project life--week 6

6 weeks into to the new year--i'm liking not worrying about a picture every single day and focusing on a week at a time. works much better for me.
linking up to the mom creative.

i'm still doing this february challenge--not in order, just as i feel like it.

#1--your view today
this was my view of half-time during the superbowl. i stayed at the table near the food!
(am i the only one that thought the half-time show was terrible?)

#18--drink
we are loving this lemonade right now.
chris mixes it with iced tea and i just drink it straight.

#14--heart
a yummy cupcake chris and i shared

#28--money
we're going to new york this summer and i started my own little saving fund (apparently in an old target envelope!)

#23--your shoes
my steve madden boots were finally delivered. i have been looking all winter for boots and decided these were just what i wanted. got a great deal online too.

#13--blue
now that my half bath is painted "arctic blue" i needed a new rug.
i found this one at target and it was just what i was looking for.
(well, actually, the one i really wanted i found in the new garnet hill catalog. it was wool and $78... so i opted for the $19.99 target version instead! ha!)

#26--night
this is where you will find cosmo every night...curled up by the fire.

that's been our exciting week :)
thanks for dropping by.

a painting project

so here's a little project i decided to do last week.
have you heard of annie sloan chalk paint? well if you haven't and you need to paint something, you've got to read about this paint. i think it's kind of fun to paint, but what i despise is the stripping or sanding part. but this paint is designed to go right on top of anything--no sanding, stripping or priming! it took me a couple days to gather all my supplies as i was driving back and forth across town to find what i needed. the chalk paint is pretty expensive, but apparently goes a long way. that tiny little sample was $10.95, but i sure didn't want to buy the quart until i knew if i would like it! as it turns out, that little sample pot went such a long way, i think i will just be buying those from now on.
(the colors available are just beautiful, but the color i got was old white which turned out to be a creamy beige once i was finished with everything.)

here's what i decided to do first. i love this bench that my mother in law's neighbor made for us, but it was getting pretty scratched and i didn't really love the color. i would advise starting with something small first so you can kind of get a feel for what you're doing.

this is after the first coat of paint. at this point, i'm getting a little worried, because it sure doesn't look like the pictures in the book i bought!

but then i added the second coat and barely sanded the edges.

i'm loving how old it's looking.
after you paint, you're supposed to brush on the clear wax. it helps to seal your paint and give it that old, distressed look you're going for. then you take a sanding block and just barely go over the areas that you want distressed. (i did things out of order and sanded before i waxed, but it still came out good.) after you sand and put on the clear wax, you dab on dark wax and starting working it into the wood.

here's the finished product!
i think it turned out great for my first piece!
for the dark wax, i got briwax ($16.99) from a local hardware store. i was trying to save a little money and not get the annie sloan dark wax($27.99). honestly though--i should have just bought the annie sloan wax because i didn't like the briwax too much. or maybe it was the brush i was using. i bought the annie sloan brush ($24.95) for the clear wax, but again was trying to save a little and just bought a gesso brush for the dark wax. but i think it would have come out a little better if i'd gone with the right brush in the first place! lastly, the annie sloan clear wax is definitely worth it. it is so creamy, but not liquidy and really goes on well.

here are some close ups of the sanding and the wax.

i just love the look of old furniture and am really excited about this!
next on my list is a little bedside table and then a dresser for one of the guest rooms.
i'll post pictures of that when i'm done too.

project life--week 4 & 5

i haven't hardly blogged at all...a combination of not feeling good and having the inside of my house painted. anyway, on to weeks 4 & 5.

linking up at the mom creative.

what my kitchen window looks like right now
(yes, those are pumpkins. yes, i realize it is february.)

painting was supposed to start today, but chris is sick. rescheduled for next monday. parts of the house will be painted one of those colors. (more pictures to come.)

smashed potato soup--super easy and so yummy!

what i do in the carpool line on wednesdays--read the bible and study for meeting.

what i'm reading right now.
(update: didn't care for rasputin's daughter, the romonov bride is ok--a little boring. my favorite was the first one--the kitchen boy. if you haven't read that i definitely recommend it!)

chicken tortellini soup--this was so good!

mck has taken over the guest room and this is what it looks like most of the time. chris and i lament the fact daily that we have a slob for a daughter. (sorry, sweetie--you know it's true.)

the temperature has been so mild, warm in fact, that i've been wearing things i bought for spring.

painting began (and finished) today!
you can see one painter in the dining room just touching up (it stayed the same color) and the boring white laundry room is now arctic blue--i love it!

chris was out of town, so mck and i got take out for dinner and cupcakes for dessert. mine on the left was vanilla bean and mck chose strawberry. delicious.

i decided to do this february photo challenge and it started today.
i'm not doing it in order, i'm just picking one each day.

#29 on the list...something you're listening to...
i've been keeping my pandora channel on michael buble. there's a lot of frank sinatra, tony bennett and harry connick jr. on the same channel--love it all.

#2...words...
a sweet letter that chris wrote me and stuck on my bathroom vanity for me to find

#27...something you ate...
my dinner at la duni the other night. it's called rice salad. had crispy pork, plantains, and the most wonderful light dressing.

#16...something new...
chris had a talk at another congregation, but they recently switched from a sunday to saturday meeting time--definitely something new for us.

that's the condensed version of the last 2 weeks!

a little problem...

so i notice the other day that old navy was having an online sale. i had returned some things at gap and they put my credit on a store card--so i had a little "extra" money to spend. (did you know you can use gap, old navy & i think banana republic cards interchangeably? i didn't.)
anyway, i ran up to our old navy to try things on and then came home and ordered what i wanted.
(no, that's not the problem. although chris might disagree. ha!)

this little birdy blouse was a surprising find. honestly, on the hanger it looks very unbecoming. but when i put it on, it was just darling! it really looks more anthro than old navy, in my opinion.

here is the problem...do you think i have a thing for stripes?
these shirts all fit so differently, but are so cute on!

when i went to hang those up, i realized i had forgotten about this little cutie:

it's also from old navy--but i grabbed it at the store because it was the only one in my size.
apparently, this spring i will be wearing a lot of navy and orange.
as i started looking through my closet, i realized i do indeed have a bit of a problem with stripes.
i just love stripes!
sadly, it's not the most flattering thing to have an obsession with. oh well, i certainly could have worse problems, right?

~have a great weekend~
i've got to decide on some things to make for superbowl sunday.
(no, i'm not into football--only the commercials, half-time & visiting with friends!)

chili recipe

*edited to include the tomato sauce that i forgot--kind of an important thing when you're making chili!! :)


(i have been trying to post this since early this morning--something weird with blogger or my computer, i guess!)

i had a request for my chili recipe that i posted in my last project life post.
(so here you go, becki!)

debdoozie's blue ribbon chili
(found on allrecipes.com)

2lbs. ground beef (i used 1 lb. buffalo)
1 (8oz) jar salsa
1/2 onion, chopped
2-4 T. chili seasoning mix*
1 tsp. ground black pepper
1 (15 oz.) can light red kidney beans
1/2 tsp. garlic salt
2 1/2 c. tomato sauce (didn't use quite that much)
1 (15 oz.) can dark red kidney beans
1 can diced tomatoes (my addition)
1 can green chilies (my addition)

*i didn't have chili seasoning mix. so i made my own. here's what i put in mine:
1 tsp. paprika
2 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 tsp. oregano
2 tsp. garlic powder
1-2 tsp. chili powder
i put it all in a plastic bag and mixed it up good and then spooned out what i needed.


1. in a large saucepan over medium heat, combine the ground beef or buffalo and the onion and saute for 10 minutes. drain grease.
2. add everything else and mix well. reduce heat to low and simmer for at least an hour.

hope it turns out as good for you as it was for us!
~have a good weekend~

project life--week 3

well, i'm 3 weeks into project life. it really is a neat thing to document your life in such an easy way! i love it!
linking up to the mom creative.

we had our yearly clothes swap party this evening. i was so busy looking and trying on clothes that i didn't get a shot of the racks and racks of clothes downstairs. but i did sneak up to the girl's room and took a picture of mck and her friend going through mounds of clothes!

after the swap, a bunch of us went to an exotic tea & smoothie place.
here are some of the girls with their drinks.

and here are us moms with ours. i got the coconut milk smoothie and it was delicious!

the next day we had off from school and it was supposed to be a nice, warm day. so we made plans to meet at a park for lunch and to play.

well, it was not sunny and warm. it was windy and cold! all the moms huddled together freezing--while the kids were peeling off their jackets because they were so hot!

tonight i made a new recipe for chili that we just loved. i substituted buffalo for ground beef and it was delicious.

mck one morning as she studied for a test before leaving for school.

i just wanted to remember what shows we are into right now. mck loves full house & the brady bunch and we are so excited american idol started again.

we loved that smoothie place so much that we went back for our after school friday treat.
mck got a pink lady with bubbles.
(it was a pomegranate soda with the huge tapioca balls and it was amazing!)

i got the coconut milk again.

decided to try something trendy i've been seeing online--painting one nail a different color. i kind of like it!

i had a lot of pictures for this week--so i will be adding some page protectors in my week to hold them all.