For Pix

I pretty much spent 3 days in bed after I got home. The trip, as great as it was, really wore me out. I also had iron issues. I'd changed the type of iron that I was taking a few days before I left to help with nausea, and apparently the new pills have less iron. I also wasn't as religious as I should have been about taking them when I was supposed to. Long story short, my anemia hit an all time high. I was swollen from the knees down, light headed and tired.

No worries, though: I am feeling better. I'm taking a mix of the old pills and the new pills, so I'm only sort of nauseous. I have a follow up appointment with the doctor tomorrow, and I'm on the mend. More importantly, the trip was totally worth it.

I also had some visitors for a few days. My friend Jeff, his wife Michele and their kids came to stay with me. Not only did we have a great visit, but Jeff set up my wireless network for me so that I don't have to steal internet from the neighbours anymore. Plus, they took me out for Italian. Yum!

But not exactly cooperative with my New Year's diet.

So, instead of "I'm going to lose weight", I've decided to rework that to "I'm going to eat fruits and veggies at every meal". Yesterday, I attempted to start off with a bang, and made a roast beef with three veggie sides. I rubbed the roast in garlic and pepper, then put it in the slow cooker with a mix of Burgundy and broth. It's a recipe that I've tried a few times, but it has resulted in extremely dry beef each time. As good as it sounds, I think I need to write this recipe off. In the meantime, I had an old shoe roast left over.

Tonight, I chopped it all up, used the remaining Burgundy/broth from the slow cooker, and simmered it for a half hour. I added an onion and a whack of chopped up mushrooms, then a cup of light sour cream. I served it all over mashed potatoes and it was tender and delish. Off the cuff beef stroganoff to the rescue!



Other than that, I have a project I've been working on. I have a small table that I'd picked up at a scratch, dent and butt ugly sale. It has good lines, but the paint job was awful. It was black, with streaks of silver glaze. I couldn't decide if it was a really bad 80's castoff, or if somebody had applied the glaze with a toilet brush. Either way, I set out to fix it.





I sanded it down, then primed and painted it. It's got three coats of paint, and is still going to need a few more. From black to cream is not an easy transition.

I'm also feeling indecisive on something and would appreciate some input. I couldn't decide if I wanted it to be white or cream, so I went with a cream. However, I'm still thinking that white might have been the way to go.

I have a jar of pearlescent white paint. I was thinking of painting the drawer panel bit that's bumped out with it, but decided that'd too much of another form of an 80's homage. Then I thought of painting just the top of the table in the pearlescent white. That idea is sticking with me, but I torn between thinking it'd be fabulous or OTT. Keeping in mind that I'm going to try to find a crystal knob to replace the wooden one, what do you think? Should I leave it alone, or paint the top in the pearly finish?

(Behr owes me $50 for the product placement.)