It's been so long that...

I had to log into blogger manually! So why the long silence? Well it hasn't been intentional. I guess things got busy at work and I got busy with some spring cleaning which turned into some home renovations... It started out with some "Pineapple Grove" paint....


And then continued on to the busted old couch we bought from the salvation army in December...


And has spiralled out of control (?) with some reupholstering using shower curtains...

But such lovely shower curtains!

Once the apartment is back in order and I can take some nice photos, I will be sure to go into full details of each project, but I wanted to get us back on track with this Orange Marmalade Muffin recipe from the good ol' Pioneer Woman:

Can't go wrong with brown sugar sprinkled on top!


This makes a great treat for breakfast- not too sweet and plenty filling.

Good Morning Muffins

From The Pioneer Woman Cooks
Makes 18 muffins

• 4 cups flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons baking powder
• 1/2 cup shortening (can use 1/4 cup shortening with 1/4 cup butter)
• 2 cups orange marmalade
• 1 cup orange juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 eggs, beaten

Topping:

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 tablespoon plus
• 1 teaspoon melted butter
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Sift together flour, sugar, and baking powder. Place in a mixing bowl.Use a pastry cutter to mix in shortening (or butter/shortening if desired).Mix marmalade, orange juice, and vanilla in a small bowl. Pour into dry ingredients.Beat eggs and pour into the bowl.Mix all ingredients together gently, using fewer than 10 large strokes.

In a small bowl, mix topping ingredients.

Fill muffin pans with batter. Sprinkle 1 heaping teaspoon of topping ingredients over each muffin.

Bake for 20 to 22 minutes until done. Remove from pan and cool on wire rack. Eat warm or at room temperature.

Yum!

Getting Crafty with my walls

For those who have followed the progress of our little apartment, you may have already seen the below picture which I posted as part of a "tour" once we moved in. You may not have noticed but despite having several pictures of my necklace rail in the bathroom (which I'm sure was of supreme interest to everyone), there were none of the right side of this room.

And why you might ask? Let me show you:

Pretty hideous, right? Although the boyfriend and I were very fortunate when acquiring furniture, we did not make out with a real wardrobe. And where would we put one anyway? The apartment came with one small closet across from the front door but this was enough for someone with no clothes. which is not me. Thankfully, my mom had the above temporary wardrobe in the garage and this would have to suffice.

Then is started sagging. And leaning into Kris's "space". And driving us both nuts. So Kris decided it was due to the poles coming undone and all he would have to do is to bang them back into place. He took a hammer to it and pretty much banged it into an early but deserving grave. Something had to be done.

I theorized that the wall next to my side of the bed, the one with the bookshelf could become some sort of hanging space but the fireplace was too shallow and would mean hangers poking out from the wall. The only solution would be to hang clothes flush to the wall and hope I could find some accommodating shelves.

We headed to Ikea and I found everything I needed down to the screws and spacers.

Got myself 4 of these

3 of these babies

And just so all my hangers would be the same and swivel- I picked up a pack of these.

The result?

Ta da!!! And I have Kris to thank for all the manual labor- he did a really fantastic job with this and none of the shelves have even fallen off!

And for less than 100 bucks I got myself a full wall worth of storage. Yes, I have had to make some compromises, but keeping only my work clothes on hangers means that getting ready in the morning is practically mindless.

Now all i need is a night stand- What do you think between this recycled aluminum one and this nestling table set?

• Cost: less than $100
• Time: An afternoon
• Ease: Pretty darn easy if you have a big burly man!