Can you see the potential?

I've been frequenting the local Goodwill store lately in the hopes I'll find some bargains, perhaps for my tablescapes (which I did, but I'll share those another day!). The other day I came across this rather sad excuse for a topiary! Hubby laughed when he came home and saw it in the garage :-)

But I see the potential, don't you? I've often envisioned some kind of topiary at my front door, but look at the prices of these things ! They don't come cheap. This one did! This one was only $7 at Goodwill.

I am aiming for something like this (picture from Michael's website). Even at Michael's these cost at least $50 when not on sale.

So, first of all I pulled the flowers off, then I started snipping away at the 'wood' wrapped around it. Everything was wired together, and there were Christmas lights on it too, although strangely enough I never did find the socket at the end? The greenery had to go too. I want to get some new ivy. I will have to go take a closer look at the ones in Michaels as I'm not sure if the leaves are stuck on separately or if it is wrapped around the balls in long strands.

Right now my 'soon to look fabulous' topiary looks like this. . . .

I actually like the look of this, very Autumnal, don't you think? But I do want to cover it with greenery so it can be used for other seasons too. I'll keep you posted on it's progress :-)

For more fabulous 'outdoor' posts visit Susan at A Southern Daydreamer.

84 years young

Happy Birthday to you

Happy Birthday to you

Happy Birthday dear Maaam-my

Happy Birthday to you

LOVE YOU MAM,
Wish we could be there with you .
Hope your day is as beautiful as you are.

x x x x

A Little Before and After

Who doesn't like to see 'before' and 'after' pics? I know I love to, so I thought I would share some of mine with you today. I've been surfing some great blogs lately and many of them share some great designer ideas. Recently I came across Traci's blog at Beneath My Heart. The first post of hers I saw was THIS ONE, where she took the time to share with her readers/friends how to make a Ballard inspired shelf! I've been a follower of her lovely blog every since.

Oh my gosh, I SO want to make these shelves. From all the instructions Traci gives, I just know I could do this. I might need a little help with the miter saw, but I know I could do it ;-) Until I decide to get the wood though, I remembered two little shelves I had stored in the spare room upstairs. They are similar to Traci's shelves, just a little smaller.

I thought if I painted them black they might look nice above the toilet in the downstairs 'powder room'. Here's the wall in all it's bare glory. The only thing I had here was a fake green planter on the top of the toilet (that I had removed before I took this pic).

So, I painted the shelves and had Jason hang one of them. I realized after he put the first one up that I didn't really need them both.

What do you think? I got the 'S' from Hobby Lobby, 50% off last week (just $5) and the finial type thingy at Kohl's for just $5. Hmmm? Still needed a little something to me. Kohl's also had a great sale on some 'word art' so I grabbed a tube for $5.99, and I bought a little tile from Kohl's while I was there . . . .

Ahhh, much better. What do you think? And as you can see I added a touch of 'Fall' too :-)


I'm linking this post to Met Monday over at Susan's lovely blog, and Knock Off, Knock Out at Cheri's. I'd also like to thank Traci for the time and effort she put in to her wonderful 'shelf' tutorial.

In Memory

Week 2 of the challenge... for me!

I'm off out to the grocery store this morning, I'll post when I get back and let you know what I spent and how I've done this past week with meal planning etc.

10am - I'm back from grocery shopping, and yay! I kept it under $75 again. My full total after some coupons I got from Allyou.com and Pilsbury was $73.77 And that included splurging $6 on a fresh (unbaked) pizza for tonight!

I stuck to my meal menu pretty good this week. The crispy chicken I made with the cornflakes was really tasty, as was the creamy beef enchiladas we had yesterday. Hubby said these were so good that I've decided to make another batch of the filling today and I'll freeze it for sometime next week. The recipe called for 2lb of ground beef and 1 can of mushroom soup, I halved the recipe so was left with half a can of mushroom soup and half a can of chopped chilis too. That's why I decided to make another batch with a $2 pound of ground turkey this week. I'll make that later and try to take pics then share the recipe with you.

I'm trying not to buy too many 'snacks' and stuff, instead I have been baking cookies. It's nice to have homebaked cookies in for when Kristen gets home from school or to have with a glass of milk at bedtime. I will make the 'no flour' peanut cookies again this week , they were a big hit (now that I have sugar in again), but earlier this week I had no sugar and wanted to make cookies. I found this recipe in my Simple and Delicious magazine that uses instant pudding mix and biscuit mix!

Pecan Butterscotch Cookies
1 cup of biscuit mix
1pkg (3.4oz) instant butterscotch pudding mix
1/3 cup melted butter
1 egg
1/2 cup chopped pecans, toasted.

Beat the biscuit mix, pudding mix, butter and egg until blended. Stir in pecans. Drop by tablespoons 2 in apart on to greased baking sheet. Flatten with the bottom of a glass.

Bake at 3.50 for 8-10 minutes. Makes about 1 1/2 dozen.

So my cookies were a little different. I only had vanilla pudding, so I used that and halved the dough, putting pecans in one half for my hubby, and chocolate chips in the other half for my daughter. I forgot to flatten the cookies (didn't actually see that part until I wrote out the recipe!). But they turned out really nice. 1 1/2 dozen cookies doesn't last long, so you might want to make a double batch ;-)

The weather is changing :-) It's finally cooling down here and we actually have rain today. It's still pretty warm out there, probably mid 70's right now and the forecast for the coming week is still high 80's, but when the sun isn't shining it feels much cooler than it has been that's for sure. I have lamps lit around the house today because it's so dull out, and I'm loving it. I've been getting out my fall decor and doing a few projects around the house. I'll try to post pictures of them all soon.

Have a super Friday.

Anniversary Dinner

Our anniversary isn't for another two months.... it's December 19th to be exact (we were married one week before Christmas in Orange County, LA). This was a big deal for me, because we were living in England at the time and there I was 'jetting off' to Los Angeles to get married ;-)

For those who don't know, my hubby is from CA, and I'm from England.... we met in 1995 when my then 'sweet young' hubby (he was only 24 when I met him, and I was 31!) was in the USAF stationed at RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk. We'll have been married 13 years this December!

Anyway, for Tablescape Thursday this week I decided to set the table out on our upstairs balcony with our anniversary in mind (kind of a practice run for later) ;-) I know there will be a lot of opportunities for 'Fall-scapes' over the next few weeks so I thought I'd do this one now while the weather outside is still mild enough.

Let me just say, it's rather tricky taking pictures outside when you're under shade and you can't really turn a light on! I tried my best, and hopefully I got some good snap shots to give you a little taste of what our 'romantic dinner for two' will look like. You can click on the photos to get a closer look.

First of all, I used my VERY best china today. Actually, it's the only china I own! It is from Mikasa, called Palatial Gold. I bought the whole set just after we were married, I think with wedding gift money (if I remember correctly).

I started with a cream tablecloth, used my gold chargers and just layered the plates. Added teacups and saucers (for when we finish our meal with a delicious cup of coffee). Placed the silverware, and the champagne glasses.

White napkins, with my pearls wrapped around them for napkin rings - simple and elegant.

The figurine is Lennox and was our wedding cake topper. It was a gift from my very sweet mother-in-law. It is one of my most treasured possessions. Gosh, have you been to their website at all? I just looked at it and oh, there are so many pretty things I could want! I may have to request their catalog!







I was hoping to take some photos later as it got darker so I could light the candles and put the balcony 'butterfly' lights on. But wouldn't you know it, big grey clouds started to descend and the wind picked up... I had to bring everything inside incase things got blown over and broken. Oh well, perhaps next time.

Thanks for stopping by. For more great tablescapes visit Susan at Between Naps on the Porch. It's where I'm headed now ;-)

Fall Baking

To Chloe (and anyone else wondering) I used Libby's canned Pumpkin (100% Pure Pumpkin) not the Pumpkin Pie can.

After making a comment on my Facebook page over the weekend that I had pumpkin bread in the oven and was also making Pumpkin cookies, a couple of friends shouted out for the recipes. So for TTMT and Tasty Tuesday this week I thought I would do just that.

The pumpkin bread I tried was from a yummy recipe from Richella. She posted about it last week. CLICK HERE to see her recipe. And below is how mine turned out :-) Yummy! And thank you Richella.


I also made one of Kristen's favorites - Pumpkin Drop Cookies. And for some unknown reason, Kristen started calling these Pumpkin Daisies! This recipe came from a lovely 'knitting blog' friend, Leslie at A Friend To Knit With. She shared this recipe on her blog over a year ago and I've been making them ever since (and especially at this time of year too, when the kitchen smells wonderful with the scent of pumpkin). Here's the recipe. . .

Pumpkin Daisies
1 cup pumpkin
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon

Blend together pumpkin, butter, sugar. Add dry ingredients. Mix well. Drop by rounded tablespoons on to cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes.

OK, now before you make these.... this was the exact recipe from Leslie's blog BUT, you'll notice that it didn't mention putting the egg and vanilla in! So after mixing the butter sugar and pumpkin with a hand held electric whisk, I then add in the egg and vanilla, whisk that for a few seconds, then I add in the dry ingredients. Leslie also mentioned that she divided her mixture and put pecans in some of them. Kristen came up with the bright idea of adding chocolate chips to ours, and let me tell you - they are DELICIOUS with chocolate in them. So once the batter is mixed I add 1 cup of semi-sweet choc chips.

These cookies come out more like 'cake' than an actual cookie texture. They were very soft and stayed soft. I emailed Leslie and asked her if this was correct because I'd never made a cookie like this before, but she assured me this is how they turn out. I personally love them, especially with a cup of coffee on a crisp cool Fall morning.

Enjoy!