Friday Funnies

These are some of the best lines from one of my favorite students in 1st grade... I had fun digging these up and had some good laughs! I hope you enjoy!

• Miss Cremer, you need to stop drinking Dr. Pepper, because you are gettin' sexier every day! 
• Miss Cremer, do you breastfeed? I saw Kathy breastfeed once! 
• He was sitting in the hall with a friend waiting for his older sibling conference. One was break dancing, the other was singing "Teach me how to dougie!"
• Miss Cremer you look HOT HOT HOT today!"
• My dad said on my sisters birthday she is going to have a sex discussion. That means kissing, and getting married, and having babies and..... THEN I cut him off! :)
• Playing the song "Beauty and the Beast." He says, "This is a perfect song to kiss to!"
• A girl was wearing sparkle jeans a sparkle shirt, and a vest... "Wow, you look SMOKIN HOT!"
• Can I have this butterfly to give to my mom? I want to give it to her on hallelujah day! 
• He brought me this for "good luck"
• He was talking in a girly voice to a little girl, then he said....I'm sorry I was just practicing my girl talk, so I can get on girls!

And the best part of this... I could have him again next year!

Easy Marinara

I hardly ever used jarred spaghetti sauce.  It so easy to make at home.  Usually I make a big batch and freeze some of it.  Every time I do it a little different, but here is the basic easy marinara.

Ingredients:

• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 tsp crushed garlic*
• 28 oz can crushed tomatoes*
• 1 small bay leaf
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp Penzey's Pasta Sprinkle
• salt and fresh pepper to taste
• dash of red pepper flakes for some spice
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh basil

Directions:

In a medium pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic and saute until golden, being careful not to burn. Add tomatoes, bay leaf, oregano, pasta sprinkle, red pepper, and salt and pepper.  Bring to a boil, and then simmer on low for 20 minutes.  Add fresh basil. Remove bay leaf before serving.

Serve on pasta, pizza, casserole, or anything else that calls for marinara sauce! This is easy to freeze and defrost in the microwave when you are ready to use it. 

*I like to use crushed garlic in a jar because it is quick and easy.  1/2 tsp equals approximately 1 clove)

*If you would like it chunkier, substitute  1 14oz can diced tomatoes + 1 14oz can of tomato sauce for the crushed tomatoes, or if you would like it thicker add some tomato paste to it. 

You Are My Sunshine

Welcome Kelly's Korner - Show Us Your Life visitors! This is my latest project that I made. Check out my blog for other great DIY crafts, gifts, & home decor!

I got a new toy, a Silhouette Cameo, that does some really neat stuff! I couldn't wait to try using vinyl with it to make a canvas painting.  So I went to my favorite store, Hobby Lobby. They had 2 packs of canvas for $5.99 and acrylic paint on sale for 30% off. So for about $8, I was able to make 2 pieces of art for my spare room.

Here is how I did it! First, I found the bird and designed him in my Silhouette software.  I made him a little smoother and gave him a wire to sit on.  Next, I found a pre-made & free "You Are My Sunshine" I thought it was cute and would go well with my yellow and grey room. I cut them out using my new toy!

For the bird painting, I first painted the whole canvas yellow. 

I let the yellow dry.  Then I stuck the vinyl bird onto the yellow where I wanted it.  

Next, I painted the whole thing grey.  Right when I was finished painting I peeled off the vinyl.  I read somewhere that sometimes if you let it dry the paint will come up with it. 

The sunshine canvas was a little trickier.  I cut it out, peeled back the vinyl that was not the lettering. 

Then I used Contact paper to transfer it to the canvas.  When using contact paper to transfer, it is important that it is not super sticky, otherwise the letters are really hard to get off. I learned this the hard way.  This took me a while, and I ended up placing them by hand. 

Finally, paint the whole thing yellow, and peel off the vinyl right away.

(And of course, my camera died...)

Trash to Treasure

It all started with this....

I found a table online that a lady had made and showed it to Kent (my handyman and BFF.)  

I told him, "I like this."  

He dug through the "trash."
This is the "Elephant Truck" at my mom's house.
She keeps wood in it.

 I came home to a pile of wood on my front porch.

 I did not think that that pile of wood would ever become the beautiful table I had dreamed of.  

It was all weathered, crooked, and had nails.

So I decided while Kent cut the wood, I was going to sand it. 

He said, "No, we don't need to do that!" 

I said, "YES WE DO! I want it white!" 

I sanded, and he cut. I sanded some more, and more, and more.... 

Until we had all of the boards ready to go. 

We picked the best out of the boards and followed her pattern. 

We came up with this: 

Kent wanted to leave it like this.

 I said, "I WANT IT WHITE!"

I got my way! :) 

We painted it white, with paint I had leftover from another project. 

 And he agreed, he liked it white. 

The next decision, and the only money I spent on this table, 

was to find the handles for the  "drawers" aka wood rectangles with handles.  

These were my choices. 

 I went for the $2.99 (that were on sale for %50 off at Hobby Lobby!)

 Making the cost for 2, $3.50!

However, the next debate, was what to do with the top of the table. 

I thought it needed sanding, he didn't. 

We decided to let it sit for a while. 

He won that debate. 

I screwed the boards and "drawers" on, so they really have that vintage, farm house feel, a little crooked! 

And that trash was turned into a treasure! I LOVE IT!

This has become my "mantle" that I get to decorate.

Welcome Take a Look Tuesday Visitors!


Welcome




Updated 1/15/13: to add Christmas decorations and Not Just A Housewife DIY contest.

Let Me Here Ya Say, Gooo Greek! ...

Now that I have that song stuck in your head....

When I cook, I try to cook things using ingredients I have on hand.  Especially now that I am living by myself, I like to re-purpose leftovers.  You can only eat the same thing for so many days before you get sick of it! I had 1 chicken breast and needed a way to make it into a meal. So the Mediterranean sandy was born.

My original plan was to use hummus, however mine was not looking so hot. I needed something to serve as the "sauce." I wanted to make an olive tapenade. All of the recipes I was finding had capers and anchovies, which are not my favorite! So I made up my own!

Green Olive Tapenade sans Capers and Anchovies

Ingredients
1 cup green olives, chopped
1 T fresh lemon juice
1 clove garlic
olive oil
salt
pepper







Directions: 

Chop olives and garlic, until fine and place in small bowl.
Squeeze fresh lemon over olives (squeeze it upside down to prevent seeds from falling in!).
Drizzle olive oil over the olives, and add salt and pepper for flavor.  For best results, let sit for an hour or so to let flavors meld.

Mediterranean Sandwich

I have made these a few different way, each time mixing and matching different ingredients.  Below you will find a list of ingredients, pick the ones you like, or have on hand, to put an delicious sandwich together! For this sandwich I added an asterisk next to the things I used. 

Bread

• ciabatta rolls*
• flat bread
• sandwich bread



I added Penzey's Ruth Ann's spice to mine


• french bread

Chicken*                                                             

   

Veggies

• roasted red peppers*
• artichokes*
• cucumbers
• red onion*
• red peppers
• olives
• banana peppers

Dressing

• hummus
• olive tapenade*
• Greek dressing
• olive oil
• mayo

Cheese

• feta*
• mozzarella

**If anyone has tips for centering/organizing pictures on a Blogger, please send them my way!**

5th Grade Funnies

When I taught 1st and 2nd grade, I had a "Story of the Day" email I would send out to my family and friends. Once I moved to 5th grade, there weren't near as many stories.  Here are the top ones so far this year!

• At recess there was 1 boy and about 10 girls playing 4 square.  Our rule is that you can not leave a game once it starts, and you stick with it for the whole recess.  He came up to me and said, "Miss Cremer, I gotta get out of that game its just a big gossip fest, and I just can't take it anymore!" 

• We were discussing snack, and I said, "Remember no peanuts, we don't want to have to use the epi-pen." A kid piped up and said, "Is that the one you put in your butt? My mom always says she is going to give me that if I am being bad because it makes you sleepy!" 

• I wish we could just elect Will Smith as president. You know the guy from Men in Black. 

Stuffed Peppers

After visiting my mom, I decided I was going to make her dinner. She had been living off of Cheerio's and leftover lasagna! We have both been wanting to try stuffed peppers for a long time. So stuffed peppers it was! They turned out pretty good, and are healthy too!

The ground turkey is a great alternative to ground beef or sausage that is usually found in stuffed peppers. They would be a great thing to make if you had some cooked rice to use up.


Turkey Stuffed Peppers

Servings: 6 servings (1/2 pepper) • Time: 55 minutes

• 1 lb lean chopped turkey meat
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/4 onion, minced
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 large sweet red bell peppers, washed
• 1 cup fat free chicken broth + 1 cup for rice/quinoa
• 1/4 cup tomato sauce
• 1 1/2 cups cooked rice or quinoa (I used a mixture of both)
• Olive oil 
• 1/4 cup shredded taco blend cheese
• salsa

Turkey & rice mixture.

Heat oven to 400°.  Cook rice/quinoa in a mixture of water and chicken stock to add flavor. Drizzle a little olive oil in a medium size saute pan and on medium heat. Add onion, garlic, and cilantro to the pan. Saute about 2 minutes and add ground turkey. Season with salt, garlic powder, and cumin and brown meat for several minutes until meat is completely cooked through. Add 1/4 cup of tomato sauce and 1/2 cup of chicken broth, mix well and simmer on low for about 5 minutes. Combine cooked rice and meat together.

Try to find peppers with few groves. 

Cut the bell peppers in half lengthwise, and remove all seeds. (This can be difficult, one of mine ended up with a hole in the bottom!) Place in a baking dish. 

I learned, the hard way, this spoon was too big.
A tablespoon works much better!

Using a small spoon the meat mixture into each pepper half and fill it with as much as you can. Place all stuffed pepper halves on the baking dish and pour the remainder of the chicken broth on the bottom of the pan. Cover tight with aluminum foil and bake for about 30 minutes.  Remove foil, and top with shredded cheddar cheese and bake an additional 5 minutes.  Serve with salsa and enjoy.

Adapted from www.skinnytaste.com

Tiffany Blue, Just For You

Over Spring Break, I decided that I was going to do something special for my mom. She had been spending a lot of time at the hospital with her boyfriend, Bob, and didn't have time to do much for herself.  I told her I was going to re-do one of her rooms, but I wouldn't tell her which one.  I decided to take her 1970's laundry room, and transform it into a girly Tiffany Blue.

So I went to work. The wallpaper in that room had been there since my parents bought the house in 1983.  There were 2 layers and it was UGLY! I bought a wallpaper remover called Chomp to help me get started.

After 2 days of stripping wallpaper, it was finally time to prime it.  I primed all of the walls and trim.  At the last minute, I decided, why not do the cabinets too. So I set off to sand and prime them.

Jackie, Kent, & I painted and painted.  Then Kent came over to help me put up these cool hooks we found at Hobby Lobby.  I sewed a curtain, and my sister helped accessorize with homemade laundry soap and some bins. My mom even added a chandelier that she got from my grandma's house.

My mom loves it and so do I! She deserves it!

All You Need is Love

I made this sign for my friend Meryl.  She is getting married in October.  I wanted to make her something for her shower, so once again, I browsed my favorite site and found this! It was so easy to make, and I had all of the supplies on hand. 

Supplies: 

• weathered wood
• acrylic paint
• black Sharpie marker
• hot glue gun or drill
• twine
• saw
• sand paper

First I cut the wood with my saw to the length I wanted. I am getting really good at using the saw! 

Next, I drew a skinny line with my Sharpie of the word love in cursive, like I wanted.  I tried it with pencil first, but it didn't move as smoothly as the Sharpie. 

After I had the first line, I went ahead and thickened the letters. Once I had it how I wanted it, I sanded over the letters to make it look a little more rustic.

 I used my finger to paint the heart. Can you believe, with all the craft supplies I have, I did not have a paintbrush?! Because one side of the board was a little more rustic, I also used a hammer to roughen up the other side of the board.

I have made 2 of these signs, for one, I hot glued the twine to the back. For the other, I drilled holes in the top of the board, and then put the twine thru the holes.

Last but not least, I added these new cute stickers to the back.  I ordered these off of Vistaprint

I Can't Bake, But I Can Make Cakes!

Being a 28 year old girl, I have to go to my fair share of bridal showers! I like to give theme gifts, or make something for the bride.  The last 2 showers that I have been to, I made them cakes. I used dish towels and napkins to create them.  Then I added kitchen utensils and wine to decorate them. 

For this one, I wrapped a cake pan in a napkin.  Next, I rolled up all of the napkins and secured them with rubber bands.  I placed them around a wine bottle and tied them with twine.  I then wrapped a napkin around the wine bottle, and secured it with twine.  Finally, I stuck in a few wooden spoons (I buy these even though they are not on the registry, because they come in a set for $2-5 and really add to the cake.)  Finally I added the "Love" sign. (Instructions) For this particular shower we are supposed to bring a bottle of wine as the card, so it worked out perfectly! My wine tag said, "first fight" so I got her a Sassy Bitch wine and thought I would throw in some love too! I love how this turned out and might have to go buy these napkins for myself! Meryl has good taste!

For Megan's cake, I did it a little different.  I wrapped cardboard rectangles in dish towels, and secured them with chip clips.  Megan and Greg registered for about 3 different kinds of chip clips, so I thought I could put them to use! Then I stacked the rectangles and poked in a few extra dish towels and spoons, etc. Finally, I wrapped ribbon around to help secure everything in place and add a little decoration.  

This next cake, was not for a shower, but for Kent's birthday.  Kent LOVES Keystone, I'm not sure why, but probably because it is cheap! I always am so embarrassed to buy his Keystone at the Liquor store. Come on Kent, you are 28, grow up and drink some Bud Light! :) To make this cake, I cut 2 cardboard circles.  I placed the beer on the circles and secured them with ribbon. Then I stacked them together and added the 28's on with stickers.  I probably could have gone all out with the decorating, but as Kent said, "I'd be happy with just a case of Keystone!"

Where is the mailman?

I can't wait for these to arrive! 

Kitchen Aid Mixer

Silhouette Cameo

These will help me cook & create!