Dinning Room

If you've read this blog for long, you know that I've always disliked our stairway.  I was so disappointed when we moved in and saw that the renovators just stuck a boring half wall on there and called it a day.  I added trim and a newel post later but still, I hated that half wall.  The staircase deserved a pretty railing.  :) So, after removing the carpet, painting, repainting and many projects to take the focus off the half wall, we finally decided to just take the wall down, thanks to these reclaimed spindles hubby found. It was certainly not in our budget right now to buy all new spindles, wood and trim to create a new stair rail so finding these was perfect.  And I'm proud to say that because we reused a lot of the wood we removed and wood from storage, this entire project only cost about 10 bucks.  :) Here are the 3 redos that this staircase has seen all in an attempt to take the focus away from the half wall.  The carpeted stairs are the way they looked originally.

Hello!  It seems that most of the US is experiencing bitterly cold temps right now, including us as we wait for the "polar vortex" to hit our neck of the woods Sunday and Monday.  I don't know about you but I'm a little tired of the cold weather and it is only early January.  We still have a couple of months at least of winter.  Ugh.  But on the positive side, cold weather is the best time to eat and cook one of our favorite foods; soups and stews of all kinds.  This one is amazing if you like bacon and cheese and really, who doesn't.  Beer and Cheddar Soup 8-10 slices of thick cut bacon chopped into 1/2 inch pieces 1 celery rib, finely chopped 1/2 of an onion, chopped 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 TBS chopped fresh thyme One 12 oz bottle of beer 3 cups reduced sodium chicken stock 4 TBS unsalted butter 1/4 cup flour 8 oz sharp yellow cheddar cheese, grated 4 oz smoked cheddar cheese, grated salt and pepper Directions: Cook bacon in a large pot over medium heat until