Here is the finished product (well one of them)!

I'm not going to bore you with a ton of words cuz I am wayyyy too lazy and words are hard so here are lots of pictures!!!  Here are pictures of the $4.00 side tables that I scored at a local garage sale and refinished for my sunroom!!

Before

Love this book above!  I believe it was my Grandma Jean's (right mom?).  Love the pop of color too!!

So I know they are pretty bright (they are a bit darker in person) but I loovvee them!  I'm looking for some pillows with green and cobalt blue geometric patterns and of course some curtains with green and blue too!  I found some fabric on the interweb but it was a bit on the pricey side ;)

This is the fabric I love so keep your eyes peeled if you're out and about!   Thanks!!

Geometric Fabric

If you'd like to see more yard sale finds, click on over to the party at Southern Hospitality and Thrifty Decor Chick!!

Do you remember these??

Remember these side tables that I picked up a couple months ago for 4 bucks?? 

Guess what?  They are done!!!  Now, you have to guess the color.  Some of you already know the answer so no guessing from you Fockers!!!  Ready, go......

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.......