Author Archives: cathyboettner

Our fall garden is doing well. We have had nearly perfect weather. Here are the three tanks that I planted about 4 weeks ago. And here is an update on our forsythia project from earlier this year….. We have been so encouraged by how well that they have grown (they are as tall as me),Continue reading “Gardening Update”

If you have followed this blog for long, you know that I love to create a beautiful table for entertaining. This is one that I have been thinking about for a while. I started with a beige washed linen tablecloth from Williams Sonoma. I topped that with some of the log slices that my husbandContinue reading “Fall Harvest Table”

I am not big on kitchen gadgets, but we bought a sous vide (soo veed) this spring and it makes cooking meat on the grill so easy and everything is cooked evenly. I am using the sous vide for this recipe. Marinade: 1 cup beer 1/2 cup honey 1/2 cup dijon or coarse ground mustardContinue reading “Honey Rosemary Pork Tenderloin”

The closets in this house were installed, but definitely not designed. The shelving in the boys closets was terrible making already small closets virtually useless. We reworked ours about four years ago, and now I am tackling the boys’ closets. First, I removed the old wire shelving. Everything for the old shelving was put intoContinue reading “Reworking the Boys’ Closets”

This is another driftwood project. Early this spring, we had a really large branch wash up on the rocks. It didn’t look like much, but when we cut it up, it had this fantastic spalting in it where fungus had grown. I loved how it looked. Since the cross section is what looks so cool,Continue reading “Another project for the wedding centerpieces”

We live on the river and frequently have driftwood wash up on the rocks on the river bank. Sometimes, this is really interesting looking and sculptural. I have offered to help my niece with some wedding stuff and I asked her about using driftwood in the centerpieces since we’re trying to keep to a tightContinue reading “Driftwood for Floral Arrangements”

As I said in the last garden post, I pulled up a bunch of stuff that was bug eaten and/or tired from the summer garden. We added some mushroom compost to the empty stock tanks and I just filled them. When the tomatoes are finished, I will plant some swiss chard, and probably some moreContinue reading “Fall Garden”

We bought a tent this summer for my mother in law’s 80th birthday party–it was about the same cost as to rent one and now we have it for other events. The problem is that we didn’t want to store it in the house, and leaving it on the floor of the garage was alsoContinue reading “Another storage solution for a difficult to store item”

This is the time of year when EVERYTHING starts to look pretty tired and bedraggled. I went around the house this morning and some things are looking really bad–so bad that I will have to pull them up. This garden in the front with the strawberries and fig trees is doing well. The strawberries haveContinue reading “Late Summer Garden Update”

Our youngest just moved into an apartment and he is really into plants. I brought him several when I helped him get his apartment together, but he still wants a few more. Ceramic pots are really expensive, and aren’t always waterproof, but glass vases are. I bought two really heavy glass vases from the thriftContinue reading “Upcycling some thrift store vases”