Recent Posts

A few weeks ago my husband’s sister let us know that she would be in San Antonio and inquired on whether we would be willing to drive down to spend a couple of days with her. As my husband hasn’t seen her in a number of years, had some vacation days from last year to use up and we were meaning to drive down in spring anyway to visit the sites and some friends who live there as well, we decided to plan a short road trip.

STI Drive stepped up to the plate and offered us a 2014 Kia Soul to use for our mini road trip and we were eager to see how this compact car would perform.

Because of my family’s picky palates, I tend to alter a lot of recipes.  It’s rare that I make something ingredient for ingredient in a recipe but every once in a while I find one that I KNOW is going to be a winner just as it’s written.  This is one of those recipes.

It comes from the book Everyday Confetti, that I reviewed in January.  Folks I’m telling you, it’s full of recipes that will become favorites just like this one.  PLUS it has tons of ideas on how to make an ordinary day… something worth celebrating.

The one holiday that calls for the sweet to deliver the sweet is Valentine’s Day.  Plan ahead for the showstopper dessert when you cook a meal made with love: a personal expression of love, given from the heart.

Siliconezone is in on the action this Valentine’s Day with their sweet, sentimental and always appropriate pink (of course!) heart-shaped silicone cake mold pan.

I have a bag of quinoa sitting on my pantry shelf that I’ve been reluctant to use.  I bought it for a couple of recipes that I tried and loved, but the rest of my family is very wary of this super-grain.  Perhaps it’s because of its static-y properties of sticking to everything it touches before it’s cooked.  Or maybe it’s the translucency it takes on after it’s cooked.  More likely it’s the fact that they can’t pronounce or spell it.

From the time our daughter was old enough to play she took to assembling and building things like a duck does to water.  Puzzles and LEGOS kept her busy for hours and she was building sets geared for older children long before the suggested age on the box.

When other girls were playing with Barbies and pretend food, Amber was mixing up slime and creating science projects.

I have to tell you, our first winter in Texas has been a bit of a disappointment to me .  I expected it to be warmer!  I mean sure if you compare the temperature to South Dakota where we used to live, or even to Canada where all my family is, it’s practically a heat wave around here.  But come on… I moved south for a reason, and ice storms and below freezing was not one of them!

When we were traveling last week we had breakfast at a local restaurant that had so many breakfast choices it was unbelievable.  I settled on a French Toast platter that had a praline sauce on top.  There were so many other indulgent offerings on the menu though that I was inspired to make something equally yummy at home.  It’s really quiet simple and delicious.

I don’t know when I first began using a Swiffer in my home, but after the first time I did I was hooked using it on my hard floors.  The basic Swiffer is great for picking up hair, crumbs and dust, but on bigger objects like cereal spills, bobby pins or beads…not so much.  Until now that is, because the newest Swiffer product is the Swiffer Sweep & Trap.  You can buy it at Walmart and it’s a pretty neat clean up tool if you ask me.

Ever have one of those days where you want to be creative but also just want to stay home?  I had one of those not too long ago.  I wanted to make something a bit different for my family using stuff I already had at home.  Spying a tube of peanut butter cookie dough in the fridge I headed to the pantry to see what I could add to it. 

Remembering a tip from the book Everyday Confetti about making these with bananas while camping, I ended up coming out of the pantry with a jar of Nutella and a bag of marshmallows, which ended up becoming Peanut Butter Nutella S’mores. Yum!

I don’t know about you but over the years I’ve often been swayed by our daughter to eat at a particular restaurant because of what’s included in the kids meal that particular month. 

The power of persuasion and the lure of not having to cook often won me over, but really a lot of the toys had about 5 minutes of attention appeal or were lost or broken within days.