Patriots Day

We remember.......

Update #1 on menu planning

I am so glad I made out this last menu plan.  It has made cooking easier and more fun. We've had some great meals and added some new recipes to the keeper file.  One recipe was just OK,  all the others will be cooked again.
Pinned Recipes from the menu plan that I've cooked so far -----

Shrimp creole

Easy crockpot beef tips

Cherry almond pound cake

Cheese and Onion Rolls- even better without the onions

Cracker Barrels Chicken N Dumplins'

Shrimp creole- above is my cooking and here is the link to the one on Pinterest. It was a really good meal.

Cheese and Onion rolls- but omitted the onions the 2nd time I baked them and liked them even better, 

Below- 3 kinds of bread baked for a big weekend barbecue in the country. I used the bread machine to mix up all 3, then packed them in an old dishpan lined with foil to transport to this very casual party. 

other happenings at my home

we had company this weekend that included the inlaws and all 5 little grandchildren were here at the same time.  That's 5 children born in 4 years- lots of fun and chaos.  

I am still so happy with the new Aldis in my town!  I wish everyone who wanted to shop at Aldis had one as near them as we do.  My grocery money is going much farther and the store is a very short drive, I am spending less time shopping too.

Sewing- the rainbow strip quilt top is half sewn, with the other half of the blocks just laying there waiting to be sewn.  

I ordered some brown and white chevron fabric to sew some simple fall dresses for the 2 grand daughters.  

And last week at Joanns,  I got sewing thread and needles when they were 50% off, and then 15% more off.  This week, Hobby Lobby has McCalls patterns for 99 cents and Joanns has Coats and Clark sewing thread for $1- I will try to go to both but with this hot weather, I may not make it.  

Husband is going to have right knee surgery #8, a revision to his knee replacement next month-with a highly rated civilian doctor,  so we are getting ready for that.- a little bit of actual prep like doing his FMLA paperwork  but mostly mental prep to get geared up for it.  

The  backyard safe room-tornado shelter is supposed to start construction this week- pictures to follow.  I am a little excited about it but I don't know why.  I hope we never, ever need to use it.  

And, If You Do Stuff was featured this week at a  Lets Get Social,  a big blog linky party.  It is a new to me blog party with a new to me circle of bloggers participating.  I've done a little blog hopping there today and found several blogs that really interest me.   Hello and Welcome to the new visitors to came here from Lets Get Social!  

I want to finish my home tour for you and show the kitchen, living room and one more bedroom- coming up soon!

that sums up our home over the last 5 days or so- lots of cooking, lots of family time,  a bit of sewing but not much computer time.   

Cooking rut to a plan

I read Countrified Hicks  very thought out and organized one month menu she posted.  Our meals have been hit and miss during this busy and hot summer.  We have eaten tacos from the freezer, chef salads, homemade pizza, sandwiches- those easy last minute meals- too often this summer.  I am ready for more cooking and more interesting food.
So I took the hint from Countrified Hicks and then looked on my cooking board on Pinterest and picked out enough recipes to keep us fed, I think through most of September.  I don't have to cook every night, because when I do cook a recipe for just husband and me,  there are usually leftovers for at least one more meal and sometimes more.  We are happy with leftovers too.

Here is my plan - in no particular order- except we are having the Shrimp Creole tonight.
I picked recipes and meals that we have most of the ingredients for, either in the pantry or the freezer.

1. chicken and vegetable hand pies with gravy from a mix and a green salad
2. Cheesy bowtie pasta with added veggies like broccoli, mushrooms, bell peppers and pepperocini, green salad and French bread
3. Hamburger helper night
4. Copy Cat ranch beans with corn bread and cole slaw
5. Korean Been Lettuce Wraps with rice and a green salad
6. Baked Chicken Tenders with baked onion rings and brussel sprouts
7. Farmers Pork Chops, oven roasted carrots and green salad
8. Salsa Verde Chicken, green salad, chips and salsa
9. Smoked pork loin with baked potatoes and roasted cabbage wedges
10. Chicken Almond, green beans and green salad
11. Chicken Lightly Seasoned with fried okra and green salad
12. Beef barley soup- the recipe makes a lot, I make cut it half this first time
13. Crock pot chicken enchilada soup
14. Crumb coated cod-or whatever fish I buy at Aldis- filets with cole slaw and corn
15. Shrimp Creole with rice and a green salad
16.  Beef tips in the crockpot with rice or noodles, green peas and green salad
17. Cracker Barrel Chicken and Dumplings, more green salad and broccoli

Yes- we eat a lot of salad.  Husband loves a big salad to start every meal, or at least 5 times a week.

I also want to try baking some new things
1. Custard Slices - from the Great British Bake Off television show (I love watching British shows on Roku)
2. Almond Tarts
3. Cherry Almond pound cake

sorry, no direct links to these recipes,  but all of them are on my Pinterest cooking board if you want to see them.  I hope to blog and review them as I cook them too

Have you got some Pins you want to try out?  

Home tour part 4

We have 2 hall ways in our home and both got new wall arrangements.

Our daughter in law painted the piece in the center of this arrangement and I really like how this all turned out, with our grands photos around it.  Yes, I am behind on getting good photo enlargements of the youngest grandson, but he is just 4 months old and too young to notice.

The bumper cars stay parked here when the grands are not riding them,

On the other side of this hall, the children's books stay on this shelf- they get used a lot and that is about as straight as they ever are.

A counted cross stitch sampler lovingly stitched by my Aunt Evelyn.  Can you find your state on it? They are in alphabetical order.

The other hall is smaller and just has this little shelving unit. 

Our Bibles are one on shelf, the lunch box on the bottom shelf holds greeting cards and my husband keeps his stuff in the drawer.  

That is a plug on top for charging cellphones, etc. 

The last of our 3 extra bedrooms is a guest room. It got a different bed, different window valance and all different things on the walls.

This room is mostly used by my parents when they come to visit and I try to keep it as empty as possible so they have room for their stuff and it is easy to move around in. 

One of my grandmothers made the star quilt on the bed and I think she used a kit.

The hexagon quilt was made by my other grandmother.

A little portacrib for the rare naps of grand children. Quilts were made by my grandmother.

I made this last summer with my then 4 grands.  I think little hands and feet are just so cute. 

The hall bathroom- I don't think I changed anything in this room except organizing it's big floor to ceiling cabinet.  

Thank you for visiting- I'll show our living room, kitchen and the last bedroom soon. 

Saturday bridal shower

I had the pleasure of attending a bridal shower for this sweet young lady, Christa. Christa and my daughter are kind of like The Odd Couple but they have been best friends since 2nd grade. 

This is not a good photo, but I wanted to share the very special and very low cost shower decorations. 

I really like the personalized weathered wood pallet. In the background is an old window, with photos of the soon to be newly weds hung on old wire with clothes pins. The flowers were sunflowers with a little babies breath. 

It was just a perfect shower for Christa, who grew up in the country and now lives near a Florida beach.