Thoughts Along Life's Highway

Back to school (almost)

We’re in the countdown to the first day of school here…

And, believe it or not, I’m actually looking forward to it.   While I was so terribly excited for the girls to get out of school back in May, I am equally excited about them starting school again in a few weeks…

Here are a few reasons why:

• While I love (initially) not having a schedule, the lack of routine causes us to slip into some not-so-good habits – staying up too late, sleeping in later than we should, eating junk, etc.  I’m looking forward to getting back into a structure/routine and getting us all back into some healthier sleep patterns.
• And the eating thing is a big one, too. I have been so good about menu planning, but in the past few weeks, that has slipped as well, and I found us eating out a lot more in the past two weeks than my body or my budget really prefer. When we are in school, I am much more disciplined (I have to be!) about meals and meal planning.
• I’ve enjoyed having the girls around me this summer, but to be honest, I think we are all starting to get on each others’ nerves a little bit.  It will be nice for them to have the stimulation (and distractions) of school and their after-school activities and I am looking forward to being able to work for several hours uninterrupted each day.
  Sad, I know, that I’m looking forward to work – but it is always a challenge in the summertime to balance working from home with two little monkeys running around asking to go swimming, to eat (constantly!) etc.  The ability to segment my day into “mommy” and “professional” times will be a very welcome change.
• Back to school also means that summer is drawing to a close – which, while I have loved summertime, is wearing out its welcome here and we’re all ready for some change in the air and cooler temperatures. Honestly, I’m getting tired of my summer clothes! I’m ready to pull out some fall colors and long sleeves.

So, bring it on… bring on the new school clothes, book bags and lunch boxes.  Bring on the fall leaves and tumbling temperatures! I’m ready for you!

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Summertime Fruit Cobbler

One of the things I love about summertime is the abundance of fresh fruit. I eat tons and tons of fruit and try to relish every bite, saving the sensations for those cold winter days when fruit is less plentiful and is shipped in from South America or other exotic locales – and is therefore picked early to maintain freshness in shipping. It just doesn’t have the same juicy flavors then… the flavors of summer.

When I was a girl, my mom would make this fruit cobbler. I remember it being a special treat we’d enjoy with ice cream and the combination of the sweetness of the fruit along with the crispy topping was just heaven.

I’ve made other fruit cobblers in the past – I have a recipe that has been my “go-to” cobbler recipe and I just love it – not for the recipe but because it is written by my grandmother’s hand. I don’t have too many things like that anymore and I really cherish it. It is one of the few recipes I’ve not transferred to a typewritten format.

Love her shorthand… and her handwriting.

sigh.

Anyway.

While I was at Mom’s last week, she had an abundance of peaches that were ripening on the counter. We decided to make peach cobbler one night.  I wanted to do one that was different from this one and Mom thought she had some other recipes.  Lo and behold she uncovered the one that she used to make when I was a girl.

yay!

Angelina helped us to make it. She was the official “mixer” of the ingredients…well, of everything except the part with the boiling water. I did that one for safety reasons. :-)

It was just like I remembered. Crispy on the top, fluffy cobbler breading and sweet fruit filling.  Total bliss.

Last night I made the cobbler with some blueberries that had been languishing in the refrigerator.  SuperMan hates it when I leave blueberries in the fridge for too long because they invariably fall out and spill all over the floor at some point. So, I decided in the interest of household peace, we’d eat the little suckers.

It was just as yummy as the peach version.

Here’s the recipe in case you want to try it…

It’s totally flexible – use strawberries, blueberries, any kind of berries or stone fruits.  You can’t go wrong. You could even go crazy and use apples and add some cinnamon for a fall treat. (hmmm….)

Mom’s Fruit Cobbler

Fresh or canned fruit (I used a combination of both for the blueberry one, we used about six fresh peaches for the peach one)
1 3/4 cup sugar (or 1/2 cup plus 3/8 cup Splenda Blend)
3 Tbsp butter, softened
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
1 cup flour
1 Tbsp cornstarch
2/3 cup boiling water

1. Cover bottom of 8x8 inch square pan with fruit.
2. Mix 3/4 cup sugar, butter, baking powder, salt, milk & flour together. (use the 3/8 cup Splenda blend here)
3. Spoon over fruit.
4. Mix remaining sugar & cornstarch. Sprinkle over dish.
5. Pour boiling water over top.
6. Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes.

 

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Project Life Tuesday ~ 26 July

Moving in slow motion today… I was up most of the night last night, in spite of taking Benadryl for allergies, because of a nasty stomach bug that decided to attack. I think there can’t be much worse than being so groggy from Benadryl and yet so sick that you can’t possibly sleep. I tried the sofa upstairs, the sofa downstairs, the bed (but was afraid to wake SuperMan with my tossing & turning) and finally ended up in my rocking chair/recliner with a heating pad on my tummy until SuperMan got up for work.  I didn’t really fall asleep until around 4:30 this morning.

So, out the window goes the plans for most of my productivity today. I’m keeping expectations low and plans simple.  Put dinner in the crock pot – a comforting beef vegetable soup – and have stuck to simple foods and protein shakes for my meals so far today. Let’s let sleeping dogs lie, you know what I mean?

I decided to make a digital scrapbook page with my Project Life pictures this week. I’m determined to finally learn Photoshop and I know I won't do that until I actually use it. It is hard, because I am so proficient in the Creative Memories software and my inclination is to just open that and go when I feel like scrapbooking. But I want to learn and utilize the power of Photoshop, so I know I have to be patient with my slowness at first or else I will never become proficient.

Here’s my page today:

The journaling reads:

1. Pinky Cat hanging out on the sidewalk at Mom’s house.
2. Brunswick stew at my favorite local Savannah restaurant - Carey Hilliards. We make a “pilgrimage” every time we go to Savannah to get our fix for fried shrimp and bbq.
3. Sweet Little Bit’s birthday
4. Big Girl “babysitting” the neighbor’s little chunk of love.
5. Playing scrabble & drinking (root) beer
6. More scrabblers
7. Mom’s yummy breakfast - cheese grits, bacon, maple sausage & eggs.
8. Pucker up, baby.
9. A snack on the road home - cheese dip at Taco Mac.
10. Little Bit the scientist with her new microscope.
11. One last birthday celebration at Rice Restaurant on Friday night.
12. Clean puppy after her weekly bath.

Join the Project Life link-ups over at these sites:

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Menu Plan Monday ~ 25 July

Wow – do you realize we are halfway to CHRISTMAS!!  Goodness.

It certainly doesn’t FEEL like Christmas outside. As a matter of fact, it feels as far away from Christmas-y weather as you can get. We’re baking (or, rather, steaming) away here in the South.  Temps are in the high 90s and humidity levels are in the ungodly ranges – 60-70%. UGH. 

Even us southern belles who claim to never sweat can’t escape the heat – or the sweating.  I rode bikes with Big Girl yesterday evening and we both thought we were going to die from the heat.  Granted, I was (stupidly) riding in jeans.  But it was hot regardless of how you were dressed.  You know it’s hot when you don’t mind having ice cubes rubbed directly on your skin – it actually felt good!!

We do have rain predicted for this week, but I’m afraid it’s only going to make things muggier, not cooler. We will see. It will depend on how much rain actually falls.  Those quick little afternoon “pop up” showers do little to cool things down. They just make you feel like you are in a steam room.

Ah, well, such is life in the south in July and August. I can’t complain. It is what it is. I have to say, I’d much rather deal with this than months and months of snow and below-freezing temperatures like my friends in the northern lands deal with (Wendy!)

I’m trying to get myself back onto a schedule this week after a week of total fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants-ness.  Staying at Mom’s last week meant cooking on the fly and eating out at our favorite local restaurants… much good food, but very little planning.

This week, I’m hoping to start to get the girls back into a routine, waking earlier (ugh) and eating dinner earlier in preparation for those soon-to-be-here school days.  We have two and a half weeks before school starts, so it’s time.I let the kids help choose the meals for the week this week. They picked some favorites and I filled in the blanks.  I have to go grocery shopping today so the day I cook each meal is not set yet, but here’s the general plan:

• Taco Salads (little bit’s choice)
• Grilled chicken w/ veggies & hobo pocket potatoes (SuperMan’s request)
• Beef tips with egg noodles & mushroom gravy
• Grilled steak (maybe, if it is on sale at the store) (another kid request – figures)
• Crock pot lasagna (big girl’s choice)
• Asian chicken

I’m hungry for grilled shrimp, so I may pick some up at the store and toss them on the grill one night, too.  Big Girl is not much of a shrimp eater, but the rest of us love them.

What about your plans for the week? Hop over to orgjunkie.com for more menu planning ideas.

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Takin' a little break

I’m taking a little blogging break this week.

We are at my mom’s and the girls and I are enjoying some down time, so I decided to let myself off the hook for any more posts this week.

I’ll be back next week with more stories, scrapbook pages and recipes.

Until then, I hope you have a good rest of your week as I know I sure will!

Project Life Tuesday (a little late)

I’m a little late with Project Life this week – I’m on vacation and got a little behind in my posting-ahead schedule – that, and I wanted to use Tuesday’s post to pay homage to my little one who celebrated her birthday.

This week’s Project Life photos are all from my cell phone – I’ve been enjoying the portability and the fact that I have it with me everywhere I go.

I’m loving my Instagram app – but I use a bunch of other iPhone photo apps as well. I am having fun experimenting and finding different styles with each one. 

Join the Project Life link-ups over at these sites:

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Seven Years ago Today

We were welcoming our little Doodle Bug into the family.

Hard to believe she is seven today. My sweet, big girl.

Happy Birthday, sweet girl.  I love you so very much!

This is the story of a bird...

a very resilient, brave (and sometimes stupid) little bird.

We came home from running errands on Wednesday afternoon – following a big rainstorm – to find a little bird in the front yard.  Big Girl found the bird sitting on the ground under one of the trees and called me outside to see it. (We think he must’ve gotten blown from the nest during the storm.)

At first, I wanted to just leave the bird alone, thinking nature would take care of its own.  Then, I realized quickly that neither the girls nor my conscience would allow that to happen.

I called my mom, who used to raise birds, to find out what I should do. She suggested picking up the bird in a dishcloth and putting it in a shrub and hopefully its parents would find it and take care of it. So that is what we did.

“Peep” (or Cheep, or Tweet as he has been called) sat happily in his makeshift nest until SuperMan got home from work that evening. He fed him a few worms and made him a “nest” in some grass clippings in the flower bed under a tree.

The next day, Peep was hopping all over the yard and we spent a lot of time “rescuing” him as he hopped into the neighbor’s driveway, rolled down the hill and got caught in tree limbs, etc.

The girls got very attached to him and spent a lot of time watching him from the sunroom and front porch.  He had quite the personality and would open his little beak asking for worms anytime anyone got close to him.

His parents continued to feed him and SuperMan offered worms every evening when he returned home from work. Peep hopped all over the yard and got bigger and bigger. We were pretty happy and hoped that we’d rescued him and that he’d soon fly off to be a big bird in our woods.

On Friday, we got a suggestion to put him in a makeshift “nest” – a basket hung from a tree – in hopes that his parents would be able to better care for him and that we wouldn’t have to keep rescuing him from driveways and streets.

So, SuperMan and I made him a “nest.”

 

And we figured we were good to go. Peep had a new home, safely away from predators and vehicles and tucked up under a tree so he would stay safe and dry.

And all was well.

Or so we thought.

Until it got “cold” last night.  After the storms we had yesterday, temperatures dropped into the sixties last night. Which isn’t really cold unless you are a baby bird.

And unfortunately, I think it was too cold for Peep.

The girls are devastated.  Big Girl is crying in her room. Little Bit is trying to make sense of it and reasoning it out in her own little way.

SuperMan and I feel bad, but, you know, we did the best we could. And we know that. I hate that he didn’t make it, but I am glad that the girls had three days to experience a little bit of nature – and even a little bit of the harsher realities of life.

So now Peep will live on in our memories and we’ll watch his siblings as they grow and fly from the nest (that was too high to reach to put Peep back in) and the Circle of Life will go on.

How to make chocolate milk

Today’s post is a guest post.

Brought to you by the cutest Doodle Bug I know.
She will be sharing her expert recipe with you – a recipe for chocolate milk.

Take notes. You will want to make your own.

Hee hee.

"C" is for Cookie

I tried a new cookie recipe this week. Well, it wasn’t a new recipe. Just new to me.

I had tasted these cookies at the bread class I went to back in April.  They had them as dessert for the luncheon we had after we learned to make the breads.  They were oh, so yummy.

My friend Deborah and I decided we just had to make them for our families. Fortunately, they gave us the recipe in our goodie bags, so the plan was made.

And then I forgot about them.

Until this week when Deborah stopped by for a quick visit this week and she mentioned them.

And then I couldn’t stop thinking about them!

So, I decided to whip up a batch, hoping I had the ingredients on hand. I had most of them, which resulted in a few substitutions and a very yummy finished product.

Here’s the result. A chewy, slightly sweet, but not overly sweet cookie. It was a huge hit with the kids and the neighbors.

One little thing, though. These are made without sugar. Or, rather, without “traditional” sugar.  They are made using sucanat.

Sucanat is a sweetener made from the juice of sugar cane.  First the juice is extracted and then the moisture is evaporated, leaving crystals which are sucralose. It has a rich, sweet, molasses taste and is not as sweet as refined white sugar (which is what most of us use). I also used Sucanat with honey. This is the same, except that a small amount of honey is added before the evaporation process which yields a milder, sweeter crystal.

Both of these work well in substituting for brown sugar (Sucanat) and white sugar (Sucanat with honey) And, if you don’t have Sucanat at home, you can substitute white or brown sugar 1:1 without issue.

So, give it a try if you have a hankerin’ for a cookie one day and want something a little bit different.

I think you’ll be glad you did.

Summertime Cookies

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup sucanat with honey (or white sugar)
1 cup sucanat (or light brown sugar)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 cup Heath toffee bits

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cream butter and sugars until creamy.
3. Add eggs & vanilla; mix well.
4. Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder & salt.  Add to butter mixture and mix well.
5. Stir in the oats, chips and bits.
6. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes until golden brown.
7. These will be chewy-gooey when they first come out of the oven, so let them sit on the cookie sheet for a few minutes before you transfer them to a cooling rack to finish cooling – if you don’t they will fall apart on your spatula.
8. Store in a tightly covered container (if they last that long)

Note: the original recipe called for 1/2 cup of shredded coconut and 1/2 cup of chopped nuts. No one in my house likes coconut (except me) and the kids don’t care for nuts, so I substituted the white chocolate & toffee bits for those ingredients.

Back to School Shopping

I bet you read that and thought “Huh? It’s still SUMMERTIME. Is she NUTS?”

Well, yes, actually, I am a little nuts, but it is also getting close to that time of year… or at least for us it is. Where we live, school starts in early August, so we’re already seeing stores full of back-to-school supplies and the girls are already starting to obsess about who will be their teachers, etc.

So, naturally, I’m thinking back-to-school shopping.

And I thought I’d share with you some of my picks for this year.

• Last year, I purchased both girls Backpacks from LL Bean – they were a bit more expensive than the local options from WalMart or Target, but well worth the purchase price as they lasted all year and they are in great shape to go another school year. I won’t be buying new backpacks, that’s for sure. The girls love these and they don’t really need new ones.

 

• I also bought them lunchboxes to match – and they are not showing any signs of wear from last year’s use, so we’ll most likely reuse those as well.
  I like the fact that they have a mesh pocket outside for napkins, hand sanitizer, etc. and the lid has another mesh pocket inside that fits a drink just perfectly, leaving the entire base for your lunch goodies.

• Bento Boxes from Laptop Lunches.
  Doodle Bug loved having her “bento box” lunches last year – I made up my own by using a large Tupperware-type container with silicon cupcake liners inside. But the drawback was that I was challenged in keeping things separated, especially when something was liquidy (like ranch dressing to dip veggies in) and then we had a mess to deal with – either at lunch or after school. UGH.
  Not this year! These nifty boxes each seal individually and the whole case is insulated.  Additionally, they are PVC & BPA-free  and dishwasher safe!!
  
  So, I will probably add this to the list to purchase – at least for Doodle Bug – and see how they work out. I'll either purchase the entire kit (pictured above) or just the little containers (which is how I may start out and see how it works since I have nice lunchboxes already)
  
  There’s a mesh sleeve on the outside for holding a water bottle – and I plan to purchase this one -
• The FlyLady’s stainless water bottles – I have been wanting to get them for a while now – I love that they are double-walled, have two openings (one large for adding ice, etc, one small for drinking) and the nifty colored loops to keep them identified by owner.
  Since I have been trying to justify buying them for the whole family, I figured this is the year to do it – no backpack purchases to eat up the budget, so I’ll splurge on this!

There will, of course, be the requisite purchase of thousands (it seems) of crayons, markers, pens, pencils, and the like.  The kids are still using some of the things we purchased last year, but it’s hard to pass up the sales when crayon boxes are twenty-five cents each (instead of a couple dollars as they are mid-school year) and so I usually fill the cabinet when we go shopping.

What about you? Are there any major school supply purchases you’re already contemplating?

I’m still on the hunt for a 3-ring notebook that lasts more than three months in a kid’s backpack. If you know of one, let me know!!

 

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Project Life Tuesday ~progress

Well, I have made some progress – finally! – in my Project Life book.

I set up a scrap space in the living room this weekend and purposely ignored the chores, laundry, etc. for a few hours Friday, Saturday and Sunday so that I could get a little scrapbooking done.

I managed to get from January through April up to date. That, my friends, is a huge accomplishment, given that I had everything in piles – piles of pictures, piles of memorabilia, piles of printouts, post-its, etc. Organization was the first step, and then I just started putting things into pages.

For March and April, I gave up the notion of a two-page spread per week and just focused on getting groups of pictures together in logical arrangements. I actually like it pretty well, as it more accurately reflects our life – snippets of the everyday with a few things highlighted.

Here are a few of the pages. I’m using some different sized page protectors as well – 6x12 for the days when I have extra pictures, 8x10 for the kids’ school work and some printouts of some of my favorite blog posts I wanted to capture. (my blog is like my online scrapbook, so why re-do the journaling?) I also got an assortment of 12x12 pocket pages on scrapbook.com with some different configurations of pockets that I’m using when I need some vertical picture sleeves.

I have to say, I’m loving this process. I want to get April/May/June done so that I can work week-to-week and stay caught up. I love the simplicity and being able to capture what was important without getting caught up in all the frills and furbelows of “traditional” style scrapbooking.

I am also loving the fact that I’m using up my stash. Other than the Project Life kit and a few packs of page protectors (mentioned above) I’ve not bought anything else. I’m just using what I have – which is copious amounts of paper and embellishments – and I love that I’m making do with what I have and still making something pretty. I’ve decided to put my family calendar pages in for each month – thought it would be a good way to remember what we were up to each month. I’m using an 8x10 insert to hold them.

This is the back of the calendar page – a church bulletin and my self portrait marking one year since my surgery.

8x10 pages with my blog post.

Using one of the other inserts to get some vertical 4x6 pictures in.

loving the 8x10s to keep the kids’ schoolwork in the book.

This is one of the 6x12 pages (on the right) for some extra pictures I had. a blog post – why redo the work? just stick it in a page protector! Well, that’s a pretty photo heavy post! Thanks for sticking through to the end!!

More updates hopefully next week!

On a Saturday Morning ~ 9 July

Outside my window … it is rainy, misty and foggy. PERFECT weather to stay home and scrapbook, which is what I am planning to do today.

I am thinking about … well, I’m thinking about too many things. I need to try to quiet my mind some this weekend. I’m not sleeping well lately, and I think it is because I have too much on my mind.

I am thankful for … all of the blessings in my life, especially my family.

From the kitchen … baking bread today – and maybe some chili, even though it is way too hot for it, I have a craving.

I am wearing … my usual Saturday “uniform” of yoga pants and t-shirt.

I am creating … hoping to create some scrapbook pages today, and some yummy food.

I am reading … just started a new book last night, but only made it 10-15 pages in before I got sleepy. Trying to find something to grab my attention. Have had a couple “dud” books the last few weeks.

I am hoping … SuperMan’s work doesn’t do another layoff soon.

I am hearing … the washer, dryer and sounds of Pound Puppies on TV.

Around the house … the chaos that comes when the kids are home 24/7 in the summertime.

A few plans for the week … work, church, scrapbooking & the pool.

What about you?

Hop on over to The Simple Woman’s Daybook to log your entry.

Five on Friday: Summer Favorites

Oh, I’m so thankful it’s Friday! It has been an interesting week.  Even though it was a short work-week, it’s been packed full.  Today the girls both have sleepovers – one here, one away – and SuperMan is working overtime, so the craziness continues.

I’m taking the afternoon off, though, so I plan to get in some quality scrapbooking and pool time for sure.

I am enjoying summertime so much this year… which is very different from years past. I used to think of summer as something to endure – endure the heat, endure the bugs, etc. Now, I’m relishing summer and all the unique things it has to offer.

I thought I’d share with you some of my favorite things about summer today ~ and maybe you can do the same in the comments?

So, here’s my

Five on Friday:
Summer Favorites

1. Fresh, sweet corn – cooked on the grill to enhance the sweetness - slathered in butter and sprinkled with salt.  I would eat this every single day in the summer if I could (and I usually do!)  It’s one of those things I find myself reminiscing about on the cold winter nights when we’re eating frozen (or canned, blech) vegetables because there is no fresh corn in sight.                                         
2. The sound of the tree frogs and crickets as they sing me to sleep at night.  This is the quintessential sound of summer to me.  The first time I hear the frogs, is when I know it is truly summer. Some nights, I leave my bedroom porch door open just a little so that I can hear the frogs in the pond outside our room as they sing to their lady friends.
   
   
3. All the fresh, local fruit you can eat – watermelon, cantaloupe, peaches, nectarines, berries, plums, the list goes on and on. It’s a virtual smorgasbord for me. And since I’m not doing sugar these days, the sweetness of the fruit satisfies my sweet tooth in a healthy and acceptable way.
   
   
4. “Sleeping in” – or, more accurately, not having to get up in the dark to get going for the day. I love allowing my body to reset itself back to it’s natural sleep patterns… which, for me, means staying up a little later and sleeping a little later in the mornings. I relish waking up without the alarm clock and I’m dreading August 11th when the girls go back to school and we’re up before the sun again.
   
   
5. Lazy days spent at the pool or the beach – although we haven’t made it to the beach yet this year, we’re enjoying our neighborhood pool. It’s nice to unwind at the end of the day with a dip in the pool and to just let your body relax and swirl around in the cool water.  It’s even more fun when spent with friends. :-)

What are YOUR five favorite things about summertime?

Share them in the comments below – or if you want to include them in your own blog post, include a link in the comments below!

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8 New Recipes to Try this Week

I’m kind of in a rut these days… we’re grilling for dinner pretty frequently, especially since it’s so hot and that keeps my house cooler.

So, I’m on the hunt today for some new recipes to try – and that leads me to my stash of linked recipes I’ve accumulated.

I am a big fan of Delicious – I use it to keep track of all the recipes I stumble across as I’m reading blogs. I love the fact that I can tag it and that makes it so easy to go back and find a recipe without going through a bajillion links to find the needle in the haystack.

I usually tag “recipe” as a basis, adding the type of recipe – cookies, bread, dessert, main dishes, etc. to make it easier to find later on.

I also use the “star” feature in Google Reader to keep track of my favorite blog posts. I need to take those and add them to Delicious, though. That way, I’ll have everything in one place.

Once I try a recipe and make it my own, I move it to my recipe binder and keep the link for future reference.

I thought I’d share some recipes I’ve got earmarked to try sometime soon ~ as soon as I get out of this rut that I’m in, that is.  (it’s a delicious rut, but a rut nonetheless)

• The Best Dinner Rolls of Your Life (Amateur Gourmet)

• Root Beer Float Cake (Brown Eyed Baker)

• Chocolate Apricot-Almond Granola Bars (Visions of Sugar Plum)

• DIY Oreos (Annie’s Eats)

• Oatmeal Blueberry Scones (The Mother Huddle)

• Peach Bread (I am Mommy)

• Simple Sesame Chicken (Balancing Beauty & Bedlam)

• Fiesta Ranch Vinaigrette Spinach Salad

What about you? Do you have any recipes you’ve got marked to try sometime soon?

Project Life Tuesday ~ 5 July

What a fun weekend we had – in spite of the fact that my poor momma got sick with a flu-type bug – and how nice it was to be with our family again. 

I have lots of pictures this week (seems to be a trend?) Having fun taking photos of every day things and I am starting to notice little things to take snapshots of while we are on our adventures… like the mini-car on a post that I wanted to take a picture of but couldn’t because it was pouring down rain (next time, I will, though)

 

Pretty Pedi with my friend Carol

Pool monkeys.

The spreadsheet that tried to kill me.

Recovering after finishing the killer spreadsheet

Arts and crafts to make a hot summer day pass more quicklyAnd when that fails, there is always the pool!Friday night’s dinner at a Japanese restaurant along the road to Savannah included new flavors of “Japanese sprite” and a walk along Main Street where we met a guard kitty in a store window.The lonely highway to Mom’sThe beautiful dinner-plate hibiscus in my mom’s garden.

Hitching a ride with Pop Pop

Helping Ammi make lunchSaturday morning shopping at the Farmer’s MarketDate night night-capSwingin’ with Momma.            

Dinner on the way home on the 4th.

Pit Stop on the way home

Happy July 4th!

I’m off today hanging out with the family,
enjoying some good food and great company.

Hope you are having a wonderful day, too!

Sunday Silliness

Date night