Best tool!

My creative juices have been flowing again.  Thank God, I thought they were gone for good!  I've done a few makeovers I hope to share soon.  But first I have to share this tool with you.  I'm sure some of you already have it!

This thing makes taking off those metal, plastic or any material "Feet" SO EASY!  It's also great for a bunch of other things too.  And SO much easier than wrestling with a screw driver! :)

 

 

 

 

Then you can put your felt on!  It's the little things that make life SO much easier!

 

XOXO

Beef Stroganoff, Thrifty Gypsy style

Hi all!  I know I've been absent, what's new right?  I have a "summer fun" post coming up so stay tuned.  But I wanted to share todays dinner with you.   We are going to our trainers barn for  lessons this afternoon and it's 40 miles away so I wanted to have dinner ready for John if we aren't home.
 
I had a package of organic beef chunks and it was a little too hot out for stew.  I always want to make things and then almost always don't have one or two ingredients.  But my skill (sometimes) is improvising!  

Recipe

1 package of beef chunks - I cut them smaller than how they are packaged
1 package of mushrooms halved and sliced
1 large onion chopped
1 cup of beef broth
1/3 brick of cream cheese
1/4 cup milk
a few tablespoons of half and half
flour and/or corn starch
1 lb of Campanelle pasta

Start by boiling your pasta, when it's done put 2 tablespoons of butter in it to keep from sticking.   Season your beef with garlic powder, salt and pepper and brown in a little olive oil.  Take out and put aside, then add a lil butter and put your mushrooms and onion in the pan for a about 5-7 minutes.  Add your beef back in pan and add broth.  Let simmer on low for 10 mins.  Let your cream cheese get room temp and add it along with the milk and half and half and stir to let it break up and meld in the "sauce".  Let simmer for another 5 mins and then add your corn starch and stir real good so it thickens.  Put pasta in your dish and pour this over the top!  Serve with a mixed green salad and voila, you're done! :)

XOXO

Lamp dilemma and a little chat :)

Ok, first things first!   I have decided that in order for me to keep blogging in a somewhat timely manner, I am not going to wait until everything is magazine worthy or edited to death.  I just do not have the time.  And honestly, we don't live that way.  So why put up a charade that we do?  I have 3 kids, 4 horses, we homeschool and our kids do more activities than anyone should!!  My housekeeping has slacked MAJORLY since having kids.  I figure when they are grown and gone I'll have plenty of time to make it all perfect.  Maybe...  And if I wait until my house is perfect there will be no more blog posts.  Deleting the blog would make more sense than waiting!   Whewwwww, I'm glad I got that out!   I consider us friends.  When I look at my stats I see people are reading, and I'm thrilled with that.  So if you're my friend it means you can come over for coffee and a visit and see some clutter, riding boots, an occasional lampshade on the floor (like in this post).  Because you're not going to judge me right?  Well it's ok if you do, just follow the golden rule please! LOL!

 so I have changed lamps in the family room and never shared it. I know, I know......

 I originally had the crystal lamps that you originally saw here.   And here
  

  But about a year or more ago I changed them to these....

 

But now I have found these ADORABLE goldish-tan silk type shades with LEOPARD on the inside, have I mentioned I LOVE having little splashes of leopard.... :)

 

isn't it cute?!

 

Here are what both lamps look like next to the sofa.  Which do you think goes better?   I'm leaning toward the crystal lamps (and a hint, that right table is changing too!!).   But open to suggestions!  I'd love to hear your thoughts! 

And yes,  there is a shade on the floor behind the end table!  We are friends remember?  Come in and have some coffee or tea! ;)

So, what do you think?

XOXO

Mattress update, over a year later

I originally planned on updating you a week and even a month later.  But a year later I think speaks volumes.  You may remember this post from last February.   We did something VERY daring (probably stupid) and ordered a mattress online without ever touching or laying in it.  But to be honest with you, we were desperate and I'm not even exaggerating at ALL.   We had several horrible mattress sets that had cost much more than what this was going to cost.   I had pretty much read up on latex mattresses until my eyes were sore. 

 Two things kept standing out to me when I read about them, actually three.   They are made of natural materials (some more natural than others), NO springs (to break or bend) and they seem to last and have been around for a VERY long time.  Longer than our normal 3-5 year life span that our others had lasted.

I had read about "layering" for awhile.  Which is where you buy a firmer mattress than you are usually used to, but then use latex toppers (not memory foam).  I could not decide between the firm and medium, that was the hardest part. While I LOVE the feel of a soft mattress (for usually the first 5 mins)  I knew the lack of support was making my body (and hubby's) sore.  It was basically agony for active people who are just 40 yrs old!    But I was also afraid that the stiffness from a firm mattress wouldn't be much better.   So I read some more...... lol!   And from what I understood the latex mattress tend to be much "firmer" than regular mattresses anyway.  So I thought the firm would be like sleeping on a cement slab!

We finally decided on a "medium" Nuform mattress from Overstock.com.  They are not as thick as conventional mattresses either.  So we bought this 3 inch latex topper and then also this 2 inch latex topper.  And use this mattress pad, I read even THAT makes a difference, LOL!   I  have been PAIN free for a year.  And no, I am not being paid by Overstock!

this is what it feels like!

courtesy of Google images

Do I feel like the princess and the pea? YES!  But, FINALLY we found something that works!   I am so happy we bought this combination.  I sometimes wonder if I should have gone for the firm (for longevity) but this seems to be perfect for now, with no sagging or wearing (yet!).   We turn it (not flip) every couple of months for maintenance.   But we are HAPPY with it!  YAY!   So if you ever wondered about Latex mattresses, we love ours! Go for it!!

XOXO

Lost all my blogs in reader.........

So I was just trying to catch up on some blog reading and all my blogs are gone..... POOF!  I signed out and in and they were still gone.  I added some back, then looked again and those are gone too!  I am so sad :(   Has this happened to anyone else???     And every time I go to the " my blog" page I get an error message.  That has been happening for a few days too.  Can't things just work?!   

Anyone else having problems?

Sofa table, need your thoughts and opinions!

It has been just shy (like 3 weeks) of us being in this house for three years.  I am JUST starting to want to do some projects.  I'm not sure if it was the trauma of moving, kids, homeschooling, horses or the million other things.  But for awhile I had ZERO ambition to do anything around here besides cook and clean.  

Well, the creative juices are flowing and I'm ready to tackle a few small projects.  I even have a bigger one in mind, but that is whole other blog post! ;)  And while writing this I am remembering that I have never shown you the mudroom cabinets...... which I painted in Annie Sloan Emperor's silk.  Uh oh, my bad!!   Will show that soon too :)

You might remember when I first posted our family/great room, I had this smaller sofa table in here.  For the simple reason I had nothing else.  And actually as I look at this picture, things have changed, LOL!

About a year ago I moved the original one in our master bedroom and found the current one on Craigslist.  It's a Thomasville table I got for a great price.  But it was much longer and narrow, which were the specs I needed most!     I would like to paint this table with Annie Sloan chalk paint.  Which color, or colors do you think I should do?  I have so many that I'm embarrassed to name them! Colors in the room are tannish gold, green, red, turquoise, and some black accents.  The walls are Sherwin Williams Ivorie.   If you need a refresher of the room you can see the Family room here.     Anyway, here is the table......   

 

 As you can see, I have already played with the knobs.  I added the crystal knobs,  but two weeks ago I found mercury glass knobs at Homegoods which I thought were adorable.  You can vote on those too! ;)       Thank you and hope to hear from you!

 

XOXO

Snow day

Well it seems as though everyone has been hit with snow!  We go 22 inches in 24 hours!  We have really been having an old fashioned winter here in upstate NY! 

 

 

Yesterday during the snowfall I made taco soup, chili and  cornbread.  Today I made spinach and feta quiche and broccoli ad cheddar quiche.  I hope we have leftovers for 2 days!!   What are you all up to?  I'd love to know!

XOXO

kids, life, horses, homeschooling.....

And all those other things that keep me from blogging!  But the truth is I MISS IT!  Thank you for all your emails and messages wondering if something happened to me.  The only thing that happened was LIFE and BOY has it been busy!  I have so much to talk about that I don't even know where to start!

I can start with the fact that I am now mother to TWO TEENAGERS!!  How did that happen?!  Seriously, time has flown by so quickly it scares and saddens me!  My twin baby boys turned 13 in January.  They are really good kids and I'm so proud of them.   We are currently homeschooling 7th grade.  We homeschooled last year too.  The plan is to continue next year through 8th.   Johnny would like to attend high school and Kris is not sure.  If he wants to stay home, that is ok too. :)    Madi could have gone to Kindergarten this year but she turned 5 in July and some days was still taking a nap over the summer.  I decided that it wouldn't hurt anyone to wait.  And she is doing a "loose" k curriculum at home.  She is playing and enjoying being 5.  What more could I ask for?    She visited a Montessori school recently and really seemed to like it.  So not sure if she will be home with us next year or school.  We'll see!

We have been busy with horses, tae kwon do, swimming, baseball lessons and I'm sure many more things I'm forgetting.  We had our pictures taken in the fall and I am just thrilled with how they came out.  I'll share a few here.

 I haven't been up to many home projects but I am ITCHING to do some chalk painting and some switching around here.  And I have an overwhelming urge to add more leopard print just about anywhere!!!! 
 
And I promise, it won't be another 6 month hiatus.... ;)

XOXO