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Monday, October 29, 2012

a quick fix...


Put a quick coat of beige paint "on the way down"... and this little eye-sore stood out even more.

Decided on a quick fix for this gnarly light switch...


I sprayed it with some left-over Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint that I had from an old project...

Not the best picture, but it looks sooo much better.  I love me a free/quick fix!

Sunday, October 28, 2012

How does this happen?!?

I mean really... how does it get this bad so quickly???
This is the closet we affectionately refer to as "on the way down" because it's really just a teeny hallway with shelves that leads down to our dungeon of a basement.  Imagine lugging laundry baskets up and down through this closet.  Not Cool.
With the past couple months being so busy with school, this area just turned into our dumping ground for all kinds of things...

All our mail clutter lives here... things that need to be filed and shredded all mixed together :(

fingerpaints next to wine, next to tonic, next to dishwasher tabs... side by side... 

paint from when we redid our deck, sand toys that never made their way down to the basement at the end of the summer

dishtowels that need to be laundered and random crappola hanging all over...

Ughhh finally couldn't take it anymore and decided to tackle this bad boy.

Basically, my first plan of attack was to get rid of stuff... I did a major purge and ended up with this.

Let's call this "Phase 1- Purge"




The next thing I want to do is paint over the two-toned sponged look that the previous owners had done... I'm planning on using whatever left over paint I can find in the basement.  Also, I want to get a couple new organizing containers for Maggie's craft supplies etc.  The wooden basket was something I weaved a few years ago, so I love trying to get a use out of it, but it's just not working.  



Just a quick side-by-side for comparison's sake
Already much better...






Mess-free Fingerpainting

Thank you Pinterest...
Figured with Hurricane Sandy headed our way, I should get creative and think of some things Mags can do while we're stuck inside the next couple of days.
Saw this a bunch of times on Pinterest, and finally made it happen...

I put a nice big glob of red and blue fingerpaints inside a large ziploc, closed it with minimal air inside, and used painter's tape to stick it onto her play-table... she LOVED it!


Kinda think this could be a fun center at school for writing spelling words... especially for younger kiddos.


Wednesday, October 24, 2012

What a crock.....

Making good on my word and using my crockpot more this year!  Just came home to a dee-lish smelling house and a pot of piping hot kielbasa bean stew!  What kind of Polack would I be if I didn't include some of our favorite cured meat up in here... Ah-maze-ing!


Crock Pot Kielbasa Bean and Barley Stew

1 cup dried cannellini beans
1/2 cup pearled barley
1 onion, chopped
1 large clove minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon italian seasoning
2 boxes of chicken broth (about 7-8 cups, I always use reduced sodium)
1 can petite diced tomatoes
1 link (about 13oz) of turkey kielbasa (I used Hilshire Farms)
1/2 package of frozen chopped spinach
grated Parmesan- for serving =)



Directions:
Night before:  Pick over the beans, throw out any funky ones.  Cut Kielbasa into little half-moon slices.  Add beans, barley, chopped onion, minced garlic, spices, kielbasa, and 1/2 a package of frozen spinach to crock pot.  Place pot in fridge to complete the next morning.

Morning of:  Add chicken stock and petite diced tomatoes to the other ingredients in the crock pot.  Give it a good stir.  Cook on Low for 8 hours.

Inhale deeply when you walk in the door, DINNER IS DONE!  ;)   Serve with some Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top.

Maggie called it "hot dog soup" hahaha, she kept making sure each bite had a piece of "hot dog" in it... she's too funny.




FYI: I added some additional chicken broth to my stew to make it less stew-like and more soup-like... don't like my stew too thick.

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Hil-ar-i-ous

Ba-hahah-ahaha-ha 
It's a very short clip, but hilarious none the less.
This is some sort of cross between a rave and a rain dance, or maybe a vision of my worst nightmare in about 18 years lol when she's hitting the bar with her buddies Frankie and Taylor!
Oh Mags!



My BIG girl!

Maggie started preschool!  Ahhh!
These are just a few pics from her first day  :)
We are IN LOVE with our new Cinderella backpack.  This girl is 100% princess obsessed!


How is she working her way to 3 years old already?!?!  Where has my little 3 pound baby gone?!?!
We've had a few rough drop offs/pick ups, but I think she's really starting to get used to her new routine :)



A taste of fall....

Every year, I help organize the annual cookie swap at school.  Right before Christmas, we all make about 6 dozen cookies of our favorite recipe.  Then the fun part.  Everyone trades and walks away with 6 dozen cookies, usually 6 cookies from each person.  Oh Baby....Cookie Swap day might just be one of Tim's favorite days of the year!

One of the secretaries at school made white chocolate chip pumpkin cookies last year and they had me at hello.  Since "bake something pumpkin" was on my bucket list, and I had friends coming over for a little Oktoberfest get-together, there was no better time to bake these yummy cookies.  These pumpkin chippers couldn't scream FALL loud enough...
These were deee-lish with some fresh apple cider  =)

The recipe makes a lot (about 6 dozen!), which makes it perfect for a cookie swap.  
I halved the ingredients when I made it this past weekend, and it made about 3 dozen cookies.

Mary's Pumpkin White Chocolate Drops
2 cups sugar
2 cups (4 sticks) butter
1 can (about 16oz.) solid pack pumpkin
2 eggs
4 cups flour
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2  teaspoon baking soda
1 package (12 oz) white chocolate chips
1 container (16 oz) cream cheese frosting
1/4 cup packed brown sugar

*Preheat to 375 degrees and grease cookie sheets
*Beat white sugar and butter until light and fluffy.  Add pumpkin and eggs.  Beat until well-blended.
*Add flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, and baking soda, beat until blended.  
*Stir in the chocolate chips
*Drop by teaspoonfuls on prepared baking sheets 
*Bake about 16 minutes (until set and lightly brown)  Remove to wire racks to cool
* Combine frosting and brown sugar in small bowl.  Spread on warm cookies