Welcome to my
Perfectly Imperfect Life..........

Friday, November 13, 2009

China Town

OK, So this is a continuation of this post .
None of us had been to China Town in San Francisco before,
so we headed there...thanks to Garmin ;~)

They alot of really neat old architecture.
We checked out alot of shops & had fun!






My daughter & youngest crossing the street from an anime shop.

He thinks he's out of the picture......not!

My oldest Son's girlfriend...always a kidder!!

I know I showed this photo yesterday...but I really love it!! LOL


Ah yeh, really interesting shops!

After China Town we headed to Fisherman's Wharf.
We've been there before and always enjoy it.
They were getting ready for the holidays,

With a Huge Christmas Tree!

My youngest son checking out the boats.




The was a young Seagull that was trying to get someone's attention by constantly peeping.

He got alot from passers by,
not sure that was who he wanted attention from tho ;~)




And a wonderful end to a tiring day!
Oldest and girlfriend.

Leaving on a Jet Plane.......

Wednesday we took middle son to the San Francisco Airport to catch a flight to Pennsylvania to see his girlfriend.
What an experience.
It's been 15 yrs since I have even been to an airport...my how thungs have changed. We can thank 911 for that.
TJ was 5 the last time he fly commercialy...he'll be 22 the end of December.
So basically this is was his first time, especialy alone.
But he made it there safely, which is all that matters.

Here's just a few pics of him trying to get thru security.



Ok Maybe I was more nervous than he....
look at those blurry pics!


ooohh, great shot of my daughter in the glass ;~)


da da da da boom shi
You bascialy have to strip!


Finally made it after setting the alarms off 3 times!! LOL
When they say everything out of your pockets they mean it!


After he was off we (my other 3 and oldest's girlfriend) decided to take advantage of being in "The City".

We headed to Chinatown, which will come next time.
In the meantime I want to leave you with this.

Aren't they just gorgeous!
I haven't had time to get out & check my garden for blooms, so I thought I'd share these from Chinatown.
They were outside a little shop and I couldn't resist.

I'm joining Tootsie for Fertilizer Friday at Tootsie Time

Be sure to check out everyone's blooms this week!


Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Happy Birthday Brandon!! Let Baking Season Begin!

Happy Birthday Brandon!!!


It's  my oldest son's birthday (Nov. 10).
Boy, am I getting old or what??
He is 33 today but will always be my first baby ;~)


Each year I make Russian Teacakes,
 his favorite cookie (my sister's and I's too), for him. 
This also kicks off our Holiday Baking Season.
These are truly yummy!!



Russian Tea Cake Cookie Recipe.


Mix:

1 cup butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/4 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup finely chopped walnuts


Chill dough.  Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place on ungreased cookie sheet (cookies do not spread). Bake at 400 degrees til set, but not brown,  about 10-12 minutes. Roll warm tea cakes in powdered sugar. Cool. Roll in powdered sugar again. Makes about 4 dozen tea cakes.



 
Enjoy!

Sunday, November 8, 2009

The Kitchen Cabinet Project is DONE!!!!!!


Yes! The "Kitchen Cabinet Project" I mentioned here and here is DONE!
I am so relieved excited that they are finally finished.
About half way through I was starting to wonder "What the heck am I doing?!"
I'm sure you remember that painting directly on them was not possible.
They were in worse shape than I thought.

I knew they were messed up around the edges....



But I didn't realize they also had little bubble/bumps throughout
 
 

So after much scraping.....
 

And sanding.....
 

They were finally smooth enough....
 

for the next step.....
which involved...
you guessed it! more Mod Podge!!


So this was my idea....
I didn't want to copy what I did with the Bathroom Cabinets
And I've always wanted painted white kitchen cabinets...
not the pristine new looking type, but older looking cabinets with tons of coats of paint on them. You know the ones that have all that character!
Since the cabinets couldn't take paint directly.....

I decided to cover them in fabric then paint them.
I was on my way out the door to purchase fabric when
my light bulb finally flickered. 
I don't need to buy it, I have lots of sheets stored in the garage!
Whenever I see decent sheets at a yard sale I pick them up.
They are nice big pieces of fabric that come in handy for 
so many projects..yup like this one ;~)
So I proceeded to cover all my cabinets...
doors and frames.


Mod Podged fabric on, trimmed to size then 
coated with Mod Podge.


It was a patch work of colors for a while :/


Once dry I moved onto the next step...
paint!


I decided to paint the inside too...
since it was bare particle board/or whatever these
were made of no fabric was necessary. Whew! 
I was able to just paint like normal :)



The insides look so much nicer painted


At last they were all painted.
 Using paint I had from a previous project,
I applied 2 coats of paint, letting each dry thoroughly in between.
(It didn't matter to me that the paint was flat because I was using Mod Podge Gloss, so it would have a sheen no matter what finish the paint had.)

I installed drawer pulls and cabinet knobs and 
even little felt corners for the doors.


OK Here we go...the big reveal!
but we must have some before pictures....




Now the After







I truly am in LOVE with them!
They are perfectly imperfect.
There are boo boos here and there that gives them character...
like they've been around for a long while.
I added about 4-5 coats of Mod Podge over the paint,
so clean up is a breeze!

The kitchen has been painted, the cabinets are done,
next is to recover the kitchen benches.
I think those may just wait a bit....
we'll see.
:~)




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