Tablescape Thursday-Happy Halloween!

     I don't know which is more fun, playing with my dishes and creating a table for Tablescape Thursday or visiting all the other blogs and seeing the gorgeous table settings. Please visit our host Susan at Between Naps on the Porch and check out some of the other participants. You won't be disappointed.

     This week I decided to have a little fun with my table. I set it for a simple Halloween dinner for four. I changed my table this week from my glass top Crate and Barrel table to my grandmother's antique oak table. I thought it looked "warmer" for winter. Now, if I can just remember where we put the leaves when we moved here 6 years ago.

     I am learning that having patio doors near the dining room table isn't great for pictures. Even on a gray day, it does strange things to the lighting.

     This was a simple way to get a Halloween look without spending a lot of money. The white dishes and the flatware are what I use every day. The black salad plates are from Walmart ($1.25) and I can already picture a black and white table coming in the future.  The "placemats" were made from inexpensive fabric that I simply cut into rectangles. The candy cups are great little sauce dishes that I got a few years ago at Crate and Barrel. My glassware I bought at Macy's. It is hard to see in the pictures, but there are black dots in the glass.

     For napkins, I used a package of "bar towels" that I found at TJ Maxx, tied with a bit of candy corn ribbon. I like the way the texture added to the casual setting.

     In the center of the table, a black placemat, a few gourds, some candy corn and pumpkin tealights cast a glow on my "not so spooky" pumpkin guy and some BOO blocks.

     I think it turned out fun, festive and affordable. I wish my kids were home to enjoy it!

Worth It!

I've been cleaning a home for many, many years. I've tried numerous products and some I stick with forever and sometimes I'm willing to try new things. Sometime last year I decided to try Scrubbing Bubbles Action Scrubber to clean our showers and tubs. I love this product. You buy a kit that has the green holder and a few pads. After the initial purchase you just buy the refills. Last week I ran out and had to use my regular household cleaner spray, it made me really appreciate these handy, dandy little scubber pads. I'm not getting paid for saying this. I didn't get anything free for the review. This product just happens to get my WORTH IT award.

Apple Cinnamon Cake-One Bowl, Great Smells...Yummy!

I had a request for a recipe for an Apple Spice Cake. I remembered that my mom had a recipe that she made often, so I searched my recipe box and found it. The great thing about this recipe is that you can eat it for dessert or for breakfast. You can dress it up with a dip of ice cream or whipped cream. It is really easy to prepare, all in one bowl and no mixer necessary.

Ingredients:

2/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sugar
1 egg
2 cups chopped apples (notice I didn’t even peel the apples, simply core them)
1 ½ cups flour
¼ tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup chopped nuts (I used walnuts, but pecans or almonds would work)
3 T. sugar mixed with 1 ½ tsp. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In large bowl put everything except the cinnamon/sugar mix. The batter will be very stiff and crumbly. Put it in a 9” pan. I used a small rectangular pan because someone has my 9” square.

Sprinkle the top with the cinnamon/sugar mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Enjoy!

Stuff

Some of you that read what I write here are too young to remember George Carlin's routine about "Stuff." Others will remember it quite well. It started like this:


     Actually this is just a place for my stuff, ya know? That's all, a little place for my stuff. That's all I want, that's all you need in life, is a little place for your stuff, ya know? I can see it on your table, everybody's got a little place for their stuff. This is my stuff, that's your stuff, that'll be his stuff over there. That's all you need in life, a little place for your stuff. That's all your house is: a place to keep your stuff. If you didn't have so much stuff, you wouldn't need a house. You could just walk around all the time.

     A house is just a pile of stuff with a cover on it. You can see that when you're taking off in an airplane. You look down, you see everybody's got a little pile of stuff. All the little piles of stuff. And when you leave your house, you gotta lock it up. Wouldn't want somebody to come by and take some of your stuff. They always take the good stuff. They never bother with that crap you're saving. All they want is the shiny stuff. That's what your house is, a place to keep your stuff while you go out and get...more stuff!

Today I got to clean out more stuff than I ever want to see again. Unfortunately, there will be many more hours of working on this particular "stuff." My father-in-law has been an antique dealer (as a hobby) for 45 years. He was responsible for finding, framing and selling many of the items you see across the country on the walls of a popular chain restaurant. A year ago he was involved in an accident, which at his age, was the end of his antiquing.

Today my husband, his sister and I (along with a couple of cousins that stopped to help for a few hours) attempted to clean out the 3 car garage that was his workshop. He has literally thousands of old magazines, old phones, typewriters, pictures, posters...you get the picture. We threw away a lot of stuff. We donated a lot of stuff. We still ended up with a completely full 3 car garage. He also has 2 storage spaces that I understand are full.

My father-in-law was there during this process, doing more than he should. He was telling us the stories behind the items, telling us that we really should take things home with us and telling us we couldn't get rid of this or that because "he needed it." My husband and I could barely stay awake to drive the hour or so home. We hurt everywhere.

My "mom hint" for all of you today, is try to control your "stuff." If you are young and just starting out, you probably don't have much yet. Your grandparents might need a little nudge to start getting rid of some things. If you are my age, you are probably still housing your kids "stuff" even if they don't live there anymore. I wonder if there will ever be a day when the Ninja Turtles and the baby dolls can go live at someone else's house. I have tried over the past few years to get things in tubs with labels. I'm not entirely successful, but I'm getting there.

If you happen to be the age of my in-laws, you are very cool to be blogging! You also need to organize, label and get rid of some of your "stuff" so that your middle-aged kids don't have to do what we did today. It was not only hard work, it was emotionally draining. I felt as if we were saying to my father-in-law, you can't do what you love anymore...you are too old. It made me sad.

Which Fork Do I Use? (Tablescape Thursday)

I knew before I blogged my first post that I would write about table settings. It can be a bit confusing when you are setting a table, or when you go out to eat and don't know why there are two forks. Once I started blogging, I started seeing the "Tablescape Thursday" tables hosted by Susan at Between Naps On The Porch and I wanted to play along. I've always thought I had a lot of dishes and accessories, but the people that do tablescapes around here, really do them well. I can't begin to compete, but I can have fun sharing some tips and also playing with my dishes.

I found a fall tablecloth that I didn't remember I had, for a table that I no longer have. I don't have any charger plates, I've never really liked them. I am noticing how pretty they look on the tables of some of the other bloggers. I don't have them on this table, but they may show up on a future table.

*Mom hint-A charger plate is a large plate that goes under the dinner plate. You do not eat from it, it is simply to "dress up" the table.

I took a picture of the table at dusk. Everything looks better by candlelight. The candle was cinnamon cider, and the house smelled so good.

I had to take a picture of my new sparkly gourd/pumpkin...I'm not sure which it is. I bought it at HomeGoods while we were on our recent trip. It is sort of a bronze mosaic and it simply called my name. The flowers were from my yard, the tiny vase is from Crate and Barrel. The dark green dinner plates are from Walmart, the napkins and pumpkin plates are from HomeGoods. The wine glasses are antiques. The flatware is my everyday pattern.

Now, let's talk about those forks. When in doubt, always start with the silverware on the outside, and move in. This is an informal place setting. One of these days I will set a formal table for you. The fork on the far left is for salad, the fork near the dinner plate is for your main meal. The knife and spoon to the right of the plate are for obvious use, but you might have a second spoon to the right of the one here. It would be for soup. The spoon above the plate is for dessert (it might be a fork, depending on what is being served). When setting a table, the glasses (wine or water) go on the upper right. The napkin can go under the forks, in the center of the plate or in the wine goblet (not my favorite). I took some liberty with where I put the napkin because I wanted the pattern of the salad plate to show, and I wanted to dress up the napkin with a touch of ribbon, therefore it wouldn't fit under the forks. Some tables will have a bread and butter plate placed to the upper left of the dinner plate.

Hopefully, I accomplished my "mom" blogging, and took a baby step into "Tablescape Thursday" all at the same time.