Thrifty Quick Fix

I am feeling really blessed this holiday season. I know that it has only just begun but I am feeling like I hit the jackpot when it comes to all the family, friends and things I am thankful for. I could go on and on about how grateful I am for my life (because I really really am) but lets get to the dirty details of this post....  I am thankful for Target. They have some of the greatest stuff ever.... The other day when I was mindlessly wandering the isles (one of my favorite pastimes) I came across these two napkins for 3.99.

 

Yes, I know the whole deer head thing is overdone but I liked them and had good intentions for them for the Thanksgiving feast I was throwing. I would use them to cover two chairs I purchased at a garage sale this past summer for five bucks a pop. So I traced over all the gold with my favorite black Sharpie. Then I took the nasty old seat cushions off the chairs which had apparently been recovered several times before. I stripped off the old layers of fabric because for all I knew a cat had peed on them or something.

Then I took my staple gun and covered the foam with an old, clean, white tea towel I had in my kitchen drawer.

Next I took my colored on napkins and I stapled them over the dish towel and placed the seats back in the old chairs.

This was the perfect quick fix for I what I needed. I hosted thanksgiving and needed more chairs. However, I didn't want my guests subjected to the gross old fabric and I wanted chairs that matched my decor. I need to sand and paint the chairs down to a color I like but that is for another day.

Also, whenever I get tired of these covers I can just buy some new fabric or possibly cheap dinner napkins from Target.

Total side note.... One of my dearest friends (whom shall remain anonymous) told me that her husband thought they looked like snails coming up to attack you in the.... you know whats. Now that's all I can think of.

PS.... Happy holidays from my family to yours and yes I had to share this next picture to brag about my bad ass bird.... I got lucky... It was awesome...

 

 

Pumpkin Fever

This year I went overboard with the pumpkins. Not only did we go to the pumpkin patch with Lucy, I also collected a bunch of pumpkins from a patch locally that gave them away for free. What to do with all the pumpkins....?

 

I decided I wanted to use my pumpkins to make puree. I love pumpkin flavored everything and wanted to preserve the flavor for as long as I could. I figured pureeing a pumpkin couldn't be any harder than a squash. To my surprise I was right.

 

The pumpkins from the local patch were small but yielded a lot. To start I washed them then broke off their stems.

Then I cut them in half and took out all the seeds.

On a greased or foil lined cooking tray I placed the pumpkins flesh side down.

Next I baked them at 375' until they started to juice and turn slightly brown.

Once the pumpkins cooled I peeled the skin off and placed the flesh into my handy food processor.

I hit the puree button for about thirty seconds until a nice smooth non clumpy texture formed.

I put some in a jar to use for dinner that night and the rest in a plastic bag to be frozen for the future. I was super pleased. Nothing beats fresh pumpkin especially in a pumpkin pie.

Pumpkin thief...

 

Look at how pretty it looks...

For those of you interested I also made this pumpkin pasta and these scones with my puree. They were both huge hits and definitely repeat offenders.

 

From Bake Your Day .... However I added sausage and garnished with bacon. AMAZING

 

 

Pumpkin scones from

Inspired Taste..... Very pleased.

   

Scarfing Time

 

 

Last night was a night of the good, the bad, and the ugly. Take it as you will. We will start at the beginning when Cole asked me to make our favorite Chicken Pot Pie by The Pioneer Women. Her crust is amazing too. Anywhoo, the recipe calls for white wine, so there I was opening a bottle of wine on a Monday knowing full well that the Packers were playing (Cole's favorite team). I knew that I was in for the long haul of football... Be it win or lose. (Thank GOD I did drink cause the game was ugly last night.) The Pot Pie turned out perfect!

After dinner and after Lucy was down for the night, I sat there on the couch getting buzzed on wine Pinteresting away when I came across this great tutorial on scarves. I am on a scarf kick since it is fall. Thanks to my liquid courage I felt pretty crafty and decided to give it a whirl. I found one of my favorite vintage tee's that I got from a second hand store years ago. It had holes the size of my thighs in it, but I could never part with it. Therefore I up cycled it!

I cut it (not so straight) about 3/4ths of the way up.

Then I fringed it at the bottom...

Then I pulled each piece of fabric ...

Then I posed...

Then I tried and failed to up cycle the rest of the fabric...

At least I tried...This may belong on Pinstrosity (This site was just introduced to me and I freaking love it...Please go look at it.) Next I went to bed since the game was going down hill and watched Housewives of New Jersey. Don't ask me why but I love it.

Tis the season

I have been spending way too much time on Pinterest as of late. What's new right? Anyways, I have known now for a while that I wanted to make a new wreath for my front door because my old one was looking a wee bit droopy. Here are some of the ones off Pinterest that I have been eyeballing...

From Little Things Bring Smiles

Love the yarn look. Looks like a lot of work. More time than I have for today but you can buy this one here.

Still love this one too from Yellow Mums.

So I set off to my craft chest... Holy Jesus do I need a lesson on organization or what.

I pulled out my handy glue gun and my utility knife and I went to the basement to grab some more supplies. Here's my pile to draw creativity from.

Then I found this old Christmas wreath in the garage. Score! I am not going to have to spend a cent on this wreath. Not to mention I couldn't go anywhere to buy anything if I wanted cause the babes are asleep.... And I am sure as hell not waking them up.

I am still on the monogram kick so I decided that my wreath would need to have a big fat "J" for Jannusch. I tried like 10 times to make a "J" that I liked.

I had some leftover white burlap form a lampshade I made and decide to trace my cardboard "J" and hot glue it to the burlap.

Then I took some fabric and made a couple of Mum looking flowers (since they are a fall flower.) I didn't document my flower making process but you can find the tutorial here.

All done...

I also LOVE it on my new red door that my man painted for me when I was gone one weekend.

Monday Night Jammin...

I have a new obsession that I can't get enough of. Lately, I have been canning and jamming like a crazy homesteader and I LOVE it. The other day I got a butt load of plums. You see my Grandpa is a master gardener and he grows it all. The other weekend we were down at his house near Salem, Oregon and there in his garden were these two beautiful plum trees. I mean beautiful, all purple and full of sweet juicy plums. So I picked myself a big old bag. Ok this is where I go overboard. You see on the way home to Astoria I stopped at my Momma and Markies house and there in their backyard is a Plum tree just busting at the branches with white golden plums. Mark told me he hates seeing plums go to waste so he has been eating at least 10 a day. I can't imagine. Anywhoo... he picked me yet another bag and I set about my way home. So here I am all plum happy sitting in Astoria busting with plums or whats about to become a pile of rotten fruit. Thank the heavens for my friend Melissa who decided we would can them for the kids and jam them for everyone else. I didn't document this crazy day yet I did managed to take a few picture of our final product. We canned plums and made spicy plum jam with jalapenos and habaneros to throw over cream cheese, chicken or pork.

Well that was on Saturday then Monday rolled around and my friend Chelsea reminded me that we had too many blackberries taking up space in our freezer. Whenever I go walking I always bring my bucket because blackberries are in abundance in and around town. Not to mention my little Lou can't get enough of them! (Caught hand in the bucket.. Berry snatching.)

So I am not going to give you a step by step because I used the directions on a box of Sure-Jell. I will tell you that I did one batch of regular blackberry jam and one batch with hot peppers. Best idea ever... You can throw it over cream cheese with crackers or pork.

Frozen berries....

 

Here my lovely  friend Chelsea is mashing up the berries and measuring them into my Twilight tub. (Isn't she the cutest pregnant lady ever!?)

 

 These are the peppers we used to spice it up. Jalapenos and habaneros. We took the seeds out and made sure to wash our hand really well cause these suckers are hot! Make sure too that you subtract the amount of berries for the amount of chopped peppers that go into the whole measurement. Otherwise your jam may not jell. (p.s. look at that pie. I am so freakin proud of it. Its no mistake that it's in the photo. I threw it together sans recipe and all the pie gods came together and gave me that. It also tasted amazing, even Cole who doesn't like desserts said he would eat it again!)

Stirring the pot... Make sure you have an apron on cause its hot and bubbly!

 

 Once the substance was in the jars and sealed tight we flipped them. But then we didn't have enough faith that they would seal which in the canning world is a big deal because you don't want to give people your goods then kill them with botulism.

 So we put them in a water bath just to be sure.

 This is a bad photo of me but it is important so I put it in. The best part of canning is waiting for the suckers to seal. However, you cannot touch the lids or else you ruin the whole process and your stuff goes bad. So you have to be patient and wait, and wait and wait. I went to bed that night hearing the popping of the lids sealing. There is no sound so sweet after canning all evening!

 Our finished product! Looks and tastes amazing....