Friday Fun with Spray Paint

So I finally got the nerve up to bust out the white spray paint I bought a year ago to transform my old clock/bookcase I got at the thrift store. I didn't anticipate the breeze yesterday and it turned out to be quite the adventure- ending with me inadvertently spraying my black shoes AND my cell phone!

Fortunately, both washed off relatively well and the clock turned out might fine too...

Here's the oddly yellow before -

The super white and lovely after...

Have a great weekend all! :)

Easy and Delicious Baked Ziti

Gus has been asking me to make baked ziti for ages - even before he developed a gluten allergy this past summer. Even though now he can't eat gluten, we finally managed to make a delicious baked ziti that's easy, gluten-free, and yummy for everyone!

Here's how to make your own amazingness tonight...

Ingredients:
- 1 lb of gluten-free ziti/penne noodles or regular wheat noodles (if you can eat 'em)
- 3 and 1/2 medium sized mild sausages, grilled then sliced
- 1/2 large white onion, chopped
- 1 zucchini, diced
- 1 26oz jar of spaghetti sauce (we used Classico Tomato and Basil)
- 1 8oz pkg of reduced fat cream cheese, softened
- 1/2 cup of sour cream
- 12 slices of Provolone
- 4 slices of Mozerella
- 1/2 cup of shredded parmesan
- Garlic powder, salt, and pepper to taste


Directions:
- Grill sausages and slice into small discs. Set aside.
- Set water boiling in a large pot for the pasta. Saute onion and zucchini with a dash of salt, pepper, and garlic powder on medium heat until mostly cooked through.
- Add the sliced sausage to the mixture. Stir for a few minutes, then add your spaghetti sauce and turn heat to low.
- Preheat the oven to 350F.
- Mix the sour cream and cream cheese together.
- When water boils, cook the pasta for a little more than half the normal cooking time then drain it. It'll cook the rest of the way in the pan with the sauce.
- Once your pasta is ready - here's how to assemble:
-- Use pam or olive oil to coat a 9 x 13 glass pan
-- Place half the ziti noodles on the bottom of the pan
-- Place 6 slices of provolone as a layer
-- Spread half the cream cheese mixture over the provolone slices
-- Top the cream cheese mixture with your sauce
-- Repeat once more (rest of ziti, provolone, cream cheese, remainder of sauce)
-- Top sauce with torn pieces of your mozerella slices and your shredded parmesan cheese
- Bake for 30 minutes and allow to cool for 5-10 before eating. Mangia!

 My salt and pepper bird shakers are like... "Dude that looks nom, right?"

QuickFix: Living Room Makeover from a Pillow and Picture Frame Switch

Spring is here (and we're all a bit sleepy from losing that extra hour this weekend.) As much as I love my classic living room with it's black and white framed photos, it's not very welcoming and friendly. This weekend, I wanted to change my look but I gave myself an important rule: No buying more STUFF! I have plenty of it lying about this place.


In ten minutes, I was able to completely transform the room by subtracting and adding only a few items! (Note: not counting my lovely striped walls... these photos were how the bookcase and couch looked up until yesterday and the walls were painted in December).


Here's the quick makeover and how I did it...

BEFORE

a very soon after... AFTER

Here's what I did:

- Removed all the black and white frames (will be repurposed in my bedroom and bathroom shortly)

- Added the green pillow from my bedroom and a leaf pillow I got as a steal for $3.00 at a flea market

- Moved the lamp from my desk to the bookcase

- Brought in my three white Ikea Ribba shadowbox frames in place of the black and whites

- Added a champagne colored frame from Michael's leftover from my old apartment

And huzzah- a new place to Spring forward in!


How bout you guys? What can you accomplish in 10 minutes with things already in your home? Link up your quickfix makeovers below until March 18 at 11pm CST.

Rules for linking up below:

- Please link this post at LivingwithAnnie in a new post on your own blog and/or on the post you are linking to below

- Please only post Before/After home decorating posts (preferably ones you did easily with items on hand)

- Any posts not linking back or posting unrelated material will be removed. There will be more linky's in the future so hold on to unrelated stuff for then!

Thanks,

Annie