A Light Supper

We have been enjoying some beautiful weather the last few weeks. Highs in the mid 80's and lovely, sunshiney days. The weather has everything blooming and the vegetables are still producing so we've had an abundance of tomatos. The other day we were thinking we needed to eat light for dinner, (probably because we pigged out at Cafe Rio for lunch) so I made bruschetta.

You start with tomatos, lots and lots of tomatos.You dice em up....You add some smashed garlic, salt, pepper, a little red wine vinegar, fresh basil (also from the garden) and mix it up...Then you take a lovely french baguette,we like La Brea brand, and slice it about 1/4 inch thick...

Place on a cookie sheet and brush with a little olive oil. Bake for a few minutes til lightly browned...Spoon on a little tomato mixture and top with freshly grated parmesan cheese...Eat and enjoy

I Heart Your Blogs

I've been feeling oh so very guilty about not acknowledging this fabulous award I received a couple of weeks ago. I am so surprised that anyone is actually reading my blog let alone liking it! Anyway, this award was given to me by two creative and inspired blogging sisters, Nicole from Our Cozy Nest, and Tam from Gypsy Corner. Go over and say hello, you will heart their blogs as much as I do. I'm supposed to give this award to 5 blogs that I love. Well, I love so many and I can't really seem to narrow it down to 5 so consider yourselves awarded. Thank you again Nicole and Tam!

Sunday Sayings

Birds of a Feather

I don't know why but I just love little birds. I have a flock of them. Mostly thrifted or bought at yard sales. Apparently I'm not the only one. Cherry showed us a bunch of hers yesterday, so here's a few of my bird related items.

Mower Strips

Wow, we've got curbing...

Therapy

It has been a while since I've had time to do a little thrift store therapy and boy did I need it. With all the digging and raking and gluing that's been going on around here it was past time. Not a huge haul today but an interesting one. A couple of years ago I saw a halloween flag on the cute porch of a house that I regularly drive by (stalk). The lady that lives there has a wrap around porch and every season it is dressed in a most delightful and tasteful way. Loved that halloween flag and looked all over creation for the darn thing. Couldn't find it anywhere. This year I was in a shop about a month ago and the sales person was unloading a box and there was the flag. I asked the price and she said $36.00. Yikes. Not really in my budget. (need to buy plants, sod, window boxes, etc. etc.) I'll just have to wait and hope they have it in their 50% off after halloween sale. Are you still with me? Guess what I found at the thrift store today!!??
Two dollars, that's right $2.00. How's that for some therapy?

Not An Original Idea

I so love Joy's lovely blog. Joy is the queen of spray paint. Her home is beautiful and she has some wonderful collections. She has so many cute and original and creative ideas. I, on the other hand, haven't had an original idea since 1992. Anyway, Joy showed us all how to make these little altered holiday wreath things. So in case you missed it I'll show you how Joy did it and how I copied it..... First you go to the Dollar Store to the Christmas decoration section and pick up a few of these. Then you bring them home and put them on some newspaper on your garage floor and spray paint them black.
Next you find some kind of little pumpkin thing and place on top. Of course if you were brilliant like Joy you would put them on some cute chunky candlesticks that you just happened to make yourself. I'm going to have to rummage in the basement for something that looks a little better but you get the idea. Thanks again, Joy... keep those ideas coming.

Sunday Sayings

Freedom of choice is more to be treasured than any possession.
David O McKay

Diversified Recreation

We were pretty tired of gluing together pvc pipe and digging ditches so when some friends invited us to go to Utah County for some fun in the sun we said "We're outta here!" Our first stop was a wonderful botanical garden called Thanksgiving Point. Their gardens were amazing. They have acres and acres of rolling hills filled with many kinds of flowers, trees, and plants. It was truly inspiring. From the Rose Garden...

The Secret Garden...

Most of the walkways were lined with annuals. In the spring there are thousands of tulips and a variety of bulbs filling the beds.One of the largest man-made waterfalls in North America...
The Fragrance Garden...
A huge Koi pond...
And so much more. We hurried because we didn't have too much time because,
We wanted to see the kick-off. BYU vs Wyoming. Provo, Utah BYU 45 Wyoming 0

BYU pictures and graphics from their website. I left my camera in the car!

Not the Fun Stuff

I know I should be grateful, I really do. I know there are people who don't have a permanent roof over their head. People who are struggling with their health or have financial problems. I know I should not complain about trivial, selfish things when I have so much. But really, I'm tired of putting in sprinklers. Let's get on with the fun stuff, shall we?

Autumn Banner

I love banners. I've made a spring and a summer banner and tonight I made one for autumn. It's quick, cheap, and easy. I use copper plate gothic font but you could use whatever you like. I type in 400 for the size and print it out. I've used card stock but I'm out so I used computer paper and it worked just fine.

Then I draw around the letter with my cute little bowl, very high tech, and cut the letter out. Sometimes I use cute edge scissors but tonight I was too lazy to go rummage in the basement and try to find some so I just used plain edge scissors. If you have a Cricut or some such machine you could use it. (#2 daughter has one and made a winter banner for me last year with it) It was very cute and got me started on the banner projects.

Next I find some cute fallish scrapbook paper and measure out a triangle from top corners to middle of bottom edge. I thought I took a picture of that but I guess I didn't. But you get the idea.


Take your handy glue stick and glue the cut out letter onto the triangle.

Cut some little slits up at the top, (I used an exacto knife) wherever you want the ribbon to go and slip it through the openings. The ribbon was 50% off at Hobby Lobby this week.

Hang it wherever you think it would look festive. Please ignore the blinding flash in the window and the missing window trim. Oh, and the dark picture. I'm having a baby shower at my house in a few weeks and I think I'll have to make another one for it.

Baby Gifts

A few weeks ago I found these cute little blankets on someone's blog. They called them pram covers. (I have searched and searched, looking for that post, if this was your idea, or you know who's idea it is, could you please let me know and I'll give credit where credit is due!) Anyway, I need a couple of baby gifts so I thought I'd give them a try.
First you buy 1/2 yard of cute fabric or find some in your stash. Next you cut two 18 inch squares of the fabric and one 18 inch square of not very thick quilt batting. Place the right sides together add the layer of batting and sew around the edges, leaving a 6 inch opening so that you can turn it right side out. (You could, before you sew, add some ric rac or gathered lace or something around the outside, which I'll probably do next time.)

Then you turn it right side out and turn the opening into itself and stitch all the way around the blanket, which closes the opening and makes a topstitched edge. Next you take a ruler and mark from corner to corner with a disappearing pencil (you get those at fabric or craft stores) making a giant X. Next you mark a line from the middle of the top to the middle of the side. Do that going in both directions, forming a kind of diamond shape. Then topstitch on the lines you marked.

My #1 daughter really likes the one I made her. It fits over the baby in the carseat or stroller without a lot of extra blanket to flop around.