SOMETHING NEW IN THE DINING ROOM

Over the weekend we got a new addition to our dining room. I don't love the color of it but what it holds is pretty darn cute.

We got a bunny. His name is Ella. It's not a boys name but you try convincing a 4 year old otherwise.

Oddly enough I didn't even blink my eye when we moved it into the dining room. Definitly doesn't go with my decorators motif. Although I did get a red table to match my accent color in that room. I keep thinking I will eventually paint his cage a different color but for now I am just enjoying the joy girlie girl is getting by having her new pet.

She came down this morning before I did and I could hear her saying Good Morning Ella - cutchi, Cutchi Coo - So cute. Definintly worth the non traditional decorating.

LOVE THE TOILE

LOVE THE TOILE. In my last house I had lots of black and cream toile. In this house I've traded that in for red and gold. This is one of my favorite pieces in my house. The best thing about it is the cost - about $15.00. The chair was from my parents house. I just spray painted it. Got the fabric from Calico Corners and started my first sewing project. The cushions turned out okay. Not the most professional job but it works. Whenever I look at this chair I smile! I love it!


Go check out http://prettyorganizedpalace.blogspot.com/ - she is having a toile party. Great ideas and inspiration.

ONE DAY A YEAR TREAT = NO CALORIES!

I figure since I only make and eat Irish Potatoes once a year and on only one day they shouldn't count towards my daily caloric intake. Right? Sure! Here is a pretty simple recipe for them. Basiclly nothing in there is good for you but they are so good!!!

8oz block cream cheese (room temp)

1/4 lb butter (room temp)

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

2 box confectioners sugar

7oz coconut

cinnamon

Cream together cream cheese, butter, and vanilla. Add 1/2 box sugar at a time. Add coconut last and blend well. ** add a few drops of milk if dough is to hard

Chill for 1 hour. Roll into balls (I used my melon baller to get a perfect size). Rechill until firm.

Yummy Yum Yum!!

Enjoy and have a Happy Saint Patricks Day!

TO CLEAN OR NOT NOT CLEAN

Question for everyone. Before you go away for a weekend or week do you clean your house?
We are heading out of town this weekend so I spent most of my day cleaning the house. Making sure the bathrooms were nice and clean, things dusted and vacuumed. Just as I was finishing up the last chore, vacuuming the dreaded stairs, I started thinking. Am I insane? Why am I cleaning? We won't be here to enjoy it. Where was this cleaning machine last week when I kind of let the house go towards the end of the week and regretted it all weekend when the house was a mess and we were home to live with that mess. I feel like a switch goes off when I start packing that makes me have the energy and motivation to clean the house. I've been doing it for years so I doubt that any soul searching I do today will change it but I do think I am crazy and if you ask Hubby he thinks I am completely nuts. I know that on Sunday when I am happy to be home I will be even happier that it is a clean home.
So do you clean before you go away?

STRESS RELIEVER OR STRESS INDUCER

Hubby found a new hobby. Puzzles. He says it helps him relax and relieve stress. Unfortunalty it's doing the opposite for me. I am glad he found something to do other than watching TV at night but does it have be positioned smack dab in the middle of my dining room table? It's been there since Sunday. When we bought the puzzle we also bought a puzzle stow away - suppose to allow you to roll up what you have done so far and not ruin it. I'm giving him until tommorrow night then I will be begging him to "ROLL IT UP"!

TWEEKING THE SHELVES

BEFORE AFTER

Today we are getting some snow, maybe up to 6-8 inches. That's alot for us. So I've declared it a tweek the house day. Everything could def use a good cleaning and why not add in some fun with rearranging some things. Of course I am doing this in between playing Moonsand and answering the question from girlie girl "When can I go sledding?" (I'm leaving that for hubby to take care of!)

I've started in my dining room. Tweeking the pottery barn shelf. In the before picture I had alot of different things on it, pictures, knick nack, just stuff. I've been looking at so many of your blogs and I love all the collections of white you have. I thought it would make more sense to put some things on the shelf that you actually would use in a dining room. I am proud to say that none of the stuff is new, just went down to my knick nack storage and grabbed a few things. I don't have a white collection but my everyday plates are white (French Countryside from Mikasa) so they worked. I am really happy with how it turned out. I'd like to incorporate some more red accents and will look for some things in the future but for now it works. Now onto other areas in the room. More pictures to come.