Spray Paint

Yesterday started my week of home improvement. :) I got my barstools touched up with spray paint. My kids are hard on them and we use them every day so they were looking a little worse for wear. They look so much better now!


If you're going to use spray paint for more than about 5 seconds, be sure and get one of these handy sprayer trigger thingys. They're cheap and worth it to save your hands.

And by the way, did I mention that in addition to preparing for guests, we are hosting a cookout for 16 people this Saturday? I'm off to Sam's.

I've hardly made a dent in my list of projects for the week. I'll be sure and keep you updated on how everything is going.

Preparing For Guests

Breeze Blowing Bedroom Curtains
We have company coming next week! Peter is finally back from Iraq and he is coming home on leave and also bringing his girlfriend. If you knew Peter you would know what a big deal this is. He never really dated and was more likely to spend time with a group of friends (that might include a girl or two). Now he is bringing his girlfriend J all the way to Texas! This is not just a passing thing.

I am so nervous, my husband can't stand me. :) I want J to feel at home here. She was raised in a very different environment than how we live. She grew up with a life of privilege, housekeepers, and world travel. We are just country people who might go camping or to a theme park every now and then for vacation and live in your average suburban ranch style house. I don't even have a working dishwasher for heaven's sake!

Peter is going to bunk in with Bobby and I am going to get the guest room fixed up for J. It usually serves as a room for Greg or Peter when they are home and it's full of a lot of their "junk" and leftover bits of furniture that don't fit anywhere else in the house. So please bear with me for what is sure to be a week of rambling nonsensical posts as I try to tear down my house and totally rebuild it for $23. ;)

By the way, I am so hoping Peter hasn't told J about this blog. If she is reading this I think I'll crawl in a hole and die! I don't want to embarrass Peter even further! ;)

Brownie Pie

My mom used to make this for my brother and me when we were kids and we always loved it. Can you believe she can still rattle off the recipe right off the top of her head? She must have made it a lot over the years. It's very quick and easy and tastes SO good!

Ingredients:

* 2 eggs
* 1 cup sugar
* 1/2 cup butter, softened
* 1/2 cup flour
* 3 to 4 tablespoons cocoa
* 1 teaspoon vanilla
* pinch salt

Pour all ingredients in a bowl and mix well. I usually just use my hand mixer but of course it works well in the Kitchenaid too. You can add 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts or pecans at this point.

Pour into a greased pie pan and bake at 325 degrees for 30 minutes. Cut into wedges and serve. It's even better with whipped cream or ice cream.

In My Kitchen

I've been having fun posting this week from my kitchen at Happy to Be At Home. With kitchens on my mind, I thought I would share one of my "kitchen quirks" with you.

I stack my cute colorful everyday plates and bowls in a pattern. My husband thinks it's hilarious and loves to tease me about it. Even my girls got a giggle out of it when they first started helping me put up the dishes (they know how to stack them now like Mama likes them). I can't stand for them to be out of order! Weird, huh? I don't really mind other things that are out of order in the house, but I will re-stack the plates if the get out of order for some reason.

Please tell me I'm not the only one! You all stack things in patterns in your kitchen right? :)

*update*
The Happy to be at Home website has changed ownership and focus and my guest posts are no longer available.  So sorry about that!

Easy Homemade Pancakes

I make pancakes a lot and love to try different recipes. Some are great and some not so great. This recipe is super easy (just as easy as a mix) and it's my "usual". Everybody loves it.

We often have lots of "extra" teenage boys around the house for Saturday morning breakfast and this is a quick (and cheap) way to feed a crowd. I usually double this recipe.

1 cup sifted self-rising flour (must be self-rising flour or the recipe will not work) I'll also tell you a secret...I rarely sift and the pancakes turn out fine. No guarantees though! :)
1 cup milk
1 egg
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Beat egg, oil and milk together; add to flour. Stir just until combined. Pour 1/4 cup batter on a hot buttered griddle. Turn with a spatula when bubbles begin to form on top. Cook second side until golden brown.

I also use self-rising flour in my biscuit recipe.

Easy Wall Art

I've been wanting to change my wall art on one of the walls in my living room. I found a metal star and a wooden sign that says "home" on sale for 50% off at Hobby Lobby, but I wanted to add something to it.

I found some mismatched old frames I had put up in a closet and I used my handy dandy can of black spray paint to make them all match. then I printed some pictures of the kids in a sepia tone and backed them with scrapbook paper. I think they turned out really cute.

When I am trying to decide how to arrange pictures on the wall, I arrange them on the floor first. That way I can see how they'll look and I won't put extra nail holes in the wall. Here is everything laid out on the floor, and in the final arrangement on the wall.

Chocolate Gravy

I'm finally posting the long awaited chocolate gravy recipe! :)

I usually start my gravy before I start the biscuits. This gravy will have to simmer 10 minutes or so and the biscuits bake up so quickly.

Combine in a saucepan (This pan is as old as I am. Seriously.):
2 tablespoons cocoa


2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 1/2 cup sugar


3 cups water


1 teaspoon vanilla extract


Whisk it all together.


Bring to a boil over medium heat and simmer for 10 minutes or so. It will SLOWLY start to thicken.


Pull your biscuits out of the oven. This one pan of biscuits would not have been nearly enough if all the kids were at home.


Butter your biscuit (that part is critical) and pour the gravy over. Mike likes to split his biscuits, butter each half and then pour the gravy over.

So yummy! Don't think about the calories. :)