East Lake United Methodist Downstairs Diner

(4 photos)

Located in the East Lake area of Birmingham, Alabama, East Lake United Methodist Church sponsors many programs in addition to regular worship services.

They have a Saturday Farmers Market which also has additional vendors with various wares, handmade, homemade, independent sellers of coffee, sorbets, balms, butters, lotions. I was once a vendor of handmade goods and had a booth there also. It was my first experience as a vendor and it was a good one.

There's always live music during market time from various  musicians. All of this helps create an atmosphere of community. 
Go to their website  or Facebook page to see everything they do.

Since my post is mainly about my first experience at their Downstairs Diner, I'll stick to that.

The menu for the month can be found on their website and as you can see they specialize in home cooking.

 Who can resist a deal like this? As a "mature" person, I'm not ashamed to take advantage of discounts offered, nor am I too prideful to ask if there is a discount for senior citizens when I go places.

I opted not to have bread nor dessert with my meal.

 The food was spectacular with ample portions. So tasty. Seasoned well, fresh, hot and delicious. The answer to when you're tired of eating fast food. As a senior I took advantage of the discount. But, even at regular price it is affordable.  Where can you get a meat, 2 veggies, bread, dessert and beverage for $7.00? And, if you sign up for the seniors program you can get all of that for $4.00 but, only on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I'll be going back.

Dyed shoes that died (5 photos)

Not all projects turn out the way you want them to as I have shown before. Unlike some, I'm willing to own up to the good and the bad. I rarely become upset because they're all experiments I enjoy undertaking and I don't spend a lot of money on them.

I found these white leather shoes

in a thrift shop. I tried them on and found them comfortable. I disinfected the shoes by wiping them inside with Mr. Clean, drying outside in the sun and spraying with Lysol. 

I thought they'd be great in purple. Why purple?
I'm a member of a Red Hat Society

chapter and the colors are red and purple.

I don't want to spend a lot of money on red and purple, nor wear the same thing all of the time, being that there are numerous "hoots" to attend. 

These are the dyes and colors I tried with no pleasing success.














1. Dye-na-flow- watery and runny.Not really made for this project, but what the heck.

2. Craft Smart acrylic paint-too light and not a smooth cover

A waste of painters tape

3. Folk Art multisurface metallic- 

4. Craft Smart black-

thinking maybe if I prime it with black, it'll cover the white spots and accept the purple metallic better.-

DOUBLE 

5. Rit dye full strength- Another ugh, ugh. watery.

In the end...

  >>>>>>>> 

 

That's it ***

Upcycling a favored, too tight dress into something else

5 photos for those who just want to see the pictures

There’s recycling, repurposing, upcycling (rru). Each has a little bit to do with the other. Without being so technical and precise, my own definition is;

    “To take something that was one thing and do something else with it.” 

 That definition will cover it all.

I’m not new to  rru. I’ve tried it before. (Take a look at the 7th picture in that post) If you’ve read any of my other posts, you know that I’m into the recycling thing and not being wasteful.

I’m also a fan of the boho   style. I had a purple dress that had always been a favorite of mine. I purchased it from a street vendor during a Juneteenth celebration held outside of the Civil Rights Institute here in Birmingham, Alabama.  I tried it on right over my street clothes and it fit.  I altered the yoke of the dress since I claim 5’4 as my height. Otherwise, it would drag the ground.

Being my definition of a shapeshifter*, the dress became a little snug in the bosom area and I had to put it to the side. 

 Visiting Pinterest, I came upon various pictures of clothing that had been upcycled.  My plan was to cut off the top, keep the bottom, sew the bottom to a purple tee shirt, thereby making a new dress, then DYE the whole garment purple. 

First off, the tee shirt was too big. But it was only 99 cents. $1.09 with tax. I bought it big because I wanted to make sure I had enough fabric to work with. I didn't overlook that there were stains on the sleeves when I bought it. I'd cut that part off and rework it.

 I sewed the top and bottom together, had a gap, SOOOO then I chose to put elastic in the waist. Fit just fine. BUT…

The tee shirt sleeves and side were fuller than I wanted them.

 I put numerous darts in the front and back of the tee shirt. THEN

The sleeves were too full. I adjusted them and didn’t like the outcome.

Finally, I cut off the tee shirt, removed the ¼ inch elastic from the waist, and saved it. (The elastic was brand new) , made a casing in the skirt and fitted it with ½ elastic.

Now I have a perfectly good skirt that fits comfortably. The dye job will have to wait.

You want to know what happened to the tee shirt?

*My definition of shapeshifter - gain weight, lose weight. Gain weight, lose weight…

HOWEVER! To be fair, the original dress DID shrink even more after I washed it and put it in the dryer. (Not wise)

END***

Alabama Firecrackers (8 photos)

There was food galore as we tailgated at the Georgia Steeplechase. One of the newest in our Red Hat chapter, must own a magic cooking spoon. 

She prepared much of the food and it was ooooh soooo delicious. Her Alabama Firecrackers were a big hit. They had a tart, sweet and just  the right amount of heat flavor. I'd never had them before and asked for the recipe which she freely gave.

I tried out the recipe about 10 days later.

The recipe. I wrote it in the same Steno pad my mama wrote her recipes in. Do they even make Steno pads these days?

Gather the ingredients

Mix the ingredients in the bag  by "smooshing" them.

Add the saltines to the mixture . Zip the bag and gently flip it back and forth a few times so that the mixture can coat the crackers. Allow the bag to sit for an hour. Go back and turn the bag on the opposite end for an hour. I did this one hour flipping 4 times. Finally, I allowed the crackers sit overnight.

I couldn't wait to try them the next day.

HOT!!!!!!!

They looked just fine, but too hot for me. Soooooo...

                        I started over 5 days later after reluctantly throwing the first batch away.

Take 2.

I did the same as above in a reduced amount for two sleeves of crackers, AND, when I got to the pepper flakes I used 1/4 of what the recipe called for. This time they weren't too hot for me. 

I even shared with friends who said they liked them. I plan to make them again. 

There's the magic spoon

and  there's the 

                                                                        

tragic spoon.

                                                    

END***