Pumpkin Chicken Winter Chili

It's finally  cold & snowy. FINALLY. 

I can't tell you how long I waited for it to snow - it's just not Christmas without snow! Anyway, since it's gotten cold I find myself craving soups and chili and hot chocolate and wassail. Preeeetty much all the time. 

Pumpkin Chicken Winter Chili

1 14oz can pumpkin puree

1 14-16oz can diced tomatoes

2 C. chicken broth

1/2 - 3/4 of a large onion, diced

5 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tbsp chile powder

1 tsp ground cumin

1 heaping tsp dried oregano, crushed

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1-2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, seeded & minced

1 1/2 lbs chicken (can use raw or pre-cooked)

1 14-16 oz can corn

1 14-16oz can chickpeas, drained

1 14-16 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed

3 heaping spoonfuls brown sugar or apricot jam

fresh cilantro & sour cream for topping

To crockpot add tomatoes, chicken broth, & pumpkin then whisk until combined. Add onion, garlic, chile powder, cumin, oregano, salt, pepper, and chipotles; stir well. Add chicken, beans, chickpeas, corn, and sugar or jam. If using raw chicken, cook 4-5 hours on high or 6-8 hours on low. When ready to serve, remove chicken, shred, and return to pot. If you are using pre-cooked chicken, simmer for 1 hour. Dish into bowls, top with cilantro and sour cream. 

Delicious when served with warm garlic bread or fresh rolls!

DIY Pendant Lamp

Hello blogging world! 

I am not dead.

And with that intro, let's move on. For Christmas, my husband found this amazing vanity at the D.I. We started redoing it almost immediately, so I didn't quite get a chance to snap a before picture.

Here it is in the process of repainting.

And here it is, finished! BEAUTIFUL.

However, in order to do my makeup, I needed a light source. We had an old pendant lamp from Ikea, but I didn't like the shape of it. Here's what I came up with instead:

To start, you need the basket from a hanging planter, spray paint, a wire crystal garland, and a pendant lamp kit { I think you can find them at home improvement stores}.

First, spray paint your basket. If you like.

Then, take your garland and just haphazardly wrap it around the basket however you like. You could use anything you wanted to wrap the basket- rope, pearls...get creative!

Then, we just zip-tied the light to the top of the basket. 

Amazingly simple.

I can't believe I get to do my makeup & jewelry in front of this!

....In the Middle of the Street

Finding out that you are actually finally approved to buy a house is like Christmas morning.

But before that, you have to go through a lot of work. 

We searched for 6 months, with multiple offers, multiple fall-throughs, and a lot of disappointment. The first time we saw this house, though, we got a very good feeling about the home and the neighborhood. So we decided to offer on yet another house, hoping that this would be the one. 

We put in our paperwork...and found out our offer had been accepted! We were a excited, but since we'd had offers go through before we tried not to get too attached. 

I mean, seriously you guys, you have no idea how many random, "this never happens" situations we went through. 

But things continued to go well with this house. It was a newer house, had been redone with new carpet, new paint, and brand-spankin-new appliances, and it had a front porch. As more paperwork was pushed through, it came to the point where we were only waiting on the rural housing committee to approve our loan before everything was finalized. And that took 28 business days, to be exact.

Which is the equivalent of forrrrrrrrrever.

I believe we waited 29 business days before finally finding out.....we were approved! 

Which was a small miracle. 

Remember that one time the government shut down? Well rural housing is a government committee....which means it also shut down. And magically, miraculously, our approval was stamped and signed literally the MORNING BEFORE the shutdown. 

Skin of our teeth, right there. 

And I can tell you now, that I firmly believe this is the place we are meant to be. Because we were blatantly stopped too many other times, and this house came with too many small miracles to believe otherwise. 

First order of business? Painting the door of course.

I. LOVE. IT.

And I love our house.

Our great, big, beautiful house.