Simple Solution

Hey there ladies & possibly gentlemen.  = )  Today I have a quick post for ya. This one was spurred by my annoyance at the jumbled mess that was living in a drawer in the bathroom. Do any of you have a drawer that looks like this???

Terrible, isn't it? Just looking at it nearly gives me hives. I am all about organization in my house and this was completely unacceptable. Every time someone pulled out one headband, several more came along for the ride. Not to mention you can't really see what's in there. Argh, it was buggin' me!! So I put on my thinking cap. How could I organize these and not spend a dime?? Think, think, think...

Ahh haa , I got it! Old pop bottles! I'm sure you're thinking, old pop bottles? What could she be thinking? Well , I'll show you. Take the label off two bottles, then cut the top off. After that try and wedge them into the drawer horizontally. You may have to trim a little more off the top. Only cut off a teeny tiny bit. If you cut off too much your bottle will just slide right to the bottom. You don't want it to sit at the bottom, so please trim carefully . Don't say I didn't warn you.   : )

Are you ready for the after?!?! It's kind of exciting! 

Tada!!

Are you as impressed as I am? It's gorgeously organized!! 

Here's a side by side for you, just to see how much better it really looks. 

What do you think? Are you going to try this? Please, let me know if you do. I am soo happy with how it turned out. No more mess and it's much easier to get a headband out now. Toodles!  = ) 

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Pumpkin Muffins w/ Spiced Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting

Happy Sunday all. Hope your weekend is going well. We have had the BEST weather this weekend! It's a little breezy , like Fall , but the temperatures are that of a summer day. Love it!! I've been soaking up every minute of it. Who knows, it could be snowing next weekend. Sadly , that's not really a joke. It could happen and it wouldn't be unheard of.

Last night I did something I don't usually do, I kind of made up my own baking recipe. That's a bit out of my comfort zone. I wing-it all the time when I'm cooking. I know what foods and spices go well together, but baking is much more of a science and I usually follow the cookbook to the T. Last night however my mind started wondering and thinking what would my banana bread recipe be like with pumpkin in place of the banana, some extra spices, a bit of extra sugar and some cream cheese frosting. Hmmm, what would that be like? Well I'll tell ya, deliciousness!! You want the recipe? 'Cause you're gonna get it!

Pumpkin Muffins w/ Spiced Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting  

Makes 1 dozen

1 & 1/4 c flour
1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup pumpkin puree (not pie filling)

2 tbs. oil

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/4 brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup sour cream or plain yougurt

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, grease muffin pan or put in paper cups. 

2. Mix first five ingredients in a large bowl. Make a 

well in the center and set aside. 

3. Mix the remaining ingredients in a medium sized bowl.

4. Pour pumpkin mixture into the flour,  mix. 

 5. Pour mixed batter into muffin cups. Bake 20-25 minutes 

or until toothpick comes out clean. 

6. Let cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then transfer to cooling rack. 

Let cool completely and frost.  

Frosting

1/2 cup cream cheese (half a brick)

1/4 - 1/3 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon 

You can make the frosting while the muffins are baking and then set it in the 

fridge to firm up. The frosting is soo easy. Mix the ingredients together in a 

small bowl. That's it. No need for an electric mixer. I used a fork at 

first and then switched to a spatula. 

When the muffins are baking don't worry if after 12 or 15 minutes they still look like dough blobs. They will puff up. I was a little worried and watched them like a hawk. They turned out just as I imagined, moist and delicious! 

You and your family will love these. Mr. CC and I had to stop ourselves after two each. We could have finished them all. Give them a try and let me know how they turn out. 

This is now the second pumpkin recipe I've posted and I'm sure it won't be the last. I've pinned quite a few pumpkin recipes.  = ) Here's the link to my Pumpkin Spice Cake. It's really tasty too and got rave reviews.  

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Makeover Time

Happy Friday! I did something I've been wanting to do for a month or more. I redesigned my header and made a few other small changes. What do you think? I think it looks much better! That flower was really starting to bug me. And because a post wouldn't be a post without a picture, here's an after and before shot. Yes, I meant after and before. heehee  = )

 The newer one is much more simplistic and FABULOUS!! 

ICK - that flower!! I only liked the right side of this header. 

Hope you have a great weekend! Please let me know what you think of the new and improved look of my blog. Do you notice any other changes? 

Living Room Tour

Hey There. I finally got around to taking some shots of our living room, and boy are you in for A LOT of pictures! Hope you're sitting down, it may take awhile.  = )

Welcome to our home. 

 Here's the little wreath I've mentioned. I felt it still needed something, so 

I hot glued on a few pine cones from our evergreen out front. 

Our entryway. I bought the dresser and two side tables off Kijiji for $60. I love all the  storage! Everyone has their own drawer for mitts and hats. The bottom drawer holds lots of scarves in the winter.

  

 I made the leaf garland and just stuck some faux leaves in the wire of the hurricane lamp candle holder. The leaf on the glass candle holder I glued to a piece of twine so I could just tie it on instead of glueing

it directly to the holder. Once it's winter, I can take it off easy peasy.

 There's our free ultra suede, down filled couch. Yep, it was FREE, and it's suede, and the cushions are down filled! Long story short, my sister in law knew I wanted new couches, her friend's mom was getting rid of one, this is what we got. We've had it for nearly three years and it is still just as comfortable as the day we  got it. I love that I can just fluff up the cushions and it's good as new.  = )

 This cutie side table was $10 off Kijiji. The vintage sewing box my mom gave me when I was in jr. high. I LOVE it!! The built-ins on the left house all our movies. Why do we have soo many?

 The green velvet throw pillow was $4 at GW. The other pillow cover I made from a twin sized pillowcase. I got a set of two at GW for $2. They're from Ikea and match my favorite pillow on the left. Miss E and her mom, Miss J, got it for me for Christmas. I had wanted it for over a year.

 This two tiered table was my Grandma's and desperately needs to be refinished. I remember her keeping little knick knacks on it when I was a little girl. It came all the way from Chico, Ca in the back of our car 11 years ago. I love that I have it.

 You may remember my free TV stand from this post. It was also from Kijiji. My $80 wool rug was another Kijiji score. I like how it ties both of the couches colors together. The storage ottoman my hubby picked for $30 at Superstore. It had been marked down from $140! It's a great place to hide the guitars for Rock Band.  = ) Where else would I keep them? Oh I should mention, I have a print I recently bought for over the TV. Now I just need a mongo frame for it. I'll be hitting some thrift stores to find one.

 We used to have a black leather couch in this spot. It had to go. I was not digging the red and black in the living room. I sold that one for $200 and got this one for $250 from, you guessed it, Kijiji. If you do the math, I only paid $50  for it! Woohoo! It is soo comfortable. I could fall asleep on it every night. Actually , I do. lol And look at that naked window. It's screaming for some curtains. I may try my hand at some drop cloth ones. What do you think? 

Here's the lovely crates I showed you in this post.

 The built-ins are great for extra display space. Although I think they are

screaming for a paint job. Maybe a nice crisp white?

A few random shots for ya. Isn't my little acorn cute? I got it for 25 cents at a thrift store. When I bought it it was black. I took some heirloom white to the top and ruffed it up. Then wrapped the bottom with some jute. I'm really happy with how it turned out. 

Are you still with me? I told you it was going to be a long post. lol Hope you enjoyed the tour of our living room. It just goes to show you don't have to spend a lot to get great style. Well, I think it looks pretty good.  : )  Thanks for stopping by! 

PS. First person to tell me how many times I mentioned Kijiji gets a prize!!! Aha, just joking!  = ) 

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Fall Mantel

Over the weekend I finally got a chance to makeover my "mantel". If you remember my last post about my mantel , you know it's not really a mantel at all. I use the top of the hutch in my kitchen since I don't have a real one. I had redone it for summer. You can check out that post here.

The before:

The after: 

 The wreath is actually a garland I got on clearance for $5 at a drugstore 

years ago. I just shaped it into a wreath and love how it looks. 

 The small wooden bowl I picked up at a garage sale this summer for 50 cents. I added the leaves, pumpkins and berries. The cloche was also from a yard sale. It may have been 50 cents too. 

I got a whole bunch of stuff there for $10. And the gourds, LOVE them! Every year I can't 

wait to buy a couple bags of them and the little pumpkins, soo fun to decorate with. 

 

 The vintage looking Nestle Toll House tin was a quarter at a yard sale. Every side has a picture of a different season. Perfect all year long. The white pitcher was $1 at a thrift shop. 

My $2.50 mums from Safeway. I love how just the tips 

are a brownish/burnt orange color. Perfect for Fall! 

There you have it, my Fall mantel. What do you think? I am loving the warm colors. The kitchen feels soo cozy now. Last week I made a little wreath for my front door, but I feel like it's missing something so I won't share it with you until it's finished. I also made a cute leaf garland with some twine and faux leaves. It hangs on the mirror in our entryway. There's little touches of Fall slowly creeping into the living room. I will finally be doing a post this week about the living room, so you'll get to see them all. See ya soon!  = ) 

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Pumpkin Spice Cake

Sometimes while I'm on Pinterest I come across a recipe I just HAVE to try. This would be one of them. The best part about making this cake - it has 2 ingredients. Yep, that's it 2! A box of cake mix and a can of pumpkin. That. Is. All. Love that! I mentioned to Mr. CC that I was going to be making a cake and he requested I make a spice cake, so that's what kind of cake mix I bought.

Last night just before my scalloped potatoes were done baking (I should have taken a pic of them, too yummy!) Miss A and I mixed together the cake mix and can of pumpkin. I put the batter into a well greased bundt pan and baked it at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes or so, while we ate dinner. Boy did it smell good! Once it was out I let it cool a bit before I turned it out onto a plate. I mixed up a quick icing glaze to drizzle over the top and it was done. Simple as that. Really , does making a cake get any easier? I think not.

The cake recipe came from Big Red Kitchen.
1 box cake mix (Your choice.)
1 15oz can pumpkin puree (Not pumpkin pie filling!)

The icing glaze I made was as follows:
1 cup powdered sugar
2 - 3 tbs milk
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp cinnamon

The cake was a success. We all loved it! It's very moist and denser than regular cake. Great for Fall while enjoying a cup of tea or coffee. You could have it for breakfast too. And the best part, aside from 2 ingredients, it's super low in fat! I think it'd be great in muffin cups too. If Miss A's class has a Halloween party I'm going to make some. I just bought some cute Halloween themed mini cupcake cups. And instead of a glaze I could frost them with my fav, cream cheese frosting. Mmm...

You should definitely give this a try. I'm pretty sure you won't be disappointed! Oh and one little side note. When you start mixing the cake together it'll look like it's not combining right, like it's too dry, but don't worry, after a minute or so it all comes together. Happy baking!

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Ten Years

For the anniversary of September 11th I was going to write a long heartfelt post about that day , I just can't manage it. I didn't personally know anyone who lost their life that day , but it still brings me to tears to relive it. So instead of a lengthy post, here's what I wrote earlier this morning.

I can't believe it's been ten years already . Ten years since the world was changed forever. Ten years since millions around the world sat in front of a TV, watching in horror. Ten years since hundreds of men and women in uniform went rushing into a building to save others lives, only to lose their own. Ten years since thousands of families lost a loved one. Ten years, and the emotion is still so raw. Today my heart goes out to those families. Today marks a day no one will ever forget.

{source}

The Pentagon
{source}

Flight 93 Memorial
Shanksville, Pennsylvania
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I hope you and yours enjoy a beautiful Sunday together. Give those around you a little extra squeeze today, just because you can.

My Memories Giveaway @ the Fruitful Home Journal

Happy Friday All! Hope you had a great week . I'm sure you're looking forward to the weekend ahead. It's going to be a gorgeous one here.  : )

I'm helping out my bloggy friend Adriane today. She has a fantastic blog , the Fruitful Home Journal and she's doing her first giveaway, starting today! I'll let her tell you a little bit more about it.

Take it away Adriane!

"Hello everyone!! Allow me to introduce myself, I'm Adriane, visiting from the Fruitful Home Journal. My dear friend Catie is giving me the opportunity to tell you all about my very first giveaway, so that you all can get in on the action! 

The giveaway is for a fabulous software program from Mymemories.com. This software is valued at around $40 and allows you to create unlimited digital scrapbooking pages, cards, announcements, etc...right on your computer!! 

For more details, come on over to my blog, and enter to win!! The giveaway will run from this Friday to Monday...so be sure to stop by!!"

So, what are you waiting for? You can make super cute scrapbook pages with the pictures in them, easy peasy. Head on over and enter to win!! Tell Adriane I sent you.  : )

Fabulous Furniture

Today's post is all about fabulous pieces of furniture. You know, the kind that just bumps a room up to the next level with its presence. I've pinned a few on Pinterest and thought I'd share some of my favorites.

First up is this amazing wicker (?) couch. I LOVE this! It would look 

amazing in my sunroom. The coffee table isn't too shabby either. 

Source: countryliving.com via Catie @ Catie's Corner on Pinterest

The detail on this dressing is gorgeous. And the chair is very sweet. I 

think it has a pineapple on the fabric. What do you think it looks like? 

Source: elementsofstyleblog.com via Catie @ Catie's Corner on Pinterest

Do I even have to say a word? WOW! 

Source: hgtv.com via Catie @ Catie's Corner on Pinterest

Those chairs are amazing. 

Source: knightmovesblog.blogspot.com via Catie @ Catie's Corner on Pinterest

Tree stump side tables. Very cute! 

Source: houseofturquoise.com via Catie @ Catie's Corner on Pinterest

I love every piece of furniture in this room. Isn't it stunning? 

Source: bhg.com via Catie @ Catie's Corner on Pinterest

The coffee table and nailhead trim chair. 

Source: bhg.com via Catie @ Catie's Corner on Pinterest

If you'd like to view more of the fabulous furniture I've pinned, please stop by and have a look. : )

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