Recipe Monday

Every year, for the past 2 years or so, my sister's and I give my dad a very special Father's Day present. We host a special dinner for him, in which him and Phyllis get to invite 3 couples over for dinner one night, as Lauren, Blair & I are the chefs for the evening. This year we wanted to do a Fall themed dinner, so we held off the dinner until thiss cooler weather and fall foliage arrived. So, yesterday, we hosted his Father's Day dinner. The weather was a little cool for an actual evening dinner, so we asked the other couples to come over at 4 p.m. for appetizers then an early dinner at 5 p.m. We served a soup to start off with, of Butternut Squash Soup served in mini hollowed out pumpkins. It was my first time making Butternut Squash Soup, but it was OH SO GOOD!!
So, I felt the immediate need to share this recipe with everyone. It has a little kick but not too much.

Butternut Squash Soup
2 large Butternut Squash
3 garlic cloves
Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper
3 cups Chicken Broth (1 1/2 cans)
4 Tbsp Margarine
6 Tbsp chopped onion
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/8 tsp Cayenne Pepper (ground red pepper)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Peel Squash, and cut into large chunks (about the size of small limes) Put on cookie sheet and drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle salt & pepper on top. Add garlic cloves onto baking sheet in the middle of squash. Bake for about 45 minutes until tender. Saute onions and butter in large pot. Add squash, chicken broth, and seasonings to pot. Let simmer for 20 minutes. Add to blender or food processor in batches to puree until smooth. Transfer back to stock pot and keep warm. Do not allow to boil.
Enjoy!!

I'll wait until I get pictures from the rest of the dinner to post more details!

Thanksgiving and Fall cookies

My big Cookie project!

Thanksgiving and Fall cookies are available!

For delivery or shipping!

Perfect to use as:

~ Bring to your family Thanksgiving as a dessert contribution!

~ Hostess gifts

~Send to loved ones that are far away that won't be able to celebrate Thanksgiving with you, or if your loved ones have other Thanksgivings to go to....

~ Let friends or family know how thankful you are of them!

~Take to work for co-workers to enjoy right before Thanksgiving!

~Most children don't like the standard pies and cakes served for Thanksgiving, so order your cookies for all the kids to enjoy at Thanksgiving this year! Kids LOVE them!

Thanksgiving Sugar Cookie Collection
12 Sugar Cookies
$28

Fall Themed Sugar Cookie Collection
14 Sugar Cookies
$32

Each cookie collection comes in this box tied with a coordinating ribbon.
A personalized tag can be added to the ribbon that might state:
"I am thankful for you!
Happy Thanksgiving,

John and Neelley"

Order yours today! Limited quanities available!

Orders can be placed ahead of time, and held until the week of Thanksgiving.

Shipping and or delivery are available.

Orders must be placed by Monday, November 22nd

Recipe Monday

I'm really falling behind on blogging.... We have been packing up some stuff around here, and putting it in storage. Not anything huge, but some extra furniture that we aren't really using (like 2 of the 3 spare bedrooms) as well as all of our summer items, which I was kinda glad to see them boxed up. (I love Fall!) We took a huge load down to Columbia, and are working on the 2nd load. Next items to be packed up are: more spare furniture (I'm hoping some of it won't come back to our next house, aka college furnishings), those kitchen items that we don't ever use (waffle maker, panini press, fondue set, etc, etc....

And our entertaining stuff. John was SUPER happy when I told him that we weren't entertaining anymore in Nashville. (note, I never mentioned Columbia... :) ) So I am going through our entertaining closet. It's amazing how much entertaining stuff you collect, especially when you get married! We have about 15 vases, 4 cake stands, I bet 30 platters (seriously!), tons of casserole dishes, and I have counted, and we have close to 75 wine glasses.... Who needs 75 wine glasses, seriously? But I do beg to differ a tad bit...

You have those wine glasses that when you have a party, you whip them out, for if they break, no big deal.

Then we have those go-to, everyday wine glasses, that were a little more expensive.

Then the nicer ones that we pull out when we have a couple of friends over that we know won't drop them.

Then we have the ones that have been in the box since we received them for a wedding gift. The reallllllly nice ones. The $60+/stem ones. The ones that I'm even afraid to drink out of.

However, when I told Pops that we haven't even used ours yet (since those are the same kind that him & Phyllis drink out of everytime at their house), he had a good philosophy. (Now, this does come from a man that him & Phyllis use their nice platinum china stuff to drink coffee out of most of the time. When I gauked & said, "I can't believe you are drinking out of those! Aren't they super expensive?? Aren't you afraid you will break it!") He said, "Neelley, life's too short to "save" the nice stuff for special occasions. Everyday should be your special occasion. So what if you break one, the world isn't going to end because of it. Use your nice glasses everyday. Enjoy them, love them. " I just love that!

So as we are going through lots of our stuff and organizing, it's my mind set of, "Do I really enjoy this and love this? or is it just taking up space where something that I love could be there...?"

Which brings me to my recipe this week. This is a super easy recipe. It's perfect for parties and for tailgating. Can be made a day or so ahead of time, and will keep for a couple days after as well.. Everytime I make this and take it somewhere, I always get asked for the recipe! Make it, and serve it on your good serving dish! :) Enjoy it!

Neelley's Spicy Tortilla Roll-ups

1 (8 oz) pkg cream cheese, softened

1 (3 oz) can chopped black olives

1 (4 oz) can diced green chilies

1 (4 oz) jar diced pimento peppers, drained

2 green onions, minced

3 Tbsps hot pepper sauce, Tabasco

3 Tbsps chopped fresh cilantro

5 (10") flour tortillas (+/ - some)

Mix all ingredients except tortillas in a medium sized bowl. Spread mixture evenly over tortillas. Roll the tortillas up and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. After chilling, slice the roll ups and serve.

(I usually make the tortillas the night before and slice the next morning. I chill them after slicing too, and store in a tupperware container after slicing. Super easy.

Week Update

This week has been such a whirlwind! I apologize for not keeping this thing updated regularly!
Recently John & I joined the Mt. Pleasant Grille's 'Grape Escape' Wine club. Lots of fun perks are offered with this yearly membership, but one of the best things about it is that they host a monthly Wine Tasting dinner. So, Tuesday evening, John & I went to the Wine Tasting Dinner. It was so great! They have a cocktail hour before dinner where is great to see everyone and catch up with people that you haven't visited with in awhile. Then you are ushered upstairs for dinner. It was a five course dinner with each course featuring a different type of wine to compliment the dish. The food courses ranged from Butternut Squash soup, which was delish!, Rack of Lamb, Pork Tenderloin, a Chocolate Mousse and Spongecake dessert, etc, etc... Very nice and so wonderful! We sat with Dad & Phyllis, along with 4 other people at our table. Tuesday night, they hosted about 120 there. There is a lady who describes each course as it's being served and tells everyone what wine has been chosen to be paired with it. We love it!

Yesterday, we headed back to Nashville and unpacked (after being down at the cabin for about 2 weeks, it's like a carload full of stuff to bring back!). We were so looking forward to crawling in our own bed and just relaxing! I think we were both sound asleep by 9:30 p.m.!

Today, I started on a huge cookie project! More to come on that! John is headed to New Orleans for Bentley's Bachelor Party, which should be a lot of fun! Suzanne, Bentley's fiance, is having her Bachelorette Party in Knoxville this weekend. I had to opt out of going, because of this huge cookie project, there was just no way.... Plus, tomorrow night, my sisters and Mom are coming over for a 'Slumber Party'. We are taking Mom out for a special dinner then possibly pedicures, then back to my house for a movie & popcorn. It's been forever since we've all slept under the same roof at the same time, especially without our husbands, so it will be a fun night!

I also plan on catching up on my DVR this weekend! Kinda feel like it's little Christmas presents getting to be unwrapped 1 hour at a time! We love being down at the cabin, but I do miss out of some of my shows down there.... (John's usually a good sport about watching somethings, but there are only so many episodes of 'Real Housewives of _____' that he will watch.. Especially when it's Atlanta. His first words are, "Nope! I'm not going to watch that! Turn it off!!!!" That city is just drama drama drama.... and I can't stand Kim! Not the way she talks, laughs, walks, etc, etc... or sings! !!!! Uhhh!

So, that's about all for now. I'll update more over the weekend, especially more details when it comes to my big cookie project! :)

Money Management

The past two Sundays at our church, Pastor Scott has been preaching about Money Management and tithing. The bible says that you should give 10% of your earnings to the church or to charities or religious organizations. Of course, John was in heaven when he started his sermon last Sunday, because John is.all.about.finance..... He loves it. Needless to say, he is definitely the one in the family that is all about stocks, investments, etc, etc. A couple of weeks ago I asked him what he would do if I told him that I had $75,000 in a hidden account that I had been socking money away one day to surprise him. (Note- I wish I had that, but I definitely do not!) I would think that most husband's responses would be: "What? That's awesome!!" No, No, No... Not John! He said, "I would be really angry." When I asked why, he said, "I mean, that's great, but I would much rather have that money to be able to invest and make a lot more money with it, then what a little ol' interest rate at a bank might give you...." Yep, this is pretty typical in the King household.... Never fear, my dear, you definitely don't have to worry about that! ha ha In fact, about 5 minutes into the sermon, John whispered to me of what I thought about moving me to the front row to listen more intently.. (Ha Ha- NOT funny!)

But Pastor Scott's sermon was perfect timing for us. Just 3 weeks ago, I installed Quickbooks on our home computer. I have been entering all of our banking information into it. We love it, because in about 30 seconds you can pull up a report (after you enter stuff in) of where exactly all your money is going. That night at dinner I was telling John the amount of what we average a month in eating out, shopping, gas, bills, etc,etc.... And it's. not. pretty! Well, not even a week after we have this information in front of us, Pastor Scott starts in on finances. John says that he thinks God is speaking directly to us, but I also think that everyone would be stunned to see where their money actually goes every month.

I want two new lamps for our living room. I read in a magazine somewhere that they said that your lamps in your rooms are like earrings. They can make or break an outfit (or room....). Of course, I am looking at our living room lamps ,which were hand me downs from John's parents that I have since spray painted and topped with new shades. After 3 years of them, I told John that it was time that I purchase us some new earrings for our living room.... errr, lamps. Well, I have fallen completely and utterly head over heels in love with a pair of lamps at a local store in Columbia. Only thing is they are about 3xs what I was thinking of paying for a pair of lamps.... So, I waited and waited. I wanted to make sure that I still absolutely loved these lamps 6 months from when I first fell in love, and I do. I really really do! Well, thanks to good ol' Quickbooks, I am aware of how many "lamps" I have hanging in my closet that I've purchased over the last 6 months. Just lovely.

I urge everyone to purchase Quickbooks. It's a little pricey at $200, but I promise you that it will show you how much you can save and how much you are really spending on items. That whole, "$20 here, $40 here, etc,etc"- It really adds up!

Recipe Monday

This past weekend, the Jack Daniel's Distillery in Lynchburg, TN held it's annual Jack Daniels BBQ Competition and Festival. As much as I wanted to go, John couldn't get away from the office, so I opted to do some work around the house as well. However, I told him that we will be attending next year....

So for this week's recipe, I thought it would be only fitting to post my recipe for homemade BBQ.

It's definitely not as good as some out there, and I'm sure not even close to the Jack Daniels BBQ, but we like it, and it's easy in a pinch when you know that you won't want to cook dinner when you get home. You can make this, because it goes in the crock pot!

Neelley's Homemade BBQ

4 pounds of boneless pork ribs or pork butt

2 (18 oz) bottles of BBQ Sauce (we like to use Jack Daniels BBQ sauce, the best)

1 (14 oz) can of beef broth (sometimes I use 1 1/2 cans, just depending on the meat)

-Put Beef and Broth in the slow cooker on low heat for 10 hours. Take 2 forks to the meat after cooking and shred beef. Pour 1 1/2 bottles of BBQ sauce over beef. Refrigerate overnight. The next day, put it back on the crockpot to heat up for a couple of hours.

Delish!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to my beautiful Mother! She is 48 years old today and says she's proud to be that "old". Isn't that nice to hear!?!

Also, a Happy happy Anniversary to Mom & Woody. They got married 5 years ago today, as well. (So, I hope for Woody's sake, that he never forgets this day... or he's in real big trouble! :) )

Also, a Big Happy Anniversary to Mark & Emily!
They celebrated their 4th wedding anniversary on Wednesday, October 20th.
They are some of our very best friends in Nashville.

Last night I hosted a small party for 'Thirty One Gifts'. I hadn't really ever heard of this company before til I ran across it through some friends. It's super cute stuff and I was just impressed by how much stuff they had. Here is the website that's connected to my party.
www.mythirtyone.com/nogle
Make sure that you click, "My Events", then find my name & click: Shop now!

Nothing much has been happening this week. I've been working on some special custom orders for clients, which I'll post some pictures of next week. We are heading back down to the cabin for a couple more days, then back to Nashville for awhile!

Belated Recipe Monday

We are still down at the farm enjoying this beautiful weather, so forgive me for not posting yesterday.

This past Saturday, John & I went to Columbia's Annual Chili Cookoff. I have gone just about every year since I was little, except for a couple of years while I was at UT, when there were home games on the same weekend. It's such a wonderful event with around 40+ or so competitors every year. They have a huge area for children with pony rides, a bounce house, arts and crafts, etc, etc. They have live bands and we enjoy it because lots of our friends and families that we've grown up with in Columbia always attend, so it's just one big party!

Wouldn't you know that I left my camera at the cabin and didn't get to get any pictures, but if I run across any, I will try to post them.

Most of the chili was tasty (try to go earlier in the day, because as the day goes on, the competitors drink more & more, and the chili isn't too yummy unless you've drank as much as they have....)So for this week's recipe, I'm posting my chili recipe. This is one of John's absolute favorite things that I make. Last week, I tripled this recipe and bought 8 Tupperware bowl containers to hold about 4 servings of chili per container and froze them. It's the perfect amount for just two people on a cold fall afternoon, without having to make a huge batch each time you have a craving...

Neelley's Fall Chili Recipe

2 pounds ground beef chuck
1 pound bulk Italian sausage, casings removed
3 (15 ounce) cans chili beans in Mild Sauce
1 (15 ounce) can chili beans in spicy sauce
1 (15 ounce) can Dark Red Kidney Beans, drained
1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes with juice with Basil, Oregano & Garlic
1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes with juice
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste, infused with Basil, Oregano & Garlic
1 large yellow onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
2 jalapenos, seeded and chopped
6 strips of cooked crispy bacon, chopped
4 cubes beef bouillon
1/2 can beer
1/4 cup chili powder
2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon dried oregano
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons Frank's Hot Sauce
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon white sugar

Brown ground beef & Italian Sausage. Drain excess grease. Add browned meat to large stock pot. Add remaining ingredients. Let simmer all day. (I usually put it on low and let it simmer overnight as well).

Serve with sour cream, shredded cheese, and Frito chips. Mmmmmmm

Relaxing Time

On Thursday, John & I came down to his parents' cabin, on one of the farms, in Mt. Pleasant.

We looooooooove it here! It's so peaceful and relaxing. Sherry, John's mom, has been wanting a little 'getaway' cottage for awhile, and last fall when the October issue of Southern Living came out, they featured a quaint cottage in the mountains. Well, Sherry saw the article, loved the house, and I don't think it was a month later that the foundation was being set on the farm. The whole family was SO excited that they were doing this!

And we enjoy it immensely! When we come down, we try to stay about a week at a time, if not longer, if we can..... We don't have any worries here. We are close to John's work, I know the house in Nashville is super clean (& ready for a showing at any moment without me having to do anything), and we are around all of our family down here.

It's our little piece of paradise~

John & I usually come out and sit on the porch every morning and have a cup of coffee together. At the end of the day, we are out on the porch enjoying a glass of wine as the sun goes down.
This is our view from the porch of what we wake up to every morning....

So, if my posts are a little few & far between, this is what we are enjoying without a worry in the world~

Movie- The Social Network

John & I went to go see this movie on Sunday evening after our busy week and weekend. It's been a movie that from the previews, both of us found to look interesting. Mainly because both of us are on Facebook.

Plus, I love true story movies.

Our rating on the movie was a C. It's interesting, but I told John at dinner afterwards, if you look down to check the time on your phone more than once during a movie, it probably isn't that good of a movie..... And we checked our phones about 3xs during the movie, and it wasn't because we were seeing if we were missing any calls!

The story of Facebook is interesting. Mark Zuckerberg is a 26 year old guy, who was a couple months shy of 20 years old when he created Facebook out of his Harvard dorm room . The movie shows that the "idea" for Facebook could have come from multiple sources, but Zuckerberg was the one who ended up getting to it first. Since Zuckerberg ended up "employing" his friends to help him on it, all "owned" a percentage of the website. As Facebook became more famous & started selling spaces to advertisers, it starting making money- a. lot. of. money...... After some falling out with friends (because money will of course do that)- lawsuits happened, which is what the movie goes into more detail about.

In July 2010, Facebook announced that it has over 500 million users. That's 1 out of every 14 people in the world have a Facebook account. Zuckerberg owns 24% of Facebook and is worth $6.9 billion. (Can you imagine being 26 years old & being worth $6.9 billion????) The other percentages of Facebook is distributed into much smaller percentages, with some of his college friends still owning some shares, along with Microsoft, Meritech Capital Partners, etc, etc...

When it's a true life story, I always love to go back home & pull up the characters to see if they really resemble the true life person....
I was pretty surprised to see that they got it pretty close....

Left: Movie Right: True Life

1st picture: Mark Zuckerberg- Facebook co-founder
2nd picture: Sean Parker- creator of Napster as well as a small owner of Facebook

3rd picture: Eduardo Saverin- Facebook co-founder

This got me thinking of other movies that are based on true stories & how closely the characters resemble to true story people-

For example,

Katie Holmes plays Jackie Kennedy in The History Channel's upcoming mini series,

"The Kennedys"

The real Jackie Kennedy

Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash in "Walk the Line"

The real Johnny Cash

Reese Witherspoon as June Carter Cash in "Walk the Line"


June Carter Cash

Charlize Theron portrays Lee Carol Wuornos in "Monster"
Charlize says she gained 30+ lbs for this role. When asked how she did it, she says she ate anything & everything with cheese on it....
Definitely makes me not want that cheese platter or a pizza.....

The real Lee Carol Wuornos
Serial Killer
She looks like a monster doesn't she? Yikes!

Nathan West as Rob McClanahan in "Miracle"

The real Rob McClannahan


Kurt Russell as Herb Brooks in "Miracle"


Herb Brooks
*I strongly urge you to go see this movie, Miracle, if you have not seen it. It is about the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team when they won the gold medal in the last 5 seconds of the game. It's so great and definitely makes you feel as warm inside.


Jamie Foxx portrays Ray Charles in "Ray"


Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburne in "What's Love got to do with it" as Ike & Tina Turner




Ike & Tina Turner


Quinton Aaron as Michael Oher in "The Blind Side"

Michael Oher


Sandra Bullock & Tim McGraw as the Leigh Anne & Sean Tuohy

Sean & Leigh Anne Tuohy

Not seeing that much of a resemblance, but I'm guessing they were going for true Southern actors instead.... Which, I loved. However, I think Tim McGraw should stick to singing. I don't think acting is really his thing.....

Julia Roberts & Erin Brockovich in "Erin Brockovich"

Ray Liotta as Henry Hill in "Goodfellas"

Henry Hill

*John looooooooves this movie, and I feel like I could seriously repeat the lines of this movie by heart, since I feel as if he has a little receptor in his head that somehow tells him that this movie is on every. time. it's. on. t.v............ I mean, it is pretty good!

And I saved one of the best for last:

Joe Pesci as Anthony 'The Ant' Spilotro in "Casino"

The real "Ant"

Again, this is a movie that is always turned to when Mr. John King is in the house....

Updated Bathroom Pictures

Yep! I told you that our basement bathroom could definitely qualify for world's ugliest bathroom.

Before:

Who would do this to a bathroom in the first place, seriously? I can't even begin to think of their design thought behind this! I can just the previous owners now:

"Hey, let's put Blue & Green tile down in the bathroom. Then let's put up a long green countertop to match the ugly green tile. And hey, I found this black sink in an "out of style & not wanted in any home in America" bin for only $10! I know that it doesn't really match, so I found these black & white tile pieces in the Clearance bin at Lowe's, so let's throw those on the back too. Who cares if we only have enough to make 1 1/2 rows.. And to make this room look bigger, let's have a god awful unframed mirror running the entire length of the countertop."

I went to Lowe's a purchase a quart of primer, quart of countertop paint & a quart of wall paint.

So, for a whopping $30, I gave it a little bit of a facelift

After:

I know it isn't the greatest, but at least it's a little bit easier on the eyes. Surprisingly the room looks much larger than before, which is a good thing. I believe this bathroom has only had one shower taken in it by a house guest when we had about 8 people staying with us for New Years Eve a couple of years back.....

And to top all of this ugliness off, there is/was a window in the shower. But I'm assuming to save some money instead of tiling around the window and embracing that natural light, they put up the cheap acyrlic plastic shower surround all over it, so you would have no clue that there is a window there, unless you walk on that side of the house & see a window. Oh dear, oh dear....

I have been absolutely infatuated with this bathroom picture below for YEARS!

Actually, I have a major obsession with it. When John & I purchased our house, & when I saw the hideous basement bathroom, I knew that I could possibly look like this with lots of work. Well, moving came sooner than we initally expected, so this bathroom picture goes back in my file to be saved & used in our next house. I repeat, I will have a guest bathroom that looks like this in our next house! So use these pictures as inspiration, but I will throw you out that small little window if I come in your house & see this bathroom before I get to do it! :)

And I'm not kidding..... That's how much I absolutely love this bathroom....

:)

Recipe Monday

With all these projects going on over here, I've had to come up with some pretty simple meals these past couple of weeks. But something that fills our bellies around here, in between meals, is my Homemade Chex Mix. I made a several of batches of this to take to Bentley & Suzanne's party as well. It was a hit and is super easy! I suggest making a two batches at a time, because it will go much faster than you would expect!

Neelley's Homemade Chex Mix
3 cups Corn Chex Cereal
3 cups Rice Chex Cereal (if you live near a Publix, you can get a Corn & Rice Cereal Mix in 1 box)
2 cups Wheat Chex Cereal
1 1/2 cups Pretzels
1 1/2 cup mixed nuts

6 Tbsp melted Butter or Margarine
4 Tbsp Worchestershire sauce (generous Tbsps)
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
10 dashes of hot sauce
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

-In a large bowl, combine the cereals, nuts & pretzels. Mix until evenly distributed.

In a small bowl, melt butter and add seasonings & sauces. Stir well.

Take butter mixture and slowly pour over Chex Mix. Stiring while pouring. (I pour about 1/3 of it, stir, pour another 1/3, stir, then pour the last 3rd.) Mix to make sure that seasonings are coating cereal mix.
Pour Chex Mix in a 9 x 13" casserole dish. Place in a 250 degree oven for 1 hour. Turning every 15 minutes to evenly coat. Let cool completely. Store in an airtight container or Ziploc bag.

Projects Projects Projects and a Party

In the last 2 weeks, we have been very busy over here at the King household. As stated in a previous post, we have been doing a lot of projects around the house, hoping that it will sell sell sell.... Plus, these are some projects that we wanted to have done anyways.


List of Projects
#1: Clear out Basement Bedroom


- We have a wonderful finished basement in our home. One of the rooms is rather large and was currently used as an office/ holding spot of my old living room furniture that I had before John & I got married. We had some realtors mention that it could be a great Master Bedroom, & would probably show better if people could see it as a Master Bedroom. So John & I cleared out this large room. John & I both view homes differently. I can walk into a house, view a room & clear out the ugly decor, paint and see the possiblities of what it can be in my mind. John is not that way. He thinks if it has a bed in it, it has to be a bedroom, and has to stay that color, etc, etc.... So, I'm thinking that maybe other buyers have the same mindset of my husband. With that, we thought that if people view a room as a "blank canvas" it might get their wheels spinning in their heads of what they could do..... Onto the work- I never knew how much stuff accumulates, and how much stuff we neeeeeeeeeed to keep. This room has definitely been the landing spot of unused & unwanted things. We donated tons to Goodwill, but in John's eyes it wasn't enough! But Project #1 was marked off the list (of course, I have a list of all of this, you know me!)- as completed.

Basement Before:


Now the room's just empty.... Kinda sad, but we were going to have to do it anyways.....

#2: Pressure Wash the back deck, Stain & Seal it

-I loooooooove me some power tools. However, growing up, I didn't really see a lot of them.... well, unless the workers came over to fix something. My dad, bless his heart, is not a Mr. Fix-it. If something went wrong in our house, he called his handymen to fix just about anything. So when they would come over, I was always just wanting to hang around within eye sight to watch them to their thing.... Especially when it came to power tools. And when I saw a pressure washer being used, I immediately went downstairs & asked, "Do you mind if I try that thing?" Well, from that moment on I was hooked! There is just something about being able to see something go from being SO dirty to clean in a matter of just a few seconds! So, I decided that our back deck needed to be pressure washed, and then stained & resealed. It took about a day to do and wasn't hard at all! Check!
Before:

After:

I know that you can't tell a huge difference, but if you realized that in the before picture all of the darkness on the wood was due to dirt & grime is was just a tad disturbing to me. Now, it's still close to the same color as before, but it's because of the stain... :)

#3: Paint front door

-While at Lowe's a couple of weeks ago, I was looking at the paints & decided that our front door needed a face lift. This was super easy and we love the look of the front of the house from the road. It definitely gives it more of a pop!
Before:

After:

Please excuse the water on the front of the porch. I had just watered my Mums....

#4: Paint basement bathroom & update

- In my opinion, our basement bathroom could have qualified for ugliest bathroom in America. When we purchased this house, it was our full intentions to gut this bathroom and expand into our laundry room to make a large bathroom. However, since we were only in this house for 1 1/2 years before we decided that we wanted to be down in Columbia full time, it fell off that list of things to do, along with lots of other things. But while compiling my project list, I decided that I could give it a small face lift without spending a bunch of money or hiring a handyman, meaning, if I couldn't do it myself, then it wasn't going to be done. So, I painted the bathroom, refinished the countertops as well as the sink. Pictures to be posted later on this week. (I'm waiting on the paint to dry so I can tear off the painter's tape & take a pictures).....

#5: Hang storage in our laundry room.
- I hung a long 9' closet rod in our laundry room last week. They are super easy to install & this was done to show buyers that if they decided to use the Basement Bedroom as a Master Bedroom, then they would have plenty of closet space. It is wonderful!

#6: Wash interior & exterior windows.

-Ugggggh! I don't know if I will do this again. Interiors aren't that bad. Problem is it's the exterior that really needs all the washing due to the weather. And no, no, no... It's not as simple as I thought. I figured that you could just wash them the same way as I did inside. I even purchased this little device to make it easier.....

Since we have older windows, I soon discovered that I had to remove the "screens" however, they are glass, so instead of cleaning the inside & outside, it was really like cleaning the inside of the inside, then the outside of the inside, then the inside of the outside, then the outside. Needless to say, I got finished with the 7 windows in our basement & said, "never, never, never again!" John's response, "I told you that you should have just called that Handyman that your dad uses to do it, but nooooooo, you said that you could do it yourself and save money since you had the squeegee...." Yea, yea,,,, Whatever!

But now I know that when we build our next house, we will definitely have these

See, even Grandma can wash the outside windows......

#7: Decorate for Fall

-Ahh Fall! I love you! My favorite season, hands down! I decorated our Dining Room for fall. I just love it because you can decorate in September and keep it up until Thanksgiving. I've done a little more to decorate since this picture was taken, like added acorns to the bottom of the vases as fillers and such, but everytime I walk through this room, I smile!

#8: Rearrange the Living Room

-This wasn't actually on the list of things to do, but has been something that John has been wanting to do ever since we purchased our married living room furniture almost 2 years ago.....

And I don't really mean rearrange, he just wanted the big leather couch (the "manly" couch) to be moved up where we always lounge to watch tv, where "my" couch (a soft cream curved back sofa)- . So one night I told him, let's move the leather couch, and then go to sleep & when we come downstairs tomorrow, see what we think. Well, for the next week I kept saying, "You were right honey (because he doesn't hear it as much as he would like me to say it....), it was a great idea to move the couch...." And I mean it. It is wonderful. We purchased this couch because of how big it was. It is a little over 8' long and just shy of 4' deep. We love it because both of us can easily lay together on the couch to watch tv, or you could fit 5 people on this couch to sit comfortably. It's a very curl up & relax couch. And surprise surprise, it is nice & we are enjoying it, along with our nights watching movies sharing the same couch & not saying, "Move over, I'm about to fall off the couch!!!!"

Before:

After:

*Note: I know my camera sucks & I'm just waiting patiently for a new camera, but I've got to do some research before I decide which one I want more!*

#9: Host Shower for our Best Friends

Bentley & Suzanne are some of our very best friends in Nashville. Bentley was one of John's groomsmen in our wedding and we just think the world of him & his wonderful fiance, Suzanne, whom we have gotten extremely close to as well! This past Saturday four of us couples hosted a "UT Tailgate Party & Shower" for Bentley & Suzanne. Mark & Emily hosted it at their house, which is wonderful and they have a fabulous deck. We had about 40-45 people attend, which was perfect crowd! The weather was a little warm, but soon cooled off and turned into a wonderful night!

The Couple of the Night: Bentley & Suzanne

Suzanne & I

Emily & Jo Marie, two of the other hostesses, and two of my very best friends!

Some of the girls of the party having a good time!

Lauren, Jenni, Krista, Suzanne, & Louise

The theme was UT Tailgating, so they got lots of fun gifts ranging from: a cooler, UT plates & platters, Coach Coasters, picnic baskets, Pyrex casserole totes, etc, etc...

Ya know, I see a lot of Moms wear this contraption & wondered what it was all about! Let me tell ya, it actually is pretty comfortable & really does the job of letting you have 2 hands free, like to hold a cup with one hand and pour a beer with the other..... Luckily, Blair & Holland (some other of our great friends in Nashville) are very laid back parents to their 4 month old sweet daughter, Mary Knox, and when I asked if I could drink while wearing Mary Knox, she laughed & said, "ABSOLUTELY!!"

We had a lot of this going on too...... drooling!

*Please note- John & I aren't quite ready for a baby just yet.... Our time will come, but we did have fun with Mary Knox during that party!

#10:

I had 2 wedding cakes due in the last 7 days, so in the midsts of all of these projects, I had to put out:

Whew!