~moving sale, turquoise chairs, red hydrangeas~

I attended a moving sale on Friday in Augusta, Georgia. 

The house had fine bones and after I made my purchases they allowed me to take photos.

 It was a cloudy and thunderstorm filled day.

The staircase is not too big and not too little.

 I would have it.

The turquoise chairs were full of whimsy but five hundred dollars for the set was way more than I would ever consider paying.

The rear of the property was filled with hydrangea bushes and having lived all my forty nine years in the South why oh why have I never seen red hydrangeas before? Are they hard to grow? Expensive? Need odd soil conditions? Do tell someone? I want one.

What did I buy?

The only items I could afford. 

I bought Turkish cotton sheets, vintage sheets and pillow cases. 

They have been OxyCleaned and are air drying now.

Then much ironing to do which counts as exercise.

joy and peace

Olive 

Happy Friday

Happy Friday My Fine Feathered Friends

From this point until the weekend {March 2-4} the TEN TEENs are with us 

a whole lot of auto posting will be going on here.

Please say a little prayer for us that we will care for these kids in the best way

 possible and have fun doing it.

I will visit and comment between baking, planning, and more cleaning.

joy and peace

Olive

House Plants

I spent yesterday fiddling with this and that.

 Sunny, sunny 74 degree weather. 

Perfect for digging in the garden.

Or.

Potting houseplants.

I placed this Kimberly Queen fern in the Haeger planter. 

It had no drainage hole so I shattered a chipped terracotta pot and placed about two inches 

of the shards in the bottom of the planter creating some drainage.

Indoor ferns do well in low filtered light, about what you would require to read a book.

The odd pictures in the fireplace were found at a local thrift store and are from the 1940's we believe.

I bought this curly variety of snake plant at a neighbor's plant sale last year. 

It has tripled in size and filled the planter I placed it in. 

It really is effortless to care for. 

I water it once a week.

It is in the window seat at present but it has been in a darker room and was happy there as well.

I also planted more ivy. We shall be over run with ivy very soon.

joy and peace

Olive

Strata

I have been testing breakfast recipes in anticipation of the arrival of TEN TEENAGERS on the weekend of March 2-4. Joe is the taste tester. He suffers through it if he must. The strata above was adapted from a Country Living magazine recipe in the January issue this year.

Tomato-Cheddar Strata with Broccoli

• 4 1/2 cups 1-inch bread cubes (about three quarters of a French loaf)
• Butter, for greasing dish
• 6 ounces shredded Cheddar (about 1 1/2cups)
• 1 cup halved grape tomatoes
• 1 cup frozen broccoli florets
• 1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley
• 8 large eggs
• 3 cups milk ( I left this out of the original post edited on 2/26/12 see why I should not do this?)
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 4 ounces ricotta cheese (about 1/2 cup

• 1 teaspoon herbes de Provence

1. Place bread in a buttered 9x13 baking dish. Top with 1 cup cheese, broccoli, tomatoes, and 1 tablespoon parsley.
2. In a bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, salt, and pepper. Pour mixture over bread and gently press to soak every cube. Add dollops of ricotta over top. Sprinkle strata with herbs de Provence and remaining Cheddar. Cover and refrigerate for several hours or up to overnight.

Remove strata from refrigerator and bring to room temperature, about one hour. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Bake until strata is puffed and lightly golden brown, about 1 hour. Set aside to cool 10 minutes. Garnish with remaining parsley. Serve warm or at room temperature.

My Notes:

I used mozzarella because I had a lot and it is lower in fat. 
I had no ricotta cheese or parsley so I left them out. 
 It tasted light and delicious and Joe loved it.
It was quick and easy to make.
I cook all the time but sharing recipes makes me anxious for some reason.
Must work on this.

♥♥♥

Thank you for your comments yesterday about the camellias 

and yes they came from our flower garden.  

Our red ones are just about to bloom.

joy and peace

Olive