Anniversary Update

The surprise anniversary night was AMAZING! Mike really pulled out all the stops and things couldn't have gone better.

As I previously mentioned my parents were in town during the day, so while my mom and I were sitting around eating lunch I got a call from Mike and at the end of the call he said, "By the way make sure Tiny has everything she needs to spend the night, and you have things to spend the night out too. Ok bye gotta go." Thats it he hung up!

I will admit I wasn't quite ready to leave Tiny over night yet, I hadn't had time to mentally prepare! Every morning when I wake up even if it is before her I get out of bed and check on her, so the idea that I couldn't was a little nerving. Of course everything went perfectly for her I just missed her a ton.

So anyway, fast forward to Mike and I in the car driving downtown. At first I thought ok maybe we are Canada, but still didn't really know. It wasn't long before I got the clue that we were going to one of the casinos downtown! Now most people who know me know that I LOVE casinos. The people, the lights, the noises, I love it all. Needless to say I was very excited! We pulled up the MGM Grand and I knew we were in for a fun night.

We got out and walked up to the front desk where as soon as Mike gave them our names they said Happy Anniversary to us. I will take this moment to say that the customer service at MGM was phenomenal. Everyone there was amazing and it was like we had a sign on our forheads because absolutely everyone greeted us with, "Happy Anniversary Mr. and Mrs. Taylor."

We checked into our room and Mike informed me we had 8pm reservations at Bourbon Steak. We eventually went down for dinner and at the time I had no idea I was about to have the absolute best meal of my life. We were taken back to our table which was in this great little private sectioned off room. We sat down and ordered a bottle of wine which I was very impressed with Mikey's wine choice (although he did admit he did a little wine research ahead of time - still impressive he would do that!) Where most restuarants might bring you a basket of bread at Bourbon Steak they bring out this platter of gourmet flavored fries each with their own designated dipping sauce. Next we ordered the Kobe Beef Lettuce Wraps. They came out with three different sauces, Thai Peanut, Pesto, and Chili and if you can believe such a thing exists, they were about 100 times better than PF Changs! Next we each ordered a soup, I had the bean soup which was again the best I have ever had (I know I sound like a broken record but its true!) For my entree I had the Filet Mignon which was cooked perfectly. As a side I ordered the Truffled Mac and Cheese. O.M.G. People let me tell you it was one of the most delicious things I have ever had. I don't know what goes on in that little dish but it was magical. At this point I could have gone about a week without eating and I was getting a little loopy from the half a bottle of wine I drank but the dessert menu looked way too good to pass up. My eyes immediately caught the word "Beignets" and my mind was basically made up. They were served with creme brulee which I had never had and the pairing was perfect. (Although I will admit not quite as good as Cafe du Monde)

This meal was an event. Everything was so perfectly choreographed, and planned. The speed and portions were timed perfectly. Not something we will be doing again anytime soon, but so worth the wait for when I get to go back someday :)

We eventually made our way around the casino and I actually walked away a big winner on the penny slots so that was exciting for me! After that meal and my small fortune :) it was time to call it a night.

A perfect, wonderful night.

Anniversary Edition

Lots going on today and I wanted to post this morning because I have no clue if I will be able to later today. Besides today being me and Mike's 3rd anniversary, my parents are in town for the day and hopefully my Dad will be able to come over this afternoon and help me put a hole in my wall!

I don't mean this the wrong way but I can't believe its ONLY been 3 years! I feel like it has been much longer with all that we have done and accomplished together over the last three years. The most impressive of these joint ventures would of course be Tiny. How we made such an unbearably beautiful little girl is beyond me. Her huge eyes, tiny nose, and giant smile are a constant reminder of what great things Mike and I can do together :)

Yesterday with the purchase of my new craft item I was back in my craft/sewing room reorganizing. I had this medium sized rubbermaid box that was full of random things I figured I should go through. This box had probably not been opened since I packed it full of stuff when we moved into our house. It was quite the coincidence that last night of all nights I found a large envelope full of tickets and odds and ends that never made it into my scrapbook. In the envelope I found my ticket from the very first Detroit Tigers game that Mike took me to!

Now I don't think its so odd to save things like this, and I am surprised I hadn't put this particular ticket in a better spot, although I am thinking of framing it next to the ticket from the game we got engaged at and Tiny's first Tigers game ticket.

What gave me a little chuckle was that on the back of the ticket I felt compelled to write, "w/ Mike Taylor" as if I would one day look at the ticket and think, "hmm, who did I go to this game with?" or, "What was that guys name?"

Here I am 7.5 years later still going to Tigers games with him. If you would have asked me in 2003 what would have been more believable, Mike and I getting engaged or the tigers having a playoff run in 2006 I would have probably put my money on the engagement :)

Mike has some surprise plans for this evening so I can't wait to find out what he has in store for me. I will be sure to report back tomorrow with all the details... scratch that, some of the details ;)

Best Purchase Ever!

Intro: This is completely craft nerd related. If you don't know what a Cricut is you might as well just leave because this post will make zero sense to you. :)

On this cold rainy Michigan day, for a moment this morning the rain stopped, the clouds parted, and the sun shined down on me as I walked (read that "ran panting") into Michaels to purchase something that I knew would change my life forever.

I'm sure you are asking yourself what could you buy at a craft store that could be so life altering. I'll tell you...

a Cricut Cake!

Now this marvel of a machine does everything. I'm not really into cake making but the Cricut cake works on paper as well it just requires a blade switch. Now for two years I have been the very proud owner of a Cricut Personal. It only goes up to 6 inches and at the time I bought it on sale at 50% off for $99 and that that was the deal of a life time. I use it all the time for pretty much everything but have always regretted not just spending the $200 that day and buying the full size Cricut.

Thank you to my wonderful friend Mrs. C3 :) for directing me to an online message board where some girls were talking about the amazing deal they found for getting the Cricut Cake. Apparently some stores were going to discontinue selling this particular model and they had them majorly clearanced down to $49.99!!!! I couldn't believe it! This is the same machine they are selling at Joanns on sale for $249 right now!

Well I ran my butt over to Michaels and if you can believe it they had ONE left. My heart racing I hurridly ran to the register to purchase my machine and it rang up for 199.99! I said this is surely mistake and the woman told me that they were not discontinuing the product so it was only on sale. I knew Mikey would be none to pleased with me purchasing something for $200 that I really didn't have to have so I sadly left.

I proceeded to sit in my care for about 10 min. debating what I should do. I then decided I was going to go back in and buy the Cricut for $200 and then take my chances and head over to my local Michaels and see if they would do a price adjustment for me. In my head I was thinking that even if they tell me I have to wait for it to be put back on the self I had nothing better to do and for the cost savings of $150 that was definitely worth it if I had to wander around the store all day!

Sure enough when I got to the different location and told them my tale of woe, that I couldn't keep it if it wasn't adjusted down, the manager took pity on me and gave me the PRICE ADJUSTMENT! I couldn't believe it. I was ecstatic. I was shaking with excitement! I got my machine home and stared at the receipt for a few min. (remember I am a SAHM I have very little excitement in my life :) I couldn't believe it. I spent the next 2 hours calling every Michaels in the Metro Detroit area trying to find another machine at any price for my SIL but there were none out there. The sale apparently started yesterday so I honestly believe I got the last one out there.

(this is proof of purchase :) - I tried to rotate the picture and it didn't work but you get the point!

I can't wait to get busy crafting. I have some vinyl letter projects in mind and can't wait to cut some AMAZING sugar cookies for Santa!

Mini-Update

Where to start! Off course right in the middle of my big living room renovation Tiny's teeth decided to come in with a vengeance! Today was the first pain free day so life was back to normal just in time for Mikey to be home. I am pretty sure he thinks I'm crazy the way I was going on about how difficult Tiny has been lately because today she was a perfect angel.

Painting is at a standstill for the moment, I painted the foyer but have stayed away from the two walls that go up really high because of the cathedral ceilings. Hopefully those will be done in the next week by someone other then myself or Mikey.

This week I have plans to make some window treatments so I will keep everyone posted on how those come out (i know you will be waiting anxiously for that!)

Not much else to report but I will leave you with a painting tip ...

always put the top back on the can of paint when not in use :)

One wall done...

too many to count left to go! I absolutely love the new color, Pebble Grey. I was half hoping I wouldn't, or that Mikey wouldn't so that I wouldn't want to paint the rest of the room... but we both love it. I feel like the whole feel of the room has changed and it doesn't help that I spent the evening moving furniture around. Everything is more open and the color is light and fresh.

A spur of the moment decision was to change the blinds. Right before I left the house today I thought, "Why don't you measure the windows." So I did, and then at the store I had them cut some really nice blinds to fit and they turned out great if I do say so myself! I only purchased blinds for one side because I figured if it didn't work then I would have only wasted money on the one side because of the custom cut I wouldn't have been able to return them. So now for the third day in a row I will be traveling to HD. Also in window news I purchased some fabric to possibly make some new window treatments... but the more I look at it without any the more I kind of like it.

Still no luck with the fireplace doors. I purchased some paint and I tried to take them off but there are some screws on the inside that are very stubborn so we will see what happens.

I don't know how I am going to decorate the mantle yet. I have been looking for an excuse to display my three Kate Spade vases so I think I am going to work them into the plan somehow.

Still lots of work ahead but at least its a start!

No turning back...

The fireplace is painted and I absolutely love it. I don't know why I didn't do it sooner but it is perfect. There is one downside... it makes me hate the red wall even more. It is kinda funny because i never "hated" the red wall. I kind of grew out of it but it didn't bother me, and then I saw the picture of the house down the street and all of a sudden I hated it! I got a few samples today that are very promising. My plan is to paint over the red and if I don't like it just suck it up and paint it the same as the other walls... or go with it and change everything. So far I am hoping for the latter.

It took all day just to paint the dang thing. Tiny was very agreeable this afternoon so that was helpful. I just dumped some toys out and turned on some DVR'ed episodes of the Wiggles and she was happy as a clam. Downside is I now have a song called "Lettuce Sing" stuck in my head.

I keep to a plan and do quite a bit of work when painting over wood. I majorly wiped down the wood with a wet sponge. After it dried I sprayed it liberally with TSP and then wiped it down again. Did some rough sanding just to give the primer something to grab on to, and then applied two coats of primer. I did two coats of the actual paint and I will probably need to do another one tomorrow just to get a really solid cover. The worst of it was these little nubs that were a total pain to paint inside of. Thankfully I bought a few sponge brushes and that definitely helped get the job done.

On the list for tomorrow is to prime and paint the wall and I am going to spray paint the fireplace door metal black. If it ends up not looking nice I will probably just buy a cheap new set of doors but I'm pretty confident it is going to work just fine.

Without further adieu, my updated fireplace. (This was next to impossible to photograph. The flash and the wet paint was glossy but hopefully this is good enough!)

to paint, or not to paint

I love our house. I really do. I have my moments but since I convinced Mikey to let me fix up the basement (or since I just walked into the store and ordered new carpet and bought a new TV on my own ;) the house feels double the size... which could be because I did double the size of livable space!

I want a new kitchen but feel like we aren't going to be in this house long enough to warrant that kind of investment so I painted the cabinets myself. Mike offered to buy me new countertops but at the last min. I got scared that I would regret spending the money on new counters for old cabinets so I changed my mind. There are plenty of little projects around the house and once I actually complete those I am sure my dad will find something new I should fix/change.

For now I have totally gotten the painting bug. I really, really want to paint the living room. When we purchased the house we had about 4 days before we were going to actually move in, and we were getting new carpet. The house desperately needed some paint so we went ahead and rushed in those 4 days to paint as much as we could while we didn't need to worry about making a mess. Also the carpet we purchased was this beautiful cream, almost white color. I loved it. So the olive/tan and the red accent wall worked. I was able to get away with the darker walls because I had this light carpet and very neutral hand-me-down furniture from my parents.

Then we got new furniture. Then we got two dogs. One year with those dogs and the carpet had to go. So we put in laminate which I LOVE, but its dark. So now here we are 3 years later, with dark floors and furniture that gives the room a whole different look. Now, I hate the paint.

(Sorry that was A LOT of backstory)

About a week ago I was telling Mike how much I would love to paint the walls a washed out grey/taupe color. Something very light. Also, that I think we should paint the fireplace white which is currently a natural wood that I hate.

Fast forward to earlier this week and the house down the street from us which is the exact same model as ours has a for sale sign in the yard. I went in and looked up the listing and there it was, my living room looking EXACTLY how I want it too.

So here is our before... Our entertainment center has these two bookcases which make it look like we have just way too much clutter! (although I think I am going to flip the tv and couches too.)

And I will keep you posted on the after... which will hopefully be sooner rather than later. I have a baby shower tomorrow but I think in the morning I am going to prep and prime the fireplace!

Baby Leggings!!

So I have problem. A shopping problem. Namely, a shopping at Target problem. I am not embarrassed to say I go to Target multiple times a week. Sometimes I don't even end up buying anything, but I just love walking around looking. I especially love the Target clearance racks, you can find some amazing deals. Most of my shopping isn't even for me, it is for Tiny. Babies aren't dolls, but you do get to dress them up however you like and make them do what you want :)The other day while checking out the children's section I found this great little pink skirt for $1.00! How can you go wrong with a $1 skirt. Naturally I bought it thinking I can of course find something to go with a pink skirt. Well today was the day and it came with a craft on the side.

It is so cold out that Tiny would need a pair of tights at least but none of her tights looked quite right. I checked my stash of knee high socks in my craft room and found the perfect pair to make some leggings with! This time I actually managed to document the process so I could share with all 2 of my readers :)

Baby Leggings!!

(There is a section at Target that has tons of different patterns of knee high socks that are $2.00 each they work best)

First take the socks and cut them just above the heal. I didn't realize it before but this was the perfect pair to use for a tutorial because of how well the pattern lines up.

Next take the foot of the sock and cut off the heal and toe portion leaving just the middle.

You take the short foot portion and fold it in half with the print side facing out. It works best if you pin the sock in place, it will make sewing much easier.

On your sewing machine put the long portion of the sock around the base pattern facing out. Then over that put your small loop over it, pattern facing out, folded side facing out. So all three cut ends are together. One straight line sewn all the way around is all there is to it. When done it helps to cut the extra fabric hanging past your sew line on the inside so that it doesn't look so bulky.

Thats all there is too it. I absolutely love these on Tiny. How cute is she... I mean are they :)

Chicken Cremosi

Nothing good ever comes from thinking about life BC (before Clara.) You just can't compare pre baby life with post. No matter how hard things get I would never want to go back to a time when Tiny wasn't around. However there are plenty of things I miss, one thing being last minute fancy dinners. It wasn't a weekly thing, but occasionally Mike and I would decide to go out for a $100 dinner on a random week night. We would get appetizers, soup, salad, dinner, dessert, and wine, the works. Well needless to say, we don't do that anymore. You don't take a baby out to a fancy restaurant at 7:30, thats when they go to bed!

Yesterday I was thinking about this which in turn made me think about one of my favorite meals, Chicken Cremosi. It is basically chicken in a white wine, lemon, cream sauce. It is heaven on a plate! While I was pregnant I was craving this for lunch one day so I was determined to find a recipe. I knew exactly what was in the sauce so I had an idea of what I was looking for and sure enough I found it. I remember the day I pulled out all the pots and pans, pan-fried the chicken, made the sauce, and a salad... all at around 12:30 in the afternoon just for myself.

I decided today I was going to make it for dinner and even invited my lovely brother-in-law over for dinner (which he rarely turns down an invitation, not because of the food, but because he loves coming to visit his favorite niece :) Sadly I don't have any pictures (booo) but I promise you this is a meal worth making.

This recipe is divided up by pan-fried chicken and then the sauce. I love pan-fried chicken for when I make Chicken Parmesan - after frying I just put it in the oven with shredded parm. for about 12 min. at 350 and its perfect!

Additional side note to cooking chicken - I always butterfly the chicken and gently pound it down. It cooks 5x faster and just looks like a nice big piece of chicken.

Country-fried Chicken

1 - egg

1 cup - milk

2 Tbl. - lemon juice

1.5 tsp. - garlic powder

1 cup - flour

1/3 cup - seasoned bread crumbs

1 tsp. - salt

1 tsp. - baking powder

1 Tbl. - steak seasoning (I use McCormick Grill Mates)

Olive Oil for cooking

In large bowl mix egg, milk, lemon juice, and garlic powder. Let chicken marinate in mixture for at least 15 min.

In a separate bowl mix flour, bread crumbs, salt, baking powder, and steak seasoning.

Add enough oil to coat the bottom of your pan and heat on Med.

Remove chicken from marinade and generously coat in breading mixture and add to frying pan. Cook each side for 4-5 min.

Cremosi Sauce

2 Tbl. - butter

2 Tbl. - flour

1/4 cup - white wine (plus extra for drinking :)

3/4 cup - heavy cream

2 Tbl. - lemon juice

salt and pepper as needed

In a small sauce pan melt butter over medium heat. Stir in flour and cook for one min.

Stir in wine, cream and lemon juice and cook until thickened and add salt and pepper to taste.

If you find the sauce too thick add wine and if it is too thin add flour.

This meal is something you can only eat about once a year and will completely ruin any diet you may be on but it is delicious. I served it with some asparagus. (and mashed potatoes... but shhh, don't tell anyone. I can feel my mothers eyes rolling already at the calorie/carb overload of this meal)

Well Tiny is in bed and Mikey is doing his laps in the basement so I am off to enjoy a documentary on the National Geographic channel I have been anxiously awaiting for about 3 weeks, "Amish at the Alter." It is all about the courting and marriage habits of the Amish, love it!

Cleaning Schedule Fun

Every so often I have a "Cleaning Schedule Week." A week were the regular picking up and laundry is not enough. This is one of those weeks. I don't know what happened but halloween weekend left me in a pile of clutter and laundry that I successfully ignored last week.

I came up with my cleaning schedule about a year ago when I was pregnant and bored. I made a list of all the things around the house I felt needed to be done and then divided them up over the week. I would love to keep to the schedule every week but it just doesn't happen, but when the house needs a good cleaning, this is the easiest way to do it!

Mikey just made fun of me for "blogging" - I should add he has been walking around the basement in circles for about 45 min... this is not a joke, he actually walks the perimeter of the basement with his ipad.

On a side project I completely cleaned out our closets and then organized Mike's clothes (suits, dress pants, dress shirts, polos, dressy polos... etc) it looks perfect. Want to know what his first words were when he saw it? "Where did all the hangers go!" He didn't see the empty hangers and thats what stood out. Men, oh well :)

Sunday

-Plan Menu

-Grocery Shop

-Clean Towels

Monday

-Dust entertainment center

-Clean Tiny's Room

-Tiny's Laundry

-Master Bath

-Clean out fridge (i clean out the fridge on Mondays because our trash comes Tuesday)

Tuesday

-Guest Bath

-Steam living room floor

(I leave tuesday a light day because thats when I usually have plans)

Wednesday

-Vacuum Master Bedroom

-Vacuum Guest Room

-Laundry

-Change Sheets

Thursday

-Wipe down cabinets (I have white cabinets so they get marks)

-Cat Litter

-Wipe down baseboards

Friday

-Vacuum Furniture

-Steam Living Room

-Steam Kitchen

I know a lot of girls use cleaning schedules or are always looking for different ones to try so hopefully this can help :)

(It has been 15 min and mike is still walking in circles... its sad, but if you know him this would not at all surprise you.)

Other than cleaning Tiny and I made a trip out to Target for some much needed baby gates. She likes crawling up the stairs way too much! I seriously have not only the cutest baby in the world, but the happiest.

ps. It has been over an hour and Mikey is still walking...

Goodbye Cider and Donuts

Well cider season is coming to an end. Yes, I know I CAN get cider anytime of year if I just drive the .5 miles to Meijer. However, little compares to fresh from the mill cider and hot from the oven donuts. I took a lovely trip out to BFE Plymouth to meet some friends at Plymouth Orchards (the things I do for my bestie :) It was definitely worth it though. It was the last day this particular cider mill was open and it couldn't have been a more beautiful day. We ate, laughed, and walked the petting farm. Perfect Sunday.... well almost perfect, I could have gone to Yates.

Off to enjoy Sunday night with my three favorite men, Mikey, Dexter, and Nucky.

Lazy Saturday

My daughter continues to scare the heck out of me. In the blink of an eye she made it half way up the stairs. We usually have it blocked off and I swear its like she always has one eye on them and the second it is open she books it! I will be installing one of those permanent baby gates tomorrow, the kind that screw into the wall and swing open like a door. The child needs to be stopped!

In other Tiny news bath time this evening was a blast... sort of. I am not sure what happened over the last few days but when I put her in the tub she had a serious freak out. She usually loves the water and most nights I can just sit on the floor next to the tub and read a magazine while she splashes and plays. Not tonight. I have to admit I was laughing hysterically because while my daughter was getting tortured by the bubble bath she was grasping on to me with all her might. She wouldn't let go and it was honestly the cutest thing ever.

In craft updates I finally painted my $7 chair I purchased at a garage sale. It was in awful condition, the wood needed some glue and the cushions were torn and needed to be repaired. The price and look of the chair was perfect though, low to the ground so I figured it would be a good chair for Tiny's room. Well I fixed the chair, primed it, and today got the paint taken care of. I had "reupholstered" the cushions about a week or so ago with some great clearance fabric I found. I use quotes because I didn't really reupholster them, more just made some finished off pillow cases. They turned out perfect so I'm not complaining! Pictures to come tomorrow when it is finally finished!

Not a lot on the table for tonight. I rented Get Him to the Greek because we had heard some good things about it, plus I got it in blue-ray from the redbox so that makes it even better.

Just for fun here is a nice picture of Tiny I took yesterday. She has pretty much free reign in the basement and of course of all the toys in the world this is where she ends up...

Be Thankful

No matter what the ups and downs of life are, I have so much to be thankful for! As the Halloween decorations came down the other day I found myself a little bummed that I didn't have anything to put up! Its way to early for Christmas decorations (although I did think about it for a moment.) I was determined to find something Thanksgiving related. I found this project and thought it would be perfect!

This was a great one day project, it only took me a couple hours (including the numerous breaks for playtime with Tiny) Sorry for the crafters that like step-by-step tutorials on how to do projects, but I don't have them! Its more to share the idea because you can take the concept and really make it your own. Mine looks nothing like the inspiration for it, but it does have words and a string with pictures.

I found this great finished board at Hobby Lobby for $3 that even had the wall hanging fixtures on the back. The wooden letters were .50 each but total worth it. I love how loopy they are and that the heights are all different. I bought the cheapest acrylic paint they had that was .66 and it worked perfect. I had the scrapbook paper on hand, as well as mod podge and some foam brushes.

I painted the letters which was much more difficult than I had anticipated. The curls on the letters were a hassle to paint! I suggest waiting about 20 min. and then doing another coat because this wood really absorbs the paint and gives it a dull color. After painting I added a thin layer of mod podge just to give it a finished gloss look. Plus it really smoothes out the feel of the painted wood.

While letting the letters dry I took my board and used a wood stapler to attach my thin blue twine. You can pretty much figure out any way to attach the twine it isn't going to need to hold much weight.

Next I cut my scrapbook paper and mod podged it on the board. After that all you have to do is attach the letters, I used some tacky glue I had lying around.

Thats it! You can use anything you want to attach the pictures, I think I'm going to go back and paint the mini clothespins but you could even use colored paper clips if you wanted.

I am going to pick out some cute pictures to use, I am thankful for more than my baby and cat. To be honest that isn't even my favorite cat, let alone my favorite pet :)

Well I am off to enjoy my exciting Friday night full relaxing on the couch with the hubs!

White Bean Chicken Chili

This is NOT a food blog. I do not pretend to know what I am doing in the kitchen. God so kindly blessed me with a husband that will literally eat anything and everything that I give him so I keep cooking around my house very simple.

I mentioned Monday I was going to make this... well something came up. Then I was convinced I was going to make this Tuesday... then something came up. So I was determined to make this recipe today. It could not be any easier and I knew many of my friends could benefit from a nice easy dinner recipe! (This is also a great meal to make on Sunday that will taste just as good reheated during the week when you might not have time to cook :)

3 Main Ingredients - Rotisserie Chicken, Jar of Salsa, Jar of Beans (I use Randall)

Dump the whole jar of beans, and the whole jar of salsa right into a large pot. Take your rotisserie chicken and just shred the meat right off the bones. I use my hands, and the hardest part is trying to not snack on the delicious skin while disposing of it along with the bones. Add 1 tsp of Cumin, and 1 tsp of Chili powder and let simmer for 2 hours on low. Thats it. No joke.

I choose to use a Thick and Chunky style salsa, this way we get some onions, tomatoes, peppers mixed in. If you like a really high volume of veggies you could always add more. Mike is a fan of corn and I have debated adding a can of corn, but I'm not a fan... so I don't.

Tiny was hanging out next to me while I was shredding the chicken at the stove. She could not have been more entertained with herself as she realized how to open and close the cabinets. I am really regretting the numerous hours I spent trying to uninstall all the childproofing fixtures 3 years ago when we first moved in...

Right before serving I like to melt in about a cup of monterey jack cheese. Definitely a personal taste thing. I serve this with sour cream and tortillas. Ta-da!

On a side note - for the thrifty ladies this is a great meal that feeds a family for very little. The total cost for the chicken, salsa, beans, sour cream, tortillas, and cheese was $12. My mom always made this recipe for a family of 5 and when I make it we have plenty of leftovers!

Enjoy!

Ikea Trip

Such a great couple days. Life is never boring and rarely slows down around here. For three days I have been craving White Bean Chicken Chili and due to things popping up we haven't even had dinner at home the last couple days. Hopefully tonight I will be able to get back in the kitchen!

Also on a food related note, yesterday I went out to Ikea and had a great find in the way of Christmas presents for Tiny! They have these great felt food sets that are so reasonably priced I couldn't pass them up! I have been thinking about making some of my own and have found some really good tutorials but in the end when you factor in felt, thread(sounds silly but they all have to match to get a really good look) and then the time and trial and error factor of making them for the first time you will understand why I went with these.

The fruit and vegetable sets were 7.99, while the breakfast set was only 4.99! They are the perfect size for her little hands without being any kind of choking hazard.

Today I have a trip to target and meijer on the to-do list and then some cleaning, very exciting!