And the hole is dug deeper

This was a room redo by accident. Damon and I bought an new mirror to put in our guest bath and one thing led to another....and I ended up changing the hardware in the room and putting a fresh coat of paint on the walls. To save on the cost I bought a can of bronze colored spray paint and painted the light fixture and the knobs on the cabinets. I love this room now, I almost like it better than our master bathroom :) The before picture was taken before we moved in, so there is nothing in this room. And it doesn't show much of it. Pretty bland and boring.

:

And here is our after

We also had some pretty cool looking weather blow over just a few minutes go and I promised Matt I would share a pretty awesome picture.

And after the storm...

You know the old saying....

one door closes and another door opens? Well, that's how projects go around this house! It seems as if there is just barely one finished before another starts! When we first moved in we had plans of creating a guest room (part of the reason we bouth a 4 bedroom house), but we just weren't in a hurry to do so. The day finally came when we decided to swing by a mattress outet store in town just to look. We landed a heck of a deal on a great queen size pillowtop. I think a few people can agree that it is super comfy. I'm trying to do a series of before and after photos of what we've done, and I just discovered I don't have a before picture! This room was just so darn boring before, I dind't even take a picture of it. So imagine if you will...a room with an air mattress in the middle of the floor. That's about it. So once the mattress came I decided to get to work on it, and for the small cost on a few new accessories, I'm pretty proud of what's turned out!

Tune in next time as we move onto the guest bathroom!

Visitors from afar

In the past two weeks we've had some wonderful guests in our house! Mom and Dad flew down for the day a couple of weeks ago and Cassidy and Justin just pulled out of the driveway about 10 minutes ago. I love sharing our home with family, I just hate it when they leave!

We had a great time when Mom and Dad Hall came to visit, very relaxing. I fixed lunch and we just layed around all afternoon and enjoyed each other's company. It was fantastic. It seems we always run around when we have guests here, so it was nice to just stay at home and visit for a day.

Cassidy and Justin came down for a visit on Monday and just left this morning. It had been three or four months since Cassidy has been in town but nearly two years for Justin! We had dinner at one of our favorite local pizzarias and at the every so fabulous Biaggi's. I took them up to the Mesker Park Zoo yesterday and we had a great time. I just hope they can come back soon!

Yum O

So I've shared this recipe with a few people, but everyone should try this stuff. I found the recipe on kraft.com looking for something simple to take to work for a carry in. I doubled the recipe and it was gone before lunch. I never even tried it! So I've made it again and it is awesome! Its light and fluffy and full of flavor. Try making it for your next get together!


Loaded Baked Potato Dip

1/2 cup instant potato flakes
1/2 cup milk
1 cup Light Sour Cream
4 oz. (1/2 of 8-oz. pkg.) Neufchatel Cheese, softened
2 green onions, sliced, divided
1 cup Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese
2 Tbsp. Bacon Bits


PREHEAT oven to 350ºF. Mix potato flakes and milk in large bowl; let stand 5 min. or until milk is absorbed. Add sour cream, Neufchatel and half of the onions; mix well. Dip will be soft set.
SPOON into 9-inch pie plate; sprinkle with shredded cheese and bacon bits.

BAKE 15 to 20 min. or until cheese is melted and dip is heated through. Sprinkle with remaining onions. Serve with the chips.

For Chelsea

I decided its time to follow suit! We'll do our best to keep this thing updated with happenings, weekend adventures or the adventures of homeownership. It has been a journey over the past six months to make this house our home, but I think we've finally made it. So welcome all to the Givens clan blog, enjoy it!