Wednesday Wonder

SUNSHINE AND BLOOMS

More leaves coming out on the trees and got my first 2 baskets of flowers for this season. Feeling a little more like summer around here.

Treasured Family Albums

The other day my father-in-law gave me the scrapbooks that my mother-in-law had made, in the past, for safe keeping. He knows how much they mean to me and for the sake of the grand kids to have in the future - he knows I will preserve them for all the kiddos.

It brought me to tears looking at them as it brought back many memories of all the years my MIL and I scrap booked together and how much we enjoyed that time. These albums are so precious as they contain her voice in many ways. Alzheimer's is such an awful thing in that you can still see the "image and sound" of the person you know, but they're not the true person they were anymore.  These albums contain her journaling of the memories of family, and so in many ways the true "voice" of the woman I knew back when...

One of the albums had this layout - which I think is one of my favorites. My MIL came up with the idea to write down a lot of fun stories about first dating my FIL and putting them on the page like fabric pieces on this quilt fabric looking card stock paper. She then titled it: "Pieces of My Memory Quilt" which is so perfect. She did these pages years before she knew she was to have Alzheimer's and memory issues.

This story especially cracked me up of my MIL dating my FIL and he was a smooth operator and offered her a choice between his "collection" of rings. But she would have none of it and saw one he was wearing and said she wanted THAT one. Lol

In all my MIL through her capable years made: 

*a heritage album with all the history of both sides of the family (hers and my FIL's), 

*several family albums through the years (starting from the infancy of my MIL & FIL and running all through their boys' weddings and grandkids being born etc), 

*and she made a special album for each of her boys (my hubby & his Bro) that covers from their birth through to graduation. 

These are such treasured albums not only for the parts of her true spirit in them, but also for the history preserved there that we wouldn't really know if she hadn't written it all down as they have a small family and not many relatives living that have the family information anymore.  

So I thank God for the blessing of that day almost 14 years ago when I said to my MIL "I think I'm going to go to these scrapbooking classes and look into this as a hobby, do you want to join me?" And she said yes...

Happy Homemaker Monday

Here we are back at Monday already! It was a nice girlie weekend around here as my Boys had a hockey tourney out-of-town, but Annie had a lot of activities going on this weekend, so the Gals hung back at home. It's always nice to get some extra bonding time - and I think the Boys like their guy time too. I know my teenager enjoys his sister free weekend. Lol 

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:

It was a yucky, and for the most part rainy, weekend. Today is not looking much better - gray and cloudy and chance of showers again and only in the 40's. The rest of the week looks much more promising - close to 60's &sun!! We can hope this is true!!

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING:

My MIL and I decided to have a treat on this cold rainy Monday and had McDonald's breakfast sandwich and their yummy coffee.

  AS I LOOK OUTSIDE MY WINDOW:

It makes me sleepy with all the gray we've had lately. I'm ready for some steady sunshine hopefully we'll get some this week! I see a big group of blue jays. They've been hanging around on our hill everyday for a week now. They're such a vivid blue - especially against some of our really foggy mornings. 

RIGHT NOW I AM:

Figuring out my grocery list, sipping coffee, petting my Ruby & chatting with my MIL.

AS I LOOK AROUND THE HOUSE:

Need to give my houseplants a drink. I need to do a few dishes, especially after I get some banana bread in the oven this AM.  I was working on getting some of the ingredients out so they're still waiting for me on the counter. Everything else still pretty tidy from the weekend.  

ON TODAY'S TO DO LIST:

Grocery run - even among the raindrops if necessary. I'm desperately low on some staples (like milk) and it's just kind of nice sticking to the weekly routine with my MIL.  And since my bananas are going bad I think I'll make some banana bread in my mini loaf pan and make several loaves to share with my Mom,  and in-laws & some neighbors. 

CURRENTLY READING:

I keep skipping all over the place! I've been reading a few cookbooks lately and I have a bunch of new magazines from all my subscriptions coming recently in the mail. I am always reading either magazines or our local newspaper each day... so I guess that's something even if it's not a book. Lol! 

ON THE TV TODAY:

I have lots of shows to catch up on: Amazing Race, Outlander, cooking shows, and old movie....I'm starting to realize I like t.v. way too much! Lol It's a good thing summer is coming as I watch a lot less then!!

ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:

Well I think we're due for one of our regular staples, which is tacos, for one night's menu. Not sure yet what I want to do for other nights, but keeping it simple as i have a busy week. I have a Martha & Mary party to go to at a friend's house (new to me what they sell but looks like nice useful home items with spiritual inspiration to them). Then another night I have wallyball (keeping up that exercise!), and another night I have a PTA dinner to attend. Plus my crew has hockey practice several times so our nights are pretty filled up!! 

WHAT I AM CREATING AT THE MOMENT:

My garden table came - yay!! I can't wait to get it put together when the weather finally cooperates. I was at a greenhouse this past weekend with Annie & my Mom and I picked out some veggie plants and got a couple of my hanging baskets.  I'm looking so forward to planting lots of pots in the near future too. Bring on my summer fun - working in the D*I*R*T!!

NEW RECIPE I WANT TO TRY THIS WEEK:

Nothing new this week, however I have a really yummy snack mix recipe that we love that I may be making and will share recipe later this week if I do.

TIP OF THE WEEK:

It's along the lines of what I brought up last week about using the leftover unmatched sock for dusting. Another thing I love to do is take my hubby's or son's old worn out t-shirts and cut them up as rags for cleaning. They work so well for anything from dusting, to scrubbing up counters in the bathroom! That cotton kind of material is nice and soft so it doesn't scratch surfaces either. Then I throw the cut up rags (if they're not too soiled) in hot water to get some of the cleaner and grime off then throw the in the washing machine and wash in hot cycle. I use them again & again. It's a great way to recycle and get more use out of an old shirt.

MY PHOTO THIS WEEK & INSPIRATION ARE THE SAME:

Ruby's words of wisdom: Happiness is a brand new frisbee in a field of dandelions.  Give it a try!

Happy week ahead! I'm linking with Sandra from Diary of a SAHM for happy homemaker monday.

Scraptastic Saturday:French Inspired Summer Decoration

Happy weekend!!

I took down my Spring decorations the other day and I decided to change out this Spring decoration with a new Summer inspired one. 

I used the same frame, though, as I like how the mirrored shine sets off decorations so nicely. I took some card stock and used some vintage French looking stickers that I had for embellishment.

I love the old French postmark, along with the French flowers & butterfly. Then I added some crochet tags I had along with a summer green ribbon on the bottom.

I decided to put it on my front entrance table, where guests come in that use the more formal front door.

This is what it used to look like in my front foyer. I had an old rug that had been there quite a while. I thought it was time for a change and got a new one that I like better.

As you can see it's more colorful and extends the whole length of the foyer, which I like better too.

Here's a view from our living room looking at the whole front foyer and front door.

And a view from walking in the front door. A nice tiny makeover that I think looks much better and welcomes Summer beautifully! 

I'm linking with Andrea from Scrapality for Scraptastic Saturday.  You can also click on the link in the column to the right.

Five on Friday: Summer Flowers

I know I'm late for Five on Friday, but I figured I still join in anyway.  I wanted to share some pretty flower moments from some of my flowers last summer. It's fun to look at them and dream on my flowers for this summer!

I always have 2 big hanging baskets on the deck in the back of the house. Last year I went for these bright multi-colored petunias.

Annie & I always like to have some fairy planters around too! This one was in the front of my house, but Annie always has a few in her fairy garden too.

Last year I found this weathered cathedral looking window pane holder and filled it with Martha Washington petunias. They started out on my kitchen counter, but eventually went outside where they could get more sunshine. Love the rustic look with the pretty flowers.

I have 2 big pots like this that flank each side of the main door we use to get in & out of our house (not our front door) and it would take so much dirt to fill them so I use a little trick to make them look nice & full in an easier way. I take 2 big hanging baskets (petunias again here, but in purple) and I cut off the hangers and set them onto the rim of the pot. All done - easy peasy!

These are flowers I planted at my Mom's place last summer. Planting flowers has never been her "thing" as much as mine, but she loves looking at them and tending them. So I helped her pick out some flowers and planted them for her. She had an old book case & we thought it would be cute up against her garage filled with pots of flowers and her garden items. She also has the cutest wicker hanging basket on her garage window and I filled that with vines and different flowers and it just grew and draped more and more all summer. So pretty and she just loved it! 

Besides all the petunias you saw at my house I also like to plant begonias and impatiens in the front of my house that's more sheltered and shady. I also usually plant some geraniums and pansies in Annie's sunny garden. I like to have a fuschia basket in my wishing well too.  I'm getting excited for what I'll find and plant this year!! Happy weekend to All!

I'm linking with Amy at Love Made My Home for five on friday.  Sending you my thoughts and hugs and prayers too Amy!! 

Cream of Chicken Soup

Well this week has not been very Spring-like, so comfort food seems to be more appreciated on the menu.  So today I thought I'd share the cream of chicken soup I made the other day. It was so creamy and comforting! If you're having some chilly weather I'd say this soup hits the spot.

First of all chop 1&1/2 cups carrots, 1 cup celery and 1/2 cup onion and cook in 1/2 cup butter for about 15 minutes until veggies are soft.  Then sprinkle in 1/2 cup plus 1 Tbsp flour and cook & stir veggies with flour another 2 minutes. Then add 7 cups chicken broth. I actually halved this recipe as I didn't have that much chicken broth/stock on hand and it still turned out perfect. Bring the broth to boiling stirring constantly.  

Then stir in 3 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley, 1/2 tsp dried thyme (crushed) and 1 bay leaf.  It will look like this pic above. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer uncovered 15 minutes.

Then add in shredded chicken (about 3 cups). I used a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store. Bring soup back to boiling.

Then turn to simmer and stir in 1/2 cup whipping cream and 2&1/2 tsp dry sherry.

Here I'm stirring in the cream. MMmmmm. Then take out bay leaf and salt & pepper to taste - dig in! 

And if you want to make your dinner even better bake some biscuits. Cut them in half and top with some black forest ham, cheese and romaine lettuce. 

Make a topping for the biscuit with dijon mustard, mayo and honey.

Spread onto top of biscuit (& add a bit more honey if you're like me)

And enjoy your delicious soup and sandwich!

**soup recipe from Super Suppers2 cookbook.

Wednesday Wonder

MOTHER'S DAY ROSES

Love their color

Annie has a fairy friend "Rose" who lives in her garden and will often leave Annie sweet notes and little things from nature or other gifts. Rose was away for the Winter but was back just in time for Annie's birthday and left her a sweet note and some items for her fairy garden. Annie said, "No offense Mom but Rose's presents and note were my favorite". I love that my Girl still has magic in her heart. 

Annie Room Update

A while back I did this post about my daughter's room and the dilemma I had regarding the next bedspread for that space. Well I didn't end up ordering any of the ones I mentioned at that time as Annie & I weren't really in love with any of them.

I happened to be shopping up at Kohl's the other day and found these adorable owl sheets that I decided to pick up as a birthday present for Annie.

Annie has a thing for owls (her Mom kind of does too). While I was shopping around I came across this lighter summery quilt set and I really liked it.

I really liked the golden summer-filled yellow in it - which matches so nicely with her walls. And all the added pink goes perfectly with all the Paris pink elements in her room.

Another thing I like was the fact that it was reversible. I love the pretty green on the other side - even if we never use it fully that way - as just folding it back and showing a little bit is so pretty.

For having a lot of black and pink in her room she also has a lot of soft yellow and some green elements too, so I think for summer this quilt will do the job! I know Annie would prefer something more bold and graphic and I think for the Winter she'll need a heavier comforter and then I will still search for a Paris graphic or toile kind of spread. But for summer I guess we're going with the softer shabby chic side of French colors.

Happy Homemaker Monday

Happy Monday! Hope you all had a wonderful weekend. Those of you that celebrated Mother's Day - I hope it was a beautiful one yesterday. I woke up to being spoiled by breakfast in bed and beautiful pale peach roses.  Then my Crew had hockey (it never ends around here)... but after that we went out for a late lunch with my Mom and my Mother & Father-in-law for a lovely fancy buffet lunch that a local restaurant puts on for Mother's Day. It was so yummy - think champagne chicken, beef bourguignon, shaved ham, pastas, vegetables, salad bar and a 30 foot dessert table. So good!!  It's my sweet Annie's birthday today so we celebrated that with the grandparents yesterday too. We'll celebrate with my Dad & step Mom soon.  The day ended with a lovely foot massage by my daughter. Doesn't get better than that! Now back to real life and the week ahead.  I think Sandra has kind of a new layout to HHM - but I don't have time to change things up today, so maybe next time.

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:

Freezing! Horrible! Yuck!! It feels like the gales of November out there today. It's rainy and windy and only in the 30's!  Not a May day to say the least.

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING:

Peanut butter & honey toast, sweet cream coffee and some blueberries.

  AS I LOOK OUTSIDE MY WINDOW:

Dark and gray and rainy. It is nice to at least see lots of green. Things keep growing and trees blooming with their leaves - so that's sort of comforting. 

RIGHT NOW I AM:

Sitting and sipping coffee, chatting with my MIL and making out a grocery list.

AS I LOOK AROUND THE HOUSE:

Need to load the dishwasher yet, but otherwise pretty tidy. It feels nice and cozy as we've had to have the heat back on for past couple of days. There's something about feeling cozy and warm as you look out the window at a cold rainy day.  

ON TODAY'S TO DO LIST:

Doing our usual grocery run. It's a nice way to get my MIL out and about and she does well with these trips. When we try to do other things for very long she has  a difficult time focusing. Errands she relates with very well from all of her years of doing it, and she likes to help out pushing the cart and helping with the items. 

CURRENTLY READING:

Started a book by Alison Sweeney called -The Star Attraction. She played Sammy Brady on Days of Our Lives for many years. I'm sort of embarrassed to admit it but I have watched that soap since I was in high school (or at least on & off). My friends all used to watch it too and even my Gram used to watch it. I think some of my Aunties still do too. Lol! I kind of fast forward watch several episodes each week. Anyway, Alison wrote these fictional books, but they're based on life behind the scenes in the tv/movie industry. Looked like fun summer reading. Her second book after Star Attraction is called - Scared Scriptless.  

ON THE TV TODAY:

I have all kinds of shows to catch up on. I finally caught up on The Voice episodes this weekend. I did watch Outlander, but I haven't watched Good Wife or Call the Midwife yet. Also, my cooking shows.

ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:

Going to make some homemade cream of chicken soup for the in-law's tonight along with some ham & cheese biscuit sandwiches with honey mustard. Since it's my daughter's birthday today I'm going to make a fun yummy dessert - I'm thinking I'll do strawberry rice krispies treats with strawberry frosting and chocolate drizzle on top! (she loves rice krispies treats & strawberry anything!) Then going to make meatloaf dinner one night since it's going to be cooler this week - it's a father in law fave, and I haven't made it in a while.  We're also having breakfast pizza on croissant crust one night too.

WHAT I AM CREATING AT THE MOMENT:

Starting to put together some fun things to create a new summer decoration. This weekend I had fun putting away all of my bunnies and Spring things and getting out my summer goodies! I also finally found and ordered the garden table I wanted - so it will hopefully warm up by the time it gets here and I can get to planting. Yay!! What a fun project that will be!!

NEW RECIPE I WANT TO TRY THIS WEEK:

Nothing new this week.

TIP OF THE WEEK:

You know how you always have that one pesky sock that doesn't match anything anymore? Well take it and put it on your hand (like a sock puppet almost) and it can become a great dusting rag! Just spray some polish and wipe away! 

FROM THE CAMERA:

Happy birthday to my precious Annie Angel!! This is a throw back to her 4th birthday. 

PRAYER, INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE OR DEVOTIONAL:

Love this and thought it was sweet for my Girls' bday today! Linking with Sandra at Diary of a SAHM for happy homemaker Monday.

Scraptastic Saturday: Lemon Blueberry Pancakes

If you'd like to join in for scraptastic saturday you can click on the link here, or the link in my right hand column.

Today I'm finally sharing those lemon blueberry pancakes! I had a dilemma as I was looking all over for an old recipe I had and sadly couldn't find it. It had been so long since I made them that I don't even remember if it was a recipe I had from a family member - or one I had clipped out from somewhere (I think it was the latter). I remember that recipe had a different ingredient in it....like sour cream, or ricotta or something like that - but instead I made my go to Pioneer Woman recipe! She never lets me down. And these are delicious and lot like my memory of the other yummy ones I made in the past.

Think the taste of lemon cake with some blueberries thrown in - so good!!

First of all, cake flour was called for...however I don't keep that around. No fear you can do what I did which was to substitute (necessity the mother of invention and all that stuff). For every 1 cup of cake flour needed take 1 cup of regular all purpose flour and take out 2 Tbsp of the flour and add 2 Tbsp of cornstarch and then sift it 5 times. Yep, 5 - it's what i read online. I don't know why that's the magic number, but I'll tell you it made for great pancakes!! And you can be messy like me - it's ok (part of the fun of cooking!)

Then you make up your wet ingredients - which calls for evaporated milk. If you don't have that you can substitute 3/4 cup whole milk and 1/4 cup half & half to equal one cup of liquid needed.  You also add fresh squeezed lemon juice and lemon zest (yum) and let it all sit for 5 mins or so. Then mix your wet ingredients into your dry.

You of course then add in delicious blueberries!

Melt butter on a medium hot griddle until bubbles form all over.

Flip 'em when they're nice and golden brown. You can then do what I do which is to keep the oven on warm and keep the breakfast potatoes you already baked in lemon olive oil and seasoning in there, along with the pancakes you're doing in batches. I also cooked sausage and bacon on the stove top while I was making up the pancakes. Serve with warm maple and blueberry syrup (you can see that's what I had on mine in photo below) on the side.

As you can once again see - it makes for a wonderful and hearty breakfast - perfect for Mother's Day tomorrow! Or for breakfast for dinner, which is my favorite way to eat breakfast food! You can find the full recipe for these pancakes here.

Enjoy and Happy Mother's Day to all of my blogland friends celebrating tomorrow!! xoxo

Five on Friday:Fun Kiddo Snacks

For my 5 things today I went to my pinterest for inspiration again. I know it seems to be a theme this week, but I've been having fun looking at things I've pinned for lots of ideas lately. That pinterest is a pretty fun place isn't it? 

Anyway, my 5 things are related to fun snacks that kids especially might enjoy.  Here goes!

The first idea by eatwell101.com shares a banana snack that is made to look like, and is served like, sushi. They took a banana and rolled it in peanut butter and once coated - then rolled it in rice krispies cereal. Then cut into slices and serve with chopsticks for  extra fun eating, just like sushi! I bet that's yummy too with the sweet banana, creamy peanut butter and crunchy cereal.

Next up I liked this mini pie bar idea by play.party.pin. They took pre-made graham mini pie shells you can find in the store and some handy pudding snacks and fixings and made it into a make your own pie fun treat! My kiddos would love this! They both love vanilla so they would go for filling a shell with vanilla pudding and my daughter would pick twix and my son the cereal to add for a mix-in or topping. And they'd both pile on some whipped topping. This would be so neat for dessert at a BBQ or picnic kindof party. Fun idea, get creative with your own different toppings,  and easy peasy to put together! 

I think this idea by rachelschultz.com looks SO yummy! Take an apple and cut into nice thin slices. Then top with peanut butter, chocolate chips, nuts, coconut - whatever you like. Such a nice contrast of flavors and textures and fun for kiddos to pick up and eat like a cookie!

I also love this idea from bloglovin.com for a sandwich kabob! What kiddo wouldn't want to eat their sandwich if it was cut into fun shapes and pushed onto a giant stick?? It looks so cool and would be so fun to eat this way.  I love how the cheese is cut into hearts and stars. Great idea!!

And my son would be all over this one by plainchicken.com.  My son loves pepperoni and to have it all rolled up in a crescent roll - even better! I love this as it's made up of things I usually have around.  So unroll crescent rolls into triangles, then add pepperoni slices and 1/2 a stick of string cheese on each one. Roll up and bake according to the crescent roll instructions. Then serve with marinara or pizza sauce for dipping on the side. Great teenager snack! 

I'm linking with Amy at Love Made my Home for Five on Friday.