Dog Haircuts

Our dogs were long overdue for a haircut mostly because we hadn't found a groomer that we liked down in FL. We still aren't completely sold on our current one, but at least this time she got their hair cuts correct! When we got home I decided to get some pictures so that if we need to change groomer's ever again, we would have some pics of what we wanted.

I also realized that while we have a lot of pics of the dogs, I have absolutely no pictures of me and Zoe so I had Nate snap a couple of me and her.

Can you tell how much Zoe loves picture time? Any time she is restricted from all the excitement around her she is unhappy (aka being held for pictures)

And of course we had to get Madeline in on the fun! 

The game every time they come back fromt the groomer's is who can get their bandana/bows off the first so I'm glad we were able to get a few shots in before that happened.

On a side note, today is my sister's wedding day so while we enjoy the festivities up North, our dogs are having a staycation at our house with friends. Here's hoping to good behavior (yes Madeline I'm talking to you!)

Mail Organizer

We were in desperate need of a way to organize our mail. Our current system was to get the mail and unload any junk on the first surface we came across. Then we would proceed to put any important mail somewhere where we thought we would find it but never could locate it when we needed it.

Then we happend upon an old shutter for $10 at the Habitat for Humanity Restore and I decided to fix our mail situation.

I started by cutting one of the shutters so that I had a symmetric piece and a scrap piece.

Then I spray painted it with some leftover spray paint.

I thought I was basically done at this point but when I tried to put mail in it, the piece of mail would just slide through. To fix this I took a left over piece of thin plywood and cut it so that it would fit snuggly on the back of the shutter.

I first glued it down and then to make sure it wouldn't come off, I used the smallest brads that would go in our nail gun to really secure it. From the front it looks exactly the same, but now the mail sits nicely in the shutter.

Just to add a little more organization, I labeled sections of the shutter so that only one person needs to sort through the mail each day and the other can just pick theirs up.

The mail organizer got it's own little spot right by the front door. We also added a basket right under the shutter so that we can throw junk mail/envelopes right in there and they don't clutter up the rest of the house.

It is so nice to have this tucked off in a previously unused corner and to not have our dinning room table covered in junk mail!

inking To: Hi Sugar Plum, The Great Indoors, House of Hepworths, My Repurposed Life, Our Delightful Home, Five Days Five Ways, Serenity Now, Lovely Etc., The Rooster and the Hen, Six Sisters Stuff, Tatertots and Jello, Wayward Girls Crafts, Twigg Studio, Serendipity and Spice, Ask Anna, Home Stories A to Z, Uncommon Designs, House wives of Riverton, Crafty Texas Girls, Southern Institute, Watch out Martha!

Shrimp Creole

This is another southern dish that I've really come to love. This is a fairly easy and healthy dish that has just the right amount of spice.

I'm not a big fan of cooked celery so I didn't include that when I modified this recipe but it would be easy to include it. I also doubled the amount of vegetables since I like meals like this with a little more sauce.

Ingredients: 

• 1 lb shrimp, cleaned
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 28-ounce cans petite diced tomatoes
• 2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 2 bell peppers, diced
• 2 scallions, sliced
• 2 cups cooked rice

Cook onions and garlic in the oil over medium-high heat in a large saute pan until the onions are tender. Add the tomatoes, Worcestershire sauce, salt, chili powder and diced peppers. Simmer uncovered for 45 minutes. Add the shrimp and simmer for another 5 minutes. Add the scallions and serve over the rice. Enjoy!

Happy Memorial Day!

I hope everyone is enjoying their Memorial Day. We are spending a good part of the day cleaning our house in preparation for leaving for my sister's wedding later this week (we have friends staying at our house to watch the dogs so we want to give the impression that our house is actually clean :) ), but we are going to carve out some time this afternoon to BBQ with some friends and relax.

One area that we are not going to touch before we leave is the garage. Last week I showed you the most organized spot in our house, the pantry and now I present to you the most disorganized space!

The garage has gotten so bad it is basically laughable at this point.

We often wonder why it takes FOREVER to find the tool that we want and this is basically why.

You'll notice our laundry is in the garage (something we both desperately want to change) and it is an obstacle course trying to get over to it.

The major issue is that we didn't organize it from the beginning. This was the landing spot for all things that didn't have an away spot in the house and so this became the catch all.

We have major plans for organizing this space (and getting the laundry out of there!) but it'll have to wait until we get back!

Chicken Cordon Bleu

This is an easy and quick meal that really gets your taste buds going. This recipe cuts out the normal step of breading the chicken but if you use gluten free bread crumbs you could include breading on the chicken.

Ingredients:

• 2 chicken breasts
• 2 slices of deli ham
• 2 slices of your favorite cheese

Preheat your oven to 350 F. Using a rolling pin, roll out the chicken until it is thin (this is the hardest part). Season both sides of the chicken with salt and pepper. Layer with the deli ham and cheese and roll the chicken up. Either lay the chicken with the seam down in a glass pan (so it doesn't unravel) or keep the chicken rolled up with a tooth pick. Cook in the preheated oven for 20-25 min or until the chicken is cooked and the cheese is nice and gooey. Serve with your favorite sides and Enjoy!

Pantry Overview

We are officially calling it. The pantry is finally complete. It has taken 5 months of destruction, construction and last minute tweaks but it is now our most organized space in the house! Since it has been such a long process, here is a recap of how we created our pantry out of a half bathroom.

Nate and his dad started this whole process by moving the fridge and taking apart the nook the refrigerator sat in that took up all the space in the half bath.

Once everything was demolished, they moved plumbing and updated the electrical. We also framed out the old entrance to the bathroom.

Then we closed off the the door and the wall.

We replaced the cracked tile with a durable burlap floor (to see how we did this click here and here)

and got an Ikea unit to use as our counter.

Then we cut shelving out of MDF

and using pipes, made the walls storage central with tons of shelving.

We painted the walls, the shelves and the Ikea unit.

We also added shelf liners to the Ikea unit to add a pop of color and to protect the shelves.

At this point, the pantry was completely usable, but we had some finishing fun things to add. We added a bunch of storage in the nook area for cleaning supplies

and we replace the handles in the Ikea unit with rope pulls.

and last but not least, we added a new light.

So that's the run down on what we did to create this pantry. Now here are some after shots.

We added this DIY pantry sign to the wall outside the pantry just in case it wasn't clear.

We love how all of the materials we used came together.

And we LOVE how much storage we have for our can goods. It is so nice to be able to see what we have at a glance.

The light gives off a really nice glow in the room and it is such an improvement over the old light.

Another favorite area is our "spice rack" made out of the old bathroom medicine cabinet.

An Ikea stool makes it so I can reach anything in the pantry... even the cans on the top shelf!

We are just so happy with how this space turned out. We are constantly using it as an extra work space and while we've really enjoyed creating this space, we are so glad we can finally cross it off the list!

If you would like to see all the posts related to this project, you can click here. If you want to see an individual project, you can click on the links above.

Swan Lake

Did any of you watch the Swan Princess growing up? It was a favorite in our house and now I get to live near a real life Swan Lake! Swan Lake is what all the locals call this lake (but it's not the real name) because of the tremendous amount of swans that live around the lake. Swans are kind of like the mascot of Lakeland. There are statues of swans everywhere and near the center of town is swan lake. The story that I've been told is that in the 1950's all the swans in lakeland were gone because of predators killing them off. A local resident was very upset by the disappearance of the swans and so they wrote to Queen Elizabeth who allowed for the capture of two royal swans that were sent to Lakeland. The rumor is that all the swans that are currently in Lakeland are descendants of these royal swans.

Right now is the nesting season for the swans and some baby swans are just starting to show up. This year someone or something has been stealing the swan eggs (last I heard 40 were missing) which is really sad. Generally speaking, everyone is very protective of the swans and so having eggs go missing is very upsetting to a lot of people and so the city has set up cameras and have increased the amount of police foot potrol around the lake to make sure the eggs don't keep disappearing.

The swans around this lake are fairly friendly, at least as swans go. The do get pretty excited if you bring a loaf a bread with you to feed them, but other than that they do a good job of just ignoring all the people gawking at them. 

The other cool thing about these swans is that there are grey and black swans around the lake. I had never seen a black swan before moving to Lakeland. There are quite a few around the lake and they are gorgeous.

Not that the white swans aren't pretty as well!

Swans aren't the only bird that hang out around the lake. I don't really know what these are but I've heard many people refer to them as the ugliest bird they've ever seen. I think they are kinda cute though.

And these birds are EVERYWHERE! They walk around in packs eating bugs with their needle like beaks.

So, if you really like swans or have never seen a black swan before, you should really come visit Lakeland and take a walk around Swan Lake!