My Bathroom Window

This is the one and only window in my master bathroom.

It is a large window and is usually covered with a mini-blind.

I am not a big fan of mini-blinds so during the summer

when we have tons of leaves on the trees behind the

house, I can pull the mini-blinds all

the way to the top and leave them there.

Since it is dark outside when my husband

and I get our showers in the morning, he likes

to have the mini-blinds closed in case we may have some

peeping Toms in the neighborhood.

Now, keep in mind, this is on the 3rd floor of our house and

we have tons of trees behind us.

I don't think anyone can see in when the leaves are there

but once the leaves fall from the trees during the Fall and Winter months;

it's anybodies guess.

I want to take the mini-blinds down completely and

hang a shear curtain on the lower half of the window.

That would continue to let the light in; while keeping the peeping Tom's out!

The window is right above the bathtub and I have a nice view

of my flower boxes around the deck.

If you look really closely, you can see Home Plate!

My kids have been using my backyard as their personal baseball field for several years now.

The dirt place by that center tree is where they pitch from.

They have spent may hours out there hitting tennis balls over the neighbors fences.

It could be worse; it could be real baseballs.

Sick Bay.....

When one of the kids

get sick, and they are not too sick

to have to stay in their own beds all day; they get

to move to what is affectionately

called "Sick Bay"

Basically it's just a sheet thrown

over the sofa (so as to not get any germs on the sofa).

They get to bring their favorite pillow and blanket

and camp out in "Sick Bay" getting better.

Here they are waited on hand and foot (of course); made sure they

have something to drink and they get the choice of what is watched on TV!

Zachary woke up last night with a stomach bug.

He got to claim his place in "Sick Bay" for the day.

Honestly, I think he would rather be up and at school.

The view from "Sick Bay"

Not too bad if I do say so myself.

Hope you feel better soon, Zachary!



Apple Pie Crisp

For some reason I have been in the baking mood this week.

I can't blame it on the "cooler fall-type weather" because it's

still been 90 degrees in Georgia this past week.

We are suppose to cool down considerably next week:

I'm not holding my breath!

I bought this cookbook a couple years ago from the book fair

at our elementary school.  It is awesome.  I love cooking and only

using 1 pan.

I was skimming through and found this recipe for Apple Pie Crisp.

I love apples and love to bake with them in the Fall so I

thought I would give it a try.

This is one of my favorite gadgets. 

The apple-peeler-corer-slicer from The Pampered Chef.

When I saw it at a show many, many years ago; I just

had to have it.

It is so quick and easy and the kids love how the peeling comes off in

one big long shoestring.

See....

Any what to do with all those shoestring peelings?

Why you put them in a pan with a little water and cinnamon; put it on

your stovetop and let it simmer.

Your whole house will smell like apple pie for the rest of the day.

Someone give me a spoon.  Yum!

The Apple Pie Crisp is ready to go into the oven!

Finished!  It tasted as good as it looks.  I am sharing the recipe below.

You can serve it with a little Cool Whip or Ice Cream.

Apple Pie Crisp

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

8 cups sliced peeled cooking apples

1/2 cup packaged regular pancake mix

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons apple pie spice

In a very large bowl toss the apples with the 1/2 cup pancake mix, 1/2 cup brown sugar, the granulated sugar and apple pie spice.

3/4 cup milk

2 eggs

2 tablespoons butter, cut up

In a small bown stir together milk and eggs; add to apple mixture and stir to coat.  Transfer to an ungreased 9 x 13 inch baking pan.  Dot apples with the 2 tablespoons butter. Set aside.

1 cup packaged regular pancake mix

3/4 cup crushed rich round crackers

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup cold butter



In a medium bowl stir together the 1 cup pancake mix, the rich round crackers and 1/2 cup brown sugar.  Using a pastry blender, cut in the 1/4 cup butter until crumbly.  Sprinkle over apples

Bake, uncovered, for 45 to 50 minutes.  Enjoy!

An Impromptu Photo Session....

When Victoria came downstairs for school this

morning, I thought she looked so pretty.

I got to thinking that all my recent pictures I have of her

she is in a softball uniform.

Well, that will never do. 

I asked her if we

could go outside for an impromptu photo session.

She whined and complained, of course.

I guess that just goes with being 12!

After I pouted for a little while and explained

to her that she is beautiful and that I don't have any "nice"

photos of her; she reluctantly agreed.

This is what we ended up with:

Thank you, V for being such a good sport.

Dining Room Renovations over the years.....

We live here....

We bought our home in June, 2001.  This picture was taken in July, 2001

as you can see from the date stamp.

It looks pretty much the same on the outside today as it did then;

the inside is what has changed drastically from the day we

bought it.

I am very lucky in that my husband can and will (after I nag him for a thousand

days straight) do home renovations.

I think the only thing he might have some difficulty with would be

plumbing.  We haven't had to do much of that (thank goodness)

so I'm really not sure what he can do.

Other than that, he can do pretty much anything.

This is my dining room:

I (bold, capitalize and underline) wallpapered.  By. My. Self.

I was so proud!

It looked like this.



Nothing fancee, nothing major.

This table is the first piece of furniture

we purchased together.  It is solid pine and I love this table.

I was very content with my dining room. 

It stayed exactly like this for many years.

It's always been a dream of ours to not have carpet in our house

and to put in hardwoods.  Between the dogs, cats and kids, we were over

the carpet and how dirty it always seemed.

So we did it! We just took the plunge and decided it was time.

Pulling up carpet is one of the nastiest jobs ever.  I couldn't believe

the smell of the padding underneath and the fine gritty dirt that was underneath

the padding.

I couldn't believe we had been living on top of all that dirt.

But, lets not go there!

More carpet padding.  This took forever!!

The kids call themselves helping.  I guess they are making sure the

new wood doesn't go out the window.

Everybody pitched in to open the boxes of wood and sort it by size. 

FINALLY!

The moment I have been waiting for.....

the floors start to go in.

I'm a terrible person to do home projects with,

I want everything done Yesterday!

The completed floors.  So Happy!!

The furniture went back in and looked great.

Then.....

One of my girlfriends moved this past Summer.  As she was packing

up her house and sending things to storage and her new condo, she found this in her basement.

In.Her.Basement

It had been there for about 5 years she said.

She asked me could I use it.

Could I use it!

Heck Yea!!

Check out this hutch.  It is just gorgeous.

The table, along with 6 chairs and 3 leaves; I only use 1, my dining

room isn't that big.

This is my favorite piece.  An old serving table. 

My plan is to redo the material on the chairs but for

now; they are just fine.

I cannot wait to decorate for Christmas!

A Tisket a Tasket....

an orange and brown basket!

Oh sorry, I got carried away.

On one of my many ventures to my fav antique mall

I came across this great find!

I love it!!

I went to the antique mall looking for one

of those soft sided, single handle, "baskets"

that you can have monogramed on the side.

Those carrier's, for lack of a better word, are $20 and up

This gem was sitting right outside, waiting for me to snatch it up

and was discounted to $10!!!

I still went inside to look at the others

and give them a fair chance,

but

this one won out in the end.

This picture makes the basket look HUGE:

kinda like the office building basket in Dresden, Ohio

Everytime I open the lid

I expect Toto to come hopping out.

I just love the great quality and the design.

Just goes to show: new isn't always better!



Fall is finally here.....

Even though it's still hot as the dickens in Georgia,

Fall is finally here.

According to the calendar anyway!

I have started to add a little "Fall" decorating to my home.

I will add more when the temps get below 90 degrees.

It's so hot here my Summer flowers are still in full bloom.

Oh well, as soon as it cools down we will be complaining that it's too cold

and we can't wait for Summer.

My husband and I went shopping at Hobby Lobby for these Fall decorations.

I got all these items for right around $11. 

(Except for the base; that's from Southern Living)

I was quite impressed with myself.

It looks great on top of my breakfast table.