My Favorite Way to Eat a Turkey for Thanksgiving

You all know how much I love to cook!  Right?  A couple of years ago I heard of soaking your turkey in kosher salt for 12-24 hours before cooking it.  So I decided to try it.

I made sure the turkey was nice and thawed out.  Then I pulled out all that inside stuff and threw it away (a sin I know, but it really grosses me out).  Then I rinsed the turkey off.

Then I got out my largest pot and the stuffed the turkey in there and rubbed kosher salt all over that turkey.  I put it inside, outside, everywhere I could get salt.  Then I covered the turkey in water (as much as I could).

Now put the turkey in the fridge for 12-24 hours.  Since my turkey was not totally covered in the water I flipped it over halfway through.

The salt will make the water absorb into the turkey so you will have a super moist turkey.  It is SOOO good.

Then when I was ready to cook the turkey I added a couple of chopped up onions, celery, garlic, and apples to the bag.  Put the breast side down for cooking.  Then I cooked it for the appropriate amount of time (I think I found that on the cooking bag instructions or the turkey I really don't remember).  Then when there is an hour left I flipped the turkey over so the breast was up.  This is really difficult because everything is super hot and the juice from the bag is going to splash all over.  It is worth the effort though.  Trust me :)

I won't be making the turkey this year cause we are going to Grandmas house instead.  But I am going to go buy a turkey if the weather will let me and then sometime in the next few months I am going to cook me a super good turkey

Cheap Wood Entry or Sofa Table Using 2x4's

I have been searching high and low for 2 year for a entry table that would fit in my long, odd shaped entry.  I didn't want to spend very much and wanted to refinish whatever it was that I found.  I  have had no luck.  Seriously, Craigslist and Facebook selling groups failed me big time in this area.   

I finally gave up my search when I found this tutorial on Ana White's furniture building website.  It was perfect, except it was a bench and not a table. 

With 2 small changes we were able to turn that bench into a table.  Plus, it is perfect in my entry way.

First we made the legs a lot longer.  I wanted it to be more like counter height, so I just put my hand on my hip for how high I wanted and my husband measured.  Old fashioned, I know, but it worked.

Then, we added 1 extra board on the top to make it wider.  The top fits perfectly on the top, but it no longer  was as wide as the legs, because we lengthened them.  So we just cut one more board the length of the boards for the top and centered them on there and screwed them down.

Now my top is a little wider like a table would be and taller.

Finally, I just stained it for a rustic look.

I love the table!  It was our first "build from scratch" project and I am in love.  It was an easy build.  It was CHEAP too!  It was only 2x4's and we bought 2 extra boards for the couple of changes we made.  2x4's at my local store are around $2.50 so in total it cost me $20 for 7 2x4's and some longer screws.  I already had the stain from other projects that I have been working on.

So a huge shout out to my husband for building the table and to +Ana White for having easy to follow instructions on how to build a table.

Ruffle Trim Girl Skirts

 

I love all things ruffle.  Seriously....LOVE.  Especially when those ruffles are on little girls.  There is nothing better in the world. 

Last weekend I caught up on all my etsy orders (which is a first in such a long time it was a weird feeling)  and had promised my 2 older girls that I would make them a skirt.  I didn't know exactly what I would make them, but my drawer of remnant ruffle fabric pieces was over flowing and driving me NUTS!

is it just me or am I the only person that can't get a decent picture of ALL of my children at once.  Oh well.  I can't wait til she is 30 and I can say "check out that temper...all over a cabbage patch doll"

So this was the solution to my problem. I was able to use up some of my remnants and make the girls a cute new skirt.   I also had some ruffle satin trim hanging around in my sewing room from Wholeport.  

SUPPLIES:
~Ruffle fabric pieces cut so that there is only 1 or 2 ruffles on each piece (1 piece would go around the entire skirt once)
 ~Satin Ruffle Trim or lace trim ( 1 yard went around the skirt once)
~cotton fabric for the base (I used a skirt that my girls already had to guesstimate what size it needed to be.  For reference my 7 year olds skirt measured a total of 27 inches around the waist and 25 inches long)
~elastic waist band.  I used 3 inch wide on the larger skirt and 1.5 inch wide for the medium skirt
~ric-rac if desired. 

1.  I used a solid white cotton fabric for the base of my skirts.  Cut your skirt pieces the size desired.  I would make it at least 3 inches wider than your child's measurements and then stretch your elastic to fit the width. That way you know that the skirt will fit your child :)

2. Sew your skirt together down the 2 sides.  I used my serger.  Then I serged/finished the top and the bottom as well .

3.Sew your elastic waistband onto the skirt piece.  I like to do it now instead of after sewing the ruffles on so that you can make sure you get the ruffles as close to the elastic as possible so you don't see the base fabric

4. Mark your rows for going around the skirt.  Normally I wouldn't take the time, but it kept my lines straight and gave me a guide for sewing the ruffles down.  On the larger skirt I marked every 1 inch, on the other 2 I marked every 1.5 inches.  I don't think it matters which one you do.  I didn't end up sewing exactly on the line.  It just depended on how wide the ruffle or trim was that I was using on that row.  But it was really nice to have the markings as a guide to help me keep the rows straight

5.  Now start at the top of your skirt and pick the first fabric you are going to be sewing on.  I sewed as close, or barely on top of the elastic, as I could.  That way the base fabric wasn't visible after sewing.
6. The satin trim is easy to sew on.  Just top stitch it onto your base fabric, keeping it straight with your guide marks.  The ruffle fabric is a little more difficult.  A couple suggestions I have that may help you:
   a. if you are doing 2 ruffle pieces then I would open the ruffle fabric up like in the picture below with the right side facing the base fabric and sew it onto your base fabric.  Then when you are done sewing the fabric will fold over and appear a lot fuller.
  b. I would stuff as much ruffle fabric in while sewing as possible to make it fuller.  The first couple rows I did were not full enough so I ended up going back and adding more fabric there.
c. You could pre-ruffle your ruffle fabric before sewing if you find that easier to keep your ruffling even.  I didn't, I just stuffed and sewed. 

7.  Make sure if you aren't going to be sewing a ruffle onto the very bottom of your base fabric where you serged it to fold it over and finish it nicely.
8.  If you would like to add the ric-rac trim at the top now is the time.  I just top stitched the ric-rac on right at the top edge of the first ruffle.

Thanks so much for stopping by and checking out my tutorial.  If you find it helpful you might consider following along for more great tutorials and information. 

 

Strawberry French Toast with Coconut Syrup

If you haven't noticed lately, but I am a little obsessed with flavor bread for french toast.  Its one of my family's favorite breakfast.  Especially if it includes whipping cream and fresh fruit.

So today, we tried a bread from Franz called Strawberry Shortcake.  It smelled DI-VINE!  Of course me and my cheap wallet got the bread at the Franz day old bread store.  I did look in our local Fred Meyer and they had the bread too, it was $1 more, but they had it.

Recipe :
1 loaf of Strawberry flavored bread (I personally prefer to use bread that has yeast, it seems to hold together better)
5 eggs
1/2 c almond milk (or regular milk)
1 tsp vanilla extract
Fresh Strawberries
Coconut Syrup (Go HERE for the recipe)
Whipping Cream (from a can or the real stuff)

1. Mix the eggs, milk, and vanilla together.  Beat the eggs really well.
2. Dip each bread slice into your mixture.  Make sure to coat each side well, then place on a griddle.
3. Cook on both sides until light brown
4.  Serve french toast warm with fresh cut strawberries, syrup and whipping cream

Hot Pink and Aqua Girls Bathroom

My 2 oldest girls (7 and 4) recently asked me if I could get them bunk beds so they could move downstairs together.  Of course I was ELATED, we have been trying to get them to move down for awhile now.

So I finally found me some Craigslist bunkbeds, and they came with a desk and a dresser.  Well, I finally got the furniture all painted, so over the weekend I painted their new bedroom and bathroom.  They are both the tiffany blue walls, with hot pink and white accents.    Their bedroom isn't quite finished yet, I am still waiting on a couple things to come in the mail.  So without further Ado....Here is the big bathroom reveal:

Glass Cupboard to a Picture Display

This is the Picture Display that I shared with on +UCreate blog a few weeks ago.  Thought I would share it with you all in case you missed it.  

Hi!  I am Bobbie and I blog over at I am Only 1 Woman and I have an Etsy Shop called A Vision to Remember.  I am the mom to 3 little girls that keep my life fun and eventful, and maybe even a little dramatic at times!

I love to refinish furniture and recently I redid a china Cabinet to store a little fabric in:

The only problem was I had 2 doors that I no longer needed and didn't know what to do with them for sure, until I had the idea to turn them into a picture display. 

So I went about painting them with my favorite paint sprayer.  I kept the original handles on the cupboards because I love the way they look, but I did spray pain them silver instead of the yucky old brass color.

Then I picked out the pictures that I wanted to use and placed them where I wanted them.

Then I used a few glue dots on each picture to secure the pictures down.

The first time I hung the pictures I used 2 nails and that did the trick for a few weeks until one of my daughters walked by and brushed the frame...Crash!!!  So then I bought some of the Command Strips that are like velcro and stuck those to the back of the frame and they work PERFECTLY! 

I just love how they came out!

Thanks so much Kari for letting me visit your blog!