Tuesday Tip 1

Greetings Blog Fans!

Hope you are enjoying my posts so far, I am playing with different ideas for this blog and would appreciate any feedback you would like to give.  On Tuesdays I would like to share tips or tricks that I have read or picked along the way.  This week is a good one and it comes from one of my favorite magazines Real Simple.

When trying to clean ceiling fan blades it is close to impossible to do it without getting dust all over everything, including yourself!  I have found that this little tip really works wonders.

Take a pillowcase (I have one from the thrift store for just this task).  Open the pillowcase and carefully slip it over the ceiling fan blade.  Do not scrap it over the top when putting it on, make sure the case does not touch the top or the bottom when putting it on.  So now the blade is inside the pillowcase.  Take your hands and hold the blade at the end of the pillowcase opening.  Pull the pillowcase along the length of the blade, putting pressure on both the top and the bottom.  When you pull the case off of the blade all of the dust and grim will be in the pillowcase, not on you, not of the floor, all kept in the pillowcase!  Continue cleaning your fans this way until the pillowcase is totally nasty or you are finished.  Then throw the pillowcase in the washing machine and you're done!

Meal Plan Monday 1

Welcome to the first installment of Monday Meal Planning... Here's what's for dinner this week, with leftovers for lunch, if there are any ;)  Meal planning saves me a great deal of worry throughout the week and also it saves us money.  I sit down and look at what is on sale at the grocery store and then I plan my meals for the week around that.  Usually if there are not any good specials on meat, I can pull from the freezer from weeks when they had great deals.  Your freezer is your friend!

Monday- Homemade Stromboli
Tuesday- Pork Chops
Wednesday- BBQ Chicken
Thursday- Spaghetti and Meatballs
Friday- Date Night
Saturday- Out To Eat
Sunday- Mexican Pizza

If I pulled the recipe from a website, then it is linked for you to try yourself!  I will also share other favorite recipes throughout the weeks and will link them when used for meal planning.  Bon Appetit!

We do usually eat out on Friday and Saturday night, either with friends or just a nice date night.  With just the two of us in our little family we can get away with eating out on the weekends for dinner.

A Place for Treasures

One of my most favorite places to go is the Flea Market on the weekends.  Its a great time for my husband and I to take the dog and have some quality time together as our little family.  I have been going to the flea market since I was a little girl, my daddy loves to hunt and find unusual things and I have picked up that love from him.  

Flea Markets, Thrift Stores, and Yard Sales are fantastic places to pick up items to re-purpose or just get some neat decor!  You can usually get an item for less than the person is asking, especially on a cold day like when we went!  I spotted this sweet Fiestaware water pitcher from across the aisle.  I gently picked it up, and asked how much?  The man said, "$15.00"  I turned it over and said, "Would you take $10?"  And he said, "Yes"!  Only $10.00.  Its real and in mint condition.  I have a very large collection of Fiestaware and lots of my favorite pieces were little gems I picked up second-hand.  Another handy place to find items to re-purpose or new to you items is www.craigslist.org  We have found many great deals on craigslist and saved lots of money.  It is my plan to post other entries of thrifting and junking adventures and finds and show you what you can do with some of these treasures :)

A Family Favorite

Here's a recipe I came up with that is a favorite at our house. I hope you like it too!

Courtney's Simple Stromboli

-10 ounce(s) (1 tube) refrigerated pizza-crust
-2 cups (1 bag) shredded pizza cheese or mozzarella cheese
- 1/3 cup pizza sauce or spaghetti sauce

Filling:
- Pepperoni, ground beef, sausage, green peppers, onions, mushrooms, etc (clean out the fridge)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees
Grease a baking sheet and spread the pizza dough to the edges of a baking sheet (14x18)
Spread a layer of pizza sauce (not to thick, not to thin) about 2 inches from the outside long edges, and about an inch away from the short edges. Now layer your fillings and then top with cheese.
Fold each long edge into the center, overlapping slightly. Pinch the seam together down the middle of the Stromboli. Pinch the short ends shut.
Pop it in the oven and bake 20-25 minutes, depending on the amount of filling you have.
Serve with a small salad and marvel at how simple and tasty!

Also try a BBQ Chicken Stromboli- Follow all the above direction but instead of the fillings listed above use BBQ chicken cooked and cut into cubes, green peppers, and onions. Also exchange BBQ sauce for Pizza Sauce.  So good!

Welcome to the Nest!

I have always loved to read blogs.  For years I have had a personal blog that started when my now husband proposed.  We would document wedding related activities and once we were married our daily life.  Our personal blog started turning into a collection of my crafts and creations, so I thought why not just have a blog to share with the world about that?!

I love to craft and create, whether that is with fabric, food, paint, sequins, icing, paper, findings, etc, etc, etc!  I wanted to make a blog around my love for "feathering our nest".  I hope that you will love this little collection of helpful tips, recipes, and tutorials as much as I love compiling them.  Here's to a new feather in my nest: world-wide blogging!