End Table Makeover

I did it!

I finally got around to making over my end tables! We bought 2 end tables (and a coffee table that is being used as a t.v. stand in the basement) at the RC Willey Clearance Center about 7 years ago when we where furnishing our first house. They were in pretty good condition and met our style. But over the years, several moves, and several kids later, they were looking sad.

Dull.
Lifeless.
Covered in water stains and permanent marker.

I've wanted to do this makeover for a while now and finally got around to it this past week.

Before (Okay, so you can't see the legs here):

Here is a comparison -new on the left and old on the right (please ignore the sippy cup and dutch ovens in the background):

As I've posted before, I'm lazy. So my process was actually very simple.
I sanded the heck out of the table top.
Then I wrapped the edges of the table with some blue painter's tape.
Then I spray painted the legs. Let Dry.
I flipped the table over and sprayed the legs again...just to make sure I got everything.
I then stained the table top with a nice cherry stain. I got lucky it wiped right off the metal.
I let it dry about 6 hours and did a second coat of stain. I wanted it just a little darker.
Then I waited another day and put a coat of polycrylic sealer* on it.
And it turned out great! Okay, Okay, not perfect, but I'm really happy with the results!

I have one of the end tables behind my couch in the family room.

I have the other end table in my living room.

*The only reason I used the polycrylic sealer stuff is because I found a gallon of it on clearance at Lowe's for $2!!! It is normally like $40 for the stuff. I asked the paint guy why it was so cheap. He said they were getting rid of the gallon size and only carrying the smaller size. So I counted that as a major score! Of course it would have been a bigger score if Little Miss hadn't been trying to "help" clean the garage and spilled most the gallon on the garage floor! Luckily, it is one of those easy water clean-up kinds.

Now I have more confidence to do the same thing to my kitchen table! I can't wait!

*I'm linking to Creative Cats HERE
*And to Funky Junk Interiors HERE
*And to It's FUN to craft HERE

Intentions Become Realities

What a great, but very exhausting weekend! We actually accomplished much of what was on our to do list plus some! I love when that happens, which doesn't happen very often!

Anyway, Hubby wouldn't let me take any pictures, but he built a cheap half wall in our unfinished basement to keep kids and toys on one side and storage, exercise equipment, and my sister's room on the other side. It should be a great help to have an actual toy room where the kiddos can play without fear they are going to climb into a pile of insulation or touch the furnace, etc.

Hubby also built me some garden boxes. FYI: wood has gone up in price so it was more than we had planned on, but hopefully it will be a good investment! We just need to do a little more prepping the area and fill with some good soil and plant. Just...

I got my grocery shopping done, a few hours of yard work (including planting a few allysum plants) and even had a time (although I didn't have much energy) to play a little soccer with Little Miss. She loved that!

Today, I frantically prepared my church lesson which makes everything and everyone crazy when I leave that for the last minute, but at least we made it to church! Then Hubby let me have an afternoon nap, which I rarely take and didn't intend to today, but it was very nice.

REAL MOM'S DINNER: pot roast w/ potatoes and carrots, french bread, and fruit for dinner. It was quite good!

Good weekend, good weekend.

Intentions...

I wanted the word, "intentions" in my blog title for a very good reason. I always intend to do things. But the reality is many things don't happen.

I intended to laundry today. But I weeded my front flower beds instead.

As I am weeding...(by the way, about half of my front yard is flower beds...previous owners were retired gardeners) I am making a mental list of all the things I need to make the flower beds look more finished. (Once I have unlimited funds...ha ha...I'm ripping out the curbing and shrinking ALL the flowers bed to minimal maintenance and adding more grass!)

A day lily
A carpet rose
Some allysum and sundials, and
LOTS of mulch/ground covering something or other

But I'm realizing that this could get really expensive if I try to do this all at once. Money is a little tight right now as we once again have a pile of medical bills to pay off. But I figured I could probably get away with buying a little bit here and there. So this Saturday I intend to head to the nursery.

Other INTENDED projects for this Saturday.

*making garden boxes
*prepping the garden area
*building a cheap half wall in the basement

All this on top of dentist appointments and grocery shopping. And don't forget we still have to go to Home Depot to actually purchase stuff for these projects. Sigh...Saturdays are NEVER long enough! And there is ALWAYS something more to spend our money on. I guess this means the nice camera I saved for will have to be an okay, get me by camera. But that is okay, since it will be probably just be ruined again by another chitlin!

I will post again on Sunday and let you know what we actually DID!

REAL MOM'S DINNER: chicken nuggets, 4 cheese Pasta-Roni, peas & carrots...so gourmet!

Picture Frame

I'm mostly posting this for my mom's benefit. She gave me this darling picture frame for Christmas and I just haven't done anything with it. But I finally did. I printed up 12 pictures from our family pictures from both sides -Hubby's and I's families. (Hubby's family was taken last April and my family was taken last December) in sepia. I was a little nervous how it would turn out, but I really like it! Although I think it needs something above the picture...I'll keep my eyes open for a cheap swaggy thing or something.
I put it where the shelf was. I had wanted to move the shelf anyway, because it would sometimes fall down if Little Miss' door slammed too hard...which happens with a four year old! Here is where I put my shelf. I need to figure out what to do with it.
Anyway, thanks Mom, for a fun gift!

Fajita Seasoning Mix

Our family really likes fajitas. I usually use a fajita seasoning mix bought at the store...around 50 cent to a dollar for a mix. A couple of months ago I had planned to have fajitas and opened my cupboard to find NO fajita seasoning mix! I was so mad! Then I stopped and thought about it. I figured I could look online to see if I had enough ingredients to make my own mix. And luckily I found this recipe and just happen to LOVE it! I copied it onto a piece of paper and no I can't find the original source to give credit, but I'm pretty sure it was from allrecipes.com. (this is just about the only place I look for recipe anymore because just about everything I have tried from there is so good!)

I like this recipe because it is so close to the store bought mix, which is what I'm use to. I actually tried a couple different mix recipes, but the other ones seemed too hot for me. So yes, this is on the mild side for Mexican, but it is what I like. Hubby spices his up with hot salsa. :)

Fajita Mix
1 tbs. cornstarch
2 teas. chili powder
1 teas. salt
1 teas. paprika
1 teas. sugar
3/4 teas. chicken bullion crushed
1/2 teas. onion powder
1/4 teas. garlic powder
1/4 teas. cayenne pepper
1/4 teas. cumin

This is enough to equal 3 packages of store bought mix. Use just about 1 tbs. of mix per batch of chicken (I do 2-3 chicken breasts sliced.) And use just like you would store bought mix. I mix in maybe a tbs. or 2 of water with the mix and toss my chicken in it and let it marinade for 15 min. or longer. Then put some oil in a pan and toss the chicken in to cook. It is pretty simple and yummy! I'm definitely becoming a fan of making your own seasoning mixes!

Family Home Evening Board

I finally made a family home evening board! I have wanted to do this project for a while now and finally got around to it. I actually started on Monday, but ended up redoing the board 3 times because I could get the bubbles out of the Mod Podge! I'm NOT a perfectionist and rarely do I spend the time to redo something, but for some reason this drove me crazy! I haven't used Mod Podge very many times so I don't know what I was doing wrong!
Anyway, I used a "Merry Christmas" board I found at the DI for like $2.00. I love using used boards for what I want because they are cheap and they already have the hooks on them.
So I painted the board white because I wasn't too keen on black for this particular project. Then I dug through my scrap stuff to find paper and accessories. Since I was so frustrated with the Mod Podge, I just used a plain old glue stick to stick the scrapbook paper on the board. I then used alphas to spell out the words I wanted and I was lucky enough to find some great metal letters. I took 6 letters (to represent each family members first initial) and 6 tiny wire nails and sprayed them white...didn't work great, but good enough. Then I just used the nails to hang the letters and I can take the letters off to rearrange them. A little rick rack, buttons, and squigglies and I called it good...finally!

I know it not perfect by any means, but it makes me happy to have this finally done!

And yes, I know I need a new camera...working on it!

REAL MOM'S DINNER: Spaghetti, bread sticks, salad

Banana Cake

Yes, I've taken a short break from blogging. Lots going on. But wanted to share this.
I made this cake yesterday. I had intentions to make banana bread since I had some very ripe bananas (which hasn't happened in long time around here!) and my kids LOVE banana bread. But I just happened to have Studio 5 on while I was cleaning the kitchen yesterday morning and saw this recipe. It looked good so I tried it. It turned out quite yummy and very moist! However, I made two round layers and one pan of cupcakes (needed a treat for a neighbor.) It makes a huge amount of batter, so if I make it again (and I probably will) I will probably use 3 round pans.



Banana Cake

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 c bananas, mashed, ripe
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 3 cups flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 c butter, softened
• 2 1/8 c sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/2 c buttermilk

Method:

Preheat oven to 275. Grease a 9x13 pan. Mash bananas (I use my KitchenAid mixture to do this job). Mix in lemon juice and set aside. In a medium bowl sift together flour, baking soda and salt; set aside. In a large bowl cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Stir in vanilla. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk. Stir in banana mixture. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake in preheated oven for one hour or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Remove from oven and place directly into the freezer for 45 minutes. This will make the cake very moist.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

• 1/2 c butter, softened
• 1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3 1/2 c powdered sugar
• Garnish:
• chopped walnuts

Method:

Cream the butter and cream cheese until smooth. Beat in vanilla. Add powdered sugar and beat on low speed until combined, then on high until frosting is smooth. Spread on cooled cake. Sprinkle chopped walnuts if desired.

http://www.thehomemakinghelper.com/