This is a "Best of the Best" Tour

Hi everyone.  I sure hope you are all surviving the chaos, albeit magic, of Christmas.  I know some of you are having some extremely cold and/or wet weather, so I won't even tell you that we've been complaining about the 80+ degree weather we've been having.  Oops, sorry!  Anyway, I'm just about "tweaked out" on holiday decor, but thought it would be fun to do a collection of my favorites from around our home.  Some you may have seen, but others are new to the blog.  I'm not going to do much dialogue, just lots of photos.  I will be linking to the following sites:  All Things Merry & Bright ,  Tablescape Thursday, The Shabby Chic Cottage, No Minimalist Here ,  Boring to Better Party, The DIY Show Off , Deck the Halls Friday,  Favorite Things Saturday, Funky Junk Interiors,  Vanessa's Inspiration Friday, Metamorphosis Monday & Cottage and Vine.  Hope you enjoy the tour.

My small collection of crystal & faux mercury glass.

                             

This is a fun little wallhanging that I put together a couple of weeks ago.

If you look out the window you can see one of our 2 pink grapefruit trees.  We have tangelos & a couple of different oranges & lemons.  Everything is just loaded with fruit this year.

We need lots of this!

Abby likes to walk around on top of the packages.  She thinks it's her duty to make this part of her house patrol route.

I just bought these sweet little bird salt and pepper shakers at Pier 1.  You will be seeing more of these little cuties in vignettes in the future.

This beauty was a gift from a dear friend.  She said she got it at Sam's Club which means Costco probably has them, too.

I took this photo as part of a photo challenge which was to photograph a reflection.  As you might guess, the reflection is me taking the picture -- that would be lots & lots of me!

We've been doing some cosmetic remodeling on both of our bathrooms.  My earlier post today has before and afters.  First up is our guest bath which is very small, but we are pretty happy with our redo.  I have my new favorite Bath & Body Works soap, Vanilla Bean Noel & the matching hand cream sitting right there ready to use.  Yummy!

Have had these cute little hand towels for a couple of years.

This is our master bath after the cosmetic upgrade.  I really want to keep the look very simple in here because it is a very small room.

I hope you haven't fallen asleep looking at all these photos.  The last couple of days I've finally caught up on everything and had a chance to just walk around and enjoy my own surroundings.  I just wanted to share it with you.  Hope you enjoyed your stroll through my Christmas house and please come back real soon.

CAS

What? Paint in the midst of Christmas chaos?

I'm happy to be linking to:
Domestically Speaking--Power of Paint Party
Boring to Better Party

Yes, as crazy as that may seem, that's exactly what we did.  The Man has been on "Use or Lose" vacation since Thanksgiving, so we (I) had to keep him busy.  We are planning to put our house up for sale after the first of the year, so there are some things that need to be done before then.  Just about everything else in our home has had a fairly recent redo or complete remodel, but it's been awhile since bathroom updates.  We live in a townhouse with very non-descript (although functional) bathrooms, and we had planned a complete remodel of both rooms until we decided to move.  Now we don't want to sink a whole bunch of money into that major of a project.  We decided to go just the cosmetic route & that made such a difference.

This is the "before" of the master bath.  When we bought our townhouse (15 years ago), there was gold shag carpet throughout.  I'm not just talking "wall-to-wall," but truly "wall-to-wall" including both baths and even the kitchen.  I know, gross!  We added the floor tile at that time and painted the vanity a cream color (it had been very dark, cheap wood cabinetry).  Sorry, no photo of that.   A few years ago, The Man added wainscoting and repainted the vanity white & changed the handles.  That is what you see in this photo just before The Man got started with the current project.

The Man regrouted the tile, making it look brand new, & painted the vanity this lovely chocolate brown color.  Added new hardware in a hand-rubbed bronze which more closely matches the light fixture.  He also painted the trim around the medicine cabinet.

Sorry this pic is so dark.

I think it turned out very nice.  A fresh new look on a budget.  Of course I had to add a bit of Christmas cheer in here.

Now, the hall bath or guest bath.  Started out much the same as the master bath, but I had updated the towels, shower curtain, rugs, & accessories about a year ago.  The vanity is very small in here, so we added this $3 garage sale find a few years ago to hold "stuff."  This little side table has served many uses in our home over the last dozen years or so and has had many different paint colors.  Now it's ready for yet another change.

The Man did basically the same changes in here that he did in the master.  We chose brushed silver hardware in here to match the light fixture.  The Man has never liked my choice of paint color in this bath, but he doesn't even mind it so much now with the chocolate brown vanity & side table.

I'm loving this soft gray lavender on the walls with the green towels & shower curtain, & a mix of silver & dark brown accents.

Hope you enjoyed the little tour through our painting & grouting chore.  Please stop by again soon.

CAS

A Sugar "High" & a Walk Down Memory Lane

Thanks to Vanessa at Southern in My Heart for hostessing a Cookie Exchange Party.  I've been trying to be an observer & less of a participator in all the blogs the last few days as part of my 12-step program for this blog-addiction I have.  But, then along came sweet Vanessa talking about what fun she and her sister have doing these recipe exchange parties, and how could I resist.  Seriously, could anyone resist that sweet girl?  So anyway, my recipe contribution is one of just a few goodies I will be making for our family get-together.  

Before I give the recipe, you have to take a walk down "memory lane" -- oh, who am I kidding?  In most cases, that would be a walk down your Momma's "Memory Lane."  I forget how young most of you are & how I'm not!  This is a peak at my favorite "goodie" cookbooks.  I have many more that I use some, but these are the ones that have buttered corners & flour between the pages.

This is my oldest, about 35 years, & still my favorite.  This is also the one that has the recipe that I will be sharing.

 I love that it has pictures of each cookie & where it's located.

And this is the recipe, Lemon Squares.  They are very easy & super sweet.  I'll be making them using lemons off our own tree.  And, no you don't have to try to read the recipe from here; I'll type it out for you.

                                              Lemon Squares 

1 cup all-purpose flour                

1/2 cup butter                              

1/4 cup confectioners' sugar     

2 eggs

1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
2 or 3 Tbsp. lemon juice


Heat oven to 350*.  Measure flour and blend with butter & confectioners' sugar thoroughly.  Press evenly into square pan, 8x8x2, building up 1/2" edge.  Bake 20 minutes.  Beat rest of ingredients together.  Pour over crust and bake about 25 minutes more or just until no imprint remains when lightly touched in center.  Cut into squares when cooled.


FYI:  I usually double this recipe and bake it in a 9x13 pan.


Thanks for letting me add in the extras.  I'm full of reminiscing this year and the thoughts come unexpectedly some times.  Hope you enjoyed your stroll down "Memory Lane" and y'all come back real soon.  I'm also linking to Funky Junks Favorite Christmas Recipe.
CAS