Stepping up to the bar

If you're a regular Non-Stop Diva reader, you well know my love affair with lemons.  It's nearly impossible for me to see a lemon recipe and not want to try it.   A few weeks ago, the always delicious finds at Beantown Baker turned up a recipe for Freezable Lemon Bars.  Anything that I can make ahead of time has great appeal, especially since I already had all the ingredients stocked in my pantry AND I was getting ready for a party. The recipe sounded pretty darn good, but then I thought why not make these key lime bars!  Key lime pie is my absolute favorite dessert.  In fact, it's my birthday cake every year I love it so much.  The recipe was really easy to make. I opted to use Reddi-wip as my topping, which turned out to be a little runny over the course of the party.  Otherwise, they were an easy tasty treat!

Laundry Room Makeover: Part 3

Once upon a time, we had a dingy laundry room with nasty stained walls and poorly hung wire shelves.  I toyed around with the painting the room blue, but discovered that blue in a confined space, like a laundry room, can look a green and wreck havoc on finding stains.  Thankfully, I already had a yellow on hand (Glidden: Jonquil Yellow), which works great in a room without windows.   Now, we're the proud owners of a bright cleaning space with crisp white cabinets to hide all cleaning essentials!

How to Christening a Diva

In June, we hosted a baptism brunch for Little Miss Diva.  This girl already loves to party! We had lots of family and friends over to help celebrate the day.  The menu included ham rolls, spanakopita, Carolina caviar (recipe below), pesto pasta salad, pimiento cheese, fruit, some tasty sweets and of course Baby Diva Champagne. 

The Martha Stewart votives really helped to pull the various pink colors together as did the yummy M cookies that my cousin made!

Carolina Caviar(Makes about 6 cups)

2 (16 oz.) cans black-eyed peas, rinsed, drained
1 (10 oz.) can white shoe peg corn, drained
1 large  firm tomato, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 small white onion, chopped
4 scallions, chopped
1 cup chopped fresh parsley
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
1 (16 oz.) bottle  Italian salad dressing

Laundry Room Makeover: Part 2

Truth be told, I've been craving a laundry room makeover since last fall, but put it off because somewhere it says pregnant women aren't suppose to be lifting heavy objects. The nerve of some people!  With little Miss Diva here and the sink removed, the laundry room was crying out for more help.  The shelves above the washing machine could barely hold a penny and didn't have enough clearance to open and close the washer lid.  I started pulling down the unsightly wire shelves with my resourceful drill.  I really do heart me some demo!   It really wasn't a tough process.  I just took the screws out and then had to do a little finessing to get the grey plastic anchors out of the wall. (Helpful hint:  Use the original screw to help shimmy the anchor out of the wall without much work. Don't worry if the you rip a little of the wall.  You're going to have the patch the existing hole anyway.)

Once the shelves were out of my house, I surprised Mr. Diva with a trip to Home Depot.  I'm pretty sure he had no idea that the girl he meet on Capitol Hill would turn into such a DIY-er.  Thankfully, he puts up with me and my projects!  We purchased 2 30" cabinets, some knobs and drywall screws before returning home.  We also enlisted the help of my soon to be cousin-in-law, who is quite handy to have around. 

The boys made pretty quick work of getting the first cabinet in place, securing with drywall screws into the wall studs.  The 2nd cabinet required a little more work. Mr. Diva had to cut out holes in the 2nd cabinet to make way for an electrical outlet and the washing machine cord.  Custom Cabinets by Mr. Diva!

What clean freak doesn't love cabinets!  All the storage without any clutter staring you down.

Next up: The laundry room walls are stained and marked up from previous owners.   With a a fresh coat of paint on the horizons, my inner Monk can rest quietly soon enough!

Laundry Room Makeover: Part 1

A few weeks ago, Mr. Diva noticed that we had a leak in the basement.  Plumbing and electrical repairs are above our pay grade, which mean a plumber had to be called.  Our house was built in the late 40's and we definitely still have some of the pipes to prove it.  After about an hour, the plumbers found the leak right behind our large and in charge cast iron laundry room sink. 

It was a no brainer to remove the sink to give us a little more room in the laundry.  Some people really enjoy a utility sink, but ours took up too much room in a cramped space.  So out dear sink out and in laundry room makeover!

Next up: Pulling out the ugly, poorly hung wire shelves and replacing with cabinets!