A sight for sore eyes

Y'all wish you had my pantry right now, don't you?

This is the safest way to cool the cupcakes out of reach of dogs and toddlers.  Getting ready for JT's birthday party.  Our house smells so good!!! Can't wait to start frosting these bad boys tonight.  

(In case you're curious, these are blue velvet cupcakes which will have a buttercream frosting with sprinkles, a strawberry cupcake with fresh strawberry center and cheesecake frosting, and Milky Way cupcakes with a chocolate malt marshmallow centre and caramel buttercream frosting. Yum!)

Easy Oven Eggs

So I know this post isn't in line with my usual posts, but I came up with this easy way to make eggs in the oven and I wanted to share.

First, let me preface this post with a little back story...

In contemplation of going back to work in December, I have been trying to work out my schedule. One of my concerns is what to do for breakfast.  I learned during my pregnancy that it isn't good to have dairy or fruit before noon, since your body's sugars are already high in the morning.  So I decided that pre-made breakfast sandwiches were the best option for me.

However, I have a baby.  And I don't have uninterrupted time every Sunday to spend an hour on the stove cooking eggs and sausages/bacon in a frying pan. As a new mom, one of the first things you learn is that anything that doesn't require constant attention or can be done one-handed is a winner. So I tried to find a way to make eggs easily and one-handed.  Here is my solution...

First, find a baking tin that has some kind of mold to it.  You could use a cupcake tin.  I used a tin intended for whoopie pies.

Throw our tin in the oven and turn the broiler on high.

Give the broiler a few minutes to heat up.  I gave mine 5 minutes.  Once its reasonably pre-heated, pull out your oven rack and crack an egg into each of your molds.   Push your oven rack back in and wait 5 minutes.

Waa-laa!  Oven made eggs in under 10 minutes.

They work perfectly for breakfast sandwiches.

I bought sandwich thins at the store, put an egg and a flat sausage on each one and stored them in the fridge.  In the morning, I nuke them for 1 minute in the microwave and they are good to go.  Quick, easy and one-handed. You can also make these with just egg whites for an even lower-calorie meal.  Enjoy!

Best nap ever

Even when you're sleeping...

You have to keep an eye on what's happening in that kitchen!

Happy Birthday, Dad!

As a surprise, we got Dad a cake for his birthday. Of course, we had to put his favorite puppies on it.

No, not Riley and Chase.  That's actually Mac and Odie--Mom and Dad's dogs.  Yes, they look a lot like our dogs.  There will be much more on that later.

Suprise Saturday Project

So, Duff and I did a surprise Saturday project today. We didn't really decide that we wanted to do this project until half-way through the week. Although it was last minute, we couldn't be happier with the results. Let's see if you can notice the difference...

Before:
After:

Before:
After:
That's right! We replaced our kitchen floor. I've been wanting to replace it since we first moved in (something about imitation terra cotta tiles just rubbed me the wrong way). But it wasn't until recently, though, that Duff finally came around. And now that he's seen what the new floor looks like, he agrees that we should have changed them much earlier. Plus, the process was super easy and only took us about 5 hours (note to other homeowners: dry ice is the BEST way to remove vinyl tiles. no ifs, ands or buts about it.). Most importantly, though, aren't the new floors pretty?

At your service

Upon request, below is a picture of the trim we used to complete the backsplash in the kitchen. When we first bought the house, the backsplash was made up of a particle board/plastic concoction that was straight out of the fifties. We ripped it out, but it left a horrible space between the counter and the wall that was ragged and unfinished-looking. So we put up this trim to cover the scars and add some decoration. Overall, the look came together very well.

New, improved kitchen

We've made a lot of changes to the kitchen and I wanted to show off the fruits of our labor. The before:


The after:


One of my favorite parts of the kitchen is the antique wooden plates from my great great grandmother.