Have a Wonderful Weekend!

Hope you all are enjoying the spirit of the season!

Mountain House Winter

I haven't talked much about our house in the mountains since my kitchen backsplash tutorial. Mostly this place is a summer house. An escape from the 120degree Arizona desert summers. We only head up here now and then from October through April. But if they get snow, I can't wait to get here for sledding and cozy afternoons by the fire. We don't have TV (just DVDs), cell phone coverage, or internet service. It's a great escape for the adults and once the kids get over their online gaming withdrawals, they have a great time too. Here's a few pictures...     Maybe more than a few.

This island was a DIY using Lowes off the shelf cabinets. Tutorial here.

Nestled in this tiny Arizona mountain valley.

                         One of the best things about living in Arizona is that you can go from this:

        To this:

                                                                      All in one day!!

Holiday House Tour

I think I've been babbling away about Christmas decorating for over a month now, so I'm just going to let you scroll through this without narration.
Almost all the holiday knickknacks are handmade with links at the bottom of the page. Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Holidays! The paper REINDEER tutorial and template are here and the paper STAR instructions are here and the DIY WREATHS are here.

Holiday Candles

Nothing says winter holidays like wood burning and popping in the fireplace and candles lit and everywhere. I just love it. I made a couple of holiday candles with stuff I had around the house.

** When I bought this white poinsettia, the girl cashier said she thought the white ones were dead red ones. Just the day before my husband said he thought the white ones looked sickly. Awwww. I like the white ones, but now I'm starting to wonder...

It's just two vases, one that fits into the other one, some greenery, and a candle. I put the smaller vase into the larger one and filled the in between space with the greenery and berries. The candle goes into the center vase and then I filled the in between with water. It helps if the candle or center vase is heavy, otherwise the center vase may start to float when you add the water.

I love how it looks with the water. Everything sorta floats around and is magnified by the water.

I did a little something different for the kitchen, because I couldn't stop myself with this candle surrounded by stuff  idea.

A BreakFAST Recipe

I don't usually post recipes because I can't cook and take pictures at the same time!! UGH! It's impossible for me. I don't know how you all do it. I struggled through this just for my friends at the Christmas Cheer Party. I do love this recipe and idea because if you have a house full of people for the holidays it is so EASY. You don't spend the whole breakfast at the stove flipping (pancakes, eggs, hash-browns, bacon...) only to, finally, sit down to eat after everybody's done and has left the table. This can also be customized with different toppings very easily. I didn't add any here, but cheese and/or ham is really yummy.

All you need are dinner rolls and eggs.

Start out with some dinner rolls, the kind where the outside has a crust. Cut off the top 1/3. Save the top.

Dig out a bowl just big enough to hold 1 egg.

Add 1 egg to each bread bowl and place on a baking sheet or skillet and pop into a 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes.

When they look like they only have another 5 minutes left to cook, add the bread tops and any topping you may like. I added green onions and salt and pepper here. Cook another 5 minutes or so. It's probably best to watch them through the window at this point.

Good Morning and happy cooking.