oh joy!

I finally made my curtains today! And I am so excited to share them with everyone! I did make them in one day...I KNOW! I am a CRAZY person. And yes, my children were fed today...lol It took about 2 hours and a little bit of frustration via the bobbin, but all in all I am very pleased with the outcome! I hope you like them too! When I saw the fabric for the ones in the living room I fell in love! I got the inspiration for the burlap from my hubby's aunt who made her own curtains. Similar to these just a little different, but she used burlap too and I have always gawked at them every time we were over at her house! So she encouraged me to make my own as well...so...I DID!!! :o) (Thank you Aunt Trina!!)

These are the curtains in my kitchen. I love it! I am, however, changing the ribbon to a thicker black one. I only had this red polka-dot ribbon at the moment so I added it for effect. 

Here is my living room! I am SOO happy with these! I fell in love with this fabric (from Jo-Ann's.all of it is from there actually...)I even had extra for a pillow! :o) 

It was pretty easy to make these curtains...I am pleased and it's just one step closer to our house looking more like a home! :o)

In other news...I also planted more flowers!!

P.S. Yes I sweep off our porch....I should've moved the broom sorry...:)

In the spirit of Lifetime's Army Wives season premiere...

I recently found a blog for Christian Military Wives and I am SO loving the encouragement from these ladies. I feel as a military wife it is CRUCIAL for me to stay encouraged especially by wives who actually understand what I (as a wife to a soldier) go through...Deployments (not yet, but soon), field training, knowing that my husband will be jumping out of an airplane today/tonight...etc. It can be draining worrying about your husband day after day when he leaves in the morning just to go to work. As an Army Wife I know that I play a very important role. I am the one left behind when my husband goes to the battlefield to take care of EVERYTHING...kids, dishes, cleaning, shopping, getting the oil changed in our cars, reaching for stuff on the top shelf, taking the trash out...It's the little things that I have taken for granted when he is home because he does most of these or at least helps me with them...except for maybe the cleaning part. :o) When I feel that my husband and I are about to engage in a knock-down drag-out "discussion" sometimes it takes all I have to sit back and think "I do not need to be wasting these moments with him by arguing..." It's a sad reality, but it's my reality.

I am SO proud of my husband and how far he has come since we got married! As cliche as it sounds..he really is my hero! I cry over silly country songs about soldiers that I never cried over before, I got chill bumps at his infantry graduation when the guys in his platoon yelled the infantryman's creed, and I was so excited for him the first time I saw him jump out of a C-130 and gently float back down to earth that I wanted to run back and forth in front of the bleachers, as the other spouses and family members watched their own loved ones, and scream to the top of my lungs, "THAT'S MY HUSBAND!!!!!!!" The pride & excitement you feel is so incredibly overwhelming!

I am proud to be the wife of an American Soldier!

Army Wife Creed

I am the wife of an American Soldier.
I am a supporter of the United States Army -
an encouragement for the protectors of the greatest nation on earth.
Because I am proud of my husband and the  uniform that he wears,
I will always act in ways creditable to him, the military service
and the nation he is sworn to gaurd.
I am proud of my husband. I will do all that I can to protect
and provide for my family in his absence. I will be loyal to my
husband and to the vows that we made as we entered the
covenant of marriage.
I will do my full part to carry on the values
and goals we have set apart for our family
and I will continue to instruct our children in the same manner.
As a soldier's wife, I realize that I play a vital role
in my husband's decision to become a member of a time-honored profession -
that I am doing my share to keep alive the principles of freedom
for which my country stands.
No matter what situation I am in, I will never do anything,
for pleasure, profit, or personal safety,
which will disgrace my husband, his uniform or our country.
I will use every means I have to encourage my husband to be
the best soldier that he can be.
I am proud of my husband, my country and its flag.
I will fly the flag and will always remember the sacrafices
made by my husband and by generations of men and women
that have served our beloved country.
I will try to make my husband proud of the
manner in which I accept his decision to defend my freedom and
the freedom of all American citizens -
for I am the wife of an American soldier.

Custom Mixers!

I was looking around for fun ideas for the kids on St. Patty's Day and somehow ran across a blog post where someone made Ree Drumond (The Pioneer Woman) a custom-made Kitchen-Aid Mixer! As curious as I am...I went to her page to see what all the fuss was about. Weeeell....Here it is! TOO cool! I am jealous of the ladies who won this pure baking gadget awesomeness! So I read the comments and one said,

Crystal F On Tuesday, February 22 at 7:03 pm

You can by them at:http://www.unamorecustomshoppe.com/categories/KitchenAid-Mixers/ In fact you can have one painted with your own design or one of theirs, using your own mixer or you can buy one of theirs.

Go click on that website! TOO AWESOME! Like she said, you can have your existing mixer custom painted...for $400!!!  Umm as cool as that is...I am not going to pay someone (MORE than I paid for the actual mixer) just to paint on a mixer I already have....SOO I wonder what kind of paint they are using? I will research and quite possibly paint my own mixer for the price of well, paint! Sounds like a plan to me!! :o)

Loverly Day.

Today was a fun day. I actually got out of the house with the kids! We just bought a new car LAND ROVER! so I finally can leave during the day while Chad is at work! ....and we went to TARGET! :o) We haven't been to this one since we moved to North Carolina and it was completely backwards from the one at home...well Alabama. (I have to keep reminding myself that NC is my home now...Alabama will ALWAYS be called home to me though.) Anywho, I had fun exploring. I have fun in Target anyways. It just has the coolest stuff and the cutest clothes for me and the kids. We didn't get much, but I did buy a new doormat for our house! ....Well I was going to show you a picture from the website, but I couldn't find it...BUT I found this one....and thought, "Why didn't they have this one? TOTALLY woulda gotten it!" (go ahead...click on it! You won't regret it.) SEE!? What'd I tell ya, huh? HILARIOUS, right? I know! :o) PLEASE buy this doormat and take a picture for me will ya? Would love to knock on someones door with this under my freshly pedicured toes! ;o) haha So silly. I love stuff like that.

Anyway...back to the stuff I got at wal-mart..err, Target (that tells you I go to WM too often...) I found a pink jacket on sale for $7.48! and a cute polka dot storage bin to sit on top of the dryer to put single socks in when I can't find the match as the clothes come outta the dryer...(smart, eh?) annnd some ROCKING turquoise sunshades! That's it. But we sure had FUN rummaging through their cool kitchen gadgets & wishing I had a new bed set with 25 matching throw pillows! :o)

Finally came home to make pizza for supper with Reagan while Chad was getting his gear together for tomorrows ruck march (or something...?) Chad goes to bed so early now because he has to get up so early so I am stuck hanging out (& watching Idol) by myself...Reagan went to sleep early tonight as well. I love having time to relax without someone crying and my husband (God love him) asking me where his multi-tool is....it feels nice to not feel needed for a little while and just be....

We had a fun day and now I am ready to go to sleep. OH! Army Wives premieres on Sunday!! IM STOKED!!!!! OH and BTW...I found this awesome blog and I am obsessed with her furniture.and her paintings.and her style.which I could NEVER pull off. CHECK HER OUT... Mrs. Amber Apple you won't regret it! promise. ;o)

Sweet Dreams! ;) -R

Sweet Success

I did it! I completed my very first cake. Although I had some errors It turned out pretty darn cute! I didn't beat myself up too hard about my fondant cracking or the fact that the cake was leaning slightly toward the western hemisphere! It's my first cake...I wasn't expecting perfection...well maybe just a tad bit?! I am proud of myself for accomplishing and totally

dominating the cake hurdle! I can't wait to make another one.

We had fun licking the spoons and mixer attachments! :o) Everything was relatively easy to make, the only thing I really had a problem with was my red & blue fondant. The red fondant was the first color I started to mold because I had to make a "1" and his name. Well..after getting very frustrated because I couldn't find a nice medium between too dry and too sticky I gave up on the red and just made the "1", balls, and polka dots. The bottom tier was supposed to have red stripes and I decided to omit them because the fondant was cracking and just plain getting on my nerves! So...I made it work! The blue fondant was not as temper mental as the red, and the yellow was PERFECT. I don't know what the deal was...but I vow to find out how to do it correctly without cracking! :o)

I froze my cakes a couple of days before I decorated. I had no problems with sweating or anything. I took them out of the freezer first thing the morning of decorating and let them thaw out a little bit in the plastic and then unwrapped them a couple of hours later while I made more buttercream and leveled the cake and crumb coated it.

Improvements can definitely be made...but it's my first cake...give me a break here kids! Practice makes perfect!

Cake Boss...?

I have been teaching myself how to bake and decorate cakes! (don't laugh.) And when I say"teaching myself" I mean being taught by my aunt but because we live 8.5 hours apart...It's more of teaching myself and asking her questions/youtube when I get stuck. My reason for doing this came from inspiration from my aunt because well...I'd rather you SEE why then me explain how AWESOME she is! soo here are a couple of pictures...

She is AHH-MAAAZING! My first attempt at this will be my son's 1 year birthday cake! I am so excited about doing this! I have cake freezing in my freezer right now and Buttercream hanging out in tupperware on my counter and 3 mounds of fondant sitting in my fridge. Yup! FONDANT! I am such a professional! haha I cant wait to start putting everything together and watch it form into a beautiful masterpiece such as the ones above...well hopefully.

I have had fun with my KitchenAid Mixer making my buttercream, which I think was more fun "taste-testing" than actually making it! Reagan thought so as well! (pictures to come!) I can't wait to show y'all the finished project and ALL the fun I had on the way!

non-gourmet hamburger casserole

So in my previous post I mentioned something about making hamburger casserole and how much my husband "loved" it! haha well I made it the other night and I figured I would share the recipe because, well, it really is yummy and, did I mention, SUPER easy? soo Here ya go...I hope your husbands don't have "gourmet" taste buds like mine does...

1 lb. ground beef (I use lean ground beef)

1/2 cup (or more) your choice BBQ sauce

1 16 oz. can baked beans

biscuits*

cheese...lots and lots of cheeeese!

(*Biscuits can be pre-made frozen that you've thawed out or from a can or you make them out of Bisquick mix-just follow directions on the box)

Preheat oven to 425. Brown your meat in a skillet, drain.

Pour in your BBQ sauce and baked beans and stir until it begins to do bubbly things.

Pour it into a 2 qt. casserole dish and arrange biscuits on top of mixture. I line the outside of the dish with them making a circle and if you have any biscuits remaining you can put some in the middle of your Circle O' Biscuits! Place your casserole in the oven and bake for about 20 minutes, until biscuits are pretty and golden colored. MMM...This makes me hungry thinking about it! :o) When your oven timer starts beeping...pull it out and pour 5 lbs of cheese on top...no J-K! haha maybe 1 cup or soo...however much your heart so desires! put back in the oven for about 3 minutes so the cheese is melty and goooey! After the end of that 3 minutes, take it out and cool...or not...and ENJOY it with a huge glass of sweet tea- no lemon! :o)