Spontaneity at its Best!

This morning I asked Sis if she and Grant wanted to come shopping with me to help me pick out birthday presents for a few family members. It was very short notice, but she was game. What an adventure it turned out to be!

We went shopping and snagged a Sam's Club hot dog. Mmmm.

He sure is giving it his all!

Then we drove around town looking for an open water pad.  With these triple digit temps all week we needed some relief from the heat.  It was just supposed to be Grant toddling through the sprinkler with his mom...

but she wasn't nearly as daring as Grant needed her to be so never fear, Auntie Nen is here!  I scooped him up and showed Sis how it's really done.

He was leaning into my shoulder in fits of giggles.

It only took a few minutes for us to get totally drenched!

We got soaked without a care in the world as to how we were going to get home with no towels or dry clothes.  Spontaneity at its best! 

We followed up our morning with some ice cream from Freckles before heading home.  

It was mornings like this that I was looking forward to when Sis and her family moved to Tulsa!  Thanks for such a great time, guys!

Lasagna Rolls....Yummy Yummy Lasagna Rolls

Did you catch by the title how yummy these lasagna rolls are?  I can add another yummy if you'd like.  I've had this bad boy pinned on my Nom Nom Nom (Pasta) board for 18 weeks according to Pinterest.  

Kraft calls them their Cheese-Lover's Pasta Roll-Ups.

They were super easy and called for very standard lasagna ingredients.  I added grand beef to mine and a little cracked red pepper flakes to give it an unexpected bite.

Ok, so mine didn't turn out quite as picturesque as theirs did, but they tasted great.  Next time I'd use a bigger jar of sauce.  Other than that, I'd have these again in a heart beat.

Have a great Friday night, all.  I'll be enjoying a girls' night out with complete with queso, margaritas, Magic Mike and a couple of lovely ladies!

Dirty Little Secrets (aka: Confessional Time)

Happy frickity-frackin-freakin-Friday.  I know.  I know.  Those are strong words, but they're true.  The arrival of this joyous day means it's time to link up with the lovely Leslie over at A Blonde Ambition for Confessional Friday.

Here is what I need to confess this week...

• I like to admire my yard work when I'm done with it.  For real, when I'm done, sometimes I run an errand just so I can admire my yard work all over again.  Something good needs to come of all that work!
• I get nervous when I cop is driving directly behind me.  I'm a good driver and I have insurance.  Not sure why I get nervous, but I do.
• I suck at painting my own nails.  I keep trying.  I'm no quitter.
• I've become mildly obsessive about taking care of my pepper plants.  I've salvaged two of the tomato plants and will be buying some kind of netting to keep the little jerks out of the plants this time.
• I'm buying two more of these to stockpile in my freezer tomorrow since it's the June flavor and we're  at the end of June.  Snap some up before they're gone, folks!  Unless you live in Tulsa.  If you live in Tulsa, it tastes horrible and you don't want any.

• Yes, I'm going to see Magic Mike.  The cougar watching might just be as good as the movie.
• I hate when clean edits of inappropriate songs (especially rap) come on the radio because then I sound like a dirty bird when I sing the real words.  True story.

What are you confessing this week?

Craft Wars Premier Party

What's the best way to watch a new tv show?  With girl friends, of course.  The moment Megan saw the commercial for TLC's new show, Craft Wars, she thought of super crafty me.  I loved it.

She invited a few of us gals over to her place to watch the premier, check out the competition, and plot to get my on the show if it's renewed for season two.  

A couple of the girls had previous plans so it
ended up being Megan, Sarah and  me.

Craft Wars is like all of the other "Wars" franchises.  Three crafters are given a crafting challenge with a short time to complete the task.  After that round someone is eliminated.  Next, the remaining two crafters are given a major task and the winner receives $10,000.

The best way to check out a new show is with snacks and cocktails.  Megan made us pineapple upside down cake cocktails made with wedding cake vodka, pineapple juice and a splash of cherry soda.  Delicious!  She also made some phyllo dough treats with peanut butter cups baked inside.  They were so good.  Another refreshing treat she made were these yummy grapes from Very Culinary.

Instead of bringing a snack, I decided to put together a quick craft to do while we enjoyed some sips & nibbles before the show started.  I opted to go with Hope Studio's Button Bracelets.

They were a big hit.  My favorite moment was when Sarah said, "I'm actually enjoying myself."  We died with laughter.  She clarified that she meant she was enjoying making something she'd actually wear again.  It wasn't a silly craft we'd toss out when we got home.  We all loved the bracelets.  Check them out.

We loved the show and are making plans to watch the show again.  By the way, I totally called it on that one girl using hot glue on her bag.  Total amateur move.  Any of you good crafters out there called that one too.  

What did you think of the show?

Junk Gypsy: My Bedroom Edition

A few weeks ago I was introduced, and immediately addicted, to the HGTV show, Junk Gypsies.  I did a post about them, their show, and how we are long lost sisters.  Yep, long-lost sisters.  

Since finding them, I'm hopelessly addicted to their style.  I've not missed a single episode of their show.  I constantly read their blog and can't stop surfing their store site.  You see, this is not me just dreaming (although I'd die a million creative dreams for them to decorate any part of my house). Back on track.  All this surfing and watching isn't a waste of time.  It has me totally and completely inspired!  

When I moved into my rental house last August (aka: a long, long time ago), I started gathering things to decorate my bedroom.  I've bought the paint, gotten some fabric, and some how need to incorporate the beautifully ugly green chair that I adore (read more about that here).  I haven't done anything with them...until now.  

You can tell by the pictures below I've got the starts to a similar eclectic style.  But now that I've been inspired I'm going to take the project over the top. I'm going to spend this summer decorating my bedroom in true Junk Gypsy fashion and I'm taking you all along for the ride!

As a refresher, I have bought a light, but a little bright, aqua paint (that I have yet to put on the walls).

I have this chair.

I have these fabrics.

There's also the vanity I recently refinished.

Now that I've got the inspiration/motivation/mojo to take on my master bedroom, I've picked up some bargains this past week.  You all know I love a bargain!

This decorative pillow was normally $30, but was picked up at Pier 1 for $9.98.  

The pillow was marked down because the end had some lace damage.  Nothing a little stitchery can't fix.

I also found some sample paint pots from Ace Hardware marked down from $3.99 to $1.50.   

As I was picking out colors I asked myself what on earth I would use these paint pots for.  Self told me not to worry one bit because I could definitely find some Junk Gypsy-like use for them.

Now, I just need to figure out how to work in some more spontaneity (maybe I'll add in a little of my tattoo style embroidery), some reclaimed items (like the hutch my parents bought when they got married in the early 70's that I'm going to paint some fun color), and some kind of glittered project to add a little or a lot of pizzazz (because some days just call for fancy)! 

Stay tuned and buckle in because it's going to be a fun ride.

So What Wednesday

Happy So What Wednesday.  It's time to link up with Shannon at LAID.  

Here's what I'm saying So What! to this week...

So What...

**  if I have flannel sheets with snowmen on them as July is fast approaching.  They were clean and smelled delightful (I have Gain's Apple Mango Tango laundry soap, liquid softener and dryer sheets. LOVE IT).  Don't worry, they're coming off tonight.

**  if I'm counting down the days until Big Brother starts.  15 in case you wanted to know.

**  if I'm still on the fence about The Glass House 

(I've read the ratings are horrible), 

but I LOVE Jeffrey!

**  if I bookmarked the RealityTea post that lists reality tv premiers for the entire summer.  If you know me at all you know I love trashy reality tv.

**  if, now that I CAN park in my garage since Sis' stuff is out, I've forgotten that I can...TWICE.  Ugh.

**  if this is my new favorite someecard. Makes me giggle every time.

**  if I realized half of these were about reality tv and I am not one bit ashamed.

What are you saying So What! to this week?

Be sure to check out today's other post, Oh, How Pinteresting.

Oh, How Pinteresting

Hello, half way point.  We're finally to Wednesday.  If it took this long to get to Wednesday, how long is it going to take to get to Friday?!  In order to pass the time I'm linking up with Michelle @ The Vintage Apple for Oh, How Pinteresting.

These are my favorite pins from the past week.

I'm in love with this crochet pattern.  I'm not so great 

at patterns, but I may have to give this one a try.

Source: Mam'zelle Flo via Stefanie

I MUST have this someday.  Some. Day.

Source: Photo Cache via Elyse

I think this might be on my short list of crafts to do.

Source: The Crafting Chicks via Heather

Who doesn't love a homemade sugar scrub?

Source: One Good Thing by Jillee via Gina

The person who came up with this idea is a freakin' genius.

Source: One Dish Dinners via Sarah

I think I'll serve these with the kebobs above.

Source: The Style Dossier via Rebecca

And to finish off this week's list,

a totally gratuitous picture of a super cute baby donkey.

Donkeys hold a special place in my heart.

Source: Donkey & Mule Society via Christel 

I hope you've had a Pinteresting week this week.  You can check out more of my pins here.

Be sure to check out today's other post, So What! Wednesday.

Mouth Watering Recipes: Final Edition

What's the best part of any mean?  Dessert, of course!  I'm closing out June's mini personal Pinterest challenge: recipe edition with a dessert recipe.  You can't shake a stick at Pinterest without seeing some sort of S'more recipe.  I don't know about you, but I can't look at a any of them without my mouth watering.  They look so yummy!

I decided to tackle She Knows Food's S'more Sandwich Bar Cookies recipe this weekend since I had everything on hand except marshmallows and chocolate bars.  

Seriously, how delicious does these look?!

Most of the ingredients are things you already have in your cupboard: sugar, flour, baking powder, salt, etc.  I had graham cracker crumbs on hand from the s'more pops we made at Grant's 1st birthday party. 

See, mostly basic items.  I wasn't lying.

These really were super easy to make.  You just mix up the batter and press half into a pan before baking for 15 minutes...

...place a layer of chocolate...

...a layer of marshmallows...

...and the last of the batter mix crumbled on top...

...before baking for another 15 minutes.

They are so rich and delicious!  Check out all that gooey goodness.

One more success in the books.  I tried to make a lemon pie, but it was not so successful.  I'gm going to try tweaking the recipe a bit before declaring it a misadventure.  I firmly believe one cannot give up on lemony treats as quickly as the rest.

If you've missed any of the recipe challenge, you can find all of the other posts here:

Challenge Intro

2 Recipes Down

Substitutions

2 More Recipes Down

R.I.P., Mater Plants (My Tomato Plants Were Assaulted)

I don't know who has assaulted my plants.  It could be a bird.  It could be squirrels.  It could be rabbits.  No matter who it was, they have taken things way too far.  Little bastards.  

Last week I was so excited because all four of my tomato plants had maters on them.  I even took pictures to share with you because I was a proud little farmer girl.

My Roma plant also had four maters on it.  That was...until the plants started getting attacked.  No joke.  They not only stole the tomatoes, they BROKE THE PLANTS! RUDE!

They broke them right in half!  I surrender.  I have given up on the tomatoes.  I'm focusing only on peppers from now on.  Yep.  No more tomatoes.  I replaced the two broken plants with a pablano pepper plant and a fajita bell pepper plant.  Check out how well my pepper plants are doing...

There is one pepper formed and A LOT
of buds for new peppers.

My jalapeno plant is going crazy.  I think it's time to harvest.

So many super chili peppers there was no
need for arrows to find them.

My fajita bell pepper plant has one pepper
and a lot of blossoms.

The pablano pepper plants has oodles of blossoms.

The giant pepper plant not only has the one giant pepper,
but it has a new baby pepper growing.

My Roma plant HAD two maters left on it last night...

but when I went out to water it tonight, 

they were all gone.  BASTARDS!

So, take that little ravaging critters, you don't like pepper plants, so alas, that is all I'll grow.  Go find someone else's plants to rape.

To end on a happy note, I just went outside and harvested my unassaulted peppers. 

I suddenly have a craving for salsa and spicy stir fry!