It All Started So Simple

So there I was catching up on blogs.

Trying at all costs to avoid doing any laundry or cleaning.

And then....

Oooohhhhh! What's THAT?!

I like those!

So I found some cording I had and waited patiently for 2 rolls of toilet paper to be used.

Blah, who am I kidding! I am waaaay to impatient for that. I dug through the trash!

I did everything like in the tutorial trying to keep my burns to a minimum. I didn't use jute cause I didn't have jute. This is the same cord that I used on my door hanger thingy. It's a 4mm macrame type cord.

Ta da! 8 cutesy little napkin ring holders!

Kinda plain though....

....so I glued on some white buttons to dress them up. This is the only thing that I did different. She made her embellishments removable to swap them out. I'm too lazy to do that though.

Houston we have a problem!

I don't own ANY cloth napkins to use in my cutesy napkin rings. Taco Bell paper napkins just don't look right in them either!

So I made some of them too!

I dug around in my fabric pile formerly known as my fabric bin which has overflowed the bin and is now a pile!

I made 8 stripey napkins for the 8 cutesy napkin rings.

Don't say you can't make napkins either. Yvonne at Stone Gable did a fantastic tutorial on making napkins. She also included all you non sewers too! Isn't she the best?!

Now we have a new problem....

....NO TABLECLOTH!

Argh! I have been seeing these all over blogland and now is the perfect excuse to make one!

To the fabric pile!

It's amazing the amount of junk I have squirreled away! Including the 10 yards of unbleached muslin that I used to make this.

I didn't use all 10 yards, just 2 1/2 yards.

Now with my everyday Pier One dishes that I love. My kids kept on breaking just one dish out of the sets I kept on buying. My husband also read on the internet that stoneware dishes leach lead into food when it is warmed from even setting hot food on them. My oldest did poorly in school and was taking medication for ADHD. I picked these dishes cause you buy them individually. So if one breaks you don't have to get rid of the whole set. They are also porcelain.

A year later and we have taken my daughter off the meds and she now is a A and B student. Even on the student council.

Anyways.... now I need a centerpiece.

Hmmm....

She is such a ham! I just plopped some mini daffodils in my soup tureen and covered up the dirt and shopping bags that I used to hold it in place.

There! My first tablescape.

To everyone who wish Brianna a happy birthday, thank you! She was just all smiles reading your responses. Know that....

That is also a little sneak peek at the giveaway I won and will tell you all about tomorrow!

Posted at Bobbypinsboardwalk Bragfest

Posted at Between Naps On The Porch

Posted at A Silly Little Sparrow's Toot Your Horn Tuesday

My first

She has done so much for me.

She made me a mommy....

She has taught me how to just play even though there may be work to be done.

She has taught me that even though they may get hurt, I have to let them go. But I will always be there to catch them.

She has brought much joy to me....

....and her handsome daddy.

She is growing so fast. This year she can't wait to drive.

I told her "Sweet Pea, the Barbie car is yours. You can drive it anytime!"

I am not sure that is quite what she meant though.....

Happy 14th Birthday Brianna!

Love, Mom, Dad, Jeffrey and Syrina

This and That

When I was younger, I had a pen pal. We wrote each other faithfully every week. I would get so excited when I saw a letter from her and looked forward to writing to her.

Now there is email.

No one uses the snail mail anymore to correspond.

Buuuut......

Deborah at the Fairfield House has a great project going on. She is asking for a postcard from each state. When she gets one from every state there is to be a drawing. The winner will receive a little care package in the mail.

You can also exchange postcards with other participants. She just added that feature to it since it has become so popular.

I'm doing the Michigan postcard.

Do you know how hard it is to find a postcard? I thought it would be kinda easy.

Not!

So I am off in search of some postcards!

But, do you know what I do have?!

Disney pics!

My new house!

See, it even comes with "that" blue!

The girls on the carousel

Me and the kids on the flying carpet ride. Note to self: DO NOT LET THE BITTY ONE CONTROL THE CARPET! SHE WILL MAKE YOU SICK!

The kids and Chip and Dale.

And.....

Me and the two oldest with my main man Donald Duck!

I love that Duck! I've liked him since I was young. This time that we went I was bound and determined to get my pic with him. We walked all over looking for him.

Don't say it is just a guy in a duck costume either!

I do have some more of the girls and the princesses and the fairies. I have to send them to my hubby's phone and have him save them to his puter and then email them to me.

Or buy a phone card for my pics.

Either way, they are still on my phone.

I suck.

But I will have some more projects for ya. I am hoping to have the one from this weekend that started off small done. Why is it that the simplest ones are the ones that snowball?

Well Duhhhh....

Did you know I have two entrance doors?

Yeah!

I imagine that!

You know when we were looking at this house, one of the features that I fell in love with was the front door.

It's a 15 panel glass door.

Poor girl has gotten ignored though.

This year I plan on prettying it up.

For now though, it is often forgotten. Everyone who comes over uses the back door. There is no walk up to it either.

So.....

I wonder if I took some leftover flowers and twiney stuff....

....snipped them off the main stem and hot glued the ends to keep them all together.....

....bunched them all together and tied them up with florist wire what that would do?

Maybe make a loop to hang it by....

and wrap it around glueing it every now and then.

Uh oh, how am I ever going to cover up those ends?

Maybe a small piece of muslin rubberbanded around them?

Then I could keep on wrapping to cover the rubberband. Finish it off at the back under the loop.

Hmmm....

I wonder if that would make her feel less ignored?

A good paint job might also!

Shameless as I am I posted two entries at the uber coolishushness Cindy's Make it 4 Monday!

Well Hello There!

Come on in!

I am so glad that you stopped by!

Isn't it a beautiful spring day? Too bad I still have the winter wreath up! The boy and bitty one are having a picnic.

But back to the wreath. Feel like doing some crafting?

OK!

The lovely Yvonne did a gorgeous wreath for spring and was even kind enough to make a tutorial about it. How about it?

Great! Let's get some stuff together.

Yeah, I am only using one wreath. I know she used two. I am going to change up mine a bit. She says to hot glue the flowers on the front.

Wow! Only hot glued myself to it 7 times! That may be a new low for me. Now she glued more to the back. I think I want something greeny though.

So far so good!

Oh yeah, remember to take off the tags!

It's okay. Not as pretty as Yvonne's though. It seems to need something.

Maybe some red ribbon?

Some black and white check might be nice too.

I think that looks better.

All that work made me hungry!

You two?

Let me whip you something up!

How about a Roast beef and cheese hoagie with some leftover chantarelles? I've had the roast slow cooking in the oven at 275 for the last 4 hours. Not even worth making a recipe card for.

Maybe a little homemade Mushroom and Leek soup?

And for something sweet. A little something from someone just as sweet! Yvonne from Stone Gable.

Palmiers! I think I need to roll mine a little tighter next time. I was trying to roll and keep a 3 year old out of the cinnamon sugar at the same time!

I am so glad that you stopped by! You really got me motivated!

Please feel free to stop by any time!

Posted at Embellished Bayou's Easter Linky Party!

Posted at the fantabulouso Cindy's Make it 4 Monday party!

Getting My Irish On....

....for Foodie Friday! I never should of read that Irish cookbook especially while hungry! I think that I have found my niche though. The recipes I have used so far are so easy to make and delicious! I know which ones appealed to me too. I just have to look for the pages that are nibbled.

Anyways.... yesterday I made some seafood dishes that I just have to share.

I was planning on doing this for Friday since it is Lent. When I got home from the grocery store though, I goofed. I had to get dried chanterelles. You need to rehydrate these before using and I did just that. Oops!

First up is Broiled Scallops with Chanterelles in a brown butter sauce. Yummy!

Chanterelles are wild mushrooms. They have a nutty woody taste to them. If you get the dried ones, don't pitch that water!

You can use it as a base for soups. I am planning on making either mushroom soup or stew with it.

Great, now my tummy is growling!

Anyways, you need to peel and seed a tomato. Yeah, never seeded a tomato before. Peeling is easy. Bring a pot of water to boil and plop your tomato in for about 30 seconds.

Plunge it into cold water and peel. Easy peesy! Now the seeding is pretty easy too. Cut the tomato in half in between the two ends of it. Slice down the sides a bit and squeeze.

Gently squeeze. Forgot that part. It was alot easier than I thought. You want to open up those little pockets when cutting down the sides. Before chopping you remove the spot where the stem was attached.

Then chop. Sorry I just wanted to show off my new gadget. My lifter/chopper. I just love this thing!

The traditional way to serve this is to use sea scallops. I couldn't find sea scallops so I had to use bay scallops. Do you know the difference between the two? Personally I like the sea ones better. They seem to have more flavor and they are bigger. Each scallop can be over 2.5 ounces. Bay scallops are small. This dish is meant to be served as a first course. You take a mound of champ and put it on a plate, make a well in the middle of it and add melted butter. Then you arrange 3 sea scallops around the edge with the chanterelles and sauce spooned over the scallops.

Wait, you don't know what Champ is?

Mashed Potatoes with chives. Mmmm.... In the old days they used a wooden tool called a beetle to mash the potatoes. There is even a poem about it.

There was an old lady that lived in a lamp,

She had no room to beetle her champ,

She up'd with her beetle and broke her lamp,

Now she has room to beetle her champ.

Now I am on the hunt for a beetle. Dang cookbook! It's filled with all kinds of interesting stories like this though. I also had Poached Salmon.

I know I could of dressed it up some. I meant to. I had the lemon to garnish it. Had is the key word. Something about a boy and a bitty girl playing with it and 100 lbs of stupidity getting in the middle, grabbing it and running off with it. Yeah. It was definitely hers.

This recipe was great! I don't have a poacher but it told how to do without. How cool is that? I do have to say that a poacher is now on my to get gadget list now though.

Onto how to make a poacher! Take two sheets of tinfoil lay them on top of each other and butter.

Lay the fish on the tinfoil and pull up the sides to make a box.

Pour in the poaching liquid over the fish and crimp the edges together to make a packet. I put it all on a cookie sheet to bake. As much as I love spending the morning with my head stuck in an oven cleaning it, I was not in the mood for run off.

I also served it with a California blend of veggies.

Since Birdseye did a fine job putting the recipe on the back of the package, I won't bother.

I did bother to make dessert though. I mean who wouldn't?

Strawberry Cheesecake with a Chocolate Graham Cracker Crust. I didn't get a pic of the ones that I served with a strawberry garnish and whipped cream. I forgot.

The graham cracker crust was not meant to be chocolate either. I made this at the last minute. I thought I had enough cracker crumbs to make this and I was a 1/2 cup short. No graham crackers either. The boy is hooked on graham crackers with cream cheese. All I had was chocolate teddy grahams. So I switched to a chocolate crust.

Is it okay to have cheesecake for breakfast?

Hmmm....

Mmmm....

Anyways I am hoping to get my big butt out of the house so I can do something for Make it for Monday. In my head it looks great. We'll see what reality is though. Until then....

Much love and best dishes!

Yeah I stole that from Paula, but we are tight. I am sure that she won't mind a bit! If she gets mad I will just bribe her with a stick of butter!