Happiness Lives Here

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-23T17:17:00.000-08:00

Gratitude turns what we have into enough. May your hearts overflow with joy and gratitude this holiday. And give thanks for all of your blessings. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!

Goodwill Transformation

2011-10-07T18:34:00.000-07:00

I love spray paint! I mean, really love spray paint. It is such an easy application to make a ho-hum item come alive. I found this basket at Goodwill; it's large and in charge. I'm not sure what its past life was, maybe holding gladiolas, or maybe fire wood but since the weather finally took a turn toward the cooler side I knew it would make a nice addition for holding throw blankets.

Great bones but not digging the color. Don't get me wrong I love brown (its my go-to neutral when decorating) but I think The Hubs is right when he says we have too much. We needed to lighten up!

I grabbed my trusty can of Heirloom White and headed outside last Saturday to paint.

This is after two coats. I didn't use primer because I didn't care if it was well covered; I was going for the shabby chic look. I think it's terrific that some of the wood color is showing through. Although if you do not like this look I do highly recommend using a primer; you can even buy it in a spray can as well. The same concept applies when you are painting the walls of your house-for better color and coverage you must prime first. : ) The one thing to remember about spray paint is that slow and steady ALWAYS wins the race. You want to make short, even/steady passes with the can so not to get any drips. Trust me, I am not a patient person and it ultimately bites me in the bootie every.single.time. I took my time on this however, I mean, what else was I going to do while The Hubs was at work ON A SATURDAY!! Gotta love football season!

Anyway it is like a brand new piece and I am thrilled.

Have a great weekend!

Bake Potato Soup (Loaded!)

2011-10-06T19:27:00.000-07:00

Well the Fall-like weather has finally been ushered in, and I don't know about you but when it is drizzly outside, I like to warm up with a big bowl of soup. Of course, like most of us, I still want to keep my waistline in check, and this soup does that without sacrificing flavor.

Ingredients:

3.5 C of fat-free chicken broth
(notice how I am not using cream of chicken/potato soup; this alone saves quite a few calories and fat)
2 large potatoes
1/4 C of all-purpose flour
1.5 C of fat-fee milk
1/4 of a small onion, chopped
3-4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp olive oil
1/2 tsp of black pepper
1/4 tsp of salt
1/4 tsp of crushed red pepper flakes

Toppings:

1 tsp of fat-free cheese
1 tsp fat-free sour cream
1 tsp chopped scallions
1 tsp of real bacon bits

First put your potatoes,peeled, in the microwave for about 8 minutes. While those are cooking, add your oil, onion, and garlic to a large sauce pan and cook over medium heat for about 3 minutes, or until the onions are tender. Then add the broth and milk, and stir. Crank the heat up to medium high and whisk in your flour, slowly. Mash one of the cooked potatoes and then chop the other one. By now your mix is starting to get thick; add in your mashed potatoes and stir. Then add in your chopped potato and stir. This yeilds six, 1 cup servings.

Add your toppings to your bowl of soup and pair it with a nice, soft roll or slice of baguette. Bon appetite!

Coasting through life

2011-09-21T18:27:00.000-07:00

Good day ya'll! I made coasters today with left over white tile, scrapbook paper and Mod Podge. It's easy and they make terrific gifts, which is exactly what I intend to do with these.

First gather your supplies; they do require a bit more than the three items I mentioned above.

Supplies:

4X4 tile (only 16 cents ea at Home Depot)
scrapbook paper
Mod Podge
a paint brush or foam brush works as well
either felt backs or bumpers (like I have); you can find these in the home section of your hardware store or even Fred Meyers, which is where I located mine.
sand paper, I used 150 grit
and Crystal Clear

Then cut your scrapbook paper to the size of the tile with a little bit of overhang. Sweep on your Mod Podge to the top of the tile and lay the paper on top. Smooth out the wrinkles but be careful not to move the paper too much or it will no longer cover your tile surface. Let these dry completely and then you will sweep Mod Podge on top of the paper as well.

Let these dry for a couple hours. Once they are dry then you will sand the edges a bit, not too hard because you don't want to run the risk of ripping your paper. I layed my tile on its side, gripped it in my left hand and went over the edge with the sandpaper, as if I were bending the paper down the side of the tile. Repeat on all four sides. Be sure to dust your tiles off when you are done before moving on to the next step.

Then in a very well ventilated area, lay down your tarp or newspaper (being sure that you take into account over spray). Then in a sweeping motion, starting off of the tile and then "sweeping" across cover your coasters with the Crystal Clear. This product creates a glossy effect and it will not yellow your paper, oh and the best part it is water resistant so it is perfect for coasters.

This will dry in about 10-15 minutes but you do not want to handle for about 2 hours, at least that is what my directions said on the can. Read your product and see what it says and then follow their guidelines.

Here is the really fun part. Place the felt back on the bottom of the tile so it doesn't scuff your furnitue and now that they are dry, completely, you can stack them and tie a pretty ribbon around them. I love them! I think the recepients will be very pleased.

It's all about the herbs

2011-09-17T20:09:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! I know I eluded that I would complete a craft and a new recipe this week but life got in the way and in addition this tip was too awesome not to test out. My mom sent me home with a ton of herbs (and tomatoes, among other things) on my trip to Oregon last weekend. Since we had so much and there is only two of us in the home, I decided we needed to freeze the herbs for later use.

I found this great tip here. Our ice cube trays were already being used so I pulled out my mini muffin tin and it worked just as well. First I chopped up leftover cilantro from the pico de gallo I made; I will show you that recipe a bit later. Then I chopped the lemon basil and pulled the leaves off of the parsely. You do not want the stems.

parsely

cilantro

lemon basil

(this stuff smells wonderful; I could sniff it all day long)

In my muffin tin, I put a tablespoon of cilantro in each section and labled it accordingly with masking tape.

Then I filled other sections with the parsely and labled it as well.

Then the lemon basil was done the same way.

Then you fill the holes with water until they are covering the herbs and then pop it into the freezer. It's just that simple and now you have portion controlled herbs all year round and you don't have to worry about them getting moldy before you can consume them.

So I promised the recipe for pico de gallo I made with some of the cilantro from above. First rinse your tomatoes and then dice them up bite size. You will want about 1-2 cups of dices tomatoes. I used two different types; red (Romas) and I also used small orange heirlooms.

Then dice up a half of a small onion. You can use white or red; I chose white. This part inevitably makes me cry like a baby. I hate cutting onions but they add amazing flavor to almost any dish so I suck it up. To get my onions really small I use my Pampered Chef chopper. It works beautifully but you can achieve this with a knife as well. First you will want to cut off the end, then make a small cut on the side (to stabilize the onion from rolling on you), then cut diagonally through the onion, then make slices vertically through the onion (opposite of your diagonal cut). Now all you have to do is chop it like you were slicing rings; this will yeild you small pieces.

Now in a bowl I combine my my onion, tomato, three cloves of garlic (diced), 3 tablespoons of lime juice, 2 tablespoons of cilantro (chopped) and salt and pepper to taste. Let them sit in the fridge for a half an hour to marry the flavors and then serve with your choice of chips. If you like your salsa spicy, throw in some jalapeno's as well to kick it up a notch.

Pinning!!

2011-09-13T18:23:00.000-07:00

I fell down the rabbits hole and ended up in a wonderland, Pinterest. Have you heard of this amazing craze that is sweeping blogland. Well if not then you are in a for a real treat (like I was). It is this A-mazing online tool that can be used to store all of your online inspiration.

Lord knows (and so does The Hubs) that I have a heck of a time throwing away any magazine that comes my way and I have numerous papers that have links and ideas jotted down. Well, HA!, this is a way for me to keep everything in one place. I am irresponsibly mad for my Pinterest! I have neglected the laundry, the bathrooms need scrubbed, and I'm pretty sure The Hubs would like some attention but I just cannot get enough. I crave it, I dream about it, I love it (I really do!).

Let's say you are perusing the web and run across a cool mantle idea for Fall. Pin it!

(source)

Or maybe Martha tells you a neat household tip. Pin It!

(source)

Or you find an undeniably delicious looking recipe. Pin it and save it for later.

(source)

You can even pin hairstyles or clothing or accessories. All the images you pin are saved onto boards but the magical part is they are all in one place and they aren't taking up any space in a closet, a drawer or a corner of your house. It's pure beauty I tell ya'.

(source)

I know it sounds intimidating with "boards" and "pins" but it's a really simple tool and it is incredibly easy to use; I am not tech savvy AT ALL and I am rockin' and rollin'. And the best part is it is TOTALLY free to join. What are you waiting for; check out the first link above and request yourself an invite. You will not be sorry, well you may feel a bit guilty that all the rest of life goes to the wasteside as you navigate and enjoy this new exciting world. I hope to be back later this week with a new craft as well as a new cupcake recipe to try my mad piping skills on. : ) Have a terrific evening!

German Chocolate (Surprise!) Cupcakes

2011-09-04T14:36:00.000-07:00

I am CRAZY about baking. There is something so relaxing when you are whisking, whipping and stirring! The FIL (father in-law) is celebrating a birthday today and if memory serves me correct he loves German Chocolate cake. I am making cupcakes, Martha Stewart style so you know they will be good. Besides cupcakes travel easier. The "suprise" that I mention in the post title is my lil' somethin-somethin and I will show you shortly.

You can find the recipe here for the cake.

This picture of Martha's cupcake is beautiful but you see this wouldn't travel the 35-40 minutes into town so this is why I put my twist on this classic.

See that hole in the cupcake...you guessed it, I'm filling it with something. When I think of German Chocolate I think of the frosting, the coconut and pecan frosting. By the way, the link above also contains a link for the homemade coconut pecan prosting. This, to me, is what a German Chocolate cake is all about! Well suprise!!, this is what I am filling that hole with.

However, I didn't make my own (hangs head in shame) but I was already making caramel buttercream from scratch (oh yah, epic fail that I will discuss in a bit), so I don't think anyone will mind that this cupcake is semi-homemade.

Something went terribly wrong with this and my saucepan may be ruined forever. I am chalking it up to the fact that caramel and I do not get along. If you want to know what I am talking about you can look here and here.

When I realized that the caramel buttercream was a bust I had already creamed 3 stickes of unsalted butter and to start over would mean I would need to go to the store for more butter. I flipped through my book and found a recipe for 'Fluffy Vanilla Frosting' and it called for 3 sticks of butter. What the heck, why not. Now I would have died to have made the caramel buttercream but I was running out of time so this was going to have to do in a pinch.

It definitely lives up to its name, it is for sure fluffy! I used my Wilson set and piped on some frosting to cover the holes in the cupcakes. Not bad for an amatuer. With a little more practice I bet I could master this!

Mmmmm...so good, almost too much sugar with the frosting but hey if you can't go into a sugar coma with your family then who can you with. : )

The Shop Door

2011-08-30T20:33:00.000-07:00

Last Friday afternoon our shop door was installed. The shop is looking mighty fine, I must say. I like that the door is off center a bit. Not only does it give us space on the exterior to add a fun element, if we want, but on the inside of the shop it gives a nook for possibly a spray painting booth for me. : )

The white doors POP against the walls and trim. Absolutely lovely, if garage doors can be labeled as such.

Let's get a closer look...I love, love, love that the big garage door has a bit of detail. It looks like wonderful molding. I think it gives it a little extra somethin'-somethin'. It is still a "plain" door, you know any run of the mill garage door but it has a bit of character. LOVE!

Here is a picture of it with the exterior light on.

I am in love with this vintage looking (but still new) lantern type light and I think we will put another one on the other side of the door as well.

Here is another picture of the lantern from the side and showing off a bit of the garage door detail as well. I couldn't be happier with the end product. It's amazing!

Zucchini Bread

2011-08-25T06:51:00.000-07:00

The in-laws handed me a zucchini Sunday during one of the random pop-ins The Hubs likes to make. It always seems that when we are out on a drive or heading to a particular place of town that he likes to see what the rents' are doing. I don't mind because the in-laws always have some sort of musing that is going on and it is usually funny.
Anyway back to the zucchini...I am dying to make zucchini bread and now that I am not in school at the moment (woo-to-the-freakin-hoo!!) I can. I couldn't locate my recipe in the abyss I call an "office" so I pulled out Paula Deen's recipe here; I made a couple modifications that suits my wants/needs.

I followed the directions until it came time to fold in the nuts. I wanted to add chocolate chips instead. I added one bag of milk chocolate chips to the batter. Then pour it into your loaf pans.

When there was about 20 minutes left of baking I pulled the loafs out and basted it with a little bit of melted butter; about 2-3 Tbsp. Then dusted the top with sugar. Mine doesn't look as pretty as Miss Paula's and the middle caved slightly (probably from the butter) but it truly is delish!

Since it makes two loafs I am keeping one for us at home and giving the other one to the in-laws. Afterall it was originally their zucchini.

I put the bread on a green plastic plate and then stuffed it inside a cellophane bag. Tied the top with left over pieces of rope from the tray. As an added touch I stuffed a faux flower into the tie and included the recipe.

Bon appetite! You won't want to put your fork down!

Shop Update

2011-08-24T14:03:00.000-07:00

Hi again! I'm here to share part of our shop with you today. The Hubs did the majority of the prep work but I did help...I swear, I DID! First The Hubs laid down insulation on the dirt "floor" (aka the ground inside the shop), leaving spaces in between the sheets for concrete to flow into. I think I heard him say that it helps the concrete dry faster??? Maybe, sorta, oh who knows...but that's what he did. Then he laid this metal "lattice" looking stuff down on top of the insulation. This is to act like the rebar that is normally used in concrete work; I believe its a form of sorts.

Our pex (that red tubing below) came from New York city! And with free shipping it cost substantially less than going with a local manufacturer/distributor.

The Hubs laid this out in a 'loop' sort of design. Let me tell you though, I tried to help at one point to keep this stuff from rolling on itself and it is near impossible. It resembles the tubing we used for the sprinkler system-what a pain! But it is totally worth it. This is for the radiant floor heating and I even believe it can be used in regular plumbing in a house (ie-the bathroom) in place of copper.

Above is a picture of the manifold. It is where all the tubes of red pex comes in and out and this bad boy is then connected to the water heater.

Ha! there is the 'loop' sort of blueprint that The Hubs created. He is so amazing! What a guy, I tell ya'. Not for his artistic abilities, although he has them even though they aren't showcased here, but because he gets things done. You need something done, he is all over it!

Next up is the part that I helped with. See those fun lil' zip ties on the pex?

See them now?!?! Yah, every foot we had to tie the pex to the rebar so that the pex wouldn't rise up through the concrete. You see the pex had air running through it for the pouring of the concrete and seeing how air is lighter than concrete (I know, shocker!) it would rise and create issues in the future if we accidentally hit it with something. I say this because I was the ~~BIG WHINER~~ curious person asking why I had to do this dreadful job.

Now the fun part...the part where The Hubs and I sit back and let the professionals do their work. Below is the picture of the first concrete truck at sometime around 8am on a Saturday.

Lots of hoses are needed for this job.

And as a side note: these hoses are HEAVY! The folks that work with them day in and day out must have massive muscles. I tried to pick up one section and I almost threw my back out. Kidding...kind of. : )

Just pictures of the concrete being poured into the pump so that it can flow through the hose into our shop.

And here comes the 2nd concrete truck; it was only about 8:20 at this point. These guys move fast!

They started pumping the concrete into the shop. I believe there was four guys for just this job. Its the dirtiest job from what I can tell.

Look at the spiffy garb that they get to wear though! I need a pair of those awesome boots for truckin' out in the pasture or on those nasty spring days when everything in sight is ooey-gooey mud. The best part about these boots is that you can wear your regular shoes inside of them. Awesome! What a time saver!

Aww, the lovely concrete floor. It looks like glass. And it really didn't take as long as I thought it would to pour it and get it looking like this. Maybe just a little over an hour. The majority of the work is when 3 of the 4 crewmen had to get on all fours and sand the son-of-a-gun. Hours of back breaking work! Blech! No thanks!

The shop door comes on Friday; so stinkin' excited I could pee my pants. Not really...that is a joke. But you know what a shop door means, dontcha?!? It means I get to move crap out of the house and into this space...thus meaning I get to FINALLY start work on my home office.

A side table tray

2011-08-21T11:51:00.000-07:00

Oh my gosh...well hello! School is out for Summer quarter and having been so busy with my studies that I have had absolutely no time to do anything else. I'm not even exaggerating here; The Hubs cleans the house, cooks the meals and pretty much never sees me. Since I've been so busy the plan was to just relax, watch some of my shows that are on the DVR and eat bon-bons. Not the case, I have so much nervous energy in anticipation of my grades coming out that I needed a release.

Our side table that The Hubs built has kind of become another dreaded "catch all" place. The remotes, batteries, keys, hats, ipods, newpapers and books manage to land there. To combat this issue I needed a tray to corral everything. I had a tray for Christmas that I use on occasion for holding crackers and dip, that sort of thing.

As you can tell from the plastic that I am planning on painting it. I wanted the coveted Heirloom White but it was almost gone and I didn't want to spend the time doing my hair so I could run into town and grab another can from Home Depot. I know what you are thinking...seriously, it's Home Depot who cares if your hair is done. Trust me when I tell you this IT WAS AWFUL! It looked like what I learned in Biology about Codominance. You know where not one allele (gene) is dominant over the other but the traits do not blend. I had patches of curly, patches of straight and patches of wavy all on the top of my head. I was a hot mess!

I decided that I would use what I had and it came down to metallic brown or celery green. Being that it is summer and The Hubs complains about the entire house "being brown" I choose celery green. It is really a fantastic color.

Originally the tray was on the plastic and being that it was HOT yesterday it was drying fast and I noticed that the plastic was sticking to my tray. I acted quickly and put the tray on wood instead. I gave the tray 3 coats of spray paint. Oh before I forget, I did do a little light sanding, not that it helped in one particular spot. I will show you that in a bit.

Here is the spot, right on the stinkin' handle for all to see! I mean, come on...couldn't it be on the bottom...where.no.one.will.see?!?! No joke, I sanded that handle another 3 times and spray painted another 3 times but nada.

Here is a closer look...see the red? UGH!

The red was here to stay. I thought this was going to be a bust until I remembered I had some hemp or jute or rope of some sort and could wrap the handle. I started by hot glueing the end to the inside of the handle then I wrapped the rope around a few times and then hot glued it in place. I repeated until I had the desired amount on the handle. The same technique was used for the other handle.

Woohoo! I love it! It is so summery!

I doubt it will stay like this for long. I'm thinking it needs something on the bottom to prevent scuffing and scratches. Maybe some lovely white tile. That would be durable enough to take a beating. For now I am going to enjoy the color and the bit of summer I brought into our home.

Oh see...no more red! Just celery green deliciousness and rope. Booyah! : )

Enjoy the rest of your summer! I will be back later this week with an update on the shop. You remember right, the shop we did last year? Well we have concrete AND next Friday we will have a door! YAY!

It's a Boy!

2011-04-02T13:25:00.000-07:00

No we are not preggers...but my brother and his wife are. This will be the first baby in my immediate family and I am just over the moon excited. I went a bit overboard originally with all the crafty ideas swimming around in my head but after some time passed I decided to make a sign for the little tike's nursery.

My brother and SIL have decided on a Precious Moments/Noah's Ark theme and would you believe that not one place locally, that I could find, carried any scrapbook paper in this line?!?! Oh well, moving right along to Plan B. About two years ago I bought a couple of cheap signs from the Dollar Store and was going to turn them into something...well two years later I am finally doing just that with one. HA!

I grabbed the sign, a plastic drop cloth and Heirloom White spray paint (I heart you). This color is so creamy...just like melted vanilla ice-cream. Delish! Tip: remove the wire hanger before you paint unless you plan on using it.

Two coats later and it looks like this, well on the backside it does. You see those fun little ghosts and windows in the above picture, well they don't cover well unless you have primer and well...I didn't. So I flipped the bugger over and painted the backside. Voila-crisis averted!

Once it was dry then it is time to apply scrapbook paper. I decided to use strong spray adhesive. I never have used this before and well I am waaay too impatient to read directions. Long story short, if you use this stuff make sure you read the directions carefully and be certain to work swiftly and precisely. I didn't and there a a few snafu's but I was cookin' up a fix for those. Next time however, I will use my trusty Modge Podge. By the way, I am just dieing over this paper!! The apple green and blue combo is fan-freakin-tastic!

I angled my paper so it was a "diamond" shape over the sign. You can play with this however it suites you. Then rub it on your sign and make sure it is smooth and air bubble free. The spray adhesive takes about 30 min to dry so I played around with my Silhouette. This baby ROCKS!!

I made vinyl lettering with the bambino's name, in chocolate brown, and placed it on the scrapbook paper.

It still needed something extra and besides there were those few blunders that needed fixin'. So I found some extra buttons (get it...babies are as cute as buttons-ha!) and hot glued them on. The brown button and the large white button in the opposite corner also have a couple pieces of green tulle under them for added texture.

To emphasize the tulle and bring the whole project into a more cohesive look, I decided to use more green tulle for the hanger.

I love it and I sure hope the new parents-to-be will be thrilled with it also.

Polka Dot Brownies

2011-03-28T11:41:00.000-07:00

These brownies are so dark and dense and delicious-you are going to love them! Also a great thing about these brownies is you can add anything to them. I have added white chocolate chips for a polka dot effect but walnuts would be fab and you can also add in oreos or mint extract. The possibilites are endless.

Ingredients:

5 ounces of unsweetened chocolate
1 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup (about a stick and a quarter) of unsalted butter, room temp
2 cups of sugar ( I used bakers sugar but you can use granulated also)
1 tsp of vanilla extract
1/4 tsp of salt
4 large eggs

First preheat oven to 325 degrees and make sure one of the racks is positioned in the center.
Then in a double boiler, or in the microwave but be careful not to burn it, melt your chocolate and butter until it is smooth and velvety. Set it aside to cool slightly.

Next sift your flour and the salt into a small bowl and set aside. Then in a larger bowl whisk your sugar and eggs to blend. This will take about a minute. The consistency will be thick and custard-like.

Then grab your pan, I used a 9x9 inch and spread it with unsalted butter. Here is a tip I use all the time when my recipes call for this step, I use a coffee filter to spread the butter (or Crisco) around. It's an even coverage, as you can see, and your hands stay mess free.

By now your choclate should be cooled slightly; add this to your egg/sugar mix. The reason for letting your chocolate cool slightly is if you added it to the egg mixture it would "cook" the eggs and you don't want that yet. Then add in the flour and whisk until it is all incorporated. At this point you know that the brownies are going to be thicky-thick because your mixture is heavy.

Now is the point where you can add in your extras, whatever that may be.

Then pour the mixture into your pan and place in the oven. You will cook this for about 35-45 minutes, depending on your oven and the size of your pan. My pan was short and fat so it took a bit longer since the middle was still liquid after 35 min.

Once they are done let them cool on a rack and then slice and enjoy. These will stay fresh in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days but in my house they don't last that long.

A tulle skirt

2011-03-27T12:16:00.000-07:00

This fairy skirt or dancing skirt was really simple, and inexpensive, to make. I was quite shocked. There are obviously better options out there than mine but I don't sew and this would be super easy for the rest of you out there that also don't sew and not to mention way cheaper than buying one. I made this skirt for a fairy princess named Isa. I think she is going to love it! I can't wait to see her dance and twirl in her new skirt.

First I picked up my supplies: elastic ($1.29 at Hob Lob) and three rolls of 25ft tulle (in cream, purple and green) for $2.99 ea roll. To start I cut the elastic the desired length; I eyeballed it because the model wasn't here to measure.

The cream tulle will be the base so I cut it a bit longer than the other colors. I didn't measure; again just eyeball. I took each piece of cream tulle and tied it on in a knot around the elastic waistband.

Then I cut the green tulle a little shorter than the cream and began the same process of tying it in knots around the elastic. I tried to alternate every two or three cream knots and then insert the green tulle. The beauty of this is it doesn't have to be perfect and it will still turn out wonderful. For the final color, purple, I cut it a bit shorter than the green. This allows for a more fuller look in the skirt. I placed the purple tulle throughout where I saw fit.

Doesn't it look absolutely full and gorgeous!

It is hard to get the idea of colors because the ones I chose were pastel and my camera doesn't pick up on the subtleties. I enhanced the colors with Picasa so that you could see. In the below picture you can see that each piece of tulle is simply tied onto the elastic with a knot.

I don't have a dress form so I decided to model this on my leg. It gives an idea of how it is supposed to look (sorta). It is still see through so I recommend that leggings or shorts be worn underneath.

There have been many beliefs on fairies and many stories. They were known as "people of peace"; they were ethereal and sometimes angelic. My most favorite belief comes J.M. Barrie's novel 'The Little White Bird'. It said "When the first baby laughed for the first time, his laugh broke into a million pieces, and they all went skipping about. That was the beginning of fairies."

I just think that is a lovely thought but no matter what you believe there is no denying that this skirt will bring joy to any girl that loves to play and dance.

Happiness and Giggles

2011-02-25T10:15:00.000-08:00

I am interrupting the normal house-y stuff for an idea/concept/thought that I just couldn't shake. I promise these are far and few between but I just needed to get this one out and move along :)

Life had me pinned to the floor recently and I didn't like the view!! For several months now I have been contemplating many aspects of my life, analyzing my options and digging down to the core of the issues. Now I'm not going to get into any specifics here but let me just say that this week was the cherry on top and I'm not talking ice-cream folks-I wish I were!

So just when I couldn't remember the last time I had chuckled, truly laughed (ah sad, can't believe I am actually typing this) I reached for a treat, a little sweet pick me up, and this is what was staring back at me....

A cute little smiley face and I know it's hard to make out what the jell-o man is saying so I will repeat it... "Happiness is still legal in all 50 states". Wow, right on the nose I tell ya. I couldn't help but giggle; it was such a simple concept and yet very thought provoking.

Have I (or we all) become so hardened by the roller-coaster of life that we need a little inspiration (yes, even from sugar free jell-o) to smack us back into enjoyment? Have we forgotten how to smile, to say a kind word to a stranger or lend a helping hand? After all, the greatest happiness is to transform one's feelings into action (Madame de Stael).

So I urge everyone to do something that evokes true happiness within; whether that be helping out a neighbor, painting a wall in your home a bright color or eating a piece of chocolate. Whatever your source of happiness, hold on to it, keep it tucked away in your pocket for a rainy day but think back on it often and just....giggle!

Abraham Lincoln was quoted saying "Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be."
So true! Happy Friday everyone.

I like you 'A Latte'

2011-02-14T08:02:00.000-08:00

I wanted to get the gals at work a little special something for Valentine's Day and my original thought was something ooey-gooey, chocolatey or super sweet but then I realized this task would be a total sabotage to myself. You see, I am trying to keep portions in check and this fun little project would blow that whole plan out of the water. I had visions of the tazmanian devil whirling around in a fit, eating up all the sweets and I'm that "tazmaniac" :)

Instead I opted to make my first attempt at decorative soap. I know that many household/pantry items can be used to make soap and who doesn't like coffee, or at the least the smell of coffee.

I gathered my supplies:

coffee
glycerin (both clear and opaque)
vanilla fragrance
plastic molds
old tupperware
popsicle sticks for stirring

First I melted a few hunks of the opaque glycerin in the microwave for 30 seconds. Then stirred and put back in 1-2 times more for only 10 second intervals. You do not want to over heat the glycerin. Once it was all melted, I put a few drops of vanilla fragrance to the mix and then poured each mold about halfway. You don't necessarily have to use a store bought mold; you can use household items as well.

Then I melted the clear glycerin the same way, different tupperware, and once melted I added coffee to it. I heard coffee is a good exfoliant but the main reason I did it was because it smelled good. Stir the coffee around to incorporate it throughout.

Then pour this mix right on top of the vanilla opaque mix. Let it set for about an hour; I put mine in the fridge and it took only about 35-40 minutes.

Once they are set, pop them out of the mold. I thought that this might be a challenge but the soap came right out. Easy Peasy!

For my containers I found these cutie patootie take-out boxes at Michaels for $1.00 each. I put white tissue paper in each as well.

I also wanted to decorate the soap a tad. I love the black and white contrast but it is afterall Valentine's Day and I simply cannot live without a little pink! I cut strips of hot pink scrapbook paper and wrapped it around the soap and taped it together. Then I added fun foam, glittery hearts to the top. :)

I think they are just so stinkin' cute! Now the boxes are ready to hand out to my friends at work. This is such a simple project but I think it makes a big impact.

Happy Valentine's Day! XOXO

Crush

2011-02-12T11:21:00.000-08:00

I've compiled a small list of items that I am totally crushing on this month and thought some might peak your interest as well. Enjoy!

A trip around One Kings Lane and look what I spotted. If you have never been on this site you must check it out and besides its free to join. These throw blankets are THRO by Marlo Lorenz.

Isn't this whale one so cutie patootie! I wish I had a little one to purchase it for.

Sticking with the bedding theme...I found these great pillows at Pottery Barn and I.am.swooning. I'm a word/definition freak, maybe it was because when I was in trouble (in my younger years) my dad would make me copy words and definitions from the dictionary. At the time I hated it but now I'm very appreciative. Who would have known a punishment would ultimately turn out to be a blessing in disguise. :)

And check out these great pharmacy style, frosted jars discovered at Restoration Hardware. I love glass containers; you can do so much with them. I think these would look great in our master bath!

Dough bowls are all the rage right now. I love the simplicity and the rustic look of them. It's fascinating to think of all the hard work that went into bread making and these "bowls" (more like troughs) were the back bone of it all. The Nester talks about them too; that lucky duck has not one, but two(!) residing in her home.

image found at Pottery Barn

I've been on a search for a lovely chair for my home office. I like curvy silhouette's and they need to be "arm-less". I want the option to pull up my legs with my knees in my chest or sit cross-legged if I want; a chair without arms allows me this freedom. Check out this baby from Ballard Designs. Clearly I will not be buying it because of the price tag but it gives me inspiration to search thrift shops and Goodwill locations for something similar.

Maybe in a lovely fabric, like any one of these from Calico Corners.

So there you have it, my small series of crush worthy items for the home lover.

Stay tuned for the Valentine's Day surprise I have for a few of my gal pals at work; that is if I can manage to accomplish without totally wrecking my kitchen. :)

Crap Central

2011-02-10T08:16:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the funky title but seriously could not think of a better way to describe this particular space in my home. Once you see the before pictures you will totally side with me and believe this name is perfectly fitting.

So as I mentioned here, I have been slowly organizing/purging my home-emphasis on the slow part. :) First things first, get rid of the eye sore that is our side cabinet area and bar. Seriously, this is one of those places that is constantly neglected and the unfortunate part is it is in the wide open for all to see.

I mean, come on...what the heck is my deal and what the heck is half of this junk?!?!

Lots of pens-half don't work, tape dispensers that should be in my craft room, Christmas cards! Oh my, its February Cass!

Random cords, plugs, batteries...even paint samples-what the what! Wow, I need to seriously get a handle on this.

And look, it isn't just confined to the one area! oh no oh no, it has now started to take over our bar! Help, stat!

So I spent a good half an hour on organizing this; I went through every item and decided what to toss out, what to keep and where to put this stuff. Funny, most of the items had a more efficient place to store them then on this small section of countertop. I asked myself "Why didn't I do this before"!?!

Ahhhhh....I can breathe! Isn't it interesting how an area that is in disarray seems to be "yelling" at you and makes a ton of noise within the confines of your own head. Well this did just that to me; I was constantly frustrated when I looked in this direction before but now...it's quiet. I shut the space up! Boo-yah!

Where did I put all the important papers and incoming mail, that seems to never cease; well folks we put it in our new wall/shelf/hutch thing. I have no idea what to call it but you get what I'm saying, right? The Hubs built it for me for Christmas, along with a side table. Isn't she lovely?

Oh and did you see...I picked out hardware...woot woot! Now I had every intention of picking from one of the selections I showed you here. You know, the ones I asked for your opinion on. Well you see what happened was, one outing to Home Depot (a different location then prior) The Hubs saw these and I couldn't resist their scroll-like features.

And aren't you proud...I didn't even have a matchy-matchy psychotic break when the hooks didn't "match" the knobs. I'm growing up...sorta :)

Love Birds

2011-02-04T21:23:00.000-08:00

February is the month of LOVE and these cute little love birds made themselves quite at home in my "nest" this evening.

Aren't they just cutie patootie! And they are pink...love it!

Basically I found these cute little "bling'd out" birds in the dollar bin section at Michaels. I think they are intended for scrapbooking and I may use a few for that but right now I am thinking something super quick and easy.

I bought a package of magnets and went to work!

Just a tiny dab of hot glue and I have myself SUPER CUTE magnets for the fridge or maybe a future command center. Hmmmm...

Oh yeah...that's me...one bad mamajama...sitting on a "big girl bike". That's how I roll...ha ha-not really. Ignore the picture, it's really just there for contrast so that you can see the birdies better.

From start to finish, including the time to take the pics and play with the photo and arrangement, this took 5 minutes. No lie...WAY easy, which is how I like it because any more, I'm incredibly lazy. :)

Have a fantastic weekend!

Reflection

2011-01-30T12:30:00.000-08:00

Happy Weekend ya'll! I know I can't be the first to think of this and I definitely won't be the last. You see, I needed a small mirror for a small section of wall at my work office. I've casually looked around for mirrors when I was out leisurely shopping. I wasn't in a huge hurry; it wasn't a ohmygoodnessgottahaveitnow purchase, you know. The price ranges were always somewhere between $15.00 and well over $100.00. Umm thanks.but.no.thanks, I think I will make my own and that is just what I have done folks. :)

I headed out to one of our local Dollar Tree stores, not in search of a mirror but just a simple project for this weekend to get my fix. I'm a junky who is going through withdrawls because my other life (you know the one that isn't decorating/cooking/DIY'ing and blogging) is getting in this junky's way. While I was perusing the store I happened upon this in the candle aisle.

It's just a mirror that you would put a candle on. Super easy and super cheap!

While I was there I saw their real cheap-o photo frames. I thought why the heck not! At worse if it doesn't turn out then I'm out $2.00. It's a nice metallic like color but up close and personal you can tell it is super inexpensive. It's plastic but it should work.

I had the gorilla glue from another project but I think at Home Depot it was around $4.00. And you don't need a ton for this project.

I put a small beaded line around the picture frame, where the picture would go; I didn't even take off the paper insert. No one will see it so why bother. Once the small amount of gorilla glue was on I layed the mirror right on top and quickly (must work quickly because it is super glue and dries uber fast) arranged the mirror to be centered.

It's not totally perfect but for $2.00 vs. at the bare minimum $15.00, not too shabby.

All it needs is a bit of Windex for all my nasty little finger smears and it's ready to hang on the wall. Another thing you can do is leave it as is on a side table or buffet or hutch. Maybe decorate it with a little bit of vinyl lettering. Or maybe you can decorate the frame with ribbon or an old brooch; I think the possibilities to jazz it up are limitless. This junky's incredibly easy and nearly free fix; what do you think!?!

Winner! Winner!

2011-01-28T22:01:00.000-08:00

Thanks again to all those you have supported and continue to support me despite my lack of recent posts. It's hard working full time and going to school full time and feeling the inevitable pull of blogland.

With that said, I wish I could give you all a gift but unfortunately there can only be one winner. Without futher delay...the winner....is....

Woohoo Lucky number 1!! Commenter # 1 is Katie at Ohh Baby. Hit me up Katie at happinessliveshere(at)hotmail(dot)com and I can get your information. Also for those of you that haven't heard, Katie is a fellow blogger and is new onto the blog scene but she has some amazing ideas. Check out her pad when you get a moment!

The urge to purge...plus a giveaway!!

2011-01-22T20:47:00.000-08:00

Hello and how are you today? I've been feeling weighed down, frustrated and a little like a basket case. It occurred to me that part of the problem (there is a whole iceberg of other issues) is that I have multiple...yes, MULTIPLE cluttered areas in my house.

It starts out innocent with a designated "junk" drawer/surface and then it breeds into an uncontrollable monster and when I decided to finally take the blinders off, I have lost all ability to reign in the mess and it has spread like wild fire throughout the entire house. Has this happen to you before? Please say it has, I don't want to be the only messy freak out here. :)
The other night something just snapped and I couldn't live one more minute with 2 (out of many) cupboards looking the way they did.

Me, to The Hubs: " I think I'm going to rearrange and clean out the pots/pans cupboard and the bowl cupboard".

The Hub's: {half paying attention and not even looking in my direction}..."umm, ok"

As I start performing the task at hand right then and there, oh I didn't waste another second, it occurred to my better half that I was actually going to do it then and it wasn't just another random thought or item to put on a list to tackle another time.

I am slowly working on other areas of the home that I hope to show you soon but in the meantime since I am on an organizing kick let's talk about the giveaway. One of my "messy" problems is the amount of paper we accumulate. What do I keep, what do I throw away and how do I organize the things I deemed worth holding on to? I need a tried and true system, that's for sure. Mine tactics simply are no longer working.

I have picked out a few items, in very punchy colors because this should be a fun experience, to giveaway to one of my readers/visitors.

I know that I don't dedicate enough time to this blog but yet you still come back and check in from time to time. So much so that I have reached over 250 views. That may not seem like a huge number but I think it's a personal achievment and couldn't be thankful enough.

When I started this blog it was what I thought "a means to fill my time" and it turned into an incredibly enjoyable experience. There is something so cathardic about writing about your experiences and having others find enjoyment in it as well. I never would have thought that anything I did or said would be interesting enough for people to want to continue to read.

Anyway, I want to give you all a BIG, FAT PINK PUFFY HEART. Also one lucky person is going to win this giveaway. What is it, you ask?

First there is a terrific book, I bought a copy for myself as well; afterall I too need a little help in corraling the mess. It's called Simply Organized, written by Iyna Bort Caruso and Jenny Schroedel. I've started it and let me tell you, just the introduction page had me hooked. I could have sworn they were talking about me and living my life. I've seriously thought about other places to hang my everexpanding closet and the thought of hanging some items from ceiling fans or chandeliers has crossed my mind.

Also included is a calendar for dates to remember throughout 2011.

Then there are some super fun file folders that have pictures of shoes and handbags. GAH! I love it! In addition, I've thrown in some magnets, a pen (for the calendar writing) and some sticky notes and tabs, maybe for all those magazine pages you just can part with?!?! Oh wait...that's me; I have magazines coming out my ears because I am too afraid to part with the one or two items I liked.

To enter? It's really just simple...leave a comment. Tell me something you have been dying to organize, or tell me about your junk drawer or just say hi! The giveaway will be open until Thursday, January 27th, 2011. I will use random.org to select a number from the comments and I will announce the winner on Saturday the 29th. Thanks again for all your love and support!
***Anyone can enter, even if you aren't a follower. Just leave your name in the body of the comment so I know who to announce***

This giveaway is closed!

Groovy!

2011-01-21T20:37:00.000-08:00

I know it has been eons since I said I would post about the 70's party I mentioned here but this whole work full-time and go to school full-time is eating up my precious blog time. Drats...do people still say drats?!?! :)

Anyway the party was fabulous and everyone had the best time. There was lots of dancing, lots of eating and lots of laughing. Here are just a few snippets of the paaartt-y!

Look at that Stone Fox!!

I apparently was trying to really get in the 70's spirit. I mean, what the heck is up with my eyes closed. Come on Hubs-you could have told me I looked like a dork.

Awesome food; including some far out fondu!

The Dancing Queen! Boogy Fever!

Of course there was a disco ball...it's not the 70's without one.

Just chillin'...and Keepin it real!

Look at these cool cats! Totally funky and totally awesome!

The dudes!! Well except for two...not sure where they were when this was taken.

And the Birthday boy! He is blazin! Anyway there were more photos but our camera died (bummer!) so this is all we have cats. Ok I am burned out on the 70's lingo but we all had a blast. Maybe the next time we get together for a birthday bash we can do something closer to my genre...80's!!!

Have a great weekend!

Red Velvet Cupcakes

2011-01-08T10:35:00.000-08:00

I hope you all are having a fantastic weekend! We are! There is a group of us meeting tonight to throw a birthday party for a great friend of ours (Hoss). The Hubs and his friend, let's call him 'W', decided to throw a themed party. For any of you that know my husband knows that he isn't really into themes so I was compltetely shocked. We are throwing a 70's theme party and hopefully there will be more on that in another post.

Back to the project at hand-cupcakes! I didn't make these from scratch but as you will see a bit later I did jazz them up a bit. So bake your cupcakes according to the box.

Look at that amazing red color!!

I use an ice cream scoop; it's a bit less messy and it is, for the most part, accurate in filling the cups to the right level.

Once they are done baking, let them cool completely. Trust me on the last one; you do not want to try to handle or frost a cupcake that is not COMPLETELY cool.

So to jazz up the cupcakes I bought one of those frosting kits from Wilton; it was only about $7.00. It comes with bags, a couple tips and directions for different fun ways to decorate.

I decided to pipe a little bit of frosting into the center of the cupcake before frosting the top.

Then instead of smearing the frosting on the top, like I usually do, I piped on the frosting with another tip. This tip is the larger "star" tip. It worked wonderfully.

Due to my excitement that my cupcakes look kind of professional and all freakin awesome, I forgot to take a pick of them all frosted. I'm sorry. :(

I also thought another touch of 'special' was called for so I grabbed a bar of semi-sweet chocolate and was going to put shavings on top of the frosted cupcakes. Now I must preface that I am not a professional baker and I do not possess the appropriate tools for accomplishing certain tasks in the kitchen but I thought I did rather well for working with what I have.

I grabbed a serrated peeler I had and a hunk of chocolate and just started ~~shaving~~ peeling over top the cupcakes.

I think they turned out AWESOME! I can't wait for the birthday dude to check these out. Hopefully he is as impressed as I am.

Have a wonderfully sweet weekend!

I'm a knob

2011-01-07T18:37:00.000-08:00

Calling all readers...all 11 of you lovelies. I need your help! For Christmas The Hubs built me a couple items. They are gorg but he left picking out the hardware to me-eeks!

Told ya...it's gorg. It has a ledge (that I can jazz up a bit with some accessories) and it has drawers (for the mail-yay!) and underneath will be a spot for hooks, to hang the keys.

My favorite part of course is what he had lasered into the wood. It's hard to read but it says "Better when we're together". It's a song by Jack Johnson and it was our first dance song at the wedding. Awww, he definitely gets points for romance!

Now back to the dilemma...you see I love so many different styles that it's nearly impossible to pick just one. I need to pick out hardware for the beauty above and also an extra knob (matching because I am psycho like that. Have to be all matchy-matchy) for the side table he built as well.

I could go with nickle, like the one from True Value below...

Or I could get the same thing in ORB (Oil Rubbed Bronze), also from True Value...

Or how about Bronze with copper accents, like this one from Home Depot?

Or maybe something a bit more decorative (Venetian Bronze) from the Home Depot stash...

Or, or, or....do I kick it up a notch and get something with more panache, like this one from Home Depot?

My original thought was to buy cheap ones, maybe even (GASP!-dare I say it) brass and then spray paint them but I didn't want to spend the time to do it right (I'm feeling super lazy). You know-sand them a bit, prime them and then paint them. You have to do this if you are going to 'touch' them alot; and I intend to thank.you.very.much. :)

So if you will pretty, pretty please (with whip cream and a cherry on top) help me with my little situation I will be eternally grateful.

The vaccuum battle

2011-01-02T16:39:00.000-08:00

Look at the amount of the snow, folks! Holy moly and it's been frigid to boot. Yesterday it only got up to 8 degrees where we live and on the way home from the New Years party yesterday in the wee hours of the morning there were spots along the way that were -19 degrees (oh yah, negative). Yowza!

Anyway we still had a bit of fun today in the snow and not the type of fun you are thinking. You know, the normal stuff people do like ski, sled or snowmobile. Nope something entirely different. So for quite awhile now we (The Hubs because he does pretty much all the vaccuuming) has had this epic battle with the vaccuum. We have gone through several rollers and a plethora of belts. Today something snapped, and not just the belt again; The Hubs was officially fed up. As he put it "it was the last belt that broke the vaccuums back".

I know you are wondering what on earth is your vaccuum doing outside in the snow. Keep on reading...

Are you starting to see what is about to happen?!?! :)

Two very loud shots later and the vaccuum was blown into three pieces. Oh but The Hubs wasn't done yet...oh no no no. He lit off another 8 rounds just to make his point and to well... feel better.

Oh and if you are wondering what type of vaccuum NOT to buy may I suggest you stay clear of Dirt Devil. :)

He felt liberated and so did I...but then I started to think...with a Saint Bernard at home that sheds A TON now what are we going to do. We intended on waiting it out until February or so to buy a quality vaccuum (woot woot Dyson!). The Hubs decided we couldn't (and neither could the vaccuum) wait that long.

We hopped into the car and headed into town to purchase a replacement that would at the very least (hopefully) last until our big purchase.

So far so good but it has only been a few hours. Time will tell. :) We had a sick and twisted thought to show the new vaccuum it's possible fate if it decided to crap out too but that would be silly, right?!?!

Now that we have a working vaccuum I guess there is no excuse for me not to get off my duff and test it out from time to time. Working vaccuum-check, next up cleaning and organizing the home...AGAIN!

When you dip, I dip...we dip

2010-12-31T15:06:00.000-08:00

We are preparing to ring in the New Year with some friends tonight. We usually all play games, laugh and talk alot and eat some really good food. Speaking of food, we are in charge of an appetizer and I knew the perfect one. I made this for Christmas and it seemed to be a big hit.

Ingredients:
2 pkg cream cheese; softened
1pkg shredded sharp cheddar cheese
about 4 Tbsp of diced red pepper
a dash or two of ground cayenne pepper
a dash of regular pepper
a dash of salt
Sliced almonds

Directions:

Dice your red pepper

Beat the cream cheese and the cheddar cheese in a small bowl.

Add the remaining ingredient, except for the nuts and mix until it is well incorporated.

At this point you can shape the mixture into a fun "cheese ball" or you can put it in a pretty bowl. For traveling purposes I put ours into a bowl. Add the almonds to the top and refrigerate for a couple hours. When ready, serve with crackers. I find that Wheat Thins are awesome with this but The Hubs likes Ritz. It could be that he doesn't care for Wheat Thins. :) Anyway try out a few options and find works best for you.

In addition to the dip, I am bringing some bubbly that I bought for our Annual Holiday Party. We never opened it so I thought what other better occassion than New Years. I'm not a champagne aficionado so I hope it is good-wish me luck! I might try to find, if I don't run out of time, some fun garnish or additions for the drink to make it a bit more festive.

Happy New Year Everyone! Thanks for a fantastic 2010 and thanks for stopping by, checking out the blog and for all your wonderful comments. This wouldn't be any fun without the support of you. Be safe tonight and I will see you in 2011!

Merry Christmas

2010-12-25T08:37:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas everyone! We pray for hope, love and most of all peace to you and all your loved ones.

A Christmas Craft

2010-12-21T19:17:00.000-08:00

Well hello there. It's been awhile, I know and I am sorry. This year the season crept up quickly and before I knew it I was completely out of time. On top of that I had to go in for surgery on Monday morning. I am out of surgery and doing very well and I managed to spend an entire two days on the couch, sitting on my duff and doing nothing. It about killed me. ;)

So this afternoon I got up, slowly of course so not to hurt the knee, and finished up one of my Christmas crafts. Last week I spray painted this hope sign...

I picked a caramel latte color. It's a very muted and gorgeous gold. Perfect for *Sparkle and Shimmer* theme this year.

I gave it about 3 coats of paint and then let it dry for an entire day.

Then this afternoon, when I just couldn't stand sitting around for another minute, I decided to add a little sparkle to my sign.

I grabbed my Modge Podge and some white glitter. I added a bit of Modge Podge to the sign in a couple areas and then saturated it with glitter.

I love how the glitter catches the light and makes it shine. May your Holiday season be filled with Hope and Joy!

Battle of the Christmas Trees

2010-12-15T19:37:00.000-08:00

So for many years there has been this unspoken "battle" of sorts with our Christmas trees. You may remember my post last year about the hive inducing, psychotic tree of The Hub's.

Well this year I think I have turned a new leaf. I figured if you can't beat him (and I can't!) then join him. So here is our massive 9 foot plus tree in our "sitting area". I like to say we have a sitting area but really in all honesty it's a space when you walk in that has 1 chair. :)

See that piece of wood...curious?!?! I will get to that soon. So The Hubs has his normal ornaments he puts out year after year. I only took a couple shots to show you but they are definitely 'eclectic'.

This year since I can't beat him (and truthfully I don't want to) I decided to pick him up a few more lovelies for his tree. I found the football and the softball at Michaels for a buck! Score!

Oh yes, this was one of my purchases also...a Homer Santa scarfing down donuts. Classic! The lady behind the counter probably thought I was nuts.

Now on to the reason for the braces. You see this year, I waved my white flag and joined in on the decorating schizophrenia. Now in years past I may have had evil thoughts of the tree suddenly igniting in flames or a tornado ripping through and sucking the tree up but this year...this year I was totally on board. No evil thoughts whatsoever. Then the worse possible thing happened; once we were finished decorating and marveling at the wonderous sight, {cue loud ominous music} the tree crashed to the floor!!! Side note: I'm not sure what the deal is with the font on this one section. Crazy!

It broke several ornaments, including the beloved and coveted 8 ball. My heart sank. This was The Hubs tree and he is a man of tradition, even if it is a bit wacky at times, so I knew he was upset. We picked up the pieces, temporarily braced the tree to the wall (above pic) and put boards underneath as added support. It's a bit funky junky but it works.

I waited a few days before I set up my tree, afterall I didn't want my tree to rub it in his tree's face (metaphorically speaking since trees don't have faces). This year I decided on a **Sparkle and Shimmer** theme. Everything gold, silver, glittered or metallic.

Dollar Tree find! Two tubes for $1.00 each; can't beat that! Especially when you suffer from decorating ADD and insist on changing your "theme" every year.

I had these ornaments from a few years ago so basically free since I didn't purchase them this year :) That's perfectly acceptable logic, right?

This garland I got at the Dollar Tree last year. I bought two bundles. It's gorg! Fake and plastic but still gorg!

This garland I have had for many, many years. I never opened it and used it. I think I got it at Michaels.

The bow was from Hobby Lobby (yah! shout out to Hob Lob. I big pink puffy heart you). I had a gift card so it was FREE for me but if I paid out of pocket for it I think it would have been 50% off of $8.99.

I love poinsettias and these I bought at Michaels for $2.99 for the bunch. I clipped off most of the stem and stuffed them into 'holes' in the tree. Below is the finished product...

The garland looks like jewelry draped on the tree. It's so beautiful, especially at night. My tree looks like it might go out dancing or to a fancy dinner...you know, if trees did that sort of thing. :)

I hope you are enjoying your seasonal decorating as much as we are.

Gratitude Attitude

2010-11-25T08:57:00.000-08:00

Well Happy Thanksgiving everyone! What a beautiful day...the ground is covered in snow, we are blessed to have friends and family that love us and the company we keep.

This year I have so much to be thankful for.

I have an outstanding man who loves me unconditionally ( I attribute this to his amazing parents)
We have a beautiful and warm home
Our pantry and fridge are full of food
We have good health and are able to take care of others in their time of need
I have an opportunity to go back to school and do something I love every day
Our friends and family; the time we get to spend with each and everyone we hold dear
I get to go to work every day, be challenged and contribute to our home and life

"Develop and attitude of gratitude, and give thanks for everything that happens to you, knowing that evey step forward is a step toward achieving something bigger and better than your current situation."

~Brian Tracy 

Giveaway over at TDC!!!

2010-11-23T07:53:00.000-08:00

image from Thrifty Decor Chick

You are not going to want to miss this one, I can guarantee that! Sarah over at Thrifty Decor Chick is giving away an amazing deal. You are given 5 separate entries to enter to win a Silhouette.

What is a Silhouette you ask?!?! It's only the most amazing, the most fantabulous handy tool for ANY crafter. Head on over to her site here and check it out!! While you are there poke around; Sarah is pretty darn amazing and super hilarious.

Winterize

2010-11-07T18:42:00.000-08:00

It's getting to be that time of year...the time when the snow starts to fly and the ground stays frozen. We have been prepping our home, one project at a time or two if they are easy.

Each year, as homeowners, we know what needs to be done without making a list but there are also other items and/or tasks that require a list, at least for me-I would lose my head if it weren't attached. So I made the list and even included the items I know we will do year after year by habit. I find that crossing items off the list is cathartic and well, for me, the more I cross off the better I feel so I include everything. I know that this sounds silly, see aforementioned items that don't require a list, but this process works for me. :)

Our list included blowing out the sprinkler system. The Hubs did this one evening after work. He hooked up his compressor to the valves and let it rip. This is also a great time to pick up any yard debris. We had plenty from the construction of the shop but for most this is just leaves, twigs and the occasional piece of garbage.

Halloween night we knew we would have the dog with us so it was the perfect time to finally get rid of all the spiders. A couple weeks leading to this event I must have killed at least 10 creepy crawlers. Blech!

Also on the list was stocking the pantry. Since it is that time of year where there are more friend and family get togethers I like to be sure I have plenty of items on hand to whip up something at a moments notice. I restock all of my baking items; the sugar, brown sugar, flour and spices. I also make sure we have plenty of rice, beans, pasta, soups and vino (very important) on hand as well.

This is also a great time to take another look at the pantry and reorganize if you need to. I definitely need to so I will take my cluttered pantry and make it more efficient. You can check out my last post here.

Now for the fun part...winterizing the home is not just about the "chores" we must do to prepare for winter but also making the home more "winter" friendly. I do so by bringing out my candles and lighting them more frequently.

Also I put out warm, fuzzy throw blankets to take the chill off on a cold night. I think it overall warms the house and makes it inviting.

Next on my list is tackling my closet. The picture below is not of my closet-I wish! What I like to do is stash away my spring/summer clothes and make room for the heavy, bulky sweaters and coats. I don't know about you but I certainly do not have enough room in the closet to store all seasons at once.

Better Homes and Gardens

There are still several items on the do to list; for instance, change the batteries in the smoke detectors, put mulch on flower beds, put the patio furniture away and wrap it up, change light bulbs but for now I am feeling pretty good about crossing off items on the list.

Once it is all finished I can focus on Christmas and all that it entails. :) I can't wait!!

Caramel Apples; The Sequel

2010-10-31T14:44:00.000-07:00

Oh yah, it's that time of year that I have been waiting for. I am going to be the comeback kid and I am taking no prisoners. Muaaahhahha!

Last year I attempted to make caramel dipped apples with several fun toppings and EVEN my own caramel sauce. It was a colossal failure; I mean I was in full on meltdown mode because what seemed relatively easy (it's not like I was building a rocket or making a new chemical compound) turned into a disaster! You can read all about it here.

This year will be different; it has to be, right!?!?!

First I washed the apples to get them clean and then dried them off.

Then I put the sticks in the middle and put them in the "hot tub". I boiled them for only about 20 seconds each, just enough to get the 'shiny' off of them. As you can see from the below picture it totally worked.

Ha ha, stupid caramel! I win this year; this is for sure going to work.

I prepared my M&M's (even in Fall colors, how cute is that?!) while I waited for my caramel pieces to melt down into velvety smooth caramel sauce. Also there was a bit of water at the tops where the sticks were inserted so I laid the apples on their side to dry completely.

Mmmm, caramel. Just 1 package of store bought caramels and 2 Tbsp of milk. It started to come together nicely.

Almost there; I am so excited at this point and confident that they are going to rock! But then just as I had hoped wouldn't happen, I dipped the apples in the caramel and then in the topping and put them on the wax paper and the caramel that had M&M's on it started to slide off.

I mean it was still a step up from last years complete and utter train wreck but darn it I wanted to knock everyone's socks off with my caramel apples this year. The Hubs stepped in and tried to rig something together with a bowl and my cooling rack, and it sort of worked, but now it was sliding the other way because of how they are facing.

We rushed them into the fridge; I can't even believe I took a picture of the inside of my fridge but I needed to have something for you folks to look at that was related to this post. I wish I could get one of those color blocked, high pitch squealing "this is a test...only a test" type things you see on the TV but unfortunatley I was fresh out. :) This is what you get folks--I picture of my funky junk apples and the inside of my fridge. Aren't you lucky! ;)

Every now and then when you opened the fridge you could hear a *plink* from the topping falling from the apples.

Not quite the disaster as last year but still not what I had intended. I have decided that I am going to leave this project to the pro's. Besides I am a really good cook and baker and make fabulous other treats that everyone loves so I am bidding farewell to Caramel Apples; peace out, apples!

What am I going to do with the apples that are in the fridge you ask...well the kiddo's will each get one because I am sure they don't care what they look like and the others, well I'm not sure yet. Maybe the trash, maybe to work...who knows.

I'm also bidding ya'll farewell for now because I need to get ready for trick or treating with the family.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Fall candle holders

2010-10-25T08:11:00.000-07:00

I told you about these simple candle holders here. I made these babies in about 7 minutes, if that, and right before the in-laws showed up for dinner. Way super easy!

First I had three tall glass holders from the Dollar Tree. CHEAP!!

Then I cut up one of my burlap sacks from last Spring into three strips. Mine are about 2-2 1/2 inches wide but you can create yours however wide you would like.

First I positioned the burlap on the glass holder where I wanted, did a thin strip of hot glue on the burlap and pressed it to the holder. Then I did another thin strip of hot glue on the other end and pressed it to the the other end of burlap.

Then as you can see, I took some faux leaves I have in my craft box and put a thin dollop of hot glue on the backside and pressed it to the front of the burlap wrapped candle holder.

I put a tealight in each and voila! I love eating by candle light; it gives every ordinary meal a little oomph and makes it special.

I think it still needs a little somethin-somethin to jazz it up just a tad. I might go out and get coffee beans to fill the jar a bit and place the tealight on top. I believe it will give it that extra texture and color it's lacking.

So how about you, do you love to eat by candlelight? Have you made any special candleholders or centerpieces lately? Do share; I love to hear about all the wonderful creations people make.

Apple Picking at Greenbluff

2010-10-24T13:05:00.000-07:00

One of my brothers decided to tag along with The Hubs and I while we went apple picking at Greenbluff. It's a tradition of ours to go apple picking and it ties into my birthday month so well. Normally we go around my birthday but this year it worked out better to go 2 weeks prior.

And it was an absolute beautiful day. Normally the weather is 'iffy' when we go but since we were early the sun was out, the weather was warm and I couldn't have asked for a more perfect Fall day.

The Hubs and I always hit up Walter's Farm first for the apple picking. And of course, The Hubs gets his twice a year treat of cheddar kettle corn while we are at it. It was extra special this year that my brother came along. We got to show him our favorite parts and share stories of years past.

Look at the apples! There were tons and we had our choice of pickings since we came early this year. Woohoo!

Just some more photo's of the beautiful orchards and our beautiful day!

At Walter's they also have pumpkins, a petting zoo, playground, concession stands with food and live music this time of year. It's really something to be able to be a part of year after year.

When we are finished at Walter's Farm then we head over to the main event, The Harvest House. This is where a ton of action is. They have a corn maze, wagon rides, booths of all kinds and of course the only reason we go---PUMPKIN DONUTS!!

My brother and I waited in line for almost an hour to get pumpkin donuts but it was totally worth it. They are so hot and fresh and rolled in cinnamon sugar mix. Oh heavenly! You must have at least 2 straight out of the fryer so we got a dozen. I know you probably think I am crazy but these donuts are crazy good and their not terribly big so a dozen isn't that nuts.

If you live in this area I recommend taking a trip to the Greenbluff area and trying out the experience for yourself. If you don't, I would also suggest researching for a similar experience near your home. The produce doesn't get any fresher and the experience can't be beat.

Casual Family Dinner

2010-10-17T19:55:00.000-07:00

I enjoy entertaining family and friends; it's my special way to say "I care" or "I love you". Today we invited the in-law's out for a relaxed 'Sunday Supper'. I have a few party "rules" that I try to live by but will explain those later.

The Hubs and I decided that pot roast was on the menu tonight. It was a beautiful fall day and what better to serve then comfort food. I also decided that I would make an apple crisp since we hit up Greenbluff today; that will be on another post so stay tuned. I prepared the pot roast this morning before heading out to the apple orchards. My recipe is pretty standard, I think, and everyone seemed to enjoy the food. My favorite part of course is the company and then a close second is the vino. :)

My entertaining rules that I try to live by:

1) Set a budget; this is super important especially when you have invited more than two people over
2) Create a menu and stick to it. Also be sure to check with guests about dietary concerns if you don't already know.
3) Prepare as much in advance as the items will allow.

4) Always make a homecooked meal, even if it is something as simple as throwing items in the crockpot, like I did. It's always a great meal and requires little to no effort on my part. Score!

5) As the hostess, or host, you are responsible for setting the tone of the evening. So be sure to take a deep breath and relax at least a half an hour before your guests are to arrive. If you are rushed then your guests will feel the same.
6) Turn off your cell phones and TV, unless your TV is what is providing the music. Which brings me to my next rule...
7) Keep the music just loud enough that people can still enjoy the tune but not so loud that they have to shout to have a conversation with another party-goer. And while we are on the subject of music-ALWAYS keep it appropriate. Don't choose heavy metal or rap.
8) Keep the party simple; don't fuss over every detail and take everything so seriously. Things happen and while you may be upset that it didn't go just "perfectly", the events will be something to laugh about later. *(this one is a hard one for me)*
9) I never impose a seating arrangement. We may all be friends and family but sometimes you just want to sit where you want to sit. And that should be perfectly acceptable.
10) Candlelight; it's the most flattering light and it is a definite mood setter. I made cute little candle holders right before the in-laws arrived. I will show you that post later as well.

Oh and I just saw that in the November issue of House Beautiful magazine they have 101 party do's & don'ts. I opened it up and instantly saw a couple that I totally disagree with. Like don't use plastic or never use paper napkins but I also saw a couple that I might have to incorporate into my own tentative rules. For instance, always start with an empty dishwasher and warm plates before serving hot food on them-genious! Wonderful, wonderful ideas. You should check out the article yourself; for me I'm going to indulge in another glass of wine and read all 101 party "rules".

Shop Update

2010-10-14T22:13:00.000-07:00

Woo-to-the-freakin-HOO! The exterior of the shop is complete peeps! Well almost; we don't have a garage door yet but in due time. We are beyond exhausted, I mean excited. Okay...so maybe a little both and I can actually, truthfully say that I helped. I did...I swear!

So the last you saw it it looked like this

So the first step, after The Hubs got it to this point, was to put on the roof. Then the walls, taking into account the doors.

Each piece of metal had to be cut to size; basically we touched each piece at least two times. I will spare you the crazy pitfalls but looking at it today it was worth it. Every two feet and across the entire length you put a screw through the metal and into the wood frame behind it to secure the piece in place.

It's a total construction zone around here and a complete eye sore but finally, this weekend, we get to pack it all up and haul it off. We are done! Well again with the exterior. The inside still looks like this...for now.

Over the winter though we will attempt to put in electrical, insulation, drywall and most importantly shelving so that by Spring 2011 I can start putting our storage items out there. Oh and of course have the professionals pour the concrete floor.

I'm not making any promises or putting a timeline on this because it's Murphy's Law that when you do something goes tiddlywinks. Besides, we want it done right and the first time. :)

Before: barren land

Sorry...it was the only picture I could find of this area. I know...I'm putting some sort of vibe into the Universe to cause this white, fluffy stuff to fall. I'm sorry, I totally didn't intend to. I TAKE IT BACK...I TAKE IT BACK! :)

After: A shop! A real live, bigger than all get out SHOP!

Stuff and Fluff

2010-10-11T20:42:00.000-07:00

I cannot even begin to tell you the amount of stuff we have going on and of course we are getting into the season with all the major holidays and family get togethers. Some days I wish I could slow down time and I don't know...take a nap! With that said, we do love all of the "stuff" that we do and one of the very fun events we have been looking forward to around this time of year is the Trinity Auction.

We have family members that attend this school as well as family members that are employed by the school so it's extra special to us. I decided last year that I wanted to make a couple gift baskets for the following years auction. Well I decided on one...see the note above about the "amount of stuff" we got goin' on. :) I wish I could do more but I just can't this year.

What is easy about gift baskets is that you literally stuff it and fluff it until it looks awesome. I'm not even kidding.

I started with a mixing bowl; white so that it could go with any decor for any of the wonderful families bidding on it.

I stuffed it with tissue paper. I monkeyed around with the burlap to go over this too for well over a half an hour but it just didn't sit right. You don't have to put tissue paper in the object you are 'stuffing' but I did because I wanted some height and dimension. Then what you do is stuff...take out...restuff...take out and restuff again until you get your desired look.

I put in a recipe box, two 20 count recipe cards, cookie/cupcake stencils in the middle. Then I put the cookie mix behind the recipe box and then stuffed two spoonulah's (spatula's that are more spoon shape) onto either side of the cookie mix. Then I placed the cookie cutters also behind the recipe box and then the jar of frosting front and center.

Oh and since it is fall...the look wasn't complete without some leaves scattered around. Then you wrap it up in a plastic bag (like me if you want the easy way out) or plastic shrink wrap. I tie mine off with a rubberband so it's easier to put the bow on.

Also I taped the sides of the bag; you really can't tell unless you look close but the sides stuck out like big ol' ears. Not the look I was going for. Then the final piece...the bow. Now I have to admit I bought my bow; the lovely lady at Michael's made it for me in like seriously 5 seconds flat. So if anyone has a tutorial or tips on making this bow I am all ears-big ol' ears :) -just kidding but seriously would love a step by step on bow making. For this project, the $8.00 (I know-GASP) was well worth the money since I didn't have time and an endless supply of ribbon to perfect it.

Isn't it lovely! I am in love of the color of ribbon. In some lights and certain angles it looks peach, then in others burnt orange and then in others pinkish. It's gorg! And I picked it out thank.you.very.much. :)

The final result is a super cute, super easy peasy gift "basket" (or bowl) to be auctioned off.

Autumn Greetings

2010-10-01T06:59:00.000-07:00

Although this week the temp is in the 80's I have been itching to put out a little bit of my fall decor. I just love the warmth and the smell of fall, don't you?

"Simple" is the plan in decorating this year. As like many of you, I have too much going on to fuss over the decor and coordinating such items with the seasons. However, I DO love changing it up but I'm taking all the pressure off this year-a free 'hall pass' if you will.

Last spring I showed you a few "simple" ideas that I used to decorate above the cabinet and a centerpiece here. I changed up above the cabinet for fall but I have decided not to do a tablescape or centerpiece, at least not right now. You see, for those who know me personally you know that I do not have my own desk yet (and my "office" aka the abyss is a disaster) and I'm going back to school so our dining room table is "my desk". With that in mind, I wanted to still put a bit of fall decor out but have it not be distracting that I lost interest in school and became obsessed with switching out my decor.

So first I took the black/white damask plates down, took the green/white and black 'fluff' out of the glass jar and took the believe book down.

I put a brown (plastic-shh) charger where the plates were. It was only $2.99 plus 20% off at Michaels with my coupon.

Then I also put fall 'fluff', you know leaves and pinecones (the smelly kind-not that anyone would notice from way up there) in the glass jar.

I left my cake stand up there, it's pretty much a permanent fixture since I have no where else to store it. Work with what you got people and integrate items, like this for storage, into your decor. I decided to put 3 small pumpkins I had from the 'fall fluff' and three beady candle holders into the cake stand and sort of treat it like a cloche. On a side note, am I the only person in the world that doesn't have a cloche!!

Then I just added a metal Petaluma sign I got in a thrifty/antique store for only $6.00. Originally it was going to find a place on the hutch but I just couldn't make it work yet with the accessories I had. Then the final piece of decor was a white, plushy pumpkin from Michaels that was $7.99 plus 40% off and then the additional 20% with my coupon. I bought two!

The final product is just enough warmth and just enough fall decor to satisfy my craving to change for the season. The whole process took about 10 minutes tops and that is including put a little bit on the hutch and a candle holder out as well.

I encourage you all to give yourselves a break and simplify your Fall decor. I feel liberated and I think you might too and Christmas will be here soon ( I know, sue me) and you can go all gangbusters then. Although if you are one that just can't force yourself to stop (it's our little secret *wink* ) then go for it and embrace it. You are who you are and that is why people love you.

So tell me, have you started putting out your Fall stuff yet or are you afraid it is cheating Summer somehow and you want to soak up all the sun before it's gone for good?

P.S. Sorry the pictures are so crap! I shot them at night which is a huge no-no. Do as I say not as I do. :)

Southwestern Meatloaf

2010-09-19T20:24:00.000-07:00

This is a really easy go-to recipe but packs a ton of flavor. I will make this meatloaf about 2-3 times a month. It's not your mom's meatloaf-this baby has a bit of a kick and depending on how much southwest seasoning you put in it very well could knock you on your tush.

Ingredients:

1/2 C bread crumbs, any that you have on hand

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1 green pepper, diced

1 red pepper, diced

3 large cloves of garlic

1/2 tsp of onion powder (or you could use an onion too)

1 tsp (or more if you want it a bit spicier) of Southwestern seasoning

1/4 cup of BBQ suace (I use honey flavored)

1 pound of lean ground beef

2 slices of bread

First preheat the oven to 350 and spray the inside of a loaf pan with cooking spray.

Second, in a large bowl combine the the bread crumbs, the beef, the diced peppers, the garlic and the seasonings. Mix them well, I use my hands to incorporate all the ingredients together.

Third, in the bottom of the loaf pan put your two slices of bread (this is to soak up any extra fat from the beef). We always have left over heals because neither of us wants to eat the heal; they come in real handy for this recipe.

Then you put the meat and veggie mixture into the loaf pan and pour your BBQ sauce on top.

Bake it in the oven for about 45 minutes to an hour.

Serve it along side mashed potatoes and sweet corn or seasonal veggies or onion rings. I think it would be absolutely perfect with Sweet Potato Fries but I don't think I can convince The Hubs to eat them. Oh well, one battle has already been won since I have diced up quite a serving of veggies in the meatloaf. This would be great for those picky kids that won't eat their vegetables too.

I'm 'Fallin' for...

2010-09-17T23:12:00.000-07:00

Hey folks; it's been awhile...way too long for sure. I would like to say that I have been busy but honestly it was more laziness than anything. Sorry! Especially to Bonnie and Carolyn; I know you have been very patient waiting for another post.

Anyway, it is almost that time of year when the leaves change, the air is cool and crisp and weekends are filled with football. Oh what, you don't spend every weekend tied to some football game whether it is High School, College or Pro. LUCKY! :)

Well it's also that time of year, my favorite time, where I can pull out the pumpkins, the leaves and the wonderful recipes for baked goods. This year I am crushing on a few items and I would like to share them with you all.

Starbucks! Oh I love thee for the Caramel Apple Spice and the Spiced Pumpkin Latte's. MMMmmmm!

I am totally head over heels for some goodies at Bath and Body Works. Have you smelled their 'Creamy Pumpkin' or 'Leaves' wallflowers and candles. Hello! They are the bomb!

I know that these have been around for awhile and I am probably the last person on earth to find them totally awesome but pillows made out of old sweaters. OMG! Like this one from Pottery Barn...

but with a price tag of $39.00 why not try the next item. Same looking pillow for tons less!

someone's etsy shop-only $7.00; total score! click here

Fall also means I get to make warm, cozy meals and treats like these. I can't wait!

~Pumpkin Cupcakes

~Eight Layer Casserole

~Slow Cooker Chicken Chili

And my Southwestern Meatloaf; which I will share with you all very soon.

So are you ready for Fall and have you already brought out your bins of decor for the season? Or are you gripping on to the very last of Summer in hopes it won't vanish without a farwell hug? I plan on pulling out some of my seasonal decor tomorrow morning and hopefully {fingers crossed} I will have time this weekend to make a craft or two.

Cookie Jar Love

2010-08-20T07:44:00.000-07:00

I am an absolute lover of all things cooking and baking but during the summer months I spend as less time in the kitchen as I possibly can. I become a bit lazy, both in the physical sense and in the creative sense. I don't spend as much time trying new recipes or complicated ones at that but more throwing together very generic dinners together. You know, like salads or sandwiches or even busting out a can of stew. Oh yah...don't judge..I totally did it this week.

So The Hubs has been dropping hints about cookies or something chocolate or sweet. My sweet wants his sweets! Who can blame him but in all honesty I would rather do anything else then turn on the oven. Which leads me to my next point...you don't have to turn on the oven to have a great treat.

No bake cookies, ya'll! It didn't even occur to me until The Hubs, who is not a baker, mentioned it. Duh! Why in the heck didn't I think of that.

Chocolate Oatmeal No Bakes

~1/2 C butter
~2 C sugar
~ 1/2 C milk
~4 Tbsp of cocoa
~1/2 C peanut butter
~4 C quick rolled oats (Instant Quaker type)
~2 tsp of vanilla

Add the butter, sugar, milk and cocoa in a pan and bring to a rolling boil.

Remove pan from the heat. I then put the peanut butter into the chocolate mix, just to melt it slightly. And you can do all of these next steps in the same pan by adding the next three ingredients into the sauce pan but I prefer to use a big mixing bowl. Pour the choc/pb mix into your bowl with the oats and add the vanilla.

Then drop, by spoonfuls onto wax paper, your cookies.

I then put them in the fridge to set up. Then they are ready for your enjoyment.

Mmmmm...mmmmm....chocolatey goodness! Be sure to pair it with a big glass of milk-can't go wrong here!

Oregon Coast-Last Phase

2010-08-19T21:18:00.000-07:00

I know that I took over 200 pictures and I know that I would absolutely love to talk to you all day about the wonderful vacation but I need to get back to creating, painting, sanding etc so this will be the last post about our vacation...at least for awhile. I'm not making definite promises that I won't from time to time pull out a couple pics. :)

So we attempted to go crabbin' one day but all we caught were starfish...

I highly recommend getting a tide schedule, if there is such a thing, if you are going crabbin'. One of our pots got stuck under the pier and we had to venture back out around 10pm to try to free it. Luckily though when we got there a nice man had wrestled with it for 45 minutes and it was just laying on the dock, empty but laying on the dock nonetheless, waiting for its rightful owner.

Everywhere you look there is an amazing amount of plant life; everything is green and overflowing. I didn't snap any photos but the hydrangeas grow rampant here-I'm completely jealous! We walked through "tunnels" made of plants and trees...

There are flowers growing everywhere. They are all along side the highway, they are growing on hillsides, in between rock walls, up driveways to houses and it seems to be effortless and natural.

We went to Agate Beach but didn't find any agates. It was fun anyway just to be on the beach, taking in the salty air and listening to the waves crash against the shore. While we were there I snapped some photos of the houses on the beach; I was thinking to myself what a wonderful life it would be to live on the beach and absorb this beauty every day.

Look at the windows! GORG!

It then occured to me that while I may never be able to have a place on the beach I can certainly make a coastal oasis at home and no one is around to stop me or tell me that I can't. That is the beauty of having your own home, your own design and your own willpower-You can do anything you like! So if I am going to create a special "oceanic" place for me then I better get started creating my concept and figuring which space to take over. First a spot in our house...next, who knows maybe the world! :)

Oregon Coast-Part Two

2010-08-18T20:58:00.000-07:00

Hi there folks! I'm back to share another adventure from our Oregon Coast trip. Today it is all about lighthouses. I desperately love the look of lighthouses and I was dying to see one up close and then to my surprise I saw a sign stating that we could. It was from then on a mission to check out Yaquina Head.

This amazing piece of land, 19 acres I believe, has so much to offer and the fee to enter the site was very reasonable; it was only $7.00 per vehicle (which is good for 3 days-Score!) so The Hubs, MIL, FIL and I loaded up in our car and set out to scope this place out.

As we made our way through the crowd of people we entered the lighthouse. I was like a kid in a candy store; there were so many things to see like the architecture or the antiques they had in some of the rooms. I caught a picture of the Oil Room.

Everything was very well maintained and clean. I would assume that the government pays for people to keep this place prestine and tip-top shape but from what I hear, in the mid 1800's there were many laborers painting, polishing, farming and cleaning to fill their days while at the lighthouse. Being a lighthouse keeper seems like a very lonely job but I am thankful there were folks out there willing to perform this work so that I and generations behind me can take in all it's beauty. Anyway back to the lovely pictures...we were finally let loose to walk up the stairs to the top and boy, oh boy was it a trek.

We climbed stair after stair after stair...it went on for what seemed like forever.

But we finally made it to the top! Woohoo! And then once at the top it was crammed with people, it was hot and I was having another moment...an anxiety ridden moment and like the elevator incident, needed to get the heck out of dodge so we made the trek back down the stairs. It was way easier than up!

We headed outside to view the landscape from a deck like platform. We saw a ton of seabirds and more of the coast.

As we were walking to the car, having thought that we had come to see what they offered, we saw others taking in trails. The Hubs and I knew that while it looked like fun, it would probably take quite a bit of time out of our day to walk the trails. Instead we saw a staircase going down to the waters edge and people were down there. We ventured down and took in the views of Cobble Beach. It was appropriately named seeing as the entire beach to the water's edge was rocks, or cobble stones :). It was a little rocky, no pun intended, navigating around the beach and you definitely needed to be cautious. While down here though we saw tons of mussels, driftwood and other sea life.

The Hubs even talked me into touching an anemone. It was super strange as it was slowing closing up around my finger.

It was all so wonderful and I am incredibly grateful that I had the opportunity to not only see a lighthouse up close and personal but to walk inside and check out the surroundings. There is quite a bit to see and it is clear why the $7.00 day pass is good for 3 days; you may need all three days to enjoy the amount of beauty this place has to offer.

Oregon Coast- Part One

2010-08-17T21:12:00.000-07:00

Hey there, the long wait is over...I have the Oregon pics dowloaded and I am going to share a little with you now.

After a rocky start, let's just say that 25mph curves at 60mph does not cooperate with the stomach-blech, we finally reached our destination. I will spare you the horrific details and the hostility that was the car trip down and move right along to happy, sunshine-y details.

We had gorgeous weather the very next day so it made the trip worth it. We made our way into Depoe Bay and did some sight seeing, more like shopping, and then my favorite part of the day was when the FIL wanted to go into an old book store. I was in love! The musty smell, the oodles of old books had me at "hello". I found my way into the very back corner, behind file cabinets and seriously lost myself in the decor books. I saw some inspiration photos that I mentally socked away for another day.

Isn't it absolutely breathtaking; I mean wow! This place, I believe, is called Devils Punch Bowl. And from the picture below I can see why.

It's a huge cavern that is at least 100 feet from the viewing place and the water rushes in and crashes against the rocks in the middle. Stunning but a tiny bit scary at the same time.

The rest of the trip, as you will soon see a bit later, was typical coastal weather; low 60's and foggy/drizzly/wet but it was a refreshing change from the 90 degree weather we had just left.

I am going to give you a cliff's notes version of the next few days and I am going to apologize up front for some of the pictures quality, we didn't have the best lighting and enviornment for film.

We saw the sea lion caves...

Side note to anyone who doesn't do well in small spaces (moi), you may want to forgoe the underground cave where you take an elevator 200+ feet into a cave with 15+ other people on the ride with you. I had a moment, or two, and wanted to claw/bite/scratch my way out of there as fast as I could. The outside area is way more tolerable for you peeps like me.

We went to an oyster farm....

Yes, those are all oyster shells-Shut The Front Door! I even took pictures of the gentlemen schucking the oysters. They were very hard at work but allowed me to enter their domain and snap some shots.

We played in the water, the freezing, felt like something biting you water.....

The Hubs and one of the nieces skipping rocks in the waves

me being a nerd and posing, oh and I am too big of a wimp to play in the water

Well that is all I can possibly cram into this post; it's getting late and I would like to chill out and read a bit before bed. There will be more to come though, I promise! Until then I will leave you with a quote that pretty much summarizes my feelings of this trip, er the ocean in general.

"The sea, once it casts it's spell, holds one in it's net of wonder forever" ~Jacque Cousteau

Shop Update

2010-08-14T19:25:00.000-07:00

I am still downloading all 200+ photos from our Oregon coast vacation so once that is complete then I can actually post about our trip and show you some pretty stuff.

In the meantime, I thought that I would show you an update on The Hub's shop. He has been working incredibly hard; the man never stops working. It's a sickness but god bless him because you know there is no darn way anything would get done around here without him! :) Anyway with the help of his brothers and a friend, and maybe even the dad, the shop has trusses. After that was complete The Hubs has been hard at work getting the perlins on (that may or may not be what they are called); they look like rafters in a ceiling-sort of.

See...those thingy-ma-bobs! Anyway this baby is going to be HUGE!! I can't wait because I believe I have narrowed down the design on my home office/craft room and when this shop is done I can actually move crap out of it and into here.

While The Hubs is hard at work (love ya babe!), I am just fiddling around with a couple simple craft projects that I will show you soon...well if they turn out. :)

Oh and in totally unrelated news...Spokane Valley has finally put in a Hobby Lobby.

My dear friend and I spent an hour and a half in this store; we did 3 rounds around the entire store and I swear I could live here. There is so much to see and ideas coming at you from all sides and the place is massive. I didn't want to leave but sadly the folks at Hobby Lobby weren't fond of the idea of me setting up a cot and moving in. :) I am itching to go back!! Have a great weekend!

Goodbye July

2010-07-30T21:34:00.000-07:00

You came and went without any warning and now I must bid you farewell. It's nuts that July is over, folks. I didn't get much accomplished this month; The Hubs did but me...not so much.

Now that July is coming to a close, The Hubs and I are going on vaca! WOO-FREAKIN-HOO!!! I can't tell you how stinkin excited I am; there aren't enough happy, warm fuzzy words to describe this joy. So I will be gone for a week, starting Monday, but I promise when I come back that I will have plenty of pictures and hopefully a new found passion for all things beautiful.

Where are we going you ask!?!?! To the Oregon Coast, baby! Oh yah! Now it's nothing like the Mexico trip that we took in January; with the warm sun, white sandy beaches and turqouise waters but it will be special and fun and it's still a beach.

~Pics from a previous Oregon coast trip~

Isn't that sunset loverly. Ahhh...I can't wait!

Breaking Ground

2010-07-25T21:40:00.000-07:00

We have started the shop project, which I am so incredibly thrilled about I can't even contain myself. This means so much to my husband but for me...I get my office back and my guest room floor and closet back. WOOHOO!

So far, like most big projects, The Hubs has done the majority of the work (with the help of male friends and family members) but I have helped a little. After The Hubs dad and him dug the holes (I think 4 feet deep by 3 feet wide, or something like that) I helped set a couple poles. Oh my goodness, I was freaked out. Not only are the poles like seriously 500 pounds each but they are 20 feet long and on top of it I was using a really heavy duty piece of machinery (I believe it was a bobcat). So we did 2 poles (level, spaced correctly, secured so they wouldn't fall) and then called it quits for the night.

The Hubs soon realized that while I was valiantly attempting to help it just wasn't going to cut it. I simply do not have the natural construction instinct or the muscle to fake my way through it so he called in the calvary. Then all the poles were set, braced and ready for concrete, which should be coming tomorrow. YAY! We are one step closer to clearing more clutter from our home; I simply cannot wait but I can guarantee that my husband is WAY more excited than I am. It's rough being a very handy man and having your tools in several different places. I do anticipate helping a little over the course of this project and I am looking forward to seeing what I can do and proving my own strength and skill to myself, although it wouldn't hurt to impress The Hubs along the way. :)

Sprinkler System

2010-07-21T20:07:00.000-07:00

Hi there! I know it has been forever but it has been an absolute circus at work. I mean seriously, bring out the big tent, call out the elephants and clowns...c.i.r.c.u.s- CIRCUS!! I really hope you understand.

Anyway I am so excited to share this post with you. The Hubs and I have been dreaming of a sprinkler system for over a year and this year is finally the right time to put one in. We haveclose to an acre of a backyard, for real. It is GINORMOUS and we (okay, I give myself WAY TOO much credit, The Hubs does all of this) are tired of lugging the hose and sprinkler head around the entire area.

We started pricing this project out and I think at one point if we were to contract this out it would cost us between $3k-$5k. Yes, that is thousands of dollars! Eeek! The Hubs has never put a system in but he and I were both confident in his handy abilities that this would be a piece of cake. Mmmm, cake! :)

Typically I don't assist on these large projects but after he put in the valves, crawled into the pit of darkness (aka 'under our house') and hooked up the water line I wanted to contribute; afterall this was my house too and I was definitely benefiting from this upgrade. It was probably only a matter of time before The Hubs was too fed up with dragging the hose around and ~~made me~~ suggested that I do it, and let's be perfectly honest here-that wasn't happening. :)

First we laid out the flags, these will be where the sprinkler heads will go. We picked out 50 foot heads so we measured them 45 feet apart from one another to ensure that there was plenty of water coverage.

Next The Hubs dug the ditches for the pipe to go into. Then we laid out the pipe; this stuff was a tiny bit difficult because of how it was rolled onto itself. I may have cursed and stomped my feet just a few times...maybe.

Once the pipe was laid into the ditches, we hooked it up to the valves. Oh yah, I forgot to mention-The Hubs put in the valves and built a wooden box to go over it.

I had every intention of this project being a dual effort but (head held in shame) I didn't do the rest. The Hubs did of course; I am not positive what I was doing at that time but it clearly wasn't executing the remaining part of the project. Sorry Hon!

The Hubs attached the heads, crimped them off, set the head spray and filled in the ditches. It's ALIVE!!! woohoo!

This time next year our yard should be plush and super green; it will be the envy of the town. Okay, maybe not so much but it will be plush and full and we will definitely utilize this space more for entertaining. What projects have you completed around the house this summer? Have you worked with your spouse before and does he/she always do the work or is it a true dual DIY project?

So HOT it'll melt your popsicle

2010-07-11T17:03:00.000-07:00

The weather around the Pacific Northwest has been absolutely beautiful and I have been soaking up the sunshine!

I was bored and what better way to waste time then to check out the blogs. As I was perusing It's The Little Things I happened upon her genius idea for homemade popsicles here. Now I don't know about you but I always have great intentions of eating right and getting in my dairy. You see, I don't drink milk and I always forget to take my calcium pills so I leave it to chance that I get enough calcium from cheese, yogurt and ice-cream. ;) While I may have the best of intentions I seldom have the will power to see it through. I typically will buy anywhere from 6-8 yogurts and only eat maybe half of them and then I end up throwing the rest out. Well not any more thanks to this genius woman!!

Today I had 4 left over yogurts and I had my fill; the texture and the thought of stuffing one more spoon full of yogurt into my mouth made me wince. So I decided to test out her idea and it totally worked!

This is such a guilt free dessert and if you have kids they don't need to know that it isn't packed with sugar or that it is pretty good for them. I grabbed a pop, headed to the deck and decided to enjoy some more sunshine.

Hope you all had a terrific weekend and found a way to keep cool!!!

In the Gutter

2010-07-01T06:42:00.000-07:00

Our house never came with gutters, I know it's crazy, and every time it rained (which up until recently felt like for eternity), the water would rush down the front windows and the back patio door. It felt like we were, at times, under water.

I talked to The Hubs about getting gutters and we determined that it wouldn't be too expensive if we did it ourselves, and by ourselves I really mean him. :) The next day he brought home all the materials. Awww, I love him....he just gets me and my ~~pushy~~ persuasive manner and hardly ever questions it or puts up a fight.

Look at that gloomy sky! Blech! Anyway The Hubs did all the work on this project; god love him. I am not sure if I have told you all before but I'm quite lazy in comparison to others, like my husband, and besides this job required getting on a ladder. Ummm, nothankyou; I prefer to keep my feet on the ground. So first he grabbed the ladder and the drill and every two feet started screwing in the supports for the gutters.

Once he had the supports layed out (see above pic) he then grabbed the gutters and attached them to the supports. That was it...well almost. There is still the matter of the down spouts but right now the ends over hang until we get them. This is (so far) preventing the water from gathering near our foundation. WOOHOO!!! Success-you rock babe!

It's a beautiful thing and such a simple amenity that some might take for granted. If you, like me, don't have gutters and you live in rainy and unpredictable weather conditions (like the Pacific Northwest) then I recommend ~~pushing~~ persuading your spouse, significant other, brother, uncle or father into putting them up for you. Oh heck, do it yourself (if you aren't a scaredy cat like me). :)

Before (~~pitiful~~ ok, ok-mildly sad):

After (wonderful):

It's like they were always there. Oh and see how green the grass is?!?! Oh yah, there is a reason and another DIY project to show you. This one I even helped with...a little. :)

DIY Topiaries

2010-06-28T07:59:00.000-07:00

I bought some containers FOREVER ago at Michael's in their clearance section. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with them at the time but something inside me screamed "grab them...grab them now, you fool!", so I did. I find more often then not that I am a total impulse buyer and then once I have the "subject" at home I determine what it's fate will be.

Sorry about the poor picture, I completely forgot to take a "before" picture of the containers until I was 98% done putting my first coat of spray paint on.

I put two coats of black spray paint on the containers and then let them completely dry for 24 hours.

While they were drying I started making my topiaries. First I had two stems of flowers from last summer. I had a great plan to make my own hair piece/jewelry for the wedding.

The first flower was too cream colored and would look awful against my white dress.

The second flower I thought would be perfect until I got it home as well and realized that it was too yellow looking in the middle and it just wouldn't do. So needless to say, I have had these flowers in my craft box for almost a year and wasn't sure if I would ever use them. I'm glad I found a use though because I was tired of going into that room and seeing them in the corner, staring at me and making me feel bad that I had wasted time, effort and money on that project.

Anyway, I cut the stems to the desired height I wanted and removed the floral heads and the leaves on the stems. The stems, themselves, are not identical but I doubt anyone would notice. I then stuffed a styrofoam ball onto each stem and then hot glued it, for extra stability.

Then I proceeded to cut off the ivy leaves from the sprigs that I purchased (also at Michaels).

Then I turned the stem upside down, so that the ball was on the bottom and started at the part where the stem was hot glued into the ball and just hot glued the ivy leaves around. I followed a circular motion and used the larger leaves first and then filled in the gaps with the smaller leaves.

I then took some styrofoam that I have in the shape of blocks and cut one in half. Then stuffed each piece into the bottom of the, now completely dry since it's been a whole 24 hrs, tins.

Then I pushed the stemmed topiaries into the foam in the tins and it was still missing something. Hmmm, what could jazz this up some?!?!

Excelsior, baby!! Heck ya! Not only will it cover the funky foam in the tin (very functional) but it will also spruce it up and take these beauties to a whole other level.

I love it!!! And since I was not blessed with a green thumb, I can still have my "green plants" year around and not have to lift a finger. These lovelies are going to work with me and will reside in my office.

Fun at LL's Farmers Market

2010-06-27T12:14:00.000-07:00

Two posts in one day; who is this nutty woman!!! I went to the Liberty Lake's Farmers Market again yesterday with two very good friends of mine. We met at their house and walked over the bike trail that goes over the freeway into the heart of Liberty Lake.

I had one thing on my mind this time...the crepe lady! I am telling you she makes the most light, airy, delicate little crepes ever. Their booth is hoppin all day long and with over 9 different types to choose from it is sure to keep the masses coming back for more.

That is her booth, the first on the right with the green top. It's right next to the wonderful herb/plant section from Kettle Falls. Anyway back to the star of the market...the crepe. My friend chose Red and Black berry crepe which looked amazing but I wanted something more rich and decadent. I chose the Dark Chocolate and Bavarian creme crepe.

OMG!!! I have literally died and gone to heaven. The bavarian goodness is inside and as you can see the crepe is swimming in the dark chocolate. Mmmmmm! Just looking at the picture is making my tastebuds stand up and my mouth salivate.

There is so many wonderful booths at the Farmers Market and the live music yesterday was phenomenal. Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure. I was enamored with the florals this trip, as you will see by the pictures below.

See that hanging basket-$25.00!! I know, crazy cheap!!!

Stargazer lillies-$7.00 per bucket! Insane!!

Summer is here and attending the Farmers Market on a Saturday morning sure kicks starts the weekend and puts me in a fantastic mood. I highly recommend stopping into our neck of the woods for a good ol' fashioned farmers market. You will not leave disappointed; I can guarantee that.

Cherry Cheesecake Trifle

2010-06-27T10:06:00.000-07:00

Oh I am in creamy, dreamy heaven! This recipe is rockstar!! On Memorial Day, The Hubs and I went to a friends house and the hostess (Katie West @ Pampered Chef) made this delish treat. You can find put about all of the products and tips right here. This dessert was so incredibly good that I went back for seconds...shhh! Okay, who am I kidding; I would go back for seconds on a ton of desserts. I am a crazy, sugar fanatic that would probably hook up an IV of sugar straight to her veins if she could. Can they do that?!?! :)

Anyway we had a BBQ at work Firday, which means potluck! Woohoo! I knew what I wanted to make! Below is the original recipe but I will show you what Katie did, which is also how I made it.

Strawberry Cream Trifle-----------------------
Ingredients:1/2 cup sliced almonds, toasted
1 pkg (10.75 oz) frozen pound cake, thawed
1 qt. fresh strawberries
1 container (16 oz) frozen sliced strawberries in syrup, thawed
1 lemon
3 containers (8 oz each) blended strawberry yogurt
1 pkg (3.4 oz) cheesecake instant pudding and pie filling
1 container (8 oz) frozen whipped topping, thawed, divided
Powdered sugar

Directions:1. Coarsely chop almonds using Food Chopper. Cut pound cake into 1-in. cubes using Color Coated Bread Knife; set aside. Set aside one strawberry for garnish. Hull remaining strawberries and cut into quarters. In Classic Batter Bowl, combine fresh and frozen strawberries; mix well.

2. Juice lemon using Juicer to measure 2 tbsp juice. In Stainless (4-qt.) Mixing Bowl, whisk lemon juice, yogurt and pudding mix until smooth using Stainless Whisk; immediately fold in 1 cup of the whipped topping.

3. To assemble trifle, place one-third of the pound cake cubes into bottom of Trifle Bowl. Top pound cake with one-third of the strawberry mixture. Top with half of the yogurt mixture, spreading evenly. Sprinkle with one-third of the almonds. Repeat layers one time. Top with remaining pound cake cubes and remaining strawberry mixture.

4. To garnish, spread remaining whipped topping over top of trifle, forming a flat surface using Small Spreader. Sprinkle remaining almonds over whipped topping. Sprinkle with powdered sugar using Flour/Sugar Shaker. Create strawberry fan with reserved strawberry; place into center of trifle.

Yield: 12 servings Nutrients per serving: Calories 290, Total Fat 10 g, Saturated Fat 6 g, Cholesterol 40 mg, Carbohydrate 44 g, Protein 5 g, Sodium 240 mg, Fiber 2 g
Cook's Tip: To toast almonds, place almonds into Small Micro-Cooker(R); microwave on HIGH 1-2 minutes or until golden brown, stirring after each 30-second interval. Cool completely.

Katies's version (if you ask me is WAY easier):
1 package of angel food cake (or you can make your own from a box/scratch)
1 container of Cool Whip
1 package of cheesecake pudding & pie filling
1 can of cherry pie filling

You will mix the cool whip with the cheesecake pudding before making your layers.

Angel food cake, cut into bite size pieces

A layer of cake, pudding and pie filling! YUM!

It's super easy; you just do one layer of angel food cake, then pudding on top and then cherry pie filling on top of that. Then you repeat until all ingredients are gone or until the trifle bowl is filled. I promise you this, if you make this for the next family gathering or company picnic you will be a Domestic Diva! Okay, maybe no one will give you that 'official' title but with all the accolades you will recieve you will know that you are. Enjoy!

A fabulous giveaway at TDC!!!

2010-06-24T13:50:00.000-07:00

Okay folks, Sarah at Thrifty Decor Chick is having another FAB giveaway. You don't want to miss this one, I can promise you that so hurry on over to her site (here) and check it out!!! There is a total of 5 ways to be entered to win this amazing prize.

While you are there at her site, stay awhile and snoop. She is absolutely amazing and has tremendous amounts of tips and tools for every project, while keeping the pocketbook in check (hence her name). She was the reason I got into blogging; she is creative, witty, has her own fun lingo (luuurve!) and is super duper nice.

On another note, I hope to be back later tonight with a tutorial on how I am making my own topiaries. We have softball tonight so I can't make any promises that I will actually post it tonight for your viewing pleasure but I will try my darnest. And tomorrow is a potluck at work; wait till you see this easy peasy recipe I have planned.

Father's Day

2010-06-20T11:04:00.000-07:00

Good Sunday Morning to ya'll and Happy Father's Day to every man who is a father or going to be a father. It is important to celebrate your dads; they had a tremendous part in raising us, they were always the strong ones (who looked for boogey mans under the bed, killed those spiders or helped move all of your belongings into your own place) and they have an incredible amount of wisdom just waiting for the day their kids asked them a question. Hats off to you guys; the strong, the brave and the ever loving men in our lives.

This morning I decided to celebrate Father's Day with my husband. He isn't a father to any children yet (he will be amazing!) but he is a father figure in the lives of our animals so he too needs to be celebrated. I made a PG&B Frittata (Potatoe, Green Pepper and Bacon Frittata). This recipe can easily be adapted to any one's preference. There are so many options with substitutions so try it out and see what works best for your family.

Ingredients:
1 tbsp of olive oil
1 C frozen hash browns
1 C chopped green pepper (about 1 small pepper)
1/2 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp of salt
1/4 tsp of black pepper
3 large eggs
4 large egg whites
3-4 slices of bacon, chopped
1/4 C cheddar cheese

Directions:
Heat the oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Add hash browns, green pepper, oregano, salt and black pepper. Cook, while stirring occasionally, until the veggies are softened; or about 5-6 minutes.

While those are cooking, place bacon on another skillet or griddle and cook until crispy. Then lightly beat the eggs and egg whites in a medium bowl. Reduce the heat on the hash brown mix to medium and add the bacon. Then pour the egg mix over the entire hashbrown/bacon mix evenly and let cook for about 3 minutes. Lift the frittata up every now and then to make sure all the egg mix seeps down to the bottom and cooks.

Sprinkle the cheddar cheese evenly over the frittata. Reduce to low and cook until the cheese is melted. Cut the frittata and enjoy your breakfast.

Fire it up!

2010-06-19T13:52:00.000-07:00

I found a project on Better Homes and Gardens about building your own tabletop fire pit. You won't believe the amount of time I have spent scouring Spokane for the 13-ounce cans of clean-burning gel-alcohol fuel. Home Depot-nope, Lowes-nope; General Store, Big R and Cabela's I also struck out with. I then called Ace Hardware and I thought that I had found my match but when I got there they only had 7 oz cans and I needed 13 oz; this was proving to be a lot harder than I had anticipated. You can easily order this stuff, in the correct size, online at like Amazon but I certainly do not need to buy in bulk and besides I like instant gratification. You know, the kind you get from actually going to the store, seeing the product live and touching it while debating if it will actually work.

What you will need for this project:

a 10 inch pot; you can go as simple or extravagant as you want

ha ha, my little helper, Maude, is close by in case something goes tiddlywinks. I see you Maude, well your foot anyway!

a can of gel fuel

Rock, although I am sure you can use sea glass (that would be gorg!) or sand

First I emptied 2 of the 6 bags of Dollar Store rock into the pot. Then I placed the can of gel fuel on top. I was hoping this was going to work and the can would be stable enough in the pot. This stuff, the gel fuel, is highly flammable and stuff you just don't want to fuss with a whole lot. Once I thought the can was "centered" in the pot, I held it in place and started grabbing handfuls of rock and placed them around the can until it reached the rim. I actually only used 4 1/2 bags of my rock, leaving me rock for something else; maybe an accessory inside a bowl or a glass hurricane vase.

I lit the fuel and it worked but because it was so incredibly sunshine-y and beautiful outside (praise the lord-we need a little happy) you can't really see the flame. The Hubs and I are going to test it again later tonight; maybe a romantic dinner for 3 (yes 3-Maude, our Saint Bernard, will be included) on the deck.

This project was super-duper easy (aside from finding gel fuel) and it only took about 10 minutes to assemble and about $28.00 put of pocket. I'm looking forward to many dinners on the deck with our new "fire pit".

Added Note: I knew that ya'll would want to see this lit so I took a couple pic's last night to show you. It's pretty cool. The Hubs and I sat on our deck, with this lit, and watched the lightening storm. It was a great ending to a great day! *sorry the pics are so dark; it was difficult at best trying to shoot this at 10:30pm with no light.

Phase One-Deck: Flowers

2010-06-13T09:17:00.000-07:00

Hi there! My project this weekend was to get flowers into the planter boxes that The Hubs built for our back deck.

For this project I enlisted the help of my mom. I don't know anything about plants except for the ones that I like and think are pretty. The Hubs and I received a gift card for a nursery for the wedding last year from his aunts (THANK YOU!) and he insisted that I go and look for plants. My mom and I probably spent a good hour or so at the nursery looking at every plant and smelling all the herbs. Of course most of the flowers I liked were annuals (very discouraging); The Hubs and I don't want to have to plant these boxes every year so we knew we needed perennials. I picked up a few flowers and then my mom said she had some seed and some flowers at her house that she would give me. Score!

Here are a few flowers/plants I got at the nursery:

snap dragons
dianthus
sweet basil ( I know basil isn't a perrenial but I wanted some herbs this summer)

First we filled the boxes with dirt that we dug up for the sprinkler system (this will be on another post soon, I hope). Then we began thinking of placement. We did the same "design" for each of the (4) boxes by the stairs and the box opposite of the staircase on the west side of the deck. Then we mirrored the same "design" for the boxes on the two corners. There are still two boxes (closest to the house) that are empty but we plan to do something totally different with those.

Also there are some more plants coming from my mom. I believe some creeping Jenny for the corner boxes. I am not sure what else she will be giving me but she is the expert in this scenario. I don't know a thing about planting and it was evident yesterday working beside her. I think my worst enemy is watering; I drowned the plants yesterday-ooops. They looked so sickly from being in the sun and transplanting and I didn't know any better. Good thing is Mom said I didn't kill them and then showed me the proper way to water.

Phase one is almost complete, just need a few more plants/flowers to fill in a couple gaps. Phase two is building benches between the planter boxes for additional seating. Summer is almost here and we are incredibly excited to use our deck more frequently!

Farm Chicks Show plus Farm Chicks Recipe

2010-06-05T19:52:00.000-07:00

Holy cow!!! The Farm Chicks Show did not disappoint, folks! We arrived at about 10:30AM and the line was from the front gates, through the parking lot and a quarter of the way down Havana St.

When we finally got in I was on sensory overload; it was like my wires cross-connected, shorted and fried my brain. There was so much to see, almost too much to see, and the booths were decorated fabulously. These vendors pulled out all the stops. I know I promised pictures but there was just too much stuff to see, too many people to manuever around and to be totally honest I forgot about pictures until we were almost finished.

I did take one...I was trying to wrap my head around the GIGANTIC letters and thinking of a way to take one home without The Hubs noticing. Sadly, I left without because I knew that I would catch H-E (double hockey stick) for making that purchase.

The Farm Chicks Show is still open tomorrow as well; I highly recommend taking in all the sights. I'm not sure if these folks will be there tomorrow but Country Living Magazine (squeal!!!) was handing out their June issue AND they were giving autographs!

Our copies were signed by the Assistant Editor, Jourdan Crouch. There wasn't much time for chit chat seeing as there were so many wonderful women waiting for their copy as well but we did learn that she hails from Kentucky but is currently residing in New York. Oh what a dream!

Like last weekend, this morning I hit up the Liberty Lake Farmers Market and purchased some wonderful foccacia bread ($4.75) and a bundle of rhubarb ($2.00). I have been craving Strawberry Rhubarb Pie for what seems like ever and today was the day to feed that craving, literally.

As I prepared to make the pie I remembered that The Farm Chicks have a wonderful Rhubarb Crunch recipe here and what better way to honor their show this weekend then make one of their recipes. However, instead of 4 cups of rhubarb I put in 2 cups of rhubarb and also 2 cups of strawberries.

Our house smells so incredibly delicious right now. I love the smell of baked goods; I wish our home could smell like this 24/7! I will have a small, okay maybe a ~~medium~~ large size, helping tonight but the remainder will be sent to the in-laws. I'm sure they will love it, at least I hope so! Okay, maybe not so much that it's probably an incredible amount of calories or that it's possible the FIL will go into a sugar coma (not really, just kidding) but they won't be able to argue the heavenly taste.

I hope everyone has a scrumdiddlyumptious weekend!!!

Be there or be....missed

2010-06-04T17:33:00.000-07:00

There is a special event in town and it is THIS WEEKEND! It's the Farm Chicks show. Oh my, oh my I have been counting the days until I could attend this fabulous event.

I've been following Serena's blog and she has been introducing some of the vendors that will be there this year. It may be the event of the year so be sure to stop by at some point this weekend and take a gander; you won't be sorry.

I've joked to friends that I will be the crazy one set up with a cot, hanging out ALL weekend and I truly wish I could pull that off. I don't want to miss a minute or a booth or an item at this show. I plan to take pictures, if they will let me, and post about it later. The tentative plan is to head down around 9:45am so if you are in the area or don't have any plans (even if you do-cancel them! HA!!) come and meet me. It's at the Spokane Fairgrounds this year and there is tons of parking.

Sourdough Pancakes

2010-06-01T20:11:00.000-07:00

The Hubs and I love the Oregon coast and we preparing to go on a family camping trip this year to this beautiful place. Two years ago, while on another family camping trip (also our engagement!), we drove into Seaside to do a little 'crabbin' off a bridge. While waiting for the pots to soak we hit the local 'Pig n Pancake'. It was so quaint and everything you would imagine with a name like that. Anyway their Sourdough Pancakes are bomb-diggity (a.k.a. out of this world) and The Hubs has been dropping hints since then that it would be wonderful to make these at home.

Maybe it was in anticipation of this upcoming trip and it was fresh on the mind or maybe it was the drizzly weather all weekend that caused us to have a hankering for pancakes but I found a recipe here and my mind was set. It's a bit of a process to make but they are so worth it!

The minute I cut up my side of strawberries I had realized that I should have made my own fruit syrup or incorporated it into my pancakes more. Well there is always next time!

Happiness is a bowl of cherries

2010-05-30T12:28:00.000-07:00

I ventured into Liberty Lake yesterday to hit up the local Farmer's Market. There is something so beautiful about racks of fresh produce. Liberty Lake's Farmer's Market isn't huge by any means but they definitely hold their own. Their hours of operation are on Saturday's between 9am and 1pm (May-October); they are located at 1421 North Meadowwood Lane, Liberty Square Building. This is behind the Starbucks about a block and a half.

They have booth after booth of fresh produce, whatever is in season at that time. Every booth owner is very knowledgeable on their produce and products. They are more than generous to share their tips for using the produce.

This market not only carries produce but they have booths of herbs, garden variety plants, flowers and much more. There are booths of pastries, artisan breads, salmon (yes fish!), homemade gifts like soap and lotions and honey. Yesterday there were people making pizza, the crepe booth (phenomenal) and live music. I even saw a booth selling dog bones; there truly is something for everyone.

As I strolled through the booths and took in the sights and smells I saw a booth that two young guys were running and they had a beautiful bin of cherries. So I bought a pound and continued my way through the booths. I believe this will be a Saturday morning ritual for me.

Thinking inside the box

2010-05-29T13:59:00.000-07:00

It's almost summer! I know, technically, summer doesn't officially kick off until June 21st but the weekend of Memorial Day is the known starting point of summer for most. As the weather gets warmer we tend to spend more time outdoors but who doesn't. We also enjoy having company over and preparing a meal for someone else is my idea of fun. However, when we entertain outside it seems like it's much more work to carry the plates, utensils etc to the deck and back in. Well not any more; I converted this fruit box (I first told you about it here) into a storage container to hold all of our outdoor entertaining items.

First I gave the entire box a little sanding by hand. I still want this to look "vintage" so I didn't spend too much time sanding. It may be the fact that I am lazy or my hand cramps (maybe) but I am sticking to my vintage story as my reason.

Next I grabbed my Rustoleum 'Heirloom White' spray paint. These pictures are not of the highest quality. The lighting in the barn (see the hay in the background) is absolutely terrible. I attempted to add light to the pictures with Picasa. It did a wonderful job considering the original product it had to work with.

I gave the box one coat of paint; I believe it will require at least two for me to be satisfied.

And since I am the pillar of patience-NOT, please don't do what I do and try to hurry up the process of spray paint. It will never work, you will always lose and you will be very disappointed. I attempted again because lets face it I'm not good at taking directions, even if they are my own.

See it will pool up or drip and that isn't pretty. Luckily though, in my case, this mess up is on the bottom. No one will ever know...except for ya'll. With spray painting you must have a steady hand and even coating.

After the second coat of spray paint I drilled two holes on each end of the box (4 total) so that I could attach handles to make this easier to carry.

I love how this box still has some of the character showing through, like the scratch marks and the knots. Once I was done attaching the handles I decided to line the inside with come country looking fabric I found at Joanne's. It was only $2.79 a yard and I only purchased 1 yard. Woohoo! I made sure that the fabric overlapped the top just a bit. Then I added brown ribbon that I purchased forever ago. It was intended for another project but I just never got around to it. At the time it was only .92 cents a yard so I picked up 3 yards.

To adhere the fabric and the ribbon to the box I just grabbed my trusty hot glue gun and went to work.

I love it; it is super cute, crazy handy for our family and entertaining needs and it's totally country chic. What a great addition; I couldn't be more happy.

I grabbed some of our outdoor entertaining items and added them to the box. Like our fiesta ware that my MIL bought us. The Hubs loves these plates and glasses. He has wanted them for such a long time. And isn't the matching pitcher super adorable!

Simple bathroom update

2010-05-24T20:29:00.000-07:00

You know what I find absolutely absurd...not having towel racks or rings in the bathrooms of a brand new house. I know, crazy right!?! Well in all honesty we had one; it was above the toilet (EWWW) in the master and it was that funky junky, painted silver plastic but made to look like metal bar. Who in their right mind would put a hand towel above the toilet to dry their hands off. I mean SERIOSULY folks; this doesn't work for three reasons.
1.) The way my bathroom is set up; with two sinks and a half wall where the shower is sort of hiding the toilet from the sink closest to the door.
2.) The toilet and the floor leading up to it would be wet. There is nothing worse then stepping or touching something wet, especially if it's not expected
3.) IT'S ABOVE THE TOILET!!! DOUBLE EWWW!

I was going to make my own towel rack and holder but the idea I had wasn't going to work with the overall aesthetic of the bathroom or house for that matter. My idea was more country chic/cottage style and our house is more traditional. So what is a girl to do; I went to TJ Maxx. Oh heck ya! They have some really amazing items for really cheap.

Towel rings were only $7.99 and the towel bar (24inch) was only $9.99. Score!

All you do is put the drywall screws into the wall; I pounded them in with a rubber hammer (you can see one end of the hammer in the picture above-Ha as well as some toes. Too funny).

It's a good thing this kit came with these because where I wanted them to go there wasn't a stud. Then I screwed them all the way in, flush with the wall, with the cordless drill. As you can see from the above picture I had already traced out the circle so I could eyeball the rest and it would be close to center as possible. Then you put the metal bracket on there (it also has directions that say which way is up-idiot proof which is great sometimes when I'm doing a project). Then you mount your fixture on the metal bracket and there is a tiny screw (see below pic) that you tighten to make sure it stays.

I am sure you have all done this and I am just now joining civilization but I was pretty happy that I made my world (or bathrooms that is) a little bit brighter. Now I don't have to put some random hand towel on the counter when guests come over; how ghetto is that. HA!

I have one towel bar and two hand towel rings (one for each sink) in the master bath. *We/I want to paint the master bedroom and bathroom again. It needs to be lighter and brighter but that is another project for another day.

And then one towel ring in the guest bath. There isn't a ton of space, this bathroom is itsy-bitsy so just enough room for a ring. Total cost of the project was around $37.00.