A Recipe and Show-and-Tell

My house smells warmly of delicious cake and the sweet aroma is not only making my mouth water, but I decided everyone should have this recipe:



Butterscotch Poppyseed Cake

1 pkg yellow cake mix
1 3.9oz pkg INSTANT butterscotch pudding
1 c. water
2 eggs
3/4 c. oil
1/4 c. poppy seeds

mix together and plop (i say plop because the batter has an odd consistency. You'll know what I mean when you make it) into a greased and floured bundt pan. I invested in the Pam baking spray with the flour added and I'll never go back. It smells of a sickly sweet vanilla and does the job.

Bake at 350F for 50 minutes.

I made a quick powdered sugar glaze - powdered sugar, a dash of lemon juice, water - to a drizzling consistency and top it, but it's really moist and delicious regardless.

*#$(%#$^$%^@(#$*@#$@#%^$%&*#$(%#$^$%^@(#$*@#$@#%^$%&*#$(%#$^$%^@(#$*@#$@#%^$%&

I decided I couldn't stand the paper in my blue frame project and made a quick (i say quick but it was more like 15 minutes) switcheroo to this more subtle and less conspicuous background. I love it more.



Last weekend I wanted to get started on my chair refinishing project. This project pissed me off. I seriously spent my WHOLE saturday on this one chair and it didn't even turn out exactly as I wanted it.

Here's the before:



And the after:



together.

I picked up 6 of these for about $8 each from craigslist a year ago and just finally got to them. I'm changing the color of the seat again. The picture doesn't show how minty green it really is. It will be a light blue by Saturday, as will the others (except those will probably still be natural/wood colored).

I refinished this ADORABLE cheese board and cover in a soft pink with a dark stain, then I coated with a foodsafe lacquer. I can't wait to use it!


Finally, this came to me yesterday:

My picture doesn't do it justice, so here it is from her etsy shop:

I'm thinking I'll frame it with something green to match the eyes.

Anyone else have Ms. Martin's work?

More Thrifty Finds

After I dropped Ryan off at work today I headed to DI to see if I could find any cool dessert plates.

Well, I couldn't, but what I DID find were components to make one.

Here's what I started with:

I can't figure out if that squatty lil number was a candleholder or an unusual egg cup.

So then the question was how should I put them together? This way

or this way?


I ended up going with the second way. A simple $0.97 epoxy (that's dishwasher safe!) and it's good to go 30 minutes later. Each piece was $0.50, so I spent a total of $2 on this project. Steal!

I picked up this frame for $2:

And with these trusty tools

I turned it into this

as inspired by this.

I'm not sold on the paper/pattern, but it'll do until I find a replacement.

I love

a few things right now.

These pins:



I'm considering adding a few to my etsy shop. They're so cute on projects and I can't wait to start creating and using them. They're actually like, 3 times the size of a regular sewing straight pin. LOVE the colors. I actually have a candyapple green, too. I had to look forever to find a source for them, so I'm keeping that to myself :)

I also love this print:


used with permission from here.

I got a few of the postcards (the prints are out of my price range right now) that I'll use to frame, but I just love her work.

Shoe Party

Hi Everyone! - friends and lurkers alike -

So remember the shoes I showed you a bit ago?

Well, I want a few more pairs of shoes like them before I move to Kansas and so I'm having a Shoe Party!



Where:
My House - leave a comment or email me for the address: chelsealexander(@)hotmail.com

When:
June 28th, 2pm - only two weeks from tomorrow - put it on your calendars

Why:
We all love shoes. I'll be making fabulously delicious treats and have a lovely spread for everyone (think cupcakes, brownie bites, fresh vegetables and fruit...maybe even some chocolate fondue) while figuring out what shoes to try on and purchase. They'll have all sizes available for you to take home with you.

Also, we're moving July 10th, so come say goodbye to me!

Here is the selection we'll have. So many awesome summer shoes.

I'll be sending information about it to everyone in the area. If you're not local and want to order, let me know and I'd be happy to ship them to you.



As you can see, they're pretty cute shoes and good brands (Soda, Classified, etc.). They're all under $20. Bonus!

Accepted

Hooray! They accepted our counter offer tonight. Now we just need to make it through the next month when the sale is estimated to go through.

Next on the list:

1. Fly to Kansas and buy a house.

HELP!

We just got an offer tonight (for our condo - the market around here is still good) that was 13% lower than appraisal value and 10.5% lower than our asking price (we are already listed $5k below appraisal to sell faster). We are not using realtors and are selling FSBO. Our buyers are buying without a realtor. Considering our asking price is $145k and they offered $130k, we're not sure how to counter the offer.

Oh, and they've requested a close date/move-in date of two weeks.

We're thinking of counter-offering (by the way, how do we do that?!) with $145k (full asking) with their currently requested move-in date or $140k with the standard month closing.

Any advice?! help!

We have to respond to their offer by 8pm on the 12th.

It's been awhile

I looked over my last few posts and realized they are completely devoid of personal updates, so here we go, in one big long entry.

First, we've found out when school starts for Ryan, so we're planning on moving on Friday, August 1st. Yippee! The closer it gets the more excited I become. I'm having a lot of fun looking for houses. We're flying out there July 12th and have until the 15th to find a house and make an offer on one (or *gasp* find a place to rent...really hope we don't have to!). Which means we'll have to rush the closing dates, etc.

Second, we've been trying to conceive for a year now, obviously without luck. Last month I got a prescription for Clomid and now I'm using an ovulation predictor kit to figure out when my body decides to have an LH Surge. I haven't been ovulating at all, so maybe this will do something to jump start the process. Wish us luck!

hmmm...what else. Oh yes. My youngest brother just graduated from High School! It's really weird to think about my brothers all done with school, especially since Ryan still has siblings in elementary school. And my brothers are tall and handsome. Lucky boys! (and lucky future sisters-in-law).




Also, my Sister-in-law, Jani, is leaving on her mission to Chile this Wednesday. We went up to South Jordan yesterday for a huge get together. There were probably 50 people there. She gave a fabulous talk in Sacrament and I really think she's going to do many great things. She's one of those people whose personalities will take them far. She's an overachiever and it makes me crazy! (in a good way).


Saturday I got the urge to look for vintage pillowcases at DI, so headed to Provo, then figured I'd hit the American Fork DI. You would think the Provo one is way too picked over, however, not the case. There are many more treasures there than in AF.

I grabbed these awesome milkglass vases - the first of my (very) small collection.



Then I found this stack of overlooked Martha Stewart Baby magazine issues. If you remember, I paid retail for them, plus shipping. These were MUCH more affordable. Look how cute these ideas are! The projects are mostly on marthastewart.com, but I LOVE the fact they're organized in one easy-to-find place for me. Plus, you can't search by magazine issues on the MS site. They should make that possible.





And this one issue of Martha Stewart Kids.



I'm keeping the ones I didn't have and the rest will shortly be on eBay. If you want them, search for Martha Stewart Baby or click here!

I also found this pie dish. It's nothing special, just a bit nostalgic for me. Growing up my mom has always had two of these pie pans but for Pumpkin Pie and Strawberry Pie. I don't know if they were ever actually used, but my mom's specialty is her cheesecake and my maiden name is Watkins, so it was an homage to nostalgia. And it was only $2. Love me some DI.


Ryan brought me home roses and a Dr. Pepper and Diet Dr. Pepper on our anniversary. It was reminiscent of our first date. He's romantic in his own way and I love him for it.



I'm one lucky girl.

I would like a room

that looks like this.

image via armstrong.com


I saw this print ad in a magazine I got the other day and the other half of the room is even prettier....I just couldn't find it online.

A Little Inside Joke

For Mandi

I dedicate my first album to you.

If I wrote a cookbook

I would want it to look like this. Except I would actually scallop the pages. Then it'd be perfect.



I love reading through this book, if only for the pictures. The only thing I would request (if they cared about what consumers thought) is having a picture of EACH recipe. That's usually what helps me decide what to make.




I found mine on www.campusi.com butI looks like it's cheaper from here.

I love you infinity

or
Two Years Down, Forever to Go





Happy Wedding Birthday!