Laminate Cabinet Redo

I've been looking for a shoe storage solution for right next to our door leading out the the garage. Everything I was seeing was more than I was willing to spend. On a local "For Sale" facebook page last week I saw this cabinet and decided this might fit the bill. It was in poor condition, but I thought I could get it new life:

I started by lightly standing it all (except for the spots that had stickers, those I sanded a lot to get the sticker residue off).

Then it was a coat of primer and some  paint. I had the primer and I bought 2 sample jars of paint and that covered it. I had a little help!

After it was all painted I did a coat of poly on the top and sides (where I figured it would get the more wear and tear).



So far it's working great and I'm the only one that doesn't put my shoes in it. Strange I know, but I'm in and out of my flip flops all day they stay in a corner!

Recipe: Slushy Root beer Float

Did you know that Aug 6th was National Root beer Float day? Well you're too late to celebrate on that day, but really any day can warrant a root beer float! My kids love them and I love slushies and decided to combine the two.

You need:

• Root beer


• Vanilla Ice Cream


• Ice cream maker


• Cups, spoons, straws

It's pretty simple, pour your already chilled root beer into your already frozen ice cream maker and let it go. I could have let mine go longer, but my kids were very impatient and wanted their root beer floats!

Put some ice cream in the bottom of the cup and then pour some slushy on to and top with another scoop.



I love the shushy with ice cream, yum!

Recipe: Asian Honey Mustard Kabobs

I love trying out and experimenting with dinner. For me it's fun to try new things and see if we like them. My kids aren't so sure, but generally put up with it. My husband it pretty adventuresome and it game for whatever I want to try, which is awesome.

I've done kabobs in the past, but usually only meat and usually only chicken. This night I stepped out of the box and used sausage and it was delish!

Asian Honey Mustard Kabobs:

Sauce:

• 1/4 C Honey


• 1/2 C Dijon Mustard


• 1 TBSP Simply Asia Sweet Ginger Garlic Seasoning (found at Costco)

Mix these 3 ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.

For the kabob:

• 1 package of Sweet Italian Sasauge or 5 links cut into 1 inch pieces


• 1 Red bell pepper cut into chunks


• 1 white onion cut into chunks


• 4 waxy potatoes cut into large chunks, microwaved for 7-8 minutes to partially cook


• wooden skewers

Assemble kabobs with an even mixture of sausage, pepper, onion and potato.

Heat your grill to a medium (about 350 to 375 temp). Place kabobs on grill and brush the tops with the sauce. Turn every 3 to 4 minutes brushing the tops each time. Cook until sausage is cooked through (about 15 minutes) and enjoy!

DIY Glitter Toes

A few weeks ago my sister sent me an email with a link to a YouTube video about doing DIY glitter nails. Last fall I had gone and had glitter toes done at a salon and loved the look, but not the price. I decided to give it a try on my 7 year olds toes (and my own) to see if it really worked.

Start with clean unpainted toes:

I used a generic brand of clear polish. Nothing fancy.

Don't be shy about pouring the glitter on, you'll be able to pour what you don't use back in your bottle.

I used a q-tip and toothpick to help get the excess glitter off.

Here they are all done but before the washing

And here are mine after 5 days:

It took a while for each coat to dry, but once it was done we washed our feet and were good to go. We're now on day 5 and my daughters toes are starting to chip, but I think she's been messing with them. My are still pretty good. We've even been swimming since doing them.

I think this is a great DIY and you could get some pretty fun toes with all of the different colors of glitter out there.

Recipe Review: Monster Magic Cookie Bars

Another Pinterest find today that I wanted to try. I have a meeting this evening and I thought this would be a good opportunity to not have the whole pan for us! The original recipe was found at Something Swanky!It was super easy and I only made 1 adjustment (peanut butter chips, in addition to chocolate chips!).

Monster Magic Cookie Bars

• 1 sleeve graham crackers crushed in a quart size ziploc baggie


• 4 TBSP butter


• 1 Can Sweetened Condensed Milk


• 3/4 C Oats


• 3/4 C M&Ms


• 1/2 C Chocolate Chips


• 1/2 C Peanut Butter Chips

Place crushed graham crackers and butter in ziploc and microwave 30 seconds. Mix graham cracker and butter mixture until all of the butter is incorporated. Press into the bottom of a greased 9x13 pan. Pour the sweetened condensed milk over the crackers and carefully spread out evenly. Sprinkle oats then M&Ms, Chocolate and PB chips over oats. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or edges are turning brown.

Before Baking:

Mine are not as pretty as the ones I found on Pinterest, but they're still pretty tasty and it was super easy to put together.

After Baking:


I think this would be a good bar to take to a potluck and it would be fun to use seasonal M&Ms.