Tuesday Treats - Ice Cream Sandwich Cake

This is another recipe from my Mom. She made this for her Bible Study group last week and said it was a big success. It's not anywhere close to being on my diet, so I'll live vicariously through anyone who wants to try this quick and easy recipe. 

Ingredients:

• 19 ice cream sandwiches
• 1 jar (16 ounces) hot fudge ice cream topping
• 1-1/2 cups salted peanuts
• 3 Heath candy bars (1.4 ounces each)
• 1 carton (8 ounces) frozen whipped topping, thawed

Directions:

Cut one ice cream sandwich in half. Place on whole and one half sandwich along a short side of an ungreased 13-in. x 9-in. dish. Arrange eight sandwiches in opposite direction in the dish. Remove lid from fudge topping. Microwave 15-30 seconds to warm; stir. Spread one-half of fudge topping over ice cream sandwiches. 

In a food processor, combine peanuts and candy bars. Cover and pulse until chopped. Sprinkle one-half of mixture over fudge layer. Repeat layer of ice cream sandwiches and fudge topping. Spread whipped topping over top of cake. Sprinkle with remaining peanut mixture. 

Cover and freeze for up to 2 months. Remove from the freezer 20 minutes before serving. Cut into squares. Yield: 15 servings. 

Movie Monday - Frost/Nixon

I am a political junkie so I loved this movie. The setting is post Watergate and a British talk show host conducts a series of TV interviews with Richard Nixon. If that sentence doesn't intrigue you as much as it did me, don't rent this film. However, if you crave politics, get it. 

Daniel was bored throughout the film and didn't enjoy one bit of it, but I thought it was a great movie. Now, I want to find a way to see a copy of the actual interviews with Frost and Nixon. 

One thought I had at the end of the film is, "Where did political corruption begin?" My politically-current and politically-cynical mind thinks that politics can not exist without corruption. But, this movie made me consider that there was a time when the two did not go hand in hand. Whether it started with Nixon or someone before him, I think Nixon is the reason people like me think that every politician is somehow corrupt. That's an unfortunate legacy for someone who rose to the position of President of the United States.

Island Times

When we lived in military housing in Hawaii, we had the most outgoing neighborhood I've ever lived in, until now. Our Texas neighbors top those Navy families! From block parties, to weekend barbecues at the pool, to kids playing together every day, our block has to be the most out-going block of neighbors. Saturday night was no exception when we were invited to our neighbors home to celebrate Brenden's and Nick's birthdays. 

Brenden, on the left, lives across the street, and is the father of Morgan and Ashton, Abigail and Cooper's favorite playmates. Nick, on the right, lives down the street from us and is the husband of Nicky, who is the social coordinator of all the fun on our block.

The party was Hawaiian themed, and nothing was left out.

Gary sported the coconut bra...

Daniel was more subtle, but still showing his Hawaiian spirit with his Aloha wear...

Kristy was rockin' the bikini and grass skirt...

Brenden brought out his grass hat and speedo...

The girls were the official hula dancers...

The kids danced through the limbo rounds...

The palm tree pinata was a hit. Ha! "A hit" Pun intended...

The kids (and later, the adults) raced through some relays with floaties, inner tubes, a soccer ball and hula hoop.

Even Catherine, due to give birth in just a few weeks, raced through the relays, with the kids and adults!

Needless to say, a fun night was had by all! 

Thanks to Brenden and Nick for sharing your birthday and fun with us! 

Money Doesn't Grow on Trees

When I graduated from college, oh, a few years ago, my grandmother gifted me with the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University class. 

At the time, I thought it was a slightly lame gift since other gifts were money, money, diamond ring, James Avery jewelry, money and money. BUT, in retrospect, that class has been the wonderful gift that keeps on giving! As we've inched along into our eek! 30s, Daniel and I have gradually eased into attempting to be more financially responsible. As of late, we've put it into seriously high gear and attempted to get our act together, in order to make our salaries stretch as far as possible.

You may remember me making a big deal out of cutting my grocery budget here and here  It was a big success, and I report back to you almost four months later and can say we are saving A LOT of money with our new system. No, it's not as convenient as running down to Wal-Mart once a month, but it's getting easier the more I do it. I don't even have to refer to my deal-spotter-spreadsheet very often because I've been able to memorize the prices and where the deals are. I don't venture out to other stores for weekly deals very often, but only when the prices can beat the deals I get at Sam's or Wal-Mart. 

We took it a step further and are now reigning in the rest of our spending with a throwback to my Financial Peace University (FPU) class using the envelope system. Ramsey teaches that you should budget every dollar of income each month and assign it a location for spending or saving. Then, take all the money to be spent and distribute it into assigned spending envelopes for the month (i.e. gas, groceries, Daniel's personal, Steph's personal, kids, eating out, etc.), so as to have no need for check cards or, heaven forbid, credit cards. We've had a lot of success with this system in the past, but had not returned to it after our long move to Texas. Now, we're back on track. We're even more serious about it this time, and have the official FPU envelope instead of just a stack of loose envelopes clipped together and hanging on the fridge. 

We've stuck to the system for a couple of months now, and we're giving ourselves a pat on the back for how well it's working. You don't realize how much all the unnecessary spending adds up at the end of the month until you see that you've spent all your money by the 15th! Our biggest spending addiction is eating out, and in May, we had spent all our eating out money by the middle of the month. Fortunately, we learned our lesson and have rationed it out much better this month and have plenty left to enjoy throughout the rest of the month!

Some of the new ways I've started saving money are:

1. Buy gift card at Wal-Mart with my monthly gas money. Wal-Mart gas is almost always the best deal around, and if you pay with a Wal-Mart card (credit or gift), it is five cents cheaper per gallon! With gas prices going up this summer, this is helping to stretch my gas budget. 

2. We're trying to eat out at different places. We've traded Salt Grass Steak House for Jason's Deli. 

3. I asked my doctor for a different prescription that would cost less than what she had been giving me. Not only did she give me a script for a less expensive product, but also a card from the drug company that acts as a coupon that certifies me for a lower price at CVS. This is saving me $33 per month! 

Y'all had awesome suggestions about grocery shopping savings in March, now, I'm coming back to you for more tips! What are your favorite ways to save money? Where are the restaurants you eat (not out of an unhealthy brown bag) out at for less money? I can't wait to hear all your tips!!! 

Tuesday Treats - Strawberry Pretzel Salad

As you know, I can't show up anywhere without contributing to the food preparation. I tried out some new recipes Saturday for our neighbors' birthday party, and found one winner. Unfortunately, I also found a loser. I do not recommend Paula Deen's macaroni and cheese. It was very bland and not worth putting together just to have to bring back home after the party, because it was so bad nobody would eat it. 

On the other hand, Paula's Strawberry Pretzel Salad was YUMMY! I had never had this treat before, but I will certainly be making it again. It was simple and quick to throw together, and a great COOL treat when it was triple digits outside. 

Ingredients

1   8-ounce can crushed pineapple

2 cup boiling water 

2   10-ounce packages frozen strawberries

2   3-ounce packages strawberry gelatin dessert mix

1   8-ounce container Cool Whip

3/4 cup sugar 

1   8-ounce package cream cheese

3 tablespoon sugar 

3/4 cup melted butter 

2 cup crushed pretzels

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

For the crust, mix the pretzels, butter, and 3 tablespoons of sugar.  Press this mixture into a 9x13-inch pan and bake for 7 minutes.  Set aside and allow to cool.

In a mixing bowl, beat together the cream cheese and 3/4 cup of sugar.  Fold in the Cool Whip, and spread over the cooled crust.  Refrigerate until well chilled.

In a small bowl, dissolve the gelatin in the boiling water, and allow to cool slightly.  Add the strawberries and pineapple, and pour over the cream cheese mixture.  Refrigerate until serving time.

To serve, cut slices and serve with a dollop of Cool Whip.

Yield:  8 to 10 servings 
Preparation time:  30 minutes 
Cooking time:  10 minutes 
Ease of preparation:  easy

Movie Monday - He's Just Not That Into You

This movie was the absolute chick flick I had been hoping for when I rented Revolutionary Road last week. In case you've been living under a rock the past few years, author Greg Behrends wrote a best selling novel a few years ago to tell women that when a guy doesn't call or ask you her out, he's not into you. He parlayed the book success into a daytime talk show, but it must not have been as good, because it's no longer on. However, the screenplay adapted from the book is a real winner!

There are enough different story lines throughout the movie, that I didn't get bored with any of them. And, it's all so relevant! I wish every dating woman could see this movie! The theory is that the lie little girls are told, "Little Timmy pulled your hair because he likes you," is the cause of 25 year-old women who can't stop calling or stalking a guy because there is obviously some reason he didn't call her back after getting her number or going on a first date or meeting at a party. If you weren't one of those women, you knew one of them, or five of them. Women make up all kinds of excuses. He's intimidated by me. He lost my number. He must be busy with work. He might have gone out of town. Not matter what the excuses are, this movie squashes all of them. 

It was so entertaining that I'll probably rent it again. And, I think I'll get it again when Daniel's home. I called it a chick flick, but I think he'll be just as entertained by He's Just That Into You. 

As Red as a Beet

Last night was our monthly date night when the kids are treated to their own night at the YMCA. They have a blast with pizza and games, and we have our own blast with a kid-free dinner and (this month) shopping. We still had some family fun with snow cones after we picked them up. 

Abigail and I each had a cupcake with cream, Daniel a melon blast, and Cooper a coconut. Yummy! But, the real story you are here to hear came after the treats as we headed home. 

We were walking up to our car in the parking lot as another couple was existing their car, which was parked beside our suburban. The young lady existing next to us was wearing a bikini top and daisy dukes (cut-off denim shorts) that were both much too small for her. 

My lovely and, obviously, outspoken daughter says to the young lady...

"Come on people, put some clothes on."

As if that was not enough embarrassment for me, Abigail continued on as Daniel opened the car for her.

"Dad, did you see that lady? I was like 'Come on people, put some clothes on.' " 

Oy!   

Skinny Dippers Unite

Last week it was National Donut Day that we all missed. So that you don't feel left out, I want to make sure you're aware of tomorrow's significance - National Skinny Dipping Day. Guinness (the world records, not the beer) has created a new category for the largest number of people skinny dipping simultaneously, and tomorrow will be the day of counting. (Question: Are we unpatriotic if we don't participate in National Skinny Dipping Day?)

To be officially counted, you may wear a hat and/or water shoes, but no socks or any other clothing. If you're not too fond of skinny dipping, but still want to be included in the record books, they will allow you to take your suit off after getting into the water as long as you hold it up to prove your nakedness. I guess you could consider it a summer holiday from pants! But, please, oh, please, don't take a vacation from your sunscreen!

Here in Austin, Hippie Hollow will certainly be full of participants. And, there's even a travel agency here, Bare Necessities Tour & Travel, that books nude cruises. Who knew there was such a thing as a nude cruise?! The owner recommends you bring a towel to the naked swimming, unless you're not planning on sitting down anywhere. Can I get a collective, "Ewww...."? 

It's too late to submit official forms to register your club or group with the American Association for Nude Recreation, but you could surely find a local group to join at Saturday 3 p.m. Eastern Nudist Time. 

Secretary of the Department of Defense Against Dirt

UPDATE: A few of you asked about the Shark steam mop so I thought it best to give you a better review. It's takes no more effort or time than any other mops I've owned: Clorox mop, regular sponge mop and Swiffer spray jet. Plug it in, and it's ready in about a minute. (One tip I'd suggest is to get the mopping pad damp before using it.)  One of the best parts about it, is that the floors are dry just a few minutes after cleaning them, thanks to the hot steam. No residue or streaks are left behind. Once you're done, throw the pad in the washer and put the mop back in the closet. I see them on sale at Target every so often for about $50. There is a newer "Deluxe" model out, but I'm not sure what makes it so special that it is priced at $100. I've also heard that the Bissell Green Tea is a good steam mop. 

I've never thought of myself as a collector. Unless you count the shoeboxes of baseball cards I owned as a child, or the mounds of shoes I contributed to our marriage years ago, I've never had a formal collecting hobby. That is, until I was cleaning floors at home last night. In one night, I happened to be able to use every electronically powered floor cleaning device I own, which is 5. How can that be? How did this happen without me even realizing it?! However it happened, I'm not going to apologize for the obsession, err... I mean, collection. Each part of my floor cleaning family has a special job and I couldn't keep the house clean without it.

The Dyson Animal was the first to join our family. We were living in our first home with carpet since owning a dog (didn't have carpet in our townhome in Hawaii), and were aghast to discover just weeks after moving in that our dog's hair was embedded in the living room carpet. Although freshly vacuumed, the carpet yielded mounds of dog hair as we raked our fingers through one spot we were sitting in. We went right out to Linens 'N Things and spent way too much money on this thing, but it's so worth it. I love, love, love this vacuum. My favorite part about it is being able to clean the stairs and leave the vacuum at the bottom because the nozzle will stretch up to 20 feet!

My Roomba, or robot vacuum, was the next to join the crew. It's not the tidiest of the collection, but wonderful for a quick surface clean of a room without having to be there. 

Soon after acquiring Roomba, her sister, Scooba, came to live with us. I love, love, love Scooba because I hate, hate, hate to mop. Like Roomba, Scooba doesn't get the floors super-duper clean, but she's cheaper than a maid and just as productive.

This past Christmas, my mom gave me the Shark sweeper. It's awesome, and gets used at least once a day in the kitchen. In fact, I store it in my pantry. And, Abigail loves to vacuum with it since it's light and easy for her to handle. It cleans up carpet as well as the tile floor and keeps it's charge for a couple of weeks.

On my recent birthday, Mom brought another Shark, a steam mop, into the family. My favorite things about this new mop is that it doesn't require a specific cleaning fluid, only using water, and seems to be the most sanitary way to clean a floor since it emits so much hot steam. I feel like I'm sterilizing the floors. 

If you're still reading this, you're just as crazy as I am, and for probably the same reason. After not sweeping the kitchen floor after breakfast, lunch and dinner yesterday (because I knew I was going to do some deep cleaning later), I discovered why I love and absolutely need all the assistance available. Feast your eyes on one day of damage to my kitchen floor.

 

Need I say more?

Tuesday Treats - Tortilla Cobbler

My mom made this for our family reunion last month, and it was so tasty. The best part is that she said it's simple and quick to put together. I have yet to bake this, but I'm serving a Mexican meal next week and I'm certainly bringing it out then. I can't wait!

Ingredients

2 cups water

2 cups sugar

2 sticks butter

2 cans pie filling

Flour Tortillas (16-20)

Cinnamon/Sugar/Crushed nuts mixture

Combine water, sugar and butter in pan and stir to warm.  Fill each tortilla with about 2 tablespoons of pie filling, roll up and place in 9x13 baking dish just as you would an enchilada.   Pour warm mixture over the tortillas and set aside for two hrs at room temp.  Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.  (You can bake it after the two-hour wait or put in refrigerator to bake the next day.)  Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon and nuts. Return to oven for 5-10 minutes.

Movie Monday - Revolutionary Road

I thought I was getting an award winning chick flick with this one. WRONG. Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio? Why would I think anything else? Titanic was probably the cheesiest award winning chick flick ever. The thought never crossed my mind that they would come back together and star as man and wife who hate each other, or love each other but just don't like each other, I still haven't figured that out. 

This movie was one of the darkest movies I've ever seen. Especially considering that the couple had two children, the misery of their homelife left me uncomfortable rather than entertained. 

The screenplay was adapted by a book published in 1961, and I think I would enjoy the book. I can take, and even enjoy, dark literature much better than on screen. It's considered one of the best English-language books since 1923, so I may be adding it to my stack of books to read. As for the movie...

I'm not sure if it's a bad movie or just not what I was looking for that night. I don't know. I just know I won't be seeing it again. Ever.

Meet & Greet

We are settling in nicely at our new church and actually starting to make some friends. At our last church, in South Carolina, when we joined a Sunday School class there were just two other couples in the class. Needless to say, it wasn't difficult to get to know them and develop good relationships with those couples. As the class grew, it was easy to get to know each couple that joined, since it was usually just one at a time that was added. 

However, our new Sunday School class is quite large. We greatly enjoy the teachers, an older couple who puts a lot of time into the studies and effort into getting to know the families. But, we shied away from the class at the beginning because we felt it was too large for us to find a place for ourselves. In visiting around, we found that there weren't any smaller options available at the church, so we forced ourselves to find a place in the original class we liked. 

We were just in time for a new social activity they began that is allowing us to get to know people. One of the ladies has organized Meet & Eat. All interested families signed up to have a meal with one other family each month. It allows us to have some individual time with another family and get to know them outside of the few minutes of chatting we get before and after class each Sunday.

May was our first month of Meet & Eat, and we were looking forward to it while dreading it at the same time. It's essentially a blind date for families. I was envisioning all these episodes of the reality dating show Blind Date we used to watch in horror. But, it was a great experience. We had a wonderful lunch with Brooke, Brandon and their two daughters after church one Sunday. The guys had fishing and fatherhood in common. And, what two moms can't find something to talk about for an hour or two?! 

We are hosting our June family next week, and I'm no longer dreading the experience. I'm looking forward to meeting the Holders and getting to know someone outside of our neighborhood. And, we're trying to find some time to get together with Brooke and Brandon again this month. Before you know it, we're going to have friends and an actual social life again! Who knew?!

A Day in the Toilet

We are foregoing our usual summer Saturday at the pool to be locked up here at the house. But, it's for a good cause -- I HOPE! I'm finally giving in to Cooper's potty desires. He's been asking to potty for months, and he's certainly old enough, but I just haven't had the time, desire or energy to deal with it. 

So, I brushed up on this book that gave us our magic day of success with Abigail.

We're stocked up on plenty of underwear adorned with cars, cowboy boots and horses.

And, both training potties are out of storage, cleaned and ready to go.

I'm so hoping that Cooper is just as successful with this as Abigail was. I'm not interested in Pull-ups or regular accidents. After I spent that long day of training with Abigail, she had just a handful of accidents. I'm praying we see the same successful results this time around!

Why is Everyone So Twitterpated?!

I think almost everyone I know Twitters, and I just don't get it. For those of you who don't know, again I went to Wikipedia to share with you...

Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read other users' updates known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters, displayed on the user's profile page and delivered to other users who have subscribed to them (known as followers). Senders can restrict delivery to those in their circle of friends or, by default, allow anybody to access them. Users can send and receive tweets via the Twitter website, Short Message Service (SMS) or external applications. The service is free to use over the Internet, but using SMS may incur phone service provider fees.

Since its creation in 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Twitter has gained extensive notability and popularity worldwide.  Estimates of the number of daily users vary, because the company does not release the number of active accounts. In November 2008, Jeremiah Owyang of Forrester Research estimated that Twitter had 4-5 million users. A February 2009 Compete.com blog entry ranked Twitter as the third most used social network (Facebook being the largest, followed by MySpace), which puts the number of unique monthly visitors at roughly 6 million and the number of monthly visits at 55 million, however only 40% of users are retained. In March 2009, a Nielsen.com blog ranked Twitter as the fastest-growing site in the Member Communities category for February 2009. Twitter had a growth of 1382%, Zimbio had a growth of 240%, followed by Facebook with a growth of 228%

For starters, I just don't get texting. I did begin texting, only when someone else texts me, after getting my BlackBerry in October. The full keyboard made it not such a huge pain to send texts, but I still don't understand why I can't call or send an email. I'm much more comfortable with those. And, a quick call takes me much less time than a text. I know I could send tweets from my computer, but then, wouldn't I just want to send an email?!

Secondly, I don't know anyone who wants to get up-to-the minute news on my daily life. "Changing a diaper now. It's green and gross," just doesn't sound like the kind of news that everyone I'm wirelessly connected to via Sprint wants to hear about. What happened to having a personal and/or private life? Is it that I'm just not as interesting as all the other millions of people using Twitter on a daily basis? Or, are those millions of people not near as busy as I am on a daily basis?

I've heard of people using Twitter when at a restaurant. If they've never been to to the restaurant, they send a tweet requesting the best items from that menu. I'll just stick with asking the waiter or being spontaneous. I do have a mind of my own, sometimes.

 

However, I did find myself using Twitter last week for the first time. The Longhorn baseball team was playing in the regional tournament again Boston College. I assumed they would win the game and didn't stay home that night to follow it. When I returned home around 11 that night, I checked the local newspaper website to find that the game was in the 19th inning! Holy Cow! I tried to get the radio station carrying the game, but they were on to their regularly scheduled Fox Sports program. I ended up following the reporter covering the game via his Twitter updates online. I was maniacally refreshing the page every few seconds as he gave a play-by-play commentary all the way through the 25th inning. It was a historic moment that I'm glad I didn't miss, but I can't believe I was a part of it via Twitter. I was so close to signing up for Twitter just so that I could go to bed and receive the tweets on my phone instead of sitting at my computer until after 1 a.m. But, I just couldn't bring myself to do it.

Do you Twitter? Why or why not? Please enlighten me as to why I seem to be in the minority on this new technology.

A New Tradition

Abigail is so proud of her James Avery charm bracelet she received in April for her birthday. I've been itching to get her started on one of these for quite some time, but wanted to wait until she was old enough to keep up with it herself. 

I started her off with a couple of charms as part of her gift, my dad and sister each added a charm as their birthday gifts to her, and Abigail purchased a charm with the money she received from her Great Grandmother Mimi and Great Aunt Mayanna.

The birthday cake is one of my favorites, and I plan on having the back engraved with the date of her 5th birthday at a later time. (The charms have to be sent to the James Avery headquarters for engraving and we're not patient people, so we opted to wait until later.) The palm tree is what Abigail picked out for herself to represent her birthplace, Hawaii. My dad gave her the alligator charm because he and Abigail always say goodbye to each other with "See you later alligator" and "After while crocodile."  The longhorn was from my sister, as one of Abigail's favorite things to say is "Hook 'Em Horns" as she flashes the longhorn sign with her hand. The high-heeled shoe is symbolic of all the girliness and dressing up Abigail shows us.  I also added the "I Love You" charm and princess crown. 

Hopefully, by the time she's an adult, she'll have a collection like this to represent her life!

Craigslist Crazy

Is there a meeting I can go to? I'm thinking CA. It's not the abbreviation for the bankrupt state of California. It's the group meeting to cure addiction to Craigslist. If it exists, please sign me up. 

For those of you not familiar with Criagslist, here's the Wikipedia definition:

Craigslist is a centralized network of online communities, featuring free online classified advertisements– with sections devoted to jobs, housing, personals, for sale, services, community, gigs, résumés, anddiscussion forums.

Craig Newmark began the service in 1995 as an email distribution list of friends, featuring local events in the San Francisco Bay Area, before becoming a web-based service in 1996. After incorporation as a private for-profit company in 1999, Craigslist expanded into nine more U.S. cities in 2000, four each in 2001 and 2002, and 14 in 2003. As of April 2009, Craigslist has established itself in approximately 570 cities in 50 countries.

As of 2009, Craigslist operates with a staff of 28 people. Its sole source of revenue is paid job ads in select cities and paid broker apartment listings in New York City. 

The site serves over twenty billion page views per month, putting it in 28th place overall among web sites world wide, ninth place overall among web sites in the United States (per Alexa.com on March 27, 2009), to over fifty million unique monthly visitors in the United States alone (per Compete.com on April 7, 2009). The site receives over one million new job listings each month, making it one of the top job boards in the world.  The classified advertisements range from traditional buy/sell ads and community announcements, to personal ads and services.

Now that the introduction is out of the way, I can tell you that I've been frequenting Craigslist for years. I've predominantly sold baby items, such as strollers, a swing, or any large baby gear that the kids have outgrown. I think I've sold everything the kids have outgrown, except clothing. I've sold one car and, I've also sold a lot of furniture on Craigslist. We used to have garage sales, but now I just frequent Craigslist when we have items to purge.

A couple of months ago, I set out to re-decorate and furnish both Abigail and Cooper's room. However, I challenged myself with not spending anything I didn't earn by selling items I wanted to get rid of in their rooms. I started off with Abigail's bedroom set, which I sold for what I wanted to spend on her room in just a few days. Now, she has all new Pottery Barn bedding, a chair rail installed around her room and freshly painted walls. (She also received Cooper's bedroom furniture to replace her sold furniture. Her new bed was our guestroom bed.) I came in just a few dollars over my Criagslist budget in her room, which was a success.

The past week, I've been working on Cooper's room. I picked up a gorgeous antique dresser and mirror from... You guessed it! Craigslist! And, today, I listed Cooper's crib and various other baby items like our pack and play that we no longer need. It was just a few minutes after posting, that I began receiving emails from people wanting to buy my items. It looks like I'm going to be able to come out in the clear with my budget for Cooper's room. I think the $40 in paint may be over budget of what I'll end up bringing in from my sales, but I'm pleased as punch with that result!

Daniel regularly advises the kids to keep moving. He says that I'll sell anything that sits still long enough around our house. He may be right, but it's fun!

Tuesday Treats - A Meal for Moms

A few weeks ago, I got the chance to spend Mother's Day with my Mom. I had not done that in about eight years so I wanted to treat her to a feast of a meal. I won't fill up the blog with all the recipes, but I'll give you links so you can check out some of my favorite recipes next time you're putting a feast together.

Pecan Encrusted Pork Chops with Honey Mustard Sauce
The entree was one of my favorites I have made many times. Yummy and super easy! It's the only way I've ever cooked pork, aside from a baked ham, but it's worth a try. 

Green Bean Bundles

These Green Bean Bundles from Paula Deen are also one of my staples. They are a pretty and elegant way of serving fresh veggies, and as I always like, easy to make. Since I was making a Sunday lunch that needed to ready quickly after church, I prepared these the night before so that I just had to stick them in the oven right before lunch. 

Jiffy Corn Pudding

A few weeks before I served this meal, I had corn pudding for the first time. It was served at one of my favorite local restaurants, The Texan Cafe, and was delicious! I went in search for a recipe that sounded similar, and I found it! It was risky to try a new recipe out for this meal, but it paid off. I liked it so much that I've made it for a meal with friends from church and a dinner at home since then. 

Butterscotch Pie

This was another risky endeavor with a never-tried recipe, but it paid off as well. It is another Paula Deen recipe, so I didn't have much doubt in it's success. Boy, was it rich, but so very tasty. I love making pies, and I'll be adding this to my holiday pie repertoire from now on. 

Gooey Butter Cake

Again, I tried a new-to-me Paula Deen recipe and it was, of course, delicious. My sister, Kelly Ann, baked this cake, and it was the yummiest thing on the table that day. I've made it myself a few times since Mother's Day, and it was just as yummy. Oh, my mouth is watering just thinking about it. 

Enjoy! 

Movie Monday - Doubt

I'm not quite sure what to say about this flick. Although it wasn't awful, I wouldn't recommend it. The acting was superb, but the plot was a bit boring. I love Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams and Meryl Streep, so I expected more entertainment from this group. But, I don't think the screenplay gave them much to work with. 

In short, the film takes place in a Catholic school where Meryl is the headmaster and Amy is a young teacher. Phillip is the priest of the church where the school is located. True to Catholic schoolteacher stereotyping, Meryl is cold and mean and directs that towards the priest when she suspects him of priestly behavior. And, in thinking about that actual plot, I think I've figured out why I didn't like the movie. That was all of the plot! I'm not leaving anything out. That was it. So, I think it was the lack of story that left me wanting a better movie. 

You may want to rent it if you need to wind down and are having trouble sleeping.