Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Home Sweet Home



Thought I would take a break from doing post-vacation laundry to show you some pictures from Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.

We stayed at the Music Road Hotel - our favorite in Pigeon Forge.


Here are some pix of the inside.





It is so elegant inside and I always drool over the decor.






The view from the back terrace.


Believe me when I tell you, I did NOT want to leave!

Fun at Wonderworks.

Yes, that building is upside down!  A sign of what's to come inside...

A simulated hurricane.  That's our friends' kids Jack and Victoria with my Mallory and Amy.


Amy rock climbing.


Fun with bubbles!

The most beautiful spot in the Smokey Mountains, Cades Cove.




Having fun with my camera.



I will share more pictures later.  For now, I'm off to catch up on my blogging and visit some of your fun blogs to see what you have been up to!

Thanks for visiting.
xoxo,
Kim

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Pigeon Forge or Bust!!


The Bliss Family is headed to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee today, our most favorite vacation destination!  I'll be checking in throughout our trip and if any of my followers are from that area and would like to meet up, just let me know!

Be back soon!
xoxo,
Kim

Monday, August 16, 2010

My New Pride and Joy


My latest project is now completed after sitting in the garage for over nine months.  I hope you like it as much as I do!

This is what it looked like in its previous state.


I purchased this from a barn sale I found on Craig's List. This guy had a huge barn stocked full of antiques, but it was the kind of thing where you had to dig through piles and piles of stuff.  Of course I didn't have to dig far to see this beauty, which he sold to me for a mere $40.  I still don't know why it was so cheap as there is really nothing wrong with it structurally.  The only issue with it was the little piece missing from the bottom left door and a small piece of the decorative moulding on the inside of the glass door was coming off, which didn't matter because I wanted to remove that anyway (insert OMG!!! here).  Other than that it was in great shape.  Just a little moldy.  Keeping it in the garage for so long didn't help that either.

When it was finally time to clean her up, Mr. Bliss and I used some Murphy's Oil soap to gently clean the surface.  I thought long and hard before deciding to paint it.  It's solid mahogany and has some beautiful inlay work, not something you typically want to paint over.  But, for my purposes and where I was choosing to put it, painting was the only logical choice.


This picture shows how the piece missing is hardly even noticable now.  I kept the original hardware on these doors.


But switched out the knob for this glass one I got at a yard sale.  The tassel is from Tuesday Morning.


I chose to remove the inside door moulding because I wanted to be able to better see the inside.


I applied some toile fabric that my friend Stacy gave me using fabric adhesive and added the trim with a hot glue gun.   The hardest part was measuring and finding the best piece of fabric to display.


It's the same on top and bottom.


Here it is with the door closed.


A better look at the detail.



This picture shows the glazing technique I used.

We purposely did not use a primer so as to better show the aging.  We used a latex paint and gave it two solid coats with a third only in certain places.  I then sanded in certain places and of course glazed using a stain to bring out the detail and then removing the excess with a damp rag.


This is what it looks like in my sitting room off of the master bedroom.  Those plates need to be rehung, but that's another project that hopefully won't take nine months!  Speaking of nine months, baby is doing great and I'm sixteen weeks today, so starting my fifth month already!

Thanks for stopping by.  I'm joining these great parties today.

Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch
Today's Thrifty Treasures at Southern Hospitality
Garage Salen' Party at Debbie Doos

Be sure to stop by these amazing parties  hosted by some amazing ladies to see some other great thrifty treasures and transformations!

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Buffalo Chicken Stromboli!!

One of my cravings thus far has been chicken.  I ate chicken salad for a month straight after detesting it for most of my life.  I'm also addicted to the chicken hummus wrap from Bok Bok Fresh.  This morning I defrosted some breasts and threw them in the crock with a half a bottle of Buffalo Wing Sauce and half a can of Cream of Chicken Soup.  Once it cooked I shredded it manually and made a beautiful Stromboli!



Shredding it is easy after it's fully cooked in the crock, just use a wooden spatula and kind of break it apart.


Next I rolled out my dough.  I usually just buy frozen bread dough and let it thaw.


Next I added a thin layer of the chicken mixture and sprinkled on some shredded cheddar and jack cheese.



Add a little crumbled bleu cheese.


Roll it up carefully - you may need to add some flour to your hands - and transfer to baking sheet.  Despite its appearance, this pan is actually very clean - just very seasoned.


You'll want to coat it with egg to help with the baking process.  Actually it's supposed to be egg white.  Or is it the yolk?  Not sure, but I've always just used the whole egg and it works just fine.
Also cut a few slits along the surface to allow steam to exit.
Bake at 350 for approximately 20-25 minutes.


And voila!!!  Makes a great meal, appetizer, side - you decide!  Enjoy!

Monday, August 9, 2010

Kitchen Chair Transformation!

Hope you all enjoyed a nice weekend.   Mine started out with a visit to the ER and an overnight stay for kidney stones.  I tell ya I've never experienced a pain quite like that before and God willing, never will. If you've had them you know what I'm talking about.  Lucky for me I have the most wonderful husband who never left my side and took care of me all weekend.  Thank you sweetie!

Of course the doctors wanted to make sure the baby was okay, so they ordered an ultrasound to look at my kidneys and a complete check of the baby.  They discovered that I'm farther along than we thought and pushed my due date up almost 2 weeks, and the baby is doing great.


I think he's sucking his finger!  Awww!

Okay, moving on to the real reason you are here.  With a lot of help from Mr. Bliss I tackled a project that I've been putting off for months! (Hence why I'm joining Procrastination Tuesday!).  Together, we transformed my kitchen chairs from blah:

 to FAB!

Using 2 yards of fabric I scored at the flea market for $5.


I simply took off the old fabric using a flathead screwdriver to remove all the staples and left the old padding in place.  Then Mr. Bliss used his electric staple gun to add the new fabric.  Easy peasy!

Hey, did I mention that today is my birthday?  So we celebrated last night with our parents here at the house for cake and ice cream.  I threw in a little surprise for them.........

Everybody close your eyes.


Okay, now OPEN!




That's my mom in the front left and my dad in the back right - they currently have 5 granddaughters!


My sweet MIL.


Tears of happiness.

It was a great ending to a crazy weekend!

For this extra-special post, I'm linking up to the following parties.

Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch
Today's Thrifty Treasures at Southern Hospitality
Transform Tuesday at the Pumpkin Patch
Anti-Procrastination Tuesday at New Nostalgia
Take a Look Tuesday at Sugar Bee