Copycat Flag

I happen to love, love reading The Lettered Cottage. If you haven't been there yet, you need to go. Really. Just wait till you finish reading this, then hop on over there.

A couple of months ago, I was reading her posts about mantle decor for changing seasons, and I fell in love with her summer design. I really, really wanted a flag like hers.

So I tried making one. Mine definitely doesn't look as refined as hers does, but I think it will do the trick. Since The Big Move is coming up, I haven't hung it in my current house, and I'm hoping that there will be a good spot for it in the new one.

(On a side note: today we got word from the bank that there is another offer on the house that we are trying to get. We have been negotiating with the bank for over a month now, and almost two weeks ago accepted THEIR offer. They, however, had apparently not accepted their OWN offer. Does that make sense? It does not make sense to me. That being said, they can accept anyone else's offer that they choose as long as they have not signed off on ours. Enter anxiety.)

So hopefully we will have a place to live someday.

In the meantime, I will have a cool flag in storage.

Our Sunday Evening Tradition.

I'm kind of big on traditions.

I think that they tend to give us a kind of mental or emotional stability....something to look forward to and depend on, or something to look back on with joy. They don't have to be huge and momentous (like Thanksgiving or Christmas), but a simple, happy celebration of "today."

And "today" happens to be Sunday. ;)

On Sundays, we usually eat a large midday meal, so nobody (read: Mama) feels like cooking that night, or feels like eating a large dinner.

Enter Monkey Bread.

There is a shortcut to making Monkey Bread (using pre-made biscuits or rolls), but I like to make a batch or two of biscuit dough from scratch. Then I use my Pampered Chef scoop (I think I use the medium-sized one) to scoop out balls of dough and roll them in butter and cinnamon-sugar. (I used to just roll the balls by hand, but using the scoop lessens the mess and also ensures that each piece of bread is the same size. Then I put in a greased/buttered/sprayed cast iron skillet and bake it at 350 for about 20-25 minutes.

When it comes out of the oven, while it's still piping hot, I pour a powdered sugar glaze over it, which kind of carmelizes in the skillet and all over the biscuit dough. Oh, it's good!

My Hubby Made Me a Farmhouse Bench!

Yes, I am squealing!!!!!

I have literally wanted one ever since I laid eyes on my first copy of Country Living magazine when I was 18 years old (I don't really think we need to discuss how long ago that was). I remember thumbing through the pages and thinking, "This is ME!" even though I had no idea what country or cottage style was (beyond country blue and dusty rose and all those ducks and geese from the '80's...ugh!!! Do you remember those?).

I was at a little flea market in our tiny town and saw a farmhouse bench for sale, and took Hubs up there with the truck so that I could buy it and he could help me load it, but he took a look at the wobbly bench and said, "I think I can make that. And I think I have everything I need to make it at the house already."

Wow, really? Ok!

So sure enough, he made one! And so far it has cost us exactly $0, which is AWESOME. The wood came from leftovers from other projects, and the primer and paint were all sitting in the garage begging for a second chance to make something pretty. And I think they did a pretty good job. I still have to buy poly for it, since I am hoping to use it for seating at my dining room table. It should seat 4 bottoms, I think. Well.....I guess that kind of depends on the bottom, huh?

I also need a new camera, because I think mine takes pretty lousy pictures, but hopefully you can get a decent idea of how my new farmhouse bench (!) looks.

Christi's Crock Pot Pork

As we're getting ready for The Big Move, I'm trying to use up everything in the fridge and freezer. I hate wasting. ;)

A girlfriend of mine posted this Crock Pot recipe yesterday, and it sounded so fabulous that I thought I'd use it today (plus I need to use up the pork in the freezer...and I don't want to do any major grocery shopping before we ship out).

So here is the recipe just in case you'd like to add something new to your dinner rotation (and don't we just get tired of cooking the same things over and over?).

1 1/2 lbs thawed pork
3 - 4 Golden Delicious apples (although I am using our family's favorite, Fuji), sliced
3 Tbs. brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt

Put the pork in the Crock Pot and cover with apples. Mix the brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt together and sprinkle over the apples. Cook on low 6-8 hours.

I am going to serve it over mashed potatoes.

Christi says it's fabulous, and I'm taking her word for it!

You've Gotta Try This!

Well, you've only gotta try it if you usually wear makeup, hahaha! I just bought the new "Falsies" mascara by Maybelline and it is absolutely fantastic! A couple of friends bought it and loved it, and now I am enthusiastically joining their ranks. ;)

Sheet Music Wreath

I've seen a few pictures of these, and I thought they were so creative, so I thought I'd give it a shot myself. I wanted to personalize it for a friend who was getting married, and I couldn't find any tutorials that explained how to make one the way I saw it turning out in my head. It took me a little while to get it figured out, but once I did, it went pretty quickly.

When I showed the one I made for my girlfriend to my husband, he asked where ours was. Good response, babe! My girlfriend and her new husband are very musical, and while I love music (who doesn't, really?), I'm more of a book person. So I found an old book in our garage and made our wreath out of it rather than the vintage sheet music.