Awesome Vintage Finds

On Sunday Afternoon, sweet pea, my mom and I went to one of the many Peddler Malls in our area. It had been a while since I had been and mom had never been before, so it was time to make a trip back. The main things I was looking for were some baskets for storage and a drum table to go beside my bed. We were shocked at how many people were there when we pulled up, it was like the place to be that day apparently.

I took my camera with me to shoot some pics of my favorite booths, but the batteries were dead, so I wasn't able to take any. We ended up being there for like 2 1/2 hours and sweet pea was sooooo good the whole time. I made sure to take plenty of snacks with me to keep here occupied while mom and I looked around. I didn't end up finding a table, but I did find some really neat things. Here is a pic of my purchases of the day.

I thought this olive oil bottle was really pretty and it was only $1 so it went quickly into my cart. That copper fish mold is just like one that my grandmother has, and at $3.75 I just had to have it. Both of these things will be going in my kitchen and once I find just the right place for them I will let you take a peek.

These 2 vintage Ball jars are for a project that I will be working on for my master bedroom. As soon as it is finished I will show you that as well. They were both $2.50 a piece which I didn't think was too bad. The same booth where I got these also had a bunch of the blue vintage Ball jars and I really wanted to buy a couple, but they were $7.75 a piece and I just couldn't bring myself to pay that much for glass jars.

Mom and I really thought this basket was neat and I thought it would be prefect to keep our magazines in. Hubby and I both received magazine subscriptions for Christmas, so it won't take long to fill this bad boy up. We couldn't tell what the basket it made out of, but we guessed it might be tobacco leaves or corn husks. What do ya'll think??

I found a spot for it right under the side table next to the couch. Once we get done reading one we can just toss it in.

My rule with magazines though is unless it has something really cool in it and you just have to keep it, it gets recycled. If we kept every magazine that we have ever gotten, we would probably have a room full!

I hope to go back to the Peddlers Mall in a few weeks to continue to look for a drum table, and I am sure by then I will be wanting some other things as well.

I am really excited about this weekend because I get to hang out with my girlfriends whom I don't get to see very often. It has been a while since I have been out by myself, and this lady needs some momma time! Well I am gonna jump off here and get some beauty rest, until next time, BYE!

Partying over at:

Savvy Southern Style

At the Picket Fence

Love Is In The Air

Well it has just been a beautiful day here in Louisville. The sun came out for a bit and the temp got up to 64 degrees, Yay! I know it is probably just temporary, but I am loving every minute of it. Sweet pea and I even took a walk when I got home from work and she loved it! We have a bit of an uneven driveway in some spots and when we roll over them with the wagon the vibration of the wagon makes her crack up, it's so cute!! Those are the moments that make being a mom the best!

I finally got some batteries for my camera today, so it is working again. I wanted to show you all the decorations I have put up for Valentine's Day. I don't put up a whole lot, just a few things here and there. I usually decorate my trusty ol' grapevine wreath on the front door, but this year I gave it a little facelift by adding the banner that goes across the center. I made it using some scrapes of dropcloth that I had and painted LOVE on it with some craft paint I had on hand as well. I really like the way it turned out.

I bought these tulips on sale at Kroger last week. They were only $1.49 per bunch. This picture was taken the day after I bought them I think. They are not looking so hot right now, so I think I am going to have to pitch them and get some new ones.

These precious mother-daughter aprons were given to me for Christmas by hubby's grandparents. I just adore them and can't wait to do some baking with my sweet pea. I have a particular peanut butter cup cupcake recipe in mind.

Sweet pea's room already has A LOT of pink in it, but I decided to add just a bit more. I found that cute pillow in the dollar spot at Target, and she fell in love with it. She was laying on it while we were shopping and saying "Shh, night night", it was too cute!

These birds were also a purchade from Target in their Valentine home decor section. Since they match her room, I think I am going to just leave them up all the time. The heart in the middle was purchased from Joann Fabrics in their dollar section. It is one of those color your own things.

Here is the finished product after sweet pea got done with it. I helped her out a little. It may be a little messy, but I think it's just perfect.

Hopefully you enjoyed my Valentine's tour. I hope to be back later today with another fun post about what I did this weekend. Until then, BYE!

Partying over at:

My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

Savvy Southern Style

At The Picket Fence

Mmm Mmm Mondays #10

Wow, I can't believe that I am already writing my 10th post of this series! It feels like just yesterday that I decided to embark on this weekly adventure. I had planned on finally having a spectacular sweets recipe to share for this post, but as always life gets in the way and that didn't happen. However I still have a really awesome recipe to share and I think you are gonna like it, so here ya go!

Cheesy Stuffed Shells

You will need:

1 box dried jumbo pasta shells

1 15 oz container ricotta cheese

1 egg, beaten

1/4 tsp fine grain sea salt

1 cup mozzarella, grated

1 bunch chives, minced

(I apologize in advance for the poor quality of pictures, but my camera is acting up these days, so these were taken using hubby's phone)

Heat your oven to 350 degrees. Boil pasta shells as directed on package. Be careful not to boil them to long, or they will tear while you are trying to fill them. I boiled mine for about 9 mins.

While your shells are boiling you can prepare the filling. In a medium bowl combine the ricotta, egg and salt, mix well.

Then add in your mozzarella and 3/4 of your minced chives, and mix well.

Spread an even layer of tomato sauce in the bottom of a 9X13 baking dish. I don't have an exact measurement because I just eyeballed it.

Once the shells are cooked and cooled, fill each one with cheese mixture. I ended up boiling 25 shells and filled all but 3.

After all shells are filled, top with a little more sauce. I once again just eyeballed it.

Cover with foil and bake for 30 mins, then uncover and bake for another 15 mins. Once it's finished baking, top with remaining chives.

I chose to serve mine with salad and some homemade cheesy garlic biscuits.

This meal totally gets a 5+ in my book, because I LOVE Italian food. I really wish that I didn't love carbs as much as I do, because it would be a heck of a lot easier for hubs and I to lose some weight if we didn't. I just can't help it, it is soooo good!!

Here is the link to the original recipe that I found via pinterest. She also share a recipe for making your own sauce, but I was lazy and just went with the store bought. Hubby would like me to attempt to make my own sauce though, so maybe one day I will get courageous enough. So if any of you other bloggers out there have a good recipe for some delicious sauce I would be much obliged if you would send it my way.

Well it is way past my bed time and my eyes are getting sleepy, so until next time, BYE!

Arts and Crafts Keep You Sane

Well here I am again this week as promised. Today was a beautiful day here in the Bluegrass state. The sun was shining bright and it wasn't too cold outside, if only I could have taken sweet pea to the zoo or something, but instead today was one of my days to work. Oh well, Spring will be here before we know it, and boy I am ready!

On Sunday I went out in search of some fabric to make a few easy projects with my new sewing machine that hubby got me for Christmas. I got excited when I saw the sign in the store window that read "Winter Sale" but was quickly disappointed when they didn't have anything that caught my eye. Hopefully they will be getting some of their Spring fabric in soon, but until then I will just have to put my sewing projects on hold.

Since I struck out at the fabric store, I decided to go next door to Michael's to see what I could find. I wasn't necessary looking for anything in particular, I just enjoy browsing sometimes. I really like looking through the dollar bins at Michael's because you never know what you may find. I was just browsing along minding my own business when BAM! it hit me, and starring back at me was this notepad that read "Arts and Crafts Keep You Sane".

I mean if this doesn't sum it all up in a nutshell, then I don't know what will. This is totally how I feel about all the crafting that I do. I don't do it to keep up with the latest fad or to impress people, I do it because I LOVE it, and it's like a calming outlet for me. Hubby has his golf and XBOX and I have my Arts and Crafts. I have literally been crafting since I was little, like when my sister and I would puffy paint our canvas Keds in the summer, and would make hair accessories out of fantastic plastic. We were like kids in a candy store when mom would take us to get arts and craft supplies, and I have yet to stop loving it!

I hope that one day I will be able to pass on my love of arts and crafts and all things DIY to my little sweet pea, because I would love to have a little crafting partner. She already loves to color (on walls and furniture!) and likes to watch when I am making things. So when I say lets go to Hobby Lobby I hope she gets that same excited feeling that I got when I was little.

I also found a few other cute things in the dollar bins as well.

These cupcakes wrappers were just too cute to pass up, and at $1 for 75 I was sold! I especially love the ones with the strawberries. Gonna have to make something extra special to put in those.

I was also super stoked when I found these little garden stakes. They will be perfect this summer for our vegetable garden, so that we will be able to differentiate between the plants. I was going to make some out of stones this year, but at a $1 a pack I couldn't pass then up.

Do Arts and Crafts Keep You Sane as well?? If not, I hope you have something that does and I hope it makes you happy every time you do it. I am going to jump off here for now and relax a little before hitting the hay, but I hope to see ya'll real soon. Who knows, maybe I will even write another post tomorrow. Whoa, 3 posts in 3 days, that 's dedication for me!

Goodnight!!

Linking up to these parties:

Wow Us Wednesdays at Savvy Southern Style
Inspiration Friday at At the Picket Fence

Mmm Mmm Mondays #9

I just now realized that I haven't written a single post since last weeks Mmm Mmm Monday. I have a bunch of things I want to write about, but I just haven't had the time to actually sit down and execute it. I promise I will try and do better this week at letting you all know what's going on in this crazy head of mine.

Hopefully everyone had a lovely weekend. We had the best day yesterday just hanging out as a family. Hubby even took sweet pea and I out to breakfast at Wild Eggs, which serves the best biscuits and gravy. It's not your normal biscuits and gravy, instead of your normal white gravy, they use a spicy sausage gravy and it is just delicious. I get it every time we go there because I love it so much!

Back to why your really here, this weeks recipe comes straight from pinterest, and let me tell you it did not disappoint. I don't know about you all, but every recipe I have tried from pinterest has been wonderful. There are obviously a ca-trillion (yes, I made that a word) good cooks out there in blog land, and I am very grateful. Tonight's original recipe can be found here. It is a recipe for slow cooker jambalaya, so here we go.

Slow Cooker Jambalaya

You will need:

1 lb smoked sausage, sliced

1 (28 oz) can diced tomatoes w/juice

3 tbsp dried minced onion flakes

1 cup chicken broth

2 tsp dried oregano

2 tsp dried parsley

2 tsp minced garlic

2 tsp cajun seasoning

1 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp dried thyme

white rice, cooked

Sorry I don't have a pretty photo of all the ingredients used in this meal, but I was trying to put it together quickly while juggling a ton of other things, so I decided to for go that pic, hope you don't mind.

In your crock pot combine all your ingredients except for your rice. I added a little more chicken broth than the recipe called for because it didn't seem to have enough liquid. You will see what I mean if you decide to make this. Cook on high 3-4 hrs or low 6-7 hours. Once your meat is cooked thoroughly, add your rice and cook for another 15 minutes, until everything is warmed through.

Once it's finished serve it up with some yummy corn muffins, and dinner is served.

The original recipe called for chicken and sausage, but I decided to leave the chicken out since we eat it all the time. Hubby said he thought shrimp would be good in this dish, so I think next time I make it I will do it with shrimp instead of sausage. Since hubby loves all things spicy, he gives this dish a BIG ol' 5!

Well I am going to jump off here for tonight, but I will see you soon. Until then, BYE!!

Mmm Mmm Mondays #8

Today was another unusually warm day for January, and I think tomorrow is going to be even warmer. I don't mind the winter months, but the weather needs to decide if it wants to be spring or winter. It's just weird to have to wear a heavy coat one day and then a light jacket the next. I'm ready for Spring though because there are a bunch of things I want to do to the outside of the house this year. I am also ready for my yard to look pretty again, and not all gross and brown.

Anyway enough rambling, and on to the recipe. Tonight I made homemade onion rings and buffalo chicken wraps. Hubs has been waiting for me to make this dish for a while now, but things just kept getting in the way, like forgetting to even get the chicken out of the freezer, Whoops! Like I have stated many times on this blog hubs loves him some hot and spicy food, and his eyes lit up when I told him I was making this. I got the wrap recipe from pinterest and tweaked it a little and got the onion ring recipe off the internet a few years ago. They are both super easy to make and I had a lot of fun doing it. Here is how to get started.

Buffalo Chicken Wraps

You will need:

1 bottle of your favorite ranch dressing

1 bottle hot sauce or wing sauce (I used mild, but you can use any heat you like)

About 2 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded

1 pkg egg roll wrappers (found in the health food refrigerated section)

*The original recipe called for blue cheese crumbles instead of ranch, but neither of us care too much for blue cheese so we opted to use ranch instead. The original also called for slaw mix, but I decided to leave that out as well.

Once you've shredded your chicken place it in a bowl and then give it a good coating with your wing sauce. I don't have an exact measurement, so just eyeball it until you think it's good.

Next, take out one of your egg roll wrappers and place it on a flat surface. Take about a tbsp of your chicken mixture and place it in the corner of your wrapper like so.

Next, I squeezed a little blob of ranch on top of the chicken.

Next, fold the bottom corner of the wrapper up over your chicken mixture.

Second, take the left corner of the wrapper and bring it into the center like so.

Do the same with the right side, and then fold the whole thing over once.

It should look like a little envelope by this point.

Next you want to take a little water and rub it on the outer edge of your envelope flap (in the same spot that the glue would be on an actual envelope).

Then fold it over and rub it with a little more water to make sure that it sticks down.

Repeat those steps until you have used all of your chicken mixture. My mixture ended up making about 12 wraps. When they are all made, place them on a cooling rack set on top of a cookie sheet, so they will cook evenly. Place them in the oven at 400 degrees for 12 mins or until golden.

Baked Onion Rings

You will need:

1 large yellow onion

1 container bread crumbs

2 eggs, beaten

Slice your onion into thick slices. I think I cut mine about 4 times. Then separate all the rings. Place your bread crumbs in one bowl, and your eggs in another.

First dip your onion in to the egg mixture.

Second, dip it into the bread crumbs. Make sure it gets coated well so it will get crispy when cooked.

When they are all coated, place them on a cookie sheet and bake at 400 degrees for 20 mins.

Since both of the things I made tonight were cooked at the same temperature I put the onion rings in first and let them start cooking since they take longer and then placed the wraps in once I was done making them. That way everything was done around the same time. Doesn't it look yummy??

Well it was and hubby loved it! Of course he had to add more wing sauce to his (I told you he likes hot food) but the flavors were delicious.

I had a little ranch on the side of mine for dipping, and it was perfect. I felt like a fatty because I ended up eating like 4 of these plus onion rings and boy was I stuffed, but it was worth every bite.

Hubby's rating: 5

The thing that I like the most about both these dishes is that they are baked and not fried, so they are just a tad bit healthier for you. I like being able to make things that still taste good, but are better for you.

Sorry if I have rambled on this whole post, but I am watching a riveting episode of the RH of Beverly Hills while I write this and I can't seem to focus on both. I hope you enjoy making this recipe and come back to let me know what you think or if you have any advice or tips. Until next time, BYE!

A Wintery Day and a Project

Well we finally had some wintery weather here today. The temperature dropped drastically in about 2 hours and we got a mix of some snow and rain. We were supposed to receive about an inch of snow, but didn't get that much in our area of town. They even closed school early today, in anticipation that the roads were going to be slick. They didn't get as bad as they thought, so I doubt school will be canceled tomorrow. I feel like kids nowadays get out for everything and when I was in school we never got out. In fact they let us out early one day in the middle of an ice storm!! Here is a picture of my backyard this afternoon.


Sweet pea and I got out and went to our favorite store Target this morning before the weather hit, but then stayed inside the rest of the day. We watched some of her favorite show Diego.

And then when hubby got home we built her a little fort. It was the first time we had done this before, so she was a little unsure at first about what to do. She eventually got the hang of it once I brought her some books to look at. Isn't that the sweetest thing!

Mommy on the other hand got bored being couped up all day, so what did I decide to do you say?? If you said craft project, than you get an A+! Since it was too yucky to go out and get any supplies, I had to make something with the things I already had on hand. I looked around the house for an idea and then stumbled upon this little blue bird. I haven't been 100% satisfied with this vingette in my dining room since putting away my Christmas decor, so I decided to spruce things up a bit by building this little guy a nest.

See doesn't he look lonely??

I remembered I had some spanish moss from another project I did back in the fall, and then I just used a styrofoam bowl for the nest shape.

Out came my trusty little glue gun and I went to work. I first filled in the bottom of the bowl, like so.

Then I started wrapping the edge and the sides of the bowl, and glued as I went.

Once I got it completely wrapped, I filled in the areas of the bowl that were still showing with the scraps that had fallen off while glueing. I then trimmed any crazy excess that was sticking out.

I found these twigs tangled in with the moss so I decided to glue them on the edge.

I wanted to flatten the middle down a bit so the bird didn't sit up so high, so I just placed one of my cereal bowls in the center of the nest and let it sit for about 1 hour.

Here is the finished product.

I think mr. bluebird likes his new home, what do you think??

I hope to be able to swtich this out for a real one some time this summer. My mom found the most perfect nest in my front yard last summer, and she took it to her pre-school so she could use it for her science center in her class. I had never actually seen one that was in such pristeen condition. Hopefully I will find one just as good this year. It is amazing all the hard work that those little birds put into making a nest.

I hope all this snow moves out by the morning, because I don't want to have to deal with driving in it. People just do stupid things when it snows here! I am gonna go now because Grey's Anatomy is on. On tonight's episode they are separating conjoined twins, Wow! Hope you all have a good night, BYE!!

Linking to:

Savvy Southern Style for Wow Us Wednesdays

At The Picket Fence for Inspiration Friday