How I Wore One Dress Three Ways

Well, it certainly does look like the tan I worked so hard on all summer is already gone!! Sheesh! My legs always take the longest to tan, and the tan disappears there first.

Dress: $7.99 (Ross)
Shoes: Already had (Nine West)

Dress: $7.99 (Ross)
Jacket: Already had (NY&Co.)
Scarf: Already had (F21)
Cowboy boots: Already had (Yard sale find)

Military jackets are supposed to big for fall, so this is my attempt to get in on that trend.

Dress: $7.99 (Ross)
Jacket: Hand-me-down (Delia's).
Belt: Came with a skirt (Rue 21)
Boots: Already had (JC Penney)

Oh, my goodness, after seeing this pic, I just think I should never wear those jeans again. Arrg. I've been struggling with my workouts and pushing myself, and I need to up my game a bit, I believe.

I bought this shirt and a pink one in the same style and I just cannot figure out how to style them! What do you think? Have any ideas for me?

I wore this one with a pair of tan dress pants and I liked that, but typically, I don't buy an item if it can't be dressed up, dressed down, and worn in unexpected ways. I also don't usually buy an item in more than one color, which adds to my dilemma...now I have two shirts that I'm not wearing well, and as a result, not wearing at all!!!

So feel free to help me, friends.

Shirt: $5 (Kohl's)
Jeans: Already had, but am going to retire (NY&Co.)
Platform wedges: Already had (Charlotte Russe)z

How I Brought the Fair to my Kitchen

A couple of days ago, we went to the State Fair of Texas...it's a really big deal here, and schools take an actual "Fair Day" so that parents can take their children to the Fair and see the sights. Our kids were finally old enough to enjoy it, so we went, and it was so so fun!! We were there a good 9 hours but still didn't see everything there was to see, and when we left, waaaaaayyyyyyy past bedtime, our two olders were begging to stay and do more.

The State Fair is really famous for it's "fried" things...and we saw fried pb&j, fried pecan pie, fried pumpkin pie, fried sugar cubes...you name it, they fry it.

We didn't try anything fried, but my husband was dying to eat a sausage on a stick. We must be on a sausage kick lately.

So when I told him we were having Polish sausage for dinner last night, he told me I was his dream woman.

There's nothing fancy about this dinner...it's just Polish sausage links, split in half and covered in mashed potatoes and melted cheese (I popped it in the oven just long enough to melt the cheese and get the sausages piping hot), but you would've thought I was the best Mom/wife ever when I put this on the table.

And I like it when they call me that.

 

Let's be honest.

 

Today I just didn't want to wash my hair.

 

Top: Already had (Forever 21)

Sweater: Already had (NY&Co.)

Jeans: Already had (NY&CO.)

Sandals: Already had (Old Navy)

Hat: $5 (Charming Charlie)

The Shoestring Contessa

This is the dress that I bought at the Forever 21 BOGO clearance...our temps are in the 80's today, so I thought it would be a good chance to wear this dress before I have to put it away for the fall.

Dress: $5.50 (Forever 21)
Jacket: Hand-me-down
Shoes: Already had (Target)
Belt: Came with a skirt
Turquoise bracelet: $1.99 (discount store)

How I Made Mexican Gumbo

The other day, I needed a Sunday lunch plan. I lost my cooking mojo that day, and I needed inspiration. So I got on Facebook and asked my friends to give me slow-cooker dinner ideas, but specified that I didn't want to make chili, and nobody in my family eats anything with a "cream of" soup, so anything in that realm was out. Several friends suggested taco soup, but I wanted to avoid hamburger, too (I had lost my mojo, but I was still kind of picky about what I wanted).

Chicken tortilla soup sounded good, but that wasn't going to fly with my family.

Cooking for a family is tough sometimes, right?

My hubs isn't crazy about soup, but the day was shaping up to be gray and drizzly, and that kind of day calls for soup. As a compromise,  he asked me to make Cilantro Lime Rice that he could pour his soup over.

And that gave me an idea.

What I came up with was (I hope) a cross between a jambalaya-ish meal and a chicken tortilla soup.

And they gobbled it up and asked for seconds.

That's a rare thing in these parts.

Mexican Gumbo

1 15-oz. can diced tomato, pureed
15 oz. water
1 chicken bouillon cube
1 15-oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 15-oz. can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
8 oz. frozen corn
2 frozen chicken breasts
3 Polish sausage links
1/2 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. chili powder
splash of vinegar (this helps tenderize the meat)

I dumped all of this into the slow cooker and set it on high for 4 hours. Before dinner, I pulled the chicken breasts out and shredded them, and cut the sausage into bite-sized pieces.

Cilantro Lime Rice

1 cup rice
3 cups water
juice of 1/2 lime

I make my rice in a Pampered Chef covered baking dish in the microwave. 15 minutes usually does the trick. When it was finished, I added a handful of roughly-chopped fresh cilantro.

The Cilantro Lime Rice went into a bowl, and the Gumbo went over the top of that.

And it was tasty, if  I do say so.

Linked up to Don't Waste Your Homemaking
and here at  Love Bakes Good Cakes
Beauty and Bedlam, The Vintage Farmhouse

How I Got New Bedside Lamps

I have been wanting to spray paint some lamps with Krylon's Looking Glass spray for the longest time, and while Mother was here visiting, I finally got up the nerve to try it.

These glass lamps are pretty hideous, right? I guess the orange one isn't so bad, but the blue one just screams "80's country." You can visualize the rose plush sofa that it illuminated. You're picturing that right now, aren't you? And you're probably shuddering.

Krylon Looking Glass is probably the coolest thing ever invented. Ever.

I sprayed in on the blue lamp, and for the first 20 seconds or so, all I could see was a matte silver-ish coating. And then, I kid you not, while I stood there watching it, it started shining right before my eyes.

So I sprayed the orange lamp in a literal fit of excitement, and started looking around for ANYTHING else to spray.  Fortunately, I caught myself before every single glass item in my house became Looking Glass. But just barely.

I thought about removing the flowers on the blue lamp, but then I thought that they might just shine through, and I have to say, I'm really pleased with how it turned out. Kind of a happy accident.

 

 

 

Now, I'll grant you, both of the lamps (I realize that I haven't shown you a picture of the other one, but that will come in time) need more modern shades. I haven't decided if I'm going to buy them or try making them. I found a tutorial for making lampshades from scratch, but it seems to me like it's missing a step or two, so I guess we'll just have to see what happens.

In the meantime, I'll probably be spraying everything I can with Looking Glass.

I might (maybe?) have a problem.

This post is linked to Domestically Speaking.