We Can All Be A Greek Goddess

I have decided to share with you guys one of my families absolute favorite recipes. It's called Grecian Goddess Chicken. My mother used to make this back when my parents were first married and they lived on a military base. Her neighbor made it for her and my mother instantly asked/begged for the recipe. As early as I can remember I loved it, so of course I needed a copy too. It's a great, super easy to make dish too…..for me that means that you just dump all ingredients in together, cook everything and it comes out perfect every time! I honestly have to tell you that I barely even measure anything anymore, I just kinda wing it :)

You can tell from my copy of the recipe that it's popular….. isn't it always the "dirty pages" in our cookbooks that have the best stuff?! :) I'm not sure if you can read it so I will re-write everything for you: Boneless, skinless chicken breasts- potatoes, cut in quarters- 1 1/2 cups hot water- 1/2 cup of butter (1 stick)- 3 tbs olive oil- 2 tbs lemon juice- 1 1/2 tsp oregano- 1 tsp salt- 1/2 tsp blk pepper- 1/2 tsp paprika- Here's what you have to do… place chicken & potatoes in a casserole pan and set aside. Melt buyer in a saucepan and then add everything else. Then you just pour the mixture onto the chicken and potatoes and stick the whole thing in the oven and bake it (uncovered) for 1 1/2 hours @350 degrees. About halfway through cooking I baste the chicken and potatoes so they get a nice golden brown. That's all there is to it….easy-peasy, right?!

Of course I tried to take a final picture of it all set up pretty on a plate but with my family of six and them smelling it cook, I didn't stand a chance of getting that photo!!

The above picture was the best I could do…..fresh out of the oven, and smelly heavenly…like a Greek Goddess, lol

Something To Think About

This morning I was wasting time, lingering around Pinterest. I was pinning all kinds of things that inspire me, recipes that I want to make and other various things. I'll be the first to admit it-- I was avoiding my housework. You see today was a rare day off for me. Don't get me wrong, I have a ton of stuff that I should be doing but you know what…I decided to just blow them all off. I think I deserve a day off every once in a while. I don't think there's anything wrong with that either. I know that I'm not a super woman and there's many days that between working full time, keeping the house somewhat presentable and wrangling four kids,that I am just struggling to keep my head above water. So today I took a day for myself. I'm lounging around, eating potato chips for breakfast and I'm loving it!!! Now some of you may be shaking your head at me but I don't care. Don't knock it until you try it……you just may enjoy it :) I haven't completely been unproductive today, I've made a list of the projects that I am going to tackle next and the projects that I WANT to do. I also found this on Pinterest this morning and I think it says it all. Don't you think?? Anyway…whenever I think I need a little boost to tackle something I'm going to just try to remember this little saying. Have you ever had something that you want to do but you've never done it? What has stopped you? Is it fear, laziness or just lack of motivation? I say "go for it"!! You only live once and I think a life of regrets would just be a sad waste….besides, if you fail- who cares! I will have your back and I'm sure there's others who will too...I applaud you for trying!!! Life is an adventure, go live it :)

Hanging With the High School Girls

Being a mom of four who works full time sometimes I realize that I just need a night out with the girls. I need a night out to act goofy, stupid and maybe a bit ridiculous at times. Well, I was lucky enough to have a night like this a while back. I had mentioned that I had never been to Ravinia. Ravinia is an outdoor music theater that is about an hour from my house. It's a really cool place that welcomes you to bring a picnic and your own choice of drinks to enjoy while watching the performance. My friends and I had planned on seeing Duran Duran ( aging myself a bit here) but at the last minute they cancelled! I was bummed….. Fast forward to this past summer and another artist was coming that we all wanted to see. One Republic was scheduled to be there so we all bought tickets and met up there. Of course it's usually hot in Chicagoland by then but , nooooo…not that weekend. It was unseasonably cold and rainy!! Even though the weather was miserable I still had a blast!! Sometimes there's nothing better than getting together with old friends!! :)

As you can tell from the photos, we had to bundle up but it was still a great night!

So Excited :) !!!!

I have been on the hunt lately. What have I been hunting for? Well, I have been looking for stumps. I have been checking Craig's list and other various outlets when I struck gold! Right next to my daughter's dance studio is a business that takes down trees for the city and a nice man named Chuck told me that I can help myself to whatever I want, as long as I don't take any of the split pieces. That's perfectly fine with me since I want the raw stumps!!! I'm so excited!! Of course you may be wondering what I am going to do with these, but you will just have to wait and see…. For now they are all on my back patio, while I work on them…hoping for all the little critters to abandon their warm wooden homes.

A Freebie From A Sweet Friend

A while back I had a friend tag me in a post that she put on Facebook. She had a free table and wanted to know if I wanted it. It didn't take me long to respond, of course I wanted it! I secretly think she knew the answer would be yes since I had already bought an antique trunk from her, but that's another story… Anyway I hopped in the car and stopped by to see it. I loved it immediately and offered her some moolah for it but she refused…(seriously she was too sweet to give it to me for free)..she said that it was just sitting in her garage gathering dust, so it was all mine. Yipee!!! I LOVE freebies! The finish on it had seen better days so I decided to paint it and use it in my family room. It was the perfect size and I was actually on the hunt for an end table….This was a fun "quickie" project and I'm happy with how it turned out. I really love how the table has an opening for putting books or magazine because I have to admit, I have WAY too any of those…..

The last two pictures show you where I put the table. I put a white tray and a lamp that I got from Target on it…still deciding on exactly where I want the lamp (and yes, the price tags are still on the lamp. I'll get around to taking those off, I had just bought it, lol)

Remember Me?

Hi. It's been a long time…a really looonnggg time. I have to apologize, I've been a bad blooger. I haven't updated you guys on anything for a long time. I don't even know if anyone cares or is following me anymore (I wouldn't blame you if you've completely abandoned me)….So I will just try my best to get back on track. With that being said, I have been super busy. My part-time "fun" job working at a chain restaurant (has a big pepper over the door) has turned into a fun, full time job, which I love! For a while I even had another part time job, so add to that the normal household craziness that I deal with and maybe, just maybe you guys can forgive me for neglecting you my little blog….(please)…. But, I have been managing to still find time to let my creative side out and work on various projects….as I write this I have at least three projects that I'm in the middle of and four others that I need to get moving on. I did remember to try and take photos of what I've been doing so in the next few weeks I will be filling you guys in on all my craziness. First up- my bar stools. I've had these bar stools forever and I like them but one of my dogs chewed on them back when she was a puppy. I have been living with the chewed up stool for quite a while now ( said dog is now 8, btw) and I FINALLY decided to fix my stools. I decided to paint them to hide the fact that my dog thought they were her chew toy. Since my kitchen is basically black and white, I decided to add some color….I pulled out my Annie Sloan chalk paint in duck egg and went to work. Typical me wasn't happy with just painting them so I decided to stencil on them too and this is what I came up with….

I'm happy with the final result and I'm actually wondering why I didn't get off of my butt and just do this earlier…. Oh and by the way- that picture of my kitchen is clean, at least for me…lol Anyway, I hope someone out there is still sticking by me, reading my measly little blog. It's been a while, but I'm excited to be back :)