Looks like Christmas

The Big Tree




Our family tree in the basement family room.


Winter Wonderland.....we've received a lot more snow since I took this picture. :)

Happy Halloween

Wish you were here

I've officially seen the negative side of being a homeowner. When we bought this house we didn't know about a not so little plumbing problem. Well this week it's finally getting fixed. Pipes in my foundation will be torn out and replaced. Since my husband isn't here to be apart of this wonderful experience for a homeowner, I thought I would document this "repair" for him to see.

Let's see a few snapshots of my basement from before. Please don't mind how bare it is, we knew this major repair would have to be done so I didn't see the point in doing much with the space till it was finished.




All in one corner and carpet pulled up.




Darn I just realized I didn't take a picture of all the furniture, etc covered in plastic! Anyway that is where we are as of right now. The plumbers and contractors will be here at 8am tomorrow to jackhammer up my foundation to find the old deteriorating pipes. I'll be posting updates as we get through this week.

I got this! I have God on my side, beer in my fridge and my daddy!

Now if only my husband were here.

Falling for Apples

I love apples. I especially love that they remind me of fall. I realize in most places around the US there is no sign of fall. But here in Northern NY it's been very fall like with temps ranging between mid 60's to mid 70's. Don't worry we still see 80 on a good day but it's been great having the windows open 24/7. Waking up to the cool crisp air. I love it.

I'm anxiously waiting for the Burrville Cider Mill to open for the season. Fresh warm Apple Cider, Apple Cider Doughnuts, and let's not forget cheese curds. I'm ready to take the kids to an orchard to pick up sweet juicy apples.

Then we'll use those apples to make more of these yummy recipes.


Easy Apple Cobbler

3 large granny smith apples, peeled and sliced
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 large egg
1/2 cup butter, melted

Put apples in the bottom of a lightly greased 8x8 inch baking dish.
Mix flour, sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon. Take a couple of teaspoons (your preference) of dry mix and toss with the apples.
Add egg to the remaining dry mix and blend till it looks like cornmeal.
Sprinkle topping over the apples.
Pour melted butter over the entire dish.
Bake 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
Serve with vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce.

This is yummy!

Next up....

Apple, Cheddar, Turkey Meatballs

--1 1/2 pound extra lean ground turkey
--1 egg
--1 tsp kosher salt
--1 tsp ground black pepper
--1 tsp onion powder
--1 green apple, peeled and shredded
--1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar
--1/2 cup dried unsweetened cranberries

The Directions.

In a large mixing bowl, mix the ground turkey with the ingredients. I used my hands.

Make golf-ball sized meatballs, and drop them into your crockpot.

Cover and cook on high for 4-5 hours, or on low for 5-9---the cooking time will depend on how many meatballs are in the crock, and the size of your machine. The more full it is, the longer it will take to cook.

Recipe from
Crockpot 365
Now I didn't cook them in the crockpot because I forgot about them haha. So I baked them in my oven @ 350 for 30 minutes and they were so perfectly brown and just simply amazing. These little gems are a must try!

I also love the smell of apple candles in the fall. My good friend makes the best Soy Melts (like Yankee candle tarts, Scentsy blocks, etc). I love her Cranberry Muffin scent, it's the best! But in the fall time she also has the yummiest smelling Apple Cider melts. She doesn't have her fall scent list posted on her page yet but feel free to contact her for more info about her new fall line! Wright Melts

Now I'm going to go enjoy my sunny 70 degree *almost* fall day!

Curtains

Awhile back I got some new curtains from Ikea. Now if you've ever purchased curtains from Ikea then you know they only come in one length and you must cut and hem to your desired length. No problem. Well the thing is I can't for the life of me decide what length I want them. I don't know what look to go for. What length do you love?


Photo via Dummies.com

Wordless

Make me smile Monday

Start the week off right.

In with the new

As you can see by the lack of posts, I've been busy. We've been doing a ton of painting around the house as well as other things. Some things still need to get done. But I wanted to share a sneak peak of the room I'm most proud of so far.

Formal {and I say that loosely} Living Room before:


Hello yucky country! {sorry it's a little blurry}

After:


{In case the color looks funny in the picture ~ the walls are a light grey}

It's still not complete. I have some things to hang on the walls, picture frames to be changed out, fireplace face to be changed out {bye bye gold} and I'm not sold on the placement of items on the built-ins yet. I literally just threw it all on there to take the picture. Sorry for the crappy camera phone pictures. When all is done I will share "real" pictures. I promise. For now these will have to do. I hope you love it as much as we do so far!

Adapt and Adjust

After 4 military moves {from Kentucky to New York to Texas, back to Kentucky, back to New York} I'm starting to realize that one of the hardest parts of moving to a new state is grocery shopping. Sure leaving your friends or family and starting all over can be a challenge. But IMO grocery shopping in a new store is harder. Especially since each place is known for different types of food. Here in New York it's all about Italian. Love it! I don't love it however when I'm looking for say Mexican food in the "international" aisle. I'm sorry but Ole El Paso doesn't compare to the authentic Mexican products that I could find in grocery stores in Texas.

It's not just the different products that make grocery shopping in a new place different. It's learning the layout of the store. Walking around endlessly trying not to look like a total idiot while trying to find the ketchup. Sure we lived here before but last time I only shopped at the commissary because we lived on post. Now that we live in town I get to shop at a new store. One that was a rare treat the last time we lived here.

I did my second grocery shopping trip this morning since moving here. I must say it was still overwhelming. Although not nearly as bad as my first. I cried. Seriously. Who does that?!? Well besides me. Really though I was so overwhelmed and lost. It had hit me right in the middle of the store that I wasn't in Kansas Kentucky anymore.

New

Hello from New York!

The big move is over with...thank goodness! It certainly wasn't an easy one that's for sure. We hit many bumps along the way. As if doing a DITY move was hard enough {Do it yourself move in the military} we somehow managed to have too much stuff for one truck.


We got the largest truck available from Penske. We were living in a 3 bedroom duplex no bigger then maybe 1200sqft. We didn't have a garage or a storage shed. So can someone please tell me why on earth we couldn't fit our stuff in a 26ft truck?! Beats the crap out of me. But of course we didn't find out that we couldn't fit till the truck was loaded to the brim and we still had half of our furniture in the house. We left ourselves absolutely no wiggle room on time so we thought our only solution would be to get rid of furniture. After we parted with as much furniture as we could {including living room furniture and my dining room set}, we realized we had no choice but to rent a second truck at the last minute. My dad is a God send because he offered to drive one of the trucks up to NY with us. But the damage was already done. I had lost a ton of furniture. Bummer.

Since we've been in our new house we've had to have pest control come out because we were invaded with carpenter ants. We've had to call out 2 seperate plumbers for 2 seperate problems. And have had one heck of a time with border/wallpaper removal. All the joys of being homeowners! I know, I know! Despite all of the little bumps we've been settling and adjusting pretty well. So far only the 3 rooms have been painted but we are gearing up for a much deserved family vacation to Burlington, Vermont this weekend to celebrate our baby girl's first birthday. Hopefully we'll get the rest of the painting, etc finished after our trip. Kell leaves in a couple of weeks for Texas for 2 months so we're wanting to get as much done before he leaves as possible. Wish us luck!

A sneak peak of our house. I'll post more pictures at a later date. I don't want to overwhelm the blog with house pictures. Hopefully after our trip I can back to some baking posts. Have a safe and Happy 4th!

Fireplace Color

This is the current color of the fireplace {one of 2} in the living room {one of 2}. Now don't get me wrong I love our new house but the previous owners {notice decor in the picture} taste is a little too country for my taste. The maroon-ish color has got to go...among other things.



My couch and chair are red and coffee table/end table will be white. A light grey color will be on the wall. So here's what I was thinking.

I'm new at this polyvore thing so I couldn't figure out how to add a rug of hardwood floors haha. oops. So anyway the fireplace and shelves would be all white. Or maybe paint the brick a lighter shade of grey then what will be on the wall? hmmmm decisions decisions.

Everywhere I look

I see boxes. Ft. Knox is so overbooked with people moving this month that we are having to pack and move ourselves. No big deal really....we are actually excited to finally have control over our stuff and the move. But man am I ready to be done packing.
I'm ready to be here......

{not our vehicle}

That's right I'm finally sharing a picture of our {not so} little Cape Cod because we closed on our first house! Less then 2 weeks and we'll finally be unpacking in our new home. Can't wait! My blog posts will probably be sporadic the next few weeks though.

Time for bed. Goodnight!

I'm in love...

Don't judge my love of a mini van. :P

Congrats Mister

I'm sure you can tell by the lack of posts that it's been a pretty busy couple of weeks. May 3rd my husband's family started coming into town for the festivities. May 7th my husband graduated from the Physician Assistant's program for the military. He earned his Masters and was commissioned as an officer. We had family here till the 14th. I'm slowly getting back to normal, or what normal is for having 3 kids. Here are a few pictures from graduation. I'll post most pictures from the family visit later.

Brogan thought he was taking the same oath as his daddy.


Finally getting to pin my LT.





Our family picture - although I think it's a bad one of me


Kell and our big kids

Simplicity

This is going to seem silly. But one of my favorite things about cooking is separating egg yolks from the whites. To me it's just simple fun!


I shake my head every time I see one of these.

Available via Amazon

Don't worry I won't hate you if you prefer to separate your egg whites with that handy little tool. But for me that tool takes the fun out of things. IMO there are too many gadgets and tools out there that take the fun out of cooking and baking.

One line of products that really irk me is Pampered Chef. Now please no throwing stones at me for saying that. I do love some of their products but recently I went to a Pampered Chef party and the biggest attractions was the stoneware line that you can cook and bake in the microwave. We even sampled a chicken/pasta dish and a cake cooked in the {gasp!} microwave! The microwave! Really?! Everyone was oohhing and ahhing over it. I'm sorry but baking a cake in the microwave should be a sin! What happened to good ole' fashioned cooking and baking.

I did decide to finally try out the Pampered Chef food chopper that most people rave about. Biggest waste of $30 in my opinion. You can only fit a tiny amount of food into the chopper and still I ended up having the beat the damn thing 30 times to get it to slightly chop the food.

So people, this girl will be sticking with some of the good ole' fashion ways of preparing food.

My Old Kentucky Home

The sun shines bright on my old Kentucky home.........

The first Saturday in May. The Kentucky Derby. It's an event full of horses, hats, and celebrities. Ask anyone from Louisville and they will tell you it's so much more then that. It is one of the many events that makes us {The 'Villians} swell with pride for this place we love so much.

First let's discuss all the ways people pronounce Louisville.


To see how us 'Villians pronounce Louisville check out this clip from Southern Belles


Now enjoy a few pictures of what this area has to offer.

Belle Of Louisville


Fourth Street Live ~ The BEST place to party!


Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts


Thunder over Louisville ~ The kickoff of the Derby festivities.


The Muhammad Ali Center.


The Great Balloon Race!


Louisville Slugger Field


Louisville Slugger Museum


And of course Churchill Downs.


I could go on and on about my hometown but I won't bore you any further. I am deeply saddened to be moving away from this great place once again.

If you watched the Kentucky Derby this evening, I hope you enjoyed a glimpse into this beautiful place and tradition.

Congrats to Super Saver and Calvin Borel the winner of the 136th Kentucky Derby!


Images via Wikipedia and yahoo

Moving Season

It's moving season in the Army world right now. As I drive though my neighborhood {we live on post in Army housing} I see moving truck after moving truck. People coming and going. People packing and unpacking. It's pretty much constant in this life. But it really picks up during the summer months.

This week I'm watching 2 friends pack up their homes. Saying goodbye ~ It's one of the hardest parts of the military world. You become practically family in such a short amount of time. It's usually quite simple. You meet someone {who's normal} and there's an unspoken "Will you be my friend?" thing that happens almost overnight. And then bam you have a new best friend.

You spend holidays together. Watch each other's kids anytime, no questions asked. You are there to hold their hand when they deliver a baby without their husband because he's deployed. They become your shopping buddy, your lunch buddy, your coffee buddy, your movie buddy, your...well I think you get the picture. But all of that also makes it one of the best parts of the military world. I've been blessed to have some of the best girl friends I could ever ask for.

It's almost time for a new round of goodbyes. Almost time to start move #4 as a military family in the past 6 years. After all, it is moving season.

Image via We Heart It

Strawberries & Cream

Last night around 10pm I had the urge to bake some bread. Next week for the mister's graduation, I have to make breakfast bread for 75-100 people. Yes I'm insane. So I thought I would try out a new recipe.

Strawberries & Cream bread


Ingredients

1 3/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup light brown sugar (use if you want a sweeter bread)
2 eggs, room temperature
1/2 cup sour cream, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cups strawberries, fresh & coarsely chopped (do NOT use frozen) or fresh blueberries
3/4 cup walnuts (optional)

Directions

1 Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon; set aside.

2 In small bowl, beat butter until creamy. Gradually add sugar, beat 1 minute or until light and airy. Add brown sugar. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Beat in sour cream and vanilla.

3 Stir into flour mixture only until dry ingredients are moistened.

4 Fold in strawberries and nuts.

5 Pour into a greased 8 x 4 inch loaf pan.

6 Bake at 350°F for 60 to 65 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

7 Let stand 10 minutes in pan.

8 Turn out on rack to cool.


**I forgot to add the brown sugar {it was late cut me some slack} but since it was listed as optional I wasn't too worried. After tasting it this morning, I'm glad I forgot the brown sugar. It was perfectly sweet enough without it. Only thing I will do differently is add more strawberries. Not enough strawberry taste IMO. I'm also going to try it out with blueberries. As well as my low fat banana apple raisin bread. Hopefully they will all be crowd pleasers.

Now where's the caffeine?!

Accomplished something

Finally! We finally got around to redoing this beauty! I love it and so does Caitlyn. I still need to take a picture of it in the girls room but here it is anyway.


Part of me was really sad to see the pretty flowers go but it goes perfectly with the girls furniture. For now I kept the original hardware on it but painted them pink and purple {Caitlyn's favorite colors}. I hope you like it as much as we do! This project makes me very anxious to get my hands on our new house.

Shrinky Dinks

Who doesn't love Shrinky Dinks?!?

Oak Overload

At first glance of our {soon to be} new home, the current decor is on the verge of being too country. Thank goodness for paint and our own personal style. Here's a sneak peek of the kitchen at the moment {Current owners stuff}.


Eventually we want to completely redo the kitchen. But until then paint will be our best friend in this kitchen. We want to knock down the two cabinets over the breakfast bar to open up the space. Paint the cabinets white and add new hardware. We aren't 100% sure what color to paint the walls but I'm thinking a subtle light grey color. And finally painting the wood ceiling white. As much as the oak wood on the ceiling is gorgeous, it's just not for me.
Some pictures for inspiration.


Photo via here


Photo via Completely Coastal


Photo via My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

Something like this...maybe even slightly lighter?

I can't wait to get my hands on this kitchen!