Week in review

So it has been an action packed interest week. First off, my crepe myrtle plant got hit hard with the cold snap in April and had nothing but dried brown buds on it. I was so upset. I love that bush. Fast forward to the 20th of July and I saw a few buds looking like they were going to bloom. By last Sunday this is what I had. I am one happy camper now.

I went to a friends house and he grilled pork tenderloin with peppercorn seasoning. I have never eaten pork tenderloin. But I must say it was delicious. And super tender. There is just something special about a man that cooks you dinner and then serves the meat on a Pyrex platter. We also had some delicious scallop potatoes with cheese and bacon. The whole meal was yummy. He's a really great cook.

Of course he knows the way to my heart is in the dessert. Especially if the dessert involves ice cream. This is vanilla salted caramel cheesecake ice cream. I had made 96 chocolate chip cookies that day and we had the cookies with the ice cream. Talk about delicious.

On Monday I wanted cake. But I am tired of chocolate cake so I changed it up and made a white cake but I still did my homemade icing though. I changed it up a little and I liked it better. Added a little more cocoa.

My husband was an amazing cook and one of his specialties was a homemade tangy (not vinegar-y) barbecue sauce. We had it with pork and with beef many times over the years. I haven't made it since he passed away. I don't like the idea of fixing a whole roast all day just to make barbecue. So my niece told me to use chicken; that it was delicious.  So I boiled chicken by a technique a friend showed me and it just shredded real easy. 

And after making and eating barbecue chicken with Hubby's home made sauce, I decided that it is chicken barbecue for me from now on. Oh, and check out the pickles. Freshly canned pickes by my son-in-law. First time he's had a garden and first time he has tried to can. The pickles were out of this world. 

One day I was in town and decided to stop at the library to look at some How to books on starting a business. I just think it is hilarious that tucked away in a wing on the 3rd floor where business books are was a Mickey and Minnie table and chairs. Of course I had to set in Mickey's chair.

Somebody had a birthday last week. This was 10 years ago.

And the one on the left is her now. Shelby Rayne, my youngest granddaughter, turned 12 last year. She told me one day that she was going to squeeze every moment of every day out of her last year before becoming a teenager. Heaven help us all. 

Speaking of birthdays, the day after Shelby's was my Daddy's birthday. He's been gone 21 years but his memory will never fade. If he was still with us, he would have be 97 years old last week.

(L-R: My sis Rachel, Daddy and me)

I was somewhere the other day and I don't even remember where. But this cute tablecloth caught my eye. Since I recently purchased a yellow t-cup and a gray rooster, I thought these would be perfect.

I ended the week making brownie cookies. This picture is from one time I made 2 dozen of the. But this time I made 14 dozen. That's right 168 cookies. It was exhausting but fun. A friend called me and said her work would like to order them and pay me for making them. So I did.  I felt so happy and blessed after this past week. Can't wait to see what this week is going to bring.