General Conference Coffee Cake

I love this time of year for so many reasons. We have the pleasure to watch General Conference this weekend and hear our Prophet Thomas S. Monson speak along with so many others.

A tradition in my husband's family is that every General Conference his mom always made coffee cake. I'm not sure where this recipe comes from but it is heaven sent for sure.

I thought I would share it so if you feel so inclined you may want to enjoy its delishishness (Is that a word?)

General Conference Coffee Cake 
Printable version

 

2 ½ cups flour
½ tsp salt
2 cups brown sugar
⅔ cup butter or shortening
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup sour milk* or buttermilk
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp nutmeg
2 eggs beaten

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Mix up first four ingredients until it looks crumbly. Set aside ½ cup of crumbs. Add in the rest of the ingredients to get cake batter mixture. Pour batter in 2 8 inch round pans. Sprinkle reserved ½ cup of crumbs on top of batter. Bake in oven for 25-30 minutes.

*If you do not have buttermilk on hand you can use sour milk. To make sour milk mix 1 cup of milk with 2 tsp lemon juice. Allow to sit for 10 minutes.

 

Fall Mantel Decorating

Hey there!

It's finally fall here in Texas!! I'm on the couch now with a blanket and the front door is open letting in all the cool air. A few weeks ago I changed out my summer mantel for my fall mantel. Just about everything on this mantel I already had. I only puchased the pumpkins, picture frame and picture. The rest of the stuff I shopped my house for.

So here's how it all came together.

The pumpkins are from the dollar section at Target. I love the shade of red on them. The ugly owls are from the dollar spot as well from last year. I think they are hideous little owls and they would look so much better spray painted a different color. Maybe I'll get around to it...maybe not.

Our friends down the street had some firewood they were getting rid of. I grabbed a log and had Matt cut it down for candlesticks. I think it adds a natural element to the mantel. (That's me trying to sound like I know what I'm doing or talking about)

The picture frame was an awesome Goodwill find a few weeks ago. It had a gold color on it but I sanded it down to the wood. Now it looks more rustic.

I love the red church picture. It's an Episcopal church in Alabama. I found the picture over at The Lettered Cottage. You can visit over there if you would like to download the picture. I had it printed at Walmart for $5.86 for an 11 x 14 print. It brings a bit of warmth to the room too.

All together I think it looks good. I love all the warm colors and the mix of the natural with rustic elements.

It's fall ya'll!

Food Storage {Beans}

Geez...I've really slacked off on my blog lately. I haven't posted any updates in a while. I've been busy with several projects around the house and trying to get them all completed. Mainly just Levi and Jax's room though. That has taken me way longer than I thought it would. The end is in sight...hopefully!

So a few weeks ago we had a Relief Society activity on food storage and starting our 3 month supply. Honestly, I don't have food storage except for what fits in my pantry which would not last 3 months. Our tiny 1500 sq foot house just doesn't have space for food storage. We maximize every inch of this house for storage of things we currently have and need. Trust me...I try to purge our stuff frequently.

Then on Pinterest I came across a wonderful idea for storing your food storage in small spaces.

You can go here to read the post about this idea.

Since we are soda drinkers in this house I'm going to start saving our 2 liter bottles. So far I have 3 bottles saved. You have to start somewhere right?

I took the labels off my bottles and then washed the bottles with soap and water. I let them dry over night. I purchased a 4 pound bag of beans and this is how much that will get you.

I put a bay leaf in the bottom of the bottle and then on top. I need to get some bees wax to seal them.

I can fit these bottles in many more tight spaces than big buckets. I'm super excited about starting my food storage now. I'll be doing a little at a time and soon enough I'll have a 3 month supply.

Exciting stuff!

DIY Floating Kitchen Shelves

For the 5 years we have been in our house I have always thought the space above our kitchen sink was weird. I've never known what to do with that space over the years. I've tried a few different things and didn't really like any of what I tried. Last year I put up EAT in that space and that's how it's been ever since.

Blah!

Until now! We had some left over wood from the dining room table that Matt built and I knew the solution.

Floating shelves!

There is exactly 3 feet between the two upper cabinets. So Matt cut the wood down to size. I then painted the wood the same color as our cabinets.

I measured out exactly where I wanted the shelves to go. I measured 7 inches down from the top and 7 inches up from the bottom.

We used brackets to hold the shelves in place. The arrows are pointing to the brackets. We used brackets on both shelves.

I purchased $5 worth of trim from Home Depot and Matt nailed it up. I painted the trim to match the cabinets and I painted the brackets so they wouldn't stand out.

I threw up some cook books and anything else I could find around the house and it was done.

I love these shelves and this space now. I can put all sorts of fun stuff up there for the holidays or different times of the year.

In case you want to see a close up of the little quote block here it is. I found the quote on Pinterest. I made my own pretty version and just glued it to a square scrap piece of wood.

I thought it was a very fitting quote for our family.

Have a great week!

Jaxon's 2nd Birthday (5 months late)

Back in February Jax had his 2nd birthday. I didn't write about it then and I wanted to post a few pictures of the happy boy on his special day. We love Jax so much! He is so energetic and loves to do everything that Levi does. Jax has his sweet and cuddly moments but you have to catch him in the right mood for that. I can't believe he is already 2!

I took Jax to the store and let him pick out the cake he wanted. He pointed to the chocolate and red velvet cakes. I pulled them both off the shelf and he then chose the red velvet. I'm pretty sure he loved it!

A little catch up....

It's been a while since I've had a chance to sit down at my computer and write a post. My husband has been traveling consistantly since April and just finished his last trip last week. Hopefully I'll now have more time to share what's going on with us.

We've done a lot since my last post. I really need to catch up and post pictures of everything. But first I wanted to share with you something special to me that I will be working on.

My calling at church is 1st counselor in the Young Women's Presidency. I've been in that calling since January. I'm loving building the relationships with the girls and getting to know them better.

One of the things we do in Young Women is Personal Progress. This aspect of the Young Women program is very important. As a leader I can complete this program as well. I have set a goal for myself to do just that.

Back when I was in Young Women (that makes me sound so old) I was so close to completing all of my Personal Progress. But I did't. Now I'm determined to complete and set an example to our Young Women that it can be done.

So I'm hoping you'll come along with me as I'll be posting different topics and things I'm doing along the way. Hopefully, this way will keep me accountable and keep me motivated.

Up first...FAITH! I have a lot to say about faith but I'll save it for another post.

Wish me luck!

Vintage Drafting Table Turned Dining Table

While I was pregnant with Colten I knew the day would come when we would have family here after his birth and we would all need a place to sit and eat. Our little kitchen table would not cut it anymore. Plus we would now have 3 kids and again the kitchen table that seats 4 would not work. So I started looking on craigslist for dining room tables and I didn't ever find anything that I liked.

I wanted a table that was unique but beautiful and was my style. No luck after weeks of looking on craigslist. Then I came across a listing for a drafting table. I loved the base of the drafting table. The seller was only asking $50, I think, so we bought it. How easy would it be to take the existing table top off and put new boards on?!? Totally easy!!

I didn't take pictures of the whole process because it was pretty simple to do and anyone that is handy with a sander and saw could do this.

First, a look at the table before. This is the picture from the craigslist ad.



Matt bought six 2 x 6 pieces of wood from Lowes. It took forever to find pieces that were straight and not warped. I went out to the garage and picked out the sides of the pieces I wanted to go on top and bottom. This would be easier to do if you had a jig to screw all the boards together. We didn't want to pay the crazy amount that a jig costs so Matt rigged up his own way of screwing the boards together. Don't ask me how though!!



Once the boards were screwed together Matt sanded down all the edges and corners and on top of the boards. I didn't want the pointy edges because that is just a bunch of stitches waiting to happen! Plus, I wanted a softer look.

Matt reused the original support board on the bottom of the table. It was not long enough to go all the way across the table so he also added another support piece. By reusing the original support piece Matt did not have to cut a new piece and then chisel out a space for the semi-circle metal pieces to go.



Most tables sit around 30 inches high and this table was around 32 inches high. Matt trimmed off 2 inches from the verticle piece so that it would be sitting at 30 inches.



After the new top was back on the base I then stained everything Dark Walnut. I put 2 coats of stain on the table. I then put 2 coats of Polycrylic on to protect the table.







And the final product...



Linking up to:
House of Hepworths
The Shabby Creek Cottage
Cheap Crafty Mama
Someday Crafts
Savvy Southern Style
The Taylor House
The DIY Showoff
Chic on a Shoestring Decorating