Turkey Potpie

What I like to do with left over turkey and gravy is make a potpie. There is no special recipe~I just came up with it myself.

You will need:

1. 
   
   Left over turkey
2. 
   
   gravy
3. 
   
   Potatoes~about 6 or 7
4. 
   
   Carrots~3 or 4
5. 
   
   Pillsbury ready made crust (found in refrig. section)
6. 
   
   Peas~optional

I always make two so if you want to make just one than cut this recipe in half.

First cut up your left over turkey and add to gravy. You want a lot of gravy because the potaoes will soak it up as it cools. Cube your potaoes and slice your carrots and boil them until tender. Add to turkey and gravy. Add peas if you want. Pour into a pie dish, add crust on top and make a small slit for steam and bake at 350 until crust is brown.

That's it and it is sssoooo yummy!

Have a blessed and wonderful family filled Thanksgiving!

Snowman dessert plates

Aren't these snowman dessert plates cute? Twin and I each got a set yesterday from Cracker Barrel, for just $10.00.

I'm not sure if I will group them together either in my china cabinet, on a shelf, or hang them on the wall. I may scatter them around in a few rooms on a stand like this one. Maybe I'll even use them for dessert!

Feels Like CHRISTMAS!

Even though it is not time yet to decorate I am starting to unpack and wash some of my goodies. If you know me (or twin) you know we LOVE to do shop. We do most of our shopping on Fridays. We will tell our hubbies we won't be too long this time we just want to go to 2 stores. We will head out early and we ALWAYS get back LATE! We always mean well...but time just slips away. Any ways to get back on track I have been buying for a LONG time. So long guys that I have FORGOTTEN some of my buys!

Last week Fran and I were together and we were talking about a plate stand that sits on your counter. The conversations went a little bit like this:

Fran: You have one of those.
Me: No I don't.
Fran: Yes, I remember you bought one.
Me. No, I am sure I don't.
Fran: You bought it at HomeGoods.
Me: Umm maybe you're right. It's all coming back to me now. HA!

We both have these canisters. I REMEMBER buying a different set(I will be posting about those later) and they are ones I will be using to store my flour, sugar, and coffee. These I will scatter here and there. Maybe even put one in the bathroom to hold q-tips or something like that.

As Fran and I were talking about the plate rack , I remembered about these serving dishes that I also bought at Home Goods. My hubby said the other day " Fern I don't think you realize just how much you bought. " We had to rent a storage unit because we gutted half the house and you forget what you have when you haven't seen it for awhile.

Another conversation with twin when I was at her house a few weeks ago. Goes something like this:

Me: I just love that big easel you have with that picture on it.
Fran: Really?
Me: Yes, I have for a long time. Where did you get it?
Fran: From you, it's yours. You told me I could use it while you were doing your reno.
Me: YEAH!

This picture is some towels from Marshalls, a cook book stand from I think Marshalls and an oil container in Meijers.

I have hardly made a dent with all the goodies. I just wanted to show a few. I do remember these snowmen. Fran got some too. I will be putting more pictures on as I go though all the boxes. It has been almost like Christmas for me!

The Twelve Days of Christmas ~ Family Tradition

Do you have any family traditions you do every year for Christmas?

One of the traditions my twin, older sister, and I started a few years ago was giving each other small gifts starting 12 days before Christmas and ending on Christmas day with a bit more expensive gift. We keep the gifts around $5.00 each until the last one which is around $15.00. You would be surprised at the nice things you can get for $5.00. Also it can be a handmade item. We would give one gift per day so I would give to Twin one day and older sister the next. It's a lot of fun not just for the gifts but setting aside the time to get together for awhile every day.

Here are some ideas~
Make an ornament
Fill an inexpensive frame with family photos
Candles
Finger nail polish
Book
Make a CD of your favorite music
Make Up
Soaps or lotions
Christmas plates, platter,cups
Christmas napkins or kitchen towel
Jewelry
Personalized coffee mug
Christmas decoration

Well, you get the idea and let me just say it is so fun! I like it better than gift giving on Christmas day!

What are some of your favorite Christmas traditions?

Upper Cabinets Are In :o)

Hubby put in the upper cabinets! Looks great. Getting closer to being done! I want to DECORATE!!

I just love the range hood. Very big and makes a statement. Will be trimming it out with some rope detail and will be adding some tile if I can find what I want.

Just about all the cabinets have pull outs. We also got the drawers that open ALL the way and shut themselves. I love that they shut themselves so no slamming but I have to get some handles and knobs soon. They have like a suction on them so they take a little muscle to open.

These are spice racks. When the kitchen is done I will show you all of the cabinets. Hubs said it is on to the electrical next.

Buffalo check panels are finally done

Just wanted to show what I have been working on, more curtains. I first bought the fabric for the dining room but not the breakfast room because the lady that was waiting on me said she thought there was only about 3 or 4 more yards on the bolt. A few days later I went back and had them check and there was actually 11 yards! I used every inch. At one point I thought I was going to be a few inches short but I had the exact amount I needed. I was thrilled.

I chose fleur de lis rods and hooks. The thing about most hooks is once you put them on, they turn and you can't see them. I took each one apart and used bracelet wire to put the clip on to the ring so this way when they hang you can see the fleur de lis. The wire I used is gold because that is all I had but I will replace it with black.

Hobby Lobby only had 4 packages of hooks so I had to use some others to get the panels up. I've since been back to Hobby Lobby and purchased more so I'll change them out. I also like to put one hook outside the curtain rod bracket so when the curtains are closed they stay in place. It makes the curtains look fuller.

They need a little tweaking as I basically put them up so I could measure, cut and hem. It took me about 10 hours to make 6 panels. That's with using the hemming glue~no sew.
Here they are in the dining room. Another room 1/2 done! My husband put my shelves up yesterday so it's starting to come together. I seem to jump from room to room. If I don't have everything to complete a room, I start another and come back to it when I get what I'm looking for.
Another thing about making panels. You have to match up prints just like you would for wallpaper. Otherwise the dark part of the checks (yes this is buffalo check it sometimes looks stripe) wouldn't match up. I couldn't get any good pictures that day because the sun was a bit bright but you get the idea. I'm very happy with the way they turned out...just about have them done.

OH HAPPY DAY!!

We cooked in our kitchen tonight! Goodbye hotplate! My son helped. To tell you the truth I almost started crying I was SO HAPPY! I don't know how they did it years ago. I must say I am spoiled and I missed my sink, dishwasher, stove and oven. It has been a loooong time. Hubby started putting up the upper cabinets and they should all be in this weekend. We have upper and lower cabinet lighting that still has to be finished and I need to pick out my tile. We have a TON of woodworking too. We are going to finish the wood floors soon and hubby said I could move in and he would work around me. You have to remember not only have I been without a kitchen but also a dining room and living room. I do have to say my living conditions were not that bad. Hubby set me up in the garage. We have a 2 car garage and hubby built a wall to divide it in half. I went away for a long weekend and when I came back he had the fridge, couch, tv and dining table out there. He even put pictures on the wall! Still doing the dishes in the bathtub is back breaking!

Here is my son busy at work making cookies. He had told me when we started this project he wanted to learn how to cook. UMMM we'll see how long this lasts! He didn't think the cookie dough would ever end.

I decided to make (not sure of the name) that chicken dish with Ritz crackers. YUMMY!

I got some new pots and pans. They are from QVC. Cook Essentials. Love them.

Dinner was yummy!

I wore one of my new aprons.

OH HAPPY DAY!!

Meet Carrie

Carrie from Buzzing of a Queen Bee is showing everyone today what we sent her for he sweet baby Henry. She wanted a cowboy theme in his nursery. A few days after we had sent her some vinyl "goodies" Fran called me to let me know she had went on Carrie's blog and seen her bathroom. Although it was adorable she notice she had TEXTURED WALLS!! A NO NO for vinyl. We were just sick about it. We contacted Carrie and she said she would think of something...and she did! Looks wonderful. So those of you who may have textured walls and love vinyl this could be for you. Take a look and if you do not know Buzzing of aQueen Bee she is so creative you may want to read EVERY post :o)

Painted dresser

Just a quick post to show a dresser I painted a few weeks ago. I'd had it for awhile but couldn't decide on a color. Once I painted my dining room and loved the color I knew I'd love it on the dresser too. Then I added two vinyl birds. I was going do something more elaborate such as a vine of flowers across the front and I still may, but for now, two sweet birds.

This is the dresser before. It was a freebie from a friend. I really like the size because it's not too big yet has very roomy drawers. I love how it turned out.

Does your name give away your age?

Before Twin and I started our blog, we would visit others and leave comments along with our names. When we decided to start our own blog, one of the posters said that they had thought previously that we were two little old ladies! Could it be because of our names? We were given our names because of our grandmothers. We had a Grandma Fern and a Grandma Fran. Fern and Fran go together pretty well. No, we're not quite little old ladies, we're in our 40's.

Now you have your names that are passed down from generation to generation, especially male names such as~
John
Michael
William
It's hard to judge age with those names. For females it may be~

Katherine (Kate Katie)
Elizabeth
Emily
What age do you think of when you hear names such as Bertha~Helen~Irene? Maybe grandmother age?

What about Barbara~Susan~Debbie? Born in the 40's-60's maybe?

Then you have Shannon~Tiffany~Carrie. Do you think more 70's and 80's?

How about Payton, Preston, Harper, Braydon, Greyson, etc. Is that the new wave of favorites?

While you can't always judge a persons age by their name, they do have a pattern to them. Some old names are coming back such as Jack and Henry. I think just like styles changing in fashion and home decor so do names. You have your staples and your fads.

What do you think your name says about you?

More Pictures of the Kitchen

My new stove just waiting to be used!!

Here is the granite that is on all of the cabinets. It is a mixture of browns and black.

We had a granite ledge made for the window.

Here's a close up. It doesn't photograph very well.

This one is solid black with with specks in it. It is the island granite. It is called black pearl and it doesn't look like it at all in this picture. As you can see it reflects everything. So when you trying to take a picture of it, it is just like a mirror.

Our island is very large. We thought it would fit 5 bar stools but after the granite came in we decided it would look better with 6.

Our microwave drawer. Not hooked up yet.

As you can see the tile is in and we have started the hard wood. It is Bella wood. Brazilian Cherry with no stain, just natural. The kitchen and Butler's Pantry is large tile and the dining room and living room is wood.

I got my bar stools from JC Penney. They were a great buy. They were $89.00 with free shipping. Not too big.

We will be working on hooking up the sink, stove, oven and microwave drawer very soon. We also have a ton of wood working to do and the upper cabinets. Our dream kitchen is becoming a reality :o)

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