creative little daisy

Nana's gonna snap!

Freezer paper stencilling has been around for a while.

I did a pillow once, but Mitch cut the stencil out for me.

I'm no good with small details and an exacto knife.

But now I have a silhouette. Oh yea! That opens up a whole new world of possibilities.

So when I saw this on pinterest, I knew I had to have one

and by making my own I could personalize it.

I wanted mine to say nana instead of mama,

since most of my snapping involves Bayleigh.

Using the Silhouette Studio software and a camera graphic purchased from their store,

I created my design.

I cut the design on freezer paper and ironed it onto my tee.

I did not prewash the shirt.

I wish I had.

The layout distorted a little after washing.

Using a foam brush I painted over the stencil with acrylic paint mixed with textile medium.

 I placed a piece of poster board inside the shirt,

to prevent the paint from bleeding through.

I pulled the freezer paper off immediately and set the shirt aside to dry.

Once dry, I  ironed over the design (covered with a cloth)  to set the paint. 

Here I am wearing it. My head is absent from this picture because Bayleigh was the photographer.

I'm not really loving the way this angle gives me a double chin,

but that's what you get when you use a

photographer who's three feet tall.

 

 

Tomato Pie

Our little garden has done really well this year, so I've had to come up with different ways to use tomatoes, zuchinni and squash.

A friend told me about tomato pie a few years ago. Just a quick cut this, mix that sort of run down.

Said it was so easy no recipe was necessary.

Of course I didn't remember all the steps, so I googled it when I got home and ended up making Paula Deen's version.

Yummy, but oh so rich. Really rich. Then I read some of the comments in the review section.

Many people said they used much less mayonaise than called for.

So, when I made it again, I tried less mayo. Perfect.

It really is so easy you don't need a recipe, but here's how I make mine.

Pictured above is all you need, plus a pie crust. I buy the frozen kind, the ones with two in a pack. Make one pie to keep and one to share.

This recipe is for one pie.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cook the crust till slightly golden. You can do this while you are preparing the filling.

I peeled my tomatoes by dropping them in some very hot water for a few seconds.

The skin easily slides off.

Cut the tomatoes in half, remove the core and as much of the seeds as possible. Four or five large tomatoes for one pie.

Roughly chop them and place in a colander. Sprinkle with a little salt. Put the colander in the sink or on a towel to catch the juice.

You want to get as much of the water out of the tomato as possible so you pie won't be runny.

Cut 1/2 onion into very thin slices.

add the onion slices to the tomato.

Season as you like. I just use salt and pepper, but you could also add fresh basil or any herb you prefer.

In a bowl, combine a cup or so of grated cheese. Any kind you like.

For this I used monterey jack and cheddar.

Stir in about 1/3 cup of mayo. If you are from the south, you know there is only one brand of mayonnaise. Dukes.

But you use whatever makes you happy.

Add a few shakes of hot sauce, as much or as little as you like, and mix well.

You end up with something that's sort of clumpy and gooey.

Put the tomato and onion in the (mostly) cooked pie crust.

Spread the cheese/mayo mixture over the top.

I say spread, but you just sort of crumble it on and spread it around with your fingers. Moistened fingers work best.

Cook uncovered at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes. Till the cheese begins to get golden and brown.

Simple and yummy!

 

Grilled Green beans

Hot. I bet I say that word no less than 25 times a day.

It is so stinkin' hot. Like sticking you head in an oven hot. Hotter than, well, you get the idea.

In an effort not to heat up the house any more than necessary, most dinners are cooked on the grill these days.

Not sure if these are new or just new to me.

I don't usually like frozen green beans, but these are different, and we're going for quick and easy here.

Follow the directions on the bag, just microwave in the bag for five minutes.

Carefully open the bag and pour the cooked green beans into a bowl.
Drizzle on about 2 or 3 tbs. of olive oil.

Throw in some garlic. About one largish clove or two small ones. I use a garlic press or just chop it up very fine.

Sprinkle on a little salt. Or a lot, it's up to you.

Give it a stir to coat everything well.

Put a sheet of aluminum foil on the grill and place the beans on a single layer.

I do this once the meat I'm cooking is about half done. Move them around to keep from burning. Just let them get a little brown here and there.

Put them back in the bowl and you're done.

Yummy!

Last night I did the same thing with brussell sprouts. The same Birds Eye Steamfresh brand.

I seasoned them with olive oil, salt, parmesan cheese (just the cheap canned stuff) and a little lemon juice.

 Attic progress~ we have stairs!

Bayleigh's surprised and excited pose.

Bayleigh's Vanna White pose.

It's noisy around here

Delightfully noisy! Work has begun on the attic apartment.

Those are Mike's legs. Mike will be building stairs and possibly a tiny powder room.

So far he has removed the pull-down access stairs and made the opening larger.

Not very exciting photos, but fun stuff I tell ya!

I have a few recipes to share. Which would you like first, tomato pie or grilled green beans?

Nope, I haven't melted. Almost...

How about a bit of random jibber-jabber to get caught up? When you go a month between blog posts, it's not easy to pin down a topic with which to jump back in.

It's been crazy, hectic, hot, fun around these parts. Since I last blogged, we beached.

It was wonderful. Five days at Myrtle Beach. The only down side was that it wasn't enough.

My sister Erica, and her two beautiful girls, Harlie and Juliana came along. It was wonderful.

We had a low key Fourth of July. Family and food. A few fireworks and some corn hole.

Mitch built and painted the corn hole boards.

Work is scheduled to start tomorrow on Alyssa and Bayleigh's attic apartment. I'll be sure to take lots of pics.

I've done lots of cooking and even took some pics of my favorite recipes. I've missed this place and I've missed you, my friends. I'll be back soon. I promise!

xxoo~

 

 

Dang it's hot and other ramblings...

Is it as hot where you are as it is here in the stinkin', sweaty, humid beautiful southern US? If you walk outside after around 10am it feels like sticking your head in an oven. Seriously. I prefer warm weather to cold, but a nice comfortable spring would have been nice.

Since I last visited this spot, there have been changes. Large and small. I've done some sewing, mostly skirts for Bayleigh. Talk about your instant gratification. I made three in one day. In a matter of a couple of hours. No pictures, sorry. I had some computer issues, as in both my laptop and desktop decided to die within days of each other. Nice.

I do have pictures of our little garden. We did two beds this year instead of one.

 We should be able to have a 'mater sandwich in a few days. Yum!

 Bayleigh and I love to go out every day and see what's growing.

She got a trampoline for her birthday. It's right beside the garden and at least once a day she jumps and I pull weeds.

We've been blowing bubbles again this year. I don't know who loves it more, me or her. Or is it she or I?

Bayleigh got a tattoo. Yea we went to Myrtle Beach for bike week and she got her first tat.

I kid! We didn't really go to bike week and she didn't get a tattoo. Not a real one anyway. But she has temporary ink all over. On her arm, on her leg, on her side. It isn't pretty at church I tell ya, but she loves them. She wants to be like her mommy. That's so funny to me. Growing up, that's not something I ever heard a kid say. I want a tattoo, like my mommy. Times they are a changin'. Alyssa only has one, by the way. I think that may have sounded like Bayleigh wanted to be covered in tattoos, like her mommy. Not covered, just one.

I've seen some really interesting ones on pinterest and have even given thought to getting one. I think I'm too old for that though. Too old and not nearly cool enough. I'd want something small but meaningful. Alyssa wants us to go together and get one. We'll see. What are your thoughts on tattooed grannies?

Speaking of pinterest, are you pinning? I'm so addicted. That's probably part of the reason I've not posted in a while. Most of my computer time is spent on Pinterest. I think I should be sufficiently inspired enough to keep me busy for the next six years. If only I could stop pinning and start doing.

On the topic of doing... don't you love how I flow from topic to topic? Mitch, Alyssa and I have a big project ahead of us.

 

Alyssa and Bayleigh will be moving back home. We are going to convert our unfinished bonus room above the garage into an attic apartment. It will be almost entirely DIY. We will probably have to get some professional help with a few things like electrical and maybe building the stairs. Right now we just have fold down attic stairs.

We are thinking of starting a separate blog with updates about the progress of our tiny budget reno. Are you interested in following along? We'd love to hear suggestions about making the most of a small space. It's 11' x 22'. We aren't sure yet if everything will be upstairs or if we will close off part of the garage as well. If you've done anything like this and have words of wisdom, we'd love your input.

 

Lets talk about something happy

Like curtains. Curtains are happy, right? I think so. Some girls have a thing for shoes and purses, my thing is for curtains and rugs. And lamps. I love lamps.

 But I digress, I am here to talk curtains today. Kitchen curtains.

I hear some of you saying, oh no she didn't.  And to you, I say, oh yes I did.

I've received lots of  nice comments on those IKEA curtains I had in the kitchen. I loved them too, but it was time for a change. 

These aren't actually curtains. Well, they are now,  but they started out as table cloths.

 
I lined them using white twin sheets.

You can find them here.

confession

I try to be a happy person.

A loving and understanding person.

I usually give the benefit of the doubt.

The older I get, the more I worry. I guess it comes with having lived life. Having experienced heartache and loss, the tendency to guard yourself more.

I am a believer in God. In Jesus. In grace and forgiveness, and yet....

There is a dark place in my heart. A place that is heavily guarded, and untrusting. It is a place I didn't even know existed until a few years ago. It is a place that  does not want to love and trust and give the benefit of the doubt.

Because of the existence of this place, deep in my own heart. I feel a bit like Adam and Eve, hiding in the garden from God.

Because of this darkness, my walk with God has suffered.

I want to place blame. To say it is because of another's actions that I have this place. But deep within me, I know this is my battle. My cross to bear.

I wish it would just go away. Oh how I pray for the blackness to be gone, but I know the answer to that prayer. I know it is my work to do.

When the day comes and I have to answer for myself, it will not be acceptable that I harbored this hate in my heart. No matter what the reasons. And yet knowing this does not make it any easier to let go. As much as I dislike the darkness, I hold onto it. As if letting go means the other person is right.  I feel so justified in my hate. Typing that word is not easy. I've always been taught not to hate. Not to even say the word and I until now, I've never felt this way. It isn't a good feeling. It's like living under a heavy wet blanket and even joyful times are slightly tainted by its ugliness.

So there is an inner struggle. The part of my sprit that knows better is at constant odds with the part of my heart that needs to protect those I love.

How do you come to terms. How do you love someone you just don't want to love, when you can come up with reason after reason not to?  Like Jesus, I pray that this cup would pass. Really I do.  I do not want to do the work I know I need to do. 

It's not been an easy road and in reality, it's not even my road. I'm just a spectator and yet bitterness consumes me.

I'm not trying to sound all cryptic, the details aren't important. The point of my post is hopefully by opening myself up, by laying it out there, I can at least face the battle that is before me.  

No matter what the other person does, it is my heart that I will hold in my hands when I stand before my maker and do I want it to be dark and ugly or bright and filled with love? I have a lot of polishing I need to do. I just don't know how to begin.

From hutch top to play kitchen

I had a thrifted hutch top I originally purchased for $14.00 and it made the rounds of the house serving various purposes before finding it's way to the garage.

Here it is in the living room, way back.. last year.  But it seems like ages ago since the livng room was aqua. And since I had that couch.

We've been working on a playhouse for Bayleigh and you know a sweet little playhouse has to have a sweet little kitchen.

Here is a semi-before shot. Mitch had already removed the top shelf and cut the hole for the sink when I thought to take a picture, so I just sat the top shelf in place to snap a pic.

From the hutch we made a little kitchen and a padded bench and the only money spent was for the faucet. It was less than $10.00 from Walmart.

The paint, fabric, knobs and vinyl for the burners, I already had.

Not too shabby for ten bucks.

Magical

Bayleigh's third birthday party was Saturday night and except for the guest of honor being under the weather, it was a magical night.

After seeing Tangled in the theater, she declared she wanted lanterns like that for her birthday. We didn't release thousands of lanterns in her honor, but we did suspend a few dozen throughout the back yard.

In addition to the lanterns the yard twinkled with lights from votives in mason jars.

We kept the food simple, take out pizza. Instead of a cake, I tried my hand at making cake pops.

Not difficult at all, but very time consuming. I can't say I'm eager to do it again any time soon, but they were a big hit.

The main event of the event of the evening was the movie.

We watched Tangled under the stars.

Thanks to the incredible know how of my uncle Jack and his access to the fancy equipment through his work,  the movie was projected onto the back of Bayleigh's playhouse. We borrowed a movie theater popcorn machine and Uncle Casey churned out the popcorn.

It was amazing to gather with good friends and family in the back yard and enjoy a movie under the stars, lanterns twinkling in the background.

So many people pitched in to make this fairy tale party come true. I don't know if she will remember it for life, but I sure will.

 

On a less happy note, yesterday Bayleigh's puppy, Willie was injured. His jaw is broken and will have to be wired shut so that it can properly heal. He will have to be fed through a feeding tube. His surgery will take place Wednesday. We'd appreciate any prayers you could send up for this sweet little guy and hopefully he will be up and running again very soon.