Christmas decor

I got all the Christmas decorations up just a few days after Thanksgiving so that I can enjoy them while I'm here at the house before I leave for the city and Texas.
The tree with my handmade Christmas card ornaments...



The new wooden angel star tree topper I made this year from a weathered piece of plywood I found in the basement...



My wooden handmade nativity...




The 'trinket tree' in the dining room...





The mantel with my Santa stocking and leftover tree boughs...



My 'still raccoon' ornament...



The wreath on the front door...



Jingle bells on the French doors...



A mini wreath in the living room...



And a bowl of glass ornaments on the dining room table...





MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM SAG HARBOR!

The seashell lamp

Years ago someone gave me a small lamp shaped like a seashell. It's a little "twee" for my taste but it does fit the beachy theme of the house. For a time, I kept it in the bathroom. but the cord on it was incredibly long. One day I decided to cut the cord and re-wire the thing. Bad idea. I screwed up something and it no longer worked. Into the basement it went to collect dust for years.
The other day I thought I'd take another crack at wiring it. I bought a new six dollar electrical cord and plug at the hardware store and attached it to the socket. It worked! New lamp!
I thought it would look cute on top of the wardrobe in my bedroom to add a little more light to that corner of the room, especially at night when I would be on my computer lounging in bed.
I love re-purposing old things and getting new life out of them.

Changing it up

I'd grown bored with the furniture layout of the living room, or "the fireplace room" as I sometimes call it. Literally years have gone by since I last moved things around. I was ready for a change. So I decided on a facing the couch in front of the fireplace instead of catty-corner to it. I put the Windsor chair by the diamond partial wall divider off the kitchen, and I put the Ethan Allen "Martha Washington" chair by the bay window. Somehow it all made the room look a lot bigger. Funny how objects can trick the eye that way. I always thought the former placement of the couch allowed me to look at the fire in the winter and also out the window to see the snow at the same time, but this new arrangement does pretty much the same thing.





UPDATE: I added one more piece of furniture to this arrangement. I had a little side table just taking up space in the home office upstairs. I decided to put it next to the Windsor chair underneath the standing light because I like sitting in that chair when I read. I needed a place to put a drink. It tucked in nicely underneath the lamp's arm.

Tea Tray

I had a brainstorm yesterday.
I wanted a little tray big enough to hold a mug of tea and a few cookies, also with room to lay down my spoon and the used tea bag after it was wrung out.
I got the idea to make a little wooden one in the shape of a teapot, thinking the oval(ish) shape would be perfect.
I Googled "teapot cutting board" and, voila!, i turned up a couple of cute pictures I could copy.
In no time at all I found a piece of scrap wood, fired up the jigsaw, and had my little tray, and I love it. Corny? Yes. Useful? U betcha!





UPDATE: I found it hard picking up the tray when I had it loaded up with my teatime accoutrement. I had to slide it to the edge of the counter to pick it up which was awkward. So I decided to add a couple of knobs to each side in order to facilitate handling it. They are some old ceramic knobs I had in my jars of odd and ends in the basement. They sort of look like eyeballs, LOL.

Current obsession: Jane Eyre

I was in Barnes & Noble the other day and saw a display of classic books with traditional hardback covers...at great prices.
I've been wanting to read more of the classic books so I decided that now would be a good time to start. "Jane Eyre" was sitting on top and that looked like a good place to start.



What a great book. I've only got a few chapters left but it was a delight to read--and I was fearful that it would be a slog. It's basically a Gothic romance with a strong-willed heroine. The writing is lovely, flowing and flowery without being cumbersome. I can't wait to rent the old Hollywood movie with Joan Fontaine and Orson Welles.

The Christmas Mug

A few years ago I won a Starbucks mug in a Yankee swap at my office. White poinsettias with red berry centers. Now it's become my own little tradition to use it for my morning joe the month leading up to Christmas. Had a nice cup this beautiful morning while perusing the new December issue of Martha Stewart Living in my robe and thermals. Nice :)

Thanksgiving 2017

Since I'm going home to Texas for Christmas, financial reasons kept me in New York for Thanksgiving. I was invited upstate by some friends who have a place in Columbia county and to to Concord, Connecticut by another friend...but it all seemed like so much trouble. I just wanted to spend a quiet holiday here in lovely Sag Harbor. It was a beautiful day; pretty cold, with a high of only 38 degrees, but there were blue skies and bright sun.
Just because I was going to be alone, that didn't mean I was going to miss out on a turkey dinner. NO WAY. I made a scrumptious turkey meatloaf--a Barefoot Contessa classic recipe--

Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa Turkey Meatloaf

and had stuffing (yes, StoveTop, but I doctored it up with celery and golden raisins), brown sugar roasted sweet potoatoes, and creamed spinach. Oh, and everybody's favorite: jellied Ocean Spray cranberry sauce!
It was a delicious meal.
And to top it off I decided I couldn't have Thanksgiving without pumpkin pie. I made my favorite, "Silky Pumpkin Pie" from the Foster's Market Cookbook. It's terrific, not too sweet, not too spicy.
This happens to be the first dessert I've made SINCE MAY. How else would I have lost all that weight? But in case you're wondering, I'm only having VERY SMALL SLICES. They'll be so small that pie should last for a week and a half, LOL.

Foster's Market Silky Pumpkin Pie

2017 has been an odd year for me. I hate all the horribleness in the world...but I've had the most restful and stress-free year, despite all the health issues I had to overcome. I'm so blessed, to have a gorgeous apartment on Sutton Place and an adorable cottage in Sag Harbor is truly the life of a very lucky AND THANKFUL person.

Winterizing

With the turn of the seasons it's time to get the house and yard ready for winter. That means pulling in all the throw pillows on the porch furniture and storing them in the basement, also bringing everything closer to the house so it's more protected from the elements, namely snow.





The biggest task is raking all the leaves in the yard. In the month of November the village allows you to sweep all your leaves out onto the street by the curb. They come around and sweep them up into a big truck. I guess it our tax dollars at work. In years past I'd always have my yard guy do the Fall cleanup; sadly, those days are over. It's now up to yours truly. I spent all afternoon today raking an hauling the leaves in the front yard to the street.



I used my wheelbarrow. It was a lot of work. And I still have the backyard to do! Not to mention getting up on a ladder and cleaning the gutters. Boy, owning a house is a lot a work, especially when you're poor. OY.

HoneyCrisp Apples

I was in Schiavoni's the other day, the village grocery store that's lovely but insanely expensive (you're paying for the convenience of not having to drive to the King Kullen in Bridgehampton), and when I was checking out, the friendly checkout lady picked up the regular Red Delicious apples I was buying and said, "Have you ever had a HoneyCrisp apple?" I admitted I had not. "They're delicious! Like taking a bite of Autumn." I made a mental note to try them the next time I made my apple purchase. So a week or so later I'm in the produce section and notice that the HoneyCrisp apples are--I'm not kidding--FOUR NINETY-NINE A POUND. Can you believe that craziness?? I swallowed hard and bought two just for the heck of it, but I was not happy about it. How good could these apples be? Well, truth be told, they were AWESOME. Checkout Lady was right. They really are a taste of Fall in your mouth. A perfect apple experience...crisp, juicy, and delectable. The best apple you'll ever eat, promise. I went online and did some research on why they cost so much. It's because they have a very thin skin and can bruise easily. Picking them is a fragile business and takes much longer than picking the average apple varieties. More worker time plus more careful shipping packaging equals higher price. But they are SO worth it. When I have them on hand I wait all day for my 4:00 apple break so I can take that first luscious bite. Apple Heaven! I highly recommend you try them. They're my current Fall obsession.

HoneyCrisp Apples: DELICOUS

Ivy topiaries

It's gotten cold enough now that I felt I had to bring in all the outside plants form the deck and porch. They consist of ivys on wire topiary forms. I think of them as the poor man's myrtle topiary, which are extremely expensive.
I brought them all into the dining room because it gets the most light throughout the day. It reminds me of a conservatory when they're all around the room, like the room in the old board game 'Clue'. It's nice to have all the greenery in the winter months.

House anniversary: 20 years!

Today marks 20 years since I've owned the house. Gosh, time flies. Seems like yesterday that I had reacted a car and took off from work early to head out East to make the closing at my lawyer's office in the village. As I drove into town the leaves were falling and kids were out trick or treating in their holiday costumes. It was so enchanting. I remember I bought a pumpkin to put on the front steps, my first stab at decorating!
And now here I am 20 years later, the house (and the village) have changed so much but it's still an utter joy to live here.
I took a snap this morning of all my holiday pumpkins on the steps to mark the occasion.
Here's the next 20 years and more house adventures to come :)

Bugs in the bee

One of my favorite paper mache sculptures is a big bumble bee. I made it a few years ago and I'm quite fond of it. It took forever because there are so many external parts to the anatomy. But it was worth the effort. Because it is fairly large, I keep it in my home office/craft room on a little end table by the window.
A few weeks ago I noticed that there were a few piles of gray 'dust' underneath the bee on the table. On closer inspection there were tiny holes on the body of the bee where the dust was dropping from. An even closer inspection, I saw very tiny little bugs--"no-see-um" sized, around the holes. They looked like teeny termites. Were they EATING my bee? How did they get there? Since I would keep the windows open upstairs for ventilation, I think they were so small they got thru the window screens and alighted on the sculpture.
This, of course, freaked me out. I sprayed some RAID insect spray on a paper towel and wiped down the sculpture around the little holes. I then applied some Elmer's glue over the holes, repainted those sections, and painted a new coat of Modpodge over the whole thing. I thought would solve the problem. It didn't.
I put the bee in my bedroom to keep an eye on it. Well, some more dust started to appear beneath it again. Not as much dust as before, but enough to be annoying. On top of that I saw another little bug.
So I decided to take no prisoners.
I brought the bee down to the basement work table over a several sheets of newspaper. I sprayed the body underneath where most of the holes were with a good amount of RAID directly. I let it dry over night. So far I've seen no more dust. I hope this does the trick, I really don't want to get rid of this piece. I put too much work into it to let be destroyed by insects. Stay tuned.

The basement ceiling

Yesterday I started a long overdue project I've needed to get to for years: painting the basement ceiling.
I've been wanting to whitewash it to match the walls, an arduous project I tackled about 10 years ago. When I did the walls back then it made all the difference in lightening up the gray oppressiveness down there. I never got to the ceiling because I knew it was going to be a bear.
So I decided that this needed to be my big Winter Project for the season...I mean, what ELSE have I got to do? LOL
When you're looking at a huge task I find it's always best to think of it in small steps so as not to get overwhelmed. Just start nibbling and after a while you'll be further along than you realize.
I'm going to do one "room" of the basement at a time; I started with the handyman corner. I'll prime each section's ceiling and then go back and paint, probably with a nice Decorator's White. Because the ceiling is broken up into smaller sections because of the cross beams, it helps to keep track of the job. I did the first section. It's slow going. Since it's overhead you can only keep your arm elevated for short bursts of time. You feel like Michaelangelo painting the Sistine Chapel!
So stick in a pin in this date, the official first day of the project, and let's see how long it take me to complete. My dream would be to have it finished by Spring. Stay tuned...

23 lbs (and counting)

I'm proud of myself.
Since late last Spring I've lost 23 pounds. Pretty impressive, huh?


And the dirty little secret was that it wasn't that hard.
I woke up one day and realized I had dropped a lot of weight.
How did I do it? Well, it started with a visit to my new doctor.
He did a complete physical, along with all the standard blood work.
I was basically fine, but he did say my blood sugar levels were way too high.



I told him that it was no surprise given what a bad sweet tooth I have.
Since I was laid off I had made it a practice to always have some sort of luscious dessert on hand...pies, cakes, cookies, breads, sweet rolls, etc...you name it, I baked it. And I ate it ALL. Not good. Not good for my sugar level and especially not good for my weight.
I had ballooned to 217 pounds. All my clothes fit me pretty tight too.
So I simply decided to cut way, WAY down on the sugar. I went cold turkey on no desserts. The last quick bread I made was at the end of May.



I also cut down on the amount of coffee I have in the mornings. Since I put sugar in my coffee, cutting down from 5 cups a morning to 3 has helped with the sugar intake.
I also cut out potatoes for breakfast.
All I have now are 3 scrambled eggs for protein on a bagel for a load of carbs to get me thru the day.



In the afternoon I have a piece of fruit, usually an apple. I used to have a chunk of the day's dessert--no more. I love apples because it's a good amount of food and they're easy to transport around if I'm out and about. I just throw one in my little backpack with a paper towel. Easy cleanup.



I cut out soda water a long time ago too. I only drink water, most often with a wedge of lemon.
I have a sensible dinner, usually a one pot meal that contains a protein, vegetables, and a little carbs.
Later at night I'd have another go at the sweet stuff; again, that's in the past. Now I usually have a few spoonfuls of peanut butter (Peter Pan if I can find it, my favorite brand since I was a kid).



That's my eating scenario. I can't say it would work for you, but it's done wonders for me.
This is all coupled with more daily exercise.
Since I've gotten older my knees are not what they used to be. Running on a treadmill or outside is not almost impossible. My legs can't take the pounding. So I switched to walking.




When I'm in the city I do what I call "urban hiking". I just walk wherever I go. I've taken a lot of jaunts thru Central Park. I take a small pony of water, an apple and I'm good to go.
The other thing that's helped is supplementing the exercise with two invaluable pieces of technology. I got a new iPod shuffle that holds a lot of songs and the battery lasts forever, much longer than if I used my phone for the same purpose. Having the tunes makes the time go by so much faster.




The second thing is I got a FitBit wristband.




It really helps me keep track of how far I've walked, daily and by the week. It sends me reminders, updates, and encouraging messages.
So all this has helped me drop a lot of weight. It's really nice when people notice. My friend Dean was very complimentary. My sister Kelley noticed the difference in my Instagram profile picture. I even got a comment from one of my doormen who I hadn't seen in a while.
Now the challenge is that I still want to lose an additional 10 to 15 pounds. I really want to look good in a Speedo by next summer. I know I can do it. The funny thing is that I don't really miss all the desserts all that much...that saying keeps rolling around in my head, "Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels." And that's SO TRUE.




My other mantra is "Conceive, Believe, Achieve"...red Speedo here I come!!