The Failure in Me

I pride myself on always being able to prepare the most delicious, scrumptious desserts around! Whenever we have company to our home I am an extra special effort to have something sweet available for their delight. I've been complimented countless times for my Frozen Berry Delight or my Heaven in a Cup.

Well the time for my humbling has arrived.

I spent the most of my afternoon running around doing errands then came home to bake a simple, delicious pie. I thought instead of the traditional apple pie with a top crust, I would attempt a dutch apple pie with crumble on top... 

I should have known better than to try something new. 

I follow the recipe posted from The Art of Natural Living. As you can see the pie is supposed to look something like this: 

I made it through the pie faze, the apples were juicy and perfect and the crust was pre-made so I didn't have to spend hours fighting with it. When I got to the crumble part on top I read the recipe as follows on her site: (someone please correct me if I'm wrong.)

Streusel Topping

• 1 c flour
• 1/2 c brown sugar
• 1/2 c butter

Directions 

• Mix streusel ingredients (I used my fingers) lightly until they come together in crumbly pea-sized pieces.  Top the apples with the streusel topping.

I set my oven to the correct temp and let it preheat all the way. I then placed my pie on the rack in the middle of the oven to bake. A little later I came back to check on it, making sure no juices were getting over the pan, and low and behold this is what I found...

 Yuck... Please note this picture was taken AFTER the topping was placed on the apples and baked for 30 minutes. Everything... melted and dropped into the apples... 

My only conclusion is that this lady's recipe is flawed... I mean how wrong can you go with three ingredients? So I'm out a bag of apples, lots of sugar, and a little bit of my pride... 

Will I EVER be able to make a pie successfully?

Grab Green Disposal Pods

One of my favorite features of our home is the Garbage Disposal system in our Kitchen Sink. I never thought I would ever use one in my life - so I feel slightly spoiled.

However - Sometimes I'll wake up in the morning to a horrid stench coming from the kitchen... 

The Culprit? 

Mr. Garbage Disposal, in the Kitchen, with the Sink!

I began my search for a green solution to defeating the horrid monster stench that I could make myself. I came across the idea of using Ice Cubes filled with a mixture of Vinegar and Lemon Peels that has brought the stench to it's knees. 

One simple drop of an ice cube (stored in a sealed, freezer-safe container), a little hot water, and a lot of loud grinding and the job is done!

Ingredients: 

The peels from 2-3 lemons

1.5 cups of Distilled Vinegar

Directions: 

Chop Peels into small slices and add 1-2 to each cube tray

Pour vinegar evenly into every cube tray

Place tray in freeze and let freeze

Remove cubes into a gallon sized freezer bag for storage. 

And it's that simple! I only use one cube each time so they last me forever. Hope you enjoy this green solution for your disposal monster. 

New Wreath

Last month I showed you my multipurpose wreath - well summer came and went and the red-white-blue needed to go. I had some extra garland from the bow we made for the welcome sign so I used that plus some pine cones left over from my centerpiece on the table.

It's not the greatest in the world but it makes it feel a little more home-like when someone knocks on the door.

 

Here is the welcome sign with the same ribbon used for a bow. My mom was so gracious to help with this artistic touch... 

My Spot

In an ever-changing world it is a single point of consistency; 

to sit and read and listen to God...

Multipurpose Wreath

Here's a DIY project I've wanted to post for a while but... well... I've been lazy. Here is a great multipurpose wreath I made for our front door. What I love most is I can take it apart each season/holiday and make it into something new using the mostly the same materials.

Check out my super duper cool Clothes Pin Wreath!

1 wire wreath
A bag of Clothes Pins
Red, White, and Blue paint

Painted appropriate amount of clothes pins in the right colors

 

 Voila! 

Now that the summer is over and fall is upon us, I'm looking to try something new... Check out these cool ideas on how to reuse the wire wreath idea!

 

 

From Allthingskatiemarie.blogspot.com

From kiflieslevendula.blogspot.ca

Let me know which one you like more in the comments and I'll take a stab at it.

Dining Room Makeover

Earlier, in my Steal a Deal post, I showed you all the beautiful light fixture I got for a steal at Lowes. This is part of our home-makeover I mentioned in Home is Where the Heart Is. With a Please and a Kiss I convinced Eric to install the new fixture this evening for us and WHAT A DIFFERENCE!!

Here are some pictures of our dining room makeover for your enjoyment.

Before

During

After

Everything feels so much warmer. With the open concept into the living room, the warm light from the new fixture just makes everything so much more at-home! Thanks Eric for helping me and putting up with my oh-maybe-it-should-go-over-there-ness.

Total price of this makeover:
Mirror $25
Fixture $17
Centerpiece $3 (a thrift find!)
Tablecloth $8

Total: $53

More makeovers to come!

Steal A Deal

Friday is my thrifting day. You can read all about my thrifting tips in my Thrifty Housewife post. After dropping Eric at work, it's off to the thrift shop! The ladies there have started to know me by name... and snag me good deals. Today I went in searching for a few key items to add to our home decor. I really only came out with one "home" item but it was still a good deal!

Check it out!

The Throw Pillow came in at $1.45, the clothes at $5.00 and the iron board $2.02 (and it's the perfect size for our tiny place). I'm excited about the maxi dress as it is the first one I have ever worn and it's so cute!!

I'm not sure what the Akerman t-shirt is... I found a law firm in our area with the name. But the shirt was almost new and super cheap. Just one more to add to the closet makeover!

Next I headed to Lowes. I talked yesterday about the updating we are doing to our Condo to make it feel more at-home for us in my Home is Where the Heart is post. My mom and I did a little research and found a few light fixtures on sale online. I found the one I liked the most at Lowes today but it wasn't on sale in store :( but that didn't stop me...

I asked the electrician to check the price online and sure enough it was on sale!! Then trouble #2 arose as they didn't have any in stock...BUT there was one on Display! He ended up selling me the whole fixture for $17.00 even, a $54.96 difference (enter shocked face here).

So those are my Steal a Deals for today. Maybe I'll update later with pictures of Eric hanging the light... (best deal ever, I buy - he installs).

Home is Where the Heart Is

Lately I have been getting antsy in our little condo. I feel like I keep hitting the same four walls over and over again. A few months ago a small home a block away went on the market. I walked Eric over to the home and showed him the cute blue shutters, the beautiful yard, and we found the floor plan on the relator website.

I fell in love.

After crunching the numbers and applying some Dave Ramsey principles to the imaginary scenario, we decided now was not a good time to buy. So then what? Stay in our Condo longer?

God has really blessed us with our location. We have the lowest rent in the entire area, including our amenities and the location is so central to everything we need. So we decided to put a little money into making it more at-home. Here are a few pictures I took to show what we've started to do this week <3

Curtains to dress the sliding doors to our deck

I found this super cute pillow for our bench outside at the thrift shop for 5$. I thought it was a nice addition! We hope to add a two seat table out here in the next few months for evening dinners in the cool winter weather. 

 Now that the dog's cage is gone from this corner I put out our shelf for our books, cooking magazines, and a few pictures. I'm happy for the extra storage space!

Mom got us this beautiful mirror for a steal while she was visiting. We moved the clock to the thermostat wall and hung the mirror to add more light to that side of the Condo.We added a table cloth and a centerpiece for holiday flare.

Added some Word Art to the entry wall. Eventually we'll add a second item to this wall to balance it out.

 

Lastly we added a bow for holiday flare on our welcome sign. I hope to make our burlap wreath soon for the front door. 

Hope you like the changes! Feel free to stop on by any time and have a visit by the pool!

Fall Cleaning

Yesterday I talked about cleaning out my closets in my Motivation Tuesday Post. I was able to remove over 4 bags of useless-to-me items. Somehow this whole event triggered my fall cleaning. I guess it was a good time; the dogs are all gone now, mom was here to help, and frankly it needed to be done!

What a crazy day! I mentioned to my mom that we wanted to clean the carpet once the dogs were gone so today we rented our own rug doctor from the Home Depot. Did you know you could RENT these? I was impressed. 

We tackled the bedroom first and cleared the entire area, with mom's help! 

It made for a great mess in the living room...

I made sure to wash the floorboards (you know, while I'm at it) and then commenced the water vacuum!

Once the room was done I had to take mom to the airport (sniff sniff) so Eric and I finished up this evening with the living room carpet and the car as well.  I'm always trying to make the most of our money $$$

Now to let everything dry and put it all away tomorrow. Have I mentioned I love clean carpets? 

I must admit, after 91 degree weather all day, the cold shower was very rewarding at the end of it all. More pictures to come tomorrow of the whole apartment completed.