The Weekend Whisk – 2/23/13

Happy Saturday!! Hope you all had a fantastic week and have a great weekend planned. This weekend we have a family birthday party to go to. Pretty excited for that since it happens to be at one of those bounce house places and well, my girls are serious bouncers. We own not one, but two bounce houses. Yep. We have an “outside bounce house” and they we have an “inside bounce house.” That’s completely and totally normal, right? And the much larger “outside bounce house” may or may not have made its way into the house recently and for a short time become the “inside bounce house.” We just scoot the coffee table out of the way and blow it up in the middle of the living room. It literally is the size of the entire living room! It’s fantastic winter fun though. When we’re all cooped up inside, we have to get creative and when you have a bounce house in your living room… even Grandma likes to get in on the fun!

This week Murphy’s full personality started to blossom and come out. He’s still a big cuddler but he’s MUCH more feisty! Turns out he had worms as well as parasites. The vet gave him two types of medicine and within 24 hours he went from being this sleepy, super calm pup to a good mix of sleepy, cuddly and playful. I bet he was spending so much time lounging around because the poor little pup didn’t feel good! So glad he’s getting better now.

This week I learned it’s really hard to take a clear photo of Murphy and the girls in action. They just move too fast for my cellphone! Murphy loves to play tug and shakes his head all around like he’s bigger than a foot tall. Although, he’s strong enough to drag Molly when she tries to play this game with him. Maddy is still winning when she plays with Murphy though.

Also another way to kill time when you’re stuck inside on a cold frigid day? Give the kids and dog a giant floor keyboard to play with. All three of them were running up and down it, making music and just having a good ol’ time!

Also, when Murphy first came home Molly was a little nervous around him. She would whine or get upset if he tried to lick her or climb into her lap. This week? These two have become fast friends. Hugs are being given constantly …

And these two are total cuddle buddies!

In other news, I’m getting the itch to make a major change in my kitchen. A while back Mike had to fix a plumbing issue which involved removing nearly an entire wall in our kitchen. Now the wall is repaired and we have a section of unfinished sheet rock which means I need to paint the kitchen. Usually this wouldn’t sound like much fun to me but I have Pinterest in my life. That means I have endless inspiration at my fingertips. So an idea started forming and I can’t wait to get started! So far I only have ideas but I have gone out and picked out what will likely be the colors for the kitchen.

Right now I have a very light blue on the walls and honey colored cabinets and well, to be honest I hate it. I have dark floors and light countertops. It all just looks mismatched. I didn’t choose any of my kitchen colors, cabinets or countertops. It was all here before I came along. We just replaced the floor about 6 months ago and now it’s time for something more. A lot more! I plan to do a kitchen makeover for hopefully less than $600. Let’s see if I can stay on budget!

So I’m thinking neutral colors with little red and blue accents here and there from accessories. I have this big rustic wooden American flag that hangs on the wall in the kitchen. It’s about the only thing I like it there so I’m going to play off of it. I plan to share the process as I go, although it will probably be slow-going. But for now, I’m formulating my idea. Next will come some before pictures, a fresh coat of paint and a million possibilities! In the meantime, here’s a recap of what was going on here on Food Babbles this week. Have a great weekend!

Enjoy!

~K

Hibiscus-Vanilla Bean Pots de Creme

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese

and the most popular post of the week was…

Broccoli Cheese Muffins

Babbles Bookmarks:

Roasted Tomato & Garlic Whole Grain Bread from Jelly Toast: If you aren’t doing so already, this is a blog you definitely should be reading. Each and every recipe makes me drool and Emily’s pictures are breathtaking. This loaf of bread is no exception. It’s simply gorgeous! Chock full of slow roasted tomatoes and cloves of roasted garlic. Made with whole grains, it’s healthy too! This is a loaf of bread that I will be making.

Grapefruit Rosemary Olive Oil Cake from Desserts for Breakfast: This cake is simply lovely! I adore olive oil cakes. So moist and the delicate flavor the olive oil lends to them is just wonderful. This olive oil cake with the elements of grapefruit and rosemary sounds unique. I love the pairing of citrus with herbs.

Caramel Stuffed Krispie Treats from Cookies and Cups: If this isn’t evil genius, well the I just don’t know what is. I have a love of Rice Krispie Treats and all the wonderful variations that can be made from this cereal. But stuffing a Krispie treat? Stuffing it with ooey gooey caramel? Well, that may be the world’s perfect treat.

M&M Nutella Popcorn from Inside BruCrew Life: I am a serious popcorn lover. I used to just eat it straight up and enjoy it. Caramel corn, yep I’d make it sometime. Then I made that Maple Bacon Caramel Corn with Pecans and realized there was a whole creative popcorn-making world out there. Now I am all about taking popcorn to the next level. So when I saw this popcorn tossed with Nutella and mini M&M’s I knew I needed this in my life. What’s even better? I hit the creative popcorn jackpot!! Jocelyn has all sorts of popcorn recipes on her site like Reese’s Popcorn, Almond Joy Popcorn, Coffee Toffee Popcorn, Banana Crunch Popcorn and believe it or not, EVEN MORE! I’m in heaven!

Tagged as: The Weekend Whisk