Saturday, August 25, 2012

Crafty crap!

I remember seeing a pin of a grapevine wreath that I really liked a few weeks ago. I thought I had pinned it, but apparently, I had not. Oh well, it's super easy to do, and it looks really nice! I wanted something to hang on our front door that wasn't too crafty looking, and wasn't too feminine. (I am, after all, the ONLY female in this house...except for my dog and one of my cats, but they don't count.)

Here are the supplies needed...

Cell phone pic - sorry for the horrible lighting!
A grapevine wreath (they come in lots of different shapes & sizes - I'm pretty sure they can be found in the floral section of most craft stores)
Wooden letter (I chose "L" for my future last name. You could also do your house number too.)
Hydrangea (fake/faux/silk whatevs. I chose white & green, but you really could use any type of flower in any colors you like!)

Paint for wooden letter
Glue gun
Scissors

I pretty much just painted the wooden letter grey (I'm really having a grey moment...or is it spelled gray?) and hot glued the letter onto the wreath where I wanted it. I then cut the white hydrangea in half (because it was expensive for 1 stem, so I didn't want to buy 2!). Cut off the stem, positioned the flowers where I wanted them on the wreath, hot glued them, and BAM! All done. :) See, pretty easy peasy, right?!

Now that it's finished, I just need to get the man to hang it!

Friday, August 24, 2012

unproductive.

This is why I am not getting ANY work done right now...
Lame excuse, right? Whatevs, it's SO WORTH IT right now. The man took the little man for a few hours today and I am enjoying my peaceful time at home ALONE. The only time I'm ever alone is after everyone goes to bed and I decide (for some terrible reason) to stay up late and watch awful reality shows or paint my nails or whatev. And even then I'm not really alone (I have a baby in my tummy, after all...)

So right now I'm supposed to be doing dishes, laundry, vacuuming, organizing, and working on some samples for this new company that I'm selling (more on that later). What am I REALLY doing? Sitting at the dining room table, with my laptop and cell phone, blogging away and sipping on my not-so-healthy-but-pretty-damn-delicious homemade frappe/frappucino/frap-a-what?

(Insert smart sounding word here...like, digree. Ex: I digress.) <--- Makes me feel smarter already! I kid, I kid.

Anyway...you want to make a delicious & refreshing cold coffee slushy drink too?! Alrighty, well here is what I threw into my blender...

2 scoops of chocolate fudge brownie ice cream (I NEVER said this was low cal, ya'll!)
1/4 cup cold coffee (I brew a bunch of cheap coffee really strong, throw it in a pitcher, and put it in the fridge for occasion such as this...)
Splash of caramel macchiato coffee creamer
1/4 cup milk
1 Tablespoon malted milk powder (Just because I had it, and I felt like it!)
handful of ice

Blend away until nice and frothy, pour into a glass, and top with whipped cream if you feel like adding some more calories to this beverage! Voila! Yumminess!! :)

I definitely won't be making any more of these drinks after I have this baby...it's back to calorie counting, working out, and talking about how NOT FUN it is to watch what you eat ALL. THE. FRIGGIN. TIME. But, this baby is not due for another 2 1/2 months, so I will enjoy the non-calorie counting for now. (Plus, I'm still down 5 pounds or so from my PRE-pregnancy weight...not sure how that happened, but I think I have my little 2 year old guy to thank for that. LOTS of running, chasing, playing around with him is my workout secret I suppose...)

FAIL Friday!

Like I promised, here is a Pin that I attempted...and obviously, it failed. But it's fun to see, right?!

Fruit Tacos...from here

This is what I found when I took them out of the oven. Not quite what I had in mind...apparently the paper towel roll covered in foil decided to roll over and flop the cookie dough onto the side of the pan.

Voila! Decided to just bake the cookies the regular way, added whipped cream & macerated strawberries (cut up strawberries & sprinkle with sugar, let sit in fridge for a few hours - they will get nice & soft and syrupy!) and made strawberry shortcake sandwiches. Not exactly what I had planned, but it was delicious anyway!! :)

Friday, August 17, 2012

Fail/Fabulous Friday...

I decided that I'd start posting some of my Pinterest fails. Why? Because it's funny, and because I like to know which Pinterest ideas are a waste of time & money! Some ideas seems way too good to be true, and I'd like to save (my already limited time) for projects that really, REALLY work.
I'll try to post these attempts on Fridays - hence the title "Fail/Fabulous Friday". If the idea I attempt is successful, well, then it will be a Fabulous Friday! If it's not? Well, then we'll have a good time laughing about the Fail Friday! :) You with me? Alright...

I hate cleaning toilets. Like, I'd rather clean up my own vomit than scrub a toilet. But it must be done. I usually wait until I really shouldn't wait any longer to get on my knees (that's what she said) and scrub the damn thing, just so I can relish in the fact that I don't have to do it for another few weeks or whenever. So when I found a pin about cleaning toilets WITHOUT having to scrub anything, I thought, what the heck? Might as well try it!!

FAIL.

The pin claimed that to eliminate odor & have a sparkling clean toilet bowl, all you had to do was pour 1 cup of baking soda in the toilet, let it sit for 1 hour, then flush, and like magic, your toilet would be clean. Too good to be true, right? Correcto.
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Toilet before - not too terrible. There was a slight ring around the top of the water, though.

See? Sprinkle the baking soda in the toilet...looks like I'm trying to flush some drugs...nevermind.
I waited for an hour (or more), flushed, and wasn't too happy with the results. The ring was still there, and I still had to get down on my knees and scrub the toilet. EWIE. Welp, can't always get what we want.

I'm sure if there was a horrible odor or terrible stains or something then this baking soda thing would work. And I guess it wouldn't hurt to try for yourself since baking soda comes in huge boxes and I never find a way to use the whole thing before it expires...

Was that fun? No? Okay, I'll try something more interesting next time so I don't have to take pictures of toilets. :)

Any pins you'd like to request that I try? Let me know in the comments!

Thursday, August 16, 2012

linky love

I don't know about you, but I love to "pretend" online shop. That is, I like to go to various websites, add all the items to my cart that I'm dying to have, then quickly close the window before the hubs (or my wallet) sees the damage that could be done. I have no business buying any more home decor accessories or clearance clothing or that bracelet that I just HAVE TO HAVE. I have plenty as it is already, and with baby #2 on the way, I should be saving all my pennies! Lord knows we need it.

Below are links to the items I just HAVE TO HAVE (in my pretend world) this week...

These candlesticks are AMAZEBALLS and I've wanted them for A LONG TIME... here

I saw these bracelets while shopping for more important things at Target, and because the hubs was with me, I didn't want to act TOO interested in jewelry...so I came home, found them online, and am thinking about buying them all. FO REAL. They are too cute. (BONUS: they are about 7.5" long, which is PERF for my fat, large wrists!) here

Who needs a drink dispenser? Um, I do. For all those parties I throw? Maybe not, but I do want one, and this one is affordable AND cute... here (It's not available online...sooo...maybe I'll go to the store tomorrow and stare at this beauty until I decide that a. I need it b. I don't need it c. I should just buy it.)

Is it tacky to register for a dining room table for your wedding registry? Probably so, but that might not stop me from registering for this... here

I love me some clothes. But being pregnant AND overweight doesn't make me too excited to shop for clothes. But seeing a shirt like this one does make me happy. LOVE IT!

Those are some of the link I'm lovin' this week. If you have some you're loving, share!!



Wednesday, August 15, 2012

easy storage for those pesky scarves that have no home.

I <3 scarves. Not quite sure why/when/where my love affair with scarves began, but it began. I always forget what scarves I have and where they are all hidden, and I've never quite found a good storage solution for them...until now!

All you need is a hanger, some shower curtain loops (not sure what they are really called, but I found mine at Walmart on clearance for 50 cents).

Put shower curtain loopy things onto the hanger, then tie a scarf onto each one. Then hang in your closet and enjoy all your pretty scarves! :)
 

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

beer cake, for the birthday boy.

Just 2 days ago it was the man's birthday. (Or should I say, MY man's birthday? I dunno, it sounds weird. His name is Eddie, he's my fiance, baby daddy, roommate...let's just call him The Man?) ANYWAY...he said all he wanted was a CD. Well, that's just boring. (Of course he got the CD, but my mom gave it to him...I wanted something a little more fun.)
Let's just say The Man loves beer. Not surprising. He doesn't love cake. Once in a while he'll get a hankerin' for something sweet, but overall I'd say he prefers beer to cake. I came across this idea online & thought it sounded super easy (which it KIND OF was) & super creative, so I went for it.


The picture is pretty self explanatory I think...since he turned 31, I bought a 30 pack of beers (needs to be cans so they will stack, obvi!) and I bought 1 nicer beer in a bottle for the top. This took a little bit of planning beforehand to make sure I had the right configuration to use all the beers, and to make sure I could stack them. I think I used 15 cans for the bottom layer, 10 for the middle layer, and 5 for the top (plus 1 bottle). To help support the cans, I cut out a round piece from the box the beers came in, and placed them on top of each layer. After I had stacked the beers, I tied ribbon around each layer. (Is this making any sense?? Just go with it...) I added a few finishing touches (a bow on top and a balloon...The Man speaks Spanish and it's kind of a joke for us, hence the Feliz Cumpleanos balloon...) and voila! BEER CAKE! The Man was definitely surprised & excited when he woke up on his birthday morning to find this on our dining room table. Thankfully the beers were warm, otherwise I'm sure he'd have grabbed a beer & popped it open (Breakfast Beers were very popular in my college days...lol).

And for that sweet tooth? Just in case he felt like he was missing out, I made him a donut sundae for breakfast...

I got the idea for this at our local fair. Glazed donut, vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, chocolate syrup, sprinkles, a cherry, and a candle! I think this is going to be our new tradition for birthday mornings - it was a hit!

Monday, August 13, 2012

Fancy Name Casserole

Ok, so it's not THAT fancy. I found this recipe online a while ago and had been meaning to make it, but I just never did until recently. It's a twist on Chicken Cordon Bleu, which is just a fancy way of saying chicken stuffed with Swiss cheese and ham. I've never attempted to make the real thing, but I am pretty sure this casserole is WAY easier - and it has all the same flavors!
One day I'll learn to take prettier food pix...until then, just deal with it, kay? :)

Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole (or you can call it, Fancy Name Casserole!)
Recipe adapted from here

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and coat a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray.

Spread 2 cups cooked rice in baking dish. (I used white rice but next time I'd try wild rice or brown rice for more flavor.) Season with salt and pepper.

On top of the rice, add 3 cups cooked chicken that has been shredded or chopped. (Shortcut: use a rotisserie chicken & chop that sucker up!)

Layer 6 slices of Swiss cheese on top of the chicken. Then add 10 slices or so (I used more) of chopped ham on top of the cheese.

In a large bowl, mix 1 can cream of mushroom soup (or cream of anything soup), 1/2 cup milk and 1/2 cup sour cream, stir until combined. (I also added about 2 Tablespoons of Dijon mustard - it was yummy!!)

Pour soup mixture on top of ham.

Sprinkle top of casserole with 1 cup or so of seasoned bread crumbs.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 22-25 minutes or until nice and bubbly. (Since the casserole is sort of all one color, I served it with a nice green salad full of veggies. Or, you could add a layer of frozen mixed vegetables into the casserole for a one dish meal!)

And there ya have it! Hope ya'll enjoy!!

Thursday, August 2, 2012

an update...or two.

This was practically in our backyard - YIKES!
So, I know it's been a while since I've posted ANYTHING...and seriously, so much has happened, but life has been CRAY-ZAY! (is it ever NOT crazy for anyone???)

I am now sitting quite comfortably on my couch in our fresh new living room in beautiful, relaxing, amazing, and wonderful SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. YUP, we finally moved. No more posts complaining about mountain/boonie life! We've been here about 2 weeks and it's finally starting to feel like home (again).

Lots of pictures to post, lots of new recipes to share, DIY attempts (and fails!), and more.

Right as we were packing up our Uhaul and getting ready to Uhaul it outta the woods, a wildfire started just a few miles down the highway from us (see pic above). We were able to make it out safely, as was pretty much everyone else (the fire burned mostly in the Trinity Alps National Forest), and we made the 14+ hour drive down to So Cal...only to be informed that 2 wildfires had started in the foothills near Temecula (where we now live). Excellent. I can think of lots of things that I'd LOVE to follow me around, but wildfires? Not one of them.

Tomorrow we leave for a quick trip for a family funeral, but upon our return, prepare to be bombarded with posts/crazy thoughts/recipes/ideas/blah blah blah!!!