Thursday, January 29, 2015

Healthy Breakfast - Show and Tell Friday


 



 

Welcome to Show and Tell Friday!  This week I decided to share the breakfast recipe that I've been eating the past couple of weeks!  They are veggie, egg white cups.

 



 

I don't really use a recipe though. I just take some veggies...this time I used spinach, mushrooms red and green peppers and green onions.

 




 

I chop up the mushrooms and peppers and saute them in a non-stick

Monday, January 26, 2015

Switching Around My Furniture...

When we moved our sectional from our living room to our great room, it caused quite the switch up throughout the whole house!
You can see the post about that HERE.

When we first remodeled our kitchen, I found this bench and little green table.  
I really liked how they added a little color to our white kitchen.  
Then we painted our living room and I was trying to lighten up the couch with new pillows and this bench looked really good in the bay window...
You can see how our living room has transformed over the years HERE.
The new couch I got for the living room clashes with the bench.
 I thought about selling the bench, but decided to move it to the upstairs hallway.
Here is my hallway before...
Here it is now....
It's a nice change and a great place for my little girl to sit while we put on her socks and shoes.
The pillow use to be on my sectional in the living room...
The other three pillows found a new home on the bench in my kitchen...
The black shelf got moved from my great room, you can see the shelf at the end of our couch in this picture...
Here is our black shelf now...
I really like how it looks in our kitchen and it matches our table better.
This picture didn't have the pillows yet, but I love how they cozied up the bench!

I ended up selling my green table, it was so cute, but I couldn't seem to find a place for it.
I was able to buy a chair with the money I made from selling it, but that's a whole other post.

This table lamp in the bay window use to be in our living room...
Now I've placed it behind our couch in the corner...



The bird picture that use to be in the kitchen, got moved up to my daughter's "big girl" room.
As soon as I hang this, I'll be able to show you her room.  It's so cute!
Here is a sneak peek of her bedding...
I love the ruffles!

Who knew switching a couch from one room to another would cause this domino effect on the rest of my house!
I actually love the changes and it's a fun way to freshen up your home.
It has also changed my sister's house too!  The leather set from our great room looks great in her living room!

Now I have been working on my living room and I've been buying and returning chairs for a few weeks now.
I'm pretty sure TJ Maxx knows me on a first name basis.
It has been so hard to get chairs to match our couch.
 I was so close to just returning the couch!
  It is finally coming together and I'll show you soon.
This is one of the chairs that finally worked...

This is literally the fourth set of chairs I have tried!
Do you shop around your own house and rearrange your furniture?
This was one of the biggest switch arounds I've experienced!
Sharing with these blogs:
Home Stories A to Z
The Dedicated House
Just A Girl & Her Blog
Savvy Southern Style
Cherished Bliss
Snap
AKA Design
Little House Of Four
Thrifty Decor Chick
Not Just A Housewife
The 36th Avenue
Tatertots & Jello
Under The Table & Dreaming
Chic On A Shoestring
I Heart Naptime

Saturday, January 24, 2015

Free Printable Football Snack Cup




Yesterday I posted a delicious recipe for Taco Queso Dip. You may have also noticed these adorable football snack cups in one of the photos.





Today I would like to share with you my free printable so that you can make your own. Just click on the following link and print the number of cups you need for your football celebration.


View & Print - Football Snack Cup

After you print your cups

Friday, January 23, 2015

Taco Queso Dip Recipe & Free Printable Football Snack Holder


This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of RO*TEL & VELVEETA for IZEA. All opinions are 100% mine.


During parties and small get-togethers I often whip up a quick Queso for guest to snack on when they arrive. With the combination of RO*TEL and VELVEETA, Queso is zesty, creamy, yummy, and so easy to make. I literally just toss the two ingredients into the crock-pot and forget

Thursday, January 22, 2015

Show and Tell Friday




 

Hi all, welcome to Show and Tell Friday!  I'm late getting this post up this week.  I usually have it up by 6pm PT on Thursdays but it's been a busy week and I've got my second case of bronchitis. I finally just got over the one I got Thanksgiving weekend and now it's back again! 

 

I have nothing new to share so it's all about you this week! Share away!

 

***********



Thanks to all

Thursday, January 15, 2015

The Painted Mirror - Show and Tell Friday






 

Welcome to Show and Tell Friday!  About a week ago I painted the mirror over my fireplace.





 

I used some white paint I already had on hand and then used some Rub 'n Buff in turquoise to highlight the design.  The turquoise was a little too bright so I went over it with some white Rub 'n Buff to lighten it up.  It made a big difference!  I thought I remembered getting a French Blue

Thursday, January 8, 2015

Bare Root Rose Time - Show and Tell Friday





 Welcome to Show and Tell Friday!  It's time to plant bare root roses here in California so I thought I would share some photos of two that I chose to plant this year. These are photos off the David Austin website. Mine still look like twigs with a few leaves beginning to show.



 I'm going to grow these in large pots on my balcony.  Since I moved to my new unit in the same complex I now

Weekly Cleaning Schedule

This quote is so true:
Keep in mind we all have bad days, weeks, months or even years. 
 Last year, when we were remodeling this quote really hit home! It was a mess everywhere!
  I did a whole post about the chaos HERE. 
We finished our remodel at the beginning of July, but my husband is just now (6 months later) able to park his car in the garage.  Our basement has been a disaster (see the pic above) until I was putting the Christmas away and did a major de-junk.  So with that said, sometimes it takes baby steps, but eventually you'll get there.

I think starting off the New Year with a schedule is a great idea.  
This has been my cleaning schedule for years and it really works.
You do a few specific chores each day and this helps cleaning from becoming completely overwhelming.
You can rearrange the days for what works best for you and your schedule.
Monday:
Start a load of laundry
Mop main floor 
Grocery shopping for the week

Tuesday:
Dust main floor: living room, great room, hallway, entryway
More laundry

Wednesday:
Vacuum main floor: living room, great room, stairs
Clean main floor bathroom

Thursday:
My kids clean their bathroom
Dust upstairs: loft, bedrooms and railings to the staircase

Friday:
Clean master bath
Vacuum upstairs: loft, hallways & bedrooms

Saturday:
Most of the main chores are done to enjoy the day!
Or if you had a day you missed, do it today.
Usually there is more laundry...it's never ending around here!

Sunday:
Take the day off!

Daily:
Make beds, clear/wipe counters, fill/empty dishwasher, put away coats & shoes etc. 
 I did another post on making your house a home HERE .  It explains how we have designated areas where we put our "stuff", which is key in helping keep things organized.

Here are a few more helpful tips:
*I usually do most of my "chores" listed after I get my older kids off to school, some days it's 15-20 minutes and other days it might take over an hour.

*I try to avoid the computer or other things that suck away my time until I'm done with my chore of the day. 

* When I cook dinner,  I usually clean up while it's baking.  That way dinner clean up is just the table and maybe a few pots or pans.

*My kids also put away any toys that are in their rooms every night before bed.  If all of their toys have a "home" it makes it SO much easier!

Twice a year:
*Every spring and fall I clean the blinds and baseboards.  Click the link below for instructions:

*Clean out bedroom and coat closets.

If all else fails you could try this:

Monday, January 5, 2015

Rearranging Furniture...

It's sometimes crazy what triggers me to change things around in our home.  
Over Christmas break, we had a few family movie nights.
 It was after midnight when we finished,
"The Christmas Story"(one of our kids' favorite Christmas traditions).
I kept looking over at our sectional in our living room.  My mind started churning and I looked over at my husband and asked if he was ready to help me move some furniture? He looked at me like I was a little crazy, but luckily we are both night owls & we started moving things around.
  We moved our sectional into the great room, which makes more sense for watching movies...we all fit comfortably and actually have some space to lounge out.
Here it is in the living room.
It is a perfect fit in here, but it will definitely be used more in the great room.
The material always felt like it would be a better fit for a TV room.
Here it is in the great room now...
 At first, I thought it might be too big, but we are really enjoying it there.
It's weird, but when you are sitting in there, it actually makes the room feel a lot bigger than it did before.
 Now I have opened a can of worms figuring out where to put everything else.
I moved our black shelf into the kitchen...
I  really like how it matches our table...
My sister is going to buy my leather set.
Then I found my couch at Ashley Furniture for a great deal!
I actually found it in the classifieds from a wholesale store that was about an hour away.  
We went into the Ashley store closer to our house and they had the same set.
They price matched it and I saved another $250.00.
 I love a good deal.
I love tufted furniture!  
Now we have to find two chairs and a coffee table to complete the room.
Here are a few of my "inspiration" rooms:
Source  and Pinterest

Pinterest
They are both beautiful rooms and I like how this is going to look more "formal" for our living room.

When I started putting away our Christmas decor it started me on a major "clean out"!
It feels so good to get rid of junk.  I actually tackled this storage area we call the "pit".
It took me ALL day, but I had a whole car full of stuff for goodwill.
While I was unloading, the kid asked me like three times, "Is that everything?"
I know how to fill up my car... Lets just say it was a good de-junk!  
We hadn't touched that area in almost 10 years.  It was the space you'd feel with "stuff" and shut the door.  
I love getting organized for the New Year!
 We are off to a good start!
Today, my mom & I started on my sister's house to make room for her to take our old leather set.
She gave us treat on our way out and said not to come back ;).
Unfortunately, we don't listen too well...see you in the morning Clarece!
{UPDATE}
Click Here for the link to our Updated Living Room.
I'm sharing with these blogs:
SNAP
I Heart Nap Time
Chic On A Shoestring
Lolly Jane
Little House Of Four
Thrifty Decor Chick
Savvy Southern Style
Just A Girl & Her Blog
Magnolia Lane
The Best Blog Recipes
The 36th Avenue

DIY Pillows - A Simple Way to Change the Look of Your Room.




Add a pop of color to your home this season with these fun and colorful pillow tutorials.











Colorful Block Pillow {via}




Red Rosette Pillow {via}




 Round Pillow {via} translate using google translation




Easy Pom-Pom Pillow {via}




 Yellow Rosette Pillow {via}




Shag Pillow {via}




Felt Pillow {via}





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Thursday, January 1, 2015

My Master Bathroom - Show and Tell Friday





 

Happy New Year and welcome to Show and Tell Friday!

 

I thought I would share my master bathroom this week.  This is actually a first for me! I've been blogging almost 10 years (since June 2005) but I've never once showed my master bathroom in any of the three apartments that I've lived in since starting my blog.

 

The reason is because old apartment bathrooms are not very glamorous