Quick Dinner Idea--Mexcian Casserole

Yeah, tonight was one of those nights where I wasn't sure what to make for dinner, didn't have a ton of things left in the house and my keys were all but calling out to me to head out to the nearest McDonald's. At the last minute I rallied, and so can you. This dinner will take--from start to finish-- 30 minutes, I swear it. And the result was a meal that even my 20 month old ate. Winning.

Mexican Casserole

Serves 4-6

30 minutes

Ingredients
1 can enchilada sauce
1 can sweet corn
1 can black beans
1 can chopped tomatoes with chiles
1 lb. ground turkey (or beef)
1 packet taco seasoning
1 package of corn tortillas
1 12 oz bag of shredded cheese
cilantro, chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, chopped (optional) 
1 avocado, cubed (optional) 

Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees F. In a skillet, cook the ground turkey and add the taco seasoning. If your family likes spicy, add in the jalapeno pepper too. 

In a 9x13 pan, lightly grease the sides so nothing sticks. Add a tiny bit of your enchilada sauce to the bottom, enough to coat it. Take the stack of tortillas and slice them into 1 inch strips, then lie the strips out along the bottom of the pan. Add half of your cooked and seasoned ground turkey on top of this, followed by half the can of beans, sweet corn, tomatoes and then drizzle half the can of enchilada sauce over it all. Add half the bag of cheese. Now add the rest of enchilada sauce, then the tortilla strips followed by the other ingredients in the same order. Top with cheese and cilantro. Put it in the oven for 10 minutes or until the cheese is nice and melted. Add the avocado on top.

Enjoy!

Amazingly Simple Potato Soup

This soup is a family favorite! A lot of recipes call for flour or heavy cream to thicken potato soup, but I have found that by veggie loading and sticking to whole milk, (which I always have on hand with a toddler around), you can create a yummy thick and nutritious soup.

Cheesy Potato Soup

serves 4

40 min total

1 bag of red potatoes, skinned and cubed
16 oz of chicken broth
3 cups whole milk
8 oz shredded cheddar cheese
1 or 2 zucchini, chopped
2 cups carrots, chopped
2 cups broccoli
pepper
parsley
onion powder (or chop up 1 onion)
green onions, diced
bacon bits

Throw your potatoes, veggies, spices and chicken broth into a pot. Keep at a boil until the potatoes and veggies are tender. Take a potato masher and mash the potatoes in the pot as much as you can. Add in the milk. Heat until it reaches a boil, then bring it down to a simmer. Add in the cheese, stirring. Serve with green onions, cheese, and bacon bits sprinkled on top.

DIY Crate Bookshelf

Sometimes you just need a project. When it's functional, even better. I loved the idea of a crate shelving unit, so I endeavored to make my own. It definitely serves a purpose in my office right now, but I can see this being used in a bathroom or anywhere! 
 
The whole thing cost less than $30, as all I needed to buy was the crates and castor wheels (the rest I had from other projects). 

I used these too (wood glue not pictured! Sorry).

 

And 4 of these if you want wheels.

• I started by sanding the crates down to remove the rough edges.
• Then I applied wood glue along every board that was touching. I didn't have any clamps, but the weight of the crates, one stacked upon the other, seemed to do the trick. TIP: IMMEDIATELY clean up the glue if any drips off, because stain will not stick to dried glue!
• I nailed finishing nails on an angle to help adhere the crates together. I'm not sure if this was really necessary, but it made me feel better.

 At this point, this is what it looked like:

• Apply the stain. I used 1 coat only. Let it dry.
• Apply the white paint using a dry brush. TIP: This took a lot of work. There were definitely some oops moments, but since I was going for the really distressed beach look, I didn't mind. Sand down the spots that need more distressing.

• Apply the polycrylic coat. (I didn't want the yellowing effect of polyurethane). I did this 3 times. While I used the spray can, I bet the liter version in can would be just as nice. 
• Adhere the castor wheels. (Sorry, no picture of this. You will need screws and a drill for installing the wheels). 

And done!!

Updating Door Handles With Spray Paint

I have definitely hit that point where there are no more big, budget friendly things left to do in our home. This leaves me detail work. Itching for change, I found a brief tutorial for spraying painting door handles that I had to try, given that our home has nothing but the dated, cheap, gold builder-grade door handles (yuck!). My friends recently built a home and spent lots of money upgrading the basic gold colored handles for silver finish. I say, why bother? I can upgrade myself for cheaper!

I didn't even bother to discuss this project with the hubby (thankfully, that turned out ok). I made my way over to the hardware store to pick up a can of Rust-Oleum Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint for less than $7. Winning.

Round 1) I got home, and unable to contain myself, immediately started to remove door handles and paint. Since this paint is a primer and paint in one, I didn't bother sanding or any prep work  other than taping off some of the innards of the door handle (the blog writer mentioned you didn't have to sand, so I took her word for it). I did 2 coats. The hardest part was having the patience to let everything sit for another 24 hours (per instructions on the can), as I really, really wanted to reinstall it and admire. TIP: I had to paint everything in the garage, where it is warm and humid, being summer. 24 hours was not enough time. While the paint was dry, it was sticky to the touch at times, which means it needed more time to cure. I didn't bother reinstalling until 3-4 days later. Yeah, I know. That's a long time.  But we don't want your hard work to be mucked up.

With that said, this is not a quick, boom-you're-done project. It took me 2 weeks to complete, most of that being drying time. There were no less than 9 doors in our home (2 handles/door), plus lots of pulls and hardware for sliding doors. 

Round 2) For the next set of doors, instead of taping off parts, I used a homemade-jig with an overturned egg carton and stuck the handles into it. It worked! I was able to spray 360 degrees around the handle. I even included our front door handle, which shows some serious wear. TIP: A warning, if you paint the front door handle, make sure you are home while it is drying and preferably, you have another lock in place to secure the door. We do, which is why I felt safe enough to get away with taking it out temporarily. That and we have a big dog!

Unpainted handles with egg carton jig

First coat down, one more to go and LOTS of drying time.

At this point, I had only used 1 can of spray paint for 5 doors + hardware, so I can attest that your $7 goes a long way.  

Painted and pretty

IMPORTANT TIPS 
(read me!!!)

• If your door handles are like mine, they will have the same color screws as the handle securing them to the door. Also, there is a little piece called the strike plate that is screwed into the door frame (it's the thing the bolt scrapes past when you open and shut the door). Yep, you'll have to take those out and spray paint those too, unless you like multicolored metals.
• We have A LOT of door handles in our home, plus hardware for the pantry, etc. I would make everything the same, so this is a project you have to commit.
• I highly recommend some sort of jig. If I had a place to hang the handles for spray painting, I might have tried that too. 
• When reinstalling the handles, the screwdriver hit against the handle a bit. On my first try, this scuffed up my new paint job (granted, it wasn't as dry as it should have been). The next time I took a thin dish towel, laid it over the handle to protect it, then installed the screws. No damage, worked great.  

Ta Da! I love the result. So far, none of the doors handles have shown wear from everyday abuse. Amazing what you can do with a can of spray paint!

Carseat Cooler Adventures & Modifications

I found the car seat cooler idea and had to give it a try. Summer is scorching here, and poor baby girl is usually really sweaty from having to sit in a hot seat despite me blasting the AC. I followed the tutorial's measurements mostly but had some trouble that involved swear words and the seam ripper. In the end, I sketched out the design I wish I had used. If you purchase the ice packs ($1.99 for 2) from Target that I mention below, then this is the plan for you.

My modified design. Hope it helps!

I will upload a picture of a version using this blueprint soon.

DIY Kid's Book (Junk) Tote for the Car

Fell in love with this idea:

Inspiration

My version!

The only tutorial I found for making these was a bit vague, so here’s my attempt for a version for sewing-impaired people like myself to get through this project.

Need:

1 yard heavier fabric (front and back pieces)

1 yard colorful fabric

1 yard of colorful coordinating fabric (to make bias tape, but you can buy this as well)

I was able to use scraps from other projects, so try to do that first if you want to be more cost efficient!

Time: approximately 2 hours 

Design

1.       Cut the fabric out. Here’s my design with lots of colors so you can differentiate the different pieces. Obviously, if there is a x#, then you need multiples of that size. NOTE: So I’m not doing the bias tape bit like it’s supposed to be done at all, the reason being I simply didn’t have enough fabric of that color and I wasn’t going to buy more stuff for this project. So you amazing sew-ers, try not to cringe too much as I get through this in a modified way…haha. Great tutorial to learn how to make bias tape found here.

  

2.       Iron. I hate this step. I’ve skipped it on other projects only to realize how much it would have helped. You need to iron the fake-bias tape strips and handle/ties into shape. Just suck it up and go for it. 30 minutes of work and it will make your life so much easier.

3.       Sew on the ironed bias tape strips to the tops of your pocket pieces. Following my design, you should be using 4 of the 6 you made.

4.       Arrange the pockets and pin the sides. Sew the bottom ONLY of each pocket to the back layer. SKIP the last pocket bottom, but leave it pinned. You’ll get to it later.

5.       NOW you will sew the sides down and bottom-most pocket. Remember to leave the top open!

Close-up

I know. It looks sloppy and gross. Patience.

.    6. Tie/handle time! If you want to make it easier, just buy ribbon. I didn’t have any on hand, so here we go. Sew the edges along all sides.

7.       Time to add the back pieces. Your pocket/print side up, put the back down (right sides facing). Pin and sew along the edges and bottom, leaving the top open.

8.       Here’s the tricky part. You should have sock-like looking thing with pockets facing inward. Pin the handles downwards INSIDE and on the back piece. Sew them into place and backstitch over them. Now turn your project so everything looks as it should (pockets facing outwards). NOTE: In theory, you could end the project here since you have those nice, turned edges. I choose to add some extra fabric cuteness, but you could top stitch around the outside and call it done. 

9.       Add the top bias tape piece to seal those open top edges and then sew more along the sides and bottom. DONE!! (phew!)   

  

Moving into the car shortly!

Are YOU this Facebook person???

Facebook is one of those things where I definitely have a soapbox to stand on. As one of the original users (i.e., it came out when I was in college when it was only meant for college students), it has been interesting (read: disappointing) to see how much the social media site has transformed. Instead of being a way to contact classmates to figure out schedules and when to meet for a project, my nearly 60-year-old mom is now posting like a tween, and I'm seriously contemplating blocking her feed to give myself some peace.

In fact, I have been contemplating exiting the FB world for awhile now. I hang on, perhaps hypocritically, because there really are a few "friends" (and I mean this sincerely, not the type most people have met sort-of and add to their collections like notches on a bedpost), that I do not want to lose contact with again. Still though, while browsing through their feeds, I ask myself, why do I endure this once-a-week browsing torture? I don't know. My experience has been greatly altered by the following. If you are one of these people, shame on you.

1) Child-Pimp 
You post every. little. damn. thing. your child does or says. We get it. You think your kid is cute. My little girl is cute too, but you know what? All that matters is that I think she is, because I'm her mom. I don't need the whole world to clap with me, and neither does she. I'm not going to add one more child to the ranks of a narcissistic population. Stop advertising your child and experiences online. 

This goes for all of you who post pictures of your kids, often daily. If you want to send something to Grandma and Grandpa, by all means, shoot them an email. I don't need to see pictures of your child's face smeared in food, jumping in leaves or posing with a not-so-attractive mug for the thousandth time.  

2) Obsessed Bride
I get that you're engaged. Or newly-wed. And that you're oh-so-pretty and it was such a happy, lovely day. Honestly, if you're going to torture the rest of us with your wedding album, (which is cruel considering most people are NOT enjoying marital bliss at the moment you are), make it ONE album and be done with it. I don't need to see MORE daily pictures 6 months after your vows. Get over yourself and your relationship.

On the same note, please, for the love of God, stop with the wedding day countdown. Honestly, do you have any self respect, or is your entire identity wrapped up in one person and one day that can't possibly meet your expectations? If everyone on your Facebook friends list is invited, then it's redundant to do a countdown, and if they aren't, then shame on you for reminding them of that fact.

3) Weight Loss Junkie
I applaud your efforts to diet. I don't like that you need everyone to rally around you with "awesome" and "go you" remarks. If you are going to diet, do it. Be strong. Whether you have support or not. I honestly could care less if you lose another 2 pounds this week. Stop beating us over the head with it. Ever think that it might depress people who are struggling to lose weight?

4) Meme-Whore
Sure, a few memes make everyone smile. but when I see people posting them with blitz-speed, a dozen at a time? Kinda loses its effect, as I skip by most without reading now. 

5) Prayer-Whore
God is not your personal genie. I'm sorry you've had a rough day, but it's a weak (read, lack of faith) move to post it so you can get more attention. As it is, I don't think the Almighty needs Facebook to know your upset over something. Does little Jimmy have a cold? He'll get better. Do you really need to ask for prayer? How about praying for the little kid in Africa who has AIDS or is dying of starvation or thirst?  

6) The Whiny Mom
You chose to have kids. Now raise them, with grace, preferably. It will be hard, in fact, brutal some days. But you can do it, because many, many women have done it before you. You DO NOT need to remind us how tough every day is. Please. Like you're the only one struggling here.

7) The Politician
It's great you have political views. Try doing something more productive than posting propaganda all day. 


There is probably a point where we have committed one, or all, of these Facebook sins. The point is, I hope you have the maturity and class to realize that social media doesn't make up for real life interactions and friendships. If you want attention, you're looking in a place that will never, ever satisfy. Now go and sin no more.

I'm on Etsy!

Check out my new shop!

The BEST DIY Method Roman Shades Using Existing Blinds

I'm in the process of reclaiming our 3rd bedroom. It has been a junk/storage room for nearly the entire tenure at our home, and I grew sick of having to lock the door when company came over, save they saw the mess. 

Fresh paint on the walls (a dramatic taupe), spare bed turned into a daybed, lots of pillows, and I'm that much closer to a pretty place that can be an office/hangout area. But the windows really needed something, being covered by the cheap plastic builder blinds.

Because this is not our final home (I hope!), I refuse to spend $$ on nicer blinds/window treatments that I would have to leave with the house. I happened upon a  several blogs that showed how to re-purpose old blinds and create a Roman shade.

The problem is, I wanted a liner on my fabric to make it thicker, (I don't trust my neighbors), and most blogs recommending to re-purpose blinds by no-sew gluing are not designed for heavier, thick fabric. I actually finished the shades and had to redo them because the plastic couldn't take the weight and the shades sagged in the middle. I nearly cried. They looked awful. So how to salavage them?

Using a dowel rod supports the middle! There are blogs that have you gluing the dowel rods onto your fabric, but I was so sick of glue that I decided to use this suggestion. Make a pocket.

My windows are 61" L x 34.5" W. Also, while the aforementioned blog used only 1 piece of fabric, I added a backing on mine to make it more dense, and therefore decided to sew the hem rather than use iron on adhesives.  


I needed:
-*10 yards fabric for 2 windows (5 for pretty fabric outside, 5 for lining). $17 at Walmart for 6 yards fabric + $2.99 at Goodwill store for king-sized sheet that I cut up). 
-Fabri-Tac glue. $3 at **Joann's Fabrics with 50% off coupon
-Your old blinds.
-sewing machine.
-yard stick. 
-dowel rods. Amount depends on the # of folds you want (I used six 5/16" at 36"). $3.54 at Joann's Fabrics with 30% coupon 
-needle & thread matching fabric.
-plastic rings 3/4". $2.15 at Joann's Fabrics with 40% coupon
 
TOTAL: $28.68

*Disclosure--I habitually buy too much fabric. 6 was too much, and because I had some left over, I'm guesstimating amount needed based on that).

**I'm not trying to make a plug for Joann's, and am certainly not making any money from them. Go anywhere you want. I just hate reading blogs and never knowing where to get materials. This is just one option.
     
1) Measure your windows & shades. Using my formula, 34.5 +1+1 (hems either side) = 36.5" wide total. Length takes more calculation. I did 3 folds (pockets) in mine with a 1/2" seam. So... 61+1+1 (hem top and bottom)=63+(1+1+1 pocket folds) =66" long total. If you want more folds, you must add in 1" in length per one.

I swear this is the hardest part. Tread carefully.

2) Put front and back pieces together (the way you want them to look when mounted), fold over a 1" seam, pin and sew. I never iron, but you can iron the seam first to make it crisp before sewing. Repeat for all sides.

And you end up with....

 



3) For the life of me, I couldn't get my pull cord to work unless it sat IN FRONT of my fabric. Not the ideal, as I would of prefered it hidden, but oh well. I measured and cut a small hole through my fabric with sissors near the top for the cords to go through. If you want to be fancier, use the button hole option on your sewing machine for a finished edge. Or you might not have to do this step at all if your pull string is in a different spot. 

4) Take down your shade. Time to rip it apart. If you hate these things as much as I do, this process can be oddly therapeutic. However, we DO NOT want to cut the thicker pull cord running through it, but the ladder cords. Good picture of that here. Cut them out plus the plastic blinds. All we really want from these ugly things is the hanging hardware with pull strings intact (because who wants to install shade hardware? Not this girl!). 

The pull cord is a bit twisted up as my toddler was loose on a rampage, but all you have left is the top to mount, the thick pull strings, and the base.

5) Back to your fabric. Measure out where you want your folds. I like the cascading look when pulled so the space from the top to the first pocket was 20", then another pocket 10" below that, then the last pocket 12" below that. Mark your folds with a pencil on either side, pinch and pin. 

6) Sew pockets. Staying at the 5/8 mark on my sewing machine made for a big enough pocket for a 5/16" dowel rod to go through.

Sewing!

7) Put the dowel rods through. If you have extra that dowel needs to be cut off, mark it and then pull it out and cut.

What the pocket looks like with the dowel rod inside.

What it looks from the other side--pretty!

8) Time to hand sew! Honestly, it wasn't so bad. Took me about 2 minutes per ring and I'm a noobie. Measure where your pull strings are and mark on your shade. Mine was 7" from the edge.

Get out your needled and thread and sew on the ring, attaching it to the fabric on your pocket.  

9) I didn't want to detach my thicker pull cord from the bottom, so I cut the rings instead, put the string through, and put a dab of glue on each ring to reseal the cut. Not ideal, but it works.

10) Glue on your fabric to the top and bottom portions of the shade. Let it dry for 2-4 hours minimum. Hang it up and admire your work!

Drying...

And done! 

This picture makes everything look so dark--but the shades really are a nice color and look against our gray walls.

Have fun!

 

Win me back, Sherlock.

I don’t really know what to think about Sherlock’s Season 3 The Empty Hearse. 

Well, actually, that’s a lie. I’m trying to be nice, because to be critical about a show I love so much, (and has so rarely miss-stepped), is remarkably unpleasant. So here is the truth--The Empty Hearse is rubbish.

Hold on you die hard fan. Read.


Let me say that I consider myself a very level-headed aficionado of the BBC’s reincarnation of Sherlock. I’m not into cosplay, I don’t salivate over every interview and movie of Benedict Cumberbatch, and I even bristle at the idea that any girl would submit to calling herself a ‘cumberbitch’ for that matter. (Have some self respect, Ladies!) I digress. 

From the first few minutes of A Study in Pink, I loved Sherlock. It’s one of the few shows that treats its audience (with few exceptions), as an intelligent bunch who deserve top notch entertainment, in sharp contrast to the predominately serialized crap we Americans are fed on TV. 


This is why I am so disappointed to see Sherlock sinking to the lowest denominator in The Empty Hearse. It’s like Mark Gatiss sat down with a list of the Sherlock fandoms and just checked off every one as he wrote the script. SherlockXMolly? Check. SherlockXMoriarty? Check. Shirtless!Sherlock? Check. Remind the audience ONE MORE TIME that John isn't gay? Check. 


One could argue that The Empty Hearse is winking at Sherlock's massive popularity and rabid fan base. I’m sure that was the intent. A 1.5 hour love letter to the fans. But shouldn't they have taken the high road rather than submit to blatant fan service? Sherlock shirtless as a humorous and effective part of the plot in season two worked. His poor treatment of Molly, and eventual recognition of his cruelty/apathy, worked. His genius at war with Moriarty worked. These were just scenes that flowed beautifully with the overall plot. These were the scenes that led to the fandoms. So why on earth did The Empty Hearse have to capitalize on the stuff of teenage girl fantasies, rip away the sophisticated plots and motivations from the characters and degrade them into realm of bad fan fiction? I feel insulted.

The whole beginning feels disjointed due to the setup of these 'fantasy' outcomes of how Sherlock survived juxtaposed with his reintroduction to John. I believed John somewhat, but he isn't particularly violent in the other seasons despite suffering PTSD, thus to see him punch Sherlock repeatedly doesn't quite feel in character either. And once we finally get around to the (boring) plot, it is a rehash of V for Vendetta with Sherlock behaving like an ass. Gatiss must prefer this manipulation of John's emotions, because he wrote the same thing in the Baskerville episode, easily the weakest and most un-Sherlock episode of the entire series. Sherlock and John had reached a level of mutual respect and understanding, so this behavior actually erases both seasons worth of progress in their friendship. 

The greatest flaw of The Empty Hearse is that the resolution we all wanted--how did Sherlock survive?--is missing. The greatness of Season Two's The Reichenbach Fall is that Sherlock wears the face of a man who knows he is facing his doom, and he faces it bravely. I needed that emotionally charged moment on the roof where he might really be saying goodbye to John before a leap. The sociopath learns to love. Now he pays for it. I don't mind that Sherlock escapes his doom. In fact, the moment between him and Molly made my heart go pitter-patter. I knew he would survive. But in that assumption, I was certain the Sherlock creators would tell us in season three. It's not about meeting fan expectations, after all. It's their story. They should have had the resolution planned all along. Has Sherlock become so big that they can't maneuver like they used to for fear of fan disappointment? Did they give a damn before?

I am honestly nervous to watch the second episode of season three rather than excited. It's a horrible feeling to adore a show and wonder, "gee, what will they screw up now?" Maybe Gatiss and Moffat should just bite the bullet, kill off Mary and have John make out with Sherlock and live happily ever after. After all, that's what the fans want, right?