It's looking a lot like Christmas!!

I just wanted to share our Christmas joy that is all over the house...

I put up 3 trees this year

which meant Daniel was not excited :)

our new mantle

 our new little peacock tree :)

I failed to mention in all this commotion that Daniel has gutted our master bathroom, as in NOTHING is in there except the tub!! so the house has been an absolute mess with decorations, dust, tile and a toilet outside our back door, which was shortly thrown in the back of the truck to head to the dumpster. I can't wait to see what he has in store for the bathroom! I will make sure to keep you all updated

ps... the house is as clean as it can be considering the circumstances, so I'm just going to be concerned with wrapping everyone's Christmas goodies for the time being

oh, and Bentley wanted to wish you guys a Merry Christmas!!

Bunco at the Peacocks

So November was my month to host bunco!

It was my first time ever and I LOVED it!

anytime I have an opportunity to entertain I get super motivated to please people with my cooking and fun ideas!

the menu included:

Chili in jars

oriental slaw

pumpkin rolls

& fun turkey sugar cookies

The Chili

I'm going to go ahead and admit I was VERY nervous about the Chili in jars.

The jars read "not for HOT contents"

well....I had to put these jars in the oven on 375* to bake the Jiffy cornbread.

I decided to "google": can you put jars in oven?

some answers were positive saying, "done it many times, no problem"

...

others were extremely negative asking, "are you trying to kill your family? they will EXPLODE!!" 

so obviously I was hesitant

They will NOT explode people!

They were perfect and the hit of the party!!

what I did:

I made chili and let it sit in the crockpot all day

I then put an even amount of chili in each jar

I mixed a box of jiffy

and you may not have to do this next part but I found it made things easier:

I placed the mix in a small ziploc and cut a small tip off one of the bottom edges (making a kind of pastry bag you use for frosting) and then squeezed an even amount on top of the chili in each jar

I then placed the jars in the oven on 375* for about 15-20 mins- until the jiffy comes out clean on a toothpick

soooo YUM

Pumpkin rolls:

INGREDIENTS:
Cake:
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3 eggs
2/3 cup mashed (canned) pumpkin
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Filling:
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup powdered sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 15 X 10-inch jelly roll pan. Cut wax paper to fit the bottom of the pan and leave an inch overhang on each of the short ends of the pan. Lightly grease the wax paper and sides of the jelly roll pan.
Mix the sugar, flour, salt, soda, cinnamon, eggs and pumpkin in a large bowl. Once mixed, pour mixture over the waxed paper. Sprinkle the walnuts, if using, on top of the mixture. Bake for 14-15 minutes until edges pull away from the sides of the pan and center is done.
Lay a large dishtowel on the counter top (it is best to use a dishtowel without any texture – a tea towel or similar towel works best). Spread a thick dusting of powdered sugar all over the towel. When the cake comes out of the oven, turn the pan upside down on the powdered sugar-laden towel so the wax paper is on the top. Gently peel off the wax paper, being careful not to tear the roll. Starting at one of the short ends, roll the pumpkin cake up with the towel to cool. While the roll is cooling, mix the cream cheese, butter, vanilla, and powdered sugar together until it is light and creamy. Once the roll is cool, unroll and with an offset spatula, carefully spread filling in an even layer over the cake. Roll it up without the towel and place in the refrigerator (covered with plastic wrap or wax paper) for about an hour before serving.

Turkey sugar cookies:

cookies-

turkey-

candy corn

chocolate icing

orange icing

and candy eyes

First I made the sugar cookies following the recipe of Betty Croker herself, then I let them cool overnight. Squeeze chocolate icing on top to use as a adhesive for the candy corn feather tails. For the eyes I found cute candy eyes in the cake baking dept at Walmart but you could use any candy and place dots on them for eyes, use the chocolate icing to make them stick as well. Then you use the orange icing to make the little nose and little feet

We scheduled our next year Bunco calendar and I have Christmas in 2012!!

Can't wait to start planning that one!!



laundry. . .

our laundry room is done!!

another fix-up to mark off our list

Daniel did a WONDERFUL job!

I didn't get any "before" pics (SHAME on me)

but the "afters" really make me smile

Bentley's big boy bed!!

B Bear in his new bed

I know I may be partial but I do believe my pup is the cutest!!

he finally said "enough" im tired

so...

on to showing you how it was made

this bed was originally a foot stool

I then cut off the top pillow part

and turned it over

my mom had some really cute fabric that she let her precious grand-dog have, so I just covered the original stuffing that was on top of the stool (after cutting it down a little to fit inside the bottom)

and a bed is not complete without a ruffel

so I cut some brown fabric from one of my mom's old skirts and stapled it underneath and crinkled it along the way

here is a bottom shot

and I painted the little "posts" and sanded them a little

and wha la!!

such a sweet little man!

keeping myself busy

while Daniel works on the laundry room, I have found a few things to occupy my time

I don't know about you (you may not wear headbands) but I always have a mess in my vanity drawer from my headbands tangling up everywhere. So I wrapped this Quaker Oats grits container with a little stuffing then covered it in a pretty "girly" rose pattern

and wah-lah no more mess

Daniel told me that we needed something to cover the UGLY fuse box in our almost done

much-needed-renovation

 laundry room 

So I made a menu board 

i love it...not only does it cover the ugly fuse box,

 it also helps me know what to get for groceries

so that I do not overspend

I had a wonderful visit with my friend Kaitlin last night who is due with her precious baby boy, Wyatt, in only 4 WEEKS!! She had been needing a swaddle blanket so of course I wanted to help out with that

i wrapped his present with his "swaddler"

I thought is turned out pretty cute.

Bentley wanted to tell you guys 

 "peace out and stay cool"

i just love this little guy

projects

While Daniel has been busy renovating the laundry room I have given myself a few projects to do.

Last night I made this adorable hand towel to hang in our kitchen

I also have made some changes once again to our bedroom

I made these precious pillows

and painted this picture

the birds are scrap pieces of cloth

and here is the finished room



It's Fall ya'll!!

This is my Favorite time of year!!

from the decor, to the attire, to the get-togethers and especially the weather!!

I love Fall!!

here is our Fall scene this year

and I wanted to give a huge shout out to Pinterest

they gave me several Fall decor ideas

from this

I made this

and from this

I made this

and from this

I made this

Thanks Pinterest!!!

DIY pillow from a shirt

I first got an old tshirt of Daniel's and a striped polo he never wears

I then cut the shirt into 2" strips and used a long basting stitch to be able to pull into ruffles

I also cut the polo and surged the sides to fit the amount of ruffles i had

I then sewed the ruffles to the front of the pillow

and once that was done I turned the pillow wrong-side out and sewed all sides together

Once that was done I unbuttoned the shirt and turned "right-side" out and stuffed it and buttoned it back

and this is what it looks like :)

yummy low-cal apple treat

My mom taught me a really yum "recipe" for a low-cal treat

Ingredients:

• a few Granny Smith apples
• Molly McButter
• Cinnamon
• Splenda

you first boil about 2 cups water then turn down to low-medium. cut the apples in slices and add to water.

then sprinkle the butter, cinnamon and sugar on it and let sit for about 10 min

then enjoy

perfect for Fall