It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

It's finally that time of year, and while I love the summertime, I LOVE holiday cheer and the Christmas spirit! The hubs loves the sights, smells and sounds of Christmas and I like to get the house ready while he's out and surprise him when he comes home. With a new house this year I had to get a few extra things but I usually try to decorate using things I already have and on a budget. 

 Before it was a 'thing' to decorate with old windows, my mom was smart enough to save the windows she was having replaced in their home.  We have quite a few and I have found many uses for them. This one was perfect for the shelf with a gold 'G' that I got for $9 from Hobby Lobby.  The silver candle holders are from Ikea and I've had them for awhile.  I actually didn't even move them from my fall shelves I had up. I already had my reindeer and I bought 6 stems of red berries from Hobby Lobby for 75 cents each.

(My sister-in-law used an old window to hang a wreath on above her electric fireplace! What a great idea! I just thought I'd throw her pretty picture in here, too!) 

 

You can you glass jars, cake places, and canopic jars for decorating in any season, and most likely you already have something in your house you could use to fill the glass with.  I just used some small red Christmas balls to fill in these mini cake plates with domes. In the past I've also used mini pine cones, a string of lights, decorating gems, a candle and seasonal greenery. Really anything you have an abundance of that will fit inside works just fine!

 I took a candle that I already had and wrapped some burlap around it.  I tucked some cinnamon sticks in and tied it up with some twine. As soon as I can get my lazy bum up I am going to remove this fake greenery and cut some magnolia leaves from my in laws tree to add to the shelves.  Anytime you can add fresh foliage, go for it! I couldn't help but notice in the Black Friday ads that Home Depot will have fresh 15' garland and wreaths tomorrow.  I may have to go grab some.  The aroma is heavenly!

(Speaking of heavenly aromas, if your husband refuses to get a real tree because he's afraid it'll catch on fire, and you miss the Christmas tree smell that fills your home, you must buy one of these candles!  It's a Febreeze 'Glistening Pine'. It smells just like a real Christmas tree!  I highly recommend it!)

 I kinda love these hanging wicker balls. I used 3m strips to attach the burlap ribbon to the top of the doorway.  I also used them to create a decorative piece above the doorway.

 I filled the bottom of this large Ikea basket with newspaper and put a few different size cans at the bottom (like a can of tuna, can of soup, etc...) so that the candles would sit evenly.  Then I filled it with different size Christmas balls and beads. I love silver and gold together AND I also love anything with gold glitter.  :) I can't help it!

I forgot to take a picture of the tree!  It's standing right next to me in this picture.  Riggins has found a new spot underneath the tree where he likes to lay.  It's sorta sweet :)  The best part of the living room when it comes to Christmas spirit is hooking up my iphone to the speakers and listening to Martina McBride belt her holiday tunes. You can't forget Christmas music when you're wanting to set the Christmas mood! 

We are going to enjoy our Christmas house as long as we can! It always feels empty after we take it down so we have to soak it all up!

Thanks for stopping in and Happy Holidays!

Pumpkin Spiced Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Icing

 First, I must give credit where credit is due! I found this recipe here.  I have to say of all of the recipes I've tried from Pinterest, this is my favorite.   I've been seeing pumpkin recipes all over the place but I think for a sweet pumpkin recipe, this takes the cake! I've taken these cupcakes to all kinds of gatherings and I've never had any leftovers to take home.  And they get some pretty rave reviews!   I use to make pumpkin rolls during the fall but these are so much easier to make!

 2 Dozen Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1 Tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup brown sugar, loosely packed
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 (15-oz.) can pure pumpkin puree
• Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe below) 

In a mixing bowl combine flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  In a separate bowl combine the salt, oil, sugars, eggs, milk and pumpkin puree.  In the original recipe it says to blend the oil and sugars together until fluffy, then add the rest of the wet ingredients.  I never reached a 'fluffy' consistency in doing this so now I just put all of those ingredients in a bowl and mix it up and it turns out just the same.  Why complicate things? Just make sure if you're using a mixer that you scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl.  Add the dry ingredients into the wet and mix until combined. Ta-Da! Pour the batter into the cups, filling them about 3/4 full and bake on 350 for 20 minutes.  While they are baking you can make the icing...

 Cinnamon Cream Cheese Icing
       *This recipe makes A LOT of icing.  You will have plenty to liberally ice all 24 cupcakes!

• 2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
• 7 1/2 to 8 cups confectioner’s sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

 In a mixer (or with a handheld) blend the cream cheese and butter until creamy.  With my Kitchenaid stand mixer I usually let it mix on level six for about two minutes, scraping the sides a few times. Mix in the vanilla and cinnamon. Add the confectioner sugar one cup at a time.  I use right at 7 1/2 cups of sugar. 

It's VERY IMPORTANT that you let your cupcakes cool completely before you ice them. The icing has butter and cream cheese in it! If your cupcake is hot the will melt and slide right off! If you're impatient like me just throw them in the fridge for a few minutes!

I have a few piping bags and tips but I HATE cleaning them.  I'm lazy, what can I say.  So I just use a gallon size Zip Lock baggie.  *My experience is that the off brands bust pretty easily*  I cut a very small tip in a bottom corner and put my icing tip in nice and tight and fill it up with icing.  When I'm done I take out the icing tip and throw the dirty bag away.

 

Dining Room Shelves & Decorating for Halloween

One thing I really miss about our old house is our fireplace.  In the winter there were very few days we didn't have a fire going.  Our house was small enough that the fire would just about warm up the entire place.  And I love the coziness of a fire.  You can't recreate that, but I have attempted to recreate another aspect of the fireplace, the mantle.  The fireplace was the focal point of our last living room and the mantle was usually decorated for the season.  I was inspired by Shelley at House of Smiths to build my own shelves to decorate.  It just so happens that she built the cafe shelves that I wanted from Ballard Design, for much less than they were at BD. I was really happy with the way they turned out.  They are easy to build and less than $100! You can't beat that.  They are up in our dining room and ready for Halloween!

HomeGoods is usually my go-to place for decorating, but I also find some great things at World Market, garage sales and flea markets. 

I made this plate using my Silhouette.  Whenever I see a unique plate or dish on clearance I usually grab it. You never know what you might be able to do with it.

You see the strip running across the bottom of my shelf?  That wasn't there originally and I am a little bummed you can see it, but it turns out there's a large metal air conditioning vent running behind the wall where I was going to hand the shelves.  I had to get creative and find a different way to hang the them and this seemed to be my only option.  

I don't normally do skulls but I was feeling it this year...

A view of the shelf from underneath.  If anyone is wanting to build one I think this picture sums up how I did it....I think... I took some pictures to document the process.  I will try to post them soon!

Thanks for dropping in!

Landscape & Living Room Update

I've had so many people ask for updates and pictures of the house so here's a few! And we still have a long way to go!  We really wanted to save and pay cash for our projects as we go so it's going to take some time, but we are okay with that! 

Let's start with the yard. yikes! We had our work cut out for us.  Here's the yard when we moved in in May... It looks as though the hubs did a few wheelies on the lawn mower! Ooops!

We really weren't sure if we wanted to try to salvage some of the bushes or get rid of everything and start with a clean slate...

We decided that everything must go.  We ripped everything out and currently have black plastic, similar to heavy duty garbage bags, that we have put down over the entire bed that probably won't come up until next spring. Hopefully the weeds will be dead and the soil will be ready for us!

And then there's the living room.  Here's the room when we took possession of the house in May.

After a few coats of paint, carpet pulled up and the hardwood refinished, here's where we were at.

 

 

And here's where we are at today.  It's still not finished but we are closer.  I'm still in search of the perfect rug, something to put up along the back wall and can lighting put in the ceiling. It works for now though!

In a perfect world I would love some pretty chairs and a small loveseat but in reality, we have a lot of people over and for now this is our only entertaining space.  It didn't make sense to only be able to seat 4-5 people in this room so we went for a BIG sectional.  I have to say I LOVE this sectional.  It sits quite a few people, it is super easy to clean, the cushions have kept their shape and the reviews were GREAT.  The reviews were actually what convinced us to buy this sectional.  It's from Macy's and we got a great deal on it during one of their big sales. 

 

We also got an entertainment center form Ikea that we love.  We are still waiting on the bridge that goes across the top.  I love that it has so much storage and it was really affordable!    

 

  

Please ignore the random items behind the glass.  I have yet to put everything in its place.  I'm embarrassed to admit that I'm actually STILL unpacking boxes. 

 I'm really happy with the way the space is coming together! Thanks for stopping by and to friends and family in the area, our home is always open and we would love to have you as our guest!  I can have dinner on the table in a matter of minutes! :)

Avocado Chicken Salad

I know some people might really be turned off by green chicken but holy guacamole! This stuff is GOOD! AND healthy! And EASY! It's a winner all the way around!

This is a recipe I saw someone share on Facebook.  I usually just pass over them but my sister in law had recently mentioned she wanted to use avocados more and so I thought this might be a perfect fit. 

You only need a few minutes and a couple ingredients! 

Here we go! 

2-3 chicken breast (boneless skinless OR bone in, skin on, it IS cheaper!)

1 avocado

1/2 yellow, white or purple onion, whatever you prefer 

juice of 1/2 of a lime

2 Tbsp chopped cilantro

pinch of salt

Cook the chicken breast.  I boiled mine but you can cook it however you like.  The original directions I had said to let it cool but I just threw it in some cool water with ice after I boiled it. Then I used 2 forks to shred it. In a separate bowl mash the avocado and add the rest of the ingredients. Mix well.  Add the chicken and you're done! 

I really enjoyed my chicken salad on a toasted piece of artisan bread but it would also be yummy topped with pico, in a tortilla, with tortilla chips or even by itself!

Yum! Enjoy!

The Perfect Pie Crust

Pie crusts can be a tricky thing.  If you search online you'll find all kinds of different recipes and it's hard to know which ones are worth making.  Luckily, the lovely Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond, did some pie crust testing to find what is truly THE BEST pie crust, and it's pretty easy too! 

Here's what you need-

1  1//2  Vegetable Shortening, like Crisco

NO BUTTER NO BUTTER NO BUTTER

3 cups AP Flour

1 egg

5 Tbsp cold water

1 Tbsp White Vinegar

1 tsp salt

With a pastry cutter work the vegetable shortening into the flour.  I was at my mom's house when I made this and she didn't have a pastry cutter so I used a fork.  It takes a lot longer but you can do it.  This was about half way through.  When it's ready it will looks like a "course meal", according to Ree. 

Once it's ready add the beaten egg, vinegar, water and salt. GENTLY stir this together until it's just incorporated. Divide the dough into three balls and put each into a gallon size baggie.  Gentle roll it out just a little and freeze 15-20 minutes to firm up. When it comes time to roll it out don't forget to flour your surface and rolling pin! Roll out to about 1/4 inch to make your pie crust! 

 Strawberry Pastry

Strawberry Breakfast Pastries

 

This past weekend my husband and a few of his buddies went camping as a bachelor trip for one of our friends who's getting married.   I thought I'd throw in a few breakfast pastries for them to eat on Saturday morning.  This is a pretty awesome group of guys but when it comes to preparing for these occasions...well.... they tend to forget a few things.  And I didn't want them to starve!

I started out with my Perfect Pie Crust.  You could definitely use a store bought crust (I have before!) and it would be a-okay! 

 Roll it out to about a 1/4 inch thick.  Then I used the top of a drinking glass to cut out the size circles I wanted.  You could do bigger ones or you could do rectangles, hearts, stars, or anything you have a cookie cutter for!

Then I plopped a dollop of strawberry jam onto each circle. 

Once each one had some jam I put another circle of dough on top of them.  One thing I do want to mention is don't get TOO crazy with the jam.  As tempting as it is to fill 'er up with the strawberry goodness, be careful not to add too much or the dough won't seal well when you close it up in the next step!  And it will leak out while baking and make a big sticky mess of your pastries.

Take a fork and create a seal around the edges. 

Still using the fork make a few small holes in the top of the pastry.  This will allow the steam to escape which is muy importante! 

The final step is to brush an egg wash (1 egg beaten with 1 Tbsp water or milk) over each pastry and pop it in the oven.  Bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes.  Make sure to keep an eye on them as baking times will vary depending on your pie crust!

 While they were baking I whipped up the glaze which is simply 1 cup powered sugar and 3 Tbsp. milk.  I made a thin glaze but if you'd like yours thicker, like on a Pop Tart, knock the milk down to 1.5-2 Tbsp of milk!

Set them out and watch them disappear! These never last long and they can be eaten anytime, not just at breakfast!

Enjoy!

Our New Home - The "After" Tour

We are finally finished with the floors, paint, and trim! We still have a few small things to do, such as touch up paint and replace and paint the new interior doors!  Now we FINALLY get to move in and we are pretty stoked about that! Here's the pictures of our 'new' house! Sorry a lot of them are kind of dark! I have not been home at a good time for picture taking yet!

The Kitchen-

The Dining Area-

 

 The Hallway-

 

 The Living Room-

Sorry about the bad lighting in the after, I'll take another soon! The paint isn't green! It's blue/gray!

 The Guest Room-

Bobby's Office

Master Bedroom-

Now to get some good lighting & furniture in these rooms! We have a lot of work to do but I'm really excited about the direction we are going in with this house!