Let There Be Light!

One morning I was rushing out the door for class and in my mad scramble I realized I forgot something and swung around to grab it. Because I only have class two days a week I take A LOT with me because I spend all day Tuesday & Thursday in Montevallo. This day was no exception and I had my large Vera Bradley packed to the max. 

Back to the mad scramble: As I turned around my bag picked up some major force and swung around slinging me with it and knocking over our pretty floor lamp. I tumbled and the lamp came crashing down snapping the neck in half. Sad face.

I was so mad that my bag was so heavy, mad that the lamp broke and mad that I now had to retrieve my forgotten book plus clean up the mess. Grrr...

Side Note: Have you heard Francesca Battistelli's song "This Is The Stuff"? You should listen to it. This song applied to my life that day. It says, "This is the stuff that drives me crazy"....Word, Francesca, word.

Anyways, so we have been without one of our lamps in our living room and I've hated it. We don't have any overhead lights in our living room so we need our lamps for light! We have another floor lamp on the other side of the living room and a tall end table lamp but I love for it to be bright so I've been thinking about what to replace the lamp with.

I really didn't want to get another floor lamp. I basically hate them and that one was a find. It was a pretty one at a decent price. Well, today I went into the SA (Salvation Army) to see if they had anything good and I happened upon a lamp! I wasn't even looking for a lamp!

And it was only $3.99! Woohoo!

Here it is:

It's perfect because it's large, but not a floor lamp. Also, it's my favorite color, YELLOW! and it's distressed albeit naturally but distressed nonetheless!

I love distressed things, especially yellow, distressed things!

But I don't like broken things so I had to figure out what to do about the base:

I went to my happy place, Hobby Lobby, and found some adorable leopard print ribbon to dress up my lamp. I also stopped by Big Lots and purchased a new shade! Hooray!

I just cleaned the lamp hardcore with clorox wipes and hot glued the ribbon on. I also "strategically" placed the lamp on our bookshelf.

Here's the final product:

Now I may run to Publix to make it the perfect day ;)

Sweetness

With Valentine's Day being tomorrow I thought I'd share some ideas for Valentine's treats! This past week was my turn to do snacks for our small group and I wanted them to be V'day themed but I was totally coming up blank on ideas. 

I have my go-to Christmas desserts and my go-to summery desserts but as far as Valentine's Day, I had nothin'...

I did the obvious and asked my dear friend Google for help. I found some cute ideas and kind of varied them to make them work for me! They turned out great and were so super easy so I thought I'd share.

Sweet Treat #1:

Valentine's Fruit Bowl (I didn't need Google's help for this one, lol)

I just mixed together strawberries, raspberries and purple grapes to get the "love" color scheme going:

Sweet Treat #2:

Chocolate Covered Marshmallows

I bought two bars of Ghiradelli semi-sweet chocolate and broke it up into the little squares (YUMMY!):

I just placed the bowl in the microwave for 30 second intervals mixing in between each turn until it was all completely melted.

I then just halfway dipped the marshmallows in the chocolate and sprinkled them with red, sugar sprinkles (AW wanted to get an action shot, haha).

I placed the marshmallows on a wax-paper covered cookie sheet and put them in the fridge for about 20 minutes for the chocolate to harden:

Here's the final product with little red toothpicks to complete the Valentine's theme. Too easy & so yummy!:

Sweet Treat #3:

Chocolate Covered Pretzel Rods

I just used the melted chocolate and a spoon to cover the tops of the pretzel rods. I then sprinkled them with the red, sugar sprinkles and placed 3 in a mug and put them in the fridge for about 5 minutes for the chocolate to set. 

I only did 3 in a mug at a time because I didn't want them to touch and look all crazy...I couldn't think of a better system but if you have one please share!

After I tested the first round I was nervous that they looked a bit phallic:

I asked AW what he thought and he said he thought it was fine and that it was a small group of married people so they probably wouldn't mind, haha...

Here's the final product:

In all it only took me about an hour to make these treats and the best part was that the red, sugar sprinkles made them look all sparkly! How fun! 

Maybe if you need Valentine's snack ideas these will help! Also, I am told that there are pink, heart-shaped marshmallows out there but I couldn't find them at Publix...maybe you know where they are! Anywho, I hope that you and your loved ones have a HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!

The Helpful Housewife: Skillet Care

Well, you may already know all about cast-iron skillets but I didn't and just on the off chance that you don't I'll share my new found knowledge.

First, I'd like to say THANK YOU to my friend Katie's mom! She was the one who enlightened me on how to care for our cast-iron skillet.

AW has had a little skillet since college. His parents just gave him one of theirs to use when he moved into his apartment in Montevallo. Well, AW is a bit of a clean freak and slightly OCD so after he would use his skillet he was sure to scrub it clean with soap and water. Big Mistake!

This is what happens when you always wash your cast-iron skillet: RUST...

Yuck! Not what you want to fry your chicken in...

Well, I was told "Don't throw it away!!!" It can be saved! Hooray!

So, this is what you need to salvage your rusty skillet:

A steel wool or copper wire scrubby, paper towels and either olive oil or lard. 

The scrubby is to get all of that yucky rust off. And it really does most of the work for you. 

Just use mild soap and water and scrub, scrub, scrub!

Next, pat dry the skillet with paper towels. Then place the skillet in a pre-heated oven at 250 and let it dry for 20-30 minutes.

After your skillet is dry season it with either the olive oil or the lard. I chose to use lard because that is just the old-fashioned way. Plus, I've never used lard for anything so I thought it would be fun!

Place the skillet in the 250 oven and leave it in there for two hours. 

After 2 hours let it cool and put it away. It will be nice and shiny and rust free:

Your turkey bacon will fry up nicely the next morning in your newly seasoned skillet and you will be so happy (and so will your hubby!):

 To store and keep up your skillet do not wash it! Instead use a paper towel to pick up any leftover pieces from the skillet and gently wipe it out. Some people even suggest placing a paper towel on the skillet while storing it.

A couple of weekends ago my mom, sister, grandmother, cousins and I all went shopping for my aunt's birthday and I was telling them about my skillet-salvaging experience.

My sister, who was the only one not married, was a little surprised that we all had cast-iron skillets. We told her a smart wife always has one just in case she catches her husband with another woman. She needs that skillet to be in good shape for when she administers justice =)