Bath and Body Works: *Free* Travel Size Item

If you love Bath and Body Works as much as I do then you will want to make use of this coupon. Go here to print a coupon good for a FREE Signature Collection Travel Size Item with any purchase (up to a $5 value). This coupon does expire on March 9th.

It says on the coupon ANY item so look for inexpensive products. Look for clearance items, small hand sanitizers, nail files or any other products priced around $1-$2. I love to add these small sized lotions or shower gels to Christmas or birthday gifts.

For Jaxon

Dear Jaxon,

I can't believe that you are already 1 year old. It has gone by so fast. It seems like we just brought you home from the hospital yesterday. Your daddy and I love you so much. You are so happy and full of life every single day. I am so lucky that I get to be your mom and be with you for eternity.

I knew while I was carrying you that you were going to be such a mellow child. You didn't move as much as Levi and you were generally calm. Levi was all over the place which explains his energy today. Usually everyday you are so happy just chillin' eating cheerios and drinking juice. You put up with pretty much anything we drag you to. You don't complain much unless Levi has pushed you down or taken your toys. You wake up with a smile and go to sleep with that same smile.

Jaxon, you are an amazing child. You have made our lives so much richer. I know you will grow up to do something incredible with your life. You will be able to show your talents to everyone someday. You will succeed in all of your endeavors. Your daddy and I will be there for you always, no matter what. Your Heavenly Father loves you and will always be there to guide you as well.

Some of your favorite things at 1 year:
You love to crinkle your nose and snort. It's so stinkin' cute.
You started walking at 10 months and at 12 months you are walking pretty fast.
You love sippy cups. Levi hates it when you steal his cup so we bought you your own.
You sleep through the night. You've been doing that for a while. We put you to sleep around 6:30-7:00 and you wake up at 6:30 the next morning.
We still aren't sure what your first clear word is. You've kind of said banana, dada, momma. I'm thinking momma is the first word for sure.
You recently discovered the sand box. That is your new favorite thing outside. It's going to be a dirty summer!
You have 6 teeth. 4 on top and 2 on bottom.

We love you!

Love,
Mom and Dad

Mexican Pork Chops

This is a nice twist on Mexican food. Another quick and easy meal for those days when you are in a hurry.

Printable Version

1 1/2 cups water
3/4 cup white rice uncooked
8 ounces tomato sauce
2 tbsp taco seasoning
1 cup cheddar cheese shredded
vegetable or canola oil
pork chops
salt
pepper

Preheat the oven to 350. In a sprayed 9 x 13 baking dish, combine the water, rice, tomato sauce and taco seasoning. Brown the pork chops in a large skillet with the vegetable or canola oil. Sprinkle the pork chops with salt and pepper. Arrange the brown chops over the rice and top with cheese. Cover and bake for 1 hour.

There is sunshine in my soul today

Major project fail!!...Sort of

For Christmas my parents gave me a $25 gift card to Hobby Lobby. Of course I spent it right away. I found in the clearance section this lovely bowl.

I knew right away what I was going to do with it and how I was going to transform this ugly thing into something pretty. So shortly after Christmas I started to prime it. Then it got really cold here. REALLY COLD!! There was no way I was going to go spray paint in the garage until Spring.

Well hopefully Spring is here in Texas so I went to the garage this weekend with the intention of finishing up this bad boy and then it happened.

My heart stopped. Before I looked down I took a deep breath and hoped for the best. So I looked down and there were six huge pieces of broken glass. My pants leg had caught the edge of the bowl and tipped it over on the piece of wood it was sitting on. So I ran inside and grabbed my Krazy Glue and started working. The picture above is all six pieces glued back together. I didn't take a picture but you could obviously see the cracks everywhere on the outside of the bowl.

Then I had an idea for this b/c I spent $11 on this thing and I wasn't going to throw it out just yet. I had a glimmer of hope. I grabbed my wood putty and started putting that over the cracks. Yet again I didn't take a picture b/c this is all happening really fast and my heart is racing and there was no time for in between pictures!! No time people!!

After a few hours of letting the wood putty dry I sanded the putty down and started to prime the bowl again...crossing my fingers and toes this would work. Take a look now!

The arrows are pointing to some of the cracks. You can hardly even tell. This is with only 1 coat of primer too! Once I do another coat of primer and another coat of glossy you will not see the cracks. I don't care what the inside of the bowl looks like b/c when I put stuff in this bowl you won't even see the inside.

Wood putty isn't just for wood! This is going to work! So before you throw something out that has a crack in it, grab your wood putty and try to cover it up. If the wood putty didn't work I was also going to try some spackle for covering nail holes.

Whew! I can breathe again!

Sorry for the cell phone pics. That was another project fail this weekend. I dropped my digital camera for a second time and broke it too. It was an awesome weekend!

Fried Chicken & Homemade Cornbread

A good southern meal consists of something fried with cornbread. It doesn't matter if it's chicken fried steak, fried chicken, or fried catfish they all go with cornbread! So for dinner I made fried chicken with rice and cornbread. Yum!

Fried Chicken - Printable Version

1 cup flour

1 1/4 tsp thyme

3/4 tsp onion powder

3/4 tsp seasoning salt

1/2 tsp pepper

2/3 cup buttermilk

cooking oil

1 cut up chicken or chicken breasts

Combine 1 cup flour, thyme, onion powder, seasoning salt and pepper in a large plastic bag or bowl. Add chicken to bag one or two pieces at a time. Shake to coat well. Dip chicken into buttermilk and return to bag. Shake to coat.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add chicken and saute 15 minutes or until cooked through.

Golden Sweet Cornbread - Printable Version

1 cup flour

1 cup yellow cornmeal

2/3 cup white sugar

1 tsp salt

3 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 egg

1 cup milk

1/3 cup vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray or lightly grease a 9 inch round or square cake pan.

In a large bowl, combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt and baking powder. Stir in egg, milk and vegetable oil until well combined. Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.

Pottery Barn Knock Off

I posted about the pirate flag I made for Levi's room last summer. I wanted to give more details on how I made the flag. It was super easy and inexpensive to make. I didn't take pictures along the way but you can tell from the pictures how to make it.

At Target I purchased a plain white shower curtain for around $10. The size of the flag at Pottery Barn is 40 x 44. I cut my flag 42 x 46 to allow the 2 inch seam on all the sides. This was my first time sewing and I think I did a pretty good job.

The dowels and finials are from Lowes. I paid around $1.50 for both the dowels and finials. I think the cashier somehow rang everything up wrong. I did go back in Lowes after checking my receipt and they told me not worry about it. Clear conscience here! My husband screwed them together in several places so they would hold the weight of the curtain and hang correctly on the wall. Then Matt painted the dowels with some leftover brown paint.

I scoured the garage for any rope that we had and my wonderful husband did have a stash that worked perfectly. I cut my pieces to the length where I wanted my flag to hang and tied them on.

The letter "L" could be embroidered on if you have the ability to do that but I didn't. I bought white iron on fabric from Walmart and printed out my letter. I carefully cut it out and then ironed it on the flag. I did the same thing for the skull. That is printed on another sheet of iron on fabric and ironed on to black felt. You could also purchase t-shirt transfer sheets that are clear but those are about $13 a pack. That's more than I wanted to spend. The fabric was $5. I had a Walmart gift card so I used that for the iron on fabric and felt.

So total cost for me was about $12. Pottery Barn's version is $100. I don't think the flag is available anymore though. Even without my gift card it would have cost me around $20 for this flag which still beats $100!!

Here's a look at my version




And this is Pottery Barn's

Sweet, Sticky & Spicy Chicken

This is a recipe that you will want to make 5 days in a row. Well, maybe not that much but I did make this 2 nights in a row. Matt told me this chicken was his favorite and he loved it better than Italian Chicken and that says a lot!! It's quick and easy and those are my type of meals. Enjoy!

Printable Version

2 tbsp brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 1/2 tsp ginger
1 tbsp garlic (I just sprinkled some garlic powder)
3 tbsp hot sauce or wing sauce
salt
pepper
2 lbs chicken breast tenders or strips

Mix together brown sugar, honey, soy sauce, ginger, garlic and hot sauce in a small bowl. Lightly salt and pepper chicken strips. Heat pan with cooking spray, add chicken and brown on both sides for a few minutes. Once the chicken is brown but not cooked all the way through pour the sauce over the chicken. Simmer uncovered until the sauce thickens and chicken is done. Serve with rice and veggies.

**Tip**I made this two times and used different amounts of wing sauce to test the spiciness. I used 3 tblsp first and it was too spicy for my son. The second time I used just 1 tblsp and it still had a bit of a kick but my son ate it.

School at 1 month

It has been a little over a month since I started doing my own "mini pre-school" with Levi. I have to say that I have seen progress with Levi. I say that not b/c I want a pat on the back for what I am doing or that I'm just hoping for improvement, but it's really there. The way that Levi speaks is so different from a month ago. He takes more time to think about what he wants to say and get across to us. Levi doesn't use, what I call his filler words, anymore. There may be a rare time when he doesn't know a word and he will jumble things but for the most part he gets his words out correctly. I think his frustration has gone down dramatically too!

Every day Levi wants to do his school. It is just habit now that when Jax goes to sleep he knows what we are going to do. He loves to learn about his letters, shapes, and numbers. Just today we were at the park and he started counting all the flowers as we were walking. He counted all the way to 15. Matt and I were so proud! When Matt comes home from work Levi gets so excited to show him what he did that day during school. It gives Levi that feeling of accomplishment. I love seeing his face light up with joy every day showing off his wonderful work.

This next week it is supposed to be beautiful here in Texas so I plan on doing many outdoor activities for his lessons. Levi loves to learn and I love that so much about him. I know that with continued prayer and guidance from the Lord we will see improvements with him. The Lord loves him and wants him to succeed in all that he does. So on to month 2 of school. Hopefully I will have an even better report next month.

Martha Inspired

Here in Texas we have been snowed in all week. If it snows 1/2 inch you might as well get comfortable for a while. Soooo...this is what I worked on to keep myself sane. In my Martha Stewart magazine I saw this picture and I knew I could copy it for cheap. I already had the frames so I just needed the mending brackets. A quick trip to Lowes and I was set.

So this is what I started with. My frames before.

The brackets are all lined up.

And the end result. I love it! This was a quick and easy project that anyone with a power drill can do. Matt and I do need an updated picture together. That's one of our engagement pictures.

The frames in the inspiration picture are a white/cream color but our walls are light colored too. I'm still not sure if I will paint the frames. I don't want them to blend in with the walls. Another project checked off!

Crockpot Nachos

Printable Version

1 lb ground beef, cooked and drained

1 can refried beans

1 can red kidney beans, drained

2 tbsp tomato paste

1 package taco seasoning

1/2 cup water

salt and pepper to taste

sprinkle of garlic powder

tortilla chips

Mix together all ingredients in your crockpot except tortilla chips. Cook on high for about 2 hours.

Serve the meat mixture over the chips. You can add your favorite nacho toppings like cheese, sour cream, lettuce, etc...

Enjoy!