My recent finds

I went to some yard sales this past weekend. There were a ton of them around the area. It was not a good day for Pyrex finds or vintage kitchen items. But I did find this vintage canister for .25 cents. Thought it would be good for a cookie jar.

I have been trying to decide about curtains for the grandchildren's room. I had some light green sheers hanging on the window but I was getting tired of them. I wanted something with lace since the rest of the house has lace. I found this pair for .50 cents Saturday. 

I found three Harlequin romances that look pretty interesting. I have been reading romance novels lately that are so long it takes forever to get a book finished. So I thought some light, shorter books may be good for a break.

I found this padded carrier at one sale and thought it would be good when I transport my tablet. But it ended up too big. It will work until I find something else. 

My daughter is doing some rearranging at her house and had a quilt rack that she just wasn't going to have room for any more. She asked me if I wanted it. She wanted me to have it if I could use it because my Daddy had made it. Daddy loved to work up in his shop building things. I wasn't about to turn down the quilt rack. I put it in the grandchildren's room. My plan is to find 5 cute fleece throws so they will each have their own when they come visit. 

A couple of friends at church surprised me yesterday by giving me these vases they found. I love them...(the friends and the vases). 

One of my friends is doing a display with some items in her kitchen with grapes. I had just decided the other day to get rid of a pitcher I have and she said she would take it. So I'll have to get it to her next week.

Happy BIrthday, Shelby Rayne

Today my youngest granddaughter will hit the big number 4. Why do they grow up so fast? I still think of her as a curly haired little baby.

I love on birthdays when I get to look back at pics of my grandchildren to find the ones for my blog. This was her first year at the beach on her family vacation. Check out the cool shades. 

Her and her famous Binky. Of all my grandchildren, she was the one who was most attached to "Bink". We didn't think she was ever going to give it up, but she finally did. With no fanfare or drama, just one day she bit a hole in it and Mom never replaced it. She was so proud she told everybody she saw "No more Bink!"

Tradition. I always had to wear those pink sponge curlers growing up and I always put them in her Mommy's hair. So I had to at least roll her hair one time in them. 

This child loves her sunglasses. She has several pair. 

Her "cheesy" smile. She has always been camera ready. The minute you point one at her you get a great big Cheese.

She can look so sweet and innocent, but trust me, sometimes she is rotten to the core. Her mommy calls this her "evil" look. You can just about bet she is getting ready to do something when she gets this look....it usually involves attacking her big brother. 

She is a daddy's girl. 

Her studious look. 

As I looked through the pictures of her growing up, I still find it hard to believe that she is four. 

Happy birthday, Shelby. We love you. 

The message...

Do you "read" t-shirts? I do, I can't help myself. If somebody has on a shirt with a message, I'm going to read it. Somebody posted this t-shirt on Facebook the other day and I loved the message on it. It should always be about our Jesus, not about our religion. Religions vary. Beliefs are not always the same. Sometimes people don't like certain "rules" of their religion so they break away and create their own beliefs. But Jesus always remains the same. 

This one is so simple. "It's not much, but it's all I have." I thought this was touching. Do you give your all to the Lord? Or do you just give him what you want to when it is convenient. 

No need to explain this one. It says it all. I recently purchased a new cell phone. I couldn't carry my old number over so I got a new one. I have a habit of seeing if phone numbers spell anything so I can remember them easier. When I checked my new number, the last four numbers spell HOPE on the dial pad. Just one of those God things that made me smile. 

Talk about a message that tells you we don't need to worry. I really like this one. 

And the last one made me want to put this saying on everything! I absolutely love it. Kind of small print, but it says "It's all about the grace." 

One thing leads to another...

I stopped by a yard sale yesterday and picked up this cute little wicker pumpkin. It even has a brand new bag of potpourri inside for fall. 

At the same yard sale, I found this little shiny, wire basket. I fell in love with it. I can't decide if I want to use it for a napkin holder or in my office for outgoing mail, which is what I'm leaning toward. I have a wicker basket in the kitchen for napkins that I love so I guess I will go with outgoing mail. 

I have been picking up some yarn lately in some deep rich colors for fall. It's time to start back on my plastic canvas projects and get my sisters finished so I can start some things for fall. 

I dug through the yarn and found some more fall colors so now I just need to figure out what all I want to make. I worked on Sis's last night as well as a little coaster. I'll have to post them when they are done. 

I have some of the green glassware from Indiana glass. I am trying to decide if I like the green or not. I may put it on E-bay to sell it. Or I may put it up and use it during October/November. It has a good fall look to it. I am still undecided. 

Well, that's it for today. Heading out this morning to a couple of yard sales that may have some potential. I'll let you know if I find anything. Have an awesome weekend. 

Party Night

Last night was an open house for Pampered Chef with my friend and PC consultant Michele. I went with two of my other friends and we had a blast. 

It was a taste-testing party of all the goodies in the Pampered Chef Pantry. When we arrived, Michele had a nice variety of dips, sauces and chips. 

The dill dip and the southwestern dip were both huge hits. 

We had some cream cheese that we could use in our experiments. I love the bamboo serving trays. 

And some crackers displayed on the line of white serving pieces.

Then we could mix and match sauces on our cheese and crackers or try the chips with the dip. 

I knew we were in for a treat when Michele set this on the table. 

Usually, when I see her use this particular pan, I know there will be chicken. And I love chicken. I wasn't disappointed. Here was the chicken with some of  the Pampered Chef rub. I forgot to ask what rub she used because I couldn't wait to dig in. 

She had dinner roll size buns for our taste testing. Many ate their chicken as a sandwich with one of the variety of sauces such as Carolina Mustard BBQ or the Raspberry Habanero. My friend Sherrie said the Teriyaki Sauce with honey was the best to her. I didn't do mine on a sandwich. I wanted to try several so I just shredded my chicken to try some different dips. First place in my book was the Sweet and Sour Sauce. Oh my! I am the world's pickiest eater and it is very hard to get me to try something new. So to try it and like it was a double shock. I do like Sweet and Sour sauce but am very choosy about what brand I buy. What did I think of the Pampered Chef brand? Unbelievably delicious. I couldn't get enough. I kept thinking how good it would be with Hillshire Lil Smokies. Yum!

My second choice was the Spicy Pineapple Rum sauce (which doesn't really have rum in it just rum flavoring I'm told.) It has small chunks of pineapple in it. I did like it and I think it would be great over grilled or baked chicken. I failed to notice the word spicy on the bottle so the little "kick" came as a mild but pleasant surprise. 

Then came my favorite part of the night. The moment I had been waiting for.....the ice cream topping taste test. We were all served bowls of ice cream to create our own smorgasbord of flavor.

So many choices. The Chocolate Raspberry was a favorite of some. Others preferred the Cherry Almond. I decided to experiment with four. I liked the Chocolate Caramel a little. I liked the Chocolate Peppermint even more and the Chocolate Peanut Butter was pretty good. 

But when I got to the Caramel Sauce...oh wow! Needless to say I had to order a jar of this. Only problem is I'm afraid that when it gets here I may have my own party....just me, my caramel sauce and big bowl carton of ice cream. This sauce was so delicious. It would be awesome heated up and poured over warm spice cake. Or fixed as a dip for sliced apples. This one is going to become a standard item to be found in my pantry. 

I was glad I did the taste test on all of them first. Then I got to drizzle the lovely caramel all over my ice cream. 

Doesn't that look delicious. 

In addition, to buying a jar of the caramel sauce, they had a new product that I just had to have. The French Fry Cutter. I am really excited about it. Not only did I want it to make home fries but so I can make bacon cheese fries as well. Yum. Can't wait to get it.

There were several other products that I don't have that I want. So I did what I normally do. I booked a party. Now, I can make me a wish list for things I want to earn free. I am shooting for the Candy Thermometer. Mine broke and was one of those cheap old timey ones with the red ball on the end that fogs up from the steam of the candy and you can hardly see the "soft ball stage". So I want one from Pampered Chef, it is awesome. And extremely heavy duty. 

I also want the new Brownie Pan. Perfect size brownies every time. I'm thinking "Make the brownies. Serve them warm with a scoop of ice cream and drizzle caramel sauce over it all." Sound good to anybody but me?

It was a great night. Michele served us some awesome food and let us experiment. She shared ideas about the products of Pampered Chef and how to incorporate the Pantry items into our meals. She even shared an idea she saw on Pinterest for the shower. She placed another shower rod on the back wall of the shower. She bought little baskets and hooked shower curtain hooks through them and mounted the baskets right in the shower. Now there is plenty room for each family member to keep their soaps and shampoos. 

All in all, it was a fantastic evening. Thanks, Michele, for having us over. 

A busy day planned....

This is going to be one of those days that is busy from start to finish. I better make sure I eat some breakfast this morning so I have the energy to make it through the whole day. My newest breakfast addiction is Grands Biscuit sandwiches. They are microwaveable and extremely tasty. They are quick and easy and absolutely delicious. 

I love orange juice with my biscuit sandwiches, but with acid reflux orange juice doesn't like me so much. But about a year or so ago, I found something that is perfect. Sunny Delight Smooth. There is no acid taste. It is so cool and refreshing, yet has the good taste of orange juice with a twist. I love this stuff. 

I have a full schedule of work today. I have some client calls to make, some trucking quarterly reports to finish and some calls to my Thirty One customers to see if they need anything before the July special ends.

Need to knock off about 4:30 so I can wash my hair and do my nails before heading over Ms. Michele's house for a Pampered Pantry Open House. It is going to be a blast. She has been my Pampered Chef consultant from day one and I have been a hostess many times and attended other parties she has held. I always look forward to spending time with her. Her events are always a blast. I'm really looking forward to tonight. She is going to have a "Taste the Rainbow" sampling party. This is going to be fun. I've been scouring my catalog to make up my mind what I want. Not sure yet what that will be, but I know my wish list is getting long so it's going to be time for me to have another party this fall.

I'll need to be sure and be back home by 8:00 for an online event with Thirty-One and my sister consultants. It will last about an hour and then I can have a little down time before hitting the sack. Like I said, a busy day today.