A new dining room table, Part One

Our current dining room table was a $25 Craigslist find. It came with four chairs and a leaf, but it's still seats only 6, and that's a tight fit. Since we like to have people over, we wanted a bigger one.

Enter Bert, our bestest neighbor and woodworking genius. I've been looking for each in magazines for awhile, so we showed him some pictures, and he started sketching. The table will be 8 feet long by 3 1/2 feet wide. Yes, it's rather large. But I like it that way- more people can fit! It's made of pine, so that it has the character-inducing knots. Each end had a plank running perpendicular to the main boards, with plugs to add detail. Bert's designing it so that the legs are removable, since it's so big. (How cool is that? That was one of my ideas, but he worked it out.) There will also be a support beam that runs across the bottom and hooks into a beam at the ends, which doubles as a place to rest your feet. To top it off, Bert's making us benches too!!!

Doesn't it sound amazing? Like I said, Bert's the best. Of course we are compensating him, but just the fact that he's design and work on it (I might be picky...) is so darn awesome!! God really blessed us with a good neighbor.

Here it is coming together:

Such a foodie...

It's probably pretty easy to tell that I'm a foodie. I love my food! So does Justin, so that's a bad combination for our waistlines... Even with that, I think we are supposed to enjoy our food, just in moderation.

Well, we hadn't been to Colonial's in Cedarville since college... about five years. I'm sorry that we waited so long. We ordered a ham, bacon, and sausage, and it was delicious! The bread sticks are as good as ever too. They remodeled the inside a little bit, and that all looks great too. Why hasn't this place been featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives?

Then on Thursday, I made what I'm dubbing The Reese's Cake. I made a chocolate cake mix and added evaporated milk, a pudding mix, and the regular requirements for everything else. After baking it, I whipped up some peanut butter icing. It was great because it wasn't too peanut-buttery. I got it from a recipe book my grandma H. gave me called "Cake Mix Magic." The icing was just right- not too peanut-buttery but still enough. I finished it off with mini Reese's on top. YUM!

Before and After: Master Bedroom

Today I'm writing about the before and after for the master bedroom. The biggest difference in this room is the paint. We painted the trim in Creamy, the walls in Bittersweet Stem, and the floor in Cocoon, all from Sherwin-Williams' Rustic Refined Collection. With the placement of the windows, it was difficult to decide where to put the bed, but in the end I decided the set it up in front of the back window. I got curtains that basically match the walls, so it doesn't seem like too much of an eyesore. Our bedroom set we got in California, and the comforter and shams were a bargain from TJ Maxx.

Among other things, I like that the bedroom is at the back of the house, because it eliminates any car noise or lights from the street. Not that it's very loud, but we had to sleep in the front bedroom before we finished the master bedroom, and I definitely heard a few cars and kept up by a few headlights. Also, it has three closets! Now, one of them will be eliminated when we make the 1/2 bath into a full bath, but that still leaves a nice-sized one for me, and a smaller one for Justin. The smaller was was a built-in cupboard, but we took off the front because it was very dated and dirty. We patched up inside and painted, and now it's functional. In the pictures, this one is right under the arch, and backs up to my closet.

Now, the half bath originally opened up into the kitchen, and we had to cut a new door and seal over the old one. Right now, it has a curtain in front of it too, because the door frame is a raw edge where you can see three layers of plaster.... not so pretty. Hence, the curtain. That's hopefully a late summer project, but we have to get the roof replaced first, clear out the back hedge, and put down new flooring in the whole house. I'll be sure to blog when it's done though! :)

Before:

After:

 

 

Spring updates!

Check it out! I transplanted some flowers, and they are giving me some color already! Aren't they pretty?

It's so nice that the weather warmed up the last few days, and is supposed to stay this way for a bit! Spring break just ended for me, and I feel like a got a lot accomplished. I already blogged about moving the flower beds back in the front, so that was a big objective for spring break. I also got to spend time with family over Easter, and my niece and nephew, who are 2 and 4 months. They are growing so fast. I was able to have some people over from church and get to know them as well, another big plus.

Then, drum roll please, I have a good draft of my book done! It's over 59,000 words! Now I am just sending it out for people to read and give me some critical feedback. I hope to get it back from them by the start of summer, then make revisions and do some serious editing over summer break. If that happens, perhaps I will be able to send it to a publisher at the end of the summer. That whole process takes some time, so that will be a big step in the sequence. Whew... but now I at least feel like I have something to work with!

With that triumph, I'm out!

Happy 21st Zach!

I love my little brother and that's a fact. No matter what.

So I got with one of his good friends to organize a surprise party. The problem is, Zach is so stubborn that he wouldn't "drop by" when I texted him, so it ended up being not so much of a surprise. But that doesn't matter, he still got here and it was fun to hang out with everyone. I love hosting too, so it was a treat for me too. We kept it simple: hot dogs and smoked sausage on the grill, baked beans, homemade mac n cheese, chips, pop, and cake. But oh, the cake!!

Zach likes red velvet cake, so that is what I made. I wanted to keep it simple, so I used a devil's food cake mix, and added a packet of pudding to make it moist, along with buttermilk substituted for the water. To make it red, I added one ounce of red food coloring. Perhaps I could get away with a little less than one ounce, but it does cook out some, and it needs enough to take over the chocolate color. I made two batches because I wanted to have enough for cupcakes and a cake.

The icing is simple too: 1/2 cup butter, 8 oz cream cheese, and 3 tsp of vanilla creamed, then add about 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar. I made a triple batch, and had to whip it for a while to get all the powdered sugar in. But it turned out great! It is just the right sweetness to complement the chocolate (and red dye). It also set up nice and wasn't too sticky.

I used my new icing set, a Christmas present from my mother-in-law, to frost the cupcakes. For the cake, I didn't ice the edges so that I could show off the red velvet cake. I finished all of them off with chocolate gratings. So delicious!

Curl Appeal Project Spring 2013

Time to work on the curb appeal.

Last fall, when we moved in, we just barely made the outside of the house presentable. We cleared out the overgrown umbrella tree, put down some mulch, and planted some fall mums. But that was it.

It needed a lot more. And since I am on spring break, it seemed like the perfect time to start. If fact, I have been itching to get out there, but it's been too cold or rainy or snowy. So yesterday and today we worked. Hard. Ugh, I'm actually sore from it.

We started by moving both front flower beds back about three feet. Essentially, this eliminated the left flower bed, because a cement slab for a front patio (I guess you would call it) is on the left. So we just stacked the retaining wall blocks in front of the concrete. This was a major improvement, because the concrete in is bad repair and was an eyesore. At least moving the stones back covered the front of the crumbling concrete. We do need to actually do something with that side, but that remains for a later date (and a higher tax return). Moving all those paving stones is a decent amount of work, though it sounds small in writing!

On the right side, moving the stones back three feet made the flower bed smaller, and in line with the patio. Now there is less to landscape, which is a good thing to me! We planted three Winter Gem Boxwood plants in front of the window for some color and height. Of course, they still need to grow, but they are easy to take care of. I still have some room in front of them to plant small flowers as the seasons change. Then Justin planted grass seed where the flower beds used to be, and we just have to wait for it to grow!

Along the side of the house, by the driveway, the flower beds were a mess... lots of trash, uneven ground, untrimmed bushes, uneven spacing all hurt the appearance. We straightened up the AC unit, raked up all the junk, and evened out the ground. Trying to get all the blue stones from what I guess was a fish tank wasn't Justin's favorite part of the afternoon. I had a fun time digging up weeds and perennials that were growing up from previous years too. Trying to get all the way down to the bulb was quite trying at times. Some I replanted, but a few I had to just toss. Finally, we put down red mulch and two more bushes to even out the foliage. At least now, I'm not embarrassed about the side of the house. We still want to put in edging stones (we have some leftover from the front) to hold the dirt back off the driveway. That will entail a decent amount of digging, so it's for another day.

I also worked on the small 4x4 flowerbed by the back stairs, and Justin ripped out a heck of a lot of ivy from under the deck. He planted grass seed in the sparse areas in the back too. Now hopefully it grows in soon!

Overall, I felt like we got a lot accomplished. Here's some pictures:

Last fall: BEFORE

Spring 2013: AFTER

 

 Side of the house:

 Stones moved back to cover the crumbling front. It's not perfect, but it helps.

 Last fall: BEFORE

March 2013: AFTER

 

Dani's 2nd Birthday!

This weekend we went to visit for my niece's 2 year birthday party. I was so fun to see Dani growing up! (My nephew Jackson is getting big too!) It was an Elmo-themed party, and we had fun with it. We decorated Elmo and Cookie Monster cupcakes, plus treat bags.

I don't think that Dani knew quite what to do with all the presents, but I'm sure she will enjoy them as she gets to play with each one. I loved a little tea set that she got.... when you "pour" it, it sounds like water coming out. She also got a sandbox. We all thought it would be a great idea to have all the cousins get in for a picture, but that's harder than it sounds. I think I might have gotten ONE picture where there were semi-happy, but the others are varying stages of chaos! LOL... I got Dani an AquaMap. Whoever came up with that idea was brilliant!! It's a white "canvas" that when the water-filled pen colors on it, makes marks! Then it dries in a few minutes and you can color all over again. Pretty sweet. (Oh, to be a kid again!)

We drove back yesterday, then [glory hallelujah] it snowed and I got a snow day to catch up on all the things I would normally do on the weekend. Yippee! I put a venison stew in the crockpot, made venison meatballs, and shredded chicken to use for a casserole later. Then I got all caught up on grading. While I'm feeling so accomplished, I might go work out... might...

Ask me about that one later! :)

Here's Jackson getting some tummy time!

Spring Surprise! (Flowers!)

Guess what I saw when I got home?

Aren't they pretty? Just a small patch, but more to come!

Starting Zinnia Seeds

Last Wednesday I started some Zinnia seeds, and they are already shooting up! It's so fun to watch something new grow after just a week. I'm definitely ready for spring. I used potting soil in plastic trays with a dome for the first few days, but then some of the very small sprouts looked like they were getting plant mold, so I took the dome off. They are inside the house anyways, so figured that it was warm enough. Another little problem was that they started leaning towards to sun, even though they were right by the window. I shut the blinds, and today they look like they are growing straighter. I think I was warned about putting them in sun too soon, because the stalks won't be strong enough, and that might be happening. (It's so fun to watch them grow though- I couldn't help it!) Still, this is just the first round, and I can always plant more. It's pretty early in the season, being mid-March and all.

I also started some sage, chive, and oregano seeds. They seem to be growing slower, which is probably just part of their maturation time. It will be so awesome to have fresh herbs though!!

Teriyaki Venison Loin Sandwiches

Here comes dinner! I had some venison loin that I needed to use, as well as ciabatta bread, so combined the two! I marinated the venison loin (butterfly cut) for 8 hours, then broiled for 4 minutes on each side. If you make these, you can adjust the broil time to your desired doneness. While they were broiling, I buttered the ciabatta bread and sprinkled with Parmesan cheese. When the venison was done, I broiled the bread until slightly brown, and layered it all up with a slice of provolone cheese! The cheese helped tone the flavor, and the crispy bread from the broiler gave textures. I'll have to do this one again. My only change would be to dilute the teriyaki sauce a little bit; it was a little strong.

 

I looked over to see my husband smiling. "Do you like it?" I asked.

 

"Yup. Next time you could do it with barbecue," he quipped.

 

I rolled my eyes. That man likes barbecue sauce with just about anything. Still, teriyaki would be my choice here, and he liked it too!