DONE!!!

.
I did it!!!!

And I feel like a five year old that just created my first kindergarten art project. The table is done, and in the kitchen! We only had 1/2 an inch clearance to get it in...and my dad had to come over and help the hubby carry it in, but it's in and I love it :)

See!?

...excuse the mess under the pew... and beside the pew, and on the...I think you get it. Pampers boxes? Totally the newest fad in kitchen decor. You didn't miss that memo, did you?

Yep, that's right. Pampers. In a previously cloth-diapers-only house. And that case only lasts me about two weeks, tops!


I really should have cleaned under the pew before I took the photo...

oh well, here's a closeup of some food on it to make up for the mess.
mmmmm...biscuits and honeybutter! And not just any biscuits, buttermilk biscuits from The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl my most used recipe book of all time! I make these biscuits almost weekly, sometimes more than that.
I adore this book and I can not WAIT for her new cooking show...I re-subscribed to the Food Network just for this show.


We're working on the chairs to go with the table now, and contemplating sanding down the pew so we can stain it the same color as the table. Or we may just build the farmhouse bench to go along with it....we'll see how it goes! All I know is finding chairs that go with it has been tough! I'm just not happy with any of the ones I've been finding in stores around here, and IKEA is a long way away (and ours won't be opening until fall 2012, waiting that long isn't an option!)

Whenever I get some sort of chairs to go with it, I'll post again and share them :)

Coming along...

My table is looking...well, like a table! The building is done, the holes have been filled, and now I wait for the wood filler to set so I can start sanding!!

See!?


This has been a really fun project for me. I started it just to see if I could do it, half expecting to fail but worst case it was a lesson learned:buy furniture, don't try to make it yourself. Instead I had a great time bonding with my husband and dad while they explained how to notch the wood and countersink the screws and all these details I never knew about before.

So my next step is to sand it (once the wood filler is set) and finish it up. Then cross my fingers and HOPE it fits in our house!

Let's Try This Again

I'm a pretty inconsistent blogger...

I don't think I can even call myself a blogger, considering this is my third post since January 1. But being that this is my space, I will call myself whatever I want.

...now I feel pressure to think of something really really cool to call myself, instead of just "a blogger". I'll get right on that.


Anyways, I figured it's about time I start something like this back up since I tend to forget just don't have time to e-mail/call all the people that I should be e-mailing and calling in a week to update them on our general happenings.


I decided this week that it's time for a new kitchen table...since we didn't pick up the one I liked at IKEA, and ours doesn't open for a long time yet, I decided to go the cheap route, and build my own to last until IKEA opens. After the panic that ensued when my mother realized that yes, I was out on the driveway playing with my husband's power tools (and a couple quick desperate calls for help to my father tips from my dad and husband on how to use said tools, I appear to be well on my way to building my very own table.

See!?


OK, tackling the disorganized garage may have been a good first step. But I only got permission from my husband to borrow his tools, not to rearrange his garage. I'll stick with that excuse for now.

Domesticated Tuesday - Crustless Quiche

OK, so I'm a whole day late on this "Tuesday" blog, we're in the middle of renovation land at the moment, and it takes a while to form new habits (like, you know, blogging on time).

I decided to make this recipe for Epicure's No Crust Quiche because I always loved my Aunty Lynn's crustless quiche growing up, but it didn't have spagetti...and since spagetti and quiche just don't sound like they should go together, I couldn't help myself.

I have never in my life seen three girls eat anything as quickly as my girls ate this! It was incredible, though I think I'd put in a little bit less spagetti next time. It will certainly become a family favorite, it's perfect for a lazy weekend lunch!

Happy New Year!

It's a new year, and I'm starting a new blog!!

I'm Amanda, wife to Michael and mother to five beautiful children, J (8), L (4), A (2), H (20 months) and B (2 months). Back before having children, my best friend and I used to get together every Tuesday to cook for our husbands...we had lots of laughs, and lots of pizza dates on our nights of failure. We called these evenings of ours Domesticated Tuesdays, and I miss them (though not as much as I miss her since she moved across the country just over two years ago.

Today is New Year's Day, and for the first time I have made some resolutions! One of them is to try a new recipe every week, and that is where this blog comes in. Every week I will try at least one new recipe, and I will post either a link to the recipe every Tuesday, with photos if I manage any, and a review of how the kids (and hubby and myself) liked it!! I have recently (as in within the last two weeks) signed up as an Independent Epicure Consultant and will be using their recipes as my inspiration. After years of eating the same old recipes over and over again, I'm excited to branch out and try something new!


Today is (obviously) not Tuesday, but since it's my first day of blogging and we LOVED the meal I made for dinner tonight, I think I will share it anyways! We had Epicure's Stacked Turkey Tortilla Casserole...the name is long, but don't let that fool you into thinking it's a complicated recipe to follow! It was an amazing way to enjoy some turkey leftovers when we were getting tired of the idea of more turkey leftovers! The recipe was easy to follow, and I managed to get the whole thing put together in under 10 minutes, and supper was ready half an hour after that!


We'll try it with chicken leftovers some time as well, it is bound to become one of our favorite ways to turn leftovers into a yummy new meal!