Towel Hooks

Instead of having a towel bar try some hooks!  Love how functional they are!

Pictures & Stairs

I am starting to work on my staircase that goes upstairs!  When I saw the fun ways to display photography I was sold!  I love to take pictures but they all seem to sit in a book......LETS GET THEM OUT!!

This picture is actually of my moms stairs.  I love the old windows!

I love the black and white pictures!

Source: kristendukephotography.com via Brooke on Pinterest

I just love this for under a staircase ..... what an awesome idea!

Source: traditionalhome.com via Brooke on Pinterest

Thrifty Lace Slip Covers

 {I LOVE PILLOWS} 

I have tons of pillow forms but nothing to go on them.  So with a little help from my AMAZING mom....We made some thrifty pillow cases!   From a white sheet we made the white slip covers that you can see under the lace, and for the lace overlay we used the lace curtains that used to hang in this house.

For the white pillow case we just did a traditional slip cover that overlaps in the back.  For the Lace I didn't want to cut off the ends, as you can see it is so pretty!  We just made a traditional pillowcase that slides right over the top!  Super simple and cheap!

  

The BEST fresh Salsa EVER

My Mom and I had been looking for a good salsa recipe forever...until we found one a couple years ago.  I have taken that one and made it my own.  The thing I have found with fresh salsa is that it always tastes different sometime I love a batch and sometimes it is not my favorite.  So just experiment.

Every time I take this salsa somewhere I am always handing out the recipe!  It is so easy too!

I would recommend chopping everything in a chopper NOT the blender.  It is better chunky!  You will also want to take the seeds out of your peppers if you don't want it to be spicy!

Here is the coveted recipe

20 Roma Tomatoes
2 Green Peppers
3 Sweet Banana Peppers
2 Jalapenos
1 onion
4 cloves of garlic minced
Celantro (optional)
Garlic salt/onion salt to taste (I used lots)

ENJOY!!!!

Outside update, Rivalry, and a word of caution....

Here is the before...you may have already seen it...but just as a reminder!

Yes, there is a house under all of that!  My brothers and sisters all came over and wow it came down pretty fast!  Anytime you give my Brother in Law a chain saw things seem to move, he gets a little chain saw happy.  I had to stand in front of a few trees to insure he didn't cut them down!  To give you an idea we had a dump trailer full of foilage and the dump weighed us in at over 2 tons.  WOW...and to think there is still more!  We will be pulling out all the gravel and planting grass as it is much softer for the kiddos to play on.

The blue must go.  Today is the BYU vs University of Utah game.  We are Utah fans, for those of you who don't know their colors are RED, and yes BYU's colors are BLUE.  My husband is a big smack talker and really enjoys getting into the spirit of the game...apparently someone felt the need to get him back.  But I do have to say it was quite a wussy attempt on their part.....LOL...but thank you for that as it is less clean up!

   GO UTES!!!!

All the vines you saw on the house were Wisteria...Let me give you a word of caution before you plant them.  Yes, they are pretty in the spring, however with the good always seems to be the bad.  They ruin everything they touch...I think this picture speaks for itself.

Happy Weekend

TTFN

Brooke

Reliance

 One of the many wonderful things about this house is ALL the produce that is growing!  

Yesterday we had taco's and everything with the exception of the meat and tortilla's came from the backyard.  What is it about growing your own food that makes you feel so fulfilled?  

The previous owner of our home was an amazing gardener, I think I have one of everything

*Asian Pear

*4 different apples, one that she has trained to grow on a fence(pictures to come)

*Plum

*Peaches

*Pears

*Grapes

*Raspberries.....and yes the list goes on

We also have a stream they put in by themselves...however I have a love hate relationship with this stream....it attracts snakes!  AHHHH!!!  I HATE THEM!!!

Pictures of the stream to come too!

So much to learn about grapes...I hear it is best to pick them after the first killing freeze to seal in the sugar!

Aren't these tomatoes cute...they are Pear Tomatoes!!  I usually HATE tomatoes but I LOVE these guys!

I also have red and white raspberries...I never knew there were white raspberries but they are good

And Asian Pears...I had never even had one but they are good. I am going to try canning Asian Pear sauce.

A whole new adventure so excited!!!

ttfn

brooke

Nursery Update

Before....GREEN....ahhh

Amazing what moldings and a little bit of paint can do.  Now to decorate!

{MASTER BEDROOM}

After a week of renovation we moved in on saturday!  No, everything is not done...but done enough that we could move furniture in!  Below is the progress of our Master Bedroom!

I didn't get a Before Before picture .... so this is the best I got!

 We laid pine planks, stained them, and then waxed the floor to seal it.  They turned out so rich and colorful.  I love the rustic feel of them, we used finish nails but left them exposed to add to the style of the floor!

Here it is almost finished!  As you can see the crown molding is not up yet!  I can't hang crown molding, as I found out after much trial and error...so we have to wait for it to be put up!  Hopefully soon!  I love how all the molding just brings our room to life.

The doors casing just looks outstanding, thanks to my wonderful husband who stuck with it.  Casing can be a very trying task!

The Headers are AMAZING!!!!!!!

Our Dog {Pebbles} even got into the reno spirit and started painting things with her ears.

TTFN

Brooke