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.

Some cute ideas

Just some cute ideas I have seen this week. Love the melted snowman cookie.

These are bathroom sinks. A little too modern for my tastes, but cute never the less. 

I love thee nails. I can't image what it would cost to have them done so mine will just have to stay solid colors, but these are still cute. 

Here is a neat way to make hairbows. 

These would be so easy to make. You could do them in such a way that you remove just the ribbon/bow area and change it out every holiday. I need to check into this.

I like this one too.

This is an awesome look for nails for the holidays.

I bought some new yarn this weekend. I love the color. I need to make some type of basket for fall.

My little tray

I decided what to do with my little tray I got this weekend. 

I have this little table between my desk and file cabinet. I put this crocheted doily on the table. 

That is where I decided to set the tray. 

I added my water pitcher to the tray since the colors blended well together. 

 I didn't have any glasses that I like to go with it yet. Still scouting around for now. So in the mean time, I found a teacup that matches the color scheme and set it on there. I can pour my water in my tea cup. Since it is a thermos pitcher, I could even put hot chocolate in it and rink that from my cup. I think it turned out cute for now. May modify things later. 

Thrilling Thrifting

Sometimes the best bargains are found on the spur of the moment. My daughter and I were going to go shopping Saturday. As I was driving over to pick her up, I noticed a yard sale three doors down from her house. I knew I still had some time so I stopped to check it out. 

I am so glad I did. I have been seeing online a lot of items in the West Bend metal collection from the 50's. I have loved the cake taker but that is just something you never see at yard sales. On-line, they run from $20 - $50. But when I stopped at the yard sale, there it sat right on the shelf. I held my breath and asked what she wanted it for it. When she asked "Is $1.00 okay?" I answered in a nonchalant way. "Yeah, I'll take it for that." while inside I was having a party whooping and a hollering with excitement.  And it was the pink copper just like I wanted. 

I scouted around some more and had another moment of excitement. Not too long ago I found a gorgeous milk glass divided tray. I had never seen one and I fell in love. It sets on my Baker's Rack with my Holt Howard kitties on it. My friend, Stephanie, is looking for milk glass plates for a decor idea she had. I am walking around the yard sale and there is a milk glass plate...exactly like mine for just $1.00 so I snatched it up for Steph. Hope she likes it. 

I have been looking for vintage items with the golden wheat pattern. I found this cute little piece for .25 cents. It has the wheat, but it's not vintage. I liked it though so I bought it anyway even though I don't have a clue what it is supposed to be used for. Any ideas for me? I am thinking some mums and cattails in each section to make a fall centerpiece. What do you think?

I also found this cute serving tray which was just .50 cents. I have a plan for it. 

This Tupperware butter dish was just .25 cents as well. And it looks brand new. I don't think it was ever used. 

That was all I found at the yard sale. But later that day, I ran into a thrift store that I had never visited. I was still on my mission for a carafe. I found this little juice pitcher for $1.59. It was love at first sight. Then when I got it home and was washing it up, I noticed it was Pyrex. I hadn't even looked at that. I was beyond pleased. It is from 1959. It needs the lid for the top, but I bought it anyway because I loved it. I will look for a lid next.

Then I went to church yesterday morning and had a surprise waiting for me. The Pre-K class lesson was on the four friends who brought the sick man to Jesus and lowered him through the roof. Our lesson and craft time revolved around "We need to BEE a good friend." So Ms. Anya had crocheted little miniature bees and put them on a pipe cleaner so the kids could "buzz around" and BEE a good friend. Since I am known to my friends and family as Bee, she made me a bigger one so I could be the Queen Bee. It was fun.

No Stop Lights in Heaven

Sometimes the smallest things can inspire a blog. As I was driving down the road yesterday, I hit yet another stop light. As I was sitting at the light, I thought "Well, at least we won't have any stop lights in heaven."

It got me to thinking. Down here, we hurry, hurry, hurry, rush, rush, rush just to come to a complete stop. How many times have you had someone almost run you off the road to pass you up, flying down the road, only to end up one car in front of you ..... at the stop light. 

Why do we feel life has to move in the fast lane? Why can't we just enjoy the moments we have? When we hurry and rush around to get somewhere, we take chances that we miss out on some of the sweet things life has to offer. 

When it all comes to an end and we are walking the streets of glory, we will no longer feel the need to rush through life. Eternity will be sweet peace and joy. Each day will bring blessings upon blessings. We will walk and talk each day with our sweet Jesus. No pain, no anger, no fear, no hurt, no sickness, no sorrow and no stop lights. 

Just to make you smile....

This morning as I was reading Facebook, I came across this picture and it made me smile.

How many of you remember Silly Putty. I loved that stuff. Every time I still see it anywhere my first thought is how I would love to use it to lift the comics off the newspaper. I had to chuckle at this picture since I thought I was the only one that did that. 

There were a few other things I have seen this week that have brought a smile to my face and a giggle to my lips. This made me laugh, but you have to be a fan of Star Trek Voyager with the Borg to really get it. And I got it. Had to chuckle.

This is cute and very fitting for me. I'll be the first to admit I spend more time trying to avoid doing something than the time it would take to actually do it. 

I fell in love with this. I just really cracked up over it. I love the Wizard of Oz and there are many lessons to be learned from it. But I never really thought of it this way.

And I don't think anybody can look at this without chuckling.

And last but not least, I have become enthralled with The Big Bang Theory. I had never watched it until recently. So I will leave you with this last funny from Dr. Sheldon Cooper...