A Little After Christmas Shopping

 

 

Good morning!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. :)

As for my family and I, we spent about a week with my sister in town which was really special. She was visiting us from Florida and our daugther had a blast with her. It was sad seeing our little one wake up in the morning and head to the guest room to see if her Auntie was there just to find that she had already left for the airport. But once we got to opening presents, she was excited again and couldn't wait to play with the things she received.

It was a nice Christmas overall and I hope yours was too!

 

 

My daughter and I went for a little after Christmas shopping today at Target and Kohls and found 4 rolls of Christmas wrapping paper on sale for $3.00 and we also purchased a Christmas stocking for our new little one coming soon, Lydia. I didn't go crazy buying things since we don't really need much, but it was temtping I must say. It can be hard to pass up deals at 50% to 70% off.

Thankfully shopping with a little one makes that a little easier because I know I can't spend hours at a place "just to look around." It helps keep things in perspective.

 

 

We plan on heading to the thrift store later today to find some boots for our girl. I bought a nice brown pair a week and a half ago for $3.00!!!! After that, I really can't find myself spending more than $5.00 on kids shoes, especially since she grows out of them so quickly. And she loves her $3.00 thrift store boots too!! She loves stomping around the house in them and walking around places with them on. I think my little girl has a secret love for shoes that might grow more and more as she gets older. ;)

 

 

How about you?

Did you find yourself doing any after Christmas shopping or did you stay in and lay low?

 

 

Thanks for stopping by!



Buffet Table Update

Hi there and good morning!!

I hope you have had a good start to the week so far....can't believe it is already Thursday! :)

Well, I have been wanting to update the buffet table we purchased at the thrift store a few months ago. We bought it for $45 which I think was a sweet, sweet deal! What I loved about the buffet table was its style and look. You will see what I am talking about in some of the pictures below.



So to the right in the picture above, you can see what the buffet table looked like once we picked it up from the thrift store.

The brown toned wood wasn't a bad color but I really needed to lighten up the space, especially since the table is so dark already (and in the future we are talking about getting laminate wood flooring too). All that wood would be too heavy in the dining room, so I needed to paint it.

Here is what she looked like after priming with Zinsser. Love that stuff!

I didn't worry too much about the details on the inside of the buffet table since no one would really be looking that close....plus, it is going to be filled with things anyways.

Now, I still have to paint this baby (which I have already done) but haven't posted pictures of them yet because I still need to take them and upload first.

It is still a work in progress in this room. There are a few things I would like to change but that will again come with time.

Don't those handles look awesome?!! I love them!

I also love the intricate detail of the doors. :)

That's it for now and hopefully I can get the pictures of the updated buffet table uploaded soon and ready for the blog!

Thanks for stopping by!

Working on Some Projects

 

Hi there!

How are you doing?

 

Well, I have had some mini projects going on around the house but once again, have been slacking on taking pictures of everything. Once I do and upload them all, I will post.

 

In the meantime, I thought I would share some inspirational photos of neat Christmas ideas and decor.

 



Traditional Kitchen design by Little Rock Interior Designer Tobi Fairley Interior Design

This is such a gorgeous inspirational photo for a dining room at Christmas time.

Love it all!

 

Contemporary Living Room design by Seattle Interior Designer It's The Little Things...

 

I really like the simplicity and neutrality of decor in the photo above.

The red and silver ornaments look so cute and elegant on the mantle.

I may have to remember this one for next Christmas.

 

 

Traditional Dining Room design by Kansas City Media And Blogs Michelle Edwards

 

This table setting is beautiful!!! And the candy canes wrapped around the candle with ribbon is such a good idea. So festive!!

 

 

Traditional Spaces design by Other Metro Media And Blogs My Sweet Savannah

 

I was really drawn to this picture because of the all white colors that pop with the accent colors of black and red. I would love to find a jar like the one above that is holding those marshmallows. Something like that can be used for anything!

 

 

Well, those were some inpsirational photos that I found off of Houzz.com and I just get inspired to create and decorate our home. I can't wait to share more pictures of our home with you soon.

 

Thanks for stopping by!

Monday 12/17/2012

 

Well, today is still a bittersweet day after what happened last Friday morning.

My heart and prayers are still going out to those families who lost loved ones- especially the children. :(

 

Last Friday was also my husband's birthday and I was planning a big post for him, but after hearing the news Friday of this horrible tragedy, I just couldn't bare myself to write anything down on the blog. Overall, we had a good time celebrating Chris' birthday just being a family and being with each other- talking, listening to one another, sharing a meal at the dinner table, etc. It's something I take for granted all too often and am reminded of how things can change in an instant.

 

 

A verse that was a calming peace to me this weekend comes from Hebrews.

 

Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

~Hebrews 2:17-18

 

 

 

These verses were spoken at our small group Bible study on Tuesdays and at church on Sunday and it really touched me. Just how the Lord understands our pain and what we go through because he alone sent his Son to die for us who experienced many sorrows as well.

It also made me think of those who are hurting or troubled who need help and just can't seem to find anyone to listen. I pray that we all become a listening ear to those around us who are struggling and never cease to stop praying for them and for our country.

 

Those were my thoughts this morning that I wanted to share with you and I hope you are being comforted by the words of our Father this week (and everyday!)

 

 

Thanks for stopping by!

Chevron Curtains

Okay, so I am back again to talk about my charcoal chevron curtains! :)

This time I have done something a little different with them in our family room since I last switched things up. If you remember yesterday's post about the chevron curtains I DIYed in our kitchen then you know I am going to post about the new ones in our family room.

So again, without further ado, I have some pictures to show you of how they look.

I will spare you the details because all I did was just cut the fabric that was leftover and hung them up using curtain rings.

Here they are!

Sorry about the mess...didn't bother to clean up all the toys for the picture. ;)

You can see the long curtains on the left side in the picture above as opposed to the other option I had with the shorter curtains on the right side.

I really like the long curtains!! It looks much better than the ones there before. :)

And I also spray painted some of our brown picture frames so they blend a little better with the decor and color scheme.

Do you love the chevron pattern too? Do you have anything like it in your own home?

Thanks for stopping by folks!!

Chevron Curtains...Moving Around

 

Hi everyone!!

I hope you had a fabulous weekend.

Can you believe Christmas is right around the corner??

I feel like it was just yesterday that my family and I gathered together to celebrate Christmas when our daughter was just 6 months old! Can't believe it's here again and we have another little girl on the way soon...time just keeps going by soooo fast!

 

Anyways...I did manage to get a little DIY done recently and wanted to share with you all the progress. Just when I think I have a good solution to designing our home, another idea pops into my head and I just have to try it out.

That is exactly what happened with the chevron curtains I hung in our family room....which ended up being moved to the kitchen (More on that later).

 

So here is what I started out with:

 

 

I purchased some chevron (charcoal in color) fabric from Amazon.com and cut the fabric down to the size I needed.

 

Then I laid out the fabric on the old curtains we had to see what it would look like putting the two together.

 

Then I used Steam-A-Seam2 instead of sewing to keep the fabric onto the old curtains.

 

And this is what the curtains looked like after they were hung up in our room.

 

It wasn't bad, but I really wanted to see what the chevron fabric would look like in our kitchen and I wanted to see what the chevron fabric would look like hung by themselves in the family room.

 

So I decided to do a little switcheroo and these ended up in the kitchen.

 

I kind of like them here better because it seems to go well with the chevron seating I made for our kitchen nook.

 

I think I still need to get use to them in here, but I'm kind of digging it right now.

What do you think?

 

And I will post about the other chevron curtains in our family room tomorrow hopefully.

Here's to hoping it will look good in the other room too!

 

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

 



The Wings Were a Great Hit!!

 

 

Just popping in to say "Hello!" and happy Saturday!

 

I also wanted to mention that the wings I made yesterday for some friends and my family were a big hit and were delicious.

You can find out more about these recipes and my blog post about how to make them here.

Have a great Saturday and Sunday folks!!  :)



Source


Thanks for stopping by!

Yummy Wings Recipes

Hi there!

 

Just wanted to post about some wing recipes I found online recently.

I am planning on making 2 kinds of flavored wings for guests coming over to our house on Friday for dinner (which is tomorrow, yes).  :)

I thought making wings would be fun because yesterday for dinner I made oriental chicken wings in my crock-pot and it was delish.

 

Here are the recipes if you are interested in making them and hopefully I will be back either Saturday or Monday to let you know how they turned out.

 

I am also planning on making a cheesy asparagus dish as a side in my crock-pot! Mmmmm....tasty!!

 

Here is the recipe for buffalo wings:

(from FoodNetwork.com)

Ingredients

• 12 whole chicken wings
• 3 ounces unsalted butter
• 1 small clove garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup hot sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Directions

Place a 6-quart saucepan with a steamer basket and 1-inch of water in the bottom, over high heat, cover and bring to a boil.

Remove the tips of the wings and discard or save for making stock. Using kitchen shears, or a knife, separate the wings at the joint. Place the wings into the steamer basket, cover, reduce the heat to medium and steam for 10 minutes. Remove the wings from the basket and carefully pat dry. Lay the wings out on a cooling rack set in a half sheet pan lined with paper towels and place in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Replace the paper towels with parchment paper. Roast on the middle rack of the oven for 20 minutes. Turn the wings over and cook another 20 minutes or until meat is cooked through and the skin is golden brown.

While the chicken is roasting, melt the butter in a small bowl along with the garlic. Pour this along with hot sauce and salt into a bowl large enough to hold all of the chicken and stir to combine.

Remove the wings from the oven and transfer to the bowl and toss with the sauce. Serve warm.

 

 

And here is the second wing recipe I am going to try- Peppery Parmesan-Crusted Wings:

(from grouprecipes.com)

 

Ingredients

---

• 2 cups Italian-style bread crumbs                                                 
• 1 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 2 teaspoons black pepper
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour seasoned with salt and black pepper
• 2 eggs, beaten                                                 
• 12 whole chicken wings                               
• ranch dressing or other sauce for serving, optional

 

How to make it

---

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
• Line a baking sheet with foil and coat with nonstick spray.
• Using 2 shallow plates, combine the bread crumbs, cheese and 2 teaspoons black pepper on one and place the seasoned flour on the other.
• Place the beaten eggs in a bowl.
• Dredge each chicken wing in the seasoned flour, shake off any excess, dip in the egg mixture and then roll in the bread crumbs -- patting the crumb mixture to adhere.
• Set on the prepared baking sheet.
• Repeat with all the chicken wings.
• Spray the chicken wings lightly with nonstick cooking spray.
• Bake for 40 minutes or until the wings are cooked through.
• Remove from oven and serve with dipping sauce, if desired.

Have you ever made home-made chicken wings??

A Little Bit of Christmas at Our House

 

Hi all! Hope you are having a good Tuesday!

 

:)

 

I wanted to share a few pictures of our Christmas tree and our Christmas mantle. We decided to go simple this year...since this is our first house and we don't have much to decorate with (which I prefer) we kept things simple in decor. This was also nice because I have always wanted a simply decorated Christmas tree and this year we have one! Our first Christmas tree too!! :)

I decided to go with blue and silver as the main colors of the tree since we have navy as a big accent color around our home.

 

So here are a few pictures I took to post.

I hope to take a few more around the house as it gets decorated.

 

 

 

 

I really love the way the blue and silver decor turned out on the tree!

I also used pine cones from Home Depot to decorate the tree. I didn't purchase any hooks for our ornaments because we have little ones, but used sewing string instead.

 

 

 

 

Here is a quick picture of the navy armchairs I painted a while back and a picture of our bookshelves I made from dressers and storage cubes.

 

 

 

These Gator ornaments we got as Christmas gifts a few years ago.

Go Gators!!

 

 

 

Love decorating our bookshelves with meaningful figurines.

 

 

 

Next year, we will need a stocking for our new baby girl, Lydia!

I am planning on getting one after Christmas this year with an "L" on it and hope to get one in blue with a checkered pattern to match.  :)

 

 

 

And this jar I purchased at the thrift store a few months ago and decorated it with ornaments my mom sent us.

Love it!!

 

Sharing at 5days5ways blogspot.

 

Have you started decorating your home for Christmas?

 

 

Thanks for stopping by!



Finished Storage Bench

Hi there! Happy Monday!

Did everyone have a good weekend??

It has been quite chilly here so we have been staying indoors a little bit more and relaxing and spending time together as a family. It's always nice to be able to do that. :)

I wanted to post about my finished storage bench that I did recently and I have some pictures to show you too.

I didn't take any pictures of the steps I did to make the cushions for our storage bench because it is fairly simple to do....but I did make sure to take some pictures of the final result.

 And in case you missed my blog posts about how I made our storage bench, you can look here for some of the steps and you can also look here for the rest of the process.

ARE YOU READY TO SEE THE FINAL PICTURES???

Ok, here we go!!

So we started out by heading to JoAnn's for some green foam that was 1" thick. JoAnn's was having a 60% off sale on foam so I purchased enough to cover my DIY bench.

I also got some more foam for our kitchen nook bench but that will be for another post which is to come soon!

I measured out how much foam I needed and cut it down to size to fit the bench.

Next, I used some leftover fabric (which I also used to cover an ottoman and a pillow) to go over the foam and placed it on the bench.

I just hot glued the fabric to the foam and kept things easy.

That way, if I ever need to recover the bench cushion with new fabric in the future, all I have to do is take off the old fabric and replace it with the new fabric.

Easy peasy!!

And the Pampers box to the right of the bench has its place there for a reason. ;)

I plan on recovering it with some left-over fabric and using it as a storage box for our kiddos toys and such.

YAY for home-made projects!!

Have you recovered any pieces in your home lately?