Yard Sale Finds!

I am one yard sale away from being featured on the show Hoarders-ha ha!  My friends Sabrina, Allison and I go bright and early every Saturday to look for treasures for our homes.  We always leave at about 7:30 in the morning.  You have to go early to get the best stuff! 
Here are some of the things that I have found recently.  They have found some great stuff too,.  Hopefully they will put their treasures on their blogs too!

I love this silver pitcher.  I keep it in our kitchen and I hide our sunscreen and bug spray in it. 

I got this huge pineapple for $1 last weekend.  I think it's adorable.

Ava found this antique oil can at a yard sale in our neighborhood.  I spray painted it turquoise. 

This is one of my favorite yard sale finds-an antique bird cage.  I love the yellow color. 

I think I might have already showed this before but I just adore it.  We got these windows for free from a guy that was putting in new windows in his house.  I just took it home and cleaned it up and put it on my wall above our fireplace. 

I spray painted these red chargers turquoise and all of the plates, the bowl, the cloth napkin and napkin ring are all from yard sales! I love getting dishes at yard sales.  You can find some really cute ones!

This little table that I painted is another of my favorite yard sale finds.  This table was only $1!

I had to leave early one weekend and Sabrina and Allison picked this milk glass for me. I love it!

I got this table for $2 at a yard sale last weekend.  I painted it...wait for it...turquoise and now Graig uses it as his nightstand!

So I guess I should by stock in that turquoise spray paint after looking at all these pictures together I realize I use that color a lot-ha ha!  We  are going to go again this weekend. I can't wait to show you what we find!  Happy Thursday!

Wednesday recipe!

I have been on vacation from work since last Thursday.  We aren't going anywhere so I guess it's a stay-cation but I'm still having fun!  I honestly thought I would have so much more time for blogging but I haven't really been able to look at blogs for a week.  We have been so busy!  Brock's 8th grade graduation and party was last week.  Brock took the battery out of my camera for his xbox so this is the only picture I have of his graduation-ha ha!  This is from the after graduation party at the school.

We have some really pretty flowers from our garden this year.  I picked these and put them in little vases I got at Target.  They make me so  happy when I see them in our window!

Thanks to my friend Sabrina I have a new appreciation for succulents.  I got this one at Lowe's and my friend Allison gave me the cute chalkboard sign for it.  I think she got the little sign at Michaels. 

This morning I made tortellini salad for lunch.  It's a variation of the tortellini and tomato salad that's in this month's southern living magazine.  Here is a link to the recipe. 
This is the a picture from the southern living blog. 

For mine I added some celery, tomato, carrots and sharp cheddar cheese cubes.  I tossed the pasta, vegetable and cheese with balsamic vinaigrette dressing. 

Here is the bowl that I had for lunch it was great!

My friend Allison made us a pan of home made mac and cheese for dinner tonight.  It's her grandma's recipe and she put it on her blog today. I can't wait to try it!  Thanks Allison! 

PS This is also my 500th post!!I started blogging 3 years ago and it's become a fun hobby for me.  I love getting ideas and seeing how other people live. Happy Wednesday.

Wednesday recipes!

Brock is graduating from 8th grade tomorrow and to celebrate we are throwing him a little party on Friday night.

At his request we are having some of his favorite foods which include hamburgers, hotdogs, macaroni and cheese, baked beans and white sheet cake.  I also am going to make a few other things like deviled eggs, potato salad, and a tossed salad that Brock won't touch but I'm sure our guests will enjoy.

I am also going to make my friend Allison's feta dip.  This dip is SO good.  We had it last night at our 31 party and  people just loved it.  I begged her to make it for me early but she knows me too well and didn't because it would have been gone before the party started.  The picture and recipe are from her blog.

Feta Dip (AKA-the best dip you will ever eat)

What To Do:

1. Wet large platter generously with olive oil

2. Dice green onions and tomatoes

3. Throw them on the olive oil

4. Crumble feta cheese and throw them on the platter too

5. Sprinkle the Greek seasoning on top (yes, there is actually Greek seasoning--I never knew)

6. Mix it all together gently on the platter

7. Slice baguette thinly for dipping.

8. Enjoy!

I'm also going to make my sister's cheesy potatoes.  She hosted a party last month at her new house and made these potatoes.  They looked really good (and easy!) and I wanted to try them at Brock's party.

Cheesy Potatoes

1 package frozen hash browns (I do the cubes)--I think it is 16 oz

1 package cheddar cheese shredded--normal package size

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 can cream of potato soup

8 oz sour cream

Mix all of the ingredients and cook in a crockpot on low for 3 hours. 

Tomorrow is Brock and Ava's last day of school for the year and it's also my last day of work for almost two weeks.  We are SO ready for summer!

Monday, Monday!

Monday is my favorite day of the week.  I know that sounds silly but I always feel like Monday is a fresh start.  After the weekend I do like coming in to work on Monday and getting back to work and into our weekday routines.  This week is Brock and Ava's last week of school.    They are SO excited for summer to start! 

I am off from work next week and I want us to do some fun things.  I printed of this summer to do list from the fabulous eighteen25 blog and I thought they could each write down a few things they want to do next week.  My mother in law (Grandma Jan) always does this with them when they go and stay with her so I thought it would be fun for us to try at home.

Tonight I am going over to my friend Allison's house and we are going to be cooking and baking up a storm  to get ready for our 31 Party tomorrow night.   She is so creative and she made this little lemonade stand that we are going to use at the party. 

31 has some fabulous bags.  Here are some of the bags that are going to be at the party tomorrow night. 

Graig and I worked on house projects all weekend to get ready for Brock's 8th grade graduation party on Friday.  I bought new deck furniture and cushions that I will show you later this week.  I practiced making   iced sugar cookies as the favor for his party.   Those cookies are seriously yummy but they take WAY to much time to make.   One of my new favorite blogs Dixie Delights showed how to make these  baseball favors.These will be MUCH easier to make.

Have a great Monday!

Friday, Friday!

I am SO happy it's Friday!  It has been such a looong week at work, I had to finish my end of year report and calculate a bunch of statistics for the report and I am SO glad it's finished!  I am going to celebrate by getting a pedi with my friends Sabrina from Poppies and Pinwheels and Allison from Lipgloss Lounge after work!

I recently found two website that I LOVE!
The first one is Sam Moon.  I bought this big flower ring and 3 necklace and earring sets for$30 which included shipping!  I get my stuff next week.  I can't wait to see it all!

I also discovered Pinterest.  What a fabulous website!  I am still trying to figure it all out.  It's very similar to blogs and twitter you follow people and can like their pictures, etc.  I think I'm going to have fun playing but these are some images that I pinned. 

I took some pics of my iPhone this morning and I thought I would show you.  This one is from after Ava's dance recital last week.  We always go out for ice cream after her shows and this is just us being silly.  I think we were both exhausted and we were just laughing and being goofy and we were both happy the recital was over!

Sabrina took Ava to the park earlier this week and she sent me this pic of Ava and her daughter Eliza..  I think it's so cute!

Happy Friday everyone!

Wednesday recipes!

Sadly I have not had a chance to make the chicken spaghetti that I posted about last week.  To be honest we have only ate one dinner at home since last Thursday.  With Brock's baseball and Ava's dance recital we have been on the go so much that it has just been easier to order pizza or get subs for dinner rather than cook.  Last night baseball was cancelled because of the rain so we were able to eat together, which was a nice treat!

After work yesterday I took Ava to get some green highlights in her hair. She thought she was so grown up under the dryer-ha!  She was super embarrassed that I was taking her picture in the salon. 

After dinner Graig took Brock and Ava to the mall so Brock could look at a new phone and I decided to try to make some cookie favors for Brock's 8th grade graduation party which is next week.  I am SO bad at baking cookies.  For Ava's cookie party I always get the tubes of cookie dough and the frosting in the can.  I have just always hated making cut out sugar cookies. 

I thought it would be fun to try to make cookies for Brock's party so last week I started looking up recipes on line.  I found the blog  bake at 350 which has tons of great cookie and icing recipes with step by step instructions. The pioneer woman actually has a wonderful post about this blog and the cookies that she makes.   I printed out the recipe for almond sugar cookies and royal icing and made a sample batch tonight.I halved the cookie recipe and that made 13 cookies and I only made 1/4 of the icing recipe.    I am happy with the way they turned out!  I don't have any icing tips so I cut a small corner out of the zip lock bags to make the baseball stitches and the letter B. I would like to get the icing tip because I think that would make them look more professional.   I think I might make these for his party! 

My Dad and Vicki are visiting my sister Shelby so last night we face timed them and we gave my Dad his Father's Day gift a little early.  We got him a steak gift set from Omaha Steaks. Happy Wednesday!

Ava's dance recital 2011!

Last weekend Ava had her dance recital.  She has been looking forward to this weekend for months.  Dance is her absolute favorite thing to do and she has been practicing for months for her show.  It was a fun and exhausting weekend. She had one show on Friday evening and two shows on Saturday. Graig, Grandma Jan and I watched on Friday night and then I worked backstage during the Saturday afternoon show and collected tickets during the Saturday night show. 

Ava did 6 dance classes this year and 5 of them were at this studio.  She took jazz, tap, lyrical, hip hop and modern.

She had 6 costume changes during the show including one quick change (where there is only one dance between two of your dances) which she was very proud of.

It was a great weekend but I'm glad it's over until next year.  It's a lot of work!

 

The Bad and the Good

This week has been full of some bad things and some good things in our house.  I thought that I would share what has been going on in our world.

First the bad...
Brock stayed home from school two days this week with strep throat.  The poor thing he just slept and laid around and has felt lousy for two days.  Last night he played in a basketball games and he said after the game that he wish he just stayed home because he felt terrible the whole time he was playing.  His doctor said we need to schedule an appointment with an ENT doctor to talk  about getting his tonsils out. 

I couldn't get to sleep last night!  Have you ever had nights like that?  Usually I go right to sleep but last night I could not sleep.  The last time I looked at the clock it was 2:15 in the morning.  I missed my favorite exercise class of the week this morning at 5:30 because of my lack of sleep.

Ok now on to the good (I am thankful there is more good than bad!)

Graig and I celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary on Tuesday June 7.  I can't believe we have been married 14 years!  I was at a conference for work all day Tuesday so we went out for lunch on Wednesday to celebrate. 

Ava's dance recital is this weekend!  She has been working so hard and I can't wait to see her dance tonight!
Today she wore her hair in curlers to school so her hair would be curly for tonight.  All the dancers have to wear their hair in curly ponytails.  She was so proud to get to wear her curlers to school today-ha ha!

My neice Ainsley got her little helmet this week  that she has to wear for a few months to straighten out her head.  My sister Shelby  has been writing about it on her blog.  Ainshley is the cutest and happiest baby I can't wait to love on her when we visit them later this summer!

My friend Allison gave me the best nailpolish.  I love it! It's called Ballet Slippers by Essie and it's a great neutral color for summer.  Thanks Allison!!

I also discovered my new favorite flavor of yogurt.  Chiobani black cherry.  I get Chiobanni all the time because I eat them for snacks at work but I had never had the black cherry flavor until this week.  It is delicious!

Last summer we hosted Kyle,  a college baseball player from California in our home.  He was planning on playing in Alaska this summer but he found out this week that he got switched to a team in Massachutes.  He is going to be 2 1/2 hours away from us!  We are going to take a day trip out to see him and watch him play.   We are really excited to be able to see him again this summer!


Wednesday recipes!

Last week I tried 3 different recipes that I posted about here.  The grilled corn salad  and chicken salad were  amazing!  I will make these two things again.  The ribs turned out OK they were kind of tough and didn't fall off the bone like I wanted them too.  I do want to try this recipe again to see if they turn out better the next time. 

  This week I'm going to try the Pioneer Woman's chicken spaghetti.  This looks SO good to me.  I am going to make a few adjustments since Graig and Brock are SO picky.

photo from the Pioneer Woman's website

Here is the recipe with my adjustments

Ingredients

■2 cups Cooked Chicken (I will use 2-3 cooked chicken breasts)
■3 cups Dry Spaghetti, Broken Into Two Inch Pieces
■2 cans Cream Of Mushroom Soup (I will use cream of chicken)
■2 cups Grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese
■¼ cups Finely Diced Green Pepper (Brock and Graig won't eat peppers, onion or pimento so I'm going to make two pans and I'll leave this out of their pan)
■¼ cups Finely Diced Onion
■1 jar (4 Ounce) Diced Pimentos, Drained
■2 cups Reserved Chicken Broth From Pot
■1 teaspoon Lawry's Seasoned Salt
■⅛ teaspoons (to 1/4 Teaspoon) Cayenne Pepper
■Salt And Pepper, to taste
■1 cup Additional Grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese

Preparation Instructions

Cook 1 cut up fryer and pick out the meat to make two cups. Cook spaghetti in same chicken broth until al dente. Do not overcook. When spaghetti is cooked, combine with remaining ingredients except additional 1 cup sharp cheddar.

Place mixture in casserole pan and top with remaining sharp cheddar. Cover and freeze up to six months, cover and refrigerate up to two days, or bake immediately: 350 degrees for 45 minutes until bubbly. (If the cheese on top starts to get too cooked, cover with foil).

I'll let you know how we like this one.  Today Brock stayed home from school I took him to the doctor and he has strep throat.  His doctor said we should consider getting his tonsils taken out. Ava has her last rehearsal before her dance show tonight and Graig has baseball practice.  It's a busy day in our house!

Weekend recap!

This weekend was SO busy for Brock and Ava so I thought I would show some pictures from their weekend activities.  I am so thankful I have this blog because I take a lot of pictures of them but I hardly ever print them out.  I haven't put any pictures in photo albums in years-ha ha!

Here are some pictures from Brock's baseball game on Saturday afternoon.  He played a team from New Jersey.  Thankfully we won!  Here are some action shots of Brock pitching.

Sunday Ava had a 7 1/2 hour dance practice for her dance show which is this weekend. Yes you read that right  it was a looooong day!  She is in 6 dances and I want to get pictures of her in each of her costumes.  She hates it when I follow her around the dressing room with my camera so on Sunday I was only  able to get a couple.  I will have to get the rest of them this weekend.  Her studio also hires a photographer and a videographer so if my pictures don't turn out I can buy some from the studio. 

Ava with 2 friends in their lyrical costumes. Lyrical is a mix of ballet and jazz and it's Ava's favorite class!

Ava and her friend in their Modern costumes. 

Tomorrow  it's going to be 95 degrees which is super hot for upstate NY.  Like most people in our area we don't have central air.  I am thankful my work is air conditioned!  I'm going to post the recipes I'm going to make next week.  Have a good night!

garage sale finds!

Almost every weekend Sabrina, Allison and I go to yard sales to find treasures.  We are going again tomorrow morning.  I thought I would show some of the things we found last weekend.

I love these, I bought 8 yellow bowls.  Here's one with my salad from tonight. 

 I LOVE turqouise so when I saw this I thought it was perfect.  It's really old use to be used on electric poles. 

My friend Becca uses enamel pots and bowls for drinks when she has parties.  I thought this would be good for Gatorade, capri sun, etc when Brock and Ava have their friends over. 

This turquoise crate is going to hold magazines in my room. 

Another enamel pot that I am using as a flower pot. 

I love old windows!  This one was $3 and I put it in my garden. I like it just the way it is, I'm not going to paint it or do anything else to it.

Speaking of my garden, I picked these beautiful flowers from it this afternoon.  I love all the summer blooms!

Have a good weekend!