Stovetop Macaroni and Cheese

Yummy Pinspiration

There are two kinds of people in this world...the ones who like their macaroni and cheese dry and the ones who like their mac and cheese soupy. I fall into the "SOUPY" category, much to the chagrin of my husband who supports the dry team...GROSS! Of course, when I stumbled on the photo above on Pinterest, I most certainly thought to myself...that is some SOUPY mac and cheese (maybe even too soupy for me...)...BUT, that didn't stop me from trying it out!

My family is a hard core macaroni and cheese family. My kids are pasta fanatics. We have boxed KD, boxed PC white cheddar, no name mac and cheese, Annie's Bunny Pasta, and I try my best to make this as healthy as possible for them (since we eat it SO OFTEN - My Italian family is vomiting as we speak...!). Most times I puree either butternut squash or sweet potato into the "orange" variety, and some chick peas or white beans into the white cheddar variety, but I still know about all the preservatives in that deadly (read: amazingly tasty, of course) dried cheese packet. So, often I try to make my own "version" of the boxed stuff. I've tried so many different kinds of baked mac and cheese I've lost count. Each time, however, it's SO DRY not an ounce of soupy cheese sauce anywhere to be found. Didn't I put a carton of milk and a brick of cheese in this stinkin' recipe????? Where'd you go?????????

That's why I've given up and tried to work with the stove top variety (hence photo above).

When I looked at this recipe (click here), I couldn't believe my eyes. The ingredients were mind blowing. I was NOT abiding by any sort of diet eating this masterpiece, I can tell you that much...and when I made the mistake of actually looking at the caloric content of one serving (and who actually eats one serving???) my brain actually exited my head...BUT...you know that when it's bad for you, it tastes SO GOOOOOOD, right?

Very true.

I made this as a blastball dinner (which means that my son and his dad/coach have to get the eff outta the house asap so dinner better be on the table and eaten in a flash or they're gonna be late to play the mini version of t-ball) and it was super quick to make (A MUST on blastball night) and eaten quickly by all! Mision cumplida! (yes, my son used to be a HUGE Diego fan). One thing I did notice, however, was that my pasta was not as soupy as pictured on the actual recipe, but this time...that was fine by me.

Delicioso! YUM YUM YUM!!!!

Dinner is served!

If, however, you have a super duper soupy baked macaroni and cheese recipe, I'd love to try it, too!



Shout out

Recipe for Creamy Stovetop Mac & Cheese provided by America's Test Kitchen (but found HERE)



Jersey Maxi Dress

My Pinspiration

Given my sewing prowess on things of the accessoried nature, I knew that sewing a knit maxi dress would be super facile (please tell me you understand the sarcasm here!!!) To tell you the truth, I have no idea what made me think I could create something like the above out of a fabric that is notoriously difficult to work with (!!!! or any fabric for that matter!), but stinkin' Pinterest makes everything look SO FREAKIN' EASY that I had to give it a try. I had been keeping several jersey double sheet sets in my linen closet from house to house to house, never using them. I'm not sure if I have hording tendencies (yes, I do...), but I always thought I'd have a use for them, although I haven't had a double bed in my house since we got rid of my husband's university hand-me-down futon in 2006 (seriously...I MUST HAVE A PROBLEM WITH HORDING RIGHT????) I opened up said linen closet, pulled out my purple sheets and got ready to make something special!!!!

The pin sent me to THIS blog, where the photos lured me right in. Her skirts/dresses are so super cute, I couldn't really convince myself to NOT do it. The tutorial is called the Versa Dress, so named because this dress is two: 1) a strapless dress and 2) a maxi skirt with yoga band. The tutorial is two separate parts; one for the skirt and one for the top, and there were no specific measurements to either piece which I figured was great for me (easy for modifications, no?). In addition to the two pieces, the sewing itself seemed pretty simple, as it really was one seam along the back of each piece, to be matched up, and then sewn together. Easy peasy, right?

So, I got my stuff ready for action. I had read a couple of things about sewing knit fabric. It's a stretchy material, and doesn't always go through the sewing machine's "feed dog" easily (doesn't it sound like I know what I'm talking about??? Don't be fooled!) In addition, a lot of people wrote about sewing jersey with a zig zag stitch as to give the seam a little more movement. Now, I don't know what you think I am, but it's certainly not a professional sewer. So far, I've only used one stitch...the straight up regular ol' stinkin' stitch (that's the technical term, right?). I've never changed any settings on my sewing machine...never adjusted the tension or any such thing...Now, how the heck was I going to pull this off?

I think what saved my booty on this project was the fact that I just don't care. If it doesn't turn out, I'll grab my handy-dandy stitch ripper and try again. No harm done, right? Won't know if I can do it unless I try...

After I had ironed and cut all my pieces, I just changed the stitch selection to zig zag and I was off to the races. I had zero problem sewing the dress/skirt. I had pressed, cut and sewed the dress in an hour and a half (which is a miracle in my book), I experienced zero bunching and the material fed through with no issue at all. I made the top part of the dress super long because I figured the extra fabric would bunch enough to cover up any lumps and bumps in my body (no, no, those aren't stomach rolls, that's just the extra fabric...)My major issue, however, lied in the seam of the skirt. How could this be? It's one cut, right? Well, the issue is this...I had to measure and cut the skirt to mimic the shape of my body (ugh...the shape of my body...) I'm definitely no Marilyn Monroe. I'm more of a pot-bellied Peter Pan shape, to tell you the truth...but I still couldn't get it right. The seam is wonkier than Willy Wonka himself AND because it's right up the back of the dress, it's VERY obvious.

Needless to say, I like the versatility of the dress, though, I'm not much for strapless, myself. Perhaps when the cooler weather hits, I'll try out a sweater or cardigan over top, just like the original blog pictures show. I like the yoga banded skirt the most, because not only does it cover up the Mother Gunt I've been hanging on to, but it also sucks that pooch in a bit. It's also extremely super comfy to wear, but not as ghetto as wearing jogging pants out and about everyday...which I generally do...(although you feel like you kind of are...)And I liked the pattern so much, I took the grey jersey sheet set I had in the linen closet and made another. This time, however, I learned my lesson. I made two seams (up each side) so that my terrible sewing isn't so obvious.

What do you think?

Those aren't stomach rolls...right?

Here's the skirt. I don't wear it like this, I just pulled my shirt up a bit to show the yoga band (unsuccessfully...)

One day, I'll get my husband to take a picture of my second try, so you can check out any improvements I've made. I also have oatmeal and navy sheets that are waiting for their turn. Perhaps by the time I get to them I will have perfected this pattern!

Shout outs:
Delia Creates for the wonderful skirt tutorial (there are more tutes, recipes, etc...so check it out!)
If you like my tribute to Tom Hardy's Bane, you too can have this shirt...Order it from Etsy here. I did!

Hoppy Beerthday!



Pinspiration #1





Pinspiration #2

Birthday Time is here. A friend of mine was celebrating his 36th Birthday (Ew! Old!) and I wanted to get him something that he would like for his birthday, but he's the type to just buy whatever he wants whenever he wants, leaving zero to actually get him when his birthday comes along. I was pretty sure a hand-made change purse was not the kind of present he would use...So I had to come up with another idea. Of course, beer is a gift he ALWAYS welcomes, but who wants to show up with an unwrapped 24 in hand. Not overly personal, right? Then I remembered a pin that I had seen...PERFECTO! A welcome gift given in a creative way...can't go wrong, right? RIGHT!

I checked out the pin's blog and they were using this wonderful beer cake as a centerpiece, using cake boards to stack the cans on top of each other. This would be great if my friend was having his party at my house, but that wasn't the case. I had to transport that heavy and enormous sucker in my car from my place to his, without dropping them or rolling them around getting shaken can syndrome. Sure, I could've assembled it at the party, but then it would've lost the element of surprise...

So, I modified (me? modify? never!) the idea a little bit. Luckily I had three different sized spring-form pans in my cantina (that's another word for "cold room" for you mangia cakes out there) that were perfect for the task. I wrapped each of the pans in some red wrapping paper and put a little bow on each "layer", then stuffed as many cans as I could in each tin. Et voila! Portable beer cake!

YAY ME! I hope he liked it!

I also promised to make him a cake so I thought that this would be a great time to try out a new recipe that had piqued my interest... I have a serious problem when it comes to scratch cakes. I'm VERY particular. They have to be super moist and fluffy...I feel like I've said this before. It literally is my mission to find the perfect chocolate cake and the perfect vanilla cake. After that I can fiddle around with each recipe and try out different flavours. Until then I will try anything and everything out there until I get it JUST RIGHT.

Well, guess what? I FOUND THE CHOCOLATE ONE! Call off the hounds! Yes, ladies and gents!!! This recipe is THE PERFECT CHOCOLATE CAKE (for recipe click HERE) I followed the directions exactly and out came the most wonderfully moist chocolate cake ever.

Don't get me wrong,  I was initially VERY apprehensive, of course, because anything I try is too dry. I don't know why it's always dry, but it is. And if it's not dry, it's not chocolatey enough. All I could do was cross my fingers and HOPE that this would work.

The recipe also called for extra strong coffee. What???? Yes, coffee. EXTRA STRONG COFFEE.

I HATE COFFEE. I love the smell of it...but I HATE, HATE, HATE the coffee. Even a hint of mocha totally sets me off.

So, I was truly, madly and deeply concerned that this cake was going to be a bust.

NOPE. Not a chance. It was delish.

The blog was right, though; the cake batter was definitely thin. And there was a LOT of it. Enough for me to make two layers and 12 cupcakes, which was great, because the birthday party had adults AND kids, so I knew the cupcakes would be a hit for the little ones. Cupcakes also gave me the opportunity to test it out before I served it to everyone.

Now, I didn't use the recipe for the ganache on the blog. I just thought the ganache wasn't the look I wanted for a birthday cake. AND, I need all the practice I can get on my buttercream icing piping skills (you'll understand why shortly when you see my finished product...)

So, I turned to my next favourite website: allrecipes.com, of course, to get my "go-to" buttercream icing recipe (click here for THAT recipe). Now, this recipe, I modify (surprise, surprise!). I don't use shortening, but rather replace that with butter (so, I use one full cup of butter). I also use three times as much vanilla. AND...I only use three cups of icing sugar (so basically I just made up my own recipe, right?)...but this was a good base to start.  I made two batches of this icing. One vanilla (as directed above) and one chocolate (I used the vanilla as directed above and then added 1/2 cup of cocoa). I put the chocolate icing in between my two layers of cake, and then iced the outside with the vanilla. Then I made half the cupcakes with chocolate icing and the other half vanilla (and let the kids pick their fave). I didn't get one complaint about the cake and I'm going to eat another piece tonight as I watch The Bachelorette finale! (I'm keeping my fingers crossed for JEF! Love him!)

Here's what my cake/cupcakes looked like (again...I am NOT an expert cake decorator, but take every opportunity I can to practice, so don't judge!)



If you're looking for the perfect scratch chocolate cake, I really do recommend this one. I wouldn't steer you wrong! This is the cake for you. It tastes like Duncan Hines (if you added dry pudding mix and sour cream to it). It's truly what Pinterest advertised: THE MOST AMAZING BUTTERMILK CHOCOLATE CAKE EVER!

Shout Outs:

For other cute ideas, (just like the beer cake), check out: Sweet 'N Treat's blog. But don't compare my decorating to theirs...they ARE professionals...

For crafts, tutorials and The most AMAZING buttermilk chocolate cake EVER recipe, check out: Paperseed!

For all sorts of delicious recipes, always search: Allrecipes! They have everything (and it's all rated!)

Garbage Bag Re-Org

Brilliant Idea!

At this point, I'm sure you're aware that my life is in complete and utter disarray. My under sink cabinet in the kitchen is no exception! It's basically a catch-all for anything and everything, including those dastardly plastic grocery bags. Isn't this 2012? Don't I have reusable grocery bags? The answer is yes! I have so many reusable grocery bags that I could make another one of these kleenex boxes to contain all of them! But that's another issue entirely. In all honesty, the reason I have so many plastic bags is because I'm an impulse buyer. Initially I go into the grocery store with the intention of buying one small item (why would I bring my reusable grocery bag when I could simply fit that ONE SMALL ITEM into my purse, right?)...and then at the end of the trip, I have a cart full of ridiculousness, which wouldn't even fit into my Mary Poppins purse if I tried. Thus, my endless supply of plastic grocery bags. Make sense now? Hardly an excuse, I know...but this is my life.

So now that I've explained myself, you'll understand why my under sink cabinet looks like this:

Gross!

When I saw the kleenex box photo above on Pinterest, I was instantly inspired to transform my under sink cabinet from kitchen hazard to kitchen harmony. I clicked on the pin to find that there weren't really any instructions (although I figure they just wanted you to stuff the bags in the open slot and be done with it.) I knew that if I was going to spend the time and effort pulling these bags out from that hellhole, I might as well do it right! I flattened each one out and folded them in half, then rolled them one in to the other to create an almost "baby wipes" type of effect (when you pull one out, another one follows, ready for it's turn). This is what it ended up looking like.

A little extra work at the beginning will pay off at the end I hope...?

I repeated this until all the bags had disappeared from the cupboard. YES! I shoved my bag roll into the kleenex box opening, et voila!

Now I had to move on to mounting this sucker to the inside of my cabinet door. The blog suggested that I use thumbtacks on the inside of the box, but I wasn't keen on putting holes into the doors (even if it was on the inside). I did, however, have some double sided tape, so I made a big square outline along the backside of the box and presto-chango, I had a lovely, recycled plastic bag holder!

Ingenious!

Ten minutes later, the double sided tape was no match for the weight of the bag holder. I knew it seemed too easy! I might have to go against my better judgement and just put some thumbtacks in...but I'll think about it a bit and see if I can come up with an alternative.

I showed my husband and he thought it was great (of course, he laughed at me initially because he knew that I'd been trolling Pinterest...), but he came up with a good point. What happens when you get another bag? Crap! I hadn't thought of that. If I'd stuck to the original blog's instructions, I could just stuff bags in at any point, but because I tried to be neat and tidy, that wasn't going to be the case. I think I'll just start to keep a new plastic bag roll and switch it up when the old one is done...(otherwise read as, stuff the bags under the counter until it gets crazy again...then I'll try this again? LOL!) We'll see!

Shout Out:

Find other cool DIY tips and projects (like this one) at The Family Handyman

T-shirt Re-org

I dream of being this organized

Value Village is one of my favourite stores. It's an amazing resource for buying fabric. I've bought unused upholstery fabric for $3, and you can get a double jersey sheet for $2 (I used this for an upcoming project - stay tuned!). Anyway, this week at VV (Monday, July 16 - Wednesday, July 18th) if you donate 2 bags or boxes full of clothes, you get a coupon to save 20% off your next purchase. That's a great deal! So, because today was laundry putting away day, I thought it would be great to go through the drawers to find any old clothes that I was no longer wearing (or no longer repurposing for that matter!). As I was going through stuff, I realized that I have an abundance of t-shirts, most of which I just can't fathom parting with... but I figured since I was going through the drawers anyway, I should really consider reorganizing the contents. This is why:

It's almost as if the Tasmanian Devil whipped through here looking for a garment...

Not that I need to look good at my job. Being a stay-at-home allows me the luxury of wearing jogging pants and grubby t-shirt most days (unless I have to go out in public...then I tidy myself up a bit...) I mean, I'm lucky to find the time to brush my teeth most days, so a wrinkly shirt isn't the end of the world. My current folding (LOL!) style, however, sure makes it difficult to open and close my dresser when I have clothes randomly rammed into it!


That's what brought me to this pin: Wouldn't it be wonderful to open up your drawers and instantly see all of your t-shirts at once without having to pull each one out, find the one you want, and then stuff (literally in my case) all the others back in, eventually looking like my photo above...? I sure think so.

I have all of my clean shirts set aside from laundry day, and all of the "never gonna wear agains" have been dumped in a "donate to VV" pile on the ground. Now it was time to start folding. The blog told me that the best way to fold one's t-shirts was to fold the shirt in half down the middle and tuck the sleeves in. I HATE DOING THIS. I like to be able to see the shirt's image in its entirety (yes, it's all part of my OCD), so, of course, I modified the fold. Here are my steps:

Step 1: Fold both sleeves behind shirt



Step 2: Fold shirt in half (image facing upwards)

Step 3: Fold shirt in half again

I did this to each and every t-shirt that I owned (and there are a LOT!), and slowly began to fit them into the drawer in a nice, orderly fashion. When I was finished, it looked pretty good!

Looks nice, right? Although anything is an improvement to what I had before!

Still, I wasn't sold on this method just yet. I was mostly concerned because the shirts still stuck out a bit at the top...

...but maybe my drawers are exceptionally shallow...? I just wasn't sure. I took a look at my husband's chest of drawers and his were super deep, but I checked back to the original blog and her drawers seemed as shallow as mine. Anyway, I thought I'd give it a try and put the drawer back into the chest to see how it would fit.

AND...I ...HAD...TO...PUSH...THAT...MOTHER...THROUGH...LIKE...I...HAD...JUST...
THROWN...A...PILE...OF...T-SHIRTS...INTO ...THE...DRAWER...WILLY...NILLY...!!! ARGHHHHH!

I see you peeking, ya bastards!

Well, that was a colossal waste of time...but at least when I pry the sucker open, it looks nice and orderly. I wonder maybe if I should try to fold the shirts as instructed in the blog...maybe that was my downfall? Or maybe I just have really long shirts? Or maybe my drawers really are shallow? I have an internal bet, no matter, that even if I get them to fit nicely, this stint in drawer organization will last up until the next laundry putting away day....after that it'll go right back to normal. Oh well. It was worth a try, right?

Shout Outs:
Original pin lead me to: Darkroom And Dearly
Another blog that explains t-shirt organization in detail: Simple Organized Living with its own video tutorial on how to fold the t-shirt properly

World's Best Chicken

This recipe has A LOT to live up to...

How can you NOT repin something that says "THE WORLD'S BEST CHICKEN. Others have called it, “So Good it Can’t Be Described, Explosion on Your Taste Buds Chicken. so, so yummy and easy". It's a no-brainer right? Being a mom, I'm always looking to broaden my dinner repertoire with new foods that will go over well with my husband AND kids. Not an easy feat. My kids are picky meat eaters at the best of times....beef - NO, pork - SOMETIMES, chicken - MOST TIMES. So I figured I might as well give this recipe a try to see if it could go in my monthly rotation of tried and true mealtime options.

I really love to cook. I find it to be a nice way to unwind (away from the children), but weeknight dinner preparation tends to be a bit chaotic. Daddy isn't home yet, and giving my children an hour of TV to watch only buys me a little bit of time before someone starts poking someone else, if you catch my drift. I find weekends to be the best time to try out new recipes. That way my husband can distract the kids while I can dedicate some time to focusing solely on my new kitchen creation.

Being a vegetarian, however, causes problems for me at mealtime. I never really like to serve people food that I haven't tasted before. I like to be able to suss out the seasoning, and see if I need to add anything before it gets served. Meat, as you can imagine, never gets tried before it's plated, and my family ends up being the guinea pigs firsthand. I'd like to think my husband is an honest judge of my cooking, but he's the nicest man in the world and would never give me constructive criticism. The food I serve is always great, and he always cleans his plate, even if it's GROSS! My kids, thankfully, are cut from the same SEVERELY HONEST cloth that I'm made of. If it stinks, I know.

So, back to the World's Best Chicken...(for full recipe, click here)

The ingredients seemed to be pretty standard. I worried, though, that the dijon mustard might be a little too potent or spicy for the kids. Rather than use the entire amount of dijon, I rather halved it with regular yellow mustard, and put in another 1/4 cup of maple syrup, just to sweeten it up a bit. As you're aware, modification is my favourite, and no dinner would be complete without a heaping tablespoon of minced garlic. Beyond that, the recipe remained true (with the exception of my cooking temperature - stinkin' double oven... I baked the chicken at 435)

My "before" chicken - Look at that heinous pan!!!!

I paid close attention to the reader comments below the post, because I'm always curious as to how other people find the recipe. A couple of people suggested greasing the pan before putting the chicken/sauce in...which I did, but after all was said and done, I would've been better off foiling the pan (my pans are terrible to begin with...this just created a soaking/washing disaster)

So, dinner is served:

My "after" chicken

And what did the peanut gallery think? Well, there was no forcing food down anyone's throat (a dinnertime staple) AND ALL THREE PLATES WERE CLEANED!!!! My four year old said to me, "Mommy, I don't like this chicken...I LOVE IT!". If that's not the world's best chicken...I don't know what is!

Shout Out:
Rachel Schultz. Amazing recipe! Check out her blog for more!

Green Weed Removal

I'm melting...melting.....Oh, what a world!

My family moved into the house we're currently in about a year ago. We love the house! It's a great place with lots of space, mature trees, and most importantly, a safe and friendly neighbourhood. We bought the house in the winter, so I wasn't sure what to expect with the garden. The previous owners were avid gardeners, boasting about all the beautiful plants they had growing. In the spring time (before we moved in) the owners were even kind enough to photograph some of the beauties that we would miss, as we were moving into the place in the summer. I love the idea of gardening and have grand plans on the worst of days on what I would like my property to look like, but I thought that having an already landscaped yard would be amazing. Just move in and enjoy! Well, when we moved in, I did enjoy. There was a variety of perennials, beautiful colours and an abundance everywhere. Unfortunately, there were lots of things to do on the inside of the house, so 1) I didn't really get to enjoy the out of doors all that much and 2) I wasn't able to keep up with the maintenance such a lovely garden needed to keep it looking beautiful. When fall rolled around I didn't want to start moving stuff around because I wasn't sure what was planted where...so I told myself that I would keep track of all the beautiful things that were growing and by the next fall, I would know what to remove and what to keep.

Well now I'm paying the price. Everything is overgrown, and much of the perennials are self-propagating and are finding ways into the weirdest of places. I can't do much right now because the weather is SO hot, if I moved anything, they would instantly die. So I have to wait, and barf at how ugly the garden is. I'm sure the previous owners of the house must drive by and have a heart attack as they see what I've done to their precious garden (or not done, really...). Anyway, in addition to my overrun garden, I have a concrete slab patio in the backyard that is to weeds as bees are to honey. Each crack is a veritable garden of its own. Those self-propagating columbine have also found new homes in each of the cracks, and because my free time is so minute I just can't find the time to make it look nice (the heat is a HUGE deterrent as well!).

I probably should be embarrassed at how bad my patio looks...rather than advertising it.

My aunt suggested I use "Round-Up", but I wasn't keen on using something chemical based because I have two kids that play in the backyard ALL THE TIME. It probably wouldn't be so big a deal except for the fact that one of my children seems to put EVERY SINGLE THING SHE CAN FIND IN HER MOUTH. "Round Up" just wasn't the answer for this particular problem. So, what I needed was a quick fix. One where I didn't need to be on my knees for a whole afternoon in the blazing sun, pulling each flower and weed out one by one. That's when I came across this pin. Advertised as a natural weed killer, this seemed like the perfect solution. I had a look at all the ingredients, of which I was sure I had all, but I started second guessing my regular vinegar. The post suggested using pickling vinegar because of the higher acetic acid content, and I definitely didn't have that. So, I grabbed my bag and ran up to the grocery store at the top of the street. When I was there I came across ANOTHER kind of vinegar, one with an even higher acetic acid content: Cleaning Vinegar, weighing in at 10%!!!! This was gonna kill those weeds DEAD! 

When I got home I gathered all my ingredients together (for full weed killin' recipe, click here) only to find that the only kind of salt I had on hand was sea salt....and not even fine sea salt, but the super course rock kind...GAWD!!! Why don't I do a proper material check BEFORE I START THESE STINKIN' PROJECTS???? I had my mind set on getting this job done, so I was going to do it with the rock salt...

Here are my weed killin' ingredients...Hope this works!

 ...so I put everything together and shook that spray bottle, and shook it and shook it AND SHOOK IT. The rock salt sounded like sand in there, shifting around to and fro...I was hoping that once the vinegar hit it, it would instantly dissolve, but that wasn't to be. I continued to vigorously shake my bottle until my arms started to hurt. That's gotta be good enough, I thought! I took a step outside and was instantly floored by the heat and humidity outside. This day is JUST PERFECT!!!!  I sprayed that mixture like a crazy lady. Nothing was going to stop me now! Then back inside I went (THANKFULLY - I was sweating buckets out there!) and waited an hour for this magic potion to work!

After the hour had passed I was a bit apprehensive as to whether or not this stuff did the trick. Was the rock salt going to foil my plan??? When I came out, this is what I saw:



Gotcha!

 My before and after shots weren't as obvious as the blog's, but those weeds certainly looked like they were having a hard time surviving. I grabbed my yard bag and started pulling. For some reason I thought they'd come out almost instantly, and a lot came out with ease, but some I had to fish out with my weeding tool. I just hope the mixture got to the root of the problem and I won't have to be doing the same thing again in a couple of weeks.




Looks pretty stellar, if I do say so myself!


All in all, this was a success to me. It was minimal effort for a maximum return (for now anyway). The patio looks great (as great as a concrete slab patio can look, anyway)...and it's one thing that's now checked off my ENORMOUS outside To-Do list! YAY ME!

Shout Out:
Get some more frugal ideas/projects from: Full of Great Ideas