Saleen, The Cookie Bandit

So, remember those delicious peanut butter kiss cookies I made last weekend? Well, just in case you hadn't heard yet, the night after I made them, somebody was caught red-handed eating them all!! 

She looks so innocent, doesn't she? 

I had 2 whole plates full of cookies - around 30 or so. And being the second day that we had said cookies, Trent and I had only enjoyed a few of them. Of course I left them on the table with some plastic wrap draped over them. And when I walked into the kitchen...Miss Saleen had eaten one whole plate full, along with probably half of the other plate. Leaving us with maybe 5 cookies total.

 

So glad I made those cookies just for her! She's ok, by the way. Never got sick from cookie overload, fortunately! We were pretty mad, though. Remind me to always put the cookies into the cookie jar RIGHT AWAY next time!

(Wanted poster made here.)

Puppy Chow Recipe

Last Halloween, I made puppy chow for the first time. If you don't know what puppy chow is, you are not American it's a yummy finger-food dessert also known as "muddy buddies." I've just always known it as puppy chow. It is basically delectable goodness! And it's really easy to make. Which is good for me, since I bake/cook/prepare food pretty rarely.

Today I thought I would share the recipe, though it's been a while since I've made it. I can't remember where I found the recipe, but it turned out really yummy. Plus, I'm just in the recipe-sharing mood lately, and this is a perfect snack for holiday get-togethers and parties! Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 9 cups Chex cereal
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• Ziplock freezer bag

Directions:

1. Combine peanut butter, butter, and chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl.
2. Microwave for 1 minute, then stir to blend all ingredients thoroughly. Add 1/2 tsp vanilla. Stir well.
3. Place 9 cups of Chex cereal in a very large bowl.
4. Pour the peanut-butter chocolate mixture over the cereal and toss evenly, making sure all the cereal gets a good covering.
5. Place the powdered sugar in a large Ziplock bag.
6. Add the peanut butter-chocolate cereal mixture to the bag, leaving enough room for it to be shaken. (You may have to divide the mixture into smaller batched, coating 1 batch at a time.)
7. Shake the bag vigorously to evenly coat each piece of puppy show with powdered sugar.
8. Once the mixture is fully coated, dump into a large serving bowl.

Prep time: About 10-15 minutes

Servings: 1 large bowl (party size)

Linked to: Tatertots & Jello, The Pin Junkie, Domestic Superhero, Liz Marie Blog

DIY Necklace Holder

I'm pretty excited today to share the project I've been planning on making for a long time and finally was able to make this weekend. A while back I shared how I made my earring holder. That project has been one of my favorites to date, and it's been an awesome life saver! Instead of having to dig through drawers to find a matching set of earrings, I now have them all paired up right in front of my eyes. It's a major time saver in the morning and whenever I'm getting ready.

So I've been wanting to make something similar to hold my necklaces, as I've found myself having the same issue. I looked around on Pinterest and have seen so many different versions of necklace organizers. In the end though, I went with a simple board-with-knobs version. Here's how it turned out:

I love it! Trent helped with a lot of the sanding, staining, drilling, etc. I just supervised and made the design choices! :) We hung it in the bedroom, and it blends in perfectly with the dark wood in there.

Here are the supplies and the steps we took to make it.

Supplies used:

• Oak board (1" x 6" x 3')
• 6 drawer knobs (a variety)
• pencil, ruler and tape measure to mark and measure where the knobs will be and where to cut the board.
• a drill
• a saw
• sandpaper
• newspaper to put down when staining
• stain and brush with a paper towel to wipe the stain
• sawtooth hangers

It was pretty cheap - the only things I had to buy were the board, the knobs, and the sawtooth hangers. The rest of the supplies we already had on hand. The board was around $8, and I got the knobs all on sale at Hobby Lobby 50% off - they were about $2-$3 a piece. The sawtooth hangers were around $2.

I picked up the board from Menards - a 3' wide by 6" tall oak board, that was already sanded down. I just cut about 8" off because I only needed 28" as opposed to 36." 

Here's how we made it.

First I lined up my knobs on the board, in the order that I wanted them to be in to get an idea about the spacing I wanted. I decided I wanted to cut off 8" from the length of the board, because I had 6 knobs and I wanted them to be about 4" apart. I measured where the center of the board was, and with a pencil, made a line to cut off 8", then marked a dot every 4 inches where the holes would have to be drilled for the knobs.

Trent used a saw to cut off the excess part of the board, then drilled holes for the knobs.

Even though the board was already sanded and didn't have a finish on it, the corners and edges were pretty sharp, so Trent sanded them down a little.

Then we wiped the dust off the board and stained it. I just used some stain that we had leftover from other projects instead of going out and buying a new one. It was Minwax "Red Mahogany."

We tested it out on the part of the wood we had cut off, just to make sure it was what I wanted.

Luckily it wasn't too red, and I liked the dark look of it. So Trent brushed on the stain with a small brush, then after a minute or so, wiped off the excess with a (soft) paper towel. We used two coats, letting it sit in between coats, then overnight just to make sure it was fully dry.

Once it was dry, we just screwed the knobs into the holes, then attached a couple of sawtooth hangers to the back. Then we just had to saw off the ends of the screws that the knobs were attached to.

 

And voila! We hung it in the bedroom, and I now have a place to hang my necklaces so that I can see them and grab them really easily before I walk out the door.

And best of all, they won't get tangled in my jewelry chest anymore.

I love it! :) Definitely my new favorite DIY project!

Linked to: Tatertots & Jello, The Pin Junkie, Domestic Superhero, Liz Marie Blog

Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies

Last night I did a little baking. It's a rare occasion, but I've been wanting to make cookies for a while, and I decided to make peanut butter kiss cookies - one of my favorite Christmas cookies!

The recipe I used was this one from Chef-in-training.com. I also posted the recipe below - Perfect for the holidays! They turned out delicious!



Trent helped me mix a little bit and put them in the oven. Always nice to have a little help, especially for me, considering I haven't made a lot of cookies from scratch in my day. ;)



Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter (softened)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2/3 cup peanut butter
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 1/2 cups flour
• 1 bag Hershey's chocolate kisses

Directions:

1. Place butter in microwave about 15 seconds to soften to room temperature. Cream butter and sugars together in a large bowl.
2. Add peanut butter and mix well.
3. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until well combined.
4. Add baking soda, salt, and flour, and mix until well-incorporated.
5. Roll into 1 inch balls, then roll each ball into sugar.
6. Place on greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees F for 8 minutes. 
7. Immediately when done baking, gently press a chocolate kiss into the center of each cookie.
8. Place on a cooling rack and let cool completely.

I unwrapped kisses while I was waiting for the cookies to bake. Saves a little bit of time when you're having to put the kisses on the cookies while they're still warm.

The mixture made around 32 or so cookies. But I did save a little bit of the dough to eat out of the bowl..I have to say, the leftover dough was quite delicious! :)

Linked to: Tatertots & Jello, The Pin Junkie, Domestic Superhero, Liz Marie Blog

Night out at TSO

Thursday night we saw TSO (Trans-Siberian Orchestra) live! We were debating about going, then decided just to buy the tickets because we really wanted to go, and I wanted to see them perform The Lost Christmas Eve. I listen to their music every Christmas, and how often do you get to see something like that?

We were pretty high up, but we could see the entire stage and could even feel the warmth from the fire on stage!

We both really enjoyed it. The lights, lasers, and fire all went along with the music, and it was really cool. It told a story, almost like a musical, too.

Here is one of the videos that Trent took on his phone:

You don't really realize how talented those people are, until you see them perform all of the songs live. One girl was a really good singer. I told Trent she would definitely win American Idol. :)

It was a fun night out. I'm glad we went!

We got another round of snow last night, so Trent was out for a few hours this morning shoveling and snow blowing walkways and people's driveways. I plan on spending the weekend watching Christmas movies, crafting, wrapping presents, and baking cookies (yes, I said baking). I'm not leaving the house!

Let There Be Lights!

We got tons of snow today...the first major snowfall that has actually stuck. We went bridesmaid dress shopping for Haley's wedding earlier, and let's just say...it wasn't too fun driving! But...all is good now - we're home all warm in the house watching ABC family Christmas movies, and Trent finished putting the lights up outside!

This year Trent lined almost the whole roof with icycle lights. And he was VERY excited about it. Don't ask me why... I think every year we're going to add more and more lights until our house resembles the Griswalds'. I'm telling you.... I aspire to one day have a sleigh with reindeer on the roof.

Here's the view from the street corner:

We put the reindeer in our new plant bed this year. Last year they were in front of the house. We also decided to put a string of lights on each of the small bushes out front. I'm already thinking for future years we need to light up that little tree in front of the house, then maybe the bushes on the side of the house. But just future plans, of course! :)

And just for fun... Google has a new feature called Auto Awesome that takes your photos and makes the lights "twinkle." Check it out:

Isn't it purdy? :) If only they "twinkled" in real life! Oh, and I have some crafty projects going on that I need to work on and share pronto! Hopefully I will have them done soon....

Christmas Porch (And Foundation Update)

Our front porch is all decked out for Christmas! We're not quite done decorating the outside yet, but Trent got about half of the lights up today - on the porch side. Even though it was freezing, he finally got around to getting some up. And you can kind of tell in this picture too that the roof in the front is slanted now, from the foundation work. Trent needs to fix the porch columns to make them level. A spring project!

We need to borrow Trent's brother's extension ladder to get the rest of the lights up on the other side. Will share when it's finished!

I love me a little glow of the Christmas lights - can you tell I'm a fan of the white ones? All white lights = my jam.

And on to the subject of the foundation - they called us back and said that they had actually intended on charging us that 10% (roughly $600) that they took off of the final amount when they were finished and I had paid what we thought was the final amount! They told us that we had a remaining balance of $600 so they were going to work something out so we didn't have to pay it. They said since they forgot to do the waterproof membrane and fill in the cracks..and for all of the trouble we went through, they were just going to call it even. Really?.....so now we're even more fed up with the whole situation. We didn't get any more money back, and they're not fixing anything. So what is the next step? That's what we have to decide!

Latest on the Foundation and More Living Room Pics

Happy Tuesday everyone. I'm back with an update on the foundation issues, and I also have some new living room pics, all decorated for the holidays! First...the foundation. Yesterday while I was at work and Trent was home, a couple of head people from the foundation company came back to talk about what they could do to fix the problems they left us with. Trent explained again all of the issues we still have, and they just offered to dig it out again and put on the waterproof membrane they forgot to do that was in the contract, and fill in the joints between some of the cement blocks they forgot to fill. 

They told us the membrane wasn't necessary and was mainly for houses that had more than just a crawl space. So they said they could either put it in, or give us our money back, since it was in the contract and we paid for it. Trent told them he didn't want them working anymore on it and that we just want the money back. Basically we're just tired of dealing with it and want it to be over!

They also offered to fill in the cracks they forgot to mortar between the blocks, and Trent said he would just do it himself. They left a bag of mortar for us to use.

The bigger issues like the gap between the house and the wall, the rotted board they screwed into, and not wrapping around the corner we are basically left to fix this spring. After a lot of discussion and letting them know all of our frustrations, it was left at how much more money they are going to give us back for their mistakes. They left and said they would get back to us either tomorrow or the next day. We haven't heard anything back yet today, so were expecting a call tomorrow.

I'm really just ready to be done, but would definitely like something in return for all of our headaches throughout the process. Looking on the bright side, the good part is that we have a brand new wall on that side of the house. But the bad part is that were left with a shoddy job, and will have a lot of work to do when the weather gets nice again. So....that's where we're at now.

On to something lighter....Here's some more living room Christmas decor!

Notice anything different? I got new pillows for the couch. And I LOVE them!

The cream-colored ruffly pillows are the new loves! I picked them up at TJ Maxx this past weekend, and I had originally planned on getting them to switch out my turquoise pillows, but they ended up looking really cute together. They are a perfect wintery mix!

Here they are together. The couch is playing a little dress up. :)

Once again we hung our stockings up on our "mantle shelf". Really the only Christmas decor we have in the living room is the tree and snowflake garland, and the stockings. But since it's such a small room, that's really all we need to make it feel cozy and all decked out for the holidays!

Nothing beats the glow of the tree. One of my favorite things about this time of year!

Thanksgiving Recap

I'm popping in on my iPhone tonight to post a few photos from Thanksgiving! We went to my aunt and uncle's house again this year. This is the second year celebrating at their house. As usual, there was lots of food, family, and discussing shopping and Christmas gifts.

We took a few family photos.. One of just our immediate family... And one with our significant others!

Note to all...I swear I'm not the shortest one here. Trent and I were the only ones not wearing shoes. (My mom is actually the shortest. And you're not allowed to cheat with your hairdo, Mom!) Ok, now that I got that out of the way...I'll post again tomorrow - I of course have more to share!

Tree Is Up!

What a weekend! Thanksgiving get together with family, then shopping, shopping, and more shopping! We went out to eat with my parents yesterday and I also finally got an iPhone! I ordered the cover for it today, so I will share pictures of it when it arrives. So excited! I love it so far.

In other news, along with the nonstop shopping I did, the day after Thanksgiving I put up the tree and all the ornaments.

No presents wrapped yet, but it's so puuurrty! Can't believe this is the fourth Christmas in this house together. You can see the very first year with our Christmas tree here. Now we just need to put the lights up outside.

And the paper snowflake garland I made last year I believe. I put them in the tree one year but decided to hang them up last year. Adds a little more festivity!

I'll probably post again tomorrow about a few little updates, and maybe post some Thanksgiving photos. Tomorrow is the day a couple of the foundation guys are coming to inspect the foundation again...ugh I don't want to know what is going to happen. I hope they decide to fix their mistakes. I will be back with an update....stay tuned!