Home is.......

My dear friend Sandy @ Reluctant Entertainer has started a new Meme and I wanted to support her and join in today. 

Today she wants us to talk about the delicious scents that are in our home.

To me, certain smells trigger certain memories. Good or bad. But I try to focus on the good.

For instance, the smell of coffee in the morning means it's a brand new day.

The smell of a turkey cooking brings to mind, memories of family and friends coming together to enjoy some of their favorite foods.

The smell of flowers means my husband has taken the time to stop and pick a bouquet out just for me.

I love candles and have them burning quite often in my house. Different candles mean different times of year for me.

I have my Christmas Wreath candle for Christmas. A Fruit Slice candle for Spring. Clean cotton for Summer and Pumpkin Spice for fall. They all bring happy memories to mind.


A smell that my family could probably smell every day and not tire of, is the smell of my homemade pizza cooking. That gets everybody happy!

What kind of happy smells are in your home?
Visit my friend Sandy and join in the fun!

HUGS TO YOU MY FRIENDS!

Pssst! How do you like the new look?

Some Completely Random Thoughts!

• I have an apron I need finish, and starting it would be good too.
• I need to start planning the kids Spring nature notebooks for school before it's Fall.
• I have an office/craft room to rearrange to make room for the new hutch.
• Using bullets make me feel like I have it all together. I don't, but at least I can feel like it.
• Since it's Spring now, I assume Spring cleaning should be on my list of things to do soon. It's not.
• I pulled my left shoulder somehow. I must have waved to frantically at someone. Cause I do that every now and again.
• I have some fun thoughts going through my head for my cooking blog but don't seem to have the time to actually do them. *sigh*
• If I could have about 3 hours of uninterrupted time each day, I'd probably get a lot more done. Or not.
• I'm thinking about having a giveaway soon. Just for fun. Because you, my friends, rock!
• I often wonder why anyone would care about my completely random thoughts. But you do, right? Right?
• I often wonder why I would post my completely random thoughts. I guess because it helps if I dump my brain every now and again. And since it's my blog, I figure it's the perfect place to do it. You should try it. On your blog, not mine, cause that would be weird.
• I started downloading songs onto my itouch. Thank you for all your suggestions. I actually do read and listen to your suggestions. I'm not one of "those" people. 

Well if you made it through my completely random thoughts, I congratulate you and appreciate you stopping by.

What have you got roaming around in your brain. Feel free to dump in a comment! LOL! That just sounded wrong didn't it?

LOVE YOU MY FRIENDS!

The Hutch Makeover!

Have you ever come across a blog or a picture in a magazine that inspires you to do something you've never done before?. Have you ever gone completely out of your comfort zone and done something that turned out way better than you thought it would? 

Well this week, I did just that.

I was inspired to take the ordinary and make it extraordinary. 

To take something that should be used for one thing, and use it for something else.

I saw on someone's blog recently that she used an ordinary hutch for storing her craft supplies and fabric and I was hooked. I immediately got on Craigslist and started searching for my project to be.

Here it is.

I only paid $25.00 for it. It was pretty scratch up and needed some love.

Now for those of you who don't have time to waste. 

Here's the after.

Be honest. What do you think?
 I found that you can call something "Shabby Chic" and it covers all the imperfections and makes it seem as though you meant to miss a spot painting here or there, or that the paint drips were on purpose!  LOL!
Because it is not perfect by any means.

If you have to leave because you have 300 other DIY projects to look at,  then you may go!
If you want to stick around and see some of the transformation, then by all means stay with me.


Here I am giving it a good sanding. This is key if you want your paint to adhere nicely.
Though I still had to do 3 coats of paint because of the dark wood. I chose to use a  paint brush because it gave a better coverage overall, though I did have some runs that I didn't catch until to late.

Here my husband was gracious enough to take off all the hardware and little guy was "helping" me sand.

He was so excited that he got to use his sandblaster to blast all the hardware so I could paint them.

Doesn't everyone have one of these in their shop? LOL!

I primed the hardware before spraying on the red paint.

I had ideas come to me as I was working on it and one of them was to take the glass out of the top doors and replace it with fabric. And since red is my favorite color, I knew it was the perfect choice.

I made it easy on myself and used my hot glue gun. If you don't have one, get one!

I recommend that you let your hot glue get fully hot before attempting your project or you'll be peeling off cold glue from your fabric and doing it over again. Not that I did that or anything. Nooooo, not me!

So when that came out super cute I thought I should do something to the doors below and so I cut a piece of the same fabric to go inside the square that is in the middle of the smaller doors.
See?

And I have to tell you. Spray adhesive is my new best friend. That stuff is great! And if you look at the door it had a crack in it, so this was perfect for covering up that flaw and tying everything in.

Sweet huh?

I'm so excited about this and I can't wait to put it in my craft room. And I'm sure my husband will be glad to get his workshop back! LOL!

I hope this has inspired YOU to take something ordinary and make it extraordinary!

Thanks for coming by!
HUGS TO ALL MY FRIENDS!!

This post is linked up to:
DIY Showoff!
and The Persimmon Perch
and a Soft Place to Land. 

A girl and a glue gun

 
and Twice Owned Tuesday!

 Click Here to visit more hutches!

The Mayonnaise Jar!

I thought you all might enjoy this today.

The Mayonnaise  Jar 

When  things in your life seem almost too much to handle, 
When 24  hours in a day is not enough;
remember the mayonnaise jar and 2 cups of  coffee.

A professor stood before his philosophy  class
and  had some items in front of him. 

When the class began, wordlessly, 
he  picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar
and start to fill it with  golf balls.

He then asked the students if the jar was full.
They agreed that it was. 

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and  poured
it into the jar. He shook the jar lightly.
The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. 
He then asked the students again 
if the jar was full. They agreed it was. 

The professor next picked up a box of sand 
and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else 
He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded
With an unanimous  'yes.' 

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the  table
and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively
filling the empty space between the sand.
The students laughed. 

'Now,' said the  professor, as the laughter subsided,
'I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. 

The golf balls are the important things - God,  family,
children, health, friends, and favorite passions
Things  that if everything else was lost 
and  only they remained, your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the things that matter like your job, house, and car. 

The sand is everything else -- 
The small stuff. 

'If you put the sand into the jar  first,' he continued,
'there is no room for the pebbles or the golf  balls.
The same goes for life. 

If you spend all your time and energy  on the small stuff,
You will never have room for the things that  are
important to you. 

So... 

Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.
Play with your children. 
Take time to get medical checkups. 
Take your spouse out to dinner. 

There will always be time 
to clean the house and fix the dripping tap.

'Take care of the golf balls first -- 
The things that really  matter. 
Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.'

One of the students raised her hand 
and inquired what the coffee represented. 

The  professor smiled. 

'I'm glad you asked'. 

It just goes to show you that  no matter how full your life may seem,
there's always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend.'

Friday Funnies! The Face!

Happy Friday everyone!

Let's start the weekend with some laughs, shall we?

If you have a family friendly funny to share, by all means link it up. 

It can be a video, a joke, something that happened to you personally, etc. Just as long as it's funny! Hence the whole point of Friday Funnies.

My funny is all about a personal recollection I had this morning.

I'm titling it...

The Face!

 You are going to fall into one of 3 categories. 

Not there yet.

Going through it.

Been there done that.

So here's what went down. As some of you might know, as you get older one might tend to have stray black hairs appear sporadically somewhere on your body. If you're "lucky" you may only get a few.

Well I started noticing a few years back, 3 sporadic hairs that would grow on my face. I knew where they were and I thought I checked them often enough to where they weren't noticeable. I mean I only had 3 to worry about.

So the other day my daughter said, "Mom, you got a long hair growing out of your chin."
(I'm sparing you a picture!)

"What?" I answered. "I just checked that last week."

I blew it off and went about my day. 

Fast forward to this morning. I'm in the bathroom and I decide to do the "hair" check. 

And there it was. About a foot long, the black hair. Okay it wasn't a foot long but it seemed to have been eating Miracle Grow because I had just plucked that bad boy and it's cousins, a few days ago.

Anyway, since that one decided to grow back so quickly I figured I should check the other guys.

And I am NOT liking what I saw. The other hair on my chin decided to invite all it's kin. Have mercy!

I must have plucked 10 black hairs from my chin. Ewww, People! Give me a break. It's bad enough all the other things we have to worry about when we get older, but a beard? Okay, it's not that bad, but I now am checking my face DAILY for NEW strays that are trying to make their debut on my face!

So here's where I ask you if you can relate and you sympathize with me and say yes!

Please say yes!

As always, this is Kim, probably telling you more than you want to hear!

You're welcome!

Happy Friday my friends!

Homemade Balsamic Dressing

Do you buy store bought dressing?
Yeah, I do too!

The main reason? Laziness. Yup, I'll admit it. Sometimes I just don't feel like making it from scratch. 

But I have to tell you that I made it from scratch yesterday and I have no excuse not to do it from here on out. It was sooo easy and so good. And not to mention better for you. You don't need to add all those extra preservatives!

Give it a try.

Ingredients:

 2 TBS. Balsamic Vinegar

1 TBS. Red Wine Vinegar

1 TBS. Yellow or Dijon Mustard

1 tsp Brown Sugar

1 Minced Garlic Clove

1/2 tsp. Salt

1/4 tsp. Pepper

1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Directions:

Put everything in a bowl and whisk together. 

EASY and sooo good!

To the 3 people that are still home and reading blogs this week!

I need your help. I've been trying to put together some workout music to take to the gym. You know, the songs that get your butt movin'! The ones that you're afraid you'll break out in song while on the treadmill? 

Well I'm having a brain slump and haven't been able to find just the right songs for that. I have a few. But I want lots!

What are YOUR favorite songs for working out? What gets your blood pumping?

I must tell you that I'm a big fan of 80's music. And although I am a Christian myself, I can't seem to work out to Christian music. It makes me want to jump off the treadmill and head to church. Not a bad thing but it won't burn the calories unless I jog there. 

So what have you got? 

Hit me with your best shot! LOL! Did anybody pick up on that?

Sorry it's still early.

So can you help me out? Give me your favorite most favorite upbeat happy songs.

Thank you my friends.

And just because I can, I'm linking this up to:

Wordless Wednesday! He's Special. It says so right on his forehead!

For more Wordless Wednesday go visit 5 Minutes for Moms.

Learning Learning Learning!!!

The Learning just never stops here at the homestead. 

I know you're sitting on the edges of your seats ready to find out what was learned this week, so I'll just get started!

This week I learned that......

1. .... if you link a project up to the DIY site or to Make It Yourself Mondays, about 300 new people will come by your blog and only one person comment. *sigh*

2. .....when your 7 year old son asks if he can go outside you probably shouldn't answer by saying, "Sure, knock yourself out." Because you might find him standing at the back door wondering why you would tell him to do such a thing.

3. ...everyone but me must be on vacation, because traffic sure has been slow at the ol' blog lately. Is anyone else experiencing this? Or is it just me?  Say it isn't just me! Say it! SAY IT! Sorry, I've just been missing you gals! :o)

4. .....there are a whole lot more ways to make Mac' N Cheese then I ever imagined and Gooseberry Patch is sharing their collection with you for FREE!

25 Mac & Cheese Recipes by Gooseberry Patch  

5. ...when you start writing down EVERYTHING that you eat, you realize you eat more than you think, and not as well as you think. *sigh*

 I'm sure you're just elated that you dropped by once again so that you could come along side me while I learned these valuable lessons.

What have you learned? 

Visit Musings of a Housewife if you want to share your wisdom!

BIG HUGS MY FRIENDS!

I Can Sympathize!

I just want you all to know that I'm not heartless. I am not one to rub 74 degree weather and Sunny skies in ones face. Especially not to those of you who got an unexpected overnight snow storm recently and had your start to Spring so rudely interrupted.

No, I wouldn't do that. And to prove that we have our troubles here in Florida, I'm going to show you something you may have never seen before.

It's a 6 foot frond drift.

But unlike your snow drifts, this was actually self inflicted. 

 And this, my friends, is only from approximately 8 trees. 

We have 42 on our property.

Yes, every year whether we want to or not we have to trim our palm trees.

Because they get extremely ugly if you don't. And since we are trying to sell our home it helps with the over all appearance of our yard.

 

So for all you out there that are shoveling snow right now, know that I can, in a completely non related way, sympathize for you. 

You know I love ya!

Friday Funnies!

Happy Friday my friends. How is everyone today? 

Let's just cut to the chase.

You want some funny? It's here.

You got a funny? Link it up.

You lost? I'm sorry.

Beware of the Porta Potty! 
Enter at own risk!

Have a FABULOUS Weekend My Friends!

Because Some of You May Not Know Yet!

Those of you who frequent my blog will probably already know the things that I am going to tell you.
But wouldn't you just love to see them in pictures? Of course you would.

Today's topic at My Cup 2 Yours is telling you 5 things that I like, using pictures.

This first thing, I like A LOT. Love even!

It's my Hubbalicious! (Sorry about the quality of the picture. I had to scan it in!)
I love everything about this picture. I told him that it looks like it should be on the cover of a magazine! He just looks HOT! LOL!
He makes me weak in the knees! *sigh*

The second thing is this.

That's right, Coffee! DUH!
Did you even doubt for one minute that this would be on here?

And I like the container I got at Cracker Barrel, to hold it in!

The third would be this.

My deck.
On the deck I sit and relax.
You might find me sipping coffee with my hubby.
You might find me reading a book.
You might find me watching a mocking bird take a bath in the bird bath.
Or you might just find me with my mouth wide open and my head tilted back, sound asleep! (Not that I've EVER done that!)

Here's the fourth thing.

Flowers!
I'm convinced that God was smiling the WHOLE entire time he was creating each flower.
Because they always bring me a smile!

And my fifth thing brings me to this!

Homemade Pizza!
This is not only my favorite but my family's favorite.
I get raves every time I make this.
Yeah, It's that good!

Man I could go on and on but these were the first 5 things that popped into my head so I went with them. (And No I don't like coffee more than my kids. Pizza on the other hand......Oh I'm so kidding! LOL!.)

Join in the fun and let me know you did so I can check it out!

HAVE A FABULOUS DAY MY FRIENDS!

Spell Check?

I've gotten lazy since spell check made it's debut. 

I  halfheartedly spell something, wait for the totally cool red squiggly line to appear and then hit right click and fix it. 

But there are some things that it just can't fix. Like when I call my husband my Hubbalicious. You right click that and it wants you to change it to Maliciousness. Uh, no!

It really likes when I refuse to complete a word. I don't know what it's problem is. 

I'm just sayin'.

And when is it going to get on the "LOL" bandwagon? I know for a fact that I use LOL WAY to much but it's here and it's here to stay Mr. Spell Check! So get a clue.

And another thing I'm getting pretty tired of is you not recognizing us homeschoolers. It recognizes homeschooling. But not those that actually homeschool.

How many squiggly lines do you get when you write up a post up? 

Have you gotten lazy?

Come! Glean!

All you will need to know today is going to be right here.
Yup, after this you can go relax and know you've learned all there is to learn today!
Okay, maybe not.
But go ahead and read any way. It will make me happy at least!
And we all know that it's all about me being happy! Uh, huh! You know it!

This week I learned that....

1. .....this game, created by my 7 year old, that cost next to nothing for him to make and involves monkey dances, cowboy dances, snowman sculpting, and Pooh Bear imitations, can bring just as many laughs and fun as this game.Though I am a bit better at driving then I am cowboy dancing!

2. .....if Wit's End was an actual place, I'd have a condo on the beach there, because I seem to be there quite a bit lately! Can anyone relate?

3. .......not setting one clock forward can mess with you ALL day.

4. .....I still have it in me to want to slap the taste out of someone's mouth for setting off fireworks on the street behind us at 11:30 at night! I said want to. I didn't. Don't worry!

5. ...I might have been sending off the wrong vibe this week because my 4 year old kept asking me if I was alright! LOL!

And last but not least.

6. .....I may or may not be getting a little bit more ornery the closer I get to 40. Only 4 more months! *sigh*
You can start sending coffee and chocolate now to help me through it! LOL!

Did you learn anything mind blowing this week?
Do tell!
If this didn't do it for you then you could always head on over to Musings of a Housewife to learn more.

HAVE A FABULOUS DAY!

Polynesian Banana Nut Bread

I took a basic banana bread recipe and just started tweaking it to my liking and ended up with this final product.
Tis' yummy!

Ingredients:

4 TBS of real butter, softened
1/4 cup of coconut oil
1/2 cup honey
2 eggs
1/3 cup unsweetened coconut (can be omitted if you don't have any)
1 cup ripe bananas, mashed
1/3 cup crushed pineapple, drained (reserve juice to put in as the liquid)
3/4 cup buttermilk OR unsweetened pineapple juice (I use this!)
1 tsp. Vanilla


3 1/2 cups of white/wheat flour
3 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cup chopped walnuts

Sweetened Coconut

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325.
Blend honey into butter and coconut oil until smooth and creamy.
Blend in remaining ingredients through to vanilla.

Blend together dry ingredients in a separate bowl.
Slowly add into wet ingredients just until mixed.

Pour batter into 2 prepared loaf pans.
Sprinkle sweetened coconut all over the tops and bake in preheated oven for about an hour or until knife comes out clean from center.

Cool completely before trying to cut.

You are going to love the smell of the coconut toasting while this is baking!
This recipe is linked to this site

ENJOY!

My Day Book for Today! Come see what I'm up too!

FOR TODAY... from Kim's Daybook

Outside my window... a beautiful day awaits. Birds singing, a gentle breeze and the sun peeking over the trees!

I am thinking... ~about how I only forgot to set MY clock forward and therefor woke up an hour late this morning. *sigh*

I am thankful for... ~ my husband and my family. The Lord has truly blessed me.

I am wearing... ~LOL! Seriously? Okay, I'm wearing HSM3 flannel shorts, a black camisole and a red flannel shirt. Please don't get the visual. Move on quickly!

I am going... ~ nowhere today. I love that!

I am currently reading... ~not a whole lot. But I do have a stack of good intentions. *wink*

I am hoping... ~that I get to work on my sewing project today.

On my mind... ~ Our house selling. We would really like it to sell soon so we can move while it's nice.

Noticing that... ~ my house needs a good pick up and cleaning today.

From the kitchen... ~ I'm making Molasses Muffins today.

Around the house... ~ there seems to be a toy explosion.

One of my favorite things ~ is sitting on our front deck in the beautiful Florida weather, talking with my husband.

From my picture journal...

......Polynesian Banana Bread ! YUM!

Feel free to check out more Day Books here.

Spring Fever! Inexpensive Spring Decor'

I know spring doesn't "officially" start until Saturday but the weather was gorgeous today so I had to reflect some Spring love on my blog!
Enjoy!

Never underestimated the off the wall places to have neat and different things.
I recently found a few inexpensive treasures at my local Dollar General.
The cute watering can and the tulip votive holders!
Paired up with some Wal-Mart flowers, a 50% off candle from JoAnn Fabrics (that I also used for Valentine's decor), some cute springy napkins from Old Time Pottery and I have this lovely arrangement for my table.I had some scrap floral fabric that I used to make the square piece that everything is sitting on.

Moving on to the top of my hutch.
After my stunning Thanksgiving display, the top of my hutch had become a bit of a catch all.
See!*hanging head down in shame*
It's pathetic, isn't it?
I'm embarrassed to say that it's been like that for quite awhile now.
And I wonder why MY house doesn't get showcased in Better Homes & Gardens.

Since I spent actual "money" on my table centerpiece, I wanted to do the top of my hutch for free. So the first thing I did was walk around the inside of my house.

I found these just sitting empty on my kitchen window sill.
Why empty? I dunno!
I ask myself stuff like that ALL THE TIME!
My BFF was going to donate these but she knew that I had eyeballed them long ago when she was till using them so she was kind enough to call me first and give me dibs. So now I make it a habit of saying stuff like, "If you ever want to get rid of that Antique Hutch, I'll take it." or " Gee, I think that buffet is a little big for your house, but I think it would fit perfectly in mine."

Sorry rabbit trail...back to decorating.

Here's what I ended up with. I took the little glass jars and added some flowers that I had from a previous project.

I took the cute little boxes in the background, from my bedroom, to add height in the back.
The pictures I used to have in my kitchen, before the makeover.

I stuck a wicker basket upside down to add height on the right side and then perched another flower picture on it.
The key is to use what you have.
Steal things from other rooms if you have to. Switch it up a bit!

This is just a cute display I did on a shelf using yet another free vase, one big flower and a cute springy box from my room.
Have you Sprung for Spring yet?