Karen Clare

Mother's Day is coming up, and Thursday I had invited my best friend "D" over for Mother's Day weekend. We always get together on Saturdays, not Sundays, and we spend the whole day because we live an hour's drive away from each other. Well, imagine my surprise when I hear a "ping!" from my phone this past Saturday around 11 a.m. while I'm sitting on the couch watching TV with my dog. It was a text from "D": "On my way!" I called her immediately and told her that we were supposed to get together next weekend and she said she was already packed up and ready to leave. I said no worries, I didn't have plans anyway. And then I regretted calling her instead of just going with it.  Thankfully, the house was already pretty clean and presentable. I was also already dressed, and I have about an hour till her arrival.  But what if my place wasn't already ready? How do you prepare for last-minute visitors? This is how I do a typical ...

Today is officially Easter -- Christ is risen! But my best friend came over yesterday, so we celebrated a day early. I love holidays, even if it means -- or perhaps  because  it means -- cleaning, cooking, and preparing for something special. I think there is something in us humans that needs celebrations and observances.  On Good Friday my workplace was closed, but I worked much harder at home than I would have at the office. I cooked -- the Easter menu this year was make-ahead for everything except for the ham -- did laundry, and cleaned. Didn't go to bed till after 10 p.m. and I had started around 10 a.m.  I set nibbles out on the credenza that used to be my coffee bar but now serves as a kitchen work table in a sort of charcuterie board set up; I used a cutting board, but would now like to get a proper charcuterie board. There was cold smoked kielbasa with horseradish beet relish, deviled eggs, mixed nuts, and ridged chips with French onion dip.  Dinner (I d...

 I thought I would do a few posts on cleaning -- what I use, schedule, tools, etc. This one will focus on products that I use. I'm not huge on my cleaning products being "natural" -- I hate vinegar and baking soda, for example. Vinegar stinks and the residue baking soda leaves seems impossible to get rid of. It's also terrible for your vacuum motor. I like to limit the number of products that I use. So my first go-to is my homemade all-purpose cleaner ("APC" for short), which is a mixture of 1/3 isopropyl alcohol, a few drops of dish soap, and the rest water -- shake it up and you're ready to go. I got this "recipe" from Mack of the Midwest Magic Cleaning YouTube channel . As the name implies, his channel is about cleaning,  usually hoarder houses but sometimes his own, and he gives great tips and advice. He's hilarious and his channel is worth subscribing to, in my opinion, if you're interested in that sort of thing. Anyway, I love thi...

 As long as I've been into decorating (since the late 1990s). I've realized that sometimes the little things can make the biggest difference. I mostly finished decorating my place for spring last week, which included packing away the firewood I had for decoration in front of my electric fireplace/space heater. I was trying to think of something to do with the fireplace so that the front didn't look boring with just the dark glass front. So I got the idea to cover the glass with peel and stick plastic that looks like stained/decorative glass. I've been living with it for almost a week now, and absolutely love it! It's not dramatic at all, but it really elevated it the fireplace. It now looks a little less like an electric fireplace I ordered from Wayfair (which is what it is) and more like an historic feature of the house.  The decorative sheets arrived on Sunday, and I only needed one. I did the middle of the glass, leaving the ends clear, because number one, the sh...

 Every so often, I love to pull out the tea set that I got at the Biltmore Estate in Ashville, North Carolina back in 2004 during a road trip with my best friend, Dori. The Biltmore Estate was the Vanderbilts' summer home, and after touring the huge estate, we went into the gift shop. It was during September, my birth month, and I ended up getting myself this tea set, which is a replica of a set that was owned by the Vanderbilts.  Afternoon tea has three courses. the first course is sandwiches, so I made cucumber sandwiches: white bread, spreadable cream cheese on both sides of the bread, very thinly-sliced cucumbers (I used a mandoline), salt, and crushed celery seed. I cut the crusts off carefully, and then I cut the sandwiches, some into rectangles and some into triangles.  The second course is scones with jam and often clotted cream. The scones I got were store-bought from Publix, and I had some lingonberry jam -- which, if you've never tried it, tastes like cranberry...

 Today was the first day I turned off my heater because the weather finally warmed up -- pleasant and sunny.  I have decorated a bit for Valentine's Day. I don't do much for it, but the decorations that I have I keep up all February. I did break down and get a few inexpensive things from Amazon, which only totaled around $30. The other things I already had from last year and the year before: My electric fireplace mantle. All three of the things I have hanging from it were from last year: The pink heart wreath on the viewer's left came from World Market last year, and the middle wreath came from an Etsy shop called Blessings And Boxwood last year. The tin and wood heart on the right I believe came from Hobby Lobby two or three years ago.  The bottom picture is of the kitchen hutch that I got back in October that now serves as my coffee bar. I've been really enjoying decorating it. And here is where the new stuff is: the sign at the top, and the concrete hearts that I mad...

 Well, the last month of winter began with a freeze, This morning I woke up to a temperature of 32 degrees Fahrenheit. We were supposed to possibly get some snow flurries, but no flurries were spotted where I live. Today was still very cold to us Floridians. This past week was rather... crappy. Nothing major, just stressful at work and then on top of that, I woke up on Friday morning with suspicious bites on my side. Three in a line, and I was thinking, "Please, do not let this be what I think it is. Please do not let it be bed bugs." I convinced myself that it must be something else, but no. This morning I woke up with a few more bites, and I stripped my bed completely and washed everything, right down to the mattress -- dust ruffle, mattress protector, sheets, coverlet, duvet, shams, and pillow protectors. I put everything through the dryer (high heat for a full cycle will kill the bed bugs and eggs). Sure enough, I found some dead ones in the lint filter, and also some mo...

 After Christmas I do "winter" decorating -- basically, remove anything red, glittery, or chiefly Christmas and leave out greenery, candles, and blankets. So I was inspired to replace the vintage Saturday Evening Post magazines and magazine covers on the coffee table with a tray of candles and greenery.  As you might know if you read last week's post, I've resolved to stop buying unnecessary things and pay off my credit card debt. To that end, I used a tray that I already had ($12 at Shein, I think), greenery and battery-powered candles that were already in my office closet.   You don't have to buy new stuff to redecorate or refresh a room, contrary to what many social media "influencers" try to tell us. You can look around your own home, change things around, or even move furniture around. So if you want to cut back on spending, I'd suggest getting creative with items you already own.  I'm going to keep "winter" up till March, when I c...

 I can’t believe that it’s the middle of January already… feels like Christmas was just last week! Much as I adore the holidays, and as sad as I am to take down the Christmas decor, there is something so satisfying about it. After a month or so of having your home having so much extra color and decoration, it’s something of a relief to have the visual calm and space back. For post-Christmas winter, I pack away anything specifically Christmas — anything red, glittery, or that has Christmas sayings on it, but keep out plain greenery, pinecones, white candles, and blankets. Still cozy, but neutral and simpler, inviting us to rest and relax.  Maybe that’s why winter is my favorite season; it’s a season where we can slow down and enjoy being cozy. Here in Florida, the weather is really mild, and unless we’re having a cold snap, we can be outside in comfort.  Well, this weekend, we’re having a nice cold snap, so it’s a perfect time to make chili and cornbread. Super easy, delic...