I know what I'm making....

I have a dessert that make a lot and it is very popular. I call it the Resee's Peanut Butter Brownie Trifle. I wake up this morning and find this post on my Facebook page from my son-in-law...

I've been made aware you make this.... This has to be some kind of mistake there is no way my favorite mother-in-law would make this and deny her favorite son in law this piece of heaven ?????

So I guess I will be making this for him sometime over the next few days. I always wanted to be famous for some food that was the "best ever" that always gets requested at gatherings. I guess this is my claim to fame. Every church function we have, somebody always asks me if I am bringing this. Every Vacation Bible School I get asked what night I am bringing it. I guess it is just understood that I will make it. Whoever made this one used the miniature Reese cups. I prefer to use regular Reese's and cut them up. Here is a pic of one I made a couple of years ago.

It is definitely heaven in a bowl. It is so simple to make. The longest part is waiting for the brownies to bake and cool. It has brownies, Reese's, vanilla pudding, peanut butter, and Cool Whip. Super simple. If you want the recipe, I did a step-by-step tutorial with pictures on my blog one time. You can find it here http://mamawsplace4.blogspot.com/2010/08/saturday-snackin.html.

Everybody have a safe day. Stay warm if you are in the snow zone. We have about 4" and are expected to get another 2-4" tonight. I am going to brave the roads and go to work today so I can get some stuff done and go to the store this evening. 

UGH!!

I was in a bad mood yesterday all day. Then at 7:30 I get a text from UPS that my package couldn't be delivered AGAIN. Folks, I am located about the equivalent of two city blocks away from the main road. We had NOTHING on any road leading to me. I passed trucks literally a block from where I lived. And they STILL took my package back for redelivery. As if that didn't make me mad enough, I wake up this morning to this and it is still coming down. My hill is ice under the snow and so far nobody that has tried made it out. They all slide back down to their driveway. We are in the cul-de-sac so there isn't a second way out. 

It is beautiful but now I have the struggle of trying to figure whether or not to brave going into work.

I decided to amuse myself while I decide. So I checked out to see if there was anything good on Facebook. My daughter knows I love the vintage utility carts. I have one that I am trying to decide what color to paint it. She shared this one she found on a Good Housekeeping site. Here was the before...

And after. The change is unbelievable. I love it. Just image it with Pyrex on it and vintage collectibles. 

Then I visited Pinterest and saw some pretty nails I liked really well. I am starting to look at manicures. I am going to treat myself to one later this summer for Conference. I really like this one.

But I also loved this plain shiny pink.

I am really into the one accent nail right now. A lot of times, I do this myself with a glitter on my ring finger and pink on the rest.

I love anchors and this is very whimsical. I adore it but just can't see myself going this crazy.

Speaking of anchors, I have been seeing some cute ideas for the Thirty-One cosmetic bag that people use for a bible bag. I think this is one of my favorites. 

But I'm not sure if I like the font above or below the best.

As I have put on weight over the years, my fingers have too. My original wedding rings were lost in a move and my replacement rings have been sized so many times, they can't size them any more. I saw this set the other day and fell in love. They are a lot like my first set when we got married. Trying to decide whether I want new rings for our anniversary this year or not.

Well, I guess I need to call the boss and decide whether it is a "try to come in" or "work from home" type of day today. Have a safe day wherever you are.

I am so very tired of it all....

This weather is about to get everybody down. I am so tired of cold and freezing rain and snow and ice and frigid temperatures....etc.

I know you in winter wonderlands will agree with me that enough is enough. They are calling for black ice today so I am not sure if I will be able to make it up my hill or not until it warms up later this morning. 

I can normally handle the bad weather, but when it causes my UPS man not to deliver me a box of goodies, I get a tad upset. I was supposed to get a Thirty-One shipment on Friday. At 7:30 Friday morning, the tracking said "Out for delivery." I even passed a UPS truck delivering in my neck of the woods on my way home. 

By 8:00, no UPS man so I checked the tracking and it said "Rescheduled for Monday delivery." WHY? He was just a few blocks from my house and we had nothing on our road that day. I just live literally 2 minutes from the main road. It is just one hill that is the problem and it was totally clear on Friday. 

I was not a happy camper. But hopefully he will redeem himself and deliver today. If not, I am going to call them and go pick it up. I am very excited to see what everybody ordered and to get it delivered to them. 

At least knowing is SHOULD be here tonight gives me a good reason to be glad it is Monday....which sounds weird because I am never glad it is Monday.

Sunday Songs

A new pasta salad and easy chocolate fudge

For those of you who like pasta salad, I wanted to share a recipe that Hubby created a couple of years ago. It has been a huge hit everywhere I take it. We even have a few people who pay him to make big batches for their family or events. I posted it about a couple of years ago, but had a request recently to re-post. So here it is again, back by popular demand. 

He uses the Garden Rotini noodles for it. It takes the one pound box size. Keep in mind you could substitute any ingredient or quantity to make it suitable to your own tastes. These are just the way we did it.

This recipe is when he made a double batch , so the quantities are doubled. But you can cut it in 1/2 for a smaller amount if you want. In a double batch he uses four carrots, two cucumbers, one jalapeno, two red onions, two containers of cherry tomatoes (tommy toes), two Granny Smith apples and two red apples of your choosing. We used Jonathan's in yesterdays batch but we have made it with Red Delicious as well. Just pick your favorite apple.

The double batch uses three bottles of the large size Zesty Italian dressing. You can substitute the dressing with your own favorite. This double batch takes 1 1/2 bottles of Bac'n Pieces (Bacos) and a small can of chopped black olives.

Cook and drain your noodles and place them in a big bowl for mixing purposes. 

Peel and chop your veggies. Core your apples and it is your personal preference if you want to peel them or leave the peel on. 

Pour the dressing over the entire mixture. 

Stir it around to thoroughly mix it all together. Be gentle but mix well. 

And you have a nice hearty bowl of pasta salad. 

The first time he made the salad, we were having a "kitchen day". We both were in the mood to cook or bake. So he asked me to make this fudge recipe he found on Pinterest. Yes, that's right, my man is a Pinterest man now. He loves creamy chocolate fudge, but we don't make it a lot because it gets expensive to make and it takes quite a while to make it. But this only had two ingredients. Hershey's milk chocolate chips and Eagle Brand condensed milk. 

All you need is a microwavable mixing bowl, an 8 x 8 baking dish or metal cake pan and a spoon. 

You pour one and 1/2 bags of the chips into the mixing bowl. I use my Pampered Chef pitcher because it is easy to pour out of when I'm done. 

You cover the chocolate chips with the milk. 

Put it in the microwave and heat it until all the chips melt. Take it out a couple of times in the process and stir it to keep it blended well. 

Mine took about 2 minutes, give or take. Remove it and stir really good till all the chips are melted and blended well with the milk. 

It recommended lining your baking dish/cake pan with wax paper. Well, I did. And I didn't like it. Next time I will probably butter the bottom and sides of my pan. That's what I do with all my other fudge recipes. The wax paper kept pulling loose when I was trying to smooth it out in the pan and you couldn't get in the corners as well as you can in a buttered dish. 

Refrigerate for a couple of hours till it sets up and then remove it and cut into pieces. Hubby is a muncher and likes his fudge in bite size pieces so he can just grab a couple when he has the munchies so he cut his up small. I am more of a cocoa fan for fudge but he loves it with chocolate chips. He said this turned out really good. 

Our part of the world is still in the winter madness. We had snow last night around midnight, turned to freezing sleet and rain over night, in a few hours it is supposed to be rain and snow mixed and then turning to rain by 1:00. It is crazy. Our Thirty-One C & C is at 2:00 today and we are finding out about a new line of products so I really, really can't wait to go. Hope the weather gets its act together so we can all get out. In the meantime, all this talk about food is making me want to bake. I may make some cookies for my meeting. Have a great day and stay safe and warm.

Discovering Cloche

Cloche is French for bell. Now, many of you may already know about using glass domes in bell like shapes to cover a variety of collections. But I just discovered it on Pinterest and I am in love with all the unique things you can do. Here are some I found that I loved.

Wouldn't this one be a great gift for someone who is a birdwatcher?

Love the beachy-nautical theme to this one.

Talk about super simple. This is so elegant looking but so easy.

I love this, but the chocolate bunny wouldn't last long around here.

I have got to remember this for Christmas. I have several loose nativity sets and this would be an awesome display.

I have seen this one before in a jar. I really want to do one of these this year. 

A neat way to display all the pretty seashells I find at the beach.

Very vintage looking and perfect for someone who loves to crochet.

Okay, now I have to find one of those red bubble gum machines and paint it and fill it with pearls. Too cute. I just sold one in a yard sale about 3 years ago because I couldn't figure out what to do with it.

I see lots of vintage Victorian era items but have no idea how I would display them. This would be cute.

This is the simplest one yet and one I just have to do at Halloween. Just too, too adorable. 

I want to do some craft projects so bad but everything I want to work on I am missing part of the project and with the weather this week and what is coming again tonight, I fear it will be awhile before I can get out anywhere to get any supplies.

Some morning cheer....

We have been snowed in since Monday and I am so ready to get back out into the real world. But not when it is 5° and the feels like is -4°. But alas, I must venture back to the office this morning. I will admit the snow has been pretty, but I have been fascinated with the icicles. All though I am not sure how this will affect my poor apple tree. She is hanging heavy and I am worried about a few of the limbs.

Yesterday around 5:00 the sun was shining in such a way that it looked like the trees had Christmas tinsel on them. It was really pretty.

The way the sun hit this one tree just made it beautiful. Of course, I was going around the house singing from the Frozen song all day...."My soul is spiraling in frozen fractals all around. And one thought crystallizes like an icy blast. I'm never going back; the past is in the past! Let it go, let it go." My singing may not amount to much but the tree sure was beautiful.

We had some good meals and I ate out of my Pyrex pie plate for several meals. My favorite was the twice baked potato-bacon-cheese casserole with scrambled eggs and bacon. Yummy.

I had the leftover bacon with biscuits and peanut butter with a side dish of homemade apple butter for lunch the next day.

Last night we had smoked sausage fixed in homemade baked beans with some fried potatoes and mac & cheese. It was so good. Hubby had a side of onion but I didn't.

I felt the need for spring so I decided to redo my blog template. Doesn't the header just put you in a springy state of mind. I wanted a pic to put on the side bar of the grandkids. I found this one from December 2010. I cannot believe how much they have changed in 4 short years. 

Garret especially. He turns 16 in a few weeks and I for one believe he is a very handsome young man. But my heart misses that little boy who would let me rock him when he stayed all night. Even when he was 2, I would get him on my lap and we would rock for over an hour just watching TV until he got sleepy and ready for bed.

Alexis (10), Caleb (11), Shelby (6) and Colby (4) are just growing up at warp speed as well. Oh, how I wish I could keep them little. But at the same time, they are all so much fun that I wouldn't change a moment of being with them....no matter what age they get.

We usually get one cold spell every year about this time and after that, it gets on the upswing for spring (even though the cold comes back from time to time). I am hoping this was our last major winter storm. I am so ready for daffodils.

Have a great day. Stay safe and warm.