Finishing Touches

Well almost a year after we finished painting our master bedroom I finally found the curtains I wanted!  And thankfully they were at the always budget friendly Target AND they were purple! Woo hoo!  I couldn't believe my luck. 

 So just to remind you here's what our bedroom looked like before the project 

 

Oh my gosh!  How did I handle that blue!?!?! 

Ok, then we painted!

And then we got new lamps, curtains and one last pillow (which is the bane of Tyler's existence.  He says he feels like he's unloading a hay truck every night when we go to bed! Ugh - boys!)

PS My bedroom is never this clean.  My dance bag is always open and spewing forth dirty, sweaty clothes, stinky dance shoes, papers, notebooks.  Not to mention my underwear and socks marking a trail from my side of the bed to the bathroom!  

Now I need to hang some pictures above our bed and put up our wall talk and our room will be complete!

Mum's Chocolate Chip Cookies

Y'all know I don't bake very often. So when I get the urge I gotta hop on it. This weekend I felt like baking cookies. And I just happened to have everything I needed on hand to make my Mum's Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies!

What You'll Need

1 cup shortening

2/3 cup brown sugar

2/3 cup white sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

2 cups chocolate chips

2 cups oatmeal

Cream shortening and sugars together

Add eggs and vanilla

Add all the dry ingredients except the oatmeal

Add chocolate chips and then the oatmeal

Bake at 350 F for about 8-10 minutes, depending on your oven

Yummy!

When my Mum makes them, they always turn out crispy (boo).  But I think I make my cookies bigger and they end up chewier.  I also roll my dough into balls and I think Mum just plops hers on with a spoon - maybe that's the difference.  If you bake these goodies, let me know how they work out for you!

Jill's Birthday

How much fun is it to celebrate a birthday with your family, let alone your only favourite sister!??!?  When Jill was visiting last week we got to celebrate together! So much fun. 

Decorations.  Had to wake up before Jill to set these up!

The first thing she saw as she walked downstairs!

Festive table!

FOOD!
Complete with Jill's fingers! 
French toast, breakfast sausages and a cheese plate!

Oh yeah, we're not related at all!

I may or may not have cried when I saw this in the store. 

Had to get it for Jilly.

Oh she's a cool kid.

Happy Birthday Jill.  It was a blast! 

Rubbed Potatoes

I don't eat potatoes very often.  Hardly ever.  The whole "carbs are evil" thing really sticks out to me when it comes to potatoes (pasta however has no carbs-right!?!?) Anywho, I was in need of a quick dinner fix the other day and decided on oven roasted potatoes.  But how to make them different and delicious? 
Use a rub!

What You'll Need

Potatoes

Olive Oil

Brown Sugar

Garlic Salt

Chili Powder

Fresh Ground Black Pepper

Wash your potatoes and cut them into dice sized pieces.  Throw them in a microwavable bowl and nook them for about 12 minutes, stirring half way through.  This is a trick my Dad taught me.  If you start cooking the potatoes in the microwave it makes dinner WAY faster!

Toss them with olive oil, and a combination of brown sugar, chili powder, garlic salt and pepper.  The quantities are up to you.  I would say about 2 tablespoons of sugar to 2 teaspoons of chili powder and garlic salt (each) and 1 teaspoon of pepper. 
But I'm guessing here.

Throw the potatoes on a baking sheet and set in the oven at about 350 F until they're golden brown, maybe 15 minutes? 

Enjoy!

They really are a savoury, flavourful way to serve up boring old potatoes!