A Sweet Little Package

Thank you Sis. You are the best! Everything arrived packaged perfectly. You put such special touches into everything.  Jeff LOVED his pressie too!

She wraps everything in old pattern packages and uses the patterns as tissue.  I was so excited when I got my package that I ripped into it before taking a picture.  I have been pretty bad with the before shots lately! But, here is the inside of the box with the "tissue" in it.

 A journal (which I will use as a knitting/spinning journal) with hand drawn artwork by my Sis.

Wild Cherry Smoked Kosher Salt, which smells to die for!!!!!! I have some Salmon in the freezer and this is being sprinkled on it! 

Maggie Casey's book, Start Spinning.

My second annual magic yarn ball full of buttons, handmade dark chocolate lip butter, and 2 super cute rings!

 Jeff received a hand knit hat and hand made pin, t-shirt with the periodic table on it (he is a science dork), some cool cards, and a magazine on how to make your own beer! 

Thanks Carrie, Kalin, and Violet!!!

Cheers!

Sprouts Is Here!

It has been a beautiful weekend here in Funky Town. I really do love the cold weather because we don't get much of it, but this nice 73 degrees that I am feeling is great! I went out shopping for items to update my house. I am currently working on the living/dining room so stay tuned. The traffic today was insane and there were so many people out! I guess my little town is starting to get visitors in for the Super Bowl. We have been told to expect about 400,00 visitors to be in the area. Wow! But anyhoo, I stopped into Cutting Corners, a home decor fabric store, and picked up some great fabric that I am going to use to recover my dining room chairs and make a few throw pillows out of.  I also got some fabric to make a table skirt for the table that is next to the couch. They are having a rather nice sale. But even the regular prices are reasonable. This may be a new place I frequent. Since I was having such a fun time shopping today I stopped into Sprouts! It is their newest location that just opened up this week. Sprouts is fantastic. It reminds me of Trader Joe's and I think I read somewhere is owned by the same people. But, be warned, since it just opened the lines are about 20-30 minutes long! So, because I have been so excited about Sprouts opening up less than 5 minutes from my house, I stuck it out and waiting in line. I also made friends with the hilarious ladies standing in front of me. I think they were even more excited that I was about being there! 

My dear friend is moving just up the street from me so I figured she would need some nourishment after the move. I picked her up some focaccia bread, pre-made fettuccine alfredo, and trail mix cookies!  I also pick up some chicken salad and focaccia for myself. After my long day of shopping I came home and made a sandwich, yum!

Over the next few weeks I will be decorating the living room and hallway so stay tuned.  I can't wait!

Cheers! 

I Am Shrieking With Excitement!

Well, why do you ask? I will show you why......................

I have an iPhone! I have wanted one for so long and now my life is complete! Happy early birthday to me from Jeff!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cheers!  

Tyler Florence, You Are Tha BOMB!

Jeff wanted fajitas for dinner. I thought that was a great idea because I love fajitas! I wanted to try a new way to make fajitas than my dull usual way. So, I perused the Cooking Channel website (I love Chuck Hughes by the way. Couldn't resist adding that in). I found a fantastic recipe but, at the time I had no idea how fantastic it really would be. I mean, man, these fajitas were better than any I have had in a restaurant and that's the truth! Make this recipe! It is a recipe by Tyler Florence, he is pretty awesome too. Yum!

Cheers!

More Weekend Painting

After finishing up painting the living/dining room last weekend I painted the hall. Oh, it needed it! I painted the hall the same color. I did this all myself! It took longer than the living/dining room and I hurt. I hurt a lot. While I am complaining, I will add that I have many bruises too. But, It turned out great and looks sooooooo much better. Like the dork I am, I forgot to take before pictures again! It was a drab off white and I had some pictures hanging in the hallway. I do have some great ideas on how to jazz this up and display my pictures so stay tuned!  But, here is the after:

Yes, after many hours...10 to be exact. It is all finished. I really had no idea I would take so long but I guess all that trim would turn out to be my nemesis in the long run. It was worth it. Now, I am on a painting rampage. One of my goals for the year was to get all the rooms in my house painted. I think It is okay to say that I am off to a fantastic start! 

Cheers!

Painting...A Love Hate Relationship

I hate the painting process but I love the end result. That pretty much sums up my love/hate relationship with it. When I paint, there are areas of my body that I did not know could hurt but they do. But, the wall looks so pretty now and the pain goes away so that is a plus. My Dad, who is a dang fine painter, was so gracious to come over and help me! He likes to do things the right way, no short cuts, no halving it.  If you are going to do it it is going to be done just right. For this, I am grateful because I would have found a shortcut. We started with painting the ceiling. After it was painted I realized how much it needed to be freshened up! Painting the ceiling was something I really did not want to do but I am glad we did. So, the painting the ceiling was on Friday night, after we went to Home Depot for supplies, and the a trip to Sonic for a quick dinner (and I mean quick...I hate fast food). After the ceiling was painted my dad left. It was about 9pm and I was on my second wind so I decided to start painting the walls! I just painted all the tedious things like around the doorways,windows, and whatnot to get ready for the next day.

On Saturday my fabulous Father came back over to help paint some more. Jeff helped too! I chose French Gray for the walls and Swiss Coffee (it looks a little yellow on the link but it is actually bright white) for the trim.  I used Behr Ultra Premium Plus (the primer paint combo). I HIGHLY recommend the paint/primer combo. You may have to spend a little more but it takes way less labor because you don't have to put on as many coats!

I actually forgot to take a "real" before picture. After I moved all the furniture and taped things down I realized that. So, here is the messed up (and looking awful) before so you can get an idea of the color:

 The front door entrance

 When you walk in the front door there is my couch, looking rather horrible I might say! 

 Then there is the dining area which is to your right and around the corner when you walk in

That is Jeff rolling on the color. It looks so much better! 

And the After:

Dining area 

Living area (which will be updated with a rug, new pillows, and coffee table decor) 

I have a few more pictures to show but they turned out dark. So, since I have many more re-decorating ideas in store, I think I will wait and show the other pictures after everything is completed so stay tuned! 

And next weekend, the hallway! 

Cheers! 

A Nice Little Snow Day Here In Funky Town

The first snow of our winter season has arrived. It is not often that it snows in Texas.  When it does, I love it. Everything seems so peaceful.  I drank my coffee and looked out the window for quite some time watching the huge snowflakes fall from the sky. Then, I realized that my 2 gardens were exposed and I was not at all prepared for this freezing weather! So, I hurriedly put on my winter gear and my rain boots and covered all my plants.  This is actually the first time that I have worn my rain boots. I got them for Victoria but since my luggage was already packed to its fullest, I had to leave them behind.

 Since it was rather wintry outside I felt like having comfort food for dinner. So, I cooked up a new recipe that came in my cooking light magazine this month. It is a little different, but so good! I present, Beef Tagine with Butternut Squash!

Oh, I have also been holding out on you guys. I CAN"T believe that I have not posted a picture of my very own hand carded and hand spun yarn! So, for the big reveal, here it is!

Now, for the hard part, what do I knit with it?  I was able to spin about 100 yards but it is very thin and delicate. I am thinking I need to make something dainty with it. It definitely has a dainty vibe to it.

I am afraid I may be withdrawn from blogging for a week or so. I have plans to paint my living room. Oh, it is a drab and dreary dark green. What on earth was I thinking in the first place for painting it that color to begin with? Well, I am on a mission this year to get every room painted and freshened up! So, I begin with the living room!

Cheers and Happy Winter!

My First Attempt At Carding!

I received a very special gift a few weeks ago. I decided to finally put that gift to use so I hand carded wool this weekend and it was so much fun! I can't say that I did it exactly right but I found a great instructional video on You Tube.  There is second part to this video as well so be sure and check that out if you are a first time carder. I practiced on 2 ounces of Mountain Meadow wool/mohair that came along as a surprise with my hand cards. Just like knitting and spinning, I find hand carding to be very relaxing, rewarding, therapeutic....and a bit addicting! I can imagine how fantastic it will be to say that I actually carded, spun, and knitted the piece I am wearing! Now, all I need is a flock of sheep so I can really do it all from scratch! I am sure Jeff would love that, ha! 

I turned 2 ounces of this....

To a basket full of rolags...

Now, I am going to spin it up! I will post that as soon as I am done spinning it! 

Cheers! 

Rah Rah TCU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My Alma Mater just one the Rose Bowl! Wahooo!!!!!!!!

I grew up living less than a mile from TCU and going to the football games at Amon Carter Stadium. Then, one day I actually went to school there and got my first degree in Social Work. I am so proud of my Alma Mater! Just a friendly little shout out to the Frogs!

OK, back on track. Happy New Year everyone!  This morning to kick the new year off I made a breakfast pull-apart bread.  A co-worker brought this one day at work and it was so good! Then I found out how easy it was to make. Oh, and it was a good as I remembered.

First you cut up onions and bells.

Then while your onions an peps are cooking you take 3 cans of Grands biscuits.....

And chop into fourths...

This recipe calls for 2 pounds of bacon. Now, I do love some bacon but 2 pounds of bacon seems a bit ridiculous and a heart attack waiting to happen. So I fried up 2 ounces of bacon and also chopped up some turkey sausage. Not that the sausage actually had to be turkey, but, I do tend to eat healthy regardless of what what this post looks like and typically have turkey sausage on hand for breakfast on the weekends. But, anyhow, I guess what I am trying to say is, I fried up bacon and turkey sausage and mixed it together.

Then I took each biscuit and dipped it into melted butter. 

Yeah I know, Paula Deen should be on hand but she is at the Rose Bowl! 

I put one layer of biscuits, one layer of bacon and sausage, one later of onions and bells, and one layer of cheese, into a bunt pan. 

I repeated and ended with a layer of biscuits on top.

I popped it in the oven at 350 for about 30 minutes but that really was not long enough. I would crank this up to 375 for at least 45 minutes or so. Just keep an eye on it so it does not brown on top. I actually placed a piece of foil on top for the last 30 minutes. 

 It turned out perfectly!

We pulled it apart and then.............

Ate it up with a bit of New Year Mimosas! 

Then, after we ate, I chilled out all day and knitted up my Victoria yarn and watched the Rose Bowl. I also learned how to card wool but I will post about that tomorrow! Until then!

Cheers and Happy New Year!