Summertime - Sweet Iced Tea Recipe

Is it summer yet? I can't tell.

We finally have a nice sunny day in Kansas City! This is a big change from the snow we got last Thursday.

I am SO ready for summer!

To get in the summer mood, here is my recipe for the best sweet iced tea ever! (You can also make this recipe unsweetened if you don't like sweet tea)


I make 2 pitchers of sweet tea at a time. We go through about 1 pitcher a day around here, and I don't like to make tea every single day.


I begin by boiling my water. I never have time to stand around the kitchen waiting for the water to boil so I use my tea kettle. It lets me know when the water is hot so I don't go off and forget that I am boiling water.

Yes, I have forgotten my boiling water several times. I come back in the kitchen to find all my water boiled away :(

The whistling tea kettle has saved me from this problem.


I use a full tea kettle of water (8 cups) for 2 pitchers of tea.
If you are only making 1 pitcher of tea, fill the kettle half full, or about 4 cups of water.

While the water is heating, get your pitchers out

Add 1/4 teaspoon of Baking soda to each empty pitcher. You won't taste the baking soda, and it helps cut that strong bitter aftertaste that tea often has.

Drop in about 10-12 small teabags into each pitcher. I use Luzianne, but Lipton works good too.

Find something to do for 10 minutes while the water in the kettle finishes heating up.

After the water is hot, add about 4 cups of boiling water to each pitcher. Just pour it right over the teabags and the baking soda.

Put a lid on the pitcher(s) and let it sit for about 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes, take the tea bags out. Don't squish them, just scoop them out with a big spoon and throw them away.

Next, add sugar. (You can skip the sugar if you don't want sweet tea)
I use about a cup and a half of sugar in each pitcher. Nicely sweet, but not TOO sweet.

Stir to get the sugar mixed in

Now add water almost to the top of the pitcher and stir.

Pour youself a nice glass of sweet tea and enjoy!

Note: I poured that glass of tea with ice just to take this picture for you. Then I poured the entire glass and the ice back into the pitcher. I'm on a diet, so I can't have it. Bummer!

ENJOY YOUR SUMMER!!!!!

Catching up

So much going on, so I thought I would just write one catch-up post.

Today, Timmy and I are celebrating our 2nd wedding anniversary!! I can't believe it's already been 2 years. Where does the time go?

Two years ago RIGHT NOW Tim and I were on a beach in Key West saying our wedding vows.

It's been the best two years, and I have the most awesome husband ever! He is the hardest working person I have ever met, and he never complains. He takes such good care of me. I have everything I need, and almost everything I want. Hmmmm......still waiting on that robot vacuum cleaner I was promised -ahem-

Seriously though, I have found the perfect man for me. Tim and I have been together now for almost 5 years, and I am being completely honest when I say that we have NEVER been in a fight, or even an argument. Never. Not even a little argument. Not even a tiff.
Yes, we disagree from time to time (but not very often), and we just work it out. Sometimes I have to give in, sometimes Timmy does, but we haven't found anything at all that is worth an argument or harsh words.

I owe my perfect life and all of my happiness to my husband Tim. He is amazing, and he has shown me what a perfect marriage looks like. He encourages me to be a better person, a better mom, and a better friend. He has shown me absolute security - something I have had issues with all of my life. Sometimes I am afraid to admit how perfect my life is right now........I'm scared that if I feel too secure and sure of myself, it will all be taken away. I try to remember to be humble and appreciative of what I have. I owe everything to my Timmy. HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, SWEETHEART!!! I LOVE YOU MORE THAN YOU WILL EVER KNOW!

Now, onto other news in the Bruns House:

Lets see, we sold this

Here is a pic of Tim and the new buyer loading it up to go to it's new home

It was a good stove, worked just fine for 4+ years. I have to admit I was glad to finally sell it (Craigslist $260.00).
Here is the replacement:

WOOHOO!! Look at that beauty!!!


How about that Chicken Nugget setting? LOL

It's a regular oven, AND a convection oven.
Convection means it has an extra fan in the back of the oven. This helps circulate the warm air all around the oven. Cookies and baked goods take 2/3rds of the baking time with the convection setting turned on. It's also good for roasts, pizza, and really anything that is not covered when it is in the oven.
The convection setting is also helpful when I have a full oven (using both racks) so the bottom rack gets cooked just as evenly as the stuff on the top rack.
I seriously LOVE this oven!
Thank you again Sweetheart, You are THE BEST!!!!

 Cookies anyone??
Mmmmm.........you can't go wrong with Tollhouse.

More "other" news:

Our doggies are getting along so well

(Jack needs a bath). These two -partners in crime - are doing so well together. They have become fast friends since Mya came to stay with us. Since the weather is a bit nicer, these two are almost always outside. Jack is so happy to have someone to hang out with that can match his high energy level.

Jack is a big chicken, but he has now figured out that if he barks at something, Mya will come running. Jack is very happy to have "back-up". He is gaining confidence now that Mya is here.

Here is a typical morning around our house when I'm getting ready for work:

Peanut Butter has been to the beauty shop since this pic was taken, she doesn't look like a mop anymore.

Notice how Mya has the prime spot on top of the pillows. She loves that cool breeze. Happy dog.
Here is my first post about Mya, in case you are wondering why we suddenly have 3 dogs.

CRUISE NEWS!!!!

So much has gone on with the cruise planning, that I really need to make a separate post about it.
122 days - and counting down!!!

Plane tix are bought

Pre-cruise hotel - staying in Miami for 2 nights before we sail - booked

1st cruise - This is the cruise with my sister and my kids.  Paid off! All excursions paid! Also, my friend, her husband and a few of their friends booked this cruise! I'm so excited there will be 8 of us on this cruise now.

2nd cruise - This is the cruise with my BFF!! Not quite paid off yet, but working on it. Getting ready to pay a chunk on it this week and my balance will be within 100.00 or so of being paid off. Christina and I have talked about our excursions we want to do in Jamaica and Grand Cayman, and we think we have it figured out now.

Post-cruise hotel - Spending 3 days in Ft Lauderdale with my BFF will be SO NICE!!! We have our resort picked out.........we just need to call and book it.

Other things like passports, miami transportation, etc......are all getting taken care of. It's all so exciting!!

If you want to catch up on the cruise planning, who is going with me, and how long I'll be gone.......you can read all about it here, here, and here.


Lets see...what else has been going on?

Oh, I sold this table:

It's really too big for my kitchen, and a little too modern. We are completely repainting the kitchen and this table doesn't really fit in with the plan. Sad to see it go, it was a nice table.

I got this table back. My BFF had it for almost a year, and asked me if I wanted it back when she bought a new table.
Yes, I did love this table!!!

My new old table is in pieces on my back porch right now. I plan to refinish it soon. I might paint it white, but we'll see. Those knotty pine walls in the pic above will be painted FOR SURE!!! I'm excited to re-do my kitchen, if I could only find the time.

My birthday isn't until May 15th, but my sweet husband already gave me my gift!

OOOHHHHHHH!!! I'm in DIY heaven now!!

All this stuff!!!

There is so much I can do myself now with this handy little tool!
I haven't had a chance to use it yet. It should be much easier for me to handle than Tims giant man-sized tools.

This little thing will sand, grind, drill, etch glass, carve pumpkins, engrave candles, cut materials, polish items,

floor and tile removal, remove old grout, furniture repair, trim work, simple routing projects, wood inlays. I can also use it to clean the BBQ grill, restore furniture, sharpen chain saws and cutting blades, and much more.

I can't wait to get started on a project that will require the use of my new Dremmel!

Last thing, I finally found something to use to hang my necklaces.

For several years, I just had them hanging on nails I hammered in the wall

Not ideal at all, but it worked for a temporary solution.
I took them down a few months ago when we re-arranged the bedroom.
They ended up in a horrible pile that took me about an hour and a half to untangle.

I probably have over 100 necklaces. I make beaded jewelry and I made most of them myself

Timmy found this:

It works so well, I asked him to get me another one!

Maybe I need 2 more, LOL! It's a great solution for my beaded necklaces.


OK, this update post is quite long already. I'll be back ASAP with more posts!!

Storage closet to food pantry project, DONE!!!!

Did I really start this pantry re-do back in November? I guess the time got away from me over the winter.

I can finally say the new food pantry is DONE!!!

Here is my first post about it from way back in November:

http://emptynestinthemidwest.blogspot.com/2012/11/turning-hallway-closet-into-kitchen.html


Quick re-cap of the project-

I started with this odd little closet in the hallway:

It needed to be emptied first. Most of the time this closet was kept pretty organized, but this is what it looked like the day I decided to turn it into a pantry. Cooking oil, my toolbag, my sewing machine, an extension cord..........these are all important things in my life.



I got it all emptied:

 I started with a few coats of white paint on the walls:

Next I taped the walls so I could paint stripes:

After making my stripes a little neater:

That was where I left off in November. This project didn't get much attention over the winter months. I had done a few rows of stenciling and for some reason I lost my mojo with this project. This pantry project sat all winter untouched.

I picked it back up in the spring and got my stenceling finished.

I did go back and do the stenceling on the stripe in the corner. I had to cut my stencil to get it in the corner, so I saved that part for last.

I LOVE IT!!!

The lines from my stencils are not perfectly perfect. I thought it added character to the design so I continued on with the "sloppy" look.
I'll write another post soon about my process with the striping and the stenciling. In case anyone wants to try their hand at this type of project, I may be able to offer a few tips about what worked for me (and what didn't work).

I really love the way this project turned out.

Next, it was time to put new tiles over the floor of the closet. We bought grey peel n stick vinyl tiles for about $2.00 a piece. We needed 6 tiles, and Home Depot sells single tiles so we didn't have to buy a whole box of them.

I don't think I took pictures of the finished floor, but these are what the vinyl tiles look like that we bought.

Next came shelves. Previously, there were 2 shelves in this closet, but we added a 3rd shelf for the new pantry.

I painted them white before we installed them.

Then we put the food in the new pantry.
Everything fits in here so well, with plenty of room for more food!

Tim bought this small battery operated light so we would have some light in there for now.

He has to do a lot of electrical rewiring to the house this summer, so he will add a hard-wired light in this closet soon.

This one works well for now. He installed it just above the door on the inside of the pantry.



And finally, we added a rack for spices to the inside of the pantry door. We bought this rack at Home Depot for about $20.00

So, (other than the light Tim needs to install) I can officially call this pantry project DONE!!!!!

For the fun of it, here are the BEFORE/AFTER shots:

BEFORE (craft closet)

AFTER (food pantry)



I have a new friend

We have a houseguest for a while!!!

Her name is "Mya". I'm really not sure how her name is spelled. I suppose it could be Myah??

Isn't she just beautiful???? I really love her!!!

She's an American Eskimo, and she's about 5 years old, I think.

I don't get to keep her, she's just visiting for a while. I'm not even sure how long she'll be staying with us.

She belongs to a friend of my son Allen. He offered to keep Mya while her owner is in between homes. He had her at his apartment for about 6 weeks but it got to be too much for him. He already has 2 cats in his tiny apartment. The cats didn't really love the dog, and the dog didn't really love the cats. Plus, everytime Mya needed to go out, he had to take her down 3 flights of stairs. That would have irritated me after the 3rd day, LOL.

Since Tim and I already have 2 doggies and a huge back yard, Mya came to stay with us. She fits in perfectly with our babies.

She's so sweet, she can stay as long as she needs to.

She's a very good dog. Perfectly trained, and she listens well.

Look at this face!!!!

She's been moved around a few times in the past year. I feel bad for her. She got REALLY attached to my son when she was with him. She was sad when he first left her with us about 3-4 weeks ago. She didn't want to do anything but wait for Allen to come back.

It only took her a few days to feel better. We made sure to give her extra attention and lots of treats. She figured out pretty quickly that our house is doggie heaven, and now she's pretty much taken over the house. She's the first one in line when we pass out treats, she follows me around the house, and she sleeps next to me at night.

Our other 2 dogs, Peanut Butter and Jack, seem to like Mya too. Our dogs are very passive, and Mya has quickly established herself as more dominant dog of the three. She's not mean, but she will shove them out of the way to get what she wants.

If I am calling Jack to jump into my lap, Mya will run past him and leap into my lap first. Then she will growl at Jack to stay away. She will also take their treats if we don't watch her. The girl is quick, and she knows what she wants in life!

She growls a bit to get her point across, but she has never snapped or tried to nip at anyone.

About the 2nd or 3rd day we had her, I was sitting on the kitchen floor passing out little pieces of cheese to the 3 dogs. It wasn't Mya's turn, but she took the treat right out of my hand that I was giving to one of the other dogs. I yelled at her, "no, we don't snatch treats here!"
So, she scooted forward towards me, and she licked my face. OH MY GOSH, I totally melted and she had my heart right then and there.
Sweetest thing, EVER, and she has not snatched any more treats from me. She patiently waits her turn now. She will steal from Jack if he doesn't eat his treats quick enough though.   

Here are Mya and my boy Jack hanging out together. They are exactly the same size, these two are perfect together!

She loves her belly to be rubbed. We do a lot of belly rubbing at our house these days.

See the wet spot next to her face on the chair arm? She sucks on things. It's so cute when she does that, I just want to hug her!!

Here she is, doing her sucking thing. She mostly does it when she's tired.

She also bites on her toe nails, which is a little funny. I trimmed her nails a few weeks ago, so she's not biting them because they are too long. I think she just has a few odd quirks.

She's such a beautiful dog!

Outside, this girl can run like the wind. I thought my Jack was fast, but Mya blows Jack away.
I'm waiting for the weather to warm up to I can take my babies to the park to play. I wonder how she'll do with a leash and collar?

I'll take some pics of her outside once we get a nice warm day.


I hope Mya gets to stay for awhile, we are really enjoying having her around!


I'll be back with more posts, I've been gone awhile, but I have some updates coming very soon!