At least it’s not a single dangling light bulb, right?

We’ve had a little burn out…and not just in the light bulbs.  We recently noticed that whenever we switched on this light, the breaker would flip.  We assumed that there was something wrong with the switch or the wires in between, so we called our friend Paul the Electrician.

It took him about two minutes to tell us it was the light fixture, not the switch or the wires.  Which, is actually a relief, but left us feeling a little silly for not thinking of trying a different fixture…

The fixture that was there looked like this:

And guess what.  I never really liked it.  So I might have done a little happy dance when I heard it needed to go.  The picture above is of an identical fixture in one of our hallways, which might just need to say au revoir as well (second happy dance).

So what was wrong with the fixture?  Apparently things were getting a little too hot and smoky.

Oops.

So now the hunt begins for a new fixture.  And the lesson is learned and passed on…if your lights aren’t working right, it might be an easy fixture fix.

Have you been burning anything lately?

Note to self: If you are painting the trim white, always, always go with the pre-primed trim.

It’s not that we have anything against priming the trim ourselves.  It just takes a lot of patience, careful work…and time.

After trying a few tactics, muttering a few expletives and wiping our share of white paint off the walls, we came up with a plan.  Chris and I both set out with a large spackle knife and used the sharp thin edges to protect our walls and carpet.  It worked particularly well on the floor where we could push the carpet all the way down and get right to the bottom of the trim…

And it worked on the wall side, too.  For the floor boards we were able to wedge the blade in between the wall and board (without harming anything) and protect the wall from paint.  It was a bit more difficult on the window trim and crown molding, but keeping the knife at an angle really helps keep the paint in.

We were awfully whiny as we recalled how quick the pre-primed trim was when we used it in other rooms.  One coat of slick satin paint was all we needed compared to the two plus coats that we did this time.  But, it does look good!

I know I should have asked before we took this project on, but do you have any trim painting advice?

Some thinking and Googling led us to believe that our well and well pump had been struck by lightning, which apparently happens quite often since the pipe and electricity extends more than 300 feet down into the ground.  That is the distance of one football field!

While I was schmoozing away at my work event, Chris was hard at work assisting the emergency plumber who was kind enough to take the call.  It took three of them, but they pulled up all 300 feet of pipe, which more than stretched down our driveway…

(Chris actually thought to take pictures for the blog.  He is my hero!)

Of course, before they did all that labor, the plumber tested the electricity.  The fact that there was electricity coming from the house and flowing freely at the top of the well indicated it was a pump issue 300 feet below.  Bummer.

Thankfully the plumber was able to locate a new pump that morning and it was in within a matter of hours.  You can see our shiny new pump awaiting its descent…

The plumber added some bleach to our well to counteract any bacteria that might have been drudged up or stuck to the piping that went across the lawn (you know, where Frankie goes to the bathroom).  To help clear the bleach, the plumber recommended running a faucet for 24 hours and to wait a while before drinking the water or washing clothes.  But, we are very thankful to have water again!

The budget-conscious homeowners out there might be adding up the costs (emergency weekend plumber visit, new well pump…) and yes, we are expecting a hefty bill.  But, we are hopeful that our home insurance will cover this.  We’d really prefer to use our savings for other things.  Fingers crossed for us!

So, have you any of you homeowners had any well adventures?

First up we have the Domino: The Book of Decorating.  I know I’m not the first blogger to rave about this book, or the very missed Domino Magazine, but this book really is the best.  It’s chock full of decorating ideas for all kinds of rooms and spaces, plus it has a great section called “The Decorators’ Handbook,” which goes into all kinds of fun details about the different options for window treatments, furniture, headboards, bed skirts and throw pillows.

It also has a whole resource section in the back, listing some of the best places to shop for different home decorating needs.  Oh, and did I mention that the layout is gorgeous?

Then we have the Food Lover’s Companion which is a dictionary-style book that provides definitions for basically every food, drink or culinary term that you can think of.  For a semi-wordie/foodie like me, this is a dream come true.  Now when I’m not sure what creme fraiche is, I can look it up!  And it even has the phonetic spellings! (Be still my heart.)

Do you see how thick that book is?  Love it.  Now I’ll never have to ask my husband which cut of meat is best, or search the world wide internets for a description of leeks.  And even better, I’ll be able to share all of my new knowledge with you as I go.

Do you have either of these books or any other resources you use regularly?  I highly recommend both!

P.S. Extra special public thanks go out to my dad and my friend Suzan, who were the bearers of these gifts!

You see, I made caramelized onions on Wednesday night for this green bean dish.  I might have had the heat a bit too high, because the onions did blacken a bit more than caramelize.  The smoke detectors might have gone off.  (But the onions still tasted good, I swear!)

I was regretting my menu choice when I got to work the next morning and all I could smell was onions.  Somehow the onions seemed to permeate every fiber of my clothing, every strand of my hair and every skin cell on my hand (despite the fact that I was freshly showered and wearing clean clothes from my closet).

I emailed Chris about my issue; here’s how the conversation went:

Me: I smell like onions today.

Chris: Me too!!!  Yuck! [you know it is serious when he uses exclamation points]

Me: Do you???  Do you think our whole house smells? [you know I'm worried when I use lots of question marks]

Chris: Totally.  My co-workers even said so.  I can smell it.  No more onions.  Caramelized or otherwise.

Me: That is so bizarre.

Chris: Not really when you think about the fact that we had an onion inferno in our kitchen…

Onion inferno?  Really?  Maybe he was right because I returned home from work and class 12 hours later to a house that still smelled a lot like caramelized/blackened onions.

A little Google research resulted in an all-natural home-freshening method that goes something like this:

Add a tablespoon of cinnamon and a teaspoon of nutmeg to a pot of water

Add oranges, lemons, or any citrus you have on hand.

Boil until your house smells good.

And your house will smell good.  In fact, it will smell amazing…kind of like orange spice tea.  I might try this on a regular basis, even when I don’t burn onions.

Do you have any home freshening solutions?  Do share, as we all know this won’t be the last time I burn something smelly.

(onion photo source)

I was the lucky recipient of a delicious bottle of wine and two (that’s right, two) beautiful potted plants.  Yes, potted plants like the kind I kill…

…and resuscitate…

But, I’m here to promise that I am not making the same mistakes again.  No, I have two new beautiful plants that I love (making a total of 3 in our house) and I am going to make them thrive!  I may need your help, of course.  You might need to remind me once a week to water them, okay?

First up we have this beautiful bunch of pink tulips, which have brightened up our kitchen immensely.

Gorgeous, right?  As the novice gardener (if I can even call myself novice), I assumed that once the blooms pass, I could re-plant the bulbs.  But a bit of research produced this explanation on the Country Living website:

“These days, most tulips are bred as annuals, the producers having sacrificed the original perennial nature of the bulb in exchange for bigger and better flowers. Even the ones meant for planting outside are generally good only for a year or two before the bulb peters out. When your tulip is done flowering, your only recourse is to toss it.”

So, you’re telling me I don’t even have a chance of harming this plant?  I can just enjoy it until it dies? Fabulous!

Next up is this beautiful Campanula plant with soft purple flowers, in a terrific planter.  It is greeting us every time we walk in the door, and looks very sharp next to our everlasting citrus decor.

This one is meant to live, though, so I will have to put my game face on.  Here are the tips I dug up on caring for Campanula:

• Campanula is a trailing plant, which works well for an indoor pot or hanging basket.
• Flowers should be removed as they die and the plant should be trimmed back as necessary.
• Normal room temperatures are fine for this plant.
• In terms of watering, mist the plant frequently and keep the soil just moist.
• Feed the plant every two weeks (does this mean I need to buy plant food!?)
• If all of the blooms die off, the plant will likely flower again in the warmer summer months with more sunlight and water.

So, it’s a good thing that I see this plant in the entryway every day.  I’ll have no excuse for not caring for it!

Now the bigger question is: did my co-workers plot to bring me planted flowers as a test?  If so, they know me well enough to know that I’m always up for a challenge.  I’ll show them and keep our friend-ferns alive!  (Sorry, I couldn’t help but use the How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days love-fern reference…)

Wax on refers to the mess made when our entry way candles were left unattended for too long…

…which leads to this…

…and this…

…that’s when my father-in-law shakes his head and reminds me that candles are dangerous. (Thanks for the tip, Red.)

It’s also when I decide I should probably do some research to figure out the best way to remove wax from furniture and fabric.  Or, as Chris likes to say, “it’s a blog-able moment.”

So, how do you remove candle wax from tablecloths, walls and furniture?  Here are some helpful hints:

• For fabric, apply an ice pack to make the wax more scrape-able.  After a moment or two of icing, use a credit card or butter knife to scrape as much as you can.  If necessary, place the fabric between two clean paper bags and gently iron the area (on medium-high level) until the wax transfers from the fabric to the paper bag. Throw the items in the washer as soon as you can after that, especially if it was colored wax!
• For wooden furniture, use that ice pack again to harden the wax.  Then gently scrape off as much as you can with a credit card.  If any residue remains, use a clean cloth to rub the rest away.

Lucky for me, the wax seemed to harden a lot, so I was able to skip the ice and head straight for the scraping.  I thawed out a credit card and went to work.

I couldn’t believe how much wax flaked onto the floor and onto my pants!

I had so much success with the scraping, that I didn’t need to try the ironing or polishing methods at all.  So, I will have to test those for you another time!

In the meantime, please tell me if you’ve had any candle disasters.  Any close-calls with candles?  I know I shouldn’t make light of the situation because many people lose their homes each year to unattended candles, but won’t you laugh along with me on this blunder?

Source

Many of you gave me some really nice recipes before, but I needed to jump into the shallow end of the leek pool.  Like with pizza.  And The Pioneer Woman came to the rescue with just the recipe for me to try: Potato Leek Pizza.

After whipping up a batch of pizza dough that actually worked, I added my leek-o-licious toppings.  First I put down a layer of very thinly sliced potatoes and topped them with 8 ounces of sliced fresh mozzarella.  Next I added a round of my very finely sliced leeks and some bacon that I had fried up and chopped.  A coating of salt and pepper went on last and into the oven it went.

I had no idea if I would even like the taste of leeks, but it looked so good that I told myself that not liking leeks was not an option.  Lucky for me, the whole shebang tasted quite good.  I sliced it up and saved it in the fridge for a surprisingly healthy mid-week meal.

The original recipe from PW included double the mozzarella and some goat cheese.  I decided to forgo the extra cheese  to cut down on the calories.  I also cut down the amount of olive oil in the crust considerably from what PW recommended.  Don’t worry, the taste was still delicious and it looked this good:

I would definitely put more leeks on next time.  They were very tasty, especially with the potatoes and cheese.  I suppose the bacon helped, too.

So, have any of you tackled leeks since my last leek post?  Anyone else try out PW’s pizza recipe?  I’d love to hear about it!

P.S. Want to see more of my PW recipe reviews?  Check them out here!

*And, to clarify, the tally in the header is the post-research score.   Before my research it was Erin 0, Yeast 4.  (It’s a fresh start, not cheating, right!?)

I attribute my success to three main factors:

• I used the right kind of yeast (active dry)
• I found the right temperature for the water that proofed my yeast
• I left the dough in a slightly-warm oven to help the rising process

I used The Pioneer Woman’s recipe for pizza dough, but altered it slightly to make it a bit more healthy and flavorful.  The dough certainly wasn’t perfect, but it did the trick! Here was my method:

Pizza Dough That Actually Works!
(adapted from The Pioneer Woman Cooks)
makes 2 crusts

INGREDIENTS:
1 tsp of active dry yeast
1.5 cups of warm water
4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp kosher salt
2 TBS extra virgin olive oil (I used my Tuscan Herb EVOO)

INSTRUCTIONS:
Pour the warm water in a bowl and sprinkle in yeast. (Warm is when you put your wrist under the faucet and the water doesn’t feel hot or cold…it just feels like it’s there).

Combine the flour and salt in a mixing bowl.  With an electric mixer on low speed, drizzle in olive oil until combined (I used my Kitchen Aid mixer and dough hook).

Add water and yeast mixture slowly until ball forms.

Transfer the dough into a lightly greased bowl and let it rise in a warm place for 1-2 hours (until it doubles in size).

Divide the dough in half.  You can freeze or refrigerate the second crust, if you’d like!

I lightly floured my pizza peel before spreading the dough out and then transferred it to a pre-heated pizza stone lightly covered with corn meal. Of course, I covered it with some yummy toppings that you will hear more about later.

My dough had a really nice flavor to it, thanks to the Tuscan Herb Olive Oil that I used.  I purchased the oil locally here in Maine, but I might be able to help you get your hands on some (yes, that is a giveaway hint!).

I feel like I’ve achieved something amazing with this dough, but I know the toughest yeast challenges are yet to come.  Wish me luck!

Pssst…want to see how my bread yeast battle progressed from here?  Check out my oatmeal molasses bread.

Renee can tie a mean bow.  Like scary mean.  I was nervous about keeping up, especially since I had just faked the bow I put on my holiday door swag.

Not only does Renee have mad bow-making skills, but she actually has a ribbon tin.  Full of ribbon (pictured above).  I brought along the one roll of wired ribbon that I had and Renee was kind enough not to laugh in my face (she is sweet like that).

For about an hour, I watched, mimicked, nodded and clenched my teeth in concentration as the ribbon went up, down, crossed and around.  And I had success!

Of course, my hands were far too busy to take pictures along the way, so I had great intentions of coming home and recreating the step-by-step instructions in photos.  But then the next day (literally), up popped the perfect how-to-make-a-bow tutorial by Katie over at Bower Power.  Not only did Katie provide her how-to by video, but she was boasting an adorable baby bump.  There was no way my lame photo how-to could compete.

Now that Valentine’s Day is coming up, I thought it would be the perfect time to share my bow tying tale.  Bows aren’t just for Christmas, after all!

And so, if you’re up for learning how to how to create your own bow, I highly recommend trying one of two things.  Either come on up to Downeast Maine and hang out with me and Renee, or watch Katie in action on her blog.  Your choice.  (But we’d cook for you.  And bake for you. No pressure, though.)