If you've ever wondered how to make your own chalkboard at home, wonder no more, my friend. Here are three ways you can make your own chalkboard!
March 25, 2011
March 24, 2011
Home: What to Do With All of Those Wii Wires and Accessories!
Is the wire monster out of control in your home? Wowza, we have a lot of Wii remotes, game chargers, etc. We were just throwing everything into a box on a shelf, but with the new den redo that I am working on, that is just not gonna cut it anymore!
March 20, 2011
Tidbits From the Week
Not many tidbits this week - we've just been outside enjoying the nice Spring-y weather! But we did go out to eat at a Louisiana-style restaurant. Ah, fried oysters, my absolute fave food! The kids were being goofy:
We had a little St. Patrick's Day party with some cousins and a few neighborhood friends - rainbow jello with mini Reese's pots of gold, marshmallow leprechaun hats, and rainbow Twizzler & gold coin favors with homemade green candy buttons. Fun!
Hope everyone had a great week!
March 19, 2011
Spring Decorating: Pottery Barn Style
I was recently flipping through my new Pottery Barn catalog, and found several great Spring decorating ideas that I'd like to bring to life. For the first idea, I headed out to Dollar Tree and Michael's craft store and, sure enough, found what I needed!
March 8, 2011
Gardening: Forcing Branches
I read in last month's Garden Gate magazine that you can force cut branches to bloom by putting them in a vase of water and wrapping the branches sticking out of the vase in plastic wrap. This provides a warm, moist environment, and they will open sooner or later, depending on the temperature in the room. Forsythia is popular for forcing but the tip didn't mention that it only worked with specific branches. Plus forsythia is already blooming here anyway.
So I decided to try it with my Bradford pear tree, which was in desperate need of a good trimming, and has had tight little buds for about a month.
March 6, 2011
Cooking: Ooey Gooey Delicious Veggie Sandwiches
I love sandwiches, but I get tired of pb & j and I try to make luncheon meat be a rare occasion. I spent about ten years of my life as a vegetarian, so I know that veggie sandwiches can be bland and dry. But not this one, baby. This sandwich is ooey gooey deliciousness.
Gardening: Backyard Blueprint
Can a garden have a blueprint? Well mine does, though it isn't to scale or drawn with rulers. But that is just how planny of a person I am! I love writing down plans, drawing up plans, and climbing sideways on plans. Okay just kidding on that last one. Occasionally I even execute a plan - lol!
You're probably going to drop your jaw at my garden blueprint (if you can make any of it out). I know its a bit over the top. But I really do want to grow all of our own produce this year.
Cooking: Bacon Tarragon Red Potatoes
I don't know about you, but when I was growing up, vegetables with dinner meant canned corn, peas, or green beans heated up on the stove with a big pat of butter melted in. The end.
So as an adult, I have had such a hate-hate relationship with dinner vegetables. Frankly I find canned veggies with butter unappealing. But all of the "side dish" recipes I find in cookbooks seem to take nearly as much time and effort to make as the meal itself! Not for this busy mama.
In case you're in the same dilemma, I thought I'd share some of the veggie side dish creations I have found or come up with that are delicious, fairly easy & quick, and, well, side-dishy. Enter the bacon tarragon red potatoes. Five little ole ingredients plus the red potatoes. Boil the potatoes, cook & crumble the bacon, throw it all together and you're good to go.
Tidbits from the Week
Last week was my birthday. I had a lovely photo from my dinner out at this gorgeous restaurant on the water at sunset, but it was taken on a photo card that I had just purchased and was using for the first time and guess what? It was defective. No photo. Wah. So here is a photo of my present from my mother. Check out those heavy duty titanium garden clippers! Oh yeah! There is also a garden saw, very useful for my bradford pear tree which is in serious need of a trim. And not in the photo (because I am gobbling it up even now) is a Month-by-Month Guide to Gardening in Tennessee. Fabulous book.
The kittens are growing so fast! And they are wild as can be. You better not have a moving body part when they are in a playful mood - like a foot that's swinging - or you will be pounced upon.
The birds are coming back. We had a good rain and there were robins all over my lawn, pulling up worm after worm. And I am very happy to say that I was sitting in my kitchen looking out the window and a male cardinal poked his head up over the rail of the deck. Yay - love cardinals!
My sister and I went shopping together at Target and found really nice jeans on sale for $4! Shopping when the season is about to change is definitely the way to go.
Jill and I started taking guitar lessons together. Bending my hand that way is going to take some getting used to for sure. Have you seen the Friends episode where Phoebe is trying to teach Joey to play guitar? It is so funny! She has her own names for chords like "old lady", based on how she is holding her hand, and insists on that terminology.
That's about it for this week's tidbits. Hope everyone had a great week!
March 3, 2011
Come on Spring!
Who is ready for Spring? Our days have been sunny and warmish lately and boy, am I ready for Spring! Ready for cooler clothing, laying out in the sun, picnics and dinners on our back deck, digging in the dirt, taking the kids to the playground and the lake.
I found this photo collage I did for Spring a couple of years ago, and now I want Spring even more.
One more thing regarding Spring, just so you can have a little laugh at my expense. I have a pretty little grandfather clock in my den. It is a pain in the patooty to take down, take the back off, change the time, put the back back on, hang up, start the pendulum again while its hanging on a wall. So I didn't change the time like I was supposed to last fall. So hey! Soon, the clock will naturally have the correct time again. Tee hee.
The Kideos:
- "Jack" is my fun-loving high schooler, "Jill" is my creative middle schooler, "Little Bill" is my non-stop first grader, and we have an angel baby in Heaven.
