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