What's for Dinner??

Sunday night I made a new recipe that I had come across. It was delicious, and turned out well for my first time to ever make Beef Brisket.

Beef Brisket
(Recipe courtesy of Paula Deen)
Ingredients
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 2 tablespoons salt
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon onion powder
• 1 tablespoon ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 teaspoons dry mustard
• 1 bay leaf, crushed
• 4 pounds beef brisket, trimmed
• 1 1/2 cups beef stock
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Make a dry rub by combining chili powder, salt, garlic and onion powders, black pepper, sugar, dry mustard, and bay leaf. Season the raw brisket on both sides with the rub. Place in a roasting pan and roast, uncovered, for 1 hour.
Add beef stock and enough water to yield about 1/2 inch of liquid in the roasting pan. Lower oven to 300 degrees F, cover pan tightly and continue cooking for 3 hours, or until fork-tender.
Trim the fat and slice meat thinly across the grain. Top with juice from the pan.

I added more liquid than the 1/2 inch that it called for. I just poured some in. I also only used a 2 1/2 lb brisket so I did alter the time a little!

Weekend Project

Near our bathroom, was this ugly built in cabinet. We have never cleaned it out since moving here and it was pretty much the only thing left unpainted in the house. We decided that if we could clean it up and paint that area we would have tons more shelf space. So, Saturday night Brandon primed the area and then Sunday afternoon they painted it! It looks 110 % better and I can't wait to decorate this space!

Before Picture- Well it was primed. I should have taken one before this, but just imagine old nasty paneling full of other people's junk and about 10 inches of dust and dirt.

When Brandon started painting today, Tayten got in on the action. She loved it, I was a little worried about the mess, but honestly it wasn't too bad!
Just getting started

Reaching for a high spot

I let Brandon handle her while I did some crafty things. I only heard him get after her once and that was when she decided to paint his ear!!

The finished product!

Now we can cross another thing off the to do list!!!

30 Weeks!!

Baby M at 30 Weeks!

I've only got about 9 more weeks to go!

Baby is the size of a cabbage this week.

She's still currently nameless!

I've started finishing up the many craft projects I have going on for her room, but I haven't got the room together yet. There's still lots of boxes & bags just sitting in the crib.

I'm having heartburn something terrible and it's all day LONG!

Time is going so quick!

And of course...Here's Tayten's & I's weekly picture!

Have a great day!

I (heart) my Nook

When E-reader's first came out I just wasn't sure about them. I like to read, but I wasn't sure about not actually having the paper copy in my hands. I really hadn't researched them much, but once I got my hands on one (thanks Mom) I was in LOVE. I think it was love at first sight actually.

So, I did some research and decided I really really needed a Nook Color. I wanted the Nook Color since the screen was in color & it has wifi. You can use your Nook to surf the net, check your e-mail. whatever you want, just like a computer. Plus, books and magazines are a lot cheaper since it's just a digital file. By the time I decided I really wanted one it was almost Christmas. I told Brandon about 3 days before Christmas that is what he could get me knowing that he already has bought something else. So....I had to wait what seemed like forever, but he did surprise me with it on Valentines Day.

Now that I have the thing, I have read so many books! Not to mention all the magazines. I use it almost on a daily basis and it's the perfect size for throwing in my bag and reading at Dr. Apts. I'm sure I'll get good use out of it this spring when Tayten takes tractor rides. O- wait I'll have a baby to tend to :)

These are the books that I've read so far:

Kate Gosselin- I want you to know

Pioneer Woman.

I loved this book, you all should so read it! I read her blog & use her recipes!
This is a good one too!
I've read Paula's book but this one is written by her husband!
Definitely a good read.

This book is next on my list.

Does anyone have any good reads that they would recommend? I'm always on the look out.

Plus, you can even get library books. It's just like renting paper books but they are on your nook. It's a sweet deal! Plus, there is all kinds of children's books. Tayten loves the ones that read to her!

If your thinking about an e-reader I would check out the Nook Color.

You will love it, I promise.

This & That

It's been a while since my last post! Sorry, but lately I have been in a cleaning mode. I think as of today I have completely cleaned out & reorganized 6 closets & rooms. I'm not talking about just the regular weekly cleaning, I'm talking about major getting rid of things cleaning. I took another bunch of things to Goodwill today, so I'm at a total of 3 trips to goodwill in 2 weeks!

I've also started working very heavily on all my craft projects so that I can finish Baby Girl's room. Soon I'll have pictures to show you all.

I'll take a new weekly photo tonight and post it tomorrow!

Cooking

Tayten got to help make some no-bake cookies the other night. She was more into stirring up a little mess in the measuring cup than actually helping but it entertained her for ever! Adding oatmeal to her cup
Stirring up the cookies

Stirring her "mess"

Licking the peanut butter

Dumping in the milk!

She's ready to do it again. She keeps saying, " me help cook"

Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!

Usually I would have something all planned out for today, but this year it kind of ran up on me. So..not much exciting happened around here.

Tayten opened up her Valentine's tonight and of course was all giggles. Her new saying for everything is, " I love it!!"

She got some Minnie panties, 2 new movies & some books! We have already watched both movies :)

Tayten & I got Brandon some candy! Not very exciting but he did like it!
My valentines got me the best gift EVER!!! They gave it to me right before we went to Dirk's and I'm so glad they did.

I am in LOVE with this thing! It's absolutely the best gift ever!

I'll have to do a separate post on why you all should invest in on.

We had a great Valentines day and we hope you all did too!

Wordless Wednesday

Just so your not all worried, this is not the 1st time the trains have gotten caught in her hair and they are pretty easy to remove. We haven't had to cut any hair yet :)

DIY: Wall Art

This was so easy to do! If your needing some easy & cheap art for your walls you have got to try this. Remember the paper that I bought for baby girls room? It needed a frame, so here's what I did!
First: I picked up two frames which were half off and some paint at Hobby Lobby.
2. Take the entire frame apart. I painted the entire black part with some blue paint that matches the bedding.

3. Since it dried really quick I didn't have to wait to do the next step. I wanted to tone down the blue paint so I dapped small amounts of white paint onto a paper towel and rubbed it onto the frame creating a brushed appearance.

4. The almost completed project! ( I was getting excited at this point!!)

5. Add the paper and glass back into the frame. I also had to attach a picture hanger thing to the back so we could hang it.

6. Mission Complete! I also got the curtain's hung on Sunday, which make it look so much better. I just need to hem them a little since there a little long. I can't wait to put the bedding on the crib and see how it's all turning out.

I'm making two frames so that they can hang on either side of the window. This simple project took a total of about 15 min from start to finish and was less than $10 to make.

I can't wait to start on the next project :)

Look Alikes....

One evening on our way to dinner, Tayten yells," Daddy Daddy, I see B! I see B! We look back at her to see what she is talking about and see this.............. We about died laughing.

It's a good thing no one was behind us!

But after, I went and found a picture of him....

They sortof do look alike

Wilderness Territory

After we left Dirks Monday morning we headed off to the Dells. It was cold but probably not as snowy as it was here. They had a lot of snow pack everywhere you looked but they know how to handle snow around there!

If you ever need a fun place to go I would totally recommend it! There's lots of resorts to choose from but we stayed at the Wilderness Territory. It is HUGE. It's a LOT of walking but everything is indoors. They also have outside pools for when it's summer. Our room was huge complete with a fireplace.

With 3 indoor water parks and a 4-story indoor playground there is lots to do. Along with lots of mini golf, laser tag, and much more. I couldn't post all the pictures but Tayten had a Blast. The big bucket dumping was her favorite! She is still talking about the bucket!

Watching the bucket dump

Freezing Cold- This pool had a door so you could swim outside so it was way cold!

Swings in the pool! Tayten was in LOVE

4-Story playground! Daddy got a workout!

Kiddie Area at one of the pools

Swinging Again

Taking a ride on the river

I'll post some more pictures soon!

A vist with Dirk

We got to Dirk's house Sunday afternoon. As soon as we pulled in Tayten was trying to find Brent since Brandon had told her that we were going to see Daddy's friend. She was just a little confused. She warmed up quickly, but still was on the look for for B & Stacy. After the boys talked awhile, they decided that we should go visit with Dirks parents and brother.

When we got to his parents house, Tayten once again got excited because she thought we had parked next to B's truck! The poor kid was totally lost. Dirks oldest brother & his family were there also, so that meant little boys.

Tayten was excited to see kids, but she kept calling them Mason & Connor. They were Mason & Connor's ages so she was close. Then she started looking for Grandpa Jim & Grandma Kathy. She quickly realized, that she wasn't going to find them and resorted to playing on the stairs. It kept her entertained for the evening :)

We had a nice visit as always. Hopefully it won't be another year before we see them again!