Five on Friday:Spring Joyfulness

Happy Friday to you my Friends! 

I'm sorry the busy day got away from me yesterday and I didn't get to share my usual recipe post. I'll be better about that next week! But I did want to join in with my five for this week. I have been enjoying our unusually warm and lovely Spring days here lately. We have been seeing temps and the melting of snow like we usually don't see until late April or into May! I've been loving it and soaking up as many warm rays as I'm able. It has made getting out my bunnies and Easter decorations extra joyful!! So I'd like to share the "Springy" things from around my home.

ONE

In the living room some fun springy bunnies, flowers,sheep and birds have been adorning the mantle. As well as a pretty new tulip runner on the coffee table.  And I just want to point out this bonus decoration that recently showed up:

That's right - I went shopping at a new favorite store! Amy's Love Made My Home store on Etsy. ;) I LOVE my new hoop Easter egg decoration so much! And then she's such a sweetheart she even threw in a sweet pin she made that I can't wait to use on my Spring coat. Thanks again Amy - love it all!! Go check out her sweet shop if you haven't yet!

Doesn't my Easter egg decoration look so sweet on the mantle next to my favorite cute bunnies?

TWO

In the dining room, my little book case and hutch are getting filled with all kinds of sweet eggs and bunnies that have been showing up.

THREE

Even in the tv room sweet little bunnies popped up among the pottery!

FOUR

And in the kitchen - nice Springy fresh flowers and more bunnies and eggs of course!

FIVE

And in the back foyer as you come into our home - sweet hummingbird artwork, more flowers and a bunny mommy with her baby. ;) 

I'm joining Amy from Love Made My Home for Five on Friday.

Wednesday Wonder

THE SNOW IS MELTING FAST...

And Felix the Frog has come out from under his snowy blanket to say hello and Happy Wednesday! 

Happy Homemaker Monday

Hello to All! Hope you had a wonderful weekend. 

We had a very fun one around here! On Saturday I had a girls night out with a girlfriend and we went to see the new Tina Fey movie Whiskey Tango Foxtrot. We both thought it was really good. It's based on a true story - and I expected it to be more comedic...but it was really more dramatic and interesting, plus some funny stuff too. Then yesterday was our game night with family over and it was such a blast!! Great laughs, wonderful conversation and yummy food. Plus, it was so gorgeous and warm outside and looks to be rather Spring-like for our week ahead too. I couldn't ask for more than that! Lol

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:

Around 40* and sun peeking in a out. A bit breezy though. Supposed to be 50's tomorrow but rain - and maybe even our first thunderstorm of the season - in early March!! Crazy for us. Looks like 40's and 50's all week (and normal high this time of year here is about 30 if we're lucky).  All of our snow will probably melt by the end of this week. Loving it!

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING:

One slice of banana chocolate & butterscotch chip bread and 1/2 cup of toasted coconut mocha coffee. Yum!!

  AS I LOOK OUTSIDE MY WINDOW:

Cloudy now and trees are waving around a lot due to it being so breezy.  Lots of puddles in the driveway. Lots of melting done yesterday when it was in the 50's!

RIGHT NOW I AM:

Listening to Celtic music and planning out my menu and week ahead. Lots going on and I need to get my energy level in high gear! Lol

AS I LOOK AROUND THE HOUSE:

Nice and clean due to clean up for game night.  

ON TODAY'S TO DO LIST:

Need to throw in more laundry and do my workout. Have the kiddos' haircut appointments tonight. I have other appointments nights this week too, plus groceries & errands, caregiving, and more hockey tourney's ahead. Busy busy busy! 

CURRENTLY READING:

Still reading Nora Roberts book Unfinished Business.

ON THE TV TODAY:

I watched the final Downtown - and in case you haven't seen it I won't give anything away. I'll just say it was SO good and I just bawled knowing it was really all done. I'm still grieving today, as I just really don't want it to be over!! I watched The Good Wife too which is also so good. I have Grey's Anatomy to catch up on and Amazing Race.

 

ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:

MONDAY: leftover brown sugar chili & sandwiches from game night

TUESDAY: tortellini soup my Uncle had canned and brought us that I will share recipe later in week

WEDNESDAY: broccoli, cheese and bacon egg bake and strawberry muffins and fruit

THURSDAY: spaghetti hot dish, rolls and salad

FRIDAY: not sure yet due to hockey stuff

WHAT I AM CREATING AT THE MOMENT:

Scrapbooking project that will be a gift for a cousin of mine in the future. Also recipe card project for a friend...and along with that trying to finish up Annie's cookbook scrapbook and organize my recipes better at the same time! 

NEW RECIPE I WANT TO TRY THIS WEEK:

I still didn't make the wet walnuts for ice cream I planned to last week, and think I may give them a try this week.

TIP OF THE WEEK:

If you don't do a family game night - even once in a while - I suggest that you do! Such a fun way to share time together. 

FROM THE CAMERA:

New fireplace and hot crock pot of chili all set for game night!

 Bunnies and flowers and Eastery decorations showing up all around here now. ;) 

PRAYER, INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE OR DEVOTIONAL:

I'm linking with Sandra of Diary of a SAHM for Happy Homemaker Monday.

Five on Friday: Fun Things

Hello My Friends! Happy Friday to You! 

I thought for my five things this week - I would share some fun random bits from my past week. 

ONE

I'm the Box Tops lady at my daughter's school. If you don't know what they are - they're basically little proof of purchase kind of symbols on packages of food and other products. The students cut them out and send them into school and each one is worth 10 cents. With over 400 kiddos at my daughter's school it adds up to lots of tops! I process the tops and mail them in to the Box Tops for Education company. I run contests throughout the year with prizes. I just ran a Spring contest where the top class won an ice cream party. And 2nd place class (which happened to be my daughter's class - yay!) won goodie bags. So I put them all together and decorated them with stickers. They were filled with things like glitter glue, balloons, putty and snacks and treats. Ruby supervised my work. ;) We've raised almost $1,000.00 for our school PTA this year just in box tops. Pretty cool, huh?

TWO

I continue to caregive for my MIL during the week, but less than I was before.  I've really enjoyed the less stressful load and it continues to go well. I also continue to cook meals for my in-law's at least 2 times a week. I love to cook and bake and I'm so happy to help them in this way. This night was meatloaf dinner (a hubby & FIL fave) with cheesy potatoes and green beans with toasted almonds. They had the caramel pecan bars for dessert.

THREE

We finally got our new fireplace insert. Our old gas fireplace didn't work, so we had the lines replaced and a whole new insert put in, but to make it work it needed to fit snug into the opening and cover the jagged edges from the marble - which would have had a gap too. So it's a different look being tall to cover the opening, and we don't like that the back drop is black when the screen is bronze and our lighting above is bronze. So my hubby is going to paint it all bronze to match. However, I do LOVE that I now have a fire - with a cozy blower - at the touch of button. 

FOUR

I'm extra happy I grabbed those pretty flowers recently, as today we're getting inches of snow again! At least my flowers make me smile before I see the snowflakes outside.

FIVE

smart chicks

3-D printer in action

Steam Punk team was our favorite

My little Gear Head

We also loved the all girls team (The Robettes)

My daughter had been asked at school to be part of a robot team working on code and cool things like that (it's only 2 boys and 2 girls working on 1 robot each). There was a robotics competition in our area and the teacher mentoring my daughter's robotics group asked me to chaperone on a field trip to take them to watch the competition. It was so cool and I was so impressed with the knowledge and maturity of these high school teams we watched perform in the competition. The teams also had booths where you could walk around and ask them questions, see how things worked and they would hand out things like buttons, bracelets, stickers and tattoos with their team names. The kids even got to see 3-D printers in action! It was really cool. And I love that my daughter loves science and math and is already interested in engineering. 

Here's a video of a 3-D printer in action. They would use it to make gears or other parts they needed - as well as mock up prototypes for things. 

 

 I'm linking with Amy of Love Made My Home for Five on Friday.

Caramel Pecan Bars

Hello Folks! 

I know I'm late to posting today - but I didn't make these bars until late in the day.  I still wanted to share them with you because not only are they absolutely divine, but they're also so easy!!  

I actually usually make these bars with cashews, and have always referred to them as caramel cashew bars. However, the original recipe called for pecans...and since I forgot the cashews at the store - pecans it is!

What's so nice and easy about these bars is that you take a few shortcuts with store bought cookie dough and caramel ice cream topping - which saves lots of time! Always good for a week night rush.

Just take a log of store bought cookie dough and cut it into slices. Then lay the slices in a 9x13 pan and press together with floured fingers to make a crust. Bake for about 10 minutes.

While it's baking take 3/4 cup of the caramel sauce and add 2 Tbsp of flour and stir until well mixed. This makes a wonderful thick caramel for the bars!

Then take a cup of pecans (really any nut of your choice - as I said we love cashews with caramel) and a cup of chocolate chips (everything is better with chocolate) and a cup of shredded coconut and sprinkle on top of the warm crust. 

Isn't coconut so fluffy and pretty?  It reminds me of snow. Which, as you know, I'm tired of thinking about. So...

So let's instead think of caramel. 

Ooey gooey caramel rivers all over the top of your chocolate, nuts and coconut.  Then put back in the oven for about 20 minutes until the cookie is fully cooked, the coconut and nuts are toasted, the chocolate is melty and the caramel is bubbling. Oh yum!!

Then after the bars set about an hour or so, cut yourself and big piece with a really cold glass of milk and enjoy an extra special blissful treat! Perfect for a holiday - like say Easter coming up. Or anytime you want a really yummy easy treat.  Here's the cookbook where I found this wonderful recipe and the recipe itself:

It's such a fun book because it has recipe and treats for all the seasons/holidays through the year.

I'm sharing this with Sherry at The Charm of Home for Home Sweet Home.

And with Andrea at Scrapality for Scraptastic Saturday.

Wednesday Wonder

SPRING PICK-ME-UP BOUQUET