The First Inspiration Party!

Welcome to the first Inspiration Party at the White Farmhouse!

I hope that everyone has on their party hat!

Ok, so here are the rules.

I put a McLinky for you to use to post about someone who has inspired you lately. Big or small. It takes alot to put together the wonderful and thoughtful posts that are out there. So now is the time to thank them for all their hard work!

You have to invite them to read the nice thoughts that you read about them.

You can also give them the above button as a gift.

Thanks again to Jan @ Bobbypins Boardwalk for making me the button!

You can also just leave a comment cause I am a tramp for comments!

So now onto my inspiration. There are so many wonderful people that I have met out in blogland. I told my husband that I want to win the lottery so I can go meet all of you. And cook for you. And clean for you. For a week. Because for some odd reason I just LOVE to clean other people's houses. I don't want anyone to feel slighted by not being my first choice. It was really hard to pick just one!

But....

There is one out there that is an exception.

When I started blogging, I almost gave up on it. The only followers that I had were family members that I could threaten with death or great bodily harm unless they joined.

She was my first though. She made my day in so many ways that year + ago that she will ever know. My daughter feigned blindness when I did my "I got my first follower" happy dance.

Since then she has gained a special place in my heart. I actually cried when she gave me my first award.

She has inspired me to continue on. For that, I am truly a better person.

Hell, she even inspired me to lose weight! 7 lbs down now! About 200 more to go though.

Who is this wonderful person?

Lori @ Wildflowers!

If you haven't visited her blog you must! She is just the sweetest, upbeat, happiest person on the face of the earth! She is encouragement and inspiration all rolled up in one sweet little package.

She calls her an ordinary girl, but she is anything but ordinary. She is married to a wonderful man who loves her deeply, she loves and is dedicated to her family and likes to keep momentos around to remind her of them.

I am so proud to call her my friend!

I guess she has been on my mind lately because I have been working on the kids rooms. She was my inspiration for their rooms. I have tried to decorate them to what they would like them to be, not what I want. To express their individual personalities. To encourage them to grow. Every time that I go in them I smile cause they make me think of her and how she has improved my life.

So.... there it is! My inspiration for the month. My friend who I absolutely love! Lori!

Thank you for being my friend, for your support and just for being you! You truly make the world a better place to be!

Party ends Monday night!

Tutorial and Dinner

Or maybe Dinner and a tutorial.

If you are not a foodie you may want to scroll down....

....but you will miss out on the most fantastic ribs ever!

As soon as the weather is warm enough to keep the horse out for longer than 10 minutes

It's BBQ time here!

What better way to kick off the BBQ season than with ribs?

I stick those bad boys in a big pot still frozen even.

My secret marinade. Shhhhh....

I don't know why, but it HAS to be A & W root beer. Don't skimp here. Just pour it on and let em soak all day!

Now don't even reach for that! We got something waaaaay better!

Home made sauce!

Roll up 2 thick slices of smoked bacon around rosemary. You can use twine to hold the bundle together or toothpicks like I did cause the kids used my twine for "something"

I don't even want to know!

Now brown it for about 3 minutes in 2 Tbs of olive oil.

Cut an onion in half and peel. Peel 2 cloves of garlic also. Add this to the pot. I use a big pot. You'll see why later. Cook this til the onion is soft, about 5 minutes.

Add 2 cups ketchup, 1/4 cup molasses and dark brown sugar, 2 Tbs balsamic vinegar, 1 tsp each dry mustard, smoked oregano and cumin. Little pepper for taste.

Bring it all to a boil over medium heat and then lower to a simmer.

Simmer 20 mins until all the flavors have married to a wonderful taste!

Now parboil those ribs in the root beer while your sauce is thickening up.

I take the whole pot of sauce out to the grill. Dunk one side in the sauce and put on the grill. Slather lots of sauce on the other side and let her cook!

Hey! Get out of my sauce munchkin!

She loves my sauce. Along with everyone else. I got 5 orders for a jug of sauce already!

Grilled to perfection!

Some of Yvonne from Stone Gables Roasted Asparagus

Some Baked Macaroni from Giada DeLaurentiis

And my killer awesome Lime Margheritas!

The trick to them is to make your own sour mix.

1 cup water

1 cup sugar

1 cup lemon juice

1 cup lime juice

Add the water and sugar. Stir til blended. Add lemon and lime juice and chill.

To make a margherita?

4 oz sour mix

2oz tekillya

3/4 oz triple sec

Pour over crushed ice (my new fridge makes crushed ice!)

Shake

Pour into a sugar rimmed glass.

I need all the sweetening up I can get!

Now that I got ya all lickered up!

Onto the tutorial!

I used 2-1"x4"x2' boards

Artwork courtesy of the bitty one.

Some small nails, 2 sawtooth hangers and a hammer

Now into the snakeden of dispair to do some painting.

Don't get jealous over my gorgeous laundry room.

I guess now you know why I hate doing laundry!

Anyways.... paint one side of all the boards.

Let dry.

Nail the two boards into an "L" shape.

Paint.

Now I glued a piece of trim molding to keep the books from sliding off.

I dug this out of the snake den of dispair.

More paint!

Nail the 2 sawtooth hangers to the back....

....and voila! A book ledge!

Oooooh!

Don't forget about the party on Friday!

A very special to Jan @ Bobbypins Boardwalk for making this uber cute button.

I love it Jan and I love ya!

Now to spend some quality time with the boy.

Not because I am playing favorites.

He's just messier!

So What Is Up Those Stairs?

Well.... there are only 2 rooms. My bedroom and the girls room.

So which one is it?

The girls room! I finally got it somewhat straightened out and some things crossed off the list.

I switched around the toy boxes since Brianna doesn't use hers except to store stuff in. So I moved Syrina's out in the room where she could get to her toys in it. The baskets on either side are for dressup stuff and some other bigger stuff.

I put 2 floating shelves that I had in the snake den of despair aka the basement. I put these up for books and games. And her Handy Manny tools!

The top of the desk got cleaned off so Brianna can actually use it. Hopefully now I won't find her laptop on the floor.

A couple more floating shelves for Brianna's books. The rack I set on her nightstand for her Webkinz.

I moved her posters over her bed. I still have to get a couple more frames for some other ones still. Now to teach her how to make her bed!

The dresser got moved AGAIN! Hopefully it will stay here. Another floating shelf dug out of the basement for her Breyer horses that she collects. Are you getting the idea that the girl loves horses?

And Brianna's toy box with Syrina's stuffed animals piled on it. I tried to make it look nice but the stuffies were not cooperating.

The resident ham with the book ledge I made for the books that she likes to have read to her before bedtime. I found them today stacked on the floor so she could stand on them to try to catch Brianna's betta! Knucklehead!

The floating shelves are easy peasy to install! I got these a few years ago at Target. It comes with a metal bar that you fasten to the wall. Make sure it is level!

This is what the shelf is going to hook onto to keep it floating.

Then just hook the shelf on to the bracket.....

There is no shortage of stuff to put on shelves around our house!

Then decorate away! I love those glass horse bookends! When you get clunked on the head with one of those though you really do see stars!

There is that stupid chair that I still have to paint. It's a mauve color and I want to repaint it pale pink.

So that is what I did with my weekend. I think that just recleaning the room took pretty much all of Saturday!

Now to spend some quality time with the boy in his room! I can see that is going to be a big project in itself! I haven't seen the floor in about 4 months now!

Oi Vey!

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

Wow!

I haven't done this in awhile, 2 posts in one day!

My camera is out of commission due to the old broad daughter of mine hooking the strap on her IPod and it crashing to the floor!

Which has made me resort to my phone's camera.

So let's see what is on there....

My kids love to take pics with my phone. Here they took a pic of my sister after the bitty one covered her in post it flags.

The boy and his dog jumping on the trampoline together!

The bitty one with Belle....

....Sleeping Beauty....

and that damn Tinkerbell! My hubby said if he knew the fairies were that hot he would of gladly taken the girls. See why I sent him off with the boy child?!

We also have....

A pic of my hero's van! I don't know who this lady was. The van was parked in Home Goods lot and it was literally jammed with shopping bags full of merchandise from every store you could imagine! She barely had enough room for herself to drive. And forget using the rearview mirror!

I love this rack thing at the antique mall. How great would that be in a flower bed filled with flowers?

I have also been working on a something up here.

You gotta wait til it is done though.

But I have gotten somethings crossed of the ole "To Do List".

But you gotta wait cause it's not quite done yet.

It's On!

Thank you everyone for all your nice comments about the party!

So spread the word!

It's on!

I will put up the linky party this Friday April 30th.

Spread the word and get your inspiration posts ready!

A little thank you gift for you to give to the one who inspired you this month.

Come and join the fun at the First Inspiration Party!

(Now if I can just get this to be a button....)

I've Been Thinking....

yes, that is probably what that odd smell is lately.

But anyways....

I love a good party. Yes, that may be me with the lampshade on my head being a total embarrassment... but I have fun!

Lately my inspiration has been lacking though. I need to get back in the groove. My house is a mess. My to do list keeps growing with nothing crossed off. Just look at all that to do stuff. That isn't even the half of it either!

So I need some inspiration. And who inspires me the most?

YOU!

So, I thought that maybe others out there are feeling the same way.

So how about a monthly inspiration party?

What is it?

Well, it is like a thank you party. Once a month, maybe the last day of the month, we will have a linky party. The rules are that you chose a person that inspired you that month, blogger or nonblogger. Maybe they inspired you to try out a color in your house, maybe a project, maybe a great recipe. Make a post about them and how they inspired you. Have fun with it! If they are a blogger, include a link to their blog so maybe others will get inspired too.

Then... tell them they were your monthly inspiration and link them to it.

A nice way to say thank you for all the time that they take to post.

There are so many linky parties out there that are great! I wanted to do something unique though.

Maybe I will learn how to make a button that you can give to your inspiration too.

So, what do you think? Good idea? Dumb idea? Too many linky parties already?

Be honest too!

I would love to hear your thoughts on it!

Good Ole Number 6 Game!

The beautiful Donatella @ Donatella Style tagged me to play a game!

You have to go visit Donnatella's blog. She has the most gorgeous home, I just love her style! I hope one day that she posts more pics of it instead of the little teasers! Donnatella reminds me of Stella on CSI NY with an Italian accent. Beautiful, tough but always there for her friends.

But onto the game!

I'm supposed to find my 6th pic on my blog....

...and repost it. This was the vanity that is no longer in the girls room way back last year when I was working on the girls room.

Wait, I'm still working on the girls room.

Oh well....

Now to tag 10 people to do the same.

Yvonne @ Stone Gable

Jacqueline @ Home

Lori @ Wildflowers

Theresa @ 612 Riverside

Nancy @ Rosewood Cottage

Jen @ Tatertots and Jello

Jan @ Bobbypins and Boardwalk

Lisa @ Pickles and Cheese

Christy @ Embellished Bayou

Dar @ Dar's Stuffings

Have fun girls!

The weather here has been gorgeous! Unfortunately, I have been battling this cold/flu thing. Hoping that next week I will be feeling better to get off my buttocks and do something. Anything!

Throw Away Those Poachers!

This post is in honor of my dearly beloved dishwasher that passed away suddenly last week.

RIP sweet dishwasher!

My hubby says I killed it due to overworking it.

And that I am crazy.

What?!

A show of hands, who out there thinks I am crazy?

Alright, put your hands down so you can scroll.

You won't want to miss this!

Besides washing dishes and baseball hats, did you know your dishwasher can cook?

Yes! I said cook!

And a fine job it does!

I remember this being a fad when I was younger. About the time that they were trying to get dishwashers in every household. I kept threatening my husband that I was going to do it.

Go on, roll your eyes too.

You need to NOT have any kind of rinse agent in your dishwasher when you do this though.

Take a salmon filet, or any other fish filet of your choice....

....squirt it with one whole lemon and chopped parsley. Lay it on a double layer of heavy duty aluminum foil....

What the heck! Let's throw on a couple of lemon slices on top too.

Put another double layer of heavy duty aluminum foil on top. I could do my Rachel Ray impersonation and call it HDA foil. Naaaah....

Put it on a cookie sheet....

Now, set it on the bottom rack of your dishwasher with NO rinse agent or soap in.

That's my old dishwasher that the well water attacked.

Now turn on the dishwasher on a normal cycle and let her rip! Let it go through the drying cycle too.

And in a couple of hours....

Perfectly poached salmon!

Moist, flaky, no fear of drying out in the dishwasher or burning.

Could it get any easier?

For those of you inquiring minds, on the left of the salmon is Scallops with Chanterelles in a Brown Butter Sauce and on the right is Shrimp wrapped with Pancetta on Rosemary Skewers.

Brianna's Birthday Request Dinner last month.

The Scallops were broiled and the Shrimp skewers were grilled on the bahbie!

If you need something sweet after that....

Go check out Dar's site where she makes the yummiest dump cake ever! Her tales of living in the UP are so wonderful. I made this cake last night and it was delightful and oh so fun to make too! Topped with a simple ganache was all this cake needed for frosting.

Did this cake make my butt big?

Ummmm.....

Posted at Tatertots and Jello Dinner Dilema

Posted at Designs by Gollum Foodie Friday