BEFORE & AFTER - RETRO STOOL GOES MOD

http://oilandblue.blogspot.com/2015/07/before-after-retro-stool-goes-mod.html

I know, I know, someone somewhere out there has been searching for this exact vintage stool and I've ruined their lives.  Okay, now we can move on.

I found this stool for half price at a thrift store, which is almost nothing (or, $1.50) and loved the legs and the lines but not so much the shiny chrome and the heart-shaped back rest.  Yes, it's old and I did cut off the heart shaped back, but, in my defense, I kept the amazing gold flecked upholstery!  See, I'm not so bad after all.  At least no books were harmed in the making of this project.

BEFORE & AFTER - UPDATE A BRASS CEILING FAN

http://oilandblue.blogspot.com/2015/07/before-after-update-brass-ceiling-fan.html

Don't replace an outdated ceiling fan- those suckers are expensive!  Instead, consider painting it a different color.  I'm not a huge fan (haha, so punny) of the spray-paint-everything-in-sight-watch-out-pets-and-small-children-nothing-is-sacred pinterest-fueled trend of using a can of paint to fix your decorating woes, but in small doses it can do wonders.  In the 1990's the ceiling fans in our house would have been glorious.  In a 100+ year old Victorian house, though, our shiny look-at-me brass ceiling fans were woefully out of place.  The Man let me know that replacing them with a regular light fixture was out of the budgetary and reasonable things question- he's definitely my voice of reason.  Plan B: paint the ceiling fans! Weee!

There was one little catch- I couldn't take them off of the ceiling if I wanted to do this myself, and I wanted to do this myself.  For one, I don't trust myself with electrical things.  After I electrocuted myself just by hanging wallpaper (who does that?!), I didn't feel like tempting fate.  Secondly, I have the arm strength of a 5'2" T-Rex. Holding up a fan motor while removing it from the ceiling and standing on a ladder that has a leg nearly chewed off by a squirrel because we left it outside once would also be tempting fate.  So, I figured out a way to paint it nicely while it was still attached to the ceiling. 

Click through below for the how-to steps and the before and after (hooray for actually remembering to take before and after pictures!).

LEMON THYME GRILLED POTATOES

http://oilandblue.blogspot.com/2015/07/lemon-thyme-grilled-potatoes.html

The rain and humidity brought a sad and early end to my potatoes this year.  Blight hit them the worst, along with my tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, and squash.  The survivors are on a steady diet of a milk and baking soda spray solution and I think they'll pull through.  My potatoes were another story- they withered and yellowed and died within just a few days and I couldn't save them.  It wasn't all bad, though, it just meant that we'd be eating lots of itty bitty new potatoes as quickly as we could.

It was a year of purple for my garden.  I tried out growing indigo rose tomatoes, purple kale, purple peppers, and, purple potatoes!  Well, they say they're blue and they are in the store, but when you dig these out of the ground they are the most beautiful jewel toned amethyst color you've ever seen in a tuber!

Anyhow, I'll cut to the chase and give you this easy recipe.  It's perfect as a side dish to grilled burgers or anything else that you're making on the grill because it's too darned hot outside to cook inside.