Quote Sunday

Today my sweetie and I are celebrating our 24th wedding anniversary, so this week's quote is in honor of our special day!

"The heart of marriage is memories; and if the two of you happen to have the same ones and can savor your reruns, then your marriage is a gift from the gods".

~ Bill Cosby ~

Blessings,

A Fun Friday...

Hi, All!! We'll I'm back to catch up on my blogging and email correspondence after a looooong week of my department moving to a new building. By the time I got home each evening I was just too pooped to even read any emails or blog posts, so I'm spending my Saturday catching up!

Yesterday I treated myself to a vacation day from work so that my best bud Jamie and I could go to the "Affair of the Heart" craft show at the Tulsa Fairgrounds. Jamie and I had the best time, (although we ALWAYS do when we're hanging out together!), and are looking forward to going to the show that's held in the fall too.

Here are some of the fantastic finds that I got yesterday...first off a couple of really cute birdhouses:

I'm a sucker for cute, handmade birdhouses, (especially when old hardware such as drawer pulls, door knobs and finials are used in their construction!), and these were real bargains! The red one was only $7.00 and the white one was only $15.00!

My FAVORITE find of the day was this wonderful re-purposed 100 year old theater chair, which only cost me $19.95, and now has a home on my covered front porch:

How AWESOME is that?!?!? It had a tag on it that stated it was made in 1911 and came from the Midland Theater in Coffeyville, KS. The lady whose booth I purchased it from, painted "Welcome" and a cute flower pot scene on it, and then lightly speckled the chair with cream and black paint. I love that the actual seat number 5 still shows on it. As Jamie and were loading it into the trunk of her car, we noticed that a piece of old chewed-up gum was stuck under the chair on one of the metal legs...gross but funny! We wondered if the gum was 100 years old too - ha! ha! ha!

Wishing you a terrific summer weekend!! Stay cool!

A Little Peek Into My World: My Favorite Backyard Views...

I love working in my yard and you'll find me there most every Saturday morning; happy as a clam pulling weeds, watering plants, and sipping on a large glass of sweet iced tea while cooling off in the shade of my back porch. Recently I took a few photos of some of my favorite views in our backyard, so I thought I'd share those with you today...

First off is one of the day lily plants that my friend and co-worker Penny gave me a start of...isn't it just beautiful?? Thanks again, Penny, for sharing them with me!

Next is one of seven hydrangea bushes that Mike and Justin planted along the back of our house for me for my birthday in May...I just love hydrangea's - they are one of my favorite flowers:

Here are some lush, purple petunias. Petunias always make me think of my Grandma Buckallew...she had the most beautiful flower beds surrounding her home and various colored petunias were always planted in them:

My Grandma Franklin, who lived out in the country next door to my family when I was growing up, had bunches of moss rose plants growing out of an old claw-foot bathtub that sat out in her front yard. It was a spectacular show of color every year! This year, in honor of her, I purchased some large pots of pink moss rose plants and set them in Justin's old red wagon...I love this fun accent in our backyard!

Here's my little garden shed...a family of rabbits live under it and come out to hop around the backyard when my beagle is napping. Sometime in the near future I plan to put a weather vane on the roof of it. To the right of it is an area that we fenced in with wrought iron which houses our little garden:

Here's a close-up of some tomatoes ripening on the vine...we are also growing cucumbers, pumpkins and strawberries.

For my birthday my best bud Jamie bought this gorgeous confetti plant for me...it is HUGE and thriving on my back porch!

Here's one of the "bird-friendly" areas along my back fence...cool thing is that I've had 2 families of bluebirds build nests in those bird houses and each time they laid 4 eggs!! I just love that!

And last, but not least, here's my sweet little beagle Hunter patrolling our backyard...she's such a funny little dog and makes me smile every day!

Please bear with me for the next few days...this is the week that my department is moving to a new building, so I won't be posting again until later in the week. Thanks!

Have a wonderful week!!

Quote Sunday

"A joyful spirit is evidence of a grateful heart".

~ Maya Angelou ~

Check Out This Great Recipe Blog!!

I just discovered a terrific blog full of fantastic recipes...Sweet as Sugar Cookies!

Be sure to check it out!!

Birthday Party Fun!

Last weekend my pal Tracy turned 40 so my best bud Jamie, (who is also Tracy's sis-in-law), and I decided to throw a little party for her to celebrate the occasion! We invited a few other girlfriends, their spouses and kiddos, and all met up at Jamie's house to surprise Tracy! What a fun time we had laughing, eating cake, chips and dips, and just being together! Here are a few photos that I thought I'd share with you of the great time we had:

First off, here's a group photo of "just us girls"...from left to right: Jamie, me, Tracy, Stacey and Kristin:

A round of hugs for the birthday girl! Photo one is Stacey's hubby, Jose, and Kristin giving Tracy a hug and the second photo is of my hubby, Mike, giving her a hug too!!

Next it was time to sing Happy Birthday to her and have her blow out the candles on her cake...we teased her that when you get to be 40 you don't get 40 individual candles on your cake because of the fire hazard! You get two number candles...a 4 and 0!! HA! HA!

After having some cake and ice cream it was time for Tracy to open presents! Her youngest daughter, Olivia, loved helping her out with that part!

I decided to tease her a little bit with some funny, "old-people" gifts like Milk of Magnesia, gas relief tablets, high fiber snack mix, sore muscle soak, a large print word find, and my personal favorite...some blinged up reading glasses on a red beaded neck chain, which were just too funny!!

Olivia LOVED those glasses, and quickly put them on to model for us! Here she is with cousin Kennedie:

Lots of laughs were shared by all!! Aren't friends such a blessing?!?!?

Wishing you a wonderful weekend!!

Recipe of the Week..."Cinnamon Blueberry Coffee Cake"

This delicious coffee-cake is one of my most requested breakfast and brunch dishes! It transports well so I take it to my office often to share with my co-workers and, (no kidding!), some literally scrape the cinnamony-sugary crumbs from the bottom of the dish when the cake is all gone! (Yes, Kay, I'm ratting you out for that - LOL!) Best of all, it's super simple to make using a base of boxed blueberry muffin mix. Here's how it's made...

Ingredients:

• 3 boxes Jiffy blueberry muffin mix
• 3 large eggs
• 1 heaping teaspoon of ground cinnamon
• 6 Tablespoons melted butter or margarine
• 1 cup milk

Topping:

• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup dry oatmeal
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 3 Tablespoons softened butter or margarine

Method:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat 9" x 13" baking dish with non-stick cooking spray. In a large bowl, combine first 5 ingredients and mix until well combined. Pour batter into prepared baking dish. In a small bowl combine the topping ingredients and use a fork to blend together. Evenly sprinkle topping mixture on top of the batter. Place in oven and bake for about 30 minutes or until cake tester inserted in center comes out clean. Slice and serve warm with a side of fruit, coffee, juice, etc.

NOTE: A 1/4 cup of shredded coconut can also be added to the topping mixture for a nice variation!

Enjoy!

Altered Printer's Tray

My lovely niece Megan and her sweetheart J.T. are getting married on Sept. 10th, 2011. (Yup, that's right - their wedding date is 9-10-11...pretty cool, eh??)

Anyhoo, my sis-in-law Lea Ann, (Meg's mom), asked me to make a photo collage to display at their upcoming engagement party. Well, for an occasion as wonderful as my niece's engagement I couldn't just make a "standard photo collage", now could I?!?!? So instead I used a reproduction vintage printer's tray to create this to display at the happy couple's party:

I began by altering their pictures to black and white for a consistant, cohesive look. Their wedding colors are ice blue, silver and black, so I built the rest of the artwork around that. I think the end result turned out really pretty and will fit the bill nicely! Here are some close-up snapshots of the photo tray compartments:

Notice the measuring tape ribbon in the photo above? It's their wedding date...9-10-11! If I do say so myself, I think that's a pretty clever way to use that ribbon - ha! ha! The quote by Oliver Wendell Holmes reads "Love is the master key that opens the gates of happiness".

Happy Scrappin'!!

Happy July 4th!!

Wishing you a fun and safe Independence Day!!

Recipe of the Week..."Tuna Croquettes"

I have been a complete and total slacker this week in keeping up with my blog...sorry! But, to my defense, I've been really busy at work boxing up things to move. You see, our department is moving to a new building on July 12th, so our staff has been SUPER busy packing up everything for the move as well as trying to keep up with our day-to-day responsibilities and work load. So, needless to say, I've been a little tuckered out by the time I got home in the evenings. Soooo thankful that it's a 3-day weekend - WOOHOO!!

Now for the history behind this week's "Recipe of the Week":

Tuna croquettes is a dinner that I came up with several years ago during a time when our budget was really, really tight and I needed some new ways to work with canned tuna fish. (During that time I also created a tuna dish that we jokingly named "White Honky Trash Tuna Surprise", which was a tuna casserole that used boxed Mac-n-Cheese as the base. Don't worry...I won't be posting that recipe - ha! ha!) Tuna croquettes, when paired with baked potatoes and a side salad, are a tasty way to feed your family for very little pocket change. With the economy and gas prices the way they are today, it's good to have a few tasty but inexpensive meals up our sleeves, isn't it?

Ingredients listed are to make 4 croquettes - but recipe can be doubled:

• 5 oz. can of tuna in water
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 cup crushed saltine crackers
• 1/8 cup minced onion
• 1 small carrot, shredded
• 1 Tablespoon dried parsley
• Olive oil

Method:
In a small bowl, crush crackers and set aside. In a large bowl add tuna with packing liquid. Add remaining ingredients, including the crushed crackers, and combine to make a firm mixture. In a large skillet heat about 2 Tablespoons of olive oil. Shape the tuna mixture into croquette shapes and cook in hot oil until lightly browned, turning as needed. Serve hot with baked potatoes and a salad or canned veggie for a well-rounded and tasty meal.

Wishing you a fun and safe 4th of July weekend! God Bless America!