New look

I painted the wall of the living room by the windows...I love how this turned out!

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House Project

I think I'm going to tackle a house project that I've wanted to do since I moved in...building bookcases for the living room. There's room around the fireplace for 5 foot wide bookcases, but I think 4 feet would be enough. I haven't decided on making them all the way to the ceiling, or just up to the height of the mantle. I might just build them mantle height, and I can add on later if I want. I figure in materials I'm looking at under $100, and probably a weekend of work.

Family Ties

My on again, off again genealogy project is ramping up again...you can check out the updates in the link at he right.

Corned beef heaven

I've only made corned beef a few times...the name used to put me off (corn and beef?), but once I got past that and discovered its savory goodness, it became a torrid affair.
I think I have perfected my slow cooker recipe for it now. All I did was put the corned beef (store bought in the little pouch) into the crock with the peppercorns, and added a bottle of Guinness and about a quarter cup of brown sugar (I didn't measure). After about 9 hours on low, it was amazing. Tender but not overdone, and the flavors from the beer and sugar played very well together. I added carrots to the crock about halfway through, and they were really good too after soaking in that mixture. More sugar might be even better, or maybe molasses. Hmm. Decisions.