Happy Birthday to Me!

I made myself a birthday card, I read about making yourself a card on some crafty blog but I can't remember where.
In the back of my mind it seems silly to make yourself a card yet at the same time I think it could be a cool tradition for myself.

I didn't want to dig out the camera so I scanned my card, that's why the picture looks a little funny.

trying out a new recipes.....

I was given some catfish fillets from a friend who is moving and needed to purge her fridge and pantry. Receiving free food is always a blessing but it's also a challenge to be given ingredients that I don't normally use. The good news is that we like to try out new foods and flavors.
Tonight I made spicy blackened catfish I really liked it. I also made a cucumber/avocado salad which was so yummy. I did not have high hopes for the cucumber salad but it turned out great and is being added to my tried and true recipe binder. The crisp cucumbers are so yummy blended with creamy avocado.
I didn't take any pictures because I didn't think my new recipes would turn out so good, I only picked them because I had all the ingredients on hand.


On another note, Greg came home last night and he likes the new living room color, he did not say anything about my brown curtains but was really fond of my pale blue curtain I hung in the dining room. Hold on a minute......I'm asking him as I'm typing if he likes the brown curtains......Yea! he thinks they are nice.

Next time he goes out to sea, I'm tackling the dining room it needs a little color.

New Curtians

My hubby hasn't seen the living room yet, he comes home today. Let's hope he likes all the changes I've made.

I used bamboo as curtain rods, they still need to be trimmed to size.
The living room curtains are somewhat sheer and have a tropical leaf pattern on them, it's very subtle. Despite being sheer they really make it dark in the living room, it could be that we've had overcast days or because the walls are a darker color. I tacked some ribbon to the wall so that I can tie back the curtains and let in some light.

I'm thinking about painting our dining room a dark khaki color, not quite tan but not dark brown either, it's adjacent to the living room so the colors need to flow together but I also want it to look like a separate room. I like the blue/brown color combo, that's why I picked up the sheer blue curtain (also is was cheap at only $4.99)

a little color

I did it! I painted our living room! All by myself! I love it!



The color looks pretty bright in the picture, in real life the color is a deep rich rust orange or terracotta color. I have to say that I hate the ugly black speaker sitting atop our white cabinet and the two on the floor. We have yet to find a solution to hide the speakers. They don't bother Greg as much as they do me.

I'll be looking for some curtains on the cheap, I found some chocolate brown panel style curtains but my hubby shot them down, he thought it would be too dark and too much brown next to our furniture. How I wish he was less interested in home decor, I know of no other husband who cares as much as he does. At least he's not afraid of a little color and he does have good taste. I did have to beg, plead, and nag for weeks before he agreed to let me paint and it's my responsibility to repaint when it comes time to move.
On another note (still on the topic of living room decor)
We bought a really nice book shelve for my birthday, it's custom build and won't be here until September, possibly as late as November. I can hardly wait. When we get our shelve and I find some curtains I'll post some pictures. I'm sure the living room will be transformed once again with those items added.

e

Swimming in the ocean

Last week my friend and I went to a deep-water aerobics class, very fun and yet a serious workout. We decided to go again this week, we drove all the way to the pool to find it closed for unexpected maintenance. We than drove all the way across town to a different pool just to swim since we were already in our swim suits. We saw a sign with the pool schedule saying it was closed for another hour, we went out for coffee and came back to the pool to find that it was closed and had been closed for several days for maintenance (ARG)wish we had seen that second sign before we came back. Determined to swim we drove to the beach. This is a not really a sandy beach but a swimming area with three concrete walls to create something like a regular swimming pool. The water was deep, calm, clear, and beautiful. Seriously the water was at least 20 feet deep. I could not swim to the bottom yet I could see the bottom clearly as if it was only a few feet away. Now, this was the ocean and there were fish, lots of tropical fish. I didn't really notice them as we were swimming laps and talking, but after a while we were just treading water and I found myself in the middle of a school of fish, about a foot long each with a long needle like nose, I like nature I just don't want to be in it, the unpredictability of animals freaks me out. There was at least a dozen of these fish swimming all around me, of course my friend who goes scuba diving often just shrugged them off as no big deal and laughed a bit at my irrationality but I was ready to be out of the water, after all we had been swimming for over an hour. Once we were out of the water I looked down into the clear water and saw several more fish, it almost made me want to get some snorkel gear and head back in the water as there were brightly colored yellow and blue angel fish and tiger stripped fish and all sorts of pretty fish. I can't believe I didn't notice the fish while we were swimming, perhaps because the water was so deep. The school of fish that I was caught in the middle of was cool to watch from outside of the water as they all swam in unison, which I'm sure was much easier with out a crazy lady (ME!)splashing and kicking water trying to keep them from touching her.

I was sad to miss the water aerobics class but I will say I had a fun time swimming in the ocean. My friend and I probably looked ridiculous as we tried some of the exercises and strokes we learned in last week's class but we didn't care we had a good workout and a lot of fun to boot.

Menu Plan Monday July 14 - July 20

Monday Grilled Hamburgers with all the trimmings

Tuesday Tacos

Wednesday Grilled Cheese Sandwiches and soup

Thursday Chicken and basil stir fry

Friday Pizza Night

Saturday Chicken with buttermilk mustard sauce, I've made this before and it's yummy

Sunday Wraps ( a lot like deli sandwiches but with a tortilla instead of bread)

How does it look now?

I took the advice given and exchanged my frilly ribbon for some tweed which I think looks a bit like rope.

Honest Opinions Wanted

I want your honest opinions, in fact go ahead and post your comment anonymously that way you won't hold back your criticism.
In a couple of weeks my Navy Wives group is having a White Elephant auction, everyone is bringing a wrapped gift from home.
My mother in law just sent me an early birthday package full of goodies, I was overwhelming blessed with some new clothes, a much wanted cook book, and a ton of fantastic craft supplies. Of course I had to get crafting with my new supplies.

In wrapping my gift for the upcoming White elephant auction, I used my new ribbon, my new "ahoy matey" stamp and one of my anchor die cuts.
Here's what my gift looks like:


I like my gift wrap but it doesn't seem to be "clicking" with me, I'm not sure what's wrong

Could it be that the blue anchor doesn't match the blue tag? or is it that pearls and star don't seem to go together? is there to much ribbon? is it my brown bag wrapping, perhaps I should use white tissue instead?
Before I go and change it up I thought I should have some feedback, I know I can be awfully critical of myself.

So tell me what do you think and don't hold back.

A Birthday Card

Somebody's birthday is coming up and I made a birthday card for the occasion. I had to get it out in the mail yesterday if it was going to make it on time. My friend came over to scrapbook and my tools were not in order. While making the card I couldn't find my scissors anywhere. I ended up using my ginormous kitchen shears which don't cut very pretty, my edges are rough especially on my scalloped edge. I wanted to redo my card but decided that it's the thought that counts and the mail man would be driving by any minute. Of course once my card was in the mail I found my craft scissors sitting underneath a pile of papers. (ARG) at least I found them.

Menu Plan Monday June 7 - July 13

It's Monday Already!?

Here's my menu for the week:

Monday 7/7 Chicken Panang (this is a new recipe, my friend is moving and she offered several items from her pantry to me. She gave me some Asian and Thai ingredients along with a recipe for chicken panang. I'm so excited to try some new foods. If this turns out good I'll post the recipe)

Tuesday 7/8 Tacos

Wednesday 7/9 Build your own Wraps (a nice cool, easy meal)

Thursday 7/10 Leftovers

Friday 7/11 Pizza Night

Saturday 7/12 Pasta with Eggplant, Sausage, and Feta (I've made this many times)

Sunday 7/13 Stir fry


go here for more Menu Plan Monday

Fourth of July Festivities

Fourth of July and pretty much all other holidays don't have the same anticipation and excitement when your family is not around. We still have fun on holidays I just happen to miss my family all the more, knowing that on the other side of the globe everyone is getting together and eating, laughing, and just plain ol enjoying each other's company and I miss that.

Greg's buddies from work invited us over to their house for a Pig Roast, they bought a whole pig and roasted it as you can see from the above picture. They rigged up some kind of BBQ pit and rotisserie device for the pig. The guys even made a Mango BBQ sauce from scratch, you can see the pan of tomatoes and fruit being heated over the hot coals (see picture) I was impressed. My hubby is in the orange shirt (not the red bud shirt). We hung out for a few hours mostly just standing around looking at the pig and talking, the guys each took turns turning the pig, it's hard work after a few minutes.

My cupcakes received rave reviews for taste. No one said how cute they were (all guys, I'm not sure they notice things like cute cupcakes. I was the only lady there for a while)

We didn't stay at the Pig Roast all day, we headed home early and went to my neighbors who was also having a Fourth of July BBQ. Their house is across the street and has a fantastic view of the ocean in the backyard (our backyard is a view of the jungle- masses of palm trees and plants)
After dinner we watched the fireworks. We had a perfect view, the fireworks were so pretty over the water. After the fireworks show we played a couple of games of UNO and then headed home.

It was a good day.

Sketch Challange

I have been on such a crafty kick lately. I've been browsing scrap booking and stamping blogs in search of inspiration, I ordered over 300 pictures from our 2008 cross country road trip and I've been scrapping up a storm. It could be because summer is here and my schedule is freer without a daily job or it could be because my neighbor started scrap booking and came to me for advice and tips (ME!) I'm rather critical and concerned over my past projects, my scrapbooks are not much compared to the talent I've seen from others online, but I'm still flattered by someone's interest in my hobby.

My online craft searching led me to this site called Our Creative Corner super cute! I knew I had to participate in this weeks Sketch Challenge. I've been thinking about sending a card to a friend and this seemed like a little push to go ahead and get a card made. (In truth, the $20 gift card drawing was more influential)

It's been a fun week and I've done a quite a bit to my little family scrap book. The craft room (hobby room?) is in a constant state of disarray. I share half the table with my hubby and his projects. I'm not complaining, it's kind of nice to work side by side, I wouldn't say it's quality time together as we don't really talk, we're so focused on our projects at hand.

I tried convincing my husband that we should have a "hobby fund" to help pay for all my crafting purchases and scrap booking needs, my supplies are dwindling down. I was given a hearty chuckle and a big fat NO. It was worth a shot. It is so hard to be frugal when it comes to scrap booking and stamping, but I can do it. I just have to be more creative in using what I have.

Patriotic Cupcakes

Just a quick post showing my patriotic cupcakes, we'll be taking these red, white and blue beauties to a BBQ tomorrow to celebrate our Nation's Independence.

5 ingredients or less

I'm sure that several of you Works for me Wednesday Posters have some fantastic recipes and I can't wait to read a few but 5 ingredients or less, oh my! I had such a hard time thinking of a recipe. I don't know why, I'm a firm believer that the simplest things taste the best. I know I've made meals that only had a few ingredients but I couldn't think of anything fabulous.

I think I may need this book to give me some ideas when it comes to simple cooking.

I did think of something as I couldn't miss a Works for me Wednesday post

We like hot dogs-I know not the healthiest and certainly not gourmet but it's well rounded when served with baked beans and a veggie like corn on the cob.

1.kosher hot dogs (Hebrew National-were snobs when it comes to hot dogs)
2. store bought buns (I've made my own but I have yet to master a perfect hot dog bun)
3. mustard
4. relish
5. sauerkraut

If we don't feel like grilling I broil the hot dogs, it only takes a couple of minutes, I also throw the buns under the broiler for a few seconds so they become warm toasty.
Hot dogs are such a tasty, quick, and cheap meal. I feel so American when eating a hot dog (silly I know.) If I plan on making hot dogs I usually buy some Coca Cola the real stuff in a red can, It breaks my no high-fructose corn syrup rule but sometimes you just have to have an ice cold can of Coke with your hot dog, that's all there to it.

Menu Plan Monday June 30 - July 6

Monday 6/30 Sloppy Joes and Corn on the side

Tuesday 7/1 Lasagna and salad (I picked up some whole wheat lasagna noodles dirt cheap the other day, paid 25 cents after coupon, I was pretty excited about it)

Wednesday 7/2 Chicken Stir Fry

Thursday 7/3 Leftovers

Friday 7/4 Happy Independence Day! We're going to a BBQ (actually it's a Pig Roast but that's kind of like a BBQ isn't it? I've never seen a whole pig being roasted before, I'm kind of excited)

Saturday 7/5 Pizza

Sunday 7/6 I'm not sure what we'll eat yet, I'm thinking something grilled.


This weeks Menu Plan Monday is being host by Heavenly Homemakers, go there to see more Menu plans.