SammaSpot Snapshot; July 14, 2026

Happy TuTu Tuesday Peeps!!

I don't know about where you live but July brings the HEAT 🔥in Texas and the last few days we've been abundantly blessed with some rain (YAY!!) and some cooler temps.   We know it'll come to an end soon but Lordy, we appreciate the heck out of it while it's here.  

Let's jump back to dinner last Tuesday night.   I had zero plans for dinner and Hubster was doing some yard work and he had mentioned how good the grilled cheese sandwich was we had a few weeks ago so we had some grilled cheese for dinner.  Quick, easy and yummy!  I used this incredible white American cheese that I picked up in the deli at Central Market.   I even served them on the leftover paper plates we had for Fourth of July.   

If you are looking for little Rouxby Sue, generally you just follow the snoring.  She was tucked in behind the bathtub, if she didn't snore I'd have never found her! 

While she took a little siesta, I got dressed on Wednesday like I was going somewhere. We had our video insurance inspection for the storm damage so maybe I thought I should wear something decent. haha

Shorts (6) shirt (old)

Ok, these shorts are oddly still available and this is my 3rd summer for having them.  These are a size 6 and these shorts run small so even though the are too big, I keep them to wear around the house and because I don't have any other khaki shorts.    The t-shirt is very old Daydreamer shirt, we have previously established my love of the Daydreamer t-shirts.  For the record, I went nowhere.

We were still in a no cooking mood so we had leftovers again for dinner.   I am unclear what Hubster had but I had some tomatoes that were nearing their time and I whipped up some tomato soup in the Vitamix and had that for dinner.   

The rest of the soup just goes into a big quart jar in the refrigerator so we have fresh tomato soup anytime we like.  

I have no pics at all from Thursday but my Nuuly ordered arrived and we made pizza's for dinner. 

Friday, Friday and we had no plans but I put on some decent clothes after spending a little bit of time in the pool with Rouxby and by the picture, washed my hair!  It was a banner day!

shorts (26). shirt (s)

We did end up over at the neighbors Friday night and ordered catfish from Chicken Express for dinner.

Their catfish is always good and I'm a picky, picky person when it comes to catfish.

Saturday it seems little Rouxby Sue wanted to get some work done before heading out to the pool.

We had some pool time, ran to Costco, then went to dinner with the neighbors from last night to a little place called Tacos & Avocados.  None of us had been there before and it was good.  I had a birriadilla and they have the cutest area called The Backyard that we all said we wanted to come back and enjoy in the fall.  

shortalls (s) t-shirt Birkenstock (similar)

I got those cute little mushroom overalls again in my Nuuly box so I wore those with an old plain white tee from Walmart, that's oddly still available,  and my very old Birkenstocks.  They are the Franca and mine are a rose pink color that's no longer available.  I probably need to have those shoes resoled, they've seen a lot of miles!

 

We had a little more pool time on Sunday then had to run to Lowe's and Target for a few things.

shorts (26) Kiss t-shirt. sandals (8)

Looks like I threw those same Gap shorts on with another one of my many Daydreamer t-shirts along with my uber comfy Croc sandals.  

I failed to get a pic of dinner but we had Gyros from the Costco meal kit. Everything you need and it's really good.   Hubster made gyro lettuce wraps today for lunch with the leftovers.

shorts (s) 

Yesterday was just a normal Monday, catching up on things like laundry and housework so I threw on my Wallyworld shorts and my Paducah, Ky Water of Life t-shirt.  It's one of my favorite shirts, reminds me of home and it's so soft!  

Last night I made a quick dinner of Lime Pepper Shrimp Scampi.  We had one leftover hot dog bun and one leftover hamburger bun so I made garlic toast out of them.   This is the easiest dinner to throw together, it's yummy and one of the reasons I always keep a bag of frozen shrimp in the freezer.  I'm planning to do a recipe recap for you on this one too!  

You always get Rouxby Sue pics but last night Reggie was giving me the stink eye about 9:30 and I couldn't stop laughing.  He wanted his nightly yogurt treat so he could go to bed and he wasn't going to stop side eyeing me until I got up to get it.

Ok, let's wrap up the clothing with today's hot mess of an outfit.

shorts (s) 

We are heading out of town and I'm pushing washing my hair to the limits so I can do it before we leave and I gave Rouxby Sue a bath so I just plopped my hair on top of my head and called it good.  I have on the black version of those Walmart shorts and my VERY old Fletcher's Corny Dog t-shirt which really only makes me long for State Fair days and a corn dog! 

Ok, let's start the wrap up because I've got to work on my Nordstrom sale wish list so I can get my cart ready.  The Icon level cardholders are shopping today so I'm checking their socials for items that I've missed and want to consider ordering.  Ya girl isn't on that level at ALL so I don't get to shop until Thursday but I try to have everything I really want in my Wish List so I can move that to cart and get checked out lickety split!  

Reading:  I finished up Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel by Lucy Foley.  This one doesn't come out until September 22.   I finally figured out that this is a continuation of the Miss Marple series and not a re-telling of one.   I haven't read any Miss Marple yet, I'm still working my way through Hurcule Poirot but I rather enjoyed it.  Lucy Foley would make Agatha Christie proud.   

I'm now reading another ARC book, We Chase Shadows by Richard Osman.  He's the guy who brought you Thursday Murder Club and this is the second in the We Solve Murders series.   This one is out on September 15th and I'm really enjoying it although Rosie isn't quite as funny (yet) in this one but I'm holding out hope because Steve is funnier in his quirky way.   

Watching:    We have finished Dutton Ranch and The Bear.  Dutton Ranch left us on a cliffhanger and The Bear, well it ended the series the only way it really could.  I will say this wasn't my favorite season of the show but everything does get wrapped up nicely.   It's still Christmas in July so I'm taping the new Christmas movies and occasionally watching some old favorites.   We'll continue the Making the Team, Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders show now that we've finished those episodes.  There's also the new season of  Alone on and we're already watching it.   I'm still waiting for some home alone time to get into my House of Dragons show.   

And yes, I'm STILL listening to The Goldfinch....the never ending book!  

Peace, Love, & Sunshine

                                                                                     

SammaSpot SnapShot: July 7, 2026

Happy TuTuTuesday Peeps!!

Well, I think all the major work on the house from the storm damage is pretty much complete.   They got the solar system up and working last week and we are producing energy again!  Whew, my electric meter was getting dizzy from spinning so hard.

Ok, let's jump right in today with all the usual tom-foolery that Tuesday brings us, shall we?

Let's jump back to last Tuesday night and we had Mexi-Bowls for dinner.

First I started by roasting up all kinds of veggies

Theres's some zucchini, onion, green peppers, jalapeno peppers and Serrano peppers along with some yellow squash and cherry tomatoes.   They just got a little olive oil and salt and pepper before going into a hot oven and roasting until yummy.

While that was cooking, I started some cilantro lime rice in the rice cooker.

There was some kind of beef in there but darned if I remember what it was.  In any case, it was just delicious!   It's topped with a little guacamole and some Trader Joe's taco sauce.

\

Shirt (old) shorts (XS)

Wednesday, we had the solar folks here along with the guy painting the iron railing on our balcony.

For some reason I decided to put on regular clothing, I probably had grandiose plans of leaving the house but alas, I did not.   We also had leftovers for dinner so I failed to take any photos.  

Thursday must have been weird because I have no pics of dinner or clothing.  I did in fact leave the house to go to Central Market, Sam's Club and we did have Carne Asada Taco's for dinner.   I picked up the carne asada and veggies pre-marinated from Central Market along with the famous HEB tortillas because IYKYK.  Those tortillas are the bombastic. 

Friday, I was in a hurry because MereBear and Reygun would be at our house in the early afternoon so my clothing pic has me brushing my teeth.  Multi-tasking.   Hey, I did remember a pic!

shirt (old) shorts (26)

Birkenstocks (39)

I made a quick run to WallyWorld to pick up a few things we still needed and then I got home to begin the holiday weekend fun.

Friday night for dinner I made one of the recipes that we had previously from Hello Fresh, I didn't order it I had saved the recipe card.  

Crispy Southwest 3 bean burrito

Now, this is where things sort of go off the rails because I totally forgot to take pictures of pretty much everything so they'll be some explanations forthcoming.

I DID take a picture of the most unhealthy but delicious breakfast on Saturday morning.

I alternated little powdered donuts & strawberries to form the stripes then added a little bowl of blueberries in the corner.   We ate it all throughout the day and none of us are ashamed.

I also tried my hand at the viral Dot Cakes....it's cake people with a lot of sprinkles. We all agreed that it's fun but we'd just as soon just have the cake with a few less sprinkles.

Here's a shot of the kitchen island filled with all the non-healthy options for prime snacking.

We had some pool time and this swimsuit was from WallyWorld last summer.  I keep it packed in my holiday clothing box and NEVER in a million years did I think I'd post a pic of myself in a swimsuit but here we are.    

shirt (old)

This is an old t-shirt from a little boutique and it's the perfect swimsuit coverup for hanging out around the pool.  

Later after we got out of the pool I threw this little festive outfit on.

shirt (s) shorts (s)

The whole outfit is from Amazon and here's a close up of the shirt.

It's a really nice weight and washes and hangs dry and the shorts were an Amazon Prime Days purchase for less than eight bucks!   Full disclosure, I took these pictures on Monday because I forgot to take any on Saturday. I pulled them from the dirty clothes pile to try on and take pics.  

We had hotdogs, those amazing beans from Sam's Club, deviled eggs, some corn and there were plant based sausage dogs and vegetarian beans for the Mere bear.  There was also broccoli salad but I didn't eat that.   

Little Rouxby Sue had so much pool time, she had to sit in the shade for a bit to dry off before dinner.

Sunday- we all headed back out for some more pool time before the girls headed back home.

Rouxby is always the first one in the pool

and then she stole my chair

While we were in the pool a little rain shower came up and it was so hot that the Mere, Rouxby and I stayed in the pool.  Hubster and Reygun moved under the porch to watch soccer.

T-shirt (old) shorts (27)

After getting out of the pool and getting some food packed up for the girls, we sent them on their way and then later hopped over to The Lakehouse for a quick dinner with the neighbors.

I had the Texas BLT minus the cheese and it was absolutely delicious!  

Also, these clothes also came out of the dirty laundry pile for a pic.   At least I remembered at some point!

I totally forgot yesterday's clothing pic but everything was old and we had leftovers for dinner.

I had a cut up hotdog in the baked beans.   Honestly, I can't remember what Hubster ate.

I spent all of Monday, cleaning up the house, doing laundry and generally getting things back in order after doing nothing for 3 days.  

This morning I threw on the old shorts from Wallyworld and my old concert t-shirt from the Black Keyes.

I'm mostly bumming around, trying to get some desk work done and occasionally stopping to peruse some of the preview pages of the big Nordstrom sale coming up.  

This week is just a catch up week because next week is busy, busy, busy.  

Let's move on and do the wrap up, shall we?

Reading:  I'm currently reading the new Lucy Foley, Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel.  

It doesn't release until September 22, but NetGalley was kind enough to give me an Advanced Reader copy.  

In case you wondered, I'm STILL plugging away at The Goldfinch.

Watching:  We watched a few more episodes of The Bear, but soccer seems to be taking on a life of its own.  Do I understand it? Nope Do I still enjoy watching? You betcha! 

I also have watched a new Christmas in July movie and have a few more taped.  Nothing like a good Christmas movie when it's a hundred degrees outside!  haha

That's a wrap for today because I need to get my booty out of this chair for a few minutes and get some other things done around here!

Peace, Love, & TuTu's

Monday Musings, 7/6/26

Happy post 4th of July my Peeps!!

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend!  It was Texas hot for sure so swimming and snacking and watching soccer in the A/C was the game plan all weekend.    Now it's Monday and I'm cleaning up and getting all the laundry done and generally getting the house back in order.  When we have kiddos in town with us, all housework goes to the far back burner and unless a mess needs to be cleaned up, then there's no vacuuming. Sadly, I had to drag the vacuum out not once but twice!!  Two days in a row I broke a dish and the second day it resulted in a cut on the bottom of my big toe.    Weird spot and tender for sure but we press on!

I've briefly started perusing the preview sale items from Nordstrom and I'll spend a little more time tonight and over the next few days compiling my list.   I'm trying to not be influenced by social media peeps that I follow and fill my closet with things I need.  I'm looking at you blue jeans!!  Anywho, I'll keep you posted on this riveting escapade of mine.

We've got pretty much all the work done from the storm damage, we have an insurance/mortgage inspection Wednesday and hopefully they'll release the rest of the check from the mortgage company.  Our contractor ordered the new panels for the greenhouse so those should be here this week and Hubster can get it fixed although it might end up waiting for a bit of cooler weather.

My garden is already crispy and I'll probably start pulling a lot of things or cutting them back.   People always think we're crazy for planting tomatoes in March but around here, that's what you have to do because we don't get below 80 degrees at night any longer and those things are just tired by now.

Ok, I'll see you peeps tomorrow when we go through the food and clothing choices from the week.

    Peace, Love, & No Red Cards

                                                                                    

Ice Cream, You Scream, We All Scream for Ice Cream

Hey Peeps!!

I'm back with some honest to goodness recipes today!   I know color me surprised as much as you.   

I told you that a couple of weekends ago I made two batches of homemade ice cream and the Strawberry Ice Cream has been declared "one of the best ice creams I've ever eaten" and "the best strawberry ice cream" and the Coffee Toffee was "the perfect ratio ice cream".    I cannot take credit for the recipes at all, they come from this book. Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book

amazon link

This is the BEST ice cream recipe guide I've ever owned and it's literally less than $10.  If you make homemade ice cream then get it, you won't be disappointed at all.   And yes, the Cherry Garcia recipe is included and the initial reason I purchased the cookbook.  

Let's make ice cream and I should also apologize, I have few pictures because I wasn't thinking ahead. haha

Before we get started I'm going to tell you that the MILK you choose makes all the difference in the world.  It's whole milk- we're making ice cream not dieting here and you only need 1 cup for the batch so let's splurge a little.  Also, if you live in Texas then I cannot recommend this milk enough.  Their whipping cream is also incredible as in the orange juice and it all comes in glass bottles.  I return the bottles to the grocery and get cash back for doing so, just like the good old days of returning your coke bottles.  

The one on the left is the Strawberry milk and the one on the right is Cappuccino flavored milk.  As you can see, the strawberry milk is one that other folks will drink - not me, not a strawberry milk fan.  I'm actually going to divide that milk up into 1 cup servings and freeze it.   Those milk flavors are seasonal flavors for Vollmans and I'll be able to make the ice cream any time with the leftover milk plus then I can wash and return my bottles.  Also, you can use regular whole milk if you don't have those flavored milks where you are but I beg you....use a high quality whole milk!!  

Coffee Heath Bar Crunch Ice Cream

4 original Heath Bars (1 ⅛ oz each) or 1 cup of Heath Bar chips (this is what I use because I keep them in the freezer so I'm ready any time) 

2 large eggs

¾ cup sugar

2 cups heavy whipping cream

1 cup whole milk

3 Tbsp good quality freeze-dried coffee (I use Cafe Bustelo)- divided 

1) Cut the candy bars into ½ to 1 inch chunks.  You should have about 1 cup or measure out 1 cup Heath bar chips.  Place in a bowl and put back in your freezer

2) Whisk eggs in mixing bowl until light and fluffy; 1-2 minutes.  Whisk in the sugar, a little at a time, then whisk until completely blended.  Add the cream, milk, and 2 Tbsp of the coffee and whisk until blended.

3) Transfer mixture to ice cream maker and freeze following the instructions on your machine.

4) After the ice cream stiffens and a few minutes before it's done, mix in the candy and 1 Tbsp of the coffee.   (I do not add in another full tablespoon, it's more like an additional teaspoon since I used cappuccino milk )    Continue freezing until done.

Makes a generous 1 quart of ice cream.

Strawberry Ice Cream

1 pint fresh strawberries- hulled and sliced

⅓ cup sugar

Juice of ½ lemon

Sweet Cream Base:   2 large eggs.   ¾ cup sugar  2 cups heavy whipping cream     1 cup milk

1) Combine strawberries, sugar and lemon juice in mixing bowl.  Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

2) Make Sweet Cream base:  Whisk eggs in mixing bowl until light and fluffy, slowly whisk in the sugar and whisk until completely blended.  Pour in cream and milk and whisk to blend.

3) Mash strawberries to a puree and stir into your cream base.   I like to leave some of the strawberries chunky.

4) Transfer to ice cream maker and freeze according to directions.  

Makes a generous 1 quart of ice cream.

Now, let me tell you about these ice cream containers.  They help to prevent freezer burn and they help keep the ice cream a little bit softer.     I have two of them and I always use them when making home made ice cream.    I think they are well worth the money.

ice cream container

Ok, so that's all there is to it, so you are free to go and get your supplies to make some ice cream this holiday weekend!

That's all for today!!

Peace, Love, & Milk

SammaSpot SnapShot 6/30/26

Hey there my Peeps!!

Well, we have hit the DOG days of summer indeed!  All that glorious rain has ceased, the sun is out and trying to torch us and our electric meter sounds like a helicopter about to take off.   Thankfully today and tomorrow they will be reinstalling our solar system on the roof.   I've become so accustomed to doing the laundry, running the dishwasher, etc. all during the middle of the day to let the solar offset some of the electricity costs that I'm out of sorts on my schedule.   In case you wondered, we unfortunately, do not have a battery back up system for the solar so what we don't use just goes away so we run the dishwasher, washer/dryer, pool, etc. all during the day when the solar is taking the pressure off our electricity usage then at night, it's just about trying to stay cool.  Anywho, my heart is with those guys out there now, the new gutters are guards are going up and the solar guys are here unloading everything so they can start that bright and early tomorrow.  Oh, and the guy is back painting the fencing on our balcony upstairs and dear lord, that boy has got to be so hot!!   

Anywho, let's move on to the mess that was last week and the very few pictures I took because listen, I haven't left my house since Saturday, the 20th except to drive 15 minutes down the road to take the dogs to the kennel and another trip to pick them up so getting dressed in anything presentable has been futile but let's see what we got for ya!

Going back to Tuesday, the 23rd, I have no pictures of dinner but we had a big salad with broken up black bean burgers on top.  Easy, fast and yummy and that's where dinners are headed for this heat dome time of the year.  

Wednesday morning, bright and early at 6 am the roofers arrived to start.   The dogs, thankfully, went to the kennel last Tuesday afternoon because they would have lost their shizzle with all the noise.  I, however, got woke up by the roofers banging on the door but I crawled back in bed and a little before 9 Hubster comes in and wants to know how on earth I'm sleeping through the noise.  Just fine until you woke me up was my answer.  haha    Hubster had a dental appointment and I started cleaning the house.  I mean like the kind of cleaning where you pull all the couches away from the walls and vacuum everything kind of cleaning.   By about 7:30 pm I was tired, the roofers were still working and since Hubster's car was out of the driveway he ran to pick us up a pizza at Tony's Pizza & Pour House.    The roofers were here until after 9 pm!!!  

Here's some fun pics I took from inside the house because, well, you weren't getting out of the house!

From my front dining room window.  

Yes, they put tarps over a lot of the space. 

Driveway from my kitchen window.  

The number of roofing nails I found the next morning was crazy!

That's a lady and she was the hardest worker out there, she was on clean up crew. 

This is a pic from the back doors looking out to the patio.

Another one from the back door....see, no getting out of the house.

This is when you are really glad you put the dogs at the kennel.

Another from the front door.  

My pool is under there somewhere.  Yes, they did cover the whole pool and that's all my patio furniture out in the yard. 

Let's move on to Thursday shall we.  I spent the entire day combing the driveway and back porch picking up overlooked roofing nails and various roofing materials and sweeping all that crumbly stuff from the shingles up.   The roofers did an exceptional job cleaning up, especially since it was dark when they left for the day so I'm not complaining, it just comes with the territory of getting a new roof.

I did make dinner Thursday evening after I went and picked up the Fur Babies at the kennel.  

We had a Hello Fresh meal that we never ate when Court was here the previous weekend so we had Vegan Turkish Spiced Chickpea Bowl for dinner.   It was pretty yummy, Hubster said it just needed some meat to make it perfect. 🤣   

And Friday, the roofer sent us a drone pic of the top of our house with the new roof.

Obviously, there is no solar system or gutters but that's the new roof. 

And someone was still made at me for taking her to the kennel for two days.

Friday night we had Fish Sticks & Biscuits, yes, again!

Saturday morning Hubster and Reggie took off for the deer lease while little Rouxby Sue and I held down the home front.  I had things planned, ended up doing none of them but spent the afternoon with two of my neighbor lady friends out on the porch and in the pool.  We snacked on a cheese tray and a fruit bowl, hung out in the pool when we got really hot and chatted about all kinds of girl things.   

Sunday morning Hubster and Reggie got home so we all just hung out in the pool and had a lazy day.  Reggie got too hot at the deer lease so he hung out in the house all day but little biscuit was floating like the princess she believes she is.

I'm trying to find her a sun hat but so far everything is too small for her big ole noggin.

But never fear, she got under the porch when she'd had enough sun and there's a fan blowing on her in that chair too.  And yes, she sits wherever she deems comfortable, even if you are already sitting there. 

Sunday evening Hubster wanted a steak so he grilled those and I had a few leftover potatoes and made some Pioneer Woman's Crash Hot Potatoes.   

These two were so wiped out from the week that they crashed on the couch together.

It rarely happens but they were clearly exhausted.

Yesterday was a normal Monday of tidying up after the weekend and getting the laundry back in order but I did grab a pic as I had grandiose plans of leaving the house....alert:  I did not leave.

skort (old) T-shirt (old)

The skort is several years old from Lilly Pulitzer, it's too big in the waist but I love it so much I keep it plus the colors are the best!    The T-shirt is also an old J Crew with Aquarius on the front.  Obviously, I have not done anything to my hair and I desperately need a haircut and color.  

This morning the gutter folks were supposed to be here between 9 and 12 to start the gutter install, they showed up a little after 8 but they got done with the gutters today! whoop whoop.  The solar guy came and dropped off all the new solar panels and picked up the old ones, they will start tomorrow on those. 

I had some breakfast because I was starving...it's another balance thing.  This was a big bowl of greek yogurt with some mini chocolate chips, Golden Grahams cereal and honey.  It was pretty yummy but honestly I like the blueberries with Fruity Pebbles version the best.

I did leave the house today!!!  It's been 10 days you know!  I had an Amazon return to Staples, my Nuuly return to the UPS store, a package to mail at the post office and then I made a quick stop at the Dollar General to pick up some bug spray that Hubster needs for the deer lease so I did actually get dressed and put on shoes.  I have not yet washed my hair this week so I threw a cap on. 

shorts (s) shirt (s)

I was in such a hurry I didn't even edit the phot but it's the same Wallyworld t-shirt and shorts you've seen several times.    When I left the house, it was people and stuff everywhere, when I came home, everyone was gone.   Hubster is outside washing off the solar panels so the installers can get right to work in the morning.  His words "I'm tired of all these people being in and out and keeping us from being able to do anything and making so much noise."  Roof work is not quiet.

Let's wrap this up so I can go get dinner started!

Watching:  We started watching the final season of The Bear, we're only 3 or 4 episodes in and so far, I'm beyond confused.   We also started the new season of America's Sweethearts: DCC and it's the usual stuff but I love anything DCC so I'm there for it.    I watched the first episode of House of the Dragon but I need to rewatch it sometime when no one is around and I can turn on the closed captioning.  HBO really needs to do something, we can never hear anything on that channel plus it's so dark.

Reading: I finished The Widow by John Grisham on Sunday, I started one of my palate cleanser books All Roads Lead to Michigan, it's book 5 in the Wynn Harbor Inn series by Hope Callaghan 

And no, I haven't finished The Goldfinch! 

And finally, I'm going to be so sad when the World Cup is over, social media has been the fun space that it was for so long with all these countries being in the States and enjoying the things we take for granted.

Ok, that's a wrap because we're all a little hungry and I need to get busy with dinner.

Maybe we'll get those ice cream recipes up tomorrow in case you want to make some this weekend!

Peace, Love, & Gutters