Laundry Room Lamp

I found this little lamp at a yard sale a few months ago for 50 cents. I ran across a shopping cart full of faux flowers at W**M*** one day for 25 cents a bunch. Put them both together (with a glue gun) and...

a happy little lamp for my laundry room! (for less than $5!!!)

Laid Up

I'm not sure I picked a good time to have this surgery. I mean, it's Spring after all. I'm itching to get out and play in the dirt, plant seeds and seedlings. Instead, I'm relegated to laying around, with my foot up, and be taunted by television program hosts and hostesses as they go about their Spring planting and other projects. And drool over all your blogs and your garden-y goings ons. And wistfully thumb through gardening books and magazines...*sigh*...

My hubby has been so very good about watering my seedlings and plants so they don't die. But I would like to do it myself, ya know? You see, after many seasons of unsuccessful gardening and plant tending and several proclamations of "Forget this, I don't know why I even bother. I just must not have what it takes to be a successful gardener. I'm done! No more wasting my time!", my resolution for this years gardening is to actually water my seeds, seedlings and plants daily. ( {duh} I know...I know...I have never claimed to be the sharpest tool in the garden shed.) Because I had an epiphany one day~this Texas heat can be a killer, and although it's very humid in these parts, it's just so dang HOT too. So maybe, just maybe, it's not that I don't have "what it takes" to be a gardener...maybe I just need to take a few minutes each day to make sure my plants have what they need...food and water. (All you master gardeners out there, please don't stone me...I'm learning! really, I am) I think, if I will be truly honest with myself, it's because I'm a wilting flower myself...I just can't take the heat so I stay out of the kitch...uh, garden. BUT, if I am to have the luscious garden~plump tomatoes, spicy peppers, fragrant herbs and dreamy flowers that I covet, well then, I have to make a plan that works for me AND my plant babies.

So, back to my resolution. I have decided to give it one more try. I will experiment this season and see if watering was the missing key all along. And if I fail once again? Well, I'm purty sure I'll do it all over again next year... 'cause I'm a die-hard like that.

Oh, hoonnney(she calls sweetly)...would you mind watering the plants...again? (-=

(I proooommmise I'll do it, just as soon as I get back on my feet again...)

(I would love any tips and suggestions from you ladies, especially the Texas ladies who deal with the same environmental conditions, on the flowers and veggies that do best in your gardens. And again...PLEASE be kind~I need encouragement. Thanks!)

It Bloomed!

I was walking through the garden center one day a few weeks ago and this pretty little zinnia caught my eye...

It just begged me to take it home with me.

And so I did.

Laundry Day

Ahhh...laundry day...

It's gotta be done...

So, what's a girl to do?

Decorate the laundry room with bright, cheerful, colorful things that make you smile, of course!!!

This is a work in progress but just this little bit of fun has already made laundry day just a little bit sweeter!

I would LOVE any tips or suggestions and how YOU have made your laundry work area just a little bit "sweeter" to work in! Thanks!

My Week In Review

It all started bright & early Monday morning.

Well, if truth be told, it started the night before, when we had to prepare Bobo, our kitty, for his vet visit the next morning. He just needed to go in for routine vaccinations and to have some mats cut away from his belly area. Since he needed to be sedated for the mat thing (he doesn't take to grooming very kindly, that's how the mats took up residence in the first place), we had to make sure he didn't have food or water after midnight. That doesn't sound like it should be much of an issue I know. But, you see, Bobo (despite his name) is a man of adventure (an indoor outdoor cat) who likes to sing loudly in an operatic voice when he's ready to go outside. So, it was only with strategic placement in the upstairs guest bathroom, with doors closed, that the family would be able to get a good nights sleep. But we managed. And he didn't do any damage to the room or door trying to escape. The next morning, despite having had all night access to a litter box, after wrangling him into the pet taxi and just before walking out the door to the vets, I noticed a smell. So I took him out (he thought he was free) broke down and cleaned up the pet taxi and wrangled him back inside. Only to find out I had put the door inside out. So I let him out...again. Fixed the door. And wrangled him back in...again. And he sang us all the way to the vets office. All's well that ends well. Bobo made it back home, mat free and none the worse for wear. I wish I could say the same for myself.

While Bobo was at the vet, I had an appointment to have my braces removed. Only mildly traumatic. (I have had a phobia of dentists and the drilling they do since I watched a movie about a crazed dentist years ago...I won't go into it). I lived through it and my teeth look great! Thanks Dr. Bhagia and daddy (hubby)!

Tuesday was fairly uneventful. The usual homemaker-y things around the house.

Wednesday I worked.

Wednesday evening major anxiety began to set in as the midnight hour approached. I could not have food or drink after midnight. (No, I didn't have a vet appointment the next day~lol) I had to prepare for...

Thursday: bunion surgery. Well...I had to do something to ensure I would be waited on hand & foot on...

Friday: my birthday.

The plan worked. Mike took great care of me (and still is).

(Just so you know~I would not plan surgery purposely to get the royal treatment on ANY day!!! I'm just being silly.)

How was your week? Hope it was great!

He Is Risen!

And we celebrate!!!

Happy Easter to y'all!!!

Moist Devil's Food Cake

With a few simple ingredients I already had on hand, I created a yummy dessert.
I found some sour cream on sale for half price last week, bought some cake mixes that were on sale at an unheard of price, and had a smidgen of frosting in a can leftover. What to do? What to do?

Well, I just pulled some buttermilk out of the freezer, (I pour it into ice cube trays before it expires and freeze it. The consistency isn't the same when it thaws but for baking, it does the job and I don't notice any adverse effects.) let it thaw & when I had enough to equal the amount of liquid called for on the cake mix box, I went to work. This is what I came up with...

Moist Devil's Food Cake

1 box of devil's food cake mix

1 cup of sour cream

buttermilk to replace the water/liquid called for on the cake mix box

1-2 tsp. vanilla extract

canned frosting; a little will do...maybe 1/4 - 1/3 cup???

Preheat your oven to the temperature called for on the cake mix box and prepare the pan according to the directions as well. Mix the cake batter according to the instructions on the cake mix box, substituting an equal amount of buttermilk for the liquid called for on the box. Add vanilla extract and sour cream. Bake and cool the cake according to the instructions given on the box.

Melt a little of the canned frosting either for a few seconds in the microwave or just until runny in a saucepan (we had funfetti ;) ). Drizzle the icing over the cake and enjoy!!!