Tonight, I was craving something sweet. We actually had a box of cake mix laying around but I didn't want the oven on too long (still going strong on not using it when it's hot out!) so the quick way is cupcakes! But cupcakes (or even cake for that matter) need frosting. Normally, we do a cream cheese frosting (that I am pretty sure I have previously blogged about) but we didn't have any cream cheese on hand. However, we did have powdered sugar.
The recipe is super easy and probably pretty versatile if you switch out vanilla extract for different types of extracts.
2 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons milk
2 tablespoons butter (or margarine)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla (I actually bumped this up to 1 full teaspoon since I really like vanilla things)
Mix well and voila! You're done! It couldn't get any simpler than that, plus you probably have all those things on hand already. I will tell you it's really sweet (which is what I was looking for) but not everybody is going to like it that sweet. You may need to adjust to your tastes.
Sorry this post is so short but things have been crazy around here. My mom comes tomorrow so I probably won't blog the rest of the week. See you all next week!
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
Saturday, June 21, 2014
Decorating Updates
I apologize. I have been behind in blogging because it was my brother-in-law's wedding yesterday..lots of prep for that!
As I may have mentioned, the nursery is complete and our baby got to move in about three weeks ago. I made a window valance for her window and it turned out great. I got the idea off pinterest (of course) and haven't seen it done very often. It's strips of cotton, rather than a piece of upholstery fabric. There are 21 strips, each about 3 inches wide. It's very colorful and perfect for a nursery! I was able to finish it in just a few hours (and that was while taking care of a baby!)
Today was our "home tour" that I had talked about in the previous post. Everything went well and I think everybody was really impressed with the progress made on our house. Most of them hadn't seen it since it was all studs and now it's much better! I didn't get everything cleaned that I wanted to but I decided that it was good enough the way it was. I will have a little more cleaning to do when my mom comes later this week.
We also finished our guest room. It was originally going to have the hardware floors the rest of our house has but it would've been a LOT of work to refinish them nice because they were pretty beat up so we decided to carpet instead. We even got it on sale and it's plusher than what's in the master bedroom! We even got to set up our coffee table that we got on clearance about two years ago. It was originally going to go in our living room but that was before we decided on an L shaped couch. The ends of the couch recline so there wasn't a good spot for the table. We had then been planning on putting it in the library but that isn't in a place ready for that kind of furniture yet so now it's in the guest room and it looks great!
As I may have mentioned, the nursery is complete and our baby got to move in about three weeks ago. I made a window valance for her window and it turned out great. I got the idea off pinterest (of course) and haven't seen it done very often. It's strips of cotton, rather than a piece of upholstery fabric. There are 21 strips, each about 3 inches wide. It's very colorful and perfect for a nursery! I was able to finish it in just a few hours (and that was while taking care of a baby!)
Today was our "home tour" that I had talked about in the previous post. Everything went well and I think everybody was really impressed with the progress made on our house. Most of them hadn't seen it since it was all studs and now it's much better! I didn't get everything cleaned that I wanted to but I decided that it was good enough the way it was. I will have a little more cleaning to do when my mom comes later this week.
We also finished our guest room. It was originally going to have the hardware floors the rest of our house has but it would've been a LOT of work to refinish them nice because they were pretty beat up so we decided to carpet instead. We even got it on sale and it's plusher than what's in the master bedroom! We even got to set up our coffee table that we got on clearance about two years ago. It was originally going to go in our living room but that was before we decided on an L shaped couch. The ends of the couch recline so there wasn't a good spot for the table. We had then been planning on putting it in the library but that isn't in a place ready for that kind of furniture yet so now it's in the guest room and it looks great!
Friday, June 13, 2014
Cleaning Your House (For a Home Tour)
Our house has been a work in progress for over 6 years now. This means the extended family is curious and would love to see the progress. Everyone is coming in town next week for a family wedding and my in laws (who have been the ones doing the work on the house) have invited everyone over to see it. Especially living in an unfinished house, it's really hard to find a home for everything. We have bought some things that were on sale that we know exactly where they go but that room isn't done yet so we don't know what to do with the items. It's things like that that make our home kind of a mess.
In the past few months, we've gotten more finished (our baby even got to move into her real nursery! Before now, she was living in our old bedroom, which will become a guest room until we have more kids) so that does make it somewhat easier.
The other thing is, with a home tour, you can't follow most people's advice for cleaning for company. They all say to just put clutter and stuff into rooms and shut the door. But our relatives are going to see everything. Then I looked up how to clean your house for an open house when you are selling. I thought this would work out since then the people are seeing the entire house but with that, people usually rent a storage unit and move most of their clutter into that so the home itself contains very little of what they would actually have in it. Again, not a solution for me.
This brings me to the only option left: actually clean the house. They will understand the construction zones but the rest of it really has to be in tip-top shape. This is how.
In the past few months, we've gotten more finished (our baby even got to move into her real nursery! Before now, she was living in our old bedroom, which will become a guest room until we have more kids) so that does make it somewhat easier.
The other thing is, with a home tour, you can't follow most people's advice for cleaning for company. They all say to just put clutter and stuff into rooms and shut the door. But our relatives are going to see everything. Then I looked up how to clean your house for an open house when you are selling. I thought this would work out since then the people are seeing the entire house but with that, people usually rent a storage unit and move most of their clutter into that so the home itself contains very little of what they would actually have in it. Again, not a solution for me.
This brings me to the only option left: actually clean the house. They will understand the construction zones but the rest of it really has to be in tip-top shape. This is how.
- First of all, remember that your home will never look like the homes in magazines. Most of those pictures are staged and they aren't realistic for actually living in them. Even professional cleaners and organizers can't make it look like that.
- Don't buy organizers until after you know exactly what you need and how many. I started with our black shelf (that I had previously organized without baskets). I decided this needed makeover because it was already starting to be a mess again. I knew all the categories though, so I just bought that many baskets and then made labels for them myself (out of index cards and ribbon). Now, it looks much better and I didn't waste any money on organizing supplies I didn't need.
- Start small. Don't expect to spend the whole day organizing (especially if you have children!) to get the whole house done. It doesn't work that way. You'll burn yourself out. I allowed myself two weeks to get it all done and then I work for just a few hours each day.
- Don't be afraid to give stuff away. This can help clear out a lot of stuff. Ask yourself if you seriously need this item. Does it still fit? Is it realistic to hold onto? There are other websites to help you find more questions to eliminate things.
- Break it down. Make a list of everything you have to get done. I love making lists so this isn't a problem for me. I just go room by room and write down everything. You could do an extra step and prioritize it all so if you do run out of time, you know which stuff really matters.
- Leave some things for the end on purpose. Things like dishes, laundry, and cleaning the bathrooms can wait til the end because if you do them too early, it's going to look like you never did them in the first place.
Then it's just a matter of doing it. Decluttering will make a bigger difference than actually cleaning so if you only have time to do a few things, get the junk out.
I hope this list helps. I know it can seem overwhelming (believe me, my list is PLENTY long) and you do have to other things too (in my case, take care of a baby) but if you just do some each day, it'll get done and the end result will be worth it.
If you would like more tips, you can see my cleaning tab at the top of the blog or make a comment below.
Wednesday, June 4, 2014
Homemade Mini Corn Dogs
To continue not using the oven, we do use the stove top on days in between too hot and okay to turn the oven on. Tonight, we made mini corn dogs. We have never made them before but I think they turned out great! The recipe calls for 12 hot dogs but our packages are only 8 so we had leftover batter. At first, we were just going to make "dumplings" but decided that we needed a vegetable so we threw in some broccoli. I don't think this could in any way be considered healthy but at least it was a vegetable, right?
Everything in the recipe can probably be found in your pantry, at least in ours. However, we never buy buttermilk because it always seems like such a waste. Instead, we make the simple substitution of using 1 cup milk with 1 tablespoon white vinegar. You mix and then wait 5-10 minutes before adding to your batter.
It does take a while to fry them all up but I think it's worth it. Also, if you have ever looked at how expensive corn dogs are at the fair or in the freezer section of your grocery store, you will realize that this is cheaper AND you get to know what's going into them.
The corn dogs were better than our deep fried broccoli. Maybe if we had a cheese dipping sauce? I'm not sure how to improve on the broccoli. It was good but I think it was because the batter was good. I wanted to do green beans because I really like those in restaurants but we (actually surprisingly) didn't have any.
We also found it easier to just use our hands to dip and use a tongs to take them out of the oil because the toothpicks just because tedious. We were actually going to make regular size corn dogs but realized we didn't have anything to use as sticks and the mini version is much more manageable.
Everything in the recipe can probably be found in your pantry, at least in ours. However, we never buy buttermilk because it always seems like such a waste. Instead, we make the simple substitution of using 1 cup milk with 1 tablespoon white vinegar. You mix and then wait 5-10 minutes before adding to your batter.
It does take a while to fry them all up but I think it's worth it. Also, if you have ever looked at how expensive corn dogs are at the fair or in the freezer section of your grocery store, you will realize that this is cheaper AND you get to know what's going into them.
The corn dogs were better than our deep fried broccoli. Maybe if we had a cheese dipping sauce? I'm not sure how to improve on the broccoli. It was good but I think it was because the batter was good. I wanted to do green beans because I really like those in restaurants but we (actually surprisingly) didn't have any.
We also found it easier to just use our hands to dip and use a tongs to take them out of the oil because the toothpicks just because tedious. We were actually going to make regular size corn dogs but realized we didn't have anything to use as sticks and the mini version is much more manageable.
Monday, June 2, 2014
Finished Knitting My Hat!
As I mentioned previously, I have been knitting a hat. I started almost two months ago but projects can sure get away from you, especially with a baby! I had found the pattern on ravelry (if you aren't a member but you knit or crochet, I highly recommend this website. They have lots of free patterns (and not free patterns) and ways to keep track of what project you're working on, what yarn you own, ideas for specific yarns, etc. It's really great and free to join. Plus, you never get junk email from them!
Here is the link but I warn you that I'm not sure you can view it if you don't have an account. Also, if that link doesn't work for you, the hat pattern is called Grid Iron so that should narrow it down for you. I am obviously a beginner knitter and this hat was very easy to make. It would've only taken me a few days of knitting if I was able to devote more time to it. The only stitches you need to know are knit, purl, and slip. Since it's a hat, you will need double pointed needles or circular needles but that shouldn't be a big deal either. If I can do it, you can do it.
As you may have guessed, this is me modeling the hat for you. I'm sorry I don't have a picture of the hat just by itself but you can find one of those at ravelry. I already love this hat but sadly, I have to wait til summer is over to wear it. :(
It's a great fit and I was happy that the yarn they had recommended was the yarn I just happened to have on hand! It's even the same color (Wine).
If you have any questions, feel free to comment below!
My next knitting project is a bathrobe! I am so excited for this. It takes almost 3000 yards of yarn but I had found an industrial spool of yarn (is spool the right word?) that has more than that on it at Goodwill. People say since it's such a big project, it can easily take them a year to finish. I hope I finish!
Here is the link but I warn you that I'm not sure you can view it if you don't have an account. Also, if that link doesn't work for you, the hat pattern is called Grid Iron so that should narrow it down for you. I am obviously a beginner knitter and this hat was very easy to make. It would've only taken me a few days of knitting if I was able to devote more time to it. The only stitches you need to know are knit, purl, and slip. Since it's a hat, you will need double pointed needles or circular needles but that shouldn't be a big deal either. If I can do it, you can do it.
It's a great fit and I was happy that the yarn they had recommended was the yarn I just happened to have on hand! It's even the same color (Wine).
If you have any questions, feel free to comment below!
My next knitting project is a bathrobe! I am so excited for this. It takes almost 3000 yards of yarn but I had found an industrial spool of yarn (is spool the right word?) that has more than that on it at Goodwill. People say since it's such a big project, it can easily take them a year to finish. I hope I finish!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)