Flowers From My Neighbors Garden

Almost sounds like it could be a title of a book doesn't it?? Few things have given me as much pleasure as watching my neighbors garden grown and bloom every year. On the darkest dreary-est of winter days I look out of my bedroom window over their garden and envision the wonderful colors that will soon explode for months. It is like a never ending wave of blooms and flowers, daffodils, tulips, peonies, roses, sunflowers, gladiolas, dahlias zinnias and hydrangeas. Also tomatoes cucumbers sugar snap peas zucchini and eggplant. Nothing beats their home made bread and butter pickles made with their home grown cucumbers! Anyway here are some pics of  a bouquet I cut today and some of what is blooming ....

Batteries, Bottled water...and barnes and noble??

While the rest of the east coast is bracing and preparing for the hurricane my idea of survival is stocking up on my favorite magazines. I still think Wegmans has a better selection and I don't know why. ANYWAY I got Paula Deen Southern Living, Create and Decorate and a new little book from Taste of Home for  freezer cooking....
So I did some decorating yesterday. It was a grey and dreary day and I was in total nesting mode. I went to  one antiques shop in search of something but didn't quite know what. So out I came with this and I love it...

Isn't it adorable! I love that I can use it to decorate for each season. It can be both primitive and shabby chic... Excited for my first purchase!

Then I went to this one primitive store that has ignited my interest in this decorating. I was in there a long long loooonnnggggg time. But it was so nice to just look and dream and get ideas. I did buy quite a few things and I was happy to find that the prices were lower than I thought. I still may order some things online but I wanted to get going on my decorating. Here is the finished display.....

Isn't it adorable! I love it. The two tapers are battery operated flicker ones I bought at the store along with the tin star the garland and the sunflowers next t the bear. The table cloth I have had forever....


Here are some more pictures... enjoy! That little bear originally had a little sweater on that said England am guessing it was someones souvenir. However he as been repurposed, and changed in the sweater fora cute homespun bow. awwwwwwwww aint it cute??

 Hope you enjoyed the new decorating, I had fun arranging it!!

Sunny day doggie

Just a quick picture of my fav puppy in the sun...

My coupon trip

Hey everyone! I havent posted about my coupon haul from Friday at Shop Rite. I am going to post a few pics and list my items as simply as possible. At the end of my load of groceries my total was $145. After my shop rite card and coupons my total came to $92. I think thats pretty amazing!!

Ok starting from left to right...
-Purex laundry detergent was on sale for $2.99 I had a $1 off coupon (3 of them) plus there was a special if you bought 6 items you got $5 off  your next shopping trip.( I have to admit Im in a sinus infection haze and I cant remember the details of the promotions of the week, but after I got my total down to $92 there was a $5 and $2 catalina coupons that printed for the items I purchased... ok back to my list...)
-The kleenex hand towels were on sale for $2.50 I had a .$75 off coupon that doubled to $1.50 off making them $1
-Softscrub was on sale for $2.99. I had a coupon for $1.50 off so they were $1.50... I had three of those.
-The ziploc containers were on sale for I think $2.20 ? a piece. I cant remember but I had a $1 off two. I had two of those coupons. Also the same for the ziploc bags
-Renuzits were on sale for $1 a piece and I had buy 2 get 1 free coupons. I had three of those so I got 9. I go thru those like crazy
-All the school supplies I got were free from the previous weeks promos. There are two packs of copy paper, a binder, a pack of dry erase markers and 3 notebooks
-The blue bottles in the front (and one white) are kids shampoo. They were on sale for $1.88 a piece. I had a $.50 off two coupon that doubled to $1 off two...
-The keebler cookies were on sale for $1.99 a pack I  had $1 off two....
-The peanut butter I think was on sale 2 for $4 and I had $1 two coupon (two coupons)
I think that covers most of the coupon items. On top of that I also bought grapes, salad mix, milk, butter, eggs, yogurt and pasta. o and ginger ale and iced tea and dog food. All in all I think that is alot for $92 and $7 off my next trip!

Dinner Tonite

I forgot I took a picture of our dinner tonite also from trader joes (which is where I got my flowers)

The slider I bought today, the cesar salad was a bagged Dole salad mix which I love and those fries? Um where have they been?? They are frozen garlic fries from trader joes as well. YUM AND YUM

Simple quick dinner for a quiet Friday at home!

My summer table

So I finally had a few minutes between motrin and ginger ale and I cleared off and set my dining room table...

I bought this little basket with the yankee candles at the outlet Wednesday. It was only $7. The small jar candle alone is more than that !!

Ive noticed on other blogs pictures taken at an angle so I decided to give a shot

Not bad!! Here is another

 That one is a little wacky but I like the close up of the candle

Well a $4 bunch of sunflowers more than made my day. Its amazing how little it takes to make me happy. I love my little display and really am looking forward to doing alot more of this in my house. Happy Weekend!!

Good Morning Sunshine

I woke up this morning and it started out not so nice. Then by 830 or so it was sunny and cool and breezy so I opened my windows and aired out the house. I hate feeling so closed up with the AC on. But I am hot 99% of the time and unfortunately have to have the ac on. I try to turn it off in the morning and breath some fresh air but by lunchtime Ive had my fill lol.

Anyway I took Shane to the dr today and he is ok. Not terrible not great. When we got in the car Jack asked if we could take a ride even if we dont go anywhere. I took the long way home and had one thought on my mind. Wild flowers. I wanted so much to find a farm stand and buy a few bunches. The only ones I could think of were too far away. So I settled for a bunch of sunflowers at Trader Joes. They are beautiful!! Am going to clear off and set my dining room table later. I still have various party decorations around and its time for them to GO. Will post pics asap. Enjoy this beautiful day of sunshine!!

Twenty Minute projects....

So among all of the major projects I have swirling around in my head I thought I would also try something called 20 minute projects where I take something relatively small and reorganize and clean it in 20 minutes....at least that is my intent!! Here is mine from yesterday...

This is my jelly cupboard that has some table clothes and candles in it. I bought some candles at yankee candle yest and was not about to shove them into this mess so I tore it apart.....

Before....

After....oooooooooo ahhhhhhh aint it purty??

Ok I must admit the very small type A part of my personality is screaming out in disgust over the two ziploc bags in the upper right corner and that brown box that has napkins in it on the top left. They will be tended to IMMEDIATLY!! Lol. Anyway it certainly looks like I have my very own yankee candle store in here. Its amazing the treasures and things you find that are buried under clutter. Now they are all neat and nice and ready to be used! Yea!

Comfort In A Bowl

Ok so my youngest is sick and with that comes the cure all foods and drinks. Namely coke, saltines, ginger ale, in my house and also...pastina. yum. I don't think I ever had pastina any other time than when i was sick and is it pure comfort. So I made some for Shane and of course there was some extras that I willingly ate. Is it the salty buttery melty taste? Is it the fact that you eat it with a spoon? Is it that it is a pure unapologetic carb-o-rama?? Id say yes to all three. Who knows how many steaming hot bowls of this comfort pasta my mother fed to me as a kid. I was sick quite often and of course like any mom she knew all of what to do. Some thing as simple as putting a cloth napkin on the tray she served it on even made me feel better although I didn't even realize exactly why. The depth of comfort is immeasurable I think. It can range from obvious things like hugs, chocolate, and a warm robe, to less obvious ones like a song, an old sweatshirt and a faded well read book. Anyway here is a picture of my comfort in a bowl today. I must admit its been a long week and I'm not really sure why. But for a few minutes I had pure comfort in my heart.

My girl ginger

I couldnt help but post this pic of my favorite girl ginger. She is so beautiful and loyal. She really does know when Im not myself and is never more then a few feet away. (unless she is under the dining room table chewing on toothbrushes capri sun pouches or god only knows what else) She was a sick little pup but made an amazing recovery! I love her. ...see what i mean about scattered??? I was talking about all the stuff I was supposed to do but I stopped to blog about my dog. Sigh. Such is my personality. Ive stopped feeling bad about it and tried (reeeallllyyy tried) to embrace my scattered-ness. If nothing else it is anything but boring.

Info overload....

Ok so In my nesting quest I have sent my frazzled brain into many many directions. Im sort of reading Julia Childs book and looking lover Marthas Homekeeping book while reading blogs online about primitive decorating and looking up wholesale craft supplies because I want to make my own stuff.O and reorganizing both my kids room from top to bottom. And the candle cabinet. And Shane's birthday. And back to school stuff. ....Have I covered it all????? O I forgot watching videos on youtube of primitive decorating ideas.....

My sister is giving me her dining room table and china cabinet  when she moves. Once I have that I will start to redecorate the living room kitchen and dining room. Here's what I am going to attempt to finish today... Both the boys room. My room. laundry. candles. dishes and dinner. Laundry. Snuggle with Shane. Snuggle with ginger. Find the remote for Jack even though its 6 inches from his hand. Post some pics of my candle cabinet and hopefully a few ideas  I have seen on the internet of stuff I like. O and how could I forget my couponing!! I need to cut them up and match them to the sale stuff in the flyer i KNOW you are sitting on the edge of your seat waiting to see what I will get for cheap but you are just going to have to be patient!

So stay tuned for Amys crazy winding path of chores projects and dreams it may not make sense at first but in the end it (almost) always gets done!

Happy Birthday Shane!

Even tho the stinker is in his room in trouble Im still giving him extra hugs and kisses today. Here are some pics of his bday party

 Dining room all prepped and ready

 baseball cupcakes...can some say unsteady hand??? good lord its like I was drunk when I did those lol

 The Birthday Boy

 The Birthday Boy in action.

Jack sporting the NY eye black.
It was definitely a great party. We had soft pretzels hot dogs hamburgers and cracker jax. It was a great time!

Day after Birthday Party Recovery...

Yesterday was Shanes 5th birthday party. IT was baseball themed and I am beat. There is still alot of cleaning up to do of course but for right now I am ignoring it. Its cloudy and wet out, the perfect day to rest recover and maybe do some nesting and cleaning. I haven't looked at my books in the last few days as I have been in major party prep mode. Will post pics asap! Happy Monday!

Lots doing today...at least that is the intent!

Ok as much as I would love to sit here all day making my blog pretty I have of course way more important things to be doing! I just added a page dedicated to recipes and one to couponing. I do mine on a much smaller scale than what has been seen on tv and I do think it helps cut down expenses. I am planning on going today and will post pictures and show what I did later on. Also prepping for the bday party as well as squeezing in as may pages of Julia Child as I can. Its a beautiful day out tho so I plan to enjoy it to the fullest along with my chores. Enjoy!

Look at me all fancy schmancy!

wow look at me with a fancy new back ground and banner! How excited and overly proud am I? I have been reading more of My Life in France by Julia Child and I really love it. I'm also looking at some of the recipes she writes about in the cookbook. Turns out scrambled eggs really is a skill to perfect! Ok so I'm sure the fickle Libra side of my brain will kick in and change everything 12 times as I get more comfortable with my newly found computer graphic skills. Not really cooking motivated today actually have changed my shift of focus (no surprise there) to my sons 5th birthday party. A baseball party so I will be sure to add some pics and info on that. In the meantime I am going blog background shopping!!

Why I love Martha...

Ok I have to admit as I said I do love Martha Stewart. I truly believe she made housekeeping home keeping or whatever you want to call it something to take pride in. Now she does take things to the extreme in many ways but that's what makes her, well Martha. Now it seems as though taking time to iron clothes, clean out your closet, bake and decorate amazing cookies is something to enjoy and be proud of and not just thought of as meaningless and filled with drudgery or worse a waste of time. Being a 'house wife' 'home economist' or 'domsestic diva' is no longer something to be ashamed of because you didn't work outside the home. Instead, its go to work? great. stay at home with kids pets or whatever? great too. And here is a gigantic 500 page book on how to take care of your very own domain with an amazing attention to detail and creativity. The book I borrowed today 'The Housekeeping Handbook 'is a meticulously detailed book on how to take care of and clean and store everything that you could possibly have in your home. (and a whole lot of crap we dont have) I have just barely scratched the surface (Im sure Martha would have a handy tip to help me fix that ) of what this book contains... Some of it I love, some of it is a stretch and some if it is totally insane. Here is my take on just a few things I saw today....

 Martha's complete set of whisks.....

 MY complete set of whisks....

Marthas set of forks... now mind you she did NOT take all of her forks out of her plastic divider we ALL have and lay them out. Each of these forks serves a specific purpose such as a pastry fork, oyster fork four tined fish fork. and last but not least a table fork.

  My forks consist of.. wait for it... wait for it. A large and small fork. Beware oyster fork... you are not the coolest one by far... o no.

Ok I have reached my blogging limit for today. Stay tuned tomorrow as we explore the wild and wacky world of spoons linen closets cleaning supplies and most excitedly how to properly fold the dreaded fitted sheet!! can you stand the excitement? I know I cant!!

Dinner Time!

Lets take a break from the books and movie talk and take a look at what I made for dinner tonite. It really was delicious. At first bite my oldest said "oh my god mom this is absolutely delicious" and my youngest said. "Actually mom its pretty good!" (thanks for the confidence!!) here are some pics...

Here I am all excited for my cooking. No idea why I chose the high angle shot. Maybe because I wanted you to see my dog dishes and other clutter...

 I decided to pick the cookbook I was going to cook from for the remainder of the week. Quick and Easy that cant be bad!

Lemon and Artichoke chicken. Simple and Delish. O wait sorry  quick and easy...

 Take two skinless boneless chicken breasts and pound them til they are thinner (i know that couldn't be anymore vague!). I didn't pound mine enough but it still worked fine. I have to admit I was shocked to find I owned a meat mallet.

 Coat chicken in flour and cook in pan w about 2 Tablespoons of butter. I didn't even season the four but you defiantly could. Can I just add that those black tongs in the corner are the most useless utensil ever. It would be easier to coat and flip the chicken with my feet. anyway...

 Chop up 2 cloves of garlic, Ray Ray (aka Rachel Ray ) style. Smack the clove w the side of your knife remove skin and chop. I love Ray Ray and learned alot of how to cook from her shows.. more on that later...

 Remove chicken after it is browned and fully cooked and add garlic and about 2 Tablespoons of flour to thicken...

Yum! that's about all I can say about that pic

 Chop up some mushrooms. I used about 6-8... along with chicken broth, about a cup

 Add the juice of one lemon (don't you love my action shot??!!)

Add some lemon pepper seasoning (why is it that I seem to have red chipped nail polish in my pics?) As well as 4-5 artichokes quartered.... and simmer all together. This would be great to season the flour with in the beginning...

 In the spirit of housekeeping home keeping and all that good stuff I decided to clean off and set the table... so I cleared off tigger, the pile of library books, a random little soccer ball, and buried under there used and slightly chewed chop sticks from the previous nights Chinese take out...

 Ta da!! Table is set complete with UNscented candles (thank you for that GOOD THING from martha) and a glass of grapes for the kids...

 The finished meal. It was so good especially with my favorite rice Carolina white rice...

One more picture! It was sort of a combination of chicken francaise and chicken marsala with some artichokes... the ultimate compliment was when Jack asked if I was making it again tomorrow... full recipe to come (sorry I am being lazy and don't feel like getting up to get the book after wrestling 2 crayons 1 Popsicle stick 3 colored pencils and an apple core away from my dog) Hope you enjoyed my dinner!!