i have to say...

my dog and a recipe box swap!

Maddie is spoiled.  I bought her a watermelon this week---one all for herself. 

A few weeks ago we discovered that she liked frozen watermelon when she stole a piece from Aubry.  Since then we have been sharing ours with her, and this weekend I bought one just for her. I figure it is cheap and good for her and it lasts for about a month since we freeze it. 

Really, this just proves that she is spoiled, but I am trying to justify the fact that my dog has her very own watermelon.

Did I ever mention that a couple of weeks ago she ate a dead mouse?  One that had been poisoned by D-Con?  And that I had to induce vomiting by forcing her to drink hydrogen peroxide?

That was probably the most disgusting thing that I have ever had to do.  I won't give you the gory details, but I will say that I was tempted to hang a little "for sale" sign around her neck for a day or two after she did it.

Somehow she has managed to woo me since then.

This is probably a weird time to mention this, but Thursday is the Recipe Box Swap and the theme is "BBQ's---main dishes and sides".  Is there a dish that is a must-have at a BBQ?  It doesn't have to be prepared on the grill (although it can!), it just needs to be eaten alongside something from the grill.  A favorite potato salad?  A secret sauce for ribs?  How about grandma's famous baked beans?

Post your recipe on your blog and I  will provide an auto-link at the bottom of my post so that you can leave your post URL and others can visit and see what you have cookin'.

Who knows?  Maybe you will find a wonderful new recipe for the 4th of July!

Hope to see you on Thursday!

...and the winners are...

Gosh, I really don't even know what to say except for "thank you!".  You are all so sweet and you made the grand-opening of my shop such fun.  This blog-world can be an amazing place sometimes, and for me, this was one of those times.  I am blessed.

First off, let's get to the winners!  To pick names I copied out all of the comments, cut them into separate pieces and then had Aubry draw three of them.  I am a very low-tech person, as you can tell.  Here are the names her fingers grabbed:

***Wendy from Well Mannered Frivolity wins any three 1/2 yard cuts of  fabric.  This is a total of 1-1/2 yards.

***Tina from Needles 'n' Notions wins the Ginger Blossom fat quarter set.

***Irina from Home & Cooking wins the Bell Bottoms fabric bundle.

Congratulations, girls, and happy sewing!  If any of you would like a different product equaling the yardage you won, just let me know and it's yours.  (At this point, the only items that I cut into fat quarter sets are the Ginger Blossom fabrics.)  Just send me your addresses (there is an email link in my left sidebar) and your goods will go out this weekend.

Next up in my store: Ava Rose and Farmer's Market.  Both are expected with a month (hopefully sooner!)  Really, it is such fun shopping for fabric and calling it "working"!!!

This weekend is shaping up to be a sunny, hot one, which is nice since the Rocky Mountain Street Rod Nationals will be on the schedule.  Well, I haven't told my hubby yet, but we are a goin'.  Hopefully he is in the mood for old cars, snowcones, and gyros made with who-knows-what-kind-of-meat (they are SO GOOD!). 

What am I saying?  Of course he will be up for it!

I hope you all have a great weekend!

 

it's a fresh-squeezed grand-opening!

COMMENTS ARE NOW CLOSED

Today is the official grand-opening of my shop, Fresh-Squeezed Fabrics!  Thank you so much for stopping by!

The idea of operating a fabric store has always been a dream for me, mostly because I absolutely love fabric and the thought of being surrounded by it seems so right.  I didn't figure on it ever happening due to the money needed to start one.  Hundreds of bolts of fabric, store rent, insurance, etc., etc., etc., cost too much for me to even consider it.   I had never considered opening a shop online.

I did have a situation come up recently where I needed to research how to buy fabric wholesale and it turned out to be pretty simple.  My mind started working overtime as I hatched a plan to start a store online.  Then I happened to find that fabric can be sold on Etsy and things started to fall into place from there.  My husband was surprisingly enthusiastic, so I decided to go for it. 

Let me say that this decision has been laced with insecurity and indecision the whole way.  For some reason, every time I receive a shipment of fabric I feel entirely overwhelmed for about 24 hours, but then that passes and all is well. 

So far, so good for my little store, and today I want to celebrate!   Plus I am in the mood to give something away.  A drawing for some fabric is in order!

There are three ways to win:

1--One person will pick three 1/2 yards cuts of any fabric (totaling 1-1/2 yards).  Anything you choose in my store will do.

2--One person will win this fat-quarter set.  All I can say about this fabric is that it is beautiful!  The colors and designs are amazing!

3--One person will win this fabric bundle.  This fabric is so bright and cheery and just screams of a summer day!

If you would like to take part, simply leave a comment in this post to put your name into the drawing.  If you link my grand-opening and my store on your blog, you may leave two extra comments (a total of 3 comments), which of course will up your chances of winning.  I will close comments on this post on Thursday, June 26th at 6:00 PM and I will announce the winners on Friday, June 27th.   Please be sure to leave an email address in your comment so that I can contact the winners!

***Due to the cost of shipping, US and Canadian addresses only please.

***I am leaving it up to individuals to decide whether to leave 1 or 3 comments since I know we are all trustworthy.  ;)

Thank you so much for celebrating with me today and best of luck!

COMMENTS ARE NOW CLOSED

fun in the (hot) sun

No trip to California is complete without a trip to the beach.  We spent one day at Newport Beach and one at Balboa, both are my favorite beaches.  Since there was a heatwave the whole time we were visiting, the beach was a great place to be because of the much cooler temperatures.

Since my kids aren't used to the beach, I had to tell them a few times to quit shaking their sandy towels all over the place.  The people next to us where not enjoying their sand-showers for some reason!

My oldest son has decided to wear his t-shirt all summer long in an effort to......hmmm......not sure why he is doing it, except that it probably has to do with growing up.  Chest hairs?  Muscles bulging out?  Who knows! 

Here is a picture of my surfer-dude of a husband.  Woo-hoo!  My man is a looker, eh?

Boogie boards were a huge hit.  Every time Josiah rode a wave in, he yelled and cracked-up the whole way.  Pure joy!

Right near the entrance of Legoland there is a roller-coaster and Aubry mistakenly decided to go on it.  She was so brave and sure of herself until the first drop, as you can see:

Aubry and I rode the pirate-ship complete with squirt guns and I think that I got some payback for all of the squirting I was doing by getting doused by a waterfall half-way through the ride.  It was one of those water-spurts that only goes off about every 3-4 minutes and it happened to be waiting just for us as we went by.  I hoped that people knew that the back of my skirt was soaking wet due to the waterfall and not, well, you know!

All of the kids earned their driver's license on this super-cool ride.  It was so cute watching Aubry get stressed out every time she had to make a decision at a stop-light.  My poor husband could hardly stand it and ended up yelling helpful advice to her for most of the ride.  Thank goodness for daddies!

At the end of our trip I was glad to leave the heat behind!  We arrived home to a nearly perfect 85 degrees, which made us doubly happy to be back.  It is funny how at the beginning of a vacation I always feel so ready to be somewhere else, but the homecoming is always oh-so-right. 

Every time!

***Tomorrow is grand-opening day for my shop.  I have been open for a little while now, but I want to have a giveaway to celebrate!  Hope to see you there!

guess where we went for vacation?

Anyone?

Anyone?

California!

We traveled to see my niece graduate from high school and visit with my sis, my dad and his lovely wife and my grandma.  It was HOT, HOT, HOT as we seem to have arrived in the middle of a heatwave, so we made room for two days at the beach instead of just one.  We also visited Legoland, which turns out to be a giant advertisement for Legos, but we loved it anyway.

My hubs and I made runs to Jack In The Box every single night to pick up those crazy deep-fried tacos that, in spite of the fact that it is impossible to tell what they are made of, are quite scrumptious in a junk-foody sort of way.  For this reason alone I will be walking in the mornings to drop a couple of vacation pounds and maybe a few extra aquired prior to vacation.  Of course, my hubs didn't even gain an ounce, but I will try not to hold that against him.

Instead of taking our roomy minivan, we opted to take our small black Jetta and just squish all of the kids in the backseat for 1,100 miles.  That made for some extra contention from the kids, but the 35 miles per gallon was completely worth it!

Now that I am back I am staring at a gigantic mound of laundry and an empty refrigerator, both of which will be remedied today.  I guess this is where I should say that I need a vacation from my vacation, but I am way too happy to be home for that to be the truth.  Our time away was a needed break, but it made me ready to tackle my real life again.

Tomorrow I will share some more pictures of our adventure.

Until then, have a great Monday!

be back soon!

I am going to take a blogging break in order to enjoy some time with my family and to get some things done.   Life is calling me away from the computer, I suppose!  I will be back on June 23rd.

My shop will remain open during that time (Ginger Blossom is in and I now carry a pattern---1 pattern, and it's a good one!) and all orders will be processed quickly.  When I return we will have a grand-opening celebration!

***If you want to see what's upcoming at the shop, click here.

*** If you are interested in blurring the background of your photos, read Stacy's how-to and then spend lots of time playing with your camera!  She also has a bunch of other great photography articles to read and a blog full of great photos.

I hope your days are filled with smiles!

odds and ends and pictures

***I figured out how to blur the background on a photograph---finally!  The discovery was by accident (so far every new thing I can do on my camera has been an accidental discovery!!!)  This is great because I love to fill the frame with the subject only.  On my old camera there was a cool little setting for this--new camera, there is a setting, but not an obvious one!

***We had to get an electric fence for Maddie.  I am pretty sure she is the Houdini of the puppy world!  After another neighbor brought her home (the neighbor doesn't seem to adore her as much as we do!) we felt that we needed to either find her a new home or get the big guns out.  So far so good with the new fence, although I do feel that it is rather barbaric.  It does mean, however, that we can keep our little pup.

***Yesterday the neighbor girl asked me to guess what she found in her yard.   I said I didn't know, so she told me:  A SIX-FOOT SNAKE!  Yikes!  I did make sure that she didn't shoo it into my yard, because if she did we would have to sell our house and move.  Immediately!

***Our gas prices are hovering at $3.99 per gallon, but I know they are going to topple over into the 4's any day now.  I am combining my errands and trying to drive less to save $$$, and I will admit that it was surprising to pay $65.00 at the pump yesterday.  Ouch!

***This picture is of Maddie going down steps for the first time.  I guess I am a first-time puppy parent following her around photographing her 1st's!

Have a great day!

a day at the farm

Once a week my hubby and I have been dragging our kids to the farm to pick weeds.   Now, before you go awarding us the "super-fun parents" award or something like that, let me say that this has a purpose:  free food!  We were lucky enough to get a "worker-bee share" at our CSA that allows us to put in 3 hours of labor per week while receiving one free share of food.  This I like!

My kids do fine for about 1-1/2 of those 3 hours and then the complaining/when can we go/ it's hot and I am melting in this sun, starts.  But that is A-OK because we  believe that it is good to teach the value of hard work all while helping out the community.  (That was another opportunity for the "super-fun parents" award!).

The boys think it is great that we get to drive this very cool vehicle:

Aubry, of course, has developed some "working on the farm" fashion:

There is something relaxing about digging through the dirt and pulling weeds, except when I accidentally picked up a squishy toad.  Really gross.

It is ridiculous that I take my camera, but at least I don't wear make-up.  You could find me in the fields if you looked for the gal wearing the giant-brimmed straw hat and the long-sleeved shirt.  In other words, look for the gal who is old enough to be concerned about preserving her appearance!

The colors of the plants are perfect:

Aubry suggested that I show you her choice of shoe for the farm:

One cool thing about having lots of kids is that when you go to the farm they notice that you accomplish more work than most of the other people who help out and they offer you a free share.  Awesome! 

These days I take all the free food I can get!

Have a great Monday!

shop lovelies

Ginger Blossom has arrived in my shop, and I have to say that this fabric is oh-so-beautiful!  I have also added some fat quarter sets.

Click here to take a peek.

The Recipe Box Swap

Hello!  Welcome to the June edition of The Recipe Box Swap! 

Today there is no theme, so any recipe goes.  Whatever you are craving or thinking of for dinner tonight, post it on your blog and add your post URL to the auto-link below.  Then you can get to looking for some great recipes from the list.

My contribution for the day is not so much a recipe, as it is a how-to.  I love roasted red peppers, but hardly ever used them due to their cost, but I found that they are very simple to make.  This is the season to buy the peppers on sale and roast up a bunch and add them to salads, pasta dishes, sandwiches, pizzas, etc., etc.  You will fall in love with these for sure!

How to Roast a Red Pepper:

1. Buy some red peppers, or better yet, pick them from your garden when they are ripe:

2. Line a baking sheet with tin foil and arrange the peppers on it:

3. Place them in your oven set on broil for approximately 15-30 minutes, or until the skin is blackened and blistered:

4. Place them in a ziploc bag to cool completely:

5. Remove them from the bag and peel of the skins (they come off very easily):

6. Chop them to the desired size (I like mine in strips) and use them as you please.  I added some to my lasagna sauce and they tasted great!

If you need some inspiration, here are some roasted red pepper recipes to choose from.

Happy cooking!