Happy Father’s Day

I wasn’t going to post today, but I’m sitting here updating my ‘healthy blog’ so I thought I would make a quick post to say hi and wish you all a wonderful Father’s Day. I sure wish my sweet Daddy was here with us today.  I know we all miss him so much.

I don’t have that many photos of my dad on my computer because I wasn’t using a digital camera ‘way back then’! The only few I have I had to scan in.

I do however have lots of photos of this Daddy . . .

I’ve shown this picture before… my sweet hubby on his first Father’s Day with Kiki, just 7 months old :-) (2001)

 

Another Father’s Day (2003), we took a picnic out to the heli-field where Jason used to like to fly his helicopters.

We’re having a quiet Father’s Day today, doing what we love to do best, just hanging out at home. Kiki has been playing ‘World of Warcrafts’ with Daddy all day long, with a few games of chess in between. I’ve been enjoying a relaxing time on the sofa playing with the Ipad, reading blogs, playing ‘Words’ with friends and ‘Hanging with Friends’ (a hangman game on Ipad). I made brunch for us all this morning, and then a late lunch of enchiladas and my homemade refried beans. I can’t believe it’s already after 7pm now. The sun is still shining and it’s HOT as usual outside. We’ll probably pop out back after 8pm when it gets a little cooler.

I have lots from the garden to show you . . . I’ll be back tomorrow to share the photos.

Friday Fun, Cocktails & Books

Yay, it’s Friday :-)  Even when we’re off school and every day feels like the weekend, I still love Fridays! It means hubby will be home with us for two lovely days AND I get to hang out with my girlfriend too because she’s not working for two whole days ;-) And we usually try a new cocktail (or make up one of our favorites!

Last weekend I tried another of Val’s cocktails. The one she featured on her blog was a Lemon Drop Martini.

CHEERS!

Hmmm, I thought I would love it cos I love lemons, and anything ‘tart’, but both Cheryl and I agreed it wasn’t really to our liking. SO, I mixed up another ‘Ice Blue, which I really DO like (you can get the recipe here at Val’s Blog)

This week, I’m not sure if we’ll be trying a cocktail or just having wine. The trouble with cocktails is they can be very high in calories (and carbs) whereas a glass of wine is only about 100 cals.  Although I’m still tempted to mix up just one to try and then have a couple of glasses of wine the rest of the night – what would you do?  ;-)

Last night at book club our host greeted us with leis and served us a Mai Tai as we arrived! The book we had read was The Aloha Quilt so of course she was going with an Hawaiian theme.  The Mai Tai was DELICIOUS, so I’m wondering if I should make that tonight. Val says she has a great one to share this week, but it’s not up on her blog yet! I’ll have to check what the ingredients are for a Mai Tai and get what we need. Slowly but surely I’m stocking my ‘cocktail cabinet’ so I might not need much for it.

Speaking of books, I thought I would join in with the lovely Heather this week, over at Blonde . . . Undercover Blonde, for her

As I mentioned we just finished reading The Aloha Quilt for book club, but I’m not going to talk about that one, (honestly it wasn’t that good a read! imo) I’m going to talk about this one that I’m currently reading on my own (meaning it’s not a book club pick)

Who Is My Shelter by Neta Jackson – this is the 4th book in the ‘House of Hope’ Series. I first read Neta Jackson’s novels in her Yada Yada Prayer Group Series (loved those too) and some of the characters spill over in to this new series.

Here’s the description: Gabby Fairbanks is now settled in her new apartment at the House of Hope. But she is being pulled in several directions at once and has some hard decisions to make. Philip, her estranged husband, is in a lot of trouble with a rogue cop from whom he borrowed money and also with his partner at the commercial development firm after he takes company money to cover his gambling losses. Lee Boyer, the Legal Aid lawyer who has become a friend to Gabby, now wants to be more. Gabby must decide whether to give Philip another chance, as their sons, Paul and PJ, hope, and she turns to the folks at Manna House, where she works, and the Yada Yada Prayer Group to help her discern God’s plan for her.

I don’t know why I love these books so much, but I do! They’re an easy read, and you seem to get to know the characters really quickly. Some books take a few chapters to really get in to, but I find with this series (and the Yada Yada ones) I’m sucked in after just a few pages. I’m only half way through this one but am enjoying it as much as the other 3. I’ll be sad to come to the end of it as it seems to be the last in the series. But I was happy to read on Neta’s website that she’s working on a new series called ‘SouledOut Sister’s, again, using some of the characters from her previous books, and bringing in some new ‘annoying’ ones (as she puts it) too :-)

Ok, before this post gets waaaaaaay tooooooo loooooooong, I’ll jump off here and go clean house ready for the weekend!

Show and Sell Party - #6

  

The lovely Kristen is hosting her Show and Sell party! Party # 6, and yet I’ve only joined in two of them because I always forget it’s Thursday already and I usually don’t get a post up in time.

So, trying to keep on the ball this week, I’m posting today and will join the party tomorrow morning when she puts up the linky (or it might be tonight).

Slowly but surely I’m adding things to my Etsy Shop. This week I finished a couple more soft washcloths. These are in a pretty pastel green.

I’v made this a set of two instead of 3. Some people have never tried hand knit cloths so a smaller set might be what they’re looking for. But I have to tell ya, if you’ve not used a hand knitted washcloth/dishcloth before, you should give them a try.

  I usually knit my dishcloths with a ‘not as soft’ cotton yarn. But these washcloth/facecloth are so soft they are perfect for the bathroom and super soft even for baby’s bathtime.  They make a great baby shower gift.

This pretty little pink and white set has already sold, but I’d be happy to take a custom order ;-)

Also listed this week is a pretty little watermelon hat.

Size 0-3mths. It’s perfect for that new little one on a cool summer night. Knit with 100% cotton.

 

Coming soon is this cute white hat featuring a big pink rose !

 

I love knitting hats :-) This one is still available in my shop (with free shipping).. . .

 

You can visit  my ETSY SHOP HERE ! Or click the banner below.

Thanks for stopping by. Head over to Kristen’s blog to see some other wonderful hand made goodies. Kristen sells the most beautiful photo frames and floral arrangements.

I love it, but I hate it!

SUMMER!

Yup, I’m talking about Summer. I love that it’s summer, school is out and we’re enjoying our lazy days. LOVE IT! What I don’t love is the HEAT!  I hate the heat. The official start to Summer is not til June 21st, still another week away, but here in TX it’s felt like Summer since April. Back then it was nice, temps were starting to get out of the 70’s and in to the 80’s, I was fine with that. Not so much any more. Today it’s currently 97 degrees and could be as high as 103. ALL this week is forecast to be over 100. Honestly, that is just too hot to be out for more than 10 minutes (unless you have a pool to jump in and cool off)!

The garden is going crazy, but it’ too hot to go out there unless it’s 7am or 8pm. We usually go out and check on everything around 8.30pm, it’s only just say cooling down and the sun is starting to set behind the houses out back. I’ll share some pictures in the next post.

Today I have day 14 of the Photo Fun to share with you, AND I’m going to get ahead a day and show you day 15 :-) Both pictures were taken today.

 Day 14 – someone you love

Of course it has to be my precious girl Kiki.  Hubs and Boo would have been in today's picture but they were in yesterday's ;-)

Day 15 – Action!

As I said earlier, you can’t be outside for more than 10 minutes unless you got a pool to jump in – that’s exactly what we were doing this morning. I took Kristen and Connor (Cheryl’s son, next door) round to the pool this morning.

Had to share this fun picture too . . . I’d asked Kristen to jump again (wasn’t sure if the first pic was blurry) but she didn’t want to – Connor was happy to oblige though ;-)

 

This is what I do while the kids are playing!

Unfortunately the sun loungers have been tied to a certain spot around the pool (you can see them in the picture above my feet,  way back ) so that teenagers can’t pick them up and throw them in the water (yes, they were doing that last year!) but there’s no shade there. I took a dip in the water a couple of times to cool down but was happy that after just 45 minutes the kids said they were board and wanted to go home – you didn’t need to ask me twice! The heat tires me out!!

Have to show you one more picture before I go. After the pool, then lunch, Kristen and I took a quick trip out to Justice for Girls and Old Navy. That girl is still not in to shopping (unless it’s for a toy or a game!) and didn’t want any of the cute stuff in Justice!!! I on the other hand found these cute summer tie-up shoes at Old Navy for just $11 – I couldn’t resist them. I’ve tried this style on before but they didn’t feel comfortable. Not so with these shoes, I love em, and they fit great :-)

View Full Album

 

Hope your Summer is starting off cooler than mine ;-)

Photo Fun Catch Up!

 

It’s like I’m always playing catch up with this, but here goes . . .

Day 10 – Animal

Of course it had to be our ‘baby boy Boo’

   Day 11 – Silhouette

I couldn’t think of a photo for this, so I picked an ‘old one’!

Day 12 – Sun Flare

Just took this a few minutes ago – it’s the corn in the garden, with the sun setting.

Day 13 – Reminds you of childhood

another ‘old’ one, taken just a few weeks ago. Yes, radishes remind me of my childhood. Every time I pick these from the garden they remind me of my Dad and his back garden. We still have ‘old family silent movies’ of when we kids picked the radishes for Dad and held them up for the camera. I was probably Kristen’s age at the time – wish I had a picture of it!

That makes me all caught up . . . . until tomorrow!

Sunday Catch Up!

I thought I’d join in with a new party I just found over at Kim’s blog . . .

It’s hosted by Three P’s in a Pod, Carrie with Children and Mommy Head Adventures.  It’s a blog hop each Sunday, so hop on over and say Hi :-) but don’t forget to leave a comment here before you go, I’d love to know you stopped by.

There’s so many things I would love to blog about, it’s just trying to find the time to sit down and type that’s the hard part! I’m a few days behind on the 30 Days Photo Fun posts, and I think I’ll have to do a separate post just to catch up!

Day 9 was Fresh Fruit, and I wanted to take this picture but didn’t get around to doing it until this morning. . . .

 

When you think ‘fresh fruit’ you’re probably imagining a fruit bowl filled with apples and oranges, bright colors and everything looking ripe! This might not look very fresh but it soon will be – the above picture is a cantaloupe currently growing in our garden, and the picture below is our first watermelon this year. In fact I hadn’t even seen this one until today, I nearly died when I saw the size of it!

 

The garden is doing so well (another thing I wanted to blog about) we’ve had corn this week AND we finally pulled up some potatoes to see if there were any underground (Jason thought we might have planted them too late) and we were happilly surprised to see we had been successful. . . .   We had corn yesterday which was really good, the kernels were a bit small but still very fresh and tasty.

and here’s the potatoes we pulled up last night. I boiled them this morning and made potato salad

We still have quite a few plants in the garden so we’ll pull them this week and I’ll make some mashed potato for dinner.

I deliberately planted an eggplant this year (aubergine) to make my friend Cheryl Eggplant Parmesan (it’s one of her favorite dishes). See the eggplant above. I picked that yesterday and then went to pick two more from the same plant. This morning I made her eggplant parmesan using THIS recipe from allrecipes.com

I didn’t use as much sauce and didn’t layer the eggplant, which I think made it much better. It turned out delicious and Cheryl loved it.  I made a smaller dish for me and Jason and even he liked it.

Well, I don’t want this post to get too long, so I will try my best to make daily posts next week, share with you the cocktail we tried this weekend, and show more garden pics too.

Hope you’re all having a wonderful weekend.

Update on Boo . . .  I’m happy to say he was fine the next day and not limping on his paw at all! I really think it was a sting of some sort or Jason thought he could have stepped on a nettle?  It certainly isn’t broken and he’s back to looking 100% :-) Thanks for all your well wishes.

You CAN trust a skinny cook ;-)

Phew, well that’s good to know! Have any of you seen Cook Yourself Thin? It’s a cooking show hosted by 3 lovely ‘skinny’ gals all about healthy cooking. I think I’ve seen every episode, and there’s only repeats on now, but I loved watching how they turned every day food, like lasagna, pizza, cakes and more in to healthier meals.  Allison Fishman is one of the hosts and she recently released a cook book ‘You Can Trust A Skinny Cook’.

You Can Trust A Skinny Cook was created with the home cook in mind. Before making the cut, each recipe had to pass the following tests:

1.Are the ingredients in this recipe easy to find?

2. Is the recipe easy to make?

3. Will you have fun when you make this at home?

4. Will you be proud of what you made? (will your friends and family lick their plates?)

5. Does it taste good?  Really good?

The one thing I struggle with when I get a new cook book is “what shall I try to cook first?” Instead of stressing about what to make (especially for this review) I decided to just enjoy the cook book and browse it slowly, read the recipes, and of course linger over all the mouth-watering photos.

 

At the beginning of each recipe, Allison writes a little personal ‘blurb’ (for want of a better word), I think it’s like getting a  letter from your girlfriend, telling you why they loved the recipe, or what happened the first time they made it.  That’s why I’ve been enjoying browsing this book so much.

 

There’s other pages too scattered throughout the book that read like an even longer letter. Seriously it makes me wanna pick up my pen (or type on my keyboard!) and send a good ole fashioned snail mail letter to my friends :-)

but, back to the recipes…. I loved the look of this one, roasted beet salad with goat cheese and walnuts. I just picked my beets from the garden this week, but I didn’t have any goat cheese in. I still roasted the beets (something I’d never thought to do, as I always like mine pickled!) and they were delicious. I am so getting the rest of the ingredients to make this next week, (and unfortunately I’ll have to buy beets cos I have none left in the garden).

  I decided I’d try a cookie recipe this week.  Cherry Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies. I have to be honest, just a choc chip cookie doesn’t really do it for me . . . well ok, they’re good fresh out of the oven, but my favorite cookies usually always have oats in them. I would prefer an oatmeal and raisin cookie over a chocolate one any day. I love the chewiness of them, and the oats make them much more satisfying.   This recipe had everything I loved about a cookie in it.

The only thing I didn’t have on hand was dried cherries, so I used dried cranberries instead.

Let me tell you, these cookies were DELICIOUS! Seriously delicious. Allison’s goal in adding chocolate chips and cherries was to make these so satisfying, one would be enough. I have to say, they were so good it was VERY HARD not to have more than one! Each cookie had 100 calories in it. They were soft and chewy and warm and  . . .did I say delicious?! 

I have to say though, by the next day the cookies were rather crispy, not chewy at all. I don’t think I over baked them because I baked them for 5 minutes less than the recipe said. But I also have to say, that as a crispy oatmeal chocolate chip cookie, it is still seriously delicious:-)

There’s so many more great looking recipes in this book. I can’t wait to try more.

 

** I received a review copy of this book from Wiley publishing in exchange for an honest review. All opinions and thoughts are 100% mine **