Binkies and Briefcases

Is it snowing like crazy where you are? This has been a rough winter here in Pennsylvania!

So today I have a seasonally appropriate chili recipe for you.

I’m not even sure I am technically allowed to call this chili, but I’m not sure what else to call it.

The rest of my family doesn’t really love traditional chili recipes and Eddie hates beans, so I never make it. But this crazy winter weather had me craving chili, so I made my own alternative version that doesn’t actually taste a thing like chili, except for the texture and the warmth. I was happy with the way it came out and the little taste-testers approved. It’s much sweeter than a traditional chili. More like chili and sloppy joes had a baby together. Also, I put chocolate in it. And beer.

So there’s that. But mostly it’s just vegetables and meat. I made it in my favorite pot of all time: my Le Creuset Dutch Oven. I’ll be sharing more one-pot dutch oven recipes like this one over the next few weeks. If the Le Creuset is out of your price range right now, the Lodge is a great option too.

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Our girls share a bedroom. The room has two small closets and between them there is this window seat. (There is storage underneath where we keep clothes that Abby has outgrown that we are saving for Penny.) My vision has always been to turn this area into a little reading nook.

I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on this project.

I’m happy to report that the reading nook is finished and the final cost was…$0!

Eddie built some shelves from wood scraps that we had in the garage, using Ana White’s plans, and painted them with the paint left over from our fireplace mantle project. I tried to get creative to make the rest of the space cute and inviting.

I had some very ugly pillows that came with our sofa. They were so weird. The pattern reminded me of olives and eyeballs. Who wants to sleep on either of those things? Not me. Not only were they ugly, they were threadbare, flat, scratchy and just generally in rough shape.

I re-covered them with a yard of purple fleece that I had in my fabric stash. I bought it a few years ago when the fabric store had a crazy off-season sale on fleece. I was planning to use it to make pajama pants for the girls, but never did.

Now the pillows are much more comfy and cute. The model is pretty cute too.

We used old curtains from Eddie’s college dorm room to cover the windows.

I used a queen-size flat bed sheet for the white curtain in front. I just cut the sides off of the top hem to open it up and slid an old shower curtain tension rod through the hem. The tension rod was from a bathroom at our old house and didn’t fit the decor or the walls in our new bathrooms. Instant no-sew curtain! The curtain tie I think is canvas. I found it in my sewing scraps. You can’t even tell it is a totally different fabric because the colors match so closely. 

I’d say this project was a hit. 🙂

linking to Serenity Now,

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