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October 19, 2015

How a 10lb. Poodle Changed My Life

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #PedigreeGives #CollectiveBias

I’ll be honest … I never wanted a dog.

I grew-up with cats and, never really being around dogs, I never felt the need to have one.

My hubby felt differently. He wanted a dog since our first day of marriage.

I had been putting him off for years. One weekend, when I still worked full time, my company had a booth at a local women’s fair. We hauled half of our store down to this convention center in February, in the middle of a snowstorm. When I say “we” a big part of the “we” was my hubby. So by the time the weekend was over, we were both exhausted, and he had really taken one for the team.

I told him I really owed him, and he said that I could pay him back by going to look at dogs.

I humored him and said sure, since I knew there was no way I was going to be talked into one.

Sure enough, when we arrived there was one cute face after another, and there was a litter of puppies that called to me….

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October 13, 2015

Tuesday With Topher: Learning Opportunities

Happy Tuesday!!

Before I get rolling with today’s post, I wanted to invite everyone to please email me some questions you might have for my upcoming interview with Shanna. You can send your questions to: topher@restorationredoux.com.

Moving on to today’s topic…

I’ll be totally and completely honest with everyone out there. When Shanna and I started heading down the blogging path, we were clueless. Babe-in-the-woods, deer-in-the-headlights, 100% in the dark about what it takes to successfully run a blog.

Now, after three years, I think we’ve progressed to “only somewhat knowledgeable”.

Here’s the rub: There are so many complicated facets to running a web site, and the landscape evolves so quickly, you can spend all day researching tools to help you and still only gain a little traction.

I thought I’d spend a little bit of time sharing some of the tools we use to help us learn more about running a site, working with ads, building content, etc….

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October 12, 2015

Parisian Painted Secretary

Happy Monday everyone! I hope you had a great weekend!

Let’s see what I did…. I cleaned, cleaned some more, painted, and binge-watched Blacklist (Topher and I are obsessed with it). If you aren’t watching it and you have Netflix, you might need to start watching now. We are addicted!

I also added a bit more Halloween decor out, so stay tuned this week for the rest of the spooky tour.

The kiddo only has school two days this week, so I am going to try to wrangle her into helping me with a few projects. I’m sure she will be super excited.

Last spring, my mom and I were out at yard sales and came across this secretary….

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October 8, 2015

Spooky Halloween Coffee Table Decor

Hello my friends!

Remember that One Space Three Ways Challenge we did a while back? We had such a great response to it we are doing it again! Just choose any area of your home and play along with us as we change the same space for three different months:

This month’s theme is Fall/Halloween,
November’s is Thanksgiving, and
December is Christmas.

If you are a regular reader, you know that I love to decorate for Halloween. I look forward to it every year and try to cover every surface in my living and dining room (as well as outdoors) in spooky decor.

The area I chose for the challenge is my coffee table. It’s the first thing you see when you walk in the front door.

This year, I found a fabulous centerpiece at HomeGoods. Topher sort of looked at me like I was a crazy person as I came around the corner wheeling this couple around in my cart, grinning ear-to-ear….

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October 6, 2015

Thrift Store Coasters Turned Front Door Decor-(Swap it Like It’s Hot)

I’ve got something fun for you today!!!

Today is the second time I’m joining in on the Swap It Like It’s Hot Tour!

This is where a bunch of my blogging buddies and I go armed with $10 to the thrift store of our choice, and we each buy some goodies to send to a friend, so that they can transform them into something fabulous!

I received my items from my lovely talented friend Christy from Confessions of a Serial-DIYer.

Here is what I received: Some straight-out-of-the-70’s coasters (each the size of my head), and a dated metal planter….

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October 2, 2015

5 Minute Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Dip

Hi everyone!

I’m so excited to be taking part in the Comfort Foods Blog Hop!

As you know, I don’t normally do a lot of food posts, but when the unnamed child (my teenage daughter who refuses to be named on the site in fear of me embarrassing her somehow) and I made this together, it was too good not to share!

I like to cook, but I also like to get in and out of the kitchen as quickly as possible. Recipes that require a ton of ingredients, or take an hour to make, just aren’t happening for me.

Once school starts back up and the holidays start creeping in, it seems like you are invited to a million different get-togethers.

Well, I have found my go-to quick and yummy recipe for all of those potlucks and events … and it only takes 5 minutes!

Here’s what you will need:

1 8oz block of cream cheese (softened)
1 stick of butter (1/2 cup, softened)
1/2 Teaspoon vanilla
3/4 Cup mini chocolate chips
3/4 Cup powdered sugar
2 Tablespoons brown sugar

Mix it up in a bowl, and you are done my friends!

How easy is that?

I serve mine with graham crackers and vanilla wafers.

Make sure you visit the other sites below for their yummy comfort food recipes!

Domestically Speaking pumpkin spice pancakes
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia alfredo pasta bake
Cupcakes and Crinoline crockpot chicken and dumplings
Clean and Scentsible cheesy vegetable chowder
Setting for Four easy apple cake
Yesterday on Tuesday french onion soup
Redhead Can Decorate butterscotch brownies
Unskinny Boppy Alabama pot roast
Nibbles By Nic apple pie french toast
Cottage at the Crossroads mom’s pot roast
What Meegan Makes apple crisp