My Little Blogging Corner

With Grace spending less time in her pack and play and more time running around the house, it was no longer easy for me to blog in the guest room.  Even though we live in a small rancher, I still felt far away from my very curious toddler!  Especially after she broke my big Pyrex bowl a couple of months ago!  Shattered glass everywhere when she pulled it off the kitchen table! 

Since we bought the new laptop, I no longer have to try to find time to blog from the guest room.  But, as I said, Grace is very curious and tries to play with the keyboard if I try to sit on the sofa with the laptop. 

I set myself up with a little workstation in the corner of my kitchen!

Originally, my microwave lived in that spot, but it wasn't a very convenient location.  So I got rid of my dish drainer thingy sacrificed what little counter space I have in the kitchen and relocated the microwave next to the sink.

The work space is counter height and the electric socket is also high enough that Grace won't pull at the cords! 

I was using my vintage step stool to sit on, but after sitting on it for a bit, I realized that it was very wobbly and that the screws need to be tightened on it!  So, I swiped Joe's stool from the garage (left by the previous owners).  This is just temporary until I save up for a new counter stool.  Maybe one with a vintage/diner look!  With a padded seat! 

Anyway, I thought it would be fun to show you my little corner of the house! 

See that bare wall?  I'll be working on a project to hang on that wall very soon!  Well, as soon as I find someone to keep Grace busy so I can work on it!  I'll keep you posted!  :)   

Don't forget to enter my current giveaways posted at the top of the page....they end on November 15th! 

Help Me Win the Sears KitchenAid Rescue My Appliances Contest!

I entered my kitchen in the Sears/KitchenAid Rescue My Appliances contest!  Our kitchen needs some serious help!  Help that we just cannot fit into our budget at the moment! 

Winning this contest would be such a huge help in getting our kitchen into shape!  Take a look at the pictures below and then hop over to VOTE FOR MY KITCHEN  (please!!!!) and help me win some new appliances!  You can vote once a day and each time you vote, you are entered in a sweepstakes to win a KitchenAid Mixer!  Cool, right?   


Here's a little description of my kitchen: 

In all the time that Joe and I were looking for a house, I dreamed of a house with a big, beautiful kitchen.  Unfortunately, those homes weren't in our budget!  Not if I planned on staying home once we had kids! 

So, I settled for a nice, sturdy house that needed a lot of upgrades!  Especially, where the kitchen was concerned.  Three years later, the kitchen is still pretty much the same as it was when we moved in.  And that was pretty much the same as it was when it was built 40+ years ago! 

When I describe my kitchen to someone that's never been to our home, I usually say:  "It's vintage...but not in the good way!"  LOL!  I love vintage items.  But my vintage cook top and wall oven just aren't the type of vintage I am looking for! 

Our kitchen is at the front of our home.  So, when you walk in the front door, this is what you see: 

Pretty bad, huh? 

Check out the knobs on the cook top!  Those coils are impossible to keep clean, not to mention the fact that they keep disconnecting.  The front burners are a bit crooked so I don't even bother to use those!  I've cooked on electric stoves in the past and this one is the worst ever!  Everything sticks, even when the burner is turned on low.

What about that wall-oven?  Since we moved in three years ago, we replaced the heating element.  The door sqeaks so loudly when opening or closing that I sometimes think it's about to fall off!  Or it just gets stuck in the open position!  Anything cooked in this oven gets a bit over done.  And the glass window on the door?  I'm afraid to clean that.  I'm afraid it will just fall apart!  The dirt is probably the only thing keeping that glass in place!  :)  So, I usually hang cute little dish towels from the handle to hide the dirty window!  :blush: 

Now, the refridgerator isn't nearly as old as the cook top or the oven, but it's just as bad!  It takes up a lot of room in the kitchen, but it doesn't seem to hold much.  The freezer is tiny, no ice maker either.  As I sit here typing this, it's making a ton of noise.  It hums, rattles and knocks.  I worry every morning that today will be it's last day!  As it is, we have to adjust the thermostat every other day or so, otherwise our milk freezes.

 

Those turquoise counters wouldn't be so bad for a vintage-themed kitchen, except for the fact that they are so worn.  The shine has come right off of them, causing them to stain very easily.

The floor is linoleum in a very ugly pattern with a seam right in the middle of the room that's been peeling up for some time now.

The cabinets are old and there aren't nearly enough of them.  There isn't any room to store dry goods in the kitchen, forcing me to keep a "pantry" in the basement.  Every time I cook, I have to run downstairs to get what I need for the meal. 

Our porcelain sink is very old.  It's dull and chipped and stains very easily.  It's a double sink and it's very difficult to clean larger pots or pans.

I could go on and on about this kitchen!  It's bad, really bad!  I try to make it look homey and clean.  But the old appliances don't really allow for a pleasant cooking experience!  I enjoy cooking, but this kitchen pretty much takes a lot of the fun out of it!

Please rescue my appliances!  Please vote for my kitchen!

Check out the official rules. 
Check out the prizes.

The new laptop is here!!!!

Hi, everyone! 

Just wanted to check in with you all real quick!  Our new laptop arrived yesterday and as soon as Joe gets it all set up, I should be posting on a regular basis again!  I can't wait!  I have so many recipes to share with you, new pictures of Grace and I'm also working on some new giveaways for you!  I'm really excited! 

I'm hoping Joe will have it all up and running by tonight, but that may be pushing it since he's working late tonight!   

See you all soon! 

Giveaway reminder AND still experiencing techincal difficulties

Hi, everyone! 

First, I want to remind everyone to enter the giveaway for Butch's Smack Your Lips BBQ, Sunday is the last day to enter!  Click the Butch's BBQ giveaway banner at the top of this page to find out how to enter!  3 winners will be chosen and you have up to 8 chances to enter! 

Next, I want to apologize for not posting much lately.  I know I've been slow to follow or reply back to all of your lovely comments, I'm sorry.  I'm still experiencing some computer issues that are making my computer run much slower than it did before.  Now posting takes a really long time and I usually get frustrated and give up before the post is finished. 

I'm hoping to have a new computer by the end of next week.  Fingers crossed that everything will work out as planned.  I'm not looking for anything fancy, but at this point anything will be better than what I am working from now.  :)

I have lots of recipes to post, some product reviews, and even a couple of new giveaways!  So, be sure to check back for new posts...I'll be posting as soon as I can! 

Until then, Happy Fall everyone! 

Our Wish List just keeps getting bigger!

Joe and I have had the same furniture for 15 years. Joe bought it when we were dating.  It's really amazing that we still have it, but when we lived in our apartment for so many years, we didn't want to buy new furniture until we bought a house. Now that we have a house, we really can't fit new furniture into the budget just yet. So, it's always been at the bottom of both of our wish lists! It just moved itself up a few spaces on the list.
Our recliner got stuck in the open position a couple of weekends ago. It's been getting more and more difficult to close recently, and finally one day when Joe was trying to get out of it, it wouldn't close. When he did manage to get up and out of the chair, he moved it and a bunch of nuts and bolts fell out of it!

It's crazy, when we lived in the apartment, we never used it. I guess the placement of it wasn't comfortable at the apartment. When we moved to the house 3 years ago, we started to use it a bit more. After Grace was born, the chair was in constant use. That's where we sat when we fed her or cuddled with her. Even now, she still likes to fall asleep in my arms in that recliner! I've tried sitting with her on the sofa and it just doesn't work for her!

Thank goodness Joe was able to fix it. His quick fix will buy us a little more time before we can fit a new one into the budget. Hopefully, by then, we'll be able to get a new sofa, recliner and maybe a coffee table, too!  And when the time comes, CSN Stores is going to be the first place I'll look! 

We're Experiencing Technical Difficulties.....

Just wanted to do a quick post letting you all know that I am having some Internet troubles and might be missing for a couple of days.  My computer is super-slow to begin with and now, it's just really bad.  I'm hoping Joe will be able to do something to save it, I need it to last a bit longer until we can afford a new computer or laptop. 

Posting is taking a lot longer than usual, so hopefully, Joe will figure something out soon. I have so many posts planned for the near future:  new recipes, product reviews, giveaways......I'll try to post something later tonight when I have a bit more time to deal with the "slow" issue!  Right now, Grace is tearing apart her playroom, so I really have to go!  I'll be spending naptime cleaning the kitchen and getting dinner started, but I do plan on trying to post later tonight.  We'll see what happens! 

I hope everyone is having a much better day than me!  :) 
Hugs! 

Blog Anniversary: Under the Big Oak Tree turned One yesterday

Here I am, late with another post!  I really need to catch up!  But until I learn to either manage my time better, or figure out how to run on even less sleep than I am currently getting....we'll all just have to deal with the late posts!  I don't mind if you don't! 

Monday, marked the one year birthday of my blog!  I really cannot believe that I've stuck with this for so long!  I thought for sure, I'd have gotten bored with blogging after a month or so, but nope...I'm not bored at all!  If anything, I'm enjoying it so much more now that I know what I'm doing.  Don't get me wrong, I still have so much to learn about blogging and I'm having so much fun while I'm learning! 

Thanks to all of my readers, fellow bloggers, and my friends and family that support me and my blogging habit by sharing comments, ideas, recipes and other topics for my blog! 

Looking forward to another great year! 

I have a button! Grab it!

I'm so excited!  Thanks to my "forever friend" Lisa, I have a button in my sidebar! 

I mentioned to her over the weekend that I wanted to add a button to my sidebar. 

Knowing that I'm pretty clueless when it comes to computer stuff and also knowing that my computer is rarely cooperative (it's old and slow), she created a button for me. 

Then, being the great friend that she is, she also installed it for me!

I love it!!!! 

I love her!!!! 

I really like the way my blog is starting to look with the new design, background, the category tabs at the top (still a work in progress) and now my new button!   

I can't believe it's almost a year since I started this.  I really wasn't sure I would last this long!  But I'm having so much fun and  I still have so much to learn...like I said, I'm pretty clueless about all of this computer stuff! 

Check out Lisa's blog: 




She has some really great recipes posted.  Her latest recipe is for a gluten free Cinnamon Coffee Cake!  Mmmmm!  Can't wait to try this one!

Wanted to Share: Le Creuset Giveaway

Okay, so I just found out about this today, but wanted to share with you guys! 
Rachael over at Mrs. Adventure, is having a giveaway.  It ends tonight, so if you act fast you can still enter to win a great set of Le Creuset Bowls! 

How great would these look in my kitchen?

Well, that is, once it's painted! 

Thanks, Rachael, for the chance to enter a great giveaway!