Day one continued

Here is the simmering pot of vegetable soup that I put together this morning.  I wanted to have something for dinner that I didn't  have to work at.  It was all ready to go and we ate out on the covered porch with a fire going.  I mixed together some fry bread only we cooked it over the fire and put butter and honey on it. 

It gets rolled into a piece like a snake and wrapped around a stick.  This is Toms masterpiece that is done perfectly.  Click here for the recipe.

The rose bushes got trimmed and they look so nice, much improved!  Tom raked the mulch and I got a lesson on driving the tractor with the trailer on the back.  It's much easier to pick up the trimmings this way. 

The lilac bush is going to bloom any day now and put out the glorious scent.

Planted some herbs in the pots.

The begonias will be planted along the sidewalk.  The rest are going in the planters beside the front door.  I have to get some more dirt this week to finish that job. 

Here is a new measuring cup I found at the container store in Indianapolis.  It is really handy, so much easier to see the measurements.

I highly recommend getting one of these.

I wanted a warmer for dips and found this little Hamilton Beach the other day.  I melted chocolate to dip strawberries.  It works very nicely.  It just warms up and melted the dipping chocolate.  There are no settings, just don't do what I did and leave it on too long.  My chocolate turned into fudge.  Two hours is a good amount of time, don't start warming the dip too soon.  The ceramic comes out to wash easily, though I had to let it soak in water, the chocolate became rock hard and had to be chipped out. 

It was a great day one of my vacation. 
Don't know what day two will bring me but it will be something nice. 

 

I'm on Vacation

Actually both Tom and I are on vacation this week and it has started out beautifully.  Since we have been married, the Friday we get off work, we get home, we look at each other and say...did I tell you I'm on vacation?  He says... I'M on vacation too or visa-versa...a small ritual yet fun. 

Saturday night I went out with my sister Linda, and my niece Angie, on our Girls Night Out we have twice a year to celebrate our birthdays.  We went to the restaurant my sister picked, then went down and had some yogurt at a shop called the Orange Leaf.  They had a new flavor called salted caramel, which we love anything with that flavor.  It was one of those shops where there are many flavors and toppings and you can have at it.  You really have to be careful because there are so many choices!  You pay by the ounce.  I ended up with a peanut butter flavor also, then a little Butterfinger topping, and then a few Reece's cups, then a little peanut butter sauce on the top and it only came to $4.89.  I even had the small cup, which was plenty big, and let me tell you, it was not filled to the top in case you wondered!  We talked and she opened her gifts we brought, then we thought we oughta move on and so Starbucks was just down the way, and we stopped there and they got some coffee, I was still full so just had water.  Still just talked and laughed and took a selfie to put out on Facebook, because everybody needed to know where we were...Right?  Here it is....

Selfie's are great fun, people usually look happy in them and technology is amazing now that you don't have to pose and have someone take your picture and then you can just put it out there.  Whoever decided that the word "selfie" is overused is all wet. There is always someone out in "self proclaim land" trying to jerk your joy away. 

Sunday we had Tom's family over for as Tom was calling it "the soft opening" of pool parties.  We had a good time, lots of good food.  The air temp was 63 but the pool temp was 82 and is just heavenly!  Almost everyone got in, Tom was busy blowing up floatie things and getting drink refills for everyone.  We called him our Cabana boy or as Allie our niece called him the Banana boy.  She's 12, made us laugh for sure. 
I didn't get any pictures yesterday, I was too busy getting the food together and having fun.  Allie loved it, she was going from the pool, to the hot tub, back to the pool.  We had a fire going in the fireplace to warm the sitting area.  It was perfect.

Here are some pictures I took this morning.  The first is a little bouquet I put together from some blooming flowers in the landscape.  Just so sweet!  The second is a Volkswagon Beetle matchbox cars.  I have a few and this is my newest find, they make me smile.  The third is a composition book I found on the clearance pile at WalMart.  It has a quilt design of "Robbing Peter to Pay Paul" or Cathedral Windows" whichever you want to call it.  I got it for $1.00.  It's the small things that make you happy, isn't it? The 4th picture are what my knock out roses look like.  That is the project for today.  I understand that everyone is having this problem now since the winter was so harsh.  They are all growing up from the bottom.  I will be going around and cutting them down to the growth. The last picture is my pretty bleeding heart plant, I just love them!

Hope you enjoyed and thanks for stopping by. 

Come back and see what tomorrow brings.