Heat and Serve!

For many years I have said that I would be fine if for Thanksgiving we all just had TV Dinners.  This came from countless years of agony and anxiety over the nightmare that was always our family Thanksgivings.  It was the kind of thing that could have become the storyline for a Griswold's Family Thanksgiving without the comedy.  Someone not buying enough basic supplies which then meant  having to fight the other nincompoops at the one grocery store that's open for a stick of overpriced vegan crap butter because it's all that's left or having to bake 10 pies in one oven and having no counter space because the counter is already piled up with unitasker kitchen gadgets coated in an inch of dust....   I honestly hated Thanksgiving and really do have some sort of form of PTSD over it.  For the past 5 years we have finally been able to make some changes and lessen the nightmare even being able to enjoy the holiday, making it our own.  

So this year I decided to do a Thanksgiving theme based after my at-the-end-of -my-rope declaration of the past "I would rather just have a TV Dinner than put up with this thanksgiving nonsense!"

Here is the sideboard in the dining room in Heat and Serve mode:

I printed the large posters at our library back before the pandemic.  They used to have a Large Format Print night a couple of times a month that was free.  

Even though the theme was TV dinners I did make us the traditional meal only I do it simple and easy out of all convenience foods.  It's instant mashed potatoes, stove top stuffing, premade rolls, canned cranberry sauce, frozen peas, and even jar gravy.  We never eat this kind of stuff so that makes it a treat.  I did bake the turkey but that's super easy.

To make the theme really play out I decided to plate our meal looking all TV dinner-fied:

I bought some cheap aluminum baking pans from dollar tree and made the dividers out of foil wrapped cardboard.

And for dessert?  A frozen premade pumpkin pie!

 

Thanksgiving Decor 2021

This year for Thanksgiving I just kept the decorating to the dining room since that's where the action happens.

This is the top of a metal cabinet near the front window.

The top of the china cabinet.

The table centerpiece.

On the primary wall and side board I decided to try out something that I have been wanting to start doing for several years now.  I would like to have this area feature a new Thanksgiving theme each year.  I printed out some of the materials I wanted to use for the first theme but wasn't ever able to do the rest since the library hasn't been doing wide format print night anymore since covid.  But I am just going to use what I do have and go for it.  Reveal in next post!   

Burned Meatball Cookies

This lady might be seen as having a bad day with burning her meatball cookies.  Add in maybe that the thin little square of TP she is using to take the hot pan out of the oven then catches fire and she suffers third degree burns on her hand.  Also when she opens the window to let out the smoke a swarm of wasps flood the kitchen and she just so happens to be deathly allergic to them.

I would say that this has been the way my life has been going for the past 18 months but it's not even close.  This lady's problems are her own fault because she forgot to set a timer.  My disappointments, issues,  and tragedies have all been caused by nothing I did or didn't do, and they come constantly out of no where.  If I was a superstitious person  (I'm just a little stitious) I would think someone has a voodoo doll with my name on it. 

I'm trying to make light of this because MhiCTy is not a place for sadness or depression.  Nobody including myself wants to read or relive it.  To lay it out in blog terms I didn't do anything for Halloween until Oct 28 and it was minimal (hoping to post those soon).  I have something small planned for Thanksgiving and Christmas has nothing.  I have no theme this year.  If you know me and this blog you can translate that fairly easily with my emotional state.  I am sure that when Dec rolls around I will do something but I don't know what that is right now.  I've been conditioned because of this past year and a half to not plan on anything...not even cleaning the bathroom because that becomes the day I happen to quickly drop into Hobby Lobby for 5 minutes and wind up with a corneal abrasion from a random fleck of something that came out of nowhere.  That was just one of my last week's ordeals.  This week I just long for simple burned meatball cookies... 

 

Halloween 2021

 

Our Halloween this year didn't get going until Oct 28.  It started with my thinking we have to eat dinner on Halloween night so maybe I would do some sort of spookified dish.  Then I thought, well, we can't eat a spookified meal in an Asian themed dining room.  So then I found myself doing a bit of Halloween decorating in there.  Then PB came to me and said he and his friends were thinking of going trick or treating and could I help him with a costume.  It was all last minute and unplanned but it came together and if even for a few days Halloween did happen around here.

I usually start off each holiday season showcasing my new finds/gifts I have acquired since the previous year.  Seen above is one that I got from Mr. Husband last year for Christmas.  It has been on my "need" list for sometime.  I was hoping to find one out in the wild but that's just not going to happen in my parts so he bought it for me off of ebay.  It's nice and minty and I love it!   

Up next (see below) a few more finds and our brief but not too shabby last minute Halloween happenings!

Halloween 2021 Red Owl sewing kit

I am going to count this as a new Halloween item for this season even though it's not really intended as such.  The red of the owl seems more orange to me and he has a sinister stare and it's an owl= Halloween!

Mr. Husband got this for me off of ebay as a gift last year.

 

Halloween Finds 2021

I found this adorable JOL at one of the extremely few estate sales I have attended over the past 18 months (gave a buck for it).  I already have one with the same face but it's not a pail and this one has a much richer orange hue.

I really loved the way the vinyl handle attachments looks.

 

New Halloween Finds 2021

 I found this vintage blow mold JOL candy pail at a thrift store for 99¢

Halloween 2021 decor

This year's decor was last minute. I only decorated the dining room so we would have a festive spot for Halloween dinner. Since it was only going to be up for a few days I decided to go random, hodge podged, and piled up.  I kinda liked how it turned out.  

 

Halloween 2021 Spider Meatloaf

 For our Halloween dinner I made us this spider meatloaf.  It was inspired by a cheese ball I saw in a magazine several years back.  It is a typical meatloaf recipe shaped into balls, baked, and coated in ketchup.  The legs are made from pretzel rods with string cheese holding them together.  The eyes are also string cheese with a little bit of black olive for the pupils.

JOL Halloween 2021

I also carved the pumpkin last minute this year.  I decided to do Mr. Husband's Horror Host show group Nightmare Theatre:

Mr. Husband is the Mexican Wrestler El Sapo seen on the left.

Halloween weekend season 3 premiered.  I have lost track of all the PBS stations it airs on.  A bunch in Florida, Tennessee, and in the new year all of Alabama.  You can watch it from anywhere as a live stream Saturday nights 10 pm central time on WSRE. And then see a few past episodes here: Nightmare Theatre

We did the filming this summer during the brief break we had from the coronapocalypse.  Yours truly will be embarrassing herself in an upcoming future episode where I play a cat loving, loud mouthed old lady...not too far from reality actually.

 

Halloween 2021: PB Plissken

This was the best part of my Halloween weekend.  PB came to me a couple of days before Halloween and said he and his friends were wanting to go Trick or Treating.  Yeah, he's a bit too old for it but I think some Halloween laws need to be changed.  I say no matter your age you should be allowed to Trick or Treat as long as you have a costume (No costume, No candy!).  

We got costumes and props all over the place so we just started digging around.  One of his friends was going as a pirate and yeah we have that.  Maybe they could be a pirate gang?  So he puts on the eye patch and I got the chills!  He was Snake Plissken!  

I added some silver duct tape to a black tee, electrical tapped a flashlight to a tommy gun from his past Halloween costume as a 1920's gangster, and printed and attached an analog clock read out to a studded punk snap wrist cuff ....

 

I mean!  Come on!!!!

Bonus to taking his photos at an old abandoned hobo filled building.

Birthday Loafing

 

Just celebrated my birthday recently, I am still hanging around in the 40s, but not sure where.  I honestly don't know my age.  I like it that way.  I just hope I am never put in a situation that I have to prove I'm not insane and they ask me that fairly simple question...just send my birthday cards addressed to the local nut house from then on out.

Until that happens let's check out the party decor.

  For my theme this year I used these super cute vintage party napkins I found on ebay:  

I love those little kids!

I printed the image and glued to cheap paper cups.

I printed out enlarged versions of the cutie kids and tried to style them as they were holding up my cake (which is also styled after the one on the napkins).  The cake flavor is Hummingbird Cake and the little roses are vintage plastic picks.

Here is a scan of the napkin for your own birthday crafting pleasure:

I spent the day loafing, eating, and with my plumber.

We live in a highly nincompoop populated area so we keep close to home for the most part.  I treated myself to pick-up from a favorite local bagel coffee shop and then again dinner was pick-up, my favorite Chicken and Waffles!  During the day I hung out with the plumber outside as he fixed our clogged drain, which was a gift that it's now working properly.  Later we had cake and I opened some cute gifts from Mr. Husband.  I'll have to photo later but in list form he got me a vintage dress I had asked for, some vintage food and cleaning packaging items, vintage post cards, a NOS vintage squeaker lamb toy, a vintage frito cookbooklet, and a 1976 Elvis concert photo booklet...all from ebay.

It was a really low key day and that's absolutely fine by me...I'm over 'eventful'.

New Kitchen "Curtains"

This has been an idea in the making since 2017 when I came across a cute vintage wood cabinet 

at an antique mall featuring stenciled "curtains" on the glass doors:

I mean! 

💖

What a clever idea!  I snapped a full straight-on shot with my dinky camera phone and stashed the idea away.

I knew it would be a cute decorative feature to do to my kitchen window but making it happen was perplexing me.  And I'll be honest, I am sure other brighter folks could have figured this out far quicker and simpler than how I finally pulled this off.

Any time I do a craft project it has got to be cheap, dirt cheap.  I am fine with spending tons of time but not tons of money.  And this project was just that; took me a few years to figure out but in the end only cost a dollar.

So here is my fandangle process. The first thing I did was to print out the photo scaled to fit my windows on the wide format printer at the library.  As you can see the original stencil is missing paint so I then used a ruler to draw the lines and stencil sections back on the large print.  Next I used a xacto blade and cut out the stencil.  Now is where I got stumped.  Do I want to paint it on the window, or maybe even etch it, or try something else like vinyl?  Since I have to wipe down this window on a very regular basis I decided against the paint, thinking it would flake off as the original had done.  Etching is too permanent and really not opaque enough for the look I was going for.  So then I am left with the vinyl option.  I happened to have a big roll of white contact shelf liner I picked up from an estate sale for 1 buck!  I laid the cut out paper stencil (right side down to the back side of the vinyl backing) and traced out the pieces.  I did this to the back so I wouldn't have to later erase pencil marks from all of the fronts of the tiny strips.  I then traced out the pieces in pencil and cut out with the blade, scotch-taping the tiny pieces in place where cut.  After all cuts are made for both panels discard the paper templates. Clean the window with alcohol and allow to fully dry.  Next I taped the vinyl stencil to the window and painstakingly removed each tiny taped down piece, removed the backing and replaced on the glass in it's correct position. After all pieces were placed I removed the large stencil piece from the window.  I then used a bone folder tool (used in book making/binding to make sharp creases in paper) to firmly press each piece of vinyl to the window.  Then two days later Ta-da!

I super love it!  

I have already had to clean the window a couple of days after placing the vinyl and it held up well with gentle wiping.

My next kitchen project is possibly painting my countertops.  I eventually want new formica but that's way down the road.  For now I just want to make the blahness of these go away...however I have another year or so of overthinking the project before anything will happen! 

Vintage Potholders

Here's the last bit of linen closet fodder...Pot holders!

Let's think about what uses they could have other than just keeping our mitts or countertops from getting burned.

The first and obvious is to just hang them on the kitchen wall as decor.  Another idea would be to stitch several together into a mat to place washed dishes to dry upon.  Stitch one in half closed by a zipper and make a pouch.  Or sew a few together to make a purse.    Place several down the middle of the table to make a funky faux table runner.  Use them the same as you would doilies.  

My most favorite idea is to use them as drip coasters for sweaty icy drinks. 

That about clears out my linen closet ideas.

"Linen closets" can also include handkerchiefs, tablecloths, blankets, and placemats.  And while those items can have lots of reuse and upcycle options, I just use them as is.

What are some of your favorite repurpose linens ideas?

 

Vintage Towels

This week I am rummaging around the linens closet, and seeing what kind of ideas come to mind.

 Don't you love vintage towel prints and colors?!  I don't come across them too often as you can see my collection is small.  They are an item that tends to be used till threadbare. They don't wind up at thrifts for this reason so estate sales are the best places to look.  

Because towels can take a beating I would never use vintage towels for everyday sponging.  And since the fabric is so thick and rough they aren't good candidates for clothing.

So what to do with them?

One idea to still display them in the bathroom without getting grimy hands involved is to turn them into curtains for your bathroom.  Attach some café curtain clip rings on them and you're done!

Another idea is to sew a few together and make a big beach blanket.  Along those same lines you can sew a couple of towels together at the shoulders and waist and make a swim suit cover-up.

Vintage towels would make great fabric for tote bags or purses.  They could also be good for large sized hot pads for dishes.  Turn them into seat cushions by stitching them in half and stuffing.  Cut them into small decorative table runners for a bedroom.  Oh!  Here's a good idea!  Use them to make a tank and toilet seat cover set!

Let's see what else is in here....

Vintage Sheets

This week I am going to talk ideas for a variety of vintage linens.  It was something that just popped into my head and the next ting I know I am pulling sheets and stuff from all my hidey holes in my house.

Here are most of my vintage sheets and pillow cases that I have picked up over the years from thrift stores and estate sales.  

 

I had originally bought most of these years ago as they were going to be my decorating theme for Mr. Husband Sir and my wedding reception.  I wanted a varied menagerie of different colors and florals which I was going to use as table coverings, sitting areas, back drops, and buntings.  We wound up going a different direction (see: hunka hunka burnin' love) so now they are available for a plethora of other options.  I tend to like floral sheets but there are lots of other prints, children's prints in themes like E.T. or Strawberry Short Cake are fun also if you can find them.
So, sheets and pillowcases can be obviously used for their original intention.  However, I usually stray from that because it tends to wear them out even more by being washed so frequently.  Although I could see them being turned into a duvet cover or sewn into a quilt which doesn't need quite as much washing.

The easiest way to look at it is they are just large pieces of fabric.  They make great tablecloths (as long as you don't spill anything stainy on them), shower curtains, and window curtains.  As window curtains I would line them with some plain white sheets facing the sun so they don't become sun bleached or brittle.  My most favorite idea is to use the fabric for making clothes/costumes from sewing patterns.  It's astronomically cheaper than craft fabric.  A sheet from a thrift store will run you 2 bucks in comparison to 30 bucks for the same amount of fabric from a fabric shop.  I even save my worn out sheets (non-vintage) to use as practice fabric for sewing clothes to check the fit.  Another maybe odd thing I use pretty vintage sheets for is to cover up junk I don't like looking at.  I have a number of towers of plastic storage bins in my laundry room  (all that holiday decor has to go somewhere!) and I will drape the sheets over them to kinda hide and curtain them off from my eyes.

There's not much fabric to the pillow cases but they can be really handy used as bags since they are already in bag form.  Sew a drawstring in them and they can be cinch sacks or back packs.   I see them as feed sacks and there are plenty of vintage ideas out there for using those:  Cafe curtains, aprons, clothes for kids, stuffed animals.

Whatever you can make with fabric, sheets are there to make it cheaper and cute!

Here are a few things from the MHICTy archives I have used sheets or pillowcases for:

 2006

Pillow case smock apron

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2010

From PB's epic Star Wars party that I still haven't written about.  I used the fabric from a plain white sheet to make me a Princess Leia caftan.

I also bought a bunch of plain white pillowcases from thrift stores, dyed them tan and cut them into tunics for the padawan party guests.

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2014

I embroidered "just married"  banners for us to wear on our backs while walking around Las Vegas.  The fabric was from a vintage floral print pillow case. 

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2019

I used a thrifted yellow sheet to make the dress base of my Halloween witch outfit.

Hmmm...what else do we have in ye olde linen closet?