If you have to ask...you can just RENT.

 We rented a carriage house (below) that is part of a bigger main house (above) in Rosemary Beach. First time renting through VRBO and all went smoothly. 

It had a cool spiral staircase, loft and wonderful wrap-around screened porch.

Rosemary Beach was established in 1995 and is based on the Dutch Colonial style:

Details are high end, complete with GAS lights:

Lots of upper level living with great balconies:

And great entryways:

Some were more creative and still fit into the neighborhood.

This one used green logs and had a boat shaped balcony:

This is the mosaic house that i had found on pinterest:

 These homes are in Seaside, where they filmed the movie, The Truman Show. 

Seemed like 50% of all homes are for sale.

Here is a listing in Rosemary Beach. Ow.

Speaking of money, here is house that i spotted on a walk. It smells of entertainment or sports money.  This is just the guest house. 

Here is the rest of the place:

should have done this years ago

PROBLEM: towel always slides off of my stove handle, AND it's too far from the sink. And yes, that is the fabulous induction stove I won in the 44th Pillsbury Bake-Off®.

SOLUTION: secret placement of IKEA hook.

 Mark drill bit with tape so you don't overdrill.

Drill a pilot hole.

 Then attach with hardware that rhymes with schrew...blogger rejected the correct word.

 Now easy to reach with drippy hands.

Dutch Baby Blob

I came across ANGRY CHICKEN's post on a Dutch Baby. Click here for the recipe. I'd heard of it before and always wanted to try it. First you make a pancake like batter. Very easy.

I melted butter in a glass pie plate in the oven to heat up the dish--more on what I SHOULD HAVE DONE later. You just pour the batter in the dish and bake it.

It puffs up and up and up while it bakes. Kids will love it.

Tastes great too, like french toast and popovers mixed together. I put a little melted butter on mine. You can also do syrup or jam. But please don't sprinkle with powdered sugar. That's my pet peeve of baking. The phrase "pet peeve" is also a pet peeve of mine.

OK, back to the pan. As you can see it stuck to the bottom. I made this on a weeknight with a recipe I found on the internet. Wouldn't you know that on Saturday, Cook's Country TV did an episode on it? They used an AC stainless steel pan (which I gave away because mine was warped...errrr) and added lemon juice and rind. Next time I will try that. Here's the link to their version.

UPDATE: March 4th

Today I tried the Cook's Country Dutch Baby recipe (Feb/Mar 2010 issue, pg 19). The results were quite different. Their recipe called for lemon rind mixed in with the batter. My daughter was not a fan of that addition...I was ok with it being an adult and all, but she's right. No need for it. I like it when it just tastes like popovers.

The recipe called for vegetable oil and a GOOD-LY amount as Martha Stewart would say. Preheat oil in pan in very HOT oven 10 minutes. I used a non-stick skillet since it's remotely close to what the recipe called for. 

The result was quite different than using the glass pie plate. Only the sides puffed up and not the center. Very dramatic in a different kind of way. The GOOD-LY amount of oil was actually a GOOD THING (ha ha), as it easily slid out of the pan onto the cutting board. 

IN CONCLUSION:

If you are going to do ANGRY CHICKEN's recipe, just add more oil/butter to the glass pie plate. 

And if you make Cook's Country's recipe, skip the lemon.

happy valentine's day

first a sketch, then a quick tree makeover. i hung hearts that i had made (in the days before blogging) from my grandma in willmar's quilting project that didn't lie flat. I simply sandwiched cut fabric hearts (edges left raw) with batting and hand sewed the three layers together with pink embroidery floss.

then i went upstairs to fold some towels and ended up organizing my pins:

these were quickly taken with my iphone

reactionary post