Sweets for your Sweetie

Can you believe we’re only a few weeks away from Valentine’s Day?   Me either!   Time seems to go by so fast lately.    

My husband and I both have a sweet tooth (or would that be sweet teeth?)…anyway we like to have something sweet to eat after dinner at night but since we’re trying to eat a little healthier trips to the Dairy Queen just don’t figure into a healthier lifestyle!   I have a few recipes that are good but not as fattening as those Blizzards or Chocolate Turtle Bowls!  

Here’s a recipe that a friend gave me when we both were doing Weight Watchers.    I don’t remember how many points each slice is but I would think no more than 4 points.     

 

Lemon Pie

• 1 1/2 cups skim milk (or 2% milk)
• 1/2 tub crystal light lemonade (not the whole tub) – (I used 1 1/2 sleeves of the individual servings which I had on hand)
• 1 large box instant fat free sugar free vanilla pudding
• 8 oz. fat free Cool Whip
• Reduced fat graham cracker crust

Mix lemonade and dry pudding mix together then add milk.   Fold in Cool Whip and pour into pie crust.    Refrigerate for about an hour and serve!

 

New Foyer Rug

I recently shared a lamp shade makeover I did for my foyer lamp.    Since I was using black & white/cremes I knew I would have to replace the old rug we’d had in there for years.    I never liked that rug at all…my husband bid on it at an auction and bought it for something like $5.00….yeah, so that should give you an idea of what it looked like.    Really, it wasn’t that bad but just not my style and certainly didn’t “go” with my new black & white color scheme.    It was too contemporary for me anyway…I’m more a traditional kinda girl!

I started looking on line and found several that I liked.    My good friend Kelly over at Talk of the House even went the extra mile and sent me some links….btw, if you aren’t familiar with Kelly’s blog, please be sure to check it out….you’ll thank me later!

I’ve had good luck in the past buying rugs from Overstock.com so that’s where I found my new rug.    And although it could be a little bit bigger, it is perfect in my foyer.   

Still a little “lumpy” but that will settle down in a few days

 

It’s more crème than white but I think that makes it looks more expensive

 

I was able to get this rug with a credit I had at Overstock for a little over $30!    That’s my kind of deal.   

 

 

See how it “goes” with the lamp?    

I’m now officially “done” in my foyer.    I added some black frames with white mats on the wall and need to add some family photos to them but other than that, I’m really pleased at this quick little makeover.

Here’s what I did to achieve this very affordable facelift:

1.    Recovered an existing lampshade with black and white check fabric

2.    Bought a new rug

3.    Used an existing white vase and added some greenery I had on hand

4.    Added black frames with white mats (already owned) on the walls

So for less than $50.00 I got an entire new look for my foyer!     I think I got a lot of bang for my buck.

Next project will be making a burlap runner for the dining room….hope to start working on that this weekend

The Girls

 

Okay, ladies, today I decided I’d do something I’ve never done before (or at least haven’t done in a long time)…I went to be “professionally” measured for a new bra.    Since I’ve entered my “mature years” my body shape has changed and I’ve gained some weight and I was tired of buying and wearing those cheapies I’d pick up at Wal Mart (I can’t believe I admitted that)….although Wal Mart does have some cute ones.

I also wanted a little more support for “the girls” but still have some pretty undergarments without looking all “granny like”.    I ended up with a nude one and a leopard one….I know, my wild side is coming out.      The leopard one is very tasteful but pretty and the nude one I can wear with just about anything.    

Now I just have to do something about my granny panties…..just joking (maybe)!

Dinner and a….Wreck?!

 

 

Last night as we set out for a nice dinner we were involved in a hit and run!    The car that hit us had first come straight across where we were when he was originally sitting in a turn lane…I saw him pull up next to us which blocked our line of vision to merge into the traffic so my husband said he was just going to let the guy go first….all of a sudden I looked over and said “he’s going to hit us” and about that time he plowed into my side of the car…BAM!    I was scrambling over to my husband’s side (driver) as it appeared the car was going to keep coming into my side of the car.    When it all ended my husband got out and I could hear shouting coming from the other car….these days you don’t know what anyone might do so I begged my husband to not say anything but just see about the damage.    I tried calling 911 but was so shook up I couldn’t so I handed my cell phone to my husband and we called the police.    About that time, the driver of other car said he was going to “turn around” and sped off, then made a U-turn and took off down the street where he had just come from!    We got a partial tag number, description of the car and the driver and his passenger….I have never been involved in anything like this!     Thankfully no one was hurt but I’m a little sore today and sitting with a heating pad on my shoulders.     The police think they may be able to track down the owner of the car with the partial tag and description of the car….I hope they do!    The guy probably didn’t have insurance or possibly didn’t have a license…he may even have some warrants out for him….why would he run?

We’ll be taking the car for an estimate tomorrow and getting in touch with our agent so we can start the process of getting our car fixed.    We had just talked on Friday night about taking a little vacation next month so hopefully the body shop can get our car fixed before then.    

So…how was YOUR weekend?

Valentine’s Day Love Banner

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner (a month from today!) I decided to make a little banner for my mantle.    I don’t usually decorate for Valentine’s Day but this year thought I’d do a few things.     I’ve made banners before (here & here) so I knew this would be a quick & easy and no-cost project (the best kind!).    I just cut out my triangles from my template and stenciled “Love” on it.   I wanted to do something a little different so I made the “O” out of a heart.     I ran off a heart pattern on my printer, cut it out and used it as my stencil…..there was a little mistake that you’ll see at the bottom of the heart where the paint smudged under the bottom of the heart but I didn’t think it looked too bad so I left it.     It adds character, right?  

 

 

Maybe I’ll call this my “question mark heart”!  (Ha ha)

 

I haven’t sewed it together yet but just wanted to give you a little preview of how it looks.    I’ll sew it onto twine and use some Valentine ribbon to tie on the ends.

I also found some chalkboard subway art and ran it off to use on my mantle as well.

(source)

My daughter always tells the twins “I Love You To The Moon and Back” so when I saw this I knew it was perfect!

How do you decorate for Valentine’s Day….do you go “all out” or just do a little bit?    I’d “love” to know!

Ballard Inspired Lamp Shade

Now that Christmas is over, I wanted to make a few changes around the house.      I’ve been studying a lot of my Pinterest boards and found that while I love the all white look, black and white really speak to me.    Fortunately, I have a lot of black & white accessories so I decided I’d incorporate those colors throughout the house for a cohesive look.   

“They” say that your foyer, which is usually the first room people see when they come into your home, should give an impression of what is in the rest of the house.    I decided to ramp up my foyer table by adding a new lamp and lamp shade.    The lamp that had been on the foyer table for years was a yard sale find which had served it purpose so I wanted to replace the lamp and use some things I had around the house so this would be a fairly cost effective change.    I found a lamp at my favorite flea market and used a drum shade off another lamp I had (of course, now I have to replace that shade!).    

I’d seen a black and white check shade in the Ballard's catalog but it was waaaay more than I was willing to pay.   I can’t find it on line or in their catalog so I don’t know if they still offer it….both reasons to make one.

There are numerous tutorials on line about covering a lamp shade so I didn’t photograph the steps.    Since the shade I was covering was a drum shade, it was very easy to just cut a piece a little bigger than the shade without having to make a pattern.     After cutting out my piece of fabric, I folded over the top and bottom and pressed it to have a smooth edge.   

 

Then I just hot glued it around the top and bottom edges.

I tried to keep it smooth but after it was all glued down, there were a few wrinkles and the edges didn’t come out as smooth as I wanted.    So I added a piece of trim to the edges.

 

I think it adds a nice finish.    (There was still a wrinkled place but hopefully no one will notice once it’s on the lamp)

Want to see how it looks?    

 

 

Everything on the table I already had.    The only thing this “makeover” cost was the flea market lamp base.

 

 

When my husband came in tonight he even said he liked it!   He either doesn’t notice anything new or doesn’t comment.

I put some old books under the cloche and added a little frame with our initial.    I’ll probably change out the computer printed monogram but since I was trying to use what I had, I just went with it.

 

 

I also added some black and white frames to the mantle and a piece of subway art…of course I need to add a picture to the large white frame.

 

 

I really love how the mantle looks so it will probably stay like this for a while.   See that pretty little shell?    My sweet granddaughter gave that to me at Christmas…she said she picked it up last summer at the beach and knew how much I loved shells!    Sweetness, I tell ya!

Next on my radar is making a burlap runner for the dining room table.    Since I’ve been in “project mode” lately, I hope I can get it cut out and made while I’m in the mood!

If you read my blog lately, you know my SIL went to Miami for the Alabama-Notre Dame game.    He is a H-U-G-E Alabama fan while the rest of us are Auburn fans.     I do want to offer my congratulations to Alabama for a fantastic game….this means our state has won the last 4 BCS Championship games!   

Back In The Saddle (I Hope!)

I’ve been on a somewhat self-imposed blog break for several reasons.    First of all, my husband has been on vacation for the past 3 weeks….let me just say, he can never retire!   My goodness, did that ever upset my little routine!    I enjoy him being home but enough is enough !     Then my mom had a fall which meant time spent in the ER but we were lucky that she only came out with a bruised forehead and black eye.   I came down with a terrible cold on Christmas Day and am just now getting over it….suffice it to say that I’ve just not felt like doing anything!

I’ve had a few little things I’ve been wanting to do around the house and now that he (finally) went back to work and I’m hopefully on the road to feeling better, I’m ready to get started on doing some little projects.    One thing I’ve been wanting to make is a burlap runner for our dining room table.    I bought a length of burlap today for that as well as some fabric to recover a lampshade.     Just a few things to make some little changes around the house.     Just as soon as I get these two things done, I’ll be sure to share them with you.

My grandchildren start back to school tomorrow.    I’ve kept Taylor a good bit, Jackson stayed at work with his mom and dad (they own a business here in town).     Today was her last day with me so we did some special things….she painted a birdhouse and we went to lunch at her favorite restaurant.     I love that she likes spending time with me (and her Pop) as I’m sure there will come a day in a few years she won’t think it’s “cool” to be with us.     So for now, I’m going to enjoy every minute.

On a different note, we are all big Auburn fans except for my my son-in-law who is a huge Alabama fan.    He’s actually in Miami for the Alabama-Notre Dame game tonight.    He flew down with his brother and two other guys…none of them had tickets for the game.     My daughter just called and he was able to buy a ticket….to the tune of $500!     Thankfully he got some Christmas money from his parents so that’s how he spent that.     

It feels good to be back….I’ve missed you all!