P90X, The High Country and a Pine Cone Swag…

Ok..I know that title is confusing but I have several things to post about (and I know I haven’t posted in a couple of months) so I thought 1 post could cover it ALL!

Read More»

Outdoor Halloween Trees..

My sisters-in-law and I are planning a Halloween Party.  And what’s a Halloween Party without the decorations?  And this Halloween Project is a real no brainer.  All you need are some branches, spray paint and a container to put them in.  And of course the best part is decorating the trees.  I won’t be decorating mine until the day of our Halloween Party so for now mine are naked!!!

Read More»

Lowe’s Creative Ideas…

Do you get the Lowe’s Creative Ideas Magazine they send out?  If not, you can subscribe here. And the best part is that it’s FREE!!  It always has the best decorating ideas for the holidays.  Look at this cute idea for fall- {all of the pics and directions are from Lowe’s website}

Read More»

It’s {Almost} Fall Ya’ll…

I adore Fall. The leaves turning brilliant colors, the smell of wood burning, not to mention Halloween and Thanksgiving.  And speaking of food…Krispy Kreme is introducing some new doughnuts.  They look awesomelicious…wait…what?  Anyway, they look good!

‘Nuff said…

And now a word from Krispy Kreme-

Krispy Kreme has two new delicious doughnuts in time for the fall — Apple Spice Cake and Caramel Apple Cobbler! You’ll think you’re back in Mom’s kitchen with these limited-time doughnuts, available until October 3.

Our Apple Spice Cake is a delicious traditional cake doughnut made with real apples and complementary spices, including cinnamon. Our Caramel Apple Cobbler is a yeast-raised doughnut filled with sweet, tree-ripened apples and a smooth caramel icing and crunchy oat topping.

P’nut Butter and Jelly Cookies…

I absolutely LOVE peanut butter cookies…and I LOVE the 3-ingredient peanut butter cookie recipe for these cookies.  And what could make these even better????   Blackberry Jelly!!!   My friend Gina gave me some jelly she made with blackberries she grew.  The weird thing is…I HATE blackberries.  Not the taste, but the seeds- the good thing about the jelly is that it doesn’t have seeds.

Read More»

Vacation, All I Ever Wanted…

My family and I spent a few days in Cherokee, NC.

If you’ve never been then let me be your tour guide through this beautiful city.

Read More»

Shortcut Strawberry Shortcake…

What do you do when you’re suffering from a head cold and it’s pouring down rain outside? Why, what else…you cook!!  And this shortcut cake is so easy to make you can even do it with medication running through your body…

But first an introduction…

Meet my friends helping me today- Rawleigh’s Medicated Ointment and Coca-Cola!!!

With enough Coke flowing through your veins and medicated salve on your forehead you can conquer the world!!  Well, at least a cake.   Now on with the recipe!!

Bake your cake according to the instructions on the box.  I used Pillsbury’s Butter Cake mix.

I then mashed about 2 cups of strawberries with a couple tablespoons of sugar.

This will create a wonderful and tasty syrup.

Once you spread the berries put the cake in the freezer for 10 to 15 mins.

This will make the strawberries stay in place while spreading the frosting.

It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas {Cooking}…

I love Christmas and I love giving gifts.  The problem is not having enough money to buy those gifts with.  So this year my friends and loved ones will be getting homemade gifts from the heart….and my kitchen!  And if you didn’t know- Christmas is only 164 days away!!!  So you may want to get on the ball with your Christmas List…

First off I think I’m going to make some homemade vanilla extract.

Chickens in the Road has a great tutorial for making this.

And for my friends and family members with dogs maybe some homemade doggie treats. 

A Cozy Kitchen has a delicious recipe for these treats.

Cinnamon rolls always make a great gift.

I have made The Pioneer Woman’s Cinnamon Rolls twice as gifts on Christmas Eve.  They are always a huge hit.

Give these out on Christmas Eve so your friends and family can have them for Christmas breakfast.  YUM!!!

After all of that…how about some delicious peppermint bark?  Get the recipe straight from Martha Stewart’s website.

How can you go wrong with chocolate and peppermint??

Ok, are you as hungry as I am now??

Outdoor Party- Finally!…

OK, OK…so my son’s 19th b-day party was in May.  It’s now July and I’m just getting around to posting the pics.  You can see how I prepared for this party in part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5.

I started off by making bacon-wrapped jalapeno poppers.  Nothing fancy. I  just split them in half and clean out the seeds. I then made the filling for them.  I used shredded cheddar cheese and mixed it with cream cheese.  I filled the jalapenos with the mixture and wrapped them with the bacon.  I then baked them for 10-15 mins. in a 450 degree oven.  I didn’t take an after picture but you can imagine how delicious they looked.  This wasn’t all I made  but I forgot to take pics of the other “treats” we had.

I then proceeded to make a cake.

Chase plays the guitar so I used one of his as my model.

My husband then suggested using Chase’s Flying V as the model.

Much better!  Thanks Mr. C.!!

I am in no way a cake decorator so this was the end result.  Not bad for my first decorated cake..not great either but not bad.

It was very moist and everyone seemed to enjoy it!

Here Chase is blowing out his candles.

And Chase enjoying his cake.  MMMMM Good!

I had the kids at the party pose in the field beside our house.  I thought this would make such a great picture.

I love the old house in the background.  See my cute little nephew Jake in the far right posing?

He’s such a ham!!  And I love it!!

And lastly my son, JR, gives his little brother a birthday hug.  AWWWWW

Happy 19th B-day Chase!!!

Snake Bubbles, Cupcakes and a Ghetto Slip-N-Slide…

Happy 4th of July…  I hope everyone had a great day…  I know I did.  We had friends and family over for a cookout.  I absolutely love getting together with family.  When we get together its always a lot of fun.  We eat way too much, laugh too loud and have a blast!!  Here are a few pics of our 4th of July!!!

I started out by making tie dye cupcakes. Click HERE for a great tutorial at Skip to my Lou.

I frosted mine with a cool whip/white chocolate pudding mix instead of frosting.  I mixed white chocolate pudding with 1 cup milk and beat it with a mixer.  This will be thick.  I then mixed it into my thawed cool whip.  I refrigerated it after I mixed it until I got ready to frost the cupcakes.  I then decorated them with sliced strawberries and blueberries.

My cute niece, Makayla, thoroughly enjoyed the pinwheels on the cupcakes.

The cupcakes are a huge hit!!!

I found the tutorial for these water bottle bubble blowers HERE at How Does She?  These make the longest “snake bubbles” I’ve ever seen.  Jake and Sydney try them out with great success.

Chase entertained us with some tunes.

My niece, Kendall, gets the Ghetto Slip-N-Slide ready!!!

Don’t be jealous of our slip-n-slide…you can make one yourself.  Just lay down a tarp, turn on the sprinkler and find some kids that REALLY want to cool off!!!

This is how we spent our 4th…how was yours???