French Toast and Berry Butter

I have a new obsession.  It’s called The Pioneer Woman.  I just recently discovered her site.  Yes, I have been living in a cave…or Iowa.  We’re a little behind on cool stuff here…

One of the first posts I read was a recipe for berry butter…

It looked delicious.  I knew I had Nate had to make this for us.  Actually, I made the butter.  Nate made the French toast.  We are a dynamic kitchen duo (that’s for my brother…he hates when I write cheesy crap).

We followed the recipe exactly.  And it was delicious.  And pretty.  You could totally trick people into thinking you slaved away on a beautiful breakfast with this recipe…and it’s easy.  I mean, I made the pretty butter.  I almost didn’t post this so my secret wouldn’t be out…

Nate usually makes French toast with the whole egg but he just used the yolk (as suggested) and now we won’t go back.  No crusty, eggy tasting French toast for us.  Bring on the cholesterol. 

Although our final product isn’t quite as pretty as Pioneer Woman’s, it was still quite tasty…

She suggested adding powdered sugar and we might try that next time…only because we like our sugar.  Sugar. Sugar. Sugar.

What’s your favorite French toast topping?  I am usually a strictly peanut butter and syrup girl but this recipe is giving my peanut butter a run for it’s money!

And on a totally unrelated note…who’s watching Big Brother?  Do you like when they bring previous contestants back?  I’m not a fan but I’ll keep watching…

Anddddddd my blog buddy, Mindy, over at Finding Silver Linings has just opened an Etsy site full of cute brooches and headbands….and she is having a giveaway….enter here!!

Decapitating St. Joseph

Who wants to hear a funny story that summarizes how awesome I am?

Remember our first house…

We wanted to sell it so we didn’t have to pay for it and our new house…even though two mortgages did sound really fun…

This lovely home was on the market for 2 or 3 months with no lookers.  I was stressing out…because that’s what I do best. I then heard about a centuries-old tradition claiming that burying a statue of St. Joseph in the yard helps homes sell faster.  Bury a statue and sell your home.  Sounds like it will totally work.  I’m in.  What could go wrong?

I set off to the nearest Christian store to look for my statue.  $12 and he was mine.

I get home and excitedly open the package…bring on the closing!  I then accidently drop St. Joseph onto the counter.  His head breaks off….and rolls under the stove…seriously.  I wish I was making this up.

I start crying hysterically.  I call Nate and freak him out.  I’m so hysterical that he thinks I was in a car wreck or Ike ran away.  Nope, I just ruined the sale of our home…forever….and St. Joseph’s head is still under the stove. This can’t be good.

Nate gets home. He retrieves St. Joseph’s head and suggests that I superglue it back on…(I was also really good with a camera back in the day…)

Good as new right? I buried him according to the “directions”. Our home didn’t sell for another 7 months. 

I meant to dig him back up before we moved…but I forgot.  I wonder how freaked out the new owners will be to find a saint with a super glued head wrapped in sock.

Does burying St. Joseph help you sell your house?  Well, ours sold…but not quickly (but how quick is quick in the housing market?).  Maybe we should add some clause for extra months of ownership for mishandling the saint?

What crazy things have you done to sell a home?

Kitchen Similarities

You learn a lot about your personal tastes when you build two houses.  You learn what you like and what you don’t like.  I think this is best demonstrated in our kitchens.

Meet our old kitchen….

Kind of looks like our current kitchen’s…less attractive step-sister??

As you can tell, we used a lot of the same elements in our current kitchen that we used in our first kitchen….white cabinets, stainless steel appliances, kitchen island, green wall color, and wood floors.  We liked most of the features of our first kitchen so we used it as inspiration in our second.

Some people might call using the same elements “boring.”  We call it “doing what works” with a little upgrading.

We did upgrade to granite countertops (versus laminate), toned down the wall color, and added more cabinets.  Our current cabinets have crown molding to fancy them up.  The bar height island allows for additional seating.  The floors are a darker cherry versus the honey oak.

Do you think just “upgrading” a kitchen is boring or are you a fan of doing what works?  Do you have any “clones” from a first house to second?