Recent Projects

first of all, can someone tell me what the heck happened to my background?  it's all coming back to me why i left the blogger a few years back. they constantly change crap and it messes up my blog every time. grrrr. anyway, i just thought i'd share some recent projects that i may or may not have finished up yet. first up...the laundry room. ok, the laundry closet, you can hardly call it a room.  anybody else hate laundry. can i get an amen?  i needed something to help me be happy when i opened up this dreaded little closet. before after not a fantastic picture, sorry.  but i love it! and when barry first saw it his reaction was 'oh my hell!'  haha! i still love it! remember my leap of faith quilt? well it was for my friend Tori's birthday and she loves purple. i'm not great at describing style but these fabrics begged to be hers. she loves it and i really love how it turned out. this is a close up of the quilting. i used a different color for the bobbin thread and i love it.   i adore the backing fabric! i should have bought double and used it for another project. my friend Melanie asked me to make her some signs for her business. if you haven't seen the furniture she and mike refurbish you must go see! it is so beautiful!  i wish she would let me redo the 'frosted' blue, i just doesn't photograph well and it needs to be darker. i also wish this first one was not crackled and only distressed. but she says she loves them and won't let me redo them so i will be content to let them be. :) do any of you follow Vanessa over at V & Co?  how i do love her, quite the funny girl. she shared her recipe for black bean salsa and it is to die for! go make some.  now! this one i actually didn't really make. my sister in law Natalie did and i just finished painting it. we live and die by this calendar and my kids love to see what's going on that day / week. i keep thinking about painting a different color behind it or putting a fabric but i think it will just make it too busy. and by the way, she's got more of these calendars, should you want one of your own. but you won't have to finish it. :) you can request one over at simple star designs and lastly, the job board. i have intended to make this for pretty much a year now. i started thinking about how i wanted it to be last summer.  there was so much i wanted to incorporate with it. a family home evening chart, but then natalie gave us a separate one for christmas so we have that hanging in the living room. a calendar, but then it was just massive, hence the separate one above. so i ended up with this. you can use a dry erase marker to add special jobs or notes. we have what we call the Daily 5 at our house and the kids aren't aloud to do much until it's done. we have a split staircase and it sits on the landing wall so you can see it from up or downstairs. i intended to add a tiny aqua ribbon to each job magnet but as you can see that has yet to happen.  i have been using Jake's space to put my jobs. i laughed so hard when Jena had a friend over {who loudly announced that her mom doesn't make her do chores, insert my eye rolling to the back of my head} who noticed the chores under Jake's name and and whispered to Jena, 'your mom must be so mean, she even makes your baby brother do chores!' yes. i am evil! crazier than making the baby do chores is that my kids Love this chart! they know what is expected they love taking the job off when it's done and they fight over who gets to clean the bathroom. not sure how long that's gonna last but i'm milkin' every minute of it! oh, one more for the not finished list. we rotate turns for dinner prayers and family prayers. we also have an all out screaming match each night about who's turn it is. it sets a fantastic mood for the prayers, let me tell ya. so i made this little prayer chart to keep track. i had the cutest old square headed nails i got from my grandpa's shop when he passed away and i wanted to use them by each name to hang a little star with the word dinner or family on it. well, it turned out i didn't really think it through very well because the nails where way too long. like rip your shirt when you walk by long. so i have a big hole in the board where i took it out. i'm going to cut a square of galvanized steel to glue over the names, then redo the vinyl names and make the stars into magnets. and yes, i know Dad is missing, i messed up the vinyl before i put them on. :) So there you have it. Paint...check quilt...check sign...check salsa...check calendar...check job chart...check prayer chart...half check?

Zucchini and Chicken Bake

This is our family's new favorite dinner and when I say favorite, I mean it! We all L.O.V.E it! We should have plenty of left overs and there is never any. I know I got the recipe off of AllRecipes.com but when I went back to find it I couldn't. I'll give it to you Pioneer Woman style. And if you don't read PW I'd like to know what rock you've been hiding under. Now Go and check her out. Now. Thank You. Slice your zucchini and cover the bottom of a 9x13 pan.  We like 2 layers cause we adore zucchini. Sprinkle salt, pepper and basil over the top. Then sprinkle shredded mozzarella cheese.  I could do without the cheese but it's good and the kids (think) they must have it. I don't put much though. Don't pre-cook your zucchini. The original recipe tells you to. Don't. It turns into mush.  Unless you like baby food style mushy zucchini, then knock your socks of and pre-cook away. Dip your chicken breasts in a little egg and then cover both sides in breading.  We use Shake 'n' Bake Italian Parmesan...It is SO Good.  I also pound our chicken breast flat and cut them in 3rds, they cook evenly and faster that way. In a skillet add about 2-3 tbsp Olive Oil and grill your chicken for about 3 min each side. Place your chicken breast on top of the zucchini. Slice tomatoes and place on top of the chicken.  The kids and I really like tomatoes, Barry not so much.  So he just pulls it off when it's all done.  But trust me, the tomatoes are so good. Now place slices of mozzarella on top of the tomatoes, as little or much as you want.  Then sprinkle with more Basil.  We use lots, cause it's good. ;) Cover and bake at 400 for 25 minutes, remove foil and bake another 10 minutes. Oops, we were so excited to eat it I forgot to take a picture! I had to stop Ryan from taking more so I could take a picture.  Hope you love it as much as we do! Zucchini and Chicken Bake 2 Eggs 2 tbsp Olive Oil 1 Pkg Shake 'n' Bake Italian Parmesan (or your own Bread Crumbs) 4 Chicken Breast Halves...(We use 2 because we pound it flat and it feeds 4...twice) 4-5 Zucchini, Sliced  Salt and Pepper 2-3 tsp. Basil 2-3 Tomatoes, Sliced 1/2 cup shredded Mozzarella cheese Sliced Mozzarella Cheese

I don't know how you do it!

As I was saying goodnight to Ryan tonight we had the following exchange-

Ryan- Mom when I was in the garage with dad, making my Pinewood Derby Car, he farted 4 times!

Me-  (Laughing at the disgust in Ryan's voice)

Ryan- I don't know how you share a room with him, it's so gross. Does he fart when you sleep by him?

Me-  (Laughing harder) Yep, Ry, he sure does. And your right it's gross.

Ryan- Do you fart when you sleep by him?

Me-  Absolutely never.

From the other room I hear Jena yell- I fart when I'm in my bed!

And with that I went to the kitchen and made myself one of these babies...

 Mmm...Orange Julius

6 oz. frozen orange juice concentrate
1 cup milk
1 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup Powdered Sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
  25 ice cubes

This is the best recipe I've used so far.

Delish!

From a lucky girl