What have I been doing... (Reading edition)...

I did something today that I so very rarely do that I feel it necessary to mention... I returned a book to the library before I had finished reading it.  I honestly can't remember the last time I did that.  The title of this book is Learning to Die in Miami: Confessions of a Refugee Boy by Carlos Eire.  It's not that the book wasn't good or anything, I just couldn't seem to get into it.  I am going to put it back on my list to check out again later and finish it.  I did read over half of it.  I'm not sure why I wasn't feeling this book because it is very well written and something I had never read before and very interesting... I just couldn't get into it!

I don't know about you, but alway in elementary, middle and high school when we had social studies/history, we always started with Indians/Explorers but never made it past WWII by the end of the year.  I hate to admit that I really know very little about the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Cold War, Watergate, etc.  I had no idea that in the early 60's over 10,000 children were sent from Cuba to live with "foster parents" in the United States with no hopes of ever seeing their parents again.  This book is the true story of one of these Refugee boys.  Even in the half I read, I learned a lot!  And I do recommend this book and I do plan on finishing it at some point in the future!!

As promised... (Decorating edition)...

As promised yesterday, here is a picture of the Ballard Designs-inspired artwork on my dining room  wall... the wall is huge so I will definitely be adding some more things...

Hope you like it!!  I had several people say they were going to give this project a try... definitely email me, text me, call me if you have any questions and when you are finished, send me a picture!!!!

What have I been doing... (Decorating edition)...

So I actually finished this project about a week ago, but with everything we have had going on I haven't been able to post it.  So I am completely obsessed with Pinterest (if you are not a member, just send me an email or a comment and I will send you an invite!!)

So here is the picture that I originally pinned on Pinterest (from the Knock Off Decor Blog).  

The original artwork is from Ballard Designs although you can't find the original picture online, but I saw this and thought, I can so do that myself.  So here's what I did...

1.) Bought a canvas from Hobby Lobby

2.) Paint around the edges of the canvas with a chocolate brown acrylic paint.

3.) Went to Home Depot (several times) and helped myself to some free paint chips.  I picked colors that I liked that I knew would coordinate together as well as coordinate with the wall color in my dining room.

4.) Cut all the paint chips into 3"x3" squares... use algebra to figure out how many squares you need (or just cut a whole lot a couple times until you have enough).

5.) Lay out your squares on your canvas as you like.  I just randomly set them down and made sure that no 2 adjoining squares were the exact same color.  I tried to space out the really deep colors randomly.

6.) Pick up your squares (trying really hard to keep them in order).  Using a spray adhesive, spray the back of 5-6 squares and adhere them to the canvas using a credit card (or your pampered chef pan scraper) to smooth the squares.  

**  Here is where I differed a bit from the Knock Off Decor art... I didn't want mine completely lined up exactly so I kind of made mine a little wonky (on purpose)! 

7.) After all of your squares are adhered, slap on a layer of Mod Podge (I used matte finish).  You want to be sure to put a thick layer on and be sure there are brush strokes throughout your layer.

8.) Complete step 7 twice more (that's right 3 layers of Mod Podge).  I did my first layer with vertical brush strokes, the second layer with horizontal, and the last layer with vertical brush strokes again.  Be sure the Mod Podge completely dries between each layer before you put on the next layer.

9.) Once the third layer of Mod Podge is completely dry, apply a layer of wood stain over all the squares, then remove with a soft cloth.  The darker the stain, the better... I used dark walnut.  

10.) Once the first layer of stain is dry, repeat step 9.

11.) Once the final layer of stain is dry and you are happy with the brown streaks throughout, apply one last layer of Mod Podge.  

12.) Hang up where you like!!

Here is my finished picture... and for some reason the photo of it hanging on my dining room wall won't upload, and it is too dark to take a picture right now.  I will post a picture tomorrow morning of how the artwork looks hanging in the dining room... I love it!!!!  I hope it inspires you!!

What have I done lately... (Reading edition)...

Through my crazy bad parenting lack of sleep week/weekend I finished another book.  This one is by one of my all-time favorite authors, George Pelacanos.  Almost all of his books take place in DC and range in date from the 60's all the way up through the 90's so there's a racial and socioeconomic undercurrent to almost all his books.  This one is Hard Revolution, and I honestly say, it was one of my favorites of his that I've read.

Pelacanos does a really great job of bringing in what truly happened in history into his stories.  For example, within this story it dealt with the aftermath of the racial rioting that occurred in DC immediately after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr..  Very interesting topics and storylines.  I highly recommend this book as well as all of George Pelacanos' other books!!

What have done lately... (Reading edition)...

I finished the book Proof Positive by Phillip Margolin a few days ago.  He is another one of my favorite authors.  This book was wonderful as all of his other books are!  The library categorizes his books as mystery... I don't know if I necessarily agree with that genre, but I don't know exactly what I would call it.

It's more of a political thriller but not really all that political.  The main characters are DA's, defense attorneys, etc. but you know pretty much the entire way through "who dunnint" so I wouldn't necessarily call it a mystery.

Ok, I rambled on enough... good book!!  Check it out or any of Phillip Margolin's other books!!

What have I been doing the last week... (Personal edition)...

Hello my friend blog readers,
I truly apologize for falling off the face of the planet for several days!  This past week has been terrible for a certain 4 year old!

On Saturday the 19th, my 7 year old was running in the house and tripped and fell into a doorway and knocked his top front tooth out.  Now it was loose, so not really a big deal.

Back in June, the 4 year old fell in the backyard and hit his mouth on a rock and broke one of his front teeth right in half on the diagonal.  We visited the dentist every week for 2 months, and they told us that the tooth had died and that was that.

So Saturday afternoon, after the 7 year old went around bragging that the tooth fairy was going to come visit him, the 4 year old started saying that his broken tooth was hurting.  I didn't think much about it, I just assumed he was wanting the same thing the older kiddo wanted.  So he complained kind of off and on Sunday and Monday, but I still didn't think anything of it.

Then on Monday night the 21st he was awake almost the whole night crying that the tooth hurt very very bad and the next morning his lip was swollen, so I took him into the dentist Tuesday afternoon.  Somehow the dead tooth was severely infected!

The dentist gave me a prescription for Clindamycin and told me to get it filled immediately, and don't stop it under any circumstances, it was a major infection and if we don't get it taken care of right away it would go to his brain, etc.  Enter the humongous parent guilt!!!!

So we started him on the medicine and it made him so sick, he went 2 days without eating anything and just crying that his tummy hurt and when we would give him the medicine he would immediately throw up.  It was horrible.  I finally got a hold of the dentist and he switched the antibiotics and things are so much better now!

BUT on Friday we have to go in and have the tooth extracted... the 4 year old is THRILLED!!!  He has a countdown going on for when the tooth fairy will visit him!!  So that's where I have been!!!  I'm back and I have 2 book reviews and a craft to show you... hopefully I will get those blogged either today or tomorrow!!!!

What I have done today....

I apologize I haven't gotten all the recipes posted that I've made today, we have had some issues around here.  The other things I made include...
Pumpkin pie
Cherry pie
Rice Krispy Treats
Green Bean Casserole

If anyone really really wants to have one of these recipes, just leave a comment and I will post it.  Thanks and have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!

What I have done today... (Cooking edition)... Jello salad...

This is a staple at our family Thanksgiving dinners.  I remember having it at my grandma's house and at my mom's house, and this year I am bringing it to our Thanksgiving dinner.

 Ingredients:
-2 packages Raspberry Jello
- 1 small can crushed pineapple, drained
- 1 cup cranberry sauce
- 1 cup celery finely diced
- 1 cup walnuts finely chopped
- 1 large apple finely diced.

Directions:
1. Dissolve 2 pkgs of jello in 2 cups of very hot water.  Mash the cranberry sauce and add to the jello mixture.

2. Stir in 1-3/4 cup cold water and add drained pineapple, celery, walnuts and apple.  Give it a quick stir and refrigerate overnight or for several hours.

Here's what it looks like right before you refrigerate it...

Supper yummy!  Not slimy like jello, but with some crunch!!

What I have done... (Home Improvement Edition)...

As promised a while ago, I mentioned I was shaving down the doors for the rooms I tiled.  I am finally almost finished.  It really shouldn't have taken this long, but it's a boring project so I kept putting it off!!  I know you don't really want to see pictures of me shaving down doors so here is only one...

 Now I will show you my finished tiling projects... The first one is the boys' bathroom.  This one had linoleum to begin with and it now has ceramic tile...

 The second one is the master bathroom which originally had carpet... ooohhh gross!!  Carpet never belongs in a bathroom (especially in a house with the majority of boys) in my opinion.

 And the last is the dining room.  It originally had carpet, which I don't like in a dining room either.  Sorry about the poor quality of the picture.  It's had to get good lighting in there and the white grid-like thing is the under-rug anti-slipping thing.  I rolled it and the carpet up and it fell right as I was taking the pictures.  The green squares are glass tiles so there were 3 different sizes/types of tile in this room.

Enjoy! and I will be back with several more posts today!!!

What have I done today... (Reading edition)...

I finished another book!  This one is The 6th Target by James Patterson.  I have read some of his books sporadically, but I recently decided to go back and read all the Women's Murder Club books in order.  They are pretty quick reads... like 100 chapters but each chapter is around 2-3 pages.  This book was fine... it had intrigue and a mystery which are 2 things I really like in a book.  I would recommend it!!

What have I done today... (Miscellaneous edition)...

Well today has been somewhat a rough day... I woke up with a sore throat and not really feeling all that well.  The boys and I met some friends at the theatre at 10:00 am to see Happy Feet 2.  It was cute, but darn it there were about 30 minutes of previews and the 4 year old got really antsy!!

Then we came home and I put all my drawers back.  Then I did another layer on a decorating project that I'm hoping will be finished tomorrow!!

Then I took a 2 hour nap and now I'm flipping back and forth between HGTV and the FOOD network, while checking out pinterest!!

Low key day, and hopefully I will feel back to 100% tomorrow!!

What I have done today... (Decorating edition)... NEW GRANITE COUNTERTOPS!!!

I know all my faithful blog readers have been waiting so anxiously for my updates about the kitchen remodel.  It officially started today!!!!

We built this house 10 years ago in December so everything is pretty old and out of date.  Here is a picture of what we are starting with (please excuse the missing drawers... I had to take them out for the installation and forgot to take a picture before)...

 This is the lovely oatmeal colored laminate on the lovely oak cabinets.  Starting on December 5th the cabinet refinishing will commence and they will become a lovely dark dark brown color (almost black).  Then after Thanksgiving we will be ordering all new stainless steel appliances!!

 And here is the new granite countertops... excuse the bad quality of picture.  It was dark when I took the picture.  The countertops don't look all that fabulous with the oak colored cabinets, but remember they will look a lot different in a month!!!

 Here is an up close view of the granite...  It is called Giallo Ornamental.  It's beautiful!!!!

 And here is an even closer up view.  There are veins of the dark dark brown and veins of a reddish almost purple color.  It is beautiful!!  And I love it!!!!!!!

I highly recommend the company we went through... Granite Center.  Some of our neighbors have also used them... if you are local in the KC area and want their contact information, just leave a comment or drop me an email!!

What I have done this week... (Cooking edition)... Hearty Lentil Soup

Here's the second recipe I was promising you guys.  This was super yummy (everyone loved it).  It says it serves 4, but we actually had some leftovers that I warmed up in the microwave the next day and it was still fabulous the next day.  This recipe is from Clean Eating magazine September/October 2010.

Hearty Lentil Soup
serves 4

- 1 cup dried red lentils
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion, chopped (I used a yellow onion)
- 1 red bell pepper, chopped
- 1/4 tsp cumin, ground
- 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes, ground
- 1/4 cup whole-grain or brown rice (uncooked)
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice (I actually didn't use this and it still tasted fabulous!!)

1.) Rinse lentils and pick through, discarding any debris or small stones, drain.

2.) Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat.  Add onion and bell pepper and saute 5 minutes or until brown.  Stir in cumin and red pepper flakes and cook for 1 more minute.  Add 4 cups water, lentils, and rice.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to low, cover and cook for 20 minutes.  Add salt, stir and cook for an additional 30 minutes.  Before serving, stir in lemon juice (if you want to).


* I served this with Tastefully Simple's beer bread and it was wonderful.

** The second day when I reheated the leftovers, I shredded some fresh cheddar cheese over the top and that tasted excellent too!!!!

What I have done this week... (Cooking edition)... Chicken Pomodoro Angel Hair Pasta

So this week, I have tried 2 different dinner recipes.  1 the hubby and I liked and the kids were just "meh" about it, but the second one everyone really liked!!

The first recipe is from the May/June 2010 issue of Clean Eating Magazine.  And I apologize... I forgot to take pictures... I've really not ever gotten into the habit of taking pictures of what I'm eating or cooking!!

Chicken Pomodoro Angel Hair Pasta
serves 4

- 12 oz. whole wheat angel hair pasta
- 3 carrots, peeled & roughly chopped
- Olive oil cooking spray
- 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, pounded thin
- 1 medium yellow onion, finely diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 lb fresh tomatoes, preferably Roma, seeded and coarsely chopped
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- 2 tbsp dried basil
- sea salt & fresh ground pepper, to taste
- 2 oz. low-fat feta cheese, crumbled
- 4 tbsp Italian flat-leaf parsley, minced

1.) Cook pasta according to package directions.  Drain and set aside, but keep warm

2.) Bring a large pot of water to a boil.  Place steamer basket in pot and steam carrots in basket for 8 minutes or until tender.  Remove carrots from steamer and set aside.

3.) Set a large nonstick or cast-iron skillet over high heat for 1 minute.  Mist with cooking spray and add chicken.  Saute for about 3 or 4 minutes per side or until browned on each side and cooked through so no longer pink.  Remove chicken from heat and let rest for 1 minute before cutting into 1/2- inch chunks.

4.) Heat same skillet again over high heat for 1 minute.  Reduce heat to medium, mist skillet with cooking spray and add onion and garlic.  Saute for about 5 minutes or until onion is translucent.  Add tomatoes and cook for another 5 minutes.  Remove from heat.

5.) In a food processor fitted with a standard blade, roughly puree carrots and onion-tomato mixture or pulse for about 2 or 3 minutes.  Pour sauce into a medium-size pot and heat over medium heat.  Stir in Italian seasoning and basil and season with salt and pepper.  Add chicken and cook for another 2 minutes before removing from heat.

6.) Dived pasta among 4 bowls or plates.  Pour 1 cup chicken-tomato sauce over each portion of pasta.  Sprinkle each with about 2 tsp. feat and garnish with 1 tbsp parsley.


Give it a try... it's yummy!!

I'll be back a little later with the second recipe...

What have I done this week... (Reading edition)

Wow!  I guess I haven't blogged since Monday, sorry about that... I know everyone has been waiting with baited breath to see what I've been up to this week!!  ;-)

This is one of those weeks where I'm in the middle of about 15 projects and have been slowly getting them finished so hopefully I can get caught up on the blogging.

So I finished another book.  This one is called The Taste of Salt by Martha Southgate.  And let me tell you, it was a very good book.  The first one I've read from this author, although it looks like she has several others that I may have to check out.

This book has a little bit of everything... love, hate, adultry, racial issues, alcoholism, family issues, even ocean life.  A little bit of everything, but it's a really true to life book, not a smutty soap opera type book.  You could really see everything that happens to the main character happening in "real" life.  I did enjoy this book and it was a pretty quick read... I recommend it!!!

What have I done today (11/14/11)... Reading edition...

Well I finished another book, it is also by one of my favorite authors (Alice Hoffman), but I have to admit I was disappointed in this book.  Practical Magic (which I guess was made into a movie a couple years ago starring Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock... I had no idea!) was extremely slow in my opinion.  It just seemed that what could have been said in a decent sized paragraph was dragged out into 3-4 pages.

It really makes me sad because this is honestly the first Alice Hoffman book that I have read, that I didn't like.  I will still read the other ones that she wrote, so stay tuned for more "reviews".

What I have done today... Ongoing DIY Home Improvement Project

So if you followed my old blog, you know that I went a little tiling crazy a few months ago.  I tiled the master bathroom, the boys' bathroom and the dining room.  I love tiling!

So in the boys' bathroom and the master bathroom, there are 3 doors that now won't shut because the tile/rug is taller than what the vinyl/rug were.  So my ongoing project (which is in no way a fun one!!) is to "shave" down the bottom of the doors so all doors will be fully functioning!!!

I'm almost done with the first one... it's taking a lot longer than I thought it would!

I will post pictures of all the tile jobs and the doors when I get them all finished!

What have I done this weekend? Decorating/home improvement edition...

Wow!  This weekend has been kind of a whirlwind (and quite expensive!!)  We are planning a kitchen remodel... cabinet refinishing, granite countertops, new fixtures, and new appliances.  We have been getting estimates on the cabinet refinishing project and finally found someone we felt comfortable with.  He had originally told us it would be after the holidays (mid-January) before they could start on the project... which was fine, we are not in a huge rush!

Well he called on Saturday morning and said he had a project that had to be moved back to mid-January and wondered if we would be willing to switch with the other project that was supposed to start December 5th!!!  We said that's fine, but... that means we have to have the granite installed before then and preferably have the appliances here by then.

So we had to rush to the granite store and get our slab picked out and get scheduled for a template and installation, luckily they had a cancellation for this Friday, so we are getting our new granite countertops installed, but... that means we have to have our new faucet here by Tuesday when they come to do the template, and we are having no luck finding a faucet we like!!  So we spent all weekend running all over town, looking at appliances, faucets, granite, etc.

We did take a break last night to go hang out with some wonderful college friends and their kids.  It was wonderful seeing everyone and the kids played so well together!!

What have I done today (11/12/11)... Miscellaneous edition...

I have done a lot today!  Super busy and super expensive day.  I'm headed to bed, but will update the blog tomorrow!!  Good night, sleep tight!!

What have I done today (11/11/11)... DIY project edition

Ok, so I technically finished this yesterday but didn't have a chance to blog about it... so here it goes...

I bought this bowl somewhere (can't remember where) about a year ago on clearance for $.99.  It is a black metal bowl and I like the roundness of the edges in my very straight line living room.  This bowl has been sitting empty for about a year now, so I decided it was time to do something about it!

So I went looking for something to put in my pretty little bowl and came up with nothing!  I found some hemp/jute balls that would have looked great but since the bowl is pretty big in size I would have had to buy 2 packages of them for a total of $42... what?!?!?!?

So I went to Hobby Lobby and bought a 2 bags of assorted size styrofoam balls... $1.99 each (with a coupon), a skein of jute from Home Depot for $2.67, Mod Podge (that I owned previously from Hobby Lobby), and a foam applicator ($.10 at Michael's with a coupon).  I did end up using some brown spray paint that I had laying around, but more about that in a second.

So all you do is saturate a spot on the styrofoam ball with Mod Podge and start slowly winding the jute around the ball, very EASY but very Time Consuming and very very STICKY!!  Just keep adding ModPodge and jute until the ball is covered.

So I did that small one in the picture first, then did one of the big balls (hee hee... yes I have the sense of humor of a 5 grade boy!!)  Because of the size and the slightly uneven shape of the styrofoam, there ended up being some gaps in between some of the lines of jute which showed through white and looked a little weird.

I grabbed some old brown spray paint I had sitting in my dining room (isn't that where you store your old paint?) and put a light layer of brown paint on the remaining styrofoam balls and then proceeded to cover them with jute so on the other big balls (hee hee) where there are the small gaps the brown shows through.  So here is the finished project...

I LOVE the way it looks!!  Leave a comment and let me know what you think!!!