Shainanigans

I’m all about my dogs!! Anytime I can make them a special treat or meal, I jump at the chance. Our neighborhood gets monthly magazines and in this issue there were a ton of homemade dog treat recipes! I thought I’d share a few with you fellow dog lovers out there. I hope they enjoy!

No Bake Honey Oat Peanut Butter Treats (Rocco’s fave)

• 1 cup of quick oats
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1/3 cup of honey
• 1/3 cup of peanuts

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Allow the mixture to chill in the fridge for 30 mins. Using your hands or a spoon, scoop out enough mixture to roll into a 1-inch ball. Repeat this process until all batter is used. Serve immediately or store in an airtight container in your fridge for up to one week.

Anti-Inflammatory Biscuits

• 4 cups of quick oats
• 1/2 cup ground flax seeds
• 1 tsp turmeric
• pinch of black pepper
• 1 cup of water
• 1 large egg

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl. Add water and egg to the dry ingredients and mix until thoroughly blended. Knead the mixture for about 3 mins. The dough will be sticky, so allow it to sit for 15 mins while the oats absorb the water to help the dough reach a drier texture. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough out to about 1/4 thick. Use a cookie cutter to cut into biscuits and place on the baking sheet. Bake for 30 mins. Store in an airtight container for up to a week, or two weeks in the fridge.

Fresh Breath Treats

• 1 1/2 cups coconut oil
• 1/2 cup chopped parsley
• 1/4 cup chopped mint (optional)

Soften your coconut oil in the microwave. Do not allow it to boil. Mix parsley (and mint if you are using it) into the softened coconut oil. If you have a cookie mold, pour the mixture into the mold. If not, roll the softened mixture into small balls and place on a plate or parchment paper. Refrigerate the treats for 1 hour. Give your dog 1 treat each day, and store in the fridge to help maintain shape and freshness.

Banana Bread Soft-Chew Treats

• 1/2 cup of coconut flour
• 1 TBS ground flax seeds
• 1/2 cup of pumpkin puree
• 2 large eggs
• 1 banana, mashed
• 1 TBS coconut oil

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl, whisk the coconut flour and flax seeds together. In a seperate bowl, combine pumpkin, eggs, banana, and coconut oil. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until thoroughly combined. It should be the consistency of thick batter. Spoon the batter onto the baking sheet, making a 1/4-inch thick layer, and allow it to sit for 5 mins. Score the batter with a knife to creat horizontal and vertical lines to make square treats. Bake for 35 mins. Remove treats from the oven and allow them to cool. Once cool, break or cut the treats along the scored lines. Store in an airtight container for up to a week, or two weeks in the fridge.

 

I’m not a big fan of tattoos, not on my body anyway. I have one. The typical “tramp stamp” that I got in my 20’s. It actually has meaning behind it, so I’m ok with it.

It’s a small dragonfly and my sister has one identical to it, in the exact spot. When I got out of treatment for my eating disorder, I finally had some meat on my bones so I rewarded myself. The dragonfly is significant to me bc I always think of my sweet granny when I see them. They connect us even hundreds of miles away.

When Emily left for boot camp, I posted on Facebook, saying half of my heart had just left me. She didn’t see it, she was in boot camp.

When I got her box of things that they send home of everything they had when they went into boot camp, I also received a sweet note she left in the pocket of her jeans for me. In that note it said she missed the other half of her heart. Oddly, we both used the same expression to describe the loss we felt by the separation.

When she got separated from the Navy due to her scoliosis and came home, we were both elated! I had my baby girl back home!!

We decided to get tattoos to kinda “commemorate” our journey through Navy boot camp.

And we finally did it!This child of mine will always have half of my heart ❤️

As our families grow, or separate, it makes it harder and harder to have traditional holiday celebrations that we are accustomed to. We’ve had to learn to have multiple Christmas meals, multiple days of unwrapping gifts, certainly not on any specific day.

I’m sure as the years pass, things will continue to change and we will continue to modify our traditions. This year we had some major changes, but in the end, we all survived. Not just survived, but thrived.

2018 was a wonderful year and I’m super excited about 2019!

Me and my guy ❤️

My crew. Including my daughter, son, daughter in law and grandson.

My bonus crew. Addie, Cooper and Peyton.

My sweet daughter and myself.

And then this happened… I said I would never ever again but when you find a love like this one, anything is possible! Of course I said yes!!

Happy holidays from my family to yours! May 2019 bring each of you excellent health, joy, prosperity, and growth. 😘

I absolutely LOVE to craft! I work so much I don’t have much time anymore to do anything. I decided that since the family has gotten so big, I’d try my hand at some handmade gifts for them for Christmas.

I’ve heard of doing reverse canvas but I’ve never attempted it because it looked to time consuming. Also I didn’t have any of the stuff on hand and I hate driving so…there’s that. But, I loaded up in the car, drove to Michaels and got the junk I needed to give it a go. Now, I’m obsessed.

I got the basic artist canvas and cut the canvas away from the frame with a razor knife, separating the frame and the canvas.

Next, I cut my vinyl design on my Cameo 3 and ironed it onto the canvas. Then I placed the frame on top of the canvas and stapled the canvas to the back of the frame. Viola!

Pretty sure I’ll be making MANY more of these!

This year I decided to take December to a whole notha’ level by doing Prank Wars with my family. My son and daughter in law live literally two miles from us so it makes it super easy.

The first night we put some haunted house noises on and played them into their dining room window with the bf’s amazing new speaker. My son came outside with a flashlight and a big ol’ knife!! He found me, the bf and my daughter hiding in his back yard.

A few nights later, my DIL came over to drop something off and lo and behold my son was outside throwing things at our house, trying to freak us out.

So, to retaliate, I pulled out the big guns. I stole their car!! I happened to have a spare key here so we went over there about midnight and snatched it up. They called the next morning looking for it. My DIL has seen about some car break ins on Facebook so she was a little worried. Hahahahaha!

Next, they came over late one night and started beating our door down. Scared the shit out of us for a second but we knew it was them.

Last night, I hear firecrackers at my door. I open it up to my DIL standing there. I let her in and we chatted for a few minutes while my bf put a decal on her car.

They found it this morning 😂

Since it’s the weekend I imagine the Shenanigans will amp up and I can’t wait!!

Every year my family does a gingerbread house contest and awards are given for “Most Creative”, “Most Festive”, “Participation Award”, etc. This year we included my parents and my grandmother and her husband because my granny was in town from Mississippi. She’s getting on up there in age and I don’t know if I’ll have many, if any, more holidays with her so I wanted to take advantage of this time.

What I usually do is get a bunch of boxes of graham crackers, vanilla frosting, food coloring, and every bag of $1 candy the store has in stock (jelly beans, mints, butterscotch…you get the idea). Then you just go from there. Blank slate. Cardboard wrapped in wax paper. No pre-fab stuff around here (unless you’re a grandparent.) And of course prizes for the winners!

The kids get so competitive and literally start planning their ideas weeks, even months, in advance. Because I’m a “judge” the little ones always come to me for advice. (I love that!)

We did simple food this year (ham and cheese sliders and a ranch ball. Recipe here:Football Finger Foods) and spent some great quality time together!

My sweet grandson, Mason (3.5), who loves taking pictures and hamming it up for the camera.

My step-dad overseeing construction on Addie’s (9) gingerbread house.Addie, Cooper (11), and Peyton (14) getting started.My mom and Granny’s husband helping my Granny get started.He oversaw her construction 😉Peyton getting VERY creative on hers!Addie has a broken arm, so this was a challenge for her but she never complained!Peyton’s house caved in so my step-dad (Grandpa) stepped in and made it “Structurally Sound”.As you can see, we take this very seriously! Even the littlest one!

Emily (19) with her Southpark themed “Kenny’s house (because for whatever reason she’s obsessed with him).Copper’s Georgia Bulldog StadiumMason’s creationAddie’s “Woodmont Country Club” complete with pool, golfcourse, and lakeMy mom’s houseMy Granny’s housePeyton’s Christmas At The Beach. I told her she needed to go on one of those contest shows for this!

Addie won the prize for “Most Original”Cooper and his prize for “Most Festive”Peyton and her prize for “Most Creative”. And Jingle Bella in the background, haha!My granny, my mom and me. I was actually holding back tears in this photo. And with my two kiddosFive Generations. Priceless!!

So what are some of your favorite family holiday traditions? As our family keeps growing I want to include more traditions that we continue from year to year. ‘Tis the season and I’m so excited!

Sidenote: We moved in 5 days ago and weren’t EVEN prepared to do this so soon and we had shit everywhere so ignore the vent hood box and lightbulbs in the background and the random tiki torch in my dining room. I’m still not sure what that’s all about.

Today was spent moving. ALL DAY. We moved myself, my bf and my daughter out and we moved my son, DIL and grandson’s things in. It was absolutely exhausting but we are almost done. We still have a few things to move out and in but this long journey is almost over!!

So…here are some pics of our hard work!

After it’s all set up (hopefully tomorrow) I’ll post more 😘

Life has been SO hectic lately. I haven’t had time for much of anything besides renovating the new house and working.

Fortunately my job allows me to work from home, or my car, or Starbucks. Basically anywhere I have WiFi or a phone with a hotspot. I work 12.5 hours a day, 3 days a week. My typical workday actually consists of about 3 hours of me really working. The rest of the time I can watch my tv shows, clean my house, whatever I want.

And then there’s flu season. I wake up to calls at 730 sharp and they come in consistently until 8pm. Those days I’m just trying to find the time to pee and shower. As of this week, flu season is apparently upon us. Work has been hell and I’m exhausted. Mentally and physically.

Add to that we are doing a total home renovation. The minute I pick up a paint brush I have to put it down to take a call. I’m getting nowhere in that department.

But we have made some progress I’d like to share with y’all.

This is the living room before:

This is after. We still have to trim the white on the trim and the little insert thingys and paint that last insert.

The dark wall is just on the main wall and the rest are the light grey color.Dining room before:Dining room after: (still needs trimmed)The mess of a kitchen before:We now have countertops and appliances!

My girl painted her room all by herself! And did a great job!The mess of a den:A bit of progress:My Bedroom:

Almost done!

So that has been my chaos for the past week! Crossing my fingers we can get it all done and be in by Thanksgiving. It doesn’t really matter because I’m not hosting but it would still be nice to be in by then. Still a possibility so we shall see!!

#TotalHomeMakeover

#Renovations

Omg y’all. The excitement that I had for doing these home renovations is quickly fading. It’s so much work!! There is so much house and I can’t find one inch of it that doesn’t need some love.

We successfully got all the cabinets painted (which was a 3 day project due to crap paint). Yesterday we painted the trim in the kitchen and painted the “den” and that went pretty quickly, probably because we didn’t have crap paint!!

This is the before color. It was yellow and on top of that yellow was a pinkish color. Blech.

And there is the sneak peek of the “after”. It’s PERFECT!

Now all we have left to paint is: the kitchen, dining room, living room, bedrooms, bathrooms and halls.

The countertops are supposed to be installed Wednesday or Thursday of this week and thank God because look at this bathroom countertop 😳

Not to mention the floors in the bathrooms are being replaced. I’m not sure there is an end in sight anymore. I’m SO overwhelmed.

I need some wine!!!

So we did a thing…we got another home! Since all the kids moved in we’ve been super cramped in our current home. The only issue, we have to do hella renovations on it. Every room needs fresh paint, there was a leak in the roof which ruined a wall, which meant the roof AND wall had to be replaced. The counters all have to be ripped out and replaced (kitchen and bathrooms), the kitchen cabinets need redone, and the shutters on the house need to be repainted. Most of the work (besides the roof and the counter tops) we are doing ourselves.

My 19 year old daughter, my bf and myself will move to the new home and my son, DIL and grandson will stay here in our current home. Luckily, we will literally live 2 miles from one another, so we’ll get to visit anytime we want.

We are starting with the kitchen cabinets so we can have the granite countertops laid next. Here’s our progress so far:

This is where we started. Taking off doors and drawers and labeling the hardware.

Notice the wonderful brown color 🤮

Also note the ugly backsplash. That’s going to be gone next.

The DIL and I painted the cabinets while the bf sprayed the cabinet doors.

After it was all put back together (minus the new hardware for the doors and drawers), here is the final product. We are kinda proud!! We got black pearl granite for the countertops so I think with the floors (which I’m keeping bc I love) it’s going to look amazing!!

The big hole is for the oven that hasn’t been delivered yet and that ugly ass old stove is being replaced too. Side note: the people measured it wrong and ordered us a stove 6in too small so we got an upgraded one at no additional cost! Yaasss! Can’t wait till those arrive!!

Stay tuned….we have a ways to go! I’m going to be proud of this little (except not little) project!!