Illinois and Back...

On Friday, April 25th, Hubby's Grandpa B passed away. He was 92 and lived a good life. It was a sad occasion for a trip, but we have a few things to mention.


Oh. My. Gosh. This place is awesome! The ice cream is fantastic and we have to visit evey time we're in Illinois.


Hubby and Ronald. Showing off for the nieces.


Graham Central Station ice cream from Whitey's. Graham ice cream with graham chunks. I'd really like some now. I'd love to get the ice cream maker attachment for my Kitchen Aid.


Ice cream cake slice from Whitey's. Can't say that I was all that impressed by the cake, but the ice cream was rockin'.


Weird farm equipment sculpture at the manufacturer. This is Iowa ya'll, what else do you expect? We'll have to visit the World's Largest Truck Stop and the Bridges of Madison County another day.


Near death experience! J/K. Hubby thought it would be funny to take a picture of the 18-wheeler being towed, which appeared to be coming at us head on. This is the second oversized tow truck we saw this trip. We couldn't get a picture of the first. Thankfully this one came along! Lots of hubby's family fell for the joke, so Hubby was happy.


This bridge over the Mississippi river makes Hubby think of his Grandpa S who passed away in 2001. This bridge is part of the route to his grandpa's house. He loved seeing the bridge as a child because he knew he'd see his grandpa soon. They loved to fish together, and hunt for mushrooms.


Under the bridge.


Massive flooding of the Mississippi. There are houses out in the middle of some of this. Those people must have abandoned their homes as they are not accessible.

Darling nieces on the slide. Don't you love how the blue slide brings out the color of their gorgeous eyes!


Cool rocks in the Arbuckle "mountains" in Oklahoma. Or the Arbuckle Wilderness. Neither term is an accurate description of the area.


Giant tires on a truck. We were a little 18-wheeler happy this trip.


Did you know Burger King chicken nuggets are shaped like crowns? Or chicken feet. At least the chicken feet would be in a naturally occurring chicken shape. These crowns are obviously compressed chicken pieces.


The built in "remote" at the classiest motel in Des Moines. You could select the major networks with the dial, or choose music. We chose music. I can't remember the song I recognized, but I'm pretty sure it was 80s rock. I guess the motel has moved up from the 50s. You could also call the maid and front desk from this contraption if you had one of those old switchboard headsets where you plugged and unplugged the headset from line to line (like the Flintstones). I was sort of afraid to touch it. It had rust around the edges. But for the blogworld, I made a video of it playing music. I'll have to post that later.


Super modern heat lamp in the super high-end motel we stayed at in Des Moines. Only the best for us!

Works for Me Wednesday #2...

I've been a delinquent and haven't posted a WFMW tip in a long time. Honestly, I haven't really had a good one. Until now...

I made a pie at Easter and some punch last week and both recipes called for six ounces of frozen orange juice concentrate (the punch also needed six ounces of frozen lemonade). I couldn't find six ounce containers at the grocery store, so I just decided to cut the easier-to-find twelve ounce containers in half.

While still frozen, I use a serrated knife to slice through the middle of the container. I use half for the recipe, and refreeze the other half in a baggie or make up the juice using half the water called for on the can.

Works for me! For more great tips, go here.

Got $10, Bite Back, Save a Life...

Friday is World Malaria Day and for $10 you can donate a mosquito net and help protect children living in areas where malaria runs rampant. In Africa, nearly one million people die from malaria every year. Could you imagine living your life in fear of a mosquito bite?

Mosquitos are simply an inconvenience to us. We have Off and citronella candles. These kids don't. They're hope is a mosquito net to protect their beds where the sleep every night with the possibility of contracting malaria if they aren't protected by a net.

Find a way to make a sacrifice to save $10 in your budget and donate a net. How about eating at home one night, and not out; not going to that movie or getting that new clothing item! These are all things we can do without to give these kids something they can't live without.

In Cooking News...

Since baking/cooking has become my new hobby, I decided to check out the most recent winning recipe of the Pillsbury Bake-off. This cookie recipe won $1,000,000. And it is worth every penny! It's easy and tastes like it took a lot of effort.



I made this ice cream cake last Father's Day and made it again this weekend. The first time was definitely better. Still yummy though! Aren't the layers beautiful?

Garage Sale Loot...

I went garage saleing with a friend this weekend. We had such a great time, and found some fantastic bargains!

I got all this for a whopping $13!

Magazine Rack $5

Black Table (originally IKEA) $1

Wire Thing $2

Glass Vases/Jars $2 ($1 each)

Silver Rectangle Vase $1 (the flowers aren't going to be used, and the vase was originally $70. The price tag was still on the bottom)

Red Crocodile Print bag $2 (practically new)

Garage sales are awesome!

Cracked Eggs...

I was boiling eggs last Thursday night, and I didn't cover them completely with water. I could hear a weird noise coming from the kitchen, and it took me a little bit to realize that the sound was coming from the cooktop. The eggs looked like this. Needless to say, they got tossed out. Even tonight when using the burner, the smell of eggs was lingering. I'm not quite sure how the egg actually cooked on the edges. I guess the eggs cracked early in the cooking process and the raw egg floated to the top. Eww.

Cheddar Bay Biscuits...

I had a craving for Cheddar Bay Biscuits after seeing a commercial for Red Lobster. We were having garlic shrimp (shamefully, from a bag) for dinner that night so I whipped up this recipe. The garlic butter and parsley on top is dead on! I used a scoop for my biscuits, so they were tall and round. Next time, I may flatten them to get a closer shape to the original.

This Place Rocks...

If you live in the Dallas area, you must go to Fred's Philly Cheesesteaks. It is fabulous! I know of locations in Plano and Richardson. Get the regular cheesesteak with a side of fried pickles and ranch! Delicious! I crave this place from time to time, and I'm so thankful we found one close by.

It's Back...

American Gladiators on May 12th!

Conditioner...

I got some new Vanilla Floral scented conditioner the other day, and the smell is fabulous! It reminds me of yellow cake batter!

Cleaning...

We have this laundry list of items that need to be completed around the house. Yesterday and today, I tackled the ventahood grease trap. Ugh, it was disgusting. It's probably been 10 years since that thing was cleaned, if that recently. I tried to buy a new one, but the size and shape isn't anywhere to be found. I attacked it yesterday with some Dis-Solv-It, and it did a good job. Then today I resoaked it in a ton of Greased Lightning I found in the garage. It looks brand new! Now I just have to attack the ventahood itself!

Hubby cleaned the vines around the A/C so they didn't wind themselves around the inside of the unit.

I also cleaned the recycling trash can so it didn't get too stinky.

We also had a really weird pile of soil at the corner of our lot, and we scraped that up and put it in the wheelbarrow for it's inaugural run. It was like a piece of sod, it had such an amazing root system! There were even earthworms living in it. The curb has some writing on it, and it's too dirty to read right now but it's a company name and it looks like it says 1977, which would be the right age for our curb since our house was built in 1978.

One of my chores was to clean out old, expired medicines. We have so many leftover from when I broke my foot. It's quite the rainbow of colors, there were so many it filled up the palms of my hands. I dropped them in the toilet, and as soon as they hit the water I thought of all the news lately about medicines in the water supply.

Strawberries and Bluebonnets...

Yesterday was opening day at Gnismer Farms in Arlington for strawberry picking! Hubby, a friend and myself all took the short little road trip. We also tried to go feed the critters at a pond we used to live by, and we also played in some bluebonnets.


Boy in the bluebonnets.

Jimmy picking strawberries, sorry I picked the eyes closed photo!

Me and berry!

Green strawberries getting ready to change color.

In the bluebonnets in Richardson. Too bad Jimmy wasn't here with us or we'd have better pictures!

Us, with me holding the bag full of old bread scraps we've been freezing for critter feeding days.

Strawberries on display! I think I picked 10-12 strawberries from these 2-3 plants.

Pickin' and grinnin'!

Our shadows in the bluebonnets! We're not so hot at taking self-portraits.

Tons and tons of bluebonnets! There was another field parallel to this one that is full of them as well! Hope you enjoy these pictures Leigh!

Hanging out in the field.

Boysenberries.

Rows of tasty little strawberries.

Smiling!

With our bounty!

Hubby likes to climb in the tree in Jimmy's front yard.

Hidden treasure!

Fun in the field!

Pretty! These berries were just so georgeous, even the one that looks like a butt.

Berries to go.

Soy Milk...

We bought some chocolate soy milk tonight. We heard it was really good, and it is! A little thin, but we drink skim milk anyway so that didn't really bother us. Now, we just need to buy the name brand (our store didn't have it) to see which is better.

Chocolate...

I've been craving chocolate for the last two nights. I bought some chocolate chips to snack on today, and then I ate some brownie batter. I'm now sick to my stomach, and don't need any chocolate for a while.

Espresso and Spice and Everything Nice...

I will be wearing a dress like this one on August 23rd. However, I will not be caressing a wall while wearing it.

Look What's Springing Up in the Backyard...

Irises! Thanks to a friend who just happened to live in this house before us! She planted these when she lived in the house, more than two years ago, and they continue to come back! They are so pretty and I am so thrilled! Plus, there are many, many more left to bloom! Some of these will join us at the dinner table on Friday! Thank you for planting these!

What's Been Going On...

This weekend was the baby shower of a good friend. One of the hostesses made the awesome diaper cake seen here, and three of us got together and made cupcakes. I think they turned out really cute with all the different textures (coconut, different swirl types, sprinkles, chocolate covered cherries and chocolate drizzle). I'm excited that we made the white chocolate covered cherries! I've been wanting to make them for a long time, and they turned out so cute, and tasty! We served yellow and chocolate cupcakes with banana slush punch. I think the mom-to-be was pleased!


Last Sunday we had LG at our house, and special friend, Jasmine the dog, came to visit. She'd never been around a swimming pool before, and after less than ten seconds in the backyard, she fell in the pool. She swam to the edge and we pulled her out. Later that night she squeezed through a hole smaller than her head in our front gate. It was quite the eventful night for Jasmine.


We also had two ducks stop by in our pool for a break this week! They flew in and nearly made a crash landing in our pool. They stayed for a couple minutes and left just as quickly as they came. It was a boy and girl duck. I took the picture from inside the house, so it's a little blurry. The only picture I have of the male duck is as he was flying away! So adorable!


One of our meals this week was shrimp boil. I love shrimp boils! Shrimp, lemon, new potatoes, sausage and corn on the cob! It was really good, but I've decided I like the crab boil spices better than Old Bay.