Sunday, January 21, 2018

Renewing Grout

We have a few rooms in our home that have tiled floors.
I just realized that I never posted about
how I updated our dirty, grimy, yucky looking grout
and completely transformed the look of our floors.
No matter how much I scrubbed that grout it just wasn't coming clean.
I don't believe that the grout was ever sealed on any of our tiled floors.
Here is a before picture of the 
tiled floor in our downstairs bathroom.
I had just got done mopping this floor.
See how bad the grout was?
After I performed my magic this is what it looks like now.
We couldn't believe the difference it made with this floor.
 It looked like a newly tiled floor.
After we saw what a difference updating this floor made
I couldn't help but update all the tiled floors in the house.
So, for 1 month, every weekend, I sat on my butt and
painted all of the grout on our floors.
2 full baths✔
half bath✔
laundry room✔
kitchen✔
foyer✔
Here is a list of supplies and how I did it.

Grout Renew - less than $8.00 per bottle
small artist paint brush
small plastic container to hold the paint
wet rag
bucket of warm water to rinse the rag out

I picked up this GroutRenew from Home Depot in the flooring section.
It comes in a few different colors.
This GroutRenew is stain and fade resistant and is so easy to use.
Simply pour in a container, no mixing required, and start painting.
I used an artist paint brush, working on a small area at a time,
I started applying the paint.
I painted one line at a time and then immediately wiped off the excess.
You can see the results immediately and the paint was dry within 15 minutes
of painting. Although, the instruction recommend not walking on the newly
painted floor for 24 hours.
It was a time consuming project but so worth it to achieve the end result.
Beautifully tiled floors with clean grout.
This tiled floor is in our foyer and half bath.
We walk on our tiled floors numerous times a day
and they still look just as good as the first day I painted them.
They wash up so easy. No special products are needed to keep them clean.
I use a mixture of white vinegar and water, that's it.
I never use soap.
I don't want a filmy residue left behind.
I bought 2 different shades and updated 6 areas in our home
for around $16.00 and still have over half bottle of each shade.

For just a few dollars and a little sweat equity,
this is a very inexpensive project that will
keep your home looking beautiful.

Not bad if I do say so myself.

That's it for this week.
Until Next Time,
Veronica

Sunday, January 14, 2018

My Last Working Christmas

I just celebrated my last working Christmas from my real job.
The one that pays the bills, not my Blog job.
Next year I will be RETIRING before Christmas.

My goodness, where have the years gone?
At times, the day to day routine seemed to drag
and I never thought that I would get to this stage
in my life, yet here we are 30 years later.
It seems so surreal.

Each year at Christmas time all the employees
get together and we create a feast that is unbelievable.
There is such an abundance and variety of food to feast on it's
like going to one of the buffets in Las Vegas!

This year my contribution was Hot Reuben Dip.
If you love Reuben sandwiches, you're going to love this dip.

It's a perfect dip to place in a slow cooker and cart off to work.
(I tripled the recipe)
No one at work had ever heard of Hot Reuben Dip.
It was a BIG hit.
How could it not be!
It has all the makings of a Reuben sandwich.
My co-worker actually made a sandwich with it.
It's a good thing I saved a bowl full for my photo shoot.
I ended up bringing home an empty slow cooker.😋
You'll want to add this dip recipe to your recipe box.

HOT REUBEN DIP

1 (8 oz.) package Cream Cheese, softened
8 ounces deli Corned Beef, coarsely chopped
1 cup shredded Swiss cheese
1/2 cup Sauerkraut, drained well
1/4 cup Sour Cream
1/4 cup Thousand Island salad dressing
Triscuit crackers or Garlic flavored Rye Chips

INSTRUCTIONS

In a large bowl, combine the cream cheese, sour cream and Thousand Island dressing together until well blended. Add the chopped corned beef, sauerkraut and Swiss cheese, stir until combined.

Place into a slow cooker, or crockpot. Heat on HIGH for 2 to 3 hours or LOW for 4 to 6 hours.

Serve with crackers or chips.

ENJOY!

Until Next Time,
Veronica

Sunday, January 7, 2018

Chasing The Chill Away

How are the temperatures where you live?
We have been having a real cold snap here
with temps in the low teens to single digits
during the day, and night time temps around -11°.

I don't know about you, but I'm sure tired of
this cold weather already. I hate to even walk
outside to get the mail. It's so hard to get warm
even after being out in that cold for just a few minutes.
One way that I like to chase the cold away is with a hot drink.
I named this drink my
SNOWMAN HOT TUB.
I usually have a batch of Homemade Peppermint Hot Chocolate
mix in our pantry ready and waiting for these cold winter days.

Just heat up a cup of milk and add the
Peppermint Hot Chocolate mix.
Pour into a mug and add a special touch
 with a snowman topper.
Adults and kids alike will love this.
Not only will you be chasing the chill away
and adding a smile to their faces,
you will also be creating special memories.

To create the snowman you will need:
marshmallows,
pretzel sticks,
candy corn (our grocery store sells this year round),
and a tube of
Dec A Cake Black Writing Gel

To hold the snowman together I used a pretzel
stick in the top and bottom of one marshmallow
then added a marshmallow on the top and bottom
and squeezed them together.
Add the nose, arms and legs.
Create the face and buttons.

Add your snowman to your cup of hot cocoa.
As he is basking in his hot tub he will start
to melt away and chase your cold chills away.
He is completely edible.
PEPPERMINT HOT CHOCOLATE MIX

6 ounces Candy Canes, finely crushed
2+1/2 cups Dry Powdered Milk
1 cup Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa Powder
1+1/2 cups Confectioners' Sugar
1 Tablespoon Cornstarch

Mix together all ingredients and pour into a Mason Jar with lid.

To make Hot Chocolate: Combine 1/3 cup mix with 1 cup hot milk.

Stay Warm,
Until Next Time,
Veronica