Holidays and First Day of Winter

No white Christmas for us here in East Tennessee. Late last week they were forecasting snow but now just rain. Bummer. My parents are driving up late Christmas Eve with my brother. We plan to go to Ober Gatlinburg so at least we will be able to SEE some snow! I've got a lot to do this week. From last minute Christmas shopping to grocery shopping, cooking, and cleaning. Our cat should have kittens any day now...Unfortunately. She only got out twice. Little whore. Haha. We've been meaning to get her spayed for some time but it seems like everytime we save up the money, something major happens such as Mulligan the Dachshund getting sick and having to go to the vet (400 vet bill) or going to get tires rotated and them telling you that you need new tires (400 more) etc etc....That's life though right...

Sigh*

Watching the early show on CBS. They are talking about easy switches to cut calories on your holiday baking. I figured I'd share since they are some easy ideas!

Pie - cut 700 calories by using half the sugar. You don't change the chemistry of the pie and you can really taste the fruit.

Puddings / Pie Fillings - instead of heavy cream use 2% milk, still get creaminess
Cut 744 calories and a lot of fat

Cookies - change flour to whole wheat flour, can do half and half....more about nutrition than calories

Cheesecake - use part skim ricotta cheese instead of cream cheese. Save 60 GRAMS OF FAT. Double the protein.

Brownies - use pumpkin puree instead of oil. Save 900 calories and 100 grams of fat. Makes MORE moist. Supposedly REALLY good.

Chocolate Cake - use 3 tbs cocoa powder instead of chocolate, save 80 calories instantly!

Happy Holidays!!!!

Snow Day

We had our first snow of the season last weekend. I snapped a couple of pics. Today, the wind is ferocious! I'm convinced it's going to blow a tree down. Wow!

I think snow is just so beautiful! I love how it makes the trees look. I don't know if I like it so much because I didn't grow up with snow or it just really is that pretty!

Buffet from Goodwill

I've really been slacking! And you'd think I would have plenty of time to post on my blog since I've been completely unemployed since the middle of November. We had snow a couple of days ago and it was beautiful. I'll post pictures. I've taken lots of pictures over the past couple of months that I planned on putting up here but haven't gotten around to yet.

I found an awesome deal at Goodwill the other day. I went in and saw this buffet under a pile of stuff. It was beautiful and I couldn't believe someone had not picked it up yet. The price tag said $65. The next weekend was a 50% off storewide sale so I returned on Saturday to buy it. To my surprise, it was STILL there! I bought it for 35 bucks and was thrilled.

I stopped by Lowe's on the way home to purchase a piece of trim to replace two pieces that were broken off.

When I got home, I sanded it down. Then I mixed flat black paint with a glaze. I painted the buffet with this mixture and wiped off some of the glaze, leaving the color in the creases and on the edges of the wood. Next, I applied a paint-on polyureathane. Once it dried, I noticed the finish had bubbles in it. I lightly sanded it again and applied a finishing wax. Here is the final results!