Pink Roses

bingo...

A few weeks ago at the Nashville Flea Market, I bought this Bingo set for $1.00.  I love the dollar tables...  

I just wanted it for the cards and the wooden numbers...

Inside was a "lucky" card...it has both of my kids birthdays on it, and the year I was born...

And there were the little cardboard markers, to mark your space when your number is called...

But there was also a bunch of corn...

This looks like animal feed corn to me, so I don't think someone accidentally spilled their dinner in here.  I'm thinking that one day they were playing Bingo on the farm and ran out of markers, so they grabbed a handful of cow corn and used that to mark their cards.   They were practical and resourceful.  I know I read way to much into things don't I?  It was all those Nancy Drew books as a child.  If we ran out of markers here, I would grab a jar of buttons.  Or pennies.  What would you use?

just do it...

I hate to exercise.

But I love to eat.

I hate to sweat.

But I love to have energy.

So today I started my New Year's resolution to:

{eat less + move more = be healthy}

I know it's February 9th, but it's never too late to start :)

To reward myself I did this...

I drew a smiley face on my calendar like a 5 year old, and it made me feel really good.  Actually, getting out and moving felt really good, and I've had more energy all day.  I'm never going to like exercise, but as long as there's food, I guess I'll have to just do it...

around the house...

I took a few pictures around the house yesterday , trying to look for inspiration.  We haven't had much sunshine lately, and with the freezing cold, I haven't been getting out much.  Makes me cranky.  So I'm sending out a little sunshine from me to you, wherever you are...

My favorite teacup from my great Aunt Nellie...

Two bite vanilla cupcakes from the bakery...

A shelf in the family room with my favorite colors.  Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!

grocery list...

Is it freezing cold at your house?  It is here.  Looking for something warm and easy to make this weekend?  Here it is!  I made this last weekend and it was SO good.  My sister, my daughter, and my friend Virginia, all made it for Super Bowl parties, and everyone that tried it was asking for the recipe.  We all hate to give away the secret because it's so easy, it's not really cooking.  It's just opening 7 cans! I mean, my daughter made it in a college dorm!  The original recipe was for a SOUP, and called for 2 or 3 chicken breasts.  We all make ours like a CHILI or stew and add 5 or 6 chicken breasts.  Then it's a meal all by itself.  Hope you like it!

Mexican Chicken Chili

To a crock pot add the following ingredients:

5 or 6 uncooked, boneless skinless chicken breasts (fresh or frozen)

and the 7 cans...

3 cans RoTel tomatoes (any flavor you like)

1 can Tomato sauce

1 can chopped green chilies

2 cans Black Beans

1 scoop of salsa

Cover and cook over low heat for several hours (3 or 4 depending on the heat of your crock pot) until chicken is cooked.  I usually cut my chicken breasts into thirds before cooking, to decrease cook time.  Your house will smell like heaven. Remove chicken from crock pot and place into a large bowl.  Cut or shred chicken into bite sized pieces and place chicken back into crock pot for another 15 minutes. 

Serve in bowls with crushed tortilla chips in the bottom of the bowl.  We like to top ours with shredded cheese, sour cream and avocado. 

*Variation:my sister used one can of Black Beans and one can of Corn, and she said it was delicious.

If you try it left me know...I'm making it again tomorrow!

college style:1979...

30 years ago, when I was an 18 year old college freshman, I had this idea...I went to Kmart and bought 6 pairs of plain white sneakers.  I think they cost about $3.00 a pair.  Then I decorated each sneaker in a different color, most with Rit dye, but the ones above I airbrushed.

I used whatever I could find to embellish them.  No two were the same... I remember using pink nail polish to paint the soles of this sneaker.  Remember there were no Michael's craft stores back then!

I didn't wear these crazy sneakers everyday, but I wore them a lot.  I would match the two shoes to what it was I was wearing that day.

If I was wearing a pink and purple shirt, I wore one pink and one purple shoe.  I am missing the blue shoe-it was covered in buttons, and a black and white shoe.  I also had a metallic pair-one silver, one gold.

One day my roommate shrieked at me...  "Your shoes don't match"...

I said "They don't match each other, but they match my outfit".  She didn't understand.  She was embarrassed to be seen with me!  I found these in a closet at my parents house when I was there at Christmas, and thought you might get a kick out of them.  Lucky for all of us I didn't go into fashion design!

equal time...

In an effort to not play favorites with my children, when I spent a weekend with her in Nashville, I knew I would have to spend a weekend with him.   So I got up early-early Friday morning and drove to Alabama to pick up my son and bring him home for the weekend.  Mother-Son time...a precious thing, and something I always felt I had to work a little harder to get.  But totally worth it.

Back in the day, I spent hours playing "whack-a-mole" at Chuck E. Cheese, and having picnics in pillow forts in the family room, and stick tee-pee's in the backyard.  Sunday I spent 2 hours in Bass Pro Shop looking at Guy stuff with him.

When he was little, I always let him help me in the kitchen. He was the official "stirrer", until he announced one day that he wanted to "hatch the eggs".  It took me 15 minutes to pick all the shell out of the bowl, the first time he "hatched".  We still call it egg "hatching" at our house, and he is still in charge of that duty.  He can hatch with one hand...never any shell.

I made him the little "Things I love about you" book back in 1999...10 years ago.  In it I wrote about all the little everyday things that he did, that I just loved...like singing in the shower, and telling great jokes.  He still keeps it in the top drawer of his nightstand.  I am working on a new one for him for Valentine's Day this year.  I still love some of the same things, but there are new things to love, more things to love.  I guess if I'm not playing favorites, I need to make one for her too...