Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Pretty Little Liars Book 1

I have finally moved onto a new book series! Late last week I finished my last book in The Vampire Diaries, so I started my next series I picked out, PPL (Pretty Little Liars). I currently watch the show and I just love it, so I'm excited to read all the books. I started the first book I believe on Thursday last week and I only have 100 pages left to go. This first book has really kept me interested and I love books like that! I like TVD series but it just didn't grab my attention the way I thought, but I guess some books are like that.

So far this series is good and I'm enjoying it! I'm looking forward to reading this whole series!


Friday, November 15, 2013

Fried Chicken

Shane has been telling for awhile now that I need to make fried chicken. I was very unsure about this and never did, LOL. Last week he asked about it again...So, I hopped on Pinterest to see if I could find a good recipe to make fried chicken. It didn't take me long to run across one that sounded very good and pretty easy to make. I sent it to Shane and told him I would give it a try. Monday night we had fried chicken, mashed potatoes and corn for dinner. The friend chicken was so easy to make and didn't take very long either. It turned out to be super delicious! I can't wait to make this again! I did add some more seasonings to our batter then what the recipe called for, I love spices in my life! Haha!


Ingredients:
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1/3 cup water
  • 1 cup hot sauce
  • 2 cups self-raising flour
  • 1 tsp. black pepper
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
  • 1/2 tsp. Cajun seasoning (I added this myself not included in original recipe)
  • 1/2 tsp. Jalapeno seasoning (I added this myself not included in original recipe)
  • A pinch of Habanero seasoning (I added this myself not included in original recipe)
  • 2 chicken breast or how many is needed for your family
***After I made this for just 2 of us this batter made WAY to much for just 2 chicken breast. I would say if you are just making for a small group to cut this in half***

Directions:
  1. Heat oil to 350 degrees. I used an electric skillet.
  2. Prepare chicken by rinsing with cold water and patting dry. Set aside on plate.
  3. In medium bowl, beat eggs with water. Add hot sauce and stir together.
  4. In another bowl, combine flour, pepper, salt, Cajun, jalapeno and habanero seasonings. Mix well.
  5. Dip chicken in egg mixture, then coat well with flour mixture.
  6. Fry chicken in oil till brown and crisp, about 13-14 minutes for dark meat (thighs, wings, legs) and 8-10 minutes for white meat (breasts).
  7. Optional - Preheat over to a warm setting of 200 degrees or less. Prepare a baking sheet topped with a cooling rack. Have this handy to transfer the cooked chicken into the over to keep warm if frying in batches.

Thursday, November 14, 2013

Oreo Fluff Dip

Sunday we had the family over to plan Thanksgiving. Instead of making a meal I decided just to have some snacks while everyone was over, I wanted to make a yummy dessert too. So, I hopped on Pinterest and started searching through my dessert pins and found this Oreo fluff dip that sounded easy and super yummy! 


Ingredients:
  • 24 Oreos, crushed
  • 2 cups mini marshmallows
  • 8 oz. cool whip
  • 1 box white chocolate instant pudding mix
  • 2 cups milk

Directions:
  1. In large bowl whisk together milk and pudding mix for 2 mintues.
  2. Add cool whip, Oreos and marshmallows
  3. Stir well
  4. Refrigerate until ready to serve
  5. I served mine with Oreos and Grapham crackers



Wednesday, November 13, 2013

New addition to our home....

After my Grandpa passed, we had to clean out his house of everything he owned. Well in that process we acquired some things and one of those happened to be a riding lawn mower. Yes we do have a 2 car garage but with both our cars in there and everything lawn and tool wise there just wasn't room for it. So, we decided instead of just leaving it out back covered we better get a shed to store it in. We also gained a lot of other things that need to be stored in the garage. Shane started his search for the shed he wanted, we thought we found one but after talking to a lady at Home Depot we decided that shed wasn't the best for us, so she recommended a better one. We started looked at Tuff sheds, yes there were a little more expensive but we talked it over and decided in the long haul this is going to be best for us. We got it ordered and a date set up for them to come install it for us. They came out on November 7th and got it all built and ready for us. We came home that night after work and got the riding mower inside it's new home. Over the weekend we got everything else out of the garage and in the shed that we wanted. We also went and got some hooks so we can hang stuff on the walls instead of having everything on the floor.  We both are happy with the shed and it looks good in our backyard. :)

These pictures were also taken with my new camera!



My dog had to check it all out. She thinks it's her new home. Haha!


Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Playing around w/ my new Camera!

I posted last week about my new camera that I got! I have been playing around and taking pictures with it to get a feel for it and seeing what this bad boy can do. So far I'm just loving it and the pictures are turning out great.

Here is a picture I took the other night of the moon. I just love this pictures, it's amazing!

This one was taken of my niece Sunday afternoon in our backyard. I just love this picture of her with the leaves behind for Fall. I do believe this one will be doing in our hallway at home!

Saturday morning we went to watch Paige play Volleyball, and I wanted to see what my camera did with action pictures....Here are a few from her volleyball game.





I'm looking forward to playing with my camera much more and see what cool things I can shoot with it!


Wednesday, November 6, 2013

New Camera!!

A little over a year ago I talked about saving for a new camera, well the time has come and I finally upgraded! I didn't get the one I wanted a year ago I got the newer version of it. I got the Sony DSLR A77. I just got it in the mail Monday night so I haven't been able to fully get out and take pictures yet with it, I have just been playing with it around the house. I'm super excited to get it out for a shoot and sport pictures to see what it's all about. So, far with just taking a few pictures around the house I LOVE this camera! The pictures on this are just amazing so I can only image what they will be like during a photo shoot or action pictures. I'm hoping this weekend I can get out and use it some and share some of the pictures with you. I will have to take both my cameras and compare the old one to the new one. Don't get me wrong I love my old camera but it was time for an upgrade, I have had that camera since 2008. It still works great and I will keep it around to use again for sure.





Stay tuned for pictures soon from this camera of a shoot or just some random stuff I take. Haha! :)


Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Homemade Canvas Pictures

I found an easy way to make canvas pictures on pinterest awhile back. I thought these would be cute to make and hang some pictures above our bed. I made these back in August and finally we had a little time to get these hung up in the bedroom. I'm very happy with how these turned out and I look forward to making more of these! I was really amazed at how easy these were to make and when you go to buy them online they are so expensive! I got all the stuff I needed from Hobby Lobby expect the pictures I printed those from Shutterfly.

Items needed: 12x12 paint canvas, 12x12 pictures, a saying (or you can do all pictures), Modge Podge
Make sure to get a good layer of modge podge on the canvas before laying down the picture. After I put the picture on I turned the canvas over and put something heavy on top so it would dry good. I let mine set for a couple days but I'm sure at least a day is good if not a few hours or something.
Here they are hung up in the bedroom! Love them!


I'm so glad these are finally up after a couple months of just sitting in the house. But we had other things going on so these had to wait. :)