I haven’t decided exactly what I want to do with my kitchen yet. My time and energy right now is going into planning the addition. In the meantime, I bought these under cabinet LED lights at Costco for less than $20 and I love them. Super simple – seriously – takes like 10 minutes to put them up!! The 2-pack has EVERYTHING you need even the batteries. Just pre-drill the holes & screw in the plate. The settings are ON – OFF – Motion Detect. Crazy good value and the LED lights are bright. For those of you just dying to know, yes that is a portable diswasher, LOL! Looking forward to replacing that baby, but for now it works just fine. 😉
Category Archives: Home
Wedding Dress Shopping!
We had a great time on Saturday . . . Wedding Dress shopping with Amie, her Bridesmaids, Diane (Matthew’s mom), Tara & Baby Belle! Amie’s girls, from left to right . . . Sarah (Maid on Honor), Laura, Kaitlin & Lisa and so far Kaitlin is in the lead with the most “Perfect Bridesmaids Points!!” LOL Diane and I are so excited and looking forward to more Wedding planning!! We all went to lunch and then had to pass Baby Belle around for photo opps! 😉
Small Change, Big Improvement
I wanted to add some trim to all my doors and windows at the farmhouse to make them look more chunky. I was surprised that they actually make the rooms look taller. Jason came over to help (well he actually did all the work, lol). We used a 1×2 on top of the existing trim, a 1×4 flat against the wall and another 1×2 on top of that. He cut the 1×2’s 1″ longer so we’d have a 1/2″ over hang. He bought pre-primed pine and caulked the seams (pre-primed mdf was more expensive). Now I just have to paint them. I absolutely love it and can’t wait to get the whole house done!! Thanks Jasoni!! 😉
P.S. It cost a little over $100 for 8 doors (front & back)
Farmhouse Update
So why is it that everythinggggggg takes longer than you think it will???? The week after Christmas my bestie Sherry came out from Cali to help me paint. We were laughing cause everyday we had big plans and everyday we didn’t accomplish as much as we thought we would, lol. The good news is we did get the entire front room 14×22 repainted and I love it!! I am a big fan of Behr paint and the gray I ended up going with is called “Fashion Gray”. The perfect medium/dark gray. We sat back and loved how the gray looked against the white trim . . . then Sherry started repainting the white trim & we were shocked to see how NOT white it had been!! The new white is Behr Pure White Semi-Gloss. Looks great!!! Thanks Sherry for Allllll your help!!
Cutie Patootie!
Good Laugh . . . Happy Friday!
Sunshine is Coming
WOW Me Wednesday . . .
Olive Garden Pasta e Fagioli (Copycat Recipe)
After moving into the farmhouse and after Christmas, Sherry came out from Cali to help me do some painting!! She found this recipe on Pinterest so we gave it a shot. Very easy to make & very yummy, especially the next day. In fact, I think next time I make it, I’ll make it the day before and let it sit in the fridge overnight! Here’s the recipe and the link:
Olive Garden Pasta e Fagioli
- 1 cup ditalini pasta
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 1 pound spicy Italian sausage, casing removed
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 onion, diced
- 3 carrots, peeled and diced
- 2 stalks celery, diced
- 3 cups chicken broth
- 1 (16-ounce) can tomato sauce
- 1 (15-ounce) can diced tomatoes
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 3/4 teaspoon dried thyme
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 (15-ounce) can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 (15-ounce) can great northern beans, drained and rinsed
- In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to package instructions; drain well and set aside.
- Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add Italian sausage to the skillet and cook until browned, about 3-5 minutes, making sure to crumble the sausage as it cooks; drain excess fat and set aside.
- Add remaining 1 tablespoon oil to the stockpot. Stir in garlic, onion, carrots and celery. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 3-4 minutes.
- Whisk in chicken broth, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, basil, oregano, thyme, Italian sausage and 1 cup water; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, covered, until vegetables are tender, about 10-15 minutes.
- Stir in pasta and beans until heated through.
- Serve immediately. (Sherry & I added cheese, because everything is better with cheese!) 😉
The Bride to Be!
Amie & I haven’t had a chance to have a little “mother & daughter” time since she & Matthew got engaged. She came up this weekend for her bestie’s baby shower, so I surprised her with a little gift bag. We made the tote with a generic tote from Michael’s and added the flower & iron-on lettering, because a girl needs something to carry all her wedding plans in, LOL. So cute!
Little Brother is a Handyman!
Randy was out during Christmas & I put him to work! He fixed my kitchen sink, checked out my washing machine drain & even got to experience shoveling snow!! LOL Thanks little brother!! 😉

