Random Goodness Tuesdays ~Planning & Storage

Random Goodness #1:
I love this creative Dry Erase Menu Planner created by Positively Splendid!

This could be made by hand with papers and stickers or done with the aide of a Cricut or Silhouette machine. This is perfect for busy families! The only downfall I would see to this planner is that your kids just might invite extra guest when they see their favorite meals planned ahead of time! You might want to add a RSVP area to make sure you prepare enough food! ;)





Random Goodness #2
Here is a great How To on making Magazine Storage Boxes!
If you use the appropriate size box, you get two out of each box!

From this:


To this:


Head over to A Bowl Full of Lemons to see her How To!



Random Goodness #3
Here is a great little "sprucing" of IKEA boxes! I'm totally loving the color scheme and patterns! I especially love the seedheads in the green paper on the upper right side!



Check out this project at Trans-Craft-Inental!

Be sure to come back next week for more
Random Goodness Tuesdays!

Random Goodness Tuesdays ~Christmas Eye Candy!

Can you believe Christmas is only days away?!

I've been looking at all kinds of fabulous decorating ideas online, yet the only Christmas Decor I have put up is a boutique swag above my daughters exterior front door when she moved in the first of the month. Oh, and the plastic light up Santa on her great front porch. But, my 21 month old grandson is scared of it!
Go Figure!

As for my own home and My Guy's home...
I have tons of ideas, but I do fight the Winter Blues.
But there is also a somewhat good reason.

Quite honestly, I have all my Christmas items packed away into the enclosed balcony storage room. The room that needs to be entered through to get to that storage room is packed with some things that still need to go to my daughters recently moved into huge rental home. After the first of the year I will be so glad to finally get all those items out of there! There are also items to be re-purposed for this Summers Craft Fair and things that I simply cannot force myself to let go of yet.

If only the Update & Remodel Fairies would come to my aide for my home... some of my blues would start to dissipate! Two main rooms in my downstairs are screaming for attention.

As for the disarray upstairs >>> a number of things have been cleared out of the lower level and plopped into the Balcony Storage Room and the Unused Catch All Bedroom upstairs!

The disarray downstairs >>> one room is stripped down to the bare lathe and the on hold sewing room is s t i l l waiting to be started.

My body simply cannot take the physical labor very well anymore. But I'm not defeated yet - just waiting for the assistance and more money that I need.

As for having the energy and room to get to the stored decor and glisten up my home for Christmas...
there's always Next Year!?

SO...........
ONTO THE MAGICAL SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS...
In someone else's home! ;)

I ran across a website called Houzz.com
It is Chocked Full of fabulous Idea Books with tons of photos to pull inspiration from! It's quite an interesting site!

This link will take you to the 50 Photos of Amazing Holiday Decorations.
Well worth the look!

Below, each photo (linked) below will take you directly to the website for the room that these fabulous projects are located at - outside of Houzz.com.


Toby Fairley's
Monkey Around this Holiday Season:
Bright, festive and downright Monkey Around FUN!



Sweet Something Designs
O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree:
I love the woodsy, natural elements in this theme that have been sparkled up for a beautiful Woodland Christmas Theme!



The Happy Home's
DIY Gift Wrap & Card Ideas:
What a Grand Presentation sitting under a tree! This would also be good for keeping presents sorted when traveling.


Be sure to go to 50 Photos of Amazing Holiday Decorations to see ALL of the Christmas Decor ideas that are showcased there!

And you might want to make weekly - if not daily - trips to see all the wonderful things that are in the Idea Books at Houzz.com.

Thanks for stopping by to browse a little Christmas Eye Candy!


Be sure to check back next week for more
Random Goodness Tuesdays!

Bissell SpotBot Pet Review and Steam & Sweep Hard Floor CleanerGIVEAWAY!

Have you been wanting a Steam & Sweep Hard Floor Cleaner?
Win one here FREE ----> Two of a Kind Working on a Full House Bissell Giveaway!



I have FOUR rooms of linoleum and hope to be adding three rooms of laminate soon. And that's just my downstairs! Ohhhh how I would love to win one of these babies!

There is a Great Review over on Two of A Kind...
for the Bissell SpotBot Pet.


Bissell has many types of cleaners that you could put on your Christmas List!

For people with kids and/or pets:
Did you know that they had this Big Daddy that does professional cleaning in your home?!!
Take a look at the Big Green Deep Cleaning Machine™!

Be sure to check out All the Other Amazing Giveaways that is posted on Two of a Kind Working on a Full House!

Read the directions for Extra Entries on all of her giveaways!

Good Luck and Happy Holidays to you all!

Candied Turkey Bacon!YUM!

I ran across this great recipe and just happened to have bought turkey bacon last night! WOW! I think this would be great to take to a Holiday Party! I think I should make this a Holiday Tradition for my family on Christmas too!

Here is the recipe I found and it is followed by my photos with a suggestion.


Candied Turkey Bacon
by Fat Girl Trapped in a Skinny Body
and adapted from The Kitchn

turkey bacon 

brown sugar 

kosher salt 

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silpat mat. Place bacon on lined cookie sheet, making sure not to overlap any edges. Lightly sprinkle each piece of bacon with brown sugar (about 2 tsp/each) and place cookie sheet in cold oven. Set temperature to 350 degrees and bake 20-25 minutes.

Around 18 minutes check on them. Keep checking on them from 18-22 minutes to make sure they aren't burning (since all ovens are diff. temps). But a little darkness on the bacon is good, you just don't want charred bacon.

Remove the pan from oven and place the cookie sheet on a wire rack. Sprinkle kosher salt over bacon pieces. Once the pieces cooled enough to handle, I put them straight on the wire rack to let them cool completely.

Here is my photo blog making this yummy treat!

Below is when I probably should have removed it from the oven!

This is what you are looking for!

I got back on the computer and left it in about 4 minutes too long! 

Computer Brain - Imagine That!

But the lighter pieces still taste very scrumptious!

Be sure to let your parchment paper extend up the side of the pan. Some of the brown sugar melted under the sheet and created a yucky mess. Next time I will use a cookie pan with a lip and crease the paper to keep the mess inside the quick clean up paper! 

Credit: http://fatgirltrappedinaskinnybody.blogspot.com/2010/05/candied-turkey-bacon.html

and adapted from http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/ingredients-meat/try-this-candied-salted-bacon-096893

Mama’s Holiday Wish List 2010 GIVEAWAY!!!

TodaysMama and GameStop are giving away a sleighful of gifts this holiday season and to enter I’m sharing this meme with you.

1. What is your holiday wish for your family?

That somehow all my weatherization & update fix-it projects on our house will get resolved this year! Eight years of drafty areas and problems from the terrible handywork of the owners before us needs to be resolved so that our house can become "a home". I also need to make certain changes on the house for My Guy to be able to move into our home as his Multiple Sclerosis progresses in the coming years. He will need to move out of his above garage apartment to one level.

2. What is your Christmas morning / Hanukkah Nightly tradition?

Since my divorce, I have not had a Christmas Morning tradition. Now that my life is running smoother, I need to start one again - especially with new grandchildren!

3. If you could ask Santa for one, completely decadent wish for yourself, what would it be?

See Wish Number One. It has been such a burden to live with the conditions of my "home". We need peace and tranquility.

4. How do you make the holidays special without spending any money?

We've not been able to really spend much money for Christmas for over 10 years. Just getting together to eat and visit is our main highlight.

5. What games did you play with your family growing up?

Trouble, Rummy, and Monopoly.

6. What holiday tradition have you carried on from your own childhood?

There was never an actual tradition. I need to decide on one and carry it on.

7. Where would you go for a Christmas/Hanukkah-away-from-home trip?

I'd rather have money invested into my house. It would feel like going on a long trip if my house issues were resolved finally.

8. Check out GameStop and tell us, what are the three top items on your GameStop Wish List this year?

I think the kids and grandkids would be delighted with PS3, Nintendo Wii and XBox 360!



Be sure to read all the rules and get as many entries as you can! There is a regular GiveAway and also the Grand Prize GiveAway that is related to this post!

Good Luck Everyone!
And Happy Holidays to you all!

Random Goodness TuesdaysTis the Season

Random Goodness #1

Years ago my mother did all kinds of wood crafts. She even had a gift shop that she sold Children's Furniture she had created. I remember Mom making a log taper candle holder and embellishing it with Christmas decor. These can be done up in many different styles. I love the tutorial shown for the Log Candle Votive by Design to Shine.



More to come later today... I was busy for days helping my daughter move, then resting up. Once again, I'm behind schedule. Check back later for more!