After: The Guest Room

This after was a long time coming. I was looking for bedding for this bedroom before we even moved into our house last July. This great woodwork was going to be a pain to paint so I wanted to match it. After quite the search, I hit the jackpot with a quilt that had a green that matched perfectly while still bringing in more color. That's exactly what I was looking for and the closeout pricing sealed the deal!The quilt, shams, valance, and the flower toss pillow you see were all purchased and shipped for under $100! 

The green woodwork had to becleaned up and repainted as there were scratches, nail holes, and even carpet glue that had to go. 2 coats of Diamond Vogel's Valley Vista did the trick. We switched to an eggshell finish as the flat that was on before held every finger print so you can imagine the greasy marks that were left behind from the past owner's pillows propped against the wall!

In this shot, you also see the use of metalware on the walls. $9 for the hanging candle holder and not much more for the scroll above the bed kept some natural elements on the newly painted "Bamboo Beach" walls. (Diamond Vogel paint is the best!) The nightstand shown was a hand me down from a college I used to work at that I saved before they threw it out. I'll get to the window box and the reading nook below.

On the opposite wall, we kept ne of my favorite furniture pieces in the house! This is Mike's first dresser/armoire from when he was a toddler. His dad bought it unfinished, stained, sealed, and added pulls to it. We haven't changed a thing!Top it with a tv I've owned for about 10 years, a $4 small finished log, some moss balls for about a quarter each, and the candle I got for Valentine's Day, and the simple look allows for storage and entertainment. For additional mood lighting, the 2 strings of Hobby Lobby light adorn the back wall using small 3M clear hooks along the bottom of the wood ledge so as not to be seen. It was a way for us to use the awkwardly placed outlet in the corner near the ceiling.

The left side of the bed features just one piece of decor. With little wall space to work with to avoid adding nail holes to the woodwork, this long piece combining the metalware and natural wood finish was just the ticket. Clearanced out at TJ Maxx, this was the first purchase specifically for the guest room. It sat on the ledge wrapped in plastic for nearly eight months until I took on the full project.

The reading nook is a special spot. The built in shelves will eventually hold some of our book collection but, for now, are used as picture display. The chair-you guessed it; another save from the the discard pile at the college. Free and workin' it!Its' a similar texture and color to the buttercup strip in the quilt tying it all together! Sitting in the chair is the matching valance to the bedding. However, to avoid too much matchy-matchy, I plan to make it into a throw pillow instead.

The "window box" has a special place in my heart. As the guest room is in the basement, this is an egress window. Thus, not much light gets in so I thought a valance would do it. When I opted out of the valance, I wanted something unique. I found it! While barely even looking, I came across this stick "piece of art"  (on sale for $13!) that was made to hang on the wall. Instead, I hung it upside down adding another natural element to block out the sun and add some interest. I love it! What's sitting on the shelf is actually a wall sconce. They were a housewarming gift and fit into the decor plan for the space but were too long for that small amount of wall I had from woodwork to ceiling. So, they got flipped on their side and surrounded with little knick knacks that were also received in gift baskets or laying around from the old house.

The end result is a comfortable space for friends and family to stay! Now, I can't wait to work on our own bedroom so we have as much to enjoy as our visitors!

Mock Thai Pasta

I was introduced to Thai food just before our local Thai place disappeared . . . of course. So, I wanted to try to replicate that amazing taste at home! What resulted is my Mock Thai Pasta Recipe that was fast and extremely cheap. An 8 oz package of crab meat can be found on sale for $2.50 and ramen noodles are 15 to 25 cents at most stores. If you have the rest of the ingredients in stock in your cupboard, you're feeding 4 people for pretty darn cheap!

2 packages Oriental Ramen

8 oz. imitation crab meat

1/2 cup peanut butter (crunchy or creamy)

2 Tbsp Olive Oil

2 Tbsp Teriyaki Marinade

5 dashes of nutmeg

5 dashes of ginger

5 dashes of cumin

Make ramen noodles according to instructions.

In a skillet, heat olive oil and teriyaki marinade to sauté the meat. Crumble the crab meat into smaller pieces as you place it in the pan to heat thoroughly.

As the meat starts to absorb the brown color, add your seasonings and peanut butter. Continue to heat on medium until the peanut butter form a creamy paste. Continue to taste and add more seasonings as you deem necessary.

When straining the ramen noodles, leave about 1/3 cup of water in the bottom of the pan. Add the noodles and the oriental seasoning packets and stir to coat before adding the meat mixture.

Use a noodle scoop or tongs to mix the meat into the noodles as stirring alone won’t be effective in mixing the ingredients equally.

Notes:

This would be great served with a salad with fruit fixins.

Pupdate: Where do dogs come from?

I already know from the world of aunthood that parents anticipate the question, "Where do babies come from?". However, I am guessing that those who are blessed to be in a home like ours (where our future children will be the supposed siblings of our first two four-legged kids), they are also bound to ask, "Where do dogs come from?". I have my answer. It's very much the same as the answer to the first question too.

Dogs come from God. They come from shelters. They come from the store, the pet hospital, and the country roadside.They come from families who couldn't or wouldn't care for them. They come from people who brought them to earth on purpose and others who brought them here by accident. They come from the same miracle by which all of us do. They come to be loved, and wish to be part of a family.  They come ready to love, serve, and be loyal. They come from everywhere!

Dogs come from as many places as children do. Some become our pets by accident and some are intentional family members. Dog is God spelled backward. Do you think that's an accident? No matter where your dog comes from, I hope you make it home at your house with time for your friend and appreciation for all the good they have to offer (along with patience for their "quirks"). My dogs came from shelters. I have no idea how I got a matching set with adoptions a year apart. I rescued them and they show their appreciation with more love than I could have asked for. Love your dog and she'll return the favor. God will appreciate it too!

After: The Rocker

So, who doesn't love a good deal. .  , and a great garage sale find? When I first purchased this rocker & ottomon, my husband didn't see the great deal I saw, but this could be why:

BEFORE:

 At $45 for a hard-to-find double glider rocker, I knew we could rehab it. This fabric was also on the cushions that made their way out of our house so fast, I didn't get a picture. So, some wood polish, WD-40 and a trip to Pier 1 & Hobby Lobby fixed the rocker pretty quickly!

I found the chocolate colored settee bench cushion and two chair cushions you see below at the end of the season on a clearance sale. The price was still more than I would have loved to pay. I spent $80 to obtain all three pieces. I used the chair cushions as back cushions as you can see. They have ribbon pinned on each corner to tie around the chair's spindles once sewn on (below right).

I was also lucky enough to come upon a Craigslist listing for an ottoman. It was $20 and had blue fabric. I was shocked to see that the ottoman ended up the same wood finish and design as the rocker I had primped.  I found a similar fabric and pulled it tightly around the top of the existing cushion with a bit of batting placed underneath to form a smooth top despite the buttons that existed on the original upholstery of the ottoman. I stapled it to the underside of the wood top as you can see below.

 

This finished up my final project. It wasn't the cheapest transformation after purchasing cushions, fabric, and ribbon on top of the cost of the 2 furniture pieces. It ended up at about $150. However, it's a hard-to-find luxury that I hope to have great use for in the future. Plus, I can say I did it myself which seems to make spending a bit more money feel a bit better. 

The After:

 

MexiCAN! Recipes to Share

When Carlos Okelley's sounds like the best place in the world, but you're too cheap to go or too grubbed out to leave the house, never fear! Enchilladas are easier than you might think. Even easier: my Mexichicken Casserole. Here's the how-to on both!

Easy Chicken Enchilladas

Ingredients:
2 Large Chicken Breasts , cooked and shredded
(I take mine off a baby chicken cooked in the crock pot and save the dark meat for another recipe; you can buy it by the can if you're a big spender)
8 oz cream cheese, softened (reduced fat of course)
1/3 cup onion, chopped or more to taste
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon chili powder (or other spice of your choice)
8-12 tortillas
1 can cream of chicken (reduced fat as well)
1 can green chile enchillada sauce

Instructions:

Saute your onion and garlic in a small pan and a touch of oil or butter. Combine chicken, onions, garlic, spice, and cream cheese to form a past. This is your filling.

Stuff each shell with about a 1/2 cup of filling and roll up to be placed in your 9x13 baking dish. Once all are stuffed and in place, combine the 2 canned ingredients and bake at 350 for about 45 minutes to heat thoroughly.

Serve with sour cream, salsa, jalepapenos and your other favorites!

Even easier:

Mexichicken Casserole

Ingredients:
1 Cup salsa (your choice)
1 can Mexicorn
1 boil-in-bag whole wheat rice
2 chicken breasts, cooked and chopped
2 10-oz cans cream of chicken soup
1 1/2 Cups tortilla chips, crushed

On stovetop, combine cream of chicken and mexicorn and salsa in frying pan to heat through and thouroughly mix ingredients. At the same time, boil your rice according to instructions. If your chicken is not already chopped and cooked, do this as well-full stovetop!

Then, combine all ingredients in a shallow baking dish and top with the crushed tortillas chips. Cook at 350 for 20-25 minutes. May add shredded cheese if desired.

Serve with sour cream and indulge in another one-dish wonder!

Valentine's Day: A Family Affair!

Every year, this holiday comes. Many let it pass unrecognized, some dread the day entirely, and others find it a great excuse to go over-the-top in proclaiming love for their special someone. This year, I celebrated the special someones in my life. While my husband and I double dated all weekend and opened each other's cards while laying in sweats the eveing prior to Valentine's Day, I also celebrated with family!

We always join over food so why would this day be any different? So, Miss Libby and I played chef while constructing heart-shaped pizzas for our lunch. A cookie-cutter obviously helped the project meet success. The scraps of dough, we rolled together to be the crust for the big pizza made in the heart-shaped pan seen below. We topped them with favorites (which involves pineapple in this family) and baked them to perfection! 

Voila!

To work off our lunch, we had plenty of activity time in the basement with Dance Central on the Xbox Kinect. Everyone took a turn except Uncle Mike who was too afraid we'd all show him up I'm sure. Libby took the camera to get shots from her 3 foot view.



Needless to say, we all had a blast. Taking breaks from dancing included making homemade Valentines and a timeout for angel food cake. By the time we were done celebrating each other, we were exhausted. I'm certain we all either napped that evening or went to bed early.

Happy Valentine's Day to all my friends and family! I hope you celebrate the love you have in your life and all the people (and four-legged companions) it comes from!

This Week's Lesson from TV: Damsels in Distress

This week has proven that the Damsel in Distress act is still effective. I have three examples from The Bachelor, Jersey Shore, and Parenthood.

We'll start with the most well-executed act. This clearly goes to the ladies of The Bachelor. Showing any form of fear or distress gets Brad's attanetion and earns the girls a little extra one-on-one time. From Emily's understandable issues with last week's Nascar excursion to Jackie's fearful overdramatic episode when repelling down a cliff, Brad's proven his caretaker instincts to be intact. The award for best execution of what is clearly an act does not go to either of them. After all, their distress was genuine. It goes to (no drum roll needed as this will shock no followers) MICHELLE!

It was painful to watch her practically throw a  tantrum while the girls were repelling on their group date despite the pact Brad had made under Michell's direct pressure to repel again only with her. The pain really set in when, after she called him a "bleep", he still repelled with her exclusively rewarding her five-year-old behavior. The crazy schizophrenic control freak topped the charts this week with her surprise visit to Brad's private room listing off the girls that should go so she and Brad can live frightfully ever after. As if this weren't enough-the best act came when he confronted her about her recent antics at the rose ceremony. She turned the tables so quickly, it was masterful. In light of the waterworks, Brad was feeling guilty for the confrontation and had decided to give her the benefit of the doubt. I'm so glad I'm not dating anymore because this was just scary to watch. I wish I had a clip to share!

The flowing tears were preceded by last week's Jersey Shore episode when Sammi got so upset with Ronnie, she threatened to leave the house. Before you knew it all housemates excluding Ronnie and J-Woww were convincing her to stay. A call to mommy the next morning to cancel her request for an emergency ride home led to an evening out making up with everyone she'd wronged. Everyone included Jenni who she's had a very big issue with for almost a year which had previously included 2 physical altercations. This flow of tears had its rewards. The rewards are likely to be short-lived of course but that's what keeps us watching (shamefully).

On Parenthood, a much deeper and very real issue was presented. It is ironic that I would see this as a "real issue" considering it's the only one that's not a reality TV show. After her parents refused to let her date her older, recovering alcoholic, living-along love interest beginning with the spoken phrase "As long as you live in my house. . . ", Hattie moved in with her grandparents for a week. When she returned after some encouragement from her grandmother, her parents expressed their change of heart. Victory! As a non-parent follower, I think they just finally came to their senses. However, it appears that Hattie's expressed distress through an absence her parents found agaonzing got her exactly what she wanted with some restrictions.

This proves a valuable lesson. The tried-and-true classic act of a damsel in distres still proves extremely effective. The more manipulative you are, perhaps, the better the rewards. However, I also have a feeling that future epiosdes will refresh our memories of the lesson of the boy who cried "wolf". These plotted acts of distress will soon downplay any actual agony these girls may encounter in the future causing less of a reaction when it may genuinely be needed. So, instead of taking this lesson literally, I am reminded that genuine distress exists and faking it may cost us supprt when we need it most. So while some say choose your battles wisely, choose your cry-outs wisely too. Oh-and don't let them be caught on film! :)

NFL Penalty: Excessive Celebration

We've all seen crazy touchdown dances. Well, I assume you have because I don't watch football all that much and even I've caught a few. If you're new to the concept, check this out! What I find interesting is that these dances are no longer found to be acceptable forms of celebration and are considered unsportsmanlike conduct. I use the term interesting because I, in most ways, agree. After all, touchdowns are what you get paid millions of dollars to achieve aren't they? Could you imagine getting up to do a victory dance every time you did your job well, made a good dinner, or got a great deal? Okay, I'll admit I've been tempted a time or two over a great  deal! :)

However, if there were any penalty I'd want called on me in real life, it would be this one. It would definitely come with danger. In most cases, this excessive celebration is a result of rejoicing in one's own accomplishments (there's the danger). In my life, I'd be thrilled to get caught excessively celebrating someone else's. Have you ever stopped yourself from seeming too excited? For yourself? For others? I know people on both ends of the celebration spectrum. . .

<From apathetic to ecstatic!>




Positivity isn't something that comes easily to all of us. It's something I would certainly like to increase in my own life and in my contributions to the lives of others. The apathetic response certainly can't be motivating and might cause you to become a person with whom people aren't that excited to share news. The ecstatic appraoch may be a bit over the top and cause you to become the person others can't tell anything. . . in public! I would like to land at overtly excited versus overly excited. This, I'm thinking, would cause me to become the person people are excited to share good news with! And who doesn't want to hear good news?

So, on this Monday (the most popular day in Western culture), find someone worth celebrating and do it out loud. Do it out of character even. If you are already the Pollyanna in your group of friends, extend yourself to celebrate someone outside your normal circle. If you're the Eeyore in the group, start with a celbration of yourself and then extend yourself. To all my friends and family-you are cause for excessive celebration and I use these posts to do it when I can't see your beautiful faces and embrace you with hugs that warm your bones. Sending my love your way! Pass it on!

Thoughts on Settling. . .

I was told tonight that at my age, I should start settling for anything that is 80% of ideal in terms of career/relationships/etc. Between the ages of 30 & 40, this number drops to 60%. 1. These people apparently don't know me...and 2. I need more optimistic people in my life.

This was a recent facebook status post by an amazing friend! Keep in mind, this proposed age of settling is a vibrant 26! Luckily, her last two points in response to this piece of advice she was given are right on! How do you feel about 80%? The whole idea of settling, a few years ago, would have seemed absolutely ridiculous to me in these two categories of career and relationships. I would have been shocked and appalled to have a comment such as this made to me (and I am for her sake). However, I’ve been surprised at how much all of that has changed in recent years.

Thankfully, I didn’t settle in the category of relationships when marrying my best friend! My every single day is blessed with him in it. I’ll admit I forget to show it at every waking minute but he knows the truth! Still to this day, I don’t want to settle in any relationships. Friendships that aren’t worth having, I no longer have. Grudges that aren’t worth holding, I no longer hold. Feelings that aren’t worth hurting, I never intentionally hurt (and have found value in an apology if I do). There will be relationships in years to come that require a full 100% of my love and dedication resembled by communication and effort. That is one place I certainly hope to never settle. 80% for our two dogs. . . never. 80% for future Decker babies-not a chance (and NOT an announcement)!

However, I have found that the same is not true of my career aspirations. In fact, my overall career aspirations are at only about 80% of what they once were (and 30% of that still remains unclear or, more appropriately put, flexible). I’m just saying, I used to want to reach the top and now I see the benefits of the middle. I still want to give 100% and feel successful and rewarded in a job I find meaningful. I hope that meaning always consists of more than paying the bills with the occasional excess for a self-indulgent shopping spree or home renovation.

My point is this: I am surprised at how much of my “100%” is met through relationships. I have my husband, friends, family, four-legged companions, and God to fulfill more of my life than I ever knew they would. The sense of accomplishment I once thought I would feel from work is felt tenfold in my most meaningful relationships.  I hope you feel it too. . .  from me, from others, from Him! We all deserve 100% whatever that means to each of us. No mix is better or worse as long as it is led by the best director we could ask for!

A woman’s heart plans her way, but the Lord directs her steps. ~Proverbs 16:9