Heart it Up

One of my most popular posts last year was my Valentine's Rag Wreath.

Tutorial here

These wreaths are so simple to make.  When I found a wire hanger hiding in the back of my closet during my most recent closet reorganization, a new Valentine's Wreath was born - this one in the shape of a heart.

I grabbed the scrap of silk panne leftover from this year's Halloween costume(I was Little Red Riding Hood,) and cut it up into 3/4"  wide strips.

The tying process can be done in front of the tv, it's pretty mindless work.

After an hour or so, the entire hanger is covered in fabric.

And here it is on our door.

Thanks for popping in and crafting with me.

Real Estalker

We're not moving any time soon.  We've put a lot of work into this home and have more planned, just refinanced, and CG is pretty adamant that he has no interest in moving any further from his parents(we live about 2 1/2 hours away.)  Still, I like to look at real estate listings.  My dad shares that love of Real Estalking, and often sends me MLS listings from around where they live(down in GA.)  So for grins and giggles, lets take a look at what 100K will get you both here in NY, and elsewhere.

Just a few miles away in my town, you could buy this 1800 sqft, 2 bedroom, 1 bath ranch built in 1946 in a flood zone,

with this sort of updated kitchen.

Across the river, my cousin is selling this 1325 sqft, 3 bedroom, 1 bath home built in 1930,

with this kitchen.

In Fairburn GA(about 45 minutes from my parents,) you could buy this 3024 sqft, 5bedroom, 3 bath home built in 2006,

with this kitchen.  The kitchen is a bit builder's grade, but could be updated with little effort.  As a NYer paying over 7K a year in taxes, I can't believe how little the taxes are on this place($80/month.)

In Detroit MI, you could grab this 4200sqft manor built in 1927.  It sports a grand staircase, 7 bedrooms, 4 baths, 3 car garage(around back,) and a solarium.  Unfortunately there was no picture of the kitchen.

I can't believe that ginormous homes like this don't sell at these low prices, but to give it all some perspective, I looked at where 100K would get you even less space than here in upstate NY - NYC.  I couldn't find anything at all in Manhattan, but our 100K play money budget would buy this studio apartment(that's right, no bedroom) in Brooklyn.

It has a beautifully updated kitchen, NYC sized, but quite nice.

Does anyone else like to check out real estate listings, even when they have no intentions of moving?  If you could pick up and move, would you?

Thanks for popping in and sharing in my real estate obsession.

Love is in the Air

I've been slow to decorate for Valentine's Day this year.  I think it took me so long to take down Christmas, that I wanted to revel in just winter for a while.  You can see my winter mantel here.  I left up the ornaments in my front window, because they looked good with my winter decor.

But after seeing the pink explosion across blogland, I'm ready for Valentine's Day.  Pam at diy Design Fanatic shared her wax paper heart ornaments the other day, and I remembered how fun these were to make.  Do you remember making stained glass sun catchers with wax paper as a kid?  I do.  So I set about replacing my winter window with a Valentine's one.  First I needed crayons and a crayon sharpener.

I made crayon shavings,

and after shaving a good amount(the wax paper doesn't have to be completely covered,)

I folded the wax paper over, sandwiched it between some newspaper, and ironed it.  The iron should be on your hot setting without steam. 

A quick pass will melt everything together.

I cut out hearts from my sheets of melted wax, and punched holes in the tops of the hearts.

I actually have a heart punch, but I'd have needed to punch it upside down to use it, so I just used a rectangle punch.

I strung them up on some yarn and hung them in the window.  I love how they look with the light streaming through.

I also made a Valentine's placemat pillow.  For a tutorial, click here.

Thanks for popping in and crafting with me.

Meatloafins

I'd seen these meatloaf muffins in Cooking Light a few months ago and thought that they were so cute.  I filed the pic away for later.

Later came.  CG had his wisdom teeth out yesterday.  It astounds me that he didn't get them out back in highschool like everyone else, but they were impacted and needed to come out.  It was a fairly quick & easy procedure and after stopping for 4(!) prescriptions on the way home, I snapped this pic of him with chipmunk cheeks.

CG was told to eat soft mushy, non-spicy foods so I thought meatloaf would be perfect for dinner and celebrating his newfound space in his mouth would be perfect for the meatloafins.  I used my own meatloaf recipe, because WD loves it, but followed the instructions for baking time for the meatloafins.  I place 1 lb ground turkey, 1 cup bread crumbs, 1 finely chopped onion, 1/2 cup ketchup, 1 egg, 1 tsp oregano, 1 tsp worcestshire sauce, black pepper, and garlic powder in a mixing bowl.

I actually used more bread crumbs than usual for an especially soft meatloaf.  I realize that the canister says chicken coating, but I've shown you how I use crushed up chips to coat chicken here.  These Hol-Grain chicken coating crumbs are perfect for recipes calling for seasoned bread crumbs.

Using my hands, I mixed up all the ingredients.

I greased a muffin pan, and using an icecream scoop for uniformity,

filled the pan.

I mixed together another 1/3 cup ketchup with 1/4 cup brown sugar,

and spread that sauce on top of the meat.  Bake at 350 for 25 minutes.

Here's mine served with potato wedges like in the Cooking Light photo.

CG needed soft foods, so his were topped with mashed potatoes.

Thanks for popping in and cooking with me and thanks for all the words of encouragement yesterday.  I started out the day feeling pretty crummy, but your words lifted me up.  I'm linking this up to Gluten-Free Wednesdays and these parties below.

Sugar Sheets

I'd like to start this post by saying that I try not to pay too much attention to the number of followers that I have, but it's hard not to notice when those numbers move.  It's hard not to wonder why I might lose followers when it happens.  Well, last night I lost a couple and I can only imagine they were 49ers fans.  I'm Sorry.  I did not mean to offend anyone with the cake I posted at the end of yesterday's post.  It was all done tongue-in-cheek and it was a great game.  And the cake was a huge hit in real life. 

I've shared how to make fondant here.  And the heavily NY biased crowd at the party we attended appreciated my depiction of a Justin Tuck sack.  But they also were impressed with the Giants logos adorning the sides of the cake.

It all started with a new to me Wilton product - Sugar Sheets.

I printed out multiple logos.

And used a clean exacto knife to cut out the letters.

They just pressed into the icing and stuck.

Thanks for popping in and trying out a new product with me.  I'm linking this up to Something Swanky's Sweet Treats Thursdays.