OK, this may be really old news to all of y’all, but it’s new to me: Hobby Lobby carries some of the exact same decorative pulls as Anthropologie!!! I’m not saying very similar or good knock-offs, I mean the EXACT same. You can imagine how my heart sunk when I saw a different colored version of what Peter and I really wanted to use for a hutch that we were fixing up a few months ago. (I never posted after pictures but I plan to do that shortly.) Our color wasn’t there when we went but it looks like they used to have it and for a fraction of the price. This is the color they had:
And this is what we wanted:
We tried to order them online, but they sent us the wrong ones and then told us that they were out. But they’re still listed on the website, hmmm. Now that I know that they’re at Hobby Lobby for $4 instead of $8, I couldn’t bring myself to order them.
So tell me: is this old news or is it new to you too? (If you’ve known about this for a long time, then please try to let me down gently.)
Images courtesy of Antropologie.com
Written on February 19th, 2010 by Peter2 comments
Jamie Lee and I both like spinach and artichoke dip, but we agree that most of the time, the recipe is rather bland. It is one of those dips that tends to hide its mediocrity with an overwhelming richness. Generally, this richness results from a mixture of sour cream, mayonnaise, and cream cheese, all of which have a rather piquant flavor but little depth. So I thought I would make a version that did not skimp on flavor and had richness only when it would have a unique flavor to it. Mine has more actual cheese in it and should be baked in an oven.
You will need:
fresh mozzarella (3 golf ball size pieces)
1/3 cup gouda
1/3 cup good Swiss cheese
1/3 cup feta (we used low fat)
1 cup low fat cream cheese (preferably whipped)
8 oz. frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed to remove excess liquid
12 oz. artichokes (1 can)
3 TB white wine
2 cloves garlic minced
To make:
Heat oven to 375
Puree mozzarella and divide in half
Puree rest of ingredients, except for spinach and artichokes
Fold the mixture in with half of the pureed mozzarella.
Roughly chop artichokes and spinach, then fold in with mixture
Spoon mixture into Pyrex dish
Cover mixture with remaining pureed mozzarella
Bake 20-25 minutes or until bubbly
This made the best spinach artichoke dip we have ever tasted. Be aware that this recipe makes a fair amount, and once you add bread into the picture, you are looking at a meal in itself, especially if you add a good green salad to the table. The other thing about it is that the presentation is more dramatic with the toasted cheese on top. The different cheeses in the dip itself give it a lot of complexity that you can set off nicely with a crisp white wine. Enjoy!
This isn’t the most exciting topic that Peter and I have ever talked about, but its good to know. A couple of weeks ago our downstairs toilet was having trouble. We (Peter) opened the top to figure out what was going on and figured out that our hard water had eaten through the arm on the toilet.
(Look at all that dust!)
With a few quick steps we had a brand new working toilet arm. All we did was attach the new chain to the rubber suction like this:
Then bring the new arm through the hole where the flusher goes.
Finally, attach the chain from the rubber suction to the end of the new toilet arm.
There you have it. Make sure that when you attach the chain that it isn’t too tight where the rubber suction never closes or that it isn’t too loose so it doesn’t flush it all.
Have you completed any useful but boring projects lately?
This tutorial was the reason that I fell in love with ~Ruffles and Stuff~. I saw the picture of these perfectly embellished slippers and I swooned. I was uncertain about my sewing skills but the tutorial seemed so easy and I had confidence from my recent success of making a tutu, so I went for it. I left work and went straight to store, after store, after store searching for everything I needed. When I finally got home, I was so burnt out that I left the materials hanging in a bag on our closet door.
But last week, while Peter was out of town I pulled them out and decided to give it a try. Amazingly, it turned out really well. Here’s the boring before:
And here’s the amazing after:
If you want to do try it yourself, here’s what I did. I started with basic Isotoner slippers. I bought mine on sale from Kohls. I cut the seams to remove the the little bows from each slipper. Using a white cotton, peach cotton, and gold tulle I created three flowers for each slipper. I was a bit concerned about this step because I didn’t know how to make fabric flowers. I learned that several wavy circles stacked on top of each other works out pretty well.
Then fold each flower in half and sew a small little “x” into it. This keeps the flower together, without taking away its movement.
Finally, add three champagne pearls and sew the flowers on to the slippers.
Now prance around your house and relish in the femininity of your new slippers!!
Have you guys found any tutorials that you just had to try? How’d they go?
After reading this post by Sara at Russet Street Reno, Peter and I decided that we were qualified enough to install a dimmer switch on our own. Overall the process was pretty simple, but it did involve a fair amount of muscle and cursing.
We opted to buy the type of dimmer switch that wouldn’t require us to purchase a new wall plate. Ours looked like this:
The first thing that you need to do is turn off the the circuit breaker that corresponds to the room that you will be installing the dimmer in. Then unscrew the wall plate from the wall.
Then unscrew the metal plate that corresponds to the light switch. (Don’t do what I did and get part way through this and realize that you’re removing the switch that actually controls the fan.) I decided to take on this project at night while Peter was cooking dinner. After only a few minutes of trying to balance the flashlight and unscrew the plates, I knew I was going to need more hands.
Remove the screws that hold the side wires in place. Be sure to remember which wire was on top and which wire was on bottom. This took a lot of muscle and tugging to straighten out the wires enough to pull the metal part out of the wall.
Reattach the wires to the dimmer in the same way that they were attached to the old metal box. For some reason I opted not to take a picture of this. I’m not sure why.
When both wires are attached, tighten the screws so that there is a solid connection between the metal of the box and the metal of the screws.
Screw the new metal box into the wall and wonder why its not exactly parallel with the fan switch. Watch your fiance as he curses at the switch and pulls and pushes on it until he is able to manipulate both switches into the wall plate.
Now admire your work and think about how much your life has improved now that you can read in bed without feeling blinded by the ceiling light! The one thing that I don’t like about the dimmer switch is that now when the light is on there is an almost imperceptible buzzing sounds. Has anyone else noticed this?
For better photos visit Russet Street Reno. Sara managed to do this project during the day, so her photos are infinitely better than ours.
*Note: Peter and I are not qualified electricians. We’re just too crazy kids who got tired of a really bright light.*
