Show & Tell and Father's Day

Its that time again! Its Show & Tell Friday over at Kelli's. Run on over to see more great Show & Tell's and to add your own.

My Show & Tell for today is the pride of my garden. :-) Its my first Calla Lily to bloom from my 2 Calla plants. Isn't she a beauty?

Sunday is Father's Day. :-) I made this onesie for CJ to wear from a onesie he already had and some blue fabric paint. It was so fun and easy! I can't wait to make more.

Our plans for the weekend include seeing my dad today since he has to work on Sunday. Saturday I have a special dinner planned for my DH of Boiled Shrimp with Cocktail Sauce, Shrimp Scampi, Rice (can't remember what kind I got), Garlic Cheese Biscuits and Cheesecake. Sunday CJ will go with his daddy to have lunch with his family while I stay home for some quiet mommy time. :-) And then we'll have dinner with my family. The picture below is the candy bouquet I made for my dad for Father's Day. My sister and I are making a big one for my step-dad. I hope everyone has a great weekend and a Happy Father's Day!

More to Come,

MrsB

House to Home Makeover continues

If you may recall, I talked about on the old blog about doing a "House to Home Makeover" decluttering and making my house more homey. Well Sunday my DH was home and he helped me rearrange our living room and declutter it. I think it looks SO much better!! You can see the before pictures here and here.

This is the bar that separates the kitchen and living room. There was a microwave sitting against the wall. We rarely use it though. So I moved it to under the sink. If we can go a couple of weeks without missing it then I'll be removing it from the house permently.

This is the section in front of the tv. The basket holds a few diapers and diaper rash cream, the wipes are slid under the couch. I keep some in the living room so I don't have to go to the nursery every time I need to change CJ. The basket off the right side of the picture is CJ's toys.

These are my Willow Tree Angels and a candle my momma gave me. The first Willow Tree is a woman holding a baby that I got for Mother's Day. The second is an angel holding a seashell up to her ear that my best friend gave me while I was pregnant and really sick in the hospital. The last is a pregnant woman. I love Willow Tree Angels.

This is the top of our stereo. The flower arrangement is one I made for our reception.

This is my basket that I keep next to the recliner. It holds my crochet and the books I'm reading.

Finally this is the top of our fridge.

More to come,

MrsB

Works for me Wednesday

It's that time again! Time for WFMW! Hop on over to Rocks in my Dryer for more great tips!!

My tip for today is for getting up all that dust and hair that collects on the floor in the bathroom and then is a pain to sweep up. Sunday my DH helped me do some spring cleaning so when it came time to do the bathroom I dreaded sweeping the floor b/c a ton of dust had collected under the rolley cart I use to keep our toilteries on *blush* plus I have kinda long, really thick hair that sheds worse than a dog. LOL Before I swept with the broom I took a dry sponge mop and went over the floor. All of the dust and hair collected onto the mop and was a snap to clean off and then I was able to sweep up with no problems!

More to come,
MrsB

No Bake Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

These cookies are soooo yummy!! I got the recipe off of a message board I visit.

2 cup sugar

1/2c milk

1/2c cocoa

one stick of butter

1/2c Peanut butter

1 tsp vanilla

3 cups of oats

Put the first four ingredients in a pot, bring to a boil add the pb and vanilla, let boil one minute. Remove from the heat and stir in the oats. Spoon onto a cookie sheet adn let cool (or eat hot out of bowl if you are impatient like me ) I know that you can make them without PB but would have to tweak it. I usually use less sugar ( 1 cup or so) and sub some of the butter for coconut oil but not all or it is too overpowering. I have tried all sorts of different ratios just to find what I like and to try and reduce the sugar. You can also sub some butter for extra PB if you want. If you like them soft just leave them out or put them in the fridge to make them a bit harder! I like that I can get all of the ingredients oganic and they are so fast to make so if I have a sweet craving I don't have to give in to the temptation of peanut M&M's

*MrsB's Notes: I added a dash of cinnamon and spread it out in a pan to make bar cookies instead of dropping them on the pan.

This is a bouquet of day lillies and a pretty purple flower that my sister and I picked up off the side of the road. :-) Aren't they pretty?

More to come,

MrsB

Show & Tell

Its Show & Tell Friday over at There's no place like home.

This is my Show & Tell for today. Its probably one of my favorite pictures of CJ. :-) My mom took this picture of CJ's feet in my hands when he was only a couple weeks old. Isn't it adorable? Its amazing to see the difference in the size of his feet already!

More to come,

MrsB

Keeping a House Cool without A/C

As the temps rise to 90+ I've been searching for ways to keep our house cool without using the A/C as much. Right now I have the thermometer set to 77* and a box fan set to low in the living room to keep the air circulating. So far its been keeping the house pretty cool. Here are some of the tips I found on a message board today.

1. If you cook, bake and can in the house rather than in an outdoor summer kitchen or campfire, do it in the evening so the house will have all night to cool off. But minimize cooking by serving salads, raw fruit, cool herb teas, and grilled or quickly heated foods.

2. Get cool air indoors. After the sun goes down and the outside air becomes cool, open all your windows and get as much of that good cool air inside as possible. Using fans, especially an attic fan, will help accomplish that quickly. (A fan doesn't need as much energy as does air conditioning, and it doesn't use chemical refrigerants!) In the morning, close all your windows to keep in the wonderful cool night air you collected.

3. Ceiling fans are inexpensive to operate and can help keep rooms cooler.

4. Hang heavy insulating blankets in all south- and west-facing windows, at least while the sun is shining on them. The more you can prevent summer sun from directly shining into your house's rooms, the cooler they will be.

5. A cool shower before the afternoon nap or bedtime helps keep both grown-ups and children cool.

6. Drink lots of pure water or water with a little fruit juice added.

7. Arrange your work schedule as they do in hot desert countries: Take a siesta or stay inside quietly in your coolest rrom during the hottest afternoon hours. Make up for it by working in the evening, when the temperatures are comfortable, doing what in winter you would have done in the afternoon. Plan to do hard mental jobs in the morning and expect to have brain meltdown during the hot hours, compensated for by that nap or undermanding time. It's a simple shysiological fact that we don't think and function as well under extreme heat.

Also there's an awesome post about getting your house in order over at Homemaker in Training.

Menus and Show & Tell

My Show & Tell for today is a dresser that we re-did for CJ's nursery.

Here's before:

And here's after:

Visit Kelli @ There's no place like home for more great show & tells.

Menu 5/21-5/29
Monday 5/21 Swiss Steak
Tues. 5/22 Maple-glazed Chicken & Skinny Mashed Potatoes
Wed. 5/23 birthday party
Thurs. 5/24 Beef & Broccoli
Fri. 5/25 Pizza
Sat. 5/26 BBQ Chicken from freezer & Mac and cheese
Sun. 5/27 Cheeseburgers on the grill, fries, & baked beans
Mon. 5/28 Crockpot pizza & salad
Tues 5/29 Oven-fried Chicken, Au gratin potatoes, salad

Menu Plan 5/30-6/10
Wed. 5/30 Baked Tilapia, Stewed potatoes
Thurs 5/31 Tacos
Fri. 6/1 Pork Loin, BBQ potatoes, cornbread
Sat. 6/2 Leftover night
Sun 6/3 birthday party
Mon 6/4 Maple-glazed Chicken, candied yams
Tues 6/5 Baked Potatoes, Salad
Wed 6/6 Pork Chops in cream gravy, ??
Thurs 6/7 Sloppy joes, fries or chips
Fri 6/8 Breakfast
Sat 6/9 Grilled Shrimp, Corn, Salad **Plan to cook hamburgers on the grill for later meals since the grill will be going anyway**
Sun 6/10 Hamburger steak, mashed potatoes, biscuits

Maple-glazed Chicken
1/4 cup maple syrup
4 tsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp butter
salt & pepper to taste
4 pieces chicken
Preheat oven to 450*. Mix maple syrup, lemon juice and butter together in small saucepan. Simmer for 5 minutes. Spray a baking dish and place chicken in it. Salt & pepper the chicken. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and pour on glaze. Bake until done.
Source: Not Just Beans cookbook

Skinny Mashed Potatoes
5 large potatoes, cut into 1" pieces
3 1/2 cups chicken broth, divided
1/2 tsp pepper
Boil potatoes in 2 1/4 cup of broths. Cover, cook until done. Drain, but reserve broth. Mash potatoes with 1 1/4 cups of broth and pepper until desired consistency is reached. Add more broth if needed.
**These were ok, but not as good as regular mashed potatoes with butter and milk. They'd work in a pinch or if someone is watching their weight though**

Beef & Broccoli

Crockpot Pizza

You take a 28oz can of pizza sauce (I used pasta sauce) add to it ground beef or sausage, onion and green pepper. Put a little bit in the bottom of your crockpot. Then add a 12oz bag of egg noddles and then the rest of the sauce. Top with shredded mozzarella and cheddar cheese. Cook on low or 3 or 4 hours. yummy!!!!

Oven fried chicken
equal parts of bread crumbs and flour
seasoning (optional) I used Cajun seasoning
Chicken breasts
Oil *you need enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan and fry the chicken in, but don't cover the chicken completely, I think I used about 1 cup.
Put oil in an oven safe pan and heat in oven. Mix flour, bread crumbs, and seasoning. Coat chicken. Take oil out of oven and add chicken. Cook until done. Don't flip the chicken or the coating will stick to the pan. If when the chicken is done there is still raw flour on top spoon a tiny bit of oil from the pan on to the chicken.
**My mom told me about this new way she read about to fry chicken in the oven and it is SOOO delicious! The breading was so crispy and the chicken was so tender and juicy!**