Easy Creamy Cheese and Chicken Dip

If your home is anything like mine, the last couple months have pretty much been dedicated to football playoffs and the upcoming Super Bowl. For the most part, my participation in the sport is merely that of cheering on my boys while they are playing football and cooking yummy food while they are watching football!  To be honest with you, the only reason I really even care about hosting or attending a Super Bowl party, is to eat and socialize.... and eat some more. So this year, I have been compiling a few of my favorite snacks, appetizers and treats that are sure to be a hit at this years party. First up, is one of our family favorites... this delicious and extremely easy to make Creamy Cheese and Chicken Dip using none other than The Laughing Cow cheese.... it's not just for crackers folks!!

     INGREDIENTS:

     1 Rotisserie Chicken

     1 C. Ranch Dressing

     1/4 C. Hot Sauce

     4 Wedges of Laughing Cow Asiago Cheese

     1/4 C. Green Onions

     1 C. Shredded Cheese

     PREPERATION:

     Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

     Shred chicken and place in large mixing bowl. Add ranch dressing, hot sauce and Laughing Cow      cheese. Mix ingredients together until well blended.  Finely dice green onion and add to mixture.
     Transfer mixture into an oven safe baking/serving dish and top with shredded cheese. 

     Bake for approx. 10 minutes of until cheese is bubbling.
   
     Serve with baguettes or crackers.... Enjoy!!

* The Laughing Cow provided me with product, a $50 gift card, and a sweepstakes entry for this post





 

    
    

Home Renovation Sneek Peek

To say our home has been a labor of love, would be a huge understatement!! To make a long story short... we bought this 20 year old, completely neglected, nearly dilapidated,  4,000+ square foot home, that sits on over 4 acres and decided we would rip it apart and put it back together piece by piece in 4 month!! The layout of the house was fabulous, esthetically... not so much.  Of the 4 bathrooms, plumbing was shot in all but one and a half.  Not a single appliance in the kitchen was working, I'm talking no fridge, not stove...nothing!!  The laundry room pipes were leaking, the furnace and water softener were shot.  The gas fireplace was a no go. The garage door were non-functioning.  Really, I could go on and on with the problems and those aren't even the cosmetic issues!! But like I said, the layout was totally on point... it was exactly what I had always wanted and knew with a little TLC and a whole lot of work, we could turn this poor little house into a beautiful home to raise our family! 

 

This is the Jack and Jill bathroom post hours and hours of scrubbing with bleach. 

 

 

This is the bathroom during demo!  We opted to save the vanity because it was a very strong, good quality wood that with a little paint and new hardware, I knew would be beautiful. We also saved the mirror. The mirrors in all the bathrooms were fabulous and HUGE so we decided to save a little money in that dept. and salvage them too.

 



And here is the final reveal.... minus any decorative elements. I am pretty darn happy with the way this bathroom turned out, it really is just beautiful.  Considering there is no window in the room, its very bright and fresh and just has a clean feel to it that I love. 

I will be sharing a full post of this bathroom makeover at a later date (very soon), so please drop back by to get all the details!

Handmade Clipboard.... & Free Printable

 

 

Seriously... $1.99? Just one more reason I love Nate Berkus and Target!  These fabulous little clips were the inspiration behind my latest craft project and I cant believe how simple it was to do.    

 

Along with these clips, I used a 12x12 sheet of birch wood, 1/4" thick from Joann's and some existing stain I had left over from previous projects.  The wood only cost me a little over $3.00 because I had a coupon and it was on sale... making this project a mere $3.50 (if you count each clip at $0.50)!!!

 

 

I used a little sponge brush and covered the wood in stain.  Since it is pretty dark, it did take a couple coats to get the dark, rich look I was going for.  

 

 

While it was drying, which was less than 10 minutes top, I choose which shape clip I wanted to use... but seeing how I loved this project so much, I think I will do 3 more boards and use all the clips from the set.

 





 

I also jumped on my computer and whipped out this cute little saying with a quote for my oldest son.  I printed it on regular 8.5x11 paper but I trimmed of a couple inches to make it square.  

 



 

Once my board was dry, I measured the middle and attached the clip using hot glue.

 

 

And wa-la.... here she is, the finish product!

 

And if you would like a copy to of this print, please feel free to use the .jpg below!

 

 



Brunch, Art & Healing

Several months ago, I had the opportunity to decorate a brunch for a beautiful group of ladies that belong to the American Widow Project.  My dear friend Jen hosted the event at her home and to relieve some of the unwanted stress that she was feeling, I was more than happy to help.  If you are unfamiliar with the AWP, this is a group of amazingly brave, beautiful women how have lost their military spouse and join together to give support and rebuild each other up.  For this weekends AWP retreat, Jen wanted to start off with a beautiful patriotic brunch.  We didn't want the colors to be the normal red, white and blue but instead be soft and feminine, with a fresh summer feel.  Using the beautiful dishes that Jen already had, we tied in red and white using accent pieces and vintage lines.

 

 

Now the real show stopper to this beautiful table setting were these hand painted mini soldiers, replicating the husband that each attendee had lost. The attention to detail was incredible, from the medals on the uniform to the shade of hair color, each one clearly was so special and had a story to tell.  

 

 

 

After brunch was served, Jen treated the ladies to a wonder day of art and healing.  Jen is an amazing artist and below are pieces of her one of a kind artwork.  Throughout the weekend, each guest was able to make a custom piece special to them. You can find Jens work by linking to her blog or on her FB and Instagram pages.... Jennifer Funk Designs.

Even the local elementary kids contributed to the décor with these adorable hand painted flags. 

enjoy the juggling act

Being a mom comes with many responsibilities and/or "duties" so for me having a well executed plan laid out in front of me, is the best way to see what I need to get done for the day and remember to do it.  In my perfect world, my to do list would include painting pretty pictures, sewing something crafty, playing legos, eating popcorn while watching a movie with all my boys snuggled around me.  But sadly I have a household to run and somewhere in the midst of my day I have to squeeze in mop the kitchen floor, fold laundry, pack school lunches and do a load of dishes.  So, I came up with a plan to help me juggle my "to-dos" and still enjoy the lovely bliss of motherhood and hopefully spend more quality time with my family doing what I really want do.

My plan goes something like this....

Kids- Honey- Mom- Family- Household- Church ... in no particular order!!!

Its a relatively simple concept. Most days I  juggle all 5 things and give them the time they need or deserve on my schedule but some days are what they are and I fail at balancing the chaos.
So I start with a list.  I am a list kinda gal. I even put "make a list" on my to-do list... I just love to have a list and even more so, I love crossing stuff off my lists!!!  So I always start the night before with a list of to-dos.
*First, I start with what I need to get done for each of my kids- a Drs appointment, science experiment or eat lunch with one of the boys at school. Then I move on to what I need to get done for my family- grocery shop, make dinner etc. Then on to household to-dos- clean, laundry, pay bills and fix it projects.  Next its what I need to help my hubby with- usually running an errand or business related matters.  On to church duties- planning a lesson, attending a meeting.  And last but not least what I need to get done for myself- gym, craft something, blog and even shower... dead serious that taking a shower goes on my list because some days it is rare that my hygiene is a priority!
*Second,  I take into consideration what "needs" to be done and what I "want" to get done.  I highlight the needs and prioritize away!! {a later post to come on sorting out the needs vs the wants in our lives.}  The needs are then ranked in order of priority and /or the time they are scheduled for.  The wants are then put on a stand-by list just incase I have extra time in my day.  Its important to remember that time is the one thing we can't back so once you use it... its gone.
*Third, I look at the things on my list and determine what I do not want to involve my kids in and schedule them throughout the day when they are at school.  Take note... getting your oil changed with a rowdy 5 year old is not highly recommended!!


That may seem pretty darn complicated and even very time consuming but for me, investing a little bit of time to lay everything out on paper actually saves me more time in long run and some days even my sanity!  Investing a quick 5-10 minutes every night, helps me to see what my following day will look like and helps me juggle my schedule. It has also helped me realize that making time for each of those 6 categories above, is very important.  If I visually look at my list and see that my whole darn day will be spent doing things only for the household then something is wrong and its time to reprioritize!!  Its time to go back to the basics and focus on the needs vs the wants in my life.  Life should not be spent regretting the time we lost to "getting things done".  Life should be spent bettering our family, our children, ourselves.  Life should be spent enjoying those around you, enjoying the life you live!!!  Create a life filled with things you love doing, with the people you love the most!

a year in review

At the start of every new year, my family pulls out our past years new years resolutions and writes down our new ones. As we read through all of the past years, the boys get quite a kick out of how much they have grown and matured. We usually end up laughing till our sides hurt over the fact that someone wanted to "learn their ABC's" or "stop using sippie cups".  But the fact of the matter is, this tradition has become one the boys anticipate for weeks to come.  It is such a fun night of reminiscing and looking forward to what we hope the future will hold.  And now that my boys are getting older, it seems to be that our resolutions are really starting to develop into some great goals and expectations. If it is not a tradition of yours, to make resolutions with your family, I urge you to start this year... I promise you wont regret it!!! So as I promised, here is the layout that we use to review the past year and look forward to the one ahead.

2015 bookmarks

I do it, you do it, we all do! Make a list of  New Year resolutions and or goals and by the months end they are out of sight out of mind. Once I jot down a few new goals for the year and look at them here or there over the course of a month or two at most, then sadly they are lost in the shuffle of life not to surface again until the end of the year. So, I came up with a quick and easy solution to that problem. Bookmarks... write your top goals on a bookmark and place it in your journal, novel, scriptures, notebook... where your little eyes frequent the most. For me, repetition is a key to my success so if I repeatedly see something, I have a much greater chance of actually doing it!

I actually created these bookmarks to use on a Silhouette cutter using the print and cut feature but if you don't have a Silhouette you can just as easily print them off and hand cut them- 5 simple straight cuts and a whole punch on top- easy-peasy!

PRINT...

 CUT....

AND ADD A CUTE PIECE OF TWINE! 

Now your ready to start writing down your goals for 2015!!!