Menu Plan Monday

This week will be a little different. Monday we will be going out to eat to help save Chuck on NBC. It is a show that is written very well and I would be sad to see it leave. I feel like if I can do anything to help save it I should.


Sunday: Orzo Salad

Monday: Subway, part of the save Chuck campaign.

Tuesday: Chicken Quesadillas (maybe one week it's on the plan I'll actually make it)

Wednesday: Big Salad

Thursday: Mexican Pizza knock-off, my version of the Taco Bell favorite

Firday: Date Night

Saturday: Pizza

For more great menu plans and recipes check out Orgjunkie.com.

Gettin' Crafty

Another spray paint post, yay! This isn't only about spray paint though. I had a set of frames that aren't completely hideous but I'm tired of looking at them as is, and I have five of them. Believe me I've learned my lesson, table top frames are best if there aren't a million just like them in the same house.
Before:

Hi! That's me and my husband six months before we got married. I would give anything to look like that again, without the bangs. In comes trusty white spray paint to the rescue, for the frame not me. :)

Ahh, much better! My dilemma started here, what do I do with my newly updated frame. Have you seen some of the 3-D artwork around lately, I thought maybe I could create some myself. So I headed to hobby lobby to see if I could find some neat key's or maybe some keyholes I could use. This is what I found.

So cute! A whole set waiting for different projects. It is missing one key because I forgot to take a picture before I painted it, oops. Best of all metalwork was 50% off that week (it is a lot wait till it goes on sale to buy) so I got all five for $6.00. Not bad!
I didn't want to paint the back of the frame, instead I wanted a little bit of pattern. In comes trusty scrapbook paper. On sale at hobby lobby that week for a quarter a sheet. Another great score.
The end result.

A cute project if I do say so myself.

Cost break down:
Frame, free had for years
Spray paint, free left over from another job
Key, $1.20
Scrapbook paper, 25 cents

Not bad for $1.45! Just wait till the piece it will sit on is painted, you won't want to miss it.

This post is linked to (or will be) to We Are THAT family, Works for Me Wednesday.
Bissfully Domestic, check out the button in the side bar for the link.
Hooked On Houses, what are you hooked on?

Feathers and Eggs

The Nesting Place is a have a linky party to show where you have your feather and egg prints from L.Herbert Designs. I love the prints unfortunately I don't have any. Lucky for me she is giving away a set!! All you have to do is show where your prints would hang.

So here is my bathroom that is being remodeled. Yea, it's just a blank patched up wall right now, we should have the machine to add texture tonight. If we manage to get that we will be able to get that done this weekend.


It's ugly but it will have help! The paint is a gorgeous blue from Glidden, called Mountain Creek. And yes that is dust you see on the top. Normally it takes me a very long time to pick a paint color, bu this one came easily! I bought it quick before I had a chance to change my mind, and that was quite a bit earlier than we would need it.

That's not the only thing going on the walls, no sir! We are putting white wainscoting on the lower half. It's a new product to us that looks very easy to use. I had it in my last bathroom but you could see the seem, that drove me crazy! Here is a picture of the product.

It's looks like a great product and I'm so excited that it could possibly be up soon.
Now, I know you are thinking wait why does she want brown and blue in a blue and white room. Here is my shower curtain.

See, blue and brown! It isn't hanging yet because I don't want to shame it, lol.

Nester I really NEED those prints. They would hang beautifully in my bathroom upon completion. Thanks for making me post about my bathroom as well. Maybe it will be done a little sooner.

Chicken Quesadillas

Such and easy dinner that everyone will love. You can pick and choose your perfect filling, and kids especially love having that control. That includes my big 31 year old kid, lol.

Chicken:

Place 2-3 large chicken breast pieces in a crock pot with one can of enchilada sauce. That's it! Cook about 4 hours on high (check after about 3 I think my crockpot cooks a little slow) shred meat and let cook another 30 min. until enchilada sauce is absorbed. Perfectly seasoned shredded meat, great for enchiladas too!

Fillings are totally up to you. We like Onion and Bell Pepper sauteed in a little butter. Montery Jack and Pepper Jack Cheese. With a little bit of refried beans.

Take a flour tortilla, we prefer soft taco size, place a thin layer of refried beans on each side. Spray some butter spray or butter flavored cooking spray on the outside of each tortilla. Fill with your favorite fixing and cook in skillet until nice and crispy. Cut into wedges and serve. We like to dip ours in sour cream and salsa.

For more great recipes visit Jen @ Balancing Beauty and Bedlam.
And check out my button in the side bar to go to Blissfully Domestic. Where you can not only find great recipes but fantastic homemaking tips.

Menu Plan Monday

Last week we had take out twice, not something I'm proud of but life get's in the way.

I did get to make the Cajun Dirty Rice, it was very good! It will be in a regular rotation, I'll be making up everything but the rice for the freezer really soon. I'll post the recipe tomorrow hopefully, if not tonight.

This week DH has requested some favorites. He would have the same thing week after week if I let him. That gets old to me very quick. Two will be carry overs from last week because of the take out.

Sunday: Ice Cream for dinner. Yes, I'm serious! It's a fun out of the ordinary treat sometimes and totally fun. Try it one night and see if you don't feel like a kid cheating before dinner. This is best done on a day when you have a late lunch.

Monday: Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup

Tuesday: Tex Mex Egg Rolls

Wednesday: Chicken Qusadillas

Thursday: Sloppy Joe's

Friday: Date Night

Saturday: Not sure, we need a meatless meal. I'm tired of our usual ideas for that.

For more great menu plans and more recipes than you can handle be sure to check out Orgjunkie.com.

Ahh... The wonders of spray paint part 2

Once again my inspiration came from Jen over at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam. She is a wiz with her spray paint. She had a blog post about using it on brass. Yes, brass!

Let's face it brass has lost it's value. The only bad thing is there were so many pieces and some rather cool designs that were made. I, like most I'm sure, always looked past it at garage sales. Jen didn't and I for one am glad she decided to give brass another look. I found these lovely treasures at the first garage sale of the season.



My husband looked at me like I was crazy when I said I wanted them. He certainly didn't want any brass up anywhere, I couldn't blame him before Jen's post I didn't either. I decided to give the spray paint a try, if it didn't work I would only be out $2 (for all 4 pieces!) the spray paint I would only lose a trivial amount. On the way home we picked up a can of lacquer spray paint, to me lacquer gives a much better result than a traditional paint. Plus, it is a very durable surface that bonds to metal fairly well. This is the end result.




Isn't it cute! I got some rather good looking white pieces out o the deal. The butterflies are going in my nieces bedroom, it has lots of butterflies all over the place. The key will go in a spot with family photos as it is a play on our last name. I hope to find lot of different key's all over the place this year.

A few tips if you are planning on doing this yourself.

1. Clean your piece well. I like to wash it in regular soapy water, then rub alcohol all over. The alcohol makes sure you dissolve anything the detergent might have left behind or missed.

2. Go over lightly with FINE sandpaper. And I do mean lightly, if you go to deep the scratches will show.

3. Go over with alcohol once more. It gets the dust off and makes sure there is no lasting residue to interfere with the paint sticking.

4. Just like in my door redo make sure to go cover lightly, drips can happen easily and they aren't pretty.

Leave to dry and you have a great looking brass piece that can stand the test of time!

This post is linked to Hooked On Houses, what are you hooked on?
For more great Works for me Wednesday tips head on over to We Are THAT Family.

Menu Plan April 12

Last week was hit and miss. Most of the new recipes we tried were lacking something, the Spicy Lime Chicken had a little too much lime. I'm going to tweak the recipes a bit before I post them, I would never give you a recipe that I didn't think was really good.

This week is going to be a bit more simple.

Sunday: Pizza, not something we have often

Monday: Cajun Dirty Rice

Tuesday: Chicken Quesadillas

Wednesday: Big Salad night, I'm going to try to make this a weekly thing

Thursday: Tex-Mex Egg Rolls

Friday: Date Night, we always eat out

Saturday: Breakfast for Dinner, something we don't do often enough.

Nothing super fancy, the only recipe that is new to us will be the Dirty Rice. I'm hoping it will be a hit since it's from a freezer cooking cookbook.

I'm wanting to incorporate more meatless meals into our diet, if you have a great one let me know. I have a lentil and brown rice taco filling that I want to try but I'm scared, lol.

For more great menu options check out Menu Plan Monday over at Orgjunkie.com.

A few good links

This week I have traveled all over blogland. I thought I would share a few links with you.

A few of my new favorite blogs.

A Soft Place to Land
Kimba has a wonderful blog filled with projects to make your home a soft place to land. I for one am going to her botanical prints project. I actually like hers better than the fancy pictures she posted. She is full of great inexpensive home decor ideas, and what she can do with a yard sale find and spray paint, it's amazing.

The Inspired Room
Melissa finds the most amazing home decor pictures to inspire you creativity. She also her own projects, she did an amazing window concealment here. Definitely one to check out.

Southern Hospitality
Rhonda's blog holds a special place in my heart, us southern girls have to stick together. She finds the most amazing things at yard sales, I don't know how she does it. Decorating tips abound on this blog. Her foyer is changed out with the seasons and is amazing each time. Here is a springtime look.

A few good projects.
Dollar Store Crafts has an odd one this week, just too cute not to share. Alien Abduction Lamp.

Living with Lindsay has a cute bathtub storage idea here.

The Devine Homes hallway makeover is great!

Garlic Surplus

I love buying garlic in bulk, especially the big containers of already peeled cloves. I throw those in my food processor and pulse till I get a minced texture. Add a little of olive oil and salt, then drop by the tablespoon in an ice tray. Make sure to really press it in, when hard pop out and put in a freezer bag. It is very easy to throw it in any recipe.

If someone in your family doesn't like chunky garlic bits let the food processor go until almost pureed. Add a little bit of olive oil to make it a little more liquid, garlic has a tendency to be paste like. Do the same process as above and use in any recipe asking for garlic.

It couldn't be easier and it is a huge time saver! Fresh garlic (even when frozen) tastes so much better in your recipes than garlic powder. Although, this year I am going to experiment with making my own powders.

For more great Works for me Wednesday tips visit We Are THAT Family.

Menu Plan April 5th

This week there will be a lot of new recipes. I'm getting tired of the same old thing day in, day out. You will see lots of chicken because it was on sale. Check back later for recipes if they make the cut.

Sunday: My dear husband is bringing home food from my favorite Chinese restaurant. He had to go south, the city we used to live in, so he said he would pick me up something to eat. He is the greatest!

Monday: Beef BBQ

Tuesday: Chicken in Herbed Mustard Sauce

Wednesday: Tomato Sauce and Noodles (and old one but it is so healthy we try to eat it often)

Thursday: Chicken Quesadillas with homemade Refried Beans

Friday: Date Night

Saturday: Spicy Lime Chicken with Black Bean and Rice Salad

For over 400 menu plans and lot of great recipes be sure to visit OrgJunkie.com!

Ahh... The wonders of spray paint

Jen over at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam (one of my favorite blogs you should check it out) had a post up about spray paint. She is a woman after my own heart! I love spray paint and think that it is under utilized. She inspired me to make a post about my front door redo. This was done last September, aka the breaking point. You see my front door used to look like this, very BLAH! I do have to say that I had already sanded down the door frame, it didn't look that bad to start. Although, it wasn't far.

There were days I didn't want to enter, or even admit this was my door. I had gone shopping for a new door and the one I fell in love with was over $500, no thank you! I plan on moving away from this house and I'm not putting that kind of money into a door. Things like flooring I'll splurge on, a beautiful finish underfoot can make your whole day better. If you think I'm kidding save up and buy new carpet, tile, etc. and see how good you feel! I digress... Although I do not like the little window that has flowers etched into it, I'm not a flower etching kinda girl, I figured I could live with it. Being that my door is metal I know it was in great shape (not rot or termites) it just needed a spruce up. I armed myself with my trusty spray paint, this time in Cardinal Red Gloss by Rustoleum. Of course my spray paint and cleaning supplies.
We took the door off of the hinges and laid it flat in the front yard. I gave the door a good scrubbing, sanding, and taped off the window. One final once over with a damp cloth and let it dry. Then I went to town, making sure to do light coats so my paint wouldn't pool, it takes forever to dry if spray to much. I also fixed any holes and gaps in the door frame and sprayed with a regular white spray paint. Here is the after.


A door I actually want to come home to! As you can see the door isn't in perfect condition but it looks so much better! And from the street you can't tell it has any imperfections.

A few tips if you decided to tackle your front door.

1. Spray paint is just plain better, short of a professional spray job. Brushes leave brush marks. and you don't want that, trust me.

2. Take the door off of your hinges, it makes it a quicker job. You would think leaving it on would be best because you won't have to rehang it. It doesn't work like that.

3. Take the knob off, it is easier than spraying around it. Or do like I did and get a new one, we had one for a while so why not use it.

4. Do a good job of prepping!!! Yes I yelled, it is worth it to spend a little extra time doing a great prep job. Nothing would be worse than the paint starting to peel later because you didn't take the time to clean.

Following those tips my door still looks great and it is almost 7 months later.

We have almost finished our front porch redo. I'm still scouring for the perfect pieces for sections. Once it is complete (minus the spindles and post, I can't stand ours but that will take time to change) I'll let you take a look.

Check back next week when there will be more spray paint goodness, this time with brass!

This post is linked to Hooked on Houses, what are you hooked on?

Taking the time.

Becca spent spring break with us, just like last year. Last year it was hectic and a little nuts. I tried to fit everything I could in and that's when I was still working. This year I tried to do things a little differently, meaning slow down. It was amazing, I feel like we connected better than we had in a long time. I also got to catch up on the lives of the kids at school, I missed knowing what everyone did and said.
We did keep one tradition our annual Spring Break Picnic! Last year it had to be in the living room floor because I put it off and on the last day it rained. I should have taken the time to stop and do the little things instead of things like Chuck E. Cheese. Those aren't the things she will remember!


This year I believe we have started a new tradition, a walk around the lake. We have a beautiful lake at a park that has a 2.4 mile trail around it. We spent over an hour walking and chatting, it was blissful! She said we needed to make this a regular thing, I think she is right.
From our first attempt at a walk around the lake. Two dogs did well, one didn't. This is Becca with our oldest dog Princess, they are good buddies.

Becca pausing on one of the bridges over the lake. The picture really doesn't do the setting justice.

Head on over to see Amy at The Finer Things in Life, for more great Finer Things Friday posts.