Poop Scoopin'

This is my secret way of poop scooping. I take a five gallon pail with a handle, line it with an dog food bag, and scoop away! The handle stays pretty clean, and makes it easy to move it around the yard. I save all dog and cat food bags, I find they are very sturdy and don't leak. Then I put the food bag directly into the trash can. Be sure and do this the day before garbage day, or else your garage will stink!

I did announce the other day how I love to pick up poop. There is something nice about doing a mindless task. I have some music usually going, and everyone leaves me along while I do it.

Bedroom Make Over

We finally "finished" the bedroom. When we bought the house, the walls were painted white and there were lace curtains. I couldn't find a picture of that....so, just imagine! This is as close as it gets. ;)

The befores:Blue carpet??? That 13" TV/VCR combo has been returned to its original owner - Jessica.
The quilt hanging up as a make-shift curtain, I never meant for it to be a curtain. I bought it at a yard sale for $4, and I thought it was just beautiful. It is a handmade one, and now it has a home in the living room over a railing so that everyone can enjoy it.

Garbage can was sitting on top of the dresser, so the dogs could not get into it.
Cat bed on top of a dresser, on the right. We just threw that away, as Sammy never used it. Ever.
The carpet was in bad bad bad shape. We painted the room in September 2009, and were going to replace the carpet once the paint dried, so we didn't really cover the carpet much. It was full of white paint drops. Finally, the carpet has been replaced.


The Afters:

We completely re-arrange the furniture, trying to open the tiny room up.
New tan with brown flecks carpet. We changed out the brass colored closet door nobs with some darker metal ones. They match the metal hardware on the rest of the bedroom furniture.
We replaced the white sheer curtains with some brown and gold ones. They are Better Homes and Gardens ones from Walmart for $10 a piece. Now that is a steal. We have just white min-blinds behind them. The one is fine, but one still needs replacing. We need to wait till Spring, when the window plastics come down.
The old 13" TV/VCR was replaced by a flat screen from my parents. Fits much better! In the center towards the door, I put a new-to-the-room laundry hamper. This hamper was in Connor's room, and we just had a plastic laundry basket sitting in ours. I figure, might as well have the nice looking on in our nice looking room. Purple plastic moved the Connor's room!
The blue bedding has been replaced with this lovely brown and gold set. Another Walmart Better Homes and Gardens purchase. I bought just a bed-in-a-bag for $75. The sheets from the bed-in-a-bag are actually decent quality.
Now, I didn't clean up the closet very well. This is how is normally looks. You can see on the bottom right side of the closet, I moved the garbage can into there. There was space there, we don't have to look at it, and the dogs can't get into it now.

Cream Cheese Cookies

1 box of Butter Cake Mix
1 stick of Butter
1/2 teaspoon of Vanilla
1 package of soften Cream Cheese
Powdered Sugar

Mix everything together then refrigerate for 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 350. Form into balls, I used my medium cookie scoop. Roll the ball in powdered sugar. Fit a dozen on a cookie sheet. Flatten with a fork, I like making nice cross hatches.

Bake for about 10 minutes.

Quick Make-over

This lovely old microwave cart. Sigh. You know you have one, or two. We had two, but the one got severely broken. This one did have a 25" TV (don't walk by too quickly or it could collapse). We sold the TV on Craigslist for $25. Then the cart just turned into a dumping ground.

The ice cream pail was always there, it housed my "outdoor" things.

So, I cleaned it off with Murphy's Wood Soap (even though I am sure this is not real wood). I took two baskets that were downstairs, full of crap. But that is another story.

The top basket is full of "pool table" junk. Like chalk, racks, dice, brushes. The lower basket replaced my "outdoor" ice cream pail. This basket has things like sunglasses, bug spray, ear plugs for lawn mowing, animal brushes and sunscreen.

I got rid of that awful fantasy football trophy. And the bird house is headed outside.

I'm not a big fan of the picture frames just chilling on top, but that is a project for another day. Suggestions? I was thinking maybe an over sized serving tray or something. This was a ZERO cost makeover, as I already had the baskets. Gotta love that.

Cookie Monster Cupcakes

These are the cuties I made up for the Cupcake Walk, a fund raiser for my son's school. They were a total hit.

And easy.

I used my standard butter cream frosting, dyed it blue, and piped with the star tip little star kisses on to a chocolate cupcake. Then I just regular piped white frosting eye dots, chocolate chips for the pupils. Baby chocolate chip cookies for the mouth. The cuteness is really overwhelming.

Eggplant Parmesan

The Sauce:

• 2 cans of 28 ounce whole tomatoes
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced or finely chopped
  
• Olive Oil
• 1/4 teaspoon of red pepper flakes (or more or less, depending on how spicy you feel)
• 1 teaspoon of oregano, basil and another spices (sometimes I use Italian seasoning)
• Black pepper and Kosher salt

Using a large pot, heat up some olive oil to medium heat. Cover the pan, maybe 2 tablespoons. Then add the garlic. Careful not to burn, or else you just need to start over fresh. Brunt garlic ruins things, and you can not save it. Once the garlic is cooked and smelling nice, add the tomatoes. Depending on if you like it chunky, you may want to puree the tomatoes in the food processor. I like it chunky, so I just use a potato masher to break up the tomatoes once they are in the pot. Cook for 10 minutes, then add the spices. Don't be stingy with the salt. I have no idea how much I use, I just keep adding and tasting. Cook for 10 more minutes.

The Eggplant
Slice up two eggplants, in 1/4 inch slices. Salt both sides liberally, and let them sit. I have mine sit on the counter under plastic wrap for a few hours. Doing this makes the eggplant much less bitter. After they have sat for the afternoon, I rinse off the salt. I just use cheapo regular table salt to do this.

Now get the assembly line ready. One dish with AP flour (about a cup), one dish with 3 beaten eggs, and one dish with 2 cups of bread crumbs. I just make my own bread crumbs by putting the ends of bread loaves into the food processor. Then, coat the eggplant in flour, then egg, then bread crumbs. I set them onto a cooling rack. Then you have to let them sit for about 15 minutes to firm up.

Get a nice pan with a half inch of canola oil in it. Heat the oil to a medium heat. Put about 4 or 5 slices of eggplant in. Fry for 3 to 4 minutes, flip and repeat. When you remove from the oil, allow to cool on a paper towel.

Now, assemble. And preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Coat a 9x13 baking dish with olive oil. Add a cup of the sauce. Layer of eggplant. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese. More sauce, then more parmesan cheese, and another layer of eggplant. Another layer of parmesan cheese, the remainder of the sauce, then a good layer of mozzerella cheese. I use about 1 cup and a half of parm, and 2 cups of mozz. I find it key to when doing the layers, make sure you have parm cheese on all sides of the eggplant.

Bake at 375 with foil on top for 30 minutes, and then another 15 with out the foil, let the cheese get all brown and bubbly.

I'll work on a getting a picture of it up. Promise.

Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookie

1 stick of unsalted butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
1 and 1/2 cup AP flour
1/4 t Kosher salt
1/2 t baking soda
1 cup milk chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt the butter in a skillet type pan over medium low heat, any higher, and it will turn brown. But if you are into that, go ahead, brown butter is fab. Stir in both sugars and the vanilla. Allow to cool just enough so you can mix the egg in. Then stir in the four, salt and baking soda. Finally, add the chips. Bake in the same skillet for 20 minutes. Probably less if you have a cast iron skillet you are using. I used my Earth Pan. <3

Serve as fast as you can with vanilla ice cream. Don't mind the picture, using a Toy Story plate. I am running low on dishes. Send some to the Bberg's!