New Boots

Let me start by saying I love the Christmas Tree Shops! I have been wanting a pair of rain boots for a long time. I could never find a pair in a cute print in my size. Finally today I took a ride over to the Chrismtas Tree Shops after perusing their most recent circluar this morning. Guess what was on sale - my rain boots! Not only did they have a cute print BUT they also had them in my size! Yeah!!

Now, I will not go into detail about how I almost passed them up because I really had wanted plaid and there was no plaid print to be found. I will also not go into detail about my slight obsession with plaid - I love it like no other print. It calls to me no matter what the fabric, shoe, houseware or clothing. I more than love it... I LURVE it!! Maybe it stems from the fact that the majority of my peeps (my ancestors, that is) come from The Emerald Isle and the Scottish Coast. Maybe I just love the comfort it evokes, like I could wrap myself all warm and cozy in the lines and colors of the wool. Okay, I may be a tad bit more than obsessed.

Back to the matter at hand, these boots are my new besties. I wore them out to wait for the bus after the 12"+ snow we received over the past two days. It was also flurrying when I was wating out there. I was so enamored that I had to take a picture with my phone. They are actually a nice burgandy color. So here they are; my new boots. The color looks a little weird because of the lighting outside and it was taken with my phone. Oh, and the best part is the price - $14.99!!! Woo hooo!!!

Never Forget

I came across this posting on one of my favorite blogs - Thrifty Decor Chick - and had to share. It made me cry and feel everything I felt 9 years ago. None of us will forget where we were. My daughter was 4 days old and I was almost late to her first dr's appt because I couldn't tear myself away from the tv.

http://thriftydecorchick.blogspot.com/2010/09/remember.html#links

Mayeb someday I'll figure out how to link to another blog so it looks nice. Until then, just click on the link above.

Fan-tastic: Dyed Chevron Rug

I saw this post on Centsational Girl, who posted it from another diy blogger, and LOVED it. Had to share.

Fan-tastic: Dyed Chevron Rug

Projects Galore

We have so many projects around the house to work on and complete, but right now we decided that our Sanford & Son front yard/porch area HAS to be a priority. Six years ago we built this huge addition onto the back of our house and the front part of the house was ignored. It looks awful! The landscaping is out of control, the front porch is rotting away and there is actual mold growing out there! YUK!! I can't believe we let it go this long. And the photo above isn't even as bad as it looks right now!! I knew owning a house is a constant work in progress but it feels so overwhelming at times. Okay, so before my date night with hubby tonight, I am going to try and go out there and pressure wash the front to get started on this project. I figured if I can get an hour's worth of work each day, it will be some progress. Ugghhh - not looking forward to this. Basically, I hate spiders and that is my biggest fear of encountering too many! Hahaha. Wish me luck!

The Wright Stuff

I recently came across a great silver polish at Walmart - Wright's Silver Cream - for around $3 and have been searching out every last tarnished piece of jewelry and silver in the house to use it on!
Here are a few things I worked on – jewelry I hadn’t worn in years looked new again!





I LOVE THIS STUFF!! It is amazing and I can’t stop using it. I even bought a REALLY badly tarnished silver tea set from Goodwill just to see how nice it would look once I used the Wright’s silver polish on it. Later post about that but it looks great in my dining room.

Back to business

Okay, I have been out of the blogosphere for awhile and am ready to get back to it! The sun is shining, the weather is warming up and it feels so nice just to be outside in the green! No more snow and freezing temps!! Life feels good.

Crockpot Chicken and Dumplings

I love my crockpot. I don't use it nearly as often as I should, but when I do it always amazes me how good and easy the meals turn out to be. The latest meal we made was Chicken and Dumplings. This was incredibly easy and SO delicious I just had to share. Hubby and all three kids RAVED over it at dinner that night. I had to admit it was one of my favorites too.

Crockpot Chicken and Dumplings

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves (I used 3 because it's what I had)
2 Tablespoons butter
2 (10.75 oz) cans condensed cream of chicken soup
1 can chicken broth
1 onion, finely diced
1 cup frozen veggies
1 packages refrigerated biscuit dough (like Pillsbury Grands)
Salt, pepper, garlic powder and Italian seasoning to taste

Place the chicken in the crockpot. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, garlic powder and Italian seasoning to taste. Put butter on chicken.

Add onions. Pour cans of cream of chicken soup and chicken broth over the chicken, add 1/2 can of water to make sure chicken is covered. Cover crockpot and cook for 5 hours on high.

About 1 hour before serving, take the chicken breasts out and shred then into small pieces. Put the chicken back in and then add the frozen veggies and tear the biscuit dough apart for the dumplings. I used frozen peas and corn because it's what I had on hand and I knew the kids wouldn't object TOO strongly. You can also try adding the veggies at the beginning but I wasn't sure if they would be too mushy. Then place the torn biscuit dough in the crockpot. Be sure to push the dough into the water to make sure it gets wet. Cover and cook until the biscuits start to brown. I forgot to take a picture of the finished product before hubby started serving, so I took one of my bowl. I found this recipe on Allrecipes.com and tweaked a bit after reading some of the reviews. It is even better the next day for leftovers, if you have any! Enjoy!!