Week in Review

This week flew by. I'm glad because I've been ready for the weekend since Monday.

• Whitney and I have been walking after I get off work each day this week. She lives in a very hilly neighborhood so it's been great on my legs. And I've had a chance to visit a little with her baby boy Harmon since she pushes him along in his buggy. I found this on Pinterest and it made me laugh and think about all the walking we've done this week.

• I finally finished reading my text book.

As far as text books go I didn't love the format but I did learn a lot. Did you know there is a mnemonic for creating mnemonics? FIRST (F--form a word, I--insert a letter, R--rearrange the letters, S--Shape a sentence, T--try combinations). Next week I'll start taking notes on each chapter and hopefully I'll be more than prepared for class when it starts on May 19th. 

• Now that I'm done reading my text book I can get back to some more leisure reading. I haven't finished The Winter People yet but the latest in the Last Apprentice Series arrived so I simply must read it first. 

Can't wait for the movie to come out. It will not meet my expectations but I'll enjoy myself regardless. This is supposed to be the final book, number 13, in the series and I'm dying to know what will happen to Tom and Alice. 

• My sister and I will be attending the Richmond Homearama the first weekend of May. I'm ridiculously excited and you can certainly expect a full blog post on the event when we return home. 

We learned about it from Young House Love; They're designing one of the houses. Michanne and I will also see some of our family in Virginia which will be a nice treat. 

• This is happening people!

My six-year-old self couldn't be more excited. 

• Speaking of movies, I haven't been to a movie theater to see a movie since Frozen earlier this year (January, February? can't remember). I finally made it to the movies this weekend to see The Other Woman. 

I'm pretty picky about going to the movies these days. It's so expensive the movie needs to be something I'm dying to see or something that should be seen on the big screen (ex: The Avengers). I was dying to see this one because I could use more comedy in my life. It was worth the price and I'll buy it when it comes out on video. 

Those are the highlights for this week. I think next week is going to fly by and I'll need to make plans for meeting Michanne for our trip. Fun stuff!

Pinterest Pledge {recipe}

This one is a keeper. After the brownie debacle I was hoping to redeem myself.

This recipe is super easy and Jeff and I both loved it. The recipe calls for penne pasta but I really like campanelle pasta (they look like cute mini lasagna noodle) and it appears to be the same pasta the blogger used in her pictures. I started by cooking the onion and sliced sausage in a pan.

When I make this again I'll cook the sausage by itself first in order to let it brown and get a little crispy. That should work or maybe use a pan with a larger surface area. The onions and sausage were just too crowded in order for browning to happen.

Then I added the broth, cream, Rotel, and pasta and let it come to a boil. After that I reduced the temp and covered it for 10 minutes. The next step was to add a little shredded cheese, stir it around, then cover the top with more cheese and sliced scallions.

The whole pan was placed in the oven on broil to melt the cheese. I used an oven safe pan and I added an extra precaution.

I have grabbed that same pan handle out of the oven before, with my bare hand. The oven mitt placed on the oven door handle was a subtle reminder to save my precious flesh. The final product came out looking like this.

I should have raised the top oven rack or lowered it or whatever you're supposed to do to get that brown crust in some places with the cheese. It was delicious, super easy, enjoyed by all, and will be made again. 

Week in Review

This has been a really stressful and exciting week. Hopefully I'll be able to share the reasons soon but I don't want to jinx anything and spill the beans just yet (no, I'm not pregnant). I only had a handful of classes, some of which had to be rescheduled and others relocated due to an internet outage at the library. I'm excited to have Easter dinner with my folks on Sunday but I may have to borrow someone else's kid in order to participate in an egg hunt. Things of interest this week included:

• There's no image yet for the book but did you hear the news? Sarah Richardson has a design book coming out in early November!! I. AM. SO. EXCITED. I found out through Instagram. Here's the post.

I was pretty much jumping up and down myself. I'll be ordering a copy very soon. 

• I've started reading The Winter People by Jennifer McMahon. It's supposed to be a horror book. I'm enjoying it so far. I haven't had as much time to leisure read as usual because I'm trying to finish my text book before class starts. 

• I'm dying to buy and try this product. There are several styles to choose from and I think it would have a huge impact without a lot of fuss (i.e. not like wallpaper). 

Check out their Etsy page and see what patterns you like. 

• I read the memoir Orange is the New Black last month and I've been watching the Netflix streaming show. I enjoyed the book and I'm somewhat enjoying the show but they are two different breeds. 

• It's cold again. And wet.

• I would love to have this iPhone Otterbox case but I can't justify the cost. The one I have is in great condition, it's just not cute and pretty like this one. 

• Did you watch Parks and Rec this week? Ron had some wonderful words of wisdom for Donna: Don't confuse drama with happiness.

I'd love to share this wise statement with all of my students. 

• Jeff and I watched Gravity. That movie needs to come with a motion sickness warning. 

• Here's another song I like. It's not new but I heard it for the first time this week.

I'm ready for another week to begin. Big changes at work so let's hope they're for the better. 

Pinterest Pledge {recipe}

I tried this recipe on Sunday. The picture looked yummy and I adore brownies so I felt this recipe would be a smart endeavor.

I had all the ingredients already except the 4 ounces of unsweetened baker's chocolate so this was a pretty inexpensive recipe. It all started with this glorious sight of soon-to-be melted butter and lots of chocolate.

I combined the dry ingredients in a separate bowl as instructed while I beat the sugar, eggs, and vanilla together in my mixer. Letting the melted chocolate cool took a long time. It was over 80 degrees in the house and it took about 30 minutes. Then I combined the melted chocolate and the dry ingredients to the egg and sugar mixture. The recipe was really vague about how much batter to scoop onto the pans so I used a 1/8 cup measure. I did space them 1 inch apart so I had about 6 brownie globules on each pan. The first batch seemed a little underdone so I left the second batch in the oven a little longer to get the appearance of the Pinterest image. 

So the tops looked great, but the bottoms...

I mean, I just can't win with baking! Seventy-five percent of the brownie cookies were burnt on the bottom (even after I left them in for less time after the second batch burn job). So, how were the remaining twenty-five percent of non-burnt cookies better than regular brownies? They weren't. This recipe was too much trouble, the cookies are way too chocolate-y, and the whole process took too much time and dirtied too many dishes. This recipe went in the trash. Save time and money.

Just buy the Betty Crocker Original Supreme box mix (with the Hershey's syrup packet), bake it in ONE pan, let cool, cut, add a big scoop of vanilla ice cream on top and call it a day.

Week in Review

This week has had it's ups and downs. I was at work for over 13 hours on Tuesday which contributed to a marvelous half day on Friday. I've also had to take Claritin most days this week due to dizziness. It's done wonders for my appetite, don't really have one when I'm on that stuff. Anyway, here are some things that caught my eye this week:

• I could watch this all day. It puts a big smile on my face.

• Have you been watching American Dream Builders? I don't love it because I'm not big on competition shows and many of the design choices are too bold for my taste. I might like one room per design per team.

• I saw a list of TV shows that have been renewed for another season and this one gave me great relief. Love that show! However, I thought this season was Glee's last.

• Have you ever seen one of these flash drives? They come in all kinds of adorable versions. They're more expensive but just so cute!
  
• I started reading Lost Lake by Sarah Addison Allen this week. Her book Garden Spells is one of my favorites and I can already tell I'll enjoy Lost Lake too. I've also started reading the text book for my class that begins on May 19th. Such a bore.

• I finally saw Thor: The Dark World this week. 

• I bought this nonstick skillet a few months back and I just love it. It's a T-Fal 10 inch (maybe 10.25) and for the past 7 years the only nonstick skillet I've had is a mini only big enough to scramble 2 eggs, nothing more. It has to be hand washed but I don't mind and it will last longer that way.

• I'm finally going to give Wen hair conditioner a try. I've wanted to for a couple years and Kelly says it's great. It's always good to have someone else be the guinea pig first. I'll let you know how it goes. I got it on eBay. It's not cheap but I have high hopes. 

That's it for this week. My classes are still going along well but any quarter other than the Fall isn't so bad. I'm already looking forward to the Summer quarter and those half-day Fridays!

Week in Review

I'm starting a new series. I've really enjoyed my Pinterest posts and I like that my pledge gives me at least 3 things to blog about each month. The Week in Review series will just be a weekly post about things that I enjoyed that week or that grabbed my attention. This could include stuff about music, books, TV shows, movies, decor I admire, fun quotes, funny things that occurred at work, apps I like or iPad games I recommend, artwork; really anything. I know it may seem silly and very random but we all stumble upon interesting things everyday (in person and online) but those individual things don't necessarily warrant their own blog post. For my inaugural Week in Review post I would like to share the following:

• I LOVE this bathroom reno result.

You can read about it and see more pictures on The House Diaries blog. 

• I heard this Ingrid Michaelson song for the first time earlier this week and I just love it. Have a listen to Girls Chase Boys (but maybe don't watch the video--I understand the reference and I can see the humor in it but seeing all those pretty men dancing around is a little jarring).

• We have a new family moving into the lake house soon. Can you see them?
  

How about now?

It's hard to tell but there are about 4 bird eggs in the nest. They're teeny tiny. The momma bird has been scaring the crap out of me because they're on our porch and each time we open the door she flies off. We're going to need to be careful when they hatch, our dogs will probably go crazy.

• It's hot.

• And the pollen is here.

• I got this funny text from Kelly about the credits for Frozen.

• I'm excited to read this book. I've requested it through ILL and if I love it then I'll purchase my own copy. 

• I've temporarily given up sweets. I say temporarily because I know it won't last long. Evidence of this knowledge can be proven. I Googled Disney's Frozen birthday cakes because I could think of nothing else. I'd be happy with either of these for my birthday this year. They have my favorite characters Olaf and Sven. 

• I've wanted this on the mark Stella & Dot necklace for many months now and it pops into my head at the most random times. 

• Have you seen this commercial? Cracks me up

• Another tots adorbs shirt worn by Leslie Knope in Parks and Rec this week.

It's actually on sale right now at Barney's New York for $99. I think it might be sold out though. Hate those pants! That's it for this week. 

Pinterest Pledge {craft--4 days late}

The tardiness of this craft wasn't entirely my fault. The changes I made required some extra parts. I bought the wrong ones and needed Jeff's help to find what I needed. Jeff has little, to no free time these days so there was a delay. Anyway, I attempted my first Ikea hack! This image on Pinterest was the inspiration.

Here's another Pinterest pin that has 16 great options as well. So much potential. I headed up to Atlanta to visit my friend Barbara and we stopped by Ikea to pick up the rast dresser.

See that price? Unreal. Jeff needs a nightstand (he said, "what's a nightstand? you mean the table by the bed?") and he also needs some more drawer space. The table he's currently using is an end table with a tiny drawer large enough to accommodate a few TV remotes. Jeff also loves unfinished wood furniture. The trouble is few places still sell unfinished wood furniture and if they do the prices are outrageous. The rast dresser is real wood but I wouldn't call it sturdy. For the price of $34.99 we can cope. I knew we were going to stain it rather than paint it because that's Jeff's preference. We chose Minwax Early American or American something, can't remember. I also bought six new drawer pulls at Lowe's. The stain and the pulls added another $30 to the cost of the dresser. First we drilled holes for the new pulls. Jeff wasn't crazy about them because the original dresser has 6 pulls only needing 6 holes. The pulls I bought needed two holes each. The measuring and drilling was an absolute pain in the rear but (ha!) it was worth it. We only did one drawer and then I made a template for the other two. I did the staining on two different days about 3 days apart due to weather. 

Staining isn't my favorite thing. It stinks and it's kind of unforgiving. If you mess up you have to sand it off and start over. If you try to put on another layer thinking that will help it ends up being darker than you wanted. I let it air out for another day and then started assembly. 

This was mid-assembly.

You can see the backing. It was nailed in with the cheapest nails on Earth. So this happened.

This picture is so grainy! Anyway, a chuck of the wood popped off but it's on the back so I moved on. Here it is assembled with one of the original knobs. 

And here's a shot of the final product that Jeff apparently finished last night. I'll try to post an updated picture by the actual bed with his lamp and everything. 

I think it's a great improvement from the original and Jeff seems pleased so I can't ask for more than that. If I attempt something like this again I'll be a little more organized and have everything ready at one time rather than 3 different trips to Lowe's. And I'll pay better attention to the weather report. It's been in the house for 3 days and it no longer stinks. Or maybe I'm just used to the smell by now.