Dinner Tonight - March 28th, and Living Room Paint Project

Time to get back to my Dinner Tonight posts.  Posting what we are having for dinner each night might be boring but I found that it has kept me to accountability to using up leftovers and to actually plan ahead.  Planning is always a good thing but it is especially important to me now as I need to use up what is in my freezer in order to stay within my grocery budget.  The other reason is that I am busy working on my livingroom walls.  More about that at the end of my post.

Tonight we are having turkey casserole.  I pulled the following from my freezer that is above the fridge and it is thawing out right now.

1 pkg. sliced turkey - enough for 3 people for one meal
1 pkg. of cubed turkey - 3 cups total
1 pkg. of 1/2 can of cream of chicken soup (I had a recipe that I only used half a can so I froze the rest to use in a casserole)
1/4 of a pkg. of Pepperidge Farm Stuffing Mix
1 pkg. of celery (1/2 cup)

I took a jar of Heinz Chicken gravy out of the pantry.

The turkey is from Thanksgiving and I am going to make a casserole out of it.  3 cups would not be enough and I need about another cup and a half so I took out the sliced turkey.  I will only use half of the sliced turkey so the rest will be for sandwiches for lunch tomorrow.

Usually I add a little sour cream to some cream soup for a sauce for a turkey casserole.  I don't have sour cream and going out to buy some defeats the purpose of using up what I have on hand.  Besides sour cream would take a chunk out of my grocery budget.  So I will mix the gravy and the cream soup together, will add a little milk and heat it on the stove to make sure it is mixed thoroughly together.  Then I will taste it.  If I feel it needs a little something, I will add half a slice of American cheese.  This will turn it more into a Turkey Divan casserole.  I have to be careful as my husband does not like cheese so I add only enough to change the flavor slightly.

The bottom layer of the casserole will be the turkey and then I will pour the soup/gravy mixture on top.  I have more Pepperidge Farm stuffing in the pantry so I will mix up enough stuffing using some water with chicken bouillon, the celery and a little butter.  This will go on top of the casserole.

This is how I use up leftovers.  I look at what I have and then I see what I can make out of it.  The trick is to make something that you know you're family will like.  Sometimes it can be hard as every meal cannot me a "gourmet treat."  I do try to make meals that my family will eat and enjoy.

So tonight we are having turkey casserole, broccoli, and apple salad.  We have ice cream in the freezer if anyone feels they need dessert.

And here is what my living room looks like as of this morning.

Notice the white walls in this picture from the primer.  It looks like  a hospital room - very sterile.  Also that old t.v. set of ours is so big but it works great. 

This is on the opposite side of the room.  I 'm working my way around in that direction.

Here is one coat of the base coat.  As I told my husband, "trust me. It will look beautiful with the faux painting I will be doing."  When I put the second coat on, it will then look more olive green and less like "baby's dirty diaper" as my son referred to it.

I know it is hard to see from this small sample, and in a picture no less, but this is the faux painting that I will be doing in my livingroom.  When you put this next to my rug, it looks georgeous and the same with the furniture.  I experimented with stamping a "fleur di lis" and I liked it and may do this about two feet down from my high ceilings.  The dark gold doesn't show, but the light gold looks regal.

I have been priming walls on one side of the room and then I will be painting two coats of the base color.  As I paint the base coats on the wall, I am also painting the ceiling about 1 foot out from the edges with it's base color.  Normally I would paint the ceiling first, but this room is so hard to paint with the furniture in the room.  It was easier to paint the walls and a portion of the ceiling as I go along.  When I am done with the faux painting on the walls, then I can push all of the furniture back and I will tackle the ceiling.

It is a big project and with my sore back I can only work about 3 to 4 hours a day on it.  I want to get this done.  I wanted to get it done by the end of March but I was delayed. 

Oh and since I live in an old house, and since I am painting almost a retro look to the living room, to get myself in the mood and because I love "old" music, this is the kind of music I have been listening to while I work.



My son graduates from High School on May 22 and his graduation party will be at our house on May 20th.  I wanted to not only have the entryway and living room done by then, but also his room.  The only problem with this is that I need to make up a scrapbook for him to display at his party and this will take a considerable amount of time. 

My DIL has volunteered to help me with the scrapbook.  While I enjoy looking at other people's scrapbooks, I "suck" for lack of a better word at putting my own creations onto a scrapbook page.  I did a scrapbook for my oldest son when he graduated and I kept it simple.  I will go with simple again.  That works for me.