Memorial Day Picnic Fun!

On Sunday we went to Garin Park for a picnic. Sammy had a blast running around like crazy! 

Memorial Day

The Noble and the Brave:

When America had an urgent need,

These brave ones raised a hand;

No hesitation held them back;

They were proud to take a stand.

They left their friends and family;

They gave up normal life;

To serve their country and their God,

They plowed into the strife.

They fought for freedom and for peace

On strange and foreign shores;
Some lost new friends; some lost their lives

In long and brutal wars.

Other veterans answered a call

To support the ones who fought;

Their country had requirements for

The essential skills they brought.

We salute every one of them,

The noble and the brave,

The ones still with us here today,

And those who rest in a grave.

So here’s to our country’s heroes;

They’re a cut above the rest;

Let’s give the honor that is due

To our country’s very best.

By Joanna Fuchs

 

Sammy

I made a new little scarf for Sammy.  I told him to sit, so I could take his picture.  As soon as he saw the camera he shut his eyes to avoid a flash.

I went to pick up Sam from the in laws the other day.  He sat on the chair patiently waiting for me to put his leash on him, so we could go home.

Makers Fair Part 2

More pictures from the crazy Makers Fair.

Perkins trying on a new hat!

Mac n' Cheese Soup

I made mac n cheese soup the other night for dinner.  I loved it.  Art liked it, but thought it should be cheesier. If you make it let me know what you think.  I will make it again!

Makers Fair Part 1

This past weekend Art, Dan & me went to the Maker's Fair. I was looking forward to lots of DIY crafts or stuff for the house. This was nothing what I expected.  There were robots of all sorts, large bikes, solar everything, freaky looking people and green DIY stuff. 

Garden

Here is the garden in progress.  We have about 100 tomato plants in the garden or in the planter boxes.  One of the planter boxes Art put some soil from his worms & the plants are growing like CRAZY!  We bought some worms to put in the ground to help with the terrible soil.  We also dumped numerous bags of top soil in the garden.

Wordless Wednesday!

Pallet Book Shelf

I found this shelf on Pinterest.  A website I just found & started to find some GREAT ideas!  The shelf comes from HERE. Honey are you reading this?  It's a pallet shelf & I REALLY want one for our bedroom!!!!  I would actually paint ours...white of course or maybe I will go outside of the box & paint it gray. 

Menu Monday

I am trying out 3 new recipes this week.  Hopefully they will turn out and I will have new recipes to blog about for next week.  My mom will be able try the recipes the following week. 

1. Crockpot chicken & dumplings - This is becoming one of the family favorites.

Garden

I help some with the garden, but Art does the majority of the work.  I just want to show some pictures of me tilling the garden.  I tilled almost the entire garden.  Art had to do a little more after I was done.  It was hard work with the tough soil.  Watch for pictures of our 100 tomato plants, a couple cucumber and pepper plants.  I need to start buying jars to can with this Fall.  I am going to have tomatoes busting out my front door.

New shoes

I bought some new wedges recently from Payless & they are SUPER comfy!!!! I can wear them all day long and my feet aren't sore.  I love these!  Great price, cute, comfy & I can walk in them. I have issues in walking in shoes with more than a 2 inch heel.  Not these puppies.

Bread Pudding

I have never been a fan of bread pudding until this past weekend.  I dvr a Sandra Lee episode regarding bargain brunch recipes.  She made a bread pudding with ham pieces.  I had everything, so I tried it.  It is super delish!  I am trying to mix things up for our breakfast each week.

Lounge Chair

I have been looking for furniture for our bedroom for the past year.  I never can find something I really love.  I need something that will be comfy to lounge in and also look nice.  I think I might have found the perfect chair!  I am thinking about buying 2 of them.  Target sells these sleeper lounge chairs for $149 each.  I wish I could try them out before buying them.

Wordless Wednesday!

Food Porn

This past week I was able to go visit my dear friend Krystal & taste some of her delicious food again!  She always amazes and inspires me.  I thought as I grocery shopped this past weekend how I do not buy pre-packaged food anymore.  I make everything myself and it tastes a million times better.

Shrimp Po' Boys

Sammy is in love with Tina Fey!

Last week I was out of town for 4 days.  Each night when Art would bring Sammy home he would sit by the front door whining & waiting for me to come home.  At 8pm when I didn't come home he would go to bed.  He wouldn't play or lay on Art's lap while he watch tv. 

When I arrive home on Thursday evening he was jumping off the floor so excited to see me.  Then he went tearing through the house running laps.  I tried to pet him, but he just kept running.  When he finally settled down he wouldn't look at me.  We were all sitting in the family room & he wouldn't come near me.  If I talked to him he looked the other direction.  I guess he was trying to teach me a lesson. Crazy little guy!

I bought Tina Fey book & started to read it on the couch.  As soon as the book came out he came over to my lap, laid down, looked at Tina & started wagging his tail 100 mph.  I cracked up laughing!  I am not sure if the manly hands were attractive to him or what was going on. 

Peanut Butter Pancakes

I love anything with peanut butter!!!! My favorite is when TCBY offers peanut butter yogurt...it's too die for!!!!  I read on a blog a couple weeks back where someone put peanut butter in pancakes.  I had to try it!  I have used Krusteaz Pancake Batter for about 5 years.  My brother swore it's was the best pancake batter, so I tried it & I have been hooked.

Super easy recipe

Make your pancakes & add 1/2 cup of peanut butter.  Your batter will be really thick.  I was only able to eat one pancake, but it was out of this world!!!! Try something different & add some peanut butter to your morning!

Bacon Tomato Cups

Samster's Mommy shared a link for Bacon Tomato Cups a couple Sunday's back.  I am getting a little tired of our egg bake after 6 months of eating it every single day. I thought these looked delicious & decided to try them.  They are SUPER easy to make & yummy heated up a couple days later.  I made them ahead of time & put them in the fridge.  We take them for work & heat them in the microwave for about 30-45 seconds for 2. 

3/4 cup uncooked bacon, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces

1/2 cup light mayonnaise

1/2 cup Swiss Cheese, shredded

1 plum tomato, finely chopped

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 (7.5 oz) tube refrigerated buttermilk biscuits

Chop the bacon and cook in a skillet over medium heat until brown and crispy. Remove bacon to paper towels to drain. Cool completely. In a medium bowl, combine the bacon, mayonnaise, cheese, tomato, and basil. Cover and refrigerate until ready to bake.

Preheat the oven to 450.  Separate the biscuit dough into 10 pieces and press into a muffin pan. You can also make mini cups by cutting the biscuits in half & placing them in a mini muffin pan.  Place a tablespoonful of bacon mixture in the center of each cup.  Bake for 8-9 minutes or until golden brown.  Serve Warm.


Welcome to the 21st Century!

I have a new best friend I need to share with you.  Her name is DV-ous also known as a DVR.  We had this beauty installed about a week ago.  I don't know how I ever lived without her!  I love how I just set her to record a show or series of shows & I can watch the show at any time.  The best part is I can fast forward through all the commercials.  I watched an hour program in about 40 minutes and a half hour program in about 15-20.  It's HEAVENLY!!!!!  I am traveling for work (again) and I don't have to miss any of my shows! 

One thing I love about my new best friend is she doesn't talk back or make rude comments about any of my shows.  She just records them & saves them for me each day. 



Wordless Wednesday

One year ago on May 3 we received the keys to our house, this week one year ago we were moving into our new house and the weekend before we moved in we painted 80% of the entire inside of the house.  I look at our house & I still can't believe all the painting we did in one weekend.  I have only painted one additional room in the year we have lived in our house.  I can't bring myself to finish painting the one last room.  One I can't decide on a paint color and two I can't even think about picking up a paint roller without my hands cramping! 

We have accomplished so much with making our house a home.  We have decorated most of the rooms and have a list a mile long of things we still want to do.  This summer we want to rip out our back deck & replace it. We are also going to finish decorating the man cave this summer!  Art wants to put up some bead board in the room, finish building a cabinet, put up curtains and replace the tile around the fireplace. 

This Fall or next Spring I hope to work on our kitchen.  I want to repaint all the cabinets, replace the counter top, redo the back splash and install a couple additional cabinets we bought.  I also want to add crown molding to a couple of the rooms.

Home ownership never lacks work!

Easy Apple Crisp

Easy Apple Crisp

This is the easiest recipe ever!!!!  I was looking for a apple crisp recipe without cinnamon.  Art is allergic to cinnamon.  I made this recipe on Easter and we all really liked it. I found this recipe on Foodnetwork.com.

Ingredients

2/3 cup rolled oats

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup dark brown sugar

1/3 cup walnuts - chopped

Pinch fine salt

6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into bits

4 medium baking apples, such as Braeburn, Rome, or Golden Delicious,

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Whisk the oats, flour, brown sugar, pecans, and salt in a medium bowl. Rub in the butter with your fingertips until it is in even, pea-size pieces. Peel, core, and coarsely chop the apples. Scatter the crisp topping evenly over the fruit in the baking dish.

Cook until the fruit bubbles around the sides and the top is golden, about 30 minutes.

Preheat a broiler. Place the crisps about 4 inches from the broiler and cook until golden brown, about 30 seconds. Let cool about 15 minutes before serving.

Happy Mother's Day to the BEST Mother Ever!

Growing up the first 14 years the 5 of us lived in a single wide trailer that was 14x70 & 980 sq ft. I thought our home was big & wonderful because my mom filled it with love.  Growing up I don't ever remember us doing without or that we didn't have enough space.  Yes, I wanted my own room...but guess what I am sharing a room again! lol  My mom never made a big deal about the material things in life.  She always taught us to be thankful for what we had in life and not to want what others had.  I love that my mom taught me that quality in life!
I was talking to my mom the other night & she mentioned she was a little stressed. She is babysitting for a friends 16 month old for a week. While she is babysitting she is putting on a whole mother daughter banquet at her church...even making the food.  She wasn't sure how she was going to get everything done with a baby in the house again. I told her let me remind you of 20 yrs earlier & when you were really stressed.

One sunny day my dad came running into the 980 sq foot trailer & saying he needed my mom to come with him right now to the pasture. There was heifer in labor & the calf was stuck. He couldn't catch her & he needed my mom to help. Now let me explain the help he needed.....all 3 kids were put in the inside of the pick up, mom driving, dad in the bed of the truck swinging his rope. He told mom chase after that heifer & get close so I can rope her. Picture Woody from Toy Story....that was my dad. Super skinny, wranglers, cowboy hat, boots, swinging a rope, screaming drive faster KIM!

There were no seat belts in the pick up. We were LOVING the ride. We said wow this is just like a carnival ride and that is when we were ordered to sit on the floor. Mom was driving 50 MPH over a bumpy pasture while my dad was bouncing around in the bed of the pick up.  All of a sudden the heifer runs in front of the truck & stops. Mom hits her!!! Mom starts crying oh nooo I killed her & the calf. Dad yells GOOD JOB & was serious that she did a good job!!! He jumps off the truck, ties her to the bumper & pulls the calf.

When my dad ran into the house mom was making food for some missionaries visiting our church. She had to turn the oven off & the kuchen (German sweet bread) flopped. Mom was not only making dinner for 5 additional people, but they were also staying at our house for 2-3 days.  This was a normal occurrence for our family.  Mom always had people visiting stay at our house, gave up their bedroom, cooked 3 meals a day while tending to her family.  While mom was cooking up a feast she was home schooling, tending to a toddler pulling every book off the book case & dumping every toy out of the toy box.
Not only was our home a home it also was a school, sweat shop, canary, hotel, & restaurant. It takes a special woman to build such a wonderful home....I love you mom! Happy Mother's Day!!!!

Fruit Smoothie

Elle Apparel shared a fruit smoothie on her blog the other day.  She claimed it was really yummy & I was curious what it would taste like....here is my version. 

1 banana

1 apple (peeled and cored)

1/2 C frozen blue berries

2 C fresh spinach

1/2 C peach yogurt

1 C orange juice, or water

Blend all the items together & then add 5 ice cubes. 

It was SUPER yummy & Art even liked it!!!!  It was super easy for a quick breakfast on a Saturday.  We drank it and it kept us both full for most of the day. 

Plate Hangers

Do you have any plates hanging on your wall?  I am not a fan of the the following plate hangers.  I feel like they are going to break the plate or chip them. 

I discovered these wonderful yellow disc to hang plates.  I tried to be a cheapo & not buy these.  I had taken some ribbon & hot glued it onto the the back of a plate with a key chain ring. One night at 11pm I was woke up to a CRASH! I wasn't sure if someone broke a window or something fell off the wall.  I went to the kitchen & there was my FAVORITE plate smashed all over my tile floor.  I took down all the plates that night.  The next morning I ordered the yellow discs. 

The yellow discs are worth the $1.50-$2.00 each.  You can find them on Amazon for about $1.75 each.

Corn Chowder

A few weeks back I was visiting Krystal & she made Corn Chowder.  I tasted a little bit and it was DELISH!!!!  She gave me the recipe rightthen.  I came home & made it right away.

(look you can still see the steam on the side of the bowl)

Mimi’s Cafe Corn Chowder
Adapted from Mimi’s Cafe


Ingredients:

¼ cup butter, (½ stick)

6 tablespoons chopped onion

¾ cup diced celery

2½ cups water

2 cups cubed peeled red or russet potatoes, (½-inch)

2 cups frozen corn kernels, thawed

1 can creamed corn (14 ounce)

2 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons salt

1 dash of white pepper

3 tablespoons flour

3 cups half and half cream (or use heavy cream, whole milk)

Preparation:

In a medium Dutch oven over medium hat, melt the butter.

Add in the flour and using a wire whisk - whisk until smooth until a roux forms.

Add the onions and celery and sauté for 5 minutes until soft but not browned.

Add water, potatoes, corn kernels, creamed corn, sugar, salt and pepper. Whisk until smooth.

Cover and simmer until potatoes are tender, about 30 minutes.

Add half and half and simmer uncovered until soup has thickened to a creamy consistency, about 15 minutes.

Season to taste with additional salt & pepper if needed.