Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Laundry Room Makeover

The start of a new year made me want to clean out and redo some of the rooms in our house that have been untouched. My friend Sarah made me realize I had a great laundry room with potential so I decided to DIY the crap out of it.
Before when I would go down there I would feel super uneasy, the energy in this room was just terrible. My husband has had roommates that actually slept in our semi finished basement a few years ago. Yuck! I didn't like those people and I don't like the stuff and energy they left down there. So I began by throwing out bags full of random items every where, scrubbed down the walls and floors, and a fresh coat of paint on everything.
Before picture - As you can see the themed color they chose back in the 50's was a lovely shade of army green. And it was on EVERYTHING at one time. I found lots of layers of ugly green under this off-white. And to my surprise those stained looking windows are plastic!! I had always thought they were glass. But I actually don't mind them after I cleaned them up.
Before Picture - I removed all the knobs and figured they were perfectly fine, so I spray painted them matte black.

Before picture - I couldn't do much about the ceiling. Couldn't cover it because the ceilings are already so low. But I took a staple gun and cleaned up the wires hanging.

One of the first things I did was rip up the green linoleum counter top. Sanded and stained the wood that was hiding underneath. I think it was a good choice to leave the fake stain glass.


I added a giant basket we have had for years to this big empty corner. And a meat grinder which was my husbands grandmothers once. I also framed some pictures of women doing laundry.


I found this antique wash board at a local antique store (Lost In Time)
And this iron on the same day! I really wanted a giant wash bucket, but they were really expensive.

This antique light belonged to my husbands grandmother as well.




And to add double the light I mirrored the window with this antique mirror.



To cover this doorway into an unsightly section of the basement, I got some rope, two hooks, and two shower curtains. Easy fix!



I made those two cheesie paintings. One on a leftover cabinet door I found it says "Laundry room, sorting life out one load at a time" yeah it's stupid but whatever. I can change it whenever I feel like it.
Other than that, I may hang a couple more pictures, and maybe a shelf somewhere.
Thanks for reading!



Friday, December 5, 2014

Low Carb Pizza Bites - No Crust

How to make low carb no crust pizza meat bites!

All you will need is:
Sliced ham
Pepperoni
Pizza sauce or just Prego like I used
Mozzarella Cheese
Muffin tin
An oven
Hands

Heat your oven to 350 Degrees while you assemble them.


 Spray muffin tin with some sort of nonstick stuff. I use coconut oil.


 Stuff your meat into the pan. Hehe...

Meat pockets!

Put your sauce into the meat pockets. Hehehehe...


And all your toppings, you can stuff your meat pockets with anything you want.


Put in your 350 degree oven, for about 15 to 20 minutes, or depending on how much you like stuff cooked.


Ooh cheesie, greasy, guilt free meat pockets.


Pop them out and enjoy! They were delicious! You can put together a side salad for them too!

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter Universal Studios REVIEW

Me and my husband took a second honeymoon (actually it was meant to be a Christmas present) in October to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios Florida. I am excited to relive the trip through this post. I will never forget it. I am as big of an HP fan as they come. I nearly cried when entering the HP section of the park. When I was younger I remember fantasizing about WHAT IF there was a Harry Potter World, and I would talk about all the possibilities! Who knew 12ish years later I would be there with my husband running through the park at 6AM chugging Starbucks, fighting a nasty case of the runs, and nerdgasming all over the place!
It was 6AM because we stayed in a hotel associated with the park and got a full hour before the park actually opened and the other commoner muggles got to enter. It was just us and maybe 20 other muggles.
As I flew past children and pushed elderly people out of my way to enter the park, I could hear the twinkling of Harry Potter music hit my ears. I jumped, I squealed. 

Gringotts was the only ride open at the time. It is half 3D and half roller coaster. You are emerged into the scenes where Harry, Ron and Hermione go to get the Horcrux, Helga Hufflepuff's Cup which is in the Lestrange families vault. You fly every which way through the place, like you are in a real cave. You are roughed up by Bellatrix and Voldemort and fly down in a terrifying black hole. But get saved by Harry, Ron and Hermione of course!
The building itself is truly amazing. You enter and see amazingly done dwarfs working, and chandeliers.

The actual fire breathing dragon who helps save you in the ride just chills on top of the building. Growling and shooting super hot (Yeah you can feel it down on the ground) fire every 10 minutes.
They didn't hold back on the details of this place. 





One thing I wonder is... Why isn't every city just like this? Wouldn't we all be a lot happier?

We ate in The Three Broomsticks. Very cool setting. Definitely feels like you are a dirty old witch or wizard coming to get bite to eat. I had the Shepherds Pie, and honestly the food wasn't super high quality, it was show-food mostly. But still fun to experience the atmosphere. This is where I tried the Butter beer.
I got it frozen. It was fizzy like soda, thick like a frappucino, with a marsh mellow like topping. Loved it.

The Joke Shop!

My favorite place was Fred and Georges Joke Shop!

It had everything, and I wanted to buy EVERYTHING!!!



The outside of the Joke shop was painted with very cool details. I just loved this wall.
I love this wonder witch painting, I want it as a tattoo.




The first day during our hour before other muggles came in, we went to Ollivanders shop and with only about 6 people in the room we watched a woman who played Ollivander very well, act out the scene where Harry Potter's wand chooses him from the first movie. This lucky little girl about 10 years old got to have a wand choose her. The lights flickered, the music played, and the wand chose her! It was magical.
There were wands you could buy for about $60 that would activate certain things throughout the park. But I say it's not worth the money unless you have a kid with you to do it. Me and my husband would just stand and watch as little kids did their spells and activated funny things in the window displays.

HoneyDukes Sweet Shop was a delightful pink and green shop filled with all the Harry Potter sweets the book speaks of.




These were very cool. Solid huge chocolate frogs inside and who knows what famous witch or wizard you will see on your card!




Knockturn Alley was where all the dark wizard stuff was. It had a really cool dark sky above, and creepy people stalked around in corners.









When your "done" with the one side of HP land, you can take the Hogwarts Express to Hogsmeade! Which is covered in snow and is where a few other rides are. Like the Dueling Dragons, the super fun roller coaster, which was just scary enough.

The first time we got on the Hogwarts Express, a British family got in our little cubby just like the movies. I wanted so badly to tell them they were truly adding to my experience by speaking with that accent.


The castle was mind blowing. Inside the castle is where the ride Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey was. But you got to walk through Dumbledore's office, the DADA classroom, and the Gryffindor tower first. The ride was 3D with no glasses. You sit in a row of four seats and zoom around, feeling like you are really on a broom, dementors fly at you, you get stuck in the whomping willow tree. It was the best ride ever.


Gryffindor's in the lead of course...

I stayed there for 5 days, did the Halloween Horror Nights, and saw most of Universal. Harry Potter world was definitely the best part. Here are some more random photos.






Just another crazy year at Hogwarts...