Organizing My Spice Drawer

I like storing my spices in a drawer instead of the cabinet.  I made the change about a year ago.  I label the tops of each jar so I can put them in the drawer alphabetically.  Well, so of anyway, I find it hard to decide where to put spices like crushed red pepper.  Do you file it under c or p?  Anyway you file it, I like them in a drawer.
Target has many of their Archer Farms spices in a jar on clearance this week.  I love the jars!

<^..^> Lori

Faux Tin Ceiling Tiles

We have a room on our first floor that has needed a remodel since we moved here some 20 years ago. Actually our home has many rooms that need help from a remodel.  We do what we can do ourselves mostly.
I have loved the look of tin ceilings for many years and wanted to add one in our home.  The task seemed not only difficult and expensive but had drawbacks with the installation process because we would have to put up plywood so we could nail the tin tiles into it.  That would lower our ceilings and in some cases if the plaster gave way from the lathe, it might not support the weight.  So I had given up on real tin tiles and was looking at faux tin ceiling tiles.  I found some YouTube videos from decorativeceilingtiles.net.  They were light weight PVC tiles that were glued up on the ceiling.  I thought they were a good fit for us.  I ordered the antique gold Gothic Reims 2 foot square ceiling tiles.  They arrived in about 2 weeks.  They were out of stock on the Instant Grab glue when I ordered the tiles.  But I found it on Amazon for about half the price per tube.  It came in a full case of 24 tubes.  The estimator on the tile web site said we would need about 7-9 tubes.  Turns out we used 16 tubes to put up the ceiling tiles and the cornice pieces so I was glad we ordered the case from Amazon.
With the help of my son and daughter, we put up the ceiling tiles in about 4 1/2 hours.  I ordered the cornice you see in the pictures about a week later and it took us about 2 hours to put it up.  The results are pretty stunning.

Before:

Putting up the tiles and later we added the cornice:

The results are just stunning:

We decided to use the same treatment in the closet for this room.  I ordered a few more tiles.  We calculated that we needed 6 tiles.  We had 1 full tile left over from the first order.  The web site's tile estimator is pretty good.
The second order of tiles wanted to crack and chip when we cut them.  We had absolutely no problems with cuts on the first order of tiles.  I used my Fiskars Amplify scissors on both orders.  I thought the second shipment of tiles were possibly old or bad.  I was really concerned that the closet wouldn't get finished but the cut edges are not very noticeable in the closet.  I contacted the supplier and they suggested scoring with a cutter before using scissors to cut the tiles next time.  Perhaps they are right or perhaps it is change in humidity in our home or how they were stored in the warehouse or my scissors were duller or something else.  I don't know but the supplier sent me replacement tiles for no charge and were very nice about it all.  I am very pleased with their customer service.
We are going to use their product in two other rooms of our house and possible the upstairs hallway.  I am trying to decide if it would be okay to change to a different style of ceiling in rooms or if I need to use the same tile and color in each room.

<^..^> Lori

You can save $40 on your first box of HelloFresh

The HelloFresh team sent me this code to share with the world...so please try it!!

Hi Lori! We love that you’ve been cooking with us for a while! Know anyone else who would also love HelloFresh? Don’t forget that you can give your friends a big discount to try HelloFresh with your very own referral code.

Share this code with your friends T93CQ2 Your friends receive a $40 discount on their first box. We credit your HelloFresh account with $20 for every successful recommendation

<^..^> Lori

HelloFresh - it was love at first box...I mean bite.

I would love to give someone credit for leading me to HelloFresh.com but I really cannot remember where I got the coupon for $40 off a box.  Maybe it came in the mail or was in a bag from a store.  I don't know but I am glad that I checked it out.  Basically, they deliver nearly all the ingredients for three meals directly to my front porch every week.  It comes in a box with frozen water soluble gel packs to keep it all cold until you get it into your refrigerator.  The ingredients for each recipe are in separate boxes with labels on them so you know which recipe they match.

I only have to supply the salt, pepper, butter, olive oil and sugar.  The box includes recipe cards that tell you step by step what you need for pans, kitchen tools, etc to make the meals and how to make the recipe themselves.

I don't have to shop for anything during the week but basics which I usually get at Sam's Club.  You know the milk, bananas, cereal, coffee stuff.  Let that sink in for a minute.  I don't have to think about what to make and I will have leftovers.  It has been eye opening because the recipes are easy and fun.  All meals have been from refrigerator to dinner table in under and hour.  I like to clean up as I go so that means nearly all of the pans used are cleaned up too!  It is wonderful.

In addition to removing the stress of planning and shopping, I get to make some recipes of items I probably wouldn't normally make...it got me out of my rut.  I still have meals that I make for special occasions or for friends coming over but mostly I let HelloFresh do the weekly work involved for meals.

The cost is reasonable for us as it is just under $10 a meal.  We are not picky about food.  If the kids say no way to something, they are required to try one bite and if they still say no way, they just eat leftovers from some other meal.

Have I said that I love #HelloFresh because I do.

I had one issue in the 4 weeks we have been using them.  We were shorted the beef required for the recipe one week.  I contacted them through the website to let them know and they credited me for the beef on the next week.  I thought it was a reasonable solution.  For the recipe, I just pulled some chicken out of the freezer and made the dish with it.                

Here are a couple of pictures.  No we are not chiefs but we are certainly having fun.  My kids are learning some things too.  It is good for us to cook together.  My 17 year old son doesn't think so but it is!

I have seen lots of videos on Youtube of people subscribing to HelloFresh and they show what they get and how they cook it.  It's helpful to see them open the boxes and what to expect.  Now we are a few weeks into it and we are comfortable with the concept.

We take the classic box for 4 people and 3 meals each.  So HelloFresh sends us about a 14 lb. box of food each week.  UPS delivers to us and puts it on the front porch out of the sun.  I have Tuesdays off so I get them off the porch within an hour of delivery.  They even email me with a window of delivery and another email when it is confirmed to be on the porch.  It really works great for me!

<^..^> Lori

Father's Day Wall

I put up a wall of decorations for Father's Day at church last month.  Here are the pictures...

I cut the tools from textured Bazzill paper with my Silhouette Cameo.  I added some detail with VersaMark.  I hand wrote sayings on the tools.  All of the pictures came from the clearance rack at Hobby Lobby.  The black framed picture with the large teal brush stroke was about $13.  I cut the saying from black Oracle vinyl and applied to the top of the glass.  It's one of my favorite sayings.

<^..^> Lori

Happy Mother's Day Banner

I was inspired by

to make a banner for the wall at church.  Here is my take on this banner:

I found these sweet little birds on clothes pins at Michaels on clearance from their Easter section.  The white circle banners were on clearance from Target.  I hot glued on spring flowers that were in the clearance bins at Michaels.

<^..^> Lori

I'm Thankful for You Gift

So have you been into the stores to check out the Halloween and Fall markdowns?  I found these really neat plastic wine glasses at Michaels for 80% off.  They were originally $6.99 each.  I don't think I would pay that for a plastic glass but I would pay $1.39 each to turn them into a gift for someone I care about.  I would love to have gotten them at 90% off but I doubt any would be left.

We don't drink alcohol but the glasses were so cute with the fall leaves and the saying "I'm Thankful fo

r YOU".  I decided I could work them into a nice gift.

I used a large can of mixed nuts and some candy corn flavored M&M's to make a treat mix.  My husband thinks M&M's should not taste like candy corn.  But he agreed they were good with the nuts.  I added some to each glass and topped them with some fun pumpkin taffy and candy corn taffy from Market Fresh.  It was my first time to shop in a Market Fresh store.  It was really nice, not a lot of variety for staple basics, more of a fancy store, a bit on the expensive side.  Again I found the taffy on clearance 1/2 off because it was after Halloween so I did okay on the budget.

I put a clear treat bag over the glass and closed it around the stem to keep them fresh.

 Here is one completed.  I just need to add the name tag to each stem.

<^..^> Lori