It's Amazing What You See

I've missed a couple of days.  I beg your forgiveness.  In my own defense, the laundry got done as well as the grocery shopping, dishes, meals, weeding the garden, and peeling and freezing these beauties.

Two gallons of them!  And they are FANTASTIC!  SUPERB!  DELICIOUS!  That's enough bragging, huh?

Hubby started working this week.  So far he really likes his job.  We're both getting used to his schedule.  He's been going in to work at 7:00 each morning so we've been getting up at five.  I've been doing as I said and channeled "June Cleaver" and making his breakfast every morning.  At first I thought I would surely go back to bed each day.  But, somehow, I didn't.  Somehow, I stayed awake and got outside and did my gardening and got sweaty and then made it inside in time to shower and watch Rachael Ray.  I planned ahead for supper and made good ole country meals.  I clipped coupons.  And ..................... I napped.  But only a little!

In doing this I've been able to see an absolutely glorious sight two days this week.  Butterflies.  I planted a butterfly bush a couple of years ago.  When I bought it it was only about a foot tall.  In the two or three years I've had this bush I've never noticed that it actually attracted butterflies. That was, until this week.  As of this week the bush is about six and a half feet tall.  The first day, I only got to witness this fantabulous creature.

Today, Hubby came in and let me know that I should grab my new snazzy Nikon and head outside.  He said there were about 4 butterflies on the bush.  I waited a couple of minutes, finished harvesting my crops on Frontierville (yes, I'm THAT nerd), and then I headed outside.  I can't even describe how breathtaking it was when I got there.  There were at least 6 butterflies.  Huge butterflies.  And dozens of moths.  And a bee.

See them in there?  It's spectacular!

I literally have hundreds more.  It was a little bit of a spiritual experience as they were all flying around my head.  Just a moment where I truly got to see and enjoy God's small wonders.  I just thought I'd share a little of my blessing!

Hello, My Name is Danielle and I'm a Dish-O-Holic

So, to keep myself honest, I will admit that I did not get to the laundry today.  However, I did make myself productive.  Hubby and I went to the Farmer's Market this morning.  I worked in my flowers for a little while this afternoon.  As I was cleaning my lilies I found these:

Butterfly wings.  I don't know what happened to the actual butterfly.  I assume he got eaten by something that didn't like the taste of his wings.  I guess whatever ate it didn't have any buffalo sauce or ranch dressing handy.  Was that out of line?  Anyway, I thought it was very interesting and rare to find a whole set of butterfly wings so I delicately collected them and I'm trying to think of a way to mount them to something and preserve them.

I also cooked and actually cleaned the kitchen up behind myself.  I even got prepared and made a hash brown casserole for the morning.  See, I told you I'd been productive.

Now, on to the meat of this blog.  I promised yesterday that I would tell you about my addiction to dishware. While I can't show you EVERY piece of dishware and pattern that I own, I will show you my favorites.

This is my dish cabinet.  Well, one of my dish cabinets.  I have another full of my crystal but as I like to say, that's another blog for another day.  Notice that you can't see the top shelf.  If you're wondering those are all serving dishes.  You will also notice that there are MORE dishes tucked back behind the door there.  I told you it was bad.  I told you I need help.

These precious things are from The Pampered Chef Simple Additions line.  They're called "Dots"  They're whimsical yet simple.  Frilly but not so much so that my husband won't eat off of them.  In short, I love them.  My mother in law gave me 2 place settings last Christmas and I can't get enough.  I even got fabulous water glasses that match the set.  I want more.  Much more!

This is my "wedding china".  It's actually not china.  These plates are actually from the Noritake casual dining line called Colorwave.  This wave of color is Raspberry and that's what made them a perfect match for Hubby and I.  The eating side of the plate is a simple bone color which Hubby likes.  His chef instincts say to him that plates should be simple and white and the food should be the decoration.  The rim and underside are such a luscious color that my girly decorating needs are fulfilled.  I have received 3 place settings so far and only one dinner plate has been broken.  I would like to have a full 8 place settings.  I want to be able to say "that's my wedding china" when my children eat off of it.  When those children break a plate I want to sit in the floor and cry and say "That was my wedding china".  And when my oldest daughter (who has yet to be born) gets married and moves into her first little house and only has styrofoam to eat off of, I want to be able to pass them on and say "Here honey, this is my wedding china and now it's yours".  That's if I ever get a full 8 place settings and if those place settings make it  long enough to pass down.

Most of you know what this is.  It's Fiesta ware.  Who in the world doesn't like Fiesta ware?  Communists and cretins, that's who.  It's simple, timeless, and colorful.  In fact, it comes in a whole array of different colors and I want ALL of them.  They don't all have to be in place settings.  They can be baking dishes and serving bowls and even a knife block set.  But I do want them ALL.  Well, maybe not Cinnabar.  But the rest will do.

I do not know what line of dishes these are.  I do know they are Lenox.  I do know that they resemble the Butler's Pantry line.  I also know that I paid $6 at a yard sale for 2 dinner plates, 2 salad plates, and this one bowl which is the perfect size for Hubby to eat cereal from.  I'd be OK if I didn't get any more of these.  They don't light an emotional flame in  the very depths of my soul.  I'll probably pass them on to my brother when he gets his first apartment or house and is eating off styrofoam exclusively.  But I'll only do that because I love him so so so much.  (Don't tell him I said that, he'll probably get embarassed)

I have several other patterns and colors.  I still have the first dishes I bought when I went to college.  I still have the first dishes I bought when I moved into this house as a young bachelorette.  I even have seasonal dishes.  Easter dishes.  Autumn dishes.  Halloween dishes.  Christmas dishes.  Antique dishes that belonged to my Mamaw Yokeley that I use exclusively for decoration and I may never ever eat off of for fear of breaking them and losing them forever.  And then there's the crystal, but, well, you know.

See, I told you.  It's a sickness.  It's a disease.  I've also decided that it's incurable.  All you can do is treat the symptoms by buying more dishes.  So that's what I intend to do.

Cookie Monster

Today I had intended to blog about my addiction to dinnerware.  My old favorites.  My new favorites.  The fact that the only pattern I have a full set of is my fine crystal.  BUT, between a trip to Sam's, job applications, visiting my daddy, and watching Con Air, my pictures never got taken and that blog didn't gestate to a proper birth weight.  So, what I can tell you about is my late night baking of cookies last night.  You see, yesterday I was trying to find something incredible to make for supper (I didn't, we won't go there) and I came across the recipe for Famous Amos Chocolate Chip Cookies.  I didn't make them right off.  In fact, Hubby and I tried to resist the temptation of making and eating any kind of delicious baked goodies.  That lasted until about ten o'clock.  Then we caved.  Well, I caved to Hubby and made him some cookies.

The secret to a good chocolate chip cookie is MINI chocolate chips.  Besides, everything tastes better when it's small.  Everything has less calories when it's small.  And they're just so darn cute!

Again, the name of the game here is small.  See my tiny scooper there?  It's the perfect size for awesome cookies.  Now, let me just note that I could have stopped right here, used the red spatula there, and just eaten the stuff out of the bowl.  But then what would Hubby do without the cookies I promised him?

Lick the paddle.  That's what he'd do!!  Ain't he cute?

JUST KIDDING!  You didn't think I'd go through all that trouble just to let him lick a paddle did you?  Of course not!  Besides, look at his face.  It's saying "Please bake the cookies honey.  Please!  I love you so much and I promise I'll clean out the litter box for the rest of our lives."  Well, maybe I embellished a little.  Maybe he didn't promise to clean the litter box.  But he did say please!

So, maybe tomorrow, somewhere between going to the Farmer's Market, doing the laundry I said I'd do for the past three days, and cleaning today's dishes, I'll get to that blog post where I'll take the first step to recovery.  Admitting I have a problem.  Hello, my name is Danielle and I'm a Dish-o-holic.

Here a Blog, There a Blog

And here I am again, trying to make pitiful excuses for the 5 month gap in my blogging.  The truth is the only excuse I have is: I'm lazy.  But, I got to thinking today about the things I'd like to get done now that Hubby has a job and I will be left to entertain myself for ten hours a day.  Of course I have many grandiose dreams about channeling Barbara Billingsley in "Leave it to Beaver" and having all of the laundry done, the house clean, and fabulous home cooked meals on the table every day when he gets home all while wearing pearls and heels and frilly aprons.

I don't think I'm willing to copy the hair cut, but, I'm going to try to give MOST of it a fair shake.  I'll go ahead and admit that the heels and pearls won't happen and I only have one frilly apron so that probably won't happen either.  But I will give the rest of it a shot!  I'm not making any promises.  

We have planted some pretty sizable gardens this year, both flower and vegetable.  The vegetable garden isn't faring so well due to very dense dirt and poor drainage but we should at least get a few tomatoes out of it.  The flower garden, however, is doing wonderfully despite the great drought we've been experiencing the past couple of weeks.  However, as the flowers flourish, so do the weeds and it's just too darn hot out there to go pulling them up right now.  So far I have fought and won the Great Aphid and Japanese Beetle Wars of 2010 and won.  I've been trying, as much as possible, to use organic solutions to fight the pests not because I'm trying to save the world or anything but because I'm cheap.  This leads me to another goal I contemplated today.  I'd like to try and see how many convenience items I can craft at home to save some dollars.  I'm not sure that I'm willing to give up Tide or the luxury of volumizing shampoo but it I can get by without buying Bisquick and other such things I'd like to give it a try.  We'll see how that goes.  I'll be sure to keep you updated.

So, for the third or fourth but possibly not the last time I will make a pledge to try and be more faithful in my updates.  I assume that there might be only one person reading this (which may or may not include myself) but in case there's a second reader out there, I ask only one thing of you.  Keep checking back.  Keep reading.  Hold me accountable.  I need a blogging sponsor!  Can you do that for me, please!?!

DAW

Super Late Super Bowl Report

As I previously posted, I have found MANY blog-worthy photos on my camera. Today's topic: our fabulous 1st (hopefully annual) Super Bowl party. It was a smashing success and we had a TON of food. The Colts lost but everyone seemed to have a great time and I don't think anyone left hungry.

First on the menu: CUPCAKES!

Of the mini variety. Note to anyone interested: Just 1 box of cake mix will make 96 miniature cupcakes. You and your waistline have been warned. But don't they stack up pretty. Don't worry, this is not all 96, there are more pictured later in the post. These were just the "extras".

This is our well accessorized Offspring dog, Sirius. I bought some Mardi Gras beads at the Dollar Store and I thought it would be funny to make the dogs wear them.

All went well until Matriarch Canine, Missy, (pictured above) decided that the necklace was a chew toy. This ended dress up time for the puppies. But weren't they cute?

Just a few of the dips we had available. It was a BYOC&B party. Bring your own chips & beverages.

The rest of our dips. You can't see the dips per se but they aren't the showcase in this picure. The showcase item us the kick butt triple crock pot! It was a FABULOUS Christmas gift from Moma & Daddy. Thanks!!

Now, the rest of the cupcakes. I was so proud of my cupcake football field. I had originally hoped to have enough room to have the proper number of yard lines and have them numbered complete with hash marks but, this was pretty impressive none the less. That is, in my own extremely biased opinion.

On a non-Super Bowl related note, my interview went well today. I feel pretty optimistic about a call back. We'll just have to pray and see what happens!

Well, it's late and I think I might try to persuade Hubby that it's bedtime. I hope all is well in your world!

DAW

It's a Slow Moving Wagon

I just uploaded pictures from my camera and realized that I have a lot more blog subjects to share than I thought. I'll start with the most recent - my SUPER COUPON DEALS! I just can't tell you how excited I am.


Store Visit #1: Target

This is my loot from Target. It may not look like much but please note that the batteries are 24 packs and that there is a Venus razor, lightbulbs, swanky Iams cat food and 3 bottles of body wash. (I bought 3 to get a hefty $15 rebate that when added to the $2 discount I got with a coupon and a free bottle I got with another, I actually make $5.32 profit from buying this bodywash!). I got all of this for a whopping $30.66. According to my reciepts plus the rebate I saved $71.44. Some of the deals didn't work the way I wanted because Target didn't have the proper items in stock but all in all, not bad.

Store Visit #2: Harris Teeter:

Not pictured is 40 pounds of Purina Dog Chow. So, picture the Dog Chow plus this haul (not the wine in the back) - I only paid $35.70. According to my receipt I saved $34.03. Again, pretty good haul. The sushi rice in the front wasn't a deal really but we're making appetizers for our supper club this weekend and we needed rice. Asian Pork Balls will be a recipe for another day, I promise.

I hate to deal and run but I have to make sure that I have everything together for my interview at High Point University in the morning. Say a prayer. Cross your fingers. Cross your toes. I need a job!

Love!!

Back In The Saddle

So, as you can apparently tell (if I have any readers left at all besides myself), I took a pause. What can I say? Life got busy. To sum things up, we had a great time in Maine and came home in September. I never thought I'd be so happy to see a Bojangles in my life. It's February now and we're both still looking for jobs. I keep praying and having patience and faith. The right job is out there. I don't know where yet, but it's out there!

In the meantime we've tackled various projects. We canned this fall and made a large amount of jams, jellies (well, we attempted jellies), preserves, and other such things. They proved to be very popular Christmas gifts and we may have to try doing the same thing year after year. It'll be really nice when we have our own fruits and vegetables to can. We've cleaned and cleaned and cleaned the house yet it always seems to be a mess. I'm not sure how that happens. I guess it's a result of two adults living here and not leaving sometimes for 4 to 5 days at a time. We've visited friends and family. We're sorting out ideas for a business plan and I'm thinking of writing a cookbook. Now we just have to turn those two things into a reality.

At the moment I'm working on cross stitching a sampler for my Grandaddy's 77th birthday. At the rate I'm going I might be finished with it by May. His birthday is March 1st. I'm sure if I bake him a banana cake he'll be OK with waiting the real present out.

I am very much looking forward to two things this weekend. The first is a "girl's day out" with my mom, her sister, her mom, and myself. This should be fun! My Aunt Bobbi doesn't get to come visit very much so we were all very excited about her arrival today. The second is our Super Bowl Party on Sunday. So far the attendance is looking pretty slim but that's OK. The people who come will have a rip roarin' good time and lots of food and I'll take lots of pictures to share with you.

Well, in all actuality, that's the excitement of my life right now. I'll work on my photojournalistic chronicles of my days again starting tomorrow. Maybe that'll make this much more interesting to read. But, they always say that the first step is the hardest so I went ahead and made that first step back into the blog world tonight.

That's all for now.

DAW