January

So I have been absent from blogging over the past couple of months.  I have been busy being unemployed and working on things at my house, mixed with a little bit of time wasting also, I will admit.  It has been difficult not working and having an income, but now that I have graduated, I will start subbing at the local city schools in February and hopefully an art position will open soon in the fall.  

I took on quite a few projects on my time off.  One of them was organizing my disgusting closet under the stairs.

Yeah, it was bad.  Half of the stuff was things I have needed to go through since Shannon and I first got married.

Yeah, much better.

What's sad is when I began to pull everything out, my entire den was filled with stuff. It's so easy for things to get cluttered in life, when you just hide them in a closet. I added these super easy shelves, and it made a huge difference. 

I also hung a few of Shannon's (oh and one is mine) guitars above the sofa to have a little more space.

Levi's favorite spot. 

I also decided to hop on the teepee wagon and make these teepees for my pets.

There are tons of tutorials out there on how to make these, I combined a few different ones.

So onto the next project- my kitchen. It was a mustardy yellow, and I became very tired of it. I never dreamed I would paint anything in my house white; it always seemed so boring to me. Yet, I noticed most of kitchens I saw and adored were white. So I went for it.

I am in love. It's so bright and simple. The actual color is natural cotton by Valspar. I still don't have kitchen cabinets among other things but this little touch has made it easier to deal with. 

Oh and look at this cute little Pyrex dish I thrifted.

So now that I'm finished sharing projects, I have to share a recipe, and since it's national handwriting day I decided to handwrite the ingredients.

I worked at a bar and grille for 4 years in our little town and one of the best things there was the blackened chicken, so this is inspired by that. I actually cooked a lot of chicken for this and cut up half for green salads, and used other half for this.  

To start, coat your chicken in extra virgin olive oil, then heat your cast iron skillet. While it's heating, pour the blacked redfish seasoning along with salt and pepper. Lay both sides of chicken in seasoning and cook until done. 

Next, chop up 1 apple, about 3 stems of celery, and broccoli. Add all of the ingredients to the shredded chicken, along with remaining ones. A tip to easily shred the chicken is to put in kitchen aid mixer with paddle attachment until it's shredded to the point you want it. Has to be hot still to work well. Serve on toast Orr crackers or lettuce. Enjoy. 

I'll try not to stay gone so long this time! 

-Meg