DIY Rock Candy

My recent Pinterest.com searching led me to a fun website called, ScienceBob.com, one afternoon where I found this awesome recipe for homemade rock candy.  And since we are avid sugar-lovers in this house... I just had to try it out!  


First I started with a few ingredients:

• A wooden skewer
• A clothespin
• 1 cup water
• 2-3 cups of sugar 
• A tall narrow glass or jar

Clip the clothespin onto the wooden skewer so that the skewer hangs down inside the glass about 1 inch from the bottom.  

Remove skewer from jar and set aside for now.  

Pour water into the pan and bring to a boil!  While water is still boiling, start pouring sugar into the water, 1/4 cup at a time.  

I wanted to make more than one skewer of rock candy  so I used 3 cups of water.  However, I  quickly realized that it was going to take about 12 cups of sugar to make my candy and had to run to the grocery store for more sugar!!

Upon returning from the grocery store, armed with enough sugar to feed a small army, I was back on track. I continued to add sugar to the boiling water until no more sugar would dissolve.  This takes several minutes, and the sugar will take longer to dissolve once you have a certain amount in the water already.  So, take your time and don't stop adding sugar too early or your rock candy will not turn out!  

At this point, I've added about 12 cups of sugar and a few drops of food coloring so that you can see exactly how THICK the water has become!  

Once no more sugar will dissolve, remove from heat and let cool for about 20 minutes.  Then, carefully pour the sugar water into your glass or jar almost to the top and insert your wooden skewers.  

Make sure you put the jars where they will not be disturbed for several days.  

Than WAIT!  And wait....... and wait!  Oh, and continue waiting.......  Your rock candy will slowly start to form over the next 3 -7 days.  

I waited 7 days.....

I had a fun time experimenting with this recipe, and I hope you will too!  

Trash to Treasure: How To Use Old CD's

Since the invention of itunes, I have noticed that I have old CD's laying around EVERYWHERE that I will never do anything with ever again.  One day, as I was browsing through www.Pinterest.com (my new favorite website, by the way) I saw a brilliant idea on how I could reuse those worn CD's and turn them into something I could use again!  So, in my first edition of Trash To Treasure, I'll show you how to reuse those old CD's to make a super cute wall hanging.  

The one I made (pictured below) is a sign I am using as part of my friend's "cowboy themed" baby shower.   (Um, I hope she's okay with me telling the world her son's name! Haha!) 

In order to make this wall hanging featuring the baby's name, I had to use 5 CD's.   I started by cutting 5 circles out with scrap-booking paper.  Simply trace and cut!  

Next, glue the paper onto each CD.  

For the letters, I used my Cricut's Stone Script template, but you can use any pre-cut lettering you find, or if you're super experienced with the scissors you can cut your own letters out!  

Once the paper and letters are glued onto each CD, hot glue ribbon (smaller in width) around the edge of each CD.  

Using ribbon (at least 1" in width)...

glue your letters (in the appropriate order, of course!) onto the ribbon.  I had extra ribbon leftover, so I glued small bows in-between each letter to give the sign a more "finished" look.  

There you have it!  A perfect addition for any wall that needs a personal touch, AND a great way to recycle used CD's!  Since I have many CD's still to use, I was thinking about making a few signs for my own home. The great thing about this project is that it's so versatile, the possibilities are endless!  I can't wait to start on my "Christmas" sign, and Hey!  That's 9 CD's I'll be able to recycle!  :)  

Total Money Makeover

In the spirit of "paying it forward" I'd like to share a personal story of me and my husband's journey through our Total Money Makeover with Dave Ramsey.  

A little over 2 years ago I was talking to a close girlfriend of mine when she mentioned Dave Ramsey.  My husband, Luke, and I had never heard of him before, nor did we know what he did for a living.  My friend mentioned his book, Total Money Makeover, and thought that my husband and I might benefit from reading through it together.  Come to find out, he's the author of several personal finance books, including Financial Peace University and EntreLeadership, his most recent publication.  

It only took us about a week to read through TMM (Total Money Makeover), and let me tell you something... I am not exaggerating when I say that it literally changed our lives!  Everything we knew about how to handle our personal finances was challenged and called into question.  This was not an easy 'pill' for us to swallow as we have always considered ourselves to be very responsible people when it comes to our money.  We quickly learned that we were, in fact, not.  

Dave takes you through his 6-step program to get you out of debt and living credit card free in TMM.  Currently, Luke and I are on step #2 - Debt Snowball, or pay off your debt (not including your mortgage, which is step #6).  Before I go any further, I want to stop here and let you know that I'm about ready to tell you JUST how in debt Luke and I were, and how much we've been able to pay off.  I want this to be an inspiration for anyone that may read this and a testimony to just how amazing this program really is.  What I am NOT trying to do is brag about our success or rub this in anyone's face about how 'awesome' we are (because trust me - we still have a long way to go!).  My sole purpose is to inspire someone who may be struggling financially to start taking control of their life!  

When Luke and I first started this program the current sum of our combined debt was over $50,000!!  YIKES!  In percentages, a whopping 77% belonged to student loans; 16% in car loans, 1% in credit card debt, and 6% in miscellaneous loans.  In 2.5 short years we have been able to pay off over $24,000 worth of debt!  This is over 43% of our total debt!!  

This is crazy considering Luke is a youth minister and I work 2 part-time jobs, but nevertheless, I truly believe that anyone can do this if they take Dave's advice and spend within their means, a concept that today's society knows nothing about.  If you don't have the cash to purchase those things considered "non-essential" then DON'T BUY THEM!  Hard work can get your farther than you ever thought it could, and trust me... it's worth it!  

Homemade Buffalo Chicken Panini's

Apparently I've been a busy person, because I haven't been able to post for awhile!  :(  This makes me sad.  So, to reward my 5 followers I'd like to share with you a new recipe that I created tonight.  I'm calling them my Homemade Buffalo Chicken Panini's.

I start with 2 slices of bread.  For these sandwiches I used english toasting bread, but I think next time I'll use Sourdough, which I have found to crisp nicely for panini's.

Next, I grilled some chicken breasts, and then mixed the buffalo sauce together using miracle whip, ranch dressing, hot sauce, garlic powder, onion powder, red pepper flakes, chipolte seasoning, and chili powder.

Set your oven to broil or pre-heat your panini maker.  In the meantime, assemble your sandwiches by buttering one side of each bread slice  (sorry, all you health nuts, but butter is the perfect ingredient when toasting!).  Place one slice butter side down on a baking stone or panini maker, top with grilled chicken, one slice pepperjack cheese, and one tablespoon of your buffalo sauce.  Place another slice of bread butter side up on top and cook for 3-5 minutes until golden brown.

Add lettuce for a cold crunch to your sandwich.

Or if you don't have chicken, you can always use some beef slices and cheddar cheese.

Hope you've enjoyed my latest food creation!  I will definitely be making these again!

Weekend Adventures

It's been awhile since my last post and a lot has happened!  I'm excited to update you all (all 5 of my followers) on some recent events as well as a few projects that I have completed.  

But first, I'm excited to share with you the fun weekend I had with the hubby and his Aunt and Uncle in Hebron, Kentucky.  It was great to catch-up with family that we haven't seen in over 2 years.  

Having lunch outside Newport Levee. 

One of the places we visited was St. Mary's Cathedral Basilica in Covington.  The place was gorgeous, to say the least, and is over 100 years old.  

Over 80 feet in height. 

Stone & wood carvings everywhere!

82 Stain Glass Windows in the Cathedral.

Then we went through the Newport Shark Aquarium where we met many interesting creatures of the sea! 

Mbu Pufferfish

Jellyfish

And, of course, sharks!  

I think the most important place we went, though, was to the Skyline Chili parlor to eat some delicious Skyline!!  Luke was thrilled to be there, to say the least.  

Overall, it was a great trip and we were happy to visit with family that we don't get to see very often!  

A Sweet Anniversary Getaway

The last vacation my husband and I took was our honeymoon 3 years ago.  Since then, we've been working our fingers to the bone.  So, we decided for our 3-year anniversary we would get out of town and enjoy some time together.  Our place of choice was Branson, Missouri since it's fairly close yet far enough away to constitute a "getaway".  Oh, we heard it was fun, too.  :)  

One of the first things we did was stop to eat dinner at Lambert's Cafe.  It was delicious (a huge understatement) to say the least.   

Besides for the fresh hot rolls, our favorite dish was the black raspberry cobbler!  

Luke is showing off his food baby as well as his new Lambert's mug!  

On Monday we decided to take a trip back in time to the Wild West Saloon!  

How do we look?  

Then it was off to Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede, where, unfortunately, Dolly did NOT make an appearance.  But it was fun, nontheless.  

This was outside the Dolly's big plantation-style ranch "house" (if you can call it that) where we ate our dinner and were entertained by the show.  I think our favorite part of the whole experience was seeing the buffalo and longhorn cattle gallop out in the middle of the rink!  (Unfortunately, they don't allow cameras in the arena so there are no pictures of these amazing creatures.)  

On Tuesday, we celebrated our official 3-Year anniversary by taking a lovely horseback trail ride.  

It was very peaceful and scenic!  Then we did some kayaking on Table Rock Lake.

All in all, we had a great time together and loved getting out of town for a few days after a long and BUSY summer!  If you're wanting to get away, I would say that Branson is a great vacation spot.  It not only has tons of "touristy" shows and attraction that you can visit, but it's beautiful scenery everywhere you go and there are lots of free hiking trails and outdoor activities that you can do as well.  

Design On A Dime... Almost

Sometimes I get the itch to spice up the decor in my apartment, but I never seem to have the money to do it.  This week was one of those itches, so I took the opportunity while my husband is gone for a youth camp all week (I guess I'll find out if it's truly better to ask for forgiveness than permission when he returns) to do some redecorating on a budget.  My goal was $100 or less to redecorate my bedroom and bathroom.  

Here's the Before & After pictures of what my very drab bedroom looked like.  It needed some serious help (and some major color coordination)!  

My next obstacle was to tackle my bathroom.  It always seems like the main problem with bathrooms is storage, so I added the shelving unit which freed up the cubbies (not seen in this picture) for all our towels and  wash cloths (which, in turn, freed up some much needed space in my wardrobe).  

(Why yes, I did assemble that shelf all by myself!)

Let's see how my checkbook fared:

• New Comforter Set (includes bed skirt & 2 shams):  $64 (Because it was on sale, I ended up saving over $140 on this purchase.  Hooray for Kohl's!) 
• New rugs for bedroom (set of 2):  $12 (Thank You Bed Bath & Beyond.)
• Shelving Unit for bathroom:  $29.99 (a little expensive but it's the cheapest I could find.)
• 2 Wicker baskets for storing bathroom products:  $8 (Hobby Lobby is the best.)  

The final total was $113.99!  Ok, so I went over budget a LITTLE, but I'm extremely pleased with how everything turned out!  Plus, when I added it all up, I saved over $150 for everything!  You can't beat those savings!