greens grazer that leans more toward common sense and boring calorie counting, with a little self-deprivation sprinkled in. Basic is best, but a salad doesn't need to be boring, either. Once a week or so during my diet ritual, I cherry-top my bowl of lettuce, cukes, raw broccoli, and red onion salad, and enjoy a fun, flirty salad that explodes with yummy deliciousness yet doesn’t break my diet mode. Here’s one of my favorites:

Find out how to make it here.
 

Spring: A Time For Buds, Blooms, and New Beginnings
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Around here, Spring is a time for planting and a time for enjoying the beauty that Mother Nature has to offer. It's a magical time, when germination, pollination, and imagination can provide us with an endless array of splendor and delight.

I hadn’t tried these before, but picked up a few at the end of last season because of their gorgeous blue color. I'm not sure what they are, but they seem to have brought out the green in my thumb and are growing so thick and beautifully!

Our back garden wall is lined with fragrant jasmine, and over the years it has given us the sweetest scent in the evenings while in bloom. We enjoy patio time and dinners outside especially during this season of such an elegant fragrance bouquet.

Fresh little plants are just getting their start and will be filling in and peeking their heads up and over the wall very soon.

I’ll never get tired of the beauty of snapdragons. The tag said they’d grow to 10 – 12 inches, but these are more than double that height.

Oh, how I agree.

Let's Get Something Straight:
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I was enjoying a painting project at my youngest daughter's house this past week and mindlessly rolling along in auto-paint mode as I was getting back in tune with my inner "renovation chic" self. Painting is one of those tasks where I can have justification to be picky, finicky, and persnickety. (A sub contractor once told me, “You’re just too picky!” - and all I’d suggested was for him to keep his man paws off the caulking and that I would do it myself.) 

Anyway, I love to paint… yada... yada... UNTIL I hear the words (whether they are in my own head or coming from someone else), “How about an accent wall?” First of all, aren’t those outdated yet? Can’t someone find a way to faux pas the accent wall? Yea, I know and I'll admit they are nice and can add so much to a room or area, and I love the finished look - it's just that it slows me down, is all.

In this project, there was a definite "red wall" request. Red is so unforgiving! Now, I’m no newbie to this, but I do have to admit that the nearly 56 year old hands are not quite as steady as they once were back in the day when I could cut in a flawless straight line while standing on one foot, chewing gum, and using my free hand to touch up my hair. I'm super embarrassed to say that this was my most recent attempt, however... Did I do this on purpose just to blog about it? You be the judge.

Whoa-a! Did that make you dizzy and seasick?

Pretty bad - huh? Oh well, after this "what was I thinking?" first free-hand attempt, I realized that I needed to resort to the tape method. With the normal tape method, there is always some bleed-through and jags, but with this NEWER method we can use that bleed-through jag to an advantage because color #1 is bled on color #1, so it won't show. Let me just show you...

From now on I’ll refer to the sand-color wall as paint color #1 and the red paint as color #2. Here goes a much better method to get a perfectly straight line with NO bleeds or jags:

Step 1: When straightening the edge of paint color #2 (remember, this is the red paint), tape on the connecting wall and press down the tape against the edge where you want your straight, flawless line. If you're starting from scratch and not correcting a mess (like me), cut in to the wall where you want the perfect edge with color #1, and paint slightly over that edge. Wait for it to dry, then continue with step 2.

Step 2: Using color #1, paint over the edge of the tape to seal it. That way when it bleeds (and it will) the color will bleed on itself!

Step 3: Wait for color #1 to dry completely.

Step 4: After color #1 dries, using color #2, cut in to the taped edge and go slightly over. Roll wall out with color #2.

Step 5: When wall and paint color #2 is completely dry, remove tape by gently pulling it at an upward angle, away from the wall.

Step 6: Stand back and enjoy a perfect, picky-proof, finicky-worthy, and persnickety-proud, straight line! Wah-la! You’re now a painting genius (too)! Paint color #1 sealed the tape for color #2.

Here’s another wall we accented when warming up the blah, funky-beige living room walls. Even if colors are in the same family and are only shades apart and more forgiving, there's no reason why they shouldn't be perfectly straight, and with this method they can and will be.

                                                                                       
Okay - back to work now. I just love this stuff!