We Are Moving... Again!

Two years after we purchased our yellow house, John and I got a text from his parents saying that their house is ours if we wanted it... I wish I could've taken a picture of our faces. We were in different places when we got the text messages... But I am pretty sure, we had the same expression on our faces and I am sure we said the same thing, "WHAT?!" 

Apparently, they have been discussing this a while with Aunt Betty. Guess it finally made sense and they finally all admitted to each other that there was no way they will be able to go through selling the house to a total stranger. So they took it off the market, discussed the details, gave us the keys, and said, "Knock yourselves out, kids! You deserve it!"

So here we go again... Packing our bags... Loading my whole kitchen in an itty bitty car... Moving... Again! There is not much to change in this house other than it needs fresh paint. I have managed to move my kitchen by myself, a few trips at a time. I was itching to cook in this kitchen to get rid of that empty house smell. I hate that! The house has been on the market for about a year, and it has been sitting empty for about 9 months... So I have been baking and cooking and have had all my tart warmers going for about 2 weeks now [in this kitchen] and it is now smelling like people actually live in it. [picture of the kitchen above]

I don't have pictures to share yet, but I should be able to post some soon. John's schedule has been so tight because of marching band season, he has not been able to do anything but eat what's being cooked in that kitchen. LOL And the MIL and I have been busy with our 87-year-old Aunt Betty keeping her on track with doctor visits and the other things she needs done. Old age and Alzheimer's aren't being nice to her these days so we make sure that we help her remember important dates and make sure she takes her meds on time at the right time. So other than my kitchen, nothing much has been moved at this point. 

There is really no hurry. The only thing is, the sooner we put our current home on the market, the sooner it will sell. :) And the sooner we take out unnecessary furniture out of it, the sooner we can clean the whole house up and prep it for stage-ing to get it ready to show. 

I'm not too worried about the house we are moving into. It is move in ready. Funny thing is, almost all our furniture came from that house, so I know I will have no trouble getting them back in there. In a year or so, I know John will find something he will want to re-do. :) My husband never sits down, and he is never content. He is always out there looking for a good DIY challenge. 

So, til the next post, folks!!! 

Reward and Punishment... and What's Brewin' Around Here

John and I are Skinnerian's. We believe in Reward and Punishment. :) It is easy and it mostly works done the right way.

I don't know how many weeks ago it's been but John's drumline did a really awesome job at a competition they didn't think they could win. These kids have worked so hard and have put in so much time rehearsing and memorizing their parts that I knew when I found out that their section had gotten first place, I knew I had to come up with some kind of reward... And here it is:

I made them a chocolate french silk cake.... Made it out of my favorite Lindt Smooth Dark Chocolate and Ghirardelli Bittersweet Chocolate and fresh whipped cream. I am not a big fan of Cool whip, but you could very well use it to make this cake. :)

I can't promise I could share the recipe because I have totally had to eye ball everything because I had to use the biggest spring form pan I have so I could feed all 16 kids [that includes John and John, the directors] Yes, their names are John. 

We are getting ready to do some major overhaul in our house, so you may not see me here very often like you haven't been the past how many weeks. We are getting ready to put our house on the market and move into a better house [read: house with a big kitchen]. So we got to get our house sold fast because the faster it sells the faster we could move in to the new house and play. 

We have been anticipating this in the past year, but it is just recently that we and the family have made the decision about this. This is going to be a very slow process. This is the 4th house John and I will be moving into since I got here. So we know how stressful moving is. We know better than rushing into things and moving everything all at once in one weekend. :) We are just really thankful for friends and family who have been patient and moved us in and out of all the house we have lived in. 

I will see you all very soon. We may be posting updates here and there when we get a chance. :) Our new home doesn't need much but a fresh coat of paint. And we are so looking forward to not having a house payment, not to think about major remodels and all that goes with it all. LOL $0 house payment alone makes it a much better deal. :)

Living Room Update

Remember this? 

It looks like this [check out the pic below] now. I still haven't done anything about my photo wall art, but I did change up my end tables, and I like these two Broyhill ones. They are not really new, I have had them forever with a different living room set we used to have. I went ninja on them and ran John's Dremel tool on them to sand them a bit and picked up some Rustoleum paints and I have two mismatched end tables like I always wanted! Ignore the Sterilite things underneath my end tables. I was trying to get an idea what size basket I am gonna get so I put them there. But they are not staying. 

I am also scouring the internet for new lamps. :) I am thinking about moving those two in my bedroom. I have such big plans for them in there. The cornice/valance was a great DIY project. It was easy, inexpensive and totally totally dressed my windows up. The fabric, I got from fabric.com for $5.98/yard I only used a yard. John built the frame with an 8 foot 1 x 6 piece of pine for $6. I ran self-adhesive velcro all the way across the frame so if I do get sick of my curtains and the valance or when it's time to wash them, I can just take them down and put a new set up without having to pull staples out!!! Clever huh! 

The silk drapes I totally didn't pay for. : ) They were from my Mom-In-Law. She has very good taste in window treatments. Can you tell? The thermal roman shades, they are JC Penny but I didn't buy them from JCP because I didn't want to pay $39/piece. I got them from ebay. Lucky me, someone bought too many of them and the person listed them on ebay when I was looking for them! I got both shades for $20 + Zero shipping.

It took me about three weeks to get all the stuff in the mail, but it sure all was worth the wait. It is still not over yet but it is getting there. I have been blessed with a 25-foot living room, there is still this big long wall to dress up and a drop ceiling we are wanting to address. We had someone come and look at it so we can know how much it would cost to get rid of it and we should get an answer very soon. The drop ceiling is nothing urgent at the moment, but we just wanna know so we can plan on it.

All this for the love of older homes and their character and history. : )

Be Nice

Here's a thought we would like to share with you today. We try to live by this every chance we get. :)







Hope your weekend was wonderful!!!

This is What's Bubbling in my Kitchen Tonight

Well, here it is. I made chili. I am not the chili maker in this house, John is. And he makes a mean chili. But this girl was too hungry to wait until 4 [when he gets home] so I went to the store got the makings and voila!!! I got chili. We got chili. :)

John will just have to suck it up and eat the stuff because it is made. Not that it is any different from what he makes... I know what he puts in his chili, I just put a little bit more kick to it than he would want. John isn't one of those people that like spicy stuff, but I do. I love my food to kick me right in the nose the second it touches my mouth. This chili though isn't too spicy. I just put a tad bit more of chili powder in the mixture and a few other wonderful things. 

I would love to share the recipe but this is my husband's, and he has been trying to perfect it for 2 years now. So unless he says I could share it, I won't be posting it. :) But feast your eyes on this masterpiece. I am eating from that same mini crock as of this writing. It is Mmmmm... Mmmmm... Mmmmm... good!

Hope you all have a wonderful dinner!!! :)

This Beautiful Day

Hello friends! It is beautiful here on my side of the world. It is 59˚F and I can feel fall coming our way! Other than the allergies and the flu that comes with this season, I love it all. I love the pretty colors the leaves turn, and when burn weekends start, the sweet smell of leaves burning is ever so heavenly!!!

We have been very busy the past week. We are still working on our living room makeover, we only need a few things, but our indecision has gotten in the way so now we are kindda stuck waiting for stuff to arrive in the mail. John still hasn't decided on the size baseboards he wants to install while it took me until Sunday to decide that I wanted a fabric-covered cornice for my big window. Our SUV is in the shop being fixed from John's accident a couple of weeks ago so he is now driving a rental. We are just thankful that John didn't get hurt and the guy who rear-ended him had really good insurance coverage, and paid his premium promptly. :)

However, since Monday I have been keeping myself occupied with some baking and cooking to keep from going crazy. John has been loving it! There has been a new treat every time he got home from work.  have made pretty much all his favorites. I made him some divinity, decorated sugar cookies, and fabulous gourmet dinners! But last night, I thought I would make something John and I both loved... Something that had coffee and chocolate in it!!! So I made these things:

I call them coffee cupcakes. The recipe is originally from Ina Garten, but I changed it up a bit and loaded these cupcakes with a ton of coffee! I even used flavoring oils in coffee. I used my favorite Dark Blend K-cup variety from Newman's Own and a good quality epresso granules brand. To make it extra extra special, I took a whole tub of hazel nut spread [I used Nutella] and mixed it with my favorite chocolate buttercream recipe and finished it up with a chocolate-covered espresso beans on top. Oh Yum! I had these with my coffee this morning and oh my golly!!! They are tasty! You can find the recipe in my personal blog, there is a printer-friendly recipe there too so you can try the recipe at home. These cupcakes aren't the kind I would necessarily feed to little kids because of the caffeine content. ;) So keep these treats to yourself, or share it with friends!!!

Have a great day all!!!

Put Yourself in their Shoes

We learned this lesson today and we would like to share this: 

Whenever you start getting upset with someone because they are starting to annoy you, put yourself in their shoes. There is a good chance you won't be upset with them anymore when you do. :)

Happy Sunday evening all!!!