Hood ornaments ...

Long time ago when I learned to drive

the thing that made me the most nervous was staying in

my lane. Not too far to the left nor right....but staying right in the middle

 

My daddy taught me to line up the hood ornament with the

line on the road to the right. That would put you perfectly in the middle

of the lane. So that's how I always drove....

 

Not many cars now have hood ornaments

lucky for me that I no longer need that to stay in the

middle of my lane!!

 

 

Just a memory I had that I wanted to document....

 

later...

Love this ....

My newest addiction is Edy's fruit bars!

 

YUMMMMMM

 

Jacquelyn got me started on these by trying the pineapple ones

while I was staying with her after Declan was born

they have real pieces of pineapple in them

and they are so dang good!!

 

Then I tried the coconut....even better

then tried the coconut with pineapple......really!!! yum!

 

they are a little pricey but look for them on sale
Target right now has them for $3.25 a box, pretty good price
I bought pomegranate, raspberry, strawberry, lime, coconut with banana
and lemonade.
you really need to try these!!

 

later......



Declan ....

here's some pics of our precious little grandson, Declan Liam

here he is at one month old

he is happy, very content baby

always just hanging out all chilled

fusses only late at night if his tummy gets a little gassy

still sleeping all night

smiles when you say "Yay Declan"

and always smiles when his mommy talks to him

wakes every morning with smiles and "talking"

ticklish on his chin

loves lights

loves to walk around and look at everything, especially pictures

loves his baby swing

loves his toys hanging down from his car seat

 

 

and here's Declan getting his first bottle

he did great and so did his daddy!

 

 

and here he is loving on his daddy

and I know his hair looks red in this picture but it's just the lighting

his hair is a very light brown and almost golden looking

as his hair is growing out, we're seeing blonde so maybe he's going

to be a blonde like his mommy

 

 

later.......

 

 



Greek Panzanella ....

One of my favorite chef's on the Food Network is

Ina, the Barefoot Contessa.

not only are her recipes great but I always feel like I learn

a lot of cooking, prepping techniques from her

 

I made one of her salads last week....so simple and so yummy

 

GREEK PANZANELLA

 

• olive oil
• 1 small French bread, cut into one inch cubes
• kosher salt
• 1 hothouse cucumber, unpeeled, seeded and sliced
• 1 red bell pepper, large diced
• 1 yellow bell pepper, large diced
• 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1/2 red onion, sliced in half rounds
• 1/2 lb feta cheese
• 1/2 cup calamata olives, pitted

 

for the vinaigrette........

• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup good olive oil

 

heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in a large saute pan. Add the bread cubes and sprinkle with salt; cook over low to medium heat, tossing frequently for about 10 minutes, until nicely browned. Add  more olive oil if needed. Once browned and crunchy, remove from heat and set aside.

 

Place the cucumber, red pepper, yellow pepper, tomatoes and red onion in a large bowl.

 

For the vinaigrette, which together the garlic, oregano, mustard, vinegar, 1 tsp salt and pepper in a small bowl. While still whisking, add the olive oil and make an emulsion. Pour the vinaigrette over the vegetables. Add the feta, olives and bread cubes and mix together lightly. Set aside for 30 min for the flavors to blend, serve at room temp.

 

My notes on this, I did not add the feta, just had a side bowl of that so folks could add their own. Also, next time I will also keep the bread cubes to the side because after awhile they became soggy. And they are just so good and crunchy, I would have preferred them to stay that way.

 

 

this is a fast and easy salad that will be wonderful this summer!

hope you enjoy

later.........





Quinoa ....

Our cafeteria's at work always feature a different food each week

and the chef's all come up with recipes to highlight whatever the

featured food is

 

One week it was asparagus and the chef in our cafeteria made

a quinoa salad that was wonderful

 

he gave us the recipe but did not give measuring amounts but

it's so simple, you can just wing it

 

I used a cup of quinoa, cooked and drained

I roasted the asparagus in the oven with olive oil drizzled all over

waited for it to cool and then sliced it into bite size pieces

mix with the cooled quinoa, add raisins, walnuts and sliced almonds

add salt and pepper

that's it.......no dressing at all

the oil from the asparagus keeps it all moist

you just know this salad is so healthy.......and good!!  

 

 

later.....



Changing of the seasons ....

If you live in a state that is lucky enough to have 4 seasons,

we have made it to that time of the year where you

have to take a day to move winter / fall clothes out

and spring / summer clothes in

I have an extra closet that I store my off season clothes in....thank goodness

because when all of the kids lived at home, I had to store them in my

cedar chest and boxes stored in my closet.

So it's really nice now just to switch them up.

When I put my winter clothes out last fall, I applied an idea that I

saw on Pinterest. I hung all of my clothes hangers in the opposite direction

then as you wear your clothes, after laundry, hang them in the right direction.

at the end of the season, anything still hanging backward gets donated

this is a great way to clean out old clothes

 

the pic below is my winter clothes as I'm pulling them out of the closet

the pile on the left is the keep pile......the pile on the right are clothes

that were still hanging backward.....bye bye!!
 

now my spring / summer clothes are up and all hanging backward

except for the few pieces that I kept out from winter

things like long sleeve tees that I take to the beach

So that's my Pinterest idea that worked!!

later......

Forgotten....

back in June and July of 2011 I wrote a whole series on

lessons learned from planning our daughter Jacquelyn's wedding

Just a whole bunch of stuff that no one told us.....we went into wedding

planning blind!! And because we just learned along the way, I did

the series to let other folks know the good, the bad and the expensive!

HA! ..........well, here's one more that I had not posted about

and that's because I just today picked up Jacquelyn's

wedding gown, all cleaned and sealed in a box so that it won't yellow.

yes, almost 2 years later!

 

For one thing, I knew it was going to be expensive and well we had

just thrown a wedding so I felt like that could wait. But then it was shoved

into an extra closet upstairs and forgotten about.

 

In cleaning out closets I decided I really needed to get that taken care of.

so off to the cleaners! The entire bottom of Jacquelyn's gown was black,

from dancing at the reception. The guy at the cleaners said he loves to

see dresses come in like that because it means the reception

was a fun party! And that it was!

 

 

But it also meant a very large cleaning bill, along with the fact that the

dress was French silk and had a ton of crystals on it!

 

So the cost......are you ready for this.........$250!!!

Johnny and I were pretty shocked!

But we paid it and now we have some very expensive boxes

that will stay under our bed until Jacquelyn and Bucky

move to a bigger house. And then they can have the expensive

boxes and slide them under their bed!

 

 

later........

 



Favorite hotel ....

I'm def not a hotel snob but I won't stay in just any

ole hotel

I'm partial to the Hilton chain (love my Hilton points) and my favorite is

the Hampton Inn

and the reason is......they def have the softest sheets, blankets

and the best mattresses.

It's the only hotel I can stay in and wake up with no back ache

I stayed in the Ritz Carlton in northern Virginia one time

just not for me......and don't get me wrong, it is

ultra nice! But just a little too fu fu for me

I was afraid to make eye contact with any employee because

if you did, you better open your wallet for a tip because they

would stand there and wait for it!!

While there, I heard a knock on the door, checked through the peep

hole and it was a little old lady in a maids outfit so I opened the door

She wanted to know if I needed my sheets turned down....I politely told her

no thank you. (Because seriously, I can do that!!)

A little while later another knock on the door, same lady.

I open it up and she asked if I would like my ice bucket filled or

would I like to have some "chocolates"

again, no thank you

she didn't come back anymore

I'm sure for the rich and famous or some people looking for luxury, all

of those things are great but for me, I don't need it.

When staying in a hotel, I just want a good comfortable bed to

sleep in and some peace and quiet!

later........

Easter ....

Easter in pictures........

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

later....

 

Hanging out with Declan ...

I felt so lucky that Jacquelyn and Bucky invited me to stay

with them for a week once Declan arrived.

Bucky was on vacation that first week so I took vacation

the 2nd week. And I really stayed there....overnight all week

even though I only live 12 minutes away....haha!!

 

And Johnny would come over after work a few nights to have

dinner with us :)

 

I'm not sure how much help I was......I tried

I cooked, tried to keep the house tidy, took the dogs out

and helped with Declan. But I guess the big thing was I kept

Jacquelyn company.

She also got me hooked on that dang Twilight series........now

I have to watch them all :)

 

 

I also went with her to the drs for Declan's 2 week check up

he gained one whole pound in just one week!! wow....


This little guy, he is just so cool....very alert. More than I have ever
seen in a newborn. And good....woo wee, he's good!
Jacquelyn feeds him every 2 1/2 to 3 hours during the day and then,
 believe it or not
he sleeps all night! yes......2 weeks old and sleeps all night!!!
we're talking 7 hours .... which the dr is fine with considering he
gained a whole pound in one week!!

Lordy how I love these grandbabies. It's so overwhelming how you feel
when they are born. I felt it when Maddox was born and now
again with Declan! I wasn't around for Gabe's birth...he didn't join
our family until age 3 but love him just as much.

here's a few pics of our precious new grandson

later.....


More on the den makeover .....

I think I said before this was going to take awhile....haha!!

well, a new grandson came into our life

and then a lot of yucky weather and just being busy

but now we're back to getting the den done

We have pretty much decided on the design

and we've had two different folks come over who

are working up quotes for us. I would be happy with either person

so I'll go with the best price.

Johnny started tearing out the old shelves

can't wait to have this project done!!!

below is our inspiration
we are going to do a marble surround.......

and below is how we want the hearth done

 

below is how we want the built in book shelves.....

 

 

later.......

Fiestaware ....

I've posted before how much I love my Fiestaware

when we rennovated our kitchen, 2 of our cabinets were going

to have glass fronts. And my everyday dishes were old......like really,

really old. So I wanted new ones and thought every color of the Fiestaware

would look wonderful in those glass front cabinets.

So I've slowly been collecting them......and just love the names of the

colors. I have.......
Shamrock, Scarlet, Sunflower, Peacock, Tangerine, Cobalt, Paprika,
Marigold, Lemongrass and White.

Now I have added Plum!!!
so beautiful......

One more and I'll have service for 12
I'm thinking maybe Flamingo.... :)

later......