Ok, So I'm Going To Do It

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The boys and I want to go camping these coming school holidays.

Oh my, if camping was as glamorous as this, above, I would be there in a shot! I must admit I'm a bit of an 'Audrey Forbes-Hamilton' (prim and proper character from 'To The Manor Born' - TV Show from the 70's).... love my showers, Norsca towelettes and antibacterial hand wash.... but I have 2 active boys and I think we need to head out bush and search for lizards and dig for things... and do boy stuff.

So, where do I start? I need to get the essentials... just the essentials.... what are the essentials?... besides a tent? This is real virgin territory for me.... but I have been so inspired by Deb's adventures at Let's Go Moerkabout (and boy did they have the gear).... I've gotta do it.... for my boys.... I need to see 'camping smiles'.

So any advice from any hardy campers out there would be much appreciated. I would also love to hear of any great places to camp in South East Queensland/Northern New South Wales.

Can you imagine the blog fodder I will have if I pull this off....I mean WHEN I pull this off.

Let's hope it doesn't end up with this reaction. This photo of my boys makes me belly laugh. They were at a little kids party, thunder egg searching with their little cousins... faking their enjoyment for the sake of 'manners'.... good lesson. They loved that sort of stuff when they were really little but as they have gotten older...well see for yourself. I took them aside and asked them to look really bored for a photo. The little one cracks me up! He looks like a young Jim Carrey. He can pull a dead pan, expressionless face in a heartbeat and hold it together and not smile while we all crack up. He is hilarious! This was taken about a year ago. Still makes me laugh.

So any advice would be so appreciated. Don't tell my boys that I asked for your help. I want them to think I am a 'Camping Legend'.

Happy Tuesday!

Makeover Monday: Thank Heaven For Little Boys Sign

Wow! It's the end of my 31 Days Series of Creating a Home! I sure hope you enjoyed it! It was busy but a lot of fun! I hope to do this again soon!

I get to share one more makeover with you to end the month off! It was a quick and easy one, of course. I'm happy to say that I spent $0 on all 5 makeovers this month! I just use what I got and great things got recreated and out of the way in the basement and garage...an extra bonus!

If you missed any of my other 4 Makeover Mondays, you can check them out here:

#1 Life Is Beauty Full Sign

#2 Black Cabinet Makeover

#3 Door Picture Frame

#4 Burlap Bench Makeover

Remember my Door Picture Frame I made this month? Well I never waste good materials, especially scrap wood. I saved the wood that was cut out to make the hole in my door.

It's old and an easy project can be made out of! I took 4 out of the 5 pieces to wood to make a sign. My cousin's baby (remember the Jungle Baby Shower) got baptized yesterday so I wanted to make a special piece for him.

I needed to keep the pieces of wood together, so used 2 pieces of scrap lathe and screwed into each piece of wood on the back to keep it secure.

I then painted the front and back with off white paint. I purposely left some of the green paint peeking through. I don't like things perfect and I Love my projects rustic!

After the paint was dry. I started stenciling my sign with black craft paint. I already had a 'Thank Heaven For Little Boys' stencil I bought a long time ago when my almost 8 year old was a baby. I made one for him and I have also made many baby gifts with this stencil. You can see the layers of paint. :) I sure got my money's worth out of that one!

After I was done stenciling that saying. I wanted to make it more personalized so I took some other alphabet stencils and stenciled the baby's name in tan to make it look like it was in the background.

As you can tell I stenciled over the 'r' in 'for'. No worries, I went back over the 'r' with black paint. I do it this way so I make the name centered with the main saying of the sign. Other tips, I don't like don't to measure so I used handy dandy painter's tape for a straight edge to keep the saying and name straight. I also took a small paint brush with black paint and filled in the gaps where the grooves are in the wood, so the letters didn't look so cut off.

After everything was dry, I sanded down the edges and then applied MinWax Early American stain to give it a more aged look. I 99% of the time do this to all my projects, add a stain or glaze.

And I have a great personalized gift for my cousin's special baby.

Colton's parents loved it! I hope they enjoy it for many years to come.

Have a safe and fun Halloween tonight! My boys have been excited for weeks for this very night. This is one of their favorite days of the year...right up there with birthdays and Christmas!

See you tomorrow for Terrific Under Ten Tuesday! I hope you can come on by and link up your projects for $10 or less!

Linking up HERE

Secret Recipe Club: Angie's Chipotle Shredded Chicken Tacos

This is my first time participating in the Secret Recipe Club, a large-scale version of the recipe swaps I do on my cooking board, only instead of being assigned a single recipe you are assigned a blog and asked to pick a recipe, make it and then blog about it on a specific day.

I was assigned Farmgirl Gourmet, written by Heather, a mom of two who loves cooking and lives on 20 acres with 8 goats and 15 chickens. Her blog is full of gorgeous food and recipes, most of which she either grows herself or sources locally. Check it out for more delicious recipes.

I chose her recipe for Angie's Chipotle Shredded Chicken Tacos, partly because I wanted to try an experiment with my crock pot and partly because it looked delicious. We love tacos but I rarely make them so this was a great excuse.


Even though I don't usually cook with chicken thighs I decided to stick to the original recipe. I'm glad I did - the thighs were deliciously tender from the slow cooking. I served the tacos with a lot of toppings:


We really enjoyed this recipe and I had a lot of fun browsing through Farmgirl Gourmet for inspiration. I'm writing this post about 3 weeks after I made the chicken tacos and there are a bunch of new recipes on the blog that sound good. Enjoy!

Angie's Chipotle Shredded Chicken Tacos
Farmgirl Gourmet

2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs (about 6)
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup salsa
2 tablespoons canned chipotle chilies in adobo sauce, sliced
1 tablespoon chili powder
Salt and pepper, to taste
Warm tortillas
Toppings: Shredded cheddar cheese, lime quarters, sour cream, lettuce, guacamole, tomatoes, cilantro, onion, salsa

In a slow cooker, combine chicken, garlic, salsa, chipotle chilies, chili powder, 1/4 teaspoon pepper and salt to taste. Add a 1/4 cup of water if the mixture looks too dry. Cover; cook on low for 8 hours.

Transfer chicken to a serving bowl, shred with 2 forks. Taste and season with salt and pepper if desired. Spoon onto warm tortillas and add toppings.

Kitchen Tip: If your slow cooker is on the larger size (6-quarts or larger) you may have issues with recipes burning. Most slow cooker recipes seem to be for 4-quart cookers. To make the space smaller, put a Pyrex or Corningware dish into the slow cooker and put the ingredients inside the dish.

Rustic, romantic beach home

On this foggy, cold autumn morning I'm dreaming of somewhere warm and far and away. Possibly because I'm going somewhere hot hot hot later on in the week for a wedding. And I LOVE weddings! So how perfect to come across this beautiful, rustic, romantic beach home in Sydney, Australia from Home Life. What do you say? Yes please! 

All pictures: Home Life. Photographer: Jared Fowler

I love that everything in the home has been brought back from all corners of the globe. The pieces work together beautifully against the white background. Such a lovely home!

I know someone in particular who is going to love this post...g'day Cas in Sydney! Big hug to you cheeky-bo! xxx

CRAFTERNOON

My friend BECKY, who, by the by, is also one of my very best customers ( love ya Bec) recently invited me to her beautiful home for a 

***CRAFTERNOON***

a fun~filled afternoon with fun new friends, delicious nosh, flowing wine and yes,

crafting...

Now I'm not exactly on the short list at Somerset

so........

Anyway, I said yes of course, cause I've always wanted to see Becky's home and it sounded like a great time.

Let's begin with a short tour.

Her living room is a cozy French~inspired haven that makes you want to linger forever. We darn near did, as we arrived at 3 o'clock and left at 8!

Do you love the pumpkin above that she made from a dryer hose?

Next we head upstairs to the master bedroom.

Gorgeous huh?

Back downstairs to the dining room we go...

Not only did she set a stunning French~themed table, she had a beautiful craft kit for each guest and a gift bag    

full of personalized goodies for us as well.

Crudite' in shot glasses filled with hummus. So charming.

Cake pops that looked so darn good. Alas, they were not vegan so I resisted...

But these babies were and I devoured the lavender brownies and one of those cupcakes with the chocolate frosting!

And here's our lovely hostess herself! 

The one and only Becky!

And so what you ask did we make?

A wreath from old book pages.

I am the worst at following instructions, and I confess I really just looked at the pictures on the instructions. So my wreath has an extra row of pages and my ribbon hanger is off center and overall it's a little wonky.

But it's mine and I had the best time making it. That you'll have to take my word on. As luck would have it, my batteries died before the fun began so there are zero pics of the crafters in action. 

Too bad, cause I met some of the funniest, most enjoyable women you could imagine. And Becky? She's a hip, cool chick that knows how to throw a fabulous get together. 

Rumor has it there will be a CRAFTERNOON PART DEUX

and this time I'll have fresh batteries I promise.

THANKS BECKY, IT WAS FABULOUS!!!

Weekly Menu - Week of October 30, 2011

Hard to believe these are the last two days of October. November is right around the corner. In my neck of the woods we actually had SNOW yesterday. We rarely get measurable snow before the New Year, but we had between 4-6 inches yesterday. Before Halloween even. Ridiculous.

This week's menu plan is sparse because I'm out of town at my big work conference Tuesday - Saturday. I'll be eating hotel food most of the time but hopefully my coworkers and I will get out for a few good dinners. I hope everyone has a great week!

Sunday - Ground beef tacos with shredded lettuce, cheese, salsa, sour cream and avocado with yellow rice

Monday - Creamy chicken with mushrooms and onions over egg noodles. I'm experimenting with my crockpot, combining some recipes from Fix It and Forget It. My basic idea is chopped onions and mushrooms, a packet of onion soup mix, a can of cream of mushroom soup and chicken breasts. Once it's done cooking I'll stir in some sour cream and serve over egg noodles.

This Morning

This morning I would like to be in Paris.

...sitting here, under a cosy blanket, in a little cafe in Rue St Dominique.

....peering in the window while sipping my coffee, umming and ahhing over what to have for breakfast.

I'll just finish this before I do the school lunches.

Image Via Pinterest

Happy Monday!

Solitude Sunday

via

Shaklee Saturday: Washing My Dishes

If you haven't checked out my other Shaklee Saturdays this month you can check them out here:

#1 Basic H2

#2 Putting Basic H2 and Scour Off to the Test

#3 Cinch Challenge

Today, I'm going to show you how effective the Shaklee Dishwashing products are so effective!

I have been more than pleased with Shaklee's Dishwasher Detergent! It comes in a 2 lb bag that you can get 48 loads out of!

Are you a Cascade fan?

Here is the cost breakdown of Cascade vs. Shaklee

Cascade Plus 75 oz. costs $5.97 and does 21 loads

28.4 cents per load of dishes

Get Clean Shaklee Dishwasher Detergent 32 oz. costs $9.50 and does 48 loads

19.8 cents per load of dishes

Plus Get Clean Dishwasher Detergent is

Nontoxic and SAFE

Biodegradable

Earth Friendly

Hypoallergenic

All Natural

High performance

It works so well, that I only use one scoop instead of the recommended 2 scoops, so I get 96 loads out of it! We run the dishwasher on a daily basis, so that is over 3 months for one bag. So depending on the softness of your water, you might get this as well. Price wise, that is 10 cents a load!

It leaves my dishes clean and shiny! With no yucky residue leftover like the other leading detergents I used to use.

The Get Clean Hand Dish Wash soap is great as well! Remember my carpet cleanup oops? This soap is so great it was removing ink out of my carpet! All you need is 2 small drops to add to your sink full of dishes! A little bit goes a long way!

Joining Shaklee has really changed my family's life! It's safe and so much easier and cost effective to clean!