We Love Monterey! June 30, 2009

Monterey is our favorite California destination!  We were invited to a birthday party in Salinas last weekend, so since we were sooo close to Monterey John and I  were able to spend some time in our favorite California spot!  The weather was beautiful!  I don’t think I have ever been in Monterey when it was so warm!

My daughter is going to be attending CSU Monterey Bay this fall.  So I will have a very good reason for visiting Monterey OFTEN. Check out this place we found for rent right accross the street from the beach!  In my dreams! Actually, they divided this cool looking house into 3 units.  The 1 bedroom with an office rents for $1900 a month.  I think a little too expensive for college students.    I wish I could live here, at least during our hot valley summer! Came home to over 100 degrees in Lodi! YUCK!!!!

What is not to love about Monterey?

John wrote on this post over 2 years ago, it was faded but still visible this trip, so he updated.  Glad we worked things out and that our love didn’t fade away 🙂

A Giveaway and some Easy Baking! June 27, 2009

A cute little giveway for all my 3 peeps :).  For your consideration I have this little matching red set: a memo pad, a tin filled with chocolate and notecards and envelopes.  Leave me a comment and I will enter you to win. Mention me in your blog and let me know about it, and I will enter you again.  I will put numbers into a bowl and my handsome son will pick the winner next friday July 3rd. (Sorry I don’t know about random integers??)  Now on to some easy baking!  Last weekend we had an end of the season Baseball party, a Birthday and Fathers day. So I was busy baking for all 3.   I give thanks to Bakerella for a couple of great ideas! And thanks to Winco for such low prices on baking supplies!

I saw this cute burger and fry basket idea over at Bakerella.  I copied, but did it the cheap and easy way.  I didn’t put sesame seeds on the buns( I didn’t think 11 and 12 yr old boys would care), and I only did “lettuce” frosting. Bakerella also made yellow and red frosting for ketchup and mustard.  Even though I took the easy route, the baseball team as well as the parents loved them.  I used 2 boxes of brownie mix, prepared in my 1/2 sheet cake pan for the patties.  I made cupcakes with yellow cake mix and used milk instead of water in the recipe for the buns.  I used 1 container of white frosting and colored it green for lettuce.  I used a circle cutter for the brownies to turn them into burger patties. I then cut the cupcakes in half and plopped the brownies right in the middle, topped with some “lettuce” frosting. And voila! they really did look like burgers!  I used 2 packages of sugar cookie mix and followed the directions for making cut cookies.  I rolled the dough out into an oblong and cut into fries.  As you can see my fries came out more “home fry” than Mc Donalds. So note to self for next time “CUT Thinner fries!”  I bought a package of 250 fry baskets at Smart and Final for a little over $5.00 and that was it.  If you want to try this at home, call me I have lots of fry baskets leftover! :0 )

For the birthday, I did a big cookie instead of a cake. This was super easy, inexpensive and pretty cool. I used 2 packages of chocolate chip cookie mix for less than $4.00 at Winco.  I lined my Pampered Chef bar pan with foil and spread the prepared mix and baked.  It did take longer than regualar cookies. I am sorry, I don’t remember exactly how much longer, but I had to keep checking on it every 4 minutes or so. When it was cool I lifted it out by the the foil. Guaranteed no sticking!  I decorated around the edges with frosting and used purple gel for the writing.  I like this one!

For Fathers day I made lemon bars from scratch! Yes peeps that is right! I didn’t buy the bar mix!!! And it was pretty easy! I saw the recipe at Bakerella .  Go over to her blog and scroll down a bit for this one.  The crust was crumbly and flaky and yummy and the lemon was sweet and tart and just the right consistency.  Sorry, I didn’t get a picture of these. But they look better at Bakerella anyway.

Hope all this easy baking information has inspired you to make something sweet for your sweeties! Have a great weekend!

Tina

Maybe I do have OCD??? June 8, 2009

I either have obsessive compulsive disorder or am just getting close to finishing off the few projects I have been working on in the house.  Or I am just plain crazy? Only God knows 🙂

Earlier today I showed you the end table project. Now here is the picture of my almost finished living room.  Got the wall art, got the pillows, got the end tables.  I just need lamps. The 2 I have in there now are from my bedroom and that is where they belong.  So I will be on the lookout for just the right lamps for the living room on a budget of course.  I guess I could have cleared off the coffee table and fixed the pillows. Oops!!!! 

I also still need to paint this wall. Lastly, I need to finish the curtains in my bedroom and find a nice throw for the bed.  Then I will be done.  For a while anyway!  You never know what treasures are out there calling my name! 😉

I can not believe I have been blogging for over a year! I just noticed that! I didn’t even have a celebration and still haven’t done my giveaway! I am working on it, I promise!

1 Furniture project done! June 7, 2009

I bought these 2 old nightstands yesterday and was planning to get to them next weekend.  I have had this cold, sore throat, ear thing going on for days and haven’t had much energy.  Today, I am still stuffy and not 100%.  But I just couldn’t stand those 2 little night stands sitting in the garage.

The pair cost $5.00 at a church rummage sale. Add 1 can of primer, 1 can of flat black spray paint and 4 knobs purchased for $2.57 each at Lowe’s.  For just under $25.00 I now have 2 end tables for my living room.  When you think about it, I could have spent $200.00 for a pair of end tables.  Maybe that is why I was so anxious to get them done?? Or I just have obsesssive compulsive disorder and was feeling well enough for it to kick in. 🙂 I am really winding down now, but my tables are done!   Here is the before and after. What do you think?

A furniture project and a couple of cards

I didn’t get too much done today, however I did stop in at a church annual rummage sale.  Look what I got for $5.00!!!! Yes, that is right only $5.00 for what will be my future end tables in  my living room. I am going to sand these babies down, paint them black (if you read my blog you know I love to paint everything black!) and replace the hardware.  I hope to get to these next weekend.

We have the end of baseball season coming up. Here are the thank you cards for the 2 coaches. I used that great Top Note die cut from Stampin’ Up. These are pretty simple cards to make. And they look “manly” so I hope the coaches will like them.

I got a blog award! No way! Get out of town!

Sherri over at Daughter of an Artist awarded me a lovely blog  award!!!  She said it was because I have a true crafters heart and write from the heart!  Thank you so much Sherri!  It was so sweet of you to do that!!! It has inspired me to keep going with my blog.  Maybe someday I will upgrade and join my blog friends over at blogspot.  One thing at a time!!!!

Now that I have received the award I have to pay it forward to other bloggers that have inspired me. 

I pass the award on to Fran at Frantic Stampers  as I love what she does with paper!  She has some great stuff!!!!  I also pass the award on to Julia at Create with Julia because she also does some great stuff with paper!!! These sites have given me some great ideas for my cards.

Here is what they need to do:

1. Accept the award, post in on their blog together with the name of the person who granted them the award and his or her blog.

2. Pass the award on to other newly discovered blogs that they have discovered.  And remember to contact the the bloggers and let them know they have been chosen for the award.