Archive for February, 2012

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February 28, 2012

I Spied 2.29.12

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We haven’t played this game in a while!  OK, it’s not really game.  It’s more like show and tell…  or just me rambling.  But you keep showing up here, so you must not mind my rambles :)

Want to know what I’ve been noticing a lot of?  Organizational and cleaning tips!  I know, I’m weird.  But even so, when I find something that has the potential to make my life easier I pay attention because there are only so many hours in a day and at the end of the day I would like to have at least a few moments to read a book.  Or watch Sister Wives.

Here are some tips that have caught my little eye (get it?  “I spied with my little eye…”  Oh forget it.):

Source: thriftyfun.com via Carey on Pinterest

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What could I use a pour spot for? There must be something, I’ll think of it eventually.  The spout comes from the top of can of grated parmesan cheese.  Just cut it out and use with a mason jar.

 

Source: realsimple.com via Carey on Pinterest

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Now this is a problem I have, loose cords, and I was not referring to my brain although you could also make that argument. I can definitely use this tip to keep my cords tangle free.

 

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You remember my glass etching adventures? Well… I have found another use for that jar of glass etching paste and this one makes me equally giddy. Not only do I love the idea of having spice jars all the same size and shape, I love the idea of having them marked so uniformly and chic. Can a spice cabinet be chic? I think so.

Source: i.imgur.com via Carey on Pinterest

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I think this is a clever way to keep your bags closed tight!

 

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Keep all 52 cards together in a dollar store soap box. Especially great tip if you are taking cards on a vacation.

 

Source: chicaandjo.com via Carey on Pinterest

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Clear out that important drawer-real-estate!  Go vertical!

 

Source: realsimple.com via Carey on Pinterest

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I haven’t tried this yet, but I’m gonna!  It is really hard to get that last bit of candle wax out of a votive, or any other candle holder for that matter.  Just  shot of nonstick spray on the bottom will help it slide right out.

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Jill from One Good thing has 2 methods for getting her cookie sheets, baking pans and other kitchen wares looking brand spanking new.  1) a mixture of baking soda and peroxide or 2) a natural solvent called Sol-U-Mel.  Definitely worth a shot!

There are some really great ideas out there, let me know if you have any to share!

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February 27, 2012

Not What Ships Were Built For

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February 24, 2012

Friday Recipe: 15 Minute Meringue Pies by Stone Soup

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I am a sucker, A SUCKER I TELL YOU for lemon meringue pie.  My favorite pie, hands down.  And while we’re on the subject of lemony desserts, I may have once accidentally eaten a whole pan of lemon bars that my grandma made, in one afternoon.  I said maybe!

But lemon meringue pie, to me anyway, is the perfect mixture of tart and sweet and that toasty, chewy bit of meringue on the top is like the cherry on top of a sunday.  So naturally when I saw this recipe on Pinterest I saved it to my board but I didn’t go back to actually read the recipe until this evening and wow am I glad I did.

First of all, the recipe comes from a site called Stone Soup and it is just darling.  She (Jules Clancy) hails from Australia and specializes in quick meals with few ingredients and this recipe is extra special because it is a 15 minute recipe like her 15 minute lasagana.

Secondly, along with the print recipe she has a video (see below) of her making this quickie pie (actually it’s 8 mini-pies) so you can see her exact process.  I really appreciated the video because she gives some great tips about the meringue, something that can seem a little daunting to most people.  I also totally dig her accent.

And lastly, I just want to point out that she doesn’t use pastry for the “crust”, she uses shortbread crumbs which I think is brilliant and I can just imagine it adds a nice bit of texure to an otherwise soft and squishy filling.

My mouth is totally watering.  I must make this ASAP and so should you! You can find the full recipe here.

Enjoy your weekend, friends!

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February 21, 2012

Let’s Talk About Downton Abbey

The bad news is I had strep throat over the weekend.  The good news is that Monday I got to stay in bed and watch the finale of Downton Abbey Season II.  The bad news is it will be almost another year before Season III is released in the USA!  Oh lordy, I’m already starting to have withdrawals.  How are we ever going to make it til January 2013 for more Downton??

I do have some tidbits that will help you make it through the week, at least.  If you didn’t go to the PBS website and the official Downton Abbey page then you have missed out on quite a bit.  There are full episodes, cast interviews, background information of Highclere Castle (the real life Downton), and tons more.  But take my advise and start with this one:

http://www-tc.pbs.org/s3/pbs.videoportal-prod.cdn/media/swf/PBSPlayer.swf

Watch Downton Abbey, Season 2: A Special Q&A with the Cast on PBS. See more from Masterpiece.

The reason I want you to start with that interview is because Michelle Dockery (Lady Mary) makes mention of this video by Red Nose Day, which is HILARIOUS!

From Mr. Bates constantly falling down to O’Brien’s ridiculous hair, they went all out when creating this spoof. Be sure to catch part II here:

And then there’s the ever classy, matchless Maggie Smith. Here is a montage of clips from both seasons which includes my new favorite when Sir Richard Carlisle says "I doubt we’ll meet again." and Lady Grantham replies "Do you promise?" Classic! http://www-tc.pbs.org/s3/pbs.videoportal-prod.cdn/media/swf/PBSPlayer.swf

Watch Downton Abbey: The Best Maggie Moments on PBS. See more from Masterpiece.

There are a lot of things to see on the PBS site so be sure to pop over there when you find yourself in need of a Downton Abbey fix.  We shall endure together.

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February 20, 2012

Ombre Dying

Some of you will remember the gift I made for the Pinterest Party my sisters and I had a couple weeks ago.  Today I’m going to give you a short tutorial on how I did it.  BTW, as you read this short tutorial, you will see that about halfway through I switch from telling you what I did to telling you what you should do… my brain is like popcorn sometimes and I’m just too danged lazy to go back and correct my grammar!  Sorry, Ms. McDonald.

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I started out by reading this tutorial on Martha Stewart’s website to get the “gist” of it.  Now, clearly I did a one tone ombre instead of the 2 tone shown in the above photo.  In hindsight… it probably would have been a more interesting finished product if I had gone with the two tone but I always seem to err on the side of caution so, one tone it was.

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As you can see in photo 1, I used good ole liquid Rit dye.  Thank you Michaels for the 40% off coupon.  I simply used the instructions from the Martha Stewart instructions to fill the tub with the whole bottle of Rit dye plus a few gallons of hot water.  I also added about 2 cups of salt. In photo 2, my lovely assistant (my sister Natalie) stirred it all up until the salt dissolved and everything was well combined.  Lastly (4) I added a dash of dish soap to the water.  Apparently this breaks the surface tension of the water thus allowing the color to blend gradually.   Oh, and be sure to use rubber gloves because YOU WILL get dye on your hands.

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I used flour sack towels I bought at Target for like $4.  I love flour sack towels, in fact I sorta collect them.  You can’t have too many flour sack towels.  (5) Before you start dipping your towels you must dampen them with water.  And when I say dampen, I actually mean soak them through then wring them out.

(6) Now you are ready to start dipping!  Lower the towel into the dye just up to the lower 3rd of material.  Then for 10 minutes, you are going to raise and lower the towel so that the bottom 3rd of towel gets exposed to the dye but does not stay put in the dye.  If it stays put for any length of time you will end up with a hard line of color instead of a gradual ombre effect.  I figured this out the hard way.  I actually had to dye my towels twice to get rid of the noticeable line from the first dip.  Live and learn.

(7) After 10 minutes you move on to the 2nd third (the middle) of the towel, dipping & dunking for just 5 minutes.  Since you are just dipping this section for 5 minutes it will have a lighter color while the material that was dipped for 10 minutes will continue to get darker.  That’s ombre!

After 5 minutes of dunking the middle section, just dunk the last bit, the top of your towel, once or twice to be certain the whole towel has touched the dye(not pictured).  Then pull the whole towel out above the basin and start wringing the dye out, allowing it to drip from the top (lighter portion) to the bottom (darkest portion).

The next phase is the washing & rinsing phase, where I should have continued to wear my rubber gloves but I didn’t because I’m a Cotton-Headed-Ninny-Muggins… so I ended up with blue fingernails.  For a week.  Nice.

Take your dyed towels and rinse them in cold water until the water runs clear.  This step will take about 15 minutes depending on how many towels you dyed.  I dyed 8 so it took a while.  After the water runs clear (ish) drop those babies in the washer on the warm water setting and after they are done dry them in the dryer.

After they come out of the dryer you can iron them to make them look extra crisp and lovely.  Or not.  It’s entirely up to you.

Overall, a fun (and messy) project.  Ombre is so popular right now and there are a hundred different ways to use it, I hope you try it!

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February 17, 2012

Friday Recipe: Spiced Chicken with CousCous Salad from Real Simple

Source: realsimple.com via Carey on Pinterest

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This is it! This is the dinner we had at our Pinterest Party! Incredibly easy and so, so flavorful.  Here’s the gist:

You rub down boneless, skinless chicken breasts with a yummy blend of spices (paprika, cumin, etc.) then cook it either on the stove or on the bbq (which is what we did).  Meanwhile ”cook” your couscous (just pour boiling water over it, let it sit a few minutes then fluff with a fork) and add fresh veggies such as snap peas, cherry tomatoes, lemon zest and basil.  Slice the chicken and serve over the couscous.

Seriously, I don’t know how to communicate how good it is and quite healthy.  Get the full recipe here and make it this weekend!

 

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February 15, 2012

Crumbs 2.16.12

Crumbs?  Just a bunch of small topics, links, articles that I have run across lately that just didn’t make it to a post all their own.  Enjoy my ramblings!

  • The Seven Year Pen from See Jane Work.  It is exactly what it sounds like, a writing pen that lasts for 7 years!  And it comes in all sorts of dandy shades/designs like the blue “ciao” one.  I kinda want one.
  • I know I’ve told you about it before, but I’m going to tell you again because I use it all the time!  CardStar (for our new friends) is an app for your mobile phone that allows you to load your store rewards cards (like CVS, Sam’s Club, Ulta, Panera, etc.)  into your cell phone so that 1) you don’t have to scrounge around in your purse or wallet for your rewards card while you are standing at the checkout and 2) you can leave the cards at home if you want because all the info is preloaded into the app.  At checkout you just whip out your phone and the checker “scans” the bar code straight from the app.  Voila!  I have never used rewards cards & coupons  so much as I have since I started using the app.  I used it today!
  • Did you know there is a group on Facebook called Discussing Downton Abbey?  I’m just sayin’….
  • Not everyone can/wants to shell out the bucks for a Brazilian Blowout Hair Smoothing Treatment but did you know they have a whole line of hair products that work insanely well at smoothing your hair? I know some of you have been nervous about the formaldehyde in their original formula but they now have a line called Brazilian Zero that contains no formaldehyde.  It’s not for everyone, but if you have unruly hair like mine, I recommend it.
  • Someone on Pinterest posted this “markdown schedule” for Target.  I haven’t had a chance to see if it’s true or not but I’m gonna.  Like, tomorrow.
  • If you’re new to cooking or just want to brush up on the basics, I really recommend Kelsey’s Essentials on Cooking Channel.  She’s perky but not in an annoying way and she gives you the essential techniques you need to be a great home cook.

And that’s what’s been on my mind lately!

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February 14, 2012

Good Love Is On The Way

Happy Valentine’s Day, my friends!

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February 13, 2012

Folding The Fitted Sheet

Most of you have probably seen Martha Stewart’s version of how to fold a fitted sheet, that elastic bound nightmare that never sits right in the linen closet because it’s so hard to fold. BUT… Martha’s version is confusing to me. And trying to follow the written directions is even more confusing. BUT… this video by Karen from The Art of Doing Stuff is brilliant because she shows you how to do it essentially with her back facing the camera, so the angle is exactly the angle you experience while following along. And she’s hilarious, so you should check out the rest of her blog.

 

 

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February 10, 2012

Friday Recipe: Honey Soy Stir Fry Chicken from Week of Menus

 

Because I was only home one night this week…

Because the pile of to-do’s on my calendar has spilled over onto next year…

Because LeiLani kept me up til 11:30pm last night…

…all you get is the link to what looks to be an amazing recipe from Week of Menus.  Please try it.  Then come over and make it for me.

Because I’m too busy to cook.  Or eat.  Or sleep.

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February 8, 2012

Pinterest Party!

First I had to keep it a secret because I didn’t want to spoil the surprises for anyone. Then I had to keep it a secret because I didn’t have time to edit the pics off my camera.  The life of a blogger, sheesh!  This is going to be the world’s longest post, but I don’t want to split it up into 2 or 3 posts so grab a cup of coffee and enjoy as I take you through our evening.

My sisters and I have been talking about doing a Pinterest Party for… forever.  We are all on Pinterest, pinning this and that, following each other’s boards, experimenting, etc.  We wanted to throw a party where everything was inspired by the things we saw on Pinterest: we would cook Pinterest recipes, decorate with Pinterest decor & give gifts of DIY Pinterest.

Finally Natalie pulled the trigger and said, “My house, be there!”  So last Friday night we finally had our Sisters Only Pinterest Party!  I will try to link you to our “pins” that inspired all this merriment.

Natalie & I worked on the decor earlier in the week.  Our goal was to keep the decorations, foods, gifts, etc. fun but still simple & inexpensive.  So we used picture frames we already had and printed out the Pinterest logo (which they so willingly provide on their website) to fill them.  I created a simple “Welcome to our Pinterest Party” sign that sat on the main table along with some pretty PInterest inspired vases that Natalie pinned.

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And see all those little “p’s” on the table?  I just used a template from Avery for 1” circle labels then used my 1” circle punch to cut them out.  Instant Pinterest confetti!!  We spread them all over the room.

At each place setting Natalie placed a little card of her favorite Pinterest quotes. 

The food, oh the food!  When you combine 6 girls who love to cook (and eat) you are going to get one crazy good meal.

We started out with appetizers from Adrienne and beverages from Andrea.  The appetizers were bacon wrapped jalapenos with a cream cheese filling. Oh…my…goodness.  I could have eaten the whole plate.  But those other 5 couldn’t keep their hands off of them either, darn it.

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Andrea made not one, but two beverages:  a blueberry lemonade and a pear sangria.  Both good to the last drop and I can’t wait for summer so I can enjoy them again and again.

 

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Then there was the main course by Natalie: grilled spice rubbed chicken, veggie couscous and grilled asparagus (which we forgot to serve, oops!).  Really tasty, but also really easy to put together. I don’t have her pins for those, maybe she’ll share later.

Each of us brought a small gift for each of the other sisters, which of course, was inspired by something we had pinned on Pinterest.  My gift was hand dyed ombre tea towels, inspired by this pin:

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I hope to share that project with you soon!

Natalie made 3 little presents (cheater): a little bracelet made with embroidery floss, a paint-chip bookmark and lavender salt & sugar scrubs.

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Here is a group photo of what the rest of the sisters made:

I’ll try to point them out to you separately…

See the dainty little ric-rac ring and button bobby pins?  Amy made those, inspired by these pins:

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The mug was hand stenciled by Andrea, a project I have meaning to do and just never got around to.  Now I don’t have to!  She was inspired by this pin:

Source: designmom.com via Erin on Pinterest

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Adrienne created the hot cup cuff with the most amazing fabric! I’m not exactly sure which pin she was inspired by but it might have been this one:

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The last gift was from Angela and you might not be able to tell what it is from the photo above.  Just below the mug you will see a pink-ish rectangular item.  Know what that is?  It does this:

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Clever, no?  She used this pin for inspiration:

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After our little gift exchange, Amy presented her sinfully delicious dessert, which somehow I didn’t get a picture of.  Must have been the food coma.  But I’m pretty sure she pinned it here:

Source: annies-eats.com via Amy on Pinterest

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They were sweet, salty, buttery… all the things a dessert should be.

It was a fun night of sharing, gabbing, eating and just being sisters.  We plan to have more Pinterest Parties in the future, this was just the trial run.  But it was so much fun and I look forward to the next one!

Posted in DIY, Food, Randomness | 4 Comments »

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February 7, 2012

Well Laid Plans

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Today, I had planned to tell you about a little gathering we had last Friday. It had to do with this photo. And this photo:

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But the rest of the photos are still sitting in my camera. And so you have to wait some more. Booooo!!!

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February 6, 2012

The Battle of the Bacon Maple Bar

Every day at work, various sales reps and vendors drop off fat and sugar laden goodies in hopes we will be lured into buying products from them. Doughnuts, pies, cakes, homemade cookies, muffins, cheese balls. And then there’s the Mac-Daddy of them all: the bacon topped maple bars. It is a long, deep fried doughnut bar, with a sticky, sugary maple glaze, topped with a piece of smoky, fatty bacon. I’m pretty sure my cholesterol goes up 50 points just from smelling it.

Every day I battle valiantly against the junk food, every day I say, “Get thee behind me, Satan!” Every day I deny the lusts of the… tastebuds… and refuse to eat their devil-sweeties.

So imagine my shock when yesterday I arrived at my sister’s house to watch the Superbowl and I found this waiting for me:

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Thaaaaat’s right, my sister bought the demon Bacon Maple Bars for the Superbowl! A wolf in sheep’s clothing is what she is!

You may notice the bar in the middle, the one with a slab of bacon atop it, where the end appears to have been lopped off. I may have done that. I may have eaten that bite. Just one bite!

I feel like I need to go to confession and do penance. And I’m not even Catholic.

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February 2, 2012

Friday Recipe: Bahn Mi Sliders from Michael Symon

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So… if you’re wondering where I was this week… I was… catching my breath. January was one of the craziest months I’ve had in a long time and just coming off of the busy holidays, it just about plowed me under. Stress City. And the worst part about it was I didn’t have time to do the things that make me, me. No cooking, no crafting, no creativity, no books, no artwork. Nada. I am so happy to kiss January goodbye.

The good news is this week I was able to work on a little project that I will be able to share with you next week. Lot’s of pictures. Lot’s of fabulousness. Stay tuned.

One thing I did get to watch on tv this week was The Chew. If you aren’t watching The Chew, you are missing some great recipes. This week Chef Michael Symon made these Asian style pulled brisket sandwiches, a nod to the Bahn Mi, and I can’t stop thinking about them. And what is really super about this recipe is that he made them in the slow cooker! You can’t beat that; dump everything in the slow cooker, let it do it’s thing for 6 or 7 hours and you will have tasty sandwiches waiting for you.

It’s sort of like a French Dip, only with some Asian flavors. I think it sounds entirely yummy and you can find the whole recipe and even watch the video clip here.

Party Friday night, haircut and church on Saturday, Superbowl on Sunday… it’s going to be a good weekend!

Posted in Food, Friday Recipe, Randomness, Recipes | 1 Comment »

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