Thursday, February 9, 2012

{The Ever popular} Photo Sucker Valentine

A month ago or so, while at Sam's club, my mother-in-law picked up a package of their super cute decorated valentine suckers. So I started looking online for some ideas. I was thrilled when I saw this photo sucker valentine on Keepin' in Real 24-7-365 by way of Tip Junkie. 

I was like PERFECT! This is the only place I've seen it (granted I didn't search after finding this...), so maybe people don't know about it yet... um yeah. I see it EVERYWHERE now! Maybe the "photo sucker" card is so-last-year because now I see super cute photo glow stick cards and super-hero suckers.

Oh well!
Thanks to photoshop and some fun free fonts that I downloaded, here's mine...


Luckily, the parents of the kids who will be receiving this on Valentine's Day don't stalk crafty blogs as much as I do... so hopefully they won't ALL be photo sucker cards.

However, one of my friends who's daughter is in another class (who DOES happen to follow a ton of crafty blogs did this last year for her older son) is doing these this year too.


I'm quite pleased with how this turned out!

Linking up: It's a Keeper, The Crafty Blog Stalker, Gluesticks, Momnivores Dilema, CRAFT  , Sarahndipities

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Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Late Night Date Night ::. Wine Tasting

With Valentines Day coming up I wanted to share mine and hubby's "Late Night Date Night" that we had the other day.

Hubby and I like wine... we don't know anything about it... but we like it.

Case in point...
I was at my girlfriends rehearsal dinner a few years back and I was chatting with the bride-to-be and the server comes around asking what wine we want.

"The one with alcohol" is what is running through my mind so I decide to go with the last thing he said, so I say, "Oh, I'll have the pinot" and he pauses... but proceeds to pour me a glass.

The bride leans over and says, "is that what you wanted?" I say, "um... Pinot is fine" and she goes, "well you know we've got Pinot Grigio AND Pinot Noir". Ah ha... didn't even know there were TWO "Pinots".

I tried to play it off, but the thing that tipped her off was that I was previously drinking white wine.... and I was poured Pinot Noir.

Anyway, so we've established that I know nothing about wine except that there is red, white, and champagne (plus some others that I did NOT know about).

Hubby and I had kind of gotten into a rut and hadn't done a date night in a while so I took it upon myself to think up this gem.

Inspired by the movie "Bottle Shock" that we had recently rented, I went to the grocery and picked up a few bottles of wine (4 to be exact), got some cheese and crackers, some firewood, AND ran to the library and picked up Introduction to Wine Tasting Vol 1. (It was the only one the library had, but it was good!) Then we waited until the kids went to bed.
Paper plates... classy!
No... we didn't drink ALL the wine between the 2 of us... but we had some fun. We didn't have to spend tons of money or get a babysitter and we still got a fun romantic date night.

We still want to go take a wine class with an instructor, but this was a great (cheap) introduction! The only downside is now I can NOT stop the hubby from swirling his wine with every. single. sip.

Linking up: Vintage Wanna Bee, Elizabeth and Co, Shwin and Shwin, Chef in Training, Cantelmos, A Bowl Full of Lemons, Not Just a Housewife, Homework, Trophy Wife  , Turtles Life for Me, DIY By Design, My Girlish Whims, Somewhat Simple, Momnivores Dilema,  Gluesticks, Hookin Up with HOH, Crafty Blog Stalker, It's A Keeper, CRAFT, Sarahndipities, The Girl Creative



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Monday, February 6, 2012

Weekly Meal Plan #16

SUNDAY we had...
Football Empanadas; they were ok.
Empanadas

MONDAY
Pesto Stuffed Burgers

TUESDAY
Easy/Hearty Chicken Noodle Soup

WEDNESDAY
Chef Salad

THURSDAY (Going to see Les Miserables!!!!)
Date Night!

FRIDAY
Pizza Night

SATURDAY
Hubby has drill so the girls and I will have something low-key... mmmm maybe a Frittata
Last weeks recap
Peachy Hotwings

Taco Night

Salmon with Champagne Sauce
 If you are interested in ANY recipe, please let me know! I am more than happy to share :)

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Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Movie gift cards shouldn't make you sad...

This made me sad today.

Why?

Because we got this movie theater gift card for Grandpa for Christmas and hubby handed it back to me today.

The girls' late Grandpa LOVED gift cards and had a lot of them, so when hubby was going through his stuff he came across a whole stack of them, he decided to split them between his sister and us.

So as I start flipping through our little stack and see a few restaurant gift cards, I come to the movie theater gift card that I had personally bought and it struck me... he never got to use it. And he won't be taking Charlotte to any more movies.

You see, Grandpa and Mimi brought Charlotte to her very FIRST BIG (In other words... movie theater) movie. They had a ball! Charlotte sat in the middle and held the popcorn, passing out pieces as she felt necessary.  Since Grandparents never really NEED anything for Christmas, we got them each a set of movie theater gift cards so they could take Charlotte some more.


{Sigh}

Time to go work on a little "Memories of Grandpa" project!

Have a great Tuesday!
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Monday, January 30, 2012

Weekly Meal Plan #15

This week is going to be a little weird and hectic with all that we are trying to do for hubby's dad's funeral on Friday.


SUNDAY we had...
Peachy Hot wings, sweet potato fries, and salad

MONDAY
Taco Night with Black beans

TUESDAY
Chef Salad

WEDNESDAY (my parents come into town)
Chicken Florentine Soup... maybe

THURSDAY (hubby's extended family come into town for the funeral)
Dad's Spicy Garlic Shrimp

FRIDAY
We are going out to dinner after the funeral

Last weeks recap
Crock Pot Pulled Pork

Chicken & Spinach Stuffed Shells

Pork stuffed baked potato
Inspired by a roadside BBQ place outside DE

Panko Crusted Tilapia


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Saturday, January 28, 2012

Memories at Steak & Shake

My kids LOVE Steak and Shake.

Is it the oh-so-unhealthy fried chicken fingers and fries?No, although they are fan... of course.
Is it the tasty milk shakes?!
No... but again... they do enjoy them.

It's because of Mimi and Grandpa.... and the CLAW MACHINE! This is a game that I, mommy, do not play but Mimi and Grandpa play a few dollars EVERY single time they go. And they're pretty good...the following is the score from DECEMBER ALONE:

And this is from the few months before.

The pictures of their "score" just goes to show how often we/they went to Steak and Shake and how big a part of our lives Mimi and Grandpa are. Weekly lunches, "playdates", stopping by the office to say 'hi'. The girls are very lucky to have their grandparents so close.
Mimi, Grandpa, Jillie, & Charlotte
But lunches at Steak and Shake aren't going to be the same anymore. 

A week can make a HUGE difference if your life.

Friday, shortly after lunch with hubby, Grandpa started feeling sick with the flu. All weekend he was laid up, but he told hubby on Sunday that he was feeling better and would be back to work (they work together) on Monday.

Hubby was at drill this weekend, so Sunday after church I went to lunch at... you guessed it, Steak and Shake with Mimi and the girls. Grandpa didn't join us because he was still sick with the flu. The girls missed Grandpa, but they understood he was sick.
The "claw" with Mimi on Sunday
Monday's meal plan post... but we had some pretty bad news, Hubby called and said Grandpa had a stroke. Well, after a day in the hospital it wasn't a stroke, it was infection which turned out to be from the gall bladder. Oh, and he also had pneumonia.

I went and tapped into the power of social media for prayers and thoughts... and it seemed to work because Tuesday things were looking up. Hubby went from talking about his father as if he had already died to talking about what we were going to do with him in a few weeks and how our trip to Disney would be fun. Wednesday was much of the same, the vitals were getting better but he was still on life support. Thursday was kind of annoying because they were messing with his dialysis and tubes and he went without dialysis for about 8 hours, which made hubby nervous but he was "still going to get out of this". Friday, hubby rushed out of the house because Grandpa was not doing well. To keep normal, I get everyone dressed and ready for Ladies Bible study at church. I text hubby right when I get there to keep me posted and that I was at Bible Study. I get back "Will do. It looks like he will pass away".

WHAT?! So my wonderful friends at Bible study come to the car with me and get the car seats so they can pick up the girls after Bible study and watch them while I'm at the hospital and I rush over there. It turns out Grandpa might have MRSA due to bacteria imbalance so I can't go in there. But hubby wants to stay in there (understandably) so he tells me to head back to Bible study. So I do.

I sit back down in Bible study and my mother in law calls to tell me they are going to DNR (do not resuscitate) him and I need to come back for hubby. So, again, I rush out... luckily my friends are amazing and are going to take the girls. Back at the hospital it is not looking good.

A few hours later, my hubby's father, Grandpa, passed away surrounded by his loving family, way too soon, after one crazy week.

January 2011
It is going to kill me the next time we go to Steak and Shake for lunch and Charlotte asks for Grandpa...


Christmas 2011
Thank you for being the best father-in-law a girl could ask for and the best and most fun Grandpa for my daughters.

PS - I am REALLY glad we got Professional pictures of Grandpa and girls for Christmas last year


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Wednesday, January 25, 2012

{party appetizer} Sausage Caprese Skewers

I LOVE LOVE these skewers for parties! They are SUPER easy and I have been making them for a while.

SAUSAGE (optional) Caprese Skewers
INGREDIENTS
Skewers
Cherry tomatoes
mozzarella balls  (in water)
Summer sausage (optional)

DIRECTIONS
Skewer cherry tomatoes, mozzarella balls, and the optional sausage in whatever order suits you.
Can be made the day before.
Drizzle with balsamic dressing (I actually ran out of balsamic dressing so I also used some balsamic vinegar too) just before serving.


This is how I served them my first year:
I cut the tomato in half, skewered half, then the mozzarella ball, then the other half of the tomato.

The next year I added the summer sausage (yum!)

Theese even work perfectly for a LUAU!

Enjoy!!

Linking up: Blue Cricket Design, Someday Crafts, Vintage Gwen, 
Bacon Time,

Faith Trust and Pixie Dust,
Ladybird Ln,
Tatertots and Jello, Lamb Around, Lolly Jane Boutique,
Nifty Thrifty THings, CRAFT, 
Marvelously Messy
Making the World Cuter
Keeping it Simple,
Creating my way to success
Sarahndipities 
Shwin and Shwin,
Elizabeth and Co, Homework, Not Just a Housewife, Chef in Training, A Bowl full of Lemons
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