An easy day...

My friend Sherrie and I went to McKay's yesterday evening. I found a new set of Susan Mallery books. 

This series is about three sisters and each book is one of the sisters. Being a sister myself, I love series books that features sisters. I started the first one last night. Like all her books, it is hard to put down. 

Of course since I had a new book to read and hubby was at work, I needed a good snack to go with my book. So I made a little batch of brownies. 

Which went perfect with an ice cold glass of milk. I always pour my milk in the glass and keep it in the fridge about 20 minutes before I'm ready to drink it. That way it is really, really cold. It was great. 

I got a neat little surprise in the mail this weekend. It was this beautiful calendar of roadside flowers in West Virginia, my home state. It was in a plain manila envelope with no return address. My niece Lori sends me stuff sometimes with no notes and no return address, but I checked and it wasn't her. I asked Mom and she didn't know who sent it. Then I noticed the postmark was from Kodak, TN. So I can't even begin to figure out who sent it. But a big hug and big thanks to whoever did. I love it. 

What was cool was that July was from Lincoln County. My brother lived there for many years and I have friends that live there now so it was pretty neat to see one of the backroads featured in the calendar. Again, thanks to my mystery mailer. 

On another note, I am a app fanatic on my phone. I'm constantly thinking of things and wondering if their is an app for it. My favorite commercial right now is the McDonald's fish bites commercial. I love when they sing "Fishy FishA" and the lips move. So me being me, I had to go see if there was an app. Sure enough there was. It's called MouthOff McDonald's. And it works just like on TV. You can pick from four types of lips and just sing or talk. Of course, I am constantly doing "Fishy FishA" for hubby. It's the child in me. 

Weekend Wrap Up

After the shower on Saturday, I came home and decided that even though it was freezing cold and even though snow and sleet was coming down, I was bringing spring into the house. So I got out my Easter eggs from last year and the new flowers I bought Saturday.

I arranged them with the eggs. I thought it turned out pretty cute. 

While cleaning a closet last week, I found a wrought iron shelf I had bought for about a buck at a yard sale last year and have never found a use for it. 

When I was cleaning off my rack to decorate for Easter I had an idea. 

I inserted the little shelf on the shelf of the rack. 

I put my Hazel Atlas cups, my Mother's Oats cup and saucer and my small Cinderella Pyrex bowl on the shelves. I love the way it turned out. 

Then I put my Easter display beside it. I love the eggs in my Pyrex gooseberry.

I hung the Easter apron Mom made me up on the rack. 

On the top rack, I added a little Easter dishcloth and a bunny rabbit beside my flowers and my Holt Howard kitties. 

Here's how the whole thing turned out. I am loving it. 

I put my spring tablecloth on and added my pink bunny and rooster salt dip. 

When I was rearranging, I decided to pull out my John Deer bowls and use them on the snack counter. Yes, we eat so much junk food that we have to have a counter dedicated to it. I love my John Deere bowls. What farmhouse style kitchen is complete without something in John Deer. 

After that, I had to make some "green eggs" for Sunday School since we were celebrating Dr. Seuss's birthday yesterday. I made the green jello and using a funnel, poured the liquid into my deviled egg tray and put it in the refrigerator. 

The result was some perfect green eggs for Sunday. 

Sunday, little Miss Megan decided to try her Jello on her biscuit. I'm not sure if she ate it or not. But it looked kind of gross to me!

The Bridal Shower

Saturday was a busy day for me. I started out the morning by making a quick run to Walmart and then hurried back home to get ready for a bridal shower that afternoon. I know the grooms family, but it was the first chance I had to meet the bride. She is an absolute sweetheart and I really enjoyed meeting her and her family and friends.

(The bride to be)

The decorations were gorgeous. Her future mother-in-law did a wonderful job with everything. 

The cupcakes were so cute. Not to mention absolutely delicious. They came from the bakery at our local store and they are by far my favorite cupcakes in the county.

The food was a big hit. Everything was delicious.

They had an awesome punch made with cranberry juice and oranges.

My contribution to the event was hubby's pasta salad. It is well-received everywhere he sends it. It has pasta, Italian dressing, cherry tomatoes, black olives, cucumber, carrot, jalapeno pepper, red onion, bacon bits, Red Delicious apple and Granny Smith apple.

These vases were so beautiful. They were a big hit. Everybody was wanting to go buy some to decorate their houses. 

We had a fun time dividing into teams and picking one of our team members to be "the bride". We had to fashion her a gown from toilet paper. The group I was in, got to dress up the bridesmaid who is also the grooms sister. Our team was one of the winners. 

I don't like having my picture made, but while I was taking pictures of the room, somebody took a picture of me taking a picture. 

The bride had her flower girl help her open the gifts. The flower girl is my little granddaughter, Shelby. Shelby got as excited as the bride when they were opening the gifts. 

The groom's mother made little thank you gifts for all those who attended. 

Aren't they just adorable!

As I was leaving, I just happened to look across the road and something caught my eye up on a hill. I thought it looked like 3 or 4 deer. My daughter loaned me her camera and I zoomed in and it turned out there were 9 deer enjoying their supper. 

It was an awesome day and I am thankful I had the opportunity to attend. I came home and got in my comfy clothes and did some rearranging and decorating in the kitchen. I'll be posting picks of that tomorrow. Enjoy your Sunday!

Loving this ribbon

It's going to be a busy day today, but what else is new in my world. It seems like that is the norm around here. Busy, busy, busy. Last night, I helped decorate for a shower today. We didn't let the bride-to-be see the decor yet. My daughter got a little cute and posted a sneak peak on Facebook. Here is what she posted. Pretty sure the bride-to-be is excited to see what is behind the doors. 

I bought some paper and ribbon to wrap our gift yesterday. I decided to forego the traditional bow and ribbon. I wanted something "wedding-y" for the actual ribbon. I found some tulle ribbon that I thought might work for what I wanted. It came off the roll like this. I tied it around the package. 

Then I discovered it opened up like this for a wider width. It had some flexibility to it. 

So I tied a big bow and opened up the ends and it resembled a veil. I really thought it turned out cute. 

I am running to Walmart this morning to get some flowers for my Easter arrangement.  I saw some yesterday, but I wasn't exactly sure what colors were in the tablecloth I'm using so I thought I'd better wait until today to get the flowers. They had some silk ones that resembled this one. I should have gotten them because both colors are in my tablecloth. I'm going to a different Walmart, one that is closer to my house, than I did yesterday. I just hope they have what I want. 

I have to head back to the fellowship hall to help with the helium balloons for the shower after I get back from Walmart. The shower is this afternoon. When I get home from that, I'm going to decorate the house for Easter. Finally. I've been wanting to do it all week and haven't had a chance yet. Have a good day today!

My random thoughts this morning.....

I have had a very productive week. I had a to do list for my business and I accomplished everything on it. I signed up two new marketing clients. I did a Thirty-One party and got everything ordered. I cleaned out and organized one set of cabinets. Two more sets to go. It may look disorganized to you, but believe me this is very organized compared to how it was. This is the set of cabinets that just gathers all the stuff that won't fit in other cabinets. Two pantry cabinets left to get organized. All the top cabinets and the ones on the other side are done. 

I am still looking for a different desk for my office. I have two I am going to check out from Craig's List. If I get this one, I would need to paint it or something because I am wanting something light and airy looking for my office. 

This one, I could leave white because I am doing the office in white, taupe, turquoise, and some pastels. I might replace the hardware though. 

My Pampered Chef lady shared this on Facebook this morning. It looks delicious. I am going to have to try it: 

• 4sliced bread           • butter         • 4mozzarella, sliced
• pepperoni (cut in half or mini)    • Italian seasoning or basil
• parmesan cheese (optional)         • pizza sauce (for dipping)
1. *Warm a medium/large skillet over medium heat. Butter each piece of bread on one side. When skillet is hot place a piece of bread butter side down on the skillet then add one slice of cheese and small shake of Italian seasoning or basil (add a small shake of parmesan cheese here too if desired). Top with a desired amount of pepperonis (I used about 8 -10 whole regular pepperonis per sandwich) If any other toppings are desired, add now. Add another slice of mozzarella and top with slice bread butter side up.
2. Repeat with second sandwich. When bottom slice is golden brown then flip over carefully. Once both sides are brown remove from pan cut and serve with pizza sauce if desired.

Ms. Missy, the teacher for our Pre-K class, is going to get me if I don't quit coming up with so many ideas for the kids crafts. We are going to be a year trying to do everything I want to do with them. But they love glow sticks and they love glitter so this is a no-brainer to go on our 'to-do' list. But who wouldn't love Fairies in a Jar. 

1. Cut a glow stick and shake the contents into a jar.
2. Add diamond glitter
3. Seal the top
4. Shake hard

Hubby and I need to go to the store this morning to get some ingredients for him to make his pasta salad. He is making it for a wedding shower tomorrow for my daughter's nephew by marriage and his fiance. I'm helping with it so I volunteered him for the pasta salad. It is always a hit.

I also need to pick up some silk spring flowers for my Easter centerpiece for the kitchen table. I used the ones from last year for something else and forgot to replace them. 

Here is another idea for kids crafts. Cute little flowers made from cupcake liners and popsicle sticks. These would be great for Mother's Day. 

I am going to have to design a Craft Calendar to keep up with all the ideas I have of things to make.