My House {A Photographic Journey} : The Kitchen

In an effort to get the camera out more, I thought that I would take pictures each week of a different room in my house.  That's how exciting I am.  I wish that I could go out places and have persons wanting to take their pictures {the kids can handle so much}, but I don't, so I make do.

Today I'm going to show you around my kitchen.

This is my outdated kitchen.  For goodness sakes, I've got metal cabinets.  But {heavy, outward sigh}, I make do.  I function.  I mean, I spend alot of time in here, so I do the best that I can :)

When we first moved into the house, the fridge space was originally where our stove is & vice-versa.  It did not work right.  That's why there's missing upper cabinets {because when my hubby took them down, they wouldn't go back up}, and pine shelves, oh yeah and different colored walls.

We also, at first, had our microwave sitting on the counter {where the dish drainer is now}, but after a year, I decided that I needed more counter space to bake.

One afternoon, while playing with the compound miter saw, my hubby & I decided that we needed to make some shelves.  I put these suckers to good use ;)  Sometimes I think that when we redo the kitchen, I want all open shelving {give me a good excuse to buy new dishes}....makes it so open & homey.

This is all my counter space.  Do you like the eggs on the counter??  People ask about that when they come over.....it's Food Networks fault.  Room temperature eggs are better for baking, so when I know I'm going to be baking alot, I leave some out on the counter.

One good thing about metal cabinets....I can use magnets.  It's great to have a recipe right there in front of me when I need it.

Everything that doesn't fit "in"the kitchen, hangs out on the Microwave cart & cabinet.  I'm on the lookout for possibly a new cabinet/buffet that I could possibly redo & replace with these two items.  Condense & streamline :)

Hopefully next year, we'll be redoing the entire kitchen/dining room/hallway.  We've been saving our money so we can have nice new cabinets, countertops {granite}, and tiled floors.  Oh, and a new stove; possibly one with a double oven-that would be awesome for Thanksgiving ;)

Thanks for stopping by!

Halloween Countdown Blocks

So, last week over at Talented Terrace Girls 

{Ya know, that other blog that I contribute too}

Emily posted a fun Halloween Craft.  Now, I don't have any sort of Halloween decorations, and these seemed like something easy that I could make.  And guess what???  There were a couple other gals from around the neighborhood who thought the exact same thing :)

So yesterday, the gals got together, and we made some Halloween Countdown Blocks.

But where was I???  Stuck at home with a very tired little girl.  I figured it was best to let her sleep & de-grumpify herself, than suffer the wrath later that night.  I did however send my boys over to pick up the supplies so I could at least paint the wood.  Here's how mine turned out:

I like it :)

I didn't follow everyone else now did I ;)

I had some leftover Key Lime Spray Paint, which totally looks Halloweenish, and I thought it would pair well with the black & orange papers that I chose.

I also didn't put a paper behind "Days til Halloween" because I wanted the Green color.

Here are some of the others from the Terrace Gals:

{Trinity on the top-left; Teresa on the bottom-left, Emily on the right}

Endless possibilities on this one.  This is such a easy project that you could totally substitute Christmas for Halloween {I would, but I already have a Christmas Countdown}

So if you want to make your own set, head on over here, Emily's got a great tutorial for you.

Enjoy!

Weekly Winners : September 18-24, 2011

-All shots taken with my Canon Rebel xsi-

To visit other weekly winners, click on the button below :)

*Slacker Alert*

The camera came out of the bag once this week.  I wish I would have brought it along with me on my adventure Friday {I got a whole day to myself}.  I kinda thought about grabbing it for my son's soccer game yesterday, but I didn't.  I guess I can only tell myself that I need to do better.

Here is cute Madison.  I was taking a picture of one of my crafts, and she stood there saying cheese.....

I thought I would get all artsy-fartsy and take a picture of a daily task {me cleaning up food off the floor}.....I think it looks more like mouse poo than craisens.

I think one of the best things that I did this week was make cookies.....74 Calorie cookies to be exact.

Thanks for stopping by!

Talented Terrace Girls Giveaway

I probably haven't mentioned before, but I belong to a cute neighborhood blog....The Talented Terrace Girls.

We all live here in Washington Terrace, and we're all sorts of creative.

We decided to do a Giveaway.  There's 9 of us Girls, and we're putting together a package that'll contain 9 of our favorite things....pretty awesome.

So, if you want, click on the button, support the group, and try and win a prize :)

 

Roman Numeral Anniversary Board

I love it when I follow through on stuff.

A couple weekends ago, I came across THIS, and immediately pinned it.  It's something that I haven't seen, and I thought it would look cute somewhere in my house.

It was fairly simple to make.

1. Cut board to desired length
2. Paint Board desired color
3. Make stencil {I made mine using contact paper}
4. Paint words
5. Find spot in house to hang

 Ummm, yeah.   I haven't followed through on step number five....I really have no idea where to put this gem.

So I started carrying the board around the house to figure out where it needed to go.  I thought about putting it on the dining/kitchen wall with some of our engagement pics....

Which would be ok....but I don't know.

And then I took it over to our family picture wall.

I would have to rearrange some pics to make it fit.

I've also realized that I desperately need new family pictures....I'm working on that.

There's also another spot where I've got engagement pics.....

But, it would have to go over the doorway to fit....

And then of course, there's our blank wall.   But I kind of like it blank.

What I really need to do is get a wedding picture printed and framed up, to go with the anniversary date.

Until I figure it out, it'll just hang out here, and confuse the crap out of people :)

I Heart Faces : "A Touch of Sun"

I haven't had a picture to enter into the weekly themes for a long time now, but when I saw the theme for this week, I knew exactly what picture I wanted to enter:

The Sun was heading towards a sunset, the location was very remote, and these two crazy lovebirds made picture-taking easy.

Thanks for stopping by!

Weekly Winners : September 11th - September 17th, 2011

-All shots taken with my Canon Rebel xsi-

*Go check out some other lovely entries by clicking on the button below*

Thanks for the lovely comments about my beautiful sister!  I wish I could comment back, but I don't think you can do that on blogger :(  But just know, that I enjoy each and everyone of them!

It's sad this week.  I think I took my camera out twice this week.  I really need to work on that.

This week, I made some really good homemade tomato soup.  Madi loved it!  As you can see, she had it everywhere.....this is why I love baby wipes ;)

This week, the elementary school had a carnival, and my kids loved it!  My favorite part of this picture, is the expression on the teacher's face :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Roasted Tomato-Tomatillo Soup

Fall weather is almost here!!!  I am loving the cooler temps, and I can see the leaves changing colors.  Along with the changing seasons, my garden is going into full-blown harvest time. 

This is maybe a third of what I could have picked today.....and I only picked tomatoes and tomatillos...I passed over: zucchini, cucumbers, peppers, beets, and cabbage.  I only picked what I wanted to use in dinner that night.

I decided to make a big batch of soup.  Why???  Well, it's not summer anymore, it freezes well, and it gave me a chance to use up some of this freshness.

This soup is so easy to put together, and although it takes time {because we're developing flavors}, it's the kind of time where you don't have to watch it.

First off, grab some tomatoes & tomatillos.  Mine filled up two sheet trays.  I don't know how many pounds, but I guess I could count up how many tomato halves there are........36 Roma Tomatoes and.......I don't know, let's say 20-30 Tomatillos {that's a good number}

Place everything on the cookie sheets; sprinkle with EVOO & salt & Pepper.  See easy.  Roast in a 450 degree oven for an hour.  This is what they'll most likely look like:

Charred {in some places} and all sorts of yummy.  Excuse the peppers....they're for another recipe & I figured since I was getting the oven hot, I might as well roast some up.

Take all the roasted veggies and throw them in the blender.  I did this twice.  Puree everything up.

And stick it in a pot.  I love this dutch oven.....I just thought I would let you know ;)

Now, for some flavoring, because right now it tastes like spaghettios.  I grabbed some of my fresh basil from the garden, julienned it up, and added it into the pot.

Next, I decided to go crazy, and wanted to give it some heat.  So in went 1/2 tsp of Crushed Red Pepper flakes.  You can totally leave this out, or lessen, or even increase....do as you desire :)

And then I added 1 tsp of garlic powder.  I didn't have any fresh garlic, or else I would have roasted a couple of cloves to throw in.

Stir everything together and stick it on the stove, on low heat, for at least an hour {stirring occasionally}.  We want the flavors to develop and infuse into the tomatoes.

Here is the finished product:

All sorts of yummy and delicious.

Want to make it even better???

Add some freshly made focaccia bread to dip into.

My kids had fun dipping into their soups.  I think Madi had too much fun though....she had soup everywhere {thank goodness for bibs!}

This is sooooo much better than soup out of the can.  Give it a try.

Enjoy!

I’m Linking up to these Awesome Blogs!

Soup & Comfort Food Challenge {The CSI Project}