Sunday, November 27, 2011

Turkey Casserole

From November 12, 2011
First off...excuse the really bad photo.

Turkey leftovers. I think if I were to have fed my family another turkey dinner tonight they may have hog tied me and beat me with the drum stick. I found this recipe on line and "modified" it. It is really easy and pretty darn good if I do say so myself.

1 package of frozen veggies (10 ounces) thawed under running water
4 cups of cooked turkey diced up
1 package of egg noodles cooked
butter
1 medium onion chopped
8 ounces mushrooms chopped
1 can cream of mushroom soup (10 1/2 ounce)
1/2 cup milk
salt to taste
1/4 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning
1 cup shredded cheese..Monterrey jack or cheddar

Saute onions and mushrooms in butter until tender.

Blend soup, milk, curry powder and poultry seasoning and add to mushrooms and onions.

Add thawed veggies and turkey to pan and mix.

Add cooked noodles and stir. Pour mixture into a 9x13 buttered/greased pan and sprinkle shredded cheese on top.

Bake for 25 minutes @ 350 degrees.

Friday, November 18, 2011

Repurposing the Potato Bin

My mom is always passing on items from her home to mine.   Whenever I go home I usually come home with twice the amount of stuff that I arrived with.   She will ask me if I want a certain item, and of course I say "sure" and then I get home and think, "what am I going to do with this"?   My husband is a good sport, he just shakes his head and rolls his eyes. Such is the item today.   She gave this to me 3 years ago and it has been in my garage collecting dust and getting in the way.

Now that I am in a new home I have a place for it, not what it was originally intended for but I think it will work.

It is a potato/onion bin. Potatoes are to go in the top and onions in the bottom.

I took it apart.  Yes, honey I took the hinges off but had to leave one of the knobs on because it was glued in. I also sanded it to rough up the surface so it would accept the paint.   My husband is forever giving me grief for taking short cuts on my painting projects.

From November 17, 2011


From November 17, 2011

From November 17, 2011


From November 17, 2011
Then I dragged out my Cricut.   LOVE THIS THING.   So much fun.   I do need to invest in more cartridges though.  I am using this to cut words out for a stencil on the doors. Instead of using paper I used contact paper.  It is cheap and if you make a mistake it is no big deal.   I cut out a couple of options of fonts and sizes to get an idea of how I wanted it to look.

I decided on the tall skinny font for my project.
From November 17, 2011
From November 17, 2011

Pealed of the back an stuck them on the door/lid.   I am the queen of "eye balling" it.   My husband on the other hand would have had the tape measure and ruler out, positioning and repositioning making sure it is perfectly placed.

Sidebar: Don't know if you have ever listened to Jeanne Roberts. She is absolutely hysterical when if comes to talking about her husband "Left Brain". You have got to watch this video of her sending her husband to the grocery store. I have seen it more than a dozen times and still laugh every single time.

From November 17, 2011
I then used black paint with primer and rolled the top the lids and box completely covering it.   This is with just one coat of paint.   It took two coats with drying time in between each coat of paint.
From November 17, 2011

Painting done, now it is drying.   Did not take to long to dry.    Notice that I did not do the inside of the box.
From November 17, 2011

From November 17, 2011

With the paint dry I carefully removed the contact paper stencil.
From November 17, 2011
Next step is I used a fine grit sanding block to take the paint off the corners to give it the aged look.
From November 17, 2011
This picture shows the words before I applied stain to the raw wood. I used Minwax cherry stain. Applied it with a rag and rubbed it off with another. The one mistake I made was because I was worried that it would have a inconsistent finish on the corners I rubbed the stain over the whole box. It stained the raw wood where I sanded but it made the black portion a little tacky. I ended up wiping the whole thing with a wet rag to get off the excess.
From November 17, 2011
I put it all back together and it is now in my powder room holding toilet paper and reading material. The lighting of my photos make it the finish look uneven and shiny in areas.  It looks much better in person.
From November 17, 2011

From November 17, 2011

From November 17, 2011

From November 17, 2011


From November 17, 2011

Saturday, November 12, 2011

A Saturday morning in Asheville, NC

We have been in Asheville now for 2 weeks and are about 3/4 of the way moved in. That may be a little generous but that is what I am going with. It makes me feel a little better.

The kids have been going a little bonkers and to expel a little excess energy we took them to Fletcher Park to play disc golf, ride bikes and let Martha wander.

Bob and Sam play golf while Carter rides around the park on his bike.

Sam is loving disc golf. He is pretty good.

From November 12, 2011

From November 12, 2011

From November 12, 2011
Martha thinks the discs are for her. They look just like a Frisbee.  They are throwing them. They MUST need me to go get them right?
From November 12, 2011
Sam thought he could out run Carter on his bike. Good luck kid!
From November 12, 2011
At this park you must wear your helmet or you will get a $10.00 ticket.
From November 12, 2011

From November 12, 2011

From November 12, 2011
A beautiful day. A relaxing day. But I have hit the wall and it is time to go to bed....
From November 12, 2011