seeds are

ordered, soil is purchased, and pots are waiting.  I went to Home Depot on Saturday and saw some big pots that I really liked.  There were a few colors: maroon, blue, and I think they called the last one yellow.  It definitely didn't look yellow to me, but there was one in the very middle of all these oversized (and not light) pots that I wanted. 

 

At first I wasn't going to be difficult and ask for help, but I wanted it.  I asked for assistance and got it.  And while I had help, I also asked for them to get another one I'd been trying to pull down but couldn't reach.  Side note: I really like the way those blue ones look in this picture, but they were a lot lighter in person.  Anyway, I'm on the way to being ready for planting.

Speaking of self sufficiency...

 

I'm not a Starbucks regular.  I actually think the Starbucks hype is kind of obnoxious, but hey, that's just me.  One morning a few weeks ago, I made a stop for some breakfast.  These are awesome.

 

I was determined to find a recipe to make them at home.  I found a version for baking and bought the ingredients... except for the monterey jack cheese.  I just saw that listed in their description.

Ta dah!

They were NOT the same.  I didn't expect them to be perfect, but I was hoping for a little better than this.

 

By the way, that pan is STILL soaking with that Dawn soaking spray... and it's been scrubbed.

I think I'll stick to the occasional trip to Starbucks.  Also, I halved this recipe and it made 12 mini muffins.  The Starbucks order comes with two and they're so rich that one is really enough.

I need to go.  We've got birthday celebrations tonight and while I managed to get a key lime pie and cheesecake baked and in the fridge last night, I still need to go buy stuff for dinner.  The cheesecake didn't look the same as it normally does.  I really hope it turns out better than the egg bites.  

Starbucks, anyone?

there's this thing I've seen

on Pinterest where people soak gummy bears in vodka.  I bought gummy bears and decided to try it.  I saw several methods and I picked the one where you put the bears in a dish, pour vodka over them, and let them sit out for 24 hours.

This was last night.

This morning they looked a little sad and beat up, like any of us would after spending the night drowning in vodka.

I pulled them out with a fork and laid them out on parchment paper.

Here's a vodka bear next to a sober bear.

The verdict:  they aren't worth it.  The flavor is good.  They taste like fruity candy vodka.  The texture sucks.  It's like putting a little slime nugget in your mouth.  I'm going to call this a Pinterest fail but honestly, it's an idea fail.  Just mix a fruity drink or eat gummy bears.

Oh, that camera I couldn't find earlier?  I found it.  It was in a camera bag that I must have taken to San Antonio.  I could've sworn I'd used a different one.  Whatever.  I found it and took a few pictures.  I wanted to mess around with double exposure again.  Now I need to take about 5 more pictures before I can mail the film in to be developed.  I don't even remember what kind of film I have in there.

Okay.  Time to wash bottles and do a few other chores before bed.  I'm tired.  I feel like how vodka bear looks up there.  I'm going to see if ibuprofen helps.  Vodka bear is just going to the garbage.

the baby stayed the night

last night.  I had the monitor going at one point and when I went in the room and set my end down in front of the camera, I got this.

A monitor within a monitor within a monitor within a monitor within a monitor within a monitor.  It looked cool.

I can't remember how long I let the dogs chew on my hands as puppies, but I think it's time I quit letting Little E.

My hand was pretty tender later.  She needs a chew toy... and maybe a leash.

I wanted dessert after lunch.  We stopped and picked up a pizza earlier and Little Caesar's used to have a cinnamon thing but it's long gone.  Cinnamon Crazy Bites?  It was little bites of dough, covered with cinnamon, sugar, butter and icing.  We would always get that with our pizza.  A lot of times we'd have some left for the next morning.  Anyway, they decided to bring back the pretzel crust and did away with the cinnamon dessert.  That's a shame because it was SO good.  When we got home I thought I'd make a strawberry cake but I couldn't because my strawberries were starting to get moldy.  Back to the Pinterest board.  I bought canned biscuits not too long ago so I could make monkey bread or fry them.  I found a recipe for what was just like monkey bread but it was in an 8x8 pan and was called Cinnamon Roll Bites.  This actually sounded a lot like what Little Caesar's had.  We already had our pizza so Cinnamon Roll Bites were needed.

Wow.  I'll rephrase that, they were just what we needed.  It was the same concept as monkey bread, canned biscuits cut up and dipped in a cinnamon/sugar mix.  The main difference from how I've made monkey bread, other than this being about half the size, was that this recipe calls for brown sugar.  I added a little extra cinnamon and a little regular sugar as well.  The recipe calls for a 12oz can of biscuits but I had two 7.5oz cans.  That's what I used.  The glaze calls for milk but I went ahead and used cream.  Those things are definitely a good substitute for the Little Caesar's Cinnamon Whatevers, if not better.

Yum.

I feel like I ate so much.  I should probably lie down and rest before I have more.  I might start the new season of Stranger Things.  It came out today on Netflix.  It's already after 6:00 though.  I might just binge it this weekend.  My eyes are burning a little and my lids feel a heavy.  Yeah, I think I'll wait until Saturday.  I think I'll go tell my pillow how good the Cinnamon Roll Bites were.

I bought a couple of

packs of hot dogs over the weekend so I could make corn dogs.  I remembered a recipe I'd seen on Pinterest a few years ago for Corn Dog 7 corn dogs.  You know, the place that was/is in the mall?  I haven't seen one lately but I know they were around in the 80s.  I don't remember eating a lot of their corn dogs but I remember their lemonade always looked good.  So, today for lunch, I made corn dogs using THIS recipe.  Let me rephrase that.  I made corn puppies.

I cut them all in half so they'd fit in the Fry Daddy.

I messed up and instead of going with my original plan of halving the batter recipe, I accidentally added two eggs so a bunch of batter went into the garbage.  I made a change though.  Somewhere I read 6 cups of water and I only used 4.  I thought the consistency was good.

And, in went the first batch.

Is two even a batch when you consider that it's technically only one dog?
Note: if you ever want to set up a booth at the fair selling corn dogs, don't get a Fry Daddy.  It won't cut it.

The first batch came out and I decided to push it a little further.

Three.

I left it at three and eventually, they were all done.

We had lunch and that was that.  I'll use this recipe again.  Everyone was happy.

One thing to remember though.  If you're babysitting and the baby wakes up when you're almost done frying, make sure you empty that batter bowl and rinse off it and your whisk the first chance you get.  If you forget and wait several hours, that stuff dries up and has to be soaked.

I started my 30-day yoga challenge yesterday.  I also quit my 30-day yoga challenge yesterday.  I turned it off at about 20 minutes in.  I don't like yoga.  I found another video with specific stretches for back pain and did a few of those.

It's getting late.  I need to get stuff done and get to bed.

Namaste.

the other day I mentioned

chicken I had prepped in the crockpot.  First of all, let me say why I prepped chicken in the crockpot.  I discovered that if you cook it in there, you can stick your hand mixer in afterwards to shred it super simple.  Second, I needed shredded chicken for a Chicken Noodle Soup recipe I found HERE.  We liked it but I wouldn't really call it soup.  It was thick, which I really like, so it was more like Chicken Noodle.

It was chicken spaghetti that tasted like chicken noodle soup and I'd definitely make it again.

I do have another recipe to share/save but unlike most of my posts, I have a helper with this one.

 While she does have a lot to say, I think she needs a dry diaper more.

Saturday began with

me needing a restart button and something stronger than a Coke.  I don't even feel like going over it all but to sum it up in order of occurrence: a leak, a gate, a scrape, and a hospice call.  

We all went to visit Cosme's parents and Eric drove us in his truck.  The day ended with us, Eric, Paige, and the baby stopping at Texas Roadhouse.  After dinner, we dropped Paige and the baby off at their place while Eric drove us home.  This was my view down 288.

This was the view when we got home and I was outside with the dogs.

This was a few minutes later when the dogs came in.

Wait.  That's not our ball.  When Maggie started to come inside, I shut the door, only seeing something in her mouth and not realizing it was only a ball.  Once my brain registered round, yellow, ball and not blood, fur, critter, I let her in.  I did take the ball from her so that we would still have it the next morning.

Sunday was less eventful, thankfully.  I ran some errands, tried a chicken recipe in the crockpot, and started more chicken in another crockpot to prep for another meal.  I'll report back on that one when I finish putting it together, maybe tomorrow.  I was basically in meal prep boss mode, but only a few steps away from beast mode.  It finally hit me that if I get as much done on the weekend as I can, it'll be less of a rush during the week.  I know that's simple and obvious but when it comes to being busy during the week, it's hard to take the time for more work during down time.  Speaking of which, I really should start more french bread right now.  Anyway, I did try a new recipe on Friday and I just don't know.

It's THIS recipe from Pinterest for Chicken Bacon Ranch Sandwiches (Crack Chicken).

I had the ingredients and it sounded simple so I threw it together and three hours later, dinner was served.  I say I had the ingredients but I didn't have hoagie rolls so I figured we'd use burger buns. Once it was done and I tried a little, I didn't want it on a bun.  It needed crunch.  I sliced some french bread pretty thin and toasted it in the oven.  I think I should have made more bacon too.  I also might could have added the bacon to the chicken mix instead of sprinkling on top.  In the end, this was something that would make a good dip.

This is pretty much the week of the chicken.  By Friday, or possibly even this evening, I think we'll all be ready for a week of the cow.  Oh well, that's not what I bought.  I bought chicken and a lot of it.

I have to start the french bread.  If I sit in this chair one minute longer, I might just pass out.  I think I need caffeine.  STAT.

Eric and Paige brought me their

leftovers from an order of pretzel bites they picked up at the mall.  I've been wanting more ever since.  I started pinning recipes and doing some comparing.  They all seemed about the same but THIS ONE from FoodNetwork.com had a higher rating so I went with it.  Instead of making them on Monday, I waited until Little E was here.  You know, it's always best to try new recipes with yeast when you're tending to a baby.  Anyway, the recipe called for one packet of yeast.  They come in a strip of three so I cut one off and got busy.  I warmed the milk, poured it in a bowl and dumped the yeast in.  I waited and it never started activating like it normally does.  Did I get the milk too hot and kill it?  I don't know.  I poured it out.  I heated up more milk and dumped the second packet in.  I decided I'd take the last packet and heat milk up in the microwave and start it in another bowl.  The second bowl was looking a lot like the first so with the third, I dumped the brown sugar into the milk before the yeast.  The sugar feeds the yeast so maybe that would help it get started.  I stuck my finger in the milk to make sure it wasn't too hot and everything seemed fine.  If these didn't work, I was done and wasn't going to waste anymore yeast.  They all looked about the same.  I made the call to keep on and made dough of each bowl.  I'd give them their hour rise time and if there was no change, they'd go in the garbage.  If it worked, I'd end up with 12 pretzels instead of 6.  I waited and there it was.  Double the size.  Huh.  Okay.  It worked.  I started dividing and rolling and twisting and dunking and sprinkling.  That was a MESSY process.  Wow, was it messy.  I got the first tray done and stuck them in the oven.

Here goes nothing.

They were thicker than I wanted but I didn't have the space or time to keep rolling.

After a few minutes in the oven, it started smelling like the mall's pretzel joint in here.  I was getting so excited.  I pulled them out of the oven and instead of dipping them in butter, I just brushed it on.  At this point you're supposed to put them on a drying rack and let them cool.  Yeah, right.

I had to hurry and sample one and OH, WOW.  They did taste like the mall's pretzels.

I could have gone easier on the salt but oh well, I didn't.  Live and learn.  I also could have tried some dipping sauce but I didn't.  Oh, maybe a beer cheese?  Yum.  These were exactly what I was looking for.  Now.  If I needed a pretzel fix would I make them again?  Probably, if I had plenty of time and space and nothing else going on.  If it was like yesterday with several different things going on at once, I'd probably make a trip to the mall.  I'm just so happy that after going over recipes, the one I picked was the ONE.

I have to get up and quit drooling over these pics.  I wonder if they're just as tasty the next morning?

i got one more thing

scratched off my to-do list.  I've been wanting to take back the front room for myself.  It was my creative space to do whatever I wanted.  Sure, I shared it with the cats but that was fine.  It's been collecting stuff, like guitars and miscellaneous stuff.  This weekend I went in there and dusted and cleared out and reclaimed my space.  It was pretty nice.  I did one thing even more special.  I changed the light bulbs in the fan.  I couldn't reach it with my old ladder.

I won't say how long those bulbs have been out.  Anyway, it's back to being my space again.  I still have a couple of other things to do but it's no biggie.  Once I came to a stopping point though, I didn't know what to do.  I wanted to do something but I didn't know what.  I just sat there and listened to music instead, thinking about what I could do.  I spent Sunday thinking about what I could do.  Here we are on Monday morning and I still don't know what I want to do... but the space is there when I figure it out.  Let's hope I figure it out before the room needs dusting again.

I made breakfast yesterday.  I made bacon and eggs but instead of toast, I thought I'd try another small batch biscuit recipe I found.  I used THIS one from Pinterest.  I've come to a realization.  I can't make biscuits.  I followed the recipe, like I always do, and this is what I got.

My flattened dough disks actually had a good flavor this time.  Why can't I make biscuits?  That seems like one of the most basic southern things that people have been doing forever.  It's not like I'm trying to make a croissant, I'm not even trying anything with yeast.  I'm trying to make biscuits.  Like, who can't make biscuits?  Other than me.  I don't even LOVE biscuits but every once in a while I just want something different.  Whatever, I'll stick to frozen Grand biscuits.  Maybe one day soon, when I'm not feeling so deflated, I'll come across another biscuit recipe.  That's not today.  You know though, looking back at the recipe, my biscuits don't look much different from the original poster's.  Maybe I'm not as far off as I feel.

I think I'll go for a walk this morning.  Solo.  No dogs allowed.  Watch this also be the morning some random loose dog comes and attacks me because I didn't have backup with me.  I guess I could walk them one at a time but that means I'd have to start around 6:30.  I also wouldn't feed them breakfast first.

Okay, I'm going to start my morning chores and I have 30 minutes to decide if I want to take two 1 mile walks or stick to one shorter walk and get attacked by a random loose dog.  Neither sounds like fun.

i had a plan for the weekend

and that was to TCB.  It happened.  I didn't get to everything on my list but I'm fine because the big ones got done.

First off, we celebrated Eric's and Paige's birthday on Friday.  I don't have any pictures but Eric wanted a Key Lime Pie so I tried a new recipe I found on Pinterest.  I don't have any pictures but it's definitely a keeper.  I guess that's my excuse to make it again.  I need pictures.  I made a cheesecake for Paige, no new recipe there, just the one Dodo always made.  We went out to eat and then came home for dessert.

That kitchen faucet I ordered (and even paid for faster shipping) before Christmas that's been sitting here since around December 24th?  It's not sitting in a box anymore.

The old one came out easier than expected.  Not that it should have been difficult but, I know how things go around here.  There was very little foul language during the installation.  And the uneven holes in the granite that I was worried about?  We were able to adjust the deck plate a little to help.

Oh, there is a soap dispenser taking the place of the old sprayer and there is a bottle of Softsoap right there.  I forgot to pick up a refill jug at the store.

Guess what else was delivered and assembled?  The rocking chair.

The instructions started off a little demanding.  I must?  Really?

But look at me, they probably wanted me to open this packet at the ziploc end too.

Well they showed me.  I had to read the instructions... several times, and then I had to get Cosme to come in and read them too.  I finally got it done.

WARNING: I assembled this thing on my own. SIT AT YOUR OWN RISK.

And look.  That pillow matches the grey too.  I sprayed the chair with Scotch Guard and now it's ready.

Oh, and I did one more thing.  The new faucet inspired me to call someone to come look at the dishwasher.  They're coming today and it ISN'T Sears.  I hope it's not going to be another $400.  I was already burned once.  Anyway, I'm hoping it'll help out with me staying on the right track of cooking instead of picking up.  There's only one way to find out.

I checked off a few other things over the weekend but I'll share that tomorrow.  It wasn't anything big, just little things.  I didn't do laundry so that's what I'm working on now.

I made a new dessert

I found HERE on Pinterest.  It's Heath Bar Crunch Cookie Bars.  I have a few bags of Heath baking bits and I've really been wanting to use them.  I thought about oatmeal cookies with Heath bits but I HATE making cookies.  Cookies are such a commitment.  If you can avoid dedicating all that time, then why not?

I like these.  I wish I could taste more Heath but I guess if I wanted to taste more, I should be buying and eating a Heath bar instead of baking bits.  I will definitely make these again.  I also pinned another recipe for something similar but it called for oatmeal.  I'll probably try those soon.

In other news, 2019 is starting to look like the year I'm turning into Mom.  When did I slice my finger?  Two weeks ago?  Yesterday I slammed a different finger in the dryer door.  I also stubbed my big toe on my right foot... twice.  I have no problem picking up traits from Mom, but this is one I'd rather do without.

I'm going to get started on today's chores before the baby gets here.  I'm thinking I should get a jumpstart on childproofing the house for her... and Mom... and me.

i got so busy yesterday I

didn't stop to post.  At 7:00 yesterday morning, instead of eating breakfast and writing a post, I had already folded one load of laundry, started another, and was outside taking Christmas lights off the trees.  I didn't finish the lights because I needed the ladder and didn't feel like going to get it.  Speaking of ladders, the new one I got for Christmas is pretty cool.  It's a little heavy but it's cool.  The part I like most about it is that I adjusted it to 8' and climbed up to remove everything from the Christmas tree with no problem.  It wasn't shaky or anything.  It was nice.  Anyway, I'll  probably finish the outside lights tomorrow.  Instead of finishing yesterday, I came in to get cleaned up and run errands.  I went to Aldi, HEB, Tractor Supply, and Kroger.  I loaded up on groceries and guess what we had for dinner.  Really, guess.

Chicken Express.

I was going to make something but dang, I was tired.  It was a busy day.

I decided to try a new recipe.  It's Italian Ricotta Cookies and I found it on Pinterest.

I've seen them around on different sites but finally decided to try them.  They were different.  Cosme liked them.  I'm still on the fence.  I think it's just that they weren't what I was expecting.  I had a sweetie in mind and these weren't anything like sweeties.  These are soft, like cake cookies and aren't very sweet at all.  I didn't make all of them and still ran out of glaze.  Maybe I should've made the glaze more like icing, you know, like on sweeties.  I don't know.  I repeat, I'm still on the fence.  We'll see how they are today, now that they've had plenty of time to set up.

I'm going to try to TCB today.  I have things I want to get done around the house and I'm starting to feel my motivation kicking in.  There are a couple of things I'd really like to get done so we'll see.  Hopefully it'll end better than yesterday with me stopping to put it off for a couple of days.

Hopefully.

i just made my

pre-op appointment and it's the day before my surgery.  I also asked and I know I'll have to stay at the hospital for at least 24 hours.  So, it's all about to happen.  I know people, well, women have this done all the time and there are people having worse things happen but I am 46 years old and the only surgery I've ever had was having my wisdom teeth taken out.  I've never had stitches or casts or anything like that.  The only time I used crutches was when I fell in the backyard and twisted my ankle.  I'm about as inexperienced as they come.  I'm not complaining about that but it sure doesn't help.

I will complain about this though.  I wanted to get the refrigerator and freezer cleaned out yesterday.  I didn't get it done but did manage to finish the refrigerator this morning.  I just went to take the can out to the street and it looks like I just missed the garbage truck.  Now I've got a lot of old food, litter box, and dirty diapers all sitting out in the trashcan until Monday.  I might need to keep the garage door open.  Don't be jealous.

I've been on a chicken tender and chicken nugget kick lately.  I was being a little adventurous and dipped them in ranch dressing instead of ketchup.  I thought it would be nice to have some sweet and sour dipping sauce or even Chick-fil-a's Polynesian sauce so I looked up some copycat recipes on Pinterest.  I mixed it up and it was pretty close.

Yesterday I finally got around to trying it on nuggets.

No.  It's actually not close at all.  It wasn't bad but it wasn't Polynesian sauce.  I decided it'd be easier to buy a jar of sweet and sour sauce... or just go back to ketchup and ranch and save the sweet and sour for McDonalds and Chick-fil-a.

I've really got to TCB today.  I need to work on portraits and go pick up the book of the dead from the church that needs to be finished by Wednesday.  I also need to schedule in some time to worry about surgery stuff.

i tried a new recipe

and we loved it.  I wanted something sweet.  The other day I pulled up a recipe on Pinterest for a cinnamon cake or cinnamon roll cake or something.  I clicked on the link and planned to make it until I saw a recipe listed for this Honey Bun Cake.  I had to investigate.  I had all the ingredients and needed to try it.  It sounded too easy to pass up.  The base of it was a boxed yellow cake mix and it's made in a 9x13 pan.  I added a little bit more cinnamon to the brown sugar middle part and ended up having to double the icing.  I also cut the cooking time down by about 5 minutes because it was starting to smell a little too done.

The recipe said to let it cool but we didn't.  How could we go wrong with a hot honey bun?  That sounds impossible.

It was really good.  You can see how moist it is in the picture.  I poured a full glass of milk to go with it.  Good move.  I'll for sure make this again.  In just about 24 hours, it was half gone.  It won't last much longer.

I was scrolling through recipes on the blog and saw the one for Egg Roll Bowls from January 22.  I still can't eat egg rolls.  They were SO good I couldn't help myself from overdoing it and overdosing.  I just wonder when I'll be able to eat another egg roll.  Who knows...  I haven't had a pistachio in about 5 years.  After eating so many one Halloween and coincidentally waking up with a stomach bug the next day, being horribly sick is all I can think of when I see pistachios.  I can actually look at a bag of them now.  For a while, I couldn't even do that.  I couldn't even look at the word PISTACHIO without my mouth getting the vomit waters.

While I'm on the topic of food, I'm about to start a roast for tonight.  A cool front is coming through and I'm ready for it.  We'll have roast tonight and tomorrow I'll make red beans and rice.  I hope the cooler temps stick around because I'm in the mood for that and the slow-cooking food that comes with it.  I think I'm also ready to not have to go anywhere.  Doesn't everyone hunker down when the temps drop to the mid 60s?  No?  Oh well.  Imagine how bad I'd be if I lived up north... and by up north, I mean north of Houston.  Oh, I should probably bake some french bread to go with the beans and rice for tomorrow.  Now we're talking.  I've really missed fall.

I think I'll go put on some socks and something plaid or a hoodie and sit here and wait for the fall weather.  That sounds awesome.

i tried another new

recipe last night and I really had high hopes.  It was THIS ravioli I found on Pinterest.  We also finished off the chicken I made the other day.  That recipe also came from Pinterest and was HERE.

So this was the chicken that we thought needed a pasta to go with it after we only had zucchini with it the first time.  We decided this pasta was probably not the right match.  First of all, I didn't have any capers for the ravioli.  Second, Cosme doesn't care for artichoke unless it's with spinach and lots of cheese in a dip.  Third, I found out that I don't care for sun dried tomatoes.  Oh well.  I really, really wanted it to be a hit but it just wasn't.  It wasn't that it was bad, it was more of a "it's not you, it's me" thing.

Back in shower news, I spray painted a chair.  Somewhere, packed deep in the 11 years of this blog, there is a picture of a little red chair.  It was a chair I got from Dodo that she had in the shop for a little bit.  She said it was Dad's so I asked if I could have it when she was done with it.  I guess she had painted it pink for the shop because I'm sure Dad didn't have a pink chair.  Anyway, she gave it to me and I painted it with a white crackle paint.  When photography entered the game, I painted it red.  Now that there is a baby coming, I sanded it down, primed it, and painted it again.

I roughed it up a little.  And a side note, if you paint something with crackle paint, those remnants are pretty much around forever.  I sanded and sanded and sanded.  I ended up leaving some of it since I was going to distress it afterwards.  Here is a close up of a few spots where I roughed it up.

I think I'm done with it.  The more I look at it, the more I wonder if I should do more to it.  Anyway, that should match some of the other stuff they have going on in her room and if it doesn't, I'll keep it here and maybe paint it again.  Ohhh, or maybe paint designs or pictures on it.  Okay, now I'm just getting carried away.  Maybe I'll just keep it here.

Right now the dogs don't care what my plans with the chair are, they're just worried about their breakfast plans.  Before I go feed them, I have to tell a little story about something that happened yesterday.  First of all, I leave the tv on sometimes with the sound turned down.  Anyway, I was checking to see if a package had been delivered and Archer started barking one of his territorial barks.  I walked back to the living room and asked what it was, wondering if he saw someone trying to get in a back window or something.  He looked at the tv and back at me.  There was a cat on tv.  It was funny.  The commercial ended and he never got worked up again.  I'll give him breakfast now and keep him from getting worked up again.

i've been working on

things for the baby shower this weekend.  I started off searching for sugar free punch recipes, then I went with homemade sugar free lemonade and after Paige tasted it last night, I've decided to stick with the original punch recipe (even though I haven't sampled it) and also bring a jug of unsweetened tea.  Cosme originally thought the lemonade was pretty tart but Paige thought it was really sweet while I thought it was fine... considering it was sugar free lemonade.  I'll sample the new punch before serving it but I won't mix it until the day before.  Let's hope it ends well.  Other than figuring out the perfect sugar free lemonade, I've been spray painting and crafting.  One of the hostess gifts was also delivered.  Five minutes after it arrived, Strat claimed it.

Guess what also came in the mail.  Seriously, guess.

A Montgomery Ward catalog.  Montgomery Ward.

I didn't even know that was still a thing.  The Cowboys crock pot is pretty cool but they also have cordless phones, jam boxes, walkmans, Atari, and other high-tech things, in addition to housewares and stuff.  Who knew?  Not me.

I was at Walmart buying spray paint the other day and I saw this.

I thought it was cute.  I didn't buy it because I welcome the little sheets.  Maybe I should have bought it for Mom.

I tried a new recipe last night, Rustic Chicken with Garlic Gravy.  I didn't get a picture but I found it on Pinterest HERE.  I don't know if Eric and Paige enjoyed it (they came over for dinner) but Cosme and I liked it.  I didn't follow the recipe exactly but I went by it.  I ended up adding more butter, in addition to cream, to the sauce and I didn't cook the chicken in it but added it towards the end.  Oh, I also added mushrooms to the gravy.  I served it with rice and green beans and will have rice and gravy/sauce for lunch today.  I tried another new recipe last week and Paige came by on her way home from work to take extras home for their dinner.  I didn't get a picture of that one either but it was also chicken thighs and we all liked it.  Eric asked last night why I've been making so much chicken lately.  Easy.  It was on sale for 88 cents a pound.  And actually, I haven't only been making chicken lately, but it just happened to be what we had the two times he ate with us.  There's also the fact that Paige is on a restricted diet right now so when I have something that fits into it, I offer some to them.

I also picked up a few more baby items off the clearance rack.  I'm addicted to deals!  It could be worse.  Oh wait, there's Coke too.  And sweets.  Whatever.  You only live once.

i was so ready for

yesterday.  All week I'd been thinking about quiche and a big Sunday breakfast or brunch.  I found a quiche recipe HERE through Pinterest.  I was trying to follow it but I kind of went off on my own.  The recipe called for onion powder but I just went ahead and chopped up some onion and cooked it.  I also added chopped mushroom to the skillet, even though the recipe didn't call for any.  I don't know how much spinach I used but it was about three handfuls of fresh spinach.  I don't know how much bacon I used but it was more than six strips.  Now that I think about it, I probably used a whole package minus five strips.  I bought two regular pie crusts and should have bought deep dish.  I transferred one of the regular pie crusts to my pie plate and then tore the other one to pieces so the sides would extend up.  Once I had all the vegetables cooked, I realized it might would have worked in the regular pie crust.  I went ahead and layered the veggie mix, bacon and then cheese just like the recipe instructed.  Oh, I also added a little parmesan and have no idea how much cheddar I ended up putting in.  I was afraid that five eggs would be too much but ended up using six.  I doubted how it would taste after all my changes but when the timer went off and the quiche was served, we were happy.

I'll definitely follow that recipe again.  I ended up slicing the rest into servings so that I can see how well the leftovers freeze and taste reheated.  That's the bad thing about having a quiche.  The two of us can't eat a whole one so some always ends up in the garbage.  Oh well.  In addition to the quiche, I made blueberry muffins, potatoes o'brien, sausage, and we can't forget the drinks.  Instead of using orange juice with the champagne, I bought raspberry lemonade like I'd had at Paige's bridal shower.  Cosme didn't want any... until he tried mine.  After breakfast, it was a nice day of lounging and tv.  I love days like that.

Today is back to the usual routine.  I have errands to run in Lake Jackson and Archer is trying to tell me he's ready for breakfast, the bathroom, or both.

we said goodbye to

the best rug ever.

It wasn't a special rug, I'm sure any other Costco had something similar, but it was a good rug.  For being so light in color, it seemed to have stayed pretty close to its original color.  For all the shag, it seemed to have stayed pretty fluffy.  It was a good quality, heavy duty rug.  As for the upkeep, if the situation was too bad to come clean, I'd pull the scissors out and the rug just got a little trim.  Well, those days are gone.  Say hello to the new rug.

There's no fluff and it's printed, the total opposite of the last one.  I sure hope it works out well.  We like it so far.

I made ice cream for the first time yesterday and I think my second serving might have been too much.  There were some belly pains.  Mom told me which recipe to use and a few changes to make and that's what I was going to do until I realized that I had invited Eric and Paige over and I had read something somewhere about pregnant people and eggs cooked certain ways.  I decided to find another recipe without eggs.  I found one.  I was good to go.  I talked to Paige and she said they wouldn't be able to come.  No problem, I'd just make the ice cream with eggs now.  Wrong.  I didn't have all the ingredients for that.  I had one can of sweetened condensed milk and no evaporated milk.  I went ahead and stuck with the no egg version I found HERE.  I did make a couple of changes though.  I took Mom's advice on the other recipe and used half-and-half instead of milk.  Since all the other recipes had sweetened condensed milk and I did have that on hand, I added three tablespoons.  What could it hurt?  Well, I found out it didn't hurt anything and I probably could have added more.  That stuff was pretty good.  We had some as soon as it was done and then a little more later on.  I wasn't worried about the recipe flopping because this only made a small batch, just enough for a few people.  I think I'll try it again another weekend.  It goes really well with these 100 degree temps.

I need to put my sheets in the dryer now... and maybe sample the ice cream to see if it's as good the next day.

i don't always make soup

but when I do, it's in the middle of June and 100 degrees outside.  I was actually going to make a different soup with tortellini and spinach, along with sandwiches.  We had the sandwiches over the weekend and thought they'd be good with tomato basil soup.  We did that instead.  I found the recipe HERE and halved it by only using a 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes.  I also didn't have enough fresh basil and used half fresh and half dried.  I'll definitely make it again.

The sandwiches were awesome with it.  I used sourdough, a little mayo, ham, salami, pepperoni, and havarti cheese.  I put them in the skillet with a little butter and they're good alone OR dipped in tomato basil soup.

Speaking of food, I think I need to change out the Kibbles n Bits for a while.  The dogs have been eating a lot of grass and I think they might need something a little different.  I'll make a trip to Kroger this morning to get a bag… SINCE JURY DUTY WAS CANCELLED!  I looked up the city's website last night to see if I could get more info on what municipal court's all about.  I just happened to see where they listed a phone number instructing potential jurors to call the night before to confirm.  I called.  Everything has been resolved.  That's awesome.  That also means the exterminator can come as scheduled.

Another awesome thing happened this morning.  Cosme turned on the tv really early.  There was a Roger Federer match scheduled (obviously in Europe or something) and all I remember hearing was "rain delay".  The tv turned off and there was no tennis this morning.  I think I might've gone back to sleep with a smile.

Back to the dogs.  You know, they've already been out for the bathroom and I was about to give them breakfast but I think I might run go get a new bag of food instead of starting them off with the Kibbles n Bits I already have.  Oh well, I guess it's off to Kroger at 7:00.  I should probably get dressed first.

for years now

everything has turned into a wipe for convenience.  Don't want to grab a paper towel and Windex?  Just get the Windex wipes.  Don't want to get a rag and Clorox to disinfect something?  Grab a Clorox wipe.  Running errands and want to clean your hands?  Stop and use the Wet Ones wipes.  Finished the toilet paper step in the bathroom?  Grab a butt wipe.  My point is, there is a wipe for everything now when the solution was basically a rag and soap/water way back.  Since a baby will be here in a few months, I've been checking out clearance racks because I love a good deal.  I even picked up some baby wipes that were on sale for less than $1. While I was picking up a few onesies that were marked down to $1, I found something else.

Reusable wipes.  Wouldn't that just be a washcloth or rag?  While the reusable wipes were also marked down, I passed and figured that if I needed a reusable wipe, I'd either use a disposable wipe… or a washcloth.  Whatever.

I tried a Pinterest recipe yesterday.  It was THIS one for Garlic Butter Steak Bites.

We had it with mashed potatoes and a salad and liked it.

The dog situation is still not good around here, even though the cop called to let me know he dropped my ticket.  They got out Wednesday before last (when I got my ticket), then Maggie got out last Wednesday, and they both got out on Saturday.  We are going to have to wire our entire fence.  I drove around behind the fence on Saturday and there they were, just hanging out in a culvert at the drainage easement under 288.  Maggie came and got in the car, dirty and wet, while Archer panicked and ran back to the fence.  I was FURIOUS.  So until we can get the welded wire hung inside the entire fence, the dogs are basically in prison.  They have supervised breaks for meals, bathroom, and recess.  It's a lot.  The fence isn't that hard to do but the heat is kind of brutal and there's also poison ivy in places.  It's really not an ideal situation.  In the meantime though, I'm realizing why people make a big deal about sitting on their porches and having coffee in the mornings.  During the morning chow time, I sit there with my iPad while they eat.  I like it.

Once they're done eating though, times up.  Food is about the only thing keeping them preoccupied with no interest in climbing onto my chair or licking me.

Can you tell we don't have Trugreen treat the back?  The yard was just mowed on Thursday or Friday and look at the crab grass.  Oh well, I can't worry about that right now.  I actually might try to get out there this morning to hang some wire.  It depends though.  I think 7:00 is too early to be out there hammering so I always try to hold off on noisy stuff until 8:00.  We'll see how bad the temps are then.

I think for now though I'll go take some Zyrtec.  Let's start this day off right.