Game Day Ribs

 I have been slacking major with the blog posts lately. Oops. I need to get better at this! 

 Nevertheless, we had a pretty great weekend despite our Mountaineers getting slaughtered by Texas Tech. We got up that morning and I played 'Horse' and 'Whale' with my two little neighbor boys (7 and 14). That was a lot of fun. I come from a pretty close knit family and being away from them is anything but easy. Which makes having neighbors that became our family away from home even more special to me. I love them. Garyn (7) always got to go first because he could spell horse and whale the best! ;)

 Then, Steve and I made a quick grocery store run to pick up ingredients to make the 'best ribs ever' (according to Steven) and stopped on the side of the road to buy some pumpkins for me to paint. I only got 1 rack (the recipe called for 3) and they were HOUSED within 30 minutes of being finished by just the 2 of us. I started them before the game started,  they were finished by half time and gone by the 4th quarter. Our game was so horrible that I went outside at the beginning of the 4th quarter and drowned my football sorrows with some pumpkin painting.

 Here is the rib recipe... Seriously, try them they are AMAZING!

Sweet-And-Spicy Baby Back Ribs

2 lb. rack baby back pork ribs

Juice of 1 lemon

1/2 c. beer (I used Leinenkugal Sunset Wheat)

4 tablespoons butter

8 cloves garlic, thinly sliced (I used 3 GIANT cloves)

1 tbsp. chile powder

1 c. thai sweet chili sauce

2 tbsp. backed brown sugar

1/3 c. rice vinegar (found with the Asian food- NOT with the other vinegar as one would expect)

 Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Put the rib meat-side down on a cutting board and remove the membrane with a knife (fortunately, my wonderful neighbor did this step for me because raw pork makes me gag). Rub the ribs with lemon juice and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place the ribs bone-side down in roasting pan, then add beer. Cover with foil and cook in oven until meat pulls away from the bone. Took an hour and 35 minutes.

 Meanwhile, melt the butter in a medium sauce pan over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and cook until golden (about 4 minutes). Add the chili powder and let cook for 1-2 minutes. Stir in chile sauce, brown sugar, vinegar, and 1 c. of water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to simmer and let the sauce thicken for about 40 minutes (stirring occasionally) (warning this makes your house smell super amazing!).

 Remove ribs from the oven and turn the temperature up to 400 degrees. Remove the foil and stir 1/4 c. of the liquid from the pan into the sauce then toss away the rest. Pour the sauce over the ribs making sure that it has a good coating all over. Save about 1/4-1/2 cup of the sauce. Return to the oven and cook for another 35 minutes. I kept opening the oven to spoon the sauce onto the top of the ribs (and burned myself pretty badly). 

 Cut the ribs then return to the roasting pan and pour the remaining sauce on them. Toss around and then serve. 

 I found this recipe in a food network magazine and I hope that I am not breaking any copyright laws by posting it in my blog! 

 Warning: these ribs are seriously delicious!  

LOVE

 Our master bedroom closet wall was super boring- but since it is taken up of about 98% closet doors there is not much space to do anything else with it. My solution? Buy wooden letters from Hobby Lobby and cover them with an ombre(ish) affect of yarn. This was a super easy, super cheap product that gave that boring wall some much needed personality. 

 All it took was a few little dabs of hot glue, and some yarn. If your budget is SUPER tight you could probably get away with using just one roll of yarn for all of the letters (as I have A TON of yarn left over). I just started at the end of the letter put a little dab of hot glue the end of the yarn on it and started winding it around. So simple. So cute. Right up this girls alley. 

 Here is the outcome...

Cute and easy... The first thing I see every morning.

 What would you do with such a tiny space? Also, lately I have been thinking about painting the stark white doors and trim in this room... What do you think? I am not sure why I am so intimidated by the idea of this... For real, it's just a little bit of paint! But, yet, there is something super scary about it to me. 

Thankful text...

 Today, I am thankful for my iPhone. Seriously, it is my right hand man. I can do everything on this little handy thing. Skeptics, get over your skepticism- it IS the greatest phone ever. It allows me to have a camera always on hand to snap adorable, spur of the moment pictures. It allows me to read my emails in bed. It allows me to play solitaire every single night to soothe me to sleep. It allows me to text and constantly keep in contact with family that I miss dearly from back home. It allows me to have HILARIOUS text conversations with my sister-in-law daily. Get adorable pictures of my niece and nephews... I can facebook stalk. Check my twitter. And, even keep track of my period. Iphone... You really are the bees knees. And, I LOVE you!

Thankful image...

Icalender on the day we got engaged, framed by my ring and my trusted mug of coffee.

 In theme with my iphone being what I am thankful, I decided he needed to be the picture... But, just a photo of an iphone is not that exciting. So, I thought I would make it more meaningful by loading the calender up set to the date we got engaged framed by my phone and to include my beloved mug of coffee with the inspiration I read every day. Today's things may seem a bit shallow, but, I think we all are allowed to be shallow every now and again. These things ARE things I am thankful for every day. 

Free Artwork

 On Pinterest, awhile ago, I found a lot of "where we've lived" map inspired art work. Since Steven and I moved to Indiana a few years ago, I am always missing our home state (also where we met!). So, what better way to show tribute than artwork that you can see to have as a reminder every day? Well, I hate spending money on things like artwork... I'd rather buy shoes or clothes. So, one night Steve wasn't feeling well and went to bed early. I was at home bored, alone, and decided to try to tackle a Pinterest project... 
 I don't consider myself artistic, WHATSOEVER. But, I am first rate with the scissors and I can trace with the best of them. We have acrylic paints and paper laying around so I decided to give painting our home state as well as our current state a try. I did not expect this project to turn out well- but I buckled down and took my time and was thrilled with the outcome...
 First thing, I did was print out a large outline of IN and WV. Then, I began the tedious project of cutting them out. I was super careful and went super slow because I wanted to make sure to make the states as close to their realities as I could. Once, I had them cut out I put them onto the white canvas paper and traced them with a pencil. Next step, was to mix the paint color I wanted... I decided a sage(ish) green would go best with the blue walls in our office (where I wanted to hang them). So, I mixed a little bit of blue and yellow with a lot of white. Turns out I got a shade I was satisfied with the first try. I took a small brush and started filling in the lines. I put the paint on relatively thick and I like the texture on the outcome... 
 Like I said, I have ZERO artistic ability (which I am working on!) and accomplished this project pretty well. Obviously, the paintings aren't perfect... But, what is?! Steve was proud and impressed with his little surprise when I woke him up to check out the finished project- then immediately went back to bed! I was soo excited with the outcome I HAD to wake him up so I could share it with someone. 
 The next day we went to Hobby Lobby to get frames and mattes for them to be hung. Which was the only part of this project I had to spend money on. I think for both frames and mattes it ended up being around $40.00. Not bad for TWO pieces of artwork! 
 Here are some pictures...

I am not sure why these won't rotate the proper way, but turn your head and pretend. They were still wet in these pictures.

WV... Making sure all of the details of the outline was painted to but not over was the hardest part!

IN.

Both framed.

WV Framed

IN framed

Finally, hanging in their new home. 

 I decided to go with a dark blue matte against the lighter blue walls. I like the way it looks. It reminds me of the green of land and the blue of the sea. Even though Steve was quick to point out that both IN and WV are landlocked and not surrounded by water... Whatev, technicalities, shmecnicalities. (Yep, I just made up a word.) Trust me, if I can accomplish this painting project... You can too! Plus, things always mean more to you when you create them with your own two hands! Give it a try...

 Thankful text...

 Today, I am thankful for my wonderful fiance. Who only gets slightly annoyed when I wake him when he is sleeping. Who is always a CONSTANT support system for me. Who loves me, unconditionally, no matter my mood, or how difficult loving me may be at times. Who always sees the best and beauty in me even when I am not looking my best or being the most beautiful person. Who eats all of my food creations; even the epic failure. Who pretends to be interested in things like new furniture, and new shoes to appease me.Who is such an amazing pet-papa that I can't wait to see how amazing of a father he is to our future children. I, truly, hit the husband-to-be-jackpot. Thanks, Babe, for making all of my wishes come true! You inspire me every day.

 Thankful Image...

Steve being a good Papa giving freshly bathed Josie some lovings. She thinks he is her Knight In Shining Armor. He's mine too, kid!

Shoe Closet

 When we first moved into our house, there was a vacant closet in the hallway between our master and guest bedrooms. I think it's intention is to be a linen closet. Our guest bathroom has these built in shelves which would be appropriate for our linens so we didn't need it to be a linen closet. What girl doesn't WANT a shoe closet? Well, this girl does. I LOVE shoes. 

 Here is what it looked like until I got around to convincing Steve it's potential...

 It was hideous and not maximizing it's full storage capabilities. So me and the hubs headed off to Lowe's and bought more of those wire racks and the stuff for hanging them. I knew I wanted a longer shelf across the top and then another shelf at the bottom on the other side of what was already there...

 So, Steve cut them down to the size I wanted and hung them up... I probably could have accomplished this task on my own- but luckily for me I have him so I didn't have to... We also decided to hang the shelves upside down and with a slant so that they looked like they were meant to hold shoes. Here is the look of it while they were being installed...

Once he was finished, I started moving my shoes in...

 But, I wasn't yet satisfied... This is my SHOE CLOSET for goodness sakes. It needed some special attention. 

 So, I decided I was going to use some of the sample colors of paint I had acquired and give it some gorgeous stripes. That process was a little more frustrating that I thought. I tried to tackle it myself- however me and my laser level are not friends. Steve had to come to the rescue and draw the lines in pencil. We made the lines different sizes so it looked a little more random. I went in and put different widths of painters tape over the lines to give the areas that would be staying tan different widths also. Then started painting. I had 3 colors I wanted to use so I just started randomly painting the lines in. 

 Once, it had dried for a few hours I slowly removed the painters tape and was THRILLED with the outcome. This is probably my number 1 favorite place in my house. As, it is the only space that is ALL MINE- all for me. Sometimes, I leave the doors open just so I can admire all of it's beauty when I walk by...

 This was the finished product...

 For awhile I kept my dresses in there- however, ultimately, decided that they needed to be with the rest of my clothes (or Steve's clothes- he willingly gave up half of his closet for my dresses. I am sure he loves looking at my dresses every time he opens his side of the closet to get dressed- but there just wasn't enough room in my side of the closet! Marry the guy that gives you half of his closet space, ladies!)

 This is what it is looking like these days. 

 I have added some hooks to hang purses and hats. And, I also use a tie rack for my scarfs, and belts. I am already begging for it to be expanded (I don't think I can shove another pair of shoes in there!). However, I'm not sure that would be as easy of a task- and it probably won't happen.

 Make your house your own. Make your house WORK for you. Make your house a place that makes YOU and your family happy. Use up every square inch of it. 

 Thankful

 Right now, I am thankful for music. It can be inspiring, soothing, calming, hyping. It is everything you need it to be, when you need it. It can bring back a memory you had otherwise forgot at the sound of the first beat. It can bring people together. It can get you through difficult times. It can make you smile, or be the soundtrack for a good session. I LOVE music. All kinds of music. Pop, Rap, Rock and Roll, Classical, Country, Grunge... Everything except metal; it scares me. Radar by Britney Spears is playing right now for me via Pandora. I currently have a mix of stations set up that include: 90s Alternative, Today's Hits, Summer Hits Of the 90s, Brad Paisley, Usher, Britney Spears, Dave Matthews Band, and John Mayer. What do you like to listen to?

 The image for what I am thankful for...

My cute little Squishy Girl, wearing her Mama's scarf. She is my best friend and responsible for many smiles and laughter in my house. Every Single Day. We LOVE Josephine! 

New Home? No Character? No Problem.

 About two years ago, Steve and I bought and moved into a new construction town house. We knew that we would only be living in this area for another 5 years max and in our budget compared to other houses we were looking at- this was the best option. It came with a lot of closet space, and didn't have 'WARNING' tape wrapped around the toilet (I am sure if you have shopped for a home you know what I am talking about! Sick!!). We liked the finishes.. White trim, light counter tops, dark wood cabinets... However, everything was just basic builder grade and there was no character in sight. That needed to be rectified (and is still a work in project). 
 There are still many things that I would like to accomplish to add more character (changing light fixtures, getting rid of the carpet, adding a back-splash, crown molding,etc., etc., etc.). I know... With that list you immediately thing "so what HAVE you accomplished?" 
 Well, I think one of the easiest (semi-cost-aware) thing to do in a house is adding hardware to cabinets. It seems like a really simple thing that could be easily overlooked- however I think it is a small thing that you can do to transform your house from an apartment look-a-like into looking and feeling like a home.
 Here are pictures of the hardware we added in the bathrooms and kitchen in our home...

Guest Bathroom

Master Bathroom

Master bath knobs (horrible picture but there is this cute little bead detail on them and I LOVE it). My favorite hardware in the house.

Master bath pulls

Kitchen hardware

more, Kitchen hardware

 For me, personally, I think that you can get away with getting something a little more whimsical in small areas (such as bathrooms). But, I think that for high traffic areas with A LOT of hardware (such as kitchens) it is best to go with something classic that won't go out of style the next season. 

 We bought our bathroom hardware at Lowe's. We just went with stuff that they had in store. But, for the kitchen we ordered the pulls from the company that the cabinets were from...

  More on the kitchen... 

 When we moved in there was a weird gap of cabinets above the sink area and it left this one little cabinet out in no mans land... 

 It looked pathetic...

It didn't even have the hardware- however that came in before the cabinets and my fiance installed that himself before the contractor was able to get here.

I called that my Hooker Island cabinet... Poor little guy.

We have also changed the covers on the peninsula light... I thought those were horrible.

 So, we headed off to the cabinet store and ordered a cabinet for above the sink. The reason for this gap is because on the end units there is a window there. However, I guess it was an oversight on the center units? I don't know... It was sooo weird! Not only did I want a cabinet for over the sink; I also wanted some open shelves for the other side of Hooker Island cabinet for some decor and my cook books. And, we wanted to add trim to the top of the cabinets which had none to make them more finished and less apartment like... This certainly wasn't the cheapest project we've ever set our minds to (I think around $600 for the hardware, trim, cabinets, and the labor to install) but I think the outcome was worth the money and it was a hell of a lot cheaper than having to do an entire kitchen reno.

 Here is what it looks like once the work was done...

We apparently had Moe's for dinner that night according to the bag.

I have since of course rearranged the shelving and changed the decorative pieces...

 This is what the shelves are looking like these days...

You can see what the changed out lights look like in this picture... Waaay better and they were only $13 dollars a piece at Lowe's. I like them even better when the light is turned on.

And, a close up of the shelves. That is Henry the Owl, I love him. :)

Another quick, easy, semi-affordable kitchen upgrade that is worth doing is the faucet. Our old faucet SUCKED. It was low, dingy looking, and the pull out sprayer was stupid and leaking. 

 Here is what it looked like... 

Forgive the sink full of dishes. Like I have said before this is real life- we actually use our sink for rinsing and soaking dishes. Crazy, I know!!

 And, here is what the new one looks at...

It is soo pretty, and super productive. The end of the faucet is detachable and pulls out to be the sprayer, you can also change the way that the water comes out. Here is a link to it (only in a different finish).

 Not the cheapest upgrade but I would say it is the single MOST productive upgrade we have made to our home. In future houses this will be one of the first things that we do (assuming it doesn't already come with an awesome faucet)!

 There are many other things that you can do for big impact. PAINT, PAINT, PAINT. I think paint is a homeowners best tool. It allows you to really make your house your own for not much money or much time. We have painted at least one wall in every room in our house. 

 I hope this inspires you to look around your house at things that are bugging you and makes you realize there are SIMPLE things that you can accomplish to fix them! Share your upgrades and favorite little fixer-upper secrets with me!

Painting Pumpkins

So, since starting I have started a blog I have been looking at other blogs more often. Last night I found this wonderful blog that had a bunch of mantles decorated for fall. Unfortunately, our house is fireplaceless so I have no mantle to decorate. :( But, we do have a lot of shelves in our living room that are begging to be decorated. I had a set of little orange plastic pumpkins that just weren't doing it for me. I found a pictures of pumpkins painted cream with thanks painted on them. I thought it was such a great idea (and I have been super obsessed with paint lately) that I decided to give it a try... Now I need to go buy more pumpkins so I can paint them- I love the look. It was super easy. I used acrylic paint, (I mixed white, a dab of yellow, and a dab of brown to get a cream color) and painted them with a sponge brush. Before painting I wrote the letters on each of the pumpkin with a sharpie. When painting I tried to go close to the line but still leave the letter area unpainted (which I went back in and traced with a green acrylic that I had leftovers of from another project and the tiniest brush I had).
Here is the outcome...

 I think that they turned out pretty cute and defiantly make more of in impacts all put together rather than spread out. Who doesn't love a free, quick, easy project. 

 Apparently, flag banners are all the rage right now... They are pretty cute... So, I might try to tackle one later to hang from the shelf that says GIVING. 

Living Room Tour.

Didn't get enough of my living room in the teal wall posts? Here is a little tour of it right now. Literally, right now! 

Accent wall... Incase you forgot...

Ignore the dirty dog toy in the middle of the floor. This is real life.

And, the dog bone on the couch. Josie thinks she needs to leave them with me when she goes upstairs with her Dad.

 Pretty boring huh? Well, it works for us. We love our home. It's not super fancy or posh but it does hold some pretty super memories. After all, that is what matters... To us anyways. 

Accent Wall

I mean.. Who doesn't love a teal accent wall? Other than my fiance. He hates it... But guess what? He didn't paint it AND the kicker? I painted two color swatches on the wall for him to choose from and left them up there for MONTHS-- HE choose the final color. The teal wall isn't going anywhere.. Obviously, I don't need to write a tutorial for taping and painting a wall, right? I just thought maybe people would like to see it. And, I guess maybe if EVERYONE hates it- I could change it...
Here is what it looked like before...

Sooo boring!

And, this is what it looks like now...

Decorated for fall. But the pumpkins and candle holders aren't big enough to be seen!

 It also went through a few transitions in between. My household has really bad luck with lamps. They get broken- or I decide that I hate them pretty regularly.

I've also been known to just up and rearrange the furniture on a whim... I warned you- I am random. 

 So, what do you think? Is the teal wall a good thing? Or a bad thing? Let me know what you think!

Master Bedroom Wall Stenciling

 The weekend before last my fiance was away all day on Sunday helping his sister move. I figured while he was going and I had zero distractions (other than my zoo), that I should try to accomplish a pretty ambitious project I had on my mind. Something that I had pinned via Pinterest and had been looking at constantly. Here is the original link. (Also, check out other things in her blog. She does some SUPER awesome stuff. I intend to tackle some more of her projects in the future. Thanks, Sarah, you are a genius!)
 It was super cheap- I only had to buy a quart of paint (which was waaay too much for what I needed- I still have the majority of the can minus probably less than an inch of it gone). I was planning on buying a sample size jar of paint however it didn't come in high gloss and I thought the shininess of gloss would contrast best against the base paint. Which it did. After much internal debate- I ultimately decided going one shade darker than my base color. I wanted a subtle contrast; I was afraid too major of a color difference would make me feel like I was in a Moroccan jail.
 So, my paint skills are pretty much next to none. I suck. This made me extremely nervous to start tackling this project. But, what was the worst that could happen? I have to repaint the wall if I screwed it up bad enough? Whatev- painting is super easy and I still have some leftover paint that didn't get used the first time. A no-brainer.
 WARNING: ONCE YOU START TRACING THE STENCIL ON THE WALL OR PAINTING THE STENCIL THERE IS REALLY NO CHANCE TO NOT FINISH.(unless you are the opposite of me and wouldn't mind your wall looking a mess). And, this project takes A LOT of patience. I worked on it for two straight days (it took Sarah 5 days working on it a few hours a night). This isn't something you can accomplish in a few hours. 

Wall Stenciling
  First, find a stencil that you like the pattern of. I used this one; the same one as my inspiration. 

  I had to print it out on 4 sheets of paper to make it big enough. And, then cut out the shapes and taped them together. Like so...

  Next, you need to trace the stencil out on a large piece of cardboard.

  Then, cut out the stencil. I used regular scissors; however, I found it easier to manage to trim down some of the access cardboard so I was dealing with a piece of cardboard that was more manageable. Like so...

  Once, the stencil is cut out tape a level to the stencil. This was the most genius idea of the original blogger (other than the project itself). It made it super easy to keep things in line and on track.

  Next step, start tracing. Put the stencil against the wall, make sure it is straight according to the level, and lightly trace with a pencil. I started randomly in the center of the wall, and had no problems with how things measured out. I traced the stencil top to bottom. 

 Just keep tracing.. Just keep tracing.. Just keep tracing, tracing, tracing.. I warned you this took patience!

It is really hard to see gray pencil marks on a gray wall. I'm sure using my infamous iPhone camera didn't help us out here. Look closely, the lines are there!

  I found it easiest to finish tracing the lines at the top, bottom, and sides of the wall by using the original paper stencil; it was easier to bend and fit into the sometimes tiny space left. By this time you shouldn't have to worry about it being level because most of it is already done and level.
  
  Finally, start painting. This is the brush I used...

  I started painting in the bottom middle of the wall (which would be hidden by a dresser that sits in front of it). I figured that I would get better as I went, which I did, so starting somewhere unseen gave me a little wiggle room to figure out the best technique. Basically, don't put hardly any pressure on the brush. Make sure you don't get too much paint on the brush, it will drip and make your lines too thick. I painted bottom to top; left to right.

The original wall color is Nimbus Cloud by Valspar and the stencil color is Stratus also by Valspar.

 Keep painting until you are finished. Don't worry if your lines aren't perfect. Mine aren't either. From far away you can't tell at all. 

Finally, I finished!

 This is what it looked like the next day when I put everything back.  (Prissy Mittens is the creeper cat sitting on the arm of the chair.)

  

  I am super happy with the outcome, it looks so amazing. It gave our bedroom so much character. My hubby said "I feel like I am in a fancy hotel room". Which is the look I was going for. It was a success. As frustrating and time consuming it was; I would do it again. In fact, I think, I am going to do it again, in our first-story half-bath.

  This project isn't as scary as it seems. I promise; If I can do it, YOU can too. Share your completed projects with me, I'd love to see how it turned out for others!