A Red Party

Today, Nancy at Southern Lady is hosting a flaunt your red party. She has much better taste than I do but I do have a red kitchen. When we moved in our home it was a very 80's Waverly papered kitchen. However with seven windows in the kitchen, I knew that this room could go dark.

We have added an island to this space.


I love red toile and the chickens.



And don't forget my fabulous cake plate.


Oh I stuck this in because the cupcakes match the cake plate and he is so cute.


Hope you enjoy my red kitchen.

Reminder For Lent:
I am turning off the blog comments on this blog until Easter. I love my blog friends and will put my email in my profile to hear from you. I will follow all of your blogs. My purpose is to focus on him not myself.

Decorating: Refrigerator with the Nester Touch

I am late to the Nester's party, but better late than never. I have been wanting to write a post to our refrigerators.

An orderly, pretty refrigerator should inspire you to make beautiful dinners. Everytime you open up your fridge, you should not cringe.

Here is how you do it.

1. Put herbs in pretty glasses. Think of it as flowers for your fridge. A bunch of parsley can be 75 cents. If you don't use it to cook with, at least garnish your plate with it.

2. Straighten out your fridge. Clean it and put things where they belong.


3. Pull out your pretty dishes and fill with fruit or veggies.


4. Use serving pieces to organize smaller items in the fridge. Chill a bottle of wine for unexpected guests or a special occasion .


5. This meat plate can be either chilled or warmed to serve items on it. I forget to use it. By having it chilled at the ready, I can use it for fresh veggies or salads. If you want to use it to keep food warm, remove it from the fridge, and bring to room temperature. By having it in your fridge, it will encourage you to use it.



My refrigerator is like a pretty room. I smile when the door is open.

Reminder For Lent:
I am turning off the blog comments on this blog until Easter. I love my blog friends and will put my email in my profile to hear from you. I will follow all of your blogs. My purpose is to focus on him not myself.

Ash Wednesday

As you know, today is Ash Wednesday. I have been praying about what I need to give up and two things have surfaced.

1. I am giving up Twitter for 48 days. I waste too much time on it and feel very pressured that so much is going on and I feel overwhelmed.

2. I am turning off the blog comments on this blog. I started this blog to use my talents that God gave me to glorify him. Now I worry that I am looking for the validation from the comments rather than focusing on him. I love my blog friends and will put my email in my profile to hear from you. I will follow all of your blogs. My purpose is to focus on him not myself.

Cooking: Saturday cooking

My husband works out of town, so almost every weekend I prepare dinners for him and myself. He takes his meals on Monday morning and is well-fed for the week.

So how do you cook a week's worth of meals on Saturday morning? Organization

1. On Friday, I get everything I need at the grocery store. I try to stick to three dinners and a dessert or rolls, sometimes bread or muffins. This Saturday, I was making three dinners and dinner rolls.

2. Saturday morning, I chop everything I am going to need for the day.

3. I try to use as few pots as possible.

4. Saturday dinner will be one of these dinners.


So here goes:

This week, Chicken Tetrazzini, Red Beans and Rice, Quiche and Dinner Rolls.

I cooked the pasta, drain.

Next saute the celery, onions and carrots for the chicken dish. I also sauted extra onions in another batch for the quiche.

Meanwhile, I took two rotisserie chickens from the store and removed all the meat.

Added the pasta, ingredients, and chicken to the original pot. Mixed and put in a baking dish, covered with cheese. Put in 350 degree oven for 30 minutes.

Started a pot of rice. The rice will be bagged and frozen for other dishes. I will also use some of the rice for red beans and rice.

Same pot I used for the chicken, I started the red beans. I had already soaked them over night. So I just needed to cook them all day.

Chicken done.

Next in the oven is the quiche I put together after the red beans were put in the pot.

Before I got the red beans in the pot, I made some dinner rolls and let them rise in the warm kitchen. Here is the dough after the first rising. While the quiche is in the oven, the rolls are formed and allowed to rise another hour.

Quiche comes out, dinner rolls go in.

The red beans take 6 hours and about an hour before they are done, I add the sausage.


Later in the afternoon, I package the chicken tetrazzini, some of the rolls and quiche once they are cooled.

Dinner is ready.


Total cooking time was 2 hours and 30 minutes. I actually had more of all the dishes then we would need in a week so I put them in the freezer. That way, if I need a week off, or something happens, I have plenty of food for my hubby in the freezer.

Yard Sales: Goodwill Finds

With the onset of spring, one my favorite activities is to yard sale. I have gone to Goodwill because everyone on the blogasphere has found such great items. So this Friday, I ventured in to Goodwill. Sort of a winter yard sale destination.

Unbeknownst to me, it was 50 percent off clothing items.

I found this cashmere sweater for my daughter, only $3.00




Very preppy bermuda shorts for $3.



I thought they had pagodas on them but upon closer inspection, they are gazebos.


The best part is they are Tommy Hilfiger. That daughter of mine would wear a Tommy Hilfiger wedding gown if she could find one.



This pretty soup bowl for $1. I am going to use it for kosher salt.



This little bunny bowl for $.50. I need a bowl to put jelly beans on my desk..... like I need jelly beans. l

Not bad for $7.50. Can't wait for yard sales.

Why I won't be watching the Oscars

1. I have not seen one of the five movies nominated.
2. My favorite actors and actresses are long gone.
3. Most of the old stars I love, served their country in WWII or helped with the old Hollywood canteen; a place where service men and women could go and the stars would entertain, dance and serve them.
4. I don't like the way movie stars of today behave, in their defense, some of the old stars had messy lives but thankfully we were unaware.
5. And most importantly, the movies that used to win Oscars were classics. I recently watched "No Country for Old Men". This movie won the Oscar last year for best film of the year. It was a depressing, disguisting blood bath that glorified a homicidal murderer and drug trade. I would never watch that terrible depressing movie again. I also watched Gone with the Wind yesterday and would watch that 100 more times. Hollywood does not make movies for me or my family. I cannot honor them as they do not honor me.


A trip down memory lane:

Jimmy Stewart
John Wayne

Errol Flynn
Clark Gable
Charlton Heston

Gary Cooper


Spenser Tracey


Cary Grant


Bing Crosby
Audrey Hepburn

Grace Kelly

Henry Fonda
Humphrey Bogart
Oh Carole Lumbard
Katherine Hepburn

Elizabeth Taylor

And the sweet Judy Garland

Thank you for all the fine movies that my family enjoys over and over again. I will be putting in a classic and honor the old days of Hollywood.

What came in the mail today!!!

The mailman brought me a gift today from a blogging friend. Kim asked if she could send me a gift. I thought about 5 seconds and said, hmmmm YES.

Then it came in the mail.



I have the twin so now they are together.



Thank you so much Kim. I really appreciate it.

Go visit her blog, she is a wonderful person and a good mother.

But then she tagged me to show my medicine cabinet. Okay, Kim, here goes. I don't have a medicine cabinet. I have a cabinet that holds all our medicine.

The right side:

The left side:


One of the few things I requested for Christmas present was this girly ice pack. I have terrible knees and need a double knee replacement. But I am completely stubborn and work in the yard all day Saturday. When I am done in the yard, my knees get iced with this dead sexy ice pack.