New Year's Tradition...Food

My family had a belated Christmas celebration at my mom's house today.  We exchanged gifts and ate...and ate, and ate some more.  Instead of  "Christmas dinner", we had the traditional Southern New Year's dinner of black-eyed peas and rice.  It was soooo good!


I didn't have my camera with me to take pictures but here is a good one from one of my favorite blogs, deepsouthdish.com.  You can also find the recipe at this link.

deepsouthdish.com

This dish is also known as "hoppin' john" but everybody's got their own way of making it their own.  My mom cooks her black-eyed peas with a ham bone for flavoring.  She usually serves it with collard greens or cabbage and homemade cornbread (in a cast iron skillet).  

deepsouthdish.com

deepsouthdish.com

This dish is a Southern classic.  It's a tradition to eat black-eyed peas on New Year's Day to bring good luck and fortune to you throughout the year.  My grandmother used to follow the tradition of putting a dime in her pot of peas for someone to find...that person would have great wealth.  As a kid, I remember being afraid to eat the peas because I might choke on the dime, lol.


Whatever your New Year's (food) tradition is, I hope you have a great New Year's Day.  I appreciate all the warm welcomes to blogland that I've received for the past few months.  I'm so glad that I started blogging this year.  I've truly enjoyed "meeting" all of you and can't wait to continue this journey into 2012. 


I'll be eating left over black-eyed peas and rice and watching football games tomorrow.  Football on New Year's Day is my yearly tradition :)

Favorites From 2011

I have only had this little blog for three months so here are my favorites (one from each month).


1.  Bathroom Makeover

     I got hooked on reading blogs during the summer of 2011.  I was inspired to remodel my guest/son's bathroom when I was reading posts from Southern Hospitality.  I fell in love with the laundry room makeover that Rhoda had done, especially the colors she used.  I also "copied" her framed mirror idea in her post about a bathroom remodel.  


     From there, I was like a runaway train, constantly changing something in my house. Then, of course, the inevitable happened...I started my own blog so I could "meet" all of the wonderful people I had been reading about.  So, to all you bloggers that put me on this train, THANK YOU!  I'm enjoying the ride :)


OK, so I was blogging my way into November and decided it would be fun to try to copy some stuff I had seen on Pinterest.  My favorite was this:


2.  Paint Chip Color Wheel

     I have a passion for paint chips.  I could just look at a paint chip fan all day, dreaming of what colors I would paint different rooms in my house.  I "collect" pins from Pinterest about use of color chips in craft projects.  Out of these ideas, the paint chip color wheel was born.  And, yes, I love to just look at it :)


In December, I started making things for Christmas presents.  I have always loved anything bird related so when I saw all of the birdnest jewelry on Pinterest, I had to make one.


3.  Bird Nest Necklace

     I couldn't believe how easy this was to make!  I made one for my sister for her birthday (in Dec.) and love the brown, copperish wire look.  I have lots more "bird" projects planned for the future.


I'm a late starter to the 2011 blogger gang but I look forward to a whole year of crafty goodness in 2012.  I hope you'll join me :)

Linking to: 

Southern Hospitality's Top Projects of 2011 Party

French Country Cottage's Feathered Nest Friday

It's A Hodgepodge Life's Hodgepodge Friday

Tatertots and Jello Weekend Wrap Up Party

Making Lemonade's Refresh Your Nest

Computer Symbol Art

Today I finished another Christmas gift "project".  Yes, I said Christmas gift.  You see, I haven't had my family Christmas get together yet.  Due to work schedules, my family had to postpone our annual Christmas "dinner" and gift swapping.  It is scheduled for New Year's Eve.


Most of the gifts that I've been making have been for that event.  We swap gifts with my mom, brother and sister and their families.  I've had no problem trying to figure out what to make for my mom, sis, sis-in-law and niece.  But when it came to the guys, like most years, I was stumped.  


Then it occurred to me that they have one thing in common:  love for electronics....smartphones, computers, etc.  Typical guy stuff, right?


I was making some sort of sign or small monogram letter for everyone else so this is what I came up with for the guys.

I gathered typical symbols or icons seen on the internet and printed a picture of each one.

Then I mod podged them to small square box frames that I got at the dollar store.  They had a paper print glued to the front of them and were painted black on the sides.  I sanded the top (there was some glitter on it) and painted over the paper picture with white acrylic paint.  You'll see in the bottom picture that I had to cover the black sides with green painter's tape for protection.  I'm a sloppy painter :)

This was a really cheap ($2.00 for each box frame) and easy project.  There are tons of computer/smartphone related symbols out there.  Just google what you're looking for and you'll get lots of pictures to choose from.  Personally, I would have chose the red P for Pinterest....my current addiction.

I have to make 8 symbols total but wouldn't you know it I ran out of ink halfway through the project....uugghh.  Do you know how hard it is to get printer ink refills during the holidays?  I might have to try my hand at painting them...but printing them is soooo much easier and faster, lol.

Hope everyone is having a good week!

Linking to:

Savvy Southern Style Wow Us Wednesdays

DIY By Design Winter Blues Wednesday

A Creative Princess' It's A Party

Crafty, Scrappy, Happy Me Thursday

Happy Hour Projects' Freestyle Friday

Naptime Crafters' Friday Favs

The Crafty Nest Do Something Crafty

A Couple of Things.....

I forgot to mention in my last post that I created a facebook page for In The Old Road.  Why?  I love facebook and find so much more info to read and share there.  


Have you ever visited a blog's facebook page?  If you haven't, you're missing out.  Many bloggers (and businesses or magazines) will post information about good ideas or sales they have seen elsewhere.  Facebook is a great place to share!


Here is the link to my facebook page:  http://www.facebook.com/intheoldroad

I just started it yesterday so it's not full of info yet but I'd love it if you would come over to check it out and "like" me :)

Visit my Facebook Page!

Speaking of sharing, I love to look at everyone's Christmas morning photos....especially the surprised faces when kids get great gifts from Santa.  Do you have any of those to share?


If so, head over to the Family Brings Joy blog.  Shan is hosting a great linky party for those stunned faces pictures we love to see on Christmas.  I don't have any photos to share yet because my family postponed our Christmas get together for a few days (work got in the way this year-->sad face).  So I'm desperate to see some good Christmas pictures.  Head over there and share yours.  Here is the link:  http://blog.familybringsjoy.com/2011/12/26/stunned-faces-join-in-link-up/

Goodbye Christmas Decorations, Hello Winter Decorations

Now that Christmas is officially over, I refuse to give up some of my Christmas decorations.  I go through this every year on the 26th.  I just can't fathom taking everything down that I just put up (it seems like I just started decorating and making things for Christmas a few days ago).


I won't be a slave to the "on to New Year's and Valentines Day decorating".  Even Pinterest is taunting me.  Have you noticed that Valentine's and Spring pins are popping up everywhere?


So here's my plan.  I will take down everything that screams "Christmas".  You know, like the Christmas tree, the Santa stuff and the big sign that says "Christmas" (the obvious stuff).  But, I'm not getting rid of the "winter" stuff.  I will keep the snowy things, holly and red berries and, of course, my beautiful red bird collection. 


 Yep, I'm going all out with the red birds.  My sis gave me some super cute red bird stuff yesterday and I'm going to display it loud and proud! 

Remember my Christmas birdcage on my "bird collection table"?  Yep, I'm keeping that out.  I'll just take out the green ornaments in the birdcage and replace them with more silver ones.

And my mantle...

I'm not taking it down either (although I may remove the red and green Christmas ornaments hiding in the mesh ribbon, lol).  My youngest son loves it and it kind of distracts attention away from how messy my house is.  Yeah, a defininte keeper.

But right now, it can all stay where it's at because I'm off to do a little "after Christmas sale" shopping.  I'm already planning for next year.

Merry Christmas!

I'm just stopping by to wish my bloggy friends a Merry Christmas!

As you can see, I'm working on changes to my blog.  Be patient with me a I work out the "details".  As usual, it's the little things that are giving me the most trouble, lol.

I want to thank Karen at The Background Fairy for designing such an awesome blog background and banner.  When I saw them, I knew they were "all me"....they had my 3 favorite things:  a vintage look, birds and a touch of damask.  Oops, I almost forgot the great colors!  I even have a new button.  

And, thank you to Sneaky Momma Blog Design for the great blog tips.  What a great blog.  I'd be lost without it.  

Enjoy today!

Organizing For Next Year & Blog Overhaul

I know everyone has Christmas on their mind but not me.  I'm still in a crafty, delirious state trapped in a black hole of unorganized, chaotic messiness.  


After several weeks of making Christmas presents, I have come to the conclusion that I am the most unorganized person in the world.  I can't tell you how many times I have lost my hot glue gun, my box of ribbons or that exact color of craft paint that "I knew was right here yesterday".  


I wrote a post recently about how messy my house has become during my Christmas crafting craziness (remember the craft bomb explosion?).  Well, it's not much better.


That's why, when I saw this on Pinterest today, I made a promise to myself to get more organized in 2012.  Call it a New Year's Resolution.  Sounds better than another diet/exercise promise. (I never keep those).


What I saw was this free printable from theprojectgirl.com.  She actually has two good project organization charts offered as a free download.  Go to the link to check them out.

I think I need to list my unfinished projects at the top of the list.  I might have to make another copy, lol.

Speaking of unfinished projects, I still need to finish two of them for Christmas presents.  Fortunately, I have another week left before I give them out.  My husband has to work for the next four days so we're postponing our traditional family Christmas get-together until New Year's Eve.  He has one of those jobs where there is no such thing as "a day off for holidays". Poo.  But the "holiday pay" is going to be phenomenal!

What will I be doing this weekend?  Eating junk food and overhauling my blog.  I'm tired of how plain jane it looks so I'm making it "purtier", lol.  So, if you stop by to find a.) a mess of HTML code where words and pictures should be or b.) nothing at all because I accidentally deleted everything, just shake your head in dismay and disgust and walk away.  Yes, I'm trying to do everything myself and I'm no computer geek.  Wish me luck that I'm still around blogland in 2012 (insert nervous laughter).

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas!

Enjoy your family :)

Another Internet Addiction

I was just doing my usual, nightly perusal of Pinterest when I saw this pin for a website called "Random-Tutorial Generator".  

If you've already heard about this, just ignore me.  I just found out about it and couldn't contain my excitement.  So share, I will.

This site features randomly generated tutorials on how to do all sorts of crafty things.  It's really awesome!

The cool thing is that it is another way to discover people's blogs and  find out how to do craft projects that "float your boat".  This site doesn't use Martha Stewart, eHow or many other common crafty sites but independent bloggers.  To quote from the site, 

"Most of the tutorials you will find here are by independent bloggers because I think that's where the best, most original projects can be found. I also want to do my part to help those bloggers find a wider audience."

Helloooo, can you say "what a great way to get traffic for my blog"?

For me, this is going to be another reason to postpone my housework and stay up late on the computer, lol.  

Here is the link to the home page:

     http://random-tutorial.com/index.html

And here is the link to the "submit a tutorial" page:

     http://random-tutorial.com/submit.html

Ok, I'm going back to look at more blogs/tuts.  All those Christmas presents needing to be wrapped and that load of laundry sitting in the washing machine waiting to be dried will just have to wait.

Wrapping Up Christmas

Now that I've got my Christmas presents bought and made, I have to wrap them.  More crafting, yay! 


I wanted to use Kraft paper this year and make the decoration and gift tags.  I started out trying to make gift tags from some white poster board, craft paint and a stencil.  I just wasn't feeling it though so I stopped.

There are two things you should know about that picture:

1.  All that stuff is laying on top of a cutting board on top of my stove top.  It's the only clean place I could "craft" at.  Yes, I know I said I was cleaning all weekend but today is Tuesday....it got messy again.

2.  See those scissors in the picture?  I can proudly say that I have had those since I took Home Ec. in Jr. High.  How many years is that?  I don't have enough fingers and toes to count that high.  Let's just say "alot".  K?

Those are some awesome scissors.  They're Fiskars brand and my sweet mama bought them for me when I took Home Ec.  They still have the pink fingernail polish that I used to label them with my name, lol.  They're all rusty and dirty but still cut good...they're my favorite scissors.

What was this post about again?  

Oh, yeah, gift wrapping.  So I was stuck and needed some good wrapping ideas.  What to do?

I went to Pinterest, of course.  


Here are a few good ideas that I thought I'd share.  All of these come from my Pinterest boards found here.

Cut up old bows from last year

cut up wrapping paper

While I was looking, I stumbled upon this pin:

I went to the blog that it was linked to, Older and Wisor, to check it out.  It had even more great ideas.  To see them, go to the link yourself and check it out.  She's got a really great blog too.

Time to scrounge up something for supper.  I better go clean off the stove top. Uugghhh......

Christmas in New Orleans

I am fortunate to live next to a large city with great architecture...New Orleans, Louisiana.  Here are some pictures of the city decorated for Christmas.  All of these photos came from the facebook page of NewOrleansLocal.  


The first picture is of a shotgun house, typical of New Orleans architecture.  Shotgun houses consist of three to five rooms in a row with no hallways and have a narrow, rectangular structure.  The name, "shotgun house", comes from the saying that one could fire a shotgun through the front door and have pellets leave the house through the back door.  They usually have a small front porch.  This one is crammed with Christmas decorations.  Notice the Santa holding a "wHO Dat" sign....

A house with a larger porch near the French Quarter.

Some pictures from caroling in Jackson Square.  That's St. Louis Cathedral in the background.

A few photos from the "Christmas in the Oaks" celebration in New Orleans' City Park.

And, of course, the iconic French Quarter picture decked out for Christmas.

Peace, y'all!

A Craft Bomb Exploded in my House!

No, I didn't make a bomb.  That's just what my house looks like right now.  After a week of crafting craziness to get Christmas presents ready, my house is trashed.  


When I say trashed, I mean trashed.  Not the cutesy little mess where you can still see the floor.  Noooo. Not here.


At the risk of having my children taken away because they live in such bad conditions, I'm going to show you.


This is my craft table near my kitchen that has been heavily abused this week.  I think I posted a picture of it a while back when it was clean and newly decorated for Christmas.  Ha, those were the days.

Fall decorations still linger and I had to push stuff aside to make room for my coffee pot this morning.  Nothing stands between me and my coffee :)

OK, that's not bad.  This is bad.  I've never posted pics of the inside of my mom cave/craft room before.  Here's why.  This is the entrance of that room.

As you can see, I tried to fade out the picture some (out of embarrassment) but it still looks bad.  The stuff/junk is spilling out into the next room.  I can't even close the door anymore to hide all my junk.  Somewhere in there is a hot glue gun that I desperately need but I can't get to it.  

Believe it or not, this is not the only room that looks like this.  There is another one but I can get the door closed to hide it and I won't open it.  I'm afraid to.  Things might come out of there to attack me.  Just use your imagination....

Guess what I'm doing this weekend?  Cleaning. NO crafting.  I think a sad face is in order :(  Pray for me that I can get that craft room door closed to hide the mess.

To make myself feel better, I bought a Christmas present online this morning.  A present for me!

Here it is from Pinterest:

.

Don't cha love it?  It's today's daily deal from WUSLU.  I just went to the link where I bought it from and saw that it just sold out.  Wow. That was fast!

Go to http://wuslu.com/ to sign up for their daily deal email.  They have amazing stuff at really good prices. Check it out.