Kitchen Lighting

I mentioned in my fake "Friday Favorites" post that Chris would be taking down our ugly boxed light this weekend and that I would post if it went well. Guess what? It went well!

I'd say we've been researching this for a year, since we moved in. About 6 months ago, we removed one of the plastic covers to see what we were working with under there. Good news, the popcorn ceiling was finished before they put the boxes up. YAY! Bad news, no junction box, small weird hole in the ceiling for the wiring AND the plastic cover broke. So we've been living just like this for 6 months...

...until Saturday when Chris felt confident to tackle those beasts! We bought the lighting, the junction box kit and a small sheet-rock saw.

Chris researched the junction box steps carefully and found this how-to video from Home Depot's website helpful.

We then carefully dismantled the boxed lighting. Very terrifying. If you are going to attempt this, please make sure you feel comfortable with electrical wiring and definitely do not take my advice. I'm not an electrician nor do I know anything about electricity, other than how to follow the directions on a box and that it scares me. 

Here is how it went - in pictures:

This was by far the biggest undertaking yet and it turned out perfectly! Our ceiling was near perfect after taking down the boxes but we did have to spackle and it may need a little paint. All in all we were pretty lucky!

We love our pretty new lights!

Trial Tuesdays - Cookie Cake Edition

Chris LOVES cookie cake. He had a cookie cake as his groom's cake at our wedding - with a penguin and OU logo, of course.

J Hodges Photography

I love baking and I'm pretty good at it but cookie cake is not one that I'm familiar with, nor do I really know how to make one from scratch. Last year I made a so, so version for his birthday, but this year, for his 30th, I gave it my best effort and boy was it delicious! I had several guinea pigs from Chris' party tell me it was good so I'm going to confidently share my recipe with you.

This was truly an accident that it turned out well as I really just combined a bunch of recipes to try and make it work for my needs.

 

The number one thing you need to know and believe in is your chocolate - use good quality chocolate in your baking and its bound to come out tasting great. Anyways, on with the good stuff.

Dark Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake

Serves: 12 people

Ingredients:

2 sticks - Unsalted Butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup light brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups flour

3/4 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp salt

Lots of Sprinkles

1.5 - 10 oz bags of dark chocolate chips (the really good dark chocolate)

1/2 Can of Icing

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F.

1. Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugars together until fluffy and light.
2. In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking soda, and salt together.
3. Add eggs, one at a time, to sugar mixture. Mix well.
4. Add vanilla to sugar mixture. Mix well.
5. Gradually add flour mixture to sugar mixture. Mix well until dough is formed.
6. Toss in a ton of sprinkles (because it makes the cake festive) and your chocolate chips. Stir until evenly distributed in dough.
7. Spread dough evenly into a parchment paper lined 12" round pizza pan (like this one) and bake for 20 minutes or until the edges start to brown. Remove from oven and let cool in pan for 15-20 minutes, then remove from pan and allow to cool completely before icing.

How does the cookie get done in the middle? It finishes cooking while its cooling in the pan - so don't panic if the middle of your cookie is still a bit gooey on the inside after taking it out of the oven.

Ice your cookie and Enjoy!

**I have not mastered the art of making my cookies perfectly round nor am I an icing artist...and that's okay. I'm all about my food looking edible and tasting delicious.

Back to School!

Today is the beginning of a new school year! I've been lesson planning and working on my classroom management stuff all weekend so I haven't had time to do a lot of blogging. Don't worry, I'll be back tomorrow with a new Trial Tuesdays post! 

Until then, enjoy!

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Gotta love David Tennant "Hey Girl, Teachers"!

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Friday Favorites

I can't believe I missed my favorite post of the week, Friday Favorites, but it's been one wild week! Better late than never...here are my favorites from the week!

1. Inspirational Quote

A quote that has been keeping me going this week as I transition into a new position at school. I can do this and it will be great! I also think it needs to be in my classroom for the kiddos.

2. Classroom

Finally put together and ready for Monday! Now hopefully the teacher will be ready for Monday too.

3. Hey girl, teacher

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I love hey girl, teacher! Hey girl, teacher with David Tennant...just made my week.

4. Poker Party

I threw Chris a Poker Party for his 30th birthday! He's actually still 29 but we celebrated early since his birthday always gets glossed over by the holiday weekend and football. I'm told his birthday cookie cake was really good so I'll share my recipe next week. :) It was so nice to have good friends around to celebrate.

5. Sneak Peek

This is our current kitchen lighting situation. That's all about to change into something modern and fabulous because my husband is brave enough to tackle the electrical work this weekend! Be gone, ugly box lighting! **Update to come next week, pending the degree of success.

Quick and Inexpensive Comforter Update

Need an inexpensive refresh for an old comforter? Look no further than IKEA!

When we got married we received a gorgeous duvet cover off our registry and retired our hand me down comforter. After we bought our house, we used that comforter in our guest bedroom as a quick solution to a room low on our decorating priority list.

It's a good comforter, just too dark for my taste. Once we got settled, I wanted to add a little decor for our guests and brighten the room up. Comforters are SO expensive though!

That's when I found the duvet covers at IKEA. One duvet and 2 pillow shams for $29.99. I wasn't sure if I could use the duvet over the existing comforter but I'm cheap and wanted to try before spending money on a filler comforter. 

Duvet Set: IKEA MALIN RUND $29.99

It fit perfectly over the existing comforter and you can't even see the old pattern through the white bits. Just another reason I love IKEA!

Trial Tuesdays

Delish and Mostly Healthy Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese (with Bacon and Apples)

I won't lie, I pin almost everything that has "Bacon" in the title, but we're always on the look out for healthy, easy to make recipes and this fit the bill so we gave it a try. 

The original recipe is from Pinch of Yum - Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese with Caramelized Onions, Bacon and Apple. 

Oh my goodness! It is SO good! I try a lot of Pinterest recipes and some of them are TERRIBLE but not this one, it's amazing! Apples - good, Bacon - good, Cheese- good!

Here is the adapted recipe for my picky eater - aka my husband. We also double the recipe for healthy lunches during the week.

*The Rotini holds the sauce so much better than the elbows!
**We couldn't find canned butternut squash, so we use the boxed soup. It works.
***We omit the onions for my picky eater, along with the butter and salt. It's plenty salty.

ENJOY!! It tastes like fall and it's so incredibly good, you'd never know its slightly good for you. This trial was definitely a win.

Kitchen Love

In under a year of owning our house, we've managed to paint 10 out of 13 rooms, 2 hallways and 1 two story foyer. We did all this while maintaining our full time jobs and working solely on the weekends!

This Saturday, we started and finished the 10th room, our kitchen. It was a buttery yellow, pleasant but not eye catching. Oh and you could totally see the 90's-tastic wallpaper through the paint...

We took the advice of our local Ben Moore guys and did not remove the wallpaper. We were told (and they were correct) that likely it was the original wallpaper and the contractors had probably adhered it directly to the drywall. If we had tried to remove it, it would've taken down half the drywall with it.

To paint over the wallpaper, we would've started with an oil based primer but the existing paint acted as like a primer, sealing the wallpaper down. No need to prime in our case, yay!

We removed the bubbles and seams from the wallpaper as best we could. To do this we sanded the seams, cut open bubbled areas, and caulked (lots of caulk jokes). It doesn't look perfect but it's better.

After prepping the walls, we taped all the trim and painted. The tiny detail roller was our friend with all the trim and above cabinet painting. I think it took us about 7 hours from start to finish and 2 trips to Lowe's.

Paint color: Benjamin Moore Sherwood Green 

For all our paint colors, see my post here.

Don't you think it makes the woodwork, trim, and back-splash pop? It flows much better with our house too. We love it!!