Cucumber lemon mint infused water

I hate water. Buuuuuuut....I know I need to drink it. My dietician suggested this recipe for cucumber lemon mint infused water to me, and I can't get enough of it. It's so delicious, and simple. Check this out

Mmm. How freakin' good does that look? Alright, here's how I made it (I changed her recipe up just a bit though)

1 cucumber, rinsed peeled and cut into thin slices
2 lemons
2 sprigs of mint (I don't know, "sprigs" sounds about right, doesn't it?)
1/4 cup of stevia in the raw
1 gallon of distilled water
1 gallon pitcher

Pour water into pitcher, pour out about a cup to make room for the crap you're about to put in it. Put cucumbers and mint in water. Cut 1 lemon in half and put in water. Juice second lemon and pour in water, and put the lemon rind in the water as well. Add stevia (add 1/2 cup instead if you want it to have a bit more sweetness to it. The 1/4 doesn't really add very much sweetness at all) Stir, then let sit over night. Enjoy! I didn't exactly wait to let it "infuse". I gave it a good stir and poured some into my water bottle for my trip to Pinnacle Mountain.

Isn't that a gorgeous view? My only regret was I didn't bring 2 water bottles full of this stuff. I've had some for breakfast this morning too. It's even better on day two. Enjoy!

Making Lumpia (Filipino Spring Rolls)

I adapted this recipe from my mom's...(I like mine A LOT better, lol) The recipe isn't precise, it's more of a "add to taste" kinda deal. But here's now I make mine.

Ingredients:

1 lb ground turkey meat (you can use beef, I just prefer turkey)
1 package of spring roll wrappers
1 head of cabbage, chopped up.
about 3 carrots, or more if you want (I shredded mine using a cheese grater, would be easier to buy the pre shredded stuff)
soy sauce (I used about 2 cooking spoonfuls...you'll see in the picture)
2 eggs
1 egg white
Sriracha sauce

Brown the meat. Add the cabbage, carrots, soy sauce, and the 2 eggs. Simmer on medium low until cabbage is cooked.

Didn't realize how blurry this picture was, lol. But yeah, using the spoon you use to cook with, add about 2 spoonfulls of soy sauce. Or more, or less. I find 2 is about right for me.

This is the Sriracha sauce I use (this stuff is good on EVERYTHING, assuming you like spicy stuff. Spaghetti, pizza, ramen noodle, lol)

I just squirt some on the mixture. I think I added a little more in the end too. It doesn't really make it too spicy, just adds more flavor.

Seperate all the spring roll shells. Have the shell facing you in a diamond shape. Put about a spoonful of the mixture just below the bottom half of the diamond. Fold the bottom of the shell up over the mixture and start rolling it up. Once you've rolled it a little over the half of the shell, fold the two sides over the roll. Continue to roll up, and once it's almost rolled all the way up, take some egg white with your finger and put it at the top (the egg white will act like a glue to hold it together.

Ok great! You just rolled some lumpia :P Now you fry these bad boys until they're golden brown, get you some spring roll sauce, and enjoy!

Mmmmmmmm

Pallet wood art

Isn't she a beaut? Haha, ok. Well I had some leftover pallet wood after I made a pallet couch (which, by the way, I don't like, but that's for another post). We had one pallet cut down a bit and we were going to try and make a side table or something, but our carpentry skills aren't what they should be :) So I ripped the pallet apart (I had already stained the wood with Minwax Dark Walnut, I believe) which wasn't a fun or easy task. A pain in the ass, actually. Then, I took 2x4's, cut them down to size, and nailed the pallet wood pieces together to the two 2x4's. Next, I just free handed the LOVE with regular acrylic paint. Voila. Simple, pretty much free artwork. To hang it on the wall, I just nailed a couple nails on the back halfway in, wrapped floral wire between the two nails, then nailed the nails in all the way. Simple. Easy. Just the way I like it.

Frosted Glass Vases

So I've been needing some nice storage in my bathroom for things like toothbrushes, cotton balls, q-tips, etc. Like most single mothers, I'm one broke lady. I'd like to have a really pretty $20 toothbrush holder, and a $15 glass to hold whatever else, but I just ain't gonna spend the money. So here's what I did (with a little inspiration from Pinterest) I've seen people take glasses, put rubber bands around them randomly, then spray paint them white. It looks pretty sweet and all, but I have a whole can of frosted spray paint. Here's my version of it:

I had a vase that I got from Dollar Tree a while ago that isn't being used for anything. I cleaned it (just used some window cleaner), and put rubber bands around it.

I used Valspar Frosting Spray Paint, from Lowes. I can't remember how much it was, I wanna say around $5.

And two coats later, letting it dry about 20 minutes between coats, this is what mommy did :D

A Little About Me

So, my name is Kim. I'm an IT Analyst (fancy speak for I fix computers that break), I have two wonderful daughters, and three adorable fur babies.

When I'm not saving the world, one computer at a time, you can usually find me doing some kind of home improvement task, hiking, or jumping on the trampoline in my backyard :) There's literally millions, possibly billions of DIY blogs, I know mine probably won't ever be popular so this is mostly for me to keep up with the crap I do :D