Kate Collins's Blog, page 122

More adventures...and misadventures...in Duffy’s DIY

Duffy Brown here deep in spring spruce 2016. I took on revamping two pieces of furniture in my family room, one black and one faux wood grain. Neither expensive so if I screwed it up it wasn’t like I’d destroyed grannies price heirloom.
I used that much ballyhooed Annie Sloan’s chalk paint. I didn’t want a painted look and chalk paint leaves a flat chalk finish. Two pieces matching would look like Duffy got a paintbrush and decided to paint everything in sight so I went with a cocoa and an off white that Annie Sloan calls old white.
You put it on with a paintbrush and that takes a long time, you need two coats so it takes even longer and a top wax that you put on with a rag. I always forget to take a before pic but here’s a pic I found online so you can get an idea of what it looked like before and after.
I distressed the old white and the after looks like Pottery Barn. The other piece I left alone as cocoa so it didn’t look like Duffy went nuts with sandpaper and the cocoa piece has stuff on it so I decided it was busy enough. Those two pieces plus the fireplace I did last week really updated the family room.


I also...with the help of daughter and s-i-l put up crown molding in the kitchen. Before you go and think we are all genius guess again...its Styrofoam, comes precut to miter the corners and you just glue it up. Takes about two hours. Ta Da!BTW...don’t you love my slogan? 
I also changed all the locks and door handles around here to give the place a fresh look. I was always afraid to do that but since the old stuff looked so grimy I had to take it on. Piece of cake. If you need to change out door handles know no fear!
So now it’s on to the outside and clean, clean, clean. See you next week on what’s going in the garden.

Hugs, Duffy...Martha Stewart...Brown. 

I Love Spring, Storms Included

by Maggie Sefton



You've gotta love Spring.  All the gorgeous Spring Flowers everywhere.  However, Spring also brings those wonderful, dramatic thunderstorms.  Last night, down here in the Northern Neck of Virginia (hour and half from my hometown area of Northern Virginia) we had a wonderful thunder bumper.  Thunder and flashing lightning, jagged bolts stabbing behind the thick woods.


I'm here at the river house which I love to escape to whenever I can.  The Potomac River is just a stone's throw down the street.  So---thunderstorms can be even more dramatic----and powerful.  Last night was one of those nights, and the electricity flashed then went out.  That's why this post is coming mid-Tuesday morning.  :)   All power is back up and running, and I slept in.  Which is something I don't get to do very often.  Boy. . .did it feel good.  No outside noise, nothing to wake me up earlier.  Yay!

All last week I was up in Northern Virginia at the beautiful home of childhood friend Diane and husband Les in Vienna.  Doing lots of fun stuff with old friends.  Diane's sister Nancy and husband Tom live in the same lovely area which is filled with gorgeous blooming azalea bushes and flowering dogwood trees and pink crabapple trees.  I posted lots of photos last week.

Over the weekend, Friday thru Sunday, I was in Washington, DC/Bethesda area for the Malice Domestic mystery conference along with fellow Cozy Chick Mary Jane Maffini.  It was a great conference as usual, because we writers get to re-connect with old friends and fans as well as fellow writers.  The photo above shows some of my fellow mystery writers who are published by Berkley Prime Crime as we enjoyed a special dinner.   I'm wearing the black and white jacket and holding the wine glass.  :)    

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NANCY DREW!

By Mary Kennedy
                                       This week-end was Nancy Drew's birthday and I thought it would be fitting to dedicate a blog to her since so many of my fellow writers (and readers) grew up reading about this very talented sleuth.                                                                  The character of Nancy Drew has appeared in a number of series over the years. The first and longest-running of these is the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series, begun in 1930 and ended in 2003. The first spin-off series, the Nancy Drew Files, was begun in 1986. Since then, Nancy Drew has appeared in a number of other series and books, including a number of spin-offs where she investigates with The Hardy Boys.                                                                                                        Why do we love Nancy Drew so much? She was bright, fearless, always ready to take on a dare or a challenge. Some might call her "feisty." She didn't suffer fools gladly and never was afraid to speak her mind. And her crime-solving skills were phenomenal.                                                                      There was always a sense of drama, danger and adventure to the books. I loved seeing a strong female character not afraid to use her brains, to take risks, to stand up for what she believed in.                                                            Carolyn Keene is the pseudonym of the authors of the Nancy Drew mystery stories and The Dana Girls mystery stories, both produced by the Stratemeyer Syndicate. In addition, the Keene  Each of us probably can remember a lazy summer afternoon, curled up on a lounge chair (or in a tree house!) absorbed in a Nancy Drew book. We loved them, we exchanged them with friends and we tried to match wits with the intrepid girl detective. I was fooled all the time! The plots were so wonderful that the books kept me guessing, right up until the end. So many of my fellow mystery writers grew up reading Nancy Drew, maybe imagining they would write their own mysteries one day. How about you? Do you have a favorite Nancy Drew book that you loved? Did you long to write a mystery? Please join me in wishing happy birthday to the ageless Nancy Drew!  Happy reading, everyone, Mary Kennedy

Getting to know you…

Hi Jennifer Doorenbos!! 
Great having you here and thanks for the interview. We all love getting to know each other 
-Where do you live now? Tucson, AZ
-Pets? Kids? Hobby? I have to sets of twins. The girls are fifteen and fraternal twins. The younger set are 10 and boy/girl.  We have two cats, two dogs, and a box turtle. 

-Day Job? I’m a substitute teacher in the school district I grew up in. 
-Upcoming plans? Going to a cousin’s wedding and in May seeing my brother get married and maybe a trip to NYC.
-What do you do for fun? Read, watch movies. A real treat is going out for lunch with a good book.
-Do you travel? Got a fav place?  Love to travel! Last year I traveled to Germany for the first time. While my husband was in business meetings, I took a train from Freising to Salzburg, Austria and did the Sound of Music Tour! My favorite is any place I can snorkel!


-How did you come to reading mysteries? In elementary school I read The Westing Game and a couple of Nancy Drews, Hardy Boys and Encyclopedia Brown books. I discovered Agatha Christie and I was really hooked!

-Do you have a fav mystery show? Movie? My husband and I enjoy watching Rizzoli and Isles together. I’m still a James Bond fan, so it's always nice to revisit the old Sean Connery and Roger Moore movies.
-Do you have a fav book that you reread from time to time? Victor Villaseñor’s Rain of Gold.
-Do you remember the first mystery you read? The Westing Game
-Is there a character in a book or movie that you’d like to pal around with? Too many to list here! Actually, it’s fun chatting with the authors and learning about how you write, research, etc but also about your lives in general, your experiences and travels.
-Tell us anything else about yourself. We all love meeting new friends.In addition to chauffeuring the kids around to their activities, I've just started my Master's in English program.  

Getting to kno you…

Hi Patty Ward. Thanks for doing the interview. Always fun meeting new people. 
-Where do you live now? Glen St Mary, Florida (originally from New Jersey)
-Pets? Kids? Hobby? 2 fur babies – a Basset Hound and a dachshund. No kids. Hobbies are reading, cross stitching, crocheting and knitting.
-Day Job? Retired now. Use to work as a manager for a restaurant for 24 years.
-Upcoming plans? I am starting a cross stitch project from heaven and earth designs that will be keeping me busy for a while.
-What do you do for fun?  I love to play video games. Sitting outside watching the birds. I use to enjoy walking on the beach but I am not able to it anymore.
-Do you travel? Got a fav place? Don't travel much lately. But do enjoy a day trip to St. Augustine, Fl. I love to try and visualize what the place was like back in the day.
-How did you come to reading mysteries? The start of my reading cozy mystery's is by way of my hobby of knitting. I started reading a book called Knit One, Kill Two because it had a knitting theme. And I have enjoy reading mysteries since. I enjoy them because of the "mystery", I like trying to figure them out. Give me a good mystery over a romance book anytime.
-Do you have a fav mystery show? Movie? I love watching British mysteries on PBS and Acorn TV. For movies I love the old Margret Rutherford’s Miss Marple.
-Do you have a fav book that you reread from time to time? A Christmas Carol.
-Do you remember the first mystery you read? I remember reading Nancy Drew books when I was a kid. I love the day when the order from Scholastic books came in.
-Is there a character in a book or movie that you’d like to pal around with? This is a hard one to say. There are a few books and movies where I sometimes just close my eyes and wish myself into them.

-Tell us anything else about yourself. We all love meeting new friends. Most people don't know this about me. I am a avid player and fan of World of Warcraft. We get together on raid nights and have fun. Where else would you be able to meet and talk to people from all around the world. I think of myself as the “grandma” of the Horde guild. And the Alliance guild are people who knit and crochet from Ravelry.  I love watching old movies and finding old novels to read. I love making cream puffs (and eating them). I love Basset hounds and dachshunds and would love to get another Basset puppy.  I'm an Anglophile hence the British mysteries. I would love to visit Ireland (my grandmother's home) and maybe Germany where my Mom was from. With this electronic age I miss the old fashion writing to friends. People are so busy letting life go by they don't take the time to enjoy it and share with family and friends.

Fried Rice is Very Nice!

by Lorraine Bartlett / Lorna Barrett / L.L. Bartlett

Back in March, one of my readers posted a video blog (vlog) talking about making fried rice. I knew back then that I would HAVE to make the "recipe" for myself some-when soon. But first I had to have the main ingredients on hand to do it.

Well, that happened this week. Mr. L and I bought a very nice pork roast last week, but we knew we couldn't eat it right away, so off to the freezer it did go.

We come from families who used to have a big Sunday dinners, so we waited it for Sunday and roasted it. But since I knew we'd have a TON of leftovers,and I remembered Loremil's fried rice recipe, I decided to make a big pot of basmati rice the same day. You see, fried rice "comes good" when the rice has been made the day before.

So, I tossed a cup of rice into two cups of water, brought it to a roiling boil, and let it sit there for three full minutes. Then I turned off the burner, covered the pot, and let it sit for about 45 minutes.  (You don't even need to let it sit that long--30 minutes usually does it, but I had other stuff to do.)

Once the rice cooled a bit, I put it in the fridge and forgot about it ... until the next day.

Loremil’s Fried Rice
Ingredients
1 cup basmati rice, cooked and set aside for a day
3 eggs, beaten well
Vegetable oil
1 large carrot, diced (optional)
1 large onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
Steak seasoning or garlic-pepper seasoning
White pepper (optional)
½ cup diced ham or pork
1½-2 tablespoons soy sauce
½ cup frozen peas (peas and carrot, or mixed vegetables)

Put day-old cooked (basmati) rice in a big mixing bowl and break up. (Wet your hands before breaking it up or use a spoon.)

Whisk the eggs and cook them in a fry pan with a little vegetable oil. Season with the garlic salt, steak seasoning, and white pepper.  When the eggs are half done, turn them over.  When thoroughly cooked, cut up into strips or snip with cooking shears.



In another fry pan, add a little vegetable oil and brown the pork or ham until crispy.  Add the carrots, onions, and garlic. Stir, but don’t let them burn. Add seasoning to taste. Let the vegetables cook until the onions are translucent but still a little hard.



Add the rice and more seasoning to taste.



Combine the rice, the vegetables, and the eggs. Add the soy sauce.  Add the frozen peas and stir.

Lower the heat.  Cover and cook for 10-15 minutes. Then raise temp to med-high for 5-6 minutes to brown and crisp everything up.



Serve as a main or side dish.


I must admit, this was the BEST fried rice I've ever eaten in my life (and I've eaten a lot), and I think it was because I may have put a tad more garlic in it than most restaurants use.
Okay, it's a little fussy to make, but the results will be well worth it.
If you'd like to see Loremil make this dish, just click this link to see her video.
What's your favorite "ethnic" recipe?

A soleful conversation (aka it's all about the shoes)

By Victoria Abbott aka Mary Jane and Victoria Maffini


You know we love hats, but we also love shoes.  It must be in the genes, because Victoria and MJ both have a weakness for footwear of all types.






MJ’s heels are lower than they used to be, but she’s still committed to them for certain. 

True story from MJ: ‘back in the day’ when pointy-toes stilettos were first in vogue, I had a snazzy pair of four-inch heels in navy blue. As a person who was five-feet tall on a good day, they worked for me. I felt fabulous in them.  One night, I got separated from my friends and ended up walking a mile and a half home late at night. I was followed and then chased by a guy in a black pick-up truck for blocks, past the deserted park, past the empty railway tracks, diagonally across the lawn of the Anglican (Episcopal) church and past the church hall.

The truck followed me right across the church lawn!  I barely made it the two more houses until my home which, because it was the good old days, was not locked. I got in the door, slid gasping to the floor with my heart hammering and, through the glass in the door, I watched the truck speed off.

Only then did I take off my shoes.  The moral of this story is: I will not give up heels for anything.  And yes, aside from the shoes, I’ve used those emotions and physical reactions in my writing. Hammering hearts are a real thing!  So is gasping for breath.  This also showed me two other things:  safe places are not always safe: the park, the church AND you don’t know what you can do until you have to.   Many of my shoes are very old, but I sure wish I still had those four-inch heels to look at!True confession:  my heels are getting lower (thank you kitten heels) and sandals and slippers are my great friends in the day. And Victoria and I both fell for the comfy red boots below.  But I still like to get dressed up. That's why I picked the teal suede heels above.Victoria, being younger as daughters tend to be, has plenty of time to wear heels but she loves boots and sneakers and … well everything.   

Victoria's new favorite shoes: lacy leather sneakers - sooo comfy


Victoria also has a story to share too: some years ago, she had a foot injury (the horror!) and had to see the doctor.  Here's Victoria: "The doctor said that I would have to wear open topped shoes until my foot healed.  I pointed to the shoes I’d worn and asked, ‘Oh, like my Mary Janes?’. He gave me the strangest look, then slowly asked me if I named all my shoes." 


Well, why  not?

We’ve put in some of our faves like this one from a book launch (where we don’t always get to the end of the event before we’ve slipped out of them!  

Victoria and MJ at the launch for The Marsh Madness
Come on over and talk shoes.  Put up your feet!  Are you heels or no heels?  Do you have any funny stories? Are you a shoe lover or couldn’t you care less?  We love to hear from you!

Duffy Brown’s Spruce for Spring.

It’s that time of year when I look around and think this house needs a spiff bad. I need to get rid of the grime of winter and add something fresh and new. I’m no Martha Stewart so I go with the idea of anything has got to look better than this! If it’s just clean it will be a huge improvement.
My first project was my fireplace. This is a huge deal in that once the paint is on there is no going back! You can repaint a wall or cabinets but redo the curtains but once the paint is on brick it’s there for keeps. 
I forgot to take a pic of my fireplace before but this is pretty close to what it looked like.



My fireplace looked good forty years ago but now it was just mostly dingy orange and dated. I got one of those brick paint kits ‘cause I didn’t want a strictly painted look but more of a tumbled stone look.
I looked online and there were instructions on how you could do this on your own but like I said I’m no Martha I went with the kit. I used this thing called brick anew. It’s five stages, took a few hours but it worked. Here’s the finished project.
You put a base coat down then add four more colors so it gives shades and shadows. I watched  a ton of youtube videos to get some ideas and it was time well spend. I found out what works and does’t and avoid mistakes I so would have made!
Today I’m trying some paint called Annie Slone’s Chalk Paint to spiff some furniture. I’ll talk about that next week. Wish me luck.

Hugs, Duffy

Springtime Visit Back Home

by Maggie Sefton


One of the lovely Azalea bushes which bloom every Spring at what I call the River House back in the Metro DC area and environs.  



By now all of you folks know that my original "hometown" area is Northern Virginia in the DC Metro Area.  I grew up in Arlington, Virginia, literally a "stone's throw" across the Potomac from Washington, DC.  Well, I'm baaaaaaaack!

Yes, I was up early in Fort Collins, CO Monday morning and drove off to a park 'n ride lot where I caught the airport shuttle to Denver International Airport.  A nonstop flight took me right to Dulles
International Airport where I arrived to sunny skies and beautiful Spring weather----exactly like what I left in Denver.  :)

Wisteria blooming on the back yard arbor at my friend Nancy's lovely home in Vienna, Virginia. Nancy and Diane are  the "sister friends" I grew up with in Arlington, VA.


After a quick car rental and drive into Vienna, Virginia, I headed right for the old favorite shopping center in downtown Vienna.  That's where I stopped in one of the "special" Alcoholic Beverage Control stores in the shopping center, I picked a smooth aged Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey which would be perfect "Sippin' Whiskey."  :)  You see, I am staying with my old childhood friends and also brought them some Special Recipe Caramels.  So, why not sip an aged
Kentucky Sipping Whiskey while sampling the rich creamy Caramels?

My apologies to those of you folks who are TeeTotalers or Abstainers.  Some of us are a bit more….ah,  decadent, shall we say?     You folks can substitute a rich Eggnog to sip with your caramels.  :)  Whichever beverage you choose, may you enjoy the moment.  :)   

More azaleas at the River house last spring

As for the above reference to the "ABC" store --- Alcoholic Beverage Control  ---- Virginia is one of those states that exercises extra "controls" on the sale of what's called "hard" liquors.  They cannot be sold separately in liquor stores along with wines and beers and other "hard" liquors like Vodka and Rum.  In Colorado, our liquor stores do exactly that----they sell beers and wines plus Vodka, Rum, and a great variety of Whiskey.   How does your state handle sales of alcoholic beverages?    

A MOUSE NAMED TIMOTHY

By Mary Kennedy
                                                               

A guess I've always had an idealized view of mice.  Some people see a pest, but I see a small, furry creature who loves to snack, requires very little upkeep and generally adds a note of cheer to the house. I keep thinking of Stuart Little, so cute and endearing.
                                                             

So when I learned that we had a mouse in our basement, I immediately named him Timothy.  Okay, he's not a movie star mouse but he is cute.
                                                             
 And I have no idea how he took up residence in the basement. I heard him snacking one day, eating from a dish of dry cat food. In case you're wondering how any mouse could survive in a household of six indoor cats, just remember that only one cat is allowed in the basement. An older, geriatric cat who has zero interest in Timothy. Oliver spotted Timothy eating his dry food, yawned and walked away.                                                               Of course, the immediate problem is: what to do about Timothy? My plan was to let him live out his little mouse life in the basement and come and go as he pleased. He must have access to the outside because he disappears for hours at a time. I planned on treating him to a buffet of foods he would enjoy...                                                                And I toyed with the idea of buying him an exercise wheel...                                                  My husband has a different plan. He bought a Have a Heart trap, baited it with peanut butter and hoped to capture Timothy and put him outside. But Timothy was too wily. He ate the peanut butter and evaded the trap. So my husband bought another humane trap.  This one seems more elaborate, but once again, Timothy outwitted it!  But my question is: why should we trap Timothy at all?                        My husband tried to persuade me that Timothy probably had a family waiting for him and would be happier rejoining them in the woods.  He also hoped to convince me that if we kept Timothy, we might end up with Timothy's whole family moving into our basement! We'd be overrun with mice! Is this a realistic fear? I have no idea, but people tell me it is.                                                         
 So at the moment, we have a détente. Timothy has managed to evade two traps (after snatching the food.). As far as being overrun with mice, I have to confess that Timothy brought a smaller mouse to dine with him. A girlfriend, perhaps?  A sibling? Who knows.                                                           
 In case you're wondering, I never did buy that exercise wheel. Wiser heads prevailed and convinced me that I was making it WAY too attractive for Timothy to live here. The weather is finally getting warm and sunny here in the northeast and I figure Timothy will be moving outside full-time. I haven't seen his girlfriend lately, so maybe it was a casual relationship. A spring fling. I'll keep you posted on Timothy's story. Will he return when the weather gets cold in October? I don't even know how long a mouse lives. Will he tell his relatives about the B and B I seem to be running? If you have any ideas on "The Timothy Problem," I would welcome your advice. Mary Kennedy