Randoms...

Sorry about the lack of posting the last day or two. I've been super busy!

Cleaned and rearranged the boys room this evening. I'm hoping the new arrangement will be more manageable but I'm not sold on it yet. There's just such a lack of space. But anyway...more on that later. I plan to take their closet doors off and create a homemade organizer (on pretty much a ZERO budget) in the closet, so expect pictures of that in the future!

I just wanted to share some photos tonight...

The SO CUTE candle holder I got while yard sale-ing last weekend


Mikey, doing his very favorite (indoor) thing..."playing pretend kitchen"


And my new "toy"...my side-by-side fridge!!! (And no, my magnets will NOT be organized for that long, HOWEVER, I am working on a fridge photo frame project I can't WAIT to share!!)


Talk soon!
xoxo

Easy Shepherd's Pie - Half Homemade

My friend (and step-mother to my oldest son Will), Brittany, blogged about her Shepherd's Pie recipe the other day. It sounded SO delicious, I had to create a recipe of my own.

As I've mentioned before, I like to keep things EASY-PEASY when I'm making weeknight dinners...the kids are so busy with riding and other sports, that I need to save time where I can...while still making my family a delicious, homecooked meal.

Shepherd's Pie is a great meal, because it can utilize leftovers, and a lot of ingredients most people generally have on hand...plus it's customizable for pickier eaters who only like certain veggies. It's definitely a "comfort food" for me, so not the healthiest thing ever, but it is OH so delicious!

Shepherd's Pie
1.5 lbs ground beef
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of celery soup
Veggies
Approx. 3 cups Mashed Potatoes
2 c. shredded cheddar

***Notes: the ground beef could easily be substituted with leftover chicken, turkey or steak. The veggies are totally up to you. Last night I used corn, peas and green beans because that's what I had on hand, but try other veggies...onions, celery, carrots, cauliflower...the possibilities are really limitless here. And for the mashed potatoes, I used my leftover garlic mashed, but you could make them the day of or used instant mashed if you don't have any leftovers.

1. (Assuming you're using ground beef and not leftover meat) Brown the ground beef...seasoning to taste. If you are using onion or celery, add it to the meat and cook until semi-translucent.
2. If you are using fresh veggies. cook with the meat until they begin to soften. If you are using canned or frozen veggies, skip this step.
3. Mix meat, veggies and canned soups well and pour into a 9x13 pan.
4. Heat mashed potatoes slightly (they're easier to spread if they're warm) and layer on top of meat/veggie mixture. (As I said, I used my garlic mashed that I make with red potatoes, garlic and parmesan cheese...SO delicious!)
5. Top with shredded cheese.
6. Bake at 350° approximately 45 minutes, or until heated through. Cheese should be melted and bubbly. (I put my 9x13 pan on a cookie sheet in case it bubbles over a little bit)
7. Allow to cool for 5-10 minutes before digging in!

ENJOY!

Even my boys LOVE this. I know I've hit the jackpot when I get a "Momma, this is YUMMY!" LOL! :)

Photo Shoots

TWO photo shoots this afternoon. Everyone keep your fingers crossed it doesn't rain on us!!! ***crosses fingers***

Then home to make dinner (sheperds pie by request from my fam.) and maybe help Adam get some stuff hung in the laundry room?? We'll see...

Anywho...photos to share tomorrow!

Yard Sale Success!

Had a fun morning yard sale-ing...lots of sales today and lots of people out and about!

At one sale alone I got the boys 6 pairs of jeans, a couple pairs of shorts and some sweaters and shirts for like, $7...being that clothes for them were my #1 priority, that's a serious score! YAY! :)

I also got them a couple of board games and a puzzle and got Will some books since he loves reading so much!

Didn't find much for furniture deals, but I did get a plant rack (with three fairly useless cracked terra cotta pots) for $2. I can always smash the pots and make a mosaic or something I suppose. The rack is REALLY cute. I can't decide if I want to leave it outside (it fits PERFECTLY next to my garage door) and get some plants for it, OR if I want to paint and and bring it inside and put some baskets in it for storage. Decisions, decisions!! :)

I also got a REALLY cute candle holder for $1 (candle included!) I'll have to take a picture of that to share later. Now I just need to figure out where it will look the cutest! :)

So...didn't find anything on my list, except the clothes. But that's really what we NEEDED anyway, so I consider today a yard sale success!

SALE-ing

I love yard sale-ing and am super pumped to get up early tomorrow!! It seriously makes my week to find a good bargain at a yard sale!!

On the "look out list" for tomorrow's sales:

• Most importantly, I'm looking for clothes for my boys...school is coming up and they are ever growing...so I'm always on the lookout for inexpensive, good quality clothes. (Especially considering my youngest, Mikey, won't wear MOST of his old clothes nowadays because he decided on his fourth birthday that from that day forward he was only going to wear khaki's and striped shirts. No jeans and no "picture shirts" as he calls them. Some people tell me I should make him but, you know, I'm gonna choose my battles and just let him do his thing with that one. That's just how I feel. :) )
• A bistro size table (with or without chairs) (for a game table project I've been wanting to do for YEARS...yes...YEARS!)
• As always, any furniture STEALS I just can't pass up.\
• TV trays for painting...yes...PAINTING!
  
• Some colored glass jars for a candle project I want to do...
• Solid, chunky, colorful dishes and glassware
• Some sort of container to set on my counter top to hold my utensils, and some sort of flatware holder for the counter top...not that i have a lot of counter space but I want to get rid of some drawers/cabinets so I can put my DISHWASHER in!! Woot!

I will post tomorrow with any deals I got! Can't wait!

Sneak Peak - Headboard

I've got a total of THREE bed projects to work on and I spent some time tonight on the first of those three...Will's bed. This is the under $3 head/foot board I got from Goodwill. I'm not going to show you TOO much...just a little sneak peak for now, but it's going to be so perfect. (And Will loves it!)

There was SO much polyurethane on this thing...took much longer to sand than I anticipated. Thank GOODNESS for the Mouse sander I'm borrowing! I definitely need to get one of those puppies! I have just a bit more sanding to do, then will be painting it (although I admit to liking the bare wood look now that the ugly stain and poly are gone).

Photos were taken by my sweet first boy, Will...he's very excited about his new bed! (And if you look close you will find a sneak peak of the coffee table makeover in progress too!!!)





And to introduce our photographer...this is William (and me). To quote cheesy Savage Garden..."I knew I loved him before I met him". My first boy. Smart and sweet and adorable. I love him.


Good night,

Busy Bee

Ok, I seriously have a problem. I keep coming across more and more projects to START and I need to make the time to FINISH some.

We’ve got a huge pile of stuff in the laundry room that Adam is going to hang for me, but I need to paint the frame of the $2 yard sale mirror, the $1.99 Home Interiors Shelf I scored from Goodwill, and the GIANT clothespin I found at the flea market! They are going to look SO cute with my antique washboards (also flea market finds)! Lucky for me, I found the exact paint color I want (sort of a bright sky blue) in the “mistakes” aisle at Walmart…someone’s “mistake paint” is another girl’s treasure, right?!? J I also have a small poster to frame. And I just saw the COOLEST idea on the Nester, and hope to cover my UGLY laundry room window with CHALKBOARD VINYL! How great would that be?!?! After all that goes up though, that room is going to be DELIGHTFUL!

Then, there’s the coffee table makeover. I’m having trouble with the sanding…I’ll explain one of these days, so that’s on hold for a minute. BUT, I did prime my hideous canvas painting the other day so that makeover is in full swing! So far, so good…I might even have the man on board at this point. He sure didn’t see things my way when I brought the painting home, but he’s coming around! J

And then there were the beds…I scored two headboards and footboards (with frames) at a yard sale and my PLAN is to turn the two headboards into a daybed for McKenzie. Meanwhile, last weekend at Goodwill I saw this AWESOME headboard and footboard for (are you ready for this???) $2.99!!!!! REAL WOOD PEOPLE!!! I couldn’t believe it, but Adam talked me out of buying them. (I don’t know what I was thinking!!!) After thinking about my loss the remainder of the weekend, my cousin and I took a quick trip during lunch yesterday and THERE IT WAS…still waiting for me! SCORE! So now, the $2.99 bed is MINE! It will be absolutely PERFECT for Will! I can’t wait to get sanding…I can picture it in my mind and it’s going to be SO nice! (Have I mentioned how badly I need to find a SANDER? This block sanding is getting OLD!!)

And of course, there are all the projects that aren’t even started yet…the kitchen cabinets (which I am SO excited about), the shutters (cannot WAIT!), and the front door!!!

So much to do, so little time!!!