This week’s metamorphosis for Metamorphosis Monday was so much fun.

Metamorphosis Monday with Between Naps on the Porch. Click on pic to see all the great things going on in blogland this week.
We are still getting ready for Thanksgiving. This weekend, we did a bit with the dining table.

The dining table
The dining table without leaves is 68 inches long and 43 inches wide and seats six comfortably.

Dining table with leaves.
Add three leaves to the table and it is just 2 inches short of 10 feet! Now it will seat 12 comfortably, but since my nephew and his wife can’t make it, we will just have 10 people. If they had made it and my dear step-sister and her family had come, we would have been up to 16 people.
Next, I added the beautiful vintage linen tablecloth, hoping some of the wrinkles would have a chance to fall out between now and Thanksgiving.

Wrinkles!
Okay, that is just too many wrinkles (funny, I think that when I look in the mirror sometimes as well). So, this is a really long and wide tablecloth and I’m going to have to be pretty creative in order to iron it.
My mother loves ironing. Unfortunately, I didn’t inherit that gene. I don’t hate it, but it is not something I would ever say I really enjoy! No matter how much I clean, Mama can always find what I missed. I don’t know how, but somehow some things just elude me. How did I miss that dust bunny in the far corner behind the couch?
Anyway, I digress.

Ironing ideas!
I ended up putting the ironing board at the end of the dining table and then “feeding” the tablecloth on to the the table as I ironed. Is that clever or what? Okay, it was really my husbands idea, but, I was so proud of myself, I got it ironed without taking it to the cleaners!

Beautiful!
Now, I have a clean slate and the little bit of wrinkle that is left will surely fall out by Thanksgiving, don’t you think?
I’ll have to admit, while ironing the cloth, I did enjoy looking at the beautiful details of the design.

Beautiful details
Can you see the detail in the stitching? Just gorgeous!
While we were at it, we moved the dining table off the rug and got a good vacuum on it before replacing it and putting in the leaves.
One more step towards Thanksgiving. Somehow, those decorations that looked fine on the 68 inch table seem a little less substantial on the 118 inch table.

A "little" decoration
Oh, well, there is still plenty of time to fix that and I can’t wait to get at it!
Happy Monday everyone and have a wonderful week!
Today’s Lagniappe: Spanish Pork and Rice
As I’ve mentioned before, my husband is not a big fan of chicken, so here is a twist on chicken and rice with a Spanish flair.
1 c. uncovered regular rice
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
4 (1 inch thick) pork chops
3 c. chopped tomatoes
1 green pepper, diced
1 sm. onion, chopped
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/4 c. water
Saute’ rice in a large skillet in oil over medium heat, 3 to 5 minutes or until brown, stirring constantly. Remove rice and set aside. Add pork chops to skillet and brown on both sides. Combine rice, tomatoes, green pepper, onion, salt and pepper, spoon over pork chops, add water, cover and simmer 50 to 55 minutes or until pork chops are tender. 4 servings.