our new home...I love to decorate!!

Well, we've been working on moving into a "new" house all summer!  {Did I mention it's the hottest summer on record?}  We've done a lot of updating and remodeling.  It's finally coming together and many of you have asked to see some pictures of the finished product, so here ya go....

The living room...or part of it.

A bit more of the living room.... I didn't take a pic of the wall to my left for some reason but there's a few more pictures and a piano...not too exciting...

A shot of the dinning room from the kitchen.

Part of my kitchen...with stuff on the counter.  

I supposed I could have cleaned it up BEFORE I took the pictures!  :) 

The other end of the kitchen...

Antiques and old things above my fridge...I love anything vintage!!

Here's the hall way...in case you were wondering.  The mirror at the end has "snow" on it and a cute little snowman barn star!  I love winter too!  Our children's rooms and bathroom are down this hall...

My favorite pictures of my children!!  I just love them!  

Are they not the cutest things you've ever seen?  And "vintage" to boot!!

Ya just can't beat it!

:)

Well, there ya have it!  That's the majority of the upstairs of our home.  The basement contains a laundry room, our room, a storage area and some shelving for my canning jars and things...it's really not much to look at yet.  Maybe someday I'll get it decorated too!? 

Updates: 

Well, apparently this was supposed to be posted back in October?  Really not sure what happened at this point.  I guess I forgot to post it.   Our house pretty much looks like this still except for a few newly decorated spots...because I LOVE to decorate and continue to decorate and re-decorate spots here and there.  We have "new" furniture in our living room because our youngest got the flu last winter and ruined our couch - that's all I'm going to say about that.  :)  

This post is mostly for those of my family and friends that live so many miles away and don't get a chance to come over.  Any and all are welcome at any time - just don't blame me if you come unannounced and it's messy!  We do love company though.  Any one, any time! 

 

Homemade Amish Caramel

Homemade caramel!

Too bad the term "homemade" doesn't always mean "healthy" because I'd love to tell myself that these little goodies are healthy, but alas, they are not.   Not is any way, shape, or form.  <pout>

They are, however, very yummy and super easy to make.  They also make a fabulous gifts and/or fund raisers!  We're preparing for a yard sale and we're planning to sell a bunch of this as well as all the junk {valuable goodies} that are being stored in our basement at this present moment. 

Amish Caramel

2 c. white sugar - yeah....
2 c. heavy cream - hey, I used the organic stuff...that makes it a little bit better right?
1 3/4 c. corn syrup -  .....O.K.!!  Never mind....
1 c. butter
1 tsp. vanilla


 

Boil sugar, syrup, butter, and a little of the cream.

 

Add the rest of your cream slowly as the mixture boils. Continue stirring.  Don't allow to stop boiling.

   Boil until it forms a soft ball (236-240 degrees). Then add vanilla.

Pour into a buttered pan. Cool. Cut into squares and wrap in wax paper...this is when you're really glad you have children!!  This is an easy job, but it sure does seem to take forever!! :) 

 There you have it!!  Throw a few of these in a cute little bag with some shred and a raffia ribbon and you're set! 

Now, we pray for a good turn out on yard sale day....!!  

Pizza Fries! Yum!!

Here's a healthy twist to an old favorite!!

One of my favorite restaurants when I lived in Tucson, AZ was called Eegees!  LOVED that place!  They had all kinds of really fun, really unhealthy food!  I must confess, Eegees and Whataburger get a visit every time I go "back home".

One day I decided to make my own Pizza Fries and they turned out fanTAStic!!  My husband, who grew up eating Southern fried, big people food, wasn't too fond of it, so he gets spaghetti on Pizza Fries night.

Ingredients:

Homemade potato wedges {or frozen french fries}
Spaghetti or pizza sauce {garlic & oregano}
Mozzarella cheese
Mushrooms
Green onions
Peperoni or sausage {if you would normally eat these things on your pizza}
Olives
Peppers
Tomatoes
Pretty much anything you would normally put on your homemade pizzas

Directions:

Bake potato wedges until golden brown and crispy.
Heat spaghetti/pizza sauce till hot and add spices if necessary.
Prepare veggies and pizza toppings.
Put a few potato wedges on each plate; cover with sauce; add desired ingredients and then top with tons of mozzarella! 

Enjoy!!!

Yummy Cheesy Bread

Ever have last minute company?  If you're like me, you send each kid to get something done before the guests arrive.  Dust the piano, pick up the shoes in the entry way, throw all the clutter in the bedroom, clean the bathroom, and take out the trash.  You might even light a candle to give the house that special welcoming effect.

But what about food?  What can you whip up in a few moments that would be "company approved"?

Try Cheesy Bread!  It's fast easy and fabulous!  Your company can snack on these delicious biscuits until the cows come home...or dinner is ready.  Whichever comes first. 

I've made these simple biscuits for company several times and they've always been loved.  I even made them for this past year's Christmas dinner at church.  My husband says they taste just like the rolls at the Dixie Stampede.  I've never been there before, but I'm sure that's a compliment!  And THESE are healthy!  {Although, I must warn you: you may want to double or even triple this recipe!}

Ingredients:

• 2 cups fresh ground soft white wheat {or whole wheat flour}  
• 1 tablespoon baking powder or arrowroot powder
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1 cup milk, buttermilk, plain yogurt or sour cream
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 2 teaspoons oregano
• 1 cup cheddar cheese or half cup mozzarella/1/2 cup cheddar

Directions:

Mix ingredients together with fork and then drop onto your pan.

Bake in 350* oven for around 15 minutes or until the tip-tops are a nice golden brown.  Yields about 10 regular size biscuits or 6 large ones.

There really are so many different options for these biscuits!   You could add some bits of bacon, or sun-dried tomatoes, or maybe you'd be more interested in chives or jalapenos?  

Leave a message below to let me know what you'd add or like best!!  I can't wait to hear your ideas...and try a few!  ;) 

Whole Wheat Bread

After 3 years of praying for a wheat grinder, I finally got one last year for my birthday!!  I was so excited I ordered wheat berries right away - TONS of them!  Actually, it was more like 100 pounds, but who's counting, right?

I got busy baking bread.  But it didn't work.  Something was really wrong!  I couldn't figure it out! 

My chocolate chip cookies, banana bread, pumpkin breads, and plenty of other such recipes worked just fine, but the regular, old sandwich bread that I kept trying to make was a flop!  As in F-L-O-P!! 

After much confusion, research, and way too many wasted wheat berries, I finally begged a friend of mine, who was in town visiting her parents, to come rescue me.  {More like rescue my husband and children from many frustrating rants of self pity due to the fact that I was by no means the natural born bread maker that I had imagined myself to be.}

Kami came and with her the knowledge that all wheat berries are NOT created equal.  In my attempts to make a healthy, yet soft wheat bread that my husband and children would adore, I bought soft white wheat berries.  Did I mention I bought  ONE HUNDRED POUNDS of them??  In my little brain it made complete since.  They were completely natural, organic, and fresh ground.  What could be wrong with them?  Not a whole lot if all you plan to make is cakes and cookies, but for sandwich bread it was all wrong. 

Long story short - I had to buy another big bag of hard white wheat and another of hard red wheat beside the 100 pounds of soft white berries I already had!  <sigh>  The good news is that my Kami's bread turned out just as soft and yummy as I had originally hoped! 

Here's Kami's recipe: 

1 1/2 cup warm water
1/3 cup of oil - I suggest cold pressed coconut oil or olive oil.  I use olive oil.

1/3 cup of raw honey

2 teaspoons of sea salt

4 1/2 cups of flour - which being interpreted is 1 1/2 cups of hard white wheat berries and 1 1/2 cups of hard red wheat berries.  Throw it all in the ole grinder and there you have it - 4 1/2 cups of fresh ground, whole wheat flour!! 

1 Tablespoon of yeast

1 Tablespoon of lecithin

1 Tablespoon of gluten 

Slight variation: * I don't use lecithin or gluten.  I simply throw in an egg and it works just as well.

Directions:

Dissolve yeast in warm water.  Add oil, honey, salt, *egg and flour.  Mix together.  I don't have a mixer - YET - so I kneed by hand.  It really isn't that hard and makes me feel quite domesticated! 

Put dough in warm place to rise until doubled.  This takes about an hour.  After dough has doubled, punch it down.  Separate your dough into 2 equal parts and form your loaves.  Let your loaves rise in greased bread pans.  Bake at 350* for only around 20 minutes!  Very easy and delicious!! 

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Treasures of Healthy Living {Book Review}

Do you get overwhelmed when you think about all the changes you can, or should, make in your family's diet and or life style?  I don't know about you, but the more I learn about living healthy, the more I realize I don't know.   If you can relate, then Treasures of Healthy Living  by Annette Reeder is definitely a book you'll want to read!  

I was so excited when Mollie asked me to do the review!  I firmly believe that the Christian life demands a healthy diet and life style.  After all, we are bought with a price - our bodies belong to HIM!!

1.  My favorite thing about Treasures of Healthy Living {beside it's name - anything with the word "treasures" in it has to be good, right? ;)}  is that it's based on the Bible and used Scripture to tell us what God thinks about food.  Most of us don't realize just how much God wants us to enjoy food.

Treasures of Healthy Living will walk you through your Bible and help you understand food and how God made it for our physical benefit as well as spiritual comparisons and applications.

Did you know God refers to Himself as the "Bread of Life"?  God knew how much we would depend on food, and yes, even love it, and that's why He lovingly explains life to us through examples and pictures He knew we'd understand. And who doesn't understand food??  {The Bible mentions all kinds of foods including apples, grapes, figs, honey, barley, fish, cheese, and pistachios to name just a few.} 

2.  I also love how this book was divided into sections.  Each section, or chapter, is devoted to a different topic.  These topics range from beverages, to bread and whole grains, to fruits and vegetables, and yes, even toiletries, cosmetics and cleaning supplies!  This book covers it all!

I love how Treasures of Healthy Living is divided into 12 parts.  It made it easy for me to read and not so overwhelming.  You study one thing at a time.  You will be invited to make small decisions and life applications on a daily and weekly basis over a 12 week span.

Treasures of Healthy Living is a great Bible study tool for you and your girl friends, or maybe you could even use it as Sunday School materiel?  There's also a cook book that goes along with this study guide!  I can't wait to order it for myself!  What would be better than a weekly Bible study that includes a new recipe to try?  And - it would all be healthy!! 

Anytime is a great time to make healthy changes.  Why not start this year out on the right foot?  Order "Treasures of Healthy Living" now.  Use it to help you understand food, what the Bible says about it, and how much God wants you to enjoy it {and your health!}.  Go to the Designed Healthy Living site and enter the code:   hiddentreasures   to get 10% off any books and treasures note cards.  {Coupon will expire after February 28.}

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No-Sew {very afordable!!} Curtains

Not sure if you would consider this a curtain or a valence?  I always call them curtains, but technically, I suppose, they are more of a valence.  Call it what you want, I made them myself without sewing and without spending money!  

My kitchen window.....

All you need is an old table cloth, piece of fabric, or even a bed sheet that you like, a staple gun, a 2x4, some "L" brackets, and some ribbon.  Most of us have these things or can get them easily without spending too much money.

1.   To make these "curtains" you simply cut the 2x4 down to the size of your window.  It should be at least 2 - 3 inches longer than the width of the window.  Be sure you include the window frame in the size of your window as you will not want to mount this to the window frame.  Your fabric should be at least 4 inches longer than the 2x4 so that you can cover the ends it and not just the front.  We don't want the ends of the 2x4 to show...just not attractive at all.  :) 

2.   Next, simply staple your fabric {in this case I used a nice table cloth that I no longer need} to the 2x4.  Starting at the ends.  Be sure you staple the fabric on the end of the board and then wrap it around the front so that it hangs correctly on the window. 

3.    After you have stapled it on each end, you can staple the center of the fabric to the center of the board.  Depending on how much fabric you have, you may or may not have to make to a pleat {or 2} on each side.}  I prefer one pleat on each side.  You can do what you like or what works best with your fabric and window sizes.  

Above you see I have stapled it to each end of my 2x4. 

Below, you can see how we stapled it to the center of the 2x4 and the excess fabric is just kinda hanging there....that's where the pleat will be...right in the center of the end and the center.  Ah, yeah, there's got to be a better way to say that!!   {If you aren't going to have a pleat in your curtain, you can skip down to step 6}

4.   So, ANYWAY, measure your board from the end to the center and divide that number in half.  Mark that many inches from the end of the board and THAT is where you should staple your pleat. 

5.  Above, you can see where I made the pleat and simply stapled it right on the board at the place marked as instructed above.  Below, you can see how we stapled the pleat to be sure it wasn't going to come undone.  

Most of the time I would sew this on my machine, but since my sewing area is under construction and I'm very impatient, I decided to do it all without my machine.

Below, you can see the whole board with both completed pleats.....

6.   Next {below} you simply measure and attach your ribbon to hold the curtain up in a "blousy" manner right at the pleats.  If you don't have pleats in your curtains, you simply measure as we did in step 4 and attach the ribbon where the pleat would have been.  One end of the ribbon will be stapled straight to the board on the underside of the fabric and the other end will be stapled to the board through/on top of the fabric.   {sorry, no picture was taken of this step.}

7.   To hang the curtains, {below} you will need to screw the "L" brackets to the bottom of the board.  Be sure you put it on so that the back of the board is against the wall.  We don't want our curtains hung backward!  This would look very cute to all the Peeping Toms....not so cute to guests!!  

 Then, you simply measure, level and screw the curtains straight into the wall........

 .....and there you have it!  

My dinning room window....simple...easy....very inexpensive.

{I think I spent a grand total of $6.00 on hardware and ribbon to dress both windows!}

Tips:

1. I used one table cloth to make "curtains" for my dinning room and kitchen windows.  I cut it in half and stapled the UN-hemmed edge to the board.  This saved me from needing to hem my fabric!!   
2. Because my table cloth was too long for the kitchen window I simply doubled it and stapled it up that way.   If I had cut it down to size, I would have had to hem it, and, as I stated before, my sewing machine/area is not available at the moment. 
3. My fabric has stripes!!  Stripes always make it so much easier to get it all straight!!  
4. If you measure your ribbons wrong...as I did...you can "tack" it up to the desired length in the back/underside of the curtain with a safety pin.  Even the Peeping Toms won't see it...unless they're standing directly on the opposite side of the window...in which case you have more problems than a safety pin in your curtains!!!  : D

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