Thursday Tangents: Yay for Thursday!

Happy Thursday! While most of you dread all days of the week except for Friday (or so it seems according to Facebook posts).  Be thankful it's Thursday, it's the sister to Friday! :)

What a great week!  This week has flown by way too fast. 

1.) Summer is officially here! It has been hot hot hot!  Just in time for me to start my first level 2 clinic rotation.  Gahhh!! It is here!  Good bye vacation time, helloooo adulthood.

2.) With the start of summer, welcome weddings, babies, and high school graduations.  So many summer invites! I think this is in part why the month of June feels like it is flying by! Let me give you a run down of the invites we have had - just for June!

1 Baby Shower
2 Wedding Showers
3 High School Graduations

++Plus++

Father's Day
Dad's birthday
and Pampered Chef Party

Whoa June!! Super busy! - am I missing anything??

Unfortunately, we were/are not able to make it to all of them.  But cards are in the mail/ will be in the mail shortly.

3.) Visitors!!!

The month of June has also been full of visitors!  As you remember from one of my previous post, we had my cousins down for the week to visit.  This week we had our dear friends and their gorgeous baby girl (our god daughter) visit us for the night.  What a blast! 

This little girl totally melts my heart!

She got her first "Build-A-Bear" horsey too! Love it!

4.) Enough about how crazzzyyy busy June has been... Loving this new blog FaceBaby.  So cute! If this adorable little guy does not bring a smile to your face, you may be cold hearted!

5.) My tomatoes are coming! My tomatoes are coming!!

Luke thought he bought a cherry tomato plant, turns out these might be full size.

...And we might have a TON of tomatoes!

6.) Have I mentioned how much I adore this little girl?!!?

Just in case you forgot...here's another reminder.

7.) Have you ever watched the Call of the Wildman??  Luke loves these type of shows.

At the zoo last week - we found an Alligator Snapping Turtle. 

Kinda scary looking...

I was so proud of myself that I actually knew what this animal was, BEFORE reading the sign because of the Call of the Wildman.  Yup - you never know when you will need to know this kind of information.

In the Midwest, mostly useless information unless at the zoo.

8.) I made these this week with some clearance ribbon and flip flops.

Kinda love em'.

9.) Did I mention how much little kids can eat?!!?

I was impressed! Apparently, going to the zoo and spending time with the elephants makes you think you can eat like one too! - and they did!

10.) This week has been quieter without these kiddos -  it's weird. I miss em'.

What did you do this week?

DIY Shadow Box

Wow! What a busy week! I have still been recovering from all of the activities and lack of sleep.  We have another busy week ahead of us this week as well.  I cannot believe that we are more than half way through June already.  What happened to my summer?  This time next week I will be working in the clinic full time. (Gahhh...Excitement and nervousness overcome me every time I think about it!)

For Father's Day, we spent the weekend with my parents.  We attended a wedding on Saturday and had a fish fry on Sunday.  We always enjoy spending time with my family!

In celebration of Father's Day, I know I promised a 'How To' for a shadow box.  However, I forgot to blog about it before hand.  (Again, where did June go??) I apologize.  But here it is.  Better late than never??

I got this idea when I saw Luke cleaning old lures he had gotten from his Dad. 

I wanted to do something special for him, so that he could display these lures instead of keeping them in an old rusty box. 

I was able to find the shadow box for 50% off at Hobby Lobby, the paper, pins, and cork board. 

I cut and glued the paper to the cork board to fit the size of the shadow box. 

Once the lures were cleaned and dried, I arranged them on the cork board in the desired arrangement. 

Using pins, I secured them to the cork board so that they would stay put.

It's important to either bend or cut the ends off once placed, as the pins might poke through the back of the board. 

In the end, the box looked great and Luke loved it!

I am planning on making one for my Dad too.  He has a ton of old lures!  I am waiting to get a great deal on a shadow box and get lures from him. 

You can make shadow boxes out of anything you want to display!  I think they are great ideas for displaying collections and decorating with.

Good luck, be creative and have fun!

What did you spend Father's Day weekend doing?  Have you made a shadow box before? 

Random Wednesday??...More Like Thursday Tangents

Gahh, I have failed again, for the second week in a row, on posting for 'Random Wednesday.' 

Fail.

I think I have come to the conclusion that Wednesday is not a good day.  It comes and goes too fast.  Especially when you're entertaining two pre-teens. 

Yup, that's my excuse.

This week has been full of activities!  Busy schedules, long days, and short nights.  With that being said, I am so exhausted from the events of this week that I can barely keep my eyes open while I type this.  My brain is shutting down and my eyes are closing. 

Let me re-call this week of events in a nut shell:

• Carriage Rides at Levis Commons
• Bass Pro Shop Family Camp
• Mall Trip
• Pool

• Homemade Pizza

• Made Donuts
• Park Time
• More Pool Time
• Movie Theater night
• Coldstone Trips
• More Pool Time
• and the Toledo Zoo!

It was a great week!  Now, I'm ready to crash!

In addition - I will announce that I am officially changing Random Wednesday to Thursday Tangents.  Beginning next week. :)

Good night!

A Rainy Monday and Sweet Cinny Rolls!

While I may appear to be on a roll with my second post for the day...it is only because I have finally succumbed to allowing the kids play the Wii today.  I am not an advocate for letting children play video games for long periods of time, nor watch TV all day.  It's rainy outside and the pool is not an option - nor is playing outside.  Thus, a Wii and movie day.  I am not complaining.  I needed this rainy day more than you know! 
An eleven year old boy and twelve year old girl require a lot of entertainment.  Yet, Luke seems to think they are both playing me. (This may be true).  Either way - I am exhausted and realized how much I appreciated my quiet time.  However, I have promised myself, and them, they still have a time limit on the video games - just long enough for me to blog this post! Then it's back to entertaining them again... I will relish these minutes.
The eleven year old boy is pretty easy to occupy.  The twelve year old girl on the other hand is not.  She tires of activities very quickly.  Like, in 4.5 minutes.  In that short time, she has finished or have become bored of the current activity and she's ready for a new task.  I'm running out of ideas for this child! And energy! Help!  Current list of activities she has already grown bored with:

• The Wii
• Creating a Scrapbook and Father's Day card
• Coloring
• Painting her nails

Anymore ideas?!

In the meantime, I promised them homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast this morning.
All children love sugary cinnamon treats right?  Right! (At least these two did!)
Super easy and super tasty!
Rich cinnamon taste with sticky sweetness.

Cinnamon...my favorite!

I might have glazed a little more icing on them...

Here's what you need:
(makes ~8-10 rolls)
1 package of Pillsbury Crescent Sheet
1 cup of powdered sugar
2 tsp of vanilla extract
1 Tbsp of evaporated milk
1-2 Tbsp of cinnamon

Here's what you do:

• Preheat oven at 375 degrees
• Mix the powdered sugar, vanilla extract and evaporated milk until you achieve desired consistency.  The desired consistency needs to be thick enough so that "drizzling" can be achieved.
• Add cinnamon to icing and whisk together.
• Roll out packaged crescent.
• Set aside a small amount of icing, around 1/4 cup.
• Spread the remainder of the icing onto the crescent.
• Roll the crescent up, then slice into ~ 8-10 parts.  For larger rolls, cut into larger slices.  To make smaller rolls, cut into smaller slices.
• Place slices onto baking sheet.
• Bake for 7-8 minutes, until golden brown.
• Once cooled, drizzle remaining icing onto rolls.
• Serve hot and enjoy!

That's it, so easy and so good!  They gotten eaten up fast! 

Time is now up.  It's time to put together another fun activity!

For supper, I am making them my Italian Bacon Mac-n-Cheese!

What rainy day activities do you like?  What are you making for dinner?
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Easy Peasy Crock Pot Dinners

Crock pot dinners are wonderful!

For a few reasons;
1) They're easy
2) They're delicious
3) It's great coming home after a long day and having supper waiting for YOU
and 4) I love how they make the whole home smell fabulous!

Last week I made two meals in the crock pot. Both were a success.

My first meal was what I'll title: Italian Bacon Mac-n-Cheese.  

Bacon + Cheese = Duh! Duhh-licious, that is!

The combination of cheese and noodles start off clumpy.  The milk is added to make it creamy and help combine the ingredients.  Don't freak out if your cheese is clumping.  Just add more milk at the end if needed.

 What you need:
(Serves ~4)

2 cups of uncooked Macaroni noodles

1 ½ cups of milk - or as needed to make creamy

2 cups shredded Colby jack cheese

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

½ cup shredded Parmesan

A dollop of sour cream

3 slices of cooked bacon

½ cup of diced white onion

Fresh garlic clove - pressed or diced

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

1 Tbsp of Italian Seasoning

What you do:

• Boil your macaroni noodles until ‘slightly undercooked’ – you don’t want the noodles to get mushy in the crock pot.
• Crumble up your bacon pieces.
• Combine all ingredients into the crock pot and cook on low for 3-4 hours. 
• Stir occasionally.  Add more milk if needed for a creamy texture and to avoid clumpy cheese. 

The smell of this meal while cooking is heavenly!

The second meal I made last week was, my new personal favorite, Sweet and Spicy Sloppy Joes.  Let me just add that Luke does not care for sloppy joes...never has. 

However, I thought I'd make my own version of sloppy joes - As he does not care for canned or packaged versions.  I grew up on sloppy joes and find them yummy. 

I decided to give my grown up taste buds a new and improved version of sloppy joes - praying Luke's grown up taste buds would appreciate and enjoy them as much as mine.

The outcome?  Success!

He loved them! He even ate the leftovers!!!

[For those of you who do not know my husband, let me enlighten you on this accomplishment...Luke will eat leftovers if it is something he REALLY likes.  If he does not really care for it (but tolerates it for a meal) the leftovers will inevitably get thrown away.]

Mission accomplished!

I think this recipe is 'family reunion' worthy!

What you need:
(Serves ~8-10)

1lb browned burger
1/2 cup diced white onion
1/4 cup diced mushrooms (optional)
1 Tbsp plabano pepper, diced (or jalapeno)
2 garlic cloves, pressed or diced
4 medium tomatoes
3-4 Tbsp of Chili Powder
2 Tbsp of Worcestershire Sauce
1 Tbsp of brown sugar
2 tsp of dry mustard
1 tsp of Allspice
1 tsp of Oregano
Cornstarch - as needed
Salt - as desired
Pepper - as desired

What you do:

• Brown the burger and drain
• Place tomatoes in a food processor and process until pureed.
• Combine all ingredients into crock  pot  and cook on low for 4-6 hours.
• Before serving, mix up sloppy joe mix, add a little bit of corn starch and mix in, until desired thickness of sloppy joe mix.

Mmm mmm! Not only does it taste delicious, but it makes the house smell great! The leftovers warm up great in a pan or in the microwave.

For those who don't like it 'sloppy' we like to eat ours on open face sandwiches with a fork.  It's less messy but the same amazing flavor!

(I like to use the crock pot liners with these recipes. It makes clean up a breeze!)

I hope you enjoy these recipes! Let me know what you think!
What's your favorite crock pot recipe?

Random Wednesday: Oops, It's Thursday Already!

I let the week slip away from me...oops.  How did that happen? So, forgive me for being a day late (again) and let's pretend it's Wednesday??

This could be a good thing. Yes, I may have just done you a favor.  It works like this: When you read my post today, you'll think - 'Oh yea, Random Wednesday time.'  Then you'll realize it's Thursday already and you'll be super excited that tomorrow is Friday!

Hah - you're welcome.

So, relish in the fact that you already made it to Thursday and the week is more than half way over today!

1.) Speaking of Thursday already, not only have I forgotten what day it is, I've forgotten that I am supposed to be in training for my 5k next month. Oops again. I worked out Monday with intense circuit training and was entirely too sore to work out Tuesday.  I have no idea what happened to Wednesday.

2.) Let's just take Wednesday off the calendar this week, shall we? I clearly did not do my normal 'Wednesday Routine' anyway.

3.) Oh wait - I remember what happened to Wednesday. I spent the entire morning (and early afternoon) on the phone with loan companies, getting my home address changed. Why do I have school loans through, not one, not two, not three, but FOUR different companies???  I could have sworn I had one more...but when I called and gave them my information, I was not found in their system. Hmmm...weird, but not complaining. 

4.) This is what I DID DO on Wednesday - in addition to being on the phone all morning.

Pretty little toes... :)

5.) I took a 10 minute break from the phone and pedicure and decided to hang up a few items in our bedroom.  I like it.

It looks like a fairytale to me - what do you think?

6.) Earlier in the week, I wrote a new post for the blog.  However, you'll notice that I have not posted it.  I'm working on recalling recipes for you. Really good ones! Is it bad that I don't write this stuff down when I'm cooking?? It would make sharing the recipes with you so much easier!  Look for them...soon...ish?

7.) Saw this on the TODAY Show...  I can't peel my eyes away from it, nor help hitting the repeat button. I just keep laughing, then smiling, then laughing some more.

8.) Mounds of paper work...that's what awaits me today.  Let me just share with you how this worked.  During my crazy last semester...I went on a paper work filing sabbatical.  When we moved, I placed it all in a box.  I have, now, been slowly separating out and organizing paper work. I must. finish. this. today. I cannot walk in the front room.

Gahhh...

I really thought the filing fairy would come last night and take care of it all for me.

Nope. Still there.

9.) Oh yea, I made these this week for dinner.

Yum.

The problem?  It is now 2 weeks after Memorial Day Weekend and I'm still eating like it's Memorial Day Weekend.  Sweet Corn on the cob, red skin potato salad, the whole works!

What am I? On vacation or something?!?

(PS - That's romaine lettuce from our little garden pot!)

10.) Super excited for this weekend!  My baby cousins (who are not so 'baby' anymore - 11 and 12) are coming to stay a whole week with us!

Oh wait - how do you keep an 11 year old boy occupied and a 12 year old girl occupied for an entire 8 nights?! .........................Pray for my sanity this week.

Maybe you should pray for it now. 

Also praying for nice weather so we can just be at the pool all week.   
I think this was Luke's idea.

However, if the pool gets boring or the weather chooses not to cooperate, I found this:

Thank you Pinterest!

Really though, we're excited to have them visit us!

Any ideas of fun things to do with pre-teens that's cost efficient in the Toledo area? What did you do this week?

Random Wednesday - It came quick this week!

Here's to another Wednesday - and one that came quicker than last week, thanks to Memorial Day Monday!

**Sorry this is a day late. I was having issues uploading the pictures.

1.) As I previously mentioned, I'm growing Romaine Lettuce this summer.  I got to harvest the first batch of it this week - it was so bright green! Ahh, the gratification you get from harvesting your own produce!

2.) I made BLT sandwiches for dinner this week - I used the garden lettuce.  It was delicious! I think I'll make tacos tomorrow for dinner...I'm kind of loving this whole 'domesticated' thing.

3.) Speaking of bacon, I have cooked bacon twice in our new apartment - both times I have set the smoke detectors off. Oops.  I guess the fan needs to be on during all bacon preparations from now on.  Thank goodness the sprinkler system did not turn on!

4.)  I made a "Lint Bin!"  It might look silly to you - but it comes in handy for our laundry room!  I took an old milk carton and cut the top off, but left the handle on.  I've set it on top of my dryer so that I have a lint/trash bin in the laundry room.  I'm slowly increasing my DIY crafting capabilities.

I know it doesn't look like much, but it really is handy!

5.) Memorial Day weekend was spent with my parents this weekend.  We grilled out, played in the hose, shot rifles, got tans, and ate far too much food!

6.) Oh yea, and my little cousin rode her new horse...she's a doll.

My sister was gone all weekend camping with her horse...Taz was jealous he didn't get to go on the horsey camping trip.  He's such a handsome guy!

7.) We finished the weekend off watching the Nascar race hill billy style.  Haha - love it!

8.) The Hubby and I went to Bass Pro Shop for the first time this week (since how we now live 5 minutes away).  I found a chair that was far too big for me...and some fudge!

9.) ...and lots-O-hot sauce!  Like, I had no idea they made this many types of hot sauces!  We're looking forward to taking my little cousins during family camp week!

This one is for my brother-n-law who loves him some hot sauce!

10.)  Since we have moved down here, I am surprised at how busy I have been staying!  Between trying to organize and unpack boxes (STILL!), working on Pampered Chef stuff, and errands, I need food on the go.  I've decided that these are my "food of choice" lately.  I don't have time to sit for lunch - Soup on the Go. Perfect! 

The truth is...when have I ever just sat down for lunch, unless it was planned into my day? Gahh, I may need to work on this...

How did your Memorial Day weekend go? Did you watch Nascar on the porch too?