A Great Time to Buy!

Watch this short clip on the improving economic growth forecast for 2011! Now is a  great time to buy. Contact me if I can help.

Ballard Designs

I got the Ballard Design catalog over the weekend and I spotted these curtains.

Image from Ballard Designs

I think they look a lot like my Ikea curtains and Lowe's curtain rods. Mine cost about $64 total. The Ballard curtains are $70 for one panel.

Image from Ikea

I also love this  rug and considered it for my dining room. I like the idea of something washable that I could rinse with the hose! That would be perfect for the crayon and juice and other items my mess makers may get on it. Unfortunately, the sizes don't work for my dining room. But look at the prices...what a deal! I may get the small one for in front of my kitchen sink.

Image from Ballard Designs



Menu Planner

Saturday - Angela's Awesome Enchiladas

Sunday - White Bean  Tortellini Soup, French Bread

Monday - Ham Steak, Baked Spinach & Pea Risotto

Tuesday - Chicken Broccoli Casserole

Wednesday - Meatloaf, Mashed Potatoes, Green Bean

Thursday - Marinated Flank Steak Salad

Master Bedroom Curtains Are Up!

Over the weekend, Michael helped me hang the curtains from Ikea. I am really pleased with them.

To recap....here is what our bedroom looked like when we first moved in...pretty boring!

Bedroom before with Cougar!

Bedroom After

I still have to paint the dressing table and possibly change out or paint the existing pulls on the chest of drawers. Click on the links to read about my headboard , artwork and bench projects.

Menu Planner

Monday - Slow  Cooker Asian Braised Pork

Tuesday - Turkey Salisbury Steak (Recipe below courtesy of my friend Melissa), Green Beans

Wednesday - White Pizza (Recipe Below)

Thursday - Rosemary Ranch Chicken Kabobs, Corn, Risotto

Turkey Salisbury Steak with White Bean Mash

1 lb uncooked ground turkey
1 envelope beef flavored onion soup mix
2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons Olive oil
1 clove garlic minced
1 tablespoon butter
2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms
3/4 cup reduced sodium chicken broth
1/4 cup tomato paste

In a large bowl, combine ground turkey, 2 tablespoons of the onion soup mix, and 1 tablespoon of the Worcestershire sauce; mix well. Shape into 4 oval patties about 1/2 inch thick.

In a large skillet, cook the patties in hot oil on medium high heat for 3 minutes or until browned, turning once. Remove from skillet, set aside.

In hot skillet, cook garlic in butter for 30 seconds. Add mushrooms. Cook and stir 5 minutes or until tender. Add broth, tomato paste, remaining soup mix, and remaining Worcestershire sauce. Stir, scraping up brown bits.

Return patties to skillet, spoon sauce over patties. Cover and cook on medium high heat about 8 minutes or until done (160 degrees), spooning sauce over patties through cooking time.

White Bean Mash: In a large saucepan, cook 2 cloves of garlic minced in 2 tablespoons of hot oil for 1 minute. Stir in two (15 oz) cans of white beans, rinced and drained. Coarsely mash beans. Stir in chicken broth to moisten beans (up to 1/4 cup). Stir in 1/2 teaspoon of dried thyme and 1 teaspoon of lemon juice. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Heat through. Drizzle with olive oil.

White Pizza


1 cup Asiago or Parmesan

1 cup Mozzarella

1/3 cup Classico Pesto

1 Tomato, thinly sliced

Spread pizza with pesto. Top with cheeses and thinly slice tomatoes. Cook for 8 minutes at 450 degrees.

Camille's Room Artwork Update

Last summer, I purchased a grosgrain ribbon to use to display Camille's artwork. Read about it here. It was starting to look messy to me. And since it is hard enough to keep the toys off the floor, I decided to do something a little neater on the walls.

Here is the before.....

And the after.....

I purchased the same frames I used in my bedroom. You can get a two pack at Michael's for $7.99 and the  mats are $2.99 each. This update cost about $12 because I had Michael's coupons and I already owned one frame and mat. I used the same Flowers of North America book from my bedroom artwork update for the prints. Camille painted the canvases last summer.

Before between Camille's closets

After between Camille's closets

Relocated this to above the kitchen

Clyde & his lovies helped with the arrangement.

The plan is to get the new curtains up in my bedroom tomorrow so hopefully I will have pictures of that next week. I have also purchased some artwork from shopgoodwill.com that I am waiting to arrive as well  as some fabric for my outdoor chairs from fabric.com. Very excited about both!

Flowers are bloomin!

My yard is starting to pop with flowers! Come on Spring!

On an unrelated note...I found these cute flats today by report at Ross Dress for Less for $13.99! The tag says compare at $50.00. They feel like bedroom slippers. Richmonders: the one on Cox Road has lots of cute cheap shoes!

Menu Planner

We had a fun night in DC. I think the kids were more excited about the hotel than the zoo! We also stopped at Ikea and I got these curtains for my bedroom. So hopefully I will get them up this week. I had quite a time at Lowes picking out curtain rods today. There are so many options!  Stay tuned!

Here's what we are eating this week.....

Monday - Hot Chile Grilled Pork Medallions, Corn

Tuesday - Teriyaki Chicken Drumsticks (recipe below), Tator tots, Succotash

Wednesday - Chicken Florentine (recipe below), Rice

Thursday - Mexican Vegetable Pizza, Whole Wheat Crust

Teriyaki Chicken Drumsticks
2 lbs fresh boneless, skinless chicken drumsticks or thighs
2 tablespoons reduced sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons sherry or cooking sherry
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1-2 teaspoons cornstarch

Place chicken pieces in a glass or ceramic dish. Combine soy sauce, sherry, oil and ginger and pour over chicken, turn to coat meat on both sides. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator overnight. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Remove plastic wrap and cover dish with foil. Bake for 30 minutes, covered, turning once. Uncover and bake for an additional 15 minutes or until internal temperature registers 165 degrees. Remove from oven and strain juices into a small saucepan. Dissolve cornstarch in a small amount of water and add to juices. Cook until thickened and bubbly. Serve over chicken.

Chicken Florentine (courtesy of Lelia Grinnan)
8 chicken breasts, skinned and boned
Salt and Pepper to Taste
1 (10 oz) package of chopped spinach (unthaw in microwave)
2 tablespoons melted butter
3 ounces cream cheese
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 cup shredded Swiss cheese
6 tablespoons butter
1/3 - 1/2 cup grated Parmesan Cheese

Preheat over to 400 degrees. Pound chicken until thin, season to taste. Set aside. Mix butter, cream cheese and lemon with spinach. In the center of each breast, spread Swiss cheese and 1/4 cup spinach mixture. Fold chicken to cover stuffing completely. Place in baking dish seam side down and spread 1 1/2 tsp butter on each. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Add small amount of water and remaining butter. Bake at 400 degree for 25 minutes or until brown.

New Blog Background!

I am so excited about my new blog background. Many thanks to Smitten Blog Designs. They were great to work with and the turn around time was less than a week!

We have a fun weekend planned that involves a trip to the National Zoo and Ikea! Yea! Happy Friday!

Time Away Home and Senior Services

My aunt, Robin, launched a new business last year. Time Away Home & Senior Services provides professional, reliable and affordable home watching services for home owners throughout Richmond, Virginia and its surrounding communities from Goochland to Windsor Farms. Robin also provides special care for senior citizens throughout the Richmond area. She offers prescription drug pickup, grocery shopping and gift purchasing. Drop off and pickup service to the doctor’s office and other appointments is also available when you need it most.  She just started a blog here and you can follow her on Facebook here. Keep her in mind if you know of anyone needing her services.

Fresh Home Easy DIY Projects

I got a subscription to Fresh Home Magazine last year. They  have some great DIY projects and have just launched their website.

Here are some of my favorites....

How to make a custom size rug. Stitch together two smaller rugs to make a custom larger size. I have also seen this done with carpet tape which you can find  at Home Depot or Lowes.

How to Gild a Chair. I have never attempted this and I wonder if it would work on the pulls on the dressers in my bedroom. I need to refinish them some how.

How to make a high gloss table. This may help with the dressing table in my  bedroom that I still haven't refinished. That is on the list for this spring.

There are even DIY posts on how to make at-home facials, edible gifts and more.

Spring Cleaning

We had a fun weekend that involved a Mardi Gras cookout and parade....well actually the parade part never really happened but our wagon looked great.

On Sunday, I did some spring cleaning and organizing. It feels good to get our closets in order. They were a mess!

Bathroom Closet Before

Bathroom Closet After

Hall Closet Before

Hall Closet After

Pantry Before

Pantry After

Pantry After

I found quite a few missing pens, hair barrettes and it turns out that I have three 32 oz cartons of chicken broth.

Here a picture of my little helpers mess-makers with the peanuts they squished all over our rug.

Menu Planner

Monday - Taco Casserole

Tuesday - Chicken Cordon Bleu, Rice, Asparagus

Wednesday - Chicken & Proscuitto Tortellini, Salad and  Bread

Thursday - Loaded Baked Potato Soup, Bar Grilled Cheese

Master Bedroom

I am eyeing these curtains from Ikea for my master bedroom. What a steal at $19.99 for one pair. My sister has them in beige and they are pretty good quality. I am thinking of getting brown.

I also updated my bench with more fabric from Garden Ridge. At $5.99, I decided I could start again. I wasn't loving the black one after I look at it for a while.



So the bench started like this.....



Then went to this....

Now this

I have an idea for over the bed. I found something in my attic I may hang there.

A few projects....

I have been working on some small projects around the house. There are tons of large ones on the list but I need to find the time. Also, once spring has really sprung, I can get outside and do some painting.

I found these frames at Garden Ridge very inexpensive...$4.99 and $2.99.

Before

After

My grandmother gave Camille a bed a while ago but when we switched her from a crib to a bed, I was worried it was too tall for just learning to sleep in a big bed.  But now she has it mastered so we brought the headboard and footboard down from the attic last week. It is still super tall and we have read Princess and the Pea the past two night at bedtime. But I think it looks nice and less room to make a mess! Ha!

Before



After