You wanna know how I quit smoking?

Well obviously I quit smoking so I'd be around for my kids and my hubby for a long, long time!!  However you want to know what helped me to quit smoking and stay that way?  I decided that if I quit smoking I would start saving all that money so we could build a new house.  Now mind you, I had never even talked to Ryan about really building a new house but that was what was going to keep me focused.  So I found the house that I loved and kept it in the back of my mind....and quite honestly I carried a picture of it in my purse in case I got tempted.

Here was the house I picked out to be my motivation!

Sorry this is so small!

And the finished product! 

I have to say that the end product was pretty damn close to that very first picture I chose nearly 7 years ago!

DIY Pottery Barn Aegean Beach Hurricanes

I did a blog on this idea a while back while we were building the house.  I thought I'd share the finished product.  I wanted a subtle beach theme in the kids' bathroom but not a cheesy one.  When I took a trip to Pottery Barn I fell in love with these......

You want to know what I didn't fall in love with?  The price!!  Wow these things were pricey and I mean REALLY pricey.  Sooooo, I headed to the dollar store and Home Goods and here are MY Aegean Beach Hurricanes.

I think both of the hurricanes were $5.99 and the shells were $7.99.  I did break down and buy the sand from Pottery Barn and found the twine in a bag from Jake's Daniel Boone costume.  Not too shabby if I do say so myself!

What's for dinner??

If there is one thing that I am, it is predictable.  I am the biggest creature of habit you'll ever meet (yeah I know, understatement of the year!).  Which means that dinners start to get boring! I hate to leave my comfort zone and that means making the same things over and over.  Not to mention I try to make healthy meals and sometimes coming up with new healthy recipes seems like too much work! So, I decided I was going to start trying at least two new meals every week.  Come on, it doesn't get much easier with all the recipes on the interweb.  I decided my first meal would be Crunchy BBQ Brisket Tacos.

You can find the full recipe and soooooo many others over at mix and match mama!  She has a blog FULL of fantastic recipes.  However since words are hard I decided to share some pictures and tell you how I prepared mine.  Here's what you need.....

My brisket was 2.75lbs and it was perfect.  Made enough for everybody for dinner and enough left over for Ryan to take to work in his lunch!!

Then I salt and peppered and browned it for 4 minutes on each side in some EVOO!!  Next time I may use a little garlic powder and some seasoned salt cuz us country folk don't cook any meat without those key ingredients.

Then into the crockpot with the salsa and water and let it cook!! 

Once it is done and cut up you mix it with your fave BBQ sauce (you can get all the details at the website above).  The recipe calls for 1-2 cups of BBQ sauce. I used 1 cup and it was PLENTY!!!

I filled all the tacos and put them in the oven with the cheese on top so they all cooked together for the cheese to melt, then topped with the sliced green onions!!

I know you may be a bit skeptical on this one, and I was too!  But I have to say that they were sooooo fresh and yummy and different (did I mention EASY?!?!).  My boys loved them and gave them two thumbs up.  Baby girl on the other hand gave me an, Eh!   However she is a teenager so that is what she says about most things :-)

There ya have it!!  Now it's your turn.  The weekend is the perfect time to throw something in the crock pot and let it cook all day while you go out and do something fun!  So, give this one a whirl, and email (ourdreamhousediy@gmail.com) me your pictures and tweaks and I'll add them to the post!

Now I'm off to buy grass seed.......

Friday Poll!!

I've seen quite a few ads on TV the last few weeks for this swanky new laundry detergent.  It is made by Purex and it is called "No Sort"......

I have to admit that I've kinda chuckled every time that I've seen the commercial.  Mainly because I'd like to write a letter to Purex.  It would go a little something like this:



Dear Purex,

I've been breaking the rules and doing this for years!  With whatever laundry detergent that I couponed that month.  Uhhmmmm and my clothes have always been fine.  (Well except that one time I turned Ryan's skivvies and socks pink, but whatever).  So, tell me what makes this new laundry detergent so special!

Sincerely,

Mindy
(the laundry rule breaker)

Now what I want to know from ALL of you is this.  Do YOU sort your colors???  Now be honest people. 

I scored some sweet ferns!!!

This is going to sound lame but I am REALLY excited about the ferns that I found at Kroger.  As a matter of fact, I kinda love them.  Really I do. When you've been staring at nothing but dirt for the last year, you start to wonder if some greenery might spruce the joint up!!  Then, I found them.....the ferns!  (sounds rather dramatic, I KNOW!)  Some of you may not know this but I am a bit of a tightwad frugal!  So when I found these really big lush ferns for $11.99 I was sold.

I love them so much that I want to put them EVERYWHERE.  No really I do.  I think I am going to get a couple for the back porch and a couple to go on each side of the fireplace.  I wanted some of those faux topiary trees to go on each side but the cheapest I could find those were $99.99 at TJ Maxx.  #toopriceyforme

So here is an up close and personal shot if you didn't believe me when I said they were fan-freaking-tastic!!