Month: March 2020

Closet Work

Josh and I have also been working on the closet in our spare room since January. We call that room The Green Room, since the carpet is very green. The closet was also green carpet, and we really aren’t big fans of it. The house also gets lots of moisture into the house, so we plan to seal all of our cement pad with paint eventually.

First, we removed the carpet. We used a box cutter to cut the carpet just past the threshold into the closet. We then ripped up the carpet and the padding they glued to the original tiling, and we threw it away. Josh also used a chisel to remove the carpet strips that were nailed into the foundation.

We then found clearance wood linoleum planks at Ollie’s. We were able to get 8 pieces for a little over $13. We also bought quick cement and a metal putty knife at other stores. We also needed our metal chisel to scrap the remaining padding off the tiles, a gallon of oops paint that we bought last summer for $9, and a tape measure.

Josh scrapped off the padding and then scrubbed the floor with soapy water. We let that dry for a day. We then applied the quick cement and learned to block that off after Newman left a paw print in it. Once it dried for another day or 2, we took 2 days to apply 2 coats of paint to seal off the tiles from the new flooring. We took a couple more days to let that dry.

Finally, installing the tiles. First, we watched this video. We then decided to just wing it. We used 4 tiles in the processes. The biggest hint is to measure, take it slowly, and to cut the boards to move them easily. This video is a big help, and teaches lots of the basics. We used a table saw to cut the flooring. Start from the back corner, and stagger your cuts so you don’t have one giant seam.

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Venison Stew

The last couple of days I have been feeling sick, and I’ve found that nothing is better than homemade soup. This broth is so tasty that I could drink it all day! The fresh potatoes and carrots also add wonderful flavor and great nutrients. Take your time when making it, other than that, it’s so easy!

  1. Take your cubed venison and brown it in a dutch oven or stock pot with 1 Tbsp oil. Add 1 medium onion diced and 1 Tbsp butter. Cook until the onion is sweating or translucent to your preference.
  2. Add 5 cups of beef broth and 2 Tbsp horseradish. Bring to a boil.
  3. Dice up 3-4 potatoes (about 2 cups) after rinsing and scrubbing clean. Also cut up 2-3 carrots or cut in half 10-15 baby carrots (about 1 cup). Once mixture is boiling, add potatoes and carrots. Cook for 15-20 minutes until potatoes and carrots are tender. Add more broth or water if too much boils off.
  4. Once cooked, add additional 1 Tbsp horseradish, 1 Tbsp worcestershire sauce, and additional herbs as desired. Mix 3 Tbsp flour (or 1 beef gravy packet) with 1/2 cup water whisk until smooth, then add to stew. Cook for another 5 minutes. Transfer to serving bowls and let cool for 5 minutes before eating.
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Shepherd’s Pie

Shepherd’s pie is a large meal that is easy to make. I like making it when I have lots of leftovers I can use in it to clean out my fridge and to finish up some food. This time I used some of my leftover turkey stock from thanksgiving, but I recommend using beef or veggie stock. I also recommend stock or gravy, so you do not have to thicken it as much as broth.

  1. Make your favorite mashed potatoes (find my recipe here). With a large dutch oven, begin browning 1 lb of ground beef or venison. Dice one small onion (1/2 cup) and add to browned meat. Cook your onions until translucent. Preheat oven to 450 F.
  2. Add strained cans of sliced carrots, peas, and corn. (You can also use fresh or frozen. Add your fresh veggies with the onion, add frozen veggies with this step.) Add 2 cups of stock and 3 Tbsp flour, stir and simmer until everything is hot and bubbly.
  3. Transfer into a 7×10 casserole dish, and bread pan if you have extra. Top with mashed potatoes, place in oven and cook for 20 minutes. Remove from oven, let cool for 10 minutes, then serve.
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Removing Wallpaper

  • Listing photo with wallpaper

When we moved in, there was a wall that ran through the house that was covered in wallpaper. It ran from the utility room through the kitchen, dining room, living room, and the hallway outside the bathroom and two bedrooms. It literally went throughout the whole house. We have been working for weeks to remove some the wallpaper and to figure out how to deal with some spots that were giving us some problems. First, there was not just one layer of wallpaper, but two layers of the exact same wallpaper! Second, there were spots where they plastered over the wallpaper extensively to cover all damage, now we were stuck with spots that had plaster on top of the two layers of wallpaper!

Before New Year’s, we were able to strip the wallpaper almost completely off of 1/3 of the wallpapered surfaces in the house. We recently were able to finish that first third by sanding off the plaster, removing the underlying wallpaper, plastering spots that were damaged, sanding again, washing the walls, then finally painting the wall. Thankfully, this wallpaper can be removed with water, so that has been very helpful, but it was still a lot of work. Take a look at the work so far, and keep an eye out as we still have 2/3 left to go!

The next two photos show some flaws in the wall after painting. I’ll let you know what we do about that in the future, but for now we’re gonna leave it since you can only really see the flaws at night in artificial lighting.

1

Baked Chicken Breast

This was one of my favorite recipes to make for my husband and I after we got married. It was a simple healthy meal that just takes the time to bake. My chicken breasts I get at Aldis, and they are so thick. My chicken breasts are usually 1-2 inches thick, which is more than enough for my husband and I to share. You can also add some seasoning before you bake, or add it during the last 10 minutes of cooking, if you want additional flavoring, but I’ve found I have to add a lot (several Tbsp) to get significant flavor, so keep that in mind. The chicken also has a natural roasted flavor to it when baked this way. I’ve also decided to serve this meal with mashed potatoes. I still have so many potatoes, since I bought 25lbs a month and a half ago, however, I was able to make enough mashed potatoes to use these up!

  1. Heat your oven to 450 F.
  2. Prepare your chicken breast by removing it from the container, and placing it on a baking sheet.
  3. Bake it for 30-45 minutes until an internal temperature of 165 F. Remove from oven and let rest for 5 minutes before serving.
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