Menu Planning

We are trying to work on eating at home instead of eating out so much.  As you know, I love a restaurant!  But to be able to watch what we’re eating and be better about the budget, we’ve decided to focus on cooking at home. 

I find if we have a menu and are prepared were much more likely to stick with the plan.  So Sundays have become our menu planning & grocery shopping day.  It’s nice because we can go together and make it more of an outing than a chore.

See why I “pinned” this cool menu board over on Pinterest…  I think it would be perfect on the side of the bookshelf in the mudroom!

source

This week’s menu:

m:	PW’s Vegetable Lasagna
t:	Ground Turkey Tacos ~ Black Beans
w:	Breakfast for Dinner – Eggs, bacon & grits
th:	PW’s Orange Whiskey Chicken Thighs ~ Roasted Broccoli
f:	Pork Chops ~ Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Yes I know there’s a theme of Pioneer Woman’s recipes.  What can I say.  I love that woman  And speaking of the illustrious P-Dub…  did you know her cooking show is starting this Saturday on the Food Network??  Well it is!  I highly suggest you tune in – cause the girl can cook!

Here’s a little trailer for ya…

Looks like some tasty treats to me!  I can’t wait to watch and get to know PW’s even more! 

Well we will need some more recipes so I don’t copy Ree every week!  What are y’all having at your house these days?  Any great recipes we need to try?  I would love to hear your input!

Joe’s at work right now on the Lasagna and it’s smelling pretty dang tasty in here!  I’ll let you know how it turns out – I’m sure it will be DEE-licious, my man can COOK too!

Pin your Interest

So I know this has been all over blogland but I feel like a few of my peeps a.k.a. readers may not be all up in blogland and they may enjoy learning about this wonder phenomenon known as Pinterest.  Now I will admit I was totally pronouncing this all wrong initially.  It’s like “interest” with a “P” = Pinterest. 

Pinterest is a site you can use to catalog all the wonderful things you see on the web.  Whether it’s recipes, design ideas, projects to make, outfits that inspire, birthday wish lists and the list could go on and on.

Remember back in the day when you would get a magazine and you’d pull out the page with whatever wonderful idea was on it.  You’d put in a stack to “file” in your “idea file.”  Well Pinterest is just that but digitally. You add this snazzy little button on your internet toolbar and any time you’re on a website where you want to catalog that image – you click on “pinterest.”  It will pull up every image on that page and you decide which one you want to pin.  Now where this is even more exciting…  it automatically links that image to the url address.  So when you want to go back and make those super yummy looking cookies, you go to your “food” board, click on the image and voila!  Your back at that site with the recipe.  Each pin you can notate as you like so you’ll know exactly why you pinned it!

Genius!!!

So let me show you what I’ve been pinning recently…

Inspiring Spaces:

    

Projects to do:

     

Yummy things to cook:

    

Pretty things to buy:

    

Funky ideas:

Please click on the picture to take you to the original source

I’m telling you Pinterest is addictive and productive ALL at the same time!  You must check it out.  Oh and by the way you need an “invite” to get an account.  So let me know if you want to join with me in my addiction!

Oh and we can follow each other’s boards too!  Follow me here!  Do you already have an account?  I’d love to follow you.

Picture, picture on the wall…

I’ve been adding some artwork in the house and thought I’d share with ya…

A couple months back, I was checking out YHL’s hallway – o –art, and fell in love with the artwork from Katie Daisy via her Etsy shop. 

She’s an artist right from right around these parts – in Asheville NC.  So I picked up one piece for my sweet cousin’s B-Day present and one for me!

    

My cousin, Elizabeth, loves the ocean and is at home most when she is near the ocean.  This piece spoke to me immediately for her.  A lovely quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson.

And then when I saw this ampersand – I fell in love.  I love graphic art, but this piece is more than just graphic.  The way she illustrated this just makes me happy.  And I love the ‘implication” it gives.  me & you. It’s a perfect piece for our bedroom.

    

And now for our other addition.  My mom was so sweet and gave us a watercolor of our home.  She did such a beautiful job!  I love the feel of the piece.  It’s light and airy but still with realistic perspective.  A piece we will always treasure!

This is a good side by side perspective.

Lovely, right!  And she even got Annie in there!

I hung the piece in the hallway – it looks great on the new wall color!

If you would like to have my mom do a watercolor rendering of your home, let me know!!  It makes a wonderful gift or memento for yourself!

Have you gotten any other artwork recently?  Any favorite artists out there or a favorite Etsy shop?  Would love to hear about it!

Progress Report

I was telling y’all about all the projects going on around here…  And I’ve been working!  So I thought I’d share our progress so far.

So just to remind you, these were our projects that needed some attention:

Clean out closets    •     Organize Attic      •     Add additional flooring to attic     •     Paint Hallway    •    Hang new mirror    •      Touch up trim paint throughout    •   Re-paint kitchen countertops    •  Trim boxwoods & vine    •    Put out mulch or pinestraw   •  Clean out gutters    •   Get deck rebuilt    •  De-clutter accessories    •  Re-arrange  guest room     •   Re-organize laundry room   •   Hang light fixture in mud room  •  Get said light fixture   •   Figure out something for center of dining room table

And here’s what we’ve been able to mark off so far:

Clean out closets    •     Organize Attic      •     Add additional flooring to attic     •    Paint Hallway    •    Hang new mirror    •      Touch up trim paint throughout    •   Re-paint kitchen countertops    •  Trim boxwoods & vine    •    Put out mulch or pinestraw   •  Clean out gutters    •   Get deck rebuilt    •  De-clutter accessories    •  Re-arrange  guest room     •   Re-organize laundry room   •   Hang light fixture in mud room  •  Get said light fixture   •   Figure out something for center of dining room table

Pretty good progress, huh!

and what kind of blog post would this be without a few pics!  So check it out!

Deck – BEFORE:

We wanted to keep the deck the same size and shape so we could utilize the framework already present.  The old wood was warped and rotten in places and had seen better days!  So after one weekend of work  - here’s how she looks now!

Deck AFTER:

So much better!!  But now the patio furniture looks a mess!  I had used 2 of these chairs on the front porch and painted them black.  So now there are mis-matched chairs and a rusty table.  I love this furniture but without having it sandblasted and re-painted I believe it may be time to say good-bye. I’ve gotten $500!!  OUCH!  If anyone has a suggestion of someone in Charlotte that does this – please let me know! So I guess I need to add Patio Furniture to the list.

Organizing closets:

What is it about an organized closet that just makes me happy??  I lurve it!  I open the door and just smile.  And adding cute boxes totally helps with the look.  I love these from IKEA.

Paint the hallway / hang the new mirror:

Paint color: Ground Ginger – same as Living Room.  And new IKEA mirror.

Paint countertops:

I tried the new Rustoleum countertop paint.  And it ROCKS.THE.PARTY!  But boy is it stinky!  Make sure you ventilate the area!!

Rearrange Guest Room:

This room was wall to wall furniture – and it’s not a big room to start.  So taking out the dressing table and moving the bed to a different wall really helped open up the space.  And one more trick:

The window treatments in here are only 85” panels so I couldn’t raise them but I did buy a longer rod and extended them beyond the window to help make the window feel larger.  High and wide is always the motto with window treatments!

I didn’t take pictures of the attic.  There is a line that shouldn’t be crossed in blogland and I believe it may be “the pictures of your attic.”  But needless to say adding additional flooring makes organizing all that junk stuff upstairs so much easier!

So let’s see what’s left:

Clean out closets    •     Organize Attic      •     Add additional flooring to attic     •    Paint Hallway    •    Hang new mirror    •      Touch up trim paint throughout    •   Re-paint kitchen countertops    •  Trim boxwoods & vine    •    Put out mulch or pinestraw   • Clean out gutters    •   Get deck rebuilt    •  De-clutter accessories    •  Re-arrange  guest room     •   Re-organize laundry room   •   Hang light fixture in mud room  •  Get said light fixture   •   Figure out something for center of dining room table

So we’re going to focus on the yard next.  UGH!  In 100 degree weather, are we crazy???  Yes probably. 

Hopefully be back soon with more progress reports!  What are you working on these days?  Hopefully indoor projects!