Easy Table Decoration

This is a easy to make table decoration. The one my Mom has (shown in the photo) was made with a 6 inch flower pot, a regular size craft bird, flowers and decorative Spanish moss. Everything is just glued on with hot glue.

This could also be made with a smaller flower pot, miniature bird and smaller flowers. Since I did not make this I do not have step by step instructions, but all of you crafters will find this an easy project.

Sandra Lee on the Food Network would use this for one of her fun and festive "Spring Tablescapes."  I just love watching her prepare all the matching table decorations she has named tablescapes. She can make the most beautiful table settings out of inexpensive items.

Window Shopping on Route 66

I love to window shop! It is the safest way for me to enjoy things without breaking or buying. Seriously, the Antique Mall located on Historic Route 66 in Weatherford, Oklahoma is a place to find nearly anything your heart desires. I snapped these photos just to give you a sample of some of the things offered by the Antique Mall. This is a big building with lots of individual booths displaying memories for sell. I love this place.

Check out the cookie jars in the photo below!

The cast iron photo is fuzzy...sorry.

LOVE these canisters!

Hope you enjoyed window shopping with me today, but take a trip on Historic Route 66 and experience the memories of the Antique Mall for your self. It is so much better in person!



Congratulations Pat and Logan!

My friend, Pat, is graduating tonight! I wish I could be there to watch her walk across the stage and get her degree. I am so proud of her....she went back to school at 50 years of age and is graduating with honors! Now she is ready to get out and find a job to start a new career check out:  http://www.patclaytondesign.com

This is the graduation announcement her sweet daughter, Courtney (my Goddaughter), sent out to family and friends. Courtney also had a surprise gathering, of family and friends on Tuesday night, to show her mom how proud she was of her and all she has accomplished. I love love love surprises when they are for other people! Pat was certainly surprised!

Photos from the Surprise Party

Mr. Logan is also graduating this year, from Kindergarten. How many young men can say that they graduated from Kindergarten the same year their Nee Nee (Grandmother) graduated college? I love this photo of Logan, and I love that the school does graduation for the students.

CONGRATULATIONS

PAT

AND

LOGAN

Magic Eraser

The Mr. Clean Magic Eraser is AWESOME! If you have not tried it I recommend you do. It will make your life easier. When they named this product Magic Eraser they meant it. It is magic!

It will make an old bathtub look like new!

Read the label before using and keep it away from children or you might "erase" something you do not want to erase. Plus, if they tried it on their skin it will take their skin off.

Funny shape, but it means business!

If you do not have anything to use the Magic Eraser on at your house, I will let you use it at mine! LOL

Monkey Bread

MONKEY BREAD

3/4 CUP GRANULATED SUGAR

2 TEASPOONS GROUND CINNAMON

4 CANS REFRIGERATED BISCUITS

1/2 CUP BUTTER OR MARGARINE, MELTED

3/4 CUP PACKED BROWN SUGAR

Grease or spray 12 cup Bundt cake pan.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix granulated sugar and cinnamon in a 1 gallon bag.

Cut each biscuit into quarters. Shake quarters in bag to coat; place in pan.

Melt butter and brown sugar and mix together.

Put coated biscuit quarters into the Bundt pan.

Pour butter and brown sugar mixture over the biscuits.

OMG...check it out...that "carmel" mixture is going to sink down into the biscuits as it cooks.

Bake at 350 degrees for 40 to 45 minutes or until golden brown.

Remove from oven and cool for about 5 minutes.

Turn upside down on large plate or platter....TIP for photos DO NOT put it on a orange platter or it will turn out with this red cast like my photos.

Now here is the major problem with this dish...do you slice it an serve in slices...or do you just sit around and pull of pieces and pop them in your mouth???

At any rate Monkey Bread is one of those dishes that brings back childhood memories. My Aunt Francene use to make her monkey bread with biscuits and melted butter and garlic. Either the dessert version or the dinner bread version Monkey Bread is so worth the time. It is also a great dish to let the kids roll the biscuits and drop into the coating mixture.



Cajun Soul Food Restaurant - OKC

If you are on I-40 in Oklahoma City go north on MacArthur to 63rd Street and you will find Cajun King Soulfully Good Restaurant in a tiny strip of businesses. If someone had not told us about this place we would have never found it. Inside, the "New Orleans" decor adds to the Cajun feeling. There is Jazz music playing as you select your items from the buffet.

You will find Crawfish Etouffe, red beans, white beans, rice, garlic redskinned mashed taters, blackened chicken, fried chicken, blackened pork chops, soup of the day, salad, biscuits and bread pudding to only name a few of the buffet items. Once you fill your plate from the buffet they bring a plate of these fried catfish strips! I am not a big catfish person, but these may well have been the best thing ever. Perfectly yummy!

Perfect Mother's Day Gift

My daughter got me the perfect Mother's Day gift! I had been wanting the Pioneer Woman's new book The Pioneer Woman Black Heels to Tractor Wheels and also her cookbook The Pioneer Woman Cooks Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl, so that is what my daughter gave me. Plus, she found the perfect dress for me to wear to a summer wedding later. I was thrilled with the books, but the dress is just beautiful and I am thankful she is my daughter!

Ree Drummond aka The Pioneer Woman http://thepioneerwoman.com/ writes a daily blog in addition to being a #1 New York Times Bestselling Author. She is funny and this book is wonderful. I recommend you go to her website and follow her blog and run to the nearest book store and get a copy of Black Heels to Tractor Wheels. It is a really good book!

This is The Pioneer Woman Cooks not only does it have great recipes, but the photos and stories make it a family heirloom. I would recommend it as a great gift for anyone who loves cooking or wants to learn to cook (or just likes to look at Wranglers).

How many cookbooks have you ever seen that has photos of hot cowboys? I tell you Ree Drummond is one of a kind and so is this awesome cookbook.

This is the most beautifully designed cookbook in my massive cookbook collection. Did I say I love cookbooks? I read them like some people read novels, but my husband is the one that cooks!

You can find a link to order these books at http://thepioneerwoman.com/ or you can go to the nearest book store or one of those big discount stores and find them on the shelf or you can order them online just google Ree Drummond.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO ALL THE MOM'S

Mini Vacation "A Love Story"

This week I had a rare treat! My husband had to be in the city for the entire week and was going to be staying at the Best Western Saddleback Inn. Ding ding ding...the bell went off in my head! I decided it would be worth using two and a half days of vacation to meet him there in the middle of the week. It was WONDERFUL! I needed a break. While he was in his conference I locked my self in the motel room and read The Pioneer Woman BLACK HEELS to TRACTOR WHEELS "A Love Story" by Ree Drummond cover to cover (all 342 pages).

I even channeled my inner Pioneer Woman www.thepioneerwoman.com  and took photos of the room! She takes photos of the rooms she stays in when traveling and posts them on her blog! Note the beautiful watercolor print on the wall. I love art and no matter what point in the room I tried to photograph the entire print there was a glare. I got most of the painting in the photo below.

These next two photos are close-up to show the details of the paintings. The Saddleback Inn also features a gallery in the lobby, but I did not venture away from the juicy details of The Pioneer Woman and Marlboro Man. She is such a descriptive writer that you do not want to put the book down and I didn't! If you do not have her book you need to a purchase a copy. It is such a beautiful love story and made me belly laugh more than once.

Speaking of love stories....My husband got up each morning and went to breakfast with some of his friends. I am NOT a morning person and I do not normally eat breakfast. Bless his heart he brought me breakfast to our room both mornings. The first morning he really loaded up way more than I could eat that early. I was not hungry again until we went out to dinner that evening.

Another angle of looking at the motel room. It was a nice place with restaurant, saloon, sauna, whirlpool, swimming pool, and fitness room, but I did not even consider getting out to see any of those things.

That night I told my sweet husband that if he was going to bring "room service" to me the next morning to please not make it so much food. OK this is a beautiful breakfast...note how he arranged the presentation of my meal. I think I am spoiled?

I could not end the mini vacation "A Love Story" without taking a photo of the bath area. Every time I see a photo of a motel/hotel bathroom that was posted by the Pioneer Woman www.thepioneerwoman.com  on her blog I laugh. Several years ago, I had the opportunity to go to Hollywood to be on the Vicki Lawrence show and the second time to appear on Steve Harvey's show....well I took photos of the hotel bathrooms. Everyone made fun of me for taking bathroom photos. They loved my photos of the famous HOLLYWOOD sign I took from my hotel window, but thought I was a real redneck for the bathroom photos. The first time I saw a bathroom photo on the Pioneer Woman's blog I nearly died laughing.

This was also a neat pre-mother's day gift, because the second night we ate dinner with our daughter who lives in the city. That will be another blog post...

Kelsie's Cookies

      KELSIE'S COOKIES

                                                                4 stick of butter (2 c.)

2 c. sugar

2 c. brown sugar

4 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla

4 c. flour

5 c. blended oatmeal

2 tsp. baking powder

2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

24 oz. chocolate chips

1 (8 oz.) grated Hershey bar

3 c. chopped nuts (optional)

Blended oatmeal: Measure and blend in blender or food processor to a fine powder.
Cream butter, brown sugar, and sugar in a bowl. Beat in eggs one at a time. Add vanilla.
In a separate bowl, mix flour, oatmeal, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Gradually combine the dry mix to the cream mix.
Add chocolate chips, chocolate shavings, and nuts.
Roll into balls and place 2 inches apart on cookie sheet.
Bake for 6 minutes at 375 degrees.
 



Kelsie said, "The original recipe says it makes approx 112 cookies. I tend to make my cookies bigger than most people, so it only ended up making about 4 dozen. Also I’ve found that using a lighter colored cookie sheet seems to make them softer. And even though the original recipe says ungreased cookie sheet, I sprayed it with cooking spray. It made them so much easier to get off the cookie sheet".