Cute Thank You Cards

I found these cute cards at Target yesterday. I was pleasantly surprised to find them because I had been planning on having to go to Michael's for them. Not only did this stop me from making a trip I didn't need to make- they were also $1 for a pack of eight- making it a better deal than any of the cards at the craft store. Plus- they're super cute! 

They have tons of really cute items in their dollar section right now. I wish I had a bigger apartment and a little more time in-between baby's naps, my home would look awesome with some of the tiny upgrades I was oogling today. 

While I have your attention- I have come to the conclusion that while Wal-Mart may be trashy, Target seems to have the super-bitchy customers. Every time I go there, there is always some lady being a mega-bitch when there is no need to be. When we did our baby registry there one lady even threatened to kick my ass (and I was NINE MONTHS PREGNANT AT THE TIME! Who does that?!). Yesterday there was a mother who was very angry that the cashier offered to have me switch lanes before her- despite the fact that I was in front of her in line. Some people. 

Have you found any goodies in the Dollar bins at Target lately? What were they? SHARE! 

German Pop Ups

I don't know about you, but I LOVE German pancakes! I craved them all throughout my last month of pregnancy and still am not sick of them! When I saw that you could put them in a muffin tin and make minis (that even make themselves into bowls!) I knew I HAD to try it!

They are really easy to do and only take about 20 or so minutes- perfect for those who don't want to cook and have to (like I was feeling at the time) or amateur chefs such as teens, husbands, etc.

What you'll need

6 Eggs
1 Cup Milk
1 Cup Flour
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
2 Tablespoons of Butter

Total Prep Time: 5 Minutes
Total Cook Time 20 Minutes
Makes 21 Pop Ups

Mix all of your ingredients together into a mixing bowl (yes, even the butter). Preheat oven to 475.

Once mixed, pour your mix into your muffin tin, filling it only about a third to halfway full- depending on how thick you like your pancakes. DO NOT SPRAY YOUR MUFFIN TIN. It'll make your pop ups turn out funny (trust me, I tried and found out the hard way). They'll still taste good if you do, but they won't turn into bowls.

Bake for anywhere between 7-10 minutes. My first batch took about 11 minutes to cook fully, but the second batch only took about 8 minutes, and yes, my oven was fully heated the first time.

Remove from oven and let cool - watch them de-puff and turn into your little bowls!

I only set out as many as I wanted, and stored the rest in the fridge for when a craving hits. These are perfect for easy breakfasts, a quick snack or even just an easy dinner (which mine was). I was only feeding myself tonight, but I love that I can store them for later whenever Bubba wants to eat them.

Put your toppings on it and enjoy! I've seen people put butter and jam, syrup, orange zest and yogurt, powdered sugar, strawberries, and so many other delicious additions!

Enjoy!

How To: Fabric Covered Makeup Brushes

I just LOVE making things pretty and unique - don't you? I've been looking for ways to make things in my life prettier and the bathroom was one of those places that I am constantly looking to upgrade and make prettier.

These are my brushes before this project. I LOVE the beads I poured into the glass jar, they match my bathroom decor and add a very small, subtle, but pretty touch. Yes, there is a nail stick in there... and an eyeliner... and a toothbrush (I use the toothbrush for flyaways when doing my hair).

What you need for this project:

Mod Podge
Makeup Brushes
Fabric (I used scraps that I had around my house. They didn't all match, but I didn't want them to all match!)
Scissors to cut your fabric with
Paintbrush (or craft brush) to use with the Mod Podge

Step One: Paint the entire handle of your brush with the Mod Podge. Wrap the fabric around the brush.

Step Two: You can wait until the base is dry, or do it all at once. While wet, I then painted the bottom of the brush with the glue. To fold it over to look nice you'll need to press the fabric down with your thumb. You should have two sides up still, you'll add more glue, then press the next piece down. This will make it look folded nicely. Make sure all the sides are glued down nicely...when they dry they will be sharp!

Step 3: Let dry. I balanced mine against the glass jar so that they wouldn't glue to the table or to each other. Once dry, coat with a thin layer of Mod Podge to avoid it falling off or becoming unglued.

Step 4: Once dry, admire your new brushes.

These are my brushes once they were done. Yep, I only did four. (I honestly only use these four!) Have you done this project? If you have or are going to please send me a link to your final product in the comments section - I'd love to see all the pretty brushes we can come up with!

Crockpot Dinner: Hawaiian BBQ Chicken

This is a VERY easy two-step dinner that a male friend of mine suggested I make. Since it was already guy approved I went for it, and was very pleased with not only how easy it is (including cleanup), but how good it tasted!

Ingredients:

Chicken (Mine was still frozen)
Pineapple chunks (big or small...doesn't matter).
Honey BBQ Sauce

Mix all your ingredients into your crockpot and cook on either High for 2-3 hours, or Low for 4-5 hours. I cooked mine on low, and even though the chicken was frozen when I put it in the crockpot it cooked great!

If you can, stir it halfway though and again once you are finished. Break the chicken up as you are stirring it so that the BBQ sauce can absorb into as much of the chicken as possible.

I served mine with some leftover rice we had in our fridge. After taking the final product photo I realized I could've easily made Rumbi-wanna-be bowls and added carrot slivers and broccoli.

More proof of how good this recipe is? My husband licked his plate clean (literally). That was stamp of approval enough for me!

How to clean your Stovetop without using Chemicals

  

I found another AWESOME way to clean your stove top. Now, let me say that with these before photos, I am very embarrassed. The top of the stove is all us, but the silver cover and the burnt crap underneath is from the renter before us and us cooking just added to the mess. It was BAD.

After a google session I found this method to cleaning your stove top. It takes two ingredients, some patience and no chemicals at all!

What you will need: 

Baking Soda
Water
Sponge

Optional: 

Toothbrush (I always use one for cleaning)
Cleaning Rag

How to:


Make a paste from mixing the Baking Soda and the water. If you prefer a more coarse solution, it needs to be 3/4th's baking soda and 1/4th's water. I used a container (pictured) to measure it out.

Now, mix, put on stove and scrub! Some spots took a lot more elbow grease than others (to be totally expected), but I got the stove totally clean!

As for the covers, since there was more crap on them than the stove or under the burners, I soaked them in warm water while I scrubbed the stove. Then, I took the baking soda and placed it on top of all of them while I scrubbed them one at a time.


Some secrets that I figured out: the more baking soda, the thicker the paste will be. (No duh). The toothbrush became highly effective while I was scrubbing the covers because it had the tongue scraper on the back of it, making it super easy to get what the back of the sponge wouldn't get.

When you are done, wipe clean and dry completely before reassembling the stove top.

When I was done the stove was clean and the covers were super shiny. I loved this method (and will use it more often so it doesn't take as long) because I had all the things I needed in my kitchen, and NO CHEMICALS! Perfect for what I wanted, which was to clean without using harsh chemicals around the new baby!

How to: Clean Your Microwave - 2 Steps and No Chemicals

 Having a brand new baby, I am hesitant to use certain chemicals in my home. I had two options, find a way to do it naturally or with 'light' chemical use or not do it at all. The house needed to be cleaned so I googled and asked my family. This is a TWO (yes Two!) step way to clean your microwave- plus it smells good when you are done!

What you will need:

1 Cup of Water
2-3 Tablespoons of Lemon Juice
Microwave safe bowl/container

Some websites on google suggest using a whole lemon, including the peel. I didn't have that and found the lemon juice works just as well.

The before is just gross. We hadn't cleaned it in awhile due to the chemicals and being on bedrest during my pregnancy I wasn't about to scrub the microwave, and since Bubba wasn't going to either, it just didn't get done. It's gross and I am not proud.

Step 1: Combine water and lemon juice and place into the microwave.

Step 2: Cook on high for 3 minutes. Let sit for 10 minutes afterwards and wipe down with a dry rag.

The after is so shiny and clean. No scrubbing, no chemicals!

YAY!

Note: Because of the poor condition of my microwave I did this twice. The second time it turned out much better and it smelled like lemons (The first time it honestly smelled like BBQ, which confuses me, but wasn't a horrible smell.) If everything doesn't come off easily the first time, do it again.

Morning Snuggles

Taken via webcam

I cannot believe he is almost three weeks old!

Crockpot Dinner: Zesty Italian Chicken

I don't know if I can gush enough about how much I love Pinterest! I have many cookbooks that have provided me with failed recipes or with food my family won't eat, but Pinterest never fails me! I found this recipe the other day, but the instructions seemed a little too simple for my likes. Bubba wanted me to try it, and told me that if it sucked, he would go pick up whatever I wanted on the way home from work. Wanting to try this recipe, and secretly wanting some Cafe Rio, I agreed.

It turned out REALLY good, and I decided to share my step by step instructions with you guys (it's super easy!).
Zesty Italian Chicken (Crockpot Dinner)
Prep time: 5 minutes (if that!)
Cook time; 4-5 hours (depending on thickness of the chicken).

Ingredients:
1 package of Chicken.
1 package of Zesty Italian Seasoning
Lemon Juice
1 Stick of Butter

Step 1: Place butter into the bottom of the Crockpot.

Step 2: Add Chicken, Sprinkle seasoning on top, and add lemon juice. If the butter isn't melted by now, then break it up into smaller pieces. Drizzle enough lemon juice onto the chicken to make it a sauce. Cover and cook on high for four hours.

This second photo is what it should look like halfway through cooking. This is how you know you are on the right track!

Step 3: Remove from pot. I didn't want my chicken to be overly buttery (which it appeared to be when it was finished cooking.), so I placed them on paper towels to absorb the excess butter.

Step 4: ENJOY it! We enjoyed our with Herb and Butter rice (which took only seven minutes to make). Bubba suggested that it would be delicious with Fettuccine or on top of some pasta!

Have you made this before? If so, what have you done differently? Do you prepare it with anything other than pasta or rice? Share in the comments section below!

Bump Photos

I know these are VERY late coming, but when I found out I was going to be induced and out of time I snapped the bump photos everyone was asking for. In my defense I didn't have a bump until I hit the 8 month mark, and then I popped!

Meet our newest addition!

I know it has been awhile since I posted to this blog- and for that I know I will regret it. What did you miss while I was slacking? A LOT.

On Feb 6th, I went to the hospital to be induced. They decided to do an induction due to my high blood pressure and insane amount of swelling (I had gained ten lbs of swelling in a week alone!). We got there that night, checked in and got the cervadil. It was time to have a baby.

It was a long night with lots of craziness. (BP too high, BP too low, question if I could even have the epidural, pulse too high, baby's pulse too low). Finally about three a.m., my water broke. By eight a.m., I was 5cm dilated. By nine a.m., I was at a ten. By ten a.m., it was Bubba, my doctor, two nurses and I, all working towards getting Baby here.

He was born at 10:30 am, on Feb 7th. He is the most perfect little boy ever, and the most active baby anyone has ever seen. He was 6 lbs, 12 oz, and 19 inches long. He has my nose and my husbands eyes. He is already such a funny little boy and makes us smile, even when its three in the morning and he is screaming. We are so glad he is finally here.

Welcome to the world baby boy! We love you!