Baked French toast Casserole (Paula Deen's recipe)

Julie, over at Three against one, is having her Tuesday Tasties. She is hosting a Holiday recipie party. Go check it out after you read this YUMMY breakfast casserole from Food networks, Paula Deen. I have my family over every Christmas morning for a brunch, and make this along with some egg casseroles....it is to DIE FOR!!! And it is sooo easy, as you prep it the night before and just pop it in, in the morning, the smell as we open up the kids presents is WONDERFUL!!

1 loaf french bread
8 large eggs
2 cups half and half
1 cup milk
2 tblspoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
dash salt

Slice french bread into 20 slices, 1inch each. Arrange slices in a generously buttered 9x13 baking dish, in 2 rows, overlapping slices. (I usually just jam them in all over, the more the better). In a large bowl, combine the eggs, half and half, milk sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Beat with a whisk until blended but not too bubbly. Pour mixture over the bread slices, making sure all are covered evenly with the milk-egg mixture. Cover with foil and refrig. overnight.

The next day, preheat oven to 350degrees.

Spread Praline Topping (below) over the bread and bake for 40minutes, until puffed and lightly golden. The recipie states to serve with maple syrup. But I never do, it is delicious on its own.

Praline Topping: (AKA to die for)
1/2 pound (2sticks) butter
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup chopped pecans
2tablespoons light corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
combine all ingredients in a bowl and blend well.

This is the easiest, most yummiest thing that will ever pass your lips and land on your hips:)

Christmas is in 2 months!!

Did that title grab your attention, or what. Seriously, less than 2 months and Christmas will be here. I love to shop for presents, but who doesn't. Especially when you could just whip out the ole charge card and shop til you drop. BUT, this year is different. It is the first time in a long time that we can spend only what we have. Yikes. We had the kids start to make out their lists already so I can start to look and plan. Brooke and I actually went to KMart on sunday. It is NOT my favorite place to shop. It is a drab looking store and you cannot find someone to help you for the life of you. However, they do LAYAWAY. I saw the ads for that, and thought, that is what we will do this year. Is anyone else out there old enough to remember what layaway actually is??!! I remember working at Brook's Fashion as a teenager and people would come in all the time to pay on their merchandise in layaway. I am happy to be back in the 80's in that respect. It will feel very freeing to not be bogged down with major credit card bills after the fun of the season is gone. I got ALL of my shopping done for Chase!! And so far, it has only cost me $30.00!! yes, it will be much more after I make all the payments. but, how fun!! Does anyone know of any other stores out there that do layaway. Please let me know. And happy shopping, the clock is ticking.

Burried treasure

First of all I am FINALLY done with the armoire. It turned out okay. It was harder than the nightstand, I guess because it is so much bigger. We brought it in last night, and once in place and I was able to give it a closer inspection, I see a few spots that I will have to deal with. But oh well, It is done.

Now, for the burried treasure. We had our church small group over last week. We put Dewey in our room, so he wouldn't bug everyone. While in there, he scratched up the carpet by the door and revealed...........beautiful hardwoods! So, that is my next project. Mike wasn't ready to take on the whole thing yet. But I wanted to at least pull up the section where the armoire goes, since we already had it out to paint. There was quite a few staples and nails in the floor, and we will replace the baseboard eventually, but I am gonna love it! Who knows how long it will take for us to rip up the rest of the room, but it is our room, so no one will really see it but us. How exciting to find a treasure like that. The carpet in there is yuck, it was old when we moved in 8years ago!! So, this is great news. Thanks Dewey! Here is a pic of the section of floor I revealed yesterday.

Armoire update

It has officially been 14 days since my last post about my DIY bedroom furniture. What can I say, it is one of the biggest (and probably, ONLY) drawbacks of a DIY project. There have been a few obstacles getting in the way of me completing (starting) the armoire. We had rain, tons of it, for about a week here!! Plus the weather decided to get freezing cold for awhile. And, a girl has to work! Well, yesterday was the first beautiful day in a long while, and I was off work, so I got my behind outside and pulled off the hardware, sanded the drawers, primed them, and spray painted them. Brooke had dance that afternoon, so that is as far as I got. So, now I have finished drawers all over the house. I don't want to put them back in the armoire...um, because IT still needs sanded, primed and painted. Someday. I am hoping this weekend will be the time!!

DIY

I love to read blogs. I especially love to look at sites that take old yardsale finds or things you already own, and make them new again. I have been wanting to do something to the furniture I've had since leaving home, for a long time now. After looking at countless decorating blogs and watching a lot of HGTV and DIY (which Mike has told me to QUIT WATCHING, because he is somehow dragged into my projects, or at least his strong muscles are:)) I have FINALLY stopped thinking about it, and started to DO it. Now, of course, that I am painting the furniture cream, the cream walls will eventually need to be changed, but that will have to come later. I have finished my nightstand and love it. Next is the armoire. I have cleared out the drawers and taken most of them out to the garage, but the work on that piece will have to wait till thursday. I work tonight, all night, so will have to sleep tomorrow, but can't wait to get started. If you have an old piece of furniture, here are the steps to take.
* First wipe down and clean your piece (after removing hardware)
* next lightly sand the whole thing, so the paint will adhere.
* roll on a primer, and allow to dry for about an hour
* start to apply spray paint. I did this outside in the grass. I placed the nightstand on a big piece of plywood and went to town. I used Rust-oleum satin Heirloon White. I got this color idea from a few of the blogs in my sidebar, Centsational girl and The Lettered Cottage. They both have such FABULOUS ideas, you should check out!! Anyway, I applied 3 coats, about 20 minutes apart. Then allowed to dry for 24hours before moving.
* I sprayed the brass drawer pulls with some leftover spraypaint from my kitchen redo, and I like the way it turned out.

I forgot to take a before pic of the nightstand, so I posted a pic of the matching armoire "before" and will post the after of it later.
I have to say, it is fun and rewarding to redo a piece of furniture. And with budgets being a little tighter these days, it helps save money, and I still get a "new" look! Have any of you redone something?? What did you use?

And then, there were two

Remember just a few days ago, all the drama and trauma that surrounded Brooke and her loose front tooth. Well this morning she lost her other front tooth, and the story was quite different!! The only similiarity to these stories, is the fact that she could wriggle both those teeth, to the point where it even grossed me, the nurse, out!! This tooth, she just wriggled with her tongue and it came out!! She walked into the room with the tooth lying on her tongue, saying, mom, I need your help. She just didn't want to touch it. So, here she is toothless. SO CUTE!!!

My baby is SIX

****UPDATE: Brooke decided she did not want her ears pierced after all. She keeps apologizing for not doing it??? I kinda thought that might happen when she actually got to the store. Oh well, I told her if and when she is ever ready, I will take her. And yes, she lost her tooth the next day after the original post. That was an ordeal too:)

Today is my sweet little girls 6th Birthday! Where on earth have these past years gone??? I still remember sitting in her room, nursing her in the middle of the night. That was always my favorite time with my babies. She, like her brother, has turned into such a sweet, caring, compassionate child. She is ALL GIRL!! She LOVES shoes, painted nails, hair accessories, jewelry, frilly things, new clothes, makeup - all things feminine! She loves dance class and loves to sing, she loves to talk to her imaginary friends all the time in the bathroom or when alone. She loves to "read" books to us and her stuffed animals. I love the fact that she still sleeps with her blankie and her stuffed pink bear, Pink Tulip. Like all of us girls, she is emotional at times and also loves to sleep in(unlike her brother who sets his alarm at 6:30 am every day to read) -she wants just 5more minutes about 10 times!!

This is what she wore to school today on her birthday. She says she gets to wear a pink paper crown all day and sit in the special chair in class today. She brought special sprinkle cookies for snack. Afterwards, we are going to the mall with Grandma Deemer, Grandma Jan and Aunt Kathy (we wish with all our hearts, that you were here too Grandma Paula, you KNOW you will be in Brooke's heart). Brooke is getting her ears pierced (so far) and then we are going to the Cheesecake Factory for lunch. Happy Birthday my sweet girl, you are my angel. Daddy and I love you sooooooo much!