The above house is everything I love.  It was for sale and then it went off the market for some reason.  But the view and the style is just awesome.

That house has the above little breakfast nook which I love.  To make it my complete dream home, I would put a crystal chandelier and a white french style round table and chairs.

I would remodel the kitchen to my Martha Stewart Seal Harbor kitchen that can be bought at Home Depot.

I would remodel the master bedroom bathroom to a luxury bath.  Complete with a glassed in shower that was marble and a rain shower.

I would have the dining room furnished like the above for fun family gatherings for holidays and special occasions.

I love the idea of a little elegant office with a French style desk and chair.

I would make the laundry room remodeled to look like the above.

I would create a French kitchen garden with herbs and everything for salads.

I would create a secret garden for outdoor dining in the summer.

I would put in a pond and a gazebo and a pond.

 

 

 

 

 

I would add a pantry.

And with all that, it makes some nice pipe dreams for a cold winter day.

The house had a really reasonable price on it and if like as little as $40,000.00 was put into it, you could have all that for $300,000.00.   Now after the remodeling and little touches to make it your own, it would be exactly as your own taste would be.  But that would be my taste.

Because I had a real estate license, I know location is everything.  It has to be near work where you could get a good income to pay for it or near skiing or some attraction.  That house is not in that location.  And that is why it is off the market and why it is at such a reasonable price in my opinion.   The resale value would be less then you paid for it. Where as in the right location, you would double your investment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This week has been in the 30’s mostly.  A couple of foggy days, a little snow and some freezing rain.  The ice got broken up in the rivers because of rain and some areas got flooded from back up of the rivers.

The covered bridge between Windsor, VT and Cornish, NH was closed and the road on the NH side was flooded.

I have been enjoying Craftsy on line classes and have access to 3000 of their classes with their Craftsy Unlimited deal.  I only have to pay $15.00 a month or $125.00 for a year.  Just one of their classes is usually about $45.00 or so and sometimes they can be about $19.00.  And yesterday I found a class on French Madeleines and Macarons which was really fun for me because I love anything French.

The class showed step by step instructions on how to make Lemon Madeleines.  I have a Madeleine pan and have been wanting to make some of those delightful little creations.

They also made Mocha Madeleines.  They are called a cookie but they are almost like a shell shaped little sponge cake.  I just love them.  It’s like something out of a French Pastry Shop.  They have class materials that have all the recipes and tips that can be printed out that goes along with the video class.  I just love it because, to me, it’s like going to Culinary School.

There was also a Craftsy blog that showed how to write fancy on a chalkboard.   Then I found an art journal class and a class on rubber stamping.  I love it.

I watched Nancy Fuller with her Farmhouse Rules program today on the Food Network and saved the above recipes on my Farmhouse Rules Pinterest board.  I also printed the recipes out because they were all very healthy recipes.  The Chocolate Nut bars were just cashews and some trail mix with coconut oil and honey.  Plus coconut oil and dark chocolate melted together for a glaze.   No sugar.  The roasted Veggie salad had goat cheese in it and a really neat dressing idea.  The blueberry smoothie had milled flaxseed and yogurt and chia seeds along with the blueberries.   And I think Almond milk.  The salmon really looked and sounded good to me.  The Chicken-veggie soup had beef bone broth in it and she made her own bone broth.  I think that this was one of my favorite cook shows in awhile.  All the recipes are on the Food Network website, also.

Valentines day is in a few weeks.  The above inspiration for a tablescape is one that I found on a blog a few years ago.  I like the red crystal goblet and the crystal water glass.  I like the red candles and the little white tea light candles.  The little Raspberry Heart cakes are really cute.

I pinned the recipe on my Valentines board on my Pinterest.

The Wilton heart pan is on Amazon.

Every year I want to get the heart shape Le Creuset.  But I never do.   So cute.   On the Le Creuset website they have a recipe for Fig and Goat cheese Stuffed chicken Breast with Fennel and Potatoes for a recipe for that heart shape pot.  So cute for Valentines day.

I like the above idea for a chest of drawers for a sewing room.  I love the color of it, the oval mirror and the carved wood.

I like the above colors for paint.  Especially the Sea Salt color.

I also love the above idea for a mudroom.

Over and out from chilly Vermont.

I made a Taco Salad today from an old recipe that I had from a Suzanne Somers cook book.  I pinned the recipe on my Salads board on my Pinterest.  I used ground turkey instead of ground beef.  It was OK but the salsa that I put on it was too hot.  I’ll use a mild salsa next time.  And I grated the cheddar using a too fine grater.  I’ll use a bigger blade grater next time.  I used iceburg lettuce instead of Romaine because there is some kind of problem with Romaine right now.  I also used the 1/4 teaspoon of Cayenne that the recipe called for.  Next time I will just use a pinch of the Cayenne.

I was trying to find a good yoga DVD and I considered the above.  But I decided that I would just use my worn out Yoga VHS tape that I have.  It’s just 15 minutes each day and that’s all I really want to do on yoga.  I can’t stand long, drawn out yoga that goes on and on.  I am going to have my old favorite VHS tape copied over and have it copied over onto a DVD.

I have a yoga mat, but I think that I will order the above mat on Amazon.  It’s thicker then the mat that I have and I just like it.

I like the “namaste” rock idea for the garden.

I read the book “Think and Grow Rich” way back.   I also read the “Power of Attraction” which is the same idea of positive thinking.  And then I read “The Secret”.  Same as all the books which is the idea of if you think you can or you think you can’t, that is what will be.

I like the above inspiration to reduce stress.

I think that the “bad hair day” snowman above is cute.

A real Vermonter can pronounce Montpelier correctly and also with a French accent.  🙂

A lot of the ski mountains now have snow tubing trails to use as an option to have fun.

I really like Le Creuset pots and I bought myself the above Le Creuset 4 1/2 quart pot.  Plus it came with the silicone trivet that is a plus.  I like the above pot because it is perfect to make a stir fry as well as soup or a pot roast.

I like using the slow cooker and saw the above idea of putting together the ingredients for crock pot recipes and sealing them up in bags for the freezer.   Then all the prep work is done and you just dump the ingredients in the crock pot for fix it and forget it.  I pinned the above recipe ideas for freezer bags in my “freezer meals” board on my Pinterest.  I think it was 10 ideas.

I like Shepherds Pie or Cottage Pie and found several good sounding recipes for them and pinned the recipes on my Casseroles board on my Pinterest.  I bought a single portion frozen Cottage Pie in the grocery store in the freezer section and was disappointed at how little mashed potato there was with it.   I mean dime thin.   I like to make Shepherds Pie the way my Mom did and she used to put cream corn in hers and she wasn’t stingy with the mashed potatoes.

Gesine Bullock Prada has a recipe for baked cider donuts that sound really good.  They have those donut pans to bake donuts in at King Arthur Flour and they can be ordered in their catalog or on line.  I’ve been wanting to get one of those pans.  I pinned the recipe on my Gesine recipe board on my Pinterest.  It’s also on the food network web page on Gesine’s Baked in Vermont.

I saw a neat idea for using an old wine bottle.  I wonder how they cut the bottle out like that, though.  I have a neat blue wine bottle but you must have to buy a bottle all cut out to make that planter.  I would think that if the hubby took it in his shop and used one of the power tools on it to cut it, but I think it would break.

I like the above house.  It reminds me of a friend I once had that had a house that looked just like the above.  They had views of several mountain ranges.

And that is my inspirations and ideas for today.  It’s way late and I have to call it a day.  Good night all.

The windchill factor is about 20 below zero outside tonight.  You can hear the wind howling.  It’s a good time to keep the home fires burning.  Brrrrr!  It’s really polar weather this week.  A good time to cozy up inside with a book and a hot tea for sure.

Time to break out the bird feeders.

They love suet and one of those little net bags that you get in the produce section of the grocery store works perfect to hold suet.  It attracts all kinds of winter birds.

 

Craftsy has kits that you can buy and I really like the above quilt kit.  I like the colors and everything about it.

Twilight in the above photo just looks plain cold to me.  When it’s real cold the snow just makes a crunch sound when walk on it.

 

I saw the above recipe for crock pot pork roast and it sounded good to me.  I pinned the recipe on my crock pot board on my Pinterest.

Orange Chicken sounds kind of good, also.  I pinned that recipe on my crockpot board on my Pinterest.

Snow is kind of pretty if you don’t have to go out in it.  It’s so cold now that the snow sticks to the trees even though it’s a light powdery snow.  It just freezes on.

I guess that this cold freeze is all across the nation.  I heard that it was 40 degrees in Florida this week.  Thirty degrees this time of year in Vermont would be shorts and T-shirt weather.

So hope you all are staying warm.

January is the start of a new year.  I like to get organized and I like all the neat containers that they have for organizing a pantry.

I got some little Pioneer Woman jars at the Walmart that are perfect for storing walnuts, California blend almonds, cranberries, raisins and pistachios, pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds.   I love them and I put them on a little turn table in my pantry.  Then I got a glass canister at the Walmart for storing flour.

I like to put the nut blends on my oatmeal in the morning along with blueberries, sliced banana, flax seed, wheat germ and cinnamon.  One of my favorite breakfasts along with a cup of coffee.

I collect Pistoulet and I bought myself the above canister.  I got a really neat deal on it a few weeks before Christmas.  It was 30% off and free shipping from Pfalzgraff.   I don’t know what would be good to put in it.  But I will think of something.

 

I like leggings and the above “Cuddle duds” are only $19.99 on QVC home shopping.  They are just fun to lounge around in and they are warm.  Plus they are great for any exercise like yoga or aerobic walking.

There is a matching top that is kind of cute and stylish.  I like the black leggings, also.

I saw a recipe for the Lemon Herb Mediterranean Chicken Salad that sounded kind of good.  I pinned the recipe on my salads board on my Pinterest.

I like banana bread and King Arthur Flour’s recipe of the year is “Whole Grain Banana Bread”.  Yum!  I pinned the recipe on my King Arthur Flour recipe board on my Pinterest.

I really like Food Network’s Gesine Bullock Prado’s “Baked in Vermont” TV show.  She also teaches Craftsy classes and you can have access to all her classes on Craftsy.   She built a cooking school called “Sugar Glider Kitchen” attached to her home in Hartford, VT.  The above is her beautiful home that is near King Arthur Flour.  She also teaches classes at King Arthur Flour.  Her sister is Sandra Bullock.  She said that she was going to have a series of 6 shows and the 6th show is this Saturday.   I really hope that she will do more shows.  She is the best.

Gesine’s pie crust recipe is awesome.  She really knows baking and she said that she is self taught.

I noticed that people sometimes come from long distances to take classes at Gesine’s and she suggests for one of the places to stay is the Woodstock Inn.

Primroses are in the grocery stores now.  I got the above primrose this week and it cheers up very cold winter days.  Right now the wind is howling and we are in the middle of a northeaster for sure.  Frigid polar weather.

I like the above photo of Peacham, VT.

It’s late and I guess that I have to call it a day.  Good night all.