My Kitchen Corner

There is this little table securely fastened to the wall in my little kitchen and there is nothing I can do but put it to use. I found an adorable shelf at a yard sale for $5 that fits perfectly on it and a drawer compartment form IKEA that fits perfectly under the table. What was once a eye sore is now my favorite little corner!


I am having so much fun turning this apartment into a home for my family! And I am being thrifty by checking second-hand shops for items and repainting things before I buy something brand new. I love the challenge!

Chicken Cordon Bleu

I had so much fun trying out this recipe! The first time, I used a rolling pin to pound the chicken, but the second time I used my mother-in-law's heavy duty professional meat pounding gadget (actually, my hubby did the pounding!) SO, a rolling pin will work but of course, it's a substitute for the real thing. The other thing is I used a slice of Swiss cheese instead of their suggested shredded mozzarella, which just added an extra bite! I played around with the prosciutto and ham and decided I liked the cordon bleu with prosciutto instead of ham. It's a bit richer in flavor. I used seasoned bread crumbs and a can of chicken broth with roasted garlic- extra YUM!

I'll let u check out the recipe I found on my recipes to follow. It was a messy project but what a fabulous, thoughtful meal and quite uncommon, actually.

I dare you to try it!

Needle-in-a-Haystack Experience

We are spending time in the OBX with the family this week, which has been a blast! My hubby asked me to go boogie boarding with him so I took off my wedding RING (BAD move in the first place) and placed it in a pocket of my backpack along with my camera. Why in the world did I trust myself? I NEVER take off my ring since I have a hard enough time getting it over my knobby knuckle as it is.

Later that evening, when we were all back home, I looked in the backpack and panic swept over me- G.O.N.E! I burst into tears and immediately my sister-in-law suggested we pray and ask God to work a miracle here. It was obvious to me that it had fallen out when I pulled out the camera. We immediately rented a few metal detectors and the family came out and joined me in the search. We started by blocking off an area and sifting sand. People from all over came and identified with me and helped with the search. As I was kneeling in the sand, God spoke to my heart. It is a very important piece to me, but I still have my wonderful husband and beautiful little girl. He has blessed me in so many ways and yet I was acting like my life was just taken away from me. Once I surrendered it and accepted the consequence of my stupid action, I felt a peace and we wrapped it up and headed back to the beach house.

But that's not the end of the story...

One of my sisters-in-law bounded up the stairs asking how much I love her. She held up the ring and died laughing! She spotted it in the corner of a stair on her way up! We all started screaming, jumping and hugging. I was overwhelmed with this miracle of mercy! What was lost had been found!

Thank you, Lord!

Outside In

I have this adorable little white vase from Southern Living with a lid of about eight holes to put stems of flowers through. My little girl and I took a walk along the woods behind our place and found Queen Anne's Lace and that other vibrant flower. It was fun bringing the little bouquet inside and arranging it with her. I just love having fresh plants or flowers around. My sister-in-law just gave me an orchid. It's beautiful and I hope I will be able to keep it alive. I need to learn more about taking care of house plants.

My Hand in Paint

I did it!!! I am always reading blogs where people buy junk and repaint or rearrange it where it turns out beautiful and I couldn't wait to get settled in to our place to try it myself. I friend called and said her mom has a few bedroom pieces for sale and I should go check them out. We bought this for $10!



It looked like it was brushed with green stain. But this was Savannah's dresser and I wanted it white. My dad gave me European White (off-white) paint, sand paper and a brush. I had a blast working out on our back porch in the sun with my little girl discovering rocks in the dirt or playing with her Legos. Over the weekend, it turned out looking like this:



It's hard to tell, but I sanded the edges to give it that distressed look :)

Things are shaping up nicely here- some friends just GAVE us a pull-out couch and love seat. What an answer to prayer!
I also sewed curtains for my baby's room and a matching pillow for her bed-

Good times! I am trying to get my creative juices flowing!

It's raining today, I love rain.

Summer Zucchini

W moved into a little place of our own! A friend brought by a loaf of moist zucchini bread and a huge zucchini from her garden! What a great house-warming gift! My mom has a million tomatoes so I decided to do a little cooking once the dishes were unpacked and washed. This came out better than I expected! The tomato's juice added so much flavor to the zucchini. I guess it's a bit like ratatouille but simpler. Here's what I did:

Place a little butter to a pan over medium heat. Add fresh garlic and saute.

Cut the zucchini into thin slices and quarter them. Add them to the pan with a little bit of water (few tablespoons) to help with the cooking. I sprinkle salt and pepper over the veggies at this point.

With the tomatoes, I blanched them since I don't like the skins anyway- when cutting it into chunks, keep all the juice and add to the pan.

Cover and cook, stirring occasionally until zucchini tender. Serve hot!

Bon Appetit!