18 things I wish I could master in the kitchen

We all have our favorite things to cook and the things we're really good at cooking, but then there are those recipes that you just can't master.  Even though you follow every step of the recipe and make it the exact way your mom does, or your friend does, but it's not the same.  Or things you've really wanted to make but haven't ever tried.

Here's my list of those things:

1.  my mom's chocolate delight pie
2.  paula deen's baked spaghetti
3.  fried okra
4.  any of my mom's recipes for her buttercream icing
5.  specifically the peanut butter butter cream
6.  meatloaf
7.  beef tips and rice (my rice is never quite right)
8.  mom's mac and cheese (mine is good, but not as good as hers)
9.  twice baked potatoes (again - hers are better)
10.  mom's apple cake
(so many recipes are my moms - wow)
11.  Mrs. Antonio's lasagne
12.  donuts
13.  funnel cake
14.  Pooh's puffed pastry
15.  Dole whip
16.  Dressing
17.  Chicken salad - the really good kind
18.  Mississippi mud

One day, I'll tackle them and master them!  If I'm lucky!

Lisa

18 places I'd like to visit

Well, it's time for another list.  Here's a list of places I'd like to visit one day, or visit again since I haven't been there recently or often enough!

1.  Paris, France
2.  Ireland
3.  Australia
4.  Chicago (been there, but not in a while)
5.  Savannah
6.  New Orleans (again, been there, but it's been ten years)
7.  Nashville (been there, but not with Jason and Cole)
8.  Seattle
9.  New York
10.  Washington D.C.
11.  Las Vegas
12.  Hollywood
13.  Beverly Hills
14.  Key West
15.  Anaheim
16.  Denver
17.  Mexico
18.  Italy

Where do you want to go?
Thanks for stopping by!
Lisa

My favorite food

Another list today - so far so good, huh?

My favorite foods and drinks:

1.  Diet Dr Pepper with Diet Cream Soda - half of each - yummy
2.  White Hot Chocolate from Starbucks
3.  Caramel Apple Cider from Starbucks
4.  Brownies with peanut butter chips
5.  Apple Dumplings (Pioneer Woman's recipe)
6.  Twice baked potatoes (my mom's recipe)
7.  Fire Cracker Chicken wraps at Longhorn
8.  buffalo chicken from just about anywhere
9.  the italian sandwich from Newk's - it's so so good
10.  Quizno's italiano samy which isn't on the menu anymore
11.  White Chocolate peanut butter
12.  Cookie butter
13.  Vanilla wafers
14.  Marshmallows
15.  Cheezits
16.  Five Guys fries
17.  TGIFriday's white chocolate cheese cake
18.  tic tacs (do they count as food? it's my list so I'll say yes!!)

Lisa

Here's another list:

18 things I want to make off of Pinterest!  Now, I've made tons off Pinterest and have even had one thing I made pinned a few times by other people (which was totally cool).  These are things I've discovered recently or just haven't' tackled yet:

Cork Board

I had one of these frames, around a mirror.  I've had it for years and when we decided to move back to Birmingham I put it in the yard sale pile.  It didn't sale.  Should have been a sign.  But we were ready to leave all the junk behind that didn't sale.  No time to haul it off somewhere.  My father-in-law came and loaded it up and they were going to get rid of it.  A year or so later, I saw my mirror in my sister-in-laws closet.  Since then, I've mentioned about five times how I would love it back, if she's not using it.  She's not but she hasn't given it back yet either.  I really want it.  I wouldn't do corks for the board but maybe cut some cork to fit instead.

Coffee Filter flower

I don't have a place to put this, but it's so cute!

I want to do this to my work keys but not sure I should since technically they don't belong to me.  And I repinned this but it takes you no where when you click the pin.  I hate when that happens.

another lovely scarf

I love this scarf so much.  I've seen so many I like and would love to make, but never take the time to make them!

camera insert

I've been wanting to take a purse and turn it into a camera bag and even have the purse to use, but still haven't managed any further than that.  This is really cool though - use in any bag that will hold it!

Now the following photos are all things I would like to paint on Burlap or Canvas:

My burlap/canvas board on Pinterest

The following are Halloween goodies I want to make:

My Halloween Board on Pinterest

Now onto Christmas crafts I want to make:

My Christmas Joy board at Pinterest

Loads of things I want to do - but not nearly enough time to do them in!

Thanks for stopping by!

Lisa

18 songs I love right now

Random thing to make a list of?  Maybe.  Typical of me?  Yep!

1.  Sing 'em Good my Friend - makes me want to cry when I hear it.
2.  Call Me Maybe - silly, but fun.
3.  Pontoon
4.  Why Ya Wanna
5.  Take a Little Ride
6.  She's So Mean
7.  We are Never Ever Getting Back Together - even though it gets stuck in my head for days.
8.  Somebody that I Used to Know
9.  Home
10.  Want U Back
11.  What Makes You Beautiful
12.  We Are Young
13.  Hard to Love
14.  Come Over
15.  Suspended
16.  Sail On - the Tim McGraw/Lionel Richie version
17.  3 a.m. - the slow/acoustic version - another one that make me want to cry
18.  Welcome to the Fishbowl

Random? Yes!  All good songs?  Of course!!

Thanks for stopping by!
lisa

Happy Birthday to me

Hey everyone! It's my birthday today and in an effort to blog more, I'm spending the rest of the month blogging everyday.  I'm going to blog 18 things a day!  (Since my birthday is on the 18th)

Here's today's eighteen!!

Eighteen things about me you probably already know but just in case you don't.........


1.  I have a tattoo and want two more.  Already have them picked out but Jason thinks I'm nuts, so I may never get them.

2.  I love marshmallows but usually only eat them in the fall, unless they are peeps.

3.  I changed jobs and didn't even mention it here.  I'm still a paraprofessional, but now instead of working in a self contained room, I'm working with fourth and fifth graders.  I help out in nine different classrooms.  I should wear roller skates to school.

4.  I can't roller skate.

5.  I can't swim.

6.  I hate, hate, hate water in my face - splashing in the pool always makes me angry.

7.  My favorite singers are Kenny Chesney and Matt Nathanson and Matchbox Twenty.

8.  I'm an Alabama fan through and through.  I don't even want Auburn to win when they play anyone else.  Sorry, but it's true.

9.  I lost 50 pounds in 2007 and have kept all but about ten pounds off and those keep coming and going - it's like they can't decide if they want to be here or not.  I'd rather them leave, honestly.

10.  I love ice cream, but don't like chocolate too much.  Only Baskin Robins Peanut Butter Chocolate.

11.  I'd rather eat dessert than dinner.

12.  I was fourteen when my two co-workers were born.  This makes me feel old. 

13.  I used to scrapbook like crazy and now rarely do but I still love it and buy supplies just don't use them much.

14.  I've painted more burlap and canvas in the last year than I ever thought I would paint.  Just painted a little more Saturday.

15.  I sewed curtains for our new trailer at school.  They are cute.  I've never sewn curtains before.

16.  I love Vera Bradley stuff and can't wait to spend some birthday money on a new iPhone cover.

17.  I'm bringing cake to work this week to celebrate my own birthday, but I'm using someone else's birthday as an excuse!  Hey - you gotta go what you gotta do to get peanut butter cake from my mom!!

18.  I'm forty-one today and my age used to never bother me, but now that I'm all the way in my forty's - not just knocking on the door.  It bothers me.  A little.

Thanks for coming by!  Here's hoping I can really finish the month out blogging each day!

Lisa

Tutorial - book cover

Here's a tutorial I shared on the CSI Project a while ago - just forgot to share here.  I noticed today I haven't posted in a month and a half.  Sad!!

This must change - but for now, here's the tutorial:

Don't you just love Pinterest?  Where else can you go to get inspiration on so many levels?  There are so many times I've looked to Pinterest for ideas from what I want to cook for dinner to decorations for a baby shower or trying to find the perfect new outfit.  I can't think of one thing I've gone on the hunt for through Pinterest that I haven't found several solutions or ideas.  Pinterest has yet to let me down!! Now, if only I can actually use the inspiration and get some things done???  Hmmm...........

Here's a board I've been chipping away at lately:  Makeover - Foyer.  We have a large foyer but there's no real separation from the living area, except for the change in flooring, which is an old ugly tile.  I've been really board with our foyer for some time.  I finally spent a day and painted one wall in a darker color, as an accent to the rest of the living area.  I slowly added some art work (most inspired by Pinterest, of course) but just didn't feel like it was finished.

The one thing causing a problem was this:

See it?  An ugly alarm control panel.  I just wanted to cover it up somehow.  I thought about using a canvas but the ones I had on hand weren't thick enough, so I just ignored it for a while knowing the right thing would eventually come along. 

Here's where Pinterest comes to the rescue:

I saw this and thought maybe I could make this work for the wall.  Instead of using this to hide things away, I could use it to hide the panel.

I gathered my supplies - an old book, a craft knife and a ball point pen for starters.  I will say that I love love love books.  It's very hard for me to destroy a book.  BUT, this particular book wasn't anything I had hard of before.  It had a great cover and the pages were faded perfectly for craft projects, so I snatched it up.  It's been sitting in a drawer for a while though, waiting for the perfect project.  And this was it!!

 

I took a page out of the book and used it to trace the area I wanted to cover.

 

 

Then I cut out the shape I had traced to use as a template for the back cover of the book.

I then traced my shape on the back of the book.

I cut it away and tested the back cover to see if it would slide over the control panel.  

So, now the hard part.  I used my craft knife, with the remaining back cover serving as a template, to start cutting away the pages inside.  

Several pages are cut away here:

Then I realized that first, I was going to make a giant mess and second, I should have glued my book together first.  So, I grabbed a few more supplies and continued working.  I needed something to hold my book closed tightly so I grabbed an elastic headband and wrapped it around the book twice.  I grabbed my Mod Podge and a foam brush and brushed on glue on the three sides of the exposed pages.  I gave it an hour or so to dry and got back to cutting pages.  I would probably do this step first if I attempt this project again.

It took a really long time to cut my pages out - I would test it to see if I was deep enough and wouldn't be, so back to slicing pages away.  Finally, once it was deep enough, I decided to decorate the front of the book.  There are three of us in our family so I cut out a three from some brown vinyl and added a twine bow.

Now, the true test.  Will it really fit and look okay?

Yes!!!  It looks great to me.  It's a little odd - a book hanging on the wall, a little unexpected.  But, I like it. Oh, you can see the canvas I added, as well.  Something else I've seen around Pinterest, but not one specific pin inspired it, just a combination of ideas.

Thanks so much for reading!!

Lisa