Polish The Stars

Getting Settled In

2013-06-14T15:22:00.001-05:00

As promised, I am back with pics of our new place! I actually had everything unpacked two days after moving in but we have spent the last week completing the usual moving errands: new bank account, new driver's license, new library cards, getting internet hooked up, etc. We have also been spending a lot of time just relaxing and hanging out with family and friends.

We LOVE it here and I can't even think of a time that I have been this relaxed. I always wanted to live in the country but hated the idea of living in a small town. After all of our experiences in the city though, this was a welcome change of pace. Since I have been here to visit Shelby's family a bunch of times over the last 8.5 years, this place had already started to feel like home so luckily there hasn't been too much of a culture shock.

It is kind of funny going from the ghetto to small town America though. At night we hear crickets instead of police sirens and the neighbors fighting. That skunk smell? It isn't coming from the neighbors smoking pot all day, every day. Nope. That smell is my husband and father-in-law who uncovered a skunk's nest while they were working out in the barn. Lol! When you hear shots fired around here it is from a farmer taking out some wild animal that is threatening his livestock instead of drug dealers fighting over territory. Speaking of shots being fired, the weekend after we moved, our last city had five shootings over three days. Further confirmation that it was time to get out of there.

Not only that but the day after we moved in Shelby was offered the job that he was hoping for! There are a bunch of technicalities and hoops that they have to jump through before they can give him an official start date though. In the meantime, we have been enjoying some much-needed family time before he heads back to work. The only downside is that it is impossible to keep the house clean with both of my guys home 24/7. I took all of these photos right after I had cleaned and while Shelby and Jer were still out working in the garden.

Front exterior of our cute little house and the attached garage.

Large, left side yard and the detached garage (the landlords use that one).

Large, right side yard. I actually took the exterior shots before we moved in. A few days ago my father-in-law brought over his tractor and tilled up a decent chunk of yard so that I could plant a vegetable garden. I will take pictures of that in a few weeks though because right now it is just a big patch of dirt which isn't very exciting.

The backyard. Not pictured are our grill and patio chairs that have since been moved in. Check out all of the trees we have! I'm sure they will drive us crazy in the fall when we have a ton of raking to do but right now we are loving the shade that they provide. It has been between 80 and 90 degrees this last week and we have only had to run the air conditioner for a few hours.

Our private driveway. This leads from the street to the detached garage. Jer has been having a blast out here riding his scooter and playing with sidewalk chalk.

Now for the interior starting with the living room.

We sold the Nintendo Controller Coffee Table before we moved because junk was always piling up there. I thought about building some storage ottomans that could hold blankets and serve as a footrest. Although after living without anything for awhile I kind of like how open it is and the amount of floor space that it frees up.

This corner probably looks pretty familiar since it is setup exactly like the last house. The owners said that we could paint if we want to so I will probably go with the tiffany-blue that we had in our last living room as well. I am waiting until we have more savings in the bank before I start spending on unnecessary things like that though.

To the right of the couches is the front door that hardly ever gets used. Eventually I would like to get a large rug that gives people enough room to get in the door as well as a spot to set their shoes but for now we just have one of those cheap woven rugs that I think everyone's grandma has had at some point. It seemed fitting with this being a mid-century home in a small town.

Just inside the front door is our library and board game storage. During the big purge we got rid of a bunch of books (which was NOT easy for these bookworms) so there was enough room for Jer's books too. We started up our own little summer reading program and he has already been reading like crazy.

Continuing to the right is our entertainment center. Eventually the plan is to build a custom tv stand that is long enough to hold the record player and a few inches shorter in height so that the tv comes just below the built-in wall divider thingamajig.

I'm still not exactly sure what to call the wall divider shelf thing but I love it! When our landlords first started thinking about renting or selling the place, their friends told them they should rip that part out and replace it with something more modern but we requested that they at least leave it in while we are here. It fits our style and that of this era of home perfectly! Right now it is holding random pieces of decor that don't have a place yet but eventually I will probably decide upon some kind of theme for it.

It is also currently the home of our beta, Tony, in his gin bottle fish tank. Shelby picked this gin bottle because he thought it would make a cool fish tank and he ended up pouring out a large amount of the gin because we don't really drink it anymore. It was a great idea until it came time to move and I had to hold it for the entire 2 1/2 hour drive.

On the other side of our wall divider is our awesome 50's kitchen!

When you turn to the left there is our old diner table. Behind it you can see where there are hookups for a stackable washer and dryer (we chose to use the hookups in the basement instead). Eventually plan to build a box that will cover that and maybe extend all the way to the doorway and have a little shelf.

Across from the table is the sink area with a window above that looks out to the backyard. (I just noticed that in the bottom right corner of the left window you can catch a glimpse of my little red head running around outside. Gotta love an accidental photo bomb.) It is so much nicer washing the dishes when there is a window to look out instead of just staring at the wall. I also love the little built in cabinet details like the wooden valance above the window and the shelves that gave me a perfect place to display my tiki mugs from Psycho Suzi's. Mmmm...now I'm hungry for their beer battered cheese curds...I really need to figure out their recipe.

There is also a little shelf above the stove for my spices! I know that your spices don't stay as fresh when stored right next to the heat but it is convenient and I like the way it looks so whatever. This also gave me a good spot to display my Grandma's strawberry salt and pepper shaker set that Shelby refuses to actually use because he is afraid he will break them. I would put them in the wall divider but he already broke my Galileo Thermometer that was sitting there so that probably isn't a good idea either.

Look at all of the counter space we have now! I don't think I ever shared pictures of the kitchen at the last house but the counter space was a joke. I had to put a buffet in there (actually it was a dresser but it worked) so that there was somewhere to put the microwave and coffee pot. Then I still had to use the dining table when I was cooking because the counter was too small. I have a few pics of the old place from right before we moved out that I will have to share some time as a wrap up.

As you may remember, the themes for some of Jer's previous rooms have included Star Wars, Superheroes, and Outer Space. Lately he has been wanting to hang up all of the art projects that he makes at home and at school though. So as much fun as I had creating his old bedrooms (which were pretty darn awesome if I do say so myself lol) I decided to decorate this room with his creations.

Over the play area we cut cork tiles in half to make a bulletin border so we can switch out his artwork when he makes something new. The only problem is that the humidity or something is making the cork bow and fall off of the little sticky tabs. To keep them up we would probably have to nail each one in place which would create a bunch of holes and kind of defeat the purpose of using a bulletin board instead of just hanging up the artwork in the first place. It also isn't as thick as the push pins so you can't push them in all they way (um...that's what she said?). I am still trying to decide what to do here.

Turning to the right is his bed and the stuffed animal zoo that he sleeps with. I might add some colorful curtains at some point.

Continuing to the right is the dry erase board from my old craft room, the dog's bed because both she and the boy have gotten too big to share a bed now, and Jer's bookcases which hold his toys.

A few months ago we came across a piece of artwork with Batman bringing a little boy into a room full of superheroes. The title of the work is "You'll Be Safe Here". We thought that it would be perfect for Jer's new room since the big reason for moving was to live somewhere safer. A decent sized print was pretty expensive though so we were going to have to wait. Then we came across this poster at Walmart which has all of the Marvel characters and was only about $5. It doesn't have the little boy in the picture but it still kind of has the same idea behind it.

Our bedroom is a hodge podge mix right now. We don't even have matching bedside lamps because Jer knocked one over a few weeks ago when I was painting at the old house and had everything pulled away from the walls. Not that it really looked that much better before that because the lamps didn't have lamp shades. Oh well. I know that a lot of decorators say that you should start with your bedroom because you want it to be a retreat from the rest of the world or some crap along those lines. Seriously though, most of our time in here is spent sleeping so as long as the bed is comfy why does it matter what it looks like? One of these days I should probably get it somewhat presentable though since Shelby likes to bring people in because of this area:

It has been a few years but once again our bedroom is shared with Shelby's music gear. He talked about cramming his amp behind the couch and just bringing it out whenever he wanted to play but I thought it would work better for him if we put it all in the bedroom.

Since the big purge his music gear collection is significantly smaller so it fits well in here.

The bathroom is another small one but the layout is better. I also really like all of the retro fixtures. The medicine cabinet is nice and large with an overhead light. The downside is that it is so big that it cuts into the shower and the bathroom door won't open all of the way. Weird. You can see our old towel rack in the mirror's reflection. It is a great space saver for a small bathroom and it goes really well with all of the chrome accents in there.

My crafting space is once again in a closet. An even smaller closet than before. I purged all of the supplies that I wasn't going to use in the foreseeable future and everything ended up fitting pretty well. The dining table is now my workspace and I have plans to make a foldable photo backdrop that can slide under the bed. We will see how everything works out when I get back to crafting.

That's our new place! It is a cute little house and it is just under 700 sq ft (so not much larger than the house that we want to build). It also has a full basement but all we have down there is the washer and dryer, deep freezer and a few storage tubs. Anyway, the house is still a little blah since we don't have any artwork to add color to the walls but we are super happy here and I will get around to decorating as time and money allows. :)

Slow-Cooker General Tso's Chicken

2013-06-11T09:27:00.000-05:00

I'm baaaaaack! Things have been pretty quiet around here while I was busy preparing for the big move but we are all settled in now and I am ready to get back to blogging. :) Not that I really had much of a choice. Several friends and family members ordered me to start posting again so they could keep up with us after the move. Later this week I will have some pics of our new digs but I was eager to get a post up so today I am sharing a quick recipe.

I love using my slow-cooker in the summer and I'm sure many of you do too. You don't have to heat up your kitchen and you can toss everything together in the morning and then go out and enjoy the beautiful weather. This recipe is particularly great because it has the awesome General Tso's flavor but is way healthier since it isn't breaded and deep-fried.

Also included are directions for cooking basic white rice. This is going to sound crazy but up until a couple of months ago, I had never cooked rice on the stove top! I had a rice cooker that I had always used but during our simplification purge I decided to get rid of any small kitchen appliances that had limited uses which included the rice cooker. Turns out the stove top version is just as fluffy and easy to make.

Slow-Cooker General Tso's Chicken

Ingredients:

4 Garlic Cloves, minced

3 Tablespoons Brown Sugar

1 teaspoon Ground Ginger

2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce

1/2 teaspoon Crushed Red Pepper Flakes

1 lb. Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breast, cut into 1-inch chunks

In a large bowl, combine garlic, brown sugar, ginger, soy sauce, and red pepper flakes. Stir until smooth. Add chicken and toss to coat. Dump everything into your slow-cooker and cook on low for 6 hours. Serve with white rice and steamed broccoli.

Basic White Rice

Ingredients:

4 cups Water

2 cups Uncooked White Rice

In a medium saucepan, bring water to a boil. Stir in rice so that it is all covered with water. Cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 20 minutes or until water has all been absorbed and rice is cooked through. Fluff with a fork.

You can usually find me linking up at:

Monday: C.R.A.F.T. * Keeping It Simple * Jam Hands * Tuesday: Not Just A Housewife * Today's Creative Blog * Chef In Training * Sugar Bee Crafts * Homework * Wednesday: Someday Crafts * Lil Luna * Ginger Snap Crafts * White Lights on Wednesday * Thursday: Somewhat Simple * House of Hepworths * Tidy Mom * What's Cooking, Love? * Friday: Tatertots and Jello * Simply Designing * The 36th Avenue * Saturday: I Heart Naptime * Six Sister's Stuff * Sunday: Flamingo Toes * Nifty Thrifty Things

PBR Man Burgers

2013-04-24T08:25:00.003-05:00

My husband came up with this awesome recipe (with just a couple of tweaks by me) so he got the naming rights. Well, actually he named them "Shelby's PBR Man Burgers" but that seemed a bit narcissistic (and confusing since he has a girl's name but calls them "man" burgers) so I shortened it. ;) These are seriously the best burgers I have ever had! We have made them two weeks in a row and just thinking about them makes me hungry again.

They are pretty versatile too. You can make them exactly like the recipe below (which is amazing) or you can switch it up by topping them with some bbq sauce or using pepper jack cheese instead of muenster So you don't have to worry about getting bored with them.

PBR Man Burgers

by Shelby Jones Online a.k.a. Mr. Polish The Stars

8 Bacon Slices

1 cup White Bread cut into 1/2" pieces, crusts removed (1-2 slices)

1/4 cup Milk

1 pound Lean Ground Beef

1/2 pound Mild Italian Sausage

1 teaspoon Salt

1/2 teaspoon Pepper

Small Red Onion, thinly sliced

1 can PBR Beer

6 slices Muenster Cheese

6 White Burger Buns

Butter

Spray Vegetable Oil

Fry bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until crisp. Transfer bacon to a plate lined with paper towels to drain. Spoon 2 Tablespoons of bacon grease into heatproof bowl and place in refrigerator while preparing other ingredients. Keep 1/2 - 1 Tablespoon bacon grease in the skillet and add the red onions. Saute until soft and translucent. Remove from heat and set aside.

Place bread in small bowl, add milk, and let mixture sit until saturated, about 5 minutes. Using a fork, mash bread and milk until it forms a smooth paste. Break up beef and sausage into small pieces in medium bowl. Season with salt and pepper, then add bread paste and reserved bacon grease. Using fork or hands, lightly knead together so that ingredients are well incorporated and mixture forms cohesive mass. Divide meat into 6 equal balls. Using hands or a burger press, tightly pack meat into patties.

Place bacon strips and onions in a skillet on the top rack of the grill to keep them warm and let them soak up the smoky flavor. Lightly butter the insides of each bun and place on top rack until lightly toasted.

Spray cooking grate with oil and grill burgers over very hot fire. When first placed on grill, brush a small amount of beer over the exposed side of each patty. Do not press down on burgers while cooking. Continue drinking unused beer while grilling the burgers. Cook burgers until well seared on both sides, 7 to 10 minutes. When burgers are almost finished, top with bacon and onions and place a slice of cheese over them. The cheese on top will lock the bacon and onions in place and keep them from falling off of your burger. Place burgers on toasted buns and enjoy!

Makes 6 Burgers

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Now this is the story...

2013-04-10T12:32:00.000-05:00

"...all about how my life got flipped, turned upside down."

Do you have the Fresh Prince theme song stuck in your head now? No? Hmm...

"And I'd like to take a minute just sit right there. I'll tell how I became the prince of a town called Bel-Air."

How about now? Yeah, you're welcome. :)

The last few months have been CRAZY around my house! I have been waiting to talk about it because there were some things that needed to be straightened out and people who had to be told in person and I didn't want to be one of "those bloggers" and allude to big news that I couldn't actually talk about yet. Anywho...Remember when I talked about how we were purging and simplifying? Well, what really kicked that into high gear was our upcoming move!

Yep. We are moving. Again.

The answer to your question is: Yes. We have lost our minds. Lol!

You see, the simplification that we have begun doesn't just involve our possessions. We are simplifying our lifestyle as well. We are sick and tired of life in the city. We thought moving to a smaller city would make it better but what we really want is to move out to the country. So after lots of discussion and prayer, we have decided to move a couple of hours south to where my husband grew up.

The closest "city" (if you could really call it that) is a couple of towns away. For a few years we will be renting a house in town while we save up to buy a few acres in the woods to build our small house on. Our new place is on a double lot though so none of the neighbors are super close like they are here and there are lots of trees in our yard. It will be a big change going from where we were a year ago (the third largest metropolitan area in the country) to a town of around 2,000 people. I am really excited about it though! Jer is too since he will have tons of cousins around to play with and woods to tromp around in.

The other area that is being simplified is Shelby's job. Time spent traveling has steadily increased over the last five years to the point where he was on the road 4-5 months out of the year and it has really taken its toll on all of us. He has also felt called to get back into some kind of ministry but since the traveling was often on short notice, he couldn't really commit to any sort of scheduled activity. He will still be working for the company but in a different position that will just be a side job and won't involve any travel. For his main job, he would like to get back into welding if he can find an open position. Whatever he ends up doing it will hopefully be some kind of 9-5 job where he can just go in, do his job, and then clock out and not have to think about it again until the next work day.

Some say that he is wasting his genius I.Q. by going back into blue-collar work but we've never really cared about what others think. ;) We have come to realize that there are a lot of things that we are *supposed* to want for our lives but we just don't. We have no desire to keep up with the Joneses. Our goal is for a simple, self-sustaining lifestyle. So we will continue driving our beat up 20-year-old vehicles that we paid cash for, work blue-collar jobs, and save up the cash for our little house that we plan to build by ourselves with enough land for a small farm to feed ourselves. I know it all sounds weird to most people but to us it sounds like heaven on earth.

Now that I am done rambling on about all of that, I should probably update you on my 90 Day Challenge.

The goals were:

Get healthy - I haven't done ~~much~~ any working out but I have been eating more whole foods and making more things from scratch. Some of the recipes that I have found have required tweaking and multiple attempts but I have found some good ones that I will start sharing with you soon.
Read the Bible everyday - big, fat fail. I have been praying every day though.
Spend only on necessities - success. Since we have been spending so much time sorting and purging our stuff, it makes me want to stop buying new stuff altogether because I don't want to have to deal with getting rid of it later!
Make one new shop item a week - success-ish. I have added a bunch of new items but many of them were from our Halloween collection that we are getting rid of and not items that will be part of the regular inventory. I will start working on that goal again after we move.
Write one quality blog post a week - January and February went alright but I didn't have much for March. I got busy with the purge and I am trying to figure out where craft blogging fits into our lifestyle simplification. I will still be crafting and blogging but I want to make sure that I am making things that we really like or that serve a purpose. I don't want to make something just so that I can write a post about it and then have that item sitting around adding to the clutter in our house. So I have ended all sponsorships except for AdSense and I will be posting whenever I have something to share instead of keeping to a strict schedule.
No recreational Pinterest or Facebook - success! Well, I think I ended that challenge about a week early but that's close enough, right? Since going back, I have removed a bunch of people from my Facebook news feed because there was too much negativity on there. I spend some time on Pinterest while watching tv in the evenings but not during the day at all. Even then, most of it is looking for new recipes to try and occasionally hitting the geek and humor sections for fun. I have mostly been staying away from the craft/diy section because it makes me want things that I don't really need.

There you have it. With the move coming up in less than two months, my new 90 day challenge is simply to keep my sanity intact. Lol! I am working on increasing the inventory that I have for the shop so that I can continue accepting orders while we are moving without having to worry about everything selling out. I will also be continuing the purge and spending freeze until after we move. That is pretty much it. I hope to get some posts scheduled but with all of this craziness going on, I'm not making any promises. :)

How about you? Did you give yourself any challenges? I would love to hear about how they went!

Monster Knee Patch

2013-03-14T09:38:00.004-05:00

A couple of years ago I saw this Monster Knee Patch and thought that it was awesome! Unfortunately I didn't have an opportunity to try it out because by the time Jer gets holes in his jeans, he has already outgrown them so there is no point in patching them up. It's kind of funny how disappointed I was that my son *didn't* get any holes in his good jeans. ;) It finally happened though! I hole appeared in a pair of jeans that hadn't turned into high-waters yet. So I surprised him with this fun monster patch and he couldn't wait to show it off to his friends at school.

This is how the hole started out.

You will need to cut away all of the horizontal strings so that you have an open hole for the monster mouth to show through. Don't trim off the vertical fuzz though because it gives your patch something to hold onto. If you trim this off it will just unravel more anyway and take your patch with it. I made this mistake and had to go back and reattach the patch after one wear.

Cut a patch out of thick red fabric or use two pieces of thin red fabric pressed together with fusible interfacing for extra strength. Be sure to cut your patch bigger than your hole. About 1/4 - 1/2" all the way around. Cut some teeth out of white fleece with about 1/4" extra along the top. You could use felt instead of fleece but it doesn't wash as well and could fall apart.

Sew the teeth onto your red patch with a sewing machine.

Place the patch inside the jeans with the teeth facing out. Pin in place and hand sew all the way around the hole. You will want to go over it a few times to make sure that it will hold up to continued wear. Sew close to the edge to keep it from continuing to unravel then sew 1/8-1/4" from the edge so that it grips the good part of the jeans as well.

Cut out two small circles of fleece for the eyes. Sew them on above the mouth using black embroidery thread. Use knots to make the pupils.

Now your jeans look even cooler than they did when they were new! :)

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Simplify

2013-03-05T13:58:00.000-06:00

That is my current motto. Simplify. While I am trying to keep this in mind with how I spend my time - my main focus at the moment is on "stuff". All of the crap sitting around our house that we don't really need. We started purging a couple of years ago and each time we get rid of a big batch of stuff our house feels so much lighter that it makes us want to get rid of even more! I swear, it is like a freaking clown car or Mary Poppins' bag. We keep finding more and more crap that we don't really need and it makes me wonder how we ever crammed all of it in to begin with.

Lately we have been talking about building a small house in the country and by small I mean that my latest sketches are less than 500 sq ft. Not only will a house this size be cheaper to build and maintain, it will also force us to evaluate our belongings and determine what we really need because there just isn't a bunch of extra space to store the useless junk. We aren't getting rid of everything that would be considered "unnecessary" we are just going through all of our stuff with a more critical eye than before and only keeping the things that we really enjoy or that are used frequently enough to justify the amount of space that they occupy.

If you have spent much time around here, there is one area affected by the purge that may come as a shock: Halloween Decor.

That's right. We are getting rid of it. All of it. I started thinking about this after last Halloween. We had a really small turnout for our party and we decided that in the future it would be more fun to just have a scary movie night or carve pumpkins instead of putting together elaborate prop displays and a big food spread.

So when we got to the Halloween decorations during our purge, we decided that it was time to enter a new phase in our Halloween celebrations. I still love Halloween and plan to craft and party, it will just be done in a different way. It will be more about pimping out our car for trunk or treat, making costumes, having a low-key movie night with a few creepy food items, and maybe throwing a cute monster party like this one for Jer and his friends. I will probably also make some vintage-style paper decorations that are really inexpensive to make and are small enough to be tucked away in a file folder. I will also continue making elaborate props but when I am finished they will head to my Etsy Shop instead of sticking around my house.

Which brings me to the part that might make the Halloween-lovers out there really happy - over the next couple of weeks all of our small(ish) Halloween props will be showing up in the Shop! I have already added a few and there are bunch more still to come. So if there are any of my props that you have been envious of, keep an eye out over there because it just might pop up for sale! I won't be holding items for anyone but if there is a specific item that you are interested in, you can shoot me an email to ask if that will be one of the items up for sale or if you want to request an email notification when the listing for that item is live.

Guest Post: Tetris-Chic Mirror Make Over

2013-02-27T16:19:00.000-06:00

I haven't really been accepting guest posts for awhile now but Sarah sent me a photo of her Tetris Mirror and I fell in love with it! It fits so perfectly with the retro arcade style that we have been working on in our living room and I knew that it was something that needed to be shared here at Polish The Stars. I hope you all like it as much as I do! Take it away, Sarah...

______________________________________

Hi Everyone! My name is Sarah from Sewing Parts Online and I'm thrilled to be sharing a fun and inexpensive home decor project. My fiance and I are moving into our very first home and, in true first time home buyer fashion, the budget doesn't leave much room for decorating. Let's be honest; it leaves no money for decorating. But, a happy wife is a happy life, and the old man agreed to a $10 'splurge': Thirft store mirror for $3 bucks and a tube of cheap ceramic tiles. Score!

Supplies

Thrift Store Mirror
Grey Acrylic Paint
Orange Acrylic Paint
Paint Brushes
Ceramic Tiles
E6000 Glue

If the frame of your mirror is smooth, you can jump right in and paint it grey. If there are a few bumps or grooves, give the frame a quick sanding to even out the surface.

Glue the tiles on the mirror with E6000 glue. Start around the edges. Don't worry about a color scheme unless you already have one planned. We are going for an "intentionally random" look. It should look random, but balanced.

Next, we want to create rows that extend out at different lengths. Once again, we want random, but balanced. If mentally Tetris while gluing, you'll get awesome results.

Paint all the white tiles bright orange.

That's all there is to it! Mount that sucker on the wall and admire your new ode to modern thriftiness. Thank you so much for reading and thank you Megan for allowing me to share on Polish The Stars!

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Garlic Mashed Potatoes

2013-02-12T09:42:00.001-06:00

The other day Shelby said that he was craving mashed potatoes so I decided to take a shot at some garlic mashed potatoes since that is always his favorite to order at restaurants. He loved how this recipe turned out! It is creamy and has a great garlic flavor that isn't overpowering.

Garlic Mashed Potatoes

adapted from Food.com

Ingredients:

1/4 cup Garlic Cloves

2 pounds Red Potatoes

3 Tablespoons Butter

1/2 cup Milk

1/4 cup Sour Cream

Sea Salt or Garlic Salt

Preheat oven to 400F. Place whole, unpeeled garlic cloves in a single layer on aluminum foil and wrap tightly. Roast for 45 minutes or until soft.

Meanwhile, rinse potatoes and place in a large pot and cover with water. Bring to a slow boil and cook for 20 minutes or until soft.

When garlic cloves are done cooking, unwrap foil and let cool until touchable.

Remove potatoes from pot using a slotted spoon and place in a large heat safe mixing bowl. Peel garlic cloves and add to bowl with potatoes (the roasted garlic cloves will be mushy and sticky - sometimes it is helpful to snip off the top of the clove and squeeze the garlic mush into the bowl).

Using a potato masher, mash potatoes and garlic until smooth. Add butter, milk and sour cream. Mix until well combined. Add sea salt to taste or use garlic salt if you want to boost the garlic flavor.

LEGO Heart Necklace

2013-02-08T11:50:00.000-06:00

A few months back I saw this idea on Squidoo for a heart necklace made out of LEGOS and I knew I had to have one. Jer has been working on a giant lego village so we had the big box of parts out and it seemed like a good time to rummage through for the pieces that I needed.

I tried to search for the official name of these pieces but I couldn't find it. A search for 'lego rounded plate with hole' should turn up a few though.

Once you have your pieces, press the two plates together to form a heart (they fit pretty snugly but you can add a touch of super glue if you want to make sure that they won't come apart).

Use pliers to open a small jump ring, thread it through the hole in the back plate and close it again. Thread on a necklace chain and enjoy your new jewelry or give it to your valentine!

Pepper Jack Smothered Chicken

2013-02-05T09:40:00.001-06:00

I was flipping through my recipe book the other day and came across this Pepper Jack chicken that I used to make all of the time but then somehow forgot about. I made it the other night and it was like discovering a recipe all over again. Originally it was pan fried and used packaged taco seasoning so I made it healthier by baking it and making my own taco seasoning. The result is jucier, healthier, and more flavorful. If you make the taco seasoning ahead of time, this chicken only requires about 5 minutes of prep too!

Pepper Jack Smothered Chicken

by Polish The Stars

Ingredients:

4 Chicken Breasts (or two cut in half)

4 teaspoons Taco Seasoning (see recipe below)

1 cup (4oz) Pepper Jack Cheese, shredded

Preheat oven to 350F. Rub 1/2 teaspoon of taco seasoning onto each side of each piece of chicken. Place on a non-stick baking sheet. Bake at 350F for 25-35 minutes or until cooked through and no longer pink in the middle.

Top each piece of chicken with 1/4 cup cheese. Return to oven and bake 5 minutes longer or until cheese is melted. Serve hot.

Serves 4.

Taco Seasoning

Ingredients:
1 Tablespoon Chili Powder
1/4 teaspoon Garlic Powder
1/4 teaspoon Onion Powder
1/4 teaspoon Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
1/4 teaspoon Dried Oregano
1/2 teaspoon Smoked Paprika
1 1/2 teaspoons Ground Cumin
1 teaspoon Sea Salt
1 teaspoon Fresh Ground Black Pepper

Mix everything together in a small bowl and store in an air tight container. Use about 2 Tablespoons of seasoning for each pound of meat.

I added a bunch of new coasters to the shop this week. Head over and geek out!

Colorful Mario Coasters Set of 12

Grey Super Mario Coasters Set of Four, Eight, or Twelve

Minecraft Coasters Set of Four, Eight, or Twelve

Animal Head Pot Holder Hook

2013-01-25T11:45:00.002-06:00

After months of fishing around in the drawer for a pot holder when cooking, I decided that it was time to add a hook above the stove. Of course I could have put up a simple hook from the hardware store but that's just not my style. ;) So instead, I put together this funky animal head pot holder hook! Not including the drying time for the paint, this came together really quickly so it is going in my quick crafting file:

Start by finding a small plastic animal that your kid no longer wants. You could also hit up the Dollar Tree if they aren't ready to part with any or if you don't have any kiddos around to steal from. You will want an animal with a long neck otherwise your pot holder will fall down. I wanted a giraffe but because of our spending freeze I had to work with what I already had which was a bunch of dinosaurs.

I ended up with what I thought was either a brachiosaurus or a brontosaurus. I googled it to be sure and discovered that the brachiosaurus has spikes down it's back and the brontosaurus never even existed! Say what?! I hate getting old and having to re-learn things. The brontosaurus was a mistake, Pluto isn't a planet, and am I the only one who was taught in grade school that a rainbow has six colors? Geesh. Anyway, I'm probably still wrong but I'm going to call this an Apatosaurus. Moving on...

Use a utility knife to cut your animal in half just in front of the back legs. Lay the front half on the table to make sure that it lays flat and trim off any extra if necessary.

Use a small drill bit to make a hole in the back of your animal bust.

Find a small brad nail with a head that is close to the same size as the shaft (in honor of Lorelai Gilmore I am going to throw in a "dirty" here). Find the spot where you want your animal head and partially hammer in the brad with about 1/4" - 1/2" sticking out.

Give your animal head a couple coats of spray paint if you wish and allow it to dry completely. Line the nail up with the hole that you drilled in the back of your animal head and press it onto the nail. Toss on a couple of pot holders and now you have a fun surprise in your kitchen to make cooking even more enjoyable.

Baked Crispy Ranch Chicken

2013-01-22T07:00:00.000-06:00

This super easy chicken comes out flavorful and juicy every single time. I have been making this about once a week since I first tried the recipe. My picky six-year-old even loves it!

I like to cut the chicken breasts in half like in the picture above. The thinner pieces cook more evenly and provides a better chicken-to-coating ratio.

Baked Crispy Ranch Chicken

adapted from Chef In Training

Ingredients:

3-4 Chicken Breasts

1 cup Ranch Dressing

1 1/2 cups Plain Bread Crumbs

2 cups Corn Flakes

Use a large knife to cut through the middle of the chicken breasts as pictured above.

Put corn flakes in a large ziploc bag, seal, and lightly crush. Add bread crumbs, re-seal the bag and combine cornflakes and bread crumbs. Dump into a bowl or bread pan.

Pour ranch dressing into another bowl or bread pan.

Dip chicken breasts in dressing and coat evenly on both sides. Then immediately dip in corn flake mixture. Place in a baking pan or cookie sheet with high sides. Repeat with remaining chicken.

Bake at 350F for 35-40 minutes or until chicken is cooked through and no longer pink in the center.

Makes 6-8 Servings.

Slow-Cooker Beef Chili

2013-01-11T10:23:00.000-06:00

This chili is so full of flavor that it instantly became a family favorite! My husband calls it "man chili" because it is so hearty you can eat it with a fork. :)

This can be thrown together in about 15 minutes which makes it great for busy days. I cook mine on high for 4 hours but I'm sure it would also turn out amazing on low for 8 hours if you need to toss it in the crock pot before leaving for work in the morning.

Slow-Cooker Beef Chili

adapted from Love, Pomegranate House

Ingredients:

1 pound Ground Beef

29 oz can Tomato Sauce

1 Tablespoon Tomato Paste

1/4 cup Water

2 cans (15.5 oz each) Dark Red Kidney Beans, drained

1/4 teaspoon Ground Cayenne Pepper

1/4 teaspoon Sugar

1/4 teaspoon Oregano

1/4 teaspoon Freshly Ground Black Pepper

1/2 teaspoon Salt

3/4 teaspoon Ground Cumin

2 Tablespoons Chili Powder

In a large skillet, over medium-high heat, cook ground beef until browned and no longer pink in the middle. Drain.

Place ground beef and remaining ingredients into a slow-cooker. Stir until well combined. Cook on high heat for 4 hours.

Makes 6 Servings.

As promised, there is a new item in the Shop!

Kool-Aid Wallet

Cutlery Recipe Card Holder

2013-01-09T09:50:00.001-06:00

Awhile back I saw a Cutlery iPhone Stand and I thought that it was awesome but I didn't have much need for one with my crappy flip phone. Then I realized that it would make a fun holder for these Printable Vintage Recipe Cards! It could also sit on your desk and hold a family photo. :)

The blog that I originally saw this on didn't have any sort of tutorial to go along with it so I just kind of winged it and I think it turned out pretty well. You will want to find cutlery that is on the thin side otherwise you won't be able to bend it. I found these at Dollar Tree and they worked really well. I also liked the simple dot pattern since I'm not into stuff that is super ornate.

I considered soldering the utensils together but I don't know how to solder and my husband was at work so I just used some glue that is designed for all surfaces including metal. I tested it to see if it could hold heavier objects and it did just fine but I have no idea how it would hold up to the extra weight long-term. For something light weight like a recipe card, it works perfectly though!

Supplies:

3 forks

2 spoons

E600 Adhesive

Tools:

Pliers

Clamp

Rubber Mallet

Start by bending the spoons (the feet) at an angle as shown above. These spoons were pretty weak in that spot so I was able to do that part by hand.

Now you need to move up an inch and bend it back the other way. This part was a little trickier since the spoon was stronger in that spot. Clamp the spoon to a work table with the spoon positioned so that the edge of the table is right where you want it to bend. Then whack it with a rubber mallet until it is bent to the correct angle. I didn't feel like rummaging through the garage looking for our mallet so I just used a hammer which works fine but it does scratch the metal.

When you are finished bending it, the handle should be straight up as in the photo above.

Now put a thin layer of glue on the spoons and one of the forks just in the area that they will be joined together (in holy matrimony). Let them dry separately for 15 minutes then press them together. It takes about 2 hours for the adhesive to really bond so every once in awhile I would notice that it was slipping and I had to re-position it. I had it sitting next to my computer while I was working so it wasn't a big deal but it is definitely something that you want to keep an eye on. Don't worry if some of the glue squishes out. It is kind of rubbery when it dries so it is easy to remove the excess later. I tried clamping them together while it was drying but it didn't work very well since the utensils curve a bit instead of it being a flat surface.

While that part is drying you can start bending the forks (arms). To get the straightest bend I used needle nose pliers and held them parallel to the tines with the nose positioned where I wanted it to bend. Start by bending them all at the base...

...then bend again about half an inch up.

Use two pairs of pliers to bend the neck to kind of a "Z" shape like above.

Bend the far right tine of one of the forks all the way in. Do the same to the far left tine of the other fork. This will hold your recipe card in place and keep it from slipping down.

Once the bottom half of your little guy is dry (you don't want to add the weight of the arms before the base is ready to support them) hold the fork arms up to the body where they are going to be placed and angle the Z curve a little bit until the hands are positioned correctly. Make sure that the tines that are bent in all of the way are on the bottom of each hand. Then glue those in place using the same method as you did gluing the bottom half and check it periodically for the first couple of hours to make sure they aren't slipping. You may also want to lay it face down over the corner of a book to take off some of the weight while it is drying. Allow the glue to fully cure for 24 hours before placing anything heavy on it.

I think he turned out pretty stinkin' cute! Of course, usually when I am excited about a project and think people will really like it, that is the project that ends up only getting one comment (usually from my mom) and not a single pin. At that point I realize that my style which I see as "fun and quirky" isn't always appreciated by others. Lol! I'm sure there are at least a few kindred spirits out there who will enjoy it though. ;)

90 Day Challenge

2013-01-01T15:45:00.000-06:00

Do you set New Year's resolutions? I hardly ever do since I never seem to stick to them. However, January 1st is a convenient time to start tracking things so sometimes I use this day to make changes. This year Shelby and I have decided to have a 90 Day Challenge. A year is a reeeaalllly long time to stay focused and motivated. Ninety days is much more manageable. So we are going to do a series of four 90 day challenges this year. With each new challenge we can either become more strict or more lenient about something or we can switch to an entirely different goal all together.

For this challenge my goals are:

Get Healthy - I want to eat better including more whole foods (making stuff from scratch instead of using processed items) and working out.
Read the Bible everyday.
Spend only on necessities - I won't be spending any money on clothing, home decor, beauty products, fast food, etc. (it will be similar to the Spending Fast) which means I will be working through my craft stash, re-purposing items, and finishing projects that I already purchased the supplies for. I will also be tracking every single penny that comes in and goes out so that we can have a clear picture of where our money is going and what we can cut back on.
Make one new shop item every week - I really want to have more variety in the shop to attract more people and keep things fresh.
Write one quality blog post every week - Since the shop has become my main source of income it will be taking priority over the blog for a bit while I build my inventory. When I do blog, I want to make sure that I am focusing more on quality instead of quantity. I don't want to bore you with mediocre posts just so that I can say I posted five times this week.
No recreational Pinterest or Facebook - I will still be using these to promote the blog and other fun things I come across but I won't be wasting time aimlessly browsing.

I hope to have more than one shop item and blog post every week but I am starting out with a manageable goal. Kind of like the Debt Snowball where you start by paying off your smallest debts first so that you can build momentum. I am starting with a small goal so that I can work my way up to a bigger goal without becoming overwhelmed and discouraged right away. I also made a checklist for each of us to track our progress every week and I taped it to the fridge so that we can be reminded of it all the time.

So what do you think? Have you set a year-long resolution or do you want to join me in a 90-day challenge? Either way, I would love to hear about what you are hoping to change! On April 1st I will check back in with how we did on this challenge and what the goals are for the next one.

Have You Been Naughty Or Nice?

2012-12-20T14:13:00.002-06:00

This cute little naughty or nice checklist is a quick project that can be used as an ornament, gift card holder, or gift tag (scroll down for directions).

Today's project it brought to you by

our newest sponsor:

Normally I don't accept product sponsorships because I don't want to pimp out the blog just for some free stuff that I wouldn't otherwise write about. This one is different though because it is crafting supplies! Not only that but each month *I* get to choose which supplies I want. That means I can pick stuff for projects that I already had rolling around in my head.

Alright, back to the project:

I saw these Black Crystal Twist Beads and thought that they would be really cute as "naughty coal". I made this into an ornament but it would also work as a fun gift card or money holder. Stick this to the front of a mini envelope so that it looks like they are getting nothing but coal for Christmas then they open it up and there is the gift card.

Start by printing out the naughty/nice card:

I left the boxes blank so you could check nice and use it as a gift tag if you want. I used a Sharpie to check "naughty" then cut it out and glued it to a piece of red cardstock to add a colorful border and make it sturdier. Then I just used some hot glue to attach the beads and a loop of ribbon on the back to hang it on the tree.

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas....

2012-12-12T14:30:00.003-06:00

Can you believe that Christmas is only 13 days away? Crazy!

We are keeping things pretty simple this year. We cut our shopping list short - partly because we are trying to pay off some bills and partly because we hate mandatory gift giving. We prefer giving gifts on random days when we find something awesome and have the money available rather than getting something because the calendar says we should. I would be thrilled if we could completely do away with the gifting part of Christmas and just hang out with our loved ones eating, laughing, and watching Christmas movies while drinking hot cocoa. Anyone with me? :) (Side note: I read this really interesting article the other day about a social experiment on How The Rule Of Reciprocation Binds Us. It's funny and sad at the same time.)

Anyway, we also downsized some of our Christmas decor since this house is smaller and I wanted to keep things colorful and festive without being too cluttered. That would be why you haven't seen many tutorials over here this month. Well, that and I have been focusing more on enjoying time with my guys! I will be back with plenty of projects in January.

As I mentioned before, our tree is new (found it at Walmart) and I lit it using some tips from BHG. I ended up putting 700 lights on that baby! I love how it glows though and the lights inside the tree twinkle when you walk past. The star and ornaments are the same (both came from Target a few years ago) but I think they pop more against the white tree. The beaded garland was from a tree that we used years ago. The ruffled tree skirt was made from old fabric that I had lying around.

The piano got spruced up a bit as well. My husband's childhood copy of The Night Before Christmas sits in the music stand...

...to the left is a thrift store Rudolph figurine (one of my favorite Christmas movies!), last year's Dear Santa Sign (because I still think it's funny and it adds a pop of color), and an owl candle warmer filled with Sugared Pecan wax cubes that make the house smell all Christmas-y. I can't find the owl on the website anymore but it came from Walmart and was part of the Better Homes & Gardens collection.

The other end of the piano has our Charlie Brown Christmas Tree and the most annoying Snoopy snow globe ever made! It plays music which is kind of cute the first few hundred times you hear it but then it starts to get old.

The opposite living room wall also got decked out with our Shoe Organizer Advent Calendar...

...our $2 Target stockings from a few years ago...

...our Glittery Christmas Banner that has survived the last three Christmases...

...and our Christmas Story Time Box which is now a cardboard box borrowed from one of the closets with wrapping paper taped to it. I still love having all of the Christmas books in one spot so that we don't have to search all of the shelves trying to find one.

Our Veggie Tale Nativity made its way on to the table next to the couch. The annoyance factor of this one just might trump the Snoopy snow globe. It doesn't get played as often but the song is sung in a squeaky Veggie Tale voice.

The kitchen has our old Snowman Fridge and the winter village on the buffet. I have seen some really cute homemade villages on Retro Renovation this year and I really wish I had enough time to make my own. I will next year for sure. I also saw some adorable pics on Pinterest of Hot Wheels with tiny trees strapped to the roof. Too stinkin' cute! One of those will also make an appearance in my village next year.

So that is our decor for this year. Do you have all of your decorations up?

Eggnog Fudge

2012-12-04T14:26:00.001-06:00

Two of my favorite holiday treats - eggnog and fudge - together in one recipe?! Shut the front door! This fudge is definitely one of my new Christmas favorites. I hope you like it too.

Eggnog Fudge

adapted from Recipe Girl

Ingredients:

2 cups Granulated Sugar

1/2 cup Salted Butter

3/4 cup Dairy Eggnog

10.5 oz White Chocolate Chips

1/2 teaspoon Ground Nutmeg, plus more for the top

7oz jar Marshmallow Creme

1 teaspoon Rum Extract

Line an 8-inch square pan with foil with some hanging over the sides. Butter the foil or lightly coat with cooking spray.

Over medium heat, combine sugar, butter and eggnog in a heavy, 3-quart saucepan. Bring to a rolling boil while stirring constantly. Continue stirring and boiling for about 8 minutes or until a candy thermometer reaches 234F.

Remove from heat and quickly stir in white chocolate chips and nutmeg. Continue stirring until chocolate is melted and smooth. Add marshmallow cream and rum extract. Stir until well combined. Pour into prepared pan. Sprinkle with additional nutmeg, if desired. Let stand at room temperature until cool.

Once your fudge is completely cool, cut into about 1 1/4" squares. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

Makes 36 Squares.

Additional Notes:

I only had unsalted butter on hand so I just added a pinch of salt and it worked well.

Some people prefer to refrigerate their fudge. I did some searching and it seems that this is unnecessary for food safety and will actually cause the fudge to dry out faster.

This fudge freezes well and can be stored in an air tight container in the freezer for several weeks.

Shoe Organizer Advent Calendar

2012-11-30T16:26:00.000-06:00

Yes, today is the last day of November and I just now finished our advent calendar. Any other procrastinators out there or is it just me? :) If you waited until the last minute like I did, the idea behind this advent is super easy - just roll out one of those 24-pocket over the door shoe organizers, fill it up with something fun, and you're good to go!

You can get the kind with fabric pockets if you want and use fabric paint or a Sharpie to put a number on the front. I chose to do a How The Grinch Stole Christmas theme that I saw over at Chica and Jo which requires one with clear pockets (I found mine at Walmart for about $8). The link above has printable cards that you slide into each pocket with the print side facing the door and a number on the blank side....

...then each day after you remove the present, you flip the card over and there is a portion of the Grinch book to read. Then you slide the Grinch into the pocket that the gift just came from and it looks like he is going in each day and stealing one of the presents. Adorable, right?! In Chica and Jo's calendar they have a little stuffed Grinch which is so much cuter but I haven't been able to track one down yet so for now we just have a picture of him to tuck into the pocket.

Right about now I'm sure some of you are thinking that 24 presents is insane...and you would be right. Only a few of these actually have a gift in them and even those are handmade or from the dollar store. The rest are activities that we can do together. I thought it would be fun for him to have something to unwrap though so for each one I wrapped something related to the activity.

For some of the craft projects, I put all of the supplies into a ziploc bag and wrapped it up. As an added bonus, the supplies are already gathered together so I don't have to go hunt them down when it is time to work on our project! A couple of the days are making cookies so I wrapped up a cookie cutter for the day that will be gingerbread house cookies and a bottle of sprinkles for the day that we are making cookies for Santa.

I made up admission tickets for our family movie night and printed them out onto a piece of cardstock. Feel free to grab the image above and print out your own.

Some of the days have activities that we are going to do as a family. For those, I printed out the activity and tucked the card into an old jewelry box or one of the other random little boxes that I collect for no good reason. Finally they have a purpose! Awhile back we received some junk mail from a car dealership that included a fake car key and I tossed into my crafty junk box. It seemed like the perfect thing to include in our box about driving around to see the Christmas lights. :)

I included a little photo in some of them like this one. There is a local farm that has reindeer and they give tours this time of year so you can visit Santa's reindeer while they are in town. We have never been there before but it sounds like fun!

Since schedules change, I wrote a number on the back of each package with a sharpie. Then I made up a spreadsheet with a list of what is in each one so that I can double check the night before and make sure that we will have enough time for that activity the next day. If not, I can swap it out with a different one.

If you need some ideas on what to fill your calendar with, here is a list of what is in ours along with what I wrapped up:

1. Shop for Christmas socks (Jer's idea) - a note with a picture of socks. You could also just wrap up the socks but I didn't have time to get them and I thought he might have fun picking them out himself

2. Visit Santa's reindeer - see photo above

3. Make a Pinecone Christmas tree - supplies for the craft (I threw in tiny pom poms instead of making my own felted wool balls)

4. Write a letter to Santa - I printed out special stationary from X-Mas Coloring Pages

5. Build a Mentos Geyser - we picked up the special tube attachment in the stocking stuffer section of Target a few years back but you could just wrap a tube of Mentos.

6. Shop for Mommy & Daddy - Jer LOVES giving people gifts. Usually he "shops" his toy collection but there is a local charity that sets up a little store and the kids get to go in with a volunteer and shop for a little gift ($2-8) while mom and dad wait outside so that the kids can surprise them. The flyer has a spot where you can specify the age of the kid that they are shopping for so I think they are supposed to be shopping for their siblings but our interests really aren't that different from an eight-year-old so we will probably like whatever little toy he picks out anyway. :) For this one, I just wrapped up the flyer that talks about it.

7. Make a Pom Pom Ornament - supplies for the craft

8. Visit Santa - a note with a picture of Santa

9. Make some Snowy Playdough - all of the dry ingredients measured out into a ziploc bag.

10. Drink hot cocoa - packet of candy cane cocoa from the pantry

11. Handmade Gift - Superhero Mask (I actually haven't had time to make one yet so I just rolled up a piece of felt and wrapped it)

12. Gift - a new Christmas book - There is a note in the box telling him that he gets to unwrap the gift under the tree that has red paper. I might go back later and hide the gift then write out a set of clues for him to find it.

13. Handmade Gift - Starry Night Flashlight

14. Make a Snow Globe - a small jar & bottle of glitter

15. Make Clay Ornaments - a note in a box

16. Drive around and look at Christmas lights - a note with a fake car key

17. Make a Popsicle Stick Tree - supplies for the craft

18. Family Christmas Movie Night - admission tickets (printable above)

19. Make a Cave of Stars - a small box of Christmas lights

20. Paint the Snow - a box of food coloring

21. Decorate Gingerbread House Cookies - a house cookie cutter (actual gingerbread houses are a pain and usually you let them sit out and get gross but with gingerbread house cookies you have the fun of decorating a house but you get to eat them right away!)

22. Sleep under the tree - a note with clipart picture of kids sleeping under the tree.

23. Gift - small book of mazes

24. Bake cookies for Santa - bottle of sprinkles

If you have more ideas, please leave them in the comments section! :)

The To-Do List Revisited

2012-11-28T10:51:00.000-06:00

Do you like making lists? I make one every single morning so that I remember all of the things that absolutely have to get done that day. I also love the feeling of accomplishment when I get to cross something off of the list. :) About six months ago I shared some photos of our new house in the form of a massive home improvement to-do list and I thought it was time to do a little revisit and check out the progress that we have made.

These home improvement projects are the most annoying because they take up a lot of time but the finished project is never interesting enough to share with anyone! This post will still probably bore most of you but this is MONTHS of work that I have condensed into one single post that you have to ~~suffer through~~ ~~scroll past~~ read.

1. Hang Blinds - DONE! Those trash bag and duct tape curtains were pretty spectacular but it is nice to have real blinds now.

2. Remove a million of these annoying hooks and patch the holes - DONE! I believe the final tally was 15 hooks!

3. Paint everywhere - DONE! I cannot even express how happy I am to have those nasty walls covered up. Some of them were so bad that I felt like I needed a shower just from walking through the room.

4. Patch a bajilion holes. - DONE! I was so excited when I finished the last room! Painting everything sucked (especially the ceilings) but it was the patching and sanding that I hated the most. My arms felt like they were going to fall off and then there was all of the sanding dust! Oh my goodness the dust. I am not putting any holes in the walls unless I am sure that item is going to live there for the rest of my life. It will be like that episode of Everybody Loves Raymond when Marie takes down the fork and spoon and you can still see the outline on the wallpaper because they have been there for decades.

5. Put up closet doors and cut down existing ones - Uhhh...nope. (Look how pretty those gray walls are compared to the dirty cotton candy pink though!) These three closets are still missing doors and for the last seven months this has been what you see when you walk into the other two bedrooms:

Those of you who are able to close the doors on all of the closets in your house have no idea how good you have it. ;)

6. Build shelves for my craft supplies - DONE! I should probably get around to painting them sometime though.

7. Sort and purge craft supplies - DONE...although they need to be organized again. I have a feeling that this is one that will always be on the list though.

8. Replace baseboards - nope. I should edit this to include window frames as well since I have three windows that look like this:

9. Replace the ugly kitchen light fixture - DONE(ish) Shelby hung the new light fixture but the blue plastic base still needs to be covered up and I accidentally got some paint on the fixture when I was working on the ceiling and I need to scrape that off.

10. Do something with this wallpaper/paneling - DONE! We ended up pulling off the paneling. The bottom half of the drywall was damaged from one of the previous tenants punching holes in it and we thought about continuing the wainscoting from the living room to cover it but we couldn't find the same pattern and weren't really sure if we wanted that much wainscoting in the house anyway. So we replaced the sheetrock on that wall instead. It worked out well because we were able to put in some insulation while we had it stripped down to the studs. Some of the walls are insulated with newspaper but that wall didn't have anything at all.

11. Caulk everything - DONE!

12. Replace the contact paper on the shower window - DONE! Although I still don't understand why people put windows in the shower.

13. Fill thousands of little nail holes in the wainscoting - DONE! It took me an entire day (or was it two?) but I finally filled and sanded all of those annoying little buggers.

14. Install new shelves in the pantry - DONE! I figured out the dimensions that I wanted and Shelby installed them for me. I should probably paint these sometime as well.

15. Replace all of the light switch and outlet covers - this is mostly done however there are still a couple that need work. Why? Because they installed the wainscoting so high that it cuts through the middle of the light switches. Why do people do that?! They also cut the chair rail around these switches incorrectly so a standard switch cover doesn't fit. The one on the left is much too small for the hole so I need to try and find a jumbo one. The opening in the chair rail on the right is cut too small so we are going to have to cut a switch cover down to size.

16. Paint the laundry "room" doors - I started to do this but it was taking forever and I realized that they still looked just as bad painted so I need to see how much it would cost to replace them.

17. Clean all of the disgusting windows and repair the screens - I replaced three of the screens but I didn't get around to the rest. I also haven't cleaned any of the windows.

18. Patch the big freaking hole that Shelby made in the living room wall - DONE! I busted my knuckle open while doing it too. :( One of Shelby's co-workers said that it's "hot" when a woman knows how to replace drywall though so I guess that's a plus. Lol!

Now that those things are (mostly) done I have come across some other things that need to be added to the lsit:

19. Paint around the thermostat. Shelby replaced the old one with a programmable thermostat because we turn the heat down low at night and then don't want to get out of our nice, cozy bed in the morning. Now, the house is already nice and toasty when it is time to get up! The new thermostat is a different size though so now I have to touch up the paint. Blarg.

20. Replace the outlets and switches. They are all dark brown and some of them have been painted over which is now starting to come off. I guess I could just paint them again but some of them need to be replaced anyway because they don't have a grounding hole. That is why the coffee pot is sitting on the dining table and the microwave on the counter top instead of both of them being on the buffet. It works out alright now because the Christmas village is on the buffet but in a few weeks I am really going to want to move those things to their proper home.

21. Trim around the air conditioner. The hole to the right of it might be fixed now but it still looks pretty junky with the drywall and 2x4 showing.

22. Paint the kitchen cabinets, replace the doors & add knobs. I actually don't mind the color of the cabinets now that the walls are green. However, a couple of months after we moved in, I realized that three of the cabinet doors have curved lines and the rest are square. I don't know how it took me so long to realize this. I guess there was just too much else wrong with the house and I got distracted. Now it is all that I can see though and it is going to drive me crazy until I fix it. I priced doors to see if we could replace those three but apparently they are an odd size so it would be pricey and it would be difficult to get the stain to match exactly. So instead Shelby is going to make flat doors with rounded edges so that they all match and have a retro look. Then I am going to paint them all and add some retro knobs. Originally I was thinking about painting them white but I have seen some really cool colored cabinets recently and now I can't decide what to do.

23. Add shelves to the "coat" closet. The "linen" closet now holds all of our medicine and toiletries because it is right across the hall from the bathroom and the bathroom itself isn't big enough to hold very much. So I decided to make the coat closet a linen closet instead. The original linen closet is only deep enough to hold sheets and towels anyway. By using this closet, it is deep enough to hold the guest comforters and pillows as well as all of our throw blankets and sleeping bags. Now I just need some shelves in here so I can get everything organized instead of just being piled up precariously.

In case you are wondering (although I doubt you really care) I eliminated the coat closet all together. Once we put our own coats in there, there wasn't any room for guest coats so they would just get piled up on our bed anyway. I also don't see the point in leaving a space open for guests' coats since it is rarely needed. Our house is fairly small (1,000 sq ft) so we have to make the most of our storage space. Our coats are now in the closet of the individual who owns it and guests will continue to toss their's on the bed. Do you have a closet for guests' coats? Does it serve any other purpose? I'm just curious. :)

To sum things up: in the last six months I have crossed 13 things off of the list and then added 5. Grrr! That's usually how it goes with home improvement to-do lists though. I'm sure that when I finally get these things done I will find other things to add.

Polaroid Frame Ornament

2012-11-27T12:48:00.001-06:00

Alright, Thanksgiving is over which means that it is officially acceptable to share Christmas projects, right? :)

I love the retro look of Polaroids (remember my Polaroid Pendant?) so I thought that it would be fun to make a Polaroid ornament! I decided to make it a frame so that I could slip in a different picture each year. If you wanted to make this project even easier though, you could just crop a photo to a square, print it out, and cut it out with a thicker border on the bottom. If you like the frame idea though, scroll down for the details...

You can change the dimensions if you want but I made mine 3" wide x 3 3/4" tall. Cut two pieces of cardstock to this size and use an Exacto knife to cut a 2 1/2" square in one of them with a 1/4" border on the top and sides and 1" on the bottom. You can also print or write "merry Christmas on the bottom if you want. I printed mine in the Font Diner Swanky font.

Glue the pieces together just along the side edges and along the bottom starting about 1/4" below the window. Leave the top unglued. Allow the glue to dry.

Crop your photo down to a 2 1/2" square with a bit of a border so that it is just a bit bigger than the frame window. I gave mine a 1/8" border which made it a bit snug when sliding it into the frame but it also keeps it from sliding around.

Slide your photo into the frame through the top.

Glue a ribbon loop to the back and you are ready to hang it on your tree! I like the double thick cardstock because it has about the same feel of a real Polaroid pic. Since they are so lightweight and easy to put together they would also be a fun way to mail out photos in your Christmas cards! If you want something a little sturdier though, you could use really thin pieces of wood painted white.

No-Sew Ruffled Christmas Tree Skirt

2012-11-21T11:39:00.000-06:00

Okay, I know we haven't even celebrated Thanksgiving yet but Jer decided to break out the Christmas movies over the weekend and it put me in the mood to decorate. :) We made the mistake of keeping our old Christmas tree in the basement of the old house and it developed a musty smell so we picked up a new one this year. Since our new house is fun and retro, we decided to go with a white tree and found this one at Walmart for only $40! It is actually a lot fuller than our old one too. I'll have to share pictures of that later though because I underestimated how many lights I would need and currently only half of the tree is lit.

Anyway, today I am here to talk about the new tree skirt that I made! A couple of years ago I made a Snowy White Fleece Tree Skirt which we really liked but since we have a white tree now, I wanted something with a pop of color. Normally I'm not a big fan of ruffles but I have seen a bunch of tutorials for ruffled tree skirts and they were pretty cute so I decided to try it out. I was even able to make it using fabric that I already had in my stash!

I measured the diameter of my tree which was about 44". It was perfect since that was the width of some spare fabric that I had. To make the basic skirt shape you can use a measuring stick like I did with my old skirt. Or you can fold the fabric in half, then in fold that in half two more times like you would fold a piece of paper to make a snowflake. Then cut a curved line along the bottom and snip off the top. You should now have a large circle with a small circle in the middle. Cut a straight line from the edge into the middle so you can slide it on to the tree.

Next you will need to cut the strips for your ruffles. I made mine 4" wide and cut it straight from my mini fabric bolt. If you are making the entire thing with the same fabric you will need about 3 1/2 or 4 yards. If you want each layer to be a different fabric,there is a little break down below of approximately how much you will need of each kind. Just remember that the amount will vary depending on how tightly you bunch your fabric. It also makes a difference how thick your fabric is. My silver fabric is thicker than the red and I seemed to use less of it. As you see below, layers 2 and 3 used the same number of strips even though layer 3 was smaller and should have used less. Like I said, this is just a basic guideline.

Each strip is 4" x 44". If your fabric is a width other than 44" you will want to adjust the amount.

Starting from the outside in:

Layer 1 Red = 6.5 strips

Layer 2 Silver = 4.5 strips

Layer 3 Red = 4.5 strips

Layer 4 Silver = 3.5 strips

Layer 5 Red = 2 strips

Layer 6 Red = 1.5 strips

Layer 7 Red = .5 strip

Most stores like to cut in either whole yard or half yard anyway so basically you will want 1 yard for layers 1-3, and 1/2 yard for layers 4-7. You can even do without layer 7 if you don't mind a bigger hole around the base of your tree.

Hopefully that breakdown was more helpful than it was confusing. Lol!

Now that your strips are ready, it is time to start gluing them in place. I considered sewing the skirt but the bunching part was faster with glue. Unless you want to ruffle the strips first and then sew them to the skirt. Anyway, you just make a 2 or 3 inch line of hot glue and stick the edge of your fabric strip to it, bunching it up as you go. Continue this all the way around the edge of your skirt.

Some people have mentioned getting hot glue burns during this process but I didn't have any problems with that. Either I have gotten better at avoiding burns or my fingers gotten used to it and I just don't notice anymore. :) If you are getting burns though, some people have suggested wearing gardening gloves or pushing the fabric down with a dowel rod or pencil instead of using your fingers.

Depending on the look that you are going for, you could stop right here and it would be pretty cute with just the edge ruffled. The rest will probably be covered with presents anyway. You could even stick on some cute ribbon to cover your glued edge. Or maybe some thick rick rack or pom pom trim. I didn't like the color of my base fabric though and I wanted the skirt to pop even more so I kept going.

For the remaining layers I made a dotted line about three inches above the previous line. Then just continue gluing and bunching.

My white fabric has some silver glitter on it which gives my skirt just a touch of sparkle. As you can see in this photo, the cheapo red fabric is fraying. I don't have a problem with that but if it is something that will bother you, you might want to find a thicker, higher quality fabric. I didn't do anything to treat the edges of the silver fabric and it isn't fraying at all just because it is better quality.

I almost don't want to put the presents under the tree now because it will cover up my pretty ruffles!

Pom Pom Flowers

2012-11-13T11:13:00.000-06:00

Our living room was in need of a little pop of color so I made some cute little pom pom flowers! Much better than real flowers because they won't die and I don't have to worry about it getting knocked over and dumping water everywhere. With a rambunctious little boy and a large dog around, you have to consider these things! They were really easy to put together and didn't take long at all which brings up my new series: Quick Crafting.

Well, I don't know if it really qualifies as a "series" because I don't plan on posting it on a specific day but it will be a regular theme that will pop up every week or so. Basically, I know that a lot of you are very busy and don't have much time for crafting so I made up this button to give you a heads up when a project is something that can be completed during a lunch break or while watching your favorite sitcom. :) Just click on the button that you see in a post and you will find even more projects with the Quick Crafting tag.

I have seen some people making pom poms using the tines of a fork but they were a little small for what I was going for so I made my own form out of cardboard. For this size, cut a piece of cardboard to 2" wide x 3" tall. Then cut a 2" line down the middle leaving 1" at the bottom uncut. Slide a 5" piece of yarn down the slit.

* For different sizes, just cut the width of your cardboard to whatever you want the diameter of your pom pom to be.

Then start wrapping your yarn around the cardboard. The number of times that you wrap the yarn will determine how full or wispy your pom poms are. I wrapped mine thirty times.

Now take one end of your loose yarn from the first step and pull it around your bundle and through the slit in the cardboard. Now both ends should be on the same side.

Tightly pull the loose ends around your bundle and secure with a knot.

Use scissors to cut each of the sides. You can also slide the bundle off of the cardboard and then cut it but I find it harder to make sure you cut every single loop that way.

Slide your pom pom off of the cardboard and fluff it up. You can then trim the ends to round it up a bit. I didn't want them to look too uniform though so I left them kind of shaggy.

Cut a piece of 18 gauge wire to the length that you want your stem to be plus a 1/2". Slide about 1/2" of the wire through the strand of yarn in the middle that is holding everything together. Bend the wire over like in the picture above.

If you want your flowers to have a more natural-looking stem you could use floral wire or wrap your wire with green tape. You could also grab some twigs from the yard and use those as stems! I liked just the plain wire because we have a lot of chrome accents in our house.

Then pop your flowers into a vase (or in this case a Coca-Cola bottle).

Here are my flowers in their new home. They kind of remind me of the truffula trees from The Lorax.

I dreamed of painting the piano a fun color like this one but since Shelby's current collection of guitars and drum set have natural wood finishes I decided to leave it alone. Maybe I will make a colorful cushion for the piano bench sometime. For now, I will just have to be happy with the splash of color from my flowers. :)

Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

2012-11-08T12:39:00.000-06:00

Oatmeal raisin cookies are one of my husband's favorites but I have to admit that in our eight years together this is the first time that I have ever made him any. I never really liked them because I prefer super soft cookies and it seemed like they were always kind of crunchy. So I decided that it was time to look for a new recipe. I did a search for *chewy* oatmeal cookies and saw one that caught my eye. It was from The Girl Who Ate Everything and I have tried a few of her recipes before that they were all amazing! This recipe is no different. They are large, chewy, bakery-quality cookies. I think I have eaten more of them that my husband has!

Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

adapted from The Girl Who Ate Everything

Ingredients:

2 cups All-Purpose Flour

1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda

1/2 teaspoon Salt

3/4 cup Unsalted Butter, melted

1 cup Packed Brown Sugar

1/2 cup White Sugar

1 teaspoon Ground Saigon Cinnamon

1 Tablespoon Pure Vanilla Extract

1 Egg

1 Egg Yolk

1 1/2 cups Instant Oats

1 cup Raisins

Preheat oven to 325F.

Melt butter and let cool slightly. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat melted butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until well blended. Add cinnamon, vanilla, egg, and egg yolk. Beat for 2-3 minutes until light and creamy. Add flour mixture and blend until just combined. Fold in the oats and raisins. Mix together with a spoon.

Place 1/4 cup balls of dough onto non-stick cookie sheet (if you don't have non-stick, lightly grease your cookie sheet or line with parchment paper). Bake for 16 minutes or until the bottoms are lightly browned and center looks slightly soft. Do not overbake. Let the cookies sit for 2 minutes then remove to a cooling rack.

Makes 18 Cookies.

Nutrition Facts: 1 Cookie = 247 Calories, 8.5g Fat, 11.5mg Cholesterol, 103.7mg Sodium, 32.5g Carbohydrates, 1.5g Fiber, 17.5g Sugars, 2.3g Protein

5 Minute No-Slip Dish Towel

2012-11-06T16:19:00.000-06:00

I saw Cute As A Fox's idea for this no-fall dishtowel over on Curbly a few months ago and thought that it was a brilliant idea! Every fracking time I open the oven, my dish towel falls on the floor. Not cool.

I changed the tutorial up a bit to make this project even easier and give it cleaner lines because those ruffles/pleats/whatchamacallits just aren't my thing. This modification made this a super quick and easy 5-minute-project! Seriously, it took me five times longer to edit the photos and write this post than it did to make the dish towel itself.

Start with a cute dish towel, pot holder, and button. Just pretend that you see the button in this pic, m'kay? I found my towel at Walmart and the pot holder came from Dollar Tree awhile back. The button was just laying around in my stash.

Wow. I am having a really hard time focusing today. After writing the part above, all I could think of was the fact that I wrote pot (holder) and stash in the same paragraph. Yep. My mind just went there. Moving on...

Fold your towel into thirds the long way so that it is the same width as your pot holder. Mine was already folded to the perfect size so I just left it the way it was. If you have to fold your own, you might want to press the sides with a warm iron so that everything stays in place.

Find the middle of your towel and mark a line down the center. You could use some kind of washable fabric pencil or chalk but I figured that no one will ever see that part so I just used a pen. Mark the center of your pot holder as well (make sure that the loop is on the left or right side and not at the top of your line.

Line up your markings with the towel on top of the pot holder. Sew along the line that you marked and back stitch the ends to keep your stitches from unraveling.

Sew a button on the front center of the pot holder side with no loop. You will want a big button so that the loop has something to hold on to but not so big that the button won't go through the loop. My button is about 1 1/8" in diameter and fits perfectly through my pot holder loop.

Slide your pot holder through the handle on your oven with the loop in the back. Pull the loop over the handle and secure around the button.

Ta Da! Cute AND functional! It says, "Yes, I'm pretty, but hello, I'm smart." Can anyone name that show? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

Okay...I should probably cut back on the coffee...