Calling all Pumpkin Lovers!

                           

I love, love, love pumpkin! So much so that I only allow myself to eat eat pumpkin pie during he month of November because I've been known to have no problem polishing off an entire pie in one solo sitting. I DO however allow myself other pumpkin baked goods and tonight I made one of my favorites. It's a super simple recipe and I got it from a friends mother last fall. 

Pumpkin Walnut Cake-Muffins (kinda like a cupcake and a muffin blended together)

You need:

One box yellow cake mix

One can pumpkin purée 

Walnuts (totally optional but add great flavor and crunch)

To make:

Preheat oven to 350

Mix together all ingredients (makes a thick batter)

Spoon into lined muffin pan

Bake for 20-25 minutes

Seriously. That's all there is to it. I like these warm with a dollop of cool whip, especially for breakfast. They're also great with cream cheese frosting if you want them to be more dessert like and less muffin like. I love them and plan on making them a regular at my house this Fall!

                    

Time to get real

So I am one of those people who is always either fat or skinny. I'm never really in between and more often than not, I'm on the fat side of things, especially the older I get. I'm lazy and have a strong affinity for junk foods and a genetic predisposition for a short and curvy figure. On occasion, I get in a mood about wanting to lose weight and be healthier and occasionally, if that mood lasts long enough, I actually lose weight. 

Currently, I'm on the fat side and have just booked a vacation for 106 days from now to Punta Cana Dominican Republic. This means I need to drop some weight if I want to be happy with how I'll look in my swimsuit and in the pictures. Enter my new contraption: The Fitbit!  I just got it tonight and don't fully understand it yet but so far, I'm really excited about it and all that it can do. You wear it all the time and it tracks your activity levels and monitors your calories (both intake and burned) and it even monitors your sleep cycles! So basically I won't be able to lie to myself about my efforts. I'll have no choice but to be real with myself about what I've eaten or if I've worked out.  I can't wait to see if this will lure me into a lifestyle change that will hopefully be long lasting!  Watch for future updates as to how this works for me...

Moving Along...

We move a lot. Like, ALOT. So much so that we've had 7 major moves in the last 14 years. And that's only counting major moves, not in-city or local moves like from an apartment to a house. All of the major moves have been because of job transfers for my husband. The little moves have all been for various reasons like house buying, etc.

In June we moved cross country from California to North Carolina and moved I to an old house of ours that we'd been renting out while we lived in California. Since getting back, I've been working daily to fix the place up and make it presentable to sell. We'd tried to sell it in 2011 when we moved to California and the market was so bad at the time that after two months on the market, we opted to rent it out instead. It was in average condition when we got it back. Dirtier than it should've been and badly in need of paint (inside and out) but overall, no major issues. Once the house was fixed up, we decided it was time to list it again. The neighborhood was declining and location wise we were much further north than we would prefer to be. So we shopped around, found an AMAZING house to buy in South Carolina and decided to go for it! We put an offer in on the house and immediately listed our old house. We expected it to take awhile for our house to sell but it didn't. Not even close. We received a full price offer for our old house within 48 hours. A cash, full price offer. Yeah, we were stunned. And they want to close ASAP so we had to launch into full moving mode and speed up closing on the new house.

                             Isn't this house gorgeous?!?!?

So in all my spare time I've been packing. We've hired actual movers for the furniture and heavy stuff but plan to move a huge portion of stuff ourselves, like clothes and dishes and artwork. After moving once already this summer I've about had my fill of it and I'm just so ready to be settled in the new house! With all my moving experiences, I've collected quite a few moving tips and thought it'd be appropriate to share them.

Here are my favorite tips:

-Use old magazines as box filler/padding. Take old magazines, rip the pages out and crumple them into a ball, one by one. This doesn't take as long as you might think and can be done almost mindlessly while watching a movie or tv. Just have an empty box next to you and toss the crumpled ball into the box. This is great for providing a little cushion to the bottoms and sides of your boxes. I've never had a broken glass or dish when packing this way!

-Put styrofoam plates between plates, stack them and then use packing tape to wrap around the stack once and hold them securely.

-Use trash bags to pack clothing. While clothes are on the hangers, bag them from the bottom, tying strings around the neck of the hangers. When you get to your new house all you have to do is hang the bag in the closet and then yank off the bag and you're good to go!

-Pack books in rolling suitcases. Book boxes tend to get heavy fast and by using roller bags, you can avoid having to lift them.

- Use brightly colored tape on boxes to signify what room in the new house the box will go into. On arrival day at the new house, stick coordinating tape on the door of each room. This will speed up the unloading process and keep movers from having to ask multiple times which room is which.

-Have a first night box that either stays with you or gets loaded last. Mark it clearly. In it should be anything you will want or need on your first night. Pillows, sheets, towels, toiletries, etc.

-Have bottled waters available for your movers. They usually bring a little of their own but it's a nice gesture and can show them that you care about them. In turn, they'll care a little more about your things as they load and unload them.

-The vacuum, a broom, Clorox wipes and windex should be the very last thing loaded because once all your stuff is out of the house you should do a once over cleaning. Unless of course you've hired professional cleaners to come in behind you. Whoever is moving in after you will appreciate coming into a clean and ready house.

Story Stones

I freaking love Pinterest. It's addicting. Long story short, saw these adorable things called Story Stones and knew I could make them too. Got myself some rocks and cracked open the paint and went to town! I love how they turned out and had a blast making them! I don't have any kids though so I won't be keeping them but instead plan to sell them in my Etsy shop. If you love them and want a set, hop on over to Etsy and check out my shop!

https://www.etsy.com/shop/starrygirlb?section_id=all

Paperbag Floors? Why yes, I think I will!

Why do linoleum floors exist? Does anyone ever actually say "I wish I had linoleum floors"? I can't imagine that they would. I certainly wouldn't utter those words. I hate them. They're cheap and tacky looking. And for awhile, I was stuck with them. Unaware of just how much wood, tile or laminate costs, we naively purchased a house which had linoleum and planned to replace them once we moved in. Yeah, that was the big plan. And then we found out just how much they really cost. Thousands of dollars. Not having that sort of cash at the time, we sucked it up and lived with the floors for three years. I would inwardly cringe every time someone came over and saw my hideous, plastic floors. Finally, we had Pergo floors installed. But to save money, we opted to leave the hideous laminate in our small half bathroom. Fast forward about four years to present day. I'd finally had enough. My house was just too nice to been seen with linoleum any longer. But it wasn't really very cost effective to have someone come and install a floor for such a tiny room. And then I saw something on Pinterest called a paperbag floor. It looked like faux stone or stained concrete but could be done on a small budget. I'm fairly crafty but wasn't sure I could do this one. So I read a lot of tutorials and researched it. Then I took the plunge. I was so pleased with the ease of the project and the end result that I wanted to post a tutorial here in the hopes that it may help someone else rid their home of vinyl flooring.

You will need:
Elmer's glue (gallon size jug, $14 at Lowes)
Paperbag or a roll of butchers paper (roll, $1 at Dollar Tree)
Oil Based Stain ($8 at Walmart)
Water Based Polyurethane ($16 at Walmart)
Rags (cut up an old white t-shirt)
Paintbrush ($1 at Dollar Tree)
Bowl or bucket ($1 at Dollar Tree)

All said, I did my floor for under $50. This can vary based on room size or brands of products you buy. I have plenty leftover if I wanted to do another floor too.

This is what I started with. Icky linoleum.

A lot of the tutorials I read said to remove baseboards. Well, that was more than I was comfortable doing so I opted to just cover them with painters tape. Very carefully placed, snugly adhered painters tape. 

The other thing that was common in other tutorials was to rip up and remove all existing flooring. Um, yeah, I opted not to do that either. Instead I just gave the linoleum a good sanding to remove the glossy texture so that the glue will stick.

Next, I tore up the paper into medium pieces. I kept my straight edge pieces separate to do the areas next to the baseboards. For the glue mixture, make a 50/50 mixture of glue and water and stir together. I had no idea how much I'd need so I decided to be real scientific about it. I took a red solo cup and did 3 cups full of each and stirred it with a paint stirrer. I didn't want to run out and have to make more after I started working. 

Now it's time to lay the paper. Crumple up each scrap of paper and then flatten back out. Did it in the glue mixture so that both sides are coated and wipe off any excess. It seriously only takes one or two attempts until you find the right amount of glue needed. Pick a starting point that will allow you to work your way out of the room. Once wet, lay the paper on the floor and smooth it out from the center to eliminate any bubbles. Keep repeating and as you lay each paper, always overlap your edges. The paper shrinks up when it dries so overlap a little more than you think you want it too. 

After letting your glue dry completely the staining can begin. I let my floor dry overnight. It's actually optional to do the staining step but it will really enhance your color. I debated but then opted to do the stain. I used Minwax oil based stain in Jacobean. To stain, I brushed it on, one section at a time, wiping away any excess with a clean rag. Then you let it dry for 24 hours. 

Once it's dry, be careful not to wear shoes on it or touch it more than necessary. It will still have a sort of tacky or sticky feel to the touch. I just put on socks and stepped only where needed. 

The polyurethane is the next step and it should be water based. The key to this is to brush it on very thinly and let it dry between coats. I did my first coat almost too thin but as I did the later coats went a little thicker though still keeping it reasonably thin. Dry times will vary by brand and thickness of coats. I gave mine about 2-2.5 hours between each coat and did a total of 6 coats. If this was a higher traffic area I'd probably do a few more than 6 but for the usage of this room, 6 was plenty. 

After your final coat is dry, remove the painters tape. Be sure to use a blade to cut along the edges of the floor before pulling the tape or else you will end up ripping your new floor where the polyurethane has dried onto your tape. Once the tape is removed, let the floor cure for a few days before your really walk on it too much or put decor/furniture down on it. 

All in all, I'm thrilled with the paperbag floor and wish is done it years ago! Easy, inexpensive and pretty!