O come, let us Worship

and bow down:

Let us kneel before the Lord, our maker.

Psalm 95:6

Blessings,

Once in a Lifetime TWOSDAY!

This week we celebrated the once in a lifetime calendar date 2.22.22 which fell on Tuesday aka: TWOSDAY! Earlier in the month I noticed that particular day was open on the meal train schedule so I signed right up and started planning how to incorporate TWOSDAY into the Bake & Take meal we would deliver. Tacos came to mind first since Taco Tuesday is already a thing and the date we chose was going to land on a Tuesday. It seemed perfect. Then the idea of creating a theme decorated  box to deliver the meal popped in my head. A party in a box sounded like fun so the first thing on the to~do list was creating some DIY graphics for small banners and signs to use to decorate the box.

While the signs and banner were in the works a couple other theme ideas were floating around such as TUTU’S and neck TIES. The list of ideas was long however time narrowed down what could actually be accomplished. First I thought it would be cute to make a shirt using a small paper bag and then put a tie on the shirt.

Templates were needed so to start I made a practice shirt out of a lunch sack. It seemed to work so I moved on and sketched out a few things such as a pocket for the shirt, the taco shell and fillings and the top part of the tutu. Once those were ready I looked for supplies.

There was plenty of pink tulle in my stash to make a little TUTU so that was finished in no time. It fit several bottles and jars but in the end I went with a water bottle.

For the shirt I found a gift bag in my supply that turned out to be the perfect size. I folded the top to make the collar as before and then made a tie using a wider more colorful piece of ribbon this time. Two shirt buttons glued to the collar, a pocket with a tag inside and the cute little shirt was complete.

Now let’s TACO ‘bout the menu.

Of course there were tacos however not quite the traditional style. They were fun Walking Tacos along with a batch of sour cream chicken enchiladas. 

The Walking Tacos came with Frito’s, seasoned taco meat and all the toppings including Mr. Wonderful’s homemade guacamole.

The Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas included Mexican corn and black bean salad, cornbread, of course more homemade guacamole and apple pie bars for dessert. 

This extra special Meal on Heels was a lot of fun to put together and deliver. And, because I had doubled the meal, we had a festive dinner too. 

It was a fun, crafty and yummy way to celebrate this special day with our friends.

Happy Friday!

Not Just Any Tuesday!

Celebrating TWOSDAY today with a special Bake & Take ~ meals on heels. Currently cooking and crafting up a storm so will be back soon to share the fun way we celebrated 2.22.22 with our neighbors. 

Have a fun TWOSDAY!

******** Celebrating 11 Years of Blogging ********

Happy Blogiversary!

It is hard to believe it was 11 years ago today that I published my first blog post. I never imagined it would have lasted this long but I do enjoy sharing what is happening as there  always seems to be something going on. 

Here are a few of the most recent

Fun Facts about the Grand Surprise:

Total number of Posts

1082

Audience: Top 5 Countries

United State

Canada

Russia

France 

United Kingdom

5 Most Popular Posts

Lemon~Cream Cheese Croissants

Quinoa Salad

Waterfall: plants, lights, skirt

Heirloom Easter Eggs

Mexican Rice

Top Referral Site

Pinterest

Thank you to my family and friends and everyone that stops by to check out what we are doing around here. I love the emails, comments and encouragement from all of you.  It has been fun to share the latest and greatest projects over the last 11 years and hopefully there will be more wonderful and exciting things to post in 2022. And right now, the way things are shaping up I am pretty sure there will be. 

Have a Wonderful Day!

——— P&B’s Extreme House Makeover ——— …….….. Kitchen Renovation :: phase 1 ……..….

It has been a whirlwind of activity recently with HS basketball season in full swing and projects continuing in the shop. If Mr. Wonderful isn’t refereeing a game he is usually building things. And, as it is with most shop work around here, there is sawdust everywhere which is a sure sign that wonderful things are being created.

P&B’s Extreme House Makeover has now moved into a new phase which is focussed on the Kitchen. After a little brainstorming the kitchen in their new house was reimagined. What was originally a small one wall galley style kitchen with only a few rather small retro style cabinets and  some old appliances is now in the process of being enlarged and updated from floor to ceiling. It did not take long for the kitchen plans to be drawn up and then homeowner approved which kept the projects moving without interruption. 

Before the kitchen renovation could begin though, the new floors needed to be installed and it was also decided that the interior doorway to the kitchen needed to be moved at that same time to accommodate the refrigerator which was currently homeless.

As far as we could tell there had never been a truly designated space for a refrigerator so it appeared that the choice over all those years was limited to one of two walls that each had an outlet. That simply would not work going forward so the new plan for P&B’s kitchen included a wonderful custom home for the refrigerator along with plumbing for the ice-maker. 

However, the original interior wall was only 12” deep with a small narrow 12” cabinet at the end which did not provide much in the way of storage and definitely not enough room for the frig so it was agreed that the entrance had to be moved. During DEMO, the little old cabinet was removed and repurposed in the garage. The doorway was then extended approximately 14” for a total length of 26” to accommodate the refrigerator and some standard size cabinets.

The new entrance created a standard sized space along the interior wall for the refrigerator as well as a large, deep pantry and additional cabinets above the frig and more on the opposite side.

The new doorway was then framed in and also arched at the top to give it some character which was a nice touch. Kudo’s to Mr. Wonderful for that idea too. The electrical lines were also moved, switches and outlets were added and then the new floor was laid. The refrigerator will now finally have a permanent home and plumbing will be added so that the never ever been used ice~maker will finally be functional.

In the meantime, custom made cabinets were in the works. Our carpenter/cabinet maker {aka: Mr. Wonderful} suggested that the kitchen renovation be executed in three phases beginning on the interior wall side which would now include the refrigerator.  Of course we all agreed with that.

In fact, he had the first set of cabinets in production before the floors were even finished.

Once they were all assembled it was time for paint.

It took several coats for good coverage. 

Then the hardware was added.

Slides for the drawers, 

as well as hinges for the doors.

 And last but not least, holes were drilled for the adjustable shelves.

The first set of cabinets were ready to be delivered.

The pantry was installed first. Once that was secure the cabinet that frames the refrigerator was next. The top back was trimmed first so the cabinet could be tilted into place.

The refrigerator was moved back and fit perfectly in the new space. 

Last but not least, the upper and lower cabinets on the end were installed. An outlet and light switch were also added for convenience. A temporary counter top was made and attached to hold P&B over until they are ready to order and install the permanent counters which they are still deciding on along with their sink and range. 

Once all the upper cabinets have been installed the crown molding will be added. Base molding will also be added once all the base cabinets are in.

You can see what a difference it made to move the interior doorway so that standard depth cabinets would fit as well as the refrigerator. These Phase 1 cabinets alone provide more storage than all the original cabinets combined which was the goal. Now on to Phase 2: Upper Cabinets on the exterior side of the kitchen. I will be back soon to share more of P&B’s big kitchen renovation.

Happy Wednesday!

Oodles of Heartfelt Doodles

Just popping in to share some recent Valentine doodles. 

Also, some simply sweet Valentine Sugar Cookies with homemade buttercream frosting spread over the top with a knife. No wonder these are our family's favorite sugar cookies. 

More happy heart doodles. 

The more hearts the merrier. 

Happy Valentines Day!💕

P&B's DIY Extreme House Makeover :: Part 4 ……...…....Temporary Door Fix .....……...…..

Things have been busy in the wood working shop. So much sawdust flying around here that it has been hard to keep up with the dusting. That’s okay though because you cannot build wonderful things without a little dust. 

One of the recent projects for P&B’s house has been refurbishing their interior doors. Brand new doors are lower on the priority list right now however the old doors really needed some attention so the hubs thought he might be able to spruce them up a bit by stripping, sanding and scraping the old paint down to the original stained wood and then prime and paint them with professional grade paint to give them some new life. Then, accessorize the doors with some new modern hardware and hopefully they would be good to go for at least little longer. 

It all sounded easy enough but it turned out to be a bit more of a job than expected however he stuck with it and eventually came up with a system that worked.

The process took about a week of scraping, sanding and waiting for paint remover to take off another layer, and then repeating but one by one the doors were eventually ready to be painted.

It took several coats to cover the permanent brown stain and to fill the course grain of the old wood. 

Finally, the doors are finished and ready to deliver. 

We are anxious to see how they look inside the house and especially with all the new trim that has gone up since the last time we were there. In the meantime, there have been other exciting projects in the works for P&B’s house so I will be back soon to share the latest and greatest home imporovements.

Happy Wednesday!