Painted chair with chevron cushion

Sometime in December I rescued this sturdy yet ugly little gem from the end of the parking lot next to the dumpster near our apt. 

And then it sat and sat while I tried to decide whether I could make it lovable or just put it right back where I found it. I kept seeing awesome furniture transformations on Pinterest using chalk paint. I considered buying the Annie Sloan chalk paint but honestly the price tag on that stuff made me want to vomit. I'm sure it is as great as everyone says but I can't bring myself to experiment with something that pricey. So I googled how to DIY some chalk paint. I found a pretty quart of blue paint at Home Depot for $2.50 (woohoo!!!!) and mixed up some of my own. I found some lovely yellow chevron canvas fabric at Hobby Lobby that was 30% off and redid the cushion. All together this chair cost somewhere around $12! and only took me a morning to finish including driving back and forth to different stores and dry time. I'm so shocked at how in love with it I am!

 

My first ever chair re-do, first experience with chalk paint, first time really doing re-upholstery by myself! All in all a successful morning <3

Kid-made LOVE banner

Made this quick little LOVE banner with the monster today. Between him getting out of school and the time I have to go to work there isn't a whole lot of time for projects but he loves having his artwork featured where people can see it and I love anything that gets home practice spelling out words. So a little do-a-dot paint and some construction paper cut into triangles and we got a sweet little Valentines banner. I love that it's in his handwriting! I will however probably find a different spot for it, I don't like the banner red next to the wreath red.

Finally got a breadmaker!!!

I found a breadmaker on Craigslist that said *like new* which ended up meaning that it had been used twice and the sticker were still on the outside. Clearly the newly married couple I got it from did not see themselves getting much use from it and so I got it for CHEAP compared to all the ones I've been pricing lately. I used this recipe for Basic white bread and it turned out tasting like a yummy dense loaf of...well...white bread. It's been out of the machine maybe 6 hrs and half the loaf is already gone. Can't wait to make more yummy breads!!!

Quick little stool redo

While I was waiting on the sun to go down to take pictures of my wreath I figured i would do something about this little stool I've been stepping over for months now. I bought it at a garage sale for $1. had they left it plain blue i would have to but the wrote "Bentley" on it and then as best I can tell tried to wipe it off so it ended up looking like this...

which is exactly how it has looked sitting in the monsters bathroom for some time now, yes with another kids name on it. But since I had some time on my hands while the monster was building in minecraft I decided to make use of some leftover paint I had. And now this is what are little stool looks like...

I left the bottom alone and dry brushed the white a little so it would look somewhat worn in. Also, lucky for me "P" is very easy to free hand with a paintbrush. He loves it and wanted to step on before it was even dry!



Fluffy Valentines Wreath

Ok so having never made a wreath before, this was surprisingly easy. It is however time consuming so you have to be prepared to invest some time. I worked on it while catching up on the DVR shows, while talking and hanging out with a friend, etc, I also took plenty of breaks :)

What I bought was 2 packs of red tissue paper, 2 packs of pink tissue paper, and a styrofoam ring. Instead of using hot glue I just used some E6000 glue I had left over from a project I had made for my sons class.

I used a pen to pre-poke holes in the styrofoam and then put a dot of glue in each hole. I didn't measure when I cut my tissue paper and really you can't tell the size difference when it's done.
I did the outside edge and the top but left the inside edge alone because the other covered it up anyway, see...

My fun ribbon to hang it with!!

Here's the finished product, with one heart for each member of our little family. I love how it turned out and I'm so excited for all the Valentine's decorations I plan to make with my little monster.

Pinterest workout challenge

So I decided that I wanted to do a little challenge for myself at the gym, a Pinterest workout challenge. Fortunately my gym buddy is a trooper and when I suggested this plan to her I got a high five and a "we can totally do this" so tomorrow we start! I think it's gonna be fun in an exhausting kind of way. We will do our normal cardio and then follow with Load Your Guns! It looks promising

A homemade kind of day

Yesterday I got a phone call from one of my besties wondering if I was gonna be working last or if I could watch her little boy for her because her mother couldn't today. Well I did have to work for 12hrs last night and so did she and in our delirium we concocted a plan to hang out today and stay awake together so that no one was watching him alone therefore decrease the risk of someone falling asleep while trying to keep an eye on him. Turned out, we had a great homemade kind of day and despite the sleep deprivation we accomplished a lot! We ran some errands while I borrowed her washing machine(I'm a laundry hobo right now because my overused machine decided to quit on me). Eventually we got hungry and came back to my house to make some goodies. I made us these yummy Hawaiian roll ham sandwiches(I got the recipe from blissfulanddomestic.com). This is the second time I've made them and they are so yummy!

We also found some valentines funfetti cake mix and We made cupcakes with homemade cream cheese icing! They were oh so delicious! I'm really not sure how much icing I ate today but I know it was a bunch!!!

After our snacking, the baby fell asleep and she decided to nap, unfortunately no nap for me because it was almost time to get Parker from school so I decided to deep clean the bathroom. But I had almost no bathroom cleaner left so I made some :) I mixed equal parts white vinegar and liquid dish soap and gave the bottle a little shake. I've seen this mix all over Pinterest and they always say to use blue dawn dish soap. Well I don't ever use the blue kind so I just used the pomegranate scent kind I had in my kitchen and it worked so I don't think using the blue dawn is a must. My bathroom looks spotless! And the vinegar smell disappeared within about a couple minutes. This was my first experience making homemade bathroom cleaner and I was very impressed by how well it worked and I tested it on everything in the bathroom from the trash can to the tub. 

What I'm working on getting accomplished

1. Grocery shopping
2. Laundry
3. Finish valentines wreath and get started on valentines projects with Parker
4. Fix washing machine :(
5. Back to the gym
6. Finish getting things in order to get our house
7. Pack some stuff and transfer to storage
8. Clean out and donate clothes to small for my quickly growing boy
9. File taxes
10. Make budget/money talk with Shane

Not exactly in that order but all priorities that need to get done in a timely manner! There's my plan for the month :)

My Weekly Menu for...January 27-February 2

I do weekly grocery shopping. No real reason for doing it that way other than that's just works best for our family. For me it's a lot easier to manage the unexpected when I only give myself small windows of time for unexpected things to happen...like say, a week :) Due to working full time anyway and never knowing when the hospital I work at might throw some overtime my way, I tend to shift my meals around some but it is incredibly helpful to have a plan for what meals I have on hand for the week and which day I would like to cook them. I generally try to do any crock pot meals on my work days because those 12 hr shifts don't leave me with a lot of spare time in the evening.

Sunday: grilled hotdogs

Monday: buffalo chicken taquitos

Tuesday: BLT sandwiches on wheat bread, pasta salad

Wednesday:grilled cheese waffles

Thursday: Paula Dean recipe roast, mashed potatoes

Friday: Family Night

Saturday:leftovers

Recipes

I've tried to find this Paula Dean recipe again and can't, luckily it was easy to remember. You will need: 1 can cream of mushroom, 1 can stewed tomatoes, 1 packet of onion soup mix, and a roast.
I pick whichever roast is on sale at the time and I've never had it turn out bad. Cut your stewed tomatoes up a bit then mix in the soup and soup mix. Roast goes in the crock pot and your mix goes on top. Let it cook for 6-8 hrs. It's yummy by itself but I like it best with cream cheese mashed potatoes.

For grilled cheese waffle, just assemble your grilled cheese sandwich as normal but cook in the waffle maker instead. This is my little monsters favorite way to have grilled cheese made.

I got the recipe for the taquitos from http://www.dealwisemommy.net/2012/06/dinner-idea-buffalo-chicken-taquitos/
But instead of using milk I use sour cream instead( we ran out of milk when I was making this recipe
 once and used sour cream to avoid another trip to the store and now we just prefer them that way)


Family nights for us is pretty similar every week, it's been toned down a bit recently will I've been budgeting a little more strictly. It originated as a Disney movie night with theme food and activities followed by watching a Disney movie. We still watch the Disney movie but now we do pizza because its quick and easy.

The difference a day can make

We went from pretty snow, well at least the southern version of a snow day, to a beautiful sunny day very quickly. I guess that's the joy of living in the south. We get to experience what seems like multiple seasons all in one week. Here are some pictures of my two favorite guys...

Love my sweet boys little silhouette 

Mid-Snowball fight

The Minecraft Creeper Snowman. That little monster of mine loves him some minecraft!

My boys practicing some baseball.

 

So we had a early day out of school on Friday because of the snow and by Sunday the weather was so pretty we had an impromptu grilled lunch with the cousins. We also had lots of fun practicing baseball and went to the playground. I love sunny days when my little man can get outside and burn off some of that energy!

Just starting out...

So as it turns out, just starting out is kind of odd but here goes. My reasons for blogging is to have a place to store my memories with my little family, recipes we like (which can be hard to find because of my picky little eater), project ideas that I complete with either good results or crappy ones, and anything else I find that I like/want to try/inspires me along the way.

 So really, assuming I keep up with this blog stuff which I've been thinking of starting for some time now, this year should be pretty interesting. I have a 7 yr old boy and I'm engaged to a wonderful man,  both of whom I love dearly. We should be buying our first home sometime soon so I'm sure I will be Pinterest-ing the place up a bit once we get it. We will be getting married this year. And we will be living out lots of fun that only a high spirited, full of energy, wild little boy like mine can deliver. The title finding domestic bliss I chose because of my lack of domesticity that I've maintained for a long time now. But with meal plans, budgets, cheap inexpensive crafts, and homemaking, I have found plenty new hobbies/learning experiences to keep me busy. Oh did I mention also working full time?! It's gonna be a special year and I have lots to learn so here goes...

Kelly <3