Tuesday Tumblings May 7

Hey Samma,  it's not Tuesday it's Wednesday!!  Is that what you are saying right now?

Yep, I know it's Wednesday, it's Sprouts day you know, but I read a blog post this morning that just may have been the kick in the blog pants that I needed.  My cooking and blogging has been in a funk lately and when I read this sweet re-post from Little Miss Momma well I just felt all inspired again and remembered that my grammar doesn't have to be perfect, my food doesn't have to be fancy and my words should just be "me". Nothing more, nothing less and my bloggy friends will still be there. In the celebration of keeping it real we shall now have Tuesday Tumblings on Wednesday.

First up....the Merebear had a wee little accident.  Car in front of her stopped and poor Toothless (her car) didn't.   Air bags deployed, car totaled, Merebear only had a cut on her lip.  Toothless was a good car.   We've found her a new one and hopefully this weekend we will all be back to driving normalcy.

The weather has just been delightful and this fatty fatty boom ba latty has been enjoying basking in the sunshine.    We hit mid 80's yesterday and he wandered back into the house, poor thing spring is too short lived in Texas.

(as an update, he really is only 6 months old)

In other dog news....Sir Winston seems to have some serious food intolerances and I'm still cooking for him.   This morning he had scrambled eggs with spinach and cottage cheese followed by a second course of oatmeal and applesauce. Dang dog is eating better than we are!    Nothing like the highlight of your day is going to the yard and inspecting poo to see how he's reacting to the 50 bazillionth food you've tried.  File that under First World Problem #78.

Back in November I posted this picture of the gorgeous fancy smancy necklace that Southern Living and Coldwater Creek sent to me, just because.  I blogged about it and posted pics and was generally just all around mucho grateful for it and I assumed that was the end. But then out of the blue and completely and wonderfully unexpected....... Coldwater Creek sent me a $250 gift card.  Yeah, you heard me TWO HUNDRED FIFTY smackaroni's!!! 

Seriously, I was stoked and now on the lookout for some CC bargains.

I finally spotted a doozy sale one day (you know cause I'm cheap  thrifty and I wanted to maximize my windfall) so I got the above items for oh about $115 bucks.  So yeah, I still gots money all up on that gift card.  And let me just say, regular value of those items, $280.  Oh yeah baby!!

That green silk shirt was the most expensive of the items but I love it so it was worth the splurge.

So from the bottom of my pea picking heart....THANK YOU Coldwater Creek!!!

muah muah muah  kisses to you!!

Since technically this is a food blog I have really been making dinner and this is one of those examples where there was really no "recipes" to post.   Grilled chicken, yellow squash, grilled asparagus and some boxed scalloped potatoes.   With the Mere living with us we get to enjoy a few non-healthy additions to dinner that encourage a 17 year old with lightening speed metabolism to eat something besides chicken nuggets and lunchables.

I made this one morning at 9:30, too bad there isn't more.

It's been a crazy week and I could use some, even at 9 a.m.

Since I found my picture taking was lagging as well I decided to follow along with The Idea Room's May Photo A Day challenge.   It's not too late to follow along on Instagram and/or Twitter.

Day 1 was #Colorful, so this is my Colorful Table centerpiece

Day 2   #Path down the road to wasting time

(Seriously, step away from the Candy Crush)

When you are #Empty this is where you go to refuel on Day #3

Day #4 was #water and I had every intention of taking a picture of my Kentucky water at the Derby Party on Saturday but alas I forgot. Probably because drinking too many mint juleps will make you forget to do a lot of things.

Oh we went to this place Saturday evening with some friends Hyenas Comedy Club.  It was quite

Hi-Lar-E-Ous!!  Grab a coupon for $5 entry and 2 drink minimum and have a fun night.

Day 5 this was found #OnMyDesk

I open it frequently just to sniff the glorious smell of its contents

Day 6  #Today I finished this AMAZEBALLS bottle of wine from my wonderful hometown of Paducah, Kentucky.   

Day 7 #Flashback of a favorite childhood breakfast

So that's all I got for you today and I promise promise cross my heart I swear to get out of my crazy food/blog/photo funk soon. Which sadly means tomorrow you are likely to get photos of a pizza buffet.

What's been up with you?  Is your house as messy as mine?  Is this spring weather dragging you outside too and the inside is highly neglected?  It's ok, right??

Peace, Love & Yummies of all kinds

Redbook, L'Oreal & House Party

Good Afternoon Peepers!!!

I have been so bad with taking photos lately so I actually skipped Tuesday Tumblings yesterday. I've decided to do the The Idea Room's May Photo a Day challenge.   I know it's unrealistic to think I'll actually get through the whole month but I like that doing it reminds me to find the beauty in something I see everyday or to look at something from a new perspective.   So here's to hoping Tuesday Tumblings makes a reappearance next week!!

Now let's talk House Party's.   I've had the joyous pleasure of hosting several of these parties and this past Friday night I was happy to host another great party.  This one featured Redbook and L'Oreal.  Let's take a little step back and I'll show you the lovely package the day it arrived.

It's always an exciting day when the nice UPS man rings the doorbell with a House Party package.

And here all the goodies are spread out on the counter.

I just love looking at all the goodies my friends will get to take home.

Now let's fast forward to this past Friday and it's party prep day.

What?  You don't make frozen wine slushies at 9:30 in the morning?

You should, that's all I have to say about that.

Oh and they were yummy.

Doesn't everyone iron the tablecloth AFTER you put it on the table?

Here we go, now it's looking like a party don't you think?

My chosen theme: Paris Bistro

(I'll explain how I came up with that in a bit)

In the big wood bread bowl we nestled some juicy grapes, universally loved Lorna Doone's and the Cream Puff.  You should never buy those unless you will have lots of friends to help you eat them.

The big silver pail is filled with baby's breath and baguettes.

Seemed logical to me.

A wine box makes a nice holder for the napkins, plates and flatware.

I made a Black & White Angel Food Cake.

You can find the recipe here and I used the box mix, little f.y.i.

Party days you take the help where you can get it.

Another view of the party table.

We had some uber yummy spinach dip.  It's the Knorr Spinach Dip.

Don't change perfection people.

There was also a nice pile of mini croissants.  Oui, Oui!!

Here's that silver pail of flowers with some nice cold lemon water in the background.

A little fromage tray decorated with some grapes.

Some veggies to go with that spinach dip.

(Seriously no one touched the veggies!  I have no clue what they were eating the dip with unless it was just with a spoon. Not that I've ever done that )

Another smaller pail holds some pretty white roses for the bistro table.

One day when I actually buy a lottery ticket and win the lottery, I will have fresh flowers EVERYWHERE!!!

Now let's move over to the goodies.  Each lady got to take home a little goodie bag.

The bags contained: nail file, full size sample of Miracle Blur, a sample of BB Cream, a sample of Total Repair 5 shampoo, conditioner & damage erasing balm, a full size bottle of Color Riche Nail polish , a nail file and a free one year subscription to Redbook magazine.   All of these things were part of that nice little goodie box I received, except the nail files, I added those. 

There were also Door Prizes but you had to play the games!!

First prize went to the winner of the purse scavenger hunt.  With 79 points Courtney C. won the Redbook cosmetic bag filled with a full size bottle of the Miracle Blur, a fluffy bath scrubby, some chocolate and some little toe separators for painting the piggie toes.  And a suggestion that she might need to clean out that purse.

Door prize number 2 went to the person who had the most unusual item in her purse.  Miss Melissa B. easily won that prize with, wait for it......rose pruners!!!  Yep that deserved the prize package containing a copy of the book "The Paris Wife", Color Riche Quad Eyeshadow and Colour Caresse Wet Shine Stain.  Those weren't sample sizes either peeps, full size products.

Oh and the book is where I decided on the theme, well that and L'Oreal PARIS products.

Door prize number 3 went to the winner of a word scramble that yours truly spent hours coming up with.  I kid you not peeps...HOURS.   It wasn't easy, I taxed those ladies brains. In all fairness I gave them food and wine first.  It was much easier when I kept reiterating that all the words could be found on the table.    Door prize 3 was the same as door prize 2 and Miss Allison won that with her intellectual prowess of word scrambles.  

The table was laid out with some extra samples to try and a nice container to drop those free subscription cards into.  Each lady also got a card to take home to a friend so lots of folks will be enjoying those Redbook magazine subscriptions. 

There were also product guides printed and laid out you know in case anyone had some questions about the products and/or ingredients.

A few more flowers in a twine wrapped can and a nice tall jar of cotton balls and qtips round out the useful decorations.

As part of my "party pack" I agree to post a picture with at least 10 guests in the photo so we took this as soon as guest number 10 hit the door.  You know so we could start drinking wine and such.  Sometimes its hard to gather everyone back together after the food and drink start flowing.

Hubster hung around and snapped a few photos of us all having some snacks.

I can't tell you how much I love hosting these parties.  I didn't even get a goodie bag of my own but I loved watching them trade nail polish colors and dig through their purses for a receipt over a month old and just generally making merry and making new friends.    So in the end, I really do get the best prize of all, a house full of wonderful friends!! 

And maybe one day I'll finally win that Keurig Vue party or that ever elusive Soda Stream party. I mean isn't 6th try a charm??   If this sounds like fun to you go to www.houseparty.com and sign up and then find the parties that interest you and apply.  It's that easy!!

So I'm off to clean up the "land mines" in the yard left by Sir Winston Churchill so Hubster can mow.  It's been low to mid 80's for a week now and tonight we're getting wind chills in the 20's and the high tomorrow in the 40's.  Someone please call Mother Nature and tell her this is NOT funny. 

Peace, Love & House Parties!!