Front Yard 2014

I'm going to have to go back onto my computer to see if I can find photos of what the front looked like before Billy started ripping it up, but it'll try describing a bit of it. About where we have the giant "M" there was an UGLY 3/4 dead hydrangea and I hate them, dead of not, I just think it's a stupid plant. Has no shape, blooms for like two days and then it just looks rotten. We think it mainly died because the way the previous owner shoveled snow off the deck. So billy went at it. 

The giant "M" was given to me by a girl friend for my birthday. She didn't realize just how big it was when she bought it online from Home Goods. It's made from steel too. I bet it was funny watching guys try to fit it in her tiny little car. 

Here billy got all fancy with his edge work. We found a bunch of bricks along side the driveway that just looked dumb and reused those. I think my husbands going to turn into a hoarder.he won't throw scraps away cause he thinks he can use them later... Also this is the first time I've ever really seen him be handy... But shhh don't tell him that! 

Looks real good though! His OCD kicks in hardcore and he'll be out here for hours making sure every brick is perfect. 

Fancy fancy. We added a solar powered spot light to it with makes it look pretty rad at night. 

Don't mind me, just taking a breather! 

And now... We must remove the lily's!!! I love lily's but... Not when they are this out of control. 

Little Bit Of Color

Well it's only like week 2 of living in the new house and the first thing we really decided to make our own was the front of the house. We've been exploring our local Lowes and Home Depot quite frequently and I ended up stumbling upon these guys. 

 

We love oranges and reds so these were just a no brainer. These are Dahlias and Lillies. I have never had Dahlias before so was a little skeptical, on top of that I had never really had flowers that I needed to care for so this expierience is all very new to me.

We have these two cement pillars on both sides of our stairs which are pretty cool. The lady that lived here prior to our move had them filled with rocks, weeds and a huge mailbox!

Aren't these just full of cool colors, I'm kinda just happy to really plant my own flowers, just hoping I can actually keep them growing and not kill them.

I went throw more then half an extra large bag of potting soil, turns out these boxes were super deep. Was not expecting that, but at the same time when it rains it will hold a lot of moisture so I don't have to worry about them. It getting enough water or having to run out everyday to water them. 

There is just a bunch of cool colors in these, that are all a little different, some. Some more yellow, some more more red, then they meet in the middle with some orange.

These guys... Bit of a pain, I LOVE Lillies, they are my favorite flower, in fact we used these exact kind for our wedding, but lillies suck for the pure fact of them only really living for like 2 weeks, and seeing as they are already in bloom when purchased I only got about 6 days out of them, so for now I just sat them in their containers on my stairs for a bit of color and then transferred them later to be along side the driveway. I probably would not have purchased these if I really had a minute to put thought into it BUT they will look pretty cool next year when he blossom.

We also snagged a new mail box and this cute sign from the local craft fair :)

EDIT // 

So it's now the end of August and I just wanted to post a picture of how my dahlias are doing. They aren't just 4 flitted flowers anymore.  

This side is a little bit kore sad, I have a few chipmunks living under the porch, and they decided they wanted to eat some of my flowers. 

I have actually done little to no maintenance on these wich is nice, it's busy season at our family restaurant so I just don't have the time. I WILL definitely buy more of these next year because they are just so pretty and awesome. 

DIY Scrabble Tile Coasters

Well let's start with a game called Scrabble. For this project, I ended up using two game boards. One was really old and from my in-laws and the other one I unfortunately had to purchase. If you had more time to hunt, ask around! I guarantee you most of your friends and family have an old board laying around, even if it's missing a few letters it's better then buying them. Also these games are little pricier now adays. 

So I just started off by laying out some letters, I looked on Pinterest and looked up a couple of word ideas and then made up a few on my own. You could totally make these bigger if you wanted to. 

Next was cork board, I went to Lowes and got a 4 pack of 12x12 cork board sheets. These were pretty hard to find actually. So when looking, look in the section where you would buy collage dorm room stuff. I was originally looking for just a cheap roll but I couldn't spot any and actually had to go to two stores just to find this stuff. 

Get good glue! I've used this glue on so many projects, from jewelry making, to cork board coasters!

Sharpen your exacto knifes, it'll make this go way smoother so you don't have those weird cork chunks and flakes. 

Unfortunately, I need just a few more letters to complete my set, they don't have you to many M's, but here's mine. Endless possibilities for lettering.

So grab some cardboard or an old shirt and bring these guys outside. Time to Shellac! I probably did about 3 or 4 coats, they seemed to absorb quickly. 

 

And tadaa!! I'll figure out how rotate this picture in later but you all get the idea! 

Tag me in your cork coaster designs! 

Much Needed Storage

Yesterday we kinda realized we couldn't unpack much more until we had more storage space. That was the only downfall to this house is we did loose closet space. So we went on an adventure to Home Depot, The Dollar Tree and Walmart. 

Our cart at both walmart and Home Depot were full before we actually started grabbing things on our list. Needless to say most of yesterday was not in out budget. 

We needed some sort of small table to put Sadiea dog treats on to give to when she comes back in from doin her business. This was an under 20 dollar Walmart buy. 

We snagged a swifter bookshelf, that was a bit taller then we thought it was going to be and we swapped that out with a tiny dinky one I had my printer on. They don't match but my OCD can handle this one for right now. This was an under $25 dollar buy at Walmart. 

 

Then there is this tall boy. It actually held a lot more then expected which is great cause it eliminated to tiny ones we had that we can now use in our bedroom. 

Moving On In

Well it's been a process and it's still going. It's a good thing we own a restaurant and we could get all these boxes for free otherwise I'd probably feel pretty bad about tossing then all. 

This my girlfriends fiancé version of breaking down boxes. There are still boxes everywhere and I am also still working on trying to get my dog to believe this is her new home now. 

This was a photo from our first night of bringing her to the house. Also everybody just keeps coming over over to say hi and check the place out. We've had people over every night since we've moved in. Our first night at the house we had our buddy Shane join us, 

I had to take this picture and send it to my mother-in-law to thank her for the table she purchased us. You might see more about Shane in here throughout my posts, he's a handy man and our friend and he'll be living with us for a bit while he's looking for his own house! Thought this was a cool first moment type photo to take while we enjoyed some drinks with The Perkins Family out on our porch last night. 

They have a little girl who joined us as well and we went and picked some flowers out of the previous owners garden before I tear it down. (I'm not a huge flower garden fan) and I was able to finally use the centerpiece my mother-in-law got me a few Christmas' ago from LTD commenities catalog. I LOVE that catalog. 

So that's the poop so far. Much more to come hopefully. 

Clam

BBQ Chicken Pizza

Okay, let's make a pizza shall we? So much better then the store bought prize nones. I agree some brands are good and okay but when you make one your self you just feel better about eating it. 

Now let's start off with some pizza dough, as much as I would love to make mine from scratch, I'm just not going to because I truly LOVE this pizza do from shaws. It's usually right in front of the seafood next to the crazy expensive tortillas. 

Slap a pinch of flower down and on your rolling pin if your using one to make sure it's not going to stick, and have at it! I continplated on doing a square pizza because round wasn't working for me at first. 

But I got it right after a bit. Slap some BBQ sauce on that bad boy, doesn't matter what kind, whatever you like best, and turn to your chicken. 

Mine are already cooked. 20 mins then flipped and cooked for another 20 mins. I stole these from our restuarant because I love our chicken that much! Now here's where it is you preference, with this chicken I choose to usually cube it but sometimes I'll buy a guick already cooed rotisserie chicken from the market and just pull it apart and toss that on if I'm in a hurry for dinner. 

Okay, now toss that chicken on and add your favorite cheese or extra toppings if you prefer. I just went with store brand "pizza cheese blend". They were 2 for 5 bucks at shaws this week. 

Bake that beast in the oven at 350•f for 27 mins if you like your crust alittle softer or 30-35 mins depending on how crisp and crunchy you like it! 

MmMm... Doesn't that look quick, easy and delicious! 

Ingredients

Baking Stone

Store Made Pizza Dough

BBQ Sauce

Chicken

Shredded Cheese

Have a great meal!

Clam

Spinach and Artichoke Dip

Alright so today I was feeling ambitious and hungry! I got up early to meet one of my girlfriends for breakfast and went to the grocery store right after, got a a few ingredients to make a few different meals so stay tuned! 

But for right now wee are going to be touching up on this Spinach and Artichoke dip recipe! 

This recipe was found on Pinterest, which I am now obsessed with and you can find it here at her website as we'll http://kaseyskitchentv.blogspot.com/2013/08/simple-spinach-and-artichoke-dip-video.html. 

Her picture alone looks amazing and made me want to try and make this one out of them all, and trust me there are ALOT. On Pinterest.

Before we begin here is an image of the ingredients I will be using, minus sour cream because I just forgot to put it on the counter. There is another jar or artichokes beholden the cheese to make it stand up and I did NOT use the fresh garlic.

So  I began boiling up some chopped spinach just enought to break up the frozen block and then put sour cream, mayo, and a room temp block of cream cheese in a large sauce pan. 

Looks lovely doesn't it, I did not turn on the sauce pan yet, inside I continued to boil the water with the spinach in it and then chopped up two small jars of artichoke hearts, her recipe calls for 1 but I like them so I added an extra, preference is to you. Also during this time I also have chopped up 1/2 onion because I like the little extra crunch in my dip.  Her recipe does not call for this. 

I put my half chopped onion, 2 chopped jar of artichoke in. Container then began to strain my spinach, and added that into my jar as well, I thought now was a good time to start my sauce pan and I put it on medium, during this time I cut up my bread bowl and pulled out its guts! 

Now when your cause pan as cooked down all the creamy goods so it's all smooth then I tossed in my container of my dips guts, if you strained your spinach we'll enough it should be tight then just break it up again using a spatula. TAKE NOTE, I started doing this with a wooden spoon but quickly switched to a spatula as it was easier to break up the spinach and I didn't want the cream to burn on the edged of the sauce pan.

Messy looking now until you get it in your bread bowl. Be careful, don't pour all your dip in the bread bowl to fast or it'll overflow, I pushed it down into the edges of the bread bowl to make sure they fit well. 

Now top that's shit with cheese!!! I used mozzarella cheese and put extra on it. 

Now I like my cheese to be a little crispier so I made it more cooked then just a golden brown, it was probably in the toaster for about 30 minutes or so. And it looked fabulous. 

It came out pretty awesome!  It thicker but creamy at the same time which makes it different from the soupy type of dips you could get at restaurants. I like this cause I will just re-toast this when I want to eat more or eat it cold! 

Ingredients

Large bread bowl

1 pkg chopped spinach

2 jar artichokes, chopped

1 pkg cream cheese

½ c sour cream

1 tbsp mayo

½ chopped onion

Garlic powder

Shredded Mozzarella 

Enjoy! 

-Clam

2 Minute Microwave Cookie

So while scavenging Pinterest all day and everyday with any spare time I have now because I have become obsessed, we came across a pin about a 2 Minute Microwavable Cookie. We'll my husband loves cookies so I got his ass up and made him learn how to cook one. And I gotta say I think this recipe might need a tad bit refining. 

The recipe was found on http://recipesweet.net/2-minute-chocolate-chip-cookie-for-one/

Her/His pictures and cookie came out perfect of course, mine... We'll I'll let you be the judge!

All my chocolate chip cookies fell to the bottom so here's what it looked like flipped.

We'll definitely be trying this recipe again, my husband said it wasn't bad it just tasted more like a pancake cake, so he covered it in maple syrup and whipped cream! 

Ingredients

1. 2 tbsp (3O grams) unsalted butter,softened
2. 1 1/2 tbsp (2O grams) white granulated sugar.
3. 1 1/2 tbsp (2O grams) brown sugar.
4. 2 tbsp (3Oml) beaten egg
5. 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
6. 5 tbsp (60 grams) all purpose flour
7. 1/4 tsp baking soda
8. pinch salt
9. 1/4 cup (40 grams) chocolate chips

Cook for 2 minutes or slightly less depending on your wattage of microwave. 

-Clam

Welcome Welcome

Well well what do we have here? Yes, it's another DIY blogger joining the community! Here I will be posting, well, a little bit of everything! My husband and I recently bought our first house, an 1892 Victorian.

Eh, eh, it was a pretty get lucky buy!

Anyways it's time to become addicted to Pinterest and start saving some money finding good tips and trick. Stay tuned to see how the New House comes along and see what other fun projects I'm working on! 

If anyone is interested in Makeup Reviews, Product Reviews or Eye Looks please visit my other blog NarleysZone.blogspot.com or visit me on Instagram @narleyszone

-Clam 

Yup that's my name!