The "art"of Getting Around...

So far, getting the hang of driving out here is unlike driving in any other state that I've been in, while I'm pretty sure this isn't Mars.. (Only "pretty sure" mind you) there are new "road rules" if you will, there are new road hazards... Snow, ice, black ice, wildlife & farm critters IN the road, oh and these ridiculous things known to most as a "roundabout"- to me they are the circular-vehicular death traps.

These roundabouts are I think meant to be a replacement for stop lights/signs, to improve the flow of traffic, but no one knows the proper roundabout etiquette!!! People just dart in and cut across and no one signals when making a lane change or an exit, some days I think I should just go around again... then maybe I could get out the right way... and don't even get me started on what happens when a semi truck gets tossed into the mix! Pure chaos, inevitably someone will think they can "squeeze" around the truck.. I must admit, I hate roundabouts!! And I have to go through 4 (each way) if I want to go to Target ( how's that for the universe curbing my Target addiction!?!?)

Back to driving: Included in with all of these wonderful new road adventures, is the 75MPH speed limit, I know I have mentioned it before, in the beginning it seemed wonderful, and in the dry summer I can see where it would be, but when some people still go 75+ when there's ice & whatnot on the road, it wears on my nerves JUST a BIT.

Here's hoping we survive the winter.... I can already feel spring fever coming on strong..

Gettin crafty

With Pinterest at my fingertips, and the time and patience to figure things out, I've had the craft bug lately. I painted anything that couldn't run away: so far, 2 night stands, 2 shelving units, 1 stool (making a cushion for it soon) and I'm in the process of making a mini mud room- who knew we'd need one of those!?!

Thanks to the wonders of amazon (that little app is DANGEROUS! In 5 minutes flat, I can get bit by the craft-bug and have everything I will need for said project being shipped to my doorstep, and I don't have to drive in the snow to get it!)

Case & point... Ordered what seems like a million sq. ft. of burlap to enhance our "we live in the country so I'm embracing the *rustic charm*" part of living in Colorado. Ordered paint,and ordered new sticky mats for my New love: my Cricut Mini.

I redesigned our meal planning board, and made myself a ring holder- there are about a hundred more projects on my burlap list, so I will probably have to re-order. :)

Next up was headbands/ ear-warmers.. I made some for my BFFs twin girls, and then I realized that I needed some of these too! So 3 YouTube videos later, I am a headband machine! And they are wonderfully warm & I now need them in Every color!

I also saw these darling pin cushions on etsy, took about 2 minutes of pondering and decided that I could do this on my own and for way less than buying it. I love it when a plan comes together!!

In the next 2 months I have 3 first birthdays of my dear friends daughters, so I busted out my Cricut Mini, grabbed some iron on sticky stuff (heat bond for those technical sewing nuts) and some darling fabric. I made 3 first birthday onesies- 2 for the twins and 1 for lil miss J in FL. I cannot wait to give them to their moms!

Last but not least is the stool for the soon to be mini-mud-room, I will do a separate post on this once I complete it. I'm in LOVE with this paint color: it's Valspar, London Coach.

Let the projects begin!!

Pinterest will be the death of Mr. Wonderful... I get these hair-brained ideas from Pinterest and decide that he needs to assist me in bringing them to fruition. He thinks I'm nuts more often than not, but when I had an impossible time finding a vintage ladder to make a blanket holder for our den, he was only too willing to help.

So off to Lowes we went... 1 hour and a heap of $$$ later, we were on our way home to begin the project! (We also found some great end tables to refinish- more on that later)

He built me 2 ladders for blankets, we even attached a basket to one for additional blanket-holding capacity. (We have a LOT of blankets) I painted them with that fabulous London Coach by Valspar and the blankets now have a place to hang out when we are not using them!! Hooray for de-cluttering!

Kitchen Adventures- Candied Bacon

I know Bacon is all the rage right now, although I'm pretty sure it always has been- its been the guilty pleasure at breakfast, lunch, happy hour (let's not disregard the Bacon Bloody Mary) and dinner. I too am a fan, just sayin.

Today's adventures were motivated by boredom, and of course fueled by things I found on Pinterest. I came across a brilliant candied bacon recipe and low & behold... There was bacon that was nearing its "eat me by" date in the fridge. So I grabbed my usual suspects for candied bacon: cayenne pepper, smoked paprika, dark brown sugar & of course thick cut bacon.

Now, here I sit, mouth watering, waiting for it to cook.. Here is the photos of the prep work & the final tasty product. This isn't a foodie blog, and you have google so I'm not gonna share my "how I did it"- im sure you can figure it out if you want to; just know that it's amazing.

Ps. I miss my bacon buddy.