What to do...

We have been delivering phone books for the past week and it ended this morning THANK GOODNESS! But a few days ago on the way to refill our car with phone books, we stopped at the dumpster and I got this:

They had tons of these things, from all the phone books. They are 2 giant (around 3 and a half feet wide) circles of super thick something.  I think it is cardboard, but its thinner and harder. Its like extra hard cereal box material.  I also got that long white thing.  I have no idea what to do with all this stuff but I couldn't resist unusual materials!  If you have any idea's then make sure to leave a comment!

Major Bedroom Redo In Progress

My bedroom had a sad, ugly life. Especially the carpet.  The carpet is a nasty shade of grayish mauve. Not to mention that at times it was the messiest room on the planet.  But it is also my craft room.  About 2 years ago, my mom said we could redecorate my room. Then she redid the living room, kid bathroom, and the front of the house.  My room has been neglected.

Mom said I needed to choose a quilt first.  So I looked, and found one. It was out of stock.  Then we found another, it was low quality and the reviews said it ripped easily.  Then I found one that I LOVED at Pottery Barn Teen and the color I wanted was out of stock. I am pretty picky.

Here is a preview of the "before" pictures.  In time I will have a finished post with the before and after, but it will be a while because I only have a quilt, we haven't decorated or painted at all.  

Here is a layout of my room, the measurements are very incorrect.

Here is that ugly carpet:

The only thing it is good for is hiding paint spills.

I'm looking forward to decorating because we have been watching the home design show Design Star. I also like decorating in general.  I have wanted to decorate a room for ages, but I couldn't decorate mine because I didn't have any thing to base the colors off of.

Keep Decorating, Maddie

Soft Oreos (A.K.A. Oreo Cakesters)

Oreos are about the easiest cookie you can make. I think these are more like chocolate whoopie pies since they are soft but considering the fact that I've never eaten a whoopie pie, I don't know. My brother said they taste exactly like Oreo Cakesters, but I haven't eaten those either. But they look like it.  They only have 3 ingredients (if you don't count the filling).  But they taste amazing.  They were gone in like 8 minutes.  I think they are even better if you freeze them . Then they're crunchy, and delicious, just like regular oreo's! Only they are probably not as bad for you. I use cream cheese frosting because it tastes good, but if you don't like cream cheese you might try this or this or this.  I haven't actually tried those fillings though. I heard that you can make the cookies with spice cake mix, or chocolate mix. We tried chocolate mix, but added more cocoa powder, and for some mysterious reason they turned crunchy, so I don't know what to tell you about that.

 Total time: 18 min,  Cooking time: 10 minutes, Makes 16 cookies, Serving Size: 8 cookies (for me anyway)

Ingredients

1 package Devils Food cake mix
2 eggs
1stick of butter (softened)

Frosting

1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, softened delicious
1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup buter (half a stick) softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla or peppermint extract (they are so good with peppermint!)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).
2. Mix all the cookie ingredients together till it forms a dough.
3. Roll tablespoon sized balls and then squish them till they are a little smaller than a real oreo.  Place on ungreased baking sheets (or on parchment, but its not necessary) an inch and a half apart. .
4. Bake for 10 minutes. Let cookies cool (or put them on a cooling rack, then put them in the freezer for 30 seconds to a minute) You want them cool enough to not fall apart when you sandwich them together (cause everybody knows fresh warm cookies are the best). 
5.  While the cookies are baking, clean out your mixing bowl and cream together butter and cream cheese till creamy.  Mix in the vanilla, and add confectioners sugar.  Spoon into a sandwich baggie and cut a hole in the corner.
6. Pipe frosting on one cookie and sandwich it with another cookie.
7. Eat. Lots.

It's totally worth it to go and buy five packages of both cream cheese and cake mix.  You don't need 5, but its nice to have some around. Now, get back to baking.

Maddie

Chair Legs and Wall Letters

Just a Random idea,  broken chair legs are ideal for wall letters (after some sanding, sawing, and painting of course).  I came up with an H, L and T. I know the background is awful, but stick with me here.

Maddie